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Aftershock
by Adrian HollowayDaniel was the sole survivor of a road accident that propelled three young people into the afterlife. Now he's back, and ready to convince his friends and family that Jesus is their only hope before they face judgement after death. Profoundly changed by his experience, he's nevertheless shocked to discover that other people can't share his certainty. In writing the story of Daniel and his friends, as they wrestle with the arguments for and against Christian belief, Adrian Holloway has given readers and youth leaders a unique weapon in their spiritual armoury. There really is nothing quite like this.
Aftershock: Anti-Zionism & Anti-Semitism
by David MatasVerbal attacks against Israel for human rights violations have turned into physical attacks against the Jewish community worldwide. How has that happened? This book attempts to explain the phenomenon. Anti-Zionists, whose primary goal is destruction of the State of Israel, use accusations of the worst forms of human rights violations against Israel to delegitimize the state. These accusations criminalize the Jewish population worldwide for actual or presumed support of the State of Israel. The contemporary international human rights system and the existence of the State of Israel are twin legacies of the Holocaust. The failure of the human rights system to prevent attacks on Israel and the Jews is an aftershock of the Holocaust.
The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India
by Teena PurohitAn overwhelmingly Arab-centric perspective dominates the Westâs understanding of Islam and leads to a view of this religion as exclusively Middle Eastern and monolithic. Teena Purohit presses for a reorientation that would conceptualize Islam instead as a heterogeneous religion that has found a variety of expressions in local contexts throughout history. The story she tells of an Ismaili community in colonial India illustrates how much more complex Muslim identity is, and always has been, than the media would have us believe. The Aga Khan Case focuses on a nineteenth-century court case in Bombay that influenced how religious identity was defined in India and subsequently the British Empire. The case arose when a group of Indians known as the Khojas refused to pay tithes to the Aga Khan, a Persian nobleman and hereditary spiritual leader of the Ismailis. The Khojas abided by both Hindu and Muslim customs and did not identify with a single religion prior to the courtâs ruling in 1866, when the judge declared them to be converts to Ismaili Islam beholden to the Aga Khan. In her analysis of the ginans, the religious texts of the Khojas that formed the basis of the judgeâs decision, Purohit reveals that the religious practices they describe are not derivations of a Middle Eastern Islam but manifestations of a local vernacular one. Purohit suggests that only when we understand Islam as inseparable from the specific cultural milieus in which it flourishes do we fully grasp the meaning of this global religion.
Against a Hindu God: Buddhist Philosophy of Religion in India
by Parimal PatilPhilosophical arguments for and against the existence of God have been crucial to Euro-American and South Asian philosophers for over a millennium. Critical to the history of philosophy in India, were the centuries-long arguments between Buddhist and Hindu philosophers about the existence of a God-like being called Isvara and the religious epistemology used to support them. By focusing on the work of Ratnakirti, one of the last great Buddhist philosophers of India, and his arguments against his Hindu opponents, Parimal G. Patil illuminates South Asian intellectual practices and the nature of philosophy during the final phase of Buddhism in India. <P><P>Based at the famous university of Vikramasila, Ratnakirti brought the full range of Buddhist philosophical resources to bear on his critique of his Hindu opponents' cosmological/design argument. At stake in his critique was nothing less than the nature of inferential reasoning, the metaphysics of epistemology, and the relevance of philosophy to the practice of religion. In developing a proper comparative approach to the philosophy of religion, Patil transcends the disciplinary boundaries of religious studies, philosophy, and South Asian studies and applies the remarkable work of philosophers like Ratnakirti to contemporary issues in philosophy and religion.
