Religious life and practice Books

Book SynopsisThis book was entirely conceived and developed by K. Ishwaran. The original concept was to combine two of Ishwaran’s major interests: comparative studies of the monastic systems of South Asia, and criticism of Western anthropological and sociological assumptions of tradition and modernity being antithetical, especially with regard to traditional religions. Later he conceived of broadening this topic by including major religious traditions around the world.Table of ContentsJORDAN PAPER, Introduction: Ascetic Culture: Renunciation and Wordly Engagement S.A. NIGOSIAN, Zoroastrian Perception of Ascetic Culture ALAN DAVIES, Tradition and Modernity in Protestant Christianity BALKRISHNA G. GOKHALE, Theravada Buddhism and Modernization: Anagarika Dhammapala and B.R. Ambedkar JORDAN PAPER, Eremitism in China EARLE H. WAUGH, “Dead Men in Sultry Darkness”: Western Theory and the Problematic of a Baseline Cultural Motif in Islamic Ascetic Tradition DANIEL GOLD, Nath Yogis as Established Alternatives: Householders and Ascetics Today JOHN E. CORT, The Gift of Food to a Wandering Cow: Lay-Mendicant Interaction Among the Jains DAVID MILLER, Modernity in Hindu Monasticism: Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Movement KLAUS K. KLOSTERMAIER, Gaudya Vaisnavism: The Education of Human Emotions SHAMAN HATLEY AND SOHAIL INAYATULLAH, Karma Samnyāsa: Sarkar’s Reconceptualization of Indian Asceticism Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisHasidic Art and the Kabbalah presents eight case studies of manuscripts, ritual objects, and folk art developed by Hasidic masters in the mid-eighteenth to late nineteenth centuries, whose form and decoration relate to sources in the Zohar, German Pietism, and Safed Kabbalah. Examined at the delicate and difficult to define interface between seemingly simple, folk art and complex ideological and conceptual outlooks which contain deep, abstract symbols, the study touches on aspects of object history, intellectual history, the decorative arts, and the history of religion. Based on original texts, the focus of this volume is on the subjective experience of the user at the moment of ritual, applying tenets of process philosophy and literary theory – Wolfgang Iser, Gaston Bachelard, and Walter Benjamin – to the analysis of objects.Trade Review"Batsheva Goldman-Ida's Hasidic Art and the Kabbalah sets up a visual feast that recalls the ancient Tabernacle or Temple vessels while, at the same time, expanding our notion of the sacred." - Glenn Dynner, Jewish Review of Books (Fall 2018).Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures Introduction Part 1: Manuscripts 1 Hasidic Prayer Book  Continuity and Change  Significance  Conclusion Part 2: Ritual Objects 2 Hasidic Wine Cup  Continuity and Change  Models  Significance  Conclusion 3 Hasidic Seder Plate  Continuity and Change  Models  Influences  Significance  Conclusion 4 Hasidic Sabbath Lamp  Continuity and Change  Models  Significance  Conclusion 5 The Hasidic Prayer Shawl Ornament  Continuity and Change  Models  Shpanyer-Arbet  Influences  Significance  Conclusion Part 3: Folk Art 6 The Hasidic Pipe and Snuffbox  Continuity and Change  Models  Significance  Conclusion 7 Hasidic Talismans  Continuity and Change  Models  Influence  Significance  Conclusion 8 The Hasidic Rabbi’s Chair  Continuity and Change  Influences  Significance  Conclusion 9 Conclusion  Symbolism  Mythic Context  Hasidic Context  Worship through Corporeality  The Nature of Hasidism  New Directions in Research Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTransforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions considers paths to self-cultivation and salvation that are patterned on human embryological development or procreative imagery in the religions of China and Japan. Focusing on Taoism, Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Shugendō, and local religious traditions, the contributors to the volume provide new insight into how the body’s generative processes are harnessed as powerful metaphors for spiritual attainment. This volume offers an in-depth examination of the religious dimensions of embryology and reproductive imagery, topics that have been hitherto solely approached through the lens of the history of medicine. Contributors include: Brigitte Baptandier, Catherine Despeux, Grégoire Espesset, Christine Mollier, Fabrizio Pregadio, Dominic Steavu, Lucia Dolce, Bernard Faure, Iyanaga Nobumi, Anna Andreeva, Kigensan Licha, Gaynor Sekimori.