New Releases by Scott Spencer

"What Would Jesus Do?" is a popular phrase in Christian circles, but answers to that question might be more on-target if we spent more time exploring, as Scott Spencer has, "What Did Jesus Do?" Spencer examines both the Synoptics and the Gospel of John as he tries to catch a wide-angled vision of Jesus'' behavior in the gospels. Rather than focus on sayings or pronouncements as an authoritative code of conduct, he studies Jesus'' deeds or actions as keys to his identity and vocation. While not ignoring Jesus'' teaching, this study is more interested in discovering how Jesus personally lived up to his own moral instruction -- his personal conduct. Chapters are devoted to Jesus'' actions with respect to his family, his friends, his body, his possessions, his work, his reputation, and the environment. Spencer suggests paths -- and pitfalls -- for relating Jesus'' personal conduct to individual behavior, how we might move from "what Jesus did" in the New Testament to "what we should do" today. F. Scott Spencer is Professor of New Testament at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia and is the author of The Portrait of Philip in Acts: A Study of Roles and Relations and Acts. He is the Chair of the New Testament section for the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion.

Natural ventilation driven by a solar chimney attached to a single-room building was studied experimentally using a small-scale model. The experiments were performed using a recently developed fine-bubble technique in which fine hydrogen bubbles are produced electrolytically in salt solution to simulate the buoyancy effect in the chimney caused by temperature differences. During the experiments, one sidewall of the solar chimney was uniformly "heated", corresponding to a uniformly distributed solar radiation incidence. Velocities at the room inlet were measured by a particle tracking method; in turn, the average flow rate through the solar chimney system was determined. Parameters studied in the experiments were the cavity width of the solar chimney, the solar radiation intensity, the ventilation inlet areas, and the solar chimney height. Results showed that for a given building geometry and inlet areas, there is an optimum cavity width at which maximum ventilation flow rate can be achieved. This optimum cavity width, which is independent of the solar radiation intensity, was found to be dependent on the size of the ventilation inlet areas and the solar chimney height. Observations were made on the flow patterns within both the solar chimney and the room. Two simple theoretical models were developed, based on common tools found in literature used for solar chimney ventilation prediction. Comparison between the measured ventilation flow rates and the theoretical predictions indicated that theoretical models, based on simplified temperature assumptions within the chimney, may over-predict the solar chimney ventilation performance and should be used with care.

Appraisals of early Christian leaders in Acts typically neglect or minimize the contribution of Philip the evangelist. This study establishes Philip''s pivotal place in the overall structure of Luke-Acts, stressing the significance of his roles as the first missionary to the marginalized Samaritians and ''God-fearers'' of a charismatic prophet in the tradition of Moses and Elijah, and a versatile servant in both domestic/diaconal and itinerant/kerygmatic capacities. This investigation utilizes close literary analysis of the Lukan narrative informed by social-historical assessments of the ancient Mediterranean world to create a comprehensive, multidimensional portrait of Philip in Acts.

" Jusqu''à quel point l''image d''une femme morte peut-elle déterminer la vie et la carrière d''un homme ? C''est le thème central autour duquel tourne La Résurrection des morts, le deuxième roman de Scott Spencer à être traduit en français, après l''étonnant Un amour infini. Spencer, c''est sûr, est un des auteurs américains les plus doués d''aujourd''hui. " J.B. Baronian, l''Express. " Les personnages de Spencer sont très colorés et pertinents. Le récit, qui rebondit constamment, tient le lecteur en haleine. On lit pour le simple plaisir - et non pour savoir si vraiment les morts communiquent avec les vivants. " Rodolphe Morissette, Journal de Montréal.

Phoebe''s parents, who are magicians, forbid her to enter the magic room where they work, until an accident shrinks them to tiny size and they need her help in returning to normal.

Sous forme de confession, une intense passion entre deux adolescents qui aboutit à l''"amour fou" au sens littéral de ce terme. Récit maîtrisé (1979) qui dépasse le roman sentimental courant tant est intense la description psychologique qui le sous-tend. Zeffirelli en a tiré un film qui évacue la profondeur passionnelle exprimée par le roman au profit de la situation "roméo-et-juliette".