History of religion Books
Clarendon Press Libellus de Exordio atque Procursu istius hoc est Dunhelmensis Ecclesie Tract on the Origins and Progress of this the Church of Durham Oxford Medieval Texts
Book SynopsisThe text edited and translated here for the first time for over a century is the most complete and detailed account of the church of Durham down to the early twelfth century. It is also important in the study of historical writing after the Norman Conquest, especially as recent research has cast considerable light on the identity and activities of its author, Symeon of Durham.Trade ReviewSplendid edition with a full commentary. * Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature *Unlike its predecessors the new edition makes full use of the readings of all six manuscripts, and it provides an extremely detailed and helpful commentary in footnotes. It is in this elucidation of the contents, details of which can be found through the generous indexes, that the special merit of this fine contribution to the study of post-Conquest English historiography is to be sought. * Medium Ævum *This edition is a welcome culmination to the recent dramatic advances in our knowledge of Durham historiography to which Rollason himself has made a significant contribution. The text will hold its own, its historical commentary is helpful and exhaustive, the introduction brings Symeon and Durham historical writing into sharper focus. Studies of the Cronica monasterii Dunelmensis, of the De primo aduentu Saxonum, and of the Historia regum in time might give a fuller picture, but they are unlikely to affect the great value of this edition for which Rollason must to be warmly thanked. The history of the see of St Cuthbert from its start at Lindisfarne in the seventh century to the reestablishment of a monastic community in Durham is again firmly underpinned and clearly visible. Symeon and his team could not have wished for more. * Dr Patrick McGurk, Reviews in History *
£275.00
Oxford University Press, USA Altars Restored The Changing Face of English Religious Worship 1547c.1700
Book SynopsisAltars are powerful symbols, but during the early modern period they became a religious battleground. Altars Restored examines a time when religious lives were fundamentally challenged. By looking at what happened physically in local churches, the book recaptures the experience of the ordinary parishioner in this period of religious change.Trade Review...a work of considerable importance to those interested in old churchs. * Jerome Bertram,Church Monuments, *...a work of immense learning and thorough research...a richly evidenced, innovative and stimulating book. * The Art Newspaper *An impressive work of scholarship, stimulating and readable. * Northern History *This book must become the definitive account of altars and altar policies in the post-Reformation era. * Graham Parry, University of York *A technical read, with a real sense of what things were like on the ground, and is a considerable achievement indeed * Kenneth Stevenson, Church Times *Fascinating reading * Leanda de Lisle, Catholic Herald *a richly textured study of religious change at both local and national level * Spartacus Review *This book is beautifully researched, with a wealth of detail from hitherto neglected sources ... a masterpiece, and essential reading for those concerned with both theological controversy and the worship of this period in the life of the Church of England. * Bryan D. Spinks, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *[an] excellent book ... a major contribution to Reformation studies, and a fantastic way in to the everyday dramas of this formative period * Lee Gatiss, Churchman *This is a superb piece of collaborative historical analysis ... Altars Restored will prove the touchstone for all future research on the subject. * John Craig, History *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. 'The Stripping of the Altars', 1547-1560 ; 2. The Edwardian Legacy, 1560-1604 ; 3. Avante-Garde Conformity and the English Church, c.1590-1625 ; 4. Propaganda Wars, 1624-1640 ; 5. The Turning of the Tables, 1625-1640 ; 6. The Beauty of Holiness, 1625-1640 ; 7. Repression and Revival, 1640-1660 ; 8. Altars Restored, 1660-c.1700 ; Conclusion
£225.00
Clarendon Press Authority and Asceticism from Augustine to Gregory the Great Oxford Historical Monographs
Book SynopsisWhen barbarians invaded the Roman Empire in the years around 400 AD, Christian monks hid in their cloisters - or so it is often assumed. Conrad Leyser shows is that monks in the early medieval West were, in fact, pioneers in the creation of a new language of moral authority. He describes the making of this tradition over two centuries from St Augustine to St Benedict and Gregory the Great.Trade ReviewBreaks new and important ground in the study of episcopal and monastic authority in late antiquity ... this is an important book for historians of late antiquity, church historians, ascetical theologians, historians of monasticism, and historians of Christian thought. In every respect, this is a superlative study by a scholar whose work is significant. * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *A final virtue of Leyser's book is its careful awareness of the modern scholarly tradition * Journal of Theological Studies *The insights and intelligence of Leyser's discussions provide another testament both to Augustine's and Gregory's extensive influence in Late Antiquity and to their relevance for modern times * Journal of Theological Studies *Leyser's book deserves the attention (and praise) of specialists. It also rewards anyone interested in the development of authority in the Western Christian tradition * Theological Studies *
£202.50
Clarendon Press Beauty and Revelation in the Thought of St Augustine Oxford Theological Monographs
Book SynopsisThis book places Augustine's theology in a new and illuminating context by considering what he has to say about beauty.Trade Review`a book packed with close reasoning based on wide knowledge of Augustine and his interpreters. The reader will find it hard work, but rewarding. As exegesis it is splendid, correcting previous studies in important ways' Expository Times`This is a handsome study of a fundamental theme ... an engaging and attractive study.' David Foster, The Downside Review, January 1993'Augustine's theological understanding of inwardness and his portrayal of the persuasive and educative power of true doctrine are themes that also have important aesthetic content. Following this important treatment it should no longer be possible to simply reiterate the established presentation of Augustinian aesthetics.' Lewis Ayres, Scottish Journal of Theology, 1993'Chapter 5, devoted to the Incarnation, is a most welcome addition to the classical studies of Augustine's Christology. The material covered is now new, but it is the masterly way in which the familiar is reorganised around the theme of beauty which makes this chapter so successful in illustrating Augustine's incarnate aesthetic. The author must be congratulated on her thorough knowledge of Augustine's works and secondary sources. This is no mean achievement. This finely researched and well written book will be a welcome volume on the shelves of the Augustinian scholar ... Dr Harrison shows how the familiar terrain can often reveal new beauty when approached from a fresh perspective.' Finbarr G. Clancy, The Month, May 1993`Carol Harrison has done us a great service by drawing together the aesthetic strands of Augustine's thought in a stimulating examination of original sources ... will provide a benchmark for scholars seeking to trace the role of aesthetics in the Patristic era.' British Journal of Aesthetics'Harrison explores the rich material perceptively, and argues persuasively that Augustine gives full weight to the experience of beauty ... This sane and balanced book brings a breath of frsh air to a subject which has too often been obscured by the prejudices or self-imposed methodological limitations of previous studies.' R.A. Markus, Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 44, No. 2, Oct '93'The author skillfully takes the reader through the evolution in Augustine's thinking ... a comprehensive study on the nature of beauty as theorized by a Christian theologian who did not compartmentalize his thought and action ... This book is eminently fair to Augustine because it analyses his attitude towards beauty within the framework of his central teachings and deepest convictions. Both scholars and general readers can be enriched by it.' Mary T. Clark, RSCJ, New Blackfriars'Harrison has made a significant contribution here, due especially to her refusal to separate Augustine's philosophy from his theology.' Robert B Eno, The Catholic Historical Review, October 1993Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Early Thought; 2. Words: A Paradigm; 3. Creation; 4. Man; 5. Incarnation; 6. Faith, Hope, and Love; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index
£145.00
Clarendon Press Saint Jeromes Hebrew Questions on Genesis Oxford Early Christian Studies
Book SynopsisJerome was one of the very few early Christian scholars to know any Hebrew. This is an introduction, translation, and commentary of his questions on Genesis - showing a Christian working alongside Jews in an age very different from our own.Trade Reviewas accurate and as elegant as a real translation can be, and his ample notes do much to fulfil his professed desire to be of use to "students of Patristica and Judaica". The work will be particularly valuable to those who wish to know more of the relations in the fourth century between Christendom and Jewry... * Journal of Jewish Studies *CTR Hayward has now published the first English Translation of QHG. He has also provided us with a detailed commentary...I very much welcome his contribution, and hope that it will provide some incentive for others to look at Jerome's other commentaries from a similar vantage point. * The Journal of Theological Studies. *Innovative work. * Theology Digest. *The most important reaction to Hayward's book is to be grateful that he has translated such an important text and fortified his rendering with so much helpful material. The commentary is truly impressive, although he mentions in the Preface that much more could have been written. * James C Vanderkam, Journal of Semitic Studies, vol.42, no.1, 1997 *Hayward has translated it clearly, and provided a commentary showing exactly what renderings Jerome was contesting and where the traditions he was drawing on can be found. It is a mine of information on patristic and Jewish exegesis. * Roger Tomes, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 76 (1997) *Hayward's translation is clear and his extended commentary rivals Jerome in the reach of its learning ... Thanks to Hayward, we can fully appreciate Jerome's original and critical use of Jewish texts on Genesis. * Speculum - A Journal of Medieval Studies *
£150.00
Clarendon Press Gregory of Nyssas Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms Oxford Early Christian Studies
Book SynopsisThe first translation into a modern language of an important patristic text, Gregory of Nyssa's treatise on the inscriptions of the Psalms. The book shows Gregory's indebtedness to classical culture as well as to Christian tradition, and compares his early understanding of the stages of the spiritual life with that in his later treatises.Trade ReviewHandsomely produced and useful volume...Professor Heine has performed a useful service in makingmore readily available, for the first time in English, the contents of one of Gregory's less well known writings.It has never been translated into a modern language, nor been the subject of a monograph ... Thus Heine's book fills a real gap in the otherwise rich scholarship on Gregory of Nyssa ... We should be grateful to Heine for his valuable addition to the rich harvest of studies on Gregory of Nyssa. * Church History *
£150.00
Clarendon Press The Canon of the New Testament
Book SynopsisThis book provides information from Church history concerning the recognition of the canonical status of the several books of the New Testament. Canonization was a long and gradual process of sifting among scores of gospels, epistles, and other books that enjoyed local and temporary authority - some of which have only recently come to light among the discoveries of Nag Hammadi. After discussing the external pressures that led to the fixing of the limits of the canon, the author gives sustained attention to Patristic evidence that bears on the development of the canon not only in the West but also among the Eastern Churches, including the Syrian, Armenian, Georgian, Coptic, and Ethiopian. Besides considering differences as to the sequence of the books in the New Testament, Dr Metzger takes up such questions as which form of text is to be regarded as canonical; whether the canon is open or closed; to what extent a canon should be sought within the canon; and whether the canon is a collecTrade ReviewMetzger's opinions throughout are judicious and moderate... The richly detailed factual information carefully organized here, and the bibliographical footnotes will make this a volume of continuing benefit and lasting value. * Journal of Theological Studies *this book is of great value, not only as a careful survey of the issues historically but also as a contribution to the current scene. * American Historical Review *this volume, along with [Metzger's] earlier books on the text and early versions, is destined to become the standard in this field. * Restoration Quarterly *
£47.02
Oxford University Press, USA From Jupiter to Christ On the History of Religion in the Roman Imperial Period
