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This book sets forth a new area in the study of extraordinary individuals in religious traditions. It develops the category of "Religious Genius" as an alternative to existing categories, primarily "saint." It constructs a model by which to appreciate these individuals, suggesting key characteristics such as love, humility, and self-surrender. Religious geniuses transform their traditions and their legacies endure through these very transformations. They also inspire changes across religious boundaries and traditions. The study of religious geniuses in various faith traditions therefore advances interfaith engagement today. The book complements existing, primarily historical, studies of saints by offering a phenomenological approach that seeks to touch the subjectivity of these individuals, and how they have affected the unfolding of their religious traditions.
List of contents
1. Introduction .- 2. Religious Genius - An Overview .- 3. "Religious Genius" - Choosing a Category.- 4. A Methodology for Studying Religious Genius : Constructing a Model.- 5 Religious Genius in the Real Life of Community.- 6. Religious Genius and Interreligious Reality.- 7. Studying "Saints" - an overview of methods and approaches to the study of saints .- 8. Religious Genius - History of a Category.- 9. Sample Teaching on Religious Genius.- 10. Saints and Religious Geniuses as Inspiration for Character Formation.- 11. Response by Robert Cummings Neville.- 12. Response by Jerome Yehuda Gellman.
About the author
Alon Goshen-Gottstein is the founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, headquartered in Jerusalem. He is acknowledged as one of the foremost theoreticians of interreligious relations, with a special focus on Jewish theology of religions. He has published over a dozen authored and edited volumes in the field. A scholar of rabbinic literature and Jewish thought, he previously taught at Tel Aviv University and directed the Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought at Bet Morasha, Jerusalem.
Summary
This book sets forth a new area in the study of extraordinary individuals in religious traditions. It develops the category of “Religious Genius” as an alternative to existing categories, primarily “saint.” It constructs a model by which to appreciate these individuals, suggesting key characteristics such as love, humility, and self-surrender. Religious geniuses transform their traditions and their legacies endure through these very transformations. They also inspire changes across religious boundaries and traditions. The study of religious geniuses in various faith traditions therefore advances interfaith engagement today. The book complements existing, primarily historical, studies of saints by offering a phenomenological approach that seeks to touch the subjectivity of these individuals, and how they have affected the unfolding of their religious traditions.
Additional text
“The volume … not only mirrors the scrupulous reflection processes that preceded its emergence but provides also much-valued insights into the kitchen of interreligious encounters. … In addition to being a ‘must read’ for everybody interested in interreligious issues, the volume provides also valuable philosophical and methodological insights.” (Dirk-Martin Grube, NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, Vol. 73 (1), 2019)
Report
"The volume ... not only mirrors the scrupulous reflection processes that preceded its emergence but provides also much-valued insights into the kitchen of interreligious encounters. ... In addition to being a 'must read' for everybody interested in interreligious issues, the volume provides also valuable philosophical and methodological insights." (Dirk-Martin Grube, NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, Vol. 73 (1), 2019)
