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This is the first edited, annotated collection of the writings of Allan Bennett, one of the first British men to gain higher ordination as a Buddhist monk and one of the seminal figures in the development of Buddhism in the UK. Bennett's view of Buddhism reflects the intellectual history of his day and the debates that were happening between different religious groups in late Victorian and early Edwardian imperial Britain. His work represents some of the first writings by English converts to Buddhism and mobilized both British Buddhists and sympathizers. Controversy has surrounded his life, particularly in western Buddhist circles, because of his early involvement with the occult. His writings included two published Volumes. The first recorded a series of talks he gave in London in 1917-1918, published just two months before he died, The Wisdom of the Aryas. The second was published posthumously, The Religion of Burma and Other Papers. Both of these are included in this volume as well as excerpts from his esoteric notebooks, essays published in the journal he established Buddhism - An Illustrated Quarterly Review, the prospectus of the International Buddhist Society (Buddhasasana Samagama) he founded, and excerpts from his letters and lectures as well as other publications.

This is the first biography of Allan Bennett, one of the first British men to gain higher ordination as a Buddhist monk and one of the seminal figures in the development of Buddhism in the UK. Bennett rejected Christianity early in his life and turned to late nineteenth century occultism and esoteric new religious movements, namely Theosophy and the Order of the Golden Dawn. His involvement in the latter led to friendship with Aleister Crowley. After he travelled to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1899 for health reasons - he had chronic asthma - he was attracted to Buddhism. Believing Buddhism in Burma (Myanmar) was purer than in Ceylon, he opted for ordination there in 1902. From Burma, he created an international Buddhist network, founding the International Buddhist Society, the Buddhasasana Samagama and starting a journal, Buddhism - An Illustrated Quarterly Review. In 1908, he led a Buddhist mission to England. Convinced that the West needed Buddhism as an antidote to growing materialism, he became a prolific writer. Two volumes of his writings were published. The first recorded a series of talks he gave in London in 1917-1918, published just two months before he died (The Wisdom of the Aryas). The second was published posthumously (The Religion of Burma and Other Papers). Controversy has surrounded his life, particularly in western Buddhist circles, because of his early involvement with the occult.

Minority religions that differ from the mainstream are often perceived as controversial and as a threat to the individual and to society. During the 1970s and 80s, there were intense discussions about whether conversion to these groups was voluntary or an effect of brainwashing or manipulation. In recent years, however, the situation of children in these groups has taken over the public debate regarding minority religions. Many believe that childhoods in cults involve physical and psychological abuse, and that severe punishment, starvation, sexual abuse, manipulation, forced obedience, lack of medical care and demonization of the outside world is part of everyday life.This book presents four years of research. Its purpose is to highlight children's upbringing in certain minority religions with a high degree of "sectarian" criteria in a sociological sense including high tension with society/world, unique legitimacy and high level of commitment. The study examines mainly, but not exclusively, seven minority religious communities: The Hare Krishna movement, The Family International (formerly Children of God), The Church of Scientology, The Family Federation (formerly The Unification Church), Knutby Filadelfia (a Pentecostal group), The Exclusive Brethren, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The fieldwork was conducted in Sweden, but the situation of the children and the findings are relevant to other countries. Most of the minority groups discussed have an international character with a presence in many countries, with only minor differences depending on local circumstances. The study is based on literature from the religions and observations of children and parents in religious rituals and daily life. However, the most important material for the book are eighteen in-depth interviews with children between the ages of 8 and 17 living in these groups and seventy-five in-depth interviews with adults who grew up in minority religions and who are still involved, who grew up in minority religions, but are not now engaged, and who raised children in the minority religions.

