Among contemporary Anglo-American philosophers and students there is a growing awareness of the need to engage more both with philosophical perspectives of other faith traditions and also the distinctive continental tradition of philosophy. This important new collection aims to engage philosophers from a variety of different backgrounds and traditions (religious and non-religious) to stimulate dialogue on philosophical method. The volume aims to ask an emerging generation of philosophers who specialize in philosophy of religion to write about their personal understanding of the practice, method and future focus of the subject, with the ultimate goal of illustrating why this expanding subject area is important.

At the second major conference held in Salzburg in 2009 of "The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies "(ESITIS), participants probed the broad theme of 'interreligious hermeneutics in a pluralistic Europe'. Due to the phenomenon of an increasingly plural Europe, questions arise about how we see each other's cultural heritage, religious traditions and sacred scriptures. Following the discussions that took place at the conference, this book focuses on the usage of texts in our global and mass media world, the possibility of 'scriptural reasoning', the theological comparison of selected topics from religious traditions by scholars belonging to multiple religions or interreligious communities of scholars, the pragmatics of using sacred texts in social contexts of family and gender, polemical attacks on the other's sacred text and the challenge to interreligious hermeneutics of the postcolonial deconstruction of religion by cultural studies. The future of interreligious hermeneutics is going to be complex. This book exhibits the multiple agendas - power, gender, postcolonialism, globalisation, dialogue, tradition, polemics - that will have a stake in these future debates.

The Early Formative Olmec are central in a wide variety of debates regarding the development of Mesoamerican societies. A fundamental issue in Olmec archaeology is the nature of interregional interaction among contemporaneous societies and the possible Olmec role in it. Previous debates have often not been informed by recent research and data, often relying on materials lacking archaeological context. In order to approach these issues from new perspectives, this book introduces readers to the full spectrum of the material culture of the Olmec and their contemporaries, relying primarily on archaeological data, much of which has not been previously published. For the first time, using a standard lexicon to consider the nature of the interaction among Early Formative societies, the authors, experts in diverse regions of Mesoamerican art and archaeology, provide carefully considered contrasts and comparisons that advance the understanding of the Early Formative origins of social complexity in Mesoamerica.

Exploring the different points of view and 'tones of voice' adopted in theology for the meeting of religions, this book presents a contemporary philosophical and theological engagement with key issues of how different faiths might meet, of comparative philosophy of religion, of the use of aesthetics, of inter-religious ethics and issues relating to the self. Providing a critical evaluation of contemporary liberal, post-liberal and conservative voices, and an engagement with movements such as Radical Orthodoxy and Scriptural Reasoning to mention a few, this book highlights the use of the creative imagination and explores new ideas for the meeting of religions.

Exploring the different points of view and 'tones of voice' adopted in theology for the meeting of religions, this book presents a contemporary philosophical and theological engagement with key issues of how different faiths might meet, of comparative philosophy of religion, of the use of aesthetics, of inter-religious ethics and issues relating to the self. Providing a critical evaluation of contemporary liberal, post-liberal and conservative voices, and an engagement with movements such as Radical Orthodoxy and Scriptural Reasoning to mention a few, this book highlights the use of the creative imagination and explores new ideas for the meeting of religions.

John Hick is considered to be one of the greatest living philosophers of religion. Hick's philosophical journey has culminated in the grand proposal that we should see all the major world religions as equally valid responses to the same ultimate reality (the 'Real'). This book presents a critical introduction to John Hick's speculative theology and philosophy. The book begins where Hick began, with the problems of religious language, and ends where Hick is now, exploring the questions of religious plurality. Incorporating early aspects that Hick himself would now wish to qualify, as well as explanations that reflect Hick's present focus, Cheetham offers some speculative reflections of his own on key topics, highlighting Hick's influence on contemporary theology and philosophy of religion. All those studying the work of this great philosopher and theologian will find this new introduction offers an invaluable overview along with fresh critical insight.

John Hick is considered to be one of the greatest living philosophers of religion. Hick's philosophical journey has culminated in the grand proposal that we should see all the major world religions as equally valid responses to the same ultimate reality (the 'Real'). This book presents a critical introduction to John Hick's speculative theology and philosophy. The book begins where Hick began, with the problems of religious language, and ends where Hick is now, exploring the questions of religious plurality. Incorporating early aspects that Hick himself would now wish to qualify, as well as explanations that reflect Hick's present focus, Cheetham offers some speculative reflections of his own on key topics, highlighting Hick's influence on contemporary theology and philosophy of religion. All those studying the work of this great philosopher and theologian will find this new introduction offers an invaluable overview along with fresh critical insight.

