BRILL

The anatomy of torture; a documentary history of Filartiga v. Pena Irala.

On March 29, 1976, Joelito Filáritgo was tortured and killed in Asunción, Paraguay by a Paraguayan official. Some four years later, his parents won a landmark judgment against the official under the US Alien Tort Claim Act, opening the door for more human rights litigation in the US courts. In this volume, Aceves (director, international legal studies program, California Western School of Law) presents an analysis and documentary history of the court case, including as sources litigation documents form the Center for Constitutional Rights, US government documents from the National Archives, documents from the Paraguayan government archives, and of course court filings and documents. In addition to collecting these documents, Aceves discusses how the principles established by the case have since been extended and modified by legislation through the Torture Victim Protection Act, the Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and through litigation on behalf of victims in Argentina, Burma, Chile, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and the former Yugoslavia. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Ancient Near Eastern art in context; studies in honor of Irene J. Winter by her students.

American art historians and archaeologists explore such aspects of ancient Middle Eastern art as the treatment of enemies in Ashurbanipal's reliefs, ceremony and kingship at Cachemish, high priestesses in images from the Akkad to the Isin-Larsa Period, and barley as a key symbol in early Mesopotamia. They also include essays on Winter's scholarly career and her approach to teaching. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Brill dictionary of religion, rev.ed.; 4v.

Though scholarly, the entries of this reference are remarkable for the freshness of their writing, making this an engaging resource for students and the general reader, who are sure to find themselves reading beyond the topic they initially sought. The entry topics range from very broad histories — 25 pages on Africa, for example — to shorter entries on smaller topics, such as "machine" and "mandala." The entry topics are generally thematic; specific religions are discussed within the context of entries on a continent or a type of practice or belief. Critical issues, biographies, eras, and basic religious practices are among the themes used in selecting the entry topics. A historical perspective dominates and many of the larger entries include elaborate time charts which contain summaries of the religious scene for each time period. Many b&w and color photos of excellent quality have been included, each accompanied by a lengthy caption describing the scene and the larger religious context represented. All of the world's religions are featured judiciously, as are their links beyond national borders. Von Stuckrad teaches religious studies at the U. of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The set was originally published in 1999 in German. This is the paperback edition of the original cloth edition of 2006. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Brill's New Pauly; encyclopaedia of the ancient world: Antiquity; v.11: Phi-Prok.

Brill's New Pauly is the English edition of Der Neue Pauly published by Verlag J.B. Metzler since 1996. The ambitious, authoritative project will comprise 20 volumes (of which this is the eleventh). It is interdisciplinary and contemporary in its approach. The first 15 volumes are devoted to Greco-Roman antiquity, with coverage of the 2,000 years ranging from the second millennium BC to early medieval Europe. Cancik (Latin, U. of Tübingen, Germany) and Schneider (ancient history, U. of Kassel, Germany) head the editorial team; Salazar (U. of Cambridge, the U.K.) took charge of editing the English edition, for which bibliographic references have been updated. Many of the entries are of significant artists, writers, politicians, philosophers, and military leaders. Other entries are on major subjects, such as pilgrimage, and include discussion of not only the Greco-Roman world, but also to concurrent civilizations, including Egypt, the Ancient Near East, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Some ground plans, maps, and other illustrations are included. As it's an alphabetical encyclopedia, it is not indexed. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Contesting the logic of painting; art and understanding in eleventh-century Byzantium.

Paintings of the Christian God cannot be dismissed as a special case, argues Barbar (history of art, U. of Notre Dame), but in fact raise questions about the fundamental modern assumptions regarding how representational painting works — particularly ideas that the object or image represented must be within the perceptual boundaries of the viewer. He examines a body of writing on art and vision produced during 11th-century Byzantium, and points out the influence of that writing in iconophile doctrines and compendia of heresies produced in the Middle Byzantine era. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Criticism of heaven; on Marxism and theology.

