Amanda Childs, Attorney at Law, also moonlights as parish organist at St. Catherines Episcopal Church, Mainville. A widow, she lost her husband Andrew, an FBI agent, four years ago when he was mysteriously killed. The details of his death were never disclosed by the authorities. Amanda has never remarried. Instead, Amanda has thrown herself into her law practice, as well as immersed herself in the musical and church activities in the small town of Mainville. Her dear friend and constant companion is Marjorie Witherspoon, an older and wealthy woman who lost her husband and daughter, Amandas best friend, in an automobile accident fifteen years earlier. Together they are active in church and community activities. Amandas friend Marjy succumbs in a valiant fight against cancer. Amanda finds herself again alone and struggling with her grief and loneliness. In the aftermath of Marjys death, Amanda discovers herself suddenly named in Marjories new will as trustee for several large projects on behalf of the church, and as residuary legatee, the estate being in excess of fifty million dollars. The day of the memorial service, the Bishop, Stephen Marks, who is celebrating the Eucharist, is handed a letter from Marjorie Witherspoon, to whom he was engaged years ago. He staggers out of church during the service, and suffers a heart attack. Amanda finds him, and her intervention helps save his life. Later at the wake Amanda becomes violently ill and passes out. There are some rumblings in the community that she is actually a closet alcoholic and pill addict. The day after the memorial service, Amanda is visited by an auditor from the Presiding Bishop, who is investigating unexplained disappearances of monies from the diocese and church, the vehicle seemingly through the recital series fund she and Marjorie had set up. Suspicion turns to Amanda, as allegations are made that she has unduly influenced Marjorie Witherspoon in order to inherit, as well as that she has set up a corporation for the embezzlement of funds from the church. Amanda finds herself embroiled in possible scandal and criminal investigation, as Connor Thomson, the auditor retained by the Presiding Bishops office, continues to encounter and engage her in his search for evidence. Her close childhood friend Bill Barnes, another attorney from an old established family in town, a perennial playboy and recent widower, reappears at her side, trying to seduce her into marriage. Amanda is faced with a dilemma of who to trust as she is mired in suspicion and the evidence of fraud points to her. Mysterious incidents threaten her life and keep her on edge. In the meantime she must fend off the accusations of Connor Thomson and the advances of Bill Barnes, while making arrangements to get away to New York to see Malachi Feinstein, the attorney handling Marjories estate, who urges her to meet with him without delay. As Amanda is drawn more and more into danger, she is unaware that the small-town secrets regarding her and those she has loved, events about which she has been in the dark, are about to be revealed.

This book explores in unprecedented detail the theological thinking of John Witherspoon during his often overlooked ministerial career in Scotland. In contrast to the arguments made by other historians, it shows that there was considerable continuity of thought between Witherspoon’s Scottish ministry and the second half of his career as one of America’s Founding Fathers. The book argues that Witherspoon cannot be properly understood until he is seen as not only engaged with the Enlightenment, but also firmly grounded in the Calvinist tradition of High to Late Orthodoxy, embedded in the transatlantic Evangelical Awakening of the eighteenth century, and frustrated by the state of religion in the Scottish Kirk. Alongside the titles of pastor, president, educator, philosopher, should be a new category: John Witherspoon as Reformed apologist. This is a fresh re-examination of the intellectual formation of one of Scotland’s most important churchman from the eighteenth century and one of America’s most influential early figures. The volume will be of keen interest to academics working in Religious History, American Religion, Reformed Theology and Calvinism, as well as Scottish and American history more generally.

This is a story of religious and democratic covenants and controversies in the foundations of America and in the soul of its colleges and universities. Coinciding entangled democratic beliefs and convictions distinctly define the American body politic and are in the foundation of the nation and its colleges and universities.

Reese Witherspoon is an American actress, producer, and entrepreneur who rose to fame in the 1990s with her roles in films such as "Man in the Moon" and "Pleasantville." Witherspoon has since become one of Hollywood's leading ladies, winning numerous awards for her performances in films like "Walk the Line" and "Wild." In addition to her successful acting career, Witherspoon is also a savvy businesswoman, founding the production company Hello Sunshine and launching an online book club called Reese's Book Club. Witherspoon's personal life has also garnered attention over the years. She has been married twice, first to actor Ryan Phillippe, with whom she has two children, and currently to talent agent Jim Toth, with whom she has one child. Witherspoon has also been open about her experiences with sexism in Hollywood and has become a vocal advocate for equal pay and opportunities for women in the industry.

In 1768, John Witherspoon, Presbyterian leader of the evangelical Popular party faction in the Scottish Kirk, became the College of New Jersey's sixth president. At Princeton, he mentored constitutional architect James Madison; as a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress, he was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. Although Witherspoon is often thought to be the chief conduit of moral sense philosophy in America, Mailer's comprehensive analysis of this founding father's writings demonstrates the resilience of his evangelical beliefs. Witherspoon's Presbyterian evangelicalism competed with, combined with, and even superseded the civic influence of Scottish Enlightenment thought in the British Atlantic world. John Witherspoon's American Revolution examines the connection between patriot discourse and long-standing debates--already central to the 1707 Act of Union--about the relationship among piety, moral philosophy, and political unionism. In Witherspoon's mind, Americans became different from other British subjects because more of them had been awakened to the sin they shared with all people. Paradoxically, acute consciousness of their moral depravity legitimized their move to independence by making it a concerted moral action urged by the Holy Spirit. Mailer's exploration of Witherspoon's thought and influence suggests that, for the founders in his circle, civic virtue rested on personal religious awakening.

A leading African-American historian of race in America exposes the uncomfortable truths about race, slavery and the American academy, revealing that our leading universities, dependent on human bondage, became breeding grounds for the racist ideas that sustained it.

Despite of many years of studies, predicting fluid flow, heat, and chemical transport in fractured-porous media remains a challenge for scientists and engineers worldwide. This monograph is the third in a series on the dynamics of fluids and transport in fractured rock published by the American Geophysical Union (Geophysical Monograph Series, Vol. 162, 2005; and Geophysical Monograph, No. 122, 2000). This monograph is dedicated to the late Dr. Paul Witherspoon for his seminal influence on the development of ideas and methodologies and the birth of contemporary fractured rock hydrogeology, including such fundamental and applied problems as environmental remediation; exploitation of oil, gas, and geothermal resources; disposal of spent nuclear fuel; and geotechnical engineering. This monograph addresses fundamental and applied scientific questions and is intended to assist scientists and practitioners bridge gaps in the current scientific knowledge in the areas of theoretical fluids dynamics, field measurements, and experiments for different practical applications. Readers of this book will include researchers, engineers, and professionals within academia, Federal agencies, and industry, as well as graduate/undergraduate students involved in theoretical, experimental, and numerical modeling studies of fluid dynamics and reactive chemical transport in the unsaturated and saturated zones, including studies pertaining to petroleum and geothermal reservoirs, environmental management and remediation, mining, gas storage, and radioactive waste isolation in underground repositories. Volume highlights include discussions of the following: Fundamentals of using a complex systems approach to describe flow and transport in fractured-porous media. Methods of Field Measurements and Experiments Collective behavior and emergent properties of complex fractured rock systems Connection to the surrounding environment Multi-disciplinary research for different applications