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Prophets are wild cards in the game of politics, James Bernard
Murphy writes in this startling new book. They risk their lives by
calling out the abuses of political and religious leaders, forcing
us to confront evils we would prefer to ignore. By setting moral
limits on political leaders, prophets chasten our political
pretensions and remind us there are values that transcend politics.
They wield a third sword—distinct from the familiar swords of
state and church power—their sword is the word of God. The Third
Sword offers a new take on political history, illustrating a theory
of prophetic politics through tales of political crises,
interspersed with direct dialogue between the prophets and their
persecutors. With chapters on Socrates, Jesus, Joan of Arc, Thomas
More, and Martin Luther King, Murphy brings these prophets to life
with storytelling that blends biography, history, and political
theory.
Prophets are wild cards in the game of politics, James Bernard
Murphy writes in this startling new book. They risk their lives by
calling out the abuses of political and religious leaders, forcing
us to confront evils we would prefer to ignore. By setting moral
limits on political leaders, prophets chasten our political
pretensions and remind us there are values that transcend politics.
They wield a third sword—distinct from the familiar swords of
state and church power—their sword is the word of God. The Third
Sword offers a new take on political history, illustrating a theory
of prophetic politics through tales of political crises,
interspersed with direct dialogue between the prophets and their
persecutors. With chapters on Socrates, Jesus, Joan of Arc, Thomas
More, and Martin Luther King, Murphy brings these prophets to life
with storytelling that blends biography, history, and political
theory.
Why are religious rituals, symbols, and rhetoric so full of images
of blood, sacrifice, and death? Why does religious fervor so often
lead to Holy War, Crusade, and Jihad? No wonder many people assume
that religion tends to give rise to violence. But what if it were
the other way around? What if violence actually gave rise to
religion? So argued the French literary theorist and anthropologist
Rene Girard (1923-2015). Described as the Darwin of the human
sciences, he was elected to the French Academy in 2005 for his
seminal theories of sacred violence. Girard argued that religious
practices function to sublimate, regulate, and discharge human
violence in controlled rituals. Where does violence come from?
According to Girard, from the social nature of human desire itself.
We desire things only because others desire them, so desire is
inherently rivalrous, leading to violent conflict. But if a
scapegoat can be found, then this war of all against all turns into
a war of all against one. Social order, claimed Girard, stems from
the unity of a lynch mob. Religious rituals then serve to
commemorate the primordial murder of the scapegoat. What are we to
make of Girards provocative claims about human desire, violence,
scapegoat killings, and religion? Political philosopher James
Bernard Murphy presents here a series of sharp and witty dialogues
in which Girard attempts to defend his ideas against attacks by
rival theorists, among them, Sigmund Freud, William James, Simone
Weil, Elias Canetti and Joseph de Maistre. Whatever we might think
of his answers, Girard asks challenging, unsettling questions. In
these illuminating and lively exchanges, Girard squares off with
the titans of social theory.
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Dracula (DVD)
John Van Eyssen, Melissa Stribling, Geoffrey Bayldon, Valerie Gaunt, Christopher Lee, …
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R206
R192
Discovery Miles 1 920
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Classic Hammer horror starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) journeys to Castle Dracula, where
he is turned into one of the undead by the famous vampire (Lee).
Professor Van Helsing (Cushing) arrives and drives a stake through
Harker's heart, but must then pursue Dracula to London, where the
Count intends to make Harker's fiancée Lucy Holmwood his bride. Lee
and Cushing went on to make several more 'Dracula' films for
Hammer.
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century many forms of theatre have been called ‘popular’, but in the twentieth century the term ‘popular drama’ has taken on definite political overtones, often indicating a repudiation of ‘commercial theatre’. But does that mean that political theatre is or tries to be more attractive to more people than commercial theatre? Does it conversely mean that commercial theatre has no political effects? The articles in this book were submitted as papers for a conference on the theme of ‘popular’ theatre, film and television. Contributions came from people with very different types of experience: from an ex-animal trainer to a lecturer in film studies; from playwrights, directors and actors to professional critics and academics. Each author focused on a particular problem of defining drama in performance, drawing together the conditions of performance, the types of audience and the political effects of the plays or films in question. The result was a series of fruitful connections and juxtapositions which shows the remarkable continuity of the problems raised in attempts to create a popular political drama.
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Seven Days to Noon (DVD)
Barry Jones, Andre Morell, Hugh Cross, Sheila Manahan, Olive Sloane, …
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R233
R217
Discovery Miles 2 170
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Oscar-winning thriller from the Boulting Brothers. When a
scientist, Professor Willingdon (Barry Jones), sends a letter to 10
Downing Street threatening to blow up the Houses of Parliament
within a week unless the Prime Minister agrees to his demands, it
is dismissed as a hoax. But when Willingdon disappears, alarm bells
start to ring, and soon the whole of London is out looking for him.
'A wonderful introduction to history's most influential scribblers' -
Steven Pinker
What is truly at stake in politics? Nothing less than how we should
live, as individuals and as communities. This book goes beyond the
surface headlines, the fake news and the hysteria to explore the
timeless questions posed and answers offered by a diverse group of the
30 greatest political thinkers who have ever lived.
