The first to appear in Curzon's well respected 'Popular Dictionary' series.

The Lutheran doctrine of the orders of creation specifies fundamental forms of human community. Grounded in God's structuring of the universe, these institutions acquire their expression in human history. Although they are fallen and distorted under sin, they remain God's good creation. Illumined by the witness of Scripture, their ontology exists independently of ideological conceit. The tradition is a specifically Lutheran consideration of natural law theory and plays an important role in two-kingdoms theology and the law/gospel dialectic. Historically, the doctrine has suffered significant abuse, specifically with the extra-scriptural elevation of Volk and race as inviolable institutions in support of Nazi ideology. Consequently, many have dismissed the doctrine as a static worldview that disallows critique of the status quo. In its orthodox biblical formulation, however, the doctrine remains a powerful safeguard against what Walter Kunneth calls "the ideological alienation of the gospel" that invokes the name of Christ to justify sinful desire. Nathan Howard Yoder evaluates the variant orders of creation models of the Erlangen theologians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Concentrating specifically on the work of Paul Althaus, Werner Elert, and Walter Kunneth, he lifts up Kunneth's christological/trinitarian focus and appeal to sola scriptura as essential correctives to the tradition. He makes the case that the doctrine remains imperative to moral theology, specifically in the Church's efforts against the rampant antinomianism of the postmodern era. This book will serve well as a reference for graduate and post-graduate level courses in systematic theology, Christian ethics/moral theology, and the Lutheran Confessions.

This book explores the idea of religious pluralism while defending the norms of secular cosmopolitanism, which include liberty, tolerance, civility, and hospitality. The secular cosmopolitan ideal requires us to be more tolerant and more hospitable toward religious believers and non-believers from diverse traditions in our religiously pluralistic world. Some have argued that the world's religions can be united around a common core. This book argues that it is both impossible and inadvisable either to reduce religion to one thing or to deny religion. Instead, the book affirms non reductive pluralism and seeks to understand how we should live in a pluralistic world. Building on work in the sociology of religion and philosophy of religion, the book examines the grown of religious diversity (and the spread of nonreligion) in the contemporary world. It argues that religious toleration, hospitality, and compassion must be extended in a global direction. Secular cosmopolitanism recognizes that each person has a right to his or her deepest beliefs and that the diversity of the world's religious and non-religious traditions cannot be reduced or eliminated.

Given the unique history of African Americans and their diverse religious traditions -- seen in black Christianity, the Nation of Islam, Voodoo, and others -- is there one fundamental meaning to black religion in America? What is the heart and soul of African American religious life?

As a leader in both black religious studies and theology, Anthony Pinn has probed the dynamism and variety of African American religious expressions. In this work, which he also delivered as the Edward Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham, England, he searches out the basic structure of black religion, tracing the black religious spirit in its many historical manifestations. Pinn finds in the terrors of enslavement of black bodies and subsequent oppressions the primal experience to which the black religious impulse provides a perennial and cumulative response. Oppressions entailed the denial of personhood and creation of an object: the Negro. Slave auctions, punishments, and later, lynchings created an existential dread but also evoked a quest, a search, for complex subjectivity or authentic personhood that still fuels black religion today. Pinn's promising work offers a major new understanding of what it means to be black and religious in the United States.

This book presents the backstory of how the Catholic Church came to clarify and embrace the role of Israel in salvation history, at the behest of an unlikely personality: Jules Isaac. This embrace put to an end the tradition, more than fifteen centuries old, of anti-Jewish rhetoric that had served as taproot to racial varieties of anti-Semitism. Prior to Isaac's thought and activism, this contemptuous tradition had never been denounced in so compelling a manner that the Church was forced to address it. It is a story of loss and triumph, and ultimately, unlikely partnership. Isaac devoted his years after World War II to a crusade for scriptural truth and rectification of Christian teaching regarding Jews and Judaism. Isaac's crusade culminated in an unpublicized audience with Pope John XXIII-a meeting that moved the pope to make a last-minute addition to the Second Vatican Council agenda and set in motion the events leading to a revolution in Catholic teaching about Jews.

