This title was first published in 2002. One of the most fascinating and controversial interpretations of religious diversity is 'religious pluralism.' According to John Hick's model of religious pluralism, all the world's great religions are equally valid ways of understanding and responding to the ultimate spiritual reality. This book offers an exposition of, and critical response to, John Hick's model. Introducing the various interpretations of religious diversity being discussed today, this book presents constructive suggestions as to how things could be further developed to offer a more accurate, less confusing presentation of the various options in theology of religions. The standard threefold typology of responses to religious diversity - exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism - are explained and defended. Hick's pluralist interpretation of religious diversity is traced, culminating in a critical assessment of Hick's pluralistic model and an up-to-date summary of a variety of critiques directed toward Hick's proposal. Paul Rhodes Eddy concludes that Hick's present model is ultimately unsuccessful in retaining both of his long-cherished goals, a robust religious realism and a consistent religious pluralism, whilst overcoming the most difficult problem for the pluralist, the fact that the world's religions understand the divine in often contradictory ways.

An exciting introduction to the contribution which the later Wittgenstein made to the philosophy of religion. Although his writings on the subject have been few, Wittgenstein developed influential and controversial theories on both religion (and magic) which emphasise the distinctive nature of religious discourse and how this nature can be misunderstood when viewed in direct competition with science.
The contributors of this collection shed new light on the perennial debate between faith and reason. The result is a collection that is both informative and stimulating.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203462580

As society becomes more concerned with the future of our planet, the study of apocalypse and eschatology become increasingly pertinent. Whether religious or not, peoples' views on this topic can have a profound effect on their attitudes to issues such as climate change and social justice and so it cannot be ignored. This book investigates how different approaches in historical and contemporary Christian theology make sense in reflecting about the final things, or the eschata, and why it is so important to consider their multi-faceted impact on our lives. A team of Nordic scholars analyse historical and contemporary eschatological thinking in a broad range of sources from theology and other related disciplines, such as moral philosophy, art history and literature. Specific social and environmental challenges, such as the Norwegian Breivik massacre in 2011, climatic change narratives and the ambiguity of discourses about euthanasia are investigated in order to demonstrate the complexity and significance of modes of thinking about the end times. This book addresses the theology of the end of the world in a more serious academic tone than it is usually afforded. As such, it will be of great interest to academics working in eschatology, practical theology, religious studies and the philosophy of religion.

Although not a believer himself, Gilles Deleuze's philosophical thinking engages with notions of Godhead, belief, spirituality, cosmology and Biblical research, as well as exhibiting the deep influences of such theists as Spinoza. However, despite the considerable, and ever-expanding body of scholarship that exists on Deleuze's work, until now, no single volume has explored the religious implications and connections of Deleuze's thinking. Among the subjects considered in this comprehensive text are Deleuze's own critique of God-hypotheses and his analysis of those theological elements present in other philosophers' work.

The Renaissance was a period of great intellectual change and innovation as philosophers rediscovered the philosophy of classical antiquity and passed it on to the modern age. Renaissance philosophy is distinct both from the medieval scholasticism, based on revelation and authority, and from philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who transformed it into new philosophical systems. Despite the importance of the Renaissance to the development of philosophy over time, it has remained largely understudied by historians of philosophy and professional philosophers. This anthology aims to correct this by providing scholars and students of philosophy with representative translations of the most important philosophers of the Renaissance. Its purpose is to help readers appreciate philosophy in the Renaissance and its importance in the history of philosophy. The anthology includes translations from philosophers from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and it ranges from works on moral and political philosophy, to metaphysics, epistemology, and natural philosophy, thereby providing historians and students of philosophy with a sense for the nature, breadth, and complexity of philosophy in the Renaissance. Each translation is accompanied by an introduction by a historian of Renaissance philosophy, as well as select secondary sources, in order to encourage further study. This anthology is a companion to Philosophers of the Renaissance, which included essays on the writings of the same group of philosophers of the Renaissance: Raymond Llull, Gemistos Plethon, George of Trebizond, Basil Bessarion, Lorenzo Valla, Nicholas of Cusa, Leon Battista Alberti, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Pietro Pomponazzi, Niccolò Machiavelli, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Juan Luis Vives, Philipp Melanchthon, Petrus Ramus, Bernardino Telesio, Jacopo Zabarella, Michel de Montaigne, Francesco Patrizi, Giordano Bruno, Francisco Suàrez, Tommaso Campanella.

