Search results for ""Author Paul Christopher""

An ancient medallion threatens to shake the foundations of history... and puts Finn Ryan in mortal danger.In the desert of North Africa young archaeologist Finn Ryan stumbles upon a seventy-year-old plane wreck – and a shocking revelation that threatens to unravel an entire faith…Finn and charismatic photographer Virgil Hilts are scoring the Sahara for the long-lost tomb of an apostle. But they find something they aren’t looking for: signs of a decades old murder, along with an ancient Roman medallion bearing the infamous name of a fallen archangel.It doesn’t take long for them to realize that they’ve found a piece of a much bigger puzzle – and a trail of clues that could get them killed…From a mysterious monastery to a sunken ship in the Caribbean, the second instalment of the Finn Ryan Conspiracy Thrillers The Lucifer Gospel is perfect for fans of A.G. Riddle, Mark Greaney and Michael Byrne.

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The Templar Legion is the fifth John Holliday novel from Paul Christopher.The hunter becomes the hunted.Army Ranger Lt. Col. John Holliday continues his quest to uncover the mysterious secrets of the ancient Templar Order, an organization renowned for its incredible wealth and hidden power. He is swept into an adventure as deadly as it is secretive when an archaeologist friend makes a bizarre find in Ethiopia. But when he follows a trail of clues through the chaotic and lawless horn of Africa, he finds himself hunted by a ruthless foe, as he comes closer and closer to a priceless treasure... an ancient artefact that can only be found by those who can solve a riddle from the past.His pursuers will stop at nothing...The Templar Legion by Paul Christopher is the fifth instalment in the historical thriller series following John Holliday on his quest to uncover the secrets of the ancient Templar Order. Previous titles include The Sword of the Templar, the Templar Cross and The Templar Throne. Subsequent titles include Lost City of the Templars and Valley of the Templars. Paul Christopher is the pseudonym of a bestselling US novelist who lives in the Great Lakes region.

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What distinguishes humans from nonhumans? Two common answers—free will and religion—are in some ways fundamentally opposed. Whereas free will enjoys a central place in our ideas of spontaneity, authorship, and deliberation, religious practices seem to involve a suspension of or relief from the exercise of our will. What, then, is agency, and why has it occupied such a central place in theories of the human?Automatic Religion explores an unlikely series of episodes from the end of the nineteenth century, when crucial ideas related to automatism and, in a different realm, the study of religion were both being born. Paul Christopher Johnson draws on years of archival and ethnographic research in Brazil and France to explore the crucial boundaries being drawn at the time between humans, “nearhumans,” and automata. As agency came to take on a more central place in the philosophical, moral, and legal traditions of the West, certain classes of people were excluded as less-than-human. Tracking the circulation of ideas across the Atlantic, Johnson tests those boundaries, revealing how they were constructed on largely gendered and racial foundations. In the process, he reanimates one of the most mysterious and yet foundational questions in trans-Atlantic thought: what is agency?

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THE DEADLIEST WEAPON IS THE TRUTH . . . Discover the thrilling first instalment in the epic Templar series'A rollercoaster experience' 5***** READER REVIEW'Gripping and exciting from start to finish' 5***** READER REVIEW________ After a life on the front lines, Army Ranger John Holliday is now teaching at West Point Military Academy.But when his uncle passes away, Holliday discovers a medieval sword among his belongings - sinisterly wrapped in Adolf Hitler's personal battle standard. Then someone viciously burns down his uncle's house and Holliday's secret fears about the mysterious sword ring alarmingly true. Holliday must delve into the past and piece together the puzzle that was his uncle's life - his involvement with the enigmatic warriors known as the Knight's Templar. But his search for answers soon becomes a race against a ruthless and cunning opponent, willing to die for their cause . . . Can Holliday live long enough to reveal the treacherous but critical truth? ________ The Sword of the Templars is the first instalment in the historical thriller series following John Holliday on his quest to uncover the secrets of the ancient Templar Order. Subsequent titles include: The Templar Cross, The Templar Throne, The Templar Conspiracy, The Templar Legion, Red Templar, Valley of the Templars, Lost City of the Templars and Secret of the Templars.

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A lost masterpiece. A fortune beyond belief. A race to survive.For archaeologist Finn Ryan luck comes in the form of an unlikely legacy from a man she never knew. Along with her co-heir, Billy Pilgrim, she inherits a house in Amsterdam, a cargo ship off Borneo and what appears to be a fake Rembrandt.But behind its canvas lies a real Rembrandt portrait, which in turn conceals a clue to a centuries-old mystery at the bottom of the South Pacific. Pursued by ruthless adversaries, Finn and Billy are thrown into the hunt for a forgotten treasure that could change their lives forever… or end them in an instant.It doesn't take them long to realise that they've found one piece of a much larger puzzle – and a trail of clues that could get them killed.Rembrandt’s Ghost is perfect for fans of Scott Mariani, Clive Cussler and Chris Kuzneski.

