History of religion Books
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The First Christian Theologians
Book SynopsisThe First Christian Theologians offers a comprehensive introduction to the theology of the early Church through an accessible and lively examination of the major individual theologians of the time. Provides a comprehensive, single-volume introduction to the theology of the early Church. Features an accessible and lively examination of the major individual theologians from the first five centuries. Explores how Christian theology came into being including detailed coverage of the Scriptural canon, preaching, heresies, and the role of ecumenical councils. Includes an international list of leading contributors. Edited by a leading academic in the field, with a reputation for producing first-rate, accessible books. Trade Review"Beyond doubt this is one of the best introductions available to the English reader who is interested in the Theology of the early Church." Mihail Neamtu, King's College, LondonTable of ContentsPreface vii Notes on Contributors xi List of Abbreviations xv Introduction G. R. Evans 1 Part I The Bible 1 The First Christian Writings John W. Rogerson 15 2 The Interpretation of Scripture Frances Young 24 Part II the Church 3 The Early Idea of the Church Stuart G. Hall 41 4 The Early Church in the World G. R. Evans 58 5 The Imperial Ecclesiastical Lawgivers Clarence Gallagher, SJ 65 Part III Rival Traditions: Christian Theology and Judaism 6 Philo of Alexandria David T. Runia 77 7 Christian Theology and Judaism Paula Fredriksen and Judith Lieu 85 Part IV Rival Traditions: Christian Theology and Secular Philosophy 8 Christian Theology and Secular Philosophy John M. Rist 105 9 Justin Martyr Eric Osborn 115 10 Irenaeus of Lyons Eric Osborn 121 11 Clement of Alexandria Eric Osborn 127 12 Origen Rowan Williams 132 13 Tertullian Eric Osborn 143 14 The Hermetica G. R. Evans 150 Part V The Maturing of Early Christian Theology in East and West 15 Athanasius and the Arian Crisis Rowan Williams 157 16 The Cappadocians Morwenna Ludlow 168 17 Pseudo-Dionysius and Maximus the Confessor Janet P. Williams 186 18 The Syriac Tradition David G. K. Taylor 201 19 Ambrose Boniface Ramsey 225 20 Jerome G. R. Evans 234 21 Augustine of Hippo G. R. Evans 238 22 Eutyches, Nestorius, and Chalcedon G. R. Evans 243 Conclusion: The End of an Era? G. R. Evans 248 Consolidated List of Sources 251 Index of References 260 General Index 267
£38.90
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity
Book SynopsisContaining over 700 articles, this Dictionary allows the reader to explore Eastern Christian civilization in its cultural and religious riches. The articles are written by an international team of fifty contributors, including leading historians, theologians, linguists, philosophers, musicians and scholars of liturgy and iconography.Trade Review"It includes almost 700 entries in a manageable volume that provides both a handy basis for study and a readable source for browsing ... Its major success results from the way in which it combines together information about all the churches of the Eastern traditions, and so allows their similarities and differences of thought, practice and history to be discerned ... This is a work that will be of use and interest to both specialist researchers and student readers, and it should be welcomed onto the shelves of both scholars and librarians." Islam and Christian Muslim Relations "All libraries should have this handy volume." International Review of Biblical Studies "There is plenty here to learn and inspire." European Journal of TheologyTable of ContentsList of Contributors. Foreword by Rt Revd Kallistos Ware. Preface. This Book and How to Use It. Introduction. Dictionary Entries A-Z. Index.
£38.90
John Wiley and Sons Ltd A Brief History of Heaven
Book SynopsisThe concept of heaven has had an enormous impact on popular culture in the west, both religious and secular. This engaging and highly accessible book by one of today's best-known Christian writers explores the history of heaven, from its origins in biblical writings right up to the modern day.Trade Review‘Alister McGrath invariably combines enormous scholarship with an accessible and engaging style. This book is no exception - a splendid survey of a centrally important subject, covering theology and the arts with equal grace and clarity.’ Dr Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury "Bringing together literature, theology, politics and the arts, this fascinating book traces the remarkable influence that the idea of heaven has had - and continues to have - on western culture." Publishing News "It is delightfully lucid and insightful...Recommended for large public libraries as well as academic libraries offering a variety of Christian religious courses." Joyce Smothers, Library Journal "Though clearly a scholar, McGrath transcends the drone of the academic dissertation, offering an accessible and thorough narrative. Using the rich visual imagery of heaven, McGrath has created a fascinating kaleidoscope for viewing the evolution of Christian worship." Publishers Weekly "Pick of the week...It's an ambitious, immensely accessible, erudite and entertaining exploration of the way the idea of heaven has been constructed over the centuries." The Saturday AgeTable of ContentsList of Illustrations viii Preface ix 1 The City: The New Jerusalem 1 Images and the Christian Faith 2 The City of Jerusalem in the Old Testament 7 The City of Jerusalem in the New Testament 10 Augustine of Hippo on the Two Cities 13 The Heavenly City and Medieval Spirituality 17 Pearl and the New Jerusalem 25 John Bunyan’s Heavenly City 29 The Shape of the Heavenly Body 33 2 The Garden: Heaven as Paradise 39 The Quest for the Garden of Eden 41 Paradise in the Bible 43 Early Christian Views of Paradise 47 The Millennium as Paradise 52 Medieval Visions of Paradise 54 Dante’s Divine Comedy 58 Paradise and the Enclosed Garden 65 Heaven as the Restoration of Eden 70 3 Opening the Gates of Heaven: Atonement and Paradise 75 Christ the Victor 79 Christ the Hero 83 Christ the Harrower of Hell 88 Christ the Redeemer: Atonement as Satisfaction 94 Christ the Lover: Atonement and the Enkindling of Love 96 The Institutionalization of Atonement: The Church as the Gateway to Heaven 101 The Privatization of Atonement: Personal Faith as the Gateway to Heaven 106 4 The Signposting of Heaven: Signals of Transcendence 111 Nature as an Anticipation of Heaven 113 The Ascent of Love and the Intimation of Heaven 117 Experience and the Sense of Heaven: Herbert and Traherne 120 Nature as a Signpost of Heaven: Romanticism and Transcendentalism 124 Longing for Heaven: C. S. Lewis 130 5 The Consolation of Heaven 137 Reunion with Family in Heaven in Early Roman Christianity 139 Heaven as an Encounter with God 141 Heaven as a Dream: Feuerbach, Marx, and Freud 146 Heaven as an Encounter with Loved Ones 150 African American Spirituals 155 6 Journey’s End: Heaven as the Goal of the Christian Life 161 The Concept of Spirituality 162 The Hope of Heaven: Theological Foundations 164 The Appeal to Worship: Heaven on Earth 166 Feasting in the Kingdom 168 Journeying to the Promised Land 171 Returning to the Homeland from Exile 175 Seeing God Face to Face 181 Works Consulted 185 Index 192
£23.70
John Wiley and Sons Ltd A Brief History of Heresy
Book SynopsisThis short and accessible book introduces readers to the problems of heresy, schism and dissidence over the last two millennia. The heresies under discussion range from Gnosticism, influential in the early Christian period, right through to modern sects.Trade Review"A clear and elegant book." The Guardian "What Gill Evans's lively and accessible study shows is that if the Church today is to proceed towards a unity truly based upon Christ, we need to distinguish between desirably dissident ‘whistle-blowers’ where the official Church has gotten out of step with its founder, and those voices of dissidence which, on examination, prove clearly contrary to the teaching of Christ. This is accordingly a timely as well as entertaining book, a distillation of wide learning designed for the intelligent common reader." David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University "It is an excellent survey of heresy throughout the church's history. Those who read for information and insight will be abundantly rewarded." Ashland Theological JournalTable of ContentsList of Illustrations viii Preface x 1 The Importance of Being United 1 Forming Consensus 5 The Papacy 10 The Bible in the Hands of Heretics 13 Areas Where Disagreement May be Allowed 20 2 The Boundaries of Orthodoxy: Faith 23 The Apostles’ Creed 24 The Nicene Creed 29 Catechesis 34 Misdirected Worship and Taking the Name of God in Vain 38 Does the Faith ‘Develop’ Through History? 41 The Content of the Creeds and the Question of Orthodoxy 45 3 The Boundaries of Orthodoxy: Order 47 ‘Disorder’ at the Wild Fringes 47 Orderliness 53 Ministry and Order 55 The Rigorist Dispute 57 Schismatics 59 Diaspora 61 Orthopraxis 62 4 Classifying Heresies 65 What Could be Imported from Ancient Philosophy? 66 Incarnation and Christology 67 The Augustinian Trio 70 The Easter Controversy 71 The Doctrine of Transubstantiation 72 1054 and the Schism of East and West 73 From Sect to ‘Confessional Identity’ 76 The Power of a Name 80 Categories of Unbelief 83 Pinning Accusations to Suspected Heretics 86 The Creation of a Critical Literature 88 5 Heresy and Social Challenge 90 Popular Heresy: The Anti-establishment Dissidents Speak up for Themselves 93 The Road to Dissent 98 The Waldensians 99 John Wyclif and the Lollard Movement 106 Jan Hus 110 The Hussite ‘Movement’ 117 Social Consequences After the Middle Ages 119 6 Good and Evil 123 The Mediaeval Dualists 126 7 Dealing with Heresy 134 University Sermons 136 The Preaching of the Heretics Themselves 138 Crusade 141 Inquisition 142 The Change in the Balance of Power 149 Living with Difference 151 Conclusion 157 Notes 166 Further reading 180 Index 186
£23.70
Harvard Divinity School Theological Studies Ephesos Metropolis of Asia
Book SynopsisThis volume brings together studies of Ephesos—a major city in the Greco-Roman period and a primary center for the spread of Christianity into the Western world—by an international array of scholars from the fields of classics, fine arts, history of religion, New Testament, ancient Christianity, and archaeology.
£23.36
Harvard Divinity School Theological Studies Urban Religion in Roman Corinth
Book SynopsisThis book discusses the history, topography, and urban development of Corinth with special attention to civic and private religious practices in the Roman colony. Expert analysis of the latest archaeological data is coupled with consideration of what can be known about the emergence and evolution of religions in Corinth.Trade ReviewIn summing up the contribution of this volume, adjectives abound: diverse, up-to-date, interesting, helpful, stimulating… The overall interplay of literary and cultural studies of ancient religious groups with research on site-specific material culture remains a promising venue for moving forward in our understanding of Greco-Roman religions… This volume is an essential resource for anyone working on any aspect of ancient Corinth, and methodologically of much interest and use to those working on religious communities during the Greco-Roman period. -- Richard S. Ascough * Catholic Biblical Quarterly *New Testament scholars will find this a very useful volume, especially for the archaeological discussions, which are full of details and illuminating evidence presented in maps and illustrations. -- Peter Oakes * Journal for the Study of the New Testament *
£26.96
Harvard Divinity School Theological Studies The Faithful Shepherd
Book SynopsisThis description of the Americanization of the Puritan ministry as it was transported to the New England colonies offers a host of new insights into American religious history. This book also affords the reader one of the freshest and most comprehensive histories of the seventeenth-century New England mind and society.
£21.56
Harvard University, Asia Center Out of the Cloister
Book SynopsisThis book demonstrates that representations of Buddhism by lay people underwent a major change during the T'angSung transition. These changes built on basic transformations within the Buddhist and classicist traditions and sometimes resulted in the use of Buddhism and Buddhist temples as frames of reference to evaluate aspects of lay society.Trade ReviewIn this interesting and well-written study Mark Halperin paints a multi-faceted and complex picture of how members of the Song-dynasty educated elite viewed Buddhism and Buddhist institutions, and how in writing about them literati were able to express a range of opinions and critiques that went far beyond the Buddhist cloister. It is a welcome addition to a number of recent studies on the social history of the Song literati class and on elite Buddhism in the Song, but at the same time it offers an approach not attempted in any previous work. -- Morten Schlutter * Chinese Historical Review *
£35.66
Harvard University, Asia Center The Taoists of Peking 18001949
Book SynopsisThe author focuses on ordinary religious professionals, most of whom remained obscure temple employees, showing that these Taoists were neither the socially despised illiterates dismissed in so many studies, nor otherworldly ascetics, but active participants in the religious economy of the city.
£35.66
Harvard University, Asia Center The Power of the Buddhas
Book SynopsisBuddhism in medieval Korea is characterized as State Protection Buddhism, a religion whose primary purpose was to rally support (supernatural and popular) for and legitimate the state. This study is an attempt to specify Buddhism's place in Koryo and to ascertain to what extent and in what areas Buddhism functioned as a state religion.
