A touching look at Van Gogh's time in the south of France, and the support given to him by his brother Theo.

Vincent is fed up with life in the gray city, but things are about to change! With the support of his loving brother Theo, Vincent sets off on a journey to the sunny south. There he will discover new and inspiring places and make new friends. But will he be able to paint the picture of his dreams?

A heart-warming snapshot of a happy and creative period in Van Gogh's life, this story focuses on the bond between two brothers, and how Theo's support and encouragement helped Vincent to reach his full artistic potential.

Written by Michael Bird and illustrated by painter Ella Beech, Dear Vincent will immerse young readers in Van Gogh's world and reveal his unique perspective as an artist.

A defense of equality among the persons of the Trinity

In response to those complementarian theologians who assert that the Son is eternally subordinate to the Father, the contributors to Trinity Without Hierarchy contend that this view misconstrues the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and reduces the Son to a lower level of glory and majesty than the Father. Surveying Scripture, church history, and theology, sixteen contributors present a defense of the full and equal authority of all three members of the Trinity while critiquing approaches that border on semi-Arianism. In particular, the creedal confessions of Nicaea are upheld as the historical standard by which any proposed Trinitarian doctrine should be judged.

While some contributors hold complementarian and others egalitarian viewpoints, all agree that Trinitarian relations are not a proper basis for understanding gender roles. Trinity Without Hierarchy is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the current debate over the relationship between Trinitarian theology and the roles of men and women.

This accessible and compelling introduction draws us into the wide-ranging narrative of Luke-Acts to discover how Luke frames the life of Jesus and of the first disciples. These two books, when read together, tell a cohesive narrative about Jesus, the Church, and the mission of God-with implications for the whole our lives today.

Examining for the first time the life and work of the sculptor Matt Rugg (1935- 2020), Michael Bird's impeccably researched text vividly charts Rugg's parallel careers as artist and teacher in the context of developments in creative pedagogy in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century, and their implications for practice and teaching today. Highlighting the impressive range of Rugg's output, from his distinctive 'painted drawings' to large-scale metal constructions, and the unifying strands in his thought, this book skilfully draws together Rugg's work, ideas and inspirational role as an educator. Lavishly illustrated, it charts successive phases of Rugg's continuous experimentation with found industrial materials and form, and the subtle interrelationship in his work between two and three dimensions. Dr Harriet Sutcliffe's research into the Basic Course led by Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton at King's College, Newcastle, in the 1950s and 1960s provides fascinating insights into both Rugg's oeuvre and wider developments in British art practice and pedagogy.

A leading modern British sculptor, Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003) was celebrated for his abstracted figures of human and animal forms in welded steel and bronze. His work first attracted international attention at the 1952 Venice Biennale. Just four years later he became the youngest artist to be awarded the International Prize for Sculpture, which Alberto Giacometti had been expected to win. The paradox of Chadwick's long career is that, while his work later fell out of favor in his native Britain, he sustained a strong reputation abroad.

The first book to set Chadwick's work in international context, Lynn Chadwick: A Sculptor on the International Stage sets out to change that. Art historians Michael Bird and Marin R. Sullivan provide new insights into the development of his work. They vividly locate his art within the wider context of postwar European and American sculpture, including the work of Giacometti and David Smith, who worked alongside Chadwick in Italy in 1962, and Chadwick's reception in the United States. Taking readers through key developments in Chadwick's career, Bird and Sullivan rightfully restore this major artist's place in the history of twentieth-century sculpture.

This conference volume features cutting edge research from an international cohort of scholars on the still-controversial debates regarding Paul's relationship with Judaism. Taken together, the contributions represent a sympathetic but critical assessment of the Paul within Judaism approach to Pauline interpretation. They take up many of the key questions germane to the debate, including different perspectives on Jewish identity, ethnicity, Torah-observance, halakha, the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Christ, and the contested character of Jewish identity in antiquity. By combining a broad swath of both German- and English-language scholarship, the volume attempts to bring different perspectives into conversation with each other.

What does it really mean for the church to have unity?

When Jesus prayed for his followers to be one, he prayed that this unity would demonstrate the truth of his claims to an unbelieving world. Sadly, the world often sees a church that is divided. Some of our divisions are based on legitimate theological concerns, yet many others are simply matters of opinion. To the world, it's all another reason to doubt God.

What are the differences worth dividing over? How should we handle diversity?

