While a rational consciousness grasps many truths, Gananath Obeyesekere believes an even richer knowledge is possible through a bold confrontation with the stuff of visions and dreams. Spanning both Buddhist and European forms of visionary experience, he fearlessly pursues the symbolic, nonrational depths of such phenomena, reawakening the intuitive, creative impulses that power greater understanding. Throughout his career, Obeyesekere has combined psychoanalysis and anthropology to illuminate the relationship between personal symbolism and religious experience. In this book, he begins with Buddha's visionary trances wherein, over the course of four hours, he witnesses hundreds of thousands of his past births and eons of world evolution, renewal, and disappearance. He then connects this fracturing of empirical and visionary time to the realm of space, considering the experience of a female Christian penitent, who stares devotedly at a tiny crucifix only to see the space around it expand to mirror Christ's suffering. Obeyesekere follows the unconscious motivations underlying rapture, the fantastical consumption of Christ's body and blood, and body mutilation and levitation, bridging medieval Catholicism and the movements of early modern thought as reflected in William Blake's artistic visions and poetic dreams. He develops the term "dream-ego" through a discussion of visionary journeys, Carl Jung's and Sigmund Freud's scientific dreaming, and the cosmic and erotic dream-visions of New Age virtuosos, and he defines the parameters of a visionary mode of knowledge that provides a more elastic understanding of truth. A career-culminating work, this volume translates the epistemology of Hindu and Buddhist thinkers for western audiences while revitalizing western philosophical and scientific inquiry.

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.

An engaging and accessible introduction to Christianity's relationship with other world religions, addressing the questions of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge, and showing how Christianity is equipped to deal with religious plurality at both the doctrinal and social level.
Timely and accessible, this book tackles the question of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge for Christianity
Makes a decisive contribution to debates about the clash between Islam and the West, arguing that the major threat to religious freedoms come from secularism, and that Islam and Christianity both have the resources to develop a vibrant and pluralist public square; one informed by intellectual rigor and debate
Considers the wider issue of how modernity has defined 'religion', and provides a substantial critique of secular ways of controlling religions
Shows how Christianity is very well suited to deal with religious plurality at the doctrinal and social level
Addresses the core issues and describes the various answers that have been proposed in recent years - making it an ideal introduction to the field, and one which will stimulate ideas and discussions

The first book to examine the controversial Qur'anic phrase which divides Christianity and Islam. According to the majority of modern Muslims and Christians, the Qur'an denies the crucifixion of Jesus, and with it, one of the most sacred beliefs of Christianity. However, it is only mentioned in one verse - "They did not kill him and they did not crucify him, rather, it only appeared so to them" - and contrary to popular belief, its translation has been the subject of fierce debate among muslims for centuries. This the first book devoted to the issue, delving deeply into largely ignored Arabic sources, which suggest the the origins of the conventional translation may lie within the Christian Church. Arranged along historical lines, and covering various Muslim schools of thought, from Sunni to Sufi, The Crucifixion and the Qur'an unravels the crucial dispute that separates the World's two principal faiths.

Insofar as the twentieth century has often been referred to as 'the ecumenical century', the twenty-first seems poised to become known as 'the century of World Christianity'. Into this situation, the present study seeks to show the ongoing relevance of Wolfhart Pannenberg's ecclesiological and ecumenical proposals and, in doing so, finds that his eschatologically-oriented and historically-rooted emphasis upon an 'open-ended distinctiveness' is exactly the kind of corrective that the emerging theological paradigm of World Christianity needs if it wants not only to stay contextually 'open-ended', but remain 'distinctively' Christian in outlook and character as well. Towards that end, the book begins with the story of ecclesiology's definitional expansion (from the time of the Reformation to now) before tracing the biographical and ideational roots of Pannenberg's overall programme. The study then proceeds by outlining the main contours of Pannenberg's ecclesiology and ecumenism, especially as such pertain to World Christianity. In this regard, several facets of Pannenberg's thought are highlighted for consideration, including his understanding of 'the church as sign of the kingdom', his doctrine of 'participation in Christ', his reassertion of the church's missionary task, his (underdeveloped) 'personalist' and 'social' thought-structures, his (ironically relevant) 'Constantinianism', his (directly relevant yet abstract) notion of 'creative love', and his views concerning contextualization and the ecumenical potential of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. While much that is here developed serves as a healthy corrective for an emerging theological paradigm that is still maturing, some surprising critical insights arise that also flow the other way.

