How Zambian Pentecostal activists worked to transform their country into a self-styled "Christian nation"

In 2015, Zambia began an ambitious program to "actualize" the country's constitutional declaration that it was a "Christian nation." For Pentecostal Christian nationalist activists, this was a "divine season," an opportunity to change their country by submitting it to God's control. In this book, Naomi Haynes examines these efforts at national transformation, offering a careful ethnographic exploration of Christian nationalist theology, ritual, and policy initiatives. Drawing on her extensive fieldwork in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, Haynes describes how activists promoted Zambia's Christian identity, whether by writing books and newspaper articles, posting on social media, building new monuments, praying for the nation, or lobbying for constitutional changes.

By tracing Zambian Christian nationalism's internal contradictions and tensions, Haynes charts its ultimate failure, which she ascribes in part to institutional opposition from the civil service and Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations. She also points to what she terms its fatal theological flaw, going beyond the usual secular analysis in anthropology to engage with theological critiques of Christian nationalism. The example of Zambia offers the most fully realized expression of Christian nationalism outside the West, demonstrating what this movement can look like when given free political rein. With this book, Haynes provides an instructive account of an increasingly influential global movement.

A pioneering theory of how brain network flows compose the neural symphonies that make us who we are

What enables us not only to comprehend the world but also to find meaning in it? How does a brain engender a mind? In Brain Flows, cognitive neuroscientist Michael Cole argues that movements (flows) of activity through brain networks create an improvised electrochemical symphony that generates our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and actions. Drawing on his decades of brain research, Cole traces the brain's complex network organization, which transforms brain flows into representations, goal pursuits, and entire minds. Central to this transformation, he explains, is compositionality, which allows neural representations to be reused and recombined to produce a brain state rich enough not only to perceive the constant novelty of the world but also to help generate it.

Cole describes the work of brain flows layer by layer, from simple network interactions to hallmarks of the human mind: consciousness, intelligence, free will, mental health, and creativity. After laying the groundwork-introducing the idea of brain flows and discussing goal pursuit, novelty, and hierarchies-he offers an innovative account of how brain flow patterns create the mind, putting cognitive and network neuroscience findings within rich theoretical and empirical contexts. Throughout, he offers lively examples from daily life that shed light on the dynamic origin of our minds. Ultimately, Cole shows that brain flows are central to what the brain does and thus who we are.

How cities and religions have shaped each other through history

In Cities of Gods, Joerg Ruepke offers an entirely new vision of the history of religion-one in which religion has shaped cities and cities have shaped religion. Ruepke shows how religious actions and ideas have produced cities since urbanization began some 6,000 years ago-and how cities have, in turn, changed religious practices. Cities have created new mass rituals that instill the idea of an encompassing community; priestly hierarchies, religious organizations, and globalized religious traditions follow. Urban religion, Ruepke argues, helps people in cities build a world and an identity that make living in a risky and powerful space more bearable.

Ruepke explores early processes of urbanization in Mesopotamia and Asia, showing how people's willingness to live differently creates urban space. In examining the dynamic relationship between urban and religious change, Ruepke considers the differences and commonalties of cities including Uruk, Jerusalem, Vanarasi, Chang'an, Cairo, Lhasa, and Kyoto. The construction of monuments, the embellishment and appropriation of beliefs and rituals, the inclusion of ancestors and deities in social life: each offers a different lens for a history of the city that is also a history of religion. Much of what we consider characteristic of religion and religious practices comes not from the lone cry of a prophet or the prayer of a saint but from an urban religion built from the solidarity of people living in cities.

An African Approach to Population Ethics offers an important and long-overdue shift away from Western, individualistic models of population ethics, grounding its analysis in Indigenous African communal ethics. The contributors explore a wide range of historical and contemporary issues affecting African population dynamics. They critically examine urgent questions of procreation, resource allocation, and environmental sustainability, from the ethics of climate change to the reinterpretation of traditional fertility proverbs. By prioritizing African voices and experiences, the book establishes a unique and much-needed framework for addressing population challenges with respect for African needs and priorities. It is an essential resource for scholars, policymakers, and all readers focused on Africa's future.