The ways in which religious communities interact with one another is an increasing focus of scholarly research and teaching. Issues of interreligious engagement, inclusive of dialogue more specifically and relations more generally, attract widespread interest and concern. In a religiously pluralist world, how different communities get along with each other is not just an academic question; it is very much a focus of socio-political and wider community attention. The study of religions and religion in the 21st century world must necessarily take account of relations within and between religions, whether this is approached from a theological, historical, political, or any other disciplinary point of view. Understanding Interreligious Relations is a reference work of relevance to students and scholars as well as of interest to a wider informed public. It comprises two main parts. The first provides expositions and critical discussions of the ways in which 'the other' has been construed and addressed from within the major religious traditions. The second presents analyses and discussions of key issues and topics in which interreligious relations are an integral constituent. The editors have assembled an authoritative and scholarly work that discusses perspectives on the religious 'other' and interreligious relations that are typical of the major religious traditions; together with substantial original chapters from a cross-section of emerging and established scholars on main debates and issues in the wider field of interreligious relations.

In the well-worn debates about religious pluralism and the theology of religions there have been many different rubrics used to account for, comprehend, or engage with the religious other. This book is chiefly a work of Christian theology and seeks to bring the doctrine of creation and the theology of religions into dialogue and in so doing it comes at things from a different direction than other works. It contains an extensive exploration of the doctrine of creation and asks how it might intervene distinctively in these discourses to produce a new conceptual and practical topography. It will consider inter-religious engagement from the perspective of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo that forms the dominant view in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The book pays close consideration to anthropology (i.e. creaturehood), the quotidian and wisdom, the idea of 'sabbath,' human action and work, and vivifying the immanent through a consideration of some representative phenomenologists. The book will develop these ideas in a more practical direction by considering sacraments and rituals in the public sphere as well as attempting to describe the kind of 'creational politics' that might bring traditions into dialogue. Whilst these themes challenge more conventional ways of considering relations between religions, such themes - because they are different from concerns commonly found in the literature - can also be profitably engaged with across the spectrum of opinion (i.e. exclusivist or pluralist etc.) Thus, whilst the position adopted in this work is creatio ex nihilo part of the motivation is to review the ways in which this focus helps to broaden rather than limit the discussion.

About the Contributor(s): Rev'd Dr. Stephen C. Torr is Assistant Curate in the Abbots Bromley Benefice, England. Having completed undergraduate studies at the University of Birmingham, he continued on to complete a PhD in Theology as part of the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, also at the University of Birmingham. Having trained for Ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, he is now serving his first post as Assistant Curate.

Intercultural Theology offers a set of groundbreaking essays that describe the nature of intercultural theology as a domain of theology that pays particular attention to the identity of non-western forms of Christianity in dialogue with western forms. It is theological discourse engaged in multi-disciplinary dialogue and therefore uses the insights from historical, socio-cultural, inter-religious and empirical studies. Intercultural theology is a development from previous discussions within mission studies, contextual theology, studies in world Christianity and Third World theology.

The ways in which religious communities interact with one another is an increasing focus of scholarly research and teaching. Issues of interreligious engagement, inclusive of dialogue more specifically and relations more generally, attract widespread interest and concern. In a religiously pluralist world, how different communities get along with each other is not just an academic question; it is very much a focus of socio-political and wider community attention. The study of religions and religion in the 21st century world must necessarily take account of relations within and between religions, whether this is approached from a theological, historical, political, or any other disciplinary point of view. Understanding Interreligious Relations is a reference work of relevance to students and scholars as well as of interest to a wider informed public. It comprises two main parts. The first provides expositions and critical discussions of the ways in which 'the other' has been construed and addressed from within the major religious traditions. The second presents analyses and discussions of key issues and topics in which interreligious relations are an integral constituent. The editors have assembled an authoritative and scholarly work that discusses perspectives on the religious 'other' and interreligious relations that are typical of the major religious traditions; together with substantial original chapters from a cross-section of emerging and established scholars on main debates and issues in the wider field of interreligious relations.