NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 54, Issue 4, 2000

Abstract In the study of African religion Western discourse has been dominant both to Western and African scholars. Through this Western discourse, ‘African Traditional Religion’ was conceptualised and interpreted in terms of a Western vocabulary and conceptual scheme as a pyramid ranging from an all-pervading power at the base to the supreme being at the top with the spirits as intermediaries. The Ugandan schola Read More

Abstract This article deals with the first chapter of Judges as a part of the historiography of Israel’s settlement in Canaan. Judges 1:1-2:5 has often been characterized as a heap of rubbish without sense, constructed around an ancient list of unconquered Canaanite cities. Current research, however, concentrates on the ideological rhetoric of historiographical compositions and questions their historical value. And indeed, det Read More

Abstract The Dutch author Dirk Volckertsz Coornhert (1522-1590) was an exponent of the large group in the low countries who did not join any church. He played an important role in the religious debates of his days. In one of these debates the reformed ministers accused him of using the bible in a libertinistic way. This article deals with the question whether Coornhert can indeed be identified with this so called libertines. Alt Read More

Abstract This article offers a critical analysis of some contemporary attempts to bring up the issue of God and religion again in philosophical discourse, after the disenchantment of the project of Enlightenment. The author analyses G. Vattimo’s recent book Belief, in which he repudiates the violence and oppression of technically manipulating and politically controlling reason. In order to put an end to this violence, Vattimo Read More