Ignaz Maybaum (1897-1976) is widely recognized as one of the foremost Jewish theologians of the post-Holocaust era. Although he is mentioned in most treatments of post-Holocaust Jewish theology, his works are out of print and are only accessible to a small readership. Nicholas de Lange (who worked closely with Maybaum in his lifetime), has made a representative selection from his writings, under various headings: Judaism in the Modern Age, Trialogue between Jew, Christian, and Muslim, the Holocaust, and Zion. In an Introduction, he sets Maybaum's thoughts against the background of their time, indicates their main lines, and assesses how much of them is still of value today.

Taking a theologically oriented method for engaging with historical and cultural phenomena, this book explores the challenge, offered by revolutionary Shi i theology in Iran, to Western conventions on theology, revolution and religion 's role in the creation of identity.

Offering a stringent critique of current literature on political Islam and on Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the author suggests that current literature fails to perceive and engage with the revolution and its thought as religious phenomena. Grounded in the experience of unconditional faith in God, Shi'i thinkers recognize a distinction between the human and the divine. Concerned with the challenge of constructing a virtuous society, these thinkers pose a model of authority and morality based on mediation, interpretation and participation in the experience of faith. Ori Goldberg considers this interpretative model utilizing a broad array of theoretical tools, most notably critical theologies drawn from Jewish and Christian thought. He draws on a close reading of several texts written by prominent Iranian Shi'i thinkers between 1940 and 2000, most of which are translated into English for the first time, to reveal a vibrant, complex discourse.

Presenting a new interfaith perspective on a subject usually considered beyond the scope of such research, this book will be an important reference for scholars of Iranian studies, political Islam, theology and cultural studies.

A handbook of Jewish ethical values and literature. Life as an art form an invitation to Jewish ethical living.

It is the human task to complete God s unfinished artistic masterpiece the human person. from the Introduction

The classic texts of Jewish ethical literature works little-known to most of us are now readily available for personal study. This one-of-a-kind book brings the genre of Jewish ethical literature from its origins in the ancient and medieval worlds, straight into our 21st-century lives.

An invitation into a history rich with wisdom and guidance, "Creating an Ethical Jewish Life" offers traditional texts, clear explanations, and ways for us to use them in our lives. Rabbis Sherwin and Cohen highlight a wide variety of classic texts, including the "Zohar, The Holy Letter, The Path of the Upright" by Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto, "Duties of the Heart" by Bahya ibn Pakudah, and Nachmanides "Commentary on the Torah. "These timeless texts are combined with the authors insightful commentary to address the ultimate human moral issue, the most intimate personal question: How can I best live the life God has entrusted into my care?

With expertise and passion, Sherwin and Cohen show us how these unusual texts not only inform but can transform our lives.

Explores how to:

Deal with ego Be wise Be healthy Employ wealth Die Behave sexually Believe in God Thank God Love God Study the Torah Repent Treat one s parents Parent Speak about another Be Philanthropic

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Radical changes in understandings of gender over the last two centuries are at the heart of some of the most controversial issues within Jewish life and law. They have influenced the basic concepts of Judaism, of family structure, of liturgy, of thoughts about leadership and of Halakhah. This volume discusses some of these changes and new definitions and how they continue to be reflected in the developing reform Halakhah.

This is the first volume of Robert Cumming Neville's magnum opus, Theology as Symbolic Engagement. Neville is the premier American systematic theologian of our time. His work is profoundly influenced by Paul Tillich, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and the American pragmatists John Dewey and Charles Sanders Pierce. From Tillich he takes the notion of religion, art, and morality as symbol, and the notion that religion is the substance of culture and culture the form of religion. Thus, theology is symbolic engagement with cultural forms, and Neville explores the ways that such engagement occurs among various religious traditions. One of the most important tasks in theology is to devise ways of testing, correcting, or affirming claims that we had been unable to question before. This book will argue that "system" in theology is not merely correlating assertions, but rather building perspectives from which we can render the various parts of theology vulnerable for assessment. In fact, one of the unique features of this book is its engagement with other religions. Such dialogue has been a feature of Neville's work from the beginning. Theology as Symbolic Engagement breaks the boundaries of systematic theology and moves away from the static character that characterizes such enterprises from Barth onward. Instead, Neville's book showcases the dynamic character of all theology. The hallmark of this entire project is its effort to show theology to be hypothetical and to make it vulnerable to correction.

"The Antichrist" shares the compelling truth of a coming world-leader in economics, politics, and spirituality. The book takes a thoroughly Biblical approach while maintaining an easy-to-read style. Pastor, layman, and scholar will benefit from the clear truth about the Antichrist presented in these pages. "This is a riveting read " -Morris Chapman, President and CEO, Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention "Randy White pulls back the curtain in hopes of helping us all recognize this world figure for who he is and for what he will do. Read it and reap." -O.S. Hawkins, President and CEO, Guidestone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convetnion "Any pastor preaching or teaching on prophetic themes ought to read this book." -Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Randy White is a Pastor with a passion for theology and the study of prophecy. He has a joy for learning and communicating the truth found in God's Word. Having graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div) and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (D.Min), Dr. White faithfully presents a pretribulational premillennial perspective of the end times. He has been the Pastor of Southern Baptist churches in Texas since 1992.

As environmental destruction begins to seriously affect humans, it has become increasingly relevant to reflect on the essential elements of the Jewish and Christian theologies of creation. The essays in this volume explore key aspects of creation theology, which poses the question of the origin of the world and of man. Creation theology is rooted in the concept of man who owes his existence to God and who is placed in a cosmos which God created as "good." At the same time, the essays show that even back in antiquity, the creation discussion held high potential for ideological criticism.

