Genia Schönbaumsfeld
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199229826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710766
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199229826.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This final chapter sums up the main arguments of the book. It's aims have been to trace the parallels in Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and examine the affinities in their ...
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This final chapter sums up the main arguments of the book. It's aims have been to trace the parallels in Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and examine the affinities in their thought about religious belief. The book has attempted to undermine some of the more tenacious myths surrounding Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's religious thought and to show that the two authors — especially when read in the light of each other — still present the greatest challenge to the received orthodoxies in the philosophy of religion as well as to the subject's (philosophy's) own conception of itself.Less
This final chapter sums up the main arguments of the book. It's aims have been to trace the parallels in Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and examine the affinities in their thought about religious belief. The book has attempted to undermine some of the more tenacious myths surrounding Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's religious thought and to show that the two authors — especially when read in the light of each other — still present the greatest challenge to the received orthodoxies in the philosophy of religion as well as to the subject's (philosophy's) own conception of itself.
Jane Shaw
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263051
- eISBN:
- 9780191734090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263051.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter discusses the eighteenth-century Church of England. It examines the changes in how people thought about the place of religion in eighteenth-century Britain by first looking at the ...
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This chapter discusses the eighteenth-century Church of England. It examines the changes in how people thought about the place of religion in eighteenth-century Britain by first looking at the histories of the eighteenth-century Church of England. The chapter studies the changing views of the Enlightenment's relationship to religious thought and practice in Britain. It ends with a discussion of the newer fields of study that have emerged, most especially during the latter part of the twentieth century.Less
This chapter discusses the eighteenth-century Church of England. It examines the changes in how people thought about the place of religion in eighteenth-century Britain by first looking at the histories of the eighteenth-century Church of England. The chapter studies the changing views of the Enlightenment's relationship to religious thought and practice in Britain. It ends with a discussion of the newer fields of study that have emerged, most especially during the latter part of the twentieth century.
Michael Horace Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396270
- eISBN:
- 9780199852482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396270.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Religious beliefs of egalitarian foraging cultures include belief in spirits and magic, treated by primitive people as significant but fairly commonplace. This is called animism. These beliefs are ...
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Religious beliefs of egalitarian foraging cultures include belief in spirits and magic, treated by primitive people as significant but fairly commonplace. This is called animism. These beliefs are expresses in folktales of relative brevity. The style of thought of a primitive culture, and also the religion, is a mixture of preoperational and concrete operational thought. Christopher Hallpike holds that primitive cultures manifest a high degree of preoperational practices in word, and probably, also in thought. In comparison with primitive cultures, other cultures have additional modes of thought at their disposal, including modes of religious thought and the aspects of thought that was to develop into science.Less
Religious beliefs of egalitarian foraging cultures include belief in spirits and magic, treated by primitive people as significant but fairly commonplace. This is called animism. These beliefs are expresses in folktales of relative brevity. The style of thought of a primitive culture, and also the religion, is a mixture of preoperational and concrete operational thought. Christopher Hallpike holds that primitive cultures manifest a high degree of preoperational practices in word, and probably, also in thought. In comparison with primitive cultures, other cultures have additional modes of thought at their disposal, including modes of religious thought and the aspects of thought that was to develop into science.
Toshimasa Yasukata
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195144949
- eISBN:
- 9780199834891
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195144945.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Analyzes the young Lessing's religious thought with special attention to his early writings, particularly Religion, Some Thoughts about the Moravians, The Jews, and The Christianity of Reason. These ...
