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A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, 'Germanus
Incredibilis': With a Selection of His Unpublished Correspondence
and an Annotated Translation of His Autobiography by John Edward Fletcher and Elizabeth Fletcher
(Aries Book: Brill Academic)
Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit in 17th-century Rome, was an enigma.
Intensely pious and a prolific author, he was also a polymath fascinated with everything from
Egyptian hieroglyphs to the tiny creatures in his microscope.
His correspondence with popes, princes and priests was a window into the restless energy of the period.
It showed first-hand the seventeenth-century’s struggle for knowledge in astronomy, microscopy, geology,
chemistry, musicology, Egyptology, horology… The list goes on.
Kircher’s books reflect the mind-set of 17th-century scholars - endless curiosity and a … read more substantial larding of naiveté:
Kircher scorned alchemy as the wishful thinking of charlatans, yet believed in dragons.
His life and correspondence provide a key to the transition from the Middle Ages to a new scientific age. This book, though unpublished, has been long quoted and referred to.
Awaited by scholars and specialists of Kircher, it is finally available with this edition.
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Critical Discourse Studies in Context and Cognition edited by Christopher Hart (Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture Series: John Benjamins Publishing Company) Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), under the general editors of Ruth Wodak and Greg Myers and associate editor Johann Unger, University of Lancaster, is an exciting research enterprise in which scholars are concerned with the discursive reproduction of power and inequality. However, researchers in CDS are increasingly recognizing the need to investigate the cognitive dimensions of discourse and context if they want to fully account for any connection between language, legitimization and social action. Critical Discourse Studies in Context and Cognition, edited by Christopher Hart, Northumbria University, presents a collection of papers in CDS concerned with various ideological discourses. Analyses are firmly rooted in linguistics and cognition constitutes a major focus of attention. The chapters, which are written by prominent researchers in CDS, come from a broad range of theoretical perspectives spanning pragmatics, cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics. More
Transforming Self and Others Through Research: Transpersonal Research Methods and Skills for the Human Sciences and Humanities by Rosemarie Anderson and William Braud (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology: SUNY Press) Research approaches in the field of transpersonal psychology can be transformative for researchers, participants, and the audience of a project. Transforming Self and Others Through Research offers these transformative approaches to those conducting research across the human sciences and the humanities. Rosemarie Anderson and William Braud first described such methods in their book Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences (1998). Since that time, in hundreds of empirical studies, these methods have been tested and integrated with qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research designs. Anderson, Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Braud, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, writing with a contribution from Jennifer Clements, invite scholars to bring multiple ways of knowing and personal resources to their scholarship. While emphasizing established research conventions for rigor, Anderson and Braud encourage researchers to plumb the depths of intuition, imagination, play, mindfulness, compassion, creativity, and embodied writing as research skills. Experiential exercises to help readers develop these skills are provided. More
Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for Practice by Rob Preece (Snow Lion Publications) The preliminary practices of Tantra are not a hurdle to be gotten through in order to get somewhere else; they are an extraordinarily rich collection of practices which have much to offer as a means of cultivating and maturing the practitioner's psychological ground. They can enable experiences to unfold, and they can clear the way when there seem to be problems or hindrances practitioners are struggling with. More
Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights,
1750-1790 [Hardcover] by Jonathan I. Israel (Oxford
University Press) That the Enlightenment shaped modernity is
uncontested. Yet remarkably few historians or philosophers have
attempted to trace the process of ideas from the political and
social turmoil of the late eighteenth century to the present day.
This is precisely what Jonathan Israel now does.
In Democratic Enlightenment, Israel demonstrates that the
Enlightenment was an essentially revolutionary process, driven by
philosophical debate. The American Revolution and its concerns
certainly acted as a major factor in the intellectual ferment that
shaped the wider upheaval that followed, but the radical
philosophes were no less critical than enthusiastic about the
American model. From 1789, the General Revolution's impetus came
from a small group of philosophe-revolutionnaires, men such
as Mirabeau, Sieyes, Condorcet, Volney, Roederer, and Brissot. Not
aligned to any of the social groups represented in the French
National assembly, they nonetheless forged "la philosophie
moderne"--in effect Radical Enlightenment ideas--into a
world-transforming ideology that had a lasting impact in Latin
America, Canada and eastern Europe as well as France, Italy,
Germany, and the Low Countries. In addition, Israel argues that
while all French revolutionary journals powerfully affirmed that
la philosophie moderne was the main cause of the French
Revolution, the main stream of historical thought has failed to
grasp what this implies. Israel sets the record straight,
demonstrating the true nature of the engine that drove the
Revolution, and the intimate links between the radical wing of the
Enlightenment and the anti-Robespierriste "Revolution of reason."
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The Existence of God: An Exposition and Application of Fregean Meta-Ontology by Stig Børsen Hansen (Quellen Und Studien Zur Philosophie: De Gruyter) This study breaks new ground on the question of the existence of God. It innovatively combines biblical scholarship with an analysis of existence drawn from the writings of the philosopher Gottlob Frege. It shows that the strength of Frege's approach is its emphasis on the notions of proper name and predicate; this in turn sheds new light on important elements of theological language. Finally, the Fregean approach in this book is defended against objections drawn from readings of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. More
Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, 19th edition: Expert Consult Premium Edition – Enhanced Online Features and Print by Robert M. Kliegman, MD, Bonita F. Stanton, MD, and Richard E. Behrman, MD; Joseph W. St. Geme III, MD, and Nina F. Schor, MD, PhD, (Elsevier Saunders) Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics has been the world's most trusted pediatrics resource for nearly 75 years. Drs. Robert Kliegman, Bonita Stanton, Richard Behrman, and two new editors – Joseph St. Geme, III, MD and Nina Schor, MD, who contribute on the key subspecialties, including pediatric infectious disease and pediatric neurology – continue to provide the most authoritative coverage of the best approaches to care. This streamlined 19th edition covers the latest on genetics, neurology, infectious disease, melamine poisoning, sexual identity and adolescent homosexuality, and psychosis associated with epilepsy. The expanded online access features the regularly updated text, case studies, new references and journal articles, Clinics articles, and exclusive web-only content. More
Plants As Persons: A Philosophical Botany by Matthew Hall and Harold Coward (SUNY Series on Religion and the Environment: State University of New York, SUNY) Plants are people too? Not exactly, but in this work of philosophical botany Matthew Hall challenges readers to reconsider the moral standing of plants, arguing that they are other-than-human persons. Plants constitute the bulk of our visible biomass, underpin all natural ecosystems, and make life on Earth possible. Yet plants are considered passive and insensitive beings rightly placed outside moral consideration. As the human assault on nature continues, more ethical behavior toward plants is needed. Hall surveys Western, Eastern, Pagan, and Indigenous thought, as well as modern science and botanical history, for attitudes toward plants, noting the particular resources for plant personhood and those modes of thought which most exclude plants. The most hierarchical systems typically put plants at the bottom, but Hall finds much to support a more positive view of plants. Indeed, some Indigenous animisms actually recognize plants as relational, intelligent beings who are the appropriate recipients of care and respect. New scientific findings encourage this perspective, revealing that plants possess many of the capacities of sentience and mentality traditionally denied them. More
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo
by Dogen Dogen and Kazuaki Tanahashi (Shambhala) represents
the collective San Francisco Zen Center community endeavor at
translating and understanding the work in its entirety. It lacks the
scholarly extras of
BDK English Tripitaka Series but used in conjunction with the
Standard translation can offer essential insight about what the text
is getting at. below the table of contents I offer examples of
translations of chapter 1 (of the 75 chapter version) or 3 (of the
95 chapter version) The Genjo-Koan so one can compare for oneself.
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobo Genzo, in
Japanese) is a monumental work, considered to be one of the
profoundest expressions of Zen wisdom ever put on paper, and also
the most outstanding literary and philosophical work of Japan. It is
a collection of essays by Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of Zen’s
Soto school.
Kazuaki Tanahashi and a team of translators that represent a
Who’s Who of American Zen have produced a translation of the
great work that combines accuracy with a deep understanding of
Dogen’s voice and literary gifts. The finely produced, two-volume
boxed set includes a wealth of materials to aid understanding,
including maps, lineage charts, a bibliography, and an exhaustive
glossary of names and terms—and, as a bonus, the most renowned of
all Dogen’s essays, “Recommending Zazen to All People.”
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The Postconventional Personality: Assessing, Researching, and Theorizing Higher Development by Angela H. Pfaffenberger, Paul W. Marko and Allan Combs (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology: State University of New York Press, SUNY) Cutting-edge volume devoted to optimal adult development. Postconventional stages of personality development involve growth well beyond the average, and have become a rapidly growing subject of research not only in developmental psychology circles but also in areas such as executive leadership development. This book is the first to bring together many of the major researchers in the field, showcasing diverse perspectives ranging from the spiritual to the corporate. The contributors present research on essential questions about the existence and prevalence of high levels of personal growth, whether such achievement is correlated with other types of psychological growth, whether high levels of growth actually indicate happiness, what kinds of people exhibit these higher levels of development, how they may have developed this expanded perspective, and the characteristics of their viewpoints, abilities, and preoccupations. For anyone interested in Ken Wilber's integral psychology, as well as those in executive coaching, this volume is an invaluable resource and will be a standard reference for years to come. More
Socrates and Philosophy in the Dialogues of Plato by
Sandra Peterson (Cambridge University Press) In Plato's Apology, Socrates says he spent his life examining and questioning people on how best to live, while avowing that he himself knows nothing important. Elsewhere, however, for example in Plato's Republic, Plato's Socrates
presents radical and grandiose theses.
In this book Sandra Peterson
offers a new hypothesis which explains the puzzle of Socrates' two
contrasting manners. She argues that the apparently confident
doctrinal Socrates is in fact conducting the first step of an
examination: by eliciting his interlocutors' reactions, his
apparently doctrinal lectures reveal what his interlocutors believe
is the best way to live. She tests her hypothesis by close reading
of passages in the Theaetetus, Republic, and Phaedo. Her provocative
conclusion, that there is a single Socrates whose conception and
practice of philosophy remain the same throughout the dialogues, will be of
interest to a wide range of readers in ancient philosophy and
classics. More
A Companion to Greek Mythology by Ken Dowden
and Niall Livingstone (Blackwell Companions to
the Ancient World: Wiley-Blackwell) approaches the
richly diverse phenomenon of Greek myth from a
distinctive new angle -- one that delves deeply into its
origins in shared Indo-European story patterns and the
Greeks’ contacts with their Eastern Mediterranean
neighbours. Contributions from a team of international
experts trace the development of Greek myth into a
shared language, heritage, and way of thinking
throughout the entire Greco-Roman world.
Individual essays address such topics as how myths were
presented in stories, poems, dramas and all forms of
visual art, as well as the role of myth in philosophy,
learning, religion, mystery-cult, and Greek self
identity. Other essays explore contemporary reception of
Greek myth and the potential of modern theoretical
approaches. A Companion to Greek Mythology offers
invaluable insights into the ancient world that will
help to shape our understanding of the wide ranging
appeal and influence of Greek myth across the ages.
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Philosophical Genealogy Volume I: An Epistemological Reconstruction
of Nietzsche and Foucault's Genealogical Method by
Brian Lightbody (American University Studies Series V: v 208,
Philosophy: Peter Lang)
Philosophical Genealogy Volume II: An Epistemological Reconstruction
of Nietzsche and Foucault's Genealogical Method by Brian
Lightbody(American University Studies Series V: v 209, Philosophy: Peter
Lang) Philosophical Genealogy Volume I: An Epistemological
Reconstruction of Nietzsche and Foucault's Genealogical Method is a
rigorous examination of the philosophical investigatory practice
known as "genealogy." This critique of the philosophical tradition
leads to the creation of new values. Both Nietzsche and Foucault
extolled these critical and emancipatory virtues of genealogy.
Volume I examines the principal ontological and epistemological
problems with Nietzsche and Foucault's respective uses of the
genealogical method. It elucidates the differences between genealogy
and other forms of historical inquiry before turning to explicate,
in great detail, the three axes of genealogical inquiry: the power
axis, the truth axis and the ethical axis. Volume I explains the
very important role the body plays in a genealogical investigation
before examining several of the problems with the doctrine of perspectivism—a central component to a genealogical inquiry.
Volume II: An Epistemological Reconstruction of the Genealogical
Method, these problems are now resolved. Volume II establishes what
requisite ontological underpinnings are required in order to provide
a successful, epistemic reconstruction of the genealogical method.
Problems regarding the nature of the body, the relation between
power and resistance as well as the justification of Nietzschean
perspectivism, are now all clearly answered. It is shown that
genealogy is a profound, fecund and, most importantly, coherent
method of philosophical and historical investigation which may
produce many new discoveries in the fields of ethics and moral
inquiry`provided it is correctly employed.
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Warming the Stone Child: Myths and Stories about Abandonment and
the Unmothered Child by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, audiobook, 2 CDs,
unabridged, running time 1 hours (Jungian Storyteller Series: Sounds
True)
The pain of abandonment, both real and
metaphorical, can cast a shadow over a persons entire adult
experience.
Warming the Stone Child investigates the abandoned child
archetype in world myths and cultures to find clues about the
process of healing the unmothered child within us all. Spiced with
Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes' storytelling,
Warming the Stone Child is a unique listening experience with a
practical edge.
On 2 CDs, Estes leads listeners past the gates of the conscious mind
to discover the unmothered child within. Along the way, this gifted
storyteller and Jungian psychoanalyst instructs them about the
psychology of abandonment in childhood, how it affects them in later
life, and its curiously special gifts and powers. Drawing from many
world cultures, Estes has gathered a collection of deep myths,
fables, and fairy tales with adult listeners in mind. Her
storytelling creates a compelling picture of the orphan figure
through the ages, while helping listeners understand the meaning of
preadolescent`abandonment in their own lives.
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Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla's Hermeneutics by Elke Morlok (Mohr Siebeck) Elke Morlok deals with the hermeneutics of R. Joseph Gikatilla, one of the most outstanding and influential kabbalists of medieval Jewish mysticism. His literary creativity falls onto the last decades of the 13th century, when very innovative ideas on kabbalah and its hermeneutics were developed and formulated for the first time. The author analyzes several key concepts throughout his writings such as his ideas on letter combination, symbol, memory, imagination and ritual and their varying functions within the hermeneutical and theosophic structures that underlie Gikatilla's approach. With the application of methods derived from modern theories on language and literature, she tries to create the basis for a fruitful encounter between medieval mystical hermeneutics and postmodern hermeneutical approaches. As Gikatilla incorporates two main trends of kabbalistic thinking during the medieval period, he was one of the most valuable sources for Christian thinkers interested in medieval kabbalistic thought. More
Plato's Parmenides and Its' Heritage: History and Interpretation
from the Old Academy to Later Platonism and Gnosticism by
John D. Turner and Kevin Corrigan (Writings from the Greco-Roman
World Supplements, 2: Brill Academic)
Paper
Plato's Parmenides and Its' Heritage: Its Reception in Neoplatonic,
Jewish, and Christian Texts by John D. Turner and Kevin Corrigan
(Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplements, 3: Brill
Academic)
Paper
'Plato’s Parmenides and
Its Heritage' presents in two volumes ground-breaking results in the
history of interpretation of Plato’s Parmenides, the culmination of
six years of international collaboration by the SBL Annual Meeting
seminar, “Rethinking Plato’s Parmenides and Its Platonic, Gnostic
and Patristic Reception” (2001–2007).
The theme of Volume 1 is the dissolution of firm boundaries
for thinking about the tradition of Parmenides interpretation from
the Old Academy through Middle Platonism and Gnosticism. The volume
suggests a radically different interpretation of the history of
thought from Plato to Proclus than is customary by arguing against
Proclus’s generally accepted view that there was no metaphysical
interpretation of the Parmenides before Plotinus in the third
century C.E. Instead, this volume traces such metaphysical
interpretations, first, to Speusippus and the early Platonic
Academy; second, to the Platonism of the first and second centuries
C.E. in figures like Moderatus and Numenius; third, to the emergence
of an exegetical tradition that read Aristotle’s categories in
relation to the Parmenides; and, fourth, to important Middle
Platonic figures and texts. The contributors to Volume 1 are Kevin
Corrigan, Gerald Bechtle, Luc Brisson, John Dillon, Thomas Szlezák,
Zlatko Pleše, Noel Hubler, John D. Turner, Johanna Brankaer, Volker
Henning Drecoll, and Alain Lernould.
Volume 2 examines and establishes for the first time evidence for a
significant knowledge of the Parmenides in Philo, Clement, and
patristic sources. It offers an extensive and balanced analysis of
the case for and against the various possible attributions of date
and authorship of the Anonymous Commentary in relation to
Gnosticism, Middle Platonism, and Neoplatonism and argues that on
balance the case for a pre-Plotinian authorship is warranted. It
also undertakes for the first time in this form an examination of
the Parmenides in relation to Jewish and Christian thought, moving
from Philo and Clement through Origen and the Cappadocians to
Pseudo-Dionysius. The contributors to Volume 2 are Matthias Vorwerk,
Kevin Corrigan, Luc Brisson, Volker Henning Drecoll, Tuomas Rasimus,
John F. Finamore, John M. Dillon, Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Gerald Bechtle,
David T. Runia, Mark Edwards, Jean Reynard, and Andrew
Radde-Gallwitz.
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Popular Religion and Shamanism by
Edited by Ma Xisha and Meng Huiying
(Religious Studies in Contemporary China
Collection: Brill Academic) addresses
two areas of religion within Chinese
society; the lay teachings that Chinese
scholars term folk or `popular' religion,
and shamanism. Each area represents a
distinct tradition of scholarship, and the
book is therefore split into two parts.
PART I: Popular Religion discusses the evolution
of organized lay movements over an arc often
centuries. Its eight chapters focus on three
key points: the arrival and integration of
new ideas before the Song dynasty, the
coalescence of an intellectual and
scriptural tradition during the Ming, and
the efflorescence of new organizations
during the late Qing.
PART II: Shamanism reflects the revived interest
of scholars in traditional beliefs and
culture that reemerged with the 'open'
policy in China that occurred in the 197os.
Two of the essays included in this section
address shamanism in northeast China where
the traditions played an important role in
the cultures of the Manchu, Mongol, Sibe,
Daur, Oroqen, Evenki, and Hezhen. The other
essay discusses divination rites in a local
culture of southwest China.
Both sections of Popular Religion and
Shamanism will introduce Western readers to
the ideas of Chinese scholars, not just
their data.
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Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic by Inna Semetsky (Sense Publishers) This groundbreaking book brings depth of meaning and intellectual scholarship to the field of human development while also lifting the human spirit by offering new dimensions of self-formation through the ancient medium of Tarot. It should be of great interest to health and human service professionals. --JEAN WATSON, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing; author of Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring and Caring Science as Sacred Science.
Semetsky's book is a timely antidote for our current crises
in education. Drawing on her empirical research with Tarot and her
deep knowledge of Jungian psychology, she offers an approach to
education that stirs the depths of the Self as it deepens mind into
soul. Her Tarot hermeneutic opens a path toward a revolutionary
pedagogy that, in its commitment to the complexity, fullness and
fluidity of human subjectivity, recovers the ethical and therapeutic
dimensions of education. A bold book, a daring achievement, a spark
of illumination! --ROBERT D. ROMANYSHYN, Senior Core Faculty,
Pacifica Graduate Institute; Affiliate Member of the Inter-Regional
Society of Jungian Analysts; author of The Wounded Researcher:
Research with Soul in Mind and Ways of the Heart: Essays toward an
Imaginal Psychology.
This text elucidates the potential of Tarot well beyond its
popular usage. It demonstrates how Tarot can become a pedagogical
and counseling tool for enriching human experiences and the whole of
culture with wisdom, integrity, meaning, and spirituality. A must to
read! ---MARY K. GREER, author of Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook
for Personal Transformation.
Bringing together popular and academic cultures, Inna
Semetsky presents Tarot as a system of transformative hermeneutics
for adult self-education and cultural pedagogy. Her research is a
decisive and intelligent step ahead from the reductive stereotype of
Tarot as fortune-telling. The fifteen life stories at the heart of
the book exemplify the author's commitment to alternative modes of
education and counseling that transcend individual, cultural or
language barriers. Assembling a rich array of sources, from
Hermeticism to Jungian depth psychology, the philosophies of
Noddings, Buber, and Deleuze, and the science of self-organization,
this book opens a new path to personal and social revitalization. It
should be widely read across disciplinary divides by scholars,
students, and professionals alike. --PHILIP WEXLER, Professor,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem; author of Symbolic Movement:
Critique and Spirituality in Sociology of Education and Holy Sparks:
Social Theory, Education and Religion.
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Archetypal Cosmos: Rediscovering the Gods in Myth, Science, and
Astrology by Keiron Le Grice (Floris Books) The modern world is passing through a period of critical change
on many levels: cultural, political, ecological and spiritual. We
are witnessing the decline and dissolution of the old order, the
tumult and uncertainty of a new birth. Against this background,
Keiron Le Grice argues that the developing insights of a new
cosmology could provide a coherent framework of meaning to lead us
beyond the growing fragmentation of culture, belief and personal
identity.
In a compelling synthesis of the ideas of seminal thinkers from
depth psychology and new paradigm science, Le Grice positions the
new discipline of archetypal astrology at the centre of an emerging
world view that reunifies psyche and cosmos, spirituality and
science, mythology and metaphysics, enabling us to see mythic gods,
heroes and themes in a fresh light.
Heralding a 'rediscovery of the gods' and the passage into a new
spiritual era, The Archetypal Cosmos presents a new understanding of
the role of myth and archetypal principles in our lives, one that
could give a cosmic perspective and deeper meaning to our personal
experience.
Keiron Le Grice, Ph.D., is founder and co-editor of
Archai: The
Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. He is adjunct faculty in the
Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness programme at the California
Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
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Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy by Paul C.
Gutjahr (Oxford University Press) Charles Hodge (1797-1878)
was one of nineteenth-century America's leading theologians, owing
in part to a lengthy teaching career, voluminous writings, and a
faculty post at one of the nation's most influential schools,
Princeton Theological Seminary. Surprisingly, the only biography of
this towering figure was written by his son, just two years after
his death. Paul Gutjahr's book, therefore, is the first modern
critical biography of a man some have called the "Pope of
Presbyterianism." Hodge's legacy is especially important to American
Presbyterians. His brand of theological conservatism became vital in
the 1920s, as Princeton Seminary saw itself, and its denomination,
split. The conservative wing held unswervingly to the Old School
tradition championed by Hodge, and ultimately founded the breakaway
Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The views that Hodge developed,
refined, and propagated helped shape many of the central traditions
of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American evangelicalism.
Hodge helped establish a profound reliance on the Bible among
evangelicals, and he became one of the nation's most vocal
proponents of biblical inerrancy. Gutjahr's study reveals the
exceptional depth, breadth, and longevity of Hodge's theological
influence and illuminates the varied and complex nature of
conservative American Protestantism.
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The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity 2 Volume Set
by Lloyd P. Gerson (Cambridge University Press) The Cambridge
History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity comprises
over forty
specially commissioned essays by experts on the philosophy of
the period 200–800 CE. Designed as a successor to
The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy
(ed. A. H. Armstrong), it takes into account some forty years of
scholarship since the publication of that volume. The contributors
examine philosophy as it entered literature, science and religion,
and offer new and extensive assessments of philosophers who until
recently have been mostly ignored. The volume also includes a
complete digest of all philosophical works known to have been
written during this period. It will be an invaluable resource for
all those interested in this rich and still emerging field.
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The Kabbalistic Culture of Eighteenth-Century Prague: Ezekiel Landau (the 'Noda Biyehudah') and His Contemporaries by Sharon Flatto (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization: Littman) This is the first critical account of the life and writings of Ezekiel Landau, chief rabbi of Prague from 1754 to 1793 and one of the most significant figures of eighteenth-century Jewish history. His counsel was sought by a wide spectrum of rabbinic leaders, scholars, and laity, and his writings continue to shape Jewish law and rabbinic thought to this day. This study reconstructs the intellectual world of the traditional society in which Landau lived. In doing so it emphasizes the dominance of rabbinic culture in the city at this period, the importance of kabbalistic ideas and practices, and its numerous distinguished figures and institutions. In focusing on the city's vibrant rabbinic culture and analysing the spiritual trends that animated it, it demonstrates that Prague's late eighteenth-century rabbinate was more influential, more conservative, and less open to modernization and Haskalah than previously recognized, and shaped more by eastern European Jewish culture rather than by Western influences. Landau is best known for his authorship of the rabbinical responsa published as Noda Biyehudah and is generally seen as staunchly opposed to esoteric practices. This study challenges that view, exposing the central importance of kabbalah in Landau's works and thought and showing that he frequently blended teachings from diverse kabbalistic schools and trends in a syncretic and original manner. It also identifies the factors underlying his reluctance to discuss kabbalah publicly. Instead of focusing solely on the history of events, this work examines the ideas that remained widespread among Prague Jews despite the tumultuous times in which they lived. Landau devoted much of his career to shaping the values and practices of his community and frequently tailored his works to their needs, beliefs, and mentalities. Accordingly, his writings and numerous other contemporary sources provide us with a unique glimpse into the spiritual and psychological world of eighteenth-century Prague Jews. All Landau's rabbinic writings are utilized in this book, as well as a variety of archival and published German, Yiddish, and Hebrew sources. By unraveling and examining the many diverse threads that were interwoven into the fabric of Prague's eighteenth-century Jewish life, this study offers a more complete portrayal of rabbinic culture during the last years that it thrived in one of most important centres of European Jewry. More
Judah Moscato Sermons: Edition and Translation, Volume One by
Gianfranco Miletto and Giuseppe Veltri (Studies in Jewish
History and Culture: Brill Academic) Judah ben Joseph Moscato (c.1533–1590) was one of the most
distinguished rabbis, authors, and preachers of the Italian-Jewish
Renaissance. The book Sefer Nefusot Yehudah belongs to the
very centre of his important homiletic and philosophical oeuvre.
Composed in Mantua and published in Venice in 1589, the collection
of 52 sermons addresses the subject of the Jewish festivals,
focusing on philosophy, mysticism, sciences and rites. This and
subsequent volumes will provide a critical edition of the original
Hebrew text, accompanied by an English translation. All those interested in intellectual history, the history of Jewish philosophy, homiletics, philologists, theologians, and specialists of Hebraic and Italian culture.
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Rabbinic Parodies of Jewish and Christian
Literature by Holger Michael
Zellentin (Texts and Studies in
Ancient Judaism, 139: Mohr Siebeck)
Do the Talmud and Midrash engage in
parody?
Holger Michael Zellentin seeks to assess how
the classical rabbis
imitate previous texts with comical
difference. The
result shows rabbinic society and its
literature participating confidently in the
great debates of the Byzantine and the Sasanian Empires, commenting on issues such
as pedagogy, abstinence, dream
interpretation, inheritance law, ritual
purity, and Christian supersessionism and
asceticism. In constant conversation with
the Hebrew Bible, the rabbis reveal
themselves as capable of critically
reinventing the
Jewish tradition, as well as of playfully
engaging select Gospel passages favoured by
their Christian interlocutors.
Parody is constituted by literary
repetition of a text in a manner that
introduces some variation; most succinctly
put, it is repetition with a difference. The
Late Antique Rabbis, however, habitually
repeat tradition in new contexts, creating
difference devoid of parody. How, then, do
we recognize parodic difference? The
following story from the Palestinian Talmud
(henceforth: Yerushalmi) marks its
repetition of Scripture as grotesquely
different and thereby as charged with
parody.
More
New Dangerous Liaisons: Discourses on Europe and Love in the Twentieth Century by Luisa Passerini, Liliana Ellena, and Alexander C. T. Geppert (Making Sense of History: Berghahn) In Europe, love has been given a prominent place in European self-representations from the Enlightenment onwards. The category of love, stemming from private and personal spheres, was given a public function and used to distinguish European civilization from others. Contributors to this volume trace historical links and analyze specific connections between the two discourses on love and Europe over the course of the twentieth century, exploring the distinctions made between the public and private, the political and personal. In doing so, this volume develops an innovative historiography that includes such resources as autobiographies, love letters, and cinematic representations and takes issue with the exclusivity of Eurocentrism. Its contributors put forth hypotheses about the historical pre-eminence of emotions and consider this history as a basis for a non-Eurocentric understanding of new possible European identities. More
Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose and Letters by Elizabeth
Bishop, Robert Giroux, and Lloyd Schwartz (Library of
America) On the occasion this month of the 100th birthday of one of
America's greatest modem poets, The Library of America wants to
remind you of its recently published collection:
Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose and Letters. With this
landmark volume, Elizabeth Bishop joins the short list of American
poets whose work has been collected and preserved in The Library of
America: Poe, Whitman, Longfellow, Pound, Crane, Frost, and Stevens.
This carefully edited book collects much of Bishop's
poetry and prose--fiction, memoir, reportage,
reviews--between two covers for the first time. This edition is the first to contain all the poetry that Bishop
published in her lifetime - including the classic volumes North &
South, A Cold Spring, Questions of Travel, and Geography III - and
an extensive selection of unpublished poems and drafts of poems, as
well as all of her published poetic translations. The volume also
brings together most of her published prose writings, including
fiction, reminiscences, travel writing about the places (Nova
Scotia, Florida, Brazil) that so profoundly marked her poetry, and
literary essays, including a number of pieces not previously
collected. The book is rounded out with a selection of 49 letters
written between 1933 and 1979, to such correspondents as Robert
Lowell, Marianne Moore, and Randall Jarrell. The result is a single
edition that offers a full-scale presentation of a writer of
startling range and originality, the perfect introduction for readers new to Bishop's work, and the ultimate
collector's edition for her many devoted fans.
More
The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to
Augustine by Simon Price and Peter Thonemann
(Viking) An innovative and intriguing look at the
foundations of Western civilization from two leading
historians.
The influence of ancient Greece and Rome can be seen in
every aspect of our lives. From calendars to democracy
to the very languages we speak, Western civilization
owes a debt to these classical societies. Yet the Greeks
and Romans did not emerge fully formed; their culture
grew from an active engagement with a deeper past,
drawing on ancient myths and figures to shape vibrant
civilizations.
In The Birth of Classical Europe, the latest entry in
the Penguin History of Europe, historians Simon Price
and Peter Thonemann present a fresh perspective on
classical culture in a book full of revelations about
civilizations we thought we knew. In this impeccably
researched and immensely readable history we see the
ancient world unfold before us, with its grand cast of
characters stretching from the great Greeks of myth to
the world-shaping Caesars. A landmark achievement, The
Birth of Classical Europe provides insight into an epoch
that is both incredibly foreign and surprisingly
familiar.
More
Jung in the 21st Century Volume One: Evolution and Archetype
by John Ryan Haule (Routledge) The first volume
provides an original overview of Jung's work, demonstrating that it
is fully compatible with contemporary views in science. It draws on
a wide range of scientific disciplines including, evolution,
neurobiology, primatology, archaeology and anthropology.
Divided into three parts, areas of discussion include:
Jung in the 21st Century Volume One: Evolution and Archetype, is
an invaluable resource for all those in the field of analytical
psychology, including students of Jung, psychoanalysts and
psychotherapists with an interest in the meeting of Jung and
science.
Jung in the 21st Century Volume Two: Synchronicity and Science
by John Ryan Haule (Routledge) The second volume
explores Jung's understanding of synchronicity and argues that it
offers an important contribution to contemporary science. Whilst the
scientific world has often ignored Jung's theories as being too much
like mysticism, Haule argues that what the human psyche knows beyond
sensory perception is extremely valuable.
Divided into two parts, areas of discussion include:
Jung in the 21st Century Volume Two Synchronicity and Science continues to be an invaluable resource for all those in the field of analytical psychology, including students of Jung, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists with an interest in the meeting of Jung and science. More
New Horizons in the Neuroscience of Consciousness by Elaine K. Perry, Daniel Collerton, Fiona E.N. LeBeau, and Heather Ashton (Advances in Consciousness Research: John Benjamins Publishing Company) A fascinating cornucopia of new ideas, based on fundamentals of neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry and therapy, this book extends boundaries of current concepts of consciousness. Its eclectic mix will simulate and challenge not only neuroscientists and psychologists but entice others interested in exploring consciousness. Contributions from top researchers in consciousness and related fields project diverse ideas, focused mainly on conscious nonconscious interactions:
This is a unique book on consciousness. It is a fascinating cornucopia of new ideas on the subject, based on the fundamentals of neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry and therapy that extends the boundaries of current concepts of consciousness. Readers, not only neuroscientists and psychologists but also professionals from other quarters of the academic world with a general interest in exploring consciousness, should find this eclectic mix as stimulating and challenging as we do. More
Images of Medieval Sanctity
by Debra Higgs Strickland
(Visualising the Middle Ages: Brill Academic) Assembled on the occasion of Gary Dickson's
retirement from the University of Edinburgh following a
distinguished career as an internationally acclaimed
scholar of medieval social and religious history, this
volume contains contributions by both established and
newer scholars inspired by Dickson's particular interests in medieval popular religion,
including 'religious enthusiasm'. Together, the essays
comprise a comprehensive and rich investigation of the
idea of sanctity and its many medieval manifestations
across time (fifth through fifteenth centuries) and in
different geographical locations (England, Scotland,
France, Italy, the Low Countries). By approaching the
theme of sanctity from multiple disciplinary
perspectives, this highly original collection pushes
forward current academic thinking about medieval
hagiography, iconography, social history, women's
studies, and architectural history.
See example of her
article on the holy and unholy in representation.
DEBRA HIGGS STRICKLAND, Ph.D. (1993) in Art History,
Columbia University, is Deputy Director of the Glasgow
Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University
of Glasgow. Her major publications include
Saracens,
Demons, and Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art (Princeton, 2003).
More
The Afterlife of Raphael's Paintings by Cathleen Hoeniger (Cambridge University Press) Raphael is one of the rare artists who have never gone out of fashion. Acclaimed during his lifetime, he was imitated by contemporaries and served as a model for painters through the nineteenth century. Because of the artist's renown, his works have continuously been subject to care, conservation, and restoration. In The Afterlife of Raphael's Paintings, Cathleen Hoeniger, Associate Professor of Art History at Queen's University, focuses on the legacy of Raphael's art: the historical trajectory or afterlife of the paintings themselves. More
Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film by Philippa Gates (State University of New York Press) In this study of more than three hundred films, Philippa Gates explores the woman detective figure from her pre-cinematic origins in nineteenth-century detective fiction through her many incarnations throughout the history of Hollywood cinema. Through the lens of theories of gender, genre, and stardom and engaging with the critical concepts of performativity, masquerade, and feminism, Detecting Women analyzes constructions of the female investigator in the detective genre and focuses on the evolution of her representation from 1929 to today. While a popular assumption is that images of women have become increasingly positive over this period, Gates argues that the most progressive and feminist models of the female detective exist in mainstream film's more peripheral products, such as 1930s B pictures and 1970s blaxploitation films. Offering revisions and new insights into peripheral forms of mainstream film, Gates explores this space that allows a fantasy of resolution of social anxieties about crime and, more interestingly, gender, in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Gates, Associate Professor of Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, is also the author of Detecting Men: Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective Film. More
Collage, Colour and Texture in Painting by Mike Bernard and Robin Capon (Batsford) From the time I was at art college I have always felt that, rather than aiming to make an image that was completely faithful to the original scene, sketch or inspiration, it was more important to create an interesting painting. By this, I mean that the completed picture should be exciting to look at and have an overall coherence and impact. This does not necessarily preclude it from evoking a particular sense of place, of course, but it will show this with an emphasis on personal interpretation and will have been influenced by things that have happened during the painting process. More
Cold Eye by Dan Burt and Paul Hodgson (Carcanet Press Ltd) Cold Eye" is a collaboration between an artist and a poet to examine the creative process. The work yokes ten images with ten poems and in so doing one explores the other: text uses apposition to excavate image and its genesis, and image illuminates text and its content. Image and text share a sense of doubt which permeates the work and its subjects. The drive to present a clear, cold view of them is always paramount. More
Eroticism and Death in Theatre and Performance by Karoline Gritzner (University Of Hertfordshire Press) Exploring a range of topics, including Greek tragedy, Shakespearean theater, contemporary British plays, opera, and the theatricality of Parisian culture, this compilation provides new perspectives on the relationship between Eros and Death in a series of dramatic texts, theatrical practices, and cultural performances. Detailed and analytical, these informative essays demonstrate how changing attitudes towards sexuality and death—opposed but entangled passions—were reflected in theater throughout the course of history. Psychoanalytical and philosophical models are also referenced in this work that features essays from dramatists Dic Edwards, David Ian Rabey, and David Rudkin. More
From Hieroglyphics to Isotype: A Visual Autobiography by Otto Neurath (Hyphen, Princeton Architectural Press) From 1943 until his death in December 1945, Austrian sociologist Otto Neurath worked tirelessly on numerous versions of an innovative visual autobiography entitled From Hieroglyphics to Isotype. Now, sixty-five years later, comes the first publication of his full text, carefully edited from the original manuscripts. This edition highlights the important role visual material played in Neurath's life—from his earliest years to his professional work on the Isotype picture language. This engaging and informal account gives a rich picture of Central-European culture around the turn of the twentieth century, seen through the eyes of Neurath's insatiable intelligence, as well as a detailed exposition of the technique of Isotype. From Hieroglyphics to Isotype includes an appendix showing examples from Neurath's extensive collection of visual material. More
Green Interior Design by Lori Dennis (Allworth Press) Since
average Americans spend 90 percent of their lives indoors, it is no
wonder they are looking homeward to become more environmentally
friendly. While jumping in with both feet works for some,
transforming the home into a green Mecca can be overwhelming.
How does one design and craft green interiors? Is it difficult to
make the change? With all the product choices flooding the
marketplace, how does one choose the right ones? Is designing green
too expensive?
More
Crows, Cranes & Camellias by Amy Reigle Newland (Hotei Publishing, Brill Academic) Little is known about the artist Ohara Koson (1877-1945), whose career bridged the era between the decline of the full-coloured woodblock print (nishiki-e) in the late 19th century/early 20th century and the emergence of the Shin hanga ('new print') movement in the 1910s. An artist principally marketed abroad, Koson's bird-and-flower prints met with great success in the United States and Europe. He has only recently received attention in his native Japan following the discovery of important reference material including original sketches and paintings for his prints. More
The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie by Tony Curtis and Mark A. Vieira (Wiley) Some Like It Hot occupies a unique place in American culture. This beloved classic showcases five comic geniuses: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, I. A. L. Diamond, Billy Wilder, and Marilyn Monroe. It has been honored by the American Film Institute as the "Funniest Film of All Time". It has contributed quotes, styles, and stories to film lore. Yet the full story of its making has never been told—until now. More
RGB: British Graphics by Marc Valli and
Richard Brereton (Actar) A comprehensive, up-to-date collection of
the most exciting new graphic-design in the United Kingdom. What
design scene is as diverse or cosmopolitan, more rich in influences
and references, as packed with new trends and original ideas, as
teeming with talent and ambition than the UK? To stand out in this
competitive arena, British graphic designers have had to make their
work ever more clever and polished, better informed. This fuels the
distinctive, refined styles of such artists as Mark Farrow, Sea,
Spin, Browns, Fuel, James Joyce, Zak, Studio 8 and Bibliotek. The UK
(especially urban hotbeds like London, Manchester and Sheffield) is
also a greenhouse for new musical styles and youth trends, and a
fertile ground for eccentric visual artists like Non-Format, Ben
Drury, The Designers Republic; and of course, also a major financial
nucleus for studios like William Paul, BB Saunders and Saturday
marking their styles and brands across the world. The main question
in compiling a book on the best of new British design is not what to
put in, but what to leave out. Stylistic novelty and visual
distinctiveness are our key parameters. RGB features artists from
highly diverse backgrounds, at all different stages in their
careers, from household names to the newest young talents. RGB
captures the UK s explosively vibrant and unpredictable realm of
graphic design, in over 280 pages packed with exciting visual
material.
The first question one has to ask is: but is there such a thing
as British graphics? What can legitimately be called British, and
what cannot? Tricky question. Contemporary Britain is unmistakably
cosmopolitan. A selection criteria based purely on nationality, on
passports, would not do the trick. Even the idea of focussing on
practitioners who reside in the UK was problematic: in the age of
broadband, designers can move freely around the world, while
continuing to work for British clients and within a British sphere.
We therefore decided to use the looser, trickier idea of
'belonging', or 'fellowship', constantly asking the question: how
does this work fit into the UK's visual art scene? But that brings
us back to our starting point: what is that then? Is there such a
thing as British graphics?
More
Manet, Baudelaire and Photography Book 1 & Manet, Baudelaire and Photography Book 2 by Larry Leroy Ligo (Edwin Mellen Press) Professor Ligo s defense and illustration of his claim that Manet s work represents an intelligent and active attempt to embody the modernist aesthetic of his friend, the poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire, makes for absorbing reading. Well aware of the many reasons why Baudelaire may not have been either willing or able to write a full-length essay on Manet in the years 1863-1866 when he knew him best (hard years for Baudelaire, who would die in 1867 and who had lived in Brussels since 1864, in a desperate search for funds and publishers), Professor Ligo fills in the background details both on the friendship between the two men and the artistic life of the times. There are fascinating parallels between specific works by the two artists (Baudelaire’s essay on Wagner s "Tannhauser", for instance, seen in tandem with Manet s "D’jeuner sur l herbe" and particularly interesting arguments about photography and the place of the crowd for both Baudelaire and Manet. Dr. Ligo makes a strong and well-documented case for his conviction that Manet consciously decided to take up the challenge to contemporary painters that Baudelaire sets down in his famous and influential essay, “The Painter of Modern Life”. There is much here for scholars of both Baudelaire and Manet (the parallels enable us to see each in a different light) and for the general reader interested in impressionism, the influence of photography and/or aesthetics more broadly. More
Cézanne in Provence edited by Philip Conisbee and Denis Coutagne (Yale University Press) It was in Paris, not Provence, that Cézanne's art history was made. The centre of the artworld has since been shifted from Paris by the rise of America, but power relations between periphery and centre prevail. The major exhibition that gave rise to this catalogue (available in English and French) would not have been possible without the power of the centre, Washington's National Gallery of Art. The Musée Granet in Aix was thereby able to offer a blockbuster show as a major tourist magnet for the Midi during summer 2006, when the Jas de Bouffan opened to the public. All this is part of a project, 'Cézanne 2006', backed by various development agencies. What is represented for cultural tourism is 'Cézanne's Provence', a short-circuit of nature and painter in which the genius loci of the Aixois landscape supposedly formed Cézanne's approach and the art then forged how we came to see this terrain. More
Choreographing Empathy: Kinesthesia in Performance
by
Susan Leigh Foster (Routledge) What do we feel when we watch dancing? Do we "dance along"
inwardly? Do we sense what the dancer’s body is feeling? Do we
imagine what it might feel like to perform those same moves? If we
do, how do these responses influence how we experience dancing and
how we derive significance from it?
Choreographing Empathy challenges the idea of a direct
psychophysical connection between the body of a dancer and that of
their observer. In this groundbreaking investigation, Susan Foster
argues that the connection is in fact highly mediated and influenced
by ever-changing sociocultural mores.
Foster examines the relationships between three central
components in the experience of watching a dance – the choreography,
the kinesthetic sensations it puts forward, and the empathetic
connection that it proposes to viewers. Tracing the changing
definitions of choreography, kinesthesia, and empathy from the 1700s
to the present day, she shows how the observation, study, and
discussion of dance have changed over time. Understanding this
development is key to understanding corporeality and its involvement
in the body politic.
More
An Annotated Bibliography of Guitar Methods, 1760-1860: An
Annotated Bibliography by Erik Stenstadvold, General Editor: Ardal
Powell (Organologia: Instruments and Performance Practice Series,
No. 4: Pendragon Press) In 1825, the French guitarist Charles de
Marescot wrote in the introduction to his Methode de Guitare that
"there is perhaps no other instrument for which there have been
published so many methods as for the guitar". Marescot's observation
appears to be correct: the present bibliography lists more than 300
different tutors by some 200 authors, published during approximately
one hundred years, c.17601860; if re-issues and new editions are
counted, the number of methods exceeds 400. This is a considerably
larger number of tutors than for the piano or violin, and a
surprising record for an instrument often considered second-rate by
the musical establishment.
The period 1760-1860 is not arbitrarily chosen. The middle of
the eighteenth century represents an important break in the
history of the guitar in that staff notation was introduced in
place of tablature. Accordingly, this survey begins with the
very first guitar methods in staff notation, published in Paris
in the late 1750s. Although the end point, 1860, does not
represent a similar milestone, a termination date had to be set,
and one hundred years is in itself a well-defined period.
Equally important, however, is that from the middle of the
nineteenth century the guitar fell more and more into oblivion
as a serious instrument: it became mostly associated with
popular songs and light music. Most of the relatively few tutors
that were published after 1860 reflect that sad state of
affairs. With their limited scope, they are generally of less
interest to guitarists and guitar historians of today.
More
Music for Ear Training (with CD-ROM): CD-ROM and Workbook 3rd Edition [Spiral-bound]by Michael Horvit, Timothy Koozin, and Robert Nelson, (Schirmer) When it comes to improving ear training and listening skills, choose the standard in ear training instruction.Taking a hybrid approach, the workbook and CD deliver a wealth of practical material designed to help you quickly improve your listening and ear training skills. The dual-format CD-ROM provides an easy-to-use interface for listening with varied general MIDI instrumental sounds. The dictation repertoire includes basic rudiments (intervals, chords, and scales), melodies, four-part harmonic settings, and varied textures from musical literature. More
Music for Sight Singing
5th
edition[Spiral-bound] by
Thomas E. Benjamin, Michael Horvit, Robert S.
Nelson (Schirmer) Designed for the
"musicianship" portion of the freshman theory sequence presents
music that is carefully chosen to challenge--not overwhelm--the
student.
Ease into sight singing, with this accessible text that offers an
array of beginning-level pieces designed to build your musicianship
skills and your confidence at the same time. The authors'
multifaceted approach includes a variety of examples, exercises, and
musical genres that ensure well-rounded skill development, from
simple rhythms and melodies to duets and canons.
More
Beethoven's Tempest Sonata: Perspectives of Analysis and Performance edited by P. Berge, W.E. Caplin, and J. D'hoe (Analysis In Context. Leuven Studies In Musicology: Peeters) For music analysts and performers alike, Beethoven's Tempest sonata (1802) represents one of the most challenging pieces of the classical and early romantic piano repertoire. This book is a collection of eleven essays, each dealing with this sonata from a different analytical perspective and investigating the possible connections between music analysis and the practice of performance. Under the editorship of Pieter Berge, Jeroen D'hoe and William E. Caplin, the book presents essays by Scott Burnham (hermeneutics), Poundie Burstein (Schenkerian approach), Kenneth Hamilton (history of performance), Robert Hatten (semiotics), James Hepokoski (Sonata Theory), William Kinderman (source studies), William Rothstein (tempo, rhythm, and meter), Douglas Seaton (narratology), Steven Vande Moortele (20th-century Formenlehre) and the editors themselves (motivic analysis and form-functional approach respectively). More
The Orpehus Myth and the Powers of Music
by Vladimir Marchenkov
(Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue: Pendragon)
examines the key turning points in the history of the
Orpheus myth as factors that shaped, and continues to shape, our
conceptions of music's powers. From its beginnings in archaic
Antiquity to the latest major opera based on it, the story of
Orpheus and Eurydice has been used by poets, philosophers, and
musicians to express an increasingly complex set of ideas about what
music can do. The study follows three threads in the myth's history:
changes in form, cultural status, and the resulting visions of the
powers of song.
The most spectacular change in form is the role played by
Eurydice who evolves from a generic, voiceless type into a rich
music-philosophical symbol. Equally fascinating is the entangled
issue of Orpheus's success and failure. In terms of cultural status,
the story remains a genuine myth—even alongside its non-mythical
forms—until the early modern period. Modernity problematizes the
existence of myth but its mythophobia becomes a symptom of its own
profound irrationality. Accordingly, the powers of music evolve from
mythic omnipotence to screaming contradictions that demand, but fail
to achieve, resolution. From Monteverdi and Striggio-to Birtwistle
and Zinovieff, composers and librettists turn to Orpheus and
Eurydice to express their sense of music's place in human existence.
The undulating tapestry of their strikingly diverse answers points
to the need to rethink, once again, the fundamentals of our musical
culture. More
Plato on Music, Soul and Body by Francesco Pelosi
(Cambridge University Press) Plato's reflection on the relationship between soul and body has
attracted scholars' attention since antiquity. Less noted, but
worthy of consideration, is Plato's thought on music and its effects
on human beings. This book adopts an innovative approach towards
analysing the soul—body problem by uncovering and emphasising the
philosophical value of Plato's treatment of the phenomenon of music.
By investigating in detail how Plato conceives of the musical
experience and its influence on intelligence, passions`and
perceptions, it illuminates the intersection of cognitive and
emotional functions in Plato's philosophy of mind.
FRANCESCO PELOSI obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy at the Scuola
Normale Superiore in Pisa. His main field of research is the
relation between music and philosophy in ancient Greece.
More
Plato's Parmenides and Its' Heritage: History and Interpretation
from the Old Academy to Later Platonism and Gnosticism by
John D. Turner and Kevin Corrigan (Writings from the Greco-Roman
World Supplements, 2: Brill Academic)
Paper
Plato's Parmenides and Its' Heritage: Its Reception in Neoplatonic,
Jewish, and Christian Texts by John D. Turner and Kevin Corrigan
(Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplements, 3: Brill
Academic)
Paper
'Plato’s Parmenides and
Its Heritage' presents in two volumes ground-breaking results in the
history of interpretation of Plato’s Parmenides, the culmination of
six years of international collaboration by the SBL Annual Meeting
seminar, “Rethinking Plato’s Parmenides and Its Platonic, Gnostic
and Patristic Reception” (2001–2007).
The theme of Volume 1 is the dissolution of firm boundaries
for thinking about the tradition of Parmenides interpretation from
the Old Academy through Middle Platonism and Gnosticism. The volume
suggests a radically different interpretation of the history of
thought from Plato to Proclus than is customary by arguing against
Proclus’s generally accepted view that there was no metaphysical
interpretation of the Parmenides before Plotinus in the third
century C.E. Instead, this volume traces such metaphysical
interpretations, first, to Speusippus and the early Platonic
Academy; second, to the Platonism of the first and second centuries
C.E. in figures like Moderatus and Numenius; third, to the emergence
of an exegetical tradition that read Aristotle’s categories in
relation to the Parmenides; and, fourth, to important Middle
Platonic figures and texts. The contributors to Volume 1 are Kevin
Corrigan, Gerald Bechtle, Luc Brisson, John Dillon, Thomas Szlezák,
Zlatko Pleše, Noel Hubler, John D. Turner, Johanna Brankaer, Volker
Henning Drecoll, and Alain Lernould.
Volume 2 examines and establishes for the first time evidence for a
significant knowledge of the Parmenides in Philo, Clement, and
patristic sources. It offers an extensive and balanced analysis of
the case for and against the various possible attributions of date
and authorship of the Anonymous Commentary in relation to
Gnosticism, Middle Platonism, and Neoplatonism and argues that on
balance the case for a pre-Plotinian authorship is warranted. It
also undertakes for the first time in this form an examination of
the Parmenides in relation to Jewish and Christian thought, moving
from Philo and Clement through Origen and the Cappadocians to
Pseudo-Dionysius. The contributors to Volume 2 are Matthias Vorwerk,
Kevin Corrigan, Luc Brisson, Volker Henning Drecoll, Tuomas Rasimus,
John F. Finamore, John M. Dillon, Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Gerald Bechtle,
David T. Runia, Mark Edwards, Jean Reynard, and Andrew
Radde-Gallwitz.
More
Parmenides, Plato and Mortal Philosophy: Return from Transcendence
by Vishwa Adluri
(Continuum) Parmenides has survived the "parricide" committed against him
in Plato's Sophist
and in every philosophy of plurality and becoming. Despite the
brevity of the fragments of his poem, supposedly titled
On Nature (Peri
Phuseos), and the apparent simplicity of its central
thought -- "being is" -- Parmenides continues to nourish
speculation, historical research, and philological debate. We
now even have Parmenides Publishing, which has printed or
reprinted over half a dozen studies of the pre-Socratic to date.
The series Continuum Studies in Ancient Philosophy currently
includes no fewer than three books on the topic: Raymond Tallis'
The Enduring Significance
of Parmenides, Lisa Atwood Wilkinson's
Parmenides and To Eon,
and Vishwa Adluri's
Parmenides, Plato, and Mortal Philosophy. Adluri's work
stands out for the radicality of its argument, the subtlety of
its interdisciplinary interpretations, and the forthright
passion that motivates it.
Adluri's radical reading denies that Parmenides is the enemy
of plurality and becoming. How can this be, if the poem bluntly
argues that, since "being is," becoming is unthinkable and being
is eternally one -- pastless, futureless, and featureless? The
answer begins in plain sight, on the surface of the poem, but
this surface has been ignored all too often by readers who
assume they already know what Parmenides stands for.
Parmenides does not in fact say "being is." The phrase (with its
sundry tortured variations) is uttered by an unnamed goddess who
addresses the poem's narrator. The poem begins in the first
person, describing the narrator's (Parmenides'?) passionate
journey ("as far as
thumos might reach," fragment 1, line 1) to the gates of
the divine domain. The goddess then welcomes the voyager and
presents two accounts: an account of the "truth" (monistic
being) and an account of mortal opinions about the mutable
cosmos. The usual assumption is that the first-person proem is
window dressing: like the dactylic hexameter, it is a remnant of
or concession to the prephilosophical, mythmaking culture from
which Parmenides is emerging. The goddess' first account is
assumed to be Parmenides' own theory. Her second account is then
problematic: if there is
nothing but being, how can there "be" a plurality of phenomena,
opinions (whether true or untrue), and opiners? Parmenides the
monist turns out to be an extreme dualist, due to his
uncompromising split between reality and appearance. Our task is
then to construct a logical solution to this split -- if not
within Parmenides' theory itself, then in our own physical or
metaphysical theories.
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Interpreting Heidegger: Critical Essays by Lee Braver (Cambridge University Press) This volume of essays by internationally prominent scholars interprets the full range of Heidegger's thought and major critical interpretations of it. It explores such central themes as hermeneutics, facticity and Ereignis, conscience in Being and Time, freedom in the writings of his period of transition from fundamental ontology, and his mature criticisms of metaphysics and ontotheology. The volume also examines Heidegger's interpretations of other authors, the philosophers Aristotle, Kant and Nietzsche and the poets Rilke, Trakl and George. A final group of essays interprets the critical reception of Heidegger's thought, both in the analytic tradition (Ryle, Carnap, Rorty and Dreyfus) and in France (Derrida and Lévinas). This rich and wide-ranging collection will appeal to all who are interested in the themes, the development and the context of Heidegger's philosophical thought. More
Existence and the Good: Metaphysical Necessity in Morals and Politics by Franklin I. Gamwell (State University of New York Press, SUNY) These are bold assertions in a climate where the credibility of metaphysics is widely denied. Indeed, for the past two centuries, Western philosophy has been marked by a consensus that questions about moral and political life should be considered separately from questions about ultimate reality. In this challenging work, Franklin I. Gamwell defends metaphysical necessity against both modern and postmodern critiques. The metaphysics vindicated is not the traditional form both critiques typically have in view, however. Instead, Gamwell outlines a neoclassical project for which Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne are the main philosophical resources. As it maintains the significance of theistic metaphysics, the book makes no appeal to religious authority but solely to common human experience, and on this basis articulates principles of human purpose and democratic justice. More
Socrates and Philosophy in the Dialogues of Plato by
Sandra Peterson (Cambridge University Press) In Plato's Apology, Socrates says he spent his life examining and questioning people on how best to live, while avowing that he himself knows nothing important. Elsewhere, however, for example in Plato's Republic, Plato's Socrates
presents radical and grandiose theses.
In this book Sandra Peterson
offers a new hypothesis which explains the puzzle of Socrates' two
contrasting manners. She argues that the apparently confident
doctrinal Socrates is in fact conducting the first step of an
examination: by eliciting his interlocutors' reactions, his
apparently doctrinal lectures reveal what his interlocutors believe
is the best way to live. She tests her hypothesis by close reading
of passages in the Theaetetus, Republic, and Phaedo. Her provocative
conclusion, that there is a single Socrates whose conception and
practice of philosophy remain the same throughout the dialogues, will be of
interest to a wide range of readers in ancient philosophy and
classics. More
The Unconcept: The Freudian Uncanny in Late-Twentieth-Century Theory by Anneleen Masschelein (SUNY Series, Insinuations: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Literature: SUNY, State University of New York Press) The Unconcept is the first genealogy of the concept of the Freudian uncanny. It traces the development, paradoxes, and movements of this negative concept through various fields and disciplines from psychoanalysis, literary theory, and philosophy to film studies, genre studies, sociology, religion, architecture theory, and contemporary art. Anneleen Masschelein explores the vagaries of this "unconcept" in the twentieth century, beginning with Freud's seminal essay "The Uncanny," through a period of conceptual latency, leading to the first real conceptualizations in the 1970s and then on to the present dissemination of the uncanny to exotic fields such as hauntology, the study of ghosts, robotics, and artificial intelligence. She unearths new material on the uncanny from the English, French, and German traditions, and sheds light on the status of the concept in contemporary theory and practice in the humanities. In this essential reference book for researchers and students of the uncanny, the familiar contours of the intellectual history of the twentieth century appear in a new and exciting light. More
Schopenhauer: A Biography by David E. Cartwright (Cambridge University Press) Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the most original and provocative thinkers of the nineteenth century. He spent a lifetime striving to understand the meaning of living in a world where suffering and death are ubiquitous. In his quest to solve "the ever-disquieting riddle of existence," Schopenhauer explored almost every dimension of human existence, developing a darkly compelling worldview that found deep resonance in contemporary literature, music, philosophy, and psychology. This is the first comprehensive biography of Schopenhauer written in English. Placing him in his historical and philosophical contexts, David E. Cartwright tells the story of Schopenhauer's life to convey the full range of his philosophy. He offers a fully documented portrait in which he explores Schopenhauer's fractured family life, his early formative influences, his critical loyalty to Kant, his personal interactions with Fichte and Goethe, his ambivalent relationship with Schelling, his contempt for Hegel, his struggle to make his philosophy known, and his reaction to his late-arriving fame. The Schopenhauer who emerges in this biography is the complex author of a philosophy that had a significant influence on figures as diverse as Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Mann, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. More
From Inquiry to Demonstrative Knowledge: New Essays on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics edited by J. H. Lesher (Academic Printing and Publishing) ISBN 9781926598017. Aristotle's Posterior Analytics is regarded as an original work that determined the course of philosophy of science — and to some extent of science itself — for two millennia. Nevertheless the work poses many challenges to the scholar. How does the demonstrative syllogism that is the focus of Aristotle's interest in the APo relate to the non-syllogistic accounts of phenomena that we find in his scientific treatises? How do the accounts of knowledge, definition, and explanation put forward in the APo stand in relation to other elements in Aristotle's philosophy — his accounts of substance, the four causes, the distinctions between actuality and potentiality, form and matter, processes and activities, etc? How exactly do we know the first principles of scientific inquiry: why should we suppose that we have access to some non-demonstrative way of knowing, why in explaining how we can know first principles does Aristotle focus instead on how we form concepts, and what could it possibly mean to say that 'while we perceive the particular, perception is of the universal'? The distinguished contributors to this volume address all of these questions and more. The volume sets a new standard for the interpretation and assessment of one of Aristotle's most important philosophical works. More
The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hughes (Knopf) WE THINK THE WAY WE DO because Socrates thought the way he did; in his unwavering commitment to truth and in the example of his own life, he set the standard for all subsequent Western philosophy. And yet, for twenty-five centuries, he has remained an enigma: a man who left no written legacy and about whom everything we know is hearsay, gleaned from the writings of Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes. Now Bettany Hughes gives us an unprecedented, brilliantly vivid portrait of Socrates and of his homeland, Athens in its Golden Age.
