Worship, rites, ceremonies and rituals Books

Book SynopsisAt the centre of this study is a shaman's chant performed during a three-week long feast in the eastern Himalayas. The book includes a translation of this 12-hour text chanted in Apatani, a Tibeto-Burman language, and a description of the events that surround it, especially ritual exchanges with ceremonial friends, in which fertility is celebrated. The shaman's social role, performance and ritual language are also described. Although complex feasts, like this one among Apatanis, have been described in northeast India and upland Southeast Asia for more than a century, this is the first book to present a full translation of the accompanying chant and to integrate it into the interpretation of the social significance of the total event.Trade Review"The book under review offers the first full account of a festival that plays a central role in maintaining social and economic relations among inhabitants of the valley and their neighbors. His studies of the valley culture equal the fine work of early anthropologists on US Native cultures." – G.R. Thursby, University of Florida (Emeritus), in: Choice 47/11 (July 2010) "The Sun Rises stands a detailed and authoritative account of a highly complex event of central significance within a tribal society. It is a book that explores the foundations of Apatani cosmology and ritual life. Whilst this is a scholarly text that will appeal to anthropologists and historians in Northeast India and beyond, it may also achieve lasting value among the increasing number of young literate indigenous readers in Arunachal Pradesh. By presenting his own analysis alongside a detailed transcription and translation of this central ritual chant, Blackburn has produced an accessible and reliable doorway into the heart of indigenous ritual practices." – Alexander Aisher, in: Anthropos 107.2012.2

Read more less

Book Synopsis"The Crescent on the Temple" by Pamela Berger elucidates an obscured tradition—how the Dome of the Rock came to stand for the Temple of Solomon in Christian, Muslim, and Jewish art. The crusaders called the Dome of the Rock the “Temple of the Lord,” while Muslim imagery depicted Solomon enthroned within the domed structure. Jews knew that the ancient Temple had been destroyed. Nevertheless, in their imagery, they commonly labeled the Muslim shrine “The Temple.” That domed “Temple” was often represented with a crescent on top. This iconography, long hidden in plain sight, reflects one aspect of an historical affinity between Jews and Muslims.Trade ReviewBerger makes both a monumental historical contribution convincingly revealing a past that has been obscured as well as making us think about the times we live in. Hopefully, the “shock,” to quote Nohad Ali, produced by this book will have an influence on political and religious leaders alike—for the benefit of peace and returned inter-religiosity in Jerusalem. - Curtis Hutt, University of Nebraska at Omaha, in: International Dialogue, A Multidisciplinary Journal of World Affairs 3, 2013.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis comprehensive, textual treatment of the Kaifeng Passover Rite is a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion of the community’s origins in particular and to comparative Jewish liturgy in general. The book includes a facsimile of one manuscript and a sample of the other, the full text of the Hebrew/Aramaic and Judeo-Persian Haggadah in Hebrew characters, as well as an English translation. Following a review of the community’s history, sources for study, and related scholarly work conducted to date, the languages used in the Haggadah and their backgrounds are discussed in detail. Analysis of the order of the service allows for comparison of the Kaifeng Jewish community’s recitation of the Passover liturgy, performance of ritual, and consumption of ceremonial food to other communities in the Jewish Diaspora. The various parts and chapters of the book, including its extensive and meticulous annotations and bibliographical references, provide much fresh and useful material for scholars and readers interested in pre-modern Jewish, Judeo-Persian and Chinese literary traditions and cultures. David Yeroushalmi, Tel Aviv University, 2015Trade Review"Much has been written about this community, but this is the first detailed analysis of the Passover Haggadah as it was preserved in Kaifeng [...] This volume should interest not only specialists in liturgy but also students interested in far-flung Jewish communities, researchers interested in the Persian Jewish community, experts on Hebrew, and others as well." - Shaul Stampfer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in: Religious Studies Review, 38:4 (2012) "...an important work of scholarship." - Daniel Scheide, Wimberly Library, Florida Atlantic University, in: Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews, 2:2Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Haggadah Manuscripts of the Kaifeng Jews Chapter Two: The Community's Knowledge of Hebrew as Reflected in their Haggadah Chapter Three: Hebrew in the Kaifeng Haggadah Chapter Four: The Judeo-Persian of KH Chapter Five: Order of the Service

