If you are not a Christian, don't assume that this book is only of interest to "the Godly" or those who want to promote Protestant education. Watt was a conservative but scientifically enlightened preacher and his advice, particulary in part II, where he discourses elegantly on how to be an effective classroom teacher, very often rings as true in the 21st century as in the 18th, and is full of common sense suggestions for any kind of teacher, from evangelical to atheist.

Isaac Watts has left us a rich inheritance in his book The Improvment of the Mind. His approach provides excellent advice on how to obtain knowledge through all aspects of life, yet keeps the larger reality of God always in view. This book is loaded with thought-provoking gems to make us more efficient and proficient at true learning. Dr. Watts' has established a sound basis for education from early youth all the way to old age. This book is a tremendous resource for educators, parents, and anyone concerned with making solid decisions about how to teach and how to learn. I consider this work to be a blessing offered to us as the legacy of a great man of God.

I must recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their mind, learn new study techniques, the true way to study, the reason for study, etc. This is a highly enjoyable book. Written in sections, you can pick it up and start reading anywhere that you find it interesting. There is a section on raising young men and women. A very godly man wrote this, and it shows through.

Sheldon

Skarsuane provides the reader with insights into the Jewish background of early Christianity, even Gentile Christianity. It is not an overstatement to call his work exhaustive, as he covers all the bases in this 455 page work.

There are 21 chapters divided into 4 parts.
1.judaism and hellensim 2.Politics: jews and the roman empire
3. geography: the land of israel and the diaspora 4. jerusalem: teh city of the temple 5.how many "judaisms"? 6.jesus with judaism 7. the early jerusalem community of Christians 8.mission to the gentiles and the torah etc........
Skarsaune is very thorough!

I would also highly recommend Jean Danielou's "Theology of Jewish Christianity". It is out of print, but possible to find and it is worth the hunt!

The price is also very cheap for such a work. You will be hard-pressed to find a book more detailed and readable than this one. Enjoy!

This book, by veteran early-church historian Oskar Skarsaune, presents a wealth of information on early Judaism, the New Testament, and the Early Church. It's easy to read and each chapter comes with a list of suggestions for further reading. Most surprising to some readers will be that so much of what some consider "Gentile" about Christianity is at heart Jewish - including even the doctrine of the Incarnation, often held to be a pagan import. This is a must read for anyone interested in Jews, Judaism, or Christianity.

This book is a true gem on the subject of HOW the Early Church was a real daughter of the Ancient Synagogue. Author Prof. Skarsaune is an expert on Christian origins, early Judaeo-Christianity and Jewish-Christian relations in Antiquity. In his rich and fascinating book Skarsaune gives a detailed account of the Jewish religious environment of the Second Temple Period and First Century and how this environment had a profound influence on the Christian Beginnings of the Church of Jewish and gentile believers in Jesus. Personally, I was again very much surprised by the deep roots of the Faith, Worship and Liturgy of the early Church in the Jewish religious soil of the Old Testament.
It is a great book with well-documented sources. It can very well be used as an original and practical inspiration for present-day renewal in Christian worship and faith practices. Warmly recommended!

Francis Turretin (1623-1687) was a pastor and taught at the Academy of Geneva. This is the final volume of his magnificent and spirited defense of Reformed doctrine. This volume has indices to all 3 volumes and biographical information. It also includes the funeral message that Benedict Pictet preached at Turretin's funeral. In this volume Turretin covers: the Church, the Sacraments, and last things. To give you an idea of how thorough Turretin is, he takes 31 questions to discuss the sacraments. These books are excellent and highly recommended.

Francis Turretin (1623-1687) was a pastor, and taught at the Academy of Geneva. This is the second volume of his spirited and exhaustive defense of Reformed Theology. Samuel Alexander called Turretin "the best expounder of the doctrine of the Reformed Church" (high praise when you remember that John Calvin did a little exposition of Reformed dogmatics himself). This volume covers: the Law of God, the Covenant of Grace, The person and state of Christ, the mediatorial office of Christ, calling and faith, justification, and sanctification and good works. The section on God's law (which has a wonderful exposition of the 10 commandments) is worth the price of the book alone. This volume and its companions are a must in any serious theological library.

