peter lang peter lang mai 2012 (265 résultats)

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The Hope for Audacity: From Cynicism to Hope in Educational Leadership and Policy is authored by educators who feel compelled to make their voices heard ¿ fueled by their passion for authentic learning, their vision for the future of education, and their deep concern with the nurturing of our democracy, which they believe is being endangered by market-logic decisions in educational policy. This book is a thoughtful affirmation of the very tenets of President Obamäs hopeful vision for this nation, not mere empty or cynical critique of his policies. However, the book also challenges him to examine the contradictions in his stated philosophy and policies. The book is a plea to translate his beliefs into political action and to, thus, transform hope into reality. Ultimately, the authors express their genuine commitment and eagerness to work hand in hand with President Obama in educational reform and to attain his vision of «Yes, we can.»Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book has won the 2014 Qualitative Book AwardIn the context of debates about U.S. immigration, this book gives a voice to undocumented Americans of Mexican origin ¿ specifically, involuntary immigrants born in Mexico but brought to the United States by their parents as minors. They are indistinguishable from other Americans, yet in the media and their everyday lives they encounter racism, discrimination, ostracism, and castigation on a regular basis. This book is about their stories and how, against the odds, they offer resistance as they navigate across ideological, historical, socio-economic, institutional and educational borders, in an effort to carve out a life in U.S. society. In constructing an evocative and powerful counter-narrative the authors show how they ultimately worked with artists of Mexican origin and community organizations to bring the undocumented issue to performative and political life.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 280 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book has received the AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics Choice Award 2012.This book introduces a progressive type of education called Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy. This pedagogy utilizes the arts to promote critical learning, and incorporates particular types of aesthetic experiences into pedagogical practices to increase students¿ social empowerment and commitment to social justice. The first coherent body of work that marries critical pedagogy and aesthetics, the book guides theory and practice for teacher educators interested in infusing their critical pedagogical practices with the arts. It also proposes tangible reforms in the public school system that will enable a critical aesthetic process to take root and thrive.Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy can be used in upper-level undergraduate and graduate teacher education and art education courses. It can also help P-12 teachers and art organizations to successfully develop and carry out critical aesthetic practices at all levels. In addition, it provides a rationale for school administrators, community leaders, and educational policymakers for embracing critical aesthetic practices as a way to improve the education of all children.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 150 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The Hope for Audacity: Public Identity and Equity Action in Education calls for audacious action from the president and his administration as they attempt to guide educators, policymakers, as well as the general public in thinking critically about education. This book also discusses the role of education faculties in becoming more active agents of change. The authors argue that issues of equity and social justice for students in all schools cannot be overlooked if leaders want to make a positive difference in education and the lives of children and their families. The Hope for Audacity: Public Identity and Equity Action in Education includes the voices of diverse students and their teachers, including those of racial and linguistic minorities, the LGBTQ community, and students with disabilities. Through research and personal stories, this volume seeks to raise awareness of the needs of these communities so that their education can become a national priority.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 226 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The 2003 war against Iraq was not the first instance of a president taking the nation into foreign conflict assisted by a submissive Congress and national press corps that did not adequately challenge the case for intervention. All foreign U.S. military action since World War II has been undertaken without the constitutionally required declaration of war, and with the support of the national press corps. Factors behind this press complicity ¿ which is at odds with the traditional press role of watchdog over government policies ¿ include political, economic, and national security ideologies the press shares with administration and government officials ¿ the same sources upon whom the press relies for credible information. Sending troops to fight in foreign lands is the most difficult, and most important, decision a president can make. Assisting this decision has been a press that, in failing to meet its watchdog responsibility during this key pre-war period, has instead helped construct and maintain a war agenda. With a comprehensive overview of all conflicts from the Korean War to intervention in Libya, this book examines the supportive relationship of press to power in building a conflict rationale during the vital period leading up to combat.