History of religion Books

Book SynopsisThe Society for Psychical Research was established in 1882 to further the scientific study of consciousness, but it arose in the surf of a larger cultural need. Victorians were on the hunt for self-understanding. Mesmerists, spiritualists, and other romantic seekers roamed sunken landscapes of entrancement, and when psychology was finally ready to confront these altered states, psychical research was adopted as an experimental vanguard. Far from a rejected science, it was a necessary heterodoxy, probing mysteries as diverse as telepathy, hypnosis, and even séance phenomena. Its investigators sought facts far afield of physical laws: evidence of a transcendent, irreducible mind. The New Prometheans traces the evolution of psychical research through the intertwining biographies of four men: chemist Sir William Crookes, depth psychologist Frederic Myers, ether physicist Sir Oliver Lodge, and anthropologist Andrew Lang. All past presidents of the society, these men brought psychical research beyond academic circles and into the public square, making it part of a shared, far-reaching examination of science and society. By layering their papers, textbooks, and lectures with more intimate texts like diaries, letters, and literary compositions, Courtenay Raia returns us to a critical juncture in the history of secularization, the last great gesture of reconciliation between science and sacred truths.

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Book SynopsisThe Society for Psychical Research was established in 1882 to further the scientific study of consciousness, but it arose in the surf of a larger cultural need. Victorians were on the hunt for self-understanding. Mesmerists, spiritualists, and other romantic seekers roamed sunken landscapes of entrancement, and when psychology was finally ready to confront these altered states, psychical research was adopted as an experimental vanguard. Far from a rejected science, it was a necessary heterodoxy, probing mysteries as diverse as telepathy, hypnosis, and even séance phenomena. Its investigators sought facts far afield of physical laws: evidence of a transcendent, irreducible mind. The New Prometheans traces the evolution of psychical research through the intertwining biographies of four men: chemist Sir William Crookes, depth psychologist Frederic Myers, ether physicist Sir Oliver Lodge, and anthropologist Andrew Lang. All past presidents of the society, these men brought psychical res

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Book SynopsisThis penultimate volume in Pelikan's acclaimed history of Christian doctine - winner with Volume 3 of the medieval Academy's prestigious Haskins Medal - encompasses the Reformation and the developments that led to it.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Kripal] is a serious intellectual, but one who wears his heart on his sleeve. He writes with sensitivity and self-deprecating humor. . .a book that often sparkles with insight and inspires the reader to think, 'I never thought of it that way.'"--New York Journal of Books "This beautifully written and sharply observed book is simply put one of the most remarkable challenges to scholarship-as-usual that I have encountered. It will baffle or annoy many scholars, but those who take it seriously as an invitation to look differently at the way we think about religion and what should count as the subject of scholarship will find that it changes their sense of the possible."--T. M. Luhrmann, author of When God Talks Back "Kripal proposes in Secret Body a revolutionary historiography of religion. . . his personal voice and commitments are so steadily audible in the background of his vatic scholarship."--Fortnightly Review "Secret Body is Jeffrey Kripal at his most capacious, and most confessional. All the highways and byways of his tireless imagination converge here, in this magisterial but intimate effort of auto-interpretation. I have come to see Kripal in the grand tradition of Ludwig Feuerbach: showing us how we have projected our own superhuman potential into a world of gods and monsters, and pleading with us to recall that potential from exile. However, Kripal tops Feuerbach in at least one column: he has an infectious sense of humor about the whole charade."--Charles M. Stang, Harvard Divinity School "[Kripal] is a compelling communicator who expresses his ideas with refreshing clarity and acuity. . .Secret Body constitutes an absorbing retrospective of ideas now brought together in one engagingly confessional volume. For anyone else interested in exploring mysticism, paranormal experiences, and the nature of being, without having to suspend their critical discernment in order to do so, Kripal's book will be of great interest. It challenges entrenched positions taken up by those who seek to either defend or debunk esotericism. Above all this is an optimistic book, offering a hopeful new perspective on the cosmic nature of embodied consciousness as a legitimate subject of intellectual, scientific, and humanistic analysis."--Spiral Nature Magazine "Secret Body is a remarkable ode to freedom. With acute self-reflexivity. . .This volume serves as a fine introduction to Kripal's career and to the story he has written of himself in order to make sense of himself within a Super Story that he admits he only dimly comprehends. And yet this lack of understanding does not signify theoretical resignation, much less mystical fascism. . .Rather, it serves as prolegomena to the future of a "new comparativism" in the history of religion."--Reading Religion "Kripal presents us with a compilation of theories, cultural references and anecdotes making up an impassioned thesis about the future of religious studies and 'what human beings may become'. . .For all its eccentricities, Kripal's work is playful, engaging and original. His references to both "high" and "low" culture are reminiscent of prominent intellectuals such as Susan Sontag and Slavoj Zizek. His earnest encouragement of scholars to be more open and his rejection of skeptical approaches--'scholars are not religiously inept and disciples are not dumb'--is both heartening and timely. Secret Body may not be fully rational or fully defensible, but it certainly is an enjoyable read."--Times Higher Education Secret Body is the latest, bravest, and most accessible book by Jeffrey J. Kripal. Both ambitious and substantial. . . Secret Body is a book you can dip into at will, and revisit often. In many ways ahead of its time, Kripal's work will likely become more and more relevant to more and more areas of inquiry as the century unfolds. It may even open up a new space for Americans to reevaluate the personal and cultural narratives they have inherited, and to imagine alternative futures."--Los Angeles Review of Books

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Book SynopsisThe Puritans of popular memory are dour figures, characterized by humorless toil at best and witch trials at worst. Puritan is an insult reserved for prudes, prigs, or oppressors. Antebellum American abolitionists, however, would be shocked to hear this. They fervently embraced the idea that Puritans were in fact pioneers of revolutionary dissent and invoked their name and ideas as part of their antislavery crusade. Puritan Spirits in the Abolitionist Imagination reveals how the leaders of the nineteenth-century abolitionist movementfrom landmark figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson to scores of lesser-known writers and oratorsdrew upon the Puritan tradition to shape their politics and personae. In a striking instance of selective memory, reimagined aspects of Puritan history proved to be potent catalysts for abolitionist minds. Black writers lauded slave rebels as new Puritan soldiers, female antislavery militias in Kansas were cast as modern Pilgrims, and a direct lineage of radical de

