Voluminous Book Research Articles

My Distant Acquaintance with Philosopher-Physician Nikolaos Louros and my Intimate Engagement with His Archives

Five letters exchanged between Nikolaos Louros, the medical doctor, academician, philosopher, and renowned men of letters during the 1963-1966 years, are presented in this article. The topic of all these letters was the Louros’ decision to use in his voluminous book “Obstetrics and Gynaecology” the vernacular Greek language instead of the formal “Katharevousa” an artificial language imposed on the newly formed Greek State by the middle of the 19th century by the then archaephile literati. Their aim was initially applauded as a means to “purify” the language suffering of the many local dialects and the “barbarism” of the mass of uneducated Greeks. However, as time passed, it became an obstacle to expression and free thinking. The establishment, particularly the medical one, insisted upon its use in the University and the texts written by the faculty members. Thus, it required a lot of courage by Nikolaos Louros to use for the first time the vernacular in a scientific medical book. The opportunity to present these epistles was given by my friend Professor Athanasios Diamandopoulos, who classified Louros’ huge Archive wherein, between a lot of other letters, those five ones were traced. These include two between the academician novelist Elias Venezis (1963), two more with the philosopher Evangelos Papanoutsos (1963) and one with the intellectual author Kostis Bastias (1966). The spirit of all of five letters underlines the overwhelming acceptance by the recipients of Louros’ ideas about the language. They accept the real contribution of the vernacular to a better understanding by medical students the substance of Louros’ book which would be otherwise obscured by the bounds of “katharevousa” The article concludes with the memories of the author ‘s acquaintance with Louros while the former was in his green days in paleography and Louros already was a respectable member of the echelons in the academic and social life.

Kristīne Beķere. Latvijas labā: Politiskā darbība trimdā 20. gadsimta 40.–80. gados. Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2022

The book Latvijas labā: Politiskā darbība trimdā 20. gadsimta 40.–80. gados (For the Good of Latvia: Political Activities of Latvian Exiles from the 1940s through the 1980s), written by the chief editor of The Journal of the University of Latvia. History (Latvijas Universitātes Žurnāls. Vēsture), historian Kristīne Beķere focuses on the political actions of Latvian exiles in the Western world during the postwar, and especially, Cold War era. The purpose of the study is to provide an overview of the activities of the Latvian exiles related to the protest movement against the occupation and annexation of Latvia by the USSR. The book defines many periods of exiles’ activities. K. Beķere has identified the most important activities for each stage of history and describes them in a chronological order. Thus, for example, the author describes the period of the emergence of exile after the Second World War, the strengthening of exile organisations, and the development of political activities during the escalation period of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, and the period since the 1970s (Cold War relaxation or detente phase), which created new more active forms of exile’s international protest against the occupation of the Baltic. K. Beķere’s book marks the increasing attention in historiography towards the history of the Latvian exiles. In recent years, for example, a voluminous book by the US–Latvian historian Andrejs Plakans has been published. The book For the Good of Latvia is one of the important contributions to systematise both – the information about the political history of the Latvian exile community and its important information work in the world mostly during the Cold War era.

Review of Marcel Bakirov’s book “Меn de ber fiker” (“A Thousand and One Thoughts”) (Kazan: “Khalkybyz mirasy” Publishing House, 2023. 536 p.)

The purpose of the article is to convey to the reader the essence of Marcel Bakirov’s book “Men de ber fiker” (“A Thousand and One Thoughts”) and to determine the place of the book, chosen as our research object, in the field of literary criticism and folklore. The article establishes the author’s purpose of writing this philosophical-sounding book and its target readers.The article highlights the scientific value of this voluminous book, consisting of three chapters, and proves that the individual articles, presented in the chapters, describe various aspects of the scholar’s work, they are compiled in a logical sequence, forming a single whole.The research articles, presented in the first two chapters of the book, help to understand the work of the prominent scholar who has lived a long and hard life, who is conducting studies in the field of literary criticism, the history of poetry and folkloristics. The third chapter expresses the author’s desire to transfer research results to other scholars, to be loyal to the chosen profession and reveals the secrets of achieving great success. It is proven that such work is very important for aspiring young scholars.

