This book offers a critical-constructive study of Korean women's self-esteem from a feminist practical theological perspective. Jaeyeon Lucy Chung recognizes two different and yet related problems: the absence of scholarly work on women's self-esteem from non-white, non-Western groups in the field of practical theology, and the lack of attention to the low self-esteem prevalent in Korean women's sociocultural and religious context. Chung employs in-depth interview studies while drawing on theoretical resources of psychology, theology, and cultural studies to develop a relational-communal theory of self-esteem, and a systematic, communal understanding of pastoral care practice. The project offers insights into the life experience of Korean women, especially self-esteem, and it reveals some of the ways self-esteem can be fostered.

Revelations of Humanity brings together essays into the history and actuality of how our searches for God and for our own humanity are interwoven. They argue that the revelation of God is possible only when accompanied by a revelation of what it means to be a human being. Revelation implies that the truth is not fully evident in either case. This quest is aided in many of the essays by a recollection of the thought of Thomas Aquinas. As opposed to simple memory, recollection implies that memory has been lost or become clouded, here by the misrepresentation of Thomas' view of humanity's relation to God as harmonistic, at best semi-Pelagian, often even naturalistic. This difficult recovery is made possible by historical research that alone can escape the easy systematic alienation that supporters and critics of Thomas have often brought to their interpretation of his works. Thomas's sense of a real but finite capacity of human beings for God, his grace and revelation, anticipates in more ways than is commonly known much of contemporary suspicion about human capacities, but in ways that are open to God. That programmatic insight into the historical Thomas, keenly aware of human entanglements, limits and hopes, offers on many contemporary issues a ressourcement of systematic thought. Revelations of Humanity revolves around three clusters of issues. The first asks about the reality and limits of the human capacity for truth: in metaphysical, moral and political matters and in relation to the disputed issues of analogous reason and faith. The second cluster is structured around the four involvements that the Second Vatican Council identified as the human face of genuine Christian existence: participation in the legitimate joys, hopes, sorrows and fears of the contemporary world. These are refracted in the broken light of the human proprium of risibility, the abiding uncertainty addressed by hope, the disputed question of a suffering God and the recollection of Christ's anxiety in the face of death. The final cluster brings together anthropological dimensions of current ecumenical and interreligious disputes: the need to complement affirmation with admonition in ecumenical conversation, exemplified by the ambivalence towards sacrifice in a genuinely Catholic theology and the need to avoid the excesses of univocity, equivocity or an all too facile analogy in the determination of interreligious relationalities.

The Church of God in Jesus Christ consists of three parts: the first provides a concise historical survey of ecclesiology elucidating the most salient teachings and insights from the Old and New Testaments, the writings of the fathers, the medievals, moderns, up to the present day. It integrates a standard historical overview with a recovery of oft ignored or forgotten insights from the tradition (e.g., beginnings of the Church in prehistoric times and in Israel, Irenaeus's Trinitarian ecclesiology and St. Bernard's nuptial vison of the Church. The second part is a systematic ecclesiology ordered around the four marks of the Church, then proceeding to treat the participation of all the faithful in the threefold office of Christ, the ongoing renewal and reform of the Church by the Holy Spirit working through her members, and finishing with a hitherto neglected study of the eschatological consummation of the Church in heavenly glory. The third part consists of five essays on particular themes of special importance in ecclesiology. Of the five, most notable is the chapter on the relationship between the Church's infallibility and Mary. Fr. Roch Kereszty intends to integrate theological insights with nourishing the reader's spiritual life by emphasizing the essentially Trinitarian, nuptial and Marian dimensions of the Church. The book fills a genuine need in that it offers a rich synthesis of the ecclesiological renewal in an accessible and clear language. It will enrich not only students of theology but all those college educated adults who are interested to delve beyond the cliches of the media into the contemplation of the manifold mystery of the Church.

The Islamic prophet Muhammad initiated a theological program in theocratic form. The Qur'an challenges Christians and Jews in many ways and invites them to take a stance. This is why an explicitly theological response is legitimate and necessary. This book draws on current scholarly research on Islam and discusses the sources of the Qur'an, the fundamental features of its relationship with Judaism, and its perception of Jesus. This leads to a realistic assessment of Islam and stimulates a renewed Christian self-understanding. The fourth chapter presents the largely unknown insights of the German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig and the theologian Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI on Islam. They provide an important perspective - beyond submission.

Ten spyte daarvan dat die Bybel eeue oud is, lees miljoene mense wereldwyd uit verskillende taal- en kultuurgroepe dit steeds met die verwagting om iets daarin te vind wat vir hulle persoonlike en spirituele lewe van waarde kan wees. Nietemin is die Bybel oorspronklik bedoel vir mense wat in ’n pre-industriele en prewetenskaplike wereld geleef het. Hulle huise, stede, plase, lewensomstandighede, kleding en gebruike het radikaal verskil van die wat ons vandag ken – wat die vraag laat ontstaan: hoe kan die reusegaping tussen hierdie antieke tekste en moderne lesers oorbrug word. Geskiedenis en geskrifte stel hedendaagse lesers aan die wereld van die ou Nabye-Ooste bekend – vanaf die ou Israeliete se oorlewingstryd, tot die godsdienstige literatuur wat geskryf is om hulle die lewe te help hanteer en sin te maak uit gebeure wat hul lewe beinvloed het – en lei die leser sodoende tot groter begrip en insig in die verskillende kontekste van die Bybel se wordingsgeskiedenis.

