Concise, focused chapters on authority, ritual, functionalism, essentialism, and classification in this new edition create a more user-friendly and accessible text. New examples and case studies on engaging subjects. An essential text for students approaching the field of religious studies for the first time.

Concise, focused chapters on authority, ritual, functionalism, essentialism, and classification in this new edition create a more user-friendly and accessible text. New examples and case studies on engaging subjects. An essential text for students approaching the field of religious studies for the first time.

In the spring of 1576, the Health Office of Venice, fearful of a growing outbreak of plague, imposed a quarantine upon the city. The move was controversial, with some in power questioning the precise nature of the disease and concerned about the economic and political impact of the closure. A tribunal of physicians was summoned by the Doge, among them Girolamo Mercuriale, professor of medicine in nearby Padua and perhaps the most famous physician in all of Europe. Whatever the disease was that was affecting Venice, Mercuriale opined, it was not and could not be plague, for it was neither fast-moving nor widespread enough for that diagnosis. Following Mercuriale's advice and against the objections of the Health Office of the Republic, the quarantine was lifted. The rejoicing of the Venetian populace was short-lived. By July 1577, when the outbreak had run its course, the plague had killed an estimated 50,000 Venetians, or approximately a third of the city's population. In January 1577, in the midst of a plague he now recognized he had misdiagnosed, Mercuriale offered a series of lectures from his seat in Padua. Published under the title On Pestilence, the work surveyed past epidemics, including the Justinianic Plague of the sixth century and the Black Death of the fourteenth, and accounts of plague in Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and other sources. Plague, Mercuriale pronounced, was characterized by its lethal nature and the rapidity with which it spread. He contended it was primarily airborne and was not caught through microbial transmission, but because the air itself became pestiferous and promoted putrefaction. Using his observations, he evaluated recently developed theories of contagion and concluded that pestiferous vapors could also emanate from the diseased bodies of its victims, and that one might also contract the disease from the contaminated clothing or bedding of the ill. In Craig Martin's translation, On Pestilence appears for the first time in English, accompanied by an introduction that places the work within the context of sixteenth-century Italy, the history of medicine, and our own responses to epidemic disease.

Daniel Craig narrates this feature-length BBC wildlife documentary celebrating the diversity and tenacity of life on earth. Edited together from some 10,000 hours of footage from the BBC's natural history archives, the film focuses on the cyclical journey taken by all living things, from their own birth to the moment they deliver youngsters of their own and the next generation is born.

In the spring of 1576, the Health Office of Venice, fearful of a growing outbreak of plague, imposed a quarantine upon the city. The move was controversial, with some in power questioning the precise nature of the disease and concerned about the economic and political impact of the closure. A tribunal of physicians was summoned by the Doge, among them Girolamo Mercuriale, professor of medicine in nearby Padua and perhaps the most famous physician in all of Europe. Whatever the disease was that was affecting Venice, Mercuriale opined, it was not and could not be plague, for it was neither fast-moving nor widespread enough for that diagnosis. Following Mercuriale's advice and against the objections of the Health Office of the Republic, the quarantine was lifted. The rejoicing of the Venetian populace was short-lived. By July 1577, when the outbreak had run its course, the plague had killed an estimated 50,000 Venetians, or approximately a third of the city's population. In January 1577, in the midst of a plague he now recognized he had misdiagnosed, Mercuriale offered a series of lectures from his seat in Padua. Published under the title On Pestilence, the work surveyed past epidemics, including the Justinianic Plague of the sixth century and the Black Death of the fourteenth, and accounts of plague in Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and other sources. Plague, Mercuriale pronounced, was characterized by its lethal nature and the rapidity with which it spread. He contended it was primarily airborne and was not caught through microbial transmission, but because the air itself became pestiferous and promoted putrefaction. Using his observations, he evaluated recently developed theories of contagion and concluded that pestiferous vapors could also emanate from the diseased bodies of its victims, and that one might also contract the disease from the contaminated clothing or bedding of the ill. In Craig Martin's translation, On Pestilence appears for the first time in English, accompanied by an introduction that places the work within the context of sixteenth-century Italy, the history of medicine, and our own responses to epidemic disease.

Masking Hegemony is a critical evaluation of the use of the public/private and religion/state binaries in liberal political thought from the Protestant Reformation to the present. The book demonstrates that liberalism's public/private and religion/state binaries, designed to separate "religion" from the "state," are about as sophisticated as talk about the "four humours" in the human body, and may in fact mask or make invisible the influence of dominant religious institutions on state policies. Following theorists such as Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu, each of which demonstrates that dominant ideologies and social norms can circulate indirectly and operate invisibly, Craig Martin argues that there is inevitably a circulation of power and authority from the so-called "private sphere" to the "public sphere" in a liberal democracy, but that the public/private and church/state language prevents us from bringing that circulation of power into relief.

Many regard religious experience as the essence of religion, arguing that narratives might be created and rituals invented but that these are always secondary to the original experience itself. However, the concept of "experience" has come under increasing fire from a range of critics and theorists. This Reader presents writings from both those who assume the existence and possible universality of religious experience and those who question the very rhetoric of "experience". Bringing together both classic and contemporary writings, the Reader showcases differing disciplinary approaches to the study of religious experience: philosophy, literary and cultural theory, history, psychology, anthropology; feminist theory; as well as writings from within religious studies. The essays are structured into pairs, with each essay separately introduced with information on its historical and intellectual context. The ultimate aim of the Reader is to enable students to explore religious experience as rhetoric created to authorize social identities. The book will be an invaluable introduction to the key ideas and approaches for students of Religion, as well as Sociology and Anthropology. CONTRIBUTORS: Robert Desjarlais, Diana Eck, William James, Craig Martin, Russell T. McCutcheon, Wayne Proudfoot, Robert Sharf, Ann Taves, Charles Taylor, Joachim Wach, Joan Wallach Scott, Raymond Williams

Many regard religious experience as the essence of religion, arguing that narratives might be created and rituals invented but that these are always secondary to the original experience itself. However, the concept of "experience" has come under increasing fire from a range of critics and theorists. This Reader presents writings from both those who assume the existence and possible universality of religious experience and those who question the very rhetoric of "experience". Bringing together both classic and contemporary writings, the Reader showcases differing disciplinary approaches to the study of religious experience: philosophy, literary and cultural theory, history, psychology, anthropology; feminist theory; as well as writings from within religious studies. The essays are structured into pairs, with each essay separately introduced with information on its historical and intellectual context. The ultimate aim of the Reader is to enable students to explore religious experience as rhetoric created to authorize social identities. The book will be an invaluable introduction to the key ideas and approaches for students of Religion, as well as Sociology and Anthropology. CONTRIBUTORS: Robert Desjarlais, Diana Eck, William James, Craig Martin, Russell T. McCutcheon, Wayne Proudfoot, Robert Sharf, Ann Taves, Charles Taylor, Joachim Wach, Joan Wallach Scott, Raymond Williams

Masking Hegemony is a critical evaluation of the use of the public/private and religion/state binaries in liberal political thought from the Protestant Reformation to the present. The book demonstrates that liberalism's public/private and religion/state binaries, designed to separate "religion" from the "state," are about as sophisticated as talk about the "four humours" in the human body, and may in fact mask or make invisible the influence of dominant religious institutions on state policies. Following theorists such as Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu, each of which demonstrates that dominant ideologies and social norms can circulate indirectly and operate invisibly, Craig Martin argues that there is inevitably a circulation of power and authority from the so-called "private sphere" to the "public sphere" in a liberal democracy, but that the public/private and church/state language prevents us from bringing that circulation of power into relief.

Nine episodes of the children's animated spin-off of 'Fraggle Rock'. The series follows the four young Doozers Daisy Wheel, Spike, Flex and Mollybot who make up the inventive Pod Squad, living and working in the self-sustaining, green community of Doozer Creek. The episodes are: 'An Itch You Can't Scratch', 'Project Radish-a-pult', 'Jetpack Away', 'Zip It', 'Doozer Amusers', 'A Stick Situation', 'Hiccup-a-majig', 'Doozermahoozit' and 'Trouble Below'.

Building on the success of Stereotyping Religion: Critiquing Clichés, this follow up volume dismantles a further 10 widespread stereotypes and clichés about religion, focusing on clichés that a new generation of students are most familiar with. Each chapter includes: - A description of a particular cliché - Discussion of where it appears in popular culture or popular media - Discussion of where it appears in scholarly literature - A historical contextualization of its use in the past - An analysis of the social or rhetorical work the cliché accomplishes in the present Clichés addressed include: - "Religion and science naturally conflict" - "All religions are against LGBTQ rights" - "Eastern religions are more spiritual than Western religions" - "Religion is personal and not subject to government regulation" - "Religious pluralism gives everyone a voice" Written in an easy and accessible style, Stereotyping Religion II: Critiquing Clichés is suitable for all readers looking to clear away unsophisticated assumptions in preparation for more critical studies.

Drawing on poststructuralist approaches, Craig Martin outlines a theory of discourse, ideology, and domination that can be used by scholars and students to understand these central elements in the study of culture. The book shows how discourses are used to construct social institutions-often classist, sexist, or racist-and that those social institutions always entail a distribution of resources and capital in ways that capacitate some subject positions over others. Such asymmetrical power relations are often obscured by ideologies that offer demonstrably false accounts of why those asymmetries exist or persist. The author provides a method of reading in order to bring matters into relief, and the last chapter provides a case study that applies his theory and method to racist ideologies in the United States, which systematically function to discourage white Americans from sympathizing with poor African Americans, thereby contributing to reinforcing the latter's place at the bottom of a racial hierarchy that has always existed in the US.