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What distinguishes humans from nonhumans? Two common answers—free will and religion—are in some ways fundamentally opposed. Whereas free will enjoys a central place in our ideas of spontaneity, authorship, and deliberation, religious practices seem to involve a suspension of or relief from the exercise of our will. What, then, is agency, and why has it occupied such a central place in theories of the human?Automatic Religion explores an unlikely series of episodes from the end of the nineteenth century, when crucial ideas related to automatism and, in a different realm, the study of religion were both being born. Paul Christopher Johnson draws on years of archival and ethnographic research in Brazil and France to explore the crucial boundaries being drawn at the time between humans, “nearhumans,” and automata. As agency came to take on a more central place in the philosophical, moral, and legal traditions of the West, certain classes of people were excluded as less-than-human. Tracking the circulation of ideas across the Atlantic, Johnson tests those boundaries, revealing how they were constructed on largely gendered and racial foundations. In the process, he reanimates one of the most mysterious and yet foundational questions in trans-Atlantic thought: what is agency?

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The word "possession" is trickier than we often think, especially in the context of the Black Atlantic and its religions and economy. Here possession can refer to spirits, material goods, and, indeed, people. In Spirited Things, Paul Christopher Johnson gathers together essays by leading anthropologists in the Americas to explore the fascinating nexus found at the heart of the idea of being possessed. The result is a book that marries one of anthropology's foundational concerns - spirit possession - with one of its most salient contemporary ones: materiality. The contributors reopen the concept of possession in order to examine the relationship between African religions in the Atlantic and the economies that have historically shaped-and continue to shape-the cultures that practice them. They explore the way spirit mediation is framed both by material things-including plantations, the Catholic church, the sea, and the telegraph-as well as the legacy of slavery. In doing so, they offer a powerful new concept for understanding the Atlantic world and its history, creation, and deeply complex religious and political economy.

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Presenting case studies from sixteen countries on five continents, The Catholic Church and the Nation-State paints a rich portrait of a complex and paradoxical institution whose political role has varied historically and geographically. In this integrated and synthetic collection of essays, outstanding scholars from the United States and abroad examine religious, diplomatic, and political actions—both admirable and regrettable—that shape our world. Kenneth R. Himes sets the context of the book by brilliantly describing the political influence of the church in the post-Vatican II era. There are many recent instances, the contributors assert, where the Church has acted as both a moral authority and a self-interested institution: in the United States it maintained unpopular moral positions on issues such as contraception and sexuality, yet at the same time it sought to cover up its own abuses; it was complicit in genocide in Rwanda but played an important role in ending the horrific civil war in Angola; and it has alternately embraced and suppressed nationalism by acting as the voice of resistance against communism in Poland, whereas in Chile it once supported opposition to Pinochet but now aligns with rightist parties. With an in-depth exploration of the five primary challenges facing the Church—theology and politics, secularization, the transition from serving as a nationalist voice of opposition, questions of justice, and accommodation to sometimes hostile civil authorities—this book will be of interest to scholars and students in religion and politics as well as Catholic Church clergy and laity. By demonstrating how national churches vary considerably in the emphasis of their teachings and in the scope and nature of their political involvement, the analyses presented in this volume engender a deeper understanding of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the world.

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Ekklesia: Three Inquiries in Church and State offers a New World rejoinder to the largely Europe-centered academic discourse on church and state. In contrast to what is often assumed, in the Americas the relationship between church and state has not been one of freedom or separation but one of unstable and adaptable collusion. Ekklesia sees in the settler states of North and South America alternative patterns of conjoined religious and political power, patterns resulting from the undertow of other gods, other peoples, and other claims to sovereignty. These local challenges have led to a continuously contested attempt to realize a church-minded state, a state-minded church, and the systems that develop in their concert. The shifting borders of their separation and the episodic conjoining of church and state took new forms in both theory and practice. The first of a closely linked trio of essays is by Paul Johnson, and offers a new interpretation of the Brazilian community gathered at Canudos and its massacre in 1896-97, carried out as a joint church-state mission and spectacle. In the second essay, Pamela Klassen argues that the colonial church-state relationship of Canada came into being through local and national practices that emerged as Indigenous nations responded to and resisted becoming "possessions" of colonial British America. Finally, Winnifred Sullivan's essay begins with reflection on the increased effort within the United States to ban Bibles and scriptural references from death penalty courtrooms and jury rooms; she follows with a consideration of the political theological pressure thereby placed on the jury that decides between life and death. Through these three inquiries, Ekklesia takes up the familiar topos of "church and state" in order to render it strange.

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Ekklesia: Three Inquiries in Church and State offers a New World rejoinder to the largely Europe-centered academic discourse on church and state. In contrast to what is often assumed, in the Americas the relationship between church and state has not been one of freedom or separation but one of unstable and adaptable collusion. Ekklesia sees in the settler states of North and South America alternative patterns of conjoined religious and political power, patterns resulting from the undertow of other gods, other peoples, and other claims to sovereignty. These local challenges have led to a continuously contested attempt to realize a church-minded state, a state-minded church, and the systems that develop in their concert. The shifting borders of their separation and the episodic conjoining of church and state took new forms in both theory and practice. The first of a closely linked trio of essays is by Paul Johnson, and offers a new interpretation of the Brazilian community gathered at Canudos and its massacre in 1896-97, carried out as a joint church-state mission and spectacle. In the second essay, Pamela Klassen argues that the colonial church-state relationship of Canada came into being through local and national practices that emerged as Indigenous nations responded to and resisted becoming "possessions" of colonial British America. Finally, Winnifred Sullivan's essay begins with reflection on the increased effort within the United States to ban Bibles and scriptural references from death penalty courtrooms and jury rooms; she follows with a consideration of the political theological pressure thereby placed on the jury that decides between life and death. Through these three inquiries, Ekklesia takes up the familiar topos of "church and state" in order to render it strange.

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