Strongs in the Lord is the religious parody that has, too long, been missing from the literary scene. A powerful television evangelist and his television ministry, both ran by a scheming, cheating wife, enjoy untold wealth and power after the tragic events of 911. Using fear, guilt and shame, as every religion does, this family pulls in millions of dollars. Until one day, Reverend Harold Strong has doubts about himself and his ministry, while religious terrorists of both the Muslim and Baptist persuassion, join together to destroy the American democracy and recreate the world in their own image... "this is a story ripped from todays headlines" ..".more controversial than current popular religious themed books, and more accurate..."

This is a work of speculative theology based on three themes: that a version of materialism is a help not a hindrance in philosophical theology; that God develops; and that this development is on the whole kenotic, in other words an abandonment of power. Peter Forrest argues that the resulting kenotic theism might well be correct. He claims that his hypothesis concerning God is better than known rival hypotheses, including atheism, and that if there is no unknown better hypothesis it is good enough to be believed. In the Introduction he offers a defense of the type of metaphysical speculation on which his thesis rests. Elsewhere in the book he defends his 'moderate materialism', expounds the notion of the 'Primordial God', and discusses how God changes. In the resulting account, Forrest reconciles the unloving and unlovable God of the philosophers with the God of the Abrahamic tradition. In a quasi-Gnostic fashion he puts the blame for evils on the Primordial God and argues that after God has become loving, the divine powers of intervention are limited by the natural order. In the final two chapters he applies this kenotic theism to specifically Christian teachings, notably the Trinity and the Incarnation.

The Book of Job has held a central role in defining the project of modernity from the age of Enlightenment until today. The Book of Job: Aesthetics, Ethics and Hermeneutics offers new perspectives on the ways in which Job's response to disaster has become an aesthetic and ethical touchstone for modern reflections on catastrophic events. This volume begins with an exploration of questions such as the tragic and ironic bent of the Book of Job, Job as mourner, and theJoban body in pain, and ends with a consideration of Joban works by notable writers - from Melville and Kafka, through Joseph Roth, Zach, Levin, and Philip Roth.

God has assumed a significant role in the sex lives of believers. It is God who decrees which types of sexual expression are permitted, and which forbidden. Through the Church, a patriarchal sexual landscape has been enacted to control sexual bodies which exerts its influence even in our secular culture.

The Good News of the Body is a wide-ranging anthology on feminist sexual theology. Noting that Jesus, while being declared divine, took human form, the volume questions what happens when the flesh, rather than the Word, is placed at the center of theological reflection. What happens when women's bodies form the incarnational starting point for sexual politics and theology? Contributors, including Rosemary Ruether, Mary Hunt, and Melissa Raphael, examine such topics as the possibility of a Roman Catholic approach to sexuality bringing together the three aspects of Christian love of eros, philia, and agape; Jewish sexual and mystical teaching; the de-sexing of the disabled; erotic celibacy; human sexuality and the concept of the goddess; and the sometimes surprisingly similar conclusions about contraception reached by feminists and popes.

Identities in Crisis in Iran aims at finding answers to the questions about the puzzling character of the Iranian identity. The contributors acknowledge that identity, especially when it is faced with fundamental tensions as in the case of Iran, is a phenomenon that is constantly developing via factors involving the private self and common social components. This book addresses the tension many Iranian people face that lie between the Persian culture and the Shi'a religion, women versus men, and culture versus traditions.

It is the first study which comprehensively, systematically and critically examines the role and usefulness of the concept of Maqasid al-Shari'a (higher Objectives of Islamic Law) in contemporary Muslim reformist thought in relation to number of specific issues pertaining to Islamic legal philosophy, law, ethics and the socio-political sphere.

Albert Schweitzer maintained that the idea of "Reverence for Life" came upon him on the Ogowe River as an "unexpected discovery, like a revelation in the midst of intense thought." While Schweitzer made numerous significant contributions to an incredible diversity of fields - medicine, music, biblical studies, philosophy and theology - he regarded Reverence for Life as his greatest contribution and the one by which he most wanted to be remembered. Yet this concept has been the subject of a range of distortions and misunderstandings, both academic and popular. In this book, Ara Barsam provides a new interpretation of Schweitzer's reverence and shows how it emerged from his studies of German philosophy, Indian religions, and his biblical scholarship on Jesus and Paul.
By throwing light on the origin and development of Schweitzer's thought, Barsam leads his readers to a closer appreciation of the contribution that reverence makes to current ethical issues. Whereas previous commentators have focused on "reverence for life" as a philosophical ethic located in that tradition, this book demonstrates that it is in fact Schweitzer's theology that provides the hitherto undiscerned foundation for his ethic. Even among those who herald Schweitzer as the one who brought "reverence" to Christianity, there exists a tendency to underemphasize how his thinking also developed from his pivotal encounter with Indian religions. As Barsam shows, it is impossible to grasp the nature and the significance of Barsam's contribution without addressing that link.
Life-centered ethics - in the broadest sense - have continued to flourish, yet Schweitzer's pioneering contribution is often overlooked. Not onlydid he help establish the issue on the moral agenda, but, most significant, he also provided much sought after philosophical and theological foundations. Schweitzer emerges from this critical study of his life and thought as a remarkable individual who should rightfully be regarded as a moral giant of the twentieth-century.

Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine brings together an international community of historians, literature scholars and archaeologists to explore how the integrated study of rabbinic texts and archaeology increases our understanding of both types of evidence, and of the complex culture which they together reflect. This volume reflects a growing consensus that rabbinic culture was an "embodied" culture, presenting a series of case studies that demonstrate the value of archaeology for the contextualization of rabbinic literature. It steers away from later twentieth-century trends, particularly in North America, that stressed disjunction between archaeology and rabbinic literature, and seeks a more holistic approach.

The "New Atheist" movement of recent years has put the science-versus-religion controversy back on the popular cultural agenda. Anti-religious polemicists are convinced that the application of the new sciences of the mind to religious belief gives them the final weapons in their battle against irrationality and superstition. What used to be a trickle of research papers scattered in specialized scientific journals has now become a torrent of books, articles, and commentary in the popular media pressing the case that the cognitive science of religion can finally fulfill the enlightenment dream of shrinking religion into insignificance, if not eliminating it altogether. James Jones argues that these claims are demonstrably false. He notes that cognitive science research is religiously neutral; it can be deployed in many different ways in relation to the actual belief in and practice of religion: to undermine it, to simply study it, and to support it. These differences are differences in interpretation of the data and, Jones suggests, a reflection of the background assumptions and viewpoints brought to the data. The goal of this book is not to defend either a general religious outlook or a particular religious tradition but to make the case that while there is much to learn from the cognitive scientific study of religion, attempts to use it to "explain" religion are exaggerated and misguided. Drawing on scientific research and logical argument Can Science Explain Religion? directly confronts the claims of these debunkers of religion, providing an accessibly written, persuasive account of why they are not convincing.

What are the spiritual consequences of abuse and trauma? Where is God? How and why does such senseless suffering occur? What is the relationship between loss and hope? What are the benefits of examining loss and hope from an interreligious focus? These are some of the questions addressed in this volume, written by leading international scholars and which also includes contributions by those who have suffered: survivors of genocide and state terror. Case studies of loss and hope from around the world are discussed, including from the United States, Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Iraq, Argentina, China, and Chile. Religions examined include Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. Three interconnected lenses are used to explore new perspectives on loss and hope: survivors and victims' testimony; interfaith studies; and ethical approaches. The book highlights the need for responses to atrocity that transcend differences within gender, class, religion, race and ethnicity. The authors stress the need for partnership and dialogue from an interfaith perspective, and while neither hiding not unduly minimizing the extent of losses in the world, attempt to establish an ethics of hope in the face of destabilizing losses in the realms of human rights and post-conflict resolution. Loss and Hope is the first book to bring together this high level and diversity of scholars living and working all over the world from different faith, cultural and ethnic backgrounds examining the universal themes of loss and hope.

Why do our lives sometime go in unexpected and even unpleasant directions? The apostle Paul in Romans 5:1-5 provides a major insight into dealing with this life question when he reflects upon the life sequence of suffering, endurance, character, hope, hope not disappointing us, and joy. This book discusses all this and is also a wonderful testimony to the role of the Christian faith in helping anyone to recover from tough life events.

Kevin Giles traces the historic understanding of subordination in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity and investigates the closely related question of whether women are created to be permanently subordinated to men. The concept has been vigorously debated in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity since the fourth century. Certain New Testament texts have made it part of discussions of right relations between men and women. In recent years these two matters have been dramatically brought together. Today the doctrine of the Trinity is being used to support opposing views of the right relationship between men and women in the church. At the center of the debate is the question of whether or not the orthodox view of the trinitarian relations teach the eternal subordination of the Son of God. The author masterfully traces the historic understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity from the patristic age to our own times to help resolve this important question. Giles goes on to provide an illuminating investigation of a closely related question--whether or not women, even in terms of function or role, were created to be permanently subordinated to men. By surveying the church's traditional interpretation of texts relating to the status of women and inquiring into the proper use of the doctrine of the Trinity, Giles lays out his position in this current debate.

Paul D. Molnar discusses issues related to the concepts of freedom and necessity in trinitarian doctrine. He considers the implications of "non-conceptual knowledge of God" by comparing the approaches of Karl Rahner and T. F. Torrance. He also reconsiders T. F. Torrance's "new" natural theology and illustrates why Christology must be central when discussing liberation theology. Further, he explores Catholic and Protestant relations by comparing the views of Elizabeth Johnson, Walter Kasper and Karl Barth, as well as relations among Christians, Jews and Muslims by considering whether it is appropriate to claim that all three religions should be understood to be united under the concept of monotheism. Finally, he probes the controversial issues of how to name God in a way that underscores the full equality of women and men and how to understand "universalism" by placing Torrance and David Bentley Hart into conversation on that subject.

New religious movements both read the Bible in creative ways and produce their own texts that aspire to scriptural status. From the creation stories in Genesis and the Ten Commandments to the life of Jesus and the apocalypse, they develop their self-understandings through reading and writing scripture.