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Between History and Myth: Stories of Harald Fairhair and the Founding of the State
by Bruce LincolnAll groups tell stories about their beginnings. Such tales are oft-repeated, finely wrought, and usually much beloved. Among those institutions most in need of an impressive creation account is the state: it’s one of the primary ways states attempt to legitimate themselves. But such founding narratives invite revisionist retellings that modify details of the story in ways that undercut, ironize, and even ridicule the state’s ideal self-representation. Medieval accounts of how Norway was unified by its first king provide a lively, revealing, and wonderfully entertaining example of this process. Taking the story of how Harald Fairhair unified Norway in the ninth century as its central example, Bruce Lincoln illuminates the way a state’s foundation story blurs the distinction between history and myth and how variant tellings of origin stories provide opportunities for dissidence and subversion as subtle—or not so subtle—modifications are introduced through details of character, incident, and plot structure. Lincoln reveals a pattern whereby texts written in Iceland were more critical and infinitely more subtle than those produced in Norway, reflecting the fact that the former had a dual audience: not just the Norwegian court, but also Icelanders of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, whose ancestors had fled from Harald and founded the only non-monarchic, indeed anti-monarchic, state in medieval Europe. Between History and Myth will appeal not only to specialists in Scandinavian literature and history but also to anyone interested in memory and narrative.
Between Humanist Philosophy and Apocalyptic Theology: The Twentieth Century Sojourn of Samuel Stefan Osusky
by Dr Paul R. HinlickySamuel Stefan Osusky was a leading intellectual in Slovak Lutheranism and a bishop in his church. In 1937 he delivered a prescient lecture to the assembled clergy, "The Philosophy of Fascism, Bolshevism and Hitlerism", that clearly foretold the dark days ahead. As wartime bishop, he co-authored a "Pastoral Letter on the Jewish Question", which publicly decried the deportation of Jews to Poland in 1942; in 1944 he was imprisoned by the Gestapo for giving moral support to the Slovak National Uprising against the fascist puppet regime.Paul R. Hinlicky traces the intellectual journey with ethical idealism's faith in the progressive theology of history that ended in dismay and disillusionment at the revolutionary pretensions of Marxism-Leninism. Hinlicky shows Osusky's dramatic rediscovery of the apocalyptic "the mother of Christian theology", and his input into the discussion of the dialectic of faith and reason after rationalism and fundamentalism.
Between Humanist Philosophy and Apocalyptic Theology: The Twentieth Century Sojourn of Samuel Stefan Osusky
by Paul R. HinlickySamuel Stefan Osusky was a leading intellectual in Slovak Lutheranism and a bishop in his church. In 1937 he delivered a prescient lecture to the assembled clergy, "The Philosophy of Fascism, Bolshevism and Hitlerism", that clearly foretold the dark days ahead. As wartime bishop, he co-authored a "Pastoral Letter on the Jewish Question", which publicly decried the deportation of Jews to Poland in 1942; in 1944 he was imprisoned by the Gestapo for giving moral support to the Slovak National Uprising against the fascist puppet regime.Paul R. Hinlicky traces the intellectual journey with ethical idealism's faith in the progressive theology of history that ended in dismay and disillusionment at the revolutionary pretensions of Marxism-Leninism. Hinlicky shows Osusky's dramatic rediscovery of the apocalyptic "the mother of Christian theology", and his input into the discussion of the dialectic of faith and reason after rationalism and fundamentalism.
