Religion and Philosophy


exploited her god-like status to inspire her armies to face and defeat Rome, while in China, the usurper Wang Mang won and lost the throne over his obsession with Confucianism. In this superb account of the interplay of faith and power, Selina O’Grady asks how did the tiny Jesus cult triumph over more popular religions, the god Isis, the miracle worker Apollonius and even the cult of Augustus, to become the world’s dominant faith? 394pp, softback.


£14.99 NOW £8 73672 WHEN GOD SPOKE ENGLISH: The


Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson


The making of the King James Bible in the seven years between its commissioning by James VI and I in 1604 and its publication by Robert Barker (printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majestie) in 1611 remains something of a mystery. The men who did it, who pored over the Greek and Hebrew texts, comparing the accuracy and felicity of previous translations, arguing over fine details of chapter and verse, were obscure at the time and generally forgotten now, although around 50 in number. The truth of their relationship to William Tyndale as it will emerge is complex. James VI of Scotland, now James I of England, came into his new kingdom in 1603, a net of complex currents flowing across Jacobean England. Under the sponsorship and guidance of the King himself, some 50 scholars from Cambridge, Oxford and London created a text which has never been equalled and has survived virtually unaltered in its 400 years. How did this group of near anonymous divines - muddled, scholarly, drunk, self-serving, ambitious, pedantic, ruthless and obsequious - manage to bring off this astonishing translation? Full of characters and characteristics. 284 page paperback with 16 pages of photos, some in colour and some facsimile pages. £9.99 NOW £4


73800 UNSEEN FACE OF


ISLAM by Bill Musk Most ordinary Muslims live in a complex, mysterious world of which outsiders know little. The world of jinn, the evil eye, the hand of Fatima, the covenant of Suleiman, shrines, saints and festivals, curses and powerful practitioners of the occult - it is a colourful, complex world full of human hopes and fears and far removed from the Islam of


the Mullahs or newspaper headlines. Dr Musk penetrates the surface levels of ritual and legalism and demonstrates that most Muslims express deep needs in their daily living. This new edition is reworked to include insights into folk Islam and includes diagrams and photos. 288pp in paperback. £9.99 NOW £4


73801 UNVEILING ISLAM


by Ergun Mehmet and Emir Fethi Caner Raised as Sunni Muslims by a leader in the mosque, brothers Ergun and Emir Caner have lived a Muslim life. Now Christians and highly respected theology professors, they are in a unique position to present an insider’s look at Islam. The book is a sympathetic yet uncompromising presentation of Islam’s practices, ethics and beliefs including the primary differences between Christianity and Islam. It looks at lord Jesus Christ and the words of the Qur’an and also at the words of Allah encouraging Muslims to ‘Fight them until there is no persecution and the religion is Allah’s’. 251pp with useful comparisons of beliefs, freewill and fatalism. Paperback. £7.99 NOW £4


73771 COMPACT GUIDE TO CHRISTIAN


HISTORY by Stephen Backhouse Boasting genuinely worldwide coverage and history, we are introduced with clarity and concision to a rich variety of Christianities that modern Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox often ignore in this vigorous guide through these three great traditions. Interspersed in the text are boxes which invite you to take a closer look at the notable people, places and events and the words in bold are explained in the glossary at the back. Full of illustrations, colour photos, timelines and fact boxes, we learn about famous popes to the Salvation Army, Protestantism to Pietism, the fall of Constantinople and the Ethiopian church in the 13th century, disastrous popes, Chinese Christianity and more in this century by century graphic tour. 208pp in softback. £10.99 NOW £4


73795 NEW RELIGIONS: Religions of the World


by Carol S. Matthews This volume introduces eight new religions, some that are well established such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, and the Baha’i faith, and some that are relatively new, such as the New Kadampa Tradition which, in 1991, was officially organised as an umbrella Tibetan Buddhist institution,


and the Raelians, who founded Clonaid, the human cloning research and service facility. There is also a convincing section on why it is important for everyone to study new religions. 214 pages with colour plates, chronology and timeline, list of websites and glossary. £31.50 NOW £3