İbn ‘Aqîla el-Makkî’s Approach Towards The Ownership/Belonging of Qur’ânic Words to God

Muhammed b. ‘Akîle el-Mekkî tefsir, hadis, İslâm tarihi, fıkıh ve tasavvuf olmak üzere çok sayıda ilimde ön plana çıkmış çok yönlü ve velûd bir müelliftir. Bu ilimlerin her birinde onun ilmî birikimini ve kültürel zenginliğini ortaya koyan eserleri ve risâleleri bulunmaktadır. İbn ‘Akîle’nin ez-Ziyâde ve’l-ihsân fî ‘ulûmi’l-Kur’ân adlı kitabı, Kur’ân ilimleri kitâbiyâtında kaleme alınmış olup çağdaş döneme kadar ulaşmış en kapsamlı çalışmadır. İbn ‘Akîle’nin bu eserini ‘ulûmu’l-Kur’ân alanında kendisinden önce kaleme alınan eserlere yeni konular ekleyerek ve yeni bir tasnifte bulunarak hazırladığı görülmektedir. Bu hacimli çalışma, yüz elli dört bölümden oluşmaktadır. Bu eserde Kur’ân tarihi, tefsir tarihi ve tefsir usûlü olmak üzere Kur’ân’la ilişkili hemen hemen her konu incelenmektedir. Bu konulardan biri de Kur’ân lafızlarının aidiyeti meselesidir. Kur’ân lafızlarının aidiyeti konusunda İbn ‘Akîle klasik dönem İslâm düşüncesinde hâkim ve râcih bakış açısını benimsemektedir. Buna göre Kur’ân lafız ve mana bakımından Allah’a aittir. Muvâfakât-ı sahâbenin, bu görüşe ilk bakışta te‘âruz ve tenâkuz (tezât/çelişki) izlenimi verdiği müsellemdir. İbn ‘Akîle de bu hâkim görüş ile muvâfakât-ı sahâbe arasında çelişki olduğunun farkındadır. Bu sorunu çözmek için iki farklı metnin kaynağı konusunda bir değerlendirmede bulunmaktadır. Bu değerlendirmesi incelendiğinde onun muvâfakât-ı sahâbenin kaynağını Kur’ân metninin kaynağı gibi ilâhî kabul ederek Kur’ân lafızlarının ilâhîliğini temellendirmeye çalıştığı anlaşılmaktadır.

Book review: Morris Altman, Anthony Jensen, Akira Kurimoto, Robby Tulus, Yashavantha Dongre and Seungkwon Jang (Eds.): Waking the Asian Pacific Co-operative Potential

“Is it possible to identify a regional cooperative model (or models) of the Asia Pacific region?” With 23 case studies across 11 countries and four cooperative sectors (agricultural cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, credit cooperatives and worker cooperatives), the 44 authors of "Waking the Asian Pacific Co-operative Potential" boldly try to answer this question. This voluminous book with around 400 pages-a valuable fruit of a long and collective adventure of cooperative researchers in the Asia-Pacific region-was stimulated and constructed by dynamics around regional conferences of the International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific Committee on Cooperative Research (ICAAP CCR).

