11. Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 130-140
Author(s):  
John Riches
Keyword(s):  
Religious Communities ◽  
Aesthetic Judgement ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Uniform Manner ◽  
The Way

The Bible has been the source of great truth, goodness, and beauty at the same time as it has inspired lies, wickedness, and ugliness. What it has not produced is a uniform manner of its reading and interpretation. The very process of canonization is nevertheless part of an attempt to limit diversity and deviance of belief within religious communities. Ultimately, however, there is no controlling the way it is read. It is important therefore to be critically aware of the different kinds of uses to which the Bible may be put and to learn to discriminate among them. Readers need to exercise their own moral and aesthetic judgement over the different readings which have been offered of these texts, not least in their own traditions. At the same time, their own judgement will be influenced by the texts as they engage more closely with them and their reception.

FBI and Religion

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Academic Scholarship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interdisciplinary Assessment ◽  
Civic Religion ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This volume is an interdisciplinary assessment of the relationship between religion and the FBI. We recount the history of the FBI’s engagement with multiple religious communities and with aspects of public or “civic” religion such as morality and respectability. The book presents new research to explain roughly the history of the FBI’s interaction with religion over approximately one century, from the pre-Hoover period to the post-9/11 era. Along the way, the book explores vexed issues that go beyond the particulars of the FBI’s history—the juxtaposition of “religion” and “cult,” the ways in which race can shape the public’s perceptions of religion (and vica versa), the challenges of mediating between a religious orientation and a secular one, and the role and limits of academic scholarship as a way of addressing the differing worldviews of the FBI and some of the religious communities it encounters.

The Quranic Jesus: Prophet and Scapegoat

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-220
Author(s):  
John Ranieri
Keyword(s):  
Major Theme ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
The Way

A major theme in René Girard’s work involves the role of the Bible in exposing the scapegoating practices at the basis of culture. The God of the Bible is understood to be a God who takes the side of victims. The God of the Qur’an is also a defender of victims, an idea that recurs throughout the text in the stories of messengers and prophets. In a number of ways, Jesus is unique among the prophets mentioned in the Qur’an. It is argued here that while the Quranic Jesus is distinctly Islamic, and not a Christian derivative, he functions in the Qur’an in a way analogous to the role Jesus plays in the gospels. In its depiction of Jesus, the Qur’an is acutely aware of mimetic rivalry, scapegoating, and the God who comes to the aid of the persecuted. Despite the significant differences between the Christian understanding of Jesus as savior and the way he is understood in the Qur’an, a Girardian interpretation of the Qur’anic Jesus will suggest ways in which Jesus can be a bridge rather than an obstacle in Christian/Muslim dialogue.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jerryson
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Doctrine ◽  
Uniform Manner ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

The Introduction introduces the terms Buddhism, Buddhist system, and violence for the book. The chapter reviews previous approaches to Buddhism and violence and mistake in assuming every religion understands and defines violence in a uniform manner. Ahimsa serves as a cornerstone of Buddhist morality, and means non-harm or non-injury. This slight nuance alters the way in which Buddhist doctrine and Buddhist leaders understand violence from the way in which violence is typically identified. As such, the chapters in this book serve collectively as an exploration into the Buddhist approach to violence and its various vicissitudes. It then reviews the challenges and dangers for the author in studying the relationship between religion and violence. Lastly, it provides an overview of the chapters in the book.

Spinoza’s Biblical Criticism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jetze Touber
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Divine Election ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Way

Chapter 1 homes in on Spinoza as a Bible critic. Based on existing historiography, it parses the main relevant historical contexts in which Spinoza came to articulate his analysis of the Bible: the Sephardi community of Amsterdam, freethinking philosophers, and the Reformed Church. It concludes with a detailed examination of the Tractatus theologico-politicus, Spinoza’s major work of biblical criticism. Along the way I highlight themes for which Spinoza appealed to the biblical texts themselves: the textual unity of the Bible, and the biblical concepts of prophecy, divine election, and religious laws. The focus is on the biblical arguments for these propositions, and the philological choices that Spinoza made that enabled him to appeal to those specific biblical texts. This first chapter lays the foundation for the remainder of the book, which examines issues of biblical philology and interpretation discussed among the Dutch Reformed contemporaries of Spinoza.

Ritualizing Iconic Jewish Texts

2020 ◽  
pp. 239-255
Author(s):  
James W. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Bibles and parts of bibles are themselves used as ritual objects in Jewish and Christian worship. Their display and manipulation, oral performance, and semantic interpretation have been ritualized by synagogues and churches since antiquity. The origins of these practices are rooted in the Bible itself. Their influence has shaped every Jewish and Christian tradition and reaches beyond them to Muslims, Manicheans, and other religious communities. This chapter and its companions in this volume on Christianity and Islam focus mostly on how the iconic dimension of scriptures gets ritualized, because the iconic dimension has received less scholarly attention than the ritualization of scripture’s oral performance, artistic illustration, and semantic interpretation.

