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How should we interpret the Bible in light of the latest biblical research and archaeology? One day in the Spring of 2009, an exhausted technician realized he had made a colossal mistake. Part of a team of archaeologists, mathematicians, physicists who were on a high-tech quest to unlock a millennia-old secret, concealed in a few written documents from the First Temple Period (1000-587 B.C.E.), he had been tasked with photographing pottery fragments from a Judahite fortress in Arad, in the Negev desert. But as he looked at the photographs, he saw that he had mistakenly photographed the wrong side of the shards--the side that appears to be blank. Staring at the infrared images he had taken, Michael jumped from his chair: the seemingly blank shard in fact had four lines of what looked like graffiti. Suddenly, archaeologists across the Holy Land where able to identify vast amounts of writing. This led to the realization that literacy in ancient Israel was far more extensive than anyone had imagined--a finding that suggests that part of the Bible was probably already composed in the eighth century B.C.E., at about the same time, scholars believe, that Homer¿s Iliad was compiled. This discovery in the Negev was only one of many vital findings made possible by applying the latest scientific methods in Biblical research. Ancient DNA, geo-archaeology, residue analysis, radiocarbon, and climate analysis has considerably changed what we know about the past. As a result, the Biblical narratives are being revaluated. This book will tell the story of how those and other technologies are transforming our understanding of the Bible and the cultures that created it.

Sleepless Nights: The Faults and Failings of Love is an inquiry into the cultural and psychological forces at work in our most intimate relationships. Romanticized and theorized throughout all ages, love remains the paradigm of human experience, the one aspect of life that could redeem all the suffering and disappointment to which we are otherwise heir. And yet it too often forms part of that very suffering itself. In this daring and reflective book, Stuart Walton invites the reader to check into a love hotel with a difference. Instead of selling rooms by the hour, this one offers a luxurious vacation from everyday reality, but in each of its public areas and in its guestrooms, a different scenario is unfolding that relates to the conduct of romantic liaisons in actuality, their momentary splendors, and the crashing and burning to which so many of them are subject. With help from philosophers and musicians through the ages, we find our way to a clear-sighted and honest assessment of the pitfalls and trapdoors with which all love, however ideally conceived, is furnished.

Some scholars of Islam have argued that slavery and concubinage are permissible according to the Qur'an and the teachings and practice of the Prophet Muhammad. When faced with dissenting views on the disputed subject of the legitimacy of slavery in Islam, they often respond with a loaded question and a theological trap: "Did the Prophet Muhammad commit a grave moral wrong?" Others advance moral relativism. Georgetown University's Jonathan Brown, for example, controversially maintained that "slavery is wrong," but added the disclaimer that "as a Muslim myself, I cannot condemn it as grossly, intrinsically immoral across space and time. To do so would be to condemn the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad and God's law as morally compromised." As Dr. John Andrew Morrow makes clear in Islam & Slavery, there is not a single verse in the Qur'an that commands slavery. Slavery is neither an article of faith nor is it a religious obligation. In fact, the Qur'an encourages and even requires Muslims to emancipate enslaved people. As far as the exponents of Islam's spiritual, moral, ethical, and egalitarian tradition are concerned, the Qur'an, the Prophet, and Islam introduced a system that would reform the practice of slavery and abolish it entirely and forever. As God asks in the Qur'an: "What will make you know what the steep path is? It is the freeing of a slave."

This volume comprises supplemental source material to accompany courses in the history of Russian Orthodox music course. It is meant as a study aid for students and contains valuable reference sources for students and practitioners alike.

Chris Heitzman's innovative book looks beyond the first principles of business and considers ways you may not have thought of to build on the basics to elevate your performance from merely good to the next level. It will be an essential guide for start-ups, seasoned business leaders, and employees looking to be better at business.

This volume contains five chapters that present highly original research on Siberia's unique history by five Russian scholars. The volume is edited by Prof. Elena A. Okladnikova, a faculty member of the Herzen State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia. The articles include discussions of seafaring along the Siberian coast, ethnolinguistic considerations, the worldview of inner Asian nomads, and ethnocultural understandings of civilization crossroads.

This book offered to the reader's attention is an ethnographic study devoted to the traditional pottery of Yakutia. The author, A. A. Savvin, collected materials for the book during field research in 1939-1941, when ceramic tableware had largely already lost its former role in the household way of the Yakuts. But the skills for its manufacture were still preserved in certain localities. Savvin managed to document the last "living" evidence of a craft that had a centuries-old history and established traditions. It is noteworthy that the research conducted by Savvin was a scientific project in the modern sense of the term. It was carefully planned and executed in accordance with a pre-written program, which is also included in this edition. The sources of information were not only direct observations of the working processes of the production of ceramic tableware but also conversations-interviews with potters, memoirs of representatives of the older generation. A special layer of research consisted of materials of folklore, folk beliefs, and customs related to pottery.

