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.
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In Death and Beyond?, Kumiko Takeuchi offers a fresh take on the book of Ecclesiastes. Premised on the current scholarly consensus that locates the composition of this book of the Hebrew Bible in the postexilic era, circa the late fourth or early third century BCE, Takeuchi proposes that Ecclesiastes may have served as a provocative ......
Religion, LGBT Activism, and Arts of Resistance in Africa
Popular narratives cite religion as the driving force behind homophobia in Africa, portraying Christianity and LGBT expression as incompatible. Without denying Christianity’s contribution to the stigma, discrimination, and exclusion of same-sex-attracted and gender-variant people on the continent, Adriaan van Kinken presents an ......
The Journal and History of the Brouwer Expedition to Valdivia in 1643
To the Shores of Chile presents the remarkable story of an expedition that took place in Latin America during the height of the Dutch Empire. Skillfully translated by Mark Meuwese, this captivating work sheds light on Dutch imperialism and the complicated relationships between Native peoples and European colonizers.
Virginia Woolf was not a religious person in any traditional sense, yet she lived and worked in an environment rich with religious thought, imagination, and debate. From her agnostic parents to her evangelical grandparents, an aunt who was a Quaker theologian, and her friendship with T. S. Eliot, Woolf’s personal circle was filled with ......
Ableism, a form of discrimination that elevates “able” bodies over those perceived as less capable, remains one of the most widespread areas of systematic and explicit discrimination in Western culture. Yet, in contrast to the substantial body of scholarly work on racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism, ableism remains ......
A survey of recent scholarship shows that historians who are skeptical about any “real” history of early Israel have disparaged the idea that Israel had an early presence in Transjordan. This skeptical stance, however, is by no means shared by everyone. Cross, for instance, asserted that the tribe of Reuben was a catalyst for ......
The Hebrew Bible has long been the subject of theological inquiries and debates in Judaism and Christianity. But is there something like theology already in the Hebrew Bible itself? Is it possible to describe the literary growth of the Hebrew Bible by means of an ongoing theological debate? Answers to these questions depend on how one conceives ......
Antonio (Nee Maria) Yta's Transgressive, Transatlantic Life in the Twilight of the Spanish Empire
In 1803 in the colonial South American city of La Plata, Doña Martina Vilvado y Balverde presented herself to church and crown officials to denounce her husband of more than four years, Don Antonio Yta, as a woman in disguise. Forced to submit to a medical inspection that revealed a woman's body, Don Antonio confessed to having been María ......
The History of a Family Estate, as Revealed in the Correspondence Between Brognard Okie and Ernst and Mary Behrend
By 1930, having developed a highly successful business, the innovative paper manufacturer Ernst Behrend and his wife Mary purchased a number of existing houses and farms to give them sufficient acreage to create a large estate. In 1948 this property became a campus of Penn State University. Known as Penn State Behrend, to this day it retains the ......
