bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus
Authors: Smith Mark S. 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
This chapter begins the discussion on Israelite monotheism by noting the deep impact on Yahweh of the god El; the formative traditions of Israel, now largely lost in the mists of time, camouflage a complex relationship between El and Yahweh. The chapter turns in particular to a seminal question in the religion of ancient Israel: who was the original chief god of Israel? Thanks to the pioneering work of B. A. Levine on El traditions in Iron Age Transjordan, it is possible to explore further old traditions about El in early Israel. Because the name of the god El appears as the divine element in the name of IsraEL, it has been supposed that El was the original god of Israel, and some evidence may point to El as the god associated with the Exodus from Egypt in some early biblical tradition. The implications for the religious origins of ancient Israel are profound, and they raise basic questions for anyone, scholar and non-scholar alike, who takes seriously the complexity of the biblical witnesses to the god of Israel. The chapter also addresses the origins of Yahweh and the problems surrounding their reconstruction.
The Emergence of Monotheistic Rhetoric in Ancient Judah
Authors: Smith Mark S. 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
Monotheism is addressed in the context of the polytheisms of ancient Ugarit and early Israel. Within the Bible, monotheism is not a separate stage of religion in ancient Israel, as it is customarily regarded. It was in fact a kind of ancient rhetoric reinforcing Israel’s exclusive relationship with its deity. Monotheism is a kind of inner community discourse using the language of Yahweh’s exceptional divine status over and in all reality (“there are no other deities but me”) in order to absolutize Yahweh’s claim on Israel and to express Israel’s ultimate fidelity to Yahweh in a world where political boundaries or institutions no longer offered sufficiently intelligible lines of religious identity. In its political and social reduction in the world (first because of the rise of foreign empires in the seventh century, followed by its exile in 587–538 ), Israel elevated the terms of its understanding of its deity’s mastery of the world. Put summarily: Israel was now no nation, but the gods of other nations, including the greatest powers, were not really gods; and Yahweh was the sole force over both.
The Formation of Monotheistic Theologies in Biblical Literature
Authors: Smith Mark S. 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
An examination is made of the monotheistic theologies in the priestly work of Genesis 1, the wisdom of Proverbs 1–9, and the apocalyptic of Daniel 7. These are three monotheistic adaptations to the older model of the Israelite national god: respectively, a priestly model, the form of the figure of wisdom personified in female terms, and apocalyptic imagery, with its clear reminiscences of old monarchic theology. All three models involve old mythic material that spoke powerfully and was reused in new and varying circumstances. Mythic narratives and imagery were the chosen forms not only of educated classes such as the monarchy or priesthood; rather, these groups likely drew upon these materials precisely because they were well known among the educated and uneducated, rich and poor. After the treatment of these monotheistic presentations of the Israelite national deity, the author addresses the so-called demise of myth in Israel. Like the preceding chapters, this survey uses the Ugaritic mythological texts as a primary source.
Callings, Journeys, and Quests
Authors: Porpora Douglas V. 
Published: October 2003

AbstractInvestigates how frequently people apply to their lives the traditional metaphors of calling or vocation, journey, and quest. To what do people feel called? Where are they going on life's journey? For what are they questing? The conclusion of this chapter is that in the fading use of these metaphors, what is fading as well is moral idealism and the sense that our undertakings have any larger significance.
Communities of Discourse
Authors: Porpora Douglas V. 
Published: October 2003

AbstractExamines how our sense of reality, in general, and religious reality, in particular, are established within community. Certain religious experiences, it is argued, are possible only within certain communally established frames of reality. Relativism and skepticism about ultimate truth are nonetheless to be resisted. Following the philosophical perspective of critical realism, it is argued that objective truth can be ascertained – if always provisionally – through the process of argument that is itself a community or intercommunity endeavor.
Creation and Angst in Kierkegaard
Authors: Bellinger Charles K. 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
The Christian idea that creation is an ongoing event is found at the heart of Kierkegaard's thought. The incompleteness of creation lies behind the uniquely human emotion: angst (which arises out of the nondetermined nature of human psychology). The fall into sin occurs when humans seek to manage their angst by removing themselves from the process of creation. Kierkegaard's concept of angst is contrasted with the concept of fear in David Hume and Ernest Becker.
The Kierkegaardian Understanding of Violence
Authors: Bellinger Charles K. 
Published: October 2003

AbstractKierkegaard emphasizes that God is love; God desires the maximum of human flourishing. Therefore, if human beings perceive God as a threat to their immature egos, they are mistaken at the core of their being. Human rejection of the divine call is seen most dramatically in the crucifixion of Christ. The root of ill will toward others is ill will toward the self that one is in the process of becoming.
Are Secular Perspectives on Violence Sufficient?
Authors: Bellinger Charles K. 
Published: October 2003

