The contributors of this volume set out to explore some new approaches to the fourth-century Christian novel traditionally known as the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies or Klementia. They raise and answer questions about this narrative by approaching it as an original rhetorical, and philosophical novel. The volume seeks to improve understanding of this text as a late antique novel with its own textual unity. It pays attention both to its literary qualities as well as to the role of rhetorical education, the reception of Sophistic traditions, and ancient philosophy. It includes theological reflections and discusses the role of the Homilistic author, his skills in the field of paideia, and his reflections on truth. In this way, the contributors offer new insights into the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies as a unique novel from late antique Syria.

The Ghent Altarpiece or the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, by the Van Eyck brothers (1432), is recognised worldwide as a great work of art, and one of the most influential paintings ever made. It was the world's first major oil painting, and it is laced with religious mysticism. The work almost reads like an A to Z of Christianity - from the Annunciation to the symbolic sacrifice of Christ, with the 'Mystic Lamb' on an altar in a heavenly meadow, bleeding into the Holy Grail. For the first time, this book gathers together diverse insights on the Ghent Altarpiece, the monumental poliptych that the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck realised with the assistance of a large workshop and advisers on the painting's subject matters. This book has the same aim: to bring together experts from the most diverse disciplines. Only by combining the perspectives of (art) historians, philosophers, religious studies scholars, mathematicians and specialists in optics can one fully understand the riches and depth of this masterpiece. Lavishly illustrated, including details that have come to light using state-of-the-art techniques during the current conservation project and are not always visible to the naked eye.

Wide-ranging essays making up the first major study of Nietzsche and the classical tradition in a quarter of a century. This volume collects a wide-ranging set of essays examining Friedrich Nietzsche's engagement with antiquity in all its aspects. It investigates Nietzsche's reaction and response to the concept of "classicism," with particular reference to his work on Greek culture as a philologist in Basel and later as a philosopher of modernity, and to his reception of German classicism in all his texts. The book should be of interest to students of ancient history and classics, philosophy, comparative literature, and Germanistik. Taken together, these papers suggest that classicism is both a more significant, and a more contested, concept for Nietzsche than is often realized, and it demonstratesthe need for a return to a close attention to the intellectual-historical context in terms of which Nietzsche saw himself operating. An awareness of the rich variety of academic backgrounds, methodologies, and techniques of reading evinced in these chapters is perhaps the only way for the contemporary scholar to come to grips with what classicism meant for Nietzsche, and hence what Nietzsche means for us today. The book is divided into five sections -- The Classical Greeks; Pre-Socratics and Pythagoreans, Cynics and Stoics; Nietzsche and the Platonic Tradition; Contestations; and German Classicism -- and constitutes the first major study of Nietzsche and the classical tradition in a quarter of a century. Contributors: Jessica N. Berry, Benjamin Biebuyck, Danny Praet and Isabelle Vanden Poel, Paul Bishop, R. Bracht Branham, Thomas Brobjer, David Campbell, Alan Cardew, Roy Elveton, Christian Emden, Simon Gillham, John Hamilton, Mark Hammond, Albert Henrichs, Dirk t.D. Held, David F. Horkott, Dylan Jaggard, Fiona Jenkins, Anthony K. Jensen, Laurence Lampert, Nicholas Martin, Thomas A. Meyer, Burkhard Meyer-Sickendiek, John S. Moore, Neville Morley, David N. McNeill, James I. Porter, Martin A. Ruehl, Herman Siemens, Barry Stocker, Friedrich Ulfers and Mark Daniel Cohen, and Peter Yates. Paul Bishop is William Jacks Chair of Modern Languages at the University of Glasgow.