Salvo Burci. Liber suprastella (review)

2016

Acknowledgments v I would like to dedicate this work to my late mother, Miriam Pearsall. She has always been the model to me for perseverance and willpower. She encouraged in me (and my siblings) intellectual curiosity and a love of reading. She delighted in discussing history and storytelling with us when we were children. And she always encouraged my fantasy and science fiction gaming because she saw the value in imagination and creativity. I believe she would be pleased.

2023

Famed in recent years for its ethnic diversity, Medieval Iberia; a territory in Southwest Europe, now consisting of Spain and Portugal, bore a multi-cultural landscape of differing religious populations living alongside each other in a state of Convivencia. The Iberian peninsula housed two of the greatest religious powerhouses of the Middle Ages: Latin Christendom and the Muslim Caliphate. The term “Convivencia”, initially coined by Spanish philologist Americo Castro, is essentially defined as the ‘coexistence’ of Muslims, Christians and Jews of Iberia from the 8th century until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492; a form of “medieval multiculturalism” if you will. With this in mind, this paper seeks to investigate changing ideas regarding Christian identity with a view to interfaith relations in Christian sources from the 9th and 13th centuries. It is arguable that regardless of status, being either subject or sovereign, the Christian identity always managed to be victorious in terms of piety and commitment to one’s faith.

NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, 2019

Modern Religious Differentiation: The Latin Mass (1517-1570), 2018

The work has two purposes that unfold over four chapters. First, it presents the theory of social systems and religious sociology of Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998). Second, it applies the theory to the analysis of Christianity and in particular of the Tridentine Mass. The research bets that it is possible to study Christianity (and any other religion) strictly as communication, using a methodology (operational constructivism) as well as the naturalistic and positive disposition characteristic of the scientific endeavor. The book also tries to effectively combine historical research with sociological theory. It is a study in historical sociology. The foreword is written by Javier Torres Nafarrate. This book could be purchased in hard copy or as an E-book through Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1790664047). Royalties for this First English Edition directly benefit the author and contribute to independent research in the social sciences field.

2011

Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 110/1-2, pp. 335-336., 2015

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2004

The Oxford classical dictionary is an exceptionally rich one-volume, multi-author encyclopaedia which covers all aspects of Graeco-Roman antiquity and much else besides, providing (economical) bibliographies at the end of almost every article. The editors who undertook and completed the Herculean task of producing a third edition fully deserve the thanks and praise widely accorded to them, for the result of their labours is indeed a triumph. Its 6,250 entries by 364 scholars regale the reader with authoritative information on subjects as diverse as Attila and Aristotle, Babylon and Boethius, capitalism and chastity, or even Zeus and Zoroaster. As its preface declares, the third edition (1996, revised, i.e. with minor changes, 2003) deliberately differs from the previous ones of 1949 and 1970 in several respects, all of which can be praised without reserve. It has been rendered more accessible through the translation of the ancient languages, and more user-friendly by widespread cross-referencing. It has gained in quality through the editors' determination to 'secure the best experts on the topics covered, wherever in the world they happened to be '. It also includes some 700 new entries. These attest to the third edition's determination to be interdisciplinary (for example ' economic theory, Greek '), and reflect a new solicitousness in offering readers survey articles containing useful cross-references (for example ' technology '). More specifically, inadequacies in coverage have been set to rights for women, Judaism and the Near East. The third edition includes a substantial number of new entries of interest to ecclesiastical historians. For Christian authors and literature we note : apologists, Christian ; Paul, St ; Acts of the Apostles ; apocalyptic literature ; Boethius' musical writings ; epic, biblical ; Epistle to Diognitus; Latin, medieval, literary ; Chronicon Paschale ; Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ; Ambrosiaster ; Theophilus (2) of Antioch ; Paulinus (2) of Pella ; Maximianus ; Tatian ; Methodius ; Didascalia apostolorum. For early Christian beliefs and practices : pilgrimage, Christian ; cemeteries ; chastity ; asceticism ; churches ; statues, cult of (includes 'Judaeo-Christian ' section). For 'heresies ' : Naaseenes; Arianism. Students of the early Church will also welcome new entries on many related themes. Thus, the rising interest in the relationship between Christian and pagan healing (see, for example, Hector Avalos, Health care and the rise of Christianity, 1999) is well served by entries on the following subjects: body ; gynaecology ; hysteria ;

Mnemosyne: Journal of Classical Studies, 2010