Philosophy of religion Books

Book SynopsisSumérgete en un viaje intelectual hacia lo divino, cuestionando, comprendiendo y descubriendo en cada página de este libro de Alberto F. Roldán.El autor nos lleva a dialogar sobre Dios y de la mano de reconocidos filósofos y teólogos del siglo XX y XXI. La obra te lleva a pensar las preguntas esenciales del ser humano y no por imaginar a un ser celestial objetivado y abstraído de la realidad. En consecuencia, pensar en Dios no puede reducirse a conocimiento, también se relaciona con la experiencia y sabiduría. Su obra nos hace reflexionar sobre los temas más actuales de la teología en un contexto de ateísmo y creciente secularismo, donde cada vez son más las personas ajenas a la preocupación por Dios, de tal modo que en ellas se manifiesta la “muerte de Dios” de un modo explícito, cuando son incapaces de sentir y concebir la realidad divina.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDEUS EXISTE OU SERIA A FÉ RELIGIOSA APENAS UM DELÍRIO UNIVERSAL?Em O ceticismo da fé, o teólogo e arqueólogo Rodrigo Silva traz um estudo profundo sobre a existência de Deus. O objetivo primário desta obra, entretanto, não é um convencimento sobre Deus, mas acompanhar crentes e descrentes nessa jornada sem-fim inerente a todo ser humano em busca da verdade. Pois a fé comporta, sim, muitas dúvidas. René Descartes que o diga. Mesmo não sendo teólogo, nem pretendendo produzir uma declaração de fé religiosa, ele ajudou Rodrigo Silva a ter umdos mais brilhantes insights confessionais: o homem deve desconfiar de tudo para poder acreditar em alguma coisa.Não se pretende aqui enganar o leitor ou insultar sua inteligência, nem apresentar qualquer soberba confessional. Rodrigo Silva é crente, sim, mas a inspiração para este trabalho veio justamente de sua descrença. E apesar das respostas que encontrou nesses quase trinta anos de estudo, o autor não foge de algumas questões polêmicas e provocadoras que envolvem Deus, como Por que ele se esconde?, Por que um Deus de amor matou e mandou matar tanta gente no Antigo Testamento? e Onde eleestava durante o massacre de Auschwitz?.Este livro convida o leitor, seja o ateu ou o religioso mais convicto, a questionar, a pensar, a se comprometer sinceramente com a dúvida, a fim de que a sua sistematização o conduza a grandes certezas

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume deals with the transformation of unchurched religious creativity in the late modern West. It analyzes the ways in which the advance of science, globalization and individualism have fundamentally reshaped esoteric religious traditions, from theosophy to the New Age. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.Trade Review'Claiming Knowledge propose une analyse fort pertinente des modalités de la construction du savoir religieux dans la modernité. Ce livre est une contribution importante à l’histore de l’ésotérisme occidental en particulier et des productions religieuses de la modernité en général.' David A. Palmer, Justificatif, 2004. 'Hammer has done a great service with his careful analysis of an understudied phenomenon in contemporary religion: the New Age. This book is a treasure of research into the roots and development of modern esotericism…offers new insight…strong book, which certainly deserves a place in the stacks of academic libraries.' T.A. Forsthoefel, Choice, 2001.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOver the past fifteen years Francis of Marchia (fl. 1320) has finally begun to receive the kind of attention his contemporary Franciscan confreres John Duns Scotus, Peter Auriol, and William of Ockham have enjoyed for decades. Marchia, a master of theology at the University of Paris, has emerged as an exciting thinker who made original contributions in areas ranging from modal theory to trinitarian theology. This volume capitalizes on the studies on and critical editions of the works of Marchia published since 1991, treating some of his often distinct and influential doctrines in cosmology, physics, metaphysics, ethics, and politics, based on his three main works: his commentaries on the Sentences and Aristotle's Metaphysics and his Improbatio written against Pope John XXII. Contributors include: Fabrizio Amerini, Russell L. Friedman, Roberto Lambertini, Andrea Robiglio, Chris Schabel, Mark Thakkar, and Fabio Zanin.Trade Review"...Insgesamt wird man den Herausgebern für diesen gelungenen Sammelband dankbar sein, bringt er doch an der Forschungsfront Licht in undeutliche Verhältnisse der geistesgeschichtlichen Entwicklung in der ersten Hälfte des 14. Jhs..." Francia-Recensio (2008), 4 (http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/zeitschriften/ausgabe=4577) Jürgen Miethke, Universität Heidelberg “...[O]n ne peut donc que saluer la publication de ce volume spécial de , qui fournit une contribution nouvelle et importante à une meilleure connaissance de François de la Marche, mais aussi, et plus généralement, à celle de la culture philosophique du début du XIVe siècle... [L]es contributions publiées ici élargissent sensiblement notre connaissance de la pensée de François de la Marche, dont elles montrent par ailleurs la valeur incontournable dans la reconstitution du panorama intellectuel de la première moitié du XIVe siècle...” Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 54.3 (2007), pp. 657-660, T. Suarez-Nani "...This book is an exemplar of method and erudition in medieval studies and will be of great interest to both specialists and students of scholastic philosophy and theology..." Religious Studies Review 34.3 (2008), p. 213a-b, S. KitanovTable of ContentsRussell L. Friedman and Chris Schabel, Introduction Mark Thakkar, Francis of Marchia on the Heavens Chris Schabel, Francis of Marchia’s Virtus derelicta and the Context of Its Development Fabio Zanin, Francis of Marchia, Virtus derelicta, and Modifications of the Basic Principles of Aristotelian Physics Fabrizio Amerini, Utrum inhaerentia sit de essentia accidentis. Marchia and the Debate on the Nature of Accidents Andrea A. Robiglio, Francis of Marchia and the Act of the Will Roberto Lambertini, Francis of Marchia and William of Ockham: Fragments from a Dialogue

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe silence of God is a recurring theme in modern reflection. It is not only addressed in theology, religious studies and philosophy, but also in literary fiction, film and theatre. The authors show that the concept of a silent deity emerged in the ancient Near East (including Greece). What did the Ancients mean when they assumed that under circumstances their deities remained silent? What reasons are discernable for silence between human beings and their gods? For the first time the close interrelation between the divine and the human in the revelatory process is demonstrated here on the basis of a wealth of translated ancient texts. In an intriguing epilogue, the authors explore the theological consequences of what they have found.Trade ReviewJohn Day, Oxford: "a remarkably wide-ranging and learned book on a highly topical theme" David Clines, Sheffield: "The Silent God is a most unusual and distinctive work, rich and original in its range and in its angle of vision on the sources. It will be an important resource for all those concerned with the contemporary value of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament."Table of Contents1. The Silent God in Modernity . 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Silent God in Modern Literature and Media 1.3 Some Theologians and Philosophers 1.4 The Silent God in Agnosticism and Atheism 1.5 In Defense of a Silent God 1.6 Critical Examination of Current Views 2. Prerequisites for a Fresh Investigation 2.1 De_ning the Scope of This Study 2.2 The Human Nature of Religious Language 2.3 Silence Presupposes Speech 2.4 The Silent God: The Biblical Roots 2.5 The Silent God: The Biblical World 2.6 Why This Approach? 3 Silence between Humans in Antiquity 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Reasons for Silence between Humans 3.3 Conclusions on Silence between Humans 4. How Did Man Address the Deity? 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Songs and Prayers 4.3 Letters to Deities 4.4 Magic and Sorcery 4.5 Silence of Man before the Deity 4.6 Conclusions on Man Addressing the Deity 5. How Did the Deity Address Man? 5.1 Direct Communication between Deity and Man 5.2 Communication through Intermediaries 5.3 Dreams, Visions, Oracles, Omina 5.4 Conclusions on the Deity Addressing Man 6. The Silent God 6.1 The Silence of the Remote God 6.2 Broken Communication between God and Man 6.3 Conclusions on Divine Silence 7. Epilogue 7.1 Faith Talk 7.2 God's Word in Human Guise 7.3 Synergy 7.4 Is Revelation Still Possible? 7.5 Bearing Witness to a Silent God 7.6 The Courage to Become a Witness 7.7 The Integrity of Witnesses 7.8 Theodicy 7.9 Believers and Unbelievers

