Serpent's Gift


Book Description

The lives of two African-American families who unite after a breadwinner dies. A son becomes a writer of folk stories and oral history, and it is he who provides the novel with its social and historical content.




The Serpent's Gift


Book Description

“Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.” With those words in Genesis, God condemns the serpent for tempting Adam and Eve, and the serpent has shouldered the blame ever since. But how would the study of religion change if we looked at the Fall from the snake’s point of view? Would he appear as a bringer of wisdom, more generous than the God who wishes to keep his creation ignorant? Inspired by the early Gnostics who took that startling view, Jeffrey J. Kripal uses the serpent as a starting point for a groundbreaking reconsideration of religious studies and its methods. In a series of related essays, he moves beyond both rational and faith-based approaches to religion, exploring the erotics of the gospels and the sexualities of Jesus, John, and Mary Magdalene. He considers Feuerbach’s Gnosticism, the untapped mystical potential of comparative religion, and even the modern mythology of the X-Men. Ultimately, The Serpent’s Gift is a provocative call for a complete reorientation of religious studies, aimed at a larger understanding of the world, the self, and the divine.




The Serpent's Gift


Book Description

Justin Grant, a professor at a Chris an based college in the Midwest is struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife and child. During a leave of absence he is hiking through the mountains near a friend's cabin in Kentucky. He looks up and watches as a man slowly floats towards the ground. He blinks then thinks; "Where is the parachute? Is that a halo?" Thoughts vanish as the man plummets the last hundred feet to the ground. Justin runs to where the broken man lies, carries him to the cabin, and soon finds out that the man recuperating on his sofa is not of this world. As the stranger's wounds heal, Justin and the man he now knows as Sandel talk of many things, and Justin finds that he likes this mysterious man. As Justin listens, the story his new friend tells threatens to shatter everything Justin has ever known and in me uncovers the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against mankind. Ernest Gibson lives in the Midwest, far enough away from a major city to enjoy small town living. Ernest is a graduate of Purdue University. He is a re red designer in the auto industry, he works part me in an electronics store only because his family, a er he spent a year and a half at home, told him to get his ass out of the house and do something. He is a lifelong seeker of knowledge and truth, and strives to help others do the same. The one thing that he finds most abhorrent is a closed mind. He has never grown out of the enjoyment of the playing the game of "What If." A er reading this book you will see that the "What Ifs" went crazy. It is a er all what brought this book to life.




The Serpent Gift


Book Description

Originally published in Danish under the title: Slangens gave.




The Book of Mysteries


Book Description

New York Times Best Seller! 1500 5-Star Reviews! From the author that brought you NEW YORK TIMES best selling books The Harbinger, The Mystery of the Shemitah, and The Paradigm selling over 3 MILLION copies Imagine if you discovered a treasure chest in which were hidden ancient mysteries, revelations from heaven, secrets of the ages, the answers to man’s most enduring, age-old questions, and the hidden keys that can transform your life to joy, success, and blessing…This is The Book of Mysteries.




The Shamer’s Daughter


Book Description

The first step into the thrilling middlegrade fantasy world of The Shamer Chronicles Dina has unwillingly inherited her mother's gift: the ability to elicit shamed confessions simply by looking into someone's eyes. To Dina, however, these powers are not a gift but a curse. Surrounded by fear and hostility, she longs for simple friendship. But when her mother is called to Dunark Castle to uncover the truth about a bloody triple murder, Dina must come to terms with her power - or let her mother fall prey to the vicious and revolting dragons of Dunark.




Zahhak the Legend of the Serpent King


Book Description

For the first time ever, a tale from the Persian Book of Kings springs to life in this stunningly produced and ingeniously crafted pop up book. Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King retells the myth of the misguided Prince Zahhak who is easily swayed by the devil to murder his father and usurp the thrown. Cursed with monstrous snakes that grow out of the king's shoulders, the Serpent King grows infamous throughout the land for his treachery and oppression. He rules for one thousand years before a noble and valiant Feraydun gains the strength and army to defeat the unjust King. The fantastic world of Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King literally pops off the page with intricately crafted spreads, two pop-up folds per page, and complex construction that will delight readers young and old with every turn of the page.




The Angel and the Serpent


Book Description

"The Angel and the Serpent is a book which combines scholarship and literary grace, and which recreates for us both the world of the Rappites and the Owenites.Ó ÑHenry Steele Commager, ÑThe New York Times Book ReviewÒWilson writes with clarity and humor and has given us a work which will be valuable both to the cultural historian and to the general reader.Ó ÑSt. Louis Globe DemocratÒ. . . exceedingly valuable addition to Indiana historiography.Ó ÑIndianapolis TimesHere is the story of George RappÕs German Harmonists and Robert OwenÕs IdealistsÑthe two vastly different communities that shaped the history of New Harmony, Indiana. Both the Rappites and the Owenites came to New Harmony to conduct communal living experimentsÑRapp expecting the millennium; Owen believing he had brought the millennium with him. Although the two men were motivated by different ideas, they shared the same goal: to see their people live together in happiness and peace. Their two experiments are probably the best known and most interesting efforts at establishing alternate or Utopian communities in America.




A Forgotten Realms Omnibus


Book Description

A trilogy from R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen author Lisa Smedman. House of Serpents is a trilogy exploring the political intrigues of the yuan-ti race, the details of which have been little explored in previous Forgotten Realms products. Lisa Smedman will be penning the entire trilogy, which will affect many other storylines in the Forgotten Realms setting.




The Silvered Serpents


Book Description

Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of her New York Times instant bestseller, The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with another riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever in The Silvered Serpents. They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope. Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost — one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God. Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all. As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined. A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.