Megan Cassidy-Welch, War and Memory at the Time of the Fifth Crusade. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019, xi, 202 pp., 3 maps, 2 figs.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 417-418
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Modern World ◽  
State University ◽  
Pennsylvania State University ◽  
Similar Nature ◽  
The Past ◽  
Center Position

Memory Studies matter greatly, especially in conjunction with war. The modern world knows, unfortunately, just too much about the need to remember wars and the victims, but this was also the case in the thirteenth century when public reflections on the past crusades began to assume center position, especially in light of the fifth crusade, which is the topic of Megan Cassidy-Welch’s new monograph, which continues several other projects of a very similar nature. In fact, it seems that she drew heavily from some of her previous publications for this study, although this is not clearly indicated. Although she focuses primarily on a medieval phenomenon, her study allows us to reach many highly valuable conclusions for our own world because war and death have always tortured human life.

scholarly journals POTENTIAL OF PERSONALITY: HISTORICAL RETROSPECTIVE

Adam alemi ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Dina Kazantseva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
The Self ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Deep Foundations ◽  
Historical Aspect ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
The Past ◽  
Quantum Leap ◽  
The Ideal

The essence of personality potential is one of the important characteristics of understanding a person as an integral being, creating an individual space of personal aspirations and values. The origins of the problem under consideration in various forms are present in the philosophical reflections of many researchers and have a long history. Even Socrates, Plotinus, Cicero, Thomas Aquinas drew attention to the deep foundations and spiritual essence of man, to the presence of virtues in a state of potential stagnation, to the need for their development in order to achieve the ideal of perfection. N. Kuzansky, S. L. Frank, P. I. Tillich noted the presence of latent force unfolding in time in living beings, the rejection of the self and introduction into something higher, the correlation of the divine and the human, the interconnection of things and events, etc. The modern world actualizes the solution to the problem, creating conditions for a deeper understanding of the potential, consideration of its integrity and the essential foundations of maximum realization. The crisis in all spheres of human life, economic, political, social, requires a quantum leap in understanding the potential and building, on the basis of modern studies of the phenomenon, new projects for transforming reality. In this regard, understanding the historical aspect of studying the logic of the genesis of potential makes an invaluable contribution to solving this problem. Understanding the depth of philosophical thought in a historical retrospective about the origin, emergence and existence of potential will allow you to connect the past and the present, as well as qualitatively advance into the future.

Picatrix: A Medieval Treatise on Astral Magic. Trans. with an intro. by Dan Attrell and David Porreca. Based on the Latin edition by David Pingree. The Magic in History Series. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019, xii, 372 pp.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 530-532
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Modern Time ◽  
State University ◽  
Pennsylvania State University ◽  
Medieval Studies ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
Early Modern Time ◽  
The Middle Ages

Ordinary readers would welcome this new translation as one of many publications rendering a medieval Latin into modern English. All those efforts are certainly most welcome and necessary to maintain the scholarly and pragmatic-didactic approach to Medieval Studies. However, the Picatrix represents a unique magical treatise which every European pre-modern magician consulted and which enjoyed greatest respect for its universal relevance. Many contributors to the edited volume Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time, ed. by Albrecht Classen (2018) refer to the Picatrix, acknowledging it as a most important source for magic throughout the entire pre-modern world.

Transcendence, Catholicism and the Challenges of Modernity

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 371-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Schüssler Fiorenza
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World

Abstract This essay first outlines the distinctive and significant features of Taylor’s interpretation of modernity and secularization, especially, his emphasis on the immanent frame within a naturalism closed to transcendence. The essay then offers some different perspectives, not intended as a critique of Taylor, but rather to underscore elements in need of greater emphasis. My perspective acknowledges more lines of continuity between modernity and previous times. Traditional theological affirmations of infinity, omnipresence, and creativity have in the past spurred negative and apophatic theologies. They have also sought an interpretation of transcendence as embedded in the world of nature and human life in ways that point to the sacral and sacramental character of the world and human behavior. These interpretations can be retrieved to think the modern world as suffused with transcendence. Transcendence is not closed to modern buffered selves. Many exemplify a transcendence that goes beyond their own interests. They are aware of their finitude and realize that transcendence is a mystery.

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