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ix List of Figures and Tables xi Conventions and Abbreviations xiv List of Contributors xviii Introduction: Backdrops and Parallels to Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions 1 Anna Andreeva and Dominic Steavu Part 1: China 1 Prenatal Infancy Regained: Great Peace (Taiping) Views on Procreation and Life Cycles 53 Grégoire Espesset 2 Conceiving the Embryo of Immortality: “Seed-People” and Sexual Rites in Early Taoism 87 Christine Mollier 3 Cosmos, Body, and Gestation in Taoist Meditation 111 Dominic Steavu 4 Symbolic Pregnancy and the Sexual Identity of Taoist Adepts 147 Catherine Despeux 5 Creation and Its Inversion: Cosmos, Human Being, and Elixir in the Cantong Qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three) 186 Fabrizio Pregadio 6 On the Efffectiveness of Symbols: Women’s Bodies as Mandalas 212 Brigitte Baptandier Part 2: Japan 7 The Embryonic Generation of the Perfect Body: Ritual Embryology from Japanese Tantric Sources 253 Lucia Dolce 8 Buddhism Ab Ovo: Aspects of Embryological Discourse in Medieval Japanese Buddhism 311 Bernard Faure 9 “Human Yellow” and Magical Power in Japanese Medieval Tantrism and Culture 344 Nobumi Iyanaga 10 “Lost in the Womb”: Conception, Reproductive Imagery, and Gender in the Writings and Rituals of Japan’s Medieval Holy Men 420 Anna Andreeva 11 Embryology in Early Modern Sōtō Zen Buddhism 479 Kigensan Licha 12 Foetal Buddhahood: From Theory to Practice – Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo 522 Gaynor Sekimori Index 559

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Book SynopsisThrough a detailed analysis of epistolary writing, A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship: Spiritual Ambitions, Intellectual Debates, and Epistolary Connections brings to life the Buddhist discourse of a network of lay disciples who debated the value of Chan versus Pure Land, sudden versus gradual enlightenment, adherence to Buddhist precepts, and animal welfare. By highlighting the differences between their mentor, the monk Zhuhong 袾宏 (1535-1615), and his nemesis, the Yangming Confucian Zhou Rudeng 周汝登 (1547-1629), this work confronts long-held scholarly views of Confucian dominance to conclude that many classically educated, elite men found Buddhist practices a far more attractive option. Their intellectual debates, self-cultivation practices, and interpersonal relations helped shape the contours of late sixteenth-century Buddhist culture.Trade Review'Jennifer Eichman’s rich and insightful book sheds significant new light on the ethical and religious aspirations, self-understandings, and practices of elite men in late-Ming China. This is a vital book for understanding the interactions between Buddhism and Confucianism, and indeed, what Buddhism and Confucianism meant in practice. (...) Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this book is the fluidity with which sociological theory, historical and cultural investigation, literary analysis, and doctrinal and more anthropological studies of religion all blend together seamlessly.' Stephen C. Angle, Wesleyan University 'Eichman purposely limits her study to the relatively narrow Wanli period (1573–1620), giving the work a depth that would otherwise not be possible. This allows her to examine the development, over about half a century, of a religious network strung together by personal relationships.(...) This level of detail assists us—both author and reader—to avoid one of the pitfalls of the study of Pure Land Buddhism, which is the presumption of the normative status of later Japanese developments, such as exclusive adherence.(...) Eichman’s study makes important contributions for several different interested audiences, more than can be discussed adequately in this brief review. Two of these are historians of Chinese religions, and scholars of religious studies.