This volume focuses on the various phenomena of religious encounters in a transcultural society where religion or religious traditions play a significant role in a multi-cultural concept. Religious Encounters in Transcultural Society is divided into three parts: Islamic encounters with regional religions, East Asian religious encounters, and alternative religious encounters. This book evokes the fact that religious encounters exist in every transcultural society even though they often remain hidden behind socio-cultural issues. The situation can be changed, but one culture cannot harmoniously and always contain two or multi-beliefs. The issue of religious encounters mostly arises in the transnational process of religious globalization.

This volume presents a critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic translation and commentary on the book of Esther by Saadia Gaon (882-942). This edition, accompanied by an introduction and extensively annotated English translation, affords access to the first-known personalized, rationalistic Jewish commentary on this biblical book. Saadia innovatively organizes the biblical narrative-and his commentary thereon-according to seven "guidelines" that provide a practical blueprint by which Israel can live as an abased people under Gentile dominion. Saadia's prodigious acumen and sense of communal solicitude find vivid expression throughout his commentary in his carefully-defined structural and linguistic analyses, his elucidative references to a broad range of contemporary socio-religious and vocational realia, his anti-Karaite polemics, and his attention to various issues, both psychological and practical, attending Jewish-Gentile conviviality in a 10th-century Islamicate milieu.

Like many women in the Church, Joy Loewen didn't fully understand Muslim women or their roles in the Muslim culture and religion. In fact, she was afraid of them and not particularly interested in befriending them. But with prayer, wisdom, and a lot of love, Joy overcame these obstacles, found that she actually liked them, and that many of these women are irresistibly attracted to the love of Jesus. For the last thirty years she has used this knowledge to build authentic connections with Muslim women, reaching out to them in a sensitive, effective way.
In this practical and very personal book, Joy shares not only her insights into befriending Muslim women, but many helpful stories from her own experiences. Her goal is to help readers "move from fear to love and compassion" so that they, too, can love as Christ does. Woman to Woman is essential reading for Christian leaders, ministries, and any layperson who wants to grow in love for and understanding of Muslims.

The articles compiled in Ottoman War & Peace. Studies in Honor of Virginia H. Aksan, honor the prolific career of a foremost scholar of the Ottoman Empire, and engage in redefining the boundaries of Ottoman historiography. Blending micro and macro approaches, the volume covers topics from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries related to the Ottoman military and warfare, biography and intellectual history, and inter-imperial and cross-cultural relations. Through these themes, this volume seeks to bring out and examine the institutional and socio-political complexity of the Ottoman Empire and its peoples. Contributors are Eleazar Birnbaum, Maurits van den Boogert, Palmira Brummett, Frank Castiglione, Linda Darling, Caroline Finkel, Molly Greene, Jane Hathaway, Colin Heywood, Douglas Howard, Christine Isom-Verhaaren, Dina Rizk Khoury, Ethan L. Menchinger, Victor Ostapchuk, Leslie Peirce, James A. Reilly, Will Smiley, Mark Stein, Kahraman Sakul, Veysel Simsek, Feryal Tansug, Baki Tezcan, Fatih Yesil, Aysel Yildiz.

Christian-Muslim Relations, a Bibliographical History, Volume 8 (CMR 8) covering Northern and Eastern Europe in the period 1600-1700, is a continuing volume in a general history of relations between the two faiths from the seventh century to the early 20th century. It comprises a series of introductory essays and also the main body of detailed entries which treat all the works, surviving or lost, that have been recorded. These entries provide biographical details of the authors, descriptions and assessments of the works themselves, and complete accounts of manuscripts, editions, translations and studies. The result of collaboration between numerous leading scholars, CMR 8, along with the other volumes in this series is intended as a basic tool for research in Christian-Muslim relations. Section Editors: Clinton Bennett, Luis F. Bernabe Pons, Jaco Beyers, Lejla Demiri, Martha Frederiks, David Grafton, Stanislaw Grodz, Alan Guenther, Emma Loghin, Gordon Nickel, Claire Norton, Reza Pourjavady, Douglas Pratt, Radu Paun, Peter Riddell, Umar Ryad, Cornelia Soldat, Karel Steenbrink, Davide Tacchini, Ann Thomson, Serge Traore, Carsten Walbiner

In 1482, Abu Abdallah Muhammad XI became the twenty-third Muslim King of Granada. He would be the last. This is the first history of the ruler, known as Boabdil, whose disastrous reign and bitter defeat brought seven centuries of Moorish Spain to an end. It is an action-packed story of intrigue, treachery, cruelty, cunning, courtliness, bravery and tragedy.