Against All Gods: What's Right and Wrong About the New Atheism
by Phillip E. Johnson John Mark ReynoldsThe father of the intelligent design movement, Phillip Johnson, thinks the new atheists are right! How? They've put serious discussion about God back on the public agenda. Despite their conclusions, folks like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett are asking the right questions. They're making belief in any religion an issue again, especially in the university context where, for decades, questions about faith and reason have been taken off the table for serious discussion. Open debate is exactly what we need on the topics of God, evolution and creation. Together Johnson and John Mark Reynolds help us see the unique opportunity these vociferous and even evangelistic atheists are creating in their attempt to convert us to their unbelief. The authors show that we need not fear or react against these challenges. Rather they point to better ways to engage the opinions of this new, aggressive form of antireligious activity. With skill and insight they energetically take on the question of whether the evidence leads to a materialistic naturalism or points toward a creator God. Be informed. Be encouraged. Join the discussion.
Against All Odds: The Struggle for Racial Integration in Religious Organizations
by Brad Christerson Michael Oluf Emerson Korie Little EdwardsReligious institutions are among the most segregated organizations in American society. This segregation has long been a troubling issue among scholars and religious leaders alike. Despite attempts to address this racial divide, integrated churches are very difficult to maintain over time. Why is this so? How can organizations incorporate separate racial, ethnic, and cultural groups? Should they? And what are the costs and rewards for people and groups in such organizations? Following up on Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith's award-winning Divided by Faith, Against All Odds breaks new ground by exploring the beliefs, practices, and structures which allow integrated religious organizations to survive and thrive despite their difficulties. Based on six in-depth ethnographies of churches and other Christian organizations, this engaging work draws on numerous interviews, so that readers can hear first-hand the joys and frustrations which arise from actually experiencing racial integration. The book gives an inside, visceral sense of what it is like to be part of a multiracial religious organization as well as a theoretical understanding of these experiences.
Against Apion
by Flavius JosephusJosephus, soldier, statesman, historian, was a Jew born at Jerusalem about 37 CE. A man of high descent, he early became learned in Jewish law and Greek literature and was a Pharisee. After pleading in Rome the cause of some Jewish priests he returned to Jerusalem and in 66 tried to prevent revolt against Rome, managing for the Jews the affairs of Galilee. In the troubles which followed he made his peace with Vespasian. Present at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, he received favours from these two as emperors and from Domitian and assumed their family name Flavius. He died after 97. As a historical source Josephus is invaluable. His major works are: History of the Jewish War, in seven books, from 170 BCE to his own time, first written in Aramaic but translated by himself into the Greek we now have; and Jewish Antiquities, in twenty books, from the creation of the world to 66 CE. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the works of Josephus also includes the autobiographical Life and his treatise Against Apion.
Against Better Judgment: Irrational Action and Literary Invention in the Long Eighteenth Century
by Thomas Salem ManganaroRobinson Crusoe recognizes it is foolish to leave for the open seas; nevertheless, he boards the ship. William Wordsworth of The Prelude sees the immense poetic task ahead of him, but instead of beginning work, he procrastinates by going for a walk. Centering on this sort of intentionally irrational action, originally defined as " akrasia" by the ancient Greeks and "weakness of will" in early Christian thought, Against Better Judgment argues that the phenomenon takes on renewed importance in the long eighteenth century.In treating human minds and bodies as systems and machines, Enlightenment philosophers did not account for actions that may be undermotivated, contradictory, or self-betraying. A number of authors, from Daniel Defoe and Samuel Johnson to Jane Austen and John Keats, however, took up the phenomenon in inventive ways. Thomas Manganaro traces how English novelists, essayists, and poets of the period sought to represent akrasia in ways philosophy cannot, leading them to develop techniques and ideas distinctive to literary writing, including new uses of irony, interpretation, and contradiction. In attempting to give shape to the ways people knowingly and freely fail themselves, these authors produced a new linguistic toolkit that distinguishes literature’s epistemological advantages when it comes to writing about people.