Between Humanitarianism and Evangelism in Faith-based Organisations: A Case from the African Migration Route (Routledge Research in Religion and Development)
by May NgoReligion has always played an important, if often contested, role in the public domain. This book focuses on how faith-based organisations (FBOs) interact with the public sphere, showing how faith-based actors are themselves shaped by wider processes and global forces such as globalisation, migration, foreign policy and neoliberal markets. Focusing on a case study of an FBO in Morocco which gives aid to sub-Saharan African irregular migrants, the book reveals some of the challenges the organisation faces as it tries to negotiate at once local, national and international contexts through their particular Christian values. This book contends that the contradictions, tensions and ambiguities that arise are primarily a result of the organisation having to negotiate a normative global secular liberalism which requires a strict demarcation between religion and politics, and religion and the secular. Faith-based actors, particularly within humanitarianism, have to constantly navigate this divide and in examining the question of how religious values translate into humanitarian and development practices, categories such as religion, the secular and politics and the boundaries between them will need to be interrogated. This book explores the diversity and complexity of the work of FBOs and will be of great interest to students and researchers working at the intersections of humanitarianism and development studies, politics and religion.
Between Humanitarianism and Evangelism in Faith-based Organisations: A Case from the African Migration Route (Routledge Research in Religion and Development)
by May NgoReligion has always played an important, if often contested, role in the public domain. This book focuses on how faith-based organisations (FBOs) interact with the public sphere, showing how faith-based actors are themselves shaped by wider processes and global forces such as globalisation, migration, foreign policy and neoliberal markets. Focusing on a case study of an FBO in Morocco which gives aid to sub-Saharan African irregular migrants, the book reveals some of the challenges the organisation faces as it tries to negotiate at once local, national and international contexts through their particular Christian values. This book contends that the contradictions, tensions and ambiguities that arise are primarily a result of the organisation having to negotiate a normative global secular liberalism which requires a strict demarcation between religion and politics, and religion and the secular. Faith-based actors, particularly within humanitarianism, have to constantly navigate this divide and in examining the question of how religious values translate into humanitarian and development practices, categories such as religion, the secular and politics and the boundaries between them will need to be interrogated. This book explores the diversity and complexity of the work of FBOs and will be of great interest to students and researchers working at the intersections of humanitarianism and development studies, politics and religion.
Between Islam and the American Dream: An Immigrant Muslim Community in Post-9/11 America (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Yuting WangBased on a three-year ethnographic study of a steadily growing suburban Muslim immigrant congregation in Midwest America, this book examines the micro-processes through which a group of Muslim immigrants from diverse backgrounds negotiate multiple identities while seeking to become part of American society in the years following 9/11. The author looks into frictions, conflicts, and schisms within the community to debunk myths and provide a close-up look at the experiences of ordinary immigrant Muslims in the United States. Instead of treating Muslim immigrants as fundamentally different from others, this book views Muslims as multidimensional individuals whose identities are defined by a number of basic social attributes, including gender, race, social class, and religiosity. Each person portrayed in this ethnography is a complex individual, whose hierarchy of identities is shaped by particular events and the larger social environment. By focusing on a single congregation, this study controls variables related to the particularity of place and presents a “thick” description of interactions within small groups. This book argues that the frictions, conflicts and schisms are necessary as much as inevitable in cultivating a “composite culture” within the American Muslim community marked by diversity, leading it onto the path of Americanization.
Between Islam and the American Dream: An Immigrant Muslim Community in Post-9/11 America (Routledge Advances in Sociology #119)
by Yuting WangBased on a three-year ethnographic study of a steadily growing suburban Muslim immigrant congregation in Midwest America, this book examines the micro-processes through which a group of Muslim immigrants from diverse backgrounds negotiate multiple identities while seeking to become part of American society in the years following 9/11. The author looks into frictions, conflicts, and schisms within the community to debunk myths and provide a close-up look at the experiences of ordinary immigrant Muslims in the United States. Instead of treating Muslim immigrants as fundamentally different from others, this book views Muslims as multidimensional individuals whose identities are defined by a number of basic social attributes, including gender, race, social class, and religiosity. Each person portrayed in this ethnography is a complex individual, whose hierarchy of identities is shaped by particular events and the larger social environment. By focusing on a single congregation, this study controls variables related to the particularity of place and presents a “thick” description of interactions within small groups. This book argues that the frictions, conflicts and schisms are necessary as much as inevitable in cultivating a “composite culture” within the American Muslim community marked by diversity, leading it onto the path of Americanization.
