bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Herakles
Authors: Sleigh Tom , Wolff Christian
Published: November 2023

In Herakles, Euripides reveals with great subtlety and complexity the often brutal underpinnings of our social arrangements. The play enacts a thoroughly contemporary dilemma about the relationship between personal and state violence to civic order. Of all of Euripides’ plays, this is his most skeptically subversive examination of myth, morality, and power. Depicting Herakles slowly going mad by Hera, the wife of Zeus, this play continues to haunt and inspire readers. Hera hates Herakles because he is one of Zeus’ children born of adultery, and in his madness, Herakles is driven to murder his own wife and children and is eventually exiled, by his own accord, to Athens. This new volume includes a fresh translation, an updated introduction, detailed notes on the text, and a thorough glossary.
Philia Relationships and Greek Literature
Authors: Belfiore Elizabeth S
Published: November 2023

This chapter provides an overview of the role of philia relationships in tragedy (sections 3 and 4) and contrasts the importance and prevalence of this pattern in tragedy with its absence or lack of emphasis in epic (section 2). First, however, section 1 contains a brief discussion of philia in Aristotle’s Poetics and of philia relationships in Greek society generally.
A Token of Pain: Betrayal of Xenia in Sophokles’ Philoktetes
Authors: Belfiore Elizabeth S
Published: November 2023

Philia and its betrayals are among the central issues of Sophokles’ Philoktetes. Deserted by his Greek friends, Philoktetes has been left on Lemnos with only his powerful bow, the gift of his friend Herakles, to save him from starvation. When a prophecy reveals that Philoktetes or his bow—or both—are necessary to the conquest of Troy, Odysseus is determined to persuade or trick Philoktetes, who now hates his former friends, into rejoining the Greek army.1 Odysseus persuades Neoptolemos, the son of Philoktetes’ friend Akhilleus, to gain Philoktetes’ confidence (70–71) by pretending to hate the Greeks as much as Philoktetes does (59). After gaining control of the bow by pretending to be Philoktetes’ friend, Neoptolemos is overcome with disgust at his role of false friend. He returns the bow to Philoktetes and proves himself to be a true friend. Although he is unable to persuade Philoktetes to go to Troy, Neoptolemos is willing to sacrifice glory for friendship. The play ends with the appearance ex machina of the deified Herakles, who orders his friend Philoktetes to go to Troy and ratifies the bond of friendship between Neoptolemos and Philoktetes, who will take Troy together, guarding one another like two lions (1436–37).
Sleeping With the Enemy: Euripides’ Andromakhe
Authors: Belfiore Elizabeth S
Published: November 2023

The Andromakhe is one of six exceptional plays (see chapter 1, section 3) in which harm to philoi at first appears to be less central than in most other plays. Menelaos and Hermione threaten Andromakhe and Molossos, who are not blood kin to them, and Orestes is implicated in the murder of Neoptolemos, who is not his kin. Although threats to a suppliant occur in the first part of the play, suppliancy is not the main concern of the play as whole. Xenia does not figure in Andromakhe, nor does spouse murder spouse, as happens in Aiskhylos’s Agamemnon and Sophokles’ Women of Trakhis. Nevertheless, this play, focusing as it does on conflict between the wife and concubine of Neoptolemos, is centrally concerned with violations of philia within the marriage relationship. In the Greek view, the acts it represents are just as dreadful as kin murder and incest.
Nothing But Christ
Authors: Harris Paul William
Published: November 2023

In general, I refer to the American Board missions and stations by the names used at the time, while I modernize the spelling of place names. Occasionally, this may cause some confusion, as, for example, with the Madura Mission in Madurai, India, or the Aintab Station in Gaziantep, Turkey. I made a few exceptions to the general rule. I refer to the Ahmadnagar Mission, though that is not how it was generally spelled, because the A.B.C.F.M. was not consistent in the way they did spell it. I also use Constantinople and Smyrna for Istanbul and Izmir, respectively, because the older names convey a distinct identity for those cities in the mid–nineteenth century.
Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self
Authors: Cary Phillip
Published: November 2023

Phillip Cary argues that Augustine invented or created the concept of self as an inner space--as space into which one can enter and in which one can find God. This concept of inwardness, says Cary, has worked its way deeply into the intellectual heritage of the West and many Western individuals have experienced themselves as inner selves. After surveying the idea of inwardness in Augustine’s predecessors, Cary offers a re-examination of Augustine’s own writings, making the controversial point that in his early writings Augustine appears to hold that the human soul is quite literally divine. Cary goes on to contend that the crucial Book 7 of the Confessions is not a historical report of Augustine’s “conversion” experience, but rather an explanation of his intellectual development over time.
Discontinuous Syntax, Hyperbaton in Greek
Authors: Devine A M , Stephens Laurence D
Published: November 2023

