Stone Books

An all round good book that relates to the biblical writings of the bible and then relates them back to use in your marriage. This gives you an array of emotions from rejoycing with praise to feeling the sorrow of the sacrifices Jesus has made for you. This book goes full circle leaving you joyfull and uplifted with great lessons learned. I recommend this book immensely

I have enjoyed Howard Stone's bike books for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and as a new resident of Maine am delighted to have an opportunity to enjoy his rides in my new state. As always, Howard's ride descriptions and directions are very thorough and accurate. I especially appreciate the consistency with which he rates the difficulty of the rides. As an avid, but strictly recreational, cyclist, I found this to be an excellent book.

On par with Sidney Sheldon for pulling you in and making you feel all the angst and heartache that this character goes through. You can literally feel the slippery slope from which Gerri Knapp begins her downward spiral. Can she pull herself out? Will there be other forces to help her along the way? You can truly identify with some of the real life examples. I felt the same powerful 'human feelings' while reading this novel as I did when I viewed the Michael Douglas film, 'Falling Down'...things like her utter despair and inability to confide in anyone around her. Lauren Stone makes you want to reach out your hand to Gerri Knapp...REACH OUT AND BUY THIS BOOK! You won't be sorry!

Where are all the gearheads? The ones with Castrol in their veins? I can't be the only one left out here, can I? Or maybe I'm just the first one to take the time to write about the wonderful memories brought to mind by this fascinating, fabulous--and slightly incomplete--book! Oh, of course. That's it - they're all out there, somewhere, driving these remarkable machines!

Being half a dozen or so years younger than Dan Gurney, my memory bank includes his remarkable career, along with other such names of the marvelous 50s, 60s and 70s in motor cars of various kinds. Names like Carroll Shelby, or Stirling Moss or Denise McCluggage, for that matter. (She was my first hero!) The `sporty car' people were and are my favorites, to this day.

This is truly a neat book - I was amazed at how many of these vehicles I've actually driven! But they left out some of my faves: the Bug-eyed Sprite, for instance! How could they? My then 3-month-old daughter cut her first tooth while riding in one with her father and I, as we were competing in a rally. Or the late 1950s model Morris Minor--the one with the removable gearshift lever. (When the c-clip that held it in place would wear a bit, one could actually remove the lever while driving. Gave a whole new meaning to the `Don't like this gear? Here, find one you like' as you hand the lever to your startled passenger! My Dad used to hand the steering wheel of our 1937 Buick to my astonished Grandmother! She took the hint!)

I will admit that the Yugo may not have been the best thing going, but my grown-up daughter saved my life one night by folding me into her battered little example and taking me to the emergency room when my own trusty car wouldn't start. The Yugo was a truly disposable car, however, as she proved, several times over! At that price, why not?

For the other side of that coin, take a look at the 57 Chevy Nomad wagon, for instance, or the early imported BMWs (mid-to-late 60s) or the 66 Caddy convertible (what a gorgeous boat THAT was! bright red with white leather interior, oooh! or the early Rivieras!) or even a Model A. What wonderful wheels! Speaking of, how about that Freightliner? We had an Autocar. Groovy. And what fun it would indeed be, to be able to spend 24 hours with any one of them. Nowadays, that is. You can relive those glorious days by spending several happy-making hours (or weeks) with this scrumptious, colorful book. You won't ever forget the cars or those hours! Aaahh. The memories! Do try not to drool too much over the photos, though.

This book is available from Peter Bluer
15 Patchcroft rd
Manchester
M22 5jg
U.K.
0161 437 7013
This Book is the complete answer to
the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

This is a wonderful book for children to read or have read to them. I have used it many times when talking about the ingenuity of children and bolstering self esteem. It discusses the intuitive knowledge that children possess to solve problems if they are given the unfettered opportunity. I highly recommend this book to anyone with children between pre-kindergarten and 6th grade. Well written and imaginative.

Aimed at the younger reader, this book is still filled with accurate information about this popular breed of cat. Very good description and history of the breed along with beautiful photos. 24 pages. One of a series called "Read All About Cats".