Mending a Fractured Church, edited by Michael Bird and Brian Rosner, seeks to answer such questions, looking to the Bible for examples of how to behave when Christians differ. Speaking to pastors, churches, and seminary students, the contributors provide a guide to maintaining unity without compromise.

This is the story of how the lives of British artists, from the late-nineteenth century to the present day, reflected and refracted the profound changes and historical events in the wider world. In a brilliant narrative that vividly evokes the personalities who populate and drive this story--including Aubrey Beardsley, Damien Hirst, and Barbara Hepworth--author Michael Bird reevaluates how we look at the history of modern Britain.

Bird illuminates how British artists have been remembered, reimagined, and reshaped by a century of dramatic events. Generously illustrated, This is Tomorrow is an absorbing narrative of how history has changed--and continues to change--how artists see and are seen.

Limited atonement is not the only Reformed model of atonement

Hypothetical universalism, or unlimited atonement, states that Christ's death is sufficient for the guilt of all people yet is only effectively applied to those with faith. This tradition, typified by the French Reformer Moïse Amyraut, has continued among Anglicans and Baptists for over four centuries, yet has been underexplored in Reformed systematic theology.

Unlimited Atonement fills a gap in resources on atonement theology that begin with the unlimited love of God. Editors Michael F. Bird and Scott Harrower draw on the specialties of each of the ten contributors, addressing themes such as - the biblical and historical sources of the soteriological position known as Amyraldism - distinctive features of Anglican atonement theology - hypothetical universalism, election, and the Baptist theological tradition - other prominent advocates of unlimited atonement - the issues of systematic theology at stake - atonement theology in preaching Unlimited Atonement is the most comprehensive analysis of Amyraldism to date, providing a resource for theology and Bible students and teachers in an esoteric stream of Reformed theology. Bird and Harrower provide a starting point for anyone who wants to understand the sources and merits of Amyraldism.

First published by Lund Humphries in 2008, The St Ives Artists: A Biography of Place and Time has become the classic account of the St Ives group of artists. Our beautifully produced new edition, published in 2016, is now available in an accessible paperback format.

The flourishing of international modernism in Cornwall was a unique episode in the story of modern art in Britain - perhaps anywhere in the world. No other small seaside town has been host to such a roll-call of major artists. Weaving in-depth research into a narrative of 'startling anecdotal richness', Michael Bird explores the many - often unexpected - connections between St Ives artists and broader currents in 20th-century British history. He sets the careers of international artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon in the context of a local environment that held powerful meanings for their work.

Bird examines the influence of the two world wars, the birth of the Welfare State and the Cold War, the space race of the 1960s - all of which found echoes in artists' work - as well as the position of women artists in St Ives, the role of social class, and relations between artists and the community. The artists themselves emerge as vivid personalities. Do Alfred Wallis, Naum Gabo, Bernard Leach and Roger Hilton really have anything in common? The answers Michael Bird uncovers add up to a fascinating and highly readable account of the St Ives phenomenon.

A treasure trove of carefully selected letters written by great artists, providing unique insight into their characters and a glimpse into their lives.

Artists' Letters is a collection of intriguing, entertaining, moving, significant, surprising, witty and insightful correspondence from great artists. Arranged thematically, it includes writings and musings on love, work, daily life, money, travel and the creative process.

On the theme of friendship, for example, letters provide evidence of a creative community between peers, with support and mutual appreciation that helps to dispel the myth of the artist as solitary genius. Letters between Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin show an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas. We see mutual admiration between Claude Monet and Berthe Morisot, and Picasso's quick notes to Jean Cocteau illustrate their closeness. Letters, some of which includes sketches and drawings, are reproduced with the transcript and some background and contextual information alongside.

Artists include: Salvador Dali, Goya, Lucian Freud, Vanessa Bell, Michelangelo, Mondrian, Gustav Klimt, Jasper Johns, Edward Burne-Jones, William Blake, Marcel Duchamp, Dorothea Tanning, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, Mark Rothko, David Hockney, Monet, Marina Abramovic, Cindy Sherman, Joseph Cornell, Leonora Carrington, Wang Zhideng, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Renoir, Rubens, Eva Hesse, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein, Mary Cassatt, Jackson Pollock, Leonardo da Vinci, Joseph Beuys, Judy Chicago, Frida Kahlo, Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Auguste Rodin, Camille Claudel, Henry Moore, Joshua Reynolds, Rembrandt, Whistler, Anni Albers, Naum Gabo, Kazimir Malevich, Francis Bacon, Ana Mendieta, Lee Krasner, Andy Warhol

