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Books > Religion & Spirituality > General > Interfaith relations
Ten Outstanding Books in Mission Studies, World Christianity and
Intercultural Theology for 2019 — International Bulletin of
Mission Research (IBMR) Christianity is not only a global but also
an intercultural phenomenon. In this third volume of his
three-volume Intercultural Theology, Henning Wrogemann proposes
that we need to go beyond currently trending theologies of mission
to formulate both a theory of interreligious relations and a
related but methodologically independent theology of interreligious
relations. Migratory movements are contributing to an ongoing
process of religious pluralization in societies that tended to be
more religiously homogenous in the past. Interreligious platforms,
movements, and organizations are growing in number. Meanwhile,
everyday life continues to be characterized by very different modes
of interreligious cooperation. Coming to a better understanding of
such modes is a major concern for societies with high levels of
religious and cultural plurality. Wrogemann's conviction is that
much would be achieved if we posed new and different questions.
When it comes to interreligious relations, what is significant, and
what is meaningful? What exactly is a dialogue? Which factors are
at play when people from different cultural and religious
traditions come into contact with each other as physical beings in
real-life situations? What about the different images of the self
and of the other? Which interests and hidden motives underlie which
claims to validity? Exploring these questions and more in masterful
scope and detail, Wrogemann's work will richly inform the study of
interreligious relations. Missiological Engagements charts
interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history,
theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring
contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West
and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges
church, academy, and society.
C.S. Lewis's enlightened, foundational respect for the Jews as
God's chosen people is a feature in much of his apologetic and
theological writing. Although as a boy and young man Lewis
reflected much of the implicit anti-Semitism inherent in the
public-school-educated Edwardian establishment, this was replaced
by deep respect when he became a Christian. Later on, Lewis's
understanding was much enhanced by his wife, Joy Davidman (m.
1956); born to American Jewish parents, she was an adult convert to
Yeshua Ha Mashiach - Jesus Christ - and Lewis referred to her as a
Jewish Christian. A Hebraic Inkling examines in depth this
Jewish-Hebrew influence in Lewis' life and works. Analysing some of
his key writings in theology, philosophy, literature and
apologetics, his rigorous stand against anti-Semitism and affinity
for Jewish literature and culture is outlined, as well as his
vision of how Christians are enfolded into the chosen people. This
respect and affinity extended to Lewis' own family; when one of
Joy's children sought to return to his mother's birth-faith, Lewis
moved all to accommodate his wishes and raise him as a Jew, after
Joy's untimely death.
The Oxford Movement within the Anglican communion sought changes to
the Church of England in its articulation of theology and
performance of liturgy that would more clearly demonstrate what the
movement's members believed was the place of their Church within
the wider universal and ancient Church. In this regard they mostly
looked to the Roman Catholic Church, but one of their most
prominent members thought their goals would be better served by
seeking recognition from the Orthodox Church. This book charts the
eccentric career of that member, William Palmer, a fellow of
Magdalen College and deacon of the Anglican Church. Seemingly
destined for a conventional life as a classics don at Oxford, in
1840 and 1842 he travelled to Russia to seek communion from the
Russian Orthodox Church. He sought their affirmation that the
Anglican Church was part of the ancient Catholic and Apostolic
Church world-wide. Despite their personal regard for him, the
Russians remained unconvinced by his arguments, not least because
of the actions of the Anglican hierarchy in forming alliances with
other Protestant bodies. Palmer in turn wrestled with what he saw
as the logical inconsistencies in the claim of the Orthodox to be
the one true church, such as the differing views he encountered on
the manner of reception of converts into the Church by either
baptism and chrismation or the latter alone. Increasingly
disillusioned with the Church of England, and finding himself
without support from the Scottish Episcopal Church, Palmer closest
Russian friends such as Mouravieff and Khomiakoff urged him to cast
aside his reservations and to convert Orthodoxy. Ultimately he
baulked at making what he saw as the cultural leap from West to
East, and after some years in ecclesiastical limbo, he followed the
example of his Oxford friends such as John Henry Newman, and was
received into the Roman Catholic Church in Rome in 1855. He lived
in Rome as a Catholic layman until his death in 1879. This is a
fascinating account of a failed "journey to Orthodoxy" that should
provide food for thought to all who may follow this path in the
future and offer grounds for reflection to Orthodox believers on
how to remove unnecessary stumbling blocks that can arise on the
path to their Church.
