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Faith in the New Millennium: The Future of Religion and American Politics
by Matthew Avery Sutton Darren DochukThe Statue of Liberty--depicted on a roadside billboard--did not carry her customary torch and tablet. Instead, she shielded her eyes from words that towered beside her, words that highway drivers could not possibly avoid: "We are no longer a Christian nation." Underneath was the name of the man who spoke them, the nation's president, Barack Obama. He had made the original statement--"Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just"--four years earlier. Since then those words had appeared, in one form or another, not just on billboards but in a host of other venues, a visible symbol of America's divide over religion and politics. In Faith in the New Millennium, a group of leading historians explores the shifting role of religion in American politics in the age of Obama, shedding new and fascinating light on the interplay of faith and politics. Each of the sixteen contributors examines a contemporary issue, controversy, or policy through a historical lens. In an age of the 24-hour-news-cycle, where complexity is often buried under bluster, these essays make a powerful case for understanding the stories behind the news. They tackle such topics as immigration reform, racial turmoil, drone wars, foreign policy, and the unstoppable rise of social media. Taken together, they reveal how faith is shaping modern America, and how modern America is shaping faith.
C.S. Peirce and the Nested Continua Model of Religious Interpretation (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Gary SlaterThis study develops resources in the work of Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) for the purposes of contemporary philosophy. It contextualizes Peirce's prevailing influences and provides greater context in relation to the currents of nineteenth-century thought. Dr Gary Slater articulates 'a nested continua model' for theological interpretation, which is indebted to Peirce's creation of 'Existential Graphs', a system of diagrams designed to provide visual representation of the process of human reasoning. He investigates how the model can be applied by looking at recent debates in historiography. He deals respectively with Peter Ochs and Robert C. Neville as contemporary manifestations of Peircean philosophical theology. This work concludes with an assessment of the model's theological implications.
The Cosmic Common Good: Religious Grounds for Ecological Ethics
by Daniel P. ScheidAs ecological degradation continues to threaten permanent and dramatic changes for life on our planet, the question of how we can protect our imperiled Earth has become more pressing than ever before. In this book, Daniel Scheid draws on Catholic social thought to construct what he calls the "cosmic common good," a new norm for interreligious ecological ethics. This ethical vision sees humans as an intimate part of the greater whole of the cosmos, emphasizes the simultaneous instrumental and intrinsic value of nature, and affirms the integral connection between religious practice and the pursuit of the common good. When ecologically reoriented, Catholic social thought can point the way toward several principles of the cosmic common good, such as the virtue of Earth solidarity and the promotion of Earth rights. These are rooted in the classical doctrines of creation in Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, and in Thomas Berry's interpretation of the evolutionary cosmic story. The cosmic common good can also be found in Hindu, Buddhist, and American Indian religious traditions. By placing a Catholic cosmic common good in dialogue with Hindu dharmic ecology, Buddhist interdependence, and American Indian balance with all our relations, Scheid constructs a theologically authentic moral framework that re-envisions humanity's role in the universe.
The Erotic Life of Manuscripts: New Testament Textual Criticism and the Biological Sciences
by Yii-Jan LinSince the New Testament's inception as written text, its manuscripts have been subject to all the dangers of history: scribal error, emendation, injury, and total destruction. The traditional goal of modern textual criticism has been to reconstruct an "original text" from surviving manuscripts, adjudicating among all the variant texts resulting from the slips, additions, and embellishments of scribal hand-copying. Because of the way manuscripts circulate and give rise to new copies, it can be said that they have an "erotic" life: they mate and breed, bear offspring, and generate families and descendants. New Testament textual critics of the eighteenth century who began to use this language to group texts into families and genealogies were not pioneering new approaches, but rather borrowing the metaphors and methods of natural scientists. Texts began to be classified into "families, tribes, and nations," and later were racialized as "African" or "Asian," with distinguishable "textual physiognomies" and "textual complexions." The Erotic Life of Manuscripts explores this curious relationship between the field of New Testament textual criticism and the biological sciences, beginning with the eighteenth century and extending into the present. While these biological metaphors have been powerful tools for textual critics, they also produce problematic understandings of textual "purity" and agency, with the use of scientific discourse artificially separating the work of textual criticism from literary interpretation. Yii-Jan Lin shows how the use of biological classification, genealogy, evolutionary theory, and phylogenetics has shaped-and limited-the goals of New Testament textual criticism, the greatest of which is the establishment of an authoritative, original text. She concludes by proposing new metaphors for the field.