Against Calvinism: Rescuing God's Reputation from Radical Reformed Theology
by Roger E. OlsonCalvinist theology has been debated and promoted for centuries. But is it a theology that should last? Roger Olson suggests that Calvinism, also commonly known as Reformed theology, holds an unwarranted place in our list of accepted theologies. In Against Calvinism, readers will find scholarly arguments explaining why Calvinist theology is incorrect and how it affects God’s reputation. Olson draws on a variety of sources, including Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience, to support his critique of Calvinism and the more historically rich, biblically faithful alternative theologies he proposes. Addressing what many evangelical Christians are concerned about today—so-called “new Calvinism,” a movement embraced by a generation labeled as “young, restless, Reformed” —Against Calvinism is the only book of its kind to offer objections from a non-Calvinist perspective to the current wave of Calvinism among Christian youth. As a companion to Michael Horton’s For Calvinism, readers will be able to compare contrasting perspectives and form their own opinions on the merits and weaknesses of Calvinism.
Against Destiny: Life does not end with death.
by Alfonso TiradoAntonio Carrales, coming back after having visited Doña Leonor, his mother (in the novel La Dama del Silencio, from the same author), in Mexico City, with a deep pain in his soul by the sad omen that he will never see her again, returns to his life in New York City. The story tells part of the life of Antonio, historical researcher, navigator of dreams and a passionate writer, and in parallel, it’s the story of the adventures of an ambitious Spaniard, traveling to San Francisco, attracted by the discovery of the gold deposits in the 1850's. The route to get to San Francisco on the Atlantic side was crossing through Nicaragua. As soon as he disembarks, Diego Ruelas, amazed by the tropical exuberance, changes his plans, stays in Nicaragua and in a short time falls in love, head over heels with a beautiful native girl. They live in the years of tyranny by the freebooter William Walker. His wife and their son disappear when the slave hunt is unleashed. Diego Ruelas, after a tireless search for his family, gives up and totally beaten decides to return to Spain. During the voyage back, the ship is struck by a storm and he dies. Antonio Carrales sinks into the abyss of disappointed love and decides to take a long trip on his sail boat. He is caught by a storm and the ship is destroyed. When he wakes up he doesn’t remember anything about where or who he is. They rescue him, but because of his attitude towards the Coast Guard, they wonder if he has suffered any brain damage that causes him amnesia, and it gets worse, when they discover that he pretends to be someone else, someone who doesn’t correspond to the papers that identify him as Antonio Carrales and he insists on calling himself Diego Ruelas. The case is assigned by the hospital to a doctor in psychology. Things get even more complicated when she falls in love with her patient during the process of clarifying his identity. They manage, with the intervention of a hypnotist and researcher
Against Dharma: Dissent in the Ancient Indian Sciences of Sex and Politics (The Terry Lectures Series)
by Wendy DonigerAn esteemed scholar of Hinduism presents a groundbreaking interpretation of ancient Indian texts and their historic influence on subversive resistance Ancient Hindu texts speak of the three aims of human life: dharma,artha, and kama. Translated, these might be called religion, politics, and pleasure, and each is held to be an essential requirement of a full life. Balance among the three is a goal not always met, however, and dharma has historically taken precedence over the other two qualities in Hindu life. Here, historian of religions Wendy Doniger offers a spirited and close reading of ancient Indian writings, unpacking a long but unrecognized history of opposition against dharma. Doniger argues that scientific disciplines (shastras) have offered lively and continuous criticism of dharma, or religion, over many centuries. She chronicles the tradition of veiled subversion, uncovers connections to key moments of resistance and voices of dissent throughout Indian history, and offers insights into the Indian theocracy’s subversion of science by religion today.
Against Dogmatism: Dwelling in Faith and Doubt
by Madhuri M. YadlapatiMany contemporary discussions of religion take an absolute, intractable approach to belief and non-belief, which privileges faith and dogmatism while treating doubt as a threat to religious values. As Madhuri M. Yadlapati demonstrates, however, there is another way: a faith (or non-faith) that embraces doubt and its potential for exploring both the depths and heights of spiritual reflection and speculation. Through three distinct discussions of faith, doubt, and hope, Yadlapati explores what it means to live creatively and responsibly in the everyday world as limited, imaginative, and questioning creatures. She begins with a perceptive survey of diverse faith experiences in Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Protestant Christianity, then narrows her focus to Protestant Christianity and Hinduism to explore how the great thinkers of those faiths have embraced doubt in the service of spiritual transcendence. Defending the rich tapestry of faith and doubt against polarization, Against Dogmatism reveals a spiritual middle way, an approach native to the long-standing traditions in which faith and doubt are interwoven in constructive and dynamic ways.
