xv+491 pp., 3 maps. Seán Freyne, ,Galilee from Alexander the Great to Hadrian: 323 B.C.E. to 135 C.E. A Study of Second Temple Judaism (1980) Michael Glazier Inc. and University of Notre Dame Press,Wilmington, Delaware and Notre Dame, Indiana.
✍ Scribed by Geza Vermes
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1984
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 144 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0048-721X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
celebrate the Shinto religion. He views it as a life-affirming faith which has not a little in common with Christianity (frequently mentioned). The book may serve well as a first introduction for the general reader, especially in view of its excellent photographs. Inevitably, it is misleading in parts, as when O-bon, still essentially Buddhist, is given undue prominence in a very brief account of Shinto festivals. The reader is innoculated against critical views of Shinto, which is exonerated from all and every responsibility for ultra-nationalism. At the same time Shinto is put forward as the crucial enabling factor in Japan's dramatic political and economic development. Surely the truth is that Shinto is neither entirely free from responsibility nor entirely responsible for what happens generally in the Japanese nation. The author also claims that Shinto expresses universalism, an idea which is left in a rather muddled condition. In any case Shinto is essentially particularistic, and this is the justification for the somewhat fashionable sub-title.
The author states in his preface that his 'experiences as a parish minister in a rural community in Scotland with a Christian heritage about as old as the Grand Shrines of Ise suggested a ready-made analogy that I could use to indicate some of the important links between Shinto and the Japanese view oflife as well as devise a basic framework for the arrangement of topics.' This may shed interesting new light on life in Scotland since the contents page lists the following topics: 'The Floating Bridge of Heaven ... The Flow of Life ... The Shinto Calendar . .. The Sun Goddess and National Life ... Shrines and Kami Shrine Life and Worship Mono no Aware ... Shinto, Sport and the Classic Arts Shinto and Buddhism Shinto among the World's Faiths'.