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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian sacred works & liturgy
Exploring the literature of environmental moral dilemmas from the
Hebrew Bible to modern times, this book argues the necessity of
cross-disciplinary approaches to environmental studies, as a
subject affecting everyone, in every aspect of life. Moral dilemmas
are central in the literary genre of protest against the effects of
industry, particularly in Romantic literature and 'Condition of
England' novels. Writers from the time of the Industrial Revolution
to the present-including William Blake, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles
Dickens, Emile Zola, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, T.S. Eliot, John
Steinbeck, George Orwell, and J.M. Coetzee-follow the Bible in
seeing environmental problems in moral terms, as a consequence of
human agency. The issues raised by these and other
writers-including damage to the environment and its effects on
health and quality of life, particularly on the poor; economic
conflicts of interest; water and air pollution, deforestation, and
the environmental effects of war-are fundamentally the same today,
making their works a continual source of interest and insight.
Sketching a brief literary history on the impact of human behavior
on the environment, this volume will be of interest to readers
researching environmental studies, literary studies, religious
studies and international development, as well as a useful resource
to scientists and readers of the Arts.
This book introduces readers to Indian philosophy by presenting the
first integral English translation of Vaisesikasutra as preserved
by the earliest canonical commentary of Candrananda (7th century
AD) on the old aphorisms of the Vaisesika school of Indian
philosophy. The present monograph offers a canonical description of
the fundamental categories of ontology and metaphysics, among which
the category of 'particularity' (visesa) plays a major role in the
'problem of individuation' of the 'nature' of substance in both
Indian as well as Western metaphysics. This commentary should be
read primarily in relation to Aristotle's Categories. It is
structured in 3 parts. Chapter 1 contains a general introduction to
Indian philosophy and the Vaisesika system. Chapter 2 is a
textual-philological discussion on the commentary itself, since its
first publication in 1961 by Muni Jambuvijayaji up to the present
day. Chapter 3 is a 'philosophical translation' that reads
Vaisesika in the global context of Comparative Philosophy and aims
to render this text accessible and comprehensible to all readers
interested in ontology and metaphysics. A new reference work and a
fundamental introduction to anyone interested in Indian and
Comparative Philosophy, this volume will be of interest to scholars
and students in Classical Studies, Modern Philosophy, and Asian
Religions and Philosophies.
There is much more to the Qur'an than the selective quotations
favoured by Islamic fundamentalists. This book provides a
student-friendly guide to the many ways in which the Qur'an can be
read.
Designed for both Muslims and Western non-Muslim students, it
examines the Qur'an in Western scholarship as well as giving an
overview of the rich interpretive traditions from the time of the
Prophet Muhammad to the present day.
This guide is a concise introduction to all aspects of the
Qur'an: history, understanding and interpretation, providing:
- coverage of both pre-modern and modern periods
- plenty of examples to illustrate key points and aid student
understanding
- summaries, timelines and a glossary.
What is the Bhagavad-Gita? Is it just a religious text? When was it
composed? How relevant is it to the modern world? This book answers
these foundational questions and more. It critically examines the
Bhagavad-Gita in terms of its liberal, humanist and inclusive
appeal, bringing out its significance for both present times and
novel applications. The author elaborates the philosophy underlying
the text as well as its ethical and spiritual implications. He also
responds to criticisms that have been levelled against the text by
Ambedkar, D. D. Kosambi and, more recently, Amartya Sen. With
additional material including chapter summaries of the
Bhagavad-Gita, the second edition of the volume proposes new ways
of utilising the text in diverse fields, such as business and
management and scientific research. Eclectic and accessible, this
work will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, religion,
history, business and management studies, as well as the general
reader.
Dialogue is a recurring and significant component of Indian
religious and philosophical literature. Whether it be as a
narrative account of a conversation between characters within a
text, as an implied response or provocation towards an interlocutor
outside the text, or as a hermeneutical lens through which
commentators and modern audiences can engage with an ancient text,
dialogue features prominently in many of the most foundational
sources from classical India. Despite its ubiquity, there are very
few studies that explore this important facet of Indian texts. This
book redresses this imbalance by undertaking a close textual
analysis of a range of religious and philosophical literature to
highlight the many uses and functions of dialogue in the sources
themselves and in subsequent interpretations. Using the themes of
encounter, transformation and interpretation - all of which emerged
from face-to-face discussions between the contributors of this
volume - each chapter explores dialogue in its own context, thereby
demonstrating the variety and pervasiveness of dialogue in
different genres of the textual tradition. This is a rich and
detailed study that offers a fresh and timely perspective on many
of the most well-known and influential sources from classical
India. As such, it will be of great use to scholars of religious
studies, Asian studies, comparative literature and literary theory.