The theory and praxis of ecofeminism has barely been investigated in an Indian context. Ecofeminism is an inclusive theory and provides an intersectional study of feminism, ecocriticism, and literature. Ecofeminism and Indian Women Writing in English unearths the sensibility of Indian women writings through the lens of ecofeminism. This book gives all the required details about ecofeminism, major movements and ecofeminist theories, in both the Indian as well as Western perspectives. It will help the readers understand the discourse of ecofeminism. The reader will get a thorough understanding on how to critically examine an ecofeminist element in a particular text. The book's main objective is to re(store) the cultural heritage of India against its colonial history that had mis(interpreted) the environmental ethics of Indian philosophy, affinity of women with nature and animals. The so-called developmental models of post-modern era will be beneficial only when they will focus on mutual sustainability of man and nature.

Martins began his career as a choreographer in 1977. He has created nearly 90 ballets set to music by composers as diverse as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Wynton Marsalis, and John Adams. His full-length productions for New York City Ballet include The Sleeping Beauty (1991), Swan Lake (1999), Romeo + Juliet (2007), and La Sylphide (2015). Martins' autobiography, Far From Denmark, was published in 1982. Among other awards, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark made him a Knight of Dannebrog, a Knight of the First Order, and, in 2013, a Commander of the Knights of Dannebrog, Denmark's highest civilian honor. In 2008, the French government made him a Commander in the Order of Arts and Letter. That same year, Martins was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Hall of Fame, in Saratoga Springs, New York.Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1904, George Balanchine was the 20th century's towering figure of classical ballet. Coming to America in 1933, Balanchine founded the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet, where he hired the Danish-born Peter Martins as a dancer and, later, as a choreographer. Balanchine and Me is dedicated to Martins's profound artistic relationship with George Balanchine, who taught him a new, freer style of dance, and ultimately entrusted Martins with the future of the New York City Ballet, which Martins went on to lead for 35 years. This proved to be an inspired choice as Martins led the company to new heights, strengthened it financially, and initiated many innovative new programs. Peter Martins' insights and anecdotes of working closely with Balanchine are historically important and often highly dramatic. Balanchine and Me is an indispensable resource to anyone interested in dance and the cultural universe of New York City.

South Carolina Onstage offers a collection of seven plays spanning two hundred years, all by South Carolina authors. It begins with a concise history of the theater in the Palmetto State, from the first dramatic productions in colonial Charleston through the rise of opera houses and community theatres across the state, to the dynamic dramatic culture South Carolina today enjoys. Each of the plays included here illuminates a different moment in South Carolina's history and is prefaced by an introductory essay. Collectively, these plays reveal the rich diversity of South Carolina's dramatic heritage.

Are there degrees of coincidence? Is it poor hygiene to "double dip" a chip? Is it appropriate to say "God bless you" to a woman who sneezes if her husband does not? If you named a kid Rasputin, do you think that would have a negative effect on his life? For nine seasons, the Seinfeld gang engaged in argument and debate over such weighty matters of etiquette, leaving no stone unturned, no double-dipped chip ignored, no exposed nipple on a greeting card unexamined. But Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer were hardly the first to do this. In fact, they built their comedy around the sort of discussions we can find in the greatest collection of texts in the Jewish religion: The Babylonian Talmud. Like the eminent Rabbis of ancient Israel and Babylon, the Seinfeld gang spent their days poring over the excruciating minutiae of every single event imaginable. Seinfeld is the Jewish Talmud of a new generation. Thus does Jarrod Tanny bring you the The Seinfeld Talmud - Seinfeld as analyzed by the Sages of the Near East who gave us the illustrious Talmud, which, depending on whom you ask, is either the most comprehensive body of Jewish law ever produced or thousands of pages about nothing. This parodic take on Seinfeld through the lens of Jewishness will appeal to Seinfeld aficionados and anyone interested in the remarkable role Jewish culture has played in shaping American entertainment. Come join the masters of Judaic Law on their quest to master Seinfeld's domain.

The Opium Factory of Ghazipur has a history all its own. Like most other colonial enterprises, it was developed to further colonial mercantile and imperial interests. Ghazipore, as it was known in British India, was the headquarters of the Benaras opium agency, which included almost the whole of the then-United Provinces. Directed and driven by metropolitan capital, the opium factory's success signaled the rise of colonial India as a major exporter of raw opium. Nevertheless, the opium factory was not simply a site of production of "provision" opium; it was where metropolitan capital and imperial science and technology intertwined to ensure the vitality of a colonial establishment. Technology was not everything, however. Raising the standard of opium manufacturing required the services of the "opium chemist," who became vital to the efficacy of the entire operation. Colonial research focused on the extraction of alkaloids to meet the growing demand of medicinal opium and its imports to England during and after World War II. From a site of manufacture of crude raw opium, the factory evolved into a modern pharmaceutical concern that was totally redesigned and reequipped. Renamed the "Government Opium and Alkaloid Works," some elements of continuity render this 200-year old monument a legacy embodying a powerful narrative of how "opium made the world go round." This work is an attempt to revisit and uncover the many trajectories of the Ghazipur opium factory, which still remains a site of production in the twenty-first century.

