Leviticus

Leviticus PDF

Author: Jacob Milgrom

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9781451410150

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Building upon his life-long work on the Book of Leviticus, Milgrom makes this book accessible to all readers. He demonstrates the logic of Israel's sacrificial system, the ethical dimensions of ancient worship, and the priestly forms of ritual.

Confucian Ritual and Moral Education

Confucian Ritual and Moral Education PDF

Author: Colin J. Lewis

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-09-30

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 1793612420

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It is widely accepted that moral education is quintessential to facilitating and maintaining prosocial attitudes. What moral education should entail and how it can be effectively pursued remain hotly disputed questions. In Confucian Ritual and Moral Education, Colin J. Lewis examines these issues by appealing to two traditions that have until now escaped comparison: Vygotsky’s theory of learning and psychosocial development and ancient Confucianism’s ritualized approach to moral education. Lewis argues first, that Vygotsky and the Confucians complement one another in a manner that enables a nuanced, empirically sound understanding of how the Confucian ritual education model should be construed and how it could be deployed; and second, just as ritual education in the Confucian tradition can be explicated in terms of modern developmental theory, this ancient notion of ritual can also serve as a viable resource for moral education in a contemporary, diverse world.

Holiness, Ethics and Ritual in Leviticus

Holiness, Ethics and Ritual in Leviticus PDF

Author: Leigh M. Trevaskis

Publisher: Sheffield Phoenix Press Limited

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781906055981

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In this book, Trevaskis argues that holiness in Leviticus always has an ethical dimension, and is not simply a cultic category. In so doing he departs from the usual view that in Leviticus 1-16 (P) holiness is largely a cultic concept. Biblical scholars have commonly read ritual texts as practical instruction or prescription, inferring the theological significance of the rituals from elsewhere. For example, theological interpretations of the 'burnt offering' have been derived from its use in narrative settings (e.g. Gen. 8.20; 22.13) rather than from its legal prescription in Leviticus 1. Trevaskis, however, argues that an implicit command to be holy exists within some ritual texts in Leviticus, which are more than mere ritual prescriptions. It is in the symbolic dimensions of the rituals that the theological significance lies. In support of this argument, he undertakes exegetical studies of the 'burnt offering' (Leviticus 1), of the 'purity regulations' (Leviticus 11_15) and of the physical appearance of priests and sacrificial animals (Leviticus 21-22). These studies take place within a methodological framework that avoids capricious symbolic interpretations. Trevaskis draws on cognitive linguistic insights to discern when a text may allude to other texts within the Pentateuch (especially Genesis 1-3), and attends to the legislator's use of various rhetorical devices (e.g. 'rhetorical progression'). Since the command to 'be holy' in Leviticus 17-26 (H) only makes explicit what P leaves implicit in Leviticus 1-16, this study has important implications for the compositional history of Leviticus. It becomes much less clear that H's ethical view of holiness developed from a prophetic critique of P (as Milgrom and Knohl, for example, argue).

Hegel's Social Ethics

Hegel's Social Ethics PDF

Author: Molly Farneth

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-04-28

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 0691203113

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Hegel’s Social Ethics offers a fresh and accessible interpretation of G. W. F. Hegel’s most famous book, the Phenomenology of Spirit. Drawing on important recent work on the social dimensions of Hegel’s theory of knowledge, Molly Farneth shows how his account of how we know rests on his account of how we ought to live. Farneth argues that Hegel views conflict as an unavoidable part of living together, and that his social ethics involves relationships and social practices that allow people to cope with conflict and sustain hope for reconciliation. Communities create, contest, and transform their norms through these relationships and practices, and Hegel’s model for them are often the interactions and rituals of the members of religious communities. The book’s close readings reveal the ethical implications of Hegel’s discussions of slavery, Greek tragedy, early modern culture wars, and confession and forgiveness. The book also illuminates how contemporary democratic thought and practice can benefit from Hegelian insights. Through its sustained engagement with Hegel’s ideas about conflict and reconciliation, Hegel’s Social Ethics makes an important contribution to debates about how to live well with religious and ethical disagreement.

