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Historically in middle-class Bengali Hindu households it has been the matriarch's responsibility to arrange and maintain the domestic shrine and to perform daily rituals of deity worship and caretaking—termed in this book as domestic shrine traditions. These traditions are often assimilated with the other domestic caretaking labor women are expected to complete for their families. Utilizing a years-long ethnography with Bengali American Hindu women, and drawing from Marxist feminist Social Reproduction Theory, this book argues that domestic shrine traditions are reproductive labor that is essential to the transnational and transgenerational sustenance of Hindu traditions and subjectivities. As the first monograph focused on Hindu women's domestic shrine traditions in the United States, this book illuminates both the value of these traditions for the women who maintain them, and how these traditions connect immigrant Hindus to family and ethno-religious identity in ways unmatched by the public Hindu temple or organization.

Die Menschen durch ihren Glauben verstehen Über Religionen hat man sich oft schnell eine Meinung gebildet – doch wie viel wissen wir wirklich über sie? Dieses Buch stellt Ihnen verschiedene Religionen vor und zeigt Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede auf. Marc Gellman und Thomas Hartman erzählen von heiligen Menschen und Schriften und erläutern die Standpunkte der Glaubensgemeinschaften zu kritischen gesellschaftlichen Fragen. Die Autoren schildern auch, wie die Menschen ihren Glauben praktizieren und welche Auswirkungen Religion auf die Gesellschaft hat. So liefert Ihnen dieses Buch einen Überblick über den Glauben von Menschen rund um die Welt. Sie erfahren Was eine Religion ausmachtWelchen ethischen Verhaltensregeln die Weltreligionen folgenWie religiöse Botschaften verbreitet werdenWelche verschiedenen Glaubensformen es neben den großen Religionen gibt

This book investigates the origins and development of the theory of four stages of liberation in Pāli literature. This theory is an important soteriological cartography in early Buddhism, particularly Theravāda Buddhism. Amrita Nanda challenges the traditional interpretation of the four stages by recognizing the impact of the changing socio-religious factors on the theory's origins and subsequent development. Based primarily on the Pali literary sources, this study utilizes sometimes-overlooked aspects of these texts. This book first traces the origins of each stage individually; then, it traces the formation of the theory and its subsequent development.

The United States is witnessing a rise in the religiously unaffiliated. Participation in traditional religious settings is in decline. But everyone inhabits a location relative to religion, whether or not they practice or identify with a religious tradition. People engage in religious encounters and relationships in myriad ways, and their religious location is one part of their intersecting identities. This shifting religious landscape challenges spiritual caregivers to provide competent care and counsel that honors how persons'religious locations intersect.Jill Snodgrass argues that without a theoretical understanding of religious location, chaplains, counselors, and other spiritual caregivers are left without sufficient tools to navigate this relational terrain. In The Art of Spiritual Care across Religious Difference, she gathers practices and insights from experienced spiritual caregivers and scholars to explore the concept of religious location--a term initially coined by pastoral theologian Kathleen Greider--as an aspect of an individual's intersecting identity. Snodgrass presents a compilation of essays that help spiritual caregivers think reflexively about their own religious locations and how these locations influence relational dynamics with care seekers within a diversity of cultural contexts.This vigorous compilation advances the fields of pastoral and practical theology as well as spiritual care and counseling by developing a robust, interreligious theory of religious difference grounded in insights from Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Islam. As such, The Art of Spiritual Care across Religious Difference presents a well-timed resource for the training of religiously competent caregivers to serve in hospitals, prisons, places of worship, community mental health centers, offices of campus ministry, and more. Scholars and practitioners will quickly discover that this book will serve as an enduring resource to meet the training needs for spiritual caregivers in ways that will help them to build enduring competencies.

Krieg, politische Gewalt und Frieden stellen zentrale Themen der internationalen Politik dar. Elementar geht es darum, ersteres zu verhindern und letzteres zu befördern. Vor diesem Hintergrund reflektiert das Handbuch die Rolle, die der Religion in Konflikten und Friedensprozessen zukommt. Mit seinen insgesamt fast 100 Beiträgen von Autorinnen und Autoren verschiedener Fachdisziplinen bietet es eine umfassende, systematische Übersicht zu diesem Themenfeld. Ausgehend von drei zentralen Kategorien – Recht, Gewalt und Frieden – erfolgt eine differenzierte Sicht auf verschiedene religiöse Traditionen. In die Betrachtung einbezogen wurden die abrahamitischen Religionen Judentum, Christentum und Islam, die dharmischen Religionen Hinduismus und Buddhismus sowie der Daoismus und Konfuzianismus als die vorherrschenden Orientierungen im sinischen Kulturkreis.

World religions are not merely abstract sets of doctrinal beliefs. They are embodied worldviews and practices lived out by real people around us. Encounters with these neighboring faiths often challenge our own beliefs and traditions, making us think more deeply about our faith commitments.For all who want to understand the religious faiths of their neighbors, Winfried Corduan offers an introduction to the religions of the world. This classic text covers major as well as lesser known religions, including Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, African traditional religions, Native American religion, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Baha'i, Chinese popular religion, and Shinto and Japanese religions.Neighboring Faiths emphasizes not just formal religious teachings but also how each religion is practiced in daily life. Dozens of photographs, charts, and maps help illustrate how the faiths have developed and how they're lived out today. Corduan offers specific insights into what to expect from encounters with adherents of each religion and suggestions for how Christians can engage them in constructive dialogue. Each chapter offers lists of key points, ideas for term papers, and recommended resources to help students, instructors, and small groups go deeper.This third edition has been updated and revised throughout. The chapter on militant Islam is significantly revised to address more recent events and issues, and questions for reflection and discussion have been added to each chapter.Neighboring Faiths is an indispensable guide for Christians seeking an informed, empathetic perspective on different religions and the people who practice them.

The violent conflicts of recent decades in Southwest Asia, North Africa and adjacent regions are often read in terms of the conventional parameters of an international order of sovereign nation states. However, in recent years, non-governmental armed forces have emerged to play an increasingly significant role in the political, social and military fields of the region. These forces are usually analyzed as isolated actors, operating in their respective local or regional spheres, without attention to wider structural commonalities. The aim of this volume is to examine these groups not only as military actors, but also as forces of social significance, indicative of substantial historical shifts relating to notions of sovereignty, beyond the usual prioritization of the state. Comparing the nature, operation and discourses of such forces allows for new understandings of their social impact, beyond common reductionist approaches of securitized worldviews and essentializing lines of inquiry centered on religion.

The Islamic positioning of Islamophobia is presented in this book. Through ‘Islamic'or ‘Muslim'perspectives, the book engages with various Islamic texts and discourses (spoken and written) emanating from preachers and scholars of Islam to discuss the points of convergence and divergence with the Western interpretation of the phenomenon. The book aims to look at Islamophobia from a hitherto unexplored angle by first analyzing the points of convergence and divergence between the internal (Muslim) and external (Western) perspectives, and then by providing new approaches to curbing Islamophobia through a holistic spiritual dimension of Islam and cultural memory. The book contends that the bridges of understanding between the ‘East'and the ‘West'can only be built if some of Islam's theological concepts, such as the place of reason in Islam, are reinterpreted by considering the Islamic perspectives. While the book acknowledges previous work on Islamophobia, it contributes to a deeper understanding of Islamophobia in its internal and external manifestations by considering the theoretical frameworks of racism and xenophobia. Readers interested in Islamic studies and anti-racism narratives would find this book's eclectic approach and balanced perspective of the phenomenon informative and enlightening.

In der neueren Debatte um das Wechselverhältnis von Religion und Politik hat Japan bislang keine Rolle gespielt; zu Unrecht, wie der vorliegende Band zeigt. Japan dürfte das einzige Land mit polytheistisch geprägter Kultur sein, das dem Imperialismus erfolgreich Widerstand entgegensetzte. Mit dem Aufstieg zur Kolonialmacht und der Erhebung des Shintoismus zur Staatsreligion stellte es die Denkmuster europäischer Überlegenheit infrage. Die polytheistische Religion sollte in diesem Transformationsprozess die historische Kontinuität des neuen Staates verbürgen. Dabei stimmen die rhetorischen Strategien überraschend genau mit dem Rückgriff der deutschen Romantik auf vermeintliche ‚Ursprünge‘ überein. Religiöse Symbolsprachen sind interpretationsoffen gegenüber politischen Deutungen, auch quer zur Unterscheidung von poly- und monotheistischen Religionen. Dies zeigt der Band in fünf Fallstudien von Germanisten und Japanologen.

Published in the Series Encyclopedia of Indian Religions, this volume is devoted to Christianity in India, where it has had a long presence, going back to the time of the apostles of Jesus Christ. Divided into two parts, this volume focuses on the history, origin, organizations and local engagements, belief system, worship practices, Rites, Rituals, Christian life, Contributions, Spirituality and a few of the main doctrinal items. The Second Part covers the doctrinal and theological arena. It examines the earlier phase of the history of Christianity starting with the traditional belief of the arrival of St. Thomas in AD 52, moving to the periods of its association with the Chaldean church, the Portuguese, the Dutch, English and so on. This volume highlights the missionary activities of persons like St. Francis Xavier, the creative contributions made to the inter-religious dialogue by such people as Roberto de Nobili (1577-1656) and Swami Abhishiktananda (1910-1973), the linguistic and educational contributions of some of the pioneers like the German Jesuit Johanne Ernst Hanxleden (known as Arnos Padiri) (1681-1732), Herman Gundert (1814-1893), St. Elias Kuriakos Chavara (1805-1871), and, a fortiori, the enormous contributions in the healthcare area throughout the country. Caring for and serving the socio-economically marginalized ones, the peripheralized people formed an integral part of the Christian activity In India, as it is done even today. This is highlighted very much in the volume. It, further, explores the contact India had with European Christianity, showing that European Christianity proved to have wider influence in the Norther part of India, unlike India's early episodic encounters with Palestinian and Persian forms of Christianity, which had deep influence in the Southern part of India. The volume also highlights the inner struggle among the followers resulting even in its division originating at the Synod of Diamper in 1599 manifesting, by and large, the Church-state ‘love and hate'relationships. In fine, in spite of the drawbacks of putting the herculean task of two thousand years of history in eight hundred pages or so, this volume gives a rather comprehensive view of Christianity in India especially to those who are unfamiliar with its life and dynamics in the Indian context. The wide range of photographs, especially of the churches revealing the architectural beauty and multiplicity along with the ensample of art and paintings and pilgrimage centers adds to the enrichment of the volume.