Against Individualism: A Confucian Rethinking of the Foundations of Morality, Politics, Family, and Religion
by Henry RosemontThe first part of Against Individualism: A Confucian Rethinking of the Foundations of Morality, Politics, Family, and Religion is devoted to showing how and why the vision of human beings as free, independent and autonomous individuals is and always was a mirage that has served liberatory functions in the past, but has now become pernicious for even thinking clearly about, much less achieving social and economic justice, maintaining democracy, or addressing the manifold environmental and other problems facing the world today. In the second and larger part of the book Rosemont proffers a different vision of being human gleaned from the texts of classical Confucianism, namely, that we are first and foremost interrelated and thus interdependent persons whose uniqueness lies in the multiplicity of roles we each live throughout our lives. This leads to an ethics based on those mutual roles in sharp contrast to individualist moralities, but which nevertheless reflect the facts of our everyday lives very well. The book concludes by exploring briefly a number of implications of this vision for thinking differently about politics, family life, justice, and the development of a human-centered authentic religiousness. This book will be of value to all students and scholars of philosophy, political theory, and Religious, Chinese, and Family Studies, as well as everyone interested in the intersection of morality with their everyday and public lives.
Against Islamic Extremism: The Writings Of Muhammad Sa'id Al-'ashmawy
by Carolyn Fluehr-LobbanOne of the Islamic world's leading voices in the struggle against extremism, Sa'id al-'Ashmawy was trained as a specialist in Islamic law and comparative law at Cairo University and served as judge, chief prosecutor, chief justice of the High Criminal Court, chief justice of the High Court for Security of State as well as chief justice of the High Court Assizes in Egypt. The author of 15 books on Islam and the law, he has been consistently critical of Islamic extremism and opposes the very notion of an Islamic state, on both scriptural and historical grounds. <p><p> Facing death threats for apostasy since 1979 and under continuous government protection since 1980, he articulates an opposition to the ideology and practice of Islamic extremists in Egypt that has applicability throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This volume conveys the range of his reformist message from the similarities of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, to the dangers of politicizing Islamic religion, to the place of Islamic law in contemporary politics and society.
Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity
by Roger E. OlsonLiberal Christian theology permeates mainlines denominations and progressive circles of the church to this day. But what is liberal theology? What are progressive Christians progressing toward, and what are they leaving behind?In Against Liberal Theology, professor and theologian Roger E. Olson warns progressive and mainline Christians against passively accepting the ideas of liberal theology without thinking through the consequences. In doing so, he examines the basic beliefs of the Christian faith, the main ideas of liberal theology, the way today's mainline and progressive Christianity relates to classic liberalism, and how classic Christian faith and liberal Christianity connect and contradict. Following in the footsteps of Gresham Machen's now-classic Christianity and Liberalism 100 years ago, Olson worries that liberal Christianity may not be Christianity but a different religion altogether.After examining the origins of liberal theology in the nineteenth century, Olson examines how liberal theology views:Sources of truthThe BibleGodJesus ChristSalvationThe FutureGentle but direct, Olson provides an even-handed assessment and critique of the ideas of liberal theology and worries that liberal Christianity has strayed too far from the classic Christian orthodoxy of the fathers and creeds to be considered "Christian" at all.
