Author : Charles L. Cohen
Publisher :
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 28,89 MB
Release : 2020
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0190654341
Connected by their veneration of the One God proclaimed by Abraham, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share much beyond their origins in the ancient Israel of the Old Testament. This Very Short Introduction explores the intertwined histories of these monotheistic religions, from the emergence of Christianity and Islam to the violence of the Crusades and the cultural exchanges of al-Andalus.
Author : David B. Burrell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : pages
File Size : 50,84 MB
Release : 2010-09-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1139490788
Creatio ex nihilo is a foundational doctrine in the Abrahamic faiths. It states that God created the world freely out of nothing - from no pre-existent matter, space or time. This teaching is central to classical accounts of divine action, free will, grace, theodicy, religious language, intercessory prayer and questions of divine temporality and, as such, the foundation of a scriptural God but also the transcendent Creator of all that is. This edited collection explores how we might now recover a place for this doctrine, and, with it, a consistent defence of the God of Abraham in philosophical, scientific and theological terms. The contributions span the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and cover a wide range of sources, including historical, philosophical, scientific and theological. As such, the book develops these perspectives to reveal the relevance of this idea within the modern world.
Author : Neil Spurway
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 150 pages
File Size : 29,50 MB
Release : 2009-05-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1443811823
Creation! How we are here. Not just us, of course, but bluetits and Hereford cattle and cabbages and E. coli and deserts and mountains and suns and nebulae … in fact, all that is. So not only “Why are we here?” but “Why is there a ‘here’ for us to inhabit?”. That is this book’s theme. Inevitably it doesn’t answer the question in a mechanistic sense. A telescope cannot look at itself, and neither can an inhabitant of the Universe say how it came to be. But that does not stop those questions haunting us. So where shall we turn? To cosmology? The concept of an initial event, a “Big Bang”, is now almost universally accepted. But what caused that? Most would feel that this is not a question science can answer. The first two contributors to this book are professional cosmologists, yet cosmology is only a background for this book, not its core theme. That theme is the conviction that the Universe owes its existence to a divine Creator – and the specific formulations of this conviction in the three great monotheistic religions, the “Abrahamic” faiths. The scriptures of all three faiths include the creation-accounts in the first two chapters of Genesis. Later developments moved the expressions of the three faiths considerably apart, but the social and political conditions of the 21st C world make it imperative that every effort should be put into a recovery of understanding between their practitioners. The purpose of this book is to contribute to that understanding. Of thirteen chapters, two are by Jewish authors and three by Moslems; several of the Christian authors also are deeply versed in the other traditions. Together, the chapters show that the attitudes of the three faiths to Creation have far more in common than otherwise. In particular, they are noticeably and encouragingly coming together in their endorsements of 21st C concerns for the environment. The book derives from a conference of the Science and Religion Forum in Sept 2006, but all chapters have been rewritten for publication, and carefully edited with linking commentaries.
Author : Aaron W. Hughes
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 11,43 MB
Release : 2012-10-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0199934657
Recently, the term "Abrahamic religions" has been used with exceeding frequency in the academy. We now regularly encounter academic books, conferences, and even positions (including endowed chairs) devoted to the so-called "Abrahamic religions." But what exactly are "Abrahamic religions"? Although many perceive him as the common denominator of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Abraham remains deceptively out of reach. An ahistorical figure, some contend he holds the seeds for historical reconciliation. Touted as symbol of ecumenicism, Abraham can just as easily function as one of division and exclusivity. Like our understanding of Abraham, the category "Abrahamic religions" is vague and nebulous. In Abrahamic Religions, Aaron Hughes examines the creation and dissemination of this term. Usually lost in contemporary discussions is a set of crucial questions: Where does the term "Abrahamic religions" derive? Who created it and for what purposes? What sort of intellectual work is it perceived to perform? Part genealogical and part analytical, this book seeks to raise and answer questions about the appropriateness and usefulness of employing "Abrahamic religions" as a vehicle for understanding and classifying data. In so doing, Abrahamic Religions can be taken as a case study that examines the construction of categories within the academic study of religion, showing how the categories we employ can become more an impediment than an expedient to understanding.
