a unique combination of carefully researched material and breathless adventure story," Book, Bones & Buffy. LIMITED TIME SPECIAL OFFER PRICE To what lengths would the Vatican go to suppress the secret origins of its power? A renowned priest is killed in Rome. A Roman coin is recovered from a wreck off the coast of ancient Judea. It s up to a young American Jesuit priest and a vivacious, brilliant, female archaeologist to connect these seemingly disparate events and unravel the greatest mystery of all. Together they pursue their passion for truth, while fighting to control their passion for each other. What they uncover is an ancient Roman imperial stratagem so controversial the Vatican fears it could undermine the foundations of the Catholic faith. From the ancient port of Caesarea to Rome's legendary catacombs and the sacred caves of Cumae, this straight from the headlines thriller follows their quest to uncover the truth about the historical existence of the real "Christ Savior." Essential Reading for fans of Dan Brown or James Rollins."

Ever wish someone could give you a big handle on the entire Bible without years of study? Well, this book not only promises to give you that big handle—it will deliver on the promise. You should be asking, how is this possible? The Bible is one story told over and over again, with many variations on the same theme. This structure is the Bible’s DNA. This basic seven-point pattern is the heartbeat of the Creation. It is the cycle of a human day and a human life. It is the pattern of the Tabernacle. It is the process of agriculture. It undergirds the speeches and Laws of God. It orders the rise and fall of nations and empires. It is also the structure of our worship. It is the rhythm of Christ, and it will open the Bible for you like never before.

Bringing together the research of internationally renowned scholars, Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age contributes significantly to our understanding of the epoch-making artistic and cultural exchanges that took place across the Near East and Mediterranean in the early first millennium B.C. This was the world of Odysseus, in which seafaring Phoenician merchants charted new nautical trade routes and established prosperous trading posts and colonies on the shores of three continents; of kings Midas and Croesus, legendary for their wealth; and of the Hebrew Bible, whose stories are brought vividly to life by archaeological discoveries. Objects drawn from collections in the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and the United States, reproduced here in sumptuous detail, reflect the cultural encounters of diverse populations interacting through trade, travel, and migration as well as war and displacement. Together, they tell a compelling story of the origins and development of Western artistic traditions that trace their roots to the ancient Near East and across the Mediterranean world. Among the masterpieces brought together in this volume are stone reliefs that adorned the majestic palaces of ancient Assyria; expertly crafted Phonecian and Syrian bronzes and worked ivories that were stored in the treasuries of Assyria and deposited in tombs and sanctuaries in regions far to the west; and lavish personal adornments and other luxury goods, some imported and others inspired by Near Eastern craftsmanship. Accompanying texts by leading scholars position each object in cultural and historical context, weaving a narrative of crisis and conquest, worship and warfare, and epic and empire that spans both continents and millennia. Writing another chapter in the story begun in Art of the First Cities (2003) and Beyond Babylon (2008), Assyria to Iberia offers a comprehensive overview of art, diplomacy, and cultural exchange in an age of imperial and mercantile expansion in the ancient Near East and across the Mediterranean in the first millennium B.C.—the dawn of the Classical age.

The authors rush headlong into "The Matrix," exploring the trilogy's intricate details, religious undertones, and eclectic philosophies.

Dive into the world of The Matrix ahead of the 2021 release of Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections! Taking the Red Pill is a thought-provoking, mind-expanding thrill ride through The Matrix, examining the technological challenges, religious symbolism, and philosophical dilemmas the film presents. Renowned scientists, technologists, philosophers, scholars, social commentators, and science fiction authors provide engaging and provocative perspectives: • Inventor and technologist Ray Kurzweil reveals the technological trends that make The Matrix more prophetic than anyone suspects • Sun chief scientist Bill Joy’s classic essay “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” describes the horrors that await as these technologies are developed • Yale philosopher and occasional standup comic Nick Bostrom calculates the odds that we are in the Matrix • Best-selling science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer explores the history of artificial intelligence in science fiction culminating with The Matrix • Economist and philosopher of science Robin Hanson shows how we are controlled by a power as malevolent as that of the Matrix Taking the Red Pill will change how you view The Matrix—and the world around you.