Against Methodology in Science and Religion: Recent Debates on Rationality and Theology (Routledge Science and Religion Series)
by Josh ReevesSince its development as a field over the last part of the twentieth century, scholars in science and religion have been heavily concerned with methodological issues. Following the lead of Thomas Kuhn, many scholars in this interdisciplinary field have offered proposals that purport to show how theology and science are compatible by appropriating theories of scientific methodology or rationality. Arguing against this strategy, this book shows why much of this methodological work is at odds with recent developments in the history and philosophy of science and should be reconsidered. Firstly, three influential methodological proposals are critiqued: Lakatosian research programs, Alister McGrath’s "Scientific Theology" and the Postfoundationalist project of Wentzel van Huyssteen. Each of these approaches is shown to have a common failing: the idea that science has an essential nature, with features that unite "scientific" or even "rational" inquiry across time or disciplines. After outlining the issues this failing could have on the viability of the field, the book concludes by arguing that there are several ways scholarship in science and religion can move forward, even if the terms "science" and "religion" do not refer to something universally valid or philosophically useful. This is a bold study of the methodology of science and religion that pushes both subjects to consider the other more carefully. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars in religious studies, theology and the philosophy of science.
Against Oneness Pentecostalism: An Exegetical-Theological Critique
by Michael BurgosOneness Pentecostalism constitutes one of the world's largest non-trinitarian expressions of Christianity. While many studies have been written to provide a critique of other heterodox Christian groups (e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses, the LDS Church), there is a general lack of careful scholarship examining the theological claims of Oneness Pentecostals. <p><p> Now revised, updated, and expanded, Against Oneness Pentecostalism (3rd Edition) is a thoroughly researched critique of Oneness Pentecostalism. With scholarly precision, Michael Burgos has provided an incisive evaluation of Oneness exegesis and theology while accurately representing the teachings of Oneness Pentecostals.
Against Political Equality: The Confucian Case (The Princeton-China Series #10)
by Tongdong BaiWhat might a viable political alternative to liberal democracy look like? In Against Political Equality, Tongdong Bai offers a possibility inspired by Confucian ideas.Bai argues that domestic governance influenced by Confucianism can embrace the liberal aspects of democracy along with the democratic ideas of equal opportunities and governmental accountability to the people. But Confucianism would give more political decision-making power to those with the moral, practical, and intellectual capabilities of caring for the people. While most democratic thinkers still focus on strengthening equality to cure the ills of democracy, the proposed hybrid regime—made up of Confucian-inspired meritocratic characteristics combined with democratic elements and a quasi-liberal system of laws and rights—recognizes that egalitarian qualities sometimes conflict with good governance and the protection of liberties, and defends liberal aspects by restricting democratic ones. Bai applies his views to the international realm by supporting a hierarchical order based on how humane each state is toward its own and other peoples, and on the principle of international interventions whereby humane responsibilities override sovereignty.Exploring the deficiencies posed by many liberal democracies, Against Political Equality presents a novel Confucian-engendered alternative for solving today’s political problems.
Against Ratzinger
by Antony ShugaarPublished anonymously in Italy on the one-year anniversary of Ratzinger's election to the papacy, Against Ratzinger caused a national stir and immediately shot onto bestseller lists. Now America, the home of over 67 million Catholics, will have the opportunity to wrestle with this insightful and revealing examination of Pope Benedict XVI. This concise volume analyzes and critiques the pronouncements of Ratzinger. Addressing some of the most dramatic and pressing issues of our time, Against Ratzigner studies the Pope's responses to birth control, abortion, and sexual abuse in the Church. Against Ratzinger charts Ratzinger's rise to power from his arrival in Rome in 1981 and addresses his close relationship with the late Pope John Paul II.
Against Smoking: An Ottoman Manifesto
by Ahmad al-Rumi al-AqhisariOne of the earliest Arabic texts against smoking, Ahmad al-Aqhisari's Epistle on Tobacco is presented here for the first time in a scholarly edition, together with a fully annotated English translation. Yahya Michot expertly sets the epistle within its Ottoman social, intellectual, and historical context. Includes thirty illustrations.