تقليد الاختصار في النحو العربي: عينة الإرشاد للتفتازاني

Bir ilim dalında kısa ve öz bilgiler oluşturmanın yanında hacimli bir eseri kısaltarak özetleme işine ihtisar adı verilmektedir. Birçok ilim dalında muhtasar eserler kaleme alınmıştır. Muhtasar eserler, daha çok ilgili ilim dalındaki veya belli bir kitaptaki zorlukları gidermek, ezberlemeyi kolaylaştırmak, öz bilgiyi ortaya çıkarmak gibi amaçlarla telif edilmişlerdir. Pek çok ilim dalında olduğu gibi nahiv ilminde de ihtisarlar yapılmıştır. Nahiv ilminde ihtisar çalışması bulunan âlimlerden biri de Horasan bölgesinden Mes‘ud b. Ömer et-Teftâzânî (ö. 792/1390)’dir. Tefsir, kelâm, fıkıh, fıkıh usulü, mantık, Arap dili ve edebiyatı gibi ilim dallarında pek çok eser vermiş çok yönlü bir âlim olan Teftâzânî’nin nahiv ilmindeki eserleri yeterince tanınmamaktadır. Onun nahiv alanında dikkat çeken eserlerinden biri de el-İrşâd adlı çalışmasıdır. Teftâzânî’nin bu eserini oğlu Muhammed için 778’de (1376) kaleme aldığı bilinmektedir. Bu makalede Teftâzânî’nin el-İrşâd adlı çalışması ihtisar yöntemi açısından incelenmiştir. Önce nahiv ilminde ihtisar konusuna dair temel bilgiler verilmiş ardından söz konusu eserde bölümlendirme, eserin dili, yer verilen bilgiler ve örnek verme yöntemi ele alınmıştır. Eserin İbnü’l-Hâcib’in el-Kâfiye’sinin muhtasarı olduğu yönündeki iddia incelenmiştir. Ancak el-İrşâd’ın bu eserin muhtasarı olduğunu gösterir ikna edici deliller bulunamamıştır. Teftâzânî’nin el-İrşâd’ının kısa ve özgün bir muhtasar eser olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

Enhancing Learning Retention with Document Summarization Using NMF and ACO

Retaining learning is a desirable value for the learned. The traditional approach to learning retention is to read, understand and summarise. This explains the reason why vital points in voluminous book are highlighted for the purpose of retention. This study developed an unsupervised extractive summarization algorithm using Non-negative Matrix Factorisation and Ant-Colony Optimization Techniques for electronic text summarization. The developed system is an improvement over the existing NMF and LSA in the sense that LSA and NMF do not adequately address the noise issue that features in semantic document representation thereby leading to poor selection of meaningful sentence that represent the document summary. While NMF was used for factorising the initial Document-Term matrix generated from the document, ACO was used to remove the remnant of noise from the DTM. The improved algorithm is applied on a literature text material which reduces the voluminous material into handy summary by extraction. The algorithm was evaluated using compression ratio, retention ratio and was found to be adequate. Keywords: Text Summarization, Non-Negative Matrix Factorisation, Ant-Colony Optimization

The capabilities of realism: Some reflections on the “new” novel of Lajos Mesterházy

The realism as a basic principle to refl ect on and to understand the reality, incorporates the achievements from many epochs of the development of literature, adding a philosophical, analytical approach, irony, conven-tionality and fi ction. The eff ectiveness of realism has been convincingly demonstrated by most national literatures of the 20th century, among them the literatures that by tradition have not been in the focus of gen-eral attention. One of the undisputed peaks of realistic literature of the 20th century is the novel of the Hungarian writer Lajos Mesterházy “The Riddle of Prometheus” (1973), which can be used as an example to show almost all the strengths of realism. This novel is the peak of the creative path of the Hungarian writer. Recently his fi rst and unpublished novel “The Pancake Day” (1943) was discovered, in which one can already see the features of his future skill. When reading this rather voluminous book that still shows some immaturity, one cannot help noticing the features that attest his inborn talent, but most importantly, the humanist nature of his worldview. He does not only sympathize with the poor, but also strives to uncover the roots of evil that dominates in the modern social order and to lead the readers’ thought into a constructive direction.