Book SynopsisThe history of Roman imperial religion is of fundamental importance to the history of religion in Europe. Emerging from a decade of research, From Jupiter to Christ demonstrates that the decisive change within the Roman imperial period was not a growing number of religions or changes in their ranking and success, but a modification of the idea of ''religion'' and a change in the social place of religious practices and beliefs. Religion is shown to be transformed from a medium serving the individual necessities - dealing with human contingencies like sickness, insecurity, and death - and a medium serving the public formation of political identity, into an encompassing system of ways of life, group identities, and political legitimation.Instead of offering an encyclopaedic presentation of religious beliefs, symbols, and practices throughout the period, the volume thematically presents the media that manifested and diffused religion (institutions, texts, and law), and analyses representative cases. It asks how religion changed in processes of diffusion and immigration, how fast (or how slow) practices and institutions were appropriated and modified, and reveals how these changes made Roman religion ''exportable'', creating those forms of intellectualisation and enscripturation which made religion an autonomous area, different from other social fields.Trade ReviewRüpke's work overall is expert, and his arguments well founded. * Carson Bay, Gnomon *Table of ContentsPART 1; PART 2; PART 3
£116.38
Oxford University Press Medieval Rome Stability and Crisis of a City 9001150 Oxford Studies in Medieval European History
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£27.07
Oxford University Press Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem
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£33.24
Oxford University Press ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
Book SynopsisAthanasius of Alexandria (c.295-373) is one of the greatest and most controversial figures of early Christian history. His life spanned the period of fundamental change for the Roman Empire and the Christian Church that followed the conversion of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor. A bishop and theologian, an ascetic and a pastoral father, Athanasius played a central role in shaping Christianity in these crucial formative years. As bishop of Alexandria (328-73) he fought to unite the divided Egyptian Church and inspired admiration and opposition alike from fellow bishops and the emperor Constantine and his successors. Athanasius attended the first ecumenical Council of Nicaea summoned by Constantine in 325 and as a theologian would be remembered as the defender of the original Nicene Creed against the ''Arian'' heresy. He was also a champion of the ascetic movement that transformed Christianity, a patron of monks and virgins and the author of numerous ascetic workTrade Review...This is a fine introduction with an up-to-date bibliography ... Oxford has done a service in making this available at an affordable price, and I recommend its purchase by university and departmental libraries * David Greenwood, The Expository Times *Until David Gwynn produced this brilliant and masterly account, there was no single book in which Athanasius' life and varied achievements were reviewed together ... Every expert will learn from this book and, for the uninitiated, this is the best introduction to Athanasius. * Bernard Green, The Tablet *a qualified success * Michael Slusser, Theological Studies *David Gwynn offers an admirably learned, fluent and concise introduction to Athanasius of Alexandria, the controversial and colourful church Father. ... This is an introduction as it should beand its evident qualities recommend it to students, scholars and the wider educated public alike. * Winrich Lohr, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *This book provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the most important figures of early Christianity. It will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable resource for historians and theologians alike. ... benefits from a whole range of recent research into what might once have been treated as too obscure for the student. * Frances Young, Theology *Table of Contents1. Life and Writings ; 2. Bishop ; 3. Theologian ; 4. Ascetic ; 5. Father ; 6. Death and Legacy ; Conclusion
£34.99
Oxford University Press, USA The Church in AngloSaxon Society
Book SynopsisFrom the impact of the first monasteries in the seventh century, to the emergence of the local parochial system five hundred years later, the Church was a force for change in Anglo-Saxon society. It shaped culture and ideas, social and economic behaviour, and the organization of landscape and settlement. This book traces how the widespread foundation of monastic sites (''minsters'') during c.670-730 gave the recently pagan English new ways of living, of exploiting their resources, and of absorbing European culture, as well as opening new spiritual and intellectual horizons. Through the era of Viking wars, and the tenth-century reconstruction of political and economic life, the minsters gradually lost their wealth, their independence, and their role as sites of high culture, but grew in stature as foci of local society and eventually towns. After 950, with the increasing prominence of manors, manor-houses, and village communities, a new and much larger category of small churches were foTrade Review...an impressive study of the English church before the Norman Conquest which sheds much new light on its structures and place in society * Contemporary Review *A powerful and compelling synthesis...Blair's skilful integration of archaeological and historical evidence is second to none. His synthesis and assessment of the most recent archaeological research conveys all the excitement of this fast unfolding field... * John Nightingale, Magdalen College, Oxford *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION ; 1. The English and their Christian Neighbours, c.550-650 ; 2. Minsters in Church and State, c.650-850 ; 3. Church and People, c.650-850 ; 4. The Church in the Landscape, c.650-850 ; 5. Monastic Towns? Minsters as Central Places, .650-850 ; 6. Minsters in a Changing World, c.850-1100 ; 7. The Birth and Growth of Local Churches, c.850-1100 ; 8. From Hyrness to Local Parish: The Formation of Parochial Identities, c.850-1100 ; EPILOGUE ; APPENDIX: THREE MINOR MINSTERS IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX
£68.40
Oxford University Press, USA Calvin Participation and the Gift
Book SynopsisIs the God of Calvin a fountain of blessing, or a forceful tyrant? Is Calvin''s view of God coercive, leaving no place for the human qua human in redemption? These are perennial questions about Calvin''s theology which have been given new life by Gift theologians such as John Milbank, Graham Ward, and Stephen Webb.J. Todd Billings addresses these questions by exploring Calvin''s theology of `participation in Christ''. He argues that Calvin''s theology of `participation'' gives a positive place to the human, such that grace fulfils rather than destroys nature, affirming a differentiated union of God and humanity in creation and redemption. Calvin''s trinitarian theology of participation extends to his view of prayer, sacraments, the law, and the ecclesial and civil orders. In light of Calvin''s doctrine of participation, Billings reframes the critiques of Calvin in the Gift discussion and opens up new possibilities for contemporary theology, ecumenical theology, and Calvin scholarship aTrade ReviewAn attentive, stimulating interaction with Calvin's corpus, informed by the scholarly literature and bestowing upon it fresh insights into Calvin's theology at every turn. * James R. A. Merrick. The Journal of Theological Studies *Well-written and well researched... raise[s] important questions regarding the role of union with Christ in Calvin's theology. * John V. Fesko, Orthodox Presbyterian Church *Calvin's theology of participation, according to Billings, has theological, biblical and ecclesial promise. If you are interest in participation and Calvin, this is clearly the place to come, and his insight into contemporary issues make this volume a relevant, thoughtful and probing account of Calvin's theology. * Kyle Strobel, Theology Forum *...With this work Billings has made a major contribution to Calvin studies...This is a work of clarity and sanity, and displays Billings' thorough familiarity with Calvin's insights on the development of Calvin's theology, the sources of his thought, and offers an utterly convincing way to read his theology. * Myk Habets Pacific Journal of Baptist Research *This is a valuable study of what is an important though much neglected theme of Calvin's. It should be read by all with an interest in Calvin's theology. * Anthony N. S. Lane, London School of Theology *In the best sense, this is a work of deep theological recollection: with a view to rescuing Reformed theology from its Zwinglian captivity, it restores an appreciation for the catholicity of the Reformed tradition. In the course of defending Calvin against his radically orthodox despisers, Todd Billings carefully and persuasively articulates a vision of Calvin's theology as a source for contemporary constructive theology. And one could hope that the rich vision of sacramental participation he so deftly describes might trickle down into Reformed practice. Billings invites us to imagine how different our Reformed churches might be if they were actually "Calvinist." * James K. A. Smith, Calvin College *This fine study by Todd Billings gives us fresh ways of looking at a familiar figure. Lucidly written, meticulous, precise and extremely well-informed, Billings' discussion of participation, that ancient Pauline category, opens the door both to new historical and constructive insights. An indispensable study for students of Calvin, historians of Christian thought and theologians of the Gift. * Kevin Madigan, Harvard Divinity School *I know of no other monograph that offers such a comprehensive view of the theme of participation in Calvin's work. Billings makes a persuasive case for the central importance of this motif in the Reformer's thought. This is an erudite yet very readable book. * Don Compier, Graceland University *I warmly recommend Billings' book as a serious piece of scholarly research that is not afraid to tackle some of the more popular theological schools of thought in a manner that is respectful, thoughtful and analytically powerful. Billings is the first to systematically analyse Calvin's theology of participation. He manages to pull together a Calvinian doctrine of participation which can stand on its own strength and which presents a genuine, and in decisive ways original, contribution to Calvin research. Any further critique of of Calvin's theology as based on coercion or violence will have to give an account of Billings' masterful scholarship. * Hans Boersma, Regent College *Billings has broadened our understanding of Calvin as one for whom God's grace and our faithful response form two parts of a whole... The bottom line is that this book matters. * Julie Canlis, Theology in Scotland. *This lucid and well-written book throws down a significant challenge to those concerned with the project of theology. ... It is not possible in a short review to do justice to the sophistication of Billing's careful reading of Calvin. * Bruce Gordon, Scottish Journal of Theology *Table of Contents1. Calvin, Participation, and the Problem of the Gift in Contemporary Thought ; 2. Calvin's Doctrine of Participation: Contexts and Continuities ; 3. The Development of Calvin's Language of 'Participation in Christ' ; 4. Participation in Christ: The Activity of Believers in Prayer and the Sacraments ; 5. Participation and the Law: God's Accommodation to Humanity so that Humanity may be Accommodated to God ; 6. The Promise of Calvin's Theology of Participation
£137.50
Oxford University Press The Christocentric Cosmology of St Maximus the Confessor
Book SynopsisSt. Maximus the Confessor (580-662), was a major Byzantine thinker, a theologian and philosopher. He developed a philosophical theology in which the doctrine of God, creation, the cosmic order, and salvation is integrated in a unified conception of reality. Christ, the divine Logos, is the centre of the principles (the logoi ) according to which the cosmos is created, and in accordance with which it shall convert to its divine source. Torstein Tollefsen treats Maximus'' thought from a philosophical point of view, and discusses similar thought patterns in pagan Neoplatonism. The study focuses on Maximus'' doctrine of creation, in which he denies the possibility of eternal coexistence of uncreated divinity and created and limited being. Tollefsen shows that by the logoi God institutes an ordered cosmos in which separate entities of different species are ontologically interrelated, with man as the centre of the created world. The book also investigates Maximus'' teaching of God''s activities or energies, and shows how participation in these energies is conceived according to the divine principles of the logoi. An extensive discussion of the complex topic of participation is provided.Trade ReviewThis eminently thorough monograph provides a fine account of the cosmology of St Maximus, rightly christening it Christocentric yet remaining alive to its Trinitarian dimentions. ... This book does a great service in deepening and expanding our understanding of Maximus' well-known doctrine of the logoi. ... Readers with interests in later Byzantine and Orthodox theology will be fascinated by the presentation of Maximus' teaching on divine essence and energies as being firmly set on a Palamite trajectory. This is a careful and illuminating study of arguably the greatest Byzantine theologian. * Marcus Plested, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The divine Ideas and the creation of the Cosmos ; 3. The Logos, the logoi and created beings ; 4. The divine activity ; 5. The concept of participation ; Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index
£135.38
Oxford University Press The Reformation of the Landscape
Book SynopsisThe Reformation of the Landscape is a richly detailed and original study of the relationship between the landscape of Britain and Ireland and the tumultuous religious changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It explores how the profound theological and liturgical transformations that marked the era between 1500 and 1750 both shaped, and were in turn shaped by, the places and spaces within the physical environment in which they occurred. Moving beyond churches, cathedrals, and monasteries, it investigates how the Protestant and Catholic Reformations affected perceptions and practices associated with trees, woods, springs, rocks, mountain peaks, prehistoric monuments, and other distinctive topographical features of the British Isles. Drawing on extensive research and embracing insights from a range of disciplines, Alexandra Walsham examines the origins, immediate consequences, and later repercussions of these movements of religious renewal, together with the complex but decisiTrade ReviewOne ends this impressive book wanting more and we can hope that a flotilla of new studies by other scholars will appear in its wake. * Kenneth Fincham, History Today *the most important book on the Reformation in Britain and Ireland. * Catholic Times *The overall picture is vivid, astoundingly detailed and deeply compelling in its conceptual range and its forthright analysis. This book moves with both grace and authority over a vast tract of time and space, giving a whole new dimension to the Reformation debate, and contributing to several other related discussions as it goes... Charting the topography of religious conviction and the panorama of magic and memory, [Walsham] has reconfigured a landscape of her own, contributing an outstanding landmark to the scholarly terrain. * Lucy Wooding, Times Higher Education *The interweaving of religious and local history in this book produces a most stimulating effect. Based on research as broad as it is deep, it conveys an understanding of the habits of belief and desire that drove generations of men and women all over these islands to feats of destruction and preservation in the cause of religion. * Graham Parry, The Guardian *This book draws on immense learning, wearing it lightly...Its grace and authority will commend it to theologians, anthropologists, geographers and a mass of general readers besides academic historians. Its compelling argument makes the book required reading for all concerned with early modern Britain and Ireland. The Reformation of the Landscape confirms Alexandra Walsham's place in the very front rank of British historians. * Anthony Fletcher, Times Literary Supplement *A superb work of synthesis, full of fascinating detail, animated by an astringent intelligence and abounding in original insights. * Keith Thomas, London Review of Books *Magisterial...[Walsham] cements her reputation as the finest Reformation historian of her generation...a landmark of Reformation studies. * Alec Ryrie, The Tablet *A fascinating study of the place of landscape in English religious sentiment during the century and a half after the Reformation, a work of stunning originality. * Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator *Brings an extraordinary breadth and depth of erudition, high literary gifts, and remarkable intellectual ambition... Colourful, complex, subtle, sophisticated, argumentative, and wide-ranging, Walshams book forces us to look anew at many familiar themes, besides pointing towards a host of unfamiliar places. * Wilfred Prest, Australian Book Review *Walsham presents an admirably complex rendering of the British and Irish landscape * Elizabeth Yale, Social History of Medicine *This book represents the crowning glory of a new turn in Reformation historiography. Rather than the customary focus upon the origins, speed, direction and popularity of England's sixteenth-century Reformations, Walsham illuminates their impact upon the landscape with unparalleled breadth, variety and sophistication. * Andrew Hopper, Rural History *The Reformation of the Landscape is an astonishing accomplishment ... This is not just a book for historians of the landscape, or even Reformation historians. It is a book for anybody with at least a passing interest in the history of Britain or its constituent parts, in its religion, its culture, its social practices, its memory or its national identity/identities. Within its pages the landscape is lovingly revealed, not as a backdrop for human actors, or an occasional participant in events, but as an active agent in our history, and a rich, multifarious and constantly evolving record of the past as experienced by all who lived in it. * Jonathan Willis, English Historical Review *This is an important book: of encouragement and example, as well as stimulation and provocation. * Paul Everson, Landscape History *Walsham has superbly told the story of the "rich, eclectic, and contradictory legacy which the Reformation...left upon the landscape" of Britain and Ireland. * Rudolph P. Almasy, The Sixteenth Century Journal *a delight, rich with evidence and ideas ... a fresh, interesting, and exciting read ... a historical blockbuster that will inspire a generation. * Adam Stout, Time & Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture *This enormously learned, rich book is a fascinating archaeology, revealing much about how that mental world came into being. * Carl Watkins, Magdalene College, Cambridge *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Loca Sacra: Religion and the Landscape before the Reformation ; 2. Idols in the Landscape: The Impact of Protestant Reform ; 3. Britannia Sancta: Catholicism, Counter Reformation and the Landscape ; 4. The Religious Regeneration of the Landscape: Ritual, Rehabilitation and Renewal ; 5. God's Great Book in Folio: Providence, Science and the Natural Environment ; 6. Therapeutic Waters: Religion, Medicine and the Landscape ; 7. Invented Traditions: Legend, Custom, and Memory ; Conclusion ; Bibliography of Primary Sources
£88.53
Oxford University Press The Commentaries of Origen and Jerome on St. Pauls Epistle to the Ephesians
Book SynopsisThis important study provides the first English translation of both the surviving fragments of Origen''s Commentary on Ephesians and of the complete text of Jerome''s Commentary on Ephesians. The two translations are placed parallel to one another where they treat the same texts in Ephesians thus showing Jerome''s extensive dependence on Origen''s commentary. By using collateral texts from other works of Origen, Jerome, and Rufinus, the author is able to show Jerome''s dependence on Origen in numerous passages in his commentary where the Greek text of Origen''s commentary is lost. The translation is accompanied by Heine''s illuminating commentary and a substantial introduction sets the works in their historical context. The book makes a significant contribution not only to scholarship on Origen and Jerome, but also to the wider question of the interpretation of scripture in the early Christian centuries.Trade Review... intriguing and learned. * The Journal of Theological Studies *... lucid and accurate translation ... [Heine's] conjectures are always reasonable. * The Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
£190.00
Oxford University Press Empires of Faith
Book SynopsisDrawing upon the latest historical and archaeological research, Dr Peter Sarris provides a panoramic account of the history of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East from the fall of Rome to the rise of Islam. The formation of a new social and economic order in western Europe in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, and the ascendancy across the West of a new culture of military lordship, are placed firmly in the context of on-going connections and influence radiating outwards from the surviving Eastern Roman Empire, ruled from the great imperial capital of Constantinople. The East Roman (or ''Byzantine'') Emperor Justinian''s attempts to revive imperial fortunes, restore the empire''s power in the West, and face down Constantinople''s great superpower rival, the Sasanian Empire of Persia, are charted, as too are the ways in which the escalating warfare between Rome and Persia paved the way for the development of new concepts of ''holy war'', the emergence of Islam, and the ArTrade ReviewThis book is a gem [...] Sarris avoids pomposity and instead employs the easy, relaxed style of the accomplished undergraduate lecturer. This is not to say that the material is dumbed down. In discussing such diverse and complicated subjects as law and the content of grave goods, the author provides older students with a wealth of subject matter that might ordinarily lie outside classroom readings. * J. W. Nesbitt, CHOICE *evoke[s], with a rare vividness, the world of the later Roman aristocracy * Conrad Leyser, Times Literary Supplement *Peter Sarris' splendid new book is a defiant act of intellectual imperialism. Under the triumphant banner of 'The Oxford History of Medieval Europe' it annexes four academic kingdoms: Rome, the early Middle Ages, Byzantium and early Islam [...] It is easy for forget that this is hard-fought territory, disputed by fractious experts and partitioned between different university departments [...] Peter Sarris' signal acheivement is to impose an academic unity on the period. * Christopher Kelly, The Literary Review *An epic, sweeping and ferociously clever history of the age of Justinian and Mohammed. * Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard *a brilliant book about the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam, filled with insights and revolutionary ideas by one of the finest historians in Britain. * Peter Frankopan, History Today Books of the Year 2013 *This is the first volume to appear in the 'Oxford History of Medieval Europe'. Its general editors express the hope in their preface that they have liberated their authors 'from the need to produce a standard authoritative account'. Thankfully Peter Sarris has refused to be liberated and has done exactly that. I dont think it is too fanciful to see points of similarity between Empires of Faith and Stentons Anglo-Saxon England. Both display a mastery of the relevant sources and scholarship; both provide very clear guides to complicated situations; both are very sensitive to the shaping of history by economic, social and religious forces. this is a very good book indeed. * Michael Angold, History *This is an impressive book. Sarris has succeeded in covering both western and eastern developments and tying them convincingly together ... Empires of Faith is a lucid and confident expression of Sarriss developed view of materialist history, and at the same time a coherent and highly readable book. * Averil Cameron, English Historical Review *In this magisterial book, Peter Sarris brings to life a pivotal epoch in world history, the centuries between the end of Roman rule in western Europe and the rise of Islam. His considerable achievement is to knit together in a most compelling fashion the major political and economic developments from the Atlantic to the Eurasian steppe that cumulatively produced a new medieval world order by the beginning of the eighth century ... loaded with detail that rarely gets in the way of a lively story ... Peter Sarris has emerged as an important medieval historian with a powerful and authoritative voice. Empires of Faith deserves a wide readership. * Michael Maas, Speculum *The book's many positive features are easy to peg up ... a synthesis that goes beyond tedious textbooks in offering students a no-nonsense analytical narrative, together with useful apparatus, such as the chapter-by-chapter readings in sources and scholarship. University teachers, and a generation of students, will bless the author's name. * Mark Humphries, Early Medieval Europe *Table of Contents1. The World that had been Rome ; 2. The Formation of Post-Roman Society ; 3. The Romano-Germanic Kingdoms ; 4. The View from the East ; 5. Byzantium, the Balkans, and the West ; 6. Religion and Society ; 7. Heraclius, Persia, and Holy War ; 8. The Age of Division ; 9. The Princes of the Western Nations ; Epilogue ; Select Bibliography and Further Reading
£72.20
Oxford University Press The Church in Ancient Society
