The "African Diaspora and the Study of Religion" engages a variety of conversations at the forefront of contemporary scholarship in the study of religion and in African diaspora studies. These conversations include: the construction of racial identity in diverse national settings (Brazil, Mexico, Britain, North America); new religious movements and nationalism; alternative religious narratives in the diaspora; literature read through the lens of diaspora; trans-Atlantic culture (the role of Denmark in Nella Larson's novel "Quicksand," for example, or Ethiopia in Rastafarianism); and the role of the scholar and scholarship in the construction of religious and political meaning.

The central Christian belief in salvation through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ remains one of the most intractable mysteries of Christian faith. Throughout history, it has given rise to various theories of atonement, many of which have been subject to critique as they no longer speak to contemporary notions of evil and sin or to current conceptions of justice. One of the important challenges for contemporary Christian theology thus involves exploring new ways of understanding the salvific meaning of the cross. In Atonement and Comparative Theology, Christian theologians with expertise in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and African Religions reflect on how engagement with these traditions sheds new light on the Christian understanding of atonement by pointing to analogous structures of sin and salvation, drawing attention to the scandal of the cross as seen by the religious other, and re-interpreting aspects of the Christian understanding of atonement. Together, they illustrate the possibilities for comparative theology to deepen and enrich Christian theological reflection.

Exploring the elements of reality in early modern witchcraft and popular magic, through a combination of detailed archival research and broad-ranging interdisciplinary analyses, this book complements and challenges existing scholarship, and offers unique insights into this murky aspect of early modern history.

This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world. Set against an imploding grammar of socio-political life, the modern liberal public sphere appears in a new light.

As a religious tradition of the "East," Islam has often been portrayed as "other" to the Western Traditions of Judaism and Christianity. The essays in this collection use the underlying allegiance to scripture in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity to underscore the deep affinities between the three monotheistic traditions at the same time that respect for differences between the traditions are preserved. The essays are unique in attempting to bring together both contemporary academic and traditional scholarship on scriptural texts to heal the rift between tradition and the contemporary world.

The unique essays in this collection use the underlying allegiance to scripture in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity to underscore the deep affinities between the three monotheistic traditions while at the same time encouraging respect for the differences between the traditions to be preserved.

This book is an analysis of the affinities and interactions between Indic and Judaic civilizations from ancient through contemporary times. The contributors to this volume come together to propose new and global understanding of patterns of commerce and culture, to reconfigure how we understand the way great cultures interact, and to present a new constellation of diplomacy, literature, and geopolitics.

This collection introduces readers to the history and practice of the Vodou religion, and corrects many misconceptions. The book focuses specifically on the role Vodou plays in Haiti, where it has its strongest following, examining its influence on spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, national identity, popular culture, writing and art.

The Nigerian diaspora is now world-wide, and when Yoruba travel, they take with them their religious organizations. As a member of the Cherubim and Seraphim church in London for over thirty years, anthropologist Hermione Harris explores a world of prayer, spirit possession, and divination through dreams and visions.

Discover the Power of Dialogue to Heal Religious Division

How can members of different faith traditions approach each other with openness and respect? How can they confront the painful conflicts in their history and overcome theological misconceptions? For more than twenty years, Professors Mary C. Boys and Sara S. Lee have explored ways that Catholics and Jews might overcome mistrust and misunderstandings in order to promote commitment to religious pluralism.

At its best, interreligious dialogue entails not simply learning about the other from the safety of one s own faith community, but rather engaging in specific learning activities with members of the other faith learning in the presence of the other. Drawing upon examples from their own experience, Boys and Lee lay out a framework for engaging the religious other in depth. With vision and insight, they discuss ways of fostering relationships among participants and with key texts, beliefs and practices of the other s tradition.

In this groundbreaking resource, they offer a guide for members of any faith tradition who want to move beyond the rhetoric of interfaith dialogue and into the demanding yet richly rewarding work of developing new understandings of the religious other and of one s own tradition.