Marxism and religion are not rivers at opposite sides of the world, and thinkers in both have commented on the other substantially. The richness of this material notwithstanding, few commentators have taken time to explore the theological writings of such as Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Louis Althusser, Henri Lefebvre, Antonio Gramsci, Terry Eagleton, Slajov Zizek and Theodor Adorno. Boer (comparative literature and cultural studies, Monash U.), in some cases for the first time, examines the ways these thinkers use theology and how their theological writings relate to their work in Marxism. He sorts the above into biblical Marxists, Catholic Marxists and Protestant Marxists, commenting on Bloch's use of class conflict as a hermeneutical device, on Benjamin's use of the Bible as myth, and Lathusser's ecclesiastical form, Lefebvre's approach to heresy, Gramsci's ecumenism, Eagleton's apostasy, Zizek's conversion, and Adorno's vacillation. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Discoveries in western Tibet and the western Himalayas; essays on history, literature, archaeology and art; proceedings.

Mnga'ris skor gsum and adjacent regions were integrated into the zone of the Tibetan empire since the seventh century, but their geography led over time to distinct patterns of trade and cross-influence with the polities of central Asia, Nepal, and India. The panel was called in order to encourage an interdisciplinary approach to the study of these regions. Not only did the topics include political history, religious and secular art, architecture, and literature produced in or for western Tibet and the western Himalayas, but the temporal range considered turned out to stretch from the Zhang zhung period to the late 20th century. No index is provided. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Encyclopedia of women & Islamic cultures; v.5: Practices, interpretations and representations.

For the final thematic volume of the series, scholars from around the world look at the arts, Islam, language, the Qur'an, religious practices, and representations of women in countries and regions, including some that are not majority Muslim. Among the topics are theater in Central Asia, saints and sacred geographies in the Ottoman Empire, language use by women in Western Europe, and film representations in East Africa. A sixth volume will contain a cumulative index plus articles that were completed after the deadline of the volume they were intended for. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Essays on international law and practice.

Rosenne (a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations) collects together 35 essays on international law previously published in a variety of publications between 1992 and 2005. He emphasizes that the "and" in his title, Essays on International Law and Practice, is conjunctive and not disjunctive and is thereby intended to convey attention to the creative application of the law, particularly in regards to international litigation between states before standing international tribunals or in ad hoc international arbitration proceedings. The bulk of the essays explore fundamental issues concerning the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, including interpretation of significant charter articles, fact-finding, and jurisdiction. He also presents groups of essays examining the law of treaties, the law of the sea, and the law of state responsibility. The volume concludes with five "miscellaneous' essays that include discussion of the role of controversy in international legal development, "random thoughts" on self-defense and the non-use of force, and legal aspects of Israel's transition from mandate to independence. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

European yearbook; v.53 2005. [Annuaire Européen]

This edition continues in the series' mission to promote the study of international organizations (outside of those associated with the UN) and their work. After a very succinct summary of news events, including the failure of the US government to cope with Hurricane Katrina, this gives documents describing the 2005 activities of such organizations as the European Free Trade Association and Central Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Council of Europe, European civil aviation organizations, conferences of postal and telecommunications administrations and ministers of transport, Nordic councils, the European Space Agency and organizations for astronomical research, economic cooperation and development institutions and patent organizations, security organizations, the European Union and the Western European Union. Particularly interesting is the bibliographical section, which list periodicals and books about these organizations and related Internet sites. Martinus-Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fake prophecy and polluted sacraments; ecclesiastical and imperial reactions to Montanism.

Based upon the incoherent visions of a former priest of Apollo (or so his detractors claimed) and his adherents, Montanism first confused the Christian community of Phyrgia in what is now modern Turkey. Besides Montanus's purportedly pagan past, there were questions about the nature and content of his prophecy, however, the cult of Montanus quickly rose to challenge the still-establishing Church of the second century. Tabbernee (Phillips Theological Seminary) fully describes the reasons for ecclesiastical opposition and the Church's charges from the inception of the cult in 165 AD to 324 AD, the opposition of the Roman empire and the resulting persecution, and the redoubled opposition of Church and state through 550 AD. Particularly interesting is Tabbernee's assessment of Montanus's prophecies and the Montanists' responses to oppression, which include flight and voluntary martyrdom. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fifty years of philosophy of religion; a select bibliography (1955-2005).

