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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Worship
Roman women were the procreators and nurturers of life, both in the
domestic world of the family and in the larger sphere of the state.
Although deterred from participating in most aspects of public
life, women played an essential role in public religious
ceremonies, taking part in rituals designed to ensure the fecundity
and success of the agricultural cycle on which Roman society
depended. Thus religion is a key area for understanding the
contributions of women to Roman society and their importance beyond
their homes and families.
In this book, Sarolta A. Takacs offers a sweeping overview of
Roman women's roles and functions in religion and, by extension, in
Rome's history and culture from the republic through the empire.
She begins with the religious calendar and the various festivals in
which women played a significant role. She then examines major
female deities and cults, including the Sibyl, Mater Magna, Isis,
and the Vestal Virgins, to show how conservative Roman society
adopted and integrated Greek culture into its mythic history,
artistic expressions, and religion. Takacs's discussion of the Bona
Dea Festival of 62 BCE and of the Bacchantes, female worshippers of
the god Bacchus or Dionysus, reveals how women could also
jeopardize Rome's existence by stepping out of their assigned
roles. Takacs's examination of the provincial female flaminate and
the Matres/Matronae demonstrates how women served to bind imperial
Rome and its provinces into a cohesive society.
The Jewish practice of bar mitzvah dates back to the twelfth
century, but this ancient cultural ritual has changed radically
since then, evolving with the times and adapting to local
conditions. For many Jewish-American families, a child's bar
mitzvah or bat mitzvah is both a major social event and a symbolic
means of asserting the family's ongoing connection to the core
values of Judaism. Coming of Age in Jewish America takes an inside
look at bar and bat mitzvahs in the twenty-first century, examining
how the practices have continued to morph and exploring how they
serve as a sometimes shaky bridge between the values of
contemporary American culture and Judaic tradition. Interviewing
over 200 individuals involved in bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies,
from family members to religious educators to rabbis, Patricia Keer
Munro presents a candid portrait of the conflicts that often emerge
and the negotiations that ensue. In the course of her study, she
charts how this ritual is rife with contradictions; it is a private
family event and a public community activity, and for the child, it
is both an educational process and a high-stakes performance.
Through detailed observations of Conservative, Orthodox, Reform,
and independent congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Munro
draws intriguing, broad-reaching conclusions about both the current
state and likely future of American Judaism. In the process, she
shows not only how American Jews have forged a unique set of bar
and bat mitzvah practices, but also how these rituals continue to
shape a distinctive Jewish-American identity.
Behind the stereotype of a solitary meditator closing his eyes to
the world, meditation always takes place in close interaction with
the surrounding culture. Meditation and Culture: The Interplay of
Practice and Context explores cases in which the relation between
meditative practice and cultural context is particularly complex.
The internationally-renowned contributors discuss practices that
travel from one culture to another, or are surrounded by competing
cultures. They explore cultures that bring together competing
practices, or that are themselves mosaics of elements of different
origins. They seek to answer the question: What is the relationship
between meditation and culture? The effects of meditation may arise
from its symbolic value within larger webs of cultural meaning, as
in the contextual view that still dominates cultural and religious
studies. They may also be psychobiological responses to the
practice itself, the cultural context merely acting as a catalyst
for processes originating in the body and mind of the practitioner.
Meditation and Culture gives no single definitive explanation, but
taken together, the different viewpoints presented point to the
complexity of the relationship.
Although little is known about Elizabeth Dabney's youth, she often
said she learned the value of prayer from her mother, who always
kept a family altar in their home. Mother Dabney sat down and
documented for the world, her detailed thoughts and experiences
about really living a life devoted to prayer and what the resulting
effects would be to personal ministry.
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