- A study of the primordial figure of the Great Goddess and her continued worship through time as shown by the myths, shrines, and sanctuaries around the world that honor this powerful symbol of creation.
- A noted historian on pre-Christian societies provides an extensive worldwide listing of sites and sanctuaries associated with goddess worship.
- Explores goddess worship in cultures around the world, including Native American, Egyptian, Indian, and Oriental civilizations.
- Demonstrates that although her worship has sometimes been forced underground it has never disappeared.
In ancient Babylon she was Anat, in Egypt, Isis and Hathor, Dana in Celtic Ireland, Rhea and Demeter in Greece, and in India, Anapurna the Provider. She is the Great Goddess, the Goddess of Beginnings, the symbol of Earth and the giver of life, the Vast Mother, who represents all the powers and mysteries of creation for early humanity.
Shifting her solar association onto masculine deities and blackening those of her symbols that, like the serpent, could not be assimilated, patriarchal societies forced the preeminent power of the feminine into an obscure and subservient position. Yet, as shown by noted scholar Jean Markale, the Goddess did not simply disappear when her position was usurped, and the power she represents has been the source of continuous religious devotion from ancient times through the Middle Ages up to the present day.
In looking at the plethora of myths, sites, and sanctuaries devoted to this powerful figure, "The Great Goddess" provides abundant evidence of the extraordinary permanence of her worship--even at the heart of those religions that tried to destroy her.

Founder of Liberal Judaism in England, Claude Goldsmid Montefiore (1858 1938) wrote extensively on Jewish and Christian theology and ethics. His final book, published in 1938 and co-edited with Herbert Loewe (1882 1940), remains one of the most comprehensive and authoritative collections available of Rabbinic literature dating from 100 to 500 CE. The edition, which provides extensive historical and lexical context, features two introductions, one from Montefiore espousing a Liberal perspective and the other from Loewe speaking as an Orthodox Jew. Together, they argue for 'a common foundation, a common past, and a common future' linking their outlooks. Their anthology in turn models this co-operation, offering more than 1,600 rabbinical extracts, and covering topics including the nature of God, the Commandments and the Law, prayer and charity. Both a compilation of theological writings and a meditation on theology itself, this work remains a pre-eminent text of Jewish religious scholarship.

One of the central arguments of post-metaphysical theology is that language is inherently 'metaphysical' and consequently that it shoehorns objects into predetermined categories. Because God is beyond such categories, it follows that language cannot apply to God. Drawing on recent work in theology and philosophy of language, Kevin Hector develops an alternative account of language and its relation to God, demonstrating that one need not choose between fitting God into a metaphysical framework, on the one hand, and keeping God at a distance from language, on the other. Hector thus elaborates a 'therapeutic' response to metaphysics: given the extent to which metaphysical presuppositions about language have become embedded in common sense, he argues that metaphysics can be fully overcome only by defending an alternative account of language and its application to God, so as to strip such presuppositions of their apparent self-evidence and release us from their grip.

A perceptive thinker and author of five scholarly tomes as well as numerous essays, the philosopher and historian of religion Constance E. Plumptre is now unfamiliar to many readers. Yet for a period of just over twenty years between 1878 and 1902 she championed some of the most fascinating philosophical and religious theories of the Victorian age. Although she won greatest acclaim for Studies in Little-Known Subjects (1898), her first work, General Sketch of the History of Pantheism, published anonymously in 1878, remains one of the most significant histories of philosophy ever written. Taking in Brahminism, the Ionian School, Pythagoras and the Neo-Platonists, as well as the work of Bruno and Vanini, the first volume provides an erudite but accessible introduction to Oriental, Greek and modern Pantheism. For more information on this author, see http: //orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=plumc

A perceptive thinker and author of five scholarly tomes as well as numerous essays, the philosopher and historian of religion, Constance E. Plumptre is now unfamiliar to many readers. Yet for a period of just over twenty years between 1878 and 1902 she championed some of the most fascinating philosophical and religious theories of the Victorian age. Although she won greatest acclaim for Studies in Little-Known Subjects (1898), her first work, General Sketch of the History of Pantheism, published anonymously in 1878, was one of the most significant nineteenth-century studies in theological philosophy. In this second volume Plumptre continues her account of modern Pantheism and introduces the reader to the works of Spinoza, Fichte, Hegel and Schopenhauer, before concluding with a brief but insightful summary of this substantial philosophical question. For more information on this author, see http: //orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=plumc

