Yes, it's the greatest story ever told, but let's face it: It always could have used a little punching up. In Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!, Jonathan Goldstein brings human depth, humour, and snappier dialogue to millennia-old biblical stories. Goldstein's version of the Bible answers the questions you need to know: Wouldn't a person get bored living inside a whale? How did Joseph explain Mary's pregnancy to the guys at work? How could anyone be as dense as Samson?

Ladies and Gentlemen The Bible!

Humor & Entertainment

Goldstein, Jonathan

Humor

Penguin Canada

I’ll Seize the Day Tomorrow is the story of Jonathan Goldstein’s journey to find some great truth on his road to forty. In a series of wonderfully funny stories, the host of CBC’s WireTap recounts the highs and lows of his last year in his thirties. Throughout the year, Goldstein asks weighty questions that would stump a person less seasoned. For example: What is it about a McRib that drives people crazy? Can we replace extending an olive leaf with extending an olive jar? How much wisdom can we glean from episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter? His friends and family, many of them known through their appearances on WireTap, weigh in with hilarious results as Goldstein eats, sleeps, and watches bad TV all the way to his date with destiny.

I'll Seize the Day Tomorrow

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

Jonathan Goldstein worries. A lot. A year before his fortieth birthday, and Jonathan isn’t where he thinks he should be. With no wife, no kids, no car, and no house—not even a houseboat—what does he have? Through a series of wonderfully funny stories, Jonathan recounts the highs and lows of his last year in his thirties, weighing in on topics such as the mysterious McRib, whether an automatic hand dryer can tell if you have a soul, and the underestimated power of a toy poodle. Filled with Jonathan’s trademark wit, I’ll Seize the Day Tomorrow is the tale of one man’s journey to find some great truth on his road to forty . . . or maybe not.

I'll Seize The Day Tomorrow (US Edition)

Pintail

Philadelphia merchants had strong ties with their Chinese counterparts for almost a century before American Independence and for 164 years before the establishment of diplomatic relations or other official contacts. This book traces the evolution of those ties. The story begins with the establishment of the port of Philadelphia, which soon became America's largest, and ends with the first Sino-American treaty, which restructured the earlier informal relationships and signaled a decline in trade between the Delaware estuary and the China coast.In its heyday Philadelphia controlled about one-third of the United States trade with China, and the traders' profits provided substantial capital for industry and public institutions. As Hilary Conroy writes in his foreword: "The author began his research by immersing himself in the then recently opened Stephen Girard Papers. He found, somewhat to his surprise, that they did not seem to forecast the racism which was later to poison American-Chinese relations." The author concludes that Sino-American relations have never been significantly improved over those manifested in Philadelphia's old China trade.

PHILADELPHIA AND THE CHINA TRADE, 1682–1846: Commercial, Cultural, and Attitudinal Effects

History

Americas

The Pennsylvania State University Press

This is the first-of-its-kind analysis, in any language, of the trilateral relationship between Israel, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China. It is also the first comprehensive analysis of the relations between the founders and early statesmen of the ROC and the founders of modern Israel before the proclamation of the Jewish state in 1948. It includes eyewitness testimony from five of the key players involved in the trilateral relationship; historical analysis from Chinese, Israeli, Arab, and East Indian perspectives; and a multilingual bibliography.The collection describes Israeli-ROC and Israeli-PRC relations that vacillated over the decades. By 1998, they stabilized into full diplomatic relations between Israel and the PRC and officially unofficial trade and cultural ties between Israel and the ROC―an accommodation that has also been adopted in Sino-American relations.

China and Israel, 1948-1998: A Fifty Year Retrospective

Asia

Praeger

II Maccabees continues the chronicle of the "Time of the Troubles" (167-64 B.C.E.), begun in I Maccabees. It recounts the stories of conflict between militant Jews, led by Judas Maccabaeus, and their Hellenistic oppressors. Aside from the story of the struggle to control the temple and the holy city of Jerusalem, though, II Maccabees shares little in common with I Maccabees. The second volume of reflections of Jewry in the generation following the Maccabaean revolt presents and evaluates the experience from its own unique perspective. How these events came to be written, who told the stories, and what reasons motivated such divergent yet parallel interpretations are the questions Jonathan A. Goldstein, translator and commentator on both Maccabaean histories, addresses here. Goldstein utilizes the full array of scholarly tools to examine the critical issues raised by II Maccabees. By examining its language and style, its Hellenic yet Jewish flavor, its comparison and relationship to I Maccabees, its use of sacred writings (Torah and Prophets), its historical context, and the role of the miraculous, Goldstein thoroughly elucidates this powerful account of a pivotal period in Jewish history. As the commentary makes clear, II Maccabees focuses on certain themes: miracles as God's tools for shaping history; the holiness of the Jerusalem temple; the dynamic relationship between the Hasmonaean rulers and their pious opponents; praise of martyrdom; the doctrine of resurrection. An abridgment of Jason of Cyrene's work, II Maccabees advances its own theological perspective to its Greek-speaking audience, refuting the Hasmonaean partisan's view that pervades I Maccabees.

