Throughout history to the present day, religion has ideologically fueled wars, conquests, and persecutions. Christianity and Islam, the world's largest and geopolitically powerful faiths, are often positioned as mortal enemies locked in an apocalyptic "clash of civilizations." Rarely are similarities addressed.
Dreaming in Christianity and Islam, the first book to explore dreaming in these religions through original essays, fills this void. The editors reach a plateau by focusing on how studying dreams reveals new aspects of social and political reality. International scholars document the impact of dreams on sacred texts, mystical experiences, therapeutic practices, and doctrinal controversies.
While questioning the importance of the Western psychology of dreams and their function, this volume embraces these communities' theological understandings of dreams as communications from the divine and argues that dreams can be interpreted vehicles to bring the two communities together in peaceful unity. Recommended.
Dreaming the Graphic Novel undertakes the very important task of deepening our understanding of the origins of book format comics and giving a historical context to the anxieties around comics and graphic novels in the 2000s.
Dreaming the Graphic Novel is a methodological wonder for scholars interested in American popular culture, digital humanities, text mining, and the history of comics and graphic novels. His mixed methodological approach allows him to successfully participate in 'the ongoing recovery of comics studies’ prehistory' as well as establish 'a new way of doing graphic novel history.' Williams’ book should be a required reading...for courses offering an introduction to graphic novels in the U.S. Comics fans, comics scholars, and those interested in the history of graphic novel might also find this a stimulating read.
Review of Dreaming the Graphic Novel in Medienwissenschaft 01/2021
There is much to recommend in Williams’ examples of, and conversation around, long-form comics of the period provided throughout the book....An excellent corrective to the scatter-shot references one usually encounters [that] succeeds in correcting some long-standing misconceptions about the development of the graphic novel.
As Williams’ detailed scholarship shows, efforts by major creators like Corben, Will Eisner, and Art Spiegelman secured academic and cultural legitimacy for the graphic novel while ensuring, through their newly integrative approach, a differential art recognized for its aesthetic seriousness yet independent of institutional strictures.
Accessible and detailed, Williams’s study expands on previous scholarship on the evolution of comics into graphic narratives. Highly recommended.
The 1970s are one of the most under-appreciated periods in the history of comic books. As sales collapsed, comic book publishers grasped at any innovation that offered a potential road forward. Paul Williams’s masterful study focuses on this chaotic period as it traces the complex ways that catastrophic change spurred a fundamental reconsideration of what comic books were and could be. Drawing on a vast array of historical documents, Williams shows how the graphic novel became the cultural format of our time.
A thoughtful and engaging exploration of the complex disagreements and debates over the term, form and temporality of the 'graphic novel.'
Foreword Introduction Part I Divine Dream Dilemmas Early Christians and Their Dreams Discerning the Voice of God Dreaming through the Bible with Luther and Calvin Dreams and Visions of the Dying Part II Dreaming in the Life of the Prophet Muhammad Religious and Psychological Aspects of Dreams in Islam Healing and Dreams in Islam Istikhara and Dreams Dream and Spirit in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah's Work Qitab al-Ruh Dreaming of Jinn in Contemporary Jordan Women and Dream Interpretation in Contemporary Iran Part III Books on Dream Interpretation Conversion Dreams in Christianity and Islam A Comparison of Islamic Dream Theory and Western Psychological Theories of the Dream The Typical Dreams of Jordanian College Students Imagery and Understanding in the Dreams of Christian and Muslim Children "But You Have Taken My Dreams Away from Me" The Ambiguities of Privilege Conclusion
Kelly Bulkeley is a visiting scholar at the Graduate Theological Union and author of Dreaming in the World's Religions.Kate Adams is a senior lecturer in education studies at Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln, UK, and the coauthor of The Spiritual Dimension of Childhood.Patricia M. Davis is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.
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