His life spanned "seventy of the busiest, most wonderful and tragic years in Athenian history." It was a city devastated by war, but, at the same time, transformed by the burgeoning process of democracy, and Hughes re-creates this fifth-century B.C. city, drawing on the latest sources—archaeological, topographical and textual—to illuminate the streets where Socrates walked, to place him there and to show us the world as he experienced it.
She takes us through the great, teeming Agora—the massive marketplace, the heart of ancient Athens—where Socrates engaged in philosophical dialogue and where he would be condemned to death. We visit the battlefields where he fought, the red-light district and gymnasia he frequented and the religious festivals he attended. We meet the men and the few women—including his wife, Xanthippe, and his "inspiration" and confidante, Aspasia—who were central to his life. We travel to where he was born and where he died. And we come to understand the profound influences of time and place in the evolution of his eternally provocative philosophy.
Deeply informed and vibrantly`written, combining historical inquiry and storytelling élan, The Hemlock Cup gives us the most substantial, fascinating, humane depiction we have ever had of one of the most influential thinkers of all time. More
The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity 2 Volume Set by Lloyd P. Gerson (Cambridge University Press) The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity comprises over forty specially commissioned essays by experts on the philosophy of the period 200–800 CE. Designed as a successor to The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy (ed. A. H. Armstrong), it takes into account some forty years of scholarship since the publication of that volume. The contributors examine philosophy as it entered literature, science and religion, and offer new and extensive assessments of philosophers who until recently have been mostly ignored. The volume also includes a complete digest of all philosophical works known to have been written during this period. It will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in this rich and still emerging field.
The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy 2 Volume Boxed Set
edited by Robert Pasnau (Cambridge University Press)
comprises over fifty specially commissioned essays by experts on the
philosophy of this period. Starting in the late eighth century, with
the renewal of learning some centuries`after the fall of the Roman
Empire, a sequence of chapters take the reader through developments
in many and varied fields, including logic and language, natural
philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and theology. Close attention is
paid to the context of medieval philosophy, with discussions of the
rise of the universities and developments in the cultural and
linguistic spheres. A striking feature is the continuous coverage of
Islamic, Jewish, and Christian material. There are useful
biographies of the philosophers, and a comprehensive bibliography.
The volume illuminates a rich and remarkable period in the history
of philosophy and will be the authoritative source on medieval
philosophy for the next generation of scholars and students alike.
The present pair of volumes succeeds, without superseding,
The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, published in
1982 by Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny, Jan Pinborg, and Eleonore
Stump. It is a considerable privilege to edit the successor to
Kretzmann et al, for that volume distils the work of a brilliant
generation of scholars without whom our own scholarly careers would
be almost inconceivable. These volumes are entirely new, but we
expect their predecessor will remain valuable for many years to
come, especially for its detailed treatment of medieval theories of
logic and the philosophy of language.
The present volumes differ most notably from their predecessor in
three ways: first, their scope extends not just to Christian but
also to Islamic and Jewish thought; second, they cover not only the
later Middle Ages but also earlier centuries; third, they address in
some detail the entire spectrum of medieval thought, including
philosophical theology.
Each chapter in these volumes stands on its own, but there are
numerous points of contact between chapters, and we have liberally
supplied cross-references. One could thus in principle begin reading
anywhere and eventually, by following these links, make one's way
through the whole. Readers will also want to consult the biographies
of medieval authors, in Appendix C, for extensive information on the
lives and work of the figures discussed in the chanters.
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Second Manifesto for Philosophy by Alain Badiou (Polity)
Philosophy is everywhere today. But, twenty years ago, Alain
Badiou's first Manifesto for Philosophy rose up against the
all-pervasive proclamation of the end of philosophy. In lieu of this
problematic of the end, he put forward the watchword: one more step.
The situation has considerably changed since then. Philosophy was
threatened with obliteration at the time, today it finds itself
under threat for the diametrically opposed reason: it is endowed
with an excessive, artificial existence. It serves as a trademark
for various media pundits. It has its magazines and its gurus. It is
universally called upon, by everything from banks to major state
commissions, to pronounce on ethics, law and duty. In essence,
philosophy has now come to stand for nothing other than its most
ancient enemy: conservative ethics.
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Albert of Saxony, Quaestiones Circa Logicam: Twenty-Five Disputed Questions on Logic by Michael J. Fitzgerald (Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations: Peeters Publishers) This translation of Albert of Saxony's Twenty-five Disputed Questions on Logic brings to English readers an important fourteenth-century logician's contribution to the analytic core issues in philosophy. Many of these issues are still actively discussed today. Albert treats issues such as the nature and scope of logic; the meaning and reference of terms; self-reference; logical difficulties with possessive, non-designating, and fictitious terms; mental terms and relative pronouns; logical problems with propositions, such as quantity, truth, falsity, conversion, and verification; the scope of denials and modal notions; Aristotle's category theory; and the existence of universals. The book is intended to appeal to all those who are interested in the late medieval contribution to those discussions. Included with the translation, translator's notes, and introduction are an appendix containing two sophisms that treat part-whole relations, a glossary of Albertinian terms, an index of key rules, sophisms, and theses, and a table of parallel passages in Albert's other logical works. More
The
Texts of Early Greek Philosophy: The Complete Fragments and Selected
Testimonies of the Major Presocratics in two volume set by Daniel W. Graham
(Cambridge University Press) [hardcover set] This sourcebook in two parts gives the reader easy access to the
language and thought of the Presocratic thinkers,`making it possible
either to read the texts continuously or to study them one by one
along with commentary. It contains the complete fragments and a
generous selection of testimonies for twenty major Presocratic
thinkers including cosmologists, ontologists, and sophists, setting
translations opposite Greek and Latin texts on facing pages to allow
easy comparison. The texts are grouped in chapters by author in a
mainly chronological order, each preceded by a brief introduction and followed by a brief commentary and an up-to-date
bibliography. Significant variant readings are noted. This edition
contains new fragments and testimonies not included in the
authoritative but now outdated Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. It
is the first and only bilingual edition of the works of the
Presocratic philosophers for English-speakers: Volume One contains Part I.
Cosmologists and ontologists. The sixth century BE: 1. Thales (Ths)
2. Anaximander (Axr) 3. Anaximenes (Axs) 4. Xenophanes (Xns) 5. Heraclitus (Hct)
B. The fifth century BCE 6. Parmenides (Prm) 7. Zeno (Zno) 8. Anaxagoras (Axg) 9. Empedocles (Emp) RD. Diogenes of Apollonia (Dgn)
11. Melissus (Mls) 12. Philolaus (Phs) 13. The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus (Lcp, Dmc) 14. The Atomists, continued: Democritus' ethical fragments
Volume 2 contains Part II: Sophists: 15. Protagoras (Prt) 16. Gorgias (Grg) 17. Antiphon (Ant)
18. Prodicus (Prd) 19. Anonymous texts
A. Anonymus Iamblichi (AnI) B. Dissoi Logoi (DsL) Appendix: Pythagoras (Pth)
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Doctor Who and Philosophy edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka (Popular Culture and Philosophy Series: Open Court) Doctor Who is the longest-running science-fiction television show in history. The old (or Classic 1963-1989) Doctor Who series built up a loyal American cult following with regular conventions and other activities. The current series, featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, is breaking all earlier records, in both the UK and the US. More
The Practice of Reason: Leibniz and his Controversies edited by
Marcelo Dascal (John Benjamins Publishing Company) Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz (1646-1716) dedicated much of his life to some of the most
central debates of his time. For him, our chance of progress towards
the happiness of mankind lies in the capacity to recognize the value
of the different perspectives through which humans approach the
world. Controversies supply the opportunity to exercise this
capacity by approaching the opponent not as an adversary but as
someone from whose point of view we can enrich our own viewpoint and
improve our knowledge.
This approach inspired the creation of this series. The book – the
first in the series devoted to Leibniz – presents his views through
actual controversies in which he participated, in several domains.
Leibniz’s original ‘theory of controversies’ thus appears not only
as what the thinker thinks about how one should use
reason in a controversy, but also how he puts in practice the
kind of rationality he preaches.
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The Afterlife of the Platonic Soul: Reflections of Platonic Psychology in the Monotheistic Religions edited by Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth and John M. Dillon (Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts and Contexts: Brill Academic) Plato's doctrine of the soul, its immaterial nature, its parts or faculties, and its fate after death (and before birth) came to have an enormous influence on the great religious traditions that sprang up in late antiquity, beginning with Judaism (in the person of Philo of Alexandria), and continuing with Christianity, from St. Paul on through the Alexandrian and Cappadocian Fathers to Byzantium, and finally with Islamic thinkers from al-Kindi on. This volume, while not aspiring to completeness, attempts to provide insights into how members of each of these traditions adapted Platonist doctrines to their own particular needs, with varying degrees of creativity.
This volume aims to present a study on the treatment of the human soul by a selection of medieval Christian, Jewish and Muslim thinkers. Notably, medieval thought was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, ever since Philo of Alexandria had first integrated it into his interpretation of the Bible. Church Fathers, and Muslim and Jewish theologians afterwards, found in Greek theorizing an objective logical tool for understanding the world and its creator or originator. Integrating and reconciling Greek thought to one or other of the three monotheistic religions, however, was a great challenge which most thinkers of this period felt it incumbent upon them to face. The reason, perhaps, is that both religion and philosophy claim to possess truth. Some issues, it must be said, found no interdisciplinary solution and remained a subject of conflict, such as the question of the origin of the world, whether it is created or eternal. Others, however, like the question of the faculties of the human intellect and the process of thinking, were settled under agreement between philosophy and religion. The nature and the future of the human soul is also one of the most important problems which call for deep study and support from both theology and philosophy. Thus, this volume devotes considerable attention to the problems that arise when studying the nature and the destiny of the human soul, and illustrates some of the solutions which the most notable thinkers of the mediaeval period provided. More
On Aristotle's 'Metaphysics': An Annotated Translation of
the So-called 'Epitome' by Averroës and
edited translated by Rudiger
Arnzen (Scientia Graeco-Arabica: De Gruyter) The Arab philosopher Abu L-Walid Muhammad Ibn Rushd (1126-98),
among western historians of philosophy better known by his Latinized
name Averroës, composed more than thirty commentaries and studies on
the works of Aristotle. Although these commentaries had an enormous
influence on medieval Latin and Hebrew philosophy in general as well
as on the reception and transformation of Aristotelian doctrines in
particular, a lot of them are still in need of reliable critical
editions, and an even greater number still await complete modern
translations in order to be readily accessible to students and
scholars of medieval philosophy unable to read the original Arabic
texts.
This applies also to the work presented here for the first time
in a complete English translation for which there is no definitive
critical edition of the Arabic text available. As a matter of fact,
the translation was originally supposed to be accompanied by a
critical edition of the Arabic text itself—a plan that had to be
postponed for the time being because it was impossible to obtain
copies of all extant medieval and early modern manuscripts of the
work. However, the translation is based not only on the previous
editions of the text, but also on a number of thoroughly collated
Arabic manuscripts not taken into consideration in these editions.
Thus, the present translation is not only of interest to those
engaged in medieval philosophy yet unable to examine the Arabic
documents, but it might also be helpful for exploring the Arabic
manuscripts and assaying Averroes' intentions more comprehensively
and accurately than this has been possible on the basis of the
previous Arabic editions.
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Cultural Ways of Worldmaking: Media and Narratives edited by Vera Nünning, Ansgar Nünning, and Birgit Neumann (Concepts for the Study of Culture: De Gruyter) Taking as its point of departure Nelson Goodman's theory of symbol systems as delineated in his seminal book Ways of Worldmaking, this volume gauges the possibilities and perspectives offered by the worldmaking approach as a model for the study of culture. Its main objectives are to explore the usefulness and scope of the approach for the study of culture and to supplement Goodman's philosophy of worldmaking with a number of complementary disciplinary perspectives, literary and cultural approaches, and new questions and applications. It focuses on three key issues or concepts which illuminate ways of worldmaking and their interdisciplinary relevance and ramifications, viz. (1) theoretical approaches to ways of worldmaking, (2) the impact of media on ways of worldmaking, and (3) narratives as ways of worldmaking. The volume serves to demonstrate how specific media and narratives affect the worlds that are created, and shows how these worlds are established as socially relevant. It also illustrates the extent to which ways of worldmaking are imbued with cultural values, and thus inevitably implicated in power relations. More
Inquiring about God: Volume 1, Selected Essays
by Nicholas Wolterstorff and Terence Cuneo
(Cambridge University Press) This volume collects Nicholas
Wolterstorff's essays on the philosophy of religion written over the
last thirty-five years. Of interest to both philosophers and
theologians, Inquiring about God offers a lively sense of the
creative and powerful work done in contemporary philosophical
theology by one of its foremost practitioners.
Inquiring about God is the first of two volumes of Nicholas
Wolterstorff's collected papers. This volume collects Wolterstorff's
essays on the philosophy of religion written over the last
thirty-five years. The essays, which span a range of topics
including Kant's philosophy of religion, the medieval (or classical)
conception of God, and the problem of evil, are unified by the
conviction that some of the central claims made by the classical
theistic tradition, such as the claims that God is timeless, simple,
and impassible, should be rejected. Still, Wolterstorff contends,
rejecting the classical conception of God does not imply that
theists should accept the Kantian view according to which God cannot
be known. Of interest to both philosophers and theologians,
Inquiring about God should give the reader a lively sense of the
creative and powerful work done in contemporary philosophical
theology by one of its foremost practitioners.
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Practices of Belief: Volume 2, Selected Essays by Nicholas
Wolterstorff(Cambridge University Press) The second volume of
Nicholas Wolterstorff's collected papers brings together his essays
on epistemology from 1983 to 2008. Of interest to epistemologists,
philosophers of religion, and theologians, it will appeal to those
interested in the topic of whether religious belief can be
responsibly formed and maintained in the contemporary world.
Practices of Belief, the second volume of Nicholas Wolterstorff's
collected papers, brings together his essays on epistemology from
1983 to 2008. It includes not only the essays which first presented
'Reformed epistemology' to the philosophical world, but also
Wolterstorff's latest work on the topic of entitled (or responsible)
belief and its intersection with religious belief. The volume
presents five new essays and a retrospective essay that chronicles
the changes in the course of philosophy over the last fifty years.
Of interest to epistemologists, philosophers of religion, and
theologians, Practices of Belief should engage a wide audience of
those interested in the topic of whether religious belief can be
responsibly formed and maintained in the contemporary world.
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Courageous Vulnerability: Ethics and Knowledge in Proust, Bergson, Marcel, and James by Rosa Slegers (Studies in Contemporary Phenomenology: Brill Academic Publishers) This work develops the ethical attitude of courageous vulnerability through the integration of Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time and the philosophies of Henri Bergson, William James, and Gabriel Marcel. Central to the discussion is the phenomenon of involuntary memory, taken from common experience but "discovered" and made visible by Proust. Through the connection between a variety of themes from both Continental and American schools of thought such as Bergson's phenomenological account of the artist, James' "will to believe," and Marcel's "creative fidelity," the courageously vulnerable individual is shown to take seriously the ethical implications of the knowledge gained from involuntary memories and similar "privileged moments," and do justice to the "something more" which, though part of our experience of ourselves and others, escapes rigid philosophical analysis. More
The Minds of the Moderns: Rationalism, Empiricism, and Philosophy of
Mind by Janice Thomas (McGill-Queens) Taking Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley and Hume in
turn, Janice Thomas presents an authoritative and critical
assessment of each of these canonical thinkers' views of the notion
of mind. The book examines each philosopher's position on five key
topics: the metaphysical character of minds and mental states; the
nature and scope of introspection and self-knowledge; the nature of
consciousness; the problem of mental causation; and the nature of
representation and intentionality. The exposition and discussion of
their positions is informed by present-day debates in the philosophy
of mind and the philosophy of psychology, enabling the reader to get
a clear sense of the importance of these philosophers' ideas, many
of which continue to define our current notions of the mental.
Time and again, philosophers return to the great early modern
rationalist and empiricist thinkers for instruction and inspiration.
Those working on the philosophy of mind are no exception and Janice
Thomas makes clear that earlier philosophers have much to offer
contemporary debates.
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Petrarch's Humanism and the Care of the Self by Gur Zak (Cambridge
University Press) Petrarch was one of the founding fathers of Renaissance
humanism, yet the nature and significance of his ideas are still widely debated.
In this book, Gur Zak examines two central issues in Petrarch's works - his
humanist philosophy and his concept of the self. Zak argues that both are
defined by Petrarch's idea of care for the self. Overcome by a strong sense of
fragmentation, Petrarch turned to the ancient idea that philosophy can bring
harmony and wholeness to the soul through the use of spiritual exercises in the
form of writing. Examining his vernacular poetry and his Latin works from both
literary and historical perspectives, Zak explores Petrarch's attempts to use
writing as a spiritual exercise, how his spiritual techniques absorbed and
transformed ancient and medieval traditions of writing, and the tensions that
arose from his efforts to care for the self through writing.
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When Philosophers Rule: Ficino on Plato's Republic, Laws & Epinomis (Commentaries by Ficino on Platoy;s Writing) Translation by Arthur Farndell (Shepheard-Walwyn) Marsillio Ficino of Florence (1433-99) was one of the most influential thinkers of the Renaissance. He put before society a new ideal of human nature, emphasising its divine potential. As teacher and guide to a remarkable circle of men, he made a vital contribution to changes that were taking place in European thought. For Ficino, the writings of Plato provided the key to the most important knowledge for mankind, knowledge of God and the soul. It was the absorption of this knowledge that proved so important to Ficino, to his circle, and to later writers and artists. As a young man, Ficino had been directed by Cosimo de’ Medici towards the study of Plato in the original Greek. Later he formed a close connection with Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo de’ Medici, under whom Florence achieved its age of brilliance. Gathered round Ficino and Lorenzo were such men as Landino, Bembo, Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola. The ideas they discussed became central to the work of Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dürer, and many other writers and artists. Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils, - no, nor the human race, as I believe, - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.' Republic, Book V, 473D With these words Plato expressed his ideal form of government. Often dismissed as unrealisable, they have appealed down the ages to men of goodwill. Having translated all of the Dialogues from Greek into Latin, at the request of his Medici patrons, Ficino was asked to prepare summaries by Lorenzo de’ Medici, the de facto ruler of the republic of Florence, who aspired to be the kind of enlightened ruler Plato described. More
The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press) This unparalleled study of early Eastern and Western philosophy challenges every existing belief about the foundations of Western civilization. Spanning thirty years of intensive research, this book proves what many scholars could not explain: that today’s Western world must be considered the product of both Greek and Indian thought—Western and Eastern philosophies.
Thomas McEvilley explores how trade, imperialism, and migration currents allowed cultural philosophies to intermingle freely throughout India, Egypt, Greece, and the ancient Near East. This groundbreaking reference will stir relentless debate among philosophers, art historians, and students. More
Husserl's Phenomenology: Knowledge, Objectivity And Others by
Kevin Hermberg (Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy:
Continuum International Publishing Group) fills a gap in previous
Husserl scholarship by offering a treatment of the problems of
intersubjectivity and empathy that goes beyond their mere
possibility to explore the questions of whether and how empathy
contributes to the attainment of knowledge. Hermberg focuses his
investigation on Husserl's introductions to phenomenology (Ideas,
Cartesian Meditations, and The Crisis of the European Sciences) and
offers a new look at both Husserl's epistemology and his position in
the Western philosophical tradition.
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) was one of the most important and influential philosophers of the twentieth century. One would be justified in calling Husserl both the last great representative of classical modern philosophy and the transition by which a new philosophical world came into being. The list of thinkers who claim Husserl as influential to their work is impressive and includes leading figures from every "school" of contemporary Continental philosophy as well as many "analytical" philosophers. Husserl achieved this influence in spite of his texts, which are notoriously difficult and with which he was rarely completely satisfied. So dissatisfied was he that he offered three separate texts labeled "introduction" to phenomenology. In this book Hermberg offers an examination of the interplay between empathy and knowledge as presented in the introductions published by Husserl. Those three introductions are: Ideas: A General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology (Springer) which first appeared in German in the 1913 inaugural issue of Jahrbuch fur Philosophie and Phenomenologische Forschung; Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology (Springer) which is an outgrowth of a set of lectures which was given in Paris in 1929 and published in French in 1931; and The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy (Northwestern University Press) which was written between 1934 and 1937 but of which only the first two parts were published during his lifetime. (More)
Being and Event by Alain Badiou, translated by Oliver Feltham (Continuum International Publishing Group) Being and Event is the greatest work of Alain Badiou, France's most important living philosopher. Long-awaited in translation, Being and Event makes available to an English-speaking readership Badiou's groundbreaking work on set theory - the cornerstone of his whole philosophy. The book makes the scope and aim of Badiou's whole philosophical project clear, enabling full comprehension of Badiou's significance for contemporary philosophy. Badiou draws upon and is fully engaged with the European philosophical tradition from Plato onwards; Being and Event deals with such key figures as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Rousseau, Heidegger and Lacan.
This wide-ranging book is organized in a careful, precise and novel manner, reflecting the philosophical rigor of Badiou's thought. Unlike many contemporary Continental philosophers, Badiou -- who is also a novelist and dramatist - writes lucidly and cogently, making his work far more accessible and engaging than much philosophy, and actually a pleasure to read. This English language edition includes a new preface, written by Badiou himself, especially for this translation. More
The Parallax View by Slavoj Zizek (Short Circuits: The MIT Press) is his most substantial theoretical work to appear in many years; Zizek himself describes it as his magnum opus. Parallax can be defined as the apparent displacement of an object, caused by a change in observational position. Zizek is interested in the "parallax gap" separating two points between which no synthesis or mediation is possible, linked by an "impossible short circuit" of levels that can never meet. From this consideration of parallax, Zizek begins a rehabilitation of dialectical materialism. More
Hegel's Epistemology: A Philosophical Introduction to the Phenomenology of Spirit by Kenneth R. Westphal (Hackett Publishing Company) I Hegel's Phenomenology is notoriously challenging, in form and structure as well as in content. His apparent ambitions in the Phenomenology and his highly unusual presentation have often made it difficult to relate it to more familiar philosophical views and issues. Hegel demands much of his readers. At the beginning of a chapter or subsection, for example, Hegel states a philosophical view often to argue (by indirect proof or reductio ad absurdum) against that view, though sometimes only to argue against a defective account or justification of that view. Precisely what view he criticizes can at times be difficult to determine, often because he states some essential points of an historical philosopher's view without mentioning whose view it is. Hegel unfortunately tends to refer to passages from the history of philosophy the way Medieval philosophers referred to Aristotle. They would write "the philosopher says ... ," expecting, and knowing they could expect. the reader to know exactly which passage from which work of Aristotle's was being quoted or paraphrased. Hegel, however, only rarely mentions his frequent paraphrasing or quotation—though his use of such references should not have misfired nearly so often as it has. More
Five Metaphysical Paradoxes by Howard P. Kainz (Aquinas Lecture: Marquette University Press) Excerpt: In the Oxford English Dictionary, the first meaning of "paradox" is given as "a statement or tenet contrary to received opinion or belief:' But this is paradox in the widest possible sense—similar to the way we use and overuse the word, "oxymoron," to indicate things or states of affairs that we simply consider contradictory. For example, a Democrat might say that compassionate conservative" is an oxymoron, a Republican might say the same thing about a "pro-life liberal"—in both cases with the meaning that such phrases are obviously self-contradictory. But strictly speaking, an oxymoron is something that sounds contradictory but is true—as, for example, the familiar literary expressions,"a deafening silence: "living death", "lonely crowd," or the descriptions by Shakespeare's Romeo of romantic passion as "cold fire," "feather of lead" and "sick health." More
Storied Communities: Narratives of Contact and Arrival in
Constituting Political Community edited by Hester Lessard, Rebecca
Johnson and Jeremy Webber (UBC Press) Political communities are
defined and often contested through stories and storytelling.
Scholars have long recognized that two foundational sets of stories
narratives of contact and narratives of arrival helped to define
settler societies. We are only beginning to understand how ongoing
issues of migration and settlement are linked to issues of
indigenous-settler contact.
In
Storied Communities, scholars from multiple disciplines disrupt
the assumption in many works that indigenous and immigrant
identities fall into two separate streams of analysis. The authors
do not attempt to build a new master narrative they instead
juxtapose narratives of contact and arrival as they explore key
themes: the nature and hazards of telling stories in the political
realm; the literary, ceremonial, and identity-forming dimensions of
the narrative form; actual narratives of contact and arrival; and
the institutional and theoretical implications of foundation
narratives and storytelling. In the process, they deepen our
understanding of the role of narrative in community and nation
building. More
Critical Urban Studies: New Directions edited by Jonathan S.
Davies and David L. Imbroscio, with an introduction by Clarence N.
Stone (SUNY Press) Urban scholarship has had detractors of late,
particularly in mainstream political science, where it has been
accused of parochialism and insularity.
Critical Urban Studies, edited by Jonathan S. Davies, Reader in
Public Policy at the University of Warwick and David L. Imbroscio,
Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville,
offers a repudiation of this critique, reasserting the need for
critical urban scholarship and demonstrating the fundamental
importance of urban studies for understanding and changing
contemporary social life. Contributors to the volume identify an
orthodox perspective in the field, subject it to critique, and map
out a future research agenda for the field. The result is a series
of essays pointing scholars and students to the major theoretical
and policy challenges facing urbanists and other critical social
scientists. More
Uranium Wars: The Scientific Rivalry that Created the Nuclear Age
by Amir D. Aczel (Macmillian) Set against the darkening shadow of World War II, Uranium Wars
follows the time's most brilliant scientists as they race to capture
nuclear power. Pioneering woman physicist Lise Meitner uncovered nuclear fission but never won the Nobel
Prize. Denmark's Niels Bohr sided with the Allies when he held a
secret meeting with his protégé and possible Nazi collaborator
Werner Heisenberg. Years of dogged research culminated on a
racquetball court at the University of Chicago as Italian physicist
Enrico Fermi set off the first nuclear chain reaction that led to
the building of the atom bomb. Told with flair by one of our best
popular science writers, Uranium Wars is a fast paced and vivid
narrative about a pivotal moment in history. Amir U. Aczel expertly
connects the dots to today, when nations seek nuclear capability and
scientists strive to better understand and responsibly manage the
most controversial type of energy ever discovered.
Hardly a day goes by without a major news report about nuclear issues, whether it's the international community's response to Iran's nuclear program or the future of Pakistan's atomic
arsenal. At the same time, some politicians and scientists envision
a future in which nuclear reactors dot the country, generating
electricity that will help break our dependence on fossil fuels.
Nuclear energy can help us combat global warming because this power
source does not entail the release of carbon into the atmosphere.
But the promise of a carbon-free energy source is checked by
concerns about the ill effects of nuclear waste, as well as the
danger of another disaster like the 1986 meltdown of a nuclear plant
in Chernobyl, Ukraine, the human toll of which we have yet to fully
quantify. More
The United States and Public Diplomacy
edited Kenneth A. Osgood, Brian C. Etheridge (Diplomatic Studies: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers) Public diplomacy is the art of cultivating public opinion to
achieve foreign policy objectives. A vital tool in contemporary
statecraft, public diplomacy is also one of the most poorly
understood elements of a nation’s “soft power.”
The United States and Public Diplomacy adds historical perspective
to the ongoing global conversation about public diplomacy and its
proper role in foreign affairs. It highlights the fact that the
United States has not only been an important sponsor of public
diplomacy, it also has been a frequent target of public diplomacy
initiatives sponsored by others. Many of the essays in this
collection look beyond Washington to explore the ways in which
foreign states, non-governmental organizations, and private citizens
have used public diplomacy to influence the government and people of
the United States.
More
Toward a New Framework for Peaceful Settlement of China's Territorial and Boundary Disputes by Junwu Pan (Brill) This book provides a precious chance to take legal perspectives of China's territorial and boundary disputes against the new background of China's increasingly integrating itself into global economic, political and legal systems. Based on international law and China's new policy, the author examines the possibility of using the third party, which is notably missing in China's international engagement, to settle China's territorial and boundary disputes. This book pinpoints the problems and opportunities China is confronting in its attitude to international law and inter-national courts and tribunals. In the light of international law, especially of norms and principles used by the International Court of Justice and other international courts and tribunals, the author creatively proposes a new framework for settlement of China's territorial and boundary disputes. The author is a promising young scholars specializing in China's territorial and boundary issues. More
Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Growing Threat by Gary Ackerman (Editor), Jeremy Tamsett (CRC) Written for professionals, academics, and policymakers working at the forefront of counterterrorism efforts, Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction is an authoritative and comprehensive work addressing the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the hands ofjihadists, both historically and looking toward the future threat environment. Providing insight on one of the foremost security issues of the 21st century, this seminal resource effectively:
Leading international experts clearly differentiate between peaceful Muslims and jihadists, exploring how jihadists translate their extreme and violent ideology into strategy. They also focus on WMD target selection and the spread of WMD knowledge in jihadist communities. Devoid of sensationalism, this multidimensional evaluation adds a heightened level of sophistication to our understanding of the prospects for and nature of jihadist WMD terrorism. More
What Is a Just Peace? Edited by Pierre Allan, Alexis Keller (Oxford University Press) Just War has attracted considerable attention. The words peace and justice are often used together. Surprisingly, however, little conceptual thinking has gone into what constitutes a Just Peace. This book, which includes some of the world's leading scholars, debates and develops the concept of Just Peace. The problem with the idea of a Just Peace is that striving for justice may imply a Just War. In other words, peace and justice clash at times. Therefore, one often starts from a given view of what constitutes justice, but this a priori approach leads - especially when imposed from the outside - straight into discord. This book presents conflicting viewpoints on this question from political, historical, and legal perspectives as well as from a policy perspective. The book also argues that Just Peace should be defined as a process resting on four necessary and sufficient conditions: thin recognition whereby the other is accepted as autonomous; thick recognition whereby identities need to be accounted for; renouncement, requiring significant sacrifices from all parties; and finally, rule, the objectification of a Just Peace by a "text" requiring a common language respecting the identities of each, and defining their rights and duties. This approach based on a language-oriented process amongst directly concerned parties, goes beyond liberal and culturalist perspectives. Throughout the process, negotiators need to build a novel shared reality as well as a new common language allowing for an enduring harmony between previously clashing peoples. It challenges a liberal view of peace founded on norms claiming universal scope. The liberal conception has difficulty in solving conflicts such as civil wars characterized typically by fundamental disagreements between different communities. Cultures make demands that are identity-defining, and some of these defy the "cultural neutrality" that is one of the foundations of liberalism. Therefore, the concept of Just Peace cannot be solved within the liberal tradition.
As Just War has attracted considerable attention for centuries, the words peace and justice have been, and are still, often used together. While an old doctrine of Just War exists, surprisingly little conceptual thinking has gone into what constitutes a peace that is a just one. This book debates this problématique and develops the concept of a Just Peace. More
Sentencing: A Reference Handbook by Dean Champion, Mildred Vasan (Contemporary World Issues: ABC-CLIO) examines the sentencing process in detail. The initial chapter on history and development defines sentencing and its goals. Sentencing is the application of one or more punishments / sanctions following a criminal conviction. These punishments include fines and / or incarceration, or placement under the supervision of probation officers. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 restated a number of sentencing objectives that have guided sentencing judges in their leniency or harshness toward convicted defendants. More
Pot Politics: Marijuana and the Costs of Prohibition edited by Mitch Earleywine (Oxford University Press) Marijuana use continues to attract interest and fuel controversy. Big, green pot leaves have adorned the covers of Time, National Review, and Forbes. Almost 100 million Americans have tried marijuana at least once. Groups such as The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana (NORML) and The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) have tens of thousands of members. Polls suggest that 70-80% of Americans support medicinal marijuana. At least 11 U.S. states have experimented with decriminalization and medical marijuana laws, with new initiatives appearing each year. Meanwhile, other groups such as Partnership for a Drug Free America and Mothers Against Drugs protest legalization. Clearly, debate about marijuana policy shows no sign of abating. More
Guide to U.S. Elections 5th Edition 2 volumes (CQ Press) In Volume One, part one examines the evolution of the U.S. electoral system and includes material on the franchise and voting rights. It also explores the impact of major post–World War II political issues. Part two examines the evolution of campaign finance, traces the development of political parties, profiles major and minor parties, and discusses the historical significance of southern primaries. Part three features an overview and chronology of presidential elections along with information and data on presidential primaries, nominating conventions, popular and electoral voting, and the Electoral College. More
Guide To Political Campaigns In America by Paul S.
Herrnson (CQ Press) is the first complete
resource for scholarly and practical insight into every important
aspect of political campaigns and campaign activities. Campaigns are
a critical part of the political process in the United States, and
this unique volume provides students, researchers, scholars, and
others interested in campaigns and politics with a broad foundation
of knowledge about the history of campaigns and the issues, people,
processes, and types and levels of races involved.
More
A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, 'Germanus
Incredibilis': With a Selection of His Unpublished Correspondence
and an Annotated Translation of His Autobiography by John Edward Fletcher and Elizabeth Fletcher
(Aries Book: Brill Academic)
Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit in 17th-century Rome, was an enigma.
Intensely pious and a prolific author, he was also a polymath fascinated with everything from
Egyptian hieroglyphs to the tiny creatures in his microscope.
His correspondence with popes, princes and priests was a window into the restless energy of the period.
It showed first-hand the seventeenth-century’s struggle for knowledge in astronomy, microscopy, geology,
chemistry, musicology, Egyptology, horology… The list goes on.
Kircher’s books reflect the mind-set of 17th-century scholars - endless curiosity and a … read more substantial larding of naiveté:
Kircher scorned alchemy as the wishful thinking of charlatans, yet believed in dragons.
His life and correspondence provide a key to the transition from the Middle Ages to a new scientific age. This book, though unpublished, has been long quoted and referred to.
Awaited by scholars and specialists of Kircher, it is finally available with this edition.
More
The Existence of God: An Exposition and Application of
Fregean Meta-Ontology by Stig Børsen Hansen
(Quellen Und Studien Zur Philosophie: De Gruyter) This study
breaks new ground on the question of the existence of God.
It innovatively combines biblical scholarship with an
analysis of existence drawn from the writings of the
philosopher Gottlob Frege. It shows that the strength of
Frege's approach is its emphasis on the notions of proper
name and predicate; this in turn sheds new light on
important elements of theological language. Finally, the
Fregean approach in this book is defended against objections
drawn from readings of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus.
More
A Companion to Greek Mythology
by Ken Dowden
and Niall Livingstone (Blackwell Companions to
the Ancient World: Wiley-Blackwell) approaches the
richly diverse phenomenon of Greek myth from a
distinctive new angle -- one that delves deeply into its
origins in shared Indo-European story patterns and the
Greeks’ contacts with their Eastern Mediterranean
neighbours. Contributions from a team of international
experts trace the development of Greek myth into a
shared language, heritage, and way of thinking
throughout the entire Greco-Roman world.
The Silent God by Marjo C. A. Korpel and Johannes C. De
Moor (Brill Academic) The silence of God is a
recurring theme in modern reflection. It is not only addressed in
theology, religious studies and philosophy, but also in literary
fiction, film and theatre. The authors show that the concept of a
silent deity emerged in the ancient Near East (including Greece).
What did the Ancients mean when they assumed that under
circumstances their deities remained silent? What reasons are
discernable for silence between human beings and their gods?is theology of redemption and invites his listeners and
readers to appropriate his religious world-view.
More
Man and Theogony in the Lurianic Cabala by Daphne
Freedman (Gorgias Press) After the
establishment of the Zoharic corpus amongst leading rabbis, no major
changes took place in Jewish esoterism until the middle of the 16th
century, when in Safed (in Upper Galilee, Palestine; present-day
Zefat, Israel) a religious centre of extreme importance for Judaism
was established, which was mainly inspired by teachers coming from
families expelled from Spain. Until the expulsion of the Jews from
Spain (1492) and during the two generations tions offers a
comprehensive and reader-friendly introduction to the functions of
the brain. Chapters take a functional perspective, weaving together
discussions on intact and dysfunctional systems. Lorin Elias and
Deborah Saucier address critical issues in the field, including
neuroanatomy, sensation`and perception, memory, and emotion. The
text also incorporates helpful pedagogical features, including Real
World and Current Controversy boxes as well as self-tests and
internal previews and reviews, all of which are valuabley and other
religions in which divine birth claims are central.
More
Women & Gender in Ancient Religions: Interdisciplinary
Approaches by Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll
(Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament: Mohr
Siebeck) Following a scholarly conference given in honor of Adela
Yarbro Collins, this collection of essays offers focused
studies on the wide range of ways that women and gender
contribute to the religious landscape of the ancient world.
Experts in Greek and Roman religions, Early Christianity,
Ancient Judaism, and Ancient Christianity engage in
literary, social, historical, and cultural analysis of
various ancient texts, inscriptions, social phenomena, and
cultic activity. These studies continue the welcomed trend
in scholarship that expands the social location of women in
ancient Mediterranean religion to include the public sphere
and consciousness.
Paradise in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Views
by Markus Bockmuehl and Guy G.
Stroumsa (Cambridge University Press) The social and intellectual vitality of Judaism and
Christianity in antiquity was in large part/ a function of
their ability to articulate a viably transcendent hope for
the human condition. Narratives of paradise — based on the
concrete symbol of the Garden of Delights —came to play a
I central role for Jews, Christians, and eventually Muslims
too.
Constructing Tradition: Means and Myths of Transmission in Western
Esotericism by Andreas Kilcher, Antoine Faivre, Matthias
Heiduk, and Philipp Theisohn (Aries Book Series: Brill
Academic) The question of constructing tradition, concepts of
origin, and memory as well as techniques and practices of knowledge
transmission, are central for cultures in general. In
esotericism, however, such questions and techniques play
an outstanding role and are widely reflected upon, in
its literature. Esoteric paradigms not only understand
themselves in elaborated mytho-poetical narratives as
bearers of "older", "hidden", "higher" knowledge.
They also claim their knowledge to be of a
particular origin. And they claim this
knowledge has been transmitted by particular
(esoteric) means, media and groups.
Consequently, esotericism not only involves
the construction of its own`tradition; it
can even be understood as a specific form of tradition and transmission. The various
studies of the present volume, which
contains the papers of a conference held in
Tubingen in July 2007, provide an overview
of the most important concepts and ways of
constructing tradition in esotericism.
More
Plato and the Talmud
by Jacob Howland (Cambridge
University Press) This innovative study sees the relationship
between Athens and Jerusalem through the lens of the Platonic
dialogues and the Talmud. Howland argues that these texts are
animated by comparable conceptions of the proper roles of inquiry
and reasoned debate in religious life, and by a profound awareness
of the limits of our understanding of things divine. Insightful
readings of Plato's Apology, Euthyphro, and chapter three of
tractate Ta'anit explore the relationship of prophets and
philosophers, fathers and`sons, and gods and men (among other
themes), bringing to light the tension between rational inquiry and
faith that is essential to the speeches and deeds of both Socrates
and the Talmudic sages. In reflecting on the pedagogy of these
texts, Howland shows in detail how Talmudic aggadah and Platonic
drama and narrative speak to different sorts of readers in seeking
mimetically to convey the living ethos of rabbinic Judaism and
Socratic philosophizing.
More
Religion and the New Atheism
by Edited by
Amarnath Amarasingam (Studies in Critical Social
Sciences: Studies in Critical Research on Religion 1: Brill
Academic) The term "new atheism" has been given to the recent
barrage of bestselling books written by Richard Dawkins, Sam
Harris, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and others.
These books and their authors have had a significant media
presence and have only grown in popularity over the years.
This book brings together scholars from religious studies,
science, sociology of religion, sociology of science,
philosophy, and theology to engage the new atheism and place
it in the context of broader scholarly discourses. This
volume will serve to contextualize and critically examine
the claims, arguments and goals of the new atheism so that
readers can become more informed of some of the debates with
which the new atheists inevitably and, at times unknowingly,
engage. Contributors include Richard Harries, Reza Aslan,
Amarnath Amarasingam, Robert Platzner, Jeffrey Robbins,
Christopher Rodkey, Rory Dickson, Steve Fuller, William Sims
Bainbridge, William A. Stahl, Stephen Bullivant, Michael
Borer, Richard Cimino, Christopher Smith, Gregory R.
Peterson, Jeff Nall, Ryan Falcioni, and Mark Vernon.
More
Celibacy in the Ancient World: Its Ideal and Practice in
Pre-Hellenistic Israel, Mesopotami, and Greece by Dale Launderville
(A Michael Glazier Book, Liturgical Press) Celibacy is a commitment to remain unmarried and to renounce
sexual relations for a limited period or for a lifetime. Such a
commitment places an individual outside human society in its usual
form. What significance does such an individual, and such a choice,
have for the human family and community as a whole? These questions guide Dale Launderville, OSB, in
Celibacy in the Ancient World, his study of celibacy in the
ancient cultures of Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece prior to
Hellenism and the rise of Christianity. Launderville, professor of
theology at Saint John's University School of Theology Seminary,
Collegeville, Minnesota, focuses especially on literary witnesses,
because those enduring texts have helped to shape modern attitudes
and can help in understanding the factors that may call forth the
practice of celibacy in our own time. Readers discover how celibacy
fits within a context of relationships, and what kinds of
relationships support a healthy and varied society, one aware of and
oriented to its cosmic destiny.
More
Praising the Goddess: A Comparative and Annotated Re-Edition
of Six Demotic Hymns and Praises Addressed to Isis by
Holger Kockelmann (Archiv Fur Papyrusforschung Und
Verwandte Gebiete - Beihefte: DeGruyter) In recent decades,
the relation between Egyptian and Greek praises of the goddess Isis
has received much scholarly attention. The present study, however,
focuses on six Demotic hymns and praises directed to this goddess:
P. Heidelberg dem. 736 verso, O. Hor 10, Theban Graffiti 3156, 3462,
3445, and P. Tebt. Tait 14. These texts from the second century BC
to the second century AD are re-edited in facsimile, transliteration
and translation. A commentary to each document discusses
philological matters, providing improved readings in some instances.
For the first time, the six texts are analyzed comparatively in
regard to formal features and content. The concept of Isis that is
outlined by the Demotic sources is set against Isis' role as
described by other Egyptian sources (such as temple inscriptions or
theophoric personal names) and by Greek eulogies of the goddess. An
appendix offers an overview of other Demotic hymns and praises
addressed to various divinities.
More
A Palaeographic Study of Early Writing in Egypt
by
I. Regulski (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta:
Peeters) In trying to reconstruct the early phases of
our culture, we rely mostly on sources from the ancient
Near East. This is perhaps more true of the history of
writing than of any other great cultural accomplishment.
It would be unthinkable even to try to sketch the
history of writing without taking into consideration the
written sources of ancient Egypt. The present
contributes to the research of writing evolution in
Egypt as an attempt to collect, describe, and evaluate
the earliest attestations of writing from a
palaeographic point of view. The book aims to present a
thorough investigation of the development of sign forms,
from its first appearance around 3250BC until the reign
of Djoser (ca. 2700BC) at the beginning of Dynasty III.
It features the first-ever palaeographic collection of
all available signs and inscriptions. The survey
permitted reconstruction of the complex process of
codification and reform of the Egyptian script that
finally resulted in the hieroglyphic writing of the Old
Kingdom.
More
Pictograms or Pseudo-Script? Non-Textual Identity Marks
in Practical Use in Ancient Egypt and Elsewhere
edited by B.J.J. Haring and Olaf E. Kaper
(Proceedings of a Conference in Leiden, 19-20 December
2006. UITGAVEN - EGYPTOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS: Peeters
Publishers) Marking systems such as masons marks,
property marks, pot marks, quarry marks and team marks
confront us with the large variation in the use of
graphic signs. They are often similar to writing, yet
they are not script in the strictest sense of the word.
The practical purposes of marks include claims to
property and responsibilities, both individual and
collective, for which regular scripts are also used. he
marking systems are seen to operate in combination with
writing, but frequently also in isolation. In societies
that use writing, the marks appear to be strongly
influenced by it: their shapes are often identical and
they may be similarly arranged in lines or columns. In
this sense the marking systems may be called a pseudo
script, for in spite of their resemblance to writing,
the signs remain mere pictograms. This volume brings
together for the first time the results of research on
practical marking systems in ancient Egypt and other
cultures, making it possible to define the common
characteristics of their appearance and their uses. It
is the result of a conference hosted by the Egyptology
Department at Leiden University in 2006. The great
geographical and chronological range covered by the
volume, the sign corpora added to many of the
contributions, and the indices also make it the first
important reference work on this intriguing topic.
More
God-Beyond Me: From the I's Absolute Ground in Hölderlin and
Schelling to a Contemporary Model of a Personal God by Cia
Van Woezik (Critical Studies in German Idealism: Brill
Academic Publishing) I find this study
exceptionally well written: Its clarity, accessibility of style, and
adroit integration of historical research with modern philosophical
and theological concerns is exemplary. German idealism has attempted to think an absolute ground to
self-conscious I-hood. As a result it has been theologically
disqualified as pantheistic or even atheistic since many maintain
that such a ground cannot be reconciled with a personal God. In the
early writings of Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854), it is clear that
he and his contemporaries were aware of this difficulty. His Tübinger fellow student, Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843), was
convinced of the ultimate inadequacy of any philosophical system to
grasp the unitary ground of all that is and turned to poetry. The
metaphysical insights expressed in his poetry have been largely
neglected in both philosophical and theological scholarship. Drawing
on the 20th century metaphysics of Dieter Henrich and Karl Rahner,
this book elaborates on Hölderlin's poetry. This results in a novel
concept of God as both unitary and personal ground of I-hood. Unlike
many academic titles, Woezik writes clear, direct prose. Her ideas
are remarkably well expressed. Highly recommended.
More
Human Rights or Religious Rules?
by J. A.
van der Ven (Empirical Research
in Religion and Human Rights: Brill) The relation between religion and human rights is a contested
one, as they appear to compete with one another. Religion is often
considered to represent a tradition of heteronomy and subordination
in premodern times. Human rights emerged from early modern and
modern times and stand for principles like human dignity, autonomy,
equality. The first question in this book is how to define religion,
its meaning, functions and structures, and how to study it. The
second question is how to understand religion from its relation with
human rights in such a way that justice is done to both religion and
human rights. These questions are dealt with using a historical and
systematic approach. The third question is what the`impact of
religion might be On attitudes towards human rights, i.e. human
rights culture. For an answer, empirical research is reported among
about woo students, Christians, Muslims, and nonreligious, at the
end of secondary and the beginning of tertiary education in the
Netherlands. More
Hawara in the Graeco-Roman Period: Life and Death in a Fayum Village
by Inge Uytterhoeven (Orientalia Lovaniensia
Analecta: Peeters) In the 12th Dynasty, Pharaoh Amenemhat III (ca.
1842-1797 BC) built his pyramid at Hawara, a site near the entrance
of the Egyptian Fayum oasis. From that time into the Graeco-Roman
Period, the pyramid and funerary temple of Hawara, the so-called
Labyrinth of the ancient sources, as well as its extended necropolis
would attract numerous adherents of the cult for Pramarres, the
deified Amenemhat III, and many other visitors. The source material
available for the village and necropolis of Hawara covers a period
of almost 3000 years, reaching from the 12th Dynasty (ca. 1800 BC)
to the Arab Period (10th century AD). Thanks to the many
archaeological data, literary texts, inscriptions and papyri, Hawara
forms an ideal case study for the interdisciplinary research of an
Egyptian site. Taking the sources related to the Graeco-Roman
occupation phase of Hawara as a starting point, this monograph
offers a picture of life and death in this Fayum village. The part
dealing with the living pays attention to the topographical
situation of the village, its population, administration, economy
and religious life. The second part focuses on the dead who were
buried on the site by reconstructing their socio-economic position
and provenance.
More
Schleiermacher, the Study of Religion, and the Future of
Theology: A Transatlantic Dialogue
by Wilhelm Grab, Brent W. Sockness,
and Wilhelm Grab (Theologische
Bibliothek Topelmann: De Gruyter) The past three
decades have witnessed a significant transatlantic and
trans-disciplinary resurgence of interest in the early
nineteenth-century Protestant theologian and philosopher,
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834). As the first major
Christian thinker to theorize religion in a
post-Enlightenment context and re-conceive the task of
theology accordingly, Schleiermacher holds a seminal place
in the histories of modern Christian thought and the modern
academic study of religion alike. Whereas his "liberalism"
and humanism have always made him a controversial figure
among theological traditionalists, it is only recently that
Schleiermacher´s understanding of religion has become the
target of polemics from Religious Studies scholars keen to
disassociate their discipline from its partial origins in
liberal Protestantism. Schleiermacher, the Study of
Religion, and the Future of Theology documents an important
meeting in the history of Schleiermacher studies at which
leading scholars from Europe and North America gathered to
probe the viability of key features of Schleiermacher´s
theological and philosophical program in light of its
contested place in the study of religion.
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The Neuroscience of Religious Experience
by Patrick McNamara (Cambridge University Press) Recent
technical advances in the life and medical sciences have
revolutionized our understanding of the brain, while the emerging
disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience
continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions
and emotional states associated with religious experience to
underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing
theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary
explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs
and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures,
while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviors. What is
missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these
behavioral and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually
curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of
a brain scientist.
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Divine Contingency: Theologies of Divine Embodiment in Maximos the
Confessor and Tsong kha pa by Thomas Cattoi (Gorgias Eastern
Christian Studies 7: Gorgias Press) [978-1-59333-970-8] The purpose
of this work is to explore the points of contact, as well as the
differences, between the distinct notions of divine embodiment
developed by Maximos the Confessor (580-662), one of the greatest
Greek Fathers, and Tsong kha pa (1357-1419), perhaps the most
important thinker in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Both authors
develop a spiritual theology where natural contemplation and the
practice of the virtues are invested with a transformative value and
are construed as a response to a cosmic intelligence, which sustains
the universe, but also becomes manifest in history. The
Christocentric vision of Maximos, which refines and completes the
Chalcedonian paradigm, and the Buddhological reflection of Tsong kha
pa, which compounds centuries of Mahayana speculation on the Buddha
bodies, share an appreciation for the propedeutic value of the
created order, in all its variety and difference. At the same time,
the two systems rest on divergent presuppositions as to the
ontological nature of the cosmos and the ultimate value of
individual identity.
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Ancient Greek Divination by Sarah Iles Johnston
(Wiley-Blackwell) offers a broad yet detailed treatment of the
attempts by ancient Greeks to seek the counsel of the gods. The
first English-language survey of Greek divinatory methods, the book
includes in-depth discussions of oracles, wandering diviners,
do-it-yourself methods of foretelling the future, magical divinatory
techniques, and much more. Author Sarah Iles Johnston provides
essential facts on each method and highlights its social and
cultural significance, effectively illustrating how the study of
divination illuminates the mentalities of ancient Greek religions
and society. The volume is illustrated and contains a chapter-by-chapter
bibliography. Combining current scholarship with a lively and
accessible style of writing, Ancient Greek Divination takes a new
look at a phenomenon that was central to the lives of the Ancient
Greeks.
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Horoscopes and Public Spheres: Essays on the History of Astrology
Edited by Günther Oestmann, / H. Darrel Rutkin, / Kocku von Stuckrad
(Walter de Gruyter) examines the specific role of horoscopic
astrology in Western culture from antiquity to the nineteenth
century. Focusing on the public appearance of astrological rhetoric,
the essays break new ground for a better understanding of the
function of horoscopes in public discourse. The volume's three parts
address the use of imperial horoscopes in late antiquity, the
transformation of doctrines and rhetorics in Islamic medieval
contexts, and the important status of astrology in early modern
Europe. The combination of in-depth historical studies and
methodological considerations results in an important contribution
to religious and cultural studies.
Kant und Swedenborg: Zugänge zu einem umstrittenen
Verhältnis by Friedemann Herausgeber v. Stengel (Max Niemeyer Verlag) Kant
as the leading representative of the philosophical enlightenment and
the seer Swedenborg, regarded as the father of modern esotericism,
would appear at first sight to be two diametrically opposed 18th
century figures. At the same time, Swedenborg was one of the few
authors to whom Kant dedicated a work of his own – the Dreams of a
Spirit-Seer. Since then, controversy has surrounded Swedenborg’s
significance for Kant’s philosophical biography and the history of
his works. In the present volume, philosophers, religious scholars,
theologians and literary scholars from six countries present their –
far from consensual – interpretations of the relationship between
Kant’s critical philosophy and Swedenborg’s “visionary realism”.
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses edited, translated and
corrected by Joseph Peterson (Ibis Press) the publisher blurb says:
For people interested in folk magic. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, arguably one of the most
popular magick books ever published, contains two secret apocrypha
ascribed to Moses, perhaps pseudepigraphically. The book consists of
a collection of texts, which claim to explain the magick Moses used
to win the biblical magick contest with the Egyptian
priest-magicians, part the Red Sea, and perform other miraculous
feats. It includes instruction in the form of invocations, magick
words, and seals for calling upon the angels to affect worldly ends,
from the sublime (calling down a plague of locusts and frogs upon
your enemy) to the mundane (getting more money). Many manuscripts and printed pamphlet versions circulated in
Germany in the 1800s, and an English translation by Johann Scheible
first appeared in New York in 1880 that had not been corrected or
re-edited until now. In creating this restored, corrected edition,
Joseph Peterson drew on Scheible's final edition of the text and his
original sources. It will be of great interest to those who have
suffered through prior editions and anyone looking for a traditional
source of Western magick.
The Secret History of Western Sexual Mysticism: Sacred Practices and
Spiritual Marriage by Arthur Versluis (Destiny Books) Beginning with the ancient Greek Mystery traditions,
Gnosticism, and the practices in early Christianity, Arthur Versluis
uncovers the secret line of Western sexual mysticism that, like the
Tantra of the East, seeks transcendence or union with God through
sexually charged practices. Throughout antiquity, and right into the
present day, sexuality has played an important, if largely hidden,
role in religious traditions and practices. This includes not only
Christian but also kabbalistic, hermetic, and alchemical currents of
sexual mysticism, many discussed together here for the first time.
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Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western
Esotericism edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Jeffrey J. Kripal
(Aries: Brill Academic) From rumours about gnostic orgies in
antiquity to the explicit erotic symbolism of alchemical texts, from
the subtly coded eroticism of medieval kabbalah to the sexual magic
practiced by contemporary occultists and countercultural
translations of Asian Tantra, the history of Western esotericism is
rich in references to the domains of eros and sexuality. This
volume, which brings together an impressive array of top-level
specialists, is the first to analyze the eroticism of the esoteric
without sensationalism or cheap generalizations, but on the basis of
expert scholarship and attention to textual and historical detail.
While there are few other domains where the imagination may so
easily run wild, the various contributions seek to distinguish fact
from fiction--only to find that historical realities are sometimes
even stranger than the fantasies. In doing so, they reveal the
outlines of a largely unknown history spanning more than twenty
centuries.
Orgasm and the
West: A History of Pleasure from the 16th Century to the Present
by Robert Muchembled
(Paperback) Does the orgasm have a history? An almost
incommunicable individual emotion, yet also a cultural reality, the
orgasm is part of our collective experience and also something
separate from it. Its history is that of the hidden body, of
forbidden desires, of flesh constrained by taboos and morality. In this major new book, Robert Muchembled uncovers a fascinating
history of sexual pleasure and the repression of pleasure that lies
at the heart of Western civilization. Contrary to Foucault, he
argues that a powerful repression of the carnal appetites was
established at the very heart of our civilization around the middle
of the sixteenth century, and that it only really lost ground in the
1960s. Producing a fundamental tension between the libido of each
individual and collective ideals, it was a process that constantly
promoted a powerful labour of sublimation throughout this long
period, under the successive cultural covers of religion, philosophy
and the laws of the capitalist market. The coercive system laid down
in the seventeenth century formed the basis for alternate cycles of
liberation and constraint, whose fluctuations were fundamental to
the general dynamism of the West because they created the need to
compensate for the mental disequilibrium they caused.
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Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom by Andy Letcher
(Ecco) Is Santa Claus really a magic mushroom in disguise? Was
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland a thinly veiled psychedelic
mushroom odyssey? Did mushroom tea kick-start ancient Greek
philosophy? Much stranger than the fictions it has inspired, the world of the
magic mushroom is a place where shamans and hippies rub shoulders
with psychiatrists, poets and international bankers. The magic
mushroom was rediscovered only fifty years ago but has accumulated
all sorts of folktales and urban legends along the way. In this
timely and definitive study, Andy Letcher strips away the myths to
get at the true story of how hallucinogenic mushrooms, once shunned
in the West as the most pernicious of poisons, came to be the
illicit drug of choice.