This book centres on religious heritage-making where religion as a rich and diverse manifestation of culture and community empowerment lead to the transformation of place. Fusing heritage and religion in the novel multidisciplinary concept ‘heri-ligion', the authors illuminate the dynamics of change inherent in religious-oriented heritage-making. Grounded in empirical evidence, this rich concept integrates religious tourism, heritage tourism, and community-based empowerment for sustainable development. Applying this unique concept to the once abandoned Hakka village of Yim Tin Tsai, the authors analyse the evolving paths of the island from its Hakka origins to a Christian pilgrimage site, and more recently, to a UNESCO cultural heritage site and thriving tourist destination. The authors foreground the important role of the scattered community as a key agent of change in facilitating a sustainable environment of Hong Kong's only salt-producing place today. A dynamic example of community development and empowerment founded upon religious, cultural, industrial and natural heritage, this book uniquely contributes to tourism and heritage studies, human geography, cultural sociology, Hakka studies, Asian studies, and anthropology of religion.

That God is the perfection of all-blessed abundance, and the source and context for creation's well-being, tends merely to be assumed in theology. Yet, how does God enact all-blessedness and actualize God's own abundantly enriched life? And how might such a reality be relevant to human well-being? Addressing these questions in Triune Well-Being: The Kenotic-Enrichment of the Eternal Trinity, Jacqueline Service traces the dynamics of Divine well-being through Scripture, Christian metaphysics, and a synthesis of Orthodox (Bulgakov), Catholic (Von Balthasar), and Protestant (Pannenberg) Trinitarian theologies to argue that God's “all-blessed” life, the glory of well-being, is symbiotic with triune self-giving (kenosis); a concept identified as “kenotic-enrichment” or “enriching-kenosis.” Such a trinitarian exploration not only offers a fresh perspective on the contested topic of kenosis but goes to the heart of a doctrine of God that implicates the possibility of the well-being of all life.

This research unpacks the reasons of the Muslim Brotherhood's factionalism post-2013 and defines the scope of disagreements within the group, by applying an interactionist approach to factionalism. This approach analyzes the interplay between the macro-, meso-, and micro- dimensions. The research re-constructs the narrative of Muslim Brotherhood's factionalism post-2013, and includes the implicit micro-structural dimensions of the factional process, thereby proposing a more comprehensive narrative to the conflict.

Sowohl junge Alevit:innen als auch junge Sunnit:innen sind in Deutschland aufgrund eines vorwiegend negativen Images des Islams herausgefordert, sich bezüglich ihrer muslimischen oder vermeintlich muslimischen Identität zu positionieren. Gleichzeitig sehen sich die beiden Gruppen in der Diaspora religionsrechtlich mit verschiedenen Bedingungen konfrontiert. Die alevitische Gemeinde Deutschlands (kurz AABF) hat durch ihren Status als Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts und der Durchführung des alevitischen Religionsunterrichts in der Mehrzahl der Bundesländer religionsrechtlich in Deutschland eine bessere Ausgangsposition erreichen können als die Türkisch-Islamische Union der Anstalt für Religion e.V. (kurz DİTİB). In dem Buch werden Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der sich diesen Gruppen zugehörig fühlenden jungen Adoleszenten in Bezug auf ihre religiöse Identitätsbildung untersucht.

Understanding the beliefs and practices of other faiths is essential not just to the task of interreligious dialogue, but also to grasping one's own faith.In this brief volume in IVP Academic's Introductions in Seven Sentences, philosopher Douglas Groothuis creatively uses a single sentence representing each of several world religions as a way to open readers to their depth and complexity, including:Atheism:'God Is Dead.'Judaism:'I Am Who I Am.'Hinduism:'You Are That.'Buddhism:'Life Is Suffering.'Daoism:'The Dao That Can Be Spoken Is Not the Eternal Dao.'Christianity:'Before Abraham Was, I Am.'Islam:'There Is One God, and Mohammad Is His Prophet.'With a sympathetic but not uncritical approach, Groothuis welcomes readers to a vital and global conversation.The accessible primers in the Introductions in Seven Sentences collection act as brief introductions to an academic field, with simple organization: seven key sentences that give readers a birds-eye view of an entire discipline.

Das Anliegen der vorliegenden Untersuchung ist es, mit der Theorie der multiplen Differenzierung einen soziologischen Blick auf Religion und die besonderen Übersetzungsverhältnisse am Beispiel der organisations- und milieuspezifischen Lage der Aleviten in der Türkei zu werfen. Dabei werden die spezifischen Anerkennungs-, Aushandlungs- und Transformationsprozesse der alevitischen Glaubensgemeinschaft betrachtet. Elif Yıldızlı arbeitet die Spannungen im Kontext von Religion in der modernen Gesellschaft und die Paradoxien zwischen verschiedenen (religiösen) Formen und der Funktion der sozialen Integration heraus. Dafür ist die Konzeptualisierung der Differenzierung u. a. zwischen (alevitischer) Organisation und (alevitischem) Milieu notwendig. Somit trägt diese Arbeit mit einer aufwendigen theoretisch-empirischen Analyse zur (religions-) soziologischen Erforschung verschiedener Integrationsformen der Aleviten bei als Beispiel für die Ausdifferenzierung einer neuen religiösen Milieutypologie.