This book examines the development of statehood and symbolic representations of power amongst the Bulgar people from approximately 350 through 900 CE. This volume fills a gap in English-language medieval studies and historiography, considering Bulgar society in a modern anthropological way. This book argues that the Bulgar(ian) statehood before the mid-ninth century cannot be considered a 'barbarian' one; instead, the process of Christianization led Bulgaria to be a fully developed 'barbarian' state via a synthesis of Northern Iranian and Turkic steppe and Roman traditions by 900.

The first comprehensive account of Byzantine monastic archaeology and spatial practices, Monastic Communities and Landscapes in Byzantium focuses on Thrace and eastern Macedonia to show the broader impact of monasteries on surrounding communities, one that was not only religious, but also economic and social. Georgios Makris focuses on the significance of monastic spaces and the landscapes they inhabit on the daily life of monastic communities, drawing on archaeological evidence-art and architectural element, pottery, lead seals, and inscriptions-and written sources.

Examining both modest and privileged monasteries between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, Makris takes an expansive and holistic approach to the archaeological study of Byzantine monasteries and considers the monastic compound as both a religious space and one used for social and economic activities. Monastic Communities and Landscapes in Byzantium reveals the rich and dynamic exchanges monasteries maintained with people beyond their walls in cities and the countryside, presenting a more complex view of the Byzantine monastery and the boundaries between sacred and profane spheres.

A bold reconstruction of the origins of the "ancient, medieval, modern" trope used to define historical eras and the transitions between them.

We are used to dividing time, indicating the beginning or end of an era based on a year, a month, or even a specific day, after which (supposedly) "nothing was the same." In this book, historian and classicist Frederic Clark looks at a particularly enduring form of dividing time-the tripartite distinction between antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modernity-in order to analyze the history of this division, how it has been constructed and deployed, and what its past and present implications are.

Clark argues that the study of the past has always depended on subdividing it into multiple parts, which tend to underpin any attempt to articulate a system of culture or value. After all, certain eras, ages, and epochs are celebrated as having ushered in a new, better time, whereas others are depicted as extended periods of decay and darkness. Clark provides an ingenious critique of the foundational assumptions underlying our narratives of periodization and the complex and messy process by which historical schemas develop, from the Renaissance through the early modern period to the Enlightenment and beyond. The result is an engaging and erudite tour through time and its many contested divisions, imagined and reimagined across history.

A detailed commentary with a new translation that integrates intertextual, theological, literary, and historical perspectives

This historical and literary commentary on the Qur'an's first two surahs provides a structural analysis of the two texts, advances a novel theory of Surah 2's intricate redactional history, contextualizes the Qur'an among writings from the Biblical tradition, and considers a variety of other textual, linguistic, and theological issues. It offers the first comprehensive historical and literary commentary in English on Surah 2, the longest and most complex Qur'anic text. Both surahs have been newly translated by the author.

Surahs 1 (Surat al-Fati?ah, "The Opening") and 2 (Surat al-Baqarah, "The Cow") discuss such important theological notions as divine testing and divine foreknowledge; offer narratives about Adam, Abraham, Saul, and other figures; include polemics against Jews and Christians; and issue legislative commandments, with an emphasis on those relating to marriage and divorce. Building on his previous work, Key Terms of the Qur'an, Nicolai Sinai begins each surah commentary with an introductory overview, and then proceeds to a verse-by-verse exegesis. He pays particular attention to inner-Qur'anic parallels and doublets and to the resulting questions of textual chronology. Sinai's commentaries make selective use of interpretive resources found in premodern Islamic Qur'an scholarship. Short summaries follow the detailed exegetical treatment of each surah.