Despite all the hype surrounding the "New Atheism," the United States remains one of the most religious nations on Earth. In fact, 95% of Americans believe in God-a level of agreement rarely seen in American life. The greatest divisions in America are not between atheists and believers, or even between people of different faiths. What divides us, this groundbreaking book shows, is how we conceive of God and the role He plays in our daily lives. America's Four Gods draws on the most wide-ranging, comprehensive, and illuminating survey of American's religious beliefs ever conducted to offer a systematic exploration of how Americans view God. Paul Froese and Christopher Bader argue that many of America's most intractable social and political divisions emerge from religious convictions that are deeply held but rarely openly discussed. Drawing upon original survey data from thousands of Americans and a wealth of in-depth interviews from all parts of the country, Froese and Bader trace America's cultural and political diversity to its ultimate source-differing opinions about God. They show that regardless of our religious tradition (or lack thereof), Americans worship four distinct types of God: The Authoritative God-who is both engaged in the world and judgmental; The Benevolent God-who loves and helps us in spite of our failings; The Critical God-who catalogs our sins but does not punish them (at least not in this life); and The Distant God-who stands apart from the world He created. The authors show that these four conceptions of God form the basis of our worldviews and are among the most powerful predictors of how we feel about the most contentious issues in American life. This updated edition includes a new preface and afterword in which the authors reflect on their goals in writing this book, and explore trends that have developed since the initial publication. America's Four Gods provides an invaluable portrait of how we view God and therefore how we view virtually everything else.

This anthology explores the dynamics of shared religious sites in Turkey, the Balkans, Palestine/Israel, Cyprus, and Algeria, indicating where local and national stakeholders maneuver between competition and cooperation, coexistence and conflict. Contributors probe the notion of coexistence and the logic that underlies centuries of "sharing," exploring when and why sharing gets interrupted-or not-by conflict, and the policy consequences. These essays map the choreographies of shared sacred spaces within the framework of state-society relations, juxtaposing a site's political and religious features and exploring whether sharing or contestation is primarily religious or politically motivated. Although religion and politics are intertwined phenomena, the contributors to this volume understand the category of "religion" and the "political" as devices meant to distinguish between the theological and confessional aspects of religion and the political goals of groups. Their comparative approach better represents the transition in some cases of sites into places of hatred and violence, while in other instances they remain noncontroversial. The essays clearly delineate the religious and political factors that contribute to the context and causality of conflict at these sites and draw on history and anthropology to shed light on the often rapid switch from relative tolerance to distress to peace and calm.

Religious faith is a powerful source of comfort and support for individuals and families facing dementia. Many faith leaders need help in adapting their ministries to address the worship/spiritual needs of this group. A product of Faith United Against Alzheimer's, this handbook by 45 different authors represents diverse faith traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Native American. It provides practical help in developing services and creating dementia friendly faith communities. It gives an understanding of the cognitive, communicative and physical abilities of people with dementia and shows what chaplains, clergy and lay persons can do to engage them through worship. Included are several articles by persons living with dementia.

In the well-worn debates about religious pluralism and the theology of religions there have been many different rubrics used to account for, comprehend, or engage with the religious other. This book is chiefly a work of Christian theology and seeks to bring the doctrine of creation and the theology of religions into dialogue and in so doing it comes at things from a different direction than other works. It contains an extensive exploration of the doctrine of creation and asks how it might intervene distinctively in these discourses to produce a new conceptual and practical topography. It will consider inter-religious engagement from the perspective of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo that forms the dominant view in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The book pays close consideration to anthropology (i.e. creaturehood), the quotidian and wisdom, the idea of 'sabbath,' human action and work, and vivifying the immanent through a consideration of some representative phenomenologists. The book will develop these ideas in a more practical direction by considering sacraments and rituals in the public sphere as well as attempting to describe the kind of 'creational politics' that might bring traditions into dialogue. Whilst these themes challenge more conventional ways of considering relations between religions, such themes - because they are different from concerns commonly found in the literature - can also be profitably engaged with across the spectrum of opinion (i.e. exclusivist or pluralist etc.) Thus, whilst the position adopted in this work is creatio ex nihilo part of the motivation is to review the ways in which this focus helps to broaden rather than limit the discussion.

