Religious issues and debates Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review[T]he book will have some real and lasting use as a primary source American Catholic Studies

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe essays are uniformly of high quality...highly recommended. ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Jonathan Judaken Part I: (Trans)National Contexts 1. Russian Existentialism, or Existential Russianism, by Val Vinokur 2. German Existentialism and the Persistence of Metaphysics: Weber, Jaspers, Heidegger, by Peter E. Gordon 3. Sisyphus's Progeny: Existentialism in France, by Jonathan Judaken 4. "To Punch Through 'Pasteboard Masks'?": American Existentialism, by George Cotkin 5. Angst Across the Channel: Existentialism in Britain, by Martin Woessner 6. Existentialisms in the Hispanic and Latin American Worlds: El Quixote and its Existential Children Part II: Existentialism and Religion 7. Fear and Trembling and the Paradox of Christian Existentialism, by George Pattison 8. Jewish Co-Existentialism: Being with the Other, by Paul Mendes-Flohr 9. Camus the Unbeliever: Living Without God, by Ronald Aronson Part III: Migrations 10. Anxiety and Secularization: Soren Kierkegaard and the Twentieth-Century Invention of Existentialism, by Samuel Moyn 11. Rethinking the 'Existential' Nietzsche in German: Lowith, Jaspers, Heidegger, by Charles Bambach Charles Bambach 12. Situating Frantz Fanon's Account of Black Experience, by Robert Bernasconi 13. Simone de Beauvoir in her Times and Ours: The Second Sex and its Legacy in French Feminist Thought, by Debra Bergoffen 14. The "Letter on Humanism": Reading Heidegger in France, by Ethan Kleinberg List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAn exciting look at contemporary scientific cosmologies and their relationship to philosophy and religion.Trade ReviewRubenstein grounds the current debate on the plurality of universes on solid scholarship, skillfully exploring its historical and philosophical roots. -- Marcelo Gleiser, Dartmouth College This is a work that performs the 'many-oneness' of the multiverse, whose history and potentiality it maps. As she traces the startling philosophical depths, mystical ancestry, and scientific shocks of this cosmic boundlessness, Rubenstein's brilliance sparkles like its innumerable stars. -- Catherine Keller, author of Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming Some physicists suggest that our cosmos has been caught in an endless loop, repeatedly cycling between big bangs since time immemorial. In Worlds Without End, Mary-Jane Rubenstein provides a remarkable tour of how such ideas-and competing ideas about whether our universe is embedded within some larger multiverse-have likewise been cycling throughout Western thought for millennia. This deeply learned excavation is a rare accomplishment: a page-turner that asks large questions about science, philosophy, and religion. Fascinating. -- David Kaiser, author of How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival We are living through a golden age of cosmology, when observations reveal a universe 13.8 billion years big and new theories and new evidence vie with one another almost on a daily basis. Rubenstein is an expert guide to this dramatic scene. Uncovering humorous comparisons with the past, she shows that our golden age is tarnished in only a few ways. We cannot tell which of the many-worlds hypotheses is the right one, whether they exist under an integrated set of laws, and we may never be able to so. Yet the quest continues and produces many profound insights. Rubenstein shows the way scientific worldviews grow from the kind of questions we ask, how metaphysics and physics are mutually entangled, and how the many worlds of her title emerge, again and again over two thousand years, often in spite of their authors' intentions and taste. A witty and mature view of views. -- Charles Jencks , author of The Garden of Cosmic Speculation A must read for anyone who is interested in the evolution of human thought about the cosmos. The reader is led through the history of philosophical, religious and scientific ideas and arguments for the existence of many worlds then left to contemplate their own ending to the cosmic story. A beautiful and authoritative description of the struggles and developments of competing ideas about nature for the past three millenia -- Laura Mersini-Houghton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Rubenstein's witty, thought-provoking history of philosophy and physics leaves one in awe of just how close Thomas Aquinas and American physicist Steven Weinberg are in spirit as they seek ultimate answers. Publishers Weekly Wonderful... A fun, mind-stretching read, clear and enlightening. San Francisco Book Review A fascinating and very well-written book... Green Spirit Magazine An excellent starting point for those wishing to go even deeper down the throat of the wormhole. Recommended. CHOICE If one seeks a scholarly account of the main ideas rather than of the detailed science, then Worlds Without End is excellent. Physics TodayTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: How to Avoid the G-Word 1. A Single, Complete Whole 2. Ancient Openings of Multiplicity 3. Navigating the Infinite 4. Measuring the Immeasurable 5. Bangs, Bubbles, and Branes: Atomists Versus Stoics, Take Two 6. Ascending to the Ultimate Multiverse Unendings: On the Entanglement of Science and Religion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThrough her wonder and her doubt Kristeva sets forth a compelling account of the sacred and of the intimate visionary capacity of the human soul. -- Joshua Paetkau The Ecclesial University Blog The Severed Head is a reminder that art can be the best teacher, particularly when the topic is an uncomfortable one. -- Patricia Contino New Pages.com This beautifully written and richly layered meditation on mortality and representation will undoubtedly appeal to those readers interested in semiotic and psychoanalytically informed readings of art. -- Jonathan Patkowski Library Journal XPress Reviews The Severed Head considers a remarkable a remarkable range of representations of the severed head in art historical, religious and mythological contexts. TLS

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThrough her wonder and her doubt Kristeva sets forth a compelling account of the sacred and of the intimate visionary capacity of the human soul. -- Joshua Paetkau The Ecclesial University Blog The Severed Head is a reminder that art can be the best teacher, particularly when the topic is an uncomfortable one. -- Patricia Contino New Pages.com This beautifully written and richly layered meditation on mortality and representation will undoubtedly appeal to those readers interested in semiotic and psychoanalytically informed readings of art. -- Jonathan Patkowski Library Journal XPress Reviews The Severed Head considers a remarkable a remarkable range of representations of the severed head in art historical, religious and mythological contexts. TLS