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Analyzes the young Lessing's religious thought with special attention to his early writings, particularly Religion, Some Thoughts about the Moravians, The Jews, and The Christianity of Reason. These poetic, theological, dramatic, and philosophical writings illustrate his religious skepticism, his theological critique, his ideal of universal humanity, and certain speculative reflections. The analysis shows that in his early years Lessing still vacillated among four ways of thinking: Lutheran orthodoxy, pietism, deism, and Leibniz‐Wolffian metaphysics. But these early writings also contain many of the germs of the religious‐philosophical thought of his mature years. The inquiry demonstrates that the young Lessing displayed brilliantly in these early writings something of his later genius both as a theological critic and as a philosopher of religion.Less
Analyzes the young Lessing's religious thought with special attention to his early writings, particularly Religion, Some Thoughts about the Moravians, The Jews, and The Christianity of Reason. These poetic, theological, dramatic, and philosophical writings illustrate his religious skepticism, his theological critique, his ideal of universal humanity, and certain speculative reflections. The analysis shows that in his early years Lessing still vacillated among four ways of thinking: Lutheran orthodoxy, pietism, deism, and Leibniz‐Wolffian metaphysics. But these early writings also contain many of the germs of the religious‐philosophical thought of his mature years. The inquiry demonstrates that the young Lessing displayed brilliantly in these early writings something of his later genius both as a theological critic and as a philosopher of religion.
Michael Horace Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396270
- eISBN:
- 9780199852482
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396270.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book examines a pattern of cognitive development that has evolved over thousands of years—a pattern manifest in both science and religion. It describes how the major world cultures built upon ...
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This book examines a pattern of cognitive development that has evolved over thousands of years—a pattern manifest in both science and religion. It describes how the major world cultures built upon our natural human language skills to add literacy, logic, and, now, a highly critical self-awareness. In tracing the histories of both scientific and religious thought, the book shows why we think the way that we do today. Although religious and scientific modes of thought are often portrayed as contradictory—one is highly rational while the other appeals to tradition and faith—the book argues that they evolved together and are actually complementary. Using the developmental thought of Piaget, it argues that cultures develop like individuals in that both learn easier cognitive skills first and master the harder ones later. This is especially true, the book states, because the harder ones often require first the creation of cognitive technology like writing or formal logic as well as the creation of social institutions that teach and sustain those skills. The book goes on to delineate the successive stages of the co-evolution of religious and scientific thought in the West, from the preliterate cultures of antiquity up to the present time. Along the way, it covers topics such as the impact of literacy on human modes of thought; the development of formalized logic and philosophical reflections; the emergence of an explicitly rational science; the birth of formal theologies; and, more recently, the growth of modern empirical science.Less
This book examines a pattern of cognitive development that has evolved over thousands of years—a pattern manifest in both science and religion. It describes how the major world cultures built upon our natural human language skills to add literacy, logic, and, now, a highly critical self-awareness. In tracing the histories of both scientific and religious thought, the book shows why we think the way that we do today. Although religious and scientific modes of thought are often portrayed as contradictory—one is highly rational while the other appeals to tradition and faith—the book argues that they evolved together and are actually complementary. Using the developmental thought of Piaget, it argues that cultures develop like individuals in that both learn easier cognitive skills first and master the harder ones later. This is especially true, the book states, because the harder ones often require first the creation of cognitive technology like writing or formal logic as well as the creation of social institutions that teach and sustain those skills. The book goes on to delineate the successive stages of the co-evolution of religious and scientific thought in the West, from the preliterate cultures of antiquity up to the present time. Along the way, it covers topics such as the impact of literacy on human modes of thought; the development of formalized logic and philosophical reflections; the emergence of an explicitly rational science; the birth of formal theologies; and, more recently, the growth of modern empirical science.
Stephen Mulhall
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198238508
- eISBN:
- 9780191679643
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198238508.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Aesthetics
The author of the book presents a full-length philosophical study of the work of Stanley Cavell, best known for his highly influential contributions to the fields of film studies, Shakespearian ...
