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Senses of Tradition: Continuity and Development in Catholic Faith

This book articulates a theory of Catholic tradition that departs from previous understandings. Drawing on the medieval concept of the four-fold sense of scripture, John Thiel proposes four interpretive senses of tradition. He also offers a theory of doctrinal development that reconciles Catholic belief in apostolic authority and continuity of tradition with a critical approach to the evidence of history.

The Senses of Scripture: Sensory Perception in the Hebrew Bible

The Senses of Scripture reveals the essence of biblical epistemology - the ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that biblical scholars should follow a similar path. Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia, touch, taste, and smell. It is further demonstrated that the senses, according to the HB, are a divinely created physical experience, which symbolised human ability to act in a sovereign manner in the world. Despite the lack of a biblical Hebrew term 'sense', it seems that at times the merism sight and hearing serves that matter. Finally, the book discusses the longstanding dispute regarding the primacy of sight vs. hearing, and claims that although there is no strict sensory hierarchy evident in the text, sight holds a central space in biblical epistemology.

Senses of Mystery: Engaging with Nature and the Meaning of Life

In this beautifully written book, David E. Cooper uses a gentle walk through a tropical garden – the view of the fields and hills beyond it, the sound of birds, voices and flutes, the reflection of light in water, the play of shadows among the trees and the presence of strange animals – as an opportunity to reflect on experiences of nature and the mystery of existence. Covering an extensive range of topics, from Daoism to dogs, from gardening to walking, from Zen to Debussy, Cooper succeeds in conveying some deep and difficult philosophical ideas about the meaning of life in an engaging manner, showing how those ideas bear upon the practical question of how we should relate to our world and live our lives. A thought-provoking and compelling book, Senses of Mystery is a triumph of both storytelling and philosophy.

Senses of Mystery: Engaging with Nature and the Meaning of Life

In this beautifully written book, David E. Cooper uses a gentle walk through a tropical garden – the view of the fields and hills beyond it, the sound of birds, voices and flutes, the reflection of light in water, the play of shadows among the trees and the presence of strange animals – as an opportunity to reflect on experiences of nature and the mystery of existence. Covering an extensive range of topics, from Daoism to dogs, from gardening to walking, from Zen to Debussy, Cooper succeeds in conveying some deep and difficult philosophical ideas about the meaning of life in an engaging manner, showing how those ideas bear upon the practical question of how we should relate to our world and live our lives. A thought-provoking and compelling book, Senses of Mystery is a triumph of both storytelling and philosophy.

SENSE & SADNESS C: Syriac Chant in Aleppo

Sense and Sadness is an innovative study of music modality in relation to human emotion and the aesthetics of perception. It is also a musical story of survival through difficulty and pain. Focusing on chant at St George's Syrian Orthodox Church of Aleppo, author Tala Jarjour puts forward the concept of the emotional economy of aesthetics, which enables a new understanding of modal musicality in general and of Syriac musicality in particular. Jarjour combines insights from musicology and ethnomusicology, sound and religious studies, anthropology, history, East Christian and Middle Eastern studies, and the study of emotion, to seamlessly weave together multiple strands of a narrative which then becomes the very story it tells. Drawing on imagination and metaphor, she brings to the fore overlapping, at times contradictory, modes of sense and sense making. At once intimate and analytical, this ethnographic text entwines academic thinking with its subject(s) and subjectivities, portraying events, writing, people, and music as they unfold together through ritual commemorations and a devastating, ongoing war.

Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith

The image of the "cafeteria Catholic" -- one who blithely picks and chooses those doctrines that suit him -- is a staple of American culture. But are American Catholics really so nonchalant about how they integrate the ancient devotional practices of Catholicism with the everyday struggles of the modern world? For Sense of the Faithful, Jerome Baggett conducted 300 intensive interviews with members of six parishes to explore all aspects of this question. The book is an act of listening that allows ordinary Catholics to speak for themselves about how they understand their faith and how they draw upon it to find purpose in their lives. Many American Catholics, Baggett shows, do indeed have an uneasy relationship with the official teachings of the Church and struggle to live faithfully amidst the challenges of the modern world. But Baggett finds that it is a genuine struggle, one that reveals a dynamic and self-aware relationship to the Church's teachings. Moving beyond the simplistic categories of national surveys and the politically motivated pronouncements of pundits, Sense of the Faithful ultimately paints a more complex -- and more accurate -- portrait of what it is like to be Catholic in America today.

Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith

The image of the "cafeteria Catholic" -- one who blithely picks and chooses those doctrines that suit him -- is a staple of American culture. But are American Catholics really so nonchalant about how they integrate the ancient devotional practices of Catholicism with the everyday struggles of the modern world? For Sense of the Faithful, Jerome Baggett conducted 300 intensive interviews with members of six parishes to explore all aspects of this question. The book is an act of listening that allows ordinary Catholics to speak for themselves about how they understand their faith and how they draw upon it to find purpose in their lives. Many American Catholics, Baggett shows, do indeed have an uneasy relationship with the official teachings of the Church and struggle to live faithfully amidst the challenges of the modern world. But Baggett finds that it is a genuine struggle, one that reveals a dynamic and self-aware relationship to the Church's teachings. Moving beyond the simplistic categories of national surveys and the politically motivated pronouncements of pundits, Sense of the Faithful ultimately paints a more complex -- and more accurate -- portrait of what it is like to be Catholic in America today.

The Sense Of Suffering: Constructions Of Physical Pain In Early Modern Culture (Intersections Ser. #12)

The Sense of Self: Perspectives from Science and Zen Buddhism

At the heart of this book is one of the most ancient and profound question philosophers, spiritual seekers, and curious individuals have pondered since the beginning of history: “Who am I?”. Advances in modern science, and access to Zen tradition, have provided us with broader and richer understanding of this topic. Over the chapters the author, a psychologist and Zen master, investigates how the brain fosters a sense of an independent self, situating his research in the contexts of neuroscience, ecology, evolution, psychology, and of the principles Eastern wisdom traditions. The book explores a broad range of insights from brain science, evolutionary biology, astronomy, clinical psychology, thoughts and emotions, mental health disorders, and Zen Buddhism. This book will appeal to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counsellors, and researchers of Eastern traditions. General readers interested in the functioning of the brain will discover practical ways to integrate fascinating new findings on an age-old question into their everyday life.

The Sense of Creation: Experience and the God Beyond (Routledge Philosophy of Religion Series)

What kind of experience might help to confirm and make sense of the puzzling belief in divine creation, so central to the main monotheistic religions? Anselm and Aquinas developed a philosophical understanding of 'Creation' as an asymmetrical relationship between the world and God, that is, that the world is really related to God in a relationship of total dependence but God is in no way really related to or modified by this created world. This idea of an asymmetrical relationship is the key concept unifying all aspects of this book which discusses the three main inter-related questions in a philosophical discussion about God -- the question of meaning, the question of existence, and the question of co-existence. The book explores various 'ciphers' of this asymmetrical relationship in our pre-philosophical lived experience. These are experiences such as that of the relationship between our knowledge and what we know, or our sense of obligation to our vulnerable neighbour. It argues that deciphering such experiences helps to make sense of the 'asymmetrical' relation of creation and that it in turn makes sense of them. Masterson argues further that this idea of asymmetrical relationship provides insight into the main questions of philosophy of religion and is an illuminating source of critical dialogue with contemporary Anglo/American and Phenomenological approaches in philosophy of religion.