Book SynopsisThe Church in Ancient Society provides a full and enjoyable narrative history of the first six centuries of the Christian Church. Ancient Greek and Roman society had many gods and an addiction to astrology and divination. This introduction to the period traces the process by which Christianity changed this and so provided a foundation for the modern world: the teaching of Jesus created a lasting community, which grew to command the allegiance of the Roman emperor. Christianity is discussed in relation to how it appeared to both Jews and pagans, and how its Christian doctrine and practice were shaped in relation to Graeco-Roman culture and the Jewish matrix. Among the major figures discussed are Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Constantine, Julian the Apostate, Basil, Ambrose, and Augustine.Following a chronological approach, Henry Chadwick''s clear exposition of important texts and theological debates in their historical context is unrivalled in detail. In particular, theologTrade ReviewReview from previous edition The first 600 years: that is nearly one third of the Church's entire history. No one but Henry Chadwick ... could have given us so full and so authoritative an account of these decisive centuries. His new book crowns a body of illuminating work on several of the outstanding figures as well as on many of the thorniest problems of the early Church's history. * R. A. Markus, The Tablet *The book is a tour de fource to which we will keep turning as an essential reference work. * R. A. Markus, The Tablet *This is a tour de force by a great scholar ... a magisterial account of the doctrinal and institutional history of the early Church, particularly in the east Roman provinces. The easy style, not without a sprinkling of colloquialisms, conceals the author's great learning and enthusiasm for his subject ... Henry Chadwick's book will remain a standard work on the history of early Christianity for the forseeable future. * English Historical Review *Whoever looks for a reliable and highly readable companion to the formative centuries of Christianity and, in many respects, of European culture as well could hardly make a better choice ... The exposition is rich in detail, and makes an enjoyable read that will appeal to an academic and to a general readership alike.Marked by a monumentality both of scope and detail ... the last great narrative history of the twentieth century in its field ... Henry Chadwick ranks as one of the great figures of the twentieth century in his field, and there is every reason to believe that a future generation of scholars will be keen to have access to his guidance on any one of a thousand points of detail. * Kate Cooper, Times Literary Supplement *`A masterpiece beyond classification.' Church TimesTable of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The First Followers of Jesus ; 2. The Jewish Matrix ; 3. Jews and Christians Survive Rome's Crushing of Revolts ; 4. The Hebrew Scriptures in the Church ; 5. Interpreting Scripture: Philo and paul ; 6. Apostles and Evangelists ; 7. Women among Jesus' Followers ; 8. 'Barnabas', Jewish Christianity, Trouble at Corinth ; 9. Ignatius of Antioch ; 10. Didache ; 11. Marcion ; 12. Justin ; 13. Irenaeus of Lyon ; 14. The New Testament Text ; 15. Celsus: A Platonist Attack ; 16. Montanism: Perpetua ; 17. Tertullian, Minucius Felix ; 18. Clement of Alexandria ; 19. Julius Africanus ; 20. Hippolytus and Liturgy ; 21. Origen ; 22. Cyprian of Carthage ; 23. Dionysius of Alexandria ; 24. Paul of Samosata ; 25. Mani ; 26. Plotinos, Porphyry ; 27. Diocletian and the Great Persecution, Rise of Constantine ; 28. Constantine, Lactantius, and Eusebios of Caesarea ; 29. The Seeds of Reaction ; 30. The Church at Prayer ; 31. Athanasios, Marcellus, and the Gathering Storm ; 32. Fiasco at Serdica ; 33. Religious Division: A Note on Intolerance ; 34. Athanasios' Return: A Wind of Change ; 35. Constantius' Double Council of Unity ; 36. Julian and the Church ; 37. Damasus, Siricius, Papal Authority, Synesios of Cyrene ; 38. Basil of Caesarea (Cappadocia) ; 39. Ambrose ; 40. Ambrosiaster ; 41. Donatism ; 42. Monks: The Ascetic Life ; 43. Messalians; The Macarian Homilies ; 44. Schism at Antioch: The Council of Constantinople (381) ; 45. Jerome and Rufinus: Controversy about Origen ; 46. Pelagius, Celestius, and the Roman See in Gaul and North Africa ; 47. Julian of Eclanum: Augustine's Critics in Gaul and North Africa ; 48. Augustine ; 49. John Chrysostom ; 50. Innocent I and John Chrysostom's Honour. Alaric and the fall of Rome ; 51. The Christological Debate I: To the First Council of Ephesus ; 52. The Christological Debate II: From Reunion to a breakdown of unity (449) ; 53. The Christological Debate III; From the Second Council of Ephesus (449) to Chalcedon (451) ; 54. Chalcedon II: fall of Dioscoros. the emperor Leo's Encyclia ; 55. The aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon; Zeno's Henotikon ; 56. Justinian: Origen and the Three Chapters ; 57. The Church and the Barbarian Invasions in the West; Salvian, Sidonius, Caesarius ; 58. Worship after Constantine ; 59. Pope Gregory the Great (590 - 604) ; 60. Pilgrims ; 61. Penance ; Further Reading ; Dates of Roman Emperors ; List of Bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem
£95.00
Oxford University Press Leontius of Jerusalem
Book SynopsisThis is a new edition and translation of the Testimonies of the Saints of Leontius of Jerusalem, a sixth-century monk and one of the most important so-called neo-Chalcedonian theologians. It is essential reading for understanding the Church's debate with the Monophysites in the time of Justinian.Table of ContentsI. INTRODUCTION ; II. TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS ; 1. Testimonies of the Saints ; 2. Aporiae ; III. APPENDIX: THE ARGUMENT OF THE TESTIMONIES OF THE SAINTS SUMMARIZED
£162.50
Oxford University Press, USA Cyril of Alexandria and the Nestorian Controversy
Book SynopsisRecounts the historical and cultural process by which Cyril of Alexandria was elevated to canonical status while his opponent, Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, was turned into a heretic. Argues that it was Cyril's mastery of rhetoric and ecclesiastical politics alike which ensured his victory over his adversary.Trade ReviewSusan Wessel has produced a learned and exciting book, that adds much to our knowledge of the character and purpose of these significant theorists of the fifth century; and the volume is a worthy addition to the excellent series of Oxford Early Christian Studies. * John McGuckin, Sobornost *I do indeed admire her assiduity. The references to the original sources are a real bonus. * L.R. Wickham, The Journal of Theological Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; I. THE TAPESTRY OF CYRIL'S EPISCOPACY FROM EGYPT TO THE IMPERIAL CITY ; 1. Confrontation in the Early Episcopacy ; 2. Political Alliance and the Onset of Controversy ; 3. The Reception of Nicaea ; 4. The Meeting of the Council ; II. THE RHETORIC OF THE NESTORIAN DEBATES ; 5. Rhetorical Style and Method in the Conciliar Homilies of Cyril ; 6. The Rhetorical and Interpretive Method of Nestorius ; 7. From a Tentative Resolution to the Renewal of Controversy (431 to 451 AD) ; Epilogue
£202.50
Oxford University Press The Metaphysics of the Incarnation
Book SynopsisThe period from Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus is one of the richest in the history of Christian theology. The Metaphysics of the Incarnation aims to provide a thorough examination of the doctrine in this era, making explicit its philosophical and theological foundations. Medieval theologians believed that there were good reasons for supposing that Christ''s human nature was an individual. In the light of this, Part 1 discusses how the various thinkers held that an individual nature could be united to a divine person. Part 2 shows how one divine person could be incarnate without any other. Part 3 deals with questions of Christological predication, and Part 4 shows how an individual nature is to be distinguished from a person. The work begins with a full account of the metaphysics presupposed in the medieval accounts, and concludes with observations relating medieval accounts to modern Christology.Trade Revieweasy to recommend to anyone interested in the topic, especially to those whose philosophical approach might be best described as analytical. Furthermore, regardless of the particular application to the incarnation employed in the volume, a number of the contributions will be of interest to those working on the philosophy of mind in general. * Seamus ONeill, Philosophy in Review *professional philosophers will no doubt find the essays fascinating ... it is a valuable collection. * David Brown, Journal of Religious Studies *Table of ContentsI. MODELS FOR THE HYPOSTATIC UNION; EXCURSUS 1: CONSEQUENCES OF THE UNION; II, TRINITARIAN ISSUES; III. THE COMMUNICATION OF PROPERTIES; EXCURSUS 2: COUNTING PERSONS AND NATURES; IV. THEORIES OF SUBSISTENCE
£65.70
Oxford University Press Christian Identity in the Jewish and GraecoRoman World
Book Synopsis''I am a Christian'' is the confession of the martyrs of early Christian texts and, no doubt, of many others; but what did this confession mean, and how was early Christian identity constructed? This innovative study sets the emergence of Christian identity in the first two centuries, as it is constructed by the broad range of surviving literature, within the wider context of Jewish and Graeco-Roman identity. It uses a number of models from contemporary constructionist views of identity formation to explore how what comes to be seen as ''Christian'' literature creates a sense of what to be ''a Christian'' means, and traces both continuities and discontinuities with the ways in which Jewish and Graeco-Roman identity were also being constructed through their texts. It seeks to acknowledge the centrality of texts in shaping early Christianity, historically as well as in our perception of it, while also exploring how we might move from those texts to the individuals and communities who preTrade ReviewReview from previous edition The book will, without a doubt, become a key one in the discussion of early Christian identity, but its rich exploration into Jewish identity makes it a serious contribution to that field as well ... Where Lieu's work often differs from much of the contemporary debate is the consistent clarity with which she sees the other side of the evdience ... This positive work will help focus much of the future debate. * BMCR *Table of Contents1. Introduction: The Emergence of Christian Identity ; 2. Text and Identity ; 3. History, Memory, and the Invention of Tradition ; 4. Boundaries ; 5. The Grammar of Practice ; 6. Embodiment and Gender ; 7. Space and Place ; 8. The Christian Race ; 9. 'The Other' ; 10. Made Not Born: Conclusions
£51.30
Clarendon Press The Emergence of a Scientific Culture
Book SynopsisWhy did science emerge in the West and how did scientific values come to be regarded as the yardstick for all other forms of knowledge? Stephen Gaukroger shows just how bitterly the cognitive and cultural standing of science was contested in its early development. Rejecting the traditional picture of secularization, he argues that science in the seventeenth century emerged not in opposition to religion but rather was in many respects driven by it. Moreover, science did not present a unified picture of nature but was an unstable field of different, often locally successful but just as often incompatible, programmes. To complicate matters, much depended on attempts to reshape the persona of the natural philosopher, and distinctive new notions of objectivity and impartiality were imported into natural philosophy, changing its character radically by redefining the qualities of its practitioners.The West''s sense of itself, its relation to its past, and its sense of its future, have been prTrade ReviewGaukroger's book is a historical reconstruction that brackets historical context (social, practical, political etc.) and offers a plethora of studies on intellectual history on a variety of subjects that deserve attention in any investigation of the emergence of the scientific culture of the West. * Wolfgang Lefèvre ISIS d *The thesis of his substanial and impreesive book is that Christianity indeed played a major, not, as often proposed, through the dissociation of science from religious concerns, but through a reconstituted partnership between Christianity and (a reconstructed) natural philosophy...I am not aware of any other treatment of these themes that combines so magisterially a discerning account of changing boundaries between disciplines with a dispassionate analysis of the changing relations between theology and the sciences. The result is a scholarly exploration on a grand scale. * John Hedley Brooke British Journal for the History of Science *Gaukroger's book is a historical context (social, practical, political, etc.) and offers a plethora of studies in intellectual history on a variety of subjects that deserve attention in any investigation of the emergence of the scientidic culture of the West. * Wolfgang Lefèvre ISIS *This impressive and wide-ranging book is the first of a quintet devoted to the question: how in the (Western) world did all cognitive values come to be associated with scientific ones?... Gaukroger's grand beginning of an even grander five-volume narrative is an exceptional book. Its structure of scientific authority, as it were, is certain to stimulate long and lively discussions among academics of every stripe. * Michael H. Shank, Renaissance Quarterly *[A] substantial and impressive book...I am not aware of any other treatment of these themes that combines so magisterially a discerning account of changing boundaries between disciplines with a dispassionate analysis of the changing relations between theology and the sciences. The result is a scholarly exploration on the grand scale. * John Hedley Brooke, British Journal for the History of Science *especially useful to philosophers looking for the historical context of particular arguments. Few historians have the ambition to attempt a synoptic treatment of the entire history of Western science at anything more than an introductory level. Certainly, no one has undertaken such a project in recent years, when so much has been added to the secondary literature. Gaukroger's book is a comprehensive, narrative overview of the state of the art...[this book] and its companion volumes will fill an empty niche on scholars' bookshelves. * David Marshall Miller, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *A careful reading of this outstanding treatise by Gaukroger brings to life not only 500 crucial years that yielded the emergence of science in the west, but also the religious ferment and motivations that forwarded the new scientific culture. * T. Eastman, Choice *Gaukroger provides an insightful analysis...[and] the book's...content also reminds us of its author's accomplishments as a historian of philosophy. * Peter Dear, Nature, Vol. 446 *a project of breathtaking ambition... an impressive performance...and synthesizes a lot of difficult material into a coherent body. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsPART I ; PART II ; PART III ; PART IV ; PART V
£112.50
Oxford University Press Evagrius of Pontus