(...) Given the important contributions made by this work, it will continue to provide resources for later studies, as well as standing as an exemplary instance of how such studies should be conducted. Richard K. Payne, Reading Religion (http://readingreligion.org/books/late-sixteenth-century-chinese-buddhist-fellowship) 'In short, this is a rich study with fruitful and instructive findings. Its calls for a more interactive and fluid model of late Ming Buddhist-Confucian relations and for further exploration of Buddhist epistolary collections should be heeded.' Yiqun Zhou, Stanford University, Journal of Chinese Religions, 45:2, (2017) 'This book makes a valuable contribution to the study of late imperial Chinese Buddhism by examining a network of monks and lay practitioners connected by relationships rather than geography. Drawing primarily on epistolary sources, it seeks to ground late Ming intellectual, social, and religious history in a particular group of elite men concerned about how they might best cultivate their heart-mind. Eichman uses “mind cultivation” as a bridge concept in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Buddhist and Confucian discourse (...) Eichman presents her arguments carefully and meticulously, and she provides ample footnotes for specialists in late imperial Chinese Buddhism. (...) The structure of her book allows for individual chapters to be easily incorporated into graduate or advanced undergraduate courses as one discusses general topics such as religious identity, ethics, and meditation, or more specific issues such as killing and eating animals, releasing-life societies, encounter dialogues, or Pure Land recitation.Finally, Eichman allows for and acknowledges ambiguity in her sources, which results in a nuanced and complex rendering of religious thought and practice.' Beverley Foulks McGuire, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Journal of the American Oriental Society 137.4 (2017)

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Book SynopsisThe Religious Aspect of Warfare in the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome is a volume dedicated to investigating the relationship between religion and war in antiquity in minute detail. The nineteen chapters are divided into three groups: the ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome. They are presented in turn and all possible aspects of warfare and its religious connections are investigated. The contributors focus on the theology of war, the role of priests in warfare, natural phenomena as signs for military activity, cruelty, piety, the divinity of humans in specific martial cases, rituals of war, iconographical representations and symbols of war, and even the archaeology of war. As editor Krzysztof Ulanowski invited both well-known specialists such as Robert Parker, Nicholas Sekunda, and Pietro Mander to contribute, as well as many young, talented scholars with fresh ideas. From this polyphony of voices, perspectives and opinions emerges a diverse, but coherent, representation of the complex relationship between religion and war in antiquity.Table of ContentsIntroduction List and affiliation of contributors (in alphabetic order) Abbreviations Part 1. The Ancient Near East War in Mesopotamian Culture, Pietro Mander Some Remarks Concerning the Development of the Theology of War in Ancient Mesopotamia, Vladimir Sazonov Battle-descriptions in Mesopotamian Sources I: Presargonic and Sargonic Period, Sebastian Fink A Comparison of the Role of bārû and mantis in Ancient Warfare, Krzysztof Ulanowski Eclipses and the Precipitation of Conflict: Deciphering the Signal to Attack, Micah Ross Part 2. Greece War and Religion in Ancient Greece, Robert Parker The Terrified Face of Alcyoneus: the Religious Character of Greek Warfare, or What about the Vanquished? Bogdan Burliga The Burning of Greek Temples by the Persians and Greek War-Propaganda, Eduard Rung Weather, Luck and the Divine in Thucydides, Rachel Bruzzone Xenophon's piety within the Hipparchikos, Simone Agrimonti The Mounted Torch-Race at the Athenian Bendideia, Nick Sekunda Like Gods among Men. The Use of Religion and Mythical Issues during Alexander’s Campaign, Borja Antela-Bernárdez Defence and Offence in the Egyptian Royal Titles of Alexander the Great, Ivan Ladynin Egyptian Warriors: Machimoi, in Coroplastic