Read more less

Book SynopsisBuddhism is often portrayed as a universalising religion that transcends the local and directs attention toward a transcendent dharma. Yet, wherever Buddhism spreads, it also sparks local identity discourses that, directly or indirectly, root the dharma in native soil and history, and, in doing so, frame ‘the local’ in Buddhist discourse. Occasionally, notably in Japanese Shinto and Tibetan Bön, this localising variety of ‘framing of discourse’—here tentatively termed ‘nativism’—leads to the establishment of independent traditions that break free from Buddhism; yet, in other contexts, localising trends remain firmly embedded within Buddhism. In Challenging Paradigms: Buddhism and Nativism Teeuwen and Blezer offer a comparative study of localising responses to Buddhism in different Buddhist environments in Japan, Korea, Tibet, India and Bali.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTibet, Nepal, Mongolia… This vast area has experienced significant changes following political and socio-cultural upheavals: the Chinese occupation of Tibet since the 1950s; the opening of Nepal to the world in 1951 and the influx of large numbers of Tibetan refugees into its territory; the end of the communist era and the transition to a market economy in Mongolia, and more generally the confrontation with modernity and globalisation. Revisiting Rituals in a Changing Tibetan World examines the changes rituals have undergone and offers the reader the result of recent research based on both fieldwork and textual studies by researchers who have worked in these countries. Contributors include Hildegard Diemberger, Fabienne Jagou, Thierry Dodin, Fernanda Pirie, Nicola Schneider, Mireille Helffer, Alexander von Rospatt, Marie-Dominique Even, Robert Barnett, Katia BuffetrilleTrade Review'The whole volume is a cornucopia of careful and original research. These results are highly topical and timely. The difficulty of research on the topics presented in the book is marked by the fact that most of the papers touch upon an unfolding process. (...) The reviewed book thus must be taken as a pioneering event. I am convinced that it will become an essential reference work for future, similarly-oriented studies. In my opinion, the inclusion of the articles dealing with Newar Buddhists in Nepal and with the contemporary state of Buddhism in Mongolia is a valuable enrichment of the book. These studies will inspire discussion within a broader perspective, very relevant for Tibetologists.' Daniel Berounský, Mongolo-Tibetica Pragensia ’12: Linguistics, Ethnolinguistics, Religion and Culture, 5/2 (2012) 'In summary, this book offers the reader a wealth of new information by scholars who are at the forefront of their respective fields. It is well produced, on good quality paper, is solidly bound, and sits well with the other volumes in this series. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library has firmly established itself as a pacesetter in the field and this volume enhances that status even further.' David Templeman, Monash University, Australia, Himalaya, XXXII (2012) '...each of its ten essays serves as an informed call for future research and offers an enriched vocabulary with which to proceed.(...) This volume will prove a valuable ethnographic resource for scholars of anthropology, religion, and modern political and social history in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Mongolia, and China.(...) One of this book's major insights is that while the modern period has been marked by particularly abrupt sociopolitical shifts,the same factors of technological innovation, resource access, political change, and human migration have influenced the life of religious traditions in all eras of history. By illuminating modern moments of ritual change, or perceived ritual change, these scholars offer us a vocabulary with which to discern transformations in ritual structure or function in other eras and contexts. Thus, scholars researching the distant past as well as those who focus on the modern period will benefit from the methodological contributions this volume makes and the questions for future inquiry toward which it beckons.' Christina Kilby (University of Virginia), Asian Highlands Perspectives