This study in the relationship between religion and the comic focuses on the ways in which the latter fulfils a central function in the sacred understanding of reality of pre-modern cultures and the spiritual life of religious traditions. The central thesis is that figures such as tricksters, sacred clowns, and holy fools play an essential role in bridging the gap between the divine and the human by integrating the element of disequilibrium that results from the contact between incommensurable realities. This interdisciplinary and cross-cultural series of essays is devoted to spiritual, anthropological, and literary characters and phenomena that point to a deeper understanding of the various mythological, ceremonial, and mystical ways in which the fundamental ambiguity of existence is symbolized and acted out. Given its interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective, this volume will appeal to scholars from a variety of fields.

In this extensively illustrated volume, Joseph Campbell explores the feminine divine. He traces its blossoming from one great goddess to the many goddesses of the mythic imagination by weaving together Marija Gimbutas' studies of neolithic old Europe, the Greek Eleusinian mystery cult, Arthurian legends of the Middle Ages, and the neoplatonic renaissance.

The Rhetoric of Religious Cults takes as its departure point the notion that 'cults' have a distinctive language and way of recruiting members. First outlining a rhetorical framework, which encompasses contemporary discourse analysis, the persuasive texts of three movements - Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses and Children of God - are analysed in detail and their discourse compared with other kinds of recruitment literature. Cults' distinctive negative profile in society is not matched by a linguistic typology. Indeed, this negative profile seems to rest on the semantics and application of the term 'cult' itself.

Internationally recognized scholars from many parts of the world provide a critical survey of recent developments and achievements in the global field of religious studies. The work follows in the footsteps of two former publications: Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Jacques Waardenburg (1973), and Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Frank Whaling (1984/85). New Approaches to the Study of Religion completes the survey of the comparative study of religion in the twentieth century by focussing on the past two decades. Many of the chapters, however, are also pathbreaking and point the way to future approaches. Key features - Sequel to two established former volumes - Volume I and II can be used (and purchased) separately - Separate indexes for each volume

Internationally recognized scholars from many parts of the world provide a critical survey of recent developments and achievements in the global field of religious studies. The work follows in the footsteps of two former publications: Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Jacques Waardenburg (1973), and Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Frank Whaling (1984/85). New Approaches to the Study of Religion completes the survey of the comparative study of religion in the twentieth century by focussing on the past two decades. Many of the chapters, however, are also pathbreaking and point the way to future approaches.

Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about "religion" and "religions," Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of "religion" and "race." He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other.

Reason, Culture, Religion book provides a systematic overview of the study of world politics. The author then locates modernist world politics in its sacral context by discussing Taoist strategics, Buddhist economics, Islamic civics, Confucian Marxism, Hindu constructivism, Pagan feminism and Animist environmentalism. It concludes by asking what a world affairs worthy of the name would be.

Jacques Waardenburg writes about relations between Muslims and adherents of other religions. After illuminating various aspects of Islam from an outside point of view in his volume "Islam" (published in 2002 by de Gruyter) his second volume changes the perspective: The author shows how Muslims perceived non-Muslims - particularly Christianity and "the West," but also Judaism and Asian religions - in many centuries of religious dialogue and tensions. The main focus is on Muslim minorities in Western countries and on religious dialogues of which he provides first-hand knowledge through his participation in several important dialogue meetings. After 50 years of research and personal involvement, Waardenburg aims at a mutual understanding and reconciliation of Islam and other religions, particularly Christianity, both on an international level as well as on a more local level where "old" and "new," Christian and Muslim Europeans live together.

This book marks the centenary of the Church in Wales, following its disestablishment in 1920. Part I provides a historical overview: from the Age of the Saints to Victorian times; the disestablishment campaign; Christianity in Wales since 1920; and broad issues faced over the century. Part II explores the constitution, bishops and archbishops, clergy, and laity. Part III examines doctrine, liturgy, rites of passage, and relations with other faith communities. Part IV deals with the church and culture, education, the Welsh language, and social responsibility. Part V discusses the changing images of the Church and its future. Around themes of continuity and change, the book questions assumptions about the Church, including its distinctive theology and Welshness, ecumenical commitment, approach to innovation, and response to challenges posed by the State and wider world in an increasingly pluralist and secularised Welsh society over the century.