Art – Selected Examples, Sławomir Jędraszek Part 3. Rome Clenar larans etnam svalce: Myth, Religion, and Warfare in Etruria, Joshua R. Hall The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Campus Martius: Peace and War, Antinomic or Complementary Realities in the Roman World, Dan-Tudor Ionescu The Religious Legitimation of War in the Reign of Antoninus Pius, André Heller Roman Soldiers in Official Cult Ceremonies: Performance, Participation and Religious Experience, Tomasz Dziurdzik Religious Aspects of the Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Founding of Aelia Capitolina on the Ruins of Jerusalem, Boaz Zissu and Hanan Eshel

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Book SynopsisIn this exciting book, Ronald Suleski introduces daily life for the common people of China in the century from 1850 to 1950. They were semi-literate, yet they have left us written accounts of their hopes, fears, and values. They have left us the hand-written manuscripts (chaoben 抄本) now flooding the antiques markets in China. These documents represent a new and heretofore overlooked category of historical sources. Suleski gives a detailed explanation of the interaction of chaoben with the lives of the people. He offers examples of why they were so important to the poor laboring masses: people wanted horoscopes predicting their future, information about the ghosts causing them headaches, a few written words to help them trade in the rural markets, and many more examples are given. The book contains a special appendix giving the first complete translation into English of a chaoben describing the ghosts and goblins that bedeviled the poor working classes.Trade Review"Suleski is to be commended for his collecting efforts, which have saved a great number of important texts that might otherwise have been relegated to the rubbish bin. In documenting and describing these materials he does a service to the field and highlights a corpus of texts that will doubtless be the source of continued research." -Nathan Vedal, Washington University, in East Asian Publishing and Society, Vol 9 (2019) p. 191-203 "The volume's greatest worth lies in its novelty: Suleski is right to note that the study of chāoběn as a means of better understanding the lives of people is a scholarly methodology that 'almost does not exist.' Those with an interest in Chinese religion, especially the late Qīng and Republican period, have much to gain from it." -Joseph Chadwin, University of Vienna, in Religious Studies Review, Vol 47 (2021), p. 125Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Contextualizing Chaoben: On the Popular Manuscript Culture of the Late Qing and Republican Period in China 2 Apologia in Chaoben 3 Written in the Margins: Reading into Texts 4 Teacher Xu: Entering a Classroom in Late Qing China 5 A Qing Dynasty Astrologer’s Predictions for the Future 6 Constructing the Family in Republican China: Shandong 1944 7 Mr. Bai and Mr. Qian Earn Their Living: Considering Two Hand-written Notebooks of Matching Couplets from China in the Late Qing and Early Republic 8 The Troublesome Ghosts: Part 1 9 The Troublesome Ghosts: Part 2 10 Concluding Remarks Appendix A. A List of Chaoben in the Author’s Personal Collection Used in This Study Appendix B. Various Categories of Chaoben Not Discussed in the Text Appendix C. Korean and Japanese Chaoben Appendix D. Full Translation of Fifty Days to Encounter the Five Spirits Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMesopotamian Medicine and Magic. Studies in Honour of Markham J. Geller is a thematically focused collection of 34 brand-new essays bringing to light a representative selection of the rich and varied scientific and technical knowledge produced chiefly by the cuneiform cultures. The contributions concentrate mainly on Mesopotamian scholarly descriptions and practices of diagnosing and healing diverse physical ailments and mental distress. The festschrift contains both critical editions of new texts as well as analytical studies dealing with various issues of Mesopotamian medical and magical lore. Currently, this is the largest edited volume devoted to this topic, significantly contributing to the History of Ancient Sciences. “This is a broad survey of many aspects of Babylonian