II Maccabees (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Religion & Spirituality

Yale University Press

Some ancient civilizations, notably the Babylonians and the Israelites, held fast to the belief that their particular god (or gods) were stronger than all other heavenly powers and gods combined, supremely able to protect their well-being and success as a nation. This belief (which resounds in the modern-day rallying cry "God is on our side") led to some foolhardy and rash decisions, particularly when it came to war. For a nation defeated or conquered by a foreign power inevitably faced the profound, perplexing question: "Why did our God, who has sworn to protect us, allow this to happen?"Jonathan A. Goldstein turns to the religious literature of these ancient peoples to discover how they reconciled their beliefs with the realities of history. In a magnificent blend of several academic disciples (literary criticism, political theory, biblical and classical history), he compares and contrasts the responses of different eras and nations – from the Israelites, Babylonians, and Egyptians to the Zoroastrians, Iranians, and Persians under Alexander the Great. Goldstein’s close readings of literature written following such devastating events as the fall of the Israelites to the Assyrians and the Babylonians demonstrate that theology, far from being a static and unchanging set of beliefs, evolves with the course of history. Revealing how each defeat helped to shape and define the religious beliefs of the conquered, Peoples of an Almighty God clearly demonstrates that no belief can remain unchanged or untouched by the beliefs of other people.

Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions in the Ancient World (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)

World

"The Apocryphal book of I Maccabees (Volume 41 in the acclaimed Anchor Bible series) is an inspirational thriller." With the help of God, the aged priest Mattathias and his sons--Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, and Simon--dramatically lead the Jews of Judaea first to victory and then to freedom against the formidable successors of Alexander the Great. Their struggles begin in guerilla warfare, responding to the terrible persecutions decreed by King Antiochus IV, and courageously accomplish their first great triumph--still celebrated in the festival of Hanukkah. The Introduction to this volume considers not only I Maccabees, but also the parallel accounts found in II Maccabees and shows that the two authors of I &amp; II Maccabees wrote with passionate conviction to teach two sharply opposed points of view. In some cases their convictions blinded them to the truth, but Professor Goldstein renders their teachings accessible to the modern reader and reconstructs what really happened, making valuable contributions to Greek and Roman as well as to Jewish history. Nineteen maps and diagrams set the scene of the dramatic struggle and the troubled times described in I Maccabees.

I Maccabees (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Judaism

Formerly one of the largest and most militant Islamic organizations in the Middle East, Egypt's al-Gama'ah al-Islamiyah is believed to have played an instrumental role in numerous acts of global terrorism, including the assassination of President Anwar Sadat and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In later years, however, the organization issued a surprising renunciation of violence, repudiating its former ideology and replacing it with a shari'ah-based understanding and assessment of the purpose and proper application of jihad. 
This key manifesto of modern Islamist thought is now available to an English-speaking audience in an eminently readable translation by noted Islamic scholar Sherman A. Jackson. Unlike other Western and Muslim critiques of violent extremism, this important work emerges from within the movement of Middle Eastern Islamic activism, both challenging and enriching prevailing notions about the role of Islamists in fighting the scourge of extremist politics, blind anti-Westernism, and, alas, wayward jihad.

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

Some ancient civilizations, notably the Babylonians and the Israelites, held fast to the belief that their particular god (or gods) were stronger than all other heavenly powers and gods combined, supremely able to protect their well-being and success as a nation. This belief (which resounds in the modern-day rallying cry "God is on our side") led to some foolhardy and rash decisions, particularly when it came to war. For a nation defeated or conquered by a foreign power inevitably faced the profound, perplexing question: "Why did our God, who has sworn to protect us, allow this to happen?" Jonathan A. Goldstein turns to the religious literature of these ancient peoples to discover how they reconciled their beliefs with the realities of history. In a magnificent blend of several academic disciples (literary criticism, political theory, biblical and classical history), he compares and contrasts the responses of different eras and nations–from the Israelites, Babylonians, and Egyptians to the Zoroastrians, Iranians, and Persians under Alexander the Great. Goldstein’s close readings of literature written following such devastating events as the fall of the Israelites to the Assyrians and the Babylonians demonstrate that theology, far from being a static and unchanging set of beliefs, evolves with the course of history. Revealing how each defeat helped to shape and define the religious beliefs of the conquered, Peoples of an Almighty God clearly demonstrates that no belief can remain unchanged or untouched by the beliefs of other people.

Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions in the Ancient World (Anchor Bible Reference Library)

Worship & Devotion

Anchor Bible

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goldstein, Jonathan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Goldstein, Jonathan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goldstein, Jonathan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ladies and Gentlemen The Bible!

I'll Seize the Day Tomorrow

I'll Seize The Day Tomorrow (US Edition)

PHILADELPHIA AND THE CHINA TRADE, 1682–1846: Commercial, Cultural, and Attitudinal Effects

China and Israel, 1948-1998: A Fifty Year Retrospective

II Maccabees (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions in the Ancient World (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)

I Maccabees (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

I Maccabees (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions in the Ancient World (Anchor Bible Reference Library)