Download or read book Critical Christianity written by Courtney Handman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Critical Christianity, Courtney Handman analyzes the complex and conflicting forms of sociality that Guhu-Samane Christians of rural Papua New Guinea privilege and celebrate as “the body of Christ.” Within Guhu-Samane churches, processes of denominational schism—long relegated to the secular study of politics or identity—are moments of critique through which Christians constitute themselves and their social worlds. Far from being a practice of individualism, Protestantism offers local people ways to make social groups sacred units of critique. Bible translation, produced by members of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, is a crucial resource for these critical projects of religious formation. From early interaction with German Lutheran missionaries to engagements with the Summer Institute of Linguistics to the contemporary moment of conflict, Handman presents some of the many models of Christian sociality that are debated among Guhu-Samane Christians. Central to the study are Handman's rich analyses of the media through which this critical Christian sociality is practiced, including language, sound, bodily movement, and everyday objects. This original and thought-provoking book is essential reading for students and scholars of anthropology and religious studies.
Download or read book Critical Christianity written by Courtney Handman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-11-26 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Critical Christianity, Courtney Handman analyzes the complex and conflicting forms of sociality that Guhu-Samane Christians of rural Papua New Guinea privilege and celebrate as Òthe body of Christ.Ó Within Guhu-Samane churches, processes of denominational schismÑlong relegated to the secular study of politics or identityÑare moments of critique through which Christians constitute themselves and their social worlds. Far from being a practice of individualism, Protestantism offers local people ways to make social groups sacred units of critique. Bible translation, produced by members of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, is a crucial resource for these critical projects of religious formation. From early interaction with German Lutheran missionaries to engagements with the Summer Institute of Linguistics to the contemporary moment of conflict, Handman presents some of the many models of Christian sociality that are debated among Guhu-Samane Christians. Central to the study are Handman's rich analyses of the media through which this critical Christian sociality is practiced, including language, sound, bodily movement, and everyday objects. This original and thought-provoking book is essential reading for students and scholars of anthropology and religious studies.
Download or read book Christianity and Literature written by David Lyle Jeffrey and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2011-02-28 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What has Jesus Christ to do with English literature?" ask David Lyle Jeffrey and Gregory Maillet in this insightful survey. First and foremost, they reply, many of the world's best authors of literature in English were formed--for better or worse--by the Christian tradition. Then too, many of the most recognized aesthetic literary forms derive from biblical exemplars. And finally, many great works of literature demand of readers evaluative judgments of the good, the true and the beautiful that can only rightly be understood within a Christian worldview. In this book Jeffrey and Maillet offer a feast of theoretical and practical discernment. After an examination of literature and truth, theological aesthetics, and the literary character of the Bible, they turn to a brief survey of literature from medieval times to the present, highlighting distinctively Christian themes and judgments. In a concluding chapter they suggest a path for budding literary critics through the current state of literary studies. Here is a must-read for all who are interested in a Christian perspective on literary studies.
Download or read book ReVisioning written by James Romaine and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-05-20 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ReVisioning: Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art examines the application of art historical methods to the history of Christianity and art. As methods of art history have become more interdisciplinary, there has been a notable emergence of discussions of religion in art history as well as related fields such as visual culture and theology. This book represents the first critical examination of scholarly methodologies applied to the study of Christian subjects, themes, and contexts in art. ReVisioning contains original work from a range of scholars, each of whom has addressed the question, in regard to a well-known work of art or body of work, "How have particular methods of art history been applied, and with what effect?" The study moves from the third century to the present, providing extensive treatment and analysis of art historical methods applied to the history of Christianity and art.
Download or read book Christianity and Critical Realism written by Andrew Wright and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the key achievements of critical realism has been to expose the modernist myth of universal reason, which holds that authentic knowledge claims must be objectively ‘pure’, uncontaminated by the subjectivity of local place, specific time and particular culture. Wright aims to address the lack of any substantial and sustained engagement between critical realism and theological critical realism with particular regard to: (a) the distinctive ontological claims of Christianity; (b) their epistemic warrant and intellectual legitimacy; and (c) scrutiny of the primary source of the ontological claims of Christianity, namely the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. As such, it functions as a prolegomena to a much needed wider debate, guided by the under-labouring services of critical realism, between Christianity and various other religious and secular worldviews. This important new text will help stimulate a debate that has yet to get out of first gear. This book will appeal to academics, graduate and post-graduate students especially, but also Christian clergy, ministers and informed laity, and members of the general public concerned with the nature of religion and its place in contemporary society.
