Shepherds of the Empire


Book Description

The late nineteenth century was a time of rapid industrialization, mass politicization, and modern philosophy. The resulting political and cultural upheaval confronted the German protestant church with deep questions of identity. Shepherds of the Empire engages timeless questions of identity and faith through the time-bound work of four key thinkers from the Wilhelmine period and their eventual failure to carve a middle way for the German parish clergy.




Shepherds of the Lord


Book Description

This book is the first study of the rural priesthood, its significance, and the statutes written for them in the time of the Carolingians. It seeks to trace and explain the rise and emergence in the Carolingian period of both local priests and episcopal statutes that aimed at steering their behaviour. It was in the context of Carolingian ideals of reform, formulated in court-centred circles from the late eighth century onwards, that local priests increasingly came to be seen as those that held the key to turning the local Frankish population into ideal Christians by their word and living example. First of all, however, these educators needed to be educated themselves, hence the emergence of the Episcopal statutes, a new tool to direct the local diocesan clergy into becoming the ideal 'Shepherds of the Lord' that they needed to be. Smooth as this process of empire-wide reform theoretically was, however, obstacles lurked, both from a top-down (episcopal) and a grass-roots (local) perspective on the status, role, and function of priests. Nevertheless, the ninth century saw the emergence of the priesthood and the development of their role as an important group that connected bishops with the lay inhabitants of their dioceses and, from a higher-up perspective, those who opened up the vast Carolingian country-side to the implementation of the ideal society in the minds of contemporary reformers.




The Good Shepherd


Book Description

A statuette of Egyptian King Pepi formidably wielding a shepherd's crook stands in stark contrast to a fresco of an unassuming Orpheus-like youth gently hoisting a sheep around his shoulders. Both images, however, occupy an extensive tradition of shepherding motifs. In the transition from ancient Near Eastern depictions of the keeper of flocks as one holding great power to the more "pastoral" scenes of early Christian art, it might appear that connotations of rulership were divested from the image of the shepherd. The reality, however, presents a much more complex tapestry. The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power traces the visual and textual depictions of the Good Shepherd motif from its early iterations as a potent symbol of kingship, through its reimagining in biblical figures, such as the shepherd-king David, and onward to the shepherds of Greco-Roman literature. Jennifer Awes Freeman reveals that the figure of the Good Shepherd never became humble or docile but always carried connotations of empire, divinity, and defensive violence even within varied sociopolitical contexts. The early Christian invocation of the Good Shepherd was not simply anti-imperial but relied on a complex set of associations that included king, priest, pastor, and sacrificial victim--even as it subverted those meanings in the figure of Jesus, both shepherd and sacrificial lamb. The concept of the Good Shepherd continued to prove useful for early medieval rulers, such as Charlemagne, but its imperial references waned in the later Middle Ages as it became more exclusively applied to church leaders. Drawing on a range of sources including literature, theological treatises, and political texts, as well as sculpture, mosaics, and manuscript illuminations, The Good Shepherd offers a significant contribution as the first comprehensive study of the long history of the Good Shepherd motif. It also engages the flexible and multivalent abilities of visual and textual symbols to convey multiple meanings in religious and political contexts.




Israel's Only Shepherd


Book Description

A comparison of the shepherd metaphor in Matthew's Gospel with its use in early Jewish, Christian, and Graeco-Roman writings, shedding light on Matthew's socio-religious location.




An Empire of Women


Book Description

The three generations of Arneaux women have never gotten along. Now they must unite, to decide the fate of their temporary charge, a displaced six-year-old Chinese girl. But to do so, they'll have to come to terms with the lies they have told themselves... "Delicate yet searing...Shepard has ably portrayed how obsession with female beauty can disfigure not only families and individuals, but cultures and governments." (New York Times Book Review) "Intricate and intriguing." (New York Daily News) "A bravura performance." (Rosellen Brown) "Plainspoken and direct, yet rich in complexities, the story...raises a host of compelling questions about heritage and family, and more than a few about contemporary art." (Publishers Weekly) "An exhilarating debut." (Margot Livesey) "Not since Virginia Woolf have the snares and scars of familial relationships been rendered with such brilliance." (Ron Hansen)




The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500-1492


Book Description

Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled 'emperors of the Romans'. It underwent kaleidoscopic territorial and structural changes, yet recovered repeatedly from disaster: even after the near-impregnable Constantinople fell in 1204, variant forms of the empire reconstituted themselves. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500-1492 tells the story, tracing political and military events, religious controversies and economic change. It offers clear, authoritative chapters on the main events and periods, with more detailed chapters on outlying regions and neighbouring societies and powers of Byzantium. With aids such as maps, a glossary, an alternative place-name table and references to English translations of sources, it will be valuable as an introduction. However, it also offers stimulating new approaches and important findings, making it essential reading for postgraduates and for specialists. The revised paperback edition contains a new preface by the editor and will offer an invaluable companion to survey courses in Byzantine history.




Shepherd's Empire


Book Description




Atlantis


Book Description

Long known as the classic work on the study of Atlantis, the author puts forth the idea that this was the true place where civilization began.This one book has done more than any other in promoting the idea for the lost continent of Atlantis.




Shepherds


Book Description

How does God manage his entire creation? Has he had a plan, a theme, a metanarrative or something else which he follows that gives a unity to all of his efforts? Shepherds describes the relationship between the Creator and his creation, a relationship that is structurally integrated by the very core of who God is. There is a design within creation that radiates from his personal, unique being. What God created and how he manages it is a marvelous extension of who he is and how he acts. This relationship between God and his creation is not patterned only on his essence or being, but on his powerful and loving will and acts. Rather than a literary grid to which "theme" and "metanarrative" attempt to subject God's relationship with humanity, Shepherds recognizes that all of creation bears the eternal design emanating from God's very nature. Scripture is not a "story" about Israel or the church; it is not simply a story of redemption; it is a window into the eternal design by which God created reality and will eternally sustain that creation.




Empire in the New Testament


Book Description

How does a Christian render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's? This book is the result of the Bingham Colloquium of 2007 that brought scholars from across North America to examine the New Testament's response to the empires of God and Caesar. Two chapters lay the foundation for that response in the Old Testament's concept of empire, and six others address the response to the notion of empire, both human and divine, in the various authors of the New Testament. A final chapter investigates how the church fathers regarded the matter. The essays display various methods and positions; together, however, they offer a representative sample of the current state of study of the notion of empire in the New Testament.