The religious thought of the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) is examined in this book, which focuses in particular on his view of original sin and its consequences for education in the early Enlightenment. The author argues that Locke has been wrongly accused of denying original sin, ignoring the atonement, and preaching moralism, and that in fact he was much closer to traditional Protestant teaching on human sinfulness than is generally recognized. While education might serve as an effective counterweight to man's innate propensity to overturn God's laws, he recognised that it could never reduce the importance of the central drama: Christ's work of salvation.
This brief narrative survey of political thought over the past two millennia explores key ideas that have shaped Western political traditions. Beginning with the Ancient Greeks' classical emphasis on politics as an independent sphere of activity, the book goes on to consider the medieval and early modern Christian views of politics and its central role in providing spiritual leadership. Concluding with a discussion of present-day political thought, W. M. Spellman explores the return to the ancient understanding of political life as a more autonomous sphere, and one that doesn't relate to anything beyond the physical world.Setting the work of major and lesser-known political philosophers within its historical context, the book offers a balanced and considered overview of the topic, taking into account the religious values, inherited ideas and social settings of the writers. Assuming no prior knowledge and written in a highly accessible style, A Short History of Western Political Thought is ideal for those seeking to develop an understanding of this fascinating and important subject.
This brief narrative survey of political thought over the past two millennia explores key ideas that have shaped Western political traditions. Beginning with the Ancient Greeks' classical emphasis on politics as an independent sphere of activity, the book goes on to consider the medieval and early modern Christian views of politics and its central role in providing spiritual leadership. Concluding with a discussion of present-day political thought, W. M. Spellman explores the return to the ancient understanding of political life as a more autonomous sphere, and one that doesn't relate to anything beyond the physical world.Setting the work of major and lesser-known political philosophers within its historical context, the book offers a balanced and considered overview of the topic, taking into account the religious values, inherited ideas and social settings of the writers. Assuming no prior knowledge and written in a highly accessible style, A Short History of Western Political Thought is ideal for those seeking to develop an understanding of this fascinating and important subject.
This book explores the influence of late seventeenth-century Christianity in Locke's philosophical, political, and educational thought. Only over the last decade have historians begun to investigate the central role played by religion in Locke's vision for individual autonomy and social responsibility. This book incorporates the latest scholarship and reassesses the nature of Locke's most important writings in the light of his strong commitment to traditional Christian notions of morality and human purpose. W.M. Spellman has written an ideal introduction to Locke's work.
The European seventeenth century saw the seeming resolution of two great conflicts. Through the nightmares of the Thirty Years War and the British civil wars, the murderous religious hatreds that had dominated the previous period finally burnt themselves out. Extreme Protestants were defeated, expelled, contained or subordinated, and Catholicism successfully re-established itself through much of Europe as the dominant religion. Dr. Spellman studies all the great political theorists of the century (dominated inevitably by Hobbes). This book will be invaluable for anyone studying seventeenth century European history - it allows those studying the thought of the period to understand the historical context, and those studying the military and political events to understand their intellectual underpinning.
This lively synthesis of global history since the end of World War II offers a gripping account of an interdependent world and the challenges facing individuals in the 21st century. The narrative is arranged around two key tensions: the struggle between socialism and free-market capitalism and the interaction between cultural fragmentation and the competing integrative force of globalization. Considering the historical experience of Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as the West, it addresses the ever-expanding gulf between the developed North and developing South, and the environmental impact of development on the planet’s delicate ecosystems.Authoritative and well-written, this is an ideal introductory guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on global history since 1945. It is also a fascinating primer for anyone with an interest in global history and the issues affecting the globe today. New to this Edition:- Updated to cover events since 2006, including the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, China's economic and military advance to great power status, the refugee crises and the global financial crisis of 2008- New material on the international drugs trade, global opioid crisis and healthcare implications- Expanded material on social media- Updated material on environmental issues, considering US disengagement from traditional global partners in the area of climate change and the Trump administration’s distrust of climate science and executive roll-back of established environmental laws- More social history, especially coverage of women and recent developments around issues of sexuality- Expanded section on Islam to include developments within the mainstream (as opposed to radical) tradition worldwide and current historiography
This lively synthesis of global history since the end of World War II offers a gripping account of an interdependent world and the challenges facing individuals in the 21st century. The narrative is arranged around two key tensions: the struggle between socialism and free-market capitalism and the interaction between cultural fragmentation and the competing integrative force of globalization. Considering the historical experience of Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as the West, it addresses the ever-expanding gulf between the developed North and developing South, and the environmental impact of development on the planet’s delicate ecosystems.Authoritative and well-written, this is an ideal introductory guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on global history since 1945. It is also a fascinating primer for anyone with an interest in global history and the issues affecting the globe today. New to this Edition:- Updated to cover events since 2006, including the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, China's economic and military advance to great power status, the refugee crises and the global financial crisis of 2008- New material on the international drugs trade, global opioid crisis and healthcare implications- Expanded material on social media- Updated material on environmental issues, considering US disengagement from traditional global partners in the area of climate change and the Trump administration’s distrust of climate science and executive roll-back of established environmental laws- More social history, especially coverage of women and recent developments around issues of sexuality- Expanded section on Islam to include developments within the mainstream (as opposed to radical) tradition worldwide and current historiography