The Qur'an, like the Bible, is a sophisticated work of literature that employs artful compositional techniques. This volume offers an original exploration of what the Qur'an might have meant to its first readers and how the Qur'an draws on, engages with, and diverges from ideas, narratives, and literary forms that may have informed it. The book will be an indispensable resource for scholars of Islam and Qur'anic studies.

In The Eye of the Mind, Maria Grazia Bartolini investigates how early modern Ukrainian preachers prompted their listeners to see and remember sermons by calling upon vision, memory, and mental imagery. With memorization recognized in Ukraine as a cognitive skill vital to the internalization of texts, these preachers, like their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, designed their sermons to enable listeners to see the subject matter as mental images and situate them in imaginary locations for easy recall.

Based on analysis of little-known printed and manuscript sources from the second half of the seventeenth century, Bartolini masterfully demonstrates how verbal and visual images within the sermon functioned as mnemonic devices that helped Ukrainian preachers construct and deliver sermons and evoked intellectual and emotional associations in the minds of the audience. The effect of this rhetorical practice, Bartolini argues, was to create a theatrum meditationis-a memory theater-in which the audience was encouraged to take part as spectators. By fully integrating intellectual history, visual studies, and rhetorical analysis, The Eye of the Mind provides a unique perspective on seventeenth-century religious orators and their audiences in Ukraine and beyond.

Positioned at the intersection of indigenous knowledge systems and spatial practice, this volume explores how ritualised, place-based epistemologies can reframe design and planning responses to global ecological crises. Departing from reductive Cartesian abstractions, it interrogates the systemic erasure of sacred space and advances a generative turn toward relational ontologies and decolonial spatial imaginaries. Landscapes are approached not as static heritage artefacts, but as living, agentive systems that co-produce meaning, identity, and ethical responsibility. Drawing on global case studies and innovative methodological approaches, including VOICE, Spiritual Tectonics, and Afro-Cosmological Design, the contributions explore the temporal thickening of sacred sites, where ancestral continuities intersect with emergent technologies. By integrating traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary metrics of resilience and sustainability, the book outlines actionable pathways for spatial practitioners. It speaks to researchers and professionals across architecture, urban planning, religious studies, cultural geography, and the environmental humanities.

Navigating Black Joy for Black Women Leaders in Higher Education delves into lived experiences of Black women who resist structural oppression and inequity through the radical act of joy. Through deeply personal narratives, critical storytelling, and intersectional analysis, chapters explore how Black women cultivate, sustain, and embody joy as a transformative force in higher education and beyond.

Drawing on phenomenology, womanist theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy, contributors reveal how joy is intentionally rooted in resistance, resilience, and rest, forming a tapestry of strength and community, offering actionable strategies for fostering emotional resilience, equity, and authentic leadership.

A collection of texts illustrating the complex reasons why Jews have contested or rejected the Zionist ideal over more than a century

In the decades since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, many have equated Zionism with Jewish identity-and anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Few remember now that the Zionist movement triggered passionate debate among Jews, with many expressing ambivalence or opposition to the Zionist project. In Jewish Anti-Zionism, Shaul Magid and Zev Mishell have gathered a broad selection of documents, written between the late nineteenth century and the present day, many of them newly translated into English from multiple languages, revealing the rich variety of Jewish opposition to Zionism over the decades. Following Magid and Mishell's long, authoritative introduction on the history of anti-Zionism among Jews, the book features dozens of texts by Jewish writers from diverse backgrounds discussing why they reject the Zionist idea as the best option for Jewish flourishing.

