This volume is a collection of essays that explains how literature, philosophy and theology have explored the role of wonder in our lives, particularly through poetry. Wonder has been an object of fascination for these disciplines from the Greek antiquity onwards, yet the connections between their views on the subject are often ignored in subject specific studies. The book is divided into three parts: Part I opens the conversation on wonder in philosophy, Part II is given to theology and Part III to literary perspectives. An international set of contributors, including poets as well as scholars, have produced a study that looks beyond traditional chronological, geographical and disciplinary boundaries, both within the individual essays themselves and in respect to one another. The volume's wide historical framework is punctuated by four poems by contemporary poets on the theme of wonder. An unconventional foray into one of the best-known themes of the European tradition, this book will be of great interest to scholars of literature, theology and philosophy.

In a series of clear, short chapters, Leonardo Boff unpacks the mysteries of Trinitarian faith, showing why it makes a difference to believe that God is communion rather than solitude. Instead of God as solitary ruler standing above a static universe, Christian belief in the Trinity means that at the root of everything there is movement, an eternal process of life, outward movement, and love.

Boff shows how the Holy Trinity is, among other things, the image of the perfect community and the image of the church in its ideal form: not a hierarchy of power, but a community of diverse gifts and functions.

Ideal for study or personal reflection.

For teens who make God an integral part of their lives, teens who are sorting through doubts about whether God really cares about them, and teens who don't know God at all, Chicken Soup for the Christian Teenage Soul may be one of the most influential books they'll ever read.

This book looks at contemporary political violence, in the form of jihadism, through the lens of a philosophical polemic between Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon: intellectual representatives of the global north and global south. It explores the relationship of Arendt's thought, mostly as expressed in On Violence (1969), to Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (1961) and the transposition of that relationship to the contemporary phenomenon of violent Islamic extremism. The book reveals a greater commonality between Fanon and Arendt as well as the universal function of jihadism that satisfies the conditions for political violence, as categorized by Fanon in the global south and Arendt in the global north. Read in tandem, Arendt and Fanon help uncover the fundamental problems of our European, American, Middle Eastern and African political systems as well as north-south relations. By studying political theory, the book finds global political commonalities in a postcolonial reality. Written in an accessible style, this book will be of great interest to undergraduates and graduates in philosophy, political sciences and international relations (IR), sociology and Middle Eastern studies as well as scholars and professionals interested in radicalization; violent extremism; and the foreign policies of European, Middle Eastern and African countries.

This book examines how the prominent Muslim scholar Said Nursi developed an integrative approach to faith and science known as "the other indicative" (mana-i harfi) and explores how his aim to reconcile two academic disciplines, often at odds with one another, could be useful in an educational context. The book opens by examining Nursi's evolving thought with regards to secular ideology and modern science. It then utilizes the mana-i harfi approach to address a number of issues, including truth and certainty, the relationship between knowledge and worldview formation, and the meaning of beings and life. Finally, it offers a seven-dimensional knowledge approach to derive meaning and build good character through understanding scientific knowledge in the mana-i harfi perspective. This book offers a unique perspective on one of recent Islam's most influential figures, and also offers suggestions for teaching religion and science in a more nuanced way. It is, therefore, a great resource for scholars of Islam, religion and science, Middle East studies, and educational studies.

This volume brings together the work of a group of Islamic studies scholars from across the globe. They discuss how past and present Muslim women have participated in the struggle for gender justice in Muslim communities and around the world. The essays demonstrate a diversity of methodological approaches, religious and secular sources, and theoretical frameworks for understanding Muslim negotiations of gender norms and practices. Part I (Concepts) puts into conversation women scholars who define Muslima theology and Islamic feminism vis-a-vis secular notions of gender diversity and discuss the deployment of the oppression of Muslim women as a hegemonic imperialist strategy. The chapters in Part II (Sources) engage with the Qur'an, hadith, and sunna as religious sources to be examined and reinterpreted in the quest for gender justice as God's will and the example of the Prophet Muhammad. In Part III (Histories), contributors search for Muslim women's agency as scholars, thinkers, and activists from the early period of Islam to the present - from Southeast Asia to North America. Representing a transnational and cross-generational conversation, this work will be a key resource to students and scholars interested in the history of Islamic feminism, Muslim women, gender justice, and Islam.

