'Behind God's Back' PDF Download

Author: Herb Frazier
Publisher: Evening Post Books
ISBN: 9780982515471
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Author: Harri Nykanen
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
ISBN: 190852443X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Praise for Harri Nykänen's Nights of Awe: "The clever combination of classic Jewish themes with the traditions of Nordic crime makes for a refreshing tale with wide appeal. And the subtle humor makes it even better."—Booklist "Professional responsibility and ethnic affiliation clash in Nykänen's intriguing first novel. The resolution will satisfy noir fans."—Publishers Weekly "Ariel Kafka wins the award for most intriguing name for a fictional detective, and it suits this impressively labyrinthine mystery series."—Time Out The second in the Ariel Kafka series. There are two Jewish cops in all of Helsinki. One of them, Ariel Kafka, a lieutenant in the Violent Crime Unit, identifies himself as a policeman first, then a Finn, and lastly a Jew. Kafka is a religiously non-observant forty-something bachelor who is such a stubborn, dedicated policeman that he's willing to risk his career to get an answer. Murky circumstances surround his investigation of a Jewish businessman's murder. Neo-Nazi violence, intergenerational intrigue, shady loans—predictable lines of investigation lead to unpredictable culprits. But a second killing strikes closer to home, and the Finnish Security Police come knocking. The tentacles of Israeli politics and Mossad reach surprisingly far, once again wrapping Kafka in their sticky embrace. Harri Nykänen, born in Helsinki in 1953, was a well-known crime journalist and is now dedicated to writing fiction. The first in the Ariel Kafka series was Nights of Awe. Nykänen's work exposes the local underworld through the eyes of the criminal, the terrorist, and now from the point of view of an eccentric Helsinki police inspector.

Author: Miki Prijic Knezevic
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781479254521
Category : Balkan Peninsula
Languages : en
Pages : 628

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Bombs, roses, and gold coins are symbols of war, love, and survival as a Serbian doctor grapples her way through World War I, World War II and the early communist era in Yugoslavia. Behind God's Back follows Desa Jovanovic through a time period-1914-1962-where history rises to crush peace whenever it starts to rise from the dregs of war. As a teenager, Desa witnesses and experiences such misery in World War I that she decides to become a healer. Against strong odds, after the war, she wins a medical scholarship to Montpellier, France. Determined to take advantage of her scholarship, Desa keeps her nose to the grindstone regardless of the convivial atmosphere of Montpellier. Despite her determination, she cannot help being intrigued by a tall, handsome Serbian law student, Danilo Maric, whom she must try to win away from a beautiful French student. After several years and many unforeseen setbacks, Desa wins Danilo's heart and they're married back in Belgrade. Deaths and births, careers and relationships cement and sometimes strain their union. Overall, however, the period of calm in Europe between world wars is generally favorable for the young couple. When Hitler bombs Belgrade in April of l941, everything Desa and Danilo have built implodes. The initial bombings claim 20,000 victims and it's a downhill spiral from there. Amid the bombing, shelling and rigid Nazi occupation of Belgrade and its environs, Desa tries with all means available to her to save her family and patients. Danilo joins the resistance and suffers the consequences. A civil war rages in Yugoslavia along with the struggle for existence against the Nazis. The Nazi occupation of Belgrade ends with the invasion of Soviet troops. Citizens rejoice. The Russians lead the way for Tito's Partisans to occupy Belgrade and eventually all of Yugoslavia. Desa soon learns that communist rule will be just as cruel as the Nazi occupation. The tales of how Desa, her family and friends survive the upheavals of the 20th century rip through the pages of Behind God's Back. Desa's medical journey explores the frustrations and progress of medicine in this monumental era. Desa's journey is not all war and tragedy, however, as the spirit of the Serbian people in these difficult times endures with love and laughter, simple gatherings and the celebration of traditional holidays. Behind God's Back should appeal to readers of gripping historical fictions like Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese; Corelli's Mandolin and Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bernieres; and Shaghai Girls, Lisa See.