How did the universe come to exist? What is the nature of its creator? Is there a purpose to human existence? What is it to live a good life?
The Routledge Dictionary of Religious and Spiritual Quotations offers not just one, but many answers to these questions. Geoffrey Parrinder has drawn on all the great books of world religions - the Bible, the Qur'an, Zoroastrian Gathas, Hindu Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Jewish Mishnah, Sikh Adi Granth and Chinese Tao Te Ching - in this collection of over 3000 quotations. Discover the words of prophets, scholars and mystics on matters spiritual and moral, as well as Plato on sexuality, Freud on religion and Gandhi on violence.
Originally published in 1990, The Routledge Dictionary of Religious Quotations is now re-issued with a new preface by Geoffrey Parrinder.

The Jewish Philosophy Reader is the first comprehensive anthology of classic writings on Jewish philosophy from the Bible to the present. Complementing the History of Jewish Philosophy (Routledge, 1997), the Reader is divided into four parts:
* Foundations and First Principles
* Medieval and Renaissance Jewish Philosophy
* Modern Jewish Thought
* Contemporary Jewish philosophy
Each section is clearly introduced by the editors and includes writings from the leading figures of Jewish thought.
Major thinkers featured include:
· Baeck · Bergman · Borowitz · Buber · Cohen · Curley · Fledman · Frankel · Geiger · Goodman · Haberman · Hartman · Heschel · Hess · Israeli · Kellner · Kook · Leaman · Lesser · Levinas · Maimonides · Maybaum · Mayer · Morgan · Novak · Plasknow · Plaut · Ravven · Rosenzweig · Schatz · Scholem · Seekin · Spinoza · Stroumsa · Wolf · and Zunz
Ideal for introductory courses in Jewish studies and Jewish thought, The Jewish Philosophy Reader provides a thorough introduction to, and collection of, the leading writers and commentaries on the subject. It will be essential reading for both students and scholars of Jewish thought.

Following the extraordinary success of the New York Times bestseller Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas's latest book offers inspirational and intellectually rigorous thought about the great questions surrounding us all today.

The Greek philosopher Socrates famously said that "the unexamined life is not worth living." Taking this as a starting point, Eric Metaxas founded a speaking series that encouraged busy and successful professionals to attend forums and think actively about the bigger questions in life. Thus Socrates in the City: Conversations on "Life, God, and Other Small Topics" was born.

This book is for the seeker in all of us, the collector of wisdom, and the person who asks "What if?" Within this collection of original essays that were first given to standing-room-only crowds in New York City are serious thinkers taking on Life, God, Evil, Redemption, and other small topics.

Luminaries such as Dr. Francis Collins, Sir John Polkinghorne, Charles Colson, N.T. Wright, Os Guinness, Peter Kreeft, and Jean Bethke Elshatin have written about extraordinary topics vital to both secular and Christian thinking, such as "Making Sense Out of Suffering," "How Good Confronts Evil," and "Belief in God in an Age of Science." No question is too big-in fact, the bigger, the harder, the more complex, the better.

These essays are both thought-provoking and entertaining, because nowhere is it written that finding answers to life's biggest questions shouldn't be exciting and even, perhaps, fun.

