The authors in this volume explore a wide variety of the contemporary approaches to mystical and religious experience to elucidate what religious experience is, in its own terms, and how its practitioners understand it. This anthology features contributions that point out that contemporary studies of consciousness, sociology, hermeneutics, neuroscience, medicine, and other fields, are revealing that there is much more to be said for the inner life of a human's consciousness than reductionists and behaviorists will allow. This book is one of very few that primarily takes the stance of academic practitioners, explaining their own experience, rather than that of academics trying to explain the phenomena away, as really politics, or sociology, or delusion, or psychological pathology, or literary flights of fancy, or an aberration of any of the other academic fields. Most of the authors in this volume embrace the task of explaining and analyzing religious experience, mysticism, and the healing power of silence and presence, using the resources of all of the academic disciplines, as appropriate. The essays contained analyze religious, and non-religious, mystical and profoundly personal experiences across several world religions, and in areas such as art and music, as well as in solving personal crises such as family disruption and patriarchal oppression. The authors address the subject matter through analyses of the frequent and destructive failures of language, or just noise, to capture or express the nuances of the inner life of a person. It is this very ineffability of self that renders the spiritual, emotional and interior life of individuals beyond cognition and perception, of the straightforward sorts embraced by most cognitive disciplines. The contributors come from a variety of cross-disciplinary fields to bring forth the possibilities for an intuitive and creative, rich and growing inner life for a human. This text appeals to students, researchers, and practitioners.

What Does It Mean to Be "Chosen"? Why Did God Have to Choose? “To be chosen can have a range of meaning from the mundane to the holy, but in all cases it means to be singled out and preferred over others. In a deep sense that permeates much or most of Western culture, having been chosen communicates a sense of something that is extraordinary, is transcendent, and entitles a reward. What is assumed in this sense of the term is that God has done the choosing and the reward is something that is unequaled, for what could possibly equal divinely ordained eternal happiness?” —from the Introduction Religious people who define themselves as monotheists have often advanced the idea that their relationship with God is unique and superior to all others. Theirs supersedes those who came before, and is superior to those who have followed. This phenomenon tends to be expressed in terms not only of supersessionism, but also “chosenness,” or “election.” Who is most beloved by God? What expression of the divine will is the most perfect? Which relationship reflects God's ultimate demands or desire? In this fascinating examination of the religious phenomenon of chosenness, Reuven Firestone explores the idea of covenant, and the expressions of supersessionism as articulated through the scriptures of the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He explores how and why the ongoing competition and friction between these religions came about, and offers thoughts about how to overcome it.

"Sharot makes a substantial contribution to the maturation of the comparative sociology of religion. A distinctive feature of the book is its accent on popular religion, a much studied phenomenon these days ."Martin Marty

The many books on the world's religions typically emphasize doctrine ( religion "in the air"), while sociology of religion books typically emphasize behavior (religion "on the ground"). Stephen Sharot does both in this masterful study, the product of many years of research. His book should have great classroom potential as well as a prominent place on religion scholars' bookshelves."--Phillip Hammond, D. Mackenzie Brown Professor of Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara

"This book belongs in libraries of all sorts. It strikes me as a paradigm of analytical comprehension that should set a standard for the field."
-- "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion," September 2002

"This is a commendably ambitious project...The coverage is excellent."
--"Journal of Religion"

"In his fine study Sharot succeeds in discerning a specific trajectory of popular religions. He has assembled a tremendous amount of evidence and arguments in favor of the independent existence and development of popular religion, effective still in the secularized world."
--"History of Religions"

"He is adept at articulating overarching patterns of similarity and differences, and furnishes a much-needed synthesis of recent scholarship concerning many of the major religious traditions."
--"Contemporary Sociology"

A Sociology of World Religions presents a comparative analysis of the world's religions, focusing on the differences and interrelationshipsbetween religious elites and lay masses. In each case the volume contextualizes how the relationships between these two religious forms fit within, and are influenced by, the wider socio-political environment.

After introducing the book's major themes, the volume introduces and builds upon an analysis of Weber's model of religious action, drawing on Durkheim, Marxist scholars, and the work of contemporary sociologists and anthropolgists. The following chapters each focus on major religious cultures, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judaism, and the religions of China and Japan. This ambitious project is the first to offer a comparison of the popular, or folk, forms of religion around the world.

Sharot's accessible introductions to each of the world religions, synthesizing a vast literature on popular religion from sociology, anthropology, and historians of religion, make the project ideal for course use. His comparative approach and original analyses will prove rewarding even for experts on each of the world religions.

