Philosophy of religion Books

Book SynopsisLiane Carlson historicizes contingency by tying it to its theological and etymological roots in “touch,” contending that its disruptive power is specific to our current moment. A strikingly original reconsideration of one of continental philosophy and critical theory’s most cherished concepts, this book reveals the limits of historicist accounts.Trade ReviewLiane Carlson employs deft literary analysis and sensibility in a philosophical reflection that is both original and important. -- Wayne Proudfoot, author of Religious ExperienceIn response to influential currents of genealogical critique that would denaturalize our major concepts—such as religion—by highlighting their historical contingency, Liane Carlson advances an alternative understanding of contingency, and of religion, in terms of our vulnerable bodies, our fluid emotions, and our experience of touch as that which can make, or unmake, a world. While grounded in a scholarship whose range and depth are impressive, Carlson's work engages more fundamentally in a constructive thinking—about the character and meaning of finite human existence—that seems to me, in its lucidity, nuance, honesty, and existential investment, a notable and welcome contribution. -- Thomas A. Carlson, author of With the World at Heart: Studies in the Secular TodayIn this genuinely interdisciplinary study, Liane Carlson argues compellingly that the history of Christian theology is necessary for understanding modern debates about the historical, political, ethical, and existential meanings of contingency. With special attention to the role of human suffering within these debates, Carlson grapples with fundamental questions about time, the body, and human finitude. Anyone interested in the study of religion as well as the humanities more broadly has much to learn from this elegantly written, deeply learned, and truly original book. -- Leora F. Batnitzky, Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies, Princeton UniversityDelicately wrought, fiercely argued, and magisterial in scope, Liane Carlson's work analyzes the contingency of the 'contingency' animating our most beloved theories and methods. The result is politically savvy, ethically pressing, and absurdly readable—honestly, I don't think it's possible to overstate the significance or painful beauty of this book. -- Mary-Jane Rubenstein, author of Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, MonstersPowerful writing. * The Revealer *Comprehensive and written in terrifically fluid prose—noteworthy in a new treatment of a topic that is potentially dense—the book includes vivid examples that make it accessible even to those new to the concept of contingency. . . Highly recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Illness2. Loneliness3. Violation4. LoveConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSeeing and Believing marshals religious resources to recast the significance of digital images in the struggle for social justice.Trade ReviewSeeing and Believing is a meticulous and engaging portrait of how digital technology, especially social media, affects society. Never abstracting or ignoring the gaze of whiteness in seeking racial justice, Armour shows the reader how photographic insurrection can upend oppressive relationships generated by biodisciplinary powers. -- Kate Ott, author of Sex, Tech, and Faith: Ethics in a Digital AgeThe ethical questions that animate Seeing and Believing are achingly current: How do we live with the aggressive seductions of digital worlds? Can religious teachings offer us any help? This fully engaged and persistently hopeful book moves through the stripping-away of critique to find resources for insurrection. -- Mark D. Jordan, author of Transforming Fire: Imagining Christian TeachingDeveloping an account of 'photographic insurrection,' Seeing and Believing calls and calls out, attuning us to the ways that our new digital public square can be mobilized toward justice. Prophetic, critical, and meditative, this text will most certainly impact the way we see the world—and ourselves. Or at least it did for me. -- Biko Mandela Gray, author of Black Life Matter: Blackness, Religion, and the SubjectEllen Armour's sensitivity to diverse articulations of power informs her treatment of images as both inducing conformity and spawning resistance. This is especially relevant for the consideration of social media since these platforms are shaped both by their providers and by their consumers. This book brings intensive theological reflection to the study of visual culture in a way that will engage scholars of many kinds. -- David Morgan, author of Images at Work: The Material Culture of EnchantmentTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface1. Setting the Stage2. Life on the New Public Square3. (Re)making Us4. Reframing Photography5. Photographic InsurrectionEpilogueAppendix: Ways of Seeing PromptsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSeeing and Believing marshals religious resources to recast the significance of digital images in the struggle for social justice.Trade ReviewSeeing and Believing is a meticulous and engaging portrait of how digital technology, especially social media, affects society. Never abstracting or ignoring the gaze of whiteness in seeking racial justice, Armour shows the reader how photographic insurrection can upend oppressive relationships generated by biodisciplinary powers. -- Kate Ott, author of Sex, Tech, and Faith: Ethics in a Digital AgeThe ethical questions that animate Seeing and Believing are achingly current: How do we live with the aggressive seductions of digital worlds? Can religious teachings offer us any help? This fully engaged and persistently hopeful book moves through the stripping-away of critique to find resources for insurrection. -- Mark D. Jordan, author of Transforming Fire: Imagining Christian TeachingDeveloping an account of 'photographic insurrection,' Seeing and Believing calls and calls out, attuning us to the ways that our new digital public square can be mobilized toward justice. Prophetic, critical, and meditative, this text will most certainly impact the way we see the world—and ourselves. Or at least it did for me. -- Biko Mandela Gray, author of Black Life Matter: Blackness, Religion, and the SubjectEllen Armour's sensitivity to diverse articulations of power informs her treatment of images as both inducing conformity and spawning resistance. This is especially relevant for the consideration of social media since these platforms are shaped both by their providers and by their consumers. This book brings intensive theological reflection to the study of visual culture in a way that will engage scholars of many kinds. -- David Morgan, author of Images at Work: The Material Culture of EnchantmentTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface1. Setting the Stage2. Life on the New Public Square3. (Re)making Us4. Reframing Photography5. Photographic InsurrectionEpilogueAppendix: Ways of Seeing PromptsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe American philosopher Stanley Cavell (b 1926) is a secular Jew by his own admission fascinated with Christ, yet his outlook on religion in general is ambiguous. Probing the secular and religious in Cavell's thought, this book explains that Cavell, while often parting ways with Christianity, continues to return to Christianity.Trade ReviewIt is undoubtedly tricky business writing a book about Stanley Cavell and any book enterprising enough to bring him into conversation with Christian theology should be additionally commended, especially one as likable as Espen Dahl's Stanley Cavell, Religion, and Continental Philosophy. * Modern Theology *Dahl has a comprehensive grasp on Cavell's thought, is clearly a gifted theologian, and manages to place Cavell in conversation with continental thought as productively as anyone before him. Moreover, he does so in prose that is a model of clarity and brevity. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Although short, Espen Dahl has written a book that truly delivers on its title: it clearly, concisely, and powerfully shows Cavell's frequent and deep links to and engagements with religion and religious themes and with (so-called) Continental philosophy. While both of these strands have been explored piecemeal by scholars, Dahl's innovation consists in the detail with which he can engage these themes and the position he is able to carve out. . . . Dahl has also written a highly accessible book on Cavell, and yet one which in no way 'waters down' or dilutes Cavell's thinking. There ought to be more books of this kind on Cavell. * Intl Journal for the Philosophy of Religion *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1. Modernism and Religion2. The Ordinary Sublime3. Acknowledging God4. Skepticism, Finitude, and Sin5. The Tragic Dimension of the Ordinary6. The Other and Violence7. Forgiveness and PassivityConclusion: The Last Question: Self-redemption or Divine Redemption?NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Ahmadiyya Muslim community represents the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), a charismatic leader whose claims of spiritual authority brought him into conflict with most other Muslim leaders of the time. This book traces the origins of Ahmadi Islam from a small Sufi-style brotherhood to a major transnational organization.Trade Review From Sufism to Ahmadiyya: A Muslim Minority Movement in South Asia is an important book on an area of history that is not well covered. It will be essential reading for all who work on Pakistan or on modern South Asian Islam. * American Historical Review *From Sufism to Ahmadiyya is among the finest works on Islam in modern South Asia that exhibits a remarkable assemblage of intellectual, institutional, and social history. And while focused on a modern context, Khan's command over pre-modern Muslim intellectual traditions shines throughout the book. * Nova Religio *Khan examines the origins of the controversial South Asian Ahmadi Islam movement and its progression from a Sufistyle brotherhood to a major international organisation. He explores the persecution members of this movement have faced from other Muslim sects, studying how this experience has shaped Ahmadi identity. 57.5 Oct.-Nov. 2015 * Survival *Overall From Sufism to Ahmadiyya adopts a position of responsible scholarly scrutiny to develop several interesting perspectives that shed new light on a sensitive topic. * The Muslim World Book Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani before Prophethood2. The Prophetic Claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad3. Authority, Khilāfat, and the Lahori-Qadiani Split4. Politics and the Ahmadiyya Movement under Mirza Bashir al-Din Mahmud Ahmad5. Religion and Politics after Partition: The Ahmadi Jihad for Kashmir6. Early Opposition and the Roots of Ahmadi Persecution7. Persecution in Pakistan and Politicization of Ahmadi IdentityConclusion

