Curse Undone

Two crowns. Two kingdoms. One chance to rule. Nor and King Casper are captured by the fay army and forced to face the indomitable Faerie Queen, Marasina. At her command, Casper is thrown into a mysterious prison while an even sinister fate is in store for Nor—a deadly fay poison that reveals Nor’s true nature. She’s not only half-fay. She is Queen Marasina’s heir. Revealed to be like the very creatures she despises, Nor must not only find a way to free Casper but also navigate a court that is as deadly as it is beautiful. Her allies are few, and though Pel claims to want friendship, Nor finds she cannot forgive his betrayal. As tensions mount and war looms between the kingdoms, Nor must choose a side, before it’s too late. In this epic conclusion to the Gold Spun duology, Nor discovers that a glamour and a curse may be two sides of the same coin.

This volume assembles essays and article written by scholars who have a close connection with William McKane, a dedicated scholar of the Hebrew Bible. McKane's scholarship has focused on Wisdom literature, prophecy, and other themes from the Hebrew Bible, and he is best known for his commentaries on Proverbs and Jeremiah. The contributions include essays from Philip R. Davies, James C. Vanderkam and R. B. Salters on topics including Lamentations, 1&2 Chronicles, and the Septuagint.

This is a book about curses. It is not about curses as insults or offensive language but curses as petitions to the divine world to render judgment and execute harm on identified, hostile forces. In the ancient world, curses functioned in a way markedly different from our own, and it is into the world of the ancient Near East that we must go in order to appreciate the scope of their influence. For the ancient Near Easterners, curses had authentic meaning. Curses were part of their life and religion. They were not inherently magic or features of superstitions, nor were they mere curiosities or trifling antidotes. They were real and effective. They were employed proactively and reactively to manage life’s many vicissitudes and maintain social harmony. They were principally protective, but they were also the cause of misfortune, illness, depression, and anything else that undermined a comfortable, well-balanced life. Every member of society used them, from slave to king, from young to old, from men and women to the deities themselves. They crossed cultural lines and required little or no explanation, for curses were the source of great evil. In other words, curses were universal. Because curses were woven into the very fabric of every known ancient Near Eastern society, they emerge frequently and in a wide variety of venues. They appear on public and private display objects, on tomb stelae, tomb lintels, and sarcophagi, on ancient kudurrus and narûs. They are used in political, administrative, social, religious, and familial contexts. They are the subject of incantations. They are tools that exorcise demons and dispel disease; they ban, protect, and heal. This is the phenomenology of cursing in the ancient Near East, and this is what the present work explores.

The practice of cursing remains a significant aspect of life in many African countries. This book addresses this practice with the seriousness it deserves, arguing that Christ is the ultimate curse remover. Dr. Elkanah K. Cheboi examines the meaning and implications of the Pauline statement in Galatians that “Christ became a curse for us.” Drawing from biblical passages referencing judicial curses, and the widespread practice of cursing and blessing within the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman world, he investigates how the crucified and cursed Christ provides the ultimate solution to the power and dominion of curses. Demonstrating the insufficiencies of curse remedies, both in the ancient world and the modern African context, this study offers christological insight into the implications of Christ’s death not simply for human sin but also human curses. Dr. Cheboi specifically examines parallels between the New Testament context and Kenya’s Marakwet culture, where curses are still deeply feared as life-threatening and generational. Offering powerful insight into aspects of contemporary African culture not always fully understood, this book integrates biblical scholarship with practical application and is an excellent resource for pastors, missionaries, and theologians alike.

Good stories capture us. Gripping stories inspire us. God’s story changes us. In Garden to Garden, through the power of story, author Mark Yoder recounts the epic saga of God’s work with man. It began with the first garden in Eden and wraps up with Revelation’s last garden on the new Earth. One of the great tragedies of not knowing the Bible is not knowing the story in it. Let’s correct that! From the marvel of creation, through the colossal collapse of the fall, and on through God’s work to rescue it all, hear the plot twists and shocking acts of a heroic Savior. Written in a style loved by people who gravitate to stories, Yoder weaves the narrative of Scripture with tales of his own. Those who are unfamiliar with the general flow of the Biblical plot will learn the big picture alongside many of God’s individual acts. Those who could tell much of this story themselves will step back and once again be in awe of how astonishing this narrative is. Gather ‘round... it’s story time.

Cette étude porte sur le motif de l'impossibilité d'agir, récurrent dans la littérature dramatique et philosophique occidentale depuis "Hamlet" à nos jours. Hamlet n'est en effet pas seul à avoir des difficultés à passer à l'acte : il en est de même pour le Faust de Marlowe, le Samson de Milton, le Prométhée de Shelley, et Estragon et Vladimir dans "En attendant Godot". L'analyse de l'inaction de ces personnages éclaire les modèles d'action déployés dans les textes philosophiques en question : certains essais de Donald Davidson, les "Deux traités sur le gouvernement" de Locke, "La naissance de la tragédie" de Nietzsche, "Auteur et héros en activité esthétique" de Bakhtin, "Les investigations philosophiques" de Wittgenstein, les essais sur la guerre du Golfe de Baudrillard et Lyotard. Le théâtre d'Aeschylle et la conception aristotélicienne de l'action permettent d'évaluer les limites introduites par la catégorie du sujet dans le modèle d'action qui prédomine dans la modernité.

Emily finds herself pulled mysteriously into a strange new world where everything is not as it seems. She finds herself in a quest to destroy an enemy, but which one is it? Is she really the deliverer that they've been waiting for or is she just the self-absorbed girl next door?

After decades of warfare, the tribes of the Tiste Edur have at last united under the rule of the Warlock King. But peace has been exacted at a terrible price - a pact made with a hidden power whose motives are at best suspect, at worst deadly. To the south, the expansionist kingdom of Lether has devoured all of its less-civilised neighbours with rapacious hunger. All save one - the Tiste Edur. But Lether is approaching a long-prophesied renaissance that it will take it from a kingdom and lost colony to an empire reborn - and has fixed its gaze on the rich lands of the Tiste Edur. It would seem inevitable that the tribes will surrender, succumbing to the suffocating weight of gold, or to slaughter at the edge of a sword. Or so Destiny has decreed. A pivotal treaty between the two sides nears, but unknown ancient forces are awakening. For the impending struggle between these two peoples is but a pale reflection of an altogether more profound, primal battle - a confrontation driven by a still-raw betrayal and a craving for vengeance. War and confrontation, magic and myth collide in this, the stunning fifth chapter in Steven Erikson's magnificent The Malazan Book of the Fallen - a series hailed as an epic of the imagination and a classic work of high fantasy.