The I AM statements exclusive to the Fourth Gospel are seen as the attempt of the author(s) of that Gospel to present the nature and purpose of the earthly life of Jesus by engaging the imaginative faculty of the reader. Succeeding generations of artists are considered as undertaking a similar task by engaging in an imaginative dialogue with the text. There are five narratives that are peculiar to the Fourth Gospel: The Wedding at Cana, ...
Intuitive logical thinking would suggest that Revelation should be: One biblically coherent and complete narration, That uses only natural and biblical symbols, To retell God's consistent work from beginning to end; That reveals Jesus and his resurrection as the focus; To call for decisive response from every person, For the creation which God loves and will glorify; To close God's written oracle to humankind. But ...
"At the deepest level religious traditions determine what goes on between one human being and another, between one community and another, and between human beings and whoever holds power over them." Kees Bolle's original, passionate scholarship veered away from things handed down and standard in our thought about religions. In this his final book, he explores how religious paradigms have given rise to particular structures of p ...
In January 2017 Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, said that it looks as if the world is preparing for war. And Pope Francis noted that war is already being fought piecemeal around the world. In this book we argue that since violence begets violence, we must privilege soft power over military might, if we are to have peace on earth. Gandhi used soft power in India overcame British military might, and King used it to bring a ...
In this memoir, internationally acclaimed hymn-poet Brian Wren outlines his life story, describes his writing process, and explores the relationship between words and music. Although (because) Christian hymns are typically sung by untrained voices, they exemplify the abiding and universal appeal of human voices joining together in song. This book will be useful and interdenominationally appealing to students and teachers of church music, theolog ...
Moral Injury is now recognized as a growing major problem for military men and women. Operant conditioning can overwhelm moral convictions and yet the question of whether «to shoot or not to shoot» often will never have a settled answer. Certain theories and treatment models about MI have been well developed, but too often overlook root issues of religious faith. The authors propose a new model for understanding moral injury and suggest ways to ...
In the Middle Ages, as Christian sources on the Islamic world show, Muslim culture was perceived as extremely threatening: there were many defenses of Christianity, like the treatise on the «mistakes» of the followers of Allah. This book shows, through an analysis of the works of Nicholas of Cusa and of other authors, that in the course of time this textual attitude was modified, as European authors aimed to point out the Christian truth in comp ...
As modernity gives way to postmodernity, we are witnessing the emergence of a post-political age. Concepts and realities that anchored modern politics–like nation-states, community, freedom, and law–find themselves under duress from a pluriform terror. Simultaneously, we are witnessing a turn to religion by continental philosophers who seek resources for re-visioning a politics of resistance to this terror. This work engages postmodern philosoph ...
This is an introduction to thinking theologically about the Christian church–what is known as ecclesiology. The book covers background questions of conception, history, differences among separated Christian churches, and several modern approaches to the study of the church. It also introduces readers to a specific scriptural way of thinking about the church centered on mission, that takes into account problems associated with past approaches, an ...
