Philosophy begins with wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. Yet Plato and Aristotle did not expand a great deal on what precisely wonder is. Does this fact alone not raise curiosity in us as to why this passion or concept is important? What is wonder's role in science, philosophy, or theology except to end thinking or theorizing as soon as one begins? The primary purpose of this book is to show how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century d ...
Historians have traditionally interpreted the American land-grant higher-education movement as the result of political and economic forces. Little attention has been given, however, to any explicit or implicit theological motivations for the movement. This book tells the story of how the Christian belief of many founders of the University of Illinois motivated their educational theory and practice. Constructing a social gospel of labor's mi ...
This volume poses the question of the relationship between the two main influences on the thought of John D. Caputo, one of the most well-known philosophers of religion working in North America today: Jacques Derrida and Jesus Christ. Given the seemingly abstract character of Derrida's account of the messianic, how can one reconcile deconstruction and the «concrete messianism» of Christianity, as Caputo tries to do over and over again? How ...
This study puts the thought of Evagrius Ponticus, a fourth-century theologian, into dialogue with modern cognitive science in regard to the topic of evil, specifically moral evil. Evagrius, in his writings about prayer and the ascetic life, addressed the struggle with personal moral evil in terms of the eight «thoughts» or «demons.» These «thoughts» were transmitted by John Cassian to the Western church, and later recast by Gregory the Great as ...
A strong critique of traditional atonement theology is found in the work of many contemporary feminist theologians. This approach, in large part, is related to the notion of women's experience–a category that is used widely within feminist theology. But what is women's experience and how does it affect feminist theology, particularly views on the atonement? The category of women's experience is pivotal to feminist theology, yet it ...
Christian Spirituality and Ethical Life offers a helpful study of the place of the Spirit in John Calvin's theology. It also discovers a notion of the spiritual life in connection with ethical life. It thus overcomes the prevailing popular pictures about the theology of John Calvin in several significant ways, providing a refreshing alternative to the anemic spirituality so prevalent today. It can be stated confidently that Calvin was a the ...
Historians have noted the connections between the Wesleyan Methodist movement that began in the eighteenth century, the emergence of African American Methodist traditions and an interdenominational Holiness movement in the nineteenth century, and the birth of Pentecostalism in the twentieth century. This volume, written by historians, theologians, and pastors, builds on that earlier work. The contributors present a diverse array of key figures-d ...
The relationship between the church and Israel in Pauline interpretation has long been an area of considerable debate. The traditional view has understood Paul to identify the church with Israel, such that the church is the sole inheritor of Israel's sacred history, privileges, and divine promises. Yet recent developments in Pauline scholarship have called this view into question. The so-called New Perspective and its emphasis upon the deci ...
In a globalized world and an «age that cannot name itself,» how do Christian communities sustain a recognizable gospel identity? How might examining tradition and identity formation from both theology and cultural anthropology help churches approach the challenges of being a follower of Jesus today? With these questions in focus, Colleen Mallon studies symbol systems in the works of anthropologists Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, and Clifford Geert ...
