The Transcendent Holmes


Book Description

In a series of sparkling and intelligently presented essays, Dr. Montgomery takes a fresh look at the world "where it is always eighteen ninety-five" -- the world of Baker Street and Sherlock Holmes. Besides examining long debated problems, such as the true location of 221B, which was Holmes's University, how many times Watson was married, and where Watson was wounded, Dr. Montgomery also considers Holmes's activities in Tibet, his writings, his brother Mycroft, and his liking for fine wines. In a stunning climax to the volume, the reader is presented with a discussion between Holmes and Watson which will almost certainly cause him/her to pause, think, and deeply consider the depth of the message conveyed. Dr. Montgomery is a Sherlockian of long-standing. These essays prove that his time devoted to his subject has been very well spent indeed.




Joy Unspeakable


Book Description

Joy Unspeakable focuses on the aspects of the Black church that point beyond particular congregational gatherings toward a mystical and communal spirituality not within the exclusive domain of any denomination. This mystical aspect of the black church is deeply implicated in the well-being of African American people but is not the focus of their intentional reflection. Moreover, its traditions are deeply ensconced within the historical memory of the wider society and can be found in Coltrane's riffs, Malcolm's exhortations, the social activism of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama. The research in this book-through oral histories, church records, and written accounts--details not only ways in which contemplative experience is built into African American collective worship but also the legacy of African monasticism, a history of spiritual exemplars, and unique meditative worship practices. A groundbreaking work in its original edition, Joy Unspeakable now appears in a new, revised edition to address the effects of this contemplative tradition on activism and politics and to speak to a new generation of readers and scholars.




Fictions


Book Description

From Ancient philosophy to contemporary theories of fiction, it is a common practice to relegate illusory appearances to the realm of the non-existent, like shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave. Contrary to this traditional mode of drawing a metaphysical distinction between reality and fiction, Markus Gabriel argues that the realm of the illusory, fictional, imaginary, and conceptually indeterminate is as real as it gets. Being in touch with reality need not and cannot require that we overcome appearances in order to grasp a meaningless reality which exists ‘out there,’ outside and maybe even beyond our minds. Human mindedness (Geist) exists in the mode of fictions through which we achieve self-consciousness. This novel approach provides a fresh perspective on our existence as subjects who lead their lives in the light of self-conceptions. Fictions also develops a social ontology according to which the social unfolds as a constant renegotiation of dissent, of different points of view onto the same reality. Thus, we cannot ever hope to ground human society in a fiction-free realm of objective transactions. However, this does not mean that truth and reality are somehow outdated concepts. On the contrary, we need to enlarge our conception of reality so that it fully encompasses ourselves as specifically minded social animals. This major new work of philosophy will be of interest to students and scholars throughout the humanities and to anyone interested in contemporary philosophy and social thought.




Fighting the Good Fight, 3rd and Enlarged Edition


Book Description

John Warwick Montgomery is considered to be one of the foremost living apologists for classical, biblical Christianity. A renaissance scholar with a flair for controversy, he lives in France, England and the United States. His international activities have brought him into personal contact with some of the most exciting events of our time: not only was he in China In June 1989, but he was In Fiji during its 1987 bloodless revolution, was involved in assisting East Germans to escape during the time of the Berlin Wall, and was in Paris during the revolutionary “days of May” 1968. He has had personal contact with world leaders such as President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and English Prime Minister Tony Blair. He has been centrally involved in evangelical and Lutheran church affairs such as the Wenham conference on the authority of Scripture and the inerrancy controversies in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. His public debates with atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Bishop James Pike, death-of-God advocate Thomas Altizer, and situation-ethicist Joseph Fletcher are historic. His wife is the internationally-celebrated orchestral harpist Lanalee de Kant. Dr. Montgomery is the author or editor of more than fifty books in five languages. He holds ten earned degrees, Including a Master of Philosophy in Law from the University of Essex, England, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, a Doctorate of the University in Protestant Theology from the University of Strasbourg, France, and the higher doctorate in law (LL.D.) from the University of Cardiff, Wales. He is an ordained Lutheran clergyman, an English barrister, an avocat au Barreau de Paris, France, and is admitted to practise as a lawyer before the Supreme Court of the United States. He obtained acquittals for the “Athens 3” missionaries on charges of proselytism at the Greek Court of Appeals in 1986 and won the leading religious liberty cases of Larissis v. Greece and Bessarabian Orthodox Church v. Moldova before the European Court of Human Rights. Professor Montgomery’s autobiography offers an opportunity for the reader to meet one of the most fascinating figures in the contemporary church—to understand how he attained his influence in so many diverse areas of modern life—and to comprehend the Christ-centered philosophy of life that has motivated all of his activities. This autobiography manifests the author’s willingness to speak frankly about those with whom he has agreed and disagreed and is lightened with his well-known sense of humour Readers have a remarkable—and unique—treat in store for them.