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Popular Religion and Shamanism
by
Edited by Ma Xisha and Meng Huiying
(Religious Studies in Contemporary China
Collection: Brill Academic) addresses
two areas of religion within Chinese
society; the lay teachings that Chinese
scholars term folk or `popular' religion,
and shamanism. Each area represents a
distinct tradition of scholarship, and the
book is therefore split into two parts.
An Introduction to Tantric Philosophy:
The Paramarthasara of Abhinavagupta and the Commentary by Yogaraja
translated by Lyne Bansat-Boudon and Kamalesha Tripathi,
Introduction, notes, cricitally revised Sanskrit text, appendix,
indices byLyne Bansat-Boudon (Routledge Studies
I in Tantric Traditions: Routledge) The Paramarthasara,
or 'Essence of Ultimate Reality', is a work of the Kashmirian
polymath Abhinavagupta (tenth—eleventh centuries). It is a brief
treatise in which the author outlines the doctrine of which he is a
notable exponent, namely non-dualistic Saivism, which he designates
in his works as the Trika, or 'Triad' of three principles: Siva,
Sakti and the embodied soul (nara).
Rolf
Stein's Tibetica Antiqua by Rolf A Stein, translated by Arthur P
McKeown (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library: Brill Academic Publishers) represents the seminal work on Tibetan religious history by one of the foremost Tibetologists of the twentieth century. Herein, Stein discusses the
cultural and religious interactions among Tibet, India, and China
which resulted in what we now consider `Tibetan Buddhism' from the
point of view of our earliest sources, the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Esoteric
Buddhism at Dunhuang by Sam Van Schaik and Matthew
T. Kapstien (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library: Brill) Esoteric Buddhism in late first millennium Tibet and China is
nowhere in evidence so clearly as in materials from Dunhuang. In the
original contributions presented here, Robert Mayer and Cathy
Cantwell examine the consecrations of the wrathful divinity
Vajrakilaya, while Sam van Schaik considers approaches to the vows
of tantric adepts. Philosophical interpretations of Mahayoga inform
Kammie Takahashi's study of the 'Questions of Vajrasattva'. The
background for later Tibetan tantric mortuary rites is examined in
chapters by Yoshiro Imaeda and Matthew Kapstein. In the closing
chapter, Katherine Tsiang investigates early printing in relation to
esoteric dharanis, and their role as amulets accompanying the
deceased. The collection is an important advance in our
understanding of the historical development of Buddhist tantra.
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Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New
Religion by Lola Williamson (New and Alternative Religions: NYU Press)
Yoga, karma, meditation, guru—these terms, once obscure, are now a
part of the American lexicon. Combining Hinduism with Western
concepts and values, a new hybrid form of religion has developed in
the United States over the past century. In Transcendent in America,
Lola Williamson traces the history of various Hindu-inspired
movements in America, and argues that together they constitute a
discrete category of religious practice, a distinct and identifiable
form of new religion.
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The Sun Rises: A Shaman's Chant, Ritual Exchange and
Fertility in the Apatani Valley by Stuart
Blackburn (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library: Brill
Academic) At the centre of this study is a
shaman's chant performed during a three-week long feast
in the eastern Himalayas. The book includes a
translation of this 12-hour text chanted in Apatani, a
Tibeto-Burman language, and a description of the events
that surround it, especially ritual exchanges with
ceremonial friends, in which fertility is celebrated.
The shaman's social role, performance and ritual
language are also described. Although complex feasts,
like this one among Apatanis, have been described in
northeast India and upland Southeast Asia for more than
a century, this is the first book to present a full
translation of the accompanying chant and to integrate
it into the interpretation of the social significance of
the total event.
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Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism: Sacred Texts and Language, Ritual
Traditions, Arts, Concepts Volume II
edited by Knut A. Jacobsen
(Handbook of Oriental Studies: Brill Academic
Publishers) This is the second of the five volumes of Brill's Encyclopedia of
Hinduism. The goal of the Encyclopedia is to present the latest
scholarship on all aspects of the Hindu religious traditions. The
Encyclopedia makes available in-depth critical scholarship, and the
depth and breadth of information provided in this work are unmatched
by any reference work on Hinduism. I should appeal to a wide
range of readers. At the foundation of the Encyclopedia is a
fascination with a phenomenon that we as humans share, and in the
examination of this phenomenon, the emphasis is on critical
knowledge. Hinduism as a religious tradition functions on a number
of different levels, from the most complex architecture, philosophy,
and linguistic activity to the performance of short ritual acts: a
woman connecting for a brief moment to a statue of the god Ganesa in
a wayside shrine on her way to work, a Hindu holy man performing his
morning rituals in the Himalaya, a young boy learning to recite
Sanskrit ritual texts at a school for priest education in South
India, a dance performance in a temple, an astrologer giving advice
to a client, the tying of a short thread to a tree by a pilgrim at a
Hindu sacred place, a meeting of the organizational committee of a
Hindu temple anywhere in the world, a philosophical discussion at an
assembly of learned persons in Benares, artisans making stone
sculptures for temples, Vedic sacred formulas and texts recited
daily, and manuscripts of Hinduism being preserved in facilities and
libraries worldwide. In these and many other ways, the Hindu
traditions are performed by hundreds of millions of people every
day. The goal of the Encyclopedia is to present the Hindu traditions
as they take place on all these levels. Hinduism, it is often
observed, has no common church and no common creed, and it is not
based on a holy book or a single founder. That may be so, but
Hinduism has many organizations, many creeds, many sacred texts, and
founders of a number of organizations and knowledge traditions. The
vision of this work is to approach the mosaic and network of Hindu
traditions in all their multiplicity, and as both historical and
contemporary institutions from different angles and in a variety of
contexts, and to document a number of connections and networks.
For many scholars whose work is dedicated to understanding the
history, structure, and pluralism of Hindu traditions, Hinduism is
definitely the world's most exciting religion. This enthusiasm for
the subject is displayed in the articles of the Encyclopedia. The
articles are clear, comprehensive, interesting and exciting, and
they do justice to the Hindu traditions both in the context of
ancient civilizations and as global living traditions.
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Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism: Volume One:
Regions, Pilgrimage, Deities edited by Knut A. Jacobsen (Handbook of
Oriental Studies / Handbuch Der Orientalistik: Brill Academic) The five-volume Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is a
thematically organized encyclopedia, presenting the latest research
on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions. Its essays are
original work written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism.
The encyclopedia aims at a balanced and even-handed view of
Hinduism, recognizing the divergent perspectives and methods in the
academic study of a religion that is both an ancient historical
tradition and a flourishing tradition today. Following a pluralistic
approach, the encyclopedia embraces the greatest possible diversity,
plurality, and heterogeneity. It thus emphasizes that Hinduism
encompasses a variety of regional religious traditions, as well as a
global world religion.
The Yoga
Sutras: An Essential Guide to the Heart of Yoga Philosophy by
Nicolai Bachman ( Sounds True) Open your yoga practice
with an in-depth
course on the Sutras of Patanjali. We know there's more to the yogic path than asana,
or physical postures, but how do we access the deeper wisdom of yoga
philosophy? More than 2,000 years ago, the legendary master
Patanjali answered this question in 195 pearls of insight known as
the Yoga Sutras. Now Sanskrit and Ayurveda teacher Nicolai Bachman
offers The Yoga Sutras, a complete course with a fresh new approach
to working with Patanjali's seminal text for guidance and
inspiration on your own journey toward clarity and happiness. Why do we react the way we do in certain situations? How can
suffering be an opportunity for growth? Why are nonviolence and
truth important to a student? Patanjali's sutras offer an
illuminating perspective on these questions and more. To help
integrate this wisdom into our modern life, Bachman offers a unique
approach. Instead of reading each sutra sequentially from beginning
to end, he focuses on and discusses 51 key concepts. By exploring
these principles with him and`learning to chant the sutras in
Sanskrit, the essence of yoga philosophy is revealed—helping us open
to its heart and soul. The Yoga Sutras invites you to discover a
variety of practical tools and heartfelt insights for transforming
your practice, including: When you immerse yourself in Patanjali's sutras, the heart of
yoga—and what yoga means for you personally—will unveil itself in
new and profound ways. Whether you're a seasoned teacher or a
student looking to go deeper with your practice, this essential
course offers a treasury of teachings to help realize the"outer joy
and inner happiness" of yoga.
More
Ritual Alliances of the Putian Plain Volume One: Historical Introduction to the
Return of the Gods by
Kenneth Dean, Zheng Zhenman
(Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik, Volume 23, 1: Brill Academic)
Over the past thirty years, local popular religion
has been revived and re-invented in the villages of the
irrigated alluvial plain of Putian, Fujian, China.
Volume 1 provides a historical introduction to the
formation of 153 regional ritual alliances made up of
724 villages. Early popular cults, Ming lineages, Qing
multi-village alliances, late Qing spirit-medium
associations, 20th century state attacks on local
religion, and the role of Overseas Chinese and local
communities in rebuilding the temple networks are
discussed. Volume 2 surveys the current population,
lineages, temples, gods, and annual rituals of these
villages. Maps of each ritual alliance, the distribution
of major cults and lineages, are included.
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I Ching: The
Symbolic Life by Stephen Karcher PhD.
(BookSurge) By far the most user friendly
intuitive adaptation of this ancient oracle
to the functions of divination rather than
the museum of past cultures. Karcher has
worked with this book some intimately that
the poetic liberties he takes with the
Chinese letter will well substantiated by
the spirit of the oracle itself. Of
the many editions`available this one is easy
to use and likely to bring one into the dao
of its message. I Ching or the Classic of Change is
the world's oldest and most
sophisticated system of wisdom
Idivination, source of much of the east's
philosophy and culture. It focuses on
the part the individual plays in change
and transformation. When we experience
ourselves as a victim of the changes in
our lives and our world, we feel
isolated, frightened and angry. When we
become a part of the deep dialogue
Change represents, we feel connected to
the basic creative energy that shapes
the world we live in, living in accord
with the Way or Dao.
I Ching: The
Symbolic Life gives you direct access to
this dialogue through the myth and ritual
world Change uses to model the course of the
Symbolic Life. Developed through many years
of scholarship and research and grounded in
practical use, it can make Change a part of
your daily life. It explains and presents
the age-old symbols of I Ching in a step by
step way that lets you use the images
directly and intuitively. You do not really
learn something, you experience something
that is capable of working a profound
transformation of your thought. Stephen Karcher, Ph.D., is one of today's
most creative and controversial writers I
and practitioners in the field of Yijing
studies, divination and myth. He is an
internationally recognized scholar,
translator and initiated diviner, teaching
and lecturing on the Yijing and other
divination systems in the US, Great Britain,
France, Spain, Switzerland and South Africa.
As Research Director of the Eranos
Foundation in Ascona, Switzerland
(1988-1996), he pioneered a depth
psychological approach to divination. A
prolific author, he has published many books
and articles in the field of comparative
mythology, divination, depth psychology and
religious experience. He "liberates meanings
... that have been missing from our
understanding for a couple of thousand years
... revealing a whole new landscape of
interpretation that makes previous
translations feel cramped by comparison."
Stephen lives in Ojai, California.
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One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet
by
Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa and Derek F. Maher (Brill's Tibetan
Studies Library: Brill Academic Publishers) DRAWING ON A VAST ARRAY OF HISTORICAL AND biographical sources, this volume elaborates Tibetan political
history, arguing that Tibet has long been an independent nation, and
that the 195o incursion by the Chinese was an invasion of a
sovereign country. The author situates Tibet's relations with a
series of Chinese, Manchurian, and Mongolian empires in terms of the
preceptor-patron relationship, an essentially religious connection
in which Tibetan religious figures offered spiritual instruction to
the contemporaneous emperor or other militarily powerful figure in
exchange for protection and religious patronage. Simultaneously,
this volume serves as an introduction to many aspects of Tibetan
culture, society, and especially religion. The book includes a
compendium of biographies of the most significant figures in Tibet's
past.
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HdO Early Chinese Religion: Shang Through Han (1250 BC-220 AD)
edited
by John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Handbook of Oriental Studies,
Section Four, China: Brill Academic Publishers) Together, and for the first time in any language, the 24
essays gathered in these volumes provide a composite
picture of the history of religion in ancient China from
the emergence of writing ca. 125o BC to the collapse of
the first major imperial dynasty in 220 AD. It is a multifaceted tale of changing gods and rituals that includes the
Emperor and Ancestor: State and Lineage in South China
by David Faure (Stanford, 2007)] summarizes twenty years of
the author's work in historical anthropology and documents his
argument that in China, ritual provided the social glue that law
provided in the West. The book offers a readable history of the
special lineage institutions for which south China has been noted
and argues that these institutions fostered the mechanisms that
enabled south China to be absorbed into the imperial Chinese
state--first, by introducing rituals that were acceptable to the
state, and second, by providing mechanisms that made group ownership
of property feasible and hence made it possible to pool capital for
land reclamation projects important to the state. Just as taxation,
defense, and recognition came together with the emergence of
powerful lineages in the sixteenth century, their disintegration in
the late nineteenth century signaled the beginnings of a new Chinese
state. More
Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual Life in the Chunqiu
Period, 722-453 B.C.E by Yuri Pines (722-453 BCE) (Honolulu, 2002).
This ambitious work focuses on the world of Chinese thought during
the Chunqiu (Springs and Autumns) period (722-451 B.C.E.), the two
and a half centuries directly preceding and partly overlapping the
time of Confucius, China's single most influential thinker. Ideas
developed by Chunqiu statesmen and thinkers formed the intellectual
milieu of Confucius and his disciples and contributed directly to
the intellectual flowering of the Zhanguo (Warring States) era
(453-221 B.C.E.), the formative period of the Chinese intellectual
tradition. This study is the first attempt to systematically
reconstruct major intellectual trends in pre-Confucian China.
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Text and Ritual in Early China edited by Martin Kern (University of Washington Press)
Leading scholars of ancient Chinese history, literature, religion,
and archaeology consider the presence and use of texts in religious
and political ritual. Through balanced attention to both the
received literary tradition and the wide range of recently excavated
artefacts, manuscripts, and inscriptions, their combined efforts
reveal the rich and multilayered interplay of textual composition
and ritual performance.
More
Divine Knowledge: Buddhist Mathematics According to Antoine
Mostaert's Manual of Mongolian Astrology and Divination by Brian
G. Baumann (Brill's Inner Asian Library: Brill Academic Publishers)
In an original and compelling examination of traditional
mathematics, this comprehensive study of the anonymous; Manual of
Mongolian Astrology and Divination (published by A. Mostaert in
1969) takes on the fundamental problem of the post‑enlightenment
categorization of knowledge, in particular the inherently
problematic realms of religion and science, as well as their
subsets, medicine, ritual, and magic. In the process of elucidating
the rhetoric and logic shaping this manual the author reveals not
only the intertwined intellectual history of Eurasia from Greece to
China but also dismantles many of the discourses that have shaped
its modern interpretations.
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Enlightened Rainbows: The Life and Works of Shardza Tashi Gyeltsen
by Jean-Luc Achard (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library: Brill Academic)
Shar rdza Rin po the (hereafter Shardza Rinpoche) is one of the most
famous Bon po masters of the late 19th century and early 20th
century. He is of course particularly well-known because of his
realization of the Rainbow Body ('ja' lus) which he manifested at
the end of his life in 1934. But he was not only a fully
accomplished practitioner of rDzogs chen and Tantras — which would
appear to be much sufficient in itself : he was also a highly
talented scholar whose expertise embraced all the fields of Bon
spiritual knowledge. His works have consequently greatly influenced
most of the modern masters of Bon, even if some voices appear here
and there in a discordant tone. The detailed study of these works
clearly demonstrates that their author had an unequalled mastery of
Bon teachings and that he has initiated specific traditions that are
definitely his own innovations. His spiritual heritage is preciously
kept alive in both Eternal Bon and New Bon traditions, in India and
in Tibet (and to a lesser extent in some Western countries).
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Iconoclasm and Iconoclash edited by Willem Van Asselt, Paul Van
Geest, Daniela Muller, Theo Salemink (Jewish and Christian
Perspectives Series: Brill) A first difference introduced and
explored in this volume that between (1) iconoclash and (2)
iconoclasm. While it is clear that they are integrally and these
studies aim at covering both themes, it is useful to distinguish
carefully between them.
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The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions by Mark Juergensmeyer
(Oxford Handbooks in Religion and Theology: Oxford University Press)
is a reference for understanding world religious societies in their
contemporary global diversity. Comprising 60 essays, the volume
focuses on communities rather than beliefs, symbols, or rites. It is
organized into six sections corresponding to the major living
religious traditions: the Indic cultural region, the
Buddhist/Confucian, the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim regions, and
the African cultural region. In each section an introductory essay
discusses the social development of that religious tradition
historically. The other essays cover the basic social facts, the
community’s size, location, organizational and pilgrimage centers,
authority figures, patterns of governance, major subgroups and
schisms, as well as issues regarding boundary maintenance, political
involvement, role in providing cultural identity, and encounters
with modernity. Communities in the diaspora and at the periphery are
covered, as well as the central geographic regions of the religious
traditions. Thus, for example, Islamic communities in Asia and the
United States are included along with Islamic societies in the
Middle East. The contributors are leading scholars of world
religions, many of whom are also members of the communities they
study. The essays are written to be informative and accessible to
the educated public, and to be respectful of the viewpoints of the
communities analyzed.
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An Introductory Dictionary of Theology & Religious Studies
edited by Orlando Espin, James B. Nickoloff (Liturgical Press)
Students enrolled in undergraduate theology and religious studies
courses are frequently confronted with the daunting task of
mastering new and unfamiliar terminology. While some textbooks
include glossaries to aid the introductory student, many educators
assign classroom texts that assume students' prior knowledge of key
terms. Having ready access to a wide variety of definitions in a
single, compact volume is especially important in our multicultural
and religiously plural world. Spanning the gamut from "Aaron" to
"Zwingli," this dictionary includes nearly 3,000 entries written by
about sixty authors, all of whom are specialists in their various
theological and religious disciplines. The editors have designed the
dictionary especially to aid the introductory-level student with
instant access to definitions of terms likely to be encountered
in--but not to substitute for--classroom presentations or reading
assignments. Designed as a supplement for student coursework, An
Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies is also a
useful resource for catechesis or religious education, for those
pursuing interfaith or interreligious dialogue, and for those whose
duties require communication with persons from diverse religious
traditions.
Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular
Life edited by Louise M. Antony (Oxford University Press)
Atheists are frequently demonized as arrogant intellectuals,
antagonistic to religion, devoid of moral sentiments, advocates of
an "anything goes" lifestyle. Now, in this revealing volume,
nineteen leading philosophers open a window on the inner life of
atheism, shattering these common stereotypes as they reveal how they
came to turn away from religious belief. These highly engaging
personal essays capture the marvelous diversity to be found among
atheists, providing a portrait that will surprise most readers. Many
of the authors, for example, express great affection for particular
religious traditions, even as they explain why they cannot, in good
conscience, embrace them. None of the contributors dismiss religious
belief as stupid or primitive, and several even express regret that
they cannot, or can no longer, believe. Perhaps more important, in
these reflective pieces, they offer fresh insight into some of the
oldest and most difficult problems facing the human mind and spirit.
For instance, if God is dead, is everything permitted?
Philosophers without Gods
demonstrates convincingly, with
arguments that date back to Plato, that morality is independent of
the existence of God. Indeed, every writer in this volume adamantly
affirms the objectivity of right and wrong. Moreover, they contend
that secular life can provide rewards as great and as rich as
religious life. A naturalistic understanding of the human condition
presents a set of challenges--to pursue our goals without illusions,
to act morally without hope of reward--challenges that can impart a
lasting value to finite and fragile human lives. Collectively, these
essays highlight the richness of atheistic belief--not only as a
valid alternative to religion, but as a profoundly fulfilling and
moral way of life. More
Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America's Nonbelievers by
Bruce E. Hunsberger, Bob Altemeyer (Prometheus Books) Hunsberger is
one of the few researchers to look deeply into the soul (or should I
say mind?) of an atheist, and what his studies show will be both
pleasing and disturbing to nonbelievers and believers alike. The
authors descriptions and conclusions are clear, brief and to the
point. More
The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by Andre Comte-Sponville
(Author), translated by Nancy Huston (Viking) Can we do without
religion? Can we have ethics without God? Is there such thing as
“atheist spirituality”? In this powerful book, the internationally
bestselling author André Comte-Sponville presents a philosophical
exploration of atheism—and comes to some startling conclusions.
According to Comte-Sponville, we have allowed the concept of
spirituality to become intertwined with religion, and thus have lost
touch with the nature of a true spiritual existence. In order to
change this, however, we need not reject the ancient traditions and
values that are part of our heritage; rather, we must rethink our
relationship to these values and ask ourselves whether their
significance comes from the existence of a higher power or simply
the human need to connect to one another and the universe. Comte-Sponville
offers rigorous, reasoned arguments that take both Eastern and
Western philosophical traditions into account, and through his
clear, concise, and often humorous prose, he offers a convincing
treatise on a new form of spiritual life.
More
The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief edited by Tom Flynn, Foreword
by Richard Dawkins (Prometheus Books) Successor to the highly
acclaimed
Encyclopedia of Unbelief (1985), edited by the late Gordon
Stein,
The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief is a comprehensive reference
work on the history, beliefs, and thinking of America’s fastest
growing minority: those who live without religion. As in the previous edition, this work does more to define a
necessary cognitive and social critique of religion that is couched
in a naturalistic avowal of culminative, demonstratable scientific
enquiry and skepticism toward magical characterizations of
transcendental aspirations. Personally I feel this critical stance
toward religions should show greater tolerance for the innate
conservatism of human longing for certainty and consolation. By
taking a concerted secular stance against all religion, the
importance of unbelief is marginalized in the very areas where its
critique is likely to thrive. For instance the Society
of Evangelical Agnostics, which for 12 short years starting in 1975,
united well over 1000 agnostics in a loose fellowship around
Huxley's understanding of the meaning of agnosticism, and other such
initiatives. All-new articles by the field’s foremost scholars describe and
explain every aspect of atheism, agnosticism, secular humanism,
secularism, and religious skepticism. Topics include morality
without religion, unbelief in the historicity of Jesus, critiques of
intelligent design theory, unbelief and sexual values, and summaries
of the state of unbelief around the world. More than 130 respected
scholars and activists worldwide served on the editorial advisory
board and over 100 authoritative contributors have written in excess
of 500 entries. In addition to covering developments since the publication of the
original edition, the New Encyclopedia of Unbelief includes a larger
number of biographical entries and much-expanded coverage of the
linkages between unbelief and social reform movements of the 19th
and 20th centuries, including the labor movement, woman suffrage,
anarchism, sex radicalism, and second-wave feminism. Unfortunately the volume does not cover the arts or major poets
and writers many of whom deal extensively with implications of
unbelief in their work. The poet Philip Larkin or John Asbury to
name a few, even William Blake can be read as a satirist rather than
a prophet. Also, Ayn Rand merits an entry (and rightly so), but she
was surely not a novelist of the literary caliber of George Eliot.
And yet Eliot fails to win an entry of her own (she is mentioned,
briefly, in the article on British Literature and Unbelief).
Likewise, Emily Dickinson gets only the briefest mention in the
"American Literature and Unbelief" article, but receives no in-depth
treatment. I'm sorry, but George Eliot and Emily Dickinson deserve
far more space in such an encyclopedia than Steve Allen. In terms of energy and entertainment value, the editor also made
what I would regard as some fatal decisions. He decided not to
include stand-alone entries concerning still-living non-believers,
and he decided not to include internet references or contemporary
atheist groups. This constitutes just pure timidity and laziness on
his part. The effect of this is to give the volume the feeling of
having been written in the 1980s, and not the 21st century. It thus
gives off a dusty, historical, and non-contemporary feel. It is
stupifying to open up a book purporting itself to be a "new"
encyclopedia of unbelief, and being unable to find an entry for,
say, "the flying spaghetti monster," or "richard dawkins." And even
though there is an article on atheist periodicals, there is nothing
on atheists on the internet. And even though you can find articles
on literature and non-belief, somehow you can look far and wide for
anything on film or contemporary pop culture and unbelief. in other
words, this 21st century "new" encyclopedia has missed the dominant
art medium of our times (film), the dominant communication vehicle
of our times (the internet), and the dominant cultural phenomenon of
our times (capitalist pop culture). Non-belief is represented in all
these spaces in ways interesting for academic study, and yet they
are not included in a purportedly contemporary encyclopedia. My advice to the editor of future volumes: don't just listen to,
or solicit articles from, academics over fifty. Spice it up. How
about an entry by or about that fire-breathing atheist, Camille
Paglia? She'd set some old geezers' knickers aflame if you set her
loose on an entry titled, "sex and non-belief." The major religions are covered with some credibility except for
the egregious entry on unbelief in Buddhism which totally ignores
the radical critique of Nagarjuna that has an antimetaphysical
discernment in its long tradition. Eventually trends in the sciences
and philosophy needs to be considered within the frames of unbelief;
and the entry on unbelief and the neglect of social and behavioral
sciences to investigate it as a cultural and social phenomena
hopefully may prod many a graduate student research project. Unbelief is an important social and cultural style of diffidence
toward totalizing ideologies and dogmas that attempt encapsulate and
dampen the brash realization that we know only a little something
about how the world works. Unbelief attempts us to allocate our
resources toward social and political, environmental schemes that
will maximize our efforts to the greater good of all. As such
becoming aware of the necessity of unbelief within all thinking
styles is an important prospectus,
The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief continues us in that necessary
direction. The distinguished contributors—philosophers, scientists,
scholars, and Nobel Prize laureates—include Robert Alley, Joe
Barnhart, David Berman, Sir Hermann Bondi, Vern L. Bullough, Noam
Chomsky, Daniel Dennett, Paul Edwards, Barbara Ehrenreich, Antony
Flew, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Peter Hare, Van Harvey, Susan Jacoby,
Paul Kurtz, Richard Leakey, Gerd Lüdemann, Michael Martin, Martin E.
Marty, Kai Nielsen, Steven Pinker, Robert M. Price, Richard Rorty,
John R. Searle, Peter Singer, Ibn Warraq, Steven Weinberg, George A.
Wells, David Tribe, Sherwin Wine, and many others. With a foreword by evolutionary biologist and best-selling author
Richard Dawkins, this unparalleled reference work provides
comprehensive knowledge about unbelief in its many varieties and
manifestations. More
Religion Past And Present: Encyclopedia of Theology And Religion
(Complete 10 volume set)
Religion Past & Present: A-Bhu: Encyclopedia of Theology and
Religion by Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning, Bernd Janowski,
Eberhard Jungel (Religion Past and Present: Brill Academic
Publishers) At this time I’ve only seen the first volume, but this
eventually 10 volume set offers a very fundamental
survey of Christian religious thought with a reasonable
representation of Jewish and Islamic influences. The volumes do not
represent Eastern religious traditions except in a once over lightly
fashion. I have included the subject areas because it best describes
the strengths of this reference book which is in its theological
considerations of major religious themes as institutionally defined
primarily by Christian dogmatics, secondarily considered is the
Jewish tradition, with some nods to the Islamic especially in its
historical modes. There are articles on the major
non-Western religions but for the most part none are representative
or integrated into the theological discussions that the reference
chronicles. Perhaps some future edition, where comparative
theologies have wrangled with the nature of Buddha and the divine,
the paramitas and virtues, the nature of prayer, the rise of
Pentecostalism and other features of our global religious outlook.
For individual volume coverage see
More
World Religions, 5th edition by Warren
Matthews (Wadsworth Publishing) Presenting both the histories
and the prevalent worldviews of the major world religions, Matthews'
WORLD RELIGIONS methodically introduces students to the richness and
diversity of these traditions. The "Worldview" sections in
particular make this textbook the most helpful textbook when it
comes to comparative analyses of the religions. In these sections
students can see how the different religions understand a common set
of ten human concerns that are fundamental to all religions.
Furthermore, this text combines insightful, engaging prose with
maps, photographs, timelines, excerpts from sacred texts, and other
helpful pedagogical aids, to employ a scholarly approach that
neither shields students from current research nor encumbers them
with it. Students are encouraged, individually and collectively, to
pursue their own dialogues with the voices and nuances of these
religions.
MoMore
Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya: The Great Classic of Central
American Spirituality, Translated from the Original Maya Text
edited, translated by Allen J. Christenson (University of Okalahoma
Press) Popol Vuh, the Quiché Mayan book of creation, is not only the
most important text in the native languages of the Americas, it is
also an extraordinary document of the human imagination. It begins
with the deeds of Mayan gods in the darkness of a primeval sea and
ends with the radiant splendor of the Mayan lords who founded the
Quiché kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands. Originally written in
Mayan hieroglyphs, it was transcribed into the Roman alphabet in the
sixteenth century. The poetic edition of Dennis Tedlock's
unabridged, widely praised translation includes new notes and
commentary, newly translated passages, newly deciphered hieroglyphs,
and over forty new illustrations.
Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition Of The Mayan Book Of The Dawn Of
Life by Dennis Tedlock (Touchstone) still has the poetic panash
if not the up–to-the-minute variants based on recent scholarship
The Popol Vuh is the most important example of Maya
literature to have survived the Spanish conquest. It is also one of
the world's great creation accounts, comparable to the beauty and
power of Genesis.
More
Soul, Psyche, Brain: New Directions in the Study of Religion and
Brain-Mind Science edited by Kelly Bulkeley
(Palgrave) is a collection of essays that address the relationships
between neuroscience, religion and human nature. The book highlights
some startling new developments in neuroscience that have many
people rethinking spirituality, the mind-body connection, and
cognition in general. Soul, Psyche, Brain explores questions like:
What are the neurological effects of meditation and prayer? How does
the mind develop psychological and spiritual self-awareness? And
what are the practical implications of brain-mind science for
religious faith and moral reasoning?
More
Theorizing Rituals: Classical Topics, Theoretical Approaches,
Analytical Concepts edited by Jens Kreinath, Joannes Augustinus
Maria Snoek, Michael Stausberg (Numen Book Series: Brill Academic
Publishers) Volume one of Theorizing Rituals assembles 34 leading
scholars from various countries and disciplines working within this
field. The authors review main methodological and meta-theoretical
problems (part I) followed by some of the classical issues (part
II). Further chapters discuss main approaches to theorizing rituals
(part III) and explore some key analytical concepts for theorizing
rituals (part IV). The volume is provided with extensive indices.
More
When Rituals Go Wrong: Mistakes, Failure, and the Dynamics of Ritual
by Ute Hüsken (Numen Book: Brill Academic
Publishers) The present volume is dedicated entirely to the
investigation of the implications and effects of breaking ritual
rules, of failed performances and of the extinction of ritual
systems.
Religion Without Belief: Contemporary Allegory and the Search for
Postmodern Faith by Jean Ellen Petrolle (State University of New
York Press) In our present cultural moment, when God is supposed to
be dead and metaphysical speculation unfashionable, why does
postmodern fiction--in a variety of genres--make such frequent use
of the ancient rhetorical form of allegory? In
Religion Without Belief, Jean Ellen Petrolle argues that
contrary to popular understandings of postmodernism as an
irreligious and amoral climate, postmodern allegory remains deeply
engaged in the quest for religious insight. Examining a range of
films and novels, this book shows that postmodern fiction, despite
its posturing about the unverifiable nature of truth and reality,
routinely offers theological and cosmological speculation. Works
considered include virtual-reality films such as The Matrix and The
Truman Show, avant-garde films, and Amerindian and feminist novels.
The Martyrdom of a Moroccan Jewish Saint by Sharon Vance(Brill's Series in Jewish Studies:Brill
Academic) The martyrdom in 1834 of Sol Hatchuel, a Jewish girl from
Tangier, traumatized the Jewish community and inspired a literary
response in Morocco and beyond. This study focuses on works written in the first century after her death in Hebrew,
Judeo-Arabic, Judeo- Spanish-Spanish and French that tell her story
and interpret its meaning.`The author places both the event and the
texts that narrate it in their historical context and shows how its
significance changed in each language and literary setting. The
texts, prose and poetic laments by North African rabbis and a
romantic feuilleton from the Judeo-Spanish press, and their
historical context reveal the complex relations between Jews and
Muslims in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century
and the intersection between religious polemics and gender
discourse. More
Christian Conceptions of Jewish Books: The Pfefferkorn
Affair by Avner Shamir (Museum Tusculanum
Press) explores the conflicting perceptions that Christians
held of the meaning and significance of Jewish books at the
beginning of the 16th century - a time when, following their
general expulsion from many countries and territories, there
were fewer Jews in western and central Europe than in the
previous thousand years. The book tells the story of the
so-called "Pfefferkorn affair": a tenacious campaign led by
the German Johann Pfefferkorn - previously a Jew and
converted to Christianity - to confiscate and burn all
Jewish post-biblical literature in the Holy Roman Empire in
the years 1509-1510. The author follows the fate of the
confiscated books and their examination by a commission of
experts, exploring how Christians perceived Jewish
scholarship and knowledge and the consequences of those
perceptions. More
The Kabbalistic Culture of Eighteenth-Century Prague: Ezekiel Landau
(the 'Noda Biyehudah') and His Contemporaries by
Sharon Flatto (The Littman Library
of Jewish Civilization: Littman) This is the first critical account
of the life and writings of Ezekiel Landau, chief rabbi of Prague
from 1754 to 1793 and one of the most significant figures of
eighteenth-century Jewish history. His counsel was sought by a wide
spectrum of rabbinic leaders, scholars, and laity, and his writings
continue to shape Jewish law and rabbinic thought to this day. This
study reconstructs the intellectual world of the traditional society
in which Landau lived. In doing so it emphasizes the dominance of
rabbinic culture in the city at this period, the importance of
kabbalistic ideas and practices, and its numerous distinguished
figures and institutions. In focusing on the city's vibrant rabbinic
culture and analysing the spiritual trends that animated it, it
demonstrates that Prague's late eighteenth-century rabbinate was
more influential, more conservative, and less open to modernization
and Haskalah than previously recognized, and shaped more by eastern
European Jewish culture rather than by Western influences. Landau is
best known for his authorship of the rabbinical responsa published
as Noda Biyehudah and is generally seen as staunchly opposed to
esoteric practices. This study challenges that view, exposing the
central importance of kabbalah in Landau's works and thought and
showing that he frequently blended teachings from diverse
kabbalistic schools and trends in a syncretic and original manner.
It also identifies the factors underlying his reluctance to discuss
kabbalah publicly. Instead of focusing solely on the history of
events, this work examines the ideas that remained widespread among
Prague Jews despite the tumultuous times in which they lived. Landau
devoted much of his career to shaping the values and practices of
his community and frequently tailored his works to their needs,
beliefs, and mentalities. Accordingly, his writings and numerous
other contemporary sources provide us with a unique glimpse into the
spiritual and psychological world of eighteenth-century Prague Jews.
All Landau's rabbinic writings are utilized in this book, as well as
a variety of archival and published German, Yiddish, and Hebrew
sources. By unraveling and examining the many diverse threads that
were interwoven into the fabric of Prague's eighteenth-century
Jewish life, this study offers a more complete portrayal of rabbinic
culture during the last years that it thrived in one of most
important centres of European Jewry.
More
Rabbinic Parodies of Jewish and Christian
Literature by Holger Michael
Zellentin (Texts and Studies in
Ancient Judaism, 139: Mohr Siebeck)
Do the Talmud and Midrash engage in
parody? Holger Michael Zellentin seeks to assess how
the classical rabbis imitate previous texts with comical
difference. The
result shows rabbinic society and its
literature participating confidently in the
great debates of the Byzantine and the Sasanian Empires, commenting on issues such
as pedagogy, abstinence, dream
interpretation, inheritance law, ritual
purity, and Christian supersessionism and
asceticism. In constant conversation with
the Hebrew Bible, the rabbis reveal
themselves as capable of critically
reinventing the Jewish tradition, as well as of playfully
engaging select Gospel passages favoured by
their Christian interlocutors.
The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History,
Religion, and Culture by Judith R.
Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin
(Comprehensive Surveys of Religion:
Cambridge University Press) is a
comprehensive and engaging overview of Jewish life, from its origins
in the ancient Near East to its impact on contemporary popular
culture. The twenty-one essays, arranged historically and
thematically, and written specially for this volume by leading
scholars, examine the development of Judaism and the evolution of
Jewish history and culture over many centuries and in a range of
locales. They emphasize the ongoing diversity and creativity of the
Jewish experience. Unlike previous anthologies, which concentrate on
elite groups and expressions of a male-oriented rabbinic culture,
this volume also includes the range of experiences of ordinary
people and looks at the lives and achievements of women in every
place and era. The many illustrations, maps, timeline, and glossary
of important terms enhance this book's accessibility to students and
general readers. More
The Legal Methodology of Late Nehardean
Sages in Sasanian Babylonia by Barak S. Cohen (Brill
Reference Library of Judaism: Brill) This book consists of a systematic analysis of the halakhic/legal
methodology of fourth and fifth century Nehardean amoraim in
Babylonia (as well as their identity and dating). The book
uncovers various distinct characteristics present in the
halakhic decision making and source interpretation, and
demonstrates how certain amoraim can be characterized as
portraying consistent interpretive and legal approaches
throughout talmudic literature. Understanding the methodological
characteristics that distinguish some amoraim from other amoraim
can aid the talmudic interpreter/scholar in clarifying the legal
foundations of their rulings, the proofs that they bring within
talmudic discourse, as well as their disputes and
interpretations. This allows a better understanding of the
development of Jewish law and the legal system in talmudic
Babylonia.
Significance of Yavneh & Other Essays in Jewish Hellenism
by Shaye J. D. Cohen(Texts & Studies in Ancient Judaism:
Mohr Siebek) This
volume collects thirty essays by Shaye J.D. Cohen. First published
between 1980 and 2006, these essays deal with a wide variety of
themes and texts: Jewish Hellenism; Josephus; the Synagogue;
Conversion to Judaism; Blood and Impurity; the boundary between
Judaism and Christianity. What unites them is their philological
orientation. Many of these essays are close studies of obscure
passages in Jewish and Christian texts.
The Philosophy of the Talmud by
Hyam Maccoby (Routledge)
This is a new presentation of the
philosophy of the Talmud. The Talmud is not
a work of formal philosophy, but much of
what it says is relevant to philosophical
enquiry of the kind that has been going on
recently. In particular, the Talmud has
original ideas about the relation
between-universal ethics and the ethics of a
particular community. This leads into
discussion about the relation between
morality and ritual, and also about the
epistemological role of tradition. Governing
the discussion is a theory of logic that
differs significantly from Greek logic.
Talmudic logic is one of analogy, not
classification, and is peculiarly suitable
for the discussion of moral and legal human
situations.
More
Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early
Christianity (texts in French &
English) by edited by Dan Jaffe (Ancient
Judaism and Early Christianity: Brill Academic)
The question of the origins of Christianity
is a theme still discussed in historical
research. This book investigates the relations
between the Rabbinic Judaism and the Primitive
Christianity. It studies the factors of
influences, the polemics in the texts and
factors of mutual conceptions between two new
movements: Rabbinical Judaism and Primitive
Christianity. Finally it offers an analysis of
the perception of Christianity in the corpus of
talmudic literature.
More
Talmud in Its Iranian Context edited by Carol Bakhos, M. Rahim Shayegan
(Texts & Studies in Ancient Judaism: Mohr Siebeck) Scholars of rabbinics and Iranists are increasingly turning to the
orbit of Iranian civilization in order to explore the extent to
which the Babylonian Talmud was exposed to the theological and
liturgical discourse of the Zoroastrian religion, as well as
Sasanian legal practices. Here possibly for the first time, scholars
within these fields are brought together in concert to examine the
interaction between Jewish and Iranian cultures in terms of legal
exegesis, literature, and religious thought. The implications of
this groundbreaking effort are vastly significant for Jewish and
Iranian Studies.
Converts, Heretics, and Lepers: Maimonides and the Outsider by James
A. Diamond (University of Notre Dame Press) In this remarkable book, James A. Diamond continues
his project of close and sensitive readings of the Maimonidean corpus.
Taking the Rambam at his word in the introduction to the Guide of
the Perplexed, Diamond leads us into the inner recesses of that and
other works to revel in the master’s religious and poetic artistry,
thereby revealing something of the hidden desires and fractures in
Maimonides’ positioning of philosophy vis-à-vis religion. Focusing on
metaphors and related tropes, Diamond sets his gaze on a cast of
outsiders--those “who do not quite fit any broad societal norm”--to show
how Maimonides transformed them into a set of philosophical archetypes,
symbolizing “notions that are marginal and that, in turn, marginalize”
(p. 6). In so doing, Diamond convincingly articulates a series of
characters/symbols that have the paradoxical power to uncover the
secrets of the “Garden” just as they defer its realization by generating
further perplexity. More
Tuning the Soul: Music As a Spiritual Process in the
Teachings of Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlavby
Chani Haran Smith (IJS
Studies in Judaica: Brill Academic)
is an in-depth
study of the function of music in religious experience
according to Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav. It provides new
insights on his unique doctrine of the “Good Points”,
which represent the core of loving kindness and holiness
in the human soul, and the musical context in which they
become both a means and a metaphor for spiritual
transformation. Drawing on midrashic and kabbalistic
sources, the book explores Nahman’s perception of
different types of “tzadiqim” (religious leaders),
including himself, and the special role music plays in
their leadership. It highlights the importance of
creativity and renewal in the messianic process that
involves both music and loving kindness. All those
interested in key aspects of Nahman of Bratzlav’s world
view and self-perception, the place and transforming
power of music in human life, spirituality and religious
leadership.
More
Berakhyah Ben Natronai ha-Nakdan, Sefer Ko’ah Ha-Avanim (On the Virtue of the Stones). Hebrew Text and English Translation. With a Lexicological Analysis of the Romance Terminology and Source Study by Gerrit Bos and Julia Zwink (Brill Academic) The lore of the supposed magic and medical virtue of stones goes back to the Babylonians and peaks out in the lapidary literature of the Middle Ages. The famous work of Marbode of Rennes, which made lapidaries a very popular type of medieval scientific`literature, was translated into numerous vernacular languages. The Jewish tradition, missing a particular lapidary literature of its own, absorbed non-Jewish works like that of Marbode. Several Anglo-Norman Marbode translations could be identified as the main source of the present edited Hebrew lapidary Ko’ah Ha-Avanim, written by Berakhyah Ben Natronai ha-Nakdan around 1300. The edition is accompanied by an English translation, a source study, and a linguistic analysis of the Romance, mostly Anglo-Norman, terms featuring within the text in Hebrew spelling.
More
Ritual Dynamic Structure
by Roy Gane
(Gorgias Dissertations, 14: Gorgias Press ) Scientific study of rituals requires an understanding of
their natural. As perceived by H. Hubert and M. Mauss (Essai
sur la nature et la fontion du sacrifice, 1898), a basic
aspect of the nature of sacrificial ritual is its dynamic
structure. The present work takes up the neglected quest for
a theory of ritual and methodology of analysis that
recognize and trace the contours of ritual dynamic
structure. The resulting fresh approach provides a controlled
framework for interpreting rituals belonging to various
cultures and f9r identifying bases of comparison between
them. Two important innovations are: The first part of Ritual Dynamic Structure builds a
theory and definition of ritual and a corresponding
methodology for analyzing specific rituals in terms of their
activities and the meanings attached to those activities.
The second part illustrates this methodology and its
usefulness for comparative studies by applying it to
ceremonies belonging to three ancient Near. Eastern festival
days of cult purification: the Israelite Day of Atonement,
the fifth day of the Babylonian New Year Festival of Spring,
and the fourth day of the Hittite Ninth Year Festival of
Telipinu. More
Traditions of Maimonideanism
by Carlos
Fraenkel (IJS Studies in
Judaica: Brill Academic) The
goal of the present volume is to shed light on a number of
traditions of Maimonideanism that have hitherto little been
explored. Maimonides (1138-1204) was the most important medieval
Jewish philosopher and also made lasting contributions to many other
fields. The essays in the first part examine aspects of his work in
medicine, Jewish law, and liturgy. The essays in the second part
look at how Maimonides was read, misread, and creatively reinvented
in a wide range of contexts in the East and in the West—from
medieval Cairo to Crown Heights in Brooklyn. Written by a group of
leading scholars, the essays illustrate the breadth of Maimonides'
work, and the fascinating history of its reception from the
thirteenth century to the present.
More
The Cultures of Maimonideanism
by
James T. Robinson(Supplements
to the Journal of Jewish Thought and
Philosophy: Brill Academic) In the history of Jewish thought, no
individual scholar has exercised more
influence than Maimonides
(1138-1204)—philosopher and physician, legal
scholar and communal leader. This collection
of papers, originating at the 2007 EAJS
colloquium, places primary emphasis on this
influence—not on Maimonides himself, but on
the many movements he inspired. Using
Maimonideanism as an interpretive lens, the
authors of this volume—representing a
variety of fields and disciplines—develop
new approaches to and fresh perspectives on
the peculiar dynamic of Judaism and
philosophy. Focusing on social and cultural
processes as well as philosophical ideas and
arguments, they point toward an original
reconceptualization of Jewish thought.
More
Jewish World Around the New Testament: Collected Essays I (Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament) by
Richard Bauckham (Mohr Siebeck) This is a
collection`of twenty-four essays first published by Richard Bauckham
between 1976 and 2008, some of which have been updated for this
volume. Many aspects of the literature and thought of early Judaism
are covered. There are discussions of 'the parting of the ways'
between early Judaism and early Christianity and of the relevance of
early Jewish literature for the study of the New Testament. Other
essays throw light on specific aspects or texts of early
Christianity by relating them to their early Jewish context. These
include studies of the delay of the parousia, the restoration of
Israel in Luke-Acts, and the use of Latin names by Paul and other
Jews in the early Christian movement. The essays in this volume
result from the author's conviction, throughout his career, that the
New Testament texts can only be under-stood adequately through
wide-ranging and detailed study of the Judaism of the late Second
Temple period.
More
The Land of the Body: Studies in Philo's Representation of Egypt
by Sarah J. K. Pearce (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen
Testament: Mohr Siebeck) presents the first extended study of the
representation of Egypt in the writings of Philo of Alexandria.
Philo is a crucial witness, not only to the experiences of the Jews
of Alexandria, but to the world of early Roman Egypt in general.
Philo of Alexandria and Post-Aristotelian Philosophy edited by
Francesca Alesse (Studies in Philo of Alexandria: Brill) The essays
collected in this volume focus on the role played by the philosophy
of the Hellenistic, or post-Aristotelian age (from the school of the
successors of Aristotle, Theophrastus and other Peripatetics,
Epicurus, Sceptical Academy and Stoicism, to neo-Pythagorenism and
the schools of Antiochus and Eudorus) in Philo of Alexandria’s
works.
Intertextuality in the Tales of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav: A Close
Reading of Sippurey Ma'asiyot by Marianne Schleicher
(Numen Book Series: Brill Academic Publishers) Until 1806, Rabbi
Nahman of Bratslav (1772-1810) disseminated his thoughts on
redemption through homilies. In 1806, however, Nahman chose the
genre of tales as an additional and innovative means of religious
discourse. An academic close reading of all of the tales, known as
Sippurey Ma'asiyot, has not yet been undertaken. As the first
comprehensive scholarly work on the whole selection of tales and
contrary to previous scholarship, this book does not reduce the
tales to biographical expressions of Nahman's tormented soul and
messianic aspirations. Instead, it treats them as religious
literature where the concept of "intertextuality" is considered
essential to explain how Nahman defines his theology of redemption
and invites his listeners and readers to appropriate his religious
world-view. More
Wrestling with God: Jewish Theological Responses during and after
the Holocaust edited by Steven T. Katz, Shlomo Biderman, Gershon
Greenberg (Oxford University Press) (Paperback)
this volume presents a wide-ranging, extremely diverse selection of
Jewish theological responses to the Holocaust. It is the most
complete anthology of its kind, bringing together for the first
time a large sample of ultra-orthodox sources produced during the
war and Just after its end, translated from the Hebrew and Yiddish;
a substantial selection of essays, originally written in Hebrew, by
Israeli thinkers; and a broad sampling of works by Amencan and
European philosophers and theologians. These diverse selections
represent virtually every significant theological position that has
been articulated by a Jewish thinker in response to the Holocaust.
More
Isaiah in Context: Studies in Honour of Arie van der Kooij on the Occasion
of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday Edited by Michael van der Meer, Percy van Keulen,
Willem Th. van Peursen, Bas ter Haar Romeny (Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, 138: Brill Academic
Publications) contains a
collection of essays on the Book of Isaiah offered as a tribute to
Arie van der Kooij on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday,
which coincides with his retirement as Professor of Old Testament at
Leiden University. The twenty-four contributions, written by leading
scholars in the field of Old Testament studies, focus on the Book of
Isaiah within the context of Hebrew and ancient near-eastern
writings, particularly those from the Neo-Assyrian period, as well
as on the book's reception history , particularly in its Greek and
Syriac translations. Together these studies offer a rich and
original contribution to the study of the Book of Isaiah in its
Hebrew, Aramaic, Assyrian, Greek, Syriac, and Dutch contexts. All
those interested in the study of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, particularly the Book of Isaiah, in ancient near-eastern studies,
Septuagint and Peshitta studies, as well as classical philologists.
More
The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism by Dana Evan Kaplan
(Cambridge Companions to Religion: Cambridge University Press)
provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to the most
important and interesting historical and contemporary facets of
Judaism in America. The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism is a
comprehensive survey that attempts to cover Judaism as a religion in
the United States rather than Jewishness as an ethnicity in this
country. The title of this volume thus requires a word of
explanation. In popular usage today, Judaism usually implies a broad
sociological approach to the subject of Jewish life and culture,
while the term Jewish religion suggests a more specific concern with
beliefs and practices that are somehow associated with a
supernatural reality. Although this collection uses the more general
term in its title, its focus is on American Jewish religious
phenomena. It is, however, an appropriate title, I believe, because
the volume's essays describe a quite inclusive Jewish religious
experience in America. This includes aspects that frequently have
been neglected or ignored or are understood as outside the purview
of religion by a largely Christian America, which sometimes draws
different and more impenetrable boundaries between the sacred and
the secular. Understanding the subject in such broad terms, one can
see that Jewish religion in America means much more than just
religious ritual or belief. Contributors also discuss the sociology,
psychology, theology, and history of American Judaism. A number of
essays concentrate on the culture of American Judaism, including
musical, artistic, and literary expressions.
More
Rereading the Mishnah: A New Approach to Ancient Jewish Texts by
Judith Hauptman (Texts & Studies in Ancient Judaism: Paul Mohr
Verlag) An important historical reworking of the development of the
tradition. There are two main arguments to this volume. The first is
that not only are individual passages of the Mishnah based on
individual, parallel passages of the Tosefta, but even entire
chapters of the Mishnah are based on entire chapters of the Tosefta.
If one were to line up all the Tosefta paragraphs that give rise to
Mishnah paragraphs, they would join together to form a vast
network. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that there
existed an ordered collection of tannaitic passages that preceded
the Mishnah and served as one of its sources. That collection was
the Tosefta.
Samuel David Luzzatto, Prolegomena to a Grammar of the Hebrew
Language by Aaron D. Rubin (Gorgias Press) is primarily an
annotated translation of a little-known Italian work about Hebrew
grammar by Luzzatto. First published in 1836, Prolegomeni ad una
grammatica ragionata della lingua ebraica, is perhaps the most
important grammatical work of the influential Italian scholar,
Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865). Never reprinted, and never before
fully translated, this long inaccessible work has become almost
unknown. This book, which was intended to serve as an introduction
to a comprehensive grammar of Hebrew, treats the history of Hebrew
in a variety of ways. Luzzatto begins with a history of Hebrew
scholarship, from Talmudic times through the early nineteenth
century, including both Jewish and Christian grammarians. Following
this wide-ranging survey, which has yet to be superseded, is a brief
history of the Hebrew language itself, from its origins to its later
manifestations. The remainder of the book is comprised of chapters
on various linguistic phenomena of both Hebrew and Aramaic. Among
the subjects treated are the nature of the Hebrew and Aramaic vowels
(including Syriac), the development of the pointing tradition, and
an important treatment of the accentual system. In each of its
various chapters, the book is replete with information and
innovative insight that is still valuable to the modern scholar.
Moreover, in addition to the translation and copious annotations,
the translator has added an appendix containing biographical
sketches of the roughly 275 Hebrew scholars mentioned by Luzzatto.
The book will be of great use to anyone interested in the Hebrew
language and its fascinating history.
More
The Song of Songs: A Philological Analysis of the Hebrew Book by
P. W. T. Stoop-van Paridon (Ancient Near Eastern Studies: Peeters)
Since time immemorial the Song of Songs (SofS) has been a source of
amazement and inspiration. The countless translations and
interpretations of this book differ strongly from each other. Does
the Hebrew text indeed justify this? To answer this question, an
unprejudiced philological analysis is necessary that keeps strictly
to the text, which does justice to the context, and approaches the
book intrinsically as rationally as possible.
More
Judah Moscato Sermons: Edition and Translation, Volume One
by
Gianfranco Miletto and Giuseppe Veltri (Studies in Jewish
History and Culture: Brill Academic) Judah ben Joseph Moscato (c.1533–1590) was one of the most
distinguished rabbis, authors, and preachers of the Italian-Jewish
Renaissance. The book Sefer Nefusot Yehudah belongs to the
very centre of his important homiletic and philosophical oeuvre.
Composed in Mantua and published in Venice in 1589, the collection
of 52 sermons addresses the subject of the Jewish festivals,
focusing on philosophy, mysticism, sciences and rites. This and
subsequent volumes will provide a critical edition of the original
Hebrew text, accompanied by an English translation. All those interested in intellectual history, the history of Jewish philosophy, homiletics, philologists, theologians, and specialists of Hebraic and Italian culture.
More
Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla's Hermeneutics by Elke Morlok (Mohr
Siebeck) Elke Morlok deals with the hermeneutics of R. Joseph
Gikatilla, one of the most outstanding and influential kabbalists of
medieval Jewish mysticism. His literary creativity falls onto the
last decades of the 13th century, when very innovative ideas on
kabbalah and its hermeneutics were developed and formulated for the
first time. The author analyzes several key concepts throughout his
writings such as his ideas on letter combination, symbol, memory,
imagination and ritual and their varying functions within the
hermeneutical and theosophic structures that underlie Gikatilla's
approach. With the application of methods derived from modern
theories on language and literature, she tries to create the basis
for a fruitful encounter between medieval mystical hermeneutics and
postmodern hermeneutical approaches. As Gikatilla incorporates two
main trends of kabbalistic thinking during the medieval period, he
was one of the most valuable sources for Christian thinkers
interested in medieval kabbalistic thought.
More
Kabbalah and Modernity
edited by Boaz. Huss, Marco Pasi,
and C.K.M. von Stuckrad (Aries Book Series: Brill) The persistence of kabbalistic groups in the
twentieth century has largely been ignored or
underestimated by scholars of religion. Only
recently have scholars began to turn their
attention to the many-facetted roles that
kabbalistic doctrines and schools have played in
nineteenth- and twentieth-century culture.
Often, and necessarily, this new interest and openness went along
with a contextualization and revaluation of
earlier scholarly approaches to kabbalah. This
volume brings together leading representatives
of this ongoing debate in order to break new
ground for a better understanding and
conceptualization of the role of kabbalah in
modern religious, intellectual, and political
discourse.
More
A Journey into the Zohar: An Introduction to the Book of Radiance
by Nathan Wolski (State University of New York Press: SUNY) The
crowning work of medieval Kabbalah, the Zohar is unlike any other
work in the Jewish canon. Written in Aramaic, the Zohar contains
complex mystical exegesis as well as a delightful epic narrative
about the Companions--a group of sages who wander through
second-century Israel discussing the Torah while encountering
children, donkey drivers, and other surprising figures who reveal
profound mysteries to them. Nathan Wolski offers original
translations of episodes involving this mystical fellowship and goes
on to provide a sustained reading of each. With particular emphasis
on the literary and performative dimensions of the composition,
Wolski takes the reader on a journey through the central themes and
motifs of the zoharic world: kabbalistic hermeneutics, the structure
of divinity, the nature of the soul, and, above all, the
experiential core of the Zohar--the desire to be saturated and
intoxicated with the flowing fluids of divinity. A Journey into the
Zohar opens the mysterious, wondrous, and at times bewildering
universe of one of the masterpieces of world mystical literature to
a wider community of scholars, students, and general readers alike.
More
A River Flows from Eden: The Language of Mystical Experience in the
Zohar by Melila Hellner-Eshed
(Stanford University Press) In the Zohar, the jewel in the
crown of Jewish mystical literature, the verse "A river flows from
Eden to water the garden" (Genesis 2:10) symbolizes the river of
divine plenty that unceasingly flows from the depths of divinity
into the garden of reality.
Messianic Mysticism: Moses Hayim Luzzatto and
the Padua School
by Isaiah Tishby (Littman Library of Jewish
Civilization: Oxford University Press) Kabbalists and Messiahs in Eighteenth-Century
Italy: Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707-46) was
undoubtedly one of the most important thinkers
and fascinating personalities of
eighteenth-century Italian Jewry. The scion of
an influential Jewish family in Padua,
Luzzatto’s life and literary legacy project a
distinctly contradictory set of images. At once
a poet, playwright, moralist, kabbalist,
self-fashioned leader of a messianic group,
radical prophet, and exiled accused heretic,
Luzzatto nonetheless came to be celebrated by
Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, as well as secular
Jews of later generations. His works, especially
Mesilat Yesharim and Derekh ha-Shem, have been
copiously reprinted in many editions and remain
popular to this day. Isaiah Tishby’s
contribution to the study of Luzzatto, both in
terms of manuscript work as well as critical
analysis, is of seminal importance, and the
translations of his Hebrew studies of Luzzatto
that appear in this volume are an invaluable
asset to English readership.
More
Sefer Yesira by A.
Peter Hayman (Hardcover, Mohr Siebeck)
This the first comprehensive critical edition
of a text which was a fundamental influence on
Jewish thought in the medieval period and has
continued to fascinate scholars and students of
Judaism to the present day. It was initially understood to be a
philosophical text which had descended by oral
tradition from Abraham himself. It purports to
tell us how God created the world using the ten
sefiroth (the Spirit of
the living God, air, water and fire, and the
twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet). With
its English translation of the three earliest
recensions and its commentary on the variant
early texts of the work, this book is essential
reading for anyone interested in the growth and
emergence of the Jewish mystical movement. There
are four appendices setting out what parts of
the text are attested in each of the manuscripts
and in what order, a hypothetical reconstructed
text and the text of the tenth century Vatican
scroll of Sefer Yesira with the probable added
material underlined.
