All Religion is Inter-Religion

All Religion is Inter-Religion
Author: Kambiz GhaneaBassiri
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019-07-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350062219

All Religion Is Inter-Religion analyses the ways inter-religious relations have contributed both historically and philosophically to the constructions of the category of “religion” as a distinct subject of study. Regarded as contemporary classics, Steven M. Wasserstrom's Religion after Religion (1999) and Between Muslim and Jew (1995) provided a theoretical reorientation for the study of religion away from hierophanies and ultimacy, and toward lived history and deep pluralism. This book distills and systematizes this reorientation into nine theses on the study of religion. Drawing on these theses--and Wasserstrom's opus more generally--a distinguished group of his colleagues and former students demonstrate that religions can, and must, be understood through encounters in real time and space, through the complex relations they create and maintain between people, and between people and their pasts. The book also features an afterword by Wasserstrom himself, which poses nine riddles to students of religion based on his personal experiences working on religion at the turn of the twenty-first century.

All Religion Is Inter-Religion

All Religion Is Inter-Religion
Author: Kambiz GhaneaBassiri
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2019-07-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350062235

All Religion Is Inter-Religion analyses the ways inter-religious relations have contributed both historically and philosophically to the constructions of the category of “religion” as a distinct subject of study. Regarded as contemporary classics, Steven M. Wasserstrom's Religion after Religion (1999) and Between Muslim and Jew (1995) provided a theoretical reorientation for the study of religion away from hierophanies and ultimacy, and toward lived history and deep pluralism. This book distills and systematizes this reorientation into nine theses on the study of religion. Drawing on these theses--and Wasserstrom's opus more generally--a distinguished group of his colleagues and former students demonstrate that religions can, and must, be understood through encounters in real time and space, through the complex relations they create and maintain between people, and between people and their pasts. The book also features an afterword by Wasserstrom himself, which poses nine riddles to students of religion based on his personal experiences working on religion at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Interfaith Leadership

Interfaith Leadership
Author: Eboo Patel
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2016-07-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0807033626

A guide for students, groups, and organizations seeking to foster interfaith dialogue and promote understanding across religious lines In this book, renowned interfaith leader Eboo Patel offers a clear, detailed, and practical guide to interfaith leadership, illustrated with compelling examples. Patel explains what interfaith leadership is and explores the core competencies and skills of interfaith leadership, before turning to the issues interfaith leaders face and how they can prepare to solve them. Interfaith leaders seek points of connection and commonality—in their neighborhoods, schools, college campuses, companies, organizations, hospitals, and other spaces where people of different faiths interact with one another. While it can be challenging to navigate the differences and disagreements that can arise from these interactions, skilled interfaith leaders are vital if we are to have a strong, religiously diverse democracy. This primer presents readers with the philosophical underpinnings of interfaith theory and outlines the skills necessary to practice interfaith leadership today.

Religion after Religion

Religion after Religion
Author: Steven M. Wasserstrom
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 381
Release: 1999-11-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 140082317X

By the end of World War II, religion appeared to be on the decline throughout the United States and Europe. Recent world events had cast doubt on the relevance of religious belief, and modernizing trends made religious rituals look out of place. It was in this atmosphere that the careers of Scholem, Eliade, and Corbin--the twentieth century's legendary scholars in the respective fields of Judaism, History of Religions, and Islam--converged and ultimately revolutionized how people thought about religion. Between 1949 and 1978, all three lectured to Carl Jung's famous Eranos circle in Ascona, Switzerland, where each in his own way came to identify the symbolism of mystical experience as a central element of his monotheistic tradition. In this, the first book ever to compare the paths taken by these thinkers, Steven Wasserstrom explores how they overturned traditional approaches to studying religion by de-emphasizing law, ritual, and social history and by extolling the role of myth and mysticism. The most controversial aspect of their theory of religion, Wasserstrom argues, is that it minimized the binding character of moral law associated with monotheism. The author focuses on the lectures delivered by Scholem, Eliade, and Corbin to the Eranos participants, but also shows how these scholars generated broader interest in their ideas through radio talks, poetry, novels, short stories, autobiographies, and interviews. He analyzes their conception of religion from a broadly integrated, comparative perspective, sets their distinctive thinking into historical and intellectual context, and interprets the striking success of their approaches.

Interreligious Studies

Interreligious Studies
Author: Director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies and Adjunct Faculty in the College of Hans Gustafson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2020-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9781481312547

In an increasingly connected world, the question of how different religious traditions relate to one another is more urgent than ever. The study of interreligious encounters and relations, by no means a new endeavor, has recently emerged as a formal multi- and interdisciplinary academic field that seeks not only to understand how worldviews and ways of life interact and intersect, but also to suggest avenues of constructive dialogue. Interreligious Studies represents a milestone achievement, bringing together thirty-six scholars from four continents to produce dispatches on the current state of this burgeoning field. This volume probes the context, parameters, and contours of interreligious studies (IRS), including its relation to other disciplines, its promise as a field of research in secular and nonsecular contexts, its particular terminology and methodology, its civic agenda, and the various scholarly profiles of those who pursue it. Other topics taken up include historical examples of interfaith dialogue, theological and philosophical considerations of truth-seeking in interreligious encounter, and contemporary agendas such as the decolonization of the study of religion and the obligation to respond to anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenoglossophobia. Whatever possibilities IRS might hold, there first must be a working definition of the field and its praxis. Interreligious Studies points in this direction as it highlights the practical knowledge generated by IRS: how to cultivate empathy, make peace and build nations, promote scholarly activism, and foster meaningful interreligious relations. Scholars and students who are serious about engaging the many dynamic conversations blossoming within this nascent field will be well served by the contributions of this volume.