£35.66
Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies Spiritual Wayfarers Leaders in Piety
Book Synopsis
£16.10
Harvard University Press The Faithful
Book SynopsisShaken by the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal, and challenged from within by social and theological division, American Catholics are at a crossroads. O’Toole tells the story of this ancient church from the perspective of ordinary people, the lay believers who have kept their faith despite persecution from without and clergy abuse from within.Trade Review[O’Toole] relies on a wide range of source material, writes in vivid detail and, above all, pays a great deal of attention to religious practice and ritual. It is this last that distinguishes The Faithful from previously published histories of American Catholicism… He is certainly not the first to write Catholic history from the perspective of the people in the pews. But it is true that his narrative eschews, to a much greater extent than other surveys, expositions of ideological or political conflict among the church hierarchy. Instead, he frames his book in a manner designed to capture the myriad ways in which ordinary American Catholics have lived, prayed and practiced their faith… It is the Catholic faithful more broadly who stand to gain the most insight from reading this book… [It] deserves a wide readership. -- Kathleen Cummings * America *Especially timely… This is not so much a history as, in this case, a penetrating, deftly worked summary of organizational and liturgical developments, formal and informal, in the American Catholic Church with emphasis on the role and influence of the laity. -- Katherine A. Powers * Boston Globe *[A] splendid new history of Catholics in the United States. -- Rodger Van Allen * Commonweal *O’Toole crams an array of stories, profiles and statistics into his book that will make it a welcome addition to the shelf of anyone interested in the country’s religious culture. His focus is on how the relationship between rank-and-file Catholics and the church has changed since the country’s colonial era… O’Toole’s prodigious research and engaging writing ensure that The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America will be the authoritative work on this subject for quite some time. -- Claude R. Marx * St. Petersburg Times *An intriguing book, brimming with wisdom. It studies the evolution of U.S. Catholicism by dividing it into a half-dozen historic segments, from the Colonial ‘priestless church’ to the muscular, immigrant-fed church a century ago, to the reformist, post–Vatican II church and beyond. -- Rich Barlow * Boston Globe *O’Toole’s history, focusing especially on personal narratives, makes for captivating reading… A history worth reading. * Kirkus Reviews *O’Toole deftly tells the history of lay Catholics in America. Beginning with the priestless church of the Colonial period, he goes on to explore the church in the democratic republic, the immigrant church, the church of Catholic Action, the church of Vatican II, and the church in the 21st century. -- Augustine J. Curley * Library Journal *For readers who are familiar with the church, the primary joy of this book will be found in checking their own experiences against those described by O’Toole. Still, the genial style of writing together with a plentiful amount of fascinating tidbits will keep all but the most jaded expert going. * Publishers Weekly *Solidly researched, engagingly told and insightfully interpreted, The Faithful is the first comprehensive history of lay Catholic prayer, politics and creative fidelity to church teaching, even in times of crisis such as the present. It could not come at a better time, as American Catholics struggle to reclaim a legacy of moral leadership and stalwart service to the nation. -- R. Scott Appleby, University of Notre DameThe Faithful is a truly original and mature work that gives us a rich history of American Catholics. There is simply no comparable book. -- David O’Brien, College of the Holy CrossAn ambitious narrative history of American Catholicism, written with great historical range and attention to lived experience. It has profound contemporary resonance. This courageous book, unafraid to explore the story’s darker moments, is destined to become the new standard text on American Catholicism. -- Robert Orsi, Northwestern UniversityO’Toole surveys the lay Catholic experience in America with remarkable breadth and mastery. Lively and accessible, this book provides a valuable introduction to American Catholic history. -- Leslie Tentler, Catholic University of AmericaTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Priestless Church 2. The Church in the Democratic Republic 3. The Immigrant Church 4. The Church of Catholic Action 5. The Church of Vatican II 6. The Church in the Twenty-first Century Notes Acknowledgments Index
£24.26
Harvard University Press Miracle Tales from Byzantium
Book SynopsisMiracles occupied a unique place in medieval and Byzantine life and thought. This volume makes available three collections of miracle tales never before translated into English. They deepen our understanding of attitudes toward miracles and display the remarkable range of registers in which Greek could be written during the Byzantine period.
£26.96
Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies Paideia and Cult
Book SynopsisSchwartz's analysis of the Catechetical Homilies of Theodore of Mopsuestia explores the role of education and worship in the complex process of conversion and Christianization. Catechesis emerges here as invaluable for comprehending clergy's ability to initiate new members as Christianity gained increasing prominence within the late Roman world.
£18.86
Harvard University Press The Pulpit and the Press in Reformation Italy
Book SynopsisItalian sermons tell a story of the Reformation that credits preachers with using the pulpit, pen, and printing press to keep Italy Catholic when the region’s violent religious wars made the future uncertain, and with fashioning a post-Reformation Catholicism that would survive the competition and religious choice of their own time and ours.Trade ReviewMichelson’s rich book has the great merit of filling a rather surprising gap in the historiography. This void could be partly ascribed to the complexity of the subject and to the large number of sources, primary and secondary, that had to be consulted for such a work. The Pulpit and the Press is based on a vast number of sixteenth-century books, and Michelson demonstrates a solid command of the secondary literature, both in Italian and in English… Michelson’s book is by far the most detailed and comprehensive work on preaching in early modern Italy and is a valuable contribution to our understanding of Italian religious history of that time. -- Stefano Dall’Aglio * Renaissance Quarterly *This informative book adds to the increasingly rich image of early modern Catholicism by focusing on the cares and methods of vernacular preachers in mid-sixteenth century Italy, where (at least to preachers) heresy seemed to be everywhere. Emily Michelson shows memorably and convincingly that Italy remained Catholic less because of stern decrees and reactionary policies and more because of these legions of diligent, if now-obscure, preachers. -- Craig Harline, Brigham Young UniversityBy focusing on vernacular sermons, Emily Michelson significantly expands our understanding of the interplay between preaching, printing, and Catholic reform. Her stimulating study highlights the efforts of Italian preachers to counter heresy while satisfying lay interest in scripture. Challenging preconceptions about the Church’s monolithic response to Protestantism, it reveals the range of positions possible within a broader Catholic consensus. This is first-rate scholarship. -- Amy Burnett, University of Nebraska–LincolnThe Pulpit and the Press in Reformation Italy is much more than a meticulous study of ‘the barely known mainstream’ of Catholic vernacular preaching in the sixteenth century. It changes our understanding of early modern Italian Catholicism as such. Through the texts and textures of sermons that serve both a social and spiritual history, Emily Michelson shows how Catholic clergy sought to instruct and reform lay souls by embracing biblical preaching while avoiding Protestant heresy. This book is an outstanding achievement. -- Brad S. Gregory, University of Notre Dame, author of The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society
£37.36
Harvard University Press Church Politics and Society in Spain 17501874
Book SynopsisThis contribution to European historical literature provides a clear and dispassionate account of successive ecclesiastical-secular conflicts and controversies in Spain and deftly summarizes the diverse ideological and intellectual currents of the times.Table of Contents1. The Organization of the Church, 1750-1790 2. Prosperity and Religion, 1750-1790 3. The First Shocks, 1790-1814 4. The Struggle Intensifies, 1814-1833 5. The Destruction of the Old Regime Church, 1833-1843 6. The Conservative Church, 1844-1868 7. Church and Society, 1844-1868 8. From Revolution to Restoration, 1868-1874 Notes Bibliographic Essay Index
£44.16
Harvard University Press Early Christianity and Greek Paideia
Book SynopsisThis small book, the last work of a world-renowned scholar, has established itself as a classic. It provides a superb overview of the vast historical process by which Christianity was Hellenized and Hellenic civilization became Christianized.Trade ReviewThere are judgments on every page which provoke reflection and gratitude. * Classical Review *The breadth of vision, soundness of analysis, and the learning which the author brings to bear on his subjects stands out in every chapter…This easy and smooth-flowing but profound book bears the stamp of a lifetime devoted to scholarship. * Theology *Table of ContentsPreface PART I PART II PART III PART IV PART V PART VI PART VII Notes Index
£24.26
Harvard University Press Saints of Ninth and TenthCentury Greece
Book SynopsisSaints of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Greece collects a variety of funeral orations, encomia, and narrative hagiography that illuminate the roles of holy men during one of the most obscure periods of Greek history. This volume presents Byzantine Greek texts written by locals in the provinces and translated here into English for the first time.Trade ReviewThis volume offers an essential selection of texts. Kaldellis and Polemis need to be commended not only for their enterprise to put them together and provide information on their importance and topics that emerge through these compositions and the intertextual sources that seem to be present in these works, but also for their translation from Medieval Greek given their various styles. -- Michail Kitsos * Medieval Review *
£26.96
Harvard University Press Vaikhanasa Mantra Prasna VVIII Daivikacatuayam
Book SynopsisThe Vaikhānasas are mentioned in many Vedic texts, yet they are Vaiṣṇavas, monotheistic worshipers of Viṣṇu. Thus, they bridge two key ages in the history of South Asian religion. This text contains many quotations from ancient Vedic literature as well as architectural and iconographical data of the later first millennium CE.
£63.96
Harvard University Press The Making of the Bible
Book SynopsisThe Bible is full of ancient texts long predating the assembly of Judaism’s and Christianity’s sacred books. Why these texts, and how were they transformed on the journey from folk tale to holy writ? Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter unearth the history, in the process overturning assumptions about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.Trade ReviewA landmark…This is a rich book treating the historical traditions that lie within the texts, the oral traditions that transmitted them down the generations, the processes by which texts were formed and collected within scribal culture, and the way in which this gradually led to the formation of various canons…If you have time to read only one book on the Bible this year, make sure that it is this one. -- Katherine J. Dell * Church Times *Excellent…With a sure touch, the authors lead the reader through the geopolitical context of the Hebrew Bible and the setting and background of the New Testament, finding something to say about practically every book’s origins and development…The Bible is not a fixed entity, clearly delineated from all other writings, even though our culture tends to see it so. -- John Barton * The Tablet *Outlines how different forms of the Bible came into being. Their focus is historical and philological rather than theological or literary. Yet the story they tell is engrossing: that of an unstable world needing to attend to the values of God’s kingdom. They help a non-specialist reader appreciate the fascinating diversity of ways in which the Bible’s message was regularly reinterpreted in a changing political situation…Together, Schmid and Schröter…show that the history of the Bible is much less fixed than has been imagined. -- Constant J. Mews * Australian Book Review *A richly detailed resource…packed with interesting information about the Bible and its use in the Jewish and Christian traditions. * Choice *The Making of the Bible is an impressive and up-to-date account of its subject matter, simultaneously comprehensive…and concise… The prose is accessible to non-specialists. And while biblical scholars will already know much on offer here, even they will be surprised by the occasional fact or theory. The book will be most useful as an introductory textbook in masters-level classes and as an entrée to the topic for outsiders to the guild. The sheer amount of information packed between the covers is an achievement in itself. -- Brad East * Interpretation *A remarkable deep dive into foundational books whose origins are often taken for granted. * Publishers Weekly *With this exemplary account of both origins and canonization, Schmid and Schröter have given us a superb book on how the Bible came into being. The Making of the Bible is invaluable for anyone interested in Scripture and in the intertwined histories of Judaism and Christianity. -- John Barton, author of A History of the Bible: The Book and Its FaithsThe Making of the Bible will be a go-to for me. It does for the history of the Bible what I’ve sought to do for the Bible’s languages: to make this book real. -- Sarah Ruden, author of The Gospels: A New TranslationAn erudite history of ‘How We Got the Bible’ that addresses the key issues—historical backgrounds, oral traditions, ancient manuscripts, canon formation, and the books that were left out. Schmid and Schröter are expert guides along these rocky paths for all readers interested in the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible. -- Bart Ehrman, author of Heaven and Hell: A History of the AfterlifeThis impressive book tells the story of how the Bible was made. In the process of that telling, the authors unearth a second story of equal significance: how these different Bibles formed us, creating a world shaped by sacred scripture. Today, we're grappling with the consequences of both stories, which makes this book an essential guide for the future. -- Martin Puchner, author of The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, and CivilizationThis comprehensive book on the Bible—the Hebrew Bible as well as the New Testament—by two world-renowned theologians is for students and teachers alike. It will be read with pleasure and benefit by everyone interested in the most important document of Western civilization. -- Thomas Römer, author of The Invention of God
£26.96
Harvard University Press Celestial Masters
Book SynopsisCelestial Masters is the first book in any Western language devoted solely to the founding of Daoism. It traces the movement from the mid-second century CE through the sixth century, and provides a detailed analysis of ritual life within the movement, covering the roles of common believer or Daoist citizen, novice, and priest or libationer.Trade ReviewThe work represents an enormous contribution to Chinese-area studies as well as the broader religious field. Kleeman’s erudite analysis, copious translations, and detailed notes ensure that Celestial Masters will serve as a useful resource for both scholars of religion as well as students of Chinese literature, history, and culture. -- Lucas Wolf * Journal of Asian Studies *There is much to praise about this book, and it contains a wealth of new material and resources for scholars now made easily accessible for the first time. …[A]n essential volume in any collection of materials on Daoist history, belief, and practice. -- Ronnie L. Littlejohn * Dao *This detailed account of the origins and early development of the Celestial Master organization represents a major step forward in our knowledge of Daoism. Overthrowing countless earlier theories and suppositions with solid textual research, Kleeman’s study will stand as a model of how we might exploit the materials left to us to form solid hypotheses on human culture-building in those long-ago places that we will never be able to visit. -- Stephen R. Bokenkamp * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *The most comprehensive examination of early religious Daoism… Kleeman’s outstanding book will be foundational for future studies of Daoist liturgy and organization, especially those parts of the religion that attracted people in and around China. -- Jonathan E. E. Petit * Early Medieval China *Celestial Masters deserves close attention and critical engagement by anyone interested in Chinese history, and not just Daoist studies. [Kleeman’s] historical narrative is very readable and clearly structured, organized around strong, but explicit and argued interpretative choices. …[this] beautiful book will be an indispensable reference work for many decades to come. -- Vincent Goossaert * Journal of Oriental Studies *
£26.96
Harvard University Press The Annals of King Taejo Founder of Koreas
Book SynopsisNever before translated into English, this official history of the reign of King T’aejo—founder of Korea’s illustrious Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910 CE)—is a unique resource for reconstructing life in late-fourteenth-century Korea. It includes a wealth of detail not just about politics and war but also religion, astronomy, and the arts.Trade ReviewAnother masterpiece from Choi Byonghyon. Integrating a remarkably wide range of expertise in classical Chinese, Korean history, Confucianism, geography, and East Asian political structures, Choi offers an accessible translation for modern readers and a model for the rest of the vast ‘veritable records’ of the Chosŏn Dynasty. This book brings to life King T’aejo’s Sinicizing and yet profoundly Korean late fourteenth-century world. Readers can follow T’aejo and his court through the hopes and challenges of the dynasty’s founding era, including national reconstruction, state formation and legitimacy, ideological transformation, and the nature of leadership. The Annals of King T’aejo is a treasure trove for anyone interested in Korean and East Asian history. -- Byung-Kook Kim, Korea UniversityA welcome addition to an expanding list of Korean primary sources in English. Scholars, students, and general readers alike will find The Annals of King T’aejo a must to understand the transition from Koryŏ to Chosŏn Korea. -- Edward J. Shultz, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
£50.96
Harvard University Press Our Divine Double
Book SynopsisWhat if you were to discover that you were only one half of a whole—that you had a divine double? In the second and third centuries CE, Charles Stang shows, this idea gripped the religious imagination of the Eastern Mediterranean, offering a distinctive understanding of the self that has survived in various forms down to the present.Trade ReviewOur Divine Double is intellectually rich and historically detailed. Stang asks readers to contemplate a theological and philosophical ‘road not taken,’ one that might challenge various Christian orthodoxies of the self and the divine. The book is a triumph; Stang has uncovered an unacknowledged but vital strain of thinking about God and the cosmos that generated centuries of productive thinking about the ‘I’ and the ‘Other.’ -- Andrew Jacobs, Scripps CollegeIn this lively, insightful book, Stang tackles a major problem in the history of ancient religion, and sheds much light on a forgotten chapter in the archaeology of the person. Major instances, such as Thomas, Jesus’s twin brother, and Mani’s heavenly twin, are studied in the context of a Platonic tradition going from Socrates’s daimon to Plotinus. -- Guy Stroumsa, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of OxfordStang breathes life into scholarship and provides a new understanding of traditions about which we thought there was nothing new to learn…There is something wild, infectious, even mad in this book. Stang embraces cognitive and existential impossibilities under the rubric of ‘our divine double,’ and yet, through his careful and cadenced presentation of these paradoxes, Stang tames the madness and leads his readers in; he offers us a taste of bi-unity; he allows us to feel the touch of Plato’s heaven-sent madness. -- Gregory Shaw * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *This work is a top-class piece of scholarship and Stang is to be commended for his hands-on approach to primary materials—Coptic, Syriac, and Middle Persian are just a few of the languages he employed to bring this study to fruition…Our Divine Double can truly be called an original contribution to scholarship and it is a most captivating read. -- Daniel J. Tolan * Reading Religion *Stang’s book is compelling in its devotion to an ancient search for a way to ‘our higher self’…Opening his own creative process in formulating Our Divine Double has proven a distinctive and valuable achievement, partly because it also lays open philological disintegrations, and significant reorientations in the house of intellect. -- Karl F. Morrison * Medieval Review *
£41.61
Harvard University, Asia Center Illusory Abiding
Book SynopsisNatasha Heller offers a cultural history of Buddhism through a case study of the Chan master Zhongfeng Mingben. Monks of his stature developed a broad set of cultural competencies for navigating social and intellectual relationships. Heller shows the importance of situating monks as actors within wider sociocultural fields of practice and exchange.
