For over a quarter of a century, more than 1000 volunteers of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, all of them highly qualified men and women, have been devotedly working towards the goal of providing the Word of God for the world's "Bibleless" tribes in their own tongues. During those years, they have encountered innumerable hazards from head-hunters to mechanical breakdowns, atheistic hostility and pagan thoughtlessness, always with a clear faith in their Redeemer and confidence in ultimate victory. While they keep in sight those two thousand tongues to go, they are glad enough to hear one new believer say: "I made kindling out of all my idols last night and cooked my beans with them. I had served them all my lifetime: now let them serve me!".

Two unlikely players emerge as the heroes of this narrative: Geronimo Martin, a blind Navajo Indian, and Faye Edgerton, a little white woman in poor health. Gifted and determined, from two different cultures, they prayed and persevered, and finally produced the Navajo New Testament in 1956. At a time when English was used in churches and schools, the Book was on trial. But within a few months, the edition was sold out, and six more printings followed as Navajos welcomed God's Word in a language they understood.

No living scholar has shaped the study of American religious history more profoundly than George M. Marsden. His work spans U.S. intellectual, cultural, and religious history from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries. This collection of essays uses the career of George M. Marsden and the remarkable breadth of his scholarship to measure current trends in the historical study of American evangelical Protestantism and to encourage fresh scholarly investigation of this faith tradition as it has developed between the eighteenth century and the present. Moving through five sections, each centered around one of Marsden’s major books and the time period it represents, the volume explores different methodologies and approaches to the history of evangelicalism and American religion. Besides assessing Marsden’s illustrious works on their own terms, this collection’s contributors isolate several key themes as deserving of fresh, rigorous, and extensive examination. Through their close investigation of these particular themes, they expand the range of characters and communities, issues and ideas, and contingencies that can and should be accounted for in our historical texts. Marsden’s timeless scholarship thus serves as a launchpad for new directions in our rendering of the American religious past.

Strong matriarchs in the author’s family are the inspiration for “Ten Thousand Tongues.” These are stories of perseverance, and of a deep-rooted appreciation of family legacies that inspire and shape reverence to one’s culinary heritage. This biographical fiction is about eight women who find refuge, solace, and strength in their constantly evolving relationship to family and each other, through the foods they cooked and later, the dishes they are most often remembered by. It captures their essence through narratives from within and around their homes, their lives intersecting briefly, as mothers and as daughters. The main characters of this book navigate the constructs of religious boundaries, between Hinduism and Judaism, and definitions of identity in India and the United States. Despite their flawed relationships, their modest kitchens create indelible memories. Their domestic life is sometimes their burden, and at other times their sanctuary, and yet, long after the kitchen fires are cold, the warmth of old-fashioned comfort foods continue to nourish both body and spirit. Their narratives lead readers through the food pathways that finally culminate in Ana’s kitchen, far away from where the stories first began. Immortalized through iconic comfort foods, eight women effortlessly manage to create a unique and lasting culinary legacy that spans many generations. Look for a companion cookbook of the same name to pair with the novel for a complete immersive experience.

Table of contents

Drawing on both original texts and critical literature, Linguistics in a Colonial World surveys the methods, meanings, and uses of early linguistic projects around the world. Explores how early endeavours in linguistics were used to aid in overcoming practical and ideological difficulties of colonial rule Traces the uses and effects of colonial linguistic projects in the shaping of identities and communities that were under, or in opposition to, imperial regimes Examines enduring influences of colonial linguistics in contemporary thinking about language and cultural difference Brings new insight into post-colonial controversies including endangered languages and language rights in the globalized twenty-first century