Over the past few years, secularism has become an intrinsic component of discussions on religious freedom and religious governance. The question of whether states should restrict the wearing of headscarves and other religious symbols has been particularly critical in guiding this thought process. Refashioning Secularisms in France and Turkey documents how, in both countries, devout women have contested bans on headscarves, pointing to how these are inconsistent with the 'real' spirit of secularism. These activists argue that it is possible to be simultaneously secular and religious; to believe in the values conveyed by secularism, while still remaining devoted to their faith. Through this examination, the book highlights how activists locate their claims within the frame of secularism, while at the same time revisiting it to craft a space for their religiosity. Addressing the lacuna in literature on the discourse of devout Muslims affected by these restrictions, this book offers a topical analysis on an understudied dimension of secularism and is a valuable resource for students and researchers with an interest in Religion, Gender Studies, Human Rights and Political Science.

Although there has been a massive increase in the volume of pilgrimage research and publications, traditional Anglophone scholarship has been dominated by research in Western Europe and North America. In their previous edited volume, International Perspectives on Pilgrimage Studies (Routledge, 2015), Albera and Eade sought to expand the theoretical, disciplinary and geographical perspectives of Anglophone pilgrimage studies. This new collection of essays builds on this earlier work by moving away from Eurasia and focusing on areas of the world where non-Christian pilgrimages abound. Individual chapters examine the practice of ziyarat in the Maghreb and South Asia, Hindu pilgrimage in India and different pilgrimage traditions across Malaysia and China before turning towards the Pacific islands, Australia, South Africa and Latin America, where Christian pilgrimages co-exist and sometimes interweave with indigenous traditions. This book also demonstrates the impact of political and economic processes on religious pilgrimages and discusses the important development of secular pilgrimage and tourism where relevant. Highly interdisciplinary, international, and innovative in its approach, New Pathways in Pilgrimage Studies: Global Perspectives will be of interest to those working in religious studies, pilgrimage studies, anthropology, cultural geography and folklore studies.

Paint perform and doodle your way through the Jewish holidays! Use art to help students connect with the underlying values of the holidays in a personal way.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Mobile Lifeworlds illustrates how the imaginaries and ideals of Western travellers, especially those of untouched nature and spiritual enlightenment, are consistent with media representations of the Himalayan region, romanticism and modernity at large. Blending tourism and pilgrimage, travel across Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and Northern India is often inspired and oriented by a search for authenticity, adventure and Otherness. Such valued ideals are shown, however, to be contested by the very forces and configurations that enable global mobility. The role ubiquitous media and mobile technologies now play in framing travel experiences are explored, revealing a situation in which actors are neither here nor there, but increasingly are 'inter-placed' across planetary landscapes. Beyond institutionalised religious contexts and the visiting of sacred sites, the author shows how a secular religiosity manifests in practical, bodily encounters with foreign environments. This book is unique in that it draws on a dynamic and innovative set of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, especially phenomenology, the mobilities paradigm and philosophical anthropology. The volume breaks fresh ground in pilgrimage, tourism and travel studies by unfolding the complex relationships between the virtual, imaginary and corporeal dynamics of contemporary mobile lifeworlds.

Water-although it covers more than two-thirds of the earth's surface, clean, potable water is in critically short supply. As more and more people globally show greater interest in what their religious traditions say about our natural world, Troubled Waters: Religion, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis examines the central role of water in various traditions and rituals, arriving at creative new ways to approach the growing water crisis worldwide. Chamberlain outlines many of the current water problems and lays out clear principles for action that engaged citizens from various traditions can undertake to meet the growing water challenges through conservation and water management policies. The book describes many religious practices from around the world that help sustain and restore water by using new technologies and reviving old ones. Offering creative suggestions for both personal practices and group action, Chamberlain advocates conservation, preservation, and restoration of our troubled waters.

The festive meal texts of Deuteronomy 12-26 depict Israel as a unified people participating in cultic banquets - a powerful and earthy image for both preexilic Judahite and later audiences. Comparison of Deuteronomy 12:13-27, 14:22-29, 16:1-17, and 26:1-15 with pentateuchal texts like Exodus 20-23 is broadened to highlight the rhetorical potential of the Deuteronomic meal texts in relation to the religious and political circumstances in Israel during the Neo-Assyrian and later periods. The texts employ the concrete and rich image of festive banquets, which the monograph investigates in relation to comparative ancient Near Eastern texts and iconography, the zooarchaeological remains of the ancient Levant, and the findings of cultural anthropology with regard to meals.

Avodah: Ancient Poems for Yom Kippur is the first major translation of one of the most important genres of the lost literature of the ancient synagogue. Known as the Avodah piyyutim, this liturgical poetry was composed by the synagogue poets of fifth- to ninth-century Palestine and sung in the synagogues on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Although it was suppressed by generations of Rabbis, its ornamental beauty and deep exploration of sacred stories ensured its popularity for centuries.

