Аннотация

The Jesus of the four Gospels–and we have no knowledge of any other–appears mainly as a healer and a teacher–that is, as a healer of the soul. Three of the historically most certain facts about him were (1) his pacifism, (2) his feminism, and (3) that his women followers were the true founders of Christianity! The proof of these astounding claims you will find in the book.

Аннотация

This is a volume written for persons who live in the mental world of modernity–that is, in a world that cherishes (1) freedom as the core of being human; (2) critical-thinking reason as the arbiter of what to affirm or not; (3) history, process, and dynamism at the heart of human life and society; and (4) dialogue with those who think differently yet who sense that there is somehow more to life, to reality, than meets the eye: that there is a depth or spiritual dimension not captured in our everyday experiences, which is customarily called religion. Religion for Reluctant Believers explores the meaning of life: its joys, problems, and terrors, its pluses and minuses. In short, it asks the question, do you want to buy into Religion with a capital r, into a particular religion, or into no religion at all?

Аннотация

Thinking beyond the absolutes Christians and other religious persons increasingly find «deabsolutized» in our modern thought world, Swidler reflects on the ways we humans think about the world and its meaning now that increasingly we notice that there are other ways of understanding the world than the way we grew up in. In this new situation we need to develop a common language we can use together both to appreciate our neighbors and enrich ourselves, what the author calls Ecumenical Esperanto, because it should serve as a common language without replacing any of the living languages of our religious and ideological traditions. Of course, such thinking anew about the world and its meaning must necessarily mean thinking anew about all of our religious beliefs–but this time, in dialogue.