The divine quest, East and West : a comparative study of ultimate realities / James L. Ford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ford, James L. (James Lowry), 1957- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion.

Religions.

God.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (435 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Many books have discussed the development of the notion of God in Western monotheistic traditions, but how have non-Western cultures conceptualized what those in the West might identify as "God"? What might be learned by comparing different visions of the Divine, such as God, gods, Brahman, Nirvana, and Emptiness? James L. Ford engages these fascinating questions, exploring notions of "the Divine" or "Ultimate Reality" within Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. Looking at a multiplicity of divine conceptions, even within traditions, Ford discusses the relationship between imagination and revelation in the emergence of visions of ultimacy; consequences and tendencies associated with particular notions of the Ultimate; and how new visions of the Ultimate arise in relation to social, cultural, political, and scientific developments. Ford reflects on what can be learned through an awareness of the various beliefs about the Ultimate and on how such disparate visions influence the attitudes and behavior of people in different parts of the world.

Contents:

Contents; Figures and Tables; Preface; A Note on Orthography; Acknowledgments; Part One. Approaching the Ultimate; Defining "Ultimate Reality"; The Phenomenological Approach; Peter Berger, Social Construction, and the Sacred Canopy; Amending Berger; Mark Taylor and Dialectical Evolution; Imagination; Snapshots in the Evolution of a Tradition; The "Axial Age" and Its Legacy; Toward What End?; Part Two. God: From Early Judaism to Postmodern Christianity; Introduction; Setting the Stage: God in Ancient Israelite Religion and Early Judaism; The Hebrew Bible, History, and Hermeneutics

A Brief History of Palestine and the IsraelitesBiblical Hermeneutics; The Documentary Hypothesis; Theological Context of the near East; The Gods of Mesopotamia; Egyptian Theology; Canaanite Theology; Act 1: the Evolution of God in Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Traditions; Early Israelite Religion; Josianic Reforms and the Establishment of Monolatry; Second Isaiah and Undisputed Monotheism; The Emergence of Christianity; Act 2: God of Early Christianity; Jesus-human or Divine?; Act 3: from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas and Natural Theology; Act 4: Luther and the Reformation

Act 5: "God" and the Enlightenment EncounterAct 6: Beyond Theism-"God" Meets Postmodernism; Process Theology; Mark Taylor's Vision of God after "god"; Summary and Conclusions; Part Three. Hindu Traditions: Brahman and the 330 Million Gods and Goddesses of India; Introduction; Act 1: Vedic Religion and the Gods of Sacrifice; The Aryan Migration and the Vedic Corpus; The Evolution of Aryan Culture; Early Vedic Religion: the Divine Pantheon; Ritual Sacrifice in the Early Vedic Period; The Middle Vedic Period; Interpreting Vedic Ritual, Theology, and the Cosmos

Reimagining the Gods and Sacrifice During the Middle Vedic PeriodAct 2: the Late Vedic Period and the Axial Age; The Upanishads and Changing Views of World and Self; Important Teachings and Concepts in the Upanishads; Brahman and Atman; Rebirth and Karmic Retribution; Moksha and Renunciation; Act 3: Devotional Hindu Traditions; The Grand Epics: Mahabharata and Ramayana; Religious Dimensions of the Epics; The Bhagavad Gita and the Post-axial Problematic; Theistic Vision of the Bhagavad Gita; The Bhagavad Gita and the Path to Moksha; Bhakti and Kingship in the Bhagavad Gita

Bhakti and the PuranasIndra and the Ants; Goddess Worship in the Puranic Age; Tracing the Divine: from the Vedas to the Puranas; Act 4: Debating the One and the Many in Classical Hindu Theology; Shankara's Advaita Vedanta; Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita Vedanta; Act 5: Hinduism's Colonial Encounter and Its Theological Consequences; Brahmo Samaj; Arya Samaj; Ramakrishna and Vivekananda; Reflections on "colonial Theology"; Act 6: "Hinduism" in America; Reflections on the Ultimate in Hindu Traditions; Part Four. Buddhist Traditions: From Nirvana to Emptiness; Introduction

First Things First: A Basic Introduction to Buddhism

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438460550

1438460554