This book considers Emerson and Nietzsche primarily as post-theological religious thinkers and treats their understanding of the nature of religion and language. It argues that their critique of Christianity and rejection of transcendence which allowed them to recover the divine within the individual is informed by their emphasis on the humanity of Jesus. The idea of Jesus as man is also the key to their interpretation of language. The Word inscribed in the world becomes the condition for the possibility of meaning.

Dickinson knew the Bible well. She was profoundly aware of Christian theology and she was writing at a time when comparative religion was extremely popular. This book is the first to consider Dickinson's religious imagery outside the dynamic of her personal faith and doubt. It argues that religious myths and symbols, from the sun-god to the open tomb, are essential to understanding the similetic movement of Dickinson's poetry - the reach for a comparable, though not identical, experience in the struggles and wrongs of Abraham, Jacob and Moses, and the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Linda Freedman situates the poet within the context of American typology, interprets her alongside contemporary and modern theology and makes important connections to Shakespeare and the British Romantics. Dickinson emerges as a deeply troubled thinker who needs to be understood within both religious and Romantic traditions.

In a culture increasingly focused on visual media, students have learned not only to embrace multimedia presentations in the classroom, but to expect them. Such expectations are perhaps more prevalent in a field as dynamic and cross-disciplinary as religious studies, but the practice nevertheless poses some difficult educational issues -- the use of movies in academic coursework has far outpaced the scholarship on teaching religion and film. What does it mean to utilize film in religious studies, and what are the best ways to do it? In Teaching Religion and Film, an interdisciplinary team of scholars thinks about the theoretical and pedagogical concerns involved with the intersection of film and religion in the classroom. They examine the use of film to teach specific religious traditions, religious theories, and perspectives on fundamental human values. Some instructors already teach some version of a film-and-religion course, and many have integrated film as an ancillary to achieving central course goals. This collection of essays helps them understand the field better and draws the sharp distinction between merely "watching movies" in the classroom and comprehending film in an informed and critical way.

Against majority opinion within his profession, Donald Bloxham argues that it is legitimate, often unavoidable, and frequently important for historians to make value judgements about the past. History and Morality draws on a wide range of historical examples, and its author's insights as a practicing historian. Examining concepts like impartiality, neutrality, contextualisation, and the use and abuse of the idea of the past as a foreign country, Bloxham's book investigates how far tacit moral judgements infuse works of history, and how strange those histories would look if the judgements were removed. The author argues that rather than trying to eradicate all judgemental elements from their work, historians need to think more consistently about how, and with what justification, they make the judgements that they do. The importance of all this lies not just in the responsibilities that historians bear towards the past - responsibilities to take historical actors on those actors' own terms and to portray the impact of those actors' deeds - but also in the role of history as a source of identity, pride, and shame in the present. The account of moral thought in History and Morality has ramifications far beyond the activities of vocational historians.

Much as Nietzsche has gained in popularity during the last century, his poetry still has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. On closer scrutiny, his aposiopetic style, along with the labyrinthine and self-referential nature of his writings, subtly hint toward the recurring and parallel presence of poetry in his writings. This fact cannot be ignored, and his poetry should therefore be included in any reading of Nietzsche. This study investigates Nietzsche's poetic output while simultaneously regarding him as a poet-philosopher. This reading allows juxtaposing all Nietzschean key concepts while avoiding the temptation to simplify Nietzsche by centering his thought on any particular one. The author ends by highlighting a hitherto neglected term that allows a simultaneous reading of Nietzschean keywords while also including the essential notions of movement, flux, and play.

Twelve essays responding to the proposed title, 'Dissent and Marginality', each with a specific perspective and solid research, are brought together here. The collection incorporates the historical and contemporary dimensions, tracing back religious, philosophical or social dissent in our history and addressing the issue of race, gender, sexuality and other forms of marginalization of our postmodern times. It offers a train of fine reading to theologians, literary, cultural or social critics and historians.

Beginning with the insights of the 'canonical criticism' of Brevard Childs and James Sanders, this book explores the canon of the Bible through readings in literature, art and cinema. It places the Bible within the concerns of contemporary feminist thought, postmodern anxiety and modern apocalyptic. It returns us to a sense of the centrality of the Biblical canon in the present of critical thought and popular culture, expanding the notion of 'reading' to picture and film.