By Brenda Meehan (NHC Fellow, 1989–90) From the widow Tuchkova, hermit Anastasiia, and peasant Matrona Naumova, to the aristocratic Aleksandra Shmakova and the Abbess Taisiia, each of these diverse women craved and created environments that combined monastic solitude with a community of like-minded women. "Rich and poor, middle-aged and young…out of the pain at the … Continued
By Luis Nicolau Parés (NHC Fellow, 2010–11) By combining oral traditions and rituals with handwritten and printed documents, Luis Nicolau Parés wrote a remarkable story of the slaves brought to Brazil, originaores from the region where the powerful kingdom of Dahomey was located, in the present Republic of Benin.
By J. P. Fokkelman (NHC Fellow, 1990–91)
By Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (NHC Fellow, 1996–97) To the Western imagination, Tibet evokes exoticism, mysticism, and wonder: a fabled land removed from the grinding onslaught of modernity, spiritually endowed with all that the West has lost. Originally published in 1998, Prisoners of Shangri-La provided the first cultural history of the strange encounter between Tibetan Buddhism and … Continued
By Thomas J. Heffernan (NHC Fellow, 1986–87) Though medieval "saints' lives" are among the oldest literary texts of Western vernacular culture, they are routinely patronized as "pious fiction" by modern historiography. This book demonstrates that to characterize the genre as fiction is to misunderstand the intentions of medieval authors, who were neither credulous fools nor … Continued
Edited by David Gilmartin (NHC Fellow, 2001–02; 2017–18), Pamela Price, and Arild Engelsen Ruud This book brings ethnographies of everyday power and ritual into dialogue with intellectual studies of theology and political theory. It underscores the importance of academic collaboration between scholars of religion, anthropology, and history in uncovering the structures of thinking and action … Continued
By Malcolm Barber (NHC Fellow, 1998–99)
By Barbara A. Hanawalt (NHC Fellow, 1997–98) A brisk narrative of battles and plagues, monastic orders, heroic women, and knights-errant, barbaric tortures and tender romance, intrigue, scandals, and conquest, The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History mixes a spirited and entertaining writing style with exquisite, thorough scholarship. Barbara A. Hanawalt, a renowned medievalist, launches her story with the … Continued
By Shemaryahu Talmon (NHC Fellow, 1987–88)
By Erin A. Smith (NHC Fellow, 2002–03) Since the late nineteenth century, religiously themed books in America have been commercially popular yet scorned by critics. Working at the intersection of literary history, lived religion, and consumer culture, Erin A. Smith considers the largely unexplored world of popular religious books, examining the apparent tension between economic … Continued