The interface between syntax and meaning, both semantic and pragmatic, has emerged as perhaps the richest and most fascinating area of current linguistics theory. This study applies some of these ideas to hyperbaton, offering an original new theory with broad applications for our understanding of Greek syntax. Students of epic will find a fresh perspective on orality in Homer while the general classicist will discover a more precise and explicit framework for the analysis of textual meaning in literary research.
Ojibwe Singers
Authors: Mcnally Michael D
Published: November 2023

The Ojibwe or Anishinaabe are a native American people of the northern Great Lakes region. 19th-century missionaries promoted the singing of evangelical hymns translated into the Ojibwe language as a tool for rooting out their “indianness,” but the Ojibwe have ritualized the singing to make the hymns their own. In this book, McNally relates the history and current practice of Ojibwe hymn singing to explore the broader cultural processes that place ritual resources at the center of so many native struggles to negotiate the confines of colonialism.
The Housemistress at the Door
Authors: Findly Ellison Banks
Published: November 2023

It has been said that within the broad parameters of danadharma (the duty of the gift), “the utmost importance is given to the gift of food.” In the period of the Vedic age in its maturity, the gift of food by the householder, in particular by the householder wife, to renunciant petitioners at the household door is a common feature of the early Indian landscape.
The Fiqh Councilor in North America
Authors: DeLorenzo Yusuf Talal
Published: November 2023

A fatwa is generally understood to be an answer that is given by a scholar, or mufti, to a question on an issue of religious significance, or on a point of religious law. The first fatwa was issued by the Prophet (upon him be peace), and the practice was followed later by his companions and the jurists of succeeding generations. A fatwa differs from the ruling of a qadi (judge) in that the fatwa ruling is essentially an interpretive one, whereas the qadi’s ruling becomes a binding legal judgment. Owing to its interpretative nature, then, the institution of fatwa is closely linked to ijtihad (legal interpretation), though many fatawa (plural of fatwa) are based on naql (precedent) or the ijtihad of others. However, when resort is had to ijtihad for the production of a fatwa, it becomes an effective instrument for addressing innovation and change in society, and thus an essential part of the dynamics that guarantee the continued relevancy of the Shari’a to Muslims of all times and in all places. Finally, as a fatwa is usually not binding, the word mufti is often translated as jurisconsult.
Islamic Humanism
Authors: Goodman Lenn E
Published: November 2023

This book is an attempt to explain how, in the face of increasing religious authoritarianism in medieval Islamic civilization, some Muslim thinkers continued to pursue essentially humanistic, rational, and scientific discourses in the quest for knowledge, meaning, and values. Drawing on a wide range of Islamic writings, from love poetry to history to philosophical theology, Goodman shows that medieval Islam was open to individualism, occasional secularism, skepticism, even liberalism.
A History of the Mennonite Conciliation Service, International Conciliation Service, and Christian Peacemaker Teams
Authors: Miller Joseph S
Published: November 2023

Armistice Day 1918 Wasremembered BY most Americans with pride and joy. The great war was over, and America had triumphed over Germany. But for Mennonite farmer John Schrag and his family, Armistice Day was always remembered with horror. On November 11, 1918, thepatriotic citizens of Burrton, Kansas, decided that it was high time to show their Mennonite neighbor John Schrag that holding to the ancient pacifist faith and practice of his Anabaptist/Mennonite ancestors was not acceptable—not in America.

Five cars full of local men drove out to the Schrag farm. They vandalized the farm and dragged Schrag back to town, where they demanded that he purchase war bonds. He refused because he said it would be the same as serving as a soldier. The mob grew ugly and demanded that Schrag salute the American flag and carry the flag at the head of their Armistice Day parade. Schrag quietly and firmly refused to cooperate.
Journey from Resolution to Transformative Peacebuilding
Authors: Lederach John Paul
Published: November 2023

“So, Where Will You Go when the revolution comes?” The question was posed by a middle-aged Angolan activist and university student to a much younger student, the son of a future president of Portugal. It was the kind of dinner-table conversation I heard often in 1976 at the David Living-stone residence located in Brussels, Belgium. In my early twenties, I was doing several years of voluntary service with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in a housing project that brought together some thirty university students from nearly as many countries, mostly from Africa. The residence, as the question and the interaction that ensued indicated, was an exciting mix of cultures, peoples, and perspectives. The only thing we all had in common was our foreign status. For me, it represented the first experience of working with people and conflict internationally.
Rabinal Achi
Authors: Tedlock Dennis
Published: November 2023