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewKevin M. Cahill knows the relevant literature well and deploys it with care and sophistication, developing an interpretation that confirms and enhances the intrinsic intellectual interest of resolute and therapeutic readings of Wittgenstein. -- Stephen Mulhall, New College, Oxford University, author of Wittgenstein's Private Language: Grammar, Nonsense, and Imagination in Philosophical Investigations ...a worthy contribution to this discussion. Choice ...a book of multiple ambitions, skillfully juggled and substantially realized. -- Naomi Scheman Austrain Sstudies NewsMagazineTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Introduction Part I 1. Interpreting the Tractatus 2. The Ethical Purpose of the Tractatus 3. A Resolute Failure Conclusion to Part I Part II 4. The Concept of Progress in Wittgenstein's Thought 5. The Truly Apocalyptic View 6. The Fate of Metaphysics Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis book is bound to become a standard against which future scholarship on the cultural history of Christianity and several related fields will be evaluated. It achieves the feat of offering an exhaustive genealogy of the significance of "blood" in Western civilization, thereby pulling blood into an urgently needed visibility. -- Elisabeth Weber, University of California, Santa Barbara This is an original reading of the place of blood in Christian theology and religion and its far-reaching impact on the history and cultural practices of the West. It is distinguished by the singular voice of its author, who is at once fiercely critical, ironic, contemptuous, erudite, and enlightening as he engages thinkers both living and dead on the relationship between blood and its many metaphoric and literal representations. This is not a conventional book in any way, it is a manifesto, a call, if not to arms, then to recognition of the fact that Western thought, its social and political organization, is infused with Christianity, even if those influenced by it are not practicing Christians in any religious sense. -- Joan W. Scott, Harold F. Linder Professor, Institute for Advanced Study As in all his writings, Anidjar always surprises us by seeing connections where others have missed them. In this challenging book, he brilliantly excavates the meanings of blood in Christianity as well as how those meanings persist in our world in barely secularized form. -- David Biale, author of Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol Between Jews and Christians Blood is first of all language, style, thought in writing. Blood is relentlessly compelling, a joyful destruction of trivialities, a delight of erudition. Blood is moved by epistemic urgency and internal critique, it answers the need for historical perspective, guided by the desire to understand what we are politically made of. Blood looks at the way blood speaks and is spoken, how it governs and rules over us, how it shapes the Christian nation, the state and the economy. Our obsession with blood is not a thing of the past, it is our absolute present time. Blood is not a metaphor, it is an organizing principle. Blood is not what Harvey discovered, something that would always have been known to us. It is what the Eucharist partakes of and brings up: the community of blood, blood piety--soon the purity of blood. And from these are derived our theory and politics, kinship and race, science and religion, literature and dreams, technology and bodies. Blood is an exceptionally powerful and fascinating object to be read, kept on a shelf--and meditated. -- Dominique Pestre, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales In this highly original book Anidjar deconstructs 'Christianity' into its element: blood. In doing so he demonstrates, with impressive skill, the ubiquity of blood-and its metamorphoses-in Christian history. In this exploration of the circulation of blood as the life of nation, state, and capital, the reader is presented with an extraordinary account of modernity no less. Scholars of modernity will learn to see 'Christianity' as something at once more and less than 'religion'-even though it is, as Anidjar argues, the (misleading) prototype of all religions.' This is a work to be read carefully and its implications pondered over. -- Talal Asad, CUNY Graduate Center Every once in awhile one encounters a book that makes one ask: 'why has this not been written before?' How could we have overlooked the importance of blood? What is it? A fact, metaphor, substance, medium, or element in which we live and move? A bloodbath? Or are we merely the tub, the tubes, and plumbing in which the essence of life and symbol of violent death gurgles and flows. Anidjar has identified, not a bright red line, but an entire circulatory system that links religion, race, economics, the state, the family, and biology. This is a book that will not so much be read as injected into all these discourses, infecting them with a necessary and viral critique. A brilliant achievement by one of the most original intellects of our time. -- W. J. T. Mitchell, University of Chicago, editor of Critical Inquiry Ambitious and daring... Blood is bound to provoke heated discussion... Immanent Frame Academic books can dazzle for a variety of reasons. Some projects are so painstakingly, meticulously researched that, even though the subject matter is sometimes dry and often only ever capable of appealing to a highly specific audience, they command respect. Other works are written with such finesse and linguistic dexterity that they dazzle with their glimmering sheen of intellectual bravura. Yet others become cornerstones of the academic canon because of their wide-reaching implications in many diverse disciplines. Blood: A Critique of Christianity is that rare combination that manages all three. A project of soaring ambition and incredible scope, Gil Anidjar attempts to weave a narrative constructed from-and soaked in-the cultural, social, political history of blood within Christianity and, by extension, the entire Western world. Oxonian Review Gil Anidjar's Blood: A Critique of Christianity is a consuming book - a fierce intelligence combined with compelling readings of everything and anything related to the mechanics of circulation, the rhythmic splattered arcs, the media and metaphysics, the diseases born within and carried by the blood. Syndicate - John Modern Gil Anidjar academia's Quentin Tarantino. Both men have rewritten the history of the modern West as a history of blood... One can only wish Anidjar's work Tarantinoesque popularity. Syndicate - Bettina Bildhauer Blood: A Critique of Christianity offers a dazzling and occasionally maddening meditation on the theme of blood in Christianity and Western culture... As a commentary on literature and western thought, Blood is delightful and convincing. Syndicate - Brittany Pheiffer Noble This book designs to provoke, not persuade. It uses history not to make arguments, but to pose questions... There is much to admire in the book... The sheer number of surprising hypotheses will generate some brilliant ones. Syndicate - Eugene Rogers Blood is a book every Christian should read. Journal of the Conference on Faith and HistoryTable of ContentsPreface: Why I Am Such a Good Christian Acknowledgments Introduction: Red Mythology Part One. The Vampire State 1. Nation (Jesus' Kin) 2. State (The Vampire State) 3. Capital (Christians and Money) Part Two. Hematologies 4. Odysseus' Blood 5. Bleeding and Melancholia 6. Leviathan and the Blood Pump Conclusion: On the Christian Question (Jesus and Monotheism ) Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis book is bound to become a standard against which future scholarship on the cultural history of Christianity and several related fields will be evaluated. It achieves the feat of offering an exhaustive genealogy of the significance of "blood" in Western civilization, thereby pulling blood into an urgently needed visibility. -- Elisabeth Weber, University of California, Santa Barbara This is an original reading of the place of blood in Christian theology and religion and its far-reaching impact on the history and cultural practices of the West. It is distinguished by the singular voice of its author, who is at once fiercely critical, ironic, contemptuous, erudite, and enlightening as he engages thinkers both living and dead on the relationship between blood and its many metaphoric and literal representations. This is not a conventional book in any way, it is a manifesto, a call, if not to arms, then to recognition of the fact that Western thought, its social and political organization, is infused with Christianity, even if those influenced by it are not practicing Christians in any religious sense. -- Joan W. Scott, Harold F. Linder Professor, Institute for Advanced Study As in all his writings, Anidjar always surprises us by seeing connections where others have missed them. In this challenging book, he brilliantly excavates the meanings of blood in Christianity as well as how those meanings persist in our world in barely secularized form. -- David Biale, author of Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol Between Jews and Christians Blood is first of all language, style, thought in writing. Blood is relentlessly compelling, a joyful destruction of trivialities, a delight of erudition. Blood is moved by epistemic urgency and internal critique, it answers the need for historical perspective, guided by the desire to understand what we are politically made of. Blood looks at the way blood speaks and is spoken, how it governs and rules over us, how it shapes the Christian nation, the state and the economy. Our obsession with blood is not a thing of the past, it is our absolute present time. Blood is not a metaphor, it is an organizing principle. Blood is not what Harvey discovered, something that would always have been known to us. It is what the Eucharist partakes of and brings up: the community of blood, blood piety--soon the purity of blood. And from these are derived our theory and politics, kinship and race, science and religion, literature and dreams, technology and bodies. Blood is an exceptionally powerful and fascinating object to be read, kept on a shelf--and meditated. -- Dominique Pestre, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales In this highly original book Anidjar deconstructs 'Christianity' into its element: blood. In doing so he demonstrates, with impressive skill, the ubiquity of blood-and its metamorphoses-in Christian history. In this exploration of the circulation of blood as the life of nation, state, and capital, the reader is presented with an extraordinary account of modernity no less. Scholars of modernity will learn to see 'Christianity' as something at once more and less than 'religion'-even though it is, as Anidjar argues, the (misleading) prototype of all religions.' This is a work to be read carefully and its implications pondered over. -- Talal Asad, CUNY Graduate Center Every once in awhile one encounters a book that makes one ask: 'why has this not been written before?' How could we have overlooked the importance of blood? What is it? A fact, metaphor, substance, medium, or element in which we live and move? A bloodbath? Or are we merely the tub, the tubes, and plumbing in which the essence of life and symbol of violent death gurgles and flows. Anidjar has identified, not a bright red line, but an entire circulatory system that links religion, race, economics, the state, the family, and biology. This is a book that will not so much be read as injected into all these discourses, infecting them with a necessary and viral critique. A brilliant achievement by one of the most original intellects of our time. -- W. J. T. Mitchell, University of Chicago, editor of Critical Inquiry Ambitious and daring... Blood is bound to provoke heated discussion... Immanent Frame Academic books can dazzle for a variety of reasons. Some projects are so painstakingly, meticulously researched that, even though the subject matter is sometimes dry and often only ever capable of appealing to a highly specific audience, they command respect. Other works are written with such finesse and linguistic dexterity that they dazzle with their glimmering sheen of intellectual bravura. Yet others become cornerstones of the academic canon because of their wide-reaching implications in many diverse disciplines. Blood: A Critique of Christianity is that rare combination that manages all three. A project of soaring ambition and incredible scope, Gil Anidjar attempts to weave a narrative constructed from-and soaked in-the cultural, social, political history of blood within Christianity and, by extension, the entire Western world. Oxonian Review Gil Anidjar's Blood: A Critique of Christianity is a consuming book - a fierce intelligence combined with compelling readings of everything and anything related to the mechanics of circulation, the rhythmic splattered arcs, the media and metaphysics, the diseases born within and carried by the blood. Syndicate - John Modern Gil Anidjar academia's Quentin Tarantino. Both men have rewritten the history of the modern West as a history of blood... One can only wish Anidjar's work Tarantinoesque popularity. Syndicate - Bettina Bildhauer Blood: A Critique of Christianity offers a dazzling and occasionally maddening meditation on the theme of blood in Christianity and Western culture... As a commentary on literature and western thought, Blood is delightful and convincing. Syndicate - Brittany Pheiffer Noble This book designs to provoke, not persuade. It uses history not to make arguments, but to pose questions... There is much to admire in the book... The sheer number of surprising hypotheses will generate some brilliant ones. Syndicate - Eugene Rogers Blood is a book every Christian should read. Journal of the Conference on Faith and HistoryTable of ContentsPreface: Why I Am Such a Good Christian Acknowledgments Introduction: Red Mythology Part One. The Vampire State 1. Nation (Jesus' Kin) 2. State (The Vampire State) 3. Capital (Christians and Money) Part Two. Hematologies 4. Odysseus' Blood 5. Bleeding and Melancholia 6. Leviathan and the Blood Pump Conclusion: On the Christian Question (Jesus and Monotheism ) Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA fresh interpretation of Nietzsche's engagement with the work of Paul the Apostle, reorienting the relationship between the two thinkers while embedding modern philosophy within early Christian theology.Trade ReviewWritten in a precise and economical style, crystallizing its points with aphoristic clarity, Nietzsche Versus Paul reconstructs a series of "Christian" moments found throughout the Nietzschean corpus and so reveals a surprisingly consistent, sophisticated, and cunning structure. This contribution goes far beyond the circles of Nietzsche scholarship, where it will certainly be received as a fresh and powerful intervention. Indeed, it is an original conceptualization of atheism, nihilism, secularization, and modernity as well, and will be warmly received by scholars of philosophy and religion, especially, those interested in their intersection. -- Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley Nietzsche versus Paul is a wonderful, philosophically engaging book, meticulous -- even relentless -- in its argumentation, arresting in its interpretive scope, and dedicated to the surprisingly neglected presence of Christianity in Nietzsche. -- Gil Anidjar, Columbia University A brilliant reconstructive projective which fills a genuine lacuna in recent scholarship in history, philosophy, and theology alike. Nietzsche versus Paul is coherent, well formulated, and of extraordinary importance for all of the larger philosophical and historical discussions which have emerged, surprisingly, to become some of the most pressing 'theory' topics of our time. -- Ward Blanton, University of KentTable of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. From Dionysian Tragedy to Christianity 2. From Judaism to Christianity 3. Jesus-Christ and the Two Worlds of Early Christianity 4. Paul: The First Christian 5. Science and Art After the Death of God 6. Beyond Modern Temporality Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA progressive reading of the history of the unknown that projects a hopeful future.Trade ReviewA sizzling, citable line on every page, this is Catherine Keller at her poetic, theopoetic, theological best. She meditates not the fire of the apocalypse, nor the water of the deep, but the cloud-of the impossible which precipitates the possible itself, the entanglement of knowing and nonknowing, of the relational and what overflows relation, of the enfolding and the unfolding. For her, the name of God is not the name of a cause or a guarantee but the lure of something that needs to be made and done. From philosophy and theology to physics and ecology-a sensational tour de force from a major theological voice. -- John D. Caputo, Syracuse University and Villanova University At last! A negative theology that plies the complex requirements of planetary life. Long intent on crafting ways of thinking theologically that resist common and oversimplified oppositions between divine and fleshy things, Catherine Keller leads us via ancient, medieval, and recent traditions of unsaying certainties into a rich understanding of divine entanglement as a basis for communal thriving and just democracy. This is a monumental contribution to Christian theology, especially regarding its foundational claims of divine embodiment and love. -- Laurel C. Schneider, Vanderbilt University Catherine Keller is our most creative and profound theologian today, and this book is her richest to date, tracking the enfolding and unfolding relation of everything to everything with theopoetic brilliance. -- Gary Dorrien, author of Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology Catherine Keller's nuanced consideration of the apophatic cloud is both true to its subject and marvelously lucid. Tracing unexpected connections in the thought of medieval theologians, process philosophers, environmental activists, quantum physicists, and more, the book enfolds and unfolds, each line of thought traced with delicate precision, each intersection marked. Out of impossibility itself, enfolded in each and every relation, a new and open possible emerges. Through folds and mirrors, holograms and entanglements, poetry and theology, trauma and joy, this possible-impossible, this luminous darkness, entice us to follow-and to be glad that we did. -- Karmen MacKendrick, Le Moyne College Facing the complex majesty of Cloud of the Impossible, one cannot help but feel like some Moses-manque before a literary Sinai. The prose is finely wrought, tracing the inter- and indeterminacies of a provisionally named 'apophatic entanglement.' This is a beautiful and important book, which traces the contours of a transfigured, queerly-theological discourse and practice--precisely where such a thing might seem impossible. -- Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Wesleyan University With this work, Catherine Keller has produced a masterpiece on the level of her Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming. There is something of James Joyce in these pages. Readers are taken through core Hebrew and Greek debates, the emergence of infinity in Patristic theology, Christian and non-Christian mysticism, quantum physics, contemporary poststructuralist philosophy, the plight of theology today, nineteenth-century poetry, the environmental crisis... and that is only a start. Many critics will say that this is her best book yet. -- Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology Keller's bewildering and creatively beautiful body of work is often more poetry than prose... It is always worth the effort. Christian Century An impressive and astonishing work. Syndicate Theology This is an extraordinary book... Readers will engage an astounding sweep of resources and conversation partners in this book. InterpretationTable of ContentsBefore Part 1: Complications 1. The Dark Nuance of Beginning 2. Cloud-Writing: A Genealogy of the Luminous Dark 3. Enfolding and Unfolding God: Cusanic Complicatio Part 2: Explications 4. Spooky Entanglements: The Physics of Nonseparability 5. The Fold in Process: Deleuze and Whitehead 6. "Unfolded Out of the Folds": Walt Whitman and the Apophatic Sex of the Earth 7. Unsaying and Undoing: Judith Butler and the Ethics of Relational Ontology Part 3: Implications 8. Crusade, Capital, and Cosmopolis: Ambiguous Entanglements 9. Broken Touch: Ecology of the Im/possible 10. In Questionable Love After: Theopoetics of the Cloud Notes Acknowledments Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA deeply impressive scholarly achievement, with first-class translations of many notoriously complex texts -- Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of CanterburyThis hugely useful volume is the best sort of scholarship . . . We are deeply in his debt -- Diarmaid McCulloch, author of A History of ChristianityThis will become the standard version both for the general reader and for scholars -- John Barton, author of A History of the Bible