Issues relating to sexuality, eroticism and gender are often connected to religious beliefs and practices, but also to prejudices against and fear of religious groups that adopt alternative approaches to sexuality. This is especially apparent in connection with new religious movements, which many times find themselves accused by the media and anti-cultists of promoting illicit and controversial views on sexuality. This anthology aims to critically investigate the role of sexuality in a number of new religious movements, including Mormon fundamentalist communities, the Branch Davidians, the Osho movement, the Rael movement, contemporary Wicca and Satanism, in addition to the teachings of Adidam and Gurdjieff on sexuality.

Born in 1844 in Persia (Iran), 'Abdu'l-Baha is best known as the eldest son of Mirza Ḥusayn-Ali Nuri, Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), the founder of the Baha'i Faith. Negar Mottahedeh's edited volume of specially commissioned essays marking the centenary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's journey to the West documents the uniqueness of 'Abdu'l-Baha's vision of human solidarity and peace in the context of twentieth century modernity and shows the moral impact of his principled positions on the emergent Civil Rights movement in America.

This book offers an entirely new contribution to the history of multiculturalism in Britain, 1880-1940. It shows how friendship and co-operation between Christian and Jewish women changed lives and, as the Second World War approached, actually saved them. The networks and relationships explored include the thousand-plus women from every district in Manchester who combined to send a letter of sympathy to the Frenchwoman at the heart of the Dreyfus Affair; the religious leagues for women's suffrage who initiated the first interfaith campaigning movement in British history; the collaborations, often problematic, on refugee relief in the 1930s; the close ties between the founder of Liberal Judaism in Britain, and the wife of the leader of the Labour Party, between the wealthy leader of the Zionist women's movement and a passionate socialist woman MP. A great variety of sources are thoughtfully interrogated, and concluding remarks address some of the social concerns of the present century.

Will the followers of other religions who have not heard of the gospel be saved? Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic church has been grappling with this question, culminating in a recent document, Dominus Iesus in 2000. In the post-DI climate, the British theologian, Gavin D'Costa, has been described as a "representative post-DI theologian of religions." And with good reason, since other theologians such as Jacques Dupuis whose work along the lines of "neo-Rahnerianism" have been curtailed by DI. D'Costa's work has spanned the past three decades and is aimed at developing a theology that echoes developments within the Catholic church's efforts to grapple with the existence of other religions. In doing so, he has appropriated the doctrine of the Trinity by reasoning it provides the very resources for interacting with "Others" and developed a form of Trinitarian inclusivism. Based on the work of patristic theologians such as Lewis Ayres and Michel Barnes and their conception of a "Pro-Nicene" theological matrix, this book is an attempt to assess whether D'Costa's utilization of trinitarian resources for contemporary concerns is faithful to the tradition. The book concludes that while there is much to commend in D'Costa's system, there remain some features not fully consonant with classical Trinitarianism.

How should religion and ethics be studied if we want to understand what people believe and why they act the way they do? In the 1980s and '90s postmodernist worries about led to debates that turned on power, truth, and relativism. Since the turn of the century scholars impressed by 'cognitive science' have introduced concepts drawn from evolutionary biology, neurosciences, and linguistics in the attempt to provide 'naturalist' accounts of religion. Deploying concepts and arguments that have their roots in the pragmatism of C. S. Peirce, Believing and Acting argues that both approaches are misguided and largely unhelpful in answering the questions that matter: What did those people believe then? How does it relate to what these people want to do now? What is our evidence for our interpretations? Pragmatic inquiry into these questions recommends an approach that questions grand theories, advocates a critical pluralism about religion and ethics that defies disciplinary boundaries in the pursuit of the truth. Rationality, on a pragmatic approach, is about solving particular problems in medias res, thus there is no hard and fast line to be drawn between inquiry and advocacy; both are essential to negotiating day to day life. The upshot is an approach to religion and ethics in which inquiry looks much like the art history of Michael Baxandall and advocacy like the art criticism of Arthur Danto.

Following on from the successful One-Stop Bible Guide and One-Stop Bible Atlas, this guide to world religions is divided into chapters on each of the major religions, with a spread-by-spread approach to different aspects of the faith in question. Colour illustrated throughout with stunning images, it focuses not only on established religions but also has a dedicated chapter on new religions. Key religions included are: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Bahai, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto.

Embracing Epistemic Humility: Confronting Triumphalism in Three Abrahamic Religions builds a case that encourages advocates of world views, especially the children of Abraham Jews, Christians and Muslims to embrace an attitude of epistemic humility toward their world views and thereby defeat the triumphalism which, on the contemporary scene, has infected the world views of all too many in the Abrahamic tradition. Triumphalists see their world view as the ultimate repository of spiritual truth: all other world views are inferior and their adherents need to be converted forcefully, or silenced, or destroyed to prevent their cancerous views from metastasizing.Embracing such epistemic humility is not only the antidote to triumphalism but it is also a powerful motivator to transform world view competitors into comrades engaged in a struggle to combat evil and to promote human flourishing."