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the centre of the Rosicrucian manifestos was a call for ‘general reformation’. In Reformation, Revolution, Renovation, the first book-length study of this topic, Lyke de Vries demonstrates the unique position of the Rosicrucian call for reform in the transformative context of the early seventeenth century. The manifestos, commonly interpreted as either Lutheran or esoteric, are here portrayed as revolutionary mission statements which broke dramatically with Luther’s reform ideals. Their call for reform instead resembles a variety of late medieval and early modern dissenting traditions as well as the heterodox movement of Paracelsianism. Emphasising the universal character of the Rosicrucian proposal for change, this new genealogy of the core idea sheds fresh light on the vexed question of the manifestos’ authorship and helps explain their tumultuous reception by both those who welcomed and those who deplored them.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures Abbreviations Introduction  The Rosicrucian Story  The Historiography  A Fresh Approach Part 1 The Origins 1 Back to the Sources  1.1 The Reformation of Divine and Human Things  1.2 The Revolution of the Ages  1.3 The Renovation of Philosophy  1.4 Concluding Remarks 2 The Paracelsian Impetus  2.1 Visions of a Golden Time  2.2 The Revelation of Secrets  2.3 Alchemy and Medicine  2.4 Philosophical Inspirations  2.5 Primeval Wisdom  2.6 Concluding Remarks Part 2 The Bibliographical Origins 3 The Authors and the Rosicrucian Worldview  3.1 Authorship in Question  3.2 Apocalyptic Expectations  3.3 New Societies and Attempts at Reform  3.4 Paracelsian Motivation  3.5 Concluding Remarks Part 3 The Response 4 Rosicrucianism Praised: The Early Response  4.1 Avoiding Tribulations: The First Response to the Fama  4.2 The Instauration of Original Wisdom  4.3 The Rosicrucian Study of Alchemy and Medicine  4.4 The Reform of Medicine and Sciences  4.5 Rosicrucian Theosophy and the Reform of Divine and Human Things  4.6 Concluding Remarks 5 Rosicrucianism Challenged: Early Debates  5.1 The Rosicrucian Manifestos Debated: Libavius and Fludd  5.2 The Rosicrucian Manifestos Debated: Grick and Mögling  5.3 Concluding Remarks and Further Challenges: Official Investigations Conclusion  Prospects Appendix: Theca Gladii Spiritus (1616), nrs. 175–202 Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisProtestant theology and culture are known for a reserved, at times skeptical, attitude to the use of art and aesthetic forms of expression in a religious context. In Transcendence and Sensoriness, this attitude is analysed and discussed both theoretically and through case studies considered in a broad theological and philosophical framework of religious aesthetics. Nordic scholars of theology, philosophy, art, music, and architecture, discuss questions of transcendence, the human senses, and the arts in order to challenge established perspectives within the aesthetics of religion and theology.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntegrated Truth and Existential Phenomenology: A Thomistic Response to Iconic Anti-Realists in Science relates an existential phenomenology to modal reasoning. By this reasoning, rooted in a consciousness of phenomena in themselves, a Thomistic realism is advanced wherein scientific inquiry yields objective truth and presupposes a causal principle. This principle, as an inferably true modality, strictly implies a first cause. And this cause as a supreme norm, causally created human nature as it ought to be. So with no naturalistic fallacy, a naturalistic ethics is inferred from our psycho-biological nature that also informs art and politics. Politics, as the institutionalization of ethics, is inferable from ethical prescriptions that are as certifiably true as the descriptions of science that inform it.Table of ContentsEDITORIAL FOREWORD KENNETH A. BRYSON xvii Foreword by Peter A. Redpath xiii Preface xxi ONE Existential Phenomenology and Truth in Science 1. Dilemmas of Truth that Afflict Realism 2. A Weak Realism Despite the Dilemmas? 3. A Robust Realism for Mature Theories 4. Theory-Dependence Vs. a Consciousness-Rooted Realism TWO Realism Rooted in Observational Consciousness 1. Consciousness and Reality 2. Reality of a Paradox to a Paradoxical Consciousness 3. Existential Phenomenology: An Antidote to Neuroscience Sophistry and Other Substitutes for Philosophy 4. The Recurring Seductions of Self-Refuting Reductionisms 5. Should Neuroscience Study the Phenomena of Neuroscience and Disbelief in God? 6. Anti-Phenomenological Footings of Neuroscience Philosophy 7. How Philosophy was Previously Skewed by Aping Science 8. Contra Kant: Consciousness of a Thereness Apart From Thought 9. Consciousness of Aspects of Phenomena 10. Seeing Non-Epistemologically in the Analytic Tradition 11. In This Tradition, Seeing Epistemologically THREE From Cultural Relativism as a Species of Realism to Realism in Science 1. A Common-Sense Inference of True Theories Versus an Everyday Contextual Relativism 2. Realism as Opposed to a Politically-Correct Cultural Relativism 3. Phenomenological and Logical Support of Realism 4. Scientific Significance of Aspects of Phenomena 5. An Anti-Realist K-K Thesis Surmounted by Common Sense 6. A Phenomenological Explanation of Historical Developments 7. The Developments Include Free Will and Causal Determinism FOUR Scientific Realism and Problems of Observation 1. Theory Vs. Theory-Neutral Observation 2. Observation-Theoretical Distinctions Or Differences in Degree? 3. Theory-Laden Observation and Observational Consciousness 4. Observational Footing is Not a Physics-Friendly Metaphysics 5. Metaphysics Vs. Modal Logic and a Phenomenology of Observation 6. Observation-Laden Theory: Are Theoretical Entities Observed? 7. Observation via Existential Phenomenology is Not a Theory FIVE The Turn From Realism Roused by a Self-Avowed Realist 1. Covert Influence of Popper’s Anti-Realism 2. A Preamble to Popper’s Problems in the Philosophy of Science 3. The Overlooked Origin of Observation Statements as Falsifiers 4. How Falsificationism is Ungrounded by Observation 5. An Anti-Realism of Kuhn’s Radical Relativism 6. From Relativism to Post-Modern Reinventions of Self and Theories 7. The Relation of Science to Sophists and Super Scientists 8. A Peculiar Case of Missing the Profound Point about Popper 9. Radical Empiricism Fueling Feyerabend’s Anarchy 10. Feyerabend’s Anti-Establishment Think-Tank-Like Conjectures 11. Conjectures Vs. Sartre’s Strange Support of Aristotle and Thomas SIX A Return to Scientific Realism 1. Commensurability: A Presupposition of Scientific Progress 2. Truth Upheld by De Re and De Dicto Impossibilities? 3. The Impossibilities are not Undercut by Meaning Variances 4. Verisimilitude: Increasing Truth, Not Truth-likeness 5. Problem of Ascribing Truth to Theories as Conjunctive Propositions 6. Propositional Logic Vs. What It Makes Sense to Say 7. Is it Senseless to Say that Superseded Theories are Still True? 8. Truth is an Attainable Aim of Methodology 9. A Methodology Tolerating New Phenomena Not Being Duplicated 10. From Eventual Duplication to Novelty and New Research 11. From Research and Success to the Issue of Internal Inconsistency SEVEN Scientific Truth Informs Truths of Ethics, Art and Politics 1. Integrated Truth with Its Starting Point in Real Existence 2. Existence Subject to Causes Understood Methodologically 3. Modalities in Science Presuppose the Causal Principle 4. Preamble: the Causal Principle Strictly Implies a First Cause 5. Does Evolution Exclude a First-Cause Creator? Is this Creator Inferred Invalidly? 6. A Soundly Inferred God Averts Kierkegaard’s “Leap of Faith” DIAGRAM: KIERKEGAARD’S “LEAP OF FAITH”…IS AVERTED BY THE BRIDGE OF NATURAL THEOLOGY 7. A “Leap of Faith” Avoided by Sound Modal Reasoning 8. Inferring a First Cause and Its Integration of Truth in Science, Ethics, Art and Politics 9. The Sound Inference of a First Cause and the Conditional 10. Denying a First Cause and Rise of the Naturalistic Fallacy 11. A First Cause and Our Psychobiological Nature Being as it Ought to Be 12. Ethical Truth Favoring the Family is Inferable from Science 13. Scientific Truth Informs Truth in Art, Architecture and Music 14. Political Truth is Informed by Truths of Ethics and Science INFERENCES IN THIS ESSAY: INTEGRATING TRUTHS IN SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, ETHICS, ART AND POLITICS Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisGeschrieben für Bachelor-Studenten, für gebildete Laien und für Wissenschaftler in anderen Feldern als der Philosophie – Der Mythos der religiösen Neutralität bietet eine radikale Neuinterpretation der allgemeinen Beziehungen zwischen Religion, Wissenschaft und Philosophie. Übersetzung von: Clouser, Roy A., The Myth of Religious Neutrality. An Essay on the Hidden Role of Religious Belief in Theories. Notre Dame, London: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005 (1991) erw. u. verb. NeuausgabeTrade ReviewKritisches Lob der ersten Auflage (der englischen Ausgabe): "Das Buch Mythos der religiösen Neutralität ist sehr gut geschrieben. Es ist klar und informativ. Es enthält großartige Analysen über unzureichende Theorien – unzureichend hinsichtlich logischer Inkonsistenz, selbstbezüglicher Inkohärenz, selbst-bestätigender Inkohärenz und selbst-performativer Inkohärenz. Clousers Fallbeispiele arbeiten die unbewiesenen Vorannahmen hinter vielen sogenannten ‚rationalen‘ Theorien über vielfältige Aspekte der Realität deutlich heraus." – in: Review of Metaphysics "…bedeutsam und herausfordernd… Clousers Buch liefert überzeugende Argumente dafür, dass jegliches Theoretisieren unvermeidlich religiöse Überzeugungen beinhält. Clousers Analysen der Religion ist reich und aufschlussreich… Er artikuliert ein fundamentales Thema, das sowohl moderne und postmoderne Denker anerkennen müssen: dass nämlich intellektuelle Tätigkeit zutiefst und unausweichlich religiös ist." – in: Calvin Theological Journal "Dieses Buch kann wärmstens empfohlen werden. Es behandelt wichtige Themen auf klare und energische Weise, und es ist ein genuiner Versuch, einen neuen Spatenstich für eine Philosophie der Religion zu machen." – in: Religious Studies

Read more less

Book SynopsisAre C. S. Lewis’s major arguments in defense of Christian belief sound? In C. S. Lewis’s Christian Apologetics: Pro and Con, defenders and critics of Lewis’s apologetics square off and debate the merits of Lewis’s arguments from desire, from reason, from morality, the “trilemma” argument for the divinity of Christ, as well as Lewis’s response to the problem of evil. By means of these lively, in-depth debates, readers will emerge with a deeper understanding and appreciation of today’s most influential Christian apologist.Table of ContentsEDITORIAL FOREWORD KENNETH A. BRYSON PREFACE INTRODUCTION: OXFORD'S BONNY APOLOGIST GREGORY BASSHAM Part One: THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIRE ONE Pro: A Defense of C. S. Lewis’s Argument from Desire PETER S. WILLIAMS TWO Con: Quenching the Argument from Desire GREGORY BASSHAM THREE Reply to Gregory Bassham PETER S. WILLIAMS FOUR Reply to Peter Williams GREGORY BASSHAM Part Two: THE ARGUMENT FROM REASON FIVE Pro: The Argument from Reason Defended VICTOR REPPERT SIX Con: Naturalism Undefeated DAVID KYLE JOHNSON SEVEN Reply to David Kyle Johnson VICTOR REPPERT EIGHT Reply to Victor Reppert DAVID KYLE JOHNSON Part Three: THE MORAL ARGUMENT NINE Pro: The Moral Argument is Convincing DAVID BAGGETT TEN Con: A Critique of the Moral Argument ERIK J. WIELENBERG ELEVEN: Reply to Erik Wielenberg DAVID BAGGETT TWELVE Reply to David Baggett ERIK J. WIELENBERG Part Four: THE TRILEMMA ARGUMENT THIRTEEN Pro: A Defense of C. S. Lewis’s “Trilemma” DONALD S. WILLIAMS FOURTEEN Con: Lewis’s Trilemma: Case Not Proven ADAM BARKMAN FIFTEEN Reply to Adam Barkman DONALD S. WILLIAMS SIXTEEN Reply to Donald Williams ADAM BARKMAN Part Five: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL SEVENTEEN Pro: The Problem of Pain Defended PHILIP TALLON EIGHTEEN Con: C. S. Lewis on Evil: At Best a Likely Story DAVID L. O’HARA NINETEEN Reply to David L. O’Hara PHILIP TALLON TWENTY Reply to Philip Tallon DAVID L. O’HARA WORKS CITED THE CONTRIBUTORS INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is the fruit of the first ever interdisciplinary international scientific conference on Matthew's story of the Star of Bethlehem and the Magi, held in 2014 at the University of Groningen, and attended by world-leading specialists in all relevant fields: modern astronomy, the ancient near-eastern and Greco-Roman worlds, the history of science, and religion. The scholarly discussions and the exchange of the interdisciplinary views proved to be immensely fruitful and resulted in the present book. Its twenty chapters describe the various aspects of The Star: the history of its interpretation, ancient near-eastern astronomy and astrology and the Magi, astrology in the Greco-Roman and the Jewish worlds, and the early Christian world – at a generally accessible level. An epilogue summarizes the fact-fiction balance of the most famous star which has ever shone.Trade Review“The Star of Bethlehem is known to almost everybody, whatever their personal faith - be it through the Nativity story told in Matthew’s Gospel or through art and material culture where the depiction of the Star has played a hugely important role for centuries. Church Fathers and scholars alike have debated the ‘when’ and ‘what’ for almost as long, resulting in very different interpretations. However, what had been missing so far was a multi-disciplinary approach. The Groningen symposium has done just that, for the first time ever asking experts in very different fields to answer the same four questions about the Star, namely ‘What?’, ‘When?’, ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’ The learned, surprising, thought-provoking answers in this fascinating volume are a must-read for anybody interested in a phenomenon that has influenced our culture like few others.” Silke Ackermann FSA, Director, Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford “When one considers that the source of the material treated in this book consists of only twelve verses of the Bible (Matthew 2: 1-12), this is a remarkable collection of research papers. Throughout the book there appears a wide range of judgments on the