- Table View
- List View
Four Views on the Axiology of Theism: What Difference Does God Make?
by Kirk LougheedFor centuries, philosophers have addressed the ontological question of whether God exists. Most recently, philosophers have begun to explore the axiological question of what value impact, if any, God's existence has (or would have) on our world. This book brings together four prestigious philosophers, Michael Almeida, Travis Dumsday, Perry Hendricks and Graham Oppy, to present different views on the axiological question about God. Each contributor expresses a position on axiology, which is then met with responses from the remaining contributors. This structure makes for genuine discussion and developed exploration of the key issues at stake, and shows that the axiological question is more complicated than it first appears. Chapters explore a range of relevant issues, including the relationship between Judeo-Christian theism and non-naturalist alternatives such as pantheism, polytheism, and animism/panpsychism. Further chapters consider the attitudes and emotions of atheists within the theism conversation, and develop and evaluate the best arguments for doxastic pro-theism and doxastic anti-theism. Of interest to those working on philosophy of religion, theism and ethics, this book presents lively accounts of an important topic in an exciting and collaborative way, offered by renowned experts in this area.
A Relational Theory of the Atonement: African Contributions to Western Philosophical Theology (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
by Kirk LougheedWhile the atonement is a central component of Christianity, there is little agreement in the tradition about how it should be understood. This book develops and defends a novel relational theory of atonement inspired by African relational ethics. This book brings important themes from African ethics into conversation with the contemporary philosophical literature on the atonement. The author employs an African relational ethic that says an act is right inasmuch as it is friendly where friendliness is understood as identifying with others and expressing solidarity with them. This relational ethic sheds new light on the problem of sin, by emphasizing the relational disharmony it produces between God and humans. When applied to the Atonement, the passion and death of Christ can be understood as an ultimate act of friendliness in reconciling humanity to God. The author also explores questions about the nature of justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation. He shows how constructive punishment ought to be included in geuine forms of reconciliation and as such how punishment can be part of his relational theory of the atonement. The last part of the book develops alternative theories of the atonement based on two important African normative theories located in normative personhood and in life force. Overall, the book makes the case that the relational theory of the atonement should be considered as a serious competitor to longer-established Western theories. A Relational Theory of the Atonement will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, African philosophy, and comparative philosophy.
A Relational Theory of the Atonement: African Contributions to Western Philosophical Theology (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
by Kirk LougheedWhile the atonement is a central component of Christianity, there is little agreement in the tradition about how it should be understood. This book develops and defends a novel relational theory of atonement inspired by African relational ethics. This book brings important themes from African ethics into conversation with the contemporary philosophical literature on the atonement. The author employs an African relational ethic that says an act is right inasmuch as it is friendly where friendliness is understood as identifying with others and expressing solidarity with them. This relational ethic sheds new light on the problem of sin, by emphasizing the relational disharmony it produces between God and humans. When applied to the Atonement, the passion and death of Christ can be understood as an ultimate act of friendliness in reconciling humanity to God. The author also explores questions about the nature of justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation. He shows how constructive punishment ought to be included in geuine forms of reconciliation and as such how punishment can be part of his relational theory of the atonement. The last part of the book develops alternative theories of the atonement based on two important African normative theories located in normative personhood and in life force. Overall, the book makes the case that the relational theory of the atonement should be considered as a serious competitor to longer-established Western theories. A Relational Theory of the Atonement will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, African philosophy, and comparative philosophy.
Ubuntu and Western Monotheism: An Axiological Investigation (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
by Kirk LougheedThis book offers a unique comparative study of ubuntu, a dominant ethical theory in African philosophy, and western monotheism. It is the first book to bring ubuntu to bear on the axiology of theism debate in contemporary analytic philosophy of religion. A large motivating force behind this book is to explore the extent to which there is intersubjective ethical agreement and disagreement between ubuntu and Western worldviews like monotheism and naturalism. First, the author assesses the various arguments for anti-theism and pro-theism on the assumption that ubuntu is true. Ubuntu’s communitarian focus might be so different from the Western tradition that it completely changes how we evaluate theism and atheism. Second, the author assesses the advantages and disadvantages of the truth of ubuntu for the world. Third and finally, he assesses the axiological status of faith for both monotheism and ubuntu. Ubuntu and Western Monotheism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students specializing in philosophy of religion, African religion and philosophy, and religious ethics.
