Religious Studies: Bloomsbury Academic Collections – serie

The contributors to this volume are convinced that previous engagements from Christian perspectives with the question of gender have tended to focus on female problems and viewpoints in isolation, or, conversely, on male problems and viewpoints. It seemed particularly important to try to unite reflections on both genders within one discussion on the assumption that such a consideration would yield more than the sum of two parts. Furthermore, that consciously relational reflection was to be attempted in specific dialogue with trinitarianism; another rather neglected area in the gender debates. And thus yields reflections in two directions: the impact of the Trinity on gender discussions, alongside a consideration of the impact of gender constructions on our conceptions of the Trinity.

This book, based upon a Jordan Lecture in Comparative Religion of 1959, traces the development of mystical thought during the formative periods of the Hindu and Muslim traditions. The religions are discussed separately but comparisons are offered wherever appropriate. The part on Hinduism focuses on the classical Upanishads, the Yogasutras, the Bhagavad-Gita, and Ramanuja’s commentary on them. For Islam, the focus is on the monistic revolution introduced by Abu Yazid, which Zaehner traces to the influence of Indian thought and through Junayd’s restoration of the theistic balance to the monism of the late writings of Ghazali.

This book contains a detailed discussion of some of the historical, doctrinal, ritual and literary aspects of both Vaishnavism and Shaivism, as first presented – then as Visnuism and Sivaism – at the 1969 Jordan Lecture in Comparative Religion. By comparing both religions, the main characteristics of each tradition is delineated and questions regarding their origins, theological doctrines and practices are reconsidered. Special emphasis is laid on their various interrelations, for example, the partly parallel and often divergent development of their rituals and philosophies.

While most of its contemporary religions have faded away, Israelite religion continues to have a major influence in the world. First delivered in 1975 as a Jordan Lecture in Comparative Religion, this volume argues that in its beginnings Israelite religion had much in common with ancient Mesopotamian religion and suggests that its endurance is due to its dynamic development of the concepts it shared with other religions.

The papers in this volume form a record of the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions, which was one of the largest interfaith gatherings ever held. Representatives from minority, ethnic and tribal religions took the podium as equals alongside representatives from the world’s largest religious traditions. This volume contains major addresses and reflections of this parliament, set in context by an introduction and conclusion by the editors.

This fascinating collection of essays examines religious experience and tradition. The first part focuses on the nature and sources of authority in each of six major religions and considers how freedom is perceived by them. It goes on to examine the religious contexts of two examples of nations divided within themselves: Northern Ireland and Israel. The second part of the book looks at the process of education, the tensions between freedom and authority and their implications for religious education.

First delivered in 1974 as one of the Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion, this book considers and compares traditional or pre-modern and post-traditional or post-modern religions. It assesses the processes as well as the images of change in various cultures – principally Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism – and examines how these religions handle the dialects of rejection, appropriation and integration.

This book provides a dispassionate analysis of new religious movements, charting their growth and examining them from a variety of perspectives – sociological, psychological, legal and theological. Saliba then questions whether or not membership harms those who join these new movements and assesses the charge that they ‘brainwash’ their adherents.

This book is based on the 1967 Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion and discusses the Biblical concept of human dominion and the Qur’anic doctrine of Adam as caliph. It explores the Jewish, Muslim and Christian understanding of man in election, the prophet-state and in grace and sonship.

Religious Studies was first introduced as a new discipline in universities and colleges around the world in the 1960s. This discipline brought about a reorientation of the study of religion, created new perspectives and influenced all sectors of education. The essays presented in this volume provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the history of Religious Studies as an academic discipline, the turning points it faces and the directions it might take in the future. The work is organised in three sections. The first presents a succinct case study of the historical development of Religious Studies in Britain. The second considers the development of Religious Studies throughout the world in its major constituents, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, ‘traditional’ African religions, Christianity, Islam and new religious movements in Africa, the study of truth and dialogue in religion, science and the rediscovery of religious experience, mysticism. The third section looks to developments in Religious Studies, in particular at religion in relation to the arts, gender, information technology and to Religious Studies in a global perspective.

