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Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale is one of the most popular of The Canterbury Tales. It is only 646 lines long, yet it contains elements of a beast fable, an exemplum, a satire, and other genres. There have been countless attempts to articulate the "e;real"e; meaning of the tale, but it has confounded the critics. Peter Travis contends that part of the fun and part of the frustration of trying to interpret the tale has to do with Chaucer's use of the tale to demonstrate the resistance of all literature to traditional critical practices. But the world of The Nun's Priest's Tale is so creative and so quintessentially Chaucerian that critics persist in writing about it. No one has followed the critical fortunes of Chauntecleer and his companions more closely over time than Peter Travis. One of the most important contributions of this book is his assessment of the tale's reception. Travis also provides an admirable discussion of genre: his analysis of parody and Menippean satire clarify how to approach works such as this tale that take pleasure in resisting traditional generic classifications. Travis also demonstrates that the tale deliberately invoked its readers' memories of specific grammar school literary assignments, and the tale thus becomes a miniaturized synopticon of western learning. Building on these analyses and insights, Travis's final argument is that The Nun's Priest's Tale is Chaucer's premier work of self-parody, an ironic apologia pro sua arte. The most profound matters foregrounded in the tale are not advertisements of the poet's achievements. Rather, they are poetic problems that Chaucer wrestled with from the beginning of his career and, at the end of that career, wanted to address in a concentrated, experimental, and parapoetic way.

Following its entry into the European Union, Ireland changed radically from an impoverished, provincial, former British colony to a country where a farmer takes his wife on skiing holidays in Switzerland. This work debunks a good many stereotypes that prevent our seeing Ireland for what it was, as well as what it has become.

Intellectual ideas on ""international community"" can contribute to how cultures perceive one another. These ideas can be misunderstood if they are framed in a culturally exclusive way. This text examines how Russian elites engage American ideas of world order and why they perceive them as unlikely to promote a just or stable international system.

Examines the stages by which religious dissidents were persecuted by Tudor monarchs across the 16th century and the means by which these dissidents counteracted authorities. During each stage of persecution, many dissidents were able to elude capture and counter-interrogate their inquisitors.

Treatise on Divine Predestination is one of the early writings of the author of the great philosophical work Periphyseon (On the Division of Nature), Johannes Scottus (the Irishman), known as Eriugena (died c. 877 A.D.). It contributes to the age-old debate on the question of human destiny in the present world and in the afterlife.

In this collection of essays, which were first delivered as lectures at the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein in 1998, distinguished philosopher Peter Geach confronts some of the most difficult issues in philosophy with the precision of a logician and the grace and wit of an accomplished stylist. These essays constitute a significant addition to Professor Geach's esteemed body of work in philosophy, as he addresses not only problems of logic and analytic philosophy, but also of epistemology and ethics. Geach's engaging discussions of human nature, truth, goodness, and love provide probing insight into perennial themes in an appealing, highly readable style which is nevertheless forceful and exacting. Geach knows the subjectivity of his own experience and belief and is able to illuminate that experience and belief by submitting it to a rational and philosophical inquiry. His avowed Catholic perspective is neither a weapon nor a shield. It is an integral part of the sustained, systematic, and constructive approach to philosophy demonstrated in these essays. They will certainly provoke serious reflection even in those inclined to disagree with Geach's conclusions.

Starting with the premise that the history of a medieval subject cannot be properly written "e;without recourse to the materials it produced,"e; Lesley Smith's Masters of the Sacred Page provides an illuminating study of theology in the Middle Ages. She focuses on the dramatic transformations of the discipline in the twelfth century and uses a collection of contemporary manuscripts as a guide to its changes and developments.Smith points out that the medieval masters of theology had a much wider view of their subject than the modern academic tendency for neatness and division can easily admit, and she places their discipline squarely within the rapidly evolving intellectual and educational context of the twelfth-century university.Her approach avoids two of the most common weaknesses of modern historical studies of medieval theology. In the first place, those histories have a tendency to be distorted by a reliance on easily available printed editions of medieval texts, the bulk of which are summae and other logical, systematic treatments. This preponderance, however, often reflects the concerns and interests of nineteenth- and twentieth-century editors more than it does the medieval masters. Biblical commentaries, sermons, and manuals for pastoral use have only recently begun to be edited and printed in numbers reflecting their importance and widespread use in the Middle Ages; Smith includes such material in her study.In the second place, traditional histories have a tendency to remove the study of theology from the actual environment of the medieval university and therefore fail to account for the complex relations between theology, the arts, and the burgeoning disciplines of medicine and law. By refusing to follow this trend, Smith has greatly improved our awareness of the situation of medieval theology.Using the manuscript books themselves as witnesses, Smith shows how theology competed with other disciplines for students (as well as teachers), how it attempted to define itself, and how it cooperated with other disciplines to foster new development in book technology-and new traditions in the social and intellectual culture of the medieval university.

