Politics seems to be more of “what can I do for myself,” than “what can I do for others.” With each side more entrenched in their own rightness, the public is left to wonder what is really going on and how can any of this be fixed.
In these three novels, the authors look at the different aspects of morals and ethics, to see how we can not only live but live together in peace.
Begin to learn more about not only ethics but philosophy and how they both affect politics and policies.
Commentaries are not the first book on most people’s TBR (to-be-read) pile of books. They can be thought of as dry and boring, considered useful only to professors and pastors. Yet, commentaries allow us to delve deeper into the Bible itself, by connecting with God, seeing the big picture of the Bible, themes that we may have missed, and cutting through some of the language and cultural mores we may not understand or know.
Here are some New Testament Commentaries:
Offering a compelling vision of the Christian Life; its claims transcend religion and bring politics, culture, spirituality, power, ethnicity and more into play.
Paul urges Philemon to challenge social barriers and establish new realities of conduct and fellowship. His letter is nevertheless a disturbing text that has been used to justify slavery. Though brief, the letter to Philemon requires and rewards close scrutiny.
This commentary by McKnight expounds the often-vexing letter of James both in its own context and in the context of ancient Judaism, the Greco-Roman world, and the emerging Christian faith.
Adapting the methodology of what he calls a new history of religions perspective, Holloway attends carefully to the religious topoi of Philippians, especially the metamorphic myth in chapter 2, and draws significant conclusions about Paul’s personalism and “mysticism.”
(All descriptions of books from the summary on the flap).
While Paul was the figure who started the first churches in the biblical world, many of Paul’s writings are hotly contested today. Scholarship and research fill up books, articles, and many pews as scholars to laypeople struggle with this enigma of a man. 
The task of rightly accounting for Paul’s relationship to Judaism has dominated the last forty years of Pauline scholarship. Pitre, Barber, and Kincaid argue that Paul is best viewed as a new covenant Jew, a designation that allows the apostle to be fully Jewish, yet in a manner centered on the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. This new covenant Judaism provides the key that unlocks the door to many of the difficult aspects of Pauline theology.
Paul, a New Covenant Jew is a rigorous, yet accessible overview of Pauline theology intended for ecumenical audiences. In particular, it aims to be the most useful and up to date text on Paul for Catholic Seminarians. The book engages the best recent scholarship on Paul from both Protestant and Catholic interpreters and serves as a launching point for ongoing Protestant-Catholic dialogue.
Charles Dickens, the author of A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield, was born on February 7th, 1812.
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Although a bit older than 102—his actual age would be 208—he is still one of the most important literary figures of the 21st century.
He created some of the world’s best-known characters, Mrs. Havisham, Ebenezar Scrouge, and countless others, and is regarded as one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian Era.
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens ended up leaving school to work in a factory when his father went to debtors’ prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings.
His first story The Pickwick Papers was a serial publication in 1836. Within a few years, he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humor, satire, and observation on society and character. He went on to write Oliver Twist, Dombey and Son, Bleak house, and many other works.
On June 8th, 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke, which he never regained consciousness; the next day he died.
Not only his Dickens still read to this day, but many of his stories have been adapted into movies, TV programs, musicals, and plays.
So, throw in a ha’penny, brew a cup of tea, and select one of the many Dickens books/movies in our library collection and celebrate a literary genius.
791.45 C475 COL.2 V.1-4 (Located against the West wall)
Images from Amazon.com
828.003547 G786ZR
828.003547 O484ZK
With the right instruction and support, all students can learn to read and write. That is the core belief behind this teacher-friendly handbook, a practical guide to providing comprehensive, high-quality literacy instruction to students with significant disabilities.
Drawing on decades of classroom experience, the authors present their innovative model for teaching students to read and write print in grades PreK-12 and beyond.
Readers will discover 10 success factors, teach emergent readers and writers skillfully, help students acquire conventional literacy skills, and organize and deliver comprehensive literacy instruction.
Foundational teaching principles blend with concrete strategies, step-by-step guidance, and specific activities, making this book an indispensable guide that starts with the core understandings and moves all the way to implementation in the classroom. An essential resource for educators, speech-language pathologists, and parents.
Kathryn Sloan writes that this book “transports the reader into the tantalizing world of colonial Cartagena, a vibrant and dynamic port city where sex and politics met on a daily basis. Von Germeten provocatively describes how women wielded their sexuality—switching between active and passive when necessary—as an instrument to control their conjugal relationships and impact judicial outcomes when strained to defend their honor or spiritual practices.”
Nicole von Germeten takes the reader beneath the surface of daily in a colonial city. Cartegena was an important Spanish port and the site of an Inquisition high court, a salve market, a leper colony, a military base, and a prison colony—colonial institutions that imposed order by enforcing Catholicism, cultural and religious boundaries, and prevailing race and gender hierarchies. The city was also simmering with illegal activity, from contraband trade to prostitution to heretical religious practices.
Von Germeten’s research uncovers scandalous stories drawn from archival research in inquisition cases, criminal records, wills, and other legal documents. The stories focus largely on sexual agency and honor: an insult directed as a married woman causes a deadly street battle; a young doña uses sex to manipulate a lustful, corrupt inquisitor. Scandals like these illustrate the central thesis of the book: women in colonial Cartagena de Indias took control of their own sex lives and used sex and rhetoric connected to sexuality to plead their cases when they had to negotiate with colonial bureaucrats.
For a decimated post-war West Germany, the electronic music studio at the WDR radio in Cologne was a beacon of hope. Jennifer Iverson’s Electronic Inspirations: Technologies of the Cold War Musical Avant-Garde traces the reclamation and repurposing of wartime machines, spaces, and discourses into the new sounds of the mid-century studio. In the 1950s, when technologies were plentiful and the need for reconstruction was great, West Germany began to rebuild its cultural prestige via aesthetic and technical advances. The studio’s composers, collaborating with scientists and technicians, coaxed music from sine-tone oscillators, noise generators, band-pass filters, and magnetic tape. Together, they applied core tenets from information theory and phonetics, reclaiming military communication technologies as well as fascist propaganda broadcasting spaces. The electronic studio nurtured a revolutionary synthesis of science, technology, politics, and aesthetics. Its esoteric sounds transformed mid-century music and continue to reverberate today. Electronic music–echoing both cultural anxiety and promise–is a quintessential Cold War innovation.