culture, and reflects the intellectual climate of the world encountered by the exiles.” -Nick Wyatt, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43.5 (2019)Trade Review“This is a broad survey of many aspects of Babylonian culture, and reflects the intellectual climate of the world encountered by the exiles.” - Nick Wyatt, in Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2019Table of ContentsPreface Markham J. Geller: An Appreciation  Irving L. Finkel Bibliography of Markham J. Geller  Strahil V. Panayotov and Luděk Vacín 1 Vetitive and Prohibitive: An Observation  Tzvi Abusch 2 Sons of Seth and the South Wind  Amar Annus 3 An Old Babylonian Oil Omen Tablet from the British Museum  Netanel Anor 4 Disease and Healing in the Book of Tobit and in Mesopotamian Medicine  Annie Attia 5 A Transtextual View on the “Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince”  Johannes Bach 6 The 34th Extract of the UGU Series from Babylon: An Edition of the Tablet BM 35512  András Bácskay 7 Budge’s Syriac Book of Medicines after One Hundred Years: Problems and Prospects  Siam Bhayro and Stefanie M. Rudolf 8 An Old Babylonian List of Sheep Body Parts (BM 29663)  Yoram Cohen 9 Putting Theory into Practice: Kiṣir-Aššur’s Expertise between Textual Knowledge and Practical Experimentation  M. Erica Couto-Ferreira 10 A Brief Look Eastward  Sona Choukassizian Eypper 11 Two Old Babylonian Incantation Tablets, Purportedly from Adab (A 633 and A 704)  Walter Farber 12 Of tirku, Moles and Other Spots on the Skin According to the Physiognomic Omens  Jeanette C. Fincke 13 Amulets against Fever  Irving L. Finkel 14 A Tale of Two Lands and Two Thousand Years: The Origins of Pazuzu  Eckart Frahm 15 Hermeneutics and Magic in the Commentary to Marduk’s Address to the Demons  Uri Gabbay 16 A New Medical Therapeutic Text on Rectal Disease  Nils P. Heeßel 17 Mesopotamian Magic in Text and Performance  Sam Mirelman 18 Divine Privilege of the Rich and Powerful? Seeking Healing of Illness by Presenting a Luxurious Gift  Takayoshi M. Oshima and Greta Van Buylaere 19 BM 32339+32407+32645: New Evidence for Late Babylonian Astrology  Mathieu Ossendrijver 20 Thunders, Haloes, and Earthquakes: What Daniel Brought from Babylon into Arabic Divination  Lucia Raggetti 21 At the Dawn of Plant Taxonomy: Shared Structural Design of Herbal Descriptions in Šammu šikinšu and Theophrastus’ Historia plantarum IX  Maddalena Rumor 22 Simplicia and Unpublished Fragments of Alamdimmû from the British Museum  Eric Schmidtchen 23 Spiegel des Himmels: Synchronisation von Himmel und Erde in der babylonischen Leberschau, Iatromathematik und dem 20-Felder-Spiel  Marvin Schreiber 24 Elpetu-Rush, Inanna and the Flood: A Tale of Human Ingratitude  JoAnn Scurlock 25 BAM 7 44: Suppositories for Rectal and Gastro-Intestinal Diseases  Krisztián Simkó 26 A Time to Extract and a Time to Compile: The Therapeutic Compendium Tablet BM 78963  Henry Stadhouders and J. Cale Johnson 27 From Awe to Audacity. Stratagems for Approaching Authorities Successfully: The Istanbul Egalkura Tablet A 373  Henry Stadhouders and Strahil V. Panayotov 28 BM 92518 and Old Babylonian Incantations for the “Belly”  Ulrike Steinert and Luděk Vacín 29 Teeth and Toothache  Marten Stol 30 Die Fliege und der Tod: Beschwörungen gegen Tiere  Marie-Louise Thomsen 31 Ninmaḫ and Her Imperfect Creatures: The Bed Wetting Man and Remedies to Cure Enuresis (STT 238)  Lorenzo Verderame 32 “If His Chin Is Constantly Slack…”: A New Text on the Verge between Physiognomic and Diagnostic Omens  Klaus Wagensonner 33 Five Birds, Twelve Rooms, and the Seleucid Game of Twenty Squares  John Z. Wee 34 BM 33055: A Late Babylonian Clay Tablet with Figures and Captions  Frans A.M. Wiggermann Index of Divine Names Index of Personal Names Index of Geographical Names Index of Texts

