Das Buch spricht Leser an, die Sympathie für die Religion empfinden, die ihr gegenüber aber zugleich skeptische Zweifel hegen. Nach einem Blick auf das Gegensatzpaar "Kinderglaube" – "Naturwissenschaft" wendet es sich dem von William James ins Zentrum gestelltem Thema der religiösen Erfahrung zu. Diese erweist sich zwar als grundlegend für ein Verständnis der Religion, aber die weitergehende These von James, sie beweise die Existenz eines transzendenten Verursachers, wird zurückgewiesen. Eine Alternative dazu wird zunächst theoretisch entwickelt, indem Überlegungen Wittgensteins über den Bereich des Seelischen auf die "religiösen Gegenstände" angewandt werden. In beiden Fällen geht es um 'kein Etwas', aber auch nicht um 'ein Nichts'. Am Beispiel der Zen-Meditation wird diese Option auf eine religiöse Praxis bezogen. Abschließend werden Besonderheiten religiöser Sprachformen erörtert, die sich aus der Tatsache ergeben, dass sie der Darstellung der 'menschlichen Situation' dienen. Die theoretisch begründete Anerkennung einer Pluralität von Darstellungsformen (zu denen auch personale Redeweisen gehören) erweist sich als ein wichtiger Schritt zur Förderung der interreligiösen Kommunikation; der "Kampf der Kulturen" kann abgesagt werden.
The moral theology of Hans G. Ulrich is presented here in English for the first time. These collected essays represent the culmination of a lifetime of reflection on Christian living from this German theologian in conversation with Luther, Bonhoeffer, and contemporary philosophers and theologians. Ulrich's ethics affirm the lively presence of the living work of God in orienting the daily life of Christians. This presence enables members of the Church to live as creatures trusting in God's promises, bearing witness in political and economic spheres, and trusting in life as a gift in response to bioethical issues. Ulrich's fresh take on living out of the promise of God yields further guidance on issues in international relations, economics, parenting, disability, and more.
Explores major figures, movements, and ideas that relate to radical German Pietism in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Also details Pietism's role in the formation of modern religious communities, such as Quakers, Brethren, and precursors to modern United Methodism.
Every year since 1933 many of the world's leading intellectuals have met on Lake Maggiore to discuss the latest developments in philosophy, history, art and science and, in particular, to explore the mystical and symbolic in religion. The Eranos Meetings - named after the Greek word for a banquet where the guests bring the food - constitute one of the most important gatherings of scholars in the twentieth century. The book presents a set of portraits of some of the century's most influential thinkers, all participants at Eranos: Carl Jung, Erich Neumann, Mircea Eliade, Martin Buber, Walter Otto, Paul Tillich, Gershom Scholem, Herbert Read, Joseph Campbell, Erwin Schrodinger, Karl Kereyni, D.T. Suzuki, and Adolph Portmann. The volume presents a critical appraisal of the views of these men, how the exchange of ideas encouraged by Eranos influenced each, and examines the attraction of these esotericists towards authoritarian politics.
While every music lover senses the power and truth that reside in music, very few actually approach music as a path to cosmic knowledge. But the idea that the universe is created out of sound is an ancient one. This book brings together three contemporary German thinkers who exemplify this tradition: Marius Schneider, Rudolf Haase, and Hans Erhard Lauer.
Before the Renaissance and Reformation, holy images were treated not as "art" but as objects of veneration which possessed the tangible presence of the Holy. the faithful believed that these images served as relics and were able to work miracles, deliver oracles, and bring victory to the battlefield. In this magisterial book, Hans Belting traces the long history of the sacral image and its changing role--from surrogate for the represented image to an original work of art--in European culture. Likeness and Presence looks at the beliefs, superstitions, hopes, and fears that come into play as people handle and respond to sacred images, and presents a compelling interpretation of the place of the image in Western history. -- Back cover
When the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics opened its doors in 1927, it could rely on wide political approval. In 1933 the institute and its founding director Eugen Fischer came under pressure to adjust, which they were able to ward off through Selbstgleichschaltung (auto-coordination). The Third Reich brought about a mutual beneficial servicing of science and politics. With their research into hereditary health and racial policies the institute’s employees provided the Brownshirt rulers with legitimating grounds. This volume traces the history of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics between democracy and dictatorship. Attention is turned to the haunting transformation of the research program, the institute’s integration into the national and international science panorama, and its relationship to the ruling power. The volume also confronts the institute’s interconnection to the political crimes of Nazi Germany terminating in bestial medical crimes.
The first full-scale history of Theoderic and the Goths in more than seventy-five years, tracing the transformation of a divided kingdom into a great power In the year 493, the leader of a vast confederation of Gothic warriors, their wives, and children personally cut down Odoacer, the man famous for deposing the last Roman emperor in 476. That leader became Theoderic the Great (454–526). This engaging history of his life and reign immerses readers in the world of the warrior-king who ushered in decades of peace and stability in Italy as king of Goths and Romans. Theoderic transformed his roving “warrior nation” from the periphery of the Roman world into a standing army that protected his taxpaying Roman subjects with the support of the Roman elite. With a ruling strategy of “integration through separation,” Theoderic not only stabilized Italy but also extended his kingdom to the western Balkans, southern France, and the Iberian Peninsula. Using sources as diverse as letters, poetry, coins, and mosaics, Hans-Ulrich Wiemer brings readers into the world of Theoderic’s court, from Gothic warriors and their families to the notables, artisans, and shopkeepers of Rome and Ravenna to the peasants and enslaved people who tilled the soil on grand rural estates. This book offers a fascinating history of the leader who brought peace to Italy after the disintegration of the Roman Empire.
