Sources of Han décor : foreign influence on the Han dynasty Chinese iconography of paradise (206 BC - AD 220) /
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Using archaeological data to examine the development of Han dynasty Chinese art (206 BC-AD 220), this book focusses on the iconography of paradise. Influence from the Chinese Bronze Age is discussed along with a surprisingly profound debt to Greece, the Near East and the steppe.
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Also issued in print: 2019. :
1 online resource (x, 138 pages) : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781789693263 (ebook) :
The Qurʼān in context : historical and literary investigations into the Qurʼānic milieu /
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Although recent scholarship has increasingly situated the Qur'ān in the historical context of Late Antiquity, such a perspective is only rarely accompanied by the kind of microstructural literary analysis routinely applied to the Bible. The present volume seeks to redress this lack of contact between literary and historical studies. Contributions to the first part of the volume address various general aspects of the Qur'an's political, economic, linguistic, and cultural context, while the second part contains a number of close readings of specific Qur'ānic passages in the light of Judeo-Christian tradition and ancient Arabic poetry, as well as discussions of the Qur'ān's internal chronology and transmission history. Throughout, special emphasis is given to methodological questions. This title is available as paperback .
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"This volume has emerged from the conference 'Historische Sondierungen und methodische Reflexionen zur Korangenese: Wege zur Rekonstruktion des vorkanonischen Koran' January 2004, Berlin"--T.p. verso. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047430322 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The mystery of God : early Jewish mysticism and the New Testament /
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This book brings together the perspectives of apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticism to illuminate aspects of New Testament theology. The first part begins with a consideration of the mystical character of apocalypticism and then uses the Book of Revelation and the development of views about the heavenly mediator figure of Enoch to explore the importance of apocalypticism in the Gospels and Acts, the Pauline Letters and finally the key theological themes in the later books of the New Testament. The second and third parts explore the character of early Jewish mysticism by taking important themes in the early Jewish mystical texts such as the Temple and the Divine Body to demonstrate the relevance of this material to New Testament interpretation.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [611]-645) and indexes. :
9789047428763 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Second Corinthians in the perspective of late second temple Judaism /
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In the framework of a larger research project into 'New Perspectives on Paul and the Jews', eight scholars from Europe, Israel, and North America join forces in querying Paul's relationship to Jews and Judaism. The sample text selected for this inquiry is the Second Letter to the Corinthians, a document particularly suited for this purpose as it reflects violent clashes between Paul and rivalling Jews and Jewish Christians. While the first three articles address more general literary and historical questions, the following five present in-depth case studies of much-studied passages from the letter and the underlying issues. An introductory essay queries how in the case at hand we can gain an adequate understanding of Paul's theology while fully respecting his particular place in Judaism.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004271661 :
1877-4970 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plants and literature : essays in critical plant studies.
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Myth, art, literature, film, and other discourses are replete with depictions of evil plants, salvific plants, and human-plant hybrids. In various ways, these representations intersect with "deep-rooted" insecurities about the place of human beings in the natural world, the relative viability of animalian motility and heterotrophy as evolutionary strategies, as well as the identity of organic life as such . Plants surprise us by combining the appearance of harmlessness and familiarity with an underlying strangeness. The otherness of vegetal life poses a challenge to our ethical, philosophical, and existential categories and tests the limits of human empathy and imagination. At the same time, the resilience of plants, their adaptability, and their integration with their habitat are a perennial source of inspiration and wisdom. Plants and Literature: Essays in Critical Plant Studies examines the manner in which literary texts and other cultural products express our multifaceted relationship with the vegetable kingdom. The range of perspectives brought to bear on the subject of plant life by the various authors and critics represented in this volume comprise a novel vision of ecological interdependence and stimulate a revitalized sensitivity to the relationships we share with our photosynthetic brethren.
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1 online resource (270 pages) : color illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index. :
9789401209991 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Autobiography and the psychological study of religious lives /
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This volume positions itself on the cutting edge of two fields in psychology that enjoy rapidly increasing attention: both the study of human lives and some core domains of such lives as religion and spirituality are high on the agenda of current research and teaching. Biographies and autobiographies are being approached in new ways and have become central to the study of human lives as an object of research and a preferred method for obtaining unique data about subjective human experiences. Ever since the beginning of the psychology of religion, autobiographies have also been pointed out as an important source of information about psychic processes involved in religiosity. In this volume, a number of leading theoreticians and researchers from Europe and the USA try to bring them back to this field by drawing on new insights and latest developments in psychological theory.
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1 online resource (388 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789042029125 :
0925-4153 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The pharaoh's treasure : the origin of paper and the rise of Western civilization /
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For our entire history, humans have always searched for new ways to share information. This innate compulsion led to the origin of writing on the rock walls of caves and coffin lids or carving on tablets. But it was with the advent of papyrus paper when the ability to record and transmit information exploded, allowing for an exchanging of ideas from the banks of the Nile throughout the Mediterranean--and the civilized world--for the first time in human history. In The Pharaoh's Treasure, John Gaudet looks at this pivotal transition to papyrus paper, which would become the most commonly used information medium in the world for more than 4,000 years. Far from fragile, papyrus paper is an especially durable writing surface; papyrus books and documents in ancient and medieval times had a usable life of hundreds of years, and this durability has allowed items like the famous Nag Hammadi codices from the third and fourth century to survive. The story of this material that was prized by both scholars and kings reveals how papyrus paper is more than a relic of our ancient past, but a key to understanding how ideas and information shaped humanity in the ancient and early modern world.
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xxi, 356 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 24 cm :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
168177853X
9781681778532
History in the Public Domain /
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History is a hot topic in popular politics of the public domain. Pressures from different kinds of ideological positions and politics of identities of various kinds put serious constraints on the practice and writing of history. Despite the challenges, scholarship has continued to grow. Current historiographical thrusts illustrate how a whole range of themes and issues are dealt with by professional historians from a variety of perspectives with reference to sources and evidence. For instance, issues relating to the complex interactions between religion and political culture are no longer being swept under the carpet. This collection of short essays and extended discussions on current research aims to intervene in public debates on what exactly happened in history. Given the situation, attempts of this kind can possibly help in somewhat bridging the wide gap between serious academic research and misplaced assumptions of popular histories. Much as historians are accused of merely speaking to themselves (and boring others), they need to be taken seriously when intervening in public debates using specialized historical methods and practices. Historical research conducted in universities can inform popular debates in newspapers, television channels, social media, and roadside dhabas for that matter, to lift the discussion to an informed intellectual plank and to bring about historical literacy and civility in the public domain.
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1 online resource (260 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004751538