73054 THIS SAINT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE: 300 Heavenly Allies by Thomas J. Craughwell


We all know that travellers have St Christopher keeping a celestial eye on them, but did you know that card sharps and con men have their own beatified benefactor, namely one St Camillus de Lellis? Vegetarians, women in labour, schoolgirls, gamblers, lawyers (no, not St Camillus again!), beekeepers, booksellers (St John of God, 8 March is a Bibliophile feast day). Craughwell describes the lives of an amazing variety of holy figures from the Christian faith, revealing how they came to be associated with their beneficiaries and with reproductions of 300 full colour cards depicting these heavenly helpers in all their halo-bedecked glory. 479pp chunky softback. £13.99 NOW £4.50


TELEPHONE: 0207 474 2474


73769 THE BIBLE A HISTORY: The Making and Impact of the Bible


by Stephen M. Miller and Robert V. Huber This authoritative and beautifully illustrated volume explains how the Old and New Testaments were written and put together. It describes the key figures in the Bible’s development from papyrus to illuminated manuscript to printed tome, and how the text was disseminated across the world. The text brings the story and the most important people involved in it to life. It shows how, over the centuries, the Bible has inspired the whole range of human emotion and experience, including the finest painting, sculpture, literature and music. There are sections on the oral tradition, the use of papyrus, the Jewish Bible, first-century letter writing and Jerome’s Latin Bible. If you want to learn about illuminating a manuscript, printing, or the lyrical King James Version or even about modern biblical criticism, the Bible societies and the Bible in moving pictures - it, and much more, is all here. 256 pages 29cm x 22cm, lovely illustrations in colour and b/w, with timeline, maps, charts and special features.


$29.95 NOW £16 71297 DISCOVERING CHURCHES AND


CHURCHYARDS by Mark Child A guide to the architecture of English parish churches from Anglo-Saxon times to 1900 illustrated with the author’s own many colour photos and drawings of what to spot. Enjoy the fabric, fixtures and fittings of many churches in our land like a ruined church of flint and stone standing in the middle of a prehistoric henge monument at Knowlton, Dorset, through the Norman period, perpendicular, Renaissance and classical, Victorian and beyond. Dozens of effigies, marble and stone statuary, windows decorated with tracery and stained glass. 264pp, paperback. £12.99 NOW £3.75


59992 A BUDDHIST BIBLE: With the Light of Asia


introduced by Richard Hayes ‘A Buddhist Bible’ has inspired and delighted readers since its publication in 1934. It contains key texts from the Zen (or Chan) Buddhist tradition. The Lankavatara Sutra shaped the teachings of the Zen (originally Lanka) school. The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Transcendental Wisdom are key texts from the


canon of Mahayana Buddhism. The Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch tells the remarkable story of Huineng, the sixth Chan patriarch, and is the basis for all later schools of Chan and Zen Buddhism. ‘The Light of Asia’ is a charming poetic retelling of the Buddha’s life by the Victorian poet Sir Edwin Arnold. 308pp in paperback. ONLY £4


73137 HOLY BIBLE: NIV by Hodder & Stoughton


Revised and updated 2011 New International Version of the Holy Bible in clear, single-column, 6.75. text with shortcuts to key passages. In the standard British text, this slim line durable classic, mock brown leather Bible has gold tooling and will slip into the pocket. 1404pp, softback.


£12.99 NOW £5


72274 THE STORY: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People


by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee Based on the events in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, The Story distils the key characters and adventures into just 31 engaging episodes. Quoting from the clear, accessible, anglicised text of the New International Version, short linking passages connect the reader to the wider story, and the whole is arranged chronologically so that individual happenings can be interpreted in context. 494 pages with map, time-lines, questions, list of characters. £14.99 NOW £5


72349 KANT: A Brief Insight by Roger Scruton


One of the most influential of the modern philosophers, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is also one of the most difficult to understand. He changed the whole course of philosophy with his The Critique of Pure Reason (1781), remains the most important work of philosophy written in modern times. To provide an elementary account of some of the most complex thought, logic and reasoning processes ever committed to paper is a task that would test the ability of any writer, but Scruton manages this both neatly and elegantly. Illus. in colour. 164pp. $14.95 NOW £4.75


72515 1,000 WISEST THINGS EVER SAID by David Pratt


The quotations from Nobel Prize Winners are arranged by achievement, beliefs and ideology, time, life and death, good and evil and human qualities, emotions, human relations, mind, knowledge and learning, arts and culture, places, politics and economics, science and technology, medicine and health, war and peace and last words. It also includes short biographical sketches of each of the Laureates quoted and a brief history of the Nobel Prize. Astute, witty and poignant by turns. 270 pages, paperback. £9.99 NOW £3.50