nature and historicity of Matthew’s story, from the claim that it is midrash, a rabbinical commentary which tells a beautiful story to interpret events to gentiles by the use of texts from the Old Testament, to the description of an historical happening. Since Matthew is not here to tell us, the reader will have the interesting task of judging among the expert views.” George V. Coyne, S.J., Director Emeritus, Vatican Observatory “The nature of the Star of Bethlehem has fascinated our society for many centuries. ‘The Star’ has attracted the attention of artists, astronomers, historians, science fiction writers, theologians and others. This book summarizes the views of world-experts in a variety of fields presented at a multidisciplinary conference in Groningen in 2014. While there is no clear consensus on the nature of ‘The Star’, the twenty chapters provide an intriguing and eminently readable assessment of an enigmatic event that is directly connected to the advent of one of the major religions in our world.” Tim de Zeeuw, Director General, European Southern Observatory (ESO) "The impressive assembly of specialised knowledge makes the book both a fascinating and a daunting read." Ari Heinze, Waianae, Hawaii, Southeastern Theological Review 8:1Table of ContentsPrologue, Peter Barthel and George van Kooten PART I: FROM KEPLER TO MOLNAR – THE HISTORY OF THE INTERPRETATION OF THE STAR 1. Kepler’s De Vero Anno (1614), Owen Gingerich 2. The Historical Basis for the Star of Bethlehem, Michael R. Molnar 3. A Critical Look at the History of Interpreting the Star of Bethlehem in Scientific Literature and Biblical Studies, Aaron Adair 4. An Astronomical and Historical Evaluation of Molnar’s Solution.Bradley E. Schaefer 5. Astronomical Thoughts on the Star of Bethlehem, David W. Hughes 6. De Ster der Wijzen (1920): A Forgotten Early Publication About the Star of Bethlehem, Teije de Jong PART II: THE STAR – WHAT, WHEN, AND HOW 7. What, If Anything?, Peter Barthel 8. The Astronomical Resources for Ancient Astral Prognostications, Alexander Jones PART III: ANCIENT NEAR-EASTERN ASTRONOMY AND THE MAGI 9. Mesopotamian Astrological Geography, John M. Steele 10. The Story of the Magi in the Light of Alexander the Great's Encounters with Chaldeans, Mathieu Ossendrijver 11. Pre-Islamic Iranian Astral Mythology, Astrology, and the Star of Bethlehem, Antonio Panaino PART IV: ASTROLOGY IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD 12. Matthew’s Magi as Experts on Kingship, Albert de Jong 13. Greco-Roman Astrologers, the Magi, and Mithraism, Roger Beck 14.The Star of Bethlehem and Greco-Roman Astrology, Especially Astrological Geography, Stephan Heilen PART V: ASTROLOGY IN THE JEWISH WORLD 15. The World Leader from the Land of the Jews: Josephus, Jewish War 6.300–315; Tacitus, Histories 5.13; and Suetonius, Vespasian 4.5, Jan Willem van Henten 16. Stars and Powers: Astrological Thinking in Imperial Politics from the Hasmoneans to Bar Kokhba, Kocku von Stuckrad 17. Balaam’s ‘Star Oracle’ (Num 24:15–19) in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Bar Kokhba, Helen R. Jacobus PART VI: THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD 18. The Star of the Magi and the Prophecy of Balaam in Earliest Christianity, with Special Attention to the Lost Books of Balaam, Darrell Hannah 19. Matthew’s Star, Luke’s Census, Bethlehem, and the Quest for the Historical Jesus, Annette Merz 20. Matthew, the Parthians, and the Magi: A Contextualization of Matthew’s Gospel in Roman-Parthian Relations of the First Centuries BCE and CE, George van Kooten Epilogue, Peter Barthel and George van Kooten

Read more less

Book SynopsisEdited and introduced by Robert Arp, Revisiting Aquinas’ Proofs for the Existence of God is a collection of new papers written by scholars focusing on the famous Five Proofs or Ways (Quinque Viae) for the existence of God put forward by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) near the beginning of his unfinished tome, Summa Theologica. It is not an exaggeration to say that not only is Aquinas’ Summa a landmark text in the history of Western philosophy and Christianity, but also that the Five Proofs discussed therein—namely, the arguments that conclude to the Unmoved Mover, Uncaused Cause, Necessary Being, Superlative Being, and Intelligent Director—are as compelling today as they were in the 13th Century. Written in a debate format with different scholars arguing for and against each Proof, the papers in the book consist of arguments utilizing various combinations of contemporary science and philosophical ideas to bolster the positions. The result is a revisiting of Aquinas’ Proofs that is relevant, stimulating, enlightening, and refreshing.Table of ContentsCONTENTS EDITORIAL FOREWORD KENNETH A. BRYSON INTRODUCTION ROBERT ARP THE FIRST PROOF One: A Motion to Reconsider: A Defense of Aquinas' Prime Mover Argument for the Existence of God HEATHER THORNTON MCRAE AND JAMES MCRAE Two: The Prime Mover Removed: A Contemporary Critique of Aquinas' Prime Mover Argument RICHARD GEENEN AND ROGER HUNT Three: A Response to Geenen and Hunt HEATHER THORNTON MCRAE AND JAMES MCRAE Four: A Response to McRae and McRae RICHARD GEENEN AND ROGER HUNT THE SECOND PROOF Five: The Relevance of Aquinas' Uncaused Cause Argument GAVEN KERR, OP Six: The Irrelevance of Aquinas' Uncaused Cause Argument HERB ROSEMAN Seven: A Response to Roseman GAVEN KERR, OP Eight: A Response to Kerr HERBERT ROSEMAN THE THIRD PROOF Nine: From Contingency to Necessary Being ADAM BARKMAN Ten: Problems with Aquinas' Third Way EDWARD MOAD Eleven: A Response to Moad ADAM BARKMAN Twelve: A Response to Barkman EDWARD MOAD THE FOURTH PROOF Thirteen: A Fourth Way to Prove God's Existence DAVID BECK Fourteen: Not So Superlative: The Fourth Way as Comparatively Problematic BENJAMIN W. MCCRAW Fifteen: A Response to McCraw EDWARD N. MARTIN Sixteen: A Response to Beck BENJAMIN W. MCCRAW THE FIFTH PROOF Seventeen: Aquinas' Fifth Way and the Possibility of Science MICHAEL HAYES Eighteen: Science and Nature without God KEVIN S. DECKER Nineteen: A Response to Decker MICHAEL HAYES Twenty: A Response to Hayes KEVIN S. DECKER WORKS CITED ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book explores the philosophical/religious thought of Soren Kierkegaard, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Nikos Kazantzakis in relation to the concept of transcendence. Each of these thinkers has made a strong impact on Western religious and philosophical thought, but each from a nearly completely different angle as well as from a different national background. This comparative study therefore crosses both national and perspectival boundaries. Each of the three thinkers struggled with the notion of transcendence but in uniquely distinct fashion. The conclusion offers yet a third model, the author’s, for understanding transcendence focusing on the concept of “mediation”.