TheSmall Faces epitomised the maxim, "Never mind the width, feelthe quality." In their brief original lifespan, they releasedjust three official albums and a dozen-and-a-half authorisednon-album singles and B-sides. Yet more than five decades after theLondon quartet's split the phenomenal quality of that compact body ofwork has ensured a continuing and unassailable musical esteembordering on legend.Gut-bucketvocalist Steve Marriott brought a bluesy grit to both compositions ofgravitas and effervescent pop numbers. Bassist Ronnie Lanecollaborated with him to form one of the most formidable songwritingpartnerships of the era. Ian McLagan was an exhilaratinglyblurred-fingered keyboardist. Kenney Jones brought up the rear withblistering drum patterns, with his rolls often used to provide anexplosive fanfare to Small Faces singles. Such a talent-oozingline-up was virtually predestined to conjure excellence. 'TinSoldier', their exquisitely sophisticated psychedelic-soul release of1967, regularly appears in polls to decide history's greatestsingles. However, the band are just as much loved for rip-roaringpower-pop like 'Sha-La-La- La-Lee' and 'All or Nothing' and storminginstrumental B-sides such as 'Grow Your Own' and 'Almost Grown'.Their acknowledged masterpiece is Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake(1968), an album that was not only artistically superb butboasted a second-side narrative suite that paved the way for rockoperas such as the Pretty Things' SF Sorrow and the Who's Tommy.Regardless of style, quality and innovativeness, the Small Faces'music was characterised by a life-affirming joyousness. All thisexplains why their catalogue is endlessly recycled and why theiroeuvre has been disproportionately inspirational.LongAgos and Worlds Apart covers the Small Faces' full,tumultuous story. The book draws on lengthy new interviews, includingones with Jones, Lane’s close friend Pete Townshend and originalSmall Faces member Jimmy Winston. It features contributions from manyassociates and intimates, including managers, agents, publicists,songwriters, auxiliary musicians, fan-club personnel, recordingengineers, journalists, friends and wives. It also draws on numerousinterviews the author conducted down the years with both Jones andMcLagan, much of which material is previously unpublished. Itis a revealing, impartial, exhaustive and definitive exploration ofthe corpus and career of a truly great band.

Tomasz Stańko is arguably the greatest jazz musician Poland has ever produced. His career spanned almost 60 years until his death in 2018. A visionary trumpeter and composer, a protégé of Krzysztof Komeda and a colleague of musicians from Poland, Sweden, Norway, Britain, Cuba and the USA, his impact on jazz internationally was profound, proving that jazz was not exclusively an American art form but truly world-wide. In 2014 he was awarded the Polytika Passport in Poland, the Prix du Musicien Européan in Paris and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.The book is a no-holds-barred extended interview with broadcaster Rafał Księżyk originally published in Polish by Wydawnictwo Literackie.

Ray Brown: His Life and Music is the first full-length biography of Ray Brown, one of the most outstanding practitioners of bass playing in jazz music. Brown's career spans the most popular and creative eras of jazz, from 1940 to the dawn of the 21st century. During his early professional career, Ray Brown first toured with territory bands, and by 1946, he was hired by Dizzy Gillespie to play in his small group and big band. At this time, Brown became the first call New York bassist to accompany other bop musicians like Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. He also served as the bassist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic and frequently recorded with an impressive stable of jazz musicians. In 1947 Ray Brown married legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald and soon divided his time by working as the leader of Fitzgerald's trio while playing with Gillespie, Jazz at the Philharmonic, and as a guest accompanist. After first playing together at Carnegie Hall in 1949, Ray Brown began regularly working with Canadian piano sensation Oscar Peterson until 1965. The Peterson Trio would become one of the most lucrative acts in jazz history. After leaving Peterson, Ray Brown worked as a Los Angeles studio musician and played on numerous commercial recordings but never abandoned swing-based jazz. During these years, he also became involved as a manager, promoter, and teacher. Throughout the mid-1970s until he died in 2002, Ray Brown remained one of the most excellent practitioners of mainstream jazz during a time when some elements of the music moved far away from this style. With so many jazz musicians from his generation succumbing to drugs and tragedy, Ray Brown's longevity and professionalism are a testament to his talents, intelligence, and professionalism.

Global Phenomenologies of Religion offers a new way of looking at the past, current and future trajectory of the study of religion. The phenomenology of religion was once widely acknowledged to be the core of the study of religion as an autonomous discipline. First used as a term by the Dutch scholar Chantepie de la Saussaye in 1887, it was developed by Gerardus van der Leeuw in the 1930s and 40s, became popular in the 1960s and 70s and then met severe criticism, virtually disappearing by the beginning of the twenty-first century.This book adds to our global understanding of the history of the study of religion. Interviews with scholars from ten different countries offer a lived history, covering more than half a century. The resulting picture is diverse and nuanced, revealing important national and regional differences, and challenging long-held views about the rise and decline of this venerable approach to the study of religion.