A Brief History of Death offers a topical survey of views concerning death and its aftermath in the Western tradition, from prehistory to the present. It explores how humans understand and come to terms with the fact of mortality and looks at the physical and social aspects of death, how dying people are treated, how the dying conduct themselves in the knowledge of their approaching demise and how survivors choose to remember the dead. W. M. Spellman examines the work of archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists to give insight into prehistoric perspectives on death through the interpretation of physical remains. He spotlights the great philosophical and scientific traditions of the West, or what can be termed the rationalist approach to end-of-life issues. The book also examines the major religious traditions that emerged during the so-called 'Axial Age' of the ancient world, focusing particularly on the centuries-long evolution of the Western Christian tradition. Three approaches to the meaning of death - negation of life, continuity in another form and agnosticism - are examined in both religious and secular-scientific contexts. A Brief History of Death considers how we have died throughout history, both in the causes of death and in our varying attitudes to actions that lead to the deaths of fellow humans. The book provides a deeper context for contemporary debates over end-of-life issues, especially the emerging tension between longevity and quality of life.
This work surveys an influential form of government whose legitimacy rests not on voluntary consensus but on age-old custom, heredity and/or religious sanction. Global in scope and comparative in approach, this text establishes connections between monarchy as idea and practice in a variety of historical and cultural contexts across the last millennium, during which time the system was without serious rival. The author examines the intellectual assumptions behind different models of monarchy, tracing the ways in which each of these assumptions shifted in response to historical factors including the expansion of literacy, the development of modern science, the growth of rationalism and the decline of institutional religion.
W.M. Spellman explores the past half century focusing on key topics such as human migration, science and technology, international business, religion and politics and Empire. Authoritative and well-written, this is an ideal introductory guide for anyone with an interest in World history and the issues and challenges facing the globe today.
Provides brief biographies of seventy extraordinary women of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ranging from Akka Mahadevi, an Indian saint and poet, to Katharina Zell, a German Protestant humanitarian.
William Makepeace Thackeray ( 18 July 1811 - 24 December 1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. He is famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society. Thackeray, an only child, was born in Calcutta, British India, where his father, Richmond Thackeray (1 September 1781 - 13 September 1815), was secretary to the Board of Revenue in the British East India Company. His mother, Anne Becher (1792-1864), was the second daughter of Harriet Becher and John Harman Becher, who was also a secretary (writer) for the East India Company.Richmond died in 1815, which caused Anne to send her son to England in 1816, while she remained in British India. The ship on which he travelled made a short stopover at St. Helena, where the imprisoned Napoleon was pointed out to him. Once in England he was educated at schools in Southampton and Chiswick, and then at Charterhouse School, where he became a close friend of John Leech. Thackeray disliked Charterhouse, and parodied it in his fiction as "Slaughterhouse". Nevertheless, Thackeray was honoured in the Charterhouse Chapel with a monument after his death. Illness in his last year there, during which he reportedly grew to his full height of six foot three, postponed his matriculation at Trinity College, Cambridge, until February 1829.Never too keen on academic studies, Thackeray left Cambridge in 1830, but some of his earliest published writing appeared in two university periodicals, The Snob and The Gownsman. Thackeray then travelled for some time on the continent, visiting Paris and Weimar, where he met Goethe. He returned to England and began to study law at the Middle Temple, but soon gave that up. On reaching the age of 21 he came into his inheritance from his father, but he squandered much of it on gambling and on funding two unsuccessful newspapers, The National Standard and The Constitutional, for which he had hoped to write. He also lost a good part of his fortune in the collapse of two Indian banks. Forced to consider a profession to support himself, he turned first to art, which he studied in Paris, but did not pursue it, except in later years as the illustrator of some of his own novels and other writings.Thackeray's years of semi-idleness ended after he married, on 20 August 1836, Isabella Gethin Shawe (1816-1893), second daughter of Isabella Creagh Shawe and Matthew Shawe, a colonel who had died after distinguished service, primarily in India. The Thackerays had three children, all girls: Anne Isabella (1837-1919), Jane (who died at eight months old) and Harriet Marian (1840-1875), who married Sir Leslie Stephen, editor, biographer and philosopher. Thackeray now began "writing for his life", as he put it, turning to journalism in an effort to support his young family. He primarily worked for Fraser's Magazine, a sharp-witted and sharp-tongued conservative publication for which he produced art criticism, short fictional sketches, and two longer fictional works, Catherine and The Luck of Barry Lyndon. Between 1837 and 1840 he also reviewed books for The Times. 4] He was also a regular contributor to The Morning Chronicle and The Foreign Quarterly Review. Later, through his connection to the illustrator John Leech, he began writing for the newly created magazine Punch, in which he published The Snob Papers, later collected as The Book of Snobs. This work popularised the modern meaning of the word "snob".Thackeray was a regular contributor to Punch between 1843 and 1854.