Against the Academics: St. Augustine's Cassiciacum Dialogues, Volume 1
by Saint AugustineA fresh, new translation of Augustine’s inaugural work as a Christian convert The first four works written by St. Augustine of Hippo after his conversion to Christianity are the remarkable “Cassiciacum dialogues.” In this first dialogue, expertly translated by Michael Foley, Augustine and his interlocutors explore the history and teachings of Academic skepticism, which Augustine is both sympathetic to and critical of. The dialogue serves as a fitting launching point for a knowledge of God and the soul, the overall subject of the Cassiciacum tetralogy.
Against the Grain: Raising Christ-Focused Children from A to Z
by Dr. Michele WhiteEach letter of the alphabet delineates every chapter. The book can be read from A to Z, or in any given order depending upon the life stage you’re in with your child. Each chapter starts with Scripture, then explores principles and concepts related to that specific letter of the alphabet. Dr. White concludes each chapter with practical and encouraging applications that she calls Alphabet Soup.
Against the Pollution of the I
by Jacques LusseyranJacques Lusseyran’s experience was both unique and exceptional but his insights are universally applicable and inspiring. Imagine being not only blinded as a child but surviving the Nazis’ Buchenwald concentration camp. And yet Lusseyran writes of how blindness enabled him to discover aspects of the world he would not otherwise have known. His writing vividly depicts senses beyond our "normal” five. In "What One Sees Without Eyes” he describes the divine "inner light” available to all. But, crucially, he finds this light to be under attack. Just as Lusseyran transcended his almost unspeakable experience, his writings give wise, triumphant voice to the human ability to "see” beyond sight and act with unexpected heroism. We can all, he asserts, learn to experience disabilities as gifts and see beyond what we see.
Against the Protestant Gnostics
by Philip J. LeeSince the discovery of original gnostic documents at Nag Hammadi in 1945, many scholars have recognized a familiar presence within this ancient heresy. To some authors the main features of gnosticism--belief in a secret revelation available only to an initiated elite, rejection of the physical world, and escape into the self--seemed reminiscent of modern cult groups and secular movements. However, Philip Lee, noting that most of the early gnostics were firmly ensconced within the Church, locates modern gnosticism within the Protestant establishment itself. "As a Protestant, I believe I have identified the elusive modern gnostics and they are ourselves," he writes. In this penetrating and provocative assessment of the current state of religion and its effect on values in society at large, Lee criticizes conservatives and liberals alike as he traces gnostic motifs to the very roots of American Protestantism. With references to an extraordinary spectrum of writings from sources as diverse as John Calvin, Martin Buber, Tom Wolfe, Margaret Atwood and Emily Dickinson among many others, he probes the effects of gnostic thinking on issues ranging from politics to feminism, from ecology to parenthood. The ethical ramifications of such a gnostic turn have been negative and frightening, he maintains. The book points to positive ways of restoring health to endangered Protestant churches. Calling for the restoration of a dialectical faith and practice, Lee offers an agenda for reform, including a renewal of obedience to the scriptures and an affirmation of life and creation within the circle of the extended family.
Against the Spiritual Turn: Marxism, Realism, and Critical Theory (Routledge Studies in Critical Realism)
by Sean CreavenThe argument presented in this book is that the recent ‘spiritual’ trajectory of Roy Bhaskar’s work, upon which he first embarked with the publication of his From East to West, undermines the fundamental achievements of his earlier work. The problem with Bhaskar’s new philosophical system (Transcendental Dialectical Critical Realism or simply Meta-Reality), from the critical-realist Marxist perspective endorsed here, is that it marks both a departure from and a negation of the earlier concerns of Bhaskar to develop a realist philosophy of science and under-labour for an emancipatory materialist socio-historical science. The end-result is a meta-philosophy which is irrealist, speculative, under-theorized, internally self-contradictory, and which cannot provide philosophical guidance to liberatory social practices. In opposition to theist ontological logics more generally (including the rather more rational theism presented by Margaret Archer, Andrew Collier and Doug Porpora), the argument of this book is that the earth-bound materialist dialectics of the classical Marxist tradition, and the naturalistic humanism these dialectics under-labour on the terrain of socio-historical being, offer a much more promising way forward for critical realist theory and for liberatory politics and ethics.