This collection of essays examines responses to the Millennium and whether or not the year 2000 could be claimed as a specifically Christian time. It also considers how other religions reacted to the moment and what millennial celebrations reveal about religion in a secular age.

Mystics who have spoken of their union with God have come under suspicion in all three major religious traditions, sometimes to the point of condemnation and execution in the case of Christianity and Islam. Nevertheless, in all three religions the tradition of unio mystica is deep and long. Many of the spiritual giants of these three faiths have seen the attainment of mystical union as the heart of their beliefs and practices.Despite its importance, mystical union has rarely been investigated in itself, apart from the wider study of mysticism, and even more rarely from the aspect of comparative studies, especially those based upon broad and expert knowledge of the inner life of the three related monotheistic faiths. This text brings together essays that equally explore the broader idea of unio mystica as well as the mystic traditions within each religion.

In this closely argued philosophical study, theologian Richard Grigg claims that faith in the United States is changing as traditional religious ideas struggle to survive in a dynamic environment. Whereas a large percentage of Americans still report that they believe in God, Grigg shows that this belief can no longer mean what it used to mean: modern science has taken over much of the cognitive territory that used to belong to religion, and uniquely contemporary problems of theodicy threaten the believer’s sense that God is in fact in his heaven, while all is right with the world. Increasingly, American religion survives only if relegated to the private sphere. And yet a God that is relegated to the private sphere cannot be the God that has formed the centrepiece of the major religions of the West. When God Becomes Goddess suggests that one way in which Americans may keep the traditional Western idea of God alive – paradoxically – is to embrace the Goddess of feminist theology. Collecting a variety of feminist theologies under the rubric of enactment theology, Grigg demonstrates how these theologies offer much more than a critique of patriarchy; indeed, her gender aside, Grigg suggests that the Goddess may create an avenue through which the concept of God might be rescued from the pressing forces of secularization.

This collection of interdisciplinary essays explores the prime concern of Mormon Studies – the relationship between knowledge and spirituality – and how that relationship has been defined and reinterpreted over time. Beginning with an examination of the international prospects for Mormonism at the turn of the century, the volume’s overarching theme, from sociological, anthropological and theological approaches, is the examination of changing Mormon identities.The contributors review the expansion of Mormonism, the emotional and social contexts of its historic and contemporary manifestations, the distinction between ‘Utah’ Mormons and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and issues in Mormon feminism, concluding with a valuable review of the sources and documents available for studying Mormonism.

What are the implications of adopting a primacy of praxis position in feminist theology? How can we respect the diversity of women’s experience while retaining it as a useful analytic category? Do these twin resources of women’s experience and praxis together imply that feminist theology is ultimately relativist? Through an analysis of the work of some of today’s key feminist theologians – Christian, womanist and post-Christian – Linda Hogan considers these and other methodological questions.

With contributions from eminent theologians from different countries, confessions, disciplines and interests, this volume celebrates the immense breadth and influence of T.F. Torrance. Contributors include R. E. Clements, Matthew Black, R. S. Barbour, Alasdair Heron, Dietrich Ritschl, Robert W. Jenson, D.M. MacKinnon, Allan D. Galloway, Jürgen Moltmann, Noel Dermot O'Donoghue, Stanley L. Jaki, Thomas A. Langford, J. Houston, Enda McDonagh, John McIntyre, Eberhard Jüngel, Richard W. A. McKinney, S. W. Sykes, John Heywood Thomas, Lesslie Newbigin.

This is a collection of the most important writings of Charles E. Curran from the 1980s and 1990s. He examines the history of moral theology in general, the development of Catholic medical ethics, the role of the laity in the thought of John Courtney Murray, and the evolution of Catholic moral theology from the end of World War II to the close of the 20th century. The volume also includes a selection of his writings on fertility control, homosexuality, public policy, gay rights, academic freedom and Catholic higher education.

