Maimonides in his world : portrait of a Mediterranean thinker

 by Sarah Stroumsa. This splendid study of Moses Maimonides expands readers' knowledge of the greatest Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages and his relationship to the cultural world in which he found himself. One is used to thinking of Maimonides as a talented Jewish thinker who was well acquainted with Islamic philosophy and who often drew heavily from it. However, Stroumsa (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) demonstrates that Maimonides' involvement with his own contemporary cultural world was even more extensive than in philosophy alone. Maimonides spent his entire life in the Mediterranean region, from Spain and North Africa in the west to Palestine and Egypt in the east. Stroumsa shows how widely read and deeply immersed in this diverse Mediterranean culture Maimonides was and how he interpreted his own Jewish tradition from what he learned from his participation in the broader culture, not only with regard to philosophy and religion but also in law, ethics, medicine, and science. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The philosophers' quarrel : Rousseau, Hume, and the limits of human understanding

 by Robert Zaretsky and John T. Scott. In a remarkable salvage operation, Zaretsky and Scott rescue from the wreckage of a famous friendship the remains of two contrasting Enlightenment perspectives. Improbable from the start, the friendship of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume united a Frenchman of passionate sentiment and a Scot of tough-minded skepticism. Even in these unlikely friends' early ardor, the authors discern incipient tensions that rapidly harden into a bitter antagonism involving partisans on both sides of the Channel. The result of more than conflicting personalities, the Rousseau-Hume breakup involves different critiques of the vaunted rationality governing the Age of Reason. Making sincerity of personal feeling his mainstay, Rousseau leveled histrionic accusations against Hume so vehemently that his erstwhile friend feared for his sanity. Relying for his part on communal solidarity, Hume deflected Rousseau's indictments by strengthening his network of social ties. Though the authors favor Hume in this notorious dispute, they highlight lapses in both men's reasoning and actions. An engaging narrative showing how divergent philosophical principles play out in real life. --Booklist. (Check catalog)

World religions and norms of war

 This collection of essays provides an overview of the history of thought concerning war in various religious traditions. With each chapter written by a different author, the book discusses the following traditions: Hinduism, Theravada Buddhism, Japanese religion, Judaism, Roman Catholic Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Shi'a Islam, and Sunni Islam. Additionally, the editors contribute introductory and concluding essays. The essays generally provide an evenhanded, detailed overview of the traditions. While there are some gaps and oversights (e.g., traditions of Buddhism other than Theravada are not discussed, the historical peace churches within Christianity receive little attention, the depth of critique of war in the thought of Pope John Paul II is not adequately presented), overall this book offers a very valuable look at the history of religious thought on war and peace. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; interested general readers and lower-level undergraduates. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The great oom : the improbable birth of yoga in America

 by Robert Love / Eastern spirituality and Western commercialism fuse in this flamboyant tale of an iconic American guru. Journalist Love tells the story of Pierre Bernard, a yoga adept from Iowa who made a splash at the turn of the 20th century by enduring bloody piercings and lacerations under trance. His Tantrik Order of disciples in San Francisco and New York soon gained notoriety; after police raided his schools, Bernard was accused of seducing girls and conducting sacred orgies. Delighted tabloids dubbed him "The Great Oom." Bernard rehabilitated himself in the 1920s with the Clarkstown Country Club, a yoga-themed resort and rehab center for the rich on the Hudson, financed by a parade of heiresses who fell under his sway. Love makes his hero a quintessentially American character who yoked his mystic bent to a brash entrepreneurialism; with the riches he made from his yoga initiatives, he started a chemical company, an airport, a semipro baseball team with a midget second baseman, and a trained elephant act. Love credits Bernard with changing public perception of yoga from dissolute exoticism to healthful normalcy, but this colorful, frenetic tale reminds us that money is America's true religion. --Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog)