Faith and Place takes knowledge of place as a basis for thinking about the relationship between religious belief and our embodied life.
Recent epistemology of religion has appealed to various secular analogues for religious belief - especially analogues drawn from sense perception and scientific theory construction. These approaches tend to overlook the close connection between religious belief and our moral, aesthetic and otherwise engaged relationship to the material world. By taking knowledge of place as a starting point for religious epistemology, Mark Wynn aims to throw into clearer focus the embodied, action-orienting, perception-structuring, and affect-infused character of religious understanding.
This innovative study understands the religious significance of a site in terms of i. its capacity to stand for some encompassing truth about human life; ii. its conservation of historical meanings, where these meanings make a practical claim upon those located at the place at later times; and iii. its directing of the believer's attention to a sacred meaning, through enacted appropriation of the site.
Wynn proposes that the notion of 'God' functions like the notion of a 'genius loci', where the relevant locus is the sum of material reality. He argues that knowledge of God consists in part in a storied and sensuous appreciation of the significance of particular places.

Among the best-known and most esteemed people known from antiquity is the Babylonian king Hammurabi. His fame and reputation are due to the collection of laws written under his patronage. This book offers an innovative interpretation of the Laws of Hammurabi. Ancient scribes would demonstrate their legal flair by composing statutes on a set of traditional cases, articulating what they deemed just and fair. The scribe of the Laws of Hammurabi advanced beyond earlier scribes in composing statutes that manifest systematization and implicit legal principles, and inserted the Laws of Hammurabi into the form of a royal inscription, shrewdly reshaping the genre. This tradition of scribal improvisation on a set of traditional cases continued outside of Mesopotamia. It influenced biblical law and the law of the Hittite empire significantly. The Laws of Hammurabi was also witness to the start of another stream of intellectual tradition. It became the subject of formal commentaries, marking a profound cultural shift. Scribes related to it in ways that diverged from prior attitudes; it became an object of study and of commentary, a genre that names itself as dependent on another text. The famous Laws of Hammurabi is here given the extensive attention it continues to merit.

This straightforward handbook by Mike Flynn and Doug Gregg shows how God can set a new course for our lives and provides us all the tools necessary to embark on a journey of inner healing. Writing from a biblical perspective which seeks to correct common myths and misunderstandings about this vital ministry, Flynn and Gregg's work will be valued both by those who want to help their hurting friends and neighbors and by those who are seeking healing in their own lives.

The Mother of Mercy was painted in 1796 by Giuseppe Soleri Brancaleoni at the request of his sister, Sr. Clare Soleri, as a replica of the miraculous image venerated in the Oratory of St. Girolamo. This painting was placed as an object of veneration in a rear chapel within the Church of St. Clare in Rimini, Italy. On May 12, 1850, three women, having gone there to pray in front of the holy image, witnessed an extraordinary phenomenon: the pupils in the image "rose and lowered; sometimes having the splendor of shining stars, at other times veiled in tears." This miraculous event repeated itself again and again over a period of several months in the sight of many. Rimini and its surrounding countryside began to experience a spiritual renewal. After a rigorous examination of evidence given by numerous witnesses, the miracle was verifi ed by the Holy Catholic Church. In 1851, the image was adorned with a crown of gold, silver and precious stones; as a gift from Pope Pius IX. The venerated image has had many, various miracles attributed to it over the years, and numerous ex-voto offerings which commemorate them may be seen in the Church of St. Clare. In time, the Mother of Mercy came to be known as the Madonna of Rimini. The beautiful image, traditionally said to have been painted while Soleri was on his knees, is currently located over the High Altar in the Church of St. Clare, and to this day retains that "delicacy and smoothness" which have never failed to move those who prayerfully contemplate it.

Beloved as "the Little Flower of Jesus," Marie-Franoise-Thrse Martin-or SAINT THRSE OF LISIEUX (1873-1897)-is remembered today for this, her spiritual autobiography. Before her too-young death from tuberculosis at the age of 24, she put down in words her simple yet profound approach to the worship of God, called her "little way," a philosophy of everyday goodness and appreciation of life and nature that anyone may follow. Remarkably, her deep piety grew from her own life-long suffering, from the loss of her mother at age four to her own ill health, and through them her dedication to obedience of and surrender to God's will. A favorite of spiritual seekers, this is a lovely work of devotion and prayfulness.

Myth is a complex but vital component of an understanding of religion, and issues surrounding the modern discipline of mythology are often fraught with difficulty. In Myth: Key Concepts in Religion students will find all the tools they need to achieve an understanding of this complicated topic. Structured around a typical programme of study, Robert Ellwood's accessible introduction covers all the major theories concerning the meaning and interpretation of myth, from structuralist to psychoanalytic, and includes illustrative examples throughout, including modern literary and cinematic myths, from The Lord of the Rings to Star Wars.