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The book is a collection of papers – now up-dated – on the most important relics of Christianity: (a) the Veil of Manoppello, on which the face of Jesus of Nazareth alive is impressed; (b) the Shroud of Turin, on which the full body of Jesus dead is impressed. Nobody knows how the images were impressed 2000 years ago. The reader may not agree that they relate to Jesus of Nazareth – known to Christians as Jesus Christ – and that they are 2000 years old, just like biased scholars continue to deny, despite the overwhelming, largely documented proof found on the Shroud and now also on the Veil, which is scientifically examined here for the first time. Based on these papers, we dare to conclude that the man depicted in both relics is Jesus of Nazareth, who was born, very likely, on 6 January 1 AD and died on Good Friday 23 April 34 AD.

Although rabbinic compilations were composed hundreds of years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and despite differences in language, genre, and cultural setting, Dynamics of Midrashic Traditions seeks to demonstrate that both corpora preserve a common heritage, albeit replete with conflicting traditions and polemics. The integrative study carried out in this book sheds light on both corpora, paying special attention to the dynamics that shape and reshape the midrashic traditions throughout their transmission. The book deals with exegetical aspects incorporated in textual variants of the Bible, in Second Temple Literature (especially the'rewritten Bible', Sirach, Book of Jubilees, the Dead Sea scrolls, Hellenistic Jewish works, Philo of Alexandria), as well as passages of Paul and early Christian writers, scrutinizing them in tandem with parallels from rabbinic literature, Targum and ancient piyyutim. Among the themes discussed are the following: the knowledge of good and evil given to Adam; Abraham the monotheist; Moses's death; Pesher and allegoristic interpretation; and halakhic issues in rabbinic literature and the Dead Sea scrolls.

Travel and pilgrimage have become central research topics in recent years. Some archaeologists and historians have applied globalization theories to ancient intercultural connections. Classicists have rediscovered travel as a literary topic in Greek and Roman writing. Scholars of early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been rethinking long-familiar pilgrimage practices in new interdisciplinary contexts. This volume contributes to this flourishing field of study in two ways. First, the focus of its contributions is on experiences of travel. Our main question is: How did travelers in the ancient world experience and make sense of their journeys, real or imaginary, and of the places they visited? Second, by treating Jewish, Christian, and Islamic experiences together, this volume develops a longue durée perspective on the ways in which travel experiences across these three traditions resembled each other. By focusing on'experiences of travel,'we hope to foster interaction between the study of ancient travel in the humanities and that of broader human experience in the social sciences.

The Church is essentially both human and divine. It is a sign of hope in which mysteries of God are revealed within the reality of human cultures. Among the main characteristics of Coptic Christianity is a tendency to the profound spirituality; the spirituality between the culture of city and the culture of desert. Throughout history the Egyptian Christian tradition has adopted Coptic, Greek and Arabic culture. From the nineteenth century onwards, also the cultural influences of modern Europe has been intensified. It brought to Egypt new theological impulses. The doctrine of the deification of man was in the second half of the twentieth century promoted in Egypt by Matthew the Poor and his disciples. And soon it became the subject of a theological dispute. It is significant for the time of cultural exchange that among the main impulses there was a compilation of texts on prayer written in English by Lazarus Moore. It actually determined the framework of his theological thinking. Among his opponents there was his former pupil and further Alexandrian patriarch Pope Shenouda III. The presented work might be described as a follow up of the already published monograph on Matthew the Poor. It presents a theological analysis of the work of the Alexandrian Patriarch Shenouda III with the focus on his critique of the doctrine of the deification of man. The analysis is a search for the causes of the dispute over the doctrine of the deification of man and it also presents the results within the context of newly emerging cultural paradigms of Coptic Christianity.