Here is one of the most important surviving works of pre-Columbian civilization, Rabinal Achi, a Mayan drama set a century before the arrival of the Spanish, produced by the translator of the best selling Popol Vuh. The first direct translation into English from Quiché Maya, based on the original text, Rabinal Achi is the story of city-states, war, and nobility, of diplomacy, mysticism, and psychic journeys. Cawek of the Forest People has been captured by Man of Rabinal, who serves a ruler named Lord Five Thunder. Cawek is a renegade, a warrior who has inflicted much suffering on Rabinal. Yet he is also the son of the lord of the allied city of Quiché--a noble who once fought alongside Man of Rabinal. The drama presents the confrontation between the two during the trial of Cawek, who defies his captors and proudly accepts death by beheading. Dennis Tedlock’s translation is clear and vivid; more than that, it is rooted in an understanding of how the play is actually performed. Despite being banned for centuries by Spanish authorities, it survived in actual practice, and is still performed in the town of Rabinal today. Tedlock’s photographs and diagrams accompany the text, capturing nuances not apparent in the dialogue alone. He also provides an introduction and commentary that explain the historical events compressed into the play, the Spanish influence on the Mayan dramatic tradition, and the cultural and religious world preserved in this remarkable play. Rabinal Achi ranks as a classic of Mayan literature--and a rare window on a world that had yet to be invaded by Europeans. Dennis Tedlock brings this drama to life in all its richness.
Thinking about Sexual Harassment
Authors: Crouch Margaret A
Published: November 2023

This illuminating work on one of today’s most provocative issues provides all the necessary information for careful, critical thinking about the concept of sexual harassment. Consisting mainly of two parts, it first traces the construction of the concept of sexual harassment from the original public uses of the term to its definitions in the law, in legal cases, and in empirical research. It then analyzes philosophical definitions of sexual harassment and a number of issues that have arisen in the law, including the reasonable woman standard and whether same-sex harassment should be considered sex discrimination.
The Unity of the Epistemic Virtues
Authors: Goldman Alvin I
Published: November 2023

One of the central questions about the moral virtues that preoccupied Socrates concerned the unity of the virtues. Are the several virtues aspects of a single virtue or are they entirely distinct and independent? Socrates himself apparently accepted the doctrine of the unity of the virtues. In this essay I shall explore the tenability of an analogous doctrine for the intellectual, or epistemic, virtues, namely, that the various epistemic virtues are all variations on, or permutations of, a single theme or motif. I am not confident I can make this doctrine stick in full and complete detail, but I want to explore how close one can come in defending its plausibility.
Corning and the Military: Innovation in an Era of Permanent Mobilization
Authors: Graham Margaret B W , Shuldiner Alec T
Published: November 2023

Technology sharing with its partners in association was vital both to Corning and to the larger war effort that consumed the American economy in the early 1940s. Ironically; the political climate took a sharp turn in this same period, rendering such associations increasingly suspect. In the wake of the Depression, many believed them to be contributors to undue concentration in the economy. For Corning’s leaders World War II thus presented terrible conflicts quite aside from anything encountered on the battlefields. The company and its executives were laboring under a cloud of antitrust accusation that had been stirred up in the late 1930s but had not been resolved.
Toward a More Dialogic Analysis of Social Movement Culture
Authors: Steinberg Marc W
Published: November 2023

For years now many social movement scholars have been chanting a theme: bring culture back to our analyses. Increasingly, we’ve focused on collective identities, media events, rituals, ideologies, and narratives to understand how culture helps shape organization and action. Despite this array of cultural forms and activities, however, most analysts using the political process and resource mobilization perspectives have fixed their attention on framing. In this chapter, I argue that framing analyses have unduly narrowed our understanding of social movement culture. Most such studies see social movement culture as instrumental, deliberately produced (often by social movement organizations or key activists) to maximize mobilization or influence.
Materialist Feminist Discourse Analysis and Social Movement Research: Mapping the Changing Context for “Community Control”
Authors: Naples Nancy A
Published: November 2023

How do progressive frames achieve wide acceptance and become institutionalized in social practices but lose their critical feminist or progressive intent? Examples of this process can be found throughout feminist praxis, from the transformation of “battered women” into the “battered woman syndrome” to the depoliticization of “sexual harassment” (e.g., Loseke 1992; Walker 1994). My goal in this chapter is to demonstrate the value of a materialist feminist discourse analysis for explicating how social movement frames gain wide appeal but, over time, can lose the progressive formulation that incited their production or can even be used to counter progressive goals. I incorporate discursive, cultural, and structural factors in social movement research (see, e.g., Gamson 1988; McCarthy 1994; Taylor and Whittier 1995: 185; Steinberg 1999b). A materialist feminist approach focuses on the social and political context, subject positions, and power relations through which social movement frames are generated, circulated, and then reinscribed within different discursive and institutional practices (e.g., Landry and Maclean 1993; Ramazanoglu 1993), as well as the shifting discursive fields surrounding the production of specific movement frames (also see Donati 1992).
From the “Beloved Community” to “Family Values”: Religious Language, Symbolic Repertoires, and Democratic Culture
Authors: Williams Rhys H
Published: November 2023

One of Karl Marx’s most frequently quoted observations is that “men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past” (in Tucker 1978: 595). Presumably this calls attention to Marx’s careful balancing of the fact that society is created by humans and through active human agency, yet any given set of historical actors is constrained powerfully by social settings that they did not create and cannot control completely.