If God exists, where can we find adequate evidence for God's existence? In this book, Paul Moser offers a perspective on the evidence for God that centers on a morally robust version of theism that is cognitively resilient. The resulting evidence for God is not speculative, abstract, or casual. Rather, it is morally and existentially challenging to humans, as they themselves responsively and willingly become evidence of God's reality in receiving and reflecting God's moral character for others. Moser calls this 'personifying evidence of God,' because it requires the evidence to be personified in an intentional agent - such as a human - and thereby to be inherent evidence of an intentional agent. Contrasting this approach with skepticism, scientific naturalism, fideism, and natural theology, Moser also grapples with the potential problems of divine hiddenness, religious diversity, and vast evil.

This challenging work describes in detail the development and history of the three major monotheistic faiths--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--but also asks why they conflict with one other. Rather than uniting the believers, monotheism has played a crucial role in fostering a fractious society through the manifestation of three different, antagonistic religious systems with each religion claiming to represent God's will and viewing spiritual peace as possible only through victory over the others. This text shows how monotheism can become a unifying force for humanity, posing arguments that will intrigue psychologists, theologians, and general readers alike.

Does it make sense - can it make sense - for someone who appreciates the explanatory power of modern science to continue believing in a traditional religious account of the ultimate nature and purpose of our universe? This book is intended for those who care about that question and are dissatisfied with the rigid dichotomies that dominate the contemporary debate. The extremists won't be interested - those who assume that science answers all the questions that matter, and those so certain of their religious faith that dialogue with science, philosophy, or other faith traditions seems unnecessary. But far more people today recognize that matters of faith are complex, that doubt is endemic to belief, and that dialogue is indispensable in our day.
In eight probing chapters, the authors of The Predicament of Belief consider the most urgent reasons for doubting that religious claims--in particular, those embedded in the Christian tradition--are likely to be true. They develop a version of Christian faith that preserves the tradition's core insights but also gauges the varying degrees of certainty with which those insights can still be affirmed. Along the way, they address such questions as the ultimate origin of the universe, the existence of innocent suffering, the challenge of religious plurality, and how to understand the extraordinary claim that an ancient teacher rose from the dead. They end with a discussion of what their conclusions imply about the present state and future structure of churches and other communities in which Christian affirmations are made.

Adherents of the Abrahamic religions have traditionally held that God is morally perfect and unconditionally deserving of devotion, obedience, love, and worship. The Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures tell us that God is compassionate, merciful, and just. As is well-known, however, these same scriptures contain passages that portray God as wrathful, severely punitive, and jealous. Critics furthermore argue that the God of these scriptures commends bigotry, misogyny, and homophobia, condones slavery, and demands the adoption of unjust laws-for example, laws that mandate the death penalty for adultery and rebellion against parents, and laws institutionalizing in various ways the diverse kinds of bigotry and oppression just mentioned. In recent days, these sorts of criticisms of the Hebrew Bible have been raised in new and forceful ways by philosophers, scientists, social commentators, and others. This volume brings together eleven original essays representing the views of both critics and defenders of the character of God as portrayed in these texts. Authors represent the disciplines of philosophy, religion, and Biblical studies. Each essay is accompanied by comments from another author who takes a critical approach to the thesis defended in that essay, along with replies by the essay's author.

Scientific accounts of existence give chance a central role. At the smallest level, quantum theory involves uncertainty and evolution is driven by chance and necessity. These ideas do not fit easily with theology in which chance has been seen as the enemy of purpose. One option is to argue, as proponents of Intelligent Design do, that chance is not real and can be replaced by the work of a Designer. Others adhere to a deterministic theology in which God is in total control. Neither of these views, it is argued, does justice to the complexity of nature or the greatness of God. The thesis of this book is that chance is neither unreal nor non-existent but an integral part of God's creation. This view is expounded, illustrated and defended by drawing on the resources of probability theory and numerous examples from the natural and social worlds.

