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This book provides a philosophical framework in which to defend Christianity. I marvel at the way that Dr. Craig brought together so many ideas from so many resources in this book. The book is divided along six headings: Faith, Man, God, Creation, Sacred Scripture, and Christ. Each chapter is in turn divided along several sub-headings: the Historical Background of the question, an Assessment of the question as it currently stands, and a Practical Application, where Dr. Craig discusses how "the rubber meets the road" in discussing this issue with those curious about Christianity. ~ Kendal B. Hunter
Kevin Bales (University of California: July 1, 2000)
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Slavery is illegal throughout the world, yet more than twenty-seven million people are still trapped in one of history's oldest social institutions. Kevin Bales's heart-wrenching story of slavery today reaches from brick kilns in Pakistan and brothels in Thailand to the offices of multinational corporations. His investigation of conditions in Mauritania, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, and India reveals the tragic emergence of a "new slavery," one intricately linked to the global economy. The new slaves are not a long-term investment as was true with older forms of slavery, explains Bales. Instead, they are cheap, require little care, and are disposable. Bales offers suggestions for combating the new slavery and provides examples of very positive results from organizations such as Anti-Slavery International, the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil, and the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan.
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From the about page: Ship of Fools was first launched in 1977 as a studenty print magazine, but sank in 1983 after ten issues. It was raised again on April Fool's Day 1998 as a website, and quickly grew into an online community as well as a webzine. "We're here for people who prefer their religion disorganized," says the Ship's editor and designer, Simon Jenkins. "Our aim is to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity, as we believe honesty can only strengthen faith."
Michael Card (InterVarsity Press: Jul 2002), 168 pages.
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Card's stunning little book on creativity opens with a story about Jesus: faced with an adulterous woman that he was asked to punish, he knelt down and scribbled something in the sand. Card says that commentators have asked the wrong question what Jesus wrote rather than the more provocative question of why: "It was not the content that mattered but why he did it. Unexpected. Irritating. Creative." This same praise can be heaped upon his perceptive, original combination of storytelling and theological insight. Like Card's other books, this is profoundly biblical, teasing out fresh interpretations of Scripture through deep interaction with the text. Who but Card would imagine Noah's construction of the ark as a creative, imaginative act? Who but Card would then contrast this creation to the erection of the Tower of Babel, which demonstrates what happens when people create out of selfish ambition? Various chapters discuss the role of imagination in the prophetic books of the Bible, the activity of Jesus in helping to create the universe and the need for "a lifestyle of listening." Card's tone alternates between a gentle call to embrace God's beauty and a stinging jeremiad against the glib it's-all-about-the-artist approach to creativity that dominates both Christian and secular thinking. The book is not prescriptive; it doesn't help would-be artists and writers enhance their creativity through innovative techniques or exercises. It simply describes what it is like to know God and, as a result of that experience, to want to respond to him. ~ From Publishers Weekly
Keith Ward (Oneworld Publications: April 1998), 208 pages.
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Using terms acceptable to each religious tradition, Professor Ward considers the doctrine of ultimate reality — God — within five world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. By closely studying a definitive, orthodox writer in each tradition, Ward builds a series of "pictures" of God and uncovers a common core of belief. "An invaluable introduction to the religious traditions which have helped shape human culture through the ages. Indispensable lot a comparative religions library."
I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know — unless it be to share our laughter. ¶ We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love. ¶ For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves.
If one kept (as rock-bottom reality) the universe of the senses, aided by instruments and co-ordinated so as to form “science,” then one would have to go much further — as many have since gone — and adopt a Behavioristic theory of logic, ethics, and aesthetics. But such a theory was, and is, unbelievable to me. I am using the word “unbelievable,” which many use to mean “improbable” or even “undesirable,” in a quite literal sense. I mean that the act of believing what the behaviorist believes is one that my mind simply will not perform. I cannot force my thought into that shape any more than I can scratch my ear with my big toe or pour wine out of a bottle into the cavity at the base of that same bottle. It is as final as a physical impossibility.
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Where other academic
publishers stress a book’s profitability, UPA is committed to the
belief that the most important question relevant to the publication
decision is: Does this work provide a significant contribution to
scholarship? With innovative publishing programs designed for
scholarly monographs as well as classroom texts and text supplements,
UPA benefits scholars in all phases of their careers — from junior
faculty and emerging scholars to established scholars and professors
emeritus. Subject areas include philosophy, ethics, peace and conflict studies, religious studies, history, and world history.
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The Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame was established in the fall of 1976 in order to promote, support and disseminate scholarly work in philosophy of religion and Christian philosophy. The Center hopes to promote work concerned with the traditional topics and questions that fall under the rubric of the philosophy of religion: the theistic proofs, the rationality of belief in God, the problem of evil, the nature of religious language, and the like. At least as important, however, is the Center's effort to promote and encourage the development and exploration of specifically Christian and theistic philosophy, the sort of philosophy which takes Christianity (or, more broadly, theism) for granted and then proceeds to work on philosophical questions and problems from that perspective. Christian philosophy, thus conceived, involves defending the theistic perspective against the various sorts of attacks brought against it. It also includes criticism of contemporary philosophical culture from a Christian perspective; it includes a self-conscious attempt to consider the main philosophical topics and problems from this perspective, in order to discern and develop the implications (if any) of that perspective for those problems and topics; and it includes the attempt to achieve deeper understanding of the main contours and lineaments of the Christian faith.
GoObjects of Grace: Conversations on Creativity and Faith is a collection ofconversations with some of today’s most intriguing artists—Sandra Bowden, Dan Callis, Mary McCleary, John Silvis, Edward Knippers, Erica Downer, Albert Pedulla, Tim Rollins and K.O.S., Joel Sheesley and Makoto Fujimura—focuses on the intersection of Christianity and creativity. In addition to the interviews and full color reproductions, this work also features a discussion with artist Makoto Fujimura, who lives two blocks from Ground Zero, commenting on how September 11th impacted him and the art community. Objects of Grace promises to enrich our understanding of the artistic process and works of art as they offer insights into the creator God.