More
Renaissance and Rebirth: Reincarnation in Early
Modern Italian Kabbalah by Brian Ogren
(Studies in Jewish History
and Culture: Brill Academic) Metempsychosis was a prominent element in
Renaissance conceptualizations of the human
being, the universe, and the place of the human
person in the universe. A variety concepts
emerged in debates about metempsychosis: human
to human reincarnation, human to vegetal, human
to animal, and human to angelic transmigration.
As a complex and changing doctrine,
metempsychosis gives us a well-placed window for
viewing the complex and dynamic contours of
Jewish thought in late fifteenth century Italy;
as such, it enables us to evaluate Jewish
thought in relation to non-Jewish Italian
developments. This book addresses the
problematic question of the roles and
achievements of Jews who lived in Italy in the
development of Renaissance culture in its Jewish
and its Christian dimensions.
More
The Origins of Jewish Mysticism
by Peter Schafer
(Princeton University Press) Release
date September 2010
The Origins of Jewish Mysticism von
Peter Schäfer (Mohr Siebeck) June 2009
This book provides the reader for the
first time with a history of pre-kabbalistic
Jewish mysticism. It covers a wide range
of quite diverse literatures, from the
biblical book of Ezekiel to the ascent apocalypses, the
Qumran literature, Philo, Rabbinic
literature, and finally the Hekhalot
literature, which constitutes the first
full-fledged mystical movement in late
antiquity (Merkavah mysticism). Instead
of imposing on these different
literatures a preconceived notion of
"mysticism," Peter Schafer offers
a close reading of the
key texts and asks what they wish to
convey about the age-old human desire to
get close to and communicate with God.
Polemical Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and Its Others by Olav
Hammer, Kocku Von Stuckrad (Aries Book Series: Brill Academic) In
its historical development from late antiquity to the present,
western esotericism has repeatedly been the issue of polemical
discourse. This volume engages the polemical structures that
underlie both the identities within and the controversy about
esoteric currents in European history. From Jewish and Christian
kabbalah through heretical discourse and interconfessional polemics
in early modernity to the legitimization of esoteric identity in
modern culture, the 12 chapters, accompanied by an editors'
introduction, provide a cornucopia of relevant cases that are
interpreted in a framework of polemical discourse and 'Othering'.
This volume sheds new light on the ultimately polemical structure of
western esotericism and thus opens new vistas for further research
into esoteric discourse.
More
Like Angels on Jacob's Ladder: Abraham Abulafia, the Franciscans,
and Joachimism by Harvey J. Hames (State
University of New York Press: SUNY) explores the career of Abraham
Abulafia (ca. 1240-1291), self-proclaimed Messiah and founder of the
school of ecstatic Kabbalah. Active in southern Italy and Sicily
where Franciscans had adopted the apocalyptic teachings of Joachim
of Fiore, Abulafia believed the end of days was approaching and saw
himself as chosen by God to reveal the Divine truth. He appropriated
Joachite ideas, fusing them with his own revelations, to create an
apocalyptic and messianic scenario that he was certain would attract
his Jewish contemporaries and hoped would also convince Christians.
From his focus on the centrality of the Tetragrammaton (the four
letter ineffable Divine name) to the date of the expected redemption
in 1290 and the coming together of Jews and Gentiles in the
inclusiveness of the new age, Abulafia's engagement with the
apocalyptic teachings of some of his Franciscan contemporaries
enriched his own worldview. Though his messianic claims were a
result of his revelatory experiences and hermeneutical reading of
the Torah, they were, to no small extent, dependent on his
historical circumstances and acculturation.
More
The Art of Conversion: Christianity and Kabbalah in the Thirteenth
Century by Harvey J. Hames (Medieval Mediterranean: Brill
Academic) discusses Ramon Llull (ca. 1232-1316), the Christian
missionary, philosopher and mystic, his relations with Jewish
contemporaries, and how he integrated Jewish mystical teachings
(Kabbalah) into his thought system so as to persuade the Jews to
convert. Issues dealt with include Llull's attitude towards the
Jews, his knowledge of Kabbalah, his theories regarding the Trinity
and Incarnation (the Art), and the impact of his ideas on the Jewish
community. The book challenges conventional scholarly opinion
regarding Christian knowledge of contemporary Jewish thought and
questions the assumption that Christians did not know or use
Kabbalah before the Renaissance. Further, it suggests that Lull was
well aware of ongoing intellectual and religious controversies
within the Jewish community, as well as being the first Christian to
acknowledge and appreciate Kabbalah as a tool for conversion. For a
recent piece of scholarship Hames has done much to revise and
clarify interreligious esoteric relationships and influences of
Christian monasticism upon the formation of Kabbalah and vice versa.
The story is just becoming known and is likely to suggest more
surprises in the future.
Intertextuality in the Tales of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav: A Close
Reading of Sippurey Ma'asiyot by Marianne Schleicher (Numen Book
Series: Brill Academic Publishers) Until 1806, Rabbi Nahman of
Bratslav (1772-1810) disseminated his thoughts on redemption through
homilies. In 1806, however, Nahman chose the genre of tales as an
additional and innovative means of religious discourse. An academic
close reading of all of the tales, known as Sippurey Ma'asiyot, has
not yet been undertaken. As the first comprehensive scholarly work
on the whole selection of tales and contrary to previous
scholarship, this book does not reduce the tales to biographical
expressions of Nahman's tormented soul and messianic aspirations.
Instead, it treats them as religious literature where the concept of
"intertextuality" is considered essential to explain how Nahman
defines his theology of redemption and invites his listeners and
readers to appropriate his religious world-view.
More
Man and Theogony in the Lurianic Cabala by Daphne
Freedman (Gorgias Press) After the
establishment of the Zoharic corpus amongst leading rabbis, no major
changes took place in Jewish esoterism until the middle of the 16th
century, when in Safed (in Upper Galilee, Palestine; present-day
Zefat, Israel) a religious centre of extreme importance for Judaism
was established, which was mainly inspired by teachers coming from
families expelled from Spain. Until the expulsion of the Jews from
Spain (1492) and during the two generations that followed it, the
Kabbalistic literary output had certainly been abundant, in Spain
till the expulsion as well as in Italy and the Middle East; but it
was primarily a matter of systematizing or even popularizing the
Zohar or of extending the speculation already developed in the 13th
century; there were also some attempts at reconciling philosophy and
Kabbala. It should be noted that even the traditionalist theologians
adopted a careful and rather reserved attitude toward Kabbala.
More
Likutei Amarim Tanya in Hebrew and English by Rabbi Shneur
Zalman of Liadi (Kehot Publication Society)
Because the Tanya is considered a 'written Torah' by Chabad
Hassidim it requires, in every generation, an 'oral Torah' to
accompany it and to serve as an usher and guide. Written by the
great Hasidic master Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in the late
eighteenth century, the Tanya is considered to be one of the most
extraordinary books of moral teachings ever written.
More
Opening the Tanya: Discovering the Moral and Mystical Teachings of a
Classic Work of Kabbalah by Adin Steinsaltz (Jossey-Bass) is a
groundbreaking book that offers a definitive introduction,
explanation, and commentary upon the Tanya. For more than two
hundred years, the Tanya has been studied by those who know of its
insight and wisdom with the devotion and the intensity usually
associated with the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, the Upanishads,
and the Bhagavad Gita. Now internationally acclaimed author,
scholar, and teacher Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has written an
illuminating and inspiring introduction to the Tanya. Opening the
Tanya offers an overview of the Tanya’s broad philosophical and
spiritual messages as well as point-by-point commentary on the text
itself.
More
Learning From the Tanya : Volume Two in the Definitive Commentary on
the Moral and Mystical Teachings of a Classic Work of Kabbalah
by Adin Steinsaltz (Jossey-Bass)
offers a key for unlocking the mysteries of one of the most
extraordinary books of moral teachings ever written. A seminal
document in the study of Kabbalah, the Tanya explores and solves the
dilemmas of the human soul by arriving at the root causes of its
struggles. Though it is a classic Jewish spiritual text, the Tanya
and its commentary take a broad and comprehensive approach that is
neither specific to Judaism nor tied to a particular personality
type or time or point of view. The internationally celebrated Rabbi
Adin Steinsaltz, who has dedicated his life to the study, teaching,
and writing of books that explain Jewish scripture, religious
practice, spirituality, and mysticism to Jews and non-Jews
throughout the world, is the author of this explanation and
line-by-line commentary on the Tanya. As relevant today as it was
two hundred years ago, the Tanya helps us to understand the many
thousands of complexities, doubts, and drives within us as a single
basic problem—the struggle between our Godly soul and our animal
soul.
More
Esotericism at the University of Amsterdam by Wouter J. Hanegraaff and
Joyce Pijnenburg (Amsterdam University Press) In 1999, an innovative chair and expertise center was created at
the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam, focused on
the history of Western esotericism from the Renaissance to the present. The
label "Western esotericism" refers here to a complex of historical
currents such as, notably, the Hermetic philosophy of the
Renaissance, mystical, magical, alchemical and astrological currents, Christian kabbalah, Paracelsianism,
Rosicrucianism, Christian theosophy, and the many occultist and
related esoteric currents that developed in their wake during the
19th and the 20th centuries. This complex of "alternative" religious
currents is studied from a critical historical and interdisciplinary perspective, with the intention of studying the
roles that they have played in the history of Western culture.
Echoes from the Gnosis: 100th Anniversary Edition of the Spiritual
Classics by G.R.S. Mead edited by John Algeo,
introduction Robert Gilbert, Commentary by Stephan Hoeller (Quest Books)
Long before the mid-twentieth-century discovery of the Nag Hammadi
Library, G. R. S. Mead had translated ancient Gnostic texts. Here in one
book is the entire collection of his eleven volumes first published
between 1906 and 1908, including "The Hymn of Jesus" and "The Wedding
Song of Wisdom."
The Voudon Gnostic Workbook by Michael Bertiaux ( Expanded Edition)
(Weiser Books) A long-awaited new edition of the seminal text on the
spiritual system that is a convergence of Gnosticism and Haitian voodoo,
The Voudon Gnostic Workbook, is a singular sacred work that is
comprehensive in scope--from "how to be a lucky Hoodoo" to how magick
and voodoo intersect energetically, to esoteric time travel. Complete
with charts and graphs and instructive interdimensional physics,
The Voudon Gnostic Workbook is an "object of desire" among students
of the occult. Michael Bertiaux is an occult practitioner and instructor
in the Chicago area who developed a large following based on his
voodoo-infused Gnostic teachings.
Gnostic Revisions of Genesis Stories And Early Jesus Traditions
by Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (Nag Hammadi & Manichaean Studies: Brill
Academic) argues that the intellectuals behind early Gnostic
revisions of Genesis stories were second-century Christians with an
ideological background in Greek-Hellenistic philosophy, who adopted
and reinterpreted biblical narrative materials with a view to
exposing the inferiority of the creator-God of Genesis and the
ignorance of those Christians who continued to worship this God. It
also discusses controversies between Gnostic and early orthodox
Christians about the person and the mission of Jesus Christ.
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The Gospel Of Mary: Beyond A Gnostic And A Biblical Mary Magdalene
by Esther A. De Boer (Journal for the Study of
the New Testament Supplement Series: T. & T. Clark Publishers) Two
basic viewpoints are usually distinguished in recent scholarly work
on the Biblical and Gnostic Mary Magdalene: (1) Gnostic authors have
constructed a Gnostic Mary Magdalene using the biblical portrait of
her as a vehicle for Gnostic teaching, and, (2) biblical authors
neglected the important role of Mary Magdalene, of which Gnostic
authors preserved evidence. In addition, on the one hand the Gnostic
Mary Magdalene is valued as a female apostolic leader, as an
advocate of women and of egalitarian discipleship, and as a revealer
of Gnostic insights. On the other hand, scholars point to the
specific dualism, and the subsequently negative female imagery in
Gnostic writings, and reject a positive evaluation of the Gnostic
Mary Magdalene.
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Alternative Christs by Olav
Hammer(Cambridge University Press) The lack of reliable
biographical data on Jesus Christ has left his life open
to radical interpretations. This book explores the views
of Gnostics, Manicheans, and Muslims as well as less
well-known traditions and individuals, without taking
sides in any theological arguments.
Magic and the Law: A collection of Essays edited by
Christine A. Corcos (Durham: Carolina University Press) The
nearly two dozen studies in this collection explore the very
rich ways in which the rule of law and the practice of magic
enrich and inform each other. The authors bring both a U.S. and
a comparative law perspective while examining areas such as law
and religion, criminal law, intellectual property law, the law
of evidence, and animal rights. Topics include alchemy in
fifteenth-century England, a discussion of how a courtroom is
like a magic show, stage hypnotism and the law, Scottish
witchcraft trials in the eighteenth century, the question of
whether stage magicians can look to intellectual property to
protect their rights, tarot card readings and the First
Amendment, and an analysis of whether a magician can be
qualified as an expert witness under the Federal Rules of
Evidence. More
Sepher Raziel: A Sixteenth Century English Grimoire
by Don
Karr and Stephen Skinner (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic
Series, Volume 6: Golden Hoard / Llewellyn
Worldwide) Sepher Raziel
(also called Liber Salomenk) is not the same as the Hebrew Sepher
Raziel ha-Melakh. It is a full grimoire in the Solomonic tradition
from a 1564 century English manuscript, derived from Latin sources.
As such it is one of the earliest grimoires produced in this series.
It begins with directions for making the parchment, pen and ink of
Art, required to write the names. It contains seven separate
Treatises:
Jewish Mysticism and Magic: An Anthropological
Perspective by Maureen Bloom (Routledge)
Jewish Mysticism and Magic: An
Anthropological Perspective explores the origins
of mysticism in Judaism and the associated
development of the Jewish magical tradition. This wide-ranging study provides a unique
anthropological perspective on Jewish mysticism
and magic and will be essential reading for
students and scholars who are interested in
Jewish studies, anthropology and mysticism.
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Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy
by Alejandro Jodorowsky (Inner Traditions)
Psychomagic describes
a healing path
using the power of dreams, theater, poetry, and shamanism. While living in Mexico, legendary filmmaker, visionary writer and
psychotherapist Alejandro Jodorowsky became familiar with the
colorful and effective cures provided by folk healers. He says he
realized that it is easier for the unconscious to understand the
language of dreams than that of rationality. Illness can even be
seen as a physical dream that reveals unresolved emotional and
psychological problems. In the Path
of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Divination and Its Legacyby Francesca Rochberg (Studies
in Ancient Magic and Divination: Brill Academic Publishers) Celestial divination, in the form of omens from lunar, planetary,
astral, and meteorological phenomena, was central to Mesopotamian
cuneiform scholarship and science from the late second millennium
BCE into the Hellenistic period. Beyond the boundaries of ancient
Mesopotamia, the ideas, texts, and traditions of Babylonian celestial divination are traceable in
Hellenistic sciences and philosophies. This collection of essays
investigates features of Babylonian celestial divination with
special focus on those aspects that influenced later Greco-Roman
astronomy, astrology, and theories of signs. A multifaceted
collection of philological, historical, and philosophical
investigations, In the Path of the Moon offers Assyriologists,
classicists, and historians of ancient science a wide-ranging series
of studies unified around the theme of Babylonian celestial
divination's legacy.
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Star
Myths of the Greeks and Romans: A Sourcebook Containing "The
Constellations" of Pseudo-Eratosthenes and the "Poetic Astronomy" of
Hyginus translated by Theony Condos (Phanes) THE NIGHTLY APPEARANCE of the stars, their arrangement in the
sky, their regular risings and settings through the course of the year, have been a source of endless
wonder and speculation. But where did the constellations come from
and what are the myths associated with them?
The Clavis or Key to the Magic
of Solomon: From an Original Talismanic Grimoire in Full
Color by Ebenezer Sibley and Frederick Hockley by
Joseph H Peterson
(Ibis) The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon
is one of several notebooks from the estate of Ebenezer
Sibley, transcribed under the direction of Frederic
Hockley (1808-1885). Sibley was a prominent physician
and an influential author, who complemented his
scientific studies with writings on the “deeper truths”
including magic, astrology, alchemy, and hypnotherapy.
Both Sibley and Hockley were major inspirations in the
occult revival of the past two centuries, influencing
A.E. Waite, S.L. Mathers, Aleister Crowley, as well as
the Golden Dawn, Rosicrucian, and Masonic movements.
This collection reflects Sibley’s teachings on the
practical use of celestial influences and harmonies. The Clavis contains clear and systematic
instructions for constructing magical tools and
pentacles for many practical purposes. It includes eight
separate magical texts: The Mysterious Ring, Experiments
of the Spirits, Birto, Vassago, Agares, Bealpharos, The
Wheel of Wisdom, and the Complete Book of Magic Science.
The manuscript reproduced here is the most accurate and
complete known, very beautifully and carefully written
complete with extraordinary hand-colored seals and
colored handwritten text. 282 color pages with a color
fold-out and a huge index.
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Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy by Paul C.
Gutjahr (Oxford University Press) Charles Hodge (1797-1878)
was one of nineteenth-century America's leading theologians, owing
in part to a lengthy teaching career, voluminous writings, and a
faculty post at one of the nation's most influential schools,
Princeton Theological Seminary. Surprisingly, the only biography of
this towering figure was written by his son, just two years after
his death. Paul Gutjahr's book, therefore, is the first modern
critical biography of a man some have called the "Pope of
Presbyterianism." Hodge's legacy is especially important to American
Presbyterians. His brand of theological conservatism became vital in
the 1920s, as Princeton Seminary saw itself, and its denomination,
split. The conservative wing held unswervingly to the Old School
tradition championed by Hodge, and ultimately founded the breakaway
Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The views that Hodge developed,
refined, and propagated helped shape many of the central traditions
of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American evangelicalism.
Hodge helped establish a profound reliance on the Bible among
evangelicals, and he became one of the nation's most vocal
proponents of biblical inerrancy. Gutjahr's study reveals the
exceptional depth, breadth, and longevity of Hodge's theological
influence and illuminates the varied and complex nature of
conservative American Protestantism.
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The Myth of Paganism: Nonnus, Dionysus and the World of Late
Antiquity by Robert Shorrock, Series Editor: David Taylor
(Classical Literature and Society Series: Bristol Classical
Press) With the adoption of Christianity as the official
religion of the Roman world in the fourth
century AD, the role of the poet underwent a radical
transformation. In place of the traditional poet of the Muses
there emerged a new figure, claiming inspiration and authority
from Christ. The poet of Christ soon came to eclipse the poet of
the Muses, and in doing so established a conceptual framework
that still drives modern approaches to the period. Christian
poetry is taken seriously as making a relevant and valuable
contribution to our understanding of the late antique world; by
contrast pagan or secular poetry is largely ignored, as though
it were devoid of meaning.
Passion of Christ, Passion of the World by
Leonardo Boff (Orbis) First Place Award Winner in
Spirituality, Catholic Press Association
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies
by
Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G. Hunter (Oxford
Handbooks in Religion and Theology: Oxford University
Press) responds to and celebrates the explosion of
research in this inter-disciplinary field over recent
decades. As a one-volume reference work, it provides an
introduction to the academic study of early Christianity
(c. 100-600 AD) and examines the vast geographical area
impacted by the early church, in Western and Eastern
late antiquity. It is thematically arranged to encompass
history, literature, thought, practices, and material
culture. It contains authoritative and up-to-date
surveys of current thinking and research in the various
sub-specialties of early Christian studies, written by
leading figures in the discipline. The essays orientate
readers to a given topic, as well as to the trajectory
of research developments over the past 30-50 years
within the scholarship itself. Guidance for future
research is also given. Each essay points the reader
towards relevant forms of extant evidence (texts,
documents, or examples of material culture), as well as
to the appropriate research tools available for the
area.
Never Revoked: Nostra Aetate as Ongoing Challenge for
Jewish-Christian Dialogue by Marianne
Moyaert and Didier Pollefeyt(Louvain Theological &
Pastoral Monographs: Peeters, Eerdmans) The Declaration
Nostra Aetate issued by the Second Vatican Council on
October 28, 1965, on 'the relationship of the Church to
non-Christian religions' marks a revolutionary milestone in
the history of interreligious relations. With this document
the Catholic Church sought to establish a new climate in
which encounter and dialogue were understood as part of the
Church's role in the world. As such, Nostra Aetate expresses
the dialogical spirit of the Second Vatican Council. This
book is inspired by the same dialogical spirit of Nostra
Aetate, addressing some of the difficult theological
challenges that lie ahead of us. It takes Nostra Aetate as
an ongoing challenge to develop new theological reflections
in the dialogical spirit of Vatican II. The contributors in
this volume therefore do not only look to the past, but also
critically articulate the challenges and obstacles
confronting Jewish-Christian relations today, all the while
looking forward to strengthening the dialogue. They not only
show the courage of naming the resistances against dialogue,
the remnants of substitution theology, the asymmetry in
Jewish-Christian dialogue; they set out to develop new
perspectives for the theology of Jewish-Christian dialogue.
More
Passion of Christ, Passion of the World by
Leonardo Boff (Orbis) First Place Award Winner in
Spirituality, Catholic Press Association
Following the Footsteps of the Invisible: The Complete Works of
Diadochus of Photike introduction, translation and notes by Cliff
Ermatinger (Cistercian Studies Series: Cistercian Publications,
Liturgical Press) Fifth-century Christianity was a theological
battlefield. With the Messalian heretics and their experientialist
spirituality on the one side and the intellectualist school on the
other, representatives of both extremes found themselves condemned
by the Church. In this milieu of subjectivist notions of grace and
negative anthropology, there appeared a true mystic, Diadochus,
Bishop of Photik in Epiros. His is a theology whose two poles are
God's grace and man's ability to cooperate with it by way of
discernment of spirits. Diadochus's ability to salvage what was
orthodox from the Messalians and the intellectualists proves that,
rather than a reactionary, he was a true theologian capable of
synthesis, open to the truth even if found in his adversary, and yet
firm in his faith, unwilling to compromise. He is among the earliest
witnesses of the Jesus Prayer. Diadochus is the most important
spiritual writer of his century, whose influence can be found in the
writings of Maximus the Confessor, Simeon the New Theologian,
Gregory of Palamas, and the author of The Way of the Pilgrim.
Following the Footsteps of the Invisible is the first
translation of his complete works into English.
More
The Latter-day Saint Family Encyclopedia by Christopher Kimball
Bigelow and Jonathan Langford, edited by Don L. Brugger (Thunder Bay
Press) With its original roots in America, The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is now a global phenomenon, with
millions of members worldwide.
Roman Attitudes Toward the Christians: From Claudius to
Hadrian by John Granger Cook (Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament: Mohr Siebeck) John Granger Cook investigates the earliest interactions
between Roman authorities and Christians. The events in
Claudius' time surrounding "Chrestos" and possible Jewish Christians are fascinating but obscure. The persecutions
of Nero and Trajan may be crucial for interpreting certain
texts of the New Testament, including the Gospel of Mark, 1
Peter, and the Apocalypse. Scholars have become increasingly
skeptical of a persecution of the Christians during
Domitian's rule, and the evidence is not strong. The
rescript of Hadrian did little to change Trajan's policy
with regard to the Christians. Although the texts provide no
evidence for a general law against the Christians (probably
no such law existed until the time of Decius), they do give
some indication of the way magistrates characterized
("constructed") constructed") Christians: to Nero and his
prefects the Christians were arsonists and harbored intense
hatred of the human race; to Pliny and Trajan they were people who did not "supplicate our
gods."
More
Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity
by Miguel Herrero de
Jáuregui (Studies in the Recovery of Ancient Texts: DeGruyter) Many
recent discoveries have confirmed the importance of Orphism for ancient Greek
religion, philosophy and literature. Its nature and role are still, however,
among the most debated problems of Classical scholarship. A cornerstone of the
question is its relationship to Christianity, which modern authors have too
often discussed from apologetic perspectives or projections of the Christian
model into its supposed precedent. Besides, modern approaches are strongly based
on ancient ones, since Orpheus and the poems and mysteries attributed to him
were fundamental in the religious controversies of Late Antiquity. Both Pagan
and Christian authors often present Orphism as a precedent, alternative or
imitation of Chistianity.This free and thorough study of the ancient sources
sheds light on these controversial questions. The presence of the Orphic
tradition in Imperial Age, documented by literary and epigraphical evidence, is
confronted with the informations transmitted by Christian apologists on Orphic
poems and cults. The manifold Christian treatments of Pagan sources, and their
particular value to understand Greek religion, are illuminated by this specific
case, which exemplifies the complex encounter between Classical culture and
Jewish-Christian tradition.
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Catholic Social Thought: A Documentary Heritage by David
J. O'Brien and Thomas A. Shannon (Orbis Books) This classic compendium of church teaching offers the
most complete access to more than 100 years of official
statements of the Catholic Church on social issues.
Perfect Will Theology: Divine Agency in Reformed Scholasticism As
Against Suarez, Episcopius, Descartes, and Spinoza by J. Martin Bac
(Brill's Series in Church History: Brill Academic) This book revisits four early-modern debates of
Reformed theology concerning the will of God. Reformed
scholasticism advocated a particular relationship
between divine knowledge, will, and power, which was
altered by Jesuits, Remonstrants, Descartes, and
Spinoza. In all these debates modal categories like
contingency and necessity play a prominent part.
Therefore, these positions are evaluated with the help
of modern modal logic including possible world
semantics. The final part of this study presents a
systematic defense of the Reformed position, which has
been charged of theological determinism and of making
God the author of sin. In modern terms, therefore, the
relation of divine and human freedom and the problem of
evil are discussed.
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Orthodoxy, Process and Product by L Boeve, M Lamberigts, and T Merrigan (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium: Peeters)
From 2002-2008, three research groups from the departments of
systematic theology and church history at the Faculty of Theology,
K.U.Leuven, joined forces in an interdisciplinary project, entitled
"Orthodoxy: Process and Product". The aim of the project was a
"church-historical and systematic-theological study of the
determination of truth in church and theology". The present volume
contains contributions from all senior members of the project
research group. The contributions are the result of a research
conference in 2006, in which both the question of the nature of
truth as such, and the process of determination of theological truth
was approached from many different angles. Thus, questions from
philosophy, systematic theology and history of church and theology
are discussed, including such themes as the implications of various
philosophical theories of truth for theology, the question of
religious pluralism and its ramifications for theological
truth-claims, theological truth claims in the thought of Gregory of
Nyssa, Augustine, John Driedo, and at the Second Vatican Council. In
addition, the meta-question of the relationship between the
historical and the systematic aspects of theological truth and the
way in which the historical and systematic theological disciplines
interact play an important role in this volume.
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The Unlikely Buddhologist: Tiantai Buddhism in Mou Zongsan's New
Confucianism by Jason Clower (Modern Chinese
Philosophy: Brill Academic) Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was such a seminal, polymathic figure
that scholars of Asian philosophy and religion will be absorbing his
influence for at least a generation. Drawing on expertise in
Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and modern Western thought, Mou built a
system of "New Confucian" philosophy aimed at answering one of the
great questions: "What is the relationship between value and being?"
However, though Mou acknowledged that he derived his key concepts
from Tiantai Buddhist philosophy, it remains unclear exactly how and
why he did so. In response, this book investigates Mou's
buddhological writings in the context of his larger corpus and
explains how and why he incorporated Buddhist ideas selectively into
his system. Written extremely accessibly, it provides a
comprehensive unpacking of Mou's ideas about Buddhism, Confucianism,
and metaphysics with the precision needed to make them available for
critical appraisal.
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The Politics of Peace by Te-Li Lau
(Supplements to Novum Testamentum: Brill Academic) Although scholarship has noted the thematic importance of peace
in Ephesians, few have examined its political character in a
sustained manner throughout the entire letter. This book addresses
this lacuna, comparing Ephesians with Colossians, Greek political
texts, Dio Chrysostom's Orations, and the Confucian Four Books in
order to ascertain the rhetorical and political nature of its topos of
peace. Through comparison with analogous documents both within and
without its cultural milieu, this study shows that Ephesians can be
read as a politico-religious letter 'concerning peace' within the
church. Its vision of peace contains common political elements (such
as moral education, household management, communal stability, a
universal humanity, and war) that are subsumed under the controlling
rubric of the unity and cosmic summing up of all things in Christ.
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A Companion to the Catholic Enlightenment in Europe
by Ulrich L. Lehner and Michael Printy(Brill's
Companion to the Christian Tradition: Brill Academic
Publications) The term "Catholic Enlightenment" is no longer
considered oxymoronic within the historical profession.
Nevertheless, it is a term that is much debated and much
misunderstood; this is especially true amongst
Anglo-American scholars. Indeed, the scholarship of such
historians as Sebastian Merkle and Bernard Plongeron
established the concept of a distinctly Catholic
eighteenth-century reform for Continental historians
well in advance of their English speaking colleagues.
Still, Anglo-American historiography is ready to
consider a distinctly Catholic and reformist dimension
to the Age of Enlightenment.
Reading and the Work of
Restoration: History and Scripture in the Theology of
Hugh St. Victor by Franlkin T. Harkins (Studies and Texts: PIMS)
This book represents the first comprehensive study of
the role of historia in the processes of reading and
restoration (or salvation) in the theology of Hugh of St
Victor. By providing a close reading of Hugh's major
works, it affords a window onto the holistic vision of
liberal arts education, scriptural exegesis, moral
formation, and spirituality that attracted young
students to the Parisian School of St Victor in the
early twelfth century. Hugh's teaching on memory-training and his view of
the liberal arts as roads leading the reader toward God
have the aim of preparing students for scriptural
reading and its three subdisciplines — historia,
allegory, and tropology. This pedagogical program both
draws on and diverges from the thought of Augustine. For
Hugh, the fallen human being begins to be restored to
the image of God through a program of ordered reading in
the liberal arts and Sacred Scripture; this restoration
continues at the fundamental level of historia even as
the student advances through reading's higher
disciplines. In responding to and concretizing the moral
teaching found in the scriptural text, the reader comes
to participate in the ongoing history of salvation.
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Companion to Pastoral Care in the Late Middle Ages: 1200-1500
by
Ronald J. Stansbury (Brill's Companion to the Christian
Tradition: Brill Academic Publishers) The study of pastoral care in the middle ages has
seen a resurgence in recent years. Scholars are now
approaching this subject less from their respective
ecclesiastical or parochial biases and more out of an
effort to understand the significant role pastors
(secular and religious) had in the shaping of medieval
society at large. This book explores some of the new
ways scholars are approaching this topic. Using a
variety of sources and disciplinary angles: theology,
preaching, catechesis, confessional literature,
visitation records, monastic cartularies and the like,
these studies show the many and varied ways in which
pastoral care came to play such an important role in the
day to day lives of medieval people.
More Interaction Between Judaism and Christianity in History,
Religion, Art, and Literature edited by Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz, Joseph Turner (Jewish and Christian Perspectives
Series: Brill) contains a variety of essays that deal with
the complex relationships between Judaism and Christianity. From the
Jewish side, particularly in Orthodox circles, there is the position
maintaining the independence of Judaism from outside influences
including Christianity. Traditional Christian theology, on the other
hand, held to a supercessionist view in which Judaism was seen
merely as a historical preparation for the later revelation of
Christianity. Was there no real interaction? When and how did
Judaism and Christianity became two distinct religions? When did the
'parting of ways' take place, if indeed there really was such a
parting of ways? This present volume takes a bold step forward by
assuming that no historical period can be excluded from the
interactive process between Judaism and Christianity, conscious or
unconscious, as a polemical rejection or as tacit appropriation.
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Augustine and Postmodern Thought: A New Alliance against
Modernity? by L Boeve, M
Lamberigts, M. Wisse, and M Lamberigts
(Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum
Lovaniensium: Peeters) The North-African Church Father,
or at least the thinking patterns or intuitions borrowed
from him, are often invoked in discussions on the
relation between Christian faith and the contemporary
postmodern context. On the one hand, one observes the
retrieval of rather premodern approaches in order to
remedy the so-called (post-)modern crisis, which is said
to result in nihilism, relativism, etc. For what seems
to attract some theologians in Augustinian thinking is
the (apparent) marriage between Greek (neo-Platonic)
philosophy and Christian faith. Such a combination of
premodern metaphysics and Christian faith would serve as
a necessary presupposition for every legitimate
theological epistemology. On the other hand, there are
theologians and philosophers who are increasingly trying
to reread Augustine from a postmodern stance, stressing
the role of particularity, narrativity, historicity, and
the decentring of subjectivity, which they see present
in Augustine's approach, or from which they deconstruct
Augustine's thinking. Central questions discussed during
the symposium were: Are the analyses, offered by authors
who are re-introducing Augustine with respect to the
contemporary context, correct? To what diagnosed
problems, and on what basis, do they propose Augustine
as a remedy? Are their presentations of other
theological and philosophical responses to the present
situation correct and which 'Augustine' do they claim to
represent? More fundamentally: what would a genuine
Augustinian epistemology look like, and what can we gain
from it? In what way can it be normative for a
theological epistemology in our day? In answering these
questions, the symposium focused explicitly on
contemporary philosophical and theological evaluations
of both modernity and postmodernity, and theological
responses to them.
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Karl Barth's Dialogue With Catholicism in Gottingen & Munster: Its Signifigance
for His Doctrine of God by Amy Marga (Beitrage Zur
Histoischen Theologie: Mohr Siebek) Amy Marga studies Karl Barth's early encounter with Roman Catholic theology during
the 1920s, especially seen in his seminal set of
dogmatic lectures given in Gottingen, and his second set
of dogmatic lectures, given in Münster and which remain
unpublished. Her analysis demonstrates his search for a
concept of God's objectivity — Gegenständlichkeit —which
would not be dependent upon philosophically-laden
concepts such as the analogia entis, but which would
rather be anchored in God's being alone. The author
shows that Roman Catholicism, especially the thought of
Erich Przywara, became the key interlocutor that helped
Barth bring this clarity to his doctrine of revelation
and the triune God.
The Brill Dictionary of Gregory of Nyssa
Edited by Lucas Francisco Mateo-Seco & Giulio Maspero,
translated by Seth Cherney
(Brill Academic)
is the fruit
of wide-ranging collaboration between experts in
Philology, Philosophy, History and Theology. These
scholars shared the desire to develop a comprehensive
reference work that would help attract more people to
the study of the 'Father of Fathers' and assist them in
their work. Gregory of Nyssa's thought is at once
quintessentially classic and modern, as it speaks
directly to the contemporary reader. As interest in
Gregory has increased along with the number of works
devoted to him, the need for a comprehensive
introduction and bibliographical reference work has
arisen. In order to meet this need, more than forty
scholars from various disciplines and perspectives have
contributed to this work. In two hundred articles, the
Brill Dictionary of Gregory of Nyssa provides a
symphonic vision of the studies on Gregory of Nyssa and
his thought. The work is fun to browse and skip around
in, one peculiarity is Gregory's surviving works are listed by their
standard abbreviations.
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Hidden and Triumphant: The Underground Struggle to Save Russian
Iconography by Irina Yazykova, Paul Greneir, with a foreword by
Wendy Salmond (Paraclete Press) recounts the story of an aspect of Russian
culture that fought to survive throughout the 20th century the icon.
Russian iconography kept faith alive in Soviet Russia after the
Bolshevik Revolution. As monasteries and churches were ruined, icons
destroyed, thousands of believers killed or sent to Soviet prisons
and labor camps, a few courageous iconographers continued to paint
holy images secretly, despite the ever-present threat of arrest.
Others were forced to leave Russia altogether, and while living
abroad, struggled to preserve their Orthodox traditions. Today we
are witness to a renaissance of the Russian icon, made possible by
the sacrifices of this previous generation of heroes.
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Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action,
Passion, and Authorship
by Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Cambridge Studies in Christian
Doctrine: Cambridge University Press) (Hardcover) The rise of modern
science and the proclaimed 'death' of God in the nineteenth century
led to a radical questioning of divine action and authorship -
Bultmann's celebrated 'demythologizing'. Remythologizing Theology
moves in another direction that begins by taking seriously the
biblical accounts of God's speaking. It establishes divine
communicative action as the formal and material principle of
theology, and suggests that interpersonal dialogue, rather than
impersonal causality, is the keystone of God's relationship with the
world. This original contribution to the theology of divine action
and authorship develops a new vision of Christian theism. It also
revisits several long-standing controversies such as the relations
of God's sovereignty to human freedom, time to eternity, and
suffering to love. Groundbreaking and thought-provoking, it brings
theology into fruitful dialogue with philosophy, literary theory,
and biblical studies.
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Key
Events in the Life of the Historical Jesus: A Collaborative Exploration of
Contexts & Coherence edited by Darrell L. Bock, Robert L. Webb(Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament / Scientific Research on the New Testament:
Mohr Siebeck) Using a carefully defined approach to
historical Jesus studies and historical method, this collection of essays
examines twelve key events in the life of Jesus that were part of a decade-long
collaborative research project. Each essay examines the case for the event's
authenticity and then explores the social and cultural background to the event
to provide an under-standing of the event's historical significance. The first
six events are related to the public ministry context of Jesus, mostly
associated with his Galilean ministry, while latter six events involve his final
days in Jerusalem. The final essay closes with suggestions about how these
events cohere and what they can tell us about what Jesus did.
More
The Sentences Book 1: The Mystery of the Trinity
by Peter Lombard and Giulio Silano
(Mediaeval Sources in Translation: PIMS)
The Sentences Book 2: On Creation by Peter
Lombard and Giulio Silano (Mediaeval Sources in Translation: PIMS)
The Sentences Book 3: Incarnation of the Word
by Peter Lombard and Giulio Silano (Mediaeval
Sources in Translation: PIMS)
The Sentences, Book 4: On the Doctrine of Signs
by Peter Lombard and Giulio Silano (Mediaeval Sources in Translation: PIMS)
Major and eventually revolutionary translation of a central work in
medieval Western theology. Despite the centrality of Peter Lombard's work in the history of
the Western academic tradition, very little is known about his life.
The earliest unimpeachable reference occurs in a letter of St.
Bernard of Clairvaux, of around 1138— 1140, introducing him to the
abbot of St. Victor in Paris. By 1144, a poet in far-off Bavaria
could list him as one of the theological luminaries of the Parisian
schools. His major work, the four books of the Sentences, was
written in the mid twelfth century, and as early as the 1160s, the
text was glossed and commented on in the schools. There is hardly a
theologian of note throughout the rest of the Middle Ages who did
not write a commentary on it. Yet in spite of its importance in Western intellectual history
and its capacity to excite many generations of students and
teachers, the Sentences has received little attention in more recent
times. Indeed, it has been called 'one of the least read of the
world's great books.' The form of the work has proved misleading,
not least to modern readers. One recurring question is whether Peter
could be called an author at all, since he seems to be a mere
compiler of the works of the Fathers and other universally accepted
ecclesiastical writers. But it would be misleading to describe
Peter's efforts as mere anthologizing. Rather, his Sentences can be
likened to a modern legal casebook and the patristic citations in it
to legal precedents. In other words, they serve as the binding
authorities which collectively provide the matter for the normative
elaboration of the Christian faith. This laborious activity of
collecting sentences from ancient works and framing new ones
occurred in the classroom. In short, the effort to identify and
point out the coherence of the Christian tradition was inseparable
from the work of teaching. Technique, rationality, and dialectic
were emphasized, not for their own sake, but to bring the tradition
alive and make it relevant to students and the larger communities
they would serve. Peter Lombard's major work, the four books of the Sentences, was
written in the mid twelfth century, and as early as the 1160s, the
text was glossed and commented on in the schools. There is hardly a
theologian of note throughout the rest of the Middle Ages who did
not write a commentary on the. Sentences. Yet in spite of its
importance in Western intellectual history and its capacity to
excite many generations of students and teachers, the Sentences has
received little attention in more recent times. Indeed, it has been
called 'one of the least read of the world's great books.'
Volume One makes available for the first time in English a full
translation of Book 1 of the Sentences. It consists of forty-eight
Distinctions, the bulk of which deal with God in his transcendence
and with the mystery of the Trinity. The person of God the Father is
the topic in Distinction iv, that of God the Son in v—ix, that of
God the Holy Spirit in x—xviii. Distinctions xix—xxxiv are deeply
concerned with the language that can be used in describing the
Trinity and the relations among the divine persons. The remaining
distinctions deal with the divine attributes as they become manifest
in God's action "toward creatures. An important concern is the
preservation of God's sovereign freedom and the avoidance of any
confusion regarding the absolute transcendence of God, despite his
graceful self-disclosure in creation and revelation. Volume Two makes available for the first time in English a full
translation of the forty-four Distinctions of Book 2. In the first
Peter sets out a definition of creation and ponders the reasons
which God may have had for engaging in it. Angels, their creation,
nature, fall, ranks, and ministries are the subject of Distinctions
2-11. Distinctions 12-15 set out an hexaemeron, or an account of the
six days of creation as described in Genesis. The next five
Distinctions concentrate on the creation of man and woman and the
state of human beings before their sinful fall, including their
manner of procreation. Distinctions 21-29, organized around the
fall, are devoted to human psychology, freedom of choice, and
grace. In Distinctions 30-33 the focus is on original sin, its
transmission by the current mode of procreation, its remission in
baptism. And the Book concludes in Distinctions 34-44 with a
detailed analysis of actual sin and how it occurs by free choice in
the diminished condition of human freedom after the fall. Volume Three makes available for the first time in English a full
translation of Book 3 of the Sentences. The first twenty-two of its
forty Distinctions deal with the mystery of the Word made flesh:
Christ's incarnation, passion, and death, and the consequent
restoration of humankind. With the question of whether Christ had
the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, a transition is made from
Christology to a consideration of the virtues; these belong in this
Book principally because the Christian is called to live them in
imitation of Christ, who embodies all of them perfectly. The last
four Distinctions outline the Decalogue in the context of the two
commandments given by Christ regarding the love of God and neighbour.
The Book closes by asserting the superiority of the Gospel over the
Law of the Old Testament. Volume Four: Peter Lombard's major work, the four books of the
Sentences, was written in the mid twelfth century and,
as early as the 1160s, the text was glossed and
commented on in the schools. There is hardly a
theologian of note throughout the rest of the Middle
Ages who did not write a commentary on the Sentences.
Yet in spite of its importance in Western intellectual
history and its capacity to excite generations of
students and teachers, the Sentences has received little
attention in recent times. Indeed, it has been called
'one of the least read of the world's great books.' Book 3 closed with a reflection on the relative
inadequacy of the Old Law, because what it commanded
could not be done well or easily in the absence of
grace. While the sacraments of the Old Law were only
signs, the sacraments of the Church are also the
principal instruments of that grace now freely available
to Christians. These sacraments are the main subject of
Book 4, taking up forty-two of its fifty Distinctions:
Baptism is treated in Distinctions 2-6, confirmation in
7, the Eucharist in 8-13, penance in 14-22, extreme
unction in 23, sacred orders in 24 and 25, and marriage
in 26-42. The Book concludes with eight Distinctions on
the last things - the resurrection of the body,
purgation, hell, the last judgement, and eternity. Theses volumes each contain an introduction to Peter and to the
Sentences and its particular book, a list of the major chapter
headings, and a bibliography.
More
The Feminine Personification of Wisdom: A Study of Homer's
Penelope, Cappadocian Macrina, Boethius'
Philosophia and Dante's Beatrice
by Wendy Elgersma Helleman (Edwin Mellen
Press) examines the attribution of abstract values to women by
analyzing four characters spanning literary genres and more that
2000 years. Penelope, Macrina, Philosophia, and Beatrice are
connected by their contribution to the theme of wisdom through their
use of reason against passion. Feminine personification of reason
and wisdom makes its own contribution as antidote to traditional
understanding of 'feminine' as 'emotional' or 'irrational'. This
book examines allegorical personification of Sophia, or wisdom, in
ancient and medieval philosophy and literature, examining four
feminine figures who personify wisdom. The first is Penelope of
Homeric epic, weaving and unraveling to forestall her suitors; the
tale is interpreted allegorically by Cynics and Stoics to discuss
the place of logic in philosophy. The second example, Macrina,
sister of Gregory of Nyssa, is less obviously allegorical. But
Gregory depicts her as an embodiment of wisdom using the theme,
'reason against passion'. Boethius' Philosophia is portrayed as the
lady who consoles as she reminds the prisoner of divine reason
ruling the world. And finally, Dante's Beatrice, his muse, teacher
and guide in achieving the beatific vision. Contemporary recognition
of allegory as rhetorical technique supports appreciation of Dante's
skill in depicting Beatrice as Lady Wisdom.
More
Theophany: The Appearing of God According to the
Writings of Johannes Scottus Eriugena by
Hilary Anne-Marie Mooney (Beitrage
Zur Historischen Theologie, 146: Mohr Siebeck) Hilary
Anne-Marie Mooney's study is based on the new critical
edition of Eriugena's Periphyseon and analyzes Eriugena
as a biblically rooted theologian. The author presents
the notion of "theophany", the appearing of God, as the
key to understanding Eriugena's system as a whole. The
theophanic structure inherent in all Eriugena's accounts
of divine revealing possesses an impressive coherence.
She focuses on the creative
impulses which he draws from Scripture and she
investigates the influence of theological and
philosophical thinkers of the first six Christian
centuries on Eriugena. The author considers those
passages of Eriugena's writings in which the precise
term `theophany' is used as well
as other passages in which the term does not occur but
which are nonetheless imbued with the 'notion' of a
theophanic appearing of God. In her study the author
maintains that a theophanic structure characterized by
four recurring facets may be unearthed in Eriugena's
theology of the revealing of God.
More
Christ in Postmodern Philosophy: Gianni Vattimo, Rene Girard, and Slavoj Zizek
by Frederiek Depoortere (T&T Clark) (Hardcover)
offers an investigation into the Christological ideas of three contemporary
thinkers: Slavoj Zizek, Gianni Vattimo and Rene Girard. The present book offers an investigation into the Christological reflections
found in the work of three contemporary thinkers, namely Gianni Vattimo, Rene
Girard and Slavoj Zizek. It is one of the results of my doctoral research, which
began in October 2003 and which intended to compare and evaluate from a
theological perspective the work of a number of contemporary continental
philosophers who had recently made a so-called 'turn to religion' and to
monotheism in particular. The original project text mentioned the names of John
D. Caputo, Richard Kearney, Gianni Vattimo, Merold Westphal and Slavoj Zizek. My
first exploratory study of these philosophers suggested to me that they can be
divided into two groups. The first group consists of Caputo, Kearney and
Westphal. In the wake of Heidegger's announcement of the end of onto-theology
and inspired by both Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, they search for a
post-metaphysical God, a God who is often indicated as tout autre (wholly
other). Zizek, on the other hand, does not belong to this group. First, he
clearly has another source of inspiration: not Heidegger, Levinas or Derrida,
but Lacan and the great thinkers of German Idealism (Kant, Schelling and Hegel).
Moreover, he does not aim at tracing a post-metaphysical God. His 'turn' to
Christianity is a result of his concern to 'save' the achievements of modernity
from fundamentalism as well as from postmodern relativism and religious
obscurantism. Vattimo, finally, is a go-between. His sources (mainly Nietzsche
and Heidegger) seem to indicate that he aligns with the first group. Like
Caputo, Kearney and Westphal, Vattimo is also searching for the God who comes
after metaphysics, but, as we shall see in due course, he explicitly rejects the
wholly other God defended by them. With Zizek, furthermore, Vattimo shares the
attention for the event of the incarnation and the conviction that the
incarnation amounts to the end of God's transcendence. Both thinkers also defend
the uniqueness of Christianity vis-a-vis natural religiosity. In this way, they
seem to share at least some affinity with the views of Rene Girard, who has also
defended the uniqueness of Christianity and claims that the latter broke away
from the violent transcendence of the natural religions. In what follows, we
will investigate the Christological ideas of these three contemporary thinkers,
focusing on the topics of the relation between transcendence and the event of
the incarnation on the one hand, and the topic of the uniqueness of Christianity
on the other. More
The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 4, Christianity in Western Europe,
c.1100-c.1500 edited by Miri Rubin and Walter Simons (Cambridge University Press) During the early middle ages, Europe developed complex and varied Christian
cultures, and from about 1100 secular rulers, competing factions and inspired
individuals continued to engender a diverse and ever-changing mix within
Christian society. This volume explores the wide range of institutions,
practices and experiences associated with the life of European Christians in the
later middle ages. The clergy of this period initiated new approaches to the
role of priests, bishops and popes, and developed an ambitious project to
instruct the laity. For lay people, the practices of parish religion were
central, but many sought additional ways to enrich their lives as Christians.
Impulses towards reform and renewal periodically swept across Europe, led by
charismatic preachers and supported by secular rulers. This book provides
accessible accounts of these complex historical processes and entices the reader
towards further enquiry.
More
Book of All Saints by Adrienne von Speyr (Ignatius Press)
Adrienne von Speyr, a renowned mystic and spiritual writer from
Switzerland, was received into the Catholic Church at the age of 38
by one of the theological giants of the 20th century, Fr. Hans Urs
von Balthasar, on the Feast of All Saints, 1940. Balthasar became
her spiritual director and confessor until her death in 1967, during
which time Adrienne was favored with many gifts of authentic
mystical prayer. Balthasar considered one of the central
characteristics of Adrienne's prayer to be her transparency to the
inspirations she received from God, along with a deep personal
communion with the saints.
More
Meister Eckhart: An Asian Perspective by Hee-Sung Keel (Louvain
Theological & Pastoral Monographs: Peeters Publishers) Meister
Eckhart (1260?-1328) is undoubtedly the most important thinker in
the West for drawing the spiritual heritage of Christian mysticism
close to the monistic spirit that infuses so much of Asian religious
thought. His vision of the unio mystica of God and the soul as a
perfect unity goes far beyond the conventional mysticism of love
that was dominant before him. Eckhart's "mysticism of unity," a bold
and revolutionary affirmation of a perfect divine-human unity
realized in the ground of the soul, as well as the mystical atheism
it gave rise to, inspired a wealth of profound spiritual insights
that continue to challenge the reader of his sermons today.
More
The Mass: The Presence of the Sacrifice of the Cross by Charles
Cardinal Journet (St. Augustines Press) Charles Journet, the great
Swiss theologian and cardinal of the Church, first wrote this work
on the Mass over forty years ago; yet his ever-ancient-ever-new
insights into the sacrificial nature of the Mass are most needed
today, when this aspect of the sacrament is so often misunderstood
or neglected.
The Spirituality of the Christian East, A Systematic Handbook,
Volume One by Tomás Spidlík SJ; translated by
Anthony P. Gythiel (Cistercian Publications)
Prayer: The Spirituality of the Christian East, Volume 2 by
Tomás Spidlík SJ, translated by Anthony P. Gythiel Cistercian
Publications) Professor-emeritus of the Pontifical Oriental
Institute at Rome, Tomas Spidlík dedicated his scholarly life to
studying and teaching the theology and spirituality of the Christian
East in the hope of reconciling Eastern and Western Christian
traditions. In this encyclopaedic overview of Eastern spiritual
teaching he has created a bridge by which Western Christians may
pass over centuries of misunderstanding and obliviousness. This
second volume on Eastern Christian spirituality amplifies in depth
the final two chapters of the earlier The Spirituality of the
Christian East: A Systematic Handbook. Like Cassian in writing his
Conferences, Cardinal Spidlík does not advocate any particular
pattern of prayer, but sets out faithfully to collect and share the
teachings of generations of eastern monks and spiritual writers.
More
Jean Gerson And the Last Medieval Reformation by Brian Patrick McGuire (Hardcover)
(Pennsylvania State University Press) One of the problems of dividing our
history into epochs, such as ancient, medieval, Renaissance and Reformation; is
that these great divisions of time cast a shadow on transitional people who
belong to their place in history without the prescience of future history's
flow. Jean Gerson, the major French religious reformer,
educator, and theologian who lived between the 14th and 15th century is such a
transitional figure. McGuire's intensive biography and study
of Gerson, the first since 1929, provides a rich overview of the life and times
of this visionary scholar by giving a summary account of his writings that were
very influential on Luther and to a lesser extent, Calvin in the generation
after Gerson’s death. Gerson played an important role in
attempts to heal the Great Schism which culminated in the Council of Constance
(1414 – 1418) More
A Biographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians edited by
Patrick Carey, Joseph Lienhard (Hendrickson) (hardcover)
The last 20 centuries of Christian history have witnessed the
emergence of numerous theological traditions. This reference
provides alphabetically arranged entries for more than 450 Christian
theologians. Included are entries for those individuals whose work
was primarily in systematic and spiritual theology, or who were
church historians chiefly concerned with theological matters.
Whenever possible, each entry provides basic biographical
information, a brief account of the theologian's education and
career, and a summary of the person's most important contributions
to theology. The entries end with bibliographies of primary and
secondary sources, while the volume concludes with a selected,
general bibliography.
More
Dictionary of Early Christian Literature (A
Herder & Herder book: The Crossroad Publishing Company) The
long-awaited successor to the Altaner Patrologie handbooks, the
Dictionary presents the life and work of Christian authors up to the
eighth century and an assessment of their lasting influence on the
Christian tradition. Articles on authors provide a brief description
of their lives, a presentation of their works, and an assessment of
their influence on the Christian tradition. Other articles deal with
types of works and their particular characteristics. Scholars and
students will both appreciate the extensive, up-to-date
bibliographical information that is supplies.
More
Theological Milton: Deity, Discourse And Heresy in the Miltonic
Canon by Michael Lieb (Medieval & Renaissance
Literary Studies Duquesne University Press) In lively, forceful, and
at times witty language, Michael Lieb has written an illuminating
study of the figure of God as a literary character in the writings
of John Milton. Milton's God has always been a provocative and
controversial figure, and Lieb offers a fresh way to look at the
relationship between the language of theology and the language of
poetry in Milton's works. He draws into the discussion previous
authors on the subjectPatrides, Hunter, Kelley, Empson, Danielson,
Rumrich and others—resulting in a dynamic debate about Milton's
multifarious God. By stressing God's multivalent qualities,
Theological Milton offers an innovative perspective on the darker
side of the divinity. Lieb allows us to see a Miltonic God of hate
as well as a God of love, a God who is a destroyer as well as a
creator. Lieb directly confronts the more troubling faces of God in
a manner richly informed by Milton's own theology. Against the
theoretical framework for the idea of addressing God as a distinctly
literary figure, Lieb presents Milton in the historical milieu prior
to and contemporaneous with his works.
More
Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (Sixteenth
Century Essays and Studies)by
Peter Martyr Vermigli; Emidio Campi; Joseph C. McLelland
(Truman State University Press) This volume is
techincally superb, and reflects a consistent team
effort...clean, lucid, and allied with the best
interdisciplinary research.
More
Peter Martyr Vermigli and Predestination
by
Frank A. James III (Oxford
University Press)
Predestination and Justification: Two Theological Loci
by Peter Martyr Vermigli and translated
Frank A. J. L. James (Sixteenth Century Essays
and Studies: Truman State University Press) It is a measure of Peter Martyr Vermigli's influence
in England that his regal portrait by Hans Asper is
included in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
The piercing brown eyes of a rather handsome Peter
Martyr look beyond the confines of his gilded frame as
he points to his Bible. This portrait captures something
of the true spirit of this Italian theologian. It is as
if, in full academic regalia, he is instructing his
students to concentrate their undivided attention upon
this book alone, much as he urged in his Oxford oration:
"Let us immerse ourselves constantly in the sacred
Scriptures, let us work at reading them, and by the gift
of Christ's Spirit the things that are necessary for
salvation will be for us clear, direct, and completely
open."
More
Opposition and Legitimacy in the Ottoman Empire:
Conspiracies and Political Cultures by Florian
Riedler (SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East:
Routledge) This book looks at opposition to the Ottoman
government in the second half of the nineteenth century,
examining a number of key political conspiracies and how these relate to an existing
political culture. In his detailed analysis of these conspiracies,
the author offers a new perspective on an important and well
researched period of Ottoman history.
The History of the Seljuq State: A Translation with
Commentary of the Akhbar al-dawla al-saljuqiyya by
Sadr al-Din 'Ali ibn Nasir Husayni, translated by Clifford
Edmond Bosworth (Routledge Studies in the History of
Iran and Turkey: Routledge)
Court Cultures in the Muslim World: Seventh to Nineteenth
Centuriesby Albrecht Fuess and Jan-Peter Hartung
(SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East: Routledge)
Courts and the complex phenomenon of the courtly society
have received intensified interest in academic research over
recent decades; however, the field of Islamic court culture
has so far been overlooked. This book provides a comparative
perspective on the history of courtly culture in Muslim
societies from the earliest times to the nineteenth
century, and presents an extensive collection of images of
courtly life and architecture within the Muslim realm.
Beshara and Ibn 'Arabi: A Movement of Sufi Spirituality in the
Modern World by Suha Taji-Farouki (Anqa Publishers) Investigating sufi-inspired spirituality in the modern world, this
interdisciplinary volume focuses on Beshara, a spiritual movement that
originated in Britain in the 1970s.
Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic
Sources by Emeri van Donzel and Andrea
Schmidt. With a contribution by Claudia Ott
(Brill's Inner Asian Library: Brill Academic) Alexander's alleged Wall against Gog and Magog, often
connected with the enclosure of the apocalyptic people,
was a widespread theme among Syriac Christians in
Mesopotamia. In the ninth century Sallam the Interpreter
dictated an account of his search for the barrier to the
Arab geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih. The reliability of
Sallam's journey from Samarra to Western China and back
(842-45), however, has always been a highly contested
issue. Van Donzel and Schmidt consider the travel
account as historical.
The Banquet: A Reading of the Fifth Sura of the Qur'an
by Michel Cuypers (Rhetorica Semitica) Cuyper's
work is a ground-breaking contribution to Islamic-Christian
studies and is being warmly received by the Islamic academic
community. He applies recent methods of rhetorical textual
studies to the analysis of the Qur'an, the holy book of
Islam, which previously has been seen by many as a
fragmented text with little sense of order. He has achieved
a systematic and organised reading of the Qur'an text that
is in absolute accordance with the Islamic faith, a task
that has never before been accomplished. Muslim and
Christian theologians around the world recognise his
achievement as one of the most important contributions to an
understanding of Islam based on Christian scholarship.
