Author: Erin Runions Publisher: Fordham Univ Press ISBN: 0823257363 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
Babylon is a surprisingly multivalent symbol in U.S. culture and politics. Political citations of Babylon range widely, from torture at Abu Ghraib to depictions of Hollywood glamour and decadence. In political discourse, Babylon appears in conservative ruminations on democratic law, liberal appeals to unity, Tea Party warnings about equality, and religious advocacy for family values. A composite biblical figure, Babylon is used to celebrate diversity and also to condemn it, to sell sexuality and to regulate it, to galvanize war and to worry about imperialism. Erin Runions explores the significance of these shifts and contradictions, arguing that together they reveal a theopolitics that tries to balance the drive for U.S. dominance with the countervailing ideals and subjectivities of economic globalization. Examining the confluence of cultural formations, biblical interpretations, and (bio)political philosophies, The Babylon Complex shows how theopolitical arguments for war, sexual regulation, and political control both assuage and contribute to anxieties about waning national sovereignty. Theoretically sophisticated and engaging, this remarkable book complicates our understanding of how the Bible affects U.S political ideals and subjectivities.
Author: Kristofer D. Holroyd Publisher: ISBN: 9781575064925 Category : Bible Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
"Recent scholarship has demonstrated the value of speech act theory for biblical studies; for example, the studies of Walter Houston, Jim Adams, and Steven Mann have established its worth for Old Testament studies, exploring the declarative power of the prophetic word and the formative power of self-involved readings of the text. Additionally, John Searle and Daniel Vanderveken note that illocutionary acts seldom occur alone but rather in larger speech acts. The biblical text is replete with these larger speech acts; the book of Jeremiah provides an excellent example of such complicated larger speech acts. How, then, are we to study these complex speech acts? How can understanding these complex speech acts better inform our understanding of a text and of how a larger text employs smaller text portions or smaller illocutions within that complex speech act? In this study, I propose that speech act theory can help us understand complex texts and begin to answer these questions. More specifically, I propose that a more complex use of speech act theory--a multilevel speech approach--can help us study complex speech acts, such as the text of Jeremiah, by identifying the multiple smaller speech acts which make up the more complex speech acts. Furthermore, such an approach informs the understanding of both the smaller and larger speech acts and how the larger, more complex speech act employs the smaller speech acts toward the formation of the more complex act. In order to test and demonstrate this multilevel speech act approach, I will apply it to the oracle against Babylon in MT Jer 50-51 and examine the illocutionary force of that oracle at some of its performative levels"--
Author: David W. Daniels Publisher: Chick Publications ISBN: 0758908431 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 226
Book Description
This is a history of goddess-worship. Written like a graphic novel, this well-researched book shows how goddess worship "morphed" through the centuries until it climaxed in its present most common form: the worship of the Virgin Mary. In different cultures, the names were different, but the goddess was the same. She was the Queen of Heaven, the mother of the god. She became the Mediatrix through whom all must go to reach their god.Author David Daniels is a stickler for research, so no one will be surprised to find a 30-page section of End Notes, as well as annotated bibliography. You can check out his facts for yourself! It's a heavy subject, but the illustrations by Jack T Chick help to make the story flow, and a lot easier for the casual reader to understand.
Author: Shanell T. Smith Publisher: Fortress Press ISBN: 1451472439 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 155
Book Description
The “Great Whore” of the Book of Revelation—the hostile symbolization used to illustrate the author’s critique of empire—has attracted considerable attention in Revelation scholarship. Feminist scholar Tina Pippin criticizes the use of gendered metaphors—“Babylon” as a tortured woman—which she asserts reflect an inescapably androcentric, even misogynistic, perspective. Alternatively, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza understands John’s rhetoric and imagery not simply in gendered terms, but in political terms as well, observing that “Babylon” relies on conventionally coded feminine language for a city. Shanell T. Smith seeks to dismantle the either/or dichotomy within the “Great Whore” debate by bringing the categories of race/ethnicity and class to bear on John’s metaphors. Her socio-cultural context impels her to be sensitive to such categories, and, therefore, leads her to hold the two elements, “woman” and “city,” in tension, rather than privileging one over the other. Using postcolonial womanist interpretation of the woman Babylon, Smith highlights the simultaneous duality of her characterization—her depiction as both a female brothel slave and as an empress or imperial city. Most remarkably, however, Smith’s reading also sheds light on her own ambivalent characterization as both a victim and participant in empire.