How do people come to experience invisible beings as real social presences? And what happens when those experiences emerge in minds that are assumed to struggle with social imagination? In Autism and the Supernatural, Ingela Visuri explores the richly textured worlds of autistic young adults who describe vivid relationships with gods, spirits, ghosts, fictional characters, and unseen companions. Drawing on immersive ethnography in secular Sweden, the book follows participants who experience intimate relations, sensory experiences, and para-social bonds that blur the boundaries between imagination, religion, and everyday life.A central assumption within the cognitive science of religion is that belief in invisible agents depends on intuitive mindreading abilities - the human capacity to imagine what others are thinking and intending. Because autism is associated with differences in social cognition, scholars have suggested that autistic individuals would be less likely to form supernatural relationships. The narratives in this book challenge that assumption, as well as the idea that autistic individuals would be less imaginative, in profound ways.Visuri shows how autistic individuals may come to experience invisible others through alternative pathways rooted in sensory perception, narrative immersion, imaginative practice, and embodied experience. Rather than treating autistic religiosity as a deficit or anomaly, the book reveals how supernatural worlds can become emotionally vivid, socially meaningful, and profoundly real.Combining cognitive anthropology, psychology of religion, and neurodiversity studies, the book offers a deeply original account of how humans cultivate relationships with invisible beings-and what these invisible relationships reveal about culture, cognition, imagination, and the varieties of human experience.

How do people come to experience invisible beings as real social presences? And what happens when those experiences emerge in minds that are assumed to struggle with social imagination? In Autism and the Supernatural, Ingela Visuri explores the richly textured worlds of autistic young adults who describe vivid relationships with gods, spirits, ghosts, fictional characters, and unseen companions. Drawing on immersive ethnography in secular Sweden, the book follows participants who experience intimate relations, sensory experiences, and para-social bonds that blur the boundaries between imagination, religion, and everyday life.A central assumption within the cognitive science of religion is that belief in invisible agents depends on intuitive mindreading abilities — the human capacity to imagine what others are thinking and intending. Because autism is associated with differences in social cognition, scholars have suggested that autistic individuals would be less likely to form supernatural relationships. The narratives in this book challenge that assumption, as well as the idea that autistic individuals would be less imaginative, in profound ways.Visuri shows how autistic individuals may come to experience invisible others through alternative pathways rooted in sensory perception, narrative immersion, imaginative practice, and embodied experience. Rather than treating autistic religiosity as a deficit or anomaly, the book reveals how supernatural worlds can become emotionally vivid, socially meaningful, and profoundly real.Combining cognitive anthropology, psychology of religion, and neurodiversity studies, the book offers a deeply original account of how humans cultivate relationships with invisible beings—and what these invisible relationships reveal about culture, cognition, imagination, and the varieties of human experience.

Social and Cognitive Perspectives on the Sermon on the Mount offers fresh readings of themes and individual sayings in the Sermon on the Mount (SM) using socio-cognitive approaches. Because these approaches are invested in patterns of human cognition and social mechanisms, the resulting collection highlights the persistent appeal and persuasiveness of the SM: from innate moral drives, to the biology of emotion and risk-taking, to the formation and obliteration of in-group/out-group distinctions. Through these theories the authors show why--even across cultures and history--the SM continues to grip both individual minds and groups of people in order to shape moral communities. Classical historical-critical readings interpret the sermon according to the conventions of literature, seeking a relationship to other texts and ideas. By contrast our volume explores the SM not so much for the logical and historical relationships to other literary traditions, but also--and perhaps more importantly--for the ways it stimulates emotional, biologically, culturally habituated, evolutionarily preconditioned, and socially sanctioned characteristics of humans. In short, the volume shines a light on the action-inducing properties of the text. The volume will introduce a broader group of scholars, students, and clergy to the relevance of social scientific and cognitive studies for interpretation of the Bible, by applying these approaches to possibly the most read and discussed text in the Bible.

What Is Metaphysics? offers an exposition, informed primarily by the Islamic metaphysical tradition, of principial and divine knowledge as distinct from information or merely factual knowledge. Advancing an argument in favor of integrating metaphysics at every level of one's being, the book also delves into various applications of metaphysics pertaining to the domains of religion, education, philosophy, art, ecology, and science.

The life and music of jazz great Miles Davis from 1980 to 1991.

