Now a highly politicised medium, this book of prison literature collects a lively array of selections from the earliest recorded convict autobiographies, examining crimes, arrests and convictions, punishments inflicted, survival techniques and spiritual awakenings. Hard labour in coal mines, whippings, solitary confinement in bare unheated cells, water torture and iron maidens were just a few of the punishments meted out to these prisoners and vividly recounted in these selections.

A brilliant portrait of Jewish culture in the first century rediscovers the common people in the time of Jesus, and contains a fresh evaluation of Jesus' relation to this complex society.

A comprehensive and rigorous introduction for graduate students and researchers, with applications in sequential decision-making problems.

Explore the Natchez Trace along with a bandit who strives to trade his scandalous past for a respectable future with an innkeeper's daughter.

As the first installment in the Heroes of Promise Series, The Legend of Gid the Kid and the Black Bean Bandits introduces children to the concept of trusting God, dealing with bullies, and standing up for what's right even when it isn't easy or popular. Based on the biblical story of Gideon in Judges 5-7, Gid the Kid takes kids on an exciting ride with Gid and his posse of a few good men as they face the bandits in a showdown that saves the quirky little town.

A Lesson in Doing Your Best All the residents of Bumblyburg are feeling lazy. Can LarryBoy save the day or will the Bubblegum Bandit take over Bumblyburg? This is a Level One I Can Read! book, which means it’s perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences. It aligns with guided reading level J and will be of interest to children Pre-K to 3rd grade.

Mila and her younger brother Evan are ready for bed and about to choose a bedtime story from their bookshelf. But WAIT! The bookshelf is completely empty! Not one book in sight! Had they simply vanished? Were they stolen? If so, by who? Was it the reclusive Raccoon, the sneaky Snake, or could it be the grumpy Grizzly Bear? Join them on their adventure as they travel through enchanted forests, over icy mountains and across moonlit lakes to solve the Mystery of the Missing Books!

Twelve-year-old Winnie Willis has a way with horses. Along with her dad and sister, Winnie is learning how to live without her mom, who was also a natural horse gentler. As Winnie teaches her horses about uncondi-tional love and trust, God shows Winnie that he can be trusted as well. Readers will be hooked on the series' vivid characters, whose quirky personalities fill Winnie's life with friendship and adventure. #8: Buckskin Bandit—When a buckskin disappears from the rundown Happy Trails stable, Winnie and her friend Kaylee set out to investigate—and discover that God gives them strength to choose joy over selfishness.

The story of the so-called Good Thief as found in Lc 23, 39-43 has a vibrant and diverse afterlife in early Christianity. Synoptic and eschatological disparities raise concerns and provoke a variety of harmonizations. Controversies notwithstanding, early interpreters occupy themselves most of all with the episode's potential for exhortation as they identify themselves and their hearers with the good bandit. He becomes a model of Christian practices, beliefs and virtues including worship, faith (even Nicea's formulation), justification by faith, conversion, catechesis, confession, martyrdom, baptism (in many modes), endurance, asceticism, simplicity of language, penitence, and last-minute salvation. A wide variety of typological readings fashion the bandit as the first to return to paradise and even a key participant in the pivotal moment of salvation-history. By around the late 4th century, the episode becomes a standard Good Friday lectionary reading and sermon topic in the East.