A comprehensive survey of how religions understand death, dying, and the afterlife, drawing on examples from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Shamanic perspectives. * Considers shared and differing views of death across the world s major religions, including on the nature of death itself, the reasons for it, the identity of those who die, religious rituals, and on how the living should respond to death * Places emphasis on the varying concepts of the self or soul * Uses a thematic structure to facilitate a broader comparative understanding * Written in an accessible style to appeal to an undergraduate audience, it fills major gap in current textbook literature

Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus are arguably the most celebrated representatives of the 'Golden Age' of scholasticism. Primarily, they are known for their work in natural theology, which seeks to demonstrate tenets of faith without recourse to premises rooted in dogma or revelation. Scholars of this Golden Age drew on a wealth of tradition, dating back to Plato and Aristotle, and taking in the Arabic and Jewish interpretations of these thinkers, to produce a wide variety of answers to the question 'How much can we learn of God?' Some responded by denying us any positive knowledge of God. Others believed that we have such knowledge, yet debated whether its acquisition requires some action on the part of God in the form of an illumination bestowed on the knower. Scotus and Aquinas belong to the more empirically minded thinkers in this latter group, arguing against a necessary role for illumination. Many scholars believe that Aquinas and Scotus exhaust the spectrum of answers available to this circle, with Aquinas maintaining that our knowledge is quite confused and Scotus that it is completely accurate. In this study, Alexander Hall argues that the truth about Aquinas and Scotus lies somewhere in the middle. Hall's book recommends itself to the general reader who is looking for an overview of this period in Western philosophy as well as to the specialist, for no other study on the market addresses this long-standing matter of interpretation in any detail.

Primitive Judaism is the earliest system of thought that sought to explain the concepts of divinity, humanity, and life on the planet. What's more, it is Moses who deserves the credit for the systematization of basic, primitive Tanakian Judaism. In King David's Naked Dance, author Allan Russell Juriansz defines the primitive theology of Tanakian Judaism that obeys the Tanak as the sole canon of the Hebrew people.

A sequel to Juriansz' first book-The Fair Dinkum Jew, which calls for a reformation in Israel and worldwide Jewry-King David's Naked Dance sends a message to the Hebrew people to relearn Tanakian Judaism and live by it. Using the writing of several Talmudic rabbis and Jewish reformers, Juriansz presents a discussion of the Tanak as the only sacred canon and shows its messages of the work of God to create, redeem, and glorify His world and His people.

King David's Naked Dance calls for the world's Jewry and Israel to unite in the primitive Judaism, a splendid redemptive religion that needs to be embraced, defended, and propagated.

More than ever before, scholars recognize that nearly every form of religion or spirituality has a vital connection with art. World religions, from Hinduism to The Eastern Orthodox Church, have a long and rich relationship with an array of artistic traditions. In recent decades, the academic study of religion and the arts has burgeoned. Yet a broad and serious consideration of the topic has yet to reach readers. The first comprehensive book of its kind, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts provides expert guidance to artistry and aesthetic theory in religion. Edited by Frank Burch Brown, the Handbook brings together an international team of leading scholars to present an interdisciplinary volume of nearly forty original essays. Readers are presented the main topics, issues, methods, and resources for the study of religious and theological aesthetics. The essays give light to the dynamic interaction of world religions and art making. The volume ranges from antiquity to present day to examine idolatry, aesthetics in liturgy, and the role of art in popular religion. Ranging from music and poetry to architecture and film, the Handbook crosses the boundaries of different faiths and art forms to survey established and pioneering voices within the field. An authoritative text for scholars and students, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts will remain an invaluable resource for years to come.

This book examines Clement's project which brings together ethical, intellectual and spiritual development of a Christian while highlighting the need of search for integrity in the life of faith and reason. Approaches to Clement have traditionally either assessed the philosophical context of his thought or studied the adaptation of Greek legacy into a new Christian context as underpinning Clement's work. In this new study Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski challenges and develops these approaches providing new and refreshing insights into Clement's understanding of Christian perfection.