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 312 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book has received the AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics Choice Award 2013. Drawing from rich data, International Struggles for Critical Democratic Education profiles teachers, students, and schools struggling to interrupt the reproduction of social inequalities from one generation to the next. International in its nature, the work collected here illustrates how forces of globalization create greater inequalities, and carefully describes and evaluates efforts to democratize educational opportunities. This text will be useful in undergraduate and graduate courses on diversity and multicultural education, international comparisons, educational studies, as well as graduate courses in sociology of education, critical educational studies, international comparisons, foundations of education, multicultural education, and qualitative research methods.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 200 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -As video games have become an important economic and cultural force, scholars are increasingly trying to better understand the ways that engagement with games may drive learning, literacy, and social participation in the twenty-first century. In this book, the authors consider games and just as importantly, the social interactions around games, not in terms of how they should be managed or incorporated into existing educational structures, but for what they tell us about the forms of learning and literacy that are already instantiated within the use of these media. To this end, this book delves deeply into James Paul Gee¿s (2004) productive and influential concept of the affinity space ¿ the physical or virtual locations (or some combination of the two) where people come together around a shared interest or «affinity.» By explicating how and why engaged fans of digital media do what they do in online spaces, the authors cast a light, as Gee did, on the promise of these media and the problems facing current educational systems.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 262 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book won the 2014 CCCC (Conference on College Composition and Communication) Outstanding Book Award ¿ Edited Collection Race and Writing Assessment brings together established and up-and-coming scholars in composition studies to explore how writing assessments needs to change in order to account for the increasing diversity of students in college classrooms today. Contributors identify where we have ignored race in our writing assessment approaches and explore issues related to assessment technologies, faculty and student responses to assessment, institutional responses to writing assessment, and context for assessing writing beyond composition programs. Balancing practical advice and theoretical discussions, Race and Writing Assessment provides a variety of models, frameworks, and research methods to consider writing assessment approaches that are sensitive to the linguistic and cultural identities that diverse students bring to writing classrooms. This book illustrates that this is no one-size-fits-all model for addressing diversity in assessment practice but that assessment practices attuned to racial diversity must be rooted in the contexts in which they are found. In doing so, Race and Writing Assessment enriches contemporary research on contextualized approaches to writing assessment.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 244 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In this anthology, prominent scholars in the field examine the relationship between religion and communication. Essays discuss the topic from various theoretical, methodological, and communication approaches including health communication, interpersonal communication, intercultural/interracial communication, organizational communication, rhetoric, and media studies. The cutting-edge research gathered here investigates religious ideologies and the role religious beliefs play in public life around the world. The book highlights the extent to which national and international events continue to propel religion into our public discourse, illuminating its critical role in how individuals and institutions see themselves and others. The scope, depth, and richness of the research presented here is critical, in this area of evolving scholarship, to understanding the centrality of religious beliefs and values to the ways we make sense of the world and our experiences in it.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 306 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Postmodernism in Estonian Literary Culture explores the influence of postmodernism on Estonian culture, more precisely its literature. The author takes a look at how postmodernism arrived in the Estonian literary culture and how it took root there, both on a theoretical level and in cultural practices. Obvious parallels emerge with radical cultural changes in post-socialist East-European countries in the early 1990s, which were caused by social transformations. Examples of Estonian postmodernist literary texts are analysed, following the manifestations of postmodernism from the 1950s until the beginning of the 21 century; the book also tackles ethnofuturism, popular and digital literature, and introduces a universal model which enables to determine postmodernist texts in literature. 