Buddhism is often portrayed as a universalising religion that transcends the local and directs attention toward a transcendent dharma. Yet, wherever Buddhism spreads, it also sparks local identity discourses that, directly or indirectly, root the dharma in native soil and history, and, in doing so, frame ‘the local’ in Buddhist discourse. Occasionally, notably in Japanese Shinto and Tibetan Bön, this localising variety of ‘framing of discourse’—here tentatively termed ‘nativism’—leads to the establishment of independent traditions that break free from Buddhism; yet, in other contexts, localising trends remain firmly embedded within Buddhism. In Challenging Paradigms: Buddhism and Nativism Teeuwen and Blezer offer a comparative study of localising responses to Buddhism in different Buddhist environments in Japan, Korea, Tibet, India and Bali.

In these essays some of today's leading literary scholars and cultural critics re-examine major writers, genres, and themes in relation to their traditional period affiliations. The essays cover a broad range of writers and periods from the Middle Ages to the present, grouped in two main areas: Chaucer and Medieval and Renaissance studies (Larry D. Benson, Heiko A. Oberman, Lee Patterson, and Aldo Scaglione), and English and American literary history (Sanford Budick, H. M. Daleski, Denis Donoghue, Robert J. Griffin, Geoffrey Hartman, J. Hillis Miller, Jerome McGann, and Helen Vendler). In addition to shedding new light on a specific author, each essay also refines or reinvigorates critical approaches to specific periods. The analyses illuminate and clarify our understanding of what are traditionally but problematically called the Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romantic, Modern, and Postmodern eras in European cultural history.

How would like to spot future trends before the competition? We all know the rules for success in our business or professions, yet we also know that these rules--paradigms--can change at any time. What Joel Barker does in Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future is explain how to spot paradigm shifts, how they unfold, and how to profit from them. Through the power of this method--paradigm spotting--you can: find the people in your organization most likely to spot a new trend help your key people adept when a massive change is occurring learn to effectively grapple with your "intractable problems" and improve your results incalculably. In addition, Paradigms is full of concrete examples of paradigm shifts and predictions for the future, and contains a new introduction detailing recent developments and pointing out areas to watch tor paradigm shifts.

This Encyclopedia presents a comprehensive overview of the ever-evolving field of Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity across the Sciences. Authored by over 150 experts, it provides a vision of the Sciences in which scholars push boundaries and promote collaboration across diverse disciplines, scientific cultures and practices. This title contains one or more Open Access entries.

The apocalyptic end times have finally arrived. What is coming to an end, though, is not what you have been led to believe. Do you desire the truth about God, our foremost religions, the purpose of life and the future of our planet? Are you ready to challenge the religious powers that be to learn what most would rather not know? If so, this revolutionary book will help you transcend the darkness on your eternal journey home to a God of pure, unconditional love (a God who has no cause or need to ever judge or condemn anybody). Illuminating the Narrow Gate reveals the flaws of the mainstream Western religions as it guides and empowers its readers to embrace an enlightened spirituality. Brimming with astonishing insights and revelations, it will shock the world by debunking the “fire and brimstone” theology of mainstream Christianity. It primarily accomplishes this by unraveling the apocalyptic prophecies of Daniel, the gospels and Revelation in their entirety. In fact, they contain hidden spiritual messages that contradict what has been confidently preached for all these centuries. Like a challenging riddle that cannot be solved, the answer is obvious in hindsight. Only the blinding power of a paradigm can explain how we missed it for so long. The revelations will strike with devastating force because the book first arrives at the same conclusion through more traditional means. It convincingly describes how Jesus had come to uproot Judaism, but the version of Christianity that developed in his wake failed to make the paradigm shift. Erroneous tenets that should have been discarded were instead institutionalized in both theology and authority. The book also blazes a third independent trail to the same destination by showing how this ancient religious tree bore its poisonous fruit in both the Holocaust and the abomination of slavery that fathered the Civil War. Furthermore, the book illuminates the nature of evil and its well-cloaked ways, which is essential for unraveling the prophecies. This wisdom yields a new and astonishing interpretation of the Book of Job that delivers a quantum leap in insight over the prevailing understanding. As the first devout Christian to read this interpretation commented, “It rocked my apple cart to the core.” In addition, it presents an array of scientific evidence for the spiritual realm’s existence that complements its amazing demonstration that long-range prophecy is truly possible. It thus shows the atheistic religion of scientism is also doomed. Meanwhile, the book proves Jesus was the “Anointed One” (Messiah) with a telescoping trio of prophecies (from Daniel) that foretold the onset of his ministry to the reign of the Roman Empire, to its first ten emperors in the 1st century CE and to 27–34 CE. Most Christians will thus either fearfully denounce the book as a satanic assault upon their religion or courageously embrace it as the inevitable completion of the Reformation. The great spiritual awakening will soon be kicking into high gear, which is exactly what the apocalyptic prophecies long ago foretold and the spiritual realm has long been awaiting. As Jesus and a group of angels informed an atheist during his near-death experience in 1985, “The world is at the beginning of a major transformation. It will be a spiritual revolution that will affect every person in the world.” Can you handle the truth? Are you ready to awaken? If so, this world-changing book is at your service. * You only have to purchase Vol. I to get the book’s core insights and revelations. A PDF document of the Endnotes, Bibliography, Index, et al. (published in Vol. II) can be downloaded for free from the book’s website to make Vol. I a self-standing book.