Sanders and Ridder (both philosophy of religion, U. of Groningen, the Netherlands) managed to thin the entries down to just below 8,000 books and articles, nearly half of them carried over from earlier bibliographies. They are arranged in 11 topical sections such as religious language, theism, hermeneutical and phenomenological philosophy of religion, pluralism, and feminist philosophy of religion. Most of the worked cited are in English, but German, French, and even Dutch are also represented. The entries are not annotated. Only names are indexed. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Frontiers of faith; the Christian encounter with Manichaeism in the Acts of Archelaus.

BeDuhn (religious studies, Northern Arizona University) and Mirecki (religious studies, University of Kansas) examine the Acts of Archelaus, an early Christian anti-Manichaean work, and analyze what it reveals about the encounter between Christianity and Manichaeism along the political and cultural frontier zone of West Asia in the early 4th century CE. Contributors examine the text's structure, apologetic and polemical strategies, and possible sources, and through these analyses challenge received notions of 'orthodoxy' and 'heresy' in the mutual construction of identity that took place between these two claimants to the Christian heritage. The book is the result of five years of closely coordinated work by eight scholars within the Society of Biblical Literature's Manichaean Studies Seminar. The seminar's earlier incarnation as the Manichaean Studies Group contributed two previous volumes to the Brill Nag Hammadi and Manichaean series, both edited by the same editorial team that is responsible for the present volume. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Gemeindeordnung und Kirchenzucht; Johannes a Lascos Kirchenordnung für London (1555) und die reformierte Konfessionsbildung.

John Laski's influence in the early Reformed confessional church and its refugees extended to the Dutch and French Stranger's Churches in London as well as his congregation in Emden. Becker (church history, U. of Heidelberg) analyzes the many questions about Laski's theology, which viewed the congregation as the communion of the body of Christ, and its relation to his approach to ecclesiology. Becker describes how Laski's ideas compared to other Reformers in daily practice in the late sixteenth century, the relation between the churches and the state, theological and ecclesiastical differences between the London churches and that in Emden, teachings about church offices, and practices in church discipline, all of which help to explain how the churches understood themselves and each other. Becker concludes that efforts to conform led to a unified doctrine and consistent community life in these congregations. In German. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Germain's transnational law research; a guide for attorneys.

This thorough guide presents a bibliography of sources, including internet sources, to the laws of foreign countries. With two initial chapters on how to carry out such research, the remaining material is divided both by country and by subject, with helpful sections provided at the beginning of each new subject providing background and describing where to start research. The section on countries is divided alphabetically with each containing introductory surveys and other outlines followed by the subjects for that country listed alphabetically, with a focus throughout on English-language materials for each subject whenever possible. Many of the source entries are annotated. The material has been updated for the 4th edition. Germain is law librarian and a law professor at the Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Guide to international environmental law.

Presenting essential elements of international environmental law, Kiss, former president of the European Council on Environmental Law, and Shelton (law, The George Washington University Law School) provide a general overview of why and how the international system defines environmental obligations and monitors compliance with them. They discuss the relationship between international obligations and national and local law, with particular reference to federal systems, and examine the extent to which environmental protection should be and is taken into account in other regulatory frameworks, such as trade law, human rights, and refugee policy. The basic knowledge provided in the book will allow readers to undertake further research on topics of environmental regulation at the international level and to understand the implications of international environmental law for national law and policy. A glossary, a list of Web sites, and a list of treaties and other texts mentioned in the book are included. Shelton Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Heavenly tablets; interpretation, identity and tradition in ancient Judaism.