AbstractStandard social science is required to conform to the dictates of methodological atheism. Rene Girard's thought is ambiguous with regard to the question of whether his theory of violence meets this requirement. James Gilligan and Fred Alford are two authors who write out of a similar ambiguity, though they tend to come down more on the secular side. Eric Voegelin's thought provides a critique of the limitations of secular social science and points toward the possibility of an explicitly theological social science, which Girard has been moving toward in his later writings.
The Problem of Christian Violence
Authors: Bellinger Charles K. 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
If it is the case that the best approach to understanding violence arises out of the Bible, as Kierkegaard and Girard demonstrate, why is it that Christians have been so violent during their history? This chapter offers a brief summary of violent events in the history of Christianity, such as the Crusades and the Inquisition. The ways in which Kierkegaard and Girard enable us to understand these events is outlined. It is argued that both authors are in tune with the Anabaptist approach to interpreting the history of Christianity and ”reintroducing Christianity into Christendom.”
Opening a Mountain
Authors: Heine Steven 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
Opening a Mountain is a translation with a commentary of 60 koan cases that feature an important supernatural or ritual element selected from a variety of the major and minor Zen Buddhist koan collections compiled in Sung China and Kamakura Japan. The koan is a brief, enigmatic anecdote or dialog between two contesting parties that defines the heart. The book demonstrates that the main theme underlying much of the koan literature deals with how Zen masters opened or transformed mountains. The transforming of spiritual forces that had been closing off the mountains into manifestations of sacred space in Zen was referred to as kuai‐shan in Chinese (or kaizan in Japanese). The mountains harbored spirits, demons, and bodhisattvas, as well as hermits, recluses, ascetics, and other irregular practitioners, and were opened using the symbols and rituals of spiritual purification. In contrast with conventional interpretations that view koans as psychological exercises with a purely iconoclastic intention, the approach here highlights the rich component of mythological and marvelous elements that pervade this genre of literature in a way that complements, rather than contradicts, the demythological or iconoclastic perspective. This approach to interpreting Zen literature is distinctive and innovative in several respects. Opening a Mountain includes the selection of koan cases emphasizing supernatural symbols, such as mountains, animals, and other natural imagery, based on a scholarly standard of translation and citation of source materials. The main topics include “Surveying Mountain Landscapes,” “Contesting with Irregular Rivals,” “Encountering Supernatural Forces,” “Wielding Symbols of Authority,” and “Giving Life and Controlling Death as Confessional Experiences.”
Contesting With Irregular Rivals
Authors: Heine Steven 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
These koan cases include encounters with rivals within the Zen lineage as well as practitioners outside the monastic order, such as hermits, shamans, wizards, mind readers, and miracle workers, and dangerous women including nuns and Zen grannies. Zen masters test their skills to show that they are more proficient than the irregular practitioners, who often gain a reputation for spiritual prowess.
Encountering Supernatural Forces
Authors: Heine Steven 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
This section concerns the experiences of the supranormal realm of dreams, visions, and apparitions, in addition to meetings with spirits, gods, demons, and bodhisattvas. It also treats strange, anomalous, or magical entities like the snake and fox, which have the power to shift shape into human form in order to deceive or to bless. Zen masters apply some form of purification to transform the energy of the shape‐shifting spirits.
Body Work
Authors: Glancy Jennifer A. 
Published: October 2003

AbstractIn the urban settings of Paul's ministry, slaves he encountered were likely to be engaged in a variety of occupations, from production of commodities to bookkeeping to domestic service. Because slaves were sexual property, a slaveholder had the right to force a slave into prostitution, and indeed, most prostitutes were slaves. In 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians, Paul decries porneia, or sexual immorality, but he does not define porneia. Slaves were not in a position to protect the sexual boundaries of their bodies, a limitation that requires us either to reconsider the receptivity of the Christian body to slaves or to reformulate our understanding of expectations for sexual purity among the membership of Pauline churches.
Body Language
Authors: Glancy Jennifer A. 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
Most slaves in the Roman Empire were probably houseborn, i.e., the offspring of slave mothers. Other sources of slaves included exposure of children, war, kidnapping, and – to a very limited extent – self‐sale. Documentary evidence is especially likely to illuminate the slave system at moments of transition in the life of a slave: in documents related to the transfer of ownership (through the slave trade or through testamentary legacies), in fugitive slave notices, and in declarations of manumission. Early Christian rhetoric repeatedly evoked liminal moments of slavery through, for example, the metaphor of enslavement and the metaphor of being freed.
Temples and Temple Patronage in Kakatiya Andhra
Authors: Talbot Cynthia 
Published: October 2003

