Author: Anthony E. Mansueto Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 1621899764 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 431
Book Description
No discipline has been more uniformly derided for a longer period than metaphysics. Of the ancient and medieval sciences now in disrepute, even astrology and alchemy get better press. The most devastating--and currently the most influential--attack on metaphysics has come from a broad spectrum of thinkers including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Arendt, Levinas, Derrida, and Milbank, who have argued that metaphysics is the root of modern nihilism and totalitarianism. Anthony Mansueto puts this claim to the test, developing a historical sociology of metaphysics that analyzes the social basis and political valence of metaphysical systems. Mansueto does this globally and cross-culturally, engaging not only the Hellenic tradition and its extension into medieval Christendom and Dar-al-Islam, but also the Indian and Chinese traditions. Specifically, Mansueto argues that far from representing the roots of nihilism or modern state terror, metaphysics emerges (and continues to be necessary) as a way to ground meaning and value in societies--especially in market societies in which these have become problematic. Metaphysics tends to restrain exploitation and to encourage the redirection of surplus toward activities that promote development of human capacities. Knowing God: The Journey of the Dialectic concludes with an outline of a new dialectical metaphysics that reconciles a Buddhist metaphysics of interdependence in the Hua-yen tradition with a historicized metaphysics of Esse, yielding results that look startlingly like the dao xue, or neo-Confucianism of Song China. Mansueto shows how such a metaphysics can ground meaning and value while answering postmodern concerns to safeguard difference.
Author: Anthony E. Mansueto Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 1621890686 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
The Death of Secular Messianism argues that, the claims of secularists notwithstanding, modernity did not so much abandon humanity's historic search for the divine, but rather transposed it into a new, innerworldly key. This "secret religion of high modernity" came in both positivistic and humanistic variants. The first sought to overcome finitude by means of scientific and technological progress. The second sought to overcome contingency by creating a collective Subject--the Modern Democratic State or the Communist Party--in and through which human beings would become the masters of their own destiny. In making his case for this thesis, the author outlines a new political-theological and social-theoretical perspective which saves what is best in modernity--its focus on human creative activity and its commitment to rational autonomy and democratic citizenship--while re-engaging humanity's great spiritual traditions.
Author: Torin Andrew Alter Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 196
Book Description
The God Dialogues is an intriguing and extensive philosophical debate about the existence of God. Engaging and accessible, it covers all the main arguments for and against God's existence, from traditional philosophical "proofs" to arguments that involve the latest developments in biology and physics. Three main characters represent the principal views: Theodore Logan, the theist; Eva Lucien, the atheist; and Gene Sesquois, the agnostic. They discuss the meaning of life and its connection to God's existence. This in turn leads to vigorous debates about morality and theism, evidence for and against God's existence, probability and the rationality of belief, and the relationship between faith and reason. The strongest arguments from all three perspectives are fairly represented.
Author: Jostein Gaarder Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN: 1466804270 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 544
Book Description
One day Sophie comes home from school to find two questions in her mail: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" Before she knows it she is enrolled in a correspondence course with a mysterious philosopher. Thus begins Jostein Gaarder's unique novel, which is not only a mystery, but also a complete and entertaining history of philosophy.
Author: Roger E. Olson Publisher: InterVarsity Press ISBN: 0830864849 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 723
Book Description
Modernity has been an age of revolutions—political, scientific, industrial and philosophical. Consequently, it has also been an age of revolutions in theology, as Christians attempt to make sense of their faith in light of the cultural upheavals around them, what Walter Lippman once called the "acids of modernity." Modern theology is the result of this struggle to think responsibly about God within the modern cultural ethos. In this major revision and expansion of the classic 20th Century Theology (1992), co-authored with Stanley J. Grenz, Roger Olson widens the scope of the story to include a fuller account of modernity, more material on the nineteenth century and an engagement with postmodernity. More importantly, the entire narrative is now recast in terms of how theologians have accommodated or rejected the Enlightenment and scientific revolutions. With that question in mind, Olson guides us on the epic journey of modern theology, from the liberal "reconstruction" of theology that originated with Friedrich Schleiermacher to the postliberal and postmodern "deconstruction" of modern theology that continues today. The Journey of Modern Theology is vintage Olson: eminently readable, panoramic in scope, at once original and balanced, and marked throughout by a passionate concern for the church's faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This will no doubt become another standard text in historical theology.
Author: David C. Downing Publisher: InterVarsity Press ISBN: 9780830832712 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 196
Book Description
An ECPA 2003 Gold Medallion Finalist!Listed inBooklist'sBest Adult Religion Books of the Year in 2002!His books have sold millions, including classics likeMere Christianity, The Screwtape LettersandThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.Yet C. S. Lewis was not always a literary giant of Christian faith. How did he leave behind a staunch atheism to become one of the most beloved and renowned Christian authors of our time?Other biographies of Lewis explore his childhood or his dramatic conversion to Christianity. But as David Downing reveals in this fascinating book, the rarely discussed period from Lewis's childhood to his early thirties took him on a tumultuous journey of spiritual and intellectual exploration before he became a "most reluctant convert." It was not despite this journey but precisely because of it that Lewis understood the search for life's ultimate meaning so well and went on to become one of the most compelling authors of the twentieth century. Weaving the people, places and events of Lewis's life together with excerpts from Lewis's own writing, Downing shows how Lewis's spiritual quest can also light the path for other seekers.
Author: Anthony E. Mansueto
Author: Anthony E. Mansueto
Author: Joshua Hollmann
Author: Torin Andrew Alter
Author: Jostein Gaarder
Author: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Author: Roger E. Olson
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Author: David C. Downing
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