Our Fate: Essays on God and Free Will
by John Martin FischerOur Fate is a collection of John Martin Fischer's previously published articles on the relationship between God's foreknowledge and human freedom. The book contains a new introductory essay that places all of the chapters in the book into a cohesive framework. The introductory essay also provides some new views about the issues treated in the book, including a bold and original account of God's foreknowledge of free actions in a causally indeterministic world. The focus of the book is a powerful traditional argument for the incompatibility of God's foreknowledge and human freedom to do otherwise. Fischer presents this argument (in various forms) and defends it against some of the most salient criticisms, especially Ockhamism. The incompatibilist's argument is driven by the fixity of the past, and, in particular, the fixity of God's prior beliefs about our current behavior. The author gives special attention to Ockhamism, which contends that God's prior beliefs are not "over-and-done-with" in the past, and are thus not subject to the intuitive idea of the fixity of the past. In the end, Fischer defends the argument for the incompatibility of God's foreknowledge and human freedom to do otherwise, but he further argues that this incompatibility need not entail the incompatibility of God's foreknowledge and human moral responsibility. Thus, through this collection of essays, Fischer develops a "semicompatibilist" view--the belief that God's foreknowledge is entirely compatible with human moral responsibility, even if God's foreknowledge rules out freedom to do otherwise.
Teaching Civic Engagement (AAR Teaching Religious Studies)
Using a new model focused on four core capacities-intellectual complexity, social location, empathetic accountability, and motivated action--Teaching Civic Engagement explores the significance of religious studies in fostering a vibrant, just, and democratic civic order. In the first section of the book, contributors detail this theoretical model and offer an initial application to the sources and methods that already define much teaching in the disciplines of religious studies and theology. A second section offers chapters focused on specific strategies for teaching civic engagement in religion classrooms, including traditional textual studies, reflective writing, community-based learning, field trips, media analysis, ethnographic methods, direct community engagement and a reflective practice of "ascetic withdrawal." The final section of the volume explores theoretical issues, including the delimitation of the "civic" as a category, connections between local and global in the civic project, the question of political advocacy in the classroom, and the role of normative commitments. Collectively these chapters illustrate the real possibility of connecting the scholarly study of religion with the societies in which we, our students, and our institutions exist. The contributing authors model new ways of engaging questions of civic belonging and social activism in the religion classroom, belying the stereotype of the ivory tower intellectual.
I Am With You: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2016
by Kathryn Greene-McCreightIn I Am With You, Episcopal priest and theologian Kathryn Greene-McCreight examines the biblical portrayal of God's presence among us as light in darkness. Close readings of Scripture are woven into a framework patterned on the seven monastic hours of prayer and the seven days of creation. God's interaction with us in light comes as address, drawing us into relationship with the Creator. The resurrection of Easter morning bears the Light that both illumines our darkness, refines our dross in its flames, and draws us into the presence of God, that 'Light by which we see light'. With an introduction by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, I Am With You is a reflective and thought-provoking guide to the solemn season of Lent.
Imagined Communities in Greece and Turkey: Trauma and the Population Exchanges under Atat?rk (International Library of Twentieth Century History)
by Emine Yesim BedlekIn 1923 the Turkish government, under its new leader Kemal Atatürk, signed a renegotiated Balkan Wars treaty with the major powers of the day and Greece. This treaty provided for the forced exchange of 1.3 million Christians from Anatolia to Greece, in return for 30,000 Greek Muslims. The mass migration that ensued was a humanitarian catastrophe – of the 1.3 million Christians relocated it is estimated only 150,000 were successfully integrated into the Greek state. Furthermore, because the treaty was ethnicity-blind, tens of thousands of Muslim Greeks (ethnically and linguistically) were forced into Turkey against their will. Both the Greek and Turkish leadership saw this exchange as crucial to the state-strengthening projects both powers were engaged in after the First World War. Here, Emine Bedlek approaches this enormous shift in national thinking through literary texts – addressing the themes of loss, identity, memory and trauma which both populations experienced. The result is a new understanding of the tensions between religious and ethnic identity in modern Turkey
Life in the Psalms: Contemporary Meaning in Ancient Texts: The Mowbray Lent Book 2016
by Patrick WoodhouseThe Psalms lie at the heart of Jewish and Christian worship. For thousands of years people in despair and praise have cried to God through the words of these ancient poems. Fragments of them are still widely known and loved, but such is the gulf between their ancient culture and our contemporary world that much of the depth of their meaning is lost to us. Life in the Psalms aims to bridge that gulf, enabling the modern reader to find hope in these ancient texts by re-imagining their meanings for our times. The Psalms include texts that illuminate issues including climate change and environmental degradation; the illusions of consumerism and 'celebrity culture'; our response to migrants and asylum seekers; conditions of depression, anxiety, and grief, and the question of 'attention' in a digital age. Many texts take us deeply into the experience of meditation and contemplation; and teach us how to wonder, and find happiness. Three introductory chapters are followed by reflections on thirty Psalms (one for each weekday of Lent), which aim to illuminate the text and help those in search of a more contemplative spirituality to discover, in the midst of the hard realities of a secular twenty-first century world, a deep consciousness of the healing mystery of God.
On Purpose: How We Create the Meaning of Life
by Paul FroeseWhat is your purpose in life? This simple question motivates some of our most life-altering decisions, deeply-held beliefs, and profound emotions, as well as the choices we make every single day. How we derive meaning from our existence is crucial to finding happiness, developing relationships, and building societies. In On Purpose, Paul Froese brings together data from large national and international surveys with interviews that illuminate the ways in which people from all walks of life grapple with their continuous search for reason, truth, sense, success, happiness, and-ultimately-transcendence. Froese argues that the desire to connect with something larger than oneself is a universal urge, manifested most directly, but far from solely, in religious communities. Written in vivid, accessible prose, On Purpose takes the reader on a journey through the complexities and consequences of life's most important question. From the start, Froese admits that the answer to the question is deceptively simple: our purpose is whatever we imagine it to be. But what we imagine our purpose to be depends on innumerable factors beyond our control: our wealth, race, education level, upbringing, past experiences, and community. Froese argues that one's surroundings serve as a kind of soil that can either nurture purpose or foster meaninglessness. Framing the book around six key questions, Froese refuses to collapse the meaning of life into a single authoritative answer, as self-help gurus do. Instead, he deconstructs each question to reveal the social pathways that guide people to distinctive answers. Through lively, engaging storytelling that mixes data and analysis with literary and historical examples of the quest for purpose, Froese sheds new light on a timeless and all-too-human quandary. The moral of the book is not that life has some ultimate meaning or no meaning at all, but rather that creating a purpose-driven life has always been a collective project.
Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade
by Daniel K. WilliamsOn April 16, 1972, ten thousand people gathered in Central Park to protest New York's liberal abortion law. Emotions ran high, reflecting the nation's extreme polarization over abortion. Yet the divisions did not fall neatly along partisan or religious lines-the assembled protesters were far from a bunch of fire-breathing culture warriors. In Defenders of the Unborn, Daniel K. Williams reveals the hidden history of the pro-life movement in America, showing that a cause that many see as reactionary and anti-feminist began as a liberal crusade for human rights. For decades, the media portrayed the pro-life movement as a Catholic cause, but by the time of the Central Park rally, that stereotype was already hopelessly outdated. The kinds of people in attendance at pro-life rallies ranged from white Protestant physicians, to young mothers, to African American Democratic legislators-even the occasional member of Planned Parenthood. One of New York City's most vocal pro-life advocates was a liberal Lutheran minister who was best known for his civil rights activism and his protests against the Vietnam War. The language with which pro-lifers championed their cause was not that of conservative Catholic theology, infused with attacks on contraception and women's sexual freedom. Rather, they saw themselves as civil rights crusaders, defending the inalienable right to life of a defenseless minority: the unborn fetus. It was because of this grounding in human rights, Williams argues, that the right-to-life movement gained such momentum in the early 1960s. Indeed, pro-lifers were winning the battle before Roe v. Wade changed the course of history. Through a deep investigation of previously untapped archives, Williams presents the untold story of New Deal-era liberals who forged alliances with a diverse array of activists, Republican and Democrat alike, to fight for what they saw as a human rights cause. Provocative and insightful, Defenders of the Unborn is a must-read for anyone who craves a deeper understanding of a highly-charged issue.
Catholic Theology after Kierkegaard
by Joshua FurnalAlthough he is not always recognised as such, Søren Kierkegaard has been an important ally for Catholic theologians in the early twentieth century. Moreover, understanding this relationship and its origins offers valuable resources and insights to contemporary Catholic theology. Of course, there are some negative preconceptions to overcome. Historically, some Catholic readers have been suspicious of Kierkegaard, viewing him as an irrational Protestant irreconcilably at odds with Catholic thought. Nevertheless, the favourable mention of Kierkegaard in John Paul II's Fides et Ratio is an indication that Kierkegaard's writings are not so easily dismissed. Catholic Theology after Kierkegaard investigates the writings of emblematic Catholic thinkers in the twentieth century to assess their substantial engagement with Kierkegaard's writings. Joshua Furnal argues that Kierkegaard's writings have stimulated reform and renewal in twentieth-century Catholic theology, and should continue to do so today. To demonstrate Kierkegaard's relevance in pre-conciliar Catholic theology, Furnal examines the wider evidence of a Catholic reception of Kierkegaard in the early twentieth century-looking specifically at influential figures like Theodor Haecker, Romano Guardini, Erich Przywara, and other Roman Catholic thinkers that are typically associated with the ressourcement movement. In particular, Furnal focuses upon the writings of Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and the Italian Thomist, Cornelio Fabro as representative entry points.
The Vision of Didymus the Blind: A Fourth-Century Virtue-Origenism (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Grant D. BaylissAn independent teacher, based in Alexandria throughout the second half of the fourth century, Didymus appealed to many within the broadly Origenist currents of Egyptian asceticism, including Jerome, Rufinus, and Evagrius. His commentaries, lecture-notes, and theological treatises show him specifically committed to the legacy of Origen and Philo, rather than a broader 'Alexandrian' or noetic reading of Scripture. Yet his concern was not to answer classic 'Antiochene' critique but rather offer a faithful continuation of many aspects of Origen's thought and exegesis, now made consistent with the broader anti-subordinationist developments in Nicene faith from the 350s onwards. In doing so he made virtue a primary category of reality, human existence, and life, in ways that go beyond the traditional philosophical tropes. This 'turn to virtue' draws parallels with wider fourth-century trends but it sets Didymus' own Origenism apart from those of other Origenists, such as Eusebius of Caesarea or Evagrius of Pontus. Thus detailed discussion focuses on Didymus' portrayal of virtue, sin, and passion, which together form the constant hermeneutical terrain for his anagogical exegesis and exhortation to a dynamic process of ascent. Speculative comments of Origen on the pre-existence of the soul, salvation of the devil, pre-passion, and the sin of Adam are shown to be reframed, both to aid the individual's navigation of the return to virtue and to answer the challenge of contemporary Manichaean and Apollinarian beliefs.
