About the book “Light of Men” :
The book presented here is an attempt to reconstruct the events and human
relations unfolding about 2000 years ago within the group of the early followers of
Jesus Christ, namely His family members and immediate followers.
While
exploring both the historical and human context the book follows strictly the
events described in the Gospel
and Acta and makes use of the contemporary texts and less known traditions
connected with the events.
The author is not preaching his faith but leaves it
to the reader to find his own way through the story.
"Unexpected” and “utterly different” were the words
used for Light of Men when it was first published in Bulgarian.
Light of Men poses the question of how far the
psychological approach to Bilblical history can bring us in the search for a
more adequate comprehension of the New Testament facts.
And how inadequate the lack of it might be.
With its vast amount of information and analytical depth,
this treatise-like novel will be of significant interest to Biblical scholars,
historians of religion, theologians, students of antiquity, and anyone who
wishes to expand his understanding of Early Christianity.
As the renowned Bulgarian literary critic and historian
Bozhidar Kunchev wrote, the book is a “profound reflection on what human
beings are and ought to be.”
About the author :
Philip Dimitrov is
born in Sofia in 1955.
He graduated
in Law at the St.
Climent Ohridski University of Sofia (1977); had a Specialization in Woodrow
Wilson Center (2003) and holds a PhD in Political Science from New
Bulgarian University (2010).
He had
a Law practice for a period of 20 years (between 1979 and 2015, with breaks) and was
appointed Constitutional Court Justice in 2015.
He lectured
at the American University in Blagoevgrad (2002 - 2008), University of Toronto,
Canada (2007), Christopher Newport University, Virginia, USA (2008-2009) and is
Distinguished Professor
(Reader) at the New Bulgarian University, Sofia (since 2015).
He was member
of the XXXVI and XXXVII National Assembly and Vice-President of the XL National
Assembly, member of the
European Parliament (2007), Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria at
the United Nations (1997 - 1998) and the USA (1998 - 2002) and of the European
Union in Georgia (2010 - 2014).
Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria (1991 -1992).
Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Georgia, Tbilisi
(2014).
Author of political and politico-legal studies and
historical novels
Publications by Philip Dimitrov
For They Lived, Oh Lord - a novel, 1991 (The Balkans in the first half of the 14th century) (in Bulgarian)
The True Story of the Round Table Knights, 1997 (in Bulgarian)
The Myths of Bulgarian Transition, 2002 (in Bulgarian)
Light of Men, 2003 (in Bulgarian) and 2019 (in English) (The history of the early church)
Jumping into the Atlantic, Woodrow Wilson Center, 2003 (in English)
The New Democracies and the Transatlantic Link, 2004 (in Bulgarian)
Political Representation after Communism, 2010 (in Bulgarian)
Revisiting the Beginning of the Bulgarian Transition, 2016 (in English)
Brothers (2019) (History of the Balkans IX-XI century) (in Bulgarian)
About the publisher:
The
American Research Center in Sofia (ARCS) is a non-profit foundation, registered in Bulgaria in 2005,
which facilitates academic interaction, research, and activities in the
humanities and social sciences in Bulgaria and neighboring Balkan countries.
A vital
component of the mission of the American Research Center in Sofia is to make
scholarship regarding Bulgaria and the Balkans more widely known throughout
western Europe and North America. ARCS publishes two lines of volumes, American
Research Center in Sofia Monograph Series and Papers of the American
Research Center in Sofia. The Center will also contribute toward the
publication of books whose author/editor chooses an independent publisher.
Publications of the American Research Center in Sofia
Monograph Series, Conference Papers, Historical Fiction,
and Collaborative Book Subsidies
ARCS will contribute toward the publication of books whose
author/editor chooses an independent publisher. Under this category of support,
the Center sponsored the publication in March 2013 of a Bulgarian translation
of 14 essays from The Pen and the Sword,
a collection of papers by James Clarke (edited by Dennis Hupchick), published
by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Press. An English translation of Hristo
Hristov’s award-winning book Kill the
Wanderer, which re-examines the evidence and reveals new facts concerning
the murder of the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, was published in Sept.
2013 by Gutenberg Press. On the horizon is a collection of documents pertaining
to the little-known Plan to detach
Bulgaria from the Axis during WWII.
More :
ARCS Publications Catalog
