Prophets Facing Backward

Author : Meera Nanda
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
Page : 334 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 0813533589

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Prophets Facing Backward by Meera Nanda Pdf

The leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects dominant social interests of Western society. Following this logic, postmodern scholars have urged postcolonial societies to develop their own "alternative sciences" as a step towards "mental decolonization". These ideas have found a warm welcome among Hindu nationalists who came to power in India in the early 1990s. In this passionate and highly original study, Indian-born author Meera Nanda reveals how these well-meaning but ultimately misguided ideas are enabling Hindu ideologues to propagate religious myths in the guise of science and secularism. At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as "difference" by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The "Vedic sciences" currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity. By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls "reactionary modernism." In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an "alternative science" that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy.

Author : Meera Nanda
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2011-10-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781583673102

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The God Market by Meera Nanda Pdf

Conventional wisdom says that integration into the global marketplace tends to weaken the power of traditional faith in developing countries. But, as Meera Nanda argues in this path-breaking book, this is hardly the case in today’s India. Against expectations of growing secularism, India has instead seen a remarkable intertwining of Hinduism and neoliberal ideology, spurred on by a growing capitalist class. It is this “State-Temple-Corporate Complex,” she claims, that now wields decisive political and economic power, and provides ideological cover for the dismantling of the Nehru-era state-dominated economy. According to this new logic, India’s rapid economic growth is attributable to a special “Hindu mind,” and it is what separates the nation’s Hindu population from Muslims and others deemed to be “anti-modern.” As a result, Hindu institutions are replacing public ones, and the Hindu “revival” itself has become big business, a major source of capital accumulation. Nanda explores the roots of this development and its possible future, as well as the struggle for secularism and socialism in the world’s second-most populous country.

Author : Meera Nanda
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:951240433

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Prophets Facing Backward by Meera Nanda Pdf

Author : Charles C. Mann
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2018-01-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780307961709

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The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann Pdf

From the best-selling, award-winning author of 1491 and 1493--an incisive portrait of the two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt, whose diametrically opposed views shaped our ideas about the environment, laying the groundwork for how people in the twenty-first century will choose to live in tomorrow's world. In forty years, Earth's population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups--Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate! was Borlaug's cry. Only in that way can everyone win! Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces--food, water, energy, climate change--grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author's insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth.

Author : Meera Nanda
Publisher : Spotlight Poets
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Religion
ISBN : UOM:39015052549550

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Breaking the Spell of Dharma and Other Essays by Meera Nanda Pdf

The essays in this book connect religious fundamentalism with fascism and talk about the responsibility of intellectuals, argue for linking rationalism and science for the cause of social justice and provide a detailed critique of anti-rationalist and anti-secularist currents dominant in several academic and research circles in India. This little book is a timely reminder to all those who believe in the necessity of intellectual and moral intervention in the present affairs of society and culture. In Three Celebrated And Controversial Essays Meera Nanada Connects Religious Fundamentalism Wirh Fascism And Talks About The Responsibility Of Intellectuals. She Examines The Link Between The Hindutva And Reactionary Modernism, Argues For Linking Ratioalism And Science For The Cause Of Social Justice End Provides A Detailed Critique Of Anti -Rational And Anti- Secularist Currents Dominant In Several Academic And Research Circles In India.

Author : Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad
Publisher : Islam International Publications Ltd
Page : 427 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2011-11-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781848800526

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The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets - Volume I by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Pdf

The fascinating book not only highlights the various aspects of the life of Holy Prophet but also presents the prominent events and episodes in the history of Islam with solid historical testimonies.

Author : Michael Brenner
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2010-08-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781400836611

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Prophets of the Past by Michael Brenner Pdf

Prophets of the Past is the first book to examine in depth how modern Jewish historians have interpreted Jewish history. Michael Brenner reveals that perhaps no other national or religious group has used their shared history for so many different ideological and political purposes as the Jews. He deftly traces the master narratives of Jewish history from the beginnings of the scholarly study of Jews and Judaism in nineteenth-century Germany; to eastern European approaches by Simon Dubnow, the interwar school of Polish-Jewish historians, and the short-lived efforts of Soviet-Jewish historians; to the work of British and American scholars such as Cecil Roth and Salo Baron; and to Zionist and post-Zionist interpretations of Jewish history. He also unravels the distortions of Jewish history writing, including antisemitic Nazi research into the "Jewish question," the Soviet portrayal of Jewish history as class struggle, and Orthodox Jewish interpretations of history as divinely inspired. History proved to be a uniquely powerful weapon for modern Jewish scholars during a period when they had no nation or army to fight for their ideological and political objectives, whether the goal was Jewish emancipation, diasporic autonomy, or the creation of a Jewish state. As Brenner demonstrates in this illuminating and incisive book, these historians often found legitimacy for these struggles in the Jewish past.