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[T]he individual interpretations in Kotrosits’s book are elegant and persuasive. The writing is some of the clearest discussion of often opaque theory that I have seen. The warnings to scholars—for example, her position (also argued in her earlier work) that is wrong to use 'Christian' in a discussion of many second century texts—are convincing and apposite. And anyone aspiring to be a 'public intellectual' should be forewarned by the powerful exploration in her final chapter of the dangers of such aspiration. In short, this will be a challenging, even moving, book for scholars in several different fields of the humanities." -- Caroline Bynum * Critical Inquiry *"Kotrosits addresses “the dynamic place of . . . objects, as considered through the history of what has been designated as early Christianity," citing late antique sources in light of numerous modern theorists. . . . Summing Up: Recommended." * Choice *"An incisive inquiry into the power of language to conjure up imaginative material worlds whose afterlives are ever dynamic and ongoing." * Material Religion *"The intersection of material culture with multiple disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, critical race theory, and pedagogical studies is an innovative and exciting prospect offered by Maia Kotrosits in The Lives of Objects: Material Culture, Experience, and the Real in the History of Early Christianity. . . . Kotrosits’ monograph is an intensely complex yet refreshingly succinct book which confidently approaches critical questions such as how objects are perceived, what is reality, and how do colonial and other power struggles impact hermeneutics and the field at large. What ensues is a meticulous monologue crafted elegantly through seven chapters of exquisite prose. . . . It will be a popular addition to any library." * Reading Religion *"An interweaving of history with psychoanalysis, Biblical studies with critical race theory, Classics with personal reflection. . . . This book covers a lot of ground, and I have no doubt it will appeal to a diverse readership from across disciplines. It is a thoughtful and thought-provoking work that will hit home for many readers." * The Classical Review *“An elegantly written and carefully crafted object all its own, The Lives of Objects refuses a neat divide between the linguistic and the material. Kotrosits offers us textual space for making contacts across time, across a range of theories and fields, amid so many quests for the real and yearnings for home. Reading this book, we can open ourselves to questioning the objects of biblical studies, of teaching, and of our own scholarly fantasies.” -- Jacqueline M. Hidalgo, Williams College“Deeply reflective and compellingly poetic, The Lives of Objects attends to the too-easily ignored physical things that interact with and give shape to the cultural, social, and intellectual histories of early Christianity, inviting a major shift in our thinking toward an object-oriented way of being in community and in the world. Kotrosits’s remarkable combination of theoretical refinement, in-depth historical research, and literary-critical acumen invites creative and critical reflection. This is one of the most exciting works in early Christian studies that I have encountered in many years.” -- Timothy Beal, Case Western Reserve University"The Lives of Objects stages a necessary and important intervention in the fantasy life of not only biblical scholars, but humanists more broadly, and calls for some psychoanalytically inspired self-reflection on our investments with things." * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *"Kotrosits's critique does not demand an abandonment of material culture but a robust reorientation to it. She asks for humility toward the material object and for a more expansive scope in adjudicating what 'the real' is and where to find it." -- Sarah F. Porter * Religious Studies Review *"Maia Kotrosits’ The Lives of Objects is a work of resonant prose that has both touched me personally and enriched my understanding of what a work of scholarship can do." * Bible and Critical Theory *Table of ContentsIntroduction1  Objects Made Real: The Art of Description2 Citizens of Fallen Cities: Ruins, Diaspora, and the Material Unconscious3 Histories Unwritten in Stone: The Frustrations of Memorialization 674 Tertullian of Carthage and the Materiality of Power (with Carly Daniel-Hughes)5 The Perils of Translation: Martyrs’ Last Words and the Cultural Materiality of Speech6 Penetration and Its Discontents: Agency, Touch, and Objects of Desire7 Darkening the Discipline: Fantasies of Efficacy and the Art of RedescriptionAcknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExamines the turbulent modern history and sociology of the Sri Lankan Buddhist Monkhood and its effects upon contemporary society. Using translated Sinhalese documents and interviews with monks, this text unravels the inner workings of this New Buddhism and the ideology on which it is based.

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Book SynopsisJohn S. Strong unravels the storm of influences shaping the received narratives of two iconic sacred objects. Bodily relics such as hairs, teeth, fingernails, pieces of bonesupposedly from the Buddha himselfhave long served as objects of veneration for many Buddhists. Unsurprisingly, when Western colonial powers subjugated populations in South Asia, they used, manipulated, redefined, and even destroyed these objects to exert control. In The Buddha's Tooth, John S. Strong examines Western stories, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, surrounding two significant Sri Lankan sacred objects to illuminate and concretize colonial attitudes toward Asian religions. First, he analyzes a tale about the Portuguese capture and public destruction, in the mid-sixteenth century, of a tooth later identified as a relic of the Buddha. Second, he switches gears to look at the nineteenth-century saga of British dealings with another tooth relic of the Buddhathe famous Da?ada enshrined in a teTrade Review"Strong marshals a wide range of sources and tells the story of the tooth relic in a compelling way . . . This is not just the story of a relic, but of western colonization and its appropriation or destruction of the traditions of the colonized." * Times Literary Supplement *"Strong [reveals] what the stories surrounding these two objects—their “storical evolution,” as it were—tell us about the West’s evolving concept of Buddhism after its initial colonial encounter and the way objects are infused with meaning, potency, and cultural import through centuries of narrative layering." * Buddhadharma *"Likely to give mythological thrillers a run for their money . . . The Buddha’s Tooth is an insightful book for those interested in world history, mediaeval times, Buddhist Studies, and for those interested in how stories spread and make histories." * Asian Review of Books *"A fascinating and eminently readable account of Western encounters with the Buddha's tooth . . . The Buddha's Tooth offers a richly detailed study incorporating extensive primary source research, including information drawn from published historical accounts, travel diaries, administrative records, and personal correspondence." * Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief *“Artfully conceived and elegantly written . . . This is a masterful work, one that brilliantly orchestrates a plethora of compelling historical particularities and telling details while also bringing into focus several original interpretive perspectives and analytical insights. . . . This is a work that deserves and will undoubtedly attract a wide readership across several academic disciplines.” * Journal of Religion *"[An] outstanding piece of scholarship, exhaustively researched and beautifully written. . . . It is the rare book that can be read with benefit and interest by anyone working in any area of Buddhist Studies as well as by scholars of colonial-period South Asia.” * The Numata Center for Buddhist Studies *“Insightful, provocative, and meticulously researched, The Buddha’s Tooth is a fascinating analysis of how European colonials comprehended and attempted to mitigate the ascribed powers of the most revered relic in Buddhist Sri Lanka. Strong’s intricate study leads its reader from an episodic rendering into a wide-ranging apprehension of how European conceptions of Buddhism were fashioned and further forged over four hundred years of encounter.” * John Holt, Bowdoin College *“The product of extensive research, this authoritative book recounts how this sacred tooth has served as an object of religious and political significance to both the colonized and colonizers, adroitly illustrating many of the dominant Western approaches and attitudes toward Buddhism over the last several centuries.” * Stephen C. Berkwitz, Missouri State University *“Strong offers a stimulating and perceptive study of how European and British persons engaged with Buddha relics materially and ideationally. This is a valuable contribution to intellectual and diplomatic history, as well as to our understanding of how European ideas about Buddhas and Buddhism altered over time.” * Anne M. Blackburn, Cornell University *"John S. Strongʼs The Buddhaʼs Tooth: Western Tales of a Sri Lankan Relic expands the study of Buddhist relics in new directions. . . Employing a historiography focused on details, he avoids leveling out the history of these relics into a single uniform line of events. . . By reflecting the complexity of historical reality, the work is made richer, and more informative." * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Note on Usage Introduction Part I : The Portuguese and the Tooth Relic One / The Tale of the Portuguese Tooth and Its Sources Two / Where the Tooth Was Found: Traditions about the Location of the Relic in Sri Lanka Three / Whose Tooth Was It? Traditions about the Identity of the Relic Four / The Trial of the Tooth Five / The Destruction of the Tooth Conspectus of Part One / The Storical Evolution of the Tales of the Portuguese Tooth Part II : The British and the Tooth Relic Six / The Cosmopolitan Tooth: The Relic in Kandy before the British Became Aware of It Seven / The British Takeover of 1815 and the Kandyan Convention Eight / The Relic Returns: The Tooth and Its Properties Restored to the Temple Nine / The Relic Lost and Recaptured: The Tooth and the Rebellion of 1817–1818 Ten / The Relic Disestablished: Missionary Oppositions to the Tooth Eleven / Showings of the Tooth: The Story of the King of Siam’s Visit (1897) Twelve / Showings of the Tooth: The Story of Queen Elizabeth’s Shoes (1954) Summary and Conclusion References Index