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAlthough the authors who form the main focus of the book have been thoroughly studied and discussed on many occasions over the past fifty years or so, Liska brings into her analysis a fresh perspective that highlights the elusive Jewish quality at work in the texts under discussion. * Partial Answers *Liska's book conducts an insightful investigation into the history of ideas, and she is able to compare and contrast the wide range of thinkers under examination in clear, sophisticated, and nuanced ways. * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionI Tradition and Transmission1. Early Jewish Modernity and Arendt's Rahel2. Tradition and the Hidden: Arendt Reading Scholem3. Transmitting the Gap in Time: Arendt and AgambenII Law and Narration4. "As if Not": Agamben as Reader of Kafka5. Kafka, Narrative, and the Law6. Kafka's Other Job: From Susman to ŽižekIII Messianic Language 7. Pure Languages: Benjamin and Blanchot on Translation 8. Ideas of Prose: Benjamin and Agamben9. Reading Scholem and Benjamin on the DemonicIV Exile, Remembrance, Exemplarity10. Paradoxes of Exemplarity: From Celan to Derrida11. Two Kinds of Strangers: Celan and Bachmann12. Exile as Experience and Metaphor: From Celan to Badiou13. Geoffrey Hartman on Midrash and TestimonyEpilogue: New AngelsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAlthough the authors who form the main focus of the book have been thoroughly studied and discussed on many occasions over the past fifty years or so, Liska brings into her analysis a fresh perspective that highlights the elusive Jewish quality at work in the texts under discussion. * Partial Answers *Liska's book conducts an insightful investigation into the history of ideas, and she is able to compare and contrast the wide range of thinkers under examination in clear, sophisticated, and nuanced ways. * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionI Tradition and Transmission1. Early Jewish Modernity and Arendt's Rahel2. Tradition and the Hidden: Arendt Reading Scholem3. Transmitting the Gap in Time: Arendt and AgambenII Law and Narration4. "As if Not": Agamben as Reader of Kafka5. Kafka, Narrative, and the Law6. Kafka's Other Job: From Susman to ŽižekIII Messianic Language 7. Pure Languages: Benjamin and Blanchot on Translation 8. Ideas of Prose: Benjamin and Agamben9. Reading Scholem and Benjamin on the DemonicIV Exile, Remembrance, Exemplarity10. Paradoxes of Exemplarity: From Celan to Derrida11. Two Kinds of Strangers: Celan and Bachmann12. Exile as Experience and Metaphor: From Celan to Badiou13. Geoffrey Hartman on Midrash and TestimonyEpilogue: New AngelsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAll in all, the editors of this volume have put together a thoughtful and sometimes provocative collection of essays by a number of Kierkegaard scholars and philosophers for the reader's consideration. . . .The volume undoubtedly makes a contribution to contemporary philosophical debates in the philosophy of religion, moral philosophy, and epistemology, especially with regard to the importance of faith and love for leading a good and meaningful human life. * International Journal for Philosophy of Religion *Recommended. * Choice *This is an engaging and insightful volume of articles. * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsAbbreviations for Books by Kierkegaard IntroductionPart One: Faith and Love1. Love as the End of Human Existence / Sharon Krishek2. Love Is the Highest Good / Michael Strawser3. Erotic Wisdom: On God, Passion, Faith, and Falling in Love / Pia Søltoft4. The Integration of Neighbor-Love and Special Loves in Kierkegaard and von Hildebrand / John J. Davenport5. Kierkegaard, Weil, and Agapic Moral Fideism / Mark A. TietjenPart Two: Moral Psychology and Ethical Existence 6. Kierkegaard's Virtues? Humility and Gratitude as the Grounds of Contentment, Patience, and Hope in Kierkegaard's Moral Psychology / John Lippitt 7. The Heart of Knowledge: Kierkegaard on Passion and Understanding / Rick Anthony Furtak8. From Hegel to Google: Kierkegaard and the Perils of "the System" / Christopher B. Barnett9. An Ethics for Adults? Kierkegaard and the Ambiguity of Exaltation / Stephen MinisterPart Three: Existence Before God10. Difficult Faith and Living Well / Edward F. Mooney11. Kierkegaard and the Early Church on Christian Knowledge and Its Existential Implications / M.G. Piety12. Thunderstruck: Divine Irony in Kierkegaard's Job / Grant Julin13. Kierkegaard and Pentecostal Philosophy / J. Aaron SimmonsBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWolfson's new book Heidegger and Kabbalah is arguably the magnum opus of his long and productive career. It stands as a landmark study in Judaism and philosophy. -- Shaul Magid * Los Angeles Review of Books *By embracing a helix of competing paradoxes, Wolfson expertly shines the luminous speculum of kabbalah upon the darkening speculum of Heideggerean thinking to venture beyond all boundaries, opening a clearing for all future philosophical expositions of Jewish mysticism that would have otherwise been forgotten. * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Belonging Together of the Foreign1. Hermeneutic Circularity: Tradition as Genuine Repetition of Futural Past2. Inceptual Thinking and Nonsystematic Atonality 3. Heidegger's Seyn/Nichts and Kabbalistic Ein Sof4. imum, Lichtung, and Bestowing Refusal 5. Autogenesis, Nihilating Leap, and Otherness of the Not-Other6. Temporalizing and Granting Timespace7. Disclosive Language: Poiēsis and Apophatic Occlusion of Occlusion8. Ethnolinguistic Enrootedness and Invocation of Historical Destiny Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPushing past the constraints of postmodernism which cast 'reason' and 'religion' in opposition, this title seizes the opportunity to question the authority of 'the modern' and open the limits of possible experience, including the call to religious experience, as a new millennium approaches.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Apology for the Impossible: Religion and Postmodernism JohnD. Caputo and Michael J. Scanlon1. In the Name: How to Avoid Speaking of 'Negative Theology' Jean-LucMarionResponse by Jacques Derrida2. On the Gift: A Discussion between Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc MarionModerated by Richard Kearney3. Loose Canons: Augustine and Derrida on Their Selves Robert DodaroDiscussion4. Desire of God Richard KearneyDiscussion5. Overcoming Onto-theology Merold WestphalDiscussion6. Fragments: The Spiritual Situation of Our Times David TracyDiscussion7. Apostles of the Impossible: On God and the Gift in Derrida and MarionJohn D. Caputo8. A Deconstruction of Religion: On Derrida and Rahner Michael J. Scanlon9. Betting on Vegas Mark C. TaylorDiscussion10. Eating the Text, Defiling the Hands: Specters in Arnold Schoenberg'sOpera Moses and Aron Edith Wyschogrod11. Revisiting the Body: Virginity Secularized Frangoise Meltzer12. Our Own Faces in Deep Wells: A Future for Historical Jesus ResearchJohn Dominic CrossanContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisThroughout his long and controversial career, Martin Heidegger developed a substantial contribution to the phenomenology of religion. This book examines the key concepts and developmental phases that characterized Heidegger's work. It reveals Heidegger as a realist through careful readings of his views on religious attitudes and activities.Trade Review"[This book] will be useful for those interested in the philosophy of religion, or in the philosophy of Heidegger, or in criticism of the culture of modernity." —Robert Dostal, Bryn Mawr CollegeTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsList of Abbreviations of Works by HeideggerIntroduction1. Religion and Cultural Criticism The Conceptual Framework for Heidegger's Cultural Criticism Modernity and Subjectivism Modernity and Theology Philosophical Voices of Modernity: Neo-Kantianism and Nietzsche Anti-Realism and Religion2. Heidegger's Early Phenomenology of Religion Fundamental Themes Being-in-the-world The "Grace-Character" of Religious Life The "Givenness" or "Objecthood" of God Influences Friedrich Schleiermacher: Realism and Phenomenological Method Edmund Husserl Adolf Reinach Heidegger's Earliest Sketches of a Phenomenology of Religion Winter Semester 19201921: Heidegger's Lectures on Pauline Christianity Summer Semester 1921: Heidegger's Lectures on Augustine3. Heidegger's Later Phenomenology of Religion New Elements, Persisting Project The Concept of "The Holy" Phenomenology of Greek Religion The "Gods" Religion and "Being-in-the-World" in Heidegger's Later WorksConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisJewish philosophy as a dynamic literary, cultural, and social practiceTrade ReviewAaron W. Hughes presents a study of dialogue as a Jewish philosophical practice. Examining connections between Jewish philosophy, the literary form in which it is expressed, and the culture in which it is produced, Hughes shows how Jews understood and struggled with their social, religious, and intellectual environments. He addresses various themes associated with the literary form of dialogue as well as its philosophicalreception: Why did various thinkers choose dialogue? What did it allowthem to accomplish? How do the literary features of dialogue construct philosophical argument? As a history of philosophical form, context, and practice, this book will interest scholars and students working at the intersections of religious studies, philosophy, and literature.Joseph Haberer, Book Editor, SHOFAR, Volume 27, Number 2, Winter 2009At the beginning of his important new book, The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy, Aaron Hughes notes that the academic study of Jewish philosophy has traditionally centered "on great men … and their great texts" (p. 2). Hughes’s work, by contrast, is part of a recent trend in scholarship that seeks to broaden these traditional parameters by examining "less important" or "epigonic" thinkers, as well as a wide variety of "secondary forms," such as biblical commentaries, sermons, encyclopedias, and polemical works. Thus, Hughes’s book takes for its subject the rather neglected genre of the Jewish philosophical dialogue, in which context he looks not only at such major figures as the twelfth-century Spanish poet and critic of philosophy Judah Halevi, the sixteenth-century Italian Renaissance humanist Judah Abravanel, and the eighteenth-century German Enlightenment thinker Moses Mendelssohn, but also at such "lesser" figures as Shem Tov ibn Falaquera and Isaac Polleqar, both staunch exponents and defenders of the medieval Jewish rationalist tradition active in Spain, the former in the thirteenth century, the latter in the fourteenth. Hughes’s focus on the genre of the dialogue leads him to take note of the interplay between the literary features of such works and their more strictly philosophic argumentation, again in contrast to the traditional approach of Wissenschaft des Judentums that placed "prime emphasis on ideas, often divorced from specific textual contexts" (p. 2). Finally, his emphasis with regard to these dialogues on the subtle exchanges and interactions, sometimes collegial, sometimes adversarial, between their various characters enables Hughes to bring to light not just these dialogues’ literary dimensions, but also their oftentimes polemical aspects and their engagement with the burning religious, cultural, and intellectual issues of their day. Hughes’s book thus bridges the divide separating the history of philosophy from intellectual history. The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy is framed by an introductory chapter, "Expanding the Canon of Jewish Philosophy," in which Hughes sets forth the book’s main goals (briefly discussed in our opening paragraph) and outlines its contents, and an epilogue, "From Dialogue to Dialogic," in which he briefly traces and attempts to account for the uncertain and rather modest fortunes of the Jewish philosophical dialogue in modern times. The body of the book consists of five chapters, each devoted to examining a dialogue--in one case two dialogues--from the five above-mentioned philosophers, beginning with Halevi’s Kuzari (1140), then moving on to Falaquera’s Epistle of Debate (c. 1250) and Book of the Seeker (1263 [?]), Polleqar’s Ezer ha-Dat (c.1350), Abravanel’s Dialoghi d’amore (1511-1512 [?]), and concluding with Mendelssohn’s Phaedon (1767). In each chapter Hughes follows a similar structure, first "situating a particular dialogue in its historical, social and intellectual environments," then proceeding to "situate the author of each dialogue against this backdrop," and finally moving to an examination of "the particular text in question" (p. 24).Hughes’s presentation is clear, thoughtful, and learned, and readers will learn much from it. On the whole, the book is successful in achieving its goals. Certainly Hughes convincingly shows the importance of the Jewish literary dialogue for any comprehensive study of the history of medieval and early modern Jewish philosophy. His analyses of the polemical functions of Falaquera’s Epistle of Debate and Polleqar’s Ezer ha-Dat are particularly strong, and he skillfully locates these works in the ongoing controversy over the role of philosophy in Judaism in the wake of the writings of Maimonides, with Falaquera representing an earlier stage of the debate, defending philosophy against the criticisms of traditional Talmudists, while Polleqar represents a later stage, defending philosophy against the two-pronged attack of Kabbalists and astrologers. Hughes also makes good on his claim that paying closer attention to the interplay between the literary features of a dialogue and its more strictly philosophic argumentation will lead to a deeper and more accurate philosophic understanding of the work. Thus, in his discussion of Book 2 of Ezer ha-Dat, consisting of a debate between a young, rather radical exponent of philosophy who argues that only philosophy is the source of truth, and an older anti-philosophical, Kabbalistically inclined traditionalist who argues that only religion is the source of truth, Hughes notes that the eminent historian of Jewish philosophy Shlomo Pines sees the young philosopher as a stand-in for the author (p. 193, n. 86), as a result of which Pines ends up attributing radical proto-Spinozistic views to Polleqar. In truth, Hughes points out, a literary analysis of the book indicates that Polleqar sides neither with the young philosopher nor with the old traditionalist, but with the king who appears on the scene to arbitrate the dispute and seeks to harmonize the views of the two antagonists.The book, however, is not free from weaknesses, and Hughes at times presses his arguments too far. Thus while, as noted above, Hughes skillfully limns the polemical functions of Falaquera’s Epistle of Debate and Polleqar’s Ezer ha-Dat, his claims regarding the polemical functions of Abravanel’s Dialoghi and Mendelssohn’s Phaedon carry less conviction. Hughes shows that in the Dialoghi Abravanel develops a Jewish version of the popular Renaissance "literary genre known as the tratatto d’amore (treatise on love)" (p. 115), while in the Pheadon Mendelssohn "articulate[s] the soul’s immortality in ways that were completely divorced from contemporaneous theological (i.e., Christian perspectives)" (p. 154). He is on shakier ground, however, when he proceeds to argue that the Dialoghi is a "Jewish response to some of the decidedly Christocentric features of Renaissance humanism" (p. 132) and similarly that the Phaedon is a "polemical work designed to demonstrate to a primarily Christian audience that Christianity is not a prerequisite to felicity of the soul after corporeal death" (p. 140). Here Hughes places too much weight on what, when all is said and done, are arguments from silence.Even more problematic is Hughes’s claim that the Kuzari should be seen as a polemic against the spiritualist Muslim movement known as Isma‘ilism. Hughes correctly points out that the Kuzari argues for the superiority of ‘amal (action) over niyya (intention), and goes on to maintain that the Isma‘ilis argue for a reverse evaluation. Similarly, he correctly points out that Isma‘ili texts argue for the superiority of the batin, the inner, esoteric core of religion over its zahir, its outer, exoteric form, and goes on to maintain that the Kuzari argues for a reverse evaluation. But in none of the Isma‘ili texts that Hughes cites are the terms ‘amal and niyya so juxtaposed, and in none of the texts from the Kuzari that Hughes cites are the terms batin and zahir so juxtaposed. Indeed, in the Kuzari 3:73, the rabbinic sage, here clearly a spokesman for Halevi, in discussing problematic rabbinic Aggadot states that they are impossible only according to their zahir, their external sense. By implication they should be understood according to their batin! Here Halevi uses the zahir/batin distinction in an Isma‘ili-like manner, though he limits the distinction to problematic rabbinic Aggadot, while the Isma‘ilis apply it to religion as a whole. In any event, the matter is more complex than would appear from Hughes’s discussion.Moreover, in places Hughes’s literary analysis requires further refinement. Thus, to return to the previous example, while Hughes is correct in asserting that in Book 2 of Ezer ha-Dat, Polleqar sides neither with the young philosopher nor with the old traditionalist, but with the king who appears on the scene and seeks to harmonize the views of the two antagonists, he is incorrect in asserting that the king "attempts to harmonize the truths of philosophy and religion" (p. 96: emphasis mine). Rather, the king states that philosophy is the source of true knowledge, while religion "seeks to straighten [our] deeds, and direct our attention toward good and beautiful works." The clear implication is that religion itself is not a source of truth. In this regard the king sides with the young philosopher. Polleqar appears here to be carefully covering his tracks, giving the impression that the king splits the difference between the young philosopher and the old traditionalist, when in truth he is considerably closer the former. Perhaps, then, Polleqar’s position is not that far removed from Spinoza after all! (One difference might be that Polleqar, unlike Spinoza, does not seem to admit the possibility of a purely philosophical ethics, even for philosophers themselves.) Beyond these reservations regarding the larger issues of Hughes’s analyses of the polemical functions of these dialogues and the interplay between their literary features and their more strictly philosophic argumentation, I have some reservations regarding more specific points. Thus, Hughes maintains that Abravanel in the Dialoghi "celebrates sensual love as the gateway to cosmic or spiritual love" (p. 130). But in the passage that Hughes cites in support of this claim Abravanel celebrates not sensual love, but physical beauty. And while I agree with Hughes that Mendelssohn’s synthesis of Judaism and Enlightenment values is fragile, I do not agree with his contention that the Phaedon is a good example of that fragility. Hughes offers two arguments in support of this view. First he notes that in his Hebrew version of the Phaedon, the Sefer ha-Nefesh, Mendelssohn cites liberally from biblical prooftexts. Such citations attest, Hughes goes on to claim, that in that work "Mendelssohn... does not hesitate to make appeals to revelation to buttress his claims, something he did not do in the Pheadon" (p. 164). Setting to the side the fact that it would obviously be absurd for "Socrates" in the Phaedon to cite biblical prooftexts, can Mendelssohn’s citations of such texts in the Sefer ha-Nefesh be described as "appeals to revelation"? Here I would point to a passage in Jerusalem where Mendelssohn states that while scripture certainly contains "an inexhaustible treasure of rational truths and religious doctrines," these "excellent propositions," in addition to their being purely rational, "are presented to us for our consideration without being forced upon our belief." In light of this passage, the biblical prooftexts attesting to the immortality of the soul, cited by Mendelssohn in the Sefer ha-Nefesh, rather than constituting "appeals to revelation" "forced upon our belief," are just examples of scripture’s "inexhaustible treasure of rational truths... presented to us for our consideration." Second, Hughes cites an excerpt from a letter to Hartwig Wessely "in which Mendelssohn seems to apologize for ever having written Phaedon" (p. 165).One would never know from Hughes’s description that this letter was written to Wessely thanking him for expressing an interest in translating the Phaedon into Hebrew. In the excerpt cited by Hughes Mendelssohn is describing what he had initially assumed would be the likely reaction of Wessely to the Phaedon. Mendelssohn knew that Wessely was not very philosophically inclined, and he had feared that Wessely might not approve of his having written the Phaedon, deeming the philosophic demonstration of such a fundamental principle "of our holy faith" as that of the immortality of the soul to be unnecessary, perhaps even dangerous. But in truth, as Mendelssohn goes on to write in a passage not cited by Hughes, in light of Wessely’s interest in translating the Phaedon into Hebrew, he now sees that Wessely approves of those "who engage in philosophic inquiry," providing they "‘give heed to the works of the Lord’ (cf. Ps. 28:5) in sincerity." Thus, far from "apologizing for ever having written Phaedon," Mendelssohn took comfort in the fact that the non-philosophical Wessely, who was well known and highly regarded as an outstanding Hebraist, appeared to approve of the Phaedon. This was an encouraging sign, confirming, in Mendelssohn’s view, the solidity--not the fragility--of his synthesis. It need not be said that the reservations I have raised require further discussion and analysis and that this is not the place for such an undertaking. It also need not be said that none is intended to detract from the importance of Hughes’s book, a work which consistently enlightens and informs, even if it does not always convince.Lawrence Kaplan, McGill University, H-Judaic, January 2009"With this work Aaron Hughes has established himself as a prominent member of a new wave of Jewish scholars who... are charting exciting new directions for Jewish philosophy." —Jim Kanaris, McGill University, Studies in Religion / Sci Rel, Vol. 38.1 2009"[R]epresents an important new trend in Jewish philosophy, and moves the field one step closer to a complete social, cultural, and literary history." —James Robinson, University of Chicago Divinity SchoolTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgments1. Expanding the Canon of Jewish Philosophy: Toward an Appreciation of Genre2. Judah Halevi: The Dialogue of Subversion3. Shem Tov ibn Falaquera: Dialogues of Reconciliation and Dissemination4. Isaac Polleqar: The Dialogue of Disputation5. Judah Abravanel: The Dialogue of Desire6. Moses Mendelssohn: The Dialogue of FragilityEpilogue: From Dialogue to DialogicNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisNo one will deny that we live in a world where evil exists. But how are we to come to grips with human atrocity and its diabolical intensity? This work considers evil to be even more radically evil than previously thought and to have become all too familiar in everyday life.Trade Review"This book deserves a large and thoughtful readership.... the insights are worth the effort." —Robert L. Perkins, Stetson University, Int J Philos Religion, May 13, 2009 (online)"In a world filled with war, torture, and cruelty, where millions of people die of diseases related to malnutrition or inadequate health care each year, Martin Beck Matuštík's book is an important and innovative inquiry into an age-old problem." —Rabbi Michael Lerner, TikkunTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPart 1. Impossible Hope1. Job at Auschwitz2. Redemptive Critical Theory3. Between Hope and TerrorPart 2. The Negatively Saturated Phenomenon4. Job Questions Kant5. Redemption in an Antiredemptory Age6. Radical Evil as a Saturated PhenomenonPart 3. The Uncanny7. The Unforgivable8. Tragic Beauty9. The Unspeakable10. Without a WhyEpilogue: Job Questions the Grand InquisitorNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisDevoted to the relationship between Levinas and Kierkegaard, this volume sets forth a comparison and sustained engagement between them.Trade Review"Presents a variety of perspectives on the relation of Levinas and Kierkegaard and represents a debate on how to read these two together and against each other." —Merold Westphal, Fordham University"A book of this nature is long overdue." —Martin Beck Matustik, Purdue UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: Good Fences May Not Make Good Neighbors After All / J. Aaron Simmons and David WoodPart 1. Levinas on Kierkegaard 1. The Many Faces of Levinas as a Reader of Kierkegaard / Merold Westphal 2. Existential Appropriations: The Influence of Jean Wahl on Levinas's Reading of Kierkegaard / J. Aaron SimmonsPart 2. On Love and Transcendence 3. Who or What or Whot? / John Llewelyn 4. Kierkegaard and Levinas on Four Elements of the Biblical Love Commandment / M. Jamie Ferreira 5. The Greatest Commandment? Religion and/or Ethics in Kierkegaard and Levinas / Jeffrey DudiakPart 3. Time, Alterity, and Eschatology 6. Hearing, Patiently: Time and Salvation in Kierkegaard and Levinas / David Kangas and Martin Kavka 7. Kierkegaard, Levinas, and "Absolute Alterity" / Michael Weston 8. What Kierkegaardian Faith Adds to Alterity Ethics: How Levinas and Derrida Miss the Eschatological Dimension / John J. DavenportPart 4. Ethico-Political Possibilities 9. The Challenge of Justice: The Ethics of "Upbuilding" / Edith Wyschogrod 10. Levinas and Kierkegaard: Ethics and Politics / Zeynep Direk 11. Works of Justice, Works of Love: Kierkegaard, Levinas, and an Ethics Beyond Difference / Stephen Minister 12. "More Than All the Others": Meditation on Responsibility / Martin Beck MatutíkList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisPursuing Jacques Derrida's reflections on the possibility of "religion without religion," this book makes room for a sense of the religious that does not depend on religions or traditional notions of God or gods. It shows why and where religion matters.Trade Review"There is nothing comparable to this book within contemporary continental philosophy of religion." —David Kangas, University of California, Berkeley"[This book] contributes to a post-modern philosophical approach that takes a theological turn in phenomenology while remaining within the context of the Christian tradition." —INTNL JRNL PHILOSOPHY RELIGION, 2010, Volume 67Table of ContentsContents<\>AcknowledgmentsProloguePart 1 1. On the Borderline of Madness 2. Stay! 3. Philosophical Fragments 4. Standstill 5. Works of LovePart 2 6. Between Appearance and Reality 7. Love of Fate 8. God's Ghost 9. Innocent Guilt 10. Origins of Negation 11. Negation of Origins 12. Love of Wisdom and Wisdom of LovePart 3 13. Oversights 14. Oasis 15. Between the Quasi-transcendental and the Instituted 16. Eucharistics 17. The World Is More Than It IsEpilogueNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisBy means of a Kierkegaardian critique of postmodernism, this work argues that the postmodernist flirtation with Kierkegaard ignores the existential import of his thought. It offers a different interpretation of Kierkegaard's conception of the self, according to which spirit is essentially linked to the speech act.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreveations Prologue: KierkegaardOs Critique of the Modern Age I. Sensuality and Spirit Spirit as Psyche Spirit as Pneuma Architecture and Scuopture: Psychical Paradigms of Aesthetic Immediacy Music and Speech: Pneumatic Paradigms of Aesthetic and Existential Immediacy II. Dabhar and Existential Immediacy Speech and Human Being Speech and Being Human Word and Spirit Freedom and Temporality Efficacy and Contingency III. Don Giovanni, Music, and the Demonic Immediacy of Sensuality Music, Wordlessness, and Anxiety The Demonic Retreat from the Word Music and Sensuous Immediacy Lyricism and Reflective Immediacy IV. Faust, Romantic Irony, and the Demonic Immediacy of Spirituality The Faustian Project Faust and Modernity Modern Science and Mathematics-as-Music The Humanities and Speech-as-Music V. Post-Modernism and the Triumph of the Demonic Speaking as Reading, Speaking as Writing, and Writing as Music Coping with the Flux Epilogue: Mastered Irony and the Recovery of Spirit Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAn interpretation of the ethical and religious dimensions of Levinas' thought. Placing Levinas in relation to Hegel and Nietzsche, Husserl and Heidegger, and Derrida and Marion, it develops the religious themes found in Levinas' work and offers a way to think and speak about ethics and morality within the horizons of philosophy of religion.Trade ReviewReaders will find Jeffrey Kosky's book a helpful addition to the secondary material on Levinas. Attention to Levinas continues to increase as do the quality and number of secondary pieces interpreting his work. In keeping with the writings of John Caputo and Dennis Keenan, Kosky (independent scholar) presents Levinas as a phenomenologist who engages religious subjects without denying the important shift beyond ontotheology made by Nietzsche and Heidegger. Kosky focuses on responsibility as the key to unlocking the religious possibilities within Levinas. This insight is not new, but it bears repeating. Kosky concludes his text by showing that Levinas's religion is rooted in undecidability. One knows not of what one speaks, when one speaks of God. This insight is as refreshing now as it was when Augustine stated it in the first book of the Confessions. Kosky does an excellent job of drawing our attention to Levinas as one of the great 20th-century thinkers who refuses to deny God while simultaneously refusing to claim to know anything about God. Graduate students and scholars of Levinas, as well as those in the area of the philosophy of religion, should read this text.September 2002 -- D. J. Livingston * Mercyhurst College *Table of ContentsPreliminary Table of Contents: AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroductionPart 1: Beyond Totality and Infinity1. Ethics as the End of Metaphysics2. Theology and the Unthought Constitution of Ethical Metaphysics3. Reduction to ResponsibilityPart 2: Ethical Phenomenology4. Insight and Drift: Husserl5. The De-posited Subject: Levinas6. The Affected Subject: Responsibility or Dasein?Part 3: Levinas and the Philosophy of Religion7. The Death of God and Emergence of the Philosophy of Religion8. Ethical Phenomenology and the Religiosity of the Subject9. The Ethical Possibility of GodNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisInterprets the doctrines put forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his treatise On Being and Essence. Joseph Bobik foregrounds the meaning of the important distinction between first and second intentions, the differing uses of the term ""matter,"" and the Thomistic conception of metaphysics.Trade Review"This book has but one aim: to present an intelligible interpretation of the doctrines put forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his treatise On Being and Essence. It considers uses of the words 'being' and 'essence,' it investigates the essence of natural substances, the immateriality of the human soul, and the existence and the essence of God." —Catholic Book Review"Bobik's commentary is very useful in explaining notions that could mislead many readers of On Being and Essence. He repeatedly draws attention to the meaning of the important distinction between first and second intentions, the differing uses of the term 'matter,' and the Thomistic conception of metaphysics. On the whole, Bobik has a critical and open approach to the text and a strong appreciation of the need for clarity and precision. His commentary should prove illuminating to most students and teachers on Aquinas." —Journal of History of Philosophy