Big people aren't the only ones pondering big questions. Children are natural-born philosophers. They wonder and speculate and worry about death, God, love, hope, eternity and uncertainty - and they often come up with downright uncanny ways of unraveling the mysteries of life. This direct, fully-illustrated collection of children's musings on where people (and pets) go when they die is full of funny, honest, simple and disarmingly candid wisdom that anyone, big or small can relate to. They bring us back to a time when we knew much less and wondered much more, and when we allowed ourselves to think about the really important things without self-consciousness or inhibitions.

This study shows how the trinitarian theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar opens up an aproach to the controverted question of God's immutability and impassibility which succeeds in respecting both the transcendence and the immanence of God. Contrary to both Process thought and the classical Thomist position, von Balthasar's scattered treatment is here presented thematically, in a way which makes it clear that his idea of an analogous event in the trinitarian God (in which we participate) is a radical reinterpretation of the traditional Christian axiom of divine immutability. In the course of outlining the distinctiveness of von Balthasar's approach, O'Hanlon introduces the reader to some of the fundamental themes of one of the major Roman Catholic theologians of this century, who is still relatively unknown in the English-speaking world.

Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) is widely regarded as the most influential representative of twentieth-century Jewish philosophy, and his Religion of Reason is often described as one of the most significant attempts to wrestle with the competing claims of philosophy and the Jewish religious tradition since Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed. Nevertheless, Cohen has often been treated merely as an historical precursor to later Jewish thinkers like Buber, Rosenzweig, and Levinas. Daniel H. Weiss offers an insightful new reading of Religion of Reason, arguing that the style and method of Cohen's final work have long been fundamentally misunderstood. Previous readers, puzzled by the seemingly incompatible perspectives within Religion of Reason, have tended either to uphold one or another of the text's 'voices' or to criticize the text for intellectual incoherence. Weiss demonstrates that the multiplicity of Cohen's text is an essential element of its rational and communicative purposes. Drawing upon Kierkegaard as a theorist of indirect communication, he shows how Cohen combines the 'incompatible voices' of philosophy and of Scripture in order to convey religious and ethical ideas-such as the unique God, the other as You, and the messianic future-that would be distorted in a fully consistent, single-voiced mode of thought and communication. While focusing on the details and style of Cohen's text, Paradox and the Prophets also explores the broader philosophical claim that Religion of Reason, far from representing an outdated mode of thought, serves as a model for contemporary efforts to reason about religion and ethics.

This book is an interesting contribution to the philosophy of religion. It offers a comprehensive discussion of one of the most famous arguments for the existence of God: the ontological argument. The author provides and analyses a critical taxonomy of those versions of the argument that have been advanced in recent philosophical literature, as well as of those historically important versions found in the work of St Anselm, Descartes, Leibniz, Hegel and others. A central thesis of the book is that ontological arguments have no value in the debate between theists and atheists. There is a detailed review of the literature on the topic (separated from the main body of the text) and a very substantial bibliography, making this volume an indispensable resource for philosophers of religion and others interested in religious studies.

Does God exist? What are the various arguments that seek to prove the existence of God? Can atheists refute these arguments? The Existence of God: A Philosophical Introduction assesses classical and contemporary arguments concerning the existence of God:

• the ontological argument, introducing the nature of existence, possible worlds, parody objections, and the evolutionary origin of the concept of God
• the cosmological argument, discussing metaphysical paradoxes of infinity, scientific models of the universe, and philosophers discussions about ultimate reality and the meaning of life
• the design argument, addressing Aquinas s Fifth Way, Darwin s theory of evolution, the concept of irreducible complexity, and the current controversy over intelligent design and school education.

Bringing the subject fully up to date, Yujin Nagasawa explains these arguments in relation to recent research in cognitive science, the mathematics of infinity, big bang cosmology, and debates about ethics and morality in light of contemporary political and social events.

The book also includes fascinating insights into the passions, beliefs and struggles of the philosophers and scientists who have tackled the challenge of proving the existence of God, including Thomas Aquinas, and Kurt Godel - who at the end of his career as a famous mathematician worked on a secret project to prove the existence of God.

The Existence of God: A Philosophical Introduction is an ideal gateway to the philosophy of religion and an excellent starting point for anyone interested in arguments about the existence of God.

Diana Lobel takes readers on a journey across Eastern and Western philosophical and religious traditions to discover a beauty and purpose at the heart of reality that makes life worth living. Guided by the ideas of ancient thinkers and the insight of the philosophical historian Pierre Hadot, "The Quest for God and the Good" treats philosophy not as an abstract, theoretical discipline, but as a living experience.