This book attempts to equip the reader with a holistic and
accessible account of Islam and evolution. It guides the reader
through the different variables that have played a part in the
ongoing dialogue between Muslim creationists and evolutionists.
This work views the discussion through the lens of al-Ghazali
(1058-1111), a widely-known and well-respected Islamic intellectual
from the medieval period. By understanding al-Ghazali as an
Ash'arite theologian, a particular strand of Sunni theology, his
metaphysical and hermeneutic ideas are taken to explore if and how
much Neo-Darwinian evolution can be accepted. It is shown that his
ideas can be used to reach an alignment between Islam and
Neo-Darwinian evolution. This book offers a detailed examination
that seeks to offer clarity if not agreement in the midst of an
intense intellectual conflict and polarity amongst Muslims. As
such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Science and
Religion, Theology, Philosophy of Religion, Islamic Studies, and
Religious Studies more generally. *Winner of the International
Society for Science & Religion (ISSR) book prize 2022 (academic
category)*
Ritual in Deuteronomy explores the symbolic world of Deuteronomy's
ritual covenant and curses through a lens of religious studies and
anthropology, drawing on previously unexamined Mesopotamian
material. This book focuses on the ritual material in Deuteronomy
including commands regarding sacrifice, prayer objects, and
especially the dramatic ritual enactment of the covenant including
curses. The book's most unique feature is an entirely new
comparative study of Deut 27-30 with two ritual texts from
Mesopotamia. No studies to date have undertaken a comparison of
Deut 27-30 with ancient Near Eastern ritual texts outside of the
treaty oath tradition. This fresh comparison illuminates how the
ritual life of ancient Israel shaped the literary form of
Deuteronomy and concludes that the performance of oaths was a
social strategy, addressing contemporary anxieties and reinforcing
systems of cultural power. This book offers a fascinating
comparative study which will be of interest to undergraduate and
graduate students in biblical studies, classical Hebrew, theology,
and ancient Near Eastern studies. The book's more technical aspects
will also appeal to scholars of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy,
Biblical Law, Ancient Near Eastern History, Mesopotamian Studies,
and Classics.
This volume brings together the work of a group of Islamic studies
scholars from across the globe. They discuss how past and present
Muslim women have participated in the struggle for gender justice
in Muslim communities and around the world. The essays demonstrate
a diversity of methodological approaches, religious and secular
sources, and theoretical frameworks for understanding Muslim
negotiations of gender norms and practices. Part I (Concepts) puts
into conversation women scholars who define Muslima theology and
Islamic feminism vis-a-vis secular notions of gender diversity and
discuss the deployment of the oppression of Muslim women as a
hegemonic imperialist strategy. The chapters in Part II (Sources)
engage with the Qur'an, hadith, and sunna as religious sources to
be examined and reinterpreted in the quest for gender justice as
God's will and the example of the Prophet Muhammad. In Part III
(Histories), contributors search for Muslim women's agency as
scholars, thinkers, and activists from the early period of Islam to
the present - from Southeast Asia to North America. Representing a
transnational and cross-generational conversation, this work will
be a key resource to students and scholars interested in the
history of Islamic feminism, Muslim women, gender justice, and
Islam.
This book provides a comprehensive study on the proclamation of
Holy Scriptures as an enacted celebration, as well as its function
as a performance within sacralized theatrical spaces. Scripture is
integral to religious life within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,
and these traditions have venerated the reading of texts from an
appointed place as a sacred act. Thus, the study of how these
readings are conducted illuminates some vitally important aspects
of this widespread act of worship. Contributing to an underexplored
area of scholarship, the book offers an overview of scripture
reading in the three Abrahamic faiths and then focuses on where and
how the "Word of God" is presented within the Christian tradition.
It gathers and summarizes research on the origins of a defined
place for the proclamation of holy writings, giving a thorough
architectural analysis and interpretation of the various uses and
symbols related to these spaces over time. Finally, the listener is
considered with a phenomenological description of the place for
reading and its hermeneutical interpretation. The material in this
book uncovers the contemporary impact of a rich history of publicly
reading out scriptures. It will, therefore, be of great interest to
scholars of liturgical theology, religious studies, and ritual
studies.
First published in 1909, this book presents an English translation
of chapters 25-42 of the Bhishma Parva from the epic Sanskrit poem
Mahabharata - better known as the Bhagavad-Gita, reckoned as one of
the "Five Jewels" of Devanagari literature. The plot consists of a
dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, the Supreme Deity, in a
war-chariot prior to a great battle. The conversation that takes
place unfolds a philosophical system which remains the prevailing
Brahmanic belief, blending the doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and
the Vedas. Building on a number of preceding translations, this
highly-regarded poetic interpretation provides a major work of
literature in an accessible popular form.
The Qur'an between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic is
one of the few book-length studies on an Ottoman Qur'an commentary.
