Ritual has emerged as a major focus of academic interest. As a concept, the idea of ritual integrates the study of behavior both within and beyond the domain of religion. Ritual can be both secular and religious in character. There is renewed interest in questions such as: Why do rituals exist at all? What has been, and continues to be, their place in society? How do they change over time? Such questions exist against a backdrop of assumptions about development, modernization, and disenchantment of the world.Written with the specific needs of students of religious studies in mind, " Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion" surveys the field of ritual studies looking at it both historically within anthropology and in terms of its contemporary relevance to mass phenomena.

A 2001 Christianity Today Award of Merit winner "Arguably, the church's greatest challenge in the next century will be the problem of the scandal of particularity. More than ever before, Christians will need to explain why they follow Jesus and not the Buddha or Confucius or Krishna or Muhammed. But if, while relating their faith to the faiths, Christians treat non-Christian religions as netherworlds of unmixed darkness, the church's message will be a scandal not of particularity but of arrogant obscurantism. "Recent evangelical introductions to the problem of other religions have built commendably on foundations laid by J. N. D. Anderson and Stephen Neill. Anderson and Neill opened up the "heathen" worlds to the evangelical West, showing that many non-Christians also seek salvation and have personal relationships with their gods. In the last decade Clark Pinnock and John Sanders have argued for an inclusivist understanding of salvation, and Harold Netland has shed new light on the question of truth in the religions. Yet no evangelicals have focused--as nonevangelicals Keith Ward, Diana Eck and Paul Knitter have done--on the revelatory value of truth in non-Christian religions. Anderson and Neill showed that there are limited convergences between Christian and non-Christian traditions, and Pinnock has argued that there might be truths Christians can learn from religious others. But as far as I know, no evangelicals have yet examined the religions in any sort of substantive way for what Christians can learn without sacrificing, as Knitter and John Hick do, the finality of Christ. "This book is the beginning of an evangelical theology of the religions that addresses not the question of salvation but the problem of truth and revelation, and takes seriously the normative claims of other traditions. It explores the biblical propositions that Jesus is the light that enlightens every person (Jn 1:9) and that God has not left Himself without a witness among non-Christian traditions (Acts 14:17). It argues that if Saint Augustine learned from Neo-Platonism to better understand the gospel, if Thomas Aquinas learned from Aristotle to better understand the Scriptures, and if John Calvin learned from Renaissance humanism, perhaps evangelicals may be able to learn from the Buddha--and other great religious thinkers and traditions--things that can help them more clearly understand God's revelation in Christ. It is an introductory word in a conversation that I hope will go much further among evangelicals." (Gerald McDermott, in the introduction toCan Evangelicals Learn from World Religions?

This volume explores Chinese religions on a global stage so as to challenge the traditional dichotomy of the western global and the Chinese local, and to add a new perspective for understanding religious modernity globally. Contributors from four different continents aim at applying a social scientific approach to systematically researching the globalization of Chinese religions.

In essentials unity. In nonessentials liberty. In all things charity. Almost daily Christians are bombarded by strange new teachings about Jesus. The worldwide proliferation of new religious movements has created confusion in the church. Are there core beliefs at the heart of the Christian faith? If so, what are they? And how should Christians relate to those who do not embrace these beliefs? In down-to-earth language, Doctrine Twisting addresses and answers these questions. With the firm conviction that God has sufficiently and finally revealed himself in Christ and through the Bible, H. Wayne House and Gordon Carle explore in detail the doctrines of the Trinity, revelation, sin, Christ's divinity, the atonement, faith and works, the second coming and the afterlife. In each chapter they outline the biblical basis for the historic orthodox position and then analyze and refute deviations from these truths. Doctrine Twisting will help Christians more fully serve God and minister to others through a better understanding of the essential doctrines of the Bible and the doctrinal errors of new religious movements.

Examines key religious movements of our day
Covers contemporary versions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam
Assesses the beliefs and appeal of each religion
Describes how Christians can respond to the claims of each with grace and truth
A completely new book (not a revision of the earlier Guide to Cults and New Religions)

All religions face the challenge of explaining, in view of God's goodness, the existence of evil and suffering in the world. They must develop theories of the origin and the overcoming of evil and suffering. The explanations in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism of evil and suffering and their origin, as well as these world religions' theories of how to overcome evil and suffering, differ from one another, but are also similar in many respects. The human person is always considered to be the origin of evil, and also to be the focus of aspirations to be able to overcome it. The conviction that evil and suffering are not original and can be overcome is characteristic of and common to the religions. The explanations of the origin of evil are closely related to the explanations of the continuation and propagation of evil in human persons, in nature, and in our technology and culture that have been developed in the religions - in Christianity, for example, as the doctrine of original sin. Finally, the world religions are concerned with how to cope with suffering and offer guidance for overcoming evil and suffering. Leading scholars of five world religions, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism, have created with this volume a first-hand source of information, which enables the reader to gain a better understanding of these religions' central teachings about the origin and the overcoming of evil and suffering.