Read more less

Book SynopsisScholarship on religious printed images during the English Reformation (1535-1603) has generally focused on a few illustrated works and has portrayed this period in England as a predominantly non-visual religious culture. The combination of iconoclasm and Calvinist doctrine have led to a misunderstanding as to the unique ways that English Protestants used religious printed images. Building on recent work in the history of the book and print studies, this book analyzes the widespread body of religious illustration, such as images of God the Father and Christ, in Reformation England, assessing what religious beliefs they communicated and how their use evolved during the period. The result is a unique analysis of how the Reformation in England both destroyed certain aspects of traditional imagery as well as embraced and reformulated others into expressions of its own character and identity.Trade Review“Seeing Faith … presents a well-constructed and well-illustrated survey which draws on a wide range of contemporary sources. It … successfully probes a sizeable subject which should be enjoyed by readers in a number of fields.” Margaret Aston. In: Print Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3 (2015), pp. 315-317. “Davis has written an excellent book, dealing with a subject full of pitfalls with care and obvious academic integrity.” Andrew A. Chibi, England. In: Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 44, No. 4 (2013), pp. 1078-1080. "this book brings together important evidence that the desire for visual images continued into the Reformation." James A. Knapp, Loyola University Chicago. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 1 (Spring 2014), pp. 300-301. “The monograph is well written and throws numerous shafts of light on specific cases and on wider issues such as the debate on ‘iconophobia’.” Ian Green, University of Edinburgh. In: Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 100, No. 1 (2014), pp. 148-149.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Images and Early Modern Religious Identity Religious Identity and the English Reformation(s) Studying Early Modern Printed Images Seeing Faith, Reading Images Sources and Chapters Chapter 1: Material Religion: The Image in Early Modern Print The Public Sphere and Commodification Censorship and Religious Identity English Printed Images: A European Tradition Moving Images in the Marketplace Conclusion Chapter 2: Printed Images and the Reformation in England Iconoclasm and Protestant Adiaphora Reformed Theology and Boundaries of Acceptability Theodore Beze and Peter Martyr Vermigli William Perkins The Catholic Opposition Translation and Mistranslations Protestant Hypocrisy Conclusion Chapter 3: Christ, the Virgin, and the Catholic Tradition of Printed Images Catholic Primers and English Protestantism Catholic Printers in Reformation England Images of the Virgin Images of Christ and the Catholic Community Conclusion Chapter 4: Representations of Christ: Reforming the Imitatio Christi Protestants and the God-Man From Corpus Christi to Christ Displayed Protestant Identity and the Imitatio Christi The Suffering Christ: Meditation and Imitation Seeing the End: Resurrection and Judgment Conclusion Chapter 5: Seeing God: Protestant Visions of the Father Traditional Images and Recycled Prints God in Illustrated Bibles The Exception of Divine Visions God at Creation Conclusion Chapter 6: Reforming the Deity: Symbolic Pictures of God Continuity and Change A Reformed Icon?: Symbols of God The Devotional Image Conclusion Conclusion Appendix Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisPrayer is a phenomenon which seems to be characteristic not only of participants in every religion, but also men and women who do not identify with traditional religions. It can be practised even by those who do not believe either in a God or transcendent force. In this sense, therefore, we may assert that the prayer is a typically human activity that has accompanied the development of different civilizations over the course of the centuries. Both the material issues of concrete daily life as well as more symbolic elements expressed through words, gestures, body positions, and community celebration are brought together in the act of praying.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAccording to legend, the Mandylion was an image of Christ’s face imprinted on a towel, kept in Edessa. This acheiopoieton image (“not made by human hands”) disappeared in the eighteenth century. The first records of another acheiropoieton relic appeared in mid-fourteenth century France: a long linen bearing the image of Jesus’ corpse, known nowadays as the Holy Shroud of Turin. Some believe the Mandylion and the Shroud to be the same object, first kept in Edessa, later translated to Constantinople, France and Italy. Andrea Nicolotti traces back the legend of the Edessean image in history and art, focusing especially on elements that could prove its identity with the Shroud, concluding that the Mandylion and the Shroud are two distinct objects.Trade Review"...Nicolotti has convincingly and methodically shown that throughout the textual and visual accounts, the Shroud and the Mandylion are two distinct objects... this book will be useful for anyone interested in miraculous images, the evolution of the image of Christ, and how legends transform over time." Anna Russakoff (American University of Paris), The Medieval Review, 15/10 (2015) "...The author interacts thoroughly with the primary sources. His argument is easy to follow and the chapters and themes are well organized. The author’s work is also prevalent in the highly detailed footnotes which give considerable amounts of beneficial details especially for scholars who are interested in the development of the Mandylion. In general, the presentation of the material flows well and the author’s points are made clear. Even though the Mandylion is highly discussed and how the Mandylion is not the Shroud of Turin, one is left with questions on the origins and the history of the Shroud of Turin. The second volume of Nicolotti’s work discusses at length the Turinese Shroud. If the first volume is any indication to what to look forward to, there are high hopes for his second volume." Najeeb Haddad (Loyola University Chicago), Annali di storia dell'esegesi, 32/2 (2015)Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ix List of Illustrations xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Origins and Traditions 7 King Abgar and the Origins of the Legend 7 The Apparition of the Image in Edessa 9 The Development of Traditions about the Image 12 The Siege of Edessa 14 A Later Genesis? 17 An Older Genesis? 18 Silence in Syria and Traditions in Armenia 22 The Iconoclastic Era 26 3 Shifting Perspectives? 29 Acts of Thaddaeus 29 The Term tetradiplon and the Reliquary of the Image 34 The Question of the Folds 39 The Letter of the Three Patriarchs and Jesus’ Height 47 4 The Translation of the Image of Edessa 53 Gregory Referendarius and the Translation of the Image 53 The Narratio de Imagine Edessena 66 The Keramion 72 The Edessean Cult of the Image 77 The Synaxarium 80 The Liturgical Odes 84 5 The Mandylion in Constantinople 89 The Name “Mandylion” 89 Persistence of Converging and Diffferent Traditions 91 An Elusive Vision 96 The Preservation of the Mandylion in Byzantium 99 The Revolt of the Palace 106 Robert de Clari 109 Latin Sermon 112 6 An Overview of Iconography 120 The Holy Face of Lucca 120 Orderic Vitalis 126 Iconography of the Mandylion 128 Flowers or Holes? 148 Miniatures of the Mandylion 152 The Georgian Icon of Ancha 159 The Madrid’s Skylitzes 162 A Russian Icon 170 Byzantine Coins 173 Two Copies of the Mandylion of Edessa 182 The End 188 The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and the Disappearance of the Mandylion 188 Conclusions 202 Index of Names 205