The Sense of Creation: Experience and the God Beyond (Routledge Philosophy of Religion Series)

What kind of experience might help to confirm and make sense of the puzzling belief in divine creation, so central to the main monotheistic religions? Anselm and Aquinas developed a philosophical understanding of 'Creation' as an asymmetrical relationship between the world and God, that is, that the world is really related to God in a relationship of total dependence but God is in no way really related to or modified by this created world. This idea of an asymmetrical relationship is the key concept unifying all aspects of this book which discusses the three main inter-related questions in a philosophical discussion about God -- the question of meaning, the question of existence, and the question of co-existence. The book explores various 'ciphers' of this asymmetrical relationship in our pre-philosophical lived experience. These are experiences such as that of the relationship between our knowledge and what we know, or our sense of obligation to our vulnerable neighbour. It argues that deciphering such experiences helps to make sense of the 'asymmetrical' relation of creation and that it in turn makes sense of them. Masterson argues further that this idea of asymmetrical relationship provides insight into the main questions of philosophy of religion and is an illuminating source of critical dialogue with contemporary Anglo/American and Phenomenological approaches in philosophy of religion.

The Sense of Biblical Narrative II: Structural Analyses in the Hebrew Bible (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

These three studies continue the methods and aims of Volume I (1978, 2nd edn 1986), applying a structuralist method developed mainly from Claude LTvi-Strauss and A.J. Greimas to various texts and problems in the narrative sections of the Hebrew Bible. The new studies go beyond those of the previous volume, however, in two ways. They begin to take account of the deconstructive method of Derrida, the 'standing on its head' of structuralism; and they seek to make a contribution to feminist and liberation exegesis and hermeneutics. The first study is a deconstruction of Genesis 2-3, showing that the oppositions which the text purports to establish (including divine vs. human and male vs. female) are in fact assumed in advance. The second deals with the implicit political theory of the Deuteronomists, and discovers an 'indeterminate' attitude to monarchy. The third, inspired by Norman K. Gottwald and seeking, from a great methodological distance, to illuminate his problematic of Israel's origins, analyses the attitude implied by the Bible towards Transjordan and the Israelites who live there.

Sense of Biblical Narrative, I: Structural Analyses In The Hebrew Bible (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

David Jobling uses a structuralist method developed mainly from Claude Levi-Strauss and A.J. Greimas to apply to various texts and problems in the narrative sections of the Hebrew Bible. Areas of the Bible covered are 1 Samuel; Numbers 11-12, and 1 Kings 17-18.

A Sense of Belonging: Religion and Identity in British Fishing Communities (Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies)

Exploring the relationship between identity and religion in British Fishing Communities during the 19th and early 20th centuries, this volume focuses on three communities in the UK: Scarborough, Filey and Grimsby.The study offers a brief overview of the development of these communities and outlines the nature of the relationship between institutionalised and popular religion. It explores religion as a range of discourses or narratives that provide us with a way of viewing this matrix of meaning that has had a significant influence on the construction and maintenance of identity. It also examines the role of ritual and performance, both of which have been shown to play an important part in the daily lives of community members, not least in helping to provide and reinforce a sense of security, stability and belonging.

A Sense of Belonging: Religion and Identity in British Fishing Communities (Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies)

Exploring the relationship between identity and religion in British Fishing Communities during the 19th and early 20th centuries, this volume focuses on three communities in the UK: Scarborough, Filey and Grimsby.The study offers a brief overview of the development of these communities and outlines the nature of the relationship between institutionalised and popular religion. It explores religion as a range of discourses or narratives that provide us with a way of viewing this matrix of meaning that has had a significant influence on the construction and maintenance of identity. It also examines the role of ritual and performance, both of which have been shown to play an important part in the daily lives of community members, not least in helping to provide and reinforce a sense of security, stability and belonging.