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Book SynopsisIn Clothing as Devotion in Contemporary Hinduism, Urmila Mohan explores the materiality and visuality of cloth and clothing as devotional media in contemporary Hinduism. Drawing upon ethnographic research into the global missionizing group “International Society for Krishna Consciousness” (ISKCON), she studies translocal spaces of worship, service, education, and daily life in the group’s headquarters in Mayapur and other parts of India. Focusing on the actions and values of deity dressmaking, devotee clothing and paraphernalia, Mohan shows how activities, such as embroidery and chanting, can be understood as techniques of spirituality, reverence, allegiance—and she proposes the new term “efficacious intimacy” to help understand these complex processes. The monograph brings theoretical advances in Anglo-European material culture and material religion studies into a conversation with South Asian anthropology, sociology, art history, and religion. Ultimately, it demonstrates how embodied interactions as well as representations shape ISKCON’s practitioners as devout subjects, while connecting them with the divine and the wider community.Table of ContentsClothing as Devotion in Contemporary Hinduism  Urmila Mohan  Abstract  Keywords  1 Introduction: Why Cloth and Clothing?  2 Deity Worship and Darshan  3 ISKCON as Translocal Hindu Group  4 Multi-sensorial Worship Experience  5 Clothing the Deities: Toward an ISKCON Style  6 Embroidery as Devotional Practice  7 Values in the Classroom and Beyond  8 Circulation of Images and Imagery  9 Dressing for the Deities  10 Chanting as Devotional Technique  11 Conclusion: Clothing as Efficacious Intimacy  References

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Book SynopsisAround 1900 the small Ethiopian community in Jerusalem found itself in a desperate struggle with the Copts over the Dayr al-Sultan monastery located on the roof of the Holy Sepulchre. Based on a profoundly researched, impassioned and multifaceted exploration of a forgotten manuscript, this book abandons the standard majority discourse and approaches the history of Jerusalem through the lens of a community typically considered marginal. It illuminates the political, religious and diplomatic affairs that exercised the city, and guides the reader on a fascinating journey from the Ethiopian highlands to the Holy Sepulchre, passing through the Ottoman palaces in Istanbul. Have a look inside the bookTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Acknowledgments for the English Edition List of Figures Note on Transliteration and Dates Introduction: A Historical Emergency: The Paradoxical Posterity of a Failed Manuscript  1 A Sidestep  2 Three Readings  3 Microcosm, Macrocosm 1 Dayr al-Sultan: A Rooftop Monastery  1 A Monastery on a Roof  2 One Place, Two Memories  3 Histories and Research about the Monastery  4 The Limits of Previous Studies 2 An Enigmatic Unpublished Manuscript  1 The Archives of the Ethiopian Orthodox Community  2 An Unpublished Manuscript  3 A Cryptic Text 3 The Archaeology of a Militant Propaganda Text  1 A Text Based on Another Dated 1893  2 Sources: The Backbone of the Text  3 Adaptations, Additions and Interpretations  4 A Linguistically Challenged and Challenging Text 4 Conflicts and Protections: 1850–1903  1 Dayr al-Sultan: An Unending Local Conflict  2 A Community with No Legal Autonomy  3 Having Their Voices Heard in Istanbul 5 With Memory as His Only Weapon  1 A New Stage in the Ethiopian Claims  2 Making up for the Absence of Legal Documentation  3 Justifying the Absence of Legal Documentation  4 A Respond to the Coptic Arguments 6 The Reflection of an Ethiopia in Transformation  1 A Dearth of Written Ethiopian Sources  2 No Ethiopian Kings Concerned about Jerusalem?  3 A New Interest for Jerusalem  4 Differentiating Ethiopians from Copts  5 Presenting the Community as Homogeneous 7 The Ethiopians in a Global City  1 Rediscovering Jerusalem  2 Imperial Ethiopia  3 The Opening of an Ottoman City  4 Modernization of Local Administration  5 Protection and Involvement in Conflict over the Holy Sites  6 Acting and Evolving Depending on Others …  7 … And Yet Declaring Oneself Isolated from Others Conclusion: The Keys to Power: The Ethiopians at the Doors of the Sanctuary Amharic Text and English Translation of Walda Madhen Appendix 1: German Version of the Ethiopian Anonymous Text of 1893 Appendix 2: Letter Written by Samuel Gobat to James Howard Harris, Earl of Malmesbury, June 29, 1852 Appendix 3: Account of Giovanni Battista Albengo, 1893 Appendix 4: Short Chronology Sources and Bibliography Index

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