This article argues that the analysis of a threedimensional image demanded a three-dimensional approach. The authors realise that discussions of images and image processing inveterately conceptualise representation as being flat, static, and finite. The authors recognise the need for a fresh acuteness to three-dimensionality as a meaningful – a…[Read more]

This text consists of the ‘lectio praecursoria’ given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation “The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval Portugal”. This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in late-medieval Portugal (late…[Read more]

This article investigates several discussions of “chemistry,” understood as an analysts’ category referring to theories and practices dealing with the structure and transformation of matter. By reading these texts (a treatise defending kīmiyāʾ by al-Fārābī, the famous passage from Ibn Sīnā’s Shifāʾ on transmutation, Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwā…[Read more]

This blog post gives an overview of the Camden Material and Colour Guide. The guide provides property owners of heritage buildings in the Camden Heritage Conservation Area with tips and hints on restoration and conservation of their houses. The guide provides colour schemes on building exteriors and interiors by housing styles between 1840 and…[Read more]

The term “alchemy,” born out of early modern professional polemics among chemists, is problematic as a historical category. The present article shifts away from asking what pre-modern alchemy “really” was, to asking how medieval scholars writing in Greek and Arabic thought about the practice of treating and combining naturally occurring substan…[Read more]

This blog post is about a spring festival in Camden, NSW, called Celebrate Camden.
The brainchild of Vicki Sutherland from the Camden Chamber of Commerce, it aimed to promote Camden as a viable tourist and shopping destination.
The festival had mixed success and was held in 1994 and 1995, to be replaced by the Cowpastures Bicentennial.

All around the community in the Macarthur region are cultural artefacts that are representations of the settler-colonial narrative of the Cowpastures, which was variously a colonial frontier, a government reserve, and a formal region.
Today, the material culture of the Cowpastures is hidden in plain sight and appears to have been ‘forgotten’ by…[Read more]

This is a preprint of the Conclusion to a book called A History of Camden Chinese Market Gardeners 1899-1993 edited by Ian Willis and others

This article briefly examines the ideology of motherhood in the small country town of Camden, NSW.
Around the turn of the century in 1900, a direct link was made between infant welfare, motherhood, patriotism and nationalism. Motherhood and mothering were expressed in terms of patriotism and a national priority. All were driven by European…[Read more]

This blog post explores the story of a memorial plaque to Jennifer Eggins in Camden, NSW.
Outside John Oxley Cottage, Camden Visitor Information Centre at 46 Camden Valley Way Elderslie, is a memorial plaque with a story to tell of local identity, Jennifer Eggins, and her legacy that still echoes across the district. She was one of the founders…[Read more]

Comprised of soft glacial cliffs and sandy beaches, the southeastern coastline of Ireland is dominated by unconsolidated Quaternary-aged sediments with fewer rock exposures than Ireland’s other coasts. Facing Britain across a rough sea, County Wexford has been prone to incursions from both political and environmental forces throughout history. T…[Read more]

This biography of the German medical doctor and minerologist Diederich Wessel Linden (fl.1745-1768; d.1769) is the unabridged, pre-publication version of an accepted and revised article for publication in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. This version is also available as an online blog post:…[Read more]

In comics: how ancient rabbis upend “traditional” ideas of reproduction, gender, and humanity. A blog post commissioned by UC Press Blog about the book When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species.

Link: htt…[Read more]

Review of “Shakespeare, Theology, and the Unstaged God” by Anthony D. Baker, “Great Stage of Fools: A Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays” by Peter J. Leithart, and “Shakeshafte & Other Plays” by Rowan Williams.

Review of “No Flesh Shall Glory: How the Bible Destroys the Foundations of Racism” by C. Herbert Oliver and “How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice” by Jemar Tisby.

Review essay of “Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents” by Rod Dreher and “Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition” by Roland Boer.

Review essay of “Children of the Waters of Meribah: Black Liberation Theology, the Miriamic Tradition, and the Challenges of Twenty-First-Century Empire” by Allan Aubrey Boesak and “Evangelical Theologies of Liberation and Justice” edited by Mae Elsie Cannon and Andrea Smith.

Review essay of “Dare We Speak of Hope? Searching for a Language of Life in Faith and Politics” by Allan Aubrey Boesak, “Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology” by James K. A. Smith, and “Politics after Christendom: Political Theology in a Fractured World” by David VanDrunen.

Review essay of “Confessions” by Augustine, translated by Sarah Ruden and “On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts” by James K. A. Smith.

Review essay of “The World Come of Age: An Intellectual History of Liberation Theology” by Lilian
Calles Barger and “Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody: The Making of a Black Theologian” by James H. Cone.