In the years since the end of apartheid, South Africans have enjoyed a progressive constitution, considerable access to social services for the poor and sick, and a booming economy that has made their nation into one of the wealthiest on the continent.
Informed by a provocative exhibition at the Louvre curated by the author, The Severed Head unpacks artistic representations of severed heads from the Paleolithic period to the present.
In this original study, Moshe Idel, an eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism and thought, and the cognitive neuroscientist and neurologist Shahar Arzy combine their considerable expertise to explore the mysteries of the Kabbalah from an entirely new perspective: that of the human brain.
A chapter-by-chapter explanation of the Book of Exodus, revealing its wisdom about nation building and people formation"e;Kass draws from Exodus' record of the founding of Judaism timely even urgent universal lessons about twenty-first-century preconditions for human flourishing in any community.
As the news shows us every day, contemporary American culture and politics are rife with people who demonize their enemies by projecting their own failings and flaws onto them.
In this eagerly awaited book, political theorist Michael Walzer reports his findings after decades of reading and thinking about the politics of the Hebrew Bible.
In Memory Eternal, Sergei Kan combines anthropology and history, anecdote and theory to portray the encounter between the Tlingit Indians and the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska in the late 1700s and to analyze the indigenous Orthodoxy that developed over the next 200 years.
A captivating historical survey of the key debates, questions, and controversies at the intersection of science and religionThroughout history, scientific discovery has clashed with religious dogma, creating conflict, controversy, and sometimes violent dispute.
A beautifully written exploration of religion's role in a secular, modern politics, by an accomplished scholar of critical theoryMigrants in the Profane takes its title from an intriguing remark by Theodor W.
How Western notions of the Buddha have come to misrepresent his teachings and the traditional goals of Buddhist practice This book tells the story of the Scientific Buddha, "born" in Europe in the 1800s but commonly confused with the Buddha born in India 2,500 years ago.
How American conflicts about religion have always symbolized our foundational political values When Americans fight about “religion,” we are also fighting about our conflicting identities, interests, and commitments.
A sweeping history of American Catholicism from the arrival of the first Spanish missionaries to the presentThis comprehensive survey of Catholic history in what became the United States spans nearly five hundred years, from the arrival of the first Spanish missionaries to the present.
An expansive and ambitious intellectual history of democratic socialism from one of the world’s leading intellectual historians and social ethicists The fallout from twenty years of neoliberal economic globalism has sparked a surge of interest in the old idea of democratic socialism—a democracy in which the people control the economy and government, no group dominates any other, and every citizen is free, equal, and included.
An award-winning scholar's sweeping history of American secularism, from Jefferson to Trump"e;An essential book for understanding today's culture wars.
This mirror for princes sheds light on the relationship between spiritual and political authority in early modern Egypt This guide to political behavior and expediency offers advice to Sufi shaykhs, or spiritual guides, on how to interact and negotiate with powerful secular officials, judges, and treasurers, or emirs.
A preeminent scholar explores the evolution of the Christian worldview and argues that it no longer offers a satisfactory vision for our democratic, multicultural society This book is the culmination of a lifelong scholarly inquiry into Christian history, religion as a social institution, and the role of myth in the history of religions.
The story behind the 1940s Commission on Freedom of the Press-groundbreaking then, timelier than ever now"e;A well-constructed, timely study, clearly relevant to current debates.
Reproductive Restraints traces the history of contraception use and population management in colonial India, while illuminating its connection to contemporary debates in India and birth control movements in Great Britain and the United States.
New observations on the persistence of God in modern times and why “authentic” atheism is so very hard to come by How to live in a supposedly faithless world threatened by religious fundamentalism?
The Ahmadiyya Muslim community represents the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), a charismatic leader whose claims of spiritual authority brought him into conflict with most other Muslim leaders of the time.
The first major study to draw upon unknown or neglected sources, as well as original interviews with figures like Billy Graham, Awakening the Evangelical Mind uniquely tells the engaging story of how evangelicalism developed as an intellectual movement in the middle of the 20th century.
Rich in detail and broad in scope, this majestic book is the first to reveal the interaction of politics and religion in France during the crucial years of the long seventeenth century.
Essential primary sources reveal the central tensions between American politics and religion throughout the nation’s history Despite the centrality of separation of church and state in American government, religion has played an important role in the nation’s politics from colonial times through the present day.
This text is a comprehensive introduction to mission and ministry in the contemporary Church which enables students to prepare for ministry in a changing church within a changing world.
A provocative essay challenging the idea of Buddhist exceptionalism, from one of the world's most widely respected philosophers and writers on Buddhism and scienceBuddhism has become a uniquely favored religion in our modern age.
A distinguished scholar urges scientists and religious thinkers to become colleagues rather than adversaries in areas where their fields overlap Each age has its own crisis—our modern experience of science-religion conflict is not so very different from that experienced by our forebears, Keith Thomson proposes in this thoughtful book.
Recognizing the essential heteronomy of postmodern philosophy of religion, Merold Westphal argues against the assumption that human reason is universal, neutral, and devoid of presupposition.
How a popular religious war erupted on the Dutch-German border, despite the ideals of religious tolerance proclaimed by the Enlightenment In a remote village on the Dutch-German border, a young Catholic woman named Cunegonde tries to kidnap a baby to prevent it from being baptized in a Protestant church.
The right to turn ones chosen source is now well established in both law and ethics, but where children are unable to choose for themselves the situation is fraught with moral difficulties.
