The Faces series is an attempt to paint as honestly as possible the faces of characters we read about in the Bible so that readers can identify and relate to the naked, common-life truths that these characters present and hold to the promises that each story or event offers to us as we seek to know and walk with God. Walking through the Bible, an adult Sunday School class enters 11 Samuel 13, a dark room where a princess is found weeping. She has been sexually abused by her half brother while her family members conspire a cover-up. Her own brother, her mothers son, secretly vows revenge on the aggressor as well as on his father, King David. The succeeding chaos multiplies, and Tamar, the victim, sticks her face out of the closet to tell the pain of it all, only to find that her story holds relevant connections to a number of class members and, in fact, to many readers in the contemporary world.

The Faces series is an attempt to paint as honestly as possible the faces of characters we read about in the Bible so that readers can identify and relate to the naked, common-life truths that these characters present and hold to the promises that each story or event offers to us as we seek to know and walk with God. Walking through the Bible, an adult Sunday School class enters 11 Samuel 13, a dark room where a princess is found weeping. She has been sexually abused by her half brother while her family members conspire a cover-up. Her own brother, her mother's son, secretly vows revenge on the aggressor as well as on his father, King David. The succeeding chaos multiplies, and Tamar, the victim, sticks her face out of the closet to tell the pain of it all, only to find that her story holds relevant connections to a number of class members and, in fact, to many readers in the contemporary world.

A masterful beauty, Tamar's flowing hair, her vivacious figure and the exhaust of her smile rendered men speechless. As a princess, the daughter of King David, she would eventually marry a prince from a neighboring kingdom but fate would not be so kind. Tamar's vibrant beauty would not serve as an attribute when a twisted affection would threaten to strip her of her integrity. Incest crept into the palace, the gorgeous princess would not have to worry about anyone outside the castle, and instead she would have to contend with the manipulation of her half brother Amnon's stern hand gripping her thigh, stealing her virtue, her dignity and her proper place in the future. Tamar's need to hide owns kinship with others and opens the door for dialogue, many have wore her tear soaked rob, whether in a public housing unit or in a beautiful house on the hill. Wounded women sometimes weep without making a sound. Expensive suits and fancy cars cannot compete with personal peace; a husband will not hide the inner hurt form a life of despair and little girls without strong father figures look for love in all the wrong places regardless of their income. In a torn and tear soaked robe Tamar would beg Amnon to redeem her because in her time, when Biblical principals restricted women's expression and their lives, she was considered unclean. In her eyes she was now damaged goods and Tamar's seemingly leprous condition rendered her into a helpless self seclusion. Should would hide away, negating her own dreams to transpire into weakness. Her voice would become muffled with pain and in her brother Absalom's home is where she undertook a lifetime of silence and refuge. All through time God's beautiful princesses have been wounded, touched in secret, internally violated and they too have laid down their power and their tiaras. In our society there are many socially outward rush home to sink into a bleak depression which fogs their beauty from themselves, and they view their disguise of hurt as the mirror image of ugly. Unclean, damaged goods or hid away I'm sure are the type of gossip that floated through the castle about Tamar. And like others Tamar's faith fell in her situation, no one could tell her that their was a man like no other who could heal all her broken places, restore the vibrancy of her previous laughter so that she would remember the pain only as a testimony. This scripture based journal allows you to be ministered to through the word of God and find your worth. To discover the princess and not a plight of pain.

“A richly imagined novel about a half-Russian, half-Sudanese professor whose studies of a 19th-century Muslim leader become a portal into his world.” —Travel + Leisure It’s 2010 and Natasha, a half-Russian, half-Sudanese professor of Islamic studies, is researching the life of Imam Shamil, the nineteenth-century Muslim leader who led the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasian War. When shy, single Natasha discovers that her star student, Oz, is not only descended from the warrior but also possesses Shamil’s priceless sword, the Imam’s story comes vividly to life. As Natasha’s relationship with Oz and his alluring actress mother intensifies, Natasha is forced to confront issues she had long tried to avoid—that of her Muslim heritage. When Oz is suddenly arrested at his home one morning, Natasha realizes that everything she values stands in jeopardy. Told with Aboulela’s inimitable elegance and narrated from the point of view of both Natasha and the historical characters she is researching, The Kindness of Enemies is both an engrossing story of a provocative period in history and an important examination of what it is to be a Muslim in a post 9/11 world. “A versatile prose stylist . . . [Aboulela is] a voice for multiculturalism.” —The New York Times

In Wom(b)an: A Cultural-Narrative Reading of the Hebrew Bible Barrenness Narratives Janice Pearl Ewurama De-Whyte offers a reading of the Hebrew Bible barrenness narratives. The original word “wom(b)an” visually underscores the centrality of a productive womb to female identity in the ANE and Hebrew contexts. Conversely, barrenness was the ultimate tragedy and shame of a woman. Utilizing Akan cultural custom as a lens through which to read the Hebrew barrenness tradition, De-Whyte uncovers another kind of barrenness within these narratives. Her term “social barrenness” depicts the various situations of childlessness that are generally unrecognized in western cultures due to the western biomedical definitions of infertility. Whether biological or social, barrenness was perceived to be the greatest threat to a woman’s identity and security as well as the continuity of the lineage. Wom(b)an examines these narratives in light of the cultural meanings of barrenness within traditional cultures, ancient and present.

Previously published in 36 separate booklets.