Samson

A CALLING ALWAYS COMES AT A COST

“You are a man who has vowed to protect his family, even at the cost of your own life. So you have no other choice. . . . You must fight, Samson. You must.” The year is 1941, and Samson Abrams makes a life-or-death decision that lands him, and his entire family, in the notorious concentration camp Auschwitz. When Samson is recognized by Dr. Josef Mengele and Commandant Rudolf Höss as a former boxing champion, he is ordered box for their entertainment. A win means extra rations, but the penalty for losing is death in the gas chambers. One question haunts Samson as he and his family face one atrocity after another: Where is God in the face of such evil? An unexpected friendship between the Jewish Samson and the Polish Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe challenges Samson to examine what little is left of his faith, but will it give him strength when he needs it most? Based on true stories, Samson: A Savior Will Rise blends Shawn Hoffman’s thorough research with a compelling narrative that provokes questions about faith, hope, and love.

From the highly acclaimed author of "The Preservationist" and "Fallen" comes another unique and astonishing biblical retelling.

Often cited as one of the finest contemporary lyricists, singer, songwriter and poet John K. Samson captures the essential images of contemporary life. Whether on the streets of his beloved and bewildering hometown of Winnipeg, an outpost in Antarctica, or a room in an Edward Hopper painting, he finds whimsy and elegance in the everyday, beauty and sorrow in the overlooked. This collection gathers together Samson's writing, starting with his band The Weakerthans' 1997 debut album Fallow, through Left and Leaving, Reconstruction Site, and the award-winning Reunion Tour. It also features lyrics from Samson's newly released solo album, Provincial, and selected poems.

With no-holds-barred honesty and poignant storytelling, Nate Larkin introduces a model of community and friendship that is reinvigorating men's ministry across the country, a model he calls The Samson Society. Too many men see the biblical hero Samson as their model for manhood--a rugged individualist of the highest order. Yet, Samson's solitary successes were eventually overcome by moral weaknesses. Larkin, through the story of his own past and the stories of those in The Samson Society, offers a radical, refreshing alternative.

Before Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King was identified with Moses, African Americans identified those who challenged racial oppression in America with Samson. In Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon, Nyasha Junior and Jeremy Schipper tell the story of how this biblical character became an icon of African American literature. Along the way, Schipper and Junior introduce readers to a cast of historical characters -- many of whom became American icons themselves -- including Fredrick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton and others. From stories of slave rebellions to the Harlem Renaissance to the civil rights era and the Black Power movement, invoking the biblical character of Samson became a powerful way for African American intellectuals, activists, and artists to voice strategies and opinions about race relations in America. As this provocative book reveals, the story of Black Samson became the story of our nation's contested racial history.

Samson and Delilah in Medieval Insular French investigates several different adaptations of the story of Samson that enabled it to move from a strictly religious sphere into vernacular and secular artworks. Catherine Léglu explores the narrative’s translation into French in medieval England, examining the multiple versions of the Samson narrative via its many adaptations into verse, prose, visual art and musical. Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, this text draws together examples from several genres and media, focusing on the importance of book learning to secular works. In analysing this Biblical narrative, Léglu reveals the importance of the Samson and Delilah story as a point of entry into a fuller understanding of medieval translations and adaptations of the Bible.