Bob White, a geophysicist, tackles one of the biggest conundrums in Christian thinking. He combines a profound knowledge of the science behind natural processes with thorough research into their impact, and underpins it with a carefully reasoned theological response.

Examining each type of disaster in turn, he illuminates the way in which human factors almost always turn natural processes, without which the earth would be sterile and uninhabitable, into disasters: population growth, widespread inequality, foolish farming and building practices, and climate change all contribute, exacerbating heat waves, famines, and droughts.

He then outlines the insights that Jacob, Job, and Jesus offer. This highly readable book is permeated with engaging insights into the human condition and the biblical response.

The imperial convent of St. Servatius at Quedlinburg (founded in 936) was one of the wealthiest, most prestigious, and most politically powerful religious houses of medieval Germany, subject only to the authority of the emperor and the pope. This is the first English-language volume to provide an introduction to this important female religious community. The twelve essays by a team of international scholars address an array of topics in Quedlinburg's medieval history, with a particular focus on how the Quedlinburg community of learned aristocratic women used architecture and the visual arts to assert the abbey's illustrious history, ongoing political importance, and cultural significance. Contributors are: Clemens Bley, Karen Blough, Shirin Fozi, Tobias Gartner, Eliza Garrison, Evan A. Gatti, G. Ulrich Grossmann, Annie Krieg, Manfred Mehl, Katharina Ulrike Mersch, Christian Popp, Helene Scheck, and Adam R. Stead.