This volume gathers together a broad spectrum of evaluations of the soul from different perspectives, including artistic (from literature and the arts), mystic and theological reflections on spirituality from the Christian religion, as well as from the Orient and Ancient Egypt. The contributions in this book will afford the reader a wider perspective on the concept of the soul in its ethical, emotional and theological dimensions, in both European and Non-European cultures and languages, and in artistic, philosophical and religious texts.

The essays collected in this volume form a multifaceted discourse on religious, philosophical, historical, ethnocultural and sociocultural, literary and linguistic issues. A multicultural approach to the problem of the soul allows the presentation of it on a microscale, focused on national and regional specificity, as well as on the macroscale, oriented toward universal values which can be observed in the cultures of peoples distant from each other in both time and space. The book consists of 28 chapters, addressing the fundamental themes of human existence, which find expression in cultural texts in both colloquial and artistic language, and which have a prominent place in anthropological, psychological, metaphysical and theological debates.

This book explores the concept of linguistic worldview, which is underpinned by the underlying idea that languages, in their lexicogrammatical structures and patterns of usage, encode interpretations of reality that symbolize, shape, and construct speakers’ cultural experience. The volume traces the development of the linguistic worldview conception from its origins in ancient Greece to 20th-century linguistic relativity, Western ethnosemantics, parallel movements in eastern Europe, and contemporary inquiry into languacultures. It outlines the important theoretical issues, surveys the major approaches, and identifies areas of both convergence and discrepancy between them. By proposing three sample analyses, the book highlights the relevant questions addressed in different but compatible models, as well as identifies possible avenues of their further development. Finally, it considers several domains of potential interest to the linguistic worldview agenda. Because inquiry into linguistic worldviews concerns the sphere of the symbolic and the cultural, it touches upon the very essence of human lives. This book will be of interest to scholars working in cultural linguistics, ethnolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, comparative semantics, and translation studies.

The first systematic study of conversion to Islam among Polish women in English, this book offers insights about lived realities of female Polish converts who create dynamic strategies of managing their spoiled identities in a variety of contexts including Poland and the UK.

Exploring the formation of networks across late medieval Central Europe, this book examines the complex interaction of merchants, students, artists, and diplomats in a web of connections that linked the region. These individuals were friends in business ventures, occasionally families, and not infrequently foes. No single activity linked them, but rather their interconnectivity through matrices based in diverse modalities was key. Partnerships were not always friendship networks, art was sometimes passed between enemies, and families created for financial gain. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the chapters focus on inclusion and exclusion within intercultural networks, both interpersonal and artistic, using a wide spectrum of source materials and methodological approaches. The concept of friends is considered broadly, not only as connections of mutual affection but also simply through business relationships. Families are considered in terms of how they helped or hindered local integration for foreigners and the matrimonial strategies they pursued. Networks were also deeply impacted by rivalry and hostility.

Spirituality and spiritual experiences have been the bedrock of every civilization and together form one of the highest mechanisms for making sense of the world for billions of people. Current research paradigms, due to their limitation to empirical, sensory, psychologically, or culturally constructed realities, fail to provide a framework for exploring this essential area of human experience. The development of a spiritual research paradigm will provide researchers from the social sciences and education the tools and abilities to systematically explore fundamental questions regarding human spiritual experiences and spiritual growth. A spiritual research paradigm requires an ontology that considers all reality to be multidimensional, interconnected, and interdependent. It requires an epistemology that integrates knowing from outer sources as well as inner contemplation, acknowledging our integration of soul and spirit with the body and mind. Three additional aspects are useful to a spiritual research paradigm: axiology, methodology, and teleology. An axiology concerns what is valued, good, and ethical. A methodology is the appropriate approach to systematic inquiry. A fifth and less frequently mentioned aspect is teleology, an explanation of the goal or end (telos) to which new knowledge is applied, such as gaining wisdom and truth, touching the divine, increasing inner peace, exploring hidden dimensions, or improving society. This book takes the first step to develop such a research paradigm. We draw from world spiritual traditions as well as scholarship that has arisen from contemplative practices. We also attempt to build a bridge between science and spirituality. Spiritual research is not necessarily opposed to scientific research; in fact, each can shed light on the other.

