Professor C.O. Brink's English Classical Scholarship is the first sustained treatment since the early years of this century of the historical development of English classical scholarship. Brink shows the effect of the Italian Renaissance on nascent English scholarship and examines the contribution made by 17th century scholars such as Bishop Pearson and Thomas Gataker. He deals at length with the life of Richard Bentley, his troubled careers master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and above all the immenseadvances he made in classical studies, which were in turn developed by Richard Porson. He also shows how, paradoxically, in the Victorian era, while a classical education was seen as the key to advancement, classical scholarship almost wholly stagnated. Although the tradition of Bentley and Porson all but disappeared in England, it was nurtured by the great German scholars of the nineteenth century. It was only with the work of A. E. Housman that the tradition of the greatest classical scholars returned to its native land and Professor Brink shows how it began again to make a contribution to the 'European fund'.
La 4e de couverture indique : "the first written history of the pioneering women born between the Renaissance and 1913 who played significant roles in the history of classical scholarship."
The first volume of David M. Honey's comprehensive history of Chinese thought offers a close study of Confucius, that tradition's proto-classicist. This opening volume examines Confucius traditions that largely formed the views of later classicists, who regarded him as their profession's patron saint. Honey's survey begins by examining how these views informed the Chinese classicists' own identities as textual critics and interpreters, all dedicated to self-cultivation for government service. It focuses on Confucius's methods as a proto-classical master and teacher, and on the media in which he worked, including the spoken word and written texts. As Honey explains, Confucius's immediate motivations were twofold: the moral development of himself and his disciples and the ritual application of the lessons from the classics. His instruction occurred in ritualized settings in the form of a question and answer catechism between master and disciples. This pedagogical approach will be analyzed through the interpretive paradigm of "performative ritual," borrowed from recent studies of Greek classical drama. The volume concludes with a detailed treatment of a trio of Confucius's disciples who were most prominent in transmitting his teachings, and with chapters on his intellectual inheritors, Mencius and Xunzi.
In writing this book three questions chiefly interested me. What books and pamphlets did Richard Porson own? From whom did he acquire these materials? What has become of his holdings? Answering the first question was relatively easy. For over two hundred years students have known that, after his death, Porsons library was divided into two unequal parts. The larger portion was sent to auction, the smaller part, together with Porsons papers, was separately sold to Trinity College, Cambridge. To treat the problem I have examined all of the microfilm set of the Sotheby auction catalogues from 1783 to 1808, save when catalogues were not marked or the markings were too faint to decipher: notably Jan. 1, 1785; May 29, 1786; Jan. 22 and May 1, 1797; June 1788; Jan. 13, 1789; May 26, 1791; June 22, 1795; Jan. 1796; 1800; Nov. 14, 1803 through Dec. 3, 1804 (twenty-three catalogues); April 18 and May 29, 1805; April 14-30, May 19, June 5, July 2, 10, 15, 1806...or when the microfilm is imperfect. Likewise, I have seen, in London, most of Christies book catalogues from 1782 to 1808; and, in Los Angeles, much of the Frank Marcham collection at UCLA (coll. 416 boxes 10-34). Finally, I have seen almost all of Porsons books at Trinity and a few other places. From 1786 to 1808, Porson purchased hundreds of books and pamphlets. The records allow us to trace his purchases at forty-seven auctions. Of these, Leigh & Sotheby presented most of the sales. But Porson also bought at sales offered through Edwards, Robson and Clarke, King & Loche, and he at least interested himself in a Stewart sale. In addition, one has to take into account books given to Porson as prizes or gifts; perhaps books entrusted to him for review; and books for which he subscribed. Addressing the second question is complicated by three factors. First, there is the imperfection of the records. The archives of most houses do not sirvive; even the L&S house-files are, on occasion, imperfect or incompletely legible. Secondly, clerks wrote down what they heard. Often enough, they heard Pawson or Pauson, and it was needful to establish identity. Thirdly, there are difficulties in the way of determining specific editions: these range from the existence of multiple editions or impressions to incompleteness of library records and of descriptions of volumes of tracts.
Saffron-robed monks and long-haired gurus have become familiar characters on the American popular culture scene. Jane Iwamura examines the contemporary fascination with Eastern spirituality and provides a cultural history of the representation of Asian religions in American mass media. Encounters with monks, gurus, bhikkhus, sages, sifus, healers, and masters from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and religious traditions provided initial engagements with Asian spiritual traditions. Virtual Orientalism shows the evolution of these interactions, from direct engagements with specific individuals to mediated relations with a conventionalized icon: the Oriental Monk. Visually and psychically compelling, the Oriental Monk becomes for Americans a ''figure of translation''--a convenient symbol for alternative spiritualities and modes of being. Through the figure of the solitary Monk, who generously and purposefully shares his wisdom with the West, Asian religiosity is made manageable-psychologically, socially, and politically--for popular culture consumption. Iwamura's insightful study shows that though popular engagement with Asian religions in the United States has increased, the fact that much of this has taken virtual form makes stereotypical constructions of "the spiritual East" obdurate and especially difficult to challenge.
It is unusual for a single scholar practically to reorient an entire sub-field of study, but this is what Chris Stray has done for the history of UK classical scholarship. His remarkable combination of interests in the sociology of scholars and scholarship, in the history of the book and of publishing, and (especially) in the detailed intellectual contextualisation of classical scholarship as a form of classical reception has fundamentally changed the way the history of British classics and its study is viewed. A generation ago the history of classical scholarship still consisted largely of accounts of particular scholars and groups of scholars written by other scholars from a broadly biographical and ‘heroic individual’ perspective. In these works scholars often sought to find their own place in the great tradition, choosing to praise or blame those whose work they admired or deprecated, and to identify with particular schools or trends, and there were few attempts to provide a broader and less prosopographical perspective. Almost all the chapters in the volume originated as papers at a conference in honour of the honorand, and have been improved both by discussion there and by the rigorous peer-review process conducted by the two experienced editors. It covers various aspects of classical reception, with a particular focus on the history of scholars, their institutions, and their writings; the main focus is on the UK, but there are also substantial engagements with continental Europe and (especially) the USA; the period covered runs from the Renaissance to the present. The cast contains a number of world-famous names. Unusually, the volume also contains an essay by the honorand, but we are very keen to include this, especially as it focusses on the topic of scholarly collaboration.
Evidence shows the New Testament texts were not written by simple, non-royal subjects, but instead were created by extremely well-educated, royal Romans. In Piso Christ, author Roman Piso, with Jay Gallus, presents a new perspective to show that the creation of Christianity has different origins than previously taught. Through this collection of essays and articles, Piso shows that only a few individuals invented and built the Christian religion, and these same individuals authored the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Piso Christ addresses the issues of how these few people wielded that much power and how they were able to succeed. In this new book, Piso contends that the royalty wanted to protect their centuries-old institution of slavery upon which the empire functioned, lived, fed, and gained wealth. The royal people understood that knowledge was power and, therefore, did what they could to keep the masses ignorant and superstitious. Through research, Piso Christ shows that the god concept did not originate in what is represented in the Bible. It demonstrates how millions of people are being misled into accepting the concept of a god and how they live in fear of an unnatural belief.