This book offers a new understanding of sacrifice as a response to love and an entering into the self-giving life of God.Most ideas of sacrifice, even specifically Christian ideas, as we saw in the Reformation controversies, have something to do with deprivation or destruction. But this is not authentic Christian sacrifice. Authentic Christian sacrifice, and ultimately all true sacrifice (whether one is conscious of it or not) begins with the self-offering of the Father in the gift-sending of the Son, continues with the loving "response" of the Son, in his humanity, and in the Spirit, to the Father and for us, and finally, begins to become real in our world when human beings, in the power of the same Spirit that was in Jesus, respond to love with love, and thus begin to enter into that perfectly loving, totally self-giving relationship that is the life of the triune God.The origins of this are in the Hebrew Bible, its revelatory high-points in Jesus and Paul, and its working out in the life of the Church, especially its "Eucharistic Prayers". Special attention will be paid to the atonement, not just because atonement and sacrifice are often synonymous, but also because traditional atonement theology is the source of distortions that continue to plague Christian thinking about sacrifice.After exploring the possibility of finding a phenomenology of sacrificial atonement in Girardian mimetic theory, the book will end with some suggestions on how to communicate its findings to people likely to be put off from the outset by the negative connotations associated with 'sacrifice'.

Stories about gendered social relations permeate the Qur'an, and nearly three hundred verses involve specific women or girls. The Qur'an features these figures in accounts of human origins, in stories of the founding and destruction of nations, in narratives of conquest, in episodes of romantic attraction, and in incidents of family devotion and strife. Overall, stories involving women and girls weave together theology and ethics to reinforce central Qur'anic ideas regarding submission to God and moral accountability. Celene Ibrahim explores the complex cast of female figures in the Qur'an, probing themes related to biological sex, female sexuality, female speech, and women in sacred history. Ibrahim considers major and minor figures referenced in the Qur'an, including those who appear in narratives of sacred history, in parables, in descriptions of the eternal abode, and in verses that allude to events contemporaneous with the advent of the Qur'an in Arabia. Ibrahim finds that the Qur'an regularly celebrates the aptitudes of women in the realms of spirituality and piety, in political maneuvering, and in safeguarding their own wellbeing; yet, women figures also occasionally falter and use their agency toward nefarious ends. Women and Gender in the Qur'an outlines how women and girls - old, young, barren, fertile, chaste, profligate, reproachable, and saintly - enter Qur'anic sacred history and advance the Qur'an's overarching didactic aims.

"Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God" (al-Masad al-asna fi sharh asma'Allah al-husna) is based on the Prophet's teaching that `Ninety-nine Beautiful Names' are truly predicated of God. In this work, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali explores the meaning and resonance of each of these divine Names, and reveals the functions they perform both in the cosmos and in the soul of the spiritual adept. In addition, Ghazali explains how man's perfection and happiness consists in being moulded by the qualities of God. Although some of the book is rigorously analytical, the author never fails to attract the reader with his profound mystical and ethical insights, which has made this book one of the perennial classics of Muslim thought, popular among Muslims to this day.

John Locke's 1695 enquiry into the foundations of Christian belief is here presented for the first time in a critical edition. Locke maintains that the essentials of the faith, few and simple, can be found by anyone for themselves in the Scripture, and that this provides a basis for tolerant agreeement among Christians. An authoritative text is accompanied by abundant information conducive to an understanding of Locke's religious thought.

Does religious extremism represent an inevitable consequence of firmly held beliefs in life-and-death situations? Is there a way out? Gathering ethicists and scholars from the three major and often conflicting monotheistic traditions, each was asked to correlate a religious tradition's sacred texts and tradition with the contemporary world's pluralism and claims about the inalienable sanctity and dignity of human life. The result is that the reader sees "human life before God" in new and profound ways. Contributors include: Hilary Putnam Abdulaziz Sachedina Lisa Sowle Cahill Michael Fishbane William Schweiker Tikva Frymer-Kensky Michael A. Johnson Paul Mendes-Flohr Kevin Jung Lawrence Vogel Azizah al-Hibri David Little Kohn Kelsay Seyyed Hossein Nasr

This is an examination ofthe eschatological and messianic elements in the first twelve chapters of LXX Isaiah. The focus is on this section because it represents a discrete unit within the book and contains several pericopes which were significant in the development of early Jewish and Christian eschatological and messianic ideas.The first part of the book surveys the discussion of eschatology and messianism in LXX Isaiah and the outlines the issues involved. There is also a study of the book's translation technique, focusing on the question of contextual interpretation and actualization, and attempting to identify the mechanism by which eschatological traditions are imprinted in the translation. In the second part, the author analyses the rendering of the well-known messianic oracles of LXX Isaiah 1-12, namely, 7:14-16, 9:5(6)-6(7), and 11:1-5. Besides the close exegetical analysis of the specific passages, there is also a study of their immediate context.This monograph suggests that the primary goal of the translator was to communicate the meaning of the text, as he understood it, rather than to make it the vehicle of his own ideology. A number of renderings that have been seen as theologically motivated could be explained simply on linguistic and co-textual grounds, and, while there is theological interpretation in individual cases, is not possible to identify any conscious systematization. In the light of this study, the eschatological and messianic hopes of the translator of LXX Isaiah 1-12 can be said to come only partly into view in his translation.