AbstractStone inscriptions document religious gifts made to Hindu temples by a wide range of donors who sought not only religious benefit but also social prestige and political advancement. Temple patronage was a major stimulus to economic growth since it led to the extension of agriculture and the creation of irrigation facilities. The older temples of coastal Andhra such as Draksharama and Srisailam received the most endowments, mainly in the form of livestock, whereas the newer temples of the interior were generally given land. The patrons of these two types of temples also differed in occupational background, demonstrating that the communities constituted by temple worship varied considerably. The standard model of the Hindu temple institution as a harmonious force for social integration and economic redistribution thus needs to be modified in recognition of the competitive character of temple patronage.
Moral Reality
Authors: Bloomfield Paul 
Published: October 2003

AbstractThe book is a work in metaethics, constituting a defense of moral realism. The book begins with what I call a “modest transcendental argument” for the existence of the property of moral goodness based on an acknowledgment of the possibility that personal moral failing may go forever undetected; as such this is an argument from error. The property of physical health, understood in terms of proper function, is used as a model for moral goodness. This anchors the moral ontology on foundations as solid as those found in the physical sciences. A moral epistemology is developed in which we may learn about goodness much in the way doctors and scientists may learn about healthiness. The semantics that emerges from this picture is multifaceted and nuanced enough to preserve complicated common sense semantic intuitions about how the word “good” is used in moral contexts. The position also implies a defense of an externalist theory about the relationship between the recognition of a moral consideration and motivation. The book closes with an appendix in which the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics is questioned, and a nonreducible ontology for entropy is considered as an ontological model for both physical health and moral goodness.
Introduction
Authors: Bloomfield Paul 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
An extended transcendental argument for moral realism is given cast in terms of an “argument from error”. This is distinguished from an argument from moral phenomenology because the errors under consideration are those that go undetected despite our confidence of their existence. First person error is focused upon in particular as is the human condition in general. The argument establishes a presumption in favor of moral realism, not a conclusive proof. A theory of moral goodness is needed, and a sketch of the ontological, epistemological, semantic, and psychological questions any such theory must answer is given.
Moral Metaphysics
Authors: Bloomfield Paul 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
The property of physical health is presented as a model for moral goodness, and a primer on being healthy follows. Healthiness is understood in terms of proper biological function. Conventionalism and relativism, two bugbears of moral realism, are discussed in relation to healthiness and found not to arouse suspicion about the reality of physical health. By analogy, these can be accommodated by moral realism. A discussion of the supervenience and reduction of goodness and health follows, and the chapter ends with a discussion of S. Blackburn's challenge to moral realism based on supervenience.
Moral Language
Authors: Bloomfield Paul 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
The semantics of “health” are discussed by way of Aquinas’ theory of analogical predication: “health” and “good” have the tripartite semantic structure in terms of a base use, causes, and signs. This tripartite structure is mapped back onto the discussion of virtue theory, deontology, and consequentialism. T. Horgan and M.Timmon's Moral Twin Earth problem for moral realism is discussed and found not to apply to the present theory. The syntax of biological function statements is explicated and found to have the same underlying structure as prescriptions. A sketch of a theory of the normativity is proffered.
Virtue, Vice, and Value
Authors: Hurka Thomas 
Published: October 2003

AbstractWhat are virtue and vice, and how do they relate to other moral properties such as goodness and rightness? This book defends a perfectionist account of virtue and vice that gives distinctive answers to these questions. The account treats the virtues as higher‐level intrinsic goods, ones that involve morally appropriate attitudes to other, independent goods and evils. Virtue by itself makes a person's life better, but in a way that depends on the goodness of other things. This account was accepted by many early twentieth‐ century consequentialists, including Franz Brentano, G. E. Moore, Hastings Rashdall, and W. D. Ross. The book elaborates it further than has been done before, describing its mathematical structure, connecting it to individual virtues and vices, and applying it to specific issues such as the morality of fantasy and the proper roles of private charity and the welfare state. While doing so, it argues for the account's superiority over rival views of virtue, including those defended under the heading of “virtue ethics.”
The Recursive Account
Authors: Hurka Thomas 
Published: October 2003

AbstractThis chapter introduces the book's basic account of virtue and vice. This account combines two elements: (1) a recursive characterization of goodness and evil, which makes morally appropriate attitudes to other goods and evils intrinsically good and morally inappropriate attitudes evil, and (2) a definition of virtue and vice that equates them with these good and evil attitudes. The chapter discusses how this recursive account allows consequentialist moral views to treat virtue as an intrinsic good; it also traces the account's history of philosophers such as Aristotle, Sidgwick, Brentano, Rashdall, Moore, Ross, Chisholm, and Nozick.
Merits and Implications
Authors: Hurka Thomas 
Published: October 2003