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In the international press, East Africa is depicted as a region
mired in civil war, child abduction, rebel militias,
Muslim-Christian violence, and grinding poverty. Joseph Kony's
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) of northern Uganda has become a symbol
for the troubles of contemporary Africa. Seen from within, however,
an altogether different reality is visible-one in which local
communities and their leaders work together to resolve conflict and
rebuild their communities. Little known beyond northern Uganda, The
Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative (ARLPI) is an inspiring
example of one such community organization. The story of ARLPI,
examined in this book by philosopher David Hoekema, demonstrates
just how much can be accomplished by a small group of dedicated
community leaders in a situation where a decade of military force
and international pressure have had little discernible effect.
Drawing on published sources and interviews with organization
leaders and LRA survivors, Hoekema illuminates how both the
depredations of the LRA and the healing work of ARLPI are rooted in
modern East African history. He documents the courageous work of
the Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim leaders who constitute the
ARLPI to overcome centuries of mistrust and help bring an end to
one of the most horrific conflicts in recent history. Their work,
he argues, puts philosophical and theological ideas into practice
and in so doing sheds new light on how religion relates to
politics, how brutal conflicts can be resolved, and how a community
can reclaim its future through locally-initiated initiatives
against overwhelming obstacles.
Celebrating Biblical and Jewish holidays is most characteristic of
the Messianic Jewish movement, and it arouses much interest among
Gentile Christians. This practice arose in the struggle of Hebrew
Christians in the 19th century against "Christian assimilation".
From the 1970s onwards, a new generation of Messianic Jews
identified strongly with their people's socio-cultural heritage,
including the practice of Sabbath, Pesach and other Jewish
holidays. A thorough analysis of calendars, reinterpretations,
observances and motives shows that this is a novel,
Christian-Judaic practice. Why and how do Gentile Christians adopt
it? To return to "Jewish roots"? What does this term stand for? As
the author takes up these questions, he shows that this is rather a
contextualisation of the Gospel.
It is impossible to understand Palestine today without a careful
reading of its distant and recent past. But until now there has
been no single volume in English that tells the history of the
events--from the Ottoman Empire to the mid-twentieth century--that
shaped modern Palestine. The first book of its kind, "A History of
Palestine" offers a richly detailed interpretation of this critical
region's evolution.
Starting with the prebiblical and biblical roots of Palestine,
noted historian Gudrun Kramer examines the meanings ascribed to the
land in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. Paying
special attention to social and economic factors, she examines the
gradual transformation of Palestine, following the history of the
region through the Egyptian occupation of the mid-nineteenth
century, the Ottoman reform era, and the British Mandate up to the
founding of Israel in 1948. Focusing on the interactions of Arabs
and Jews, "A History of Palestine" tells how these connections
affected the cultural and political evolution of each community and
Palestine as a whole."
A comprehensive series of essays exploring Peter C. Phan's
groundbreaking work to widen Christian theology beyond the Western
world Peter C. Phan's wide-ranging contributions to theology and
his pioneering work on religious pluralism, migration, and
Christian identity have made a global impact on the field. The
essays in Theology without Borders offer a variety of perspectives
across Phan's fundamental work in eschatology, world christianity,
interreligious dialogue, and much more. Together, these essays
offer a comprehensive assessment of Phan's groundbreaking work
across a range of theological fields. Included in the conversation
are discussions of world Christianity and migration, Christian
identity and religious pluralism, Christian theology in Asia, Asian
American theology, eschatology, and Phan's lasting legacy. Theology
without Borders provides a welcome overview for anyone interested
in the career of Peter C. Phan, his body of work, and its
influence.
