Религиоведение
Различные книги в жанре РелигиоведениеThe Field Is the World
This volume provides a detailed account of the tireless, dedicated work of a small group of missionaries sent to China by the American Churches of Christ early in the twentieth century. The account includes the difficult years of preparation (1921-1928), the establishment of the Canton Mission to the onset of the Japanese threat (1929-1937), the heroic efforts during the Japanese occupation and war years (1938-1945), and finally, the work after the war until the communist takeover (1946-1949). The emphasis is on the people and their work: The Bensons and the Oldhams, who opened the Canton Mission in 1929, the Davises and the Whitfields, who were valuable additions to the work starting in 1933, and the Leungs and the Sos, their dedicated Chinese coworkers for over a decade. Their philosophies and strategies for missionary work are highlighted, and the pioneering work with its successes, failures, and lessons learned, is discussed. Finally, an attempt is made to assess the significance of the Canton Mission of the Churches of Christ within the historical framework of the early Protestant mission work in China.
Sabbath and Sunday among the Earliest Christians, Second Edition
According to Christian sources from before the middle of the third century AD, the ancient evidence is unanimous that, although there were a few slight differences as to how weekends should be observed, one thing is certain and was uncontroversial: the main day of the week for early Christians to gather and worship was not the seventh-day Saturday Sabbath, but Sunday, which they sometimes called «the first day» or «the eighth day,» or «the Lord's Day.» The booklet also considers (1) whether the Lord's Day replaces the Sabbath, (2) whether the Sabbath was abolished, (3) whether Sabbath-keeping is forbidden, (4) whether the Roman Catholic church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, (5) whether Sunday is to be a day of rest as well as the chief day of public worship, (6) a critique of sources and authorities on which Sabbatarians rely in advancing their contentions, (7) whether some Christians before Constantine observed Sunday rather than Saturday to prevent the Roman government from considering them to be Jews, who were allegedly persecuted before his reign, and (8) where readers can find translations of the sources for themselves. Focusing on pagan Roman and Jewish sources, this second edition considers whether Sunday-keeping began as a result of the Jewish revolts of AD 66-70 and/or AD 132-135 and examines the work of Samuele Bacchiocchi.
The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature
Bar Kokhba led the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 132–135 A.D., which resulted in massive destruction and dislocation of the Jewish populace of Judea. In early rabbinic literature, Bar Kokhba was remembered in two ways: as an imposter claiming to be the Messiah and as a glorious military leader whose successes led Rabbi Akiba, one of the great rabbinic authorities of Jewish tradition, to acclaim him the Messiah. These two earliest images formed the core of most later perceptions of Bar Kokhba, so that he became the prototypical false messiah and the paradigmatic rebel of Jewish history. The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature is a history of the perceptions that later Jewish writers living in the fourth through seventeenth centuries formed of this legendary hero-villain whose actions, in their eyes, had caused enormous suffering and disappointed messianic hopes. Richard Marks examines each writer's account individually and in the context of its period, exploring particularly political and religious implications. He builds a history of images and looks at larger patterns, such as the desacralizing of traditional imagery. His findings raise timely political questions about Bar Kokhba's image among Jews today.
Zen and the Unspeakable God
Zen and the Unspeakable God reevaluates how we study mystical experience. Forsaking the prescriptive epistemological box that has constrained the conversation for decades, ensuring that methodology has overshadowed subject matter, Jason Blum proposes a new interpretive approach—one that begins with a mystic’s own beliefs about the nature of mystical experience. Blum brings this approach to bear on the experiential accounts of three mystical exemplars: Meister Eckhart, Ibn al-ʿArabi, and Hui-neng. Through close readings of their texts, he uncovers the mystics’ own fundamental assumptions about transcendence and harnesses these as interpretive guides to their experiences. The predominant theory-first path to interpretation has led to the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of individual mystical experiences and fostered specious conclusions about cross-cultural comparability among them. Blum’s hermeneutic invites the scholarly community to begin thinking about mystical experience in a new way—through the mystics’ eyes. Zen and the Unspeakable God offers a sampling of the provocative results of this technique and an explanation of its implications for theories of consciousness and our contemporary understanding of the nature of mystical experience.
