{"product_id":"a-god-of-ones-own-religions-capacity-for-peace-and-potential-for-violence-paperback-softback-9780745646190","title":"A God of One's Own; Religion's Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence (Paperback \/ softback) 9780745646190","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eA God of One's Own\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eReligion's Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eUlrich Beck (Author), Rodney Livingstone (Translated by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780745646190, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 6 August 2010\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e264 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.378 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Beck does not claim to have found 'the' answer to religious conflict. What he does demonstrate very effectively is that one way of avoiding a polarised and terrifying future is to find hope in the mdoern world's many ironies, paradoxes and complexities\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Humanist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e, four star review\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cp\u003e \"A volume with more than enough ideas to inspire the study of religion for the foreseeable future. The author's acclaimed individualization thesis is put to work in the context of an emerging debate concerning the cultivation of humanity: one between believers in various forms of religious universals, and a form of cosmopolitanism which acknowledges that variety is the spice of life. Whatever the 'god of one's own' owes to universalism, Beck's controversial argument is that the most effective god of one's own lies with non-essentialist, relatively modest and sceptical, cosmopolitanism realism.\"\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003ePaul Heelas, \u003ci\u003eLancaster University\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e \"This new book from one of Europe's leading thinkers is a welcome, thoughtful engagement with the prominence of religion in the contemporary world. Writing as an unabashed sociological secularist, but one who refuses the simplifications of typical ideas of secularization, Beck explores religion's contradictory potentials, patterns of individuation and group identity, and the relation of religion to the \"crisis of European modernity\". Beck should inspire other sociologists and secularists to think harder about phenomena they too often ignore.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCraig Calhoun, \u003ci\u003eNew York University and President, Social Science Research Council\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eReligion posits one characteristic as an absolute: faith. Compared to faith, all other social distinctions and sources of conflict are insignificant. The New Testament says: 'We are all equal in the sight of God'. To be sure, this equality applies only to those who acknowledge God's existence. What this means is that alongside the abolition of class and nation within the community of believers, religion introduces a new fundamental distinction into the world the distinction between the right kind of believers and the wrong kind. Thus overtly or tacitly, religion brings with it the demonization of believers in other faiths.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe central question that will decide the continued existence of humanity is this: How can we conceive of a type of inter-religious tolerance in which loving one's neighbor does not imply war to the death, a type of tolerance whose goal is not truth but peace?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIs what we are experiencing at present a regression of monotheistic religion to a polytheism of the religious spirit under the heading of 'a God of one's own'? In Western societies, where the autonomy of the individual has been internalized, individual human beings tend to feel increasingly at liberty to tell themselves little faith stories that fit their own lives to appoint 'Gods of their own'. However, this God of their own is no longer the one and only God who presides over salvation by seizing control of history and empowering his followers to be intolerant and use naked force.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgements ix\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI The diary of ‘a God of one’s own’: Etty Hillesum. An unsociological introduction 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eII The return of the Gods and the crisis of European modernity. A sociological introduction 19\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIII Tolerance and violence: The two faces of the religions 47\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIV Heresy or the invention of a ‘God of one’s own’ 93\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eV The cunning of unintended consequences: How to civilize global religious conflicts. Five models 137\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVI Peace instead of Truth? The futures of the religions in the world risk society 164\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBibliography 201\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndex 220\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Sociology \u0026amp; anthropology [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Sociology \u0026amp; anthropology\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Sociology%20\u0026amp;%20anthropology%20%5BJH%5D%22\"\u003eJH\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52501407924504,"sku":"9780745646190","price":15.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9780745646190.jpg?v=1786236059","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/a-god-of-ones-own-religions-capacity-for-peace-and-potential-for-violence-paperback-softback-9780745646190","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}