Why did Catholicism attract so many unlikely converts in Britain during the twentieth century? The twentieth century is understood as an era of growing, inexorable secularism, yet in Britain between the 1890s and the 1960s there was a marked turn to...

An award-winning historian reconstructs the life of Francis of Assisi, uncovering the man behind the myths "Refreshing. . . . Complex, multilayered, and ambitious."--Costica Bradatan, Times Literary Supplement One of the most famous figures in...

Drawing on cutting-edge work in biblical studies and ethics, David Dault explores how bibles shape and are shaped by contemporary culture The recent rise in Christian nationalism and religious violence demands new approaches to scriptural...

An ambitious history of how medieval writers came to terms with paganismFrom the turn of the fifth century to the beginning of the eighteenth, Christian writers were fascinated and troubled by the "Problem of Paganism," which this book identifies and...

How Christianity both abolished and absorbed sacrificeFrom the beginning, sacrifice lived a double life in Christianity, both abandoned and essential. Christ’s death on the cross was the sacrifice to end all sacrifice, eclipsing the temple sacrifices of...

A history of the belief in paradise from its earliest origins to the present day, taking in a vast array of characters, particularly from within Christian and Islamic cultures.

An illustrated introduction to the history of Buddhism through teachings on its relevance today and simple meditation practices.There is only one moment in time when it is essential to awaken. That moment is now. —Buddha   The art of Buddhism...

How the Wise Men Got to Chelm is the first in-depth study of Chelm literature and its relationship to its literary precursors. When God created the world, so it is said, he sent out an angel with a bag of foolish souls with instructions to distribute...

Natan Sznaider offers a highly original account of Jewish memory and politics before and after the Holocaust. It seeks to recover an aspect of Jewish identity that has been almost completely lost today - namely, that throughout much of their history Jews...

The Kamasutra, composed in the third century CE, is the world's most famous textbook of erotic love. There is nothing remotely like it even today, and for its time it was astonishingly sophisticated. Yet it is all but ignored as a serious work in its...