With the equality and liberty of the Declaration of Independence as his fighting words, Thomas Jefferson created American democracy. For the two hundred years since then, he has been studied and debated worldwide, but never more intensely than in recent years. His extensive and influential understanding of democracy's foundation in reason and nature continue to make him one of the most examined American founders. Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Nature is a collection of the very best current scholarship devoted to Thomas Jefferson as politician, writer, philosopher, Christian, and economist.Lead essayist Michael Zuckert presents his comprehensive interpretation of Jefferson's political thought, which Zuckert considers the best theoretical approach to democracy. While Zuckert moderates Jefferson's natural rights philosophy with a Kantian perspective, Jean Yarbrough responds with the argument that Jefferson incorporates the authors of the Scottish Enlightenment and principles from the Republican tradition to achieve the same moderating effect.Garrett Ward Sheldon looks at the broader cultural influences shaping Jefferson's thought and traces his republicanism to his support of Christian ethics and Aristotle. R. Booth Fowler examines why Jefferson, the leading liberal theorist of the nineteenth century, became the hero of the very different liberalism of the twentieth. Robert Dawidoff considers Jefferson as writer and literary figure instead of political thinker and actor, while Joyce Appleby renews an appreciation of Jefferson's statecraft by a famous reexamination of his commercial agrarian policy. Finally, James Ceaser traces Jefferson's belief in racial inferiority to a speculative new natural science prominent among contemporary European thinkers and argues that Jefferson committed a significant error in reducing politics to such conjectural "e;facts."e;This compact text is ideal for professors wishing to offer a one-volume collection of current Jeffersonian scholarship to undergraduate students. Professors and students alike will find that the essays contain prompt, focused, substantive discussions on the key issues facing Jeffersonian scholars. This handy collection will be an invaluable classroom tool for those studying not only Jefferson but also history, political philosophy, and science, as well as the history of ideas.

This volume provides research and analysis of the principal metropolitan areas and governmental structures in federalist countries of the Americas.

This book examines the coexistence of crony capitalism and traditionally democratic institutions such as political competition and elections in Russia after the collapse of communism. The combination, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova argues, has produced a distinct pattern of political evolution in contemporary Russia. Elections are meant to ensure government accountability and allow voters to elect a government responsive to their needs, but in postcommunist Russia the institutional forms of democracy did not result in the expected outcomes. Instead, democratic institutions in the context of crony capitalism-in which informal elite groups dominate policy making, and preferential treatment from the state, not market forces, is crucial to amassing and holding wealth-were widely devalued and discredited. As Sharafutdinova demonstrates, especially through her close scrutiny of elections in two regions of Russia, Nizhnii Novgorod and the Republic of Tatarstan, crony capitalism made elections especially intense struggles among the elites. Massive amounts of money flowed into campaigns to promote candidates by discrediting their rivals, money purchased candidates and power, and elites thereby solidified their control. As a result, the majority of citizens perceived elections as the means for the elite to access power and wealth rather than as expressions of public will. Through her detailed case studies and her analyses of contemporary Russia in general, Sharafutdinova argues persuasively that the turn toward authoritarianism associated with Vladimir Putin and supported by a majority of Russian citizens was a negative political response to the interaction of electoral processes and crony capitalism.

When In So Many Words first appeared in 2006, the Chicago Tribune observed that Robert Schmuhl's collection of essays offered "e;some of the sharpest and most informative cultural criticism available."e;Now, In So Many More Words expands on the writings in the first edition and includes seventeen new essays written during the past four years. Schmuhl analyzes the emergence of Barack Obama and evaluates America's new political landscape in light of the 2008 election. Schmuhl also looks at contemporary media and the cultural effects created by bloggers, pundits, and cable shouters. The explosive growth of news sources, he says, "e;comes at a public price-a continuing fragmentation of audiences and a marked decline in a commonly shared culture."e;

St. Jerome (347-420) was undoubtedly one of the most learned of the Latin Church Fathers. Much of his prodigious exegetical output, however, has never been translated into English. In this volume, Thomas Scheck presents the first English translation of St. Jerome's commentaries on Galatians, Titus, and Philemon.

Tells the gameday story with over one hundred color photographs. This book offers insights into Notre Dame football's connections to various sorts of traditions - that bring people closer to each other. It explores the acts of faith, hope, and charity that surround the football program and reflect the nature and mission of the university.

Standard accounts of the history of interpretation of Paul's Letter to the Romans often begin with St. Augustine. As Thomas P. Scheck demonstrates, however, the Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 CE) was a major work of Pauline exegesis which, by means of the Latin translation preserved in the West, had a significant influence on the Christian exegetical tradition. Scheck begins by exploring Origen's views on justification and on the intimate connection of faith and post-baptismal good works as essential to justification. He traces the enormous influence Origen's Commentary on Romans had on later theologians in the Latin West, including the ways in which theologians often appropriated Origen's exegesis in their own work. Scheck analyzes in particular the reception of Origen by Pelagius, Augustine, William of St. Thierry, Erasmus, Cornelius Jansen, the Anglican Bishop Richard Montagu, and the Catholic lay apologist John Heigham, as well as Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and other Protestant Reformers who harshly attacked Origen's interpretation as fatally flawed. But as Scheck shows, theologians through the post-Reformation controversies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries studied and engaged Origen extensively, even if not always in agreement. An important work in patristics, biblical interpretation, and historical theology, Origen and the History of Justification establishes the formative role played by Origen's Pauline exegesis, while also contributing to our understanding of the theological issues surrounding justification in the western Christian tradition.