Between Jabal ʿAmil, Karbala and Jerusalem: The Lebanese Shi‘a and the Struggle for Palestine (Muslims in Global Societies Series #11)
by Gidon WindeckerThis book tells the story of the Lebanese Shi’a and their development from a marginalized, discriminated minority to a highly politicized community that has given birth to Hezbollah, one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the contemporary Middle East. It explores the Arab-Israeli conflict through the lens of Shi’a intellectuals and scholars from South Lebanon, and chronologically reflects on trending perceptions of Palestine, the Zionist movement, and the Jewish community in Lebanon.The monograph illustrates how Zionism and the establishment of Israel played a decisive role in the intellectual revival of early Muslim perceptions of Jews. It demonstrates how political conflicts after 1948 have impacted the work of scholars such as Musa as-Sadr and Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, and have triggered the formation of social and Islamist movements. It also shows how Hezbollah’s leaders have used religious sources and Western anti-Jewish narratives to construct a deep-rooted ideology to support their struggle for South Lebanon and Palestine. The combination of social needs, religious beliefs and political interests forms the core of the analysis. This text appeals to students and researchers working within the convergence of politics and Middle Eastern religions.
Between Living and Dying: Reflections from the Edge of Experience
by Ruth ScottA poignant yet inspirational book which speaks directly into the heart of human experience.Ruth Scott spent much of 2018 in hospital being treated for a rare and aggressive lymphoma.She underwent surgery and intensive treatment, including a month in an Isolation Unit for five days of chemotherapy to obliterate her bone marrow, as well as a stem-cell transplant.Forced to step back from an active professional and personal life, cancer gave her the opportunity to reflect on so-called ‘normal’ life from the shadow of death. In this book she writes of the experience of becoming ill and being treated, and addresses the life questions that were thrown up a result - questions which broaden out from the personal to the human community more widely about how we relate (or not) to each other, to the environment, and to the ‘more than me-ness’ of life.
Between Man and God: Issues in Judaic Thought (Contributions to the Study of Religion)
by Martin SickerSicker presents a personal attempt to come to grips with the awesome question, Where was God at Auschwitz? and with it some of the related central issues of Jewish thought and belief. There is a tendency among many writers of contemporary work of theology to argue that the very fact of the Holocaust invalidates traditional Jewish theory and that its long-held ideas about God must therefore be revised radically. However, Jewish thinkers have long asked the equivalent of this troubling question, albeit in reference to other places and times in Israel's history and have offered possible answers, just as we do today. The big difference between then and now is not the enormity of the Holocaust, but the readiness of earlier thinkers to search for meaning without almost cavalierly discarding traditionally cherished ideas and beliefs.The author argues that modern advocates of radical theological revision actually have little to add to our understanding of the ways of God and even less to a meaningful Judaic perspective on the universe and the relationship between man and God. A second concern is the contemporary argument that because there is no universally accepted theology of Judaism, one is not bound by any particular conception of God, whether of biblical or rabbinic origin. Jewish theology has thus come to be viewed essentially as an equal opportunity field of intellectual endeavor, an approach Sicker considers fundamentally and fatally flawed. Traditional non-dogmatic thought does not require radical revision. What is required is a sympathetic understanding of the theological assumptions and ideas of the past coupled with a sincere and respectful attempt to reformulate them in terms more attuned to the modern temper.
Between Man and Man
by Martin BuberScholar, theologian and philosopher, Martin Buber is one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers. He believed that the deepest reality of human life lies in the relationship between one being and another. Between Man and Man is the classic work where he puts this belief into practice, applying it to the concrete problems of contemporary society. Here he tackles subjects as varied as religious ethics, social philosophy, marriage, education, psychology and art. Including some of his most famous writings, such as the masterful What is Man?, this enlightening work challenges each reader to reassess their encounter with the world that surrounds them.