The documents reflect a lively debate carried out though multiple forms-personal letters, essays, speeches, manifestos, newspaper columns, and extracts from learned treatises. The authors range from scholars and other thinkers writing well before the establishment of the state of Israel to well-known contemporary voices including Peter Beinart, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Judith Butler. Magid and Mishell preface each text with a short introduction that offers historical and ideological context

At first glance, quantum mechanics and behavioural science may appear to belong to entirely separate domains-one rooted in subatomic particles and mathematical formalisms, the other in human thoughts, decisions and emotions. However, recent research reveals a surprising and powerful connection between them. This book investigates that connection through quantum models of cognition and decision-making, illustrating how principles from quantum theory can help us understand ambiguity, bias and perception in ways that classical logic cannot.

This book introduces a practical and computationally accessible framework based on quantum theory. Readers are invited not only to explore vivid case studies-from visual illusions in video games to decision biases in politics and finance-but also to engage directly with the methods. Supporting computer code is provided so that readers can experiment with their own models and ideas immediately after reading. Combining insights from physics, psychology, artificial intelligence and economics, this work offers an innovative perspective on how we think, choose and interact as individuals and societies.

This open access volume addresses questions of scale, complexity, systems-modeling, information-sharing and challenges of policy relevance with the aim of moving our fields forward in better mobilizing our results for actionable use. Compiled from papers presented at two colloquia held in 2023 and 2024 at the Max-Planck Institute for Geoanthropology and at Princeton University, the work promotes interdisciplinary approaches to addressing modern-day societal challenges by bridging the domains of history, systems modelling, and policymaking.

It integrates the insights of historians, archaeologists, complex systems modelers and sustainability experts, and aims to generate actionable knowledge to inform policies targeting pressing modern-day problems such as climate change, regional and global conflicts, mass migrations, and resource scarcity. Given that experimenting with large social-environmental systems is impractical and ethically contentious, historical records provide important observational data for studying the dynamics of complex systems over time. History reveals patterns of resilience and collapse in response to past challenges and offers lessons that can inform contemporary strategies. The contributors discuss the types of historical expertise and data required to enhance systems modelling and applications to policymaking. A core theme of this book is the use of complex systems theory and historical data to understand better the intricate interplay between climatic, social, political, economic, and technological systems. The contributors explore theoretical and methodological aspects essential for formulating effective policies to promote sustainable development, reduce socio-economic inequalities, and prevent systemic collapses.

This interdisciplinary exploration includes cutting-edge techniques in systems modelling, highlighting the burgeoning role of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Another significant aspect of the book is its focus on the design of collaborative research platforms. These platforms are essential for fostering interdisciplinary cooperation and ensuring that the insights gained from complex systems modelling and historical analysis effectively inform policy-making. By facilitating collaborative efforts among diverse experts, the book aims to create a foundation for more robust, evidence-based policies to address better the multifaceted challenges facing today's society. This volume is an invaluable resource for policymakers, modellers, and researchers involved in the study of the past who are interested in leveraging interdisciplinary approaches to tackle modern-day challenges.

This is an Open access book which provides insights into innovative approaches in designing, implementing, and evaluating professional development programs for English-Medium Instruction (EMI) faculty. It offers empirically-grounded solutions to the pressing challenge of supporting faculty who teach disciplinary content through English in non-Anglophone contexts, addressing the current lack of an established paradigm for effective EMI faculty development practices. As EMI expands globally across higher education institutions, faculty face complex linguistic, pedagogical, and disciplinary demands that call for targeted professional support. However, limited research exists exploring specific design and implementation features of faculty development programs and their impact on teaching practices and student outcomes. The volume bridges these crucial gaps by showcasing original empirical studies that demonstrate clear connections across program design choices, implementation strategies, and resulting effects on faculty instructional practices and decision-making. Featuring in-depth case studies from diverse institutional and sociocultural settings in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, the collection offers unique perspectives on how faculty developers have addressed the shared challenge of supporting EMI faculty professional development. The book features diverse methodological approaches - including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies - that foreground multiple aspects of EMI faculty development: collaborative practices within professional development initiatives, innovative approaches to pedagogy integrating language and content support, institutional frameworks for sustainable implementation, and longitudinal analysis of program impact on teaching and learning. The contributing authors expand the conceptual and disciplinary foundations of EMI faculty development research by drawing on their diverse scholarly perspectives from educational psychology, applied linguistics, second language studies, STEM education, and educational policy and leadership, as well as their lived experiences in developing, implementing, and assessing professional development initiatives. The volume aims to provide evidence-based guidance for creating sustainable and effective support for EMI faculty development and contribute to paradigm-building in EMI. It is poised to be essential reading for multiple audiences in global higher education, including EMI researchers, faculty developers, language educators, higher education administrators, and graduate student researchers.