Circumcision: History, Scope, and Aim: Part I

The issue of circumcision has been vigorously discussed throughout human history. Discussions about its origin, history, purpose, and religious and social meanings have been ongoing since the first human civilizations, occurring within primitive tribes, slave-based societies, fortified cities, slave kingdoms, and empires (e.g., the Roman Empire). The topic has been taken up across feudal and modern kingdoms, and within modern capitalist and socialist societies. For example, the Nazis stand out for having used circumcision in their propaganda against Jews, and as an identifier to segregate Jews from others during their extermination. However, despite such prolonged and vigorous discussion, no consensus has been reached on the issue. Many well-based explanations for specific aspects of circumcision have been advanced (e.g., its origin, history, purpose, and religious and social meanings), yet each has contradicted the others. The aim of this paper is to determine the most plausible explanations for circumcision, within the context of various forms of genital manipulations that have been conducted across human history. It is difficult to cover all aspects of this topic in a relatively brief paper—indeed, it would also be difficult to cover the entire story in a voluminous book. In addition to the evidence available from other sources, special attention is paid to the passages from the Torah, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and the Koran.

The End of National Cinema: Filipino Film at the Turn of the Century by Patrick F. Campos

Reviewed by: The End of National Cinema: Filipino Film at the Turn of the Century by Patrick F. Campos Cherish Aileen A. Brillon Patrick F. Campos The End of National Cinema: Filipino Film at the Turn of the Century Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2016. 665 pages. If there is one thing to be gleaned from this voluminous book, it is that Patrick Campos is passionate about Philippine cinema. This passion is perhaps what drove him to deconstruct it so that we can appreciate it with newer lenses. There are a number of reasons why The End of National Cinema: Filipino Film at the Turn of the Century differs from other works in the field of Philippine film criticism. First, unlike other film scholars, Campos does not frame his analysis strictly within a socio-realist tradition, the art versus commercialism debates, or nativist and indigenization perspectives. His work is influenced by various theoretical approaches ranging from political economy to spatial analysis, from geopolitics to postmodern and postcolonial concepts. Weaving these various approaches is no mean feat, but Campos manages to do it effortlessly and, best of all, turn it on its head, thereby [End Page 99] creating a nuanced analysis that is akin to "thirding," an analytical and practical strategy of creating a counter-space drawn from opposing categories to open up new alternatives or spaces for a critical engagement with texts. It is in this "thirdspace" that Campos positions his analysis. Second, instead of just doing a reading of selected movies, Campos uses a wide range of available materials to acquire his data. Under this methodology fall his critical and thematic analyses of movies, personal interviews, observations, direct participation, film festival transcripts, and archived materials. One cannot dispute Caroline Hau's observation, found in the book's blurb, that this project is "broad-ranging and empirically grounded." Third, Campos's focus moves away from previous conceptualizations of "national cinema" as a canon of films that was produced only within a specific geographical boundary (stories set in the Philippines, financed and directed by local producers and filmmakers) and critical of the state, specifically those that came out during the Marcos regime. In addition, this definition only seemed to describe movies done by mostly male auteurs such as Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Lamberto Avellana, Gerardo de Leon, and Mike de Leon, among others. Campos questions the efficacy of using a limited definition of national cinema by pointing out its colonial origins, in both form and content, and its transnational quality as exemplified by our participation in the global film movement through the network of film festivals, film critics and programmers, and cinephiles. Fourth, the spatial and temporal analysis that undergirds the whole work is an interesting approach to the study of Philippine cinema. It is not incidental that the book's title also includes the phrase "at the turn of the century" to signify the body of films included in the analysis. The production of these selected movies in the first decade of the twenty-first century also coincides with the peak of globalization. For Campos, what we know of national cinema may have ended or at least have gone to a different direction precisely at this juncture because cinema has taken on a more global dimension and outlook. While he is very particular about the temporal and spatial coverage of his analyses, he does so not by signaling a break similar to a before-and-after model, but by locating movies and events in a historical continuum stretching as far back as the arrival of film technology in the country during the American period until the first decade of the twenty-first century when the independent film (indie) movement broke new grounds. [End Page 100] For example, chapter 8 starts with a discussion on how Thomas Edison's newsreels were used as a pretext for the continued American colonization of the Philippines. Campos then connects and contrasts these newsreels with contemporary but diverse types of movies that also deal with the Philippine–American War, such as Amigo (2010), Memories of a Forgotten War (2001), Bontoc Eulogy (1995), and Independencia (2009). Instead of highlighting the need for American intervention...

