A century that began with modernism sweeping across Europe is ending with a remarkable resurgence of religious beliefs and practices throughout the world. Wherever one looks today, from headlines about political turmoil in the Middle East to pop music and videos, one cannot escape the pivotal role of religious beliefs and practices in shaping selves, societies, and cultures.
Following in the very successful tradition of "Critical Terms for Literary Studies" and "Critical Terms for Art History," this book attempts to provide a revitalized, self-aware vocabulary with which this bewildering religious diversity can be accurately described and responsibly discussed. Leading scholars working in a variety of traditions demonstrate through their incisive discussions that even our most basic terms for understanding religion are not neutral but carry specific historical and conceptual freight.
These essays adopt the approach that has won this book's predecessors such widespread acclaim: each provides a concise history of a critical term, explores the issues raised by the term, and puts the term to use in an analysis of a religious work, practice, or event. Moving across Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Native American and Mayan religions, contributors explore terms ranging from experience, territory, and image, to God, sacrifice, and transgression.
The result is an essential reference that will reshape the field of religious studies and transform the way in which religion is understood by scholars from all disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, gender studies, and literary studies.

In this biblically grounded study, Stanley Grenz synthesizes theology, ethics, and current medical research to offer an evangelical perspective on the profound role that sexuality does, and should, play in our lives today. He calls for Christians to live a biblical sexual ethic in the contemporary world, at the same calling on the church to recognize that its mandate includes being a reconciling community, one that proclaims God's grace to all.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies responds to and celebrates the explosion of research in this inter-disciplinary field over recent decades. As a one-volume reference work, it provides an introduction to the academic study of early Christianity (c. 100-600 AD) and examines the vast geographical area impacted by the early church, in Western and Eastern late antiquity. It is thematically arranged to encompass history, literature, thought, practices, and material culture. It contains authoritative and up-to-date surveys of current thinking and research in the various sub-specialties of early Christian studies, written by leading figures in the discipline. The essays orientate readers to a given topic, as well as to the trajectory of research developments over the past 30-50 years within the scholarship itself. Guidance for future research is also given. Each essay points the reader towards relevant forms of extant evidence (texts, documents, or examples of material culture), as well as to the appropriate research tools available for the area.
This volume will be useful to advanced undergraduate and post-graduate students, as well as to specialists in any area who wish to consult a brief review of the 'state of the question' in a particular area or sub-specialty of early Christian studies, especially one different from their own.

At once brave and athletic, virtuous and modest, female martyrs in the second and third centuries were depicted as self-possessed gladiators who at the same time exhibited the quintessentially "womanly" qualities of modesty, fertility, and beauty. L. Stephanie Cobb explores the double embodiment of "male" and "female" gender ideals in these figures, connecting them to Greco-Roman virtues and the construction of Christian group identities.

Both male and female martyrs conducted their battles in the amphitheater, a masculine environment that enabled the divine combatants to showcase their strength, virility, and volition. These Christian martyr accounts also illustrated masculinity through the language of justice, resistance to persuasion, and-more subtly but most effectively-the juxtaposition of "unmanly" individuals (usually slaves, the old, or the young) with those at the height of male maturity and accomplishment (such as the governor or the proconsul).

Imbuing female martyrs with the same strengths as their male counterparts served a vital function in Christian communities. Faced with the possibility of persecution, Christians sought to inspire both men and women to be braver than pagan and Jewish men. Yet within the community itself, traditional gender roles had to be maintained, and despite the call to be manly, Christian women were expected to remain womanly in relation to the men of their faith. Complicating our understanding of the social freedoms enjoyed by early Christian women, Cobb's investigation reveals the dual function of gendered language in martyr texts and its importance in laying claim to social power.

With Christian revivals (including Evangelicals in the White House), Islamic radicalism and the revitalisation of traditional religions it is clear that the world is not heading towards a community of secular states. Nowhere are religious thought and political practice more closely intertwined than in Africa. African migrants in Europe and America who send home money to build churches and mosques, African politicians who consult diviners, guerrilla fighters who believe that amulets can protect them from bullets, and ordinary people who seek ritual healing: all of these are applying religious ideas to everyday problems of existence, at every level of society. Far from falling off the map of the world, Africa is today a leading centre of Christianity and a growing field of Islamic activism, while African traditional religions are gaining converts in the West.
One cannot understand the politics of the present without taking religious thought seriously. Stories about witches, miracles, or people returning from the dead incite political action. In Africa religious belief has a huge impact on politics, from the top of society to the bottom. Religious ideas show what people actually think about the world and how to deal with it. Ellis and Ter Haar maintain that the specific content of religious thought has to be mastered if we are to grasp the political significance of religion in Africa today, but their book also informs our understanding of the relationship between religion and political practice in general.

