Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham

Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham PDF Author: Thomas L. Pangle
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801887611
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
In this book noted scholar Thomas L. Pangle brings back a lost and crucial dimension of political theory: the mutually illuminating encounter between skeptically rationalist political philosophy and faith-based political theology guided ultimately by the authority of the Bible. Focusing on the chapters of Genesis in which the foundation of the Bible is laid, Pangle provides an interpretive reading illuminated by the questions and concerns of the Socratic tradition and its medieval heirs in the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic worlds. He brings into contrast the rival interpretive framework set by the biblical criticism of the modern rationalists Hobbes and Spinoza, along with their heirs from Locke to Hegel. The full meaning of these diverse philosophic responses to the Bible is clarified through a dialogue with hermeneutic discussions by leading political theologians in the Judaic, Muslim, and Christian traditions, from Josephus and Augustine to our day. Profound and subtle in its argument, this book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of politics, philosophy, and religion but also to thoughtful readers in every walk of life who seek to deepen their understanding of the perplexing relationship between religious faith and philosophic reason. -- James V. Schall

Taking Leave of Abraham

Taking Leave of Abraham PDF Author: Troels Norager
Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag
ISBN: 8779347711
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
Abraham's intention to sacrifice his son on God's command symbolizes the violent potential of authoritarian religion. The contemporary resurgence of radically 'conservative' and 'fundamentalist' religion raises the question whether this kind of God-relation is compatible with a commitment to liberal democracy. In this timely and original book, Troels Nager provides an answer by integrating insights from philosophy of religion and political philosophy. In Part One, Nager surveys the interpretive history of Genesis 22, focusing in particular on Kierkegaard's ingenious attempt to save Abraham and his unquestioning faith. In Part Two, drawing on eminent thinkers like Rawls and Habermas, Nager argues that while religion can be accorded an important role in the public square, each religion and each believer must learn to appreciate that in a pluralist society 'the political' (government, legal system, and public administration) is neutral towards religion and ultimately guided by 'secular' reason. Taking Leave of Abraham is a call to embrace our post-secular modernity without surrendering to the demands of authoritarian religion.

Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World

Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World PDF Author: John von Heyking
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826263712
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
Saint Augustine's political thought has usually been interpreted by modern readers as suggesting that politics is based on sin. In Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World, John von Heyking shows that Augustine actually considered political life a substantive good that fulfills a human longing for a kind of wholeness. Rather than showing Augustine as supporting the Christian church's domination of politics, von Heyking argues that he held a subtler view of the relationship between religion and politics, one that preserves the independence of political life. And while many see his politics as based on a natural-law ethic or on one in which authority is conferred by direct revelation, von Heyking shows how Augustine held to an understanding of political ethics that emphasizes practical wisdom and judgment in a mode that resembles Aristotle rather than Machiavelli.

God of Abraham

God of Abraham PDF Author: Lenn Evan Goodman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195359461
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
This cogently argued and richly illustrated book rejects the dichotomy between the God of Abraham and the God of the philosophers to argue that the two are one. In God of Abraham, one of our leading philosophers of religion shows how human values can illuminate our idea of God and how the monotheistic idea of God in turn illuminates our moral, social, cultural, aesthetic, and even ritual understanding. Throughout Goodman draws on a wealth of traditional, philosophical, historical, and anthropological materials, and particularly on a wide range of Jewish sources. He demonstrates how an adequate understanding of the interplay of values with monotheism dissolves many of the longstanding problems of natural theology and ethics and guides us toward a genuinely humanistic moral and social philosophy.

Taking Leave of Abraham

Taking Leave of Abraham PDF Author: Troels Nørager
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788779344129
Category : Abrahamic religions
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Abraham's intention to sacrifice his son on God's command symbolizes the violent potential of authoritarian religion. The contemporary resurgence of radically 'conservative' and 'fundamentalist' religion raises the question whether this kind of God-relation is compatible with a commitment to liberal democracy. In this timely and original book, Troels Nager provides an answer by integrating insights from philosophy of religion and political philosophy. In Part One, Nager surveys the interpretive history of Genesis 22, focusing in particular on Kierkegaard's ingenious attempt to save Abraham and his unquestioning faith. In Part Two, drawing on eminent thinkers like Rawls and Habermas, Nager argues that while religion can be accorded an important role in the public square, each religion and each believer must learn to appreciate that in a pluralist society 'the political' (government, legal system, and public administration) is neutral towards religion and ultimately guided by 'secular' reason. Taking Leave of Abraham is a call to embrace our post-secular modernity without surrendering to the demands of authoritarian religion.