Lewy and his inclusion bodies: Discovery and rejection.

Fritz Jacob Heinrich Lewy described the pathology of Paralysis agitans [Parkinson disease] and was the first to identify eosinophilic inclusion bodies in neurons of certain brain nuclei, later known as Lewy bodies, the pathological signature of the Lewy body diseases. In 1912, he published his seminal study, followed soon after by an update paper, and 10 years later, in 1923, by his voluminous book, where he exhaustively described the subject. The publication provided extensive information on the pathology of Paralysis agitans, and the entirely novel finding of eosinophilic inclusion bodies, which would become widely recognized and debated in the future. His discovery was acknowledged by important researchers who even named the structure after him. However, after his last publication on the issue, inexplicably, he never mentioned his histopathological discovery again. Despite several hypotheses, the reasons that led him to neglect (reject) the structure which he so preeminently described have remained elusive.

Michalis Karambinis. The island of Skyros from Late Roman to Early Modern times

The island of Skyros presents the results of a PhD research project conducted at Leiden University by M. Karambinis, a native of Skyros, who worked for the Archaeological Ephorate of Euboea from 2007 to 2015. It offers a comprehensive overview of the history and archaeology of Skyros from Late Roman to early modern time. The work integrates data retrieved from past archaeological works, new intensive and extensive surveys of the island and historical sources. This all-encompassing approach to the archaeological and historical record of the island means that more unusual materials for the archaeologist, such as Ottoman costumes and furniture, are also included in Karambinis’ analysis. The book is divided into four Parts: 1. Background and historical data, 2. The archaeological survey: methodology and comparisons, 3. The archaeological survey: the sites, and 4. Interpretational synthesis. It also includes four appendices, namely: A. Gazeteer of archaeological sites, B. Catalogue of pottery, C. Catalogue of churches (Chora and suburbs), D. The synoptic Ottoman tax register (icmal) of the year 1670/1 for Skyros. It concludes with a bibliography, a summary in Dutch and notes about the authors. In total, this rather voluminous book includes 13 chapters and an introduction.

