A History of Orthodox, Islamic, and Western Christian Political Values

A History of Orthodox, Islamic, and Western Christian Political Values
Author: Dennis J. Dunn
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2016-09-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 3319325671

The book reveals the nexus between religion and politics today and shows that we live in an interdependent world where one global civilization is emerging and where the world’s peoples are continuing to coalesce around a series of values that contain potent Western overtones. Both Putin’s Orthodox Russia and regions under the control of such Islamist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda resent and attempt, in a largely languishing effort, to frustrate this series of values. The book explains the current tension between the West and Russia and parts of the Muslim world and sheds light on the causes of such crises as the Syrian Civil War, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and acts of terrorism such as 9/11 and the ISIS-inspired massacres in Paris. It shows that religion continues to affect global order and that knowledge of its effect on political identity and global governance should guide both government policy and scholarly analysis of contemporary history.

Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment

Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment
Author: Ahmet T. Kuru
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2019-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108419097

Analyzes Muslim countries' contemporary problems, particularly violence, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment, comparing their historical levels of development with Western Europe.

Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History

Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History
Author: R. Charles Weller
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2021-02-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9811562458

This book engages the diverse meanings and interpretations of Islamic and Western law which have affected people and societies across the globe, past and present, in correlation to the epistemological groundings of those meanings and interpretations. The volume takes a distinctively comparative approach, advancing dialogue on crucial transnational and global debates over the history of Western and Islamic approaches to law, politics and society and their relevance for today. It discusses how fundamental concepts are understood and even translated from one historical or political context or one semantic domain to another. The book provides focused studies of key figures and theories in a manageable, accessible format useful for specialized academic courses and research as well as general audiences.

Religious Foundations of Western Civilization

Religious Foundations of Western Civilization
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Total Pages: 699
Release: 2010-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1426719418

World Religions Religious Foundations of Western Civilization introduces students to the major Western world religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—their beliefs, key concepts, history, as well as the fundamental role they have played, and continue to play, in Western culture. Contributors include: Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, Bruce D. Chilton, Th. Emil Homerin, Jon D. Levenson, William Scott Green, Seymour Feldman, Elliot R. Wolfson, James A. Brundage, Olivia Remie Constable, and Amila Buturovic. "This book provides a superb source of information for scientists and scholars from all disciplines who are trying to understand religion in the context of human cultural evolution." David Sloan Wilson, Professor, Departments of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York This is the right book at the right time. Globalization, religious revivalism, and international politics have made it more important than ever to appreciate the significant contributions of the Children of Abraham to the formation and development of Western civilization. John L. Esposito, University Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Muslm-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology, and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. General Interest/Other Religions/Comparative Religion

Politicization of Religion, the Power of Symbolism

Politicization of Religion, the Power of Symbolism
Author: G. Ognjenovic
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2014-12-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 113747789X

This book examines the role religion played in the dismantling of Yugoslavia; addressing practical concerns of inter-ethnic fighting, religiously-motivated warfare, and the role religion played within the dissolution of the nation.

Orthodox Christians and Muslims

Orthodox Christians and Muslims
Author: Nomikos Michael Vaporis
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1986
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

A collection of papers presented at the Orthodox -- Muslim dialogue held at Holy Cross.

Reopening Muslim Minds

Reopening Muslim Minds
Author: Mustafa Akyol
Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2021-04-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1250256070

A fascinating journey into Islam's diverse history of ideas, making an argument for an "Islamic Enlightenment" today In Reopening Muslim Minds, Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and opinion writer for The New York Times, both diagnoses “the crisis of Islam” in the modern world, and offers a way forward. Diving deeply into Islamic theology, and also sharing lessons from his own life story, he reveals how Muslims lost the universalism that made them a great civilization in their earlier centuries. He especially demonstrates how values often associated with Western Enlightenment — freedom, reason, tolerance, and an appreciation of science — had Islamic counterparts, which sadly were cast aside in favor of more dogmatic views, often for political ends. Elucidating complex ideas with engaging prose and storytelling, Reopening Muslim Minds borrows lost visions from medieval Muslim thinkers such as Ibn Rushd (aka Averroes), to offer a new Muslim worldview on a range of sensitive issues: human rights, equality for women, freedom of religion, or freedom from religion. While frankly acknowledging the problems in the world of Islam today, Akyol offers a clear and hopeful vision for its future.

Sacred and Secular

Sacred and Secular
Author: Pippa Norris
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2011-10-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1139499661

This book develops a theory of existential security. It demonstrates that the publics of virtually all advanced industrial societies have been moving toward more secular orientations during the past half century, but also that the world as a whole now has more people with traditional religious views than ever before. This second edition expands the theory and provides new and updated evidence from a broad perspective and in a wide range of countries. This confirms that religiosity persists most strongly among vulnerable populations, especially in poorer nations and in failed states. Conversely, a systematic erosion of religious practices, values and beliefs has occurred among the more prosperous strata in rich nations.

Christodemocracy and the Alternative Democratic Theory of America’s Christian Right

Christodemocracy and the Alternative Democratic Theory of America’s Christian Right
Author: Gabriel S. Hudson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2016-06-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137523646

This book evaluates the democratic theory of America’s Christian Right (CR). The CR has been examined extensively in academic literature. However, most analyses focus on its origins, policy preferences, or successful mobilization. Hudson instead examines the normative assumptions about governance that inform CR activism. The CR has its own answers to the core questions asked in democratic theory, such as “What legitimizes power?” and “What is the proper relationship between the state and the individual?” The author outlines ten normative assumptions of the CR and compares each to its counterpoint in liberal democratic theory. Much of what the CR believes about democracy comes from the same authors as modern and postmodern democratic theory but differs in its interpretation and application. The book describes in detail the theory of CR and demonstrates how the CR operates from a different view of governance than is usually associated with the United States.

Christian–Muslim Relations in Syria

Christian–Muslim Relations in Syria
Author: Andrew W. H. Ashdown
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2020-11-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000244792

Offering an authoritative study of the plural religious landscape in modern Syria and of the diverse Christian and Muslim communities that have cohabited the country for centuries, this volume considers a wide range of cultural, religious and political issues that have impacted the interreligious dynamic, putting them in their local and wider context. Combining fieldwork undertaken within government-held areas during the Syrian conflict with critical historical and Christian theological reflection, this research makes a significant contribution to understanding Syria’s diverse religious landscape and the multi-layered expressions of Christian-Muslim relations. It discusses the concept of sectarianism and how communal dynamics are crucial to understanding Syrian society. The complex wider issues that underlie the relationship are examined, including the roles of culture and religious leadership; and it questions whether the analytical concept of sectarianism is adequate to describe the complex communal frameworks in the Middle Eastern context. Finally, the study examines the contributions of contemporary Eastern Christian leaders to interreligious discourse, concluding that the theology and spirituality of Eastern Christianity, inhabiting the same cultural environment as Islam, is uniquely placed to play a major role in interreligious dialogue and in peace-making. The book offers an original contribution to knowledge and understanding of the changing Christian-Muslim dynamic in Syria and the region. It should be a key resource to students, scholars and readers interested in religion, current affairs and the Middle East.