The Swords Of Faith

An epic novel steeped in action, intrigue, and romance. July 1187: the forces of the Muslim sultan known as Saladin have defeated the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, allowing Saladin to achieve his lifelong ambition of recapturing the Holy City for Islam. This sets the stage for the Third Crusade: the confrontation between Saladin and the legendary Christian warrior, Richard the Lionheart. Both men believe they are destined by God to lead their holy armies to complete victory. Richard, a legendary warrior with a keen military mind, finds his vow to retake Jerusalem complicated by infighting over succession to the British throne, a rivalry with the French king, and a choice between two potential queens. Meanwhile, Saladin struggles to keep his fractious forces together while remaining true to the noblest principles of Islam. These events are also portrayed through the eyes of two common men: Pierre of Botron is a Christian knight who is captured on the battlefield and subjected to the indignity of slavery. Rashid of Yenbo is a Muslim trader who finds prosperity in Saladin's triumphs. The relationship between Rashid and Pierre offers the possibility that people of good will can overcome polarizing conflicts. As events build toward the Battle of Jaffa, one of the most well-known conflicts of the Crusades, the fates of the characters depend on the choices they make between the compassionate and fanatical aspects of their faiths. The Swords of Faith offers an eye-opening comparison and contrast of the tenets of Christianity and Islam, insights that reverberate into the present day.

A richly detailed, profoundly engrossing story of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and women—from presidents to preachers—who have plotted the country’s course in the world. Ever since John Winthrop argued that the Puritans’ new home would be “a city upon a hill,” Americans’ role in the world has been shaped by their belief that God has something special in mind for them. But this is a story that historians have mostly ignored. Now, in the first authoritative work on the subject, Andrew Preston explores the major strains of religious fervor—liberal and conservative, pacifist and militant, internationalist and isolationist—that framed American thinking on international issues from the earliest colonial wars to the twenty-first century. He arrives at some startling conclusions, among them: Abraham Lincoln’s use of religion in the Civil War became the model for subsequent wars of humanitarian intervention; nineteenth-century Protestant missionaries made up the first NGO to advance a global human rights agenda; religious liberty was the centerpiece of Franklin Roosevelt’s strategy to bring the United States into World War II. From George Washington to George W. Bush, from the Puritans to the present, from the colonial wars to the Cold War, religion has been one of America’s most powerful sources of ideas about the wider world. When, just days after 9/11, George W. Bush described America as “a prayerful nation, a nation that prays to an almighty God for protection and for peace,” or when Barack Obama spoke of balancing the “just war and the imperatives of a just peace” in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, they were echoing four hundred years of religious rhetoric. Preston traces this echo back to its source. Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith is an unprecedented achievement: no one has yet attempted such a bold synthesis of American history. It is also a remarkable work of balance and fair-mindedness about one of the most fraught subjects in America.

A passionate call for Christian women to effectively "wield the sword" of their God-given feminine strength against any evil that threatens them and those they love. What if you discovered you have been entrusted with an invisible, invincible, and incorruptible weapon? Would you use it? In a day of worldwide trafficking, gendercide, discrimination, and other hostility against women, Lisa Bevere points to a biblical foundation to present a model of feminine strength that will empower women to live confidently. Drawing on the many references to swords throughout Scripture, the author constructs a revealing and compelling female paradigm that will impact every area of a woman's self identity, spiritual awareness, relationships, and life vision and mission. Long known for her passionate and articulate expression of biblical womanhood, Bevere presents fresh imagery--as enticing and strong as polished steel--to prepare women boldly for the challenges they face in today's world. It's not enough to just be wise and strong: Now a woman must know how to wield her sword. Creatively forging the imagery of swords, the Word of God, and the Cross, Girls with Swords will teach you: • How to speak the language of heaven on earth • What it means to intercede • What it means to carry your cross • What it means to be discerning • How to disarm the enemy • Why women are the enemy’s target—and why God needs them to be heroes It’s time to take up your sword and be a hero.

Swords Around the Cross presents one of the few full-length treatments of the heroic struggle of the Irish clansmen in their effort to defend their faith and country against English encroachment and conquest in the sixteenth century. This book has infuriated establishment academics for its honest and thorough treatment of the Irish past. In so doing, the image of a "golden age" under Elizabeth I is dealt a serious blow.

An epic saga of love and war, Shadow of the Swords tells the story of the Crusades—from the Muslim perspective. Saladin, a Muslim sultan, finds himself pitted against King Richard the Lionheart as Islam and Christianity clash against each other, launching a conflict that still echoes today. In the midst of a brutal and unforgiving war, Saladin finds forbidden love in the arms of Miriam, a beautiful Jewish girl with a tragic past. But when King Richard captures Miriam, the two most powerful men on Earth must face each other in a personal battle that will determine the future of the woman they both love—and of all civilization. Richly imagined, deftly plotted, and highly entertaining, Shadow of the Swords is a remarkable story that will stay with readers long after the final page has been turned.

A rare book that combines searing passion with a subject that has affected all of our lives. "Chicago Tribune" Novelist, cultural critic, and former priest James Carroll marries history with memoir as he maps the two-thousand-year course of the Church s battle against Judaism and faces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life. Fascinating, brave, and sometimes infuriating ("Time"), this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It is the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture to create a deeply felt work ("San Francisco Chronicle") as Carroll wrangles with centuries of strife and tragedy to reach a courageous and affecting reckoning with difficult truths."

A first major work of history on a crucial but under-examined topic, Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith explores the role of religion in American foreign policy. From the first colonists to the presidents of the 21st Century, Andrew Preston's unparalleled study show us how religion has always shaped America's relationships with other nations, and what to expect in the future. During the presidency of George W. Bush, many Americans and others around the world viewed the entrance of religion into foreign policy discourse, especially with regard to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a "new" development. But despite the official division between church and state, the presence of religion in American foreign policy has been a constant since before the Founding Fathers. Yet aside from leaders known to be personally religious, such as Bush, Jimmy Carter and Woodrow Wilson, few realize how central faith has always been to American governance and diplomacy--and indeed to the idea of America itself. In Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith, Andrew Preston starts at the beginning, and with revelatory findings, shows us how and why.