Bruce Lincoln is one of the most prominent advocates within religious studies for an uncompromisingly critical approach to the phenomenon of religion-historians of religions, he believes, should resist the preferred narratives and self-understanding of religions themselves, especially when their stories are endowed with sacred origins and authority. In "Gods and Demons, Priests and Scholars", Lincoln assembles a collection of essays that both illustrates and reveals the benefits of his methodology, making a case for a critical religious studies that starts with skepticism but is neither cynical nor crude. The book begins with Lincoln's "Theses on Method" and ends with "The (Un)discipline of Religious Studies," in which he unsparingly considers the failings of uncritical and nonhistorical approaches to the study of religions. In between, Lincoln presents new examinations of problems in ancient religions and relates these cases to larger comparative themes. While bringing to light important features of the formation of pantheons and the constructions of demons, chaos, and the dead, Lincoln demonstrates that historians of religions should take religious things-inspired scriptures, sacred centers, salvific rites, communities graced by divine favor-as the theories of interested humans that shape perception, community, and experiences. As he shows, it is for their terrestrial influence, and not their sacred origins, that religious phenomena merit consideration by the historian. Tackling many questions central to religious study, "Gods and Demons, Priests and Scholars" will be a touchstone for the history of religions in the twenty-first century.

"Wild Religion" is a wild ride through recent South African history from the advent of democracy in 1994 to the euphoria of the football World Cup in 2010. In the context of South AfricaOCOs political journey and religious diversity, David Chidester explores African indigenous religious heritage with a difference. As the spiritual dimension of an African Renaissance, indigenous religion has been recovered in South Africa as a national resource. "Wild Religion" analyzes indigenous rituals of purification on Robben Island, rituals of healing and reconciliation at the new national shrine, Freedom Park, and rituals of animal sacrifice at the World Cup. Not always in the national interest, indigenous religion also appears in the wild religious creativity of prison gangs, the global spirituality of neo-shamans, the ceremonial display of Zulu virgins, the ancient Egyptian theosophy in South AfricaOCOs Parliament, and the new traditionalism of South AfricaOCOs President Jacob Zuma. Arguing that the sacred is produced through the religious work of intensive interpretation, formal ritualization, and intense contestation, Chidester develops innovative insights for understanding the meaning and power of religion in a changing society. For anyone interested in religion, "Wild Religion" uncovers surprising dynamics of sacred space, violence, fundamentalism, heritage, media, sex, sovereignty, and the political economy of the sacred.

World's fairs contributed mightily to defining a relationship between religion and the wider world of human culture. Even at the base level of popular culture found on the midways of the earliest international expositions--where Victorian ladies gawked at displays of non-Western, "primitive" life--the concept of religion as an independent field of study began to take hold in public consciousness. The World's Parliament of Religions at the Chicago exposition of 1893 did as much as any other single event to introduce the idea that religion could be viewed as simply one concern among many within the rapidly diversifying modern lifestyle.

A chronicle of the emergence and development of religion as a field of intellectual inquiry, Exhibiting Religion: Colonialism and Spectacle at International Expositions, 1851-1893 is an extensive survey of world's fairs from the inaugural Great Exhibition in London to the Chicago Columbian Exposition and World's Parliament of Religions. As the first broad gatherings of people from across the world, these events were pivotal as forums in which the central elements of a field of religion came into contact with one another.

John Burris argues that comparative religion was the focal point for early attempts at comparative culture and that both were defined more by the intercultural politics and material exchanges of colonialism than by the spirit of objective intellectual inquiry. Equally a work of American and British religious history and a cultural history of the emerging field of religion, this book offers definitive theoretical insights into the discipline of religious studies in its early formation.

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.

Dialogue on the conflict between religious fundamentalism and women’s rights is often stymied by an “all or nothing” approach: fundamentalists claim absolute religious freedom, while some feminists dismiss religion entirely as patriarchal. Courtney Howland provides a forum for scholars, both religious and non-religious, to meet and seek common ground in their fight against fundamentalism. Through an examination of international human rights, national law, grass roots activism, and theology, this volume explores the acute problems that contemporary fundamentalist movements pose for women’s equality and liberty rights.