Gravitational lensing, previously thought of as just a curiosity associated with the bending of light predicted by General Relativity, has been gaining more attention in recent years for what it can tell astronomers and cosmologists about the geometry of the universe, its expansion rate and matter content, the formation and distribution of large scale structures, and the nature of dark matter. It may also provide the ability to look for non-luminous stellar objects (black holes, neutron stars, etc.). Mollerach and Roulet (both of the Centro At=mico Bariloche, Argentina) provide a pedagogical presentation of the various aspects of lensing appropriate for students at a graduate level. After a brief historical introduction, chapters cover the bending of light, lensing theory, macrolensing results, and microlensing. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

'There is always some view of language built into biblical interpretation. If we are to read Scripture to hear God's address it is vital that we attend to current debates about language and become critically conscious in this respect.'Craig BartholomewAfter Pentecost is the second volume from the Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar. This annual gathering of Christian scholars from various disciplines was established in 1998 and aims to reassess the discipline of biblical studies from the foundations up and forge creative new ways for reopening the Bible in our cultures.The Seminar was aware from the outset that any renewal of biblical interpretation would have to attend to the issue of language. In this rich and creative volume the importance of linguistic issues for biblical interpretation is analyzed, the challenge of postmodernism is explored, and some of the most creative recent developments in philosophy and theology of language are assessed and updated for biblical interpretation. CONTRIBULTORS INCLUDE:Mary HesseRay Van LeeuwenAnthony ThiseltonKevin VanhoozerNicholas Wolterstorff

Renewing Biblical Interpretation is the first of eight volumes from the Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar. This annual gathering of Christian scholars from various disciplines was established in 1998 and aims to re-assess the discipline of biblical studies from the foundation up and forge creative new ways for re-opening the Bible in our cultures.Including a retrospective on the consultation by Walter Brueggemann, the contributors to Renewing Biblical Interpretation consider three elements in approaching the Bible---the historical, the literary and the theological---and the underlying philosophical issues that shape the way we think about literature and history.

La nascita di un sentimento nazionale tedesco è il filo conduttore del libro di Moller. L'autore ne segue le prime manifestazioni durante le guerre di Federico il Grande e studia lo sviluppo di una nazione culturale sulla base della contrapposizione ma anche della collaborazione tra principati e borghesia. Come avvenne che bavaresi, prussiani, wuttenberghesi diventarono tedeschi? Come fu possibile che dal vecchio impero uscisse l'Austria? Il libro offre, per il periodo che va dalla guerra dei Sette Anni al Congresso di Vienna, una sintesi che tiene in egual conto demografia, società, economia, politica e cultura e presenta un'immagine complessiva di quell'età ricca di mutamenti che collega il vecchio Impero e la Germania moderna.

Polygamy, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, punishing women for being raped, differential access for men and women to health care and education, unequal rights of ownership, assembly, and political participation, unequal vulnerability to violence. These practices and conditions are standard in some parts of the world. Do demands for multiculturalism--and certain minority group rights in particular--make them more likely to continue and to spread to liberal democracies? Are there fundamental conflicts between our commitment to gender equity and our increasing desire to respect the customs of minority cultures or religions? In this book, the eminent feminist Susan Moller Okin and fifteen of the world's leading thinkers about feminism and multiculturalism explore these unsettling questions in a provocative, passionate, and illuminating debate.

Okin opens by arguing that some group rights can, in fact, endanger women. She points, for example, to the French government's giving thousands of male immigrants special permission to bring multiple wives into the country, despite French laws against polygamy and the wives' own bitter opposition to the practice. Okin argues that if we agree that women should not be disadvantaged because of their sex, we should not accept group rights that permit oppressive practices on the grounds that they are fundamental to minority cultures whose existence may otherwise be threatened.

In reply, some respondents reject Okin's position outright, contending that her views are rooted in a moral universalism that is blind to cultural difference. Others quarrel with Okin's focus on gender, or argue that we should be careful about which group rights we permit, but not reject the category of group rights altogether. Okin concludes with a rebuttal, clarifying, adjusting, and extending her original position. These incisive and accessible essays--expanded from their original publication in Boston Review and including four new contributions--are indispensable reading for anyone interested in one of the most contentious social and political issues today.

The diverse contributors, in addition to Okin, are Azizah al-Hibri, Abdullahi An-Na'im, Homi Bhabha, Sander Gilman, Janet Halley, Bonnie Honig, Will Kymlicka, Martha Nussbaum, Bhikhu Parekh, Katha Pollitt, Robert Post, Joseph Raz, Saskia Sassen, Cass Sunstein, and Yael Tamir.

La giustizia nella famiglia non è un dato naturale, ma deve essere 'costruita': e ciò è possibile solo se viene messa in discussione la posizione delle donne in essa, la divisione del lavoro domestico non retribuito, i ruoli e i riconoscimenti che si riflettono nella vita professionale 'esterna'.

For graduate mathematics students, explains the general theory of fiber bundles and their universal application to manifolds, the elements of K-theory, and the several characteristic classes. The third edition includes new chapters on the gauge group of a principal bundle, and the definition of Chern classes by differential forms; the second edition added a section on the Adams conjecture; first published in 1966. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Drawing a parallel between a healthy family and a healthy society, this work argues that the absence of justice in the American family--highlighted by the number of women who live below the poverty level and who are excluded from positions of power--can only undercut democracy