As it is with history, so it is with “meaning.” People construct the social world symbolically, but they do not do it de novo. Rather, they use symbolic tools handed down to them from previous generations—the “symbolic repertoire”—and these are bounded, at least to some extent, by the conventions established within a culture. Only by operating within boundaries recognizable to people in the extant culture can humans communicate and create meanings—and this is true even when those meanings are intended to foster innovation, creativity, or social change.
Greek Nymphs
Authors: Larson Jennifer
Published: November 2023

Greek Nymphs: Myths, Cult, Lore is the first comprehensive study of the nymph in the ancient Greek world. This well-illustrated book examines nymphs as both religious and mythopoetic figures, tracing their development and significance in Greek culture from Homer through the Hellenistic period. Drawing upon a broad range of literary and archaeological evidence, Jennifer Larson discusses sexually powerful nymphs in ancient and modern Greek folklore, the use of dolls representing nymphs in the socialization of girls, the phenomenon of nympholepsy, the nymphs’ relations with other deities in the Greek pantheon, and the nymphs’ role in mythic narratives of city-founding and colonization. The book includes a survey of the evidence for myths and cults of the nymphs arranged by geographical region, and a special section of the worship of nymphs in caves throughout the Greek world.
Loosening the Category That Binds: Modern “Religion” and the Promise of Cultural Studies
Authors: Cady Linell E
Published: November 2023

As this volume attests, there is a growing interest among theologians in engaging in cultural analysis, including that which falls under the general rubric of cultural studies. It would be easy to greet this development with cynicism, as just the latest example of the search for relevancy, perhaps for a subject, in a discipline that has become increasingly discredited and marginalized in late twentieth-century America. As Van Harvey has noted, “the slightest breezes that have stirred the trees of the groves of academe have been frantically harnessed for the purpose of generating energy for some new theological ‘movement’—a ‘theology of the death of God,’ a theology of play,’ a ‘theology of hope,’ a ‘theology of liberation,’ a ‘theology of polytheism,’ a ‘theology of deconstruction.’ “2 Perhaps “theology and cultural studies” is simply another episode in this continuing chapter of disciplinary decline,
The Great Debate
Authors: Katz Jonathan I
Published: November 2023

Science is full of controversies. One may even say it is about controversy, because experiments are usually performed to decide which of two (or more) proposed views of the world is correct.

The BATSE results tilted the scales toward cosmological distances for gamma-ray bursts, but not all astronomers were convinced. Dis agreements about astronomical distance scales were not new. The most famous such controversy had occurred early in the twentieth century, and had two parts.
Creating Better Futures
Authors: Ogilvy James A
Published: November 2023

As a founder and managing director of Global Business Network, James Ogilvy helped develop the technique of scenario planning, which has become an integral part of strategic thinking in both business and government. Now Ogilvy shows how we can use this cutting-edge method for social change in our own neighborhoods. In Building Better Futures, Ogilvy presents a profound new vision of how the world is changing--and how it can be changed for the better. Ogilvy argues that self-defined communities, rather than individuals or governments, have become the primary agents for social change. Towns, professional associations, and interest groups of all kinds help shape the future in all the ways that matter most, from schools and hospitals to urban development. The key to improvement is scenario planning--a process that draws on groups of people, both lay and expert, to draft narratives that spell out possible futures, some to avoid, some inspiring hope. Scenario planning has revolutionized both public and private planning, leading to everything from the diverse product lines that have revived the auto industry, to a timely decision by the state of Colorado to avoid pouring millions into an oil-shale industry that never materialized. But never before has anyone proposed that it be taken up by society as a whole. Drawing on years of experience in both academia and the private sector, where he developed both a keen sense of how businesses work best and an abiding passion for changing the world, James Ogilvy provides the tools we need to create better communities: better health, better education, better lives.
Chicano Folklore
Authors: Castro Rafaela G
Published: November 2023

Did you know that barrio is a term for a Chicano neighborhood, and that some of the oldest barrios can be found in major U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago, El Paso, and San Antonio? Or that menudo is actually a soup-type dish made with tripe, the stomach lining of a cow, and typically eaten early in the morning after big holiday celebrations to cure a hangover? Chicano Folklore is replete with such interesting and often surprising facts about Mexican American culture. Even before the United States-Mexican War in 1848, when 80,000 Spanish-Mexican-Indian people suddenly became inhabitants of the United States, people of Spanish and Mexican descent had a rich and unique culture in what is now the American southwest. Understanding Chicano folklore, or the customs, rituals, and traditional cultural forms that Mexican Americans share, is extremely significant to comprehending the Chicano experience. Chicano Folklore is the first reference book to focus wholly on this subject. From burrito (literally little burro or little donkey) to zoot suit (a style of suit worn by Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Filipino Americans during the 1930s and 1940s), the dictionary’s more than 225 in-depth passages thoroughly explain the meaning and background of each cultural term. We learn about the music, religious practices, food, and key historical and mythical figures that make Chicano folklore so vibrant. The detailed, immensely informative passages of Chicano Folklore will entertain and educate anyone interested in understanding Chicano culture and the colorful impact it has had on America as a whole.
Feminist Fieldworker: Connecting Research, Teaching, and Memoir
Authors: Kleinman Sherryl
Published: November 2023

Fieldwork is about paying attention. We don’t primarily attend to what outsiders might consider the attention-grabbing moments-a fistfight, or an outburst of tears-but to mundane, systematic patterns. Yet, knowing that one is meant to notice patterns hardly tells us where to look or what to focus on. As a symbolic interactionist, I was trained to notice patterns of speech, interaction, identity, meanings, and so on. I learned to cultivate the double vision of the qualitative symbolic interactionist: individuals are products of social-historical circumstances and act with or upon them. Actions are broadly defined and can include anything from resistance to resignation.
Bibliography
Authors: Floridi Luciano
Published: November 2023

It is usually difficult to separate the literature dealing primarily with Sextus Empiricus from the literature on ancient skepticism in general. Moreover, works on Sextus are often concerned only with the information provided by him about other authors or texts. The following bibliography is therefore selective. Because of the extensive bibliographies compiled on ancient skepticism (see next paragraph), only essential or more recent works relevant to the study of the fortunes of Sextus Empiricus and the transmission of his texts are listed.
Against the Mathematicians
Authors: Floridi Luciano
Published: November 2023

This is the partial translation of Against the Mathematicians from M IIl.37 to M V.25 that we have already encountered when analyzing T2a, the Latin translation in the Marcianus. To the information already given above it can be added that, because of the linguistic style, the person who translated Against the Geometicians, Against the Arithmeticians, Against the Musians, and Against the Astrolo.
Halloween
Authors: Rogers Nicholas
Published: November 2023

Boasting a rich, complex history rooted in Celtic and Christian ritual, Halloween has evolved from ethnic celebration to a blend of street festival, fright night, and vast commercial enterprise. In this colourful history, Nicholas Rogers takes a lively, entertaining look at the cultural origins and development of one of the most popular holidays of the year. Drawing on a fascinating array of sources, from classical history to Hollywood films, Rogers traces Halloween as it emerged from the Celtic festival of Samhain (summer’s end), picked up elements of the Christian Hallowtide (All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day), arrived in North America as an Irish and Scottish festival, and evolved into an unofficial but large-scale holiday by the early 20th century. He examines the 1970s and ‘80s phenomena of Halloween sadism (razor blades in apples) and inner-city violence (arson in Detroit), as well as the immense influence of the horror film genre on the reinvention of Halloween as a terror-fest. Throughout his vivid account, Rogers shows how Halloween remains, at its core, a night of inversion, when social norms are turned upside down, and a temporary freedom of expression reigns supreme. He examines how this very license has prompted censure by the religious Right, occasional outrage from law enforcement officials, and appropriation by Left-leaning political groups. Engagingly written and based on extensive research, Halloween is the definitive history of the most bewitching day of the year, illuminating the intricate history and shifting cultural forces behind this enduring trick-or-treat holiday.
Border Crossings
Authors: Rogers Nicholas
Published: November 2023

As I suggested in the preceding chapter, Halloween was revitalized in the 1970s as a holiday of youthful license and difference. It continued to retain some of the spirit of premodern festivals, whose topsy-turvy rituals and liminal spaces afforded some opportunity to parody mainstream culture, to blow off steam, and to express alternative sexualities and ways of seeing the world. Yet since the 1920s, Halloween has also been seen as a homogenizing force or, at the very least, a marker of the cultural mainstream. French-Canadians living in Quebec City did not celebrate Halloween until the 196os. Only those living in Montreal, or on the borders of Ontario, would have come into contact with and arguably participated in what must have seemed an “Anglo” holiday.
Aniconism Versus Iconism in Thai Buddhism
Authors: Swearer Donald K
Published: November 2023

Westerners whose knowledge of Buddhism comes primarily from textbooks, even those with relatively expansive descriptions of Buddhist practices, are often startled upon observing temple rituals in Thailand or other Asian Buddhist countries. Usually they see devotees prostrating themselves before large Buddha images and performing other devotional acts such as lighting incense, making flower offerings, and praying. These devotional activities appear to be far removed from a common preconception of the Buddha’s rejection of Brahmanical ritualism and the singular dedication of Buddhist monks to the path of meditation. Did not the Buddha teach his disciples to be “lamps unto themselves”; to pursue their own inner journey to enlightenment without relying on external rituals? Was not the Buddha a religious philosopher, the teacher of the Noble Eightfold Path to awakening, rather than a divine being to be venerated? The temple practices that the Western student of Buddhism observes in Buddhist Thailand are at odds with a commonly held view of Buddhism as a nonritualistic, nontheistic religion of mystics, meditators, and philosophers. The contradiction becomes even more acute with the realization that the Buddha image, toward which ritual offerings are directed, is considered by many devotees as the living presence of the Buddha himself.
Why Does God Allow Evil?
Authors: Swinburne Richard
Published: November 2023