This title was first published in 2001: Reason, Community and Religious Tradition examines key questions about the relationship of rationality to its contexts by tracing the early history of the so-called 'ontological' argument. The book follows Anselm's Proslogion from its origins in the private, devotional context of an eleventh-century monastery to its reception in the public and adversarial contexts of the friars' schools in the thirteenth century. Using unpublished manuscript evidence from the Dominican and Franciscan schools at Oxford, Paris and Bologna in the thirteenth century, Matthews argues that the debate over Anselm's argument embodied the broader religious differences between the Franciscan and Dominican communities. By comparing the most famous figures of the period with their lesser-known contemporaries, Matthews argues that the Friars thought as communities and developed as traditions as they developed their arguments. This book will interest anyone concerned with the nature of rationality, and its relationship to communities and traditions, and what this entails for rational debate across cultural divides. In particular, it offers a fresh perspective on traditional approaches to the rationality of religion and religious belief.

An introduction to and overview of the entire problem of evil, from a philosophical perspective. The text aims to be introductory and inclusive, both by familiarizing students with the main contours of the intellectual terrain, and by pointing them in the direction of further resources.

This is the first book in English for half a century to examine the complexities of Russian messianism, both as a whole and in its interaction with Communism. Peter Duncan considers its Orthodox roots and focuses on Russia's geopolitical experience and situation to explain the endurance of this phenomenon.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203442350

First published in 2000. This is Volume 10, No 1 of the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. One of the most important concepts in the history of psychology is intelligence. Traditionally, intelligence has been thought of as a more or less unitary mental capacity, connoting a general problem-solving ability and skill at abstract reasoning. More recently, a major counter-argument to the idea that intelligence is unitary was published by Howard Gardner (1993) In his view, intelligence is not a unitary construct but instead is multidimensional, comprised of linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal facets. Since then, a dialogue has continued about what does and does not constitute an intelligence. This journal is a collection of essays that discuss this question.

John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding is among the most important books in philosophy ever written. It is also a difficult work dealing with many themes, including the origin of ideas; the extent and limits of human knowledge; the philosophy of perception; and religion and morality. This volume is original in that it focuses on the last two of these topics and provides a clear and insightful survey of these overlooked aspects of Locke's best known work. Four eminent Locke scholars present authoritative discussions of Locke's view on the ethics of belief, personal identity, free will and moral theory. Contributors include John Passmore (Australian National University), Harold Noonan (Birmingham University), Vere Chappell (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), and Daniel Flage (James Madison University).

John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding is among the most important books ever written in philosophy. It is a long and complex work dealing with many themes such as the origin of ideas, the extent and limits of human knowledge, the philosophy of perception and morality and religion. This volume is original in that it focuses clearly on the last two of these topics and highlights the importance of these in the book as a whole. It presents an extensive interpretive introduction by the editors and four essays by distinguished contemporary philosophers on Locke's views on the ethics of belief, personal identity, free will and moral theory. It will interest students and specialists interested in the history of philosophy, political science, religion and history.

Peter Adamson explores the rich intellectual history of the Byzantine Empire and the Italian Renaissance. Peter Adamson presents an engaging and wide-ranging introduction to the thinkers and movements of two great intellectual cultures: Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance. First he traces the development of philosophy in the Eastern Christian world, from such early figures as John of Damascus in the eighth century to the late Byzantine scholars of the fifteenth century. He introduces major figures like Michael Psellos, Anna Komnene, and Gregory Palamas, and examines the philosophical significance of such cultural phenomena as iconoclasm and conceptions of gender. We discover the little-known traditions of philosophy in Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian. These chapters also explore the scientific, political, and historical literature of Byzantium. There is a close connection to the second half of the book, since thinkers of the Greek East helped to spark the humanist movement in Italy. Adamson tells the story of the rebirth of philosophy in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. We encounter such famous names as Christine de Pizan, Niccolo Machiavelli, Giordano Bruno, and Galileo, but as always in this book series such major figures are read alongside contemporaries who are not so well known, including such fascinating figures as Lorenzo Valla, Girolamo Savonarola, and Bernardino Telesio. Major historical themes include the humanist engagement with ancient literature, the emergence of women humanists, the flowering of Republican government in Renaissance Italy, the continuation of Aristotelian and scholastic philosophy alongside humanism, and breakthroughs in science. All areas of philosophy, from theories of economics and aesthetics to accounts of the human mind, are featured. This is the sixth volume of Adamson's History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, taking us to the threshold of the early modern era.