Biblical Echoes in Meir Wieseltier’s Hebrew Translation of Macbeth

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-96
Author(s):  
Shiran Avni
Keyword(s):  
The Bible ◽  
The Way

Abstract This article examines the way in which Meir Wieseltier’s translation of Macbeth into Hebrew affects the way Shakespeare’s play is perceived by young Israeli readers. I argue that Hebrew, being the language of the Bible and studied by Israeli youth from childhood, creates instant allusions and intertexts, and therefore alters the way the play is perceived in Israel today.

scholarly journals Permanente homoseksuele verhoudings van liefde en trou

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-185
Author(s):  
J Potgieter
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Homosexual Relationship ◽  
The Way

In this article, the argument is made that homosexual relationships of love and commitment was known by the writers of the Bible. Though definitions like “gay” or “homosexuality” was not known, sexual identity was known. According to the anthropology of the Mediterranean people, somebody’s identity was found in the way he or she lived: “If I have a homosexual relationship, then my identity was homosexual”. This article shows that permanent homosexual relationships of love and commitment were known among the Greek philosophers. People like Plato, Aristotle and Pausanius had permanent homosexual partners. Even Paul knew about permanent homosexual relationships of love and commitment. Sufficient evidence has been found in cities like Rome, Corinth and Ephesus on the existence of such relationships.

scholarly journals Memaknai Ajaran Alkitab Tentang Keadilan Allah Dari Sudut Pandang Teologi Pentakosta

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Kosma Manurung
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Relationship ◽  
Vital Part ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Pentecostal Theology ◽  
Human Social Life ◽  
The Way

Human social identity requires him to continue to be connected with other humans in a harmonious social relationship. The Bible also places justice as a vital part of human social life. The biblical description reveals that God is a just person and there is never fraud in God. The aim of this research is to interpret the Bible's teachings about God's justice from the perspective of Pentecostal theology. This article contains an explanation of the importance of justice for humans, the Bible's narrative about God's justice, and the way Pentecostals interpret God's justice. The method used in this research is descriptive and literature review. Based on the results of the discussion, it was concluded that in the view of the Pentecostals, God's justice speaks of God's character. The justice of Allah is also interpreted by the Pentecostals as God's Rule that God wants to be obeyed. In addition, God's justice also means the defense of Allah and the demands that God wants every believer to do in social life so that they can be maximized as witnesses of God and become salt and light for the community where God has placed.  Identitas sosial manusia menuntutnya untuk terus terkoneksi dengan manusia lainnya dalam sebuah hubungan sosial yang harmonis. Alkitab pun meletakkan keadilan sebagai bagian vital dalam kehidupan sosial manusia.  Deskripsi Alkitab mengungkapkan bahwa Allah adalah pribadi yang adil dan tidak ada kecurangan dalam diri Allah. Tujuan penelitin ini bermaksud memaknai ajaran Alkitab tentang keadilan Allah dari sudut pandang teologi Pentakosta. Artikel ini berisi tentang penjelasan pentingnya keadilan bagi manusia, narasi Alkiab tentang keadilan Allah, dan cara kaum Pentakosta memaknai keadilan Allah. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini deskriptif dan kajian literatur. Berdasarkan hasil pembahasan ditarik kesimpulan bahwa dalam pandangan kaum Pentkosta keadilan Allah berbicara karakter Allah. Keadilan Allah juga dimaknai kaum Pentaksota sebagai Aturan Allah yang Allah ingin untuk dipatuhi. Selain itu, keadilan Allah juga dimaknai pembelaan Allah dan tuntutan yang Allah ingin setiap orang percaya lakukan dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat agar bisa maksimal sebagai saksi Tuhan dan menjadi garam serta terang bagi komunitas dimana Tuhan tempatkan.

scholarly journals Ethics and the Theological Principles in Bible

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Paulians A
Keyword(s):  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Holy Book ◽  
The Way

The scriptures of the Eighteen Books of the Caṅkam'maruviya period and the Christian holy book, the Bible, are the divine lyrics of the Lord. The article explains that humanity is cultured by the admiration of sovereignty and the removing of evils and the good and good. The article explains the importance of the world being the creation of God and the atom without him, the merit of the lord's nature and the way of worshipping God, its benefits and the merits of the sovereignty.

Yin-Yang (Yijing) and the Bible

2021 ◽  
pp. 200-218
Author(s):  
Claudia von Collani
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old Chinese ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Christianity In China ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Critical Method ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Catholic Mission ◽  
Early Modern Times ◽  
The Way

Chinese religions, philosophy, and especially Confucianism constituted a great challenge for the Catholic mission since its beginnings in China in early modern times. This essay looks at the way the missionaries, especially the Jesuits, made several attempts to solve the problem. Niccolò Longobardo s.j., for example, refused to use Chinese terms for the Christian God, dismissing them as insufficient or atheistic. Most Jesuits, however, advocated for terms such as Tian, Shangdi, Tianzhu, and Taiji for God in China. The Mandate of the Vicar Apostolic Charles Maigrot m.e.p., prohibiting the use of the Yijing and Taiji as the Chinese name for God, became a great challenge for Joachim Bouvet s.j. in developing his Figurism. With this system, he found complements for Christianity in China and created a new theology combining Eastern and Western ideas. These efforts were stopped by the prohibition of the Chinese rites and by the historical-critical method for reading the old Chinese books.

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