*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts from the apocrypha *Includes a list of the apocrypha, online resources, and a bibliography for further reading Between 50 and 90 CE, the various writings that comprise the New Testament were written, including the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, and other letters to more general communities of the early Church. But what is recognized as the 26 books of the New Testament today, in literally hundreds of English translations, actually took several more centuries to be determined as "canonical" by the Church. In fact, it was not...

Jesus de Nazareth fue un maestro judio de origen rural que vivio en el primer tercio del siglo I de nuestra era. Durante una celebracion de la Pascua en Jerusalen fue condenado a la pena de muerte -especificamente crucifixion- por la autoridad imperial de Roma, que en ese momento tenia el control de su pais. Muchas cosas mas podrian decirse de su vida, pero aparte de este pequeno resumen y quiza uno o dos detalles mas, seria complicado que todos los academicos estudiosos de la Biblia levantaran su mano en senal de acuerdo. Sin embargo, la literatura escrita en los siguientes 250 anos despues...

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts describing the image and the theories surrounding its origins *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading No other artwork in the world is comparable to the Virgin of Guadalupe. What makes this painting unique -located in the Basilica of Guadalupe, north of Mexico City- is not precisely its artistic quality, as is the case with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo or The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, nor its place in the evolution of painting. It clearly does not constitute a landmark in art history, and the most visited painting in the world is...

*Includes pictures *Explains how the genre was formed and theories regarding real life origins of popular fairy tales *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Dense forests, evil stepmother, beautiful girl, dwarfs in mines, a prince and, eventually, poisoning (in that order). Sound familiar? Most will recognize the basic plot of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of the most popular fairy tales in history. Even if the passing of time (and Disney) embellished it with a thousand details, in particular the happy ending, this and other tales reflect the Sitz im Leben or...

*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading At a time in antiquity when most of Europe was covered with forests and wandering tribes, Mexico had already developed complex civilizations, beginning with the Olmecs and followed by the Maya, a civilization with advanced knowledge of medicine, engineering and astronomy. The Maya calculated the precession of the equinoxes and cycles of the Pleiades, on which they based their year, since they believed they had come from that constellation. The last, and perhaps most famous,...

*incluye fotos *incluye las cuentas de las batallas Aqui va una adivinanza. Que parte de Estados Unidos ha estado bajo la soberania de seis paises diferentes? La respuesta, por el titulo de este libro, es obvia. "Texas es un estado mental, pero creo que es mucho mas que eso. Es una mistica que se aproxima a una religion. A pesar de su enorme extension, variedad de climas y diferencias en el paisaje, Texas tiene una cohesion interna quiza mas solida que cualquier otra parte de la Union Americana," escribio John Steinbeck en Travels with Charley: In Search of America. No es raro que el texano...