Augustine's Early Theology of Image: A Study in the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology (Oxford Studies in Historical Theology)
by Gerald P. BoersmaWhat does it mean for Christ to be the "image of God"? And, if Christ is the "image of God," can the human person also unequivocally be understood to be the "image of God"? Augustine's Early Theology of Image examines Augustine's conception of the imago dei and makes the case that it represents a significant departure from the Latin pro-Nicene theologies of Hilary of Poitiers, Marius Victorinus, and Ambrose of Milan only a generation earlier. Augustine's predecessors understood the imago dei principally as a Christological term designating the unity of divine substance. But, Gerald P. Boersma argues, Augustine affirms that Christ is an image of equal likeness, while the human person is an image of unequal likeness. Boersma's careful study thus argues that a Platonic and participatory evaluation of the nature of "image" enables Augustine's early theology of the image of God to move beyond that of his Latin predecessors and affirm the imago dei both of Christ and of the human person.
Historical and Biblical Israel: The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah
by Reinhard G. KratzAt the center of this book lies a fundamental yet unanswered question: under which historical and sociological conditions and in what manner the Hebrew Bible became an authoritative tradition, that is, holy scripture and the canon of Judaism as well as Christianity. Reinhard G. Kratz answers this very question by distinguishing between historical and biblical Israel. This foundational and, for the arrangement of the book, crucial distinction affirms that the Israel of biblical tradition, i.e. the sacred history (historia sacra) of the Hebrew Bible, cannot simply be equated with the history of Israel and Judah. Thus, Kratz provides a synthesis of both the Israelite and Judahite history and the genesis and development of biblical tradition in two separate chapters, though each area depends directly and inevitably upon the other. These two distinct perspectives on Israel are then confronted and correlated in a third chapter, which constitutes an area intimately connected with the former but generally overlooked apart from specialized inquiries: those places and "archives" that either yielded Jewish documents and manuscripts (Elephantine, Al-Yahudu, Qumran) or are associated conspicuously with the tradition of the Hebrew Bible (Mount Gerizim, Jerusalem, Alexandria). Here, the various epigraphic and literary evidence for the history of Israel and Judah comes to the fore. Such evidence sometimes represents Israel's history; at other times it reflects its traditions; at still others it reflects both simultaneously. The different sources point to different types of Judean or Jewish identity in Persian and Hellenistic times.
Key Terms in Material Religion
by S. Brent PlateMaterial religion is a rapidly growing field, and this volume offers an accessible, critical entry into these new areas of research. Each "key term" uses case studies and is accompanied by a color image – an object, practice, space, or site. The entries cut across geographies, histories, and traditions, offering a versatile and engaging text for the classroom.Key topics covered include:- Icon, ritual, magic, gender, race- Sacred, spirit, technology, - Space, belief, body, brain- Taste, touch, smell, sound, vision Each entry demonstrates in clear and jargon-free prose how the key term figures prominently in understanding the materiality of religion. Written by leading international scholars, all entries are linked by the ways materiality stands at the forefront of the understanding of religion, whether that comes from humanistic, social scientific, artistic, curatorial, or other perspectives. Brent Plate brings his expertise and extensive teaching experience to the comprehensive introduction which introduces students to the themes and methods of the material cultural study of religion. Key Terms in Material Religion provides a much-needed resource for courses on theory and method in religious studies, the anthropology of religion, and the ever-increasing number of courses focused on material religion.
