Foundation Sacrifice in Dante's &"Commedia&" is the first book to take an anthropological approach to the Divine Comedy, applying it to a previously unexplored dimension of Dante's great poem. Ricardo Quinones examines foundation sacrifice&—the death of another that has become a parable for existence&—as a unifying theme that connects the three parts of the poem. In the process, Quinones gives new life to the Purgatorio, treating it not only as a sequel but actually as a dramatic response&—in revealing detail&—to the Inferno. His motif allows him to reintegrate the Paradiso into the poem as a whole, thus restoring it as a poetic event to critical appreciation.

The literary epic and critical theories about the epic tradition are traced from Aristotle and Callimachus through Apollonius, Virgil, and their successors such as Chaucer and Milton to Eisenstein, Tolstoy, and Thomas Mann. Newman's revisionist critique will challenge all scholars, students, and general readers of the classics, comparative literature, and western literary traditions.

For more than a millennium, Aristotle was regarded as the foremost authority in the western world in nearly every subject. His corpus spans a daunting array of subjects and he made significant contributions to every known field of inquiry in the ancient world. In Aristotle: A Guide for the Perplexed, John Vella explores the historical, philosophical and political context in which aristotle's theories evolved. The book offers a clear and thorough account of the work and thought of this key thinker, providing an outline of his central ideas and the ways in which they have influenced the history of western philosophy. Thematically structured, the book considers all Aristotle's key works and is geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of his theories and ideas.

Each number includes "Reviews and book notices."

Paying homage to prayer traditions from around the world and throughout history, this celebration of prayer covers everything from Pentacoastalist revivals to the sacred pipe to the Catholic rosary.

The Confessions, Proslogion, and Consolation of philosophy, like the Divine comedy, all enact Platonist accents. [These accents] generate implied meditative meanings, which scholars have explored only in part. Each work calls us to read forward, on its journey to understanding, and to meditate backwards on the stages of the ascent and the relations between them. Augustine, Anselm, Boethius, and Dante wrote for readers experienced in meditating on the Bible, adept at exploring relations between far distant passages They designed these works as spiritual exercises for the same kind of reading and meditations. This book uses literary analysis to discover new philosophical meaning in these works. --Book jacket.