Religious Diversity: Essays (A Harper Forum Book)

Smith, Wilfred Cantwell

HarperCollins (paper)

Notes towards theology for the world community. It does not seek to impugn the validity of traditional faiths or to replace their theologies, but stresses the temporal and the spiritual importance of the disciple being tolerant and aware of faiths other than his own.

Towards a world theology: Faith and the comparative history of religion (Library of philosophy and religion)

Macmillan

The description for this book, Islam in Modern History, will be forthcoming.

Islam in Modern History

Religion & Spirituality

Princeton University Press

The description for this book, Faith and Belief, will be forthcoming.

Faith and Belief

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Princeton Univ Pr

History

The description for this book, Faith and Belief, will be forthcoming.

As an historian of religion, Wilfred Cantwell Smith has investigated the way religious traditions define themselves, the nature of faith over the centuries, and the scriptures that have offered anticipations of eternity. In this book he turns to modern culture and finds that its past has been defined, not only by traditions that are normally called religious, but also by the disciplined quest for Truth. Philosophia, as this tradition may be called, draws its heritage from Greece, and has inspired scholarship throughout the ages. However, the ideal of objectivity, which has come to define the standard for this tradition, has had unfortunate results. The human encounter with transcendence, which overwhelms all existence, has been considered as no more than a peculiarity of the human alone, to be categorized and separated from other aspects of life. The result is a dehumanized view of truth, which all too often evokes fundamentalist reactions. Smith concludes with a call to rediscover the dimension of transcendence. Objectivity means more than reducing the human to the calculable. To treat people as they are in themselves is to understand them as subjects, to treat all aspects of their existence as worthy of respect and study, and to grasp what it means to be captured by a reality that overwhelms the confines of our limited world.

Modern Culture from a Comparative Perspective

Social Sciences

State Univ of New York Pr

A distinguished historian of religion explores the contemporary culture of the Western world. As an historian of religion, Wilfred Cantwell Smith has investigated the way religious traditions define themselves, the nature of faith over the centuries, and the scriptures that have offered anticipations of eternity. In this book he turns to modern culture and finds that its past has been defined, not only by traditions that are normally called religious, but also by the disciplined quest for Truth. Philosophia, as this tradition may be called, draws its heritage from Greece, and has inspired scholarship throughout the ages. However, the ideal of objectivity, which has come to define the standard for this tradition, has had unfortunate results. The human encounter with transcendence, which overwhelms all existence, has been considered as no more than a peculiarity of the human alone, to be categorized and separated from other aspects of life. The result is a dehumanized view of truth, which all too often evokes fundamentalist reactions. Smith concludes with a call to rediscover the dimension of transcendence. Objectivity means more than reducing the human to the calculable. To treat people as they are in themselves is to understand them as subjects, to treat all aspects of their existence as worthy of respect and study, and to grasp what it means to be captured by a reality that overwhelms the confines of our limited world.

State University of New York Press

"Scripture" is no longer an absolute. In the last two centuries, as Westerners have become more keenly conscious of the historical character of their own biblical documents, they have also realized the normative function of scripture in other traditions. W.C. Smith's vastly erudite work asks how it is that certain texts have so seeped into human life - in a rich, complex and powerful way - as to be deemed sacred. Examining the history and use of scripture in the world's major religious traditions, he shows how and why scripture continues to carry momentous and at times appalling power in human affairs. That dynamic instability, that irrepressible process, and that stubborn pluralism are not simply modern embarrassments to believers. Rather, for Smith, they provide the essential clues to what "scripture" is. Smith first illustrates, by a fascinating look at the Song of Songs, how texts have both come into and passed out of their status as "scripture." He shows how one text has been differently deemed in Judaism and Christianity and strikingly variously interpreted in different settings and epochs. In ensuing chapters that explore the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and other instances, Smith lays bare the diverse strands of a complex historical process of scripture and its modern newly self-conscious phase. In the end, Smith's creative proposal is valuable not only for showing what it means to hold a text as sacred, or to treasure another's scripture, but also for the light it sheds in a troubled culture on what it means to be human.

What Is Scripture?: A Comparative Approach (Political Thought)

Religious Studies

Fortress Press

"Scripture" is no longer an absolute. In the last two centuries, as Westerners have become more keenly conscious of the historical character of their own biblical documents, they have also realized the normative function of scripture in other traditions.W.C. Smith's vastly erudite work asks how it is that certain texts have so seeped into human life - in a rich, complex and powerful way - as to be deemed sacred. Examining the history and use of scripture in the world's major religious traditions, he shows how and why scripture continues to carry momentous and at times appalling power in human affairs.That dynamic instability, that irrepressible process, and that stubborn pluralism are not simply modern embarrassments to believers. Rather, for Smith, they provide the essential clues to what "scripture" is.Smith first illustrates, by a fascinating look at the Song of Songs, how texts have both come into and passed out of their status as "scripture." He shows how one text has been differently deemed in Judaism and Christianity and strikingly variously interpreted in different settings and epochs. In ensuing chapters that explore the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and other instances, Smith lays bare the diverse strands of a complex historical process of scripture and its modern newly self-conscious phase.In the end, Smith's creative proposal is valuable not only for showing what it means to hold a text as sacred, or to treasure another's scripture, but also for the light it sheds in a troubled culture on what it means to be human.

What Is Scripture?: A Comparative Approach

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Smith, Wilfred Cantwell

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Religious Diversity: Essays (A Harper Forum Book)

Towards a world theology: Faith and the comparative history of religion (Library of philosophy and religion)

Islam in Modern History

Faith and Belief

Islam in Modern History

Faith and Belief

Modern Culture from a Comparative Perspective

Modern Culture from a Comparative Perspective

What Is Scripture?: A Comparative Approach (Political Thought)

What Is Scripture?: A Comparative Approach