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Swamiji, a Hindu holy man, is the central character of Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels. He reclines in a deck chair in his modern apartment in western India, telling subtle and entertaining folk narratives to his assorted gatherings. Among the listeners is Kirin Narayan, who knew Swamiji when she was a child in India and who has returned from America as an anthropologist. In her book Narayan builds on Swamiji's tales and his audiences' interpretations to ask why religious teachings the world over are so often couched in stories. For centuries, religious teachers from many traditions have used stories to instruct their followers. When Swamiji tells a story, the local barber rocks in helpless laughter, and a sari-wearing French nurse looks on enrapt. Farmers make decisions based on the tales, and American psychotherapists take notes that link the storytelling to their own practices. Narayan herself is a key character in this ethnography. As both a local woman and a foreign academic, she is somewhere between participant and observer, reacting to the nuances of fieldwork with a sensitivity that only such a position can bring. Each story s reproduced in its evocative performance setting. Narayan supplements eight folk narratives with discussions of audience participation and response as well as relevant Hindu themes. All these stories focus on the complex figure of the Hindu ascetic and so sharpen our understanding of renunciation and gurus in South Asia. While Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels raises provocative theoretical issues, it is also a moving human document. Swamiji, with his droll characterizations, inventive mind, and generous spirit, is a memorable character. The book contributes to a growing interdisciplinary literature on narrative. It will be particularly valuable to students and scholars of anthropology, folklore, performance studies, religions, and South Asian studies.
The story of Jesus includes all kinds of characters. Some see these people as mere examples to follow or to avoid, and some have only heard about them in Sunday school stories. But their interactions with Jesus reveal much more about the person of Jesus himself and the message he has for us. Saints and Scoundrels in the Story of Jesus tells the story of 10 people or groups of people who are integral to the story of Jesus told in the Gospels. Each chapter takes a character off the Sunday school felt board and reveals them as a three-dimensional person with desires, motivations, flaws, and limitations. They are more than examples—they show us a unique angle on the grace available through Jesus for sinners. Each chapter also offers challenging applications to the lives of readers.
In examining the 424 units of the U.S. national park system, geographers Joe Weber and Selima Sultana focus attention on the historical geography of the system as well as its present distribution, covering the diversity of places under the control of the National Park Service (NPS). This includes the famous national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite and the lesser-known national monuments, memorials, lakeshores, seashores, rivers, recreation areas, preserves, reserves, parkways, historic sites, historic parks, and a range of battlefields, as well as more than twenty additional sites not fitting into any of these categories (such as the White House). The geographic view of The Parks Belong to the People sets it apart from others that have taken a solely historical approach. Where parks are located, what they are near, where their visitors come from, and how land use and activities are organized within parks are some of the fundamental issues discussed. The majority of units in the NPS are devoted to recreation areas or historic sites such as battlefields, archaeological sites, or sites devoted to a specific person, and this is reflected in the authors’ approach. What we think of as a national park has changed over the years and will continue to change. Weber and Sultana emphasize changing social and political environments in which NPS units were created and the roles they serve, such as protecting scenery, providing wildlife habitats, preserving history, and serving as scientific laboratories and places for outdoor recreation. The authors also focus on parks as public facilities and sites of economic activities. National parks were created by people for people to enjoy, at great cost and with great benefit. They cannot be understood without taking this human context into account.
A governor who saw ghosts, an incorrigible horse thief, a husband and wife who each stood over seven feet tall, an American Indian chief who defied forced removal, and the first woman to practice law before the Supreme Court: these are just some of the remarkable characters whose lives influenced and defined the state of Wisconsin. Authors Michael Edmonds and Samantha Snyder plumbed the depths of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s collections to research and compose lively portraits of eighty of these notable individuals: mayors, ministers, mystics, murderers, and everything in between. Each story is followed by recommended sources for readers’ continued exploration. Whether read on the fly or all in one sitting, these short, colorful narratives will intrigue and inform as you delve into Wisconsin’s diverse and diverting history.
Who were the saints and what is it about them that causes people all over the world to remember them? What were their stories, motivations, passions--and shortcomings? This informative, delightful, inspiring book reveals the truth behind the misconceptions and the mystique in a survey of saints throughout the history of the Church. The stories included here emphasize that, although the saints were often flawed and quirky individuals, what made them saintly above all else was their dedication to faith. They had a "passionate, extraordinary, pull-out-all-the-stops devotion," writes award-winning Catholic author Mitch Finley, and a desire for truth that is not unlike our own.
Timeless tales of saints and scoundrels, sinners and seekers, all from epic fantasy and space opera worlds that are both alien and hauntingly familiar. In worlds ranging from the distant past to the end of time, the characters in these stories seek solace, meaning, and redemption as they struggle with what it means to be human. Sometimes funny, sometimes dark and edgy, these stories showcase Marcus’ original voice and scrupulous attention to detail. Beautifully told in a range of genres you’re sure to love, you won’t want to stop reading from the first story through the last.
In the third edition of Jewish Views of the Afterlife, Rabbi Simcha Paull Raphael walks readers through the Jewish tradition of the afterlife while providing insights into spiritual care with dying and grieving individuals and families.