One of the critical issues in interreligious relations today is the
connection, both actual and perceived, between sacred sources and
the justification of violent acts as divinely mandated. "Fighting
Words" makes solid text-based scholarship accessible to the general
public, beginning with the premise that a balanced approach to
religious pluralism in our world must build on a measured,
well-informed response to the increasingly publicized and
sensationalized association of terrorism and large-scale violence
with religion. In his introduction, Renard provides background on
the major scriptures of seven religious traditionsOCoJewish,
Christian (including both the Old and New Testaments), Islamic,
BahaOCOi, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Sikh. Eight chapters then explore
the interpretation of select facets of these scriptures, focusing
on those texts so often claimed, both historically and more
recently, as inspiration and justification for every kind of
violence, from individual assassination to mass murder. With its
nuanced consideration of a complex topic, this book is not merely
about the religious sanctioning of violence but also about diverse
ways of reading sacred textual sources.
One of the most comprehensive volumes on Myanmar’s identity
politics to date, this book discusses the entanglement of ethnic
and religious identities in Myanmar and the challenges presented by
its extensive ethnic-religious diversity. Religious and ethnic
conjunctions are treated from historical, political, religious and
ethnic minority perspectives through both case studies and overview
chapters. The book addresses the thorny issue of Buddhist
supremacy, Burmese nationalism and ethnic-religious hierarchy,
along with reflections on Buddhist, Christian and Muslim
communities. Bringing together international scholars and Burmese
scholars, this book combines the perspectives of academic observers
with those of political activists and religious leaders from
different faiths. Through the breadth of its disciplinary approach,
its focus on identity issues and its inclusion of insider and
outsider perspectives, this book provides new insights into the
complex religious situation of Myanmar.
Among the proliferation of Puritan sects across England in the
seventeenth century, a remarkable number began adopting
demonstratively Jewish ritual practices. From circumcision to
Sabbath-keeping and dietary laws, their actions led these movements
were labelled by their contemporaries as Judaizers, with various
motives proposed. Were these Judaizing steps an excrescence of
over-exuberant biblicism? Were they a by-product of Protestant
apocalyptic tendencies? Were they a response to the changing status
of Jews in Europe? In Jewish Christians in Puritan England, Aidan
Cottrell-Boyce shows that it was instead another aspect of
Puritanism that led to this behaviour: the need to be recognised as
a 'singular', positively distinctive, Godly minority. This quest
for demonstrable uniqueness as a form of assurance united the
Judaizing groups with other Protestant movements, while the
depiction of Judaism in Christian rhetoric at the time made them a
peculiarly ideal model upon which to base the marks of their
salvation.
In 1965 the Second Vatican Council declared that God loves the
Jews. Before that, the Church had taught for centuries that Jews
were cursed by God and, in the 1940s, mostly kept silent as Jews
were slaughtered by the Nazis. How did an institution whose wisdom
is said to be unchanging undertake one of the most enormous, yet
undiscussed, ideological swings in modern history? The radical
shift of Vatican II grew out of a buried history, a theological
struggle in Central Europe in the years just before the Holocaust,
when a small group of Catholic converts (especially former Jew
Johannes Oesterreicher and former Protestant Karl Thieme) fought to
keep Nazi racism from entering their newfound church. Through
decades of engagement, extending from debates in academic journals,
to popular education, to lobbying in the corridors of the Vatican,
this unlikely duo overcame the most problematic aspect of Catholic
history. Their success came not through appeals to morality but
rather from a rediscovery of neglected portions of scripture. From
Enemy to Brother illuminates the baffling silence of the Catholic
Church during the Holocaust, showing how the ancient teaching of
deicide - according to which the Jews were condemned to suffer
until they turned to Christ - constituted the Church's only
language to talk about the Jews. As he explores the process of
theological change, John Connelly moves from the speechless Vatican
to those Catholics who endeavored to find a new language to speak
to the Jews on the eve of, and in the shadow of, the Holocaust.
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