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book thoroughly revisits divination as a central phenomenon in the lives of ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. It collects studies from many periods in Graeco-Roman history, from the Archaic period to the late Roman, and touches on many different areas of this rich topic, including treatments of dice oracles, sortition in both pagan and Christian contexts, the overlap between divination and other interpretive practices in antiquity, the fortunes of independent diviners, the activity of Delphi in ordering relations with the dead, the role of Egyptian cult centers in divinatory practices, and the surreptitious survival of recipes for divination by corpses. It also reflects a range of methodologies, drawn from anthropology, history of religions, intellectual history, literary studies, and archaeology, epigraphy, and paleography. It will be of particular interest to scholars and student of ancient Mediterranean religions.Trade Review'...overall this is a highly successful volume. The editors are to be commended for an interesting and worthy collection of articles, logically organized, and tightly edited... The contributors are to be commended for rising to the challenge posed in Johnston's opening essay. They offer the reader interesting and thought provoking insights into the intellectual and social world of ancient divination. Divination is unveiled as an omnipresent and ubiquitous phenomenon in the public and private lives of the Greeks and Romans. At every turn, one finds divination integrated into the thought processes of the ancients. Its pervasive influence in religion, poetry, history, philosophy, and magic is manifest and profound. It is high time that the modern academy looked to the paradoxical world of ancient divination as a challenge to the intellect, an ainigma to be solved, and revealed its centrality in the epistemology of ancient Greece and Rome.' Alex Nice, BCMR, 2006 ' Das Buch ist eine unverzichtbare Lektüre für alle, die sich mit antiker Divination beschäftigen.' Karin Schlapbach, 2005