Craig Martin addresses the transgressive or deviant aspects of design: design that straddles the divide between the licit and illicit, the legal and illegal, in a variety of ways. Martin argues that design is not necessarily for the social good, but that it is immersed in the social realm in all its contradictions and confusions. Through a series of case studies he explores a wide range of social practices that employ illicit forms of design thinking, including: early computer hacking and present-day hacker culture in which everyday objects are repurposed and deliberately misused; the cultures of reproduction, counterfeit and pirated versions of classic and luxury designs; and the use of material practices by smugglers to conceal drugs within consumer goods and luggage. Deviant Design contends that these amateur and illicit practices challenge the normative idea of the professional designer or maker. Rather than being reliant on the services of institutionalized design professionals, the adhocist practitioner displays forms of innovative design knowledge in understanding how artefacts have an inherent potential to be misused or repurposed.

Craig Martin addresses the transgressive or deviant aspects of design: design that straddles the divide between the licit and illicit, the legal and illegal, in a variety of ways. Martin argues that design is not necessarily for the social good, but that it is immersed in the social realm in all its contradictions and confusions. Through a series of case studies he explores a wide range of social practices that employ illicit forms of design thinking, including: early computer hacking and present-day hacker culture in which everyday objects are repurposed and deliberately misused; the cultures of reproduction, counterfeit and pirated versions of classic and luxury designs; and the use of material practices by smugglers to conceal drugs within consumer goods and luggage. Deviant Design contends that these amateur and illicit practices challenge the normative idea of the professional designer or maker. Rather than being reliant on the services of institutionalized design professionals, the adhocist practitioner displays forms of innovative design knowledge in understanding how artefacts have an inherent potential to be misused or repurposed.

As one of the key figures in the first generation of British conceptual artists and a crucial force behind many of the Young British Artists, Michael Craig-Martin has dedicated a career to complicating the practice and reception of drawing. Often considered the 'high priest of the everyday', he is engaged with the methodical exploration of those objects and design classics that are so often taken for granted: the tap, the clothes hanger, the petrol pump, the Anglepoise lamp. For Craig-Martin, those objects that we value least, simply for their ubiquity, are often the most extraordinary. His is a world of revelation.

"The belief that Aristotle's philosophy is incompatible with Christianity is hardly controversial today," writes Craig Martin. Yet "for centuries, Christian culture embraced Aristotelian thought as its own, reconciling his philosophy with theology and church doctrine. The image of Aristotle as source of religious truth withered in the seventeenth century, the same century in which he ceased being an authority for natural philosophy." In this fresh study of the complicated origins of revolutionary science in the age of Bacon, Hobbes, and Boyle, Martin traces one of the most important developments in Western European history: the rise and fall of Aristotelianism from the eleventh to the eighteenth century. Medieval theologians reconciled Aristotelian natural philosophy with Christian dogma in a synthesis that dominated religious thought for centuries. This synthesis unraveled in the seventeenth century contemporaneously with the emergence of the new natural philosophies of the scientific revolution. Important figures of seventeenth-century thought strove to show that the medieval appropriation of Aristotle defied the historical record that pointed to an impious figure of dubious morality. While numerous scholars have written on the seventeenth-century downfall of Aristotelianism, almost all of those works have examined how the conceptual content of the new sciences - such as the heliocentric cosmology, atomism, mechanical and mathematical models, and experimentalism - were used to dismiss the views of Aristotle. Subverting Aristotle is the first to focus on the religious polemics accompanying the scientific controversies that led to the eventual demise of Aristotelian natural philosophy. Martin's thesis draws extensively on primary source material from England, France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. It alters present perceptions not only of the scientific revolution but also of the role of Renaissance humanism in the forging of modernity.

Talk of 'spirituality' and 'individual religion' is proliferating both in popular discourse and scholarly works. Increasingly people claim to be 'spiritual but not religious, ' or to prefer 'individual religion' to 'organized religion.' Scholars have for decades noted the phenomenon - primarily within the middle class - of individuals picking and choosing elements from among various religious traditions, forming their own religion or spirituality for themselves. While the topics of 'spirituality' and 'individual religion' are regularly treated as self-evident by the media and even some scholars of religion, "Capitalizing Religion" provides one of the first critical analyses of the phenomenon, arguing that these recent forms of spirituality are in many cases linked to capitalist ideology and consumer practices. Examining cases such as Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now," and Karen Berg's "God Wears Lipstick," Craig Martin ultimately argues that so-called 'individual religion' is a religion of the status quo or, more critically, 'an opiate of the bourgeoisie.'"Capitalizing Religion: Ideology and Opiate of the Bourgeoisie" is a landmark publication in critical religious studies.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. The shipping container is all around: whizzing by on the highway, trundling past on rails, unloading behind a big box store even as you shop there, clanking on the docks just out of sight.... 90% of the goods and materials that move around the globe do so in shipping containers. It is an absolutely ubiquitous object, even if most of us have no direct contact with it. But what is this thing? Where has it been, and where is it going? Craig Martin's book illuminates the "development of containerization"-including design history, standardization, aesthetics, and a surprising speculative discussion of the futurity of shipping containers. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