Why Philosophy Matters for the Study of Religion—and Vice Versa
by Thomas A. LewisWork in philosophy of religion is still strongly marked by an excessive focus on Christianity and, to a lesser extent, Judaism — almost to the exclusion of other religious traditions. Moreover, in many cases it has been confined to a narrow set of intellectual problems, without embedding these in their larger social, historical, and practical contexts. Why Philosophy Matters for the Study of Religion—and Vice Versa addresses this situation through a series of interventions intended to work against the gap that exists between much scholarship in philosophy of religion and important recent developments that speak to religious studies as a whole. This volume takes up what, in recent years, has often been seen as a fundamental reason for excluding religious ethics and philosophy of religion from religious studies: their explicit normativity. Against this presupposition, Thomas A. Lewis argues that normativity is pervasive—not unique to ethics and philosophy of religion—and therefore not a reason to exclude them from religious studies. Lewis bridges more philosophical and historical subfields by arguing for the importance of history to the philosophy of religion. He considers the future of religious ethics, explaining that the field as whole should learn from the methodological developments associated with recent work in comparative religious ethics and 'comparative religious ethics' should no longer be conceived as a distinct subfield. The concluding chapter engages broader, post-9/11 arguments about the importance of studying religion arguing, that prominent contemporary notions of 'religious literacy' actually hinder our ability to grasp religion's significance and impact in the world today.
The I.B.Tauris History of Monasticism: The Western Tradition
by G.R. EvansFrom the earliest centuries of the church, asceticism and the contemplative life have been profoundly important aspects of western Christianity. And in assessing the glories of western civilization, perhaps the best place to start is within medieval monastic institutions, not outside of them. For while monasteries withdrew from the main currents of their societies, until the rise of universities in the 12th century they provided fertile soil and sanctuary to the liberal arts and sciences as well as those who wanted to spend their lives focused upon God. They became the driving cultural forces of Europe, nurturing education, music, manuscript illumination, art and history, agriculture, animal husbandry - all in addition to spiritual guidance. In this first general history of monasticism since 1900, Andrea Dickens explores the cloistered communities and individuals who have aspired to the ascetic ideal in their religious life, assessing the impact they have made on the wider church and its practices.She discusses some of the best known names in Christian history - including Cuthbert, Columba, Hilda of Whitby, Peter Abelard and Thomas Merton - and traces the monastic impulse from its beginnings in the Egyptian desert through the Rule of St Benedict, Cluny's foundation in 910, the austerity of the Cistercians, the legacy of women's houses, the critique of Luther and Calvin, Trappists and Catholic reform, up to the present-day ecumencial Taize community. Offering a lively and informed overview of western monasticism, the book will be essential reading for students of history and religion as well as the lay reader.
1 & 2 Kings: History and Story in Ancient Israel (T&T Clark’s Study Guides to the Old Testament)
by Dr Lester L. GrabbeLester L. Grabbe provides a concise and up-to-date introduction to the books of Kings, covering all the historical and interpretative issues. Grabbe pays particular attention to how the history of ancient Israel can be reconstructed (or not as the case may be) through the text, and introduces students to the key ways of reading the books of Kings as religious and political history.Grabbe takes a chronological approach (according to the text) and provides overviews of the key periods of Israel's history. The nature of the 'Deuteronomistic History' and how well this theory of authorship stands up in the modern day is considered, as well as issues of form and source criticism more broadly. Grabbe concludes by offering a reflection on the books of Kings in theological and hermeneutical perspective, which enables students to view not only the historical and textual issues, but also broader issues of meaning and significance.
101 Things You Should Do Before Going to Heaven
by David Bordon Tom WintersThis lively compilation of great ideas accompanied by an encouraging word of instruction can help you begin living a more adventurous, fulfilling, and happy life. One day your soul will leave your earthy body and your eternal life will begin. For the Christian, what a wonderful day that will be! Until then . . . ask yourself, are you making the most of your life here on earth, savoring each moment of beauty, joy, and love? Start now and you'll have plenty of time to try each of the 101 fascinating suggestions presented in this unique book, 101 THINGS TO DO BEFORE GOING TO HEAVEN. It could be the most meaningful fun you'll have this side of eternity.
