Martin Goodman

In AD 70, after a war that had flared sporadically for four years, three Roman legions under the future Emperors Vespasian and his son Titus surrounded, laid siege to, and eventually devastated the city of Jerusalem, destroying completely the magnificent Temple which had been built by Herod only eighty years earlier. What brought about this extraordinary conflict, with its extraordinary consequences? This superb book, by one of the world’s leading scholars of the ancient Roman and Jewish worlds, narrates and explains this titanic struggle, showing why Rome’s interests were served by this policy of brutal hostility, and how the first generation of Christians first distanced themselves from its Jewish origins and then became increasingly hostile to Jews as their influence spread within the empire. The book thus also provides an exceptional and original account of the origins of anti-Semitism, whose history has had often cataclysmic reverberations down to our own time.

The Clash of Ancient Civilizations

Rome and Jerusalem

James Thornton

Environmentally, our planet lacks the laws to keep it safe and those laws we do have are feebly enforced. Every new year is the hottest in human history, while forest, reef, ice, tundra, and species are disappearing forever. It is easy to lose all hope. Who will stop the planet from committing ecological suicide? The UN? Governments? Activists? Corporations? Engineers? Scientists? Whoever, environmental laws need to be enforceable and enforced. Step forward a fresh breed of passionately purposeful environmental lawyers. They provide new rules to legislatures, see that they are enforced, and keep us informed. They tackle big business to ensure money flows into cultural change, because money is the grammar of business just as science is the grammar of nature. At the head of this new legal army stands James Thornton, who takes governments to court, and wins. And his client is the Earth. With Client Earth, we travel from Poland to Ghana, from Alaska to China, to see how citizens can use public interest law to protect their planet. Foundations and philanthropists support the law group ClientEarth because they see, plainly and brightly, that the law is a force all parties recognize. Lawyers who take the Earth as their client are exceptional and inspirational. They give us back our hope.

Client Earth

the clash of ancient civilizations

"Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied over the course of more than three millennia. A History of Judaism provides the first truly comprehensive look in one volume at how this great religion came to be, how it has evolved from one age to the next, and how its various strains, sects, and traditions have related to each other. In this magisterial and elegantly written book, Martin Goodman takes readers from Judaism's origins in the polytheistic world of the second and first millennia BCE to the temple cult at the time of Jesus. He tells the stories of the rabbis, mystics, and messiahs of the medieval and early modern periods and guides us through the many varieties of Judaism today. Goodman's compelling narrative spans the globe, from the Middle East, Europe, and America to North Africa, China, and India. He explains the institutions and ideas on which all forms of Judaism are based, and masterfully weaves together the different threads of doctrinal and philosophical debate that run throughout its history."--

A History of Judaism

Alan K. Bowman

Simon Price

Lecturer in Ancient History and Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall Simon Price

Hannah M. Cotton

Lecturer in Ancient History Alan K Bowman

The essays in this volume cover the whole of the period in which Rome dominated the Mediterranean world. The belief shared by all the contributors is that the Roman empire is best understood from the standpoint of the Mediterranean world looking in to Rome, rather than from Rome looking out. The papers focus on the development of political institutions in Rome itself and in her empire, and on the nature of the relationship between Rome and her provincial subjects. They also discuss historiographical approaches to different kinds of source material, literary and documentary - including the major Roman historians, the evidence for the pre-Roman near east, and the Christian writers of later antiquity. This volume reflects the immense complexity of the political and cultural history of the ancient Mediterranean, from the late Republic to the age of Augustine.