73045 SAINTS by Scot Bower Containing engaging narratives, prayers and feature boxes, from Polycarp to St Francis, Benedict to Aidan, Brigid to Clare and many others in between, here are the personalities of both Western and Eastern saints,


from the time of the Early Church Fathers through to the mid-13th century. 128 pages, colour illus. £9.99 NOW £3


73354 GREAT TRANSFORMATION: The World in the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and


Jeremiah by Karen Armstrong The centuries between 800 and 300 BC saw an explosion of new religious and philosophical concepts. Their emergence is second only to man’s harnessing of fire in fundamentally transforming our understanding of what it is to be human. But why, exactly, did the likes of Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jeremiah and Lao Tzu - among others - all come to the forefront during this 500- hundred-year span? And how is it, then, that they all had such similar ideas about humanity? The author demonstrates a formidable grasp of sacred history and biblical scholarship as she examines the connections between such a disparate group of philosophers, mystics and theologians. 469 paperback pages, maps and plans. £9.99 NOW £5.50


73385 TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA: The Wisdom of the Dharma from the Pali Canon to the Sutras


by Desmond Biddulph and Darcy Flynn Both the authors have been students of Buddhism for many years and Biddulph is Vice-President of the Buddhist society in London. Their book contains selections from the Pali canon and the later Mahayana sutras, as well as traditional Buddhist tales and fascinating extracts from Zen masters, accompanied by passages of commentary that illuminate key meanings. This essential collection brings together inspiring insights from the Buddha’s teachings aimed to diagnose and offer a remedy for the turmoil that characterises all human experience. 176 pages with atmospheric b/w photos. $14.95 NOW £6


73266 OUR CHURCH: A Personal History of the Church of England by Roger Scruton


Roger Scruton argues that the Christian Church is historically central to the culture of Great Britain. Scruton’s own religion is inspired by the Christian apologists of the 20th century, writers such as T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.


Tolkien. Scruton also has great respect for “spirited agnostics” such as Jacob Bronowski, people who are unable to subscribe to articles of faith but share the moral vision initiated by the creators of the Prayer Book, the King James Bible and classic spiritual writers such as John Bunyan. The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams had a characteristically English mix of “belief and doubt, pomp and satire”. Scruton describes his parents’ religion and his own childhood experience of church worship, shuttling between different Nonconformist chapels until Anglicanism claimed him. For Scruton, the transcendental is indefinable and faith means trust. 199pp.


£20 NOW £6


73049 SONGS OF PRAISE THE NATION’S FAVOURITE CHURCHES


by Andrew Barr


Visit and explore 30 buildings that have become much-loved landmarks. Many of the churches appearing in the book were nominated by audiences who listen each week to the BBC Sunday


breakfast shows from their local radio stations. Between them, they provide a picture of the wide sweep of church life within Britain today, and the book tries to describe them through the eyes of the people who love them. The author captures the lives of those who built, developed and shaped them, as well as offering human interest stories about the folk who worship in them today. 127 pages 24.5cm x 20cm, over 100 colour photos.


£14.99 NOW £4


72302 RITUAL LANDSCAPES OF ROMAN SOUTH-EAST BRITAIN edited by David Rudling


The book comprises ten extensive essays written by acknowledged archaeological experts and covering such subjects as pagan religion in rural south-east Britain, places of worship in London, the temples at Springhead, Kent and in Sussex and Surrey like the Wanborough temple site, the incredible find of a Gallo-Roman temple at Hayling Island, votive offerings, the fate of pagan temples during the late and post-Roman periods and the co-existence of Christian churches and pagan shrines. This was an absolutely unique period in our history when the traditions of the indigenous Celts, the beliefs of the occupying pagan Romans, the various new religions which originated from further afield in the Empire and were brought here by soldiers, administrators and traders all fused together. Colour and b/w photos, plans, drawings and diagrams. 214 glossy pages, softback, 8¼”×10¼”.


