Essays in Naturalism and Christian Semantics PDF Download

Author: Troels Engberg-Pedersen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788791838293
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
The Centre will address the issue of naturalism in relation to Christian thought with a triple focus that seeks to * extend the frontline of the modern understanding of the relationship between naturalism as a comprehensive philosophical and scientific framework of understanding and theism * reconceptualize the relationship between Graeco-Roman philosophy and early Christianity by reconsidering the relationship in the first two centuries CE between (materialistic and naturalistic) Stoicism and (immaterialistic) Platonism and their respective influences on contemporary Judaism and Christianity * reconfigure the modern thinking about Christianity in relation to Christianity's roots in the light of the two other themes, focusing on semantics rather than on abstract ontologies. While the first theme is at the forefront of current discussion and the second theme has not yet been adequately addressed, the most obvious novelty of the project lies in its third focus of combining the perspectives adopted under the two former themes. In this regard, the aim is not an "apologetic" one of trying to find room in the contemporary world for Christianity by rewriting history. Rather, the project aims to break down traditional oppositions (between naturalism and religion, philosophy and Christianity and the like) in order to get at the heart of the real differences wherever they are to be found.

Author: Jan-Olav Henriksen
Publisher:
ISBN: 3643961685
Category : Christianity
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Jan-Olav Henriksen investigates the close relationship between God and human beings via an understanding of religion as clusters of practices that relate humans to ultimacy by different types of representation. Christian religion articulates its belief in God as creator (manifest in the power to be) and redeemer (represented in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ). Christ thus is the primary representation of God as the ultimate reality of love. He is also the true image of God, and the model for how humans are also called to represent God in love. The human features of desire and vulnerability, as these express elements that shape, form, and articulate challenges for human life, present humans with the need for orienting themselves, and for different types of transformation. Christian religion articulates a specific mode of how to cope with these challenges presented by desire and vulnerability: by living in love. Against this backdrop, Henriksen argues that neither how one understands religion, God, nor how to live a life that relates to ultimacy, can be tasks fulfilled as long as history goes on.

Author: Hans-Ferdinand Angel
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319509241
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
This volume answers the question: Why do we believe what we believe? It examines current research on the concept of beliefs, and the development in our understanding of the process of believing. It takes into account empirical findings in the field of neuroscience regarding the processes that underlie beliefs, and discusses the notion that beyond the interactive exploratory analysis of sensory information from the complex outside world, humans engage in an evaluative analysis by which they attribute personal meaning and relevance to the probabilistic representations of objects and events. Beliefs exert a strong influence on behaviour, decision-making, and identifying and solving problems. Despite their importance, beliefs have until recently not been at the centre of scientific interest. In fact, “belief” is an ill-defined phenomenon. From a transdisciplinary perspective the actual approaches to understanding belief seem incompatible as they attempt to highlight such different topics as “belief – religion”, “belief – spirituality”, “belief – faith”, “belief – knowledge”, “belief – attitude”, “belief – disbelief”, “belief – illusion”, and “believing – brain function”. This situation contradicts the idea that belief is close to pathological phenomena and that it should be eliminated from scientific discussions. Rather, believing is fundamental for understanding the many problems of every-day life. In fact, the book shows that beliefs are relevant for politics, international affairs, economy, law, or religions also in modern societies. This book presents the increasing scientific interest in beliefs and believing, and reflects the change in focus from the content aspect of belief towards the fluid nature of believing.

Author: Shayna Sheinfeld
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1978714564
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
This volume examines questions concerning the construction of gender and identity in the earliest days of what is now Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Methodologically explicit, the contributions analyze textual and material sources related to these religious traditions in their cultural contexts. The sources examined are predominantly products of patriarchal elite discourses requiring innovative approaches to unveil aspects of gender otherwise hidden. This volume extends the discussion represented in the volume Gender and Second-Temple Judaism (2020) and highlights the fruitfulness of interdisciplinary research beyond anachronistic discipline distinctions.