Staroseverská literatura je českému čtenáři známa především díky textům s pohanskými náměty: mytologickým a hrdinským písním Starší Eddy, pohanským skaldským básním a ságám o dávnověku. Méně známé už je, že po své christianizaci v 10. až 12. století stáří Seveřané vytvořili bohatou literaturu s křesťanskou tematikou. Z literárního hlediska se často jedná o podivuhodná díla, v nichž se střetávají a prolínají křesťanské a tradičně severské látky a motivy. Jejich roztříštěná forma je obrazem doby, v níž lidská mysl beznadějně kolísala mezi starým a novým a křesťanské poselství lásky se střetávalo se světem, v němž přežívaly drsné válečnické ideály slávy a msty. Kniha představuje výběr ze čtyř staletí staroseverské křesťanské literatury.

One of the hitherto little researched phenomena of Late Middle Ages is the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, which was distinctly influencing the spiritual climate of Central Europe from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Initially the cult covering a variable group, composed largely of male and female saints of Christian Antiquity, intensively spread, since the fourteenth century, from its center between Krems, Passau, Regensburg, and Brixen into additional Austrian, Bavarian, and Franconian regions. The cult gained a definite anchorage on the basis of an alleged revelation of Child Jesus and the Fourteen Holy Helpers, which occurred in 1445/1446 on the grounds of the Cistercian Abbey Langheim in the Bamberg Diocese of Upper Franconia. From that moment – when also the famous pilgrimage place of Vierzehnheiligen sprang up – the cult rapidly expanded in all directions so that by the time of the European Reformations it extended on a vast territory from Denmark to Italy, and from France to Hungary. Moreover, more than any other similar cults, it attracted the interest of social elites, including the aristocratic and intellectual ones. The dissertation is thematically divided into five chapters, representing studies which, while distinctive, yet naturally relate to each other. The first one aims at the Austro‑Bavarian area, a specific cultural region of Central Europe, and the focal point of the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The following three chapters analyze the functions of the principal pilgrimage centers of the cult. In the first place, it is an exploration of the Vierzehnheiligen in Upper Franconia, where in mid‑fifteenth century there arose a pilgrimage site with an almost unexpected Christocentric spirituality, which attracted members of contemporary elites. This inspiration led to the creation of Vierzehnheiligen cult also in Thuringia that became a sort of spiritual, as well as a combined ecclesiastical and political center of the Saxon dynasty of the Wettins. Finally, there emerged a pilgrimage site in the North‑Western Bohemian Kadaň, where the principal point of attraction was the Franciscan church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, supported by the aristocratic family of the Hasištejnskýs of Lobkowicz. A separate chapter is devoted to the expansion of the cult into other European regions, and especially to the selection of artefacts, representing the noted Christocentric dimension of this phenomenal cult. The monograph is conceived to be interdisciplinary with a wide utilization of literary and iconographic material of Central Europe, broadly conceived. The structural analysis thoroughly explores the various aspects of the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, which has appeared as a significant phenomenon of the last three medieval centuries, in its last phase even spilling over into the early modern times. One of the key results of the analytical exploration – which at the same time attempts a synthesis – is above all a new periodization of the earliest history of the cult, which, during the course of the research, naturally resulted into four mutually sequential temporal phases. The years 1250–1280 till 1350 can be rightfully designated as a period of incubation, when the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers had its gradual start and development in the Austro‑Bavarian area, above all in Bavaria and in Tirol. Apparently on the initiative of mendicant preachers – Minorites and Dominicans – with the support of relevant episcopal authorities in Passau, Regensburg, and Brixen, there gradually came together a group of specially privileged saints, both male and female, and mainly martyrs of Christian Antiquity. Their cult served vis‑à‑vis the rising Christian non‑conformism, particularly Waldensianism, as an instrument of discipline and of deepened internalized Christianity for the local population. The imperial and episcopal town of Regensburg proved to be the initial focus of the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. T

Die Theologie Martin Luthers wurde eine inspirierende Basis für die östliche Peripherie der deutschen Reformation im Gebiet der heutigen Slowakei. So rief die wittenbergische Reformation eine spezifische Entwicklung der religiös-politischen Ereignisse in Oberungarn hervor. Der sich enorm verbreitende Protestantismus wurde seitens der habsburgischen Rekatholisierung jedoch systematisch unterdrückt. Die einzelnen Beiträge reflektieren nicht nur die Reformationsgeschichte in Oberungarn, sondern sie beschäftigen sich auch mit der wittenbergischen Hermeneutik, philosophischen Theologie und mit der durch die Reformation geprägten Pädagogik.

