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Sarah Coakley draws both liberal and conservative camps into a new
and serious reflection on ascetical theology. Each chapter of "New
"Asceticism concentrates on a contentious issue in contemporary
theology - the role of women in the churches, homosexuality and the
priesthood, celibacy and the future of Christian asceticism - in an
original thesis about the nature of desire which may start to heal
many contemporary wounds. Professor Coakley is as familiar with the
Bible and the Early Fathers as she is with the writings of Freud
and Jung, and she draws heavily on Gregory of Nyssa's theology of
desire in what she proposes. She points the way through the false
modern alternatives of repression and libertarianism, agape and
eros, recovering a way in which desire can be freed from
associations with promiscuity and disorder, and forging a new
asceticial vision founded in the disciplines of prayer and
attention.
A fascinating collection of essays exploring a fresh contemporary
approach to the person and doctrine of Jesus Christ How should
Christians think about the person of Jesus Christ today? In this
book Sarah Coakley argues that this question has to be 'broken
open' in new and unexpected ways: by an awareness of the deep
spiritual demands of the Christological task and its strikingly
'apophatic' dimensions; by a probing of the paradoxical ways in
which Judaism and Christianity are drawn together in Christ, even
by those issues which seem to 'break' them most decisively apart;
and by an exploration of the mode of Christ's presence in the
eucharist, with its intensification, ' breaking' and re-gathering
of human desires. In this sequel to her celebrated earlier volume
of essays, Powers and Submissions, Coakley returns to its unifying
theme of divine power and contemplative submission, and weaves a
new web of Christological outcomes which remain replete with
controversial implications for gender, spirituality and ethics.
Readers will also find: A discerning philosophical analysis of the
problem of the 'identity' of Jesus Christ, including a rich
discussion of the Chalcedonian tradition and its precursors; A
comprehensive exploration of the themes that seem to divide Judaism
and Christianity and yet richly inform the issue of their
eschatological future together; An insightful exploration of the
Christian eucharist and its 'efficacy' as a lens on the topic of
Christology; A complete new treatment of the meaning of the
'apophatic' Christ. Perfect for academics working in the fields of
systematic theology, the philosophy of religion, and early
Christian studies, The Broken Body: Israel, Christ and
Fragmentation will also benefit students and academics in Jewish
and Christian relations, as well as feminist and gender theory.
According to the reigning competition-driven model of evolution,
selfish behaviors that maximize an organism's reproductive
potential offer a fitness advantage over self-sacrificing
behaviors-rendering unselfish behavior for the sake of others a
mystery that requires extra explanation. Evolution, Games, and God
addresses this conundrum by exploring how cooperation, working
alongside mutation and natural selection, plays a critical role in
populations from microbes to human societies. Inheriting a tendency
to cooperate, argue the contributors to this book, may be as
beneficial as the self-preserving instincts usually thought to be
decisive in evolutionary dynamics. Assembling experts in
mathematical biology, history of science, psychology, philosophy,
and theology, Martin Nowak and Sarah Coakley take an
interdisciplinary approach to the terms "cooperation" and
"altruism." Using game theory, the authors elucidate mechanisms by
which cooperation-a form of working together in which one
individual benefits at the cost of another-arises through natural
selection. They then examine altruism-cooperation which includes
the sometimes conscious choice to act sacrificially for the
collective good-as a key concept in scientific attempts to explain
the origins of morality. Discoveries in cooperation go beyond the
spread of genes in a population to include the spread of cultural
transformations such as languages, ethics, and religious systems of
meaning. The authors resist the presumption that theology and
evolutionary theory are inevitably at odds. Rather, in rationally
presenting a number of theological interpretations of the phenomena
of cooperation and altruism, they find evolutionary explanation and
theology to be strongly compatible.
This study provides a new critical assessment of Jean Danielou's
classic rendition of the theme of "spiritual sensation" in the work
of Gregory of Nyssa, arguing that it has surprising wider relevance
for such pressing contemporary cultural problems as racism, sexism
and addiction to pornography.
Arguably the most imaginative and energetic church response to the
pandemic has been that of HeartEdge, the interdenominational church
renewal movement founded at St Martin in the Fields by Samuel Wells
but now extending beyond the UK to Europe, North America and
Australia. From serving thousands of meals on London's streets to
becoming, in all but name, an online conference centre and
theological college offering hundreds of events, one outstanding
feature of its programme has been Samuel Wells' monthly
conversations about the future of the Church with leading figures
from Britain and America, attended by large online audiences. This
volume offers a distillation of those conversations which, instead
of being preoccupied with decline, focus on what Christian presence
and practice might look like in the world that is being reshaped by
what the pandemic has revealed, and the theology that is needed to
sustain such a vision.
