History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights From a Hebrew Perspective

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Insightfully clarifying!
It was in Hebrew not Aramaic, stupid.
Good Start
Eye-Opener
Bold and Insightful

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights From a Hebrew Perspective
David Bivin , and Roy Blizzard Jr.
Manufacturer: Treasure House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 156043550X

Customer Reviews:

Insightfully clarifying!.......2007-09-07

I found this perspective to be solid and sensible. I am blessed by it.

It was in Hebrew not Aramaic, stupid........2007-08-27

The book is based on the premise that Jesus spoke in Hebrew, not Aramaic, and that his words had been first recorded in Hebrew before they were translated into Greek. The authors justify their position by pointing to many expressions in the gospels, which don't make sense either in English or in the original Greek, but which make perfect sense when they are traced back to idiomatic Hebrew. They argue that their translation into Greek, and later into other languages, caused them to lose their original meaning and to become incomprehensible.

They explain away the famous Aramaic "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani," that Jesus supposedly uttered from the cross in Mark's Gospel as having been misheard or misquoted. It should have been "Eli, Eli..." they insist, which is Hebrew for "God, God..." but could also have been understood as a diminutive for Elija. Their opinions are in some agreement with the more recent belief that in Jesus' day Judeans spoke in Hebrew to each other, in Aramaic to people in more distant parts of the Middle East, and in Greek to gentiles in general. On the other hand, each gospel places different words in Jesus' mouth while on the cross, from which we can conclude that all these words are creations of the evangelists, not history. So why did Mark think that Jesus would have spoken in Aramaic? The authors neither ask nor answer this question. In any case, according to them, the strange syntax of the gospels resulted from the translations of earlier Hebrew writings into Greek. But again the authors miss the point that the syntax would have been no different had the gospels been written directly in Greek by people whose mother tongue was Hebrew.

Perhaps a third of this short book is directed to proving the Hebrew origin of the gospels. The rest, and far more interesting part, examines some of the more difficult-to-explain sayings of Jesus, and how they make sense when translated back into the alleged original idiomatic Hebrew.

This short book should be read by all who are interested in what Jesus may have actually said and meant. It could also form the basis of short Bible Study group discussions.

(The writer is the author of "Christianity Without Fairy Tales: When Science And Religion Merge," and of the forthcoming "The Way of the Butterfly: A Scientific Speculation on God and the Hereafter.")

Good Start.......2007-07-20

This is a good start for those just learning that Jesus needs to be seen as a Jew and Hebrew. Bivin's other book on Jesus's Words is better because it goes into fuirther detail regarding what is in this book.

Eye-Opener.......2007-03-08

Truely a work based on historic facts that opens your eyes to understanding who Jesus is.

Bold and Insightful.......2006-04-11

This book is a persuasive argument for the Hebraic background to the gospel writings.

The preliminary argument actually defends the claim that the gospels themselves were written in Hebrew, not Aramaic, and only later translated into Greek. The argument against Aramaic is detailed, and I am not at all versed in Aramaic so as to respond to it. At some points it seems forced, as when the authors argue that Jesus' words on the cross, "Eloi," (Aramaic) were actually "Eli" (Hebrew), leading to the claim that he was calling Elijah (p. 10). It would be just as reasonable to assume that his hearers mistook what he was saying and assumed he was calling Elijah.
Furthermore, the two-page response to the Greek theory (p. 14-16), seems absurd, given that our only extant manuscripts are Greek. That only one counter-argument is given seems like the authors are avoiding the obvious. Furthermore, there are obvious plays on Greek words in the gospels, as with Peter's conversation with Jesus after the resurrection and the play on varying forms of the word "love," only true in Greek. The authors are not arguing merely that the authors were from a Hebrew context, but that their writings themselves were Hebrew. Given that Greek was the standard language of diplomacy in the first century, this seems ridiculous.

Still, the Hebraic background to the texts was clearly in the minds of the authors. Even if they wrote in Greek, that they were translating Hebrew idioms still seems likely (even if not in print). The first few chapters simply belabor an unnecessary argument, while Chapter 5 (p. 53-65), is the most valuable. Here, the Hebrew idioms are exposed and translated. The meaning of offering your peace to a house (p. 57) is infinitely more clear given the Judaic context of the text.

