The Art and Science of Hand Reading: Classical Methods for
Self-Discovery through Palmistry by Ellen Goldberg, Dorian
Bergen (Destiny Books) In this comprehensive guide to hand reading,
based on Ellen Goldberg’s 40 years of teaching palmistry and the
Western Mystery tradition, the authors make the powerful insights of
the hand accessible in an inviting and user-friendly manner. The
book presents the character traits and personality archetypes
associated with each of the seven mounts of the palm and shows how
to determine which are most influential in the nature of the
individual. The mount archetypes reveal the lifestyle, love, sex,
and marriage preferences; the best career choices; and the unique
strengths and weaknesses for each person. The book also examines
other factors that enhance the qualities revealed by the mount
types, including the flexibility of the hand, texture of the skin,
and the shapes of the fingers, fingertips, and nails. The meaning of
each major and minor line is described in detail as well as the
influence the person’s own mind has in healing defects and obstacles
found on their lines. The authors also provide accurate timing
guides for each line, making it possible to locate specific events
and to see how your lines change over time.
Palmistry is a science and a universal language. The hand tells a
story about your talents, relationships, health, and how you feel
about yourself. It reveals periods of ease or challenge in your
life, and it speaks about your weaknesses and the traits you need to
develop. As you change, so do your hands, reflecting the progress
you have made.
Presenting the hand as a guide to self-fulfillment, The Art and
Science of Hand Reading incorporates correspondences to other
mystical sciences such as astrology, Kabbalah, the Hermetic
teachings, and archetypal psychology. It also includes practical
examples and more than 600 illustrations to show how to integrate
the meanings of each part of the hand to form a complete picture of
your inner psychology and your ever-changing destiny.
Truth and Method by Hans-Georg Gadamer, translation revised by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall (Bloomsbury Revelations Series: Bloomsbury Academic)
Truth and Method is a landmark work of 20th century thought which established Hans Georg-Gadamer as one of the most important philosophical voices of the 20th Century. In this book, Gadamer established the field of ‘philosophical hermeneutics': exploring the nature of knowledge, the book rejected traditional quasi-scientific approaches to establishing cultural meaning that were prevalent after the war. In arguing the ‘truth' and ‘method' acted in opposition to each other, Gadamer examined the ways in which historical and cultural circumstance fundamentally influenced human understanding. It was an approach that would become hugely influential in the humanities and social sciences and remains so to this day in the work of Jürgen Habermas and many others. More
The Subtle Body Practice Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to Energy Healing by Cyndi Dale (Sounds True)
Cyndi Dale's The Subtle Body has become the go-to guide for anyone who wants to learn about the many varieties of energy healing. With The Subtle Body Practice Manual Dale, an internationally respected author and spiritual scholar, offers a practical instruction manual for putting energy healing into action. Filled with information, step-by-step guidance, diagrams, and insights, the book is an expansive how-to manual that covers practices from a vast range of holistic healing and energy medicine traditions. More
Net of Being by Alex Grey (Inner Traditions) Alex Grey’s painting Net of Being – inspired by a blazing vision of an infinite grid of Godheads during an ayahuasca journey – has reached millions as the cover and interior of the band TOOL’s Grammy award-winning triple-platinum album, 10,000 Days. Net of Being is one of many images Grey has created that have resulted in a chain reaction of uses – from apparel and jewelry to tattoos and music videos. Grey is the author of Sacred Mirrors, Transfigurations, The Mission of Art, and Art Psalms. His work has been exhibited throughout the world. More
Cambridge History of Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century (1790-1870)by Allen W. Wood and Songsuk Susan Hahn (Cambridge University Press) brings together twenty-nine leading experts in the field and covers the years 1790-1870. Their twenty-seven chapters provide a comprehensive survey of the period, organizing the material topically. After a brief editor's introduction, it begins with three chapters surveying the background of nineteenth century philosophy: followed by two on logic and mathematics, two on nature and natural science, five on mind and language, including psychology, the human sciences and aesthetics, four on ethics, three on religion, seven on society, including chapters on the French Revolution, the decline of natural right, political economy, and social discontent, and three on history, dealing with historical method, speculative theories of history and the history of philosophy. The essays are framed by an editor's introduction and a bibliography. More
The Archaeology of the Soul: Platonic Readings in Ancient Poetry and Philosophy by Seth Benardete, Ronna Burger and Michael Davis (St. Augustine's Press) The Archaeology of the Soul is a testimony to the extraordinary scope of Seth Benardete's thought. Some essays concern particular authors or texts; others range more broadly and are thematic. Some deal explicitly with philosophy; others deal with epic, lyric, and tragic poetry. Some of these authors are Greek, some Roman, and still others are contemporaries writing about antiquity. All of these essays, however, are informed by an underlying vision, which is a reflection of Benardete's life-long engagement with one thinker in particular – Plato. The Platonic dialogue presented Benardete with the most vivid case of that periagoge, or turn-around, that he found to be the sign of all philosophic thinking and that is the signature as well of his own interpretations not only of Plato but also of other thinkers. The late Benardete (1930-2001), was an outstanding teacher and scholar in classical literature and philosophy and taught at New York University; editors are Ronna Burger, who teaches philosophy at Tulane University and Michael Davis, who teaches philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College. More
The Unity of Linguistic Meaning by John Collins (University of Oxford Press) The problem of the unity of the proposition is almost as old as philosophy itself, and was one of the central themes of early analytical philosophy, greatly exercising the minds of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, and Ramsey. The problem is how propositions or meanings can be simultaneously unities (single things) and complexes, made up of parts that are autonomous of the positions they happen to fill in any given proposition. The problem has been associated with numerous paradoxes and has motivated general theories of thought and meaning, but has eluded any consensual resolution; indeed, the problem is sometimes thought to be wholly erroneous, a result of atomistic assumptions we should reject. In short, the problem has been thought to be of merely historical interest. Collins argues that the problem is very real and poses a challenge to any theory of linguistic meaning. He seeks to resolve the problem by laying down some minimal desiderata on a solution and presenting a uniquely satisfying account. The first part of the book surveys and rejects extant 'solutions' and dismissals of the problem from (especially) Frege and Russell, and a host of more contemporary thinkers, including Davidson and Dummett. The book's second part offers a novel solution based upon the properties of a basic syntactic principle called 'Merge', which may be said to create objects inside objects, thus showing how unities can be both single things but also made up of proper parts. The solution is defended from both philosophical and linguistic perspectives. The overarching ambition of the book, therefore, is to strengthen the ties between current linguistics and contemporary philosophy of language in a way that is genuinely sensitive to the history of both fields. More
The Adventure of French Philosophy by Alain Badiou and edited and translated, with an introduction by Bruno Bosteels (Verso Books) presents over forty years of French philosophy through the eyes of its greatest living exponent, Alain Badiou. Badiou teaches philosophy at the École normale supérieure and the Collège international de philosophie in Paris. In addition to several novels, plays and political essays, he has published a number of major philosophical works, including Theory of the Subject, Being and Event, Manifesto for Philosophy, and Gilles Deleuze. His recent books include The Meaning of Sarkozy, Ethics, Metapolitics, Polemics, The Communist Hypothesis, Five Lessons on Wagner, and Wittgenstein's Anti-Philosophy. More
Kant's Dog: On Borges, Philosophy, and the Time of Translation by David E. Johnson (SUNY Series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture Series: SUNY Press) Kant's Dog provides fresh insight into Borges's preoccupation with the contradiction of the time that passes and the identity that endures. By developing the implicit logic of the Borgesian archive, which is most often figured as the universal demand for and necessary impossibility of translation, Kant's Dog is able to spell out Borges's responses to the philosophical problems that most concerned him, those of the constitution of time, eternity, and identity; the determination of original and copy; the legitimacy of authority; experience; the nature of language and the possibility of a decision; and the name of God. Kant's Dog offers original interpretations of several of Borges's best known and most important stories and of the works of key figures in the history of philosophy, including Aristotle, Saint Paul, Maimonides, Hume, Locke, Kant, Heidegger, and Derrida. This study outlines Borges's curious relationship to literature and philosophy and, through a reconsideration of the relation between necessity and accident, opens the question of the constitution of philosophy and literature. The afterword develops the logic of translation toward the secret at the heart of every culture in order to posit a Borgesian challenge to anthropology and cultural studies. More
Rabbi Judah Moscato and the Jewish Intellectual World of Mantua in
the 16th-17th Centuries by Giuseppe Veltri and Gianfranco
Miletto (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. This volume is a record of the proceedings of an
international conference, organized by the Institute of Jewish
Studies at Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), and Mantua's State Archives.
It consists of contributions on Moscato and the intellectual world
in Mantua during the 16th and 17th centuries.