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The author of the book presents a full-length philosophical study of the work of Stanley Cavell, best known for his highly influential contributions to the fields of film studies, Shakespearian literary criticism, and the confluence of psychoanalysis and literary theory. It is not properly appreciated that Cavell's project originated in his interpretation of Austin's and Wittgenstein's philosophical interest in the criteria governing ordinary language, and is given unity by an abiding concern with the nature and the varying cultural manifestations of the sceptical impulse in modernity. This book elucidates the essentially philosophical roots and trajectory of Cavell's work, traces its links with Romanticism and its recent turn towards a species of moral pefectionism associated with Thoreau and Emerson, and concludes with an assessment of its relations to liberal-democratic political theory, Christian religious thought, and feminist literary studies.Less
The author of the book presents a full-length philosophical study of the work of Stanley Cavell, best known for his highly influential contributions to the fields of film studies, Shakespearian literary criticism, and the confluence of psychoanalysis and literary theory. It is not properly appreciated that Cavell's project originated in his interpretation of Austin's and Wittgenstein's philosophical interest in the criteria governing ordinary language, and is given unity by an abiding concern with the nature and the varying cultural manifestations of the sceptical impulse in modernity. This book elucidates the essentially philosophical roots and trajectory of Cavell's work, traces its links with Romanticism and its recent turn towards a species of moral pefectionism associated with Thoreau and Emerson, and concludes with an assessment of its relations to liberal-democratic political theory, Christian religious thought, and feminist literary studies.
D. Jason Slone
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195169263
- eISBN:
- 9780199835256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195169263.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Religious thought involves the presumption that superhuman agents exist, while theology involves postulations about these agents. This dual feature of religion seems to apply across the board. ...
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Religious thought involves the presumption that superhuman agents exist, while theology involves postulations about these agents. This dual feature of religion seems to apply across the board. However, one religious system, Theravada Buddhism of South and Southeast Asia appears to challenge this assumption. It is argued that Buddhists are not passive recipients but active participants in Buddhism. Thus, Buddhism is the same as other religions because its members share the same cognitive equipment as members of other religions.Less
Religious thought involves the presumption that superhuman agents exist, while theology involves postulations about these agents. This dual feature of religion seems to apply across the board. However, one religious system, Theravada Buddhism of South and Southeast Asia appears to challenge this assumption. It is argued that Buddhists are not passive recipients but active participants in Buddhism. Thus, Buddhism is the same as other religions because its members share the same cognitive equipment as members of other religions.
Michael Horace Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396270
- eISBN:
- 9780199852482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396270.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book offers a history of the human search for methods to determine which ideas about the world are true. It focuses on the various methods religious thinkers and scientific inquirers have used ...
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This book offers a history of the human search for methods to determine which ideas about the world are true. It focuses on the various methods religious thinkers and scientific inquirers have used to try to distinguish truth form error. The history of such attempts follows a developmental pattern. This pattern puts current arguments about methods of knowledge in an intelligible and useful perspective. The success of the method of science runs contrary to the postmodern strategy to keep religion safe from science. The historical analysis in this book tries to show ways in which the use of rationality in religion has proved to be valuable.Less
This book offers a history of the human search for methods to determine which ideas about the world are true. It focuses on the various methods religious thinkers and scientific inquirers have used to try to distinguish truth form error. The history of such attempts follows a developmental pattern. This pattern puts current arguments about methods of knowledge in an intelligible and useful perspective. The success of the method of science runs contrary to the postmodern strategy to keep religion safe from science. The historical analysis in this book tries to show ways in which the use of rationality in religion has proved to be valuable.
Ahmed El Shamsy
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691174563
- eISBN:
- 9780691201245
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691174563.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter introduces some of the key figures in the emerging networks of reformist ʿulamāʾ (the Muslim scholarly class). In particular, the chapter discusses Maḥmūd Shukrī al-Ālūsī in Baghdad and ...