The traditional landscape of Anglican parish ministry is
irrevocably changing. Priests have traditionally understood
themselves as maintaining centres of prayer and spiritual care for
people in a particular place, but urgent pressures on parish
ministry are changing this. For God's Sake seeks to discern what
priests are called to do in the new shape the church is taking. It
looks for signs of God's kingdom in today's signs of the times, and
ways of being both faithful and creative in the face of an
uncertain future. A range of contributors explore first-hand the
contradictions and paradoxes of a priest's daily life, reflecting
on how the wisdom of the past and the new initiatives of
evangelization are shaping their vocation to prayer, study and
speaking the good news of Jesus Christ.
Praying for England reflects on the role of Christian priesthood in
contemporary culture, and comes up with some surprising and timely
insights about its efficacy and importance. There are ritual and
representative functions of the priest, it argues, which remain
spiritually and socially vital, even - perhaps especially - in a
society which ostensibly ignores the Church, or appears so
pluralistic as to lack any religious cohesion. The priestly role as
mediator before God of society's deepest pains, losses, joys and
irresolvable anxieties is here reimagined, and brought freshly to
life though moving narratives of pastoral encounter. Above all, the
priest is seen as one who goes on 'praying for England' in decisive
but often uncelebrated ways, prayer being the chief measure and
test of the priest's representative role. This is a deceptively
simple volume - theologically accessible but often deeply moving
and profound. In it a new vision is sketched of how Christian
priesthood can go forward today with humility, understated dignity,
and spiritual power. It will be of special interest to English
churchpeople in an 'established' setting, but is written no less
with an ecumenical and international readership in mind.
The Vowed Life reflects on a paradox in the Church today: one that
represents an important challenge to its mission and witness. Vows
continue to be made sacramentally in the Church, yet there remains
a great longing for a vowed life which would be truly transforming
and life-giving. Vows are simultaneously alluring and unappealing:
lay memberships of religious orders have escalated, yet very few
traditional religious communities have attracted younger members
due to their more demanding lifelong commitments. The Vowed Life
explores why and how this has come to be, and how the Church
urgently needs to respond to this paradoxical challenge. Returning
to baptism as the anchor of all other Christian vows, a range of
contributors consider whether the longing for forms of life that
are profoundly life-changing is a displaced desire for something
that should be intrinsic to Christian life. In a Church that
prioritises pastoral sensitivity, they ask how those demands could
be newly expressed for our culture. In seeking a coherent theology
of vows in liturgical practice and sacramental context, they find
that fresh attention to ‘the vowed life’ also has much to offer
to the Church’s continuing conversations about sex, gender and
identity, and to a ‘mixed ecology’ approach to the life of the
Church and its mission.
God, Sexuality and the Self is a new venture in systematic
theology. Sarah Coakley invites the reader to re-conceive the
relation of sexual desire and the desire for God and - through the
lens of prayer practice - to chart the intrinsic connection of this
relation to a theology of the Trinity. The goal is to integrate the
demanding ascetical undertaking of prayer with the recovery of lost
and neglected materials from the tradition and thus to reanimate
doctrinal reflection both imaginatively and spiritually. What
emerges is a vision of human longing for the triune God which is
both edgy and compelling: Coakley's theologie totale questions
standard shibboleths on 'sexuality' and 'gender' and thereby
suggests a way beyond current destructive impasses in the churches.
The book is clearly and accessibly written and will be of great
interest to all scholars and students of theology.
Feminist theory and reflections on sexuality and gender rarely
make contact with contemporary continental philosophy of religion.
Where they all come together, creative and transformative thinking
occurs. In Feminism, Sexuality, and the Return of Religion,
internationally recognized scholars tackle complicated questions
provoked by the often stormy intersection of these powerful forces.
The essays in this book break down barriers as they extend the
richness of each philosophical tradition. They discuss topics such
as queer sexuality and religion, feminism and the gift, feminism
and religious reform, and religion and diversity. The contributors
are Helene Cixous, Sarah Coakley, Kelly Brown Douglas, Mark D.
Jordan, Catherine Keller, Saba Mahmood, and Gianni Vattimo."
Is it possible to see, hear, touch, smell and taste God? How do we
understand the biblical promise that the 'pure in heart' will 'see
God'? Christian thinkers as diverse as Origen of Alexandria,
Bonaventure, Jonathan Edwards and Hans Urs von Balthasar have all
approached these questions in distinctive ways by appealing to the
concept of the 'spiritual senses'. In focusing on the Christian
tradition of the 'spiritual senses', this book discusses how these
senses relate to the physical senses and the body, and analyzes
their relationship to mind, heart, emotions, will, desire and
judgement. The contributors illuminate the different ways in which
classic Christian authors have treated this topic, and indicate the
epistemological and spiritual import of these understandings. The
concept of the 'spiritual senses' is thereby importantly recovered
for contemporary theological anthropology and philosophy of
religion.