Basing her vivid account on original documents and sources, Elizabeth Drayson traces the origins and development of Islamic Spain. She describes the thirteenth-century founding of the Nasrid dynasty, the cultured and stable society it created, and the feuding which threatened it and had all but destroyed it by 1482, when Boabdil seized the throne. The new Sultan faced betrayals by his family, factions in the Alhambra palace, and ever more powerful onslaughts from the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella, monarchs of the newly united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon.

By stratagem, diplomacy, courage and strength of will Boabdil prolonged his reign for ten years, but he never had much chance of survival. In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella, magnificently attired in Moorish costume, entered Granada and took possession of the city. Boabdil went into exile. The Christian reconquest of Spain, that has reverberated so powerfully down the centuries, was complete.

Christian-Muslim Relations, a Bibliographical History 18 (CMR 18), covering the Ottoman Empire in the period 1800-1914, is a further volume in a general history of relations between the two faiths from the 7th century to the early 20th century. It comprises a series of introductory essays and the main body of detailed entries. These treat all the works, surviving or lost, that have been recorded. They provide biographical details of the authors, descriptions and assessments of the works themselves, and complete accounts of manuscripts, editions, translations and studies. The result of collaboration between numerous new and leading scholars, CMR 18, along with the other volumes in this series, is intended as a fundamental tool for research in Christian-Muslim relations. Section editors: Clinton Bennett, Luis F. Bernabe Pons, Jaco Beyers, Emanuele Colombo, Lejla Demiri, Martha Frederiks, David D. Grafton, Stanislaw Grodz, Alan Guenther, Vincenzo Lavenia, Arely Medina, Diego Melo Carrasco, Alain Messaoudi, Gordon Nickel, Claire Norton, Reza Pourjavady, Douglas Pratt, Radu Paun, Charles Ramsey, Peter Riddell, Umar Ryad, Cornelia Soldat, Karel Steenbrink, Charles Tieszen, Carsten Walbiner, Catherina Wenzel.

Senses of Scripture, Treasures of Tradition offers recent findings on the reception, translation and use of the Bible in Arabic among Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims from the early Islamic era to the present day. In this volume, edited by Miriam L. Hjalm, scholars from different fields have joined forces to illuminate various aspects of the Bible in Arabic: it depicts the characteristics of this abundant and diverse textual heritage, describes how the biblical message was made relevant for communities in the Near East and makes hitherto unpublished Arabic texts available. It also shows how various communities interacted in their choice of shared terminology and topics, and how Arabic Bible translations moved from one religious community to another. Contributors include: Amir Ashur, Mats Eskhult, Nathan Gibson, Dennis Halft, Miriam L. Hjalm, Cornelia Horn, Nahem Ilan, Rana H. Issa, Geoffrey K. Martin, Roy Michael McCoy III, Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala, Meirav Nadler-Akirav, Sivan Nir, Meira Polliack, Arik Sadan, Ilana Sasson, David Sklare, Peter Tarras, Alexander Treiger, Frank Weigelt, Vevian Zaki, Marzena Zawanowska.

In The Wandering Throne of Solomon: Objects and Tales of Kingship in the Medieval Mediterranean Allegra Iafrate analyzes the circulation of artifacts and literary traditions related to king Solomon, particularly among Christians, Jews and Muslims, from the 10th to the 13th century. The author shows how written sources and objects of striking visual impact interact and describes the efforts to match the literary echoes of past wonders with new mirabilia. Using the throne of Solomon as a case-study, she evokes a context where Jewish rabbis, Byzantine rulers, Muslim ambassadors, Christian sovereigns and bishops all seem to share a common imagery in art, technology and kingship.

Religion and religious nationalism have long played a central role in many ethnic and national conflicts, and the importance of religion to national identity means that territorial disputes can often focus on the contestation of holy places and sacred territory. Looking at the case of Israel and Palestine, this book highlights the nexus between religion and politics through the process of classifying holy places, giving them meaning and interpreting their standing in religious and civil law, within governmental policy, and within international and local communities.

Written by a team of renowned scholars from within and outside the region, this book follows on from Holy Places in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Confrontation and Co-existence to provide an insightful look into the politics of religion and space. Examining Jerusalem 's holy basin from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, it provides unique insights into the way Jewish, Christian and Muslim authorities, scholars and jurists regard sacred space and the processes, grass roots and official, by which spaces become holy in the eyes of particular communities. Filling an important gap in the literature on Middle East peacemaking, the book will be of interest to scholars and students of the Middle East conflict, conflict resolution, political science, urban studies and history of religion.

