Now available in trade paper! Explore the interwoven lives of King Herod and Mary, Mother of Jesus as New York Times bestselling author Kathie Lee Gifford brings these biblical figures into a new light. Follow Herod from boyhood as he strives and fails throughout his life to become a beloved king. Walk in the steps of Mary of Nazareth as she navigates the repercussions of Herod's deadly obsession. Delve into the complex history of Herod the Great--his rise to power and ultimate fall in pursuit to be the "King of the Jews." Under a flourishing yet tumultuous background of Jerusalem, consider Mary of Nazareth's place under Herod's rule and the promise of a Messiah to free her people. Kathie Lee Gifford with Bryan M. Litfin, Ph.D. deftly weave a truthful historical narrative full of accurate details and sweeping prose that ushers in the true King and glorifies God's powerful plan to bring a savior into the world through unlikely means. A coda between the authors, full of honest revelation and insightful meaning, follows each chapter for added in-depth reading. The first installment in the Ancient Evil, Living Hope series, Herod and Mary begins with the tragic life of King Herod--Christianity's first true persecutor. As an impressionable boy, he is forever marked by the raw power of Rome. Throughout the course of Herod's career, he gains power, fame, and riches beyond belief. Yet murderous intrigues stalk this man--and infect his own dark soul. Under the rule of King Herod, Jerusalem becomes a prominent city of wealth and prosperity, but Mary saw the struggle of her people under a tyrant. Like all Jewish women, she knew the promises of Torah and longed for a deliverer. But no one could have prepared her for what the angel of God revealed: that the Messiah wouldn't arrive with the blaring of trumpets, the clash of arms, or the fanfare of a mighty host. He would arrive as an infant within her own womb. The light of the world was born in a cave: not a king who maims and destroys, but the gentle King of the Jews. This riveting narrative nonfiction work reveals deep insight to how Herod came to power, how corruption and an ancient evil threatened the stability of a nation, and how a teenage Mary was called to traverse these obstacles to bring the Savior, Jesus, our living hope, into the world.

The monastery of Monte Cassino, founded by St. Benedict in the sixth century, was the cradle of Western monasticism. It became one of the vital centers of culture and learning in Europe. At the height of its influence, in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, two of its abbots (including Desiderius) and one of its monks became popes, and it controlled a vast network of dependencies--churches, monasteries, villages, and farms--especially in central and southern Italy. Herbert Bloch's study, the product of forty years of research, takes as its starting point the twelfth-century bronze doors of the basilica of the abbey, the most significant relic of the medieval structure. The panels of these doors are inscribed with a list of more than 180 of the abbey's possessions. Mr. Bloch has supplemented this roster with lists found in papal and imperial privileges and other documents. The heart of the book is a detailed investigation of the nearly 700 dependencies of Monte Cassino from the sixth to the twelfth century and beyond. No comparable study of this or any other great medieval institution has ever before been undertaken. Ironically, it was the bombing of 1944, which destroyed the monastery, that led to an unexpected revelation: the discovery, on the reverse side of some panels of the doors, of magnificent engraved figures of patriarchs and apostles. These proved to be remnants of the church portal ordered from Constantinople by Desiderius in the eleventh century, which marked the beginning of the grandiose reconstruction of the abbey and its church, the latter to become a model for many other churches. In order to solve the riddle of the doors of Monte Cassino, Bloch has investigated other bronze doors of Byzantine origin in Italy and the doors of the great Italian master Oderisius of Benevento, as well as those of S. Clemente a Casauria and of the cathedral of Benevento. Also included is a study of the political and cultural impact of Byzantium on Monte Cassino and a chapter on Constantinus Africanus, Saracen turned monk, one of the most interesting figures in the history of medieval medicine. The text is sumptuously illustrated with 193 plates; most of the more than 300 illustrations have never before been published. This three-volume work, with its nine detailed indexes, offers a wealth of information for scholars in many different fields.