Ori Z. Soltes - Böcker

Throughout the ages and across religious traditions, people have yearned to personally experience God and deeply connect with the Creator. In Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ori Z. Soltes traces the sweep of mysticism-this search for oneness with God-throughout the three Abrahamic traditions. This unique comparative overview begins with a definition of mysticism and a discussion of its place within religion as a whole. Soltes then explores the history of mysticism from Biblical times through the present day, highlighting the emergence of mysticism within the three traditions and how beliefs and practices converge and diverge over time. The final chapters discuss the growing interest in mysticism today through practices such as Kabbalah and how people publicly express their private encounters with God through art, literature, and other modern media.

Throughout the ages and across religious traditions, people have yearned to personally experience God and deeply connect with the Creator. In Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ori Z. Soltes traces the sweep of mysticism-this search for oneness with God-throughout the three Abrahamic traditions. This unique comparative overview begins with a definition of mysticism and a discussion of its place within religion as a whole. Soltes then explores the history of mysticism from Biblical times through the present day, highlighting the emergence of mysticism within the three traditions and how beliefs and practices converge and diverge over time. The final chapters discuss the growing interest in mysticism today through practices such as Kabbalah and how people publicly express their private encounters with God through art, literature, and other modern media.

This volume offers an innovative exploration of Western social and religious thought and bridges the expression of a regional imagination with several planetary conversations. It reconnects Plato and philosophy to the issue of theology and religion and the limits of language as an instrument in engaging both disciplines. While beginning with the language problem as Socrates lays it out in Plato’s Cratylus, it wends its way through the Panini-inspired discussion of language across Western thought and turns to an examination of the idea of theodicy—the justice of God in its relationship to humans: how do the innocent suffer—for example, during the Holocaust—in a world made by God? The book ultimately turns arouand to consider how particular contemporary Indian thinkers have taken up both Western thought and the issue of language and its applicability to philosophy and theology. It thus offers new horizons in the Western World and India by connecting Plato’s Cratylus to the works of Saussure, Wittgenstein, Barthes, Derrida, Levinas, as well as to Panini, Aurobindo, Ranjan Dass, Giri, and the Gita. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy, linguistics, and religion.

How can we address the seemingly endless conflicts in the world, particularly those arising from misunderstandings of Islam by both Muslims and non-Muslims? Preventing Violence and Achieving World Peace: The Contributions of the Gülen Movement presents the essays of eight scholars who consider the diverse ways in which the Gülen Movement or hizmet («service to others») – inspired by contemporary Turkish social philosopher Fetullah Gülen – has worked to answer this question. Drawing from various intellectual and theological sources, particularly Sufism, these essays indicate multiple instances of positive interfaith and/or multicultural dialogue. In addition, they consider how the writings of Gülen and the works of the Gülen Movement, through an extensive program of education and communication, have contributed significantly to efforts that oppose violence and shape universal peace.

Embracing hospitality and inclusion in Abrahamic traditionsOne of the signal moments in the narrative of the biblical Abraham is his insistent and enthusiastic reception of three strangers, a starting point of inspiration for all three Abrahamic traditions as they evolve and develop the details of their respective teachings. On the one hand, welcoming the stranger by remembering "that you were strangers in the land of Egypt" is enjoined upon the ancient Israelites, and on the other, oppressing the stranger is condemned by their prophets throughout the Hebrew Bible.These sentiments are repeated in the New Testament and the Qur'an and elaborated in the interpretive literatures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Such notions resonate obliquely within the history of India and its Dharmic traditions. On the other hand, they have been seriously challenged throughout history. In the 1830s, America's "Nativists" sought to emphatically reduce immigration to these shores. A century later, the Holocaust began by the decision of the Nazi German government to turn specific groups of German citizens into strangers. Deliberate marginalization leading to genocide flourished in the next half century from Bosnia and Cambodia to Rwanda. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the United States renewed a decisive twist toward closing the door on those seeking refuge, ushering in an era where marginalized religious and ethnic groups around the globe are deemed unwelcome and unwanted.The essays in Welcoming the Stranger explore these issues from historical, theoretical, theological, and practical perspectives, offering an enlightening and compelling discussion of what the Abrahamic traditions teach us regarding welcoming people we don't know.Welcoming the Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.Published by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art and the Fordham University Institute on Religion, Law and Lawyer's Work

This edited collection offers new perspectives on perceived paradoxes in Israel’s religious heritage, with a particular focus on the Garden of Eden narrative and descriptions of Israel’s God. The chapters examine a number of themes related to these paradoxes, including (1) “knowledge” versus “life” (referencing the two Edenic trees); (2) paradoxes pertaining to knowledge in the biblical versus Socratic traditions and the Platonic “good” versus the apparent eschewing of the good-evil dichotomy in Garden of Eden; (3) difficulties implicating finitude versus infinity; (4) God’s Edenic garden versus rabbinical “orchard,” or Pardes, the traditional fourfold manner of Torah interpretation; (5) the question of the Sôd, or “secret” esoteric stratum or narrative channel within the text of the Torah; (6) the issue of idolatry; (7) the nature of Israel’s deity; (8) a comparative glimpse of the Israelite God vis-à-vis relevant Christian and Buddhist glosses on divinity; and (9) science-fictional explorations of the biblical exegesis discourse. The volume’s contributors are based in Canada; England; Poland; Israel; and the United States.