The questions of metaphysics are the deepest and most puzzling questions there are. What is time? Am I free in my actions? What makes me the same person I was as a child? What is it for one thing to cause another? Riddles of Existence is the first book ever to make metaphysics genuinely accessible and fun. Its lively, informal style brings the riddles to life and shows how stimulating it can be to think about them. No philosophical background is required to enjoy this book: anyone who has thought about life's most profound questions will find plenty to provoke and entertain them here.

Reading Riddles: Rhetorics of Obscurity from Romanticism to Freud explores how the riddle becomes a figure for reading and writing in early German Romanticism and how this model then enables Sigmund Freud's approach to the psyche. It traces a migration of ideas from literature to psychoanalysis and argues that the relationship between them must be situated at the methodological level. Through readings of texts by August Wilhelm, Friedrich Schlegel, G.W.F. Hegel, and Ludwig Tieck Reading Riddles documents how the Romantics expand the field of poetic signification to include obscure, distorted signs and how they applied this rhetoric of obscurity to the self. The book argues that this model of self and signification plays a central role in the formulation of Freud's psychoanalytic theory. If the self is a riddle, as many in the nineteenth century claim, Freud takes the figure seriously and interprets the mind according to all the structures and techniques of that textual genre.

Originally published in 1990 by Routledge, Dictionary of Riddles is a collection of nearly 1500 of the most cryptic and entertaining riddles from history. Drawn from sources throughout the world, the collection ranges from earthy medieval jokes about fleas, worms and vegetables to the sophisticated puzzles composed by literary figures from Schiller, Swift, Voltaire, Rousseau and Cervantes to Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll and J.R.R. Tolkien. The book traces the history of riddles from their origins in antiquity through the golden age of the Renaissance, to their decline into the nursery and the first few signs of their modern revival, and draws together all the strands of the riddling art. Dictionary of Riddles received a Special Commendation in Reference Review’s Best Specialist Reference Books of 1990 Awards.

'Christianity was bound at first to be a matter of faith and is only now beginning, very gradually, to be a matter of knowledge.' – Rudolf SteinerRudolf Steiner gave 70 lectures on the four canonical Gospels, characterizing the distinctive contribution of each of the evangelists. The Gospel of Mark is a 'cosmic' text that calls for an astronomical as well as a human reading. It is also critical for understanding the evolution of Christianity, which depends on knowledge of 'the Mystery of Golgotha' (Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and ascension). 'We are only at the beginning of Christian evolution', Steiner states, reiterating that its further development will depend on spiritual knowledge. In order to develop such cognition, 'most important of all is reverence for the great truths and the feeling that we can approach them only with awe and veneration'. Many profound spiritual truths are indeed revealed in these lectures. Among the panoply of topics covered are: 'Mystery Teachings in St Mark's Gospel'; 'The Son of God and the Son of Man'; 'The Symbolic Language of the Macrocosm'; 'The Moon-religion of Yahweh' and 'The Penetration of the Buddha-Mercury Stream into Rosicrucianism'. This thoroughly revised edition includes notes and appendices by Frederick Amrine and an extensive introduction by Robert McDermott.Thirteen lectures, various cities, Oct. 1910–Jun. 1911, GA 124

First Published in 2005. The true folk riddle of oral traditions that have been rapidly disappearing from the face of the earth in the last hundred years is one of the most ancient threads of culture. One of the smallest genres of verbal culture—usually under a dozen of words, it is an intensely articulated utterance. It is eccentric and as such breaks every logical mould. This volume presents results of a study driven by the sheer intellectual curiosity of the author.

10 lectures, Vienna, June 1-11, 1922 (CW 83) This challenging set of lectures attempts to lift the veil from modern social and spiritual problems as experienced in the contrasts between East and West. By ascribing to human thinking only a shadowy, subjective validity, modern science tries to invalidate the very faculty that gives us our human dignity. At the same time, however, this "unreality" of thought images makes possible an inner freedom that scientific doctrine tends to deny in principle. The need arises from these contradictions to extend the limits of ordinary scientific thinking to new investigative faculties. In part one, "Anthroposophy and the Sciences," Rudolf Steiner esplains that this can be achieved in a healthy way through two kinds of meditative excercises, very different in character from yoga and asceticism and other older paths to higher knowledge. These disciplines lead to the discovery of a paradoxical truth: "If you would know yourself, look into the world. If you would know the world, look into your self." The spiritual-scientific philosophy thus presented provides a framework within which the second half of the book ("Anthroposophy and Sociology") considers how a healthy social life can be understood and shaped. Today the old social instincts of humanity have grown uncertain, and the rational intellect is proving unsuited to comprehend and foster a humane social life. While admitting that we are only beginning to discover the right relationship between individual and community, Steiner describes how a conscious spiritual life is able to give the same social certainties as did the earlier "instictive" life. He then explains how we might find a way from our highly developed sense of personal self into the worldwide social organism. This volume is a translation of Westliche und östliche Weltgegensätzlichkeit - Wege zu ihre Verständigung durch Anthroposophie.

A legend in the folk music community, John Jacob Niles enjoyed a lengthy career as a balladeer, folk collector, and songwriter. Ever close to his Kentucky roots, he spent much of his adulthood searching for the most well-loved songs of the southern Appalachia. The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles brings together a wealth of songs with the stories that inspired them, arranged by a gifted performer. This new edition includes all of the melodies, text, commentary, and illustrations of the 1961 original and features a new introduction by Ron Pen, director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University of Kentucky.

Karl Barth’s commentary on Paul’s epistle to the Romans, in its two editions (1919 and 1922), is one of the most significant works published in Christian theology in the 20th century. This book, which landed “like a bombshell on the theologians’ playground,” still deserves close scrutiny one hundred years after its publication. In this volume, New Testament scholars, philosophers of religion and systematic theologians ponder the intricacies of Barth’s “expressionistic” commentary, pointing out the ways in which Barth interprets Paul’s epistle for his own day, how this actualized interpretation of the apostle’s message challenged the theology of Barth’s time, and how some of the insights he articulated in 1919 and in 1922 have shaped Christian theology up to our day. With his commentary, the young Swiss pastor paved the way for a renewed, intensely theological interpretation of the Scriptures. The volume thus centers of some of the key themes which run through Barth’s commentary: faith as divine gift beyond any human experience or psychological data, the Easter event as the turning point of the world’s history, God’s judgment and mercy and God’s one Word in Jesus Christ. This volume represents a major contribution to the interpretation of Karl Barth’s early thought.