Faisal I of Iraq

Faisal I of Iraq

Werewolves in the Immunitary Paradigm

I. IntroductionThe biopolitical perspective initiated by Michel Foucault highlights the limitations of traditional categories of political philosophy to explicate power relations. As Foucault notes, power things, it induces pleasure, forms knowledge, produces discourses. It needs to be considered as a productive network which runs through the whole social body, much more than as a negative instance whose function is repression.1 Power is a vast technology that crosses all social relations; it can produce both subjects and subjectivities.Based on this point, we will consider monstrosity as a political category2 that allows us to conceive the way in which biopower produces subjectivities. Monstrosity can be understood in two ways: in the negative sense it can be taken as subjectivities that are the negative converse of the useful and docile3 bodies. Consequently, monstrosity becomes an objective of biopower that aims to neutral ize and eliminate it. However, monstrosity can also be taken in a positive sense as subjectivities that resist appropriation by biopower and create in common.4The category of monstrosity reveals a semantic ambiguity as it consists of an inherent tension between the negative and positive meanings. These are related by the exercise of power in a specific direction. For the negative orientation, we can use the expression over monstrosity-stressing over-and of monstrosity-stressing of-for the positive direction.In this article we are going to focus on politics over monstrosity, that is, on the subjectivities that are constituted as monsters by power because they cannot be integrated into (captured by) the logic of normalization, whose aim is homogenization, or subsumed under classifications in binary oppositions-such as, male/female and capitalist/worker.5 These subjectivities can be seen as a way of life, a negative way of life, which can be observed in the expressions life unworthy of being lived outlined by Giorgio Agamben or the life without grievability according to Judith Butler,6 for example.We would like to refer to an old metaphor which allows us to understand the inherent relation between State and monstrosity, when monstrosity is introduced in the State. That is, the werewolf metaphor, which summarizes the meaning of a sentence used by Thomas Hobbes:7 homo homini lupus, man is a wolf to man. We will thereby focus on the monstrosity that the human being represents, and not on the Leviathan, which is usually recognized as a political monster.8Even though is hostile to the use of metaphors in sciences,9 he uses them extensively. As Robert Stillman argues, Hobbes is fond of metaphors of the monstrous, and his employment of them, especially in crucial accounts of his own vocational ambitions, is recurrent and revealing.10 However, this should not be seen as a contradiction in his thought, but rather as a rhetorical strategy.11 In this respect, we note that only refers to the Leviathan three times in the voluminous book that takes this name. In a similar way, although the sentence homo homini lupus is used only once by Hobbes, this idea imbued his anthropological conception.Hobbes's thought is relevant from a biopolitical perspective as he was the first philosopher to demonstrate the direct relation between and politics.12 Politics is perceived as a protection against violent death, which is the cause of fear among men. It is out of fear of being murdered, which can be interpreted as political existentialism, that men create the State. In this sense, politics is understood as conservatio vitae, a preservation of against the constant threat of death in the state of nature.In this paper, we do not intend to analyze Hobbes's political theory but rather to look at the werewolf figure, which allows us to understand monstrosity from a biopolitical paradigm. This figure has traditionally been conceived as a mix of species, a combination of human and beast and, as Jeffrey Cohen indicates, the werewolf can express the radical difference between men and beasts or a hesitation during which, what is supposed to be contrastive remains coexistent, indifferent. …

Политическая экономия академического обм(е)ана, или Как социологи становятся профессорами Рецензия на книгу: Соколов М., Губа К., Зименкова Т., Сафонова М., Чуйкина С. 2015. Как становятся профессорами: академические карьеры, рынки и власть в пяти странах. М.: Новое Литературное обозрение (серия «История науки»), 832 с.

This review discusses the collective monograph “Becoming a Professor: Academic Careers, Markets and Power in Five Countries” published by New Literary Observer in Moscow. The authors of this voluminous book pursued two goals at the same time. First, they sought to prepare a guidebook on academic careers in France, the USA, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia for young sociologists who are thinking ahead about their professional pathway. Based on various data sources (interviews, secondary data, autoethnography), they present an institutional history of the formation of academic sociology as a profession and describe the main trajectories in the academic biography of sociologists in five countries. Second, they find differences in institutional and extra-institutional mechanisms of recruitment for sociologists and offer a theoretical explanation. They offer the category of “optical systems” as a cultural framework of university organization used by various external and internal agents with different types of resources and motivation. “Optical systems” become an important source of coping with distrust and the fear of being cheated by “noble swindlers, ” since the dynamics of the academic world are forced by the replacement of the suspicions vocabulary. In this review, we give a brief analysis of the chapters, presenting the advantages and weaknesses. This book discusses several important issues: morals and markets in academia; the impact and work of economic incentives; and the strengths and weaknesses of social networks, academic pathways, and political culture. Because of its provocative statements, incriminating comments, and polemic conclusions, this book is worth reading for all those who are involved in the modern system of higher education and science-academics, civil servants, governors, and of course, various experts.