It has been argued that the mystical Sufi form of Islam is the most sensitive to other cultures, being accommodative to other traditions and generally tolerant to peoples of other faiths. It readily becomes integrated into local cultures and they are similarly often infused into Sufism. Examples of this reciprocity are commonly reflected in Sufi poetry, music, hagiographic genres, memoires, and in the ritualistic practices of Sufi traditions. This volume shows how this often-side-lined tradition functions in the societies in which it is found, and demonstrates how it relates to mainstream Islam. The focus of this book ranges from reflecting Sufi themes in the Qur'anic calligraphy to movies, from ideals to everyday practices, from legends to actual history, from gender segregation to gender transgression, and from legalism to spiritualism. Consequently, the international panel of contributors to this volume are trained in a range of disciplines that include religious studies, history, comparative literature, anthropology, and ethnography. Covering Southeast Asia to West Africa as well as South Asia and the West, they address both historical and contemporary issues, shedding light on Sufism's adaptability. This book sets aside conventional methods of understanding Islam, such as theological, juridical, and philosophical, in favour of analysing its cultural impact. As such, it will be of great interest to all scholars of Islamic Studies, the Sociology of Religion, Religion and Media, as well as Religious Studies and Area Studies more generally.

This groundbreaking study offers an innovative critical analysis of poetry as a resource for reflective practice in the context of continuing professional development. In the contemporary drive in all professions for greater rigour in education, training, and development, little attention is paid to the inner shape of learning and meaning-making for individuals and groups, especially ways in which individuals are formed for the task of their work. Building on empirical research into the author's professional practice, the book takes the use of poetry in clergy continuing ministerial development as a case-study to examine the value of poetry in professional learning. Setting out the advantages and limitations of poetry as a stimulant for imaginative, critical reflexivity, and formation within professional reflective practice, the study develops a practical model for group reflection around poetry, distilling pedagogical approaches for working effectively with poetry in continuing professional development. Drawing together a number of strands of thinking about poetry, Practical Theology, and reflective practice into a tightly argued study, the book is an important methodological resource. It makes available a range of primary and secondary sources, offering researchers into professional practice a model of ethnographic research in Practical Theology which embraces innovative methods for reflexivity and theological reflection, including the value of auto-ethnographic poetry.

This book formulates a new theological approach to the study of religion in gaming. Video games have become one of the most important cultural artifacts of modern society, both as mediators of cultural, social, and religious values and in terms of commercial success. This has led to a significant increase in the critical analysis of this relatively new medium, but theology as an academic discipline is noticeably behind the other humanities on this subject. The book first covers the fundamentals of cultural theology and video games. It then moves on to set out a Christian systematic theology of gaming, focusing on creational theology, Christology, anthropology, evil, moral theology, and thanatology. Each chapter introduces case studies from video games connected to the specific theme. In contrast to many studies which focus on online multiplayer games, the examples considered are largely single player games with distinct narratives and 'end of game' moments. The book concludes by synthesizing these themes into a new theology of video games. This study addresses a significant aspect of contemporary society that has yet to be discussed in any depth by theologians. It is, therefore, a fantastic resource for any scholar engaging with the religious aspects of digital and popular culture.

Religion, Feminism, and Idoloclasm identifies religious and secular feminism's common critical moment as that of idol-breaking. It reads the women's liberation movement as founded upon a philosophically and emotionally risky attempt to liberate women's consciousness from a three-fold cognitive captivity to the self-idolizing god called 'Man'; the 'God' who is a projection of his power, and the idol of the feminine called 'Woman' that the god-called-God created for 'Man'. Examining a period of feminist theory, theology, and culture from about 1965 to 2010, this book shows that secular, as well as Christian, Jewish, and post-Christian feminists drew on ancient and modern tropes of redemption from slavery to idols or false ideas as a means of overcoming the alienation of women's being from their own becoming. With an understanding of feminist theology as a pivotal contribution to the feminist criticism of culture, this original book also examines idoloclasm in feminist visual art, literature, direct action, and theory, not least that of the sexual politics of romantic love, the diet and beauty industry, sex robots, and other phenomena whose idolization of women reduces them to figures of the feminine same, experienced as a de-realization or death of the self. This book demonstrates that secular and religious feminist critical engagements with the modern trauma of dehumanization were far more closely related than is often supposed. As such, it will be vital reading for scholars in theology, religious studies, gender studies, visual studies, and philosophy.

Much has been written on the relationship between the nature of temporal reality and the God of Classical Theism. Despite the popularity of this general area, what the physics and metaphysics of spacetime might mean for specific theological doctrines has received less attention. Recently, however, interest in this rich and dynamic interplay of ideas has seen rapid growth. This Element provides both an introduction to the physics and metaphysics of spacetime and a jumping-off point for understanding how these can - and in fact should - inform both Christian theology and the philosophy of religion more generally. The author will argue that the nature of spacetime raises particular and pressing problems for Christianity, specifically the interrelated doctrines of salvation and eschatology, and explore whether adequate solutions to these problems are available.