Ubuntu and Western Monotheism: An Axiological Investigation (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
by Kirk LougheedThis book offers a unique comparative study of ubuntu, a dominant ethical theory in African philosophy, and western monotheism. It is the first book to bring ubuntu to bear on the axiology of theism debate in contemporary analytic philosophy of religion. A large motivating force behind this book is to explore the extent to which there is intersubjective ethical agreement and disagreement between ubuntu and Western worldviews like monotheism and naturalism. First, the author assesses the various arguments for anti-theism and pro-theism on the assumption that ubuntu is true. Ubuntu’s communitarian focus might be so different from the Western tradition that it completely changes how we evaluate theism and atheism. Second, the author assesses the advantages and disadvantages of the truth of ubuntu for the world. Third and finally, he assesses the axiological status of faith for both monotheism and ubuntu. Ubuntu and Western Monotheism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students specializing in philosophy of religion, African religion and philosophy, and religious ethics.
Value Beyond Monotheism: The Axiology of the Divine (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
by Kirk LougheedThis book expands the current axiology of theism literature by assessing the axiological status of alternative conceptions of God and the divine. To date, most of the literature on the axiology of theism focuses almost exclusively on the axiological status of theism and atheism. Specifically, it focuses almost entirely on monotheism, typically Judeo-Christian conceptions of God, and atheism, usually construed as ontological naturalism. This volume features essays from prominent philosophers of religion, ethicists, and metaphysicians addressing the value impact of alternative views such as ultimism, polytheism, pantheism, panentheism, and idealism. Additionally, it reflects a wider trend in analytic philosophy of religion to broaden its scope beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition. Value Beyond Monotheism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in the philosophy of religion, ethics, and metaphysics.
Value Beyond Monotheism: The Axiology of the Divine (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
by Kirk LougheedThis book expands the current axiology of theism literature by assessing the axiological status of alternative conceptions of God and the divine. To date, most of the literature on the axiology of theism focuses almost exclusively on the axiological status of theism and atheism. Specifically, it focuses almost entirely on monotheism, typically Judeo-Christian conceptions of God, and atheism, usually construed as ontological naturalism. This volume features essays from prominent philosophers of religion, ethicists, and metaphysicians addressing the value impact of alternative views such as ultimism, polytheism, pantheism, panentheism, and idealism. Additionally, it reflects a wider trend in analytic philosophy of religion to broaden its scope beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition. Value Beyond Monotheism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in the philosophy of religion, ethics, and metaphysics.
African Philosophy of Religion and Western Monotheism (Elements in Religion and Monotheism)
by null Kirk Lougheed null Motsamai Molefe null Thaddeus MetzThe Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are typically recognized as the world's major monotheistic religions. However, African Traditional Religion is, despite often including lesser spirits and gods, a monotheistic religion with numerous adherents in sub-Saharan Africa; it includes the idea of a single most powerful God responsible for the creation and sustenance of everything else. This Element focuses on drawing attention to this major world religion that has been much neglected by scholars around the globe, particularly those working in the West or Northern Hemisphere. It accomplishes this primarily by bringing it into conversation with topics in the Anglo-American philosophy of religion.
Dagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America
by John LougheryAcclaimed biographer John Loughery tells the story of John Hughes, son of Ireland, friend of William Seward and James Buchanan, founder of St. John’s College (now Fordham University), builder of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, pioneer of parochial-school education, and American diplomat. As archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in the 1840 and 1850s and the most famous Roman Catholic in America, Hughes defended Catholic institutions in a time of nativist bigotry and church burnings and worked tirelessly to help Irish Catholic immigrants find acceptance in their new homeland. His galvanizing and protecting work and pugnacious style earned him the epithet Dagger John. When the interests of his church and ethnic community were at stake, Hughes acted with purpose and clarity.In Dagger John, Loughery reveals Hughes’s life as it unfolded amid turbulent times for the religious and ethnic minority he represented. Hughes the public figure comes to the fore, illuminated by Loughery’s retelling of his interactions with, and responses to, every major figure of his era, including his critics (Walt Whitman, James Gordon Bennett, and Horace Greeley) and his admirers (Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln). Loughery peels back the layers of the public life of this complicated man, showing how he reveled in the controversies he provoked and believed he had lived to see many of his goals achieved until his dreams came crashing down during the Draft Riots of 1863 when violence set Manhattan ablaze.To know "Dagger" John Hughes is to understand the United States during a painful period of growth as the nation headed toward civil war. Dagger John’s successes and failures, his public relationships and private trials, and his legacy in the Irish Catholic community and beyond provide context and layers of detail for the larger history of a modern culture unfolding in his wake.