This book explores African religious practice and its relation to African identity. It takes the problem of faith as its central theme, emphasizing the particular existential tensions dividing yet uniting the Christian and the African. Drawing on Heidegger and Sartre, it analyses these tensions underlying and creating the dialogues of hybridity or metissage.

There is a growing awareness of cultural diversity and plurality on the one hand and shared responsibility for our planet on the other. The sense of cultural identity exposes the wealth and richness of our heritage but also introduces its risks, like the proliferation of often violent independence and separatist movements. A sense of shared responsibility represents the hope to avoid ecological catastrophe and highlights the problems of inequality, poverty and suffering. Is our understanding of cultures and contexts affected, or even dramatically transformed, by our perception of Christ and Trinitarian theology? This series of essays addresses the issues of cultural plurality and diversity, poverty, sexist and racist oppression and ecological crisis, and aims to discuss the place of Christ in our understanding of human contextuality. Authors include Gustavo Gutiérrez, Jürgen Moltmann, Johann Metz, Janet Martin Soskice and John de Gruchy.

In popular culture, science and theology have often been portrayed as antagonistic. Some writers have described the history of the debate in terms of a surrender by theology, a retreat from the field of engagement: theology has abandoned the public arena, leaving all creation to science, and has opted instead for the safer ground of ethics, morality and personal or private belief. Science and Theology advocates a constructive dialogue between the two subjects and suggests the topics where they might meet. The essays in this volume were commissioned from leading figures around the world – experts in their own disciplines, but enthusiasts for debate at the science and theology interface. They include Norma Emerton, Owen Gingerich, Nancey Murphy, John Polkinghorne, John Puddefoot and Carver T. Yu. They discuss natural theology, the methodologies of science and theology, and theology in the light of scientific discovery. Their themes cover scientism, divine action in the world, the problem of evil, freedom and determinism, reductionism and humanity, the limits of knowledge, and chaos theory. Together, these essays offer a significant and positive contribution to one of the most exciting areas of modern thought.

This is a sparkling collection of essays by one of Britain's best-known and acute commentators of the church scene and of contemporary religious life. Martyn Percy explores new liberalism, the churches and human rights in the European Union, football and religion, pilgrimage, demonology, common spirituality, religious attitudes to nudity, and the relationship between religion and advertising. The argument running throughout this book is that despite claims--and the appearance--of increasing secularity, the influence of religious themes and values on our everyday life remains pervasive.

This collaborative effort by a number of the world's leading experts on the Holocaust examines the question: how should Vatican policies during World War II be understood? Specifically, could Pope Pius XII have curbed the Holocaust by vigorously condemning the Nazi killing of Jews? Was Pius XII really 'Hitler's Pope', as John Cornwell suggested? Or has he unfairly become a scapegoat when he is really deserving of canonization as a saint?In Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, scholars including Michael Marrus, Michael Phayer, Richard L. Rubenstein and Susan Zuccotti wrestle with these questions. The book has four main themes: (1) Pope Pius XII must be understood in his particular historical context. (2) Pope Pius XII put the well-being of the Roman Catholic Church, as he understood it, first and foremost. (3) In retrospect, Pope Pius XII's priorities, understandable though they are, not only make him a problematic Christian leader but also raise important questions about post-Holocaust Christian identity. (4) Jewish and Christian memories of the Holocaust will remain different, but reconciliation can continue to grow. On all sides, relations between Christians and Jews can be improved by an honest engagement with history and by continuing reflection on what post-Holocaust Christian and Jewish identities ought and ought not to mean.

This collection of eleven essays, written jointly by the authors, argues that science and religion should be seen as mutually enriching worldviews with no need of reconciliation. The essays are organised in three parts, which deal with the definition and development of the concept of metaphoric process and its implications for illuminating what it means to understand something, the exploration of the so-called bidisciplinary dialogue, and the differences and similarities between studying science and religion respectively.

