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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Violence Of Conversion: Proselytization And Interreligious Controversy In The Work Of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Chad Bauman Apr 2015

The Violence Of Conversion: Proselytization And Interreligious Controversy In The Work Of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Chad Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Critics of Christianity in India have frequently accused Christianity of being a predatory, imperialistic religion with absolutist tendencies, and have framed Christian evangelism as an aggressive, uncouth act. More recently, however, and in an idiom that resonates with many contemporary Indians, Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1930-) has made the more controversial claim that the attempt to convert another person is itself an act of violence. In three parts, the paper 1) describes Dayananda’s claims, while bringing them into conversation with the arguments of earlier critics of Christianity (e.g., Mahatma Gandhi, Sita Ram Goel, Ashok Chowgule, Arun Shourie), 2) analyzes and critique …


How Jesus Became God: One Scholar’S View, James F. Mcgrath Mar 2015

How Jesus Became God: One Scholar’S View, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Dr. James McGrath's brief analysis of early Christology. Originally presented as a seminar paper at the University of Michigan, March 19, 2015.


Hobby Lobby’S ‘Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs’: The Problem Of Theological Terminology In American Politics And Jurisprudence, Brent Hege Feb 2015

Hobby Lobby’S ‘Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs’: The Problem Of Theological Terminology In American Politics And Jurisprudence, Brent Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Abstract of Brent Hege's conference paper presented at: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Annual Meeting Albuquerque, NM, Feb. 2015.


Explicit And Implicit Religion In Doctor Who And Star Trek, James F. Mcgrath Jan 2015

Explicit And Implicit Religion In Doctor Who And Star Trek, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

It has often been proposed that the original series of Star Trek reflected a modern, enlightenment perspective on religion, and that subsequent spinoffs like Deep Space Nine moved in a more post-modern direction. Doctor Who, the longest running science fiction show, provides an interesting basis for comparison. Both television shows offer similar tropes, and in both instances, the rhetoric that claims to explain away religion in scientific terms ends up treating it as literally true. Both shows depict our universe as populated with “natural gods” which are sometimes explicitly identified with the gods and demons of ancient human religious literature.


Monotheism, James F. Mcgrath Jan 2015

Monotheism, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

James McGrath's contribution to the forthcoming edition, Vocabulary for the Study of Religion.


Forward To The Son Of God: Three Views Of The Identity Of Jesus, James F. Mcgrath Jan 2015

Forward To The Son Of God: Three Views Of The Identity Of Jesus, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

James McGrath's Forward to: The Son of God: Three Views of the Identity of Jesus, by Charles Lee Irons, Danny Andre Dixon, and Dustin R. Smith. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2015.


Mythicism And The Making Of Mark, James F. Mcgrath Jan 2015

Mythicism And The Making Of Mark, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Carrier’s approach allows him to say that every single thing he finds in the relevant sources is “exactly what we’d expect” if mythicism is true – “as symbolic myth, every oddity is explained, and indeed expected.” This is because “they made this up” is compatible with everything that any text says – especially if one excludes in advance the possibility of using traditional critical methods and criteria for determining that some details may reflect actual historical events.