There has never been a more important time for a study of the social, economic and political origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, three important world religions which share a common root. This book takes as its starting point the idea that gods, angels, miracles and other supernatural phenomena do not exist in the real world and therefore cannot explain the origins of these faiths. It looks instead at the material conditions at appropriate periods in antiquity and the social and ec...

There has never been a more important time for a study of the social, economic, and political origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three important world religions that share a common root. This book adopts a Marxist, that is a materialist, view of human development, so it takes as its starting point the idea that gods, angels, miracles, and other supernatural phenomena do not exist in the real world and therefore cannot be taken as explanations for the origin and rise of these ...

Trust the best-selling Official Cert Guide series from Cisco Press to help you learn, prepare, and practice for the Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) IT Support 100-140 exam. Well regarded for its level of detail, study plans, assessment features, and challenging review questions and exercises, Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) IT Support 100-140 Official Cert Guide helps you master the concepts and techniques that ensure your exam success and is the only self-stud...

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102) Exam Cram is an all-inclusive study guide designed to help you pass the updated versions of the CompTIA A+ exams. Prepare for test day success with complete coverage of exam objectives and topics, plus hundreds of realistic practice questions. Extensive prep tools include quizzes, Exam Alerts, and our essential last-minute review CramSheet. The powerful Pearson Test Prep practice test software provides real-time assessment and fee...

Salvatore d’Amato is determined to get a kiss before his birthday – easier said than done. From the bestselling and much-loved Jean Ure.No child is ever ordinary, and certainly not Salvatore d’Amato – or Sally Tomato, as he’s sometimes called. He’s out to get a girl and he has a plan: he’s going to write some Disgusting Ditties – one for each letter of the alphabet, and start some secret body-building, too. That way he’s bound to attract someone. (But he doesn’t want his sister to ...

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER'A stunning blockbuster' Robert Fisk'A brilliant tour de force of revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling' Simon Sebag Montefiore'A compelling detective story of the highest order' Sunday Times'Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour, the individuals and animation of the past' Independen...

It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds.It spans the millennia and the continents – from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It takes you to unimagined places: to a Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia; a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings; the palm groves of the Jewish dead in the R...

In this magnificently illustrated cultural history—the tie-in to the PBS and BBC series The Story of the Jews—Simon Schama details the story of the Jewish experience, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492.It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds.This epic of world histo...

The New York Times bestselling history of early Christianity in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—from "one of America's best scholars of religion" ( The Economist).In this groundbreaking book, renowned scholar Philip Jenkins explores a vast and forgotten network of the world's largest and most influential Christian churches that existed to the east of the Roman Empire. These churches and their leaders ruled the Middle East for centuries and became...

Venerated for millennia by three faiths, torn by irreconcilable conflict, conquered, rebuilt, and mourned for again and again, Jerusalem is a sacred city whose very sacredness has engendered terrible tragedy. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly praised A History of God, traces the history of how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all laid claim to Jerusalem as their holy place, and how three radically different concepts of holiness have shaped and scarred the ...

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves 20 miles east of Jerusalem in 1947 and 1956. Now Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, co-authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, have succeeded in uncovering what has been described as 'the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century': the story of how and why up to 75 per cent of the eight hundred ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, hidden for some nineteen centuries, have, until very recently, remained concealed from ...

The bestselling author uncovers fundamentalists of all religions who are setting much of the world's political agenda in their race toward the end times.In Racing Toward Armageddon, Michael Baigent, the New York Times–bestselling author of The Jesus Papers and Holy Blood, Holy Grail, exposes the conspiracy of religious extremists in the Holy Land and their efforts to bring about the end of the world in our lifetime. Baigent warns ...