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On Religion
by John D CaputoJohn D. Caputo explores the very roots of religious thinking in this thought-provoking book. Compelling questions come up along the way: 'What do I love when I love my God?' and 'What can Star Wars tell us about the contemporary use of religion?' (are we always trying to find a way of saying 'God be with you'?) Why is religion for many a source of moral guidance in a postmodern, nihilistic age? Is it possible to have 'religion without religion'?Drawing on contemporary images of religion, such as Robert Duvall's film The Apostle, Caputo also provides some fascinating and imaginative insights into religious fundamentalism.
On Religion and Psychology (Coleridge's Writings)
by S. ColeridgeOf all the wide-ranging interests Coleridge showed in his career, religion was the deepest and most long lasting, and Beer demonstrates in this book how none of this work can be fully understood without taking this into account. Beer also reveals how Coleridge was preoccupied by the life of the mind and how closely this subject was intertwined with religion in his thinking.
On Religious Diversity
by Robert McKimIn On Religious Diversity Robert McKim distinguishes and examines a number of possible responses to the knowledge of diverse religious traditions that is available to all of us today. There is no escaping the fact that the presence of competing traditions now confronts each of the traditions in a new and forceful way. And there is widespread if inchoate recognition of genuine religious sensibilities and genuine religious seriousness in others. How might, and how should, an awareness of other traditions affect a member of a particular religious tradition? What attitudes should be taken to the beliefs and salvific prospects of members of other traditions? McKim examines several proposed answers to these questions, offering the deepest analysis to date of such options as exclusivism and inclusivism. He argues that what look like well-defined and discrete positions dissolve somewhat under scrutiny, revealing significantly different possibilities. McKim suggests where best to look for the most plausible answers and makes a case for the attractiveness of inclusivistic options. He pays particular attention to the religiously ambiguous nature of our circumstances and to the implications of this ambiguity.
On Religious Diversity (Philosophy Of Religion - World Religions Ser. #6)
by Robert McKimIn On Religious Diversity Robert McKim distinguishes and examines a number of possible responses to the knowledge of diverse religious traditions that is available to all of us today. There is no escaping the fact that the presence of competing traditions now confronts each of the traditions in a new and forceful way. And there is widespread if inchoate recognition of genuine religious sensibilities and genuine religious seriousness in others. How might, and how should, an awareness of other traditions affect a member of a particular religious tradition? What attitudes should be taken to the beliefs and salvific prospects of members of other traditions? McKim examines several proposed answers to these questions, offering the deepest analysis to date of such options as exclusivism and inclusivism. He argues that what look like well-defined and discrete positions dissolve somewhat under scrutiny, revealing significantly different possibilities. McKim suggests where best to look for the most plausible answers and makes a case for the attractiveness of inclusivistic options. He pays particular attention to the religiously ambiguous nature of our circumstances and to the implications of this ambiguity.
On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams (The William E. Massey Sr. lectures in the history of American Civilization ; #2008)
by Roger WilliamsBanished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his refusal to conform to Puritan religious and social standards, Roger Williams established a haven in Rhode Island for those persecuted in the name of the religious establishment. He conducted a lifelong debate over religious freedom with distinguished figures of the seventeenth century, including Puritan minister John Cotton, Massachusetts governor John Endicott, and the English Parliament. James Calvin Davis gathers together important selections from Williams's public and private writings on religious liberty, illustrating how this renegade Puritan radically reinterpreted Christian moral theology and the events of his day in a powerful argument for freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state. For Williams, the enforcement of religious uniformity violated the basic values of Calvinist Christianity and presumed upon God's authority to speak to the individual conscience. He argued that state coercion was rarely effective, often causing more harm to the church and strife to the social order than did religious pluralism. This is the first collection of Williams's writings in forty years reaching beyond his major work, The Bloody Tenent, to include other selections from his public and private writings. This carefully annotated book introduces Williams to a new generation of readers.