This volume traces the life journeys of a cohort of influential and transformative women in psychology, now in or nearing retirement, who have changed the discipline and the broader world of academia in significant ways. The 26 reflective essays record how these scholars thrived in an academic landscape that was often, at best, unwelcoming, and, at worst, hostile, toward them. They explicitly and implicitly acknowledge that their paths were inextricably linked with the evolution of women's roles in society; they highlight and celebrate their achievements as much as they acknowledge and recognize the obstacles, barriers, and hurdles they overcame. They tell their stories with candor and humor, resulting in a compilation of inspiring essays. The end result of these individual narratives is a volume that provides a unique resource for current and future academics to help them navigate through the crossroads, curves, and challenges of their own careers in academia.

All over the world, in the most varied contexts, contemporary theatre is a rich source for increasing the visibility of communities generally perceived by others as minorities, or those who see themselves as such. Whether of a linguistic, ethnic, political, social, cultural or sexual nature, the claims of minorities enjoy a privileged medium in theatre. Perhaps it is because theatre itself is linked to the notions of centre and periphery, conformism and marginality, domination and subjugation – notions that minority theatre constantly examines by staging them – that it is so sensitive to the issues of troubled and conflicted identity and able to give them a universal resonance. Among the questions raised by this volume, is that of the relationship between the particular and the more general aims of this type of theatre. How is it possible to speak to everyone, or at least to the majority, when one is representing the voice of the few? Beyond such considerations, urgent critical examination of the function and aims of minority theatre is needed. To what kind of public is such drama addressed? Does it have an exemplary nature? How is it possible to avoid the pitfalls and the dead end of ghettoization? Certain types of audience-specific theatre are examined in this context, as, for example, theatre as therapy, theatre as an educational tool, and gay theatre. Particular attention is paid to the claims of minorities within culturally and economically dominant western countries. These are some of the avenues explored by this volume which aims to answer fundamental questions such as: What is minority theatre and why does theatre, a supposedly bourgeois, if not to say elitist, art form, have such affinity with the margins? What if, particularly in contemporary society, the theatre as a form, were merely playing out its fundamentally marginal status? The authors of these essays show how different forms of minority theatre can challenge cultural consensus and homogenization, while also aspiring to universality. They also address the central question of the place and status of apparently marginal forms of theatre in the context of globalization and in doing so re-examine theatre itself as a genre. Not only do they illustrate how minority theatre can challenge the dominant paradigms that govern society, but they also suggest their own more flexible and challenging frameworks for theatrical activity.