William Allen
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Epilogue
Very Short Introduction —or even a very long one—but I have tried to show that this literature is far from being stuffy or irrelevant, and that its best works remain as entertaining and provocative as ever. In my beginning is my end (to quote a modern classic), and so let the last word on the power of literature go to Homer, describing the effects of the bard Demodocus’ song about the Greeks’ destruction of Troy:
Thus sang the famous singer; but Odysseus’ heart was melted,
Philip Sheldrake
in
2. Types and traditions
Spiritualities, including those associated with the world religions, take a variety of different forms. These forms are expressed in wisdom teachings, spiritual practices, and approaches to everyday life as well as in distinctive theories of spiritual growth and transformation.
D. Stephen Long
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1. The sources of Christian ethics
D. Stephen Long
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2. The history of Christian ethics
Ennis B. Edmonds
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1. ‘Movement of Jah people’: the history of Rastafari in Jamaica
Stephen Law
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3. An argument against the existence of God
Ali Rattansi
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2. Fear of the dark?: blacks, Jews, and barbarians
By the time Marr penned his diatribe against the Jews in the 1870s, most of the elements of the modern concept of race were already in place. The idea that human biological characteristics such as skin colour, shape of nose, type of hair, and size of skull were associated with ingrained cultural and behavioural traits was well established. It was widely held that level of ability to use reason, capacity for ‘civilization’ and the arts, and tendencies towards sexual lasciviousness, for example, could all be read off from a study of
Beth Williamson
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5. Christian art transformed: The Reformation
D. Stephen Long
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3. Christian ethics in and beyond modernity
Jolyon Mitchell
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2. Portraying martyrdom
There are currently lively discussions relating to the origins, evolution, and contemporary representations of martyrdom. A number of stories occur again and again in both popular and scholarly accounts of martyrdom. They are used across various religious traditions and academic disciplines. Just as well-known paintings have been examined from many different angles, these portrayals of martyrdom have been scrutinized close up and at a distance. They have often travelled many miles and been viewed by many pairs of eyes. They have been talked over, written about, and copied. Like pictures in an art gallery, some attract curious
Jolyon Mitchell
in
3. Remembering martyrdom
The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer (1883), more than thirty defenceless men, women, and children huddle together in the arena of the Colosseum, their hands clasped together in prayer ( ). They studiously ignore the thousands of faceless spectators, the crucifixions, and the burning crosses that surround them. Their attention is not shaken by the appearance of a dark-golden lion on the sand. Death awaits these apparently passive but serene Christians. This artistic vision of martyrdom, depicted by an artist famous for his portrayals of the Middle East, is one example of many highly romanticized visions of