Tale of the Penitent Thief

Tale of the Penitent Thief
Author: Don Willis
Publisher: WestBow Press
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2013-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1449791956

Arguably the most influential figure in human history was Jesus Christ. Wars were fought in his name. In his name many nations rose, and many nations fell. Many prominent leaders gained power from him, and many others were persecuted and killed for their belief in him. It has been said that over 6 billion Bibles have been printed in almost every language, and countless other millions of stories, books, and films have told the story of his life. Yet, he died with two men by his side, and history knows almost nothing about them. Until now. Young Dismas and his brother Jotham are blissfully unaware of the lifelong journey that awaits them soon after their encounter with the young girl, Mary, her husband, Joseph, and their baby, Jesus. Their lives will soon take a very cruel turn that leads through hurt, hardship, betrayal, and murder. Along the way, they make unlikely alliances with Tiran and Gestas, two known criminals with a penchant for theft and murder. It is a path that will ultimately lead them all to intersect with their brutal destinies. Throughout their journey, their lives will intersect with some of the most famous figures of the Bible, and they will learn about love, faith, and the most powerful weapon against sin... forgiveness.

The Thief Who Stole Heaven

The Thief Who Stole Heaven
Author: Raymond Arroyo
Publisher: Sophia
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2020-08-15
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781644132388

The Holy Family is set upon by roadside thieves when Jesus is a boy. The leader of the gang is the Bad Thief; among them is a young Dismas, the Good Thief. Remembering his own mother and family, Dismas is moved with compassion and persuades the leader to let them go. While on the cross many years later, Dismas is caught in the entrancing gaze of Mother Mary from down below, and suddenly realizes that the man next to him was the captivating boy from that fateful day long ago. He asks Jesus for forgiveness. Knowing exactly who he is, Jesus forgives him and assures him of Paradise that very day.

Heaven, How I Got Here

Heaven, How I Got Here
Author: Colin S. Smith
Publisher: Christian Focus
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-01-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781781915585

Drawing on Bible passages about the events of the day of Jesus' crucifixion, including the thief's own words, the author creates a narrative of the thief's last day on Earth, told from the thief's point of view looking down from Heaven.

The Good Thief

The Good Thief
Author: Hannah Tinti
Publisher: Dial Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2008-08-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0440337895

Richly imagined, gothically spooky, and replete with the ingenious storytelling ability of a born novelist, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting new talents. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • San Francisco Chronicle • Kirkus Reviews Winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and an American Library Association Alex Award Twelve year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is a mystery that Ren has been trying to solve for his entire life, as well as who his parents are, and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony’s Orphanage for boys. He longs for a family to call his own and is terrified of the day he will be sent alone into the world. But then a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren’s long-lost brother, and his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand and his parents persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and to give Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? Journeying through a New England of whaling towns and meadowed farmlands, Ren is introduced to a vibrant world of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves. If he stays, Ren becomes one of them. If he goes, he’s lost once again. As Ren begins to find clues to his hidden parentage he comes to suspect that Benjamin not only holds the key to his future, but to his past as well. Praise for The Good Thief "Every once in a while—if you are very lucky—you come upon a novel so marvelous and enchanting and rare that you wish everyone in the world would read it, as well. The Good Thief is just such a book—a beautifully composed work of literary magic."—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love "Darkly transporting . . . [In] The Good Thief, the reader can find plain-spoken fiction full of traditional virtues: strong plotting, pure lucidity, visceral momentum and a total absence of writerly mannerisms. In Ms. Tinti’s case that means an American Dickensian tale with touches of Harry Potterish whimsy, along with a macabre streak of spooky New England history."—New York Times

The Good Thieves

The Good Thieves
Author: Katherine Rundell
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2020-08-25
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1481419498

“A dazzling tale of wild hope, lingering grief, admirable self-sufficiency, and intergenerational adoration.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Vita tests her own limits, and readers will thrill at her cleverness, tenacity, and close escapes.” —Booklist “A satisfying adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews From award-winning author Katherine Rundell comes a fast-paced and utterly thrilling adventure driven by the loyalty and love between a grandfather and his granddaughter. When Vita’s grandfather’s mansion is taken from him by a powerful real estate tycoon, Vita knows it’s up to her to make things right. With the help of a pickpocket and her new circus friends, Vita creates the plan: Break into the mansion. Steal back what’s rightfully her grandfather’s. Expose the real estate tycoon for the crook he truly is. But 1920s Manhattan is ever-changing and full of secrets. It might take more than Vita’s ragtag gang of misfits to outsmart the city that never sleeps. Award-winning author Katherine Rundell has created an utterly gripping tour de-force about loyalty, trust, and the lengths to which we’ll go for the ones we love.