More
Logic, Rhetoric and Legal Reasoning in the Qur'an: God's
Arguments by Rosalind Ward Gwynne (Routledge)
[Hardcover] Muslims have always used verses from the Qur'an to
support opinions on law, theology, or life in general, but
almost no attention has been paid to how the Qur'an presents
its own precepts as conclusions proceeding from reasoned
arguments. Whether it is a question of God's powers of
creation, the rationale for his acts, or how people are to
think clearly about their lives and fates, Muslims have so
internalized Qur'anic patterns of reasoning that many affirm
that the Qur'an appeals first of all to the human powers of
intellect.
The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad edited by Jonathan E. Brockopp (Cambridge
Companions to Religion: Cambridge University Press) As
the Messenger of God, Muhammad stands at the heart of
the Islamic religion, revered by Muslims throughout the
world. The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad comprises a
collection of essays by some of the most accomplished
scholars in the field exploring the life and legacy of
the Prophet. The book is divided into three sections,
the first charting his biography and the milieu into
which he was born, the revelation of the Qur'ān, and his
role within the early Muslim community. The second part
assesses his legacy as a law-maker, philosopher, and
politician and, finally, in the third part, chapters
examine how Muhammad has been remembered across history
in biography, prose, poetry, and, most recently, in film
and fiction. Essays are written to engage and inform
students, teachers, and readers coming to the subject
for the first time. They will come away with a deeper
appreciation of the breadth of the Islamic tradition, of
the centrality of the role of the Prophet in that
tradition, and, indeed, of what it means to be a Muslim
today.
Pathways to an Inner Islam: Massignon, Corbin, Guénon, and
Schuon by
Patrick Laude (State University of New York Press) provides an introduction to the esoteric or spiritual "inner
Islam" presented by Western thinkers Louis Massignon, Henry
Corbin, René Guénon, and Frithjof Schuon. Particularly
interested in Sufism--the mystical tradition of Islam--these
four twentieth-century authors who wrote in French played an
important role in presenting Islamic spirituality to the
West and have also had an influence in parts of the Muslim
world, such as Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. Patrick Laude
brings them together to argue that an understanding of their
inner Islam challenges reductionist views of Islam as an
essentially legalistic tradition and highlights its
spiritual qualities. The book discusses their thought on the
definitions of spiritual Islam and Sufism, the metaphysical
and mystical understanding of the Prophet and the Qur<aµn,
the function of femininity in Islamic spirituality, and the
inner understanding of jihaµd. In addition, the
writers' Christian backgrounds and their participation in
the intellectual and spiritual traditions of both
Christianity and Islam offer a dynamic perspective on
interfaith dialogue.
More
Ibn Arabî - Time and Cosmology by Mohamed Haj Yousef (Culture
and Civilization in the Middle East: Routledge) is the first
comprehensive attempt to explain Ibn Arabî’s distinctive view of
time and its role in the process of creating the cosmos and its
relation with the Creator. By comparing this original view with
modern theories of physics and cosmology, Mohamed Haj Yousef
constructs a new cosmological model that may deepen and extend our
understanding of the world, while potentially solving some of the
drawbacks in the current models such as the historical Zeno's
paradoxes of motion and the recent Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox
(EPR) that underlines the discrepancies between Quantum Mechanics
and Relativity. More
Martin Luther and Islam: A Study in Sixteenth-Century Polemics and
Apologetics by Adam S. Francisco (The History of
Christian-Muslim Relations: Brill) The Ottoman assault upon
Vienna in 1529 sent shockwaves throughout Germany. Although the
Habsburg army had successfully thwarted the attack, according to
eyewitness accounts some 30,000 people in surrounding towns and
villages had either been killed or taken back to Istanbul for sale
in the slave market.' What was perhaps more unsettling, at least to
those who were perceptive of the ideological motivation behind the
siege, was the determination of Sultan Suleyman (15201566) and his
Muslim Turkish army to 'conquer the infidel lands for Islam.' In
response to the threat, and after reading what he considered the
best description of Ottoman religion and culture Georgius de
Hungaria's Tractatus de moribus, condictionibus et nequicia Turcorum
(1481) Martin Luther (1483-1546) wrote, 'Since we now have the Turk
and his religion at our very doorstep our people must be warned
lest, either moved by the splendour of the Turkish religion and the
external appearances of their customs or displeased by the meagre
display of our own faith or the deformity of our customs, they deny
their Christ and follow Muhammad. Assessing the nature of Ottoman
religion and culture, and the threat that it posed to Christians.
More
The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early-Modern Ottoman
and European Culture and Society by Walter G. Andrews, Mehmet
Kalpakli (Duke University Press) (Hardcover)
"The Age of Beloveds is a treasure and a masterpiece. With
breathtakingly extensive original research, it is beautifully
written, in a style both inviting and impressive. It is the fruit of
a lifetime's project to add Ottoman literature to the canons of
world literature." -Victoria Holbrook, author of
The Unreadable Shores of Love: Turkish Modernity and Mystic Romance.
God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult And the Hidden Roots of Modern
Jihad by Charles Allen (Da Capo Press) An
important study of the little-known history of the Wahhabi, a
fundamentalist Islamic tribe whose teachings influence today's
extreme Islamic terrorists, including the Taliban and Osama bin
Laden.
More
Al-Hidayah: The Guide: A Classical Manual of Hanafi Law - VOLUME
1 by Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani, translated by Imran Ahsan Khan
Nyazee (Amal Press) The Hidayah represents the refined, distilled
and authentic version of a legal tradition developed over many
centuries. It presents the corpus of Hanafi law in its approved and
preferred form and forges an organic link with the other schools of
law. There is no book that can match the power of al-Hidayah
as a teaching manual. Education in Islamic law is not complete
without this book.
More
The Reflective Heart : Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn
'Arabi's 'Meccan Illuminations' by James Winston Morris (Fons
Vitae) For centuries Ibn ‘Arabi has been considered the “Greatest
Master” of Islamic spiritual teaching, but Western readers have only
recently had access to his greatest writings. This introduction to
Ibn ‘Arabi’s Meccan Illuminations highlights the mysticism and
realization of Sufi spiritual life, providing an intellectually
penetrating look without requiring specialized knowledge. The
development of several key themes and modes of reflection in Ibn
‘Arabi’s spiritual teachings are explored as are the gradually
unfolding meanings that distinguish this important classical text of
Sufi practice.
More
Ibn Arabi by William Chittick (Makers of the Muslim World:
Oneworld Publications) Bulent Rauf, the inspiration behind the
British esoteric school Beshara, was often quoted as saying
Muhyi ad-Din Ibn Arabi is not so much a person as a meaning.
William Chittick who is easily the foremost interpreter of the
greatest Sheik in America, and who has written two massive studies
of ibn Arabi, seems to come into agreement with Bulent. Muhyi
ad-Din Ibn Arabi is an encyclopedic writer, whose contribution to
the mystical meaning of Islam and the Qur'an is as central to Islam
as the theology of Thomas Aquinas is foundational for Western
Catholicism. However unlike Thomas Aquinas, Muhyi ad-Din Ibn
Arabi has never known such entrenched institutional support.
In fact, about a century after his death, the central tenets of his
writings were subtly and effectively vilified and misrepresented by
Ibn Taymiyya, the spiritual godfather of all literalistic and
fundamentalist, authoritarian and even terrorist forms of Islam.
More
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an - Set Volumes 1-5 plus Index Volume
edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Brill
Academic) The Qur'ān is the primary religious text for one-sixth
of the world’s population. Understood by Muslims to
contain God's own words, it has been an object of reverence and of
intense study for centuries. The thousands of volumes that Muslim
scholars have devoted to qur'ānic interpretation and to the
linguistic, rhetorical and narrative analysis of the text are
sufficient to create entire libraries of qur'ānic studies.
Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for
Practice by Rob Preece (Snow Lion Publications) The preliminary practices of Tantra are not a hurdle to be gotten
through in order to get somewhere else; they are an extraordinarily
rich collection of practices which have much to offer as a means of
cultivating and maturing the practitioner's psychological ground.
They can enable experiences to unfold, and they can clear the way
when there seem to be problems or hindrances practitioners are
struggling with.
More
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo
by Dogen Dogen and Kazuaki Tanahashi (Shambhala) represents
the collective San Francisco Zen Center community endeavor at
translating and understanding the work in its entirety. It lacks the
scholarly extras of
BDK English Tripitaka Series but used in conjunction with the
Standard translation can offer essential insight about what the text
is getting at. below the table of contents I offer examples of
translations of chapter 1 (of the 75 chapter version) or 3 (of the
95 chapter version) The Genjo-Koan so one can compare for oneself.
Buddhist Philosophy of Language in India: Jñānaśrīmitra on Exclusion
edited and translated by Lawrence J. McCrea and Parimal G. Patil,
(Columbia University Press) Jñānaśrīmitra (975-1025) was regarded by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists as the
most important Indian philosopher of his generation. His theory of exclusion combined
a philosophy of language with a theory of conceptual content to explore the nature of
words and thought. Jnanasrimitra's theory informed much of the work accomplished at
Vikramasila, a monastic and educational complex instrumental to the growth of Buddhism.
His ideas were also passionately debated among successive Hindu and Jain philosophers.
More
Early Buddhist Metaphysics by Noa Ronkin
(Routledge) This book provides a philosophical account of the
major doctrinal shift in the history of early Theravada
tradition in India: the transition from the earliest
stratum of Buddhist thought to the systematic and
allegedly scholastic philosophy of the Pali Abhidhamma
movement. Conceptual investigation into the development
of Buddhist ideas is pursued, thus rendering the
Buddha's philosophical position more explicit and
showing how and why his successors changed it. Entwining
comparative philosophy and Buddhology, the author probes
the Abhidhamma's shift from an epistemologically
oriented conceptual scheme to a metaphysical woridview
that is based on the concept of dhamma. She does so in
terms of the Aristotelian tradition and vis-a-vis modern
philosophy, exploiting Western philosophical literature
from Plato to contemporary texts in the fields of
philosophy of mind and cultural criticism. This book not
only demonstrates that a philosophical inquiry into the
conceptual foundations of early Buddhism can enhance our
understanding of what philosophy and religion are qua
thought and religion; it also shows the value of fresh perspectives for traditional
Buddhology.
Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and
Buddhism by
Pilar Jennings and Jeremy D. Safran (Wisdom Publications) THE ENCOUNTER between Buddhism and Western psychotherapy has
a long history. Carl Jung had an early interest in both Western and Eastern mystical traditions, and in 1954 wrote a
psychological commentary for Walter Evans-Wentz's translation of The
Tibetan Book of the Dead (first published in 1927). Other
influential psychoanalysts' followed suit: in the 1950s and 1960s
Erich Fromm and Karen Homey took a particular interest in Zen
Buddhism. While in retrospect we can see that this interest
continued to percolate in the culture at large, in many respects it
disappeared from the mainstream scene and went underground within
psychoanalysis. In the 1990s as Buddhism became more thoroughly
assimilated into Western culture, and a generation of authors who
came of age in the 1960s began to emerge, the interest in Buddhism
by psychoanalysts began to resurface. A series of books on Buddhism
and psychoanalysis were published by authors such as Jack Engler,
Mark Epstein, Jeffiey Rubin, John Suler, Anthony Molino, and Barry
Magid, and isolated articles began to appear here and there in
professional and popular journals.
Meditation in Modern Buddhism: Renunciation and Change in Thai
Monastic Life by Joanna Cook (Cambridge University Press)
In contemporary Thai Buddhism, the burgeoning popularity of
vipassanā meditation is dramatically impacting the lives of those
most closely involved with its practice: monks and mae chee (lay
nuns) living in monastic communities. For them, meditation becomes a
central focus of life and a way to transform the self. This
ethnographic account of a thriving Northern Thai monastery examines
meditation in detail, and explores the subjective signification of
monastic duties and ascetic practices. Drawing on fieldwork done
both as an analytical observer and as a full participant in the life
of the monastery, Joanna Cook analyzes the motivation and experience
of renouncers, and shows what effect meditative practices have on
individuals and community organization. The particular focus on the
status of mae chee - part lay, part monastic - provides a fresh
insight into social relationships and gender hierarchy within the
context of the monastery.
More
Chan Buddhism in Ritual Context by Bernard
Faure (Routledge) The essays in this volume attempt to place the Chan
and Zen traditions in their ritual and cultural
contexts, looking at various aspects heretofore largely
and unduly) ignored. In particular, they show the extent
to which these traditions, despite their claim to
uniqueness, were indebted to larger trends in East Asian
Buddhism, such as the cults of icons, relics and the monastic robe.
The Unlikely Buddhologist: Tiantai Buddhism in Mou Zongsan's New
Confucianism by Jason Clower (Modern Chinese
Philosophy: Brill Academic) Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was such a seminal, polymathic figure
that scholars of Asian philosophy and religion will be absorbing his
influence for at least a generation. Drawing on expertise in
Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and modern Western thought, Mou built a
system of "New Confucian" philosophy aimed at answering one of the
great questions: "What is the relationship between value and being?"
However, though Mou acknowledged that he derived his key concepts
from Tiantai Buddhist philosophy, it remains unclear exactly how and
why he did so. In response, this book investigates Mou's
buddhological writings in the context of his larger corpus and
explains how and why he incorporated Buddhist ideas selectively into
his system. Written extremely accessibly, it provides a
comprehensive unpacking of Mou's ideas about Buddhism, Confucianism,
and metaphysics with the precision needed to make them available for
critical appraisal.
More
The Buddha from Dölpo, Revised and Expanded: A Study of
the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dölpopa
Sherab Gyaltsen by
Cyrus Stearns (Tsadra Foundation: Snow Lion)The
Buddha from Dölpo is a revised and enlarged edition of the
only book about the most controversial Buddhist master in the
history of Tibet, Dölpopa Sherab Gyalt-sen (1292-1361), who became
perhaps the greatest Tibetan expert of the Kalacakra, or Wheel of
Time, a vast system of tantric teachings. Based largely on esoteric
Buddhist knowledge from the legendary land of Shambhala, Dölpopa's
insights have profoundly influenced the development of Tibetan
Buddhism for more than 650 years.
Rebel Buddha: On the Road to Freedom by Dzogchen Ponlop (Shambhala) There is a rebel within each person, says
the
Rebel Buddha. Its the part that already knows how to
break free of fear and unhappiness. This rebel is the
voice of ones own awakened mind. Its their rebel Buddha
the sharp, clear intelligence that resists the status
quo. It wakes a person up from the sleepy acceptance of
their day-to-day reality and shows them the power of
their enlightened nature. Its the vibrant, insightful
energy that compels one to seek the truth.
Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia Part 4:
Volume 12.3: The Western Ch’in in Kansu in the Sixteen
Kingdoms Period and Inter-relationships with the
Buddhist Art of Gandhāra by Marylin Martin Rhie (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch
Der Orientalistik: Brill Academic) This book, third in a series on the early Buddhist
art of China and Central Asia, centers on Buddhist art
from the Western Ch'in (385-431 A.D.) in eastern Kansu
(northwest China), primarily from the cave temples of
Ping-ling ssu and Mai-chi shan. A detailed chronological
and iconographic study of sculptures and wall paintings
in Cave 169 at Ping-ling ssu particularly yields a
chronological framework for unlocking the difficult
issues of dating early fifth century Chinese Buddhist
art, and offers some new insights into textual sources
in the Lotus, Hua-yen and Amitabha sutras. Further, this
study introduces the iconography of the five Buddhas
and its relation to the art of Gandhara and the famous
five colossal T'an-yao caves at Yün-kang. This book is for those studying Chinese Buddhist art, religion
and history and Gandharan art; it is relevant for libraries,
museums, academic institutions and students of Asian art and
religion. (460 b/w pp of
illustrations)
More
The Inner Science of Buddhist Practice: Vasubandhu's Summary of the
Five Heaps with Commentary by Sthiramati by Artemus
B. Engle (The Tsadra Foundation Series: Snow Lion) is a lucid explanation of the Buddhist concepts of mind and
mental factors, especially the skandhas that cohere to create a
sense of permanence and a sense of self.. The introduction explains
how a better understanding of Buddhist terminology and concepts can
enhance spiritual practice, especially that of the teaching system
known as the Stages of the Path. This book expertly delineates the
system of classical Buddhist psychology.
More
Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition
by Douglas S. Duckworth (SUNY, State University of New York Press) Mipam ('u mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846-1912) is one of the most
prolific thinkers in the history of Tibet and is a key figure in the
Nyingma tradition of Buddhism. His works continue to be widely
studied in the Tibetan cultural region and beyond. This book
provides an in-depth account of Mipam's view, drawing on a wide
range of his works and offering several new translations. Douglas S.
Duckworth shows how a dialectic of presence and absence permeates
Mipam's writings on the Middle Way and Buddha-nature.
More
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowledge, Ritual and Art
edited by Stephen C. Berkwitz, Juliane Schober, Claudia
Brown (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism: Routledge)
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures explores how
religious and cultural practices in premodern Asia were
shaped by literary and artistic traditions as well as by
Buddhist material culture. This study of Buddhist texts
focuses on the significance of their material forms
rather than their doctrinal contents, and examines how
and why they were made.
Buddhism Beyond the Monastery: Tantric
Practices and their Performers in Tibet and the Himalayas, PIATS
2003 edited by Sarah Jacoby, Antonio Terrone, Charles Ramble
(Brill Academic) Excerpt:
Tibetan religions, including Buddhism and Bon, have been
profoundly shaped by the institutional influence of monasticism—the
congregation of ordained monks and nuns who support a sole religious
tradition according to a cenobitic (communal), eremitic (isolated),
or peripatetic (itinerant) lifestyle. Although Tibetan tradition
claims that monasticism was established in the ninth century with
the ordination of the first monastic community at Bsam yas monastery
in southern Tibet, the full emergence and development of large-scale
monasticism appeared only in the eleventh century with the emergence
of the Sa skya school and the foundation of their monastery in
Tsang. Buddhist monasticism is widely popular not only in Tibetan
society, but also in the culturally akin societies along the
Himalayan belt.
More
The Emergence of Buddhist American Literature
by John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff
(SUNY Series in Buddhism and American Culture: State University of
New Your Press) States as a spiritually dead society, Beat writers
and others have shaped how Buddhism has been presented to and
perceived by a North American audience. Contributors to this volume
explore how Asian influences have been adapted to American desires
in literary works and at Buddhist poetics, or how Buddhist practices
emerge in literary works. Starting with early aesthetic theories of
Ernest Fenollosa, made famous but also distorted by Ezra Pound, the
book moves on to the countercultural voices associated with the Beat
movement and its friends and heirs such as Ginsberg, Kerouac,
Snyder, Giorno, Waldman, and Whalen. The volume also considers the
work of contemporary American writers of color influenced by
Buddhism, such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Charles Johnson, and Lan
Cao. An interview with Kingston is included.
More
Buddhist
Scriptures as Literature: Sacred Rhetoric and the Uses of Theory by Ralph
Flores
(SUNY: State University of New Your Press) Buddhist
Scriptures as Literature explores the drama, lyricism, and
compelling storylines in Buddhist sacred writings, while
illustrating how rhetoric and ideology are at work in shaping
readers' reactions. Ralph Flores argues that the Buddha's life story
itself follows an archetypal quest-romance pattern: regal
surroundings are abandoned and the ensuing feats are heroic. The
story can be read as an epic, but it also has a comic plot:
confusions and trials until the Prince becomes utterly selfless,
having found his true element--nirvana. Making use of contemporary
literary theory, Flores offers new readings of texts such as the Nikayas, the
Dhammapada, the Heart Sutra, Zen
koans, Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Understanding these works as
literature deepens our sense of the unfolding of their teachings, of
their exuberant histories, and of their relevance for contemporary
life.
More
Buddhism and Empire: The Political and Religious Culture of Early
Tibet by Michael L. Walter
(Brill's Tibetan Studies Library: Brill Academic)
This book convincingly reassesses the role of political
institutions in the introduction of Buddhism under the Tibetan
Empire (c. 620-842), showing how relationships formed in the
Imperial period underlie many of the unique characteristics of
traditional Tibetan Buddhism. Taking original sources as a point of
departure, the author persuasively argues that later sources
hitherto used for the history of early Tibetan Buddhism in fact
project later ideas backward, thus distorting our view of its
enculturation. Spanning more than a millennium, the literature in The Library of
Tibetan Classics will eventually encompass thirty-two volumes
covering such diverse fields as philosophy, psychology, spiritual
practices, and ethics, as well as poetry, linguistics, plays,
history, and classical Tibetan medicine. Each translated volume will
include an introductory essay, annotation, and a comprehensive
glossary. This unprecedented, thirty-two volume series—conceived in
appearance and importance to be much like The Harvard Classics
Five-Foot Shelf of Books—will be executed in close consultation with
senior Tibetan masters from all major schools of the Tibetan
tradition, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of
Asian Religious Thought (Library of Tibetan Classics) by Nyima
Chokyi Thuken, Roger Jackson, and Geshe Lhundub Sopa (Wisdom)
The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of
Asian Religious Thought (Library of Tibetan Classics) byThuken
Chökyi Nyima (1737–1802) Translated by Geshe Lhundub Sopa et al.
Edited by Roger Jackson (Wisdom) The
Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems (Grub mtha’ shel gyi me
long), by Thuken Losang Chökyi Nyima (1737–1802) is probably the
widest-ranging account of religious philosophies ever written in
premodern Tibet. Thuken was a cosmopolitan Buddhist monk from Amdo,
Mongol by heritage, Tibetan in education, and equally comfortable in
a central Tibetan monastery or at the imperial court in Beijing.
Like most texts on philosophical systems, his Crystal Mirror covers
the major schools of India, both non-Buddhist and Buddhist, but then
goes on to discuss in detail the entire range of Tibetan traditions
as well, with separate chapters on the Nyingma, Kadam, Kagyü, Shijé,
Sakya, Jonang, Geluk, and Bön. Not resting there, Thuken goes on to
describe the major traditions of China—Confucian, Daoist, and
Buddhist—as well as those of Mongolia, Khotan, and Shambhala. The
Crystal Mirror is unusual, too, in its concern not just to describe
and analyze doctrines, but to trace the historical development of
the various traditions. In evaluating philosophical systems, Thuken
does favor his own Geluk school, but he treats the views of other
traditions with considerable sympathy and respect as well—sometimes
even defending them against criticisms from his own tradition. All
this makes the Crystal Mirror an eloquent, erudite, and informative
textbook on the religious history and philosophical systems of an
array of Asian cultures—and provides evidence that serious and
sympathetic study of the history of religions has not been a
monopoly of Western scholarship.
The Book of Kadam: The Core Texts (Library of Tibetan Classics)
by Thupten Jinpa (Wisdom)
More
Taking the Result as the Path: Core Teachings of the Sakya Lamdre
Tradition (Library of Tibetan Classics) by Cyrus Stearns
(Wisdom)
Ornament of Stainless Light: An Exposition of the Kalachakra Tantra
(Library of Tibetan Classics) by Khedrup Norsang Gyatso (Wisdom)
Basic Teachings of the Buddha by Buddha and Glenn Wallis (Modern
Library Classics: Modern Library) In Basic Teachings of the Buddha,
Glenn Wallis selects sixteen essential dialogues drawn from more
than five thousand Pali-dialect suttas of the Buddhist canon. The
result is a vibrant introductory guide to studying Buddhist thought,
applying its principles to everyday life, and gaining a deeper
understanding of Buddhist themes in modern literature. Focusing on
the most crucial topics for today’s readers, Wallis presents
writings that address modern psychological, religious, ethical, and
philosophical concerns. This practical, inspiring, and engaging
volume provides an overview of the history of Buddhism and an
illuminating analysis of the core writings that personalizes the
suttas for each reader.
Great Perfection: The Outer and Inner Preliminaries by Dzogchen
Rinpoche, with an introduction by Dzogchen Ponlop,
translated by Cortland Dahl (Heart Essence Series: Snow Lion) In the
Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, the Great Perfection is
considered the most profound and direct path to enlightenment. The
instructions of this tradition present a spiritual shortcut – a
direct approach that cuts through confusion and lays bare the mind's
true nature of luminous purity. For centuries, these teachings have
been taught and practiced in secret by the great adepts of the
Buddhist tradition.
More
Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet by Matthew
Kapstein, Brandon Dotson (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library: Brill)
Early medieval Tibet remains one of the most challenging fields in
Tibetan Studies overall, wherein numerous mysteries remain. The six
contributions comprising the present collection shed light on major
topics in history, literature and religion. The study of the rise and institutions of the Tibetan empire of
the seventh to ninth centuries, and of the continuing development of
Tibetan civilization during the obscure period that followed, have
aroused growing interest among scholars of Inner Asia in recent
decades. The six contributions presented here represent refinements
in substance and method characterizing current work in this area. A
chapter by Brandon Dotson provides a new perspective on law and
divination under the empire, while the post-imperial international
relations of the Tsong kha kingdom are analyzed by Bianca Horlemann.
In "The History of the Cycle of Birth and Death", Yoshiro Imaeda's
investigation of a Dunhuang narrative appears in a revised edition,
in English for the first time. The problem of oral transmission in
relation to the Tibetan Dunhuang texts is then taken up in the
contribution of Sam van Schaik. In the final section, Matthew
Kapstein and Carmen Meinert consider aspects of Chinese Buddhism in
their relation to religious developments in Tibet.
More
The Spread of Buddhism edited by Ann Heirman, Stephan Peter
Bumbacher (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik:
Brill) In no region of the world Buddhism can be seen as a unified
doctrinal system. It rather consists of a multitude of different
ideas, practices and behaviours. Geographical, social, political,
economic, philosophical, religious, and also linguistic factors all
played their role in its development and spread, but this role was
different from region to region. Based on up-to-date research, this
book aims at unraveling the complex factors that shaped the presence
of particular forms of Buddhism in the regions to the north and the
east of India. The result is a fascinating view on the mechanisms
that allowed or hampered the presence of (certain aspects of)
Buddhism in regions such as Central Asia, China, Tibet, Mongolia, or
Korea. More
The Philosophical View of the Great Perfection in the Tibetan Bon
Religion by Donatella Rossi (Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy: Snow
Lion Publications) provides some comparison and historical
information concerning Bön Dzogchen vs. Buddhist (Nyingma) Dzogchen
(similar to that of the erudite scholar Samten Karmay, offering more
conceptual context as well as direct translations of two entire Bön
Dzogchen texts: "The Twelve Little Tantras" (which is very
reminiscent of Nyingma Dzogchen) and "The View which is like the
Lion's Roar" (that seems to have some variations but still much in
common with Buddhist Dzogchen). It also contains considerable
excerpts from "The Lamp that Clarifies the View." These are lovely
works though rather concise and advanced-not for a beginner. The
book includes both Tibetan and English texts in one verse per page
(with opposite pages in the different languages). Thus most pages
take up only about half a full page. Still, it is not light reading,
but worth contemplating at length, because of the close readings and
critical translations.
More
The Practice of Dzogchen by Longchen Rabjam, Translated by Tulku
Thondup (Snow Lion) As one of the most comprehensive works on the
Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, this work describes the
religious and scriptural context of Dzogchen tradition followed by a
basic primer on Dzogchen practice and experience. This book contains an anthology of the writings of Longchen
Rabjam (1308‑1363) on Dzogpa Chenpo (mahasandhi). The translations
are preceded by a detailed introduction based strictly on the
scriptures and traditional interpretations of the innermost esoteric
aspect of Buddhism. The teachings of Dzogpa Chenpo (or Dzogchen), the Great
Perfection, are the innermost esoteric Buddhist training preserved
and practiced to this day by the followers of the Nyingma school of
Tibet. The main emphasis of Dzogpa Chenpo is to attain and perfect
the realization of the true nature of the mind, the Intrinsic
Awareness, which is the Buddha Mind or Buddha‑essence. Thereby one
attains and perfects the realization of the true nature of all
phenomenal existents, all of which are the same in their essence.
More
The Teachings of the Odd-Eyed One: A Study and Translation of the
Virupaksapancasika, With the Commentary of Vidyacakravartin (S U N Y
Series in Hindu Studies) by David Peter Lawrence (State
University of New York Press) book offers the first published
translation of the contemplative manual Virupaksapancasika
written circa the twelfth century CE, and the commentary on it, Vivrti by Vidyacakravartin. These late works from the
Pratyabhijna tradition of monistic and tantric Kashmiri Saiva
philosophy focus on means to deindividualize and disclose the
primordial, divine essential natures of the human ego and
body-sense.
Sarasvati Riverine Goddess of Knowledge: From the
Manuscript-Carrying Vina-player to the Weapon-Wielding by
Catherine Ludvik Defender of the Dharma (Brill's Indological
Library: Brill) The name Sarasvati evokes images of the
beautiful vina-playing goddess of knowledge and recalls an ancient
river that is now believed to flow underground, meeting the Ganga
and the Yamuna at the sacred confluence of Triveni at Prayaga/Allahabad.'
The fair Sarasvati embodies beauty, music, flowing water, but above
all knowledge, and, as the presiding deity of knowledge, the goddess
has been worshipped on a pan-Indian scale among Hindus, Jains, and
Buddhists alike.
Snatched into Paradise (2 Cor 12:1-10): Paul's Heavenly Journey in
the Context of Early Christian Experience by James
Buchanan Wallace (Beihefte Zur Zeitschrift Fur Die
Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft: De Gruyter) In 2 Corinthians
12:1-10, Paul claims to have been snatched into paradise but then
tells how he received a ""thorn in the flesh"". Many recent scholars
contend that Paul belittles ecstatic experiences such as the ascent
to paradise. This monograph places 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 in the
contexts of ancient ascent traditions as well as other accounts of
extraordinary religious experience in Paul's letters, and it
engages premodern interpretation of the ascent. This study argues
that for Paul, extraordinary experiences such as the ascent enable
self-transcending love for God and neighbors.
More
Creating Fictional Worlds: Peshat-Exegesis and Narrativity in
Rashbam's Commentary on the Torah by Hanna Liss
(Studies in Jewish History and Culture: Brill) R. Samuel ben Mar (b. 1085) wrote his Torah commentary at a point
in time when the French masters of Bible collected their glossae,
but he wrote it also at the point in time that we today consider to
be the turning point in 'lay literacy,' when the Anglo-Norman
aristocracy patronized the production of romances. In the first half
of the 12th century, Northern France was a vibrant spot. It was an
era in which composing, reading, and listening to narratives and
stories intensified as a complex cultural phenomenon. This book
presents the idea that Rashbam tried to compete with this new
intellectual movement, claiming that the literary quality of the
biblical texts was at least as good as that of the nascent courtly
romances, or even on a par with one another.
More
Marriage in the Book of Tobit
by Geoffrey David
Miller(Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies: de
Gruyter) This study examines marital elements in the Book of Tobit
in light of the mores and beliefs of Ancient Israel and neighboring
civilizations. After surveying key Old Testament and Ancient Near
Eastern texts, this monograph outlines what the Book of Tobit
reveals about ancient marital practices as well as the values it
seeks to inculcate in its Diaspora audience with regard to marriage.
Four aspects are analyzed: 1) the qualities a man should seek in a
bride, 2) the marital customs observed by ancient Jews, 3) the role
of God in marriage, and 4) the nature of the marital relationship.
More
The Qur'an and Its Biblical Subtext
by
Gabriel Said Reynolds (Routledge Studies in the
Qur'an: Routledge) This book challenges the dominant scholarly notion that
the Qur'an must be interpreted through the medieval
commentaries shaped by the biography of the prophet
Muhammad, proposing instead that the text is best read in
light of Christian and Jewish scripture. The Qur'an, in its
use of allusions, depends on the Biblical knowledge of its
audience. However, medieval Muslim commentators, working in
a context of religious rivalry, developed stories that
separate Qur'an and Bible, which this book brings back
together.
Studies in the Book of Wisdom
by Geza G. Xeravits
and Jozsef Zsengeller (Supplements to the Journal for
the Study of Judaism: Brill) The volume publishes papers
delivered at the International Conference on the
Deuterocanonical Books (Papa, Hungary). This conference
dealt with the Book of Wisdom. As such, this was one of the
most extended discussions of the Book of Wisdom that has
ever taken place at a scholarly meeting. The volume contains
articles on the traditions and theology of the Book of
Wisdom, and demonstrates its relationship with the
contemporary literature of early Judaism and Middle Platonic
thought. More
From Linguistics to Hermeneutics: A Functional and Cognitive
Approach to Job 12-14 by Pierre Van Hecke (Studia
Semitica Neerlandica: Brill Academic) Linguistics and hermeneutics are often regarded as two mutually exclusive scholarly disciplines. Recent decades, however, have witnessed the rise of linguistic approaches that
take meaning back to the heart of their inquiry and can be fruitful
for textual interpretation. This book applies the insights of two
such approaches, i.e. functional grammar and cognitive semantics, to
the study of Biblical Hebrew with a specific focus on Job 12-14. The
result is two-fold. The study offers a, detailed linguistic
analysis, providing many new insights in the linguistic
peculiarities of the text and Biblical Hebrew in general. Moreover,
it proposes a fresh exegetical reading of Job's longest and central
speech in the book. More
A Different Priest: The Epistle to the Hebrews by Albert Vanhoye
(Convivium Press) The first part, which only examines one theme,
«the Name of Christ», offers a lo general and contemporary Christology. The next
two parts offer a priestly Christology, firstly more
general and then more specific. Finally, the last two
parts show the result of this for the Christian
life, lived out in faith, hope and charity. The
author of this work, has worked for many years on the Epistle to the
Hebrews, and, notably, has taught it at the Biblical
Institute and published a great number of specialist
articles and Books on it, and now brings one of the
most contemporary authoritative commentaries to a
wider audience, contributing with the understanding
of the unique Priesthood of Jesus Christ for the
first Christian communities. In this work, a detailed analysis of the text
known as the Epistle to the He-brews enables us to
conclude without a shadow of a doubt that this is
the full text of a splendid Christian preaching
which constantly conforms to the rules of Semitic
rhetoric, including various genres of parallelism,
synonymis, antithesis and complementarity, and
obeying a concentrically symmetrical schema.
More
Essays on John and Hebrews
by Harold W.
Attridge (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen
Zum Neuen Testament: Mohr Siebeck) Harold W. Attridge has engaged in the interpretation of two of the most
intriguing literary products of early Christianity, the Gospel according
to John and the Epistle to the Hebrews. His essays explore the literary
and cultural traditions at work in the text and its imaginative rhetoric
aiming to deepen faith in Christ by giving new meaning to his death and
exaltation. His essays on John focus on the literary artistry of the
final version of the gospel, its playful approach to literary genres,
its engaging rhetoric, its delight in visual imagery. He situates that
literary analysis of both works within the context of the history of
religion and culture in the first century, with careful attention to
both Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds. Several essays, focusing on the
phenomena connected with "Gnosticism", extend that reiligio-historical
horizon into to the life of the early Church and contribute to the
understanding of the reception of these two early Christian
masterpieces. More
Like an Everlasting Signet Ring: Generosity in the Book of Sirach by
Bradley C. Gregory
(Deuterocanonical
and Cognate Literature Studies: De Gruyter) This work explores the
theological and social dimensions of generosity in the book of
Sirach and contextualizes them within the culture and thought of
Second Temple Judaism. Ben Sira's understanding of generosity is
predicated on the tension between affirming the classic wisdom
principle of retributive justice and recognizing its breakdown in
the socio-economic circumstances of Seleucid Judea. He forges a new
Wisdom-Torah ethic of mercy in which giving generously is an
integral part of living "the good life". While loans and surety are
essential practices, almsgiving is the preeminent act of generosity.
The fundamental theological logic at work consists in viewing the
poor as proxies for God and is based on the economic structure of
Proverbs 19:17. Giving to the poor is, in reality, a deposit in a
heavenly treasury and will pay future dividends. By situating Ben Sira's view of almsgiving within the wider framework of retributive
justice and its breakdown, new light is shed on the practical
tensions regarding the extent of almsgiving and its relationship to
the support of the Jerusalem priesthood. The various dynamics of Ben
Sira's thought on generosity are situated within the broader
Hellenistic world and in their foundational role for later Jewish
and Christian thought.
More
A`Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint by T. Muraoka (Peeters)
This complete lexicon supercedes its two earlier editions
(1993; 2002). - The entire Septuagint, including the
apocrypha, is covered. - For the books of Samuel, Kings,
Chronicles, and Judges the so-called Antiochene edition is
fully covered in addition to the data as found in the
standard edition by Rahlfs. - Also fully covered are the two
versions of Tobit, Esther, and Daniel. - Based on the
critically established Gottingen edition where it is
available. If not, Rahlfs's edition is used. - For close to
60% of a total of 9,550 headwords all the passages occurring
in the LXX are either quoted or mentioned. - A fully fledged
lexicon, not a glossary merely listing translation
equivalents in English. - Senses defined. - Important
lexicographical data such as synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic
expressions, distinction between literal and figurative,
combinations with prepositions, noun cases, syntagmatic
information such as what kind of direct or indirect objects
a given verb takes, what kind of nouns a given adjective is
used with, and much more information abundantly presented
and illustrated with quotes, mostly translated. -
High-frequency lexemes such as prepositions and conjunctions
fully analysed. - Data on contemporary Koine and Jewish
Greek including the New Testament taken into account. -
Morphological information provided: various tenses of verbs,
genitive forms of nouns etc. - Substantive references to the
current scientific literature. An indispensable tool for
students of the Septuagint, the New Testament, Hellenistic
Judaism, and the Greek language.
More
Sacred Tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur'an As Literature and
Culture by Roberta Sterman Sabbath (Biblical
Interpretation Series: Brill Academic) Contemporary
sacred text scholarship has been stimulated by a number of
intersecting trends: a surging interest in religion, sacred texts,
and inspirational issues; burgeoning developments in and
applications of literary theories; intensifying academic focus on
diverse cultures whether for education or scholarship. Although much
has been written individually about Tanakh, New Testament, and
Qur'an, no collection combines an examination of all three. Sacred
Tropes interweaves Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur'an essays.
Contributors collectively and also often individually use mixed
literary approaches instead of the older single theory strategy.
Appropriate for classroom or research, the essays utilize a variety
of literary theoretical lenses including environmental, cultural
studies, gender, psychoanalytic, ideological, economic, historicism,
law, and rhetorical criticisms through which to examine these sacred
works. More
William Robertson Smith: His Life, His Work & His Times
by Bernhard Maier
(Forschungen
Zum Alten Testament: Mohr Siebeck) Bernhard Maier
presents a new biography of William Robertson
Smith (1846-1894), a champion of Old
Testament criticism who is also regarded as a pioneer
in social anthropology, the sociology of religions
and the comparative study of religions.
William Robertson Smith (1846-1894) was successively the
embattled champion of the emergent "higher criticism" as applied to
the Old Testament, chief editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
and Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University. Today he is
acknowledged to have been a pioneering figure in both social
anthropology and the study of comparative
religion, deeply influencing the thinking of J. G. Frazer, Emile
Durkheim and Sigmund Freud. The first full-length biography of
Robertson Smith to be published for almost a
hundred years, this text makes use of
hitherto unknown material preserved by the Smith family and draws
upon the extensive range of correspondence between Smith and such
scholars as Albrecht Ritschl, Paul de Lagarde, Julius Wellhausen,
Abraham Kuenen and Theodor Nöldeke. Adopting an interdisciplinary
and international approach, the biography locates and defines the
place of this remarkable polymath within the context of Free Church
Calvinism, the Scottish Enlightenment and 19th century German
Protestant theology.
More
Lectures on the Religion of the Semites: First Series The
Fundamental Institutions by W. Robertson
Smith (Kessinger Publishing) reprint of the 1894 edition:
Smith studies the primitive religions of the Semitic peoples, viewed
in relation to other ancient religions and to the spiritual religion
of the Old Testament and of Christianity. Contents: Introduction:
The Subject and the Method of Enquiry; The Nature of the Religious
Community, and the Relation of the Gods to their Worshippers; The
Relations of the Gods to Natural Things-Holy Places-The Jinn; Holy
Places in their Relation to Man; Sanctuaries, Natural and
Artificial-Holy Waters, Trees, Caves, and Stones;
Sacrifice-Preliminary Survey; First-Fruits, Tithes, and Sacrificial
Meals; The Original Significance of Animal Sacrifice; The
Sacramental Efficacy of Animal Sacrifice, and Cognate Acts of
Ritual-The Blood Covenant-Blood and Hair Offerings; The Development
of Sacrificial Ritual-Fire-Sacrifices and Piacula; and Sacrificial
Gifts and Piacular Sacrifices-The Special Ideas Involved in the
Latter.
Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (Second and Third Series)
by William Robertson Smith and John Day(The Library of Hebrew
Bible/Old Testament Studies: Sheffield Academic Press) The
outstanding nineteenth-century biblical scholar and Semitist William
Robertson Smith gave three courses of Burnett Lectures on the
Religion of the Semites at Aberdeen just over a century ago. The
first series, published in 1889 (2nd edn, 1894), has long been a
classic work. The second and third series were never published,
owing to the author's ill health; however, the manuscript of them
still exists in the Cambridge University Library and was recently
discovered by John Day, who has produced this edited version of the
work to commemorate the centenary of Smith's death. The Lectures,
which constitute a work of considerable Semitic and Classical
learning, are on the following subjects: Feasts, Priests and the
Priestly Oracle, Prophecy and Divination, Semitic Polytheism and
Cosmogony. Dr Day has written an Introduction, which evaluates the
work and includes nineteenth-century press reports of the Lectures.
More
The Mystery of God: Early Jewish Mysticism and the New Testament
by Christopher Rowl, Christopher R.A. Morray-Jones (Compendia
Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, Volume 12: Brill Academic)
This book brings together the perspectives of apocalypticism and
early Jewish mysticism to illuminate aspects of New Testament
theology. The first part begins with a consideration of the mystical
character of apocalypticism and then uses the Book of Revelation and
the development of views about the heavenly mediator figure of Enoch
to explore the importance of apocalypticism in the Gospels and Acts,
the Pauline Letters and finally the key theological themes in the
later books of the New Testament. The second and third parts explore
the character of early Jewish mysticism by taking important themes
in the early Jewish mystical texts such as the Temple and the Divine
Body to demonstrate the relevance of this material to New Testament
interpretation. More
Expectations of the End: A Comparative Traditio-Historical
Study of Eschatological, Apocalyptic and Messianic Ideas
in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament by Albert
L. A. Hogeterpon (Studies on the Texts of
the Desert of Judah: Brill Academic Publishers)
Since a fuller range of Qumran sectarian and not clearly sectarian
texts and recensions has recently become available to
us, its implications for the comparative study of
eschatological, apocalyptic and messianic ideas in the
Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament need to be
explored anew. 'This book situates eschatological ideas
in Qumran literature between biblical tradition and
developments in late Second Temple Judaism and examines
how the Qumran evidence on eschatology, resurrection,
apocalypticism, and messianism illuminates Palestinian,
Jewish settings of emerging Christianity. The present
study challenges previous dichotomies between realized and futuristic eschatology, wisdom and
apocalypticism and provides many new insights into
intra-Jewish dimensions to eschatological ideas in
Palestinian Judaism and in the early Jesus-movement.
More
The Mystical Texts: Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and Related Manuscripts by Philip S. Alexander(Library of Second Temple Studies:
T&T Clark) This essay provides an overview of a position I have worked out
at greater length in The Mystical Texts: Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice and Related Manuscripts (Companion to the Qumran Scrolls
7; London: T&T Clark International, 2005), to which the reader is
referred for detailed documentation. The present article, however,
is not just a summary of the book. The necessity of compressing and
simplifying the case has led me, to some extent, to rethink and
clarify my argument. A number of points (e.g., the anthropology
behind Qumran mysticism, and the doctrine of predestination, which
seems to be all over the relevant texts) now strike me as more
important than I realised when I wrote the book. My purpose is to
open a debate on what happens if we take certain Scrolls seriously
as mysticism, and read them into the western mystical tradition.
More
Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: To 1700 (Brill's
Series in Church History) by Scott H. Mandelbrote and Jitse M.
Van Der Meer (Brill Academic)
Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-present
(Brill's Series in Church History) by Scott H. Mandelbrote and
Jitse M. Van Der Meer (Brill Academic) The four companion volumes of Nature and Scripture in the
Abrahamic Religions contribute to a contextual evaluation of the
mutual influences between scriptural exegesis and hermeneutics on
the one hand and practices or techniques of interpretation in
natural philosophy and the natural sciences on the other. We seek to
raise the low profile this theme has had both in the history of
science and in the history of biblical interpretation. Furthermore,
questions about the interpretation of scripture continue to be
provoked by current theological reflection on scientific theories.
We also seek to provide a historical context for renewed reflection
on the role of the hermeneutics of scripture in the development of
theological doctrines that interact with the natural sciences.
Right Chorale: Studies in Biblical Law & Interpretation (Forschungen
Zum Alten Testament) by Bernard M. Levinson(Mohr
Siebeck) This book presents twelve selected investigations of textual composition,
interpretation, revision, and transmission. With these studies, Bernard Levinson
draws upon the literary forebears of biblical law in cuneiform literature and
its reinterpretation in the Second Temple period to provide the horizon of
ancient Israelite legal exegesis. The volume makes a sustained argument about
the nature of textuality in ancient Israel: Israelite scribes were sophisticated
readers, authors, and thinkers who were conscious of their place in literary and
intellectual history, even as they sought to renew and transform their cultural
patrimony in significant ways. The studies explore the connections between law
and narrative, show the close connections between Deuteronomy and the
Neo-Assyrian loyalty oath tradition, address the literary relationship of
Deuteronomy and the Covenant Code, reflect upon important questions of
methodology, and explore the contributions of the Bible to later western
intellectual history. The volume offers essential reading for an understanding
of the Pentateuch and biblical law. More
Bakhtin and Genre Theory in Biblical Studies edited by Roland Boer (Society
of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies: Brill Academic Publishers) offers a
meeting between genre theory in biblical studies and the work of Mikhail Bakhtin,
who continues to be immensely influential in literary criticism. Here Bakhtin
comes face to face with a central area of biblical studies: the question of
genre. The essays range from general discussions of genre through the reading of
specific biblical texts to an engagement with Toni Morrison and the Bible. The
contributors are John Anderson, Roland Boer, Martin J. Buss, Judy
Fentress-Williams, Christopher Fuller, Barbara Green, Bula Maddison, Carleen
Mandolfo, Christine Mitchell, Carol A. Newsom, David M. Valeta, and Michael
Vines. More
Deliver Us from Evil: Interpreting the Redemption from the Power of Satan in New
Testament Theology (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 216)
by Richard H. Bell (Mohr Siebeck) Richard H. Bell develops a theory of myth which does justice not
only to the world of 'narrative' but also to the mysteries of the
'physical world'. He does this by building on the phenomenal
distinction as introduced by Kant and further developed by
Schopenhauer. He then applies the resulting theory of myth to two
seemingly disparate examples of redemption from Satan found in the
New Testament: first, the exorcisms of Jesus; secondly, the
redemption of the human being from the power of Satan through the
cross and resurrection of Christ as found in the Pauline tradition
and in the letter to the Hebrews. Then the author makes an attempt
to relate these two forms of redemption to each other and to draw
some conclusions as to how these myths of deliverance from Satan can
be considered true. This can lead not only to an enrichment of New
Testament Theology but also to a greater understanding of the world
in which we live. The fundamental question addressed in this book is how the
redemption of the human being from Satan in New Testament theology
is to be interpreted. I now wish to make a number of concluding
comments, first of a "theological and scientific" nature and then of
a "pastoral" nature.
More
"My Words Are Lovely": Studies in the Rhetoric of the Psalms
by Robert L. Foster and David M. Howard Jr. (Library
of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies: T & T Clark) As the authors of The
Postmodern Bible end their chapter on rhetorical criticism, they write, "The
jury is still out, therefore, on just how successful and profitable the
application of rhetorical theory has become in the rebirth of rhetorical
criticism in biblical interpretation."' Part of their concern is the seemingly
uncritical adaptation of various rhetorical theories without the interpreters'
awareness of their own rhetorical situation and aims and how these influence the
use of rhetorical theories. More
Orientalism, Aramaic and Kabbalah in the Catholic Reformation by Robert J.
Wilkinson (Studies in the History of Christian Thought:
Brill) shows how the first edition of the Syriac New Testament illustrates how
Syriac and other Oriental languages were received in the West by Catholic
Kabbalistic scholars. The contribution of Egidio da Viterbo and Guillaume Postel
is emphasised.
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews:
A
Social Identity Approach by Matthew J. Marohl (Princeton Theological
Monograph Series: Pickwick Publications) Why was Hebrews written?
What was the purpose of the text? The discussion of the purpose of
Hebrews is traditionally connected to the discussion of the identity
and social context of the addressees. In other words, it is often
assumed that to answer why Hebrews was written, it must first be
established to whom Hebrews was written. Herein lies a problem for
modern readers of the text. There is little, if any, consensus
regarding the identity of the addressees. And there is little, if
any, consensus regarding the purpose of Hebrews. While most still
hold to the ‘traditional view,’ that the addressees were ‘Jewish
Christians’ in danger of falling back into ‘Judaism,’ a growing
number of interpreters have concluded that nothing can be known
regarding the identity of the addressees.
Q: A Reconstruction and Commentary by Harry T. Fleddermann
(Biblical Tools and Studies: Peeters) The
first major commentary on the Sayings Source Q, the fruit of a
lifelong intensive research on Q, the volume serves as a thorough
introduction to the field of Q. studies. Fleddermann's commentary is
written in critical dialogue with past and current scholarship and
includes a substantial introduction and general treatment of all
critical issus in Q studies because of its thoroughness in citation
and measured new ones of its conclusions and summaries of arguments.
This is the first volume in the new series 'Biblical Tools and
Studies', edited by G. Van Belle, J. Verheyden, and B. Doyle.
More
Magic in the Biblical World: From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of
Solomon edited by Todd Klutz (Journal for
the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series: T. & T. Clark
Publishers) (Hardcover)
The category `magic', long used to signify an allegedly substantive
type of activity distinguishable from `religion', has nearly been
dismantled by recent theoretical developments in religious studies.
While recognizing and at times reinforcing those developments, the
essays in this collection show that there is still much to be
learned about the cultural context of early Judaism and Christianity
by analyzing ancient sources which either use `magic' as a label for
deviant religiosity or valorize behavior of a broadly
magicoreligious variety. Through sustained engagement with texts
ranging from Exodus 7-9 and 18 to the Testament of Solomon and Sefer
ha-Razim, this volume focuses on materials that challenge the
familiar boundaries between miracle, magic and medicine; yet it also
heightens awareness of the way unsuspecting use of a sick sign (e.g.
`magic') can impede critical understanding of texts and their
respective contexts of reception.
More
Admonition And Curse: The Ancient Near Eastern Treaty/Covenant Form
as a Problem in Inter-Cultural Relationships by Noel
Weeks (Journal for the Study of the Old
Testament Supplement Series: T. & T. Clark Publishers) In the
history of scholarship focus changes from decade to decade. Topics
become popular: topics fade from popularity. The reasons for such
changes are complex and outside of the main interests of this work.
What is significant is that they may fade from`view before there has
been a definitive resolution, or the resolution reached may be
faulty. Yet who wants to return to an old, tired and exhausted
topic?
More
Archetypal Cosmos: Rediscovering the Gods in Myth, Science, and
Astrology by Keiron Le Grice (Floris Books) The modern world is passing through a period of critical change
on many levels: cultural, political, ecological and spiritual. We
are witnessing the decline and dissolution of the old order, the
tumult and uncertainty of a new birth. Against this background,
Keiron Le Grice argues that the developing insights of a new
cosmology could provide a coherent framework of meaning to lead us
beyond the growing fragmentation of culture, belief and personal
identity. Keiron Le Grice, Ph.D., is founder and co-editor of
Archai: The
Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. He is adjunct faculty in the
Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness programme at the California
Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
More
The Fallen Sky by Christopher Cokinos (Tarcher) In this
acclaimed volume, prizewinning poet and nature writer Christopher
Cokinos takes us on an epic journey from Antarctica to outer space,
weaving together natural history, memoir, and in-depth profiles of
amateur researchers, rogue scientists, and stargazing dreamers to
tell the riveting tale of how the study of meteorites became a
modern science. In 1894, fifteen years before his storied expedition
to the North Pole, Robert Peary crossed a treacherous expanse of ice
in Greenland in search of another prize: a massive meteorite laden
with rare metals from outer space. In this hefty, industrious book,
Cokinos retraces Peary’s steps, and those of other meteor “obsessives,”
in an idiosyncratic hunt of his own. The book pairs, sometimes
awkwardly, exciting tales of scientific adventure and
unself-conscious rumination—particularly on the subject of the
author’s failed first marriage, the pain of which, he insists, is
“part and parcel of the hunt, my hunt, for the meteorite hunters.”
As often as not, though, the original meteorite hunters had a more
prosaic view of their quests. Peary, for instance, had a simple
desire for glory and riches; when he finally found that meteorite,
which the local Inuits had dubbed Woman (another, nearby, they
called Dog), he called it “the brown mass.”
More
Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 11th Edition
by Michael A. Seeds, and Dana Backman (Brooks Cole)
This newly revised and updated Edition of HORIZONS shows readers
their place in the universe, not just their location, but also their
role as planet dwellers in an evolving universe. Fascinating and
engaging, the book illustrates how science works, and how scientists
depend on evidence to test hypotheses. Students will learn to focus
on the scientific method through the strong central questioning
themes of "What are we?" and "How do we know?"
More
American Men & Women of Science, 28th edition by Gale (American
Men and Women of Science, 8 volume series: Gale Cengage)
American Men & Women of Science is a
biographical directory of todays leaders in the physical, biological
and related sciences.
Handbook of Optics Third Edition, 5 Volume Set
by Optical
Society of America (McGraw-Hill Professional) The most comprehensive and up-to-date optics resource
available
Prepared under the auspices of the Optical Society of America,
the five carefully architected and cross-referenced volumes of the
Handbook of Optics, Third Edition, contain everything a
student, scientist, or engineer requires to actively work in the
field. From the design of complex optical systems to world-class
research and development methods, this definitive publication
provides unparalleled access to the fundamentals of the discipline
and its greatest minds. Individual chapters are written by the world's most renowned
experts who explain, illustrate, and solve the entire field of
optics. Each volume contains a complete chapter listing for the
entire Handbook, extensive chapter glossaries, and a wealth of
references. This pioneering work offers unprecedented coverage of
optics data, techniques, and applications. Heavily referenced, this science-based work is an excellent tool
to assist military and homeland security personnel and first
responders to improve their ability to develop and implement
countermeasures to the potential biological and chemical threat
agents that continue to emerge.
More
Biologically Inspired Artificial Intelligence for Computer Games
by Darryl Charles, Colin Fyfe, Daniel Livingstone, Stephen
Mcglinchey (IGI Publishing) Computer games are often played by a
human player against an artificial intelligence software entity. In
order to truly respond in a human-like manner, the artificial
intelligence in games must be adaptive, or respond as a human player
would as he/she learns to play a game. Biologically Inspired
Artificial Intelligence for Computer Games reviews several strands
of modern artificial intelligence, including supervised and
I unsupervised artificial neural networks; evolutionary algorithms;
artificial immune systems, swarms, and shows using case studies for
each to display how they may be applied to computer games. This book
spans the divide which currently exists between the academic
research community working with advanced artificial intelligence
techniques and the games programming community which must create and
release new, robust, and interesting games on strict deadlines,
thereby creating an invaluable collection supporting both
technological research and the gaming industry.
More
Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives by
Jeffrey Howard (A K Peters Ltd) This book is intended for a broad
range of audiences, all of whom can take something useful from each
of its sections. Humanities scholars and professors, such as literature teachers
wanting to bring computer-assisted instruction into their classroom
in an innovative way, can benefit from the book's combination of
literature, games, and practical classroom exercises. Such
professors might consider using this book in a class on the
relationship between narratives and games, where it would work well
as a practical and accessible textbook. This book includes many
tutorials and exercises for use with the Aurora Toolset, which can
be purchased with the role-playing game Neverwinter Nights for
fifteen dollars or less.
More
Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541):
Essential Theoretical Writings edited, introduced, translated by
Andrew Weeks (Aries Book Series: Brill) The daunting writings of
Paracelsus—the second largest 16th-century body of writings in
German after Luther's—contributed to medicine, natural science,
alchemy, philosophy, theology, and esoteric tradition. This volume
provides a critical edition of essential writings from the
authoritative 1589 Huser Paracelsus alongside new English
translations and commentary on the sources and context of the full
corpus.
The Essential Theoretical Writings incorporate topics ranging
from metaphyics, cosmology, faith, religious conflict, magic,
gender, and education, to the processes of nature, disease and
medication, female and male sufferings, and cures of body and soul.
Properly contextualized, these treatises yield rich extracts of
Renaissance and Reformation culture, soundings of 16th-century life,
and keys to an influential but poorly understood early modern
intellectual tradition. This work will supersede all other
translations into English and lays an admirable foundation for
future balanced and depth studies of Paracelsus.
Handbook of Driving Simulation for Engineering, Medicine, and
Psychology edited by Donald L. Fisher, Matthew Rizzo,
Jeffrey K. Caird and John D. Lee (CRC Press) This is an
exciting time for researchers using driving
simulators. In the 1970s there were in the neighborhood of 20
research driving simulators throughout the US and Europe
including many small, part-task devices used for training and
licensing. Today there are hundreds if not thousands of driving
simulators spread around the globe. International conferences
have become well established, including, most notably the
Driving Assessment (held in the United States) and the Driving
Simulation Conference (held in Asia, Europe, North America),
with many others drawing large audiences as well. Governments
and industry around the world are much more aggressively funding
simulator research.
More
Complex Worlds: Digital Culture, Rhetoric, and Professional
Communication edited by Adrienne P. Lamberti and Anne R. Richards,
with Series Editor Charles H. Sides (Technical Communication Series:
Baywood Publishing Company)
Keyness in Texts
edited by
Marina Bondi and Mike Scott(Studies in Corpus Linguistics:
John Benjamins) This is corpus linguistics with a text linguistic
focus. The volume concerns lexical inequality, the fact that some
words and phrases share the quality of being key – and thereby
reflect or promote important themes – in some textual contexts,
while others do not. The patterning of words which differ in their
centrality to text meaning is of increasing interest to corpus
linguistics. At the same time software resources are yielding
increasingly more detailed ways of identifying and studying the
linkages between key words and phrases in text databases. This
volume brings together work from some of the leading researchers in
this field. It presents thirteen studies organized in three
sections, the first containing a series of studies exploring the
nature of keyness itself, then a set of five studies looking at
keyness in specific discourse contexts, and then three studies with
an educational focus. More
Transitions and Borders Between Animals, Humans and Machines
1600-1800 by Tobias Cheung (Brill Academic) The search for a new foundation of the order of things, that
characterizes the period between Descartes and Kant, is closely
related to three questions: What is an animal? What is a human? What
is a machine? The various answers that have been given to the
questions occur in a field of dynamic interactions between theories
of knowledge and of matter, experiments, observations, moral,
theological and scientific claims, analogies, metaphors, imitations,
and specific objects or artifacts. The main objective of this book
is to retrace these interactions within different disciplinary,
methodological and conceptual perspectives that reach from soul-body
debates to models of organic molecules, fibre bodies and
self-regulating clocks.
