Religion

As indicated by the title, this volume focuses on an area of conflict that became decisive for the development of Christianity, i.e. which group of texts should be regarded as normative for the preaching of the Christian faith, and how …

The Bible has been called the 'Book of Books'. In Western culture it is considered a literary work and it has a central role in both the Jewish and Christian religions. The Bible has inspired much rewriting and has also provoked …

Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son on God's command. This willingness symbolizes the violent potential of authoritarian religion and it can be seen today in suicide bombings and terror actions. The contemporary resurgence of radically conservative and fundamentalist religion …

Thema der vorliegenden Abhandlung sind die religionsphilosophischen Konsequenzen der Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns von Jürgen Habermas. Obwohl Habermas seine sprachpragmatische Rationalitäts- und Modernitätstheorie als nachmetaphysisches Denken versteht, ist es bemerkenswert, dass ein Begriff von Unbedingtheit noch eine zentrale Rolle in …

A number of prolific writers were active in the Syrian Church of the 4th and 5th centuries. However, in some cases these writers are only accessible by virtue of sidelights thrown e.g. from Armenian and Latin translations (as is the …

N.F.S. Grundtvig, one of the chief shapers of Denmark's modern identity and still an active force in Danish social, political and religious life, was an outstanding intellect of 19th century Europe. He was the contemporary and dialectical adversary of Søren …

In this volume of the RENNER series on new religion, the issue of religion and globalisation is treated with a single religion as the recurring example. The Baha'i religion has been carefully chosen for this context. Few other religions express …

What are the global and cross-cultural phenomena of religion anyway? They are not things-in-the-world, not things "in themselves," and yet we know they are very real because they constitute the means by which we make up our lives. As thought, …

The articles deal with new religions focusing on esotericism, religious leaders, millennialism and eschatology, and, more broadly, social aspects of the new religions. The contributors work in different academic fields, mainly sociology, history and anthropology, thus joining the tradition for …

New globalised religions take two forms. Unlike new religions such as Transcendental Meditation, the former Unification Church and The Family, which are just a few of the recent religions to form networks of essentially identical communities around the world, the …

Focussing on the situation in Europe, an international group of scholars present in this volume their studies on diverse topics ranging from Scientology, Buddhism in Poland, the Indian factor in New Religious Movements to differences in legal systems regarding the …

The author asks, tantalizingly, what happens when we die? If we are looking for answers in the field of religion, he says, we may find that death is rarely, if ever, represented as a complete end of individual existence. But, …

This book explores how identities emerge, persist and change and which power resources are tapped in the course of this process - topics that are of great importance in academic and popular debates today. The thrust of this collection of …

The Islamic term "fatwa" became known in the West after Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence in 1989 on Salman Rushdie, the author of Satanic Verses. Mehdi Mozaffari reviews the history of the fatwa from its origins and its evolution to the …

Stimulated by travel, mass media, and education, individuals have spent the twentieth century questioning organized religion and, as the end of the millennium approaches, many are turning to spirituality rooted in ancient practice, but modernized by secular experience. In this …

In Rationality and the Study of Religion, the first book to grapple with the question of rationality within the academic study of religion, the authors respond to epistemological excesses in this field. The articles of this book advocate an approach …

No contemporary religion has managed to ignore the challenge of modern science. This book presents a case study of two different new religions in the West, both derived from Hinduism. Transcendental Meditation attempts to demonstrate the benefits of meditation on …

The topics of the book are: Religious Developments in the former Communist Bloc, Reactions and Responses to New Religious Movements and various commentaries on specific New Movements. The book thus provides a rich source of information about the new religious …