This proceedings volume presents selected chapters from the 13th Global Islamic Marketing Conference, featuring contributions from renowned experts from around the world. The chapters offer an up-to-date overview of research and insights into Islamic business practices, with a specific focus on Islamic marketing and entrepreneurship strategies. Authored by experts hailing from diverse countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco, the chapters collectively provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Covering a wide range of topics including understanding Muslim consumer behavior and marketing, halal tourism and healthcare, entrepreneurship and business in Muslim societies, women empowerment and entrepreneurship, Islamic ethics and values in organizations, psychological factors and social issues, technology and future trends, and social and labor issues in Muslim societies, this book encompasses a global perspective on the subject matter. With the expertise and diverse backgrounds of the contributing authors, this book serves as an invaluable resource for researchers interested in delving into the intricacies of Islamic business practices. It also offers valuable insights and practical implications for business consultants seeking a deep understanding of conducting business in Islam-oriented regions. The collective knowledge and experiences shared by these renowned experts contribute to a comprehensive exploration of the topic, making this volume a significant contribution to the field of Islamic marketing and business studies.

In Deutschland verwandelte sich der Buddhismus um die Jahrhundertwende von einem obskuren Thema, das nur für einige wenige Gelehrte von Interesse war, in ein kulturelles Phänomen. Viele der bedeutendsten Autoren dieser Zeit wurden von diesem rasanten Aufstieg des Buddhismus tiefgreifend beeinflusst - unter ihnen einige der bekanntesten Namen des deutsch-jüdischen Kanons. Sebastian Musch gräbt diese vernachlässigte Dimension deutsch-jüdischer Identität aus und zeichnet anhand von philosophischen Abhandlungen, Romanen, Essays, Tagebüchern und Briefen die Geschichte der jüdisch-buddhistischen Begegnungen bis zum Beginn des Zweiten Weltkriegs nach. Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Leo Baeck, Theodor Lessing, Jakob Wassermann, Walter Hasenclever und Lion Feuchtwanger werden neben anderen, weniger bekannten Persönlichkeiten wie Paul Cohen-Portheim und Walter Tausk vorgestellt. Wie Musch zeigt, verhandelten diese Denker, als sie über den Buddhismus schrieben, auch ihr eigenesJüdischsein. Dieses Buch ist eine Übersetzung einer englischen Originalausgabe. Die Übersetzung wurde mit Hilfe von künstlicher Intelligenz erstellt. Eine anschließende menschliche Überarbeitung erfolgte vor allem in Bezug auf den Inhalt, so dass sich das Buch stilistisch anders liest als eine herkömmliche Übersetzung.

Religious Literacy has become a popular concept for navigating religious diversity in public life. Spanning classrooms to boardrooms, The Politics of Religious Literacy challenges commonly held understandings of religious literacy as an inclusive framework for engaging with religion in modern, multifaith democracies. As the first book to rethink religious literacy from the perspective of affect theory and secularism studies, this new approach calls for a constructive reconsideration focused on the often-overlooked feelings and practices that inform our questionably secular age. This study offers fresh insights into the changing dynamics of religion and secularism in the public sphere.

In this New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller, comedic actor, producer, and writer Rainn Wilson explores the problem-solving benefits that spirituality gives us to create solutions for an increasingly challenging world. The trauma that our struggling species has experienced in recent years—because of both the pandemic and societal tensions that threaten to overwhelm us—is not going away anytime soon. Existing political and economic systems are not enough to bring the change that the world needs. In this book, Rainn Wilson explores the possibility and hope for a spiritual revolution, a “Soul Boom,” to find a healing transformation on both a personal and global level For Wilson, this is a serious and essential pursuit, but he brings great humor and his own unique perspective to the conversation. He feels that, culturally, we've discounted spirituality—faith and the sacred—and we need profound healing and a unifying understanding of the world that the great spiritual traditions provide. Wilson's approach to spirituality—the non-physical, eternal aspects of ourselves—is relatable and applies to people of all beliefs, even the skeptics. Filled with genuine insight—not to mention enlightening Kung Fu and Star Trek references—Soul Boom delves into ancient wisdom to seek out practical, transformative answers to life's biggest questions.

This book highlights perspectives from religious traditions worldwide, in conversation with other communities who promote, critique, or question the idea of human rights. It shows how human rights can provide a platform for dialogue among groups of people from diverse backgrounds who seek to address pressing issues of human well-being.In each chapter, readers will be introduced to religious and human rights perspectives on specific global issues. Intersecting with these issues, the work examines history and philosophy of human rights, for a generally accessible overview of human rights theory, foundations, and critique. Specific case studies woven through the book will also help both students and advocates – whether they are part of religious communities or not – engage more deeply with particular areas of concern.This volume is a useful resource for undergraduate students who are learning about the relationship between religion and human rights in a classroom for the first time, as well as upper-level and graduate students looking for a broad basis of knowledge and a starting point for digging deeper into specific areas of scholarship.

The new and updated edition of The Archaeology of Religion explores how archaeology interprets past religions, offering insights into how archaeologists seek out the religious, ritual, and symbolic meaning behind what they discover in their research.The book includes case studies from around the world, from the study of Upper Palaeolithic and hunter-gatherer religions to religious structures and practices in complex societies of the Americas, Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. Steadman also includes chapters on the origins and development of key contemporary religions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, among others—to provide an historical and comparative context. Three main themes are threaded throughout the book. These main themes involve the intersection between cultural and religious structures (“religion reflects culture”), including the importance of environment in shaping a culture's religion, the role religion can sometimes play as a method of social control, and the role religion can sometimes play as a key component in revitalizing a culture.Updated with new discoveries and theories and with two new chapters (Hunter-Gatherer Religions; and Cultures in East Asia) and with new sections on Neolithic Western Asia, the book remains an ideal introduction for courses that include a significant component on past cultures and their religions.

