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In the Zionist context there has developed a fundamental
disagreement over the relative sacredness of land, human
life, and morality itself. For most of the history of rabbinic
Judaism, when forced to choose, priority has been given to
human life and
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Study Guide/vocabulary Chinese Philosophers
Your task is to fill in as many details for every major theme (at least
two). Read the theme and think back to see which details support the
theme from the unit. Your goal is to pro
247
Analysis of religious peace organizations is instructive in this
regard. Take, for example, Oz Ve-Shalom, the Orthodox
Zionist peace group in Israel. They have, over the course of
the last twenty years, provoked a national conversation on
the nature o
232
Yet, with all sincere appreciation for the importance of Philo and for
the labours of those who devote themselves to study of him, neither Philo
nor other second-temple Jewish texts explains key features of earliest
Christianity witnessed in the New T
246
It is only partially true that what causes a person to focus on
one text or another is due to one's emotional nature, family
upbringing, or socioeconomic status. This is too easy a
dismissal of the powerful impact of ideas on human minds or
hearts in
218
In fact, based on the evidence compiled by Tcherikover, Fuks and Stern,
it appears that Egyptian Jews made a stronger effort to express their ethnic
and traditional particularity across the late Seleucid and Roman periods, in
comparison with the Helle
250
NONVIOLENCE AND PACIFISM
A critical concept for the inner life in the Eastern traditions of
Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism is ahimsa, nonviolence,
made famous in the West by Mohandas Gandhi. [23]
Certainly, in an Asian context, the elaboration and us
239
that science can be wrong in its theories, contradictory in its evidence, or
sometimes just plain
wrong [Science can BECOME a religion]:
Example 1: The psychology of self-esteem
[prison inmates are often abundant, not lacking in, self-esteem.]
Example
209
Philo and Hebrews
The New Testament writing that most often has been thought to have a
possible connection to Philo is the Epistle to the Hebrews. Runia, for
example, has referred to Hebrews as unquestionably showing the most
affinity to Philonic thou
235
Daoism
Legalism
235
236
PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION LECTURE
Jennifer Deering Writing Class
DR. JIM GUINEE
MARCH 14, 2003
I. Introduction
A. Personal Disclosure
-I am a Christianand more or less became one in graduate school in psychology.
-Most psychologis
223
My aim here is to show further that comparison of the New Testament
with the Diaspora Jewish background assists us as much in the
identification of distinguishing features of early Christianity as it does in
detecting how the young religious movement
208
1
The prologue is the Johannine passage that often has been thought to
offer the strongest possibilities for a connection to Philo. But even here,
beyond the coincidental (and very different) use of Logos by both authors,
there is in fact nothing spec
216
1
For his part, Philo illustrates eloquently that Greek-speaking Jews of the
first century CE eagerly continued to devote themselves to pondering and
promoting their scriptures. Whatever his own intellectual and/or rhetorical
skills, Philo is to be se
242
RELIGION, VIOLENCE, AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Marc Gopin
Religion has a dual legacy in human history regarding peace
and violence. Conflict resolution theory must examine more
systematically the decision-making of religious actors and
leaders in order f
230
Yet Philo does at least help us to perceive more precisely what was
innovative and unusual about early devotion to Jesus, and in the light of
Philo and other second-temple Jewish sources we are better able to
appreciate the remarkable nature of the ea
225
Moreover, the terms of Pauls Gentile mission are unique.1 By
contrast, the sort of Diaspora Jews who are represented by Philo saw full
Gentile conversion to the God of Israel as involving an abandonment of
non-Jewish religion, family, friends, and soc
227
Space does not permit me to elaborate the matter further. My main
contention here is that Philo does not help us to account for Pauls views.
Nothing that I can see in Philo provides us a missing explanatory link or key
that unlocks the remarkable conv
243
There are two essential benefits to exploring a relationship
between religion and conflict resolution theory.
First, there is a vast reservoir of information in sacred texts
on peacemaking and on prosocial and antisocial values that
affect conflict. T
219
1
The tensions in Diaspora Jewish communities over whether and how
to maintain Jewish particularity, most specifically over what to do about
observance of Torah, were very serious, and are completely understandable
to anyone who considers the situatio
241
V. Conclusion
As a religious person, I have found psychology useful to understand how and why I
approach religion in the way that I do. It is not as useful to me as my faith, but
nonetheless it has helped inform me of the problems, imperfections, and
217
Philos intention is to conquer the surrounding culture
ideologically by claiming that whatever good there is has its
source in Scripture and thus belongs to the Jewish nation and its
heritage. In this way, Philo represents the dynamic and offensive
mo
249
How can the role of the religious leader be analyzed more
fully in this regard? In many societies, emulation of an ideal
figure, including a deity, is the foundation of all prosocial
values. [17] This makes the analysis of leadership critical,
and mig
226
Furthermore, in spite of frequent claims to the contrary by some of his
contemporary Jewish opponents (e.g., Acts 21:20-21) and by some scholars
subsequently, Pauls conviction that Gentiles were excused from Torahobservance did not mean discouraging J
231
Alexandria in Philos lifetime. Indeed, Torrey Seland has pointed to
Philo as expressing approval of the view that devout Jews are entitled to
take direct punitive action against other Jews whom they witness committing
public outrage against Gods honou
238
How psychology may view religion
A. Psychologists, more than many other science field, certainly more than the
public,
eschews religion, and at times, denigrates it.
-Allen Bergin calls this the religiousness gap - to signify the disparity in belief
a
253
There are discernible patterns of progression in interfaith
conflict resolution that, if properly identified, may provide a
framework of analysis and activism not currently available.
For example, in the past decade there has been a
remarkable develop
224
1
Certainly, Diaspora Jews such as Philo often seem to have been eager to
defend, and even commend, their religion to Gentiles, and they likely were
often ready to welcome any level of positive interest from Gentiles in their
religion.2 But I can find
211
To conclude that Philos major usefulness for New Testament studies is as a
major witness and illustration of the Jewish setting of earliest Christianity is
by no means a negative, but instead a highly positive judgement. Of course,
Philo scholarship n
248
Familiarity with classical sources might make it possible-to
distinguish where and when a leader is expressing genuine
traditions and when he or she is merely using religion to
gain political power through the use of violence. Even if
he/she is expres
1
This ethical posture makes a place in the rabbinic universe
for someone utterly "Other," who will never be Jewish, or
even monotheistic. Furthermore, the position is not based on
a hidden agenda or the mixed motives of a hoped-for
conversion. [45] The l
