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The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World
by Terry ReyBy 1791, the French Revolution had spread to Haïti, where slaves and free blacks alike had begun demanding civil rights guaranteed in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man. Enter Romaine-la-Prophétesse, a free black Dominican coffee farmer who dressed in women's clothes and claimed that the Virgin Mary was his godmother. Inspired by mystical revelations from the Holy Mother, he amassed a large and volatile following of insurgents who would go on to sack countless plantations and conquer the coastal cities of Jacmel and Léogâne. For this brief period, Romaine counted as his political adviser the white French Catholic priest and physician Abbé Ouvière, a renaissance man of cunning politics who would go on to become a pioneering figure in early American science and medicine. Brought together by Catholicism and the turmoil of the revolutionary Atlantic, the priest and the prophetess would come to symbolize the enlightenment ideals of freedom and a more just social order in the eighteenth-century Caribbean. Drawing on extensive archival research, Terry Rey offers a major contribution to our understanding of Catholic mysticism and traditional African religious practices at the time of the Haitian Revolution and reveals the significant ways in which religion and race intersected in the turbulence and triumphs of revolutionary France, Haïti, and early republican America.
The Priest Hunters: The True Story of Ireland's Bounty Hunters
by Colin MurphyA fascinating investigation the lives of four priest hunters – Sean na Sagart, Edward Tyrrell, Barry Lowe and John Garzia. Ireland in the aftermath of Cromwell – during this period Catholicism and Irish nationalism became inexorably linked and priests were outlawed. The Priest Hunters shines a light on these men who hunted them. Sean naSagart was Irishman who was been condemned to death for horse stealing but was reprieved on condition he become a priest hunter. Edward Tyrrell was an English mercenary driven solely by greed. Barry Lowe indulged in such acts as tying a priest behind his horse and dragging him through the brush. John Garzia, who had fled the Spanish Inquisition, arrived in Ireland and evidently sought revenge hunting down priests. An incredible account of some of the most hated men in Ireland.
Priest of Nature: The Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton
by Rob IliffeHe was the dominant intellectual figure of his age. His published works, including the Principia Mathematica and Opticks, reached across the scientific spectrum, revealing the degree of his interdisciplinary genius. His renown opened doors throughout his career, securing him prestigious positions at Cambridge, the Royal Mint, and the Royal Society. Yet alongside his public success, Sir Isaac Newton harbored private religious convictions that set him at odds with established law and Anglican doctrine, and, if revealed, threatened not just his livelihood but his life. Religion and faith dominated much of Newton's thought and his manuscripts, in various states of completion and numbering in the thousands of pages, are filled with biblical speculation and timelines, along with passages that excoriated the early Church Fathers. They make clear that his theological positions rendered him a heretic. Newton believed that the central concept of the Trinity was a diabolical fraud and loathed the idolatry, cruelty, and persecution that had come to characterize orthodox religion. Instead, he proposed as "simple Christianity"--a faith that would center on a few core beliefs and celebrate diversity in religious thinking and practice. An utterly original but obsessively private religious thinker, Newton composed some of the most daring works of any writer of the early modern period. Little wonder that he and his inheritors suppressed them, and that for centuries they were largely inaccessible. In Priest of Nature, historian Rob Iliffe introduces readers to Newton the religious animal, deepening our understanding of the relationship between faith and science at a formative moment in history and thought. Previous scholars and biographers have generally underestimated the range and complexity of Newton's religious writings, but Iliffe shows how wide-ranging his observations and interests were, spanning the entirety of Christian history from Creation to the Apocalypse. Iliffe's book allows readers to fully engage in the theological discussion that dominated Newton's age. A vibrant biography of one of history's towering scientific figures, Priest of Nature is the definitive work on the spiritual views of the man who fundamentally changed how we look at the universe.