Der Titel'Israel trägt die Kirche'hat gewichtige Argumente aus der Geschichte gegen sich. Die Tradition war viele Jahrhunderte von feindseliger Einstellung gegenüber dem Judentum geprägt. Die Wende geschah mit der Konzilserklärung über die Haltung der Kirche zu den nichtchristlichen Religionen'Nostra Aetate'von 1965. Mehr als fünfzig Jahre später kann der Blick auf ihre Fortschreibung Erstaunliches offenlegen. Es kam zu unerwarteten Erklärungen aus dem orthodoxen Judentum zur jüdisch-christlichen Beziehung. In der christlichen Theologie hat das Jüdische seinen Ort erhalten. Die Perspektive nach vorn hat gute Gründe für den Befund'Die theologische Fortschreibung von'Nostra Aetate'geht weiter'.

'In one six-week period in November and December, more than 400 church buildings were bulldozed to the ground.'Zhejiang, a prosperous eastern province, is home to the highest percentage of Christians in China. This volume describes how God established His kingdom there, using a one-legged Scotsman to bring the gospel to the large city of Wenzhou, which today contains so many churches it has earned the nickname'the Jerusalem of China'. The Church in Zhejiang was called to make great sacrifices during the Cultural Revolution, when from just one city 50 church leaders were sent to prison, 49 of whom died for their faith. The Communists earmarked Zhejiang as a'religion-free zone'in the 1950s and 1960s, yet to the glory of God, Jesus Christ is worshipped today by more than 13 million people throughout the province. This is the third volume in The China Chronicles, which tells the modern history of the Church in China. The series is designed to inform the wider world of the astonishing work of the Holy Spirit in China.

It is the conviction of Sacramentum Caritatis as well as the fathers of the Second Vatican Council that active participation at Eucharistic celebration cannot be easily disassociated from active involvement in the Church's mission in the world. This present study in the light of the foregoing presuppositions, exposes some of such challenges confronting the Afro-Igbo Christian, with special focus on the menace of the osu caste system, and proposes ways towards its eradication. One of such ways remains strengthening the Eucharistic celebration through the process of the inculturation.

Die in dem vorliegenden Band gesammelten Studien zeigen einen Querschntt durch vier Jahrzehnte kritischer Beschäftigung mit Themen der christlichen Religionsgeschichte: vom Urchristentum (Paulus) über die Epoche der Kirchenväter (Augustinus), Humanismus (Erasmus), Renaissance (Piero dela Francesca, Michelangelo), Reformation (Luther, Calvin), Barock (Bernini) bis zur Gegenwart. Alle Beiträge lassen den gegenüber herrschenden Tendenzen der Forschung durchaus originellen und eigenwilligen Stand des Autors in Duktus und Methode erkennen.

Gottfried Mehnert hat in diesem Band Studien und Aufsätze zur christlich-jüdischen Wechselbeziehung zusammengestellten, die - mit zwei Ausnahmen - in den Jahren seines'Ruhestands'seit 1990 in Marburg entstanden sind. Der erste Teil ist der Auseinandersetzung jüdischer Gelehrter und Rabbiner mit Adolf von Harnacks berühmten Vorlesungen des Jahres 1900 über'Das Wesen des Christentums'gewidmet. Im Zentrum steht dabei der Berliner Rabbiner Dr. Joseph Eschelbacher, der die umfangreichste und gründlichste Auseinandersetzung mit Harnack verfasst hat. Der zweite Teil beschreibt Rabbinerprüfungen an der Universität Marburg im 19. Jahrhundert, die aus heutiger Sicht als ein Beispiel kultureller Integrationspolitik und jüdischer Selbstintegration verstanden werden können. Der dritte Teil enthält Studien zum protestantisch-jüdischen Verhältnis im 18., 19. und 20. Jahrhundert aus früheren Publikationen.

