Clinton Bennett

Can democracy flourish in Muslim society? What does the Qur'an say about women, minorities, human rights? Are Islam and the West on a collision course? After 9/11, much has been written about the inevitability of a clash between Islam and the West, as their worldviews compete for global supremacy. Recent developments have done little to challenge this thesis, or the West's negative image of Islam. The author compares and contrasts contributions from "traditional" and "progressive" Muslims. Voicing at least two Muslim opinions in each area of debate, this book challenges the idea that all Muslims think identically. While Muslims and Modernity is designed primarily for use an undergraduate textbook, reference to accessible Internet material, to literature and to popular as well as scholarly sources will broaden its appeal to a general readership. This book's discussion draws on post-colonial theory, feminist analyses, anthropology, cultural and religious studies, politics and philosophy.

After 2000 years, much activity still surrounds the person of Jesus. Scholars, film makers, novelists, artists, Christians, humanists, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and many others have opinions about who Jesus was, as well as on the reliability of the source documents. Writers from inside and from outside the Christian tradition express pessimism about our ability to know very much for sure about Jesus. Others argue that Jesus never existed. Others are optimistic about our ability to reconstruct Jesus' life but paint very different pictures of him. Debate surrounds which sources may be used, why Jesus died, whether he ever intended to depart from Judaism. Paul's role also emerges as controversial. Some turn to alternative documents, or interpretive tools, to decipher the texts. A celibate Jesus, a married Jesus, a rebel Jesus, a Gnostic Jesus, a failed Jesus, a black Jesus, a feminist Jesus, are amongst the many images on offer. This study, which looks at traditional and at alternative sources, traces both the quest of the historical Jesus within the Christian tradition and encounters between the Jesus story and the world beyond the Church. The author asks what agendas, assumptions, human needs do all these writers take to their studies of Jesus? The book analyzes a range of insider and outsider images of Jesus, some popular, some scholarly, some hotly debated. Writers discussed include Marcus Borg, the Dalai Lama, Abraham Geiger, the Jesus Seminar, Barbara Thiering, Vivekananda, and Tom Wright. The book should be of equal interest to students and to general readers.

Who was Muhammad? What do Muslims believe about him? What have non-Muslims said about him? Why has he been such a controversial figure? Why have non-Muslims called him a charlatan, and oppurtunist? Why Muslims call him the 'perfect man'? Why have his sexuality and his military exploits attracted censure? Are the texts available for constructing his biography reliable or suspect? There are some of the questions and issues which Clinton Bennett explores in his book. His preference for a conservative evaluation of the historical record will not please everyone, nor will his sympathetic treatment of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. In his effort to gain an insider-like understanding of Muhammad, the author found himself discussing at length some contentious issues, such as whether or not Muhammad performed miracles. His encounters with Muslims suggested that whilst non-Muslims have tended to dismiss the miracle stories as pious fiction, Muslims accept their authenticity. The author, who develops what he calls and 'anthropological theology' to pursue his study, argues that our preconceptions about Muhammad, rather than our reserch methods, determine how we reply to the question. 'What do you thin of Muhammad?'. The book takes diversity of Muslim opinion seriously and explores what theologians, mystics, philosophers and politicians have said about Muhammad. In addition, the book, which combines textual and interpersonal research, concludes with an attempt to incorporate regard for Muhammad within the authors own Christian worldview. Clinton Bennett's overall approach ensures the book's usefulness as a guide to Islamic thought and history. Clinton Bennett, newly appointed Associate Professor of Religion and Baylor University, Texas, was Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, and assistant chaplain, at Westminster College, Oxford. He has worked in Bangladesh, in Birmingham as a community development worker, and on the staff of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland. he has also written Victorian Images of Islam (1992) and In Search of the Sacred: Athropology and the Study of Religions (1996) and is the editor of Discernment: An Ecumenical Journal of Inter-Religious Encounter. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

This is one of a series of short, practical guides aimed at lecturers and tutors in colleges and universities, to help them get started on research. It covers all aspects of teaching methods, strategies for interactive teaching methods, small and large group teaching and student learning.

This book traces the birth and development of two related but distinct disciplines, anthropology and the study of religions. It begins by locating these within the intellectual climate of the nineteenth century, and within this historical framwork goes on to discuss the contributions of such significant scholars as James George Frazer, F. Max Muller, Emile Durkheim, Mary Douglas and Clifford Geertz. The author argues that both anthropologists and students of religion have abandoned an impersonal, so-called 'objective'approach in favour of personal engagement with their subjects, replacing observation with conversation, monologue with dialogue and text-based wiwith a people-based approach. The book reveals how each discipline has influenced the other, both in terms of methodology and by the provision of data. It also explores the criticism levelled at both disciplines, that they have aided colonial domination of the developing world.