Rivers Of Paradise

Nira Stone (1938-2013) contributed to the understanding of mediaeval Armenian art and painting. Her interest ranged over a millennium of artistic expression, and over such fields of creativity as manuscript painting, frescos, and mosaics. The volume contains her published papers and one made newly public.

The so-called Travels of Sir John Mandeville (c. 1356) was one of the most popular books of the late Middle Ages. Translated into many European languages and widely circulating in both manuscript and printed forms, the pseudo English knight’s account had a lasting influence on the voyages of discovery and durably affected Europe’s perception of exotic lands and peoples. The early modern period witnessed the slow erosion of Mandeville’s prestige as an authority and the gradual development of new responses to his book. Some still supported the account’s general claim to authenticity while questioning details here and there, and some openly denounced it as a hoax. After considering the general issues of edition and reception of Mandeville in an opening section, the volume moves on to explore theological and epistemological concerns in a second section, before tackling literary and dramatic reworkings in a final section. Examining in detail a diverse range of texts and issues, these essays ultimately bear witness to the complexity of early modern engagements with a late medieval legacy which Mandeville emblematizes.

Rarely has mastery of a field been combined with such style and lucidity as in the writings of E. A. Speiser. For forty years before his death, in 1965, Dr. Speiser, the renowned author of the Anchor Bible Genesis, was a leading American orientalist. Speiser was at home in the modern as well as the ancient Near East and knew its many cultures intimately. His wide-ranging biblical studies are informed with a profound knowledge of Assyriology, and to both he brought the insights of a brilliant comparative linguist. Speiser's unique vision of the whole of ancient Near Eastern culture resulted in several classic syntheses that are included in these pages. Collected in this volume are thirty-six of his now difficult-to-obtain articles. The reader will discover papers that deal not only with biblical studies and linguistics but also with the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine; with law and political science; and with intellectual and social progress in the ancient Near East. "Speiser insisted on the simultaneous concentration upon analysis and synthesis; the first without the second he deemed sterile, the second without the first an empty playing with words. . . . [This insistence], so eloquently exemplified in his own work was . . . the most distinctive and certainly the most enduring part of his legacy as a teacher (from the Appreciation, by J. J. Finkelstein). E. A. Speiser was born in Galicia in 1902. After his graduation from the College of Lemberg, Austria, in 1918, he came to the United States, arriving in 1920. He received his M.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1923 and Ph.D. degree from Dropsie College, Philadelphia, in 1924. During World War II, Speiser was the chief of the Near East section, research and analysis branch of the Office of Strategic Services. Following the war, in 1947, Speiser was named chairman of the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1954 he became Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures at the University. One year prior to his death, he was named University Professor of Oriental Studies, the highest honor that the University of Pennsylvania awards to distinguished faculty members. Those familiar with one or another aspect of Speiser's contribution will find here a selection and arrangement designed to capture the underlying unity in approach that informed all of his work. And the nonspecialist cannot help but discover the broader, humanistic implications of oriental studies.

For millennia the collection, distribution, and symbolism of water have played pivotal roles in the lands where Islam has flourished. This book is the first to address this important subject. A diverse spectrum of scholars covers a wide range of topics: from the revelation of Islam in the 7th century to today’s conservation and development issues, from watering oases in the Moroccan desert to the flooded plains of Bengal. Copiously illustrated with beautiful color photographs and newly drawn plans and maps, this book will provoke readers to appreciate and acknowledge the essential, if often invisible and transitory, roles that water played in the arts of the Islamic lands and beyond.

A fascinating look at the founders of the world's main religions. The major religious traditions of the world owe their existence to the vision of an ancient founder. This important volume explores the lives of the five founders of major world religions-Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad-chronicling what is actually known of these charismatic men and introducing readers to the cultural and religious worlds that heard their messages. Readers in predominantly Christian lands, in addition to learning about the lives of Confucius, Buddha, and Muhammad- whom they might not be familiar with- will also be introduced to modern research now casting fresh light on the careers of Moses and Jesus. Whether studied individually or in comparison with one another, these biographies, together with a chapter on the characteristics of religious leadership, chart the spiritual rivers that continue to feed the diversity of religious expression today.

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches - Genesis 2:10 From the author of Jesus: The Mantra Of God and Towards A Christian Tantra comes a spiritual memoir that poetically expresses a single person's journey, and through it, humanity's return to the paradise that we spring from. Drawing on complementary ideas from Christianity and Hinduism, The Rivers of Paradise is a much-needed wellspring of spiritual insight and inspiration for the twenty-first century. It shows how openness to contrasting traditions can lead to levels of spiritual awareness that are exciting and deeply fulfilling. Rev. Dr. John R. Dupuche is an internationally respected associate professor in theology at the Catholic Theological College within the School of Divinity, a leader in interfaith dialogue in Australia who has spent many years travelling to India to practice meditation and research his interest in Kashmir Shaivism. He is uniquely situated to comment and share his wisdom in interfaith spirituality. His website is johndupuche.com Rivers of Paradise draws deeply and movingly on the currents of wisdom and love that well up from John Dupuche's long and dedicated life of study, prayer, and service. His pure and simple paragraphs resonate with both the Greek Orthodox and Tantric styles, and each is headed by a Sanskrit word rich in meaning that will stay with you even if Sanskrit is not a language you already know. Those who take the time to savor his words slowly and patiently will come to appreciate the great gift Fr. Dupuche is offering to his readers, life-giving insights into breath and vision, body and soul, love and light, all on the path to God Alone. This is a prayerful book you can return to again and again. -Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University

Alessandro Scafi's fascinating account looks at the perception of world geography and the place of paradise within that. Central to this discussion are the key debates, prevalent from the Renaissance, about faith and reason, theology and philosophy and paradise both as an internal and external reality.

A “certainly weird . . . strangely wonderful . . . [and] often irresistible” search to find the real Garden of Eden (The New York Times Book Review). Where, precisely, was God’s Paradise? St. Augustine had a theory. So did medieval monks, John Calvin and Christopher Columbus. But when Darwin’s theory of evolution changed our understanding of human origins, shouldn’t the desire to put a literal Eden on the map have faded away? Not so fast. This “gloriously researched, pluckily written historical and anecdotal assay of humankind’s age-old quixotic quest for the exact location of the Biblical garden” (Elle) explores an obsession that has consumed scientists and theologians alike for centuries. To this day, the search continues, taken up by amateur explorers, clergymen, scholars, engineers and educators—romantic seekers all who started with the same simple-sounding Bible verses, only to end up at a different spot on the globe: Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, the North Pole, Mesopotamia, China, Iraq—and Ohio. Inspired by an Eden seeker in her own family, “Wilensky-Lanford approaches her subjects with respect, enthusiasm and conscientious research” (San Francisco Chronicle) as she traverses a century-spanning history provoking surprising insights into where we came from, what we did wrong, and where we go from here. And it all makes for “a lively journey” (Kirkus Reviews).