This book represents the outcome of the “Conference on Church Archaeology in the Baltic Sea Region” held in August 2013 in Turku, Finland, which, in turn, had its roots in the long tradition of Scandinavian Symposia for Nordic Church Archaeology, started in 1981 in Denmark.During the past few decades, the scope of church archaeology has expanded immensely and can presently be described as a multifaceted field of research. This book represents a convincing testament to this development. Every chapter gives a distinctive perspective on the theme of sacred monuments and practices written by leading experts in this field. As such, this volume offers unique insights into the study of religious life and its material aspects in the Baltic Sea Region, made available for English-readers for the first time.

Die christlichen Erweckungsbewegungen des 19. Jahrhunderts stellen ein vielgestaltiges und international agierendes historisches Phänomen der neueren Religionsgeschichte dar. In den letzten Jahrzehnten fanden sie zwar in der internationalen, nicht aber in der deutschsprachigen Historiographie die ihnen gebührende wissenschaftliche Beachtung. Die sechzehn internationalen Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes widmen sich diesen unterschiedlichen religiösen Formationen multiperspektivisch und bieten nicht nur neue Ergebnisse, sondern markieren zudem zentrale Perspektiven und Probleme ihrer Erforschung.

An autobiography by Paul Hattaway, a high school dropout from New Zealand whose love for God and commitment to the peoples of Asia has led him to provide 10 million Bibles to China alone, and to sponsor more than 1500 Asian missionaries through the ministry Asia Harvest. Paul is a gifted speaker, but in obedience to God he has focused for many years on his writing, notably telling the story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun in his book The Heavenly Man, which has sold over one million copies and been translated into nearly 50 languages.

Die Idee der europäischen Einheit hat im protestantischen Denken keine lange Tradition. Über Jahrhunderte war der Protestantismus aufs engste mit der Staats- und Nationenwerdung in Europa verbunden gewesen, weshalb er lange Zeit für europäische Vielfalt und Disparatheit, nicht aber für eine wie auch immer geartete Einheit stand. Erst ab Ende der 1930er Jahre ist das Entstehen eines protestantischen Europadiskurses zu beobachten – und zwar innerhalb der internationalen ökumenischen Bewegung. Dort, wo die Einheit der Kirchen über die nationalen Grenzen hinweg angestrebt wurde, ließ der drohende Krieg zwischen eben jenen Nationen ein europäisches Bewusstsein entstehen, und führende Vertreter der Ökumene begannen, sich in die allgemeine Diskussion über die Zukunft Europas einzuschalten. Von zentraler Bedeutung war dabei der niederländische Theologe Willem Adolph Visser't Hooft, der den ökumenischen Protestantismus im 20. Jahrhundert wie kein Zweiter prägte. In der vorliegenden Studie untersucht Jan Schubert, wie sich seine Wahrnehmung Europas als einer politischen, kulturellen und gesellschaftlichen Einheit von den 1920er bis zu den 1960er Jahren entwickelte. Dabei vollzieht die Studie nach, welche Personen, Gruppierungen sowie welche geistigen, ideellen und theologischen Strömungen ihn bei seiner Meinungsbildung bezüglich'Europa'beeinflusst haben. Auf diese Weise eröffnet sie einen exemplarischen Einblick in die Entstehungsphase des protestantischen Europadiskurses, der in der historischen Forschung bislang weitgehend vernachlässigt wurde.

Thumbnail biographies of the most influential Christians of the last thousand years, written by noted contemporary scholars.

¿Cómo percibieron los cristianos el auge del islam? ¿Qué elementos contribuyeron a la construcción literaria e iconográfica de Mahoma en el mundo cristiano? ¿Se mantuvo de forma invariable esa percepción? El presente libro intenta ofrecer respuestas a esas preguntas a partir de la lectura de textos y autores medievales y modernos que ofrecen su percepción del islam y la vida de Mahoma desde tiempos y perspectivas intelectuales diferentes: desde el tiempo de las cruzadas hasta la expulsión de los moriscos; desde la derrota de Heraclio hasta el dominio turco en los Balcanes; desde las obras de los cristianos de Arabia hasta las de los mozárabes; desde textos de polémica religiosa hasta obras teatrales. A través del análisis de esos soportes y su transmisión vemos cómo los cristianos ofrecieron una figura poliédrica de Mahoma no solo como hereje, falso profeta o cismático, sino también como ambicioso conquistador y astuto legislador, e incluso como mago y visionario.