Rome and the Mediterranean World

Representations of Empire

A dystopian novel set around London's disused Heathrow Airport. For sixteen years the Earth has baked and no girls have been born. Karen's the last girl. Steven's her gay twin. Dad turns their home into a fortress as women take their chance to rule the world. Their eyes are on Steven. Perhaps, with a little medical interference, he could be the saviour of the world. The boys of teensquad run the streets, insects clog the skies, and scientists are cooking up a brand new Eden. Interzone says: 'Ectopia is a terrific novel with excellent characterisation, world-building, narration and dialogue. A story of great depth, raising questions about who we are and how we define ourselves. Steven is a brilliant narrator with a thrilling tale to tell.'Litreactor says: 'Ectopia is a thought provoking read that isn't afraid to take risks, which gives it a leg up in the crowded dystopian marketplace. It's not going to usurp The Hunger Games as teenagers' dystopia du jour (especially since Middle Amerimoms won't appreciate the incest and gay sex), but give it a few years and some of them will want to cut their teeth on something meatier.'Occam's Typewriter says: 'If you are a connoisseur of dystopias, this will be one for you'

Ectopia

George H. van Kooten

J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten

Jews, Christians and Muslims describe elements of their origins with close reference to the narrative of Abraham, including the complex story of Abraham's relations with Hagar. This volume sketches the significance of this narrative in the three traditions.

Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Perspectives on Kinship with Abraham

Abraham, the Nations, and the Hagarites

Emil Schürer

Critical presentation of the whole evidence concerning Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 BC to AD 135; with updated bibliographies.

The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C.-A.D. 135)

A young and undeniably powerful holy woman. A writer whose spiritual longing is gloriously fulfilled while his personal quest is fractured and temporarily subverted. In Search of the Divine Mother is an epic drama revealing, for the first time, the full story of the contemporary mystic known to her thousands of devotees as Mother Meera. Tracing the history and significance of the mysterious Indian woman who is visited by hundreds of people--easterners and westerners alike--each week in her modest German countryside home, writer Martin Goodman reveals how and why Mother Meera, born an uneducated peasant in rural India, is considered by many to be the ultimate incarnation of the feminine divine in our time. A former devoted insider given unique access to Mother Meera's inner circle, Goodman brings his considerable talent to this absorbing and wonderfully literate account of his own mystical encounters with Mother Meera, which began with his first visit in 1991, and the remarkable events that comprise her life and astonishing spiritual work. In 1995, Mother Meera authorized Goodman to write her official biography, granting him unprecedented access to her life and her history. The book he wrote was completely destroyed on Mother Meera's orders. This is the work that rose from the ashes of those burned pages--a deeper, more subjective, and broader ranging volume that layers biography with the mesmerizing story of a true spiritual adventure. Filled with all the beauty and drama of a mythic novel, it yields a remarkable portrait of a genuine contemporary mystic on a crucial mission to bring divine light into the world. Goodman's tale is one of clear insight and profound admiration. Having distanced himself from Mother Meera and her organization, he is uniquely able to provide a truthful and fair-minded reflection of the phenomena that surround Mother Meera and to add new depth to the stories of her that are familiar to readers of such works as Andrew Harvey's Hidden Journey and her own, published works. While he readily admits that she is not infallible, Goodman nonetheless reveals Mother Meera's true gift of opening up the divinity we each hold within us--she exists, he writes, "as an open door through which we can see and meet God." I am walking down a hill toward a German village because people say God lives there. She is at home for the evening and receiving visitors. Born in 1960 in a village in southern India, a sickly child named Kamala is soon "discovered" and guided out of poverty and onto the world stage as an incarnation of the Divine Mother on earth. Mother Meera, as she came to be known, is a figure shrouded in mystery and wonder. She holds court in a small town in Germany, where over 40,000 people from around the world have gone to seek enlightenment in her presence. She teaches only through her profound, silent gaze and remarkable touch, and asks nothing--no money, no allegiance--from those who choose to follow her. For the thousands who have visited her, and the thousands more who have wondered at her power and widespread appeal, In Search of the Divine Mother offers a riveting inside account of one man's search to discover the truth about Mother Meera. Through his beautifully written and richly textured work, celebrated novelist Martin Goodman creates both a magnificent tale of spiritual transformation and a fascinating profile of a true mystic living in our time.

