The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan is the most extensive volume of original essays ever published on the seventeenth-century Nonconformist preacher and writer, John Bunyan. Its thirty-eight chapters examine Bunyan's life and works, their religious and historical contexts, and the critical reception of his writings, in particular his allegorical narrative, The Pilgrim's Progress. Interdisciplinary and comprehensive, it provides unparalleled scope and expertise, ranging from literary theory to religious history and from theology to post-colonial criticism. The Handbook is structured in four sections. The first, 'Contexts', deals with the historical Bunyan in relation to various aspects of his life, background, and work as a Nonconformist: from basic facts of biography to the nature of his church at Bedford, his theology, and the religious and political cultures of seventeenth-century Dissent. Part 2 considers Bunyan's literary output: from his earliest printed tracts to his posthumously published works. Offering discrete chapters on Bunyan's major works—Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Pilgrim's Progress, Parts I and II (1678; 1684); The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), and The Holy War (1682)—this section nevertheless covers Bunyan's oeuvre in its entirety: controversial and pastoral, narrative and poetic. Section 3, 'Directions in Criticism', engages with Bunyan in literary critical terms, focusing on his employment of form and language and on theoretical approaches to his writings: from psychoanalytic to post-secular criticism. Section 4, 'Journeys', tackles some of the ways in which Bunyan's works, and especially The Pilgrim's Progress, have travelled throughout the world since the late seventeenth century, assessing Bunyan's place within key literary periods and their distinctive developments: from the eighteenth-century novel to the writing of 'empire.'

"Lisa's breezy narrative style invites you to experience with her the challenges and joys of being a scientist on the frontier of discovery." —Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History "Horizon-expanding... [Kaltenegger] has something of Sagan’s knack for eliciting wonder." —The Times "A superb testament to the scientific virtue of curious wonder." —Wall Street Journal For thousands of years, humans have wondered whether we're alone in the cosmos. Now, for the first time, we have the technology to investigate. But once you look for life elsewhere, you realize it is not so simple. How do you find it over cosmic distances? What actually is life? As founding director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute, astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger has built a team of tenacious scientists from many disciplines to create a specialized toolkit to find life on faraway worlds. In Alien Earths, she demonstrates how we can use our homeworld as a Rosetta Stone, creatively analyzing Earth's history and its astonishing biosphere to inform this search. With infectious enthusiasm, she takes us on an eye-opening journey to the most unusual exoplanets that have shaken our worldview - planets covered in oceans of lava, lonely wanderers lost in space, and others with more than one sun in their sky! And the best contenders for Alien Earths. We also see the imagined worlds of science fiction and how close they come to reality. With the James Webb Space Telescope and Dr. Kaltenegger’s pioneering work, she shows that we live in an incredible new epoch of exploration. As our witty and knowledgeable tour guide, Dr. Kaltenegger shows how we discover not merely new continents, like the explorers of old, but whole new worlds circling other stars and how we could spot life there. Worlds from where aliens may even be gazing back at us. What if we're not alone?

At some point everybody goes through adversity and we are forced to face situations that we are not prepared for. These are the times that define us, the times when we are writing our own legacy. J. A. Laurence wrote; Coming Back, to inspire you to Rise after adversity and become a better version of yourself. He wants to bring stability, focus and purpose to your storm. Coming Back will assist you to discover your recipe to get back up and triumph over adversity. It will help you find yourself, your uniqueness and your purpose. Coming Back, will help you use adversity to your advantage. He shares his insight into adversity and how to transform it into resilience, inspiration and the resolve to become extraordinary. Coming Back can guide you to design, build and live the life you always dreamed about. You already have unlimited potential; your next step is to allow J. Anthony Laurence to guide you to build an extraordinary life.

There is a new hunger for spirituality today. People are looking for answers and for a deeper, more true encounter with God. Live the Adventure helps new believers learn about the kingdom of God and the basics of the Christian faith. After accepting Christ's invitation to eternal life through Jesus Christ, readers will learn about the foundations of the Christian life: Bible reading, living a Spirit-filled life, and growing in the love of God. They will be encouraged to live out their faith by becoming a part of the work of God in the local church and through evangelism. Wingfield encourages new Christians in their excitement of knowing God and helps them live out their new-found faith. Live the Adventure also challenges longtime believers to renew their faith and deepen into a more mature and fulfilling relationship with God.

With over 500 planets now known to exist beyond the Solar System, spacecraft heading for Mars, and the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, this timely book explores current ideas about the search for life in the Universe. It contains candid interviews with dozens of astronomers, geologists, biologists, and writers about the origin and range of terrestrial life and likely sites for life beyond Earth. The interviewees discuss what we've learnt from the missions to Mars and Titan, talk about the search for Earth clones, describe the surprising diversity of life on Earth, speculate about post-biological evolution, and explore what contact with intelligent aliens will mean to us. Covering topics from astronomy and planetary science to geology and biology, this book will fascinate anyone who has ever wondered 'Are we alone?'

In this powerful book, Carol Ochs shows us how to develop apersonal theology by examining our life stories, learning torecognize God at work in them, and bringing them into conversationwith Torah. Using timeless biblical texts as lenses to see thepresent, she helps us understand who we are and who God is for usby exploring the tightly interwoven basic elements of ourlives--our love, suffering, work, bodies, prayer, community, andexperiences of death. Through the process of seeing our experiences in relation toBiblical stories, we begin to recognize our lives as part of theongoing story of the Jewish people--as Torah. This insight allowsus to see these experiences as meaningful, not accidental, andopens us to recognizing God's power in and through all that happensto us. Rather than a collection of random events, our lives arepart of the Jewish people's ongoing adventure. Armed with ourpersonally shaped theology, we can face this adventure of living inthe vanguard of history with awareness and confidence.