In a world that increasingly sees religion as a source of violence, this book explores resources from within religious traditions that might help build peace. Drawing from the rich textual histories of Christianity and Islam, the contributors mine their faith traditions for ways of thinking and ways of being that help shift perceptions about religion, and actively contribute to the growth of peace in our troubled times. Not content with retreat into religious exclusivism, these essays are an act of sharing something held dear. In sharing, the thing offered no longer remains the possession of the one who offers, and so these essays are an act of vulnerability and trust-building. In sharing precious things together, in giving and receiving, peace becomes not only a matter of dialogue, but also shared commitments to ways of being.

The Jewish coming-of-age ceremony of bar mitzvah was first recorded in thirteenth-century France, where it took the form of a simple statement by the father that he was no longer responsible for his thirteen-year-old son. Today, bar mitzvah for boys and bat mitzvah for girls are more popular than at any time in history and are sometimes accompanied by lavish celebrations. How did bar mitzvah develop over the centuries from an obscure legal ritual into a core component of Judaism? How did it capture the imagination of even non-Jewish youth? Bar Mitzvah, a History is a comprehensive account of the ceremonies and celebrations for both boys and girls. A cultural anthropology informed by rabbinic knowledge, it explores the origins and development of the most important coming-of-age milestone in Judaism. Rabbi Michael Hilton has sought out every reference to bar mitzvah in the Bible, the Talmud, and numerous other Jewish texts spanning several centuries, extracting a fascinating miscellany of information, stories, and commentary.

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.

The religious buildings of the Jewish community in Britain have never been explored in print. Lavishly illustrated with previously unpublished images and photographs taken specially by English Heritage, this book traces the architecture of the synagogue in Britain and Ireland from its discreet Georgian- and Regency-era beginnings to the golden age of the grand "cathedral synagogues" of the High Victorian period. Sharman Kadish sheds light on obscure and sometimes underappreciated architects who designed synagogues for all types of worshipers--from Orthodox and Reform congregations to Yiddish-speaking immigrants in the 1900s. She examines the relationship between architectural style and minority identity in British society and looks at design issues in the contemporary synagogue. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

For roughly two thousand years, the veneration of sacred fossil ammonites, called Shaligrams, has been an important part of Hindu and Buddhist ritual practice throughout South Asia and among the global Diaspora. Originating from a single remote region of Himalayan Nepal, called Mustang, Shaligrams are all at once fossils, divine beings, and intimate kin with families and worshippers. Through their lives, movements, and materiality, Shaligrams then reveal fascinating new dimensions of religious practice, pilgrimage, and politics. But as social, environmental, and national conflicts in the politically-contentious region of Mustang continue to escalate, the geologic, mythic, and religious movements of Shaligrams have come to act as parallels to the mobility of people through both space and time. Shaligram mobility therefore traverses through multiple social worlds, multiple religions, and multiple nations revealing Shaligram practitioners as a distinct, alternative, community struggling for a place in a world on the edge.

The essay The Afro-Cuban Festival 'Day of the Kings""' by Fernando Ortiz, founder of Afro-Cuban studies, describes how, as in Brazil, Catholic priests and the colonial government as early as 1573 allowed and encouraged the African slaves to celebrate Epiphany, the Festival of the Three Kings...Free people joined in and the dances, music and costumes paraded by the various eyewitnesses demonstrate how early and how immense were the African contributions to what was to become the carnival of the African Diaspora. ""Bettelheim's second essay, The Tumba Francesa and Tajona of Santiago de Cuba,' describes two...groups which descend from the Creole-speaking Hatians called Franceses. In their long history of race pride, revolt and rebellion, is a previously unknown revelation of diasporic history. The intense interplay of sub-rosa and African-connected groups is perhaps the most important revelation made by these essays.