Read more less

Book SynopsisSacrifice is a well known form of ritual in many world religions. Although the actual practice of animal sacrifice was largely abolished in the later history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it is still recalled through biblical stories, the ritual calendar and community events. The essays in this volume discuss the various positions regarding the value of sacrifice in a wide variety of disciplines such as history, archaeology, literature, philosophy, art and gender and post-colonial studies. In this context they examine a wide array of questions pertaining to the 'actuality of sacrifice' in various social, historical and intellectual contexts ranging from the pre-historical to the post-Holocaust, and present new understandings of some of the most sensitive topics of our time.Trade Review'Students of the liturgical sciences wil profit greatly from this volume of rich contributions. Those interested in ecumenical issues will liekwise find the volume informative and helpful in understanding how liturgical renewal is indeed a concrete path to Christian unity.' James F. Puglisi, Centro Pro Unione, Worship 90, January 2016.Table of ContentsArchaeology and the Hebrew Bible Louise A. Hitchcock, Conspicuous Destruction and the Economy of Sacrifice in the Bronze and Early Iron Age Dorothea Erbele-Kuester, Reading as an Act of Offering: Reconsidering the Genre of Leviticus 1 David Frankel, The Death of Moses as a Sacrifice of Atonement for the Sins of Israel: A Hidden Biblical Tradition New Testament and post-Biblical Judaism Eric Ottenheijm, ‘So the Sons are Free’: The Temple Tax in the Matthean Community Lawrence Schiffman, Sacrifice in the Dead Sea Scrolls Adelbert Denaux, Jesus Christ, High Priest and Sacrifice according to the Epistle to the Hebrews Joshua Schwartz, Sacrifice without the Rabbis: Ritual and Sacrifice in the Second Temple Period according to Contemporary Sources Early Christianity and Rabbinic literature Riemer Roukema, Sacrifice in ‘Gnostic’ Testimonies of the Second and Third Centuries CE Marcel Poorthuis, Sacrifice as Concession in Christian and Jewish Sources: The Didascalia Apostolorum and Rabbinic Literature Alberdina Houtman, Putting One’s Life on the Line: The Meaning of he`erah lamavet nafsho and Similar Expressions in Rabbinic Literature Michael Swartz, Sacrifice and Society in Yerushalmi Yoma Thoughts on Sacrifice in the High Middle Ages Harm Goris, Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrifice of Christ: Thomas Aquinas against Later Thomist Theology Alexander Even Chen, On Purifying Sacrifice in the Philosophy of Don Isaac Abravanel Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Liturgy Gerard Rouwhorst, Which Religion Is Most Sacrificial? Reflections on the Transformations of Sacrifice in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism David Golinkin, The Restoration of Sacrifices in Modern Jewish Liturgy Sacrifice in Modern Philosophy Yossi Turner Sacrifice and Repentance: The Religious Thought of Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Joseph B. Soloveitchik Renée van Riessen The Subject as Sacrifice: Levinas’s Confusing Critique of the Idealistic Subject Philosophy Simon Simonse Can We Be at Peace without Sacrifice? The Connection between Sacrifice and Crisis in the Work of René Girard Sacrifice in Art and Culture Shula Laderman Interaction between Judaism and Christianity in Artistic Representations of the Sacrifice of Isaac Rachel Berger ‘From the Blood of My Heart’: Christian Iconography in the Response of Israeli Artists to the Holocaust Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz The Iconography of Gendered Sacrifice: Women’s Army Corps Memorials in Israel and Great Britain Judith Frishman On Sacrifices, Victims, and Perpetrators: Israel’s ‘New Historians’, Critical Artists, and Zionist Historiography Frank Bosman Tarkovsky's Sacrifice: Between Nietzsche and Christ

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Spiritus Loci Bert Daelemans, who graduated as an architect and a theologian, provides an interdisciplinary method for the theological assessment of church architecture. Rather than a theory, this method is based on case studies of contemporary buildings (1995-2015), which are often criticized for lacking theological depth. In a threefold method, the author brings to light the ways in which architecture can be theology – or theotopy – by focusing on topoi (places) rather than logoi (words). Churches reveal our relationship with God by engaging our body, mind, and community. This method proves relevant not only for the way we perceive these buildings, but also for the way we use them, especially in our prophetic engagement for a better world.