£35.66
Archeological Exploration of Sardis Churches EA and E at Sardis
Book SynopsisBetween 1962 and 1973, the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis excavated two superimposed churches at this ancient site, one early Christian, one Byzantine. In this richly illustrated volume, Hans Buchwald documents the architecture and history of these buildings from the fourth to the sixteenth century.
£64.56
Harvard University, Asia Center Celestial Masters
Book SynopsisCelestial Masters is the first book in any Western language devoted solely to the founding of Daoism. It traces the movement from the mid-second century CE through the sixth century, and provides a detailed analysis of ritual life within the movement, covering the roles of common believer or Daoist citizen, novice, and priest or libationer.Trade ReviewCelestial Masters deserves close attention and critical engagement by anyone interested in Chinese history, and not just Daoist studies. [Kleeman’s] historical narrative is very readable and clearly structured, organized around strong, but explicit and argued interpretative choices. …[this] beautiful book will be an indispensable reference work for many decades to come. -- Vincent Goossaert * Journal of Oriental Studies *The work represents an enormous contribution to Chinese-area studies as well as the broader religious field. Kleeman’s erudite analysis, copious translations, and detailed notes ensure that Celestial Masters will serve as a useful resource for both scholars of religion as well as students of Chinese literature, history, and culture. -- Lucas Wolf * Journal of Asian Studies *There is much to praise about this book, and it contains a wealth of new material and resources for scholars now made easily accessible for the first time. …[A]n essential volume in any collection of materials on Daoist history, belief, and practice. -- Ronnie L. Littlejohn * Dao *This detailed account of the origins and early development of the Celestial Master organization represents a major step forward in our knowledge of Daoism. Overthrowing countless earlier theories and suppositions with solid textual research, Kleeman’s study will stand as a model of how we might exploit the materials left to us to form solid hypotheses on human culture-building in those long-ago places that we will never be able to visit. -- Stephen R. Bokenkamp * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *The most comprehensive examination of early religious Daoism… Kleeman’s outstanding book will be foundational for future studies of Daoist liturgy and organization, especially those parts of the religion that attracted people in and around China. -- Jonathan E. E. Petit * Early Medieval China *
£35.66
Harvard University Press Relics Apocalypse the Deceits of History Ademar
Book SynopsisLandes traces the life and career of Ademar of Chabannes—a monk, historian, liturgist, and hagiographer who lived at the turn of the first Christian millennium. Using over 1,000 folios of autograph manuscript that Ademar left behind, Landes has been able to reconstruct in great detail the development of Ademar’s career and the events of his day.Trade ReviewRelics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History is an intelligent and imaginative study of an author who accounts for a large proportion of the surviving narrative sources for Aquitaine in the first third of the eleventh century and is consequently central to our understanding of important movements such as the Peace of God, pilgrimage, and the cult of saints. Ademar left a substantial corpus, much of it autograph. This provides the cornerstone of Landes's challenging methodology whereby he calibrates shifts in Ademar's literary identity--as copyist, historian, liturgist, and mythographer--against a detailed biographical reconstruction which is in turn interwoven with the religious, social, and political currents affecting the 'millennial generation'. Landes excels in applying skilled palaeographical, codicological, and textual analysis to wider issues...This is an ambitious, original, methodologically exciting, and closely argued work of great interest. -- Marcus Bull * English Historical Review [UK] *On August 3, 1029, Ademar of Chabannes suffered a humiliating defeat when his plans for a triumphal procession of the relics of St. Martial and the chanting of his new liturgy in Martial's honor turned into a fiasco. He spent the next five years writing forgeries and fictions about his contemporaries which have misled historians up to the 20th century. He left behind more than 1,000 folios of manuscripts. This account by Professor Landes of Boston University sheds new light on the cult of saints, apocalypticism, scriptoria and their manuscripts, and historiography. * Theology Digest *A brilliant work which synthesizes the immense technical skills Landes has acquired with his talent as an historian. Because Ademar left so many manuscripts in so many fields of endeavor and because he was so thoroughly a part of the major historical movements in Aquitaine during the first third of the eleventh century, Landes is able to break new ground in a methodological sense with regard to the writing of various aspects of the social and religious history of the French kingdom in pre-Crusade Europe. Particular emphasis here is given to popular religion, the peace movement, apocalyptic thought and social patterns. Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History, moreover, is at once an intellectual biography, a personal biography, and a social history. Thus, Ademar the man, Ademar the monk, Ademar the scholar, Ademar the Christian, and Ademar the public figure are all thoroughly integrated in Landes' remarkable study. -- Bernard S. Bachrach, University of MinnesotaLandes convinced me without any qualms of the importance of his approach. He is absolutely right to stress the importance of Ademar's corpus, substantial portions of it autograph. It is not just that Ademar is an important source for our writing and history. As Landes says, the fact that Ademar wrote and revised so much allows us to see into the creative process of a single man who lived at a watershed. We can see into his mind. And because Ademar was tortured and flawed, we have, as Landes also points out in a wonderful phrase, 'the autograph record of a man going mad.' Uncommon enough for any period, this is a motherlode for the middle ages. -- Geoffrey Koziol, University of California at BerkeleyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations I. Ademar and Aquitaine at the Turn of the Millennium 1. An Embarrassment of Riches: Ademar's Autograph Corpus 2. The Social and Political Climate of Aquitaine at the Turn of the Millennium 3. The Politics of Popular Enthusiasm and the Origins of the Vita Prolixior II. Early Career: The Formation of a Monastic Historian, 989-1028 4. Ademar's Youth: Monastic Withdrawal from a Turbulent World 5. A Monk in Church Politics: From Copyist to Historian 6. Writing History in an Apocalyptic Age: Alpha 7. Jerusalem Pilgrimage, Abbacy Lost, History Gained: Beta 8. Assassination, Witchcraft, and the Crucible of Ambition III. The Apostolic Controversy: From Apostolic Impresario to Master Forger, 1028-1031 9. The Consecration of the Basilica Regalis and Ademar's Conversion to the Cult of Saint Martial 10. The Year of the Apostolic Liturgy: Gamma 11. Impresario on the Ropes: The Debates with Benedict of Chiusa 12. Dilemmas of a Masterful Failure: The Circular Apology 13. Birth of a Solitary Forger: Confection of the Apostolic Corpus IV. The Millennial Generation 14. The Terrible Hopes of the Millennial Generation and the Weeping Crucifix 15. Ademar and the Millennial Generation: Apostolic Relics and Apocalyptic Pilgrimages 16. Epilogue: On Timing, Editing, and Forgery Appendices A. Chronology, 987-1034 B. Manuscripts in Ademar's Corpus C. Identifying Ademar's Handwriting D. Manuscript Descriptions D1. BN lat. 5239 D2. BN lat. 3784: A Monastic Compendium D3. Leiden, Vossianus Oct. 15: A Liberal Arts Florilegium D4. BN lat. 2400: An Ecclesiastical Miscellany D5. BN lat. 6190, folios S3-57: First Draft of the History D6. BN lat. 5943A: Historical Works E. Apocalyptic Signs and Ademar's Description of I009-1010 F. Ademar's Trips to Limoges, 1024-1034 G. Length of Simneon's Stay in Angouleme H. Poisonings in Beta I. Analysis of the Sources on Witchcraft Bibliography Index
£67.16
Harvard University, Asia Center Assembling Shinto
Book SynopsisAnna Andreeva challenges the twentieth-century narrative of Shinto as an unbroken, monolithic tradition. By studying how and why religious practitioners affiliated with different religious institutions responded to esoteric Buddhism’s teachings, this book demonstrates that kami worship in medieval Japan was a result of complex negotiations.
£35.66
Harvard University Press Latino Pentecostals in America
Book SynopsisToday 12.5 million U.S. Latinos self-identify as Protestant, and Assemblies of God is the destination for one out of four converts. Gastón Espinosa reveals the church’s struggle for indigenous leadership, racial equality, women in the ministry, and immigration reform and shows why “Silent Pentacostals” are an activist voice in Evangelical politics.Trade ReviewThis magnificently researched book about the Latino contribution to the American Assemblies of God brings to public consciousness a minority whose history has been overlain by what Gastón Espinosa calls the European-American history of Pentecostalism in North America, including Puerto Rico. -- David Martin * Church Times *This is an excellent study of the Latino movement within the Assemblies of God (AG) denomination… This is finely crafted denominational history and, given the size and importance of Hispanics in the AG and in American Pentecostalism generally, it is an important resource for understanding the future of Christianity in North America. -- D. Jacobsen * Choice *Those interested in the religious experience of Latinos or in the history of Pentecostalism will find Espinosa’s study to be both informative and useful. -- John Jaeger * Library Journal *Espinosa has provided a powerful history of the Latino Assemblies of God. Marshaling rich and often untapped sources, he rewards the reader with a wonderful tapestry of the religious lives and struggles of an important movement and people. -- Efraín Agosto, New York Theological SeminaryEspinosa’s magisterial study of Latino Pentecostalism will be the most authoritative work on this subject in the field of Latino history and religion for years to come. -- Mario T. Garcia, University of California, Santa BarbaraThis is by far the best researched and most provocative study on the origins and history of U.S. Latino Pentecostalism. It destroys so many common misconceptions that reading it is an absolute necessity for anyone claiming to know anything about the subject. -- Justo L. González, author of The Story of ChristianityLatino Pentecostals in America is a landmark study that will be the gold standard on the topic for years to come. -- Jesse Miranda, Director, Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership, Vanguard UniversityThis illuminating history of Latino Pentecostalism’s largest denomination and its social and political effect on the broader society is an invaluable contribution to the study of religions in the United States and Latino history. -- Mayra Rivera, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard UniversityLatino Pentecostals in America is a provocative, myth-busting, and truth-telling work. Espinosa’s placing of the story of the Latino Assemblies of God within a larger sociocultural framework is groundbreaking, relevant, and prophetic. A must-read! -- Eldin Villafañe, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
£24.26
Harvard University Press Permanent Revolution
Book SynopsisHow did the English Reformation, with its illiberal, intolerant beginnings, lay the groundwork for the Enlightenment—free will, liberty of conscience, religious toleration, constitutionalism, and all the rest? In his provocative rewriting of the history of liberalism, James Simpson uncovers its unexpected debt to Protestant evangelicalism.Trade ReviewA subtle and helpful corrective to ahistorical Whiggish accounts of how we got here, and one that has significant, if largely unexplored, implications for the present. -- Nick Spencer * The Spectator *This is ultimately a hopeful book, and those seeking liberalism’s death knell or swan song should look elsewhere…This fresh view of the Reformation will—if Simpson has put his pieces together in the right order, and I think he has—liberate us…from historical narratives that have prevailed in the West for over five hundred years. -- Finnegan Schick * New Criterion *As Simpson’s book ably demonstrates, by the end of the 17th century mainstream Protestantism had indeed become one of the champions of liberalism and a root of modernity…The scope of Simpson’s analysis is impressive. He moves well beyond the literary realm to provide deft accounts of historical developments. His sections on the divisions within Elizabethan Protestantism are particularly instructive…A major achievement. -- Jonathan Wright * Catholic Herald *An important and erudite book from a major scholar, one that takes issue in a critically self-conscious fashion with the way historical periods have been conventionally formulated, while arguing that we come to understand the cultural history of liberalism more clearly by recognizing its continuities with the religious legacies of medieval culture. -- Paul Giles * Australian Book Review *A breathtaking tour de force of literary and historical analysis that both confirms the basic pedigree—liberalism stems from the Reformation—and contradicts it in the novel twist that liberalism is the misbegotten and unforeseen child of evangelical religion, born precisely in order to discipline and contain it…An exciting, even compelling read, and in its breadth and argumentative brilliance will surely continue to engage scholars in the field for a long time to come. -- Jeremy Morris * American Historical Review *Substantial and challenging…It is impossible to encapsulate here just how compelling and relevant this book is for our troubled times as Simpson shows that religious liberty was born through the pain of a post-Reformation world. -- Patti Mckenna-Jones * Socialist Review *One of the best books I have ever read…Will provoke readers to contemplate the terms of their own faiths (or absence thereof), while revealing how various histories, when more fully understood, animate the world we live in today…What a monument (though a homely and familiar one) of humanist scholarship and cultural criticism…Magnificent. -- Michael Calabrese * Medieval Review *Simpson has given us a landmark literary history of the Reformation, as well as a forgotten history of our liberties. A rare feat of scholarship and an exhilarating read. -- Sarah Beckwith, author of Shakespeare and the Grammar of ForgivenessAn utterly gripping and monumental book, addressing the seventeenth-century revolutions and their implications for the Enlightenment and liberal modernity. This is a grand narrative, with extraordinary scope and range. Permanent Revolution is an intense, exuberant engagement with the unintended outcomes of the Reformation. -- David Aers, author of Beyond Reformation?A provocative study of the English Reformation's transformation of literature, theology, and politics…Masterful. * Choice *A valuable contribution to describing the birth of Liberalism through the strife of the Reformation…Simpson has written a real Gesamtkunstwerk. -- Andrea Di Carlo * Reformation *Erudite and fascinating. I learned from every page, not only about early modernity but about our own liberal predicament. -- Ethan H. Shagan * Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
£26.96
Harvard University Press Letters Volume II
Book SynopsisBasil the Great was born into a family noted for piety. About 360 he founded a convent in Pontus and in 370 succeeded Eusebius in the archbishopric of Caesarea. His reform of monastic life in the east is the basis of modern Greek and Slavonic monasteries.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Letters Volume IV
Book SynopsisBasil the Great was born into a family noted for piety. About 360 he founded a convent in Pontus and in 370 succeeded Eusebius in the archbishopric of Caesarea. His reform of monastic life in the east is the basis of modern Greek and Slavonic monasteries.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Questions on Exodus
Book SynopsisThe philosopher Philo, born about 20 BC to a prominent Jewish family in Alexandria, was trained in Greek as well as Jewish learning. In attempting to reconcile biblical teachings with Greek philosophy he developed ideas that had wide influence on Christian and Jewish religious thought.