On Retreat: The Mowbray Lent Book 2012
by Andrew WalkerRetreats are increasingly popular but the classic 8-day version is nowadays too daunting or too expensive for most. Here is a resource for both first-timers and the more experienced: a journey of personal prayer to be made over the period of one Lent, slowly integrating formal prayer times and the routine activities of daily living into a deeper encounter with God. The material is equally suitable for the reader at home, or for groups, or can be adapted to a residential retreat (either self-guided or directed). Effective use of prayer time is explored, with the emphasis on practical suggestions and ideas including scripture and poetry, meditation, contemplation, journalling and intercession. A 'prayer journey' through Lent, increasingly involving the whole person, opens up a world of spiritual possibilities by encouraging a deeper relationship with God and a reconnection with daily living, reinvigorated and hopeful.
On Retreat: The Mowbray Lent Book 2012
by Andrew WalkerRetreats are increasingly popular but the classic 8-day version is nowadays too daunting or too expensive for most. Here is a resource for both first-timers and the more experienced: a journey of personal prayer to be made over the period of one Lent, slowly integrating formal prayer times and the routine activities of daily living into a deeper encounter with God. The material is equally suitable for the reader at home, or for groups, or can be adapted to a residential retreat (either self-guided or directed). Effective use of prayer time is explored, with the emphasis on practical suggestions and ideas including scripture and poetry, meditation, contemplation, journalling and intercession. A 'prayer journey' through Lent, increasingly involving the whole person, opens up a world of spiritual possibilities by encouraging a deeper relationship with God and a reconnection with daily living, reinvigorated and hopeful.
On Roman Religion: Lived Religion and the Individual in Ancient Rome (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology #67)
by Jörg RüpkeWas religious practice in ancient Rome cultic and hostile to individual expression? Or was there, rather, considerable latitude for individual initiative and creativity? Jörg Rüpke, one of the world’s leading authorities on Roman religion, demonstrates in his new book that it was a lived religion with individual appropriations evident at the heart of such rituals as praying, dedicating, making vows, and reading. On Roman Religion definitively dismantles previous approaches that depicted religious practice as uniform and static. Juxtaposing very different, strategic, and even subversive forms of individuality with traditions, their normative claims, and their institutional protections, Rüpke highlights the dynamic character of Rome’s religious institutions and traditions. In Rüpke’s view, lived ancient religion is as much about variations or even outright deviance as it is about attempts and failures to establish or change rules and roles and to communicate them via priesthoods, practices related to images or classified as magic, and literary practices. Rüpke analyzes observations of religious experience by contemporary authors including Propertius, Ovid, and the author of the "Shepherd of Hermas." These authors, in very different ways, reflect on individual appropriation of religion among their contemporaries, and they offer these reflections to their readership or audiences. Rüpke also concentrates on the ways in which literary texts and inscriptions informed the practice of rituals.
On Romans: and Other New Testament Essays
by C. E. CranfieldProfessor Charles Cranfield takes a fresh look at some important questions currently in debate. Several of these essays are previously unpublished.Subjects include, for example, what Paul meant by "the works of law;" whether his meaning in the words "pistis Christou" was "faith in Christ" or "Christ's faith;" whether the old Testament law has a continuing place in the life of the Christian church. In "Sanctification as Freedom," the author attempts to draw out the significance of the apostle's affirmation that the law of the Spirit has freed the believer from the law of sin and of death.Cranfield does not lose sight of the relevance of theology, and of New Testament studies in particular, to the life of the Church and of the Christian individual today.