Priest of Nature: The Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton
by Rob IliffeHe was the dominant intellectual figure of his age. His published works, including the Principia Mathematica and Opticks, reached across the scientific spectrum, revealing the degree of his interdisciplinary genius. His renown opened doors throughout his career, securing him prestigious positions at Cambridge, the Royal Mint, and the Royal Society. Yet alongside his public success, Sir Isaac Newton harbored private religious convictions that set him at odds with established law and Anglican doctrine, and, if revealed, threatened not just his livelihood but his life. Religion and faith dominated much of Newton's thought and his manuscripts, in various states of completion and numbering in the thousands of pages, are filled with biblical speculation and timelines, along with passages that excoriated the early Church Fathers. They make clear that his theological positions rendered him a heretic. Newton believed that the central concept of the Trinity was a diabolical fraud and loathed the idolatry, cruelty, and persecution that had come to characterize orthodox religion. Instead, he proposed as "simple Christianity"--a faith that would center on a few core beliefs and celebrate diversity in religious thinking and practice. An utterly original but obsessively private religious thinker, Newton composed some of the most daring works of any writer of the early modern period. Little wonder that he and his inheritors suppressed them, and that for centuries they were largely inaccessible. In Priest of Nature, historian Rob Iliffe introduces readers to Newton the religious animal, deepening our understanding of the relationship between faith and science at a formative moment in history and thought. Previous scholars and biographers have generally underestimated the range and complexity of Newton's religious writings, but Iliffe shows how wide-ranging his observations and interests were, spanning the entirety of Christian history from Creation to the Apocalypse. Iliffe's book allows readers to fully engage in the theological discussion that dominated Newton's age. A vibrant biography of one of history's towering scientific figures, Priest of Nature is the definitive work on the spiritual views of the man who fundamentally changed how we look at the universe.
Priestdaddy: A Memoir
by Patricia LockwoodNEW STATESMAN AND OBSERVER BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017'Destined to be a classic . . . this year's must-read memoir' Mary Karr, author of The Liars' Club'Irrepressible . . . joyous, funny and filthy . . . Lockwood blows the roof off every paragraph' Joe Dunthorne, author of SubmarineThe childhood of Patricia Lockwood, the poet dubbed' The Smutty-Metaphor Queen of Lawrence, Kansas' by The New York Times, was unusual in many respects. There was the location: an impoverished, nuclear waste-riddled area of the American Midwest. There was her mother, a woman who speaks almost entirely in strange riddles and warnings of impending danger. Above all, there was her gun-toting, guitar-riffing, frequently semi-naked father, who underwent a religious conversion on a submarine and found a loophole which saw him approved for the Catholic priesthood by the future Pope Benedict XVI, despite already having a wife and children.When an unexpected crisis forces Lockwood and her husband to move back into her parents' rectory, she must learn to live again with the family's simmering madness, and to reckon with the dark side of her religious upbringing. Pivoting from the raunchy to the sublime, from the comic to the serious, Priestdaddy is an unforgettable story of how we balance tradition against hard-won identity - and of how, having journeyed in the underworld, we can emerge with our levity and our sense of justice intact.'Beautiful, funny and poignant. I wish I'd written this book' Jenny Lawson, author of Furiously Happy'A revelatory debut . . . Lockwood's prose is nothing short of ecstatic . . . her portrait of her epically eccentric family is funny, warm, and stuffed to bursting with emotional insight' Joss Whedon'Praise God, this is why books were invented' Emily Berry, author of Dear Boy and Stranger, Baby
Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women
by Susan Starr SeredReligion is often denounced as one of the tools used by patriarchal societies to maintain the status quo, and especially to persuade women to accept subordinate roles. This does not explain, however, the existence of many religious groups in which women are both leaders and the majority of participants. How are these women's religions different from those dominated by men? What can we learn from them about the special ways in which women experience their unique reality? In this fascinating and pathbreaking work--the first comparative study of women's religions--Susan Starr Sered seeks answers to these compelling questions. Looking for common threads linking groups as diverse as the ancestral cults of the Black Caribs of Belize, Korean shamanism, Christian Science, and the Feminist Spirituality movement, Sered finds that motherhood and motherly concerns play a vital role in these female-dominated groups. Nurturing and concern for others are at the center, as are healing arts and ways of dealing with illness and the death of children. Religion not only enables women to find sacred meaning in their daily lives, from the preparation of food to caring for their families, but an offer intense and personal relationships with deities and spirits--often through ecstatic possession trance--as well as opportunities to celebrate and mourn with other women. By examining the shared experiences of women across great cultural divides, Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister offers a new understanding of the role gender plays in determining how individuals grapple with the ultimate questions of existence. In the process, it not only highlights the profound differences between men and women, but the equally important ways in which we are all alike.