Francis Turretin (1623-1687) was a pastor and taught at the Academy of Geneva. An "elenctic" theology is one that trys to demonstrate the truth of a doctrine while refuting false doctrines. Volume 1 covers Theology, Scripture, God in unity and trinity, the decrees of God and predestination, creation, the providence of God, Angels, the state of man before the fall and the covenant of nature, Sin, and, finally, the free will of man in a state of sin. There is nothing else like these books in the realm of reformed dogmatics. The closest thing to them that I can think of is Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica except that Turretin upholds a sounder form of doctrine (Roman Catholics would heartily disagree with me there). Charles Hodge used Turretin in teaching Theology as did John Gerstner. Dr. James M. Boice hits the nail on the head when he says of Turretin's Institutes: "If ever a great theological work has been unjustly neglected it has been Francis Turretin's masterful volumes on the whole of Christian doctrine... I heartily commend [them] to preachers, theological students and lay persons everywhere." These are not easy reading but they are well worth your while.

This book has been a wonderful state-of-the-art resource book for primary public-school education classrooms.
I am a teacher in California. My class assignment this year is a kindergarten/1st grade combination classroom. I started the year out as a 1st/2nd grade combination classroom but the enrollment changed at our school site that after the first two weeks the students were reshuffled around and I was given a mostly new set of students and had to make a room change.
Now I needed all new materials and resources for the grade changes. Our school was given a very large grant and we as teachers were being observed by consulting firms to see if they approved of our teaching methods. Every so many months they come around to make several observations of us in our classrooms. They check to see if we are following their recommendations and if our classrooms are "child-centered classrooms". Most of the teachers are on edge at this school and are exhausted working many long hours and at their own monetary expense to make things happen at this school.
This book offered me a wonderful resource for solving many of the concerns I had at this school for resolving a number of these difficulties. In it, are many ideas for getting your struggling students to come up to and approach grade level standards. The students are able to do activities that enable them to become excited able learners.

I am a kindergarten teacher who has agonized over the years at how to incorporate writing into my classroom. I've recently gone back to school to get my Masters in Language and Literacy to become a better teacher. My thesis is going to be on interactive writing. I have found this to be the BEST resource for explaining to me how and why and when to "share the pen" with my students. I can't praise this book highly enough. The pictures and lessons and rationale that have gone into this book are just what I've been searching for...The authors make so much sense...the literacy connection between reading and writing is based on research. Take a look at this book. I promise you, it'll change your outlook on how reading and writing can and should go together.

I am a first year teacher and I have finally incorporated interactive writing into my daily curriculum. It was not easy at first, but I have arrived at a successful and exciting place with this teaching method in my classroom. I think I could have reached this level of success back in September if I had Andrea McCarrier's book then. It is truly the missing link to a successful literacy centered classroom. This book has supplied me with enough specific ideas to initiate interactive writing on the first days of school next year. Letter ID and sight word development will be more effective and mastered more quickly by using interactive writing with my students. The beauty of interactive writing is it can be integrated with many other subjects: science, social studies, health, technology, etc. Only after a week of hard-core interactive writing, two of my students have emerged from confusion and are have begun to build sentences with spaces, punctuation and sensical inventive spelling. Many in the class have advanced with their writing, and this has also advanced their reading! This book has helped me come up with ideas, realistic goals, step-by-step procedures, and final product bulletin boards and books for their classroom. The book is full of photographs showing the beginning of the task, the task in process, and the final result. This is the new "bible" in my classroom, and I cannot recommend it enough for kindergarten and first grade teachers, both new and veteran. Now, if I could just find a book with this quality of information and step-by-step ideas that would focus on independent literacy centers to allow me to teach small group guided reading without an interruption, I would be able to teach the world to read! Come on Pinnell! Come on Fountas! Come on McCarrier! You write it or recommend it, I'll buy it!

This is the complete text of all 24 of John Cassian's Conferences, some of which are translated for the very first time. This text could be, and indeed was, considered the advanced text on living the Christian life. While the stories of the desert fathers may sound daunting, their thoughts, as transmitted (and certainly adapted) by John Cassian are surprisingly honest, refreshing, and inspirational. These were people who truly sought, and knew God. As Cassian writes in the preface, we can criticize them as being too extreme, but the evidence of their lives testifies on their behalf. Virtually every aspect of life is covered here in some way, as Cassian relates his "conferences" with various monks in the deserts of Egypt. This book is so refreshing and stirring, especially given the "junk food" spirituality that most modern Christian publishers pump out. This way is not simple or quick, but it does point to a fuller life. All those who say they follow Christ should give this a read.

(...)

. . .is known for its critical editions of Patristic and Early Medieval writings. Again the series trumps with the addition of this title.

"The Conferences" of John Cassian are perhaps some of the most powerful commentaries on the eremetical, monastic, and spiritual ways of life ever written -- and they are all too often left unappreciated in today's world. This was not always the case. The great saints, monastics and mystics of the medieval period read and respected this work extremely highly.