£23.70
Princeton University Press Judaism in Practice From the Middle Ages through
Book SynopsisProvides a view of medieval and early modern Jewish ritual and religious practice. Including such diverse texts as ritual manuals, legal codes, mystical books, autobiographical writings, folk literature, and liturgical poetry, this book testifies to the enormous variety of practices that characterized Judaism between 600 and 1800 CE.Trade Review"Lawrence Fine ... has assembled an impressive array of writings that explore the variegated ways in which Jews have practiced their religion... By giving us a variety of texts and materials that go beyond the boundaries of conventional sources, Fine has opened up ways of thinking about the Jewish experience that are likely to challenge readers' expectations. In doing so, he and his contributors raise essential questions about the nature of Judaism as a religion and a culture, shake readers out of complacency and leave us to wonder at the marvelous scope of the Jewish people's history."--Barry W. Holtz, The ForwardTable of ContentsPrinceton Readings in Religions vii Note on Transliteration and Acknowledgments ix Contributors xv Introduction by Lawrence Fine 1 Rituals of Daily and Festival Practice 1. Communal Prayer and Liturgical Poetry by Raymond P. Scheindlin 39 2. Italian Jewish Women at Prayer by Howard Tzvi Adelman 52 3. Measuring Graves and Laying Wicks by Chava Weissler 61 4. Adorning the "Bride" on the Eve of the Feast of Weeks by Daniel C. Matt 74 5. New Year's Day for Fruit of the Tree by Miles Krassen 81 Rituals of the Life Cycle 6. The Role of Women at Rituals of Their Infant Children by Lawrence A. Hoffman 99 7. Honey Cakes and Torah: A Jewish Boy Learns His Letters by Ivan G. Marcus 115 8. Women and Ritual Immersion in Medieval Ashkenaz: The Sexual Politics of Piety by Judith R. Baskin 131 9. Life-Cycle Rituals of Spanish Crypto Jewish Women by Renee Levine Melammed 143 10. Ritualizing Death and Dying: The Ethical Will of Naphtali Ha-Kohen Katz by Avriel Bar-Levav 155 Torah, Learning, and Ethics 11. Moses Maimonides' Laws of the Study of Torah by Lawrence Kaplan 171 12. An Egyptian Woman Seeks to Rescue Her Husband from a Sufi Monastery by S. D. Goitein 186 13. A Monastic-like Setting for the Study of Torah by Ephraim Kanarfogel 191 14. Religious Practice among Italian Jewish Women by Howard Tzvi Adelman 203 15. A Mystical Fellowship in Jerusalem by Lawrence Fine 210 16. The Love of Learning among Polish Jews by Gershon David Hundert 215 Religious Sectarianism and Communities on the Margins 17. Jewish Sectarianism in the Near East: A Muslim's Account by Steven M. Wasserstrom 229 18. Travel in the Land of Israel by Lawrence Fine 237 19. Karaite Ritual by Daniel Frank 24E 20. Living Judaism in Confucian Culture: Being Jewish and Being Chinese by Jonathan N. Lipman 265 Art and Aesthetics 21. Defending, Enjoying, and Regulating the Visual by Kalman P. Bland 281 22. Illustrating History and Illluminating Identity in the Art of the Passover Haggadah by Marc Michael Epstein 298 23. The Arts of Calligraphy and Composition, and the Love of Books Lawrence Fine 318 24. Jewish Preaching in Fifteenth-Century Spain by Marc Saperstein 325 Magic and Mysticism 25. The Book of the Great Name by Michael D. Swartz 341 26. Visionary Experiences among Spanish Crypto Jewish Women by Renee Levine Melammed 348 27. Mystical Eating and Food Practices in the Zohar by Joel Hecker 353 28. Devotional Rites in a Sufi Mode by Paul B. Fenton 364 29. Pietistic Customs from Safed by Lawrence Fine 375 30. Jewish Exorcism: Early Modem Traditions and Transformations by J. H. Chajes 386 31. Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Personal Practices of a Hasdic Master by Arthur Green 399 Remarkable Lives 32. The Life of Moses ben Maimon by Joel L. Kraemer 413 33. Dolce of Worms: The Lives and Deaths of an Exemplary Medieval Jewish Woman and Her Daughters by Judith R. Baskin 429 34. The Earliest Hebrew First-Crusade Narrative by Robert Chazan 438 35. Leon Modena's Autobiography by Mark R. Cohen 453 36. The Early Messianic Career of Shabbatai Zvi by Matt Goldish 470 37. The Life of Glikl of Hameln by Paula E. Hyman 483 38. Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov by Dan Ben-Amos 498 39. The Scholarly Life of the Gaon of Vilna by Allan Nadler 513 Appendix. The Jewish Holidays 521 Index 523
£42.50
Princeton University Press Hinduism
Book SynopsisHinduism is followed by one-fifth of humankind. Far from a monolithic theistic tradition, the religion comprises thousands of gods, a complex caste system, and hundreds of languages and dialects. This book examines the traditions, beliefs, and rituals Hindus hold in common.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004 "[An] encyclopedic survey of Hinduism that is amazing in its comprehensive charts, theoretical sophistication, and illustrative detail... Michaels wants to present living Hinduism in contrast to text-dominated descriptions."--Choice "A wide-ranging, rigorously argued analysis of important ideas."--Library Journal "Despite several recent, and very good, introductions [to Hinduism] in the last fifteen years, this is the one that will likely find its way into the classroom most often--and for good reasons. Highly recommended not only for students, but for mature scholars as well, who will learn a great deal from this excellent volume."--Frederick M. Smith, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix List of Tables xi Preface xiii Pronunciation of Indian Words xvii THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS CHAPTER 1. Theoretical Foundations 3 Is India Different? 3 The Identificatory Habitus 5 What Is Hinduism? 12 Hinduism and Hindu-ness 13 Religion and Dharma 15 Hindu Religions and Hindu Religiosity 21 Great and Little Hinduism 25 Continuity and Change 27 CHAPTER 2. Historical Foundations 31 Epochs in the History of Religions 31 First Epoch: Prevedic Religions 31 Second Epoch: Vedic Religion 33 Third Epoch: Ascetic Reformism 36 Fourth Epoch: Classical Hinduism 38 Fifth Epoch: Sects of Hinduism 43 Sixth Epoch: Modern Hinduism 45 Religious Literature 47 Vedic Literature 50 The Literature of the Ascetic Reformism 57 The Literature of Classical Hinduism 58 The Literatures of the Hindu Sects 62 Literatures of Modern Hinduism 66 RELIGION AND SOCIETY CHAPTER 3. Stages of Life and Rites of Passage 71 Initiation 71 The Salvational Goal of Initiation 72 The Second Birth 77 Pre-Rites 77 Tonsure 85 Natural Birth, Ritual Birth, New Birth 88 The Sacred Thread 92 Consecration of the Ascetic, Consecration of the Student, Consecration of the Man 94 Childhood and Socialization 99 The Early Years 102 Parentage and the "Oceanic Feeling" 104 Sacred Fatherhood 108 Wedding and Matrimony 111 The Wedding 113 The Daughter as Gift 115 Kinship, Alliance, and Descent 120 The Situation of the Woman 124 Death and Life after Death 131 The Brahmanic Ritual of Dying and Death 132 Ancestor Worship 144 Widow-Burning and Religiously Motivated Suicide 149 The Ban on Killing and Ahim? 153 Karma and Rebirth 154 Mortality and Immortality 157 CHAPTER 4. The Social System 159 Social Stratification 159 The Caste Society 160 Segmentation 165 Social Contacts 175 Greeting 176 Touching 178 Eating 180 Purity and Impurity 184 Religious and Social Hierarchy 187 Priests and the Supremacy of the Brahmans 188 Religious and Economic Centrality 194 Hierarchies of the Gift 197 CHAPTER 5. Religiosity 201 The Idea of God and the Pantheon 201 Equitheism and Homotheism 202 Visnu, Krsna, and the Centrality of the Gods 211 Siva in the Great and Little Traditions 215 Ganesa and the Miracle 221 Wild and Mild Goddesses 223 Elements of Religiosity 226 Prayer 227 Looks 230 Ritual Acts 233 Ritualism 235 The Brahmanic-Sanskritic Morning Ritual 236 Divine Worship (puja) 241 Sacrifice 246 Devotionalism and Theistic Traditions 252 Bhakti Movements 252 The Grace of the Gods 255 Spiritualism and Mysticism 259 The Identification Doctrine of the Upanishads 259 The Psycho-Physical Identifications of Samkhya and Yoga 264 Samkara's Doctrine of Nonduality 269 Special Features of Indian Mysticism 270 Heroism and Kingship 272 Akharas: Religious Centers of Strength 273 Power and Authority of the King 276 King and Ascetic 279 FROM DESCENT TO TRANSCENDENCE CHAPTER 6. Religious Ideas of Space and Time 283 Religious Awareness of Space 284 Spaces and Directions as Sacred Powers 284 Pilgrimage Sites and Their Hierarchy 288 Astrology and the Cosmic Place of Man 291 Religious and Scientific Concepts of Space 292 Religious Awareness of Time 295 Ancient Indian Cosmogonies 296 Creation in Classical Mythology 298 The Doctrine of the Ages of the World 300 Cyclical and Linear Time: The Calendar 304 Unity of Space and Time: Festivals 310 Religious and Scientific Ideas of Time 313 CHAPTER 7. Immortality in Life 315 Asceticism: Life in Transcendence 315 Ascetic Practice and Sects 316 Asceticism and Sacrifice 322 The Salvation of Identifications 325 The Socioreligious Function of Norms of Purity 326 Descent and Autonomy 329 The Logic of the Identifications 332 The "Theology" of the Hindu Religions: Identity of God and Man 340 Notes 345 Glossary 375 References 381 Index 419
£31.50
Princeton University Press The Artless Jew
Book SynopsisSynthesizes evidence from medieval Jewish philosophy, mysticism, poetry, biblical commentaries, travelogues, and law, concluding that premodern Jewish intellectuals held a positive, liberal understanding of the Second Commandment and did, in fact, articulate a certain Jewish aesthetic.Trade Review"The research for this work reflects a great and careful scholarly effort...Highly recommended."--Choice "Bland has shown that the whole question of whether Jews are 'rtless' is a construction of modern thought, and has little to do with pre-modern Jews... An excellent counterweight to the vast literature that claims that Jews and Judaism are visually handicapped."--Steven Fine, Baltimore Hebrew University and the University of Cincinnati, for CAA.Reviews "A highly recommended building-block text for further study into the relationship between Judaism and visual art."--Religious Studies Review "Bland's carefully researched book offers an erudite riposte to post-Kantian aesthetic theory and an unusually useful account of the image in Medieval and Renaissance Jewish culture... [It] unsettles many received ideas and unearths many buried texts that change our notions of Jewish visual culture."--Adam Bresnick, Times Literary Supplement "Bland does an excellent job of convincing us ... of the high status of visual production in ancient, medieval and early modern Jewish societies."--Pamela Kachurin, The Art BookTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 3 One Modern Denials and Affirmations of Jewish Art: Germanophone Origins and Themes 13 Two Anglo-American Variations 37 Three The Premodern Consensus 59 Four The Well-Tempered Medieval Sensorium 71 Five Medieval Beauty and Cultural Relativism 92 Six Twelfth-Century Pilgrims, Golden Calves, and Religious Polemics 109 Seven The Power and Regulation of Images in Late Medieval Jewish Society 141 Notes 155 Bibliograpby 201 Index 229
£36.00
Princeton University Press Medieval Christianity in Practice
Book SynopsisProvides readers with a sweeping look at the religious practices of the European Middle Ages. This volume assembles sources reflecting different genres, regions, and styles, including prayer books, chronicles, diaries, liturgical books, sermons, hagiography, and handbooks for the laity and clergy.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010 "Editor Rubin and contributors offer a richly textured presentation of the practice of medieval Christianity from about 600 to 1500 CE. Each of the 42 sections comprises excerpts from medieval texts, selected, translated, and commented upon by specialists in the field."--Choice "[T]his volume lends itself to use in undergraduate courses that deal with medieval religious practice, including western civilization and medieval surveys, as well as religious studies courses. Graduate students also will gain insights into the range of sources that can be deployed for the investigation of religious practice in medieval Europe."--David Stewart Bachrach, H-Net Reviews "[This book] may be especially useful in graduate seminars or as an aid to graduate training where the emphasis on manuscript sources may enrich the experience of students... [I]n consideration of the fine group of contributors, it deserves serious consideration."--James M. Powell, Catholic Historical Review "Whether the reader is a long-term student of the Middle Ages or a novice in the field, he or she will find this a unique and informative book, one which stimulates the mind and the imagination with the complexity and richness of medieval religious practice."--Sarah Adams, Christianity and Literature "This book is a valuable collection of small studies. It is well-prepared and well-edited, designed for use in courses or seminars. It is full of anecdotes, rituals, and insights that are interesting in themselves and that cumulatively give a sense of the variety and richness of medieval Christian life."--Michael G. Witczak, Worship "A very useful scholarly resource."--International Review of Biblical Studies "The volume provides an excellent introduction to the wide variety of Western medieval religious practice."