This book, based on the 2006 Didsbury Lectures, is the first comprehensive study of the systematic, doctrinal and constructive theology produced within the major Nonconformist traditions (Congregational, Baptist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Methodist and United Reformed) during the twentieth century. In the first chapter the landscape is surveyed, with reference to such topics as the New Theology, the First World War, the reception of Karl Barth, the theological excitements of the 1960s and pluralism. The second chapter concerns the major Christian doctrines God, Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, while in the third ecclesiological and ecumenical themes are discussed. Eschatology is treated in the concluding chapter and there follows the authors assessment of the significance of twentiethcentury Nonconformist theology and his observations regarding its current state, future content and practitioners.

Most Christians have experienced the "laundry list" phase of spiritual life, in which praying means giving God an agenda of needs to handle. But how do you move to having real conversation with God? How do you hear what God is saying back to you? How can you make your experience of God's presence part of everyday life? In this six-session LifeGuide(R) Bible Study, Jan Johnson covers the disciplines of prayer and of practicing God's presence. Going deeper in these areas will help you to draw closer to God in everything you do. For over three decades LifeGuide Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions--making for a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 130 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies.

The Hindu thinker Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was and remains an important figure both within India, and in the West, where he was notable for preaching Vedanta. Scholarship surrounding Vivekananda is dominated by hagiography and his (mis)appropriation by the political Hindu Right. This work demonstrates that Vivekananda was no simplistic pluralist, as portrayed in hagiographical texts, nor narrow exclusivist, as portrayed by some modern Hindu nationalists, but a thoughtful, complex inclusivist. The book shows that Vivekananda formulated a hierarchical and inclusivistic framework of Hinduism, based upon his interpretations of a four-fold system of Yoga. It goes on to argue that Vivekananda understood his formulation of Vedanta to be universal, and applied it freely to non-Hindu traditions, and in so doing, demonstrates that Vivekananda was consistently critical of 'low level' spirituality, not only in non-Hindu traditions, but also within Hinduism. Demonstrating that Vivekananda is best understood within the context of 'Advaitic primacy', rather than 'Hindu chauvinism', this book will be of interest to scholars of Hinduism and South Asian religion and of South Asian diaspora communities and religious studies more generally.

Would you like to learn how spiritual energies influence your life? Are you interested in natural healing methods to boost your emotional and physical well-being? Do you wish you could feel more in tune with the world around you? Discover how to embrace natural and vibrational energies with this beginner's guide to spiritual healing. Exploring the fascinating history behind holistic healing techniques, and providing practical advice for trying them yourself, this book will teach you how to achieve true balance in your life. Develop an understanding of energies in the universe Explore natural healing methods Cultivate your own spiritual practice

Piloted by Reform congregations throughout the country, this book is the first step in a program of Hebrew learning for adults. By carefully introducing the letters and vowels of the Hebrew alphabet, the goal is to develop the reader's ability to decode written Hebrew words as well as to ground the learning of Hebrew in the broader sense of its use in Jewish life, ritual, study, and tradition. Each chapter introduces two or three Hebrew letters; through instructional drills and exercises, the reader progressively becomes familiar with key Hebrew vocabulary and its role in Jewish tradition, text, and prayer.

Named one of "the best haggadahs of all time" by the Forward's Jay Michaelson. Welcome to a new kind of seder. Celebrate Passover with traditional seder texts as well as poems, readings, and stories that acknowledge, value, and include the diverse backgrounds of seder participants today. Evoke the universal message of freedom, inspired by writers and thinkers from around the world. Find new meaning in the Passover story, whether this seder is your first or your one hundred and first. Perfect for: Guests from a variety of backgrounds and experiences Multi-cultural, interfaith, and unaffiliated families First-time seder guests Includes: All the instructions and readings for a seder of up to 60 minutes Prayers and blessings in English, Hebrew, and Hebrew transliteration Unusual additions to the seder plate to lift up those often marginalized Clear instructions for leaders Vibrant, inspirational artwork by a leading Israeli artist Multicultural connections throughout the texts, including relevant blessings and rituals from other cultures Reflective passages by a variety of contributors from diverse backgrounds Miriam's Cup and Ruth's Cup (to signify a welcome to Jews by Choice) included in addition to Elijah's Cup Seder Songs: Dayeinu, Adir Hu, Orah Hi, Echad Mi Yodei'a (Who knows One), Chad Gadya (One LIttle Goat), Let My People Go Seder Recipes: Roasted Peanut Charoset, Italian Charoset, Make your own matzah

