Journal of Academic Perspectives

Journal of Academic Perspectives

Volume 2011 No. 1

Religious Roots of Terrorism: Perceptions of God Playing out in World Politics

Johannes Hendrik Coetzee, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Peace Among Religions: Hans Küng's Analysis of Christian and Muslim Paradigms of Social Justice in Search of a Global Ethic

Richard H. Morgan, Stony Brook University, US

Charles Darwin and the Meaning of Life: Emergence and Inherency in Evolution
Stephen C. Pryor, State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, US

Religious Roots of Terrorism: Perceptions of God Playing out in World Politics

Johannes Hendrik Coetzee, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

The violent god-concepts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam had probably been one of the main driving forces behind the bloody histories of these three religions and their influence in world politics through history. Although these concepts have changed through the ages, modern religious terrorism in its various forms is still basically influenced by the different violent god-concepts and related rhetoric. The paper investigates this phenomenon by looking at examples of violent god-concepts and rhetoric employed by religious terrorists relating to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A combination of a cognitive and a body phenomenological approach is implemented to indicate that research in the field of terrorism must take cognizance of human embodiment in order to come to a more comprehens
Coetzee_J.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [428.9 KB]

Peace Among Religions: Hans Küng's Analysis of Christian and Muslim Paradigms of Social Justice in Search of a Global Ethic

Richard H. Morgan, Stony Brook University, US

This paper is intended to explore theologian Hans Küng’s work over the past thirty years to promote world peace by seeking to establish peace between the world’s major religions. Peace among religions must start with an exploration of the common ground that already exists between the religions in matters of ethics: the establishment of a “Global Ethic.” Küng’s argument for the need and the nature of a global ethic required as the minimal starting point of peaceful coexistence between cultures in an age of global awareness will be explored. This will be followed by a focus on Küng’s analysis of Christianity and Islam and the contributions that these great prophetic/monotheistic traditions can make to the program of a global ethic and the search for world peace. The Declar
Morgan_R.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [427.0 KB]

Charles Darwin and the Meaning of Life: Emergence and Inherency in Evolution
Stephen C. Pryor, State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, US

While Richard Dawkins and Stephen J. Gould were often at odds on evolutionary theory, their debate framed a common ideology that has become known as Darwinism to both advocates and opponents. Darwinism as science has stood the rigorous tests of over one hundred years of scientific debate and experimentation but Darwinism as ideology has emerged largely unchallenged as the natural offspring of the science. Yet the real relation of Darwin’s view of life and the ideology of what has popularly become known as Darwinism is problematic. This ideology has been termed evolutionary materialism by some theologians but it entails a much more explicit view of reality than mere materialism and evolution. It incorporates both a radical reductionism and a kind of naturalistic nihilism that are unknown
Pryor_S.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [479.5 KB]

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Volume 2011 No. 1

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