More
Theory of Constraints Handbook by James Cox III and John
Schleier (McGraw-Hill Professional) The definitive guide to the theory of constraints
In this authoritative volume, the world's top Theory of
Constraints (TOC) experts reveal how to implement the
ground-breaking management and improvement methodology developed by
Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Theory of Constraints Handbook offers an
in-depth examination of this revolutionary concept of bringing about
global organization performance improvement by focusing on a few
leverage points of the system. Clear explanations supplemented by
examples and case studies define how the theory works, why it works,
what issues are resolved, and what benefits accrue, and demonstrate
how TOC can be applied to different industries and situations. Theory of Constraints Handbook covers:
Juran's Quality Handbook: The Complete Guide to Performance
Excellence 6/e edited by Joseph Defeo and J.M. Juran (McGraw-Hill
Professional) The definitive quality management compendium--revised for the
first time in a decade. For more than 50 years, Juran's Quality Handbook has been the
singular essential reference to quality management and engineering.
The Sixth Edition--the first revision of the Handbook in 10
years--forges a new standard in tools for quality. Bringing leaders,
managers, master and black belts, and engineers the most up-to-date
methods, research, and tools, under the guidance of a team of the
world's top experts, this authoritative resource shows how to apply
universal methods for delivering superior results and organizational
excellence in any organization, industry, country, or process. Juran's Quality Handbook, sixth edition covers:
Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of
Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles by Committee to Assess Fuel
Economy Technologies for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (National
Research Council and Transportation Research Board, National
Academies) Liquid fuel consumption by medium- and heavy-duty
vehicles (MHDVs) such as tractor-trailers, transit buses, and work
trucks has increased more rapidly in both absolute and percentage
terms than consumption by other sectors, and the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) forecasts that this will continue. EIA projects
that in 2035 these classes of vehicles will consume 30 percent of
all U.S. transportation liquid fuels and 23 percent of all U.S.
liquid fuels. That total will represent 5.1 mbpd, compared with
total projected 2035 U.S. liquid fuel consumption of 22.1 mbpd.
Thus, the fuel efficiency of these classes of vehicles is of high
and increasing importance (DOE, EIA, 2009c). Furthermore, in
December 2009 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
formally declared that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions endanger
public health and the environment within the meaning of the Clean
Air Act, a decision that compels EPA to consider establishing
first-ever GHG emission standards for new motor vehicles, including
MHDVs. If the United States is to reduce its reliance on foreign
sources of oil, and reduce GHG emissions from the transportation
sector, it is important to consider how the fuel consumption of
MHDVs can be reduced.
More
The A3 Workbook: Unlock Your Problem-Solving Mind by Daniel D.
Matthews (Productivity Press, CRC Press) An effective problem-solving process is a critical part of implementing
efficient business practices, and a problem-solving culture is a
fundamental component of empowering employees to support business
improvements. Taken together, they can help any organization make
continuous improvements on the journey to creating a more productive
and profitable business.
Tools of Engagement: Presenting and Training in a World of
Social Media by Tom Bunzel (Pfeiffer) Times are
rapidly changing in the presentation field in the early twenty-first
century. Travel constraints, budget concerns, and the advent of new
technology have mandated that many individuals who might have in the
past addressed their audiences directly and personally need to do so
electronically, across large distances.
What I Didn't Learn in Business School: How Strategy Works in
the Real World by Jay B. Barney and Trish Gorman Clifford (Harvard
Business Review Press) Readers discover how business strategy really
works in
What I Didn't Learn in Business School. Meet Justin Campbell. He's a new MBA graduate who's landed a job
with a strategy consultancy. His engagement team is on a mission:
help HGS Inc., a specialty chemicals firm, define and execute a
strategy for exploiting a textile technology the company developed.
Power Reference Manual for the Electrical and
Computer PE Exam by John A. Camara PE (Professional
Publications, Inc.)
Photonics Essentials, Second Edition
by
Thomas Pearsall [McGraw-Hill Professional] The development of electronics and the development of photonics
have followed different routes. The development of integrated
circuits has focussed on the design, fabrication, and
characterization of two basic devices: memory and microprocessor
chips. This element of simplicity is one important reason for the
extraordinary growth and success of the integrated circuit industry. This unique book teaches photonics through the hands-on
measurement techniques common to all photonic devices. Perfect for
students and engineers looking for practical expertise rather than
abstract theory, this tutorial does more than explain the workings
of photonic applications in standard devices like lasers and
photodetectors--it offers worked examples of measurement and
characterization problems. Filled with these real-world examples
that feature commercially available instruments, this practice-based
book enables you to analyze, characterize, and handle any kind of
photonic device.
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Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the
Temples of the Pharaohs by Christopher Dunn (Bear & Co.) From the pyramids in the north to the temples
in the south, ancient artisans left their marks all over Egypt,
unique marks that reveal craftsmanship we would be hard pressed to
duplicate today. Drawing together the results of more than 30 years
of research and nine field study journeys to Egypt, Christopher Dunn
in
Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt presents a stone-by-stone
analysis of key Egyptian monuments, including the statue of Ramses
II at Luxor and the fallen crowns that lay at its feet. His
modern-day engineering expertise provides a unique view into the
sophisticated technology used to create these famous monuments in
prehistoric times.
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Nuclear Law: The Law Appling to Nuclear Installations And
Radioactive Substances In Its Historic Context
2nd edition by Stephen Tromans
(Hart Publishing) This book is a practical guide to the international, EC and UK
law applying to the various uses of nuclear energy and radioactive
substances. The first edition was produced in 1997, and given the
renaissance of interest in nuclear power in the UK and worldwide,
this new, updated and much expanded edition is timely. It covers the
law relating to the permitting and operation of nuclear power
stations, the decommissioning and clean-up of former nuclear
facilities, radiological protection, the management of radioactive
waste and spent fuel, liability and insurance, and the security and
transport of radioactive materials. Readers will find a clear
framework explaining the development and application of nuclear law,
and how domestic law is based on and influenced by international and
European requirements and by its historical context. In the
commercial context, the chapters dealing specifically with new build
and with decommissioning will be vital reading.
More
Practical Green Remodeling: Down-to-Earth Solutions for Everyday
Homes by Barry Katz (The Taunton Press) Going green at home can seem like an all-or-nothing proposition.
Does one sell everything (including the house)
and start over, building and buying only eco-friendly, renewable
goods? Or take the advice offered up in this book and remodel
instead? Green building expert Barry Katz makes an argument for
remodeling in
Practical Green Remodeling as he guides readers through what can
be a perplexing and daunting process. Katz explains how different
choices impact a home's overall green quotient, as well as its
bottom line. Emphasizing off-the-shelf materials,
Practical Green Remodeling shows how homeowners of ordinary
means can green up a remodel, resulting in less waste, more
energy-efficient homes, lower maintenance costs, and more
comfortable, healthful environments. A leading proponent of green
building, Katz, the recipient of the 2007 HOBI Award for Best Green
House from the Connecticut Association of Homebuilders, has more
than 20 years experience in new home construction and remodeling.
Practical Green Remodeling is not a how-to book. Unlike a lot of
books about home remodeling, there are no step-by-step instructions,
no tool or materials lists, no advice from the pros for the
do-it-yourselfer. Instead, this is a what-to book. After all, before
readers get to the how-to stage, they need a vision of what they
want to do. Katz suggests new ways of thinking about what makes for
a successful remodeling project. Is it enough to create more living
or storage space, a more convenient floor plan, a nicer kitchen or
bathroom? Is it enough simply to make the home more attractive?
More
Green Energy: Sustainable Electricity
Supply with Low Environmental Impact
by Eric Jeffs (CRC) defines the future of the world’s electricity
supply system, exploring the key issues associated with global
warming, and which energy systems are best suited to reducing it.
Electricity generation is a concentrated industry with a few
sources of emissions, which can be controlled or legislated against.
This book explains that a green sustainable electricity system is
one whose construction, installation, and operation minimally affect
the environment and produce power reliability at an affordable
price. It addresses the question of how to build such an electricity
supply system to meet the demands of a growing population without
accelerating global warming or damaging the environment. The green argument for conservation and renewable energies is a
contradiction in terms. Although they produce no emissions, because
renewable systems are composed of a large number of small units, a
considerable amount of energy is required to produce, erect, and
maintain them. This book is a response to that conundrum, answering
key questions, such as: The author has more than forty years of experience as an
international journalist reporting on power-generating technologies
and on energy policies around the world. Detailing the developmental
history, and current state, of the global nuclear industry, he
discusses the dire, immediate need for large quantities of clean,
emission-free electric power, for both domestic and industrial uses.
This book details how current technologies—particularly nuclear,
combined cycle, and hydro—can be applied to satisfy safely the
growing energy demands in the future.
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Compass Chronicles by
Kornelia Takacs (Schiffer Publishing) After the invention of the magnetic compass and its first use in
Italy for travel in the 16th century, a ship's course could be
constantly monitored, leading to exploration and world trade. This
intriguing guide explores a wide range of fascinating pocket compass
types. Examples shown date from the late 1700s to the 1940s, with a
focus on the mid-1800s and early 1900sn Hundreds of compasses are
discussed with 507 colorful illustrations and detailed descriptions.
The history of their development is explored, special uses for the
U.S. Engineering Department and civilian groups are presented, and
patented improvements are featured. Cases for compasses include
wood, leather, and brass in distinct styles around the world. The
variety of craftsmanship quality, style, and value can help to
identify origin and make collecting enjoyable and rewarding.
More
Total
Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything ~ Gordon Bell,
Jim Gemmell (Dutton) What if you could remember everything? Soon, if you choose,
you will be able to conveniently and affordably record your whole
life in minute detail. You would have Total Recall. Authors Gordon
Bell and Jim Gemmell draw on experience from their MyLifeBits
project at Microsoft Research to explain the benefits to come from
an earth-shaking and inevitable increase in electronic memories. In
1998 they began using Bell, a luminary in the computer world, as a
test case, attempting to digitally record as much of his life as
possible. Photos, letters, and memorabilia were scanned. Everything
he did on his computer was captured. He wore an automatic camera, an
arm-strap that logged his bio-metrics, and began recording telephone
calls. This experiment, and the system created to support it, put
them at the center of a movement studying the creation and enjoyment
of e-memories. More
Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology by J. Mccann and D. Bryson (Woodhead Publishing in
Textiles) Smart clothes and wearable
technology is a unique and essential
reference source for researchers, designers and engineers developing
textiles and clothing products in this cross-disciplinary area. It
will also be beneficial for those in the healthcare industry and
academics researching textiles, fashion and design.
A comprehensive review of the technologies and materials
available for the design and production of smart clothing, this book
goes beyond the basics to provide a comprehensive overview of the
wearer’s requirements. After assessing the design and materials
available for smart clothing and wearable technology, the book
covers the design process from fiber selection through to product
developments in digital print technology. It then examines the
general requirements, types of`technologies available, and
manufacturing methods. The coverage includes developments in fabric
joining and graphic communications.
More
Software Applications: Concepts,
Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, 6 volumes contains an
impressive collection of over 30o authoritative contributions from
top influential experts in the field of software applications. This
six-volume compilation includes articles by over 40o prominent
international scholars in topic areas such as autonomic computing,
operating system architectures, and open source software
technologies and applications. Software Applications: Concepts,
Methodologies, Tools, and Applications presents libraries with an
excellent addition to their academic collection.
More
Agent Technologies and Web Engineering: Applications and Systems
edited by Ghazi Alkhatib (Editor), David Rine (Advances in
Information Technology and Web Engineering Book: Information Science
Reference)
Perpetual Access: US $295.00 In recent years, the emerging field of agent technologies has
become mainstream in Web engineering. With constant field
devel0pments and updates, a reference source is needed that reflects
the increased scope of agent technology application domains and
development practices and tools. Agent Technologies and Web Engineering: Applications and Systems
presents the latest tools and applications addressing critical
issues involved with information technology and Web engineering
research. Covering topics such as next-generation networks, XML
query processing, and Semantic Web services, this book provides
cutting-edge research for practitioners and academicians involved in
agent technology and Web engineering fields. This essential publication is for all academic and research
libraries, as well as all those interested in the latest research
and issues in information technology and web engineering.
Researchers, educators, project managers, software developers, and
students will also benefit from this state-of-the-art reference.
More
Handbook of Algorithms for Physical Design Automation edited by Charles J. Alpert , Dinesh P. Mehta,
Sachin S. Sapatnekar(Auerbach Publications, CRC Press) The physical design flow of any project depends upon the size of the
design, the technology, the number of designers, the clock
frequency, and the time to do the design. As technology advances and
design-styles change, physical design flows are constantly
reinvented as traditional phases are removed and new ones are added
to accommodate changes in technology.
More
Connecting People with Technology: Issues in Professional
Communication Edited by George F. Hayhoe and Helen M. Grady (Baywood)
explores five important areas where technology affects society, and
suggests ways in which human communication can facilitate the use of
that technology. Usability has become a foundational
discipline in technical and professional communication that grows
out of our rhetorical roots, which emphasize purpose and audience.
As our appreciation of audience has grown beyond engineers and
scientists to lay users of technology, our appreciation of the
diversity of those audiences in terms of age, geography, and other
factors has similarly expanded.
More
Elementary Statistics in Social Research (11th Edition)
by Jack A. Levin (Author), James Alan Fox (Author), David R.
Forde (MySocKit Series: Allyn and
Bacon) The Eleventh Edition of Elementary Statistics in
Social Research provides an introduction to statistics for students
in sociology and related fields, including political science,
criminal justice, and social work. This book is not intended to be a
comprehensive reference for statistical methods. On the contrary,
our first and foremost objective has always been to provide an
accessible introduction for a broad range of students, particularly
those who may not have a strong background in mathematics.
More
Handbook of Granular Computing by Witold Pedrycz, Andrzej
Skowron, and Vladik Kreinovich (Wiley) Although the notion is a
relatively recent one, the notions and principles of Granular
Computing (GrC) have appeared in a different guise in many related
fields including granularity in Artificial Intelligence, interval
computing, cluster analysis, quotient space theory and many others.
Recent years have witnessed a renewed and expanding interest in the
topic as it begins to play a key role in bioinformatics, e-commerce,
machine learning, security, data mining and wireless mobile
computing when it comes to the issues of effectiveness, robustness
and uncertainty.
More
Bayesian Methods: A Social and Behavioral Sciences Approach, Second
Edition by Jeff Gill (Statistics in the Social and Behavioral
Sciences: Chapman and Hall/CRC) The first edition helped pave the
way for Bayesian approaches to become more prominent in social
science methodology. While the focus remains on practical modeling
and basic theory as well as on intuitive explanations and
derivations without skipping steps, this second edition incorporates
the latest methodology and recent changes in software`offerings.
More
Artificial Intelligence with Uncertainty by Deyi Li, Yi Du
(Chapman & Hall/CRC) The information deluge currently assaulting us
in the 21st century is having profound impact on our lifestyles and
how we work. We must constantly separate trustworthy and required
information from the massive amount of data we encounter each day.
Through mathematical theories, models, and experiment. computations,
Artificial Intelligence with Uncertainty explores the uncertainties
of knowledge and intelligence that occur during the cognitive
processes of human beings. The authors focus on the importance of
natural language—the carrier of knowledge and intelligence—for
artificial intelligence (Al) study.
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Monte Carlo Methods For Applied Scientists by Ivan T. Dimov
(World Scientific Publishing Company) Stochastic optimization refers
to the minimization (or maximization) of a function in the presence
of randomness in the optimization process. The randomness may be
present as either noise in measurements or Monte Carlo randomness in
the search procedure, or both. The study of random geometric
structures. Stochastic geometry leads to modelling and analysis
tools such as Monte Carlo methods. The Monte Carlo method is inherently parallel and the extensive
and rapid development in parallel computers, computational clusters
and grids has resulted in renewed and increasing interest in this
method. At the same time there has been an expansion in the
application areas and the method is now widely used in many
important areas of science including nuclear and semiconductor
physics, statistical mechanics and heat and mass transfer.
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Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics: Life in Parallel Worlds: Miracles of Consciousness from Quantum Reality
by Michael B. Mensky (World Scientific Publishing Company) The phenomenon of consciousness includes mysterious aspects
providing a basis for many spiritual doctrines (including religions)
and psychological practices. These directions of human knowledge are
usually considered to contradict the laws of science. However,
quantum mechanics — in a sense, the mysterious direction of science
— allows us to include the phenomena of consciousness and life as
well as the relevant phenomena in the sphere of science.
New Directions in Linear Acoustics and Vibration: Quantum Chaos,
Random Matrix Theory and Complexity by Matthew Wright and
Richard Weaver (Cambridge University Press) The field of acoustics is of immense industrial and scientific
importance. The subject is built on the foundations of linear
acoustics, which is widely regarded as so mature that it is fully
encapsulated in the physics texts of the 1950s. This view was
changed by developments in physics such as the study of quantum
chaos. Developments in physics throughout the last four decades,
often equally applicable to both quantum and linear acoustic
problems but overwhelmingly more often expressed in the language of
the former, have explored this. There is a significant new amount of
theory that can be used to address problems in linear acoustics and
vibration, but only a small amount of reported work does so. This
book is an attempt to bridge the gap between theoreticians and
practitioners, as well as the gap between quantum and acoustic.
Tutorial chapters provide introductions to each of the major aspects
of the physical theory and are written using the appropriate
terminology of the acoustical community. The book will act as a
quick-start guide to the new methods while providing a wide-ranging
introduction to the physical concepts.
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The Poetry of Physics and the Physics of Poetry by Robert L.
Logan (World Scientific Publishing Company) is a textbook for a
survey course in physics taught without mathematics, that also takes
into account the social impact and influences from the arts and
society. It combines physics, literature, history and philosophy
from the dawn of human life to the 21st century. It will also be of
interest to the general reader.
More
Quantum Invariants of Knots and 3-Manifolds
by Vladimir G. Turaev (De Gruyter Studies in Mathematics: De Gruyter) Due to the strong appeal and wide use of this monograph, it is
now available in its second revised edition. The monograph gives a
systematic treatment of 3-dimensional topological quantum field
theories (TQFTs) based on the work of the author with N. Reshetikhin and
O. Viro. This subject was inspired by the
discovery of the Jones polynomial of knots and the
Witten-Chern-Simons field theory. On the algebraic side, the study
of 3-dimensional TQFTs has been influenced by the theory of braided
categories and the theory of quantum groups. The book is divided into three parts. Part I presents a
construction of 3-dimensional TQFTs and 2-dimensional modular
functors from so-called modular categories. This gives a vast class
of knot invariants and 3-manifold invariants as well as a class of
linear representations of the mapping class groups of surfaces. In
Part II the technique of 6j-symbols is used to define state sum
invariants of 3-manifolds. Their relation to the TQFTs constructed
in Part I is established via the theory of shadows. Part III
provides constructions of modular categories, based on quantum
groups and skein modules of tangles in the 3-space. This fundamental contribution to topological quantum field theory
is accessible to graduate students in mathematics and physics with
knowledge of basic algebra and topology. It is an indispensable
source for everyone who wishes to enter the forefront of this
fascinating area at the borderline of mathematics and physics.
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Functional Materials: Electrical, Dielectric, Electromagnetic,
Optical and Magnetic Applications, (With Companion Solution Manual)
by Deborah D. L. Chung (Engineering Materials for Technological Needs: World Scientific
Publishing Company) The development of functional materials is at the heart of technological needs and the forefront of materials research. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of functional materials, which are needed for electrical, dielectric, electromagnetic, optical, and magnetic applications. Materials concepts covered are strongly linked to applications.
Textbooks related to functional materials have not kept pace with technological needs and associated scientific advances. Introductory materials science textbooks merely gloss over functional materials while electronic materials textbooks focus on semiconductors and smart materials textbooks emphasize more on limited properties that pertain to structures.
Fracture and Life
by Brian Cotterell (Imperial College
Press) This book is an interdisciplinary review of the effect of
fracture on life, following the development of the understanding of
fracture written from a historical perspective. After a short
introduction to fracture, the first section of the book covers the
effects of fracture on the evolution of the Earth, plants and
animals, and man. The second section of the book covers the largely
empirical control of fracture from ancient times to the end of the
nineteenth century. The final section reviews the development of
fracture theory as a discipline and its application during the
twentieth century through to the present time.
More
An Introduction to Materials Science by Wenceslao
Gonzalez-Vinas, Hector L. Mancini
(Princeton University Press) Textbook that shows how the emergence
of materials science is leading the way in technical innovation.
Useful for anyone wanting to get a sense of the field. Materials
science has undergone a revolutionary transformation in the past two
decades. It is an interdisciplinary field that has grown out of
chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering departments. In this
book, González-Viñas and Mancini provide an introduction to the
field, one that emphasizes a qualitative understanding of the
subject, rather than an intensely mathematical one.
More
Understanding Solids: The Science of Materials by Richard J. D.
Tilley (John Wiley & Sons) (Paperback)
is a modern introduction to the structures and properties of solids.
Taking an integrated approach, designed to appeal to both science
and engineering students, the book develops an understanding of the
origin of both physical and chemical properties of solids from a
foundation of chemical bonding, which leads naturally to an
appreciation of the ways in which atoms can aggregate and so
generate solid structures.
More
Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, Eighth Edition
edited by
don Green, Robert Perry, M. Susan Lewis (Chemical Engineers
Handbook: McGraw Hill) First published in 1934, Perry's Chemical
Engineers' Handbook has equipped generations of engineers and
chemists with an expert source of chemical engineering information
and data. Now updated to reflect the latest technology and processes
of the new millennium, the Eighth Edition of this classic guide
provides unsurpassed coverage of every aspect of chemical
engineering-from fundamental principles to chemical processes and
equipment to new computer applications.
More
CRC Handbook Of Thermodynamic Data Of Polymer Solutions At Elevated
Pressures by Christian Wohlfarth (CRC
Press) This handbook provides the only complete collection of
high-pressure thermodynamic data pertaining to polymer solutions at
elevated pressures to date — all critical data for understanding the
physical nature of these mixtures and applicable to a number of
industrial and laboratory processes in polymer science, physical
chemistry, chemical engineering, and biotechnology.
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Elementorganic Monomers: Technology, Properties, Applications by
L. M. Khananashvili, O. V. Mukbaniani,
G. E. Zaikov (New Concepts in Polymer Science: Brill Academic
Publishers) The chemical industry in our country and abroad is
rapidly developing. It is only natural that the young industry of
elementorganic monomers, oligomers and polymers should develop at
the same rate. The numerous valuable and sometimes unique properties
Iof these substances account for their wide application in various
industries, households, medicine and cutting-edge technologies. That
is why contemporary industry produces more than 500 types of
silicone monomers, oligomers and polymers, to say nothing of other
elementorganic compounds. The synthesis of these elementorganic
compounds is based on many different reactions.
More
Handbook of Physical-Chemical Properties and Environmental Fate for
Organic Chemicals, Second Edition edited by Donald Mackay (CRC)
The Handbook of Physical-Chemical Properties and Environmental Fate
for Organic Chemicals, Second Edition is a massive 4 volume
essential reference for university libraries, regulatory agencies,
consultants, and industry professionals, particularly those
concerned with chemical synthesis, emissions, fate, persistence,
long-range transport, bioaccumulation, exposure, and biological
effects of chemicals in the environment. The handbook contains
physical-chemical property data on over 1200 chemicals of
environmental concern. It offers approximately 30 percent new and
updated information from previous edition. An enhancement to this
new edition is the inclusion of measured temperature-dependent data
for selected physical-chemical properties. Transport and
transformation processes are key for determining how humans and
other organisms are exposed to chemicals. These processes are
largely controlled by the chemicals' physical-chemical properties.
This new edition of the Handbook of Physical-Chemical Properties and
Environmental Fate for Organic Chemicals is a comprehensive series
in four volumes that serves as a reference source for
environmentally relevant physical-chemical property data of numerous
groups of chemical substances.
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Greening Existing Buildings
by Jerry Yudelson (McGraw-Hills
Greensource Series: McGraw-Hill) This GreenSource guide
explains how to transform existing buildings into more
energy-efficient, resource-conserving green buildings. The book
provides a clear process that guides you, step-by-step, through each
phase of moving building operations and maintenance toward the goal
of a green-certified building.
Water: A Way of Life: Sustainable Water Management in a Cultural
Context by A.J.M. (Lida) Schelwald-van Der
Kley, Linda Reijerkerk (CRC Press) How to make water management projects more successful and
sustainable? How is it that large infrastructural water works often
encounter opposition? Is it perhaps, among other things, the lack of
attention for the cultural context? These and other intriguing
questions are dealt with in this book. The authors, having 20 years
of experience on water and sanitation in an international context,
have investigated the relationship between water and culture
world-wide in order to find new keys to successful and sustainable
water management. This book is based on extensive research and is intended to form
a cultural road towards new sustainable water management practices.
Water: A Way of Life takes the reader on a water journey through
time and across the world's continents. Along the way it explains
the past and present ways in which different cultures around the
world, both traditional and modern, view and manage water in
response to the distinct environment they inhabit. As beliefs and
values are at the heart of any culture, it also highlights the views
of the main world religions on water and its use. A better
understanding of cultural water beliefs and practices may lead to
new concepts for future sustainable water management — from flood
management to water supply, sanitation and irrigation management.
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The Functional
Assessment of Wetland Ecosystems: Towards Evaluation of Ecosystem
Services, includes CD edited by Edward Maltby, U Digby, C
Baker (CRC Press) Wetlands perform functions that deliver benefits to society,
often referred to as ecosystem services. These ecosystem services
include water supply, flood regulation, water purification, climate
regulation, biodiversity, agriculture (e.g. grazing land), and
amenity. A functional approach to wetland assessment enables a
holistic view to be taken of the wide range of services that
wetlands can provide. The functional assessment procedures (FAPs) in
this volume translate best available scientific knowledge into
reasonable predictions of how component parts of wetlands function
in different landscape contexts. They can be used to indicate the
potential and priorities for management options in areas such as
flood control, pollution reduction and biodiversity conservation.
United States West Coast: An Environmental History by Adam
Sowards, series editor: Mark Stoll (Nature and Human Societies:
ABC-CLIO) From Native people's skilled use of fire and plants to the
California Gold Rush to ongoing efforts to provide Southern
California with sufficient water, the North American West Coast has
long been a region where humankind has nurtured, battled, and
exploited the environment. This groundbreaking volume explores the
interplay of ecology, economy, and culture throughout the history of
this rich and abundant region, examining the ways its residents and
their institutions both influence and are affected by the ecological
systems in which they live.
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Critical Discourse Studies in Context and Cognition edited by
Christopher Hart (Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and
Culture Series: John Benjamins Publishing Company) Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), under the general editors of
Ruth Wodak and Greg Myers and associate editor Johann Unger,
University of Lancaster, is an exciting research enterprise in which
scholars are concerned with the discursive reproduction of power and
inequality. However, researchers in CDS are increasingly recognizing
the need to investigate the cognitive dimensions of discourse and
context if they want to fully account for any connection between
language, legitimization and social action.
Critical Discourse Studies in Context and Cognition, edited by
Christopher Hart, Northumbria University, presents a collection of
papers in CDS concerned with various ideological discourses.
Analyses are firmly rooted in linguistics and cognition constitutes
a major focus of attention. The chapters, which are written by
prominent researchers in CDS, come from a broad range of theoretical
perspectives spanning pragmatics, cognitive psychology and cognitive
linguistics. More
Comprehensive Behavior Management: Individualized, Classroom,
and Schoolwide Approaches, 2nd edition by Ronald C. Martella, J. Ron
Nelson, Nancy E. Marchand-Martella and Mark O'Reilly (Sage
Publications) One of the most critical issues facing teachers
and related-services personnel today is behavior management.
Behavior management consistently ranks as the most concerning issue
in surveys completed by school personnel. Unfortunately, most do not
feel well equipped to deal with the multitude of behavior problems
they see every day in the schools. The authors say they wrote
Comprehensive Behavior Management with these individuals in
mind. It is critical for teachers and related personnel to receive
high-quality training in behavior management; a solid textbook
written by experts in the field that incorporates evidence-based
best practices is an important foundational aspect of this training.
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Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot
Hermeneutic by Inna Semetsky (Sense Publishers) This
groundbreaking book brings depth of meaning and intellectual
scholarship to the field of human development while also lifting the
human spirit by offering new dimensions of self-formation through
the ancient medium of Tarot. It should be of great interest to
health and human service professionals. --JEAN WATSON, Distinguished
Professor, University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing; author
of Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring and Caring Science
as Sacred Science.
The Uniqueness of Western Civilization by Ricardo Duchesne
(Studies in Critical Social Sciences, 28: Brill Academic) This extensively researched book argues that the development of a
libertarian culture was an indispensable component of the rise of
the West. The roots of the West's superior intellectual and artistic
creativity should be traced back to the aristocratic warlike culture
of Indo-European speakers. Among the many fascinating topics discussed
are: the ascendancy of multicultural historians and the degradation
of European history; China's ecological endowments and imperial
windfalls; military revolutions in Europe 1300-1800; the science and
chivalry of Henry the Navigator; Judaism and its contribution to
Western rationalism; the cultural richness of Max Weber versus the
intellectual poverty of Pomeranz, Wong, Goldstone, Goody, and A.G.
Frank; change without progress in the East; Hegel's Phenomenology
of the [Western] Spirit; Nietzsche and the education of the Homeric Greeks; Kojeve's master-slave dialectic and the Western state
of nature; Christian virtues and German aristocratic expansionism.
More
Drugs, Society and Criminal Justice (3rd Edition) by Charles F.
Levinthal (Prentice Hall) Unique in approach,
Drugs, Society and Criminal Justice (3rd Edition), by Charles F.
Levinthal, Hofstra University, examines drug use, drug misuse, and
drug abuse from a criminal justice perspective. Building on
sociological theory, it explores the social problems associated with
drug use and the theoretical reasons for drug use and abuse. Moving
beyond a sociological focus, it delves into the complex relationship
between drug-taking behavior and crime. Discussion-starting features
spotlight prominent figures, drug trafficking realities, and
life-saving information as the book explores how drug use and abuse
impact the criminal justice system.
Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration by Robyn Ryle
(Pine Forge Press / Sage)
Questioning Gender is a one-of-a-kind text designed to launch
readers into a thoughtful encounter with gender issues. Rather than
providing definitive answers about gender, the book, written by
Robyn Ryle, associate professor of Sociology at
Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, exposes readers to new material
that leads them to question their assumptions. Ryle uses both
historical and cross-cultural approaches as well as a focus on
intersectionality and transgender issues to help students understand
the socially-constructed nature of gender. Debunking ideas of what
is normal and abnormal, this book explores the core theories and
topics, including the gender of sexuality, the gender of friendship
and dating, the gender of media and popular culture, and the gender
of politics and power.
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The Sociology of Childhood, 3rd edition by William A. Corsaro
(Sociology for a New Century Series: Pine Forge Press)
The Sociology of Childhood has been acclaimed as the best book
available on the sociology of children. Author William A. Corsaro is
the Robert H. Shaffer Class of 1967 Endowed Professor of Sociology
at Indiana University, Bloomington where he won the Presidents Award
for Distinguished Teaching in 1988.
Language Documentation: Practice and Values edited by Lenore A.
Grenoble and N. Louanna Furbee (John Benjamins Publishing Company)
Language documentation, also often called documentary linguistics,
is a relatively new subfield in linguistics which has emerged in
part as a response to the pressing need for collecting, describing,
and archiving material on the increasing number of endangered
languages.
We Are Our Language: An Ethnography of Language Revitalization
in a Northern Athabascan Community (First Peoples, New Directions in
Indigenous Studies) by Barbra A. Meek (University of Arizona Press)
For many communities around the world, the revitalization or at
least the preservation of an indigenous language is a pressing
concern. Understanding the issue involves far more than compiling
simple usage statistics or documenting the grammar of a tongue it
requires examining the social practices and philosophies that affect
indigenous language survival.
War and Sex: A Brief History of Men's Urge for Battle by John
Van Houten Dippel (Prometheus Books) War or sex it's never been a
simple either-or choice. In fact, making war and making love have a
long, tangled, intimate history.
Plains Indians Regalia & Customs by Bad Hand (Schiffer
Publishing) This original study of Plains Indian cultures of the 19th century
is presented through the use of period writings, paintings and early
photography that relate how life was carried out. The author Bad
Hand juxtaposes the sources with new research and modern color
photography of specific replica items. Bad Hand is a Native American
author, historian, lecturer and replica maker who has made the study
of Plains Indian culture part of his life.
More
Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most
Improvement Recipes by Michael Bremer and Brian McKibben
(Productivity Press, CRC Press) Despite performance improvement
initiatives such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Supply-Chain Management,
only a handful of companies actually break out of the pack to
transform their enterprises. This problem is not unique to
today's improvement methodologies; the same issues existed when
organizations first adopted TQM, re-engineering, and other popular
improvement methodologies. Providing methods and metrics for
effecting true change,
Escape the Improvement Trap highlights how to avoid common
improvement traps that inhibit many organizations from rising above
the rest. More
Manifesto of the Critical Theory of Society and Religion
by Rudolf Siebert (Studies in Critical Social Sciences: Brill
Academic)
Human Behavior in the Social Environment: A Multidimensional
Perspective 4th edition by Jose B. Ashford. Craig Winston LeCroy (Brooks /
Cole) In our first edition, we tried to do something very different. We
attempted to bridge the chasm between issues of application and
theory by bringing together our diverse expertise—a focus on human
behavior theory and a focus on social work practice. Given our
different skill sets (Jose teaches human behavior and Craig teaches
social work practice), we hoped to write a textbook that would link
the development of assessment skills with the examination of
curriculum content relevant to Human Behavior and the Social
Environment (HBSE) education policy standards. With this end in
view, we are pleased that our efforts in writing our first edition
helped stimulate a new generation of textbooks that now include
issues of assessment in the coverage of HBSE foundation knowledge.
More
International Law for Humankind: Towards a New Jus Gentium
by
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (Mague Academy of
International Law: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers / Brill Academic) Professor Cançado Trindade develops his Leitmotiv of
identification of a corpus juris increasingly oriented to the
fulfillment of the needs and aspirations of human beings, of peoples
and of humankind as a whole. With the overcoming of the purely
inter-State dimension of the discipline of the past, international
legal personality has expanded, so as to encompass nowadays, besides
States and international organizations, also peoples, individuals
and humankind as subjects of International Law. The growing
consciousness of the need to pursue universally-shared values has
brought about a fundamental change in the outlook of International
Law in the last decades, drawing closer attention to its foundations
and, parallel to its formal sources, to its material source (the
universal juridical conscience). He examines the conceptual
constructions of this new International Law and identifies basic
considerations of humanity permeating its whole corpus juris,
disclosing the current processes of its humanization and
universalization. Finally, he addresses the construction of the
international rule of law, acknowledging the need and quest for
international compulsory jurisdiction, in the move towards a new jus
gentium, the International Law for humankind.More
An Introduction to International Human Rights Law edited by
Azizur Rahman Chowdhury, Jahid Hossain Bhuiyan (Martinus
Nijhoff / Brill Academic) is designed to provide an overview of the development and substance
of international human rights law, and what is meant concretely by
human rights guarantees, such as civil and political rights, and
economic and social rights. It highlights the rights of women,
globalization and human rights education. The book also explores
domestic, regional and international endeavors to protect human
rights. The history and role of human rights NGOs coupled with an
analysis of diverse international mechanisms are succinctly woven
into the text, which well reflects the scholarship and erudition of
the authors. This lucidly written and timely volume will be of great
help to anyone seeking to understand this area of law, be they
students, lawyers, scholars, government officials, staff of
international and non-international organizations, human rights
activists or lay readers.
More
Chomskyan
(R)evolutions by Douglas A. Kibbee (John Benjamins Publishing
Company) It is not unusual for contemporary linguists to claim that
"Modern Linguistics began in 1957" (with the publication of Noam
Chomsky's Syntactic Structures). Some of the essays in Chomskyan (R)evolutions
examine the sources, the nature and the extent of the theoretical
changes Chomsky introduced in the 1950s. Other contributions explore
the key concepts and disciplinary alliances have evolved
considerably over the past sixty years, such as the meanings given
"Universal Grammar", the relationship of Chomskyan linguistics to
other disciplines (Cognitive Science, Psychology, Evolutionary
Biology), and the interactions between mainstream Chomskyan
linguistics and other linguistic theories active in the late l8th
century: Functionalism, Generative Semantics and Relational Grammar.
The broad understanding of the recent history of linguistics points
the way towards new directions and methods that linguistics can
pursue in the future.
More
Social Psychology, 7th ed. by John D.
DeLamater and Daniel J. Myers (Wadsworth Publishing) This social
psychology text, written by well-known sociologists, covers such
topics as socialization, self, attitudes, communication, social
influence, interpersonal attraction and relationships, behavior in
small groups, life course, and personality and social structure. As
readers move through the book, they will explore answers to a wide
variety of questions, such as: What decides who someone will fall in
love with? Where do aggressive, violent, and criminal behaviors come
from? Why are some people more charitable than others? Why do some
people obey authority and conform while others always have to buck
the trend? Why are some people lazier when they work in groups? What
is the source of people's stereotypes and prejudices? What causes
conflict between groups? And finally, what makes us who we are?
More
The Gendered Unconscious: Can Gender Discourses Subvert Psychoanalysis? by Louise Gyler
(Routledge) Feminist interventions in psychoanalysis have often attempted
either to subvert or re-frame the masculinist and phallocentric
biases of Freud's psychoanalysis. This book investigates the nature
of these interventions by comparing the status and treatment of
women in two different psychoanalytic models: the Kleinian and the
feminist models. It argues that, in fact, these interventions have
historically tended to reinforce such biases by collapsing the
distinction between the gendered minds of individuals and theories
of gender.
Terminology in Everyday Life
by Marcel Thelen and Frieda
Steurs (Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice: John Benjamins Publishing Company)
contains a selection of fresh and interesting articles by prominent
scholars and practitioners in the field of terminology based on
papers presented at an international terminology congress on the
impact of terminology on everyday life. The volume brings together
theory and practice of terminology and deals with such issues as the
growing influence of European English on terminology, terminology on
demand, setting up a national terminological infrastructure, the
relevance of frames and contextual information for terminology, and
standardization through automated term extraction and editing tools.
The book wants to demonstrate that terminology is of everyday
importance and is of interest to everyone interested in the theory
and practice of terminology, from terminologists to computer
specialists to lecturers and students.
More
Living in Poverty: Developmental Poetics of Cultural Realities
by Ana
Cecília S Bastos and Elaine P Rabinovich (Advances in Cultural Psychology)
covers the results of investigation of social
realities and their public representation in Brazilian poor
communities, with a particular emphasis on the use of cultural tools
to survive and create psychological and social novelty under
conditions of severe poverty. A relevant part of it brings together
the multi-faceted evidence of a decade of research concentrated in
two particular low-income areas in the city of Salvador da Bahia,
Brazil. Other studies conducted in other Brazilian areas and in
Cali, Colombia are included.
Tacit Knowledge in Organizational Learning
by Peter Busch (IGI
Publishing) Understanding the complexity of tactic knowledge has
become increasingly important to the enhancement of organizational
flow. This book aims to advocate the need for human factor
consideration from a (tactic) knowledge capital point of view.
Washing the Brain - Metaphor and Hidden Ideology by Andrew
Goatly (Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture: John
Benjamins Publishing) What is meant by the notoriously vague
term 'ideology'? Defining this could take a whole book, so Goatly
provisionally adopts van Dijk's definition and description in
Ideology: "the basis of the social representations shared by
members of a group. This means that ideologies allow people, as
group members, to organise the multitude of social beliefs about
what is the case, good or bad, right or wrong, for them and to act
accordingly.” One major determinant of these social representations
will be "the material and symbolic interests of the group ... power
over other groups (or resistance against the domination by other
groups) may have a central role and hence function as a major
condition and purpose for the development of ideologies". This
emphasis on power is central to my use of the term, and, for
brevity's sake one might adopt Thompson's definition "meaning in the
service of power".
The War Against Domestic Violence edited by Lee Ross (CRC Press)
Violence, including intimate partner violence, is a leading cause of
death, disability, and hospitalization in the United States and
other regions worldwide. Despite growing awareness, the numbers of
reported and unreported incidents continue to rise. Drawing on the
contributions of criminal justice practitioners and academic
theorists who bring sober insight to a highly charged issue,
The War Against Domestic Violence, edited by Lee Ross, associate
professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida,
offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of this phenomenon.
More
Computer-Aided Forensic Facial Comparison by Martin Paul Evison and Richard W. Vorder Bruegge (CRC)
Countless facial images are generated everyday through digital
and cell phone cameras, surveillance video systems, webcams, and
traditional film and broadcast video. As a result, law enforcement
and intelligence agencies have numerous opportunities to acquire and
analyze images that depict persons of interest. Computer-Aided Forensic Facial Comparison is a
comprehensive exploration of the scientific, technical, and
statistical challenges facing researchers investigating courtroom
identification from facial images. Supported by considerable background material, research data, and
prototypic statistical and applications software, this volume brings
together contributions from anthropologists, computer scientists,
forensic scientists, and statisticians. Topics discussed include: Based on the quantification and analysis of more than 3000 facial
images, this seminal work lays the foundation for future forensic
facial comparison, computer applications development, and research
in face shape variation and analysis. Using experimental and real
case data, it demonstrates the influence of illumination, image
resolution, perspective, and pose angle on landmark visibility. Two
DVDs are included which contain the raw 3D landmark datasets for
3000 faces, additional datasets used in 2D analysis, and computer
programs and spreadsheets used in analysis and in the development of
prototypic applications software.
More
Juvenile Delinquency: The Core
4th ed. by Larry J. Siegel, Brandon C. Welsh (Wadsworth
Publishing) The study of juvenile
delinquency is a dynamic, ever-changing field of
scientific inquiry in which the theories, concepts, and
processes are constantly evolving. We have, as such,
updated this text to reflect the changes that have taken
place in the study of delinquent behavior during the
past few years. This new edition includes a review of
recent legal cases, research studies, and policy
initiatives. It aims to provide a groundwork for the
study of juvenile delinquency by analyzing and
describing the nature and extent of delinquency, the
suspected causes of delinquent behavior, and the
environmental influences on youthful misbehavior. It
also covers what most experts believe are the critical
issues in juvenile delinquency and analyzes crucial
policy issues, including the use of pretrial detention,
waiver to adult court, and restorative justice programs.
And because we recognize that many students are career
oriented, we have included a new feature called
Professional Spotlight, which aims at giving students a
glimpse of what professionals are now doing to help
troubled youth.
Bad Men Do what Good Men Dream: A Forensic Psychiatrist Illuminates the Darker Side
of Human Behavior by Robert I. Simon (American Psychiatric Publishing)
Dr. Simon has upgraded his classic volume on "The Dark Side of Human
Behavior" with new chapters, new insights and a clear understanding
of the thin line holding good men from acting on inner impulses. His
illustrations and case examples shed new light on the work he has
done in forensic psychiatry. This book, as most of Dr. Simon's book,
is a must read for the serious student of human behavior.
More
Forensic Human Identification: An Introduction edited by Tim
Thompson, Sue Black (CRC Press) In philosophy, "identity" is
whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable, in terms of
possessing a set of qualities or characteristics that distinguish it
from entities of a different type. "Identification," therefore, is
the act of establishing that identity. In the 17th century, John
Locke proposed his tabula rasa (blank slate) philosophy, which
concluded that the newborn child is without identity and that it is
entirely defined by society and circumstances after birth. While
this may have some basis for discussion in the worlds of
metaphysics, psychology, and social anthropology it has restricted
relevance in the worlds of disaster-victim identification,
biometrics, and forensic science. It is, however, true to say that,
although many of our parameters of biological identity may be
acquired after birth (tattoos, trauma, disease, dental intervention,
etc.), many are biologically inherent and established in the period
between conception and birth (DNA profile, sex, fingerprints, blood
group, etc.). More
Murdering Myths: The Story Behind the Death Penalty by Judith W.
Kay (Polemics: Rowman and Littlefield) (Paperback)
goes beyond the hype and statistics to examine Americans'
deep-seated beliefs about crime and punishment. She argues that
Americans share a counter-productive idea of justice--that
punishment corrects bad behavior, suffering pays for wrong deeds,
and victims' desire for revenge is natural and inevitable. Drawing
on interviews with both victims and inmates, Kay shows how this
belief harms perpetrators, victims, and society and calls for a new
narrative that recognizes the humanity in all of us.
More
The Software Interface Between Copyright and Competition Law
by Ashwin van Rooijen (Information Law: Wolters Kluwer,
Brill) The success of computer programs often depends on their
ability to interoperate - or communicate - with other systems.
Conversely, the extent to which interoperability between computer
programs is enabled or facilitated by the law can have a significant
impact on innovation and free competition in software. The two legal
disciplines that primarily determine the extent to which software
interoperability is enabled or facilitated are copyright law and
competition law. This important book offers the first in-depth analysis of the
current respective copyright and competition law approaches to
interoperability. With respect to copyright law, the book offers a
comprehensive analysis of how copyright law has been applied to
computer programs, how this form of protection affects
interoperability, and how the European Software Directive -
including its interpretation by courts in Member States - aims to
facilitate interoperability. With respect to competition law, the
author critically analyzes the application of Article 102 of the
TFEU to refusals to supply interface information, including a
discussion on the tension between copyright and competition law. The
author also examines the substantial body of U.S. case law and
accompanying literature on the interplay between copyright law,
software and interoperability. Based further on a comparison with
relevant ex-ante interconnection rules in European design protection
law and telecommunications law, the author advances several
recommendations aimed at facilitating interoperability in software
copyright law. Three interrelated approaches combine to convey an integrated and
immediately accessible understanding of the subject: Because of the in-depth analysis of the software interoperability
problem with related legal disciplines in both Europe and the United
States, and due to the clarity of the presentation, this will be
welcomed as a valuable resource by practitioners, jurists, and
academics concerned with copyright protection of computer software,
interoperability and the interaction between copyright and
competition law. More
Private Dispute Resolution in International Business: Negotiation,
Meditation, Arbitration 2nd revised edition 2 volumes by
Klaus Peter Berger (Kluwer Law International: Brill)
consists of two books and an interactive DVD ROM. Volume I follows
the progress of a dispute between two companies, in step-by-step
detail, through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration in turn.
Volume II provides precise, informed solutions to the problems
raised in the first volume's case study. The DVD ROM contains not
only all contracts and other written documentation produced during
the dispute - including all procedural orders and awards rendered by
the arbitral tribunal during the arbitration, the text of legal
materials such as arbitration laws and rules and international
conventions, and further learning and teaching aids-but also almost
100 videos dramatising the negotiation, mediation, and arbitration
proceedings described in the books, conducted by highly experienced
practitioners active in the field of international dispute
resolution. Subtitles in the videos refer the viewer to paragraphs
in the books where each relevant legal problem is analysed. In
addition, an internet home page provides regular updates. To
summarise: the Case Study (Volume I) provides a realistic and highly
practical approach to learning and teaching the law and practice of
private dispute resolution in international business; the Handbook
(Volume II) provides a comprehensive comparative study of the law of
international dispute resolution; the DVD ROM allows for a highly
innovative, interactive teaching and learning experience, and
provides a comprehensive collection of arbitration rules and other
documentary material; and, the videos on the DVD ROM clearly
manifest the soft skills and advocacy skills required to
successfully resolve international business disputes, including the
unique opportunity to draw on-screen comparisons between the
negotiation, mediation, and arbitration methods. With its concrete
and highly practical approach, this innovative teaching and training
tool for international dispute resolution will be of immeasurable
value to students and teachers of dispute resolution, corporate
counsel, international lawyers, and business people. The DVD-ROM has
a large number of interactive teaching and learning features which
you can use simultaneously with the books or separately.
More
A Concise History of the Common Law by Theodore F.T. Plucknett
(Liberty Fund) As always during its long history, English common
law, upon which American law is based, has had to defend itself
against the challenge of civil law's clarity and traditions. That
challenge to our common law heritage remains today.
A Concise History of the Common Law provides a source for
common-law understanding of individual rights, not in theory only,
but protected through the confusing and messy evolution of courts,
and their administration as they struggled to resolve real problems.
The first half of the book is a historical introduction to the study
of law. Theodore F.T. Plucknett discusses the conditions in
political, economic, social, and religious thought that have
contributed to the genesis of law. This section is a brief but full
introduction to the study of law. The second half of the book
consists of chapters introducing readers to the history of some of
the main divisions of law, such as criminal, tort, property,
contract, and succession. Plucknett (1897-1965) was a legal
historian whose lifelong passion was the investigation of early
English law and society; he dedicated himself to tackling this
specialized subject and was equally obsessed with explaining his
findings to those less informed. He was a fellow of the British
Academy and president of the Royal Historical Society from 1949 to
1953. More
Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion by Seth Stern and Stephen
Wermiel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Justice Brennan is an insider look at court
history and the life of William Brennan (1906-1997), champion of
free speech and public access to information, and widely considered
the most influential Supreme Court justice of the twentieth century.
Brennan served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1956
to 1990 and was known during his term for being a leader of the
judicially liberal wing of the Court. But the Court and all of
American politics is still roiled by the 40-year long conservative
backlash that Brennan's decisions about school prayer, the death
penalty, and affirmative action helped fuel. While he remains a hero
to two generations of progressive lawyers including Bill Clinton and
Barack Obama, he is also still the symbol of judicial activism
decried by conservatives.More
The Criminal Justice Student Writer's Manual, 5th Edition by
William A. Johnson, Jr., Richard P. Rettig, Gregory M. Scott, and
Stephen M. Garrison (Pearson Prentice Hall) is
designed to help students learn how to research and write in
criminal justice and improve their writing skills. The five authors,
all of whom are faculty at the University of Central Oklahoma except
Richard Retting who is at Easter Oregon University, take a
comprehensive approach. The book discusses the writing process, the
mechanics of writing, the importance of research and how to cite
sources. Now expanded to six parts, this edition includes a new
chapter on writing probation and parole reports. Combining both
guidelines and samples, it prepares students to write a variety of
criminal justice papers, from condensed presentations to complex
reports. This edition includes a new writing assignment and covers
record keeping, violation reports and pre-sentence investigation
reports. More
The Creeping Codification of the New Lex
Mercatoria, 2nd Revised Edition by Klaus Peter Berger (Kluwer
Law International) This greatly revised edition of an influential
1999 book consolidates its authoritative advocacy of the New Lex
Mercatoria (NLM). Since the publication of the first edition,
self-regulation and private governance in international business
have gained world-wide recognition. Three dynamic commercial law
initiatives in particular demonstrate that, in spite of the
long-lasting dispute about the nature and dogmatic underpinnings of
NLM, legal theory and international practice have accepted that
transnational business law is open to the 'codification' of its
contents. The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial
Contracts, the Principles of European Contract Law, and (most
recently and dramatically) the TransLex Principles all draw their
legal conclusions from observing the real-life phenomena surrounding
regional and global integration of markets and foreign direct
investment. This new edition presents an advanced elaboration of the
author's 'Creeping Codification' thesis based on the TransLex
Principles, an Internet-based method using an ongoing, spontaneous,
and dynamic codification process which is never completed. The
TransLex Principles contain black-letter texts of 128 principles and
rules of the NLM with comprehensive, constantly updated comparative
law references from domestic statutes, court decisions, doctrine,
arbitral awards, and uniform laws. An annex to this book contains a
synopsis of the wealth of materials available on the TransLex web
site as well as a rare personal account of one of the fathers"of the
NLM, Philippe Kahn. International legal practitioners and academics
alike have long complained about the inadequate legal framework for
international trade and commerce. This book, with its far-reaching
theoretical and methodological analysis of the doctrine of an
autonomous transnational economic law, clearly opens the way to an
independent and workable third legal system alongside domestic law
and public international law. It offers international practitioners
(contract negotiators, arbitrators, attorneys and other
representatives of the parties in international arbitration
proceedings) with a powerful and reliable instrument to apply
transnational commercial law in daily legal practice.
More
Justice in Genetics: Intellectual Property and Human Rights from
a Cosmopolitan Liberal Perspective by Louise Bernier (Edward Elgar)
The opposition between human rights and intellectual property
concretely, between civil society and industry has left millions of
people without needed medicines and has had only limited success in
encouraging research on the diseases that overwhelmingly affect the
world's poor. If one truly wishes to address both the economic and
health conditions in developing countries, one would need to
overcome this opposition. Marshall also wrote
Gender and the Law: Contemporary Issues and Trends (Routledge
Cavendish) Providing an essential reference point for undergraduates
and postgraduates studying gender and the law, this book covers
areas such as feminist jurisprudence, family law and motherhood,
criminal law and international humanitarian and human rights law.
Current themes`including personal autonomy, liberal neutrality,
identity politics and essentialism are explored.
Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People by
Edward M. Hallowell (Harvard Business Review Press)
International Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of
Corporations in the Economic Order of the 21st Century by Ramon Mullerat
(Kluwer Law International) At present, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for some may
not be more than an attitude. Can it be more? What degree of
commitment can we reasonably expect of corporations in the struggle
to eradicate poverty, promote human rights, halt climate change, and
reverse ongoing environmental destruction? It is not a question of
power; more than half of the world's top 100 economies are
corporations, not nation-states. Whatever can be done to 'fix' the
world's problems, corporations are in the best position to do. That
they should act accordingly does not seem unwarranted, and for more
and more corporations CSR is in fact a stated objective. In this impassioned work the well-known international lawyer
Ramon Mullerat suggests that one of the root problems faced by CSR
is one of definition. Various interested parties define the term
differently, and their definitions clash. However, Dr Mullerat
clearly shows in these pages that this very multiplicity of
perspectives in fact enhances our ultimate comprehension of CSR. It
is through an honest appreciation of the motivations and hopes
behind each point of view - and of the nature of their conflict - that the way forward emerges.
And as we examine these various perspectives, we inevitably come to
a clear awareness of the role of corporations in the 21st century
world order.
More
Theorizing Feminisms: A Reader
by Elizabeth Hackett, Sally Haslanger (Oxford University Press) "What is
sexist oppression?" "What should be done about it?" Organized around
these questions, Theorizing Feminisms: A Reader provides an overview
of theoretical feminist writing about the quest for gender justice.
Incorporating both classic and cutting-edge material, the reader
takes into account the full diversity of women, highlighting the
effects of race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, and
religion on women's experience.
More
Opening the Tablet Box: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Benjamin R.
Foster by
Sarah C. Melville and Alice L. Slotsky (Culture and History
of the Ancient Near East: Brill Academic Publishers)
is a scholarly tribute to
Benjamin R. Foster, Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian
Literature and Curator of the Babylonian Collection at Yale
University, from some of his students, colleagues, and companions,
in appreciation of his outstanding achievements and in thanks for
his friendship. Reflecting on the remarkable breadth of the
honoree’s research interests, the twenty-six original papers in this
Festschrift cover a wide range of topics in ancient Near Eastern and
Egyptian literature, economic and social history, as well as art and
archaeology. More
Handbook Of Archaeological Methods edited by Herbert D. G.
Maschner, Christopher Chippindale (Altamira
Press) comprises 37 articles by leading archaeologists on the key
methods used by archaeologists in the field, in analysis, in theory
building, and in managing cultural resources. The book is destined
to become the key reference work for archaeologists and their
advanced students on contemporary archaeological methods.
More
Plants As Persons: A Philosophical Botany by Matthew Hall
and Harold Coward (SUNY Series on Religion and the
Environment: State University of New York, SUNY) Plants are people
too? Not exactly, but in this work of philosophical botany Matthew
Hall challenges readers to reconsider the moral standing of plants,
arguing that they are other-than-human persons. Plants constitute
the bulk of our visible biomass, underpin all natural ecosystems,
and make life on Earth possible. Yet plants are considered passive
and insensitive beings rightly placed outside moral consideration.
As the human assault on nature continues, more ethical behavior
toward plants is needed. Hall surveys Western, Eastern, Pagan, and
Indigenous thought, as well as modern science and botanical history,
for attitudes toward plants, noting the particular resources for
plant personhood and those modes of thought which most exclude
plants. The most hierarchical systems typically put plants at the
bottom, but Hall finds much to support a more positive view of
plants. Indeed, some Indigenous animisms actually recognize plants
as relational, intelligent beings who are the appropriate recipients
of care and respect. New scientific findings encourage this
perspective, revealing that plants possess many of the capacities of
sentience and mentality traditionally denied them.
More
Spinoza's Ethics: A Collective Commentary
edited by
Michael Hampe, Ursula Renz and Robert Schnepf (Brill's
Studies in Intellectual History: Brill Academic) Against the background of religious wars and in full knowledge of
the relevance of the new exact sciences of the seventeenth-century,
Spinoza developed one of the most ambitious projects in the history
of philosophy: his Ethics written in geometrical style. It is a book
that deals with ontology, epistemology, human emotions, as well as
with the freedom and bondage of individuals and societies, in one
continuous line of argumentation. At the same time, the book
combines the highest standards of conceptual and argumentative
clarity with a wisdom that is saturated with the experience of life.
Even today it sets a standard for enlightened theoretical and
practical reasoning. This collective commentary discusses each of
the five parts of Spinoza's Ethics. In the introduction, historical
consequences of the Ethics are elucidated, as well as its continued
philosophical relevance.
More
Friendship in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: Explorations of
a Fundamental Ethical Discourse by Albrecht Classen (Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture: De Gruyter)
Although it seems that erotic love generally was the prevailing
topic in the medieval world and the Early Modern Age, parallel to
this the Ciceronian ideal of friendship also dominated the public
discourse, as this collection of essays demonstrates. Following an
extensive introduction, the individual contributions explore the
functions and the character of friendship from Late Antiquity
(Augustine) to the 17th century. They show the spectrum of variety
in which this topic appeared - not only in literature but also in
politics and even in painting.
