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This article compares the status of "culture" as a politically engaged concept in Franz Boas's time and in our own time. Taking a Boasian approach to "neo‐Boasianism," I examine the limits of this comparability in order to shed light on the nature of public culture‐talk today and to identify dimensions of the Boasian concept of "culture" particularly relevant to a contemporary anthropology.

The eminent Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu confronts the paradox that while Western cultures recoil from claims of universality, previously colonized peoples, seeking to redefine their identities, insist on cultural particularities. Wiredu's exposition of the principles of African traditional philosophy is not purely theoretical; he shows how certain aspects of African political thought may be applied to the practical resolution of some of Africa's most pressing problems

In political, scholarly and cultural discussions in the 'Global North', ideas of freedom, democracy and human rights were considered universal and legitimated for political and military interventions mostly in non-Western countries. Debates about the universality of the right to intervene are discussed in the frame of universality versus particularity. Whereas universalists defend their arguments in the name of modernity, their challengers opposed to these kinds of universal assumptions refer to the importance of particularism and relativism; yet, both groups consider modernity as their main point of reference. To overcome this stalled discussion, I look at modernity through the deconstruction of epistemic dichotomies and hierarchies in order to open up a space for critical reflection on the concept itself. Contextualizing my reflections on modernity in the rich literature by scholars who challenge the dominant Western concept of modernity, I demonstrate that Western knowledge is not universal in an epistemic sense. Rather, it can be considered as a contentious concept with problematic assumptions about an epistemically neutral subject, adopting a universalistic perspective while erasing the meaning of geopolitical location (Grosfoguel 2011). Arguing against this idea of an 'assertive universality', the metaphor of 'travelling theories,' as proposed by Edward Said and Clifford Geertz, helps to reflect upon the local, social and individual positioning of knowledge. The focus of this contribution is the utilisation of feminist and postcolonial perspectives to contribute to the deconstruction of modernity as a homogenous monolithic bloc. Considering the frame itself, I question the hidden, not explicated assumptions in the production of Western knowledge. Arguing that knowledge production is not a question of geography but of epistemology, I deconstruct the modern project from the inside in order to overcome the epistemic dichotomy of modernity itself. The implications of this analysis for us as social scientists and researchers will be discussed at the end of the paper. ; peer-reviewed

Lohnverweigerung und Sippenhaftung. Zu Schuld und Strafe im Buch Deuteronomium -- Messias im Ubergang. Die Kyrostexte im literarischen und historischen Kontext des (Deutero-)Jesajabuchs -- Die paulinische Rede vom "Christus" als Beitrag zu einer Biblischen Theologie -- Von der Sichtbarkeit der geglaubten Kirche. Beobachtungen beim Vergleich von "Lumen gentium" und "Die Kirche Jesus Christi" -- Können Einzelereignisse heilsbedeutend sein? Geschichtstheologie bei Alfred Delp und Ignacio Ellacuria, Wolfhart Pannenberg und Alberto Parra -- Offenbarungsverständnisse und ihre Konsequenzen für den interreligiösen Dialog -- Eine metonymische Macht im Raum von Ohnmacht. Menschenrechte und Gott -- Universalismus und Partikularismus im rabbinischen Judentum -- Grundlegung und Selbstverständnis der islamischen Philosophie -- Zwischen Universalität und Partikularität - Studentische Perspektiven

Can one maintain one's religious identity without closing oneself from the other? In general, Christian reflection on interreligious dialogue begins with a theological reflection on religious plurality that assumes that one cannot engage seriously in interreligious dialogue without a sound theology of religions. In this book, Marianne Moyaert critically assesses the various models for a Christian theology of religions (exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism, particularism) by asking how these models relate to the dialogical tension between openness and identity. She argues that we need to overcome the classical theological approach of religious plurality and move in the direction of a theological hermeneutics of interreligious hospitality. To that end she turns to Paul Ricoeur, whose philosophical and hermeneutical insights can give a new turn to the discussion of the criteria, possibilities, and particularly the limits of interreligious dialogue

"In this collection of essays, Tom Greggs explores the nature of the church in a world of many religions. Greggs' writings on the Church and on other religions emphasize the importance of attentiveness to Christ and the Holy Spirit, and both are simultaneously generous and particularist. The first part of the book addresses the Church as it is brought into being by the Spirit in glorifying God, celebrates the sacraments, respects the authority of the creeds, is generously Catholic, and critiques its own religion. The second part looks at the church in a pluralist context as it engages in inter-faith dialogue, expresses both particularism and universalism, speaks of Christ with many names, and reads scripture and understands the many covenants found there. Greggs offers a programmatic conclusion, setting an agenda for theologies of the church and of other religions and their simultaneous relationality"--

