Winner, Association for Latin American Art Book Award, 2010 The Maya of Mexico and Central America have performed ritual dances for more than two millennia. Dance is still an essential component of religious experience today, serving as a medium for communication with the supernatural. During the Late Classic period (AD 600-900), dance assumed additional importance in Maya royal courts through an association with feasting and gift exchange. These performances allowed rulers to forge political alliances and demonstrate their control of trade in luxury goods. The aesthetic values embodied in these performances were closely tied to Maya social structure, expressing notions of gender, rank, and status. Dance was thus not simply entertainment, but was fundamental to ancient Maya notions of social, religious, and political identity. Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, Matthew Looper examines several types of data relevant to ancient Maya dance, including hieroglyphic texts, pictorial images in diverse media, and architecture. A series of case studies illustrates the application of various analytical methodologies and offers interpretations of the form, meaning, and social significance of dance performance. Although the nuances of movement in Maya dances are impossible to recover, Looper demonstrates that a wealth of other data survives which allows a detailed consideration of many aspects of performance. To Be Like Gods thus provides the first comprehensive interpretation of the role of dance in ancient Maya society and also serves as a model for comparative research in the archaeology of performance.

This Is An Unusual Exploration Into India S Timeless Civilization By An Enthropologist Who Has Devoted Six Years To Extensive Survey Of The Peasant Potters Of More Than Half Of India. The Author Of This Book , Writes Professor N.K. Bose , Has Applied Some Methods In The Study Of Indian Culture Which&. Have Not Been Used By Any Other Student Of Cultural Anthropology In This Country. His Method Of Correlation Of Material Culture With The Total Cultural System Marks A Departure From The Conventional Studies Of Cultural Processes. He Has Suggested New Methods Of Reconstructing History, And His Data On Contemporary Pottery Making Afford A Reassessment Of Indian Archaeological Materials.The Author S Extensive Experience With Inter-Disciplinary Inquiry Yields Insight. From A Detailed Analysis Of The Ethnographic Data On Pottery Making, He Makes Some Significant Observations: There Is Continuity In Potter-Craft Tradition In India, Traceable From The Pre-Historic Times. The Survival Of The Ethnic Groups Of Potters, Well Within Their Respective Technological Zones Of Pre-Historic Pottery Making, Makes The Aryanization Of India Doubtful. Different Regions Of India Have Evolved Their Own Indigenous Cultures Providing Extreme Diversity To The Material Base Of Indian Society-Their Unity Lies In The Basic Philosophy Of Life, In The Higher Forms Of Culture. To An Average Indian, The Diversity Of Cultures-Food, Dress, Language, Worship-Does Not Really Matter, So Long As He Believes That Every Way Of Life Has Its Own Contribution To Humanity, And That Before The Inexorable Law Of Nature, Every Being Has An Equal Right To Survive Through The Full Course Of Its Cosmic Life. This Idealization Of Diversity Has Helped India Develop A Tradition Of Tolerance, Which Is The Soul Of Her Civilization.Apart From Its Contribution To Anthropology, The Book Will Be Of Particular Interest To Historians Of Culture And Philosophers Of Social History

When pastors and evangelists preach, they try to convince you to change your lifestyle now. This is not their fault. They know that they have to do this. They have to get you close to God because time could be short. That is not equipping and preparing. Equipping and preparing means giving you the tools of the trade. That is living Gods Word and how to plan to do this. The Word teaches that pastors are to equip the servants. All that time convincing and not equipping is destroying Gods world. Jesus equipped and encouraged Gods children and changed the world. What is our excuse? We need to divert all our mental and physical abilities to become like Jesus and begin to feel these changes in our bodies. We have to stop becoming people of behaviors. Over many generations, we have reacted to what we have seen and heard and to the pleasures the world has given us. We dont look and listen to God anymore, because he doesnt give us what we want when we want it. When the world sees this, it gives us what we want and we take it. We are not patient enough! God gives us what we need. As long as the world dangles that carrot in front of our faces, we will continue to pull that heavy, burdensome load of sin and pain. It is only by seeing and hearing what God does in this world to bless his children that will show us how his grace and greatness will tower above our fears.

The Potter and His Clay How To Know God's Present Purpose For Your Life Now, Starting Well and Finishing Strong, The Christian Grace Race Written from a heart to help all believers discover and know the perfect will of God for their lives. Some who have discovered His will, have been sidetracked and detoured from it. In a marathon it is not how you start the race, but how you finish! This book is a study of the process in making clay pottery in ancient times, and how in allegorical language it relates to the spiritual journey of our Christian life today. The ultimate goal of this book is to give scriptural guidelines on how to help you finish the Grace Race and complete God's destiny for your life! "Your message is so timely and powerful. Wow! I pray that your book will make it into the hands (and hearts) of everyone who so desperately needs to read it! I agree with you that we are living in somewhat of a paradoxical time. Sometimes it seems as though everyone has given up on revival and living for Jesus. Yet, we also live in a time where so many hunger for more. Your book sounds an alarm while simultaneously raising a banner of hope for those who think true Christianity has done nothing but disintegrate." -Michael and Kathy from Plano, TX Alan Burns is founder and director of "Rivers of Life Outreach Ministries." He is involved in conducting training and equipping conferences internationally. Alan is the author of two other books on Evangelism and another on Spiritual Gifts. Alan lives in Plano, TX with his wife, Alisa and their four children. He graduated from Christ for The Nations Institute in 1980 and is an Evangelist, Teacher and Worship Leader.

Explains the symbols on 320 ancient Casas Grandes pottery pieces, along with a few Mimbres and neighboring cultures' pottery, while examining various subjects in inigenous Mesoamerican thought, including myths of creation, gods, humankind, and the universe.

Art, Pottery, and the Clay-Human Connection Understanding the Prophet Whom God Has Set in the Church! Dr. Alvin Haywood, Ed.D. Calling all faithful and committed men and women of God whose number one priority is to walk unapologetically in their God-given calling and purpose for their life. This book is for any dedicated servant of God but is especially geared toward those who are single and walking in a prophetic calling. Married folks, and others walking in any calling from God, can also benefit from this book--those who want to further review the clay-human connection and understand more about the trials and triumphs of a prophet of God. Like clay in a potter's hand, God's people are molded and shaped in his hands. Nestled in a beautiful narrative setting of art, history, and pottery, Art, Pottery, and the Clay-Human Connection: Understanding the Prophet Whom God Has Set in the Church is based on and embedded in relevant and applicable scriptures as it validates and encourages any servant of God to concentrate on what the Word of God is saying about them in their walk with God. Jeremiah the prophet is used as a focal point as he was singularly called by God to go down to the potter's house to receive a prophetic message about this clay-human connection for the church or the people of God.