Search Results: Religion from The Real Book Shop

Abridged Edition. Blue cloth boards with gilt inlaid design to front board and gilt lettering to spine. Frontispiece. 756pp. Esoteric study of Man's understanding and enactment of religious and magic rituals.

The most influential story in Western cultural history, the biblical account of Adam and Eve is now treated either as the sacred possession of the faithful or as the butt of secular jokes. Here, acclaimed scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores it with profound appreciation for its cultural and psychological power as literature. From the birth of the Hebrew Bible to the awe-inspiring contributions of Augustine, Durer, and Milton in bringing Adam and Eve to vivid life, Greenblatt unpacks the story's many interpretations and consequences over time. Rich allegory, vicious misogyny, deep moral insight, narrow literalism, and some of the greatest triumphs of art and literature: all can be counted as children of our "first" parents.

In Spies of the Bible, Rose Mary Sheldon highlights the importance of espionage and traces the role intelligence has played from the Jewish exodus from Egypt to the Bar Kochba Revolt. The Near East has been fiercely contested by various parties for thousands of years, and much of the fighting was conducted not in large-scale battles and confrontations, but in smaller guerrilla operations of low-intensity conflict. Since the very key to guerrilla operations or surprise attacks is knowing where the enemy will be, timely and accurate intelligence is essential. The Jews fought as guerrillas when they were nomads in the desert trying to take over the cities of Canaan. As an occupied state, they fought three wars of liberation against the Greeks and Romans. This too meant fighting as guerrillas, employing terrorist tactics and organising clandestinely. The modern irony is that it is the Jews who are the established power in their homeland, and it is the Palestinians who are fighting a guerrilla war in the… Read More