Chapter 6, an analysis of a couple of potential theological errors that can stem from misunderstanding the nature of the text, is fascinating. I like the argument that Jesus was not intending a strict pacifism (p. 67-72) and that he didn't intend an unwise generosity when he talked about giving (p. 72-75).

The appendix is a wealth of sermon material for the particular texts addressed. It plunges into the possible Hebrew intentions to verses which seem senseless in English and even in Greek. Sometimes I am not entirely compelled by their exegesis, since, for instance, the phrase "cast out your bad name" (p. 115) is not radically different than what we assume it meant in the English. Nonetheless, there are some priceless revelations here, such as the meaning of the tittle on the jot, the mark on the top of the yod.

All considered, I like the direction of the book, though it would be more compelling if they had spent more time on theological ramifications and less time arguing for an implausible nature of non-extant texts. In the end, I found myself simply wishing the book was longer.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted According to Parallelistic Patterns

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Eye-opener to literary complexity and antiquity of BOM
New Light

The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted According to Parallelistic Patterns
Donald W. Parry
Manufacturer: Foundation for Ancient Research &
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0934893365

Customer Reviews:

Eye-opener to literary complexity and antiquity of BOM.......2004-09-22

Ever since John Welch first discovered chiasms in the Book of Mormon decades ago, a book like this has been due. This is only the first draft of a FARM's dude's reformatting of the text so that ancient Hebrew poetic forms such as the chiasm are obvious. A real eye-opener for the literary complexity and antiquity of the Book of Mormon, not to mention the supernatural nature of its translation into English. After you've read this for a while, your eye is open for additional chiasms that Parry missed. You can e-mail him with your possible new finds and he'll respond (I did).

New Light.......2004-05-29

This reformatted Book of Mormon enhances the reading and understanding of this ancient document. For some, this book will be valued most for how it shows the amazing level of complexity in the literary structures and their apparent ancient origins. Others will value getting a glimpse into the intent and hard work that went into the book. I've found it to enhance the experience of reading. Slowing down to look over paralellisms leaves a stronger impression and imprints upon the mind the importance the authors placed upon the ideas found within the historical narratives and parallelistic forms. It seems the authors intended readers to spend more time on the portions they deemed more relevant. Reading, meditating and studying this book can motivate change and inspire growth in your life. I can't recommend this more to those with intrest in literature and still recommend it to the curious. The reformatted text truly puts the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ in a new light. It's worth every penny.

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recomended reading
This book will tell you what legalism IS NOT. And it is something in which we all need to be fluent. and it saved my life.
Should be required reading for anyone reading the New Testament
Outstanding!
Awesome, Wonderful, Insightful, Useful

The Jesus Style
Gayle D. Erwin , and Richard C. Halverson
Manufacturer: Yahshua Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1565992253

Book Description

Now in its 43rd printing in English plus 31 languages. Remarkable history of impact.

Customer Reviews:

recomended reading.......2007-03-17

The Lord has blessed everyone through Gayle Irwin as the Spirit of Jesus is displayed for us to view between the paper covers of this book.
Bill Bracken, Pastor Calvary Stanberry

This book will tell you what legalism IS NOT. And it is something in which we all need to be fluent. and it saved my life........2006-06-14

I was raised in a church organization that was cultlike in its legalism. We read the same Bible as everyone else but by the time I was 7 (about when I could read it myself), it was clear to me that the God being taught and the God of the Bible were two very different people. As the child of my parents, my mind believed what I was taught but as a child of God, my heart could never accept it. Jesus is the man that Gayle Erwin wrote about and the God who had been speaking to my heart for my whole life. I just had to get my head straight. The Jesus Style was the tool God used. Most people reviewing this book remark on its depiction of true Christianity. For me, it simply saved my life. I couldn't find the real Jesus anywhere and had begun to think that maybe that person about whom I was taught as a child was the real Jesus. I was ready to turn my back on God and walk away, my life had been so painful. In the pages of this book, Gayle Erwin described the Jesus my heart had always known and of course, backed it up with scripture. I cannot explain the joy I felt to have been so affirmed. I knew I wasn't crazy. I knew the Jesus I read was different and so did Gayle Erwin. This book is in its 40 somethingth printing now. I am sure hundreds of thousands of copies have gone out. But I believe that God inspired this work of Gayle Erwin to pull this girl out of the despair that legalism causes, to put my feet back on the path and get me moving again. A couple of years ago, it was my greatest happiness to drive to hear Gayle Erwin speak. I hoped I would have a chance to talk to him. I wanted to thank him and I did. Without any God in my life, I don't know where I would have ended up. God used this man and this book at that particular time to reach me. If you are reading this, it is entirely possible that Jesus is trying to reach you too. Do what Gayle Erwin did....Listen. You have no idea how your life could change.