More
The Unlikely Buddhologist: Tiantai Buddhism in Mou Zongsan's New
Confucianism by Jason Clower (Modern Chinese
Philosophy: Brill Academic) Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was such a seminal, polymathic figure
that scholars of Asian philosophy and religion will be absorbing his
influence for at least a generation. Drawing on expertise in
Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and modern Western thought, Mou built a
system of "New Confucian" philosophy aimed at answering one of the
great questions: "What is the relationship between value and being?"
However, though Mou acknowledged that he derived his key concepts
from Tiantai Buddhist philosophy, it remains unclear exactly how and
why he did so. In response, this book investigates Mou's
buddhological writings in the context of his larger corpus and
explains how and why he incorporated Buddhist ideas selectively into
his system. Written extremely accessibly, it provides a
comprehensive unpacking of Mou's ideas about Buddhism, Confucianism,
and metaphysics with the precision needed to make them available for
critical appraisal.
More
The Ethics of Confucius and Aristotle: Mirrors of Virtue
by Jiyuan Yu (Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory:
Routledge) The emergence of virtue ethics, which might be the most
significant development in contemporary ethics, takes Aristotle's
ethics as the most important paradigm. Aristotle's ethical thinking,
in contrast to modern Western moral philosophy, starts with a
reflection on human life as a whole instead of on some moral acts,
and focuses on character and virtue instead of on principles and
rules. This way of doing ethics is shared by Confucius. First,
Confucius seeks to find the human dao, i.e. the way to become a good
person. Second, to become a good person, one must cultivate de, that
is, a dispositional character (indeed, de has been generally
translated as "virtue" in English). Confucius calls this
dispositional character ren. Ren has been generally translated as
"benevolence" or "humanity," but is also widely referred to as
"virtue," "complete virtue," or "cardinal virtue."
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Overcoming Our Evil: Human Nature and Spiritual Exercises in Xunzi
and Augustine by Aaron Stalnaker
(Moral Traditions: Georgetown University Press) Can people ever
really change? Do they ever become more ethical, and if so, how?
"Overcoming Our Evil" focuses on the way ethical and religious
commitments are conceived and nurtured through the methodical
practices that Pierre Hadot has called 'spiritual exercises'. These
practices engage thought, imagination, and sensibility, and have a
significant ethical component, yet aim for a broader transformation
of the whole personality. Going beyond recent philosophical and
historical work that has focused on ancient Greco-Roman philosophy,
Stalnaker broadens ethical inquiry into spiritual exercises by
examining East Asian as well as classical Christian sources, and
taking religious and seemingly 'aesthetic' practices such as prayer,
ritual, and music more seriously as objects of study. More
specifically, "Overcoming Our Evil" examines and compares the
thought and practice of the early Christian Augustine of Hippo, and
the early Confucian Xunzi. Both have sophisticated and insightful
accounts of spiritual exercises, and both make such ethical work
central to their religious thought and practice. Yet to understand
the two thinkers' recommendations for cultivating virtue we must
first understand some important differences. Here Stalnaker
disentangles the competing aspects of Augustine and Xunxi's ideas of
'human nature'. His groundbreaking comparison of their ethical
vocabularies also drives a substantive analysis of fundamental
issues in moral psychology, especially regarding emotion and the
complex idea of 'the will', to examine how our dispositions to feel,
think, and act might be slowly transformed over time. The comparison
meticulously constructs vivid portraits of both thinkers
demonstrating where they connect and where they diverge, making the
case that both have been misunderstood and misinterpreted. In
throwing light on these seemingly disparate ancient figures in
unexpected ways, Stalnaker redirects recent debate regarding
practices of personal formation, and more clearly exposes the
intellectual and political issues involved in the retrieval of
'classic' ethical sources in diverse contemporary societies,
illuminating a path toward a contemporary understanding of
difference. More
The Politics of Peace by Te-Li Lau
(Supplements to Novum Testamentum: Brill Academic) Although scholarship has noted the thematic importance of peace
in Ephesians, few have examined its political character in a
sustained manner throughout the entire letter. This book addresses
this lacuna, comparing Ephesians with Colossians, Greek political
texts, Dio Chrysostom's Orations, and the Confucian Four Books in
order to ascertain the rhetorical and political nature of its topos of
peace. Through comparison with analogous documents both within and
without its cultural milieu, this study shows that Ephesians can be
read as a politico-religious letter 'concerning peace' within the
church. Its vision of peace contains common political elements (such
as moral education, household management, communal stability, a
universal humanity, and war) that are subsumed under the controlling
rubric of the unity and cosmic summing up of all things in Christ.
More
Thomas Bradwardine, Insolubilia edition,
translation and introduction by Stephen Read, series editor Philip
W. Rosemann (Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations
Series, 10: Peeters) Read's introduction,
edition, and translation familiarize us with
the roots of the medieval discussion of the insolubles in
Aristotle's works, and with the more immediate context of
Bradwardine's treatment, in particular his refutation of the views
of contemporaries such as Walter Burley. The appendices include
material that post-dates Bradwardine, yet shows clear signs of its
dependence on the prince of the natural philosophers, as Ralph
Strode called him half a century later. On the other hand, Professor
Read's introduction brings Bradwardine's solution of the problem of
insolubles into direct dialogue with modern logic, represented by
the theories of figures such as Alfred Tarski, Saul Kripke, and
Frederic Fitch. What is fascinating here is that the univocity of
logical language, its quasi-mathematical precision, appears to
render such a dialogue relatively uncomplicated. In cases where
thinkers from different periods do not adopt such logical language,
it is much more difficult to offer mutual translations of their
systems of thought, which remain more closely tied to metaphors,
literary genres, and other non-philosophical factors. Philipp W.
Rosemann. More
The Animals Reader: The Essential Classic and Contemporary Writings
edited by Linda Kalof, and Amy Fitzgerald (Berg) The study of animals - and the relationship between humans and
other animals - is now one of the most fiercely debated topics in
contemporary science and culture.
Biology of Floral Scent edited by Natalia
Dudareva, Eran Pichersky (CRC) The first book of its kind,
Biology of Floral Scent provides comprehensive coverage of
state-of-the-art floral scent research. This book explores the major
aspects of floral scent biology including its function and
significance for plants and pollinators, composition, enzymology,
evolution, and commercial aspects. It employs a modern approach that
incorporates molecular biology, enzymology, chemistry, entomology,
genetic engineering, and functional genomics. By combining
literature on plant reproduction into a single volume, this text
provides an easy reference for plant biologists, natural products
chemists, cell and molecular biologists, ecologists, and
entomologists.
More
Litchi and Longan: Botany, Production and Uses edited by C. M.
Menzel , G. K. Waite (CABI Publishing) Litchi
(lychee) and the related fruit longan are grown extensively in China
and South-East Asia, as well as in Australia, Florida (USA),
Southern Europe and Southern Africa. This book represents the only
comprehensive, balanced and internationally focused publication on
these fruit. It covers all aspects of production, from taxonomy and
breeding, to propagation, flowering and fruit set, to diseases,
pests and postharvest storage and processing. Written by leading
scientists from Australia, China, India, Israel, Thailand and the
USA, the book represents the standard work on its subject. As the
fruit are imported to many developed countries, the book will be of
interest to a wide audience.
More
Diagnostic
Imaging for the Emergency Physician: Expert Consult –
Online and Print by Joshua Broder, MD (Elsevier Saunders) …I have no
doubt that this text is destined to become one of our specialty's
landmark textbooks, a classic that will be considered a must-have
resource for all emergency physicians and emergency departments. My
kudos go to Dr. Broder for his tremendous work. This textbook
represents a valuable addition to the emergency medicine
literature…. – Amal Mattu, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, Director, Emergency
Medicine Residency, Director, Faculty Development Fellowship,
Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine,
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
More
Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, 19th edition: Expert Consult
Premium Edition – Enhanced Online Features and Print by Robert M.
Kliegman, MD, Bonita F. Stanton, MD, and Richard E. Behrman, MD;
Joseph W. St. Geme III, MD, and Nina F. Schor, MD, PhD, (Elsevier
Saunders)
Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics has
been the
world's most trusted pediatrics resource for nearly 75 years. Drs.
Robert Kliegman, Bonita Stanton, Richard Behrman, and two new
editors – Joseph St. Geme, III, MD and Nina Schor, MD, who
contribute on the key subspecialties, including pediatric infectious
disease and pediatric neurology – continue to provide the most
authoritative coverage of the best approaches to care. This
streamlined 19th edition covers the latest on genetics, neurology,
infectious disease, melamine poisoning, sexual identity and
adolescent homosexuality, and psychosis associated with epilepsy.
The expanded online access features the regularly updated text, case
studies, new references and journal articles, Clinics articles, and
exclusive web-only content.
More
Pain Management, 2nd edition: Expert Consult – Online and Print
by Steven D. Waldman, MD, JD (Elsevier Saunders)
Pain Management allows
clinicians to get
the expert, evidence-based guidance they need to diagnose pain. Regarded as the premiere clinical reference in its field,
Pain Management, 2nd Edition, edited by noted pain authority
Steven Waldman, provides comprehensive, practical, highly visual
guidance to help readers apply the most recent evidence-based
advances in pain management. This popular text has been updated with
13 new chapters that include the latest information on
interventional and ultrasound-guided techniques, and acute regional
pain nerve blocks. A user-friendly format with lavish illustrations
and complete online access enable readers to access trusted guidance
quickly and apply the information easily to bring effective pain
relief to patients. Author Waldman, MD, JD, is Clinical Professor of
Anesthesiology, Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics,
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City.
More
Cancer of the Skin: Expert Consult – Online and Print, 2nd
edition edited by Darrell S. Rigel, MD, June K. Robinson, MD,
Merrick I. Ross, MD, Robert J. Friedman, MD, MSc (Med), Clay J.
Cockerell, MD, Henry W. Lim, MD, Eggert Stockfleth, MD, PhD, & John
M. Kirkwood, MD (Elsevier Saunders) Skin cancer rates are rising dramatically. In the United States each year there
are over 2 million newly diagnosed cases – more than all other
cancers combined. The public health ramifications are profound. Skin
cancer, once viewed as a relatively uncommon disease limited to
dermatologists and surgeons, is now being seen on a daily basis by
primary care physicians, oncologists and other healthcare
professionals. The resulting need to educate all of these groups on
recognizing and managing patients with this cancer is also
increasing. More
Goldman's Cecil Medicine: Expert Consult Premium Edition, 24th
edition – Enhanced Online Features and Print, Single Volume
(Goldman, Cecil Medicine: Text W/ Continually Updated Online) edited
by Lee Goldman, MD and Andrew I. Schafer, MD (Elsevier Saunders) This 24th Edition of
Goldman's Cecil Medicine symbolizes a time of
extraordinary advances in medicine and in technological innovations
for the dissemination of information. This textbook and its
associated electronic products incorporate the latest medical
knowledge in formats that are designed to appeal to learners who
prefer to access information in a variety of ways.
More
Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology, 2nd edition,: Excerpt
Consult – Online and Print edited by Christine A. Iacobuzio-Donahue,
MD, PhD and Elizabeth Montgomery, MD, series editor, John R.
Goldblum (Foundations in Diagnostic Pathology Series: Elsevier
Saunders)
Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology , a title in the Foundations in Diagnostic Pathology series, provides the
essential information on the pathological entities encountered in
practice in an easy-to-use format. Drs. Christine A.
Iacobuzio-Donahue and Elizabeth Montgomery examine the full scope of
neoplastic and non-neoplastic disorders of the gastrointestinal
tract, including disorders of the tubular gastrointestinal tract,
pancreatobiliary tree, and liver – from clinical features and
ancillary studies to differential diagnoses and prognostic and
therapeutic considerations.
More
Energetics in Acupuncture: Five Element Acupuncture Made Easy by
Radha Thambirajah (Churchill Livingstone) Energetics is
an area of growing interest and importance in acupuncture.
Acupuncture treatment aims to correct the imbalance of energy, or qi;
energetics is a method of diagnosing which aspects of qi are out of
balance. One symptom can be caused by many different imbalances of
organs and it is essential for the therapist to correctly diagnose
the problem before commencing treatment.
More
Atlas of Head and Neck Surgery: Expert Consult – Online and
Print edited by James I. Cohen, MD, PhD, FACS and Gary L. Clayman,
DMD, MD, FACS (Elsevier Saunders) Learning how to do an operation can be a
daunting task, whether as a first-year resident preparing the night
before a case never previously encountered or as a surgeon in a busy
practice faced with incorporating a new technique or technology into
his or her surgical repertoire.
Atlas of Head and Neck Surgery
acknowledges the realities of how this process occurs. It delivers unparalleled visual guidance and insight to
help clinicians master the most important and cutting-edge head and
neck procedures. Consistent black-and-white drawings and detailed
text lead them through the steps of the standard operations, while
commentary from leading experts presents alternative techniques –
complete with explanations about the differences, nuances, pearls,
and pitfalls of each approach. Both in print and online,
Atlas of Head and Neck Surgery captures groundbreaking
techniques such as video-assisted thyroid and parathyroid surgeries;
transoral laser surgeries; and robotic surgeries.
More
Head and Neck Imaging, 5th edition 2 Volume Set: Expert Consult
Online and Print by Peter M. Som and Hugh D. Curtin (Elsevier Mosby)
Head and Neck Imaging, 5th edition in two
volumes delivers the encyclopedic and authoritative guidance readers
have come to expect from this book the expert guidance they need to
diagnose the most challenging disorders using today's most accurate
techniques. New state-of-the-art imaging examples throughout help
readers recognize the imaging presentation of the full range of head
and neck disorders using PET, CT, MRI, and ultrasound. Enhanced
coverage of the complexities of embryology, anatomy, and physiology,
including original color drawings and new color anatomical images,
help readers distinguish subtle abnormalities and understand their
etiologies. Access to the complete book's contents is available
online, which allows readers to compare its images onscreen with the
imaging findings they encounter in practice.
More
Management of Acute Obstetric Emergencies: Female Pelvic Surgery
Video Atlas Series by Baha M. Sibai, Series Editor: Mickey Karram
(Female Pelvic Video Surgery Atlas Series: Elsevier Saunders) Acute
medical and surgical emergencies in pregnancy
and postpartum are the leading cause of maternal mortality and
morbidity worldwide. During the past decade there has been a
substantial increase in the incidence of these emergencies.
Secondary to the change in demographics of women considering
pregnancy as well as a change in obstetric practice, these
emergencies are expected to continue to increase. Specifically many
women are delaying pregnancy until they are in their 40s. Couple
this with an epidemic of obesity as well as rising cesarean section
rates (with a tremendous increase in repeat cesarean section) and
one can easily understand why these emergencies will continue to
commonly occur. Also due to an improvement in medical and surgical
care and advances in medical technology, many women with serious
preexisting medical and surgical disorders are now surviving to
reproductive age and are capable of pregnancy.
More
Micronutrients in Health and Disease by Kedar N. Prasad (Informa,
CRC Press) Increased oxidative stress due to the production of
excessive amounts of free radicals along with the effects of chronic
inflammation play a major role in the initiation and progression of
a host of disease states, ranging from cancer to posttraumatic
stress disorder. In varying doses, micronutrients, including
antioxidants, B vitamins, and minerals have been shown to help
ameliorate these effects. However, clinical studies using isolated
micronutrients to combat these illnesses have proven that such
limited therapy has produced inconsistent results.
More
Total-Body Toning with Lashaun Dale DVD by Lashaun Dale [DVD,
running time 89 minutes] (Human Kinetics)
Total-Body Toning asks: Are you ready for a workout that
produces results results you can see and feel? If so, look no
further than
Total-Body Toning with Lashaun Dale, your personal program for
slimming, shaping, and sculpting your body.
More
Biomechanics of Human Motion: Basics and Beyond for the Health
Professions by Barney F. LeVeau (Slack Incorporated) The focus of
Biomechanics of Human Motion is on force.
Force is always with us. Force is involved with large objects, such
as the interaction among the sun, moon, and earth, or in very small
objects, such as interactions among cells. The book presents a
straightforward approach to the basic principles, theories and
applications of biomechanics and provides`numerous techniques and
examples for approaching biomechanical situations enhanced by
healthcare professionals.
More
Food and Nutrients in Disease Management by Ingrid Kohlstadt (CRC)
Food and nutrients are the original medicine and the shoulders on
which modern medicine stands. But in recent decades, food and
medicine have taken divergent paths and the natural healing
properties of food have been diminished in the wake of modern
technical progress. With contributions from highly regarded experts
who work on the frontlines of disease management, Food and Nutrients
in Disease Management effectively brings food back into the clinical
arena and helps physicians put food and nutrients back on the
prescription pad.
More
Transforming Self and Others Through Research: Transpersonal
Research Methods and Skills for the Human Sciences and Humanities by
Rosemarie Anderson and William Braud (SUNY Series in Transpersonal
and Humanistic Psychology: SUNY Press) Research approaches in the field of
transpersonal psychology can be transformative for researchers,
participants, and the audience of a project.
Transforming Self and Others Through Research offers these
transformative approaches to those conducting research across the
human sciences and the humanities. Rosemarie Anderson and William
Braud first described such methods in their book Transpersonal
Research Methods for the Social Sciences (1998). Since that time, in
hundreds of empirical studies, these methods have been tested and
integrated with qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research
designs. Anderson, Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at the
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Braud, Professor Emeritus
at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, writing with a
contribution from Jennifer Clements, invite scholars to bring
multiple ways of knowing and personal resources to their
scholarship. While emphasizing established research conventions for
rigor, Anderson and Braud encourage researchers to plumb the depths
of intuition, imagination, play, mindfulness, compassion,
creativity, and embodied writing as research skills. Experiential
exercises to help readers develop these skills are provided.
More
The Postconventional Personality: Assessing, Researching, and
Theorizing Higher Development by Angela H.
Pfaffenberger, Paul W. Marko and Allan Combs (SUNY Series in
Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology: State University of New
York Press, SUNY) Cutting-edge volume devoted to optimal adult development.
Postconventional stages of personality development
involve growth well beyond the average, and have become a rapidly
growing subject of research not only in developmental psychology
circles but also in areas such as executive leadership development.
This book is the first to bring together many of the major
researchers in the field, showcasing diverse perspectives ranging
from the spiritual to the corporate. The contributors present
research on essential questions about the existence and prevalence
of high levels of personal growth, whether such achievement is
correlated with other types of psychological growth, whether high
levels of growth actually indicate happiness, what kinds of people
exhibit these higher levels of development, how they may have
developed this expanded perspective, and the characteristics of
their viewpoints, abilities, and preoccupations. For anyone
interested in Ken Wilber's integral psychology, as well as those in
executive coaching, this volume is an invaluable resource and will
be a standard reference for years to come.
More
Primate Communication and Human Language: Vocalisation,
gestures, imitation and deixis in humans and non-humans edited by
Anne Vilain, Jean-Luc Schwartz, Christian Abry and Jacques Vauclair
(Advances in Interaction Studies Series, Vol. 1: John Benjamins
Publishing Company)
Jung in the 21st Century Volume One: Evolution and Archetype
by John Ryan Haule (Routledge) The first volume
provides an original overview of Jung's work, demonstrating that it
is fully compatible with contemporary views in science. It draws on
a wide range of scientific disciplines including, evolution,
neurobiology, primatology, archaeology and anthropology. Jung in the 21st Century Volume One: Evolution and Archetype, is
an invaluable resource for all those in the field of analytical
psychology, including students of Jung, psychoanalysts and
psychotherapists with an interest in the meeting of Jung and
science. Jung in the 21st Century Volume Two Synchronicity and Science
continues to be an invaluable resource for all those in the field of
analytical psychology, including students of Jung, psychoanalysts
and psychotherapists with an interest in the meeting of Jung and
science. More
New Dangerous Liaisons: Discourses on Europe and Love in the
Twentieth Century by Luisa Passerini, Liliana Ellena, and
Alexander C. T. Geppert (Making Sense of History: Berghahn) In
Europe, love has been given a prominent place in European
self-representations from the Enlightenment onwards. The category of
love, stemming from private and personal spheres, was given a public
function and used to distinguish European civilization from others.
Contributors to this volume trace historical links and analyze
specific connections between the two discourses on love and Europe
over the course of the twentieth century, exploring the distinctions
made between the public and private, the political and personal. In
doing so, this volume develops an innovative historiography that
includes such resources as autobiographies, love letters, and
cinematic representations and takes issue with the exclusivity of
Eurocentrism. Its contributors put forth hypotheses about the
historical pre-eminence of emotions and consider this history as a
basis for a non-Eurocentric understanding of new possible European
identities.
More
New Horizons in the Neuroscience of Consciousness
by
Elaine K. Perry, Daniel Collerton, Fiona E.N. LeBeau, and
Heather Ashton (Advances in Consciousness Research: John
Benjamins Publishing Company) A fascinating cornucopia of new ideas, based on fundamentals of
neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry and therapy, this book extends
boundaries of current concepts of consciousness. Its eclectic mix
will simulate and challenge not only neuroscientists and
psychologists but entice others interested in exploring
consciousness. Contributions from top researchers in consciousness
and related fields project diverse ideas, focused mainly on
conscious nonconscious interactions: This is a unique book on consciousness. It is a
fascinating cornucopia of new ideas on the subject, based on the
fundamentals of neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry and therapy
that extends the boundaries of current concepts of consciousness. Readers, not only neuroscientists and psychologists but also
professionals from other quarters of the academic world with a
general interest in exploring consciousness, should find this eclectic
mix as stimulating and challenging as we do.
More
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us
Human by V. S. Ramachandran (W.W. Norton) Drawing on strange and
thought-provoking case studies, a neurologist in
The Tell-Tale Brain offers insight into the evolution of the
uniquely human brain.
Jungian Psychoanalysis: Working in the Spirit of Carl Jung by Murray Stein (Open Court) Written by 40 of the most notable Jungian psychoanalysts — spanning 11 countries, and boasting decades of study and expertise — Jungian Psychoanalysis represents the pinnacle of Jungian thought. This handbook brings up to date the perspectives in the field of clinically applied analytical psychology, centering on five areas of interest: the fundamental goals of Jungian psychoanalysis, the methods of treatment used in pursuit of these goals, reflections on the analytic process, the training of future analysts, and special issues, such as working with trauma victims, handicapped patients, or children and adolescents, and emergent religious and spiritual issues. Discussing not only the history of Jungian analysis but its present and future applications, this book marks a major contribution to the worldwide study of psychoanalysis.
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Religious and Spiritual Issues in Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Research
Agenda for DSM-V by John R. Peteet, Francis G. Lu, and
William E. Narrow (American Psychiatric Publishing) The relationship between spirituality
and mental health
has been the focus of growing interest and research over the last decade. However, the implications for psychiatric classification are only beginning to be systematically explored. Religious and Spiritual Issues in Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Research Agenda for DSM-V gathers for the first time the collective contributions of the prominent clinicians and researchers who participated in the 2006 Corresponding Committee on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry of the American Psychiatric Association. The symposium was an attempt to expand the current DSM text on "Specific Culture, Age, and Gender Features" and "Differential Diagnosis" to include the impact of religious/spiritual factors on phenomenology, differential diagnosis, course, outcome, and prognosis. The philosophical issues at stake in the differential diagnosis of spiritual versus psychiatric conditions are explored at length, as is the case for updating the V Code for a Spiritual or Religious Problem. Two expert commentaries follow each chapter and seek to contextualize and extend the research, analysis, and recommendations presented. Mental health clinicians who seek to practice in a more holistic, integrative manner will find in this
unique and important volume the theoretical and practical foundations to support and further their work.
More
The Expression of Time
by Wolfgang Klein, Wolfgang Klein,
and Ping Li (The Expression of Cognitive Categories: De
Gruyter Mouton) Time is the most fundamental category of human
cognition and action, and all human languages have developed many
devices to express it. These include verbal categories, such as
tense and aspect, but also adverbials, particles, and principles of
discourse organisation. The book consists of what are essentially
tutorials on the various notions of time, their encoding in
different languages, on the formal semantics, the computer modelling
and the acquisition of temporality. It also includes chapters on the
mental representation and on culture-specific perspectivation of
time and event structure. It concludes with a comprehensive
bibliography. More
On Behalf of the Mystical Fool: Jung on the Religious Situation
by John P. Dourley
(Routledge) Jung's explanation of the religious tendency of the psyche
addresses many sides of the contemporary debate on religion and the
role that it has in individual and social life. This book discusses
the emergence of a new mythic consciousness and details ways in
which this consciousness supersedes traditional concepts of religion
to provide a spirituality of more universal inclusion. This book will be of interest to scholars and students at all
levels who are engaged in the expanding field of Jungian studies. It
will also be key reading for anyone interested in the theoretical
and therapeutic connections between the psyche and religious
experience. More
The Red Book by C. G. Jung, edited by Sonu
IShamdasani (W. W. Norton & Company) The Red
Book, also known as Liber Novus (Latin for A New Book), is a
205-page manuscript written and illustrated by Swiss psychologist
Carl Gustav Jung between approximately 1914 and 1930, which was not
published or shown to the public until 2009. Until 2001, his heirs
denied scholars access to the book, which he began after a
falling-out with Sigmund Freud in 1913. Jung originally titled the
manuscript Liber Novus (literally meaning A New Book in Latin), but
it was informally known and published as The Red Book. The book is
written in calligraphic text and contains the many illuminations.
More
Emotions: Their Rationality & Consistency by Marion
Ledwig (Peter Lang Publishing) stands in the
tradition of current emotion theorists, such as Elster, Damasio, de
Sousa, Greenspan, Nussbaum, and Solomon, who advance the rationality
of the emotions. Yet this book goes beyond their accounts, for it
not only defends the view that emotions can be termed rational, but
also considers in which different senses emotions can be termed
rational. Besides discussing whether emotional intelligence and
emotional consistency are forms of emotional rationality, this book
makes clear how far this view on the rationality of the emotions can
be generalized: whether it can, for instance, be generalized to
computers having rational emotions and whether emotional responses
to art can be considered to be rational. This book draws not only on
knowledge from neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy of
mind, but also on evolutionary theory and developmental psychology,
to substantiate its position.
More
Rational Animals? edited by Susan
Hurley,
Matthew Nudds (Oxford University Press) Are any nonhuman animals
rational? What issues are we raising when we ask this question? Are
there different kinds or levels of rationality, some of which fall
short of full human rationality? Should any behaviour by nonhuman
animals be regarded as rational? What kinds of tasks can animals
successfully perform? From what kinds of processes does their
behaviour result, and do they count as rational processes? Is it
useful or theoretically justified to raise questions about the
rationality of animals at all? Should we be interested in whether
they are rational? Why does it matter?
More
Neuropsychology: Clinical and Experimental Foundations by Lorin
Elias, Deborah Saucier (Allyn & Bacon) Combining
a unique organizational approach with an engaging writing style,
Neuropsychology: Clinical and Experimental Foundations offers a
comprehensive and reader-friendly introduction to the functions of
the brain. Chapters take a functional perspective, weaving together
discussions on intact and dysfunctional systems. Lorin Elias and
Deborah Saucier address critical issues in the field, including
neuroanatomy, sensation and perception, memory, and emotion. The
text also incorporates helpful pedagogical features, including Real
World and Current Controversy boxes as well as self-tests and
internal previews and reviews, all of which are valuable tools for
teaching and learning. Thorough and up-to-date, Neuropsychology:
Clinical and Experimental Foundations is the ideal text to introduce
students to the dynamic workings of the brain.
More
Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy edited by Len
Sperry, Edward P. Shafranske (American
Psychological Association) Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy is the
first book to critically and coherently survey how spirituality can
be incorporated into a range of psychotherapeutic approaches,
including psychoanalytic, cognitive—behavioral, humanistic,
interpersonal, transpersonal, and others. Volume editors Len Sperry
and Edward P. Shafranske, both well recognized as outstanding
scholars, bring together a stellar group of contributors to describe
the theoretical and clinical basis for their approaches and to
illustrate their clinical application. A uniform structure across
chapters and an integrative final chapter allow for easy comparison
of the approaches. The volume editors examine current and future
issues as well as the legacy of the psychoanalytic and Jungian
foundations of spiritually oriented psychotherapy. This volume
demonstrates the utility and accessibility of examining the
spiritual dimension in therapy. It is likely to become a vital
resource for the experienced clinician and the standard text for
graduate programs in clinical, counseling, and consulting psychology
and clinical social work.
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Handbook Of Spirituality And Worldview In Clinical Practice by
Allan M. Josephson, John R. Peteet (American
Psychiatric Association) Unlike works that focus primarily on
spiritual experience, this clearly written volume focuses on
worldview - the cognitive aspects of belief - and how it affects the
behavior of both patient and clinician. Also unlike other works,
this remarkable volume summarizes assessment, formulation, and
treatment principles, using powerful case vignettes to illustrate
how these principles can be applied to any individual of any faith
or "non-faith," including practical clinical information on major
faith traditions and on the secular (i.e., atheist/agnostic)
worldview. This refreshing text sheds much-needed light on an area
too often obscure to many clinicians. Because it bridges several
disciplines in a novel way, this thought-provoking volume will find
a diverse audience among mental health care students, educators, and
professionals everywhere concerned with religious and spiritual
aspects of their patients' lives.
More
Gods of the Word: Archetypes in the Consonants by Margaret
Magnus (Truman State University Press) “In 1993, as part of a
computer project I was working on, I found myself reading an English
dictionary and dividing all the words into prefixes, suffixes and
roots. I had read studies in linguists which suggested that the
initial consonants of a word had a set of meanings, and the
remaining rhyming part also had a set of meanings. One 'sense' of 'str-'
is linearity: string, strip, stripe, street, etc. And one sense of
'-ap' is flat: cap, flap, lap, map, etc. If you put them together,
you get a flat line: 'strap'. The idea fascinated me, and since I
was marking all these words anyway, I decided to keep an eye out for
these classes which have similar meaning and pronunciation both. It
turns out that it is possible by means of a series of repeatable
experiments to show that certain meanings hang out with certain
phonemes and others do not. More
Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia edited by William Dwight
Whitney and Benjamin Smith (Gorgias
Historical Dictionaries 1: Gorgias Press) 12 volumes From the
1889–1910 edition: 978-1-59333-375-1 comprises twelve volumes,
including over 500,000 defined terms, and two volumes of concise
encyclopedic entries. The Century Dictionary contains full,
accurate, and clear definitions, and its many supporting quotations
are chosen to illustrate, where helpful, the typical uses of a word
or its specific sense. Whitney, who is still regarded as the
greatest American linguist of his time, gathered together a
remarkable staff of general and specialist editors, which included
many luminaries of American scholarship, to compile this beautiful
dictionary. More
Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights,
1750-1790 [Hardcover] by Jonathan I. Israel (Oxford
University Press) That the Enlightenment shaped modernity is
uncontested. Yet remarkably few historians or philosophers have
attempted to trace the process of ideas from the political and
social turmoil of the late eighteenth century to the present day.
This is precisely what Jonathan Israel now does.
New Perspectives on Late Antiquity
by David
Hernandez de la Fuente (Cambridge Scholars Publishing)
Perhaps it is fully justified to think of Late Antiquity
(3rd 7th centuries) as the first Renaissance of the
Classical World. This period can be considered a
fundamental landmark for the transmission of the
Classical Legacy and the transition between the ancient
and the medieval individual. During Late Antiquity the
Classical Education or enkyklios paideia of Hellenism
was linked definitively to the Judeo-Christian and
Germanic elements that have modelled the Western World.
The present volume combines diverse interests and
methodologies with a single purpose unity and diversity,
as a Neo-Platonic motto providing an overall picture of
the new means of researching Late Antiquity. This
collective endeavour, stemming from the 2009 1st
International Congress on Late Antiquity in Segovia
(Spain), focuses not only on the analysis of new
materials and latest findings, but rather puts together
different perspectives offering a scientific update and
a dialogue between several disciplines. New Perspectives
on Late Antiquity contains two main sections 1. Ancient
History and Archaeology, and 2. Philosophy and Classical
Studies including both overview papers and case studies.
Among the contributors to this volume are some of the
most relevant scholars in their fields, including P.
Brown, J. Alvar, P. Barcela, C. Cododer, F. Fronterotta,
D. Gigli, F. Lisi and R. Sanz.
More
Bonaventura Vulcanius, Works and Networks: Bruges 1538-Leiden 1614
by
Helene Cazes (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History: Brill Academic) One of the last Renaissance humanists, Bonaventura Vulcanius, is
still a mysterious figure, even though he left a correspondence, at
least two Alba amicorum, and a collection of books and manuscripts.
Born in Bruges in 1538, the son of a disciple of Erasmus, he spent
the troubled decades of the 1560s and 1570s wandering Europe
(Burgos, Toledo, Cologne, Frankfort, Geneva, Basel, Antwerp). In
1581 Vulcanius was appointed professor of Greek and Latin Letters at
the University of Leiden. He edited and translated many rare texts,
composed dictionaries, wrote laudatory poems, and compiled the first
chapters of a history of the Germanic languages. This volume gathers
recent research on this versatile philologist, and includes the
first editions of many unpublished works and documents.
More
The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder and Other True Stories from
the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns by Stew Magnuson, with a
foreword by Pekka Hmlinen, with Series Editor John R. Wunder (Plains
Histories Series: Texas Tech University Press)
The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder engages a number of key
themes of current scholarship racism, masculinity, construction of
cross-cultural spaces, historical memory without the interference of
a heavy theoretical apparatus. Refreshingly, Magnuson doesn't place
anything between his words and readers. His stories lie bare and
thoroughly accessible. Pekka Hmlinen,
More
The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to
Augustine by Simon Price and Peter Thonemann
(Viking) An innovative and intriguing look at the
foundations of Western civilization from two leading
historians.
Contesting Realities: The Public Sphere and Morality in Southern
Yemen by Susanne Dahlgren (Gender, Culture, and Politics in the
Middle East Series: Syracuse University Press) Aden, the former capital of the only Marxist
republic in the Arab world, has returned to the headlines as the
scene of a popular uprising against the tribal-military rule of
present-day Yemen. Susanne Dahlgren in
Contesting Realities traces the social and political history of
Aden from the late British colonial era, exploring the evolving ways
in which the society has been established in a tension between
contesting normative orders. Dahlgren, academy of Finland research
fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies,`offers a
complex picture of Adeni society in which norms for propriety vary
according to the contexts of social space. She stresses individual
agency and power to maneuver within a traditional patriarchal Muslim
community. More
The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the
Twentieth Century (New Edition) by Michael Denning (Verso) A
panoramic history of the culture of Depression-era America and the
Popular Front,
The Cultural Front, written by Michael Denning who teaches
American Studies at Yale University, charts the extraordinary
upsurge of cultural activity and theory in America that began during
the Great Depression. Spawned by the Popular Front of the Communist
Party, it grew to encompass virtually every aspect of high and
popular art in the U.S., instigating one of the most culturally rich
and exciting periods in American history.
More
Britain and Tibet 1765-1947: A selected annotated bibilography of British relations with Tibet and the Himalayan states including nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, revised and updated to 2003 by Julie G.
Marshall (Routledge) This bibliography is a record of British relations with Tibet in
the period 1765 to 1947. As such it also involves British relations
with Russia and China, and with the Himalayan states of Ladakh,
Lahul and Spiti, Kumaon and Garhwal, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and
Assam, in so far as British policy towards these states was affected
by her desire to establish relations with Tibet. It also covers a
subject of some importance in contemporary diplomacy. It was the
legacy of unresolved problems concerning Tibet and its borders,
bequeathed to India by Britain in 1947, which led to border disputes
and ultimately to war between India and China in 1962. These borders
are still in dispute today. It also provides background information
to Tibet's claims to independence, an issue of current importance.
The work is divided into a number of sections and subsections, based
on chronology, geography and events. The introductions to each of
the sections provide a condensed and informative history of the
period and place the books and articles in their historical context.
Most entries are also annotated. This work is therefore both a
history and a bibliography of the subject, and provides a rapid
entry into a complex area for scholars in the fields of
international relations and military history as well as Asian
history. Julie G. Marshall is a research associate in Asian Studies at La
Trobe University in Melbourne where she was formerly Head Reference
Librarian. She has published numerous bibliographic works in the
field of social sciences and has travelled widely in the Himalayan
Region including Tibet.
More
War and Revolution in the Caucasusz Georgia Ablaze by
Stephen F. Jones (ThirdWorlds: Routledge)
The South Caucasus has traditionally been a
playground of contesting empires. This region, on the
edge of Europe, is associated in Western minds with
ethnic conflict and geopolitical struggles. In August
2008, yet another war broke out in this distant European
periphery as Russia and Georgia clashed over the secessionist
territory of South Ossetia. The war had global
ramifications culminating in deepening tensions between
Russia on the one hand, and Europe and the USA on the
other. Speculation on the causes and consequences of the
war focused on Great Power rivalries and a new Great Game, on oil
pipeline routes, and Russian imperial aspirations.
Russian-Muslim Confrontation in the Caucasus
by Muhammad Tahir al-Qarakhi and Lev Tolstoi, edited by
Thomas Sanders, Ernest Tucker and Gary Hamburg (Soas/Routledge
Studies on the Middle East: Routledge) This book presents two important texts, The Shining
of Daghestani Swords by al-Qarakhi and a new translation
for a contemporary readership of Lev Tolstoi's Hadji
Murat, illuminating the mountain war between the Muslim
peoples of the Caucasus and the imperial Russian army
from 1830 to 1859. The editors offer a complete
commentary on the various intellectual and religious
contexts that shaped the two texts and explain the
historical significance of the Russian—Muslim
confrontation. It is shown that the mountain war was a
clash of two cultures, two religious outlooks and two
different worlds. The book provides an important
background to the ongoing contest between Russia and
indigenous people for control of the Caucasus. The two
translations are accompanied by short introductions and
by a longer commentary intended for readers who desire a
broader introduction to the tragic conflict in the
Caucasus whose effects still reverberate in the
twenty-first century.
Enduring Loss in Early Modern Germany: Cross Disciplinary
Perspectives edited by Lynne Tatlock, series editor Thomas Al Brady,
Jr & Roger Chickering (Studies in Central European Histories: Brill)
Hearsay, History, and Heresy: Collected Essays on the Roman Republic
by Richard E. Mitchell and Randall Howarth (Gorgias Press) This book features a selection of articles written be Richard
Mitchell concerning the origins and`development of the ancient Roman
state and the modern historiography of our understanding of that
history. The introduction and commentary are provided by one of his
PhD students,. Randall S. Howarth, whose own work is very much
concerned with the same topics. The publication of these articles in
a single volume provides a comprehensive commentary on the
assumptions governing modern reconstructions of the period and the
problems informing those assumptions.
The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville translated
with introduction and notes by Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, Oliver Berghof [Hardcover]
(Cambridge University Press) is a complete English translation of
the Latin Etymologies of Isidore, Bishop of Seville (c.560-636).
Isidore compiled the work between c.615 and the early 630s and it
takes the form of an encyclopedia, arranged by subject matter. It
contains much lore of the late classical world beginning with the
Seven Liberal Arts, including Rhetoric, and touches on thousands of
topics ranging from the names of God, the terminology of the Law,
the technologies of fabrics, ships and agriculture to the names of
cities and rivers, the theatrical arts, and cooking utensils.
Isidore provides etymologies for most of the terms he explains,
finding in the causes of words the underlying key to their meaning.
This book offers a highly readable translation of the twenty books
of the Etymologies, one of the most widely known texts for a
thousand years from Isidore's time.
More
and More
The Narrative Secret of Flannery O'Connor:
The Trickster as Interpreter by
Ruthann Knechel Johansen (University Alabama Press)
"Johansen... goes a long way toward unlocking the diverse strategies
employed by O'Connor. Her thoroughgoing knowledge of O'Connor's work
is always impressive. It's a lively time for O'Conner criticism, and
Johansen is certainly one of O'Connor's more lively readers." -
South Atlantic Review "I recommend the book to readers interested in
the trickster, and those who know and love O'Connor's fiction enough
to relish new insights.... Johansen has earned her place in the
ranks of those who continue to delight in O'Connor's fiction, to
delight in attempts to explain its power over us, and to take
pleasure in the certainty that her fiction will continue to elude
our explanations." - Text and Performance Quarterly
Journal of a UFO Investigator: A Novel
by
David J. Halperin (Viking) is set in the early part of 1963
and seems to have been written up around 1966. It covers of the arc
of high school, the crucible of adolescent angst and alienation. On
first reading it seems to be a slightly autobiographical coming of
age tale of a lonely scholarly Jewish boy, living more in the
Gentile world than in the comfort of a Jewish extended family. His
mother is chronically ill with a heart condition which may have
emerged during her pregnancy with Danny. He feels a profound guilty
responsibility for his mother's illness and at the same time finds
that her behavior distances him from her. Danny idealizes his
slightly remembered grandfather who was a religious Jew, a Rabbi.
His father is an unhappy man who is mostly remote except for his
occasional excavations of his son’s pimples with a pin. At 13 Danny
Schapiro is at the end of childhood and his childhood friends and at
the beginning of adolescence with its sexual anxiety and naivety.
Danny is confused about his Jewishness, he has been warned by his
mother that it sets him apart, especially when it comes to girls and
dating. It seems all adolescents share a trait of universal
loneliness and disaffection where they are set apart and find no
group to cling.
More Access his interview here:
Right click
"...save target as" download to folder to listen to MP3.
Habibi by
Craig Thompson (Pantheon) Habibi is a fable of exploitation and the
cruelty of the strong toward the weak. It is a love story, though
the the kind of love it celebrates--maternal, platonic,
erotic--remains elusive throughout. It is also a sermon complete
with hell-fire and brimstone and strident pleading about the dangers
of the sin of waste. Most of all it is prophecy dressed in poetry's
clothing--an artful shriek announcing of the end of the world.
The story is finally an allegory of the soul as woman, and black
child, as sexually exploited, enslaved and environmentally raped
set in a mythically ensnared fable of extreme industrial
development and oriental despotic capital wanton waste. This
fable juxtaposes traditional Qur'anic folklore with its
modernistic isolation of a child adoptive mother and their
unconventional love and resolution. The introduction of magic
squares and calligraphic symbolism offers in the end a sustained
cosmological twist and depth to the tale.
More
Land (3 vols.) by Pak Kyung-Ni and translated with Introduction and
glossary by Agnita Tennant (Global Oriental: Brill) Acclaimed as the most powerful and important piece of Modern
Korean writing, the epic sweep of Land is breathtaking in its
conception and execution. Set against the background of the struggle
between conservative and modernizing forces at the turn of the
twentieth century, it follows the fortunes of several generations of
Korean villagers during a time of unsurpassed turbulence and change.
To Korean readers, upon whose imagination Land has an unparalleled
hold, and for whom the characters and village have a palpable
reality, it is the great national novel — the work that embodies—the
many elements that make up Korea and the Koreans of today.
Mockingbird Passing: Closeted Traditions and Sexual Curiosities
in Harper Lee's Novel by Holly Virginia Blackford (The University of
Tennessee Press) How often does a novel earn its
author both the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to Harper Lee
by George W. Bush in 2007, and a spot on a list of '100 best
gay and lesbian novels'? Clearly, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of race relations and coming of age in
Depression-era Alabama, means many things to many people. In
Mockingbird Passing, Holly Blackford invites readers to view
Lee’s beloved novel in parallel with works by other iconic American
writers – from Emerson, Whitman, Stowe, and Twain to James, Wharton,
McCullers, Capote, and others. In the process, she locates the book
amid contesting literary traditions while simultaneously exploring
the rich ambiguities that define its characters.
More
Deep Waters: The Textual Continuum in American Indian Literature
by Christopher B. Teuton (University of Nebraska Press) Weaving
connections between indigenous modes of oral storytelling, visual
depiction, and contemporary American Indian literature,
Deep Waters demonstrates the continuing relationship between
traditional and contemporary Native American systems of creative
representation and signification. Christopher B. Teuton, associate
professor of English at the University of Denver, begins with a
study of Mesoamerican writings, Din sand paintings, and
Haudenosaunee wampum belts. He proposes a theory of how and why
indigenous oral and graphic means of recording thought are
interdependent, their functions and purposes determined by social,
political, and cultural contexts.
More
Windows to the Mind: Metaphor, Metonymy and Conceptual Blending
by
Sandra Handl and Hans-Jorg Schmid (Cognitive Linguistic
Research; De Gruyter Mouton) Focusing on a wide range of linguistic structures, the articles
in this volume explore the explanatory potential of two of the most
influential cognitive-linguistic theories, conceptual metaphor and
metonymy theory and conceptual blending theory. Whether enthusiastic
or critical in their stance, the contributors seek to enhance our
understanding of how conventional as well as creative ways of
thinking influence our language and vice versa.
More
I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way
We See the World by James Geary (Harper) "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!" This is one of
Shakespeare's most famous lines and one of the most well-known
metaphors in literature. But metaphor is much more than a mere
literary device employed by love-struck poets when they refer to
their girlfriends as interstellar masses of incandescent gas. It is
also intensely yet inconspicuously present in everything from
ordinary conversation and commercial messaging to news reports and
political speeches. Metaphor is at work in all fields of human
endeavor, including economics, business, science, and psychology.
In I Is an Other, James Geary takes readers from
Aristotle's investigation of metaphor right up to the latest
neuroscientific insights into how metaphor works in the brain. Along
the way, he demonstrates how metaphor affects financial decision
making, how metaphor lurks behind effective advertisements, how
metaphor inspires learning and discovery, and how metaphor can be
used as a tool to achieve emotional insight and psychological
change. Geary also explores how a life without metaphor, as
experienced by some people with autism spectrum disorders,
significantly changes the way a person interacts with the world. As
Geary demonstrates, metaphor has leaped off the page and landed with
a mighty splash right in the middle of our stream of consciousness.
More
The Survival of Myth: Innovation, Singularity and Alterity
Revised edition by Paul Hardwick and David Kennedy (Cambridge
Scholars Publishing) What are myths and what are they for? Myths are
stories that both tell us how to live and remind us the inescapability and
pull of the collective past. The Survival of Myth: Innovation, Singularity
and Alterity explores the continuing power of primal stories to inhabit
our thinking. An international range of contributors examine a range of
texts and figures from the Bible to Cormac McCarthy and from Thor to the
Virgin Mary to focus on the way that ancient stories both give access to
the unconscious and offer individuals and communities personae or masks.
Myths translated and recreated become, in this sense, very public acts
about very private thoughts and feelings. The subtitle of the book,
Innovation, Singularity and Alterity, reflects the way in which the
history of cultures in all genres is a history of innovation, of a search
for new modes of expression which, paradoxically, often entails recourse
to myth precisely because it offers narratives of singularity and
otherness which may be readily appropriated. The individual contributors
offer testament to the continuing significance of myth through its own
constant metamorphosis, as it both reflects and transforms the societies
in which it is (re)produced. More
Paul Valéry: L`Écriture en devenir by
Brian Stimpson (Peter Lang) Cet ouvrage présente une analyse de l'écriture poétique de Paul
Valery selon la perspective de la critique génétique. A travers
l'examen des poèmes en prose de jeunesse et des manuscrits de La
Jeune Parque et de La Pythie, Paul Valery: L'Écriture en euenir
étudie pour la première fois la théorie et la pratique de la
composition chez Valery comme processus en evolution continue.
Animée par une tension soutenue entre un regard de puissance et la
presence de plus en plus insistante de la musique intime du moi, la
« poétique du faire » qui en ressort est envisagèe comme source
d'energie créatrice et de chant. Bénéficiant de documents et
manuscrits inédits, ce travail entreprend d'élucider la dynamique
intime du processus créateur, manifeste dans l'autoanalyse que
Valery pratique dans le miroir du feuillet manuscrit. Il sera
d'intérêt pour tout lecteur fasciné par les luttes intimes de
l'écrivain avec son materiel et son propre moi. More
The Cahiers/Notebooks of Paul Valéry are a unique
form of writing. They reveal Valéry as one of the most radical and creative
minds of the twentieth century, encompassing a wide range of investigation into
all spheres of human activity. His work explores the arts, the sciences,
philosophy, history and politics, investigating linguistic, psychological and
social issues, all linked to the central questions, relentlessly posed: 'what is
the human mind and how does it work?’, 'what is the potential of thought and
what are its limits?' But we encounter here too, Valéry the writer: exploratory,
fragmentary texts undermine the boundaries between analysis and creativity,
between theory and practice. Neither journal nor diary, eluding the traditional
genres of writing, the Notebooks offer lyrical passages, writing of extreme
beauty, prose poems of extraordinary descriptive power alongside theoretical
considerations of poetics, ironic aphorisms and the mast abstract kind of
analysis. The concerns and the insights that occupied Valéry's inner voyages
over more than 50 years remain as relevant as ever for the contemporary reader:
for the Self that is his principal subject is at once singular and universal.
Cahiers: Notebooks (Volume 1)
by Paul Valéry, chief editor and
translations by Brian Stimpson, translations by Paul Gifford, Sian Miles, and
Robert Pickering (Peter Lang) VOLUME 1: THE NOTEBOOKS ‑ EGO ‑ GLADIATOR ‑ THE 'I' AND THE
PERSONALITY ‑ AFFECTIVITY ‑ EROS Volume 1 introduces the enterprise of the Notebooks in its
rigorously intellectual but also personal and affective dimension. Valéry's deep understanding of, and pertinence to, the limits of
autobiographical presentation, which prefigure the most modem
literary developments in this field, are here addressed. Writing is
at once a form of ruthlessly honest self‑examination and a process
of sublimation and self‑censorship. The quest for intellectual
mastery through a highly complex system of mental training and
conditioning is seen in the dynamic relation between the inner self
and the external world. But at the same time the
personal/existential dimension of Valéry's analysis of the self is
reflected in the permanent and tragic struggle with the force of his
own emotions. The acuity and intensity of the experience of love is
paralleled by the sharpest edges of self-awareness in the quest for
communion with the other.
Cahiers: Notebooks (Volume 2)
by Paul Valéry, chief editor and
translations by Brian Stimpson, translations by Rachel Killick, Robert
Pickering, Norma Rinsler, Stephen Romer, and Brian Stimpson (Peter Lang) Volume 2 focuses upon the cultural, literary and artistic
dimension of the writing, both as creative, lyrical inventiveness
and as reflection upon the processes involved. Here we encounter the
aesthetic function, as scriptural activity, perceiving eye,
listening ear explore this domain via an inner self‑language
surpassing the limits of genre or school. 'the great importance of
his aesthetic insights reveals Valéry's status as a forerunner of
the most modem artistic concepts, prefiguring critical movements and
approaches to creativity decades before their subsequent
realization. The Notebooks are seen as a field of continuous
literary creativity and graphic experimentation in a context of
untrammeled personal freedom, favoring the constitution of a very
little known corpus of creative writing ‑ notably the prose poems
and the micro‑fictions. This approach to the search for meaning is a
dynamic process of constant generative power, which situates the
Notebooks at the heart of the 20th century concept of the 'work in
progress' and invites comparison with such exemplary exponents as
Proust and Musil.
Cahiers: Notebooks (Volume 3) by Paul Valéry,
chief editor and translations by Brian Stimpson, translations by (Peter Lang)
VOLUME 3: PSYCHOLOGY ‑ SOMA AND C E M ‑ SENSIBILITY ATTENTION
‑MEMORY ‑ DREAM The understanding of mind is explored in volume 3 as linked
indissolubly to a deepening reflection of the self's sensory and
emotional responses and its link to its own past through the working
of memory processes. Valéry's lifelong analytic fascination with
dreams and dreaming runs parallel to that of Surrealism, which he
fundamentally mistrusted, and of the development in France of
Freud's insights, which he knew only at second hand, and often
refuted violently. Yet Valéry is often closer than he thinks to the
psychoanalytical explorations of the unconscious pursued by Freud
and Lacan; and their insights in turn offer a fascinating
counterpoint to his reworkings as thinker and as poet of the world
of dream. This reflection differs greatly from the traditional view
of Valéry as irrevocably asserting the primacy of the mind over the
body and its responses; analysis of the functioning of the mind
includes both its conscious and unconscious reflexes ‑ dream and
imagination.
Cahiers: Notebooks (Volume 4) by Paul Valéry,
chief editor and translations by Brian Stimpson, translations by (Peter Lang)
VOLUME 4: LANGUAGE ‑ BIOS ‑ MATHEMATICS ‑ SCIENCE TIME ‑ HOMO ‑HISTORY‑POLITICS ‑ EDUCATION Fully reflective of some of the most exciting scientific
discoveries of the twentieth century, volume 4 reveals Valéry as an
important scientific thinker and epistemologist, engaged not only
with issues of the internal mental world but with the external
dimension of the Body‑Mind‑World coupling. His reflections upon
language date from the earliest period when he sought a language
freed from its arbitrary association with reality and capable of
expressing pure analytical functions, his 'Arithmeticales
Universals' or algebra of the mind. The notes offer an
extraordinarily rich perspective on key areas of scientific
progress: modern mathematics, atomic and quantum physics,
relativity, the uncertainty principle, space‑time
interrelationships. But man is seen too as an organism living in an
often difficult relationship with his environment. The contribution
of the Notebooks to the wider contexts of historical and
sociopolitical problems is fundamental: not only a probing analyst
of political power and action, Valéry here emerges as a radical
educationalist and as a social scientist concerned with the
betterment of society, including on the international level.
Cahiers: Notebooks (Volume 5)
by Paul Valéry, chief editor and
translations by Brian Stimpson, translations by (Peter Lang) VOLUME 5: SYSTEM ‑ PHILOSOPHY ‑ CONSCIOUSNESS ‑ THETA Volume 5 addresses some of the most abstract issues in Valéry's
project to 'make his mind' while linking back to many of the
questions tackled in previous volumes. The 'System' is a theoretical
extrapolation of`the intensely personal experiences of the self. His
attack on the intellectual patterns of traditional philosophy is
linguistically motivated, and the creation of a whole new
philosophical basis to experience is presented as a reinvigoration
and revision of the way language relates to the world. New material
included in this volume reveals a more positive approach to
philosophy, and links emerge with the Vienna School, as well as the
striking overlap with Wittgenstein. This volume demonstrates the
importance of the dovetailing and unifying thrust towards the
unknown of the self s affective, existential nature. The systematic
rethinking of all theological discourses inherited from the European
past reveals a search for a new spiritual identity and a radical
reconfiguration of the notion of the 'divine' as a natural and
necessary category of the mind. The supreme importance of a certain
mystical resonance in Valéry, expressed in some of his most
magnificent writing, complements the more scientific nature of
volume 4,`while leading us back to volume 1 through rich echoes with
key themes of EROS.
Cahiers: Notebooks
(Volumes 1-5 set) by Paul Valéry, chief editor and
translations by Brian Stimpson, (Peter Lang) the set of 5 volumes in English.
More
The Dangerous Old Woman: Myths and Stories of the Wise Woman
Archetype [6 audio CDs, running time 7 hours] by Clarissa Pinkola
Ests (Sounds True)
The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume I: The Middle
Ages through The Eighteenth Century
Fourth Edition, edited by David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar (Pearson Education)
Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose and Letters
by Elizabeth
Bishop, Robert Giroux, and Lloyd Schwartz (Library of
America) On the occasion this month of the 100th birthday of one of
America's greatest modem poets, The Library of America wants to
remind you of its recently published collection:
Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose and Letters. With this
landmark volume, Elizabeth Bishop joins the short list of American
poets whose work has been collected and preserved in The Library of
America: Poe, Whitman, Longfellow, Pound, Crane, Frost, and Stevens.
Nature and Science in Hellenistic Poetry by M.A. Harber, R.F. Regtuit, G.C. Wakker (Hellenistica
Groningana: Peeters) contains the papers of the 'Groningen Workshop
on Hellenistic Poetry 8: Nature and Science' (Groningen 2006).
During the workshop, a first draft of the papers was commented on by
an international group of specialists in the field of Hellenistic
poetry. This volume deals with the interaction between 'nature and
science' and Hellenistic poetry, particularly the ways in which
poets were inspired and stimulated by the results of science and
incorporated them into their work. In the Hellenistic period, the
fields of nature and science on the one hand and scholarship and
poetry on the other hand touch and overlap to a large extent and the
boundaries between science and poetry were not as straight and clear
as they are today. The articles in this volume refine the general
picture somewhat further. They focus on various authors and topics,
e.g. Aratus, Nicander and Callimachus, medicine, astronomy, and
geography. More
Phillis Wheatley and the Romantics by John C. Shields (The
University of Tennessee Press) Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784?)
was the first African American to
publish a book. Born in Gambia in 1753, she came to America aboard a
slave ship, the Phillis. From an early age, Wheatley exhibited a
profound gift for verse, publishing her first poem in 1767 her
tribute to a famed pastor "On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George
Whitefield" followed in 1770, catapulting her into the international
spotlight, and publication of her 1773 Poems on Various Subjects
Religious and Moral in London made her a literary phenomenon.
More Religion
Individual essays address such topics as how myths were
presented in stories, poems, dramas and all forms of
visual art, as well as the role of myth in philosophy,
learning, religion, mystery-cult, and Greek self
identity. Other essays explore contemporary reception of
Greek myth and the potential of modern theoretical
approaches. A Companion to Greek Mythology offers
invaluable insights into the ancient world that will
help to shape our understanding of the wide ranging
appeal and influence of Greek myth across the ages.
More
The result is an important and lively book that deepens
the understanding of ancient religion as a whole.
More
These collected essays highlight the multiple
I hermeneutical perspectives on biblical paradise from Second
Temple Judaism and Christian origins to the systematic
expositions of Augustine and rabbinic literature, and show
that while early Christian and Jewish sources draw on texts
from the same Bible, their perceptions of paradise often
reflect the highly different structures of the two sister
religions. Dealing with a wide variety of texts, these
essays explore major themes such as the allegorical and
literal interpretations of`paradise, the tension between
heaven and earth, and paradise's physical location in space
and time.
MARKUS BOCKMUEHL is Professor of Biblical and Early
Christian`Studies and a Fellow of Keble College at the
University of Oxford. He is the editor of the
The Cambridge`Companion to Jesus (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and
the co-editor (with Donald A. Hagner) of
The Written Gospel
(Cambridge University Press, 2005).
GUY G. STROUMSA is Professor of the Study of the
Abrahamic Religions and a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall at
the University of Oxford, and Martin`Buber Professor
Emeritus of Comparative Religion, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. He is the author of
The End of Sacrifice: Religious Transformations in Late Antiquity (2009)
and
A New Science: The Discovery of Religion in the Age of Reason (2010), as well as the co-editor (with Graham N.
