One of the main consequences of recent work in early modern intellectual and religious history has been a discrediting of the notion of a sudden and dramatic transition to the spiritual world of the Enlightenment. Scholars are increasingly examining the underlying spiritual trends and tendencies which confirm the variety and complexity of the slow movement from Renaissance to Enlightenment, and the profound impact of many of the manifestations of intellectual and religious tension during the early modern period. The essays in this volume are a contribution to this process of reappraisal, focusing specifically on the phenomena of scepticism and millenarianism, especially as part of the more pronounced role of the Jews and their culture.

Thirteen European and American theologians treat the entire historical development and theological significance of a major Roman Catholic doctrine in The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception published (University of Notre Dame Press, 1958). Edward 0'Connor, C.S.C., has edited the 700-page volume which includes an exhaustive bibliography, a number of documents, and over fifty illustrations. A specialist in mediaeval theology, Father O'Connor notes in the preface that the subject of the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception was first discussed about the year 1100. The doctrine was defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854 after about 75 years of "what was perhaps the most prolonged and passionate debate that has ever been carried on in Catholic theology," O'Connor writes. The importance of any doctrine, however, he emphasizes, "does not lie chiefly in its history, but it its intrinsic significance as truth, and in its rank in the hierarchy of truth, which do not depend on historical contingencies." From this point of view, the Immaculate Conception is of immense importance, O'Connor observes, not only for Mariology, but also for the theology of the Redemption and of the Church. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception is not merely a collection of miscellaneous essays on the subject. The various chapters deal with all the major aspects of the doctrine and range from "Scripture and the Immaculate Conception" to "The Immaculate Conception in Art."

The book is the first attempt to make a systematic analysis of the Russian ecclesiastical policy in the diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the period of 1878-1914. It is based mainly on unedited materials from the archives of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sofia, Athens, Belgrade and Istanbul. Using the existing publications on the political aspects of the Eastern question, the author presents a new understanding of the role of Russia in the East Mediterranean region at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.

"God, the Future of Man" focuses on religion and secularisation, viewed from various vantage points: secularisation and God-talk; secularisation and the church's liturgy; secularisation and the church's new self-understanding; and, finally, secularisation and the future of humankind on earth in light of the eschaton (church and social politics). These thought-provoking reflections are presented against the backdrop of Schillebeeckx's hermeneutic premises. In the concluding chapter his reflections on secularisation culminate in a God concept that can function fruitfully in a modern culture that assigns the future pride of place: God as the future of humankind. Written in a period pregnant with Cultural Revolution and religious change, the book foregrounds the pivotal issue of secularisation in a thought-provoking way. With feverish urgency he reflects on various forms of religiosity in the modern world. His contribution to the debate could just as well have been written today.

The transatlantic relationship between nineteenth-century American Reformed theology and German Protestant thought has largely been neglected in American religious studies. The German Roots of Nineteenth-Century American Theology explores the influence of mediating theology (Vermittlungstheologie) on Reformed thought in the United States. Annette Aubert offers the first detailed examination of German theological influences on Mercersburg's Emanuel Vogel Gerhart (1817-1904) and Princeton's Charles Hodge (1797-1878). Aubert discusses the influences of Ernst Hengstenberg, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and the German mediating theologians, especially in terms of theological method and the doctrine of atonement in light of nineteenth-century modernism and scientific theories. By reassessing Hodge's theological method and Gerhart's significant contributions, she shows how systematic theology, in an age of modern science, could no longer strictly adhere to past definitions of theology and dogmatic works. This book shows how Gerhart and Hodge engaged with the ideas of their German counterparts to articulate theological definitions and methods. Showing that reformed theologians in nineteenth-century America profited enormously from the dogmatic, historical, and biblical works of German scholarship, Aubert's work makes an important contribution to both transatlantic religious and Protestant theological studies.

The Christian Humanist ideas of six Catholic scholars who were based in Munich during the first half of the 20th century are profiled in this volume. They were all interested in presenting and defending a Christian humanism in the aftermath of German Idealism and the anti-Christian humanism of Friedrich Nietzsche. They were seeking to offer hope to Christians during the darkest years of the Nazi regime and the post-Second World War era of shame, guilt and reconstruction.

This book is a consideration of major contemporary African American and Jewish theological understandings of God, human nature, moral evil, suffering, and ethics, utilizing the work of James Cone and Emil Fackenheim. Specifically, it examines how profound faith in a just God is sustained, and even strengthened, in the face of particularly horrific and long-standing evil and suffering in a community. The constructive portion of the book explores theological possibilities by focusing on the concepts of human freedom, resistance, and responsibility--all grounded in divine gift--as an effective and meaningful response to oppression and despair.

