Bücher der Reihe Routledge Studies in Religion

Teaching the Historical Jesus in his Jewish context to students of varied religious backgrounds presents instructors with not only challenges, but also opportunities to sustain interfaith dialogue and foster mutual understanding and respect. This new collection explores these challenges and opportunities, gathering together experiential lessons drawn from teaching Jesus in a wide variety of secular and religious settings. A diverse group of Jewish and Christian scholars reflect on their own classroom experiences and explicates crucial issues for teaching Jesus, providing practical case studies for scholars working on Jewish-Christian relations.

Examines a series of common features in the works of Derrida and the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi, considered to be one of the most influential figures in Islamic thought.

This interesting and provocative work develops a new theological approach to language in the light of contemporary critical theory.

It is generally accepted in the West that Buddhism is a ''peaceful'' religion. The Western public tends to assume that the doctrinal rejection of violence in Buddhism would make Buddhist pacifists, and often expects Buddhist societies or individual Asian Buddhists to conform to the modern Western standards of ''peaceful'' behavior. This stereotype - which may well be termed ''positive Orientalism,'' since it is based on assumption that an ''Oriental'' religion would be more faithful to its original non-violent teachings than Western Christianity - has been periodically challenged by enthusiastic acquiescence by monastic Buddhism to the most brutal sorts of warfare. This volume demolishes this stereotype, and produces instead a coherent, nuanced account on the modern Buddhist attitudes towards violence and warfare, which take into consideration both doctrinal logic of Buddhism and the socio-political situation in Asian Buddhist societies. The chapters in this book offer a deeper analysis of ''Buddhist militarism'' and Buddhist attitudes towards violence than previous volumes, grounded in an awareness of Buddhist doctrines and the recent history of nationalism, as well as the role Buddhism plays in constructions of national identity. The international team of contributors includes scholars from Thailand, Japan, and Korea.

There are contrasting theories that deal with different aspects of human religiosity ¿ some focus on religious beliefs, while others focus on religious actions, and still others on the origin of religious ideas. While these theories might share a similar focus, there is plenty of disagreement in the explanations they offer. This volume examines the diversity of new scientific theories of religion, by outlining the logical and causal relationships between these enterprises. Are they truly in competition, as their proponents sometimes suggest, or are they complementary and mutually illuminating accounts of religious belief and practice?

This book offers an academically rigorous examination of the biological, psychological, social and ecclesiastical processes that allowed sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to happen and then be covered up.

Explores how people first learn to relate to the images and artefacts of religious belief within their domestic environments, instilling a sense of religious belonging that becomes emotionally linked to family, community, and homeland.

This book explores contemporary French philosophical readings of negative theology. It is the first general and comparative treatment of the role of negative theology in contemporary French thought.

Argues that the Christian doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing) sets up a support system for a 'logic of domination' toward human and earth over others. This book examines how the concept of creation out of nothing materializes in the world throughout different periods in the history of the Christian West.

The way in which people change and represent their spiritual evolution is often determined by recurrent language structures. This books studies this interesting topic.

This volume examines both historical developments and contemporary expressions of blasphemy across the world.

This book looks in detail at the intersection of religion and human security in a variety of African contexts. Case studies from a diverse set of countries including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Burkina Faso, and more, are used to illustrate wider trends across the continent.

Spirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts explores the phenomenon of spirit possession, focusing on the religious and cultural functions it serves as a means of communication.

This work focuses on processes of articulating identity. The notions of "shared idioms" and "sacred symbols" shaping this volume suggest both a search for common ground and boundary-drawing processes. Individual chapters locate "sites" of these modes and the conditions that engender them, problematizing the truth-claims of unitary markers of identity.

Theology and the Science of Moral Action explores a new approach to ethical thinking that promotes dialogue and integration between recent research in the scientific study of moral cognition and behaviour¿including neuroscience, moral psychology, and behavioural economics¿and virtue theoretic approaches to ethics in both philosophy and theology. The book evaluates the concept of moral exemplarity and its significance in philosophical and theological ethics as well as for ongoing research programs in the cognitive sciences.

This book examines various attempts in the `West¿ to manage cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity ¿ focusing on Muslim minorities in predominantly non-Muslim societies. An international panel of contributors provide insight.