We are each individually and collectively creating the reality we currently find ourselves in. Is it working for most people? This book is my personal story on how I ended up where I did. From my exploration you can also see why you have ended up where you have. Our societal systems are fractured and outdated. A crisis in consciousness is our problem. Free yourself from your limited reality and really be free to explore more expansive solutions.
Mass trauma is an unavoidable reality in the United States. Trauma from violence, natural disasters, and disease has become all too familiar in the American experience, inevitably raising questions about where God is to be found in the midst of such tragedies. In every case, the aftermath leaves communities’ sense of well-being broken and capacity to imagine a way forward thwarted. Though language often fails us in the midst of trauma, preachers and religious leaders are nevertheless called on to offer a Word. Fractured Ground helps pastors craft sermons that fully plumb the disorienting suffering created by events of mass trauma, while still offering an authentic word of hope. Kimberly Wagner provides both incisive explanations of what trauma is and especially how it affects communities of faith, along with practical guidance for crafting sermons that reflect the brokenness of the traumatic situation and the persistent love of God that binds the broken together. Drawing on the burgeoning field of trauma studies, eschatological theologies of hope, scriptural wisdom, and liturgies of lament, Wagner helps preachers imagine what it might mean to preach a narratively fractured sermon in the aftermath of a communal traumatic event, ultimately affirming that no amount of brokenness is beyond the presence and promise of God.
Fractured Tide Educator's Guide is a companion to Fractured Tide by Leslie Lutz. This guide can be utilized in the classroom, in a home school setting, or by parents seeking additional resources. Ideal for grades 7-12.
"This is a book on the use and interpretation of Scriptures in Byzantine Orthodox hymnography. The idea of writing such a book emerged with the publication of my The Old Testament in Eastern Orthodox Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2014). In the last two chapters of that work, I dealt with two media through which liturgists have interpreted the Scriptures, namely, the "aural" (e.g., hymnography, lectionaries, homilies, etc.) and "visual" (e.g., portable icons, mosaics, frescoes, liturgical acts, etc.) modes of interpretation, which I coined "liturgical exegesis." In that work, I made a general remark about liturgical exegesis: "The condensed liturgical exegesis is again a challenge to hearers and readers to locate the texts, events, images, and figures woven into the hymnography." I took on that challenge myself, having researched and written the present book, which seeks to identify Scriptures in Byzantine hymnography, a challenge as difficult as finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Through a comprehensive and minute analysis of selected hymns, I have strived to make sure that no scriptural needle, as tiny and unobservable as it might be (i.e., scriptural hapax legomena [Gr. forms "occurring once" in the Bible] or rare words), remains hidden in the depths of the hymnic tapestry. Therefore, the first goal of my research was to find Scriptures, primarily Old Testament, in Byzantine Orthodox hymnography. The selection criteria for which hymns to consider rested fundamentally upon the presence of references and hints of the Old Testament in the targeted hymns. However, due to the resilient "hiddenness" of scriptural material within the poetic fabric of the hymns, it took me quite some time to decide which hymns should be selected and then thoroughly analyzed. The second goal of my research was to identify key features and hermeneutical procedures characteristic of "liturgical exegesis" in comparison to "discursive exegesis" (i.e., the interpretive method of ancient biblical commentaries)."--
Circulating Fear: Japanese Horror, Fractured Realities, and New Media explores the changing role of screens, new media objects, and social media in Japanese horror films from the 2010s to present day. Lindsay Nelson places these films and their paratexts in the context of changes in the new media landscape that have occurred since J-horror's peak in the early 2000s; in particular, the rise of social media and the ease of user remediation through platforms like YouTube and Niconico. This book demonstrates how Japanese horror film narratives have shifted their focus from old media—video cassettes, TV, and cell phones—to new media—social media, online video sharing, and smart phones. In these films, media devices and new media objects exist both inside and outside the frame: they are central to the films’ narratives, but they are also the means through which the films are consumed and disseminated. Across a multitude of screens, platforms, devices, and perspectives, Nelson argues, contemporary Japanese horror films are circulated as an ever-shifting series of images and fragments, creating a sense of “fractured reality” in the films’ narratives and the media landscape that surrounds them. Scholars of film studies, horror studies, media studies, and Japanese studies will find this book particularly useful.
In Hidden Fields, choices are further examined with respect to various themes. Charles Ford introduces another concept about choices; there are internal choices, and external ones. Now, in the general sense choices are seen as external state-of-affairs and are associated with our bodies, such as an individual act or behavior, so one sees the manifested action. The internal choices stem from our various selves, choices that are made by our souls and spirits, and our feeling and reasoning, respectively. The individual has to think or feel before he/she acts. Charles believes ultimately both internal and external choices need to be in harmony with each other, so better choices can be seen in an individual life. Charles continues to write and strives for excellence in all his poems. He invites the readers into his presence to share and exchange of thoughts and views about life experiences. All readers can be at home with him from simple to complex truths and philosophies about life. Charles wants the readers to discover something about their selves as they read his poems for as human beings we are more similar than difference in our choices. It does not matter what race, culture, or sex differences we have. We are still human being; for we all think, sleep, and dream. And can truly make better choices. Charles hopes all readers can clearly see this in his poems.
This book uses cultural and psycho-social analysis to examine the beat writer Charles Bukowski and his literature, focusing on representations of the anti-hero rebel and outsider. Clements considers the complexities, ambiguities, and contradictions represented by the author and his work, exploring Bukowski’s visceral writing of the cultural ordinary and everyday self-narrative. The study considers Bukowski’s apolitical, gendered, and working-class stance to understand how the writer represents reality and is represented with regards to counter-cultural literature. In addition, Clements provides a broader socio-cultural focus that evaluates counterculture in relation to the American beat movement and mythology, highlighting the male cool anti-hero. The cultural practices and discourses utilized to situate Bukowski include the individual and society, outsiderdom, cult celebrity, fan embodiment, and disneyfication, providing a greater understanding of the beat generation and counterculture literature.
Matthias Smalbrugge compares modern images to plays without a script: while they appear to refer to a deeper identity or reality, it is ultimately the image itself that truly matters. He argues that our modern society of images is the product of a destructive tendency in the Christian notion of the image in general, and Augustine of Hippo's in particular. This insight enables him to decode our current 'scripts' of image. As we live in an increasingly visual culture, we are constantly confronted with images that seem to exist without a deeper identity or reality – but did this referential character really get lost over time? Smalbrugge first explores the roots of the modern image by analysing imagery, what it represents, and its moral state within the framework of Platonic philosophy. He then moves to the Augustinian heritage, in particular the Soliloquies, the Confessions and the Trinity, where he finds valuable insights into images and memory. He explores within the trinitarian framework the crossroads of a theology of grace and a theology based on Neoplatonic views. Smalbrugge ultimately answers two questions: what happened to the referential character of the image, and can it be recovered?
Teaching Science Fiction is the first text in thirty years to explore the pedagogic potential of that most intellectually stimulating and provocative form of popular literature: science fiction. Innovative and academically lively, it offers valuable insights into how SF can be taught historically, culturally and practically at university level.