152 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The book comprises a comprehensive survey of the multifaceted nature of proverbs as colorful expressions of folk wisdom. The first part deals with the definition and classification of proverbs, including such matters as proverb markers and meanings, origin and dissemination, traditional forms related to proverbs, and types of proverb collections. The second part presents essays on the origin, history and modern use of a variety of proverbs. There are also representative lists of proverbs from different cultures and languages, Native American proverbs, African American proverbs, etc. The third part discusses the fascinating scholarship on proverbs that includes empirical studies, linguistic and semiotic considerations, proverb performance in social contexts, issues of culture, folklore, and history, the appearance of proverbs in politics, the expression of stereotypes and worldview in proverbs, the anthropological, sociological, and psychological study of proverbs, the use of proverbs in folk narratives and literature, proverbs in religion and wisdom literature, pedagogical use of proverbs, the illustrations of proverbs in art, and the appearance of proverbs in the modern age of mass media and popular culture. The fourth part contains chapters on the use and function of proverbs in the writings of Lord Chesterfield, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Diickens, Winston S. Churchill, and Bertolt Brecht. There are also sections on proverb poems and songs, proverbs in caricatures, cartoons, comics, advertisements, and newspaper headlines. An extensive bibliography of major studies and collections as well as name, subject, and proverb indices conclude this inclusive study.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 322 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book takes an engaging look at the significance of traditional proverbs and their variation in the modern world. From sales pitch to propagandistic tool, Wolfgang Mieder looks at how we adapt proverbs to rapidly changing social attitudes ¿ the original wording of proverbs changes to fit modern advertising slogans or political rhetoric, misogynist sayings become feminist slogans, and late medieval woodcuts illustrating proverbs find their modern equivalents in political cartoons and comic strips. The book is richly illustrated and contains name, subject, and proverb indexes. 304 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -George Gerbner¿s cultivation theory provides a framework for the analysis of relationships between television viewing and attitudes and beliefs about the world. Since the 1970s, cultivation analysis has been a lens through which to examine television¿s contributions to conceptions of violence, sex roles, political attitudes and numerous other phenomena. Hundreds of studies during this time have (mostly) found that there are relationships between television exposure and people¿s worldviews, but important questions remain: just how big are these relationships, are they real, are some people more vulnerable to them than others, do they vary across different topics, and will we continue to find them in new media environments In this collection of nineteen chapters, leading scholars review and assess the most significant developments in cultivation research in the past ten years. The book highlights cutting-edge research related to these questions and surveys important recent advances in this evolving body of work. The contributors point us toward new directions and fresh challenges for cultivation theory and research in the future.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 448 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -What does it mean to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless yet is deeply divided by race In the face of pervasive racial inequality and segregation, most whites cannot answer that question. Robin DiAngelo argues that a number of factors make this question difficult for whites miseducation about what racism is; ideologies such as individualism and colorblindness; defensiveness; and a need to protect (rather than expand) our worldviews. These factors contribute to what she terms white racial illiteracy. Speaking as a white person to other white people, Dr. DiAngelo clearly and compellingly takes readers through an analysis of white socialization. She describes how race shapes the lives of white people, explains what makes racism so hard for whites to see, identifies common white racial patterns, and speaks back to popular white narratives that work to deny racism. Written as an accessible introduction to white identity from an anti-racist framework, What Does It Mean To Be White is an invaluable resource for members of diversity and anti-racism programs and study groups and students of sociology, psychology, education, and other disciplines.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 342 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -African American Students in Urban Schools offers readers a critical yet comprehensive examination of the issues affecting African American students¿ outcomes in urban school systems and beyond. Across disciplines including teacher education, school counseling, school psychology, gifted education, career and technical education, higher education, and more, chapters use theoretical and conceptual analysis and research-based evidence to examine the unique challenges facing urban African American students and illustrate what can be done to help. This book will enable readers to better understand many of the complex and multifaceted dilemmas faced by today¿s urban school systems and will motivate readers to make a commitment to improve urban schools for the betterment of African American students. 