Religious Tolerance in World Religions

✍ Scribed by Neusner, Jacob(Editor)

• Publisher: Templeton Press
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 405
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Today, and historically, religions often seem to be intolerant, narrow-minded, and zealous. But the record is not so one-sided. InReligious Tolerance in World Religions, numerous scholars offer perspectives on the "what" and "why" traditions of tolerance in world religions, beginning with the pre-Christian West, Greco-Roman paganism, and ancient Israelite Monotheism and moving into modern religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. By tolerance the authors mean "the capacity to live with religious difference, and by toleration, the theory that permits a majority religion to accommodate the presence of a minority religion."

The volume is introduced with a summary of a recent survey that sought to identify the capacity of religions to tolerate one another in theory and in practice. Eleven religious communities in seven nations were polled on questions that ranged from equality of religious practitioners to consequences of disobedience. The essays frame the provocative analysis of how a religious system in its political statement produces categories of tolerance that can be explained in that system’s logical context. Past and present beliefs, practices, and definitions of social order are examined in terms of how they support tolerance for other religious groups as a matter of public policy.

Religious Tolerance in World Religionsfocuses attention on the attitude "that the ’infidel’ or non-believer may be accorded an honorable position within the social order defined by Islam or Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism, and so on." It is a timely reference for colleges and universities and for makers of public policy.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Part 1: Questions about Religious Toleration......Page 10
Chapter 1: The "What" and "Why" of Religious Toleration: Some Questions to Consider......Page 12
Part 2: Ancient Israel......Page 22
Chapter 2: Tolerance in Ancient Israelite Monotheism......Page 24
Part 3: The Pre-Christian West......Page 38
Chapter 3: Greco-Roman Literary Expressions of Religious Tolerance......Page 40
Chapter 4: Greco-Roman Paganism: The Political Foundations of Tolerance in the Greco-Roman Period......Page 69
Chapter 5: Ritual Resources of Tolerance in Greco-Roman Religion......Page 108
Part 4: Christianity......Page 140
Chapter 6: Tolerance and Controversy in Classical Christianity: The Gospel according to Matthew and Justin Martyr......Page 142
Chapter 7: Roman Catholic Understanding of Religious Tolerance in Modern Times: The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II)......Page 162
Chapter 8: The Latter-day Saint Doctrine of Salvation: Religious Exclusivity, Tolerance, and Accomodation......Page 183
Part 5: Judaism......Page 200
Chapter 9: Theological Foundations of Tolerance in Classical Judaism......Page 202
Chapter 10: Tolerance of Idols and Idol Worshipers in Early Rabbinic Law: The Case of Mishnah Tractate Avodah Zarah......Page 227
Part 6: Islam......Page 246
Chapter 11: Sources of Tolerance and Intolerance in Islam: The Case of the People of the Book......Page 248
Chapter 12: Theologies of Difference and Ideologies of Intolerance in Islam......Page 283
Chapter 13: Theological Foundations of Religious Tolerance in Islam: A Qur'anic Perspective......Page 306
Part 7: Buddhism and Hinduism......Page 324
Chapter 14: Toward a Buddhist Policy of Tolerance: The Case of King Ashoka......Page 326
Chapter 15: A Policy of Intolerance: The Case of Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism......Page 340
Chapter 16: Tolerance and Hierarchy: Accommodating Multiple Relgious Paths in Hinduism......Page 369
Contributors......Page 386
Name and Subject Index......Page 390
Ancient Sources Index......Page 396