This lively book focuses on how different Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities engage with new media. Rather than simply reject or accept new media, religious communities negotiate complex relationships with these technologies in light of their history and beliefs. Heidi Campbell suggests a method for studying these processes she calls the "religious-social shaping of technology" and students are asked to consider four key areas: religious tradition and history; contemporary community values and priorities; negotiation and innovating technology in light of the community; communal discourses applied to justify use.

A wealth of examples such as the Christian e-vangelism movement, Modern Islamic discourses about computers and the rise of the Jewish kosher cell phone, demonstrate the dominant strategies which emerge for religious media users, as well as the unique motivations that guide specific groups.

This is the history of the relationship between mass produced visual media and religion in the United States. It is a journey from the 1780s to the present - from early evangelical tracts to teenage witches and televangelists, and from illustrated books to contemporary cinema.

David Morgan explores the cultural marketplace of public representation, showing how American religionists have made special use of visual media to instruct the public, to practice devotion and ritual, and to form children and converts. Examples include:

• studying Jesus as an American idol
• Jewish kitchens and Christian Parlors
• Billy Sunday and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Uncle Tom's Cabin and the anti-slavery movement.

This unique perspective reveals the importance of visual media to the construction and practice of sectarian and national community in a nation of immigrants old and new, and the tensions between the assimilation and the preservation of ethnic and racial identities. As well as the contribution of visual media to the religious life of Christians and Jews, Morgan shows how images have informed the perceptions and practices of other religions in America, including New Age, Buddhist and Hindu spirituality, and Mormonism, Native American Religions and the Occult.

In Care of Souls, David Benner offers a timely reminder of the benefits of recapturing the place of the spiritual in psychological work. Among the many benefits for individuals who receive a combination of the best of modern therapy and biblical guidance are an increased feeling of personal value and a willingness to put God's priorities above their own.

Faith-based organizations continue to play a significant role in the provision of social work services in many countries but their role within the welfare state is often contested. This text explores their various roles and relationships to social work practice, includes examples from different countries and a range of religious traditions and identifies challenges and opportunities for the sector. Social Work and Faith-based Organizations discusses issues such as the relationship between faith-based organizations and the state, working with an organization's stakeholders, ethical practice and dilemmas, and faith-based organizations as employers. It also addresses areas of debate and controversy, such as providing services within and for multi-faith communities and tensions between professional codes of ethics and religious doctrine. Accessibly written by a well-known social work educator, it is illustrated by numerous case studies from a range of countries including Australia, the UK and the US. Suitable for social work students taking community or administration courses or undertaking placements in faith-based organizations, this innovative book is also a valuable resource for managers and religious personnel who are responsible for the operation of faith-based agencies.

This book has been written in a year when Parish Pastoral Councils (PPC) could not meet physically due to the Covid 19 pandemic. For many PPCs this meant that some stopped meeting or met on zoom, or at least re-grouped to form the backbone of the parish sanitising committee. It is hoped that those who read this book will have an "aha" moment, where they find that the purpose of PPC’s becomes more clear to them, and they can begin to imagine the part they can play in the pastoral development of their parish.  The role of the PPC is explored relating this to the purpose of the parish community, debunking the myth that the PPC is a committee. It also looks at what can be called the five P’s of the PPC: Pastoral, Prayerful, Partnership, Planning and Participation. The whole notion of discernment for pastoral action is explored and how this relates to the ongoing prayer-filled reflection of the PPC and the parish community. Then there is an in-depth exploration into the whole notion of partnership and the implications for how the PPC relates to the parish community. There are some very practical helps about what makes planning in the PPC pastoral, and how that can be developed as a way of working in all parish groups. The purpose of mission statements is examined and how these can provide a platform for parish renewal and reflection, connecting them to parish assembly and listening together.    