The relationship of ‘The Word’ to notions of unity and oneness has often served as a tool of tyranny and oppression in Christian history. Static, authoritarian religious institutions have formed and developed the central tenets of their faith, excluding from participation the voices of those who do not mirror the reality of the power brokers – overwhelmingly white, Western, heterosexual and male. Yet other voices have continually emerged in multiple locations to challenge the hegemony of ‘The Word’ and to claim authority and agency in the struggle for basic rights and justice. Some of these voices are explicitly religious, others not. All challenge the adequacy of a unilateral ‘Word’ to embody the dynamic and all-encompassing movement of the sacred in the world. This book suggests that a metaphor of ‘voices’ provides possibility for the intercourse of many diverse expressions of holy power in the world without insisting upon either a primal or an ultimate onenss. The implications of this shift are many. The sources where such revelations of the divine appear are broadened to include many texts not traditionally seen as theological. Conceptions of community are revolutionized, to include not only groupings of like-minded individuals coming together for support and nourishment, but also coalitions of diverse persons, who share no particular social or cultural identity but rather their commitment to work together for a more just world. Traditional theological categories are renamed and redefined, as their original definition and subsequent development are disclosed as limiting and inadequate. And the God whom we have been told is One is revealed as many-faceted and articulate, speaking through and among a radical multiplicity of created and creative beings who struggle together to live authentically in the world.

This book makes a compelling case for male-female religious complementarity in many of the world’s religions. It offers an extensive survey of female spiritual roles in a variety of cultures and provides evidence that women have exercised authority and sacred power in a variety of traditional religions.

One of the most significant phenomena within the Western church in the second half of the twentieth century has been the emergence of feminist theology. This both reflects and promotes pastoral and policy concerns about the proper roles and relationships of women and men within the Christian church, such as the validity of women’s priestly ministry, the use of inclusive language in liturgy and the metaphorical naming of God. At the heart of the debate is the question of the meaning and significance of gender in theology and Christian practice. Within the human and social sciences, the analysis of gender is treated as an essential aspect of human behaviour. By contrast, within the church there has been little sustained or disciplined attention to the nature and underlying significance of gender. Theological discourse and church policy have too often displayed ignorance and unexamined assumptions about the crucial issues involved. Graham attempts a more detailed and critical inquiry into how an analysis of gender can affect policy, practice and discourse within the church. Focusing on three major disciplines – anthropology, biology and psychoanalysis – she demonstrates how these offer profound implications for our understanding of the foundations of human culture and identity, for theological studies and for Christian practice.

This volume on a provocative set of topics presents papers from the 1997 conference on Religion and Sexuality at Roehampton Institute London. The papers do not confine themselves to contemporary discussion of the topics concerned, but range widely in their discourse and discuss this relationship in social, theological and political contexts.

This work lies at the critical juncture of feminism and religious studies and participates in the vibrant tradition of the feminist anthology. It is part of a broad feminist discourse that continues to grow less monolithic and more varied in material, method and style each year. The papers are divided into three main sections: the representation of women in sacred texts and theologies, the fundamental need to recover the heritage of women and to return to women their history, and the coming together of canonical texts with contemporary feminist theory in order to address philosophical and theological problems.

Rita Gross and Rosemary Radford Ruether have long been known for their feminist contributions to Buddhism and Christianity, respectively. In this book, they talk candidly about what these traditions mean to them in both their liberating as well as problematic aspects. Throughout the book, their life stories provide the rich soil, perhaps even the rationale, for their theological and spiritual development. Despite the marked differences in their life histories and their respective religious faiths, Gross and Radford Ruether achieve surprising unanimity on the paramount issue: what engaged Buddhism and enlightened Christianity can offer in the struggle to create a new future for the planet.