The Spiritual Franciscans
Winner of the 2002 John Gilmary Shea Prize and the 2002 Howard R. Marraro Prize of the American Catholic Historical Association. When Saint Francis of Assisi died in 1226, he left behind an order already struggling to maintain its identity. As the Church called upon Franciscans to be bishops, professors, and inquisitors, their style of life began to change. Some in the order lamented this change and insisted on observing the strict poverty practiced by Francis himself. Others were more open to compromise. Over time, this division evolved into a genuine rift, as those who argued for strict poverty were marginalized within the order. In this book, David Burr offers the first comprehensive history of the so-called Spiritual Franciscans, a protest movement within the Franciscan order. Burr shows that the movement existed more or less as a loyal opposition in the late thirteenth century, but by 1318 Pope John XXII and leaders of the order had combined to force it beyond the boundaries of legitimacy. At that point the loyal opposition turned into a heretical movement and recalcitrant friars were sent to the stake. Although much has been written about individual Spiritual Franciscan leaders, there has been no general history of the movement since 1932. Few people are equipped to tackle the voluminous documentary record and digest the sheer mass of research generated by Franciscan scholars in the last century. Burr, one of the world's leading authorities on the Franciscans, has given us a book that will define the field for years to come.
The Fiction of Our Lives
We are the author of our own lives. We create, re-create, and co-create our stories over the lifetime we have been given in order to make something of ourselves in the process. Blending new findings from brain science and psychology with spiritual and theological insights, Sandra Levy-Achtemeier has written a readable work translating complex scientific and spiritual categories into practical terms that can inform our everyday selves. From our evolutionary roots that equip us to sing meaning into our living, to the cultural menus we now draw from to script new meaning into our days, she has given us an incredible wealth of wisdom to inform the rest of our life journeys. Underneath it all, Levy-Achtemeier makes the case that God's Spirit and call are at the center of our story–from our brain synapses to the historical circumstances that impinge on our lives.
Beware the Evil Eye Volume 3
The Evil Eye is mentioned repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, Israel's parabiblical writings, and New Testament, with a variety of terms and expressions. The Old Testament (Greek Septuagint) contains no less than fourteen text segments involving some twenty explicit references to the Evil Eye (Deut 15:9; 28:54, 56; Prov 23:6; 28:22; Tob 4:7, 16; Sir 14:3, 6, 8, 9, 10; 18:18; 31:13; 37:11; Wis 4:12; 4 Macc 1:26; 2:15; Ep Jer 69/70). At least three further texts are also likely implied references to an Evil Eye (1 Sam 2:29, 32; 18:9), with some other texts as more distant possibilities. The Evil Eye is mentioned also in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the writings of Philo and Josephus–all of which are discussed in the following pages. Evil Eye belief and practice continued in the early Jesus movement. Jesus mentions the Evil Eye on more than one occasion (Matt 6:22-23; Luke 11:33-36; Mark 7:22). Paul makes explicit and implicit mention of the Evil Eye in his letter to the Galatians (3:1; 4:12-20). Possible implicit references to the Evil Eye are also examined. Both the common and the distinctive features of biblical Evil Eye belief are identified, along with its operation on multiple levels (biological/physiological, psychological, economic, social, and moral) and its serving a variety of purposes. The numerous references to the Evil Eye in Israel's rabbinic writings and those of postbiblical Christianity (second-sixth centuries CE), together with the material evidence from this period, are examined in volume 4.
28 Carols to Sing at Christmas
It wouldn't be Christmas without Christmas carols.
Virtually every Christian–and many non-Christians–would agree. The songs of Christmas can be heard from all kinds of media and all across the world in many languages. Christmas has become the biggest holiday in the United States and in virtually every land where Christianity has a significant influence.
But what does it all mean? What is the enduring message of these Christmas carols? Why do they awaken the mind, move the heart, and inspire the Christlike behavior proclaimed by Jesus, born in Bethlehem? 28 Carols to Sing at Christmas answers those questions.
Each carol's history is described by John M. Mulder, and F. Morgan Roberts meditates on its contemporary meaning. The result is a devotional resource that will make your Christmas a spiritual discovery. Here is a book to bring meaning to the mystery of Christ's birth and a message for all the world.
Christian Zionism
Christian Zionism has received no small amount of criticism from observers who take issue with the movement's pro-Israel politics or its theology. What if we listened seriously to what Christian Zionists and Jewish partners said about Jews, Judaism, and Israel? Christian Zionism is a vibrant contemporary movement that–agree or disagree–has more than just political implications.
Christian Zionism has also brought an unprecedented number of Jews and Christians into contact and dialogue, in houses of worship, community centers, rallies, and, of course, in Israel. As such, Christian Zionism is a useful case that allows us to think about contemporary Jewish-Christian relations in new ways. While some would argue that this is really «just» about pro-Israel alliance building, Christian Zionism: Navigating the Jewish-Christian Border shows how this movement significantly engages basic questions of identity and the borders between Judaism and Christianity. Christian Zionism serves as one chapter in the history of two religious communities–and the fraught relationships between them–facing together the globalized world of the twenty-first century.