More
Jews and Magic in Medici Florence: The Secret World of Benedetto
Blanis by Edward L. Goldberg (Toronto Italian Studies: University of Toronto
Press) In the seventeenth century, Florence was the wealthy capital of
the Medici Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. But amid all the affluence
splendour, the Jews in its tiny Ghetto struggled to earn a living by
any possible means, including loan-sharking and rag-picking. They
were often regarded as a mysterious people gifted with rare
supernatural powers. From their ranks arose Benedetto Blanis, a
businessman and aspiring scholar from a distinguished Ghetto dynasty
who sought to parlay his alleged mastery of astrology, alchemy, and
Kabbalah into a grand position at the Medici Court. He gradually won
the patronage of Don Giovanni dei Medici, a scion of the ruling
family, and for six tumultuous years their lives were inextricably
linked. More
Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West by Greg Woolf (Blackwell-Bristol Lectures on Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition: Wiley-Blackwell) Tales of the Barbarians traces the creation of new mythologies in the wake of Roman expansion westward to the Atlantic. Providing a fresh perspective on the topic by examining passages from ancient writers in a new light, Woolf explores how ancient geography local histories and the stories of wandering heroes were woven together by Greek scholars and local experts to establish a place for Celts and Spaniards, Africans and Britons in the classical world. En route, this investigation assesses the impact of Roman imperialism on those intellectual endeavours, tracks the interplay of scientific and mythological reasoning, and asks why ancient stereotypes survived for so long after the first encounters in the contact zone. More
In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations in Islamic Thought
by William C. Chittick (State University of New York
Press, SUNY) In Search of the Lost Heart brings
together twenty-six essays by William C. Chittick, renowned
scholar of Sufism and Islamic philosophy. Written between
1975 and 2011, most of these essays are not readily
available in Chittick's own books. Although this is a
collection, its editors have crafted it to be a book
"sufficient unto itself, which, when taken as a whole, can
be said to explore the underlying worldview of Islam."
Chittick draws upon the writings of towering figures such as
Ibn al-`Arabi, Rumi, and Mulla Sadra, as well as other
important, but lesser-known thinkers, as he engages with a
wide variety of topics, such as the nature of being and
knowledge, the relationship between love and scriptural
hermeneutics, the practical and theoretical dimensions of
Islamic mysticism, the phenomenon of religious diversity,
and the ecological crisis.
More
Discernment of Spirits: Assessing Visions & Visionaries in the Late Middle Ages by Wendy Love Anderson (Spatmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation: Mohr Siebeck) argues for continuity between thirteenth-century debates over visionary Franciscan clerics and fifteenth-century debates over visionary lay women. More generally, I will argue for a visionary discourse about the discernment of spirits throughout the late Middle Ages, that is, not only a forward-looking discourse but a discourse in which many of the participants either experienced revelations and other special spiritual gifts or were reputed by contemporaries to have done so. Academically trained theologians who wrote about the discernment of spirits also wrote about "mystical" theology; authors of saints' lives described their own visions of the prospective saints; preachers and confessors alluded to their own spiritual consolations while offering guidance to visionaries they encountered on a daily basis. Some female visionaries — Birgitta of Sweden prominent among them — could and did contribute to this discourse, which remained relatively egalitarian until the fifteenth century. In other words, there was no absolute distinction between the "visionary" and the "examiner" until the very end of the period in question. What preoccupied these men and women was not gender, but authority: they sought to define, regulate, or justify their own or their companions' religiously based claims to influence the direction of late medieval Christendom. Their efforts turned to writing about the discernment of spirits at precisely those historical moments when the Church's authority structures were being called into question (as, indeed, they frequently were during this period). And the precise details of those historical moments had considerable and demonstrable impact on the texts that grew out of them. It is for just that reason that Anderson has also focused on examining writings about the discernment of spirits within their historical contexts, a practice which throws the idiosyncratic details of each text into the sharpest possible relief and avoids the temptation of lumping too many disparate formulations into a vaguely understood "discourse." More
The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shi'ism: Iconography and Religious Devotion in Shi'i Islam by Pedram Khosronejad(Iran and the Persianate World: I.B. Tauris in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation) Shi'i Islam has been the official religion of Iran from the Safavids (1501-1732) to the present day. The Shi'i world experience has provided a rich artistic tradition, encompassing painting, sculpture, and the production of artifacts and performance, which has helped to embed Shi'i identity in Iran as part of its national narrative. In what areas of material culture has Iranian Shi'ism manifested itself through objects or buildings that are unique within the overall culture of Islam? To what extent is the art and architecture of Iran from the Safavid period onwards identifiably Shi'i? What does this say about the relationship of nation, state, and faith in Iran? Here, leading experts trace the material heritage of Iranian Shi'ism within each of its political, religious, and cultural dimensions. More
Geomancy in Theory and Practice by Stephen Skinner (Golden Hoard Press) Geomancy - divination by earth - ranks alongside the
tarot, astrology and the I Ching as a major form of
divination. Since the Renaissance it has largely fallen out
of favour for want of a generally available book on its
practice. This is the first and most comprehensive book in
English to cover the full historical background and practice
of divinatory geomancy, and will therefore be invaluable to
all those interested in geomancy, divination, and astrology.
It is the only complete history in any language, covering
geomancy's various manifestations in different cultures, as
well as being a practical manual showing how to cast and
interpret geomantic figures.
Drawing on material from Latin, French, German and Arabic
sources, Stephen Skinner explores the roots of geomancy in
the Islamic raml divination of northern Africa, which lead
to Fa, IA and voodoo divinatory practices on the West Coast
and sikidy in Madagascar.
He examines the impact Islamic geomancy had on medieval
Europe, where it rose to prominence and became, after
astrology, the prime method of divination. The part it
played in Renaissance thinking and in the great astrological
revival of the nineteenth century is followed by an
examination of its use in the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn and its declining influence in the twentieth century,
only to be revived again in the last two decades.
The second section of the book is concerned with the
practice, manipulation and generation of geomantic figures
as standardized in Europe, and gives practical examples as a
guide to the interpretation and practice of the art. It also
covers astrogeomany which uses the Houses of astrology in
geomancy.There is really no better work in English on the history
and the direct practice of geomancy. It is a definite supplement
to astrological practice and can be
adapted to the 16 court cards of the
tarot as a subsystem of divining. More
Ancient Egyptian Demonology. Studies on the Boundaries between the Demonic and the Divine in Egyptian Magic by P. Kousoulis (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta: Peeters) In the Egyptian context, what we term magic and demon, drawing on our own cultural heritage, are not seen as negative aspects of cultural practice and conceptualisation. Similarly, the Egyptian equivalents do not carry the pejorative connotations borne by the modern terms and their Greek antecedents; magic and demons can be forces for good as well as evil. Indeed, the practice of magic and the conceptualisation of personified demonic agents are central to the Egyptian understanding of the workings of the world from the very continuation of the cosmos itself down to the vicissitudes of existence faced by individuals. In particular, the broader practice of magic and articulation of the involvement of demonic agency form one of the crucial links in Ancient Egypt between individual existence on the human level and the level of nature or the cosmos, the realm of the gods. Unlike, though, the explicit recognition of the term demon in the ancient Greek language and religion, as the intermediary between god and mortals, the majority of the demonic names in the Egyptian literature do not possess an apparent ontological essence, or a clearly defined denotation. Their characteristics and role depended momentously on the verbal and performative ritual environment they were part of. The relation between the name of a demon and its cosmic-natural personification is not contradictory as it may seem, but it is closely interwoven in a well established ritual framework of words and actions. This multi-authored volume of 10 essays comprises an up-to-date authorization account of many aspects of ancient Egyptian demonology, including the multiple persona of the demonic or name vs. identity in the Egyptian formation of the demonic, nightmares and underworld demons, dream rituals and magic, categories of demonic entities and the vague distinction between the divine and the demonic in Egyptian cosmology and ritual, the theological and demonic aspects of Egyptian magic, demons as reflections of human society. Contributors include Paul John Frandsen, Hedvig Gyory, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Yvan Koenig, Panagiotis Kousoulis, Alan Lloyd, Robert Ritner, Alessandro Roccati, Kasia Szpakowska and Penelope Wilson. More
Living Consciousness: The Metaphysical Vision of Henri Bergson by G. William Barnard (S U N Y Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology: New York State University Press) examines the brilliant, but now largely ignored, insights of French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941). Offering a detailed and accessible analysis of Bergson's thought, G. William Barnard highlights how Bergson's understanding of the nature of consciousness and, in particular, its relationship to the physical world remain strikingly relevant to numerous contemporary fields. These range from quantum physics and process thought to philosophy of mind, depth psychology, transpersonal theory, and religious studies. Bergson's notion of consciousness as a ceaselessly dynamic, inherently temporal substance of reality itself provides a vision that can function as a persuasive alternative to mechanistic and reductionistic understandings of consciousness and reality. Barnard closes the work with several "ruminations" or neo-Bergsonian responses to a series of vitally important questions such as: What does it mean to live consciously, authentically, and attuned to our inner depths? Is there a philosophically sophisticated way to claim that the survival of consciousness after physical death is not only possible but likely? More
Spirituality in the Modern World: Within Religious Tradition and Beyond
4 volume set by Paul Heelas (Critical Concepts in Religious Studies:
Routledge) It would not be an exaggeration to say that during the last
century, most especially during and since the 1960s, the language of
spirituality has become one of the most significant ways in which the
sacred has come to be understood and judged in the West, and,
increasingly, elsewhere. Whether it is true that ‘spirituality’ has
eclipsed ‘religion’ in Western settings remains debatable. What is
incontestable is that the language of spirituality, together with
practices (most noticeably spiritual, complementary, and alternative
medicine), has become a major feature of the sacred dimensions of
contemporary modernity. Equally incontestably, spirituality is a growing
force in all those developing countries where its presence is
increasingly felt among the cosmopolitan elite, and where spiritual
forms of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine are
thriving.