Should psychology try to explain religion or try to understand it? Pioneers in psychology like Sigmund Freud and William James took opposing views on the matter and it has been hotly debated ever since. Interestingly though in the past psychology was used to attack religion recent findings in the area have been more sympathetic to religion. How should we understand their relationship today?
Michael Argyle's new book is an introduction to the psychology of religion from one of the world's most famous experimental psychologists. He ranges over the whole of psychology to look at the results of psychology's study of religion including those of his own important experiments. Full of fascinating and surprising insights into people and their religious worlds, his belief in both the empirical value of psychology and the spiritual value of religion are evident in this comprehensive and accessible survey of what psychologists know about religion - and what they don't.

Augustine and his Critics examines the arguments of certain strident, present-day critics of Augustine. It responds to the more inaccurate and unfair of these criticisms and argues in favour of some of the much-neglected historical, philosophical and theological perspectives which lie behind Augustine's most unpopular convictions.
Augustine and his Critics presents a stimulating, insightful analysis of Augustine's thought and of critical responses to that thought. Augustine's writings have continually met with both kindly readers and frank critics and interest in his thought has not waned even in our own times. Contemporary philosophers, theologians, spiritual writers, cultural theorists and social scientists take him to task for a number of positions ranging from human sexuality and the body, gender, personal freedom, religious liberty and the ethics of force, to his concepts of the self and God. More often than not today, Augustine's outlook is characterised as 'pessimistic', and he is charged with responsibility for a certain Christian malaise.

This volume brings together for the first time some of the world's leading authorities on the German mystic Jacob Boehme, to illuminate his thought and its reception over four centuries for the benefit of students and advanced scholars alike. Boehme's theosophical works have influenced Western culture in profound ways since their dissemination in the early 17th Century, and these interdisciplinary essays trace the social and cultural networks as well as the intellectual pathways involved in Boehme's enduring impact. The chapters range from situating Boehme in the 16th Century Radical Reformation, to discussions of his significance in modern theology. They explore the major contexts for Boehme's reception including the Pietist movement, Russian religious thought and Western esotericism, as well as focusing more closely on important readers: the religious radicals of the English Civil Wars and the later English Behmenists; literary figures such as Goethe and Blake, and great philosophers of the modern age, among them Schelling and Hegel. Together, the chapters illustrate the depth and variety of Boehme's influence and a concluding chapter addresses directly an underlying theme of the volume - asking why Boehme matters today, and how readers in the present might be enriched by a fresh engagement with his apparently opaque and complex writings.

Foucault and Religion is the first major study of Michel Foucault in relation and response to Religion. Jeremy Carrette offers us a challenging new look at Foucault's work and addresses a religious dimension that has previously been neglected. We see that prior to Foucault's infamous unpublished volume in the 'History of Sexuality', on the theme of Christianity, there is a complex religious sub-text which anticipates this final unseen work.
Jeremy Carrette argues that Foucault offers a twofold critique of Christianity by bringing the body and sexuality into religious practice and exploring a political spirituality of the self. He shows us that Foucault's creation of a body theology through the death of God, reveals how religious beliefs reflect the sexual body, questions the notion of a mystical archaeology and exposes the political technology of confession.
Anyone interested in understanding Foucault's thought in a new light will find this book a truly fascinating read.

Foucault and Religion is the first major study of Michel Foucault in relation and response to Religion. Jeremy Carrette offers us a challenging new look at Foucault's work and addresses a religious dimension that has previously been neglected. We see that prior to Foucault's infamous unpublished volume in the 'History of Sexuality', on the theme of Christianity, there is a complex religious sub-text which anticipates this final unseen work.
Jeremy Carrette argues that Foucault offers a twofold critique of Christianity by bringing the body and sexuality into religious practice and exploring a political spirituality of the self. He shows us that Foucault's creation of a body theology through the death of God, reveals how religious beliefs reflect the sexual body, questions the notion of a mystical archaeology and exposes the political technology of confession.
Anyone interested in understanding Foucault's thought in a new light will find this book a truly fascinating read.

