The Book of Magic

The Book of Magic
Author: Brian Copenhaver
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 704
Release: 2015-11-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0141393157

'. . . as when iron is drawn to a magnet, camphor is sucked into hot air, crystal lights up in the Sun, sulfur and a volatile liquid are kindled by flame, an empty eggshell filled with dew is raised towards the Sun . . .' An odd feature of the Bible is that it is full of stories featuring forms of magic and possession - from Joseph battling with Pharaoh's wizards to the supernatural actions of Jesus and his disciples. As, over the following centuries, the Christian church attempted to stamp out 'deviant' practices, there was a persistent interest in magic that drew strength from this Biblical validation. A strange blend of mumbo-jumbo, fraud and deeply serious study, magic was central to the European Renaissance, fascinating many of its greatest figures. Brian Copenhaver's wonderful anthology will be welcomed by everyone from those with the most casual interest in the magical tradition to anyone drawn to the Renaissance and the tangled, arcane roots of the scientific tradition.

The Book of It

The Book of It
Author: Scott Rahn
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2020-11-09
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1644243997

This book, The Book of It, is not the ultimate and single explanation of what its author has uncovered by years of reading, research, and listening to the words and teachings of others. The fact is that the only part of It that can be described by a single strand within The Book of It explains, at times cryptically, the journey of its author through the strands of It that he himself has encountered. Strands passing across history, through literature and religious texts and philosophies, and even into the legends of the world. It can easily be seen as the tale of unknown centuries of people easily manipulated by virtue of what they wish to have and how they are taught or led to obtain it, along with what they are oftentimes kept willingly ignorant of as they unknowingly push an apparently undying school of thought and way of life crashing forward through time. It is not so much the story of some grand conspiracy as it is the story of people blinded by imagined desires and glories. Individuals working at the same time, but neither with or without the perceived aid of each other down the path to attaining. It contains a strand of common legends, stories, lessons, and teachings that are somehow known the world over. Stories of once great empires and their cities and peoples now long forgotten, at least one great war, masters who exploited mass populations kept in ignorance, of the same monumental disasters, and of the destruction of it all over and over so that another chance can be given to creation along with the chance to finally build a truly eternal civilization and culture, and more.

The Book of the Cave of Treasures

The Book of the Cave of Treasures
Author: E. a. Budge Budge
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1596053356

And in the days of Nimrod, the mighty man (or giant), a fire appeared which ascended from the earth, and Nimrod went down, and looked at it, and worshipped it, and he established priests to minister there, and to cast incense from it. From that day the Persians began to worship fire...-from "The Fourth Thousand Years"One of the most prolific and respected Egyptologists of the Victorian era, Budge here offers his translation of the 4th-century A.D. Syrian text commonly known as "the Cave of Treasures," a history of the world from the Creation to the crucifixion of Christ and considered by some to be an apocryphal book of the Bible. Budge's extensive notes, linking the work to other ancient writings, as well as the numerous illustrations, make this unusual work, first published in 1927, an excellent resource for students of ancient civilizations and comparative mythology.SIR E. A. WALLIS BUDGE (1857-1934) was curator of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities at the British Museum from 1894 to 1924. Among his many works of translation and studies of ancient Egyptian religion and ritual is his best-known project, The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

The Magi’s Gift of Gold

The Magi’s Gift of Gold
Author: Charles A. Sennewald
Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2019-05-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1489722394

Mr. Sennewald’s first book was a fictional novel about foreign cars, namely a Volkswagen. He was offered a story line buyout because a producer wanted the story for a motion picture. Sennewald declined the generous offer. For years friends, family, and colleagues have talked about the story with its totally surprising ending and have complained about his failure to write more fictional works. The real demand for his work has been in writing textbooks on management, consulting, shoplifting, and criminal investigations. To satisfy the complainants, he’s been writing short stories that are fun to read and invariably have surprising and/or unexpected endings. This book is a collection of those great stories between two covers. If the reader likes to or tries to outguess the stories’ endings, he or she will enjoy every page of this book. They will agree that this collection is an interesting journey indeed.

New Testament Apocrypha, v1

New Testament Apocrypha, v1
Author: Burke & Landau
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 635
Release: 2016
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0802872891

Compilation of little-known and never-before-published apocryphal Christian texts in English translation This anthology of ancient nonbiblical Christian literature presents informed introductions to and readable translations of a wide range of little-known apocryphal texts, most of which have never before been translated into any modern language. An introduction to the volume as a whole addresses the most significant features of the writings included and contextualizes them within the contemporary study of the Christian Apocrypha. The body of the book comprises thirty texts that have been carefully introduced, copiously annotated, and translated into English by eminent scholars. With dates of composition ranging from the second century CE to early in the second millennium, these fascinating texts provide a more complete picture of Christian thought and expression than canonical texts alone can offer.