This work offers a sweeping re-assessment of the Jiankang Empire (3rd-6th centuries CE), known as the Chinese "Southern Dynasties." It shows how, although one of the medieval world's largest empires, Jiankang has been rendered politically invisible by the standard narrative of Chinese nationalist history, and proposes a new framework and terminology for writing about medieval East Asia. The book pays particular attention to the problem of ethnic identification, rejecting the idea of "ethnic Chinese," and delineating several other, more useful ethnographic categories, using case studies in agriculture/foodways and vernacular languages. The most important, the Wuren of the lower Yangzi region, were believed to be inherently different from the peoples of the Central Plains, and the rest of the book addresses the extent of their ethnogenesis in the medieval era. It assesses the political culture of the Jiankang Empire, emphasizing military strategy, institutional cultures, and political economy, showing how it differed from Central Plains-based empires, while having significant similarities to Southeast Asian regimes. It then explores how the Jiankang monarchs deployed three distinct repertoires of political legitimation (vernacular, Sinitic universalist, and Buddhist), arguing that the Sinitic repertoire was largely eclipsed in the sixth century, rendering the regime yet more similar to neighboring South Seas states. The conclusion points out how the research re-orients our understanding of acculturation and ethnic identification in medieval East Asia, generates new insights into the Tang-Song transition period, and offers new avenues of comparison with Southeast Asian and medieval European history.
This first book-length treatment of a provincial military society in China's early medieval period offers a vivid portrait of this milieu and invites readers to reevaluate their understanding of a critical period in Chinese history. Drawing on poetry, local history, archaeology, and Buddhist materials, as well as more traditional historical sources, Andrew Chittick explores the culture and interrelationships of the leading figures of the Xiangyang region (in the north of modern Hubei province) in the centuries leading up to the Sui unification. Using the model of patron-client relations to characterize the interactions between local men and representatives of the southern court at Jiankang, the book emphasizes the way in which these interactions were shaped by personal ties and cultural and status differences. The result is a compelling explanation for the shifting, unstable, and violent nature of the political and military system of the southern dynasties. Offering a wider perspective which considers the social world beyond the capital elite, the book challenges earlier conceptions of medieval society as "aristocratic" and rooted in family lineage and officeholding. Andrew Chittick is E. Leslie Peter Associate Professor of East Asian Humanities at Eckerd College.
This work offers a sweeping re-assessment of the Jiankang Empire (3rd-6th centuries CE), known as the Chinese "Southern Dynasties." It shows how, although one of the medieval world's largest empires, Jiankang has been rendered politically invisible by the standard narrative of Chinese nationalist history, and proposes a new framework and terminology for writing about medieval East Asia. The book pays particular attention to the problem of ethnic identification, rejecting the idea of "ethnic Chinese," and delineating several other, more useful ethnographic categories, using case studies in agriculture/foodways and vernacular languages. The most important, the Wuren of the lower Yangzi region, were believed to be inherently different from the peoples of the Central Plains, and the rest of the book addresses the extent of their ethnogenesis in the medieval era. It assesses the political culture of the Jiankang Empire, emphasizing military strategy, institutional cultures, and political economy, showing how it differed from Central Plains-based empires, while having significant similarities to Southeast Asian regimes. It then explores how the Jiankang monarchs deployed three distinct repertoires of political legitimation (vernacular, Sinitic universalist, and Buddhist), arguing that the Sinitic repertoire was largely eclipsed in the sixth century, rendering the regime yet more similar to neighboring South Seas states. The conclusion points out how the research re-orients our understanding of acculturation and ethnic identification in medieval East Asia, generates new insights into the Tang-Song transition period, and offers new avenues of comparison with Southeast Asian and medieval European history.
This first book-length treatment of a provincial military society in China's early medieval period offers a vivid portrait of this milieu and invites readers to reevaluate their understanding of a critical period in Chinese history. Drawing on poetry, local history, archaeology, and Buddhist materials, as well as more traditional historical sources, Andrew Chittick explores the culture and interrelationships of the leading figures of the Xiangyang region (in the north of modern Hubei province) in the centuries leading up to the Sui unification. Using the model of patron-client relations to characterize the interactions between local men and representatives of the southern court at Jiankang, the book emphasizes the way in which these interactions were shaped by personal ties and cultural and status differences. The result is a compelling explanation for the shifting, unstable, and violent nature of the political and military system of the southern dynasties. Offering a wider perspective which considers the social world beyond the capital elite, the book challenges earlier conceptions of medieval society as "aristocratic" and rooted in family lineage and officeholding. Andrew Chittick is E. Leslie Peter Associate Professor of East Asian Humanities at Eckerd College.