Should be required reading for anyone reading the New Testament.......2006-03-18

Without a doubt, the BEST book I have ever read about the man Jesus. I have bought and given away 8 copies of this book. Beautifully written...reading this is a pleasure.

Outstanding!.......2005-09-15

This book outlines in clear and unwavering language what it truly means to be a servant. It was very apparent that what most Christians consider being Christ-like and a servant to mankind is off the mark. Gayle Erwin will point you in the right direction without any vacillating at all. There are several occasions where Mr. Erwin is critical of even himself and how he has behaved in his walk with God.

If you consider yourself a Christian, other than the Bible, this is one of the most important books you will ever read.

Awesome, Wonderful, Insightful, Useful.......2004-04-16

If you have ever wondered what it truly means to follow Jesus, or if you have ever wondered "What Would Jesus Do?" then this book is a must read.

Written in plain language, this is an easy read. I found it to be an absolute joy to read it and gained some interesting insights in to the style of our Lord and Savior.

Customer Reviews:

A classic. .......2007-01-12

This is not a devotional work, it is an insightful and valuable slice of intellectual history. Pelikan is a Christian, but distances himself from those he describes. I think the combination of sympathy and critical distance helps the reader have his own conversation with the persons described. Pelikan bites off more than he can chew. How can there be room in one readable, coherent and reasonably short book for Augustine and Blake, Renan and Ricci, Constantine and Gandhi? But Pelikan pulls it off pretty well, summarizing the history with interesting anecdotes, and making reasonable comments. Not all of which I think are correct, though.

"It is not sameness but kaleidescope variety that is its most conspicuous feature." Pelikan includes a great deal of evidence for both, though. Early Christians attempted to translate Jesus as "logos" to relate to Greek thinking. Modern Christians in India and China undertook a similar task of describing Jesus as the "fulfillment" of the deepest truths in those great cultures. (Work I have studied quite a bit.)

I give the book five stars, because it is brilliant, fascinating and informative. Nevertheless, Pelikan's position seems to soak up some of the subjectivm he chronicles.

It is important to distinguish between images that are arbitrary, and those that depend on a reality that can be referred to. One could write a book called "The Moon through the Centuries." But that would be a different kind of book from "Martians through the Centuries," because in the first case, we just need to look up to be corrected. Pelikan does not take sufficient account of the fact that Jesus is more like the first than the second case. Kaleidescope is a mosaic of splintered reflections. But the image whom these reflections reflected, like the moon, is still before us, in the Gospels. Pelikan tells us we are "dependant" on "oral tradition" that was "eventually deposited" in the Gospels, but in fact they were written within the lifetimes of the first Christians. Rather than "tradition," they could have relied on memory.

Pelikan does not distinguish between birds that settle in the nest as they find it, and birds that steal twigs to built their own. He weakly justifies the fantastic subjectivism that goes into revisionist historical Jesus studies. Pelikan is like a conscientious objector from the argument over what really happened. In a preface to a recent edition he admits, a bit coyly, that he doesn't buy the arguments of the "historical Jesus" crowd. Well and good: but this excellent book might be even better if the fascinating and fruitful subjectivism he chronicles were balanced with an occasional reminder that in the end, portraits are not about those who take the picture, but him whose portrait is taken.

Still, a deserved classic, and a wonderful way to look at history. Highly recommended.

Fascinating analysis of man's views of Jesus.......2005-12-31

Over the last two thousand years man has struggled to understand the person of Jesus Christ. In this book, Master Historian, Jaroslav Pelikan, describes how various cultures have handled Jesus. It is truly a fascinating journey that taught me numerous things about Jesus, His church, and history that I did not know. Well worth reading if you are interested in this topic.

I do agree with a few other reviewers that some sections are hard to read, and that Pelikan jumps around a bit. My one critique is that the book becomes less interesting towards the last few chapters.

Despite these challenges, this book is well worth the effort. Simply put, Pelikan is a brilliant historian who possesses a depth of knowledge about this topic that few others can match.