Between Man and Man
by Martin BuberScholar, theologian and philosopher, Martin Buber is one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers. He believed that the deepest reality of human life lies in the relationship between one being and another. Between Man and Man is the classic work where he puts this belief into practice, applying it to the concrete problems of contemporary society. Here he tackles subjects as varied as religious ethics, social philosophy, marriage, education, psychology and art. Including some of his most famous writings, such as the masterful What is Man?, this enlightening work challenges each reader to reassess their encounter with the world that surrounds them.
Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan (Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures)
by J. Andrew BushWithin the broad contours of Islamic traditions, Muslims are enjoined to fast during the month of Ramadan, they are invited to a disciplined practice of prayer, and they are offered the Quran as the divine revelation in the most beautiful verbal form. But what happens if Muslims choose not to fast, or give up prayer, or if the Quran's beauty seems inaccessible? When Muslims do not take up the path of piety, what happens to their relationships with more devout Muslims who are neighbors, friends, and kin? Between Muslims provides an ethnographic account of Iraqi Kurdish Muslims who turn away from devotional piety yet remain intimately engaged with Islamic traditions and with other Muslims. Andrew Bush offers a new way to understand religious difference in Islam, rejecting simple stereotypes about ethnic or sectarian identities. Integrating textual analysis of poetry, sermons, and Islamic history into accounts of everyday life in Iraqi Kurdistan, Between Muslims illuminates the interplay of attraction and aversion to Islam among ordinary Muslims.
Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays
by Jürgen HabermasTwo countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age – the spread of naturalistic worldviews and religious orthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and robotics are clearing the way for the penetration of an objective scientific self-understanding of persons into everyday life. For philosophy, this trend is associated with the challenge of scientific naturalism. At the same time, we are witnessing an unexpected revitalization of religious traditions and the politicization of religious communities across the world. From a philosophical perspective, this revival of religious energies poses the challenge of a fundamentalist critique of the principles underlying the modern Wests postmetaphysical understanding of itself. The tension between naturalism and religion is the central theme of this major new book by Jürgen Habermas. On the one hand he argues for an appropriate naturalistic understanding of cultural evolution that does justice to the normative character of the human mind. On the other hand, he calls for an appropriate interpretation of the secularizing effects of a process of social and cultural rationalization increasingly denounced by the champions of religious orthodoxies as a historical development peculiar to the West. These reflections on the enduring importance of religion and the limits of secularism under conditions of postmetaphysical reason set the scene for an extended treatment the political significance of religious tolerance and for a fresh contribution to current debates on cosmopolitanism and a constitution for international society.
Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays
by Jürgen HabermasTwo countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age – the spread of naturalistic worldviews and religious orthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and robotics are clearing the way for the penetration of an objective scientific self-understanding of persons into everyday life. For philosophy, this trend is associated with the challenge of scientific naturalism. At the same time, we are witnessing an unexpected revitalization of religious traditions and the politicization of religious communities across the world. From a philosophical perspective, this revival of religious energies poses the challenge of a fundamentalist critique of the principles underlying the modern Wests postmetaphysical understanding of itself. The tension between naturalism and religion is the central theme of this major new book by Jürgen Habermas. On the one hand he argues for an appropriate naturalistic understanding of cultural evolution that does justice to the normative character of the human mind. On the other hand, he calls for an appropriate interpretation of the secularizing effects of a process of social and cultural rationalization increasingly denounced by the champions of religious orthodoxies as a historical development peculiar to the West. These reflections on the enduring importance of religion and the limits of secularism under conditions of postmetaphysical reason set the scene for an extended treatment the political significance of religious tolerance and for a fresh contribution to current debates on cosmopolitanism and a constitution for international society.
Between Pagan and Christian
by Christopher P. JonesWho and what was pagan depended on the outlook of the observer, as Christopher Jones shows in this fresh and penetrating analysis. Treating paganism as a historical construct rather than a fixed entity, Between Christian and Pagan uncovers the fluid ideas, rituals, and beliefs that Christians and pagans shared in Late Antiquity.
