Can religions be compared? For decades the discipline of religious studies was based on the assumption that they can. Postmodern and postcolonial reflections, however, raised significant doubts. In social and cultural studies the investigation of the particular often took precedence over a comparative perspective. Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology questions whether religious studies can survive if it ceases to be comparative religion. Can it do justice to a globalized world if it is limited on the specific and turns a blind eye on the general? While comparative approaches have come under strong pressure in religious studies, they have started flourishing in Theology. Comparative theology practices interfaith dialogue by means of comparative research. This volume asks whether theology and religious studies are able to mutually benefit from their critical and constructive reflections. Can postcolonial criticism of neutrality and objectivity in religious studies create new links with the decidedly perspectival approach of comparative theology? In this collection scholars from theology and religious studies discuss the methodology of interreligious comparison in the light of recent doubts and current objections. Together with the contributors, Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Andreas Nehring argue that after decades of critique, interreligious comparison deserves to be reconsidered, reconstructed and reintroduced.

In recent bilateral ecumenical dialogue the aim of the dialogue has been to reach some form of doctrinal consensus. The three major chapters of the book discuss the variety of forms of doctrinal consensus found in ecumenical dialogues among Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. In general, the dialogue documents argue for agreement/consensus based on commonality or compatibility. Each of the three dialogue processes has specific characteristics and formulates its argument in a unique way. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue has a particular interest in hermeneutical questions and proposes various forms of 'differentiated' or perspectival forms of consensus. The Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue emphasises the correctness of interpretations. The documents consciously look towards a 'common future', not the separated past. "Ecclesiological Investigations" brings together quality research and inspiring debates in ecclesiology worldwide from a network of international scholars, research centres and projects in the field.

There is no doubt about Baeck's contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century: it has been significant. Without ever departing completely from the ancient wellsprings of orthodoxy, he was a studious observer of the intellectual currents of his time and ambience; under theinfluence of liberal Jewish theology, he drew on and reworked those currents, weaving them into his own theological thought. A special aspect of Baeck's work is that he remained in critical confrontation with Christianity throughout his life, acting as a kind of builder of bridges between the two faiths." (From the Introduction.) It is on this aspect that the author focuses his study inwhich he examines Leo Baeck's critical evaluation of Martin Luther and Protestantism. At the same time Homolka shows how close the intellectual links between liberal Christian and liberal Jewish theology had become before the Holocaust: both sides attempted a new definition of the "essence" of their faiths and were searching for a new identity in an increasingly pluralistic and secular society.

Where the Waters Meet offers the reader a new way of viewing an old subject. So often psychology and counselling therapies have been, and still are, seen as competitors, or even enemies, vying for supremacy as the true religion. This book invites us to take a fresh look at these two fields, each with their own experience and dogma, and view them in a different light. We are introduced to complementarity, an approach through which vital common factors begin to break through the barriers of convention and jargon. This book is written from deeply held convictions about faith and about therapy and emerges from several decades of experience in ordained ministry, and of working as a psychodynamic counsellor. The author is passionate about both the healing process of therapy and the life-giving inspiration of faith. He sees the two not as enemies but as intrinsically linked.

This book provides a standard reference of the major medieval Jewish philosophers, as well as an eminently readable narrative of the course of medieval Jewish philosophical thought, presented as a response to the spiritual-intellectual challenges facing Judaism in that period. The accounts of Saadia, Bahya, Halevi, Maimonides, and Crescas are among the fullest available in English. Other thinkers discussed in depth include Israeli, Ibn Gabirol, Gersonides, and Albo; the work also includes capsule summaries of Bar Hiyya, Falaquera, Albalag, Duran, Abravanel and others. All of the summaries place the philosophical thought of these important thinkers in the context of the historical challenges and religious concerns of their age. This book is also available in hardcover.