The world . . . contains much evil. An omnipotent God could have prevented this evil, and surely a perfectly good and omnipotent God would have done so. So why is there this evil? Is not its existence strong evidence against the existence of God? It would be unless we can construct what is known as a theodicy, an explanation of why God would allow such evil to occur. I believe that that can be done, and I shall outline a theodicy. . . . I emphasize that . . . in writing that God would do this or that, I am not taking for granted the existence of God, but merely claiming that, if there is a God, it is to be expected that he would do certain things, including allowing the occurrence of certain evils; and so, I am claiming, their occurrence is not evidence against his existence. It is inevitable that any attempt by myself or anyone else to construct a theodicy will sound callous, indeed totally insensitive to human suffering. Many theists, as well as atheists, have felt that any attempt to construct a theodicy evinces an immoral approach to suffering. I can only ask the reader to believe that I am not totally insensitive to human suffering, and that I do mind about the agony of poisoning, child abuse, bereavement, solitary imprisonment, and martial infidelity.
Christian Asceticism and the Emergence of the Monastic Tradition
Authors: Rubenson Samuel
Published: November 2023

Christian asceticism has, since the fourth century, been closely linked to the monastic tradition. Ascetic practice is at the roots of monasticism, and most of the ascetic writings in Christian traditions stem from monks or nuns and have been produced, copied and read primarily in monasteries. At the same time, it is obvious that Christian asceticism does not originate in the monastic setting: it preceded it and goes back to a tradition older than the New Testament. It has its roots in a common heritage of the Hellenistic world, a heritage christianized in the first centuries. Tertullian and Origen, the most famous advocates of ascetic practice in the early church, both died decades before the first known monks established themselves in the desert.
Asceticism and Mysticism in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Authors: McGinn Bernard
Published: November 2023

Scaramelli's two-stage view of Christian perfection remained normative down to living memory in Roman Catholicism. Among its last great monuments was the Precis de theologie ascetique et mystique of the Sulpician Adolph Tanquerey, who taught for fifteen years in the United States, before retiring to France, where his magnum opus appeared in 1923-1924. It went through nine French editions, was translated into at least ten languages, and remained a basic textbook in Catholic seminaries down to Vatican II.
Rejecting the Body, Refining the Body: Some Remarks on the Development of Platonist Asceticism
Authors: Dillon John M
Published: November 2023

It will be my purpose in this paper to examine the Platonist contribution to the European tradition of asceticism, with a view to elucidating what seem to me to be two significant strands in that tradition, both stemming from Plato himself, but developing separate histories in later times: that of straightforward rejection of the body, or at least of the soul's association with it, which involves what I would identify as a negative attitude to the world; and that of the disciplining and refining of the body, to make it a worthy, or at least noninjurious receptacle of the soul, which might be seen, I think, as essentially world-affirming. Both of these objectives involve practices that might fairly be termed ascetic—and, indeed largely the very same practices—but it will become evident, I think, that the perspectives on the body are distinct.
Trajectories of Ascetic Behavior: Response to the Three Preceding Papers
Authors: Corrington-Streete Gail P
Published: November 2023

To those who work with the trajectories of ascetic behavior, West and East, attempts to define (that is, put limits around) or to describe (that is, write concerning) asceticism as a phenomenon or series of phenomena are decidedly frustrating. But these attempts—according to what Geoffrey Galt Harpham has termed "the ascetic imperative"—seem to be compulsory and inevitable.1 When such attempts are attempted (the redundancy is deliberate), it appears that we are always confronted with layers of meaning. When we attempt to peel away these layers, the presumed inner core eludes us, is perhaps itself an illusion. Hence, the conclusion we come to is that there is no essential asceticism: the best we can do is allude to it, to "play" at it, in the root meaning of the term ludere, while it "plays away" (e-ludere) from us. Such word play (I almost said "world-play") may seem a sight too clever for a serious discussion of asceticism, which after all involves discipline in the sense of both learning and training, but the "sporting" root of our term asceticism is never far from us, and thus is one of the concepts underlying my response. Askesis is serious play, or even at times "a play," a dramatic performance, live theatre. To complicate the matter further, this response of mine is yet a response to three responses to responses.
Pain, Power, and Personhood: Ascetic Behavior in the Ancient Mediterranean
Authors: Bruce J. Malina
Published: November 2023

