Religion : Mysticism

Offering a concise and illuminating introduction to the most important areas of myth, this fully updated and revised second edition contains new chapters and student-friendly features. Essential reading for students of any level wanting an introduction to the area more...

Price: $21.95

The Old Testament, and biblical scholarship itself, distinguishes between mythical and historical. This book argues that only historical thing in the Bible is the Bible itself, a superb product of Jewish thought. What is narrated in the Bible is only myth. But this myth about Israel's past was still built with fragments of history, or rather with written traditions that were different from those expressed in the actual text, and obviously more ancient. These essays follow in the spirit of his controversial History and Ideology in Ancient Israel, which combine detailed philological reseaerch, a wide knowledge of ancient Near Eastern literature and Biblical Archaeology--and a radical way of understanding what the biblical text is really telling us. This is an erudite and thought-provoking book, which should not be ignored by anyone who finds the origin of the Bible a fascinating and still largely unknown phenomenon. more...

Price: $130.00

Mythical Trickster Figures, is the first substantial collection of essays about the trickster to appear since Radin's 1955 The Trickster. Contributions by leading scholars treat a wide range of manifestations of this mischievous character, ranging from the Coyote of the American Southwest to such African figures as Eshu-Elegba and Ananse, the Japanese Susa-no-o, the Greek Hermes, Christian adaptations of Saint Peter, and examples found in contemporary American fiction and drama. The many humorous trickster stories included are fascinating in themselves, but Hynes and Doty also highlight the wide range of features of the trickster--the figure whose comic appearance often signifies that the most serious cultural values are being both challenged and enforced. William J. Hynes is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Religious Studies at Saint Mary's College of California. William G. Doty is Professor of Religious Studies at The University of Alabama and the author of Mythography: The Study of Myths and Rituals also published by The University of Alabama Press. more...

Price: $31.20

First thought to be divine, animals have played an active role in human culture since prehistoric times. Even today, animals wield powers as varied as the cultures that embrace them. From ants to tigers, the entries in this volume weave together a tapestry encompassing mythology, history and art. more...

Price: $105.00

This collection brings together the great myths and legends of the United States - from the creation stories of the first inhabitants, to the tall tales of the Western frontier, the legendary outlaws of the 1920s, and beyond. more...

Price: $22.00