God, Sexuality and the Self is a new venture in systematic
theology. Sarah Coakley invites the reader to re-conceive the
relation of sexual desire and the desire for God and - through the
lens of prayer practice - to chart the intrinsic connection of this
relation to a theology of the Trinity. The goal is to integrate the
demanding ascetical undertaking of prayer with the recovery of lost
and neglected materials from the tradition and thus to reanimate
doctrinal reflection both imaginatively and spiritually. What
emerges is a vision of human longing for the triune God which is
both edgy and compelling: Coakley's theologie totale questions
standard shibboleths on 'sexuality' and 'gender' and thereby
suggests a way beyond current destructive impasses in the churches.
The book is clearly and accessibly written and will be of great
interest to all scholars and students of theology.
Pain is immediate and searing but remains a deep mystery for
sufferers, their physicians, and researchers. As neuroscientific
research shows, even the immediate sensation of pain is shaped by
psychological state and interpretation. At the same time, many
individuals and cultures find meaning, particularly religious
meaning, even in chronic and inexplicable pain.
This ambitious interdisciplinary book includes not only essays
but also discussions among a wide range of specialists.
Neuroscientists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, musicologists, and
scholars of religion examine the ways that meditation, music,
prayer, and ritual can mediate pain, offer a narrative that
transcends the sufferer, and give public dignity to private agony.
They discuss topics as disparate as the molecular basis of pain,
the controversial status of gate control theory, the possible links
between the relaxation response and meditative practices in
Christianity and Buddhism, and the mediation of pain and intense
emotion in music, dance, and ritual. The authors conclude by
pondering the place of pain in understanding--or the human failure
to understand--good and evil in history.
This is the second edition of a widely acclaimed introduction to
modern Christian thought (originally published by Prentice Hall in
2001). It presents full scholarly accounts of the major movements,
thinkers, theologians and philosophers in the Christian tradition
since the 18th century Enlightenment. It also includes solid
historical background and critical assessments. The book now covers
the entire modern period in both Europe and the USA. It is the
first text to include extensive treatment of modern Catholic
thinkers, Evangelical thought and Black and Womanist theology.
This book aims to highlight the distinctive and unfamiliar ways in
which diverse religious traditions understand the 'body', and also,
in doing this, to raise to greater consciousness some of the
assumptions and problems of contemporary attitudes to it. It brings
together essays by established experts in the history of religion,
the social sciences, and philosophy. Part I is devoted to an
analysis of current secularized discourses on the 'body', and to
exposing both their anti-religious and their covertly religious
content. Parts II and III provide essays on traditional 'Western'
and 'Eastern' religious attitudes to the 'body'. Each contributor
focuses on some (especially characteristic) devotional practices or
relevant texts; each carefully outlines the total context in which
a distinctive religious attitude to 'bodiliness' occurs. The result
is a rich source for comparative studies of the 'body', and of its
relation to society and to the divine.
A collection of original and perceptive essays on the changing faces of Christian theology from the early fathers to the present day. The essays aim to reflect as wide a span of opinions as possible, and are written by a range of some of the most distinguished names in current theological scholarship, including James Barr, Henry Chadwick, John Hick, Rowan Williams, and others. The collection has been put together in honour of Maurice Wiles, who was Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford from 1970 to 1991.
Is it possible to see, hear, touch, smell and taste God? How do we
understand the biblical promise that the 'pure in heart' will 'see
God'? Christian thinkers as diverse as Origen of Alexandria,
Bonaventure, Jonathan Edwards and Hans Urs von Balthasar have all
approached these questions in distinctive ways by appealing to the
concept of the 'spiritual senses'. In focusing on the Christian
tradition of the 'spiritual senses', this book discusses how these
senses relate to the physical senses and the body, and analyzes
their relationship to mind, heart, emotions, will, desire and
judgement. The contributors illuminate the different ways in which
classic Christian authors have treated this topic, and indicate the
epistemological and spiritual import of these understandings. The
concept of the 'spiritual senses' is thereby importantly recovered
for contemporary theological anthropology and philosophy of
religion.
This will be the standard study on the "body" in relation to the major religions. It highlights the distinctive and unfamiliar ways in which diverse religious traditions understand the "body" and notes the assumptions and problems of contemporary attitudes to it. Religion and the Body brings together essays by established experts in the history of religion, the social sciences and philosophy. The result is a rich source for comparative studies of the "body", its relation to society and to the divine.
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