Recent revolutions in literary and cultural theory have come full circle – or perhaps spiralled back around – to a quest for universal values and perspectives and beliefs. After several decades of accentuated splintering into national, regional, sexual, racial, and religious particularisms, the cry has gone up for attempting to recover some sense of a common bond of universal democratic enfranchisement. Of course, the notion of the universal 'returns' metamorphosed. It is no longer the universality of a closed system or of a delimited concept, but rather an open universal that is in question. The crucial breakthrough in the rethinking of universality can best be understood as construing it not as conceptual but rather as what defies conceptualization. This is a non-predicative universality and must be thought of as that which resists or exceeds the closure of identity. It opens a radically alternative vision to that of the Enlightenment philosophies that have typically paraded under the banner of universality, although it also undermines the traditional opposition between rational enlightenment and religious or mystical obscurantism. The universal in this new sense opens up a mysterious region of incommensurability as, paradoxically, our only common measure.

Die Universalität der Menschenrechte wird seit Jahren zwischen den verschiedenen Kulturkreisen kontrovers diskutiert. Die vorliegende Untersuchung geht der Frage nach, ob ethische Normen, wie z.B. die Menschenrechte, universal oder nur partikular (für eine bestimmte Wertgemeinschaft) begründbar sind. Zur Klärung werden Beiträge aus dem Protestantismus (u.a. W. Herrmann, E. Troeltsch, K. Barth und T. Rendtorff) und der Philosophie (Naturrechtstradition, R. Alexy, O. Höffe) analysiert. Der Verfasser kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß ethische Normen immer in einem bestimmten, etwa dem christlichen, Menschenbild fundiert sind, aber zugleich auf universale, im Weltanschauungsdiskurs zu erweisende Plausibilität zielen. - For years now, the question of the universality of human rights has been the subject of controversial discussion between the various cultures. The present study examines whether ethical norms, for example human rights, can be jusified universally or only particulary (for the values of a particular community). To achieve clarification, contributions are analyzed from Protestantism (inter alia W. Herrmann, E. Troeltsch, K. Barth and T. Rendtorff) and from philosophy (the tradition of natural law, R. Alexy, O. Hoffe). The author concludes that ethical norms are always grounded in a particular view humanity - for instance the Christian view, but at the aim for universal plausibility which is to be established in the discourse of world views.

The end of the world : Heidegger, Kant, and Levinas -- Being, time, and the ethical body -- Thinking least about death-contra Heidegger -- Buber and Levinas, and Heidegger -- Levinas, Plato, and ethical exegesis -- Uncovering the "difficult universality" of the face-to-face -- Some notes on the title of Levinas's Totality and infinity and its first sentence -- Choosing and the chosen : Levinas and Sartre -- Some reflections on Levinas and Shakespeare -- Defending Levinas : an interview with Raymond Lai -- Levinas, Judaism, and the primacy of the ethical -- Emmanuel Levinas : philosopher and Jew -- Singularity : the universality of Jewish particularism-Benamozegh and Levinas -- Levinas and Rosenzweig : proximities and distances -- Virtue embodied : Brit mila, desire, and Levinas -- Against theology or "the devotion of a theology without theodicy" -- Theodicy after the Shoah : Levinas on suffering and evil

Theology of religions has defaulted in the last two decades to an epicyclic inclusivism which seeks to undermine pluralism with claims that it is covertly triumphalistic and that it mirrors the logic of exclusivism. With the exception of pioneers in the field such as John Hick and Paul Knitter, most major figures in this theological field have retreated from pluralism and promote versions of particularism and inclusivism. Pluralism: The Future of Religion argues for an apophatic pluralism that is motivated by the insight that it is impossible to secure universal assent for changeable bodies of

What is philosophy? -- Argumentation and logic -- Knowledge and rationality -- The problem of skepticism -- The structure of justification -- Theories of truth and postmodernism -- Religious epistemology -- What is metaphysics? -- General ontology : existence, identity and reductionism -- General ontology : two categories-property and substance -- The mind-body problem : dualism -- The mind-body problem : alternatives to dualism -- Free will and determinism -- Personal identity and life after death -- Scientific methodology -- The realism-antirealism debate -- Philosophy and the integration of science and theology -- Philosophy of time and space -- Ethics, morality, and metaethics -- Ethical relativism and absolutism -- Normative ethical theories : egoism and utilitarianism -- Normative ethical theories : deontological and virtue ethics -- The existence of God (I) -- The existence of God (II) -- The coherence of theism (I) -- The coherence of theism (II) -- The problem of evil -- Creation, providence, and miracle -- Christian doctrines (I) : the Trinity -- Christian doctrines (II) : the Incarnation -- Christian doctrines (III) : Christian particularism