Reading Augustine presents concise, personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo from leading philosophers and religion scholars. Augustine of Hippo knew that this fallen world is a place of sadness and suffering. In such a world, he determined that compassion is the most suitable and virtuous response. Its transformative powers could be accessed through the mind and its memories, through the healing of the Incarnation, and through the discernment of Christians who are forced to navigate through a corrupt and deceptive world. Susan Wessel considers Augustine's theology of compassion by examining his personal experience of loss and his reflections concerning individual and corporate suffering in the context of the human condition and salvation.

Ernst Troeltsch was a theologian and sociologist but he was also a philosopher of culture. He was concerned with the "spirit of the modern world" throughout most of his academic life and chose to investigate a number of critical issues which he believed were especially problematic for the modern world. This book is an exploration of many of the key issues. It begins with an explanation of what Troeltsch believed the "spirit of the modern world" to be and then to explaining the debt that Troeltsch owed to Friedrich Schleiermacher for an understanding of the modern world. Chapters are then devoted to Troeltsch's investigations into issues such as the relationship between church and state, the role of natural law, the problems of historicism and pessimism, and it concludes with his observations about politics in war and in revolution. This work will be of interest to those concerned with understanding the modern world.

Since the third century BCE, when the king of Sri Lanka converted to Buddhism, the island nation off the southern coast of India has represented a central interest of Buddhist scholarship. The association between its politics and religious life has not always remained harmonious, however, and has contributed to the contemporary turmoil that threatens to tear it apart. In this valuable book, renowned religious scholar Bardwell Smith elucidates the history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka from the time of one of its earliest rulers through to its present-day strife. The essays collected here for the first time explore various themes of Sri Lanka's long history in novel and constructive ways. Topics include Sinhala Buddhists' sense of manifest destiny arising from Sri Lanka's oldest historical chronicles, the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa; the nationalist implications of the chronicles' depiction of the third-century Mahavihara monastery as the site of "original Buddhism"; and concepts of order and legitimation of power in ancient Ceylon. With a new introduction and final chapter, Smith sheds fresh light on today's Sri Lanka, connecting historical studies with contemporary issues.

In his latest book, Horizons of Difference: Engaging with Others, Fred Dallmayr argues that the dialogue between religious and secular commitments, between faith and reason, is particularly important in our time because both faith and reason can give rise to dangerous and destructive types of extremism, fanaticism, or idolatry. In this interdisciplinary and cross-cultural synthesis of philosophy, religious thought, and political theory, Dallmayr neither accepts the "clash of cultures" dichotomy nor denies the reality of cultural tensions. Instead, operating from the standpoint of philosophical hermeneutics, he embraces cultural difference as a necessary condition and opportunity for mutual cross-cultural dialogue and learning. In part 1, "Relationality and Difference," Dallmayr explores the emergence of diverse loyalties and attachments in different social and cultural contexts. The assumption is not that different commitments are necessarily synchronized or "naturally" compatible but rather that they are held together precisely by their difference and potential antagonism. Part 2, "Engagement through Dialogue and Interaction," dwells on the major means of mediating between the alternatives of radical separation and radical sameness: dialogue and hermeneutical interpretation of understanding. In this respect, the emphasis shifts to leading philosophers of dialogue such as Hans-Georg Gadamer, Bernhard Waldenfels, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In a world where the absolutizing of the ego encourages selfish egotism that can lead to aggressive warmongering, Horizons of Difference shows how the categories of "difference" and "relationality" can be used to build a genuine and peaceful democracy based on dialogue and interaction instead of radical autonomy and elitism.

This book provides the first detailed study in English of the religious philosophy of Vasilii Rozanov, one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of Russia's Silver Age. It examines his subversion of traditional Russian Orthodoxy, including his reverence for the Creation, his focus on the family, and his worship of sex.Rozanov is one of the towering figures of Russian culture, a major influence on thinkers and writers such as Bakhtin, Maiakovskii, and Mandelshtam, as well as many European writers. He critiqued Orthodox theology, and wrote extensively on philosophy, literature, and politics, and helped reform marriage and divorce laws.His enormous contribution to Russian thought has been largely neglected, and much of his work has been misunderstood. Ure addresses this by examining the basis of Rozanov's religious philosophy, the Creation of the Earth and the Book of Genesis.>