Book SynopsisEvagrius of Pontus (c.345-399) was one of the most prominent figures among the monks of the desert settlements of Nitria, Sketis, and Kellia in Lower Egypt. Through the course of his ascetic writings he formulated a systematic presentation of the teaching of the semi-eremitic monks of these settlements. The works of Evagrius had a profound influence on Eastern Orthodox monastic teaching and passed to the West through the writings of John Cassian (c.365-435). This is the first complete English translation of Evagrius'' Greek ascetic writings, based on modern critical editions, where available, and, where they are not, on collations of the principal manuscripts. Two appendices provide variant readings for the Greek texts and the complete text of the long recension of Eulogios. The translations are accompanied by a commentary to guide the reader through the intricacies of Evagrian thought by offering explanatory comments and references to other Evagrian texts and relevant scholarly literaTrade ReviewRobert Sinkewicz here offers a valuable aid to this renewed attention to one of the most important spiritual and ascetic Eastern writers ... This work is sure to become a familiar and well-used resource for the study of eastern spirituality. * John Behr, St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Foundations of the Monastic Life: A Presentation of the Practice of Stillness ; 2. To Eulogios On the Confession of Thoughts and Counsel in their Regard ; 3. [To Eulogios] On the Vices Opposed to the Virtues ; 4. On the Eight Thoughts ; 5. The Monk: A Treatise on the Practical Life ; 6. To Monks in Monasteries and Communities and Exhortation to a Virgin ; 7. On Thoughts ; 8. Chapters on Prayer ; 9. Reflections ; 10. Exhortations 1-2 ; 11. Thirty-Three Ordered Chapters ; 12. Maxims 1-3 ; Commentary Notes ; Appendix I: Variant Readings for the Greek texts ; Appendix 2: The Greek text of Eulogios
£68.40
Oxford University Press Augustines Commentary on Galatians
Book SynopsisNow available in English for the first time, Augustine''s Commentary on Galatians is his only complete, formal commentary on any book of the Bible and offers unique insights into his understanding of Paul and of his own task as a biblical interpreter. Yet it is one of his least known works today - and this despite its importance in the past for such major figures as Aquinas, Luther, Erasmus, and Newman. The present volume seeks to remedy this situation by providing not only an English translation with facing Latin text, but also a comprehensive introduction and copious notes. Since Galatians happens to be the only biblical book commented upon by all the ancient Latin commentators - including Jerome, Pelagius, Ambrosiaster, and Marius Victorinus, as well as Augustine - it provides a basis for comparing them and for identifying Augustine''s special concerns and emphases. Augustine''s Commentary also has crucial links to other works he wrote at the time, especially his monastic rule and DTrade ReviewThis first translation of Augustine's only complete biblical commentary into Enlgish is of great value, as much for those concerned with the intersection of biblical pastoral theology as for the student of Augustine. * European Journal of Theology *Table of ContentsI. INTRODUCTION ; 1. Date of Composition ; 2. Augustine in Relation to the Other Latin Commentators on Paul in Late Antiquity ; 3. The Purpose of Augustine's Commentary ; 4. Augutine as a Reader of Galatians ; 5. Conclusions ; II. AUGUSTINE'S COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO GALATIANS: TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND NOTES
£69.35
Oxford University Press Grace and Christology in the Early Church
Book SynopsisWas there a genuine theological consensus about Christ in the early Church? Donald Fairbairn''s persuasive study uses the concept of grace to clarify this question. There were two sharply divergent understandings of grace and christology. One understanding, characteristic of Theodore and Nestorius, saw grace as God''s gift of co-operation to Christians and Christ as the uniquely graced man. The other understanding, characteristic of Cyril of Alexandria and John Cassian, saw grace as God the Word''s personal descent to the human sphere so as to give himself to humanity. Dealing with, among others, John Chrysostom, John of Antioch, and Leo the Great, Fairbairn suggests that these two understandings were by no means equally represented in the fifth century: Cyril''s view was in fact the consensus of the early Church.Trade Reviewthis is certainly an important work that warrants careful attention. * Anthony N S lane, The Journal of Theological Studies *Table of Contents1. Grace and the central issue of the christological controversy ; 2. Christ as the uniquely graced man in Theodore and Nestorius ; 3. Grace as the sharing of divine communion in Cyril's early writings ; 4. God's own Son as the source of grace in Cyril's later writings ; 5. Grace as deepening communion with God in Cassian's monastic writings ; 6. Grace and the Saviour's personal subject in Cassian's De incarnatione Domini ; 7. Grace and the Logos' double birth in the early Church
£45.59
Oxford University Press The Suffering of the Impassible God
Book SynopsisThe Suffering of the Impassible God provides a major reconsideration of the issue of divine suffering and divine emotions in the early Church Fathers. Patristic writers are commonly criticized for falling prey to Hellenistic philosophy and uncritically accepting the claim that God cannot suffer or feel emotions. Gavrilyuk shows that this view represents a misreading of evidence. In contrast, he construes the development of patristic thought as a series of dialectical turning points taken to safeguard the paradox of God''s voluntary and salvific suffering in the Incarnation.Trade ReviewIt is heartening to read a book that one agrees with and even more so when it is a scholarly work on a controversial issue. Gavrilyuk's monograph is just such a work. * Journal of Early Christian Studies *Gavrilyuk has written an excellent book suitable not only for scholars but for students as well. * Journal of Early Christian Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Testing the fall into Hellenistic philosophy theory ; 2. The function of divine impassibility in patristic theology ; 3. The reality of Christ's suffering defended in the struggle with Docetism ; 4. Patripassian controversy: the Son, not God the Father, is the subject of the Incarnation ; 5. The orthodox response to Arianism: involvement in suffering does not diminish Christ's divinity ; 6. The case of Cyril against Nestorius: a theology of divine self-emptying ; Conclusion
£46.07
Oxford University Press The Ten Lost Tribes
Book SynopsisThe legendary story of the ten lost tribes of Israel has resonated among both Jews and Christians down through the centuries: the compelling idea that some core group of humanity was ''''lost'''' and exiled to a secret place, perhaps someday to return triumphant. In The Ten Lost Tribes, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite shows for the first time the extent to which the search for the lost tribes of Israel became, over two millennia, an engine for global exploration and a key mechanism for understanding the world. As the book reveals, the quest for the missing tribes and the fervent belief that their restitution marked a necessary step toward global redemption have been threaded through countless historical moments--from the formation of the first ''''world'''' empires to the age of discovery, and from the spread of European imperialism to the rise of modern-day evangelical apocalypticism. More than a historical survey of an enduring myth, The Ten Lost Tribes offers a unique prism through which to viewTrade ReviewAn interesting and at times even a fascinating read into the efforts of many people over many centuries to rediscover, reclaim, and even restore lost Israel. * BYU Studies Quarterly *This book constitutes a sophisticated, often riveting meditation on those who have dreamed about, sought after, investigated, and longed for the ten Israelite tribes deported (according to the biblical account) by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. to a remote location, after which they disappeared from human knowledge. More than a history of fantasy, however, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite's survey brings together the variegated odalities--religious, political, scientific, and literary--in which such fixations have played themselves out. * American Historical Review *Writing a 'world history' on this scale demands enviable linguistic and interdisciplinary skills, which Zvi Ben-Dor Benite has in abundance. ...The Ten Lost Tribes is an exhilarating venture in intellectual history ...A readable and enjoyable book. * Books & Culture *Readers will marvel at how belief in the lost tribes benefits the ambitions of British imperialists and at how it has guided modern Israeli leaders in shaping their country's repatriation policies. Scholarship of exceptional breadth, certain to attract a diverse readership. * Booklist *The story of the lost tribes of Israel has been told before, but never placed so successfully within the context of global history. Zvi Ben-Dor Benite's exceptional scholarly range, combined with his exquisite sensitivity to the relationship between presence and absence, promise and loss, will appeal to anyone fascinated with the ways myth-history and myth-geography function in the real time and real space of world events. * John Gillis, Professor Emeritus of History, Rutgers University *Table of ContentsA Note on Transliterations ; Introduction: Ten Lost Tribes and Their Places ; 1. Assyrian Tributes ; 2. An Enclosed Nation in Arzareth and Sambatyon ; 3. Tricksters and Travels ; 4. "A Mighty Multitude of Israelites" ; 5. Concordia Mundi ; 6. Hopes of Israel ; Conclusion: To Find the Ten Lost Tribes ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
£32.29
Oxford University Press Dogen and Soto Zen
Book SynopsisThis volume continues the work of a recent collection published in 2012 by Oxford University Press, Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies. It features some of the same outstanding authors as well as some new experts who explore diverse aspects of the life and teachings of Zen master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) in early Kamakura-era Japan. The contributors examine the ritual and institutional history of the Soto school, including the role of the Eiheji monastery established by Dogen as well as various kinds of rites and precepts performed there and at other temples. Dogen and Soto Zen builds upon and further refines a continuing wave of enthusiastic popular interest and scholarly developments in Western appropriations of Zen. In the last few decades, research in English and European languages on Dogen and Soto Zen has grown, aided by an increasing awareness on both sides of the Pacific of the important influence of the religious movement and its founTrade ReviewThis book offers many original insights into both Dogen (1200-1253) and the influence of the Soto school that his teachings later inspired... This volume of collected essays by respected academics is another valuable contribution from editor Steven Heine. * Taigen Dan Leighton, Monumenta Nipponica *This excellent volume sheds new and corrective light on Dogen and the Soto Zen tradition. Exploring a rich array of topics- Dogen's views of meditation, women, poetry, and death; his standing as a philosopher; distinctive Soto approaches to texts, precepts, liturgical practices, robes, and monastic architecture-the contributors bridge the divide between textual analyses of Dogen's thought and scholarship on institutional facets of Soto Zen. A must read for anyone with a serious interest in Zen. * Christopher Ives, author of Imperial-Way Zen *Heine is one of the most important Dogen scholars active today ... the volume continues to build on recent trends in Buddhist/Zen studies ... Highly recommended. * G. Wrisley, CHOICE *Table of ContentsContributors ; Acknowledgments ; Abbreviations ; Editor's Introduction: Two for the Price of One - Steven Heine ; Part I. Studies of Dogen ; 1. Dogen's Use of Rujing's 'Just Sit' (shikan taza) and Other Koans - T. Griffith Foulk ; 2. 'Raihaitokuzui' and Dogen's Views of Gender and Women: A Reconsideration - Miriam Levering ; 3. Dogen, A Medieval Japanese Monk Well-Versed in Chinese Poetry: What He Did and Did Not Compose - Steven Heine ; 4. Negotiating the Divide of Death in Japanese Buddhism: Dogen's Difference - John C. Maraldo ; 5. 'When all Dharmas are the Buddha-dharma': Dogen as Comparative Philosopher - Gereon Kopf ; Part II. Studies of Soto Zen ; 6. Keizan's Denkoroku: A Textual and Contextual Overview - William M. Bodiford ; 7. Are Soto Zen Precepts for Ethical Guidance or Ceremonial Transformation? Menzan's Attempted Reforms and Contemporary Practices - David Riggs ; 8. Vocalizing the Remembrance of Dogen: A Study of the Shinpen Hoon Koshiki - Michaela Mross ; 9. Interpreting the Material Heritage of the 'Elephant Trunk Robe' in Soto Zen - Diane Riggs ; 10. Embodying Soto Zen: Institutional Identity and Ideal Body-Image at Daihonzan Eiheiji - Pamela D. Winfield ; Sino-Japanese Glossary ; Index
£37.99
Oxford University Press Inc Vicissitudes of the Goddess
Book SynopsisThis book provides a detailed history of Hindu goddess traditions with a special focus on the local goddesses of Andhra Pradesh, past and present. The antiquity and the evolution of these goddess traditions are illustrated and documented with the help of archaeological reports, literary sources, inscriptions and art. Tracing the symbols and images of goddess into the brahmanical (Saiva and Vaisnava), Buddhist, and Jaina religious traditions, the book argues effectively how and with what motivations goddesses and their symbolizations were appropriated and transformed. The book also examines the evolution of popular Hindu goddesses such as Durga and Kali, discussing their tribal and agricultural backgrounds. It also deals extensively with how and in what circumstances women are deified and shows how these deified women cults share characteristics with the village goddesses.Trade ReviewA coherent and convincing thesis on goddess worship...Padma's methodological approach combining anthropology, archaeology, history, and mythology is refreshing and boldly successful...Her synthesis of pre-Vedic, Buddhist, Jaina, Vaisnava, and Saiva material into the framework of village goddess worship enriches her findings and makes her study unique...Her appraisals of on-the-ground religious practices past and present offer much to experts and non-experts interested in a new lens through which to approach Indic religions. * H-NET *In this monumental book, Sree Padma traces the history of village goddess traditions in Andhra Pradesh, India from prehistoric to contemporary times. She engages an impressive array of textual, material, and ethnographic sources to explore both continuities and transformations in goddess cults. This book will change how scholars think about South Asian goddesses. * Tracy Pintchman, Director of International Studies, Loyola University Chicago *Table of ContentsTable of Contents ; Acknowledgements ; Introduction ; 1. Goddess Explained - Perspectives From the West ; 2. Contextualizing the Fertility Goddess and the Gramadevata ; 3. Fertility Symbols of the Goddesses: ; Historical Renderings and Contemporary Practices ; 4. Profiles of Anthropomorphic Goddesses in Myth, Ritual, and History ; 5. Bala Perantalu: ; Auspicious Virgin Mothers ; 6. Perantalu: ; Auspicious Wives ; 7. Deifying Victimized Women: ; Sacrifices and Murders ; Conclusion ; Bibliography