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Book SynopsisThe history of Christianity in America has been marked by recurring periods of religious revivals or awakenings. This book addresses the economic and political context of evangelical revivalism and its historical linkages with economic expansion and Republicanism in the 19th century.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Surveying several centuries and drawing together topics that are commonly treated by distinct historiographies, Tarrant manages a scholarly exploit. . . . An original and compelling introduction to the history of the Inquisition. as well as new perspectives for the study of magic as both an intellectual pursuit and a protean set of practices.” * Isis *“In a sweeping analysis that extends across multiple fields of study, Tarrant traces currents of religious reform, inquisitorial processes, and scholastic theology from the late medieval period into the early modern. He offers an important new perspective not just on the history of magic but also on the history of science and of religion across this pivotal period.” -- Michael D. Bailey, Iowa State University“Defining Nature’s Limits plays an important role in bridging medieval and early modern theological traditions on magic and inquisition.” -- Christine Caldwell Ames, University of South Carolina“Defining Nature’s Limits provides an invaluable contribution to the field of late medieval and early modern intellectual and cultural history, focusing on magic and science. Tarrant’s scholarship is impeccable, his argument is innovative and wholly original, and the book makes important, corrective contributions to the history of both science and magic. The book is a major contribution that will enrich the fields of premodern science and the occult, religious history, and intellectual history.” -- Michael Ryan, University of New Mexico"Tarrant’s book is an important contribution both to the history of science and to the history of magic in the early modern period. In telling the intertwining stories of the intellectual history of Thomist conceptions of magic from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century and the history of the Roman Inquisition’s persecution of magic in Italy, Tarrant reveals how the censorship of magic re-drew the boundaries of legitimate natural knowledge and thus had a radical impact on the subsequent development of science." -- Stephen Clucas, Birkbeck, University of LondonTable of ContentsIntroduction: Magic, Science, and the Counter-Reformation I. Medieval Foundations 1. The Origins of the Inquisition of Magic 2. The Dominican Order and the Construction of Orthodox Magic 3. The Inquisition of Learned Magic in the Fourteenth Century II. Mendicant Reform and the Inquisition of Magic 4. The Crisis of Papal Authority and Observant Reform, 1378–1500 5. The Pursuit of Superstition in an Age of Reform, 1500–1517 6. The Reformation: Trent and the Establishment of the Roman Inquisition, 1517–49 7. Between Trent and the Roman Inquisition, 1549–64 Conclusion: The Ambiguities of Censorship in Post-Tridentine Italy Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In this luminous, revelatory, and sensitive book, at once wide-ranging and full of hidden depths, Velázquez lovingly follows the afterlives of Saint Mary of Egypt across words and images as well as spaces, places, and stages from Egypt to Spain. Velázquez’s beautiful prose and gorgeous readings express a deep care for her subject, leading us on a journey that touches the soul as well as the mind.” -- Julia R. Lupton, University of California, Irvine“In this superbly crafted meditation on religion and materiality, Velázquez interweaves the poems, art, and drama dedicated to Mary of Egypt in premodern Spanish Catholicism and its contemporary traces elsewhere. Her work on the creativity inspired by this saint evocatively reimagines the philosophical concept of beauty around the aging, holy female body and the Christian concept of grace around the profane. While grounded in thirteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain, this study fruitfully reimagines the peninsular Mary of Egypt as ‘good to think with’ for historians of European Christianity, art, and theater more broadly.” -- Jessica A. Boon, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTable of ContentsList of Figures On Translations and Spelling In a Chapel: An Invitation to Imagine 1 Image Theory according to Saint Mary of Egypt 2 The Seductions of Hagiography 3 The Shoes of the Sinner and the Skin of the Saint 4 Neither Venus nor Venerable Old Men 5 Appearances Are Everything Epilogue: In the Artist’s Studio Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In this luminous, revelatory, and sensitive book, at once wide-ranging and full of hidden depths, Velázquez lovingly follows the afterlives of Saint Mary of Egypt across words and images as well as spaces, places, and stages from Egypt to Spain. Velázquez’s beautiful prose and gorgeous readings express a deep care for her subject, leading us on a journey that touches the soul as well as the mind.” -- Julia R. Lupton, University of California, Irvine“In this superbly crafted meditation on religion and materiality, Velázquez interweaves the poems, art, and drama dedicated to Mary of Egypt in premodern Spanish Catholicism and its contemporary traces elsewhere. Her work on the creativity inspired by this saint evocatively reimagines the philosophical concept of beauty around the aging, holy female body and the Christian concept of grace around the profane. While grounded in thirteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain, this study fruitfully reimagines the peninsular Mary of Egypt as ‘good to think with’ for historians of European Christianity, art, and theater more broadly.” -- Jessica A. Boon, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTable of ContentsList of Figures On Translations and Spelling In a Chapel: An Invitation to Imagine 1 Image Theory according to Saint Mary of Egypt 2 The Seductions of Hagiography 3 The Shoes of the Sinner and the Skin of the Saint 4 Neither Venus nor Venerable Old Men 5 Appearances Are Everything Epilogue: In the Artist’s Studio Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA new history of how the Nazi era upended German-Jewish experiences of space and time from eminent historian Guy Miron. In Space and Time under Persecution, Guy Miron considers how social exclusion, economic decline, physical relocation, and, later, forced evictions, labor, and deportation under Nazi rule forever changed German Jews' experience of space and time. Facing ever-mounting restrictions, German Jews reimagined their worldsdevising new relationships to traditional and personal space, new interpretations of their histories, and even new calendars to measure their days. For Miron, these tactics reveal a Jewish community's attachment to German bourgeois life as well as their defiant resilience under Nazi persecution.Trade Review“With a nimble weave of excerpts from diaries, memoirs, and correspondence, Miron adumbrates the tormented strategies devised by German Jews to cope with their incremental exclusion from the public space and civil religion of Nazi Germany. A veritable scholarly tour de force, Space and Time under Persecution also enriches the theoretical literature on the construction and experience of time and space.” -- Paul Mendes-Flohr, University of Chicago“A highly original and sophisticated argument about the perception of space and time among Jews in Nazi Germany. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries, Miron shows how German Jews adapted (painfully) to the limits on their public (and later, private) spaces and to the Nazification of their daily and annual rhythms. Miron shows not only how the Nazis limited and destroyed Jewish space and time, but also how Jews used their own agency and imagination to reconfigure as much space and time as they could.” -- Marion Kaplan, New York University“Through meticulous documentation of a series of case studies, and with superb attention to detail, Miron conjures an unforgettable picture of the shrinking mental universe of German Jews after 1933. This is a powerful work of scholarship that would be of great interest to scholars of modern German history, Jewish history, and the history and sociology of time and space.” -- Yair Mintzker, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1. Space Chapter 1. Public Space Chapter 2. Jewish Places and Spaces Chapter 3. At Home Part 2. Time Chapter 4. The Circle of Time Chapter 5. The Flow of Time Chapter 6. Turning toward the Past Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“With a nimble weave of excerpts from diaries, memoirs, and correspondence, Miron adumbrates the tormented strategies devised by German Jews to cope with their incremental exclusion from the public space and civil religion of Nazi Germany. A veritable scholarly tour de force, Space and Time under Persecution also enriches the theoretical literature on the construction and experience of time and space.” -- Paul Mendes-Flohr, University of Chicago“A highly original and sophisticated argument about the perception of space and time among Jews in Nazi Germany. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries, Miron shows how German Jews adapted (painfully) to the limits on their public (and later, private) spaces and to the Nazification of their daily and annual rhythms. Miron shows not only how the Nazis limited and destroyed Jewish space and time, but also how Jews used their own agency and imagination to reconfigure as much space and time as they could.” -- Marion Kaplan, New York University“Through meticulous documentation of a series of case studies, and with superb attention to detail, Miron conjures an unforgettable picture of the shrinking mental universe of German Jews after 1933. This is a powerful work of scholarship that would be of great interest to scholars of modern German history, Jewish history, and the history and sociology of time and space.” -- Yair Mintzker, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1. Space Chapter 1. Public Space Chapter 2. Jewish Places and Spaces Chapter 3. At Home Part 2. Time Chapter 4. The Circle of Time Chapter 5. The Flow of Time Chapter 6. Turning toward the Past Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis work attempts to see the satis - the Hindu custom of women sacrificing themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands - through Hindu eyes, providing an experiential and psychoanalytic account of ritual self-sacrifice and self-mutilation in South Asia.

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Book SynopsisIn Saints and Society, Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell examine the lives of 864 saints who lived between 1000 and 1700 and the perceptions of sanctity prevalent in late medieval and early modern Europe. They also provide a substantial body of information on the people among whom the saints lived and by whom they came to be venerated. In the first part, the authors give close consideration to what the saints' lives reveal about childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; the impact of religious inspiration upon family bonds; and family influences upon religious behavior. The second part provides a composite picture of piety and its changing configuration in Latin Christendom. With the assistance of statistical analysis, the authors answer questions involving the popular perception of holiness, social class, and gender.

