In a future so distant that time is almost without meaning, death is defeated and immortality has been made reality through instantaneous cloning and synaptic transfer. Mankind, frustrated by the futility of timeless existence, chooses extinction. All but one man. Far removed from the known universe with only one companion, an AI named Qod, Salem Ben watches the cosmos from afar and relives the digitally reproduced lives of countless souls archived in the Soul Consortium by means of a neuroimmersive device. He hopes to discover the answer to the ultimate question: What lies beyond? But at the birth of the next universe, billions of years before the pattern of life repeats its design, Salem’s quest takes a disturbing turn. Unexplained aberrations appear among the digital souls. To hunt down their source and to continue his search for evidence of life after death, Salem endures four very different lives: Orson Roth, a serial killer in 20th-century Britain; Dominique Mancini, a spiritual medium from 16th-century Lombardy; Plantagenet Soome, a monk sent to the distant Castor’s World; and Queen Oluvia Wade, the creator of the Soul Consortium. As the mystery unfolds, Salem is confronted by a malevolent entity which threatens the future of humanity before it can begin again—and only Salem stands in the way of it breaking free.

A lively and controversial overview by the nation's most celebrated First Amendment lawyer of the unique protections for freedom of speech in America The right of Americans to voice their beliefs without government approval or oversight is protected under what may well be the most honored and least understood addendum to the US Constitution--the First Amendment. Floyd Abrams, a noted lawyer and award-winning legal scholar specializing in First Amendment issues, examines the degree to which American law protects free speech more often, more intensely, and more controversially than is the case anywhere else in the world, including democratic nations such as Canada and England. In this lively, powerful, and provocative work, the author addresses legal issues from the adoption of the Bill of Rights through recent cases such as Citizens United. He also examines the repeated conflicts between claims of free speech and those of national security occasioned by the publication of classified material such as was contained in the Pentagon Papers and was made public by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden.

There is an open wound in the heart of the Cosmos. A wound that tears at the flesh of reality, drawing powerful and malign aberrations from an unknowable realm. Salem Ben stopped the first, but more are coming, and now he must solve the riddle of their purpose if he is to prevent an all-out invasion. Only by living the digitally reproduced lives of three individuals will Salem find the solution: Diabolis Evomere, a tortured but enlightened prisoner in ancient Babylon; Clifford Arken-Bright, a twentieth-century physicist who has uncovered a terrible secret in the quantum world, and Silicant 5, a refugee of the Great AI seeking to understand its hatred of humanity.

It’s all fun and games until someone breaks out the needles. It was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission. Go in, grab the bespelled package of evidence against some very corrupt superpowers, and get out. The mission turns sideways when a vengeful spy Bix blackballed during her time in Dark Ops crashes the job and injects Bix’s teammates with an unknown toxin. Succumbing to a horrific mutation, the dying spook whispers the Mayday protocol for a compromised covert operation involving a biological weapon. With her friends infected and sequestered in quarantine, a mole inside the spy guild exposing its undercover agents, and the brightest minds in the Mid Worlds unable to identify the biologic, Bix picks up the mission to find the creators and the cure. She’ll square off against Fates, dragons, angels, and even the god of plagues to save her friends; yet the greatest threat might well be the darkness growing within Bix and the evil on which it feeds. Beware the plagued spy, for wrath and ruin are sure to follow…

While he is more commonly known for his Trinitiarian works and theology, this study assesses mid-fourth-century bishop Hilary of Poitiers' view of the human condition. Isabella Image shows that the Commentary on Psalm 118 is more closely related to Origen's than previously thought. Image explains how his articulations of sin, body and soul, the Fall and the will all parallel or echo Origen's views in this work, but not necessarily in his Matthew Commentary. Hilary has a doctrine of original sin ('sins of our origin', peccata originis), which differs from the individual personal sins and for which we are individually accountable. He also articulates a fallen will which is in thrall to disobedience and needs God's help, something God always gives as long as we show the initiative. Hilary's idea of the fallen will may have developed in tangent with Origen's thought, which uses Stoic ideas on the process of human action in order to articulate the constraints on purely rational responses. Hilary in turn influences Augustine, who writes against the Pelagian bishop Julian of Eclanum citing Hilary as an example of an earlier writer with original sin. Since Hilary is known to have used Origen's work, and Augustine is known to have used Hilary's, Hilary appears to be one of the stepping-stones between these two great giants of the early church as the doctrines of original sin and the fallen will developed. The Human Condition in Hilary of Poitiers not only identifies Hilary's anthropological thought, but also places it in the current of theological development of the fourth century. It considers reception of Origen in the mid-fourth century, before the criticisms of Epiphanius and the debates in the Egyptian monastic communities. This work also contributes to understanding of the tradition from which Augustine received his doctrine of original sin.