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Book SynopsisIn this collection of essays, Ralph McInerny portrays Jacques Maritain as a devoted Thomist, convinced that faith could never be divorced from reason and that reason without faith was meaningless. Trade Review"This collection of essays by Ralph McInerny reminds one not only of Maritain's extraordinary range of philosophical, poetic, and theological interests, but of what the intellectual life meant for that generation of Catholics." —Reflections

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Book SynopsisProvides a compilation of the thought and work of W. Norris Clarke, S.J., a philosopher inspired by the Thomistic tradition, who in 45 years of teaching and writing has delved into many of the central problems of perennial philosophy and made a significant contribution to the ongoing history of American Thomism.Trade Review"Explorations in Metaphysics is both a reflection of W. Norris Clarke's long career of probing and questioning and the product of an intellect focused on some of the most profound and difficult problems facing the contemporary metaphysician. Although Clarke's textual knowledge of Aquinas is unsurpassed, he is no exegete; rather he is a dynamic interpreter drawing upon a master as he engages some of the best minds of his own generation. Whatever the topic . . . one can count on uncommon learning and analysis." —Jude P. Dougherty, The Catholic University of America“This collection of ten essays from the philosophical journeys of Fr. Norris Clarke, S.J., . . . covers the familiar metaphysical territory of being, God, and person, but each time the traveler insists on looking at the same subjects with fresh eyes. He is anxious to identify within those timeless truths emphasized by Thomistic metaphysics what it is that needs special emphasis to be correctly understood in light of present day philosophical terminology and the current matrix of philosophical concerns.” —American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly“This . . . is a welcome resource to 'Thomistically inspired' metaphysicians. Revised in part to include [Clarke's] latest insights and published with an illuminating autobiographical introduction to his philosophical thought, these essays have lost nothing of their original vigor, clarity, and relevance. . . . [Clarke] offers an insightful, challenging, and eminently readable book, one that should awaken its readers to 'the seminal riches in St. Thomas' metaphysical thought' and help them continue [his] own work of 'creative completion.’ ” —Theological Studies“. . . this volume offers contemporary Catholic philosophy at its best. . . . These essays succeed admirable in . . . showing us how rediscovering the riches of its own tradition can enable Catholic philosophy to engage the contemporary intellectual world and address the critical issues of our day.” —First Things

