Young Ancients

Ancient Near Eastern texts such as The Baal Cycle portray the pagan god Baal as a rebel—the hero of a revolution, worshiped and glorified for his long string of victories. In The Baal Book: A Biography of the Devil, Fr. Stephen De Young shows that the Hebrew Scriptures consciously turn the Baal story on its head, depicting him as a failed and defeated rebel who nonetheless tries to steal the glory that belongs to Almighty God. From these Scriptures, the figure of the Devil emerged within Jewish and Christian Tradition.

The centuries after the Protestant Reformation brought about a radical reinterpretation of the epistles of St. Paul, disconnected from any historical reality. But Paul operated, during his entire life, as a faithful Pharisee within the Roman Jewish world. In Saint Paul the Pharisee: Jewish Apostle to All Nations, Fr. Stephen De Young surveys Paul’s life and writings, interpreting them within the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

Imagine the following scene: Eric Schliemann having to get the permission of scientists, telling them that, based on Homer’s descriptions, he believes he can discover the mythical Troy. Besides laughing their hearts out, do you believe there would even be the slightest chance for Schliemann to have gotten their permission? And it is not just Troy nor just Knossos nor just the Mycenae, most major archaeological findings in the entire world, despite the references in the ancient texts, were a complete surprise for the scientific establishment. If that establishment had full control, all ...

Rev. Dr. Stephen De Young, creator of the popular The Whole Counsel of God blog and podcast, traces the lineage of Orthodox Christianity back to the faith and witness of the apostles, which was rooted in a first-century Jewish worldview. The Religion of the Apostles presents the Orthodox Christian Church of today as a continuation of the religious life of the apostles, which in turn was a continuation of the life of the people of God since the beginning of creation.

In The Whole Counsel of God, popular writer and podcaster Fr. Stephen de Young gives an overview of what the Bible is and what is its place in the life of an Orthodox Christian, correcting many Protestant misconceptions along the way. Issues covered include inspiration, inerrancy, the formation of the biblical canon, the various texts and their provenance, the place of Scripture within Orthodox Tradition, and how an Orthodox Christian should read, study, and interpret the Bible.

Violence in the Old Testament has long been a stumbling block for Christians and skeptics alike. God Is a Man of War offers a fresh interpretation of Old Testament accounts of violence, by exploring them through the twofold lens of Orthodox tradition and historical context. Father Stephen De Young examines what these difficult passages reveal about the nature of Christ and His creation, bearing witness to a world filled not only with pain and suffering - often of human making - but also with the love of God.

Many Christians today divide ancient Jewish and Christian literature into two categories: what is in the Bible and what is not. The Christian East, however, has traditionally described a third category considered beneficial for Christians to listen to in the home: “apocrypha.” These texts, from the centuries before and after the Incarnation of Jesus Christ—beyond even the larger canons of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Old Testaments—reveal to us the religious world and theological framework of the apostles and early Church Fathers.

Ten thousand slaves toil on a demon ship sailing into uncharted waters. One such wretch, unable to use her sorcery, is Bridget Burns. Mired in cutthroat survival, she fosters two allies: a terrified boy, and a gargoyle “cursed” with empathy.

Dr. Josh Axe, bestselling author of Keto Diet and Eat Dirt, explains how to lose weight, prevent disease, improve your digestion, and renew your youth by taking advantage of dietary collagen. Today, interest in dietary collagen is growing at an astounding rate, and with good reason. The benefits...

The Roman Republic stood at the edge of collapse. The Senate cowered. Only one man refused to bend. The story of Rome's last defender and the impossible choice that made him immortal —Roman Stoic Marcus Porcius Cato, Stoic philosopher, incorruptible Roman senator, and Caesar's most relentless opponent, spent his life defending constitutional government against the forces tearing it apart. He walked barefoot with his troops, managed Rome's treasury without stealing a coin, and opposed Caesar for two decades with absolute conviction. But principle without power couldn't save the Republic. ...

From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world. We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and activism? Before Martin...

Here are the great stories of the Heroic Age, from the myths of the making of the universe to the death of Heracles. Set against the colorful background of Greece and the Aegean, the adventures of heroes such as Perseus the Gorgon-slayer, Dionysus, Theseus, and Jason and the Argonauts once again come to life.

Princess of Egypt.... Cleopatra Selene is the only daughter of the brilliant Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and General Marcus Antonius of Rome. She’s grown up with jewels on her arms, servants at her feet, and all the pleasures of a palace at her command, and she wants only to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a great and powerful queen. Prisoner of Rome.... Then the Roman ruler Octavianus, who has always wanted Egypt’s wealth, launches a war that destroys all Selene has ever known.

100 AD. The Danube frontier. Emperor Trajan is preparing for war. Along the river, the legions are recruiting, training, and quietly gathering strength for the campaign that will become Rome's greatest war in a generation. At Vindobona, headquarters of Legio XIII Gemina — Caesar's old legion — two young men arrive from opposite ends of the Empire. Lucius Atilius Corvus is the son of a retired centurion from southern Gaul, joining his father's old legion under his father's name and determined to live up to it. Marcus Ulpius Varro is the nineteen-year-old son of a senator from Hispania, ...

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in What the River Knows, Isabel Ibañez's lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt and filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race. Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century...

It is the first century BC. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh’s six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history’s most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely—herself.

An Odyssey Honor Audiobook In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives. Don't miss the...

In this groundbreaking new book, Decoding Göbekli Tepe: Biblical Anatolia & the Watchers, the authors reexamine the ancient site of Göbekli Tepe, offering a compelling new perspective that transforms its traditional interpretation as a communal center into a sacred space for ancestor deification. Key book themes: - Deified Ancestors: The ancients' sought immortality by deifying the first ancestors, regenerating the dead into gods and to the cosmos. Göbekli Tepe's central stone pillars represent deified Adam and Eve in this divine process. Adam is tied to the Sumerian bull-god Anu, ...

Discover the mysteries that led to the best-selling fantasy adventure that began with Raising Dragons. With heart-stopping fantasy action and clear spiritual insights, Eye of the Oracle will captivate young and old alike, and it will challenge every listener to search deep within for answers to the mysteries in their own hearts.

What clue connects a howling jackal, a vanishing mummy, and a big stone covered in hieroglyphics? Kid detective Zet is determined to find out. Zet has solved enough mysteries to know when something doesn’t add up, and this case is full of clues that don’t fit. A mummy that always disappears before anyone can catch it. A strange sandbank that wasn’t there before. A Mummy Maker with secrets he won’t share. A hieroglyph-covered stone where it shouldn’t be. So when the local police overlook the pieces that don’t fit, Zet does what he does best: he keeps asking questions, follows the...