Shenoute of Atripe and the Rise of Monastic Education in Egypt addresses the monastic teachings of Shenoute of Atripe, an Egyptian author and monastic leader of the fourth and fifth centuries CE, as well as the literary and cultural context of his teachings. The first chapter introduces Shenoute and explores the chronology of his life. Considering both known elements and new hints, it offers a new chronology that challenges the traditionally accepted reconstruction, especially with regard to the date of Shenoute's death. The second chapter focuses on Shenoute's educational background, particularly the hypothesis that Shenoute received a classical Greek education before becoming a monk. The last three chapters offer an analysis of the education offered by Shenoute, by his monastic predecessors in Egypt, and by Shenoute's successor Besa.

Opium Consumption and Experience in India offers a "cultural biography" of opium on the subcontinent. It spans the Raj and India after independence. The book examines the "social lives" of opium in India, beginning as a commodity in the sixteenth century, exploring its social transformation and singularization in the eighteenth century, and chronicling its decline from the mid-nineteenth century to obsolescence and the new "paths and diversions" of our own times. The book attempts to illuminate how opium came to occupy a central place in India's "cultures of consumption" and also in the socio-economic and political life of a people. How did opium become embedded in a social ethos where it not only served as a social lubricant but soon morphed into a narco-identity for the people of India? The identification of India as a land of "great opium eaters" spawned the propaganda of a "civilizing mission" that ushered in a new era of material exploitation and political domination. As Dr. Kour demonstrates, this had a significant impact on the development and regulation of opium and its use.

Of all the theological issues discussed in Christian circles, few have received more attention than the New Testament "gift of tongues." Were the tongues at Corinth "real languages," or something else? Some charismatics and an assortment of sympathetic observers, spurred on by modern linguistic analyses of audio recordings of modern tongues vocalizations, argue that modern tongues and the tongues in Corinth alike are not real languages at all. The questions Bruce Edminster seeks to answer in The Gift of Tongues include whether the Corinthian gift is the same as the one found in the book of Acts, what is the meaning and significance of the word "edification" in the context of the Corinthian phenomenon, and is the gift of tongues "real" language, the language of the angels, or a non-language? Further consideration asks what should the "gift of tongues" should be used for? Evangelism? Personal devotion? Self-gratification?

Large-scale social changes are taking place in American society, often even without technological change. America's Future examines these transformations. An introduction lays the groundwork for five of the most significant areas where social changes are occurring: population, politics, education, economics, and media. An underlying theme emphasizes what is specifically driving these changes. There are reasons why what is transpiring today is very different than before and what such portends for the future. Our lives are notably changing, though most are unaware how.

In this new and original study of the origins of the United States Constitution, award winning scholar Lawrence Goldstone demonstrates that what was left out of the document by the Framers is of equal importance to what was included. Because of the deep divisions present in the United States at the beginning of the Republic, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were unwilling, and often unable, to forge a plan for government that would be both comprehensive and sufficiently acceptable to competing interests to achieve ratification. Rather than risk rejection, they chose to leave many key areas of governance vague or undefined, hoping the flaws could be dealt with after the Constitution had become the "supreme law of the land." Although successful in the short term, that strategy left the Constitution excessively prone to subjective interpretation and, as a result, the United States was rendered vulnerable to anti-democratic initiatives and the perpetuation of minority rule, both of which plague the nation today. Thus, a constitution drafted to ensure "a more perfect union" has instead begotten dysfunction and disunion. The ossification of America's political process is to a significant degree due not to what the Constitution says but rather from what it fails to say. The only way to address the threat these omissions engender is to identify the flaws and then complete the Constitution by fashioning legislative solutions to fill the gaps.

Italian Culture in America: The Immigrants describes the nationwide anti-Italian discrimination, and often violent retribution, experienced by millions of immigrants during the formative years of an industrializing United States, from 1880 to 1930. This carefully presented work reveals the presence of Italian culture provided by hardworking, family-oriented Italians who bravely left their homeland in search of opportunity in America. Looking to his own Italian heritage, Giordano identifies so many of the "taken for granted" aspects of American life that have distinct Italian roots. Many creative innovations include banking, radio, the telephone, aeronautics, entertainment, and even the Statue of Liberty, among dozens of others. The study establishes that negative media stereotypes created by Hollywood are misunderstood and very often purely fictitious. In contrast, Giordano unfolds a factual story documenting the growing assimilation by Italians ingrained within all aspects of American culture. Italian Culture in America: The Immigrants will certainly fascinate those interested in Italian-American history. It will also help tell the story of all immigrants who entered and settled in the United States.