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Book SynopsisKatharina Schutz Zell (1498 - 1562) was an outspoken religious reformer in sixteenth-century Germany who campaigned for the right of clergy to marry. This book contains the translations of her publications, aiming to offer modern readers an opportunity to understand the important work of women in the formation of the early Protestant church.Trade Review"The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe series allows little-known women's voices to be heard, with translations of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century European texts. The approach is feminist, and each volume is prefaced with a historical account of the systematic oppression and frustration of women." - Maya Slater, Times Literary Supplement"

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Book SynopsisOffering a trans-imperial perspective that reassesses the complex relationship between Hungarians, Habsburgs, and Ottomans, this book portrays the resistance of ordinary men and women and their hopes for liberation from Habsburg oppression, reclaiming their place in history.Trade Review“Michels’s account is based on years-long meticulous research and presents many thought-provoking arguments and conclusions for Habsburg and Ottoman scholars. [His] narrative is a lesson in historiography.” Yasir Yilmaz, Das Achtzehnte Jahrhundert und Österreich“Wer sich mit der osmanisch-habsburgischen Geschichte im 17. Jahrhundert beschäftigt, wird in dieser Monographie sicherlich zahlreiche neue Forschungsimpulse entdecken.” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas“Michels’ meticulous study makes multifarious contributions to Ottoman history in terms of core-frontiers relations and frontier dynamics.” Turkish Historical Review"[O]utstanding piece of scholarship." Central Europe History« L’ouvrage de Georg B. Michels est fondé sur une documentation très étendue de sources historiques. [Sa] connaissance de l’histoire hongroise est remarquablement étayée tout au long des pages du livre. » Dix-septième siècle“This is a fascinating and deeply researched narrative [whose] significance lies in its detailed account of local Hungarian politics, and of the numerous cross-border contacts and relationships. It provides a fascinating new perspective on Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry by demonstrating the important role that local actors played in driving conflict between the two great empires of central and eastern Europe.” The English Historical Review“This work has been produced through very thorough research and knowledge of all the historical literature written in Central European languages. The book is written in a very effective style that clearly guides the reader through the logic of the author.” *Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung *"This work has been produced through very thorough research and knowledge of all the historical literature written in Central European languages. The book is written in a very effective style that clearly guides the reader through the logic of the author.” *Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung *

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Book SynopsisReligion is fundamental to contemporary Puerto Rican society. The first synthesis of the religious history of the island, Communities of the Soul explores religion in Puerto Rico and the beliefs, practices, and religious diversity of its past and present – from the cosmology of the indigenous Taíno to Afro-Caribbean and colonial influences.Trade Review"Communities of the Soul provides a good digest of a complicated history. It will enrich the growing awareness of Puerto Rico's challenges to presumptions of the world's moral order. José Igartua offers insightful reflection on an important subject." Reverend Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, Fordham University“Communities of the Soul is a spirited portrait in broad strokes of the historical and contemporary landscape of religion in a small country that has fascinated scholars in the social sciences and the humanities, including those who study religion. Igartua … succeeds in crafting a highly readable, useful, and insightful chronicle of how Puerto Rican popular religiosity emerged from a hodgepodge of Indigenous, Spanish, African, US, and other sources.” *University of Toronto Quarterly *

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Book SynopsisBased on a close analysis of nearly 2,000 fan letters written to Malcolm Muggeridge after his conversion to Christianity, this book reconstructs the lived religion of ordinary people from a transnational perspective in the 1970s. These letters provide a glimpse into the experiences and concerns of Western Christians after the religious crisis of the 1960s.Trade Review"Through a close reading of Malcolm Muggeridge's fan mail, Searching for God in Britain and Beyond successfully places emotions at the heart of our understanding of the Western religious crisis of the late twentieth century. Reagles offers us fascinating insights into a textual community grappling with questions of identity, betrayal, and secularization." Sam Brewitt-Taylor, University of Oxford, author of Christian Radicalism in the Church of England and the Invention of the British Sixties, 1957–1970"Reagles approach is robust, well informed, and insightful. He has uncovered a rich, illuminating and highly significant tranche of unexamined primary material which sustains this excellent exploration, and offers new perspectives into an arena of enduring controversy." Alana Harris, Kings College London, and author of The Schism of '68: Catholicism, Contraception and Humanae Vitae in Europe, 1945–1975

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Book SynopsisBy charting nearly a century of growth, struggle, and organizing, Disciples of Antigonish chronicles how a small Nova Scotian diocese came to exert tremendous influence over the development of Canadian Catholicism, and create one of the most important Catholic social movements in North America.Trade Review“Ludlow’s encyclopaedic grasp of the history of Roman Catholicism in eastern Nova Scotia and his sensitivity to its various themes is remarkable. This work, a compelling, readable, and thoughtful narrative, combined with his other contributions, marks him as an important authority in the history of Maritime Catholicism.” Peter Meehan, St Jerome’s University, University of Waterloo

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Book SynopsisReligion and the Post-Revolutionary Mind demonstrates the central place religion occupied in the intellectual life of post-revolutionary France. Arthur McCalla gives nuance and context to the debates over the role of religion between Idéologues, Catholic Traditionalists, and Liberals.Trade Review“With his sharp insight and astute analysis, McCalla shows the richness and variety of French theories of religion, bringing us into the cultural milieu most directly impacted by the French Revolution. This book is a valuable contribution to the history of ideas in France, European ideas generally, and to ongoing debates in the field of religious studies.” Thomas Kselman, University of Notre Dame

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Book SynopsisA People’s Reformation offers a reinterpretation of the English Reformation and the roots of the Church of England. Drawing on archival research, Lucy Kaufman argues that England became a Protestant nation not in spite of its people, but because of them – through their active social, political, and religious participation.Trade Review“I am hugely impressed by this book. It fizzes with new insights and makes a genuinely substantial contribution to the field. It reframes the subject compellingly, asks questions that have not been asked but should have been, and answers questions that have generally been dismissed as unanswerable. It will become an indispensable point of reference.” Alec Ryrie, Durham University“Kaufman’s spirited and learned book, in terms of both new knowledge and the historiographical intervention it makes, represents a major contribution to research on the Elizabethan Church.” William J. Bulman, Lehigh University

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Book SynopsisBynum examines several periods between the third and fourteenth centuries in which discussions of the body were central to Western eschatology, and suggests that Western attitudes toward the body that arose from these discussions still undergird our modern notions of the individual.Trade ReviewThere are few historians of whom one can say that they have actually shifted some of the landscape of the writing of history in their own generation, but Bynum is one of them. The New Republic Bynum's account is a very impressive and persuasive one... well supported by textual references and by connections she makes between what the ancients wrote and their burial practices, treatment of corpses and cults of relics... [A] fascinating and wide-ranging account that tells us a lot about medieval thinking and practice. New York Times Book Review A remarkable achievement of scholarship and interpretation, an imaginative, determined, and persuasive probing of a counterintuitive thesis. -- Nicholas Terpstra Sixteenth Century Journal

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Book SynopsisInvestigates the varieties of New Age and Neopagan religions in the US from their origins in the nineteenth century to their reemergence in the 1960s counterculture. This book considers the differences and similarities between the New Age and Neopagan movements and observes the antagonistic relationship between these two practices in America.Trade ReviewThis work offers general readers a scholarly assessment of Neopaganism and the New Age movement... Pike provides an overview of key themes of these movements and traces their beliefs back to 19th-century traditions of mesmerism, seances, Swedenborgianism, and Theosophy... her book provides a necessary complement to Margot Adler'sDrawing Down the Moon and Paul Heelas'sThe New Age Movement. Library Journal A view from the mountain...an admirable job of weaving together multiple strands of New Age practice into a single pattern. -- Michael F. Brown Natural History Pike's study is fascinating in all its detail. -- Dan Barnett Enterprise Record A superb introduction to the visions and practices of both neopagan and New Age movements... Highly recommended. -- W. L. Pitts Jr. Choice [A] lucid and interesting survey of esoteric and New-Age religions. -- Philip Jenkins Journal of American History Pike makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of New Age and Neopagan religions in America... -- David H. Vila, John Brown University Religious Studies Review [Pike] offers a succinct, thorough introduction to the wolrds of Neo-Pagan and New Age practices. -- Ed Cook Journal of Church and State This book works wonderfully to introduce readers to the fascinating and still developing religions... An excellent text for courses. -- Cynthia Eller Journal of Religion A clear and well-written primer for what is a bedazzling array of religious worldviews and practices. -- Guy Lancaster Mission StudiesTable of ContentsAncient Mysteries in Contemporary America Introduction to the Religious Worlds of Neopagans and New Agers Early Varieties of Alternative Spirituality in American Religious History The 1960s Watershed Years Healing and Techniques of the Self "All Acts of Love and Pleasure Are My Rituals": Sex, Gender, and the Sacred The Age of Aquarius