Read more less

Book SynopsisJapan’s Sexual Gods is an authoritative and original work that describes the unique deities represented by sexual objects in certain Japanese shrines and temples. Hundreds of sexual shrines still exist in spite of previous repression and range from the Tagata Shrine with its well-known giant festival phallus to small obscure places. Many also contain female sexual imagery and some phalluses act in a protective role. The study is based on observations of over 500 sexual sites including phallic festivals, many of which are modern inventions created purely for commercial reasons. The study makes an assessment of the place of sexual beliefs in modern Japan and includes almost 300 stunning original photographs, a glossary and a highly detailed map.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe contributions to Discovering the Riches of the Word. Religious Reading in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe offer an innovative approach to the study of religious reading from a long term and geographically broad perspective, covering the period from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century and with a specific focus on the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Challenging traditional research paradigms, the contributions argue that religious reading in this “long fifteenth century” should be described in terms of continuity. They make clear that in spite of confessional divides, numerous reading practices continued to exist among medieval and early modern readers, as well as among Catholics and Protestants, and that the two groups in certain cases even shared the same religious texts. Contributors include: Elise Boillet, Sabrina Corbellini, Suzan Folkerts, Éléonore Fournié, Wim François, Margriet Hoogvliet, Ian Johnson, Hubert Meeus, Matti Peikola, Bart Ramakers, Elisabeth Salter, Lucy Wooding, and Federico Zuliani.Table of ContentsSabrina Corbellini, Margriet Hoogvliet and Bart Ramakers, Discovering the Riches of the Word. Introduction Suzan Folkerts, Approaching Lay Readership of Middle Dutch Bibles. On the Uses of Archival Sources and Bible Manuscripts Matti Peikola, Manuscript Paratexts in the Making. British Library MS Harley 6333 as Liturgical Compilation Sabrina Corbellini, Uncovering the Presence. Religious Literacies in Late Medieval Italy Elisabeth Salter: Evidence for Religious Reading Practice and Experience in Times of Change. Some Models Provided by Late Medieval Texts of Ten Commandments Margriet Hoogvliet, ‘Car Dieu vault ester serui de tous estaz’. Encouraging and Instructing Laypeople in French from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Sixteenth Century Bart Ramakers, Books, Beads and Bitterness. Making Sense of Gifts in Two Table Plays by Cornelis Everaert Éléonore Fournié, Some Aspects of Male and Female Readers of the Printed Bible Historiale in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Ian Johnson, From Nicholas Love’s Mirror to John Heigham’s Life. Paratextual Displacements and Displaced Readers Elise Boillet, Vernacular Biblical Literature in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Universal Reading and Specific Readers Wim François, The Catholic Church and the Vernacular Bible in the Low Countries. A Paradigm Shift in the 1550s? Lucy Wooding, Reading the Crucifixion in Tudor England Federico Zuliani, The Other Nicodemus. Nicodemus in Italian Religious Writings previous and contemporary to Calvin’s Excuse à Messieurs les Nicodémites (1544) Hubert Meeus, “What’s learnt in the Cradle Lasts till the Tomb”. Counter-Reformation Strategies in the Southern Low Countries to Entice the Youth into Religious Reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisNomads on Pilgrimage: Mongols on Wutaishan (China), 1800-1940 is a social history of the Mongols’ pilgrimages to Wutaishan in late imperial and Republican times. In this period of economic crisis and rise of nationalism and anticlericalism in Mongolia and China, this great Buddhist mountain of China became a unique place of intercultural exchanges, mutual borrowings, and competition between different ethnic groups. Based on a variety of written and visual sources, including a rich corpus of more than 340 Mongolian stone inscriptions, it documents why and how Wutaishan became one of the holiest sites for Mongols, who eventually reshaped its physical and spiritual landscape by their rites and strategies of appropriation.Trade Review'Charleux’s book is an erudite and prodigiously detailed study of pilgrimages to Wutaishan—a Buddhist sacred mountain in China’s Shanxi province—made by Mongols during the later Qing and early Chinese republican periods (...) a wonderfully detailed and meticulously work of scholarship, likely to have a significant interdisciplinary appeal.' Joseph Bristley, University College London, Inner Asia, 18 (2016) ‘The monograph is a real novelty. It is based on original textual sources and secondary literature in several languages as well as on results of Charleux’s fieldword (…) As a multidisciplinary work, it will be welcomed by researchers of different backgrounds who employ diverse methodologies: historians, ethnographers, cultural anthropologists, philologists and Buddhologists (…) it is necessary to stress the richness of data included in this book, as well as Charleux’s interesting and often provocative analysis and conclusions, which may instigate further discussion on the role of Mongolian pilgrims in Wutaishan, as well as on their impact on the Qing empire. The Tibetan and Mongolian nomads who created a ‘little Tibet’ in central China are disappearing from the world. The book is a must for Mongolists but it will supply an abundance of material too for world historians, cultural anthropologists and specialists of religions and arts as well as for Asia lovers.’ Agata Bareja-Starzynska, University of Warsaw, forthcoming in Nomadic Peoples

