Ubuntu, migration, and ministry : being human in a Johannesburg church /
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Ubuntu, Migration and Ministry invites the reader to rethink ubuntu (Nguni: humanness/humanity) as a moral notion in the context of local communities. The socio-moral patterns that emerge at the crossroads between ethnography and social ethics offer a fresh perspective to what it means to be human in contemporary Johannesburg. The Central Methodist Mission is known for sheltering thousands of migrants and homeless people in the inner city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, primarily conducted in 2009, Elina Hankela unpacks the church leader's liberationist vision of humanity and analyses the tension between the congregation and the migrants, linked to the refugee ministry. While relational virtues mark the community's moral code, various regulating rules and structures shape the actual relationships at the church. Here ubuntu challenges and is challenged. Winner of the 2014 Donner Institute Prize for Outstanding Research into Religion.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004274136 :
1876-1518 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Coping with Evil in Religion and Culture : Case Studies /
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The various Christian, Muslim, traditional (African), and secular (Western) ways of imagining and coping with evil collected in this volume have several things in common. The most crucial perhaps and certainly the most striking aspect is the problem of defining the nature or characteristics of evil as such. Some argue that evil has an essence that remains constant, whereas others say its interpretation depends on time and place. However much religious and secular interpretations of evil may have changed, the human search for sense and meaning never ends. Questions of whom to blame and whom to address-God, the devil, fate, bad luck, or humans-remain at the center of our explanations and our strategies to comprehend, define, counter, or process the evil we do and the evil done to us by people, God, nature, or accident. Using approaches from cultural anthropology, religious studies, theology, philosophy, psychology, and history, the contributors to this volume analyze how several religious and secular traditions imagine and cope with evil.
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"This volume is part of the project on The problem of evil in religious traditions: origins, forms and coping, organized in cooperation with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Royal Tropical Institute at Amsterdam on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Vrije Universiteit and the exhibition "Religion & evil" in the Tropenmuseum (Amsterdam Museum of Tropical Ethnology)"--Title page verso. :
1 online resource (266 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401205375 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jerome of Stridon and the ethics of literary production in late antiquity /
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"This book becomes legible when light plays across a material substance, be it screen or page. Without the light and without the material, there is no book. To read the book, however, you must perceive meaning in the words before you and in the way that they sit relative to other words, words that are on this page or words that you know and have learned from elsewhere. Without this apprehension - which literary theorists call 'textuality' - there is no book. This book before you is about the interplay between the material and the textual.2 Without the two, it would not exist".
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Outgrowth of the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--Cardiff University, 2011, under the title: How those things which are invisible are known from the visible (Hier. Comm. ad Ephes. 1.1.9). :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004417458
Racial integration in the church of apartheid
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In Racial Integration in the Church of Apartheid Marthe Hesselmans uncovers the post-apartheid transformation of South Africa's Dutch Reformed Church. This church once constituted the religious pillar of the Afrikaner apartheid regime (1948-1994). Today, it seeks to unite the communities it long segregated into one multiracial institution. Few believe this will succeed. A close look inside congregations reveals unexpected stories of reconciliation though. Where South Africans realize they need each other to survive, faith offers common ground - albeit a feeble one. They show the potential, but also the limits of faith communities untangling entrenched national and racial affiliations. Linking South Africa's post-apartheid transition to religious-nationalist movements worldwide, Hesselmans offers a unique perspective on religion as source of division and healing.
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1 online resource. :
9789004385016
Time and eternity in Jewish mysticism : that which is before and that which is after /
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Time and eternity are concepts that have occupied an important place within Jewish mystical thought. This present volume gives pride of place to these concepts, and is one of the first works to bring together diverse voices on the subject. It offers a multivalent picture of the topic of time and eternity, not only by including contributions from an array of academics who are leaders in their fields, but by proposing six diverse approaches to time and eternity in Jewish mysticism: the theoretical approach to temporality, philosophical definitions, the idea of time and pre-existence, the idea of historical time, the idea of experiential time, and finally, the idea of eternity beyond time. This multivocal treatment of Jewish mysticism and time as based on variant academic approaches is novel, and it should lay the groundwork for further discussion and exploration.
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1 online resource (xi, 228 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004290310 :
1568-5004 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish and Christian communal identities in the Roman world /
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Jews and Christians under the Roman Empire shared a unique sense of community. Set apart from their civic and cultic surroundings, both groups resisted complete assimilation into the dominant political and social structures. However, Jewish communities differed from their Christian counterparts in their overall patterns of response to the surrounding challenges. They exhibit diverse levels of integration into the civic fabric of the cities of the Empire and display contrary attitudes towards the creation of trans-local communal networks. The variety of local case studies examined in this volume offers an integrated image of the multiple factors, both internal and external, which determined the role of communal identity in creating a sense of belonging among Jews and Christians under Imperial constraints.