Questions of authority are perennial. Authority has been and still is a key topic in many studies of history, society, literature, and religion, just as it is a key issue in contemporary societies. In spite of the scholarly attention, authority continues to have an elusive quality. Reframing Authority provides new perspectives by focusing on the role of materiality and media for questions of authority, as well as on the changing roles of authority historically and cross-culturally. The volume argues that forms of mediation and materiality are crucial in any constitution, contestation, or transformation of authority. New understanding of authority can be gained by focusing on materiality and media in situations where authority is created, contested, or transformed in different historical eras and cultures. As the in-depth historical case studies show, authority is dependent upon a range of media and materiality forms - objects, paraphernalia, spaces and spatial practices, visual culture, literary forms, technologies, and bodies. Thus, authority is vulnerable and in need of continual maintenance, as struggles against, negotiations of, and transformations within authority constellations demonstrate. Reframing Authority demonstrates the fundamental relational nature of authority, makes a contribution to broader debates in the human sciences and offers a long historical perspective, ranging from ancient Rome and Christianity, to medieval literature, the early modern, modern, and contemporary eras in Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, Mexico and the US.

This volume does not focus on "theory" in a broad sense, but specifically on theories of religion. Theories of religion are texts that seek to interpret or explain "religion", attempting to account for its meaning of "religion", its specificity and its ontological status. They typically discuss the origins, structure, and functions (or products) of "religion". Hence, theories of religion differ from "theoretical approaches", "theoretical frameworks", "theoretical models", "definition of religion", "ideas", or similar concepts. The volume explores "theories of religion" as a fundamental concept in the study of religion/s in a specific, albeit interdisciplinary sense. Notably, many of the key theorists of religion are anthropologists, cognitive and evolutionary theorists, philosophers, and sociologists, in addition to scholars of religion in a more disciplinary sense. The book starts by giving a brief synopsis of theories of religions advanced since 1966. This starting point is chosen because of the appearance of two theoretical manifestos-contemporary classics-by Clifford Geertz, and Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, which have set the stage for subsequent theories of religion as points of references. The main part of the volume surveys over 40 works by the following theorists in chronological order: Clifford Geertz, Thomas Luckmann, Peter Berger, Pierre Bourdieu, Niklas Luhmann, Donald Crosby, Andrew Greeley, Ninian Smart, Martin Prozesky, Rodney Stark (with William Sims Bainbridge and Roger Finke respectively), Felicitas Goodman, John Hick, E. Thomas Lawson and Robert McCauley, Stewart Guthrie, Daniele Hervieu-Leger, Henri Hatzfeld, Jacques Derrida, Walter Burkert, Roy Rappaport, Pascal Boyer, Scott Atran, David Sloan Wilson, Lee Kirkpatrick, Loyal Rue, Daniel Dennett, Thomas Tweed, Martin Riesebrodt, Peter Sloterdijk, Robert Bellah, Gavin Flood, Jeppe Sinding Jensen, Ronald Dworkin, Jan-Ove Henriksen, Christian Smith, Paul-Francois Tremlett, Jonathan Turner with Alexandra Maryanski, Anders Klostergaard Petersen, and Armin Geertz, Volkhard Krech, Gabriel Levy and Stanley Stowers.

The Loss of the Senses comprises seventeen essays that Ivan Illich (1926-2022) wrote between 1987 and 1998 and continued to edit until the end of his life. This collection is unknown to the English-speaking world.The essays cut across academic disciplines and range over different facets of contemporary life. Included among the many topics are the roots of the service economy, the history of the gaze, the idea of technology as a Western invention, and the co-related eclipse of the university and the text in the twenty-first century.Despite the variety of subjects treated, these essays cohere for two reasons. As Illich's Deschooling Society and Medical Nemesis did before, they confirm that being immersed in a technological milieu disables our native capacities to learn, heal, and move. Furthermore, they imply that we must deeply historicize the present to rightly understand the nature and effects of present-day socio-technical systems.The Loss of the Senses holds up "the mirror of the past," in which Illich recognizes the looming figure of the contemporary man without senses. He incisively argues that the techno-scientific cloud that now envelops us withers the realm of our felt experience. For example, our "age of the show" yokes the ubiquitous screen to an eye that can no longer see but, like a camera, can only record what it is shown.Illich also reminds us of the ever-present possibility of "ascetical practices" that can enliven our senses and thwart the dissolution of our embodied sensibilities.

Shinto permeates the religious landscape of Japan and is a major key to the understanding of Japanese culture and society. But what is it? If ideological shortcuts are avoided there is no simple answer. Yet this book will guide students and general readers through many aspects of Shinto both today and in its history. It contains much information about sacred Shinto shrines and the divinities (the kami) which are the focus of devotion there. These numerous divinities have been viewed in different ways in the course of time, and contributions by specialists shed much light on the role played by Buddhism in this regard. Moreover, several fascinating religious movements or “sects” which share in the wider pattern of Shinto are also introduced and discussed. Oversimplified views may be challenged here, but the result is a volume in which “Shinto” is explored in a wide and illuminating perspective by an international team of scholars. It provides a refreshing and much-needed resource for all who are interested in the subject.

