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.

Finding Jesus Among Muslims

Finding Jesus Among Muslims
Author: Jordan Denari Duffner
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2017
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0814645925

Intro -- Titlepage -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Notes on Translation and Terms -- Introduction Interfaith Dialogue: Walking Together Toward Truth -- PART I MEETING GOD IN MUSLIMS -- 1 Mary, Mercy, and Basketball -- 2 What We Fear, and Who Gets Hurt -- PART II ENCOUNTERING GOD IN ISLAM -- 3 God Is Greater -- 4 The Width of a Hair -- PART III REEMBRACING GOD IN CHRISTIANITY -- 5 Arriving Where We Started -- 6 The Dialogue of Life -- Appendices -- A Discussion Questions -- B Guidelines for Dialogue with Muslims -- C A Joint Prayer for Christians and Muslims -- D Resources for Further Study -- E Glossary -- F Pronunciations and Definitions of Select Given Names -- Notes

Finding God among Our Neighbors

Finding God among Our Neighbors
Author: Kristin Johnston Largen
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2013-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1451430906

Students of theology live in a world defined by interreligious dialogue. This supplemental theology text prepares students for the real task of understanding and articulating their Christian beliefs in a religiously and culturally diverse world. Concentrating on the anchoring subjects of God, creation, and humanity, she explores these loci in the broader context of interreligious dialogue with Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam to better understand the Christian tradition.

Understanding Interreligious Relations

Understanding Interreligious Relations
Author: David Cheetham
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 1826
Release: 2013-11-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191509663

The ways in which religious communities interact with one another is an increasing focus of scholarly research and teaching. Issues of interreligious engagement, inclusive of dialogue more specifically and relations more generally, attract widespread interest and concern. In a religiously pluralist world, how different communities get along with each other is not just an academic question; it is very much a focus of socio-political and wider community attention. The study of religions and religion in the 21st century world must necessarily take account of relations within and between religions, whether this is approached from a theological, historical, political, or any other disciplinary point of view. Understanding Interreligious Relations is a reference work of relevance to students and scholars as well as of interest to a wider informed public. It comprises two main parts. The first provides expositions and critical discussions of the ways in which 'the other' has been construed and addressed from within the major religious traditions. The second presents analyses and discussions of key issues and topics in which interreligious relations are an integral constituent. The editors have assembled an authoritative and scholarly work that discusses perspectives on the religious 'other' and interreligious relations that are typical of the major religious traditions; together with substantial original chapters from a cross-section of emerging and established scholars on main debates and issues in the wider field of interreligious relations.

Theology from the Womb of Asia

Theology from the Womb of Asia
Author: C.S. Song
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2005-07-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 159752302X

With 'Theology from the Womb of Asia', Song continues to demonstrate that he is one of the most creative and important theologians of our time. He forces us to expand the horizons of our theological vision, not only by drawing on the resources of Asian thought and experience, but also by insisting that we do theology with passion. Here he offers images, fables, poems, parables, and visions, woven together with his own compelling prose. The biblical stories with which we thought we were familiar become new and more compelling stories when we revisit them with this able and wise guide. And our whole approach to life and living is transformed by the freshness he breathes into all that he surveys with us. --Robert McAfee Brown, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics, Pacific School of Religion In 'Theology from the Womb of Asia', C. S. Song shows how the story of God's compassion in Jesus and the many heartrending stories and poems of the Asian people are reaching out towards each other. Doing theology in this perspective is not a matter of application of doctrine, but of recognition of a relation between the suffering God and suffering humanity, which transcends many artificial and alienating distinctions. The book is an appeal to Asian theologians, but at the same time a necessary challenge to a Western academic theology and missionary thinking. --Bert Hoedemaker, Professor of Missions and Christian Ethics, University of Groningen, the Netherlands A splendid example of doing theology with Asian resources. A breath of fresh air to liven up traditional theology, using original reflections and observations with the backing of close knowledge of traditional theology. A book no theological college can do without. --Yeow Choo Lak, The South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, Singapore C. S. Song is Professor of Theology and Asian Cultures at Pacific School of Religion. His recent publications include 'The Believing Heart'.