Embodiment--defined as having, being in, or being associated with a body--is a feature of the existence of many entities, perhaps even of all entities. Why entities should find themselves in this condition is the central concern of the present volume. The problem includes, but also goes beyond, the philosophical problem of body: that is, what the essence of a body is, and how, if at all, it differs from matter. On some understandings there may exist bodies, such as stones or asteroids, that are not the bodies of any particular subjects. To speak of embodiment by contrast is always to speak of a subject that variously inhabits, or captains, or is coextensive with, or even is imprisoned within, a body. The subject may in the end be identical to, or an emergent product of, the body. That is, a materialist account of embodied subjects may be the correct one. But insofar as there is a philosophical problem of embodiment, the identity of the embodied subject with the body stands in need of an argument and cannot simply be assumed. The reasons, nature, and consequences of the embodiment of subjects as conceived in the long history of philosophy in Europe as well as in the broader Mediterranean region and in South and East Asia, with forays into religion, art, medicine, and other domains of culture, form the focus of these essays. More precisely, the contributors to this volume shine light on a number of questions that have driven reflection on embodiment throughout the history of philosophy. What is the historical and conceptual relationship between the idea of embodiment and the idea of subjecthood? Am I who I am principally in virtue of the fact that I have the body I have? Relatedly, what is the relationship of embodiment to being and to individuality? Is embodiment a necessary condition of being? Of being an individual? What are the theological dimensions of embodiment? To what extent has the concept of embodiment been deployed in the history of philosophy to contrast the created world with the state of existence enjoyed by God? What are the normative dimensions of theories of embodiment? To what extent is the problem of embodiment a distinctly western preoccupation? Is it the result of a particular local and contingent history, or does it impose itself as a universal problem, wherever and whenever human beings begin to reflect on the conditions of their existence? Ultimately, to what extent can natural science help us to resolve philosophical questions about embodiment, many of which are vastly older than the particular scientific research programs we now believe to hold the greatest promise for revealing to us the bodily basis, or the ultimate physical causes, of who we really are?

This is a story of war and peace. It may have been the greatest crime of the century after the Bolshevik coup and Russian Revolution and the murder of the Russian Romanov Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five young children: four Grand Duchesses Olga, Anastasia, Tatiana, Marie and the Tsarevich, Alexis. It is our story. And I want to share it with you now because it is your story too.

An electrifying book about Myron Montgomery. He is the creator of the world renowned ‘Harlem Shake.’ Endearing secrets he learned from his mom he calls ‘Barbara Jean’s Pearls of Wisdom. Marvelous stories of his exciting optimistic journey will entertain everyone. How he landed a famous spot center stage on the iconic Soul Train TV series at 15 years old, enjoy his18 fascinating years. His captivating adventures in high-end Real estate leasing, working for the rich & famous, powerful, and royalty. Working, producing, and recording in exotic countries. Cover acts success, shopping sprees fit for a king. Magical stories in every chapter will leave you gasping for more as you embark on this great dancer’s enchanting life. In addition he captures some behind-the-scenes dirt that is also hilarious on and off the tracks of the hippest trip in America, Soul Train. A special adorable look at the shows iconic creator Don Cornelius who was like an uncle to Myron. Myron was always invited to Don’s exclusive star studded elegant celebrations. Enjoy his celebrity close friendships, and beach front exquisite adventures. Don’t miss this must read!

Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.

Peter Chrysologus is the first book to offer an introduction to the life of Peter Chrysologus and a selection of his most important sermons in translation, as well as his letter to Eutyches. Bishop Peter of Ravenna preached before the imperial family for nearly two decades (c. 430-450) after the imperial capital was moved to Peter’s See of Ravenna in 402 by Emperor Honorius. With the Empire’s elite directly before him, Peter also had the problems of 5th century Monophysitism behind him. As such, his homilies stress the incarnate Christ’s ability to change lives by reuniting mortal humans with their life-giving God. The thorough introduction explores the figure of Peter, beginning with the obscure biographies telling of his early life, to his becoming Metropolitan of Ravenna, situating his elevation in the wider socio-political context of the powerful court of Valentinian III and the 5th century Roman West. It also looks at the significant influence his legacy had on future generations. Translated into a modern idiom, this collection of sermons makes the preaching and pastoral wisdom of this key figure accessible to modern readers. It is an invaluable tool for anyone working on early Christian theology and the Early Church, as well as students of Late Antiquity and the Western Empire.