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human. In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus's own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners. Ehrman's discussion ranges from considerations of various "lost scriptures"-including forged gospels supposedly written by Simon Peter, Jesus's closest disciple, and Judas Thomas, Jesus's alleged twin brother-to the disparate beliefs of such groups as the Jewish-Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, and various "Gnostic" sects. Ehrman examines in depth the battles that raged between "proto-orthodox Christians"- those who eventually compiled the canonical books of the New Testament and standardized Christian belief-and the groups they denounced as heretics and ultimately overcame. Scrupulously researched and lucidly written, Lost Christianities is an eye-opening account of politics, power, and the clash of ideas among Christians in the decades before one group came to see its views prevail.

@lt;DIV@gt;This unique book surveys within the various literary genres the parallels between the Bible and the literature of the ancient Near East. Each section begins with a survey of the available ancient literature, continues with a discussion of the literature, and concludes with a discussion of cases of alleged borrowing. The genres covered are - cosmology - laws - historical literature - wisdom literature - apocalyptic literature - personal archives and epics - covenants and treaties - hymns, prayers, and incantations - prophetic literature@lt;/div@gt;

Practical Theology is a growing discipline in its own right, and the latest thinking in practical theology; of how to use theological learning in practical situations, is fully explored in this new edition of an established textbook. The authors examine methodologies of the social sciences and questions how they can enable the task of theological reflection; examine the relationship between qualitative and quantitative methods and highlight the significance of both for the task of practical theology. They also take the reader through the actual process of developing and carrying out a research project using the author's own research as case study examples. Previous case studies include: the rise in spirituality; the decline in church attendance, evidence-based medicine compared to needs-led assessments, the growth in chaplaincy and how it is understood as separate from parish ministry. In this second edition, case studies and all bibliographies have been updated plus a new chapter has been added.

Synopsis: Creating Women's Theology engages women's questions: Can women from different religious traditions engage one theological approach? Can one philosophical approach support feminist religious thought? What kind of belief follows women's criticism of traditional Christianity? Creating Women's Theology offers a portrait of how some women have found room for faith and feminism. For the last twenty-five years, women religion scholars have synthesized process philosophy with their feminist sensibilities and faith commitments to highlight the value of experience, the importance of freedom, and the interdependence of humanity, God, and all creation. Cutting across cultural and religious traditions, process relational feminist thought represents a theology that women have created. This volume offers an introduction to process and feminist theologies before presenting selections from canonical works in the field with study questions. This volume includes voices from Christianity, Judaism, goddess religion, the Black church, and indigenous religions. Creating Women's Theology invites new generations of undergraduate, seminary, and university graduate students to the methods and insights of process relational feminist theology. Endorsements: "Fifty years ago Valerie Saivings noted the congeniality between the process critique of the philosophical and theological tradition and the insights of Christian women. This remarkable volume shows how the work of women process theologians and of feminists and womanists who found process categories useful together constitute a single richly textured movement. From the perspective of this male process theologian, this movement is today the most promising expression of process theology. Indeed, I view it as embodying the cutting edge of Christian theology as a whole." --John B. Cobb Jr. Claremont Graduate School and Claremont School of Theology "Creating Women's Theology is an important contribution to the literature. It offers a good summary of the relation to feminism and process theology. It also delves into some basic questions about the universality of feminist approaches to theology in different religious traditions. This book will be a helpful introduction for courses in feminist theology." --Rosemary Radford Ruether Claremont Graduate University "In its relational structure and transtemporal movement, this book works like a society of occasions in process should It is a beautifully aimed series of reflective events, displaying the transgenerational trajectories of the feminist and womanist process theologies as they have been massively but often indirectly unfolding. By making this movement within a movement so becomingly readable and so dialogically explicit, by highlighting its intersections with other movements and its internal differences, it will lure yet another generation of thinkers into a vital conversation." --Catherine Keller Drew University Theological School Editor Biography: Monica A. Coleman is Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religions and Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology and Associate Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. She is the author of The Dinah Project: A Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence (2004) and Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology (2008). Nancy R. Howell is Professor of Theology and Philosophy of Religion and Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. She is author of A Feminist Cosmology: Ecology, Solidarity, and Metaphysics (2000). Helene Tallon Russell is Associate Professor of Theology at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is author of Irigaray and Kierkegaard: On the Construction of the Self (2009).

