This book compares shifting formulations of gender, interfaith, and ethnic relations across continents from antiquity to the Nineteenth century. Contributors address three areas: depictions of homosexual and transgendered behaviours, conceptualizations of femininity and masculinity, and the marriageability of ethnic and religious minorities.

To what degree can the human exchanges we observe online be called "sociability"? In other words, do these exchanges amount to any meaningful type of social organization? Are they more than the mere froth of collective emotion discharging its energy with a lot of noise but little consequence against the wave breakers of social media? Do the social interactions that take place in virtual space-all those kind or not-so-kind words sent back and forth-suggest the same level of commitment, dedication, morality, passion, or even depravity that we see in everyday life? Or, more succinctly, is...

In Biblical Curses and the Displacement of Tradition Brian Britt offers an intriguing perspective on curses as the focus of debates over the power, pleasure, and danger of words. Biblical authors transformed ancient Near Eastern curses against rival ethnic groups, disobedient ancestors, and the day of one's own birth with great variety and ingenuity. This study argues that biblical, early modern, and contemporary transformations of curses constitute displacements rather than replacements of earlier traditions. Brian Britt is Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia...