Early modern philosophy

essential readings with commentary

"Early Modern Philosophy" is a complete introduction to the most significant and influential philosophers of the first part of the modern era. Spanning the 16th through the early part of the 18th century, early modern philosophy marks a critical shift in the ideas that have ...

The Blackwell companion to contemporary Islamic thought

'The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought' reflects the variety of trends, voices, and opinions in the contemporary Muslim intellectual scene. It challenges Western misconceptions about the modern Muslim world, demonstrating that it is far from being a monolithic religious, cultural and intellectual phenomenon. The ...

The Blacwell companion to the Qur'an

'The Blackwell Companion to the Qur'an' is the ideal resource for anyone who wishes to read and understand the Qur'an as a text and as a vital piece of Muslim life. The volume is divided into seven accessible sections, including an initial orientation ...

The Blackwell companion to the Bible and culture

'The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture' offers readers a stimulating, one-volume reference source about twenty- first century approaches to the Bible. Drawing on interdisciplinary and international examples, the volume explores how the Bible has impacted on all the major social contexts where it ...

A companion to Nietzsche

Nietzsche's philosophy exercised a mesmerizing influence on twentieth-century thought, and continues to be a significant source of inspiration for work in all the major branches of philosophical inquiry. "A Companion to Nietzsche" showcases contemporary research and scholarship, and provides a comprehensive guide to all ...

Thinking about religion

an historical introduction to theories of Religion

Is the Bible unique and flawless divine revelation? Or is it an historical human document subject to criticism? Is religious experience a link to the divine? Or is it a product of social pressure or psychological malformation? This book tells the story of how and ...

Contesting the Crusades

In this book Norman Housley, one of the most distinguished historians of the medieval period, provides an authoritative introduction to the crusades. Drawing on 30 years' experience, Housley steers readers through the key historical debates. Almost every aspect of the long and complex history of ...

Julius Caesar in western culture

Julius Caesar is not only the most famous Roman of them all. He has also been surprisingly relevant in many different periods, for many different societies and people. Edited by a leading expert on the reception of ancient Rome, this interdisciplinary volume examines Caesar's ...

David Harvey

a critical reader

David Harvey is among the most distinguished and influential Marxist theorists of his generation. For over three decades, he has published works of major insight and originality that have challenged and altered dominant intellectual- political frameworks of understanding in urban studies, geography, sociology and beyond ...

Kingship

the politics of enchantment

In this book, Francis Oakley argues that kingship may be the most common form of government known to humankind. He traces its history from the time of the Neolithic revolution and the spread of agrarian modes of subsistence around the eastern Mediterranean (c.8000 - 5000 ...

Dictionary of globalization

The "Dictionary of Globalization" provides a critical overview of the contemporary globalization debate, bringing together all the disparate elements of a vast and ever-growing literature. Framed by a lively introductory chapter which examines the emergence and propulsion of this concept into widespread usage, the dictionary ...

The Russian economy

from Lenin to Putin

The epic tale of the Soviet Union's quest to construct a socialist economy was, until recently, the principal motif of textbooks on the Russian economy. Traditional Soviet and post-Soviet books usually adopt an historical approach, exploiting the dichotomies between socialism and capitalism as a ...

A companion to Plato

Plato and Platonism remain fundamental to the practice of philosophy. This broad-ranging Companion comprises original contributions from some of the best Platonic scholars in the world today and reflects the various ways in which they are dealing with Plato's legacy. The Companion is ordered ...

Cosmopolitan vision

In this new book, Ulrich Beck develops his now widely used concepts of second modernity, risk society and reflexive sociology into a radical new sociological analysis of the cosmopolitan implications of globalization. Beck draws extensively on empirical and theoretical analyses of such phenomena as migration ...

The Blackwell Companion to christian ethics

"The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics" presents an innovative exposition of Christian ethics, seen through the lens of Christian worship. Editors Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells challenge conventional approaches to the subject, contending that it is Christian worship that shapes the moral life of Christians ...

Nations and nationalism

Ernest Gellner's "Nations and Nationalism" (1983) provides one of the most powerful and original interpretations of modern nationalism. Drawing upon a range of disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, sociology, politics and history, Gellner argues that nationalism is an inescapable consequence of modernity. For this new ...

The biography of the object in late medieval and renaissance Italy

The famous call, made nineteen years ago by Appadurai and Kopytoff, that students of material culture should study the 'social life' of things has, until now, had a limited effect upon students of the Italian Renaissance. The essays in this book - part of the recent ...

A companion to the reformation world

This volume brings together 29 new essays by leading international scholars, to provide an inclusive overview of recent work in Reformation history. The articles examine the Reformation in its broadest definition, presenting the Catholic Renewal as a continuum of the Protestant Reformation. The essays span ...

A companion to rhetoric and rhetorical criticism

"A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism" offers the first major survey in two decades of the field of rhetorical studies and of the practice of rhetorical theory and criticism across a range of disciplines. The contributions are written by leading scholars from a variety ...

A companion to the worlds of the Renaissance

The idea of the Renaissance as a period of European cultural triumph in which great men flourished has been largely demolished in the last fifty years. This provocative volume brings together some of the most exciting scholars who led this attack, to suggest different ways ...