Author : Ina Wunn
Publisher : Springer
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 41,44 MB
Release : 2019-02-07
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3030044351
This book presents a consecutive story on the evolution of religions. It starts with an analysis of evolution in biology and ends with a discussion of what a proper theory of religious evolution should look like. It discusses such questions as whether it is humankind or religion that evolves, how religions evolve, and what adaptation of religions means. Topics examined include inheritance and heredity, religio-speciation, hybridization, ontogenetics and epigenetics, phylogenetics, and systematics. Calling attention to unsolved problems and relating the evolutionary subject matter to appropriate material, the book integrates and interprets existing data. Based on the belief that an unequivocal stand is more likely to produce constructive criticism than evasion of an issue, the book chooses that interpretation of a controversial matter which seems most consistent with the emerging picture of the evolutionary process. “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” the evolutionary biologist and co-founder of the so-called New Synthesis in Evolutionary Biology, Theodosius Dobszhansky (1900-1975), wrote in his famous essay of 1973, opposing creationism in American society. Today, Dobszhansky’s statement is not only fully accepted in biology, but has become the scientific paradigm in disciplines such as psychology, archaeology and the study of religions. Yet in spite of this growing interest in evolutionary processes in religion and culture, the term "evolution" and the capability of an evolutionary account have to date still not been properly understood by scholars of the Humanities. This book closes that gap.
Author : Jon Douglas Levenson
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 47,61 MB
Release : 2006-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0300135157
Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's Iliad, the Bible's book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.
Author : Stephen Schwalbe
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 19,63 MB
Release : 2020-07-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1793616477
Given the extremely high cost of overseas military operations today, the author offers readers scholarly insights as to what motivates kingdoms, countries, and groups to engage in religious conflict, beginning with those found in the Hebrew Bible. To do this, he analyzes three related religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to determine their similarities and differences regarding the killing of people. The areas of conflict analysis include Fundamentalism, Proselytization, Sacrifice (to include martyrdom), and Revenge (to include genocide). The insights of preeminent religious and political scholars are integrated into this comprehensive analysis of conflict involving religion, leading to an answer to the ultimate question: Is the killing worth it?
Author : J. Richard Middleton
Publisher : Baker Academic
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 46,44 MB
Release : 2021-11-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1493430882
It is traditional to think we should praise Abraham for his willingness to sacrifice his son as proof of his love for God. But have we misread the point of the story? Is it possible that a careful reading of Genesis 22 could reveal that God was not pleased with Abraham's silent obedience? Widely respected biblical theologian, creative thinker, and public speaker J. Richard Middleton suggests we have misread and misapplied the story of the binding of Isaac and shows that God desires something other than silent obedience in difficult times. Middleton focuses on the ethical and theological problem of Abraham's silence and explores the rich biblical tradition of vigorous prayer, including the lament psalms, as a resource for faith. Middleton also examines the book of Job in terms of God validating Job's lament as "right speech," showing how the vocal Job provides an alternative to the silent Abraham. This book provides a fresh interpretation of Genesis 22 and reinforces the church's resurgent interest in lament as an appropriate response to God.
Author :
Publisher : Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 25,80 MB
Release : 1999
Category : Bible
ISBN : 9780802136107
Hailed as "the most radical repackaging of the Bible since Gutenberg", these Pocket Canons give an up-close look at each book of the Bible.
Author : Hugh J. McCann
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 33,22 MB
Release : 2012-07-20
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0253357144
Creation and the Sovereignty of God brings fresh insight to a defense of God. Traditional theistic belief declared a perfect being who creates and sustains everything and who exercises sovereignty over all. Lately, this idea has been contested, but Hugh J. McCann maintains that God creates the best possible universe and is completely free to do so; that God is responsible for human actions, yet humans also have free will; and ultimately, that divine command must be reconciled with natural law. With this distinctive approach to understanding God and the universe, McCann brings new perspective to the evidential argument from evil.