This new four-volume, 1,856 page,
Spirituality in the Modern World: Within Religious
Tradition and Beyond collection from Routledge provides a coherent compilation of landmark texts
which cannot be ignored by those intent on making sense of
what is happening to the sacred as spirituality—more exactly
what is taken to be spirituality—develops as an increasingly
important lingua franca, series of practices, and as a
humanistic ethicality. More
The Story of Islamic Philosophy: Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Al-'Arabi, and Others on the Limit Between Naturalism and Traditionalism by Salman H. Bashier (SUNY: State University of New York Press) In this innovative work, Salman H. Bashier challenges traditional views of Islamic philosophy. While Islamic thought from the crucial medieval period is often depicted as a rationalistic elaboration on Aristotelian philosophy and an attempt to reconcile it with the Muslim religion, Bashier puts equal emphasis on the influence of Plato's philosophical mysticism. This shift encourages a new reading of Islamic intellectual tradition, one in which boundaries between philosophy, religion, mysticism, and myth are relaxed. Bashier shows the manner in which medieval Islamic philosophers reflected on the relation between philosophy and religion as a problem that is intrinsic to philosophy and shows how their deliberations had the effect of redefining the very limits of their philosophical thought. The problems of the origin of human beings, human language, and the world in Islamic philosophy are discussed. Bashier highlights the importance of Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, a landmark work often overlooked by scholars, and the thought of the great Sufi mystic Ibn al-Arabi to the mainstream of Islamic philosophy. More
Ibn al-'Arabi's Barzakh: The Concept of the Limit and the Relationship between God and the World by Salman H. Bashier (SUNY: State University of New York Press) This book explores how Ibn al-'Arabi (1165-1240) used the concept of barzakh (the Limit) to deal with the philosophical problem of the relationship between God and the world, a major concept disputed in ancient and medieval Islamic thought. The term "barzakh" indicates the activity or actor that differentiates between things and that, paradoxically, then provides the context of their unity. Author Salman H. Bashier looks at early thinkers and shows how the synthetic solutions they developed provided the groundwork for Ibn al-'Arabi's unique concept of barzakh. Bashier discusses Ibn al-'Arabi's development of the concept of barzakh ontologically through the notion of the Third Thing and epistemologically through the notion of the Perfect Man, and compares Ibn al-'Arabi's vision with Plato's.
"Salmon H. Bashier has rightly identified the importance of the concept of the Limit (barzakh), a central theme in Ibn al-'Arabi's thought, and situates the concept in two new contexts: earlier Islamic thought as a whole, and the larger Western philosophic tradition. It is a worthy ambition." —John Walbridge More
Derek Parfit, On What Matters, Volumes 1 and 2, Oxford University Press, 2011, 592pp. + 848pp., $55.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780199265923 Reviewed by Mark Schroeder, University of Southern California, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
It is finally here. Wrapped in a stunning jacket design featuring the author's own photographs and embossed gold and black titling, the two massive volumes of Derek Parfit's On What Matters will be the most beautiful philosophy books on any shelf they grace -- a worthy start to living up to over a decade of being "the most eagerly awaited book in philosophy", according to Oxford University Press's promotion materials. Given the enormous stature of Parfit's 1984 Reasons and Persons (my colleague Jake Ross calls its part IV 'the Platonic Form of philosophy') and Parfit's selective publication schedule, it should be no surprise that his second book should be so anticipated. But with Brad Hooker's [2010] advance notice that it is "probably . . . the most important publication in moral philosophy since Henry Sidgwick's The Methods of Ethics in 1874" and Peter Singer's [2011] front-page Times Literary Supplement gush that it is "the most significant work in ethics since Sidgwick's masterpiece was published in 1873," On What Matters certainly has a lot to live up to.
Lofty expectations aside, there is no doubt that On What Matters is an epochal work. Philosophers my age and younger have never experienced a philosophical world in which there were not conferences and symposia being organized for Parfit to present drafts of the material collected in this work and critics to evaluate it before it was even finished. It is at the same time one of the most collaborative philosophical works ever created (Parfit thanks hundreds for their input) and one of the most intensely personal. And the book is indeed a remarkable achievement, giving us a truly comprehensive picture of the moral outlook -- both normative and metaethical -- of one of the greatest moral thinkers of our time. Whether or not its many specific arguments are widely accepted, the comprehensive picture of the normative terrain it outlines is one with which future work will need to grapple. More
Beckmann & America edited by Jutta Schutt, Städel, Museum Frankfurt am Main, foreword by Max Hollein, texts by David Anfam, Karoline Feulner, Ursula Harter, Lynette Roth, Stefana Sabin, Jutta Schutt, Christiane Zeiller, graphic design by Andreas Platzgummer [hardcover. 280 pp., 261 ills.] The catalogue accompanying the Max Beckmann exhibition at the Städel Museum(Hatje Cantz) Max Beckmann (1884-1950) moved to the United States in the late summer of 1947. He would spend the last three years of his life far away from Europe, years that signified a liberating, intense new start for him. The vastness of the foreign continent, its coasts, the atmosphere of its "wild" landscapes, and its big cities all formed a palpable source of inspiration for Beckmann, who had never before had this type of physical experience of space.
Working with incredible energy and productivity, Beckmann produced numerous major works in these few short years. From today's perspective, Beckmann's independence is all the more impressive when seen in relation to the development of abstract art that was taking place in America at the same time. Beckmann retained his link to representationalism and its metaphorical themes, yet still managed to assert himself as a European painter of international status. More
Max Beckmann The Landscapes edited by Bernhard Mendes Bürgi, Nina Peter, texts by Hans Belting, Bernhard Mendes Bürgi, Eva Demski, Nina Peter, Maren Stotz, Beatrice von Bornnann, graphic design by Schott & Schibig [236 pp., c. 135 ills., 115 in color, 25 x 30.7 cm, hardcover] (Hajte Cantz) Highlights from the master's oeuvre—the landscapes.
Max Beckmann is one of the titans of modern art, although he considered himself the last of the Old Masters. This publication examines the artist's landscape paintings, which are not characterized by layers of allegorical meaning, as are his works in other genres, and their splendid painterly qualities are instantly perceptible. One of the foundations for these landscapes is the potent experience of nature. Personal objects belonging to Beckmann frequently appear in the foreground, like remnants of still lifes, making the viewer aware of the artist's presence. On the other hand, the paintings are realistic reproductions of places he visited, for which Beckmann also made reference to photographs or postcards. A third artistic idea came from art itself: flashes of Beckmann's immense knowledge of art history can be seen in his citations of other works. Thus, his landscapes can be regarded as a kind of summation of his understanding of the world. 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
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."
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
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.”
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
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.
More
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.
More
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.
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
Parmenides, Venerable and Awesome: Proceedings of the International
Symposium by Nestor-Luis Cordero (Parmenides
Publishing)
Despite Parmenides' tremendous importance during his own
lifetime and his perennial influence on philosophical thought
ever since, the great Eleatic - born circa 515 BCE and described
by Plato as "Venerable and Awesome" (Theaetetus, 183e) - had
never been the subject of an international conference until
2007, when some of the world's most eminent specialists on
Parmenides' philosophy convened for a multinational and
multilingual Symposium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This present
volume offers a collection of the papers (translated, where
applicable) presented at the conference, each advancing the
respective scholar's current state of research on Parmenides and
his Poem, "On Nature", often with far-reaching and sometimes
controversial results. The topics discussed include the
challenge of translation, the Poem's poetic form, its logical
structure, the sequence of the fragments, the interpretation of
"Aletheia" and "Doxa", what Parmenides meant by "mortals" the
Poem's "physics" (especially Parmenidean astronomy), the various
senses of Being and the role of thought, as well as Plato's
relationship to Parmenides. In their different ways each
contribution conveys a deep appreciation for the revolutionary
nature of Parmenides' philosophy, and the collection as a whole
bears witness to the fact that the study of Parmenides continues
to yield rich and prolific scholarship - perhaps today more so
than ever. This book is intended for scholars and
non-specialists alike, and will be of particular relevance to
students of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Classical Studies, as well
as philosophy and literature more generally. It includes
contributors such as: Scott Austin; Jean Bollack; Giovanni
Casertano; Barbara Cassin; Giovanni Cerri; Nestor-Luis Cordero;
Lambros Couloubaritsis; Patricia Curd; Jean Frere; Arnold
Hermann; Charles H Kahn; Alexander P D Mourelatos; Massimo
Pulpito; Chiara Robbiano; Fernando Santoro; Jose Trindade
Santos; Jose Dueso Solana; and, Panagiotis Thanassas.