"Are they really Muslims?" Islam in China reveals the struggle for identity of the small yet vital Muslim community of China, a little studied minority on the fringes of the Islamic world now thrust into the spotlight by the opening of China to the world and the rise of independent Muslim republics on China's western borders. Both timely and important, the multifaceted essays-- collection of over twenty years of Raphael Israeli's scholarship on Chinese Muslims-offer detailed insight into the relationship between China's non-Muslim majority and an increasingly self-confident guest culture. The work uncovers a history of uneasy ethnic, philosophical, and ideological coexistence, the gradual sinification of the Chinese Muslim creed, and the increasing accommodation of Islam by a modern, westernizing China. In addition, it highlights a religious group riddled with sectarianism; factional rifts that reveal the doctrinal, social, and political diversity at the core of Chinese Islam.

The Seductions of Pilgrimage explores the simultaneously attractive and repellent, beguiling and alluring forms of seduction in pilgrimage. It focuses on the varied discursive, imaginative, and practical mechanisms of seduction that draw individual pilgrims to a pilgrimage site; the objects, places, and paradigms that pilgrims leave behind as they embark on their hyper-meaningful travel experience; and the often unforeseen elements that lead pilgrims off their desired course. Presenting the first comprehensive study of the role of seduction on individual pilgrims in the study of pilgrimage and tourism, it will appeal to scholars of anthropology, cultural geography, tourism, heritage, and religious studies.

What are we to make of the Latina schoolteacher who considers herself a good Catholic, rarely attends Mass, but meditates daily at her home altar (where she mixes images of the Virgin of Guadalupe with those of Frida Kahlo, and traditional votive candles with healing crystals), yet feels particularly spiritual while preparing food for religious celebrations in her neighborhood? Diverse religious practices such as these have long baffled scholars of contemporary religion, whose research started with the assumption that individuals commit, or refuse to commit, to an entire institutionally defined package of beliefs and practices. Social surveys typically ask respondents to self-identify by denominational or other broad religious categories. Sociologists attempt to measure religiosity according to how well individuals conform to the official religious standards, such as frequency of church attendance, scripture-reading, or prayer.
In this book, Meredith McGuire points the way forward to a new way of understanding and studying religious behavior. Rather than try to fit people into pre-arranged packages, she argues, scholars must begin to study religion as it is actually lived and experienced in people's everyday lives. Drawing on her own extensive fieldwork, as well as recent work by other scholars, McGuire explores the many ways that people express themselves spiritually and shows that they rarely fit neatly into the categories we've developed. Challenging those who see declining church attendance as the death of religion in the Western world, McGuire demonstrates that religion is as widespread, potent, and vital as ever, if you know where to look.

For good or ill, most, if not all, of the great institutions which have formed the framework of society have had their roots in the idea of Deity as a beneficent providential order of transcendental reality. In being handed down through countless generations the beliefs, concepts and customs have assumed a great variety of new outward forms in the process of transmission and development. To determine their true meaning and function as a cohesive force and as an expression of ultimate reality, the comparative and historical methods can be employed with considerable advantage. This book, first published in 1950, provides a valuable comparative study of religion.

Religious Ways of Experiencing Life: A Global and Narrative Approach surveys world religions, using the narratives and discourses of each tradition to describe it in its own terms. Carl Olson examines each tradition's practices, teachings, material culture, roles of women, and path to salvation, as well as the experiences of its followers. The exploration of lived experience draws out and emphasizes the plural nature of religious traditions. The volume includes chapters on all current major world religions, as well as material on ancient religions of the Mediterranean, indigenous North American and African spiritual traditions, and New Age and new religious movements. Featuring timelines and suggestions for further reading, this text will be of interest to undergraduate students seeking a broad introduction to World Religion or Lived Religion.

Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity offers a comparative study of the works of the Sufi-poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) and the practical teachings of the German Dominican, Meister Eckhart (c1260-1327/8). Rumi has remained an influential figure in Islamic mystical discourse since the thirteenth century, while also extending his impact to the Western spiritual arena. However, his ideas have frequently been interpreted within the framework of other mystical, philosophical, or religious systems. Through its novel approach, this book aims to reformulate Rumi's practical mysticism by employing four methodological principles: a) mysticism is a coherent structure with mutual interconnection between its parts; b) the imposition of alien structures to interpret any particular mysticism damages its inward coherency; c) practical mysticism consists of two main parts, namely practices and stages; and d) the proper use of comparative methodology enables a deeper understanding of each juxtaposed system. Eckhart's speculative mysticism, which differs from and enjoys similarities with the love-based mysticism of Rumi, provides a "mirror" that highlights the special features of Rumi's practical mysticism. Such comparison also allows a deeper comprehension of Eckhart's practical thought. Offering a critical examination of practical mysticism, this book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Islamic studies, comparative mysticism, and the intellectual history of Islam.

Ascetic practices are a common feature of religion in Japan, practiced by different religious traditions. This book looks at these ascetic practices in an inter-sectarian and inter-doctrinal fashion, in order to highlight the underlying themes common to all forms of asceticism. It does so by employing a multidisciplinary methodology, which integrates participant fieldwork - the author himself engaged extensively in ascetic practices - with a hermeneutical interpretation of the body as the primary locus of transmission of the ascetic 'embodied tradition'. By unlocking this 'bodily data', the book unveils the human body as the main tool and text of ascetic practice. This book includes discussion of the many extraordinary rituals practiced by Japanese ascetics.

The book attends to a historical question - how to account for the high numbers of renouncers (sadhvis) mentioned in medieval and ancient texts - which has been acknowledged and raised, but left unaddressed within Jain studies. It does so through ethnographic data gathered through extensive fieldwork among the sadhvis in Delhi and Jaipur. The volume foregrounds the primacy of 'choice' and 'agency'- upheld by the nuns themselves, who associate asceticism with autonomy, freedom, joy, spiritual well-being, self-worth and peace, and grihastha (household) with loss of independence, fettered existence, degradation, burdensome familial obligations and social responsibilities. It also examines whether it may be apt to term Jain nuns as practitioners of an 'indigenous mode of feminism'. The book challenges the existing sociological theories of renunciation and tests the feminist concepts of agency and autonomy by investigating the culturally coded roles ascribed to women in Jainism, which are variegated, and examines how a fractured discourse and reality is resolved in the subjectivities and identities of female ascetics. The very legitimacy of the institution of female asceticism, and the way in which the society (samaj) upholds and sustains it, renders female asceticism into a socially approved alternative institution - albeit one that allows Jain nuns to create spaces of relative and autonomy and even prestige for themselves.

Modern Psychology and Ancient Wisdom, 2nd edition, brings together experts who explore the use of ancient healing techniques from Buddhism, Christianity, Goddess, Shamanism, Taoism, and Yogic traditions as well as the mystical practices of Judaism and Islam and their application to modern counseling and therapy professions. Each chapter lays out time-tested techniques used by teachers, guides, and practitioners to facilitate psychological healing, embraces a wide variety of cultural perspectives, and offers a large, varied, and meaningful view of the world. This new edition includes added material on Islam, indigenous, and shamanic healing perspectives and practices, as well as new findings in the fields of neuropsychology and epigenetics. With its vast offerings of new treatment methods from a variety of perspectives-from therapeutic metaphors and breathing exercises to meditation and yoga techniques-this book will be of use to mental health professionals, social workers, and pastoral caregivers.