Solidarity and Suffering

Solidarity and Suffering
Author: Douglas Sturm
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1998-08-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438421575

This book delineates a vision that moves beyond a politics of divisiveness toward a new way of constructing lives together throughout the world. Sturm's "politics of relationality" is an alternative to classical liberalism and cultural conservatism. It calls for mutual respect and creative dialogue, promoting a principle of justice as solidarity. Sturm develops a radically reconstructive approach to a wide range of social issues: human rights, affirmative action, property, corporations, religious pluralism, social conflict, and the environment. Solidarity and Suffering: Toward a Politics of Relationality is infused with a spirituality of compassion, suggesting that, in their core meanings, justice and love coalesce.

Children of Abraham

Children of Abraham
Author: Khalid Duran
Publisher: KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780881257243

This groundbreaking book, developed with a grant from the Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Institute for Interreligious Understanding of the American Jewish Committee, is a stepping stone to dialogue. Descended from a common ancestor, Jews and Muslims share a special relationship and practice religions that exhibit remarkable moral and theological resemblance. But most Jews know little about Islam. Professor Khalid Duran presents the majesty of Islam, its history and culture, but neither ignores nor rationalizes its more problematic aspects. His book offers an insightful and forthright treatment of the varieties of Muslim fundamentalism, Islamism and Jihadism. It offers a candid analysis of the status of women in Muslim belief and practice, as well as an unsentimental assessment of the historical treatment of minorities in Islamic societies. A publication of the Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding of the American Jewish Committee.

The Impossibility of Religious Freedom

The Impossibility of Religious Freedom
Author: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2018-04-24
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0691180954

The Constitution may guarantee it. But religious freedom in America is, in fact, impossible. So argues this timely and iconoclastic work by law and religion scholar Winnifred Sullivan. Sullivan uses as the backdrop for the book the trial of Warner vs. Boca Raton, a recent case concerning the laws that protect the free exercise of religion in America. The trial, for which the author served as an expert witness, concerned regulations banning certain memorials from a multiconfessional nondenominational cemetery in Boca Raton, Florida. The book portrays the unsuccessful struggle of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish families in Boca Raton to preserve the practice of placing such religious artifacts as crosses and stars of David on the graves of the city-owned burial ground. Sullivan demonstrates how, during the course of the proceeding, citizens from all walks of life and religious backgrounds were harassed to define just what their religion is. She argues that their plight points up a shocking truth: religion cannot be coherently defined for the purposes of American law, because everyone has different definitions of what religion is. Indeed, while religious freedom as a political idea was arguably once a force for tolerance, it has now become a force for intolerance, she maintains. A clear-eyed look at the laws created to protect religious freedom, this vigorously argued book offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society. It will have broad appeal not only for religion scholars, but also for anyone interested in law and the Constitution. Featuring a new preface by the author, The Impossibility of Religious Freedom offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society.

Interreligious Relations

Interreligious Relations
Author: Hallvard Hagelia
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2017-05-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567674258

This volume presents international perspectives on interreligious dialogue, with a particular focus on how this can be found or understood within biblical texts. The volume is in four parts covering both the Old and New Testaments (and related Greco Roman texts) as well as the history of reception and issues of hermeneutics. Issues of the relationships between religious cultures are assessed both in antiquity and modernity In Part 1 (Old Testament) contributions range from the discussion of the bible and plurality of theologies in church life (Erhard Gerstenberger) to the challenge of multi-culturalism (Cornelis Van Dam). Part 2 (New Testament and Greco-Roman Texts) considers such things as Pagan, Jewish and Christian historiography (Armin Baum) and the different beliefs it is possible to discern in the Ephesian community (Tor Vegge). Part 3 provides issues from the history of reception - including the role of Jesus in Islam (Craig A. Evans). The volume is completed by a hermeneutical reflection by Jože Krašovec, which draws the threads of dialogue together and questions how we can best examine the bible in a modern, international, multicultural society.

Theopoetics and Religious Difference

Theopoetics and Religious Difference
Author: Marius van Hoogstraten
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2020-09-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3161598008

"Why are interreligious encounters and relations both more troubling and more promising than typically assumed, and how can this be embraced? In engaging the contemporary theological discourse of "theopoetics," Marius van Hoogstraten offers a way of approaching religious difference that, while perhaps unusual to readers familiar with more conventional theology, may be especially fitting for this age."--Provided by publisher