Parmenides, Venerable and Awesome discusses all aspects of
Parmenides' Poem, "On Nature", including the challenge of
translation, the Poem’s poetic form, its logical structure, the
sequence of the fragments, the interpretation of “Aletheia” and
“Doxa,” what Parmenides meant by “mortals,” the Poem’s “physics”
(especially Parmenidean astronomy), the various senses of
Being and the role of thought, as well as Plato’s relationship
to Parmenides. In their different ways each contribution conveys
a deep appreciation for the revolutionary nature of
Parmenides’ philosophy, and the collection as a whole bears
witness to the fact that the study of Parmenides continues to
yield rich and prolific scholarship—perhaps today more so than
ever. 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
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.
More
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.
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.
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. More
Net of Being by Alex Grey (Inner Traditions) Alex Grey’s painting Net of Being – inspired by a blazing vision of an infinite grid of Godheads during an ayahuasca journey – has reached millions as the cover and interior of the band TOOL’s Grammy award-winning triple-platinum album, 10,000 Days. Net of Being is one of many images Grey has created that have resulted in a chain reaction of uses – from apparel and jewelry to tattoos and music videos. Grey is the author of Sacred Mirrors, Transfigurations, The Mission of Art, and Art Psalms. His work has been exhibited throughout the world. More
The Theatre of Diokaisareia (Diokaisareia in Kilikien) by Marcello Spanu (Walter de Gruyter) The theatre of Diokaisareia (today Uzuncaburc) located in the Roman province of Cilicia (Turkey) has been studied within the German Archaeological Research Project directed by Detlev Wannagat. This volume offers a thorough historical and architectural analysis of the building erected in the second half of the 2nd century AD. The text is complemented by an extended collection of figures and plates, providing a detailed graphic and photographic documentation and reconstruction. This is an important contribution to the study of roman theatres and architectural decoration in Asia Minor. More
The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shi'ism: Iconography and Religious Devotion in Shi'i Islam by Pedram Khosronejad(Iran and the Persianate World: I.B. Tauris in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation) Shi'i Islam has been the official religion of Iran from the Safavids (1501-1732) to the present day. The Shi'i world experience has provided a rich artistic tradition, encompassing painting, sculpture, and the production of artifacts and performance, which has helped to embed Shi'i identity in Iran as part of its national narrative. In what areas of material culture has Iranian Shi'ism manifested itself through objects or buildings that are unique within the overall culture of Islam? To what extent is the art and architecture of Iran from the Safavid period onwards identifiably Shi'i? What does this say about the relationship of nation, state, and faith in Iran? Here, leading experts trace the material heritage of Iranian Shi'ism within each of its political, religious, and cultural dimensions. MoreBeckmann & America edited by Jutta Schutt, Städel, Museum Frankfurt am Main, foreword by Max Hollein, texts by David Anfam, Karoline Feulner, Ursula Harter, Lynette Roth, Stefana Sabin, Jutta Schutt, Christiane Zeiller, graphic design by Andreas Platzgummer [hardcover. 280 pp., 261 ills.] The catalogue accompanying the Max Beckmann exhibition at the Städel Museum(Hatje Cantz) Max Beckmann (1884-1950) moved to the United States in the late summer of 1947. He would spend the last three years of his life far away from Europe, years that signified a liberating, intense new start for him. The vastness of the foreign continent, its coasts, the atmosphere of its "wild" landscapes, and its big cities all formed a palpable source of inspiration for Beckmann, who had never before had this type of physical experience of space.
Working with incredible energy and productivity, Beckmann produced numerous major works in these few short years. From today's perspective, Beckmann's independence is all the more impressive when seen in relation to the development of abstract art that was taking place in America at the same time. Beckmann retained his link to representationalism and its metaphorical themes, yet still managed to assert himself as a European painter of international status. More
Max Beckmann The Landscapes edited by Bernhard Mendes Bürgi, Nina Peter, texts by Hans Belting, Bernhard Mendes Bürgi, Eva Demski, Nina Peter, Maren Stotz, Beatrice von Bornnann, graphic design by Schott & Schibig [236 pp., c. 135 ills., 115 in color, 25 x 30.7 cm, hardcover] (Hajte Cantz) Highlights from the master's oeuvre—the landscapes.
Max Beckmann is one of the titans of modern art, although he considered himself the last of the Old Masters. This publication examines the artist's landscape paintings, which are not characterized by layers of allegorical meaning, as are his works in other genres, and their splendid painterly qualities are instantly perceptible. One of the foundations for these landscapes is the potent experience of nature. Personal objects belonging to Beckmann frequently appear in the foreground, like remnants of still lifes, making the viewer aware of the artist's presence. On the other hand, the paintings are realistic reproductions of places he visited, for which Beckmann also made reference to photographs or postcards. A third artistic idea came from art itself: flashes of Beckmann's immense knowledge of art history can be seen in his citations of other works. Thus, his landscapes can be regarded as a kind of summation of his understanding of the world. 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
Nul = 0 - the Dutch Zero Movement in an International Context, 1961-1966 by Colin Huizing, Antoon Melissen, Diana Stiger, Pietje Tegenbosch, Tijs Visser, Caroline de Westenholz, Renate Wiehager, Atsuo Yamamoto, Midori Yamamura (NAi Publishers in association the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam) With the financial support of the Gifted Art Foundation Rotterdam, Harten Fonds Foundation, Schiedam Vlaardingen Fund and the ZERO Foundation, Düsseldorf
A Seminal International Survey of the Legendary Artistic ZERO Movement
The legendary Dutch Nul Group of the 1960s consisting of Armando, Henk Peeters, Jan Schoonhoven, Jan Henderikse and, for a while, herman de vries, has in recent years been the subject of renewed interest, both in the Netherlands and internationally. In September 2011 the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam is staging an international exhibition about nul, the first to be held in the Netherlands for half a century. There are plans for important exhibitions in the USA, Germany and England over the coming years. The publication nul = 0 offers a richly illustrated international perspective on the work of the Dutch nul artists and their kindred spirits abroad.
The publication Nul = 0- the Dutch Zero Movement in an International Context, 1961-1966 reveals the artistic principles of the Nul movement. Leading international writers reconstruct the developments and collaborations of the Dutch Nul group with its spiritual brethren: the artists of the German Zero, the French Nouveau Réalisme, Italy's Azimut Group and the Japanese Gutai Group, as well as individual artists like Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama and Lucio Fontana. Given the current generation of artists' rediscovery of such elements as time and space, light and motion, the achievements of these artists are now more relevant than ever. 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
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
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
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.
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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.