The Mystery of Mother Meera

In Search of the Divine Mother

Silný příběh tří generací žen z rodiny nacistického důstojníka v koncentračním táboře Dachau a židovské rodiny z Vídně, v němž je každý hluboce poznamenán válečnými hrůzami bez ohledu na to, na které straně konfliktu stojí. V 90. letech 20. století se v Kalifornii setkávají dva přeživší z obou rodin. Rosa je mladá australská muzikoložka, Otto světoznámý skladatel a violoncellista. Spojuje je hudba i minulost, ale bude zapotřebí ještě něčeho dalšího, co jim pomůže překlenout rány i propasti způsobené dějinami. S dětskými vzpomínkami na rozbombardovaný Leicester a Coventry se Martin Goodman po škole přestěhoval do Berlína. Jeho dílo zkoumá způsoby, jimiž válka působí v šokových vlnách na další generace. Spisovatel, oceněný za své romány i vědecká díla, nyní přednáší jako profesor kreativního psaní na Univerzitě v Hullu.

Příběh hudby, lásky a války

J SS Bach

“A marvelous book with rich teachings that particularly touch the heart of death -- and, thus, life itself.”--Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight Carlos Castaneda comes back from the dead in a true-life spiritual adventure story set in the French Pyrenees, Machu Picchu, the Peruvian Amazon, and the American Southwest. Four months after his death, the world-renowned writer, anthropologist, and mystic Carlos Castaneda turns up in the French Pyrenees. He meets with writer Martin Goodman. His purpose? To lead Martin beyond the fear of death and the confusions of mortality, and to offer a clearer understanding of the ultimate wisdom -- the wisdom to live the rest of our days in full and conscious harmony with the living earth. Martin Goodman is a gifted storyteller who has infused I Was Carlos Castaneda with literary verve and humor. When, at their first encounter, an incredulous Goodman confronts Castaneda with reports of his recent death, Castaneda replies wryly, “Details. . . mere details.” And so the story begins.

The Afterlife Dialogues

I Was Carlos Castaneda

Uma história abrangente do judaísmo O judaísmo é uma das religiões mais antigas do mundo e foi capaz de preservar sua identidade distinta ao longo de mais de três milênios. A história do judaísmo oferece uma visão verdadeiramente ampla de como essa religião surgiu, como evoluiu de uma época para outra e como suas várias tradições e seitas se relacionaram. Neste livro, Martin Goodman, professor da universidade de Oxford, leva os leitores das origens do judaísmo no mundo politeísta antes de Cristo ao culto do templo na época de Jesus. Conta as histórias de rabinos, místicos e messias do período medieval e do início da modernidade, guiando através das muitas facetas do judaísmo de hoje. Ele explica as instituições e ideias nas quais todas as formas de judaísmo se baseiam. A história do judaísmo é um verdadeiro guia sobre a religião e seu povo, sobre como a fé sobreviveu a quase três séculos de perseguições. Tudo explicado em detalhes, mostrando o judaísmo em vários continentes e épocas: de Moisés guiando os hebreus à cabala, do judaísmo ortodoxo à crença na vida pós-morte. "Goodman capta a variedade caleidoscópica do judaísmo. Seu livro é um guia inestimável sobre a fé para os judeus do mundo todo como foi a coluna de fogo que iluminou Moisés e os hebreus no deserto." – THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "Em um único volume, Goodman oferece três milênios de pensamento e prática religiosa. Leitura obrigatória para judeus de todas as idades e iluminadora para quem tem curiosidade em compreender a alma desse povo tão sofrido e tão bem sucedido." – THE GUARDIAN

A saga de um povo: das suas origens aos tempos atuais

A história do judaísmo

Geurt Hendrik van Kooten

David Sorkin

Jeremy Cohen

This volume on Jewish studies presents surveys of today's interests and directions in the humanities and social sciences. It covers the main areas taught and researched as part of Jewish studies in universities throughout the world, especially in Europe, the US, and Israel.

Martin Goodman

About

Books

Join the club