Download or read book The Anthropology of Christianity written by Fenella Cannell and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2006-11-07 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection provides vivid ethnographic explorations of particular, local Christianities as they are experienced by different groups around the world. At the same time, the contributors, all anthropologists, rethink the vexed relationship between anthropology and Christianity. As Fenella Cannell contends in her powerful introduction, Christianity is the critical “repressed” of anthropology. To a great extent, anthropology first defined itself as a rational, empirically based enterprise quite different from theology. The theology it repudiated was, for the most part, Christian. Cannell asserts that anthropological theory carries within it ideas profoundly shaped by this rejection. Because of this, anthropology has been less successful in considering Christianity as an ethnographic object than it has in considering other religions. This collection is designed to advance a more subtle and less self-limiting anthropological study of Christianity. The contributors examine the contours of Christianity among diverse groups: Catholics in India, the Philippines, and Bolivia, and Seventh-Day Adventists in Madagascar; the Swedish branch of Word of Life, a charismatic church based in the United States; and Protestants in Amazonia, Melanesia, and Indonesia. Highlighting the wide variation in what it means to be Christian, the contributors reveal vastly different understandings and valuations of conversion, orthodoxy, Scripture, the inspired word, ritual, gifts, and the concept of heaven. In the process they bring to light how local Christian practices and beliefs are affected by encounters with colonialism and modernity, by the opposition between Catholicism and Protestantism, and by the proximity of other religions and belief systems. Together the contributors show that it not sufficient for anthropologists to assume that they know in advance what the Christian experience is; each local variation must be encountered on its own terms. Contributors. Cecilia Busby, Fenella Cannell, Simon Coleman, Peter Gow, Olivia Harris, Webb Keane, Eva Keller, David Mosse, Danilyn Rutherford, Christina Toren, Harvey Whitehouse
Download or read book Intersections in Christianity and Critical Theory written by Cassandra Falke and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 2010-10-27 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dealing with the historical and thematic intersections of Christianity and critical theory, this collection brings together a diversity of specialist scholars in the area. Building on recent discourses in theology as well as their knowledge of hermeneutic and critical traditions, they examine major themes in contemporary critical theory.
Download or read book The Case Against Christianity written by Michael Martin and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this systematic philosophical critique of the major tenets of Christianity, Michael Martin examines the semantic and epistemological bases of religious claims and beliefs. Beginning with a comparison and evaluation of the Apostles' Creed, the Niceno-Chalcedonian Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, Martin discusses the principal theological, historical, and eschatological assumptions of Christianity. These include the historicity of Jesus, the Incarnation, the Second Coming, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, Salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as a model of ethical behavior. Until now, an adequately convincing criticism of Christianity did not exist. Martin's use of historical evidence, textual analysis, and interpretations by philosophers and theologians provides the strongest case made to date against the rational justification of Christian doctrines.
Download or read book Saving Christianity written by Michael Youssef and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2020 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear and frank exploration of the future of Christianity and whether it needs to be saved. We live in confusing times. Our society has shifted on its moral axis, and many are asking whether Christianity needs to be reinvented--or even reimagined--in order to save it. With Newsweek declaring "The Decline and Fall of Christian America" on its cover and The Daily Beast questioning "Does Christianity Have a Future?" bloggers and Christian commentators are discussing whether we need a "new of kind of Christianity." In Saving Christianity? Dr. Michael Youssef explores this train of thought and its pitfalls. He describes how similar discussions in Christianity's recent past explored the very same question. Saving Christianity? will help you discern what is going on within the church while it reviews the essentials of the Christian faith as described in the Bible. We dare not abandon this "mere faith," as Dr. Youssef describes it, because it is the light for all humanity--and especially for those of us living in today's chaotic times. After reading Saving Christianity? you'll have a renewed confidence in the future of the church and the central place it will occupy for generations to come.
Download or read book Critical Theory and Early Christianity written by Matthew G. Whitlock and published by Equinox Publishing (UK). This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume aims to create-in Walter Benjamin's terms-dialectical images from early Christian texts and the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It blasts the past and the present into one another, creating new constellations of thought, ones connected with tensions and mediated by theory (mediation being what Theodor Adorno adds to Benjamin's concept of the dialectical image). Our ancient images derive from the Gospels, the Apostle Paul, Revelation, Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine. Our modern images and theories derive from Walter Benjamin, Gilles Deleuze, Alain Badiou, and Judith Butler. Together these images and theories challenge the way we think about gentrification, progress, early Christianity, revolutionary movements, history, the body of Christ, canonicity, language, gender, and bodies, both human and non-human.Eleven international scholars contribute to this volume. These scholars are experts in the fields of Biblical Studies, Early Christian Studies, Philosophy, and Critical Theory.
Download or read book A Christian s Guide to Critical Thinking written by Henry Virkler and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-06-26 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever heard a Bible interpretation or a scientifically-based argument that just didn't seem correct? Did you wish you knew how to show that it wasn't true? In a postmodern society, Christians are increasingly confronted with assertions that contradict the principles they believe. They need to be able to critically analyze arguments and know how to refute, in a gentle way, those assertions that are not true. In order to do this Christians need three sets of skills: -hermeneutical skills -- to know how to accurately interpret God's Word and be able to correct misinterpretations of Scripture; -research design and statistical skills -- to be able to examine statements about God's world and evaluate whether or not they represent valid conclusions from the data; -knowledge of logical fallacies -- in order to be able to identify when invalid inductive or deductive conclusions were being drawn, either from God's Word or from research studies about God's world. This book will help you be able to do the following: -know and use valid hermeneutical skills; -understand research design and statistical analysis techniques; -recognize logical fallacies and replace them with accurate analyses. An excellent resource for pastors, Sunday school teachers, and group leaders, this book is as practical as it is valuable for persons who want to discern truth and refute error in a spirit of love.
