Divining History

For millennia, messianic visions of redemption have inspired men and women to turn against unjust and oppressive orders. Yet these very same traditions are regularly decried as antecedents to the violent and authoritarian ideologies of modernity. Informed in equal parts by theology and historical theory, this book offers a provocative exploration of this double-edged legacy. Author Jayne Svenungsson rigorously pursues a middle path between utopian arrogance and an enervated postmodernism, assessing the impact of Jewish and Christian theologies of history on subsequent thinkers, and in the process identifying a web of spiritual and intellectual motifs extending from ancient Jewish prophets to contemporary radicals such as Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Zizek.

This comprehensive volume on dowsing and divining - from the twig and the pendulum to motorscopes and bare hands - traces the story of these fascinating and enigmatic phenomena from its origins in the world of fairy tales and mythology to recent theories that the enigma can be explained in terms of present-day psychology. The force present in the act of dowsing and divining can be compared to the sensitivity of men and women suffering from rheumatism who feel, in advance, changes of weather. Theories that have been brought forward to explain its presence include suggestion, radiation, colour, the existence of a sixth sense, and changes in the earth's magnetic field. As there are many possible explanations there are also many types and applications of dowsing and divining: map dowsing; being eggs; radiesthesia; the diagnosis and cure of disease; locating missing persons; forces, fields and rays; and detecting thieves. The author tells of dowsers past and present: Robert Leftwich who located abandoned tunnels and other underground hazards; Major Harold Spary who dowsed for the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Royal Engineers during World War II; William Young who charged £200 a day in 1971 for dowsing; Tom Lethbridge who investigated Viking graves on Lundy Island; Henry Gross who discovered Bermuda's first natural wells. Even today large building and contracting firms employ resident site engineers who use sophisticated sets of divining rods. The book introduces us, in lucid and readable style, to the fascinating world of dowsing and divining, and gives the reader full instructions on how to attempt to become one of this international community.

This book discusses African religion and its place in a slave society, using the story of Domingos Sodré as its backdrop.

This is a new release of the original 1938 edition.

"A spirited memoir of artist Aviva Rahmani, offering a relatable narrative to discuss trigger point theory and the importance of eco-art activists Divining Chaos provides a personal memoir of eco-artist Aviva Rahmani. The story gives insight into her Trigger-Point theory thesis and unparalleled exclusivity to the moments in her life that shaped her as an artist and activist. Detailing the history that led Rahmani to two seminal projects: Ghost Nets, restoring a coastal town dump to flourishing wetlands, and The Blued Trees Symphony, which applied the premises to challenge natural gas pipelines with a novel legal theory about land use, Rahmani shares intimate decisions that shaped her life's work. Her discussions on trigger point theory argue to predict, confront, and determine outcomes to the ecological challenges we face today"--

Divining the Self weaves elements of personal narrative, myth, history, and interpretive analysis into a vibrant tapestry that reflects the textured, embodied, and performative nature of scripture and scripturalizing practices. Velma Love examines the Odu—the Yoruba sacred scriptures—along with the accompanying mythology, philosophy, and ritual technologies engaged by African Americans. Drawing from the personal narratives of African American Ifa practitioners along with additional ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Oyotunji African Village, South Carolina, and New York City, Love’s work explores the ways in which an ancient worldview survives in modern times. Divining the Self also takes up the challenge of determining what it means for the scholar of religion to study scripture as both text and performance. This work provides an excellent case study of the sociocultural phenomenon of scripturalizing practices.