God and Difference interlaces Christian theology with queer and feminist theory for both critical and constructive ends. Linn Marie Tonstad uses queer theory to show certain failures of Christian thinking about God, gender, and sexuality. She employs queer theory to dissect trinitarian discourse and the resonances found in contemporary Christian thought between sexual difference and difference within the trinity. Tonstad critiques a broad swath of prominent Christian theologians who either use queer theory in their work or affirm the validity of same-sex relationships, arguing that their work inadvertently promotes gendered hierarchy. This volume contributes to central debates in Christianity over divine and human personhood, gendered relationality, and the trinity, and provides original accounts of God, sexual difference, and Christian community that are both theologically rich and thoroughly queer.

Church is church, right? Well, not so much, as any Baptist teen will find when visiting a friend's Episcopal church, or any Lutheran visitor to a Pentecostal service will discover. So what's the difference? Why are there any differences at all? Though churches are as individual as the members they serve, Katie Meier clears up some of the confusion regarding the basic Christian denominations. Written for everyday teens (rather than, say, theology majors) this guide clearly spells out the unique qualities of each sect, while at the same time underlines the unifying principles of Christian faith. Practically, it takes the scare out of accompanying a friend to a different church; but even better, and maybe more importantly, it inspires a greater understanding of and love for fellow Christians.

Some people say that they want to be different, as long as they are not different from their friends. But, it's the one who is truly different who sets the trend that others follow. While people may share differences, we are still very similar to one another in many ways. Although we eat different foods, still we all eat. We all have different fingerprints, but we each still have fingers. In this book, Dr. Derber thoroughly explores what the Bible says on this subject and makes clear what it really means to be different.

Within modern frameworks of knowledge and representation, Dionysos often appears to be atypical for ancient culture, an exception within the context of ancient polytheism, or even an instance of a difference that anticipates modernism. How can recent research contribute to a more precise understanding of the diverse transformations of the ancient god, from Greek antiquity to the Roman Empire? In this volume, which is the result of an international conference held in March 2009 at the Pergamon Museum Berlin, scholars from all branches of classical studies, including history of scholarship, consider this question. Consequently, this leads to a new look on vase paintings, sanctuaries, rituals and religious-political institutions like theatre, and includes new readings of the texts of ancient poets, historians and philosophers, as well as of papyri and inscriptions. It is the diversity of sources or methods and the challenge of former views that is the strength of this volume, providing a comprehensive, innovative and richly faceted account of the “different” god in an unprecedented way.

The doctrine of the Trinity poses a series of problems for feminist theology. At a basic level, the androcentric nature of trinitarian language serves to promote the male as more fully in the image of God and as the archetype of humanity, pushing women to the margins of personhood. It is no surprise then that feminist scholarship on this doctrine has often focused on what's wrong with the Trinity, setting out the problems raised by the use of traditional androcentric trinitarian language. This book brings together a discussion of feminist theological methodology with a critical exploration of the doctrine of the Trinity. Focussing on what's right with the Trinity as opposed to what's wrong with the Trinity, it considers the usefulness of this doctrine for feminist theology today. It replaces a stress on trinitarian language with an emphasis on trinitarian thought, exploring how we might effectively think rather than speak God in light of feminist concerns. In particular, it asks how a trinitarian understanding of God might support, and be supported by, key values which underpin a feminist way of doing theology, specifically values which underpin the methodological use of women's experience in feminist theology. The central argument is that thinking God as Trinity need not serve to reinforce patriarchal values and ideals but may in fact promote the subjectivity and personhood of women.

Saivism is one of the pervasive expressions of Indian Religious Culture stretching to the dim past of pre-history and surviving as a living force in the thought and life of millions of Hindus especially in Southern India and Northern Ceylon. The present work is scholarly reconstruction of Saivism in its characteristic and classical from as Saiva Siddhanta, focusing mainly on the philosophical doctrine and presenting a conceptual analysis of its formative notions, problems and methods. Anteceding the rise of the great systems of Vedanta including that of Sankara, Saiva Siddhanta in its fully systematised form as Mystical Theology in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries represents a constructive reaction to the theological, ethical and aesthetic aspects of Vedanta as a whole. A patient study of this much neglected phase of religo-philosophical development of India should prove useful for a more balanced understanding of Indian religiosity, providing a corrective to the view entertained not without justification that Indian religious thought does not affirms the values of freedom, love and personality. This methodical study, appended with very exhaustive glossary, bibliography and index and two-hundred pages of references and foot-notes is designed to meet the requirements of seriious students of Eastern religious thought.

"Why are interreligious encounters and relations both more troubling and more promising than typically assumed, and how can this be embraced? In engaging the contemporary theological discourse of "theopoetics," Marius van Hoogstraten offers a way of approaching religious difference that, while perhaps unusual to readers familiar with more conventional theology, may be especially fitting for this age."--Provided by publisher

Existentia hermeneutica is phronetic existence with the aim of cultivating practical wisdom in human life: It comes from life, influences life, and transforms life. Understanding what is happening in life requires reaching the hermeneutic truth, which is the truth of understanding. The experience of hermeneutic truth calls for personal commitment and existential response, and, thus, expresses the hermeneutic moral imperative. Referring to Heidegger’s phenomenological analytics of Dasein, Gadamer emphasizes that understanding is not only one of the human capabilities, but a way of Dasein’s being-in-the-world.