Written in 1962, Pulayathara is among the earliest novels that records the complexity of Dalit experience. It focuses on the untouchable Pulaya community of Kerala, documenting the experiences of two kinds of Dalits, those who choose to remain within the subordinating Hindu social order, and those, who convert to Christianity in the hope of receiving assured food, shelter, and education. Chirakkarode sharply critiques the hollowness of religious conversion in a cast-ridden society. The converted Dalits are promptly labelled 'New Christians' as against the Syrian Christians who claim superior ancestry and upper caste status due to their ownership of land and other privileges. Ownership of land and the house built upon it become markers of exclusion and separation. Thevan Pulayan collects clay from the backwaters to create a landmass to build his hut. He pays the landlord for the materials. But the thrill of ownership is shattered when the landlord orders another labourer to occupy Thevan's home. The Dalits who convert to Christianity are allowed to build homes, but these houses fail to provide security and asylum as they stand on a defined piece of land, apart from the homes of the upper caste Hindus and Christians. With the use of language, depiction of Dalit lives, their relationship with the soil, their culture, musical heritage and traditions, Chirakkarode's masterpiece marks a major thematic and stylistic break from canonical upper caste writing.

An unexpected fusion of two major western religious traditions, Judaism and Christianity, has been developing in many parts of the world. Contemporary Christian movements are not only adopting Jewish symbols and aesthetics but also promoting Jewish practices, rituals, and lifestyles. Becoming Jewish, Believing in Jesus is the first in-depth ethnography to investigate this growing worldwide religious tendency in the global South. Focusing on an austere "Judaizing Evangelical" variant in Brazil, Carpenedo explores the surprising identification with Jews and Judaism by people with exclusively Charismatic Evangelical backgrounds. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork and socio-cultural analysis, the book analyses the historical, religious, and subjective reasons behind this growing trend in Charismatic Evangelicalism. The emergence of groups that simultaneously embrace Orthodox Jewish rituals and lifestyles and preserve Charismatic Evangelical religious symbols and practices raises serious questions about what it means to be "Jewish" or "Christian" in today's religious landscape. This case study reveals how religious, ethnic, and cultural markers are being mobilized in unpredictable ways within the Charismatic Evangelical movement in much of the global South. The book also considers broader questions regarding contemporary women's attraction to gender-traditional religions. This comprehensive account of how former Charismatic Evangelicals in Brazil are gradually becoming austerely observant "Jews," while continuing to believe in Jesus, represents a significant contribution to the study of religious conversion, cultural change, and debates about religious hybridization processes.

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.

In Teaching Interreligious Encounters, editors Marc A. Pugliese and Alexander Y. Hwang have gathered together a multidisciplinary and international group of scholar-teachers to explore the pedagogical issues that occur at the intersection of different religious traditions. This volume is both a theoretical and practical guide for new teachers as well as seasoned scholars. It breaks the pedagogy of interreligious encounters down into five distinct components. In the first part, essays explore the theory of teaching these encounters; in the second, essays discuss course design. The parts that follow engage practical ideas for teaching textual analysis, practice, and real-world application. Despite their disciplinary, contextual, and methodological diversity, these essays share a common vision for the learning goals and outcomes of teaching interreligious encounters. This is a much needed resource for any teacher participating in these conversations.

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.

1828 unterzeichneten 23 Professoren aus Freiburg i. Br. Petitionen zur Abschaffung des Zoelibates und verteidigten diese mit einer erlauternden "Denkschrift". Hierauf antwortete Johann Adam Moehler (1796-1838) mit der "Beleuchtung der Denkschrift". Die Autorin analysiert den geschichtlichen und literarischen Hintergrund sowie die Grundlinien und Rezeptionsgeschichte dieses bisher in der Forschung noch sehr wenig beachteten Werkes. Eine Auswertung von Moehlers Methodik, ein Schriftenvergleich sowie die vorgenommene Systematisierung der Kernaussagen zeigen, dass die "Beleuchtung" uber eine reine Rezensionsschrift hinausreicht. Die Untersuchung belegt eindrucksvoll, dass der Tubinger (und spatere Munchener) Theologe hier eine im echten Sinne fundamentaltheologische Schrift vorgelegt hat, die einen Massstab fur sein folgendes systematisches Schaffen setzt.