People today encounter a dizzying array of religious options. We might consider mystical faiths like Buddhism and Hinduism, historical religions like Islam and Mormonism, or more nebulous modern expressions of being spiritual but not religious or religious but not spiritual. How do we know what is true? Is one faith just as good as another?Trial lawyer Mark Lanier presents the claims made by the world's great religions, discusses their histories, and cross-examines their witnesses (their scriptures and traditions) to determine whether their claims are worthy of belief. With his keen legal mind and methodical style, he provides a careful comparative study, highlighting key truths he finds in each religion even as he offers critiques. Treating each perspective on its own terms and weighing the worldviews for consistency and livability, Lanier assesses evidence for and against belief systems with criteria for what constitutes sufficient proof.Believers and unbelievers alike will find here perceptive insights into how we can make sense of competing religious claims and what difference it makes for our own lives.

In this timely collection, the authors examine Indigenous peoples'negotiations with different cosmologies in a globalized world. Dussart and Poirier outline a sophisticated theory of change that accounts for the complexity of Indigenous peoples'engagement with Christianity and other cosmologies, their own colonial experiences, as well as their ongoing relationships to place and kin. The contributors offer fine-grained ethnographic studies that highlight the complex and pragmatic ways in which Indigenous peoples enact their cosmologies and articulate their identity as forms of affirmation. This collection is a major contribution to the anthropology of religion, religious studies, and Indigenous studies worldwide. Contributors: Anne-Marie Colpron, Robert R. Crépeau, Françoise Dussart, Ingrid Hall, Laurent Jérôme, Frédéric Laugrand, C. James MacKenzie, Caroline Nepton Hotte, Ksenia Pimenova, Sylvie Poirier, Kathryn Rountree, Antonella Tassinari, Petronella Vaarzon-Morel

In Judentum, Christentum und Islam ist die Orientierung an'Heiligen Texten'zentral. War früher unstrittig, dass diese Texte aufgrund einer'Offenbarung'als direkt von Gott gegeben und als'Wort Gottes'verstanden werden können, ist seit der Aufklärung und historisch-kritischer Methoden die Normativität dieser Texte fraglich geworden. Inwiefern können Glaubende diese Texte als'Wort Gottes'verstehen, ohne in einen'Offenbarungspositivismus'zu verfallen? Wie können sich Religionen bei ethischen Themen oder gesellschaftlichen Positionierungen auf diese Texte aus der Vergangenheit beziehen? Kann der historische Abstand überhaupt überbrückt werden, oder sind diese Texte nur noch aus'rein historischen'Gründen von Interesse? Der Band diskutiert diese Fragen angesichts neuerer Schrifthermeneutik der drei großen monotheistischen Religionen in der Perspektive aufgeklärter Normativität.

This book explores the protests of Job from the perspectives of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious and philosophical traditions. Shira Weiss examines how challenges to divine justice are understood from a Jewish theological perspective, including the pro-protest and anti-protest traditions within rabbinic literature, in an effort to explicate the ambiguous biblical text and Judaism's attitude towards the suffering of the righteous. Scott Davison surveys Christian interpretations of the book of Job and the nature of suffering in general before turning to a comparison of the lamentations of Jesus and Job, with special attention to the question of whether complaints against God can be expressions of faith. Sajjad Rizvi presents the systematic ambiguity of being present in monistic approaches to reality as one response to evil and suffering in Islam, along with approaches that attempt a resolution through the essential erotic nature of the cosmos, and explores the suggestionthat Job is the hero of a metaphysical revolt that is the true sign of a friend of God. Each author also provides a response essay to the essays of the other two authors, creating an interfaith dialogue around the problem of evil and the idea of protest against the divine.

What ancient polytheistic religions can teach us about building inclusive and equitable futures At the heart of this book is a simple comparison: monotheistic religions are exclusive, whereas ancient polytheistic religions are inclusive. In this thought-provoking book, Maurizio Bettini, one of today's foremost classicists, uses the expansiveness of ancient polytheism to shine a bright light on a darker corner of our modern times. It can be easy to see ancient religions as inferior, less free, and remote from shared visions of an inclusive world. But, as Bettini deftly shows, many ancient practices tended to produce results aligned with contemporary progressive values, like pluralism and diversity. In Praise of Polytheism does not chastise the modern world or blame monotheism for our woes but rather shows in clear, sharp prose how much we can learn from ancient religions, underscoring the limitations of how we view the world and ourselves today.

Die Beiträge dieses Bandes nähern sich dem Thema der Gotteslehre aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven (Alttestamentliche und Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, Kirchengeschichte, klassische Philologie, antike Religionsgeschichte, Judaistik, Systematische und Praktische Theologie). Sie ehren damit Reinhard Feldmeier, dessen biblisch-theologische Erkundungen zum Thema'Gott'stets antike und spätantike Religionsgeschichte einbeziehen und sich dabei durch Anschlussfähigkeit an moderne Religiosität, nicht zuletzt das Christentum im globalen Süden, auszeichnen.