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Truth and Method by Hans-Georg Gadamer, translation revised by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall (Bloomsbury Revelations Series: Bloomsbury Academic)
Truth and Method is a landmark work of 20th century thought which established Hans Georg-Gadamer as one of the most important philosophical voices of the 20th Century. In this book, Gadamer established the field of ‘philosophical hermeneutics': exploring the nature of knowledge, the book rejected traditional quasi-scientific approaches to establishing cultural meaning that were prevalent after the war. In arguing the ‘truth' and ‘method' acted in opposition to each other, Gadamer examined the ways in which historical and cultural circumstance fundamentally influenced human understanding. It was an approach that would become hugely influential in the humanities and social sciences and remains so to this day in the work of Jurgen Habermas and many others. More
Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the Dignity of Man: A New Translation and Commentary by Pico della Mirandola, edited by Francesco Borghesi, Dr Michael Papio and Dr Massimo Riva (Cambridge University Press) This is a new translation of and commentary on Pico della Mirandola's most famous work, the Oration on the Dignity of Man. It is the first English edition to provide readers with substantial notes on the text, essays that address the work's historical, philosophical, and theological context, and a survey of its reception. Often called the "Manifesto of the Renaissance," this brief but complex text was originally composed in 1486 as the inaugural speech for an assembly of intellectuals, which could have produced one of the most exhaustive metaphysical, theological, and psychological debates in history, had Pope Innocent VIII not forbidden it. This edition of the Oration reflects the spirit of the original text in bringing together experts in different fields. Not unlike the debate Pico optimistically anticipated, the resulting work is superior to the sum of its parts. More
Hegel's Undiscovered Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis Dialectics: What Only Marx and Tillich Understood by Leonard F. Wheat (Prometheus Books) More
Cambridge History of Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century (1790-1870)by Allen W. Wood and Songsuk Susan Hahn (Cambridge University Press) brings together twenty-nine leading experts in the field and covers the years 1790-1870. Their twenty-seven chapters provide a comprehensive survey of the period, organizing the material topically. After a brief editor's introduction, it begins with three chapters surveying the background of nineteenth century philosophy: followed by two on logic and mathematics, two on nature and natural science, five on mind and language, including psychology, the human sciences and aesthetics, four on ethics, three on religion, seven on society, including chapters on the French Revolution, the decline of natural right, political economy, and social discontent, and three on history, dealing with historical method, speculative theories of history and the history of philosophy. The essays are framed by an editor's introduction and a bibliography. More
The Archaeology of the Soul: Platonic Readings in Ancient Poetry and Philosophy by Seth Benardete, Ronna Burger and Michael Davis (St. Augustine's Press) The Archaeology of the Soul is a testimony to the extraordinary scope of Seth Benardete's thought. Some essays concern particular authors or texts; others range more broadly and are thematic. Some deal explicitly with philosophy; others deal with epic, lyric, and tragic poetry. Some of these authors are Greek, some Roman, and still others are contemporaries writing about antiquity. All of these essays, however, are informed by an underlying vision, which is a reflection of Benardete's life-long engagement with one thinker in particular – Plato. The Platonic dialogue presented Benardete with the most vivid case of that periagoge, or turn-around, that he found to be the sign of all philosophic thinking and that is the signature as well of his own interpretations not only of Plato but also of other thinkers. The late Benardete (1930-2001), was an outstanding teacher and scholar in classical literature and philosophy and taught at New York University; editors are Ronna Burger, who teaches philosophy at Tulane University and Michael Davis, who teaches philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College. More
The Unity of Linguistic Meaning by John Collins (University of Oxford Press) The problem of the unity of the proposition is almost as old as philosophy itself, and was one of the central themes of early analytical philosophy, greatly exercising the minds of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, and Ramsey. The problem is how propositions or meanings can be simultaneously unities (single things) and complexes, made up of parts that are autonomous of the positions they happen to fill in any given proposition. The problem has been associated with numerous paradoxes and has motivated general theories of thought and meaning, but has eluded any consensual resolution; indeed, the problem is sometimes thought to be wholly erroneous, a result of atomistic assumptions we should reject. In short, the problem has been thought to be of merely historical interest. Collins argues that the problem is very real and poses a challenge to any theory of linguistic meaning. He seeks to resolve the problem by laying down some minimal desiderata on a solution and presenting a uniquely satisfying account. The first part of the book surveys and rejects extant 'solutions' and dismissals of the problem from (especially) Frege and Russell, and a host of more contemporary thinkers, including Davidson and Dummett. The book's second part offers a novel solution based upon the properties of a basic syntactic principle called 'Merge', which may be said to create objects inside objects, thus showing how unities can be both single things but also made up of proper parts. The solution is defended from both philosophical and linguistic perspectives. The overarching ambition of the book, therefore, is to strengthen the ties between current linguistics and contemporary philosophy of language in a way that is genuinely sensitive to the history of both fields. More
Parmenides, Venerable and Awesome: Proceedings of the International
Symposium by Nestor-Luis Cordero (Parmenides
Publishing)
Despite Parmenides' tremendous importance during his own
lifetime and his perennial influence on philosophical thought
ever since, the great Eleatic - born circa 515 BCE and described
by Plato as "Venerable and Awesome" (Theaetetus, 183e) - had
never been the subject of an international conference until
2007, when some of the world's most eminent specialists on
Parmenides' philosophy convened for a multinational and
multilingual Symposium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This present
volume offers a collection of the papers (translated, where
applicable) presented at the conference, each advancing the
respective scholar's current state of research on Parmenides and
his Poem, "On Nature", often with far-reaching and sometimes
controversial results. The topics discussed include the
challenge of translation, the Poem's poetic form, its logical
structure, the sequence of the fragments, the interpretation of
"Aletheia" and "Doxa", what Parmenides meant by "mortals" the
Poem's "physics" (especially Parmenidean astronomy), the various
senses of Being and the role of thought, as well as Plato's
relationship to Parmenides. In their different ways each
contribution conveys a deep appreciation for the revolutionary
nature of Parmenides' philosophy, and the collection as a whole
bears witness to the fact that the study of Parmenides continues
to yield rich and prolific scholarship - perhaps today more so
than ever. This book is intended for scholars and
non-specialists alike, and will be of particular relevance to
students of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Classical Studies, as well
as philosophy and literature more generally. It includes
contributors such as: Scott Austin; Jean Bollack; Giovanni
Casertano; Barbara Cassin; Giovanni Cerri; Nestor-Luis Cordero;
Lambros Couloubaritsis; Patricia Curd; Jean Frere; Arnold
Hermann; Charles H Kahn; Alexander P D Mourelatos; Massimo
Pulpito; Chiara Robbiano; Fernando Santoro; Jose Trindade
Santos; Jose Dueso Solana; and, Panagiotis Thanassas.
Parmenides, Venerable and Awesome discusses all aspects of
Parmenides' Poem, "On Nature", including the challenge of
translation, the Poem’s poetic form, its logical structure, the
sequence of the fragments, the interpretation of “Aletheia” and
“Doxa,” what Parmenides meant by “mortals,” the Poem’s “physics”
(especially Parmenidean astronomy), the various senses of
Being and the role of thought, as well as Plato’s relationship
to Parmenides. In their different ways each contribution conveys
a deep appreciation for the revolutionary nature of
Parmenides’ philosophy, and the collection as a whole bears
witness to the fact that the study of Parmenides continues to
yield rich and prolific scholarship—perhaps today more so than
ever. 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.
More
F.C.S.
Schiller on Pragmatism and Humanism: Selected Writings, 1891-1939
by F. C. S. Schiller and H. P. McDonald (Contemporary Studies in
Philosophy and the Human Sciences: Humanity Books) In his prolific seventy-three-year lifetime, F. C. S. Schiller
was a well-known philosopher of the highest repute, considered
synonymous with humanist philosophy. Up until his death in 1937, he
carried the torch of pragmatism and self-titled humanism into the
twentieth century, nearly single-handedly energizing European
debates over pragmatic approaches to logic, science, truth, and
reality. He retained humanism as the foundation for his entire
philosophy, stressing that the environment, knowledge, and values
must always be the creation of human choices and activities.
The study of Schiller's most important contributions to the
philosophical traditions of humanism and pragmatism continues to be
of great significance for contemporary scholars. The forty-two
pieces that appear in this volume, carefully selected from his
.books, journal articles, and essay contributions published between
1891 and 1939, represent Schiller's finest writings. They range
across a broad spectrum of specific topics: logic and scientific
method, meaning and truth, pluralism and monism, personalism and
idealism, metaphysics and values, evolution and religion, and ethics
and politics. The collection also includes an introduction to
Schiller's life and career, introductory essays, and a bibliography
of his momentous work, With reverential enthusiasm, Shook and
McDonald have here awakened the intelligent and passionate voice of
humanism's all-too-neglected driving force.
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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
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
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.
More
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. More
When Philosophers Rule: Ficino on Plato's Republic, Laws & Epinomis (Commentaries by Ficino on Plato'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
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
Spirituality in the Modern World: Within Religious Tradition and Beyond
4 volume set by Paul Heelas (Critical Concepts in Religious Studies:
Routledge) It would not be an exaggeration to say that during the last
century, most especially during and since the 1960s, the language of
spirituality has become one of the most significant ways in which the
sacred has come to be understood and judged in the West, and,
increasingly, elsewhere. Whether it is true that ‘spirituality’ has
eclipsed ‘religion’ in Western settings remains debatable. What is
incontestable is that the language of spirituality, together with
practices (most noticeably spiritual, complementary, and alternative
medicine), has become a major feature of the sacred dimensions of
contemporary modernity. Equally incontestably, spirituality is a growing
force in all those developing countries where its presence is
increasingly felt among the cosmopolitan elite, and where spiritual
forms of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine are
thriving.
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? For the
first time the close interrelation between the divine and the human
in the revelatory process is demonstrated here on the basis
of a wealth of translated ancient texts. In an intriguing epilogue,
the authors explore the theological consequences of what they have
found. More
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
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
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”.
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.
More
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.
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
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).
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.
More
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
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.
More
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
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
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 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
Jews and Magic in Medici Florence: The Secret World of Benedetto
Blanis by Edward L. Goldberg (Toronto Italian Studies: University of Toronto
Press) In the seventeenth century, Florence was the wealthy capital of
the Medici Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. But amid all the affluence
splendour, the Jews in its tiny Ghetto struggled to earn a living by
any possible means, including loan-sharking and rag-picking. They
were often regarded as a mysterious people gifted with rare
supernatural powers. From their ranks arose Benedetto Blanis, a
businessman and aspiring scholar from a distinguished Ghetto dynasty
who sought to parlay his alleged mastery of astrology, alchemy, and
Kabbalah into a grand position at the Medici Court. He gradually won
the patronage of Don Giovanni dei Medici, a scion of the ruling
family, and for six tumultuous years their lives were inextricably
linked. More
Rabbi Judah Moscato and the Jewish Intellectual World of Mantua in
the 16th-17th Centuries by Giuseppe Veltri and Gianfranco
Miletto (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. This volume is a record of the proceedings of an
international conference, organized by the Institute of Jewish
Studies at Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), and Mantua's State Archives.
It consists of contributions on Moscato and the intellectual world
in Mantua during the 16th and 17th centuries.
