THE STORY: As The New York Times describes, The play tells of a woman storekeeper and a handsome, guileless youth who comes in off the highway. A guitar-player, he is a rural Orpheus who descends to rescue his love--not in Hades, precisely,

This book explores the thought of Alexius Meinong, a philosopher known for his unconventional theory of reference and predication. The chapters cover a natural progression of topics, beginning with the origins of Gegenstandstheorie, Meinong’s theory of objects, and his discovery of assumptions as a fourth category of mental states to supplement his teacher Franz Brentano’s references to presentations, feelings, and judgments. The chapters explore further the meaning and metaphysics of fictional and other nonexistent intended objects, fine points in Meinongian object theory are considered and new and previously unanticipated problems are addressed. The author traces being and non-being and aspects of beingless objects including objects in fiction, ideal objects in scientific theory, objects ostensibly referred to in false science and false history and intentional imaginative projection of future states of affairs. The chapters focus on an essential choice of conceptual, logical, semantic, ontic and more generally metaphysical problems and an argument is progressively developed from the first to the final chapter, as key ideas are introduced and refined. Meinong studies have come a long way from Bertrand Russell’s off-target criticisms and recent times have seen a rise of interest in a Meinongian approach to logic and the theory of meaning. New thinkers see Meinong as a bridge figure between analytic and continental thought, thanks to the need for an adequate semantics of meaning in philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, making this book a particularly timely publication.​

The Malagasy revival movement, which started in 1894 and operates within the structure of the historical churches, continues to have a profound impact on Protestant church life. This book focuses on exorcism as practised and understood by the so-called shepherds (lay, unsalaried, consecrated church workers) and defines «exorcism» as the expulsion of demons and prayer with the laying on of hands. This study, with Malagasy actors at its centre, argues that exorcism constitutes a synthesis between the biblical message and the traditional Malagasy culture. The shepherds, who vehemently oppose traditional religion, understand exorcism as a practice appropriate for people with a wide variety of problems, and they assert that the purpose of exorcism is to create a living faith in Jesus. The shepherds consider the battle with demons absolutely decisive because it concerns nothing less than salvation or condemnation.

Paul T. Sloan presents a detailed interpretation of Mark's Olivet Discourse in light of the Gospel's many allusions to the book of Zechariah, and argues that previous studies have rightly demonstrated the influence of Zechariah 9–14 on the Passion Narratives. Sloan shows that this influence is not merely confined to Mark's description of Jesus' final week, but also permeates much of his narrative; informing the Gospel's presentation of Jesus' royal identity, his action in the temple, the role of suffering in the bringing of God's kingdom, and the arrangement and interpretation of the Olivet Discourse. Sloan begins with an extensive review of scholarship on the presence of Zechariah in Mark before analyzing the reception of relevant texts from Zechariah in Second Temple literature. He proceeds to a fresh examination of potential allusions to Zechariah throughout Mark, focusing especially on Mark's use of Zechariah 13:7 and 14:5. In addition to influencing significant themes in Mark's Gospel, Sloan argues that Zechariah provides a helpful framework by which to interpret Mark 13, offering a potential solution to a notorious crux interpretum, namely, why Jesus answers a question about the temple with reference to the coming of the son of man.

Young S. Chae analyzes the puzzling association of the Son of David with Jesus' healing ministry in the First Gospel. This, along with the Gospel's rich shepherd/sheep images and the theme of the restoration of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, finds a significant clue in the picture of Jesus as the eschatological Davidic Shepherd according to the pattern of the Davidic Shepherd tradition in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism. As Matthew communicates the identity and mission of Jesus, he is conversant with this tradition, particularly Ezekiel 34 and 37 as well as Micah 2-5 and Zechariah 9-14. The story of the First Gospel is the story of the return of YHWH as the eschatological Shepherd for the lost sheep of Israel and also that of the one Davidic Shepherd-Appointee as the eschatological Teacher-Prince in the midst of his one eschatological flock.