This 17th book named as "The Esoteric Collections - The Magical Wisdom of Solomon - Book VII" is an important book, which contain some of the evolutionary wisdom long forgotten upon this planet earth, which still exists in the ''Universal Ethereal library'', which includes the divine wisdom of the Great Prophet King Solomon. This book contain various outlines and glimpses of the valuable information, which has been previously unknown to many, and are mostly related to the unrevealed history of the human Root races, as well their sub and branch races, who for eons are evolving upon this planet earth as the incarnated members of various casts and creeds, for their gradual conscious expansion according to the evolutionary plan, which is based upon the universal law of ''will to do good''.

This book of "The Esoteric Collections" - Part III came to be in existence as the previous Part -II could not contain all the esoteric articles, which I wished to, compile in that book, so I decided to compile the remaining articles in this third book which happens to be the 13th book in the esoteric knowledge series written by me. Although the science and technology has much advanced in the last few hundred years, which all humanity of planet earth has willingly accepted with open arms, the indwelling personality nature of the evolving human beings have continued their age old selfish nature based on prejudice, due to their unwilling to give up age old beliefs and established orders, which is unfortunately an attribute of so called false pride, attachments and greed, and which exists due to their polarization of evolving consciousness in the emotional plane of feelings and desires known as the Astral Plane [Kama Manas].

This classic by Harnack was an epoch-making historical work that set the standard for any history of doctrinal development. Harnack locates the origins and traces the development of the authoritative Christian doctrinal system from its beginnings down to the Reformation, with a brief survey of later developments through 1870.

This book provides a groundbreaking reinterpretation of the life and career of the preeminent polemicist of the Bishop Bonizo of Sutri. Through a meticulous analysis of Bonizo’s literary works and contemporary reports about his activities, the author uncovers the populist roots of both the bishop’s reform ideology and his vision of holy war against a heretical emperor, Henry IV of Germany. In establishing the predominance of Bonizo’s personal experience as a member of the populist Lombard reform community, the Pataria, in the formation of his thought, this study shatters the picture of a uniform Gregorian party and greatly strengthens the impression of the papal reform movement as a fragile coalition of multiple regional partners, like the Pataria, which enjoyed a fundamental unity of purpose but whose individual constituencies often diverged in their particular strategic objectives. This investigation, moreover, sets Bonizo’s story within the context of the urban life of his native Lombardy and examines the relationship between popular religious reform and the gradual development of communal government in northern Italy.

Regarded by his contemporaries as the leading madrigal composer of his time, Luca Marenzio was an important figure in sixteenth-century Italian music, and also highly esteemed in England, Flanders and Poland. This English translation of Marco Bizzarini's study of the life and work of Marenzio provides valuable insights into the composer's influence and place in history, and features an extensive, up-to-date bibliography and the first published list of archival sources containing references to Marenzio. Women play a decisive role as dedicatees of Marenzio's madrigals and in influencing the way in which they were performed. Bizzarini examines in detail the influence of both female and male patrons and performers on Marenzio's music and career, including his connections with the confraternity of SS Trinit nd other institutions. Dedications were also a political tool, as the book reveals. Many of Marenzio's dedications were made at the request of his employer Cardinal d'Este who wanted to please his French allies. Bizzarini examines these extra-musical dimensions to Marenzio's work and discusses the composer's new musical directions under the more austere administration of Pope Clement VIII.

This volume, the result of an international collaboration of forty scholars, provides a comprehensive resource on Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in their Chinese, Korean, and Japanese contexts from the first few centuries of the common era to the present.

The purpose of this book is to shed light on the rather unexplored "English facet" of Fernando Pessoa, considered one of the major Portuguese poets of the twentieth century. The originality of this study also lies in its extensive use of unpublished documents. Out of the bulk of Pessoa's English writings, The Mad Fiddler has been selected; it offers not only poems of better quality than most of his writings in English but it also has the advantage of being a complete and coherent suite of " mystical " poems. A systematic comparative study of the themes in The Mad Fiddler and in the poems by the four Portuguese heteronyms reveals a claer continuity and shows that Pessoa's bilingual Poetry is based on his main ontological quest, which he tried to solve by means of his dramatic scattering into " masks ". After this comparative analysis, the individuality of The Mad Fiddler is defined. Following an overwiew of the unpublished English writings found in the Pessoan legacy, The Mad Fiddler is analysed by means of Pessoa's own unpublished comments. An investigation of Pessoa's private French library and of his un published Literary Appreciations proves how fully he understood the impact of Symbolism on the evolution of Modern Art. The Mad Fiddler could indeed be viewed as an English echo of Pessoa's interest in modern trends in Literature and as a kind of " English microcosm " of Pessoa's aesthetic theory.

This book explores trans-cultural and cross-border transmission and transformation of Esoteric Buddhism in East Asia, focusing on its manuscript culture and the transborder transmission of Esoteric Buddhist texts. In East Asia, Esoteric Buddhism’s influences can be seen across all levels of society: not only in that it achieved a recognizable sectarian identity, but also because elements of esoteric teachings were absorbed by other religious schools, influencing their philosophical tenets and everyday practices. The influence was not confined to the religious sphere: scholars have been paying more and more attention to the significance of Tang Esoteric Buddhism in relation to material culture and the dissemination of Esoteric Buddhist technologies in South, Central, and East Asia. No matter how one looks at a maṇḍala—an integral feature of esoteric practice—or the uncannily expressive statues of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas or Yidam that come in all shapes and sizes, or the murals that depict the variegated, mysterious themes of the esoteric tradition, one can always recognise the profound connection between art and Esoteric Buddhism. Esoteric Iifluences also abound in East Asian literature across different genres, displaying its unique characters both in poetry and prose. Likewise, in architecture, one can readily make out the enigmatic, colorful and distinctive elements characteristic of the esoteric tradition. Monks initiated into the esoteric lineages not only brought Buddhist classics and practices to China but also advanced knowledge in astronomy, calendarial calculations and mathematical theories. The chapters in this volume focus on two major aspects of textual Esoteric Buddhism—its manuscript culture and transborder transmission. This book will be beneficial to advanced students and researchers interested in Religious Studies, History and Buddhist studies. It was originally published as a special issue of Studies in Chinese Religions.

"A most valuable book." —Christian Science Monitor For readers of The Monuments Men and The Hare with Amber Eyes, the story of the Nazis' systematic pillaging of Europe's libraries, and the small team of heroic librarians now working to return the stolen books to their rightful owners. While the Nazi party was being condemned by much of the world for burning books, they were already hard at work perpetrating an even greater literary crime. Through extensive new research that included records saved by the Monuments Men themselves—Anders Rydell tells the untold story of Nazi book theft, as he himself joins the effort to return the stolen books. When the Nazi soldiers ransacked Europe’s libraries and bookshops, large and small, the books they stole were not burned. Instead, the Nazis began to compile a library of their own that they could use to wage an intellectual war on literature and history. In this secret war, the libraries of Jews, Communists, Liberal politicians, LGBT activists, Catholics, Freemasons, and many other opposition groups were appropriated for Nazi research, and used as an intellectual weapon against their owners. But when the war was over, most of the books were never returned. Instead many found their way into the public library system, where they remain to this day. Now, Rydell finds himself entrusted with one of these stolen volumes, setting out to return it to its rightful owner. It was passed to him by the small team of heroic librarians who have begun the monumental task of combing through Berlin’s public libraries to identify the looted books and reunite them with the families of their original owners. For those who lost relatives in the Holocaust, these books are often the only remaining possession of their relatives they have ever held. And as Rydell travels to return the volume he was given, he shows just how much a single book can mean to those who own it.