Between Pagan and Christian
by Christopher P. JonesWho and what was pagan depended on the outlook of the observer, as Christopher Jones shows in this fresh and penetrating analysis. Treating paganism as a historical construct rather than a fixed entity, Between Christian and Pagan uncovers the fluid ideas, rituals, and beliefs that Christians and pagans shared in Late Antiquity.
Between Philosophy and Theology: Contemporary Interpretations of Christianity
by Christophe BrabantLong past the time when philosophers from different perspectives had joined the funeral procession that declared the death of God, a renewed interest has arisen in regard to the questions of God and religion in philosophy. The turn to secularization has produced its own opposing force. Although they declared themselves from the start as not being religious, thinkers such as Derrida, Vattimo, Zizek, and Badiou have nonetheless maintained an interest in religion. This book brings some of these philosophical views together to present an overview of the philosophical scene in its dealings with religion, but also to move beyond the outsider's perspective. Reflecting on these philosophical interpretations from a fundamental theological perspective, the authors discover in what way these interpretations can challenge an understanding of today's faith. Bringing together thinkers with an established reputation - Kearney, Caputo, Ward, Desmond, Hart, Armour - along with young scholars, this book challenges a range of perspectives by putting them in a new context.
Between Philosophy and Theology: Contemporary Interpretations of Christianity
by Christophe BrabantLong past the time when philosophers from different perspectives had joined the funeral procession that declared the death of God, a renewed interest has arisen in regard to the questions of God and religion in philosophy. The turn to secularization has produced its own opposing force. Although they declared themselves from the start as not being religious, thinkers such as Derrida, Vattimo, Zizek, and Badiou have nonetheless maintained an interest in religion. This book brings some of these philosophical views together to present an overview of the philosophical scene in its dealings with religion, but also to move beyond the outsider's perspective. Reflecting on these philosophical interpretations from a fundamental theological perspective, the authors discover in what way these interpretations can challenge an understanding of today's faith. Bringing together thinkers with an established reputation - Kearney, Caputo, Ward, Desmond, Hart, Armour - along with young scholars, this book challenges a range of perspectives by putting them in a new context.
Between Pulpit and Pew: The Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore
by W. Paul Reeve Michael Scott Van WagenenCain wanders the frontier as a Bigfoot-like hairy beast and confronts an early Mormon apostle. An evil band of murderers from Mormon scripture, known as the Gadianton robbers, provides an excuse for the failure of a desert town. Stories of children raised from the dead with decayed bodies and damaged minds help draw boundaries between the proper spheres of human and divine action. Mormons who observe UFOs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries find ways to explain them in relation to the church’s cosmology. The millenarian dimension of that belief system induces church members to invest in the Dream Mine, a hidden treasure that a would-be heir to Joseph Smith wraps in prophecy of the end times. A Utah version of Nessie haunts a large mountain lake. Non-Mormons attempt to discredit Joseph Smith with tales that he had tried and failed to walk on water. Mormons gave distinctive meanings to supernatural legends and events, but their narratives incorporated motifs found in many cultures. Many such historical legends and beliefs found adherents down to the present. This collection employs folklore to illuminate the cultural and religious history of a people.
Between Qur'an And Crown: The Challenge Of Political Legitimacy In The Arab World
by Tamara SonnThe struggle for political legitimacy in many Middle Eastern countries today poses a dilemma for ruling elites. In order to maintain authority, leaders often must capitulate to Islamic universalist dogma, which may conflict with their own views of the state as well as threaten the legitimacy of other leaders in the region who are attempting to establish a secular, national basis for government. Tracing the roots of this dilemma in Middle Eastern history and Islamic philosophy, Dr. Sonn compares the contemporary Middle Eastern period to Europe’s “Age of Religious Wars†that preceded the emergence of the Western secular state. She describes how a process similar to the organic development of the secular state in Europe was interrupted in the Middle East by oppressive Western colonialism, which eventually led to the Muslim rejection of nationalism and all things “Western†and to the reassertion of Islam as the sole source of political legitimacy. The author shows how the philosophy of Islamic traditionalism opposes the two fundamentals of stable national political systems—a geographical limitation of authority and an institutionalized process for regular changes in leadership. Dr. Sonn bases her argument on an insightful examination of Middle Eastern history, from the formation and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century to the present, and caps it with a detailed look at a possible solution to the dilemma: the teachings of modern scholars who advocate a new “Islamic realism†incorporating a limited definition of national identity and interests while retaining Islamic social goals.
