BRILL

Religion past & present; encyclopedia of theology and religion; v.6: Hea-Jog.

Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart was first published in 1909-13 by Mohr Siebeck; this is a translation and adaptation of the fourth German edition, of 1998-2005. Some editing was done for the English translation, including the removal of short articles mainly of interest to a German audience, and the addition of articles on figures who have died since the German edition was published. The topics selected come from a wide range of fields, including biblical studies, ethics, practical theology, history, philosophy, sociology, psychology, science, law, and economics. The scholarship is impeccable, as evidenced in the 86-page index to primary and secondary sources cited. Articles on general topics can be wide-ranging; that on human beings, for example, contains separate, individually authored sections on the topic in terms of the natural sciences, religious studies, philosophy, the Old Testament, the New Testament, church history, dogmatics and ethics, Judaism, and Islam. Entries are included for individual countries, with consideration of the different religions found in each, and their respective histories. This is a wonderfully rich resource that will be valuable to academics, theologians, students, and the general reader. (Annotation ©2009 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Swimming the Christian Atlantic; Judeoconversos, Afroiberians and Amerindians in the seventeenth century.

A specialist in Sephardic Jewish history and culture, Schorsch (religion, Columbia U.) has gathered a number of separate essays and joined them into a single study. His main concern is how the three groups, dominated within the Spanish and Portuguese empires, perceived one another and interacted with each other; increasingly the vertical relations between each group and mainstream society are being explored, but he is more interested in the horizontal relations. He looks at how racial attitudes generally associated with the dominant elite circulated in the dominated populations, and Black-Jewish relations over the long term. He does not provide an index. The quality of the volume matches that of the scholarship, and only time and chance will determine which lasts the longer. (Annotation ©2009 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Theios Sophistes; essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii.

The Vita Apollonii was written by Favius Philostratus in the early third century at the request of the Roman empress, Julia Domna. For centuries the work was considered second rate, especially as to the content. The Christian biographer of Constantine, Eusebius, felt obliged to write a critical appraisal of the pagan content but there was little more. In the past thirty years, this dismissal has been replaced by increased interest and appreciation. The essays in this volume are the result of a colloquium on the Vita Apollonii held in Brussels in 2006. Demoen (Greek literature, Ghent University) and Praet (ancient philosophy and early Christianity, Ghent University) divide the book loosely between form and content. The first essays consider the Greek biographical tradition, influences on Philostratus, literary themes and the ongoing work of establishing a critical edition. The second half discusses the historicity of the life and the religious aspects of it. With two essays in French and the rest in English, this is a wonderful introduction to a neglected late Greek author. (Annotation ©2009 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)