The 2017 winner of the Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize Providing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of scholarship on nineteenth-century British periodicals, this volume surveys the current state of research and offers researchers an in-depth examination of contemporary methodologies. The impact of digital media and archives on the field informs all discussions of the print archive. Contributors illustrate their arguments with examples and contextualize their topics within broader areas of study, while also reflecting on how the study of periodicals may evolve in the future. The Handbook will serve as a valuable resource for scholars and students of nineteenth-century culture who are interested in issues of cultural formation, transformation, and transmission in a developing industrial and globalizing age, as well as those whose research focuses on the bibliographical and the micro case study. In addition to rendering a comprehensive review and critique of current research on nineteenth-century British periodicals, the Handbook suggests new avenues for research in the twenty-first century. "This volume's 30 chapters deal with practically every aspect of periodical research and with the specific topics and audiences the 19th-century periodical press addressed. It also covers matters such as digitization that did not exist or were in early development a generation ago. In addition to the essays, readers will find 50 illustrations, 54 pages of bibliography, and a chronology of the periodical press. This book gives seemingly endless insights into the ways periodicals and newspapers influenced and reflected 19th-century culture. It not only makes readers aware of problems involved in interpreting the history of the press but also offers suggestions for ways of untangling them and points the direction for future research. It will be a valuable resource for readers with interests in almost any aspect of 19th-century Britain. Summing Up: Highly recommended" - J. D. Vann, University of North Texas in CHOICE
***WINNER, 2010 Spirituality & Practice Best Spiritual Book Award – Yoga In Heart Yoga, renowned spiritual writer and Sacred Activist Andrew Harvey and longtime yoga teacher Karuna Erickson present a vision of hatha yoga practice that links ancient spiritual traditions to contemporary life. Including excerpts of poetic sacred writing from mystical sages through the ages, the book reminds readers that the purpose of yoga is not to improve one's physical health or even to achieve peace of mind (although these results may be achieved along the way), but to reach a state of unity with the divine, the goal of mystics from all traditions. With detailed descriptions and photographs of fifty yoga poses and their alchemical effects on the body and consciousness, Heart Yoga presents yoga as a simple meditative practice that enables the practitioner to dwell in the heart and experience the bliss of union with the sacred power underlying all of life. The book explains how to prepare for Heart Yoga and describes the “Five Great Joys” that are part of the path. Included are the authors' own compelling stories of their individual journeys along the path of yoga: stories of suffering, transcendence, and joy that both inspire and enlighten.
Religion and Revolution provides a comprehensive study of spiritual and political Islām in Ernesto Cardenal, the great Latin American poet, priest, and revolutionary. The work studies the relationship between Thomas Merton and Ṣūfism, Cardenal’s connection to spiritual Islām, as well as the Ṣūfī sources cited in his Cosmic Canticle. The work equally examines the impact of political Islām on his ideology, focusing particularly on his trip to Iran during the very triumph of the Islāmic Revolution. Using Cardenal’s “Interlude of the Revolution in Iran” as a starting point, the work provides a vivid and detailed description of the early days of the revolution as well as the ties between the Islāmic Republic of Iran and the Latin American left.
This book gives an account of the political economy of Tanzania, from pre-colonial times to the present. It shows the strengths and weaknesses of Julius Nyerere, the leader who brought the country to Independence in 1961. A new introductory chapter sets the book in context and discusses current issues such as natural resources.
Decarceration" is a word which has not yet entered the dictionary. But it is increasingly being used to designate a process with momentous implications for all of us. It is shorthand for a state-sponsored policy of closing down asylums, prisons, and reformatories. Mad people, criminals, and delinquents are being discharged or refused admission to the dumps in which they have been traditionally housed. Instead, they are to be left at large, to be coped with "in the community." We are told by those who run programs of this sort that keeping the criminal and the mentally disturbed in our midst is "humane." We are informed that it is a "more effective" means of curing or rehabilitating such people. And, miracle of miracles, we learn that this approach is also "cheaper"! With an alternative which embraces such an array of virtues, who can be surprised to learn that mental hospitals are emptying faster and faster, and that with each passing day the convicted felon's chances of going to prison grow more remote? On closer examination, it turns out that this whole enterprise is built on a foundation of sand. The claim that leaving deviants at large "cures" or "rehabilitates" them is just that - a claim. Little or no solid evidence can be offered in its support. Instead, it rests uneasily on a cloud of rhetoric and wishful thinking. Most people's conception of the "humane" does not embrace placing senile men and women in the hands of rapacious nursing home operators or turning loose the perpetrators of violent crimes, under conditions which guarantee that they will receive little or no supervision. Yet, as decarceration has been implemented, this is what has been happening. Much of the time, it appears as if the policy makers simply do not know what will happen when their schemes are put into effect. Nor do they seem very concerned to find out. Often, they do not even know where those they have dumped back on the rest of us are to be found.