Of late, speaking about religion has become a problem. Whether we are in our homes, at worship, on the street, in college classrooms, or anywhere that conversations happen, speaking about religion often can turn into a heated exchange. As our political and religious divisions widen, so does our inability to cross over to meet others halfway with compassionate, convicted, and civil dialogue. Speaking of Religion... not only offers ways in which we might open ourselves to hearing and caring about others, but also seeks to help us understand our own convictions more fully. Such dialogue is not often easy, but it is essential if we ever hope to find our way into a future where fear, hatred, and cruelty can be set aside. As Plato is reputed to have said,'We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light.'Speaking of Religion seeks to look for light in a world that all too readily gets lost in the night of religious ignorance.

The twenty-first century began with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Much has been written and debated on the relationship between faith and violence, with acts of terror at the forefront. However, the twentieth century also gave rise to many successful nonviolent protest movements. Nonviolence in the World's Religions introduces the reader to the complex relationship between religion and nonviolence. Each of the essays delves into the contemporary and historical expressions of the world's major religious traditions in relation to nonviolence. Contributors explore the literary and theological foundations of a tradition's justification of nonviolence; the ways that nonviolence has come to expression in its beliefs, symbols, rituals, and other practices; and the evidence of nonviolence in its historic and present responses to conflict and warfare. The meanings of both religion and nonviolence are explored through engagement with nonviolence in Hindu, Buddhist, Chinese, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Jain, and Pacific Island religious traditions. This is the ideal introduction to the relationship between religion and violence for undergraduate students, as well as for those in related fields, such as religious studies, peace and conflict studies, area studies, sociology, political science, and history.

The Palgrave Handbook of African Traditional Religion interrogates and presents robust and comprehensive contributions from interdisciplinary experts and scholars. Offering a range of perspectives and opinions through the prism of understanding the past about African Traditional religions and, more importantly, capturing their dynamics in the present and projecting their sustainability and relevance for the future, this volume is an essential resource for knowledge and understanding of African Traditional religions in the global space of religious traditions.

The book will inform Westerners about how the three primary Asian religions facilitate violence and conflict. Each of the three Asian religions selected, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shinto, is defined and compared with the others and with the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Next these Asian religions are analyzed to see how each allows for violence and conflict. Then the nature of religious conflict within them is compared to the nature of religious conflict within two of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity and Islam). Religious-facilitated conflicts in Asia have already occurred for many centuries, are occurring today, and likely will continue to occur. Although Asian religions may profess to be peaceful, they still end up facilitating violence and conflict. It is important to enlighten both the American members of the armed forces currently stationed in the Asia-Pacific region (numbering over one hundred thousand) as well as American taxpayers, whose taxes pay for this security regarding the religious aspect of conflict in Asia.

This book analyzes the role that the physical body plays in foundational Mormon doctrine, and claims that such an analysis reveals a model of empathy that has significant implications for the field of Mormon aesthetics. This volume achieves three main goals: It elucidates the Mormonism's relationship with the body, it illuminates Mormonism's traditional approaches to understanding and appreciating art, and it suggests that the body as Mormonism conceives of it allows for the employment of an aesthetic framework rooted in bodily empathy rather than traditional Christian or Mormon moral values per se. In support of this argument, several chapters of the book apply Mormonism's theology of the body to paintings and poems by contemporary Mormon artists and writers. An examination of those works reveals that the seeds of a new Mormon aesthetic are germinating, but have yet to significantly shift traditional Mormon thought regarding the role and function of art.

For believers and skeptics alike, A Doubter's Guide to World Religions introduces the five major world religions so that you can explore their similarities and differences in a fair and engaging way.The world is a very religious place. Wherever you look, people are worshipping, praying, believing, following, even dying for their faith. But what does it mean to be religious? Are all religions the same? Do they all call on the same God simply using different names? Are their beliefs and practices simply cultural expressions of the same spiritual longings?Written by historian and theologian John Dickson in his characteristically engaging style, this book presents each of the world's five major systems of faith, carefully outlining the history, doctrines, beliefs, and spiritual practices of:Hinduism ('The Way of Release')Buddhism ('The Way of Enlightenment')Judaism ('The Way of the Torah')Christianity ('The Way of the Christ')Islam ('The Way of Submission')In his own words, Dickson acts as an art curator in a gallery, presenting each of these'works of art'in their best light and letting each have their say. Along the way, he demonstrates the importance of religion in general—to society and to individual believers—and addresses many of the universal questions that all of these serious and ancient religions ask:Who are we?What is our worth?How should we live?Are we alone?At the end of each section is a bibliography of helpful books and websites for those who are interested in learning even more.

A world religions textbook spotlighting global missionary activity This comparative introduction explores the mission obligation as it is expressed across seven traditions: the Bahá'í Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism, and nonreligion. In a structure that facilitates side-by-side comparison and contrast, the book examines the philosophies, practices, and texts that inspire the worldwide propagation of a plurality of religious and nonreligious teachings. Topics explored include proselytization, conversion, translation, religious education, colonialism, cultural adaptation, humanitarianism, interfaith encounter, secularism, and transnational growth. The first edition of World Religions and their Missions was fundamental in establishing comparative mission studies. This revised second edition features expanded chapters, updated data, and entirely new chapters.