The Aesthetics and Ethics of Faith

The Aesthetics and Ethics of Faith PDF

Author: Christopher D. Tirres

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-01-17

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0199352542

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What is the future of liberation thought in the Americas? In this groundbreaking work, Christopher D. Tirres takes up this question by looking at the methodological connections between two quintessentially American traditions: liberation theology and pragmatism. He explains how pragmatism lends philosophical clarity and depth to some of liberation theology's core ideas and assumptions. Liberation theology in turn offers pragmatism a more nuanced and sympathetic approach to religious faith, especially its social and pedagogical dimensions. Ultimately, Tirres crafts a philosophical foundation that ensures the continued relevance of liberation thought in today's world. Keeping true to the method of pragmatism, the book begins inductively with a set of actual experiences-- the Good Friday liturgies at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas-- and provides a compelling description of the way these performative rituals integrate the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of faith. Subsequent chapters probe this integration deductively at three levels of theoretical analysis: experience/metaphysics, sociality, and pedagogy. As Tirres shows, the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of faith emerge in different yet related ways at all three levels. He argues that utilizing the categories of the aesthetic and ethical enables a richer understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and politics. This book builds new bridges between a number of discourses and key figures, and will be of interest to all who are interested in the liberatory potential of engaged faith praxis, especially when it is expressed in the form of religious ritual.

Confucian Propriety and Ritual Learning

Confucian Propriety and Ritual Learning PDF

Author: Geir Sigurðsson

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2015-01-08

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1438454414

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A reconsideration of the Confucian concept li (ritual or ritual propriety), one that references Western philosophers as well as the Chinese context. Geir Sigurðsson offers a reconsideration of li, often translated as “ritual” or “ritual propriety,” one of the most controversial concepts in Confucian philosophy. Strong associations with the Zhou period during which Confucius lived have put this concept at odds with modernity’s emphasis on progressive rationality and liberation from the yoke of tradition. Sigurðsson notes how the Confucian perspective on learning provides a more balanced understanding of li. He goes on to discuss the limitations of the critique of tradition and of rationality’s claim to authority, referencing several Western sources, notably Hans-Georg Gadamer, John Dewey, and Pierre Bourdieu. An exposition of the ancient Chinese worldview of time and continuous change further points to the inevitability of li’s adaptable and flexible nature. Sigurðsson argues that Confucius and his immediate followers did not endorse a program of returning to the Zhou tradition, but rather of reviving the spirit of Zhou culture, involving active and personalized participation in tradition’s sustention and evolution.

Ecstasy, Ritual, and Alternate Reality

Ecstasy, Ritual, and Alternate Reality PDF

Author: Felicitas D. Goodman

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1988-12-22

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0253014638

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A cross-disciplinary exploration of comparative religion that offers a “unified field theory” of religion as human behavior. In this book, anthropologist and spiritual explorer Felicitas Goodman examines ritual, the religious trance, alternate reality, ethics and moral code, and the named category designating religion. The analysis is divided into two sections. The first reviews species-wide human traits that form the basis for religious behavior. Goodman, in speculative examination, traces the origins of religion to the dawn of human history, when religious ritual was accompanied by gesture rather than full-fledged modern speech. Ritual is seen as being the expression of the vastness of the drama of human life, death, birth, and procreation. The common neurophysiological basis for religious experience is seen to be a particular type of brain “tuning,” the religious altered state of consciousness, a trance facilitating contact with an alternate reality. The content of this other reality is shown to vary according to the type of adaptation to the habitat. The second section describes the religious systems of the world, dividing them according to societal type. A systematic comparison shows that religions vary according to whether people are hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, agriculturalists, nomadic pastoralists, or city dwellers. “An important book which deserves the careful attention of serious students of religion.” —Religious Studies Review “Very few such global interpretations are ever attempted—and this one succeeds . . . The book’s importance is in the interpretation as well as in the rich data base materials the book presents.” —Willard Johnson

Ritual and Morality

Ritual and Morality PDF

Author: Hyam Maccoby

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-01-11

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9780521093651

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The book explains clearly the ritual purity system of the Hebrew Bible. Maccoby focuses on the various human conditions (corpse impurity, menstruation, childbirth, sexual intercourse, and certain diseases), which are not sinful, but which disqualify Israelites from entering the Temple unless they have been purified. Various recent theories of the origin and meaning of the rules of ritual purity are discussed, and common misconceptions are corrected. New solutions are proposed for various problems. This is the first book on the subject that is accessible to the specialist and nonspecialist reader alike.