Priesthood and Cult in Ancient Israel (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
by Saul M. Olyan Gary A. AndersonDuring the last decade or so there has been a renewed interest in the study of cult and priesthood. The various individuals who have contributed essays to this volume are of both junior and senior rank and from both Christian and Jewish backgrounds. Certain essays represent the fruitful interchange that is now developing among historians of religion, anthropologists and biblical scholars. Others focus on parallels between aspects of Israelite religion and their counterparts in Canaanite and early Greek contexts. There are also contributions on the literary shape of the priestly law-code.
The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture: The Early History of Numbers 6:24-26
by Jeremy D. SmoakThe Priestly Blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26 left a deep imprint upon Jewish and Christian religious practice and tradition. The various ways in which the blessing was incorporated into these liturgical traditions, for example, are well documented in a variety of written sources from the past two thousand years. Rabbinic literature demonstrates that the blessing held a central place in early Jewish traditions, especially as part of the development of the Amidah and other liturgical prayers. Christian tradition also attests to a rich diversity of applications of the blessing in Byzantine and Medieval Christian practice. While the Priestly Blessing's development and significance in Judaism and early Christianity are well documented, considerably less is known about its earliest history in the ancient world. The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture breaks new ground in the study of the origins and early history of the blessing by examining its appearance on two Iron Age amulets discovered at the site of Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. Jeremy Smoak provides a comprehensive description of the two amulets and compares the inscriptions on their surfaces with several Phoenician and Punic inscribed amulets. He argues that the blessing's language originated within a wider tradition of protective words, which were often inscribed on metal amulets as protection against evil. He contends that the Priestly writers of the biblical texts incorporated the specific words into the blessing's formulations precisely due to their wide popularity and appeal as protective words in the eastern Mediterranean world. Smoak's argument represents an important departure from earlier studies on the background of the blessing's language in the ancient Near East, and it sheds significant new light on the history of their use within early Judaism and Christianity.
The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture: The Early History of Numbers 6:24-26
by Jeremy D. SmoakThe Priestly Blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26 left a deep imprint upon Jewish and Christian religious practice and tradition. The various ways in which the blessing was incorporated into these liturgical traditions, for example, are well documented in a variety of written sources from the past two thousand years. Rabbinic literature demonstrates that the blessing held a central place in early Jewish traditions, especially as part of the development of the Amidah and other liturgical prayers. Christian tradition also attests to a rich diversity of applications of the blessing in Byzantine and Medieval Christian practice. While the Priestly Blessing's development and significance in Judaism and early Christianity are well documented, considerably less is known about its earliest history in the ancient world. The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture breaks new ground in the study of the origins and early history of the blessing by examining its appearance on two Iron Age amulets discovered at the site of Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. Jeremy Smoak provides a comprehensive description of the two amulets and compares the inscriptions on their surfaces with several Phoenician and Punic inscribed amulets. He argues that the blessing's language originated within a wider tradition of protective words, which were often inscribed on metal amulets as protection against evil. He contends that the Priestly writers of the biblical texts incorporated the specific words into the blessing's formulations precisely due to their wide popularity and appeal as protective words in the eastern Mediterranean world. Smoak's argument represents an important departure from earlier studies on the background of the blessing's language in the ancient Near East, and it sheds significant new light on the history of their use within early Judaism and Christianity.
