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The Middle Ages, in our cultural imagination, are besieged with ideas of wars, tournaments, plagues, saints and kings, knights, lords and ladies. In his era-defining work, Inventing the Middle Ages, Norman Cantor shows that these presuppositions are in fact constructs of the twentieth century. Through close study of the lives and works of twenty of the twentieth century¿s most prominent medievalists, Cantor examines how the genesis of this fantasy arose in the scholars¿ spiritual and emotional outlooks, which influenced their portrayals of the Middle Ages. In the course of this vigorous scrutiny of their scholarship, he navigates the strong personalities and creative minds involved with deft skill.Written with both students and the general public in mind, Inventing the Middle Ages provided an alternative framework for the teaching of the humanities. Revealing the interconnection between medieval civilisation, the culture of the twentieth century and our own assumptions, Cantor provides a unique standpoint both forwards and backwards. As lively and engaging today as when it was first published in 1991, his analysis offers readers the core essentials of the subject in an entertaining and humorous fashion.

C.S. Lewis¿s enlightened, foundational respect for the Jews as God¿s chosen people is a feature in much of his apologetic and theological writing. Although as a boy and young man Lewis reflected much of the implicit anti-Semitism inherent in the public-school-educated Edwardian establishment, this was replaced by deep respect when he became a Christian. Later on, Lewis¿s understanding was much enhanced by his wife, Joy Davidman (m. 1956); born to American Jewish parents, she was an adult convert to Yeshua Ha Mashiach - Jesus Christ - and Lewis referred to her as a Jewish Christian.A Hebraic Inkling examines in depth this Jewish-Hebrew influence in Lewis¿ life and works. Analysing some of his key writings in theology, philosophy, literature and apologetics, his rigorous stand against anti-Semitism and affinity for Jewish literature and culture is outlined, as well as his vision of how Christians are enfolded into the chosen people. This respect and affinity extended to Lewis¿ own family; when one of Joy¿s children sought to return to his mother¿s birth-faith, Lewis moved all to accommodate his wishes and raise him as a Jew, after Joy¿s untimely death.

The late twentieth century saw charities grow from timid service deliverers into major providers with campaigning teeth. What caused this? How did they gain confidence and strength? In this fascinating history, examined through the eyes of RNIB from 1970 to 2010, Ian Bruce examines the internal drivers and the external socio-political environment that allowed and encouraged this explosion. Bruce¿s experience of leading a charity at the forefront of this change, and his participation in the wider charity sector for fiftyyears as both activist and academic, gives him an unsurpassed understanding of what happened and why. His first-hand knowledge will speak to charity workers as well as academics, covering themes such as the rise of beneficiary power against patronising providers; the change from welfare to rights; the shift from the medical to the social model of disability; and the adoption of social welfare and business professionalisms such as Strategic Planning and Charity Marketing. Today¿s charities have much to learn from the successes and mistakes of this dynamic period.

The Industrial Revolution provided the greatest increase in living standards the world has ever known while propelling Britain to dominance on the global stage. In Forging Modernity, Martin Hutchinson looks at how and why Britain gained this prize ahead of its European competitors. After comparing their endowments and political structures as far back as 1600, he then traces how Britain, through better policies primarily from the political Tory party, diverged from other European countries. Hutchinson¿s Harvard MBA allows a unique perspective on the early industrial enterprises - many successes resulted from marketing, control systems and logistics rather than from production technology alone, while on a national scale the scientific method and commercial competition were as important as physical infrastructure. By 1830, through ever-improving policies, Britain had built a staggering industrial lead, half a century ahead of its rivals. Then the Tories lost power and policy changed forever. In his conclusion, Hutchinson shows how changes welcomed by conventional historians caused the decline of Industrial Britain. Nevertheless, the policies that drove growth, ingenuity and rising living standards are still available for those bold enough to adopt them.

The great Victorian Christian author George MacDonald is the well-spring of the modern fantasy genre. In this book Colin Manlove offers explorations of MacDonald's eight shorter fairy tales and his longer stories At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, The Wise Woman, and The Princess and Curdie. MacDonald saw the imagination as the source of fairy tales and of divine truth together. For he believed that God lives in the depths of the human mind and ¿sends up from thence wonderful gifts into the light of the understanding.¿ This makes MacDonald that very rare thing: a writer of mystical fiction whose work can give us experience of the divine. Throughout his children¿s fantasy stories MacDonald is describing the human and divine imagination. In the shorter tales he shows how the imagination has different regions and depths, each able to shift into the other. With the longer stories we see the imagination in relation to other aspects of the self and to its position in the world. Here the imagination is portrayed as often embattled in relation to empiricism, egotism, and greed.