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Book SynopsisIn the 11th-century Eucharistic Controversy, Alberic of Monte composed a small but important treatise. His treatise was said to have destroyed the argument that the bread and wine survived its consecration. Modern scholars had long believed his treatise to be lost. This book demonstrates that this crucial document is an existing identifiable text.Trade ReviewThis is a very clever book, an exciting detective story based on acute paleographic and political analysis. -- Mary Stroll American Historical Review This book is a valuable contribution to an understanding of the controversy over the Eucharist that swirled around Berengar, thescholasticus of Tours, in the eleventh century... an excellent example of the virtues of collaborative scholarship. -- Gary Macy Catholic Historical Review The handsome volume will help to make an immensely important moment in European culture accessible and comprehensible for students and scholars alike. -- Miri Rubin Ecclesiastical History Will be of interest to all students of the intellectual and ecclesiastical history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. -- William North SpeculumTable of ContentsPreface List of Abbreviations 1. Berengar of Tours and the Eucharistic Controversy Introduction The Carolingian Background and the Eleventh-Century Debate Berengar's Theology of the Eucharist Berengar's Early Critics The Early Councils The Aftermath of the Council of 1059: Lanfranc and Guitmund The Movement Toward Rome 2. Alberdeen Libellus Against Berengar of Tours The Manuscript The Rubric and Morin's Attribution to Berengar of Venosa The Treatise and It's Author Alberic of Monte Cassino and His "Lost" Treatise 3. Style and Content of the Libellus Alberic's Literary Work The Literary Style of the Aberdeen Libellus The Content of the Libellus Conclusion 4. Berengar of Tours and the Roman Councils of 1078 and 1079 The Sources The Council of All Saints, 1078 Alberic and Berengar Berengar and Alberic at the Lenten Council, 1079 Brief Epilogue: Berengar Remembers Conclusion The Text and Translation of the Libellus Appendix: The Dossier of Unconnected Sententiae Following the Libellus in the Aberdeen Manuscript Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn the 11th-century Eucharistic Controversy, Alberic of Monte composed a small but important treatise. His treatise was said to have destroyed the argument that the bread and wine survived its consecration. Modern scholars had long believed his treatise to be lost. This book demonstrates that this crucial document is an existing identifiable text.Trade ReviewThis is a very clever book, an exciting detective story based on acute paleographic and political analysis. -- Mary Stroll American Historical Review This book is a valuable contribution to an understanding of the controversy over the Eucharist that swirled around Berengar, thescholasticus of Tours, in the eleventh century... an excellent example of the virtues of collaborative scholarship. -- Gary Macy Catholic Historical Review The handsome volume will help to make an immensely important moment in European culture accessible and comprehensible for students and scholars alike. -- Miri Rubin Ecclesiastical History Will be of interest to all students of the intellectual and ecclesiastical history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. -- William North SpeculumTable of ContentsPreface List of Abbreviations 1. Berengar of Tours and the Eucharistic Controversy Introduction The Carolingian Background and the Eleventh-Century Debate Berengar's Theology of the Eucharist Berengar's Early Critics The Early Councils The Aftermath of the Council of 1059: Lanfranc and Guitmund The Movement Toward Rome 2. Alberdeen Libellus Against Berengar of Tours The Manuscript The Rubric and Morin's Attribution to Berengar of Venosa The Treatise and It's Author Alberic of Monte Cassino and His "Lost" Treatise 3. Style and Content of the Libellus Alberic's Literary Work The Literary Style of the Aberdeen Libellus The Content of the Libellus Conclusion 4. Berengar of Tours and the Roman Councils of 1078 and 1079 The Sources The Council of All Saints, 1078 Alberic and Berengar Berengar and Alberic at the Lenten Council, 1079 Brief Epilogue: Berengar Remembers Conclusion The Text and Translation of the Libellus Appendix: The Dossier of Unconnected Sententiae Following the Libellus in the Aberdeen Manuscript Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOffers perspectives on the practices and beliefs of Greco-Roman Jews who lived outside of Palestine and beyond rabbinic control or influence. This book investigates their influence on early Christians and examines how the two communities defined themselves in relation to each another.Trade ReviewA very important contribution... an excellent textbook for undergraduate education and belongs in Judaica libraries. -- Rivka Ulmer Hebrew Studies

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Book SynopsisSuggests that Martyrs are produced, not by lived experience of particular historical individuals but by the stories that are later told about them. This work explores the central role of persecution in the early development of Christian ideas, institutions, and cultural forms and shows how the legacy of Christian martyrdom plays out in the world.Trade ReviewCastelli has written a masterful book about the way early Christians used martyrdom to construct a collective memory of religious suffering. Choice Castelli succeeds brilliantly in her aim to reveal the way martyrdom constructed a new ideology... that subverted Roman notions. -- Kimberly B. Stratton Biblical Theology Bulletin A required reading for anyone who studies and teaches on this problem from the past that remains distressingly present. -- Chris Frilingos Religious Studies Review Castelli's stimulating and provocative study is a creative contribution to this flourishing area. -- Judith Lieu Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsCollective Memory and the Meanings of the Past Performing Persecution, Theorizing Martyrdom The Martyr's Memory: Autobiography and Self-Writing in Ignatius, Perpetua, and Pionius Martyrdom and the Spectacle of Suffering Layers of Verbal and Visual Memory: Commemorating Thecla the Protomartyr Religion as a Chain of Memory: Cassie Bernall of Columbine High and the Contemporary American Legacy of Early Christian Martyrdom

