This detailed history offers the most comprehensive account available of Tibetan nationalism, Sino-Tibetan relations, and the issue of Tibetan self-determination. Warren Smith explores Tibet's ethnic and national origins, the birth of the Tibetan state, the Buddhist state and its relations with China, Tibet's quest for independence, and the Chinese takeover of Tibet after 1950. Focusing especially on post-1950 Tibet under Chinese Communist rule, Smith analyzes Marxist-Leninist and Chinese ...

This is a WW II Navy story with adult adventure. It has exciting action involving U-boat attacks, including the actions of their crews; and the hero’s crew repelling Nazi air attacks. They survive the sinking of one ship in the arctic and the bombing of the next ship. There is discreet sex and true romance plus the hero’s meteoric rise through the ranks. The hero marries in early 1945 and his bride takes on an endearing active role. There is wartime sailor language in that vernacular.&nbsp...

A series of Great earthquakes destroys all infrastructures in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico over a seven-minute period. The endless shaking and subsequent coastal tsunamis take millions of lives approaching an apocalypse. Within these stories one lives through the adventures of some of the survivors, their terror and the sad demise of others. These tales occur over wide areas on both sides of the Mexican border as seen on the ground, in the air, and just offshore. T...

An essential guide for understanding early Christian doctrineThe history of Christian theology is often presented as a series of conflicts between orthodox believers and heretics. But such an approach can be reductive, especially if the conflicts are presented primarily as contests for power. J. Warren Smith's Early Christian Theology offers a more nuanced account of these theological disputes. Smith explains the development of Christian theology in terms ...

It's easy to get discouraged by the headlines. It can often feel as if God has left the building, like we are on our own. We want to believe God's promises to us, and we search for signs of his continuing restoration of the world in which we live. Now, with passion and heart, two leading experts on Christianity and culture cut through the chaos and uncertainty to show readers how God is powerfully active and intensely engaged in fulfilling his promise to restore all things unto himself. Th...

Since Aristotle, the concept of the magnanimous or great-souled man was employed by philosophers of antiquity to describe individuals who attained the highest degree of virtue. Greatness of soul (magnitudo animi or magnanimitas) was part of the language of Classical and Hellenistic virtue theory central to the education of Ambrose and Augustine. Yet as bishops they were conscious of fundamental differences between Christian and pagan visions of virtue. Greatness of soul could not be approp...

We have all had the experience of being at church and hearing the pastor say, "And now with the confidence of children we are bold to pray, 'Our Father . . .'" but before we know it we are saying "for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." In the very moment of intimacy when we are given the privilege of entering the presence of our heavenly Father, our minds have drifted off. We speak the words of the prayer, not from our hearts, but from the autopilot of memo...

From the day we are born, life is teaching us lessons. Whether it is how we navigate our physical environment or our socio-cultural surround, we are constantly trying to make sense of our reality by listening to these life lessons. Yet while many of life’s lessons reinforce our reality, every so often life’s lessons present us with a curious idea—that everything out there, our reality, may not be as “real” as it seems.A Theory of Nothing: How Is the Finite Reality Created from the ...

In his writings and his career Gregory of Nyssa assumes many roles. He is a Christian Platonist, a spiritual guide for ascetics and those seeking the vision of God, as well as one of those who shaped the Trinitarian doctrine of God espoused at Constantinople in 381. But he is also a popular preacher and, paradoxically, someone unafraid of deeper speculations regarding the meaning of the Christian ideal. The translations in Part One illustrate these various concerns, but are not a sufficien...

Nine-year-old Katie Jordan’s story began with the well-reviewed Turkey Monster Thanksgiving, Tails of Spring Break, and Bittersweet Summer (published by Albert Whitman & Co.).Katie’s latest GREAT IDEA is to showcase her dog Lucy in a neighborhood talent show. But when Lucy forgets her spectacular roll-over trick, the show is in trouble. Katie doesn’t give up, however, and is joined in the project by her forever friend Sierra and her sometime friend Claire. Planning the show takes o...

Mongolian Empire, 14th Century. Two horse-riding children, Alexandria (Aleks), and her brother Yury, travel to the Great Wall of China for the first time. Although their father warns them to keep away, they disobey him and become friends with the young people on the other side of the wall. In this strange land they learn to their horror that their peaceful existence is about to be shattered. War between the two countries seems inevitable. There has been a history of fighting, but what can ...

"This book isn't merely for debaters or even truth seekers. It is for all of us. A Mind of Your Own is a blueprint for authenticity and a sovereign mind."—from the Foreword by PETER BOGHOSSIAN, coauthor of How to Have Impossible ConversationsA Mind of Your Own reveals a simple but transformative truth: Logic is a skill, but most people have never been taught how to use it. This book is more than memorizing facts o...