Founded in 1956, Penn State University Press publishes rigorously reviewed, high-quality works of scholarship and books of regional and contemporary interest, with a focus on the humanities and social sciences. The publishing arm of the Pennsylvania State University and a division of the Penn State University Libraries, the Press promotes the advance of scholarship by disseminating knowledge—new information, interpretations, methods of analysis—widely in books, journals, and digital publications.
Scholarly publishing has faced monumental challenges over the past few decades. The Press takes its place among those institutions moving the enterprise forward. Its innovative projects continue to identify and embrace the technological advances and business models that ensure scholarly publishing will remain feasible, and widely accessible, well into the future.
The Elephantine texts have been variously studied, mainly with respect to their impact on Jewish history. But these texts have more to offer, particularly in relation to the history of women. Annalisa Azzoni, in The Private Lives of Women in Persian Egypt, delves deeply into these texts, examining these Egyptian Aramaic documents in ......
Clare of Assisi, Agnes of Prague, and the Struggle for a Franciscan Rule for Women
Early in the thirteenth century a young woman named Clare was so moved by the teachings of Francis of Assisi that she renounced her possessions, vowing to live a life of radical poverty. Today Clare is remembered for her relationship with Francis, but her own dedication to poverty and her struggle to gain papal approval for a Franciscan Rule ......
Lippmann, Dewey, and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century
Almost one hundred years have passed since Walter Lippmann and John Dewey published their famous reflections on the "problems of the public," but their thoughts remain surprisingly relevant as resources for thinking through our current crisis-plagued predicament. This book takes stock of the reception history of Lippmann's and Dewey's ideas about ......
Lippmann, Dewey, and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century
Almost one hundred years have passed since Walter Lippmann and John Dewey published their famous reflections on the "problems of the public," but their thoughts remain surprisingly relevant as resources for thinking through our current crisis-plagued predicament. This book takes stock of the reception history of Lippmann's and Dewey's ideas about ......
Adam Smith is popularly regarded as the ideological forefather of laissez-faire capitalism, while Rousseau is seen as the passionate advocate of the life of virtue in small, harmonious communities and as a sharp critic of the ills of commercial society. But, in fact, Smith had many of the same worries about commercial society that Rousseau did ......
A graphic novel adaptation of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, illustrating the story of an exile preparing to return to his home and sharing his thoughts on the human condition.
The Stained Glass Windows of Jacob Landau, Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Some of the most breathtaking art in America lies behind doors that few ever open. One such masterpiece is The Prophetic Quest, a series of ten monumental stained glass windows in the Keneseth Israel synagogue, just north of Philadelphia.
The book offers an up-to-date and readable introduction to the manifold literary and historical problems of biblical prophecy. Reinhard Gregor Kratz provides the reader with a clear analysis of the development of the institution of prophecy in ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism. Through a close reading of the prophetic corpus he ......
Assembling a complete list of extant personal names and all data related to those names (lexical meaning, geographical location, occupation, activities, and textual sources), Radner and her colleagues have created an invaluable resource for linguistic, historical, and social/cultural studies of Assyrian times. This, the first part of volume ......