Drawing on her own monastic community, a best-selling author shows how to redefine the essentials of faith in a time when old ways and formulas no logner serve.

In der gesamten griechisch-römischen Antike verkörperte sich die soziale Identität von Gruppen in besonderer Weise in ihrem gemeinsamen Mahl: Die entscheidenden Aspekte ihres Gemeinsinns – ihr soziales und religiöses Selbstverständnis, Fragen der Zugehörigkeit und inneren Struktur sowie die Abgrenzung von anderen Gruppen – wurden durch das gemeinsame Mahl rituell behauptet und dargestellt. Der vorliegende Band präsentiert die Beiträge zu einer Tagung, die vom Dresdner SFB 804 „Transzendenz und Gemeinsinn“ und dem SBL Seminar „Meals in the Greco-Roman World“ gemeinsam veranstaltet wurde. Sie untersuchen sowohl die rituelle Praxis frühchristlicher Mähler als auch die theologischen Diskurse über das Mahl in ihrem kulturellen und sozialen Kontext. Neben grundsätzlichen Methodenfragen werden Beispiele diskutiert, die vom klassischen Athen über Qumran, das Neue Testament und Kirchenväter bis hin zu frühen monastischen Regeln reichen. Der Band leistet damit einen Beitrag zu den antiken VorausSetzungen von Identitätsbildung sowie zum Verständnis der frühchristlichen Mahltheologie

Religion, politics and fear: how England was transformed by the Tudors. The English Reformation was a unique turning point in English history. Derek Wilson retells the story of how the Tudor monarchs transformed English religion and why it still matters today. Recent scholarly research has undermined the traditional view of the Reformation as an event that occurred solely amongst the elite. Wilson now shows that, although the transformation was political and had a huge impact on English identity, on England's relationships with its European neighbours and on the foundations of its empire, it.

Benjamin L. Hartley brings to light the little-known story of relative latecomers to Boston's religious scene: Methodist, Salvation Army, Baptist, and nondenominational Christians. Focusing on Congregationalists and Roman Catholics, Boston urban historians have largely overlooked these groups. Hartley, however, sheds light on the role of immigrant evangelical leaders from Italy, Sweden, and elsewhere in revivalism and social reform in postbellum Boston. Further, examining the contested nature of revivalism and social reform in a particular, local nineteenth-century context provides a basis for understanding the roots of current divisions in American Protestantism and the contentious role of evangelical religion in American politics. Hartley documents the importance of the American holiness movement as a precursor to the significant presence of Pentecostal groups in urban America, adding an important historical context for evangelical social action today.

This is the story of one of the most influential, provocative, ambitious projects of its day: translating the Bible into English, the language of the people. In 1604 the new King James I convened a meeting at Hampton Court to address the problem of the Puritans. The recommendation was for the authorization of a new translation of the Bible, one that would be accessible to the common people and placed in every Church in his realm. Within three years a team of 47 scholars on six committees had begun work in Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster. The fruit of their labours was the Authorized Version published in 1611. Beautifully presented and based on scholarly research, this book traces the fascinating history of the AV from its earliest predecessors through its remarkable influence on the church, literature, and wider society.