"Looking Beneath the Surface" explores Arab-Islamic and Western perspectives on medical ethical issues: genetic research and treatment, abortion, organ donation, and palliative sedation and euthanasia. The contributions in this volume discuss the state of the (medical) art, the role of laws, counseling, and spiritual counseling in the decision-making process. The different approaches to the ethical issues, ways of moral reasoning, become clear in these contributions, especially the role of tradition for Islam and the importance of autonomy for the West. Beneath the differences, however, the reader will also discover common values, such as the role of dignity and the value of life, and similar practices. Some of the main differences are sociocultural in nature, rather than religious as such. Well-known experts in the fields of medicine and ethics have contributed to this volume from different religious and secular backgrounds. The book offers a carefully written introduction and final chapter on intercultural comparisons. "Looking Beneath the Surface" is more than a collection of writings on issues in medical ethics: it helps the reader to compare different paradigms of accountability and moral reasoning.

The "long twelfth century"-1050 to 1215-embraces one of the transformative moments in European history: the point, for some, at which Europe first truly became "Europe." Historians have used the terms "renaissance,""reformation,"and "revolution" to account for the dynamism of intellectual, religious, and structural renewal manifest across schools, monasteries, courts, and churches. Complicating the story, more recent historical work has highlighted manifestations of social crisis and oppression. In European Transformations: The Long Twelfth Century, nineteen accomplished medievalists examine this pivotal era under the rubric of "transformation": a time of epoch-making change both good and ill, a release of social and cultural energies that proved innovative and yet continuous with the past. Their collective reappraisal, although acknowledging insights gained from over a century of scholarship, fruitfully adjusts the questions and alters the accents. In addition to covering such standard regions as England and France, and such standard topics as feudalism and investiture, the contributors also address Scandinavia, Iberia, and Eastern Europe, women's roles in medieval society, Jewish and Muslim communities, law and politics, and the complexities of urban and rural situations. With their diverse and challenging contributions, the authors offer a new point of departure for students and scholars attempting to grasp the dynamic puzzle of twelfth-century Europe.

Myth is a complex but vital component of an understanding of religion, and issues surrounding the modern discipline of mythology are often fraught with difficulty. In Myth: Key Concepts in Religion students will find all the tools they need to achieve an understanding of this complicated topic. Structured around a typical programme of study, Robert Ellwood's accessible introduction covers all the major theories concerning the meaning and interpretation of myth, from structuralist to psychoanalytic, and includes illustrative examples throughout, including modern literary and cinematic myths, from The Lord of the Rings to Star Wars.

Religion in Europe is currently undergoing changes that are reconfiguring physical and virtual spaces of practice and belief, and these changes need to be understood with regards to the proliferation of digital media discourses. This book explores religious change in Europe through a comparative approach that analyzes Atheist, Catholic, and Muslim blogs as spaces for articulating narratives about religion that symbolically challenge the power of religious institutions. The book adds theoretical complexity to the study of religion and digital media with the concept of hypermediated religious spaces. The theory of hypermediation helps to critically discuss the theory of secularization and to contextualize religious change as the result of multiple entangled phenomena. It considers religion as being connected with secular and post-secular spaces, and media as embedding material forms, institutions, and technologies. A spatial perspective contextualizes hypermediated religious spaces as existing at the interstice of alternative and mainstream, private and public, imaginary and real venues. By offering the innovative perspective of hypermediated religious spaces, this book will be of significant interest to scholars of religious studies, the sociology of religion, and digital media.

The conversion career, defined as all episodes of participation in religious organizations during a person's life, is a new and systematic approach to conversion and disaffiliation as a dynamic process. It is a tool to analyze the interplay of factors between the individual actor, the religious organization, and the wider social and cultural context.

This book is the first in over a decade to attempt a systematic synthesis of the field of conversion studies, encompassing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and theology. Gooren analyzes conversion and disaffiliation in a worldwide comparative framework, using data from North America, Europe, and Latin America.

This book proposes that the drive for religiosity and experiences of the sacred are far from lost in contemporary western societies. The contributors' objective is to explore the myriad of ways late modern shamanism is becoming more vital and personally significant to people, communities, and economies in Nordic countries.

This book is a collection of 4 spiritual biographies written by Swami Satyananda Giri, eminent disciple of Swami Sriyukteshvar Giri.

In this collection are the biographies of revered Yogiraj Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya, as well as biographies of his disciples Yogacharya Shastri Mahasaya (Hansaswami Kebalananda) and Swami Sriyukteshvar Giriji Maharaj, as well as the biography of Paramahansa Yogananda entitled 'Yogananda Sanga."

