Citizenship in the Western Tradition

Citizenship in the Western Tradition
Author: Peter Riesenberg
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2000-11-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0807864129

Intended for both general readers and students, Peter Riesenberg's instructive book surveys Western ideas of citizenship from Greek antiquity to the French Revolution. It is striking to observe the persistence of important civic ideals and institutions over a period of 2,500 years and to learn how those ideals and institutions traveled over space and time, from the ancient Mediterranean to early modern France, England, and America.

Restoring the Soul of the World

Restoring the Soul of the World
Author: David Fideler
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2014-11-20
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1620553600

Humanity’s creative role within the living pattern of nature • Explores important scientific discoveries that reveal the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature • Examines the idea of a living cosmos from its roots in the earliest cultures, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today • Reveals ways to reengage our creative partnership with nature and collaborate with nature’s intelligence For millennia the world was seen as a creative, interconnected web of life, constantly growing, developing, and restoring itself. But with the arrival of the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries, the world was viewed as a lifeless, clock­like mechanism, bound by the laws of classical physics. Intelligence was a trait ascribed solely to human beings, and thus humanity was viewed as superior to and separate from nature. Today new scientific discoveries are reviving the ancient philosophy of a living, interconnected cosmos, and humanity is learning from and collaborating with nature’s intelligence in new, life-enhancing ways, from ecological design to biomimicry. Drawing upon the most important scientific discoveries of recent times, David Fideler explores the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature and humanity’s place in the cosmic pattern. He examines the ancient vision of the living cosmos from its roots in the “world soul” of the Greeks and the alchemical tradition, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today. He explains how the mechanistic worldview led to humanity’s profound sense of alienation, for if the universe only functioned as a machine, there was no longer any room for genuine creativity or spontaneity. He shows how this isn’t the case and how, even at the molecular level, natural systems engage in self-organization, self-preservation, and creative problem solving, mirroring the ancient idea of a creative intelligence that exists deep within the heart of nature. Revealing new connections between science, religion, and culture, Fideler explores how to reengage our creative partnership with nature and new ways to collaborate with nature’s intelligence.

Western Heritage

Western Heritage
Author: The Hillsdale College History Faculty
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Civilization, Western
ISBN: 9780916308278

In-Between: Architectural Drawing and Imaginative Knowledge in Islamic and Western Traditions

In-Between: Architectural Drawing and Imaginative Knowledge in Islamic and Western Traditions
Author: Hooman Koliji
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2016-03-09
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1317117697

Contemporary technical architectural drawings, in establishing a direct relationship between the drawing and its object, tend to privilege the visible physical world at the expense of the invisible intangible ideas and concepts, including that of the designer’s imagination. As a result, drawing may become a utilitarian tool for documentation, devoid of any meaningful value in terms of a kind of knowledge that could potentially link the visible and invisible. This book argues that design drawings should be recognized as intermediaries, mediating between the world of ideas and the world of things, spanning the intangible and tangible. The notion of the 'Imaginal' as an intermediary between the invisible and visible is discussed, showing how architectural drawings lend themselves to this notion by performing as creative agents contributing not only to the physical world but also penetrating the realm of concepts. The book argues that this 'in-between' quality to architectural drawing is essential and that it is critical to perceive drawings as subtle bodies that hold physical attributes (for example, form, proportion, color), highly evocative, yet with no matter. Focusing on Islamic geometric architectural drawings, both historical and contemporary, it draws on key philosophical and conceptual notions of imagination from the Islamic tradition as these relate to the creative act. In doing so, this book not only makes important insights into the design process and act of architectural representation, but more broadly it adds to debates on philosophies of the imagination, linking both Western and Islamic traditions.

Open to Reason

Open to Reason
Author: Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2018-08-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0231546173

What does it mean to be a Muslim philosopher, or to philosophize in Islam? In Open to Reason, Souleymane Bachir Diagne traces Muslims’ intellectual and spiritual history of examining and questioning beliefs and arguments to show how Islamic philosophy has always engaged critically with texts and ideas both inside and outside its tradition. Through a rich reading of classical and modern Muslim philosophers, Diagne explains the long history of philosophy in the Islamic world and its relevance to crucial issues of our own time. From classical figures such as Avicenna to the twentieth-century Sufi master and teacher of tolerance Tierno Bokar Salif Tall, Diagne explores how Islamic thinkers have asked and answered such questions as Does religion need philosophy? How can religion coexist with rationalism? What does it mean to interpret a religious narrative philosophically? What does it mean to be human, and what are human beings’ responsibilities to nature? Is there such a thing as an “Islamic” state, or should Muslims reinvent political institutions that suit their own times? Diagne shows that philosophizing in Islam in its many forms throughout the centuries has meant a commitment to forward and open thinking. A remarkable history of philosophy in the Islamic world as well as a work of philosophy in its own right, this book seeks to contribute to the revival of a spirit of pluralism rooted in Muslim intellectual and spiritual traditions.

God's Joust, God's Justice

God's Joust, God's Justice
Author: John Witte
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2006-10-31
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0802844219

'God's Joust, God's Justice' provides a vista of the major debates over law and religion in the West, enabling readers to proceed toward a more integrated understanding of the foundational elements of modern democracy.

Religion and Violence in Western Traditions

Religion and Violence in Western Traditions
Author: André Gagné
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2021-09-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000409082

This book examines the connection between religion and violence in the Western traditions of the three Abrahamic faiths, from ancient to modern times. It addresses a gap in the scholarly debate on the nature of religious violence by bringing scholars that specialize in pre-modern religions and scriptural traditions into the same sphere of discussion as those specializing in contemporary manifestations of religious violence. Moving beyond the question of the “authenticity” of religious violence, this book brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines. Contributors explore the central role that religious texts have played in encouraging, as well as confronting, violence. The interdisciplinary conversation that takes place challenges assumptions that religious violence is a modern problem that can be fully understood without reference to religious scriptures, beliefs, or history. Each chapter focuses its analysis on a particular case study from a distinct historical period. Taken as a whole, these chapters attest to the persistent relationship between religion and violence that links the ancient and contemporary worlds. This is a dynamic collection of explorations into how religion and violence intersect. As such, it will be a key resource for any scholar of Religious Studies, Theology and Religion and Violence, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Studies.

Urban Justice

Urban Justice
Author: Francisco Colom-González
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 198
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 3031733401

Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions

Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions
Author: James Turner Johnson
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780271042145

Explores the attitudes of Western Christianity and Islam toward war for religion, explaining the differences in the two cultural traditions that result in fundamentally different perceptions of the nature of religious wars.