In this sixtieth anniversary edition of The Idea of Nationalism, Craig Calhoun probes the work of Hans Kohn and the world that first brought prominence to this unparalleled defense of the national ideal in the modern West. At its publication, Saturday Review called it "an enduring and definitive treatise.... [Kohn] has written a book which is less a history of nationalism than it is a history of Western civilization from the standpoint of the national idea." This edition includes an extensive new introduction by Craig Calhoun, which in itself is a substantial contribution to the history of ideas. The Idea of Nationalism comprehensively analyzes the rise of nationalism, the idea's content, and its worldwide implications from the days of Hebrew and Greek antiquity to the eve of the French Revolution. As Calhoun explains, Kohn was particularly qualified to undertake this study. He grew up in Prague, the vigorous heart of Czech nationalism, participated in the Zionist student movement, studied the question of nationality in multinational cultures, spent the World War One years in Asian Russia, and later traveled extensively in the Near East studying the nationalist movements of western and southern Asia. The work itself is the product of Kohn's later years at Harvard University. In The Idea of Nationalism, Kohn presents the single most influential articulation of the distinction between civic and ethnic nationalism. This has shaped nearly all ensuing research and public discussion and deeply informed parallel oppositions of early and late, Western and Eastern varieties of nationalism. Kohn also argues that the age of nationalism represents the first period of universal history. Civilizations and continents are brought into ever closer contact; popular participation in politics is enormously increased; and the secular state is ever more significant. The Idea of Nationalism is important both in itself and because it so deeply shaped all the work that followed it. After sixty years his interpretations and analyses remain acute and instructive.
The primary aim of Wood Structure and Environment is to reveal the hidden ecological richness in stems and roots from trees, shrubs and herbs. The detailed, lucid text will inspire researchers to consider the anatomic microcosm of wood plants and use it as a retrospective source of information, solving problems related to ecophysiology, competition, site conditions, population biology, earth science, wood quality and even human history.
This book first appeared in Germany in 2004. In response to the great amount of interest in the book expressed by colleagues from all over the world, we subsequently decided to produce this English version. We have also taken this opportunity to update the information on the Department of Psychiatry since 1994 to include further developments up to the present day (see Chapter 15). One can look at a hospital from all kinds of different perspectives. For psychiatrists with the daily medical task of dealing with the life histories of their patients, it is understandable that they are interested in the development of their hospital from a historical perspective. To do this for the University Department of Psychiatry of Munich an introduction can be made by reminding the reader of a date: just over 100 years ago, on November 7, 1904, the newly constructed »Royal Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Munich« was inaugurated with a ceremonial act and handed over to the public. Emil Kraepelin gave a ceremonial speech on the occasion.
“Thought-provoking…any scientist interested in genetics will find this an enlightening look at the history of this field.”—Quarterly Review of Biology It was only around 1800 that heredity began to enter debates among physicians, breeders, and naturalists. Soon thereafter, it evolved into one of the most fundamental concepts of biology. Here, Staffan Muller-Wille and Hans-Jorg Rheinberger offer a succinct cultural history of the scientific concept of heredity. They outline the dramatic changes the idea has undergone since the early modern period and describe the political and technological developments that brought about these changes. They begin with an account of premodern theories of generation, showing that these were concerned with the procreation of individuals rather than with hereditary transmission, and reveal that when hereditarian thinking first emerged, it did so in a variety of cultural domains, such as politics and law, medicine, natural history, breeding, and anthropology. The authors then track theories of heredity from the late nineteenth century—when leading biologists considered it in light of growing societal concerns with race and eugenics—through the rise of classical and molecular genetics in the twentieth century, to today, as researchers apply sophisticated information technologies to understand heredity. What we come to see from this exquisite history is why it took such a long time for heredity to become a prominent concept in the life sciences, and why it gained such overwhelming importance in those sciences and the broader culture over the last two centuries.
No other singer has recorded so much material with so indelible a personal stamp as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. This first definitive biography provides a comprehensive and frank account of his extraordinary career. From his debut in Verdi's Don Carlos in 1948 to his farewell concert appearance in 1992, his life as a singer is traced, together with an exploration of his other artistic endeavors. He is a painter of uncommon gifts whose canvases have been widely exhibited, the author of several perceptive scholarly books on musical topics, and he remains active as a teacher and conductor.
Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) had the longest reign of any world champion in chess--27 years. From 1894 through 1921, he wielded exceptional dominance over several generations of contemporaries and is still regarded as one of the strongest players the world has seen. A multifaceted personality, he excelled in other fields as well, and his life has been the subject of a recent deep-digging biographic trilogy. This book presents for the first time a detailed examination of Lasker's chess career, with a complete collection of games, many presented with analysis by Lasker and other first rank masters.
Vitalism has a long history in medical philosophies. Traditional healing practices posited that disease results from some imbalance in the vital energies that distinguish living from non-living matter. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
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