Books in the Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies series

Explores the construction of Christian identity in fourth and fifth centuries through inventing, fabricating and sharpening binary oppositions. Discussing the relations and interaction between pagan and Christian cultures, this book examines how the Christian argumentation against pagans was intertwined with self-perception and self-affirmation.

Being divine seems to entail being omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, but the New Testament portrays Jesus as having human properties. It seems logically impossible that any single individual could possess such mutually exclusive sets of properties.

This book advances that history by exploring stories, images and discourses across a worldwide range of geographical, cultural and confessional contexts. Its twelve authors enrich our understanding of the significance of the contextual method and produce a new range of original ways of doing theology in contemporary situations.

This book demonstrates how discussions of Political Theology have been a constant feature throughout philosophical modernity and that they continue to impact contemporary political debates.

Explores the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, tracing their development and their variety. This book shows how these movements of the Holy Spirit, both outside the mainline churches and as renewal currents within the churches, can be understood as mutually challenging and as complementary.

Examines the presuppositions that underlie authority in the five largest Churches in England - the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Baptist Union. This book explores the contributions of Scripture, Roman Legal Theory, and Greek Philosophy.

Explores the recurrent tension between scholarly approaches to the translation and interpretation of the Bible, and the authority of the Church and the place of the Bible in the life of the Church.

Develops an account of the sphere of human moral action in sustained dialogue with Jurgen Moltmann. Examining God's role as promise-giver, particularly in the Christian understanding of resurrection, this work describes the occupancy of both history and space in moral terms.

Soren Kierkegaard wrote that Pietism is 'the one and only consequence of Christianity'. This study of Kierkegaard's relation to the Pietist movement not only establishes Pietism as a formative influence on his life and thinking, but also sheds light on crucial Kierkegaardian concepts, from the importance of 'upbuilding' to the imitation of Christ.

Drawing upon the resurrection accounts of the gospels, where Jesus is presented as having been 'translated into the liturgy', this book speculates that the core of the human person, his or her intelligence, can be translated into other material mediums, all the while maintaining personal identity.

This book finds that far from silencing women, the Qur'an affirms the female voice as protester for justice and as questioner of Theology. In this reading of the female role in divine revelation in the Islamic text, Georgina Jardim returns to the scriptures of the Judeo-Christian counterpart of the Abrahamic faiths.

Presenting an accessible introduction to the contemporary issues and challenges facing all those engaged in the further development of inter-faith relationships, dialogue and partnership between the world religions, Pitman argues that the future of world peace and prosperity depends on the outcome.

Pannenberg on Evil, Love and God examines a much neglected aspect of the theological thought of one of the most original contemporary German theologians, Wolfhart Pannenberg: his theological and philosophical understanding of evil and its relationship to the love of God. The book seeks to correct a widely held misconception that in his theology.

Emphasizes the integral connections between imagination, creativity, and spirituality and their role in healing. This work highlights the work of a neglected yet important psychoanalyst, Marion Milner - a painter and undeclared mystic - expanding her work on creativity, mysticism, and mental health.

Offers and explores the synoptic healing stories as a relevant biblical paradigm for Dalit theology in order to help redress the lacuna between Dalit theology and the social practice of the Indian Church.

This book examines the significance of religion in the work of the Twentieth-Century philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, Exploring Bakhtin's contribution to debates on methodology in the study of religion.

Why does God permit the great suffering and evil that we see in our world? This book intends to answer this basic question of human existence. It explores the mystery of evil in the context of the mystery of the Trinity. It discusses God's permission of evil and the way in which suffering can lead human persons into the life of the Trinity.

Cassian intended the scriptures and, implicitly, the Conferences to be the voices of authority and orthodoxy in the Gallic environment. This book explores Cassian's use of scripture in the Conferences, especially its biblical models to convey his understanding of the desert ideal to the monastic communities of Gaul.

A prolific author and thinker, Stanley J Grenz was a respected and influential figure. This work examines the main traits of postmodern thought that would seem to directly challenge how evangelical theology is traditionally done. It presents an examination of the seminal influences on Grenz.

The anonymous theologian known as Pseudo-Dionysius, who was responsible for arranging the angelic hierarchy into nine orders, had a significant influence on mediaeval European mysticism. This book places him in his religious and political context in 6th century Syria, and uncovers the hidden agenda which lies behind his writings.

Explores the role of altered states of consciousness in the communication of social and emotional energies, both on a societal level and between individual persons. Drawing from an original reading of Durkheimian social theorists and Jungian psychology, this work applies this analysis to tantric Buddhist ritual and biographical material.

Outlines a model for incorporating Nietzschean thought within the structures of a wholly traditional Christological anthropology. This book culminates in a doctrine of reconciliation which is given urgency and coherence through such reinvigoration of traditional accounts using Nietzschean thought.

Headed by an international editorial advisory board of acclaimed scholars spanning the breadth of religious studies, theology and biblical studies, this open-ended monograph series presents cutting- edge research from both established and new authors in the field.