Priests: A Calling in Crisis (Historical Studies Of Urban America Ser. #1)
by Andrew M. GreeleyFor several years now, the Roman Catholic Church and the institution of the priesthood itself have been at the center of a firestorm of controversy. While many of the criticisms lodged against the recent actions of the Church—and a small number of its priests—are justified, the majority of these criticisms are not. Hyperbolic and misleading coverage of recent scandals has created a public image of American priests that bears little relation to reality, and Andrew Greeley's Priests skewers this image with a systematic inside look at American priests today. No stranger to controversy himself, Greeley here challenges those analysts and the media who parrot them in placing the blame for recent Church scandals on the mandate of celibacy or a clerical culture that supports homosexuality. Drawing upon reliable national survey samples of priests, Greeley demolishes current stereotypes about the percentage of homosexual priests, the level of personal and professional happiness among priests, the role of celibacy in their lives, and many other issues. His findings are more than surprising: they reveal, among other things, that priests report higher levels of personal and professional satisfaction than doctors, lawyers, or faculty members; that they would overwhelmingly choose to become priests again; and that younger priests are far more conservative than their older brethren. While the picture Greeley paints should radically reorient the public perception of priests, he does not hesitate to criticize the Church's significant shortcomings. Most priests, for example, do not think the sexual abuse problems are serious, and they do not think that poor preaching or liturgy is a problem, though the laity give them very low marks on their ministerial skills. Priests do not listen to the laity, bishops do not listen to priests, and the Vatican does not listen to any of them. With Greeley's statistical evidence and provocative recommendations for change—including a national "Priest Corps" that would offer young men a limited term of service in the Church—Priests offers a new vision for American Catholics, one based on real problems and solutions rather than on images of a depraved, immature, and frustrated priesthood.
The Priest's Graveyard
by Ted DekkerTwo abandoned souls are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths will cross and lead to one twisted fate.Danny Hansen is a Bosnian immigrant who came to America with hopes of escaping haunted memories of a tragic war that took his mother's life. Now he's a priest. Yet that does not stop him from acting as an avenging angel on those who stay within the criminal law but live outside the laws of love and compassion. Renee Gilmore is the frail and helpless victim of one such powerful man. Having escaped his clutches, she now lives only to satisfy justice by destroying him, regardless of whom she must become in that pursuit.But when Danny and Renee's paths become inexorably entangled, neither of them may make it out of this hunt alive.
The Priests in the Prophets: The Portrayal of Priests, Prophets, and Other Religious Specialists in the Latter Prophets (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
by Lester L. Grabbe Alice Ogden BellisSince at least the 19th century Hebrew Bible scholarship has traditionally seen priests and prophets as natural opponents, with different social spheres and worldviews. In recent years several studies have started to question this perspective. The Priests in the Prophets examines how the priests are portrayed in the Latter Prophets and analyzes the relationship between priests and prophets. The contributors also provide insights into the place of priests, prophets, and some other religious specialists in Israelite and Judean society in pre-exilic and post-exilic times.
Priests of Creation: John Zizioulas on Discerning an Ecological Ethos
by John Chryssavgis and Nikolaos AsproulisBased on a constructive reading of Scripture, the apostolic and patristic traditions and deeply rooted in the sacramental experience and spiritual ethos of the Orthodox Church, John Zizioulas offers a timely anthropological and cosmological perspective of human beings as “priests of creation” in addressing the current ecological crisis. Given the critical and urgent character of the global crisis and by adopting a clear line of argumentation, Zizioulas describes a vision based on a compassionate and incarnational conception of the human beings as liturgical beings, offering creation to God for the life of the world. He encourages the need for deeper interaction with modern science, from which theology stands to gain an appreciation of the interconnection of every aspect of materiality and life with humankind. The result is an articulate and promising vision that inspires a new ethos, or way of life, to overcome our alienation from the rest of creation.
Priests of Creation: John Zizioulas on Discerning an Ecological Ethos
Based on a constructive reading of Scripture, the apostolic and patristic traditions and deeply rooted in the sacramental experience and spiritual ethos of the Orthodox Church, John Zizioulas offers a timely anthropological and cosmological perspective of human beings as “priests of creation” in addressing the current ecological crisis. Given the critical and urgent character of the global crisis and by adopting a clear line of argumentation, Zizioulas describes a vision based on a compassionate and incarnational conception of the human beings as liturgical beings, offering creation to God for the life of the world. He encourages the need for deeper interaction with modern science, from which theology stands to gain an appreciation of the interconnection of every aspect of materiality and life with humankind. The result is an articulate and promising vision that inspires a new ethos, or way of life, to overcome our alienation from the rest of creation.