From its origins in nineteenth century Adventism until the present day, the Watch Tower Society has become one of the best known but least understood new religious movements. Resisting the tendency to define the movement in terms of the negative, this volume offers an empathetic account of the Jehovah's Witnesses, without defending or seeking to refute their beliefs. George Chryssides critically examines the historical and theological bases of the organization's teachings and practices, and discusses the changes and continuities which have defined it. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars of new religious movements and contemporary religion.

Divine Providence and Human Agency develops an understanding of God and God's relation to creation that perceives God as sovereign over creation while, at the same time, allowing for a meaningful notion of human freedom. This book provides a bridge between contemporary approaches that emphasise human freedom, such as process theology and those influenced by it, and traditional theologies that stress divine omnipotence.This book argues that it is essential for Christian theology to maintain that God is ultimately in charge of history: otherwise there would be no solid grounds for Christian hope. Yet, the modern human self-understanding as free agent within certain limitations must be taken seriously. Jensen approaches this apparent contradiction from within a consistently trinitarian framework. Jensen argues that a Christian understanding of God must be based on the experience of the saving presence of Christ in the Church, leading to an apophatic and consistently trinitarian theology. This serves as the framework for the discussion of divine omnipotence and human freedom. On the basis of the theological foundation established in this book, it is possible to frame the problem in a way that makes it possible to live within this tension. Building on this foundation, Jensen develops an understanding of history as the unfolding of the divine purpose and as an expression of God's very being, which is self-giving love and desire for communion. This book offers an important contribution to the debate of the doctrine of God in the context of an evolutionary universe.

Contents:
Editors' Introduction. Abstract Polyphonies: The Music of Schoenberg's Nietzschean Moment, William Benjamin. Arnold Schoenberg as Poet and Librettist: Dualism, Epiphany, and Die Jakobsleiter, David Schroeder. Androgyny and the Eternal Feminine in Schoenberg's Oratorio Die Jakobsleiter Jennifer Shaw. Von heute auf morgen: Schoenberg as Social Critic,Stephen Davison. Schoenberg in Shirtsleeves: The Male Choruses, Op. 35, Robert Falck. The Prophet and the Pitchman: Dramatic Structure and Its Musical Elucidation in Moses und Aron, Act I, Scene 2, Edward Latham. Schoenberg's Moses und Aron: A Vanishing Biblical Nation, Bluma Goldstein. Schoenberg Rewrites His Will: A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46,David Isadore Lieberman. Texts and Contexts of A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46, Camille Crittenden. Returning to a Homeland: Religion and Political Context in Schoenberg's Dreimal tausend Jahre, Naomi Andr. Schoenberg's Modern Psalm, Op.50c, and the Unattainable Ending, Mark Risinger

Russell on Religion presents a comprehensive and accessible selection of Bertrand Russell's writing on religion and related topics from the turn of the century to the end of his life. The influence of religion pervades almost all Bertrand Russell's writings from his mathematical treatises to his early fiction. Russell contends with religion as a philosopher, as a historian, as a social critic and as a private individual. The papers in this volume are arranged chronologically for optimum coherence of the development of Russell's thinking and are divided into five main sections:
* Personal statements
* Religion and Philosophy
* Religion and Science
* Religion and Morality
* Religion and History
Students at all levels will find this a valuable insight into Russell's thought on religion.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203450965

Taking the experience of value as a starting point for natural theology, this text argues that theism offers our best understanding of the goodness of the world, especially its beauty and openness to the development of richer and more complex material forms. We also see that the world's goodness calls for a moral response: commitment to the goodness of the world represents a natural extension of the trust to which we aspire in our dealings with human beings. Wynn argues that the goodness of the world provides a glimpse into what we should mean by "God". Here, he seeks to recover the mediaeval sense that the goodness of the world offers an image of the goodness of God, not simply in relation to the world, but in itself.