When an ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews, an inexperienced young queen must take a stand for her people.

Everything as One is an important scholarly monograph on the concept of the Creator god as expressed in the oldest surviving Egyptian texts, the Pyramid Texts of the 5th and 6th Dynasties (24th-22nd centuries BC), which were inscribed in stone inside the pyramids of that epoch. Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska, through intensive and specialist linguistic analysis, is able to elucidate the central idea of the texts. These innovative findings are enriched by the author's thorough analysis of ancient Egyptian religion and culture and include also scrutiny of the astronomical references occurring in the texts. This is the first systematic and thorough study of the notion of the Creator as expressed in the earliest surviving texts of ancient Egypt, a task that has awaited accomplishment for the 140 years since those texts were discovered. As a result, this book provides a fundamental work of reference for all future studies of the sacred traditions of Old Kingdom Egypt. The method of approach has been through a linguistic worldview. All alternative views put forward in the past century and a half are scrutinised and discussed thoroughly. The crucial concepts of creator and demiurge, myth, logos and other religious ideas, are all considered from the point of view of the use of the Egyptian language, the actual language that was used being the most reliable source of our understanding.

The title of this book refers to the classic time and place for magic, witchcraft, and divination in Russia. The Bathhouse at Midnight, by one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, surveys all forms of magic, both learned and popular, in Russia from the fifth to the eighteenth century. While no book on the subject could be exhaustive, The Bathhouse at Midnight does describe and assess all the literary sources of magic, witchcraft, astrology, alchemy, and divination from Kiev Rus and Imperial Russia, and to some extent Ukraine and Belorussia. Where possible, Ryan identifies the sources of the texts (usually Greek, Arabic, or West European) and makes parallels to other cultures, ranging from classical antiquity to Finnic. He finds that Russia shares most of its magic and divination with the rest of Europe. Subjects covered include the Evil Eye, the Number of the Beast, omens, dreams, talismans and amulets, plants, gemstones, and other materials thought to possess magic properties. The first chapter gives a historical overview, and the final chapter summarizes the political, religious, and legal aspects of the history of magic in Russia. The author also provides translations of some key texts. The Bathhouse at Midnight will be invaluable for anyone&—student, teacher, or general reader&—with an interest in Russia, magic, or the occult. It is unique in its field and is set to become the definitive study of Russian magic.

One of the central themes in cognitive linguistics is the uniquely human development of some higher potential called the "mind" and, more particularly, the intertwining of body and mind, which has come to be known as embodiment. Several books and volumes have explored this theme in length. However, the interaction between culture, body and language has not received the due attention that it deserves. Naturally, any serious exploration of the interface between body, language and culture would require an analytical tool that would capture the ways in which different cultural groups conceptualize their feelings, thinking, and other experiences in relation to body and language. A well-established notion that appears to be promising in this direction is that of cultural models, constituting the building blocks of a group's cultural cognition. The volume results from an attempt to bring together a group of scholars from various language backgrounds to make a collective attempt to explore the relationship between body, language and culture by focusing on conceptualizations of the heart and other internal body organs across a number of languages. The general aim of this venture is to explore (a) the ways in which internal body organs have been employed in different languages to conceptualize human experiences such as emotions and/or workings of the mind, and (b) the cultural models that appear to account for the observed similarities as well as differences of the various conceptualizations of internal body organs. The volume as a whole engages not only with linguistic analyses of terms that refer to internal body organs across different languages but also with the origin of the cultural models that are associated with internal body organs in different cultural systems, such as ethnomedical and religious traditions. Some contributions also discuss their findings in relations to some philosophical doctrines that have addressed the relationship between mind, body, and language, such as that of Descartes.