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book is written in a clear and forceful style. It is ideal for use in ethics and logic classes as a model of critical reasoning, although its principal audience will no doubt be philosophers and theologians interested in natural law ethics. Hittinger has in my opinion decisively crushed the Grisez-Finnis ‘revolution.’ I hope he will elaborate on another occasion the very suggestive remarks, to be found at the close of the book, about the grounds of natural law.” —International Philosophical Quarterly“Russell Hittinger has written a valuable critique of the theory of practical reason advanced by Germain Grisez and John Finnis. The author contends that although their system claims to be a natural-law ethics, it is not derived from an ontology of human nature or from larger metaphysical considerations. Rather, it resembles Kant’s ethical categoricalism.”—The American Journal of Jurisprudence“Dr. Hittinger’s book causes us to remember how genuinely delicate and refined is the balance between reason and faith in St. Thomas’ view of human knowledge and its relationship to reality. . . . Hittinger’s book is well researched and worth reading.” —The Thomist“. . . a significant addition to contemporary ethics.” —The Journal of Religion"Few authors possess Hittinger's extraordinary command of contemporary as well as classical moral theory...This book establishes Hittinger as a moral philosopher of first rank." —Jude Doughterty, Catholic University of America

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Book SynopsisReflecting current trends and research interests in the field - including the growing interest in religious diversity and global philosophy of religion - this broad and up to date introduction explores key writings from both the Western theistic tradition and from non-Western, non-theistic sources. The nine sections cover: Religious Diversity The Nature and Attributes of God Arguments for and Against the Existence of God Science Faith and Miracles The Self and Human Condition Religious Experience The Problem of Evil and Suffering Death and the Afterlife. With section introductions, discusssion questions, extensive bibliographies and a supporting website featuring additional material, it is the ideal reference tool to help clarify important points and reinforce understanding.  Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction, Part 1, Religious Diversity 1. John Hick, RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND THE PLURALISTIC HYPOTHESIS, 2. Keith Ward TRUTH AND THE DIVERSITY OF RELIGIONS 3. Alvin Plantinga A DEFENSE OF RELIGIOUS EXCLUSIVISM 4. Joseph Runzo RELIGIOUS RELATIVISM 5. The Dalai Lama INTERRELIGIOUS HARMONY, Part 2, The Nature and Attributes of God/ Ultimate Reality 6. Avicenna GOD’S NATURE AND KNOWLEDGE 7. Moses Maimonides DIVINE SIMPLICITY, NEGATIVE THEOLOGY, AND GOD-TALK 8. Boethius PROVIDENCE, FOREKNOWLEDGE, AND FREE WILL 9. Thomas Aquinas OMNIPOTENCE 10. Ramanuja GOD AS INFINITE, PERSONAL, AND GOOD 11. Thomas V. Morris GOD INCARNATE AND TRIUNE 12. William Hasker THE OPENNESS OF GOD 13. Nicholas Rescher PROCESS THEOLOGY—GOD IN AND FOR NATURE 14. Shankara BRAHMAN IS ALL 15. Lao Tzu THE TAO 16. K. N. Jayatilleke NIRVANA IS ULTIMATE REALITY Part 3 Arguments for and against the Existence of God 17. Thomas Aquinas THE CLASSICAL COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 18. William Lane Craig THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 19. J. L. Mackie A CRITIQUE OF COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS 20. Quentin Smith A LOGICAL ARGUMENT AGAINST A DIVINE CAUSE 21. William Paley THE CLASSICAL DESIGN ARGUMENT 22. Michael J. Behe A RECENT INTELLIGENT DESIGN ARGUMENT 23. Robin Collins A RECENT FINE-TUNING ARGUMENT 24. David Hume A CRITIQUE OF THE DESIGN ARGUMENT 25. Anselm of Canterbury THE CLASSICAL ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 26. Guanilo of Marmoutier GUANILO’S RESPONSE TO ANSELM 27. Immanuel Kant A CRITIQUE OF THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 28. Charles Hartshorne A RECENT ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 29. Paul Copan THE MORAL ARGUMENT 30. Ludwig Feuerbach RELIGION AS PROJECTION 31. J. P. Moreland THE NOÖLOGICAL ARGUMENT Part 4, Faith, Reason and Evidence 32. W. K. Clifford THE ETHICS OF BELIEF 33. William James THE WILL TO BELIEVE 34. Alvin Plantinga BELIEF IN GOD AS PROPERLY BASIC 35. Blaise Pascal THE WAGER Part 5, Religion, Science and Miracles 36. David Hume THE UNREASONABILITY OF BELIEF IN MIRACLES 37. Richard Swinburne A CASE FOR MIRACLES 38. Alvin Plantinga NATURALISM AND SCIENCE 39. Daniel C. Dennett SCIENCE AND RELIGION Part 6, The Self and the Human Condition 40. Augustine THE FALLEN SELF 41. Mencius HUMAN NATURE IS NATURALLY GOOD 42. Friederich Nietzsche THE NOBLE HUMAN BEING 43. Nagarjuna THE EMPTY SELF 44 D. T. Suzuki KARMA AND THE SELF IN ZEN BUDDHISM Part 7, Religious Experience 45. William James MYSTICISM AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 46. Julian of Norwich EXPERIENCING GOD 47. D. T. Suzuki SATORI/ENLIGHTENMENT 48. Sigmund Freud RELIGIOUS IDEAS AS WISH FULFILLMENTS 49. R. Douglas Geivett THE EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE Part 8, The Problem of Evil 50. William L. Rowe THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 51. John Hick A SOUL-MAKING THEODICY 52. Alvin Plantinga A FREE WILL DEFENSE 53. Marilyn McCord Adams HORRENDOUS EVIL 54. David J. Kalupahana SUFFERING—A BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE Part 9, Death and the Afterlife 55. Plato IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 56. Stephen T. Davis RESURRECTION OF THE BODY 57. Paul K. Moser DEATH, DYING, AND THE HIDDENNESS OF GOD 58. Charles Taliaferro WHY WE NEED IMMORTALITY 59. Sri Aurobindo REBIRTH AND THE SELF 60. Robin LePoidevin SHOULD THE ATHEIST FEAR DEATH? Part 10, Recent Trends 61. Pamela Sue Anderson FEMINISM IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION 62. Sallie King RELIGION AND A GLOBAL ETHIC 63. Roger S. Gottlieb RELIGION AND THE ENVIRONMENT Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisThe past forty years or so have witnessed a renaissance in the philosophy of religion. New tools (modal logic, probability theory, and so on) and new historical research have prompted many thinkers to take a fresh look at old topics (God's existence, the problem of evil, faith and reason, and the like). Moreover, sophisticated examinations of contentious new issues, such as the problem of religious diversity or the role of emotions and other non-evidential factors in shaping rationally held religious beliefs, have also emerged.Addressing the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of this rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of scholarly literature, Philosophy of Religion is a new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in Philosophy. Edited by a leading scholar, it is a four-volume collection which brings together key examples of the most important recent work, together with carefully selected historical pieces need