Alien Sex: The Body and Desire in Cinema and Theology (Challenges in Contemporary Theology #16)
by Gerard LoughlinGerard Loughlin is one of the leading theologians working at the interface between religion and contemporary culture. In this exceptional work, he uses cinema and the films it shows to think about the church and the visions of desire it displays. Discusses various films, including the Alien quartet, Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange, Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth and Derek Jarman’s The Garden. Draws on a wide range of authors, both ancient and modern, religious and secular, from Plato to Levinas, from Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar to André Bazin and Leo Bersani. Uses cinema to think about the church as an ecclesiacinema, and films to think about sexual desire as erotic dispossession, as a way into the life of God. Written from a radically orthodox Christian perspective, at once both Catholic and critical.
Queer Theology: Rethinking the Western Body
by Gerard LoughlinQueer Theology makes an important contribution to public debate about Christianity and sex. A remarkable collection of specially commissioned essays by some of the brightest and best of Anglo-American scholars Edited by one of the leading theologians working at the interface between religion and contemporary culture Reconceptualizes the body and its desires Enlarges the meaningfulness of Christian sexuality for the good of the Church Proposes that bodies are the mobile products of changing discourses and regimes of power.
Human Dignity in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant Perspectives
by John LoughlinDignity is a fundamental aspect of our lives, yet one we rarely pause to consider; our understandings of dignity, on individual, collective and philosophical perspectives, shape how we think, act and relate to others. This book offers an historical survey of how dignity has been understood and explores the concept in the Judaeo-Christian tradition.World-renowned contributors examine the roots of human dignity in classical Greece and Rome and the Scriptures, as well as in the work of theologians, such as St Thomas Aquinas and St John Paul II. Further chapters consider dignity within Renaissance art and sacred music. The volume shows that dignity is also a contemporary issue by analysing situations where the traditional understanding has been challenged by philosophical and policy developments. To this end, further essays look at the role of dignity in discussions about transhumanism, religious freedom, robotics and medicine.Grounded in the principal Christian traditions of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and Protestantism, this book offers an interdisciplinary and cross-period approach to a timely topic. It validates the notion of human dignity and offers an introduction to the field, while also challenging it.
Human Dignity in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant Perspectives
by John LoughlinDignity is a fundamental aspect of our lives, yet one we rarely pause to consider; our understandings of dignity, on individual, collective and philosophical perspectives, shape how we think, act and relate to others. This book offers an historical survey of how dignity has been understood and explores the concept in the Judaeo-Christian tradition.World-renowned contributors examine the roots of human dignity in classical Greece and Rome and the Scriptures, as well as in the work of theologians, such as St Thomas Aquinas and St John Paul II. Further chapters consider dignity within Renaissance art and sacred music. The volume shows that dignity is also a contemporary issue by analysing situations where the traditional understanding has been challenged by philosophical and policy developments. To this end, further essays look at the role of dignity in discussions about transhumanism, religious freedom, robotics and medicine.Grounded in the principal Christian traditions of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and Protestantism, this book offers an interdisciplinary and cross-period approach to a timely topic. It validates the notion of human dignity and offers an introduction to the field, while also challenging it.
The Oxford Handbook of Jeremiah (Oxford Handbooks)
by Louis Stulman and Edward SilverThe Book of Jeremiah is one of the longest, most complex and influential writings in the Hebrew Bible. It comprises poetic oracles, prose sermons, and narratives of the prophet, as well as laments, symbolic actions, and utterances of hope from one of the most turbulent periods in the history of ancient Judah and Israel. Written by some of the most influential contemporary biblical interpreters today, The Oxford Handbook of Jeremiah offers compelling new readings of the text informed by a rich variety of methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks. In presenting discussions of the Book of Jeremiah in terms of its historical and cultural contexts of origins, textual and literary history, major internal themes, reception history, and significance for a number of key political issues, The Handbook examines the fascinating literary tradition of the Book of Jeremiah while also surveying recent scholarship. The result is a synthetic anthology that offers a significant contribution to the field as well as an indispensable resource for scholars and non-specialists alike.