Condicionado por su origen aristocrático e imbuido de los emergentes ideales del ascetismo cristiano, el hispano Prudencio (ca. 348- 415) asienta en su obra poética la conformación ideológica de una nueva identidad cultural heredera de la tradición clásica y, al mismo tiempo, impulsora de los principios de la doctrina católica. De la elegancia que destilan sus versos trasciende una novedosa ideología política que pretende crear y perpetuar un nuevo concepto de Romanitas caracterizado por una particular fusión providencialista entre la antigua herencia romana y la nueva creencia cristiana. Era necesario, pues, vincular la historia romana a la historia sagrada con el fin de crear, a partir de la llegada de Cristo, un común deambular de la humanidad dentro de la «historia de la Salvación». El Imperio romano, al frente del cual se encaramaba ahora la imponente figura del emperador cristiano (personificada en su época por Teodosio), se convertía así en el vehículo idóneo para la difusión universal y la defensa a ultranza de la creencia cristiana frente a los «enemigos de la fe», y la Iglesia se erigía en el Verus Israel depositario de todas las promesas bíblicas en detrimento de un derrotado judaísmo. Fuera de la Catholica Ecclesia y, por tanto, de la Romanitas, el pueblo judío, asimilado ya a los bárbaros, será definitivamente desheredado por sus innumerables pecados y abruptamente expulsado de la «historia de la Salvación» para continuar sufriendo el castigo divino que aún pesaba sobre él, vagando hasta el fin de los tiempos en tierra ajena.

Kathleen Corley continues her examination of women's roles at the beginnings of Christianity with groundbreaking new study of women's funerary rituals and lament customs in the ancient Roman world. She finds in these rituals important connections with Gospel accounts of women's visits to the tomb of Jesus and of his resurrection “on the third day.” Examining texts, catacomb art and inscriptions, she articulates a new and exciting role for women mourners at the heart of Christian origins.

One of the classic works of hagiography, Paul Bedjan's seven volume work on collected acts of martyrs and saints is an invaluable Syraic resource. Containing many foundational stories of early Christianity, this work is approved by the Roman Catholic Church and is highly valued in the Syrian Orthodox tradition.

One of the classic works of hagiography, Paul Bedjan's seven volume work on collected acts of martyrs and saints is an invaluable Syraic resource. Containing many foundational stories of early Christianity, this work is approved by the Roman Catholic Church and is highly valued in the Syrian Orthodox tradition.

One of the classic works of hagiography, Paul Bedjan's seven volume work on collected acts of martyrs and saints is an invaluable Syraic resource. Containing many foundational stories of early Christianity, this work is approved by the Roman Catholic Church and is highly valued in the Syrian Orthodox tradition.

One of the classic works of hagiography, Paul Bedjan's seven volume work on collected acts of martyrs and saints is an invaluable Syraic resource. Containing many foundational stories of early Christianity, this work is approved by the Roman Catholic Church and is highly valued in the Syrian Orthodox tradition.

A notable resource for both church historians and linguists, this work of Lagarde contains both Syriac and Greek materials concerning ancient ecclesiastical laws. A number of ancient documents are cited in this unusual collection. Half of this collection is presented in the original Syriac and half in the original Greek. All introductions and notes are written in Latin. Intended for the serious linguist and church historian, this work requires language skills to unravel. As a collection of materials that had been inaccessible up to Lagarde's time, this volume also serves as a period piece containing a fresh view of writings that helped inform the growth of canon law.

La figura de Focio, dos veces patriarca de Constantinopla (858-867 y 878-886), pasa por ser una de las más controvertidas de la historia bizantina, así como una de las más estudiadas e incluso conocidas fuera del especializado campo de los estudios bizantinos. De todas sus facetas, es sin duda su labor como político, es decir, como hombre de estado, la que está menos estudiada. Mucho menos interés aún ha suscitado su participación en los proyectos legislativos de época de Basilio y concretamente en la Eisagoge o Introducción al derecho promulgada al final del reinado de éste. Aunque la obra es atribuida hoy a Focio, no se ha analizado en profundidad la implicación del patriarca en su composición más allá de la constatación de que el proemio procede sin duda de su pluma. La obra, que es objeto de una intensa polémica por su datación tanto absoluta como relativa, ha sido también objeto de discusión en lo que respecta a su posible promulgación, que parece evidente a la luz del proemio, pero que se plantea como conflictiva si consideramos que en la Eisagoge se impone una práctica equiparación de poderes entre el emperador y el patriarca que resultaba tan inasumible para la ideología imperial bizantina como apetecible para nuestro ambicioso patriarca. Esta polémica, que ha dejado en un segundo plano hasta ahora, como decíamos, otros problemas inherentes a la obra, tales como la participación de Focio en su elaboración o la propia estructura y método de composición de la Eisagoge, no puede ser abordada sin un análisis en profundidad del texto como el que procura una traducción. De esta forma nació el presente libro con un doble objetivo: el de la divulgación que conlleva toda traducción y el del estudio de la problemática que comporta un texto tan crucial como la Eisagoge dentro de la historia del derecho bizantino.

