Something More Substantial

In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet meets Fitzwilliam Darcy in Meryton, where Mr. Darcy’s concern for his sister and general reticence leads him to insult her. But what if Mr. Darcy did not meet her there, instead making her acquaintance in other circumstances more favorable to their understanding? When she visits Rosings Park and her friend, Charlotte Collins, Elizabeth does so with no notion that Fitzwilliam Darcy even exists, for Netherfield Park remained empty the previous autumn. As is his custom, Mr. Darcy comes to Rosings in his cousin’s company, and there he meets a young lady unlike any he has ever met. Rosings itself is not a place where he can conduct any sort of campaign to win the fair maiden’s heart, for his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, is watchful and determined Darcy will marry her daughter. Despite this interference, Darcy eventually leaves Kent, secure in the knowledge that Miss Elizabeth is a woman he would like to come to know better. The question he is unable to answer is when he can meet her again, for their positions in society are oceans apart, and there is little opportunity for chance meetings. But fate has other plans, for not only do they meet again, but they also encounter each other in a place that allows their love to blossom. Only the small matters of his family expectations and her condition in life stand in his way. Yet Darcy is determined to pursue Miss Elizabeth, certain in the knowledge she will make him the happiest of men.

French philosopher Maurice Blondel had a tremendous impact on both philosophy and religion over the first half of the twentieth century. He was at once a postmodern critical philosopher and a devout traditional Catholic, trying not only to reconcile these two seemingly disparate factors in his own mind, but also to prove to others that the two must go together. / In the first critical examination of the philosopher’s life Oliva Blanchette tells the story of Blondel’s stormy life confronting an Academy dismissive of religion and a Religion uncomfortable with rational philosophy. This book not only follows his biographical history, but also presents his systematic philosophy, from the beginning of his journey to the culmination found in Philosophical Exigencies of Christianity, the book for which he signed the publishing contract the day before he died. / Maurice Blondel is part of the Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought series, edited by David L. Schindler.

Uncover the power in your story. Everyone has a story―and every story has powerful potential within. Wendy Delcourt uses the platforms of teaching, storytelling, expressive arts, and leadership coaching, as she inspires her fellow sojourners to discover more of their own powerful stories of deepening faith opportunities, witnessing to the quality and range of God’s wonderful plan for their unique lives. Throughout her book, Wendy invites you into a posture of trust, considering the moments in life that require a sincere belief in a miracle-working God who has a far greater scope of our unique potential than we could ever humanly grasp. Within her book, Wendy also packages a process for shaping your moments into powerful stories to share within your circle of influence; much like creating your memoirs of spiritual awakening and renewal. Shift: Moving Toward God’s Perspective includes an interactive workbook for processing your own story with Wendy’s coaching and guidance.

Musical Creativities in Practice explores the social and the cultural contexts in which creativity in music occurs. It begins by considering what constitutes creativity - taking a cross cultural view of music, while investigating creative processes far beyond just the classical music genre - including electronic media, popular music, and improvised music. In addition it looks at creativity in both writing and performing. The field of musical education is a key focus - examining why creativity is important within the educational environment, and looking at how schools might sometimes stifle creativity in their music teaching, rather than encourage it. The book is packed with case studies and real-life examples taken from studies across the world, providing a powerful corrective to myths and outmoded conceptions which privilege the creative practice of individual artists. Musical Creativity in Practice argues the need for conceptual expansion of musical creativities in line with vital contemporary real world practices. It explores how different types of musical creativities are recognised and communicated in the real world practices of a diversity of professional musicians. The book covers creative practice issues underlying composing, improvising, singer songwriting, originals bands, DJ cultures, live coding and interactive sound designing and the implications of creativity research for music education and for the assessment of creativities in industry and education. Musical Creativities in Practice will be valuable for those in fields of music psychology and music education, from advanced undergraduate level upwards.

A “fierce literary thriller” about an exiled woman confronting her past as a prisoner of a repressive theocracy (Kirkus Reviews). She was known as “Bait 455,” the most famous prisoner in a ruthless theological republic. He was one of the colonels closest to the supreme commander. When they meet, years later, far from their country of birth, a strange, equivocal relationship develops between them. Both their shared past of suffering and old romantic passions come rushing back—accompanied by recollections of the perverse logic of violence that dominated the dictatorship under which they lived. French Iranian author Fariba Hachtroudi’s prize-winning, “tightly plotted” novel “packs complex emotions in a small space, tackling difficult and essential questions about power and our responsibilities to one another” (Kirkus Reviews). “The story leaves us chilled by the tyrannical culture that created this macabre bond. But at the end, it’s just as much a tale of the capacity of love.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Timeless in its meditations on totalitarianism and the toll it takes on even those who physically escape its clutches.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

Christopher Peacocke presents a philosophical theory of subjects of consciousness, together with a theory of the nature of first person representation of such a subject of consciousness. He develops a new treatment of subjects, distinct from previous theories, under which subjects were regarded either as constructs from mental events, or fundamentally embodied, or Cartesian egos. In contrast, his theory of the first person integrates with the positive treatment of subjects—and it contributes to the explanation of various distinctive first person phenomena in the theory of thought and knowledge. These are issues on which contributions have been made by some of the greatest philosophers, and Peacocke brings his points to bear on the contributions to these issues made by Hume, Kant, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Strawson. He also relates his position to the recent literature in the philosophy of mind, and then goes on to distinguish and characterize three varieties of self-consciousness. Perspectival self-consciousness involves the subject's capacity to appreciate that she is of the same kind as things given in a third personal way, and attributes the subject to a certain kind of objective thought about herself. Reflective self-consciousness involves awareness of the subject's own mental states, reached in a distinctive way. Interpersonal self-consciousness is awareness that one features, as a subject, in some other person's mental states. These varieties, and the relations and the forms of co-operation between them, are important in explaining features of our knowledge, our social relations, and our emotional lives. The theses of The Mirror of the World are of importance not only for philosophy, but also for psychology, the arts, and anywhere else that the self and self-representation loom large. The Context and Content series is a forum for outstanding original research at the intersection of philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive science. The general editor is François Recanati (Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris).