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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Now in its seventh year of publication, this popular spiral-bound weekly desk calendar features 26 full-color images of Jewish artifacts and masterpieces from the Skirball collection. Spanning 16 months, from September 2003 to December 2004, The Jewish Engagement Calendar 2004 notes national and Jewish holidays (the latter through 2018), Sabbath candle-lighting times, weekly Torah portions, and other useful data. With its detailed information about Jewish holidays and observances, its collection of fine Jewish artwork, and its convenient, spacious format, this is the essential desk calendar for every Jewish household. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun
I buy this engagement calendar every year now.It's fun to see the photos of the Jewish artifacts from the Skirball collection.The book is slightly redundant since it goes from September of one year to December of the next.If you buy it every year, as I do, there is that awkward transition period from one book to the next when you have to decide when to "give up" your earlier edition.

I give the book 4 stars instead of 5 because one year they mislisted the date of Yom Kippur (very bad!). ... Read more

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Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was an African-American self-taught artist, evangelist, musician, and poet who used her diverse talents as a vehicle for and extension of her profound religious faith. Morgan's life and art combine the African-American tradition of autonomous expression with a remarkable inherent artistic sensibility.

Gertrude Morgan considered her paintings and decorated objects not art but rather tools for teaching the word of God. Settling in New Orleans in 1939, she became a familiar figure on the streets of the city's French Quarter, where she would set up her easels with paintings illustrating passages from the Bible and preach the Gospel to passersby, often singing in a deep voice and accompanying herself on guitar or tambourine.

Most of her paintings are religious in theme; many are literal interpretations of biblical passages from the Old and New Testaments, and her imagery is often richly apocalyptic. She frequently wrote messages or quoted scriptural passages in her pieces, and her text forms an integral and vital part of the total composition.

Like many self-taught artists, Morgan began to paint late in life, at the age of 56; she was not inspired by looking at other art or attempting to emulate it. What sets her apart from many in the field, however, is her originality, technical virtuosity, and highly distinctive style that demonstrates sustained artistic growth over a period of more than twenty years.
This book will accompany the first comprehensive retrospective of Morgan's work, at the American Folk Art Museum in New York and the New Orleans Museum of Art. It is the first monograph on this important African-American self-taught artist.
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Customer Reviews (1)

She's a cross between W. Blake and Blind Willy Mctell...
astonishing and super-real in everything she sang and wrote and preached, I am totally awestruck and undone and remade as a book poet or cultural critic, I here give thanks for Sister Gertrude Morgan who showed me a way forward in American poesis.Yes, the city of God is a tenement in New Orleans, chants and warns the poet-saint in the French Quarter, standing in "the headquarters of sin" and with washington under prolonged possession of Lucifer forces who think they are the brides of christ as they sell blackhawk down war missions to the young and the US mass media goes along with its neo-liberal blessing of praise and babble pretending to be critique.Well, thank the American Folk Museum for finding this God-given poet and preacher named Sister Gwertrude Morgan and bringing her back into eternal circulation here and now."Walking on water wasn't built in a day" as Bob Kauffman put it, we need to remember this at a time when it feels like we are living inside a Rome cum Babylon-made empire of war, greed, vanity, and death.Poetry might help in the battle for the republic, the soul of the nation fallen to the sleepwalkers.

All I can do is praise her and give 10 stars of poetic honor. ... Read more

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REAL (Religion for Education and Life) is a range of resources for primary religious education, produced by ICOREC (the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture), based at Manchester Polytechnic. Using topics and themes commonly taught in primary schools REAL aims to introduce a religious perspective in a natural and spontaneous way. REAL takes a Christian approach which fully meets the requirements of the 1988 Education Act, but also draws widely on other faiths and belief systems to deepen the insights into religion. This pack contains colour pictures showing children from different religions practising their faith, and provides a starting point for discussion. The pictures come with teacher's notes, giving ideas on how to get the most out of the pack. REAL takes a multi-faith approach in line with the 1988 Education Act. ... Read more

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Egypt's Coptic Church is one of the oldest in the world, encompassing two millennia of history, tradition, and culture. The Coptic Museum, founded in Old Cairo in 1908, houses the world's largest and most exquisite collection of Coptic artifacts, representing every historical era, from the earliest Christian period to the nineteenth century. After undergoing extensive renovations and repair, the Coptic Museum is open to the public again, making this richly informative and illustrated book very timely for anyone interested in this rich artistic heritage. Structured as a guide, but fully illustrated with superb color photographs, this book suggests a simple but comprehensive itinerary through one of Egypt's most fascinating museums.Taking readers through the various exhibits, this useful guidebook explains and illuminates the aesthetic and religious importance of each of the museum's works on display, such as icons, stelae, sculptures, wall paintings, wooden altar screens, liturgical implements, and vestments and bible caskets. Textiles, ceramics and documents (including the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Library from the fourth century, one of the most important collections of papyri in the world) provide valuable insights into the economic and social life of Egypt's Copts over the last two thousand years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent guide
I borrowed this with the intention of taking it with me the next time I go to Cairo but the book is a great reference even if you have no intention of visiting the Coptic Museum. Illustrated with photographs, the guide is a window on a world that most tourists to Egypt are unaware even exists.

The Coptic Church is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. It has survived repression under the Roman emperors, the Islamic invasion, wars, famines and various anti-Christian pograms. Today Copts are 9 million strong in Egypt, and yet are invisible to the world media.

The Coptic Museum in Cairo only recently reopened after damage caused by an earthquake in the 1990s and decades of neglect prior to that. At the very least this guide is an excellent eye opener to a history and culture that is seemingly invisible to the outside world. ... Read more

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Sister Wendy Beckett is one of the best-known art historians in the world today. Here, she explores her reactions to a painting that she finds uniquely compelling: the haunting Christ on a Cross by El Greco. As she candidly admits, "I have always had trouble in talking about religious art." This surprising admission leads her to examine the very nature of religious and spiritual art, which, Sister Wendy argues, are not at all the same thing.
In the course of her discussion she takes a careful look at fourteen works by artists ranging from anonymous medieval masters to Paul Cézanne, in whose still lifes she finds the expression of a deep spirituality. The art of Correggio, Rubens, Millet, and others helps Sister Wendy arrive at a new understanding of just why it is that this particular El Greco painting speaks to her so profoundly.
Joy Lasts is a remarkable personal statement from one of the best-loved contemporary guides to the meaning and experience of art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pleasant to look at as well as to read
Like everything from Sister Wendy, it is easy to read and yet has real depth.It is a beautifuly illustrated book.

INTERESTING PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
Sister Wendy has a way with words as she carefully explains why to her El Greco is the most profoundly spiritual painter -- and I agree with her.

But the Getty Museum has padded an interesting essay with other pictures from their collectionand seeks to collect $15for it.Shame on them!
I feel I have been both edified by Wendy and taken advantage of by the museum ... Read more

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A reference to the gods and and goddesses of classical antiquity, compiled for use by both children and adults. The Romans adopted and worshipped many of the Greek pantheon and the dictionary names and describes the deities in their Roman forms. It also highlights other important supernatural beings, such as the Muses, Fates and Furies. All entries are cross-referred in alphabetical order. ... Read more

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