Built on the southwestern coast of Cyprus in the second century A.D., the House of Dionysos is full of clues to a distant life—in the corner of a portico, shards of pottery, a clutch of Roman coins found on a skeleton under a fallen wall—yet none is so evocative as the intricate mosaic floors that lead the eye from room to room, inscribing in their colored images the traditions, aspirations, and relations of another world. In this lavishly illustrated volume, Christine Kondoleon conducts us through the House of Dionysos, showing us what its interior decoration discloses about its inhabitants and their time. Seen from within the context of the house, the mosaics become eloquent witnesses to an elusive dialogue between inhabitants and guests, and to the intermingling of public and private. Kondoleon draws on the insights of art history and archaeology to show what the mosaics in the House of Dionysos can tell us about these complex relations. She explores the issues of period and regional styles, workshop traditions, the conditions of patronage, and the forces behind iconographic change. Her work marks a major advance, not just in the study of Roman mosaics, but in our knowledge of Roman society.

House and home are words routinely used to describe where and how one lives. This book challenges predominant definitions and argues that domesticity fundamentally satisfies the human need to create and inhabit a defined place in the world. Consequently, house and home have performed numerous cultural and ontological roles, and have been assiduously represented in scripture, literature, art, and philosophy. This book presents how the search for home in an unpredictable world led people to create myths about the origins of architecture, houses for their gods, and house tombs for eternal life. Turning to more recent topics, it discusses how writers often used simple huts as a means to address the essentials of existence; modernist architects envisioned the capacity of house and home to improve society; and the suburban house was positioned as a superior setting for culture and family. Throughout the book, house and home are critically examined to illustrate the perennial role and capacity of architecture to articulate the human condition, position it more meaningfully in the world, and assist in our collective homecoming.

This cultural analysis of the divine indwelling from the fourth through sixteenth centuries reverses the history of doctrine to venture doctrine as history. It discovers a fundamental disparity between domestic values and the exilic asceticism that once dominated western civilization.

By looking at the nightly news and simply observing for themselves the denigration of homes and communities across our country, many would agree that family foundations are cracking and shifting out of place. This has resulted in untold devastation within the home and our other social systems; therefore, many households and lives have simply given way and collapsed under the weight of a host of societal pressures. Many believe that a generation of social experimentation along with our cultures fixation at redefining virtually every foundational institution (especially the first human institutionmarriage) are responsible for placing the family and society on very shaky ground indeed, leaving a very dubious moral and economic legacy for successive generations. When cracks begin to appear upon the walls of a house, it may indicate a shifting or damaged foundation, which may indicate poor foundation work. As a result, builders typically reexamine the blueprintsthe masterplansto determine the manner and materials with which the house and foundations built in order to pinpoint and repair a weak or damaged foundation. It is the authors conviction that in many households within society, weak or faulty spiritual and moral foundations have been laid, resulting in the cultural cataclysm we witness throughout our land. In his book, The House that God Built: Gods Master Plan for Marriage and His Blueprint for Blessing, Book One of his Strong Foundation for Strong Families series, the author discusses the need for a RE-Vision, of marriage and the familybut not by redefining, replacing or removing these honorable foundations and pillars which have supported societies from the beginning of time. Rather, by employing the word RE-Vision, he calls for a refocusa fresh new look at Gods original design for the marriage and family. This plan is found in Gods Holy Word, specially, the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis because this, he feels, is where marriage, family and social systems began. Therefore, the book is a thorough exposition of the first chapters of Genesis which explore the motivations and the methods through which God Himself built His house (the heavens and the earth). This study provides keen spiritual and practical insights as to how we can build our homes according to Gods plans so as to receive His best blessings upon our homes and upon our communities.