Author: John Curtis Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
This lavishly illustrated volume sheds light for the first time on the true wonders of this ancient city and the echoes and images that have grown up around it over thousands of years. The authors bring together a wealth of art works inspired by this ancient city. Alongside these evocations of an imagined Babylon, they present the reality of the city, exploring the architecture, history, culture, and religious life of the time as well as Babylon's legacy today--in astronomy, astrology, and much more.
Author: Nelson DeMille Publisher: Grand Central Publishing ISBN: 0759528322 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 537
Book Description
Lod Airport, Israel: Two Concorde jets take off for a U.N. conference that will finally bring peace to the Middle East. Covered by F-14 fighters, accompanied by security men, the planes carry warriors, pacifists, lovers, enemies, dignitaries -- and a bomb planted by a terrorist mastermind. Suddenly they're forced to crash-land at an ancient desert site. Here, with only a handful of weapons, the men and women of the peace mission must make a desperate stand against an army of crack Palestinian commandos -- while the Israeli authorities desperately attempt a rescue mission. In a land of blood and tears, in a windswept place called Babylon, it will be a battle of bullets and courage, and a war to the last death.
Author: Gaie Sebold Publisher: ISBN: 9781907992377 Category : Brothels Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
"Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex ... other things, runs The Red Lantern, the best brothel in the city. She's got elves using sex magic upstairs, S & M in the basement and a large green troll cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and she'd love you to visit, except ... She's not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, girls are disappearing, and if she can't pay her taxes, Babylon's going to lose the Lantern. She'd given up the mercenary life, but when the mysterious Darask Fain pays her to find a missing heiress, she has to take the job. And then her past starts to catch up with her in other, more dangerous ways.
Author: Gwendolyn Leick Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134261284 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 601
Book Description
Exploring all key aspects of the development of this ancient culture, The Babylonian World presents an extensive, up-to-date and lavishly illustrated history of the ancient state Babylonia and its 'holy city', Babylon.
Author: Richard Blake Publisher: Independently Published ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 508
Book Description
615 AD. A vengeful Persian tyrant prepares the final blow that will annihilate the Byzantine Empire. Back in Constantinople, though, Aelric of England - now the Lord Senator Alaric - has it made. He is almost as powerful as the Emperor. Seemingly without opposition, he dominates the vast and morally bankrupt capital. If, within his fortified palace, he revels in his books, his mood-altering substances, and the various delights of his serving girls and dancing boys, he alone is able to conceive and to push forward reforms that are the Empire's only hope of survival, and perhaps of restoration to wealth and greatness. But his domestic enemies are waiting for their moment to strike back. And the world's most terrifying military machine is assembling in secret beyond the mountains of the eastern frontier. What is the Horn of Babylon? Is it really accursed? Who is Antonia? What is Shahin, the bestial Persian admiral, doing on a ship within sight of the Imperial City? What exactly does Chosroes, the still more bestial Great King of Persia, want from Aelric? Is Rado a barbarian thug or a military genius? Will Priscus, the vile and disgraced former Commander of the East, get his place in the history books? Must it be written in Aelric's blood? In this sixth novel in the series, can Aelric rise to his greatest challenge yet? Intrigue, sex, black comedy, spectacular crowd scenes and extreme violence - you will find it all here in luxuriant abundance. Praise for the Novels of Richard Blake 'Fascinating to read, very well written, an intriguing plot and I enjoyed it very much.' - Derek Jacobi, star of I Claudius and Gladiator 'Vivid characters, devious plotting and buckets of gore are enhanced by his unfamiliar choice of period.... Nasty, fun and educational.' - The Daily Telegraph 'He knows how to deliver a fast-paced story and his grasp of the period is impressively detailed.' - The Mail on Sunday 'A rollicking and raunchy read . . . Anyone who enjoys their history with large dollops of action, sex, intrigue and, above all, fun will absolutely love this novel.' - Historical Novels 'It would be hard to over-praise this extraordinary series, a near-perfect blend of historical detail and atmosphere with the plot of a conspiracy thriller, vivid characters, high philosophy and vulgar comedy.' - The Morning Star Richard Blake is a pseudonym for Sean Gabb, who is an historian, writer and university lecturer. He lives in Kent with his wife and daughter.
Author: Igiaba Scego Publisher: ISBN: 9781931883832 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
"Describes Argentina's horrific dirty war, the chaotic final years of brutal dictatorship in Somalia, and the modern-day excesses of Italy's right-wing politics through the words of two half-sisters, their mothers, and the elusive father who ties their stories together"--
Author: Erin Runions
Author: Kristofer D. Holroyd
Author: David W. Daniels
Author: Shanell T. Smith
Author: John Curtis
Author: Nelson DeMille
Author: Gaie Sebold
Author: Gwendolyn Leick
Author: Richard Blake
Author: Igiaba Scego