Religion Seeking Justice and Peace (Penerbit USM)


Book Description

Religion Seeking Justice and Peace not only highlights the values that the different religions share in their pursuit of justice and peace but also provides concrete examples of how individuals and institutions from different religious backgrounds have worked for justice and peach throughout history. The book also exposes the danger of religious extremism, religious exclusivism and other such negative traits to the struggle for justice and peace. It takes cognisance of the impact of the larger environment upon religious ideals and, at the same time, makes a plea for the application of universal values and principles embodied in the various religions to politics. Economics, culture and society. This is particularly important, some of the contributors argue, at a time like this when humanity is confronted with multiple global crises.




Mercy in Action


Book Description

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has tackled many issues of urgent reform within the church. Mercy in Action explores Pope Francis’s efforts to renewCatholic social teaching—the guidance the church offers on matters that pertain to social justice in the world. The book examines what Pope Francis has said, done, and written on six critical social issues today—economic inequality, worker justice, preserving the environment, healthy family life, the plight of refugees, and peacemaking. The book also highlights both continuity and change in Catholic social teaching. Author Thomas Massaro illustrates how on each social issue—from expressing solidarity with unemployed workers to writing an encyclical addressing environmental degradation and climate change—Pope Francis has worked to update the church’s message of social justice and mercy.




A Hindu Theology of Liberation


Book Description

Discusses Hindu Advaita Ved?nta as a philosophy of social justice for the modern world. This expansive and accessible work provides an introduction to the Hindu tradition of Advaita Ved?nta and brings it into discussion with contemporary concerns. Advaita, the non-dual school of Indian philosophy and spirituality associated with ?a?kara, is often seen as “other-worldly,” regarding the world as an illusion. Anantanand Rambachan has played a central role in presenting a more authentic Advaita, one that reveals how Advaita is positive about the here and now. The first part of the book presents the hermeneutics and spirituality of Advaita, using textual sources, classical commentary, and modern scholarship. The book’s second section considers the implications of Advaita for ethical and social challenges: patriarchy, homophobia, ecological crisis, child abuse, and inequality. Rambachan establishes how Advaita’s non-dual understanding of reality provides the ground for social activism and the values that advocate for justice, dignity, and the equality of human beings. “Rambachan has written an original, creative, and provocative book that will assure that Hinduism has a greater voice in the general arena of interreligious dialogue.” — Paul F. Knitter, Union Theological Seminary “This is an important contribution to the advancement of constructive work in Hindu theology, comparative theology, and the study of South Asian religious traditions. It has the potential to revolutionize how scholars view Hinduism generally, and Advaita Ved?nta in particular.” — Jeffery D. Long, Elizabethtown College




When Peace Is Not Enough


Book Description

The state of Israel is often spoken of as a haven for the Jewish people, a place rooted in the story of a nation dispersed, wandering the earth in search of their homeland. Born in adversity but purportedly nurtured by liberal ideals, Israel has never known peace, experiencing instead a state of constant war that has divided its population along the stark and seemingly unbreachable lines of dissent around the relationship between unrestricted citizenship and Jewish identity. By focusing on the perceptions and histories of Israel’s most marginalized stakeholders—Palestinian Israelis, Arab Jews, and non-Israeli Jews—Atalia Omer cuts to the heart of the Israeli-Arab conflict, demonstrating how these voices provide urgently needed resources for conflict analysis and peacebuilding. Navigating a complex set of arguments about ethnicity, boundaries, and peace, and offering a different approach to the renegotiation and reimagination of national identity and citizenship, Omer pushes the conversation beyond the bounds of the single narrative and toward a new and dynamic concept of justice—one that offers the prospect of building a lasting peace.










Generous Justice


Book Description

Keller explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace.




Walking Together


Book Description

Walking together in faith and solidarity - What does it mean to go on pilgrimage? And further: what does it mean for Christians around the world to understand their discipleship in terms of pilgrimage in God's realm of justice and peace? This engaging and inspiring volume, developed by the Theological Study Group of the World Council of Church's Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, takes stock of the spiritual, social, and theological meanings of this global ecumenical initiative and its relevance to different regional, confessional, and generational contexts. The thirteen contributions are enlivened by personal stories of the authors and perspectives of the traditions they represent, and the volume offers constructive ways in which Christians can renew their notion of what it means to be authentically church today. "Our journey of faith is personal yet never fully private. In fact, our relationship with God draws us ever closer to those around us, learning from and accountable to those in need and those who live at the margins. This volume shows us what it means to live as pilgrims journeying on toward justice, and what it means to see not just ourselves but also our faith communities and our whole life together in this way." - Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the Foreword Susan Durber is a minister of the United Reformed Church in the UK and Moderator of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. Her publications include Preaching like a Woman (SPCK, 2007) and Surprised by Grace: Parables and Prayers (URC, 2013). Fernando Enns is an ordained minister from the Mennonite Church, Germany, and Professor of Peace Theology and Ethics at the Free University of Amsterdam. He also directs the Institute for Peace Church Theology at Hamburg University, Germany, and serves on the central committee of the WCC. Among his related publications is Just Peace: Ecumenical, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Pickwick, 2013).




Augustine and Social Justice


Book Description

This volume brings into dialogue the ancient wisdom of Augustine of Hippo, a bishop of the early Christian Church of the fourth and fifth centuries, with contemporary theologians and ethicists on the topic of social justice. Each essay mines the major themes present in Augustine's extensive corpus of writings—from his Confessions to the City of God— with an eye to the following question: how can this early church father so foundational to Christian doctrine and teaching inform our twenty-first century context on how to create and sustain a more just and equitable society? In his own day, Augustine spoke to conditions of slavery, conflict and war, violence and poverty, among many others. These conditions, while reflecting the characteristics of our technological age, continue to obstruct our collective efforts to bring about the common good for the global human community. The contributors of this volume have taken great care to read Augustine through the lens of his own time and place; at the same time, they provide keen insights and reflections which advance the conversation of social justice in the present.