Stephen Hunt

This introductory text explores the historical and contemporary relevance of religion to social life, through an examination of practice and belief. Author Hunt reconsiders how theories and concepts are lived at the level of selfhood and cultural identity, through religious and spiritual belief. At the same time he looks at contemporary changes in religious life and how these are impacted by socialization, institutional belonging, and belief, and at the significance of class, gender, age and ethnicity. Individual chapters cover a range of issues, such as: religion, identity and community secularization and pluralism traditional Christianity: change and continuity globalization and the global context religion and ethnicity. The text challenges much current sociological thought and deals with contemporary Christianity, a range of world faiths and new and developing expressions of religion and spirituality. With tables and diagrams to illustrate key points and trends, it provides an accessible and captivating introduction to the sociology of religion.

The power struggle begins . . . The people of Weyland always believed the slavers raids, which destroyed families and homes like a natural disaster, were a misfortune that couldn't be averted or stopped. But it's not true. King Marcus struck a deal: his people in exchange for technology and a powerful alliance with the Vandian civilisation. And now everyone knows. Jacob and Carter Carnehan escaped the slavers - along with the true king of Weyland - and have returned home with both the truth, and a Vandian princess as their hostage. Their purpose was to avoid war . . . instead, the truth prompts a civil war at home - while an invasion force focused on reclaiming the captive princess starts to gather on their borders. Jacob and Carter will be separated once again - and this time they're fighting for something bigger than their lives.

This compiled and edited collection engages with a theme which is increasingly attracting scholarly attention, namely, religion and LGBTQ sexuality. Each section of the volume provides perspectives to understanding academic discourse and wide-ranging debates around LGBTQ sexualities and religion and spirituality. The collection also draws attention to aspects of religiosity that shape the lived experiences of LGBTQ people and shows how sexual orientation forges dimensions of faith and spirituality. Taken together the essays represent an exploration of contestations around sexual diversity in the major religions; the search of sexual minorities for spiritual ’safe spaces’ in both established and new forms of religiosity; and spiritual paths formed in reconciling and expressing faith and sexual orientation. This collection, which features contributions from a number of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, religious studies and theology, provides an indispensable teaching resource for educators and students in an era when LGBTQ topics are increasingly finding their way onto numerous undergraduate, post-graduate and profession orientated programmes.

Agatha Witchley used to be a spy in the Cold War, but now she's locked up in the UK's premier maximum-security mental institution. She believes that the ghosts of the celebrity dead visit her padded cell and whisper the world's secrets in her ears. Which is a big problem for the British government, because she's the only one who can help them when an American billionaire is murdered in London in one of the strangest killings yet. The Home Secretary needs the case locked down and solved before the entrepreneur's death becomes public knowledge and economic chaos ensures. The woman he has in mind for the job might be paranoid, she might be lethal, she might half-insane and drawing a pension, but it's amazing how you can forgive that in a genius when it's a genius's help you need. Yes, the security forces need Agatha Witchley again. It's just the ghosts of Churchill, Elvis and Groucho Marx they could do without.

Carter has been kidnapped. Enslaved. But he's determined to fight to the end. Jacob is a pacifist. His family destroyed. He's about to choose the path of violence to reclaim his son. Their world has changed for ever. Between them, they're going to avenge it. Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He's living a comfortable, quiet life, obeying the law and minding his own business while raising his son Carter ... on those occasions when he isn't having to bail him out of one scrape or another. His days of adventure are - thankfully - long behind him. Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. He's bored by his humdrum life, frustrated that his father won't live a little, and longs for the bright lights and excitement of anywhere-but-here. He's longing for an opportunity to escape, and test himself against whatever the world has to offer. Carter is going to get his opportunity. He's caught up in a village fight, kidnapped by slavers and, before he knows it, is swept to another land. A lowly slave, surrounded by technology he doesn't understand, his wish has come true: it's him vs. the world. He can try to escape, he can try to lead his fellow slaves, or he can accept the inevitable and try to make the most of the short, brutal existence remaining to him.... unless Jacob gets to him first and, no matter the odds, he intends to. No one kidnaps his son and gets away with it - and if it come to it, he'll force Kings to help him on his way, he'll fight, steal, blackmail and betray his friends in the name of bringing Carter home. Wars will be started. Empires will fall. And the Carnehan family will be reunited, one way or another ...