The "Conferences", set up as though Cassian was in dialogue with the great hermits of his day (and in some cases, perhaps he actually was) deal with the various issues, choices, and crises which beset all Christians -- not merely those to whom the grace of the religious life has been given.

This is a book to be digested slowly, one "conference" at a time and to be meditated upon -- not to be rushed through.

Highly recommended.

A very important book ! If the greatest mind in the history of Western Civilation (i.e. St Thomas Aquinas) read it every day and always had it with him what more needs to be said ?

Like everything Kant wrote, this book is best read very slowly and with the realization that there are some things in it that you just won't understand. Kant is famous for his cryptic terminology and long, long-winded explanations; nevertheless, this book is undoubtedly more accessible to the average reader than his "Critiques." It is also where you'll find the famous Categorical Imperative, the argument for an absolute prohibition on lying, and the equation of goodness with duty. This is perhaps the defining work in the history of morality and ethics, but it's more of a curiosity than a realistic guide to life- and nobody knew that better than Kant himself.

How can one write a review of Kant's work, short of publishing a paper? Even if you don't agree with Kantian ethics, this is still a must for anyone interested in philosophy, morality, and life in general.

Despite the sometimes overlength of some passages and explanations, Kant's immensely influential treatise on ethics is an incredible read. The formulations of his famous Categorial Imperative have become part of every day philosophical speech; we even capitalize THE Categorical Imperative where the original author did not! Not only an intriguing look at morality, but an examination of human freedom and dignity as well. Read this book!! (This is not to say that Kant is above criticism, but come on, I don't really have the room to address it all, do I?)

This manual is awesome. I am currently using it in my Kindergarten Program at the Roxbury Family YMCA in Boston. I have observed a tremendous change in my students' social skills, language development and self-esteem.

I also like the school to home connection and skills reinforcement the manual helps us to incorporate into our curriculum.

This manual is a must for any child care program!

The Kids' Wellness Guide is most timely in offering teachers, parents, and caregivers a valuable resource to help kids tap their own natural strengths for positively dealing with the challenges and stresses of today's "hurried" world. It trains young children in core wellness skills such as relaxation, visualization, focusing and balance through unique "imagination workouts". These inventive activities are fun for kids at home, at school and at play. An exciting and needed addition to the literature. It makes smart sense to proactively introduce wellness concepts to our young children. Highly recommended.

The Kids Wellness Guide is a welcome addtion to the limited resources avaiable for stress reduction for young childen. The user friendly style of presentation contributes to its usefullness. As a child psychologist I have been usinig this program as an intervention for young children with anxiety disorders. This is a must read for all therapists working with children!

An ideal and captivating quick history of Britain from Julius Caeser's first expedition in 55 B.C. until Athelstan's consolidation of power in 937. This cutoff point seems to be chosen because that is when historical records become more complete, while Ashe prefers to work in the realm where historical records are sketchy or oblique, and must be pieced together with supporting clues from archaeology and legend to fill in a necessarily incomplete picture. Ashe draws heavily from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Nennius, Gildas, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Bede, and the more dependable Roman records, though always explicitly critical of his sources and lucid in his analysis of how we can draw the kernel of truth out of embellishments or legends. In some cases, such as the pre-Roman British kings listed by Monmouth, the legends are so lacking in support as to be historically hopeless. But where several perspectives exist, even corrupted accounts like Monmouth can be compared with other records to tease out dividends of clues into the reality. The critical view of the evidence and frank analysis leave a rich and fascinating account of almost a thousand years of Picts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes vying for control of the British Isles. A case in point is King Arthur, so buried in legend while so scarce from reliable historical records that uncovering the true history appears impossible, until Ashe navigates confidently through fact and fiction to lay out the most likely possibilities behind the legend. Ashe describes the roles of diplomacy, war, and religion in the constantly shifting tides of political power, gives brief biographical sketches of countless key players, and demonstrates the difference made by remarkable leaders such as Constantine, Maximus, Maelgwn of Gwynedd, Caewlin of Wessex, Saint Aidan, Aldfrith of Northumbria, Kenneth MacAlpine, and of course Alfred the Great. He gives telling insights into the rise of Christianity in the isles despite the resistance in turn of the Romans, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes. He also emphasises the point that Britain alone of any region in the Empire was granted independence from Rome before the barbarians arrived, which uniquely poised it to maintain a heightened cultural continuity, to the benefit of succeeding eras. I'd been looking for a good, concise history of pre-Alfred Britain, and this turned out to be just right. A fair, even treatment with a brisk, highly readable style.