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Book SynopsisA fresh reading of Kierkegaard that engages an essential problem in the philosophy of religion - the difference between what is understood by reason and what must be taken on faithTrade ReviewAs the title The Paradoxical Rationality of Søren Kierkegaard suggests, Richard McCombs sets out to dispel the . . . common view that Kierkegaard is an irrationalist, especially when it comes to matters of faith. Much of the book is dedicated to the idea that despite Kierkegaard's many direct statements against reason, he is actually making an indirect case for how sensible faith in Christ really is.22.4 2014 * International Journal of Philosophiical Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations1. A Pretense of Irrationalism2. Paradoxical Rationality3. Reverse Theology4. The Subtle Power of Simplicity5. A Critique of Indirect Communication6. The Figure of Socrates and the Climacean Capacity of Paradoxical Reason7. The Figure of Socrates and the Downfall of Paradoxical Reason8. The Proof of Paradoxical ReasonNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisOffers a bold and original view of what philosophical anthropology might look likeTrade ReviewIn the end, A Philosophical Anthropology of the Cross represents one of the first major Lutheran engagements with continental philosophy, and an excellent one at that. While the book is certainly not accessible to the layperson, it is accessible to pastors and teachers, and gives a helpful overview of the connections between major figures in continental philosophy and the trajectory of Bonhoeffer's philosophical and theological project. Most importantly, it is a valuable contribution at an important time that begins a conversation of depth about both philosophy that is engaged with the scandal of the cross as well as a robust Lutheran vocabulary of sanctification. * Dialog *Gregor's work is impressive along two important lines. One the one hand, he offers the uniformed or porrly informed philospher a clear and often quite detailed presentation of Bonhoeffer's systematic thought, with attention to its conscious relation not only to Lutheran theology but also to modern philosophy. On the other hand, he also threads that presentation into the contemporary philosophical context by marking important points of contact with work by such convivial thinkers as Ricoeur, Marcel, and Charles Taylor, but also Nietzsche and Heidegger, with whom discussion would be considerably more antagonistic.Sept. 2014 * International Philosophical Quarterly *Gregor has been true to his undertaking to investigate the implications of Paul's insight into the tension between philosophy and Christian faith. * Heythrop Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsList of Abbreviations 1. Philosophy, the Cross, and Human BeingPart 1 2. The Hermeneutics of the Self 3. Faith, Substance, and the Cross 4. The Incurved Self 5. The Anthropological QuestionPart 2 6. The Concreteness and Continuity of Faith 7. The Capable Human Being as a Penultimate Good 8. The Call to Responsibility 9. Reflexivity, Intentionality, and Self-understanding 10. Religion within the Limits of the Penultimate?NotesSelect BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHow does viewing the American project through a theological lens complicate and enrich our understanding of America? Theologies of American Exceptionalism is a collection of fifteen interlocking essays reflecting on exceptionalist claims in and about the United States. Loosely and generatively curious, these essays bring together a range of historical and contemporary voices, some familiar and some less so, to stimulate new thought about America. Thinking theologically allows authors to revisit familiar themes and events with a new perspective; old and new wounds, enduring narratives, and the sacrificial violence at the heart of America are examined while avoiding both the triumphalism of the exceptional and the temptations of the jeremiad. Thinking theologically also involves thinking, as Joseph Winters recommends, with the unmourned. It allows for an understanding of America as fundamentally religious in a very specific way. Together these essays challenge the reader to think AmericaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on the Print EditionPrefaceLove1. Familiar Commerce and Covenantal Love, by Constance Furey2. A Yet Unapproachable America, by Matthew Scherer3. The Promise of Immanent Critique, by Joseph WintersFiction4. "A History of America": Comments on Johnson v M'Intosh, by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan5. The Great American Novel, by M. Cooper Harriss6. Memories of the Future, by W. Clark GilpinRevolution7. Revolution as Revelation, by Spencer Dew8. Exceptional Americanism, by Noah Salomon9. Unexceptionable Islam, by Faisal DevjiCommerce10. The America-Game, by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd11. American Techno-Optimism, by Lisa H. Sideris12. Sovereign Exceptionality, by Elisabeth AnkerChosen13. The Judeo-Christian Tradition, by Shaul Magid14. Sacrifice, by Stephanie Frank15. Two Theologies of Chosenness, by Benjamin L. BergerAppendixContributors

