Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam PDF Author: Halvor Eifring
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441162585
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
Meditative practices have flourished in widely different parts of Eurasia, yet historical research on such practices is limited. Research to date has focused on contexts rather than actual practices, and within individual traditions. For the first time in one volume, the meditative practices of the three traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are examined. They are viewed in a global perspective, considering both generic and historical connections to practices in other traditions, particularly in India and East Asia. Their cultural and historical peculiarities are examined, comparing them both to each other and to Asian forms of meditation. The book builds on a notion of meditation as self-administered techniques for inner transformation, a definition which focuses on transformative practice rather than notions of meditative states and mystical experiences. It proposes ways of studying meditative practice historically, and concludes with an essay on the modern scientific interest in meditation.

Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam PDF Author: Halvor Eifring
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441162585
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 536

Get Book Here

Book Description
Meditative practices have flourished in widely different parts of Eurasia, yet historical research on such practices is limited. Research to date has focused on contexts rather than actual practices, and within individual traditions. For the first time in one volume, the meditative practices of the three traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are examined. They are viewed in a global perspective, considering both generic and historical connections to practices in other traditions, particularly in India and East Asia. Their cultural and historical peculiarities are examined, comparing them both to each other and to Asian forms of meditation. The book builds on a notion of meditation as self-administered techniques for inner transformation, a definition which focuses on transformative practice rather than notions of meditative states and mystical experiences. It proposes ways of studying meditative practice historically, and concludes with an essay on the modern scientific interest in meditation.

Exegetical Crossroads

Exegetical Crossroads PDF Author: Georges Tamer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110562936
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
The art of interpreting Holy Scriptures flourished throughout the culturally heterogeneous pre-modern Orient among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Different ways of interpretation developed within each religion not without considering the others. How were the interactions and how productive were they for the further development of these traditions? Have there been blurred spaces of scholarly activity that transcended sectarian borders? What was the role played by mutual influences in profiling the own tradition against the others? These and other related questions are critically treated in the present volume.

God of Love

God of Love PDF Author: Mirabai Starr
Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing
ISBN: 0983358958
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
God of Love is Mirabai Starr’s passionate and personal exploration of the interconnected wisdom of the three Abrahamic faiths. She shares an overview of essential teachings, stories of saints and spiritual masters, prophetic calls for peace and justice, and for the first time in print, deeply engaging narratives from her own spiritual experiences. She guides readers to recognize the teachings and practices that unify rather then divide the three religions, and sheds light on the interspiritual perspective, which celebrates the Divine in all paths. It is Mirabai’s hope that this book will serve as a reminder that a dedication to lovingkindness is the highest expression of faith for all three religions. EARLY REVIEWS FOR God of Love “Mirabai Starr takes us out dancing with the One. God of Love is a confluence of the currents of Judaism, Islam and Christianity all emptying into the great ocean of Love.” —Ram Dass, Author Be Here Now “In a time of division between people, this book — which is a masterful blend of research, storytelling, poetry, and memoir — is like a sacred magnet, pulling on the spiritual heart of all seekers.” —Elizabeth Lesser, Cofounder, Omega Institute; Author, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow “Mirabai Starr writes of the divine from a luminous gene inherited by only a few. We hear The True Song in each word she attributes to the holy. It is more than just her song; it is the Melody of the Spheres translated by an astute musician. We are always touched by the genuine in her call to the reader to love and love well, to see with the sacred eye of beauty.” -Ondrea & Stephen Levine, Authors Embracing the Beloved "Mirabai's book has brought me great consolation." -Daniel Berrigan, S. J. activist-priest; Author, No Gods but One “This book brilliantly reminds us that in the heart of the Abrahamic traditions there burns a singular divine flame.” -Rev. Robert V. Thompson, Author A Voluptuous God “A wonderful and ‘perfect’ book. Highly recommended.” -Rabbi David A. Cooper, Author God Is a Verb “[God of Love] will expand your vision and inspire your search; I recommend it with great joy.” -Andrew Harvey, Author The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism “At home in the three great Abrahamic traditions, Mirabai Starr takes us on a deeply personal journey 'Toward the One,' exploring aspects of the 'God of Love' as seen through the eyes of Jewish, Christian and Muslim mystics. This is a book which will delight the seeker of sacred connections between these traditions and those who look forward to a day when Jerusalem, the city shared by all these faiths, will be a house of prayer for all people." -Reb Netanel Miles-Yepez, Co-Author A Heart Afire: Stories and Teachings of the Early Hasidic Masters

