Von Balthasar presents one of the few serious studies available on the thought of one of the most important, and yet most neglected Fathers of the Church, Gregory of Nyssa. He was the most profound Greek philosopher of the Christian era, a mystic and an incomparable poet whom St. Maximus designated as the "Universal Doctor" and the Second Council of Nicaea declared him "Father of Fathers." Less prolific than Origen, less cultivated than Gregory Nazianzen, less practical than Basil, Gregory of Nyssa nonetheless outstrips them all in the profundity of his thought, for he knew better than anyone how to transpose ideas inwardly from the spiritual heritage of ancient Greece into a Christian mode.

"Personal presence is difficult to define but easy to recognize. People with presence carry themselves in a way that turns heads. When they talk, people listen. When they ask, people answer. When they lead, people follow. Personal presence can help you get a date, a mate, a job, or a sale. It can help you lead a meeting, a movement, or an organization. Presence is not something you’re born with—anyone can learn these skills, habits, and traits. Award-winning speaker and consultant Dianna Booher shows how to master dozens of small and significant things that work together to convey presence. She details how body language, manners, and even your surroundings enhance credibility and build rapport. You’ll learn to use voice and language to demonstrate competence, deliver clear and memorable messages, and master emotions. You’ll learn to think strategically, organize ideas coherently, and convey to others genuine interest, integrity, respect, and reliability. Take her self-assessment to measure your progress. With Dianna Booher’s expert, entertaining advice, you can have the same kind of influence as the most successful CEOs, celebrities, and civic leaders. "

The world shows up for us—it is present in our thought and perception. But, as Alva Noë contends in his latest exploration of the problem of consciousness, it doesn’t show up for free. The world is not simply available; it is achieved rather than given. As with a painting in a gallery, the world has no meaning—no presence to be experienced—apart from our able engagement with it. We must show up, too, and bring along what knowledge and skills we’ve cultivated. This means that education, skills acquisition, and technology can expand the world’s availability to us and transform our consciousness. Although deeply philosophical, Varieties of Presence is nurtured by collaboration with scientists and artists. Cognitive science, dance, and performance art as well as Kant and Wittgenstein inform this literary and personal work of scholarship intended no less for artists and art theorists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and anthropologists than for philosophers. Noë rejects the traditional representational theory of mind and its companion internalism, dismissing outright the notion that conceptual knowledge is radically distinct from other forms of practical ability or know-how. For him, perceptual presence and thought presence are species of the same genus. Both are varieties of exploration through which we achieve contact with the world. Forceful reflections on the nature of understanding, as well as substantial examination of the perceptual experience of pictures and what they depict or model are included in this far-ranging discussion.

From its Presocratic beginnings, Western philosophy concerned itself with a quest for unity both in terms of the systematization of knowledge and as a metaphysical search for a unity of being—two trends that can be regarded as converging and culminating in Hegel's system of absolute idealism. Since Hegel, however, the philosophical quest for unity has become increasingly problematic. Jussi Backman returns to that question in this book, examining the place of the unity of being in the work of Heidegger. Backman sketches a consistent picture of Heidegger as a thinker of unity who throughout his career in different ways attempted to come to terms with both Parmenides's and Aristotle's fundamental questions concerning the singularity or multiplicity of being—attempting to do so, however, in a "postmetaphysical" manner rooted in rather than above and beyond particular, situated beings. Through his analysis, Backman offers a new way of understanding the basic continuity of Heidegger's philosophical project and the interconnectedness of such key Heideggerian concepts as ecstatic temporality, the ontological difference, the turn (Kehre), the event (Ereignis), the fourfold (Geviert), and the analysis of modern technology.

MORE THAN HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD: Learn the simple techniques you'll need to approach your biggest challenges with confidence. Have you ever left a nerve-racking challenge and immediately wished for a do over? Maybe after a job interview, a performance, or a difficult conversation? The very moments that require us to be genuine and commanding can instead cause us to feel phony and powerless. Too often we approach our lives' biggest hurdles with dread, execute them with anxiety, and leave them with regret. By accessing our personal power, we can achieve "presence," the state in which we stop worrying about the impression we're making on others and instead adjust the impression we've been making on ourselves. As Harvard professor Amy Cuddy's revolutionary book reveals, we don't need to embark on a grand spiritual quest or complete an inner transformation to harness the power of presence. Instead, we need to nudge ourselves, moment by moment, by tweaking our body language, behavior, and mind-set in our day-to-day lives. Amy Cuddy has galvanized tens of millions of viewers around the world with her TED talk about "power poses." Now she presents the enthralling science underlying these and many other fascinating body-mind effects, and teaches us how to use simple techniques to liberate ourselves from fear in high-pressure moments, perform at our best, and connect with and empower others to do the same. Brilliantly researched, impassioned, and accessible, Presence is filled with stories of individuals who learned how to flourish during the stressful moments that once terrified them. Every reader will learn how to approach their biggest challenges with confidence instead of dread, and to leave them with satisfaction instead of regret. "Presence feels at once concrete and inspiring, simple but ambitious — above all, truly powerful." —New York Times Book Review

