Mathieu Boisvert

Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion

According to Buddhist texts, the entire universe, including the individual, is made up of various phenomena, which Buddhism classifies into different categories. What we conventionally call a 'person' can be understood in terms of the five aggregates, the sum of which must not be taken for a permanent entity, since beings are nothing but an ......

Understanding Theravada Psychology and Soteriology

The Five Aggregates

Gérard Vallée

Michel Despland

The history of the concept of “religion” in Western tradition has intrigued scholars for years. This important collection of eighteen essays brings further light to the ongoing debate. Three of the invited participants, W.C. Smith, M. Despland and E. Feil, has each previously written impressive books treating this subject; the last two acknowledged the impact and continuing influence of Smith’s work, The Meaning and End of Religion. An introduction and a recapitulation of Smith’s contribution as a scholar set the stage for a retrospective look at the published literature. Contributors then examine the transformation of words (the classical religio to the modern religion), particularities of religion in nineteenth-century France, Troeltsch’s concept of religion, the study of religion from an Asian point of view and the categorization of “World Religions.” The concluding essays elaborate contemporary anthropological, cross-disciplinary, semiological, deconstructive and psychoanalytical methodological approaches to the concept and study of “religion.” Exploring critically different aspects of the concept and study of religion, these provocative essays typically reflect the methodological pluralism currently existing in the field of Religious Studies. Of interest to scholars and students alike, this collection also contains a complete bibliography of W.C. Smith’s publications.

Religion Dans L'histoire

Joseph C. McLelland

Modern atheism is a further act in the ancient drama of Prometheus vs Zeus. This book argues that the antagonism is false, as proved by the "irony": in which atheism turns into antitheism, transferring divine qualities to Humanity. The drama is framed by the "classicla dilemma," a conflict of wills: Tyrant and Rebel. The Unbinding of Prometheus is traced through Western history, to the Enlightenment "death of God," both speculative (Hegel) and practical (Marx). Finally, four types of "idols" are examined, in which Prometheus is rebound: Freud's Oedipus, Nietzsche's Dionysus, Camus' Sisyphus and Sartre's Orestes. The revision of both theism and atheism demands re-casting Zeus and Prometheus, breaking the impasse of heteronomy/autonomy and omnipotence/free will. Only thus may we affirm Humanity without denying God.

The Irony of Atheism

Prometheus Rebound

Peter Richardson

North American and European scholars of archaeology and theology explore the issue of how primary religious texts of the ancient Mediterranean world and artifactual evidence can be mutually supportive and illuminating. The essays are divided into those on early Christianity, late-antique Judaism, and the Greco-Roman world at large, and include studies on the placing of Jesus, celibacy and social deviancy in the Roman period, and epigraphic evidence for Jewish defectors. Canadian card order number: C00-930959-4. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Essays in Honour of Peter Richardson

Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity

John W. Marshall

Annotation Contending that its characterization as a Christian document has hindered interpretation, Marshall aims to uncover the formerly hidden Jewishness of the Book of Revelation of John. The focus is on four text complexes which describe the "synagogue of Satan;" those who keep the commandments of God; the 144,000 gathered on Zion; and the holy city. Coverage extends to a description of the social and cultural context of the diaspora during the Judean war. Marshall teaches early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism at the U. of Toronto. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Reading John’s Jewish Apocalypse

Parables of War

William A. Stahl

As the developer of a model for computerizing India's university system, Stahl (sociology, U. of Regina) is no Luddite. What the author critiques is contemporary "technological mysticism" with its new prophets and yearning for a "redemptive technology." Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion. Canadian card order no.: C98-932486-9. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Religion and the Culture of Technology

God and the Chip

Randi R. Warne

Nellie L. McClung (1873-1951) was an internationally celebrated feminist and social activist whose success as a platform speaker was legendary. Her earliest notoriety was achieved as a writer, and during her lengthy career she authored four novels, two novellas, three collections of short stories, a two-volume autobiography and various collections of speeches, articles and wartime writing, to a total of sixteen volumes. All this served as a “pulpit” from which McClung could preach her gospel of feminist activism and social transformation. She was convinced that God’s intention for Creation was a “Fair Deal” for everyone; and that Canada, particularly the prairie West, was a perfect place to begin to bring that about. Woman suffrage, temperance and the ordination of women were keystones in the battle — engaged, in contrast to contemporary stereotypes, with a wit and compelling humour that won over enemies as it delighted her allies. Literature as Pulpit explores Nellie McClung’s vision of a “better world,” and the impediments to it, as expressed through her novels and her feminist “tract,” In Times Like These. It addresses the profoundly anti-feminist context within which McClung was forced to make her arguments, and notes her indebtedness to other feminist writers and thinkers of her day. Throughout, McClung’s religion of “active care” emerges as a consistent and harmonizing theme which integrates her feminism and social activism into a single empowering vision for social change.

The Christian Social Activism of Nellie L. McClung

Literature as Pulpit

Charles Davis

Marc P. Lalonde

Written in tribute to one of the foremost Catholic theologians in the English-speaking world, the essays in The Promise of Critical Theology address the question: Can critical theology secure its critical operation without undermining its foundation in religious tradition and experience? Is "critical theology" simply an oxymoron when viewed from both sides of the equation? Essays by Paul Lakeland, Dennis McCann, Kenneth Melchin, Michael Oppenheim and Marsha Hewitt respond to these and other questions and critically relate Davis' work to ongoing developments in modern theology, critical theory, philosophy and the social sciences. Their diversity attests to the comprehensive scope of Davis' thought and exemplifies the progressive character of contemporary religious discourse.

Essays in Honour of Charles Davis

The Promise of Critical Theology

Jo-Anne Elder

Colin O’Connell

“Every time we raise our voices, we hear echoes.” Jo-Anne Elder, from the Foreword Through short stories, journal entries and poetry, the women in Voices and Echoes explore the changing landscape of their spiritual lives. Experienced writers such as Lorna Crozier, Di Brandt and Ann Copeland, as well as strong new voices, appear to speak to each other as they draw from a wealth of personal resources to find a way to face life’s questions and discover meaning in their lives. There is something familiar about these stories and poems — they echo those we’ve heard before and those we’ve half forgotten. Whether they search for a voice in a world where men monopolize or journey into painful memories to free the self from the past, they do not despair, they do not end. Individual entries become the whole story — an unending story of rebirth and reaffirmation. The book begins with an illuminating foreword that introduces readers to the cultural and philosophical background of many of the stories, and concludes with the reflections of scholars, writers and artists that are intended to provoke further discussion.

Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion

About

Books

Join the club