We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh, and this is true of our relationship with God. Thomas Aquinas spoke of the sin of having too little laughter as well as the danger of having too much, while Martin Luther said, ¿If yoüre not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don¿t want to go there.¿ Having a sense of humour is essential for maturity in faith and holiness, but sadly, the role that laughter plays in life and spirituality have often been neglected.Laughter and the Grace of God restores laughter to its central place in Christian spirituality and theology by examining its role in Scripture and highlighting its presence in unexpected places, including the story of Abraham and the formation of the covenant, and the tragedy of Job. Laughter can be found in the incarnation, the resurrection, and even the crucifixion ¿ Jesus is himself the great laugh-maker ¿ and it is nothing less than a participation in the life and love of God.

In this engaging and practical book Mark Pike and Thomas Lickona show how C.S. Lewis' wisdom for nurturing good character, and his much-loved Chronicles of Narnia, inspire us to virtue. Drawing upon the Judeo-Christian virtues of faith, hope and love and 'Narnian' virtues such as courage, integrity and wisdom, they present an approach to contemporary character education validated by recent research. An introduction to C.S. Lewis' thought on character and faith is followed by practical examples of how to use well-known passages from the Narnia novels as a stimulus for rich character development at home and in the classroom.

Shakespeare and the Bible are titans of English-speaking culture: their images are endlessly cited and recycled, and their language permeates everything from our public ceremonies to our private jokes. In Words of Power, Jem Bloomfield explores the cultural reverberations of these two collections of books, and how each era finds new meanings as they encounter works such as Hamlet or the Gospel of Mark.Beginning with a shrewd examination of how we have codified and standardised their canons, deciding which books and which words are included in the official collections and which are excluded, Bloomfield charts the ways in which every generation grapples with these enigmatic and complex texts. He explores the way they are read and performedin public, the institutions that use their names to legitimise their own activities, and how the texts are quoted by politicians, lords and rappers. Words of Power throws modern ideas about Shakespeare and the Bible into sharp relief by contrasting them with those of our ancestors, showing how our engagements with these texts reveal as much about ourselves as their actual meanings.

Liminal Reality and Transformational Power explores, draws together, and integrates the many facets of liminality, and informs our understanding of liminal phenomena in the world. Through anthropology, sociology, theology, neurology and psychology, Carson correlates exterior transitions with their corresponding intra-psychic movements and points toward useful methods that contribute to personal and social transformation. In this revised edition, Carson has recognised the resurgence of liminality, and addresses the social transitions that are prevalent today in communities around the world. He examines the identity of the 'liminal' person and highlights the role of ritual leaders and religious professionals as they guide people through liminal time and space. Carson's work greatly contributes to an expanded understanding of the complex dimensions of religious leadership and provides useful insight into our intra-psychic processes during the significant transitional stages in life.

The Final Days of Jesus is not only a book about religion, but also of Roman history. The events which took place during the Passover of 33 AD may have changed the course of the entire western world, but it is important to recognise that our understanding of them have been shaped by almost two thousand years of faith, studies and oral and written tradition. For the people of the time however, the significance of Jesus's final days remained largely unacknowledged. Mark Smith, a classical historian and an expert storyteller, vividly depicts the final days of Jesus, writing with a keen focus on historical fact: what really happened, and who was involved? Pontius Pilatus is typically considered to be one of the most justly hated men of Christian history, but was he really a despicable tyrant, or was he just a man with a lack of foresight, constrained in a difficult situation, trapped between the Roman law and higher political powers? Who were Annas and Caiaphas, High Priests of Jerusalem, and how did they become embroiled in the decision to crucify an obscure teacher from Nazareth? This book compellingly explores the role which politics played in the execution of the "e;King of the Jews"e;.

Helmut Thielicke was one of the most read and most listened to theologians of our time. Like few other theologians, he repeatedly came down from the ivory tower of academic religion in order to build bridges between church and world, and between gospel and society. He did not belong to Protestantism alone; his works were - and still are - closely followed by Catholic theology, discussed in dissertations and reviews, and published widely. In this book, written shortly after his 75th birthday, Thielicke sets forth his memoirs from a long and full life. His narrative is filled with deeply thoughtful reflections about suffering, death and the poignancy of life, as well as with a delightful humour that easily makes us part of every story and encounter. Without any pretence or self-promotion, Thielicke introduces us to the figures that he counted among his friends and acquaintances: Karl Barth, Konrad Adenauer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dwight Eisenhower, Helmut Kohl and Jimmy Carter. Thielicke was, moreover, a witness to many of the most significant events of the 20th century; his life history is interwoven with the Kaiser period, the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Third Reich, a divided Germany and the tumultuous 60s. From the perspective of this single life we are afforded a broad and clear vision of the moments that have shaped the generation leading us into the 21st century.