Christian Mysticism and Incarnational Theology: Between Transcendence and Immanence (Contemporary Theological Explorations in Mysticism)
by Louise Nelstrop and Simon D. PodmoreThis book examines the relationship between transcendence and immanence within Christian mystical and apophatic writings. Original essays from a range of leading, established, and emerging scholars in the field focus on the roles of language, signs, and images, and consider how mystical theology might contribute to contemporary reflection on the Word incarnate. This collection of essays re-examines works from such canonical figures as Eckhart, Augustine, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Nicolas of Cusa, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, along with the philosophical thought of Iris Murdoch, Jacques Lacan, and Martin Heidegger, and the contemporary phenomena of the Emerging Church. Presenting new readings of key ideas in mystical theology, and renewed engagement with the visionary and the everyday, the therapeutic and the transformative, these essays question how we might think about what may lie between transcendence and immanence.
Original Sin and the Evolution of Sexual Difference (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Megan Loumagne UlishneyOriginal Sin and the Evolution of Sexual Difference develops an interdisciplinary conversation between evolutionary biology, feminist philosophy, and theology in order to illuminate the entanglement of Christian thinking about original sin with theologies of sexual difference. It then assesses the opportunities for rethinking original sin and its implications for theologies of sexual difference in light of developments in evolutionary biology and feminist theology and philosophy. Despite some resistances in the present age to conceptions of both original sin and meaningful sexual differences, this study argues that both can provide essential insights that help to make sense of some of the features of human life in the twenty-first century, especially the stubborn persistence of inequality, poverty, environmental degradation, and the pernicious patterns of sexual violence and abuse that have been uncovered by the #MeToo movement. To this end, Megan Loumagne Ulishney marshals resources from a variety of places-Augustine of Hippo, feminist theology, the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, John Paul II, and a new group of feminist philosophers known as the New Feminist Materialists-to develop an analysis of original sin and sexual difference that is grounded in both scientific and theological insights about creaturely life. The project cultivates a sense of wonder at the diversity and unpredictability of human biology, a value for the role of creativity in the human participation that partially shapes our ongoing evolution, and humility about the extent to which we can predict and control the future of the evolution of our species. It illuminates the interdependencies that define creaturely life, the persistent entanglement of nature and culture, the centrality of desire to human identity and behaviour, and the role played by biology in the transmission of sin. It develops a vision of material life as evolving, generative, and imbued with activity, but also as simultaneously infected with sin and saturated with the divine.
Original Sin and the Evolution of Sexual Difference (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Megan Loumagne UlishneyOriginal Sin and the Evolution of Sexual Difference develops an interdisciplinary conversation between evolutionary biology, feminist philosophy, and theology in order to illuminate the entanglement of Christian thinking about original sin with theologies of sexual difference. It then assesses the opportunities for rethinking original sin and its implications for theologies of sexual difference in light of developments in evolutionary biology and feminist theology and philosophy. Despite some resistances in the present age to conceptions of both original sin and meaningful sexual differences, this study argues that both can provide essential insights that help to make sense of some of the features of human life in the twenty-first century, especially the stubborn persistence of inequality, poverty, environmental degradation, and the pernicious patterns of sexual violence and abuse that have been uncovered by the #MeToo movement. To this end, Megan Loumagne Ulishney marshals resources from a variety of places-Augustine of Hippo, feminist theology, the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, John Paul II, and a new group of feminist philosophers known as the New Feminist Materialists-to develop an analysis of original sin and sexual difference that is grounded in both scientific and theological insights about creaturely life. The project cultivates a sense of wonder at the diversity and unpredictability of human biology, a value for the role of creativity in the human participation that partially shapes our ongoing evolution, and humility about the extent to which we can predict and control the future of the evolution of our species. It illuminates the interdependencies that define creaturely life, the persistent entanglement of nature and culture, the centrality of desire to human identity and behaviour, and the role played by biology in the transmission of sin. It develops a vision of material life as evolving, generative, and imbued with activity, but also as simultaneously infected with sin and saturated with the divine.
Hungarian Catholic Intellectuals in Contemporary Romania: Reforming Apostles (Contemporary Anthropology of Religion)
by Marc Roscoe LoustauSet against the backdrop of the rise of right-wing Christian nationalism in Eastern Europe, this book declares that Catholic theologians ought to be understood and studied as intellectuals: socially and historically situated creators of national cultural traditions. While the Romanian government funds thriving schools for the country’s Hungarian minority, NGOs founded by Transylvanian Hungarians continue to organize volunteers to supplement this formal pedagogy. These volunteers understand themselves to be reviving a national tradition of “serving the people” by educating the region’s rural Hungarian populace. While this book is about the challenges Catholic educators face in teaching villagers, it is just as much about their new effort to call groups of volunteers from across the border in Hungary to teach alongside them. In these encounters, Transylvanian Hungarian educators remake their intellectual tradition, especially ideas about the basis of pedagogical authority, the ethical character of the nation, and the social location of selfhood. When contemporary Catholic intellectuals urge teachers to manifest their national self-consciousness, they carry with them the assumption that selfhood emerges where humans collaborate with God. While Transylvanian Hungarian intellectuals are enmeshed in constant competition, by focusing on contemporary theologians New Magyar Apostles unmasks the struggle over the nature of divine presence that animates this revival of a Christian national tradition of intellectual service.