344 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This study analyzes the social problems of society systematically from a macro view and pluralistic point of view. The main objective of this field-study is to contribute an effort to the culture of discussion and problem-solving culture of society. The research constructs a healthy relationship chain: welcoming, touch, communication, conversation, cooperation. This book is a pioneering ¿roadmap¿, which leads the readers to go beyond their own confinement and to see matters more humanistic and truthfully. This project is based on simulations and hermeneutic analysis. In these simulations the human values and features have been applied as research indicators. These indicators are: beliefs, emotions, love, religion, death, sleep, birth, eating, sex, disease, conflict issues, confidence, frustration, identity, language, home, strangers, poverty, wealth and so on. For that reason, the method of this case-study is inventive and pioneering. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to tell the truth as it really is. The book is particularly relevant for Neuroeconomics and Behavioral-scientists. 178 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Im Jahre 1860 erschien Multatulis Max Havelaar. Der Roman, der in Amsterdam und der ehemaligen ostindischen Kolonie der Niederlande des 19. Jahrhunderts spielt, sorgte für viel Aufsehen. Die Qualität des Romans rechtfertigt eine vielfältige und fruchtbare Forschung jedoch nicht nur im sprachübergreifenden, sondern auch im interdisziplinären Sinne. Auf dem Prüfstand stehen narratologische, poetologische und intertextuelle Lesarten, zudem wird der Max Havelaar wissenschaftshistorischen, postkolonialen und ideologiekritischen Analysen unterzogen. Die Autoren dieses Bandes, internationale Literaturwissenschaftler, die sich im Dezember 2010 anlässlich einer Fachkonferenz an der Freien Universität Berlin versammelt haben, erweitern und aktualisieren mit ihren Beiträgen die nationale und internationale Multatuli-Forschung und betrachten den Roman in einer vollkommen neuen Perspektive.One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1860, Multatuli's Max Havelaar was published. Set in 19th century Amsterdam and in the then Dutch colony of the East Indies the novel caused a considerable stir among contemporary readers. The quality of the novel justifies multiple and fruitful research not only outside the language borders but also in an interdisciplinary way. That is the goal of this book: to do research on narratological, poetical and intertextual aspects of Max Havelaar, and moreover to make it the subject of postcolonial, ideological and historical analyses. In this way, during a conference at the Free University Berlin in December 2010 literary scholars not only widened and brought the Multatuli research up to date, but also examined the novel from new perspectives. 178 pp. Englisch, Deutsch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The creative sector is considered to impact on employment and creative sector¿s employment growth. Using a fixed effects model with time-lags, evidence is found that the creative sector fosters the growth rate of employment in German regions. Large shares of creative professionals lead to an increase in employment, but also reduce the growth rate of the creative sector. However, the growth rates are unequally distributed between the regions. Initially large shares of creative professionals further push the regional concentration of those professions in highly agglomerated regions. Driving forces for the concentration are specific characteristics, i.e. knowledge spillovers and cultural amenities. Moreover, for the evolution of the creative sector current policy strategies for the promotion of creative cities are presented. 166 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book is an attempt to investigate the mechanisms governing the evolution of scandals over mass protests in communist Romania. It could also be framed as a study of the social-psychology of regime preservation. The main inquiry presented herein deals with the manner in which Romanian communist authorities framed acts of mass protest. The author investigates the shaming practices and the ritualization of the party moots on mass protests which followed the outburst of such like scandals. The book puts forth a hypothesis, that the dynamics of these processes are determined by the unfolding and outcome of three phenomena: the attribution of fault, the admittance of guilt/fault and ¿ to a certain extent ¿ the moot bullying. 224 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This volume is dedicated to Barbara Skarga ¿ her works, profile and biography. It is a unique character in the Polish intellectual life, but also virtually unknown abroad, except a meager milieu of her readership in France. Dubbed «the first Lady of Polish Philosophy» for a good reason, she contributed not only to shape of Polish Philosophy but to the style of public debate, too. The problem areas initiating her philosophy stemmed from the group of scholars called «the Warsaw school of history of Ideas» with its flagship names such as Leszek Köakowski, Brinis¿aw Baczko or Andrzej Walicki. On the other hand, her output originates from the extraordinary and dramatic events of her life. The philosophical output of Barbara Skarga is thus a proof of continuity and longevity of an important tradition of the 20 century Polish Philosophy. 