Very good survey, but not great or inspirational.......2004-07-29

This is a very useful, well researched, largely descriptive survey of how Western culture has viewed Jesus Christ. It's not a work of theology, it's not an inspirational work--it is what it is, interesting with its limitations. There's much that Pelikan faithfully records that's nonsense, such as Thomas Jefferson's breathtakingly vain and obtuse pronouncements about what Jesus really said. There are also some staggering transitions, such as the discussion on Emerson that suddenly veers into Dostoyevsky's The Grand Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov (the greatest novel ever). It's worth a read, particularly in paperback, but understand that it won't bring you much closer at all to an answer to Jesus's own question, Who do men say that I am?

Inisghtful, But a Hard Read.......2004-01-29

This book was interesting and informational, but the prose is dry and academic. I'm a regular non-fiction reader, including the fruits of academia. I couldn't get into this. I've been able to read only half.

The images correspond to church history.......2001-12-21

The eighteen chapters of this book roughly correspond to the 20 centuries of the history of the catholic church. One can use Pelikan's images to reflect on the meanings of Christ to the peoples of history and reflect on their meaning in present times. The images Pelikan give are all applicable today and can be helpful in understanding our relationships to God now. For example: how we as Christians can conduct a "just" war when we have an image of Jesus as "The Prince of Peace." Or, how we can better understand the middle East peace process with our image of Jesus as our rabbi. Or, how we can approach our busy, packed lives using the image of Christ as the perfect monk. This is a useful book to persons with varied educational backgrounds in theology or with just a desire to be able to relate the historical Jesus to their every day lives.

Average customer rating:

Disappointed
JC SuperStar Piano Edition
Good Stuff
Excellent for playing songs from JCS
Good book for beginners

Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera

Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 088188541X

Product Description

Fantastic songs from this stage favorite: Everything's Alright Heaven on Their Minds Hosanna I Don't Know How to Love Him I Only Want to Say (Gethsemane) King Herod's Song Superstar. Includes great photos! Everything's Alright Heaven On Their Minds I Don't Know How To Love Him I Only Want To Say (Gethsemane) King Herod's Song Pilate's Dream Superstar The Last Supper

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed.......2007-05-12

I was disappointed in the fact that music to all the songs were not included in the book. The nine songs that are in are good but to leave out the songs with Judas and the High Priests and Jesus and Pilate and Simon Zealots is not right.

JC SuperStar Piano Edition.......2005-10-20

Although this score does not include all the intermittent recitatives and orchestral arrangemtnts, it does offer a good piano transcription of the major songs with words. For anyone wnating to use any of the songs of JCS, this publication is very good.

Good Stuff.......2004-12-28

For the most part, I was pretty impressed with this. There are some problems, most mentioned already. My biggest issue with this is that it doesn't include "Damned For All Time/Blood Money", my favorite song on JCS.

Excellent for playing songs from JCS.......2001-05-26

The songs included in this book are Heaven on Their Minds, Everything's Alright, Hosanna, Pilate's Dream, Last Supper, Gethsemane, King Herod's Song, and Superstar. A few things should be noted: Firstly, Heaven on their Minds does not include the "all gone sour" last four verses that are used in live productions of jcs. Instead the song is written to fade away. That might present a problem to people performing or using that song for an audition. The last supper only includes the chorus that the apostles sing. Superstar is tuned to a C instead of the original E that is on all of the recordings and live productions. Other than that, all the other keys are the same as you might hear them on cd recordings, 1973 movie, and live productions. Chords are also included for guitar players.

Good book for beginners.......2000-03-27

This book contains the partitures of the songs mentioned in Uppercase in the Editorial's review and the lyrics for all the other songs of this great rock-opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The partitures are written for piano, with chords for guitar and lyrics, and are quite faithful to the original songs. They aren't difficult, so you can play them without too much troubles and remember with pleasure the voices of Yvonne Elliman, Carl Anderson, Ted Neeley and the other artists. This book doesn't give you a complete satisfaction if you are instead looking for a more "seriously" thing, with all the partitures including the instrumental songs.

