The Stolen Bible

The Stolen Bible analyses Southern African receptions of the Bible from its arrival in imperial Dutch ships in the mid-1600s through to the post-apartheid period of South African democracy, reflecting on how a tool of imperialism becomes an African icon.

In 16th century Germany tyranny reins, reading is outlawed and the church has control over an oppressed people. 16 year-old Luci Pohlman has spent her life in hiding with a paranoid mother who teaches from a book of strange markings filled with words of prophets from long ago. When her mother is imprisoned for witchcraft, Luci is kidnapped and dragged into the black forest. Her mother knew too much and now, so does Luci. As the German Army, a band of gypsies and a man named Martin Luther seek Luci, she must figure out how the words of the book she was never meant to possess can set her and her country free.

One man’s quest to find the oldest Bible scrolls in the world and uncover the story of the brilliant, doomed antiquarian accused of forging them. In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira—archaeological treasure hunter and inveterate social climber—showed up unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the oldest copy of the Bible in the world. But before the museum could pony up his £1 million asking price for the scrolls—which discovery called into question the divine authorship of the scriptures—Shapira’s nemesis, the French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced the manuscripts, turning the public against him. Distraught over this humiliating public rebuke, Shapira fled to the Netherlands and committed suicide. Then, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Noting the similarities between these and Shapira’s scrolls, scholars made efforts to re-examine Shapira’s case, but it was too late: the primary piece of evidence, the parchment scrolls themselves had mysteriously vanished. Tigay, journalist and son of a renowned Biblical scholar, was galvanized by this peculiar story and this indecipherable man, and became determined to find the scrolls. He sets out on a quest that takes him to Australia, England, Holland, Germany where he meets Shapira’s still aggrieved descendants and Jerusalem where Shapira is still referred to in the present tense as a “Naughty boy”. He wades into museum storerooms, musty English attics, and even the Jordanian gorge where the scrolls were said to have been found all in a tireless effort to uncover the truth about the scrolls and about Shapira, himself. At once historical drama and modern-day mystery, The Lost Book of Moses explores the nineteenth-century disappearance of Shapira’s scrolls and Tigay's globetrotting hunt for the ancient manuscript. As it follows Tigay’s trail to the truth, the book brings to light a flamboyant, romantic, devious, and ultimately tragic personality in a story that vibrates with the suspense of a classic detective tale.

Although the arrival of the Bible in Africa has often been a tale of terror, the Bible has become an African book. This volume explores the many ways in which Africans have made the Bible their own. The essays in this book offer a glimpse of the rich resources that constitute Africa's engagement with the Bible. Among the topics are: the historical development of biblical interpretation in Africa, the relationship between African biblical scholarship and scholarship in the West, African resources for reading the Bible, the history and role of vernacular translation in particular African contexts, the ambiguity of the Bible in Africa, the power of the Bible as text and symbol, and the intersections between class, race, gender, and culture in African biblical interpretation. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of African biblical scholarship. In fact, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of African biblical scholarship available in print. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Leila's first excavation in Egypt is off to the perfect start. Until the man who killed her father joins the team. Among whispers of a papyrus that mysteriously vanished, Leila must find clues to the whereabouts of an ancient tomb with the help of the man she can never trust. Secrets start to surface, revealing a deadly plot against them that goes back eight years to her father’s death. From the scorching sands of the Saqqara necropolis to the dark, winding tunnels below, Leila must give up the secret her father died to protect. If she doesn’t… she might share her father’s fate. If you like gripping adventures, tangled mysteries, and just enough clean romance to sweep you off your feet, then you’ll love the first installment in Cate M. Turner’s series, The Artifact Guardians. Buy The Stolen Papyrus to start the adventure today!

Unapologetically Called: The Stolen Bible is a passionate and personal analysis of a life in crisis of a low income working-class African-American woman. The disintegration of a young woman's mental strength has never before been written about as descriptively from the inside. Evangelist Leandra Flucker tells the true story of what true spiritual decline feels like when you were born with a calling hung around your neck. The story begins with a glimpse into the life of a young woman in her late twenties with the hope of escaping the dreadful poverty around her. However, tragedy struck her small family and the crisis took over her home. Leandra quickly found herself dealing with the death of a child, the brokenness of her marriage, and the loss of her faith in God. As the saga of Unapologetically Called: The Stolen Bible plays out, we learn that Leandra's struggle with the demands of her low income life lands her in legal trouble. She is faced with the reality that she may never fully escape the legacy of poverty, and trauma so characteristic of her part of America. With dramatic honesty, Leandra shows how she herself carries around the chaos painted in her mind. A deeply moving testimony, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Unapologetically Called: The Stolen Bible is the story of how rock bottom really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the misconception of the American dream for a disenfranchised segment of this country.

“Stolen Jesus does not shy away from the hurts inflicted by messed-up religion, yet this is the funniest Christian book I have read. Thank God for honest authors like Jami Amerine who are brave enough to write about life as it is.” Paul Ellis, author of Stuff Jesus Never Said and Letters from Jesus Candid, vulnerable, and raw, popular blogger Jami Amerine delivers a hilarious memoir of her search for an authentic relationship with Jesus in a sea of impersonators. Raised in the Mormon church, Jami Amerine was excommunicated for apostasy before she was even old enough to be baptized. This experience left her curious about all things religious and set her on a path that would introduce her to many apparitions of Jesus over the years. It wasn’t until Jami stole a portrait of Jesus from a local YMCA storage closet and gave Him a home on her mantel that she began to ponder why the bad stuff of religion tends to stick the hardest. In Stolen Jesus Jami sets out to strip all her preconceived notions of Jesus to discover His genuine character. In doing so she discovers the real Jesus when she stops trying to fit Him in a box and allows Him to be her all-in-all. Jami’s frank, tell-it-like-it-is writing style is full of the kinds of self-deprecating anecdotes that will have you laughing and crying all at the same time.