Salmon b. Yeroham (fl. 930-960) - foundational figure in the Jerusalem school of Karaite exegesis - produced a substantial and influential corpus of polemical writing and biblical interpretation, including commentaries on Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Qohelet, Esther, Ruth, and Daniel. Asceticism, Eschatology, Opposition to Philosophy: The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Salmon ben Yeroham on Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) presents a first critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic Qohelet commentary together with an annotated English translation. The introduction situates Salmon's work in the history of Jewish Qohelet exegesis, explains Salmon's method of translating Qohelet into Arabic, identifies his sources and discusses his method of interpretation. The main themes Salmon finds in "Solomon's" book of wisdom - central themes in the early Karaite movement in general - will be explored at length, especially asceticism, eschatology, and an uncompromising opposition to reading "foreign books." "Robinson's edition is exemplary...This volume is an important addition to any collection of Karaitica, medieval Jewish biblical exegesis and Judeo-Arabic studies." Pinchas Roth, Tikvah Scholar at the NYU Tikvah Center

Modern Israel and its relations with its Arab neighbors has been conspicuously in the daily news ever since World War II. Until that time, the concept of Israel and a continuing Jewish people had been hovering in the distant background of Christian thought and doctrine since the post-apostolic era. In this important work, Dr. Diprose demonstrates the uniqueness of Israel and its special place in the divine plan. By carefully reviewing relevant New Testament and post-apostolic writings, the author traces the origin and development of Replacement Theology--the concept that the Church has completely and permanently replaced ethnic Israel in the outworking of God's plan throughout history--challenging its origin and role in the development of Christian thought on the future of ethnic Israel.

Engaging recent developments within the bio-cultural study of religion, Shults unveils the evolved cognitive and coalitional mechanisms by which god-conceptions are engendered in minds and nurtured in societies. He discovers and attempts to liberate a radically atheist trajectory that has long been suppressed within the discipline of theology.

"Shakespeare Now!" is a series of short books of truly vital literary scholarship, each with its own distinctive form. "Shakespeare Now!" recaptures the excitement of Shakespeare; it doesn't assume we know him already, or that we know the best methods for approaching his plays. "Shakespeare Now!" is a new generation of critics, unafraid of risk, on a series of intellectual adventures. Above all - it is a new Shakespeare, freshly present in each volume. In "Godless Shakespeare", Mallin argues that there is a profound absence of, or hostility to, God in Shakespeare's plays. It is clear that Shakespeare engaged with and deployed much of his culture's broadly religious interests: his language is shot through with biblical quotations, priestly sermonizing, Christian imagery and miracle-play style allegory. However, he claims that a counter-discourse also emerges in the works, arguing against God, or the idea of God. This is a polemical account of the absence of God and of belief in the plays, and of how this absence functions in theatrical moments of crux and crisis. Following Dante's three part structure for the "Divine Comedy" - the first part (Inferno) represents expressions of religious faith in Shakespeare's plays, the second (Purgatorio) sets out more sceptical positions, and the last (Paradiso) articulations of godlessness. The discussion focuses on the moral and spiritual dilemmas of major characters, developing the often subtle transitions between belief, scepticism and atheism and suggesting that there is a liberating potential in unbelief.

This volume treats the interrelationship between Judaism and Christianity from the first centuries and into modern times, paying particular attention to these faiths' social, cultural, and theological interactions. The issues covered range from the formation of Jewish and Christian ideology in the context of Roman paganism to the ways in which Christian culture and theology of the medieval and modern periods form a backdrop to the creation of Jewish identity. While the historical periods and issues discussed are diverse, the result is to suggest the importance of our recognizing the close development of Judaism and Christianity. Written by top scholars in Judaic and Christian studies, these essays reflect on how the two faiths related to and were shaped by each other as they evolved in shared historical and cultural contexts, even as each maintained its own distinctive ideologies and beliefs.

The scriptures of the Faiths use models to depict what God is like; namely Father, Mother, Husband, Judge, Lover, Friend, shepherd and so on. Science also uses models to advance its knowledge, and in a scientific age a model of God as the Cosmic Scientist interacting with the traditional could communicate well. It would imply that the world is a laboratory created by God in order to test whether humanity will obey his laws and live up to the values which he embraces. Using material drawn from science and six world faiths, the book shows the difference and similarity between divine and human experiments and argues that God will bring the experiment to a successful conclusion.

Jewish anthropological beliefs during the Hellenistic-Roman period are an important but previously neglected area of biblical exegesis and Jewish studies. In an effort to address this deficiency, this volume brings together 20 essays related to the subject of sin and death, with special emphasis on integrating material from neighboring cultures. Thus, the volume provides an exemplary foundation for further research on ancient Jewish anthropology.