Dodd's goal in this volume, while theological, is overtly historical. Taking his cue from such texts as 1 Cor 15:3-5, he seeks to probe beneath the surface of the NT to discover exactly which OT Scriptures undergirded the theology of the apostles' kerygma. An analysis of the NT use of such passages then (he believes) will aid in determining how the earliest disciples uniformly used the OT to reflect on the meaning of the events surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection (27).

Dodd's method is twofold. He begins first by utilizing a theorem common to historical criticism in general: diversity of distribution points to earlier provenance. (This is the same tenet employed by text critics in assessing external evidence. See also James D. G. Dunn's recent contribution to the historical Jesus debate, _Jesus Remembered_, which [like Dodd] makes forceful use of this principle.) Dodd surmises that where an OT text (or context) is cited in the same way by two or more NT authors, and where dependence between the authors is indiscernible, it is likely that the use of that particular text/context antedates the NT authors' usage (11, 28-29). (Indeed, Dodd is willing to go where many critics will not, acknowledging that the source of such uses was probably Jesus himself [110].) Dodd's second principle, then, is to look not at what the NT authors argue from such texts, but at what they assume (22-23). By uncovering these assumptions, Dodd intends to reconstruct the received hermeneutic uniformly employed by the earliest disciples. When Dodd has assembled his list of texts (see the end of the review below for the full list), he is poised to demonstrate that their interpretation fits into organized, even predictable, patterns. Texts like Hos 6:1-3, Ps 80, Dan 7, and the "Servant of the Lord" sections in Isaiah--texts which refer corporately to Israel in their original context--are seen as fulfilled in Christ's life, death and resurrection as Israel's "inclusive representative" (113, 119). Without stopping there, such interpretation is then seen as the segue to these texts' corporate fulfillment in and through the Church as well--the new Israel of God in Christ (111, 113-14). Dodd does well to exemplify that the NT authors were not `proof-texting'--loosely grasping at quotes out of context in an attempt to prove doctrines (127, 132). Rather, they were looking at whole contexts of Scripture, connecting them one with another and reading them carefully with appropriate controls, in an attempt to shed light on the historical events that had transpired in Christ (18, 130).

Dodd's methodology on the whole is pristine. He acknowledges that the OT texts he enlists as "testimonia" are subject to differing degrees of probability, and seems to list the sturdier ones first. Occasionally, however, he stretches the evidence further than necessary in detecting the ubiquity of OT allusions. I give two examples, both involving Jer 31. First, 2 Cor 6:16 is more likely a quotation of Ezek 37:27 (or Lev 26:12) than of Jer 31:33 as Dodd purports (45-46). Even if it were not for the immediately preceding statement in 2 Cor 6:16b "I will dwell and walk among them" (which is present in Ezek 37:27 & Lev 26:12 but absent from Jer 31:33), the covenantal epigram "I will be their God and they will be my people" is so often iterated in the OT that it would be nearly impossible to establish that Jer 31:33 in particular was in Paul's mind. (A similar distention of evidence occurs in Dodd's over-awareness of the Greek term _lutron_ `redemption'. This word [and its cognates--whose ubiquity in the NT Dodd rightly observes (90)], is wrongly then treated as a sort of `wild card' term whose appearance in an OT passage seems ipso facto to be considered a potentially alluded-to text [64, 77, 85, 90, 99].) In a second example, 2 Cor 6:18 is likewise probably a democratizing citation of 2 Sam 7:14, not an allusion to Jer 31:9 as Dodd suggests (46). In Dodd's next chapter even he himself connects 2 Cor 6:18 with 2 Sam 7:14 without mentioning Jer 31:9 (105-106)! Such distending of the evidence is all the more surprising when Dodd in fact apparently overlooks a Pauline passage that does appear to allude to Jer 31--Gal 4:24. Nevertheless, Dodd's point is still proven, for Jer 31 certainly does emerge in the other NT texts Dodd cites.