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
Judah Moscato Sermons: Edition and Translation, Volume Two
by Judah ben Joseph Moscato (Studies
in Jewish History and Culture: Brill Academic) This second volume of Judah Moscato's work contains scholarly
editions and translations of his Sermons 11-29 following the same
standards and guidelines explained in the introduction to the first
volume. This volume will be followed by two others with the
remaining sermons and another containing the proceedings of an
international conference on Moscato that was jointly organized by
the Institute of Jewish Studies at Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) and
Mantua's State Archives and held in Mantua (Italy), Judah Moscato's
hometown, in July 2009. The latter volume, while constituting a
useful tool for locating the scholarship of the Mantuan preacher, as
well as providing an analysis of his intellectual environment, is
nevertheless no substitute for a separate volume containing
Moscato's own words, which can be furnished only by publication and
translation of his sermons, a project hopefully to be completed
soon. The sermons deal with various topics: the social and moral duties
of man toward God, toward his fellow man, and toward himself (sermon
ii); the use of rhetoric for interpreting and teaching of Torah
(sermons 12, 17); the benefit to be derived from learning the Torah
explained in philosophical terms and the method of teaching the
Torah (sermons 13, 19); the relationship between Torah and the sciences (sermon
14); the interpretation of the liturgical feast of Sukkot and the
symbolical meaning of the lulav (sermons 15 and 17); the structure
of the yeshivah according to the pattern of the Sanctuary and of the
world (sermon 16); the attainment of happiness through speculation
and action (sermon i8); the sanctity of Israel on Yom Kippur (sermon
2o); why Israel is to be thankful to God as much as possible in
thought, speech, and action (sermon 21); the power of charity
(sermons 22 and 23); the great responsibility of man in making a vow
to God (sermon 24); the education of children and the importance of
marriage (sermons 25 and 26); the corruption of the virtuous man and
the power of repentance and circumcision (sermon 28 and 29).
More
On the Question of the "Cessation of Prophecy" in Ancient Judaism
by L. Stephen Cook (Texts & Studies in
Ancient Judaism: Mohr Siebeck) Recent decades have witnessed a virtual explosion of studies
examining various aspects of Second Temple Judaism, and no slowdown
appears on the horizon. These studies seek to elucidate, among other
things, the religious and historical situation from which
Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism emerged. As part of this ongoing
effort, the present work seeks to identify and examine attitudes
about the status of prophets and prophecy in this complex phase of
Jewish history.Religion
This new four-volume, 1,856 page,
Spirituality in the Modern World: Within Religious Tradition and
Beyond collection from Routledge provides a coherent compilation of landmark texts
which cannot be ignored by those intent on making sense of
what is happening to the sacred as spirituality—more exactly
what is taken to be spirituality—develops as an increasingly
important lingua franca, series of practices, and as a
humanistic ethicality. More
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
These collected essays highlight the multiple
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).
MoreAsian 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
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).
MoreAtheism
Judaism
A variety of Jewish texts from the Second Temple and rabbinic
periods seem to reflect the view that Israelite prophecy ceased
during the Persian period, around the beginning of the Second Temple
era. Up until the twentieth century, scholars generally regarded
these ancient texts as presenting a relatively uniform, consistent
picture of the historical process of the cessation of prophecy. Some
authors still hold to this assessment; in recent decades, however,
others have pointed to numerous ancient texts which refer to
prophetic activity occurring well beyond the point of its supposed
cessation. These scholars therefore hold that the claim that
prophecy ceased was simply one view in antiquity, and not
necessarily representative of a larger consensus. According to these
authors, the evidence of prophetic activity in the Second Temple
period either contradicts ancient claims of prophecy's demise, or
else exposes these claims as polemical attempts to counter belief in
the legitimacy of prophecy during this period. Contemporary
scholarship is therefore divided on whether to regard the sources
which allege the absence of prophets/prophecy as reliable
characterizations of the religious atmosphere of the Second Temple
period.
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.
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
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.
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
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."
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
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. More
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. More
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.
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
The Art and Science of Hand Reading: Classical Methods for
Self-Discovery through Palmistry by Ellen Goldberg, Dorian
Bergen (Destiny Books) In this comprehensive guide to hand reading,
based on Ellen Goldberg’s 40 years of teaching palmistry and the
Western Mystery tradition, the authors make the powerful insights of
the hand accessible in an inviting and user-friendly manner. The
book presents the character traits and personality archetypes
associated with each of the seven mounts of the palm and shows how
to determine which are most influential in the nature of the
individual. The mount archetypes reveal the lifestyle, love, sex,
and marriage preferences; the best career choices; and the unique
strengths and weaknesses for each person. The book also examines
other factors that enhance the qualities revealed by the mount
types, including the flexibility of the hand, texture of the skin,
and the shapes of the fingers, fingertips, and nails. The meaning of
each major and minor line is described in detail as well as the
influence the person’s own mind has in healing defects and obstacles
found on their lines. The authors also provide accurate timing
guides for each line, making it possible to locate specific events
and to see how your lines change over time.
Palmistry is a science and a universal language. The hand tells a
story about your talents, relationships, health, and how you feel
about yourself. It reveals periods of ease or challenge in your
life, and it speaks about your weaknesses and the traits you need to
develop. As you change, so do your hands, reflecting the progress
you have made.
Presenting the hand as a guide to self-fulfillment, The Art and
Science of Hand Reading incorporates correspondences to other
mystical sciences such as astrology, Kabbalah, the Hermetic
teachings, and archetypal psychology. It also includes practical
examples and more than 600 illustrations to show how to integrate
the meanings of each part of the hand to form a complete picture of
your inner psychology and your ever-changing destiny.
Ancient Egyptian Demonology. Studies on the Boundaries between the Demonic and the Divine in Egyptian Magic by P. Kousoulis (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta: Peeters) In the Egyptian context, what we term magic and demon, drawing on our own cultural heritage, are not seen as negative aspects of cultural practice and conceptualisation. Similarly, the Egyptian equivalents do not carry the pejorative connotations borne by the modern terms and their Greek antecedents; magic and demons can be forces for good as well as evil. Indeed, the practice of magic and the conceptualisation of personified demonic agents are central to the Egyptian understanding of the workings of the world from the very continuation of the cosmos itself down to the vicissitudes of existence faced by individuals. In particular, the broader practice of magic and articulation of the involvement of demonic agency form one of the crucial links in Ancient Egypt between individual existence on the human level and the level of nature or the cosmos, the realm of the gods. Unlike, though, the explicit recognition of the term demon in the ancient Greek language and religion, as the intermediary between god and mortals, the majority of the demonic names in the Egyptian literature do not possess an apparent ontological essence, or a clearly defined denotation. Their characteristics and role depended momentously on the verbal and performative ritual environment they were part of. The relation between the name of a demon and its cosmic-natural personification is not contradictory as it may seem, but it is closely interwoven in a well established ritual framework of words and actions. This multi-authored volume of 10 essays comprises an up-to-date authorization account of many aspects of ancient Egyptian demonology, including the multiple persona of the demonic or name vs. identity in the Egyptian formation of the demonic, nightmares and underworld demons, dream rituals and magic, categories of demonic entities and the vague distinction between the divine and the demonic in Egyptian cosmology and ritual, the theological and demonic aspects of Egyptian magic, demons as reflections of human society. Contributors include Paul John Frandsen, Hedvig Gyory, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Yvan Koenig, Panagiotis Kousoulis, Alan Lloyd, Robert Ritner, Alessandro Roccati, Kasia Szpakowska and Penelope Wilson. More
Geomancy in Theory and Practice by Stephen Skinner (Golden Hoard Press) Geomancy - divination by earth - ranks alongside the
tarot, astrology and the I Ching as a major form of
divination. Since the Renaissance it has largely fallen out
of favour for want of a generally available book on its
practice. This is the first and most comprehensive book in
English to cover the full historical background and practice
of divinatory geomancy, and will therefore be invaluable to
all those interested in geomancy, divination, and astrology.
It is the only complete history in any language, covering
geomancy's various manifestations in different cultures, as
well as being a practical manual showing how to cast and
interpret geomantic figures.
Drawing on material from Latin, French, German and Arabic
sources, Stephen Skinner explores the roots of geomancy in
the Islamic raml divination of northern Africa, which lead
to Fa, IA and voodoo divinatory practices on the West Coast
and sikidy in Madagascar.
He examines the impact Islamic geomancy had on medieval
Europe, where it rose to prominence and became, after
astrology, the prime method of divination. The part it
played in Renaissance thinking and in the great astrological
revival of the nineteenth century is followed by an
examination of its use in the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn and its declining influence in the twentieth century,
only to be revived again in the last two decades.
The second section of the book is concerned with the
practice, manipulation and generation of geomantic figures
as standardized in Europe, and gives practical examples as a
guide to the interpretation and practice of the art. It also
covers astrogeomany which uses the Houses of astrology in
geomancy.There is really no better work in English on the
history and the direct practice of geomancy. It is a
definite supplement to astrological practice and can be
adapted to the 16 court cards of the tarot as a subsystem of
divining.
More
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.
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:
Thieir symbolic significance.
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. More
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.