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRendered in clear, succinct prose, this fine study will be useful to specialists yet accessible to nonspecialists... Recommended.Choice Choice a solid work of literary historical research that enriches our understandings of rabbinic literature, religion, and scholarly culture within the broader context of Hellenistic society. -- Eliezer Segal H-Judaic Elijah and the Rabbis is both an enjoyable read and a refreshing contribution to scholarship. -- Sonya S. Cronin Review of Biblical LiteratureTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1. The Study of Rabbinic Narrative: Elijah, Folklore Studies, and Form Criticism 2. Oral-Formulaic Studies and the Culture of the Bavli 3. Elijah in Rabbinic Culture and the Wider Culture of Late Antiquity 4. The Three Generic Groups of Elijah Stories 5. Elijah from Rabbinic Times to the Twenty-First Century Appendix: The Elijah Stories of the Bavli with Translations and Significant Variant Readings Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDiscusses the principles of allegorical interpretation of the liturgy. This title features detailed descriptions of the various parts of the church and its ecclesiastical ornaments. It also features extensive commentary on cemeteries, various rites of consecration and dedication, and a discussion of the sacraments.Trade ReviewWe are indebted to Thibodeau for making this accessible to students and scholars, and the more general reader, for a long time to come. -- Kenneth Stevenson Journal of Theological Studies [Thibodeau's] long and close engagement with the text is... unrivalled in undertaking an Enlgish translation of the prologue and first book. Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsPreface Abbreviations Introduction Prologue Book 1. On the church building and ecclesiastical property and furnishings; On consecrations and the sacraments 1. On the church building and its parts 2. On the altar 3. On the pictures, curtains, and ornaments of the church 4. On the bells 5. On the cemetery and other sacred and religious places 6. On the dedication of a church 7. On the dedication of the altar 8. On consecrations and unctions 9. On the ecclesiastical sacraments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWe are indebted to Thibodeau for making this accessible to students and scholars, and the more general reader, for a long time to come. -- Kenneth Stevenson Journal of Theological Studies [Thibodeau's] long and close engagement with the text is... unrivalled in undertaking an Enlgish translation of the prologue and first book. Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsPreface Abbreviations Introduction Prologue Book 1. On the church building and ecclesiastical property and furnishings; On consecrations and the sacraments 1. On the church building and its parts 2. On the altar 3. On the pictures, curtains, and ornaments of the church 4. On the bells 5. On the cemetery and other sacred and religious places 6. On the dedication of a church 7. On the dedication of the altar 8. On consecrations and unctions 9. On the ecclesiastical sacraments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTayeb El-Hibri draws on medieval Islamic chronicles to remap the origins of Islamic political and religious orthodoxy, offering an insightful critique of both early and contemporary Islam and the concerns of legitimacy shadowing various rulers. He also highlights the Islamic reinterpretation of biblical traditions.Trade ReviewAwe-inspiring erudition and a discerning eye for intertextual associations guide Tayeb El-Hibri's brilliant dissection of early Islamic political narratives. Once exposed to this methodology, readers will have difficulty accepting innocent 'factual' readings of even the most straightforward seeming accounts. -- Richard Bulliet, Columbia University, author of Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World HistoryEl-Hibri advances a rich, provocative reading of events following the death of Muhammad and the careers of the first four caliphs. * Choice *An invigorating new reading of the story of the early Islamic succession to the Prophet Muhammad. * Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations *An important, innovative, and particularly rich book, which promises to become a basic reference work for any scholar working on Islam's origins. * Journal of the American Oriental Society *A must-read for all serious students of early Islamic history...a marvelously challenging, provocative, and erudite rereading of this period and its sources. * Der Islam *Table of ContentsPreface1. Introduction2. Abu Bakr: The Moment of Confirmation3. 'Umar b. al-Khattab: A Saga of Law and Conquest4. 'Uthman: The Challenge of Innovation5. The Road to Civil War: Issues and Boundaries6. 'Ali: In the Image of the Prophets7. From Caliphate to Kingship: 'Umar's Reign and Future Changes8. ConclusionAppendix 1. Abu Mikhnaf's Account of the Saqifa of Banu Sa'idaAppendix 2. The Succession to 'UmarAppendix 3. Manushihr's DeclarationNotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA provocative and beautiful portfolio of reflections on Israel-Palestine, written by an Israeli artist/intellectual of the first order. -- Juilia Reinhard Lupton, University of California, Irvine This is an extremely inspiring and politically important volume. It will interest students and scholars in the fields of literary studies, religious studies, philosophy, political theory, and cultural studies, as well as the general educated public. The psychoanalytically informed and politically engaged readings of myths and stories from the Bible are especially convincing and truly innovative. -- Katrin Pahl, Johns Hopkins University Udi Aloni has written a remarkable series of love letters to what his country could be, challenging his fellow Jews to escape from all of our ghettos, whether physical or psychological. Aloni's political courage is contagious and reading him is a libratory experience. -- Naomi Klein, social activist and author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Aloni's secular theology is definitely one of the most fascinating innovations of our time. So, if you want to dwell in your blessed secular ignorance, then do not read this book--at your own risk! -- Slavoj Zizek Udi Aloni provides us with a measure of the distance between our capacity for understanding and the terrors we choose instead. His art is trembling the underground, indeed. Boundless admiration. -- Tony KushnerTable of ContentsForeword, by Judith Butler Editor's Introduction, by Slavoj Zizek Acknowledgments Prologue: The Visit of the Three Magi in the Holy Land Slavoj Zizek in Ramallah: Back to the Trauma Zone, by Merav Yudilovitch Alain Badiou in Haifa: Their Entire Particular World Judith Butler in Sheikh-Jarrah: "This place which is called Israel" 1 Theology: "Specters of Binationalism" A Manifesto for the Jewish-Palestinian Arab-Hebrew State Why We Support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions The Star of Redemption with a Split ? 2 Body Samson the Non-European Pnay El (Face of God): The Place of Radical Encounter Jocasta's Dream: The Birth of Love from the Slaughter of the Innocent 3 Place: Writing from Occupied Territories The Specters of a Borrowed Village For Palestine Is Missing from Palestine The Fish Who Became a Shahid Jenin and Homeopathy A Murder Is a Murder Is a Murder: Between Tel Aviv and Bil'in 4 Politics: Plea to Jewish Artists Trust Your Dreams: To Dorit Rabinian Thus Spoke the Left: An Attack on the Manifesto of the National Left The Betrayal of the Peace Camp: To Achinoam Nini From Now On Say I Am a Palestinian Jew: To David Grossman And Who Shall I Say Is Calling? A Plea to Leonard Cohen Come Out of Your Political Closets: To Israeli Filmmakers Seinfeld, This Time It's Not Funny! Elementary, My Dear Schnabel: Plea to Julian Schnabel What Do You Mean When You Say "Left"? An Answer to Professor Nissim Calderon 5 Art: Visual Midrash An Angel Under Siege: To Hassan Hourani Local Angel: To Walter Benjamin Holy Language, Holy Place: To Franz Rosenzweig Forgiveness: To Jacques Derrida An Angel I Borrowed: To Mahmoud Darwish Stabat Mater: To My Father 6 Language: Conversations and Comments The Jew Is Within You, But You, You Are in the Jew, by Slavoj Zizek What Does a Jew Want? On the Film Local Angel, by Slavoj Zizek "I will tremble the underground": On the Film Forgiveness Angel for a New Place: On the Film Local Angel, by Alain Badiou The Four Dimensions of Art: On the Film Forgiveness, by Alain Badiou Existence on the Boundary: On the Film Kashmir: Journey to Freedom, by Alain Badiou There are some muffins there if you want ... : A Conversation on Queerness, Epilogue Oh, Weakness; or, Shylock with a Split S Jenin in Wonderland Precariousness, Binationalism, and BDS, by Judith Butler My Very Short Bibliography: Ontology of Exile Pledge to Our Language, by Scholem We Are Lacking a Present, by Mahmoud Darwish An Opening for an Interview, by Avot Yeshurun Who Is a Terrorist?, by D.A.M. A Man Goes, by Haviva Pedaya