Ironically Dodd also hastily discards and even overlooks evidence that would help his overall case. The fact that the Fourth Gospel has John the Baptist denying the title "Elijah" (John 1:21) need not be construed as an out-and-out rejection of his association with Mal 4:5, as Dodd purports (71-72). The very fact that the Fourth Gospel reports Mal 4:5 in this connection only to have John humbly denying it is suggestive that he was indeed, in a sense, to be understood as the fulfillment of Mal 4:5. (The Fourth Gospel is the only one that actually has the Baptist himself addressing the question, and in a very real sense John does well to defer the honorific name. He certainly was not the prophet reincarnate, and his humility would be enough to explain adequately his recourse to this loophole. It was the scribes who appear to have held a literalistic understanding of Mal 4:5, expecting Elijah himself to return [Mark 9:11; Matt 17:10]; hence even the Synoptics are careful in making this identification. Indeed, Dodd himself notes [71] that Luke 1:17 avoids identifying the Baptist as Elijah himself, envisaging that he will go forth "in the spirit and power" of Elijah [cf. Matt 11:14, where Jesus prefaces this identification with "if you are willing to accept it"].) Moreover, Dodd overlooks the allusion to Mal 3-4 in 1 Cor 3:12-17, which would yield yet one more witness (Paul speaks of "the day" to come when the refiner's "fire" will come to his "temple" and purge those in the church who are "stubble," leaving those who are "gold and silver"). Between Paul, John, and the Synoptics, then, there appears to be enough diversity of attestation to include Mal 3-4 as one of the early church's "testimonia."

Aside from such nit-picking, however, Dodd's case ultimately holds. His investigation in the end holds promise not only for historical inquiry, but also for the present-day pursuits of faith. Understanding how the earliest Church used Scripture to interpret history and their experience helps the Church today to do the same, forcing Christians "back to the pit from whence we were digged and the rock from whence we were hewn" (138). Dodd's book, although out of print, certainly paves the way for the proper undertaking of biblical theology in the life of faith, and it will have a lasting impact on those who read it.

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Dodd observes that while each NT writer eventually goes in his own "rich" direction according to his particular style and insight, nevertheless each one's starting point appears to be the same (13). (And inasmuch as their presuppositions often do not align with what would have been the traditional Jewish interpretation(s) of such passages, he postulates that "they have behind them a good deal of fundamental work upon the subject which must have gone on in very early days" [23].) In his second chapter Dodd assembles a list of fifteen OT texts that are cited in the same way by two or more NT authors, but where dependence between the authors is indiscernible (rendering it likely that the use of that particular text/context antedated the NT usage): Ps 2:7; Ps 8:4-6; Ps 110:1; Ps 118:22-23; Isa 6:9-10; Isa 53:1; Isa 40:3-5; Isa 28:16; Gen 12:3; Jer 31:31-34; Joel 2:28-32; Zech 9:9; Hab 2:3-4; Isa 61:1-2; and Deut 18:15, 19. Using Ps 69 as a precedent, Dodd then expands this list in his third chapter to include whole OT contexts with contiguous or adjacent sentences quoted by two or more NT writers, which he heuristically divides into four categories: apocalyptic-eschatological (Joel 2-3; Zech 9-14; Dan 7; Mal 3:1-6; and Dan 12); a propos the new Israel (Hosea; Isa 6:1-9:7; Isa 11:1-10; Isa 28:16; Isa 40:1-11; Jer 31:10-34; Isa 29:9-14; Jer 7:1-15; and Hab 1-2); a propos the servant of the Lord and righteous sufferer (Isa 42:1-46:5; Isa 49:1-13; Isa 50:4-11; Isa 52:13-53:12; Isa 61; Ps 69; Ps 22; Ps 31; Ps 38; Ps 88; Ps 34; Ps 118; Ps 41; Pss 42-43; Ps 80; and Isa 58:6-10); and unclassified (Ps 8; Ps 110; Ps 2; and Gen 7:3; 22:18).

This is the inside story of the beginning of the Charismatic Renewal - Expanded and Updated "A sense of import begins to dawn on the reader from the opening chapter, as a suburban housewife receives the overwhelming revelation that Jesus died for her, personally. This sense grows as she is then led, step by halting step, into an experience of the Holy Spirit that transforms her life and the lives of countless others into a modern-day continuation of The Acts of the Apostles. In the additional chapter 'Epilogue 1995,' you will find interesting updates on various people in the book - as well as accounts of some key events in the early days which were deliberately left out of previous editions." ~ Rick Willians

My kids and I laughed and laughed as Adam Sharp and Magna Carter (great name!) tried to get Big Ben back from the Texans who had invaded London. This is a great series for kids who like spies. My sons hope to see Adam Sharp on televisio one of these days. A wonderful series.