Creation and the God of Abraham

Creation and the God of Abraham PDF Author: David B. Burrell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139490788
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
Creatio ex nihilo is a foundational doctrine in the Abrahamic faiths. It states that God created the world freely out of nothing - from no pre-existent matter, space or time. This teaching is central to classical accounts of divine action, free will, grace, theodicy, religious language, intercessory prayer and questions of divine temporality and, as such, the foundation of a scriptural God but also the transcendent Creator of all that is. This edited collection explores how we might now recover a place for this doctrine, and, with it, a consistent defence of the God of Abraham in philosophical, scientific and theological terms. The contributions span the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and cover a wide range of sources, including historical, philosophical, scientific and theological. As such, the book develops these perspectives to reveal the relevance of this idea within the modern world.

Abraham Lincoln, Philosopher Statesman

Abraham Lincoln, Philosopher Statesman PDF Author: Joseph R. Fornieri
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 0809333309
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description
2015 ISHS Superior Achievement Award What constitutes Lincoln’s political greatness as a statesman? As a great leader, he saved the Union, presided over the end of slavery, and helped to pave the way for an interracial democracy. His great speeches provide enduring wisdom about human equality, democracy, free labor, and free society. Joseph R. Fornieri contends that Lincoln’s political genius is best understood in terms of a philosophical statesmanship that united greatness of thought and action, one that combined theory and practice. This philosophical statesmanship, Fornieri argues, can best be understood in terms of six dimensions of political leadership: wisdom, prudence, duty, magnanimity, rhetoric, and patriotism. Drawing on insights from history, politics, and philosophy, Fornieri tackles the question of how Lincoln’s statesmanship displayed each of these crucial elements. Providing an accessible framework for understanding Lincoln’s statesmanship, this thoughtful study examines the sixteenth president’s political leadership in terms of the traditional moral vision of statecraft as understood by epic political philosophers such as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. Fornieri contends that Lincoln’s character is best understood in terms of Aquinas’s understanding of magnanimity or greatness of soul, the crowning virtue of statesmanship. True political greatness, as embodied by Lincoln, involves both humility and sacrificial service for the common good. The enduring wisdom and timeless teachings of these great thinkers, Fornieri shows, can lead to a deeper appreciation of statesmanship and of its embodiment in Abraham Lincoln. With the great philosophers and books of western civilization as his guide, Fornieri demonstrates the important contribution of normative political philosophy to an understanding of our sixteenth president. Informed by political theory that draws on the classics in revealing the timelessness of Lincoln’s example, his interdisciplinary study offers profound insights for anyone interested in the nature of leadership, statesmanship, political philosophy, political ethics, political history, and constitutional law.

One God

One God PDF Author: Ernesto Lorca
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Book Description
The "problem of religion": obsolete and naive, or a source for moral and political conduct?

The City of God

The City of God PDF Author: St. Augustine
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 1598565052
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 848

Book Description
16 centuries ago, the greatest empire the world had ever seen, The Roman Empire, symbolically, with the sack of its capitol, the eternal city of Rome, died. It was the end of 1,000 years of civilization by the hands of barbarian hordes from Germania. Many Romans argued at the time that the Empire was crumbling because the ancient gods had been displaced by the now official-and dominant-Christian faith. The City of God is a rebuttal of this belief-but that is far from all that it is. In addition to being an apologetic work of Christian influence, is also one the most important theological constructions on theological anthropology (esp. human depravity, political instability) and the glory of God, of his kingdom, his "City" his righteousness. Moreover, the book is perhaps the most important and groundbreaking political philosophy the church has yet to produce. Second only to Augustine's Confessions in popularity, and spreading a wider theological net than Augustine's De Trinitate The City of God is the greatest and most comprehensive of Augustine's works. It is impossible to understand his thought, or its trajectory without this work. Now bound in a reader friendly design and size, and printed on straight white, and semi-gloss pages this edition is excellent for both a straight read of the text, or a critical study of it.

The Two Gods of Leviathan

The Two Gods of Leviathan PDF Author: A. P. Martinich
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521531238
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 454

Book Description
In this provocative new study, Professor Martinich shows that religious concerns pervade Leviathan and indicates how, for Hobbes, Christian doctrine is not politically destabilising and is consistent with modern science.