Kimberley Christine Patton's Books

Religion of the Gods

Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

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Religion of the Gods

Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

In many of the world's religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, a seemingly enigmatic and paradoxical image is found--that of the god who worships. Various interpretations of this seeming paradox have been advanced. Some suggest that it represents sacrifice to a higher deity. Proponents of anthropomorphic projection say that the gods are just "big people" and that images of human religious action are simply projected onto the deities. However, such explanations do not do justice to the complexity and diversity of this phenomenon. In Religion of the Gods, Kimberley C. Patton uses a comparative approach to take up anew a longstanding challenge in ancient Greek religious iconography: why are the Olympian gods depicted on classical pottery making libations? The sacrificing gods in ancient Greece are compared to gods who perform rituals in six other religious traditions: the Vedic gods, the heterodox god Zurvan of early Zoroastrianism, the Old Norse god Odin, the Christian God and Christ, the God of Judaism, and Islam's Allah. Patton examines the comparative evidence from a cultural and historical perspective, uncovering deep structural resonances while also revealing crucial differences. Instead of looking for invisible recipients or lost myths, Patton proposes the new category of "divine reflexivity." Divinely performed ritual is a self-reflexive, self-expressive action that signals the origin of ritual in the divine and not the human realm. Above all, divine ritual is generative, both instigating and inspiring human religious activity. The religion practiced by the gods is both like and unlike human religious action. Seen from within the religious tradition, gods are not "big people," but other than human. Human ritual is directed outward to a divine being, but the gods practice ritual on their own behalf. "Cultic time," the symbiotic performance of ritual both in heaven and on earth, collapses the distinction between cult and theology each time ritual is performed. Offering the first comprehensive study and a new theory of this fascinating phenomenon, Religion of the Gods is a significant contribution to the fields of classics and comparative religion. Patton shows that the god who performs religious action is not an anomaly, but holds a meaningful place in the category of ritual and points to a phenomenologically universal structure within religion itself.

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513

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199723281

ISBN 13

9780199723287

A Communion of Subjects

Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics

By: Paul Waldau,Kimberley Christine Patton

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A Communion of Subjects

Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics

By: Paul Waldau,Kimberley Christine Patton

A Communion of Subjects is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and art. Their findings offer profound insights into humans' relationships with animals and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live." "Contributors examine Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism, Confucianism, African religions, traditions from ancient Egypt and early China, and Native American, indigenous Tibetan, and Australian Aboriginal traditions, among others. They explore issues such as animal consciousness, suffering, sacrifice, and stewardship in innovative methodological ways. They also address contemporary challenges relating to law, biotechnology, social justice, and the environment. By grappling with the nature and ideological features of various religious views, the contributors cast religious teachings and practices in a new light. They reveal how we either intentionally or inadvertently marginalize "others," whether they are human or otherwise, reflecting on the ways in which we assign value to living beings.

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732

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231136420

ISBN 13

9780231136426

Religion of the Gods

Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

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Religion of the Gods

Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

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513

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Oxford University Press

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ISBN 10

0199723281

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9780199723287

The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

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The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

Kimberley Patton examines the environmental crises facing the world's oceans from the perspective of religious history. Much as the ancient Greeks believed, and Euripides wrote, that "the sea can wash away all evils," a wide range of cultures have sacralized the sea, trusting in its power to wash away what is dangerous, dirty, and morally contaminating. The sea makes life on land possible by keeping it "pure." Patton sets out to learn whether the treatment of the world's oceans by industrialized nations arises from the same faith in their infinite and regenerative qualities. Indeed, the sea's natural characteristics, such as its vast size and depth, chronic motion and chaos, seeming biotic inexhaustibility, and unique composition of powerful purifiers-salt and water-support a view of the sea as a "no place" capable of swallowing limitless amounts of waste. And despite evidence to the contrary, the idea that the oceans could be harmed by wasteful and reckless practices has been slow to take hold. Patton believes that environmental scientists and ecological advocates ignore this relationship at great cost. She bases her argument on three influential stories: Euripides' tragedy Iphigenia in Tauris; an Inuit myth about the wild and angry sea spirit Sedna who lives on the ocean floor with hair dirtied by human transgression; and a disturbing medieval Hindu tale of a lethal underwater mare. She also studies narratives in which the sea spits back its contents-sins, corpses, evidence of guilt long sequestered-suggesting that there are limits to the ocean's vast, salty heart. In these stories, the sea is either an agent of destruction or a giver of life, yet it is also treated as a passive receptacle. Combining a history of this ambivalence toward the world's oceans with a serious scientific analysis of modern marine pollution, Patton writes a compelling, cross-disciplinary study that couldn't be more urgent or timely.

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220

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231138067

ISBN 13

9780231138062

The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

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The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean

By: Kimberley Christine Patton

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220

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Columbia University Press

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ISBN 10

0231138067

ISBN 13

9780231138062

A Communion of Subjects

Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics

By: Paul Waldau,Kimberley Patton

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A Communion of Subjects

Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics

By: Paul Waldau,Kimberley Patton

A Communion of Subjects is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including Thomas Berry (cultural history), Wendy Doniger (study of myth), Elizabeth Lawrence (veterinary medicine, ritual studies), Marc Bekoff (cognitive ethology), Marc Hauser (behavioral science), Steven Wise (animals and law), Peter Singer (animals and ethics), and Jane Goodall (primatology) consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and art. Their findings offer profound insights into the relationship between human beings and animals, and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live.

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Page Count

721

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231136439

ISBN 13

9780231136433

Book's by Kimberley Christine Patton

Religion of the Gods

Religion of the Gods

A Communion of Subjects

A Communion of Subjects

Religion of the Gods

Religion of the Gods

The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils

A Communion of Subjects

A Communion of Subjects

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