In Negotiating Peace, Shimreingam L. Shimray argues that peace cannot be derived from outside forces but that it must instead be created from within the local context by the local people adopting their own cultural and historical system and using their own intellectual and material resources. The author uses a deeply contextual reading of his own setting, resulting in a work whose value rests in revealing how the tribal people of North East India have used their own resources to work for a culture of peace amidst tension and difficulty. Negotiating Peace grows from an ongoing commitment on the part of Fortress Press to bring creative theological reflection from the Global South to the conversations taking place around the world. It will be of interest not only to scholars of Christianity in North East India but to scholars, students, and those interested in peace studies.

In Life in Freedom Michael Amaladoss analyzes the many rich and complex strands of Asian religious thought on the notion and nature of the path toward liberation. As he shows, Asian "liberation theology" departs significantly from the Latin American model, with which it is commonly compared. Rather than put primary emphasis on economic issues, Asian cultures give much greater priority to the role of religion in the composition of a healthy society. In Part One Amaladoss discusses current liberation movements and thought in Korea, the Philippines, and India. In two other chapters, he shows also that the awakening of women is integral to the search for human freedom and development and the growing importance sound ecological policies in any valid approach to liberation in Asia. In Part Two Amaladoss discusses non-Christian approaches to human liberation and freedom, showing how the lives and thought of influential figures of other faiths have given distinctive shape to Asian approaches to liberation. Buddhists such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Hindus such as Mahatma Gandhi and E.V. Ramaswamy show that hostility to religion is remote from the most characteristic Asian liberation movements. Gandhi's entire politics was rooted in the notion that "to attain Truth or to realize God is the goal of human life." But God [for Gandhi] is realized concretely in the world and particularly in other people. Service to others then becomes a way to God and ultimately to human liberation. Similarly, Confucian traditions embody a deeply indigenous, Asian way of constructing reality as a sacred whole. In that construct, liberation and freedom take on meanings and dimensions functionally religious in the way they anchor individuals and the community to the cosmic whole. In Part Three, Amaladoss gives his own analysis and prophetic overview on how the plurality of images of liberation enriches the possibility for interreligious cooperation in overcoming the forces of oppression in Asia.

"The book also features cross-references throughout, a bibliography accompanying each entry, an elaborate appendix listing biographies according to particular categories of interest, and a comprehensive index."--BOOK JACKET.

Jesus and the Incarnation Reflections of Christians from Islamic Contexts In the dialogues of Christians with Muslims nothing is more fundamental than the Cross, the Incarnation and the Resurrection of Jesus. An open and honest conversation on these is a necessity as Christians all over the world meet with Muslims on a daily basis. Building on the volume on the Cross, published in 2009, this book contains voices of Christians living in various 'Islamic contexts' and reflecting on the Incarnation of Jesus. The aim of these reflections is constructive and the hope is that the papers weaved around the notion of 'the Word' will not only promote dialogue among Christians on the roles of the Person and the Book but, also, create a positive environment for their conversations with Muslim neighbors.

The paper in this volume are organized in three parts: scriptural, contextual and theological. The central question being addressed is: how do Christians living in contexts, where Islam is a majority or minority religion, experience, express or think of the Cross? This is, therefore, an exercise in listening. As the contexts from where these engagements arise are varied, the papers in drawing scriptural, contextual and theological reflections offer a cross-section of Christian thinking about Jesus and the Cross.

Since its founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.