Asian Traditions of Meditation

Asian Traditions of Meditation PDF Author: Halvor Eifring
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824876679
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Meditation has flourished in different parts of the world ever since the foundations of the great civilizations were laid. It played a vital role in the formation of Asian cultures that trace much of their heritage to ancient India and China. This volume brings together for the first time studies of the major traditions of Asian meditation as well as material on scientific approaches to meditation. It delves deeply into the individual traditions while viewing each of them from a global perspective, examining both historical and generic connections between meditative practices from numerous historical periods and different parts of the Eurasian continent. It seeks to identify the cultural and historical peculiarities of Asian schools of meditation while recognizing basic features of meditative practice across cultures, thereby taking the first step toward a framework for the comparative study of meditation. The book, accessibly written by scholars from several fields, opens with chapters that discuss the definition and classification of meditation. These are followed by contributions on Yoga and Tantra, which are often subsumed under the broad label of Hinduism; Jainism and Sikhism, Indian traditions not usually associated with meditation; Buddhist approaches found in Southeast Asia, Tibet, and China; and the indigenous Chinese traditions, Daoism and Neo-Confucianism. The final chapter explores recent scientific interest in meditation, which, despite its Western orientation, remains almost exclusively concerned with practices of Asian origin. Until a few years ago a major obstacle to the study of specific meditation practices within the traditions explored here was a widespread scholarly orientation that prioritized doctrinal issues and sociocultural contexts over actual practice. The contributors seek to counter this bias and supplement concerns over doctrine and context with the historical study of meditative practice. Asian Traditions of Meditation will appeal broadly to readers interested in meditation, mindfulness, and spirituality and those in the emerging field of contemplative education, as well as students and scholars of Asian and religious studies.

Judaism and World Religions

Judaism and World Religions PDF Author: A. Brill
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137013184
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Provides the first extensive collection of traditional and academic Jewish approaches to the religions of the world, focusing on those Jewish thinkers that actually encounter the other world religions -that is, it moves beyond the theory of inclusive/exclusive/pluralistic categories and looks at Judaism's interactions with other faiths.

Exegetical Crossroads

Exegetical Crossroads PDF Author: Georges Tamer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783110564358
Category : RELIGION
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Back cover: The art of interpreting Holy Scriptures flourished throughout the culturally heterogeneous pre-modern Orient among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Different ways of interpretation developed within each religion not without considering the others. How were the interactions and how productive were they for the further development of these traditions? Have there been blurred spaces of scholarly activity that transcended sectarian borders? What was the role played by mutual influences in profiling the own tradition against the others? These and other related questions are critically treated in the present volume.

Apples and Oranges

Apples and Oranges PDF Author: David S. Lieb
Publisher: Torah Aura Productions
ISBN: 1934527092
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
Comparative Religion is a great way to learn about Judaism. It also makes for better citizenship. Rabbi Lieb's book both clearly explains each of the world's major religions and shows where Judaism is both similar and different from them. Included is an overview on 'what is a religion', things to remember about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. There is also a chapter on how to respond to Christian Missionaries.