Sex and Privacy in American Law presents empirical analyses of civil and criminal state court decisions applying the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Lawrence v. Texas. After tracing key historical and legal developments leading up to the Lawrence decision's decriminalization of sodomy on substantive due process grounds in 2003, the study employs both quantitative and qualitative content analyses of 307 cases citing Lawrence over the two decades since it was decided. Results indicate that judicial decisions rarely embraced broad readings of Lawrence in criminal cases. In fact, Lawrence's long-term impact on criminal law has largely remained as limited as some commentators predicted shortly after the case was decided. In civil cases, courts tended not to rely on Lawrence significantly in most business and employment law cases. Courts that applied Lawrence in family law disputes - especially those involving same-sex couples - often construed the case narrowly at first, but broadened their interpretations after Obergefell v. Hodges brought marriage equality to the United States. Lawrence also impacted LGBTQ+ civil rights claims. Statistically significant geographic differences were found relating to how courts used Lawrence in those cases, with judges in Northeastern and Pacific coastal states having applied the precedent broadly, while judges in Southern and Midwestern states tending to have applied the case more narrowly. The implications are explored generally and within the specific context of the constriction of substantive due process rights in the wake Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Many Turkish cities have witnessed increasing micro and macro-spatial dimensions in urban social movements, shaping urban space over recent decades. Typical Turkish urban social movements have generally shared the same goals, been based on actors' lower-class backgrounds and locally-rooted associations, and have employed similar types of action and strategies against authority. However, the Gezi Park protests were of a singular and different character. This book aims to explore the Gezi Park protests, and discusses their role in changing the character of urban social movements in Turkey, by asking the following questions: What social, political, and economic forces changed the structure of the protests over the years in Turkey? In turn, how has the Gezi Park movement shaped our understanding of new Turkish urban social movements?

In Freedom's Anchor, famed legal commentator Judge Andrew P. Napolitano makes the case for using natural law principles to restrain government. Going back to Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, Judge Napolitano identifies the origins of Natural Law Theory and explains its growth and development in English and American law. He argues compellingly that the idea that our rights come from our humanity - and not from social consensus or government - is enshrined in the Ninth Amendment, authored by none other than James Madison himself, the scrivener of the Constitution, and is binding on the courts today.Freedom's Anchor is essentially a history of law and power in the United States as seen through the lens of Natural Law Theory. This work traces the Supreme Court's explicit acceptance and explicit rejection of these principles. For the first time in one volume, Judge Napolitano gives us the universe of all published works in English (and some in Latin and in Spanish) on Natural Law Theory. He has scoured the Supreme Court's writings and examined all that reflect favorably or unfavorably upon the principles of innate human freedom.After having published nine previous books on the U.S. constitutional history, this is Judge Napolitano's magnum opus. It reflects a lifetime of thinking and understanding by one of America's preeminent legal thinkers. Scholars, judges, and law students will love this book. And non-lawyers who read this book - interested in the courts' historical treatment of fundamental human freedoms and how we lost them - will say to each other: "Wow. I didn't know that! There is still hope."

André Bazin (1918-58) was renowned for almost single-handedly establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit, as well as for being the spiritual father of the French New Wave. In 1951, Bazin co-founded and became editor-in-chief of Cahiers du Cinéma, the most influential critical periodical in the history of cinema. Five of the film critics whom he mentored at that magazine later became the most acclaimed directors of the postwar French cinema: François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and Claude Chabrol. Bazin is also considered to be the principal instigator of the highly influential auteur theory-the idea that, since film is an art form, the director of a movie must be perceived as the chief creator or "author" of its unique cinematic style.In his relatively brief lifetime, Bazin wrote some 2,600 articles and reviews, only about 200 of which are accessible in anthologies or edited collections-and most of these are theoretical pieces.The Practical Critic: André Bazin on Film, 1945-1958 offers critical reviews of notable individual films: Scarface, Citizen Kane, The Seven Samurai, The Great Dictator, It's a Wonderful Life, On the Waterfront, Rebel Without A Cause, Aparajito, Miracle in Milan, Touch of Evil, East of Eden, Ivan the Terrible, The Best Years of Our Lives, La Strada, High Noon, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. The Practical Critic also features a contextual introduction to Bazin's life and work, a Bazin bibliography, a selection of film stills, and a comprehensive index. This book represents a major contribution to film studies and a testament to the continuing influence of one of the world's pre-eminent cultural critics.

Travel Ruminations is a personal account of the author's walking, hiking, and mountain climbing over a 75-year career in all 50 U.S. states and 38 countries, but it is more than a mere memoir. Interspersed are remarks on the ecological aspects of his environments and the devastation caused by human activity.