--Margaret Cormack, Church History: Studies in Christianity and CultureTable of ContentsPrinceton Readings in Religions v Contributors xi Introduction by Miri Rubin 1 THE LIFE CYCLE: BAPTISM Chapter 1. Baptismal Practice in Germany by Peter Cramer 7 Chapter 2. Cathars and Baptism by Shulamith Shahar 14 The Life Cycle: Confirmation and Coming of Age Chapter 3. The Early Medieval Barbatoria by Yitzhak Hen 21 The Life Cycle: Instruction Chapter 4. Lollard Instruction by Rita Copeland 27 The Life Cycle: Marriage and Its Unmaking Chapter 5. Florentine Marriage in the Fifteenth Century by Christiane Klapisch-Zuber 35 Chapter 6. Annulment of Henry III's "Marriage" to Joan of Ponthieu Confirmed by Innocent IV on 20 May 1254 by David d'Avray 42 The Life Cycle: Death and Burial Chapter 7. Agius of Corvey's Account of the Death of Hathumoda, First Abbess of Gandersheim, in 874 by Frederick S. Paxton 53 Chapter 8. A Royal Funeral of 1498 by Alain Boureau 59 WORK AND TRAVEL Chapter 9. Charms to Ward off Sheep and Pig Murrain by William C. Jordan 67 Chapter 10. Fishermen and Mariners by Harold S. Fox 76 Chapter 11. Storms at Sea on a Voyage between Rhodes and Venice, November 1470 by Olivia Remie Constable 81 Chapter 12. Rules and Ritual on the Second Crusade Campaign to Lisbon, 1147 by Susanna A. Throop 86 CHURCHES, PARISHES, AND DAILY LIFE: CONSECRATION Chapter 13. The Consecration of Church Space by Dominique Iogna-Prat 95 CHURCHES, PARISHES, AND DAILY LIFE: PASTORAL CARE Chapter 14. Fourteenth-Century Instructions for Bedside Pastoral Care by Joseph Ziegler 103 Chapter 15. How to Behave in Church and How to Become a Priest by Daniel Bornstein 109 Chapter 16. A Sermon on the Virtues of the Contemplative Life by Katherine L. Jansen 117 Chapter 17. Preaching and Pastoral Care of a Devout Woman (deo devota) in Fifteenth-Century Basel by Hans-Jochen Schiewer 126 CHURCHES, PARISHES, AND DAILY LIFE: CONFESSION AND PENANCE Chapter 18. Doing Penance by Sarah Hamilton 135 Chapter 19. A Penitential Diet by Rob Meens 144 Chapter 20. A Layman's Penance by Joseph Goering 151 CHURCHES, PARISHES, AND DAILY LIFE: PRAYER Chapter 21. Prayers by Virginia Reinburg 159 Chapter 22. Two Healing Prayers by Eamon Duffy 164 CHURCHES, PARISHES, AND DAILY LIFE: DEVOTIONAL BEHAVIOR Chapter 23. Images in the World: Reading the Crucifixion by Sara Lipton 173 HEALING Chapter 24. The Old English Nine Herbs Charm by Debby Banham 189 Chapter 25. Amulets and Charms Peter Murray Jones 194 CHARITY Chapter 26. A Deaf-Mute's Story Sharon Farmer 203 Chapter 27. Bequests for the Poor Brigitte Resl 209 THE CULT OF SAINTS AND PILGRIMAGE Chapter 28. Translation of the Body of St. Junianus by Thomas Head 217 Chapter 29. Pilgrimage and Spiritual Healing in the Ninth Century by Julia M. H. Smith 222 IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: IN THE WORLD Chapter 30. Interrogation of Waldensians by Peter Biller 231 Chapter 31. The Lives of the Beghards by Walter Simons 238 Chapter 32. The Renovation of the Chapel in the Beguinage of Lille by Penny Galloway 246 Chapter 33. The Practices of Devotio moderna by John Van Engen 256 IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: PROPHECY, REVELATION, AND ECSTATIC STATES Chapter 34. The Possession of Blessed Jordan of Saxony by Aviad M. Kleinberg 265 Chapter 35. On the Stigmatization of Saint Margaret of Hungary by Gabor Klaniczay 274 Chapter 36. Eschatological Prophecy: "Woe to the World in One Hundred Years" by Robert E. Lerner 285 Chapter 37. Raymond de Sabanac, Preface to Constance de Rabastens, The Revelations by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski 290 IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD Chapter 38. The Life of the Hermit Stephen of Obazine by Gyorgy Gereby and Piroska Nagy 299 Chapter 39. Creating an Anchorhold Alexandra Barratt 311 Chapter 40. The Ritual for the Ordination of Nuns by Nancy Bradley Warren 318 RITUALS OF POWER Chapter 41. An Anglo-Saxon Queen's Consecration by Janet L. Nelson 327 Chapter 42. Mass at the Election of the Mayor of London, 1406 by Caroline Barron 333 Index 339
£31.50
Princeton University Press The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages An
Book SynopsisA companion to "Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt", this book contains the voices of the poor themselves, found in documents heretofore largely ignored. It provides access to the attitudes and philanthropic activities of the charitable, alongside the dramatic writings of the poor themselves.Trade ReviewMark R. Cohen, Winner of the 2010 Goldziher Prize, The Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack CollegeTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Note xiii PART ONE: LETTERS ABOUT THE POOR AND ABOUT CHARITY Introduction 3 Chapter One: Basic Themes 15 Chapter Two:Taxonomy: Structure and Conjuncture 32 Chapter Three: The Foreign Poor 47 Chapter Four: Indigent Captives and Refugees 68 Chapter Five: Debt and the Poll Tax 73 Chapter Six: Women and Poverty 83 Chapter Seven: Letters Regarding Public Charity 95 PART TWO: CHARITY LISTS Chapter Eight: Alms Lists 107 Chapter Nine: Donor Lists 164 PART THREE: EPILOGUE Chapter Ten: Poverty and Charity in the Fourteenth Century 191 List of Geniza Texts 199 Bibliography 203 Index 209
£38.25
Princeton University Press For the Glory of God
Book SynopsisArgues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture. This book shows that the Christian conception of God resulted - almost inevitably and for the same reasons - in the Protestant Reformation, the rise of modern science, the European witch-hunts, and the Western abolition of slavery.Trade ReviewWinner of the History/Biography Award of Merit, Christianity Today Magazine Winner of the 2004 Distinguished Book Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion "[Stark] writes with a clarity and concision that make him a pleasure to read... A number of fondly held myths get demolished in this book."--David Klinghoffer, National Review "This is a sociology of religion that takes seriously what people believe. Stark knows that beliefs have consequences. They can even change the course of history."--David Neff, Christianity Today "[A] provocative volume--lucid and tightly reasoned."--Booklist "For the Glory of God ... is an important book. It is immensely learned, consistently contentious, and filled with brilliant, if sometimes eccentric, insights... [F]or those who are open to a very different interpretation of the development of Western Civilization ... For the Glory of God is strongly recommended."--First ThingsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Dimensions of the Supernatural 1 CHAPTER 1 God's Truth: Inevitable Sects and Reformations 15 CHAPTER 2 God's Handiwork: The Religious Origins of Science 121 CHAPTER 3 God's Enemies: Explaining the European Witch-Hunts 201 CHAPTER 4 God's Justice: The Sin of Slavery 291 Postscript: Gods, Rituals, and Social Science 367 Notes 377 Bibliography 419 Index 465
£31.50
Princeton University Press The Monotheists Jews Christians and Muslims in
Book SynopsisThe world's three great monotheistic religions have spent most of their historical careers in conflict or competition with each other. This book is a comprehensive and approachable comparative introduction to these religions. It tells the story of the foundation and formation of the three monotheistic communities, of their historical presence.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2003 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Religion, Association of American Publishers One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004 "[A] titanic undertaking... The Monotheists is not exceptional for [its] detachment alone, or for its erudition, or even for its originality. It is exceptional because Peters has created a new genre for it."--Jack Miles, Los Angeles Times "Historian Peters has long been an astute and objective chronicler of the history and beliefs of the three great monotheistic religions--Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In this sprawling, majestic and elegant narrative, he offers the best study we presently have of the ways, words and wisdom of these religions [with] straightforward prose and evenhanded examination... Peters's magnificent book is the new place to turn for a first-rate historical introduction to these three religions."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "There is no more informative, accessible and comprehensive guide to the beliefs and practices of the three great monotheistic religions than these two volumes... Peters has a great story to tell, and he tells it very well. He writes with extraordinary clarity and evenhandedness... He treats thousands of complex and sensitive topics with meticulous learning without offending or proselytizing. Moreover, he manages to keep the three narratives--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--going at once, and allows readers both to appreciate the distinctive character of each and to see how their stories have very frequently intertwined."--Daniel J. Harrington, America "Peters has done it again. With these two volumes he has created an excellent and timely resource for understanding the similarities and differences between the three monotheistic traditions of the West."--ChoiceTable of ContentsPreface xv Introduction xix 1. THE COVENANT: FROM ISRAELITE TO JEW 1 A Prologue on Earth 1 The Quran's Account of Early Humanity 1 History Begins 2 Faith and Act 3 A Holy Land 4 Hagar and Ishmael 5 Ishmaelites and Arabs 6 Abraham in Mecca 8 Hebron 8 Isaac and the Covenant 9 Claims and Counterclaims 10 Jacob's Dream at Bethel 11 The Name(s) and Nature of God 12 The Builder Kings 14 The Temple as Haram 15 The Sanctity of Jerusalem 17 A Troubled Legacy 22 The Samaritan Schism 23 The Voice of the Prophets 23 A Harsh Theodicy and an Uncertain Future 24 Judaea and Ioudaioi 26 The Passage of Power and Prestige 27 Second Temple Sectarianism 29 Words and the Word of Wisdom 33 A Cure for Transcendence? 34 The Harvest of Hellenism 35 Jews in Diaspora 37 The Word of God 39 Personification and Hypostatization 40 Satan from Prince of Darkness to Desert Demon 41 Apocalypticism: Unveiling the End 42 A Message of Hope 43 Second Temple Messianism 44 The Son of Man 44 2. THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS 47 The Dossier on Jesus 47 The Historical Jesus and the Christ of History 48 The Gospels 49 Luke and History 50 Jesus: A Life 52 Born Again 53 The Ministry 53 The Last Days 55 The End and the Beginning 57 Jesus the Messiah 58 Jesus in the Quran 58 The Jewish and the Muslim Jesus 61 The Kingdom 63 After the Crucifixion 63 Saul/Paul 64 Paul's Jesus 65 The Resurrection 66 Christology 68 Ebionites and Docetists 68 The Apostle of the Gentiles 7 Paul and Judaism 72 Jewish Christianity 73 Judaizers 75 Paul: Jerusalem to Rome 76 The Great War and Its Aftermath 77 Earthly Messiahs 79 Later Jewish Messiahs 8 Sabbatai Zvi 81 3. MUHAMMAD THE PROPHET OF GOD 83 The Muhammad of History 84 When God Speaks 84 Hagiography and History 85 Mecca and Its Gods 85 The Meccan Haram 86 The Kaaba 88 Muhammad: A Life 89 The Message of Islam 9 Sacred History 91 The Bible and the Quran 92 The Opposition 93 The "Satanic Verses" 94 Muhammad's Night Journey and Ascension 95 Boycott 96 The Hegira 97 Medina 98 The Medina Accords 99 Muhammad and the Jews 100 The Religion of Abraham 102 The Master of Medina (624-628) 103 The Practice of Islam 105 Muhammad and the Jews (continued) 106 The Lord of Arabia (628-632) 107 Muhammad and the Jews (concluded) 108 The Wives and Children of the Prophet 109 The Opening of Mecca 111 Problems before and after Tabuk 113 The Last Years (631-632) 114 Muhammad and Jesus: Some Points of Comparison 116 The Career of Mecca 118 4. A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS 120 Identity Markers 121 In and Out 122 Kinship and Covenant 122 "Be You Holy As I Am Holy" 123 What Is a Jew? 124 Conversion and Clientage 125 Becoming a Christian 126 "Jew and Greek" 127 Religious Tolerance: The Romans on Jews and Christians 128 The World Turns Christian 130 Religious Tolerance: Christians on Pagans and Jews 131 The Need of Baptism, and of the Church 132 Augustine and the Donatists 133 Consensual and Coerced Conversion 135 The Jews of Western Christendom 137 The Talmud on Trial 139 Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Spain 140 The Christian War on Islam: Peter the Venerable and Ramon Lull 142 What of the Infidels? 145 Muslims, Christians ... and Other Christians in the Balkans 147 Naming the Others 150 The Making of a Muslim 151 An Arab, and Arabic, Islam 152 Islam and the Associators: The Hindu Case 154 5. ORTHODOXY AND HERESY 157 In Search of Jewish Orthodoxy 157 Exclusion and Banishment 158 The Separation of the Christians 160 Easter 162 Defining the Truth 163 Reaching for Orthodoxy: The Fundamental Principles of Jewish and Muslim Belief 165 Heresy in the Early Churches 167 Gnosticism 169 The Rule of Faith 171 Heresy, Witchcraft, and Reform 172 The Church of the Saints: The Cathars 175 The Albigensian Crusade 176 The Holy War against Heresy 177 The Secular Tribunal 178 Sleeping with the Enemy 179 The Spanish Inquisition 181 Who Possesses the Truth? 183 Papal Heresy 185 The Umma Divided: Sects and Sectarianism in Early Islam 186 Heresiography and Comparative Religion 187 Innovation and Heresy 188 Taking the Measure of Early Islamic Sectarians 189 Defining the Umma: The Sunni View of Islam 191 Sunnis and Shiites 192 The Zindiq Inquisition 194 The Enemy Within: Ibn Taymiyya 194 Fundamentalists as the Faithful Remnant 196 Catholic Judaism 197 Shades of Black: Orthodox Judaism 198 6. COMMUNITY AND AUTHORITY 202 A People Called Israel 202 A Kingdom Called Israel 203 After the Exile 204 Zionism 205 A New Political Order 206 Patriarch and Exilarch 207 The Geonim 208 Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews 209 The Christian Ekklesia 210 Bishops and Priests 211 Hierarchy and Structure 213 Councils of Bishops, Local and Ecumenical 215 The Laity 215 The Primacy of Rome 217 Western and Eastern Christianity and Christendom 219 The Competition for Souls 220 Pope, Patriarch, and the Bulgarian Church 221 The Parting of the Ways, East and West 223 A Misbegotten Crusade 224 Church Reunion 225 A Papal Crisis: Celestine and Boniface 226 The Popes without Rome: Avignon 228 The Great Western Schism 229 Pisa and Constance 230 Conciliarism 231 The Papacy under Attack: Marsiglio of Padua and William of Ockham 232 The Voice of the Council: Haec sancta and Frequens 233 The Emperor and the Pope 234 "Better the Turban of the Turk ..." 