Panentheism across the World's Traditions - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199989907 ISBN 13: 9780199989904

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Not to be confused with pantheism-the ancient Greek notion that God is everywhere, an animistic force in rocks and trees-the concept of panentheism suggests that God is both in the world, immanent, and also beyond the confines of mere matter, transcendent.

One of the fundamental premises of this groundbreaking collection of essays is that panentheism, despite being unlabeled until the nineteenth century, is not merely a modern Western invention. The contributors examine a number of the world's established and ancient religious traditions-Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and others-to draw out the panentheistic dimensions of these traditions and the possibilities they suggest. Panentheism is not only an esoteric, potentially heretical, and deeply mystical vision of the world's great religious pasts; it is also a key feature of contemporary global spirituality. As this volume demonstrates, the metaphors and practices associated with modern panentheism speak powerfully to the realities of our evolving species and our evolving technological world. Panentheism's enticingly heretical vision of the relationship between the divine and matter has historically been denied a serious place in scholarship. As Panentheism across the World's Traditions shows, the dynamism between matter and spirit that panentheism offers has had a profound influence in the modern world.

About this title

About the Author:

Loriliai Biernacki is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Religious Studies. Her first book, Renowned Goddess of Desire: Women, Sex and Speech in Tantra (OUP 2007) won the Kayden Award in 2008.

Philip Clayton is Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the Claremont School of Theology, and Provost of Claremont Lincoln University. He is the author of The Predicament of Belief: Science, Philosophy, Faith (OUP 2011) and editor of The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (OUP 2006).

Review:

"A first-rate contribution to interreligious dialogue and the emerging field of global spirituality. It evidences excellent editorial work by Clayton (Claremont Lincoln Univ.), a pioneer in this effort for some time, and Biernacki (Univ. of Colorado), an Indologist who shows great promise as a comparativist, too...Recommended."--CHOICE

"The essays in this volume are unapologetic, mature, and balanced, and as a collection offer a robust and most welcome form of comparative theology-an artful balancing of sameness and difference across cultural and temporal boundaries. This book makes a new and important contribution."--Jeff Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199989907
• ISBN 13: 9780199989904
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240
• Editor: Biernacki Loriliai