Author : Koenraad Elst
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 657 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Hindus
ISBN : 9798129107465

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Decolonizing the Hindu Mind by Koenraad Elst Pdf

Author : Meera Nanda
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 195 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Science
ISBN : 9383968087

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Science in Saffron by Meera Nanda Pdf

There is much talk of the glories of ancient Hindu sciences in India today. Landmark discoveries in every field of science, from mathematics to medicine, are being credited to ancient scientists-sages of India. This book places such priority claims in a comparative global history of science. While fully acknowledging the substantial contributions of Indian geometers, mathematicians, physicians, artisans and craftsmen, it challenges their glorification for nationalistic purposes. It also questions the neo-Hindu scientization of yoga and Vedanta pioneered by Swami Vivekananda. Backed by the best available scholarship on history of science, this book offers a reading of history of Indian science without the hype that has come to surround it.

Author : Onaje X. O. Woodbine
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 195 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2021-04-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780231552028

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Take Back What the Devil Stole by Onaje X. O. Woodbine Pdf

Ms. Donna Haskins is an African American woman who wrestles with structural inequity in the streets of Boston by inhabiting an alternate dimension she refers to as the “spirit realm.” In this other place, she is prepared by the Holy Spirit to challenge the restrictions placed upon Black female bodies in the United States. Growing into her spiritual gifts of astral flight and time travel, Donna meets the spirits of enslaved Africans, conducts spiritual warfare against sexual predators, and tends to the souls of murdered Black children whose ghosts haunt the inner city. Take Back What the Devil Stole centers Donna’s encounters with the supernatural to offer a powerful narrative of how one woman seeks to reclaim her power from a lifetime of social violence. Both ethnographic and personal, Onaje X. O. Woodbine’s portrait of her spiritual life sheds new light on the complexities of Black women’s religious participation and the lived religion of the dispossessed. Woodbine explores Donna’s religious creativity and her sense of multireligious belonging as she blends together Catholic, Afro-Caribbean, and Black Baptist traditions. Through the gripping story of one local prophet, this book offers a deeply original account of the religious experiences of Black women in contemporary America: their bodies, their haunted landscapes, and their spiritual worlds.

Author : Erin Prophet
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 317 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2008-09-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9781599217185

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Prophet's Daughter by Erin Prophet Pdf

In early 1990, in response to apocalyptic prophecies given by her mother, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Erin Prophet entered a network of underground bunkers in Montana along with members of her mother's Church Universal and Triumphant, a controversial New Age sect. Emerging to find the world still intact, Erin was forced into a radical reassessment of her life and her beliefs. She had spent her adolescence watching her mother vilified as a dangerous cult leader even while attempting to meet her expectations by becoming a "prophet" herself. Prophet's Daughter describes Erin's search for her mother's origins and motivations. With the craft of a storyteller, she describes the combination of health crises and external pressure that drove her mother's ever-more dire prophecies. She reveals how the allure of infallibility led her mother to a conspicuous downfall, and how her mother's rapidly progressing Alzheimer's disease truncated any hope of resolution. A remarkable memoir with implications for the dialog about power, group behavior and the future of religion.

Author : Paul Davids
Publisher : Turtleback Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0785792988

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Prophets Of The Dark Side by Paul Davids Pdf

Luke and Ken are captured by Kadann, the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, and are forced to reveal the location of the Lost City of the Jedi. As the Rebel Alliance strugles to regain control, the Galactic Empire prepares for domination of the galaxy.

Author : Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad
Publisher : Islam International Publications Ltd
Page : 618 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2013-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781848800946

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The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets - Volume II by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Pdf

The current volume covers scholarly discussions on different topics such as the arrangement and the layout of the Holy Quran, Divine revelation, reality of miracles, polygamy, Jihad with sword, capitation tax, the wives of the Holy Prophet(sa), the Islamic laws regarding marriage and divorce, the electoral system of Khilafat, the just and democratic form of Islamic government etc.

Author : Alfredo Marcantonio
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 120 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Humor
ISBN : 1858944015

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Prophets of Zoom by Alfredo Marcantonio Pdf

In the mid-1930s Stephen Mitchell & Sons, a Scottish cigarette manufacturer, joined the craze for producing cigarette cards with an imaginative series of cards that set out to forecast the future, predicting how people would live in years to come. All 50 cards in the series, some of which proved surprisingly accurate, are reproduced here.

Author : Salman Rushdie
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 16 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2016-05-02
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781101973691

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The Prophet's Hair by Salman Rushdie Pdf

A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection Secular moneylender and manic collector of treasures, Hashim lives a life of gentle honor until he discovers, washed up to his private quay, a great relic: a silver pendant bearing a strand of the Prophet’s hair. From one of the most controversial novelists of the last century, world-renowned master of invention and allusion Salman Rushdie, “The Prophet’s Hair” vibrates with fantastical promise, smashing together cultures and worlds, fantasy with reality, into breathless and lush allegorical fable. Selected from Rushdie’s collection of nine enchanting short stories, East West. An ebook short.