The Matriarch is an epic bridging the saga of a pre-neolithic family with their descendants in modern day. The novel is composed of a number of interwoven stories across different time periods.Set in 2021, the two principal characters have genetic and behavior links to a pre-neolithic matriarchal family who find an object which brings to them a guiding monotheistic voice. Their saga spans a millennia tracing from the Crimea to the 12,000 year old temple of Gobekli Tepe at the border of modern day Turkey and Syria, the middle of the next world war in 2021. A yin-yang relationship builds in modern day between a strong determined Kurdish woman of deep faith, Zara, and an atheistic alien believing naive editor from California, Peter, whose clashes are moderated by a former Catholic priest.A series of oral traditions and family artifacts brings these three culturally and religiously diverse people together to solve the 12,000 year old mystery of an object which spawned a faith which could bring peace or destruction to their times. The principal female characters of 9600 BCE, Nanshe, and 2021, Zara, are both survivors of capture and sexual slavery by brutal patriarchal forces of their times. Nanshe¿s story follows how through faith and determination she rebuilt herself and her family from her captivity, which ultimately provides Zara a vision of her way of rebuilding herself fully in the midst of impending chaos in her world.

Develops a theory of contemporary culture that relies on displacing economic notions of cultural production with notions of cultural expenditure. This book represents an effort to rethink cultural theory from the perspective of a concept of cultural materialism, one that radically redefines postmodern formulations of the body.

Matrix Messiah lifts the lid on the subconscious matrix that most of us miss, the subliminal puppet-master of our day-to-day relationships and actions. Discover why certain people get under our skin; why we feel trapped by life; why inner peace continually eludes us. Spiritual writer, Dylan Morrison, examines the radical mission of Nazarene prophet, Yeshua bar Yosef, through the complementary lenses of Girardian mimetic theory and transpersonal psychology. The result? A key of knowledge, a long time hidden, yet deeply practical revelation that frees us from the gravitational field of interpersonal control and cultural manipulation. By exposing the roots of our individual psychic fragmentation and society's ever increasing violence, Matrix Messiah brings a much needed message of hope and reintegration, for religious and non-religious alike. A therapeutic insight into the Galilean holy man; one that will challenge the prevailing world views of Christianity, atheism and just about everything else in-between.

Subjects include formalism and its interpretation, analysis of simple systems, symmetries and invariance, methods of approximation, elements of relativistic quantum mechanics, much more. "Strongly recommended." -- "American Journal of Physics."

"Much ink and many pages have been devoted to all of the missional issues facing the Western church today. As our culture becomes more post-Christian with each passing day, we are all realizing that what has worked in the past is no longer working, that we are far less effective for the Kingdom than we were even 10 years ago. But we would suggest it isn’t because we don’t know what the Great Commission states or the imperatives of the Gospel, or that our church services just aren’t getting it done. It’s because we are in the midst of a discipleship crisis in the Western church. The people sitting in our pews are rarely becoming like the people we read about in Scripture. They may come to a worship service, join a small group or even tithe, but their lives just don’t seem to look like Jesus’ life. The truth of the matter is that we don’t have a missional problem or leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem. If we make disciples like Jesus made them, we’ll never have a problem finding leaders or seeing new people coming to faith. The central issue is that we have no idea how to make disciples who can do the things that Jesus did for the reasons Jesus did them. Building a Discipling Culture is the product of more than 25 years of hands-on discipleship practice in a post-Christian context that has turned into a worldwide discipling movement, dealing specifically with how to make the types of missional disciples Jesus spoke of. We all want to make disciples. Most of us are unsure how to do it. Dallas Willard put it this way: 'Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. One, do we have a plan for making disciples? Two, does our plan work?' For most of our church communities, we have a plan, but the plan isn’t working. If you find yourself in this situation, this book is for you." -- Publisher's description.