Reflecting the methodological shift in the reading of biblical texts that has evolved over some years, the focus is on understanding the New Testament message and not on the origins and prehistory of the text. The contribution of other disciplines such as communication science, linguistics, as well as literary and sociological studies to biblical exegesis also receives thorough attention. The fifteen chapters move from theory to the process of explaining and understanding texts, including contributions on hermeneutics, textual and redaction criticism, discourse analysis, narrative criticism, reception criticism, speech act analysis and rhetorical criticism and concludes with a chapter on Bible translation studies. Numerous diagrams and examples are included to illustrate theoretical concepts and extensive bibliographies refer the reader to recent as well as classic publications on the various topics.The contributors are, in addition to our editor, South African academics that have published internationally on New Testament exegesis: Bernard Lategan, Johannes Vorster, Herman du Toit, G.J.A. Jordaan, Andries van Aarde, Jan van der Watt, Stephan Joubert, Bernard Combrink, Eugene Botha and John Roberts.

The SCM Studyguide to Biblical Hermeneutics offers entry-level undergraduates a framework for interpreting the Bible. The book goes beyond offering guidance on how to do exegesis, and is intended as a practical tool to help readers develop good interpretative strategies for themselves. As such it features pedagogical tools such as Try it Out boxes to assist students to develop a tested and thought-through overall interpretative strategy of their own. Market-tested to ensure a good coverage of the typical topics found on a standard level-one hermeneutics course, SCM Studyguide to Biblical Hermeneutics is designed as a practical and comprehensive companion to coursework, be that within a secular institution, a theological institution or within Church reading groups. The authors set out from the beginning to make clear that interpretation of the Bible is largely affected by the readers own situation and therefore, the text is designed to guide the reader through the myriad of accepted methods of interpretation, no matter what the readers own perspective or situation may be.

We live in an age of incredible medical technology, and with it, a great emphasis on health and well-being. We fully entrust the care of our bodies to the medical profession, often taking its solutions and judgments as gospel. But what role, if any, should our Christian faith play in all this?
In "Reclaiming the Body, " a physician and a theologian take a critical look at some of the assumptions we draw from the medical profession and explore what theology has to say about medicine, our bodies, our health, and the Body of Christ. The authors deal with such issues as suffering, caring for the sick, children and reproductive technologies, medicine and the poor, our obsession with physical perfection, and death and dying.

The question of the transcendence of God has traditionally been thought in terms of the difference between pantheism, which affirms that God is wholly "within" the world, and theism, which affirms that God is both "within" and "outside" the world, both immanent and transcendent. Against Heidegger s critique of onto-theology and the general postmodern concern for respecting and preserving the difference of the other, Merold Westphal seeks to rethink divine transcendence in relation to modes of human self-transcendence. Touching upon Spinoza, Hegel, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Aquinas, Barth, Kierkegaard, Levinas, Derrida, and Marion, Westphal s work centers around a critique of onto-theology, the importance of alterity, the decentered self, and the autonomous transcendental ego. Westphal s phenomenology of faith sets this book into the main currents of Continental philosophy of religion today."

'Faith in Development' discusses the principles and practicalities of a partnership, covering a broad range of development topics. It draws on an extraordinary conference held in Nairobi in March 2000, organized jointly by the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa and the World Bank, to explore closer collaboration, especially at the grassroots level. This book provides a fascinating glimpse of the spiritual dimensions of poverty. Foreword by James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, and George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury.

In this groundbreaking book, Benezet Bujo, a leading voice in African Christian theology, offers an informed critique of Western ethics and lays the theoretical groundwork for a new African ethic. By skillfully drawing on themes from African life such as marriage, therapy, and art, Bujo exposes the shortcomings of the philosophical anthropology implicit in Western ethics, comparing Western theories of natural law, discourse ethics, and communitarianism with the African emphasis on community and remembrance. He then considers whether African ethics can account for central Western values such as autonomy, freedom, and individual identity. Finally, he considers how African ethics both challenges the Church and contributes to its richness, suggesting that an African palaver ethic can integrate the best features of communitarianism and discourse ethics. This timely contribution to African theology will be of special interest to students of religion, comparative and non-Western philosophy, anthropology, and African studies, as well as those intrigued by ongoing debates about universal ethical norms.

A popular introduction to archaeology and the methods archaeologists use to reconstruct the history of ancient Israel.

Sedert die Hervorming het die ontwikkeling in die natuurwetenskap, die geskiedenis en die literatuurwetenskap die verstaan en uitleg van die Bybel ingrypend beinvloed. Sommige van die nuwe interpretasies is radikaal, tog het die nuwere sienswyses ook bygedra tot 'n beter verstaan van die mense van wie die Bybel vertel, en van hulle leefwereld.

FUNCITIONAL IMAGES OF THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR is one of those rare and precious books which helps religious educators explore and clarify their own special identity as religious educators. This special identity is revealed in ten basic functional roles which are central to religious education enactment. The author shows that while religious educators perform most and possibly all these ten basic functional roles, nonetheless one predominates. This dominant role, plus the way the religious educator harmoniously integrates the other roles into the dominant one, is the key to each religious educator's own special identity.

