This book describes what is argued to be the most effective way of doing public administration thinking. Its aim is to encourage governments to govern fundamentally better in terms of policy and administration.A better understanding of context and identities, imaginization, epistemic pluralism, anti-administration, and the context of economics are examples of what is critical for high effectiveness. The pieces included in this book have been handpicked from the vast academic collec...

Far more than a dry hagiographical account of the lives of saints, this entertaining and authoritative dictionary breathes life into its subjects and is as browsable as it is informative. First published in 1978, the Oxford Dictionary of Saints offers more than 1,700 fascinating and informative entries covering the lives, cults, and artistic associations of saints from around the world, from the famous to the obscure, the rich to the poor, and the academic to the uneducated. From ...

The bestselling Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms provides clear and concise definitions of the most troublesome literary terms, from abjection to zeugma. It is an essential reference tool for students of literature in any language. Now expanded and in its fourth edition, it includes increased coverage of new terms from modern critical and theoretical movements, such as feminism, schools of American poetry, Spanish verse forms, life writing, and...

Explore the third of the great literatures in JudaismWhile many readers may have heard of Kabbalah in recent years, how many understand the origins and unique perspective of this collection of Jewish mystical beliefs? Handed down in the oral tradition for thousands of years and transcribed in fourteenth-century Spain, the Kabbalah is the classical expression of Jewish mysticism. This collection draws from the main work of Kabbalah— Sepher ha-Zohar, or *The...

ALA Booklist ""Editor's Choice""Best Reference Book" AwardRecommended by Booklist for addition to library's core collection for general works on religion."The things Miss Manners forgot to tell us about religion."The L A. TimesThese easy-to-use guidebooks help the well-meaning guest of any other faith feel at ease, participate to the fullest extent possible, and avoid violating anyone's religious principles or hurting their feelings. Not a guid...

The Bible has been a bestseller for centuries, and we all think we know our Scriptures, but do you know why Noah built the Ark? What happened at Sodom and Gomorrah? Just how many miracles did Jesus perform? For instant revelation, this is the essential guide to the Old and New Testaments.30-Second Bible offers an insight into the meaning and significance of the Bible’s key characters and stories in half a minute each, using nothing more that two pages, 300 words and one picture. Di...

Jamgön Kongtrul’s ten-volume Treasury of Knowledge is a unique encyclopedic masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were preserved in Tibet. Tibetan Buddhist teachers expected their students to study Buddhist philosophical texts as well as practice reflection and meditation; present-day students have also realized that awakening has its source in study as well as in reflection and practice.Foundations of Buddhist Study and Practice com...

Millard C. Lind has taught the book of Ezekiel for thirty years in seminary and in the church. He skillfully opens the prophet's message about God’s presence, covenant, victorious rule, concern for the nations, and cleansing for worship and obedience. The “wheel” and “dry bones” are not just for entertainment. This actor, singer, and instrumentalist is prophesying to a battered people who need the word of the Lord for survival and mission.God has called Ezekiel to be a sentinel for...

Seder Olam is the basic text on which all historical understanding of Jewish tradition in the Talmud is based. This book is a translation with commentary of this classical text, making Seder Olam: The Rabbinic View of Biblical Chronology available to the English speaking public for the first time.The extensive commentary, by highly regarded scholar Heinrich W. Guggenheimer, explains the detailed arguments that derive a complete and consistent chronology from biblical anecdotal remar...

Organized by subject, this is a collection of teachings and quotations from the Talmud, the Bible, rabbinical commentaries, and ancient and modern religious and secular writings. Writers include Elie Wiesel, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Hebrew poet Hayim Bialik, Cynthia Ozick, Emile Zola, Albert Einstein, Bruno Bettelheim, Gertrude Stein, Irving Howe, and Maimonides. In commentary that explains why these teachings remain meaningful to Jews today, Rabbi Telushkin addresses such issues as relation...

A Guide to Biblical Commentaries and Reference Works, by John F. Evans, summarizes and briefly analyzes all recent and many older commentaries on each book of the Bible, giving insightful comments on the approach of each commentary and its interpretive usefulness especially for evangelical interpreters of the Bible.A Guide to Biblical Commentaries and Reference Works is essentially an annotated bibliography of hundreds of commentators. More scholarly books receive...