Faith stories explains systems of cultural value that are articulated through faith. Drawing on ethnography, interviews, focus groups for adults and arts workshops for their children, Anna Hickey-Moody examines belonging, attachment, faith, belief and 'what really matters' in diverse areas in England and Australia. Her research finds surprising similarities in how people are connected to daily life through faith, and how others postpone their involvement in the everyday with the hope of being rewarded after death. Children bring together their religious worlds with imagined solutions to everyday problems. Indeed, in their artwork they save the planet from threats of war, climate change and recuperate their geographically divided families, suggesting that other worlds are possible. Their parent's faith shows this too. In such increasingly divided times, work like this is needed now more than ever. -- .

Practical theology has outgrown its traditional pastoral paradigm. The articles in this handbook recognize that faith, spirituality, and lived religion, within and beyond institutional communities, refer to realms of cultures, ritual practices, and symbolic orders, whose boundaries are not clearly defined and whose contents are shifting. The International Handbook of Practical Theology offers insightful transcultural conceptions of religion and religious matters gathered from various cultures and traditions of faith. The first section presents 'concepts of religion'. Chapters have to do with considerations of the conceptualizing of religion in the fields of 'anthropology', 'community', 'family', 'institution', 'law', 'media', and 'politics' among others. The second section is dedicated to case studies of 'religious practices' from the perspective of their actors. The third section presents major theoretical discourses that explore the globally significant diversity and multiplicity of religion. Altogether, sixty-one authors from different parts of the world encourage a rethinking of religious practice in an expanded, transcultural, globalized, and postcolonial world.

The queenship of the first European Renaissance queen regnant never ceases to fascinate. Was she a saint or a bigoted zealot? A pious wife or the one wearing the pants? Was she ultimately responsible for genocide? A case has been made to canonize her. Does she deserve to be called Saint Isabel? As different groups from fascists to feminists continue to fight over Isabel as cultural capital, we ask which (if any) of these recyclings are legitimate or appropriate. Or has this figure taken on a life of her own? Contributors to this volume: Roger Boase, David A. Boruchoff, John Edwards, Emily Francomano, Edward Friedman, Cristina Guardiola-Griffiths, Michelle Hamilton, Elizabeth Teresa Howe, Hilaire Kallendorf, William D. Phillips, Jr., Nuria Silleras-Fernandez, Caroline Travalia, and Jessica Weiss.

An important interfaith dialogue examines causes of global inequality and explores solutions. In A World of Inequalities: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, fourteen leading Christian and Muslim scholars respond to the global crisis of inequality by demanding and modeling interreligious dialogue. This volume takes an intersectional approach, examining aspects of global inequality including gender, race and ethnicity, caste and social class, economic and sociopolitical disparities, and slavery. Essays explore the roots of these realities, how they are treated in Christian and Muslim traditions and texts, and how the two faiths can work together to address inequality. A World of Inequalities brings readers into the conversation, inviting them to engage in a similar dialogue by offering pairs of essays alongside texts for close reading. Scholars, religious leaders, and students of theology and theological ethics will find this a useful resource to address this pressing issue.

In this work, the author argues that the focus on religious fundamentalism in ethnic conflict has obscured the ambiguous role of "mainstream" Western religion. The book examines the relationship between the religious and secular spheres at a time of rapid transition in South Africa and Northern Ireland. It analyzes the role of mainstream Protestantism as a site of struggle between competing world views. The book explains why this contest limits the potential of the church as a force for reconciliation.

This book explores the complex relationship between anti-Catholicism, or anti-popery to use the contemporary term, and the American Revolution in New England. Anti-Catholicism was among the most common themes in colonial New England culture. Nonetheless, New Englanders entered into an alliance with French Catholics against Protestant Britons during the American Revolution. As New Englanders traditionally associated Catholicism with tyranny and oppression, they were able to extend these feelings to the popish British upon the passage of the Quebec Act. As a consequence, anti-popery helped enable New Englanders to make the intellectual transition that war with Britain required. During the Revolution, anti-popery became less popular as the American rebels relied on Catholic France for aid. By the end of the revolutionary era, Catholics were extended legal toleration in all of the New England states. The book's conclusion explores the change in religious tolerance and the decline of anti-popery with a study of New England's first Catholic parish.