Conflicts between protestants and Catholics intensified as the Cromwellian invasion of 1649 inflamed the blood-soaked antagonism between the English and Irish. In the ensuing decade, half of Ireland's landmass was confiscated while thousands of natives were shipped overseas - all in a bid to provide safety for English protestants and bring revenge upon the Irish for their rebellion in 1641. Centuries later, these old wounds linger in Irish political and cultural discussion. In his new book, Crawford Gribben reconsiders the traditional reading of the failed Cromwellian invasion as he reflects on the invaders' fractured mental world.
As a tiny minority facing constant military threat, Cromwellian protestants in Ireland clashed over theological issues such as conversion, baptism, church government, miraculous signs, and the role of women. Protestant groups regularly invoked the language of the "Antichrist," but used the term more often against each other than against the Catholics who surrounded them. Intra-protestant feuds splintered the Cromwellian party. Competing quests for religious dominance created instability at the heart of the administration, causing its eventual defeat. Gribben reconstructs these theological debates within their social and political contexts and provides a fascinating account of the religious infighting, instability, and division that tore the movement apart.
Providing a close and informed analysis of the relatively few texts that survive from the period, Gribben addresses the question that has dominated discussion of this period: whether the protestants' small numbers, sectarian divisions and seemingly beleaguered situation produced an idiosyncratictheology and a failed political campaign.

In this volume, Chandler, who produced numerous biblically-based attacks on the deists and a large number of sermons both individual and collected, attacks the deists and anyone who doubted the truth of revealed religion.

In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves.

Millennia ago, the tradition of Sabbath created an oasis of sacred time within a life of unceasing labor. Now, in a book that can heal our harried lives, Wayne Muller, author of the spiritual classic How, Then, Shall We Live?, shows us how to create a special time of rest, delight, and renewal--a refuge for our souls.

We need not even schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. With wonderful stories, poems, and suggestions for practice, Muller teaches us how we can use this time of sacred rest to refresh our bodies and minds, restore our creativity, and regain our birthright of inner happiness.

Ignaz Maybaum (1897-1976) is widely recognized as one of the foremost Jewish theologians of the post-Holocaust era. Although he is mentioned in most treatments of post-Holocaust Jewish theology, his works are out of print and are only accessible to a small readership. Nicholas de Lange (who worked closely with Maybaum in his lifetime), has made a representative selection from his writings, under various headings: Judaism in the Modern Age, Trialogue between Jew, Christian, and Muslim, the Holocaust, and Zion. In an Introduction, he sets Maybaum's thoughts against the background of their time, indicates their main lines, and assesses how much of them is still of value today.

This book explores the protests of Job from the perspectives of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious and philosophical traditions. Shira Weiss examines how challenges to divine justice are understood from a Jewish theological perspective, including the pro-protest and anti-protest traditions within rabbinic literature, in an effort to explicate the ambiguous biblical text and Judaism's attitude towards the suffering of the righteous. Scott Davison surveys Christian interpretations of the book of Job and the nature of suffering in general before turning to a comparison of the lamentations of Jesus and Job, with special attention to the question of whether complaints against God can be expressions of faith. Sajjad Rizvi presents the systematic ambiguity of being present in monistic approaches to reality as one response to evil and suffering in Islam, along with approaches that attempt a resolution through the essential erotic nature of the cosmos, and explores the suggestion that Job is the hero of a metaphysical revolt that is the true sign of a friend of God. Each author also provides a response essay to the essays of the other two authors, creating an interfaith dialogue around the problem of evil and the idea of protest against the divine.

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

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.

The Platonic tradition affords extraordinary resources for thinking about the meaning and value of work. In this historical survey of the tradition, Jeffrey Hanson draws on the work of its major thinkers to explain why our contemporary vocabulary for appraising labor and its rewards is too narrow and cramped. By tracing out the Platonic lineage of work Hanson is able to argue why we should be explaining its value for appraising it as an element of a happy and flourishing human life, quite apart from its financial rewards. Beginning with Plato’s extensive thinking about work’s relationship to wisdom, Hanson covers the singularly powerful arguments of Augustine, who wrote the ancient world’s only treatise dedicated to the topic of manual labor. He discusses Bernard of Clairvaux, introduces the priest-craftsman Theophilus Presbyter, and provides a study of work and leisure in the writings of Petrarch. Alongside Martin Luther, Hanson discusses John Ruskin and Simone Weil: two thinkers profoundly disturbed by the conditions of the working class in the rapidly industrializing economies of Europe. This original study of Plato and his inheritors’ ideas provides practical suggestions for how to approach work in a socially responsible manner in the 21st century and reveals the benefits of linking work and morality.

In this comprehensive open access book, written for readers from any or no religious background, Leena El-Ali does something remarkable. Never before has anyone taken on every last claim relating to Islam and women and countered it not just with Qur'anic evidence to the contrary, but with easy-to-use tools available to all. How can a woman's testimony be worth half of a man's? How can men divorce their wives unilaterally by uttering three words? And what's with the obsession with virgins in Paradise? Find the chapter on any of the seventeen topics in this book, and you will quickly learn a) where the myth came from and b) how to bust it. The methodology pursued is simple. First, the Qur'an is given priority over all other literary or "scriptural" sources. Second, the meaning of its verses in the original Arabic is highlighted, in contrast to English translations and/or widespread misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

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.