Europe's formative encounter with its "others" is still widely assumed to have come with its discovery of the peoples of the New World. But, as Jonathan Boyarin argues, long before 1492 Christian Europe imagined itself in distinction to the Jewish difference within. The presence and image of Jews in Europe afforded the Christian majority a foil against which it could refine and maintain its own identity. In fundamental ways this experience, along with the ongoing contest between Christianity and Islam, shaped the rhetoric, attitudes, and policies of Christian colonizers in the New World.

"The Unconverted Self" proposes that questions of difference inside Christian Europe not only are inseparable from the painful legacy of colonialism but also reveal Christian domination to be a fragile construct. Boyarin compares the Christian efforts aimed toward European Jews and toward indigenous peoples of the New World, bringing into focus the intersection of colonial expansion with the Inquisition and adding significant nuance to the entire question of the colonial encounter.

Revealing the crucial tension between the Jews as "others within" and the Indians as "others without," "The Unconverted Self" is a major reassessment of early modern European identity.

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.

Religious pluralism has characterized America almost from its seventeenth-century inception, but the past half century or so has witnessed wholesale changes in the religious landscape, including a proliferation of new spiritualities, the emergence of widespread adherence to "Asian" traditions, and an evangelical Christian resurgence. These recent phenomena-important in themselves as indices of cultural change-are also both causes and contributions to one of the most remarked-upon and seemingly anomalous characteristics of the modern United States: its widespread religiosity. Compared to its role in the world's other leading powers, religion in the United States is deeply woven into the fabric of civil and cultural life. At the same time, religion has, from the 1600s on, never meant a single denominational or confessional tradition, and the variety of American religious experience has only become more diverse over the past fifty years. Gods in America brings together leading scholars from a variety of disciplines to explain the historical roots of these phenomena and assess their impact on modern American society.

English summary: Rainer Hirsch-Luipold interprets the function of imagery in Plutarch's works in individual studies from a strictly literary and philosophical standpoint. For Plutarch, philosopher and priest, images cover different phenomena in art, literature and religion and emphasize the representative character of the entire visible world. German description: Denken in Bildern? Hatte die uberwaltigende Fulle von Bildern, von Vergleichen und Gleichnissen aus allen Bereichen des antiken Wissens, noch bis ins 18. Jahrhundert zur Beliebtheit von Plutarchs Schriften beigetragen, so galt sie seit der Aufklarung eher als Zeichen mangelnder Seriositat und gedanklicher Stringenz. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold zeigt demgegenuber, wie Plutarch Bilder und Bildfelder als Teil einer besonderen philosophischen Darstellungsform begreift. Die umfassende Struktur des Bildhaften wird aus seiner Verwendung des griechischen Begriffs eikon deutlich. Unter diesem Begriff verbindet der Mittelplatoniker und delphische Priester Phanomene der darstellenden Kunst (Statue, Gemalde, Siegelabdruck etc.) und der Sprache (Gleichnis, Allegorie, Metapher, Ratselwort etc.) mit einer philosophischen Sicht der Welt als Abbild und Widerschein einer hoheren gottlichen Realitat. Neben Untersuchungen zur Rezeption von darstellender Kunst und zur Terminologie bildhafter Sprache bietet die Arbeit ausfuhrliche literarische und philosophische Interpretationen der Bildersprache ausgewahlter Schriften. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold interpretiert die Bilder als Teil der philosophischen Gedankenfuhrung, eroffnet so den Blick auf die philosophische und religionsgeschichtliche Bedeutung Plutarchs und fuhrt zugleich ein Instrument zur Analyse des Aufbaus und der Struktur seiner Schriften vor. Aufgrund ihrer religiosen Farbung wird die Bildersprache Plutarchs zudem als pagane Parallele zur gleichzeitig entstehenden Gleichnissprache des Neuen Testaments interessant.