Author: Claudia Welz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191087912
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
How can we, in our times, understand the biblical concept that human beings have been created in the image of an invisible God? This is a perennial but increasingly pressing question that lies at the heart of theological anthropology. Humanity in God's Image: An Interdisciplinary Exploration clarifies the meaning of this concept, traces different Jewish and Christian interpretations of being created in God's image, and reconsiders the significance of the imago Dei in a post-Holocaust context. As normative, counter-factual notions, human dignity and the imago Dei challenge us to see more. Claudia Welz offers an interdisciplinary exploration of theological and ethical 'visions' of the invisible. By analysing poetry and art, Welz exemplifies human self-understanding in the interface between the visual and the linguistic. The content of the imago Dei cannot be defined apart from the image carrier: an embodied creature. Compared to verbal, visual, and mental images, how does this creature as a 'living image' refer to God--like a metaphor, a mimetic mirror, or an elusive trace? Combining hermeneutical and phenomenological perspectives with philosophy of religion and philosophy of language, semiotics, art history, and literary studies, Welz regards the imago Dei as a complex sign that is at once iconic, indexical, and symbolical--pointing beyond itself.

Author: Tilde Bak Halvgaard
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004309497
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Both the Thunder: Perfect Mind (NHC VI,2) and the Trimorphic Protennoia (NHC XIII,1) present their readers with goddesses who descend in such auditive terms as sound, voice, and word. In Linguistic Manifestations in the Trimorphic Protennoia and the Thunder: Perfect Mind, Tilde Bak Halvgaard argues that these presentations reflect a philosophical discussion about the nature of words and names, utterances and language, as well as the relationship between language and reality, inspired especially by Platonic and Stoic dialectics. Her analysis of these linguistic manifestations against the background of ancient philosophy of language offers many new insights into the structure of the two texts and the paradoxical sayings of the Thunder: Perfect Mind.

Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113456452X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Naturalism provides a rigorous analysis and critique of the major varieties of contemporary philosophical naturalism. The authors advocate the thesis that contemporary naturalism should be abandoned, in light of the serious objections raised against it. Contributors draw on a wide range of topics including: epistemology, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mind and agency, and natural theology.

Author: James K. Beilby
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801487637
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Plantinga's argument is aimed at metaphysical naturalism or roughly the view that no supernatural beings exist. Naturalism is typically conjoined with evolution as an explanation of the existence and diversity of life. Plantinga's claim is that one who holds to the truth of both naturalism and evolution is irrational in doing so. More specifically, because the probability that unguided evolution would have produced reliable cognitive faculties is either low or inscrutable, one who holds both naturalism and evolution acquires a "defeater" for every belief he/she holds, including the beliefs associated with naturalism and evolution.

Author: Jürgen Habermas
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745694608
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Two countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age – the spread of naturalistic worldviews and religious orthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and robotics are clearing the way for the penetration of an objective scientific self-understanding of persons into everyday life. For philosophy, this trend is associated with the challenge of scientific naturalism. At the same time, we are witnessing an unexpected revitalization of religious traditions and the politicization of religious communities across the world. From a philosophical perspective, this revival of religious energies poses the challenge of a fundamentalist critique of the principles underlying the modern Wests postmetaphysical understanding of itself. The tension between naturalism and religion is the central theme of this major new book by Jürgen Habermas. On the one hand he argues for an appropriate naturalistic understanding of cultural evolution that does justice to the normative character of the human mind. On the other hand, he calls for an appropriate interpretation of the secularizing effects of a process of social and cultural rationalization increasingly denounced by the champions of religious orthodoxies as a historical development peculiar to the West. These reflections on the enduring importance of religion and the limits of secularism under conditions of postmetaphysical reason set the scene for an extended treatment the political significance of religious tolerance and for a fresh contribution to current debates on cosmopolitanism and a constitution for international society.

Author: Christian Emden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107059631
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
This book examines Nietzsche's philosophical naturalism both historically and philosophically, establishing a link between his discussions of nature and normativity.