Priests, Prelates and People: A History of European Catholicism, 1750 to the Present (International Library of Historical Studies)
by Nicholas Atkin Frank TallettThe Catholic Church has always been a major player in European and world history. Whether it has enjoyed a religious dominance or existed as a minority religion, Catholicism has never been divorced from political life.The alliance between altar and crown had been an established fact for several centuries. 'Priests, Prelates and People' records the Church struggling to adapt to the new political landscape ushered in by the French Revolution and shows how the formation of national states and identities was both helped and hindered by the Catholic establishment. Faced with the emergence of modern mass politics, the Catholic Church has frequently diverged from lay opinion. Nicholas Atkin and Frank Tallett show the Vatican increasingly out of step in the wake of world war, Cold War and the massive expansion of the developing world, with its problems of population growth and under-development.Few historians have tried to undertake a full-scale history of European Catholicism, preferring to focus on individual countries or particular aspects of the Church's political dealings. Atkin and Tallett here tackle that history in all its complexity, recognising its national and regional differences and exploring its ever-shifting ground.
Priests, Prophets and Scribes: Essays on the Formation and Heritage of Second Temple Judaism in Honour of Joseph Blenkinsopp (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
by Philip R. Davies Eugene Ulrich Robert P. Carroll John W. WrightThe 17 essays in this volume fall into four sections: Early Judaism and its Environment; Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah; Wisdom, Scribes and Scribalism; and Theology of the Hebrew Bible. They are accompanied by a biographical sketch (by Robert Wilken) and a bibliography of Blenkinsopp's writings. Joseph Blenkinsopp is one of the foremost Catholic biblical scholars of his generation. Born in England, he has taught in the USA since 1968. The essays in this volume contributed by colleagues, friends and students reflect the many interests of Joseph Blenkinsopp's innovative and multi-faceted scholarship.
Primacy in the Church from Vatican I to Vatican II: An Orthodox Perspective (NIU Series in Orthodox Christian Studies)
by Maximos VgenopoulosThe primacy of the bishop of Rome, the pope, as it was finally shaped in the Middle Ages and later defined by Vatican I and II has been one of the thorniest issues in the history of the Western and Eastern Churches. This issue was a primary cause of the division between the two Churches and the events that followed the schism of 1054: the sack of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, the appointment by Pope Innocent III of a Latin patriarch of Constantinople, and the establishment of Uniatism as a method and model of union. Always a topic in ecumenical dialogue, the issue of primacy has appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle to the realization of full unity between Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Christianity. In this timely and comprehensive work, Maximos Vgenopoulos analyzes the response of major Orthodox thinkers to the Catholic understanding of the primary of the pope over the last two centuries, showing the strengths and weaknesses of these positions.Covering a broad range of primary and secondary sources and thinkers, Vgenopoulos approaches the issue of primacy with an open and ecumenical manner that looks forward to a way of resolving this most divisive issue between the two Churches. For the first time here the thought of Greek and Russian Orthodox theologians regarding primacy is brought together systematically and compared to demonstrate the emergence of a coherent view of primacy in accordance with the canonical principles of the Orthodox Church. In looking at crucial Greek-language sources Vgenopoulos makes a unique contribution by providing an account of the debate on primacy within the Greek Orthodox Church. Primacy in the Church from Vatican I to Vatican II is an invaluable resource on the official dialogue taking place between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church today. This important book will be of broad interest to historians, theologians, seminarians, and all those interested in Orthodox-Catholic relations.
A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion
by Arvind SharmaPhilosophy of religion as a discipline first arose in Europe; its subject matter has been profoundly influenced by the practices of European Christianity. While Eastern and Western religions subsequently found a place in these studies, one global religious tradition, namely, the primal tradition, remains unrepresented in its discussions. This book examines the significantly different perspectives offered by primal religions on virtually every theme discussed in the philosophy of religion.
