This article discusses conversion to Protestantism in the Zapotec communities of the State of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico. Conversion to Protestantism in these predominantly Catholic villages has a ...rupture effect on converts' relationships with their families as well as the Catholic majority. This transformation can be interpreted as a 'social cost', which influences religious choices made by individuals and the sustainability of their new religious affiliations. The cost is generally higher for native villagers than for migrants to the communities. Focusing on the adverse effects of conversion and scrutinising the choices of individuals who do not convert or who return to their previous faith contributes to a more nuanced understanding of religious change. The process is often far more complex and multi-directional at the local level than macro-level trends of rapid Protestant growth suggest.
Prophet or messiah, the figure of Jesus serves as both the bridge and the barrier between Christianity and Islam. In this accessible and revelatory book, Muslim scholar and popular commentator Mona ...Siddiqui explores the theological links between the two religions, showing how Islamic thought has approached and responded to Jesus and Christological themes from its earliest days to modern times. The author finds that the philosophical overlap between the two religions is greater than previously imagined, and this being so, her book brings with it the hope of improving interfaith communication and understanding.
Through a careful analysis of selected works by major Christian and Muslim theologians during the formative, medieval, and modern periods of both religions, Siddiqui focuses on themes including revelation, prophesy, salvation, redemption, grace, sin, eschatology, law, and love. How did some become the defining characteristics of one faith and not the other? Which-and why-do some translate between the two religions? With a nuanced and carefully considered analysis of critical doctrines of Christianity and Islam, the author provides a refreshing counterpoint to contemporary polemical arguments and makes an important contribution to reasoned interfaith conversation.
František Ábel explores one of the topical issues of Paul's theology, namely the role and influence of the Jewish Pseudo-epigraphs, literature written during Greek and early Roman periods (4th ...century BCE to the 2nd century CE), on Paul's theological thinking. Within this corpus the idea of eschatological concepts, such as the concept regarding the coming of the Messiah and the Last Judgment in particular, arises frequently. It is similar in the case of the Psalms of Solomon with the Last Judgment as the main topic of this pseudepigraphon. Through close analysis and exploration of particular parts of this work, the author proposes that this deuterocanonical writing could form a considerable background for the proper understanding of Paul's messianic ethics. From this point of view, Paul's teaching on justification should be understood as one that is reflective of God's grace, while at the same time expressing faith and deeds as necessary for salvation.
Gateway to the Heavenly City presents a penetrating analysis of the attitudes of Latin Christendom towards Jerusalem in the period from the First Crusade to the Muslim capture of the city in 1187. ...Sylvia Schein starts by exploring the changes in the Western image of Jerusalem, first as the goal of the crusade, then after its conquest. She examines the theories used to justify the conquest and rule of the Holy City and the attitudes of the papacy towards this new rival centre of sanctity. Subsequent chapters describe the new character of Jerusalem's sanctity as the city of the Old and New Testaments, as the earthly gateway to the heavenly city, and in apocalyptic terms as the centre of the world and the place where the events of the end of the world would unroll. The reaction to the fall of crusader Jerusalem in 1187 is the subject of the final chapter. Based on a detailed examination of the source materials, from poetry and song to chronicles and charters, this book paints a clear picture of the place of the Earthly and the Heavenly Jerusalem in Latin Christendom.
Sylvia Schein was formerly Senior Lecturer in the Department of General History, at the University of Haifa, Israel.
Contents: Foreword; Introduction; Jerusalem: goal of the first crusade; The conquest - a divine act; 'Inheritance of the Lord': justifications of Christian rule in Jerusalem; Rome, Babylon and Jerusalem: papal attitudes to Jerusalem; From the 'city of the Holy Sepulchre' to the 'city of the humanity of Christ'; The city of the Old and New Testament; Jerusalem in the believer's plan of salvation; Jerusalem - centre of the world and scene of the last days; 'The terrible news': the reaction of Christendom to the fall of Jerusalem (1187); Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
In this essay the author tries to present a liturgical and theological discusses about the dignity and the taskss of priest in the catholic Church. The material object of this essay is the official ...liturgy of ordination as described in De Ordinatione Episcopi, Presbyterorum, et Diaconorum. Using the approach of literature review, the author tries to find out the theological meaning of the verbal aspects of ordination rite, like liturgical texts or formulations, and also of its non-verbal aspects (actions). The basic assumption of author is that the liturgy of ordination is not only about a celebration or rites. Moreover, it presents us with a theological understanding of what is being celebrated. The spirit or the content of ordination rites should be the focus of this essay. The purpose of this study is to show how the theological concept of priesthood (lex credendi) finds its liturgical expression in liturgical rite (lex orandi). This reflection should be usefull for the priests and seminarians to reflect on the deep meaning of calling to be a priest in catholic Church.
In Eastern Christianity novitiate is a period of learning to experience the presence of God in one's life and the world. Novices follow the hesychast prayer, a mystical tradition that leads them to ...an experiential knowledge of God. In this paper, I argue that novitiate should be regarded as a complex learning process involving specific assemblages of contextual, cognitive, body-sensory and emotional aspects. By educating their attention and emotion novices learn to see beyond and within reality and thus discover the potentiality of people and things 'in the likeness of God'. Religious transmission happens not only through embodied practice and the active acquisition of religious knowledge but, more importantly, through the work of the imagination. Novices' orientation towards the transcendent requires an expansion of the imaginative capacities beyond their 'routine' functioning. Imagination could be thus seen as a key cognitive capacity through which they learn to experience God.
Interaction between Peter Singer and Christian ethics, to the extent that it has happened at all, has been unproductive and often antagonistic. Singer sees himself as leading a 'Copernican ...Revolution' against a sanctity of life ethic, while many Christians associate his work with a 'culture of death'. Charles Camosy shows that this polarized understanding of the two positions is a mistake. While their conclusions about abortion and euthanasia may differ, there is surprising overlap in Christian and Singerite arguments, and disagreements are interesting and fruitful. Furthermore, it turns out that Christians and Singerites can even make common cause, for instance in matters such as global poverty and the dignity of non-human animals. Peter Singer and Christian ethics are far closer than almost anyone has imagined, and this book is valuable to those who are interested in fresh thinking about the relationship between religious and secular ethics.
How can we live together in the midst of our differences? This is one of the most pressing questions of our time. Tolerance has been the bedrock of political liberalism, while proponents of agonistic ...political thought and radical democracy have sought an answer that allows a deeper celebration of difference. Kristen Deede Johnson describes the move from tolerance to difference, and the accompanying move from epistemology to ontology, within political theory. Building on this 'ontological turn', in search of a theological answer to the question, she puts Augustine into conversation with recent political theorists and theologians. This theological option enables the Church to envision a way to engage with contemporary political society without losing its own embodied story and practices. It contributes to our broader political imagination by offering a picture of rich engagement between the many different particularities that constitute a pluralist society.