The Dictionary of Islamic Architecture provides the fullest range of artistic, technical, archaeological, cultural and biographical data for the entire geographical and chronological spread of Islamic architecture - from West Africa through the Middle East to Indonesia, and from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries of the Common Era. Over 500 entries are arranged alphabetically and fully cross-referenced and indexed to permit easy access to the text and to link items of related interest. Four main categories of subject matter are explored: * dynastic and regional overviews * individual site descriptions * biographical entries * technical definitions Over 100 relevant plans, sketch maps, photographs and other illustrations complement and illuminate the entries, and the needs of the reader requiring further information are met by individual entry bibliographies.
An eye-of-the-hurricane view of storm chasing from the star of the Discovery Channel hit series Storm Chasers. Only one in ten chases actually intercept a tornado-unless you're Reed Timmer. The thrill-seeking meteorologist and star of Storm Chasers has followed and faced down more violent tornadoes than anyone. Into the Storm brings readers into the mind of this man and his mission—collecting data on tornadoes and hurricanes that could save lives—in the terrifying, awe-inspiring world of big weather. Into the Storm is also a fascinating look at the science of weather—what causes extreme conditions, its connection to climate change, and how a tornado gets its stovepipe structure.
A modern mystic and religious scholar presents a stunning collection of Rumi poems—and reveals how the Sufi poet’s words can guide us through spiritual and ecological crisis. The minds of two mystics intermingle in a work of inspired vision and clarity. Jalalud-Din Rumi, enlightened spiritualist poet of Sufism, has been venerated by Moslems everywhere since his death in 1273. No other poet in history—not even Shakespeare or Dante—has made so exalted and comprehensive an impact on his own civilization. In the latter part of the 20th century he has become, for people of every race and creed, the poet of the new mystical Renaissance that is slowly but surely coming to its flowering. No one has done more than Andrew Harvey to spread popular awareness of Rumi’s message. Himself a charismatic mystic, he has spent the last 20 years of his life in search of the essential truths that could transform the spiritual barrenness at the heart of modern Western civilization. In his books Love’s Fire and Speaking Flame he has re-created Rumi’s poems with a brilliance that speaks eloquently to us today. The Way of Passion draws on the poems to present a guide to the contemporary spiritual and ecological crisis. Each chapter, Harvey tells us, is “a dance, a dance of mirrors, in which essential spiritual themes return to be reflected in different constellations and harmonies, a dance around Rumi and that mystery of Love he lived and expressed so completely.” Inspired by Rumi’s voice and by his own startling ability to see into the innermost heart of life, Harvey urges us to change, to have faith and to act through Love to transform this time of Apocalypse into the time of Resurrection. The passion of his words shines from the pages with an intensity that can embrace and inspire us all.
Holy Land? draws us into the evocative landscape of the Holy Land itself. Sacred yet scarred, the lands of the Bible stimulate us to think about a range of issues that are both urgent and timeless. In Jerusalem, 'a veritable melting pot of cultures', we meditate on the question, 'What is home?' At the River Jordan, where John the Baptist delivered his radical call to repentance and baptism, we ask, 'Who am I?' In the cave of Christ's burial and resurrection in the Holy Sepulchre, we wonder, 'How can I face the darkness?' Confronted by the vast desolation of the desert, we cry, 'Dare I be alone with God?' And negotiating the obstacle-strewn Road to Emmaus, we consider, 'Am I ready for change?' Holy Land? will benefit those preparing to undertake a physical pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and those seeking a spiritual resource to deepen the life of faith and discipleship.