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This chapter introduces some of the key figures in the emerging networks of reformist ʿulamāʾ (the Muslim scholarly class). In particular, the chapter discusses Maḥmūd Shukrī al-Ālūsī in Baghdad and Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī in Damascus. It describes their efforts and motivations in discovering, circulating, and printing classical books. The chapter focuses on the search for and publication of writings specifically on religious thought and practice by these reformists. The reformist ʿulamāʾ were a small but active and intellectually high-powered group who diverged from the scholarly mainstream of their day by attacking esoteric Sufi beliefs and practices as superstitious, irrational, and contrary to Islamic ideals and by criticizing the Islamic legal status quo, which they saw as a fossilized doctrine unresponsive to the actual challenges Muslims were facing.Less
This chapter introduces some of the key figures in the emerging networks of reformist ʿulamāʾ (the Muslim scholarly class). In particular, the chapter discusses Maḥmūd Shukrī al-Ālūsī in Baghdad and Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī in Damascus. It describes their efforts and motivations in discovering, circulating, and printing classical books. The chapter focuses on the search for and publication of writings specifically on religious thought and practice by these reformists. The reformist ʿulamāʾ were a small but active and intellectually high-powered group who diverged from the scholarly mainstream of their day by attacking esoteric Sufi beliefs and practices as superstitious, irrational, and contrary to Islamic ideals and by criticizing the Islamic legal status quo, which they saw as a fossilized doctrine unresponsive to the actual challenges Muslims were facing.
Nicholas Hudson
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112143
- eISBN:
- 9780191670671
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112143.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
Although there are many books on Samuel Johnson's moral and religious thought, none has provided a detailed analysis of his relationship with the ethics and theology of the eighteenth century. This ...
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Although there are many books on Samuel Johnson's moral and religious thought, none has provided a detailed analysis of his relationship with the ethics and theology of the eighteenth century. This study fills the gap, examining the background to Johnson's views on a wide range of issues debated by the philosophers and divines of his age. Avoiding deceptive generalizations concerning the overall character of the century, the author emphasizes the ambivalence and contradiction inherent in the orthodoxy which Johnson espoused. Yet this book also challenges the assumption that Johnson's religious beliefs were unstable and filled with anxiety. Whatever the weakness of his positions, he gleaned strength and confidence from the belief that he upheld an eminent tradition in Christian philosophy.Less
Although there are many books on Samuel Johnson's moral and religious thought, none has provided a detailed analysis of his relationship with the ethics and theology of the eighteenth century. This study fills the gap, examining the background to Johnson's views on a wide range of issues debated by the philosophers and divines of his age. Avoiding deceptive generalizations concerning the overall character of the century, the author emphasizes the ambivalence and contradiction inherent in the orthodoxy which Johnson espoused. Yet this book also challenges the assumption that Johnson's religious beliefs were unstable and filled with anxiety. Whatever the weakness of his positions, he gleaned strength and confidence from the belief that he upheld an eminent tradition in Christian philosophy.
Christian Lange and Songul Mecit
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748639946
- eISBN:
- 9780748653294
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748639946.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Despite the many important developments and innovations traceable to the Seljuq period (fifth–seventh/eleventh–thirteenth centuries), the Seljuqs remain one of the understudied Muslim dynasties. This ...
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Despite the many important developments and innovations traceable to the Seljuq period (fifth–seventh/eleventh–thirteenth centuries), the Seljuqs remain one of the understudied Muslim dynasties. This collaborative exploration of the Seljuqs' achievement contributes to the growing interest in this pivotal dynasty. The various chapters cover a representative geographical spectrum, from Central Asia and Persia to Iraq, Syria and Anatolia, and address novel questions such as the ideological foundations and ritual expressions of Seljuq power, the mutual attitudes of the learned classes and the Seljuq state, the organization of space, and the relationship between nomads and the settled peoples. The book is divided into three parts: the origins of the Seljuqs, their gradual transformation into a powerful dynasty, and their concepts of political legitimation; the social history of the Seljuq period, particularly with regard to the 'ulama' and the urban populations; developments in religious thought, jurisprudence, belles-lettres and architecture under the Seljuqs.Less
Despite the many important developments and innovations traceable to the Seljuq period (fifth–seventh/eleventh–thirteenth centuries), the Seljuqs remain one of the understudied Muslim dynasties. This collaborative exploration of the Seljuqs' achievement contributes to the growing interest in this pivotal dynasty. The various chapters cover a representative geographical spectrum, from Central Asia and Persia to Iraq, Syria and Anatolia, and address novel questions such as the ideological foundations and ritual expressions of Seljuq power, the mutual attitudes of the learned classes and the Seljuq state, the organization of space, and the relationship between nomads and the settled peoples. The book is divided into three parts: the origins of the Seljuqs, their gradual transformation into a powerful dynasty, and their concepts of political legitimation; the social history of the Seljuq period, particularly with regard to the 'ulama' and the urban populations; developments in religious thought, jurisprudence, belles-lettres and architecture under the Seljuqs.