£24.95 NOW £8


73386 TEMPLARS AND THE SHROUD OF CHRIST by Barbara Frale


The Turin Shroud is one of the most controversial relics of the Catholic church. This swathe of fabric is claimed to be imprinted with the image of the face of Jesus Christ and, for a long time, was kept in the central treasury of the Knights Templar. There, it was worshipped and known by only a handful of the order’s officials. The Templars considered the shroud to be a powerful antidote against the proliferation of heresies. This compelling book tracks them from their inception as warrior-monks protecting religious pilgrims, to the later fascination with their secret rituals and incredible wealth which, ultimately and inevitably, led to their dissolution and the seizing of their assets. Following the Shroud’s pathway through the Middle Ages, a Vatican historian has gone back in time to provide a new perspective on this much disputed object. 296 pages. $24.95 NOW £6.50


www.bibliophilebooks.com SCIENCE


Now, my suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose…I suspect there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, in any philosophy.


- J. B. S. Haldane


73935 BOLTZMANN’S TOMB: Travels in Search of Science


by Bill Green


C. P. Snow once claimed that science and art are separate and mutually incomprehensible cultures. Readers who disagree with that sweeping statement will welcome this scientific memoir that captures the romance and poetic beauty of research. In it, they are swept on


a globe-spanning pilgrimage to important sites of scientific discovery, enjoying along the way the captivating stories of the scientists who lived and worked there. Along with lyrical meditations on the tragic life of Galileo, the mystical Johannes Kepler, the wildly eccentric Tycho Brahe and the universal vision of Sir Isaac Newton, the author’s ruminations return throughout to the lesser-known figure of Ludwig Boltzmann. Using the latter’s theories of randomness and entropy in the microscopic world as a larger metaphor for the unpredictable paths that our lives take, he shows us that science, like art, is a lived adventure, the remnants of which can be left in the form of a painting, a novel, a sculpture, a poem or as an equation - particularly the one that Boltzmann formulated, S=k log W, that he thought of ‘in terms of molecules, of caged birds trying to escape confinement, of wolves set free on to a thousand square miles of tundra’. Always searching for underlying patterns in nature, but also keenly aware of the fateful role of probabilities and randomness, the author makes a convincing case that science, like art, is a uniquely human endeavour, and a lyrical exercise of the human imagination. 208 pages illustrated in b/w. £16.99 NOW £6


73976 ONE, TWO, THREE: Absolutely Elementary Mathematics


by David Berlinski With broad culture and wry humour, the author of ‘A Tour of the Calculus’ Berlinski takes a look at some basic concepts in maths, clashing symbols with history and displaying the inner soul of simple arithmetic. He asks what is a number? How do addition,


subtraction, multiplication and division actually work? What are geometry and logic? He lucidly describes the beauty and complexity of these mercurial and often slippery concepts and gives a captivating exploration of the foundations of mathematics - how it originated, who thought of it, and why it matters. 210pp. $24.95 NOW £5


73949 EVERYDAY MATHS TRICKS FOR GROWN UPS


by Kjartan Poskitt Averages, algebra, decimals, fractions, powers and roots, interest, measuring systems and conversions, area and volume - work out how much paint is needed to cover a wall, double a recipe with ease, quickly determine the discount on that 15% off section, work out a tip without using a


calculator with this clear, practical and humorous guide to explain all the easy shortcuts, tricks and tips to tackle maths every day with confidence. Very clear layout with diagrams, line art and cartoons in a very special US edition of a Reader’s Digest bestseller. 180pp in paperback. ONLY £6


73923 A MORE PERFECT HEAVEN: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos by Dava Sobel


In a book as unusual and compelling as her much-acclaimed history of John Harrison’s success in computing longitude, Sobel brings alive the thrilling story of Nicolaus Copernicus who controversially stated that the Sun was at the centre of our universe, with the planets, including the Earth,


revolving round it. In 1539, a young German mathematician, Georg Joachim Rheticus, drawn by rumours of a celestial revolution, travelled to Poland to find Copernicus. Despite prohibitions against his presence in Copernicus’ Catholic diocese, the Protestant youth spent two years collaborating with his mentor in expanding the brief sketch into a full manuscript, then carried the finished work to a printer in Nueremberg for publication. This book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) forever changed humankind’s understanding of its place in the universe. In an unforgettable portrait of the key characters at a moment of great scientific change, the author writes a riveting short play imagining what they may have said to each other! Science made fascinating. 273 pages with b/w illustrations, map, chronology.


£14.99 NOW £7.50


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