Two major interpretations of Mendelssohn's achievements have attained prominence in recent works. One interpretation, defended most recently by David Sorkin and Edward Breuer, casts Mendelssohn as a Jewish traditionalist who uses the language of enlightened German philosophy to bolster his pre-modern religious beliefs. The other interpretation, defended by Allan Arkush, casts Mendelssohn as a radical Deist who defends Judaism exoterically in order to avoid arousing opposition from his co-religionists while facilitating their social integration into enlightened European society. In Faith and Freedom, Michah Gottlieb stakes out a middle position. He argues that Mendelssohn defends pre-modern Jewish religious concepts sincerely, but in so doing, unconsciously gives them a humanistic valence appropriate to life in a diverse, enlightened society. Gottlieb sees the Pantheism Controversy as part of a broader assessment of Mendelssohn's theological-political philosophy, framed in terms of Mendelssohn's relation to his two greatest Jewish philosophical predecessors, Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) and Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677). While Mendelssohn's relation to Maimonides and Spinoza has been discussed sporadically, Faith and Freedom is the first book-length treatment of this subject. The connection is particularly instructive as both Maimonides and Spinoza wrote major theological-political treatises and exercised profound influences on Mendelssohn. Not surprisingly, Mendelssohn is deeply ambivalent about both of these figures. He reveres Maimonides for what he sees as his synthesis of Judaism with secular knowledge, while seeming deeply disturbed by Maimonides's elitism, his equivocation regarding many of the tenets of theism, his espousing religious coercion, and his intolerant view of Gentiles. As for Spinoza, Mendelssohn respects him as a model for how a Jew can fruitfully contribute to science and philosophy and be a model of ethical rectitude. But Mendelssohn objects to Spinoza's atheism, advocacy of state religion, debunking of Jewish chosenness, and rejection of Jewish law. For Mendelssohn, reason best preserves human dignity and freedom by upholding the individual's right to arrive at truth on their own and determine their own beliefs independently of all authority. As such, reason demands that the state respect diversity of thought and religious expression. Mendelssohn interprets faith in the Jewish sense as trust in God's providential goodness, arguing that reason affirms this as well. But he recognizes the difficulty of establishing metaphysical truth rationally and so in his final works adumbrates a form of religious pragmatism. The faith-reason debate rages again today. Gottlieb explores Mendelssohn's theological-political thought with an eye to axiological and political dimensions of the debate.

Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion is a translation of two of Maurice Blondel’s essays. Blondel’s thinking played a significant role in the deliberations and arguments of the Second Vatican Council. Although a towering figure in the history of twentieth-century Catholic thought, the later systematic works of Maurice Blondel have been largely inaccessible in the English-speaking world. Oliva Blanchette, who previously translated Blondel’s early groundbreaking work Action (1893), now offers the first English translation of Blondel’s final work to be published, Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion. This work of transition from mere philosophy to a consideration of Christian religion consists of two main essays, The Christian Sense and the shorter On Assimilation, followed by a Reconsideration and Global View and an Appendix: Clarifications and Admonitions written in answer to an inquiry by a young scholar about method. The first essay explores the Christian sense of the spiritual life and how Christian religion, even as supernatural, can come under the purview of critical philosophy. The second essay examines the move from analogy to assimilation in speaking of the Christian life. Blondel tackles the question: How does the human spirit combine with the divine spirit in such a way that neither is lost in the process? Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion is critical for understanding Blondel’s thought. This high-quality translation and Blanchette’s concise preface will appeal not only to philosophers and theologians but also to spiritual writers and directors of spiritual retreats in the Ignatian and Jesuit traditions.

What role does art play in unravelling the theological problem of evil? What can aesthetics show us about God's goodness in a world of iniquity? Philip Tallon constructs an aesthetic theodicy through a fascinating examination of Christian aesthetics, ranging from the writings of Augustine to contemporary philosophy.
Tallon offers a new framework for theodicy that allows the substantial inclusion of aesthetics, building on the work of Eleonore Stump. He then examines the concept of cosmic harmony, the predominant aesthetic motif within medieval theodicy, and shows how Augustine develops this theme by interweaving his metaphysical, moral, and aesthetic views of reality. Tallon then examines other aesthetic themes within theodicy, with special attention to tragedy, a motif that has become increasingly integrated into theodicy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He shows where tragedy falls short as a sufficient theme for theodicy, but also demonstrates how it complements Augustine's theme of cosmic harmony.
Finally, Tallon considers the horror of evil, an aesthetic theme that has often been used as an attack on the existence of God, but which has recently been used to understand how theodicy should be formulated to respond to the worst evils. By digging more deeply into the darker side of aesthetics, The Poetics of Evil offers a deeper perception of tragedy and malevolence, but also a richer understanding of the Christian response to the problem of evil.