Primary and Secondary Precepts in Thomistic Natural Law Teaching
by R.A. ArmstrongNever before in the history of mankind has there been a period when hitherto accepted moral principles have been more severely tested. The agonized cry of a world smitten by two major wars in a handful of years leaves no doubt in the minds of many that natural law ethics, ifit is to have relevance and to survive, must provide at least the outline of an answer to the problems of every day living. To date, many hundreds of books and articles have been written setting forth with great eloquence the basic and immutable principles of natural law ethics. But too often these discussions fail to consider, in their agonizing detail, situations where there is a choice between conflicting values, conflicting loyalties, conflicting ideas and duties, each of which has a claim to recognition. It is only in the isolation of the particular case that the frightening dilemmas of natural law can be most clearly experienced. To give just two illustrations.
Primary Religious Education - A New Approach: Conceptual Enquiry In Primary
by Clive Erricker Judith Lowndes Elaine BellchambersThe role of religious education (RE) within the primary school and how it should be implemented has been the subject of worldwide debate. This book outlines this conceptual approach to Religious Education, and demonstrates how to implement the requirements of the QCDA curriculum and Ofsted criteria for effective RE. ISBN 0203842944 Master e-book ISBN ISBN13: 9780415480666 (hbk) ISBN13: 9780415480673 (pbk) ISBN13: 9780203842942 (ebk)
Primary Religious Education - A New Approach: Conceptual Enquiry In Primary (PDF)
by Clive Erricker Judith Lowndes Elaine BellchambersThe role of religious education (RE) within the primary school and how it should be implemented has been the subject of worldwide debate. This book outlines this conceptual approach to Religious Education, and demonstrates how to implement the requirements of the QCDA curriculum and Ofsted criteria for effective RE. ISBN 0203842944 Master e-book ISBN13: 9780415480666 (hbk) ISBN13: 9780415480673 (pbk) ISBN13: 9780203842942 (ebk)
Primary Suspect: Primary Suspect Plain Outsider Fugitive Pursuit (Callahan Confidential #5)
by Laura ScottWrongfully AccusedA Callahan Confidential story
Prime of Life
by P. D. BekendamBen used to be a cardiothoracic surgeon before he suddenly abandoned his career and became a janitor at a retirement facility. Now, other than dealing with minor problems such as an unhealthy obsession with prime numbers, an inept boss, and a feud between two cantankerous retirees, he lives a relatively stress- free life. There is even hope for romance when an attractive podiatrist shows an interest in him. But it is not long before his past catches up with him and his carefully protected world begins to unravel. Filled with humor and quirky characters, Prime of Life delivers a satisfying and entertaining read.
The Primeval Flood Catastrophe: Origins and Early Development in Mesopotamian Traditions (Oxford Oriental Monographs)
by Y. S. ChenPrevious research on Mesopotamian Flood traditions tended to focus on a few textual sources. How the traditions originated and developed as a whole has not been seriously investigated. By systematically examining a large body of relevant cuneiform sources of diverse genres from the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2600-2350 B.C.) to the end of the first millennium B.C., this book observes that it is during the Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1600) and classical attestations of the Flood traditions are found. On linguistic, conceptual and literary-historical grounds, the book argues that the Flood traditions emerged relatively late in Sumerian traditions. It traces different evolutionary stages of the Flood traditions, from the emergence of the Flood motif within the socio-political and cultural contexts of the early Isin dynasty (ca. 2017-1896 B.C.), to the diverse mythological representations of the motif in literary traditions, to the historicisation of the motif in chronography, and finally to the interactions between various strands of the Flood traditions and other Mesopotamian literary traditions, such as Sumerian and Babylonian compositions about Gilgames. By uncovering the processes through which the Flood traditions were constructed, the book offers a valuable case study on the complex and dynamic relationship between myth-making, the development of literature, the rise of historical consciousness and historiography, and socio-political circumstances in the ancient world. The origins and development of the Flood traditions examined in the book, furthermore, represent one of the best documented examples illustrating the continuities and changes in Mesopotamian intellectual, linguistic, literary, socio-political and religious history over the course of two and a half millennia.
Primitive Ritual and Belief: An Anthropological Essay
by E.O. JamesThis book, first published in 1917, investigates the rites and beliefs of people who had remained in a ‘primitive’ state of culture throughout the ages. Special attention was paid to the ritual and mythology of the Aborigines of Australia, in what was then some of the first studies of their beliefs.