235 Moscow, the Third Rome 236 Reformation and Counter-Reformation 237 The Radical Reformation: The Anabaptists 238 The Confessional Churches 239 7. CHURCH AND STATE: POPES, PATRIARCHS, AND EMPERORS 240 The Jewish Experience: From State to Church 240 "Render to Caesar ..." 243 The Christians and the Empire 245 The Persecutions 245 Constantine 247 The Contest Begins: Ambrose and the Emperor 248 The City of God and the City of Man 249 "Two There Are ..." 251 How the Pope Became a Prince 252 The College of Cardinals and the Roman Curia 254 How the Prince Became a Priest 255 Rome Redivivus: The Holy Roman Empire 257 The Two Swords: Gregory VII and Henry IV 258 The Papacy versus Frederick II 259 The Reformation as Political Event 261 Luther and the Princes 263 Calvin's Two Kingdoms 264 Church and State in the Counter-Reformation 265 The Papal States 265 8. THE CHURCH AS THE STATE: THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY 268 The Umma 268 Holy War: The Islamic Case 269 War and Religion: The Jewish and Christian Cases 272 Dhimma and Dhimmis 273 Muslim Dhimmis in Christian Spain 275 Conversion by Levy: The Devshirme 276 The Millet System 277 The Caliphate 278 The Powers of the Caliph (and Others) 279 Tensions in the Community 280 Ali ibn Abi Talib (601-661) 281 The Succession 282 The Umayyads (r.661-750) 283 The Holy Family: Ahl al-Bayt 284 The Abbasids (r.750-1258) 285 From Alidism to Shiism 287 The Shiite Imamate 287 Sunnis and Shiites 289 The Hidden Imam 290 Political Ismailism: The Fatimids 291 Apocalyptic Ismailism--The Qarmatians 294 The Sultanate 295 The Ottomans and a Universal Caliphate 296 The End of the Caliphate 298 Iran as a Shiite State 299 The Shiite Ulama and the State 301 The Islamic Republic of Iran 302 An Early Modern Christian Theocracy: Reform Geneva 303 END THOUGHTS 307 Civics and Civility 308 Capital and Other Crimes 309 Making Jews 310 Making Christians 310 Making Muslims 311 A Crucial Difference 312 Index 313
£31.50
Princeton University Press The Monotheists Jews Christians and Muslims in
Book SynopsisThe world's three great monotheistic religions have spent most of their historical careers in conflict or competition with each other. This book is a comprehensive and approachable comparative introduction to these religions. It tells the story of the foundation and formation of the three monotheistic communities, of their historical presence.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2003 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Religion, Association of American Publishers One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004 "[A] titanic undertaking... The Monotheists is not exceptional for [its] detachment alone, or for its erudition, or even for its originality. It is exceptional because Peters has created a new genre for it."--Jack Miles, Los Angeles Times "Historian Peters has long been an astute and objective chronicler of the history and beliefs of the three great monotheistic religions--Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In this sprawling, majestic and elegant narrative, he offers the best study we presently have of the ways, words and wisdom of these religions [with] straightforward prose and evenhanded examination... Peters's magnificent book is the new place to turn for a first-rate historical introduction to these three religions."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "There is no more informative, accessible and comprehensive guide to the beliefs and practices of the three great monotheistic religions than these two volumes... Peters has a great story to tell, and he tells it very well. He writes with extraordinary clarity and evenhandedness... He treats thousands of complex and sensitive topics with meticulous learning without offending or proselytizing. Moreover, he manages to keep the three narratives--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--going at once, and allows readers both to appreciate the distinctive character of each and to see how their stories have very frequently intertwined."--Daniel J. Harrington, America "Peters has done it again. With these two volumes he has created an excellent and timely resource for understanding the similarities and differences between the three monotheistic traditions of the West."--ChoiceTable of ContentsPreface xvii Introduction xxi 1. THE SCRIPTURES: BIBLE, NEW TESTAMENT, AND QURAN Three Sacred Books 2 People of the Book 3 The Bible 4 Sacred Tongues 5 On Translations 7 Scriptural Criticism 8 Who Wrote the Bible? 10 Explaining Revelation 11 High Prophetology 14 Heavenly Books 15 The New Testament: Notion, Text, and Canon 16 The Biblical Canon 18 The Inspiration of Scripture 20 Contingency and the Constraints of History 21 Humanist Critics of Scripture 23 The Old Testament and the New 24 The Arrangement of the Quran 25 The Composition of the Quran 27 The Editing of the Quran 29 The Collection of the Quran 30 Qere and Ketib 32 Interpolation and Abrogation 33 Closure 34 2. UNDERSTANDING THE WORD OF GOD The Seal and the Silence 35 Biblical Exegesis 36 Midrash 37 An Unfolding Tradition 38 Philo Rereads Scripture 40 Evangelical Exegesis 41 The Senses of Scripture 42 Marcion Reads the Scripture 43 Why Don't We Understand?44 Fathers and Other Authorities 45 The Glossa Ordinaria, Christian and Jewish 46 The Quran Reads the Bible 46 Quranic Ambiguities 48 The "Occasions of Revelation" 49 Tabari Enthroned 50 Plain and Allegorical Exegesis in Islam 51 The Muslims Struggle with Revelation and Reason 52 Shiite Tafsir 54 Learning from the Muslims 55 Two Medieval Jewish Commentators: Ibn Ezra and Rashi 56 The Great Debates 57 The Reform of Christian Exegesis 60 Control of the Book 61 A Closer, and Different, Look at Scripture 62 Exegesis and Hermeneutics 63 3. SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION The Great Tradition 65 Rabbinic Judaism 66 "How Many Torahs Do You Have?" 68 Making the Mishnah 69 Mishnah and Gemara 70 Validating the Rabbis 71 Attacking the Tradition: Sadducees and Karaites 71 Jewish Reform 73 The Beginnings of a Christian Tradition 74 The Deposit of Faith 74 Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Succession 75 Sola Scriptura 76 The Tradition Debate 78 The War of the Historians 79 The Sunna of the Prophet 80 Hadith Criticism 82 The Canonical Collections 83 Quran and Sunna 84 The Shiite Hadith 85 4. GOD'S LAW AND ITS OBSERVANCE Purity and Defilement 87 Biblical Law 88 The Lesson of Qumran 89 The Tradition from the Fathers 90 The Mishnah and the Two Talmuds 91 Two Jewish Codes: Mishneh Torah and Shulkhan Aruk 92 The Purpose of the Law 94 The Administration of Jewish Law 94 The Rabbis 95 The Instruments of God's Justice 96 Jesus and the Law 96 Christians and the Law 97 A Law for Christians 98 The Sources of Christian Law 99 The Codification of Church Law 101 The Beginnings of Western Canon Law 101 Gratian 102 Catechesis and Catechism 103 An Islamic Catechism: The Pillars of Islam 105 Sharia, the Muslim Way 106 From Prophetic Tradition to Law 108 The Administration of Justice in Islam 109 The Qadi 110 The Qadi's Justice 111 Responsa and Fatwas: The Mufti 112 The Qadi and the Mufti 113 The Schools 114 Shiite Law 115 Ijtihad 116 The Closing of the Gate 117 The Hierarchization of the Ulama 118 Ijtihad Unchained 120 Customary Law and Governance in Islam 121 Qanun: The Sultan's Law 122 Jewish Rabbis and Islamic Ulama 123 5. GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND HUMAN MORALITY Values and Value Systems 127 Whence Evil?129 The Diabolic, the Demonic 130 The Jinn, Shaytan, and Iblis 132 Sin and Atonement in Israel 133 Acquittal 134 Jesus' Moral Teaching 135 Pauline Morality 136 Original Sin 137 Manichaeism 138 Augustine as Moralist 139 Augustine and Pelagius 140 Penance and the Sacramental System 141 Purgatory and Indulgences 143 Who Will Be Saved? 145 The Absolute Will of God 146 The Disputed Question of Nature and Grace 147 Justification 148 Doubly Saved and Doubly Damned 149 The Council of Trent on Justification 150 The Magisterium Restored 151 A Conference on "Aids" 152 The Crisis in Catholic Morality 153 Jansenism 155 From Pascal to Alfonso di Ligouri 157 Muhammad as Moral Exemplar 158 Islamic Morality 160 Free Will and Predestination in Islam 162 A Rationalist Solution 163 Acquiring Responsibility 164 Consensus on Matters Moral 165 6. DIVINE WORSHIP Shekinah/Sakina 168 Sacrifice 169 The Jesus Sacrifice 170 The Jewish Priesthood 171 The Synagogue 172 The Eucharist 174 Liturgies Eastern and Western 175 Eucharistic Issues: Who, When, and How? 177 The Reform Liturgy 178 Christmas 178 Muslim Prayer 179 Friday Prayer and the Mosque 180 The Hajj 180 Intercalation Prohibited 183 The Enshrinement of Jerusalem 184 Christian Pilgrimage 185 The Western Wall 187 Popular Devotions in Christianity 188 The Cult of Mary 189 From Piety to Dogma: An Immaculate Conception and Prophetic Impeccability 190 The Veneration of the Saints 192 Canonization 193 Eucharistic Devotions 194 Popular Devotions in Islam 195 The Friends of God 197 Three Dramatic Narratives: Passover, Passion, and the Death of Husayn 198 Idols and Images 200 Emperor Portrayal, Christian Style 202 Christian Images 203 Christian Iconoclasm 204 Stripping the Altars: Images and the Reform 206 Islam and the Graven Image 207 The Word as Decoration 208 7. THINKING ABOUT GOD Mythos and Logos 211 The Theology of Philo of Alexandria 213 Athens and Jerusalem 215 Theology and Creeds: Nicaea to Chalcedon 217 The Muslims Encounter Aristotle 219 Falsafa 220 Talking about God: The Muslim Beginnings 222 Learning to Speak Dialectically 223 An Islamic Inquisition 225 Kalam Matured 226 Muslim Creeds 228 Reason and Revelation in Islam 230 God Supreme: Islamic Occasionalism 232 Ibn Rushd 233 The Voice of Conservative Islamic Orthodoxy 235 Jewish Kalam 236 A Guide for the Perplexed 237 Falsafa and Kalam 238 Received Wisdom 238 Sacred Theology, Western Style 240 Thomas Aquinas 241 Scholasticism 242 Latin Averroism 244 The Two Faces of Truth 244 The Reformation and Christian Systematic Theology 246 The Wisdom of Illumination 247 The School of Isfahan 249 8. FROM DESERT SAINTS TO MUSLIM SUFIS The Way of the World 251 The Issue of Jewish Asceticism 252 The Desert a City 254 Obedience of the Spirit 255 The Saints in the City 256 The Rule of St. Basil 257 Benedict and the Benedictines 258 Benedictine Experiments: Carthusians and Cistercians 260 Canons Regular and Other 261 The Mendicant Friars: Franciscans and Dominicans 262 Is Perfection Possible? The Franciscan Controversy 265 Military Orders, Christian and Muslim 267 The Rise and Fall of the Society of Jesus 270 The Holy Mountain 273 The Personal Life of Muhammad 274 This World and the Next 275 The Beginnings of Muslim Asceticism 276 Sufi Convents: Khanqah, Ribat, Zawiya 278 The Sufi Orders 279 Sufis in the Service of Islam: Chishtis and Bektashis 282 The Chinese Rites 284 Christian and Muslim Religious Orders 285 Suppression 286 Jewish Brotherhoods in Galilee 287 Saints without Rules: The Hasidim 288 The Apostolic Succession in Eastern Europe 290 The Habad 291 9. LEAPING FROM THE DARK INTO THE LIGHT: MYSTICISM Face to Face with God 293 The Beginnings 294 The Adepts of Qumran 295 The Celestial Chariot 295 "Four Who Attempted to Enter Paradise" 296 God's Love, God's Body 297 The Palaces 297 The Book of Creation 298 From Christian Asceticism to Mysticism 299 Approaching the Unknowable 301 The Jesus Prayer 302 Hesychasm 303 God's Energies and God's Essence 305 Spirituality, Eastern and Western 306 The Spiritual Exercises 306 Muhammad Cleansed, and Rapt 308 Did Muhammad See God? 309 The Sufi as Mystic 310 The Growth of Sufi Theory 311 Sufism and Gnosticism 313 Sufis and Shiites 314 Al-Hallaj 315 The Sufi Way 317 Practical Sufism 318 Spiritual Hierarchies 320 The Apotheosis of Ali: The Alawis 320 The Fathers of Islamic Theosophy: Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi 321 Defender of the Faith 324 Making Sufism Safe for Islam 326 Spiritual Resurrection 327 On the Edge: Ibn Arabi 327 The Seal of the Saints 329 The Teaching and Its Opponents 330 The Beginnings of Kabbalah 333 The Zohar 334 The World of the Sefiroth 335 Isaac Luria 336 Kabbalah for Everyone: Hasidism 337 10. THE LAST THINGS End Time Scenarios 339 After Death, What? 341 Death and Judgment 342 The Particular Judgment 343 The Resurrection of the Body 343 The Seed, the Statue, and the Conjunction of Materia and Forma 345 In the Meantime ... 346 The Cosmology of the Other World 347 Mapping Paradise and Hell 349 A Heavenly Journey 350 Living High: The Angels 351 Angels in Arabia 353 The Vision of God 354 With a Little Help from the Creator 355 Paradise Lost: Maimonides (and Others) on the World to Come 356 Salvation 358 Religious Zionism: Hurrying the End 359 Political Zionism and Eretz Israel 360 The Birth Pangs of the Messiah 362 Realized and Futurist Eschatology in Christianity 363 A Christian Apocalypse 364 Millennialism/Chilianism 365 The Reign of the Spirit: Joachim de Fiore 366 Abraham the Intercessor 368 The Muslim Dead 369 The Quranic Eschaton 371 Intercession in Islam 371 A Savior Returns 372 The Mahdi 375 END THOUGHTS People of the Book, and of the Covenant 377 Odium Theologicum 377 The Religion of Abraham 378 Who Is the Heir? 379 The True Israel 380 A Fractious Family 381 The Rivals' Charms 383 Faith and History 384 Index 387
