Axial Civilizations and World History.

Intro -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- GENERAL INTRODUCTION -- PART ONE: THEORETICAL APPROACHES -- Introduction: History, Theory and Interpretation -- The Axial Age and its Interpreters: Reopening a Debate -- The Meaning of the Axial Age -- Palomar's Questions. The Axial Age Hypothesis, European Modernity and Historical Contingency -- Between Tradition and Christianity: The Axial Age in the Perspective of Béla Hamvas -- PART TWO: THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND ITS AXIAL PERIPHERIES -- Introduction: Archaic Backgrounds and Axial Breakthroughs -- Axial "Breakthroughs" and Semantic "Relocations" in Ancient Egypt and Israel -- Mesopotamian Vistas on Axial Transformations -- Zoroastrian Origins: Indian and Iranian Connections -- Axial Transformations within Ancient Israelite Priesthood -- The Jewish Historical Experience: Heterodox Tendencies and Political Dynamics in a De-territorialized Axial Civilization -- Polis, "the Political", and Political Thought: New Departures in Ancient Greece, c. 800-500 BCE -- PART THREE: LATE ANTIQUITY AND BEYOND -- Introduction: Late Antiquity as a Sequel and Counterpoint to the Axial Age -- Cultural Memory in Early Christianity: Clement of Alexandria and the History of Religions -- "The Religion of Light": On Mani and Manichaeism -- Arabia and The Heritage of the Axial Age -- PART FOUR: INDIAN AND CHINESE PERSPECTIVES -- Introduction: Extending the Axial Model to South and East Asia -- Axial Grammar -- Axialism and Empire -- Rethinking the Axial Age-The Case of Chinese Culture -- The Axial Millennium in China: A Brief Survey -- The Ming-Qing Transition: Seventeenth-Century Crisis or Axial Breakthrough? -- PART FIVE: CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS -- Axial Civilizations and the Axial Age Reconsidered -- List of contributors -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S.

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A collection of essays by social theorists, historical sociologists and area specialists in classical, biblical and Asian studies. The contributions deal with cultural transformations in major civilizational centres during the "Axial Age", the middle centuries of the last millennium BCE, and their long-term consequences.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.