OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

In this Very Short Introduction Linda Woodhead explores the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity and its course over two millennia, including its geographical spread and struggles with modernity. This new edition is a candid portrait of Christianity's past and present, and its importance in the twenty-first century.

Cranford is a vivid and affectionate portrait of a provincial town in early Victorian England, dominated by its independent and refined women, a blend of social comedy and astute observation. This edition includes two related short works by Gaskell and contemporary comment on the novel, household management, fashion, and financial scandals.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs is a collection of unforgettable accounts of religious persecution. This modernized selection brings together some of the most stirring tales of the interrogation and execution of heretics burnt at the stake in the reign of Mary, with some of the original woodcut illustrations and an illuminating introduction.

This text disputes the myth that Jesus was a subversive mystic whose true ideas were suppressed by early Church authorities. It offers as evidence the fact that supporting texts for this idea are younger than the gospels and resists its revolutionary claims as an alternative Christianity.

In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott offers a succinct and authoritative overview of Hinduism and its key beliefs. In this second edition she considers new issues facing Hindus such as the politicization of Hinduism in India, the increasing impact of Hindu nationalism, and the rise and fall of sectarian Hindu movements.

Professor Barr has brought together aspects of controversy about the Bible at the end of the millennium with an emphasis on the Old Testament and the history of Israel. The central question is how far the Bible gives us a vision into a real world of the past and how far it expresses a world imagined for religious reasons by writes who lived many centuries later.

An attempt to show the main reasons that can be advanced in support of the Christian faith. Brian Hebblethwaite defends the view that belief in God makes most sense of the world, and argues that the history of religions offers the best diagnosis and solution of the problems that afflict humanity.