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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Customs & folklore
A fascinating expose of the global revolution you've never heard
of: a deep-pocketed, tech-savvy Christian movement reshaping our
societies from within. How has a Christian movement, founded at the
turn of the twentieth century by the son of freed slaves, become
the fastest-growing religion on Earth? Pentecostalism has 600
million followers; by 2050, they'll be one in ten people worldwide.
This is the religion of the Holy Spirit, with believers directly
experiencing God and His blessings: success for the mind, body,
spirit and wallet. Pentecostalism is a social movement. It serves
impoverished people in Africa and Latin America, and inspires
anti-establishment leaders from Trump to Bolsonaro. In Australia,
Europe and Korea, it throws itself into culture wars and social
media, offering meaning and community to the rootless and
marginalised in a fragmenting world. Reporting this revolution from
twelve countries and six US states, Elle Hardy weaves a timeless
tale of miracles, money and power, set in our volatile age of
extremes. By turns troubling and entertaining, Beyond Belief
exposes the Pentecostal agenda: not just saving souls, but
transforming societies and controlling politics. These modern
prophets, embedded in our institutions, have the cash and the
influence to wage their holy war.
This is an engaging account of the world of the Vikings and their
gods. As the Vikings began to migrate overseas as raiders or
settlers in the late eighth century, there is evidence that this
new way of life, centred on warfare, commerce and exploration,
brought with it a warrior ethos that gradually became codified in
the Viking myths, notably in the cult of Odin, the god of war,
magic and poetry, and chief god in the Norse pantheon. The twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, when most of Scandinavia had long since
been converted to Christianity, form perhaps the most important era
in the history of Norse mythology: only at this point were the
myths of Thor, Freyr and Odin first recorded in written form. Using
archaeological sources to take us further back in time than any
written document, the accounts of foreign writers like the Roman
historian Tacitus, and the most important repository of stories of
the gods, old Norse poetry and the Edda, Christopher Abram leads
the reader into the lost world of the Norse gods.
Loving cows, then killing them. The relation with cattle in Mursi
country is shaped by the dichotomy between the value given to it
during life and the death imposed upon it. The killing of cattle
may be brief and inflicted with few words, but it is preceded by a
series of intense aesthetic practices, such as body painting and
adornments, colour poetics, poems and oratory art. This book
investigates the link between the nurturing and killing of cattle
with Mursi daily life and finds that these rituals cut across
pastoralism, social organisation and politics in forming the very
fabric of Mursi society.
What is the origin of the stories of the Round Table, of Excalibur
and the Holy Grail, of Sir Launcelot and Guinevere? And where was
Camelot?King Arthur's name has echoed down the centuries, conjuring
up rich images of mystery and power, chivalry and romance. But did
he exist at all? There is no evidence to prove he reigned in the
fifth and sixth centuries; no eye-witness accounts of his
coronation and no reliable manuscripts outlining his deeds. This
full-colour guide examines the facts of the legends in the
tantalising puzzle of King Arthur and his knights. Learn about the
origins of the Round Table, the cult of chivalry and conflict
between knights, and Arthur's shape-shifting half-sister Moran le
Fay. From the origins of Arthurian legend to the new phase in the
Arthurian cyce in the romantic revival of the early nineteenth
century, read about the tantalizing puzzle that is King Arthur.Look
out for more Pitkin guides on the very best of British history,
heritage and travel.
This book is another example of the New Thought movement where the
author looks at the law of attrac-tion in the sense of thought with
the respect of the power of mind. Atkinson points out the
similarities between the law of gravitation and the mental law of
attraction. He ex-plains that thought vibrations are as real as
those manifesting as light, heat, magnetism and electricity. The
difference is in the vibratory rate which also ex-plains the fact
that thought vibrations cannot usually be perceived by our five
senses. The author, rather skillfully, argues that there are huge
gaps in the spectrum of light and sound vibrations, wide enough to
include other worlds. It is logical that these activities would be
perceived by sense organs at-tuned to them. Increasingly
sophisticated scientific instruments are able to register more and
more of these hidden frequencies.
This volume brings together a range of scholars from diverse
disciplinary backgrounds to re-examine the histories of facial hair
and its place in discussions of gender, the military, travel and
art, amongst others. Chapters in the first section of the
collection explore the intricate history of beard wearing and
shaving, including facial hair fashions in long historical
perspective, and the depiction of beards in portraiture. Section
Two explores the shifting meanings of the moustache, both as a
manly symbol in the nineteenth century, and also as the focus of
the material culture of personal grooming. The final section of the
collection charts the often-complex relationship between men, women
and facial hair. It explores how women used facial hair to
appropriate masculine identity, and how women's own hair was read
as a sign of excessive and illicit sexuality.
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