This examination of modern Islamic anthropology provides an account of the human being in various significant strands of Islamic religious thought. Tracing the significance of Darwinist and other evolutionary theories in contemporary Islam, the author gives a thorough account of the variety of ways in which Islamic thought has been affected by, and responds to, the evolutionary anthropology encountered by Muslims through their interaction with occidental culture.

Why is it that a mother or nursemaid, with no education or even with mental retardation, can teach a baby to talk, but it typically requires greater effort from a more professionally educated person to teach a child to read? Why is it that a person profoundly deaf from birth usually finds it harder to get a college or graduate education than a person who is blind since birth? Why is it that one can be in an environment of loud sounds, noise, or shouting, yet be able to attend to and understand a soft, quiet, continuing voice in the midst of the cacophony? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN? If it is true that much of being human evolves from what happens during the first one thousand milliseconds after an event impinges upon us, our fate may be greatly determined by events within that first second. Rue Cromwell, Ph.D., provides alternative viewpoints that vary from mainstream ways of thinking about the infrastructure of human functioning aspects of which most of us are typically unaware. As Dr. Cromwell discards current and past dictums he feels have impeded progress of knowledge in psychology such as mind/body distinctions, cognitive systems, and behavior analysis he also rejects the notion that biological events cause higher order phenomena. While providing his theories on the philosophy and construct of psychological issues, Dr. Cromwell examines how we communicate, why it is important to ask the right scientific questions, and how to apply verbal tags to our own lives. Being Human: Human Being shares Dr. Cromwell's contention that the level of human functioning is capable of reaching heights never seen before. By opening our thinking to his unique theories, he encourages all of us to embrace a new way of viewing ourselves and a new idea of what it really means to be human.

A conversation between 2 eminent Black thinkers on how to work together to make the world a better place despite deep religious differences Brad Braxton and Anthony Pinn represent two traditions—Christianity and Secular Humanism respectively—that have for centuries existed in bitter opposition. For too long, people with different worldviews have disparaged and harmed one another. Instead of fighting each other, Braxton and Pinn talk with, listen to, and learn from one another. Their wide-ranging conversation demonstrates the possibility of fruitful exchange that accounts for—rather than masks—their differences. Written amid the Covid-19 pandemic, threats to our democracy, and national protests for racial justice, A Master Class on Being Human shows us that constructive dialogue can help us pursue the common good without sacrificing our distinctive identities. In conversations that are frank, personal, and deeply informed by scholarship, Braxton and Pinn discuss topics that are urgent and immediate, such as the ongoing violence against Black communities, the rise of religiously unaffiliated communities, the Black Lives Matter movement. They also ponder those broader philosophical and theological questions that inform our politics and sense of what it means to be human: the meaning of religion, the stubborn dilemma of moral evil, the power and problems of hope. Braxton and Pinn invite us to join them in a master class as they strive to create a world where differences are not tolerated but instead celebrated. In that kind of courageous classroom, all can learn how to be better people who in turn transform the world into a better place.

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

In the current environment of a growing Muslim presence in Europe, young Muslims have started to develop a subculture of their own. The manifestations reach from religious rap and street wear with Islamic slogans to morally »impeccable« comedy. This form of religiously permissible fun and of youth-compatible worship is actively engaged in shaping the future of Islam in Europe and of Muslim/non-Muslims relations. Based on a vast collection of youth cultural artefacts, participant observations and in-depth interviews in France, Britain and Germany, this book provides a vivid description of Islamic youth culture and explores the reasons why young people develop such a culture.

This book claims a discursive space in academic scholarship for knowledges and ways of knowing that capture the diversity, complexity and full humanness of Australian Muslim women’s subjectivities. It draws on in-depth conversational interviews with 20 Australian Muslim women from various ethnic backgrounds during which the women shared their experiences of being at the crossroads of their religious, gendered, racialised and ethnic identities. The book puts forward a decolonial feminist border methodology by weaving the work of decolonial feminist philosophers Maria Lugones and Gloria Anzaldúa with postmodern feminist thinking on subjectivity and with discourse analysis. This methodology is used to centre and attend to the fluidity and plurality of Muslim women’s subjectivities, at the intersections of race, ethnicity, patriarchy, gender, sexuality and Islam.

This book deals with Islamic studies and with the question how the scholarly study of religion can contribute to the study of Islam. The author advocates studying Islamic phenomena as signs and symbols interpreted and applied in diverse ways in existing traditions. He stresses the role of Muslims as actors in the ongoing debate about the articulation of Islamic ways of life and construction of Islam as a religion. A careful study of this debate should steer clear of political, religious, and ideological interests. Research in this area by Muslims and non-Muslim scholars alike should address the question of what Muslims have made of their Islam in specific circumstances. Current political contexts have created an unhealthy climate for pursuing an “open” approach to Islam based on reading, observing, listening and reflecting. Yet, precisely nowadays we need to look anew at ways of Muslim thinking and acting that refer to Islam and to avoid certain schemes of interpreting Muslim realities that are no longer adequate for present-day Muslim life situations. Muslim recourses to Islam can be studied as human constructions of value and meaning, and relations between Muslims and others can be seen in terms of human interaction, without blame always falling on Islam as such.

Politically, Islam in Indonesia is part of a rich multi-cultural mix. Religious tolerance is seen as the cornerstone of relations between different faiths - and moderation is built into the country's constitutional framework. However, the advent of democracy coupled with the impact of the South-East Asian economic collapse in 1997, and the arrival of a tough new breed of Middle Eastern Islamic preachers, sowed the seeds of the current challenge to Indonesia's traditionally moderate form of Islam. This volume explores the extent to which moderate Indonesian Islam is able to assimilate leading concepts from Western political theory. The essays in the collection explore how concepts from Western political theory are compatible with a liberal interpretation of Islamic universals and how such universals can form the basis for a contemporary approach to the protection of human rights and the articulation of a modern Islamic civil society.

The common wisdom is that Christians and Muslims should dialogue only about what they agree on. This book takes a different approach. As the author observes, "If we focus only on our common ground, we will miss some of the motivating force of our traditions, because that force derives not only from what we hold in common, but also from those convictions that keep us apart."