Stanton) of
Tolerance and Intolerance in Early Judaism and Christianity (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
More
Asian Religions
PART I: Popular Religion discusses the evolution
of organized lay movements over an arc often
centuries. Its eight chapters focus on three
key points: the arrival and integration of
new ideas before the Song dynasty, the
coalescence of an intellectual and
scriptural tradition during the Ming, and
the efflorescence of new organizations
during the late Qing.
PART II: Shamanism reflects the revived interest
of scholars in traditional beliefs and
culture that reemerged with the 'open'
policy in China that occurred in the 197os.
Two of the essays included in this section
address shamanism in northeast China where
the traditions played an important role in
the cultures of the Manchu, Mongol, Sibe,
Daur, Oroqen, Evenki, and Hezhen. The other
essay discusses divination rites in a local
culture of southwest China.
Both sections of Popular Religion and
Shamanism will introduce Western readers to
the ideas of Chinese scholars, not just
their data.
More
The main interest of the
Paramarthasara is not only that it
serves as an introduction to the established doctrine of a
tradition, but also advances the notion of jivanmukti, 'liberation
in this life', as its core theme. Further, it does not confine
itself to an exposition of the doctrine as such but at times hints
at a second sense lying beneath the evident sense, namely esoteric
techniques and practices that are at the heart of the philosophical
discourse. Its commentator, Yogaraja (eleventh century), excels in
detecting and clarifying those various levels of meaning.
An Introduction to Tantric Philosophy presents, along with a
critically revised Sanskrit text, the first annotated English
translation of both Abhinavagupta's Paramarthasara and Yogaraja's
commentary.
This book will be of interest to dologists, as well as to
specialists and students of Religion, Tantric studies and
Philosophy. More
Stein first discusses the basic tool of religious language, and
the extent to which translations from Chinese, often apocryphal,
scriptures competed with translations from Sanskrit. Stein also
analyzes evidence for the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, as well
as what a pre-Buddhist religion may`have looked like, as distinct
from modern Bon. Here, these groundbreaking articles are for the
first time in the English language. They have been substantially
updated, and supplemented with additional material from Stein's
lectures at the College de France.
More
The the extent we are able to review individual volumes we will
review each section by its theme.
Volume I of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism covers two main
thematic fields. First it presents the regional traditions of
Hinduism with articles on the Indian states and main regions of
India and on historical regions outside of India. Here the reader
will also find entries on sacred space and pilgrimage traditions,
sacred time and festival traditions. The second thematic field
concerns the various gods, goddesses and divine powers of Hinduism
past and present.
More
emergence of a form of "secular humanism" that doubts
the existence of the gods and the efficacy of ritual and
of an imperial orthodoxy that founds its legitimacy on
a distinction between licit and illicit sacrifices. Written
by specialists in a variety of disciplines, the essays cover
such subjects as divination and cosmology, exorcism and
medicine, ethics and self-cultivation, mythology, taboos,
sacrifice, shamanism, burial practices, iconography and
political philosophy.
Produced under the aegis of the Centre de recherche sur les civilisations chinos, japonaise et tibétaine (UMR
8155) and the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris).
More
This well designed and useful guide to words and terms in religious
studies offers a balanced and reasonably thorough introductory
definitions to current topics in religious studies. The book is
especially good in presenting catholic topics but it also offers
germane definitions of other Christian confessions and the major
world religions. The entries do not recognize the new religions or
esoteric religious history or topics. I would assume a second
edition would include metaphysical and occult trends in religious
studies. I believe this reference work, which is offered at a modest
price, belongs in all public community libraries as well as high
school and college libraries where religion is likely part of the
curriculum. MoreAtheism
While rituals are often seen as infallible mechanisms which
'work' irrespective of the individual motivations of the performers,
it is clearly visible here that rituals can fail, and that improper
performances are a cause for concern. These essays break new ground
in their respective fields, and the comparative analysis of rituals
that go wrong introduces new perspectives to ritual studies. As the
first book-length study on ritual`mistakes and failure, this
volume begins to fill a significant gap in the existing literature.
Contributors include: Claus Ambos, Christiane Brosius, Johanna Buss,
Burckhard Dücker, Christoph Emmrich, Brigitta Hauser-Schãublin,
Maren Hoffmeister, Ute HUsken, Brigitte Merz, Axel Michaels, Karin
Polit, Michael Rudolph, Edward L. Schieffelin, Jan A.M. Snoek,
Eftychia Stavrianopoulou, and Jan Weinhold.Judaism
Parody is constituted by literary
repetition of a text in a manner that
introduces some variation; most succinctly
put, it is repetition with a difference. The
Late Antique Rabbis, however, habitually
repeat tradition in new contexts, creating
difference devoid of parody. How, then, do
we recognize parodic difference? The
following story from the Palestinian Talmud
(henceforth: Yerushalmi) marks its
repetition of Scripture as grotesquely
different and thereby as charged with
parody.
More
Barak S. Cohen, Ph.D. (2004) in
Talmud and Rabbinics, is a lecturer at
the Department of Talmud, Faculty of
Jewish Studies, Bar-Ilan University. He
has published extensively on the
intellectual history, chronology and
historiography of the Babylonian Amoraim.
More
The essays are united too by their common assumption that the
ancient world was a single cultural continuum; that ancient Judaism,
in all its expressions and varieties, was a Hellenism; and that
texts written in Hebrew share a world of discourse with those
written in Greek. Many of these essays are well-known and have been
much discussed in contemporary scholarship. Among these are: "The
Significance of Yavneh" (the title essay), "Patriarchs and
Scholarchs," "Masada: Literary Tradition, Archaeological Remains,
and the Credibility of Josephus," "Epigraphical Rabbis," "The
Conversion of Antoninus," "Menstruants and the Sacred in Judaism and
Christianity," and "A Brief History of Jewish Circumcision Blood."
More
This volume reflects cutting edge
scholarship in the field of rabbinics and
Iranian Studies by exploring the Iranian
background of one of the cornerstones of the
Jewish tradition, the Babylonian Talmud,
which was composed under the rule of
Sasanian emperors.
More
As historians of Roman Alexandria and Egypt are well aware, we have
access to very few voices from inside the country in this era; Philo
is the best we have. As a commentator on Jewish Scripture, Philo is
also one of the most valuable sources for the interpretation of
Egypt in the Pentateuch. He not only writes very extensively on this
subject, but he does so in ways that are remarkable for their
originality when compared with the surviving literature of ancient
Judaism. More
Despite many authoritative studies on Philo's vision of Greek
philosophy as an exegetical tool in allegorizing the Scripture,
there is not such a comprehensive overview in Philo’s treatises that
takes in account both the progress achieved in the recent
interpretation of Hellenistic philosophy and analysis of ancient
doxographical literature.
MoreKabbalah
Hellner-Eshed's book investigates the flow of this river in the
world of the Zoharic heroes, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and his
disciples, as they embark upon their wondrous spiritual adventures.
By focusing on the Zohar's language of mystical experience
and its unique features, the author is able to provide remarkable
scholarly insight into the mystical dimensions of the Zohar,
namely the human quest for an enhanced experience of the living
presence of the divine and the Zohar's great call to awaken
human consciousness.
More
The author of this book has dedicated
much of his scholarly life to the
history of Jewish mysticism. The Origins
of Jewish Mysticism summarizes his views
in an accessible way, directed at
specialists as well as at a broader
audience.
More
Ramon Llull lived an interreligious vision, where he took
instruction in Sufism and mystical Kabbalah. In his epoch making
Book of Lover and Beloved her writes:
“Two lovers met. One of them revealed his beloved and the other
understood him.
The question arose as to which of the two was nearer his beloved,
and my answer to this the lover had knowledge of the demonstration
of the Trinity.
MoreGnosticism
In the past ten years, the chair for History of Hermetic
Philosophy and Related Currents has succeeded in establishing itself
as the most important center for study and teaching in this domain,
and has strongly contributed to the establishment of Western esotericism as a recognized
academic field of research. This volume is published at the occasion
of the 10th anniversary. It contains a history of the creation and
development of the chair, followed by articles on aspects of Western
esotericism by the previous and current staff members, contributions by students and Ph.D. students about
the study program, and reflections by international top specialists
about the field of research and its academic development.
More
Each Gnostic text has added historical background, source
information, literary comment, and spiritual interpretation. Mead, who
devoted his life to esoteric studies and was a pioneer in the Gnostic
revival, uniquely understood the complex symbolism of his subject. The
reader may be surprised to learn that some of these texts were
originally not books, but instead initiatory mystery rituals.
Editor John Algeo preserves Mead's own inspired language. To enhance
the texts for today's readers, the volume includes new explanatory
essays by contemporary Gnostic Stephan Hoeller and a biography by Robert
Gilbert, a world authority on Mead.
More
Few, if any, individuals have had such a profound
influence on Western culture as Jesus, even though not a
single detail of his life or teaching can be confirmed
with certainty. This lack of reliable biographical data
has left his life open to broad interpretation. Jesus,
gnostic and apocryphal sources insist, never truly died
on the cross since he was a divine being, whose human
frame was an illusion. Muslim sources affirm that Jesus
was a prophet of God and will return at the end of time.
Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels formulated racial theories in
which Jesus was a redeemer for Aryans only, while the
Renaissance polymath Guillaume Postel was convinced that
Christ had returned as a Venetian woman. This book
explores these and other views without taking sides in
any theological arguments and presents research on a
variety of alternative Christologies.
More Magic
Using the methodology of structural analysis
and the theory of structural transformation,
texts of early and late antiquity are analysed
with reference to symbolic rites and rituals.
Scriptural and Talmudic texts resonate with
ideas of 'sacred and mundane' and ritual 'purity
and impurity' and reflect a worldview where an
omnipotent God governed a cosmos in which
disorder vied with order. Particular features
include:
Psychomagic presents the shamanic and genealogical principles
Jodorowsky discovered to create a healing therapy that could use the
powers of dreams, art, and theater to empower individuals to heal
wounds that in some cases had traveled through generations. The
concrete`and often surreal poetic actions Jodorowsky employs are
part of an elaborate strategy intended to break apart the
dysfunctional persona with whom the patient identifies in order to
connect with a deeper self. According to Jodorowsky, that is when
true transformation can manifest.
More
The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in
Mesopotamian Culture by Francesca Rochberg (Cambridge University Press,
2004).Celestial phenomena in ancient Mesopotamia was observed and interpreted as signs from the gods as well as physical phenomena. Relating the various ways the heavens were contemplated and understood, this study traces the emergence of personal astrology from the tradition of celestial divination and how astronomical methodology developed for horoscopes. Its importance lies in its treatment of Babylonian celestial sciences (celestial divination, horoscopy, and astronomy) as subjects relevant to the history of science and culture.
More
Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans is the most comprehensive
work ever published on the forty-eight classical constellations.
Included in this handbook are the only surviving works on the
constellation myths that have come down to us from antiquity: an
epitome of The Constellations of Eratosthenes—never before
translated into English—and The Poetic Astronomy of Hyginus. Also
provided are accurate and detailed commentaries on each
constellation myth, and complete references for those who wish to
dig deeper. This book is a comprehensive sourcework for anyone
interested in astronomy or mythology—and an ideal resource for the
occasional stargazer.
MoreChristianity
The Myth of Paganism seeks to re-evaluate the role of pagan
poetry in late antiquity. Instead of maintaining a strict
dichotomy between pagan and Christian, it presents a broader
definition of these poets as active participants and
collaborators in the creation of late antique culture. Attention
focuses on an exploration of the contemporary resonance of
Nonnus Dionysiaca traditionally regarded as a pagan epic in
terms of its theme and content, yet in all probability the work
of a Christian poet responsible for a Homeric-style retelling of
St Johns Gospel.
More
A fine reinterpretation of atonement theory from a
liberationist perspective. The central thesis holds:
every understanding of Jesus death must begin with Jesus
historical project embodied in his message and praxis of
the kingdom of God. --Roger Haight, author Jesus Symbol
of God
This classic work of liberation theology explores the
meaning of the Cross, both as it has been interpreted in
the past and how it should be interpreted in the context
of contemporary faith and circumstances. These
particular circumstances include the poverty and
repression, fear and violence under which so many of the
world s people suffer today. In such a world, how can
the Cross be understood and preached and what are the
consequences of that understanding?
When Boff first wrote in the 1970s his immediate context
was military dictatorship, torture, and violent
repression. As he notes in his new Preface, that context
must be enlarged today to include the passion of the
Earth a continuation of the Passion of Christ in our
time. The meaning of Christ s Cross remains the same: at
once the symbol of a crime, and a sign of love and hope
that violence does not have the last word.
More
This volume will be useful to advanced undergraduate and
post-graduate students, as well as to specialists in any
area who wish to consult a brief review of the 'state of
the question' in a particular area or sub-specialty of
early Christian studies, especially one different from
their own.
More
A fine reinterpretation of atonement theory from a
liberationist perspective. The central thesis holds:
every understanding of Jesus death must begin with Jesus
historical project embodied in his message and praxis of
the kingdom of God. --Roger Haight, author Jesus Symbol
of God
This classic work of liberation theology explores the
meaning of the Cross, both as it has been interpreted in
the past and how it should be interpreted in the context
of contemporary faith and circumstances. These
particular circumstances include the poverty and
repression, fear and violence under which so many of the
world s people suffer today. In such a world, how can
the Cross be understood and preached and what are the
consequences of that understanding?
When Boff first wrote in the 1970s his immediate context
was military dictatorship, torture, and violent
repression. As he notes in his new Preface, that context
must be enlarged today to include the passion of the
Earth a continuation of the Passion of Christ in our
time. The meaning of Christ s Cross remains the same: at
once the symbol of a crime, and a sign of love and hope
that violence does not have the last word.
More
The Latter-day Saint Family Encyclopedia is a resource for
understanding the essentials of the Mormon faith, offering a
comprehensive overview of all things LDS. Arranged alphabetically
for easy navigation, this A-to-Z guide to Mormonism provides
information for family members of all ages. Readers meet leaders of
the faith, including founders Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and
learn about LDS prophets and apostles and how the Book of Mormon
came to be. This large-format volume is illustrated with more than
400 full-color illustrations, photographs, and works of art.
More
With documents ranging from Pope Leo XIII's Rerum
Novarum (1891) to Pope Benedict XVI's Caritas in
Veritate (2009), this is the single most comprehensive
collection available of the primary documents of
Catholic social thought. Along with the complete texts
of every essential papal encyclical, this volume also
includes the important documents of the American bishops
on peace, the economy, and racism. Every document is
preceded by an introductory essay and helpful notes,
making it an exceptional reference and teaching tool.
This updated and expanded edition of a classic
reference work remains an indispensible tool for
scholars and students, religious and lay people, and
everyone concerned with the official statements of the
Catholic Church on social issues and world peace.
More
This volume aims to provide an essential guide to
scholarship on the Catholic Enlightenment by providing a
country-by-country survey of the major events, figures,
texts and subsequent scholarship of the Catholic
Enlightenment. Moreover, this volume makes two other
important contributions: first, it brings together
European, English and American scholars as contributors.
Second, and more importantly, essays contained in the
volume significantly broaden the scope of the Catholic
Enlightenment from the "center" (France, Holy Roman
Empire, Italian States) to also include the periphery of
Catholic Europe, including Poland, and Malta.
More
At no time in Karl Barth's long career did Roman
Catholicism play a more crucial role for him than in the
1920s. This decade saw Barth deliver two out`of his
three sets of lectures on dogmatic theology, the
Gottingen and Münster cycles, both of which directly
engaged Roman Catholic thought (the third cycle of
lectures makes up the Church Dogmatics). Roman
Catholicism became a conversation partner that Barth
encountered with a directness and concreteness that was
unprecedented in his day, and it acted as a conduit for
his retrieval of Reformation theology for modern
Protestantism. This study investigates the ways in which
Barth engaged Catholicism in the decades of the 1920s,
especially on several pivotal, material points, such as
God's concrete and objective presence in the creaturely
sphere, the event of revelation as an act of
reconciliation, and the correspondence that exists
between human knowledge of God and God's own, triune
knowledge. These material issues, on which Barth found
clarity and depth through the encounter with Roman
Catholicism, led him to what he saw as the heart of the
Protestant-Catholic divide: the doctrine of God.
More
The Mass is the "unbloody presence of the one unique bloody
sacrifice of the Cross." This is the fundamental principle upon
which Journet develops his theology of the Mass. Guided by the
teachings of the Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Magisterium of
the Church, and supported by his own rich spiritual life, Journet
plumbs the depths of this unfathomable Mystery and presents It to
the reader with a clarity rarely equaled.
MoreIslam
A close reading of police records on five conspiracies offers the opportunity to analyse this opposition in great detail, giving
special attention to the different groups of political actors in
these conspiracies that often did not come from the established
political elites. Florian Riedler investigates how their background
of class and education, but also their individual life experiences
influenced their aims and strategies, their political styles as well
as their ways of thinking on political legitimacy. In contrast, the
reaction of the authorities to these conspiracies reveals the
official understanding of Ottoman legitimacy.
The picture that emerges of the political culture of opposition
during the second half of the nineteenth century offers a unique
contribution to our understanding of the great changes in the
political system of the Ottoman Empire at the time. As such, it will
be of great interest to scholars of Middle Eastern history,
political history, and the Ottoman Empire.
More
The Akhbar al-dawla al-saljuqiyya is one of the key
primary documents on the history of Western Persia and Iraq
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This book provides an
accessible English translation and commentary on the text,
making available to a new readership this significant work
on the pre-modern history of the Middle East and the Turkish
peoples.
The text is a chronicle of the Seljuq dynasty as it
emerged within the Iranian lands in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, dominating the Middle Eastern lands, from Turkey
and Syria to Iran and eastern Afghanistan. During this
formative period in the central and eastern Islamic lands,
they inaugurated a pattern of Turkish political and military
dominance of the Middle East and beyond, from Egypt to
India, in some cases well into the twentieth century.
Shedding light on many otherwise obscure aspects of the
political history of the region, the book provides a more
detailed context for the political history of the wider
area. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of
Middle Eastern history and is an important addition to the
existing literature on the Seljuq dynasty.
More
The thematic methodology employed by the contributors
underlines their inter-disciplinary and comprehensive
approach to issues of politics and patronage from across the
Islamic world stretching from Cordoba to India. Themes range
from the religious legitimacy of Muslim rulers,
terminologies for court culture in Oriental languages,
Muslim concepts of space for royal representation,
accessibility of rulers, and the role of royal patronage for
Muslim scholars and artists, to the growing influence of
European courts as role models from the eighteenth century
onwards. Discussing specific terminologies for courts in
Oriental languages and explaining them to the
non-specialist, chapters describe the specific features of
Muslim courts and point towards future research areas. As
such, it fills this important gap in the existing literature
in the areas of Islamic history, religion, and Islam in
general. More
Beshara's main inspiration is the Andalusian mystic Muhyi al-Din Ibn
'Arabi (d.1240), possibly the most influential thinker of the second
half of Islamic history. Ibn Arabi's teaching was brought to Britain by
Bulent Rauf (d. 1987), a descendant of the Ottoman elite, and discovered
there by counterculture youth searching for new spiritual ways. Beshara
is their joint legacy.
The first detailed analysis of the adoption and adaptation of Ibn
Arabi's heritage by non-Muslims in the West, Beshara and Ibn 'Arabi is a
study of the movement's history, teachings and practices. It explores
the interface between sufism and the New Age, and the broader
contemporary encounter between Islam and the West. Investigating from a
global perspective the impact of cultural transformations associated
with modernisation and globalization on religion, this timely volume
concludes by tracing possible futures of sufi spirituality both in the
West and in`the Muslim world.
This book is essential reading for anyone interested in religious
studies and the sociology of religion, Islamic studies and Sufism, and
issues of cultural and spiritual dialogue between West and East.
Suha Taji-Farouki is Senior Lecturer in Modern Islam at the Institute
of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and Research
Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. She has published
widely on modern Islamic thought, including (ed.)
Islamic Thought in the
Twentieth Century (Institute for Ismaili Studies) and Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur'an
(Oxford University Press). Her
most recent work is a study and translation of
A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection by Ibn 'Arabi
(Anqa). More
This volume presents a translation of the source while
at the same time it carefully looks into other Eastern
Christian and Muslim traditions of the famous lore. A
comprehensive survey reconstructs the political and
topographical data. As so many other examples, also this
story pays witness to the influence of the Syriac
Christian tradition on Koran and Muslim Traditions.
More
This book provides a new key to both the Qur'an and
Islamic intellectual history. Examining Qur'anic argument by
form and not content helps readers to discover the
significance of passages often ignored by the scholar who compares texts and the believer who
focuses upon commandments, as it allows scholars of Qur'anic
exegesis, Islamic theology, philosophy, and law to tie their
findings in yet another way to the text that Muslims
consider the speech of God.
More
Muhammad is the world's
most popular name for boys.
The king of Morocco, the director general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, and the president of
Egypt are all named Muhammad, and when the famous boxer
Cassius Clay became a Muslim, he was given the name
Muhammad Ali. If there is a Muslim family in the world
that does not have a brother, grandfather, or uncle
named Muhammad, they almost certainly have a relative
who has been given one of the Prophet's other names:
Mustafa', Ahmad, or al-Amin. One also finds the names Muhammadi ("Muhammad like") and Muhammadayn ("double
Muhammad"). These habits of naming are indicative of a
popular devotion to the Prophet that enhances, and in
some cases overwhelms, the historical limits of the man
who died more than fourteen centuries ago.
More
The Age of Beloveds offers a rich introduction to early-modern
Ottoman culture through a study of its beautiful lyric love poetry.
At the same time, it suggests provocative cross-cultural parallels
in the sociology and spirituality of love in Europe—from Istanbul to
London—during the long sixteenth century. Walter G. Andrews and
Mehmet Kalpakli provide a generous sampling of translations of
Ottoman poems, many of which have never appeared in English, along
with informative and inspired close readings. The authors explain
that the flourishing of Ottoman power and culture during the
"Turkish Renaissance" manifested itself, to some degree, as an "age
of beloveds," in which young men became the focal points for the
desire and attention of powerful officeholders and artists as well
as the inspiration for a rich literature of love.
The authors show that the "age of beloveds" was not just an Ottoman,
eastern European, or Islamic phenomenon. It extended into western
Europe as well, pervading the cultures of Venice, Florence, Rome,
and London during the same period. Andrews and Kalpakli contend that
in an age dominated by absolute rulers and troubled by war, cultural
change, and religious upheaval, the attachments of dependent
courtiers and the longings of anxious commoners aroused an intense
interest in love and the beloved. The Age of Beloveds reveals new
commonalities in the cultural-history of two worlds long seen as
radically different.
Likewise her translation may well aid in the revival of appreciation
of Ottoman poetics and the mysticism of love. The girl Beauty and
the boy Love are betrothed to each other as children. But Beauty
violates the custom of the tribe by falling in love with him, and
Love must undergo the trials of a journey to the Land of the Heart
to prove himself worthy—a journey to realization of both his and
Beauty's true nature.
More
Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the
Qur'ān (EQ) combines alphabetically-arranged articles about the
contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of
qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural
history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important
themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies. With nearly 1000
entries in 5 volumes, the EQ is the first comprehensive,
multi-volume reference work on the Qur'ān to appear in a Western
language.
MoreBuddhism
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobo Genzo, in
Japanese) is a monumental work, considered to be one of the
profoundest expressions of Zen wisdom ever put on paper, and also
the most outstanding literary and philosophical work of Japan. It is
a collection of essays by Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of Zen’s
Soto school.
Kazuaki Tanahashi and a team of translators that represent a
Who’s Who of American Zen have produced a translation of the
great work that combines accuracy with a deep understanding of
Dogen’s voice and literary gifts. The finely produced, two-volume
boxed set includes a wealth of materials to aid understanding,
including maps, lineage charts, a bibliography, and an exhaustive
glossary of names and terms—and, as a bonus, the most renowned of
all Dogen’s essays, “Recommending Zazen to All People.”
More
Combining philosophically rigorous investigation and Buddhological research criteria, Early Buddhist
Metaphysics fills a significant gap in Buddhist scholarship's treatment of the conceptual
development of the Abhidhamma.
More
Jennings and Safran offer not only a survey of the encounter but
also suggests where the encounter has mutually informative and
transformative to booster clinical practice and the enhance buddhist
practice.
More
The book emphasises the importance of ritual for a
proper understanding of this allegedly anti-ritualistic
form of Buddhism. In doing so, it deconstructs the
Chan/Zen 'rhetoric of immediacy' and its ideological
underpinnings.
More
Dölpopa emphasized two contrasting definitions of the Buddhist
theory of emptiness. He described relative phenomena as "empty of
self-nature," but absolute reality as only "empty of other,'' i.e.,
relative phenomena. He further identified absolute reality as the buddha nature, or eternal essence, present in all living beings.
This view of an "emptiness of other," known in Tibetan as shentong,
is Dölpopa's enduring legacy.
The Buddha from Dölpo contains the only English translations of
three of Dölpopa's crucial works. A General Commentary on the
Doctrine is one of the earliest texts in which he systematically
presented his view of the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment. The
Fourth Council and its Autocommentary (which was not in the first
edition of this book) were written at the end of his life and
represent a final summation of his teachings. These translations
are preceded by a detailed discussion of Dölpopa's life, his
revolutionary ideas, earlier precedents for the shentong view, his
unique use of language, and the influence of his theories. The fate
of his Jonang tradition, which was censored by the central Tibetan
government in the seventeenth century but still survives is also
examined.
More
Dzogchen Ponlop (1965-) (Mind Beyond Death) in
Rebel Buddha focuses on the experiential aspects of
Buddhism that transcend culture, in the vein of
writer-teacher Stephen Batchelor's idea of Buddhism
without beliefs. Ponlop guides readers through the inner
revolution. He explains how, by training the mind and
understanding ones true nature, people can free
themselves from needless suffering. He presents a
thorough introduction to the essence of the Buddhas
teachings and argues that, if readers are to bring these
teachings fully into their personal experience, they
must go beyond the cultural trappings of traditional
Asian Buddhism. We all want to find some meaningful
truth about who we are, he says, but we can only find it
guided by our own wisdom by our own rebel buddha within.
Ponlop is one of the foremost scholars and meditation
masters of his generation in the Nyingma and Kagyu
schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is known for his sharp
intellect, humor, and the lucidity of his teaching
style. He is a prolific teacher and author, and an
accomplished calligrapher, artist, and poet.
Meditation instructions are included in the appendix.
More
Collectively, the book offers cross-cultural and
comparative insights into the transmission of Buddhist
knowledge and the use of texts and images as ritual
objects in the artistic and aesthetic traditions of
Buddhist cultures. Drawing on case studies from India,
Gandhara, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mongolia, China and
Nepal, the chapters included investigate the range of
interests and values associated with producing and using
written texts, and the roles manuscripts and images play
in the transmission of Buddhist texts and in fostering
devotion among Buddhist communities.
More
Following the pattern of Buddhism’s spread elsewhere in Asia, the
early Tibetan imperial court realized how useful normative Buddhist
concepts were.
This work clearly shows that, while some beliefs and practices per
se changed after the Tibetan Empire, the model of
socio-political-religious leadership developed in that earlier
period survived its demise and still constitutes a significant
element in contemporary Tibetan Buddhist religious culture.
MoreThe Library of Tibetan Classics
Hinduism & Buddhism
David Peter Lawrence situates these writings in their medieval,
South Asian religious and intellectual contexts. He goes on to
engage Pratyabhijna philosophical psychology in dialogue with
Western religious and psychoanalytic conceptions of identity and
"narcissism," and also demonstrates the Saiva tradition's strong
concern with ethics. The richly annotated translation and glossary
illuminate the texts for all readers.
MoreBible
In a series of studies involving the devil, Adam,
Abraham, Jonah, Mary, and Muhammad among others, Reynolds
shows how modern translators of the Qur'an have followed
medieval Muslim commentary and demonstrates how an
appreciation of the Qur'an's Biblical subtext uncovers the
richness of the Qur'an's discourse. Presenting unique
interpretations of thirteen different sections of the Qur'an
based on studies of earlier Jewish and Christian literature,
the author substantially re-evaluates Muslim exegetical
literature. Thus The Qur'an and Its Biblical Subtext, a work
based on a profound regard for the Qur'an's literary
structure and rhetorical strategy, poses a substantial
challenge to the standard scholarship of Qur'anic Studies.
With an approach that bridges early Christian history and
Islamic origins, the book will appeal not only to students
of the Qur'an but to students of the Bible, religious
studies, and Islamic history.
More
Septuagint and Reception
by Johann Cook (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum: Brill
Academic) A new
association for the study of the Septuagint was formed in
South Africa recently. The present collection is a
compilation of papers delivered at the first conference of
this association, as well as other contributions. The volume
addresses issues touching on the Septuagint in the broad
sense of the word. This includes the Old Greek text (Daniel,
Proverbs, Psalms and Lamentations) as well as the reception
of the LXX (NT, Augustine and Jerome, etc.). A few
contributions that may be regarded as miscellanea are
nevertheless related to matters Septuagintal (Aristeas,
Peshitta, Eunochos).
All those
interested in the Septuagint, its reception history and
later reception, the ancient versions (Peshitta),
hermeneutics, as well as philologists and theologians.
More
Focusing upon the extraordinary circumstances of the production of the editio
princeps of the Syriac New Testament in 1555 and establishing a reliable history
of that edition, this book offers an new account of the origin of Syriac studies
in Europe and a fresh evaluation of Catholic Orientalism in the sixteenth
century. The reception of Syriac into the West is shown to have been
characterised, under the influence of Egidio da Viterbo and Postel, by a
Christian Kabbalistic worldview which also determined the reception of other
Oriental languages.
More
The companion volume
The Kabbalistic Scholars of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible by Robert
J. Wilkinson (Studies in the History of Christian Thought: Brill)
places the Syriac New Testament in the Antwerp Polyglot within a new
appreciation of sixteenth century Catholic Syriac and Oriental
scholarship. The Spanish antecedents of the Polyglot and the role of
Montano in its production are evaluated before the focus is turned
upon the Northern Scholars who prepared the Syriac edition. Their
motivation is shown, particularly in the case of Guillaume Postel,
to derive from both Christian kabbalah and an insistent
eschatological timetable. The principles of Christian kabbalah found
in the Polyglot are then shown to be characteristic also of Guy
Lefevre de la Boderie's 1584 Paris edition of the Syriac New
Testament dedicated to Henri III.
The Antwerp Polyglot Bible is one of the great monuments of
sixteenth-century typographic and scholarly achievement. It is
surprising then that it lacks a worthy treatment in depth in any
language, though there are several important works and articles that
provide essential orientation. Predictably much of the secondary
literature has been produced either around the Plantin Museum in
Antwerp or in Spain. With significant exceptions the earlier Spanish
work tended to be celebratory and patriotic as Spanish scholars have
in the past shown themselves eager to claim the Antwerp Polyglot, or
the Biblia Regia, as the culmination of the great Spanish tradition
begun at Alcalá, and to see Montano, the Spanish king's project
director, very much as the channel through which the tradition was
transmitted to Antwerp. Things look somewhat different from Belgium
where the magnificent resources of the Plantin Museum and
specifically Plantin's correspondence have enabled scholars to
produce fundamental works of scholarship and to emphasise the
contribution of North European scholars to the project.
More
The aim of
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews is to provide answers to
these questions by employing that branch of social psychology known
as social identity theory.
MoreScience
In a compelling synthesis of the ideas of seminal thinkers from
depth psychology and new paradigm science, Le Grice positions the
new discipline of archetypal astrology at the centre of an emerging
world view that reunifies psyche and cosmos, spirituality and
science, mythology and metaphysics, enabling us to see mythic gods,
heroes and themes in a fresh light.
Heralding a 'rediscovery of the gods' and the passage into a new
spiritual era, The Archetypal Cosmos presents a new understanding of
the role of myth and archetypal principles in our lives, one that
could give a cosmic perspective and deeper meaning to our personal
experience.
Its Advisory Board includes James E. Bobick, Former Department Head,
Science and Technology Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; K. Lee
Lerner, Managing Director LernerMedia and Managing Partner Lerner &
Lerner, LLC; and David A. Tyckoson, Associate Dean, Henry Madden
Library, California State University, Fresno.
American Men & Women of Science (AMWS), the twenty-eighth
edition, was first compiled as American Men of Science by J. McKeen
Cattell in 1906. In its 104 year history, AMWS has profiled the
careers of more than 300,000 people in various scientific fields.
Since the first edition, the number of U.S. and Canadian scientists
and the fields they pursue has grown immensely. This edition alone
lists 131,011 people in science, 1,000 of which are listed for the
first time and approximately 40,000 updated entries. Although the
8-volume series has grown, its stated purpose is the same as when
Dr. Cattell first undertook the task of producing a biographical
directory of active American scientists.
More
more
Advances in Biological and Chemical Terrorism Countermeasures
edited by Ronald J. Kendall, Steven M. Presley, Galen P.
Austin, Philip N. Smith (CRC)
Drawing heavily on the findings and conclusions from research
conducted through the Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. National Program
for Countermeasures to Biological and Chemical Threats (operated
through The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas
Tech University and partially funded through the U.S. Army Research,
Development and Engineering Command), this critical work provides
perspectives, policies, and procedures to assist the United States
and other nations to counter or prevent current and emerging
terrorist threats.
Andrew Weeks is Professor of German at Illinois State University,
with a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University of
Illinois, has published intellectual biographies of Jacob Boehme,
Paracelsus, Valentin Weigel, a history of German mysticism, and
translations of Weigel's writings. He is well qualified to help in
the reform of this pivotal figure standing between tradition and the
innovations of science.
MoreTechnology
Complex Worlds edited by Adrienne P. Lamberti, Assistant
Professor of English and Professional Writing Program Coordinator at
the University of Northern Iowa, and Anne R. Richards, Assistant
Professor of English at Kennesaw State University, is a collection
of thought-provoking scholarly essays by teachers and industry
practitioners in professional communication and technology-oriented
fields. The collection aims to help familiarize advanced students,
teachers, and researchers in professional communication, computers
and writing, literacy, and sister disciplines with key issues in
digital theory and practice. An emphasis on the situations of and
audiences for digital communication identifies
Complex Worlds as a rhetorical approach.
More
Encouraging efficiency, clarity, and disciplined thinking, A3
Problem Solving identifies a problem, describes the objective, and
summarizes fact-finding and action steps, all on a single A3-sized
piece of paper. This approach provides all employees at all levels
with a method to quickly identify a problem, analyze it to root
cause, select appropriate countermeasures, and communicate necessary
actions to decision makers.
The A3 Workbook is designed to teach A3 Problem Solving to
workers at every level of the organization. Uniquely qualified to
author this workbook, Daniel Matthews is a trainer with 30 years of
training experience including Lean implementation and Training
within Industry (TWI). Fourteen of those years he spent with the
Toyota Company, which created and made use of the A3 as a core
component of continuous quality improvement.
More
In addition, the instantaneous nature of the Internet has made it
possible for individuals and businesses to connect with each other
in new and amazing ways, forging online communities and networks
that commingle personal and professional issues.
The software and technology that enables this process is
continually changing and is quite complex. While Fortune 500
corporations may still avail themselves of proprietary broadband
networks that support sophisticated and expensive videoconferencing,
more and more organizations are using reasonably priced software
over the Internet to reach out to customers, clients, colleagues,
students, constituencies, and other audiences.
More
Justin and his team deploy state-of-the-art strategy tools to
analyze the attractiveness of potential markets for the technology.
But they soon realize the tools don't help them grapple with the
human side of strategy including political forces swirling within
HGS. Everyone involved in the engagement is biased and insecure,
brilliant and hardworking, selfish and lazy, loyal and dedicated.
The political and organizational forces swirling within HGS
complicate his analyses and test his fundamental understanding of
important strategic concepts.
More
Power Practice Problems for the Electrical and Computer PE Exam
by John A. Camara PE (Professional Publications, Inc.) Targeted Power Exam Coverage in One Easy-to-Use Book
The Power Reference Manual for the Electrical and Computer PE
Exam is the best source for the information you need to pass the
Power exam. Developed for candidates seeking focused Power exam
coverage, this comprehensive text aligns with and covers all the
topics on the NCEES Power exam specifications.
Best-selling author, John A. Camara, PE, draws upon his
professional experience and his years as an instructor to
provide clear and focused explanations of the exam topics using
step-by-step example problems. He also provides suggested
references, time management techniques, and exam tips—all the
tools you need to pass your exam.
Once you pass your exam, the Power Reference Manual will serve
as an invaluable reference for your daily power electrical
engineering needs.
More
Print + Perpetual Access: $390.00
Mathematics
Common methods of stochastic optimization include direct search
methods (such as the Nelder-Mead method), stochastic approximation,
stochastic programming, and miscellaneous methods such as simulated
annealing and genetic algorithms.
Physics
Wolfgang Pauli, one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics,
together with great psychologist Carl GustavJung, guessed about the
relation between quantum mechanics and consciousness in the
beginning of the twentieth century. However, only "many-worlds"
interpretation of quantum mechanics, proposed in 1957 by Hugh
Everett Ill, gave the real basis for the systematic investigation of
this relation.
Roger Penrose, one of the apologists of the relation between
quantum mechanics and consciousness, claimed in his Last book "The
Road to Reality" that the Everett's interpretation may be estimated
only after creating the theory of consciousness. There against, the
author has proposed in 2000 and further elaborates in this book, the
so-called Extended Everett's Concept, that allows one to derive the
main features of consciousness and super-consciousness (intuition, or direct vision of truth) from quantum mechanics. This is exposed in this book in a form intelligible for a wide audience.
More
Functional Materials assumes that the readers have had a one-semester introductory undergraduate course on materials science. The coverage on functional materials is much broader and deeper than that of an introductory materials science course.
The book features hundreds of illustrations to help explain concepts and provide quantitative information. The style is general towards tutorial. Most chapters include sections on example problems, review questions and supplementary reading.
This book is suitable for use as a textbook in undergraduate and graduate engineering courses. It is also suitable for use as a reference book for professionals in the electronic, computer, communication, aerospace, automotive, transportation, construction, energy and control industries.
MoreChemistry
Ecology
Greening Existing Buildings features proven technologies
and operating methods, and shows building owners and facility
managers how to green buildings in a cost-effective way. This
practical and insightful resource highlights the ten best practices
for greening existing buildings, and includes more than 25 case
studies of successful implementations and 35 insightful interviews
with industry experts and building owners and managers.
More
Functional assessment enables the user to predict the functioning
of a wetland area without the need for comprehensive and expensive
empirical research. The FAPs therefore provide a methodology that
can be used by both experts and non-experts to assess wetland
functioning relatively rapidly. The volume includes an electronic
version of the FAPs on CD which automates aspects of the assessment
once the initial recording stage is completed. It is anticipated
that the FAPs will be used by a range of individuals or organisations concerned with wetland management who wish to gain a
better understanding of the processes, functions, services or
benefits and potential of the wetlands for which they have
responsibility.
More Social Science
Semetsky's book is a timely antidote for our current crises
in education. Drawing on her empirical research with Tarot and her
deep knowledge of Jungian psychology, she offers an approach to
education that stirs the depths of the Self as it deepens mind into
soul. Her Tarot hermeneutic opens a path toward a revolutionary
pedagogy that, in its commitment to the complexity, fullness and
fluidity of human subjectivity, recovers the ethical and therapeutic
dimensions of education. A bold book, a daring achievement, a spark
of illumination! --ROBERT D. ROMANYSHYN, Senior Core Faculty,
Pacifica Graduate Institute; Affiliate Member of the Inter-Regional
Society of Jungian Analysts; author of The Wounded Researcher:
Research with Soul in Mind and Ways of the Heart: Essays toward an
Imaginal Psychology.
This text elucidates the potential of Tarot well beyond its
popular usage. It demonstrates how Tarot can become a pedagogical
and counseling tool for enriching human experiences and the whole of
culture with wisdom, integrity, meaning, and spirituality. A must to
read! ---MARY K. GREER, author of Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook
for Personal Transformation.
Bringing together popular and academic cultures, Inna
Semetsky presents Tarot as a system of transformative hermeneutics
for adult self-education and cultural pedagogy. Her research is a
decisive and intelligent step ahead from the reductive stereotype of
Tarot as fortune-telling. The fifteen life stories at the heart of
the book exemplify the author's commitment to alternative modes of
education and counseling that transcend individual, cultural or
language barriers. Assembling a rich array of sources, from
Hermeticism to Jungian depth psychology, the philosophies of
Noddings, Buber, and Deleuze, and the science of self-organization,
this book opens a new path to personal and social revitalization. It
should be widely read across disciplinary divides by scholars,
students, and professionals alike. --PHILIP WEXLER, Professor,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem; author of Symbolic Movement:
Critique and Spirituality in Sociology of Education and Holy Sparks:
Social Theory, Education and Religion.
More
This is the only general textbook on drug use and abuse with a
specific orientation toward crime and criminal justice concerns. It
is an adaptation of Levinthals Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society,
5th edition, the third edition of this successful, widely-regarded,
highly readable and pedagogy-oriented textbook. It is oriented to
the psychological and sociological aspects of drug-taking behavior
in contemporary life.
More
The Sociology of Childhood presents a focus on children's
relationships with peers and adults, including coverage of
children's peer cultures from preschool through preadolescence. This
third edition, like the first two editions, is about children and
childhood from a sociological perspective. An interpretive
perspective on the sociology of childhood is contrasted with more
traditional socialization or outcome approaches. A special chapter
reviews and evaluates different methodologies for studying children
and childhood and discusses the special ethical consideration. The
volume brings together Corsaros ideas and experiences gained from
research and teaching in this area during the past 30 years.
More
Language Documentation details the most recent developments in
this rapidly developing field with papers written by linguists
primarily based in academic institutions in North America, although
many conduct their fieldwork elsewhere.
More
In presenting the case of Kaska, an endangered language in an
Athapascan community in the Yukon, Barbra Meek, associate professor
of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Michigan,
asserts that language revitalization requires more than just
linguistic rehabilitation; it demands a social transformation. The
process must mend rips and tears in the social fabric of the
language community that result from an enduring colonial history
focused on termination. These disjunctures include government
policies conflicting with community goals, widely varying teaching
methods and generational viewpoints, and even clashing ideologies
within the language community.
We Are Our Language provides the detailed investigation of
language revitalization based on more than two years of active
participation in local language renewal efforts. Each chapter
focuses on a different dimension, such as spelling and expertise,
conversation and social status, family practices, and bureaucratic
involvement in local language choices. Each situation illustrates
the balance between the desire for linguistic continuity and the
reality of disruption. More
Why young men voluntarily go off to war has long defied
understanding. Eagerly risking one's life seems contrary to the
innate instinct for self-preservation. Are young males notorious
risk takers courting death out of some irresistible altruistic
impulse to sacrifice their lives for a larger cause or, conversely,
do they expect something in return?
More
This investigation is framed by two steps. First, in assessing
the position of women and the feminine in psychoanalysis, The
Gendered Unconscious explores not only the ways they are
represented in theory, but also how these representations function
in practice. Secondly, this book uses a framework of a comparative
dialogue to highlight the assumptions and values that underpin the
theory and clinical practice in the two psychoanalytic models. This
comparative critique concludes with the counter-intuitive claim that
contemporary Kleinian theory may, in practice, hold more radical
possibilities for the interests of women than the practices derived
from contemporary psychoanalytic gender theory.
More
In contrast to most representations of poverty in the social
sciences which create a "calamity story" of the lives of poor
people, the coverage in this book is meant to balance the focus on
harsh realities with the cultural-psychological resiliency of
individuals and families under poverty.
MorePolicing & Criminology
Commercial sexual
exploitation of children (CSEC) has become a global
social problem. CSEC involves youth (aged 17 years old
and younger) who engage in the performance of sexual
acts in return for a fee, food, drugs, shelter,
clothing, gifts, or other goods. The sexual conduct may
include any direct sexual contact, such as prostitution,
or live or filmed performances (e.g., stripping,
pornography) involving sexual acts or for the sexual
gratification of others. The United States Department of
Justice estimates that as many as 100,000 children are
currently involved in prostitution, child pornography,
and trafficking, but the true number may be in the
millions.
MoreLaw
The analysis in
Justice in Genetics offers a justification for engaging in a
global and more equitable redistribution of health-related
resources. Louise Bernier, Professor and Head, Law and Life Sciences
Program, University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, examines if and how this
theory of distribution translates into positive law and analyzes the
barriers to legal compliance and global distributive justice in
health. Other topics analyzed in
Justice in Genetics include intellectual property and
international human rights and the extent to which the philosophy
and structure of each of these normative systems furthers the goal
of distributing benefits equitably and globally; the use of strong
and original normative landmarks to justify relying on a
cosmopolitan approach to global justice based on health needs; and
the social, political, economic and legal obstacles and
opportunities resulting from the commercialization of the quickly
evolving field of genetics.
As described in the preface, genetics is one sector in which there
has been tremendous evolution and progress over the last few
decades. While it is believed that genetics could offer tremendous
opportunities for global health improvement, there is also a fear
that existing global health inequalities will be amplified by the
evolution of genetics.
More
But rather than being a purely descriptive black letter textbook the
book provides scholarly analysis by references to themes, trends and
theoretical perspectives in contemporary legal developments. The key
strengths and weaknesses involved in highlighting gender in the law
are investigated, with each chapter showing whether gender impacts
on the relevant area of law, and how it does so. Primary and
secondary source materials are interpreted from different
perspectives to clarify trends and forecast future developments.
Through this analysis the book helps the reader to critically
evaluate for themselves the issues, and to obtain a more critical
view of the relevant areas of law. Business
Great managers serve others; they develop the shine in their people.
In
Shine, bestselling author and ADD expert Edward Hallowell draws
on brain science, performance research, and his own experience
helping people maximize their potential to present a proven process
for getting the best from their people.
The central question for all managers in these pressure-packed,
confusing, unsettled times is how to draw the most from their
talent. Finding the shine in someone, helping all ones people
perform at their highest levels, isn't rocket science. It is brain
science, but it has yet to be codified into a simple and reliable
process that all managers can use. In
Shine, Hallowell formulates such a code, the Cycle of
Excellence. It is a process that he has created and honed over the
past twenty-five years as a doctor, practicing psychiatrist, author,
consultant, instructor at the Harvard Medical School and director of
the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health. He explains
peak performance and provides managers with a practical plan to
bring the best from the people who work for them.
More Feminism
Archaeology
Ethics
Philosophy of Science
Life Science
Animals have a long history in human society, providing food,
labour, sport and companionship as well as becoming objects for
exhibit. More contemporary uses extend to animals as therapy and in
scientific testing. As natural habitats continue to be destroyed,
the rights of animals to co-exist on the planet - and their symbolic
power as a connection between humans and the natural world - are
ever more hotly contested.
The Animals Reader brings together the key classic and
contemporary writings from Philosophy, Ethics, Sociology, Cultural
Studies, Anthropology, Environmental Studies, History, Law and
Science. As the first book of its kind, The Animals Reader provides
a framework for understanding the current state of the
multidisciplinary field of animal studies.This anthology will be
invaluable for`students across the Humanities and Social Sciences as
well as for general readers.
More Medicine
Psychology
After a long period where it has been
conceived as iconoclastic and almost forbidden, the question of
language origins is now at the center of a rich debate, confronting
acute proposals and original theories. Most importantly, the debate
is nourished by a large set of experimental data from disciplines
surrounding language. The editors of
Primate Communication and Human Language have gathered
researchers from various fields, with the common objective of taking
as seriously as possible the search for continuities from non-human
primate vocal and gestural communication systems to human speech and
language, in a multidisciplinary perspective combining ethology,
neuroscience, developmental psychology and linguistics, as well as
computer science and robotics. New data and theoretical elaborations
on the emergence of referential communication and language are
debated by some of the most creative scientists in the world.
Editors of the volume are Anne Vilain, Universite de Grenoble and
GIPSA-Lab; Jean-Luc Schwartz, CNRS GIPSA-Lab, Grenoble; Christian
Abry, Stendhal University (Grenoble, 1971-2009); and Jacques
Vauclair, Universite de Provence, Aix-en-Provence.
More
Divided into three parts, areas of discussion include:
Jung in the 21st Century Volume Two: Synchronicity and Science
by John Ryan Haule (Routledge) The second volume
explores Jung's understanding of synchronicity and argues that it
offers an important contribution to contemporary science. Whilst the
scientific world has often ignored Jung's theories as being too much
like mysticism, Haule argues that what the human psyche knows beyond
sensory perception is extremely valuable.
Divided into two parts, areas of discussion include:
Preeminent neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran, the director of the
Center for Brain and Cognition and a professor with the Psychology
Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of
California, San Diego, is at the forefront of his field. One of the
most original and daring neuroscientists of our age, Ramachandran
has spent much of his life's work expanding our understanding of the
human brain. His pioneering spirit and innovative methods have
resulted in Richard Dawkins dubbing him the Marco Polo of
neuroscience. And Nobel laureate Eric Kandel hails Ramachandran as
the modern Paul Broca, referring to the founding father of
neurology. But if Ramachandran takes after anyone, it may just be
Sherlock Holmes. More
On Behalf of the Mystical Fool examines Jung's critique of
traditional western religion, demonstrating the
negative consequences of religious and political collective
unconsciousness, and their consequent social irresponsibility in
today's culture. The book concludes by suggesting that a new
religiosity and spirituality is currently emerging in the West based
on the individual’s access to the sense of ultimacy residual in the
psyche, and seeking expression in a myth of a much wider compass.The Greatest Dictionary ever Produced in America, Easily a Rival
of the OED.
History
In Democratic Enlightenment, Israel demonstrates that the
Enlightenment was an essentially revolutionary process, driven by
philosophical debate. The American Revolution and its concerns
certainly acted as a major factor in the intellectual ferment that
shaped the wider upheaval that followed, but the radical
philosophes were no less critical than enthusiastic about the
American model. From 1789, the General Revolution's impetus came
from a small group of philosophe-revolutionnaires, men such
as Mirabeau, Sieyes, Condorcet, Volney, Roederer, and Brissot. Not
aligned to any of the social groups represented in the French
National assembly, they nonetheless forged "la philosophie
moderne"--in effect Radical Enlightenment ideas--into a
world-transforming ideology that had a lasting impact in Latin
America, Canada and eastern Europe as well as France, Italy,
Germany, and the Low Countries. In addition, Israel argues that
while all French revolutionary journals powerfully affirmed that
la philosophie moderne was the main cause of the French
Revolution, the main stream of historical thought has failed to
grasp what this implies. Israel sets the record straight,
demonstrating the true nature of the engine that drove the
Revolution, and the intimate links between the radical wing of the
Enlightenment and the anti-Robespierriste "Revolution of reason."
More
The influence of ancient Greece and Rome can be seen in
every aspect of our lives. From calendars to democracy
to the very languages we speak, Western civilization
owes a debt to these classical societies. Yet the Greeks
and Romans did not emerge fully formed; their`culture
grew from an active engagement with a deeper past,
drawing on ancient myths and figures to shape vibrant
civilizations.
In The Birth of Classical Europe,`the latest entry in
the Penguin History of Europe, historians Simon Price
and Peter Thonemann present a fresh perspective on
classical culture in a book full of revelations about
civilizations we thought we knew. In this impeccably
researched and immensely readable history we see the
ancient world unfold before us, with its grand cast of
characters stretching from the great Greeks of myth to
the world-shaping Caesars. A landmark achievement, The
Birth of Classical Europe provides insight into an epoch
that is both incredibly foreign and surprisingly
familiar.
More
This book takes a different tack which focuses on the
domestic roots of the August 2008 war. Collectively the
authors in this volume present a more multidimensional
context for the war. They analyze historical relations
between national minorities in the region, look at the
link between democratic development, state-building, and
war, and explore the role of leadership and public
opinion. Digging beneath often simplistic geopolitical
explanations, the authors give the national minorities
and Georgians themselves, the voice that is often
forgotten by Western analysts.
This book is based on a special issue of
Central
Asian Survey.
More
Thus, this book presents two perspectives on the
Caucasus: Tolstoi's enlightened European viewpoint and
al-Qarakhi's indigenous interpretation. The commentary
at the end of this work analyzes the war of worlds
between imperial Russia and the Islamic mountaineers.
Because of the currency of the subject matter, the
eminence of Tolstoi, and the privileged proximity of al-Qarakhi
to Imam Shamil and to the imam's view of the conflict,
we think this book is an excellent case study of
cultural collision. As such we hope it will be of
interest to specialists in Russian and Middle Eastern
studies, to teachers of world and European history
courses, and to the educated public in the
English-speaking world and beyond.
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Enduring Loss in Early Modern Germany assembles
cross-disciplinary perspectives on the experience of and responses
to forms of material and spiritual loss in early modern Germany. It
traces how individuals and communities registered, coped with, and
made sense of such events as war, religious reform, bankruptcy,
religious marginalization, the death of spouses and children, and
the loss of freedom of movement through a spectrum of activities
including writing poetry, keeping diaries, erecting monuments,
collecting books, singing, painting, repeatedly migrating, and
painting, and thereby not only turned loss into gain but
self-consciously made history.
More
The social and institutional history of the Roman Republic,
especially that of the earliest years, is one of the most
problematic and contested areas of study in the ancient world.
Modem scholars have tended to assume that we should take the broad
outlines of the traditions handed to us by the Romans at face value,
despite their invention hundreds of stories after the fact. The
inevitable result is that the dominant modern narrative contains a
core of assumptions of dubious historicity. While some scholars
have made significant attempts to correct portions of the obviously
flawed narrative, virtually none have gone so far as to question its
most fundamental elements. Mitchell's work has always done exactly
this and when originally published, the majority of his arguments were
regarded as radical. Nevertheless, over the last twenty years, or so,
scholarly consensus is inexorable moving toward Mitchell. This
collection traces the development of Mitchell's thought processes
and highlights all of the most important evidence.
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Examines the structural elements and narrative methods Flannery
O'Connor employs "to create her fictional landscape." Focuses on her
use of the archetypal trickster as "a likely guide through [her]
landscape and interpreter of her narrative secret."
MoreFiction
Literature
Beginning with the village's celebration of the Harvest Moon
Festival in 1897, the plot takes place over a ten-year period and
revolves around the household of Ch'oe Chisu, a rich landowner, who,
though envied by many for his wealth, is embittered by the fact that
his wife has not borne him a son. Characters emerge upon whom the
rest of the story devolves — including the Lady Yun with her
prophetic wisdom; the wilful Sohui, daughter of Ch'oe Chisu; and the
tender-hearted Wolson, accepting as her due the ignominy of life as
a shaman's daughter.
An enthralling saga and panorama of Korean village life in the
early 20th century (roughly 1895-1925) by that country's most highly
acclaimed living novelist. The story, which possesses both the
formal dimensions and the high seriousness of epic, is set in a
period during which Japan held strong sway over Korea, regulating
its business and industry and making arbitrary land grants to
Japanese settlers. At the heart of the novel is a series of
conflicts between Korean conservatives too enervated to oppose
Japan's acquisitive energies and radical native insurgents. Their
resistance culminated in the Dong Hak rebellion, a watershed
historical event that casts long shadows over the intricately
interwoven fates of Kyong-Ni's vividly drawn characters--most
especially Choi Chisoo, an arrogant, wealthy landowner, hated and
envied by his neighbors and servants, and at continual odds with his
embittered wife, whose ``failure'' to bear him a son provokes Choi's
bitter displeasure and sets in motion a chain of events leading to
his downfall. The author employs a kind of Upstairs, Downstairs
structure, in which nondescript villagers and assorted second-class
citizens observe, comment on, and in some ways parallel the lives of
their "betters.'' Among the most memorable are Pyongsan, an
impoverished landowner waiting patiently through half a lifetime to
be revenged on the avaricious Choi; the handsome villager Yongi; and
the scheming Guinyo, the ambitious housemaid whose plan to rise
above her station precipitates chaos, losses, and death, and drives
the story to its stunning, tragic conclusion. The energy of
melodrama surges through this big novel, yet as a portrait of a
culture and a knowing psychological tale of the social and personal
consequences of rigidly enforced class differences, it's a work of
high literary distinction as well. A much-beloved work in Korea
(where it was made into an equally popular television series) that
should find many grateful admirers in America as well.
More
Did you know, you were born as the first, and
the last and the best and the only one of your kind, and that
eccentricity is the first sign of giftedness? These are two of the
crone truths I have to offer you. from the audio CD
If readers have any doubt, come to the fireside of
The Dangerous Old Woman for the soul-healing wisdom that will
ignite creativity and support readers highest calling in life. Three
decades in the writing,
The Dangerous Old Woman presents part one of Clarissa Pinkola
Ests' masterwork. In six inspire 'til you're on fire sessions, Ests
animates the archetypal patterns of the Wise Woman through her
original stories, poetry, and blessings.
More
Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume II, The Romantics to
the 20th Century and Beyond Fourth
Edition,edited by David Damrosch, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, Christopher
Baswell, and Clare Carroll (Pearson Education)
With its first edition, The Longman Anthology of British
Literature created a new paradigm for anthologies. Responding to
major shifts in literary studies over the past thirty years, it
became the first collection to pay detailed attention to the
contexts within which these classic works of British literature were
created and to highlight the full cultural diversity of the British
isles. For the first time, canonical authors mingled with newly
visible writers; English accents were heard next to Anglo-Norman,
Welsh, and Scottish ones; female and male voices were set in
dialogue; literature from the British Isles was integrated with
post-colonial writing; and major works were complemented with
shorter pieces and "perspectives" groupings that brought literary,
social, cultural, and historical issues vividly to life.
MorePoetry
This carefully edited book collects much of Bishop's poetry and
prose--fiction, memoir, reportage, reviews--between two covers for
the first time. This edition is the first to contain all the poetry that Bishop
published in her lifetime - including the classic volumes North &
South, A Cold Spring, Questions of Travel, and Geography III - and
an extensive selection of unpublished poems and drafts of poems, as
well as all of her published poetic translations. The volume also
brings together most of her published prose writings, including
fiction, reminiscences, travel writing about the places (Nova
Scotia, Florida, Brazil) that so profoundly marked her poetry, and
literary essays, including a number of pieces not previously
collected. The book is rounded out with a selection of 49 letters
written between 1933 and 1979, to such correspondents as Robert
Lowell, Marianne Moore, and Randall Jarrell. The result is a single
edition that offers a full-scale presentation of a writer of
startling range and originality, the perfect introduction for readers new to Bishop's work, and the ultimate
collector's edition for her many devoted fans.
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