Primordial Traditions was the winner of the 2009 Ashton Wylie Award for Literary Excellence. This new second edition of the original award winning collection features a selection of essays by Gwendolyn Taunton and other talented authors from the original periodical Primordial Traditions (2006-2010). The new version of Primordial Traditions offers a revised layout and a new binding. This edition also has content not contained in the original publication. The first section of Primordial Traditions deals with aspects of perennial philosophy covering the broader applications of the Primordial Tradition in the modern world. Alchemy, philosophy, civilization, the Kali Yuga, and even the problems afflicting the economy are addressed here from a traditional perspective. This section deals with the nature of the Primordial Tradition and how all True Spiritual Traditions consequently relate to it in this new philosophy of religion. The second section of the book then breaks down Traditions into geographic locations to discuss European, Eastern, Middle Eastern and South American Traditions at an advanced level. Topics covered here include: Tibetan Tantra, Sufism, Yezidi, Tantrism, Vedic Mythology, Theravada Buddhism, Thai Magic, Tantrism, Oneiromancy, Norse Berserkers, Runes, Celtic Mythology, Mithras, Hellenic Mythology and Mayan Ceremonial Astrology to name but a few fascinating obscurities. Content includes the following articles by Gwendolyn Taunton: Sophia Perennis: The Doctrine of Ascension, The Primordial Tradition, The Age of Darkness: Prophecies of the Kali Yuga, Mercury Rising: The Life & Writing of Julius Evola, Ars Regia: The Royal Art Revisited, Tantra: Fifth Veda or Anti-Veda?, Aesthetics of the Divine in Hinduism, Divine Mortality: Nataraja, Shankara & Higher Consciousness in the Imagery of Siva, Monks & Magic: The Use of Magic by the Sangha in Thailand, Does Practice Make One Perfected? The Role of gTum-mo in the Six Yogas of Naropa, Clarifying the Clear Light, Oneiromancy: Divination by Dreams, Of Wolves and Men: The Berserker and the Vratya, Ancient Goddess or Political Goddess? and The Black Sun: Dionysus in the Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche & Greek Myth. Primordial Traditions also contains articles by Damon Zacharias Lycourinos, Matt Hajduk, Krum Stefanov, Bob Makransky and many more.....

On the Intrinsic Value of Everything is an illuminating introduction to fundamental questions in ethics. How--and to what--we assign value, whether it is to events or experiences or objects or people, is central to ethics. Something is intrinsically valuable only if it would be valued for its own sake by all fully informed, properly functioning persons. Davison defends the controversial view that everything that exists is intrinsically valuable to some degree. If only some things are intrinsically valuable, what about other things? Where and how do we draw the cutoff point? If only living creatures are intrinsically valuable, what does this imply for how we value the environment? If everything has intrinsic value, what practical implications does this have for how we live our lives? How does this view fit with the traditional theistic idea that God is the source of goodness and truth? Both critics and proponents of the concept of intrinsic value will find something of interest in this careful investigation of the basic value structure of the world.

"Listening to Your iGod" revives the discussion of religion and science and the parallels that exist between the two fields of thought.

Author Tyler James presents his thoughts on why these two very different schools of thought may actually complement each other at times. Jesus taught in parables that offered parallels between nature and God's word. Jesus himself was paralleled with nature as well, lending credence to the idea that there is more to spreading God's word than the obvious.

Consideration of the segregation and feud between science and religion points to similar segregation and differences among the world's societies and religions today. James suggests that the world as a whole needs to gain greater maturity in order to get past these differences and live in harmony. Moreover, this connection is even more relevant given the impending apocalypse, which he believes will begin in 2016.

By showing the parallels between science and religion in "Listening to Your iGod," James hopes to lay the groundwork for connection and harmony.

The Abased Christ is the first monograph to be devoted exclusively to Soren Kierkegaard's Christological masterpiece, Practice in Christianity. Alongside an argument for a new translation of the work's title, it offers detailed textual commentary on a series of themes in Practice in Christianity, such as the person of Christ, contemporaneity, imitation, and Kierkegaard's philosophy of history. Anti-Climacus, the pseudonymous author of Practice in Christianity, presents to his readers a uniquely challenging understanding of who Christ is and what it means to follow him. The Christ of Anti-Climacus is not the glorious Christ who abides with the Father in heaven, but the abased Christ who is poor, marginal, offensive, and persecuted. Throughout Practice in Christianity, we are called not only to perceive the abased Christ, but to follow after him. The Abased Christ aims to enrich historical theologians' appreciation of Kierkegaard's Christology. However, it concludes by grappling with questions of power, agency, and sacrifice which have been at the forefront of contemporary theology in the 20th and 21st centuries, thereby suggesting how we might make sense of Kierkegaard's Christology today.

This is an accessible survey of the most important thinkers on Religion, from Aquinas, through Kant to William James. Arguments concerning the existence and nature of God have been a staple of western philosophy for over 2,000 years. "Philosophy of Religion: The Key Thinkers" offers a comprehensive historical overview of this fascinating field. Nine specially commissioned essays introduce and explore the contributions of those philosophers who have shaped the subject and the central issues and arguments therein. The book reconstructs the history of the philosophy of religion, clearly illustrating the most important attempts to address such crucial issues as the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the problem of evil, miracles, the moral argument, the design argument, religious experience and the idea of god. Thinkers covered include Anselm, Aquinas, Pascal, Hume, Kant, Paley and James. Crucially the book demonstrates why the ideas and arguments these key thinkers developed are still relevant in contemporary thought. Ideal for undergraduate students, the book lays the necessary foundations for a complete and thorough understanding of this fascinating subject.