Legitimizing Human Rights


Book Description

When does the exercise of an interest constitute a human right? The contributors to Menuge’s edited collection offer a range of secular and religious responses to this fundamental question of the legitimacy of human rights claims. The first section evaluates the plausibility of natural and transcendent foundations for human rights. A further section explores the nature of religious freedom and the vexed question of its proper limits as it arises in the US, European, and global contexts. The final section explores the pragmatic justification of human rights: how do we motivate the recognition and enforcement of human rights in the real world? This topical book should be of interest to a range of academics from disciplines spanning law, philosophy, religion and politics.




God's Devil


Book Description

Dr. Montgomery, a good teacher, has assembled a couple of older treasures as well as some new ones - four pieces of short fiction he has written that speak to larger truths. A ghost story starts the adventure. This is followed by a conversation between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they think their way through the evidence for the resurrection. Then we travel with the Magi to visit Mary and baby Jesus. Finally, we listen in on determinative conversations with eternal consequences. Through all of it, we see Dr. Montgomery's broad scholarship and his desire to enlighten his audience as well as entertain.




Postcolonial Practices of Care


Book Description

This anthology seeks to theorize a method of a radical, decolonial spiritual-care paradigm that can chart a new course in defining--or reframing--what is "spiritual," what is theological, and what is "care." Postcolonial Practices of Care presents voices of educators, chaplains, students, human-rights and disability activists, and other professionals to highlight the problems of disciplinary divides and binaries--such as pastoral/spiritual or ordinary/sacred. In focusing on the practices of care during the pandemic, the editors see their book as contributing to ongoing paradigm shifts and the importance of decoloniality as a method in the field of pastoral care. The praxis of spiritual care addresses--and interrogates--the history of spiritual violence and its imbrication with modernity/coloniality, colonialism, racial capitalism, neoliberalism, and (conscious and unconscious) white Christian supremacy that constructed not only the pastoral and the spiritual but also its divide: the pastoral/spiritual. Such a framework focuses on "religious" difference without probing or critiquing how those differences have reified hierarchies of superiority or sustained ideologies of Euro-centric monocultural ethnocentrism. We want to emphasize the shared practices that bring us together as human beings on Earth rather than to prove we are better, or more unique, than one another.




Patterns of American Legal Thought


Book Description

A renowned legal historian's collection of astute and timeless essays on such subjects as the process, method and debates of legal history; the truth about Holmes and Brandeis; legal realism & its critics; the origins of tort law; appellate opinions as research sources; Brown v. Board and the role of Earl Warren; and the development of gay rights in U.S. constitutional law. Quality digital format.




Tough-Minded Christianity


Book Description

Tough Minded Christianity is a collection of essays about the great work of John Warwick Montgomery (1931), a living legend in the field of Christian apologetics who has earned eleven degrees in philosophy, theology, law, and librarianship, debated historic atheists including Madalyn Murray O’Hair, and influenced the work of bestselling authors such as Josh McDowell. Contributors to this volume include J. I. Packer, Ravi Zacharias, John Ankerberg, Erwin Lutzer, Vernon Grounds, Gary Habermas, and among others Paige Patterson who writes in the foreword that John Warwick Montgomery did the “intellectual heavy lifting” that undergirded the conservative renewal of the Southern Baptist Convention.




Contemporary Feminist Historical Crime Fiction


Book Description

By examining the feminist interventions of contemporary women writers working in this subgenre, Johnsen advances the existing critical discussion of women's crime fiction. The writers studied here bring research expertise to bear on their chosen historical settings, creating a powerful but widely accessible statement about women in history.




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