Captain Lana Fiveworlds has a hell of a lot of problems. She's sliding void in an ageing seven-hundred-year-old space ship, scrabbling around the edges of civilised space trying to find a cargo lucrative enough to pay her bills without proving so risky that it'll kill her. She's got an alien religious freak for a navigator, an untrustworthy android for a first mate, a disgraced lizard for a trade negotiator and a deserter from the fleet acting as her chief engineer. And that was well before an ex-crewman turns up wanting Lana to rescue a barbarian prince from a long-failed colony world. Unfortunately for Lana, the problems she doesn't know about are even more dangerous. In fact, they just might be enough to destroy Lana's rickety but much-loved vessel, the Gravity Rose, and jettison her and her crew into the void without a spacesuit. But there's one thing you can never tell an independent space trader. That's the odds... ------------------FORMAT This is the Sliding Void Omnibus edition, comprising three novellas: Sliding Void, Transference Station, and Red Sun Bleeding. Novella 1 - Sliding Void Novella 2 - Transference Station Novella 3 - Red Sun Bleeding------------------ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stephen Hunt is the creator of the much-loved 'Far-called' fantasy series (Gollancz/Hachette), as well as the 'Jackelian' series, published across the world via HarperCollins alongside their other best-selling fantasy authors, George R. R. Martin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Raymond E. Feist and C. S. Lewis. ------------------REVIEWS Praise for Stephen Hunt's novels: 'Mr. Hunt takes off at racing speed.'- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'Hunt's imagination is probably visible from space. He scatters concepts that other writers would mine for a trilogy like chocolate-bar wrappers.' - TOM HOLT 'All manner of bizarre and fantastical extravagance.' - DAILY MAIL 'Compulsive reading for all ages.' - GUARDIAN 'Studded with invention.' -THE INDEPENDENT 'To say this book is action packed is almost an understatement... a wonderful escapist yarn ' - INTERZONE 'Hunt has packed the story full of intriguing gimmicks... affecting and original.' - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 'A rip-roaring Indiana Jones-style adventure.' -RT BOOK REVIEWS 'A curious part-future blend.' - KIRKUS REVIEWS 'An inventive, ambitious work, full of wonders and marvels.' - THE TIMES 'Hunt knows what his audience like and gives it to them with a sardonic wit and carefully developed tension.' - TIME OUT 'A ripping yarn ... the story pounds along... constant inventiveness keeps the reader hooked... the finale is a cracking succession of cliffhangers and surprise comebacks. Great fun.' - SFX MAGAZINE 'Put on your seatbelts for a frenetic cat and mouse encounter... an exciting tale.' - SF REVU ------------------AGE ADVISORY Age 13] - mild violence and language. ------------------READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE THESE AUTHORS... Douglas Adams Neal Asher Iain M. Banks Jack Campbell David Drake Orson Scott Card James S. A. Corey Evan Currie Peter F. Hamilton Ric Locke Dan Simmons Charles Stross David Weber ------------------GENRES Science fiction (space opera) Adventure (scifi)

Captain Lana Fiveworlds has a hell of a lot of problems. She's sliding void in an ageing seven-hundred-year-old space ship, scrabbling around the edges of civilised space trying to find a cargo lucrative enough to pay her bills without proving so risky that it'll kill her. She's got an alien religious freak for a navigator, an untrustworthy android for a first mate, a disgraced lizard for a trade negotiator, and a deserter from the fleet acting as her chief engineer. And that was well before an ex-crewman turns up wanting Lana to rescue a barbarian prince from a long-failed colony world. Unfortunately for Lana, the problems she doesn't know about are even more dangerous. In fact, they just might be enough to destroy Lana's rickety but much-loved vessel, the Gravity Rose, and jettison her and her crew into the void without a spacesuit. But there's one thing you can never tell an independent space trader. That's the odds...

The sixth marvellous tale of high adventure and derring-do from the master of steampunk literature, set in the world of The Court of the Air. A daring underwater chase ends in a battle for the Kingdom itself! The streets of Middlesteel are under attack by an unseen enemy, leaving bloodless corpses in its trail. The newssheets scream vampire, but the truth is even more deadly than anyone knows. Charlotte Shades, Mistress of Mesmerism, is a thief -- and a darned good one at that. When two mysterious men ask her to steal King Jude's sceptre from the Parliament vaults, the challenge (and reward) is too great to pass up. After all, Charlotte's natural charm and the magic of the gem she wears -- the mysterious Eye of Fate -- have never failed her before. Only consulting detective Jethro Daunt and his steamman companion Boxiron know there's more to these two men than meets the eye. Yet even as they rescue Charlotte from a fate worse than death, they are thrown into a plot thicker than even they realize. They escape beneath the waves in an ancient submarine led by Commodore Jethro Black, where they encounter stiff resistance from the strange people who inhabit the vast underwater kingdoms. But man, woman, seanore and gill-neck alike must band together if they are to defeat a danger that might not even be from this world!

