Shakespeare lived at a time when England was undergoing the revolution in ritual theory and practice we know as the English Reformation. With it came an unprecedented transformation in the language of religious life. Whereas priests had once acted as mediators between God and men through sacramental rites; Reformed theology declared the priesthood of all believers. What ensued was not the tidy replacement of one doctrine by another but a long and messy conversation about the conventions of religious life and practice. In this brilliant and strikingly original book; Sarah Beckwith traces the fortunes of this conversation in Shakespearersquo;s theater. Beckwith focuses on the sacrament of penance; which in the Middle Ages stood as the very basis of Christian community and human relations. With the elimination of this sacrament; the words of penance and repentancemdash;ldquo;confess;rdquo; ldquo;forgive;rdquo; ldquo;absolverdquo; mdash;no longer meant (no longer could mean) what they once did. In tracing the changing speech patterns of confession and absolution; both in Shakespearersquo;s work and Elizabethan and Jacobean culture more broadly; Beckwith reveals Shakespearersquo;s profound understanding of the importance of language as the fragile basis of our relations with others. In particular; she shows that the post-tragic plays; especially Pericles; Cymbeline; The Winterrsquo;s Tale; and The Tempest; are explorations of the new regimes and communities of forgiveness. Drawing on the work of J. L. Austin; Ludwig Wittgenstein; and Stanley Cavell; Beckwith enables us to see these plays in an entirely new light; skillfully guiding us through some of the deepest questions that Shakespeare poses to his audiences.
#2766250 in eBooks 2009-10-26 2009-10-26File Name: B0048EJVSQ
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. DissapointedBy arhiterojudging by the title. this should be a very straight forward read if you want to learn more about designing a mosque. Well. the problem is it is either overly vague or overly specific and there is not enough meaningful transitions between the two in the content. This happens in instances like this (paraphrased):Overly vague: The book has many parts that are bloated. saying very little with a lot of words. These parts are hard to get through as they have unclear writing style and their point is badly stated. if at all.Overly specific: occasionally there are many user capacity charts. almost like a fragmented Neufert.When you are done reading this book. you are familiar with the names of the elements of the islamic center. but a very loose idea of how to actually plan them. The images in the e-book are useless due to the low resolution. which is a shame. as they sometimes appear quite informative.Pricing is an issue too.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Not quite what I expected.By George T. MacknightAfter looking at the little that was revealed by the "Look Inside" and the Table of Contents. I thought wow. this is just the book I was looking for to help me design a Masjid project Im working on. Well I was wrong. Ive read the entire book from cover to cover and it is more of theological discussion than a guide to designing a mosque. Id hoped for something more akin to a Pattern Language or Timesaver Standards for building types. And while this book was not completely devoid of some practical design criteria. the uninitiated to Mosque design would not fair much better than before they read the book. You wont know anything more about the sequence of entry to a musalla. You will not have any comprehension of what Wudu or be able to design a proper Ablution space. I would not recommend this as a design guide or as a place to go for design criteria for a mosque. If this book were half or a third of the price. then I might recommend it for someone as a secondary research source.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Excellent text especially for practitioners and students of architectureBy Prof. A. B. ClarkeExcellent text especially for practitioners and students of architecture. The paucity of research and reading materials on mosque design makes this an indispensable addition to your library. Highly recommended.
