The Joseph Paradox

The Joseph Paradox PDF

Author: Hillel I. Millgram

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0786489820

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This book is a reader-friendly treatment of the Joseph story--one of the most popular tales in the Bible. Instead of the usual interpretation as an Horatio Alger success story, the text proposes that we are presented with a cautionary tale of high achievement and the pursuit of success. In the context of the larger biblical narrative, Joseph's short-term success leads to the enslavement of his descendants and the centuries-long derailment of the destiny of the Children of Israel. The self-limiting nature of the pursuit of power is just one of the themes illuminated in this work.

The Paradox of American Power

The Paradox of American Power PDF

Author: Joseph S. Nye Jr.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2003-05-01

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0199839638

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Not since the Roman Empire has any nation had as much economic, cultural, and military power as the United States does today. Yet, as has become all too evident through the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the impending threat of the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran, that power is not enough to solve global problems--like terrorism, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction--without involving other nations. Here Joseph S. Nye, Jr. focuses on the rise of these and other new challenges and explains clearly why America must adopt a more cooperative engagement with the rest of the world.

The Motion Paradox

The Motion Paradox PDF

Author: Joseph Mazur

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9780525949923

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Traces the epic history of Greek philosopher Zeno's yet-unsolved paradox of motion, citing the contributions of top minds to the scientific community's understanding of the elusive basic structure of time and space.

The Secular Paradox

The Secular Paradox PDF

Author: Joseph Blankholm

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2022-06-07

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1479809527

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A radically new way of understanding secularism which explains why being secular can seem so strangely religious For much of America’s rapidly growing secular population, religion is an inescapable source of skepticism and discomfort. It shows up in politics and in holidays, but also in common events like weddings and funerals. In The Secular Paradox, Joseph Blankholm argues that, despite their desire to avoid religion, nonbelievers often seem religious because Christianity influences the culture around them so deeply. Relying on several years of ethnographic research among secular activists and organized nonbelievers in the United States, the volume explores how very secular people are ambivalent toward belief, community, ritual, conversion, and tradition. As they try to embrace what they share, secular people encounter, again and again, that they are becoming too religious. And as they reject religion, they feel they have lost too much. Trying to strike the right balance, secular people alternate between the two sides of their ambiguous condition: absolutely not religious and part of a religion-like secular tradition. Blankholm relies heavily on the voices of women and people of color to understand what it means to live with the secular paradox. The struggles of secular misfits—the people who mis-fit normative secularism in the United States—show that becoming secular means rejecting parts of life that resemble Christianity and embracing a European tradition that emphasizes reason and avoids emotion. Women, people of color, and secular people who have left non-Christian religions work against the limits and contradictions of secularism to create new ways of being secular that are transforming the American religious landscape. They are pioneering the most interesting and important forms of secular “religiosity” in America today.

Zeno's Paradox

Zeno's Paradox PDF

Author: Joseph Mazur

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-03-25

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780452289178

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The fascinating story of an ancient riddle and what it reveals about the nature of time and space Three millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Zeno constructed a series of logical paradoxes to prove that motion is impossible. Today, these paradoxes remain on the cutting edge of our investigations into the fabric of space and time. Zeno's Paradox uses the motion paradox as a jumping-off point for an exploration of the twenty-five-hundred-year quest to uncover the true nature of the universe. From Galileo to Einstein to Stephen Hawking, some of the greatest minds in history have tackled the problem and made spectacular breakthroughs, but through it all, the paradox of motion remains.

Three Paradoxes of Personhood

Three Paradoxes of Personhood PDF

Author: Joseph Margolis

Publisher: Mimesis

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788869771040

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The starting point of Joseph Margolis' last philosophical effort is represented by the problem of the human "gap" in animal continuity: "There appear to be no comparable variants of animal evolution effected by anything like the culturally enabled creation". While we share with other animals more or less refined forms of societal life, acquiring a natural language remains a distinctively human character: although it is grounded in the completely natural favourable changes in the human vocal apparatus and brain, the merely causal emergence of language in humans reacts back into human primates by transforming them into persons or selves. The artifactuality of persons appears to be at the same time a natural and emergent phenomenon, constituting the other side of the process of language acquisition both by early hominids and by human infants. In this perspective the largely informal, mongrel and approximate functionality of ordinary language is interpreted as a good tool for the cultural animal to cope with the world, while the collective dimension of human forms of life appears as the shared context of external and internal constitution of the human selves

