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The tales of the mi'raj describe the prophet Muhammad's journey through the heavens, his encounters with prophets and angels, and his visit to heaven and hell. The tales are among Islam's most popular, appearing in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature, and in later adaptations throughout the Muslim world. Often serving as narratives designed to promote the worldview of particular Muslim groups, the tales were also a means for communities to construct rules of normative behavior and ritual practices, and were used to assert the superiority of Islam over other religions. The essays in this collection discuss the formation of this narrative, the mi'raj as a missionary text, its various adaptations, its application to esoteric thought, and its use in performance and ritual. -- Book jacket.
Older research on the premodern world limited its focus on the Church, the court, and, more recently, on urban space. The present volume invites readers to consider the meaning of rural space, both in light of ecocritical readings and social-historical approaches. While previous scholars examined the figure of the peasant in the premodern world, the current volume combines a large number of specialized studies that investigate how the natural environment and the appearance of members of the rural population interacted with the world of the court and of the city. The experience in rural space was important already for writers and artists in the premodern era, as the large variety of scholarly...
How can medieval art explain Jerusalem’s centrality in the world faiths of Christianity and Islam? This book delves into that topic by examining how Jerusalem was creatively represented and reimagined in several intriguing Christian and Islamic artworks in the later Middle Ages (c. 1187 to 1356). The book considers how European Catholic crusaders, Eastern Christian sects, and diverse Muslim factions displayed Jerusalem’s architecture to express their interpretation of the holy city’s sanctity and influence. These examples demonstrate how artworks can reflect Jerusalem’s importance to these faiths in the past and illuminate our understanding of its status into the modern era.
Opulent jeweled objects ranked among the most highly valued works of art in the European Middle Ages. At the same time, precious stones prompted sophisticated reflections on the power of nature and the experience of mineralized beings. Beyond a visual regime that put a premium on brilliant materiality, how can we account for the ubiquity of gems in medieval thought? In The Mineral and the Visual, art historian Brigitte Buettner examines the social roles, cultural meanings, and active agency of precious stones in secular medieval art. Exploring the layered roles played by gems in aesthetic, ideological, intellectual, and economic practices, Buettner focuses on three significant categories of ...
Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter One The Boundaries of Nature -- Chapter Two A New Ecology -- Chapter Three The Landscape of History -- Postscript The Theater of Insects -- Note on Sources -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments
An unprecedented visual exploration of the intertwined histories of art and science, of the old world and the new From the voyages of Christopher Columbus to those of Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin, the depiction of the natural world played a central role in shaping how people on both sides of the Atlantic understood and imaged the region we now know as Latin America. Nature provided incentives for exploration, commodities for trade, specimens for scientific investigation, and manifestations of divine forces. It also yielded a rich trove of representations, created both by natives to the region and visitors, which are the subject of this lushly illustrated book. Author Daniela Ble...
Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries is the work of highly respected biblical scholars, Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. The volume explores the rich and complex reception history of the last six Minor Prophets in Jewish and Christian exegesis, theology, worship, and arts. This text is the work of two highly respected biblical scholars It explores the rich and complex reception history of the last six Minor Prophets in Jewish and Christian theology and exegesis
Over 26,000 total pages .... Background: The Fast and Furious operation was responsible for allowing approximately 2,000 firearms to illegally flow into the hands of criminals, including Mexican drug cartel associates. On December 14, 2010, Customs and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, a United States Marine, was killed while on patrol just miles from the Mexican border. The firearms found at the scene were semi-automatic rifles that were allowed to walk as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Congressional Republicans have investigated Fast and Furious since January 2011. Over the course of the investigation, the Justice Department has provided false information, stonewalled document requests...
THE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PHILIPPINES AND FRANCE DID NOT MERELY BEGIN OVER 70 YEARS AGO. The journey of discovery began even earlier, when French cartography was being developed as early routes to and around the Philippines were first being plotted by adventurous maritime explorers. The cover of this book depicts this journey: a French frigate bravely traverses the seas of Guillaume Deliste's 17th century world map, headed eastward in search of new discoveries, guided by the Philippine sun. As both countries rediscover each other by building an even better relationship in the future, it will be a continuous journey of both discovery and rediscovery.
Until recently, the phenomenon of copying in medieval book painting has been considered mainly in terms of the reconstruction of pictorial sources used for the composition or iconography of miniatures, initials, or decorative elements. Although historic sources only rarely mention the circumstances of manuscripts’ production, one particular widely-accepted hypothesis has prevailed until now, according to which artists used model drawings or sketch books with the aim of facilitating the production of copies and the creation of new picture cycles. However, it is no longer sufficient to regard medieval book painting in its diachronic dimension only through these lenses. Rather, one should consider Robert W. Scheller’s critique that “When using the model hypothesis one must always be mindful of other factors which are known to have played a part in the transmission of art in the Middle Ages”. The contributions of this volume deal with these issues by focusing on book painting between the 10th and 16th centuries.