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -«How had it ever happened here », Thomas Pynchon¿s protagonist Oedipa Maas asks towards the end of his second novel The Crying of Lot 49. This question is taken up in this book to explore Pynchon¿s novels in the light of constructivist theory. It begins with a detailed reading of The Crying of Lot 49, which is carried into readings of Pynchon¿s other novels (V., Gravity¿s Rainbow, Vineland, Mason & Dixon, Against The Day, and Inherent Vice). All are shown to critically deal with the social construction of reality as a central theme, and a development of this theme is traced throughout Pynchon¿s novels. 234 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book is a comparative study of the early works of Vladimir Nabokov and the fictions of Virginia Woolf. The aim of this study was to establish the applications and implications of involution: how it is used to subtly reformat a text and how it changes the meaning of a work, trapping and reinventing the reader. The work analyses the transgressive use of imagery, symbols, patterns and other textual devices. Studying these «dangerous games» with authors and readers, the book observes involution at work in the very structure of the fictional world, shaping its time, space and matter. 248 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This volume brings together research carried out in a variety of geographic and linguistic contexts including Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States and explores efforts to incorporate linguistic diversity into education and to ¿harness¿ this diversity for learners¿ benefit. It challenges the largely anachronistic ideology that promotes exclusive use of an educational monolingual standard variety and advocates the use in formal education of aboriginal/indigenous languages, minority languages, nonstandard varieties and contact languages.The contributors examine both historical and current practices for including linguistic diversity in education by considering specific bidialectal, bilingual and multilingual educational initiatives. The different geographical and linguistic settings covered in the volume are linked together by a unifying theme: linguistic diversity exists all over the world, but it is very rarely utilized effectively for the benefit of students. When it is used, whether in isolated studies or through governmental initiatives, the research findings point systematically to the many educational advantages experienced by linguistically-diverse students. This book will be of interest to teachers and language practitioners, as well as to students and scholars of language and education.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 330 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Using consumer credit regulation as a case study, this book investigates how the specific legislation in this field can be explained by the major streams of economic philosophy. Based on an analysis of the evolution of European consumer credit legislation it is shown how the EU legislator¿s approach towards consumer protection has changed. The author discusses how the role of contemporary consumers is conceptualized by European legislators. It can be shown that EU consumer credit regulations are a perfect example for illustrating the wider changes in EU consumer legislation. The core argument of this book is that for all consumer credit aspects there is a common focal point in that there is tension between two fundamental goals of the European Community, namely economic efficiency (understood as a competitive market society) and consumer protection (understood as a social justice society with its distributive role). 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The short story as an autonomous genre has called the attention of both writers and literary critics with theoretical concerns over the last two centuries. It is a form of writing that has met the favour of readers and publishers alike: because of its very brevity, it can be consumed in a short time, and so come up to a reader¿s need of either escapist or serious literature; it can be practiced, like the novel, according to different narrative modalities: from popular genres, which satisfy the demands of the literary market, to experimental writing. Finally, as a self-contained form, it works well at a didactic level; in British and American universities, for instance, short stories are generally studied in Creative Writing courses. The essays included in the present volume deal with short stories belonging to various literatures in English (and not only), and focus on time, which is looked at from different angles: as the theme, or motif, of a text; as a narrative structure which can be approached in narratological terms, with neat distinctions between the time of story and the time of discourse, between writing time and reading time; as history, merging into memory and myth. 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Le Cléziös Spiritual Quest is the first English language book to address the development of this Nobel Prize winner¿s spiritual ideas and the first book in any language to focus on his abiding interest in the philosophy of Parmenides, Sufism, and Meso-American religion. Le Cléziös Spiritual Quest explains many puzzling features of his work from this philosophical perspective, including the relative absence of dialogue in his novels and short stories, his portrayals of mystical experiences, his intensely poetic prose, his treatment of time as the repetition of history, and his struggles to develop a persuasive ethical system. Le Clézio is not merely postcolonial, he creates a new kind of spiritual understanding of the cosmos by drawing on sources that have little connection to the main religious and spiritual traditions of the Western and Eastern worlds. Le Cléziös Spiritual Quest offers an important supplement to French studies of his work, which have explored his works in the context of his French sources. It concludes with a consideration of artistic dilemmas posed by this Nobel Prize-winning author, whose experimental fiction merges poetry, essay, fiction, and philosophy in ways that are enlightening, fresh, and yet often challenging to read. This book guides undergraduate and graduate students of French literature as well as scholars of literature and contemporary ideas to reflect on Le Clézio as a representation of a new direction in philosophical and spiritual voyaging because of his remarkable independence from many contemporary debates and his choice to seek new foundations for human thought in dead religions and what many have considered marginal philosophical and religious traditions. 