£45.12
Oxford University Press Prophet Like Moses
Book SynopsisJeffrey Stackert addresses two of the oldest and most persistent problems in biblical studies: the relationship between prophecy and law in the Hebrew Bible and the utility of the Documentary Hypothesis for understanding Israelite religion. These topics have in many ways dominated pentateuchal studies and the investigation of Israelite religion since the nineteenth century, culminating in Julius Wellhausens influential Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel. Setting his inquiry against this backdrop while drawing on and extending recent developments in pentateuchal theory, Stackert tackles the subject through an investigation of the different presentations of Mosaic prophecy in the four Torah sources. His book shows that these texts contain a rich and longstanding debate over prophecy, its relation to law, and its place in Israelite religion. With this argument, A Prophet Like Moses demonstrates a new role for the Documentary Hypothesis in discussions of Israelite religion. It alTrade ReviewIn A Prophet Like Moses, Jeffrey Stackert offers a very intelligent and engaging book. Comparing ancient Near Eastern prophetic texts and grounding his approach in the current (and notably debated) Neo-Documentary Hypothesis, Stackert examines the prophetic dimensions of Moses identity and the different views of prophecy in the Pentateuchal sources. The book marks a significant contribution to biblical scholarship. Clear and well written, insightfuland highly recommended. * Mark S. Smith, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, New York University *An elegant and important contribution to current scholarship on the Pentateuch. Stackert reframes Wellhausens central questions about law and prophecy and delivers a compelling analysis of the distinctive positions in the Pentateuchal sources. It will evoke controversy in some quarters, but it is very solid scholarship. * Ronald Hendel, Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible, University of California, Berkeley *Stackert complicates the historical relationship between law and prophecy, by identifying an anti-prophetic tendency in the Elohist source in the pre-exilic period. In so doing, he undercuts the developmental view of Israelite religion associated with Wellhausen. This is a bold and ambitious book which is sure to ignite a debate that has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the religion of Israel. * John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale *This is a fine book and a major addition to Pentateuchal studies. * Alan Le Grys, Religion *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; 1. Prophecy, Law, and Israelite Religion After Wellhausen ; 2. The Literary Portrayal of Mosaic Prophecy in the Torah Sources ; 3. The Elohistic Source: The End of Israelite Prophecy ; 4. The Deuteronomic Source: Prophecy's Anemic Future ; 5. The Priestly and Yahwistic Sources: Separating Prophecy and Law ; 6. Pentateuchal Theory, Israelite Religion, and Biblical Studies: New Perspectives and Aims ; Bibliography ; Index
£97.38
Oxford University Press Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond
Book SynopsisBeatriz Caiuby Labate and Clancy Cavnar offer an in-depth exploration of how Amerindian epistemology and ontology concerning indigenous shamanic rituals of the Amazon have spread to Western societies, and of how indigenous, mestizo, and cosmopolitan cultures have engaged with and transformed these forest traditions. The volume focuses on the use of ayahuasca, a psychoactive drink essential in many indigenous shamanic rituals of the Amazon. Ayahuasca use has spread far beyond its Amazonian origin, spurring a variety of legal and cultural responses in the countries to which it has spread. The essays in this volume look at how these responses have influenced ritual design and performance in traditional and non-traditional contexts, how displaced indigenous people and rubber tappers are engaged in the creative reinvention of rituals, and how these rituals help build ethnic alliances and cultural and political strategies for their marginalized position. Some essays explore important classicTrade ReviewThis book is a welcome addition for those interested in the use of ayahuasca in the Amazon and beyond, for both anthropologists and those with an interest in ayahuasca in general. Highly recommended. * Pieter Stokkink, OPEN Foundation *The essays open up some new paths for researching the interplay between tradition, culture, identity and ayahuasca. This book is a welcome addition for those interested in the use of ayahuasca in the Amazon and beyond, for both anthropologists and those with an interest in ayahuasca in general. Highly recommended * OPEN Foundation *This book presents the encounter between Amazonian and modern worlds through the account of the recent phenomenon of expansion of shamanistic rituals based on the consumption of ayahuasca. Reinvention and transformation of religious traditions, ethnic and ecological tourism, debates on intellectual property and on legalization of psychoactive substances feature among the topics which make up this brilliant collection. * Renato Sztutman, University of Sao Paulo *Much has been written about ayahuasca and shamanism, but this book will certainly stand out because it is problem-oriented and includes a fascinating array of chapters by leading experts of different backgrounds. It therefore promises to be an important contribution to religious anthropology rather than yet another instance of mystical mumbo-jumbo. * Philipe Erikson, Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre *This volume unravels the complex meanders of intellectual and practical exchanges in a time when Amazonia goes global and the world goes Amazonian. * Aristoteles Barcelos Neto, University of East Anglia *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Contributors ; List of Illustrations ; Foreword: Authentic Ayahuasca by Oscar Calavia Saez ; Introduction: Notes on the Expansion and Reinvention of Ayahuasca Shamanism - Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Clancy Cavnar, and Francoise Barbira Freeman ; 1. Will the Real Shaman Please Stand Up? The Recent Adoption of Ayahuasca among Indigenous Groups of the Peruvian Amazon - Glenn H. Shepard Jr. ; 2. Kuntanawa: Ayahuasca, Ethnicity, and Culture - Mariana Ciavatta Pantoja ; 3. Materializing Alliances: Ayahuasca Shamanism In and Beyond Western Amazonian Indigenous Communities - Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen ; 4. Medicine Alliance: Contemporary Shamanic Networks in Brazil - Esther Jean Langdon and Isabel Santana de Rose ; 5. Ritualized Misunderstanding between Uncertainty, Agreement and Rupture: Communication Patterns in Euro-American Ayahuasca Ritual Interactions - Anne-Marie Losonczy and Silvia Mesturini Cappo ; 6. Shamans' Networks in Western Amazonia: The Iquitos-Nauta Road - Francoise Barbira Freedman ; 7. On the Uneasiness of Tourism: Considerations on Shamanic Tourism in Western Amazonia - Evgenia Fotiou ; 8. The Internationalization of Peruvian Vegetalismo - Beatriz Caiuby Labate ; 9. From the Native's Point of View: How Shipibo-Konibo Experience and Interpret Ayahuasca-Drinking with "Gringos" - Bernd Brabec de Mori ; 10. Ayahuasca's Attractions and Distractions: Examining Sexual Seduction in Shaman-Participant Interactions - Daniela Peluso ; 11. Yage Related Neo-Shamanism in Colombian Urban Contexts - Alhena Caicedo Fernandez ; Index
£47.02
Oxford University Press Godly Ambition
Book SynopsisBritish Christian leader John Stott was one of the most influential figures of the evangelical movement during the second half of the twentieth century. Called the pope of evangelicalism by many, he helped to shape a global religious movement that grew rapidly during his career. He preached to thousands on six continents. Millions bought his books and listened to his sermons. In 2005, Time included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Alister Chapman chronicles Stott''s rise to global Christian stardom. The story begins in England with an exploration of Stott''s conversion and education, then his ministry to students, his work at All Souls Langham Place, London, and his attempts to increase evangelical influence in the Church of England. By the mid-1970s, Stott had an international presence, leading the evangelical Lausanne movement that attracted evangelicals from almost every country in the world. Chapman recounts how Stott challenged evangelicals'' habitual conservatism and anti-intellectualism, showing his role in a movement that was as dysfunctional as it was dynamic. Godly Ambition is the first scholarly biography of Stott. Based on extensive examination of his personal papers, it is a critical yet sympathetic account of a gifted and determined man who did all he could to further God''s kingdom and who became a Christian luminary in the process.Trade Reviewa carefully researched and clearly written appreciation of Stott that will set the benchmark for any subsequent studies. ... Chapman has given us a fair interpretation of his ministry, which offers manu illuminating insights. It is the first sympathetically critical biography with which any others will have to contend. * Derek J. Tidball, Baptist Quarterly *Chapman succeeds in providing us with a more honest, certainly more nuanced account, than heretofore, including some new insights. * Derek J. Tidball, Baptist Quarterly *Chapman's succinct and very readable biography provides us a welcome account of Stott's life. ... I certainly appreciated and commend Chapman's work. * E Loane, Churchman *Alister Chapman's crisply written and scrupulously impartial study captures the delicately managed contradictions that characterised the life and work of John Stott, whose Evangelical career started with fundamentalist tracts smuggled into Rugby School 'in brown paper' and ended with a vast ministry in five continents and the status of an Evangelical pope. ... Godly Ambition is a perceptive study whose importance will increase as scholars continue to map the complex relationships between 'Western' and 'Global' Christianity that John Stott, the ascetical jetsetter, did much to build. * Dominic Erdozain, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Introduction ; 1. Conversion ; 2. Students ; 3. Parishioners ; 4. Anglicans ; 5. Society ; 6. World ; Conclusion
£36.09
Oxford University Press Inc Corporate Spirit Religion and the Rise of the Modern Corporation
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£37.99
Oxford University Press Heavens Purge
Book SynopsisThe doctrine of purgatory - the state after death in which Christians undergo punishment by God for unforgiven sins - raises many questions. What is purgatory like? Who experiences it? Does purgatory purify souls, or punish them, or both? How painful is it? Heaven''s Purge explores the first posing of these questions in Christianity''s early history, from the first century to the eighth: an era in which the notion that sinful Christians might improve their lot after death was contentious, or even heretical.Isabel Moreira discusses a wide range of influences at play in purgatory''s early formation, including ideas about punishment and correction in the Roman world, slavery, the value of medical purges at the shrines of saints, and the authority of visions of the afterlife for informing Christians of the hereafter. She also challenges the deeply ingrained supposition that belief in purgatory was a symptom of barbarized Christianity, and assesses the extent to which Irish and Germanic vieTrade ReviewA book that is thoughtful, learned, and refreshingly independent-minded. She Moreira avoids the conventional explanations that have been advance by scholars since the Reformation... remarkable. * The New York Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Purgatory in Late Antiquity ; Chapter One. Purgatory in Early Christian and Patristic Thought ; Chapter Two. Of Sons and Slaves: Violence and Correction in the Afterlife ; Chapter Three. O Purgatorium Caeleste!: Purging Body and Soul at St. Martin's Shrine ; Chapter Four. Purgation in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries ; Chapter Five. Purgatory, Penitentials, and the Irish Question ; Chapter Six. Purgatory in Bede and Boniface ; Chapter Seven. Missionary Eschatology and the Politics of Certainty ; Chapter Eight. Barbarians, Law Codes, and Purgatory ; Conclusion
£34.67
Oxford University Press Race and Redemption in Puritan New England Religion in America