Sankt-Peterburg of Peter I: The History of Household Possession — Site Development, Owners and Builders by Mariia V. Nikolaeva. Moscow: Progress-Traditsiia Publ., 2014

The article is a brief presentation of the voluminous book by the Moscow archivist and historian of architecture Mariia V. Nikolaeva Sankt-Peterburg of Peter I: The History of Household Possession —Site Development, Owners and Builders, released in Russian by the Progress-Tradition Publ. in 2014. It is a successful combination of scientific research and publication of archival documents (from the RGADA funds) clearly seen in the book structure. Comprehensive introductory part, in addition to the “Foreword”, includes chapters “The Sources Survey”, “The Archeographic Entry” and “An Essay on the History of Private Construction in St. Petersburg of Petrine time”. The first part of the monograph contains a detailed analysis of house possession on the Vasilieskii isle and along the Neva embankments of Admiralteiskii and Gorodskoi islands and Moskovskaia district. In the second part Nikolaeva lists the contract registers and cites their text. A lot of black-and-white reproductions of plans and drawings of the first half of the 18th century is an essential part of the research. The vast application comprises a glossary, an index, a list of abbreviations. The relevance of the book lies not only in introducing into the scientific use and a deeply serious and compelling analysis of new documents on the history of the Petrine Petersburg architecture, but also, first and foremost, in fixing the household possession topics in modern Russian historiography and developing methods of its comprehensive studies.

『성서 히브리어 문법』 : 주옹-무라오카, 김정우 역, 서울: 기혼, 2012

This review essay purposes to provide major contents and comments on the recent Korean translation of the book by Jouon-Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Its translator, Jung Woo Kim explained how difficult it has been to translate this book for the last ten years by comparing his translation work to the toil of Sisyphus in the Greek myth. It should be celebrated by Korean readers interested in the usages of Hebrew language in the Bible and be expected to revive Hebrew study in Korea.<BR> This essay contains three major parts in addition to the introduction and the conclusion. The first part (chapter 2) provides the summary and outline of the book, the second part (chapter 3) reviews Jouon and Muraoka’s English version, and the third part (chapter 4) deals with Jung Woo Kim’s Korean version.<BR> The distinguished features of Jouon and Muraoka’s English version are as follows: 1) It is the most comprehensive and voluminous book on the grammar of the Biblical Hebrew, 2) It focuses mostly on the synchronic dimension of Biblical Hebrew grammar, restricting itself to reconstructing the grammar of Tiberian Hebrew scholars, thus neglecting the diachronic dimension and variations of the synchronic approach such as the northern dialect of Biblical Hebrew. The explanations by the comparison with other semitic language are not reflected sufficiently to satisfy comparative semitic scholars, 3) It provides the detailed information on the syntax of Biblical Hebrew grammar by adopting the linguistic methodology of Indo-European language.<BR> Jung Woo Kim’s Korean version would be welcomed by Korean readers and become a monumental achievement in the history of Korean Hebrew studies. First of all, it would encourage Korean scholars to standardize Korean terms on Biblical Hebrew. Second, it would stimulate students of Hebrew language to provoke greater interest in the deeper level of the Bible as well as reviving Hebrew studies in Korea.

Human Development Index Rajasthan Spatio-Temporal and Gender Appraisal at Panchayat Samity/Block Level (1991 – 2001)

This is a voluminous book deals with human development status of rural Rajasthan. It follows United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) methodology but has changed the attributes for dimensional index, depending on the data availability. The changes made are devoid of any theoretical consideration and should be taken with caution.

Review of the book by A.A. Kudryavtsev, A.S. Smirnov, and L.D. Tsendin “Physics of Glow Discharge”

A new voluminous book on gas-discharge physics is reviewed. It is emphasized that the authors consistently follow a nontraditional approach based on the electron distribution function with allowance for its nonlocal character. This opens new, sometimes unexpected, issues of the well-known phenomena, which is illustrated by the reviewer by using the positive column of a low-pressure glow discharge as an example.