Psychomagic presents the shamanate 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 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. More
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.
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
Passion of Christ, Passion of the World by
Leonardo Boff (Orbis) First Place Award Winner in
Spirituality, Catholic Press Association
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 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.
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
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. 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
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.
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 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. 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
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
In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations in Islamic Thought
by William C. Chittick (State University of New York
Press, SUNY) In Search of the Lost Heart brings
together twenty-six essays by William C. Chittick, renowned
scholar of Sufism and Islamic philosophy. Written between
1975 and 2011, most of these essays are not readily
available in Chittick's own books. Although this is a
collection, its editors have crafted it to be a book
"sufficient unto itself, which, when taken as a whole, can
be said to explore the underlying worldview of Islam."
Chittick draws upon the writings of towering figures such as
Ibn al-`Arabi, Rumi, and Mulla Sadra, as well as other
important, but lesser-known thinkers, as he engages with a
wide variety of topics, such as the nature of being and
knowledge, the relationship between love and scriptural
hermeneutics, the practical and theoretical dimensions of
Islamic mysticism, the phenomenon of religious diversity,
and the ecological crisis.
More
Ibn al-'Arabi's Barzakh: The Concept of the Limit and the Relationship between God and the World by Salman H. Bashier (SUNY: State University of New York Press) This book explores how Ibn al-'Arabi (1165-1240) used the concept of barzakh (the Limit) to deal with the philosophical problem of the relationship between God and the world, a major concept disputed in ancient and medieval Islamic thought. The term "barzakh" indicates the activity or actor that differentiates between things and that, paradoxically, then provides the context of their unity. Author Salman H. Bashier looks at early thinkers and shows how the synthetic solutions they developed provided the groundwork for Ibn al-'Arabi's unique concept of barzakh. Bashier discusses Ibn al-'Arabi's development of the concept of barzakh ontologically through the notion of the Third Thing and epistemologically through the notion of the Perfect Man, and compares Ibn al-'Arabi's vision with Plato's.
"Salmon H. Bashier has rightly identified the importance of the concept of the Limit (barzakh), a central theme in Ibn al-'Arabi's thought, and situates the concept in two new contexts: earlier Islamic thought as a whole, and the larger Western philosophic tradition. It is a worthy ambition." —John Walbridge More
The Story of Islamic Philosophy: Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Al-'Arabi, and Others on the Limit Between Naturalism and Traditionalism by Salman H. Bashier (SUNY: State University of New York Press) In this innovative work, Salman H. Bashier challenges traditional views of Islamic philosophy. While Islamic thought from the crucial medieval period is often depicted as a rationalistic elaboration on Aristotelian philosophy and an attempt to reconcile it with the Muslim religion, Bashier puts equal emphasis on the influence of Plato's philosophical mysticism. This shift encourages a new reading of Islamic intellectual tradition, one in which boundaries between philosophy, religion, mysticism, and myth are relaxed. Bashier shows the manner in which medieval Islamic philosophers reflected on the relation between philosophy and religion as a problem that is intrinsic to philosophy and shows how their deliberations had the effect of redefining the very limits of their philosophical thought. The problems of the origin of human beings, human language, and the world in Islamic philosophy are discussed. Bashier highlights the importance of Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, a landmark work often overlooked by scholars, and the thought of the great Sufi mystic Ibn al-Arabi to the mainstream of Islamic philosophy. 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.
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 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)
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
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
More
Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, the Ornament of Clear
Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition.
by Karl Brunnhölzl, Volume 1. (Snow Lion
Publications)
Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, the Ornament of Clear
Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition
by Karl Brunnhölzl, Volume 2. (Snow Lion
Publications)
Peter Gilks. Review of Brunnhölzl, Karl, Gone Beyond: The
Prajnaparamita Sutras, the Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its
Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition and Brunnhölzl,
Karl, Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, the Ornament of
Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu
Tradition. H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews. July, 2012.
URL:
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=36093
Despite being one of the most commented upon texts in
Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the Abhisamayālamkāra has been
somewhat neglected by Western scholars, who have tended to show
greater interest in more ontologically and epistemologically
oriented texts. While this is perhaps not surprising, given the
fundamentally secular nature of modern Western philosophy, the lack
of attention is unjustified for at least two reasons. The first is
the argument that the concept of mārga incorporates and
presupposes everything else in Buddhism (as presented in Robert E.
Buswell Jr. and Robert M. Gimello's edited collection Paths to
Liberation: The Mārga and Its Transformations in Buddhist Thought
[1992]), the implication of which is that the soteriological
dimensions of Buddhism are just as worthy of study as its
philosophical aspects (if not more worthy). The second is the fact
that the Abhisamayālamkāra represents Mahāyāna Buddhism's
most comprehensive and influential systematization of the path, a
point noted in 1929 by Theodor Stcherbatsky in his introduction to
the first printed Sanskrit edition of the text when he described it
as "the fundamental work for the study of the Buddhist doctrine of
the Path."
Recently, this imbalance within Buddhist studies has begun to
change. Several important commentaries on the Abhisamayālamkāra
have been published, and scholars working in the field known to
Tibetans as phar phyin (Skt. [Prajñā]pāramitā)
need no longer be referred to as pioneers, despite still being
relatively few in number. One such scholar is Karl Brunnhölzl, whose
recently published encyclopedic resource book on the Kagyü
Abhisamayālamkāra commentary tradition stands as a landmark
contribution to Prajñāpāramitā studies. In terms of the scope of its
subject matter and the detail of its annotations, it is fair to say
that Gone Beyond ranks alongside another monumental (but
regrettably incomplete) study of Prajñāpāramitā, namely, Étienne
Lamotte's translation of the Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra
(1949-80). 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
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.”
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.
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
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
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)
Mind Training: The Great Collection (Library of Tibetan Classics) by Thupten Jinpa (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.
This little book manages to introduce the general sweep of Buddhisms, while focusing upon a select number of suttas that typify for us the most germane aspects of Buddha’s basic teaching. Wallis also provides guidance in how to read critically these archaic-in-style dialogues. Useful and well-focused introductory study belongs on a short list for supplementary texts to religions of the world. MoreGreat 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
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.
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.
More
Coping with Violence in the New Testament edited by Pieter G. R. de Villiers and Jan Willem van Henten (Studies in Theology and Religion (Star) Series: Brill) Violence is present in the very heart of religion and its sacred traditions – also of Christianity and the Bible. The problem, however, is not only that violence is ingrained in the mere existence of religions with their sacred traditions. It is equally problematic to realize that the icy grip of violence on the sacred has gone unnoticed and unchallenged for a very long time. Coping with Violence in the New Testament aims to contribute to the recent scholarly debate about the interconnections between violence and monotheistic religions by analyzing the role of violence in the New Testament as well as by offering some hermeneutical perspectives on violence as it is articulated in the earliest Christian writings. More
Imagery in the Book of Revelation by M. Labahn and O.
Lehtipuu (Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology:
Peeters) Understanding the Book of Reveladon means understanding its ,
imagery. This puzzling book contains a fascinating world of
pictures and images — every chapter and every page of it is filled
with different kinds of images coming from different traditions and
developing different sorts of meaning. The search for the origins of
the seer's imagery, its cultural, social-historical, and religious
meaning, the problem of Johannitie rhetoric, and reader responses to
the text are important tasks that merit further discussion. The
contributions of this collection explore different aspects of this
intriguing field by discussing Selected issues of the wide range of
materials. The contributors different methodological approaches and
apply different tools adopted from a variety of disciplines, such as
narrative criticism, intertextuality, social/historical criticism,
history of religious comparison, gender studies.
The book contains contributions by David Barr, Johannes Beutler,
Marco Frenschkowski, Steven Friesen, Lászlo Attila Hubbes, Konrad
Huber, Michael Labahn, Kirsi Siitonen, Rebecca Skaggs, Thomas Doyle,
Hanna Stenstrom and Robyn J. Whitaker. Most of the articles were
presented and discussed at the seminar Early Christianity between
Judaism and Hellenism at the international meeting of the SBL/EABS
in Vienna, Austria, 2007.
This collection of essays brings new impulses and new methodological
and hermeneutical approaches into the discussion on how to
understand the imagery in Revelation.
More
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
MoreDeliver 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
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. 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
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.
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.
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.
More
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
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:
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.
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
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. More
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.
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.
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. More
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.
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
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. More
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. More
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.
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
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. More
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. More
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.
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
Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West by Greg Woolf (Blackwell-Bristol Lectures on Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition: Wiley-Blackwell) Tales of the Barbarians traces the creation of new mythologies in the wake of Roman expansion westward to the Atlantic. Providing a fresh perspective on the topic by examining passages from ancient writers in a new light, Woolf explores how ancient geography local histories and the stories of wandering heroes were woven together by Greek scholars and local experts to establish a place for Celts and Spaniards, Africans and Britons in the classical world. En route, this investigation assesses the impact of Roman imperialism on those intellectual endeavours, tracks the interplay of scientific and mythological reasoning, and asks why ancient stereotypes survived for so long after the first encounters in the contact zone. More
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. More
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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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.