Gathers essays by fourteen scholars written to honor Fred Dallmayr and the contributions of his political theory. This book provides a survey of the development of his work. It addresses the scope of Dallmayr's contributions to contemporary thought, from his theoretical assessment of Western modernity to his cosmopolitical vision.

Throughout South and Southeast Asia, groups battle over definitions of identity. This volume explores the intricate, dynamic relationships that pertain between women's agency and the state-making institutions and armed forces of Kashmir, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Burma (Myanmar). It also addresses the complex roles of Islam, and Hinduism.

Examines Dante's relation to his contemporary public, an audience that included poets who responded to Dante's early work as well as those who first copied, preserved, and circulated his poetry. Based on research of manuscripts and documents, this study reveals the importance of professional, urban classes as cultivators of early Italian poetry.

After the dethronement and subsequent murder of Richard II, the usurping Lancastrian dynasty faced an exceptional challenge. This book provides an account of the Lancastrian revolution and its aftermath. Integrating techniques of literary and historical analysis, it reveals the Lancastrian monarchs as masters of outward display.

Traces five centuries of conflict and change in the life of the clergy in Brazil. This book examines how priests participated in the colonization of Brazil, educated the elite and poor in the faith, propped up the socioeconomic status quo, and reinforced the institution of slavery, all the while living in relative freedom from church authority.

Leo Strauss has been blamed for providing the intellectual underpinnings of a generation of neoconservatives in political philosophy and foreign policy. This book lays out the debate surrounding Strauss by reviewing his published work and legacy since his death in 1973. It also explores Strauss's views on the revelation/reason distinction.

This reassessment of the ideas that Americans have had about race tells the history of the American system of racial domination and of twentieth-century challenges to that racial hierarchy, from monoracial movements to the multiracial movement.

A reassessment of the ideas that Americans have had about race, this text draws on the perspectives of history, sociology, theology, American studies and ethnic studies to tell the history of the American system of racial domination and of 20th-century challenges to that racial hierarchy, from monoracial movements to the multiracial movement.

This work provides an eye-opening look at the material lives of the poor in America. The narrative aims to allow readers to envision themselves in the real world of the poor, to imagine what it could be like to be faced with their particular circumstances and limited options.

Argues that meaning, truth, impossibility, natural necessity, and our intelligent perception of nature fit together into a distinctly realist account of thought and world. This title intends to offer an analytically and historically respectable alternative to the prevailing positions of various British-American philosophers.

Explores Longley's and Heaney's poetic fidelity to the imagination in the midst of the war in Northern Ireland and their creation, through poetry, of a powerful cultural and sacred space. This space, Russell argues, has contributed to cultural and religious dialogue and thus helped enable reconciliation after the years of the Troubles.

When the Spanish invaded the Inca empire in 1532, the cult of the ancestors was an essential feature of pre-Columbian religion throughout the Andes. The dead influenced politics, protected the living, symbolized the past, and legitimized claims over the land their descendants occupied, while the living honored the presence of the dead in numerous aspects of daily life. A central purpose of the Spanish missionary endeavor was to suppress the Andean cult of the ancestors and force the indigenous people to adopt their Catholic, legal, and cultural views concerning death. In her book, Gabriela Ramos reveals the extent to which Christianizing death was essential for the conversion of the indigenous population to Catholicism.Ramos argues that understanding the relation between death and conversion in the Andes involves not only considering the obvious attempts to destroy the cult of the dead, but also investigating a range of policies and strategies whose application demanded continuous negotiation between Spaniards and Andeans. Drawing from historical, archaeological, and anthropological research and a wealth of original archival materials, especially the last wills and testaments of indigenous Andeans, Ramos looks at the Christianization of death as it affected the lives of inhabitants of two principal cities of the Peruvian viceroyalty: Lima, the new capital founded on the Pacific coast by the Spanish, and Cuzco, the old capital of the Incas in the Andean highlands. Her study of the wills in particular demonstrates the strategies that Andeans devised to submit to Spanish law and Christian doctrine, preserve bonds of kinship, and cement their place in colonial society.

Cultural property and its stewardship have been concerns of museums, archaeologists, art historians, and nations, but the legal and political consequences of collecting antiquities have also attracted broad media attention. This volume contains papers delivered at a 2007 symposium by eminent museum directors and curators, and legal scholars.

With essays ranging from sexual ethics to human rights, medical ethics to freedom, this title offers a perspective on the last twenty-five years of feminist innovation in Christian ethics and a glimpse of its global future, particularly in continents such as Africa.

Delivers a reading of the ""Consolation"". This work argues that it is a Christian work dramatizing not the truths of philosophy as a whole, but the limits of pagan philosophy in particular. It argues that Boethius deliberately dramatizes the act of writing about systematic knowledge in a way that calls into question the value of that knowledge.