Son Of Two Fathers

This long-awaited final novel in the bestselling Grazia dei Rossi Trilogy follows Grazia dei Rossi’s only son, Danilo del Medigo, as he returns to the Republic of Venice at the height of Christendom’s persecution of the Jews. April, 1536. Danilo del Medigo arrives incognito in Venice from Istanbul, with two assassins hot on his trail. Western civilization is in crisis. Jews and “New Christians” — people whose families had converted from Judaism — are threatened with expulsion, imprisonment, and death. Danilo seeks refuge in the Venetian Ghetto, and promptly falls in love with the beautiful Miriamne Hazan. But soon Danilo is blackmailed into becoming a spy for Venice, which means he must abandon Miriamne in order to save her. The only safe place is hiding in plain sight, so embeds himself within an itinerant group of actors travelling the Italian countryside. With assassins close behind, Danilo, together with a cast of libertines, courtesans, and fellow spies, witnesses the agony of the Renaissance: Protestants warring with Catholics, the Inquisition threatening everyone, and the Ottoman Empire poised to invade the heart of Europe. As fear and panic spread throughout the Jewish communities of Italy, a promise of a new lifeline emerges, and Danilo may be the only one who can ensure it.

When Arkady Petrovich comes home from college, his father finds his eager, naive son changed almost beyond recognition, for the impressionable Arkady has fallen under the powerful influence of the friend he has brought with him. A self-proclaimed nihilist, the ardent young Bazarov shocks Arkady's father by criticizing the landowning way of life and by his outspoken determination to sweep away traditional values of contemporary Russian society. Turgenev's depiction of the conflict between generations and their ideals stunned readers when Fathers and Sons was first published in 1862. But many could also sympathize with Arkady's fascination with its nihilist hero whose story vividly captures the hopes and regrets of a changing Russia.

Who was Jesus in real life? What inspired his ideas? What did he aim to achieve? What drew his disciples to him? How was he influenced by them? Unlike the many “quests for the historical Jesus”, as a psychologist, Wernik answers these questions from the perspectives of psychology and the social sciences. This book’s central axis is the theme of the father. It looks at the family constellation into which Jesus was born, where he was raised by a stepfather. It also investigates the relationship he develops with God, his father in heaven; and examines how he became a father figure to his disciples and followers. It is hoped that readers will also think about their own father when reading, the one usually called “dad”. Jesus and His Two Fathers sees Jesus’ love of peace and appeasement doctrine, as well as his difficulty with anger control, in the context of his upbringing and family constellation. Wernik offers a solution to the problem of the “missing years” which were unaccounted in the New Testament. He examines the internal conflicts in Jesus’ movement, and the tensions with the religious establishment, which led to his death. Jesus did not see himself as the Messiah, and Wernik shows him in fact as a great reformer of Judaism, who changed the notions of righteousness, the relation of the believers to God, and the status of the commandments. This book will be of interest to scholars, teachers and students in the humanities and social sciences, among others in the fields of religion, especially Christianity and Judaism. It is aimed at interested discerning readers of non-fiction in these areas.