Tyler Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231147521
- eISBN:
- 9780231535496
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231147521.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This book encourages scholars to abandon the conceptual opposition between the “secular” and the “religious” to better understand how human beings actively and thoughtfully engage with their worlds ...
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This book encourages scholars to abandon the conceptual opposition between the “secular” and the “religious” to better understand how human beings actively and thoughtfully engage with their worlds and make meaning. It argues that the artificial distinction between a self-conscious and critical “academic study of religion” and an ideological and authoritarian “religion” only obscures the phenomenon. Instead, the book calls on intellectuals to approach the field as a site of “encounter” and “response,” illuminating the agency, creativity, and critical awareness of religious actors. The book argues that the act of responding to religion is to ask what religious behaviors and representations mean to us in our individual worlds. It recommends that scholars must confront the questions of possibility and becoming that arise from testing their beliefs, imperatives, and practices. The book refers to the work of Hent de Vries, Eric Santner, and Stanley Cavell, each of whom exemplifies encounter and response in their writings, as they traverse philosophy and religion to expose secular thinking to religious thought and practice. This approach highlights the resources that religious discourse can offer to a fundamental reorientation of critical thought. The book concludes that, in humanistic criticism after secularism, the lines separating the creative, the pious and the critical themselves become the subject of question and experimentation.Less
This book encourages scholars to abandon the conceptual opposition between the “secular” and the “religious” to better understand how human beings actively and thoughtfully engage with their worlds and make meaning. It argues that the artificial distinction between a self-conscious and critical “academic study of religion” and an ideological and authoritarian “religion” only obscures the phenomenon. Instead, the book calls on intellectuals to approach the field as a site of “encounter” and “response,” illuminating the agency, creativity, and critical awareness of religious actors. The book argues that the act of responding to religion is to ask what religious behaviors and representations mean to us in our individual worlds. It recommends that scholars must confront the questions of possibility and becoming that arise from testing their beliefs, imperatives, and practices. The book refers to the work of Hent de Vries, Eric Santner, and Stanley Cavell, each of whom exemplifies encounter and response in their writings, as they traverse philosophy and religion to expose secular thinking to religious thought and practice. This approach highlights the resources that religious discourse can offer to a fundamental reorientation of critical thought. The book concludes that, in humanistic criticism after secularism, the lines separating the creative, the pious and the critical themselves become the subject of question and experimentation.
Bryan Shelley
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122845
- eISBN:
- 9780191671562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122845.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
As Shelley had observed, no religion or nation can surpass each other without borrowing certain ideas from the other. This notion thus serves as the underlying principle of Shelley's own ...