Are we political, economic, or religious animals? Should we live in
small city-states, nations, or multinational empires? What values
should politics promote? Should wealth be owned privately or in common?
Do animals also have rights? There is no idea too radical for this
global assortment of thinkers, which includes: Confucius; Plato;
Augustine; Machiavelli; Burke; Wollstonecraft; Marx; Nietzsche; Gandhi;
Qutb; Arendt; Nussbaum, Naess and Rawls.
In each brief chapter, the authors paint a vivid portrait of these
often prescient, always compelling political thinkers, showing how
their ideas grew out of their own dramatic lives and times and evolved
beyond them. Now more than ever we need to be reminded that politics
can be a noble, inspiring and civilising art. And if we want to
understand today's political world, we need to understand the
foundations of politics and its architects. This is the perfect guide
to both.
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Kiss of the Vampire (Blu-ray disc)
Clifford Evans, Noel Willman, Brian Oulton, Edward De Souza, Jennifer Daniel, …
1
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R411
R273
Discovery Miles 2 730
Save R138 (34%)
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Out of stock
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Horror in which a couple find themselves stranded in a small
European village, where they pique the interest of a local
aristocrat. When the honeymoon of Gerald Harcourt (Edward De Souza)
and his new wife, Marianne (Jennifer Daniel), is interrupted by a
car breakdown, they reconcile themselves to staying a couple of
days in a remote village. The locals seem friendly enough and the
wealthy Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman) even invites the couple for dinner
at his chateau. However, once trapped in Ravna's house the
newlyweds swiftly find themselves regretting the invitation as they
become the subject of increasingly bizarre and threatening
behaviour...
Mrs. Gareth, widowed chatelaine of Poynton, is fighting to keep her
house with its priceless objets d'art from her son Owen and his
lovely, utterly philistine fiancee. When she discovers that her
young friend and sympathizer Fleda Vetch is secretly in love with
Owen, she thrusts her into the battle-line.
The power struggle that ensues between the three women leaves Owen
vacillating. What is at stake is not the mere possession of tables
and chairs; it is, for Fleda, a conflict between aesthetic ideals,
ethical imperatives, and her innermost feelings, in which she risks
betraying, and being betrayed by, all that she holds most dear.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has
made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the
globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to
scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of
other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading
authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date
bibliographies for further study, and much more."
A holistic view of human development that rejects the conventional
stages of childhood, adulthood, and old age When we talk about
human development, we tend to characterize it as proceeding through
a series of stages in which we are first children, then
adolescents, and finally, adults. But as James Bernard Murphy
observes, growth is not limited to the young nor is decline limited
to the aged. We are never trapped within the horizon of a
particular life stage: children anticipate adulthood and adults
recapture childhood. According to Murphy, the very idea of stages
of life undermines our ability to see our lives as a whole. In Your
Whole Life, Murphy asks: what accounts for the unity of a human
life over time? He advocates for an unconventional, developmental
story of human nature based on a nested hierarchy of three
powers-first, each person's unique human genome insures biological
identity over time; second, each person's powers of imagination and
memory insure psychological identity over time; and, third, each
person's ability to tell his or her own life story insures
narrative identity over time. Just as imagination and memory rely
upon our biological identity, so our autobiographical stories rest
upon our psychological identity. Narrative is not the foundation of
personal identity, as many argue, but its capstone. Engaging with
the work of Aristotle, Augustine, Jesus, and Rousseau, as well as
with the contributions of contemporary evolutionary biologists and
psychologists, Murphy challenges the widely shared assumptions in
Western thinking about personhood and its development through
discrete stages of childhood, adulthood, and old age. He offers,
instead, a holistic view in which we are always growing and
declining, always learning and forgetting, and always living and
dying, and finds that only in relation to one's whole life does the
passing of time obtain meaning.
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Haunted by Paradise (Hardcover)
James Bernard Murphy; Foreword by Nicholas P. Wolterstorff
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R1,090
R872
Discovery Miles 8 720
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This volume collects some of the best recent writings on St.
Thomas's philosophy of law and includes a critical examination of
Aquinas's theory of the relation between law and morality, his
natural law theory, as well as the modern reformulation of his
approach to natural rights. The volume shows how Aquinas understood
the importance of positive law and demonstrates the modern
relevance of his writings by including Thomistic critiques of
modern jurisprudence and examples of applications of Thomistic
jurisprudence to specific modern legal problems such as federalism,
environmental policy, abortion and euthanasia. The volume also
features an introduction which places Aquinas's writings in the
context of modern jurisprudence as well as an extensive
bibliography. The volume is suited to the needs of jurisprudence
scholars, teachers and students and is an essential resource for
all law libraries.
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Haunted by Paradise (Paperback)
James Bernard Murphy; Foreword by Nicholas P. Wolterstorff
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R700
R574
Discovery Miles 5 740
Save R126 (18%)
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