Joseph - Life Is a Paradox

Joseph - Life Is a Paradox PDF

Author: Oforiwah Penney-Laryea

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2023-12-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Like the story of Joseph, life can be very difficult, especially when one is betrayed by the person or people you love and trust. However, to be able to move on in life and achieve your dreams, you must work through the betrayal and forgive your betrayer or those who have wronged you. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself to get rid of the resentment and toxicity you have towards your betrayer and those who have wronged you. By so doing you free your heart from revenge to enable you to focus and achieve your purpose and dreams in life. Studies have shown that unforgiveness can be detrimental to one's health leading to a lot of the sicknesses that people are suffering from. For instance, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, cancer and insomnia, just to mention a few. Forgiveness on the other hand, leads to better health and general well-being. The lessons in this book provide helpful tips on how to deal with betrayal, and to be able to forgive those who have wronged you, minimize sibling rivalry, trust in God for His guidance and help, and by so doing persevere in challenging times to achieve your dreams or God's given purpose against all odds. Life is a paradox because, the very challenging situations like betrayal that can cripple one in life, are the same ones that can strengthen, build and enable you to thrive in life. That is, if you can persevere, seek help when necessary and go through them successfully. One should be ready to have a mind shift knowing that it is possible to go through any personal crisis and come out victorious. Joseph's life is a perfect example of how he rose above the tremendously difficult circumstances of betrayal by his brothers whom he loved and trusted, and his master's wife who framed him up landing him in prison. However, Joseph endured these challenges and forgave his bothers and others who have wronged him, worked hard, and trusted in God for guidance and help. Therefore, Joseph thrived everywhere he was placed and finally fulfilled his dream and purpose in life.

The Theological Role of Paradox in the Gospel of Mark

The Theological Role of Paradox in the Gospel of Mark PDF

Author: Laura C. Sweat

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-10-10

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 0567215709

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Scholarship on the Gospel of Mark has long been convinced of the paradoxical description of two of its primary themes, christology and discipleship. This book argues that paradoxical language pervades the entire narrative, and that it serves a theological purpose in describing God's activity. Part One focuses on divine action present in Mark 4:10-12. In the first paradox, Mark portrays God's revelatory acts as consistently accompanied by concealment. The second paradox is shown in the various ways in which divine action confirms, yet counters, scripture. Finally, Mark describes God's actions in ways that indicate both wastefulness and goodness; deeds that are further illuminated by the ongoing, yet defeated, presence of evil. Part Two demonstrates that this paradoxical language is widely attested across Mark's passion narrative, as he continues to depict God's activity with the use of the three paradoxes observed in Mark 4. Through paradoxical narrative, Mark emphasizes God's transcendence and presence, showing that even though Jesus has brought revelation, a complete understanding of God remains tantalizingly out of their grasp until the eschaton (4:22).

People of Paradox

People of Paradox PDF

Author: Terryl L. Givens

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2007-08-29

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0198037368

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In People of Paradox, Terryl Givens traces the rise and development of Mormon culture from the days of Joseph Smith in upstate New York, through Brigham Young's founding of the Territory of Deseret on the shores of Great Salt Lake, to the spread of the Latter-Day Saints around the globe. Throughout the last century and a half, Givens notes, distinctive traditions have emerged among the Latter-Day Saints, shaped by dynamic tensions--or paradoxes--that give Mormon cultural expression much of its vitality. Here is a religion shaped by a rigid authoritarian hierarchy and radical individualism; by prophetic certainty and a celebration of learning and intellectual investigation; by existence in exile and a yearning for integration and acceptance by the larger world. Givens divides Mormon history into two periods, separated by the renunciation of polygamy in 1890. In each, he explores the life of the mind, the emphasis on education, the importance of architecture and urban planning (so apparent in Salt Lake City and Mormon temples around the world), and Mormon accomplishments in music and dance, theater, film, literature, and the visual arts. He situates such cultural practices in the context of the society of the larger nation and, in more recent years, the world. Today, he observes, only fourteen percent of Mormon believers live in the United States. Mormonism has never been more prominent in public life. But there is a rich inner life beneath the public surface, one deftly captured in this sympathetic, nuanced account by a leading authority on Mormon history and thought.