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This innovative, broad-ranging book by William Greenway unfolds a
biblical spirituality centring on love for all creation and all
creatures. Greenway rereads the creation and flood narratives in
Genesis from an overtly creature-loving perspective that not only
inspires care for creation and its creatures but also reveals
sophisticated understandings of faith, grace, and evil vital for
twenty-first-century spirituality. Comparing the ancient Israelite
cosmology of Genesis with the ancient Babylonian cosmology of the
Enuma Elish and with the modern Darwinian cosmology of Thomas
Hobbes's Leviathan, Greenway shows how Genesis extends far beyond
those cosmologies in its discernment of the transcending, gracious
love of God. Standing at the intersection of animal rights, "green"
biblical studies, and philosophical theology, Greenway's For the
Love of All Creatures is a groundbreaking work that will interest
and inform a wide range of readers.
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Agape Ethics (Hardcover)
William Greenway
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R1,097
R873
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Save R224 (20%)
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"Insofar as the essence of this philosophical spirituality is
continuous with the essence of Christian spirituality, I am able to
specify how . . . we can be utterly confident that it is wholly
reasonable and good to affirm, give thanks for, live, and testify
to faith in God."< br />from the preface While it's clear
that a lot of people believe in God, whether they should is a
matter of loud debate. Since the Enlightenment, and especially in
the last 150 years, a consensus has been building in Western
philosophy that belief in a transcendent orderand especially in a
supreme beingis unreasonable and should be abandoned. The result of
this trend has been to delegitimize religious belief, to claim that
those who believe do so against scientific evidence and rational
thought. In this confident and sensitive book, William Greenway
carefully guides the reader through the developments in Western
intellectual life that have led us to assume that belief is
irrational. He starts by demonstrating that, along with belief in
God, modern definitions of human rationality have also rejected
free will and moral agency. He then questions the Cartesian
assumption that it is our ability to think that makes us most human
and most real. Instead, Greenway explains, it is our capacity to be
grasped by the lives and needs of others that forms the heart of
who we are. From that vantage point we can see that faith is not a
choice we make in spite of evidence to the contrary; it is, rather,
wholly rational and in keeping with that which makes us most human.
Every person who either has faith or is contemplating faith can be
assured that belief in God is both reasonable and good. Greenway
embraces both contemporary philosophy and science, inviting readers
into a more confident experience of their faith.
Belief in God in the face of suffering is one of the most
intractable problems of Christian theology. Many respond to the
spiritual challenge of evil by ignoring it, blaming God, or
insisting on the inherent meaninglessness of life. In this book,
William Greenway contends that we don't have to deny our moral
selves by either ignoring evil or abandoning our moral
sensibilities toward it. We can open our eyes fully to suffering
and evil, and our own complicity in them. We can do so because it
is only in this full acceptance of the world's guilt and our own
that we make ourselves fully open to agape, to being seized by love
of others and God. Inspired by the Jewish philosopher Emmanuel
Levinas and the Christian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The
Challenge of Evil lovingly explains how we can look squarely at the
overwhelming suffering in the world and still, by grace, have faith
in a good and loving God.
William Greenway's poems travel between muggy recollections of a
Southern Baptist childhood, meditations on the otherworldly beauty
of Wales, and commentary on life, death, and the revelry in
between. For every witty turn of phrase, a punch beyond the punch
line stuns us with wisdom and transcendence. A poem like "Ophelia
Writes Home," a witty revisionist account that shifts the slaughter
of that famous tragedy to domestic bliss, exemplifies Greenway's
genius for reconciliation, for the grace of happiness no matter
what happens. We smile, we grieve, and we keep reading these
surehanded and goodhearted poems.
Even lovers of Dylan Thomas's poems are often puzzled by his habits
of language, which sometimes take the form of unusual diction and
unique perceptions. This study, on the hundredth anniversary of his
birth, is a must-read for both Thomas's fans and newcomers
interested in an introduction to his works and the unique
sensibility that created them. Chapters are devoted to his poetic
perspectives, ranging from the microscopic to the cosmic; his
unusual perceptions of the world, which some critics have described
as those of an almost altered reality; his diction, or working
vocabulary; his penchant for refurbishing cliches; his hilarious
sense of humor and linguistic playfulness; his development as a
poet; and his concern for sound, often resulting in a lofty, at
times Biblical, though secular, tone. In summary, the study fully
explores the heart and mind behind the poems, and shows why his
work will always remain in the top rank of English poetry.
Even lovers of Dylan Thomas's poems are often puzzled by his habits
of language, which sometimes take the form of unusual diction and
unique perceptions. This study, on the hundredth anniversary of his
birth, is a must-read for both Thomas's fans and newcomers
interested in an introduction to his works and the unique
sensibility that created them. Chapters are devoted to his poetic
perspectives, ranging from the microscopic to the cosmic; his
unusual perceptions of the world, which some critics have described
as those of an almost altered reality; his diction, or working
vocabulary; his penchant for refurbishing cliches; his hilarious
sense of humor and linguistic playfulness; his development as a
poet; and his concern for sound, often resulting in a lofty, at
times Biblical, though secular, tone. In summary, the study fully
explores the heart and mind behind the poems, and shows why his
work will always remain in the top rank of English poetry.
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