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Three Diverse Personas  1 Kierkegaard, the Melancholy Dane  2 Wittgenstein, the Austrian Expatriate  3 Kazantzakis, the Greek Iconoclast 2 Three Differing Philosophies  1 Kierkegaard’s Ironic Existentialism  2 Wittgenstein’s Linguistic Analysis  3 Kazantzakis’ Cosmic Dualism 3 Three Divergent “Theologies”  1 Kierkegaard’s “Knight of Faith”  2 Wittgenstein and “God-Talk”  3 Kazantzakis’ Emerging Deity Conclusion  Mediated Transcendence Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSpaces are produced and shaped by discourses and, in turn, produce and shape discourses themselves. ‘Space’ is becoming a significant and complex concept for the encounter between people, cultures, religions, ideologies, politics, between histories and memories, the advantaged and the disadvantaged, the powerful and the weak. As a result, it provides a rich hermeneutical and methodological inventory for mapping interculturality and interreligiosity. This volume looks at space as a critical theory and epistemological tool within cultural studies that fosters the analysis of power structures and the deconstruction of representations of identities within our societies that are shaped by power.Table of ContentsContents Dedication Preface Part I - Approaching the Topos Chapter 1. In Search of Pastoral Power: Religious Confrontations with Thirdspace - Hans-Joachim Sander Chapter 2. Texts as Places of Sacred Meeting: Towards an Ethic for Comparative and Interreligious Readings and Transgressions - Paul Hedges Chapter 3. Interreligious Studies: A New Academic Discipline? - Oddbjørn Leirvik Chapter 4. Religious Identities in Third Space: The Location of Comparative Theology - Ulrich Winkler Part II - Changing Spaces Chapter 5. The Maps and Tours of Theological Knowledge: Reading Melchior Cano’s De Locis Theologicis after the Spatial Turn - Judith Gruber Chapter 6. Sacred Time as Sacred Space: The Spaces of Memory and Anticipation in Christianity and Judaism - Emma O’Donnell Chapter 7. Metaphors We Dialogue By: Spatial Metaphors in the Common Word Dialogue Process - Vebjørn L.Horsfjord Chapter 8. Hagia Sophia and the Third Space. An Enquiry into the Discursive Construction of Religious Sites - Sigrid Rettenbacher Chapter 9. Reform in a Muslim Context: Contested Interpretations Through Time and Space - Yaser Ellethy Chapter 10. The Location of Religion in Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball: Common Ground Prior to ‘Religious’ and ‘Secular’? - Henry Jansen Part III - Theological Transgression: Facing the Other in Migration and Gender Chapter 11. Christian Migrants and the Theology of Space and Place - Mechteld Jansen Chapter 12. Transreligious Critical Hermeneutics and Gender Studies: Contested Gendered Spaces - Anne Hege Grung Chapter 13. Claiming Space for Women: Women Reading Scripture in Critical Dialogue - Gé Speelman Part IV - Islam in Spain Chapter 14. The Reconquista Reversed? Muslim Presence in Contemporary Spain - John Chesworth Chapter 15. Blazing Light and Perfect Death: The Martyrs of Córdoba and the Growth of Polemical Holiness - Aaron T. Hollander Chapter 16. From Acceptance to Religious Freedom: Considerations for Convivencia in Medieval Spain and Multireligious Coexistence Today - Mariano Delgado Part V - The Basque Country: Sharing Space as a Minority Religion Chapter 17. Religious Minorities and Access to Public Space in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and in Navarre: The Perspective of Religious Minorities - Lidia Rodríguez Fernández and Luzio Uriarte Ganzález Chapter 18. Contested Spaces and Religious Minorities: The Basque Experience and the Swiss Pyrenees - Eduardo J Ruiz Vieytez Chapter 19. Scenarios of Interreligious Dialogue in the Basque Country - José Luis Villacorta Núñez Part VI - Space and Eastern Religion Chapter 20. The Secular and the Sacred as Contested Spaces? A Cross-Cultural Hermeneutical Investigation into Western and Chinese Perspectives - André van der Braak Chapter 21. A Style for Better Understanding: A Buddhist-Christian Approach to ‘Truly Beautiful Spaces’ - Sybille Fritsch-Oppermann Chapter 22. Time and History in Buddhist-Christian Relations - John D’Arcy May Part VII - Europe and the City Chapter 23. Europe as a Contested Space and European Cities as Shifting Symbols of Europe throughout History: Historical Changes in the Spatial Orientation of Europe and its Images of ‘Europeanness’ - Lourens Minnema Chapter 24. The Festival as Heterotopia in the City as Shared Religious Space - Jaco Beyers Chapter 25. Between Fear, Freedom, and Control: Islam and the Construction of a Modern European Identity - Lucien van Liere Index of Subjects Index of Names Contributors to this Volume

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Clement’s Biblical Exegesis scholars from six countries explore various facets of Clement of Alexandria’s hermeneutical theory and his exegetical practice. Although research on Clement has tended to emphasize his use of philosophical sources, Clement was important not only as a Christian philosopher, but also as a pioneer Christian exegete. His works constitute a crucial link in the tradition of Alexandrian exegesis, but his biblical exegesis has received much less attention than that of Philo or Origen. Topics discussed include how Clement’s methods of allegorical interpretation compare with those of Philo, Origen, and pagan exegetes of Homer, and his readings of particular texts such as Proverbs, the Sermon on the Mount, John 1, 1 John, and the Pauline letters.Trade Review"... A very useful and learned collection, with the theme of biblical exegesis running through as a read thread, which at points in this book becomes a golden one." - Mark Elliot, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, 2018Table of ContentsContents Introduction. Clement as Scriptural Exegete: Overview and History of Research Judith L. Kovacs Comprehensive Bibliography on Clement’s Scriptural Interpretation Jana Plátová Part 1: Clement’s Exegetical Methods L’interprétation de la Bible et le « genre symbolique » selon Clément d’Alexandrie Alain Le Boulluec The Mysteries of Scripture: Allegorical Exegesis and the Heritage of Stoicism, Philo, and Pantaenus Ilaria L.E. Ramelli The Bible in Alexandria: Clement between Philo and Origen Marco Rizzi Part 2: Clement between Philosophy and Biblical Theology Negative Theology and Dialectics in Clement of Alexandria’s Understanding of the Status and Function of Scripture Johannes A. Steenbuch Schesis and Trinitarian Thought in Clement of Alexandria: From Philosophy to Scriptural Interpretation Ilaria Vigorelli Clement’s Exegetical Interests in Stromateis VIII Matyáš Havrda Part 3: Clement’s Exegesis of Particular Biblical Texts Clement of Alexandria and the Book of Proverbs Annewies van den Hoek Four Desires: Clement of Alexandria and the Sermon on the Mount Veronika Černušková Clement of Alexandria’s Reception of the Gospel of John: Context, Creative Exegesis and Purpose Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski The Philosophical Problem of “Place” in Clement’s Exegesis of the Prologue to the Gospel of John Miklós Gyurkovics Clement’s Exegesis of 1 John in the Adumbrationes Davide Dainese Reading the “Divinely Inspired” Paul: Clement of Alexandria in Conversation with “Heterodox” Christians, Simple Believers, and Greek Philosophers Judith L. Kovacs Index of Modern Authors Index of Ancient Sources Index of Subjects and Names

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Nicodemites: Faith and Concealment Between Italy and Tudor England, Anne Overell examines a rarely glimpsed aspect of sixteenth-century religious strife: the thinkers, clerics, and rulers, who concealed their faith. This work goes beyond recent scholarly interest in conformity to probe inward dilemmas and the spiritual and cultural meanings of pretence. Among the dissimulators who appear here are Cardinal Reginald Pole and his circle in Italy and in England, and also John Cheke and William Cecil. Although Protestant and Catholic polemicists condemned all Nicodemites, most of them survived reformation violence, while their habits of silence and secrecy became influential. This study concludes that widespread evasion about religious belief contributed to the erratic development of toleration. "Anne Overell is an accomplished practitioner of history as a sideways glance, revealing subtleties and contours that others have missed. In doing so, she enriches the story of the Reformation and helps us see its humanity and nuance more vividly and completely." - Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, University of OxfordTrade Review“Anne Overell has masterfully deepened and expanded the meaning of “nicodemite” […]. Overell’s painstaking research, much of which is anchored in manuscript sources, including correspondence, casts new light on Reformation-era nicodemism.” Carlos Eire, Yale University. In: British Catholic History, Vol. 34, No. 4 (October 2019), pp. 662–666. “Overell presents a complex and sympathetic picture of the motives behind religious prevarication that moves beyond a simple fear of physical abuse.” Robert Ingoglia, St. Thomas Aquinas College. In: Choice, March 2019. “Overell's book is an outstanding achievement that will reward its readers.” Susan Wabuda, Fordham University. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 2 (Summer 2021), pp. 659–662.Table of ContentsPrologue 1 Part 1 Lives 1 The Landscape of ‘Holy Cunning’ 2 A Nursery of Nicodemism: The Circle of Reginald Pole in Italy 3 Pole’s Nicodemite Piety? Viterbo to England 4 The Volte-Faces of Pietro Vanni 5 Nicodemite’s Progress: Edward Courtenay Part 2 Texts 6 The Confusions of Il Beneficio di Cristo 7 The Case against Nicodemites 8 Exploiting Francesco Spiera in Italy and in England 9 Counsel for Nicodemite Sinners: Vermigli, Curione and Cheke 10 Radical Texts for the Queen of Nicodemites 11 Mixed Messages in Elizabethan England 12 Echoes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis collection of articles is an innovative contribution to religious studies, because it picks up concepts developed in the wake of the so-called “spatial turn”. Religions are always located in a certain cultural and spatial environment, but often tend to locate (or translocate) themselves beyond that original setting. Also, many religious traditions are not only tied to or associated with the area its respective adherent live in, but are in fact “bi-local” or even “multi-local”, as they closely relate to various spatial centers or plains at once. This spatial diversity inherent to many religions is a corollary to religious diversity or plurality that merits in-depth research. The articles in this volume present important findings from a series of settings within and between Asia and EuropeTrade Review"The eclectic breadth of Locating Religions will draw scholars from all time periods and geographical locations. The powerful spectrum of this edited volume demands a lot from its readers. Although the essays are accessible to anyone interested in phenomenology and the history of religions, the reader must prepare to engage religious history at the microcosmic level." Josefrayn Sánchez-Perry, University of Texas at Austin, Reading Religion

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the Name of Friendship: Deguy, Derrida and "Salut" centres on the relationship between poet Michel Deguy and philosopher Jacques Derrida. Translations of two essays, "Of Contemporaneity" by Deguy and "How to Name" by Derrida, allow Christopher Elson and Garry Sherbert to develop the implications of this singular intellectual friendship. In these thinkers’ efforts to reinvent secular forms of the sacred, such as the singularity of the name, and especially poetic naming, Deguy, by adopting a Derridean programme of the impossible, and Derrida, by developing Deguy's ethics of naming through the word "salut," situate themselves at the forefront of contemporary debates over politics and religion alongside figures like Alain Badiou and Jean-Luc Marion, John Caputo and Martin Hagglund.Trade Review"This lengthy, sophisticated, and complex book by Christopher Elson and Garry Sherbert includes previously untranslated essays by Jacques Derrida (‘How to Name’) and Michel Deguy (‘Of Contemporaneity’); it is a celebration of the long friendship between these two thinker-poets, and their dialogue on a number of topics including (their) friendship. [...] this is a substantial contribution, and will be helpful for those working in the field to consult." br/>Judith Still, University of Nottingham, French Studies, 73-2, April 2019.Table of ContentsContents Preface   Adelaide Russo Acknowledgments Foreword: Of Friendship with Derrida  Michel Deguy Abbreviations Translator’s Note Polemical Introduction 1 The Poetics of Friendship 2 “The Sacred Without the Sacred”: Salut and the Metonymy of Poetic Nomination 3 Of Contemporaneity: A Talk for Jacques Derrida  Michel Deguy 4 The Poet’s Duty: Michel Deguy’s Deconstructive Poethics  Christopher Elson 5 How to Name  Jacques Derrida 6 Calling Names: Derrida, Deguy, and Spectropoetics  Garry Sherbert 7 “A Religion of the Event”: Salut, Ethics, and Quasi-Atheistic Transcendence Conclusion Appendix of Additional Texts by Michel Deguy Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Walter Chatton on Future Contingents, Jon Bornholdt presents the first full-length translation, commentary, and analysis of the various attempts by Chatton (14th century C.E.) to solve the ancient problem of the status and significance of statements about the future. At issue is the danger of so-called logical determinism: if it is true now that a human will perform a given action tomorrow, is that human truly free to perform or refrain from performing that action? Bornholdt shows that Chatton constructed an original (though problematic) formal analysis that enabled him to canvass various approaches to the problem at different stages of his career, at all times showing an unusual sensitivity to the tension between formalist and metaphysical types of solution.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements ix Explanation of Symbols x Citation Style xii List of Figures xiii 1 Introduction: History and Logical Analysis of the Problem 1 1 The Heart of the Problem: A Question of Truth-Makers and Truth-Bearers 1 2 Models of the World and Theories of Truth 6 2.1 Two Models of the World 8 2.2 Fitting Truth Operators to Ontology: The Correspondence Assumption 12 3 Either the Fallibility of God as Foreknower, or the Necessitation of Creaturely Action: Sophismata or Genuine Puzzles? 15 3.1 A “First Try”: The Appeal to Scope Disambiguation 16 3.2 The Inadequacy of the Sophismatic Solution 21 4 The Boethian Analysis and Its Influence 28 4.1 Boethius’ Slippery T2 Theory: “Broad Bivalence” and the Operators Definite and Indefinite 29 4.2 The Assertability Conditions of the Boethian Future Tense(s) 34 4.3 A Fruitful Ambiguity: Simple vs. Conditional Necessity 37 4.4 From the Commentary Theory to the Consolation Theory 43 4.5 The Boethian or Logical-Compatibilist Model 49 4.6 Historical Developments: Further Applications of the System 61 5 Overcoming the Limitations of Logical Compatibilism: The Need for Alternative Real Futures 81 5.1 Making Room for Divine (and More Room for Human) Freedom: God’s “Power over the Past” and the Divine Modal Pleroma 83 5.2 The System of Duns Scotus 97 6 The (Re)Turn to the Formal: Thomas Wylton, Peter Auriol, and the Rejection of the Correspondence Assumption 116 6.1 The Wylton Scope Analysis 116 6.2 The Position of Peter Auriol: A Closed-Future Model in Open-Future Guise 124 7 The System(s) of William Ockham 144 7.1 Determinate Truth and the Mystery of God’s Mysterious Foreknowledge 145 7.2 Ockham’s Open Future 148 7.3 Ockham’s Later Influence: The Communis Opinio 163 8 Ponere [in Esse]: Drifting between the Derivational, the Temporal, and the Ludic 165 8.1 Ponere [in Esse]: Initial Approaches 165 8.2 Arnold of Strelley and Obligational Theology 167 8.3 Ponere [in Esse] in Sense i: Assumptions and/or Actions 173 8.4 Ponere [in Esse] in Sense ii: The Real Occurrence of a Given Res / Proposition 174 8.5 Ponere [in Esse]: A Unifying Interpretation? 