A tale of high adventure and derring-do set in the same Victorian-style world as the acclaimed The Court of the Air and The Secrets of the Fire Sea.

A tale of high adventure and derring-do set in the same Victorian-style world as the acclaimed The Court of the Air and The Rise of the Iron Moon.

From the author of The Court of the Air and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves comes a thrilling new adventure set in the same Victorian-style world. Perfect for fans of Philip Pullman and Susanna Clarke. Born into captivity as a product of the Royal Breeding House, friendless orphan Purity Drake suddenly finds herself on the run with a foreign vagrant after accidentally killing one of her guards. Her strange rescuer claims he is on the run himself from terrible forces who mean to enslave the Kingdom of Jackals as they conquered his own nation. Purity doubts his story, until reports begin to filter through from Jackals’ neighbours of the terrible Army of Shadows, marching across the continent and sweeping all before them. But there’s more to Purity than meets the eye. As Jackals girds itself for war against an army of near-unkillable beasts serving an ancient evil with a terrible secret, it soon becomes clear that their only hope is a strange little royalist girl and the last, desperate plan of an escaped slave.

When streetwise Molly Templar witnesses a brutal murder at the brothel she has recently been apprenticed to, her first instinct is to run back to the poorhouse where she grew up. But there she finds her fellow orphans butchered, and it slowly dawns on her that she was the real target of the attack. For Molly is a special little girl, and she carries a secret that marks her out for destruction by enemies of the state. Oliver Brooks has led a sheltered existence in the backwater home of his merchant uncle. But when he is framed for his only relative's murder he is forced to flee for his life, accompanied by an agent of the mysterious Court of the Air. Chased across the country, Oliver finds himself in the company of thieves, outlaws and spies, and gradually learns more about the secret that has blighted his life. Soon Molly and Oliver will find themselves battling a grave threat to civilization, an ancient power thought to have been quelled millennia ago. Their enemies are ruthless and myriad, but the two orphans are also aided by indomitable friends in this endlessly inventive tale full of drama, intrigue, and adventure. "The Court of the Air" is a rollicking adventure set in a fantastical Dickensian clockwork universe that will appeal to fans of Susanna Clarke and Philip Pullman.

Written for communication students, Quantitative Research in Communication provides practical, user-friendly coverage of how to use statistics, how to interpret SPSS printouts, how to write results, and how to assess whether the assumptions of various procedures have been met. Providing a strong conceptual orientation to techniques and procedures that range from the "moderately basic" to "highly advanced," the book provides practical tips and suggestions for quantitative communication scholars of all experience levels. In addition to important foundational information, each chapter that covers a specific statistical procedure includes suggestions for interpreting, explaining, and presenting results; realistic examples of how the procedure can be used to answer substantive questions in communication; sample SPSS printouts; and a detailed summary of a published communication journal article using that procedure. Features· Engaged Research application boxes stimulate thought and discussion, illustrating how particular research methods can be used to answer very practical, civic-minded questions. · Realistic examples at the beginning of each chapter show how the chapter's procedure could be used to answer a substantive research question.· Examples and application activities geared toward the emerging trend of service learning encourage students to do projects oriented toward their community or campus.· Summaries of journal articles demonstrate how to write statistical results in APA style and illustrate how real researchers use statistical procedures in a wide variety of contexts, such as tsunami warnings, date requests, and anti-drug public service announcements.· How to Decipher Figures show students how to "read" the statistical shorthand presented in the quantitative results of an article and also, by implication, show them how to write up results . Quantitative Research in Communication is ideal for courses in Quantitative Methods in Communication, Statistical Methods in Communication, Advanced Research Methods (undergraduate), and Introduction to Research Methods (Graduate) in departments of communication, educational psychology, psychology, and mass communication.