The pure and penetrating message of the Divine Feminine Wisdom can become a companion for your own spiritual journey The first of God's creations and God’s endless delight, Wisdom (also known as Chochma and Sophia) is the Mother of all life, the guide to right living. She is God manifest in the world you encounter moment to moment. Her teachings, embedded in the Holy Scriptures of Jews and Christians, are passionate, powerful calls to live in harmony, love with integrity and act joyously. Through the Hebrew books of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and Job, and the Wisdom literature books of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, the Divine Feminine speaks to you directly, and Her only desire is to teach you to become wise. Rami Shapiro’s contemporary translations and powerful commentaries clarify who Wisdom is, what She teaches, and how Her words can help you live justly, wisely and with compassion. This is not a book about Wisdom but the voice of Wisdom Herself, liberating, uplifting and compelling. Now you can experience the Divine Feminine and understand Her teachings with no previous knowledge of Wisdom literature. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents insightful commentary that explains Sophia’s way of wisdom and illustrates the countless opportunities to experience Her creative energy through which God fashions all things.

This ancient Gnostic text can be a companion for your own spiritual quest. The Gospel of Philip is one of the most exciting and accessible of the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. The source of Dan Brown's intriguing speculations about Mary Magdalene in his best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, the Gospel of Philip draws on ancient imagery—the natural world, the relationships between women, men and family, the ancient distinctions between lord and servants, free people and slaves, and pagans, Jews and Christians—to offer us insight into the spiritual interpretation of scripture that is at the foundation of Christianity. The Gospel of Philip: Annotated and Explained unravels the discourses, parables and sayings of this second-century text to explore a spiritual, non-literal interpretation of the Bible. Along with his elegant and accurate new translation from the original Coptic, Andrew Phillip Smith probes the symbolism and metaphors at the heart of the Gospel of Philip to reveal otherwise unrecorded sayings of Jesus, fragments of Gnostic mythology and parallels to the teachings of Jesus and Paul. He also examines the joyful imagery of rebirth, salvation and mystical union in the bridal chamber that was the pursuit of Christian Gnosticism. Now you can experience this ancient Gospel even if you have no previous knowledge of early Christianity or Gnostic thought. This SkyLight Illuminations edition provides important insights into the historical context and major themes of the Gospel of Philip, and gives you a deeper understanding of the Gospel’s overarching message: deciphering our own meaning behind the symbols of this world increases and enriches our understanding of God.

In this pathbreaking book, Marinus Iwuchukwu examinesthe perennial conflicts in different parts of northern Nigeria and why they are popularly called Muslim-Christian clashes. Specifically, he examines the immediate and remote factors that are responsible for the conflicts, seeking to know if northern Nigerians are intrinsically religious and if people in this region are attracted to either Islam or Christianity exclusively and why. In the light of the popular finger-pointing on religion and sometimes on culture as reasons for the conflicts, Iwuchukwu exploreshow an inclusive religious and cultural pluralistic framework can effectively facilitate ongoing interreligious dialogue among the feuding groups.

Over the past dozen years or so, an increasingly disproportionate percentage of new religions scholars have arisen in Nordic countries, which now teach at universities in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Baltic countries. Nordic New Religions, co-edited with Inga B. Tollefsen, surveys this rich field of study in this area of the world, focusing on the scholarship being produced by scholars in this region of northern Europe.

Hindu and Christian debates over the meanings, motivations, and modalities of 'conversion' provide the central connecting theme running through this book. It focuses on the reasons offered by both sides to defend or oppose the possibility of these cross-border movements, and shows how these reasons form part of a wider constellation of ideas, concepts, and practices of the Christian and the Hindu worlds. The book draws upon several historical case-studies of Christian missionaries and of Hindus who encountered these missionaries. By analysing some of the complex negotiations, intersections, and conflicts between Hindus and Christians over the question of 'conversion', it demonstrates that these encounters revolve around three main contested themes. Firstly, who can properly 'speak for the convert'? Secondly, how is 'tolerating' the religious other connected to an appraisal of the other's viewpoints which may be held to be incorrect, inadequate, or incomplete? Finally, what is, in fact, the 'true Religion'? The book demonstrates that it is necessary to wrestle with these questions for an adequate understanding of the Hindu and Christian debates over 'conversion.' Questioning what 'conversion' precisely is, and why it has been such a volatile issue on India's political-legal landscape, the book will be a useful contribution to studies of Hinduism, Christianity and Asian Religion and Philosophy.

