Rowe Books

Very sweet story and cleverly written. Fun for kids and the grown-up reading to him or her. My 3-year-old laughed out loud several times.

Taking Liebniz's proposition that God had created the best possible world, Rowe discusses the question whether God could have created a better world than the one we have and the implications of the answer to this question. The main point of the book is that if God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent, he would have to create the best possible world, a world that is better than this. It was thus a necessity that he does so and not a contingency. Hence, if he could but did not it implied that he was either not all powerful or all-good. If he did, and this was indeed the best possible world, then God cannot be said to have created it out of his own free will for he had no choice, being the perfect moral being, he had to create this world rather than one that was inferior or not to create any world at all. To better understand this well argued book that also confronts the main opposing arguments against his views, the reader might like to know a little more about the idea of our own free will because many of the arguments relate also to the notion of free will as applied to us. A good source would be Robert Kane's "A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will", Oxford University Press, 2006.

This book provides an excellent, easy-to-understand overview of the dynamics that govern movements of the earth's crust, and of the consequences of geological instability. Clear diagrams show how global movements of the earth result in earthquakes and volcanoes. The authors illustrate the intensity of these earthquakes with accounts of major earthquakes in New Zealand, including accounts of survivors. They describe the impact of a big earthquake and a volcanic eruption in a large city. Colour and black-and-white photos show both the devastation and the physical beauty that can result from these forces. This is a great book for anyone who wants to understand earth's geological instability.

Table of Contents: Introduction 1. Preparing to Parent 2. A New Life Begins 3. Babies and Toddlers 4. Preschoolers 5. The School Years 6. Adolescence 7. When Good Parenting is Not Enough 8. A Final Challenge References Index

The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration by J.W. Shepherd is an excellent overview of the three subjects in the title. That is this book discusses briefly and largely accurately the doctrines of what the Church should be, how the Church fell away afterwards, and then the attempt at restoring the New Testament church, which is a continuous process. Although, Shepherd focuses on the attempts in the late 1790's to mid 1800's.

The fascinating part that I find in this book is the last portion. This is because it appears as if numerous people from various denominations(Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian) decided to eventually depart from their various creeds and preach the Gospel pure and simple. They chose to cross the sectarian lines separating the various denominations. There is even one part where two groups operated without knowledge of one another, but for the same purpose. Eventually word got around and they decided to meet one another to see whether they saw eye to eye or not. After some discussion, they decided that they basically did believe the same things and joined together to form what they called "the Church of Christ". They also cases before this point such as when John "Raccoon" Smith started a small movement and then later joined with Campbell in the Restoration movement.

It's always good to be reminded of the non-sectarian spirit of the past, lest it die out and be forgotten.
From my blog: aevaughn.wordpress.com

This really is a first class book - and worth every cent of its modest price. Although, as its title suggests, it is likely to appear on the reading lists of consitutional law professors, it also deserves a place on the bookshelf of the student of jurisprudence.

The format is basically that of a conventional law school reader - however, this is an unusually good one. The theory side of constitutional law all too often takes second place to the minutiae of case law and development of constitutional doctrine. Law students often query the purpose and relevance of theory. This book is there to remind us that paradigm shifts in the law are more likely to be founded in new theory than in doctrine.

The book is divided into four sections: Why Theory?, Sources, Perspectives, and Conclusion. The readings are chosen with exceptional skill and are prefaced by introductions from the editors and have conclusions that invite the reader to reflect on what one has read. Each chapter concludes with a very helpful bibliography to direct further reading on the topic.

To my mind the most useful section of the book is the Perspectives section. This deals with liberal constitutional theory, conservative constitutional theory, feminist legal theory, critical race theory, and interpretation theory and postmodernism. The last three perspectives are difficult ones to encapsulate briefly but the editors have succeeded in identifying illuminating readings that are accessible to students. The chapter on critical race theory is particularly commendable.

A book such as this is specially useful for students looking for a perspective from which to critique doctrine but who don't know where to start. I wish I had had access to a book like this when I was a law student!

The Construction of Life and Death' is now published by HarperCollins UK under the title of 'The Courage to Live'. I revised the text slightly for this new edition but the theme remains the same. Our metaphysical, philosophical or religious beliefs about the purpose of life and the nature of death play a central part in how we live our lives. People who cope with their lives have beliefs which give them courage and hope. People who do not cope with their lives have beliefs which lead to fear and despair. If you're interested in understanding yourself or/and if you're interested in philosophy you'll find this book useful. Dorothy Rowe

The cosmological argument for the existence of God has a history as long and venerable as all of natural theology itself. It continues to remain one of the most appealed to arguments by contemporary thinkers for God's existence, and discussion of the argument has never been greater.

William Rowe attempts to give an extensive overview and (to some extent) a defense of the CA in this book, focusing on a particular formulation of the argument given by Samuel Clarke in the 18th century. To be sure, Rowe himself is an atheist, and he admits that while he is not wholly convinced by the cosmological argument--if he were, he would probably be a theist--he does believe that it is one of the more powerful and interesting pieces of natural theology available in the philosophical literature. In fact, he goes on to say that he strongly disagrees with many of his atheistic colleagues who believe that the epitaph for cosmological arguments has long been written by the likes of Hume and Kant. His treatment of the argument is critical, relentlessly rational, in-depth, persuasive, and (most importantly) fair.

Overall, though Rowe is a bit skeptical about some of the logical commitments that the CA commands, he does believe that it goes a much longer way in justifying theistic belief than some other independent arguments for the existence of God (teleological, ontological, etc.). This is definitely one of the most reasonable--if not *the* most reasonable--treatments of the CA you will find in all of the available literature. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a legitimate evaluation of the issues.

This book is primarily for companies that have large quantities of products to trade with hard- currency-short foreign countries. It covers all of the important activities of countertrade: offset, buyback, counter-purchase and insurance. It also covers agreements and has very useful case studies. It is an especially timely resource - considering the difficulties being experienced by the former centrally-planned economies of the USSR and other third-world countries. We are recommending it to our consulting clients. John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute

It happened on "Black Friday," September 3, 1982.

On that day Cass County Sheriff Fred Tesch, acting on a bench warrant issued by Judge Raymond J. Case, drove out to Louisville, Nebraska, and arrested a man of God while ministering in the pulpit of his church.

They locked him in a jail with common criminals and later padlocked his church.

The man of God was Pastor Everett Sileven.

This is his story and the story of the valiant members of the Faith Baptist Church and the students of Faith Christian School.

It is the story of struggle and survival in the midst of a rising tide of state tyranny in America. -- from book's back cover