In a novel approach that the author terms "symbolic paradigm analysis," Paradise and Paradigm offers a "theoretically modular" systematic comparison of two "Persian" religions: early Syriac Christianity as the foundation of the East Syrian "Church of the East" (the Nestorian Church of Persia) and the Baha'i Faith, a new world religion. The author compares the hymns of the greatest poet of early Christianity, Saint Ephrem the Syrian, and the richly imagistic writings of the founder of the Baha'i religion, Baha'u'llah. The book employs an original analytic technique in the creation of "symbolic profiles" constructed on Ninian Smart's dimensional model of religion. As Buck skillfully demonstrates, formal similarities between any two religions are best comprehended in terms of paradigmatic differences, which nuance all parallels through a process of symbolic transformation. Buck also shows the communal reflexivity of paradise imagery in representing the ideal faith-community in both traditions.

Comparing paradise imagery in two Persian religions, early Syriac Christianity and the Baha'i Faith, this work contributes to religious studies methodology by introducing "symbolic paradigm analysis."

This book presents a study of twelfth-century humanism seen as an all-embracing discourse in which the human and the divine interact on equal terms. The book focuses on a number of twelfth-century intellectuals, especially Thierry of Chartres, Peter Abelard, William of Conches, Bernard Silvestris, and Alan of Lille. The book explains both the appeal and the demise of this humanism.

When you're doing something that's out of the ordinary, your mental programing, your paradigm, will try and stop you. If you want to win, you must keep going. Your paradigms may be masked in complacency, fear, worry, anxiety, insecurities, self-doubt, mental hurry and self-loathing—the result is keeping you STUCK....locked in a box and starved of your dreams and ambitions. To change your life—you MUST change your paradigm. The change is not easy, but it's worth it, and the results are lasting. Bob Proctor will show you his proven methods for doing so. This book will synthesize his decades of study, application, and teaching to: • Explain what paradigms are and how they guide every move you make • Teach you how to identify your paradigms • Show you how to make your own Paradigm Shift • Help you transform your finances, health and lifestyle when you change your paradigm • Guide you on how to replace a paradigm that doesn't serve you well with a new one that frees you to create the life you really want Bob will break through the myth many people have about success—that long hours and hard work are sufficient to achieve lasting success. Because without changing your paradigm, no amount of hard work and long work hours will make a measurable, lasting difference in your success. Once you go through Bob Proctor's Paradigm Shift Process, you will expose yourself to a brand new world of power, possibility and promise.

A charge to people who believe that you must believe in a young earth to be a Christian.

This study on the representations of Paradise in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 2-3 and Ezekiel 28) also deals with the reception of the biblical accounts in early Jewish writings (Enochic texts, the Book of Jubilees, Qumran texts) in Rabbinics and Kabbalah, early mainstream Christianity and in early Christian apocryphal and Gnostic literature. Two further chapters are devoted to views of Paradise in the Christian Middle Ages. The volume concludes with the interpretation of Paradise in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost.

Paradigms and Sand Castles demonstrates the relationship between thoughtful research design and the collection of persuasive evidence in support of theory. It teaches the craft of research through interesting and carefully selected examples from the field of comparative development studies. Barbara Geddes is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.