Addressing the world of the imaginary, the dream, the uncanny, the paranormal, and all forms of speculative fiction, Contours of the Fantastic is a collection of twenty-two essays that were originally presented at the Eighth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts at Houston in 1987. The volume gives valuable perspectives on the territory covered by the fantastic, showing the diversity of the field and the variety of approaches used to survey and comprehend it. Each essay brings its own method of investigation--phenomenological, theoretical, historical, sociological, psychological, textual--in an effort to situate the border between reality and fantasy and the passage from one to the other. Authors and works discussed in the volume include Balzac, Dickens, Poe, Aldous Huxley, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, Muriel Spark, Mary Shelley, Albee's The Zoo Story, Pynchon, Coleridge's Christabel, Le Fanu's "Carmilla," and Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant trilogies. Following the editor's introductory essay, the work is divided into 7 sections: "Fantasy and Discontinuity," "Theory of National Fantasy--Tradition and Invention," "Fantastic Vision in Children's Literature," "Science Fiction and Fantasy Films," "Fusion, Transfusion, and Transgression in the Fantastic," "The Fantastic and Science," and "The Fantastic World--Space and Time." Individual essays within these major divisions zero in on specific works of fantasy; offer a psychology of fantasy writers; analyze language; assess fantasy from a national perspective; and investigate Christian horror in fiction. The final two sections delineate the border between fantasy and reality--in science and in relation to space and time. Amongthe outstanding contributors are Brian Aldiss, novelist, poet, and critic, author of more than two dozen books-- many of which are considered science fiction classics; Vivian Sobchack, science fiction film critic and writer on semiotics and phenomenology; and Nancy Willard, author of prize-winning novels, collected stories, poetry, and children's books. Generalists in literature and the arts, sociology, the natural sciences, engineering, and aeronautics as well as students and scholars, aestheticians, and critics of the fantasy/science fiction genres in literature, film, and art will find this collection both a useful and fascinating volume.

This seminal photography text, now in its 10th edition and celebrating its 50th anniversary, has been revamped, reorganized, and modernized to include the most up-to-date, need to know information for photographers. Ideal for students, beginners, and advanced users wanting to brush up on the fundamentals of photography, this book is a must have for any photographer's bookcase. The heart of this text, however, retains the same comprehensive mix of scholarly and practical information. The new edition has been fully updated to reflect dynamic changes in the industry. These changes include: an expansion and overhaul of the information on digital cameras and digital printing; an emphasis on updating photographs to include a wider range of international work; replacement of many diagrams with photos; overhaul of the analogue sections to give a more modern tone (ie exposure measurement and film and filters with some more dynamic photo illustrations).

From bleak expressionist works to the edgy political works of the New German Cinema to the feel-good "Heimat" films of the postwar era, "Directory of World Cinema: Germany" aims to offer a wider film and cultural context for the films that have emerged from Germany--including some of the East German films recently made available to Western audiences for the first time. With contributions by leading academics and emerging scholars in the field, this volume explores the key directors, themes, and periods in German film history, and demonstrates how genres have been adapted over time to fit historical circumstances. Rounding out this addition to the Directory of World Cinema series are fifty full-color stills, numerous reviews and recommendations, and a comprehensive filmography.

Embodying Youth: Exploring Youth Ministry and Disability seeks to help close the gap between disability theology and youth ministry education. What is youth ministry? And who is it for? Christian youth workers and ministers in the West have been answering these questions either implicitly or explicitly for decades. The ways we answer these questions, and the ways in which we go about answering them, have huge implications with regards to the faithfulness and effectiveness of the church's ministry with young people. These questions have not always been pursued with the experience of disability in mind. In fact, it is often excluded, not only from the academic field but from the church's practice of youth ministry as well. In this book, scholars and youth workers seek to attend to the questions of youth ministry by putting the experience of disability at the forefront, with hope not only that the church might include young people with disabilities, but also that our very understanding of what youth ministry is, and who youth ministry is for might be transformed, for the sake of the gospel. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Disability & Religion.

Iranian filmmakers have long been recognised for creating a vibrant, aesthetically rich cinema whilst working under strict state censorship regulations. As Michelle Langford reveals, many have found indirect, allegorical ways of expressing forbidden topics and issues in their films. But for many, allegory is much more than a foil against haphazardly applied censorship rules. Drawing on a long history of allegorical expression in Persian poetry and the arts, allegory has become an integral part of the poetics of Iranian cinema. Allegory in Iranian Cinema explores the allegorical aesthetics of Iranian cinema, explaining how it has emerged from deep cultural traditions and how it functions as a strategy for both supporting and resisting dominant ideology. As well as tracing the roots of allegory in Iranian cinema before and after the 1979 revolution, Langford also theorizes this cinematic mode. She draws on a range of cinematic, philosophical and cultural concepts - developed by thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Gilles Deleuze, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Christian Metz and Vivian Sobchack - to provide a theoretical framework for detailed analyses of films by renowned directors of the pre-and post-revolutionary eras including Masoud Kimiai, Dariush Mehrjui, Ebrahim Golestan, Kamran Shirdel, Majid Majidi, Jafar Panahi, Marziyeh Meshkini, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Asghar Farhadi. Allegory in Iranian Cinema explains how a centuries-old means of expression, interpretation, encoding and decoding becomes, in the hands of Iran's most skilled cineastes, a powerful tool with which to critique and challenge social and cultural norms.