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As Shelley had observed, no religion or nation can surpass each other without borrowing certain ideas from the other. This notion thus serves as the underlying principle of Shelley's own interpretation of imagery, biblical phraseology, and symbols. Shelley's ‘The Assassins’ attempts to describe a facet of Christianity that leaves out certain supernaturalist dogmas. First, Shelley confused a primitive Christian community with a heretical Islamic sect. Compared to the Ismaili sect who obey their Imam, Shelley's Assassins patronized individual reason. Also, Shelley believed that the Christian Assassins' views were similar to that of the Gnostics. One of the fundamental features of Gnosticism is its revisionist perspective toward Christian and Jewish Scriptures. As such, this chapter utilizes this viewpoint in analyzing Shelley's religious thought.Less
As Shelley had observed, no religion or nation can surpass each other without borrowing certain ideas from the other. This notion thus serves as the underlying principle of Shelley's own interpretation of imagery, biblical phraseology, and symbols. Shelley's ‘The Assassins’ attempts to describe a facet of Christianity that leaves out certain supernaturalist dogmas. First, Shelley confused a primitive Christian community with a heretical Islamic sect. Compared to the Ismaili sect who obey their Imam, Shelley's Assassins patronized individual reason. Also, Shelley believed that the Christian Assassins' views were similar to that of the Gnostics. One of the fundamental features of Gnosticism is its revisionist perspective toward Christian and Jewish Scriptures. As such, this chapter utilizes this viewpoint in analyzing Shelley's religious thought.
Heather Glen
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199272556
- eISBN:
- 9780191699627
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272556.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This study of Charlotte Brontë's novels draws on original research in a range of early Victorian writings, on subjects ranging from women's day-dreaming to sanitary reform, from the Great Exhibition ...
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This study of Charlotte Brontë's novels draws on original research in a range of early Victorian writings, on subjects ranging from women's day-dreaming to sanitary reform, from the Great Exhibition to early Victorian religious thought. It is not, however, merely a study of context. Through a close consideration of the ways in which Brontë's novels engage with the thinking of their time, it offers a powerful argument for the ‘literary’ as a distinctive mode of intelligence, and reveals a Charlotte Brontë more alert to her historical moment and far more aesthetically sophisticated than she has usually been taken to be.Less
This study of Charlotte Brontë's novels draws on original research in a range of early Victorian writings, on subjects ranging from women's day-dreaming to sanitary reform, from the Great Exhibition to early Victorian religious thought. It is not, however, merely a study of context. Through a close consideration of the ways in which Brontë's novels engage with the thinking of their time, it offers a powerful argument for the ‘literary’ as a distinctive mode of intelligence, and reveals a Charlotte Brontë more alert to her historical moment and far more aesthetically sophisticated than she has usually been taken to be.
Alan D. Hodder
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300089592
- eISBN:
- 9780300129755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300089592.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter presents a survey of Thoreau's religious ideas, which adheres to the general contours of his own treatment of religion in the chapter entitled “Sunday”, from his book A Week on the ...
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This chapter presents a survey of Thoreau's religious ideas, which adheres to the general contours of his own treatment of religion in the chapter entitled “Sunday”, from his book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Key to appreciating the views expressed here is a recognition of the degree to which they are embedded in a narrative about his previous experience and predicated on the rhetoric of what becomes, in effect, his own Sunday sermon. It is argued that Thoreau's practice of interpolating long digressions about religion into the body of a travel narrative has an important religious or theological rationale.Less
This chapter presents a survey of Thoreau's religious ideas, which adheres to the general contours of his own treatment of religion in the chapter entitled “Sunday”, from his book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Key to appreciating the views expressed here is a recognition of the degree to which they are embedded in a narrative about his previous experience and predicated on the rhetoric of what becomes, in effect, his own Sunday sermon. It is argued that Thoreau's practice of interpolating long digressions about religion into the body of a travel narrative has an important religious or theological rationale.
Rachel Elior
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774679
- eISBN:
- 9781800340107
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774679.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Mysticism is one of the central sources of inspiration of religious thought. It is an attempt to decode the mystery of divine existence by penetrating to the depths of consciousness through language, ...
