In today’s pluralistic world, many cultures feel a shift in the relationship of people with religious traditions. A corresponding movement is a resurgence of interest in human spirituality. This Handbook presents the views of education scholars who engage these concepts every day, in a collection of essays reflecting the international state of the discipline. Out of these rises a vision for the emergence of a just and peaceful world.

The Studia Philonica Annual is a scholarly journal devoted to furthering the study of Hellenistic Judaism, and in particular the writings and thought of the Hellenistic-Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria (circa 15 B.C.E. to circa 50 C.E.).

From the Founding Fathers through the present, Christianity has exercised powerful influence in the United States—from its role in shaping politics and social institutions to its hand in inspiring art and culture. The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States outlines the myriad roles Christianity has played and continues to play. This masterful five-volume reference work includes biographies of major figures in the Christian church in the United States, influential religious documents and Supreme Court decisions, and information on theology and theologians, denominations, faith-based organizations, immigration, art—from decorative arts and film to music and literature—evangelism and crusades, the significant role of women, racial issues, civil religion, and more. The first volume opens with introductory essays that provide snapshots of Christianity in the U.S. from pre-colonial times to the present, as well as a statistical profile and a timeline of key dates and events. Entries are organized from A to Z. The final volume closes with essays exploring impressions of Christianity in the United States from other faiths and other parts of the world, as well as a select yet comprehensive bibliography. Appendices help readers locate entries by thematic section and author, and a comprehensive index further aids navigation.

"Saint Gregory of Narek, a monk of the tenth century, knew how to express the sentiments of your people more than anyone. He gave voice to the cry, which became a prayer of a sinful and sorrowful humanity, oppressed by the anguish of its powerlessness, but illuminated by the splendor of God's love and open to the hope of his salvific intervention, which is capable of transforming all things." --Pope Francis, April 12, 2015 This is the first translation in any language of the surviving corpus of the festal works of St. Gregory of Narek, a tenth-century Armenian mystic theologian and poet par excellence (d. 1003). Composed as liturgical works for the various Dominical and related feasts, these poetic writings are literary masterpieces in both lyrical verse and narrative. Unlike Gregory's better-known penitential prayers, these show a jubilant author in a celebratory mood. In this volume Abraham Terian, an eminent scholar of medieval Armenian literature, provides the nonspecialist reader with an illuminating translation of St. Gregory of Narek's festal works. Introducing each composition with an explanatory note, Terian places the works under consideration in their author's thought-world and in their tenth-century landscape.

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity constitutes an exceptional religious tradition flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa already since late antiquity. The volume places Ethiopian Orthodoxy into a global context and explores the various ways in which it has been interconnected with the wider Christian world from the Aksumite period until today. By highlighting the formative role of both wide-ranging translocal religious interactions as well as disruptions thereof, the contributors challenge the perception of this African Christian tradition as being largely isolated in the course of its history. Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity in a Global Context: Entanglements and Disconnections offers a new perspective on the Horn of Africa’s Christian past and reclaims its place on the map of global Christianity.

The Life of Mashtots' is mostly praise for the inventor of the Armenian alphabet--the only inventor of an ancient alphabet known by name--and progenitor of Armenian literacy that began with the translation of the Bible. Written three years after his death, by an early disciple named Koriwn, it narrates the master's endeavors in search for letters, the establishment of schools, and the ensuing literary activity that yielded countless translations of religious texts known in the Early Church of the East. As an encomium from Late Antiquity, The Life of Mashtots' exhibits all the literary features of the genre to which it belongs, delineated through rhetorical analysis by Abraham Terian, who comments on the entire document almost phrase by phrase. Translated from the latest Armenian edition of the text (2003), this edition of The Life of Mashtots' includes a facing English translation and commentary. The extraordinary narrative parades historical characters including the Patriarch of the Armenian Church, Catholicos Sahak (d. 439), the Arsacid King of Armenia, Vramshapuh (r. 401-417), and the Roman Emperor of the East, Theodosius II (r. 408-450). Koriwn is an eminently inspiring rhetorical writer and one of the first four authors known to write in the newly invented script. The marked influence of The Life of Mashtots' is discernible in subsequent Armenian writings of the fifth century, dubbed 'The Golden Era'.

The present volume is a collection of articles published by Professor James R. Russell of Harvard University, in various journals over the past decades.

The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research provides up-to-date discussions of every major aspect of New Testament textual criticism. Written by internationally acknowledged experts, the twenty-four essays evaluate all significant advances in the field since the 1950s.