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on the Print EditionPrefaceLove1. Familiar Commerce and Covenantal Love, by Constance Furey2. A Yet Unapproachable America, by Matthew Scherer3. The Promise of Immanent Critique, by Joseph WintersFiction4. "A History of America": Comments on Johnson v M'Intosh, by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan5. The Great American Novel, by M. Cooper Harriss6. Memories of the Future, by W. Clark GilpinRevolution7. Revolution as Revelation, by Spencer Dew8. Exceptional Americanism, by Noah Salomon9. Unexceptionable Islam, by Faisal DevjiCommerce10. The America-Game, by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd11. American Techno-Optimism, by Lisa H. Sideris12. Sovereign Exceptionality, by Elisabeth AnkerChosen13. The Judeo-Christian Tradition, by Shaul Magid14. Sacrifice, by Stephanie Frank15. Two Theologies of Chosenness, by Benjamin L. BergerAppendixContributors

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Book SynopsisSteven G. Smith teaches philosophy and religious studies at Millsaps College. He is author of The Concept of the Spiritual: An Essay in First Philosophy; Gender Thinking; and Worth Doing.

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Book SynopsisNorman Wirzba is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Georgetown College. He is author of The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age and editor (with Bruce Ellis Benson) of The Phenomenology of Prayer.Bruce Ellis Benson is Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Wheaton College. He is author of Pious Nietzsche (IUP, 2007). He is editor (with Kevin Vanhoozer and James K. A. Smith) of Hermeneutics at the Crossroads (IUP, 2006).

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Book SynopsisChris L. Firestone is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill. He is editor (with Stephen R. Palmquist) of Kant and the New Philosophy of Religion (IUP, 2006).Nathan Jacobs is Assistant Professor of Theology in the School of Biblical and Religious Studies at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill. He has authored many articles on Kant and other topics, and is a contributor to Kant and the New Philosophy of Religion.

