Much can be said about history's effects on the contemporary world; too much to be adequately covered in one book. But that doesn't stop Thomas Verenna from giving his readers a substantial glimpse of the depth and breadth of the discussion. In this collection of essays, Thomas takes on questions ranging from the existence of 'Biblical Israel' to the origins of ghost stories. What influence did Hellenistic and Roman educations have on the authors of the Gospels? How far back can we trace the written record of "haunted houses"? Why are there four Gospel accounts instead of one? Does it matter if Jesus Christ existed historically? Thomas investigates all of these questions and more in this thought provoking, engaging, and refreshingly honest collection.
T.S. Verenna is an amateur historian who has been researching the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods for seven years and the ancient Near East for five years. He is the author of the book Of Men and Muses: Essays on History, Literature, and Religion (2009) and his second book, 'Is This Not the Carpenter', co-edited with Th. L. Thompson, is in press and due out in 2011.
In addition to these collections, T.S. is also writing a monograph on the intertextuality of the Gospels and working on a new book project about the unreliability of ancient textual sources. T.S. is currently working on an undergraduate degree with a focus in history.
Academia.edu Profile: http://mc3.academia.edu/ThomasVerenna
CV: http://tomverenna.wordpress.com/about/curriculum-vitae/