This book, entitled Conversations on Fethullah Gulen and the Hizment Movement: Dreaming for a Better World, is intended to represent an open perspective on the influence of the Hizmet Movement, including Fethullah Gulen in particular, on the theme of "dreaming for a better world," based on a variety of Christian and Muslim world views. This theme is approached from three specific perspectives: education and an emphasis on interfaith and intercultural dialogue, a comparison of various spiritualties, and a consideration of the shared dreams of the two religions. The essays in this volume are adapted from talks presented by eleven authors from Canada and the United States at the Gulen Symposium at Carleton University in October 2009. The panel discussion that followed the individual presentations enhanced the overall theme of "dreaming for a better world." The symposium as a whole represented the positive potential that there is for the organization of forums of sharing that focus on this theme and on the three sub themes.

This path-breaking book sets aside the traditional story of the life of Muhammad, and inquires into the internal history of the Qur'an itself. Drawing on fresh insights from linguistics and theology, Durie puts forward a new and very different explanation for the "Mecca-Medina" division, attributing it to a theological crisis which arose in the Qur'anic community. Through careful investigation of theologically charged topics such as prophecy, Satan, sin, the oneness of God, covenant, warfare, divine presence, and holiness, Durie questions whether the Qur'an and Bible really do share a deeper connection. He invites the reader to set aside the frames through which the Qur'an has been viewed in the past, whether Biblical or Islamic, and invites us to attend to the Qur'an's distinctive and unique theological vision, in its own terms.

The idea of a Jewish Church has been banned from the Christian horizon for almost two millennia. But things are changing. Since the middle of the 70s the Messianic Jewish movement has strived to build an ecclesial home for all Jewish believers in Christ. This new phenomenon brings to life issues that had disappeared since the first centuries of the Church. What does it mean to be a Jew in the Church? Should there be a distinction between Jews and non-Jews among believers in Christ? Is such a distinction compatible with the unity of the whole Body of Christ so ardently preached by Paul? What lifestyle should this Church promote? In his various works, Mark Kinzer, a prominent Messianic Jewish theologian, has attempted to provide substantial answers to these questions. Antoine Levy is a Dominican priest. With Kinzer, Levy has launched the "Helsinki Consultation", a cross-denominational gathering of Jewish theologians. In Jewish Church: A Catholic Approach to Messianic Judaism, Levy examines Kinzer's positions critically, bringing forward an alternative vision of what a "Jewish Church" could and should be. This is only the beginning of what promises to be a fascinating discussion.

It is often assumed that religion is the backward-looking servant of tradition and the status quo, utterly opposed to the new. This refrain in so much of recent polemical writing has permeated the public mind and can even be found in academic publications. But recent scholarship increasingly shows that this view is a gross simplification - that, in fact, religious beliefs and practices have contributed to significant changes in human affairs: political and legal, social and artistic, scientific and commercial. This is certainly not to say that religion is always innovative. But the relationship between religion and innovation is much more complex and instructive than is generally assumed. Religion and Innovation includes contributions from leading historians, archaeologists, and social scientists, who offer findings about the relationship between religion and innovation. The essays collected in this volume range from discussions of the transformative power of religion in early societies; to re-examinations of our notions of naturalism, secularization, and progress; to explorations of cutting-edge contemporary issues. Combining scholarly rigor with clear, accessible writing, Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners? is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of religion and the ongoing debates about its role in the modern world and into the future.

This collection of essays, with special reference to Asia, analyzes religion through lived experience and reveals how religious phenomena are inextricably linked to globalizing processes.

In theological discourse, argues Hugh Nicholson, the political goes "all the way down." One never reaches a bedrock level of politically neutral religious facts, because all theological discourse - even the most sublime, edifying, and "spiritual"--is shot through with polemical elements.
Liberal theologies, from the Christian fulfillment theology of the nineteenth century to the pluralist theology of the twentieth, have assumed that religious writings attain spiritual truth and sublimity despite any polemical elements they might contain. Through his analysis and comparison of the Christian mystical theologian Meister Eckhart and his Hindu counterpart IaSkara, Nicholson arrives at a very different conclusion. Polemical elements may in fact constitute the creative source of the expressive power of religious discourses. Wayne Proudfoot has argued that mystical discourses embody a set of rules that repel any determinate understanding of the ineffable object or experience they purport to describe. In Comparative Theology and the Problem of Religious Rivalry, Nicholson suggests that this principle of negation is connected, perhaps through a process of abstraction and sublimation, with the need to distinguish oneself from one's intra- and/or inter-religious adversaries.
Nicholson proposes a new model of comparative theology that recognizes and confronts one of the most urgent cultural and political issues of our time: namely, the "return of the political" in the form of anti-secular and fundamentalist movements around the world. This model acknowledges the ineradicable nature of an oppositional dimension of religious discourse, while honoring and even advancing the liberal project of curtailing intolerance and prejudice in the sphere of religion."