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Book SynopsisJ. Aaron Simmons is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hendrix College. David Wood is Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is author of many books, including Time After Time (IUP, 2007).

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Book SynopsisPatricia Joy Huntington is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University. She is author of Ecstatic Subjects, Utopia, and Recognition: Kristeva, Heidegger, and Irigaray and co-editor of Feminist Interpretations of Martin Heidegger.

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Book SynopsisSince the 1973 publication of Gustavo Gutiérrez's groundbreaking work A Theology of Liberation, liberation theology''s central premise of the preferential option for the poor has become one of the most important yet controversial theological themes of the twentieth century. As the situation for many of the world's poor worsens, it becomes ever more important to ensure that the option for the poor remains not only a vibrant theological concept but also a practical framework for living out the gift and challenge of Christian faith. The Preferential Option for the Poor beyond Theology draws on a diverse group of contributors to explore how disciplines as varied as law, economics, politics, the environment, science, liberal arts, film, and education can help us understand putting a commitment to the option for the poor into practice. The central focus of the book revolves around the question: How can one live a Christian life in a world of destitution? The contributTrade Review"This is a timely, rich, and thought-provoking book. In the midst of a widening gap between rich and poor, a growing knowledge of the plight of the excluded, and a renaissance of a call to solidarity in the Church, the contributions remind us that there is a lot that can be done to alleviate poverty. This book with its interdisciplinary approach encourages us to think of solutions. A preferential option for the poor as a firm commitment of thought and action can be extended beyond the boundaries of theology. Gustavo Gutiérrez, the living icon of this option, and Daniel G. Groody, a respected authority on this topic, take us on a journey that is intellectually and culturally encouraging." —Clemens Sedmak, F.D. Maurice Professor of Moral and Social Theology, King's College London“Daniel G. Groody and Gustavo Gutiérrez have given us a series of testimonies to the significance of the preferential option for the poor in the lives of authors writing from a variety of disciplines and perspectives. By fostering such interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary conversation, the authors deepen our understanding of the concept and show us its relevance outside of theology. That the poor become subjects of history, and not only its objects, lies at the core of the liberation theological approach of Gustavo Gutiérrez; it reflects an approach to challenges that is at least as necessary as our technological, political, and economic approaches and, by so doing, touches on important theological issues.” —Jacques Haers, University of Antwerp“Tackling one of theology’s most important yet controversial issues, Groody and Gutiérrez ensure that the option for the poor remains a framework for living a Christian life.” —U.S. Catholic“Drawing on a diverse group of contributors to explore how various disciplines such as law, economics, politics, the environment, science, liberal arts, film, and education can shed light on a commitment to the poor into practice. The book explores the question of how to live as a Christian in a world of destitution.” —Notre Dame Works“[Essayists] look at the way the option for the poor can shape our social, economic, political, educational and environmental approaches to poverty.” —Notre Dame Magazine"[T]he book's value is clear: if enacting true change around the problem of poverty requires input from many disciplines, then those disciplines must be brought into conversation with one another. . . . This volume should interest a broad audience, including scholars; general readers interested in the question of poverty as it relates to various disciplines and industries; and undergraduate or graduate students in classes covering liberation theology, as a needed complement to theological approaches." —Choice“. . . this book could not be more timely and relevant. . . . Each of the twelve chapters provides an inspiring and gripping testimony by a scholar or professional and their efforts to integrate the POP with their work as a lawyer, economist, businessperson, biologist, politician, professor, teacher, physician, filmmaker, or advocate for justice.”—Catholic Library World“The essays are well written, personal, and yet replete with each author’s expertise . . . . The authors skillfully and clearly point out that the option for the poor is both personally unique and socially transformative.” —American Catholic Studies“One of Gutiérrez’s key insights into missionary engagement was what is referred to as ‘a preferential option for the poor.’ . . . The importance of this publication is that while making an option for the poor can involve living in solidarity with the oppressed, the various authors demonstrate that it means “One of Gutiérrez’s key insights into missionary engagement was what is referred to as ‘a preferential option for the poor.’ . . . The importance of this publication is that while making an option for the poor can involve living in solidarity with the oppressed, the various authors demonstrate that it means above all using the skills and qualifications that one had gained in order to be in solidarity with those who are oppressed in their struggles for justice and dignity.” —Mission Studies, Volume 32, 2015above all using the skills and qualifications that one had gained in order to be in solidarity with those who are oppressed in their struggles for justice and dignity.” —Mission Studies

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Book SynopsisInvestigates an incident of holy relic theft in Rome, the lengthy legal case that followed it, and the larger questions that surrounded saints’ remains in seventeenth-century Catholic Europe.Trade Review“A very well written and argued microhistory that tells us much about how useful saints were within the post-Tridentine period. It also does wider scholarship the service of reminding even scholars who should know better that the history of relics, true and false, did not end with the Middle Ages. Harris has a mastery of the relevant literature in several languages which is both impressive and used to telling effect.”—Simon Ditchfield,University of York“The Stolen Bones of St. John of Matha is fascinating and opens a window to discuss several crucial features of early modern cultural and intellectual history. Harris’s ability to draw all these features together and put them into the context of existing scholarship is impressive.”—Stefania Tutino,University of California, Los Angeles

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Book SynopsisThe author of The Happiness Hypothesis presents a groundbreaking investigation into the origins of morality at the core of religion and politics, offering scholarly insight into the motivations behind cultural clashes that are polarizing America. 50,000 first printing.

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Book SynopsisMuch time and attention is currently devoted by Christian writers to the notion of discipleship. Many of the courses and local church programmes are, however, focused on the gathered church or on gathering. Roger Walton challenges the church to ''train and release'' reflective and creative disciples by giving attention to the presence of God in the life of the world and engaging with the divine in the ordinary. This is a challenging resource for all involved in church leadership and training new Christians.

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Book SynopsisRobert Song’s book advances a theological account of marriage and sexuality which appeals to the central biblical theme of the fulfilment of creation in Christ, but is also open to the possibility of same-sex relationships.Trade ReviewRobert Song knows he has written a book that will make no one or any side of the debates about gay marriage happy. But then, that is why this is such a good and necessary book. Song will make you happy because drawing on the wisdom of the Christian tradition he frames the arguments about gay relationships in a way that makes us think hard about why, for example, Christians do not have to have children to be Christian. Song, with wit and clarity, has opened up a new space for discussions and questions surrounding the erotic that we so sorely need. Hopefully, after reading Song, those who are sure they know what side they are on will be a little less sure. -- Stanley HauerwasRobert Song’s timely and helpful contribution to ecclesial discernment about faithful, lifelong relationships is truly scholarly in that it brings into the room a cloud of witnesses that offer light and hope, deeply pastoral in that it never loses the good shepherd’s heart for those in danger of being lost, rejected, or consumed by their own righteousness, appropriately prophetic in that it believes the question is not what scripture says but what scripture requires us now to say, and wonderfully wise in its judgements and proposals. If our prayer in the midst of conflict is not that ‘our’ side will ‘win,’ but that articulating tensions thoughtfully will bring out the best in all of us, then that prayer has been answered in this reverent, responsible and seriously thoughtful book. -- Sam WellsThis is a rare phenomenon: a genuinely fresh contribution to a well-worn debate. With rich theological insight, Robert Song reframes the issues, placing the key Christian distinction not between heterosexual and homosexual but between procreative and non-procreative relationships. This is provocative, beautifully argued, and a must-read for all seeking a way out of our present theological quagmire. -- John BarclaySong comes to support same-sex marriage but by a rather complicated route. Readers who follow his argument will find it intellectually stimulating. -- Paul Richardson * Church Newspaper *Whether one agrees with Song's argument or not, this volume is an elegant irenic, creative, and accessible work that is as valuable for the way it addresses its issues as much as, if not more than, for its specific conclusions. it is a model of how such debates should be carried out. -- Robert MacSwain * Anglican Theological Review, 98.2 *

