Author: John G. Gager File Type: epub In the ancient Greco-Roman world, it was common practice to curse or bind an enemy or rival by writing an incantation on a tablet and dedicating it to a god or spirit. These curses or binding spells, commonly called defixiones were intended to bring other people under the power and control of those who commissioned them. More than a thousand such texts, written between the 5th Century B.C.E. and the 5th Century C.E., have been discovered from North Africa to England, and from Syria to Spain. Extending into every aspect of ancient life--athletic and theatrical competitions, judicial proceedings, love affairs, business rivalries, and the recovery of stolen property--they shed light on a new dimension of classical study previously inaccessible. Here, for the first time, these texts have been translated into English with a substantial translators introduction revealing the cultural, social, and historical context for the texts. This book will interest historians, classicists, scholars of religion, and those concerned with ancient magic. **

Author: Cristina Ruiz-Alberdi Fernandez File Type: pdf

Author: Eric Metaxas File Type: mobi From Publishers WeeklyIn this weighty, riveting analysis of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Metaxas (Amazing Grace) offers a comprehensive review of one of historys darkest eras, along with a fascinating exploration of the familial, cultural and religious influences that formed one of the worlds greatest contemporary theologians. A passionate narrative voice combines with meticulous research to unpack the confluence of circumstances and personalities that led Germany from the defeat of WWI to the atrocities of WWII. Abundant source documentation (sermons, letters, journal entries, lectures, the Barman Declaration) brings to life the personalities and experiences that shaped Bonhoeffer his highly intellectual, musical family theologically liberal professors, pastoral colleagues and students his extensive study, work, and travel abroad. Tracing Bonhoeffers developing call to be a Jeremiah-like prophet in his own time and a growing understanding that the church was called to speak for those who could not speak, Metaxas details Bonhoeffers role in religious resistance to Nazism, and provides a compelling account of the faith journey that eventually involved the Lutheran pastor in unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Hitler. Insightful and illuminating, this tome makes a powerful contribution to biography, history and theology. br Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewIn Hitlers Germany, a Lutheran pastor chooses resistance and pays with his life. . . Eric Metaxas tells Bonhoeffers story with passion and theological sophistication, often challenging revisionist accounts that make Bonhoeffer out to be a humanist or ethicist for whom religious doctrine was easily disposable. . . Metaxas reminds us that there are forms of religion -- respectable, domesticated, timid -- that may end up doing the devils work for him. --_Wall Street Journal_ In this weighty, riveting analysis of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Metaxas offers a comprehensive review of one of historys darkest eras, along with a fascinating exploration of the familial, cultural, and religious influences that formed one of the worlds greatest contemporary theologians. A passionate narrative voice combines with meticulous research. . . Abundant source documentation brings to life the personalities and experiences that shaped BonhoefferaInsightful and illuminating, this tome makes a powerful contribution to biography, history, and theology. --_Publishers Weekly_ A welcome new biography of one of the twentieth centurys leading lights. Metaxas magnificently captures the life of theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), who thought it the plain duty of the Christian-and the privilege and honor-to suffer with those who suffered. In the finest treatment of the man since Eberhard Bethges Dietrich Bonhoeffer Man of Vision, Man of Courage (1970), Metaxas presents a complete, accessible picture of this important figure, whose story is inspiring, instructive, and international in scope. . . Metaxas rightly focuses on his subjects life, not his theology, though readers will learn plenty about his theology as well. The author makes liberal use of primary sources, which bring Bonhoeffer and other characters to vivid life. For the most part, Metaxas allows this epic story to play itself out, unhindered by commentary where he does add his own voice, the conclusions are sage. A definitive Bonhoeffer biography for the twenty-first century. --_Kirkus Reviews_ (starred review)

Author: Nathan Perl-Rosenthal File Type: pdf In the decades after the United States formally declared its independence in 1776, Americans struggled to gain recognition of their new republic and their rights as citizens. None had to fight harder than the nations seamen, whose labor took them far from home and deep into the Atlantic world. Citizen Sailors tells the story of how their efforts to become American at sea in the midst of war and revolution created the first national, racially inclusive model of United States citizenship. Nathan Perl-Rosenthal immerses us in sailors pursuit of safe passage through the ocean world during the turbulent age of revolution. Challenged by British press-gangs and French privateersmen, who considered them Britons and rejected their citizenship claims, American seamen demanded that the U.S. government take action to protect them. In response, federal leaders created a system of national identification documents for sailors and issued them to tens of thousands of mariners of all racesnearly a century before such credentials came into wider use. Citizenship for American sailors was strikingly ahead of its time it marked the federal governments most extensive foray into defining the boundaries of national belonging until the Civil War era, and the governments most explicit recognition of black Americans equal membership as well. This remarkable system succeeded in safeguarding seafarers, but it fell victim to rising racism and nativism after 1815. Not until the twentieth century would the United States again embrace such an inclusive vision of American nationhood. **