Its premise is that "the Ottoman Empire" did not come to an end
until 1950 so far as Islam was concerned in Turkey. The work
explores the relationship between Elmalili's Qur'an commentary and
the intellectual trends of the period, including the impact of
materialism, the sciences, notions of civilizational progress, and
philosophy. In doing so, this study emphasizes the "local" aspect
of the Qur'an commentary, through a sustained focus on the Istanbul
context in which it was written. This work demonstrates that
Elmalili's Qur'an commentary is a product of and reaction to the
religious, intellectual, political, and social trends of the
period. This work, in considering all the factors that led to the
commissioning of Elmalili's Qur'an commentary, also contributes to
our understanding of the history of Islam in early to
mid-twentieth-century Turkey. This intellectual history of modern
Islamic thought contributes to our understanding of the genre of
Qur'an commentary in the early twentieth century. It is a key text
for students and scholars interested in Islam in the Ottoman Empire
and Turkey, modern Islamic thought, and the Middle East.
The Mahabharata, one of the major epics of India, is a sourcebook
complete by itself as well as an open text constantly under
construction. This volume looks at transactions between its modern
discourses and ancient vocabulary. Located amid conversations
between these two conceptual worlds, the volume grapples with the
epic's problematisation of dharma or righteousness, and
consequently, of the ideal person and the good life through a
cluster of issues surrounding the concept of agency and action.
Drawing on several interdisciplinary approaches, the essays reflect
on a range of issues in the Mahabharata, including those of duty,
motivation, freedom, selfhood, choice, autonomy, and justice, both
in the context of philosophical debates and their ethical and
political ramifications for contemporary times. This book will be
of interest to scholars and researchers engaged with philosophy,
literature, religion, history, politics, culture, gender, South
Asian studies, and Indology. It will also appeal to the general
reader interested in South Asian epics and the Mahabharata.
Text Linguistics of Qur'anic Discourse is an in-depth investigation
of the fabric of Qur'anic Discourse. It unravels the texture of the
macro Qur'anic text; its cohesion and coherence systems; the
notions of intertextuality, semantic relatedness, and thematic
sequentiality; the macro textual features of ellipsis, repetition,
and argumentation structure; and the contextual, co-textual,
grammatical, and semantic factors involved in the macro Qur'anic
text. This book is a valuable and methodologically consistent
learning and teaching academic resource for universities worldwide
in this intriguing new discipline. Through its methodologically
coherent discussion and in-depth analysis that is hinged upon
modern European text linguistics, Text Linguistics of Qur'anic
Discourse provides an insight into the newly established discipline
of text linguistics, and explores the different layers of the macro
Qur'anic text as an academic requirement.
This volume is a systematic and comprehensive introduction to one
of the most read texts in South Asia, the Bhagavad-gita. The
Bhagavad-gita is at its core a religious text, a philosophical
treatise and a literary work, which has occupied an authoritative
position within Hinduism for the past millennium. This book brings
together themes central to the study of the Gita, as it is
popularly known - such as the Bhagavad-gita's structure, the
history of its exegesis, its acceptance by different traditions
within Hinduism and its national and global relevance. It
highlights the richness of the Gita's interpretations, examines its
great interpretive flexibility and at the same time offers a
conceptual structure based on a traditional commentarial tradition.
With contributions from major scholars across the world, this book
will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of religious
studies, especially Hinduism, Indian philosophy, Asian philosophy,
Indian history, literature and South Asian studies.
This book, first published in 1968, comprises five articles on the
immortality of the soul. According to Hindu tradition this
immortality cannot be proved by the scientific method of reasoning
- it is based upon scriptural evidence and on the direct experience
of enlightened souls. These articles examine the Hindu tradition
and provide reasoned support to the scriptures and experiences.
Indian art, increasingly popular in the west, cannot be fully
appreciated without some knowledge of the religious and
philosophical background. This book, first published in 1985,
covers all aspects of Hindu iconography, and explains that its
roots lie far back in the style of prehistoric art. The dictionary
demonstrates the rich profusion of cults, divinities, symbols,
sects and philosophical views encompassed by the Hindu religious
tradition.
This book, first published in 1957, was the first in English to
provide a full and clear introduction to one of the most
significant of Indian gods, and stresses his supreme role in Indian
religion and art. The book relates the full Krishna story,
explaining his role in Indian religion, and traces the history of
Krishna in Indian painting. There are 39 plates of Indian pictures,
each accompanied by a commentary by the author, revealing a wealth
of subtle and poetic detail.
This book, first published in 1968, is a collection of twenty-five
lectures by Swami Prabhavananda, the outstanding scholar and
translator of Hindu scriptures. They present a direct and pragmatic
approach to spiritual life, and a clear guide to Hinduism.
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