This book challenges conventional narratives of the evolution of working hours in Western Europe, offering a fresh perspective on the complex mosaic of actual working time. By examining the historical and sociological dimensions of labour from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, it challenges the oversimplified view that work evolved over three main periods: a pre-industrial era, when working hours were not measured; the advent of industrialisation, when they increased dramatically; and a period after 1850, when they began to decline. In doing so, the book invites readers to reconsider the ideas of influential thinkers such as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Michel Foucault.

Key concepts explored include division of labour, variations in work ethic, and the impact of industrialisation. Through meticulous micro-historical case studies, the authors reconstruct the temporal realities of work in Europe, with a focus on France, Belgium and Italy. This approach provides a ground-level view of labour, revealing the nuanced realities of working hours along with work duration and intensity. Ideal for historians, sociologists and scholars of labour studies, this volume offers a bridge between the various historiographies of work and encourages dialogue across periods and regions. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the historical depth of contemporary issues like productivity and work-life balance.

The untold story of West Berlin, the island city deep inside the Soviet bloc that withstood the decades-long confrontation between the USSR and the West

Located more than one hundred miles behind the Iron Curtain, West Berlin served as a stage on which the confrontation between nuclear-armed superpowers played out across nearly five decades. Portrayed in the West as an island of freedom in a totalitarian sea, it increasingly came to be seen by some as a bleak enclave without a future, yet the city also embodied a remarkable openness to alternative lifestyles and radical forms of cultural experimentation. Cold War City is a definitive history of West Berlin that takes readers from the end of the Second World War to the withdrawal of Allied troops in 1994.

Drawing on substantial new research in archives on both sides of the Atlantic, David Barclay vividly describes how some of the most dramatic events of the Cold War took place in and around West Berlin, including the perilous crises that culminated in the building of the notorious Berlin Wall in 1961. A product of the postwar division of Germany, the city was a roiling ideological battleground comprised of American, British, and French sectors. Barclay shows how it became a distinct political and cultural entity despite its connections to the West and he sheds light on the Cold War as a lived experience for West Berliners and the city's Allied occupiers.

A nuanced portrait of a city that came to symbolize the divided postwar world, Cold War City locates the history of West Berlin at the flashpoint between grand geopolitics and the daily concerns of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

This book offers a groundbreaking psychological exploration of how religion influences sport performance, motivation, injury recovery, and interpersonal dynamics in athletic settings. Bridging sport psychology and religious studies, it introduces two original models - the Religion and Sport Performance (RSP) Model and the Religious-Psychological Adaptation to Sports Injury (RPASI) Model - to explain how faith shapes athletes' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses on and off the field. Rather than treating religion as a cultural backdrop, the book positions it as a powerful psychological force that can enhance concentration, resilience, and identity. Drawing on diverse religious traditions and supported by real-world case examples, it examines how athletes integrate prayer, ritual, and belief into performance preparation and injury recovery. It also explores how religion influences team dynamics, coach-athlete relationships, and ethical decision-making in multicultural sport contexts. This concise yet comprehensive book is ideal for sport psychologists, coaches, researchers, and undergraduate and graduate students interested in the intersection of mental performance and religious belief. It offers both theoretical insight and practical guidance for applying religion-informed psychological strategies in sport environments.