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"This volume presents revised versions of lectures given in October 2013 at a Jerusalem symposium on Jewish and Christian Communal Identities in Antiquity. The Hebrew University's Scholion Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities and Jewish Studies together with the editorial board of Brill's Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity series kindly co-sponsored the symposium in memory of our colleague Friedrich Avemarie."--Preface. :
1 online resource (xi, 286 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004321694 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Parrhesia : ancient and modern perspectives on freedom of speech /
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Freedom of speech is a fundamental right in many societies, yet also highly contested. As a right, it can only be appreciated if its historical development is taken into account. Parrhesia offers case studies in freedom of speech, its understanding and exercise throughout history. They enable researchers and policymakers alike to gain an awareness of the complexities, challenges and benefits of freedom of speech. The cases that have been selected are from the field of religion and theology, yet exemplary in character and able to shed light on freedom of speech in other parts of society. Contributors are: Leon van den Broeke, Jan Krans, Silvia Castelli, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, Manfred Lang, Bastian Lemitz, Nils Neumann, Kyriakoula Papademetriou, Dirk Jan Schoon, and Peter-Ben Smit.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004376090 :
1566-208X ;
Faith and Ethnicity : Volume 2 /
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In writing 'In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek', the apostle Paul touched on a topic that still is hotly debated among Christians today: the relationship between faith and ethnicity. The Reformed Chuches, usually organised along regional or national lines, are no exception and wrestle world-wide with the issue. This volume offers more traditional Western, mostly European perspectives, exploring Western and Eastern European and North American contexts. Hermeneutics, church order and ecumenical aspects complement the theme. This and the previous volume of Studies in Reformed Theology contain contributions to the fourth international conference of the International Reformed Theological Institute (IRTI), held in Princeton, N.J., U.S.A. (2001), on the theme of Faith and Ethnicity.
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1 online resource :
9789004389144
9789021138947
The embattled but empowered community : comparing understandings of spiritual power in Argentine popular and pentecostal cosmologies /
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The global phenomenon of Pentecostal growth continues to interest scholars, particularly its local manifestations. Although previous explanations may have noted the connections between the cultural substrata and local Pentecostal practices, this book concentrates on seeking out the connections. Using both extensive field research and reflection on Latin American scholarship, the author proposes that a major link exists at the level of worldview assumptions, particularly in understandings of spiritual power. The book concludes with a reflection on the implications a conversion based on the search for spiritual power has for the future of the evangelical church in Latin America.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047440659 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mission and money : Christian mission in the context of global inequalities /
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Mission and Money; Christian Mission in the Context of Global Inequalities offers academic discussion about the mission of the Church in the context of contemporary economic inequalities globally, challenging the reader to reconsider mission in the light of existing poverty, and investigating how economic structures could be challenged in the light of ethical and spiritual considerations. The book includes contributions on the subjects of poverty and inequality from the theologians, economists and anthropologists who gave keynote presentations at the European Missiological Conference (IAMS Europe) that took place in April 2014 in Helsinki, Finland. This conference was a major step forward in terms of discussion between missiologists and economists on global economic structures and their influence on human dignity. Contributors are: Mari-Anna Auvinen-Pöntinen, Stephen B. Bevans, Jonathan J. Bonk, Ulrich Duchrow, Jonas Adelin Jørgensen, Vesa Kanniainen, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Tinyiko Sam Maluleke, Gerrie Ter Haar, Evi Voulgaraki-Pissina, Mika Vähäkangas, Felix Wilfred.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004318496 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
AIDS and religious practice in Africa /
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This volume explores how AIDS is understood, confronted and lived with through religious ideas and practices, and how these, in turn, are reinterpreted and changed by the experience of AIDS. Examining the social production, and productivity, of AIDS - linking bodily and spiritual experiences, and religious, medical, political and economic discourses - the papers counter simplified notions of causal effects of AIDS on religion (or vice versa). Instead, they display people's resourcefulness in their struggle to move ahead in spite of adversity. This relativises the vision of doom widely associated with the African AIDS epidemic; and it allows to see AIDS, instead of a singular event, as the culmination of a century-long process of changing livelihoods, bodily well-being and spiritual imaginaries.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047442691 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion, gender, and family violence : when prayers are not enough /