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Book SynopsisWhat is Religion?' This is the first text to review in a single volume the theories of religion which have been put forward by both believers and non-believers.Trade ReviewThe book fills an important gap in the study of religions. It achieves in a clear and straightforward manner the aim of the author to supply a basic text for undergraduates and for an informed wider audience. After reading this book, students of religion will be well prepared to understand the context out of which the phenomenology of religion developed and then to proceed to further texts which will prepare them to engage in the methodological debates at the core of religious studies today. For this, we should be grateful to James Thrower and commend his book as a fitting conclusion to his distinguished academic career. James Thrower's unusually broad survey of theories of religion ranges from ancient times to modern and from theological approaches to social scientific ones. His expertise in an array of religious traditions enhances the value of this book. A lucid and incisive overview of the course of theorising about religion. -- Robert A. Segal, Reader in Theory of Religion, University of Lancaster This book offers a rare bridge across an artificial disciplinary divide which too often separates theorists of religion into two distinct groups: the social scientists and historians of religion on the one hand, and the philosophers on the other ... [Thrower offers] a quality introduction to the truly wide range of major theories and theorists in the analytical study of religion. -- Scott Alexander, Indiana University A marvellous survey of the theories of religion put forward by both religious and non-religious thinkers. It is broad, authoritative, well-written, accessible and, overall, easily the best introductory text on the subject I have come across ... he takes little for granted, carefully defining terms and providing necessary background information to religions, religious concepts, scholars, schools and movements. It is the kind of book that makes one feel like designing a new undergraduate module. A fine overview of the main theories of the origin and nature of the book ... well written, thorough and accurate. The book fills an important gap in the study of religions. It achieves in a clear and straightforward manner the aim of the author to supply a basic text for undergraduates and for an informed wider audience. After reading this book, students of religion will be well prepared to understand the context out of which the phenomenology of religion developed and then to proceed to further texts which will prepare them to engage in the methodological debates at the core of religious studies today. For this, we should be grateful to James Thrower and commend his book as a fitting conclusion to his distinguished academic career. James Thrower's unusually broad survey of theories of religion ranges from ancient times to modern and from theological approaches to social scientific ones. His expertise in an array of religious traditions enhances the value of this book. A lucid and incisive overview of the course of theorising about religion. This book offers a rare bridge across an artificial disciplinary divide which too often separates theorists of religion into two distinct groups: the social scientists and historians of religion on the one hand, and the philosophers on the other ... [Thrower offers] a quality introduction to the truly wide range of major theories and theorists in the analytical study of religion. A marvellous survey of the theories of religion put forward by both religious and non-religious thinkers. It is broad, authoritative, well-written, accessible and, overall, easily the best introductory text on the subject I have come across ... he takes little for granted, carefully defining terms and providing necessary background information to religions, religious concepts, scholars, schools and movements. It is the kind of book that makes one feel like designing a new undergraduate module. A fine overview of the main theories of the origin and nature of the book ... well written, thorough and accurate.Table of ContentsBackground; religion as revelation; religion as experience; religion as primitive error; religion as social construct; religion as psychological construct; religion as symbol; religion as philosophy.

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Book SynopsisThis study of the last pagan Roman emperor provides remarkable insight into the man and his times.The figure of Julian demands the attention of historians. As the last pagan Roman Emperor, he provides a focus for studying the religious transformations that were taking place in the empire in the fourth century. Further, his secular policies and concerns concentrate attention on other transformations--social and political--within the period.Notably, Julian elicited sharply divided opinion from his contemporaries, which is largely polarised between pagan supporters and Christian opponents. Such division of opinion is also matched by the modern literature on him. Was he the prospective saviour of the Roman Empire, or was he out-of-touch and living in the past? Was he an evangelist for Mithraism, or an altogether more traditional pagan? Was he a shrewd military man, or a rash risk-taker whose luck spectacularly ran out on his Persian expedition? These questions and more are asked and discussed, allowing students to reach their own verdict on this exciting and controversial emperor.Table of ContentsSeries Editors' Preface; Preface; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Family Tree; Maps; Part I Debates; Introduction: The Fascination of Julian; 1. Family; 2. Conversion; 3. Gaul; 4. Emperor: Style and Reform; 5. Religion; 6. Persia; Conclusion: The Elusiveness of Julian; Part II Documents; 1 Julian: Panegyric on the Emperor Constantius; 2 Julian: Panegyric on the Empress Eusebia; 3 Julian: On the Deeds of the Emperor Constantius or On Kingship; 4 Julian: Consolation to Himself on the Departure of the Excellent Salutius; 5 Julian: Letter to Priscus; 6 Julian: Letter to Oribasius; 7 Julian: Letter to the Athenians; 8 Julian: Letter to Maximus the Philosopher; 9 Julian: Letter to Themistius the Philosopher; 10 Julian: Letter to the Philosopher Maximus; 11 Julian: Letter to Bishop Aetius; 12 Julian: Letter to the People of Alexandria; 13 Julian: Letter to Ecdicus, Prefect of Egypt; 14 Julian: Against the Cynic Heraclius; 15 Julian: To the Alexandrians, an Edict; 16 Julian: Letter to Evagrius; 17 Julian: Letter to the Thracians; 18 Julian: Letter to the High-priest Theodorus; 19 Julian: To the Mother of the Gods; 20 Julian: Letter to Arsacius, High-priest of Galatia; 21 Julian: Letter to Atarbius; 22 Julian: Rescript on Christian Teachers; 23 Julian: Letter to the Citizens of Bostra; 24 Julian: Letter to the Alexandrians; 25 Julian: The Caesars; 26 Julian: To King Helios; 27 Julian: Letter to a Priest; 28 Julian: Misopogon; 29 Inscriptions; 30 Theodosian Code; 31 Sextus Aurelius Victor: De Caesaribus; 32 Claudius Mamertinus: Speech of Thanks to Julian; 33 Libanius: Letter to Julian; 34 Libanius: Address to Julian; 35 Libanius: To Julian on behalf of Aristophanes; 36 Libanius: Address to the Emperor Julian as Consul; 37 Libanius: The Embassy to Julian; 38 Libanius: Letter to Aristophanes; 39 Libanius: Funeral Oration for Julian; 40 Libanius: Upon Avenging Julian; 41 Libanius: Autobiography; 42 Salutius: Concerning the Gods and the Universe; 43 Gregory of Nazianzus: Against Julian 1; 44 Gregory of Nazianzus: Against Julian 2; 45 Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns against Julian; 46 Eutropius: Breviarium; 47 Festus: Breviarium; 48 John Chrysostom: Homily on St Babylas; 49 Jerome: Chronicon; 50 Ammianus Marcellinus: Res Gestae; 51 Eunapius: History (fragments); 52 Eunapius: Lives of the Sophists; 53 Epitome De Caesaribus; 54 Rufinus: Church History; 55 Orosius: History against the Pagans; 56 Philostorgius: Church History; 57 Socrates: Church History; 58 Sozomen: Church History; 59 Theodoret: Church History; 60 Zosimus: New History; 61 Malalas: Chronicle; 62 Zonaras: Chronicle; 63 Coin of Julian as Caesar; 64 Coin of Julian as Augustus; 65 Julian's Bull Coin; 66 Statue of Julian; 67 Edward Armitage: Julian the Apostate Presiding at a Conference of Sectarians; Chronology; Further Reading; Essay Questions; Bibliography; Websites; Index.

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Book SynopsisA handy guide to the major figures and issues in Christian philosophy from Augustine to the present, this volume covers a broad historical sweep and takes into account those non-Christian philosophers that have had a great impact on the Christian tradition

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Book SynopsisAddresses the relationship between Deleuze's differential immanence and the notion of religion. Gilles Deleuze's philosophy of immanence vigorously denies that there is anything beyond our direct experience. In this volume the author shares the same motivation.

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Book Synopsis''Aesthetics'' and ''theological aesthetics'' usually imply a focus on questions about the arts and how faith or religion relates to the arts; only the final pages of this work take up that problem. The central theme of this book is that of beauty. Farley employs a new typology of western texts on beauty and a theological analysis of the image of God and redemption to counter the centuries-long tendency to ignore or marginalize beauty and the aesthetic as part of the life of faith. Studying the interpretation of beauty in ancient Greece, eighteenth-century England, the work of Jonathan Edwards, and nineteenth and twentieth-century philosophies of human self-transcendence, the author explores whether Christian existence, the life of faith, and the ethical exclude or require an aesthetic dimension in the sense of beauty. The work will be of particular interest to those interested in Christian theology, ethics, and religion and the arts.Trade Review’The most important book I have read for years. Farley strikes the right chord in the way he goes behind the current discussion and lays a solid foundation for the kind of theological depth that has to be brought to the question of beauty. He makes the issue alive to the most recent scholarship’ John Cook, President of the Henry Luce Foundation, USA 'In this eloquently written book, Edward Farley brings a gentle, carefully crafted clarity to these matters...With much dexterity, he exposes and challenges some of the dichotomies that have marred a proper appreciation of beauty, not least in the Church...The discussion is rich and full of wisdom, and a model of how to say a great deal with few words.' Theology ' ...Farley's focus on the transformative aspects of beauty allows him to innovatively harmonize a variety of divergent theoretical strands into a complex and satisfying theological asesthetic that is itself beautiful, in the Whiteheadian sense of being a real creative accomplishment of synthesis.' Journal of Religion 'Farley follows a course from ancient Greece, through the Middle Ages and the eighteenth century to the modern day. His aim is to establish a link between faith, understood as the experience of a redeemed life, and aesthetic experience... Farley's route...is to seek for beauty in the process of redemptive remaking, through the restoration of the divine image in human being marred by sin... it does...point to the potential fruitfulness of a renewed debate between Christian thinkers and contemporary artists.' Art and Christianity Enquiry Bulletin 'In grappling with Christian theology and with aesthetics, Farley has illuminated a valuable area of discussion.' Church Times 'In this magisterial study Farley attempts to situate the transcendental of beauty within the Christian experience of faith. Studying the conflictual relationship between Christianity and esthetic concerns, Farley develops a useful typology of the various identitTable of ContentsContents: Preface. Beauty as the Beast: traditional and postmodern expressions: Beauty and the postmodern; Beauty as the beast in Christian traditions; Hebrew and Christian iconoclasms. Beauty as Being: The Irrepressible Character of Beauty: The 'great theory of beauty'; The Olympian cosmogonies; The Platonic tradition; The 'great theory' in the Middle Ages; The process transmutation of the great theory of beauty; beauty as being. Beauty as Sensibility: Precursors of the 18th-century turn; The new problematic of beauty in the 18th century; The psychological relocation of beauty; The problem of taste; The sublime; Legacies and ambiguities. Beauty as Benevolence: Primary and secondary beauty; Beauty as community; Beauty and God; The problem of objectivity; Beauty and self-transcendence. Beauty in Human Self-Transcendence: Human self-transcendence without beauty; Self-transcendence as passionate subjectivity; Self-transcendence as intentional meaning; Self-transcendence as radical responsibility; The aesthetic aspect of self-transcendence; Beauty as a transcendental condition of experience; Beyond self-preoccupation through beauty; The beauty of the graceful body; Summary. Paths to Beauty in 20th-Century Theology: Anti-aesthetic Protestant approaches to beauty; 20th-century Catholic theologies of beauty. The Beauty of Human Redemption: The image of God as self-transcendence; Formal and ethical self-transcendence; The image of God as potentiality and actuality; The imago dei as beautiful; The despoiled image; The beauty of redemptive remaking; Redemptive self-transcendence; Surmounting the dichotomy of the ethical and the aesthetic; Faith's aesthetic sensibilities. Beauty, Pathos and Joy: Beauty and pathos; Joy: beyond the dichotomy of rigorism and satisfaction; Faith without beauty; The arts in the life of faith. Synopsis: Aesthetics; Beauty; The western story of beauty; Theological aesthetics and redemptive transformation; Index.

