This book presents a study of twelfth-century humanism seen as an all-embracing discourse in which the human and the divine interact on equal terms. The book focuses on a number of twelfth-century intellectuals, especially Thierry of Chartres, Peter Abelard, William of Conches, Bernard Silvestris, and Alan of Lille. Defining characteristic of their texts is the fact that God, nature and humanity enter into a trialogue of sorts involving many disparate subjects and aiming to bring out the archetypal relatedness of all kinds of knowledge with respect to human nature. As the authors studied here engage the divine and the universe in a joint conversation, the book ultimately concentrates on trying both to understand its appeal and to explain its subsequent demise.
Comparing paradise imagery in two Persian religions, early Syriac Christianity and the Baha'i Faith, this work contributes to religious studies methodology by introducing "symbolic paradigm analysis."
In a novel approach that the author terms "symbolic paradigm analysis," Paradise and Paradigm offers a "theoretically modular" systematic comparison of two "Persian" religions: early Syriac Christianity as the foundation of the East Syrian "Church of the East" (the Nestorian Church of Persia) and the Baha'i Faith, a new world religion. The author compares the hymns of the greatest poet of early Christianity, Saint Ephrem the Syrian, and the richly imagistic writings of the founder of the Baha'i religion, Baha'u'llah. The book employs an original analytic technique in the creation of "symbolic profiles" constructed on Ninian Smart's dimensional model of religion. As Buck skillfully demonstrates, formal similarities between any two religions are best comprehended in terms of paradigmatic differences, which nuance all parallels through a process of symbolic transformation. Buck also shows the communal reflexivity of paradise imagery in representing the ideal faith-community in both traditions.
The reason why readers would be so interested is because of the spirituality: Learning the spiritual side of life, how good God really is, and how to include the word of God into the equation; in every area of their lives, whether it be financially, physically, mentally, by faith, in which we walk by: Faith is simply believing that God is our source, and not the world economy. To understand that God has given us very things that we need to accommodate us in this life. Most things, we can do for ourselves because of the abilities that God has bestowed upon us; but the Heavenly things, we have to declare and decree from Heaven, such as when we pray; whatsoever we pray for, believe that we already received them, and then you will have them. You have to trust God first, before you receive whatever it is that you ask for in Jesus name. It is always have to be in Jesus name, if not in Jesus name, then you might have a delay, you see, that's how the gospel works. Jesus died for us to have the things that we are so deserving of, all we have to do is believe it, declare it, and decree it, and it shall be given to us. But, if you dont spend time in the word of God, then you have no clue what to expect, you have no knowledge of all the promises that God said yes to; there is over seventy seven hundred promises in the Bible that God said yes to, we just have to believe, and say yes to them in order to receive the promises of God; you see, it's simple when you know the word of God for your lives. I've study the word of God for the last ten years of my life. So I am a witness to the fact. And here's another fact, I use to wake up every morning with back pain, I would stumble to my feet, but, once I'd reach for my bible and started to read it, before I could get through the first paragraph the pain had vanished. Once I'd learn how to pray and study the bible, I haven't taken a pain pill since February of 2010. I would like for everyone to experience the goodness of God and the example of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If only I knew back then, what I know now, I would have been committed myself to Jesus. I just pray that everyone will learn to give their lives over to Jesus. So that's how much I think that my book will be an inspiration to others. So yes, I am completely satisfied with my work, so I approve it in every way for publishing. I thanked God, for giving me the strength to endure the last two and a half years to complete this book; it has been a blessing and honor to credit this book to God Almighty. My way of showing appreciation for all that God has done for me in my life. So there you have it. Thanks for the word, Roosevelt Jackson. Bless you all. In Jesus name. Until next time.
In The Syndetic Paradigm, Robert Aziz argues that the Jungian Paradigm is a deeply flawed theoretical model that falls short of its promise. Aziz offers in its stead what he calls the Syndetic Paradigm. In contrast to the Jungian Paradigm, the Syndetic Paradigm takes the critical theoretical step of moving from a closed-system model of a self-regulatory psyche to an open-system model of a psyche in a self-organizing totality. The Syndetic Paradigm, in this regard, holds that all of life is bound together in a highly complex whole through an ongoing process of spontaneous self-organization. The new theoretical model that emerges in Aziz's work, while taking up the fundamental concerns of its Freudian and Jungian predecessors with psychology, ethics, spirituality, sexuality, politics, and culture, conducts us to an experience of meaning that altogether exceeds their respective bounds.