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Book SynopsisThe Struggle for Jerusalemâs Holy Places investigates the role of architecture and urban identity in relation to the political economy of the city and its wider state context seen through the lens of the holy places. Reflecting the broad disciplinary backgrounds of the authors, this book provides perspectives from architecture, urbanism, and politics, and provides in-depth investigations of historical, ethnographic and policy-related case studies. The research is substantiated by fieldwork carried out in Jerusalem over the past ten years as part of the ESRC Large Grants project âConflict in Citiesâ. By analysing new dynamics of radicalisation through land seizure, the politicisation of parklands and tourism, the strategic manipulation of archaeological and historical narratives and material culture, and through examination of general appropriation of Jerusalemâs varied rituals, memories and symbolism for factional uses, the book reveals how possibilities of co- existence are Trade Review"This book is an interdisciplinary, rich and important study...it opens up some newdirections of understanding urban conflicts nowadays."Haim Yacobi CITY, 2015, VOL. 19, NO. 4, 579–584Table of ContentsIntroduction 2. Sacred Space in Modern Times: Jerusalem's Paradoxes 3. Jerusalem’s Holy Basin: From History to Settlement 4. David’s City in Palestinian Silwan: Towards the Tipping Point 5. The Rise of Political Islam 6. UNESCO and the Limits of International Agency 7. Holy Places and the Living City 8. Conclusion: Remaking Jerusalem

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Book SynopsisIan Wilson is a prolific, internationally published author specialising in historical and religious mysteries. Born in south London, he graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford University, in 1963 with honours in Modern History. The TV documentary that he co-scripted to accompany his 1978 Shroud book won a BAFTA award, and his later book Jesus: The Evidence was a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic. Accompanied by his wife Judith, Wilson emigrated from England to Queensland, Australia, in 1995, where he enthusiastically continues wide-ranging research projects both at home and around the world.Trade ReviewThe godfather of the bestselling genre of historical quests that seek for the 'truth' behind ancient myths and faiths. * The Independent *Really a completely new book, which I had not quite anticipated. The updated content [and] the enhanced pictorial program (including the many colour plates) ... greatly add to its impact. * Professor John Beldon Scott *In 1978 Ian Wilson first put forward the idea that the Shroud was the same as the Mandylion of Edessa...The [latest] evidence presented...is such that the burden of proof is now on those who think that the two relics are not related... This would take the Shroud back to the seventh century at least... -- John Ray * TLS *

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Book SynopsisEditors: Jan. 1902-Jan. 1905, J.S. Bassett; Apr. 1905-Jan. 1919, W.H. Glasson (with Edwin Mims, Apr. 1905-July 1909; W.P. Few, Oct. 1909-Jan. 1919); Apr. 1919- W.K. Boyd, W.H. Wannamaker.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2016 Clifford Geertz Prize in the Anthropology of Religion, Society for the Anthropology of Religion "In crisp prose, Mahmood convincingly shows that secularism's promise for equal protection under the law for all religious believers has deeply shaped the modern world, despite the ways in which secularism itself thwarts this hope. This book challenges Western perceptions of the Middle East while deeply questioning the ability of secularism to live up to its promises."--Publishers Weekly "Stunning... Through a careful and brilliant analysis, Mahmood convincingly shows that far from a solution to the problem of interreligious strife, political secularism and modern secular governance are in fact intimately entwined to the exacerbation of religious tensions in the Middle East."--New Books in Islamic Studies "Thoroughly researched and ambitious in scope, Mahmood's latest study is an essential contribution to our understanding of secularism, minority relations and the study of religion in plural societies."--Baerd Kaertveit, Times Higher Education "In Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report, Saba Mahmood has produced a valuable account both of how the idea of separating religion from politics came to be central to the development of the 'religiously neutral' state in Europe ... and of how that idea became politically important in the postcolonial Middle East... Her detailed analysis of the rich historical and ethnographic material she has assembled reinforces the conclusion that instead of regarding the secular state as the solution to discrimination against religious minorities, it must itself be understood as part of the problem."--Talal Asad, The Immanent Frame "Exemplary."--James Chappel, Boston Review "This discussion of Coptic Christians in Egypt offers a timely critique of contemporary notions of secularism. Mahmood demonstrates how perspectives that are largely Protestant result in ill-fitting assumptions about secularism, but shows the importance of honoring the limits of this approach rather than rejecting it altogether... Mahmood's presentation of Coptic Christian struggles highlights why the secular remains a contentious and relevant site for inquiry."--Choice "Mahmood has written an extremely well-researched book with a stimulating theoretical framework."--Vivian Ibrahim, Middle East Journal "A complex and ambitious intellectual tour de force... Mahmood's central thesis is strong and backed by ethnography. She has successfully pointed to the failure of societies, both in the West and the East, to accommodate minorities."--Akbar Ahmed, American Anthropologist "Mahmood's Religious Difference in a Secular Age masterfully combines the study of two topics in identity politics with advanced literatures--secularism and minority rights--to create an original and engaging volume about the promises and limits of political secularism."--Kristin Fabbe, Journal of Church and StateTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION xiii Introduction 1 Part I Chapter 1. Minority Rights and Religious Liberty: Itineraries of Conversion 31 Chapter 2. To Be or Not to Be a Minority? 66 Part II Chapter 3. Secularism, Family Law, and Gender Inequality 111 Chapter 4. Religious and Civil Inequality 149 Chapter 5. Secularity, History, Literature 181 Epilogue 208 BIBLIOGRAPHY 215 INDEX 229

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"American Misfits is filled with colorful anecdotes, lively characters, and sharp social analysis. One of America's leading sociologists, Robert Wuthnow shows that respectability is rarely about respecting others but rather about identifying others to malign for their deficiencies and offenses."—Leigh Eric Schmidt, Washington University in St. Louis"This is an outstanding book—impressively researched, boldly argued with interdisciplinary breadth, and innovative in the way it depicts the middle-class American dream as perpetually fleeting and tenuous, marked off by day-to-day practices of the rank-and-file and prone to negotiation among those who seek to patrol the boundaries of belonging. It is also a riveting read, driven by rich description and detailed investigation of countless colorful characters who have tested those boundaries and found themselves held up as test cases of what America should and shouldn't look like, and who should and shouldn't be counted as respectable citizens."—Darren Dochuk, University of Notre DameTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 1 A Relational Approach: The Social Construction of Respect and Respectability 19 2 Worked as a Huckster: Moral Connotations of Placeless Labor 39 3 An Incurable Lunatic: Pension Politics in the Struggle for Respectability 70 4 Not a Fanatic: Zeal in the Cause of Zion 101 5 Dying Young: Immigrant Congregations as Moral Communities 135 6 Excessive Profits: Wealth, Morality, and the Common People 187 7 Naughty Children: Moral Instruction by Negative Example 227 8 Othering: Cultural Diversity and Symbolic Boundaries 258 Notes 267 Selected Bibliography 307 Index 327