£31.50
Princeton University Press Muslims and Jews in France
Book SynopsisTraces the global, national, and local origins of the conflict between Muslims and Jews in France, challenging the belief that rising anti-Semitism in France is rooted solely in the unfolding crisis in Israel and Palestine.Trade Review"Mandel offers new perspectives on the factors at play in deteriorating Jewish-Muslim interactions. She challenges theories that concentrate on the Middle East and argues that they obscure dynamics in France that have more directly influenced the situation. This concise account, which highlights instances of interethnic cooperation, is chronologically organized and underscores how the legacy of French colonialism created separate paths for the thousands of North African Muslims and Jews that settled in France because of decolonization."--Choice "I found this an enjoyable and illuminating read... [I]t is a worthwhile book which illuminates one of the pressing problems of our time."--Ruth Barbour, Open History "Muslims and Jews in France is a remarkably concise and clear analysis of the complex relationship and mutual constitution of the two communities. Mandel has a knack for making the paradoxes of her subjects accessible, making this book necessary reading for anyone interested in contemporary French history and politics, Jewish history and Muslim-Jewish relations: instead of just lamenting the news, it allows us to think through it critically."--Arthur Asseraf, French History "Muslims and Jews in France is a most in-depth, sophisticated piece of work that warrants a lot of attention and needs to be read; particularly in light of an on-going conflict where there appears to be no end in sight."--David Marx, David Marx: Book Reviews "For those who prefer thoughtful historical analysis to slogans, Mandel's book is one place to turn. What one finds is that post-war Jewish life in Europe in general, and France in particular, belies the tidy narrative still being constructed."--Simon J. Rabinovitchm, Haaretz "[A] masterful analysis."--Jean-Philippe Dedieu, Sociology "Muslims and Jews in France: A History of Conflict, by Maud Mandel, offers a valuable historical portrait of relations between the two most significant religious minorities in France, and Europe, Jews and Muslims."--Shana Cohen, Journal of Muslims in Europe "In this balanced and sensitive study, Mandel offers a detailed assessment of the development of Muslim-Jewish relations from the immediate post-war years to the late 1980s... Mandel's thoughtful analysis raises important questions for future research. Overall, this is a valuable consideration of a complex topic, and one that will be of benefit both to historians of decolonisation and left-wing mobilisation, and also to those more broadly interested in the controversies which continue to fire the French political imagination."--J. Wardhaugh, English Historical Review "Based on exhaustive research, Muslims and Jews in France condenses half a century of complex inter-ethnic relations in a little more than hundred and fifty pages of text (with 80 pages of notes!) and succeeds in giving a clear picture of the interaction between these two minority communities in France. Recommended to all academic libraries."--Roger S. Kohn, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews "Outstanding... A significant achievement."--Richard S. Fogarty, American Historical Review "Lucid... [An] important new book."--Lisa Moses Leff, Journal of Modern HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter One. Colonial Policies, Middle Eastern War, and City Spaces: Marseille in 1948 15 Chapter Two. Decolonization and Migration: Constructing the North African Jew 35 Chapter Three. Encounters in the Metropole: The Impact of Decolonization on Muslim-Jewish Life in France in the 1950s and 1960s 59 Chapter Four. The 1967 War and the Forging of Political Community 80 Chapter Five. Palestine in France: Radical Politics and Hardening Ethnic Allegiances, 1968-72 100 Chapter Six. Particularism versus Pluriculturalism: The Birth and Death of the Anti-Racist Coalition 125 Conclusion 153 Abbreviations 157 Notes 159 Index 241
£40.50
Princeton University Press Lost in the Sacred
Book SynopsisArgues that Islam's cultural stasis is not due to the Muslim faith itself, but to the nature of the sacred it is infused with and that penetrates every aspect of life - spiritual and material. This book shows how the sacred in Islam suspends the acceleration of social time, hinders change, and circumvents secularization and modernity.Trade Review"All the evidence--yes, all--points to the ossification of Muslim thought and Muslim behavior in the world... [Lost in the Sacred: Why the Muslim World Stood Still] makes the point clearly and convincingly."--Martin Peretz, New Republic "[Diner] analyzes how the Middle East, which led in cultural, mathematical, and scientific innovation during Europe's Dark Ages, lost momentum... A deep and thorough analysis of the causes of the problems identified by the Arab Human Development Report that will be of interest to followers of Middle Eastern history and politics and those looking to under-stand the differences with the West."--Deirdre Sinnott, ForeWord Magazine "Lost in the Sacred offers a very refreshing perspective into the thinking of the Arab world as compared to the Muslim world... This book is invaluable for anyone willing to go beyond the political rhetoric and understand the multiple factors that brought on the ossification of Arab society and, to a lesser degree, the Islamic world."--Tarek Fatah, The Globe and Mail "Diner seeks to explore and understand the nature of the sacred in Islam through a combination of historical overview, socio-cultural reflection, politico-economic consideration and analysis of the role played by knowledge, language and speech in the formation of the Islamic worldview."--Muhammad Khan, Muslim News "Diner's connection of various dates, places, and persons flowing together in a polished narrative. He fills his relatively short book with an abundance of information that manages never to overwhelm."--Joshua Arnold, Common Review "This book makes an exceptionally important contribution to our understanding of the Muslim world... It can be highly recommended."--Mia Roth, European LegacyTable of ContentsPreface ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: KNOWLEDGE AND DEVELOPMENT The State of the Arab World 11 "Orientalism" and Its Adversaries Rifa'ah at-Tahtawi and the Arab Human Development Report Language and Social Lifeworlds Knowledge and Technology Freedom and Prosperity Power and Benefit Military and Politics Mehmed Ali and Gamal Abdel Nasser Ground Rent and Productivity Oil Wealth and Stasis Chapter 2: GEOPOLITICS AND RELIGIOUS ZEAL Radicalization in the Muslim East 38 Between Palestine and Kashmir Cold War and Decolonization England and Russia Gladstone and Disraeli Caliphate and Pan-Islam Kemal Pasha and Enver Pasha Hindus and Muslims Colonialism and Alienation Arabism and Islamism Mawdudi and Sayyid Qutb Political Th eology and Civil War Chapter 3: TEXT AND SPEECH The Rejection of the Printing Press 69 One God, One Book Mechanical Reproduction and Profanation Consonants and Vowels Arabic and Hebrew Baruch Spinoza and Walter Benjamin Romanization and Secularization Recitation and Reading Literacy and Diglossia Fusha and Ammiya Chapter 4: RISE AND DECLINE Ottoman Perplexities in the Early Modern Period 96 Europe and Asia Ottomans and the New World Gold and Silver Piri Reis and Selim I Mamluks and Venetians ThePrice Revolution and Mercantilism Janissaries and Bureaucrats Merchants and Craftsmen Inflation and Rebellion Stasis or Crisis Mustafa Ali and Katip Celebi Chapter 5: POLITICAL POWER AND ECONOMIC BENEFIT Muslim Social Environment in the Classical Age 126 Desert and Steppe Tribute and Tax Central Power and Urban Culture Umayyads and Abbasids Mercenaries and Traders Polis and Medina "Public" and "Private" Benefices and Capital Labor and Property Time and Liturgy Ethics and Morals Sacred and Profane Chapter 6: HISTORICAL THOUGHT AND DIVINE LAW Converting Sacred into Profane Time 153 Acceleration or Deceleration Law and History Cyclical versus Linear Time Ibn Khaldun and Giambattista Vico Past Utopias and Future Worlds Islam and Judaism Leo Strauss and Moses Maimonides Dual Law and Dual Time Muhammad Asad and Moses Mendelssohn Law of the Land and Secularization Notes 181 Index of Proper Names 211
£999.99
Princeton University Press Reckless Rites
Book SynopsisHistorical accounts of Jewish violence - particularly against Christians - have long been explosive material. Some historians have distorted these records for anti-Semitic purposes. This book looks at both the history of Jewish violence since late antiquity and the ways in which generations of historians have grappled with that history.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2006 Runner-Up for the 2006 National Jewish Book Award in History "[A] dazzlingly erudite study of the many ramifications of the Purim odyssey from medieval times to our days. Horowitz's ambitious book achieves two accomplishments: the documentation of 1,500 years of Christian and Jewish interpretations of the knottiest, and naughtiest, sections of the Book of Esther, and then the chronicling of the actual social-historical consequences of those interpretations; that is, how Purim was used and abused through the ages. [Horowitz's is] a scrupulously honest voice, dealing in exemplary fashion with an important subject that has been ignored by scholars precisely because of its extreme delicacy. Horowitz has enriches us with a model of historical scholarship. Anything but reckless, Reckless Rites is a rare gem of academic work that will make a real difference."--Allan Nadler, Forward "Reckless Rites is a provocative volume, rich in historical detail. Horowitz tells a story, not without humor, that attempts to connect events of the distant past with contemporary conflicts. Unusual for a work of history, Reckless Rites is also a good read."--Irven M. Resnick, AJS Review "Reckless Rites is an excellent read, and for a book on such a serious subject not devoid of humor... [I]t's most important purpose ... is to throw a very large bucket of cold water over the misconceptions and the willful misreading of history in which we all too easily indulge."--Rabbi Dr. Charles Middleburgh, Jewish Chronicle "In his new book, Elliot Horowitz attempts to undermine the conventional wisdom about Jews and violence. Focusing on Purim, he convincingly shows that the image passed down over the centuries, of Jewish passivity and nonviolence during the medieval period, is, if not wrong, at least in need of correction... [A] thought-provoking book, whose trees are often as memorable as the forest."--Kalman Neuman, Jerusalem Report "The book is a valuable contribution to what appeared to be an already enormous volume of religious history. The author's presentation of a well-researched and thoroughly analyzed history of Jewish violence that accompanies a sacred festival makes this an extraordinary book."--Willem F M Luyt, Studia Historiae EcclesiasticaeTable of ContentsIllustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 PART ONE: BIBLICAL LEGACIES 21 CHAPTER ONE: The Book of Esther For and Against 23 CHAPTER TWO: A Pair of Queens 46 CHAPTER THREE: Mordecai's Reckless Refusal 63 CHAPTER FOUR: The Eternal Haman 81 CHAPTER FIVE: Amalek The Memory of Violence and the Violence of Memory 107 PART TWO: JEWS LIVING DANGEROUSLY 147 CHAPTER SIX: "The Fascination of the Abomination" Jews (and Jewish Historians) Confront the Cross 149 CHAPTER SEVEN: Mild Men or Wild Men? Historical Reflections on Jews and Violence 187 CHAPTER EIGHT: Ancient Jewish Violence and Modern Scholarship 213 CHAPTER NINE: Purim, Carnival, and Violence 248 CHAPTER TEN: Local Purims and the Invention of Tradition 279 Abbreviations 317 Bibliography 319 Index 325
£31.50
Princeton University Press Jihad in Islamic History
