Rewriting Magic

Rewriting Magic PDF

Author: Claire Fanger

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2015-06-18

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0271072032

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In Rewriting Magic, Claire Fanger explores a fourteenth-century text called The Flowers of Heavenly Teaching. Written by a Benedictine monk named John of Morigny, the work all but disappeared from the historical record, and it is only now coming to light again in multiple versions and copies. While John’s book largely comprises an extended set of prayers for gaining knowledge, The Flowers of Heavenly Teaching is unusual among prayer books of its time because it includes a visionary autobiography with intimate information about the book’s inspiration and composition. Through the window of this record, we witness how John reconstructs and reconsecrates a condemned liturgy for knowledge acquisition: the ars notoria of Solomon. John’s work was the subject of intense criticism and public scandal, and his book was burned as heretical in 1323. The trauma of these experiences left its imprint on the book, but in unexpected and sometimes baffling ways. Fanger decodes this imprint even as she relays the narrative of how she learned to understand it. In engaging prose, she explores the twin processes of knowledge acquisition in John’s visionary autobiography and her own work of discovery as she reconstructed the background to his extraordinary book. Fanger’s approach to her subject exemplifies innovative historical inquiry, research, and methodology. Part theology, part historical anthropology, part biblio-memoir, Rewriting Magic relates a story that will have deep implications for the study of medieval life, monasticism, prayer, magic, and religion.

Magic Cancer Bullet

Magic Cancer Bullet PDF

Author: Daniel Vasella, M.D.

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2003-06-03

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0060010304

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History of the breakthrough of the cancer pill "Gleevec."

Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning

Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning PDF

Author: Esra Erdem

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-09-07

Total Pages: 670

ISBN-13: 3642042376

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This volume contains the proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning (LPNMR 2009), held during September 14–18, 2009 in Potsdam, Germany. LPNMR is a forum for exchanging ideas on declarative logic programming, nonmonotonic reasoning and knowledge representation. The aim of the c- ference is to facilitate interaction between researchers interested in the design and implementation of logic-based programming languages and database s- tems, and researchers who work in the areas of knowledge representation and nonmonotonic reasoning. LPNMR strives to encompass theoretical and expe- mental studies that have led or will lead to the construction of practical systems for declarative programming and knowledge representation. The special theme of LPNMR 2009 was “Applications of Logic Progr- ming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning” in general and “Answer Set Programming (ASP)” in particular. LPNMR 2009 aimed at providing a comprehensive survey of the state of the art of ASP/LPNMR applications. The special theme was re?ected by dedicating an entire dayof the conference to applications. Apart from special sessions devoted to original and signi?cant ASP/LPNMR applications, we solicited contributions providing an overview of existing successful applications of ASP/LPNMR systems. The presentations on applications were accompanied by two panels, one on existing and another on future applications of ASP/LPNMR.

Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time

Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time PDF

Author: Albrecht Classen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-10-23

Total Pages: 767

ISBN-13: 311055772X

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There are no clear demarcation lines between magic, astrology, necromancy, medicine, and even sciences in the pre-modern world. Under the umbrella term 'magic,' the contributors to this volume examine a wide range of texts, both literary and religious, both medical and philosophical, in which the topic is discussed from many different perspectives. The fundamental concerns address issue such as how people perceived magic, whether they accepted it and utilized it for their own purposes, and what impact magic might have had on the mental structures of that time. While some papers examine the specific appearance of magicians in literary texts, others analyze the practical application of magic in medical contexts. In addition, this volume includes studies that deal with the rise of the witch craze in the late fifteenth century and then also investigate whether the Weberian notion of disenchantment pertaining to the modern world can be maintained. Magic is, oddly but significantly, still around us and exerts its influence. Focusing on magic in the medieval world thus helps us to shed light on human culture at large.

Kabbalah and Sex Magic

Kabbalah and Sex Magic PDF

Author: Marla Segol

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2021-06-16

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0271091061

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In this provocative book, Marla Segol explores the development of the kabbalistic cosmology underlying Western sex magic. Drawing extensively on Jewish myth and ritual, Segol tells the powerful story of the relationship between the divine and the human body in late antique Jewish esotericism, in medieval kabbalah, and in New Age ritual practice. Kabbalah and Sex Magic traces the evolution of a Hebrew microcosm that models the powerful interaction of human and divine bodies at the heart of both kabbalah and some forms of Western sex magic. Focusing on Jewish esoteric and medical sources from the fifth to the twelfth century from Byzantium, Persia, Iberia, and southern France, Segol argues that in its fully developed medieval form, kabbalah operated by ritualizing a mythos of divine creation by means of sexual reproduction. She situates in cultural and historical context the emergence of Jewish cosmological models for conceptualizing both human and divine bodies and the interactions between them, arguing that all these sources position the body and its senses as the locus of culture and the means of reproducing it. Segol explores the rituals acting on these models, attending especially to their inherent erotic power, and ties these to contemporary Western sex magic, showing that such rituals have a continuing life. Asking questions about its cosmology, myths, and rituals, Segol poses even larger questions about the history of kabbalah, the changing conceptions of the human relation to the divine, and even the nature of religious innovation itself. This groundbreaking book will appeal to students and scholars of Jewish studies, religion, sexuality, and magic.