Neighboring Faiths

Neighboring Faiths PDF Author: David Nirenberg
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022616893X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
This book represents the culmination of David Nirenberg s ongoing project; namely, how Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived with and thought about each other in the Middle Ages, and what the medieval past can tell us about how they do so today. There have been scripture based studies of the three religions of the book that claim descent from Abraham, but Nirenberg goes beyond those to pay close attention to how the three religious neighbors loved, tolerated, massacred, and expelled each otherall in the name of Godin periods and places both long ago and far away. Whether Christian Crusaders and settlers in Islamic-ruled lands, or Jewish-Muslim relations in Christian-controlled Iberia, for Nirenberg, the three religions need to be studied in terms of how each affected the development of the other over time, their proximity of religious and philosophical thought as well as their overlapping geographies, and how the three neighbors define (and continue to define) themselves and their place in the here-and-nowand the here-afterin terms of one another. Arguing against exemplary histories, static models of tolerance versus prosecution, or so-called Golden Ages and Black Legends, Nirenberg offers here instead a story that is more dynamic and interdependent, one where Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities have re-imagined themselves, not only as abstractions of categories in each other s theologies and ideologies, but by living with each other every day as neighbors jostling each other on the street. From dangerous attractions leading to interfaith marriage, to interreligious conflicts leading to segregation, violence, and sometimes extermination, to strategies of bridging the interfaith gap through language, vocabulary, and poetryNirenberg aims to understand the intertwined past of the three faiths as a way for their heirs to coproduce the future."

A None's Story

A None's Story PDF Author: Corinna Nicolaou
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231541252
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 443

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Book Description
The rising population known as "nones" for its members' lack of religious affiliation is changing American society, politics, and culture. Many nones believe in God and even visit places of worship, but they do not identify with a specific faith or belong to a spiritual community. Corinna Nicolaou is a none, and in this layered narrative, she describes what it is like for her and thousands of others to live without religion or to be spiritual without committing to a specific faith. Nicolaou tours America's major traditional religions to see what, if anything, one might lack without God. She moves through Christianity's denominations, learning their tenets and worshiping alongside their followers. She travels to Los Angeles to immerse herself in Judaism, Berkeley to educate herself about Buddhism, and Dallas and Washington, D.C., to familiarize herself with Islam. She explores what light they can shed on the fears and failings of her past, and these encounters prove the significant role religion still plays in modern life. They also exemplify the vibrant relationship between religion and American culture and the enduring value it provides to immigrants and outsiders. Though she remains a devout none, Nicolaou's experiences reveal points of contact between the religious and the unaffiliated, suggesting that nones may be radically revising the practice of faith in contemporary times.

The Wisdom of the World

The Wisdom of the World PDF Author: Rémi Brague
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226070773
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
When the ancient Greeks looked up into the heavens, they saw not just sun and moon, stars and planets, but a complete, coherent universe, a model of the Good that could serve as a guide to a better life. How this view of the world came to be, and how we lost it (or turned away from it) on the way to becoming modern, make for a fascinating story, told in a highly accessible manner by Rémi Brague in this wide-ranging cultural history. Before the Greeks, people thought human action was required to maintain the order of the universe and so conducted rituals and sacrifices to renew and restore it. But beginning with the Hellenic Age, the universe came to be seen as existing quite apart from human action and possessing, therefore, a kind of wisdom that humanity did not. Wearing his remarkable erudition lightly, Brague traces the many ways this universal wisdom has been interpreted over the centuries, from the time of ancient Egypt to the modern era. Socratic and Muslim philosophers, Christian theologians and Jewish Kabbalists all believed that questions about the workings of the world and the meaning of life were closely intertwined and that an understanding of cosmology was crucial to making sense of human ethics. Exploring the fate of this concept in the modern day, Brague shows how modernity stripped the universe of its sacred and philosophical wisdom, transforming it into an ethically indifferent entity that no longer serves as a model for human morality. Encyclopedic and yet intimate, The Wisdom of the World offers the best sort of history: broad, learned, and completely compelling. Brague opens a window onto systems of thought radically different from our own.