Sense and Sensitivity: Essays on Reading the Bible in Memory of Robert Carroll (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

In this collection of studies to the memory of Robert Carroll, and reflecting his interests in prophecy, ideology and reception history, are contributions from Graeme Auld, John Ashton, Alice Bach, Hans Barstad, Joseph Blenkinsopp, Athalya Brenner, David Clines, Johann Cook, Robert Davidson, Philip Davies, Sean Freyne, Norman Gottwald, Lester Grabbe, John Halligan, Alastair Hunter, David Jasper, William Johnstone, Gabriel Josipovici, Francis Landy, Heather McKay, Stephen Prickett, Hugh Pyper, Stefan Reif, John Sawyer, Robert Setio, Yvonne Sherwood, Carol Smith and Johanna Stiebert.

Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo

Sense and Sadness is an innovative study of music modality in relation to human emotion and the aesthetics of perception. It is also a musical story of survival through difficulty and pain. Focusing on chant at St George's Syrian Orthodox Church of Aleppo, author Tala Jarjour puts forward the concept of the emotional economy of aesthetics, which enables a new understanding of modal musicality in general and of Syriac musicality in particular. Jarjour combines insights from musicology and ethnomusicology, sound and religious studies, anthropology, history, East Christian and Middle Eastern studies, and the study of emotion, to seamlessly weave together multiple strands of a narrative which then becomes the very story it tells. Drawing on imagination and metaphor, she brings to the fore overlapping, at times contradictory, modes of sense and sense making. At once intimate and analytical, this ethnographic text entwines academic thinking with its subject(s) and subjectivities, portraying events, writing, people, and music as they unfold together through ritual commemorations and a devastating, ongoing war.

Sensational Religion: Sensory Cultures in Material Practice

The result of a collaborative, multiyear project, this groundbreaking book explores the interpretive worlds that inform religious practice and derive from sensory phenomena. Under the rubric of "making sense," the studies assembled here ask, How have people used and valued sensory data? How have they shaped their material and immaterial worlds to encourage or discourage certain kinds or patterns of sensory experience? How have they framed the sensual capacities of images and objects to license a range of behaviors, including iconoclasm, censorship, and accusations of blasphemy or sacrilege? Exposing the dematerialization of religion embedded in secularization theory, editor Sally Promey proposes a fundamental reorientation in understanding the personal, social, political, and cultural work accomplished in religion’s sensory and material practice. Sensational Religion refocuses scholarly attention on the robust material entanglements often discounted by modernity’s metaphysic and on their inextricable connections to human bodies, behaviors, affects, and beliefs.

Sensational Piety: Practices of Mediation in Islamic and Pentecostal Movements in Abuja, Nigeria (Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion)

Grounded in anthropological comparison and the concept of materiality, this book offers an in-depth ethnographic study of the similarities and differences among various forms of religious practices in a Pentecostal Church (Christ Embassy) and an Islamic group (NASFAT) in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Scholarship in this area tends to focus on inter-religious contestations and conflicts; however, this book proposes that another dynamic is unfolding between Christians and Muslims that is characterised by conviviality, interfaith joint action programmes, mutual influences and even the exchange of religious forms. The comparative approach reveals that, notwithstanding the seemingly opposed worldviews and divergences between Muslims and Christians, they all face similar challenges and apply similar techniques for meeting the challenges posed by the precarious Nigerian urban environment. It is through practices – especially those conducted in (semi-) public settings – that people from different religious persuasions define, encroach on and feel the weight of each other's presence.

Sensational Piety: Practices of Mediation in Islamic and Pentecostal Movements in Abuja, Nigeria (Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion)

Grounded in anthropological comparison and the concept of materiality, this book offers an in-depth ethnographic study of the similarities and differences among various forms of religious practices in a Pentecostal Church (Christ Embassy) and an Islamic group (NASFAT) in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Scholarship in this area tends to focus on inter-religious contestations and conflicts; however, this book proposes that another dynamic is unfolding between Christians and Muslims that is characterised by conviviality, interfaith joint action programmes, mutual influences and even the exchange of religious forms. The comparative approach reveals that, notwithstanding the seemingly opposed worldviews and divergences between Muslims and Christians, they all face similar challenges and apply similar techniques for meeting the challenges posed by the precarious Nigerian urban environment. It is through practices – especially those conducted in (semi-) public settings – that people from different religious persuasions define, encroach on and feel the weight of each other's presence.