Between Qur'an And Crown: The Challenge Of Political Legitimacy In The Arab World
by Tamara SonnThe struggle for political legitimacy in many Middle Eastern countries today poses a dilemma for ruling elites. In order to maintain authority, leaders often must capitulate to Islamic universalist dogma, which may conflict with their own views of the state as well as threaten the legitimacy of other leaders in the region who are attempting to establish a secular, national basis for government. Tracing the roots of this dilemma in Middle Eastern history and Islamic philosophy, Dr. Sonn compares the contemporary Middle Eastern period to Europe’s “Age of Religious Wars†that preceded the emergence of the Western secular state. She describes how a process similar to the organic development of the secular state in Europe was interrupted in the Middle East by oppressive Western colonialism, which eventually led to the Muslim rejection of nationalism and all things “Western†and to the reassertion of Islam as the sole source of political legitimacy. The author shows how the philosophy of Islamic traditionalism opposes the two fundamentals of stable national political systems—a geographical limitation of authority and an institutionalized process for regular changes in leadership. Dr. Sonn bases her argument on an insightful examination of Middle Eastern history, from the formation and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century to the present, and caps it with a detailed look at a possible solution to the dilemma: the teachings of modern scholars who advocate a new “Islamic realism†incorporating a limited definition of national identity and interests while retaining Islamic social goals.
Between Remembering and Forgetting: The Spiritual Dimensions of Dementia
by James WoodwardWe are increasingly aware of the economic and emotional cost of dementia, but its spiritual dimension is often overlooked. Between Remembering and Forgetting brings together contributions from distinguished and experienced practitioners in the front line of dementia research and care to reflect on this, and to explore the implications for Churches and other faith groups, as well as for individual carers. A practical focus offers not only a critique of areas for future research and development in the field of dementia, but also directs the reader to further resources. The Editor was for ten years Director of The Leveson Centre, which brings together for study, reflection and the exchange of ideas and information those who believe that older people should not be considered passive recipients of care, but as valued and cherished members of society who can inform and enrich the lives of others. In particular the Centre is developing an understanding of spirituality as lived by older people, and aims to support them to express their spiritual awareness.
Between Sheol and Temple: Motif Structure and Function in the I-Psalms (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
by Martin Ravndal HaugeAs against traditional cultic and sociological interpretations of the 'I' Psalms, this original study stresses the 'I' as a literary figure. Yet on the other hand, the historical interest of the traditional models is retained, here with emphasis on 'original' function and intent. There is a common set of central motifs related to the 'I'-figure, most easily discernible when referring to categories of locality. The 'I' is depicted in a sacred landscape of contrasting localities-'Sheol' and 'Temple' connected by the concept of 'Way'. This motif structure deploys an ideological language in which the 'I' figure is an embodiment of a religious paradigm, that attests a process of actualization and integration. The religiosity of these texts is of a mystical character, pointing to some religious practice of intense personal character aimed at experience of a divine reality. No doubt the social location of such experience was among the elite, but some texts hint at a possible 'democratization' of the religious practice they portray.
Between System and Poetics: William Desmond and Philosophy after Dialectic
by Thomas A. F. KellyThis is the first book-length examination of the work of an important contemporary thinker in the continental tradition, William Desmond. His thought is a new, post-modern way of articulating what he calls the ’between’. Rooted in Plato and Augustine, and advancing through a confrontation with Hegel and Nietzsche, Desmond rejects facile scepticism and wins through to a strikingly original and powerfully searching articulation of the human. The present volume contains essays on Desmond’s work both by emerging scholars and by well-established thinkers. It also contains a specially written essay on the practices of philosophy by Desmond himself.