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This collection of essays challenges the widely accepted interpretation of mystical experience that received its fullest expression in two volumes edited by Steven T.Katz, "Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis" and "Mysticism and Religious Traditions".
This volume is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Jain praxis. It covers a breadth of scholarly viewpoints that reflect both the variegation in terms of spiritual practices within the Jain traditions as well as the Jain hermeneutical perspectives, which are employed in understanding its rich diversity. The volume illustrates a complex and nuanced understanding of the multifaceted category of Jain religious thought and practice. It offers a rare intrareligious dialogue within Jain traditions and at the same time, significantly broadens and enriches the field of Contemplative Studies to include an ancient, ascetic, non-theistic tradition. Medita...
The conception of karma in the religious traditions of India has prompted numerous interpretations, many of which equate karma with notions of fate. Karma and Creativity presents a perspective on karma that emphasizes the efficacy of human activity in bringing about desired results--from upholding societal order to the attainment of spiritual liberation. Karma is examined in light of several classical Indian texts. Special attention is given to the concept of mind-only in both Hinduism and Buddhism. The study focuses on the positive approach to action first learned by the sage Vasisin the Mahabharata and then taught by him to Sri Rama in the Yogavasis. It concludes with an exploration of the theological and ethical implications of action and creativity.
A Communion of Subjects is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including Thomas Berry (cultural history), Wendy Doniger (study of myth), Elizabeth Lawrence (veterinary medicine, ritual studies), Marc Bekoff (cognitive ethology), Marc Hauser (behavioral science), Steven Wise (animals and law), Peter Singer (animals and ethics), and Jane Goodall (primatology) consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and art. Their findings offer profound insights into the relationship between human beings and animals, and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live.
To date, philosophical discussions of animal ethics and Critical Animal Studies have been dominated by Western perspectives and Western thinkers. This book makes a novel contribution to animal ethics in showing the range and richness of ideas offered to these fields by diverse Asian traditions. Asian Perspectives on Animal Ethics is the first of its kind to include the intersection of Asian and European traditions with respect to human and nonhuman relations. Presenting a series of studies focusing on specific Asian traditions, as well as studies that put those traditions in dialogue with Western thinkers, this book looks at Asian philosophical doctrines concerning compassion and nonviolence...
A distinctive aspect of Hindu devotion is the veneration of a human guru, who is not only an exemplar and a teacher but is also understood to be an embodiment of the divine. Historically, the role of guru in the public domain has been exclusive to men. The new visibility of female gurus in India and the U.S. today, and indeed across the globe, has inspired this first-ever scholarly study of the origins, variety, and worldwide popularity of Hindu female gurus. In the Introduction, Karen Pechilis examines the historical emergence of Hindu female gurus with reference to the Hindu philosophy of the self, women spiritual exemplars as wives and saints, Tantric worship of the Goddess, and the inter...
Pope Francis: His Life and Thought paints a compelling picture of a truly remarkable pope, considering his life in detail until his election as Pope Francis in 2013. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was a highly unusual candidate for the papacy for two main reasons: the 'pope from far away' is the first non-European to be elected, and, furthermore, he began his career as a Jesuit, one of 'God's soldiers'. Members of the order traditionally do not ascend the hierarchy of the Church, and it took a personal request from Pope John Paul II for Bergoglio to leave the Society of Jesus and accept his appointment as bishop. Bergoglio's theological principles have been profoundly shaped by these two factors. ...
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