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The chapters of Religion, Gender, and Family Violence: When Prayers Are Not Enough have been written from multiple disciplinary perspectives (sociology, religious studies, law) and based on research within diverse religious traditions including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, as well as new religious movements. Similarities and differences between traditions are highlighted based on empirical research which shows how people actually deal with family violence in different contexts. This book also addresses some of the larger historical and political backgrounds that impact the experiences of family violence amongst ethno-religious minorities. The lives of religious victims and perpetrators of family violence are considered, as well as the responsibilities of religious leaders, congregations and secular professionals in addressing this widespread social problem.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004372399 :
1573-4293 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Violence, scripture, and textual practice in early Judaism and Christianity /
: Proceedings of a conference held Oct. 6-8, 2007 at the University of Minnesota. : 1 online resource. : Includes bibliographical references and indexes. : 9789047444787 : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Public Islam and the Common Good /
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This book explores the public role of Islam in contemporary world politics. "Public Islam" refers to the diverse invocations and struggles over Islamic ideas and practices that increasingly influence the politics and social life of large parts of the globe. The contributors to this volume show how public Islam articulates competing notions and practices of the common good and a way of envisioning alternative political and religious ideas and realities, reconfiguring established boundaries of civil and social life. Drawing on examples from the late Ottoman Empire, Africa, South Asia, Iran, and the Arab Middle East, this volume facilitates understanding the multiple ways in which the public sphere, a key concept in social thought, can be made transculturally feasible by encompassing the evolution of non-Western societies in which religion plays a vital role.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047402824
9789004136212
An Introduction to Islamic Finance /
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Although the principles of Shari'ah require banks and financial institutions to be structured on an interest-free basis, this does not mean that such institutions are charitable concerns. As long as a person advancing money expects to share in the profits earned (or losses incurred) by the other party, a stipulated proportion of profit is legitimate. The philosophy is enshrined in the traditional Islamic concepts of musharakah and mudarabah, along with their specialized modern variants murabahah, ijarah, salam, and istisna'. This invaluable guide to Islamic finance clearly delineates the all-important distinctions between Islamic practices and conventional procedures based on interest. Justice Usmani of Pakistan, who chairs several Shari'ah supervisory boards for Islamic banks, clearly explains the various modes of financing used by Islamic banks and non-banking financial institutions, emphasizing the necessary requirements for their acceptability from the Shari'ah standpoint and the correct method for their application. He deals masterfully with practical problems as they arise in the course of his presentation, and offers possible solutions in each instance.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004479913
9789041116192
Le Cercle des lettres de l'alphabet = Da'irat al-ahruf al-abjadiyya ; un traite pratique de magie des lettres attribue a Hermes /
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Le Kitāb dā'irat al-aḥruf al-abjadiyya est un traité de magie pratique attribué à Hermès. Ce texte composite, qui ne peut être daté avec précision, est un ouvrage de magie basée sur la doctrine de la science des lettres ( 'ilm al-ḥurūf ). Le présent livre offre la première édition critique du texte, accompagnée d'une traduction annotée et d'une étude historique et philologique exposant les principes théoriques à la base des procédés décrits dans les recettes ainsi que des entités, objets et ingrédients utilisés (noms des anges invoqués, types de fumigations et d'encres, dessins et figures, et cetera). Il s'agit d'une des premières éditions critiques d'un traité de magie pratique des lettres, genre encore fort méconnu bien qu'abondamment représenté dans les manuscrits arabes. The Kitāb dā'irat al-aḥruf al-abjadiyya is a composite treatise of letter magic attributed to Hermes. The edition and annotated translation of the Arabic text are accompanied by an explanation of the theoretical principles underlying the procedures described in the recipes, and a discussion of the entities, objects and ingredients used. These include names of the angels to be summoned, types of incenses and inks to be used, sketches and images to be drawn, et cetera This is one of the first critical editions and translations of a full-length text of practical magic containing recipes pertaining to 'ilm al-ḥurūf (the science of letters). The book is addressed to Arabists and to any non-Arabist interested in the tradition of magic.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004321540 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Excellence and Precedence : Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership /
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This volume focuses on how legitimate leadership came to be defined in the formative period of Islam in terms of two key Qur'anic concepts: moral excellence ( faḍl/faḍīla ) and precedence ( sābiqa ). These two concepts undergirded a specific discourse on leadership which developed in the first century of Islam. This discourse is reconstructed through careful scrutiny of the manāqib literature in particular, which contains detailed accounts of the excellences attributed to the Rāshidūn caliphs. This book stresses that all early factions, including the proto-Shī'a, subscribed to the Qur'ānically-mandated vision of a righteous polity guided by its most morally excellent members. Such a conclusion forces us to rethink the nature of leadership in the earliest period and reconsider the criteria invoked to establish its legitimacy.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004492196
9789004120433