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Dialogues at One Inch above the Ground
RECLAMATIONS OF BELIEF IN AN INTERRELIGIOUS AGE
New York: Crossroad, 2003.vi + 216 pages. $19.95
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In this collection
of essays, all composed during the last decade of the twentieth century,
James Heisig takes up different aspects of the dialogue with religions
and with the "saeculum."
| "At a time of the
dislocation of belief, perhaps it is the will to disbelieve that
is the greater virtue. Simple skepticism aimed at the doctrines
and institutions that have failed to provide a ground for the
faith and hope and love of the age, however reasonable or morally
inspired, is not enough. Disbelief must be deepened and cultivated
if it is ever to point the way to relocating faith in new doctrines
and institutions. Like the angel caught in Jacob’s grip
at Penuel, it must be wrestled with until it delivers a blessing
we can pass on to those that follow us. This book is the record
of my own attempts to dialogue with the kind of disbelief that
I believe that faith at the end of the twentieth century obliges
us to." |
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from the Introduction |
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| "This collection
of nine articles by James Heisig addresses various aspects of
our need to move into the future face forward—intentionally,
skillfully, fully aware of the faith of our ancestors, while attuned
to the strange and changing world that surrounds us. The only
other option—the one frequently taken by fearful souls—is
to back into the future, eyes fixed on the glories of one’s
own prized religious past, an option that is neither skillful
nor faith-aware…. Heisig writes with insight and depth,
without soaring far in to the imagined skies of pretended concord
and brotherhood and without cynically keeping his thought stuck
in the mud. Rather, he, like his poet mentor Saigyō, moves
just one small inch above our experienced lives—just enough
to invite the reader to tread a little more lightly over this
tattered earth." |
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James W. HEISIG has been a fellow
at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya,
Japan, since 1979, and served for ten years as its director
(1991–2001). He has authored, translated, and edited over
25 books, mainly in the area of the philosophy of religion.
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The opening
chapter of this book may be downloaded
and read with Adobe Acrobat.
© James W. Heisig. For personal use only. This material may
not be distributed without written permission of the copyright
holder and the The
Crossroad Publishing Company. |
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