Books about Damascus from Amazon.com

Is all Christian art fundamentally blasphemous? That was the question posed aggressively by the Christian iconoclasts of the eighth century in a bitter controversy. The resounding answer, "No" from John of Damascus helped to secure the future of art in the service of Christ. Without his brilliant defense, both profound and at times earthly, we might well have had no icons, murals, and mosaics in churches to elevate and enrich our spirits. This fresh and complete translation, by a distinguished patristic scholar, of John's three treatises on the divine images shows us the issues at stake both then and now. Professor Louth places all of us who care about them in his debt. — Lionel Wickham,
former Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity of Cambridge

Andrew Louth is Professor of Patristics and Byzantine Studies at the University of Durham and the preeminent scholar on St John of Damascus.

Three Treatises on the Lord's Prayer is part of the POPULAR PATRISTIC SERIES..
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After the fall of the crusader kingdom of Edessa, the Pope called for a new crusade in 1145. This new campaign by the Christian west against the forces of eastern Islam would culminate in the 1148 siege of Damascus, then the capital city of an Islamic state that had been friendly towards the crusaders. Despite the earlier successes for the crusaders at Antioch and Jerusalem, and the weak fortifications around Damascus, the siege proved a dismal and embarrassing failure for the western armies. The siege was abandoned soon after it had started and the crusaders retreated. This defeat shocked the Christian world and dealt a severe blow to the confidence of the crusading armies, while bolstering the morale of their enemies.

Utilizing numerous illustrations and full-color artwork, medieval warfare expert David Nicolle analyzes the often-debated battles around Damascus, explaining how the domination of the surrounding countryside by the Islamic forces became the decisive factor, and how the besieging crusading forces found themselves under siege. He also looks at the crusade in the larger context of the battle between East and West and explains how the Second Crusade proved a turning point in this ongoing struggle.

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When a ruthless political regime seizes power on a world struggling to recover from alien invasion, a former war hero finds herself leading a desperate band of freedom fighters. Kafari Khrustinova, who fought Deng infantry from farmhouses and barns, finds herself struggling to free her homeworld from an unholy political alliance, headed by the charismatic and ambitious Vittori Santorini, which has seduced her young daughter with its propaganda and subverted the planet's Bolo, using the war machine to crush all political opposition. To free her homeworld, Kafari must somehow cripple or kill the Bolo she once called friend. Unit SOL-0045, "Sonny," is a Mark XX Bolo, self-aware and intelligent. When Sonny's human commander is forced off-world, Sonny tries to navigate his way through ambiguous moral and legal issues, sinking into deep confusion and electronic misery. He eventually faces a dark night of the soul, with no guarantee that he will understand-let alone make-the right decision. And caught in the middle of this volatile battlefield is Yalena Khrustinova, Kafari's young daughter. Will she open her eyes in time to save herself-and millions of innocents-or will Santorini's relentless brainwashing campaign continue to blind her while the tyrant engineers the ultimate destruction of a helpless and enslaved population?

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Damascus, reputed to be the world's oldest continually inhabited city, has enjoyed a history of immense grandeur, enormous political and mercantile power, and great cultural and artistic achievement. In addition to some of Islam's most magnificent architecture, such as the Umayyad Mosque, the city boasts a heritage of fairy-tale palaces and sumptuous private houses. Sadly, many of them are in urgent need of restoration. Brigid Keenan and Tim Beddow have set out to record these priceless architectural gems and to reveal them to the world at large. They were given unprecedented access to the inner, "hidden" city, which has resulted in a book that will be of immense importance to all concerned with the heritage of architecture in the Islamic world. The text first sets the historical scene, describing the growth and fortunes of Damascus through the ages. It continues with an account of its architecture and way of life, and concludes with descriptions of individual houses and of the people who built and lived in them. The superb photographs include façades, courtyards, alleyways, and fountains, and the breathtaking interiors that often lie behind the unassuming walls of the old town, with exquisite details in stone, wood, paint, marble, plaster, glass, and mother-of-pearl. The whole forms a convincing and elegiac plea for the preservation of the heart of this historic ancient capital. 214 illustrations, 171 in color..
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This important reissue, enhanced with an audio CD to supplement the text, is another addition to Georgetown's world-renowned Arabic language-learning materials, and is considered to be one of the most outstanding descriptions of any Arabic dialect written for the English-speaking world. It is comprehensive in its coverage - ranging from phonology (how sounds are organized and used) to morphology (sound, syllable, and word structure), with an analysis that is insightful and original. It contains hints on how to master nuances in dialectical pronunciation, as well as the differences of meaning in their various forms. Based on the dialect of Damascus, the language covered here is part of what has variously been called "Syrian Arabic," "Eastern Arabic," and "Levantine Arabic," encompassing the dialects of Beirut, Amman, and Jerusalem - as well as Damascus - with references made to regional variants. In a world drawn ever closer to events in the Middle East, this comprehensive grammar reference is yet another extraordinary addition to the growing library of Arabic language-learning materials published by Georgetown University Press..
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Is Syria a rogue state? How important is it to the fates of Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Lebanon? Based on unique and extraordinary access to Syria’s President Bashar al-Asad, his circle, and his family, this book tells Syria’s inside story. David W. Lesch presents the essential account of this country and its enigmatic leader at a critical juncture in the history of the Middle East.

Syria has been called the crossroads of civilization for millennia. Lately, however, it is a nation more in the crosshairs than the crossroads. From the U.S. perspective, Syria is on the wrong side of history with respect to Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, the global war on terrorism, and the growth of democracy in the Middle East. Bashar al-Asad assumed the presidency in 2000 after the long reign of his father, Hafiz al-Asad, and soon encountered momentous regional and international events. Bashar’s efforts to integrate his country into this changing environment without being coerced have met with some success and some failure. The fate of Syria, very much tied to its young ophthalmologist-turned-president, will profoundly affect what type of Middle East emerges in the near future.

The title of this thought-provoking book makes reference to the Damascus Road experience of Saul (Paul) of the Bible whose encounter with God on that road turned his life around If it were not for the wedding of her favourite aunt, Gloria, Diane would never have returned to Dentonville, Texas. She has been gone for 20 years but the devastation of growing up with a drug addicted and mentally ill mother still haunts her. After being blamed as a five year old for the death of her baby sister, Shannon, Diane has grown up with a broken spirit and a shattered heart that has led her all too often into the beds of men she barely knows. But Diane isn?t the only woman in the family running from her past. Diane?s younger cousins, Yolanda and Regina, who she thinks of as sisters, are struggling with an eating disorder and a paralyzing fear of an intimate relationship. The family?s burdens get heavier as Diane?s mother, Joyce Ann, slips deeper and deeper into schizophrenia. Surprisingly, it is Gloria, the most trusted and seemingly stable member of the family who has the most devastating and life-altering secret of all..
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