Category: Help

Works on the Trinity: A Request for Assistance

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 14 Comments

As I have begun to wrap up my work on The Prince of This World, I have been thinking about which direction to go next. A project on the Trinity seems like the most compelling option to me currently, and though I plan to take it easy writing-wise for a while, I’d still like to be in a position to make some progress toward that project. Toward this end, I suspect it would be helpful for me to have a list of texts on the Trinity that I can work through over time.

So let’s assume that I am familiar with the obvious classics. I did an exam area on patristics, I’ve read Pelikan, I’ve taken a course on contemporary works on the Trinity, etc. What are some non-obvious texts that I may have overlooked? I don’t need to be told that Augustine or Rahner wrote major works on the Trinity, but I might not have come across someone like Marius Victorinus. I probably know that Athanasius wrote a lot of anti-Arian literature, but may not be familiar with his Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit. That kind of thing.

Help with course planning!

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 4 Comments

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m going to be offering a course on the Qur’an next semester. One thing I didn’t factor in when I volunteered to do this, however, is how quickly I need to complete the book order (due to some changes in how Shimer is managing its book ordering). So I have two questions:

  • Is there any standard, classical commentary on the Qur’an by a major figure (like al-Ghazali) that is readily available in English translation?
  • Is there any specifically Sufi commentary on the Qur’an that plays a role similar to that of the Zohar in Judaism? Is it readily available in English translation?

I welcome other recommendations as well, but those questions are the most urgent for me.

A humble request

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 5 Comments

If you have read one or more of our books, please consider writing a review on Amazon (links to US and UK site are given on the linked page for each publication). The more reviews we have, the higher we will turn up in search results, and the more likely people are to actually purchase the book when they are browsing.

Virtual bulletin board for Syracuse conference

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 3 Comments

A reader e-mailed asking if I could put him in contact with potential roommates for the Syracuse conference, as the conference organizers were unwilling to take up such matters. It seemed best to me to provide an open thread where people can make contact and coordinate with each other — so have at it, and feel free to pass along the existence of this post if you know of others who might be interested.

Further Crowdsourcing

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 31 Comments

Michael Pacher, "St. Wolfgang and the Devil"

I have been putting off mentioning this for fear of outrunning the big Other and getting burned, but T&T Clark has offered me a book contract for a revised version of my dissertation, under the title Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation.

I am breaking my silence because my editor has asked me about a potential cover image, and I need help. Everyone agrees that something featuring the devil is absolutely essential, and I’m thinking there must be some medieval painting that would capture the spirit of my project in some oblique way. Anthony suggested the image above, which he got from this post, but I think it might be a little “much.”

I’m not sure I necessarily want something with the cross on it, though I’m not 100% sold on its absence — perhaps something like a “temptation in the desert” scene? Or maybe — and this is actually a good idea that I just suddenly thought of — something that juxtaposes the temptation of Adam and Eve with the temptation of Christ? Basically, anything that could include Adam, Christ, and the Devil would be totally perfect.

Bibliographical Assistance Requested

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 10 Comments

Dearest readers, I still have considerable work left to do on my translation of Agamben’s The Sacrament of Language, but I am getting to the point where I can faintly detect the end of the tunnel. One thing that would help me confirm that the light is not the proverbial train would be if any of you had access to any of the following articles, for which either my research skills or my institutional affiliation has proven inadequate, in an electronically-transmissable form:

  1. Benveniste, É., “L’expression du serment dans la Grèce ancienne,” in Revue de l’histoire des religions (1948): 81-94.

  2. Bollack, J., “Styx et serments,” in Revue des études grecques 71 (1958): 1-35. [I only need pages 30 and 31.]

  3. Faraone, C.A., “Curses and Blessings in Ancient Greek Oaths,” in Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 5 (2006): 140-158.
  4. Thomas, Y., “Corpus aut ossa aut cineres. La chose religieuse et le commerce,” in Micrologus 7 (1999). [I only need page 74.]

  5. Ziebarth, E., “Der Fluch im griechischen Recht,” in Hermes 30 (1895): 57-70.

The Benveniste article is the most important. If you know of any translations of any of these articles (if applicable), electronically transmissable to me or not, that would also be a godsend.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who’s helped with the three articles crossed off. Since it’s looking as though some type of physical scan may be necessary for the remaining two, I’ve added the page numbers I need, if anyone is feeling so led.

UPDATE 2: Thanks again to everyone — I’ve got all the articles I need at this point. The response has really been amazing. I’m very grateful.