This book offers a new understanding of sacrifice as a response to love and an entering into the self-giving life of God.Most ideas of sacrifice, even specifically Christian ideas, as we saw in the Reformation controversies, have something to do with deprivation or destruction. But this is not authentic Christian sacrifice. Authentic Christian sacrifice, and ultimately all true sacrifice (whether one is conscious of it or not) begins with the self-offering of the Father in the gift-sending of the Son, continues with the loving "response" of the Son, in his humanity, and in the Spirit, to the Father and for us, and finally, begins to become real in our world when human beings, in the power of the same Spirit that was in Jesus, respond to love with love, and thus begin to enter into that perfectly loving, totally self-giving relationship that is the life of the triune God.The origins of this are in the Hebrew Bible, its revelatory high-points in Jesus and Paul, and its working out in the life of the Church, especially its "Eucharistic Prayers". Special attention will be paid to the atonement, not just because atonement and sacrifice are often synonymous, but also because traditional atonement theology is the source of distortions that continue to plague Christian thinking about sacrifice.After exploring the possibility of finding a phenomenology of sacrificial atonement in Girardian mimetic theory, the book will end with some suggestions on how to communicate its findings to people likely to be put off from the outset by the negative connotations associated with 'sacrifice'.

Ours is the first generation in modern times to understand the truly universal human condition and to seek to bring all peoples of the earth together in peace and harmony. We are the first generation to truly understand that we are faced with the challenge of either inhabiting our planet harmoniously or not inhabiting it at all.<p> Filling our future is the fundamentalism that threatens to pit one religion against another. But, our different relationships and understandings of G-d should not be the reason for conflict but the source of goodwill in building our relationships with one another and our ability to understand others. The covenant with the Jewish people was not the first made between the Almighty and mankind.<p> Before the revelation at Mt. Sinai, G-d commanded Adam and then made a covenant with Noah, giving them the guidelines for the universal religion of mankind. The most well-known part of this covenant is the seven universal commandments, or the Seven Noahide Laws. For this reason, Judaism and Jews do not proselytize, but rather seek to guide the nations of the world in developing their own relationship with the Almighty and implementing these potentially unifying laws of basic human nature.<p> This book offers you a glimpse into the tremendous mystical power and meaning of G-d's covenant with humanity and the Seven Noahide Laws, as explained in Kabbalah. It focuses on their spiritual and inner dimensions and inspires a deeper look at our best hope for achieving world peace and a better future for all beings.

John Locke's 1695 enquiry into the foundations of Christian belief is here presented for the first time in a critical edition. Locke maintains that the essentials of the faith, few and simple, can be found by anyone for themselves in the Scripture, and that this provides a basis for tolerant agreeement among Christians. An authoritative text is accompanied by abundant information conducive to an understanding of Locke's religious thought.

Does religious extremism represent an inevitable consequence of firmly held beliefs in life-and-death situations? Is there a way out? Gathering ethicists and scholars from the three major and often conflicting monotheistic traditions, each was asked to correlate a religious tradition's sacred texts and tradition with the contemporary world's pluralism and claims about the inalienable sanctity and dignity of human life. The result is that the reader sees "human life before God" in new and profound ways. Contributors include: Hilary Putnam Abdulaziz Sachedina Lisa Sowle Cahill Michael Fishbane William Schweiker Tikva Frymer-Kensky Michael A. Johnson Paul Mendes-Flohr Kevin Jung Lawrence Vogel Azizah al-Hibri David Little Kohn Kelsay Seyyed Hossein Nasr

This is an examination ofthe eschatological and messianic elements in the first twelve chapters of LXX Isaiah. The focus is on this section because it represents a discrete unit within the book and contains several pericopes which were significant in the development of early Jewish and Christian eschatological and messianic ideas.The first part of the book surveys the discussion of eschatology and messianism in LXX Isaiah and the outlines the issues involved. There is also a study of the book's translation technique, focusing on the question of contextual interpretation and actualization, and attempting to identify the mechanism by which eschatological traditions are imprinted in the translation. In the second part, the author analyses the rendering of the well-known messianic oracles of LXX Isaiah 1-12, namely, 7:14-16, 9:5(6)-6(7), and 11:1-5. Besides the close exegetical analysis of the specific passages, there is also a study of their immediate context.This monograph suggests that the primary goal of the translator was to communicate the meaning of the text, as he understood it, rather than to make it the vehicle of his own ideology. A number of renderings that have been seen as theologically motivated could be explained simply on linguistic and co-textual grounds, and, while there is theological interpretation in individual cases, is not possible to identify any conscious systematization. In the light of this study, the eschatological and messianic hopes of the translator of LXX Isaiah 1-12 can be said to come only partly into view in his translation.

The Tractate Ketubot ("marriage contracts") discusses inter alia the sum specified at the time of marriage to be paid in the event of divorce or the husband's death, together with the mutual obligations of man and wife, the wife's property, the law of inheritance in the female line and the widow's rights. The Tractate Nidda ("Female impurity") regulates conduct during menstruation (cf. Lev 15:19ff) and after birth (Lev 12); further topics are women's life stages, puberty and various medical questions.

