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Literature & Literary StudiesMay 2026Translating hell
Vernacular theology and apocrypha in the medieval North Sea
by Stephen C. E. Hopkins
In the Middle Ages, hell was useful because it was vaguely defined. Canonical scriptures scarcely mention hell, leaving much to the imaginations of early Christians, who used it to sort out who belonged within the faith. This book explores how hell became a place for literary experiments with local challenges in theology and identity. Following the reception and transformations of two popular hell apocrypha, it argues that they served as this role because of their liminal textual authority. As noncanonical scriptures, apocrypha afforded medieval writers space to revise their hells (since they were not actually scripture), while also encouraging readers to revere those experiments as valid (since they seemed like scripture). The book brings together adaptations from early medieval England, Iceland, Ireland, and Wales, placing the early vernacular theologies of the North Sea in comparative conversation.
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September 2022Lust
Fuckability, orgasm gap and #metoo
by Henriette Hell
Lust, a mortal sin? These times are over. In today's public perception, it is more likely for a boring sex life to be categorised as that. In statistical terms, people have never had as little sex with each other as they do today. And yet tips for a good sex life are to be found on every (digital) corner. Sex has mutated into a lifestyle product, and terms like 'fuckability' and 'MILF' trip lightly off our tongues. Henriette Hell takes a closer look at the thing about sex. She traces the history and genesis of 'sexual liberation', and sheds light on the 'cheating gene' and the #metoo debate. The author asks (and answers) the question of whether sex is becoming more and more antisocial and what actually still turns us on today. In doing so, she focuses on the former mortal sin of lust, which is inseparably linked to the systematic suppression of female lust (and its liberation).
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2022Voices from the underworld
by Fabian Graham, Yangwen Zheng, Richard Madsen
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2022Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan
The cult of the Two Grand Elders
by Fabian Graham
In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell's 'enforcers', the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan offers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple's spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia (and their counterparts in Taiwan) through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions about the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices. Graham's innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the destigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.
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August 2019Am Tag zu heiß und nachts zu hell
Was unser Körper kann - und warum er heute überfordert ist
by Hanns-Christian Gunga
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2013Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World, c. 650-c. 1450
by Janet Hamilton, Bernard Hamilton
Christian dualism originated in the reign of Constans II (641-68). It was a popular religion, which shared with orthodoxy an acceptance of scriptual authority and apostolic tradition and held a sacramental doctrine of salvation, but understood all these in a radically different way to the Orthodox Church. One of the differences was the strong part demonology played in the belief system. This text traces, through original sources, the origins of dualist Christianity throughout the Byzantine Empire, focusing on the Paulician movement in Armenia and Bogomilism in Bulgaria. It presents not only the theological texts, but puts the movements into their social and political context.
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2025Why Be a Christian Today?
by Elisabeth Zoll / Thomas Seiterich (eds.)
The exciting texts and reports by professing Christians offer a fresh perspective for all those who have cultivated a Christian spirituality for many years. However, the book also provides easy access for those who are newly interested in the Christian faith. There are probably as many professions of Christian faith as there are believers in the world. But what do Christians think and how have they been moulded? Elisabeth Zoll and Thomas Seiterich have compiled very personal ideas about the Christian faith in this book. When selecting the contributors, the editors deliberately chose not to include people with church offices or specialised theologians. Irrespective of church policy issues and church scandals, the contributors have provided insights into their path to faith.
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September 2002Dein Herz ist wie die Nacht so hell
Liebesgedichte
by Else Lasker-Schüler, Eva Demski, Eva Demski
Eine der letzten Äußerungen Else Lasker-Schülers vor ihrem Tod soll gewesen sein: »Mit mir geht es zu Ende, ich kann nicht mehr lieben.« Ihr großes lyrisches Werk zeugt davon, wie mutig, wie rücksichtslos, wie unbedingt die Liebe sein kann – und wie die Liebe auch die Kunst. Liebe ist für diese allem Gemäßigten abholde Dichterin das Recht und der Wunsch, jemanden so sehr zu fordern, bis er den Ansprüchen des anderen zu gleichen beginnt. Die Liebende erschafft sich den Geliebten, und keine hat das so groß- und fremdartig gekonnt wie Else Lasker-Schüler. Daraus resultieren zuweilen auch Irritationen, wenn wir das Objekt ihrer Leidenschaft zu kennen glauben – oder gelingt es uns, den Giselheer ihrer wunderbaren und ungestümen, fast gewalttätigen Gedichte mit dem Dr. Gottfried Benn, der uns vor Augen steht, in Übereinstimmung zu bringen? »Ihr kennt ja All’ die Liebe nicht« – die Liebesgedichte Else Lasker-Schülers zeigen uns, wie sie sein kann, die Liebe, von der Einsamkeit unerwiderten Begehrens bis zu ihrem verschwenderischen Überschwang.