Download or read book Practicing Christianity written by Margaret R. Miles and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-06-07 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Men and women throughout history have learned to shape their lives around Christian ideas, attitudes, and values in many different ways. They have been helped by liturgies, sermons, visual imagery, religious drama, and hymns. But perhaps the most important sources were the classic devotional manuals, like The Imitation of Christ and The Pilgrim's Progress, many of which are still in use today. In this book, Margaret Miles subjects these devotional manuals to a detailed critique. Miles speaks as a scholar, as a Christian living in the modern world, and as a woman, and she ends by discussing the relevance of her findings to Christian life today.
Download or read book Critical Terms for Religious Studies written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-07-09 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century that began with modernism sweeping across Europe is ending with a remarkable resurgence of religious beliefs and practices throughout the world. Wherever one looks today, from headlines about political turmoil in the Middle East to pop music and videos, one cannot escape the pivotal role of religious beliefs and practices in shaping selves, societies, and cultures. Following in the very successful tradition of Critical Terms for Literary Studies and Critical Terms for Art History, this book attempts to provide a revitalized, self-aware vocabulary with which this bewildering religious diversity can be accurately described and responsibly discussed. Leading scholars working in a variety of traditions demonstrate through their incisive discussions that even our most basic terms for understanding religion are not neutral but carry specific historical and conceptual freight. These essays adopt the approach that has won this book's predecessors such widespread acclaim: each provides a concise history of a critical term, explores the issues raised by the term, and puts the term to use in an analysis of a religious work, practice, or event. Moving across Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Native American and Mayan religions, contributors explore terms ranging from experience, territory, and image, to God, sacrifice, and transgression. The result is an essential reference that will reshape the field of religious studies and transform the way in which religion is understood by scholars from all disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, gender studies, and literary studies.
Download or read book Christianity Book Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity written by Dirk Rohmann and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-07-25 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world.
Download or read book To Whom Does Christianity Belong written by Dyron B. Daughrity and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To Whom Does Christianity Belong? is a question that is asked throughout the world today. In this exciting volume, an anchor to the Understanding World Christianity series, Dyron B. Daughrity helps readers map out the major changes that have taken place in recent years in the world’s largest religion. By comparing trends, analyzing global Christian movements, and tracing the impact of Pentecostalism, interreligious dialogue, global missions, sexuality, birth rates, women, secularization, and migratory trends, Daughrity sketches a picture of a changing religion and gives the tools needed to understand it.
Download or read book Christians Against Christianity written by Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timely and galvanizing work that examines how right-wing evangelical Christians have veered from an admirable faith to a pernicious, destructive ideology. Today’s right-wing Evangelical Christianity stands as the very antithesis of the message of Jesus Christ. In his new book, Christians Against Christianity, best-selling author and religious scholar Obery M. Hendricks Jr. challenges right-wing evangelicals on the terrain of their own religious claims, exposing the falsehoods, contradictions, and misuses of the Bible that are embedded in their rabid homophobia, their poorly veiled racism and demonizing of immigrants and Muslims, and their ungodly alliance with big business against the interests of American workers. He scathingly indicts the religious leaders who helped facilitate the rise of the notoriously unchristian Donald Trump, likening them to the “court jesters” and hypocritical priestly sycophants of bygone eras who unquestioningly supported their sovereigns’ every act, no matter how hateful or destructive to those they were supposed to serve. In the wake of the deadly insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol, Christians Against Christianity is a clarion call to stand up to the hypocrisy of the evangelical Right, as well as a guide for Christians to return their faith to the life-affirming message that Jesus brought and died for. What Hendricks offers is a provocative diagnosis, an urgent warning that right-wing evangelicals’ aspirations for Christian nationalist supremacy are a looming threat, not only to Christian decency but to democracy itself. What they offer to America is anything but good news.
Download or read book The Critical Journey written by Janet O. Hagberg and published by Sheffield Publishing. This book was released on with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Critical Journey, at its core, is a description of the spiritual journey: our response to our faith in God with the resulting changes that follow. In this book, authors Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich address the following issues: the struggle to find meaning and wholeness the crisis of values and identity at mid-life the quest for self-actualization the healing of early religious experiences questions about the spiritual journey Their goal is to help us understand where we are on our individual faith journeys and also appreciate where others are in theirs. The Critical Journey does not reveal exactly how or when we need to move along in our personal pilgrimages, nor does it offer formulas for spiritual growth. Rather, it describes six phases of the spiritual journey and illustrates how people act and think while in these stages. This is an excellent guide for those who are wrestling with their faith and wondering how others have resolved their "dark nights of the soul." Here is an answer for those who have wondered why everyone doesn't respond in the same manner to the message of the Gospel.