Die apologetischen Schriften des buddhistischen Tang-Mönchs Falin, with an English Summary by Thomas Jülch (review)

Book Reviews 109 from Zhanguo Confucianism directly to the Neo-Confucians without saying a word about the Han does look a little awkward to the specialist, although this may have been due to the constraints of the limited space that 168 pages offer. This problem is, however, the only one that I can find in this booklet, which I have read with profit and which I do think will serve as an excellent introduction to the ideas of early Chinese Confucianism for a general readership. HANS VAN ESS, LMU University of Munich Die apologetischen Schriften des buddhistischen Tang-Mönchs Falin, with an English Summary THOMAS JÜLCH. München: Herbert Utz Verlag, 2011. xiv, 690 pages. ISBN 978-3-8316-4026-3. €98.00 hardcover. We are indebted to the seventh-century historians of the Tang dynasty (618-907) for much of our knowledge of the previous centuries of Division. This is as true for political and social history as it is for the central aspects of religious history. Thomas Jülch has now published his doctoral thesis on the main texts by the Buddhist monk, Falin 法琳 (572-640), which, together with the more numerous compilations by Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667), goes a long way to help reconstruct the intellectual environment of the sixth and early seventh centuries. It was during this time that the Buddhist sangha engaged in long drawn-out and occasionally acrimonious debates over the place of Buddhist thought and institutions in the current social and political environment. This voluminous book offers a complete translation of Falin’s Poxie lun 破邪論 (“Treatise Refuting the False [Views and Accusations]”; T. 2109), in which he refutes Fu Yi’s 傅奕 (544-639) famous attack on Buddhism submitted to the throne in 622, the Eleven Statements On the Reduction of [Buddhist] Monasteries and Pagodas, of [Buddhist] Monks and Nuns to Benefit the State and Serve the People 減省寺塔僧尼益國利民事十一條. Of the twelve sections (distributed over eight chapters) that comprise Falin’s Bianzheng lun 辯正論 (“Treatise Discussing the Correct”; T. 2110) of 633, Jülch translates six sections (i.e., Chapters 1, 2, 5 and 6). In this, his magnum opus, Falin engaged with the continuing debates on the respective status of the three religions—Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism—in the early Tang state. This resulted, as Timothy Barrett puts it, in “the most complete surviving 110 Journal of Chinese Religions statement of the issues between Buddhism and Daoism until the renewed debates of the Mongol period.”2 The translations amount to a staggering 520 pages. They are preceded in the first 120 pages by an introduction in which the author briefly places Falin’s texts in their contemporary historical context. In his research, he is mainly interested, however, in placing the Poxie lun and Bianzheng lun within the tradition of Buddhist apologetic writing. Jülch explores this by answering two questions. First, to what extent did the author draw on previous debate literature? Second, what were the intertextual relationships among Falin’s two texts and the subsequent Chinese Buddhist historiography? To answer the first question, Jülch divides the debate literature in general into layers. He defines the predominant layer of this genre of texts, in which he sees Falin’s contributions firmly embedded, as an ongoing attempt to position Buddhism politically and ideologically in such ways as to obtain imperial favors for its institutions. Characteristically, the argumentative strategy elaborated in this type of Buddhist apologetic writing employs a threefold structure: first, arguments demonstrating that Buddhism stands in line with Confucian values; second, arguments demonstrating the superiority of Buddhism to Confucianism in achieving these values; and third, arguments demonstrating the superiority of Buddhism to Daoism. Much of the introduction is dedicated to establishing a catalogue of the elements that constitute the argumentation of both the Poxie and Bianzheng lun, and to showing the extent to which Falin drew upon well-established topics from the previous centuries. As to the second question regarding Falin’s influence upon later Buddhist historiography, Jülch documents the borrowings that authors like Daoxuan have made from Falin’s two treatises. This purely textual approach fails to recognize that these seventh-century texts could be more than mere bibliographic repositories of...