Anhand zahlreicher Beispiele aus der Kunstgeschichte führt Ori Z. Soltes in die verschlüsselte Welt der religiösen Symbolik und Ikonographie ein und zeigt dabei auf, dass unterschiedliche Kulturen ähnliche religiöse Symbole entwickelt haben – in der Malerei, Bildhauerei und Architektur.
A lucid and engaging breakdown of the history, culture, and politics that define today’s Middle East. Untangling the Middle East is a layman’s guide to the history—political, religious, and cultural—that led us to the current challenges plaguing the Middle East. It covers the major interests and actors in the region, from Israel to ISIS, and helps to spin a narrative of the evolution of violence and conflict in this age-old hotbed of unrest. There are no easy answers or simple explanations to be found here, only a clear-eyed and engaging recounting of the many factors that have brought this region to where it is today. Whether he is discussing the history of the Semitic peoples or the birth of Islam in the region, Soltes brings insight and much needed context to the people, places, and things that make up the inheritance of today’s Middle East. He possesses the historian’s appreciation for detail and the teacher’s knack for fashioning coherence out of complex material. This book should be a go-to resource for a solid foundation in understanding the Middle East and a bulwark against the disinformation regarding this region that is often found on cable television or in speeches on the campaign trail. The Middle East may be a mess but it need not be a mystery, with the help of this indispensable guide.
Professor Ori Soltes exploration of how sports, war, art and religion all come together to give us a greater understanding of human history.
The "problem of God" is not God's problem, it is humanity's problem. Why is it a problem?-or perhaps better put, how is it a problem? This book addresses this double issue by asking three questions. Why and how does religion exist in the first place as a construct and what is it all about? What are some of the particulars, from antiquity to the present, across a panoply of cultures and civilizations, regarding how diverse human groups have wondered and worried about divinity? To what extent, while this is a theological narrative-exploring what humans have thought about what God (theos in Greek) is-is it actually an anthropological narrative: what are humans (anthropos in Greek) as a species? We are rational and irrational, guided by our minds and our hearts; we are supremely creative and incomparably destructive; our sense of obligation to forces beyond us with their own creative and destructive capabilities contends with our desire to be free of that sense of obligation-but then burdened with the responsibility of such freedom.
This book is not a comprehensive study of Rumi and Gulen, but it seeks to explore the places where the thought of the one is echoed in the thinking of the other, either overtly or indirectly and to note ways in which the opposite is true: that Gulen diverges from Rumi. The book is also seeking to suggest some of the larger contexts in which the thinking of both resides. Given the wide-ranging aspects of their respective writings, it should not be surprising if, minimally, we can find important foundation stones in both philosophy and theology in the edifices that they each construct."
"This volume has three related intentions. First, to offer a brief discussion of Fethullah Gülen, based in part on interviews with people who have known him and/or worked with him in the course of his life. Second, to explore Gülen's thought, based on three sources: his voluminous writings; his actions as they have reflected his writings over the years; further interviews with many individuals who have been influenced by and/or inspired by him to think and/or to act in particular ways. Third, to engage the bases for the attacks that have been directed at Fethullah Gülen over the years from different directions, but in particular those that have been organized and directed by the Turkish government since 2013"--
How can we address the seemingly endless conflicts in the world, particularly those arising from misunderstandings of Islam by both Muslims and non-Muslims? Preventing Violence and Achieving World The Contributions of the Gülen Movement presents the essays of eight scholars who consider the diverse ways in which the Gülen Movement or hizmet («service to others») – inspired by contemporary Turkish social philosopher Fetullah Gülen – has worked to answer this question. Drawing from various intellectual and theological sources, particularly Sufism, these essays indicate multiple instances of positive interfaith and/or multicultural dialogue. In addition, they consider how the writings of Gülen and the works of the Gülen Movement, through an extensive program of education and communication, have contributed significantly to efforts that oppose violence and shape universal peace.