Book SynopsisWhile much has been written about race in early America, scholars have generally focused on the southern colonies in the 18th century. Here, Bailey turns his gaze northward and to an earlier period.Trade ReviewBeautifully researched and engagingly written, Speaking American breaks new ground in showing, city by city, the complex human forces that have given American English its individual character and vitality. It will become required reading for anyone interested in the history of English. * David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language and Words in Time and Place *A stimulating read...Bailey's first book is ambitious and shows a scholar sensitive to irony, contradiction, despair, and hope. I look forward to the next one. * Journal of American Ethnic History *Provocative...Readers will find in Race and Redemption much to ponder in the tragic history of race in early America. * Themelios *An important contribution to our understanding of the intersections of race and religion in colonial New England. ... A well-researched book that illuminates aspects of the Puritan experience that have not received significant attention before this. ... Essential reading for specialists in Puritanism. * H-Net *Fascinating. ... I recommend it most highly to anyone interested in Edwards, Edwards' world, and its socio-cultural legacies. * Douglas A. Sweeney, Director, Jonathan Edwards Center, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School *Table of ContentsIntroduction: "Neither Bond Nor Free": New Englanders, Race, and Redemption ; 1 Laying the Foundation for "a Citty upon a Hill": Faith, Works, Covenant, and Colonialism ; 2 When Image Unmakes the Man: The Consequences of Thinking about the Colors and Capabilities of "Others" ; 3 "I am come into the light: Confessions of Faith, Sermons, and Ventriloquism ; 4 "We are not to make Asses of our Servants": Exercising Authority over New Englanders of Color ; 5 "The art of coyning Christians": Redeeming Self and "Others" in Puritan New England ; Epilogue: The Happy Day Refuses to Come
£35.14
Oxford University Press The Seer of Bayside
Book SynopsisIn 1968, Veronica Lueken, a Catholic housewife in Bayside, Queens, New York, began to experience visions of the Virgin Mary. Over almost three decades, she imparted more than 300 messages from Mary, Jesus, and other heavenly personages. These revelations, which were sent all over the world through newsletters, billboards, and local television, severely criticized the liturgical changes of Vatican II and the wickedness of American society. Unless everyone repented, Lueken warned, a fiery ball would collide with the Earth, causing death and destruction around the world. When Catholic Church authorities tried to dismiss, discredit, and even banish her, Lueken declared Pope Paul VI a communist imposter, accused the Church of being in error since Vatican II, and sought new venues in which to communicate her revelations. Since her death in 1995, her followers have continued to gather in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to promote her message. Known as the Baysiders, they believe that St. RoberTrade ReviewThe Seer of Bayside is an excellent book, and I recommend it highly. Laycock's study has much to offer beyond its obvious contributions to scholarship on American Catholicism and post-Vatican II devotional cultures, however. Indeed, students and scholars alike will find in The Seer of Bayside an exemplary model for engaging with subjugated discourses * Grant Shoffstall, International Journal for the Study of New Religions *Laycock has written a compelling and perceptive book on the Baysiders' devotional life and their relationship to institutional Roman Catholicism, for which he is to be commended. * Jane Shaw, Times Higher Education *Joseph Laycock has given us a compelling and very readable account of the drama surrounding one of America's most significant Marian apparition groups. * David G. Bromley, Director, World Religions and Spirituality Project, and Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University *Joseph Laycock has given us an extraordinarily intimate and insightful picture of one of the most significant contemporary Marian movements, described in a manner that will make it must reading for all students of religion, regardless of discipline. * Michael Barkun, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University *Laycocks treatment of the apocalyptic movement that grew from Luekens visions is sensitive, sophisticated, and evocative. As with all excellent studies of marginal religious groups, The Seer of Bayside sheds as much light on the center as it does on the fringes. The book offers powerful leverage into abiding questions about Catholics relationship with ecstatic religious experience, sacred places, and modern forms of civil and religious authority. * ohn C. Seitz, author of No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston's Parish Shutdowns *Table of ContentsChapter 1: A Walk in the Park ; Chapter 2: When the Roses are in Bloom ; Chapter 3: The Battle of Bayside ; Chapter 4: Flushing Meadows ; Chapter 5: We Have Become A Spectacle to the World ; Chapter 6: After Veronica ; Chapter 7: A New Age of Mary ; Notes ; Index
£56.05
Oxford University Press, USA The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era
Book SynopsisThe system of numbering the years AD (Anni Domini, Years of the Lord) originated with Dionysius Exiguus. Dionysius drafted a 95-year table of dates for Easter beginning with the year 532 AD. Why Dionysius chose the year that he did to number as ''1'' has been a source of controversy and speculation for almost 1500 years. According to the Gospel of Luke (3.1; 3.23), Jesus was baptized in the 15th year of the emperor Tiberius and was about 30 years old at the time. The 15th year of Tiberius was AD 29. If Jesus was 30 years old in AD 29, then he was born in the year that we call 2 BC. Most ancient authorities dated the Nativity accordingly.Alden Mosshammer provides the first comprehensive study of early Christian methods for calculating the date of Easter to have appeared in English in more than one hundred years. He offers an entirely new history of those methods, both Latin and Greek, from the earliest such calculations in the late second century until the emergence of the Byzantine eraTrade Reviewif you have a taste for abstruse learning, classical theological, and calendrical, the sort of taste which inspires the compilers of those useful annual ecclesiastical calendars that help us out so much, this is the Paschal book for you. * Robin Ward, Church Times *Table of ContentsI: CONTEXTS ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Chronological Systems ; 3. Easter and the Passover Moon ; II: THE EASTER TABLES OF DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS ; 4. The Letters to Boniface and Petronius ; 5. The Structure of the 19-year Cycle ; 6. The Computistical Rules ; III: PASCHAL CALCULATIONS IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY ; 7. The 8-year Cycle and the Invention of the Epacts ; 8. The 19-year cycle of Anatolius ; 9. Athanasius and the Council of Sardica ; 10. The Classical Alexandrian Cycle ; 11. Paschal Calculations at Rome ; 12. Paschal Calculations in the Eastern Empire ; 13. The Chronicon Paschale and the origins of the Byzantine era ; IV: THE ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA ; 14. Evidence for the chronology of Jesus ; 15. The Christian era of Dionysius Exiguus ; 16. The Christian era of Panodorus ; 17. The Christian era of Julius Africanus ; 18. Anatolius and the Christian era ; Bibliography ; Index
£157.50
Oxford University Press Rethinking Augustines Early Theology
Book SynopsisCarol Harrison counters the assumption that Augustine of Hippo''s (354-430) theology underwent a revolutionary transformation around the time he was consecrated Bishop in 396. Instead, she argues that there is a fundamental continuity in his thought and practice from the moment of his conversion in 386. The book thereby challenges the general scholarly trend to begin reading Augustine with his Confessions (396), which were begun ten years after his conversion, and refocuses attention on his earlier works, which undergird his whole theological system.Trade ReviewI would cordially recommend reading this study...Seldom I have read such a fierce defence of Augustine in recent literature. Harrison offers the reader a brilliant anthology of the early Augustine and is as such a valuable thematic introduction in the writing and thinking og Augustine before 396. But the monograph is much more, it is a meritorious overview of the several key elements in the continuity and a lesson in understanding how the central features of Augustine's conversion remain fruiytfully present in his thinking. * Anthony Dupont Ars Disputandi *Table of ContentsPART I ; PART II
£50.35
Oxford University Press, USA The Epistles of St Symeon the New Theologian Oxford Early Christian Texts
Book SynopsisSt Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) is regarded as one of the most significant figures in Byzantine mysticism. His four epistles are now published in their entirety for the first time in this scholarly edition using the Greek text, established by Joseph Paramelle, It is edited with an introduction, translation and notes by H. J. M. Turner.Trade ReviewTurner's translation brings to our attention som authentic gems produced by one of the greatest Christian mystics. The book is a most valuable contribution to ancient Christian literature and could prove inspirational for anyone interested in fiery spiritual guidance. * Liviu Barbu, Journal of Theological Studies *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION ; I: The Life of Symeon ; II: Symeon's Epistles ; TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS ; Epistle 1 ; Epistle 2 ; Epistle 3 ; Epistle 4 ; Notes ; Select Bibliography ; Index
£157.50
Oxford University Press Before the Nation MuslimChristian Coexistence and Its Destruction in LateOttoman Anatolia
Book SynopsisIt is common for survivors of ethnic cleansing and even genocide to speak nostalgically about earlier times of intercommunal harmony and brotherhood. After being driven from their Anatolian homelands, Greek Orthodox refugees insisted that they ''lived well with the Turks'', and yearned for the days when they worked and drank coffee together, participated in each other''s festivals, and even prayed to the same saints. Historians have never showed serious regard to these memories, given the refugees had fled from horrific ''ethnic'' violence that appeared to reflect deep-seated and pre-existing animosities. Refugee nostalgia seemed pure fantasy; perhaps contrived to lessen the pain and humiliations of displacement.Before the Nation argues that there is more than a grain of truth to these nostalgic traditions. It points to the fact that intercommunality, a mode of everyday living based on the accommodation of cultural difference, was a normal and stabilizing feature of multi-ethnic societies. Refugee memory and other ethnographic sources provide ample illustration of the beliefs and practices associated with intercommunal living, which local Muslims and Christian communities likened to a common moral environment. Drawing largely from an oral archive containing interviews with over 5000 refugees, Nicholas Doumanis examines the mentalities, cosmologies, and value systems as they relate to cultures of coexistence. He furthermore rejects the commonplace assumption that the empire was destroyed by intercommunal hatreds. Doumanis emphasizes the role of state-perpetrated political violence which aimed to create ethnically homogenous spaces, and which went some way in transforming these Anatolians into Greeks and Turks.Trade ReviewAs a compelling reconstruction of a vanished time and place this book is sure to appeal to anyone interested in the history of intercommunal relations in the Ottoman Empire. * George Vassiadis, History Today *...a fluent and theoretically informed book that brings to life how Christian and Muslim lived together just before they entered the valley of death. * Dimitris Livanios, English Historical Review *eloquently, historiographically and critically ... [a] remarkable book. * Meltem Toksöz, Mediterranean Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Curse of Babel ; 2. Ottoman belle epoque ; 3. People of God I ; 4. People of God II ; 5. Catastrophes ; Epilogue ; Bibliography
£70.30
Oxford University Press Byrhtferth of Ramsey
Book SynopsisByrhtferth of Ramsey was one of the most learned scholars of late Anglo-Saxon England, and his two saints' Lives-of Oswald, a powerful bishop of Worcester and York in the tenth century, and Ecgwine, the seventh-century founder of Evesham-are among the most important historical sources for our understanding of late Anglo-Saxon England.Trade Reviewa pearl of this edition is its huge introduction, which reaches upward of 100 pages and leaves no stone unturned. * Scott DeGregorio, Journal of Medieval Latin *Lapidge deserves sincere gratitude for rescuing Byrhtferth from his medieval and modern editors ... Both edition and translation are exemplary * Thomas Pickes, The English Historical Review *extraordinary ... Lapidge's utter familiarity with Byrhtferth's authorship and Latinity gives him an almost instinctual ability to make decisions that always bring the reader closer the Byrhtferth ... The book is in every way carefully and elefantly produced. * Martin Chase, Notes and Queries *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Ramsey in the time of Byrhtferth ; 2. The Writings of Byrhtferth ; 3. Byrhtferth's Latinity ; 4. The Vita S. Oswaldi ; 5. The Vita S. Ecgwini ; 6. The Manuscript ; 7. Previous Editions ; 8. Editorial Procedures ; Vita S. Oswaldi ; Vita S. Ecgwini ; Appendix: Glosses to Byrhtferth's Vitae in London, British Library, Cotton Nero E. I ; Bibliography ; Index of Quotations and Illusions ; General Index
£205.00
Oxford University Press Being Protestant in Reformation Britain