The Safavid dynasty, which reigned from the late fifteenth to the eighteenth century, links medieval with modern Iran. The Safavids witnessed wide-ranging developments in politics, warfare, science, philosophy, religion, art and architecture. But how did this dynasty manage to produce the longest lasting and most glorious of Iran's Islamic-period eras?Andrew Newman offers a complete re-evaluation of the Safavid place in history as they presided over these extraordinary developments and the wondrous flowering of Iranian culture. In the process, he dissects the Safavid story, from before the 1501 capture of Tabriz by Shah Ismail (1488-1524), the point at which Shiism became the realm's established faith; on to the sixteenth and early seventeenth century dominated by Shah Abbas (1587-1629), whose patronage of art and architecture from his capital of Isfahan embodied the Safavid spirit; and culminating with the reign of Sultan Husayn (reg. 1694-1722).Based on meticulous scholarship, Newman offers a valuable new interpretation of the rise of the Safavids and their eventual demise in the eighteenth century. "Safavid Iran," with its fresh insights and new research, is the definitive single volume work on the subject.
Within the broad contours of Islamic traditions, Muslims are enjoined to fast during the month of Ramadan, they are invited to a disciplined practice of prayer, and they are offered the Quran as the divine revelation in the most beautiful verbal form. But what happens if Muslims choose not to fast, or give up prayer, or if the Quran's beauty seems inaccessible? When Muslims do not take up the path of piety, what happens to their relationships with more devout Muslims who are neighbors, friends, and kin? Between Muslims provides an ethnographic account of Iraqi Kurdish Muslims who turn away from devotional piety yet remain intimately engaged with Islamic traditions and with other Muslims. Andrew Bush offers a new way to understand religious difference in Islam, rejecting simple stereotypes about ethnic or sectarian identities. Integrating textual analysis of poetry, sermons, and Islamic history into accounts of everyday life in Iraqi Kurdistan, Between Muslims illuminates the interplay of attraction and aversion to Islam among ordinary Muslims.
This book presents a new, contemporary introduction to medieval philosophy as it was practiced in all its variety in Western Europe and the Near East. It assumes only a minimal familiarity with philosophy, the sort that an undergraduate introduction to philosophy might provide, and it is arranged topically around questions and themes that will appeal to a contemporary audience. In addition to some of the perennial questions posed by philosophers, such as "Can we know anything, and if so, what?", "What is the fundamental nature of reality?", and "What does human flourishing consist in?", this volume looks at what medieval thinkers had to say, for instance, about our obligations towards animals and the environment, freedom of speech, and how best to organize ourselves politically. The book examines certain aspects of the thought of several well-known medieval figures, but it also introduces students to many important, yet underappreciated figures and traditions. It includes guidance for how to read medieval texts, provokes reflection through a series of study questions at the end of each chapter, and gives pointers for where interested readers can continue their exploration of medieval philosophy and medieval thought more generally. Key Features Covers the contributions of women to medieval philosophy, providing students with a fuller understanding of who did philosophy during the Middle Ages Includes a focus on certain topics that are usually ignored, such as animal rights, love, and political philosophy, providing students with a fuller range of interests that medieval philosophers had Gives space to non-Aristotelian forms of medieval thought Includes useful features for student readers like study questions and suggestions for further reading in each chapter
To most Hoosiers, John Dillinger is the very picture of an Indiana fugitive, but the state has seen many fascinating criminal characters on the run. In Tippecanoe County, two Lafayette youths murdered the sheriff's deputies transporting them to prison. The gun-toting "Elwood gun girl" walked from the headlines into legend. One fugitive passed himself off as a small-town cop while on the run, and a well-spoken Indiana killer became the first fugitive captured as a direct result of the TV show America's Most Wanted. Veteran true crime author Andrew E. Stoner examines not only the trail of destruction criminals have left in their wake but also their lives on the run.
A heavy spirit of conceptualism has infiltrated the modern Christian establishments. Our traditions, philosophies, theologies, etc. Everything our beliefs are built upon has been influenced by an elite world-class system. Have you ever felt like there has to be more to our placement in this world than going through the motions of the Sunday morning ritual called “church?” More to this thing we call “Christianity?” If so, this book is what you have been waiting for. A truth movement has emerged. A remnant of modern “Ark Builders” endeavors to awaken those who are still asleep. Every day we see evidence of what the Bible describes as “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Those who secretly govern our world have an agenda to unite and target professing Christians. The motive is world dominance, and the method is mind control, to brainwash the mass into conforming to what is socially acceptable and politically correct. But we are not ignorant of the enemy’s strategies. This book equips its readers with information exposing this deception, as it bridges the gap between conspiracy theory and demonic activity. You are about to open the door to a world you never knew existed, a reality of which you never knew you were a part. Prepare yourself. Once you see, you will never be able to unsee this realm again.