This is not a book about theory, it is a book about life. This volume is in the excellent Practical Theology Series published by Jessica Kingsley and under the general editorship of John Swinton of Aberdeen University who writes the Foreword. Ray Anderson is an American pastor and academic of many years standing. His starting point is (pre) theoretical, arguing vigorously that practical theology has a particular end in view and therefore differs from the empirical (social) sciences. It is well worth sticking with his argument to see how it works out in practice. Early chapters with phrases in their titles such as "Spiritual Praxis of Practical Theology", "Integrative Gestalt of the Human Self", "Ecological Matrix of the Human Person" and "Social Ecology of Human Spirituality" might seem heavy going at times. Don't be put off! The reader is rewarded with highly relevant contemporary understandings of spirituality illuminating and illuminated by both Scripture and modern theologians and therapists. This book comes highly recommended for anyone involved in the field of mental health care.' - Leveson Newsletter 'This is a book that deserves to be read, and perhaps re-read, by those who deliver spiritual care and wish to reflect on what they do.' - Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy Bridging the gap between clinical and religious professionals, this book examines how both can understand the spiritual needs of the individual, and the importance of this spirituality in bringing about health and wholeness. With an emphasis on mental health, the author explores spirituality in the context of the individual and of society, and discusses how those practicing pastoral or health care can deal with the issues raised outside of any specific religious ideas or practice. Taking an ecological approach to understanding the needs of the individual, Ray S. Anderson shows how professionals can help people move towards a more positive state in the face of pain, distress and illness. Moving religious professionals away from the pursuit of simple edification, and those in health from purely medicalized approaches, Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament brings together professionals' roles in the context of spirituality to enable them to bring the greatest benefit to those in their care.

The American fixation with marriage, so prevalent in today's debates over marriage for same-sex couples, owes much of its intensity to a small group of reformers who introduced Americans to marriage counseling in the 1930s. Today, millions of couples seek help to save their marriages each year. Over the intervening decades, marriage counseling has powerfully promoted the idea that successful marriages are essential to both individuals' and the nation's well-being.

Rebecca Davis reveals how couples and counselors transformed the ideal of the perfect marriage as they debated sexuality, childcare, mobility, wage earning, and autonomy, exposing both the fissures and aspirations of American society. From the economic dislocations of the Great Depression, to more recent debates over government-funded "Healthy Marriage" programs, counselors have responded to the shifting needs and goals of American couples. Tensions among personal fulfillment, career aims, religious identity, and socioeconomic status have coursed through the history of marriage and explain why the stakes in the institution are so fraught for the couples involved and for the communities to which they belong.

Americans care deeply about marriages their own and other people's because they have made enormous investments of time, money, and emotion to improve their own relationships and because they believe that their personal decisions about whom to marry or whether to divorce extend far beyond themselves. This intriguing book tells the uniquely American story of a culture gripped with the hope that, with enough effort and the right guidance, more perfect marital unions are within our reach.

How are we to think about religion and violence in the contemporary world, especially in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001? In this collection of essays, nearly a dozen scholars, including some of the leading voices in the field of academic religious thought, offer a theoretical and theological response to the 9/11 attacks as well as a broader and more interdisciplinary reflection on the issues surrounding religion and violence, politics and terrorism, in the world today. Drawing on Continental philosophy as a methodology, the contributors provide insights from and implications for the Western monotheistic traditions of Judaism and Christianity and their engagement with the secular world. Here, religion and secularity are understood not in opposition to one another but rather in interrelationship, religion being seen as both implicated in and providing resources for the overcoming of violence. Raising questions that are timely as well as urgent, Religion and Violence in a Secular World eschews easy solutions in an effort to foster critical and constructive attempts to understand these complex and ambivalent phenomena.

Contributors: John D. Caputo (Syracuse Universty) * Clayton Crockett (University of Central Arkansas) * James J. DiCenso (University of Toronto) * Martin Kavka (Florida State University) * Richard Kearney (Boston College) * Eleanor Pontoriero (University of Toronto) * B. Keith Putt (Samford University) * Carl A. Raschke (University of Denver) * Jeffrey W. Robbins (Lebanon Valley College) * Noelle Vahanian (Lebanon Valley College) * Edith Wyschogrod (Rice University)

This book considers how the law should manage conflicts between the right of religious freedom and that of non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. These disputes are often high-profile and frequently receive a lot of media attention and public debate. Starting from the basis that both these rights are valuable and worthy of protection, but that such disputes are often characterised by animosity, it contends that a proportionality analysis provides the best method for resolving these conflicts. The work takes a comparative approach, examining the law in England and Wales, Canada, and the USA and examines four main areas of law, considering how a proportionality approach could be used in each. The book will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers in the areas of Public Law, Human Rights Law, Law and Religion, Discrimination Law, and Comparative Law.