In the early twentieth century, The Eastern Buddhist journal pioneered the presentation of Buddhism to the west and encouraged the west's engagement in interpretation. This interactive process increased dramatically in the post-war period, when dialogue between Buddhist and Christian thought began to take off in earnest. These debates and dialogues brought in voices with a Zen orientation, influenced in part by the philosophical Buddhism of the Kyoto School. Also to be heard however were contributions from the Pure Land and the Shin Buddhist traditions, which also have a strong tradition in the city. The book brings together a wide range of authors who have significantly influenced subsequent Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the interaction between east and west.

Evil: A Critical Primer begins with the claim that evil is a concept that is contextually bound. This means that we should not expect to find shared or similar notions of evil across cultures. Addressing evil in a way that is at once contextually specific and applicable to cross-cultural settings, this primer breaks with moral conceptions of evil by redescribing it within a new framework of dangers and aversions (i.e., things that cause harm and things to avoid). Doing so provides an empirical and heuristic framework as a new starting point for the study of religion, deemphasizing things associated with evil (like the devil, wickedness, or a diabolic will) and focusing instead on attitudes and practices (like rituals of purity and impurity, notions of clean and dirty, or expressions of disgust). Introducing and reflecting on cultural and cognitive aspects of classification, myth, ritual, emotions, and morality, Evil: A Critical Primer argues that our colloquial conception of evil, as related exclusively to the moral domain, is usefully illuminated by attending to historical and cultural context and cross-cultural comparison.

This book provides an overview of the various ways the concepts enchantment, disenchantment, and re-enchantment have been used both within religious studies scholarship and in related fields. Despite the prevalence of these concepts in recent scholarship, no introductory text on the subject of enchantment has yet been written. The first half of the book provides a concise overview of theoretical work on disenchantment, a critical exploration of empirical evidence for premodern enchantment and modern disenchantment, and an account of how enchantment has been used in scholarly and popular works to mark specific beliefs and practices as unacceptable, dangerous, or delusional. The second half of the book explores recent scholarship on re-enchantment and distinguishes between two main varieties: rational re-enchantment, which involves heightened emotions that are free from negative appraisals of premodern belief in magic and spirits, and spiritual re-enchantment, which involves the recovery of premodern beliefs and practices or the development of new alternative spiritual paths. The final chapter outlines a novel theoretical model for explaining modern enchantment as a variety of playful half-belief. This book will be useful for scholars and students working on a variety of topics including religion in modernity, theories of secularization, conflicts between science and religion, new religious movements, new materialisms, and immanent justifications for environmentalism.

This book looks at the concept of tradition in the study of religion. It examines the history of the concept, uses in the discipline, theoretical perspectives (including Indigenous and post/decolonial studies, cognitive science and hermeneutics), and critical perspectives on key thinkers (Halbwachs, Gadamer, Ricoeur, J & A Assmann, Boyer, Morin) and recommendations for clearing the air of a key theoretical tension surrounding the concept of the invention of tradition.Questioning the use of ‘tradition’ as a synonym for ‘religion,’ the book models a relational and ideology-critical approach to complex concepts. It engages with important theoretical issues, including opposition to ‘modernity,’ Indigenous ‘self-conscious traditionalism.’ colonial discourses, intersections with ritual, agency and reason and ‘the invention of tradition.’ Discussions – with examples from a variety of religions and cultures – including African, Indigenous North American, south Pacific, Afro-Brazilian, Japanese, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and esoteric. Four case studies – on esoteric Traditionalism, Candomblé, great/little traditions and Indigenous traditions in Canadian law – engage central ideas in greater detail.

Religion in Five Minutes provides an accessible and lively introduction to the questions about religion and religious behaviour that interest most of us, whether or not we personally identify with - or practice - a religion. Suitable for beginning students and the general reader, the book offers more than 60 brief essays on a wide range of fascinating questions about religion and its study, such as: How did religion start? What religion is the oldest? Who are the Nones? Why do women seem to play lesser roles in many religions? What's the difference between a religion and a cult? Is Europe less religious than North America? Is Buddhism a philosophy? How do we study religions of groups who no longer exist? Each essay is written by a leading authority and offers succinct, insightful answers along with suggestions for further reading, making the book an ideal starting point for classroom use or personal browsing.