On Sacrifice
by Moshe HalbertalThe idea and practice of sacrifice play a profound role in religion, ethics, and politics. In this brief book, philosopher Moshe Halbertal explores the meaning and implications of sacrifice, developing a theory of sacrifice as an offering and examining the relationship between sacrifice, ritual, violence, and love. On Sacrifice also looks at the place of self-sacrifice within ethical life and at the complex role of sacrifice as both a noble and destructive political ideal. In the religious domain, Halbertal argues, sacrifice is an offering, a gift given in the context of a hierarchical relationship. As such it is vulnerable to rejection, a trauma at the root of both ritual and violence. An offering is also an ambiguous gesture torn between a genuine expression of gratitude and love and an instrument of exchange, a tension that haunts the practice of sacrifice. In the moral and political domains, sacrifice is tied to the idea of self-transcendence, in which an individual sacrifices his or her self-interest for the sake of higher values and commitments. While self-sacrifice has great potential moral value, it can also be used to justify the most brutal acts. Halbertal attempts to unravel the relationship between self-sacrifice and violence, arguing that misguided self-sacrifice is far more problematic than exaggerated self-love. In his exploration of the positive and negative dimensions of self-sacrifice, Halbertal also addresses the role of past sacrifice in obligating future generations and in creating a bond for political associations, and considers the function of the modern state as a sacrificial community.
On Sacrifice
by Moshe HalbertalThe idea and practice of sacrifice play a profound role in religion, ethics, and politics. In this brief book, philosopher Moshe Halbertal explores the meaning and implications of sacrifice, developing a theory of sacrifice as an offering and examining the relationship between sacrifice, ritual, violence, and love. On Sacrifice also looks at the place of self-sacrifice within ethical life and at the complex role of sacrifice as both a noble and destructive political ideal. In the religious domain, Halbertal argues, sacrifice is an offering, a gift given in the context of a hierarchical relationship. As such it is vulnerable to rejection, a trauma at the root of both ritual and violence. An offering is also an ambiguous gesture torn between a genuine expression of gratitude and love and an instrument of exchange, a tension that haunts the practice of sacrifice. In the moral and political domains, sacrifice is tied to the idea of self-transcendence, in which an individual sacrifices his or her self-interest for the sake of higher values and commitments. While self-sacrifice has great potential moral value, it can also be used to justify the most brutal acts. Halbertal attempts to unravel the relationship between self-sacrifice and violence, arguing that misguided self-sacrifice is far more problematic than exaggerated self-love. In his exploration of the positive and negative dimensions of self-sacrifice, Halbertal also addresses the role of past sacrifice in obligating future generations and in creating a bond for political associations, and considers the function of the modern state as a sacrificial community.
On Salafism: Concepts and Contexts (Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures)
by Azmi BisharaOn Salafism offers a compelling new understanding of this phenomenon, both its development and contemporary manifestations. Salafism became associated with fundamentalism when the 9/11 Commission used it to explain the terror attacks and has since been connected with the violence of the so-called Islamic State. With this book, Azmi Bishara critically deconstructs claims of continuity between early Islam and modern militancy and makes a counterargument: Salafism is a wholly modern construct informed by specific sociopolitical contexts. Bishara offers a sophisticated account of various movements—such as Wahabbism and Hanbalism—frequently collapsed into simplistic understandings of Salafism. He distinguishes reformist from regressive Salafism, and examines patterns of modernization in the development of contemporary Islamic political movements and associations. In deconstructing the assumptions of linear continuity between traditional and contemporary movements, Bishara details various divergences in both doctrine and context of modern Salafisms, plural. On Salafism is a crucial read for those interested in Islamism, jihadism, and Middle East politics and history.
On Salafism: Concepts and Contexts (Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures)
by Azmi BisharaOn Salafism offers a compelling new understanding of this phenomenon, both its development and contemporary manifestations. Salafism became associated with fundamentalism when the 9/11 Commission used it to explain the terror attacks and has since been connected with the violence of the so-called Islamic State. With this book, Azmi Bishara critically deconstructs claims of continuity between early Islam and modern militancy and makes a counterargument: Salafism is a wholly modern construct informed by specific sociopolitical contexts. Bishara offers a sophisticated account of various movements—such as Wahabbism and Hanbalism—frequently collapsed into simplistic understandings of Salafism. He distinguishes reformist from regressive Salafism, and examines patterns of modernization in the development of contemporary Islamic political movements and associations. In deconstructing the assumptions of linear continuity between traditional and contemporary movements, Bishara details various divergences in both doctrine and context of modern Salafisms, plural. On Salafism is a crucial read for those interested in Islamism, jihadism, and Middle East politics and history.