2 Chairs: The Secret That Changes Everything
by Bob BeaudineIn this inspiring book, Bob Beaudine helps you live a life guided by your relationship with God by asking three critical questions.In this world you will have trouble. Count on it!It might be something small or something big, but you know you don't have an answer. You've come to a realization there is a limit to what you can do alone. For such times as these, 2 Chairs asks three vital questions:Does God know your situation?Is it too hard for Him to handle?Does He have a good plan for you?Following these questions, Bob Beaudine offers seven practical steps to walk courageously, faithfully, and cheerfully through your trouble whether it is a minor issue or a major crisis.
20/20 You: How to Achieve the Perfect Vision to Your Success
by Rico Griffiths-Taitte20/20 YOU reveals the hidden truths behind the veil of personal illusion by focusing on the origins of mental wealth. Within these pages Rico guides our journey to personal freedom via his own story that led to his own internal enlightenment. 20/20 YOU is a vision of true inner mastery guided by such teachings of the natural laws of the Universe. This panoramic offering opens our true Dharma eye (third eye) which is the perfect vision to our own success through the primordial window known as prosperity consciousness. In 20/20 YOU author, speaker and metaphysician Rico Griffiths-Taitte playfully shares the foundation in achieving excellence to liberate an arrested state of mind. Rico teaches us how to learn more about ourselves through ancient wisdom. Once we adopt the ancient behavioural patterns necessary to achieve conscious liberation we will see that the new outlook...is looking within. "Rico offers us an intelligent look at connecting with ourselves in a deeper way. If you are curious to learn about connecting with your true essence, read these words of encouraging insight."
97,196 Words: Essays
by Emmanuel Carrère*The first collection of essays in English from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Adversary*Over the course of his career, Emmanuel Carrère has reinvented non-fiction writing. In a search for truth in all its guises, he dispenses with the rules of genre. For him, no form is out of reach: theology, historiography, reportage and memoir – among many others – are fused under the pressure of an inimitable combination of passion, curiosity and intellect that has made Carrère one of our most distinctive and important literary voices today.97,196 Words introduces Carrère's shorter work to an English-language audience. Featuring more than thirty extraordinary texts written over an illustrious twenty-five-year period of Carrère's creative life, the book shows a remarkable mind at work. Spanning continents, histories, and personal relationships, 97,196 Words considers the divides between truth, reality and our shared humanity, exploring remarkable events and eccentric lives, including Carrère's own.
A. J. Appasamy and his Reading of Rāmānuja: A Comparative Study in Divine Embodiment (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Brian Philip DunnIn this work, Brian Philip Dunn focuses on the embodiment theology of the South Indian theologian, A. J. Appasamy (1891-1975). Appasamy developed what he called a 'bhakti' (devotional) approach to Christian theology, bringing his own primary text, the Gospel of John, into comparative interaction with the writings of the Hindu philosopher and theologian, Rāmānuja. Dunn's exposition here is of Appasamy's distinctive adaptation of Rāmānuja's 'Body of God' analogy and its application to a bhakti reading of John's Gospel. He argues throughout for the need to locate and understand theological language as embedded and embodied within the narrative and praxis of tradition and, for Appasamy and Rāmānuja, in their respective Anglican and Śrivaiṣṇava settings. Responding to Appasamy, Dunn proposes that the primary Johannine referent for divine embodiment is the temple and considers recent scholarship on Johannine 'temple Christology' in light of Śrivaiṣṇava conceptions of the temple and the temple deity. He then offers a constructive reading of the text as a temple procession, a heuristic device that can be newly considered in both comparative and devotional contexts today.
An A-Z of Feminist Theology (Religious Studies: Bloomsbury Academic Collections)
by Lisa Isherwood Dorothea McEwanThis exciting volume brings together a wide range of perspectives on one of the most important and challenging areas of modern theology. There are entries on all the major themes of Christian feminist theology, including models of God and of the Church, ethics and spirituality, sexuality and liberation. Many of the entries push their respective discussions beyond the rigid boundaries of previous theological discourse. Together they present the far-reaching concerns of feminist theology in an accessible and stimulating way. The compendium is both a resource and an inspiration for scholars and students of feminist theology and for all those who are interested in this field of reflection and activity.