Author: John Micklethwait
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781594202131
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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On the street and in the corridors of power, religion is surging worldwide. From Russia to Turkey to India, nations that swore off faith in the last century--or even tried to stamp it out--are now run by avowedly religious leaders. This book examines this new world, from exorcisms in São Paulo to religious skirmishing in Nigeria, to televangelism in California and house churches in China. Since the Enlightenment, intellectuals have assumed that modernization would kill religion--and that religious America is an oddity. As these authors argue, religion and modernity can thrive together, and America is becoming the norm. The failure of communism and the rise of globalism helped spark the global revival, but, above all, 21st century religion is being fueled by a very American emphasis on competition and a customer-driven approach to salvation, and its destabilizing effects can already be seen far from Iraq or the World Trade Center.--From publisher description.

Author: Willie Jolley
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312203498
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Designed to turn moments of doubt into triumphs, this book offers strategies for seizing the moment, taking control of one's destiny, and focusing on dreams.

Author: T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307277275
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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A New York Times Notable Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 A bold approach to understanding the American evangelical experience from an anthropological and psychological perspective by one of the country's most prominent anthropologists. Through a series of intimate, illuminating interviews with various members of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Tanya Luhrmann leaps into the heart of evangelical faith. Combined with scientific research that studies the effect that intensely practiced prayer can have on the mind, When God Talks Back examines how normal, sensible people—from college students to accountants to housewives, all functioning perfectly well within our society—can attest to having the signs and wonders of the supernatural become as quotidian and as ordinary as laundry. Astute, sensitive, and extraordinarily measured in its approach to the interface between science and religion, Luhrmann's book is sure to generate as much conversation as it will praise.

Author: John C. Wathey
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1633880745
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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An essential feature of religious experience across many cultures is the intuitive feeling of God's presence. More than any rituals or doctrines, it is this experience that anchors religious faith, yet it has been largely ignored in the scientific literature on religion.Starting with a vivid narrative account of the life-threatening hike that triggered his own mystical experience, biologist John Wathey takes the reader on a scientific journey to find the sources of religious feeling and the illusion of God's presence. His book delves into the biological origins of this compelling feeling, attributing it to innate neural circuitry that evolved to promote the mother-child bond. Dr. Wathey argues that evolution has programmed the infant brain to expect the presence of a loving being who responds to the child's needs. As the infant grows into adulthood, this innate feeling is eventually transferred to the realm of religion, where it is reactivated through the symbols, imagery, and rituals of worship. The author interprets our various conceptions of God in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum left over from infancy. These insights shed new light on some of the most vexing puzzles of religion, like the popular belief in a god who is judgmental and punishing, yet also unconditionally loving; the extraordinary tenacity of faith; the greater religiosity of women relative to men; religious obsessions with sex; the mysterious compulsion to pray; the seemingly irrepressible feminine attributes of God, even in traditionally patriarchal religions; and the strange allure of cults. Finally, Dr. Wathey considers the hypothesis that religion evolved to foster reproductive success, arguing that, in an age of potentially ruinous overpopulation, magical thinking has become a luxury we can no longer afford, one that distracts us from urgent threats to our planet.Deeply researched yet elegantly written in a jargon-free and accessible style, this book presents a compelling interpretation of the evolutionary origins of spirituality and religion.

Author: Leonardo Wolfe
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1664220607
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 584

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This debut book boldly seeks to argue competitively in the same intellectual field as famous atheists such as RICHARD DAWKINS, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, and BERTRAND RUSSELL, and to do so in the spirit and style of such famous Christian apologists as C.S. Lewis and RAVI ZACHARIAS, drawing heavily on basic science, history, physics, psychology, paleontology, anthropology, archeology, neurology, child development and even science fiction. It describes the evolution of the human brain in ancient hominids allowing humans to eventually conceive a non-physical realm (the spirit world), and as the mind evolved intellectually from primitive animism to Christology, God revealed himself gradually as the developing hominid brain became able to comprehend new ideas. For Believers, the author presents a new, intellectually satisfying way to understand and defend the Bible. For both Skeptics and Believers, a worldview is offered that is spiritually meaningful and scientifically sound.

Author: Negley Farson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Harri Nykänen
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
ISBN: 1904738923
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Eccentric Jewish policeman Ariel Kafka investigates four Arabs' murders in this fresh take on the Nordic crime novel.