Book SynopsisWhat is jihad? Does it mean violence, as many non-Muslims assume? Or does it mean peace, as some Muslims insist? This book focuses on the early history of jihad, shedding light on the controversies over jihad. It shows that those who argue that jihad means only violence or only peace are both wrong.Trade Review"...short, incisive, and highly readable book."--Ahmed Rashid, New York Review of Books "Viewing what has become an increasingly crowded field, [Bonner] points out that the word jihad has acquired different resonances for a wide variety of actors, from the Islamist radicals for whom it forms the heart of a militant ideology to mystical quietists who regard the 'greater jihad' as the struggle against the 'lower self' of baser human impulses."--Malise Ruthven, New York Review of Books "Bonner's Jihad in Islamic History is a first-class work that should be highly useful as an introduction to the basic issues and history of the subject, and despite its conciseness contains information interesting even for the more specialized scholar."--David Cook, Middle East Journal "Bonner ... provides a cogent yet detailed historical survey of the concept and practice of jihad in Muslim societies. His book is a much-needed counter to the poorly researched or downright biased and alarmist cluster of publications that were quickly written and released after September 11, 2001... The book is easily accessible to the nonspecialist, and is ideal for use in an upper-level undergraduate topics course in Middle Eastern and Islamic history or Islamic religious thought. Bonner's work is also a useful primer for specialists which does not sacrifice quality for brevity."--Christopher Anzalone, Religious Studies Review "Michael Bonner brings to the subject a sober, forensic approach grounded in sound historiography and a firm grasp of primary sources... The author is to be commended for having provided an accessible, broad historical survey of the mercurial term 'jihad' and its deployment over time. Both the specialist and the nonspecialist will benefit from this study. This slim book is not exhaustive in its approach, nor does it claim to be. But it asks all the right questions and broadly indicates the directions in which future scholarship on jihad as both an institution and a multivalent concept may fruitfully venture."--Asma Afsaruddin, Speculum "[T]his is a very interesting and useful little book both from the perspective of history and the emergence of Islamic thought and culture. It also includes a useful bibliography and index. The author should be congratulated for his thoughtful and stimulating contribution to the contemporary discourse on the Islamic concept of Jihad, warfare and peace."--Muhammad Khan, Muslim News "At a time in history when there is a crucial struggle for the soul of the Islamic world, Bonner has provided a road map for scholars and students alike attempting to make sense of the myriad of competing claims. This is a welcome addition to the literature on jihad indeed."--Lewis Brownstein, Ph.D., Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa "Bonner has been very successful in preparing an introduction to the doctrine and practises of jihad in early Islamic history that can initiate students to the first period Islamic history and early interpretations of jihad. Moreover, there is also a useful commented bibliography at the end of each chapter."--Michelangelo Guida, Turkish Journal of Islamic StudiesTable of ContentsList of Maps xi Symbols and Accent Marks xiii Preface xv CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 What Is Jihad? 1 Just War and Holy War 4 Warfare and Jihad 6 Fields of Debate 10 Historiography and Origins 14 Readings 18 CHAPTER TWO: The Quran and Arabia 20 Combat in the Quran 21 Gift and Reciprocity 27 Fighting and Recompense 30 "The Beggar and the Warrior" 32 Readings 34 CHAPTER THREE: Muhammad and His Community 36 Sira and Maghazi: Sacred History 37 Hadith: The Norm 45 Themes of Jihad in the Hadith 49 Fighting with One's Money 51 Readings 54 CHAPTER FOUR: The Great Conquests 56 The Course of Conquest 58 Explanations 60 Approaches to the Islamic Sources 64 Approaches to the Non-Islamic Sources 67 Readings 71 CHAPTER FIVE: Martyrdom 72 Martyrdom before Islam 73 Martyrdom in Quran and Tradition 74 Contexts of Martyrdom in Islam 76 Martyrs and Neomartyrs 79 Readings 82 CHAPTER SIX: Encounter with the Other 84 Conquest Society and Fiscal Regime 84 Treatment of Non-Muslims 87 Abode of Islam, Abode of War 92 Convivencia 93 Readings 95 CHAPTER SEVEN: Embattled Scholars 97 Syria and the Byzantine Frontier 98 Arabia 102 Iraq: The Synthesis of al-Shafi"i 106 North Africa 108 Spain 111 Central Asia 112 The Embattled Scholars: Conclusions 114 Readings 116 CHAPTER EIGHT: Empires, Armies, and Frontiers 118 The Umayyad Caliphate: Imperial Jihad 119 Revolution and Jihad 124 The "Abbasid Caliphate and Its Military Crisis 127 Frontier Societies: Against Byzantium 131 Frontier Societies: Spain and North Africa 134 Ribat 136 The Crusades 137 Ottoman Origins 144 Corsairs in the Mediterranean 149 The Western Sudan 151 Empires, Armies, and Frontiers: Conclusions 153 Readings 155 CHAPTER NINE: Colonial Empire, Modern State, New Jihad 157 Resistance and Reform 157 Fundamentalism and Islamism 161 Readings 165 CHAPTER TEN: Conclusions 167 Bibliography 175 Index 191
£25.20
Princeton University Press Dietrich Bonhoeffers Letters and Papers from Pr
Book SynopsisA collection of letters that tantalizes questions about the role of Christianity and the church in an increasingly secular world. It provides a fresh perspective on religious and secular life in the postwar era.Trade Review"Religious scholars as well as general readers interested in theology or the history of Christianity will find this a great choice."--John Jaeger, Library Journal "Martin E. Marty has written a simple account of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's hugely influential Letters and Papers from Prison. He explains how the work came to be collated and Bonhoeffer's moral opposition to Hitler and how he wrote until his execution days before World War II ended. There is a thorough analysis of Bonhoeffer's theology followed by a description of how those beliefs--and his influence--spread."--Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald "In my library, there is a whole shelf devoted to Bonhoeffer, whom I began reading decades ago. What has always attracted me to his writings is not only the heroic witness of his life and death, but also his instinct in a time of crisis to 'do' theology according to the quasi-monastic model he constructed at Finkenwalde. In a course on modern spiritual writers, I usually assign not the letters but The Cost of Discipleship. Having read Marty's brilliant study, I may now go back to the letters in order to--as one of Marty's subtitles puts it--'send the book further along the way.'"--Lawrence S Cunningham, Commonweal "Biography can be a powerful genre for theology, as Bethge's classic biography of Bonhoeffer demonstrates. Both the casual fan and the serious scholar should commend Marty for his fine account of Bonhoeffer's most famous and most enigmatic book."--Barry Harvey, Christian Century "Essentially Marty gives us a well-informed survey of Letters and Papers from Prison's reception over the past sixty-five years."--John S. Conway, Association of Contemporary Church Historians Quarterly "Marty's perspective spans the entire spectrum of global influence and controversy of LPP over the six decades of the book's life from its inception forward... Of particular value for readers less familiar with the 20th century reception of LPP will be his sketches of its life in East and West, Protestant and Roman Catholic worlds, in Latin America, South Africa and Asia, in Black Theology, and in Evangelicalism. While the biographer's task is not to present or interpret the contents of LPP, he describes the encounters of its most challenging and controversial concepts."--Nancy Lukens, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society Newsletter "The biography is a must for all who have their own history with Letters and Papers from Prison and who wish to revisit that story in the light of the wide range of new insights into a correspondence between two friends that wrote Church history."--Ralf K. Wustenberg, Theology "Marty tells an engaging story of how Letters and Papers from Prison gradually came to be and how in the process it has been interpreted and misinterpreted and creatively used or misused by diverse audiences around the world."--Mark S. Brocker, Lutheran Quarterly "This book was a job worth doing and Marty has done it sensitively and well."--Andrew Chandler, Journal of Ecclesiastical History "This work is a singular contribution to our study of the history of ideas through one author's, Bonhoeffer's, book and how his insights inform western culture in its encounters with other systems of thought."--Donald J. Dietrich, European Legacy "A theologically sophisticated but gripping narrative in a rare genre: the biography of a book... This is a demanding but engaging read for faculty, students, pastors, and laity."--John C. Shelley, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1: The Birth of a Book 1 Chapter 2: The "Gradual" Editor 31 Chapter 3: The Decisive Turns 51 Chapter 4: Travels East 74 Chapter 5: Travels West 103 Chapter 6: The Worlds of Two Strangers 133 Chapter 7: Travels around the World 178 Chapter 8: Continuity and Change 211 Notes 247 Index 261
£18.00
Princeton University Press Pontius Pilate AntiSemitism and the Passion in
Book SynopsisPontius Pilate is one of the Bible's best-known villains - but up until the tenth century, artistic imagery appears to have consistently portrayed him as a benevolent Christian and holy symbol of baptism. This book looks at the shifting visual and textual representations of Pilate throughout early Christian and medieval art.Trade Review"I have to admit to being delighted by this latest offering from the director of the Index of Christian Art at Princeton. The path along which Colum Hourihane leads us is copiously illustrated ... and accompanied by scrupulously detailed notes."--Christopher Colven, Art Newspaper "The book ... is splendidly produced and illustrated."--Choice "Pontius Pilate, Anti-Semitism, and the Passion in Medieval Art is likely to stimulate discussion ... for some time to come, so broad is its reach and bounteous its sources. It is a significant accomplishment to begin to bring order to this enormous mass of material; that Hourihane has also produced such a wide-ranging and beautifully illustrated volume is cause for considerable gratitude."--Sarah Lipton, Medieval Review "There is much here to interest the art historian, the medievalist, the church historian, the researcher in the history of anti-Semitism, and the student of the development and transmission of myths and legends."--Sarah Lawson, Art Book "Hourihane has given an admirable, thorough and balanced account of the representation of this enigmatic man, and his book is beautifully produced."--Paul Binski, Journal of Ecclesiastical History "[T]his book is a multifaceted treatment of the iconography of Pontius Pilate and provides a useful compilation of textual and visual representations of his role in the Passion."--Vivian B. Mann, Speculuma Journal of Medieval StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: T he Historical Background and the Role of the Prefect 6 Chapter 2: Primary Sources for the Study of Pilate 13 Philo of Alexandria 13 Josephus 16 The Bible 22 The Talmud and Midrash 23 Apocryphal Material 25 Chapter 3: E arly Christian Writings and Archaeological Evidence 38 Literary Evidence 38 Archaeological Evidence 40 Chapter 4: P ilate as a Sy mbol of the Law 44 Chapter 5: P ilate in Early Christian Art and Thought 52 The Washing of the Hands 68 Pilate and the Waters of Baptism 72 Pilate, the Christian 80 Conclusions 82 Chapter 6: P ilate and the Passion Sequence: The Sixth to the Eleventh Century 84 Ivories 86 Frescoes 93 Manuscripts 94 The Psalms and Pilate 104 Sculpture 111 Pilate's Wife 126 Chapter 7: T he Jewish Beginnings: Characterization in the Eleventh Century 143 Pilate as a Jew 146 The Praetorium 153 Chapter 8: T he Legal Perspective: The Tw elfth Century 171 Pilate: The Jew and Disputational Literature 181 Identifying Separation 190 Extending His Involvement 199 Pilate and the Titulus 201 Joseph of Arimathea before Pilate 204 Pilate Asked to Guard the Sepulcher 208 Barabbas Released 21 The Legends 214 Strong or Weak and Guilt 215 Ecce Homo 220 Chapter 9: P ilate in the Expansion of the Passion: The Thirteenth Century 227 Extending the Repertoire 238 Bible moralisee 245 The Trials 255 The Interrogation before Annas 259 The Trial before Caiaphas 263 The Trial before Herod Antipas 271 The Flagellation 272 Pilate and the Fate of the Jews 289 The Revisionist Image 293\ Chapter 10: T he Established Image in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 296 Popularization 307 Manuscripts, Books, and Prints 308 Pilate and Judas 324 Panel Paintings 328 Pilate as an Instrument of the Passion 346 An Aged Man 349 Pilate and the Symbol of the Dog 357 Pilate's Textual and Visual Characterization 363 Conclusions 371 Appendix A: Images of Pilate in Early Christian and Late Antique Art 375 Appendix B: The Holy Resurrection 383 Notes 391 Index 451 Photography Credits 463 Contents YU ix
£63.75
Princeton University Press Imago Dei
Book SynopsisCharts the theological defense of icons during the Iconoclastic controversies of the eighth and ninth centuries, whose high point came in AD 787, when the Second Council of Nicaea restored the cult of images in the church. This title demonstrates how the dogmas of the Trinity and the Incarnation eventually provided the basic rationale for images.Trade Review"[Pelikan's] extraordinary breadth as a historian, not to mention his mastery of the Christian theological traditions, enables him to establish a proper context and a necessary rhetoric for the exploration of Byzantine icons."--John Wesley Cook, Theology Today "[T]his book is genuine cause for celebration. I look forward to recommending it heartily to students and colleagues alike."--Alexander Golitzin, Patristics "The book is beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated. Instructive and pleasing, Imago Dei repays both close reading and close viewing."--Cross Currents "[L]ucid, crisp, inclusive, comprehensive, and articulate."--Daniel J. Sahas, History of Christianity "Pelikan clearly delineates the path the theological defense of icons took during the iconoclastic controversies of the eighth and ninth centuries ... Commendably Pelikan addresses the role played by the other senses in the defense of icons. The fact that touch, taste, audition and smell were acceptable made it easier to argue for the place of the visual."--Theological StudiesTable of ContentsForeword vii Preface xix Illustrations xxi Abbreviations xxiii Introduction: The Idea in the Image Chapter 1: The Context Religion and "Realpolitik" Byzantine Style 7 Chapter 2: Graven Images The Ambiguity of the Iconographic Tradition 41 Chapter 3: Divinity Made Human Aesthetic Implications of the Incarnation 67 Chapter 4: The Senses Sanctified The Rehabilitation of the Visual 99 Chapter 5: Humanity Made Divine Mary the Mother of God 121 Chapter 6: The Great Chain of Images A Cosmology of Icons 153 Bibliography 183 Index 194
£40.50
