Angels and demons: Perspectives And Practice In Diverse Religious Traditions - Softcover

Riddell, Peter G

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844741826 ISBN 13: 9781844741823

Publisher: Apollos, 2007

Synopsis

Spirit beings are fascinating. They can be wicked, good, of dual nature, or non-existent. They announce, accompany, heal, injure, sway, charm, fight, tempt and judge. They can bring us closer to, or distract us from, God.

In this volume, the particular focus is on how angelic and demonic concepts are overtly expressed, or are more obliquely reflected, in different religions. Specific themes covered include spiritual warfare, spirit beings and the origin of evil, angelic and demonic roles, human suffering and spiritual powers, use of talismans, sacred texts, and the practical outworking of beliefs. The contributors - all Christian scholars - mostly write as detached observers of the religious traditions they are describing. Nevertheless, they do not shy away from taking a stand on controversial issues.

Here you will find a great diversity of thought, some striking thematic similarities, and a fascinating view of worlds far removed from our usual experience.

The contributors are Allen Anderson, Andy Bannister, Ruth Bradby, Keith Ferdinando, Theodore Gabriel, Chris Gnanakan, Willam Kay, Bill Musk, Martin Parsons, Chris Partridge, Peter Riddell, Nigel Scotland and Amy Summers-Minette.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter G. Riddell is Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Muslim-Christian Relations, at London School of Theology. He is the author of several books, including 'Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses' (Hurst) and 'Christians and Muslims' (IVP); the co-author of 'Islam in Conflict' (IVP); and the co-editor of 'Islam: Essays in Scripture, Thought and Society' (Brill).

Beverly Smith Riddell studied theology at the United Theological College, Sydney and has extensive editing experience in the corporate world.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

INTRODUCTION: ISSUES IN ANGELOLOGY AND DEMONOLOGY ACROSS DIVERSE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

This volume explores the spiritual realm, that netherworld between humans and God, and how followers of different faith traditions view the inhabitants therein. There is a delightful variety in this human perception of the divine, and yet so much that is similar between faiths and cultures.

The Religion, Culture and Communication Group of the Tyndale Fellowship provides a meeting forum for Christian scholars interested in the study of diverse religious traditions. It has met annually for conferences since 1996. The 2004 and 2005 conferences produced most of the chapters of this book.

The particular interest of the two conferences fell on the spiritual realm: in particular, how angelic and demonic concepts were overtly expressed, or were more obliquely reflected, in different religions. We were fortunate in gathering together researchers who were interested in the study of traditional African religions (Ferdinando), charismatic Christianity (Anderson, Kay, Scotland, Parsons), Hinduism (Gabriel, Gnanakan, Bradby in part), Islam (Riddell, Bannister, Musk), and post-Christian New Age spiritualities (Bradby, Partridge). The chapters in this present volume represent revisions of those conference papers, supplemented by the chapter by Summers-Minette on the Judeo-Christian roots of the concepts of angels and demons, and how their portrayal has changed in recent years in the popular media. Although a broad spectrum of faiths is represented in this volume, we acknowledge the absence of some other religious traditions, such as Catholic Christianity, present-day Judaism, Buddhism and Sikhism, caused not by a lack of interest in these faiths but rather by the absence of relevant specialists in our group of scholars.

The contributors mostly write as detached observers of the religious traditions they are describing. Nevertheless, authors of this volume do not shy away from taking a stand on controversial issues. For example, Nigel Scotland's preferences are clear in his typology of charismatic streams of thought; he manifests some scepticism about the group he terms 'expansive charismatics' and about deliverance ministry in general.

In contrast, Martin Parsons' chapter is informed by personal experience with deliverance ministry. Parsons is a scholar and minister who has hands-on experience with binding and evicting demons. His contribution to this volume explores scriptural references to demons in general, and to specific demons he has encountered.

Furthermore, the chapter by Andy Bannister challenges fundamental Muslim beliefs about the divine source of the Qur'an, asking questions which Muslim scholars are reluctant to ask themselves, especially suggesting that popular storytellers may have been sources of some Qur'anic content. Hence, Muslim readers may feel some discomfort with this approach, which belongs squarely within the Western scholarly tradition of subjecting all claims to critical scrutiny.

Moreover, Ruth Bradby's detailed examination of 'A Course in Miracles' skilfully mixes description with critique. The latter is particularly evident in the conclusion, when Bradby asks some hard questions of the relevance of the Course in Miracles, challenging the usefulness of New Age theology to the starving, oppressed and war-affected people in many parts of the world.

Two appendixes have been included to assist readers in negotiating their way through a maze of terms. These appendixes present a list of spirits in traditional African religions, and a list of gods in Hinduism.

Edited volumes which emerge from conferences often struggle to achieve coherence. The decision to focus on the spiritual realm in this present book overcomes that challenge. Indeed, a significant number of specific themes provide a web binding the various chapters together.

The remainder of this introduction will survey these themes.

The spiritual battle

The concept of the spiritual battle - angels and demons fighting it out on behalf of their masters for dominion over the earth and the souls of the multitudes - appears in several faith traditions. ...

Spirit beings

A key question posed by the contributors relates to debates about the origin of evil. Some of the religious traditions examined see God as the author of evil, as a way of affirming the overall sovereignty of a creator God. This is especially the case within Islamic orthodoxy. ...

Responding to spirit beings

Another issue to emerge from the chapters is that human suffering is widely understood in spiritual terms. Ferdinando, Anderson, Gnanakan and Musk highlight this in their examination of their respective faith traditions, with Gnanakan commenting importantly that 'sickness is understood as a form of evil with spiritual causes'. Indeed, sickness and suffering can be seen as the outward manifestations of spiritual battles and warfare; this is a prominent theme in the chapters by Parsons and Musk. ...

About this edition

• Publisher: Apollos
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1844741826
• ISBN 13: 9781844741823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278