Sensational Devotion: Evangelical Performance in Twenty-First-Century America

Sensational Devotion examines contemporary Passion plays, biblical theme parks, Holy Land recreations, creationist museums, and megachurches in order to understand how they serve their evangelical believer-users while also shaping larger cultural and national dialogues. Jill Stevenson explores how performative media support specific theologies and core beliefs by creating sensual, live experiences for those who use them. The book explores evangelical performance across a range of media and sites, including film, television, theater, tourist attractions, museums, and places of worship. Using historical research coupled with firsthand experiences, it critically examines these spaces and events within their specific religious, cultural, and national contexts, while placing them within a long devotional tradition to suggest how they cultivate religious belief by generating vivid, sensual, affectively oriented, and individualized experiences. Stevenson’s analysis builds upon existing work on performance and cognition, as well as theories of affect, as it contributes to existing scholarship on American evangelicalism and evangelical Christian media.

Sennacherib and the War of 1812: Disputed Victory in the Assyrian Campaign of 701 BCE in Light of Military History (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

This volume investigates the question of how both Assyria and Judah could remember the war of 701 BCE as their respective victory. Whilst surveying available evidences for historical reconstructions, Paul S. Evans compares the Sennacherib's Third Campaign with the War of 1812 between Canada and the USA as an example of disputed victory from military history. Evans examines Assyrian and biblical texts to evaluate the conflict and argues that rather than being intentionally deceptive in their accounts of the events, both sides had reasons to perceive the war as a victory. This examination of military narratives also illustrates how the fluctuating support for wartime leaders in 1812 is analogous to positive and negative oracles regarding Jerusalem's leadership during the war years. With differing opinions regarding the success of the Sennacherib's Third Campaign, this book presents an interesting discussion of the events and demonstrates how our understanding of the war between Assyria and Judah can be illuminated by military history.

The Sender Companion Journal: Be a Blessing and Other Lessons from The Sender

Journal companion to The SenderDiscover thirty-one uplifting lettersInspired by real, life-changing messages of encouragementPractice gratitude with daily readings and guided journalingEnjoy new letters not included in The SenderThe perfect gift for Christians seeking personal and spiritual growth

The Sender: A Story About When Right Words Make All The Difference

Sometimes the right words make all the differenceA few months ago he was a high school football coach. Now Charlie Cristo is a cancer patient, battling not only an aggressive disease but also years of bitterness and disappointment. Then anonymous letters start arriving from a source known only as The Sender. Lift your spirits. Work the process. Help one another. The short, wise counsel in the letters challenged Charlie Cristo to fight the disease ravaging his body and the anger threatening his soul. What will you do with The Sender's advice?

Semiotics of the Christian Imagination: Signs of the Fall and Redemption (Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics)

The semiotics of the Christian imagination describes the repository of signs and the logic of signification through which a community of faith envisions spiritual truths. This book analyses various examples in text, images, music, art and scientific treatise of the imaginative semiotisation of the fall of Man and the Church's semiotic perception of the Divine plan for Redemption.The book includes a chapter detailing the theory of signs, based on a close reading of primary sources, and has nine further chapters on the meaning-making inherent in ideas of the Fall and Redemption of mankind. These are filtered through and given material representation by the semiotic paradigms of various cultural fields, including philology, verbal arts and science.Central to this practice - and to the book's message - are two themes of theological semiotics fundamental to man's understanding of himself in the larger scheme of things. Two of these include the theology of the Fall and a sacramental theory of signs. The theory is grounded in the doctrine of analogy, and this is the only reliable cognitive link between the immanence of the thinking subject and the transcendence that is the object of thought.