The Missions of Jesus and the Disciples According to the Fourth Gospel: With Implications for the Fourth Gospel's Purpose and the Mission of the Contemporary Church

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excellent

The Missions of Jesus and the Disciples According to the Fourth Gospel: With Implications for the Fourth Gospel's Purpose and the Mission of the Contemporary Church
Andreas J. Kostenberger
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission (New Studies in Biblical Theology)

ASIN: 0802842550

Customer Reviews:

excellent.......2006-07-06

This re-worked dissertation was done under D.A. Carson at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In this study, Kostenberger asks the question "how are the missions of Jesus and the disciples related?" (pg 3). He then relates this issue to practical theology vis-à-vis the debate between incarnational ecclesiology and representational ecclesiology. He seeks to argue that the incarnational model diminishes the unique work of Jesus because he is the only life giver (pg 4). Thus, he argues that the missions of Jesus and the disciples should not be unduly equated.

Chapter two is especially helpful as he discusses methodology for doing word studies for biblical theology. This can be applied to any biblical issue.

There are, unfortunately, some un-translated German quotations but most readers will be able to understand his thesis and data. He also interacts heavily with Greek in chapter 2 and in various places throughout the book. The reader must keep in mind that this was a dissertation.

Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and Their Meanings (National Gallery London Publications)

Average customer rating:

Wonderfully Written but Containing some Odd Theology
Glorious images, beautiful ideas
A much needed visual rhetoric on Christian Themes
sharing an artists vision
A truly outstanding guide to Christian paintings

Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and Their Meanings (National Gallery London Publications)
John Drury
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300077777

Amazon.com

Painting the Word: Christian Pictures and their Meanings by John Drury, an Anglican priest who is dean of Christ Church, Oxford, is a wise, accessible, elegant, and beautiful book about Christian art. Painting the Word presents dazzling color reproductions of masterpieces by Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens, Velázquez, Piero della Francesca, Cézanne, and others, accompanied by a text that does not merely analyze and explain these pictures but also meditates upon them, and even encourages readers to inhabit them. Drury's introduction explains his project: "This is a book about how Christian paintings convey their messages. It takes on whole paintings. It is not content with just picking symbols out of them for identification. Composition, color, contents (including architecture and landscape as well as figures) and the ways in which the paint itself is handled--all are treated as part and parcel of their religious meanings." Drury justifies his critical approach by pointing out that these pictures come from a time when western civilization and Christianity were coterminous. Contemporary spectators are visitors to this foreign world. However, Drury expertly draws us into this world in light, straightforward language. (Many of the chapters in this book began as sermons.) "Worship and looking at pictures require the same kind of attention," Drury explains, "a mixture of curiosity with a relaxed readiness to let things suggest themselves in their own good time." Put this way, paying attention becomes a calling. And as Drury describes this calling, it is hard to imagine a higher one. --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

In this beautifully written book an Anglican priest and theologian looks at religious paintings through the ages and presents them to us in a fresh way. John Drury shows how the Christian images in paintings by artists from Piero della Francesca to Velazquez have a universal quality that fills the works with passion, stories, and meaning, not only for audiences of the past but also for viewers today.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderfully Written but Containing some Odd Theology.......2006-03-22

As an ordained Anglican priest and the dean of Christ Church in Oxford, John Drury is by no means an accredited art historian but he is a trained artist and has a knowledgeable background in theology and New Testament exegesis. Depicted as "a book about how Christian paintings convey their messages" (p.ix), Painting the Word uniquely "extends" the "historically iconographical, or picture-describing, approach" to art by incorporating spiritual "meditation," in order to bring the reader through a "contemplative waiting process" of viewing Christian artwork (p. xi-xiii).

John Drury specifies that the purpose of the book is for the reader to take ownership of the paintings and receive `spiritual nourishment' from them. What originally began as `postcard sermons' describing artwork exhibited in the London National Gallery, has developed over time into the authoring of this wonderful book, which is full of photographic illustrations of European Christian paintings from the 14th to 18th century.

The author successfully brings the reader along on a spiritual journey through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Drury groups paintings under each key moment of the salvation story, starting with the Annunciation, to the Nativity, to Christ's baptism and ministry, and culminating with his death and resurrection. In this way, Painting the Word is entirely Christocentric, as it focuses on the sacrificial narrative of Jesus "from conception to resurrection" (p. xiv).

