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aThe authors describe the complex congregation in exceedingly careful detail, including a number of archival photographs that bring the narrative to life. Unlike so many congregational histories, difficult periods of tension and conflict are presented alongside feel-good rehearsals of the glory days....The authors and the congregation should be commended for this unique contribution to the field of congregational studies. The research is comprehensive.a
--"Sociology of Religion""There is much to commend it, and my students will be glad to find such a readable book on their syllabi."--"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion"

"This is an excellent scholarly resource on liberal Protestant church history and is recommended for all congregational libraries."--"Church and Synagogue Libraries"

"A critical history, not a jingoistic celebration....scholarly volume."
--"Spirit"

It was from the pulpit of the Riverside Church that Martin Luther King, Jr., first publicly voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War, that Nelson Mandela addressed U.S. church leaders after his release from prison, and that speakers as diverse as Cesar Chavez, Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu, Fidel Castro, and Reinhold Niebuhr lectured church and nation about issues of the day. The greatest of American preachers have served as senior minister, including Harry Emerson Fosdick, Robert J. McCracken, Ernest T. Campbell, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., and James A. Forbes, Jr., and at one time the "New York Times" printed reports of each Sunday's sermon in its Monday morning edition.

For seven decades the church has served as the premier model ofProtestant liberalism in the United States. Its history represents the movement from white Protestant hegemony to a multiracial and multiethnic church that has been at the vanguard of social justice advocacy, liberation theologies, gay and lesbian ministries, peace studies, ethnic and racial dialogue, and Jewish-Christian relations.

A collaborative effort by a stellar team of scholars, The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York offers a critical history of this unique institution on Manhattan's Upper West Side, including its cultural impact on New York City and beyond, its outstanding preachers, and its architecture, and assesses the shifting fortunes of religious progressivism in the twentieth century.

Cook exposes how Wittgenstein's philosophical views have been misunderstood, including the failure to recognize the reductionist character of Wittgenstein's work. He also shows how both Wittgenstein's defenders and detractors have failed to recognize the merits of linguistic philosophy when it is freed from the influence of Wittgenstein and G.E. Moore.

Wittgenstein's Metaphysics offers a radical new interpretation of the fundamental ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein. It takes issue with the conventional view that after 1930 Wittgenstein rejected the philosophy of the Tractatus and developed a wholly new conception of philosophy. By tracing the evolution of Wittgenstein's ideas, Cook shows that they are neither as original nor as difficult as is often supposed. Wittgenstein was essentially an empiricist, and the difference between his early views (as set forth in the Tractatus) and the later views (as expounded in the Philosophical Investigations) lies chiefly in the fact that after 1930 he replaced his early version of reductionism with a subtler version. So he ended where he began, as an empiricist armed with a theory of meaning. This iconoclastic interpretation is sure to influence all future study of Wittgenstein and will provoke a reassessment of the nature of his contribution to philosophy.

The scholars who defend or dispute moral relativism--the idea that a moral principle cannot be applied to people whose culture does not accept it--have concerned themselves with either the philosophical or anthropological aspects of relativism. This study shows that in order to arrive at a definitive appraisal of moral relativism, it is necessary to understand and investigate both its anthropological and philosophical aspects. Carefully examining the arguments for and against moral relativism, Cook exposes not only that anthropologists have failed in their attempt to support relativism with evidence of cultural differences, but that moral absolutists have been equally unsuccessful in their attempts to refute it. He argues that these conflicting positions are both guilty of an artificial and unrealistic view of morality and proposes a more subtle and complex account of morality.

John Cook uses examples from anthropology to examine arguments both for and against moral relativism, the idea that moral beliefs, judgements, and general knowledge depend upon the perspective of the agent. He then demonstrates that, although both lines of argument may appear to be plausible, neither is able to hold up under rigorous examination. Cook argues that these accounts fail because both sides in the debate mistakenly identify morality as something external to the individual: Relativists see it as something essentially arbitrary that is imposed by the wider society, while absolutists see it as a set of rules or principles. In response to these disparate views, Cook presents a more subtle account of morality, which he derives from the work of Iris Murdoch. According to this view, morality is seen as a complex human characteristic that may be more or less developed in any given person. Because it is a characteristic common to all human beings, morality can be described as universal, yet it cannot be reduced to a set of rules. The combination of philosophy and anthropology in this text underscores the applicablity of philosophical theories to examples from common situations in life, making both the theories and the examples much more interesting, meaningful, and accessible.

Morsels for the Soul, From a Melting Mind I've put together a collection of short stories and poems that will keep you aniously waiting the end of the stories Home is not a physical place but rather a place where we can go in our hearts and are surrounded by the love of our family and friends to give us strenght until we can stand alone Some things in life that are forced upon us are devastating. I had a motorcycle wreck in June of 2010 that left me with a very serious TBI (tramatic brain injury). Included in these works are some things that I had to go through in order to heal during my recovery process so that I could become the John Cook that I wanted to be, not the that was forced upon me. Just a word of advice, some of the stories in this book may stir unpleasant emotions in you. Please do not be angry with me but rather take the time to examine the emotions so that we can both heal Helping helps ya'll, innocence is priceless, The Rambler

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

General Cook was the founder of the Rocky Mountain Detective Association. His story focuses on the criminal history of the west.