For centuries, human beings have struggled to know why we are here, whether a higher being or dimension exists, and whether our existence is fundamentally good. Above all, we want to know whether the search for God and the good will bring happiness. Following in the path of the ancient philosophers, Lobel directly connects conceptions of God or an Absolute with notions of the good, illuminating diverse classical texts and thinkers. She explores the Bible and the work of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Maimonides, al-Farabi, and al-Ghazali. She reads the "Tao Te Ching," "I Ching," "Bhagavad Gita," and "Upanishads," as well as the texts of Theravada, Mahayana, and Zen Buddhism, and traces the repercussions of these works in the modern thought of Alfred North Whitehead, Iris Murdoch, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor.

While each of these texts and thinkers sets forth a distinct and unique vision, all maintain that human beings find fulfillment in their contact with beauty and purpose. Rather than arriving at one universal definition of God or the good, Lobel demonstrates the aesthetic value of multiple visions presented by many thinkers across cultures. "The Quest for God and the Good" sets forth a path of investigation and discovery culminating in intellectual and spiritual communion.

While the problem of evil remains a perennial challenge to theistic belief, little attention has been paid to the special problem of animal pain and suffering. This absence is especially conspicuous in our Darwinian era when theists are forced to confront the fact that animal pain and suffering has gone on for at least tens of millions of years, through billions of animal generations. Evil of this sort might not be especially problematic if the standard of explanations for evil employed by theists could be applied in this instance as well. But there is the central problem: all or most of the explanations for evil cited by theists seem impotent to explain the reality of animal pain and suffering through evolutionary history. Nature Red in Tooth and Claw addresses the evil of animal pain and suffering directly, scrutinizing explanations that have been offered for such evil.

This book attempts to make a contribution to the New Testament doctrine of the Spirit, with special reference to the paraclete problem. Dr Johnston begins with the use of the word 'spirit' in the Gospel of John and treats it as primarily 'impersonal'. It denotes divine power or energy. God acts by his spirit, both to create and to redeem. The Fourth Evangelist shows Jesus as the incarnate Word, a man uniquely inspired, whose absence after death is compensated for by an outburst of spiritual powers in his Church. The paraclete is representative of God or of Christ, and the Johannine teaching is that no angelmediator, no holy 'spirit' like the Archangel Michael, can take Christ's place. But truly inspired leaders - acting as teachers, exegetes, martyrs - and the inspired Church itself as a communion of love do embody the spirit-paraclete and do continue to represent Jesus. Special attention is paid to recent research on this subject, mainly in the area of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr Johnston argues that in insisting that the true spirit-paraclete must always exalt and interpret Jesus of Nazareth as the final revelation of God in man, John was in fact combating heretical views.

We are still surprised by evil. From Auschwitz to the events of September 11, we have been shocked into recognizing the startling capacity for evil within the human heart. We now know 9/11 revealed that our country was unprepared in terms of national security, but it also showed we were intellectually and morally unprepared to deal with such a barbaric act.

Our language to describe evil and our ethical will to resist it have grown uncertain and confused. Many who speak unabashedly of evil are dismissed as simplistic, old-fashioned, and out of tune with the realities of modern life. Yet we must have some kind of language to help us understand the pain and suffering at the heart of human experience.

Author and speaker Os Guinness confronts our inability to understand evil - let alone respond to it effectively - by providing both a lexicon and a strategy for finding a way forward. Since 9/11, much public discussion has centered on the destructiveness of extremist religion. Guinness provocatively argues that this is far from an accurate picture and too easy an explanation. In this expansive exploration of both the causes of modern evil and solutions for the future, he faces our tragic recent past and our disturbing present with courageous honesty. In order to live an "examined life," Guinness writes, we must come to terms with our beliefs regarding evil and ultimately join the fight against it.

Addressing individuals as well as a traumatized culture, Unspeakable is an invitation to explore the challenge of contemporary evil, a call to confront our culture of fear, and a journey to find words to come to terms with the unspeakable so that it will no longer leave us mute.