This book reexamines the central themes of Reformation theology. Chung considers the energy of the Spirit as the "Spiritus Creator "within the natural world, the Spirit's place in the Trinity, the role of the Spirit in election, the controversial question of the third use of the law, and the effects of the Spirit for the life of the world. In addressing these and many other issues, this book clearly and carefully describes the fundamental shape of Reformation thinking and introduces the reader to what was and is at stake in the Reformation's insistence on the centrality of the Gospel.

The 'ethical turn' in anthropology has been one of the most vibrant fields in the discipline in the past quarter century. It has fostered new dialogue between anthropology and philosophy, psychology, and theology, and seen a wealth of theoretical innovation and influential ethnographic studies. This book brings together a global team of established and emerging leaders in the field and makes the results of this fast-growing body of diverse research available in one volume. It is split into five parts, covering the philosophical and other intellectual sources of the ethical turn; inter-disciplinary dialogues; emerging conceptualizations of core aspects of ethical agency such as freedom, responsibility, and affect; and the diverse ways in which ethical thought and practice are institutionalized in social life. Authoritative and cutting-edge, it is essential reading for researchers and students in anthropology, philosophy, psychology and theology, and will set the agenda for future research in the field.

In secular Europe the veracity of modern science is almost always taken for granted. Whether they think of the evolutionary proofs of Darwin or of spectacular investigation into the boundaries of physics conducted by CERN's Large Hadron Collider, most people assume that scientific enquiry goes to the heart of fundamental truths about the universe. Yet elsewhere, science is under siege. In the USA, Christian fundamentalists contest whether evolution should be taught in schools at all. And in Muslim countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia, a mere 15 per cent of those recently surveyed believed Darwin's theory to be 'true' or 'probably true'. This thoughtful and passionately argued book contends absolutely to the contrary: not only that evolutionary theory does not contradict core Muslim beliefs, but that many scholars, from Islam's golden age to the present, adopted a worldview that accepted evolution as a given. Guessoum suggests that the Islamic world, just like the Christian, needs to take scientific questions - 'quantum questions' - with the utmost seriousness if it is to recover its true heritage and integrity. In its application of a specifically Muslim perspective to important topics like cosmology, divine action and evolution, the book makes a vital contribution to debate in the disputed field of 'science and religion'.

"Al-Ghazali on Invocations and Supplications" is a translation of the ninth chapter of the "Revival of the Religious Sciences" (Ihya Ulum al-Din), which is widely regarded as the greatest work of Muslim spirituality. "Al-Ghazali on Invocations and Supplications" is probably the most commonly read compendium of personal prayers in the Muslim world, especially those concerning the remembrance of God (dhikr). "Al-Ghazali on Invocations and Supplications" is popular not only for its comprehensiveness and beauty, but also for Ghazali's analytical approach, which explores the psychological and spiritual effects of prayer and the celebration of God's Name. This work is essential reading for those who seek a spiritual life and who desire to walk the meditative and reflective path of "dhikr" prayer.---This new fourth edition of "Al-Ghazali on Invocations and Supplications" includes the invocations and supplications in Arabic for those readers who would like to use them in their prayers and a translation of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's own Introduction to the "Revival of the Religious Sciences", which gives the reasons that caused him to write the work, the structure of the whole of the "Revival", and places each of the chapters in the context of the others.

The classic statement of the ideas which form the religious consciousness of the Jewish people at large, by one of the great minds of Jewish scholarship of our century. His creative scholarship, compelling English style, and warm personality have given this book lasting influence on Jew and non-Jew alike. Includes the original preface of 1909 and the introduction by Louis Finkelstein.

Translated by Allan W. MahnkeA pioneering history of Old Testament law from its scarcely discernable origins in the pre-monarchical period to the canonisation of the Pentateuch.Praise for THE TORAH'Crusemann and Houtman has enormously enriched the field; it will attract the serious attention of scholars for many years to come.' B. S. Jackson, University of Manchester, Journal of Semitic Studies>