This book discusses English history from about 1100 B.C to the reign of Alfred the Great, A.D. 871. Much of our information on this period comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose "history" owed more to imagination and folklore (in particular the Welsh Mabinogian) than to historical scholarship. But from Geoffrey's work come many of the underpinnings of the King Arthur story, and he wrote of kings further immortalized in Shakespeares' plays and Eliot's poetry. Ashe discusses Geoffrey's work, comparing it to historical references. The result is a story viewed through the context of myth as well as history. The two do not always agree, but they complement each other and create a fascinating story with a varied cast: the warrior-queen Boadicea, Constantius, Merlin, Arthur. The brief discussion of Arthur's historical roots will be familiar to those who have read other books by Ashe, but it provides a good introduction for readers new to the subject.

As always, Ashe writes in a clear and accessible style. The book offers a historical perspective to readers interested in Arthurian lore and English literature. It is also likely to appeal to the reader who has an interest in history but not an extensive background.

I picked up this book expecting to find some boring interpretation of early Britain as I thought that all of these types of books would be. But I was really interested in the subject matter-----and this book made me even more interested. I was introduced to stories I'd never heard before and the book was easy to read for me (I'm in high school). I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this book to anyone interested in early Britain. It offers many different perspectives of the legends while analyzing The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth. "Excellent" isn't even near enough to say!

Locke's _A Letter Concerning Toleration_ is key for many reasons, not least of which is its startling relevance to contemporary society. Locke sees tolerance as fundamentally a "live and let live" situation, a state which must be acheived to avoid the endless relativity of a regime fueled by religion; as each man is orthodox to himself and heretical to others, he argues, religious tolerance *must* be a basic societal tenet for the state to function. Excellently argued and written, Locke's _A Letter Concerning Toleration_ is an "inevitable read" for most students that should be welcomed with open arms and minds.

This work by Locke, in spite of its brevity, is a required piece of reading in order to put in perspective the other endeavors of the author.
The issues discussed in this Essay were at the base of the formation of political theory in the Western world, during the centuries of enlightenment. Locke's effort in the case of this Letter (of the 4 he wrote, this is the first one, published in 1689 in English, from a text published some months previously in Holland) was the rescue of religious tolerance vis a vis political powers and structures, and the recognition of the need for a sphere of private religious freedom, legally guaranteed and exempt from the interference of political power.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: When Locke wrote this Letter, there was still controversy regarding the definition of the concepts of liberty of conscience and religious freedom. In fact, the first step of the ladder is represented by the idea of religious tolerance. The starting point of analysis, at the time, came from the observation of the fact that certain degree of intolerance has always existed (religious, political, racial) in the human nature. If one analyzes the origin of religious intolerance in the western world, it stems necessarily from the fact that every Church or denomination, claims with more or less clarity to be the sole bearer of the truth. In this context, what could be the meaning of "tolerance" as a concession or pretense ? To recognize to the dissidents and minorities the possibility to coexist peacefully in a certain society, without having to renounce the external manifestations of their beliefs. But the need for religious tolerance can only make sense in a society where a dominant religious majority has the power to impose onto others its dogmas, either directly (a theocratic government) or through secular political power (the papist states).
On the other hand, the concept of religious freedom implies the recognition for the individual of the natural right to freely profess and express his beliefs, without the intervention or interference of political power or Government. Accordingly, whilst tolerance had been considered historically as a "concession" granted by the dominant religious movement or Church to other religious minorities, religious freedom appears in the Western civilization only once the political power is separated from the religious community. And here the Reform had its influence.
LOCKE'S TOLERANCE: Against this background, the problem of tolerance appears to Locke as a political problem, based on his conception of the State as a society born out of the consent of free men. In his State, it is logical to deny the political power, the possibility to interfere in private matters. Locke defends religious tolerance recurring to several arguments.
Politically, war and factionalisms are not the product of religious differences, but of human intolerance. In other words, it is not a requisite for the State, in order to function, to have a unified religion. From the religious standpoint, the Church is a free and voluntary assembly. No man can be forced by the magistrate to enter or remain in a specific Church or religious denomination. Only if we freely follow the mandates of our conscience, we follow the road to salvation. Thus, all political efforts to force us to adopt the "true faith" are vain and anti-religious.
Persecution, in itself, is not Christian and Locke concludes that in all matters related to the faith, violence is not an adequate or acceptable mean to gain followers.
Religious freedom, therefore, is a natural right of the individual and truth cannot be monopolized by any single religious denomination or person.
RESTRICTIONS: Does Locke really advocate absolute freedom for all men of every sect or religion when he writes: "Absolute liberty, just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty, is the thing that we stand in need for"?
Not really. Tolerance has to be just, but practicable, in accordance to public interest. Therefore tolerance cannot condone ideas that are contrary to society or to moral rules required for the preservation of society. Doesn't Rome require submission from a catholic prince to a foreign power? For Locke, there is no real distinction between Catholics and atheists, from the political standpoint.
CONCLUSION: For Locke the only limits to religious freedom are the need to avoid damage to other individuals and the preservation of the existence of the State. On the other hand, such a freedom is only viable as a consequence of the secularization of politic and the separation between Church and State. I TRULY RECOMMEND THIS SEMINAL WORK. Time has not taken away certain lessons that are to be learned, if we want to live in a better world, a more tolerant one. GOOD ANTIDOTE AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM.

John Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration is one of the most under appreciated texts in the liberal tradition of political philosophy. When read in conjunction with his Second Treatise, it clarifies the relationship Locke envisions between individuals and the Lockean state. The subject of the Letter is specifically religious toleration, but his general argument for toleration is also applicable to issues of more modern concern.

In the letter, Locke argues that all religious practices should be tolerated unless they are a threat to the proper functioning of the state. Some specific practices are not tolerated - Locke perceives the Catholic allegiance to the Pope, at that time, not only a religious leader, but also an influential foreign political leader, as a threat to the state, and he believes that atheists cannot be trusted by the state, since they have no higher power to whom they can swear an oath. Locke does not tolerate these individuals, because of his (inaccurate) perceptions of them, but religion is still not the basis for their non-toleration. (In the sense that others who are inherently untrustworthy, or bowed to a foreign ruler, would also not be tolerated, regardless of their religion).

The toleration of some other practices is situational. For instance, a state that normally has no law against individuals slaughtering animals (for food, et al) cannot prevent a religious sect from sacrificing an animal, but if that same state, needing meat for its troops in a time of war, bans all private citizens from killing animals, then this ban applies likewise to the sacrifice of animals as part of religious worship. This is not a state of license, in that the civil government does not actively promote a variety of (or for that matter, any) religious practices, but it is a state of negative liberty, in which the state remains neutral to the religious content of religious worship. Specific sects or acts of worship can be banned if they are "prejudicial to other men's rights" or they "break the public peace of societies," but they cannot be banned on religious grounds.

Some critics have argued that Locke's Letter is no longer very relevant: he deals only with religious toleration, and religious toleration is widely accepted and practiced in the modern Western world. However, the historical context of the Letter suggests it retains its relevance. In Locke's day, religion was not the dormant issue it is today; rather it was the most controversial issue of public debate. Before Locke, toleration was just something the underdog wished for in order to survive until he gained power over everyone else. Locke, however, goes beyond this pettiness and creates a theoretical defense of toleration as an extension of his political theory. While Locke probably did not imagine the controversial issues of political debate today, the broad basis for his defense of religious toleration implicitly justifies other sorts of social toleration in the modern world.

If a state is created for the purposes and by the methods Locke suggests in his Second Treatise, then the men who consent to form such a state retain a significant negative liberty of belief and action. Any of these beliefs or actions must be tolerated by the state unless they fail Locke's criteria for religious toleration, namely, unless they are "prejudicial to other men's rights" or they "break the public peace of societies."

If possible, I would recommend trying to find a copy of the Routledge edition of this work (ed. Horton & Mendus), which includes critical reactions to Locke's Letter. However, Amazon currently lists it as out of print. Whatever edition you can find is worth reading: the need for toleration is as great in our own time as it was in John Locke's, and his contribution to the debate is likewise as valuable now as it was then.

if you want to get a gist of why interracial relationships happen, read this. also, you will come to figure out why why blacks feel the way they do about whites. one of the best books ever written about blacks in europe...

This one is a cult classic, a story with messages that resonate long after we've put it down. One of my three or four all-time favorites. Brown has the gift of the storyteller's ear and voice, and an instinctive feel for the trope and rhythm of language. If it were put to music, it would be a combination of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. A cover-to-cover "bright moment"

The re-release of Cecil Brown's 1969 classic is long overdue. The man's insights and vision are haunting in their lyricism, and his messages pack a punch. Cecil Brown is a natural, and I've missed his fiction all these years. Not to be missed