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Business, Economics & LawFebruary 2009Christianity and democratisation
From pious subjects to critical participants
by John Anderson
This book examines the contribution of different Christian traditions to the waves of democratisation that have swept various parts of the world in recent decades. It offers a historical overview of Christianity's engagement with the development of democracy, before focusing in detail on the period since the 1970s. Successive chapters deal with: the Roman Catholic conversion to democracy and the contribution of that church to democratisation; the Eastern Orthodox 'hesitation' about democracy; the alleged threat to American democracy posed by the politicisation of conservative Protestantism; and the likely impact on democratic development of the global expansion of Pentecostalism. The author draws out several common themes from the analysis of these case studies, the most important of which is the 'liberal-democracy paradox'. This ensures that there will always be tensions between faiths that proclaim some notion of absolute truth and political orders that are rooted in the idea of compromise, negotiation and bargaining. Written in an accessible style, this book will appeal to students of politics, sociology and religion, and prove useful on a range of advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses. ;
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February 2026Es ist hell und draußen dreht sich die Welt
Roman
by Dita Zipfel
Ein fulminanter, kraftvoller Roman, ebenso wütend wie zart, über weibliche Selbstbestimmung, über Körper und wem sie gehören, über das Kinder haben und die Sehnsucht danach. Nach dem Urlaub, so ist der Plan, wird Linn ein perfekt gereifter Embryo eingesetzt und sie wird sein, was sie sich schon lange wünscht: schwanger. In den schicken Bungalow am Strand hat der Jugendfreund ihres Partners Matze sie beide eingeladen, Felix, ein wohlhabender Selfmademan. Während Matze und Felix sich mit Crémant betrinken, angeln gehen und versuchen, die Statusunterschiede zwischen ihnen zu verdrängen, entwickelt sich zwischen Linn und Felix’ Frau Eva aus Neid und Widerwillen eine Faszination, die die beiden einander näherbringt. Während Linn sich zerrissen fühlt zwischen dem unbedingten Wunsch, Mutter zu werden, und dem Zweifel, ob sie das überhaupt kann, eine »gute« Mutter sein, buddelt Eva geduldig mit ihrem Sohn, cremt und tröstet und wischt Sandkörner aus Babyaugen. Und im Laufe der Urlaubstage geraten zwischen Muschelessen und Crémant, zwischen heimlich geteiltem Cannabis und geflüsterten Gesprächen festgefahrene Bilder ins Wanken, verschieben sich sachte die Regeln, und Eva und Linn werden mehr als Freundinnen: Sie werden Verbündete.
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Literature & Literary StudiesSeptember 2025Love and anti-Judaism in medieval English romance
Typologies of violence and desire
by Hope Doherty-Harrison
Love and anti-Judaism is a new examination of medieval romance for the questions it poses of the most significant events in Christian history. Providing new readings of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo, Sir Gowther and Sir Amadace, the book argues that romance explores depictions of love-and the sacrifices it may necessitate-in the Hebrew Bible, especially where they do not easily fit into interpretations asserting that this history must prefigure Christ and the crucifixion. An examination of anti-Judaism as a discourse of violence and desire that could be turned inwardly to expose the irresolution in Christianity, this book will provoke new investigations into the religious crises of medieval romance.
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January 2005Hell und Schnell
555 komische Gedichte aus 5 Jahrhunderten
by Herausgegeben von Gernhardt, Robert; Herausgegeben von Zehrer, Klaus C
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