If we are material beings living in a material world -- and all the scientificevidence suggests that we are -- then we must find existential meaning, if there is such a thing, inthis physical world. We must cast our lot with the natural rather than the supernatural. ManyWesterners with spiritual (but not religious) inclinations are attracted to Buddhism -- almost as akind of moral-mental hygien…
This textbook is a systematic guide to the extensive field of spirituality. Kees Waaijman charts the multiform phenomenon of the spirituality of ordinary people, the great spiritual traditions and the force of counter-movements. From the foundation of this survey he answers questions What exactly is spirituality? What forms can a scholarly approach take? Finally, the book provides methodic acce…
Too often the Sermon on the Mount has been interpreted as though it were a book itself rather than a portion of a book. Dale Allison insists on the contrary that the full meaning of these chapters in Matthew's Gospel can be seen only in relation to the broader literary context of the Gospel as a whole, with its Jewish Christian orientation. Indeed, the Sermon and the moral imperatives it contai…