Piyyut literature can teach us much about how ancient Jews understood sacrifice, sacred space, and sin. The poems are also a rich source for retrieving myths and symbols not found in the conventional Rabbinic sources, such as the Talmuds and Midrash. Moreover, these compositions rise to the level of fine literature. They are the products of great literary effort, continue and extend the tradition of biblical parallelism, and reveal the aesthetic sensibilities of the Mediterranean in Late Antiquity.

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.

Both Jews and non-Jews alike have many misconceptions of Jewish teachings and practices. Some seemingly unusual statements about Jewish teachings and practices are actually true, whereas some apparently reasonable and popularly believed statements are false. Many statements regarding Jewish teachings and practice are partly true and partly false, requiring a more nuanced explanation of the true situation. In 850 Intriguing Questions about Judaism: True, False, or In Between, Ronald L. Eisenberg explores a wide range of Jewish teachings and practices, discussing the degree to which they are true, false or a bit of both. Offered in question-and-answer format, readers are invited to explore with the author what they really know about Jewish life, history, holidays, and scripture. Eisenberg tackles all sorts of topics, from artificial insemination to organ donation and euthanasia, second day festivals in the Diaspora to the why really sound the shofar, from what the ner tamid signifies to Jewish "rules of war." Throughout, Eisenberg takes a nuanced approach to his topics, laying the groundwork for a useful survey of what we ought to know better about Jews, Judaism, and Jewish teachings and practices. This is perfect reference work for anyone curious about Judaism, Jewish life, and Jewish history, and who has ever wondered what the real answer was to the many questions they might have had.

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.

Blessed Are You: A Comprehensive Guide to Jewish Prayer offers the layperson, in a nonacademic, simple (but not simplistic) style, a one-volume, encyclopedic presentation of virtually every aspect of prayer in Judaism. Rabbi Jeffrey M. Cohen explores his subject from every angle: he looks at the historical development of prayer, the role of the synagogue, the specific rituals connected to prayer, important Jewish legal topics, the theology that is expressed through prayer, and the texts that are used. Rabbi Cohen covers his subjects by taking three routes. First, he presents a fascinating historical treatment of prayer, from its earliest origins to the most recent developments, and addresses such topics as when Jewish prayer became standardized and why. The second section of Blessed Are You explains the theology of Jewish prayer: Why do people pray? Does God answer prayer? Can we believe that the Almighty actually changes His mind as a result of our prayerful requests? The book's third section is a guided tour of the synagogue and its personnel, with enlightening discussions of the role of the rabbi, the ways in which one becomes a rabbi, and what being a rabbi really means. Rabbi Cohen also discusses the important ritual objects found in the synagogue, and he includes a description of each detail in the arrangement of the synagogue sanctuary. Rabbi Cohen, a well-known and highly regarded British rabbi, has been teaching the subject of prayer in Judaism for a few decades. His experience has enabled him to write a remarkably thorough, easy-to-understand, 'user-friendly' guide to one of the pivotal activities of Jewish life. It is no wonder that both the present and former chief rabbis of Great Britain have praised this volume in superlative terms.

The Hindu-derived meditation movement, The Art of Living (AOL), founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bangalore, has grown into a global organization which claims presence in more than 150 countries. Stephen Jacobs presents the first comprehensive study of AOL as an important transnational movement and an alternative global spirituality. Exploring the nature and characteristics of spirituality in the contemporary global context, Jacobs considers whether alternative spiritualities are primarily concerned with individual wellbeing and can simply be regarded as another consumer product. The book concludes that involvement in movements such as AOL is not necessarily narcissistic but can foster a sense of community and inspire altruistic activity.

First paperback edition! In "Rosicrusians", McIntosh chronicles the obscure and elusive history of the secret order of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross, with its mysterious founder Christian Rosenkreuz. A forerunner of the many "Secret Masters", Rosenkreuz had a profound influence on the course of Western esoteric tradition.

Animism is an important part of many religions - from Shinto, Hinduism and Buddhism to Paganism and a range of indigenous religions - which connects the spiritual and material and holds that humans might not be unique in possessing souls or in being intentional agents. Over recent decades, research into animism has broadened its scope to consider, at one end, the vibrant roles of objects in human lives and, at the other, the possible similarities between humans and other species. "The Handbook of Contemporary Animism" brings together an international team of scholars to examine the full range of animist worldviews and practices. The Handbook opens with an examination of recent approaches to animism. This is followed by evaluations of ethnographic, cognitive, literary, performative, and material culture approaches as well as advances in activist and indigenous thinking about animism. "The Handbook of Contemporary Animism" invites readers to think creatively and critically about the world around us and will be invaluable to students and scholars of Religion, Sociology and Anthropology.

Volume 1 of Two Liturgical Traditions, surveyed the origins and growth of Christian and Jewish liturgy from the first century of the common era until our time. This second volume The Changing Face of Jewish and Christian Worship in North America, follows up with an examination of the recent revolution in Jewish and Christian liturgies. The book reflects the particular role of North America in the worldwide experiment in liturgical renewal.