Author: Brett Edward Whalen File Type: pdf Brett Whalen explores the compelling belief that Christendom would spread to every corner of the earth before the end of time. During the High Middle Agesan era of crusade, mission, and European expansionthe Western followers of Rome imagined the future conversion of Jews, Muslims, pagans, and Eastern Christians into one fold of Gods people, assembled under the authority of the Roman Church. Starting with the eleventh-century papal reform, Whalen shows how theological readings of history, prophecies, and apocalyptic scenarios enabled medieval churchmen to project the authority of Rome over the world. Looking to Byzantium, the Islamic world, and beyond, Western Christians claimed their special place in the divine plan for salvation, whether they were battling for Jerusalem or preaching to unbelievers. For those who knew how to read the signs, history pointed toward the triumph and spread of Roman Christianity. Yet this dream of Christendom raised troublesome questions about the problem of sin within the body of the faithful. By the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, radical apocalyptic thinkers numbered among the papacys most outspoken critics, who associated present-day ecclesiastical institutions with the evil of Antichrista subversive reading of the future. For such critics, the conversion of the world would happen only after the purgation of the Roman Church and a time of suffering for the true followers of God. This engaging and beautifully written book offers an important window onto Western religious views in the past that continue to haunt modern times. ReviewWhalen shows how the Papal Revolution of the late eleventh and twelfth century spurred churchmen to imagine a new world of Catholic unity under papal guidance. This new world would aim to unify all Christians, most especially eastern Christians, under the Supreme Pontiff and to bring Jews, Muslims, and pagans under his wing as converts to Christianity. The book takes us through a dazzling array of thinkers, always putting their thoughts in political and military context. Whalens readings of more obscure authors are always enlightening, and his writing is lucid. This book will enjoy a very wide readership. --William Chester Jordan, Princeton UniversityWhalens accomplishment is to take a synoptic view of western Christian apocalyptic thought and propaganda from roughly 1050 until 1350 in terms of one central theme bringing Jews, Greeks, and Saracens into one sheepfold under the ministry of one shepherd, the Roman pope. He offers virtually encyclopedic coverage of the vast number of prophecies from the period. This is a major contribution to the interpretation of medieval and western Christian history, and I enthusiastically recommend it. --Robert E. Lerner, Northwestern UniversityIn this clearly written, forcefully argued volume, Brett Whalen demonstrates that medieval thinkers influenced by the apocalyptic tradition saw the expansion of Christendom as the driving force of history. The end result would be the conversion of all mankind, the defeat of Antichrist, and the restoration of Jerusalem to Christian hands. Dominion of God illuminates this powerful medieval vision. --James Muldoon, author of Popes, Lawyers, and InfidelsAbout the AuthorBrett Edward Whalen is Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Author: Allen Thayer File Type: pdf At the height of Tim Maias soaring fame, he joined a radical, extraterrestrial-obsessed cult and created two plus albums of some of Brazils-and the globes-best funk and soul music. This book explores the career of the man often hailed as the James Brown or Barry White of Brazil, and the time of his radical transformation from a musician notorious for hedonistic living to a devoted follower of Manoel Jacinto Coelhos Rational Culture. After suddenly joining Coelhos cult in 1974 (which started first as an offshoot of the mystical Afro-Brazilian religion Umbanda), Maia gave up drugs and alcohol, threw away his material possessions, and released Racional Vols. 1 & 2 in the attempt to convert the entirety of Brazil and the world to the revelation of Rational Culture. Thayer explores this strange, brief, yet incredibly prolific period of Maias life wherein the reigning soul and funk artist of Brazil produced two albums, an EP, and a recently unearthed tape containing almost another full album of funky jams laced with spiritual content and scripture. For just as quickly as Maia became entranced with Coelho did he become disillusioned with the cult, disavowing and destroying everything having to do with that experience and refusing to speak of it for the rest of his life. 33 13 Global, a series related to but independent from 33 13, takes the format of the original series of short, music-based books and brings the focus to music throughout the world. With initial volumes focusing on Japanese and Brazilian music, the series will also include volumes on the popular music of AustraliaOceania, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and more. **About the Author Allen Thayer is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to the magazine Wax Poetics.

Author: Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist File Type: pdf p DejaVu Sans, serif 14pxAnalysing both fraud and religion as social constructs with different functions and meanings attributed to them, this book raises issues that are central to debates about the limits of religious toleration in diverse societies, and the possible harm (as well as benefits) that religious organisations can visit upon society and individuals. There has already been a lively debate concerning the structural context in which abuse, especially sexual abuse, can be perpetrated within religion. Contributors to the volume proceed from the premise that similar arguments about ways in which structure and power may be conducive to abuse can be made about fraud and deception. Both can contribute to abuse, yet they are often less easily demonstrated and proven, hence less easily prosecuted. With a focus on minority religions, the book offers a comparative overview of the concept of religious fraud by bringing together analyses of different types of fraud or deception (financial, bio-medical, emotional, breach of trust and consent). Contributors examine whether fraud is necessarily intentional (or whether that is in the eye of the beholder) certain structures may be more conducive to fraud followers willingly participate in it. The volume includes some chapters focused on non-Western beliefs (Juju, Occult Economies, Dharma Lineage), which have travelled to the West and can be found in North American and European metropolitan areas. p DejaVu Sans, serif 14px**h3 DejaVu Sans, serif 14pxReview p DejaVu Sans, serif 14pxAlmost as long as organized religions have existed, some have faced charges of fraud and deception. Its valuable, then, to have a scholarly and readable collection of essays that allow us to understand the roots of these charges, and the reasons why some systems in particular lend themselves to abuse and manipulation. Particularly intriguing is the question of when a non-provable claim veers from a matter of faith to an issue of fraud. Impressively broad in its scope, Minority Religions and Fraud is an innovative and truly useful contribution to the literature on religious studies, as well as to criminology.Philip Jenkins, Baylor University, USAReligion sometimes presents a theater for deception and chicanery, with the high drama that can attend these. This book provides a timely correction to the media image that only several large denominations or congregations currently experience this phenomenon, and it is a welcome addition to a growing research literature on the less-than-uplifting aspects of religious practice.Anson Shupe, Indiana Purdue University Fort Wayne, USA h3 DejaVu Sans, serif 14pxAbout the Author p DejaVu Sans, serif 14pxAmanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist is the deputy director of Inform, a non-profit information centre specializing in minority religious and fringe political movements, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research on the second generation of sectarian movements and the impact their segregated childhoods have had, is due to be published. Further publications include an article entitled aBeliefs in Possessiona in The Devilas Children. From Spirit Possession to Witchcraft New Allegations That Affect Children, edited by Informas research fellow Emeritus Professor Jean la Fontaine (2009), and aChildren in New Religions Contested Duties of Carea, Journal of the International Society for the Study of New Religious Movements 1(2) 25-48 (2010).p DejaVu Sans, serif 14pxfont face=DejaVu Sans, serifspan 14px(Ashgate Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements)spanfont

Author: Barbara Levick File Type: pdf Tiberius has always been one of the most enigmatic of the Roman emperors. At the same time, his career is uniquely important for the understanding of the Empires development on the foundations laid by Augustus.Barbara Levick offers a comprehensive and engaging portrait of the life and times of Tiberius, including an exploration of his ancestry and his education, an analysis of his provincial and foreign policy and an examination of his debauched final years and his posthumous reputation.This new edition of Tiberius the Politician contains a new preface and a revised bibliography.About the AuthorBarbara Levick is formerly a Fellow and Tutor in Literae Humaniores at St. Hildas College, Oxford. She is the author of Claudius (1990) and Vespasian (1999). Humanities