AbstractThis chapter defends the recursive account by identifying in turn, attractive features of its two main elements: the recursive characterization of good and evil and the associated definition of virtue and vice. The chapter also discusses the value of personal relationships, whether virtue is found primarily in occurrent attitudes or in dispositions (the latter a view of Aristotle's), whether virtue must be voluntary, and how virtue relates to right action.
Degrees of Virtue and Vice
Authors: Hurka Thomas 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
Discusses degrees of virtue and vice, or what determines how virtuous or vicious a given attitude is; it treats this as an issue of measurement. The chapter discusses both atomistic principles, which assign degrees of value to individual attitudes considered on their own, and holistic principles, which value certain combinations of attitudes as combinations, using Moore's principle of organic unities. Both types of principle favor proportionality, or dividing one's concern among objects in proportion to their degrees of value; the chapter represents both visually, using graphs.
Attitudes, Beliefs, and Love as a Condition of Value
Authors: Hurka Thomas 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
This chapter considers some further issues about the recursive account: how the value of an attitude is affected by the presence of a belief in its object's existence, the morality of fantasy, the relative values of attitudes that do and do not involve beliefs about their objects’ value (these are called intellectualized vs. simply emotional attitudes), and the challenge of a rival view suggested by Mill, Frankena, and Parfit that makes love of an object a condition of that object's having value.
Against Virtue Ethics
Authors: Hurka Thomas 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
Having spent its bulk elaborating its own account of virtue, the book closes by arguing for this account's superiority over those defended under the heading of “virtue ethics.” It critically assesses the virtue‐ethical views of Anscombe, Slote, Hursthouse, and others, considering their claims about the relation between virtue and right action, the nature of virtue, especially as related to flourishing or an aretaic concept of admirability, and the antitheoretical approach to ethics. One of the chapter's claims is that, despite virtue‐ethicists’ repeated denials, their view is objectionably egoistic or self‐centered.
Introduction
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
The Introduction argues that, despite the current fashions in scholarly circles, it is possible to unambiguously determine what Jesus meant in his parables and our sayings, and to explain it in a way that is both simple and clear. The key to such an explanation lies in the use of 60 or so simple and universal human concepts, which have been identified through empirical cross‐linguistic investigations, as a shared core of all languages. These concepts include GOOD and BAD, SOMEONE and SOMETHING, KNOW, THINK, WANT, FEEL IF and BECAUSE, and 50 or so others. The chapter emphasizes the importance of Jesus’ Jewish context for the understanding of his teaching and it shows how the use of universal human concepts allows us to separate the universal content of Jesus’ teaching from its historical and cultural embedding. While the author identifies herself as a Roman Catholic, the perspective on the Gospels adopted in this chapter (and in the book as a whole) is broadly ecumenical, including Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Christian tradition, as well as the writings of Jewish scholars.
The Beatitudes
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna 
Published: October 2003

AbstractThis chapter focuses on those Beatitudes widely regarded as “authentic,” that is, as representing Jesus’ “ipsissima verba,” and stresses their importance as the heart of Jesus’ preaching. It discusses the meaning of the Greek expressions underlying the English “poor (in spirit),” “the hungry,” “those who mourn (weep),” and “the meek,” and explains the sense of the relevant Beatitudes in simple and universal human concepts. For example, the sense of the beatitude of “the weeping (mourning)” is represented (partially) as follows: “sometimes very bad things happen to people; because these things happen, these people feel something very bad; God knows about this; God will do good things for these people because of this; these people will feel something very good because of this”
The Sower
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna 
Published: October 2003

AbstractThe parable of the Sower is widely regarded as “the great watershed of all Jesus’ parables” (Capon 1985), but its meaning has been disputed, and the parable has even been used (by Crossan 1978) as a prime example of the indeterminacy (or “hermeneutical polyvalence”) of Jesus’ parables. This chapter strongly opposes such claims and it argues that Jesus intended to convey through this parable a clear and unambiguous message that he wanted to be heard (“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”). This message, illuminated by Mark's own interpretation, is explicated in the chapter, in simple and universal human concepts. The chapter emphasizes the irony of the fact that of all Jesus’ parables, it is the Sower that should have been chosen as a “metaparable to deconstruct all parables,” and to attack the very idea of a message intended to be heard and understood.
The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna 
Published: October 2003

Abstract
Chapter 7 is devoted to two twin parables and argues that they convey the same message by means of two distinct images. The use of universal human concepts allows us to identify this message and to articulate it as follows:
there is one thing that is good for all people
a person can live with God
if a person lives with God this is always good for this person
nothing else is like this
many people don’t know this
The chapter discusses the metaphors of “hiddenness,” “smallness,” “treasure,” “price,” “cost,” and “profit” and clarifies their meaning in the concepts of the two parables.