Close Connections, a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year finalist, will appeal to anyone interested in spirituality and its link to everyday life. For more than twenty-five years, scholar and poet John Hatcher has studied the nature and purpose of physical reality by exploring the theological and philosophical implications of the authoritative Bahai texts. His latest book explains how the gap between physical and spiritual reality is routinely crossed, and describes the profound im...

Understanding Death: The Most Important Event of Your Life illustrates the need to prepare for this important moment, even though many ignore its inevitability. There is no escape from death and the grief that can consume one when faced by the loss of family and friends. The author’s personal insight offers encouragement that death is not the end but the beginning of a new spiritual existence. Author John Hatcher surveys his own life, the decisions he has made over the years, and ...

The quality of life experienced by people in the past is one of the most important areas of historical enquiry, and the standard of living of populations is one of the leading measures of the economic performance of nations. Yet how accurate is the information on which these judgments are based? This collection of essays, written by renowned scholars in the fields of labour, wage and welfare history, cogently undermine the validity of the data that have for decades dominated the measuremen...

A unique blend of history and docudrama that "looks at the lives of ordinary people during the Black Death . . . as a third of Europe's population was wiped out." — Publishers WeeklyIn this fresh approach to the history of the Black Death, John Hatcher, a world-renowned scholar of the Middle Ages, recreates everyday life in a mid-fourteenth century rural English village, Walsham de Willows, as the plague rips through its homes and streets.By focusing...

The Face of God Among Us is an examination of religious history that aims to find out exactly who the founders of the great religions of the past were, and what their role has been in the development of human society. Author John Hatcher looks at the lives and stations of the Prophets of the past--Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, the Bab, and Bahaullah--and asks: Who exactly were these exalted beings? Were they ordinary humans, temporarily inspired by God? Are...

In The Ascent of Society: The Social Imperative in Personal Salvation, author John S. Hatcher answers questions that have been explored by spiritual seekers for many years...how does personal spiritual development translate into social experience? Is there a social imperative connected with individual spiritual growth? Is involvement with others necessary for one to evolve spiritually? This penetrating study describes the objective of personal spiritual growth as an "ever-expanding sense o...

This study of Bahá'u'lláh's Súrih of the Temple is intended to provide the reader with tools to gain insight into the complex symbols and structure that underlie any attempt at interpreting the meaning and purpose of this critical work. To this end, Hatcher unravels the major symbols employed by Bahá'u'lláh, and explains the challenging framework whereby complex matter has been framed by Him into a dialogue between Himself, as He lies imprisoned in the Siyáh-Chál, and the Holy Spirit, pers...

In the years since its founding in 1844, the Bahá'í Faith has emerged as a global religion with a membership that may well be the most ethnically and culturally diverse association of people in the world. Looking at the present-day activities of the Bahá'ís as they work to translate the principles of their Faith into social reality, author John S. Hatcher examines their community-building efforts and gleans insight from a process that has taken shape on a global scale.The institute...

If people are fundamentally spiritual beings, why do we begin our lives in the physical world? According to well-known Bahai author, scholar, and educator John Hatcher, the answer can be found in looking at the world as a classroom designed by God to instigate and nurture mental and spiritual growth. The Purpose of Physical Reality explores the components of this classroom to show how everyday experience leads to spiritual insight. Viewing life in this way, we can learn to appreci...

Ali’s Dream is the story of Ali, an eleven-year-old boy living in Akka (present-day Israel) in 1912, whose life becomes a quest for the meaning of a mysterious dream. How this dream leads him to understand his Bahai heritage and his own spiritual destiny is the theme of the book. Author John S. Hatcher has woven scenes and fascinating details of the history of the Bahai Faith—stories of heroism and heartrending drama—drawing from them universal truths about sacrifice, suffering, a...

The only survey of the urban, commercial and industrial history of the period between the Norman conquest and the Black Death.

This is the first volume of a two-volume study of medieval England covering the period between the Norman Conquest and the Black Death. The book opens with a summary portrait of the English economy and society in the reign of William I. It goes on to examine in detail the population increase from 1086 to 1349 and to investigate the structure of society where relationships were rooted in the dependence of man upon man.