Given all that we now know about the world and mankind, in what way might God be said to have any influence at all on nature, man and history? How can the hope and confidence expressed in prayer be reconciled with the research of the scientist, psychologist and sociologist? These are the important questions with which Professor Langford deals in his book. He begins by exploring three more specific issues. What kind of guidance or intervention is alleged to be involved in claims about providence? Is the claim that providence is at work in any sense an empirical claim? How can any intervention or involvement be attributed to the timeless and passionless God of the Christian tradition? He then reviews the historical background to modern discussion about providence, and illustrates the typical use of the concept by five analogies: the sun, the wind, the tide, space-time and human action. This leads him to explore special questions about the possible working of God in the different orders of the natural world, the human world and history. Finally, having explored the basic grammar of the concept of providence, he faces the fundamental questions of the coherence and validity of the concept in the twentieth century. He concludes that, for all the difficulties, a case can be made out for both general and special providence.

An all-encompassing account of Christian attitudes and sources of attitudes to marriage, traced through Near Eastern, Classical and Biblical histories, suitable for the student or lay trainer wishing to know more than an Alpha course. It covers all aspects of marriage- including the on going debate surrounding same sex unions. Peter Coleman, was the author of 'Christian attitudes to Homosexuality', 'A christian attitude towards televsion', and 'experiments with prayer'. Following his tragic death in 2001, when this work was left incomplete, 'Christian attitudes to marriage', is brought to us by the hard work of his family and close friends, particularly Dr Michael Langfor

This seminal photography text, now in its 10th edition and celebrating its 50th anniversary, has been revamped, reorganized, and modernized to include the most up-to-date, need to know information for photographers. Ideal for students, beginners, and advanced users wanting to brush up on the fundamentals of photography, this book is a must have for any photographer's bookcase. The heart of this text, however, retains the same comprehensive mix of scholarly and practical information. The new edition has been fully updated to reflect dynamic changes in the industry. These changes include: an expansion and overhaul of the information on digital cameras and digital printing; an emphasis on updating photographs to include a wider range of international work; replacement of many diagrams with photos; overhaul of the analogue sections to give a more modern tone (ie exposure measurement and film and filters with some more dynamic photo illustrations).

In this book there are practice instructions for seven different methods of meditation including: 1. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method. 2. The Abandon Release Method. 3. The Eternal Method. 4. The Infinite Space Method. 5. The Loving All Method. For thousands of years humans have been stuck in the same pool of inward unsolved problems. Thousands of years ago humans had the problems of suffering, sorrow, anger, fear, violence, conning, cheating, lying, death, etc. Today humans have the problems of suffering, sorrow, anger, fear, violence, conning, cheating, lying, death, etc. All of those problems have a single cause. In this book the cause of the lack of progress and the solution that actually works is revealed. There is a secret, a missing link, a vicious circle, that is keeping humans stuck in the same pool of unsolved problems. That secret, that missing link, that vicious circle is revealed in this book. How to break free of that ancient human trap is also revealed in this book. The solutions taught in the past have failed. Not even one in a million humans has been freed from all suffering and been established in absolutely perfect infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss by the solutions that have been taught in the past. It is possible to be free of all sorrow and suffering and to experience absolutely perfect infinite eternal joy in this lifetime. It is possible for all humans, not just a few humans. There is a rapid means to infinite bliss. That rapid means is taught in this book. Whatever spiritual path you are on, this book will be a great help. The problem of the ego distorting, distracting and keeping the attention directed outward is a problem shared by all humans, whatever path they are on. The ego's tricks have seldom been looked at in spiritual literature. The ego's tricks are revealed in this book. How to put an end to the ego's tricks is also taught in this book, making this book a unique and immensely valuable contribution. This book is a great help to all humans, including those who are not on a spiritual path, because the most direct and rapid means to end suffering and sorrow and to live in awareness-love-bliss, is of benefit to all. For human consciousness to be transformed something new must be introduced. This book introduces something new into human consciousness. It is rare that a spiritual book goes into detail revealing the tricks the ego uses to avoid liberation. The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss is such a rare book. Step-by-step instructions in how to put an end to the ego's tricks are given in this book. This book shows how to directly experience infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss in this lifetime. This book contains a detailed description of the difference between the True Self and the imposter self. Detailed instructions in how to directly experience the True Self are given in this book. Of the thousands of spiritual books you could purchase, The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss is the best first choice. This is the book that created a spiritual revolution that is continuing to transform all human life. The direct experience of infinite-eternal-life is available to all humans. There is a fork in the road. One road leads to ideas, beliefs, concepts and opinions. The other road leads to Direct Experience. This book shows the difference between these two roads and how to choose the road that leads toeternal-perfect-love-bliss in this lifetime. This book is a new doorway for humanity. On a combination lock that you have been unable to open it is not the numbers on the dial that are new. It is the combination that opens the lock that is new. The more than fifteen hundred sentences in this book reveal the combination that opens the lock. On the other side of the door is eternal Life-Love-Bliss.