176 9 Recapitulation 177 10 Walter Chatton on Future Contingents 178 10.1 Chatton’s Reportatio super Sententias 179 10.2 Chatton’s Quodlibet 233 11 Concluding Remarks: Chatton in Historical Context 259 2 Translations of Chatton’s Reportatio super Sententias i, dd. 38–41 and Quodlibet, qq. 27–29 265 Reportatio super Sententias i 265 Distinction 38. Unique Question. Whether the Contingency of Futures is Consistent with God’s Knowledge of Future Contingents 265 Distinction 39. Unique Question. Whether God Could Know More Than He Knows 279 Distinctions 40–41. Question 1. Whether the Mystery of the Divine Incarnation was the Meriting Cause of Human Predestination 286 Distinctions 40–41. Question 2. Whether It Can be Consistently Maintained Both That God Wills That a Shall be Necessarily, and That a Will Nevertheless Happen Contingently 311 Quodlibet 318 Question 27. Whether Any Creature Could be Apprised of a Future Contingent 318 Question 28. Whether the Certainty of Revelation of Future Contingents is Compatible with Their Contingency 331 Question 29. Whether All Forms of the Arguments Which Normally Occur in This Matter Can be Resolved 342 3 Commentary 344 Reportatio super Sententias i 344 Distinction 38. Unique Question: Whether the Contingency of Futures is Consistent with God’s Knowledge of Future Contingents 344 Distinction 39. Unique Question: Whether God Could Know More Than He Knows 368 Distinctions 40–41 380 Question 1. Whether the Mystery of the Divine Incarnation was the Meriting Cause of Human Predestination. 381 Question 2. Whether It Can be Consistently Maintained Both That God Wills That a Shall be Necessarily, and That a Will Nevertheless Happen Contingently 411 Quodlibet 424 Question 27. Whether Any Creature Could be Apprised of a Future Contingent 425 Question 28. Whether the Certainty of Revelation of Future Contingents is Compatible with Their Contingency 445 Question 29. Whether All Forms of the Arguments Which Normally Occur in this Matter Can be Resolved 467 Appendix: Natural-Deduction Derivations of the Pattern Arguments 469 Bibliography 509 Index of Names 528 Subject Index 531

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Jain Approaches to Plurality Melanie Barbato offers a new perspective on the Jain teaching of plurality (anekāntavāda) and how it allowed Jains to engage with other discourses from Indian inter-school philosophy to global interreligious dialogue. Jainism, one of the world’s oldest religions, has managed to both adapt and preserve its identity across time through its inherently dialogical outlook. Drawing on a wide range of textual sources and original research in India, Barbato analyses the encounters between Jains and non-Jains in the classical, colonial and global context. Jain Approaches to Plurality offers a comprehensive introduction to anekāntavāda as a non-Western resource for understanding plurality and engaging in dialogue. “Building upon earlier work in this field without simply reduplicating it, Melanie Barbato’s work delves deeply into the question of the relevance of Jain approaches to religious and philosophical diversity to contemporary issues of inter-religious dialogue, and dialogues across worldviews more generally. (…) This work is a most welcome contribution to the conversation.” — Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College. April 2017. Author of Jainism: An Introduction.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1 Introduction: Identity in Changing Times  The Historical Development of Anekāntavāda   First Stage: Discourse within the Jain Community   Second Stage: Indian Inter-school Discourse   Third Stage: Colonial Discourse   Fourth Stage: Global Discourse  The Structure of the Book 2 Who are the Jains? A Community between Indian Tradition and Global Modernity  The Fordmakers  Beliefs and Worship  Puṇya and Pāpa  The Historical Development of Jainism  Conclusion 3 Jains in Inner-indian Dialogue  The Schools of Indian Philosophy  The Historical Development of Jain Philosophy  The Classical Concept of Anekāntavāda  Plurality in Jain Ontology   Indian Ontologies   An Ontology of Organic Plurality   Origination, Destruction and Persistence   Substance, Qualities and Modifications   The Complex Union of Reality  Classical Applications   Universals   Relations   Cause and Effect   The Nature of the Soul  Plurality in Jain Discursive Logic   Logic in India   The Nyāya Inference Model   The Aim of Indian Logic   Jain Logic: Every Statement is Conditional   Sevenfold Predication   Yaśovijaya’s Interpretation of the Saptabhaṅgī   Śankara’s Criticism of Jain Logic   Jain Logic, Nyāya Logic, Western Logic  Plurality and Perfect Knowledge   Jain Soteriology   The Stages of Knowledge   Limited Knowledge: The View-points   False Views and Absolutism   What the Omniscient Know   Plurality in the Light of Omniscience   Kundakunda’s Two Viewpoints  Conclusion 4 Plurality in Modern Jain Dialogues  Tolerance and Interreligious Dialogue   The World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago   Indian Inclusivism   The Limits of Jain Tolerance   Gandhi and Shrimad Rajchandra   Anekāntavāda as Intellectual Non-violence   Anekāntavāda as Relativism   Identity, Values and Doctrine  Jainism in Dialogue with Science   The Historical Context   A Scientific Religion?   Jainism as Scientific Theory  Jain Diplomacy   Jain Environmental Activism   Acharya Sushil Kumar and Religious Diplomacy  Conclusion 5 Jain Dialogic Identity – Then and Now  Anekāntavāda between Philosophy and Rhetorics  Four Understandings of anekāntavāda   A Philosophical Understanding of anekāntavāda   A Conservative Modern Understanding of anekāntavāda   A Modernist Understanding of anekāntavāda   A Lay Orthodox Understanding of anekāntavāda  Who Speaks for anekāntavāda?  Conclusion Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisReading Proclus and the Book of Causes, published in three volumes, is a fresh, comprehensive understanding of Proclus’ legacy in the Hellenic, Byzantine, Islamic, Latin and Hebrew traditions. The history of the Book of Causes, an Islamic adaptation of mainly Proclus’ Elements of Theology and Plotinus' Enneads, is reconsidered on the basis of newly discovered manuscripts. This first volume enriches our understanding of the diverse reception of Proclus’ Elements of Theology and of the Book of Causes in the Western tradition where universities and religious schools offered unparalleled conditions of diffusion. The volume sheds light on overlooked authors, texts, literary genres and libraries from all major European universities from the 12th to the 16th centuries.Trade Review"One of the landslides in the historiography of ancient and medieval philosophy is the recognition of the import and role of the medieval reception and reworking of Proclus’ Elements of Theology. The volume here reviewed, the first of a triad of essay collections on this topic, will no doubt contribute greatly to that recognition. [...] This is a book for specialists, and a scholarly Fundgrube, as shown by the fact that Latin and occasionally Greek quotations are not translated, the high density of information, and the appendices [...]