The book of Revelation continues to baffle and confound present-day readers. Its strange imagery and the bewildering number of interpretations of the book have left most readers paralyzed with fear. What is needed is a book that introduces the reader to the most important keys to keep in mind when interpreting the last book of the Bible. This book provides just that: it offers, explains, and illustrates five of the most crucial keys for unlocking the message of the Apocalypse. These keys grow directly out of the kind of book Revelation is and reads it as the word of God for the church. It leads the reader to take Revelation seriously as a message first addressed to seven historical churches in the first century, before reading it as the word of God for today. These five keys can instill greater confidence in understanding the book that has always been out of the reach of most readers.

The book of Revelation continues to baffle and confound present-day readers. Its strange imagery and the bewildering number of interpretations of the book have left most readers paralyzed with fear. What is needed is a book that introduces the reader to the most important keys to keep in mind when interpreting the last book of the Bible. This book provides just that: it offers, explains, and illustrates five of the most crucial keys for unlocking the message of the Apocalypse. These keys grow directly out of the kind of book Revelation is and reads it as the word of God for the church. It leads the reader to take Revelation seriously as a message first addressed to seven historical churches in the first century, before reading it as the word of God for today. These five keys can instill greater confidence in understanding the book that has always been out of the reach of most readers.

This “magnificently compelling” essay collection explores obsession, anxiety, and Existential dread from the Book of Revelation to the Liberace Museum (Minneapolis Star Tribune). The sermons of Joni Tevis’ youth filled her with dread, a sense “that an even worse story—one you hadn’t read yet—could likewise come true.” In this revelatory collection, she reckons with her childhood fears by exploring the uniquely American fascination with apocalypse. From a haunted widow’s wildly expanding mansion, to atomic test sites in the Nevada desert, her settings are often places of destruction and loss. And yet Tevis transforms these eerie destinations into sites of creation as well, uncovering powerful points of connection. Whether she’s relating her experience of motherhood or describing the timbre of Freddy Mercury’s voice in “Somebody to Love,” she relies on the same reverence for detail and sense of awe. And by anchoring her attention to the raw materials of our world—nails and beams, dirt and stone, bones and blood—she discovers grandeur in the seemingly mundane. Winner of the 2016 Firecracker Award for Creative Nonfiction Finalist for the 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize

The goal of this volume is to explore the social and political dynamics of rumor and the related concept of urban or contemporary legend. These forms of communication often appear in tandem with social problems, including riots, racial or political violence, and social and economic upheavals. The volume emphasizes the connection of rumor to a set of social concerns from government corruption and corporate scandal, to racial, religious, and other prejudices. Central to the dialogue are issues of truth, belief, history, public policy, and evidence.Rumor has been recognized as one of the most important contributing factors to violence and discrimination. Yet, despite its significance in exacerbating social discord and mistrust, little systematic scholarly attention has been paid to the political origins and consequences of rumor. Rumor is defined as a proposition for belief that is not backed by secure standards of evidence. Rumor can be traditional or not, and can be expressed as a simple claim of fact. In both instances groups of claim-makers, operating out of their own interests and with a set of resources, attempt to depict reality, and if possible, impact the future.The need for this book is underscored by changing patterns of technology. What in the past was grounded in face- to-face interaction is now often found on the Internet, which is a major source of rumor. An appreciation of how new electronic forms of communication affect communal belief is essential for explicating rumor dynamics. The volume is comprehensive. Essays cover race and ethnicity, migration and globalization, corporate malfeasance, and state and government corruption. While editors and contributors well appreciate the dynamic nature of rumors and legends, the high quality of the effort make it evident that the issues that are raised and reoccur will serve to channel and inspire research in this major field of communications research for years to come.

This book of spiritual reflections is grounded in the life and work of Robert Lax, poet, seeker, and friend and contemporary monk of Thomas Merton. These meditations continue to explore his understanding of the divine Presence in everyday life. Drawing from a wide range of scholastic and creative experiences that highlight his faith journey Georgiou imparts how life is an inner pilgrimage that ultimately leads to the treasure of the Christ, hidden in our hearts. Georgiou's interior trek began on Patmos where St. John experienced the Revelation. There Georgiou serendipitously met Lax, (1915-2000), the much-beloved poet and hermit, who became his mentor. In this book a circle of love completes itself. As Br. Patrick Hart, last secretary to Thomas Merton, makes evident: "Like his mentor, Georgiou is now a teacher whose lesson-plan focuses on agape--the highest and purest form of love."

First published in 1960, The Treasure of the Copper Scroll is the companion volume to John Marco Allegro’s People of the Dead Sea Scrolls and tells the story of this unusual, buried treasure. Allegro here reveals much hitherto unknown information – the location of many of the cities of the Old Testament, events of the second Jewish Revolt, and the relation between the Essene community at Qumran and the New Testament interest in healing. With facsimiles of the scroll, translations of its texts, and a thorough discussion of its significance, with maps indicating many of the probable present-day hiding places, the book is a truly fascinating report on this unusual document and a first long step toward the unravelling of its secrets.