Charlotte Mary Yonge (11 August 1823 - 24 May 1901) was an English novelist known for her huge output, now mostly out of print. Life: Charlotte Mary Yonge was born in Otterbourne, Hampshire, England, on 11 August 1823 to William Yonge and Fanny Yonge, n e Bargus.She was educated at home by her father, studying Latin, Greek, French, Euclid and algebra. Her father's lessons could be harsh: He required a diligence and accuracy that were utterly alien to me. He thundered at me so that nobody could bear to hear it, and often reduced me to tears, but his approbation was so delightful that it was a delicious stimulus... I believe, in spite of all breezes over my innate slovenliness, it would have broken our hearts to leave off working together. And we went on till I was some years past twenty. Yonge's devotion to her father was lifelong and her relationship with him seems to have been for her the standard for all other relationships, including marriage. His "approbation was throughout life my bliss; his anger my misery for the time."She was born into a religious family background, was devoted to the High Church, and much influenced by John Keble, Vicar of Hursley from 1835, a near neighbour and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Yonge is herself sometimes referred to as "the novelist of the Oxford Movement", as her novels frequently reflect the values and concerns of Anglo-Catholicism. She remained in Otterbourne all her life and for 71 years was a teacher in the village Sunday school.In 1868 a new parish was formed to the south of Yonge's home village of Otterbourne; the parish was to contain the villages of Eastley and Barton. Yonge donated 500 towards the parish church and was asked to choose which of the two villages the parish should be named after. She chose Eastley, but decided that it should be spelt 'Eastleigh' as she perceived this as being more modern. Yonge died in her hometown of Otterbourne on 24 May 1901. Her obituary in The Times said: Her friends, and especially her poorer neighbours, knew both the strength and the winning charm of her character. Thus the late Archbishop Benson noted in his diary her 'odd majesty and kindliness, which are very strong'. But it is of course as a writer that Miss Yonge will be remembered. She had an inventive mind and a ready pen, and a bare list of the books written or edited by her would probably occupy nearly a whole column of The Times. She wrote chiefly for young people, especially young girls, and her books are the result not only of a strong ethical purpose, but also of her firm devotion to the High Church view of Christian doctrine and practice. William John Hennessy (July 11, 1839 - December 27, 1917) was an Irish artist. William John Hennessy (originally hAonghusa) was born in Thomastown, County Kilkenny in 1839. His father, John Hennessy, was forced to leave Ireland in 1848 as a result of his involvement in the Young Ireland movement. He landed in Canada and settled in New York City. William, his mother Catherine, and brother joined their father there in 1849. He gained admittance to the National Academy of Design in 1854 and exhibitioned his first works there. Hennessy developed a skill in wood engraving and was hired to illustrate the works of renowned poets, including that of Tennyson, Longfellow and Whittier. As an American he became the co-founder of the Artists' Fund Society, and an honorary member of the American Society of Painters in Watercolours. In 1870 he moved to London where he became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1902. Between 1879 and 1907 the Royal Hibernian Academy displayed eight of his paintings.
The Rose and The Ring is a satirical work of fantasy fiction written by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published at Christmas 1854 (though dated 1855). It criticises, to some extent, the attitudes of the monarchy and those at the top of society and challenges their ideals of beauty and marriage. Set in the fictional countries of Paflagonia and Crim Tartary, the story revolves around the lives and fortunes of four young royal cousins, Princesses Angelica and Rosalba, and Princes Bulbo and Giglio. Each page is headed by a line of poetry summing up the plot at that point and the storyline as a whole is laid out, as the book states, as "A Fireside Pantomime". The original edition had illustrations by Thackeray who had once intended a career as an illustrator.