When I began to prepare this essay, my first step was to read through the splendid collection of documents, as well as the perceptive and insightful essays, prepared by Professor Vincent Wimbush and his colleagues in the Society of Biblical Literature Group on Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Wimbush 1990, 1992). A distinctive feature of these presentations is the lack of a specific definition of the subject to which the group has dedicated its efforts.
Asceticism—Audience and Resistance: Response to the Three Preceding Papers
Authors: Castelli Elizabeth A
Published: November 2023

First of all, I would like to thank Professors Sfameni Gasparro, Cameron, and Malina for their very engaging papers, which collectively demonstrate the evocative possibilities of the overarching theme, the hermeneutics of asceticism. Indeed, although each essay in its own way addresses early Christian asceticism, each pursues the task so differently from the others that I found myself, initially, wondering what, in fact, these essays had in common, beyond their broad subject matter. Several rereadings produced a list of themes and concerns that the papers share; and so my response is largely an attempt to explore these shared interests, although I also have some questions for the presenters.
Ascetic Moods in Greek and Latin Literature
Authors: Pinsent John
Published: November 2023

It has been said that there is no word in French for "home" and none in British English for the American "home town." Similarly, there is no word in Greek for "asceticism," even though the word itself is derived from the Greek. The explanation is the same in all three cases: that the concept is in each case peculiar to the culture in which the word belongs. In our case, "asceticism" is a concept peculiar to the Christian culture of late antiquity. Since its history and development in this and other less closely related cultures will be the business of other contributors to this conference, I shall hope only to give some indication of how that use of the word derived from its earlier use in classical Greek literature.
Asceticism and the Compensations of Art
Authors: Harpham Geoffrey Gait
Published: November 2023

Within the broad range of practices that can be called ascetical, the creation and reception of art plays a crucial role. One of its primary functions has been in the area of what has since been called "self-fashioning" (Greenblat) or "self-forming" (Foucault). The contemporary emphasis on performance in contemporary ethnography, gender studies, drama, and literary theory also characteristically suggests an ascetic genealogy. For the performing subject is a disciplined subject, one trained, often by long and tedious practice, to produce a certain kind of display. So while performance sounds more like a hobby and less like a necessity—more like a choice or preference and less like a blood passion—its capacity to hone itself through discipline reflects its ideological and historical affiliation with those practices of selfdenial, or self-fashioning, that arose as testimonials of grace and faith within early Christian asceticism.
Sensuality and Mysticism—The Islamic Tradition: Response to the Three Preceding Papers
Authors: Awn Peter J
Published: November 2023

The challenge every respondent faces is to analyze cogently and succinctly the common themes articulated by the three authors. I have to admit honestly that I have failed miserably in this effort since there is, I believe, very little in common among these three papers. Methodologically and thematically, they are worlds apart, ranging from a phenomenological study of food, through a careful analysis of textual sources relating to Simeon's understanding of asceticism, ending with a sophisticated (and highly speculative) analysis of psycho-sexual themes in iconographic images of ascetics.
Asceticism and the Moral Good: A Tale of Two Pleasures
Authors: Milhaven J Giles
Published: November 2023

In the present essay I write primarily as philosopher, secondarily as historian. My overriding aim is to stimulate constructive discussion of a certain value question: what pleasures are worth having for themselves? The question is pertinent to certain contemporary value discussion, particularly some led by feminists; and yet the discussers have not brought out the question so openly, lucidly, and fruitfully as they might; or so it seems to me.
Toward a Politics of Asceticism: Response to the Three Preceding Papers
Authors: Deal William E
Published: November 2023

The perdurance of asceticism within and across religious traditions and cultures suggests the need for historical, cross-cultural, and multidisciplinary perspectives. . . . Thus, the main objective of the Conference is to test whether and to what extent asceticism can be discussed across the boundaries of academic disciplines and fields, historical periods, religious traditions, sensibilities and cultures.
Renunciation and Gender Issues in the Sri Vaisnava Community
Authors: Narayanan Vasudha
Published: November 2023

My study will focus on the complex politics of gender, marriage, and renunciation in the Sri Vaisnava tradition of Hinduism. I focus on one community in Hinduism, because (1) no one is a generic Hindu: almost all Hindus identify themselves as a member of a particular sectarian community or social caste; and (2) the history of the Hindu tradition(s) spans about three millennia and the literature is vast. By focusing on one community, which includes members of all castes, and by drawing upon its literature and practices, it is possible to have a deeper understanding of the religious roles of women than by scanning materials from hundreds of communities written over several centuries. Specifically, I will examine two different events which the Sri Vaisnava community holds as paradigmatic and see how these are worked out in the salvific process of a human being.
The Politics of Piety: Response to the Three Preceding Papers
Authors: Bazell Dianne M
Published: November 2023