Denys the Areopagite (Outstanding Christian Thinkers)
by Andrew LouthAndrew Louth examines all the traditions on which Denys' work draws: the Fourth Century Greek theologians, pagan philosophy and Syrian Christian thought. The corpus of Denys the Areopagite appeared in the sixth century and have since been deeply influential on Christian thinking both in East and West. Who their author was remains a mystery but in this book Professor Louth documents and comments on his compelling vision of the beauty of God's world and his revelation, together with his profound awareness of the ultimate mystery of the unknowable God who utterly transcends all being.
Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (Penguin Classics)
by Andrew LouthThe writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.
The Origins Of The Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato To Denys (PDF)
by Andrew LouthOrigins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys
Selected Essays, Volume I: Studies in Patristics
by Prof Andrew LouthTaken together, these two volumes collect seventy-five essays written by Professor Andrew Louth over a forty-year period. Louth's contribution to scholarship and theology has always been significant, and these essays have been collected from journals and edited collections, many of which are difficult to access, and are here made available over two thought-provoking and wide-ranging volumes. Volume I focuses on a variety of topics in Patristics, or early Christian studies. In these essays, Louth discusses early Christian thinkers from the early second century through to Photios of Constantinople in the east (in the tenth century) and Thomas Aquinas in the west (in the thirteenth century). Constant figures who appear at the heart of these volumes are Maximos the Confessor (c.580 - 662) and John of Damascus (676-749).
Selected Essays, Volume I: Studies in Patristics
by Prof Andrew LouthTaken together, these two volumes collect seventy-five essays written by Professor Andrew Louth over a forty-year period. Louth's contribution to scholarship and theology has always been significant, and these essays have been collected from journals and edited collections, many of which are difficult to access, and are here made available over two thought-provoking and wide-ranging volumes. Volume I focuses on a variety of topics in Patristics, or early Christian studies. In these essays, Louth discusses early Christian thinkers from the early second century through to Photios of Constantinople in the east (in the tenth century) and Thomas Aquinas in the west (in the thirteenth century). Constant figures who appear at the heart of these volumes are Maximos the Confessor (c.580 - 662) and John of Damascus (676-749).
Selected Essays, Volume II: Studies in Theology
by Prof Andrew LouthTaken together, these two volumes collect seventy-five essays written by Professor Andrew Louth over a forty-year period. Louth's contribution to scholarship and theology has always been significant, and these essays have been collected from journals and edited collections, many of which are difficult to access, and are here made available over two thought-provoking and wide-ranging volumes. Volume II collects essays on a variety of theological topics, arranged chronologically, showing the development of Louth's thought since 1978. Throughout this collection the nature of 'theology', as it is understood within Orthodox tradition, is a constant concern. These essays offer distinctive reflections on categories — such as 'development of doctrine' — that have become foundational in modern western thought but which must be viewed rather differently from an Orthodox perspective. The legacy of modern Russian Orthodox thought — especially the key figures of the twentieth century Russian diaspora — is under constant consideration, and forms a constant dialogue partner.
Selected Essays, Volume II: Studies in Theology
by Prof Andrew LouthTaken together, these two volumes collect seventy-five essays written by Professor Andrew Louth over a forty-year period. Louth's contribution to scholarship and theology has always been significant, and these essays have been collected from journals and edited collections, many of which are difficult to access, and are here made available over two thought-provoking and wide-ranging volumes. Volume II collects essays on a variety of theological topics, arranged chronologically, showing the development of Louth's thought since 1978. Throughout this collection the nature of 'theology', as it is understood within Orthodox tradition, is a constant concern. These essays offer distinctive reflections on categories — such as 'development of doctrine' — that have become foundational in modern western thought but which must be viewed rather differently from an Orthodox perspective. The legacy of modern Russian Orthodox thought — especially the key figures of the twentieth century Russian diaspora — is under constant consideration, and forms a constant dialogue partner.