Have you ever wanted accessible introductions to key figures and periods of Christian history? Augustine and His World Augustine is one of the giants of the Christian church. From his birth in North Africa and his days as a relatively permissive young man, through his midlife conversion to Christianity and career as bishop of Hippo, his story has intrigued and inspired every generation for over 1,600 years. As a thinker, teacher, writer and debater, Augustine's greatness lay in his ability to relate the philosophies of Ancient Greece and Rome to the precepts of the Christian faith. Augustine also saved the church itself from disintegrating into rival factions by forging sound doctrine in the fires of controversy. This immersive account of Augustine's life helps readers understand the world he came from and the enormous contribution he made to the church, both of his day and of the future. Francis of Assisi and His World Francis of Assisi is one of the world's most popular religious figures, and also one of the most misrepresented. In this lively and engaging account of Francis's story - from his hedonistic youth to his emergence as a Christian leader of great charisma and intensity - Mark Galli attempts to strip away the modern gloss in order to discover the real man and the world in which he lived. The saint revealed here is not the romantic free spirit of popular imagination, but a contentious figure who combined a deep mysticism with radical commitment and, above all, sought to glorify God, the creator.

Offering new insights based on recent archaeological discoveries in their heartland of modern-day Lebanon, Mark Woolmer presents a fresh appraisal of this fascinating, yet elusive, Semitic people. Discussing material culture, language and alphabet, religion (including sacred prostitution of women and boys to the goddess Astarte), funerary custom and trade and expansion into the Punic west, he explores Phoenicia in all its paradoxical complexity. Viewed in antiquity as sage scribes and intrepid mariners who pushed back the boundaries of the known world, and as skilled engineers who built monumental harbour cities like Tyre and Sidon, the Phoenicians were also considered (especially by their rivals, the Romans) to be profiteers cruelly trading in human lives. The author shows them above all to have been masters of the sea: this was a civilization that circumnavigated Africa two thousand years before Vasco da Gama did it in 1498. The Phoenicians present a tantalizing face to the ancient historian. Latin sources suggest they once had an extensive literature of history, law, philosophy and religion; but all now is lost. In this revised and updated edition, Woolmer takes stock of recent historiographical developments in the field, bringing the present edition up to speed with contemporary understanding.