However some of us enter into comparative enterprises, we cannot help but find such projects daunting on at least two levels. On the theoretical plane, one hopes to avoid being fooled by apparent similarities into making inappropriate associations and, as a result, imposing inappropriate hermeneutical categories onto the material at hand.1 On the practical side of things, comparative enterprises often necessitate discussion among participants of widely diverse areas of expertise, provoking either no response at all, or discussions that may on occasion appear to follow very different vectors. These considerations in mind, I will nevertheless endeavor to address, and to put into a larger and coherent framework, some of the issues raised by the previous speakers, who themselves come from such disparate fields, each removed from mine.
Shame and Sex in Late Antique Judaism
Authors: Satlow Michael L
Published: November 2023

Although asceticism is a slippery phenomenon that often evades precise definition, nearly all the attempted definitions focus on individual experience and motivation.
Flagellation and the French Counter-Reformation: Asceticism, Social Discipline, and the Evolution of a Penitential Culture
Authors: Ramsey Ann W
Published: November 2023

This paper proposes a revision of the trend in Counter-Reformation scholarship which regards sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Catholic reform through the lens of modernization and acculturation. I examine two major strands of the historiography dealing with modernization and acculturation to show how historians of the Catholic Reformation have overlooked the important reactivation of an older tradition of asceticism—flagellation and penitential piety—as the spiritual sources of the increased emphasis on social discipline in early modern Catholic piety. This misreading of Catholic spirituality in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is of general interest, because it has helped to maintain unwelcome residues of the Whig interpretation of history. We can see this, for example, in the persistence of notions of a steady progress, from the Renaissance onward, of rationalization and secularization, leading to the ultimate triumph of civil eudemonism in the eighteenth century.
Communion of Immigrants
Authors: Fisher James T
Published: November 2023

Catholicism has grown from a suppressed and persecuted outsiders' religion in the American colonies to become the nation's single largest denomination. James Fisher surveys more than four centuries of Catholics' involvement in American history, starting his narrative with one of the first Spanish expeditions to Florida, in 1528. He follows the transformation of Catholicism into one of America's most culturally and ethnically diverse religions, including the English Catholics' early settlement in Maryland, the Spanish missions to the Native Americans, the Irish and German poor who came in search of work and farmland, the proliferation of Polish and Italian communities, and the growing influx of Catholics from Latin America. The book discusses Catholic involvement in politics and conflict, from New York's Tammany Hall to the Vietnam War and abortion. Fisher highlights the critical role of women in American Catholicism--from St. Elizabeth Seton and Dorothy Day to Mother Cabrini, the first American citizen to be canonized a saint--and describes the influence of prominent American Catholics such as Cardinal John J. O'Connor, 1930s radio personality Father Charles Coughlin, President John F. Kennedy, pacifists Daniel and Philip Berrigan, activist Cesar Chavez, and author Flannery O'Connor.
A New Promised Land
Authors: Diner Hasia R
Published: November 2023

An excellent Afikoman gift for the teen or young adult at the seder... Diner...writes in a clear style that pulls together that diverse entity known as the American Jewish community.--The Chicago Jewish Star An engaging chronicle of Jewish life in the United States, A New Promised Land reconstructs the multifaceted background and very American adaptations of this religious group, from the arrival of twenty-three Jews in the New World in 1654, through the development of the Orthodox, conservative, and Reform movements, to the ordination of Sally Pries and as the first woman rabbi in the United States. Hasia Diner supplies fascinating details about Jewish religious traditions, holidays, and sacred texts. In addition, she relates the history of the Jewish religious, political, and intellectual institutions in the United States, and addresses some of the biggest issues facing Jewish Americans today, including their increasingly complex relationship with Israel.
Beyond The Random Walk
Authors: Singal Vijay
Published: November 2023

In an efficient market, all stocks should be valued at a price that is consistent with available information. But as financial expert Vijay Singal, Ph.D., CFA, points out, there are circumstances under which certain stocks sell at a price higher or lower than the right price. In Beyond the Random Walk, Singal discusses ten such anomalous prices and shows how investors might--or might not--be able to exploit these situations for profit. The author distills several decades of academic research into a focused discussion of market anomalies that is both accessible and useful to people with varied backgrounds. Past empirical evidence is supplemented with author’s own research using more recent data. Anomalies covered include the “December Effect,” “Momentum in Industry Stocks,” “S&P 500 Index Changes,” “Trading by Insiders,” and “Merger Arbitrage.” In each chapter, the author describes the particular anomaly, explains how it occurs, shows ways to take advantage of the anomaly, and highlights the risks involved. We learn, for example, that shares of stocks that have appreciated in recent months become scarce in late December, because investors wait until January before they sell (to postpone payment of taxes on profits). This scarcity drives the price up--the “December Effect”--and smart buyers can make the equivalent of 75% annual return on a five-day investment. Each chapter includes suggestions for further reading as well as tables and graphs that support the discussion. The book concludes with a preview of many other interesting anomalies and a section on how investor behavior might influence prices. Clearly written and informative, this well-researched volume is a must read for investors, traders, market specialists, and students of financial markets.