Hendrik M. Vroom

Jerald D. Gort

Henry Jansen

Religion plays a part in many conflicts in the world. But what role? Is conflict usually economic and/or ethnic at root, with religion becoming a part of it only secondarily? Or does the very formation of a religious community itself lead to isolation, exclusion and conflict? Reconciliation often has religious roots: through religion people often come to understand that they are part of a greater whole and to realize that they must work at restoring good relationships with others in situations of deep conflict, and especially after direct conflict has ended. Religion, Conflict and Reconciliation: Multifaith Ideals and Realities, the authors of which represent five religious traditions, provides the reader with broad perspectives on the role of religion in conflict and reconciliation, with regard to both the actual processes involved and the central insights of the major religious traditions of the world.

Multifaith Ideals and Realities

Religion, Conflict and Reconciliation

This book is an introduction to philosophy of religion from the perspective of a religiously pluralistic culture. It deals with introductory questions such as whether we can we understand, compare, and judge the insights of others and the ways in which people can speak and think about God. It introduces the classical themes of philosophy of religion - immanent and transcendent ideas of God and (im)personality; transcendence, good, and evil; religion, morality and society - using a distinction between cosmic, acosmic and theistic ideas of the divine. This introduction helps us discover differences and commonalities and thus helps further an emphatic and critical dialogue. This book explores how comparative theology and philosophy of religion can move beyond the dead-end roads of relativism and exclusivism.

An Introduction to Philosophy of Religion in a Pluralistic World

A Spectrum of Worldviews

This book is an introduction to philosophy of religion from the perspective of a religiously pluralistic culture. It explores how comparative theology and philosophy of religion can move beyond the dead-end roads of relativism and exclusivism.

In the few years since the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, evil has become a central theme in the media and human consciousness: the evil of terrorism, the evil of secular culture, concern for poverty, and climate change... Yet different cultures and religious traditions have different ideas of what evil is and what its root causes are. Although there is no massive clash of cultures, many disagreements and also conflicts in the world arise from the deep differences in views of evil.This volume explores religious views of evil. Scholars from different religions and from various parts of the world describe how people probe the depths of evil—and by necessity that of good—from their own background in various worldviews. In their explorations, almost all address the need to go beyond morality, and beyond legalistic definitions of evil and of good. They point to the radical depths of evil in the world and in human society and reinforce our intuition that there is no easy solution. But if we can gain a better understanding of what people from other worldview traditions and cultures consider evil, we are that much closer to a more peaceful world.

Multireligious Views and Case Studies

Probing the Depths of Evil and Good

Petra Verdonk

Marzouk Aulad Abdellah

Martina C. Cornel

Looking Beneath the Surface explores Arab-Islamic and Western perspectives on medical ethical issues: genetic research and treatment, abortion, organ donation, and palliative sedation and euthanasia. The contributions in this volume discuss the state of the (medical) art, the role of laws, counseling, and spiritual counseling in the decision-making process. The different approaches to the ethical issues, ways of moral reasoning, become clear in these contributions, especially the role of tradition for Islam and the importance of autonomy for the West. Beneath the differences, however, the reader will also discover common values, such as the role of dignity and the value of life, and similar practices. Some of the main differences are sociocultural in nature, rather than religious as such. Well-known experts in the fields of medicine and ethics have contributed to this volume from different religious and secular backgrounds. The book offers a carefully written introduction and final chapter on intercultural comparisons. Looking Beneath the Surface is more than a collection of writings on issues in medical ethics: it helps the reader to compare different paradigms of accountability and moral reasoning.

Hendrik M. Vroom

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