On Secularization: Towards a Revised General Theory
by David Martin'Secularization' has been hotly debated since it was first subjected to critical attention in the mid-sixties by David Martin, before he sketched a 'General Theory' in 1969. 'On Secularization' presents David Martin's reassessment of the key issues: with particular regard to the special situation of religion in Western Europe, and questions in the global context including Pentecostalism in Latin America and Africa. Concluding with examinations of Pluralism, Christian Language, and Christianity and Politics, this book offers students and other readers of social theory and sociology of religion an invaluable reappraisal of Christianity and Secularization. It represents the most comprehensive sociology of contemporary Christianity, set in historical depth.
On Secularization: Towards a Revised General Theory
by David Martin'Secularization' has been hotly debated since it was first subjected to critical attention in the mid-sixties by David Martin, before he sketched a 'General Theory' in 1969. 'On Secularization' presents David Martin's reassessment of the key issues: with particular regard to the special situation of religion in Western Europe, and questions in the global context including Pentecostalism in Latin America and Africa. Concluding with examinations of Pluralism, Christian Language, and Christianity and Politics, this book offers students and other readers of social theory and sociology of religion an invaluable reappraisal of Christianity and Secularization. It represents the most comprehensive sociology of contemporary Christianity, set in historical depth.
On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement, and the Vulnerable Christ (Reading Augustine)
by David Vincent MeconiOn Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ explores St. Augustine of Hippo's theology of sin, described as various forms of self-loathing and self-destruction, in addition to sin's antidote, a vulnerable relationship with the crucified Christ. Incorporating recent thinking on self-destruction and self-loathing into his reading of Augustine, David Vincent Meconi explores why we are not only allured by sin, but will actually destroy ourselves to attain it, even when we are all too well aware that this sin will bring us no true, lasting pleasure.Meconi traces the phenomena of self-destruction and self-loathing from Augustine to today. In particular, he focuses in on how self-love can turn to self-harm, and the need to provide salvage for such woundedness by surrendering to Christ, showing how Augustine's theology of sin and salvation is still crucially applicable in contemporary life and societies.
On Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement, and the Vulnerable Christ (Reading Augustine)
by David Vincent MeconiOn Self-Harm, Narcissism, Atonement and the Vulnerable Christ explores St. Augustine of Hippo's theology of sin, described as various forms of self-loathing and self-destruction, in addition to sin's antidote, a vulnerable relationship with the crucified Christ. Incorporating recent thinking on self-destruction and self-loathing into his reading of Augustine, David Vincent Meconi explores why we are not only allured by sin, but will actually destroy ourselves to attain it, even when we are all too well aware that this sin will bring us no true, lasting pleasure.Meconi traces the phenomena of self-destruction and self-loathing from Augustine to today. In particular, he focuses in on how self-love can turn to self-harm, and the need to provide salvage for such woundedness by surrendering to Christ, showing how Augustine's theology of sin and salvation is still crucially applicable in contemporary life and societies.
On Signs, Christ, Truth and the Interpretation of Scripture (Reading Augustine)
by Susannah TicciatiSusannah Ticciati explores Augustine's scriptural interpretation, as well as the ways in which he understands the character of signs in theory. The book explores Augustine's scriptural world via three case studies, each geared towards the healing of a particular modern opposition. The three, interrelated, modern oppositions are rooted in an insufficient semiotic worldview. Ticciati argues they contribute to the alienation of the modern reader not only from Augustine's scriptural world, but more generally from the scriptural world as habitation. Examining the ways in which the therapy for our modern day semiotic illiteracy can be found in the 5th-6th-century Augustine, Ticciati brings close readings of Augustine to bear on significant concerns of our own day: specifically, our modern alienations from the rich world of Scripture.
