The Christian believer routinely experiences periods in their life referred to as a dark night of the soul. In such times a person feels as if God has left him or her alone and God has distanced himself from the individual in this period of liminality. It is considered to be a time of trial and testing which only afterwards is viewed as a period of growth and maturing in Christ. In this book Daniel McGregor explores the Biblical foundation for this concept, as well as providing a historical survey of Christian theologians and authors who examine these themes and experiences. This volume will provide an ideal introduction to the subject for the serious layperson or a suitable reading for an introductory class in religious studies.

On the subject of alcoholism, the language and publications of recovery literature run the gamut from self-help guides to inspiring stories. Author David Prinz Hufford—himself a recovered alcoholic who has been sober now for thirty years—adds his own voice to this topic in the form of this new collection of verse. His poetry spans the full range of alcoholism, from initiation at parties to full-blown chronic alcoholism to the change that comes only from hitting bottom. His words speak from experience, written by an insider who has lived the nightmare and found his way out to clear-headed wakefulness. Exploring a wide range of emotion and history, these verses were difficult to write; some are just as difficult to read, steeped in agony and despair. Even so, Hufford’s message is not one of condemnation but instead of hope. Once a prisoner of alcoholism, he is now set free. He shares his painful road to inspire the lost ones—the people of Hufford’s past, who feel hopelessly afraid and shackled to a drug that will not let go.

The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Experience Management and Marketing offers a comprehensive and thorough inquiry into both customary and emergent issues of tourism experience and co-creation. Drawing together contributions from 83 authors from 28 countries with varied backgrounds and interdisciplinary interests, the handbook highlights multiple representations and interpretations of the theme. It also integrates a selection of illustrative global case studies to effectively present its chapter contents. Tourism experience drives the contemporary tourist’s behavior as they travel in pursuit of experiencing unique and unusual destinations and activities. Creating a memorable and enduring experience is therefore a prerequisite for the all tourism business organizations irrespective of the nature of their products or services. This handbook focuses on conceptualizing, designing, staging, managing and marketing paradigms of tourism experiences from both supply and demand perspectives. It sheds substantial light on the contemporary theories, practices and future developments in the arena of experiential tourism management and marketing. Encompassing the latest thinking and research themes, this will be an essential reference for upper-level students, researchers, academics and industry practitioners of hospitality as well as those of tourism, gastronomy, management, marketing, consumer behavior, cultural studies, development studies and international business, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries.

Why are people drawn to alternative religions that deviate from the norm of Christian beliefs? Why do they stay? What compels them to cling to a false dogma, even in the face of evidence that their beliefs are in error? Why do they engage in scriptural gymnastics in defense of beliefs that have no grounding in Christian theology? Why do they tolerate abusiveness from charismatic leaders and cede personal freedom? Why are they willing to defend these leaders and their institutions to the bitter end? After a lifetime of spiritual incarceration, Jim Turner began studying the cult mentality in order to better understand his actions. He researched religious cults and their practices and traced their teachings throughout history as they found their way into the "New Religions." His studies have convinced him that there is indeed "nothing new under the sun." New Religions offer amended ideas that identified past cults. Modern cults have extracted beliefs from past groups and added a spin that presents them as original and, of course, inspired. Psychological manipulation plays a significant role in the development and continuation of modern cults, but Jim Turner has presented a convincing argument that the psychological condition and willingness of cultists to surrender their freedom to cult leaders and their irrational tendencies to elevate a revered leader to a semi-divine level are equally responsible for the advancement of cults. Follow the author through the early stages of cult indoctrination, the personal abuses he experienced at the hands of the cult, his personal choices as he rose through the ranks of the cult and his eventual enlightenment to the deceptiveness of the cult led by Herbert W. Armstrong. Walk with him out of the darkness of cultic deception into the glorious light of the Grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Fresh from his latest attempt to get Buffy to act on her feelings for him, Spike has fled to the dark side of the moon. His trip leads him to a group of dangerous demons and a rude awakening from his reverie, which in turn leads him on an unexpected adventure to... Sunnydale! Collecting Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike—A Dark Place #1–#5. * Cover by Jo Chen! * A crucial episode in Season 9!

This volume collects work by several European, North American, and Australian academics who are interested in examining the performance and transmission of post-traumatic memory in the contemporary United States. The contributors depart from the interpretation of trauma as a unique exceptional event that shatters all systems of representation, as seen in the writing of early trauma theorists like Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman, and Dominick LaCapra. Rather, the chapters in this collection are in conversation with more recent readings of trauma such as Michael Rothberg’s “multidirectional memory” (2009), the role of mediation and remediation in the dynamics of cultural memory (Astrid Erll, 2012; Aleida Assman, 2011), and Stef Craps’ focus on “postcolonial witnessing” and its cross-cultural dimension (2013). The corpus of post-traumatic narratives under discussion includes fiction, diaries, memoirs, films, visual narratives, and oral testimonies. A complicated dialogue between various and sometimes conflicting narratives is thus generated and examined along four main lines in this volume: trauma in the context of “multidirectional memory”; the representation of trauma in autobiographical texts; the dynamic of public forms of national commemoration; and the problematic instantiation of 9/11 as a traumatic landmark.

Dark tourism, including visitation to places such as murder sites, battlefields and cemeteries is a growing phenomenon.The three main themes of Visitor Motivation, Destination Management and Place Interpretation are addressed in this book from both a demand and supply perspective by examining a variety of case studies from around the world. This edited volume takes the dark tourism discussion to another level by reinforcing the critical intersecting domains of dark tourism and place identity and, in particular, highlighting the importance of understanding this connection for visitors and destination managers.

In Light Shining in a Dark Place, Jeff Sellars has drawn together more than a dozen scholars around the theme of discovering theology through the moving medium of film. The varied contributors in this collection explore, through their particular lenses, how theological ideas might be seen in and considered through one of the most popular of modern art forms. From subjects of sin, grace, and forgiveness to violence, science fiction/fantasy, and zombies, Light Shining in a Dark Place assists the theologically interested film viewer in tracing the light that might be found in the filmic arts back to the source of all lights. Contributors include: Bruce L. Edwards, J. Sage Elwell, Michael Leary, Peter Malone, Kevin C. Neece, Simon Oliver, Kim Paffenroth, J. Ryan Parker, Travis Prinzi, Megan J. Robinson, Scott Shiffer, James H. Thrall, and Alissa Wilkinson