Written for communication students, Quantitative Research in Communication provides practical, user-friendly coverage of how to use statistics, how to interpret SPSS printouts, how to write results, and how to assess whether the assumptions of various procedures have been met. Providing a strong conceptual orientation to techniques and procedures that range from the "moderately basic" to "highly advanced," the book provides practical tips and suggestions for quantitative communication scholars of all experience levels. In addition to important foundational information, each chapter that covers a specific statistical procedure includes suggestions for interpreting, explaining, and presenting results; realistic examples of how the procedure can be used to answer substantive questions in communication; sample SPSS printouts; and a detailed summary of a published communication journal article using that procedure. Features· Engaged Research application boxes stimulate thought and discussion, illustrating how particular research methods can be used to answer very practical, civic-minded questions. · Realistic examples at the beginning of each chapter show how the chapter's procedure could be used to answer a substantive research question.· Examples and application activities geared toward the emerging trend of service learning encourage students to do projects oriented toward their community or campus.· Summaries of journal articles demonstrate how to write statistical results in APA style and illustrate how real researchers use statistical procedures in a wide variety of contexts, such as tsunami warnings, date requests, and anti-drug public service announcements.· How to Decipher Figures show students how to "read" the statistical shorthand presented in the quantitative results of an article and also, by implication, show them how to write up results . Quantitative Research in Communication is ideal for courses in Quantitative Methods in Communication, Statistical Methods in Communication, Advanced Research Methods (undergraduate), and Introduction to Research Methods (Graduate) in departments of communication, educational psychology, psychology, and mass communication.

From the author of The Court of the Air comes a hugely engaging, Victorian-style adventure, filled with perilous quests, dastardly deeds and deadly intrigue - perfect for all fans of Philip Pullman and Susanna Clarke

A hugely engaging adventure set in a Victorian-style world - a fantastical version of Dickens - that will appeal to fans of Susanna Clarke and Philip Pullman. Two orphans are more than they seem. And one megalomaniac will stop at nothing to find them...

This introductory text explores the historical and contemporary relevance of religion to social life, through an examination of practice and belief. Author Hunt reconsiders how theories and concepts are lived at the level of selfhood and cultural identity, through religious and spiritual belief. At the same time he looks at contemporary changes in religious life and how these are impacted by socialization, institutional belonging, and belief, and at the significance of class, gender, age and ethnicity. Individual chapters cover a range of issues, such as: religion, identity and community secularization and pluralism traditional Christianity: change and continuity globalization and the global context religion and ethnicity. The text challenges much current sociological thought and deals with contemporary Christianity, a range of world faiths and new and developing expressions of religion and spirituality. With tables and diagrams to illustrate key points and trends, it provides an accessible and captivating introduction to the sociology of religion.

The Alpha Enterprise explores the development, growth and impact of the most widely used evangelising programme of recent decades. The Alpha course is run in over seven thousand churches in the UK and over five thousand in the USA. Across the world some four million people have graduated through the course in over 80 countries. Alpha is truly the fastest growing evangelising initiative, creating widespread support as well as stirring strong criticism. Stephen Hunt critically examines the content and working philosophy of the Alpha course through the experiences of the churches that have run it, as well as the individuals who have experienced it first hand. Hunt charts the history of the programme, its use of group dynamics and media, how it links with the charismatic movement, how it deals with issues such as homosexuality, how it is run not only in churches but in prisons and universities too, and concludes by measuring Alpha's impact and success. Engaging with debates regarding postmodernity, globalisation, McDonaldisation, consumerism, and secularisation, and based on real-life surveys, The Alpha Enterprise sheds new light not only on evangelism but on contemporary Christianity in general and how it engages with a post-Christian culture.

It is the final years of the 18th century, but a world which few would recognise. The people of Europe shelter in small islands of safety, havens from the enchanted wilderness - the strange boundless forests people call the Tumble. It is across this demon-haunted landscape that the low-born officer Taliesin must lead his men, caught up in the deadliest of intrigues while fighting wars for a noble class which despises him. With vicious murderers from the worst gutters in the Realm marching behind him, and the forces of the most powerful nations of the mainland arrayed against him, the odds are stacked against Taliesin. Heavily. Yet he will fight on, battling armies, sorcerers, assassins, beastmen and cross into the face of hell itself. Not for loyalty, or grudging respect for his scheming monarch - not even for the small mountain of silver the Island Queen has promised him if he succeeds. But because fighting is all he and his pressed band of cut-throats and thieves have ever known.