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This book offers a philosophical approach to religion that acknowledges both the diversity of religions and the many and varied dimensions of the religious life. Rather than restricting itself to Christian theism, it covers a wide range of religious traditions, examining their beliefs in the context of the actual practice of the religious life. After outlining the aims of religion, the book focuses on claims to knowledge. What kinds of knowledge do religions purport to offer? In what idiom is it couched? From what sources do devotees draw their claims to knowledge? Are these sources reliable? Rather than trying to settle age-old questions about religious belief, the book offers its readers a set of criteria with which they can make informed decisions in matters of faith.
In this timely study, Dawes defends the methodological naturalism of the sciences. Though religions offer what appear to be explanations of various facts about the world, the scientist, as scientist, will not take such proposed explanations seriously. Even if no natural explanation were available, she will assume that one exists. Is this merely a sign of atheistic prejudice, as some critics suggest? Or are there good reasons to exclude from science explanations that invoke a supernatural agent? On the one hand, Dawes concedes the bare possibility that talk of divine action could constitute a potential explanation of some state of affairs, while noting that the conditions under which this would be true are unlikely ever to be fulfilled. On the other hand, he argues that a proposed explanation of this kind would rate poorly, when measured against our usual standards of explanatory virtue.
For more than 30 years, historians have rejected what they call the ‘warfare thesis’ – the idea that there is an inevitable conflict between religion and science – insisting that scientists and believers can live in harmony. This book disagrees. Taking as its starting point the most famous of all such conflicts, the Galileo affair, it argues that religious and scientific communities exhibit very different attitudes to knowledge. Scripturally based religions not only claim a source of knowledge distinct from human reason. They are also bound by tradition, insist upon the certainty of their beliefs, and are resistant to radical criticism in ways in which the sciences are not. If traditionally minded believers perceive a clash between what their faith tells them and the findings of modern science, they may well do what the Church authorities did in Galileo’s time. They may attempt to close down the science, insisting that the authority of God’s word trumps that of any ‘merely human’ knowledge. Those of us who value science must take care to ensure this does not happen.
This book is a collection of essays by feminist scholar Elaine Wainwright (1948-2024), who taught in number of theological institutions around the world. There are 17 essays in the collection, with an introductiob by Veronica Lawson RSM and a Foreword by Barbar Reid OP. The essays deal with a variety of topicd, and incliude ecology and feminism.
Concise and accessible, this one-volume edition of the New Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament draws together the individual contributions to the Old Testament series and offers them to readers in a convenient and attractive format. Written by an array of respected scholars, the individual commentaries collected here bring expert insight into the Old Testament to Bible study participants, teachers, students, preachers, and all readers of Scripture. A first-rate, reliable resource for Bible study and reflection, the New Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testamentanswers the Second Vatican Council's call to make access to Scripture "open wide to the Christian faithful."
This book offers a clear, concise introduction to the meaning of problematic terms, and the ways in which they should legitimately be used. Each entry considers the following: – Why is this concept problematic? – What are the origins of the concept? – How is it used or misused, and by whom? – Is it still a legitimate concept in the study of religion and, if so, what are its legitimate uses? – Are there other concepts that are preferable when writing on religion? Concepts covered include: – Belief – Religion – Magic – Secularisation – Violence This is a jargon-free indispensable resource for students and scholars that encourages the critical use of terms in the study of religion.
For more than 30 years, historians have rejected what they call the 'warfare thesis' - the idea that there is an inevitable conflict between religion and science - insisting that scientists and believers can live in harmony. This book disagrees. Taking as its starting point the most famous of all such conflicts, the Galileo affair, it argues that religious and scientific communities exhibit very different attitudes to knowledge. Scripturally based religions not only claim a source of knowledge distinct from human reason. They are also bound by tradition, insist upon the certainty of their beliefs, and are resistant to radical criticism in ways in which the sciences are not. If traditionally minded believers perceive a clash between what their faith tells them and the findings of modern science, they may well do what the Church authorities did in Galileo's time. They may attempt to close down the science, insisting that the authority of God's word trumps that of any 'merely human' knowledge. Those of us who value science must take care to ensure this does not happen.
Concise and accessible, this one-volume edition of the New Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament draws together the individual contributions to the Old Testament series and offers them to readers in a convenient and attractive format. Written by an array of respected scholars, the individual commentaries collected here bring expert insight into the Old Testament to Bible study participants, teachers, students, preachers, and all readers of Scripture. A first-rate, reliable resource for Bible study and reflection, the New Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament answers the Second Vatican Council’s call to make access to Scripture “open wide to the Christian faithful.”
Virtually all the current debates about the historical Jesus have their roots in questions that have been pursued by biblical historians over the past two centuries. This anthology brings together seminal essays by those scholars who have been most influential in the rise and development of Jesus studies, enabling the reader to compare their differing points of view.