From the majestic San Juan Mountains to the wide-open expanses of the San Luis Valley, few fishing areas rival the pristine beauty, diversity, and solitude of southern Colorado's rivers and trout streams. This guide thoroughly explores the region's watersheds: the Conejos, Rio Grande, San Juan, Piedra, Los Piños, Animas, and Dolores, as well as the still waters of high mountain areas. Included are detailed maps of the region and each watershed; area regulations and conservation policies; safety precautions, weather, and wildlife information; and a list of the region's important aquatic insects. For those willing to hoof it, southern Colorado's streams and rivers offer old fashioned, have-the-river-to-yourself fly fishing. But with this guide, even the roadside angler can find idyllic spots to cast a fly, making Fly Fishing Southern Colorado an essential guide for any angler interested in knowing and fishing ""the Little Switzerland of Colorado.""

Shedding new light on the understudied Italian Renaissance scholar, Andrea Cesalpino, and the diverse fields he wrote on, this volume covers the multiple traditions that characterize his complex natural philosophy and medical theories, taking in epistemology, demonology, mineralogy, and botany. By moving beyond the established influence of Aristotle’s texts on his work, Andrea Cesalpino and Renaissance Aristotelianism reflects the rich influences of Platonism, alchemy, Galenism, and Hippocratic ideas. Cesalpino’s relation to the new sciences of the 16th century are traced through his direct influences, on cosmology, botany, and medicine. In combining Cesalpino’s reception of these traditions alongside his connections to early modern science, this book provides a vital case study of Renaissance Aristotelianism.

Craig Martin takes a careful look at how Renaissance scientists analyzed and interpreted rain, wind, and other natural phenomena like meteors and earthquakes and their impact on the great thinkers of the scientific revolution.

Martin argues that meteorology was crucial to the transformation that took place in science during the early modern period. By examining the conceptual foundations of the subject, Martin links Aristotelian meteorology with the new natural philosophies of the seventeenth century. He argues that because meteorology involved conjecture and observation and forced attention to material and efficient causation, it paralleled developments in the natural philosophies of Descartes and other key figures of the scientific revolution.

Although an inherently uncertain endeavor, forecasting the weather was an extremely useful component not just of scientific study, but also of politics, courtly life, and religious doctrine. Martin explores how natural philosophers of the time participated in political and religious controversies by debating the meanings, causes, and purposes of natural disasters and other weather phenomena.

Through careful readings of an impressive range of texts, Martin situates the history of meteorology within the larger context of Renaissance and early modern science. The first study on Renaissance theories of weather in five decades, "Renaissance Meteorology" offers a novel understanding of traditional natural philosophy and its impact on the development of modern science.

Our culture is full of popular stereotypes about religion, both positive and negative. Many people uncritically assume that religion is intrinsically violent, or that religion makes people moral, or that it is simply "bullshit". This concise volume tackles 10 of these stereotypes, addresses why scholars of religion find them to be cliched, describes their origins, and explains the social or political work they rhetorically accomplish in the present. Cliches addressed include the following: - Religions are belief systems - I'm spiritual but not religious - Religion concerns the transcendent - Learning about religions leads to tolerance and understanding - Religion is a private matter. Written in an easy and accessible style, Stereotyping Religion: Critiquing Cliches will be of interest to all readers looking to clear away unsophisticated assumptions in preparation for more critical studies.

Drawing on poststructuralist approaches, Craig Martin outlines a theory of discourse, ideology, and domination that can be used by scholars and students to understand these central elements in the study of culture. The book shows how discourses are used to construct social institutions-often classist, sexist, or racist-and that those social institutions always entail a distribution of resources and capital in ways that capacitate some subject positions over others. Such asymmetrical power relations are often obscured by ideologies that offer demonstrably false accounts of why those asymmetries exist or persist. The author provides a method of reading in order to bring matters into relief, and the last chapter provides a case study that applies his theory and method to racist ideologies in the United States, which systematically function to discourage white Americans from sympathizing with poor African Americans, thereby contributing to reinforcing the latter's place at the bottom of a racial hierarchy that has always existed in the US.