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Mysticism is one of the central sources of inspiration of religious thought. It is an attempt to decode the mystery of divine existence by penetrating to the depths of consciousness through language, memory, myth, and symbolism. By offering an alternative perspective on the world that gives expression to yearnings for freedom and change, mysticism engenders new modes of authority and leadership; as such it plays a decisive role in moulding religious and social history. For all these reasons, the mystical corpus deserves study and discussion in the framework of cultural criticism and research. This book is a lyrical exposition of the Jewish mystical phenomenon. Its purpose is to present the meanings of the mystical works as they were perceived by their creators and readers. At the same time, it contextualizes them within the boundaries of the religion, culture, language, and spiritual and historical circumstances in which the destiny of the Jewish people has evolved. The book conveys the richness of the mystical experience in discovering the infinity of meaning embedded in the sacred text and explains the multivalent symbols. It illustrates the varieties of the mystical experience from antiquity to the twentieth century. The translations of texts communicate the mystical experiences vividly and make it easy for the reader to understand how the book uses them to explain the relationship between the revealed world and the hidden world and between the mystical world and the traditional religious world, with all the social and religious tensions this has caused.Less
Mysticism is one of the central sources of inspiration of religious thought. It is an attempt to decode the mystery of divine existence by penetrating to the depths of consciousness through language, memory, myth, and symbolism. By offering an alternative perspective on the world that gives expression to yearnings for freedom and change, mysticism engenders new modes of authority and leadership; as such it plays a decisive role in moulding religious and social history. For all these reasons, the mystical corpus deserves study and discussion in the framework of cultural criticism and research. This book is a lyrical exposition of the Jewish mystical phenomenon. Its purpose is to present the meanings of the mystical works as they were perceived by their creators and readers. At the same time, it contextualizes them within the boundaries of the religion, culture, language, and spiritual and historical circumstances in which the destiny of the Jewish people has evolved. The book conveys the richness of the mystical experience in discovering the infinity of meaning embedded in the sacred text and explains the multivalent symbols. It illustrates the varieties of the mystical experience from antiquity to the twentieth century. The translations of texts communicate the mystical experiences vividly and make it easy for the reader to understand how the book uses them to explain the relationship between the revealed world and the hidden world and between the mystical world and the traditional religious world, with all the social and religious tensions this has caused.
Souleymane Bachir Diagne
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823285839
- eISBN:
- 9780823288823
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823285839.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Diagne concludes with the the Bergsonism that Senghor and Iqbal each shaped for the purposes of their respective thought. Senghor’s Bergson was the Bergson of vital understanding who emphasized that ...
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Diagne concludes with the the Bergsonism that Senghor and Iqbal each shaped for the purposes of their respective thought. Senghor’s Bergson was the Bergson of vital understanding who emphasized that “the intellect is characterized by a natural inability to comprehend life.” As for Muhammad Iqbal’s Bergsonism, Diage goes back to the word “affinity” to describe Iqbal’s relationship to Bergson’s philosophy. Rather than “applying” Bergson’s concepts, Iqbal truly thought withhim.Less
Diagne concludes with the the Bergsonism that Senghor and Iqbal each shaped for the purposes of their respective thought. Senghor’s Bergson was the Bergson of vital understanding who emphasized that “the intellect is characterized by a natural inability to comprehend life.” As for Muhammad Iqbal’s Bergsonism, Diage goes back to the word “affinity” to describe Iqbal’s relationship to Bergson’s philosophy. Rather than “applying” Bergson’s concepts, Iqbal truly thought withhim.
William French
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230693
- eISBN:
- 9780823237227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230693.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter argues that the emergence of broad ecological degradation and new biogenetic engineering capabilities, while certainly posing new threats, challenges, and ...
