Philip Jenkins | |
---|---|
Born | April 3, 1952 |
Alma mater | Clare College, Cambridge |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Humanities, history, religious studies, criminal justice, American studies |
Institutions | Pennsylvania State University, Baylor University |
Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952 [1] ) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. [2] He is also the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). He was professor (from 1993) and a distinguished professor (from 1997) of history and religious studies at the same institution; and also assistant, associate and then full professor of criminal justice and American studies at PSU, 1980–93. [3]
Jenkins is a contributing editor for The American Conservative and writes a monthly column for The Christian Century . He has also written articles for Christianity Today , First Things , and The Atlantic . [4]
Jenkins was born in Port Talbot, Wales, in 1952, and studied at Clare College, Cambridge, taking double first–class honours in both History[ citation needed ] and, in 1974, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. [5] Jenkins then studied for his PhD under the supervision of Sir John Plumb among others. Between 1977 and 1980, Jenkins worked as a researcher for Sir Leon Radzinowicz, the pioneer of criminology studies at Cambridge.
In 1979, Jenkins won the BBC quiz show Mastermind . [6]
In 1980, Jenkins was appointed Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Pennsylvania State University, which marked a change in his research focus. Jenkins has forged a reputation based on his work on global Christianity as well as on emerging religious movements. Other research interests include post-1970 American history and crime. [7]
He conducted a study of the Quran and the Bible in the light of the September 11 attacks amid accusations that the Quran incites violence. However, he found that "the Bible contains far more verses praising or urging bloodshed than does the Quran." [8] (See also Violence in the Bible and Violence in the Quran).
In 2002 Jenkins, a Catholic-turned-Episcopalian, [9] discussed the Catholic sex abuse cases by asserting that his "research of cases over the past 20 years indicates no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination—or indeed, than non-clergy. However determined news media may be to see this affair as a crisis of celibacy, the charge is just unsupported." [10]
In a 2010 interview with National Public Radio, Jenkins stated that he believes that "the Islamic scriptures in the Quran were actually far less bloody and less violent than those in the Bible" and cites explicit instructions in the Old Testament calling for genocide while the Quran calls for primarily defensive war. Jenkins went on to state that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism had undergone a process that he refers to as "holy amnesia" in which violence in sacred texts became symbolic action against one's sins. Islam had until recently also undergone the same process in which jihad became an internal struggle rather than war. [11]
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the supernatural source to other people. The message that the prophet conveys is called a prophecy.
Philip Schaff was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States.
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Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics and the nature and forms of salvation. It also considers and compares the origins and similarities shared between the various religions of the world. Studying such material facilitates a broadened and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.
Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic God as if it were God. In these monotheistic religions, idolatry has been considered as the "worship of false gods" and is forbidden by texts such as the Ten Commandments. Other monotheistic religions may apply similar rules.
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The Bridgewater Treatises (1833–36) are a series of eight works that were written by leading scientific figures appointed by the President of the Royal Society in fulfilment of a bequest of £8000, made by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater, for work on "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation."
This is an incomplete table containing prophets, sometimes called messengers, of the Abrahamic religions.
The Abrahamic religions or Abrahamism are a grouping of three of the major religions together due to their historical coexistence and competition; it refers to Abraham, a figure mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Quran, and is used to show similarities between these religions and put them in contrast to Indian religions, Iranian religions, and the East Asian religions. Furthermore, some religions categorized as "Abrahamic" also share elements from other categories, such as Indian religions, or for example, Islam with Eastern religions.
Rodney William Stark was an American sociologist of religion who was a longtime professor of sociology and of comparative religion at the University of Washington. At the time of his death he was the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, co-director of the university's Institute for Studies of Religion, and founding editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion.
Bruce D. Chilton is an American scholar of early Christianity and Judaism, and an Episcopalian priest. He is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, formerly Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament at Yale University, and Rector of the Church of St John the Evangelist He holds a PhD in New Testament from Cambridge University. He has previously held academic positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Münster.
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Christopher Charles Rowland is an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1991 to 2014.
George Aaron Barton was a Canadian author, Episcopal clergyman, and professor of Semitic languages and the history of religion.
Sidney H. Griffith is a professor of Early Christian Studies at the Catholic University of America. His main areas of interest are Arabic Christianity, Syriac monasticism, medieval Christian-Muslim encounters and ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.
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Thomas S. Kidd is an American historian, currently a Distinguished Professor at Baylor University and Distinguished professor of Church History at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before becoming a professor, Kidd studied at the University of Notre Dame. He is a notable historian and author of such books as George Whitefield, a biography on the 18th-century Anglo-American preacher. Kidd credits George Whitefield as being "profoundly influential on the American nation's founding."