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Book SynopsisSees the Salafi movement as a recent conception of Islam projected back onto the past and its purist evolution as a direct result of decolonizationTrade ReviewThis book brings much needed clarity to the history of Salafism and revises common accounts of a little known yet much talked about Islamic intellectual trend. Henri Lauziere has skillfully fleshed out the genealogy of Salafism, and his work will have an important impact on the field of the history of ideas in the modern Muslim world. -- Malika Zeghal, Harvard University An essential resource for those trying to understand Salafis and Salafism, confusing terms with very contested histories. Henri Lauziere brings sense and order to a debate that reaches back to medieval times yet still flashes across screens today. The Making of Salafism illuminates a crucial aspect of the intellectual history of the Middle East and North Africa in the twentieth century. -- Jonathan Brown, Georgetown University This book fills a crucial gap in modern Islamic intellectual history: it untangles the now ubiquitous term Salafism, showing how the concept was invented, used, and contested through the twentieth century as both an analytical tool and a self-identifier. This conceptual history is paired with rich biographical material, which locates the shifting meanings of Salafism in the context of the wider historical processes of colonialism and independence. -- Ahmed El Shamsy, University of Chicago As a scholar of Islam, Lauziere remains unmatched. Washington Book Review [Lauziere] takes readers on a journey through the influences of political and social movements, their collaborators, and media pundits on a theological term-salafi... Highly recommended. Choice An excellent book that provides a brilliant historical analysis of the emergence and trajectory of the concept of Salafism... a major contribution to the field. Middle East Journal While Lauziere's impressive exposition of the term's slippery semantic history is primarily of interest to specialists, his analysis is of crucial importance in demonstrating Salafism's commitment to textual literalism. New York Review of Books A masterpiece of original scholarship and very highly recommended. Midwest Book Review Timely and important contribution... excellently crafted. [The Making of Salafism] serves as an invaluable tool for a continuous interrogation of the concept of Salafism. Islamic Africa 7 This engaging and brilliantly researched book offers the reader the first comprehensive study of the process by which the conceptualization of Salafism developed... It is an excellent book that should receive serious consideration from all historians interested in modern Islam. -- Etty Terem American Historical ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Being Salafi in the Early Twentieth Century 2. Rashid Rida's Rehabilitation of the Wahhabis and Its Consequences 3. Purist Salafism in the Age of Islamic Nationalism 4. The Ironies of Modernity and the Advent of Modernist Salafism 5. Searching for a Raison d'Etre in the Postindependence Era 6. The Triumph and Ideologization of Purist Salafism Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisGod and Man in Tehran explores the historical processes that have made and unmade contending visions of God in Iran’s capital. Hossein Kamaly examines how notions of the divine have been mobilized, contested, and transformed, emphasizing the role played by divergent conceptualizations of nature, reason, law, morality, and authority.Trade ReviewA truly admirable synthesis of intellectual and religious history. * Journal of Religious History *The book is well written and researched, and will be an important resource for those interested in Islam in Iran. * Choice *Hossein Kamaly's new book God and Man in Tehran represents a major event that should be and can be read profitably by those wishing to make sense of the intellectual roots of modern Iran as well as working through the dynamics and complexities of the Safavid period. * Hikmat: Texts *Hossein Kamaly is a scholar of unrivaled learning, a writer of quiet elegance. In his God and Man in Tehran he has written an exquisite rarity: An urban history of Almighty God. An earthly theology emerges from his capable hands that will make you hear the voice of God from the elegant urbanity of a nation. An utter delight to read! -- Hamid DabashiFrom the dawning of modernity around 1800 to the present, God and Man in Tehran expertly describes the diversity of reactions among Iranians to ideas in both their own tradition of learning and imported learning from the western world. Kamaly’s extremely wide reading in primary sources in Persian, Arabic, French, and other languages enables him to describe these reactions in a wide range of cultural modes from poetry to scientific texts. -- Roy MottahedehA masterful mapping of the intellectual and spiritual currents that roiled Iran's capital for a century and a half before bursting forth in the Iranian Revolution. -- Richard BullietGod and Man in Tehran is undoubtedly a valuable contribution to Iranian Studies. * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsOn Transliteration and Dates1. O God, O Heaven, O Nature2. Mediatory Theology and Its Discontents3. God with Us4. The Law: God’s and Man’s5. Falsafeh and the Madraseh6. Sufism Returns, and with a Vengeance7. Varieties of Skeptical ExpressionAppendix: Electronic ResourcesNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisA nuanced portrait of a daring subculture that continues to push the limits of religious experience and intellectual possibility.Trade ReviewAltered States genuinely moves forward in laying a path for new, insightful, and valuable information on the American Buddhism that is developing in our global society. Douglas Osto's groundbreaking research will be appreciated by scholars, and his accessible style will be enjoyed by nonacademic readers. -- Charles Prebish, author of Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America Altered States deftly guides us through the neglected territory of psychedelic Buddhism. This is a fascinating story, full of vivid characters and supported by solid research. Still, I believe it makes a greater contribution by situating these practices and persons within the larger contexts of tantra, of American religion, and of cutting-edge neuropsychology and consciousness studies. The result is-to use le mot juste-mind blowing. -- Franz Metcalf, author of What Would Buddha Do?: 101 Answers to Life's Daily Dilemmas "[Altered States] mixes statistics and surveys, historical overview, personal experience, and ethnographic texture to uncover the intertwining history of two fast-growing movements in American spirituality... This overview will appeal to anyone interested in Buddhism, psychedelic possibilities, and understanding how both are forging a controversial new American religious experience. Publishers Weekly Provocative... The book is worth buying, reading, and quoting. PsycCritiquesTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Buddhism and the Psychedelic Connection 2. The Psychedelic Revolution 3. The Buddhist Revolution 4. Opening the Door: Psychedelics as a Gateway to Buddhist Practice 5. Closing the Door: The Fifth Precept and Graduating from Psychedelics 6. Keeping the Door Open: Psychedelics as an Adjunct to Buddhist Practice 7. Are Psychedelics "the True Dharma"?: Debates, Presuppositions, and Philosophical Issues Conclusions Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shōbōgenzō) is the masterwork of Dōgen (1200–1253), founder of the Sōtō Zen Buddhist sect in Kamakura-era Japan. Steven Heine provides a comprehensive introduction to this essential Zen text, offering a textual, historical, literary, and philosophical examination of Dōgen’s treatise.Trade ReviewThis book, quite simply, may be the single best detailed survey and explanation of what Dogen was on about that I have ever read by an academic. * Treeleaf *[This] volume is warmly recommended to all students of Buddhism. -- Lehel Balogh, Hokkaido University * Religious Studies Review *Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye is a wise book. -- Zuzana Kubovčáková * Journal of Buddhist Ethics *With clarifying beams of insight, Heine deftly evinces how Dōgen’s teachings are a creative response to a range of Buddhist sutras, kōans, and Chinese and Japanese teachers. Illuminating with philosophical virtuosity the dynamic nature of Dōgen’s written teachings and erudite explication of entangled versions of Dōgen’s writings, Heine animates Dōgen’s teachings and practices as he offers nuggets of sagacity throughout. -- Paula Arai, author of Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart SutraVigorous and insightful, Readings of Dōgen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye provides a deep inspection of central themes in Dōgen's vast literal legacy. In a clear and inspiring manner, Heine’s analysis sheds crucial light that clarifies both the beauty and complexity of this giant Zen Master. -- Eitan Bolokan, Tel Aviv UniversityHeine has written a comprehensive, detailed, and accessible analysis of the textual, religious, and philosophical intricacies of Dōgen’s master work, Shōbōgenzō. This careful work of synthesis builds on his own original scholarship on Zen and the Shōbōgenzō itself, and is one of the most thorough overviews of Dōgen’s thought to date. -- Richard Jaffe, author of Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Japanese BuddhismHeine illuminates Dōgen's innovative re-readings of Zen tradition, highlighting his insights into 'being-time' and the 'oneness of practice realization.' Grounded in recent scholarship and embracing historical, literary, and practice perspectives, this comprehensive treatment of the Treasury will be welcomed by Dōgen enthusiasts and others interested in Japanese Buddhism. -- Jacqueline Stone, author of Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismA foremost Dōgen expert's long-awaited, thorough, and comprehensive examination of the sublime thinker whose monumental elucidation of dharma is beginning to inspire meditators and beyond worldwide. -- Kazuaki Tanahashi, author of Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master DōgenShōbōgenzō, Dōgen's brilliant guidebook for the practice of Zen, is now widely recognized as one of Buddhism's greatest masterworks. The importance of the text and its complex difficulties cannot be overemphasized. Steven Heine's Readings provides excellent guidance through the text's crucial issues. Truly, a monumental achievement—now the best book on Dōgen. -- Dale S. Wright, author of Buddhism: What Everyone Needs to KnowTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefacePart I. Textual Sources and Resources1. Creativity and Originality: Orientations, Reorientations, and Disorientations2. Receptivity and Reliability: Numerous Levels of Significance3. Multiplicity and Variability: Differing Versions and InterpretationsPart II. Religious Teachings and Practices4. Reality and Mentality: On Perceiving the World of Sentient and Insentient Beings5. Temporality and Ephemerality: On Negotiating Living and Dying6. Expressivity and Deceptivity: To Speak or Not to Speak7. Reflexivity and Adaptability: The Functions and Dysfunctions of Meditation8. Rituality and Causality: On Monastic Discipline and MotivationAppendix 1: Titles of Treasury FasciclesAppendix 2: Comparison of Versions of the TreasuryAppendix 3: Timeline for Dōgen and the TreasuryAppendix 4: Complete Translations of the TreasuryCharacter GlossaryNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shōbōgenzō) is the masterwork of Dōgen (1200–1253), founder of the Sōtō Zen Buddhist sect in Kamakura-era Japan. Steven Heine provides a comprehensive introduction to this essential Zen text, offering a textual, historical, literary, and philosophical examination of Dōgen’s treatise.Trade ReviewThis book, quite simply, may be the single best detailed survey and explanation of what Dogen was on about that I have ever read by an academic. * Treeleaf *[This] volume is warmly recommended to all students of Buddhism. -- Lehel Balogh, Hokkaido University * Religious Studies Review *Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye is a wise book. -- Zuzana Kubovčáková * Journal of Buddhist Ethics *With clarifying beams of insight, Heine deftly evinces how Dōgen’s teachings are a creative response to a range of Buddhist sutras, kōans, and Chinese and Japanese teachers. Illuminating with philosophical virtuosity the dynamic nature of Dōgen’s written teachings and erudite explication of entangled versions of Dōgen’s writings, Heine animates Dōgen’s teachings and practices as he offers nuggets of sagacity throughout. -- Paula Arai, author of Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart SutraVigorous and insightful, Readings of Dōgen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye provides a deep inspection of central themes in Dōgen's vast literal legacy. In a clear and inspiring manner, Heine’s analysis sheds crucial light that clarifies both the beauty and complexity of this giant Zen Master. -- Eitan Bolokan, Tel Aviv UniversityHeine has written a comprehensive, detailed, and accessible analysis of the textual, religious, and philosophical intricacies of Dōgen’s master work, Shōbōgenzō. This careful work of synthesis builds on his own original scholarship on Zen and the Shōbōgenzō itself, and is one of the most thorough overviews of Dōgen’s thought to date. -- Richard Jaffe, author of Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Japanese BuddhismHeine illuminates Dōgen's innovative re-readings of Zen tradition, highlighting his insights into 'being-time' and the 'oneness of practice realization.' Grounded in recent scholarship and embracing historical, literary, and practice perspectives, this comprehensive treatment of the Treasury will be welcomed by Dōgen enthusiasts and others interested in Japanese Buddhism. -- Jacqueline Stone, author of Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismA foremost Dōgen expert's long-awaited, thorough, and comprehensive examination of the sublime thinker whose monumental elucidation of dharma is beginning to inspire meditators and beyond worldwide. -- Kazuaki Tanahashi, author of Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master DōgenShōbōgenzō, Dōgen's brilliant guidebook for the practice of Zen, is now widely recognized as one of Buddhism's greatest masterworks. The importance of the text and its complex difficulties cannot be overemphasized. Steven Heine's Readings provides excellent guidance through the text's crucial issues. Truly, a monumental achievement—now the best book on Dōgen. -- Dale S. Wright, author of Buddhism: What Everyone Needs to KnowTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefacePart I. Textual Sources and Resources1. Creativity and Originality: Orientations, Reorientations, and Disorientations2. Receptivity and Reliability: Numerous Levels of Significance3. Multiplicity and Variability: Differing Versions and InterpretationsPart II. Religious Teachings and Practices4. Reality and Mentality: On Perceiving the World of Sentient and Insentient Beings5. Temporality and Ephemerality: On Negotiating Living and Dying6. Expressivity and Deceptivity: To Speak or Not to Speak7. Reflexivity and Adaptability: The Functions and Dysfunctions of Meditation8. Rituality and Causality: On Monastic Discipline and MotivationAppendix 1: Titles of Treasury FasciclesAppendix 2: Comparison of Versions of the TreasuryAppendix 3: Timeline for Dōgen and the TreasuryAppendix 4: Complete Translations of the TreasuryCharacter GlossaryNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA classic of medieval studies, this book traces ideas of death and resurrection in early and medieval Christianity. Caroline Walker Bynum explores problems of the body and identity in devotional and theological literature, suggesting that medieval attitudes toward the body still shape modern notions of the individual.Trade ReviewThere are few historians of whom one can say that they have actually shifted some of the landscape of the writing of history in their own generation, but Bynum is one of them. New Republic [A] fascinating and wide-ranging account that tells us a lot about medieval thinking and practice. New York Times Book Review A masterful work of intellectual history. Publishers WeeklyTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsIntroduction to the 2017 Edition: What’s New about the Medieval?Preface to the 1995 Edition: Acknowledgments and Methodological MusingsIntroduction to the 1995 Edition: Seed Images, Ancient and ModernPart I. The Patristic Background1. Resurrection and Martyrdom: The Decades Around 2002. Resurrection, Relic Cult, and Asceticism: The Debates of 400 and Their BackgroundPart II. The Twelfth Century3. Reassemblage and Regurgitation: Ideas of Bodily Resurrection in Early Scholasticism4. Psychosomatic Persons and Reclothed Skeletons: Images of Resurrection in Spiritual Writingand Iconography5. Resurrection, Heresy, and Burial ad Sanctos: The Twelfth-Century ContextPart III. The Decades Around 13006. Resurrection, Hylomorphism, and Abundantia: Scholastic Debates in the Thirteenth Century7. Somatomorphic Soul and Visio Dei: The Beatific Vision Controversy and Its Background8. Fragmentation and Ecstasy: The Thirteenth-Century ContextAfterword: Why All the Fuss about the Body? A Medievalist’s PerspectiveIllustration CreditsGeneral IndexIndex of Secondary Authors