From Plato to Wittgenstein and religions from Judaism to the Hindu tradition, interspersed with divine influences from Classical Greece, Romantic poetry, and the occasional scene from 'Alien', 'God: A Guide for the Perplexed' charts the path of humanity's great spiritual odyssey: the search for God. Leading the way through this minefield is acclaimed philosopher-theologian Keith Ward, blending the sublime and the eclectic in a narrative which offers wit, erudition and moments of genuine pathos. As a survey of the different manifestations of God through the centuries, and an examination of humanity's search for the divine, this is an engaging and informative book. As a deeply moving testament to our endless capacity for spiritual hope, it is compulsive reading for anyone interested in, or embarking on, the great quest for meaning. 'A lively and very clearly written discussion summarizing and criticizing the thoughts of many significant thinkers.' Times Literary Supplement 'Wry but delightfully non-ironic, intelligent and clear, this book is a blessing. ' Publishers Weekly 'Highly informed, witty and immensely accessible. One of the most congenial, lively and informative introductions to this field.' Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology, Oxford University

"Thematic examination of monotheistic religions" The second edition of "Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions," compares Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using seven common themes which are equally relevant to each tradition. Provoking critical thinking, this text addresses the cultural framework of religious meanings and explores the similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it explains the ongoing process of interpretation in each religion. The book is designed for courses in Western and World Religions. Note: MySearchLab does no come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit www.MySearchLab.com or you can purchase a valuepack of the text + MySearchLab (9780205026340)

Archaeology still has many things to reveal about the life and world of Jesus of Nazareth. To touch a two-thousand-year-old pot held by a Jew who lived in a small village frequented by Jesus can bring us closer to understanding those who were touched by Jesus.

"Jesus and Archaeology" contains the revised and edited lectures that leading archaeologists and biblical scholars presented at a gathering in Jerusalem to celebrate the new millennium. Many contributors came directly from their excavations in places like Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Jerusalem to share their discoveries and insights, focusing on the question "In what ways do new archaeological discoveries clarify the world, life, and thought of Jesus from Nazareth?" Readers of "Jesus and Archaeology" will gain many new insights into the life and times of this fascinating Galilean Jew.

Contributors: Paul N. Anderson
Rami Arav
Dan Bahat
Richard A. Batey
Avraham Biran
Brian J. Capper
James H. Charlesworth
Bruce Chilton
James D. G. Dunn
J. K. Elliott
Esther Eshel
Craig A. Evans
Sean Freyne
Yizhar Hirschfeld
William Klassen
John S. Kloppenborg
Achim Lichtenberger
Frederic Manns
John Painter
Michele Piccirillo, O.F.M.
Bargil Pixner, O.S.B.
Emile Puech
John Reumann
Peter Richardson
Henry W. M. Rietz
Daniel R. Schwartz
Benedict Thomas Viviano, O.P.
Urban C. von Wahlde
John W. Welch
Jurgen Zangenberg
Joseph E. Zias

Denise and John Carmody introduce the concept of mysticism and its practice in each of the world's major religions. For each religion they provide a brief description of its history, doctrine, and major mystical figures, and compare its mystical dimension to those of other traditions.

Writing in the wake of a near-fatal stroke, eminent theologian Anthony C. Thiselton addresses a universally significant topic: death and what comes next. This distinctive study of "the last things" comprehensively explores questions about individual death, the intermediate state, the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, hell, the final state of the redeemed, and more. At once scholarly and pastoral, Thiselton's Life after Death offers biblically astute, historically informed, and intellectually sound answers -- making this book an invaluable resource for thinking Christians.

This is an introduction to feminist and gender-critical perspectives on the New Testament and other early Christian writings.In this introductory book, Vander Stichele and Penner outline a gender-critical approach to the New Testament and discuss the issues involved. Building on feminist analysis, gender-criticism explores the place of both women and men in, behind, and in front of the text, but also understands sexual identities as part and parcel of the study of gender identities in both text and context, assessing the relative configuration of such identities through their broader, rhetorical, ideological, and socio-cultural contexts in the ancient (and modern) worlds.The authors clearly set out the methodology and hermeneutical issues and then give concrete examples of how gender-critical exegesis affects the reading of texts. The New Testament is not considered in isolation, rather the book deals with early Christian Literature in a more general sense, in that the issues discussed are related to the study of that broad body of literature and concrete examples either come from those texts or tackle issues at stake in them. This book is unique in terms of its range as well as in the explicit methodological focus that is fostered. Furthermore, it is a joint project of scholars from different cultural backgrounds, but with a similar interest and complementary skills.