Worldview Religious Studies brings the study of religion, spirituality, secularism, and other mixed attitudes of life under the overarching scheme of worldview studies. This book introduces and defines worldviews more generally before establishing a framework specific to religious studies.The drive for meaning-making is explored through ritual-symbolic activities, ideas of ‘play', and the power of emotions to transform simple ideas into values and beliefs that frame identity and signpost destiny. Identity and its sacralisation are discussed alongside gift/reciprocity theory in their relation to ideas of merit, karma, and salvation in Eastern and Western traditions. This theoretical background is used to introduce a new classification of worldviews - natural, scientific, ancestral, karmic, prophetic-sectarian, mystical, and ideological.Organised thematically by chapter, this book brings together familiar and unfamiliar authors, theories, and sources to challenge students and teachers of Religious Studies, Theology, and Ethics. It introduces worldview religious studies as a framework through which to re-think human endeavours to identify, cope and even transcend life's flaws and perils.

According to anthropologists, religion arose in the Neolithic period, a time that began 12 thousand years ago when people abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and started settling down in communities. By the time of the ancient Egyptians, religion had reached a significant level of development. The spirits of the seeds and the weather had evolved into gods. In the end, the gods numbered more than a thousand; every god required a temple, and every temple needed a priest, or several of them. Following the death of Jesus, for the Christian god to reach its final form took an additional three hundred years. It was accomplished through the work of dozens of bishops who wrestled with the problem of how a god consisting of three persons could really be one entity. Religious orthodoxy as we know it today is the result of the countless solutions proposed by priests, not the result of divinely inspired texts or teachings, with various bishops condemning some proposals as heretical and blessing others as conventional. But how were orthodoxy and heresy distinguished? Any position that increased the power of the bishops was, by definition, orthodox, and any position that undermined it was heretical. Thus, the Christian god that we have today is a construct assembled over many years, and for two thousand years it has served to augment and solidify the power of the bishops who created it and who sustain it. Religion, Power & Illusion concludes that priestly power is so firmly rooted in the human condition that religion is not likely to disappear any time soon. It also explores the defective logic used by religious promoters, and what is necessary for experiences to be non-illusory.

This book sheds new light on the evolution and transformation of polytheistic religions. By applying economic models to the study of religious history and by viewing religious events as the result of rational choices under given environmental constraints, it offers a political economy perspective for the study of Indo-European polytheism. The book formally models the rivalry or competition among multiple gods in a polytheistic system and the monotheistic solution to this competition. Presenting case studies on the transformation and demise of various polytheistic religions, it highlights the pivotal role of the priestly class in driving religious change and suggests a joint explanation for the demise of Greco-Roman religion and the resilience of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. It will appeal to scholars of the economics of religion and religious history and to anyone seeking new insights into the birth and death of religions, and the birth of monotheism in particular.

Many Peoples, Many Faiths places the world's religions in historical context, illustrating the complex dynamic of each religion over time, while also presenting current beliefs, practices, and group formations. This unique textbook includes engaging sections on women in religion, religion and governance, and religion in America throughout. Thoroughly revised and updated for its eleventh edition, Many Peoples, Many Faiths covers the following topics: Understanding the World's Religious Heritage Indigenous Peoples and Religion The Spiritual Paths of India The Journey of Buddhism Religions of East Asia The Family of the Three Great Monotheistic Religions and Zoroastrianism The Unique Perspective of Judaism The Growth of Christianity Building the House of Islam New Religious Movements Religion and Violence, Non-violence, and Peacemaking This edition reflects new scholarship and general interest and, where appropriate, addresses rapidly developing and shifting areas, taking account of the dynamic, changing quality of religion. New and expanded material on indigenous peoples and religions, discussions of colonization, and the new chapter on religion and violence, non-violence, and peacemaking also distinguish this edition. Images, maps, and timelines add to the sense of the richness of the world religions.This is an ideal resource for anyone wanting an accessible and yet comprehensive introduction to the world religions.

Faith Physics is a new Theory of Everything (ToE) combining ancient spiritual wisdom and modern quantum physics findings to deliver a belief system that is both intellectually sound and spiritually satisfying. It maintains an ineffable Supreme Con

Similarities between esoteric and mystical currents in different religious traditions have long interested scholars. This book takes a new look at the relationship between such currents. It advances a discussion that started with the search for religious essences, archetypes, and universals, from William James to Eranos. The universal categories that resulted from that search were later criticized as essentialist constructions, and questioned by deconstructionists. An alternative explanation was advanced by diffusionists: that there were transfers between different traditions. This book presents empirical case studies of such constructions, and of transfers between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the premodern period, and Judaism, Christianity, and Western esotericism in the modern period. It shows that there were indeed transfers that can be clearly documented, and that there were also indeed constructions, often very imaginative. It also shows that there were many casesthat were neither transfers nor constructions, but a mixture of the two.

The subjective depends on the situation, the people involved, the time, and the environment. The objective is true for all situations, all people, all times, and in all environments. Many issues are uncontrovertibly subjective. However, is anything objective? Current intellectual secular culture (which includes Post-Modernism, Post- Modernity, Atheistic Existentialism, Pragmatism, and Post-Structuralism) claims that there are no objective truths (everything is subjective) and that each individual can pick his or her own goals and values. This book investigates the inadequacies of this secular approach when dealing with the purpose of life and the problem of evil by contrasting the behavioral imperatives of secular culture with what the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Theravada Buddhism say.

An Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies walks students through topical issues to be encountered in the study of the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as these religions encounter other religions in the context of the wider ecumenism. The text is written from a Christian point of view and aims at helping students understand that to be Christian is to be ecumenical. African Traditional Religions (ATRs) has been included in this survey to provide background for the religious traditions and cultures of peoples of Africa as Christianity moves inexorably southward. The book has been written with undergraduate general education students in mind--including meeting the needs of those in seminaries and theological institutes.

This study investigates how a comparison between the Catholic theologian Edward Schillebeeckx's controversial reading of Thomist philosophy and the Tibetan Buddhist Gendun Chopel's challenge to the standard Geluk teaching of Tsongkhapa's Madhyamaka philosophy might assist in rethinking conceptions of religious knowledge. Utilizing a wide variety of methodical approaches to establish an imaginary dialogue between these two thinkers, this comparison remains embodied in the thought and praxis of actual individuals, and yet still firmly embedded within the conversations and trajectories of their broader religious traditions.

Robert Eisler, the polymathic Jewish Austrian scholar and Holocaust survivor, faded into obscurity after his death in 1949. A contemporary and associate of Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg, and Gershom Scholem, Eisler spent his early years in fin-de-siècle Vienna and trained as an art historian and economist. In this book, the first in English devoted to Eisler's life and thought, Brian Collins takes us through the development of Eisler's ideas about the philosophy of values, comparative mythology, Christianity, psychoanalysis, monetary policy, and anthropology. Collins also explores the bizarre and sometimes tragic events that defined Eisler's life, including his arrest for art theft in 1907, his controversial reconstruction of a physical description of Jesus, and the fifteen months he spent in Dachau and Buchenwald, the inspiration for his final book, Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy.

First Words, Last Words charts an intense'pamphlet war'that took place in sixteenth-century South India. Yigal Bronner and Lawrence McCrea explore this controversy as a case study in the dynamics of innovation in early modern India, a time of great intellectual innovation. This debate took place within the traditional discourses of Vedic Hermeneutics, or M?m??s?, and its increasingly influential sibling discipline of Ved?nta, and its proponents among the leading intellectuals and public figures of the period. Bronner and McCrea examine the nature of theoretical innovation in scholastic traditions by focusing on a specific controversy regarding scriptural interpretation and the role of sequence-what comes first and what follows later-in determining our interpretation of a scriptural passage. Vy?sat?rtha and his grand-pupil Vijay?ndrat?rtha, writers belonging to the camp of Dualist Ved?nta, purported to uphold the radical view of their founding father, Madhva, who believed, against a long tradition of M?m??s? interpreters, that the closing portion of a scriptural passage should govern the interpretation of its opening. By contrast, the Nondualist Appayya D?k?ita ostensibly defended his tradition's preference for the opening. But, as this volume shows, the debaters gradually converged on a profoundly novel hermeneutic-cognitive theory in which sequence played little role, if any. First Words, Last Words traces both the issue of sequence and the question of innovation through an in-depth study of this debate and through a comparative survey of similar problems in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, revealing that the disputants in this controversy often pretended to uphold traditional views, when they were in fact radically innovative.

Malgré l'annonce de la mort de dieu et du désenchantement du monde, les religions font toujours partie de notre quotidien et sûrement bien plus qu'on ne l'imagine au premier abord. Néanmoins, il n'est pas toujours facile de répondre à la question : Qu'est-ce que la religion? Pourquoi semble-t-elle avoir une telle importance? Ne pourrait-on pas s'en débarrasser? Le mot religion est-il synonyme de croyance, de spiritualité ou même de superstition? Pourquoi les religions semblent si souvent liées aux États et à la guerre? Quels sont les liens entre religion et économie et pourquoi sont-ils plus étroits qu'on pourrait le penser? C'est à ces questions que cet ouvrage cherche à répondre en s'appuyant sur l'étymologie et l'histoire, en explorant tous les aspects des religions, des symboles aux mythes, du sacré à la hiérarchie jusqu'aux nations et aux empires.

Throughout their shared history, Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches have lived through a very complex and sometimes tense relationship – not only theologically, but also politically. In most cases such relationships remain to this day; indeed, in some cases the tension has increased. In July 2019, scholars of both traditions gathered in Stuttgart, Germany, for an unprecedented conference devoted to exploring and overcoming the division between these churches. This book, the first in a two-volume set of the essays presented at the conference, explores historical and theological themes with the goal of healing memories and inspiring a direct dialogue between Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Like the conference, the volume brings together representatives of these Churches, as well as theologians from different geographical contexts where tensions are the greatest. The published essays represent the great achievements of the conference: willingness to engage in dialogue, general openness to new ideas, and opportunities to address difficult questions and heal inherited wounds.

Throughout their shared history, Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches have lived through a very complex and sometimes tense relationship –-not only theologically, but also politically. In most cases such relationships remain to this day; indeed, in some cases the tension has increased. In July 2019, scholars of both traditions gathered in Stuttgart, Germany, for an unprecedented conference devoted to exploring and overcoming the division between these churches. This book, the second in a two-volume set of the essays presented at the conference, explores the ecumenical and practical implications of the relationship between Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Like the conference, the volume brings together representatives of these Churches, as well as theologians from different geographical contexts where tensions are the greatest. The published essays represent the great achievements of the conference: willingness to engage in dialogue, general openness to new ideas, and opportunities to address difficult questions and heal inherited wounds.