Bettina E. Schmidt explores experiences usually labelled as spirit possession, a highly contested and challenged term, using extensive ethnographic research conducted in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and home to a range of religions which practice spirit possession. The book is enriched by excerpts from interviews with people about their experiences. It focuses on spirit possession in Afro-Brazilian religions and spiritism, as well as discussing the notion of exorcism in Charismatic Christian communities. Spirits and Trance in Brazil: An Anthropology of Religious Experience is divided into three sections which present the three main areas in the study of spirit possession. The first section looks at the social dimension of spirit possession, in particular gender roles associated with spirit possession in Brazil and racial stratification of the communities. It shows how gender roles and racial composition have adapted alongside changes in society in the last 100 years. The second section focuses on the way people interpret their practice. It shows that the interpretations of this practice depend on the human relationship to the possessing entities. The third section explores a relatively new field of research, the Western discourse of mind/body dualism and the wide field of cognition and embodiment. All sections together confirm the significance of discussing spirit possession within a wider framework that embraces physical elements as well as cultural and social ones. Bringing together sociological, anthropological, phenomenological and religious studies approaches, this book offers a new perspective on the study of spirit possession.

Is God a delusion? Barrister Charles Taylor examines the evidence in this very readable book. His findings will be controversial to some but offer hope and insight to others. We are the only species unable to live in harmony with our environment and each other. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs is nothing compared with our impact on the Earth. We are currently responsible for "The Sixth Great Extinction" of wildlife. Religious terrorism is widespread, though current atrocities are dwarfed by the bloody record of Christianity. The Middle East is destabilised and to East and West we have Presidents Putin and Trump. So called 'rational' thinking and the dominance of our left brains have brought us to the brink of disaster. We need a spiritual revolution allowing individuals to reconnect with their right brain, intuition and spirit. Religions have had their day. They contain key truths, but these truths are usually obscured by manmade rules constructed to gain wealth and power. At the other extreme, materialism denies God, the spirit, free will, consciousness and love. Happily, the facts contradict this dispiriting left brained faith that we are deluded robots stumbling through life.