Remembering the Names of Allah is a sacred tradition in Islam. Both the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet (ahadith) state the importance of learning them and promise reward for reciting them in supplications and prayers. "Allah's are the names most beautiful. Whatever is in the heavens and earth extols His glory." - Qur'an (Al-Hashr 59:24). "Allah has 99 names. He who remembers these will certainly enter Paradise." - Prophet Muhammad (Bukharhi Hadith Kitab Ad-Dawat, 2, 949). The 99 Blessed Names of Allah help to conceptualize Allah Whose limitless greatness and glory is impossible to grasp.Each name is presented in the original Arabic and its translation into English. Accompanying each name is a commentary that is concise and easy to understand but rich in meaning. Based on authentic sources and richly produced.

What is Christian Doctrine? This Companion guides students and scholars through the key issues in the contemporary practice of Christian theology. Including twenty-one essays, specially commissioned from an international team of leading theologians, the volume outlines the central features of Christian doctrinal claims and examines leading methods and theological movements. The first part of the book explores the ten most important topics in Christian doctrine, offering a nuanced historical analysis, as well as charting pathways for further development. In the second part, essays address the most significant movements that are reshaping approaches to multiple topics across disciplinary, as well as denominational and ecclesiastical, borders. Incorporating cutting-edge biblical and historical scholarship in theological argument, this Companion serves as an accessible and engaging introduction to the main themes of Christian doctrine. It will also guide theologians through a growing literature that is increasingly diverse and pluriform.

The Spirit is speaking. Can you hear him? If you're longing to become more attentive to God--to listen to him, know his voice and experience his love, spiritual direction can point the way. In Seeking God Together, experienced spiritual director Alice Fryling offers a unique introduction specifically for group spiritual direction: a place where individuals can experience what it means to be listened to and loved by others, so that they can learn to listen more attentively to God in their daily lives and be used by God. Out of her years of being both director and directee, Fryling offers practical, step-by-step guidance for those who would like to start, lead or participate in group spiritual direction. Her book will help you know what to expect and fully equip you for the different aspects of the group experience, including learning to listen to God, using Scripture in a group, navigating different personalities, setting group expectations and asking life-giving questions. She also provides an appendix with opening exercises for use in your meetings together. "The intentional goal of group spiritual direction," Alice writes, "is to help each participant become more aware of God in their lives, for the sake of others. Spiritual direction leads you to an awakening of the soul." The Spirit is speaking to you and to others. Here is a book to help you and a group of soul friends listen for and with each other as you seek God together.

This book explores the entanglements of gender and power in spiritual practices and analyzes strategies used by spiritual practitioners to attain what to social scientists might seem an impossible goal: creating spiritual communities without creating gendered hierarchies. What strategies do people within these networks use to attain gender equality and gendered empowerment? How do they try to protect and develop individual freedom? How do gender and power nevertheless play a role? The chapters in this book together and separately demonstrate that, in order to understand contemporary spirituality, the analytical lenses of gender and power are essential. Furthermore, they show that it is not possible to make a clear distinction between established religions and contemporary spirituality: the two sometimes overlap, and at other times spirituality distances itself from religion while reproducing some of its underlying interpretative frameworks. This book does not take the discourses of spiritual practitioners for granted, yet recognizes the reflexivity of spiritual practitioners and the reciprocal relationship between spirituality and disciplines such as anthropology. The ethnographic descriptions of lived spirituality included in this volume span a wide range of countries, from Portugal, Italy, and the Netherlands to Mexico and Israel.

How do modern Muslims adapt their traditions to engage with today's world? Charles Tripp's erudite and incisive book considers one of the most significant challenges faced by Muslims over the last sixty years: the challenge of capitalism. By reference to the works of noted Muslim scholars, the author shows how, faced by this challenge, these intellectuals devised a range of strategies which have enabled Muslims to remain true to their faith, whilst engaging effectively with a world not of their own making. The work is framed around the development of their ideas on Islamic socialism, economics and the rationale for Islamic banking. While some Muslims have resorted to confrontation or insularity to cope with the challenges of modernity, most have aspired to innovation and ingenuity in the search for compromise and interaction with global capitalism in the twenty-first century.

A conversation on the challenges of immigration that includes the voices of recent immigrants, the documented and undocumented. A combination of analysis, story, and artistic expression opens up the complexities of immigration for undergraduates and for all Christians.

De la Torre's goal is to initiate a civil conversation that can replace the politics of fear that now dominates discussions of immigration.