The Lord of the Rings and other works of J.R.R. Tolkien have had a far-reaching impact on culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In print and on film, Tolkien's works seem to be incredible epics, but religious aspects are less obvious. Yet Tolkien himself stated in his letters that the chief conflicts of his epic works ......
This late work of Frithjof Schuon represents a general survey of his metaphysical perspective, which is that of the Sophia perennis, or "perennial wisdom" found at the heart of the world's religions. This new edition of The Play of Masks features a fully revised translation from the French original as well as over 50 pages of new material, ......
A Theology of Power and Privilege makes the bold assumption that it is possible to develop an antiracist theology within a constructive evangelical theological method. It examines Black Liberation Theology's claims of embedded racism within White theological systems and then asks both if Reformed North American Evangelicalism evidences racism ......
Bhakti Ethics, Emotions, and Love in Gau?iya Vai??ava Metaethics explores the broader implications of understanding bhakti, "devotional love to the divine," as an ethical theory based on a "realist" account of emotions, where emotions are sensory perceptions of the real ethical qualities of classes of actions. The book spotlights one complex ......
This book provides biblical evidence of the structural and systemic factors that have long been part of the story of poverty. The people of God have often denied such structural claims in favor of the belief that individuals are poor because of personal choice. This absolves the social institutions of society, including the church, from ......
Refiguring the Sacred: Conversations with Paul Ricoeur offers perspectives on the twenty-one papers collected by Mark I. Wallace in Paul Ricoeur's Figuring the Sacred, translated by David Pellauer; this new collection by Joseph A. Edelheit, James Moore, and Mark I. Wallace gives Ricoeur scholars an opportunity to reflect and engage on critical ......
Questing through the Riordanverse: Studying Religion with the Works of Rick Riordan examines the works of Rick Riordan and explores how these works relate to Religion and Theology. Despite the success and popularity of the works, scholars have not given the Riordanverse as much attention as other Young Adult and Middle Grade fantasy books ......
The structure of society--whether political, social, economic, religious, or familial--can be described as built upon structures of acceptable blame. But what happens when we can no longer persuade each other about where blame for particular actions should land? What happens when the expected scapegoats refuse that role and bystanders question ......
With a catastrophic fungal pandemic, the post-apocalypse, a moral quest despite societal breakdowns, humans hunting humans or morphed into grotesque infected, The Last of Us video games and HBO series have exhilarated, frightened, and broken the hearts of millions of gamers and viewers. The Last of Us and Theology: Violence, Ethics, Redemption? is ......
Critical Discourses, Religion, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marveling Religion: Critical Discourses, Religion, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an edited volume that explores the intersection of religion and cinema through the lenses of critical discourse. The focus of the shared inquiry are various films comprising the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and corresponding Netflix ......
This book explores many of the theological and religious themes present in the Game of Thrones HBO television series and George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Written for academics yet accessible for the layperson, the chapters explore themes of power, religion, and sacred institutions in Westeros; Christian ecclesiology in the ......
From the concrete experience of war, Michael S. Yandell constructs a phenomenology of "negative revelation" in which false or distorted claims of goodness and justice disintegrate, becoming meaningless. Yandell argues that the disintegration of meaning in war is itself a meaningful experience; "revealing" comes to signify the presence of goodness ......
An Advaitic Modernity?: Raimon Panikkar and Philosophical Theology poses Raimon Panikkar as a stimulating dialogue partner in postmodern philosophical theology who can help us rethink the relationship between transcendence and immanence through an advaitic critique of modernity. Andrew D. Thrasher argues that Panikkar advaitic critique of ......
This book explicates how many films intersect black suffering and God-talk in ways that instantiate secular limitations to divine efficacy. The book's concept of a modern God introduces a new method of analysis that reimagines theodical discourses as mechanisms of modern identities and filmmakers as skillful exegetes who recalibrate divine ......
Dystopia, from the Greek dus and topos "bad place," is a revelatory genre and concept that has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity at the start of the twenty-first century. This book addresses approaches to the study of dystopia from the academic fields of theology and religious studies. Following a co-written chapter where Scott ......
Astrophilosopy, Exotheology, and Cosmic Religion: Extraterrestrial Life in a Process Universe applies Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy and the associated process philosophies of Henri Bergson, Teilhard de Chardin, and others to the interdisciplinary layers of astrobiology, extraterrestrial life, and the impact of discovery. This ......
The Liberating Philosophy of Ignacio Ellacuria: Historical Reality, Humanism, and Praxis is the first systematic work on the philosophy of Ignacio Ellacuria to be published in English so far. The Spaniard-Salvadorian philosopher-murdered in Salvador in 1989 by the military-maintains that philosophy is a permanent task grounded in metaphysics as ......
The topic of revelation is fundamental to any account of religious experience, playing a special role in the Judeo-Christian tradition where the texts of Scripture are regarded as revealed. Yet, any reflection on the revealed status of a given message or text requires interpretation. Paul Ricoeur, one of the most important hermeneutic philosophers ......
Since art is essential to the love of one's neighbor as oneself and to love's chief goal of building up one another, we cannot understand love without also understanding its art. Observing that praise is ubiquitous in Soren Kierkegaard's writings, Richard McCombs interprets Kierkegaard's Works of Love as a eulogy of love's arts of forgiveness, ......
A Sakta Method for Comparative Theology: Upside-Down, Inside-Out offers the world's first Sakta thealogy of religions and a Sakta anti-method, method, and a-method for comparative theology. For Saktas, the thread of religious diversity is part of the rich tapestry of cosmological, topographical, environmental, and bio-diversity, which is the ......
Nancy L. Graham unveils the extraordinary life of the churchman and musician, Erik Routley, the most significant hymnologist of the twentieth century. Using anecdotes from his personal correspondence, the foundations of his faith, scholarship, and pastoral relationships are made public.
Soren Kierkegaard's authorship exhibits two different trajectories concerning the relation of responsible human agency to sovereign divine agency: one trajectory stresses free human striving, while the other trajectory emphasizes the dominance of divine agency. The first theme led to the view of Kierkegaard as the champion of autonomous ......
Science and Religion: Perspectives Across Disciplines interweaves STEM perspectives with the arts, humanities, theology, and psychology to cultivate discussion on science and religion alongside biblical interpretation. Taken together, this anthology allows for connections between disciplines that create community amid differing perspectives.
The Paradox of Trauma and Growth in Pastoral and Spiritual Care: Night Blooming introduces and bridges the gap between the psychological and spiritual perspectives and responses in trauma work, illuminating the complexity of the human phenomenon of growth though suffering that is too easily misunderstood in the context of pastoral and spiritual ......
Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker Movement, and Overcoming Otherness
This book is a revisitation of the radical communalism present at the heart of the Catholic Worker Movement as it intersects with ongoing trends in the field of political theology in search of a functional ethical praxis.
This first-ever collection of original essays devoted to philosopher, theologian, and poet Jean-Louis Chretien's work, this interdisciplinary collection includes Chretien's collaborators, successors, and Anglophone interpreters and explores themes of temporality, prayer, and religious reading.
A Contemporary Reinterpretation of the Attack upon Christendom
Kierkegaard and the New Nationalism argues for the relevance of Kierkegaard's "attack upon Christendom" within our current situation of resurgent nationalism. Kierkegaard's ascetic voice calls his readers not simply to critique nationalism, but to renounce it, thereby striking at nationalism's self-assertive core.
Reasons Inquisition: On Doubtful Ground is an exploration in the literature of political philosophy before and after Alfarabi and ranging from Thucydides to Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin. These studies, most of them previously unpublished, open inquiries into theory and practice, reason and revelation, and the relation between thinkers ancient and ......
Theology and Wes Craven explores the religious themes in the movies, television shows, and other works of the man who redefined the horror genre. This volume is sure to be appreciated both by academics and horror enthusiasts everywhere.
This book argues that religious experiences can contribute to the justification of religious belief in God. Religious experiences can contribute to justificatory cases in several distinct ways, and this is best explained by the diversity and development of religious believers in a religious tradition.
Theology, Fantasy, and the Imagination analyzes theological, religious, and philosophical themes in classical Christian fantasy, contemporary "post-Christian" fantasy, and fantasy at play in table top games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: the Gathering.
This book critiques the colonial foundations of capitalism and supplants them with intellectual resources from the Black Panther Party. By highlighting The Panthers' praxis, Joshua S. Bartholomew asserts the need for anti-colonial economic models of social justice that can build upon visions of collective liberation and racial equality.
Insights from Jean-Luc Marion and Gianni Vattimo's Philosophy
Theology in the postmodern era has encountered various cultural and narrative shifts which have helped shape the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity at large. Negatively, the Church has been affected by external factors (e.g., globalization, immigration/emigration, increased access to technology, etc.) and internal struggles (e.g., reduced ......
In this book, scholars from various religious and theological backgrounds reflect upon the connection between theology and the Star Trek series and films.