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This chapter argues that the emergence of broad ecological degradation and new biogenetic engineering capabilities, while certainly posing new threats, challenges, and ranges of moral responsibility, do not confront us with a condition of being “without nature.” In fact, the emergence of the ecological sciences in the last century has helped open peoples' eyes across the globe to humanity's inextricable dependency upon the well-being of Earth's ecosystems and stable climate patterns. The chapter further argues that it is not that the expanding threats of ecological degradation and climate change confront us with a situation such that we stand “without nature” in some “new condition for theology.”. Rather, it suggests that for dominant streams of modern philosophy and Protestant theology, thinking “without nature” has been the norm. Viewing theological reflection “without nature” is in fact a deeply entrenched problem for dominant streams of Protestant and Catholic thinking across the history of the modern period.Less
This chapter argues that the emergence of broad ecological degradation and new biogenetic engineering capabilities, while certainly posing new threats, challenges, and ranges of moral responsibility, do not confront us with a condition of being “without nature.” In fact, the emergence of the ecological sciences in the last century has helped open peoples' eyes across the globe to humanity's inextricable dependency upon the well-being of Earth's ecosystems and stable climate patterns. The chapter further argues that it is not that the expanding threats of ecological degradation and climate change confront us with a situation such that we stand “without nature” in some “new condition for theology.”. Rather, it suggests that for dominant streams of modern philosophy and Protestant theology, thinking “without nature” has been the norm. Viewing theological reflection “without nature” is in fact a deeply entrenched problem for dominant streams of Protestant and Catholic thinking across the history of the modern period.
Peter Ghosh
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198702528
- eISBN:
- 9780191772214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702528.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter addresses the central issue: what was the substance and significance of Weber's religious thought taken as a whole? In more formal language: what was the Weberian sociology of religion ...
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This chapter addresses the central issue: what was the substance and significance of Weber's religious thought taken as a whole? In more formal language: what was the Weberian sociology of religion and how should we assess it? It discusses the centrality of the ascetic/mystic typology of religious behaviour to Weber's thought; Weber's elevation of Entzauberung, the removal of magic, to a prominent place in his religious typology; ethical and salvation religion; and the problem of meaning.Less
This chapter addresses the central issue: what was the substance and significance of Weber's religious thought taken as a whole? In more formal language: what was the Weberian sociology of religion and how should we assess it? It discusses the centrality of the ascetic/mystic typology of religious behaviour to Weber's thought; Weber's elevation of Entzauberung, the removal of magic, to a prominent place in his religious typology; ethical and salvation religion; and the problem of meaning.
Paul Harvey
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496820471
- eISBN:
- 9781496820518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496820471.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This chapter discusses the past, present, and future of southern religious history and suggests how much of Charles Reagan Wilson's academic lifetime of work has foreshadowed, shaped, and developed ...
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This chapter discusses the past, present, and future of southern religious history and suggests how much of Charles Reagan Wilson's academic lifetime of work has foreshadowed, shaped, and developed work in the field over the last generation. Scholars of Wilson's generation tried to understand the origins and dominance of evangelicalism. The present and future of historical writing in this field is about incorporating a diversity of southern religious stories, ranging from the Powhatan Confederacy in early Virginia, to Moravians in North Carolina, Spiritualists in New Orleans and elsewhere, and Catholics throughout the region. Another major theme of southern religious history is the centrality and constant interplay of the revolutionary and the revivalist traditions in southern history, and a parallel interplay between racialized particularity and Christian universalism in southern religious thought and practice.Less
This chapter discusses the past, present, and future of southern religious history and suggests how much of Charles Reagan Wilson's academic lifetime of work has foreshadowed, shaped, and developed work in the field over the last generation. Scholars of Wilson's generation tried to understand the origins and dominance of evangelicalism. The present and future of historical writing in this field is about incorporating a diversity of southern religious stories, ranging from the Powhatan Confederacy in early Virginia, to Moravians in North Carolina, Spiritualists in New Orleans and elsewhere, and Catholics throughout the region. Another major theme of southern religious history is the centrality and constant interplay of the revolutionary and the revivalist traditions in southern history, and a parallel interplay between racialized particularity and Christian universalism in southern religious thought and practice.