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Beginning with metaphysical debates in the sixteenth century over the nature of Christ’s presence in the host, the distinguished historian and scholar of religion Robert Orsi imagines an alternative to the future of religion that early moderns proclaimed was inevitable. “Orsi’s evoking of the full reality of the holy in the world is extremely moving, shot through with wonder and horror.” —Caroline Walker Bynum, Common Knowledge “This is a meticulously researched, humane, and deeply challenging book. The men and women studied in this book do not belong to ‘a world we have lost.’ They belong to a world we have lost sight of.” —Peter Brown, Princeton University “[A] brilliant, theologically sophisticated exploration of the Catholic experience of God’s presence through the material world... On every level—from its sympathetic, honest, and sometimes moving ethnography to its astute analytical observations—this book is a scholarly masterpiece.” —A. W. Klink, Choice “Orsi recaptures God’s breaking into the world ... The book does an excellent job of explaining both the difficulties and values inherent in recognizing God in the world.” —Publishers Weekly “This book is classic Orsi: careful, layered, humane, and subtle...a thought-provoking, expertly arranged tour of precisely those abundant, excessive phenomena which scholars have historically found so difficult to think.” —Sonja Anderson, Reading Religion

The philosophy of "presence" seeks to challenge current understandings of meaning and understanding. One can trace its origins back to Vico, Dilthey, and Heidegger, though its more immediate exponents include Jean-Luc Nancy, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, and such contemporary philosophers of history as Frank Ankersmit and Eelco Runia. The theoretical paradigm of presence conveys how the past is literally with us in the present in significant and material ways: Things we cannot touch nonetheless touch us. This makes presence a post-linguistic or post-discursive theory that challenges current understandings of "meaning" and "interpretation." Presence provides an overview of the concept and surveys both its weaknesses and its possible uses.In this book, Ethan Kleinberg and Ranjan Ghosh bring together an interdisciplinary group of contributors to explore the possibilities and limitations of presence from a variety of perspectives—history, sociology, literature, cultural theory, media studies, photography, memory, and political theory. The book features critical engagements with the presence paradigm within intellectual history, literary criticism, and the philosophy of history. In three original case studies, presence illuminates the relationships among photography, the past, memory, and the Other. What these diverse but overlapping essays have in common is a shared commitment to investigate the attempt to reconnect meaning with something "real" and to push the paradigm of presence beyond its current uses. The volume is thus an important intervention in the most fundamental debates within the humanities today.Contributors: Bill Ashcroft, University of New South Wales; Mark Bevir, University of California, Berkeley; Susan A. Crane, University of Arizona; Ranjan Ghosh, University of North Bengal; Suman Gupta, Open University Ethan Kleinberg, Wesleyan University; John Michael, University of Rochester; Vincent P. Pecora, University of Utah; Roger I. Simon.

Everyone, regardless of position or personality, can strengthen their presence. The Power of Presence shows how. When some people speak, everyone listens. When they need commitment to projects, others jump on board. They just seem to have that indescribable “presence”--a subtle magnetic field around them wherever they go that signals authority and authenticity and attracts disciples with ease. Wouldn’t it be incredible if doors opened as effortlessly for you? How amazing would it be if you could command the room like they do? You don’t have to wonder; you can make it happen! Filled with strategies, exercises, and personal stories from years spent coaching leaders, communications expert Kristi Hedges explains how to: Build relationships based on trust Rid yourself of limiting behaviors Embody the values you are trying to convey Explore how others see you and correct misperceptions Communicate in way that inspire The key is to cultivate the communication aptitude, mental attitude, and unique leadership style needed to connect with and motivate others. Everyone recognizes a commanding presence when they see it, and soon they’ll see it in you!

This book examines the nature of Freud's relationship to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche regarded himself, among other things, as a psychologist. His psychological explorations included an understanding of the meaning and function of dreams, the unconscious, sublimation of drives, drives turned inward upon the self, unconscious guilt, unconscious envy, unconscious resistance, and much more that anticipated some of Freud's fundamental psychoanalytic concepts. Although Freud wrote of Nietzsche having anticipated psychoanalytic concepts, he denied that Nietzsche had any influence on his thought.