St Ives is unique in the story of modern art in Britain - and perhaps anywhere in the world. No other small seaside town has been host to such a roll-call of major artists. First published by Lund Humphries in 2008, The St Ives Artists: A Biography of Place and Time combines in-depth research with 'startling anecdotal richness'. This beautifully produced new edition is fully revised and newly illustrated in color throughout. Michael Bird's groundbreaking study lifts 'St Ives' out of its niche and explores the many - often unexpected - connections between St Ives artists and wider currents in 20th-century British culture and society. At the same time it sets the careers of international artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon in the context of a local environment that held strong meanings for their work. The narrative highlights the interplay between modern art's large-scale ambitions and its rootedness in particular places and experiences. It ranges from the tense, idealistic years between the two world wars through the birth of the Welfare State and the Cold War, to the space race of the 1960s - all of which found echoes in artists' work. The artists themselves emerge as vivid personalities, as often embroiled in conflict as in any shared agenda. Do Alfred Wallis, Naum Gabo, Bernard Leach and Roger Hilton really have anything in common? The answers Michael Bird uncovers add up to a fascinating and highly readable account of the St Ives phenomenon.

George Fullard: Sculpture and Survival is the first book for almost 20 years on the life and work of this highly individual British artist, whose achievement and influence are now winning belated recognition. Fullard's sudden death at the age of 50 in 1973 cut short a career that had already moved through several very distinct phases. A virtuoso modeller in clay, he was championed by John Berger in the 1950s as Britain's best young realist sculptor but swiftly moved on to experimenting with large-scale assemblages in which he explored dream, memory and his preoccupation with the sculptural 'phantom'. Fullard's landmark exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery in 1964, featuring his War Series, established him as an artist of disquieting poetic intensity at a time when many British sculptors were committed to an abstract, formalist idiom. This book is both a compelling biography, charting Fullard's short and turbulent life, and an in-depth appreciation of his work, beautifully illustrated with new photography. Michael Bird's research into Fullard's private papers, sketchbooks and other archival sources, and new interviews with people who knew him, inform a timely reappraisal of one of the most distinctive and surprising British artists of the later 20th century.

After twenty five years of marriage Mona and Joseph finds themselves separated in life as well as in purgatory after waking up in a strange but familiar place after having a horrific accident. As they franticly look for answers and one another, they hit a crossroad when Mona's mother and Joseph's father greets them to see if the love their kids once had was still there. As they find themselves in different rooms with a balcony and a view of the beach, they learn how to open up a porthole to see visions and memories of their past life and what their loved one was going through as they were living a life on their own. Even though Joseph and Mona learns a new way of life when Joseph's work takes him away from Mona months at a time, they come to realize how hard it becomes when they sit with their parent that they lost years ago, and watch the events unfold for the other one. During the time spent in purgatory watching memories and trying to find how to reconnect with a love that had been lost over time, they meet a soldier and his wife that help show the couple that they aren't alone when it comes to a long distant marriage. Still not knowing the other one is in a room right next to the other there is always that question where the other one is, and if they were alright after the accident. When Mona and Joseph question their parent on when they get to go back to their life on earth they are told that it is up to them to decide their own fate.

Studio Voices explores the multi-layered experiences of modern and contemporary British artists in their own words, drawing on the author's original research in the Artists' Lives audio archive at the British Library.

Michael Bird's fascinating oral history of the lives and working practices of artists over the last century, extracted from the huge and growing archive of artists' interviews recorded since 1990, allows us to eavesdrop on artists' life-story conversations, which range through creative practice and professional achievements, childhood memories, family life, relationships, and unexpected, incidental epiphanies of self-awareness.

The Artists' Lives project was established in 1990 as part of National Life Stories, the UK's national oral history archive, which is based at the British Library.

The Sacred Text presents an introduction to historical, interpretive, and theological issues relating to the Christian Scriptures. It presents an overview of the formation of the canon, discusses different strategies for interpretation, and describes how Scripture functions in different theological traditions.

In 1 Edras Michael Bird presents a commentary on this much neglected text based on its witness in Codex Vaticanus as part of the next installment of the Septuagint Commentary Series. Containing material that parallels 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, 1 Esdras is featured in the Septuagint and Christian Apocrypha. The commentary presents a survey of critical issues related to the study of 1 Esdras and provides an impressive literary analysis of the contours of 1 Esdras.