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Book SynopsisElliot R. Wolfson intervenes in the debate over Martin Heidegger and Nazism from a unique perspective, as a scholar of Jewish mysticism and philosophy who has been profoundly influenced by Heidegger’s work. He reveals crucial aspects of Heidegger’s thinking that betray an affinity with dimensions of Jewish thought.Trade ReviewIf Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe was right when stating that the ‘secret of Nazism is buried in Heidegger,’ we must face down this troubled legacy. Elliot Wolfson leads us to the uncomfortable zone of true thinking. Without condemnation but on the razor’s edge of incessant probing, the work calls up a recasting of political engagement. Mere condemnation or strategies of avoidance can no longer cut it. -- Avital Ronell, New York UniversityThe Duplicity of Philosophy's Shadow represents one of the most sustained and creative engagements with the legacy of Heidegger. Rather than marginalize Heidegger and ostracize those who engage his writings, Wolfson instead opts for critical engagement and intellectual honesty. His poetic wrestling is simultaneously exciting and timely. -- Aaron W. Hughes, University of RochesterIn The Duplicity of Philosophy’s Shadow, Wolfson gathers together immense amounts of documentation and compresses it into a lively, readable analysis that combines scope and comprehensiveness with incisive focus on the core issues. He has the talent and the patience to deliver the painstaking labor necessary to provide such syntheses. Wolfson’s scholarly expertise deeply impresses this work with his own signature. -- William Franke, Vanderbilt UniversityNeither apologetic nor denunciatory, Wolfson masterfully summons the lucidity of a philosopher, the erudition of a scholar, and the profoundness of a mystic to face one of modern thought’s most disturbing riddles: how could Heidegger bring so much philosophical light and evince so much political darkness? In this powerful, crepuscular display, Heideggerian and kabbalistic insights on the ambiguity of truth converge to elucidate the philosopher’s very darkness as the shadow of his philosophical radiance. -- Elad Lapidot, Free University of BerlinThis rich scholarly treatment of Heidegger's social, political, and philosophical life adds a voice to Heideggerian studies that should not be missed....Highly recommended. * Choice *Elliot Wolfson’s The Duplicity of Philosophy’s Shadow: Heidegger, Nazism, and the Jewish Other is, in my opinion, the most sophisticated engagement with the 'problem' of Martin Heidegger’s Nazism in the English language * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsPreface: Calculating Heidegger’s Miscalculation1. Barbaric Enchantment: From Existential Ontology to Abyssal Meontology2. Nomadism, Homelessness, and the Obfuscation of Being3. Jewish Time and the Historiographical Eclipse of Historical Destiny4. Being’s Tragedy: Heidegger’s Silence and the Ring of Solitude5. Political Disavowal: Truth and Concealing the Unconcealment6. Heidegger, Balaam, and the Duplicity of Philosophy’s ShadowAfterwordNotesBibliographyIndex

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