This edition of St Augustine's The City of God (De Civitate Dei) is the only one in English to provide a text and translation as well as a detailed commentary of this most influential document in the history of western Christianity. In these books Augustine offers a Christian perspective on the growth of Rome, which its pagan apologists attribute to the providential protection of its gods. Book III spotlights both the injustices inflicted and the privations endured by the Romans, thus rebutting such claims. Book IV offers a withering account of the Roman deities, basing its analysis on the researches of Terentius Varro. This section of The City of God is a vital document for students of Roman history, and especially of Roman religion, for it provides the most detailed evidence of Varro's learned works. Latin text with facing-page English translation, introduction and commentary.

This book provides the Syriac text along with a translation of the tale of Euphemia and the martyrs'deliverance of her from the Goth.

This edition of Books I & II of St Augustine's The City of God (De Civitate Dei) is the only edition in English to provide a text and translation as well as a detailed commentary of this most influential document in the history of western Christianity. In these books, written in the aftermath of the sack of Rome in AD 410 by the Goths, Augustine replies to the pagans, who attributed the fall of Rome to the Christian religion and its prohibition of the worship of the pagan gods. Latin text with facing-page English translation, introduction and commentary.

Magic and witchcraft have been believed in, and practised, from ancient times through to the present day, frequently as an expected companion to the official religion. It is, however, important not to fall into the trap of thinking of these beliefs as being a monolithic set of tenets and practises.The aim of this book is to provide students with insight into the way in which people in the early modern period framed their ideas abouth the'Creator'and the created universe in terms of magic. This mental framework informed and moulded theology, philosophy, the law, medicine, and the sciences, as well as offering everyone practical help to cope with and find solutions to the multifarious problems of their everyday lives. A study of witchcraft, (which was simply a particular manifestation of this mental world) therefore helps to illustrate many of the key concepts which governed both defenders and, later, opponents of the magical Zeitgeist.Maxwell-Stuart creates a lively overview of the subject from medieval attitudes to witches, through the details of two influential treatises, to the effect of the Reformation on attitudes to witchcraft, and the influence of Calvin, Luther and James VI of Scotland. Recent scholarship on witchcraft in Scandinavia, Iceland, Russia, Hungary, Poland and the New World enriches the text.

The City of God is the most influential of Augustine's works, which played a decisive role in the formation of the Christian West. This book is the first comprehensive modern guide to it in any language. The City of God's scope embodies cosmology, psychology, political thought, anti-pagan polemic, Christian apologetic, theory of history, biblical interpretation, and apocalyptic themes. This book is, therefore, at once about a single masterpiece and at the same time surveys Augustine's developing views through the whole range of his thought. The book is written in the form of a detailed running commentary on each part of the work. Further chapters elucidate the early fifth-century political, social, historical, and literary background, the work's sources, and its place in Augustine's writings.The book should prove of value to Augustine's wide readership among students of late antiquity, theologians, philosophers, medievalists, Renaissance scholars, and historians of art and iconography.

This is a collection of essays on the literature of'saints'lives'in Anglo-Saxon literature.Paul E. Szarmach is Director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. He is the editor of Aspects of Medieval Culture in the Middle Ages; Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe; Studies in Earlier Old English Prose, and co-author (with Bernard F. Huppe) of Old English Homily and Its Background, all published by SUNY Press. He is also the editor of the SUNY series in Medieval Studies.

'Select bibliography of A.G. Dickens': p. 583-584.

This is a wide-ranging study of the Protestant Reformation. Starting with an analysis of the late-medieval church, the book charts the progress of reform and concludes with an important assessment of the impact of the Reformation.