Download or read book Reflections on the Study of Religion written by Jacques Waardenburg and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.
Download or read book The Serpent s Gift written by Jeffrey J. Kripal and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.” With those words in Genesis, God condemns the serpent for tempting Adam and Eve, and the serpent has shouldered the blame ever since. But how would the study of religion change if we looked at the Fall from the snake’s point of view? Would he appear as a bringer of wisdom, more generous than the God who wishes to keep his creation ignorant? Inspired by the early Gnostics who took that startling view, Jeffrey J. Kripal uses the serpent as a starting point for a groundbreaking reconsideration of religious studies and its methods. In a series of related essays, he moves beyond both rational and faith-based approaches to religion, exploring the erotics of the gospels and the sexualities of Jesus, John, and Mary Magdalene. He considers Feuerbach’s Gnosticism, the untapped mystical potential of comparative religion, and even the modern mythology of the X-Men. Ultimately, The Serpent’s Gift is a provocative call for a complete reorientation of religious studies, aimed at a larger understanding of the world, the self, and the divine.
Download or read book Religious Reflections on the Human Body written by Jane Marie Law and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1995-02-22 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It provides imaginative and thought-provoking... coverage of the ways in which religious thought and practice construct understandings of the human body." -- Journal of Asian Studies "Drawing on a remarkably diverse set of studies discussing the major Western religious traditions (including Islam) and East and South Asian traditions, the book challenges easy theorization of 'the body in religion.'... an excellent source book for college-level comparative religion courses... " -- Bruce Mannheim, University of Michigan "... an important study that... should be of considerable interest to the general student of the history and phenomenology of religions." -- Muslim World Book Review The first cross-cultural and interdisciplinary survey on the relationship between religious practice and ideology and the human body.
Download or read book Reflections on Resemblance Ritual and Religion written by Brian K. Smith and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. This book was released on 1998 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classical Vedic texts that deal with large-scale sacrificial ritual and those writings that deal with domestic ritual have traditionally been treated as unrelated. The former are devoted to the explication of rituals that are dominated by wealthy male elites; the latter concern humble private ceremonies more open to famale participation. Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual and Religion argues that there is in fact, a fundamental connection between these two large and important bodies of Indic religious literature.
Download or read book God Naturalized written by Halvor Kvandal and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume argues that theistic philosophy should be seen not as an “armchair” enterprise but rather as a critical endeavor to bring philosophy of religion into close contact with emerging sciences of religion. This text engages with the rationality of religious belief by investigating central problems and arguments in philosophy of religion from the perspective of new naturalistic research. A central question the book analyzes is whether findings in cognitive science of religion (CSR) falsify or undermine religious ideas and beliefs. With regard to CSR, this volume offers a sustained and critical investigation of the neutrality and positive-relevance view, before offering a re-appraisal of the conflict view. The text argues that when scrutinizing these views, much more attention must be paid to specific normative premises that allow empirical findings to have epistemic relevance. A novel feature is the theoretical application of analytical epistemology in virtue-epistemology to the central question of whether CSR undermines, supports, or is neutral with respect to religious belief. This book appeals to upper-level students and researchers in the field.
Download or read book Reflections on the Study of Religion written by Jacques Waardenburg and published by Mouton De Gruyter. This book was released on 1978 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reflections in the Mirror of Religion written by Ninian Smart and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 1997 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays selected for this volume represent Professor Ninian Smart's most contemporary reflections on major issues in the field of religious studies. Beginning with the investigations into the possibility of a science of religion, Professor Smart then goes on to consider how sociology of religious knowledge can be developed.
Download or read book Truth and Religious Belief written by Curtis L. Hancock and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains a thorough and balanced series of dialogues introducing key topics in philosophy of religion, such as: the existence and nature of God, the problem of evil, religious pluralism, the nature of religious experience, immortality, and the meaning of life. A realistic cast of characters in a natural setting engages in a series of thought-provoking conversations; the dialogue format of these conversations captures typical student attitudes and questions concerning religious belief; allows comparison of important themes throughout the dialogues; encourages the interjection of insights, observations, questions, and objections; and introduces related points when they would naturally arise, instead of relegating them to a later chapter. As well as presenting a detailed and probing discussion, each dialogue includes a list of key terms, a set of study questions, and a bibliography - all of which make this an excellent text for courses in philosophy of religion and introductory philosophy classes.
Download or read book Taking Religion Seriously Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion written by Teemu Taira and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-03-16 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on examples from judicial processes, media discourses, and scholarly debates related to Wiccans, Druids, and Jedi knights, among others, this book examines how social actors negotiate what counts as “religion” and argues for the relevance of the discursive study of religion.