In Common Words in Muslim-Christian Dialogue Vebjorn L. Horsfjord offers an analysis of texts from an international dialogue process between Christian and Muslim leaders. Through detailed engagement with the Muslim dialogue letter A Common Word between Us and You (2007) and a large number of Christian responses to it, the study analyses the dialogue process in the wake of the Muslim initiative and shows how the various texts gain meaning through their interaction. The author uses tools from critical discourse analysis and speech act analysis and claims that the Islamic dialogue initiative became more important as an invitation to Muslim-Christian dialogue than as theological reflection. He shows how Christian leaders systematically chose to steer the dialogue process towards practical questions about peaceful coexistence and away from theological issues.

This pioneering study is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between Judaism and the world's religions. Beginning with an examination of the biblical view of pagan worship, the book traces the history of Jewish attitudes towards other religious traditions in the rabbinic period, the Middle Ages, the early modern age and contemporary times. In the final part of this volume, the author formulates a radically new Jewish theology of religious pluralism. In his view, what is now required is for Jews to free themselves from the absolutes of the past. No longer should they regard Judaism as embodying God's full and final revelation; instead, the Divine should be placed at the centre of the universe of faiths. Given such a shift in perspective, the way would then be open for interfaith dialogue of the most profound kind. From its ancient origins Judaism adopted a generally tolerant attitude to other traditions - what is possible today is for this spirit of tolerance to deepen and serve as a foundation for a common quest with like-minded adherents of other faiths for spiritual insight and religious truth. This study is a vital source for all those who seek to understand Judaism in relation to the world's major religions.

This title presents an introduction to the spiritual pathways of the major world religions, exploring the core beliefs, values and practices of each tradition. "Spiritual Pathways of the World Religions" is an insightful guide to the diverse ways that religious faith is practiced and spirituality is understood. Discussing contemporary issues such as post-modernism and the emergence of a 'new paradigm', the new realities of geopolitics, globalization and global warming, this book explores the importance of religion in people's lives to provide direction in the society today. This book demonstrates the common quest among the world religions for a deeper and more profound spirituality. Describing the spiritual pathways of the various world religions, it assesses the ways that the beliefs, values and practices of these traditions can be life-giving, leading to personal and social responsibility and transformation, but also sometimes harmful and divisive, even used for dangerous purposes. Promoting constructive engagements between the world's religions, this book will connect social justice and ethical engagements with core religious practices and spiritualities. This is an ideal introductory text for students of world religions, spirituality and interfaith relations, broadening their understanding of these lived faiths.

Antoine Fabre d'Olivet (December 8, 1767-March 25, 1825) was a French author, poet, and composer whose biblical and philosophical hermeneutics in?uenced many occultists, such as Eliphas Lvi and Gerard Encausse (Papus), and Ren Gunon. D'Olivet spent his life pursuing the esoteric wisdom concealed in the Hebrew scriptures, Greek philosophy, and the symbolism of many ancient cultures as far back as ancient India, Persia, and Egypt. His writings are considered classics of the Hermetic tradition. His best known works today are his research on the Hebrew language (The Hebraic Tongue Restored), his translation and interpretation of the writings of Pythagoras (The Golden Verses of Pythagoras), and his writings on the sacred art of music. In addition to the above two books and the present one, Hermetica has also published in consistent facsimile format for its Collected Works of Fabre d'Olivet series Cain and The Healing of Rodolphe Grivel. D'Olivet's interest in Pythagoras started a revival of Neo-Pythagoreanism that would later in?uence many occultists and new age esotericists. His mastery of many ancient languages and their literatures enabled him to write (in the time of Napoleon) his Hermeneutic Interpretation of the Origin of the Social State of Man and the Destiny of the Adamic Race, which remains a landmark investigation of the deeper esoteric undercurrents at work in the history of culture. A selection of chapter titles indicates the scope of this extraordinary text: Intellectual, Metaphysical Constitution of Man; Man is One of Three Great Powers of the Universe; Division of Mankind; Love, Principle of Sociability; Man is First Mute-First Language Consists of Signs; Digression on the Four Ages of the World; Deplorable Lot of Woman; Origin of Music and Poetry; Deviation of the Cult, Superstition; Establishment of Theocracy; Divine Messenger; Who Rama Was; Digression upon the Celts; Divine Unity Admitted into the Universal Empire; Origin of the Phoenician Shepherds; Foundation of the Assyrian Empire; New Developments of the Intellectual Sphere; Orpheus, Moses, and Fo-Hi; Struggle between Asia and Europe; Greece Loses her Political Existence; Beginning of Rome; Mission of Jesus; Conquest of Odin; Mission of Mohammed; Reign of Charlemagne; Utility of Feudalism and of Christianity; Movement of the European Will towards America; Principle of Monarchical Government; Causes which Are Opposed to the Establishment of Pure Despotism and Democracy.