The ambiguity concerning the interpretation of the 'physical body' in religious thought is not peculiar to any given religion, but is discernible in the scriptures, practices, and disciplines in most of the world's major religious traditions. This book seeks to address the nuances of difference within and between religious traditions in the treatment and understanding of what constitutes the body as a carrier of religious meaning and/or vindication of doctrine. Bringing together an international team of contributors from different disciplines, this collection addresses the intersection of religion, gender, corporeality and/or sexuality in various Western and Eastern cultures. The book analyses instances when religious meaning is attributed to the human body's physicality and its mechanics in contrast to imagined or metaphorical bodies. In other cases, it is shown that the body may function either as a vehicle or a hindrance for mystical knowledge. The chapters are arranged chronologically and across religious orientations, to offer a differentiated view on the body from a global perspective. This collection is an exciting exploration of religion and the human body. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars in religious studies, theology, Islamic studies, South Asian studies, history of religions and gender studies.

As globalization proceeds at an ever increasing and more unrelenting pace, relations among the world's religions are taking on both a new visibility and a new urgency. Christian theologians and others intent on innovative formulations in the theology of religions are making interreligious dialogue with non-Christians a priority. One way to promote creative scholarship in this quest is to tap into interdisciplinary resources, and the author of this volume is uniquely qualified to do so since he holds graduate degrees in both theology and cultural anthropology. Aaron Thomas Raverty's Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue elucidates how the praxis of interreligious dialogue, as outlined in key Vatican documents in the Catholic Church, could be better served by attending to the qualitative ethnographic methods of sociocultural anthropology. Because the material, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of dialogue-as revealed in daily life, common social and political action, religious experience, and theological exchange-are embedded in culture, they are amenable to ethnographic analysis. Using the unique, multi-religious Colorado site of Crestone and its environs as a fieldwork "laboratory" and self-described "Refuge for World Truths," the ethnographic data gleaned from this project exemplify the creative interdisciplinary contributions of anthropology to theologizing. It seeks to demonstrate, using an empirical, multi-religious community as its focus, how anthropology can support interreligious dialogue. The results of such dialogue could not only assist the scholarly community by helping theologians arrive at new formulations in the burgeoning area of the theology of religions, but might also serve the more practical goal of promoting peace-as an alternative to violence-in today's complex and sorely troubled world.

Traditionally, university students have gained access to world religions by reading primary texts. Discovering World Religions at 24 Frames Per Second takes students beyond the written page, offering an exploration of the same religious traditions through the study of feature films. The many definitions of religion are examined along with its various components, including doctrine, myth, ethics, ritual, and symbol. Specific religious traditions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, popular religion, and Shinto are examined. Biographical sketches of directors whose films tend to focus on a particular religious tradition are also included, such as Zhang Yimou, Hayao Miyazaki, Deepa Mehta, and Akira Kurosawa. Discovering World Religions at 24 Frames Per Second is unique in the area of religion and film studies in that it isn't just a collection of essays. Instead it provides the introductory student with the necessary background information on the various religions before looking at how their ideas can be understood not through texts but through the cinematic medium. To keep the conversation fresh, most of the films used in the book were made within the last decade. Furthermore, examples range from popular, mainstream fare, such as Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to lesser-known foreign films, such as The Wooden Man's Bride and The Great Yokai War. Several films with a "cult-like" following are also discussed, including Fight Club, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Jacob's Ladder. This book is also unique in that instead of drawing upon the Judeo-Christian tradition, it draws from Eastern traditions.

On San Marcos Avenue in St. Augustine, Florida, stands the replicated Mission Nombre de Dios. Towering over the mission is a 208-foot stainless steel cross marking the site of the first known Catholic mass celebrated in Florida in 1620. A few hundred miles to the north in Montgomery, Alabama, sits the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, known to many as the birthplace of the civil rights movement. Newport, Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, urged new leaders Washington and Jefferson to form a government ""which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance."" From the pre-Columbian Anasazi kivas of Colorado built in the 1300s to the Peace Chapel constructed in 1970 on the Canadian border, this work examines the roots of 51 historic sites throughout the United States. Each entry provides detailed background material on the place of worship and those who established it, along with its location and religious affiliation. Sites include those devoted to Indian or Native American, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Baha'i, and other beliefs. The essays also place the church or site into an historical perspective, tracing how their foundings impacted the development of the United States.