Book SynopsisThe Reformation was about ideas and power, but it was also about real human lives. Alec Ryrie provides the first comprehensive account of what it actually meant to live a Protestant life in England and Scotland between c. 1530-1640, drawing on a rich mixture of contemporary devotional works, sermons, diaries, biographies, and autobiographies to uncover the lived experience of early modern Protestantism. Beginning from the surprisingly urgent, multifaceted emotions of Protestantism, Ryrie explores practices of prayer, of family and public worship, and of reading and writing, tracking them through the life course from childhood through conversion and vocation to the deathbed. He examines what Protestant piety drew from its Catholic predecessors and contemporaries, and grounds that piety in material realities such as posture, food and tears. This perspective shows us what it meant to be Protestant in the British Reformations: a meeting of intensity (a religion which sought authentic feeliTrade Review...this is an immensely rewarding book...No book has ever brought early modern Protestantism to life so vividly, so eloquently and so movingly. * The Times Literary Supplement *Shifting the gaze from doctrine to devotion, Alec Ryrie one of the foremost historians of Britains Reformations presents us with a staggering piece of scholarship for which the term essential reading is redundant. * Adam Morton, Church Times *An important book that reflects a change of register and a shift in the tempo of Reformation studies ... a book full of riches, elegantly writter, alive with insight, quiet erudition and compassionate humour ... Being Protestant in Reformation Britain has brought to life a whole way of being. Its subjects might even feel that for once someone has done justice to their fervently held convictions and the meaning of their lives. * Lucy Wooding, Times Higher Education *Ryrie's book represents a monumental achievement. * Church of England Newspaper *This is a book of considerable achievement and many delights; a meticulously researched work, which provides a deep insight into the religious community in Britain from the early years of the Reformation up to the beginning of the English Civil War ... This is an important, landmark book in Reformation studies. * Anne Dillon, The Tablet *lively and readable... It sketches an evocative, richly textured and sympathetic portrait of the lived experience of people who embraced the reformed religion in sixteenth- and seventeenthcentury Britain, providing us with many fresh insights into a religious culture whose hallmark was a restless intensity and dynamism designed to fend off hypocrisy, stagnation and idleness. * Alexandra Walsham, English Historical Review, *This is an extremely enjoyable book and an important one. Throughout, Ryrie is engaging, employing an easy conversational tone and supplying rich detail. As a result, this work should be just as accessible to students interested in religious history as it is to experts in the field. It will be valuable in teaching upper-level undergraduate courses and in graduate courses, and should be included on the reading lists of anyone wishing to specialize in early modern European religious history. * Susan M. Cogan, Huntington Library Quarterly *I unhesitatingly welcome this book ... I recommend [it] to all those who wish to understand how the astonishing dynamism of Protestantism influenced the day to day living of men, women, and children in this island. * Alan Argent, Congregational History Society *This is a compelling book ... It leads us to empathise with the intensity with which his protagonists experienced their religion; to sympathise with their restless quest for assurance; and to return with new interest to old questions about the importance of this dynamic faith in reshaping the early modern world. * Felicity Heal, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *This book provides a comprehensive and incisive account of what it meant to lead a Protestant life in the century after the break with Rome ... Ryrie's work will certainly establish its position as a highly significant contribution to Reformation studies; this is a physically and intellectually substantial volume, constructed around a careful dialogue with a range of voices, which answers that critical question of how 'being Protestant' was a significant part of the making of the Reformation. * Helen Parish, History *Table of ContentsPART I: THE PROTESTANT EMOTIONS; PART II: THE PROTESTANT AT PRAYER; PART III: THE PROTESTANT AND THE WORD; PART IV: THE PROTESTANT IN COMPANY; PART V: THE PROTESTANT LIFE
£98.91
Oxford University Press Basil of Caesarea Gregory of Nyssa and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity
Book SynopsisDivine simplicity is the idea that, as the ultimate principle of the universe, God must be a non-composite unity not made up of parts or diverse attributes. The idea was appropriated by early Christian theologians from non-Christian philosophy and played a pivotal role in the development of Christian thought. Andrew Radde-Gallwitz charts the progress of the idea of divine simplicity from the second through the fourth centuries, with particular attention to Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, two of the most subtle writers on this topic, both instrumental in the construction of the Trinitarian doctrine proclaimed as orthodox at the Council of Constantinople in 381. He demonstrates that divine simplicity was not a philosophical appendage awkwardly attached to the early Christian doctrine of God, but a notion that enabled Christians to articulate the consistency of God as portrayed in their scriptures.Basil and Gregory offered a unique construal of simplicity in responding to their prTrade ReviewRadde-Gallwitz has produced a book of impeccable historical and philological scholarship, which nevertheless at no point leaves the reader in any doubt that the ultimate objective of the work is squarely in the theological field... highly original * Johannes Zachhuber, Journal of Theological Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Simplicity and the Problem of Contradiction: Ptolemy and the Legacy of Marcion ; 2. From Science to Silence: Clement of Alexandria and Origen ; 3. Agen(n)etos and the Identity Thesis: Justin, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Athanasius, and Athanasius ; 4. "Truly repay the debt": Aetius and Eunomius of Cyzicus ; 5. Basil of Caesarea I: On Not Knowing God's Essence (But Still Knowing God) ; 6. Basil of Caesarea II: Concepts, Reality, and Reading ; 7. "Therefore be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect": Gregory of Nyssa on Simplicity and Goodness ; Conclusion: The Transformation of Divine Simplicity
£133.00
Oxford University Press, USA Victorian Religious Revivals
Book SynopsisRevivals are outbursts of religious enthusiasm in which there are numerous conversions. In this book the phenomenon of revival is set in its broad historical and historiographical context. David Bebbington provides detailed case-studies of awakenings that took place between 1841 and 1880 in Britain, North America and Australia, showing that the distinctive features of particular revivals were the result less of national differences than of denominational variations. These revivals occurred in many places across the globe, but revealed the shared characteristics of evangelical Protestantism. Bebbington explores the preconditions of revival, giving attention to the cultural setting of each episode as well as the form of piety displayed by the participants. No single cause can be assigned to the awakenings, but one of the chief factors behind them was occupational structure and striking instances of death were often a precipitant. Ideas were far more involved in these events than historiaTrade Reviewevery individual story is fasinatingly different, and every revival is a unique event. This delightful volume, a Bebbington masterpiece, helps us to see them up close with a clarity and variety like never before * Andrew Atherstone, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Churchman *This labour of love (p. vi), as Bebbington describes it, provides a convincing corrective to a myriad of careless generalizations about revivals. This monograph is a model of careful, in-depth, and insightful scholarship and will undoubtedly inspire further work in this field. * Joanna Cruickshank, Deakin University. *This richly textured study should prove both authoritative and provocative to all working in the field. * Martin Wellings, Theology *^i Victorian Religious Revivals^r is an excellent piece of scholarship, well researched, well written, and insightful in its interpretation. * Clive D. Field, Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society *a groundbreaking work of scholarship that will likely exert considerable influence on the field. * Nathan A. Finn, Themelios *Victorian Religious Revivals is an enjoyable read, and could serve both as an introduction to revivalism and as a resource for established scholars. * Torsten Löfstedt, Religion *Table of Contents1. The Trajectory of Revival: The Pattern of Awakenings from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Centuries ; 2. The Interpretation of Revival: Religious Awakenings and Modern Historiography: Religious Awakenings and Modern Historiography ; 3. The Struggle for the Soul of Texas: Baptist Revival at Washington-on-the-Brazos, 1841 ; 4. The Spontaneous and the Planned: Wesleyan Methodist Revival in Cornwall, 1849 ; 5. Fanaticism and Sound Learning: Primitive Methodist Revival in Weardale, County Durham, 1851 ; 6. Experience and Good Order: Presbyterian Revival in North Carolina, 1857 ; 7. A Clash of Cultures: Revival in Forfarshire, Scotland, 1859 ; 8. Tradition and Innovation: Revival in South Australia, 1875 ; 9. The General and the Particular: Baptist Revival in Nova Scotia, 1880 ; 10. Conclusion: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts
£125.88
Oxford University Press Secularization
Book SynopsisThe decline in power, popularity and prestige of religion across the modern world is not a short-term or localized trend nor is it an accident. It is a consequence of subtle but powerful features of modernization. Renowned sociologist, Steve Bruce, elaborates the secularization paradigm and defends it against a wide variety of recent attempts at rebuttal and refutation. Using the best available statistical and qualitative evidence Bruce considers the implications for the secularization paradigm of the extent to which new religious movements or New Age spiritualities are replacing religion; changes in the nature and power of folk religion and superstition; rational choice alternatives to the secularization paradigm; the popularity and political influence of religion in the USA; religious change in the developing world; reactions to Islam in Europe; and the effects of recent controversies over the public place of religion. Bruce presents a robust defence of the secularization paradigm, cTrade ReviewBruce conceives of a delightful analogy for secularisation. He imagines a wave on a retreating tide every time the wave rises to meet the shore, it moves a little further out to sea. He argues that although religion experiences ebbs and flows, it is ultimately retreating as its transmission from one generation to the next weakens. It is the use of such powerful analogies, as well as the author having a masterful overview of the subject, that makes this an impressively clear and comprehensive book. It offers students an accessible guide to the study of secularisation and, as academic books go, it is a page-turner. * Journal of Contemporary Religion *hard-hitting but clear and sometimes witty... a useful critique... It is a book which will help some people to face the facts about the decline of religion in the West more honestly. * Graham Gould, Journal of Theological Studies *a passionate, compelling and responsive book that acts as a useful collation of all recent studies on belief and religiosity seen through a critical eye. * Eliza Filby, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *Table of Contents1. Describing Secularization ; 2. Explaining Secularization ; 3. Clarifying Secularization ; 4. Religion Outside the Churches ; 5. Contemporary Spirituality ; 6. Superstition ; 7. The Supply-side Alternative ; 8. Unexceptional America ; 9. Secularization Elsewhere ; 10. Will Conflict Reverse Secularization?
£55.10
Oxford University Press, USA We Have No King But Christ Christian Political Thought in Greater Syria on the Eve of the Arab Conquest C.400585 Oxford Studies in Byzantium
Book SynopsisAn examination of how, at the close of the Roman Empire, Christianity influenced the political and social philosophy of the peoples of the Near East, laying the groundwork for the blending of religious and ethnic identity that we see in the Middle East today.Trade ReviewPhilip Woods's book is a remarkable debut... a well-structured and convincingly argued work * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Things are often more complicated than they may seem, and this is certainly also true for the phenomenon Wood has been studying in such a brilliant way. * Joseph Verheyden, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Classification in a Christian Empire ; 2. Controlling the Barbarians: The First Syrian Hagiographic Collection ; 3. Theories of Nations and the World of Late Antiquity ; 4. Edessa and Beyond: The Reception of the Doctrina Addai in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries ; 5. The Julian Romance ; 6. Creating Boundaries in the Miaphysite Movement ; 7. A Miaphysite Commonwealth ; Conclusions
£127.50
Oxford University Press, USA The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh Oxford Early Christian Studies
Book SynopsisA study of the ascetic teaching of 7th century writer Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian), a popular figure in Eastern Christain tradition. Hagman uses Isaac's writings to argue that asceticism is not about punishing the body, but is a way to use the body to communicate the Christian message to society.Trade ReviewThis text is a fresh and edifying reading of Origens extant literary corpus. * Jonathan J. Armstrong, The Journal of Theological Studies, *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Isaac of Ninevah ; 3. The Concept of the Body ; 4. Uses of the Term 'The World' ; 5. Fear as the Existential Background of Asceticism ; 6. Ascetic Practice ; 7. Ecstacy, Spiritual Knowledge, and Humility ; 8. Isaac's Eschatology ; 9. Asceticism and Society ; Appendix: The Modern Study of Isaac of Ninevah
£127.50