122 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In Exile and Identity in Autobiographies of Twentieth-Century Spanish Women, Karla P. Zepeda studies the experience of exile and its effects on identity in three autobiographies: In Place of Splendor by Constancia de la Mora, Memoria de la melancolía by María Teresa León, and Seis años de mi vida by Federica Montseny. These three prominent Spanish women of the Second Republic became exiles at the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War due to the onset of the Francisco Franco regime. The political expatriation caused their relocation into various countries: the United States, France, Argentina, and Italy. The repositioning initiated a process of self-reinvention, as the women come in contact with social circumstances prompting new versions of self. Through their works, these women negotiate their identity in relation to the lost homeland and the new locale. Exile and Identity in Autobiographies of Twentieth-Century Spanish Women examines the diverse character of diaspora, the social transactions deployed in a variety of circumstances, and the self-negotiations elicited in social interactions. Identity proves to be an intentional re-creation of self, enacted in particular circumstances, and negotiated as a response to social conditions.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 130 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In The Unbinding of Isaac, Stephen J. Stern upends traditional understandings of this controversial narrative through a phenomenological midrash or interpretation of Genesis 22 from the Dialogic and Jewish philosophies of Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and, most notably, Emmanuel Levinas. With great originality, Dr. Stern intersects Jewish studies, Biblical studies, and philosophy in a literary/midrashic style that challenges traditional Western philosophical epistemology. Through the biblical narrative of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca, Dr. Stern explains that Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas Judaically exercise and offer an alternative epistemic orientation to the study of ethics than that of traditional Western or Hellenic-Christian philosophy. The Unbinding of Isaac makes the works of these three thinkers accessible to those outside philosophy and Jewish studies while also introducing readers to the playfulness of how Jewish tradition midrashically addresses the Bible.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 136 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book began to materialize in the 1960s and 1970s during clandestine seminars organized by the author for Czechoslovak thinkers who dared to ponder theological questions during the communist era. It therefore provides a revealing glimpse of some of the issues that were of concern to people living under the domination of both the Nazi and communist regimes. This aspect of the book is evident in its emphasis on questions of theodicy which are raised by the idea that Jesus¿ death was initiated by God.At the same time, the book is very much concerned with contemporary issues. By analyzing traditional understandings of the cross held by a number of prominent theologians, the author seeks to address the fact that classic theories of the atonement do not speak in a compelling way to today¿s secularized, post-Christian milieu. After examining perspectives that place central emphasis on the salvific consequence of Jesus¿ death, the author presents his own views regarding the significance that Jesus¿ life may have for the present age. He challenges his readers to venture a living interpretation of Scripture and explores the possibility that God¿s plan of salvation is most faithfully represented by the compassion and justice that Jesus modelled throughout his entire life.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 472 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -At the heart of Wolfram von Eschenbach¿s Willehalm are Saracens: instrumental figures in the driving themes of conquest, loyalty, vassalage, chivalry, love-service and redemption that run through the text. When compared with Wolfram¿s French sources, La Prise d¿Orange and Aliscans, Willehalm is revealed to be innovative yet true to the themes and figures of the original chansons de geste, indicating that Wolfram continued the retelling process that also played a part in the composition of his French sources.This book explores the role of Saracens in these texts, the implications of their conversion to Christianity and the portrayal of the ideals of chivalry as their depiction undergoes development from twelfth-century France to thirteenth-century Germany. The text begins with the cultural-historical setting and the development of key ideals and concepts and then analyses the Saracen figures in the texts, presenting an integrated reading of Willehalm and its source material and revealing Wolfram¿s intentions in his depiction of Saracens.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 442 pp. Englisch.