Collected in celebration of the career of noted expert Betsey Halpern-Amaru, these 15 lively papers reflect the range of her interests and those of her students and colleagues in such topics as interpreting ritual texts, mapping diaspora identities and rewriting traditions. Specific topics include ritual practices found in Aristeas, prayers in the Book of Jubilees and its Hellenistic context, visions in the Testament of Job and Hekhalot literature, questions of Jewish authorship, identities in the Genesis Apocryphon, the theme of the return to Israel in antiquity, sectarian consciousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and pilgrimage in terms of the spiritualization of sacrifice. Papers on traditions include themes of blasphemy, gender roles, curious scholarly references, thematic unity and the notion that Antiochus had to fall. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International encyclopedia of comparative law; v.13: Business and private organizations; 2v.

Cited in Guide to Reference Books and prepared under the auspices of the International Association of Legal Science, this magisterial two-volume work assembles lengthy, authoritative chapters on comparative business law that were written by specialists in Europe and the U.S. The laws discussed in the most depth are those of the U.S., Germany, France, and England. State corporate law in the U.S. is generally that of Delaware, where the largest number of the largest U.S. corporations are incorporated. In his introduction, Vagts (Law, Harvard U., Cambridge, Mass.) provides a summary of changes in the laws from 1970-2002 in order to bring the chapters up to date, as most of them were written before 1970 and are not otherwise updated (with one exception, the chapter on management and control of marketable share companies). Chapter topics include partnership, formation of marketable share companies, securities regulation, taxation of business organizations, and law and accounting in business associations. This is the 13th of an anticipated 17 volumes. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International law and armed conflict; exploring the faultlines; essays in honour of Yoram Dinstein.

International law, by and large, is intended to sustain peace, yet if the past century or two taught us nothing else, it is that the law and war are locked in a symbiotic relationship. Laws have unforeseen loopholes, and wars change laws seemingly at will. This collection, which honors Professor Dinstein for his excellent scholarship and mentorship, describes that symbiotic relationship and ways to dismantle such a rigid and yet fragile interdependence. Topics include the just war theory, collective security, claims to preemptive use of force, transnational terrorism, military actions in Iraq and international war, civilian detentions, command politics, and the possibility the US will not adhere to the rule of law in international affairs. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International law as world order in late Imperial China; translation, reception and discourse, 1847-1911.

China's transition in governance from the tradition of feudal tributes to a sovereign state taking its place with other sovereign states did not come easily. According to Svarverud (Chinese, U. of Oslo), rather than merely sliding from one form to the other, it followed the dynamics of the theoretical frameworks Chinese intellectuals built from relevant portions of international law. Svarverud concisely explains how Chinese policymakers and leaders considered international law distinctly Western, and rightly so, and used political, institutional, intellectual and even linguistic processes to adapt international law to the Chinese context rather than adapt China entirely to Western ideas. The result was a uniquely Chinese way of framing the world order and developing an identity within that frame. Svarverud analyzes a number of fascinating texts here and provides very interesting period illustrations such as political cartoons. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The international ombudsman yearbook; v.8, 2004.

Based at the Faculty of Law at the U. of Alberta, the International Ombudsman Institute continues to promote the concept of ombudsmanship, encourage and support research, develop educational programs, organize international conference and provide a resource with these seven essays. Topics include the work of the ombudsman within the rule of law, a comparison of the roles of administrative courts and ombudsman in France and Yalta, the issue of "internormality" in administrative mediation, the promise of good governance and development thought ombudsmanship in the South Pacific, the special role of the ombudsman for prisoners, morality and activism in attaining administrative justice through ombudsmanship, and the primary focus of ombudsmen when serving to protect human rights and redress public grievances in cases of corruption. The volume includes an index for The Ombudsman Journal and The International ombudsman Yearbook from 1981 to 2004. Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Interpretation, revision, and other recourse from international judgments and awards.

Although in place and functioning for some time, it was not until the 1980s the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice entered into extremely significant interpretations. Since then the complex pattern of interpretations and the complex political and cultural makeup of the judges have forced politics into the mix, making the close tie behind the final decision and the highly political context of the obligation to comply with it continually tense. This is the first in a new series examining such debated cases, and it focuses on major themes of the decisions across time, such as in this case the intention to act by law if there is no obvious miscarriage of justice. The result is precise, concise and accessible. As this is the first in a new series, this is a very positive sign. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)