Communication, Translation, and Community in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

Communication, Translation, and Community in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period PDF

Author: Albrecht Classen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-08-22

Total Pages: 642

ISBN-13: 3110776871

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Die neue englischsprachige Reihe zur Mediävistik strebt eine methodisch reflektierte, anspruchsvolle Verbindung von Text- und Kulturwissenschaft an. Sie widmet sich den kulturellen Grundthemen der mittelalterlichen Welt aus der Perspektive der Literatur- und Geschichtswissenschaft. ‚Grundthemen' sind die kulturprägenden Denkbilder, Weltanschauungen, Sozialstrukturen und Alltagsbedingungen des mittelalterlichen Lebens, also z. B. Kindheit und Alter, Sexualität, Religion, Medizin, Rituale, Arbeit, Armut und Reichtum, Aberglauben, Erde und Kosmos, Stadt und Land, Krieg, Emotionen, Kommunikation, Reisen usw. Die Reihe greift wichtige aktuelle Fachdiskussionen auf und stellt ein Forum der interdisziplinären Mittelalter-Forschung dar. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture steht Sammelbänden ebenso offen wie Monographien. Intention ist immer, kompendienhafte Werke zu zentralen Fragen der mittelalterlichen Kulturgeschichte vorzulegen, die einen soliden Überblick über einen geschlossenen Themenkreis aus der Perspektive verschiedener Fachdisziplinen vermitteln. Im Ganzen bietet die Reihe so eine Enzyklopädie der mittelalterlichen Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte und ihrer Hauptthemen. Es werden ca. zwei Bände pro Jahr erscheinen.

Using Concepts in Medieval History

Using Concepts in Medieval History PDF

Author: Jackson W. Armstrong

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-01-24

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3030772802

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This book is the first of its kind to engage explicitly with the practice of conceptual history as it relates to the study of the Middle Ages, exploring the pay-offs and pitfalls of using concepts in medieval history. Concepts are indispensable to historians as a means of understanding past societies, but those concepts conjured in an effort to bring order to the infinite complexity of the past have a bad habit of taking on a life of their own and inordinately influencing historical interpretation. The most famous example is ‘feudalism’, whose fate as a concept is reviewed here by E.A.R. Brown nearly fifty years after her seminal article on the topic. The volume’s contributors offer a series of case studies of other concepts – 'colony', 'crisis', 'frontier', 'identity', 'magic', 'networks' and 'politics' – that have been influential, particularly among historians of Britain and Ireland in the later Middle Ages. The book explores the creative friction between historical ideas and analytical categories, and the potential for fresh and meaningful understandings to emerge from their dialogue.

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic PDF

Author: Sophie Page

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 550

ISBN-13: 1317042751

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The Routledge History of Medieval Magic brings together the work of scholars from across Europe and North America to provide extensive insights into recent developments in the study of medieval magic between c.1100 and c.1500. This book covers a wide range of topics, including the magical texts which circulated in medieval Europe, the attitudes of intellectuals and churchmen to magic, the ways in which magic intersected with other aspects of medieval culture, and the early witch trials of the fifteenth century. In doing so, it offers the reader a detailed look at the impact that magic had within medieval society, such as its relationship to gender roles, natural philosophy, and courtly culture. This is furthered by the book’s interdisciplinary approach, containing chapters dedicated to archaeology, literature, music, and visual culture, as well as texts and manuscripts. The Routledge History of Medieval Magic also outlines how research on this subject could develop in the future, highlighting under-explored subjects, unpublished sources, and new approaches to the topic. It is the ideal book for both established scholars and students of medieval magic.

Medicine, Religion, and Magic in Early Stuart England

Medicine, Religion, and Magic in Early Stuart England PDF

Author: Ofer Hadass

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2018-05-14

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 0271081732

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The astrologer-physician Richard Napier (1559-1634) was not only a man of practical science and medicine but also a master of occult arts and a devout parish rector who purportedly held conversations with angels. This new interpretation of Napier reveals him to be a coherent and methodical man whose burning desire for certain, true knowledge contributed to the contemporary venture of putting existing knowledge to useful ends. Originally trained in theology and ordained as an Anglican priest, Napier later studied astrological medicine and combined astrology, religious thought, and image and ritual magic in his medical work. Ofer Hadass draws on a remarkable archive of Napier’s medical cases and religious writings—including the interviews he claimed to have held with angels—to show how Napier’s seemingly inconsistent approaches were rooted in an inclusive and coherent worldview, combining equal respect for ancient authority and for experientially derived knowledge. Napier’s endeavors exemplify the fruitful relationship between religion and science that offered a well-founded alternative to the rising mechanistic explanation of nature at the time. Carefully researched and compellingly told, Medicine, Religion, and Magic in Early Stuart England is an insightful exploration of one of the most fascinating figures at the intersection of medicine, magic, and theology in early modern England and of the healing methods employed by physicians of the era.