Questioning Christian teaching and the problem of evil, this book examines the origins of Christian belief, claiming that the Roman Church abandoned its spiritual mission in pursuit of power. The underlying message is one of hope, for anyone interested in regaining a sense of spiritual purpose.

When did patriarchy start and why? What explanation did the major world religions offer for women's inferiority? How have their beliefs and scriptures influenced women's lives in different parts of the world where they are the dominant faith? Gender and Religion, 2nd Edition investigates the statement that the major world religions consider women to be inferior to men by reviewing the religious tracts and laws relating to women. Presenting the socio-political context in which these ideas developed, Barbara Crandall reveals that none of them invented the concept, but accepted it as the custom of human society where and when each began. Using material on the history of patriarchy and up-to-date discussions of women's achievements, the book explores the way gender issues are addressed in the various sacred texts impacting upon women's education, employment, property and inheritance rights, franchise and participation in government, marriages, rights to their children, practice of religion, and control of their own bodies.

A groundbreaking argument for recovering Jesus for Christian ethics.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.