Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding

Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding PDF Author: P. Laude
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403980586
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
This study in the relationship between religion and the comic focuses on the ways in which the latter fulfils a central function in the sacred understanding of reality of pre-modern cultures and the spiritual life of religious traditions. The central thesis is that figures such as tricksters, sacred clowns, and holy fools play an essential role in bridging the gap between the divine and the human by integrating the element of disequilibrium that results from the contact between incommensurable realities. This interdisciplinary and cross-cultural series of essays is devoted to spiritual, anthropological, and literary characters and phenomena that point to a deeper understanding of the various mythological, ceremonial, and mystical ways in which the fundamental ambiguity of existence is symbolized and acted out. Given its interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective, this volume will appeal to scholars from a variety of fields.

Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding

Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding PDF Author: P. Laude
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403980586
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study in the relationship between religion and the comic focuses on the ways in which the latter fulfils a central function in the sacred understanding of reality of pre-modern cultures and the spiritual life of religious traditions. The central thesis is that figures such as tricksters, sacred clowns, and holy fools play an essential role in bridging the gap between the divine and the human by integrating the element of disequilibrium that results from the contact between incommensurable realities. This interdisciplinary and cross-cultural series of essays is devoted to spiritual, anthropological, and literary characters and phenomena that point to a deeper understanding of the various mythological, ceremonial, and mystical ways in which the fundamental ambiguity of existence is symbolized and acted out. Given its interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective, this volume will appeal to scholars from a variety of fields.

Desire in Dante and the Middle Ages

Desire in Dante and the Middle Ages PDF Author: Manuele Gragnolati
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351569627
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
This volume takes Dante's rich and multifaceted discourse of desire, from the Vita Nova to the Commedia, as a point of departure in investigating medieval concepts of desire in all their multiplicity, fragmentation and interrelation. As well as offering several original contributions on this fundamental aspect of Dante's work, it seeks to situate the Florentine more effectively within the broader spectrum of medieval culture and to establish greater intellectual exchange between Dante scholars and those from other disciplines. The volume is also notable for its openness to diverse critical and methodological approaches. In considering the extent to which modern theoretical paradigms can be used to shed light upon the Middle Ages, it will interest those engaged with questions of critical theory as well as medieval culture.

Performing Power in Nigeria

Performing Power in Nigeria PDF Author: Abimbola A. Adelakun
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009281747
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description


Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century

Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century PDF Author: Peter J. A. Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192581627
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
Towards the end of the twelfth century, powerful images of laughing kings and saints began to appear in texts circulating at the English royal court. At the same time, contemporaries began celebrating the wit, humour, and laughter of King Henry II (r.1154-89) and his martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Thomas Becket (d.1170). Taking a broad genealogical approach, Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century traces the emergence of this powerful laughter through an immersive study of medieval intellectual, literary, social, religious, and political debates. Focusing on a cultural renaissance in England, the study situates laughter at the heart of the defining transformations of the second half of the 1100s. With an expansive survey of theological and literary texts, bringing a range of unedited manuscript material to light in the process, Peter J. A. Jones exposes how twelfth-century writers came to connect laughter with spiritual transcendence and justice, and how this connection gave humour a unique political and spiritual power in both text and action. Ultimately, Jones argues that England's popular images of laughing kings and saints effectively reinstated a sublime charismatic authority, something truly rebellious at a moment in history when bureaucracy and codification were first coming to dominate European political life.

Understanding Islam

Understanding Islam PDF Author: Frithjof Schuon
Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc
ISBN: 1935493906
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
With over one billion believers throughout the globe, Islam remains one of the most misunderstood of the world's great Revelations. In this fully revised and amended translation of his masterpiece, philosopher Frithjof Schuon offers readers a deeper understanding of Islam, the world's second largest religion. Featuring an extensive appendix of previously unpublished materials and detailed editor's notes to aid readers, this book is a must for any collection.

The Legacy of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Laughter

The Legacy of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Laughter PDF Author: Lydia Amir
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429000863
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 575

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Book Description
This book investigates the role of humor in the good life, specifically as discussed by three prominent French intellectuals who were influenced by Nietzsche's thought: Georges Bataille, Gilles Deleuze, and Clément Rosset. Lydia Amir begins by discussing Nietzsche’s reception in France, and she explains why and how he came to be considered a "philosopher of laughter" in the French academe. Each of the subsequent three chapters focuses on the significance of humor and laughter in the good life as advocated by Bataille, Deleuze, and Rosset. These chapters also explore the complex relationship between the comic and the tragic, and of humor and laughter to irony, satire, and ridicule. The Legacy of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Laughter makes an invaluable contribution to recent interpretive work done on Bataille and Deleuze, and offers further introduction to the relatively understudied Rosset. It illuminates the philosophies of these three thinkers, their connection to Nietzsche, and, overall, the significant role that humor plays in philosophy.

Pathways to an Inner Islam

Pathways to an Inner Islam PDF Author: Patrick Laude
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438429576
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
An introduction to four Western figures influenced by Sufism who wrote about an "inner," esoteric Islam.

Gerald of Wales

Gerald of Wales PDF Author: A. Joseph McMullen
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 178683166X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
Gerald of Wales (c.1146–c.1223), widely recognized for his innovative ethnographic studies of Ireland and Wales, was in fact the author of some twenty-three works which touch upon many aspects of twelfth-century life. Despite their valuable insights, these works have been vastly understudied. This collection of essays reassesses Gerald’s importance as a medieval Latin writer and rhetorician by focusing on his lesser-known works and providing a fuller context for his more popular writings. This broader view of his corpus brings to light new evidence for his rhetorical strategies, political positioning and usage of source material, and attests to the breadth and depth of his collected works.

Spiritualities, ethics, and implications of human enhancement and artificial intelligence

Spiritualities, ethics, and implications of human enhancement and artificial intelligence PDF Author: Ray Kurzweil
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1622738691
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
By taking a religiously and spiritually literature approach, this volume gets the heart of several emerging ethical issues crucial to both human identity and personhood beyond the human as technology advances in the areas of human enhancement and artificial intelligence (AI). Several significant questions are addressed by the contributors, such as: How far should we go in improving our biological selves? How long should we aspire to live? What are fair and just human enhancements? When will AIs become people? What does AI spirituality consist of? Can AIs do more than project humour and emotions? What are the religious undertones of these high technology quests for better AI and improved human existence? Established and emerging voices explore these questions, and more, in Spiritualities, ethics, and implications of human enhancement and artificial intelligence. This volume will be of interest to university students and researchers absorbed by issues surrounding spiritualities, human enhancement, and artificial intelligence; while also providing points for reflection for the wider public as these topics become increasingly important to our common future.

Louis Massignon

Louis Massignon PDF Author: Patrick Laude
Publisher: The Matheson Trust
ISBN: 1908092068
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
In-depth exploration of the life and thought of Louis Massignon (1883-1962), a very influential French Islamic scholar and Christian mystic. This is a translation of an original French by an expert on Massignon's life and works, revised and augmented.