On Signs, Christ, Truth and the Interpretation of Scripture (Reading Augustine)
by Susannah TicciatiSusannah Ticciati explores Augustine's scriptural interpretation, as well as the ways in which he understands the character of signs in theory. The book explores Augustine's scriptural world via three case studies, each geared towards the healing of a particular modern opposition. The three, interrelated, modern oppositions are rooted in an insufficient semiotic worldview. Ticciati argues they contribute to the alienation of the modern reader not only from Augustine's scriptural world, but more generally from the scriptural world as habitation. Examining the ways in which the therapy for our modern day semiotic illiteracy can be found in the 5th-6th-century Augustine, Ticciati brings close readings of Augustine to bear on significant concerns of our own day: specifically, our modern alienations from the rich world of Scripture.
On Solitude, Conscience, Love and Our Inner and Outer Lives (Reading Augustine)
by Ronald HaflidsonRon Haflidson places the theology of Augustine in conversation with contemporary authors, who warn of the dangers of abandoning solitude for constant (often technological) connection. Haflidson addresses an essential question that has previously been neglected: What difference does it make to the practice of solitude if one believes that even in the absence of any human company, God is always intimately present? For Augustine, solitude is a moral necessity: he recommends that we regularly retreat from the crowd into the depths of our conscience, where we can dwell alone in the company of God, and enter into dialogue before and with God about who we are and how we love. Throughout this book, Haflidson pairs close readings of Augustine with those of noted cartographers of our inner lives, literary greats including Jane Austen, George Eliot, Marilynne Robinson and George Saunders. This book explores what undiscovered possibilities may lie in solitude.
On Solitude, Conscience, Love and Our Inner and Outer Lives (Reading Augustine)
by Ronald HaflidsonRon Haflidson places the theology of Augustine in conversation with contemporary authors, who warn of the dangers of abandoning solitude for constant (often technological) connection. Haflidson addresses an essential question that has previously been neglected: What difference does it make to the practice of solitude if one believes that even in the absence of any human company, God is always intimately present? For Augustine, solitude is a moral necessity: he recommends that we regularly retreat from the crowd into the depths of our conscience, where we can dwell alone in the company of God, and enter into dialogue before and with God about who we are and how we love. Throughout this book, Haflidson pairs close readings of Augustine with those of noted cartographers of our inner lives, literary greats including Jane Austen, George Eliot, Marilynne Robinson and George Saunders. This book explores what undiscovered possibilities may lie in solitude.
On Teaching Religion: Essays by Jonathan Z. Smith
For more than thirty years, Jonathan Z. Smith has been among the most important voices of critical reflection within the academic study of religion. Smith has also produced a significant corpus of essays and lectures on teaching and on the essential role of academic scholarship on religion in matters of education and public policy. Education is not a side issue for Smith, and his essays continually shed light on fundamental questions. What differentiates college from high school? What are the proper functions of an introductory course? What functions should a department serve in undergraduate and graduate education? How should a major or concentration be conceived-if at all? What roles should the academic guilds play in public discourse on education and on religion? Most importantly, what does it mean to say that one is both a scholar and a teacher, and what responsibilities does this entail? Smith's writings on these crucial issues for education have been largely inaccessible until now. Some pieces in this book appeared in education journals, while others were collected in specialist volumes of conference proceedings. Many were originally delivered as keynote speeches to the American Academy of Religion and other major scholarly organizations, and although scholars reminisce about hearing Smith deliver them, the works themselves are not readily available. On Teaching Religion collects the best of these essays and lectures into one volume, along with a new essay by Smith.