Read more less

Book SynopsisSayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi’s introduction and annotated scholarly translation of Ayatollah Khomeini’s The Mystery of Prayer brings to light a rarely studied dimension of an author better known for his revolutionary politics. Writing forty years before the Islamic revolution, Khomeini shows a formidable level of insight into the spiritual aspects of Islamic prayer. Through discussions on topics such as spiritual purity, the presence of the heart before God, and the stations of the spiritual wayfarer, Khomeini elucidates upon the nature of reality as the countenance of the divine. Drawing upon scriptural sources and the Shīʿah intellectual and mystical tradition, the subtlety of the work has led to it being appreciated as one of Khomeini’s most original works in the field of gnosis.Table of ContentsForeword Preface Translator’s Introduction Author’s Dedication Prologue Introduction 1 The Degrees and Progressions of Man and the Degrees and Levels of Prayer 2 On the Prayer of the Wayfarer and the Perfect Nearmost One 3 On the Mystery of the Prayer of the Folk of Gnosis 4 On the Presence of the Heart and its Levels 5 On the Means of Realising the Presence of the Heart 6 On Matters which Aid in Realising the Presence of the Heart Part 1 On the Preludes to Prayer 1 On the Mystery of Purity 2 On the Mysteries of Purification with Water and Earth 3 On the Tradition of Imām al-Ṣādiq Regarding Ablution 4 On the Mysteries of a Noble Ḥadīth 5 On the Mystery of the Covering Up of Shame 6 On the Removal of Impurity 7 On the Location of Prayer 8 On the Permissibility of a Location of Worship 9 On the Mysteries of Time 10 On the Mystery of Turning Towards the Kaʿbah Part 2 On the Linkings of Prayer and their Correspondences 1 On the Mysteries of the Calls to Prayer 2 On the Mysteries of Standing During Prayer 3 On the Mysteries of Intention 4 On the Mystery of the Opening Magnifications 5 On Some of the Mysteries of Qurʾānic Recitation During Prayer 6 On the Mystery of Seeking Refuge in God 7 On the Mysteries of Sūrat al-Ḥamd 8 On an Allusion to the Exegesis of the Noble Sūrat al-Tawḥīd 9 On Some of the Mysteries of Bowing During Prayer 10 On the Mystery of Raising the Head after Bowing 11 On the Mystery of Prostration 12 On the Mystery of the Testimony of Prayer and the Invocation of Peace in Prayer Epilogue Translator’s Bibliography Persian Editors’ Bibliography Index Index of Qurʾānic Verses