These chapters were first written and spoken in the face of death - when the only thing that was of any help at all was the Gospel itself. Helmut Thielicke faces the people of today with his own basic questions and offers the Christian faith as a vital answer. Delivered during World War II when one after another Dr Thielicke's meeting places were bombed, the lectures were not aimed at those who were conventional churchgoers and were not accustomed to the language and premises of the church. They were for people who had to be met on their own ground, and then introduced to the Christian faith. Dr Thielicke had a unique gift for finding that 'point of contact' and addressing the Gospel to that point. Every chapter is a model of how to latch on to modern ways of thinking and to make contact with the modern temper. With illustrations which have immediate meaning to men and women of the 21st century, the author brings the Christian affirmation to grips with questions in many areas, among them ethics, politics, the state, wart, atomic power, economics, sex and art. In a valuable epilogue, he sets forth his position with regard to this way of presenting the Christian message. His statement has implications for theological writing, pastoral care, preaching, and any form of proclaiming the Christian faith.

A biography of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, based on published and unpublished materials, interviews with surviving contemporaries and the author's own experience as a pupil of Russian emigres, of life in the Soviet Union and of the Russian Patriarchal Church in London.

A biography of the journalist and children's editor and writer, Arthur Mee (1875-1943). It draws on approximately 700 letters sent by Mee to his friend John Derry, as well as letters between Mee and Alfred Harmsworth.The book aims to enable readers to locate the brand of Arthur Mee as journalist and children's editor/author within the wider cultural, political and social context of England c. 1900-1943 and provide an antidote to the “overly romanticized nostalgia attached to Mee's name”.There is a focus on Mee’s patriotism, faith and belief in Empire, and discussion of his creation of the Children’s Encyclopaedia and Children’s Newspaper.

Synergetics can be defined as the exploratory strategy of starting with the whole. It was in the 1940s that Buckminster Fuller developed a series of spherical models which embodied the synergetic theory within geometry. This study of Fuller's sacred geometry describes with vigour and in detail how his spherical figures relate both to Nature and to the tenets of synergetics. <CR><CR> The author assesses the legacy of Fuller, a scientist-artist-engineer extraordinaire whose visions were inspired by the American Dream, and portrays with enthusiasm and sympathy the creative and individual science of a man whose character was as multifaceted as the domes he created. Discover the theory behind the idea that the straight lines and boxes of science and maths are inadequate for representing Nature's spherical and cyclical patterns of growth. The ways in which Fuller's synergetics can be seen in the ancient iconographies of the past are also revealed with fresh insight. In addition, Eastham looks to the future artistic applications of Fuller's 'wholes', with the aim of inspiring the reader to think outside of the box themselves. "We sought for years to bring out a brief alternative geometry textbook. [...] It's not easy to produce a round thing in a square world... " Extract from the Introduction

As the acknowledged founder and philosopher of the Parents’ National Educational Union (PNEU), Charlotte Mason (1842–1923) was revered by her followers as a saintly Madonna figure. She died in 1923 at the peak of her fame, having achieved mythic status as the Principal of her House of Education and wide recognition after the introduction of her liberal educational programmes into state schools. Yet her early life and heritage remained shrouded in mystery. Drawing upon insubstantiated sources, the official biography released in 1960 confused rather than illuminated Charlotte’s background, contributing to several enduring misapprehensions.In her new and definitive biography, Margaret Coombs draws on years of research to reveal for the first time the hidden backdrop to Charlotte Mason’s life, tracing the lives of her previously undiscovered Quaker ancestors to offer a better understanding of the roots of her personality and ideas. Coombs charts her rise from humble beginnings as an orphaned pupil-teacher to great heights as a lady of culture venerated within prestigious PNEU circles, illustrating how with determination she surmounted rigid Victorian class divisions to achieve her educational vision. A thorough analysis of Charlotte Mason’s educational influences and key friendships challenges longstanding notions about the roots of her philosophy, offering a more realistic picture of her life and work than ever accomplished before.With a growing following in the USA and Australia, Charlotte Mason’s ideas have a clear relevance to the continuing educational debate today. Admirers of her philosophy and scholars of the history of education will find much to enthral and instruct them in these pages.