This is a concise version of the award-winning and highly acclaimed second edition published in 2013. It is luxuriously illustrated throughout with colour photos, paintings, medieval miniatures and sketches and displays the diversity of the region’s traditional culinary practices, delicious and enduring. This edition book contains 300 of the original 400 recipes, all tested and easy to follow, and covers all food categories with ample choice for both vegetarians and meat lovers, and many that will satisfy a sweet tooth. Ingredients and cooking techniques indigenous to the region are fully explained.Unlike the majority of cookbooks, the book uniquely traces the genesis and development of the Iraqi cuisine over the centuries, starting with the ancient Mesopotamians, through medieval times and leading to the present, aided throughout by the author’s intimate native knowledge of cookery. Of particular interest are the book’s numerous food-related folkloric stories, reminiscences, anecdotes, songs, poems, excerpts from narratives written by foreign visitors to the region, and cultural explications of customs, all interwoven with the recipes. The book is supplemented with detailed menus and an extended glossary to familiarize the reader with the indigenous ingredients used in creating authentic Iraqi meals.The book is a valuable addition to the shelves of specialized and general libraries and a must-have for food lovers everywhere.

This volume is a tribute to the work of Michael Jerryson, one of the initiators of the academic discourse on Buddhism and violence whose intellectual pursuits have resulted in a trailblazing shift in the academic study of Buddhism. Preconceived in the modern west as a pacific, chiefly meditative practice aiming for personal salvation and world peace, Buddhism has been exposed in the last few decades for its manifold legacy of violence. This is apparent not only in Buddhist groups' history of support for actual military aims, but in Buddhism's association with religious nationalism and in its more subtle expressions of discursive and structural violence. This exposure is due in significant part to Michael Jerryson who, in addition to exploring this perhaps surprising Buddhist history, has investigated the dynamism of Buddhist authority. Most recently in his critique of U Wirathu, the Burmese Buddhist monk whose advocacy of Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar has stirred a boiling pot of anti-Muslim resentments, Michael Jerryson has shown that reverence for Burmese religious authorities transcends respect for traditional Buddhist doctrine and monastic accomplishments. It emanates instead from the phenomenon of religious authority itself and from the cultural institutions which support it. His examinations have resulted in heightened sensitivity to the sociology of religious authority and violence. The scholarly contributions in this volume include discussions of Buddhism and violence, religious authority and nationalism, whether Buddhist, Christian, white, or other.

Sparkling Wines: The Equinox Guide for Wine Professionals and Connoisseurs is written for all those seeking to understand the sparkling wine industry in its entirety. The author takes the reader on unique journeys, explor ing the intricate history of the sparkling wine trade, from its seeds, sown in 17th -century England, and roots, reaching back to 18th -century France, to the most recent developments, which are taking place on all continents except Antarctica. An extensive study of concepts has distilled nuanced professional knowledge into a reliable compendium. The book's dense network of access points allows reader s to choose their own learning paths, ranging from the collection of sparkling wine grapes, to the production of the mousse in base wines, to the choice of bottle closures and aging methods. Lavishly illustrated with color photographs woven into a tapestry of meticulously researched facts, classifications and scientific findings on champagnes and other sparkling wines, the book combines information on individual wine producers with profiles of their wines, enabling the reader to gain expertise. Knowledge gained in this way will be invaluable to their own experience of these wines.

Today, conversion is a contested religious, political, and personal phenomenon, and that was also the case in the ancient world. Using several primary sources (Jewish and Christian) and case studies, this volume discusses what this change could have meant for various individuals or groups of people in the ancient world and argues that conversion can best be understood through an intersectional perspective, an approach that includes gender, class, ethnicity, and age, as well as political and economic elements in its analysis of conversion. The volume also acknowledges that a discussion of conversion benefits from taking into account conversion's history of reception. Case studies from the reception history as well as contemporary examples of contested conversions (for example, from Christianity to Islam or vice versa) are also brought to the table. In sum, the book addresses the complexity of conversion, using a range of cases, texts and theories, and initiates a dialogue between ancient sources and present concepts or practices. Close readings of ancient texts play a central role in the project. Yet, the book also considers how sacred texts and their receptions have influenced the way we generally think about conversation as religious change.