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Book SynopsisA passion for justice and truth motivates the bold challenge of Revisioning Gender in Philosophy of Religion. Unearthing the ways in which the myths of Christian patriarchy have historically inhibited and prohibited women from thinking and writing their own ideas, this book lays fresh ground for re-visioning the epistemic practices of philosophers. Pamela Sue Anderson seeks both to draw out the salient threads in the gendering of philosophy of religion as it has been practiced and to re-vision gender for philosophy today. The arguments put forth by contemporary philosophers of religion concerning human and divine attributes are epistemically located; yet the motivation to recognize this locatedness has to come from a concern for justice. This book presents invaluable new perspectives on the philosopherâs ever-increasing awareness of his or her own locatedness, on the gender (often unwittingly) given to God, the ineffability in both analytic and Continental philosophy, the still critical role of reason in the field, the aims of a feminist philosophy of religion, the roles of beauty and justice, the vision of love and reason, and a gendering which opens philosophy of religion up to diversity.Trade Review'Until quite recently the significance of gender and epistemic locatedness in philosophy of religion was virtually unacknowledged. But thanks to the gallant efforts of Pamela Sue Anderson and others, there is a new horizon emerging. A re-visioning of the field has begun, and signs of the crumbling of patriarchy and objectification are at hand. In this insightful and provocative book, Anderson offers a fresh, au fait, and much-needed feminist voice in contemporary philosophy that will most certainly play a central and subversive role in this ensuing transformation.' Chad Meister, Bethel College, USA 'Analytic and continental, feminist and non-feminist philosophers of religion should all find much to engage with here, in part because Anderson has created a conversation across borders that are not often traversed.' APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy ’This important study full of insight, wisdom and critical comment is fired by a passion for truth and justice and a deep concern for advancing the case for reason, love and beauty in the contemporary global world.... I chose this new publication for an attentive, close reading since, knowing Anderson’s earlier work, I was full of expectations, eagerly anticipating new perspectives opening up before my mind. I have not been disappointed as I have learnt a great deal and been encouraged to reflect critically and constructively on some of her ideas in my own work.’ Religion and Gender 'Anderson fulfils her own call for philosophers to confront and transform oppressive ways, and paves a way for others to 'be more bold' in re-visioning not only gender but other dimensions of existence in philosophy of religion.' Modern BelievingTable of ContentsContents: Preface; Re-visioning gender and the myths of patriarchy; Gender in philosophy of religion; Gendering theism and feminism; Philosophy on and off ’the Continent’ Gendering love in philosophy of religion; Restoring faith in reason; Feminist philosophy of religion; Gender justice and unselfish attention; Re-visioning love and reason; Epistemic locatedness: diversity and gender; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first major effort to systematically organise and evaluate Schelling's arguments for a Philosophy of Revelation and to demonstrate their importance for contemporary debates in speculative realism, new realism and post-secularism.Trade Review"... strikingly original and without peer in the English literature.The discussion of Hegel (and Schelling's non-dialectical personalism") stands to be among the very best that I have read."" -Jason Wirth, Seattle University

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Book SynopsisPresupposing no prior knowledge of Nietzsche or the text, nor with Christian beliefs or doctrines, Paul Bishop carefully guides students through The Anti-Christ section by section. Bishop unpacks the difficulties that many readers face when dealing with Nietzsche's rhetoric.

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Book SynopsisThe prominence of the imagination in David Hume's philosophy has been recognised by generations of readers. In this rich study, Timothy Costelloe gives us the most complete picture yet of Hume's view of imagination and its place in his philosophy.

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Book SynopsisThe prominence of the imagination in David Hume's philosophy has been recognised by generations of readers. In this rich study, Timothy Costelloe gives us the most complete picture yet of Hume's view of imagination and its place in his philosophy.

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Book SynopsisMoving between ancient and modern sources, philosophy and theology, and science and popular culture, Sean McGrath offers a genuinely new reflection on what it means to be human in an era of climate change, mass extinction and geoengineering.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays by James Bradley (1947-2012) showcases his unique vision: a speculative cosmology of the Trinity, drawing on the vast history of Western philosophy.Trade Review"In the standard analytic historiography, philosophy was transformed in the 17th century from the handmaiden of theology into the handmaiden of the natural sciences. Bradley challenges this pervasive narrative by exploring the persisting theological dimension, especially the ontological trinitarian structures, of much modern metaphysics, and boldly defends the contemporary relevance of philosophical Idealism. These are learned, brilliant and provocative essays that illuminate the thought of an unjustly neglected British Canadian philosopher." -Douglas Hedley, University of Cambridge

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Book SynopsisRequiring no prior knowledge of the series, Colby Dickinson explains why Agamben's Homer Sacer series is one of the most significant philosophical texts of the past century. He unpacks key concepts including sovereignty, potentiality, form-of-life, the state of exception, inoperativity, glory and the messianic as they appear and reappear.

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Book SynopsisJosef Pieper’s The Platonic Myths is the work of a scholar and philosopher whose search for the level of truth contained in the myths is carried out with a series of careful distinctions between the kinds of myths told by Plato. In the Platonic stories Plato crystallizes mythical fragments from the mere stories which contain them, and in the genuine Platonic myths he purifies the proper mythical elements, freeing them of the non-mythical elements which tend to obscure them. In examining the ‘accepted’ scholarly interpretations of the myths, Pieper succeeds in establishing the case for a truth, found particularly in the eschatological myths, that is not reducible to the rational truth normally sought by philosophers. While it is not purely rational truth, it is not inferior. It is different. It stems from tradition, which reaches back to the ultimate beginnings of man’s existence – back into our pre-history and to events of which, naturally, we have no experience. The only access we have to this truth is through ‘hearing’ (ex akoés), which is not dependent on mere ‘hearsay,’ but which, in Pieper’s interpretation, reflects the handing on, in stories, of what the gods first communicated to man about the creation of the world and about the afterlife. These truths are to be found – long before the New Testament (or even the Old Testament) – in the myths of a variety of civilizations and give evidence of an extraordinary consensus: that there was a creating hand, that primeval man incurred guilt in the eyes of the gods; that he could be saved; that there is an afterlife in which man is rewarded or punished; that he can undergo a kind of purgatory for lesser offenses; and that in the afterlife he can dwell with the gods. What is the basis for accepting such truth as is contained in the myths? No purely rational argument will suffice. What man cannot experience himself he either tends to reject or, if he accepts it, he does so on the authority of another – ex akoés. Even before – or even without – Christian revelation, men have based their lives on a conviction, for instance, that there is an afterlife. They have this conviction not from experience or from some rational philosophical argument. They have it on the basis of ‘belief.’ With the coming of Christian revelation, the logos, or word, of the myth is seen – to the believer – to be the Logos of the New Testament. But even here the ‘believer’ can depend neither on purely rational argument nor on satisfactorily verifiable fact. He has only – belief.

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Book SynopsisThis book seeks to develop a theology of work as a foundation and motivation for engaging with the discourse on globalisation, using an indigenous African religion.

