Practicing Gnosis

Practicing Gnosis
Author: April DeConick
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 581
Release: 2013-08-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004248528

Ritual, magic, liturgy, and theurgy were central features of Gnosticism, and yet Gnostic practices remain understudied. This anthology is meant to fill in this gap and address more fully what the ancient Gnostics were doing. While previously we have studied the Gnostics as intellectuals in pursuit of metaphysical knowledge, the essays in this book attempt to understand the Gnostics as ecstatics striving after religious experience, as prophets seeking revelation, as mystics questing after the ultimate God, as healers attempting to care for the sick and diseased. These essays demonstrate that the Gnostics were not necessarily trendy intellectuals seeking epistomological certainities. They were after religious experiences that relied on practices. The book is organized comparatively in a history-of-religions approach with sections devoted to Initiatory, Recurrent, Therapeutic, Ecstatic, and Philosophic Practices. This book celebrates the brilliant career of Birger A. Pearson.

Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia In their Local Setting

Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia In their Local Setting
Author: Colin J. Hemer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 353
Release: 1987-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567319431

With a new foreword by David E. Aune, this modern classic by Colin J. Hemer explores the seven letters in the book of Revelation against the historical background of the churches to which they were addressed. Based on literary, epigraphical, and archaeological sources and informed by Hemer's firsthand knowledge of the biblical sites, this superb study presents in the clearest way possible a picture of the New Testament world in the later part of the first century and its significance for broader questions of church history.

Routledge International Handbook of Food Studies

Routledge International Handbook of Food Studies
Author: Ken Albala
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 667
Release: 2013-05-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1136741658

Over the past decade there has been a remarkable flowering of interest in food and nutrition, both within the popular media and in academia. Scholars are increasingly using foodways, food systems and eating habits as a new unit of analysis within their own disciplines, and students are rushing into classes and formal degree programs focused on food. Introduced by the editor and including original articles by over thirty leading food scholars from around the world, the Routledge International Handbook of Food Studies offers students, scholars and all those interested in food-related research a one-stop, easy-to-use reference guide. Each article includes a brief history of food research within a discipline or on a particular topic, a discussion of research methodologies and ideological or theoretical positions, resources for research, including archives, grants and fellowship opportunities, as well as suggestions for further study. Each entry also explains the logistics of succeeding as a student and professional in food studies. This clear, direct Handbook will appeal to those hoping to start a career in academic food studies as well as those hoping to shift their research to a food-related project. Strongly interdisciplinary, this work will be of interest to students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities.

The Beauty of the Lord

The Beauty of the Lord
Author: Jonathan King
Publisher: Lexham Press
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2018-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1683590597

Why is God's beauty often absent from our theology? Rarely do theologians take up the theme of God's beauty—even more rarely do they consider how God's beauty should shape the task of theology itself. But the psalmist says that the heart of the believer's desire is to behold the beauty of the Lord. In The Beauty of the Lord, Jonathan King restores aesthetics as not merely a valid lens for theological reflection, but an essential one. Jesus, our incarnate Redeemer, displays the Triune God's beauty in his actions and person, from creation to final consummation. How can and should theology better reflect this unveiled beauty? The Beauty of the Lord is a renewal of a truly aesthetic theology and a properly theological aesthetics.

Ars Christiana

Ars Christiana
Author: Sankt-Peterburgskoe obshchestvo vizantino-slavi︠a︡nskikh issledovaniĭ
Publisher:
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2012-10-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781463201876

Jewish Communities in Asia Minor

Jewish Communities in Asia Minor
Author: Paul R. Trebilco
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2006-11-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780521030328

The book provides an invaluable and coherent description of the life of Jewish communities in Asia Minor.

Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions

Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions
Author: Jan Assmann
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 460
Release: 1999
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9789004113565

This collection of essays deals with anthropological rather than theological aspects of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions from the archaic period to Late Antiquity. Part one focuses on "Confession and Conversion," part two on "Guilt, Sin and Rituals of Purification."

Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty

Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty
Author: Mark C. Mattes
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2017-08-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149341030X

Many contemporary theologians seek to retrieve the concept of beauty as a way for people to encounter God. This groundbreaking book argues that while Martin Luther's view of beauty has often been ignored or underappreciated, it has much to contribute to that quest. Mark Mattes, one of today's leading Lutheran theologians, analyzes Luther's theological aesthetics and discusses its implications for music, art, and the contemplative life. Mattes shows that for Luther, the cross is the lens through which the beauty of God is refracted into the world.

Early Judaism

Early Judaism
Author: George W. E. Nickelsburg
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 268
Release:
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1451408471

Jewish writings from the period of Second Temple present a rich and complex variety of first-hand materials. Here, the editors have updated their classic sourcebook on Jewish beliefs and practices to take into account current thinking about the sources.