A fourteen centuries old consensus by Islamic religious authorities has upheld the belief that God has granted husbands the right to beat their wives. Previously, the only element up for debate was the degree of severity, the instrument of the beating, and the limit to the damage allowed. This startling assertion, which shocks human sensibilities, is confirmed by hundreds of Qur’anic commentaries and works of Islamic jurisprudence authored over the course of the past millennia and a half. In this pivotal, courageous, and timely analysis, which works diligently and minutely to separate truth from falsehood, right from wrong, the moral from the immoral, and the ethical from the unethical, Dr. John Andrew Morrow provides an exhaustive study of the second part of the Qur’anic text, 4:34, dispelling the belief that Islam allows domestic violence. Like Titan, who bears the weight of the heavens upon his shoulders, Morrow takes on the entire corpora of Islamic Tradition. Along the way, the author delicately and defiantly dispels misogynistic misinterpretations of the Word of God while slashing and burning the sexist sayings that were attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. In so doing, he may well save Islam from those traditionalists and misogynists who claim to speak in God’s name.
Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus provides a panoramic view of the Shi‘ite presence in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. This second volume provides a sweeping study of Aljamiado literature. It features Morisco traditions that are translated into English for the very first time. Not only were Moriscos producing original works of Shi‘ite inspiration, they were also citing classical Shi‘ite sources that were produced by Zaydis, Isma‘ilis, Twelvers, and even Nusayris. As this book’s comprehensive coverage reveals, some Moriscos were drawing from the works of Imam ‘Ali, Kulayni, Bahrani, Saduq, Rawandi, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ibn Tawus, Mufid, Bakri, Tusi, Kaf‘ami, and even Majlisi. They were studying Shi‘ite traditions, reciting Shi‘ite prayers, marking the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, and reading about the lives of the twelve Imams. By re-examining, re-assessing, and rewriting the religious and political history of the region, Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus makes a revolutionary contribution to scholarship in the field.
When ISIS reared its ugly head in the last decade, God had already prepared a “vaccine” against the contagion of extremism that created it: the re-discovery of the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Peoples of the Book, which firmly place the actions of groups like ISIS under the curse of God and His Prophet. This was largely due to the exhaustive scholarship of Dr John Andrew Morrow, leading to the publication in 2013 of The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World. Not only was this a scholarly triumph, but it also inaugurated an international, interfaith movement throughout the Muslim world known as the Covenants Initiative, which culminated in the acquittal of the Christian woman Asia Bibi on charges of blasphemy by the Pakistani Supreme Court in 2018. The book was quoted by the justices in their decision. This volume of speeches, articles and interviews is a chronicle of the first, activist phase of the Covenants Initiative, proving that socially committed scholarship is alive and well in the twenty-first century.
Mystical scholar Andrew Harvey offers fresh interpretations of more than 250 selections from Rumi's major works. The works of Sufi mystic and poet Jalad-ud-Din Rumi have been revered in the East for centuries. Now, Western seekers and lovers of poetry are discovering Rumi in unprecedented numbers. Harvey uses these poems, quotations, and parables from Rumi's major works, the Discourses, the Diwan, the Mathnawi, the Odes, and the Rubiyat, as well as excerpts from his letters to re-create the stages of the spiritual journey into Love. Anyone interested in spirituality will findLight Upon Lighta rich source of guidance, encouragement, and profound inspiration.
Neurotheology" has garnered substantial attention in the academic and lay communities in recent years. Several books have been written addressing the relationship between the brain and religious experience and numerous scholarly articles have been published on the topic, some in the popular press. The scientific and religious communities have been very interested in obtaining more information regarding neurotheology, how to approach this topic, and how science and religion can be integrated in some manner that preserves both. If neurotheology is to be considered a viable field going forward, it requires a set of clear principles that can be generally agreed upon and supported by both the theological or religious perspective and the scientific one as well. Principles of Neurotheology sets out the necessary principles of neurotheology which can be used as a foundation for future neurotheological discourse. Laying the groundwork for a new synthesis of scientific and theological dialogue, this book proposes that neurotheology, a term fraught with potential problems, is a highly useful and important voice in the greater study of religious and theological ideas and their intersection with science.
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