In a thorough and insightful commentary on Paul’s letter to his co-worker Timothy, which the Apostle wrote before and during Nero’s persecution, Aída Besançon Spencer carefully examines each part of the letter and reveals Paul’s rhetorical and stylistic features, as well as placing the letter in the larger biblical, historical, social, and cultural contexts. How Paul’s writing related to the ancient communities is enriched by original research gleaned from her explorations of key sites in Rome and Greece. In addition, the author emphasizes Paul’s strategies of ministry with his co-workers and their community, while considering the role of women in the church. Throughout, Spencer presents an in-depth exegesis in a readable format enhanced by forty years of ministry.

"On the road up to the University, the gleaming new purpose-built Leeds Polytechnic awaited the arrival of the students and staff of the art college. All the latest facilities were in place. The only thing missing was any concept of what to expect." 'Creative License' describes what happened next and the continuum leading up to this moment. In this ground-breaking study, James Charnley reveals the personalities and events that ignited an explosion of radical creativity such that a contemporary observer, Patrick Heron, could describe Leeds College of Art as "an unprecedented inventive powerhouse on the national scene". Between 1963 and 1973, Leeds College of Art and Leeds Polytechnic were at the forefront of an experiment in art and education where "all that was forbidden was to be dull". With Jeff Nuttall, Robin Page, George Brecht, Patrick Hughes and John Fox on the staff, students pushed the freedom and facilities offered further than anything before or since.'Creative License' captures the rebellious trajectory of the 1960s, the emergence of the counter-culture, dissent and later disillusionment. This is a case study of an era when art colleges were well funded and well free and, at Leeds, had a mission to progress the avant-garde project to the next level. Perhaps only now can the consequences of this experiment be assessed and its achievements recognised, and James Charnley sets out to do just that.

The story and impact, in the context of peace movement history, of Christian pacifists and conscientious objectors in the First World War, with emphasis on the unlikely and potentially subversive contribution of members of the Established Church.

In this informative and charming volume, Shirley Evans explores the lives of two of the most prominent designers of the nineteenth century; designers who have left their distinctive mark on buildings and gardens throughout the British Isles. William Andrews Nesfield and Eden Nesfield, father and son, were infatuated with the beauty and romance of the past, and both played an important role in the nineteeth-century revivals of the Jacobean, Renaissance and Gothic styles.The Nesfields produced horticultural and architectural designs for wealthy and influential landowners, later winning important public commissions at Kew Gardens and the Prince Consort’s Kensington museum complex. Shirley Evans considers the education of both men and the evolution of their aesthetic sensibilities in detail. William Andrews Nesfield’s early life in Durham, military training and travels in Canada and Europe fed his fascination with Renaissance proportion and the pre-Revolutionary French parterre-de-broderie, a design of intricate and highly artificial bedding that was to become his signature. His son flourished in the artistic milieu in which he was raised, but his main passion was for Gothic detailing. Both were highly accomplished painters, and Nesfield Senior’s watercolours were lauded by John Ruskin.This illustrated volume will be of great interest to enthusiasts of the remarkable work of the Nesfields in particular, or of Victorian design in general.

A helpfully concise commentary on Paul's letter to the early Christians in Rome, which the Apostle wrote just a few years before the outbreak of Nero's persecution. Keener examines each paragraph for its function in the letter as a whole, helping the reader follow Paul's argument. Where relevant, he draws on his vast work in ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman sources in order to help modern readers understand the message of Romans according to the way the first audience would have heard it. Throughout, Keener focuses on major points that are especially critical for the contemporary study of Paul's most influential and complex New Testament letter.

How did Long John Silver Lose His Leg? is a wonderfully diverting tour through some of the best-loved classics of children's literature, addressing many of the unanswered questions that inspire intense speculation when the books are laid down. Could Bobbie's train really have stopped in time (The Railway Children)? Did Beatrix Potter have the 'flu in 1909, and did this lead to a certain darkness in her work (The Tale of Mr Tod)? Would the 'rugby football' played by Tom Brown be recognised by sportsmen today (Tom Brown's Schooldays)? Having established the cultural importance of children's books in the modern age, the authors also consider the more serious issues posed by the genre. Why are we so defensive of the idyllic worlds presented in children's books? Why have some of our best-loved authors been outed as neglectful parents to their own children? Should we ever separate the book from its creator and appreciate the works of writers convicted of crimes against children? A treat for any enthusiast of children's literature, this entertaining book provides rich detail, witty explication, and serious food for thought.