I question whether Drury successfully builds a connection between the artwork itself and the spirituality being conveyed by the artist, because Drury presents some very odd theological concepts throughout his book. I disagree with Drury's constant insinuation that the original painters understood the biblical scenes that they were depicting as "myths." For example, as Drury begins his discussion of paintings depicting the Annunciation, he states, "A dialogue between Mary and the angel follows. It can only be imaginary, but... it is held together over a respectful distance by their mutual regard" (p.41). Drury claims on the very next page that the "moment" of the Annunciation is thanks to the "imagination" of St Luke and St John. Is Drury actually insinuating that the dialogue between Mary and the angel was only a fantasy? Would the artists of the Annunciation paintings really see their portraits as depicting a mythical scene? If so, then a plethora of Christian artists from the 14th to 17th centuries must have believed that Christianity was nothing more than a "myth", as Drury repeatedly refers to sacred Tradition as "myth" throughout the book (cf. p.48, 89, 114). It is more likely that Drury is imposing his own view upon the reader rather than objectively bringing out the artist's intended spirituality.

A more detailed review is available on my website:
http://members.shaw.ca/angelamccormick

Glorious images, beautiful ideas.......2005-12-30

This book is without doubt one of the more beautifully prepared and printed books in my collection. Done by the Yale University Press in association with the National Gallery of London, virtually every page is a treasure. There are nearly two hundred full-colour-process reproductions of artworks throughout the text, and every page (not just the colour plates) are heavy bond, high-gloss stock that shows the ink and colour with vibrancy and depth.

John Drury spent a career at both Cambridge and Oxford dealing in matters of theology, ecclesiology, liturgy, and art. I discovered Drury's book while attending a course at my own seminary on the church and the arts, and kept finding myself frustrated at the rapid pace we would go through topics (a frustration I know the professor teaching the course shared - how does one do justice to 2000 years of music, architecture, and art in a mere 15 sessions?). I sought out supplemental materials to help fill out the outline, and Drury's text serves the purpose in many ways.

Drury states his purpose early in the text. `This is a book about how Christian paintings convey their messages. It takes on whole paintings. It is not content with just picking symbols out of them for identification. Composition, colour, contents (including architecture and landscape as well as figures) and the ways in which the paint itself is handled - all are treated as part and parcel of their religious meanings.' This is a holy and holistic approach.

Drury adopts a kind of picture-describing approach (one that he terms `historically iconographical'). This involves absorbing details while understanding context and material. This is the same kind of attention that worship requires (and indeed, the Eastern church has always had this kind of physical artistic interplay with the tradition of use of icons for prayer, meditation and worship purposes) - it requires an openness to experience and feeling while also benefitting from understanding and guidance.

Major artists and works studied in detail in this text include the work of Tiepolo (c. 1750s), the Wilton Diptych (anonymous, c. 1390s), Titian (c. 1510-40s), Duccio (c. 1310s), Filippo Lippi (c. 1450s), Poussin (c. 1630-50s), Rembrandt (c. 1640s), Piero della Francesca (c. 1450-70s), Caravaggio (c. 1600s), Rubens (c. 1630s), Velazquez (c. 1610s), Cezanne (c. 1900s), and others. Most presentations begin by showing the whole work, then proceeding to look at individual characteristics or highlights often pulled aside in side images or isolated for greater emphasis. The text and artwork is arranged in good pattern throughout the text.

Throughout his text, Drury makes a repeated call for care, meditation and attention to be given to the artwork as well as the response to the artwork. He makes that statement that we should stay in front of the images `longer than people usually do' - noticing in museums, art shops, churches and other places that people tend to shuffle past rather than give attention to the most stunning and sublime works of art. Drury draws in history, theology, philosophy, literature, biblical references and images, and other cultural and contextual references to make the experience of these works a full and profound one. This is not a book to be read quickly or glanced over lightly.

Drury includes a narrative annotated bibliography rather than a simple list; he provides both a general bibliography for the entire text as well as a selected bibliography for each chapter/topic.

This is a wonderful book, a great gift for oneself or for others. It is particularly good for those who want a deeper experience and understanding of the way in which art has and can interact and enhance one's relationship with Christianity and its message.

A much needed visual rhetoric on Christian Themes.......2005-10-11

Reasoned analysis involves dissection of statements and dissection of images. The dissection is needed to detect evidence or to expose the lack thereof. The reason analysis of images is needed is that all of the images are not natural. They are iconic based on conventions (like language) and therefore Christian images are signs. The discipline to investigate them is not the neuropsychology of perception but semiotics, the science of signs. Here we have an excellent semiotic rhetoric of Christian images informing us of the meaning of the signs and the meaning behind the images given to us by an expert in both religion (John Drury is a priest) and in the history of art. The cross, the scourging pillar, the spear and the sponge on a cane -all these have meaning. Particularly interesting was Chapter three with the dissection of the different presentations of the annunciation by Duccio as compared to Lippi and Poussin and the biblical quotes that supported each artist's view of what happened and how it happened.

sharing an artists vision.......2004-02-18

John Drury is an art historian who uses his vocation as a priest to explain the subtlety of meaning that lies hidden in the symbolism of religious paintings in London's National Gallery.

