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In this volume, the relationship between religion and contingency is investigated. Its historical part comprises analyses of important philosophers’ interpretations of this relationship, viz. that of Leibniz, Kant, Lessing, Jaspers, and Heidegger. Its systematic part analyses how this relationship should be currently (re-)interpreted. The upshot of the different interpretations is a re-evaluation of the traditional assumption that accepting contingency is detrimental to the pursuit of religion. It is shown that a number of the philosophers scrutinized are not as critical regarding the acceptance of (certain sorts of) contingency in the religious realm as is often thought, and the systematic contributions show that it may be unavoidable, sometimes even desirable, to accept contingency when dealing with religion. Contributors include: Lieven Boeve, Wim Drees, Joris Geldhof, Dirk-Martin Grube, Frans Jespers, Peter Jonkers, Donald Loose, Ben Vedder, Henk Vroom.
How is Kenneth Starr's extraordinary term as independent counsel to be understood? Was he a partisan warrior out to get the Clintons, or a saviour of the Republic? An unstoppable menace, an unethical lawyer, or a sex-obsessed Puritan striving to enforce a right-wing social morality? This volume is designed to offer an evaluation and critique of Starr's tenure as independent counsel. Relying on lengthy, revealing interviews with Starr and many other players in Clinton-era Washington, Washington Post journalist Benjamin Wittes arrives at an understanding of Starr and the part he played in one of American history's most enthralling public sagas. Wittes offers a portrait of a decent man who fundamentally misconstrued his function under the independent counsel law. Starr took his task to be ferreting out and reporting the truth about official misconduct, a well-intentioned but nevertheless misguided distortion of the law, Wittes argues. At key moments throughout Starr's probe - from the decision to reinvestigate the death of Vincent Foster, to the repeated prosecutions of Susan McDougal and Webster Hubbell to the failure to secure Monica Lewinsky's testimony quickly - the prosecutor avoided the most sensible prosecutorial course, fearing that it would compromise the larger search for truth. This approach not only delayed investigations enormously, but it gave Starr the appearance of partisan zealotry and an almost maniacal determination to prosecute the president. Wittes provides in this account of Starr's term a reinterpretation of the man, his performance, and the controversial events that surrounded the impeachment of President Clinton.
In Precarious Times, Anne Fuchs explores how works of German literature, film, and photography reflect on the profound temporal anxieties precipitated by contemporary experiences of atomization, displacement, and fragmentation that bring about a loss of history and of time itself and that is peculiar to our current moment. The digital age places premiums on just-in-time deliveries, continual innovation, instantaneous connectivity, and around-the-clock availability. While some celebrate this 24/7 culture, others see it as profoundly destructive to the natural rhythm of day and night—and to human happiness. Have we entered an era of a perpetual present that depletes the future and erodes our grasp of the past? Beginning its examination around 1900, when rapid modernization was accompanied by comparably intense reflection on changing temporal experience, Precarious Times provides historical depth and perspective to current debates on the "digital now." Expanding the modern discourse on time and speed, Fuchs deploys such concepts as attention, slowness and lateness to emphasize the uneven quality of time around the world.
Ninian Smart came to public prominence as the founding Professor of the first British university Department of Religious Studies in the late 1960s. His pioneering views on education in religion proved hugely influential at all levels, from primary schools to academic teaching and research. An unending string of publications, many of them accessible to the general public, sustained a reputation that became worldwide.Here, for the first time, a selection of Ninian Smart's wide-ranging writings is organised systematically under a set of categories which both comprehend and also illuminate his varied output over a career spanning half a century. The editor, John Shepherd, was Principal Lecturer in Religion and Philosophy at the University of Cumbria. He first met Smart as a postgraduate student, and recently helped establish the Ninian Smart Archive at the University of Lancaster.
Does science pose a challenge to religion and religious belief? This question has been a matter of long-standing debate - and it continues to concern not only scholars in philosophy, theology, and the sciences, but also those involved in public educational policy. This volume provides background to the current 'science and religion' debate, yet focuses as well on themes where recent discussion of the relation between science and religion has been particularly concentrated. The first theme deals with the history of the interrelation of science and religion. The second and third themes deal with the implications of recent work in cosmology, biology and so-called intelligent design for religion and religious belief. The fourth theme is concerned with 'conceptual issues' underlying, or implied, in the current debates, such as: Are scientific naturalism and religion compatible? Are science and religion bodies of knowledge or practices or both? Do religion and science offer conflicting truth claims? By illuminating contemporary discussion in the science-religion debate and by outlining the options available in describing the relation between the two, this volume will be of interest to scholars and to members of the educated public alike.
Travellers today face many challenges from risk and safety issues. Focusing in particular on risk and safety issues faced by visitors to holy sites, this book looks at the unique challenges raised, where annual religious festivals are commemorated with mass gatherings lasting for days and large crowds require detailed disaster management plans. Beginning with a general section on risk management, covering areas such as disaster management, terrorism, crime and security, the book then delves deeper into specific issues and challenges. It reviews important topics such as understanding the behaviour of crowds, how to perform a risk assessment for a sacred space, and travelling in what some would regard as an increasingly hostile world. Mitigating risk at mass gathering events and festivals is an area that still needs further research, but this book brings together current thought and provides a valuable reference for those studying religion, tourism and events, as well as event organizers, emergency and hospital services, and local authorities.
Major social changes, especially as a result the more multicultural nature of society, have raised important issues about the teaching of religion and the rational basis of different religious faiths. Challenges for Religious Education addresses and critically examines these changes and asks where religious education and Faith Schools fit within secular society and indeed whether there is still a place for them at all. Analysing what religious education could look like if it were considered from a wider ‘world views’ perspective that doesn’t focus on a particular set of religious beliefs, this book considers the ‘reasonableness’ of holding a faith and therefore in teaching it; the ongoing tensions between faith and reason; arguments for and against the study of religious education; whether modern secular thought is itself an ideology; and the philosophical standpoints on the relationship between faith and reason. Linking faith and reason with the issue of whether religious education is truly necessary in a modern world, Challenges for Religious Education is a crucial read for anyone interested in the future of religious education teaching in a secular society.
Based on their critical analysis of Kant's "Critique of Judgment", the authors of this book show from different perspectives in what way the Kantian concept of the sublime is still a main stream of inspiration for contemporary thinking.
How have Chinese views on globalization developed over time? How is China managing the new normal of slower growth? Is China creating an alternative modernity? Is China a status quo power or a reform power? Can China manage its growing international role in international institutions and in the New Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, along with infrastructure projects in the region such as One Belt One Road and the Maritime Silk Road? Can China achieve balanced interactions with ASEAN and with developing countries in the region and worldwide? How is governance in China evolving in relation to social movements, protests, labour struggles and migrant workers? Do Chinese policies in relation to religious diversity contribute to social harmony or to friction? This timely volume by Chinese and international scholars offers diverse perspectives on these questions. This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
Fourteen original essays by philosophers, theologians, and social scientists explore the challenges to moral and religious belief posed by disagreement and evolution. The collection represents both sceptical and non-skeptical positions about morality and religion, cultivates new insights, and moves the discussion forward in illuminating ways.