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Divine Bodies: Resurrecting Perfection in the New Testament and Early Christianity

Candida R. Moss

This book is an exploration of what the New Testament has to say about the nature of resurrected bodies. It argues that previous scholarship and tradition has been shaped by Pauline discussions of ... More

This book is an exploration of what the New Testament has to say about the nature of resurrected bodies. It argues that previous scholarship and tradition has been shaped by Pauline discussions of glorious bodies and has failed to appreciate the diverse and disorienting range of opinions about the nature of the resurrected body. Drawing upon previously unexplored evidence in ancient medicine, philosophy, and culture, this book both revisits central texts – such as the resurrection of Jesus – and mines virtually ignored passages in the Gospels to show how the resurrection of the body addresses larger questions about identity and the self.Less

The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred

Eyal Regev

The first scholarly work to trace the Temple throughout the entire New Testament, this book examines Jewish and Christian attitudes toward the Temple in the first century and provides both Jews and ... More

The first scholarly work to trace the Temple throughout the entire New Testament, this book examines Jewish and Christian attitudes toward the Temple in the first century and provides both Jews and Christians with a better understanding of their respective faiths and how they grow out of this ancient institution. The centrality of the writing reveals the authors' negotiations with the institutional and symbolic center of Judaism as they worked to form their own religion.Less

On Political Obligation

Judith N. Shklar

Samantha Ashenden and Andreas Hess (eds)

The lectures that comprise this book are a reminder of the legacy and a demonstration of the promise of a critical assessment and evaluation of political obligation. Shklar shows that the crucial ... More

The lectures that comprise this book are a reminder of the legacy and a demonstration of the promise of a critical assessment and evaluation of political obligation. Shklar shows that the crucial questions that any political activist, any reflective citizen, and any existing or aspiring polity should raise are as pertinent today as they were in the past, despite their function and nature having changed over time. The book discusses the practical choices, dilemmas, compromises, risks, and dangers that are the result of the tensions that arise whenever the notions of obligation and loyalty are foregrounded, and when what it means to be a citizen and the aims of a given polity are in conflict. What can I/we do in such a situation? How should I/we act? Shklar takes us through several historical constellations and scenarios in which such questions have arisen and been answered—for better or for worse.Less

American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity

Ann Gleig

The past couple of decades have witnessed Buddhist communities both continuing the modernization of Buddhism and questioning some of its limitations. This fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing ... More

The past couple of decades have witnessed Buddhist communities both continuing the modernization of Buddhism and questioning some of its limitations. This fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing religious landscape illuminates the aspirations and struggles of younger North American Buddhists during a period that the book identifies as a distinct stage in the assimilation of Buddhism to the West. The author observes both the emergence of new innovative forms of deinstitutionalized Buddhism that blur the boundaries between the religious and secular, and a revalorization of traditional elements of Buddhism such as ethics and community that were discarded in the modernization process. Based on extensive ethnographic and textual research, the book ranges from mindfulness debates in the Vipassana network to the sex scandals in American Zen, while exploring issues around racial diversity and social justice, the impact of new technologies, and generational differences between baby boomer, Gen X, and millennial teachers.Less

The Politics of Empire at the Accession of George III: The East India Company and the Crisis and Transformation of Britain's Imperial State

James M. Vaughn

This book challenges the scholarly consensus that British India and the Second Empire were founded in “a fit of absence of mind.” The book instead argues that the origins of the Raj and the largest ... More

This book challenges the scholarly consensus that British India and the Second Empire were founded in “a fit of absence of mind.” The book instead argues that the origins of the Raj and the largest empire of the modern world were rooted in political conflicts and movements in Britain. It was British conservatives who shaped the Second Empire into one of conquest and dominion, emphasizing the extraction of resources and the subjugation of colonial populations. The book shows how the East India Company was transformed from a corporation into an imperial power in the service of British political forces opposed to the rising radicalism of the period. The Company's dominion in Bengal, where it raised territorial revenue and maintained a large army, was an autocratic bulwark of Britain's established order. The book offers an important new understanding of the era and its global ramifications.Less

Quest for Status: Chinese and Russian Foreign Policy

Deborah Welch Larson and Alexei Shevchenko

This book argues that the desire for world status plays a key role in shaping the foreign policies of China and Russia. Applying social identity theory—the idea that individuals derive part of their ... More

