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Scholary reviews
Religion and Film: two compendia
 Recensie, Bijdragen, 17-06-10
 In 2009 two impressive collections of articles about religion and film were published: one by Routledge and the other by Continuum. “Film is a legitimate object of academic study” both agree, but “still very young” and therefore still underdeveloped compared to other fields of academic studies in the regions of culture and religion. Everyone agrees that movies have an unique power to influence people and reflect heavily the culture of their makers and viewers. Both the Routledge and the Continuum compendium acknowledge the different possibilities with regard to the relation between film and religion. Films can criticize faith (for example in The Mission or Priest). Read further.
The Six Ways of Atheism
Recensie, Bijdragen, 17-06-10
 "Berg believes the case for atheism has never been put in as forceful and logically cogent a way as it merits, least of all by the great philosophers. In this book he sets out to remedy that by strengthening some traditional atheistic arguments and by initiating some new logical arguments for atheism." This quotation is part of the back cover text of The Six Ways of Atheism. And because the author is his own publisher, he speaks about himself and his 'logical' endeavor. His arguments against God and against those who believe in a Supreme Being are not as new as Berg claims, they are more of less poorly conducted reworkings or extrapolations of the ideas of other atheistic thinkers in the (near) past. Read further.
Gottes Eifer / Heilig vuur
Recensie, Bijdragen, 17-06-10
 Peter Sloterdijk is one of the most famous German philosophers alive today. The author of the Sphären-triology (1998, 1999, 2004) triggers mixed but always extreme reactions. The general public and press applaud his narrative and convincing style of writing as much as his fellow academics criticize this style as rather anecdotic and incoherent. Going from one major religious character to the next (Abraham, Moses, Paul, Augustine and Muhammed) Sloterdijk concludes that the 'supremacy of the personal God led inevitably to the subordination of the faithful'. (p. 83) I was shocked by Sloterdijk's theorizing about monotheistic religion. The author hides his oversimplifications beneath a highly hermetic-philosophical language, undoubtfully tantalizing most of his readers. Read further.
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Anne-Marie Korte and Maaike de Haardt (red.)
The Boundaries of Monotheism
Brill: Leiden (2009)
in: Bijdragen 70 (2009, nr. 3), p. 378-379. |
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A.M.H. Saari,
The Many Deaths of Judas Iscariot. A Meditation on Suicide,
Routledge: Londen (2004),
in: Bijdragen 70 (2009, nr. 1), p. 120-121. |
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Isabel Iribarren en Martin Lenz (red.),
Angels in Medieval Philosophical Inquiry: their Function and Significance,
Ashgate: Hampshire (2006),
in: Bijdragen 70 (2009, nr. 1), p. 126-127. |
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S. Wesley Ariarajah,
Axis of Peace. Christian Faith in Times of Violence and War,
World Council of Churches Publications: Geneva (2004),
in: Bijdragen 69 (2008, nr. 4), p. 492. |
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David Nash,
Blasphemy in the Christian World. A History,
Oxford University Press: Oxford (2007),
in: Bijdragen 69 (2008, nr. 4), p. 492-493. |
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Manuela Kalsky e.a. (red.),
Ons rakelings nabij. Gedaanteveranderingen van God en Geloof,
Dominicaans Studiecentrum/Meinema (2005),
in: Bijdragen 69 (2008, nr. 3), p. 343. |
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