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
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. More
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.
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.
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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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
More
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".
Crime and Justice: Learning through Cases, 2nd edition by
Carolyn Boyes-Watson, with contributions by Susan T. Krumholz
and Aviva M. Rich-Shea (Rowman & Littlefield)
Crime and Justice offers a comprehensive introduction to the U.S. criminal justice system through nineteen historical and contemporary case studies. Each chapter opens with a case, followed by an explanatory chapter that teaches core concepts, key terms, and critical issues. The second edition has been revised and updated throughout. The volume features new chapters on terrorism, the war on drugs, and gender. It also expands coverage of white-collar crime and victims' issues. New cases include Enron, the O. J. Simpson trial, Barbara Sheehan and the battered woman's defense, and the story of Al Capone.
MoreThe 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.
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.
More
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.
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
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.
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.
Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People by
Edward M. Hallowell (Harvard Business Review Press)
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
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
The Mixtec Pictorial Manuscripts: Time, Agency and Memory in Ancient Mexico by Maarten E. R.G.N. Jansen, Gabina Aurora Perez Jimenez (Early Americas: History and Culture: Brill Academic) The Mixtec civilization (of Oaxaca, Mexico) is one of the most interesting to survive from pre-colonial Mesoamerica. Among its characteristic products were highly artistic pictographic codices depicting the history and dynasties of the its city-states. This handbook surveys and describes the illustrated Mixtec manuscripts that survive in Europe, the United States and Mexico. It outlines the history of their decipherment, current questions, discussions and methodologies relating to readings, social organization, religion and historical drama, and surveys the six centuries of Mixtec history covered in the texts. 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
How Should One Live?: Comparing Ethics in Ancient China and Greco-Roman Antiquity by Richard King (DeGruyter) Chinese and Greco-Roman ethics present highly articulate views on how one should live; both of these traditions remain influential in modern philosophy. The question arises how these traditions can be compared with one another. Comparative ethics is a relatively young discipline; this volume is a major contribution to the field. Fundamental questions about the nature of comparing ethics are treated in two introductory chapters, and core issues in each of the traditions are addressed: harmony, virtue, friendship, knowledge, the relation of ethics to morality, relativism, emotions, being and unity, simplicity and complexity, and prediction. More
Derek Parfit, On What Matters, Volumes 1 and 2, Oxford University Press, 2011, 592pp. + 848pp., $55.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780199265923
Reviewed by Mark Schroeder, University of Southern California, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
It is finally here. Wrapped in a stunning jacket design featuring the author's own photographs and embossed gold and black titling, the two massive volumes of Derek Parfit's On What Matters will be the most beautiful philosophy books on any shelf they grace -- a worthy start to living up to over a decade of being "the most eagerly awaited book in philosophy", according to Oxford University Press's promotion materials. Given the enormous stature of Parfit's 1984 Reasons and Persons (my colleague Jake Ross calls its part IV 'the Platonic Form of philosophy') and Parfit's selective publication schedule, it should be no surprise that his second book should be so anticipated. But with Brad Hooker's [2010] advance notice that it is "probably . . . the most important publication in moral philosophy since Henry Sidgwick's The Methods of Ethics in 1874" and Peter Singer's [2011] front-page Times Literary Supplement gush that it is "the most significant work in ethics since Sidgwick's masterpiece was published in 1873," On What Matters certainly has a lot to live up to.
Lofty expectations aside, there is no doubt that On What Matters is an epochal work. Philosophers my age and younger have never experienced a philosophical world in which there were not conferences and symposia being organized for Parfit to present drafts of the material collected in this work and critics to evaluate it before it was even finished. It is at the same time one of the most collaborative philosophical works ever created (Parfit thanks hundreds for their input) and one of the most intensely personal. And the book is indeed a remarkable achievement, giving us a truly comprehensive picture of the moral outlook -- both normative and metaethical -- of one of the greatest moral thinkers of our time. Whether or not its many specific arguments are widely accepted, the comprehensive picture of the normative terrain it outlines is one with which future work will need to grapple. 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." More
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.
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
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
The Subtle Body Practice Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to Energy Healing by Cyndi Dale (Sounds True)
Cyndi Dale's The Subtle Body has become the go-to guide for anyone who wants to learn about the many varieties of energy healing. With The Subtle Body Practice Manual Dale, an internationally respected author and spiritual scholar, offers a practical instruction manual for putting energy healing into action. Filled with information, step-by-step guidance, diagrams, and insights, the book is an expansive how-to manual that covers practices from a vast range of holistic healing and energy medicine traditions
. MoreDiagnostic 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)
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
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 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.
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
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. More
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.
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.
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 Shamdasani (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. More
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
Roman Historiography: An Introduction to its Basic Aspects and Development by Andreas Mehl, translated by Hans-Friedrich Mueller (Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World: Wiley-Blackwell) Roman Historiography: An Introduction to its Basic Aspects and Development presents a comprehensive introduction to the development of Roman historical writings in the ancient world. Andreas Mehl traces the arc of ancient historical writing about Rome from its origins with the authors of clan history and fragmentary annalists to the writings of Byzantine scholar Procopius, the last major historian of the ancient world. Rooting his survey in the context of its Greek predecessors, and within the broader framework of Roman literature and society, Mehl discusses every historical writer of significance in the ancient Roman era and provides much more than simple biographical detail. Also considered are essential themes such as genre, teleology, the idea of Rome, and exemplary moral conduct. By paying scrupulous attention to political context and religious developments throughout the ancient world, Mehl reveals the evolution and interpenetration of both pagan and Christian historiography. More
Past Minds: Studies in Cognitive Historiography by Luther Martin and Jesper Sorensen (Religion, Cognition, Culture: Equinox) How do historians understand the minds, motivations, intentions of historical agents? What might evolutionary and cognitive theorizing contribute to this work? What is the relation between natural and cultural history? Historians have been intrigued by such questions ever since publication in 1859 of Darwin's The Origin of Species, itself the historicization of biology. This interest reemerged in the latter part of the twentieth century among a number of biologists, philosophers and historians, reinforced by the new interdisciplinary finding of cognitive scientists about the universal capacities of and constraints upon human minds. The studies in this volume, primarily by historians of religion, continue this discussion by focusing on historical examples of ancient religions as well as on the theoretical promises and problems relevant to that study. 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."
More
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.
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
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 Caucasus: 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.
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
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.
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.
More
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)
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
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 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.
More
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
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."
More
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.
Kant's Dog: On Borges, Philosophy, and the Time of Translation by David E. Johnson (SUNY Series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture Series: SUNY Press) Kant's Dog provides fresh insight into Borges's preoccupation with the contradiction of the time that passes and the identity that endures. By developing the implicit logic of the Borgesian archive, which is most often figured as the universal demand for and necessary impossibility of translation, Kant's Dog is able to spell out Borges's responses to the philosophical problems that most concerned him, those of the constitution of time, eternity, and identity; the determination of original and copy; the legitimacy of authority; experience; the nature of language and the possibility of a decision; and the name of God. Kant's Dog offers original interpretations of several of Borges's best known and most important stories and of the works of key figures in the history of philosophy, including Aristotle, Saint Paul, Maimonides, Hume, Locke, Kant, Heidegger, and Derrida. This study outlines Borges's curious relationship to literature and philosophy and, through a reconsideration of the relation between necessity and accident, opens the question of the constitution of philosophy and literature. The afterword develops the logic of translation toward the secret at the heart of every culture in order to posit a Borgesian challenge to anthropology and cultural studies. More
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.
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
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)
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
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)
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.
More
A Brighter Word Than Bright: Keats at Work by Dan Beachy-Quick, with series editor Robert D. Richardson (Muse Books: The Iowa Series in Creativity and Writing Series: University of Iowa Press)
The Romantic poet John Keats, considered by many as one of the greatest poets in the English language, has long been the subject of attention from scholars who seek to understand him and poets who seek to emulate him. Bridging these impulses, A Brighter Word Than Bright is neither historical biography nor scholarly study, but instead a biography of Keats’s poetic imagination. Here the noted award-winning poet Dan Beachy-Quick, associate professor of English at Colorado State University enters into Keats’s writing – both his letters and his poems – not to critique or judge, not to claim or argue, but to embrace the passion and quickness of his poetry and engage the aesthetic difficulties with which Keats grappled.
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
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
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Previous Archive Index Themes 2003-6
Tarot Meditations
Bibliography for Meditations on the Tarot
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Wordtrade.com American History
Dictionaries and Other Word References
Dictionaries and Other Word References
Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy
20th Century Philosophy American
Commentaries on Platonic Themes
Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals
Marsilio Ficino: Platonic Theology
Ancient Christian Commentary on the Bible
Evangelical Bible Interpretation
Feminist Bible Interpretations
Buddhism and Western Philosophy
Intelligent Design and Creationism
Geographic Information Systems
Grzimeks Animal Life Encyclopedia
The Story Behind Inner City Books
Silvan S. Tomkins: Affect Imagery Consciousness
Instrumentation & Measurements
Statistical Methods in the Study of Society
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