Read more less

Book SynopsisSayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi’s introduction and annotated scholarly translation of Ayatollah Khomeini’s The Mystery of Prayer brings to light a rarely studied dimension of an author better known for his revolutionary politics. Writing forty years before the Islamic revolution, Khomeini shows a formidable level of insight into the spiritual aspects of Islamic prayer. Through discussions on topics such as spiritual purity, the presence of the heart before God, and the stations of the spiritual wayfarer, Khomeini elucidates upon the nature of reality as the countenance of the divine. Drawing upon scriptural sources and the Shīʿah intellectual and mystical tradition, the subtlety of the work has led to it being appreciated as one of Khomeini’s most original works in the field of gnosis.Table of ContentsForeword Preface Translator’s Introduction Author’s Dedication Prologue Introduction 1 The Degrees and Progressions of Man and the Degrees and Levels of Prayer 2 On the Prayer of the Wayfarer and the Perfect Nearmost One 3 On the Mystery of the Prayer of the Folk of Gnosis 4 On the Presence of the Heart and its Levels 5 On the Means of Realising the Presence of the Heart 6 On Matters which Aid in Realising the Presence of the Heart Part 1 On the Preludes to Prayer 1 On the Mystery of Purity 2 On the Mysteries of Purification with Water and Earth 3 On the Tradition of Imām al-Ṣādiq Regarding Ablution 4 On the Mysteries of a Noble Ḥadīth 5 On the Mystery of the Covering Up of Shame 6 On the Removal of Impurity 7 On the Location of Prayer 8 On the Permissibility of a Location of Worship 9 On the Mysteries of Time 10 On the Mystery of Turning Towards the Kaʿbah Part 2 On the Linkings of Prayer and their Correspondences 1 On the Mysteries of the Calls to Prayer 2 On the Mysteries of Standing During Prayer 3 On the Mysteries of Intention 4 On the Mystery of the Opening Magnifications 5 On Some of the Mysteries of Qurʾānic Recitation During Prayer 6 On the Mystery of Seeking Refuge in God 7 On the Mysteries of Sūrat al-Ḥamd 8 On an Allusion to the Exegesis of the Noble Sūrat al-Tawḥīd 9 On Some of the Mysteries of Bowing During Prayer 10 On the Mystery of Raising the Head after Bowing 11 On the Mystery of Prostration 12 On the Mystery of the Testimony of Prayer and the Invocation of Peace in Prayer Epilogue Translator’s Bibliography Persian Editors’ Bibliography Index Index of Qurʾānic Verses

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing the failure of the Bar-Kokhba revolt in the second century, the majority of the Jewish population of Palestine migrated northward away from Jerusalem to join the communities of Jews in Galilee and the Golan Heights. Although rabbinic sources indicate that from the second century onward the demographic center of Jewish Palestine was in Galilee, archaeological evidence of Jewish communities is found in the southern part of the country as well. In The Ancient Synagogues of Southern Palestine, 300-800 C.E., Steve Werlin considers ten synagogues uncovered in southern Palestine. Through an in-depth analysis of the art, architecture, epigraphy, and stratigraphy, the author demonstrates how monumental, religious structures provide critical insight into the lives of those who were strangers among Christians and Muslims in their ancestral homeland.Table of ContentsLIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PERIODS AND DATES NOTE ON SPELLINGS AND ITALICS INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 THE LOWER JORDAN VALLEY: Na‘aran and Jericho Chapter 2 THE DEAD SEA REGION: En-Gedi Chapter 3 THE SOUTHERN HEBRON HILLS: Susiya, Eshtemoa, Ma‘on (in Judea), and Ḥ. ‘Anim Chapter 4 THE JUDEAN SHEPHELAH: Rimmon Chapter 5 THE SOUTHERN COASTAL PLAIN: Gaza Maiumas and Ma‘on-Nirim Chapter 6 CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX A APPENDIX B APPENDIX C BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX PLATE SECTION

Read more less