Ever felt mortally embarrassed when all your friends are discussing the merits of "the 5 points of Calvinism" and you don't have the foggiest idea what they're talking about? Ever kicked yourself for not knowing which popes reigned the shortest amount of time? (First on the list is Pope Urban VII, who ruled for a whopping 13 days.) Well, where else could you find the answer to all your problems, but in A Theological Miscellany-a maddeningly addictive cornucopia of trivia and smorgasbord of stuff that will keep you up late at night, reading just one more page. The best little book of trivia and oddities you'll ever find. . . . And if not the best, then certainly in the top ten.
Wow your friends with the most unbelievable, the most outrageous, and the littlest-known facts about the Bible! Ever feel like you don't know much about people, places, and other hard facts of the Bible? Well, help is here, dear friend. T.J. McTavish, knower of many things, is back with A Biblical Miscellany-and it includes everything you need to know to stump even your local religious scholar. A Biblical Miscellany covers such topics as: Famous (and not so famous) shepherds The "Cursing" Psalms-What use are they? Infamous infidelities Least Popular biblical names Using both wit and candor, McTavish informs as well as entertains, leading you down a path of enlightenment-or at least of trivial revelation-and doling out tidbits on the Bible along the way.
For anyone who has ever been embarrassed by their ignorance on such topics as Calvinism and the pope comes a maddeningly addictive cornucopia of trivia that will keep readers glued to its pages.
A celebration of the visual contributions of the bestiary--one of the most popular types of illuminated books during the Middle Ages--and an exploration of its lasting legacy. Brimming with lively animals both real and fantastic, the bestiary was one of the great illuminated manuscript traditions of the Middle Ages. Encompassing imaginary creatures such as the unicorn, siren, and griffin; exotic beasts including the tiger, elephant, and ape; as well as animals native to Europe like the beaver, dog, and hedgehog, the bestiary is a vibrant testimony to the medieval understanding of animals and their role in the world. So iconic were the stories and images of the bestiary that its beasts essentially escaped from the pages, appearing in a wide variety of manuscripts and other objects, including tapestries, ivories, metalwork, and sculpture. With over 270 color illustrations and contributions by twenty-five leading scholars, this gorgeous volume explores the bestiary and its widespread influence on medieval art and culture as well as on modern and contemporary artists like Pablo Picasso and Damien Hirst. Published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center May 14 to August 18, 2019.
The story of the struggle over slavery in the British empire -- as told through the rich, expressive, and frequently shocking letters of one of the wealthiest British slaveholders ever to have lived.
Latin books are among the most numerous surviving artifacts of the Late Antique, Mediaeval, and Renaissance periods in European history; written in a variety of formats and scripts, they preserve the literary, philosophical, scientific, and religious heritage of the West. The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography surveys these books, with special emphasis on the variety of scripts in which they were written. Palaeography, in the strictest sense, examines how the changing styles of script and the fluctuating shapes of individual letters allow the date and the place of production of books to be determined. More broadly conceived, palaeography examines the totality of early book production, ownership, dissemination, and use. The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography includes essays on major types of script (Uncial, Insular, Beneventan, Visigothic, Gothic, etc.), describing what defines these distinct script types, and outlining when and where they were used. It expands on previous handbooks of the subject by incorporating select essays on less well-studied periods and regions, in particular late mediaeval Eastern Europe. The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography is also distinguished from prior handbooks by its extensive focus on codicology and on the cultural settings and contexts of mediaeval books. Essays treat of various important features, formats, styles, and genres of mediaeval books, and of representative mediaeval libraries as intellectual centers. Additional studies explore questions of orality and the written word, the book trade, glossing and glossaries, and manuscript cataloguing. The extensive plates and figures in the volume will provide readers wtih clear illustrations of the major points, and the succinct bibliographies in each essay will direct them to more detailed works in the field.