Volume 25 in the Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion series brings together distinguished scholars to reflect on the fascination and fear that humans inevitably experience when confronted with diverse religious beliefs and practices. Contributors argue that fear of the "stranger" and his or her religion can only be overcome through education, and they suggest ways in which we can better understand one another and the world in which we live. Part one of the collection, entitled "Talking with Strangers," explores avenues for finding common ground between "religious strangers." In this section Stephen Prothero examines the Amerian reception of Hinduism, John de Gruchy analyzes the relationship between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in South Africa, and Bhikhu Parekh imagines a dialogue between Osama bin Laden and Mahatma Gandhi. The second set of essays addresses the theme of understanding difference, with a particular focus on methodological approaches within philosophy of religion. Wendy Doniger argues for an approach to cross-cultural studies that recognizes both the similarities and the differences between us and the other, and that encourages us to think and feel with the alien tradition. Eliot Deutsch advocates a pluralistic approach to religion, which encourages cross-religious dialogue. Robert Neville's essay challenges the tendency to view other religions through a lens shaped by one's own faith tradition. The final set of essays discusses religious conversions and converts. It includes a piece by John Carman on conversion from Hinduism to Christianity, an essay by Werner Gundersheimer on crossing the border between Christianity and Judaism, and PravrajikaVrajaprana's description of her experience as a Caucasian American who became a Hindu nun. Collectively these essays reveal the importance of learning about, listening to, and empathizing with the "stranger's religion." This book will appeal to anyone who is interested in cross-religious and cultural dialogue.

Muslim Ethiopia: The Christian Legacy, Identity Politics and Islamic Reformism is a pioneering collection of studies on Islam in contemporary Ethiopia. This volume challenges the popular notion of a 'Christian Ethiopia' imagined as the centuries-old, never-colonized Abyssinia, isolated in the highlands and dominated by Orthodox Christianity. In addition to marginalizing Muslim cultures and societies within Ethiopia, this notion has also excluded Muslims from public discourse and led to the neglect of Islam in Ethiopian studies. This is strikingly at odds with the country's cultural and historical reality, as Muslims constitute a significant part of the population and have contributed significantly to its development. Muslim Ethiopia develops this overlooked nexus of Ethiopian and Islamic Studies, while broadening our understandings of Muslims in Africa as a whole.

This concise and accessible encyclopedia contains nearly 300 entries on the world's major religions, as well as important articles on important holy places...prophets and historical figures...and spiritual practices and religions that predate organized religion... - Library Journal. From Aaron (the first high priest of Israel) to Zoroastrianism (once the dominant religion in Persia), The Religion Book provides an encyclopedic look at the practices of yesterday and today. Christians, Buddhists, Wiccans and the rest may have questions about others' belief or even their own, and The Religion Book expertly explains the similarities, differences, and original ideologies of believers and skeptics around the world. Are Nirvana and Heaven the same? Who are the Raelians, and why are they cloning people? What's the difference between Christian Scientists and Jehovah's Witnesses? Dogma? Karma? Feng Shui? What do they all mean? Devils, ghosts, the afterlife--do they really exist? If killing's a sin, why are there jihads? From the prominence of Catholics to the head scratching of the Red Paint People, The Religion Book is the go-to resource for all ages--and it doesn't require dressing in go-to-meeting clothes. The Religion Book: Places, Prophets, Saints, and Seers is a reader's convenient parchment pulpit of easy understanding to some of the most asked-about religious topics. Five hundred-plus pages explore 300 key religious figures, prophets, deities, places, and scriptures that play important roles in the major religions of the world. Willis respectfully explains terms and concepts as they relate to their respective belief systems, whether mainstream, pagan, or cultish.