A fascinating new study of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Private Lives of the Ancient Mariner illuminates the poet's deeply troubled personality and stormy personal life through a highly original study of his relationships. In her last published work the celebrated Coleridgean, Molly Lefebure, provides profound psychological insights into Coleridge through a meticulous study of his domestic life, drawing upon a vast and unique body of knowledge gained from a lifetime's study of the poet, and making skilful use of the letters, poems and biographies of the man himself and his family and friends. The author traces the roots of Coleridge's unarguably dysfunctional personality from his earliest childhood; his position as his mother's favoured child, the loss of this status with the death of his father, and removal to the 'Bluecoat' school in London. Coleridge's narcissistic depression, flamboyance, and cold-hearted, often cruel, rejection of his family and of loving attachments in general are examined in close detail. The author also explores Coleridge's careers in journalism and politics as well as poetry, in his early, heady 'jacobin' days, and later at the heart of the British wartime establishment at Malta. In both of these arenas Coleridge exerted his talents to brilliant effect, although they have often been overlooked in appraisals of his works. His virtual abandonment of his children and tragic disintegration under the influence of opium are included in the broad sweep of the book which also encompasses an examination of the lives of Coleridge's children, upon whom the manipulations of the father left their destructive mark.Molly Lefebure unravels the enigma that is Coleridge with consummate skill in a book which will bring huge enjoyment to any reader with an interest in the poet's life and times.

The word 'mere' is used in the title of this book in its Middle English sense as an adjective 'nothing less than, complete'. This book is about schooling for a fair and vibrant society; it is about an education of hope, education that completes a person. In 'The Magician's Nephew' (1955), the first in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, Digory and Polly are dragged back through time into a world that is "devoid of life and barren of vegetation". Such a world is not a safe place for children and young people. When C.S. Lewis wrote that the task of the modern educator is 'to irrigate deserts' he was making the point that it is teachers who 'inculcate just sentiments' (Lewis 1978/1943, p.13) and enable the moral sense of their students to flourish. Mark A. Pike supports C.S. Lewis’ belief in the role of educators and has written 'Mere Education' to show how we might go about it so that 'the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose' (Isaiah 35:1).

The story of Richard Aldington, outstanding Imagist poet and author of the best selling war novel, Death of a Hero (1929), takes place against the backdrop of some of the most turbulent and creative years of the twentieth century. Vivien Whelpton provides a remarkably detailed and sensitive portrayal of the writer from early adolescence. His life as a stalwart of the pre- war London literary scene, as a soldier, and in the difficult aftermath of the First World War is deftly rendered through a careful and detailed analysis of the novels, poems and letters of the writer himself and his close circle of acquaintance. The complexities of London's Bohemia, with its scandalous relationships, social grandstanding and incredible creative output, are masterfully untangled, and the spotlight placed firmly on the talented group of poets christened by Ezra Pound as 'Imagistes'. The author demonstrates profound psychological insight into Aldington's character and childhood in her nuanced analysis of his post- war survivor's guilt, and consideration of the three most influential women in his life: his wife, the gifted American poet, H.D.; Dorothy Yorke, the woman he left her for; and Brigit Patmore, his brilliant and fascinating older mistress. Richard Aldington: Poet, Soldier and Lover vividly reveals Aldington's warm and passionate nature and the vitality which characterized his life and works, concluding with his triumphant personal and literary resurrection with the publication of Death of a Hero.

In this enjoyably iconoclastic book, George Watson discusses some of the great heresies of the twentieth century, and the cultural heretics who espoused them, often with surprising results. Watson provides us with examples of 'true', original heretics, from Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who asserted that his study of the remote past had made a radical of him, rather than any influence of modernism, to others such as Douglas Adams, whom Watson knew as an undergraduate.Watson forces us to question various long-cherished political and intellectual assumptions in his witty and conversational style. Is snobbery really such a bad thing? Have we ignored the links between socialism and genocide? He touches entertainingly upon subjects as diverse as literary theory (experimental fiction is often the last resort of those who have nothing to say), and the unoriginal conformism of teenage Marxists (incapable of actually reading Marx, as he is too boring).This is a work which will delight any reader seeking a uniquely personal perspective on the culture, history, and personalities of the twentieth century.