Books by Richard Shaw

Historians have long relied on Bede's Ecclesiastical History for their narrative of early Christian Anglo-Saxon England, but what material lay behind Bede's own narrative? What were his sources and how reliable were they? How much was based on contemporary material? How much on l...ater evidence? What was rhetoric? What represents his own agendas, deductions or even inventions? This book represents the first systematic attempt to answer these questions for Bede's History, taking as a test case the coherent narrative of the Gregorian mission and the early Church in Kent. Through this critique, it becomes possible, for the first time, to catalogue Bede's sources and assess their origins, provenance and value - even reconstructing the original shape of many that are now lost. The striking paucity of his primary sources for the period emerges clearly. This study explains the reason why this was the case. At the same time, Bede is shown to have had access to a greater variety of texts, especially documentary, than has previously been realised. This volume thus reveals Bede the historian at work, with implications for understanding his monastery, library and intellectual milieu together with the world in which he lived and worked. It also showcases what can be achieved using a similar methodology for the rest of the Ecclesiastical History and for other contemporary works. Most importantly, thanks to this study, it is now feasible - indeed necessary - for subsequent historians to base their reconstructions of the events of c.600 not on Bede but on his sources. As a result, this book lays the foundations for future work on the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England and offers the prospect of replacing and not merely refining Bede's narrative of the history of early Christian Kent.
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This third edition of Historical Dictionary of New Zealand contains a chronology, an introduction, appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 800 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and... culture.
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Bede's Ecclesiastical History is our main source for early Christian Anglo-Saxon England, but how was it written? When? And why? Scholars have spent much of the last half century investigating the latter question - the 'why'. This new study is the first to systematically consider... the 'how' and the 'when'. Richard Shaw shows that rather than producing the History at a single point in 731, Bede was working on it for as much as twenty years, from c. 715 to just before his death in 735. Unpacking and extending the period of composition of Bede's best-known book makes sense of the complicated and contradictory evidence for its purposes. The work did not have one context, but several, each with its own distinct constructed audiences. Thus, the History was not written for a single purpose to the exclusion of all others. Nor was it simply written for a variety of reasons. It was written over time - quite a lot of time - and as the world changed during that time, so too did Bede's reasons for writing, the intentions he sought to pursue - and the patrons he hoped to please or to placate.
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His opponents called him Dagger John with mixed derision and awe. His enemies, and there were many of them, used uglier words. His allies approached him with careful deference, his subordinates with trepidation. He was, in real life, the Most Reverend John Hughes, Archbishop of N...ew York, a one-time day laborer and foreman of slaves who became a preacher and pamphleteer and a political force to be reckoned with. No demure ecclesiastic, Hughes was a hard-nosed battler for the rights of immigrant Irish in the middle decades of the 19th century. He championed their cause in an age when the Catholic Church was only grudgingly accepted as a partner in the American dream. Hughes was, moreover, the prototype of the autocratic prelate who would rule the American Catholic Church for the next one hundred years. Squelching democratic strivings among his clergy and laity whenever they appeared, he created a model for the highly structured Romanized Church that would eventually dominate the American religious scene. This book is the first major biography of John Hughes to be published in more than a century. It reflects new research into the life of Hughes and the details of his many struggles. It does not set out to explain the inner impulses of the man - who was, in the end, tightlipped about his private life. But it does shed new light on the public Hughes, a churchman who appeared in the newspapers as often as he appeared in the pulpit. It recounts his raucous, sometimes hilarious battles with the pre-Civil War nativists, with disgruntled clergy from his own Church, and with public figures such as James Gordon Bennett. It tells of his (often high-handed) dealings with revolutionaries, politicians, fellow bishops, apostates, Presidents, ranting bigots, Popes, and his own poor, belligerent, but fiercely devoted Catholic flock.
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The authors demystify how others view the world so readers can experience meaningful connections better, recognize people's needs, patterns, and ways of working to gain productivity, maximize their own talents and strengths while minimizing their weaknesses, and boost motivation ...for optimal success and enjoyment of life.
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