. The book contains a number of invaluable resources [...] I cannot but conclude that this is an important volume [...] and further avenues of research clearly open up in the wake of this volume." – Marije Martijn, in: The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 06 October 2021. "It must be clear by now that the collection under review constitutes a significant contribution to the exploration of how Proclus’ Elem. theol. and the Book of Causes were received in the Latin West and in Byzantium. This volume of contributions by an interdisciplinary group of experts covers centuries of Proclean influence and familiarizes the reader with a vast array of complex philological and philosophical issues, ranging from details about manuscripts to the most complicated doctrinal controversies." – Sokratis Athanasios Kiosoglou, in: Aestimatio ns 2.2, 31 July 2022.Table of Contents1 Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes: Notes on the Western Scholarly Networks and Debates  Dragos Calma Part 1 Liber de causis 2 Tradition exégétique: âges, styles et formes d’ une réception par le commentaire  Dominique Poirel 3 La première réception du Liber de causis en Occident (XIIe–XIIIe siècles)  Irene Caiazzo 4 Liber de causis in Thomas of York  Fiorella Retucci 5 Le Liber de causis et l’ Elementatio theologica dans deux bibliothèques anglaises: Merton College (Oxford) et Peterhouse (Cambridge)  Laure Miolo 6 Les gloses sur le Liber de causis dans les manuscrits parisiens  Olga Weijers 7 From Content to Method: the Liber de causis in Albert the Great  Henryk Anzulewicz and Katja Krause 8 Citing the Book of Causes, IV: Henry of Ghent and the His (?) Questions on the Metaphysics  Maria Evelina Malgieri 9 Duns Scot et le Liber de causis  Jean-Michel Counet 10 Sine secundaria: Thomas d’ Aquin, Siger de Brabant et les débats sur l’ occasionalisme  Dragos Calma 11 The Liber de causis in Some Central European Quodlibets  Iulia Székely Part 2 Proclus 12 Proclus, Eustrate de Nicée et leur réception aux XIIIe–XIVe siècles  Irene Zavattero 13 Bate et sa lecture ‘encyclopédiste’ de Proclus  Guy Guldentops 14 Au-delà de la métaphysique: Notule sur l’ importance du commentaire de Berthold de Moosburg OP sur les Eléments de théologie  Ruedi Imbach 15 Eriugenism in Berthold of Moosburg’s Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli  Evan King 16 Proclus dans la première quaestio collativa de Gilles Charlier  Zénon Kaluza 17 Plato’s Parmenides as Serious Game: Contarini and the Renaissance Reception of Proclus  Barbara Bartocci Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisReading Proclus and the Book of Causes, published in three volumes, is a fresh, comprehensive understanding of the history of Neoplatonism from the 9th to the 16th century. The impact of the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes is reconsidered on the basis of newly discovered manuscripts and evidences. This second volume revises widely accepted hypotheses about the reception of the Proclus’ text in Byzantium and the Caucasus, and about the context that made possible the composition of the Book of Causes and its translations into Latin and Hebrew. The contributions offer a unique, comparative perspective on the various ways a pagan author was acculturated to the Abrahamic traditions.Table of Contents1 Notes on the Translations and Acculturations  Dragos Calma Part 1 Byzantium 2 An Orthodox and Byzantine Reception of the Elements of Theology  Frederick Lauritzen 3 Universals, Wholes, Logoi: Eustratios of Nicaea’s Response to Proclus’ Elements of Theology  Stephen Gersh 4 ‘A Mixing Cup of Piety and Learnedness’: Michael Psellos and Nicholas of Methone as Readers of Proclus’ Elements of Theology  Joshua M. Robinson 5 Nicholas of Methone, Procopius of Gaza and Proclus of Lycia  Anna Gioffreda and Michele Trizio Part 2 The Caucasus 6 Die Elementatio theologica des Proklos im Kontext der kaukasischen Philosophie  Tengiz Iremadze Part 3 The Lands of Islam 7 Providence, Divine Knowledge and Causation and Porphyry and the Theology of Aristotle  Michael Chase 8 Plotinus Arabus and Proclus Arabus in the Harmony of the Two Philosophers Ascribed to al-Fārābī  Peter Adamson 9 Les Chapitres sur les thèmes métaphysiques d’ al-ʿĀmirī et l’ anonyme Kitāb al-ḥaraka : deux interprétations du Liber de causis en arabe  Elvira Wakelnig 10 Contextualizing the Doctrine of Divine Causality in the Kalâm fi mahd al-khair / Liber de causis  Richard Taylor 11 La présence de Proclus et du Liber de causis dans l’ œuvre d’ Ibn Bāǧǧa et pseudo-Ibn Bāǧǧa  Jamal Rachak Part 4 The Latin West 12 The Latin Translation of the Liber de causis  Dag Nikolaus Hasse 13 Doubles traductions et omissions : une approche critique en vue d’ une édition de la traduction latine du Liber de causis  Jules Janssens 14 Thomas d’ Aquin et les mots arabes du Liber de causis  Pascale Bermon 15 Le Liber de causis et Proclus dans les sermons de Meister Eckhart  Alessandra Beccarisi 16 The Liber de causis and the Formula potentia sive virtus intellectiva in Dante’s Political Philosophy  Victoria Arroche 17 Notes on the Presence of the Elements of Theology in Ficino’s Commentary on Philebus  Sokrates-Athanasios Kiosoglou Part 5 The Hebraic Tradition 18 Hillel de Vérone, traducteur en hébreu et commentateur du Liber de causis au XIIIe siècle  Jean-Pierre Rothschild 19 Receptum est in recipiente per modum recipientis: Traces of the Liber de causis in Early Kabbalah  Saverio Campanini Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhere do gods come from – and what is the cost of bearing them? In Practicing Safe Sects F. LeRon Shults argues for the importance of having “the talk” about the causes and consequences of participating in religious sects. To survive and thrive as a social species, we humans are likely to continue needing some kind of sects (as well as sex) for quite some time. But can we learn how to practice safe sects? Can we live together in healthy and productive social networks without reproducing the superstitious beliefs and segregative behaviors that are engendered and nurtured by shared ritual engagement with imagined supernatural agents? In this provocative and timely book, Shults provides scientific and philosophical resources for answering these questions.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe essays in The Philosophy of Spirituality explore a new field in philosophy. Until recently, most philosophers in the analytic and continental Western traditions treated spirituality as a religious concept. Any non-religious spirituality tended to be neglected or dismissed as irremediably vague. Here, from various philosophical and cultural perspectives, it is addressed as a subject of independent interest. This is a philosophical response to increasing numbers of spiritual but not religious people inhabiting secular societies and the heightened interaction between a multitude of spiritual traditions in a globalized age. A provocative array of approaches (African, Indigenous, Indian, Stoic, and Sufic perspectives, as well as Western analytic and continental views) offer fresh insights, many articulated by emerging voices. Contributors are Mariapaola Bergomi, Moses Biney, Christopher Braddock, Drew Chastain, Kerem Eksen, Nikolay Milkov, Roderick Nicholls, Jerry Piven, Heather Salazar, Eric Steinhart, Richard White, Mark Wynn and Eric Yang.Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors Introduction  Roderick Nicholls and Heather Salazar Part 1: Understanding Spirituality: Introduction 1 Renewing the Senses: Conversion Experience and the Phenomenology of the Spiritual Life  Mark Wynn 2 Spiritual Experience and Imagination  Eric Yang 3 Sinister and Sublime Aspects of Spirituality  Jerry Piven Part 2: Spirituality across Traditions: Introduction 4 Is Yogic Enlightenment Dependent upon God?  Heather Salazar 5 Spirituality from the Margins: West African Spirituality and Aesthetics  Moses Biney 6 Non-religious Spirituality in the Greek Age of Anxiety  Mariapaola Bergomi 7 Becoming a Hollow Bone: Lakota Respect for the Sacred  Drew Chastain 8 Silence will Change the World: Kierkegaard, Derrida and Islamic Sufism  Christopher Braddock Part 3: Critical Perspectives and Re-inventions of Spirituality 9 Self-Care and Amor Fati as a Spiritual Ideal  Roderick Nicholls 10 Bertrand Russell’s Religion without God  Nikolay Milkov 11 Truth in Practice: Foucault’s Procedural Approach to Spirituality  Kerem Eksen 12 Spirit, Soul and Self-Overcoming: A Post-Jungian View  Richard White 13 Spiritual Naturalism  Eric Steinhart  Index

Read more less