'Til Faith Do Us Part

'Til Faith Do Us Part
Author: Naomi Schaefer Riley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2013-03-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0199873755

In the last decade, 45% of all marriages in the U.S. were between people of different faiths. The rapidly growing number of mixed-faith families has become a source of hope, encouraging openness and tolerance among religious communities that historically have been insular and suspicious of other faiths. Yet as Naomi Schaefer Riley demonstrates in 'Til Faith Do Us Part, what is good for society as a whole often proves difficult for individual families: interfaith couples, Riley shows, are less happy than others and certain combinations of religions are more likely to lead to divorce. Drawing on in-depth interviews with married and once-married couples, clergy, counselors, sociologists, and others, Riley shows that many people enter into interfaith marriages without much consideration of the fundamental spiritual, doctrinal, and practical issues that divide them. Couples tend to marry in their twenties and thirties, a time when religion diminishes in importance, only to return to faith as they grow older and raise children, suffer the loss of a parent, or experience other major life challenges. Riley suggests that a devotion to diversity as well as to a romantic ideal blinds many interfaith couples to potential future problems. Even when they recognize deeply held differences, couples believe that love conquers all. As a result, they fail to ask the necessary questions about how they will reconcile their divergent worldviews-about raising children, celebrating holidays, interacting with extended families, and more. An obsession with tolerance at all costs, Riley argues, has made discussing the problems of interfaith marriage taboo. 'Til Faith Do Us Part is a fascinating exploration of the promise and peril of interfaith marriage today. It will be required reading not only for interfaith couples or anyone considering interfaith marriage, but for all those interested in learning more about this significant, yet understudied phenomenon and the impact it is having on America.

Engaging Others, Knowing Ourselves

Engaging Others, Knowing Ourselves
Author: Carol Schersten LaHurd
Publisher: Lutheran University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781942304135

Freed in Christ to engage our neighbors in a multi-religious world, Christians live and work in an increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-religious context. How does this affect their calling to serve their neighbors and their community? What resources does the Lutheran Christian tradition offer? Woven into this book are more than fifty stories of ELCA inter-religious engagement. These examples from local ministry settings are supplemented by practical tips, theological reflection, and historical analysis. The result is a guide for study, discussion, and action as a contribution toward the 500th observance of the Reformation in 2017 and beyond.

Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism

Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism
Author: Eric W. Gritsch
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2012-01-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 080286676X

In this book Eric W. Gritsch, a Lutheran and a distinguished Luther scholar, faces the glaring ugliness of Martin Luther's anti- Semitism head-on, describing Luther's journey from initial attempts to proselytize Jews to an appallingly racist position, which he apparently held until his death. Comprehensively laying out the textual evidence for Luther's virulent anti-Semitism, Gritsch traces the development of Luther's thinking in relation to his experiences, external influences, and theological convictions. Revealing greater impending danger with each step, Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism marches steadily onward until the full extent of Luther's racism becomes apparent. Gritsch's unflinching analysis also describes the impact of Luther's egregious words on subsequent generations and places Luther within Europe's long history of anti-Semitism. Throughout, however, Gritsch resists the temptation either to demonize or to exonerate Luther. Rather, readers will recognize Luther's mistakes as links in a chain that pulled him further and further away from an attitude of respect for Jews as the biblical people of God. Gritsch depicts Luther as a famous example of the intensive struggle with the enduring question of Christian-Jewish relations. It is a great historical tragedy that Luther, of all people, fell victim to anti-Semitism -- albeit against his better judgment.

Praying for Jennifer

Praying for Jennifer
Author: John B. Cobb
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 93
Release: 2000-11-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1579105440

Injured in an automobile accident, Jennifer has been in a coma for three months. When her friends learn that she is near death, they search for a way of coping with the tragedy and finally turn to prayer. Their journey into the nature and mystery of intercessory prayer begins with their first anguished words, ÒDear God, please don't let Jennifer die.Ó When Jennifer's condition improves for a time, then stops short of complete recovery, her friends begin to ask questions: What is intercessory prayer? Can we really influence God's actions? Why are some prayers answered and others seemingly ignored? Why does God allow evil to exist in the word? As Jennifer's friends continue their experience with intercessory prayer, they seek counsel from their pastor and others. In the process, they learn to assess different theological viewpoints. Praying for Jennifer is a fictional account centered around students and those to whom they turn for guidance: a church education leader, two pastors, a workshop leader, and a teacher. The probing questions the group deals with are common to all who search for an understanding of intercessory prayer.

International Handbook of Inter-religious Education

International Handbook of Inter-religious Education
Author: Kath Engebretson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 1173
Release: 2010-08-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1402092601

This Handbook is based on the conviction of its editors and contributing authors that understanding and acceptance of, as well as collaboration between religions has essential educational value. The development of this Handbook rests on the f- ther assumption that interreligious education has an important role in elucidating the global demand for human rights, justice, and peace. Interreligious education reveals that the creeds and holy books of the world’s religions teach about sp- itual systems that reject violence and the individualistic pursuit of economic and political gain, and call their followers to compassion for every human being. It also seeks to lead students to an awareness that the followers of religions across the world need to be, and to grow in, dialogical relationships of respect and understa- ing. An essential aim of interreligious education is the promotion of understanding and engagement between people of different religions and, therefore, it has great potential to contribute to the common good of the global community. Interreligious education has grown from the interfaith movement, whose beg- ning is usually identi?ed with the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. This was the ?rst time in history that leaders of the eastern and we- ern religions had come together for dialogue, and to consider working together for global unity.