In this timely and sweeping exploration, one of the greatest living historians of Christian thought traces the concept of Antichrist from its Judeo-Christian origins to the present day. Rooted in Second Temple Judaism--a period of intense religious and political disruption--Antichrist developed out of belief in malevolent angelic and human forces. McGinn demonstrates how Antichrist has often reflected the human need to comprehend the persistence of evil in the world, and examines how it has haunted popular imagination in both the form of indivuduals--such as Nero, Napoleon, and Saddam...

..". a most precious book which every serious pianist and teacher must own." Journal of the American Liszt Society

Joseph Banowetz and four distinguished contributors provide practical suggestions and musicological insights on the pedaling of keyboard works from the 18th to the 20th century.

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In On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, Gershom Scholem guides the reader through the central themes in the intricate history of the Kabbalah, clarifying the relations between mysticism and established religious authority, the mystics' interpretation of the Torah and their attempts to discover the hidden meaning underlying Scripture, the tension between the philosophical and the mystical concepts of God, and the symbolism employed in mystical religion.

This clear and comprehensive anthology, culled from the vast corpus of Christian mystical literature by the renowned theologian and historian Bernard McGinn, presents nearly one hundred selections, from the writings of Origen of Alexandria in the third century to the work of twentieth-century mystics such as Thomas Merton.

Uniquely organized by subject rather than by author, The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism explores how human life is transformed through the search for direct contact with God. Part one examines the preparation for encountering God through biblical...

From theWorld Spiritualityseries, this is a broad-ranging, illustrated, scholarly treatment of core topics in Christian spirituality, focused on the Reformation and pre-Reformation periods."

This book has been hailed as the finest English-language work on Meister Eckhart, renowed medieval mystic.

Apocalypticism has been the source of hope and courage for the oppressed, but has also given rise, on many occasions, to fanaticism and intolerance. The essays in this volume seek neither to apologize for the extravagance of apocalyptic thinkers nor to excuse the perverse actions of some of their followers. Rather, they strive to understand a powerful, perhaps even indispensable, element in the history of Western religions that has been the source of both good and evil, and still is yet today.The Editors The Continuum History of Apocalypticism is a 1-volume, select edition of the 3-vol....

Three treatises by twelfth-century Cistercians, who reflect on the human person as the image of God and capax Dei, capable of God, of being reformed to the divine Image. Of the three-Isaac of Stella, an anonymous Cistercian, and William of Saint Thierry- only the last discusses the nature ('the physics') of the body as well as of the soul, giving us an insight into medieval medical theory as well as to theological anthrology.

Hailed as the best scholarship in its field, this survey traces apocalypticism's role in Western history from its origins to the close of the third millennium.Continuum congratulates Bernard McGinn on being the recipient of the 1999 Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award

The great German mystic Meister Eckhart remains one of the most fascinating figures in Western thought. Revived interest in Eckhart's mysticism has been matched, and even surpassed, by the study of the women mystics of the late13th century. This book argues that Eckhart's thought cannot be fully be understood until it is viewed against the background of the breakthroughs made by the women mystics who preceded him.