Anyone how has looked at such a painting but not "seen" it, would do well to read this wonderful book and share the insights that the author offers. Paintings that I would have passed by with scarcely a second glance, are revealed within a context of their time, with reference to their history, the world view of the artist, the common and uncommon symbolism employed and much else besides.

It gives the possibility of sharing a visual language that we have lost and enables us to understand what it is about a picture that we sense is great, without comprehending why that might be.

It is hard to think that anyone who has ever visited an art gallery could not profit from reading this book and has certainly given me the enthusiasm to go and look at the pictures for myself.

A truly outstanding guide to Christian paintings.......2002-10-05

Painting The Word is a truly outstanding guide to Christian paintings and their meanings brings art and spirituality together in an inspiring coverage. More than a history of painting, Painting The Word discusses how Christian images reflected and influenced Christian civilization as a whole, with a universal quality delivering balanced messages. Color reproductions of significant classic Christian art works appear throughout.

New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism (Studies in Religion)

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A must book for any NT scholar

New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism (Studies in Religion)
George A. Kennedy
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080784120X

Book Description

New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism provides readers of the Bible with an important tool for understanding the Scriptures. Based on the theory and practice of Greek rhetoric in the New Testament, George Kennedy's approach acknowledges that New Testament writers wrote to persuade an audience of the truth of their messages. These writers employed rhetorical conventions that were widely known and imitated in the society of the times. Sometimes confirming but often challenging common interpretations of texts, this is the first systematic study of the rhetorical composition of the New Testament.

As a complement to form criticism, historical criticism, and other methods of biblical analysis, rhetorical criticism focuses on the text as we have it and seeks to discover the basis of its powerful appeal and the intent of its authors. Kennedy shows that biblical writers employed both "external" modes of persuasion, such as scriptural authority, the evidence of miracles, and the testimony of witnesses, and "internal" methods, such as ethos (authority and character of the speaker), pathos (emotional appeal to the audience), and logos (deductive and inductive argument in the text).

In the opening chapter Kennedy presents a survey of how rhetoric was taught in the New Testament period and outlines a rigorous method of rhetorical criticism that involves a series of steps. He provides in succeeding chapters examples of rhetorical analysis, looking closely at the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus' farewell to the disciples in John's Gospel, the distinctive rhetoric of Jesus, the speeches in Acts, and the approach of Saint Paul in Second Corinthians, Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans.

Customer Reviews:

A must book for any NT scholar.......2003-09-30

Few books have changed my thinking on any one particular subject as has this volume by Kennedy. I was trained in New Testament academics heavy on the German, largely Lutheran, "higher critical" method. While this methodology has strengths, it is based largely on the study of the written text as a literary document. That is all well and good, but Kennedy reminds us that these were most likely oral documents, transcriptions, if you will, of texts that were intended to be heard by the audiences to which they were written.

In other words, although the letters of the Apostle Paul were in fact written down and sent to the various congregations to which they are addressed, they were most likely experienced by that vast majority of people there as something that was read to them and not as something that they read. This oral presentation was based on a number of factors that we forget in the post-Guttenberg (printing press) era: The first century was an oral culture. Many people could not read, but even those who could expected to listen to texts as much as read them. Rhetoric, the art of oral persuasion, was held as the highest demonstration of a well-educated man (it was also a man's world).

Thus, to communicate within the framework of the Greco-Roman world, Kennedy maintains, Paul wrote rhetorically, with the intention that it would be listened to, like a sermon. Even the Gospels were written in this fashion, as long stories of Jesus to be heard in in one sitting among the communities of faith.

Studying the New Testament from a purely literary framework, therefore, without "listening" to the text as rhetoric, misses much of what the first century audiences would have know and appreciated. This book opened a whole new world for me, when I first read it over fifteen years ago as a well-trained student in the New Testament. Since then, I have deepened by appreciation for Kennedy's methodology and incorporated much of what I have learned in my own investigations.

If you a a studentof the New Testament, this book will invite to see a whole new way of thinking and, more importantly, of "hearing." Enjoy!

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