Can religions be compared? For decades the discipline of religious studies was based on the assumption that they can. Postmodern and postcolonial reflections, however, raised significant doubts. In social and cultural studies the investigation of the particular often took precedence over a comparative perspective. Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology questions whether religious studies can survive if it ceases to be comparative religion. Can it do justice to a globalized world if it is limited on the specific and turns a blind eye on the general? While comparative approaches have come under strong pressure in religious studies, they have started flourishing in Theology. Comparative theology practices interfaith dialogue by means of comparative research. This volume asks whether theology and religious studies are able to mutually benefit from their critical and constructive reflections. Can postcolonial criticism of neutrality and objectivity in religious studies create new links with the decidedly perspectival approach of comparative theology? In this collection scholars from theology and religious studies discuss the methodology of interreligious comparison in the light of recent doubts and current objections. Together with the contributors, Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Andreas Nehring argue that after decades of critique, interreligious comparison deserves to be reconsidered, reconstructed and reintroduced.

The Kairological Qabalah

As an original and in-depth look at man s existential problems and challenges, "The Kairological Qabalah - Rediscovery of Western Esotericism," contains an inspiring plan for the creation of a New Western Renaissance.

This book brings Western Esotericism under careful scrutiny and then re-interprets it for our modern age. From this new position, Dr Laos articulates a new esoteric system, The Kairological Qabalah, which is based upon the "opportune moment" of Kairos, where Man is the architect and manager of his own fate.

Dr Nicolas Laos was born in Athens, Greece, in 1974. He is the Founder and President of the "Kairological Society Reality Restructuring Resources Ltd" (a philosophical and policy-oriented think-tank, private exclusive membership club and consultancy organization). He has published several books and articles on the subjects of philosophy, science and politics.

This is a creative scholarly argument revisiting the substance, understanding, and implications of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo for contemporary theology and philosophy. Paul J. DeHart examines the special mode of divine transcendence (God's infinity) and investigates areas where accepting an infinite God presents challenging questions to Christian theology. He discusses what "saving knowledge" or "faith" would have to look like when confronted by such an unlimited conception of deity, and ponders how the doctrine of God's trinity can be brought into harmony with radical notions of transcendence, as well as ways the doctrine of creation itself is threatened when the radical otherness of the creator's mind is not maintained. DeHart engages with a diverse range of figures: Jean-Luc Marion, Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Kathryn Tanner, John Milbank and Rowan Williams, to illustrate his conviction. This volume deals with deep conceptual issues, indicating that creation ex nihilo remains a lively topic in contemporary theology.

In recent bilateral ecumenical dialogue the aim of the dialogue has been to reach some form of doctrinal consensus. The three major chapters of the book discuss the variety of forms of doctrinal consensus found in ecumenical dialogues among Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. In general, the dialogue documents argue for agreement/consensus based on commonality or compatibility. Each of the three dialogue processes has specific characteristics and formulates its argument in a unique way. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue has a particular interest in hermeneutical questions and proposes various forms of 'differentiated' or perspectival forms of consensus. The Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue emphasises the correctness of interpretations. The documents consciously look towards a 'common future', not the separated past. "Ecclesiological Investigations" brings together quality research and inspiring debates in ecclesiology worldwide from a network of international scholars, research centres and projects in the field.

There is no doubt about Baeck's contribution to Jewish theology in the twentieth century: it has been significant. Without ever departing completely from the ancient wellsprings of orthodoxy, he was a studious observer of the intellectual currents of his time and ambience; under theinfluence of liberal Jewish theology, he drew on and reworked those currents, weaving them into his own theological thought. A special aspect of Baeck's work is that he remained in critical confrontation with Christianity throughout his life, acting as a kind of builder of bridges between the two faiths." (From the Introduction.) It is on this aspect that the author focuses his study inwhich he examines Leo Baeck's critical evaluation of Martin Luther and Protestantism. At the same time Homolka shows how close the intellectual links between liberal Christian and liberal Jewish theology had become before the Holocaust: both sides attempted a new definition of the "essence" of their faiths and were searching for a new identity in an increasingly pluralistic and secular society.

"The Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration" is the twenty-ninth chapter of "Revival of the Religious Sciences", a monumental work written by the jurist Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (d.1111). Perhaps the most important chapter in the "Revival", "The Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration" delves into the fundamental spiritual ailments and major impediments of the soul, namely pride and self-admiration. From the beginning of the work, Ghazali states that both pride and self-admiration are forms of spiritual disease. He treats of pride in Part One, firstly condemning this ailment with verses from the Qur'an, describing how it manifests outwardly, how the virtue of humility represents its opposite, what it is and what its symptoms are, as well as the seven reasons for the cause of pride and the root cause of pride in self-admiration. As an antidote, Ghazali offers examples of true humility, showing the manner by which the seven causes of pride can be dealt with, balancing these observations out with a warning against false humility. In Part Two Ghazali discusses self-admiration, condemning it as he did pride in Part One, showing the various ways it manifests inwardly, how it causes negligence, delusion and complacency, how each can be remedied, that self-admiration does not always lead to proud actions, and how the cure lies in the Qur'an, the teachings of the Prophet, proofs based on sound reasoning, as well as recognising that knowledge is a blessing from God.