Throughout his ministry, Pastor Jason Noble has witnessed miracles. And he was there when John Smith--a young boy who had fallen through ice and been declared dead--walked out of the hospital two weeks after being surrounded by prayer. Why, he asks, don't believers see more wonders like this one? In this powerful companion to the major motion picture Breakthrough, with a foreword from DeVon Franklin, Noble - reveals the heart of miracles - explores inspiring biblical and present-day accounts - shows how God works in believers to invade the natural with the supernatural - provides principles and tools to help readers welcome the miraculous God longs to work wonders in your life. Let this book help you believe with boldness!

Sandra Visser and Thomas Williams offer a brief, accessible introduction to the life and thought of St. Anselm (c. 1033-1109). Anselm, who was Archbishop of Canterbury for the last 16 years of his life, is unquestionably one of the foremost philosopher-theologians of the Middle Ages. Indeed he may have been the greatest Christian thinker in the 800 years between Augustine and Aquinas. His keen and rigorous thinking earned him the title 'The Father of Scholasticism.' The influence of his contributions to ethics and philosophical theology is clearly discernible in figures as various as Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, the voluntarists of the late-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the Protestant Reformers. The prevalence of self-identified Anselmians - and anti-Anselmians - in contemporary philosophy of religion attests to the enduring importance of his approach to the divine nature. Visser and Williams's book falls into two main parts. The first will elucidate Anselm's metaphysics, concluding with an examination of Anselm's account of truth, which serves as a capstone for his metaphysical system. The second part focuses on Anselm's theory of knowledge. Topics considered include Anselm's general account of cognition and his odd but compelling theory of language-acquisition and the role it plays in discourse about the divine. The third section of the book is devoted to the moral life. Anselm's account of the foundations of ethics is philosophically of great interest, the authors show, because it effectively combines insights that contemporary philosophers have thought to be antithetical. In the fourth and last section, they turn to Anselm's philosophical explorations of Christian doctrine, including Redemption, the Trinity, and the Incarnation. They show how Anselm puts his metaphysical system to work in establishing the coherence of Christian doctrine and explain how his philosophical theology rests on his theory of knowledge.

Why does God survive, flourish even, in our secular age? This book recognizes that religion and science, two different ways of making sense of the world, are indeed irreconcilable. It does not seek to fit either one into the world view of the other. Instead it argues that we need to embrace this incompatibility, and recognize that this mystery stems from essential facts about the psychological make up of the human being. The book draws on two sources of data to advance its argument; the findings of cognitive science about the limitations and characteristics of the way in which our brains are wired up, and experience; experience documented by revered mystics of the past, and experience of people of our time who have ventured into the borderland between mysticism and madness. We need a more sophisticated understanding of spirituality to recognize how our yearning for the sacred can be abused and exploited, whether by dangerous fundamentalism or cynical capitalist advertising.

The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people-as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn't easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort-by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others-helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits-but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

Sandra Visser and Thomas Williams offer a brief, accessible introduction to the life and thought of St. Anselm (c. 1033-1109). Anselm, who was Archbishop of Canterbury for the last 16 years of his life, is unquestionably one of the foremost philosopher-theologians of the Middle Ages. Indeed he may have been the greatest Christian thinker in the 800 years between Augustine and Aquinas. His keen and rigorous thinking earned him the title 'The Father of Scholasticism.' The influence of his contributions to ethics and philosophical theology is clearly discernible in figures as various as Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, the voluntarists of the late-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the Protestant Reformers. The prevalence of self-identified Anselmians - and anti-Anselmians - in contemporary philosophy of religion attests to the enduring importance of his approach to the divine nature. Visser and Williams's book falls into two main parts. The first will elucidate Anselm's metaphysics, concluding with an examination of Anselm's account of truth, which serves as a capstone for his metaphysical system. The second part focuses on Anselm's theory of knowledge. Topics considered include Anselm's general account of cognition and his odd but compelling theory of language-acquisition and the role it plays in discourse about the divine. The third section of the book is devoted to the moral life. Anselm's account of the foundations of ethics is philosophically of great interest, the authors show, because it effectively combines insights that contemporary philosophers have thought to be antithetical. In the fourth and last section, they turn to Anselm's philosophical explorations of Christian doctrine, including Redemption, the Trinity, and the Incarnation. They show how Anselm puts his metaphysical system to work in establishing the coherence of Christian doctrine and explain how his philosophical theology rests on his theory of knowledge.