Too often, the lives and works of authors who called Upstate New York home are overshadowed by the icons of New York City. Resting among Us uncovers the region’s rich literary heritage through Steven Huff’s journeys to the graves of writers both famous and celebrated as well as those that have been forgotten. While most Upstate residents are aware that Mark Twain’s grave is in Elmira and that James Fenimore Cooper’s is in Cooperstown, many people don’t realize a noted author may be buried in their local cemetery. For instance, Paul Bowles is buried in Lakemont, John Gardner in Batavia, Rod Serling in Interlaken, John Burroughs in Roxbury, and Adelaide Crapsey in Rochester. Interwoven with these remarkable literary lives are the connected stories of the region’s history and Huff’s own encounters and friendships with some of the writers included in the book. With directions to each author’s grave, as well as photographs of the graves and authors themselves, Resting among Us is the perfect companion for your own enlightening literary pilgrimage.

When the revolutionary technology of photography erupted in American culture in 1839, it swiftly became, in the day's parlance, a "mania." This richly illustrated book positions vernacular photography at the center of the study of nineteenth-century American religious life. As an empirical tool, photography captured many of the signal scenes of American life, from the gold rush to the bloody battlefields of the Civil War. But photographs did not simply display neutral records of people, places, and things; rather, commonplace photographs became inscribed with spiritual meaning, disclosing, not merely signifying, a power that lay beyond. Rachel McBride Lindsey demonstrates that what people beheld when they looked at a photograph had as much to do with what lay outside the frame--theological expectations, for example--as with what the camera had recorded. Whether studio portraits tucked into Bibles, postmortem portraits with locks of hair attached, "spirit" photography, stereographs of the Holy Land, or magic lanterns used in biblical instruction, photographs were curated, beheld, displayed, and valued as physical artifacts that functioned both as relics and as icons of religious practice. Lindsey's interpretation of "vernacular" as an analytic introduces a way to consider anew the cultural, social, and material reach of religion. A multimedia collaboration with MAVCOR—Center for the Study of Material & Visual Cultures of Religion—at Yale University.

John Calvin was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, including its doctrines of predestination and of God's absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation. Calvinist doctrines were influenced by and elaborated upon the Augustinian and other Christian traditions. Various Congregational, Reformed and Presbyterian churches, which look to Calvin as the chief expositor of their beliefs, have spread throughout the world. Calvin produced commentaries on most of the books of the Bible. He also wrote many letters and treatises. Calvin provided many of the foundational documents for reformed churches, including documents on the catechism, the liturgy, and church governance. He also produced several confessions of faith in order to unite the churches. Psychopannychia Institutes of the Christian Religion A Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Romans Treatise on Relics Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and the Ephesians Treatise against Anabaptist Schleitheim Confession The Secret Providence of God Commentary on Genesis Sermons on Deuteronomy The Letters

Just when she thought it was over, Michelle Andrews found herself facing more dramatic changes in her life; ones that involved a marriage request, a murder, and a four generation secret. Her friendship with Dr. Peter Driscoll was becoming more than comfortable and after getting settled in her own condo and learning how to live alone and loving it, Pete proposed. Her time as a volunteer at a Woman's Shelter opened up a whole new world of relationships creating a circle of friends that didn't know they were related, except by the appearance of a mystifying birthmark. The sudden appearance of a dead body, the collapse of a long standing business and the people involved, began to twist and turn until Michelle finds herself in the middle of a police investigation, friends in jeopardy and the answer to a long lost child. The Wall Between Us is the story of Michelle's struggle for a normal life and the simple things in that life being plagued with outrageous events.

For pastors and leaders, the possibility of living in balanced rhythms of work and rest feels elusive. Ruth Haley Barton offers hard-won wisdom regarding rhythms of Sabbath, grounds us in God's intentions in giving us the gift of sabbath, and provides practical steps for embedding Sabbath rhythms into our churches and organizations.