This book argues that the desire for world status plays a key role in shaping the foreign policies of China and Russia. Applying social identity theory—the idea that individuals derive part of their identity from larger communities—to nations, the book contends that China and Russia have used various modes of emulation, competition, and creativity to gain recognition from other countries, and thus validate their respective identities. To make this argument, the book analyzes numerous cases, including Catherine the Great's attempts to westernize Russia, China's identity crises in the nineteenth century, and both countries' responses to the end of the Cold War. The book employs a multifaceted method of measuring status, factoring in influence and inclusion in multinational organizations, military clout, and cultural sway, among other considerations. Combined with historical precedent, this socio-psychological approach helps explain current trends in Russian and Chinese foreign policy.Less

The Water Paradox: Overcoming the Global Crisis in Water Management

Edward B. Barbier

Water is essential to life, yet humankind's relationship with water is complex. For millennia, we have perceived it as abundant and easily accessible. But water shortages are fast becoming a ... More

Water is essential to life, yet humankind's relationship with water is complex. For millennia, we have perceived it as abundant and easily accessible. But water shortages are fast becoming a persistent reality for all nations, rich and poor. With demand outstripping supply, a global water crisis is imminent. This book argues that our water crisis is as much a failure of water management as it is a result of scarcity. Outdated governance structures and institutions, combined with continual underpricing, have perpetuated the overuse and undervaluation of water and disincentivized much-needed technological innovation. As a result “water grabbing” is on the rise, and cooperation to resolve these disputes is increasingly fraught. The book draws on evidence from countries across the globe to show the scale of the problem, and outlines the policy and management solutions needed to avert this crisis.Less

The Promise of the Suburbs: A Victorian History in Literature and Culture

Sarah Bilston

When did the suburbs gain their reputation as places of dullness and sterility? This book traces the origins of such suburban stereotypes back to the 1820s, the earliest decade of suburban growth, ... More

When did the suburbs gain their reputation as places of dullness and sterility? This book traces the origins of such suburban stereotypes back to the 1820s, the earliest decade of suburban growth, and argues that those stereotypes were forged from the first to denigrate women and the new middle classes. Disdain for the suburbs blazed especially hotly at the fin de siècle. Writers like George Gissing and H. G. Wells famously presented the suburbs as dull and tedious places, inimical to creativity, and these are the images of the Victorian suburbs scholars know best to this day. This book traces a long-forgotten counter discourse back into the early decades of the century, showing that in women’s fiction especially, the suburbs functioned narratively as places of opportunity and new beginnings. The very existence of suburban problems, meanwhile, offered women a vocation, with professional work in and around the suburban home offered tentatively as the answer, the solution, the future. Drawing on a broad range of Victorian literature, from Charles Dickens and Mary Elizabeth Braddon to less well-known writers like John Claudius Loudon, Emily Eden, Bertha Buxton, Julia Frankau, and Jane Ellen Panton, this book bring forgotten voices back into the conversation about the growth of a new landscape, a new way of life.Less

Itch, Clap, Pox: Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century Imagination

Noelle Gallagher

In eighteenth-century Britain, venereal disease was everywhere and nowhere: while physicians and commentators believed the condition to be widespread, it remained shrouded in secrecy, and was often ... More

In eighteenth-century Britain, venereal disease was everywhere and nowhere: while physicians and commentators believed the condition to be widespread, it remained shrouded in secrecy, and was often represented using slang, symbolism, and wordplay. This book explores the cultural significance of the “clap” (gonorrhea), the “pox” (syphilis), and the “itch” (genital scabies) for the development of eighteenth-century British literature and art. As a condition both represented through metaphors and used as a metaphor, venereal disease provided a vehicle for the discussion of cultural anxieties about gender, race, commerce, and immigration. The book highlights four key concepts associated with venereal disease, demonstrating how infection's symbolic potency was enhanced by its links to elite masculinity, prostitution, foreignness, and facial deformities. Casting light where the sun rarely shines, this study will fascinate anyone interested in the history of literature, art, medicine, and sexuality.Less

Choosing the Leader: Leadership Elections in the U.S. House of Representatives

Matthew N Green and Douglas Harris

How are congressional party leaders chosen? In the first comprehensive study since Robert Peabody's classic Leadership in Congress, this book draws on newly collected data about U.S. House members ... More

How are congressional party leaders chosen? In the first comprehensive study since Robert Peabody's classic Leadership in Congress, this book draws on newly collected data about U.S. House members who have sought leadership positions from the 1960s to the present—data including whip tallies, public and private vote commitments, interviews, and media accounts—to provide new insights into how the selection process truly works. Elections for congressional party leaders are conventionally seen as a function of either legislators' ideological preferences or factors too idiosyncratic to permit systematic analysis. Analyzing six decades' worth of information, the book finds evidence for a new comprehensive model of vote choice in House leadership elections that incorporates both legislators' goals and their connections with leadership candidates.Less