The Tale of the Body Thief

The Tale of the Body Thief
Author: Anne Rice
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2010-11-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307575918

“Rice is our modern messenger of the occult, whose nicely updated dark-side passion plays twist and turn in true Gothic form.”—San Francisco Chronicle In a gripping feat of storytelling, Anne Rice continues the extraordinary Vampire Chronicles that began with the now-classic Interview with the Vampire. For centuries, Lestat—vampire-hero, enchanter, seducer of mortals—has been a courted prince in the dark and flourishing universe of the living dead. Now he is alone. And in his overwhelming need to destroy his doubts and his loneliness, Lestat embarks on the most dangerous enterprise he has undertaken in all the years of his haunted existence. Praise for The Tale of the Body Thief “Tinged with mystery, full of drama . . . The story is involving, the twists surprising.”—People “Fast-paced . . . . mesmerizing . . . silkenly sensuous . . . No one writing today matches her deftness with the [sensual].”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Hypnotic . . . masterful.”—Cosmopolitan

Beneath the Tamarisk Tree

Beneath the Tamarisk Tree
Author: Rob Seabrook
Publisher: Malcolm Down Publishing
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781915046017

Dismas awakes in heaven, baffled as to why and amazed by the wonder of his new surroundings. He is welcomed by Jesus and recounts his story. For the first time in his life, he begins to discover many feelings and emotions that had been deeply buried and suppressed. Beneath The Tamarisk Tree is a fictional take on the story of the Penitent Thief.

The Thief, the Cross, and the Wheel

The Thief, the Cross, and the Wheel
Author: Mitchell B. Merback
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1999-07
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780226520155

Christ's Crucifixion is one of the most recognized images in Western visual culture, and it has come to stand as a universal symbol of both suffering and salvation. But often overlooked in this symbolic language is the fact that ultimately the Crucifixion is a scene of capital punishment. In The Thief, the Cross and the Wheel, Mitchell Merback reconstructs the religious, legal, and historical context of the Crucifixion and of other images of public torture. The result is an account of a time when criminal justice and religion were entirely interrelated and punishment was a visual spectacle devoured by a popular audience.

The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages

The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages
Author: Mary Dzon
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2017-01-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0812293703

Beginning in the twelfth century, clergy and laity alike started wondering with intensity about the historical and developmental details of Jesus' early life. Was the Christ Child like other children, whose characteristics and capabilities depended on their age? Was he sweet and tender, or formidable and powerful? Not finding sufficient information in the Gospels, which are almost completely silent about Jesus' childhood, medieval Christians turned to centuries-old apocryphal texts for answers. In The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages, Mary Dzon demonstrates how these apocryphal legends fostered a vibrant and creative medieval piety. Popular tales about the Christ Child entertained the laity and at the same time were reviled by some members of the intellectual elite of the church. In either case, such legends, so persistent, left their mark on theological, devotional, and literary texts. The Cistercian abbot Aelred of Rievaulx urged his monastic readers to imitate the Christ Child's development through spiritual growth; Francis of Assisi encouraged his followers to emulate the Christ Child's poverty and rusticity; Thomas Aquinas, for his part, believed that apocryphal stories about the Christ Child would encourage youths to be presumptuous, while Birgitta of Sweden provided pious alternatives in her many Marian revelations. Through close readings of such writings, Dzon explores the continued transmission and appeal of apocryphal legends throughout the Middle Ages and demonstrates the significant impact that the Christ Child had in shaping the medieval religious imagination.

Discipleship Training in Luke's Gospel

Discipleship Training in Luke's Gospel
Author: Ralph F. Wilson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 821
Release: 2020-10-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9780996202589

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be trained as a disciple by Jesus himself? To be one of that band of Twelve and then Seventy who followed him around Galilee and Judea. As they walked with Jesus, he molded them as disciplesDisciple Lessons in Luke's Gospel is a conscious attempt to put you and me in the place of those first disciples. It's a JesusWalk. Over 120 lessons, you'll look at each of Jesus' healing acts, each word, each confrontation, each parable, and ask the question: What should I as a disciple be learning from this?Written over a period of three years and experienced by over 5,000 students from 123 countries, Disciple Lessons in Luke's Gospel is being used by God to mold many in Christ's image. Now slightly revised and available in audio form and via e-mail, this series can help form you as a disciple.Preachers will be glad for the careful exegesis of each passage, footnoted research, and deep digging that results in present-day applications. Teachers will use the deep, probing questions at the end of each lesson. But the one who will benefit most is you, the earnest disciple, who wants to learn genuine discipleship at the feet of the Master. Third Edition.