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Book SynopsisThis volume revisits the concepts of enchantment and sacralization in light of perspectives which challenge the modern notion that man (alone) is the measure of all things. As Bruno Latour has argued, the battle against superstition entailed shifting power away from God/the gods to humans, thereby disqualifying the agency of all the other objects in the world. Might enchantment and sacralization be understood in other ways than through this battle between almighty gods and almighty humans? Might enchantment be understood to involve processes where power and control are not distributed so clearly and definitely?Like social constructionists, Latour emphasizes that things are constructed; yet, like many other new materialists, such as Jane Bennett, Manuel De Landa and Karen Barad, he emphasizes that this construction is not the result of projecting meaning onto a passive and meaningless world, but a matter of compositional achievements, whereby assemblages of actants co-compose each other and frame, enable and delimit one another's agency.This move recognizes the active and entangled participation of players beyond the humans versus God(s) framework that informed the modernist project. Understanding enchantment and sacralisation as compositionally and relationally constructed does not mean the same as understanding them as constructed by humans alone. What it means is one of the main questions posed in this book. In other words, if enchantment and sacralization are not understood (solely) in terms of projecting anthropocentric meaning onto mute objects, what are some promising alternative approaches - old and new - and what are their implications for how we understand modernity and for method and theory in the study of religion?Table of ContentsIntroduction: Towards More Symmetrical CompositionsPeik Ingman, Terhi Utriainen, Tuija Hovi and Mans BrooPART I: Revisiting Enchantment and Animism1. Objects as Subjects: Agency and Performativity in RitualsAnne-Christine Hornborg, Lund University2. Enchantment, Matter, and the Unpredictability of DevotionAmy Whitehead, University of Wales and Oxford Brookes University3. Empowerment and the Articulation of Agency among Finnish Yoga PractitionersMans Broo and Christiane Konigstedt, University of Munster4. Mastery and Modernity: Control Issues in the Disenchantment TaleLinda Annunen, Abo Akademi University, and Peik IngmanPART II: Political Concerns5. Recomposing Religion: Radical Agnosticism and Transformative SpeechMichael Barnes Norton, University of Arkansas6. Re-enchanting Body and Religion in a Secular Society: Touch of an AngelTerhi Utriainen7. Marian Apparitions: The Construction of Authenticity and Governance of Sacralization in the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in PortugalNora Machado, Lisbon University Institute and University of Gothenburg8. Protection through the Invocation of Shared Thirds: Sacralization Without IconoclasmPeik IngmanPART III: Academic Concerns9. Enchanted Sight/Site: An Esoteric Aesthetics of Image and ExperienceJay Johnston, University of Sydney10. From Religion to Ordering Uncertainty: A Lesson from DancersMilan Fujda, Masaryk University, Czech Republic11. Enchanted Environment: Co-composing a Village History in the Archipelago of Southwestern FinlandJaana Kouri, University of Turku12. After Dis/enchantment: The Profanity of the Human SciencesStuart McWilliams, Abo Akademi UniversityEpilogue: When Things Talk BackKocku von Stuckrad, University of Groningen

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Book SynopsisThe Middle Way was first taught explicitly by the Buddha. It is the first teaching offered by the Buddha in his first address, and the basis of his practical method in meditation, ethics, and wisdom. It is often mentioned in connection with Buddhist teachings, yet the full case for its importance has not yet been made. This book aims to make that case. The Middle Way can be understood from the Buddha's life as well as his teachings. His early life follows a symbolic quest through the extremes of the Palace and the Forest, followed by the discovery of the Middle Way. His similes, such as the raft, the lute-strings, the arrow, and the blind people with the elephant are not just allegories of Buddhist teachings, but relate closely to the universal human experience of balanced judgement. This book also has a critical case. Although it has transmitted the Middle Way, the Buddhist tradition has also often ignored or distorted it. The Middle Way is experiential, authentic and creative, and thus threatening to the power of a tradition that has instead emphasised the Buddha's authority as a source of abstract, absolute revelation. The Buddha's Middle Waya aims to differentiate the universal Middle Way from Buddhist tradition.Trade Review"In The Buddha's Middle Way, Robert M. Ellis re-issues the Buddha's teachings as a practical philosophy in the classical sense - a guide to sane and optimal living, rather than a religious doctrine or mere armchair musings. His middle way is a present-day life well lived, and his book is a convincing and valuable aid to finding and cultivating it. Though his erudition is striking, he writes clearly and accessibly. This is a book for both practising Buddhists and anyone who seeks to live an examined life." Winton Higgins, senior teacher, Sydney Insight Meditators and associate, School of International Studies, University of Technology Sydney "I hope this provocative book will encourage Buddhists to reconsider the Middle Way that lies at the core of their tradition and to appreciate how this principle links their tradition to many others, both ancient and modern, secular and religious. The Buddha's Middle Way will at the same time provide an excellent critical introduction to the Buddha's life and teaching for those less familiar with Buddhism. As a result of Ellis's groundbreaking work, the Middle Way may cease to be thought of as an exclusively Buddhist idea but a universal legacy of being human." From the Foreword by Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism without Beliefs

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Book SynopsisIn The Soul of Activism, author and activist Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, gives a unique re-examination of the power of interfaith spirituality to fuel the fires of progressive activism. 'Religion' in the public sphere has been claimed by far-right ideologues while progressives, turned off by the hypocrisy of the religious influence on contemporary policy, have lost out on the experience of religious community. As a result, progressives are losing control of political discourse because they neither grasp nor trust the universal and invigorating language and practice of religion when expressed productively for social justice. Progressive activists must find these missing spiritual tools, cultivate compassion, and lead affirmative change in their communities.

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Book SynopsisThe Jungian concept of archetypes is of immense value for critically distinguishing what is potentially of universal practical value in religious and other cultural traditions, and separating this from the dogmatic elements. However, Jung encumbered the concept of archetypes with debatable constructions like the 'collective unconscious' that are unnecessary for understanding their practical function. This book puts forward a far-reaching new theory of archetypes that is functional without being reductive. At the centre of this is the idea that archetypes are adaptations to help us maintain inspiration over time. Humans are such distractable beings that they need constant reminders to maintain integration with their most sustainable intentions: reminders using the profound power of symbol linked to embodied experience. This multi-disciplinary book weaves together religious studies, ethical philosophy, the psychology of bias, the neuroscience of brain lateralisation, the linguistics of embodied meaning, the feedback loops of systems theory, with a lifetime's experience of Buddhist practice and appreciation of symbolism in the arts: all with the aim of producing a fresh understanding of the role of archetypes in religion and beyond, that can also be directly applied in practice.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. What is an Archetype? 2. The Projection of Archetypes 3. The Integration of Archetypes 4. Categorization of Archetypes 5. Archetypes in Religious Traditions 6. Archetypal Function in 'Secular' Concepts Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection brings together academics and practitioners to explore 6 physical and 3 socio-cultural senses in relation to death and dying: the senses of sight, of smell, of sound, of taste, of touch, of movement, of decency, of humour, and of loss.

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Book SynopsisAs society becomes progressively dominated by an ideology of healthy living, Matt Edmonds makes a vital critique of contemporary efforts to remove 'disability' from the world around us. Surveying the logic and language of both secular and religious health movements, Edmonds highlights the misplaced generalisations and dubious values that cumulatively serve to undermine individual inclusion and well-being on a day-to-day basis. 'A Theological Diagnosis' seeks a new direction. From the resources of Christian theology it finds a paradigm with which to examine the infections of genetic theory, faith healing and the meaning of 'disability' so as to prescribe a way forward for both believer and non-believer alike. Combining history, theology and thoughtful analysis, this is a prescription that none of us can afford to ignore. Quite simply, there is little time left.Trade ReviewA superbly argued book, A Theological Diagnosis is well supported by its bibliography and indices and will be of enormous assistance to all of us living or working with disability. -- Ministry TodayThis book will be of some use to theologians, clergy and lay readers seeking new insights on disability and healing. Although written from a Christian perspective, the book is relevant to non-Christians with an interest in the ethics of genetic technologies. Edmonds' theology of healing is bold; his exploration of ethics in relation to 'faith healing' has much to offer a church that does not often critique its own approaches to health and illness. -- Disability & Society[A] historically grounded, theologically astute, and pastorally insightful book...unique in its accessibility for readers unfamiliar with more technical theological debates -- CHOICE MagazineTHIS lovely study seeks to overturn prevalent conceptions about "disability", and to offer a more loving and graceful approach to individuals with all their distinctive and varied differences. It challenges some of the all-too-prevalent assumptions made in claims for both genetic intervention in the secular world and for faith healing within many Churches. Instead, it offers an approach that the author hopes could be adopted by secular and religious people alike. -- Church TimesWell referenced and indexed this is a complex book, difficult to summarise briefly but well worth reading. -- Triple HelixThis is an important publication which should be included in bioethics, pastoral theology and ecclesiology reading lists. Most of all, it will appeal to anyone who cares that the Church be truly Christ-like and our society truly human. -- The WayAdvances in genetic technologies raise important theological questions. Edmonds (independent scholar) directs his historically grounded, theologically astute, and pastorally insightful book toward Christian communities struggling with genetic technologies' ethical and pastoral implications. The book gives a good overview of the history of genetic exploration, and of the debates over those explorations, set within a Christian theology of personhood. This theology focuses on ways that identities are formed in relationship rather than being radically autonomous, and how that relational knowledge should shape theological and ethical thinking. Among recent titles on genetics, this book is unique in its accessibility for readers unfamiliar with more technical theological debates. Large theology collections will find it a useful addition. -- CHOICE MagazineThis book has a bold intention, namely, to examine genetic therapies through alternative lenses, including not just a perspective from theological reflection but also from those who suffer disabilities. As an academic achievement this book bears the marks of its origin as an MPhil thesis. -- TheologyMatt Edmonds... produced an enormously significant book... recommended both to theologians and to those engaged in day-to-day pastoral work... One of the particular strengths of the book is setting theology at the heart of contemporary concern. -- John Gillibrand * Modern Believing *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. An Introduction: Who Will Comfort Her? 1. Three Able Voices. 2. A Graceful 'On Behalf Of'. 3. The Genetic Revolution. 4. A Theological Diagnosis of Genetics. 5. Obstructing Healthy Critique - The Global Rise of Faith Healing. 6. The Infections of Faith Healing. 7. Beyond Scriptural Blindness - A Biblical Reflection on Faith Healing. 8. The Alternative Therapeutic of L'Arche. References. Index.

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