On the Arab Revolts and the Iranian Revolution: Power and Resistance Today (Suspensions: Contemporary Middle Eastern and Islamicate Thought)
by Arshin Adib-MoghaddamOn the Arab Revolts and the Iranian Revolution: Power and Resistance Today is the first comparative analysis of two central political events that have altered our world forever: the Arab uprisings which started in Tunisia, and the Iranian revolution in 1979. Adib-Moghaddam demonstrates how contemporary forms of protest are changing our understanding about the way power and resistance function. In a theoretical tour de force which is substantiated with a range of primary material, he argues that acts of protest in Tehran to Cairo can be entirely linked to the same act in New York, London, Madrid and Athens. Breaking through the east/west, north/south divide, Adib-Moghaddam shows how the Arab revolts promise to shift the discourse away from the idea that Arabs and Muslims are peculiar, that "Middle Eastern Studies" cannot be linked to political theory, that the dynamics of rebellion "there" are fundamentally different from the politics of revolt "here". Adib-Moghaddam argues that the dialectics of power and resistance are truly universal and that they are unfolding within a globalised political context that is increasingly interconnected. In order to illuminate this argument theoretically, the study is organised around conceptual terms that feed into forms of power and resistance, such as revolution, radicalism, dissent, knowledge, neighbour and reform. These terms and concepts are discussed and deconstructed via an empirical discussion of pivotal events beyond the non-western world, demonstrating that for a long time, and without realising it, we have been living in the end times of unitary categories such as "west" and "east."
On the Arab Revolts and the Iranian Revolution: Power and Resistance Today (Suspensions: Contemporary Middle Eastern and Islamicate Thought)
by Arshin Adib-MoghaddamOn the Arab Revolts and the Iranian Revolution: Power and Resistance Today is the first comparative analysis of two central political events that have altered our world forever: the Arab uprisings which started in Tunisia, and the Iranian revolution in 1979. Adib-Moghaddam demonstrates how contemporary forms of protest are changing our understanding about the way power and resistance function. In a theoretical tour de force which is substantiated with a range of primary material, he argues that acts of protest in Tehran to Cairo can be entirely linked to the same act in New York, London, Madrid and Athens. Breaking through the east/west, north/south divide, Adib-Moghaddam shows how the Arab revolts promise to shift the discourse away from the idea that Arabs and Muslims are peculiar, that "Middle Eastern Studies" cannot be linked to political theory, that the dynamics of rebellion "there" are fundamentally different from the politics of revolt "here". Adib-Moghaddam argues that the dialectics of power and resistance are truly universal and that they are unfolding within a globalised political context that is increasingly interconnected. In order to illuminate this argument theoretically, the study is organised around conceptual terms that feed into forms of power and resistance, such as revolution, radicalism, dissent, knowledge, neighbour and reform. These terms and concepts are discussed and deconstructed via an empirical discussion of pivotal events beyond the non-western world, demonstrating that for a long time, and without realising it, we have been living in the end times of unitary categories such as "west" and "east."
On the Death of the Pilgrim: The Postcolonial Hermeneutics of Jarava Lal Mehta (Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures #3)
by Thomas B EllisThis searching examination of the life and philosophy of the twentieth-century Indian intellectual Jarava Lal Mehta details, among other things, his engagement with the oeuvres of Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Jacques Derrida. It shows how Mehta’s sense of cross-cultural philosophy and religious thought were affected by these engagements, and maps the two key contributions Mehta made to the sum of human ideas. First, Mehta outlined what the author dubs a ‘postcolonial hermeneutics’ that uses the ‘ethnotrope’ of the pilgrim to challenge the philosophical hermeneutic emphasis on supplementation and augmentation. For Mehta, the hermeneutic encounter ruptures, rather than supplements, the self. Secondly, Mehta extended this concept of hermeneutics to interrogate the Hindu tradition, arriving at the concept of the ‘negative messianic’. In contrast to Derrida's emphasis on the 'one to come', Mehta shows how the Hindu bhakti model represents the very opposite, that is, the 'withdrawn other,' identifying thereby the ethical pitfalls of deconstructivism's emphasis on the messianic tradition. This is the only full-length study in English of this high-profile Hindu philosopher.