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity (In Memory of Dorothy Kripke)"

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe book’s contributors provide a wealth of information that reveals the patterns of Enlightenment in Central Europe. […] The research shows Bohemian intellectual circles’ facility with multiple languages, social diversity, variety of organizations and institutions for intellectual exchange, and the convergence of secular ideas, French and German Protestant influenecs, and both the reformed and conservative strands of Catholicism and Judaism.- Austrian History YearbookTable of ContentsIvo Cerman, Introduction: the Enlightenment in BohemiaI. Enlightenment institutions and mediaRita Krueger, The scientific academy and beyond: the institutions of the EnlightenmentIvo Cerman, The Enlightenment universitiesClaire Madl and Michael Wögerbauer, Censorship and book supplyHelga Meise, Morality, fiction and manners in the moral weeklies in PragueAndreas Önnerfors, Freemasonry and civil society: reform of manners and the Journal für Freymaurer (1784-1786)II. The construction of a secular morality?Ivo Cerman, Ethics and natural law: Jesuit Wolffianism in Prague 1750-1773Ivo Cerman, Secular moral philosophy: Karl Heinrich SeibtIvo Cerman, Moral anthropology of Joseph Nikolaus WindischgrätzIII. Towards a Josephist moral theologyMartin Gaži, The Enlightenment from below: the Catholic regular clergy in Bohemia and MoraviaJaroslav Lorman, The concept of moral theology of Augustin Zippe, a moral theologian at the turn of the epochIV. Morality in the Jewish worldPavel Sládek, Ezekiel Landau (1713-1793) – a political rabbiLouise Hecht, The Haskalah in Bohemia and Moravia: a gendered perspectiveRachel Manekin, The moral education of Jewish youth: the case of Bne ZionDavid Sorkin, Afterword: the Enlightenment – Bohemian style?

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisChristianity's multifaceted role in English political discourse.Trade Review'Crossley shifts decisively to analysing the last decade of English politics and its intersections with religion - all in the context of Brexit, Islam and the rediscovery of a socialist left. Sharp analysis, insights aplenty, a major contribution to serious political debate in the UK' -- Roland Boer, Xin Ao Distinguished Overseas Professor at Renmin University of China, Beijing, Research Professor at the University of NewcastleTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Religion in English Political Discourse, 1979-2017: A Brief History 2. Brexit Means Christmas, Christmas Means Socialism, and a Time for 'Homosexual Sex': Shifting Notions of Religion from the Frontbenches 3. Muslims, the 'Perversion of Islam', and Christian England on the (Far) Right 4. Brexit Barrow: Religion in Real-Time During a Summer of Political Chaos 5. Manufacturing Dissent from the Centre: Cults, Corbyn and the Guardian 6. Red Apocalypticism on the Corbynite Left: Martyrdom, Rojava and the Bob Crow Brigade Epilogue Notes Index

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Book SynopsisChristianity's multifaceted role in English political discourse.Trade Review'Crossley shifts decisively to analysing the last decade of English politics and its intersections with religion - all in the context of Brexit, Islam and the rediscovery of a socialist left. Sharp analysis, insights aplenty, a major contribution to serious political debate in the UK' -- Roland Boer, Xin Ao Distinguished Overseas Professor at Renmin University of China, Beijing, Research Professor at the University of NewcastleTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Religion in English Political Discourse, 1979-2017: A Brief History 2. Brexit Means Christmas, Christmas Means Socialism, and a Time for 'Homosexual Sex': Shifting Notions of Religion from the Frontbenches 3. Muslims, the 'Perversion of Islam', and Christian England on the (Far) Right 4. Brexit Barrow: Religion in Real-Time During a Summer of Political Chaos 5. Manufacturing Dissent from the Centre: Cults, Corbyn and the Guardian 6. Red Apocalypticism on the Corbynite Left: Martyrdom, Rojava and the Bob Crow Brigade Epilogue Notes Index

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Book SynopsisExposes and explains the unlikely alliance between Evangelical Christians and anti-transgender feministsTrade Review'Compellingly explains the seemingly quixotic anti-trans alliance of radical feminists and conservative evangelicals. Intellectually rich yet accessible, it demonstrates how that alliance is rooted in a shared ideological inheritance and weaponizing of a range of political tactics and hackneyed conspiracies. In doing so, it also points to ways in which their anti-trans stances can be understood and countered.' -- Pippa Catterall, Professor of History and Policy, University of Westminster; Chair of AIDS Memory UK'We live in a time when anti-trans politics is becoming increasingly dehumanizing and dangerous. Reading this illuminating book will help the open-minded, open-hearted Christian reader hear, encounter, and love their trans neighbors. I learned much from this book. I am grateful for it.' -- David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer UniversityTable of ContentsPreface: A Tower to the Heavens Introduction Part I: An 'Unlikely' Alliance 1. Warzone 2. Of Feminists and Mystics 3. Trans as Heresy in Evangelical Thought 4. The Alliance Goes to War Part II: The Theological Bit (And Why It Matters) 5. Gender Orthodoxy 6. Rebellion Part III: Covering the Cracks 7. 'God is bullshit, and so is gender' 8. Masking Strategies Part IV: The Future 9. A Coming Storm? 10. Getting Christianity Right Acknowledgements Notes