Download or read book One Religion Too Many written by Arvind Sharma and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2011-05-06 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One Religion Too Many is a Hindu pilgrim's progress through the world's religious traditions. An eminent scholar of comparative religion, Arvind Sharma provides a first-hand account of how he came to be a party to the dialogue of religions—first with his own religion, then with the comparative study of religion, and finally with the religious universalism he has come to espouse because of this heritage. Starting with an account of the Hinduism of his family in Varanasi, India, Sharma then heads west, finding himself dumbfounded by the Christian Eucharist, wondering if there is a "Hinjew Connection," grappling with Zen in Massachusetts, and pressed into service to teach about Islam. Sharma writes with a light touch, but even when his encounters and perceptions are amusing, they are always insightful and thought-provoking. Western readers, in particular, will enjoy seeing their own traditions through the eyes of an Easterner who has come to know them well. Sharma's ultimate perspective on religious universalism is a welcoming vision for the globalizing world of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions written by James L. Cox and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of indigenous religions has become an important academic field, particularly since the religious practices of indigenous peoples are being transformed by forces of globalization and transcontinental migration. This book will further our understanding of indigenous religions by first considering key methodological issues related to defining and contextualizing the religious practices of indigenous societies, both historically and in socio-cultural situations. Two further sections of the book analyse cases derived from European contexts, which are often overlooked in discussion of indigenous religions, and in two traditional areas of study: South America and Africa.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies written by Robert A. Orsi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informative and provocative, this book introduces readers to debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggests future research possibilities.
Download or read book Religion Politics and the American Experience written by Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer and published by University Alabama Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This challenging collection of essays offers a refreshing approach to the troubling--and timely--subject of religion and public policy in America, and the ways in which issues of church and state affect our national identity. The result of a series of conferences on religion and politics conducted by the Public Religion project at the University of Chicago, funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust, this collection brings together an extraordinarily diverse set of contributors. Represented within its pages are the ideas and opinions of scholars, politicians, and religious leaders with backgrounds in law, politics, history, and divinity, among them Senator Paul Simon of Illinois. With its wide range of critical approaches and varied perspectives, this volume makes a vibrant contribution to the national dialogue on politics and religion. Chief among the essay topics are the evangelical roots of American political life; early conflicts between Enlightenment thinking and spiritual impulses in developing a national identity; the practical problems that today's politicians face in campaigning; the impact of constitutional and legal language regarding our definitions of religion; and the way in which the media's treatment of our spiriutal life frames our perceptions of it. These thought-provoking essays will inspire readers to rethink, argue, perhaps act, but most importantly, to converse about this timely and important issue. This volume will have wide cross-disciplinary appeal. Students and scholars of history, religious studies, and political science will find great value within its pages, as will scholars of divinity and law, and members of this general public concerned with the intersection of faith and politics in American life.
Download or read book A Garland of Feminist Reflections written by Rita M. Gross and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-03-05 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rita M. Gross has long been acknowledged as a founder in the field of feminist theology. One of the earliest scholars in religious studies to discover how feminism affects that discipline, she is recognized as preeminent in Buddhist feminist theology. The essays in A Garland of Feminist Reflections represent the major aspects of her work and provide an overview of her methodology in women's studies in religion and feminism. The introductory article, written specifically for this volume, summarizes the conclusions Gross has reached about gender and feminism after forty years of searching and exploring, and the autobiography, also written for this volume, narrates how those conclusions were reached. These articles reveal the range of scholarship and reflection found in Rita M. Gross's work and demonstrate how feminist scholars in the 1970s shifted the paradigm away from an androcentric model of humanity and forever changed the way we study religion.
Download or read book Encounters of Body and Soul in Contemporary Religious Practices written by Anna Fedele and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social scientists and philosophers confronted with religious phenomena have always been challenged to find a proper way to describe the spiritual experiences of the social group they were studying. The influence of the Cartesian dualism of body and mind (or soul) led to a distinction between non-material, spiritual experiences (i.e., related to the soul) and physical, mechanical experiences (i.e., related to the body). However, recent developments in medical science on the one hand and challenges to universalist conceptions of belief and spirituality on the other have resulted in “body” and “soul” losing the reassuring solid contours they had in the past. Yet, in “Western culture,” the body–soul duality is alive, not least in academic and media discourses. This volume pursues the ongoing debates and discusses the importance of the body and how it is perceived in contemporary religious faith: what happens when “body” and “soul” are un-separated entities? Is it possible, even for anthropologists and ethnographers, to escape from “natural dualism”? The contributors here present research in novel empirical contexts, the benefits and limits of the old dichotomy are discussed, and new theoretical strategies proposed.
Download or read book Reflections on the Existence of God written by Richard Simmons, 3rd and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a series of short essays seeking to answer life's most enduring question: Does God exist? I have attempted to craft a book that is well researched (I have been conducting this research for over 30 years) but also easy to read and understand. Each essay can be read in less than 10 minutes. In the end it is important to know whether God exists or He does not exist. There is no third option. What I am seeking to do in this book is to determine which of these beliefs is true and which one is not.
Download or read book Religion The Basics written by Malory Nye and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-05-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new edition has been fully revised and updated, and includes new discussions of: the study of religion and culture in the 21st century texts, films and rituals cognitive approaches to religion globalisation and multiculturalism spirituality in the West popular religion.