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Book SynopsisWhere does humanity end and something else begin?Trade Review"Science promises to change, perfect, and even immortalize us. But how far can it go without damaging our fundamental humanity? John Bryant supplies a masterly, readable, and deeply informed critique of the current arguments based upon extensive original research. `Beyond Human’ must be reckoned essential reading for everyone concerned about the deepening chasm between scientific and technological possibilities and ethical, humane, and just conduct." -- Alan Chapman“a heart-felt discussion of thorny ethical conundrums” -- Shara Zaval * Publishers Weekly *“I commend this book to anyone who is concerned to understand the revolution in bio medicine and is prepared to think through the ethical and moral implications...” * Evangelicals Now *The pros and cons of the developments described are well set out and many illustrative stories add a human touch and prevent dry debate. Those who like clear cut answers won’t find them here, but those who are looking for an update on what is going on in the laboratory world with the ethical complexities highlighted, Beyond Human? should prove stimulating and thought provoking. -- Caroline Berry * Third Way *Table of ContentsCONTENTSForeword 91 Starting from the Beginning 131.1 Beyond what? 131.2 Being human: the origins and early evolution of humankind 161.3 Corn and community, cities and civilization 192 The Way We Were 252.1 Introduction 252.2 Shifting power bases in the ancient world 262.3 Religion in the ancient world 272.4 Into Europe 282.5 Post-Roman Britain 292.6 Moving away from Rome 312.7 Science, culture and religion 312.8 The Industrial Revolution and the age of invention 342.9 Science, culture and religion revisited 362.10 Into the twentieth century 372.11 Some thoughts on the story so far 413 The Way We Are 453.1 Introduction 453.2 Communism and capitalism 463.3 Israel and Palestine 513.4 The European Union 533.5 The 1960s 543.6 Northern Ireland 593.7 Terrorism and war 613.8 Power bases shift again 643.9 Science, religion and culture 653.10 Human society: fraying round the edges or cracking down the middle? 703.11 After World War II: a final comment 744 Morals, Ethics and Complex Issues 774.1 Introduction 774.2 Ethical systems 784.3 A brief excursion into postmodernism 854.4 Application of ethics in medicine 874.5 Extending the ethical vision 895 Genes, Genetics and Human Disease 935.1 Introduction 935.2 Early understanding 945.3 Genes and medicine: the early years 955.4 The new genetic revolution 995.5 Science, sequences and sickness 1026 Genetic Testing and Diagnosis: The Good, the Bad and the Muddly 1136.1 Genetic testing and diagnosis 1136.2 Prenatal and pre-implantation testing: wider ethical issues 1236.3 A gene for this and a gene for that 1336.4 Concluding remarks 1387 Medical Technology: From Gamete to Grave 1417.1 Introduction 1417.2 The art of reproduction: from donor insemination to test-tube babies 1427.3 Gene therapy 1497.4 Repair, replacement and renewal 1527.5 Three score years and then 1677.6 … and then: when am I dead and when may I die? 1717.7 Whatever next? 1778 Chips with Everything: Computers, Information and Communications Technologies 1818.1 Introduction 1818.2 Alan Turing and the dawn of the computer age 1828.3 The age of computers: the digital age 1858.4 How things have changed 1868.5 Networking 1888.6 The digital divide 1898.7 The darker side of digital technology 1918.8 Concluding remarks 2019 Transhumanism: Stronger, Faster, Better, Older? 2059.1 Introduction 2059.2 Transhumanism: biomedical 2079.3 Transhumanism: pharmacological 2219.4 Transhumanism: digital 2239.5 Transhumanism: biomechanical 2299.6 The “super-soldier” programme 2309.7 Concluding comments 23010 Beyond Human? 23510.1 Introduction 23510.2 The angel and the beast 23610.3 Fair shares for all? 23710.4 Fiddling while home burns 23910.5 Better humans? 24210.6 Postscript 244Index 246

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Book SynopsisDoes belief in God require a sacrifice of intelligence?Trade ReviewHis outstanding chapter on revelation effortlessly weaves together his vast knowledge of different faiths. If philosophy is your bag and you are relaxed and comfortable with its language and conventions then this book could be for you. -- Peter Willis * The Lance *Table of ContentsContents1. Why Does Belief in God Matter? 62. What is God? 193. Does God Cause Evil? 314. Is the Universe Intelligently Designed? 455. The Sense of Transcendence 596. Is God Free? 747. Are Faith and Reason Incompatible? 868. What is Revelation? 1019. How God Acts in the World – A Christian Understanding 11510. Is Religion Evil? 13011. How Should We Interpret the Bible? 14212. What is the Future of Religion? 155Index 172

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Book SynopsisCan the Church of England find a way of disagreeing without being disagreeable - or splitting entirely?Table of ContentsContentsContributors ixForewordArchbishop of Canterbury xi1 Disagreeing with GraceAndrew Atherstone and Andrew Goddard 12 Reconciliation in the New TestamentIan Paul 233 Division and Discipline in the New Testament ChurchMichael B. Thompson 434 Pastoral Theology for Perplexing Topics: Paul and AdiaphoraTom Wright 635 Good Disagreement and the ReformationAshley Null 836 Ecumenical (Dis)agreementsAndrew Atherstone and Martin Davie 1097 Good Disagreement between ReligionsToby Howarth 1318 From Castles to Conversations: Reflections on How to Disagree WellLis Goddard and Clare Hendry 1519 Ministry in Samaria: Peacemaking at Truro ChurchTory Baucum 17110 Mediation and the Church’s MissionStephen Ruttle 195Notes 219

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Book SynopsisIn the past several years religion has increasingly become an integral component of discussions about diversity and multiculturalism in Canada. Of particular concern has been the formulation of limits on religious freedom. Defining Harm explores the ways in which religion and religious freedom are conceptualized and regulated in a cultural context of fear of the other and religious extremism.Drawing from literature on risk society, governance, feminist legal theory, and religious rights, Lori Beaman looks at the case of Jehovah's Witness Bethany Hughes who was denied her right to refuse treatment on the basis of her religious conviction. The B.H. case, as it was known in the courts, reflects a particular moment in the socio-legal treatment of religious freedom and reveals the specific intersection of religious, medical, legal, and other discourses in the governance of the religious citizen.A powerful examination of the governance of a religious citizeTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1 Introduction: The Culture of Fear and the Risk Paradigm2 Body, Mind, and Soul: The Notion of Governance3 Risk and Excess4 A Free and Informed Will5 Conclusion: Governmentality, Risk, and Religious FreedomNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn the past several years religion has increasingly become an integral component of discussions about diversity and multiculturalism in Canada. Of particular concern has been the formulation of limits on religious freedom. Defining Harm explores the ways in which religion and religious freedom are conceptualized and regulated in a cultural context of fear of the other and religious extremism.Drawing from literature on risk society, governance, feminist legal theory, and religious rights, Lori Beaman looks at the case of Jehovah's Witness Bethany Hughes who was denied her right to refuse treatment on the basis of her religious conviction. The B.H. case, as it was known in the courts, reflects a particular moment in the socio-legal treatment of religious freedom and reveals the specific intersection of religious, medical, legal, and other discourses in the governance of the religious citizen.A powerful examination of the governance of a religious citizeTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1 Introduction: The Culture of Fear and the Risk Paradigm2 Body, Mind, and Soul: The Notion of Governance3 Risk and Excess4 A Free and Informed Will5 Conclusion: Governmentality, Risk, and Religious FreedomNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisVisionary of the Word brings together the latest scholarship on Herman Melville's treatment of religion across his long career as a writer of fiction and poetry. The volume suggests the broad range of Melville's religious concerns, including his engagement with the denominational divisions of American Christianity, his dialogue with transatlantic currents in nineteenth-century religious thought, his consideration of theological and philosophical questions related to the problem of evil and determinism versus free will, and his representation of the global contact among differing faiths and cultures. These essays constitute a capacious response to the many avenues through which Melville interacted with religious faith, doubt, and secularization throughout his career, advancing our understanding of Melville as a visionary interpreter of religious experience who remains resonant in our own religiously complex era.

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Book SynopsisDiscusses contemporary arguments over social Catholicism and the believer's role in society by illuminating a similar dispute between French Catholics among the Modernist Crisis (1909-1914).

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Book SynopsisJohn Ruskin had an extraordinary ability to bring together aesthetics, religion, ecology, and social issues in a unitary, overarching vision, all expressed in a prose style worthy of comparison with any in the English language. This volume offers an analytic account of Ruskin’s principal writings on art, viewed through the lens of Ruskin’s religious claims.Trade Review“Impressive and ambitious . . . brings together in one volume a set of comments on most of Ruskin’s art writings.” —William McKeown, The University of Memphis

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