Eclectic and esoteric religions and belief systems Books
Taylor & Francis Testimony in the Spirit Rescripting Ordinary Pentecostal Theology Explorations in Practical Pastoral and Empirical Theology
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£137.75
Taylor & Francis Invented Religions Imagination Fiction and Faith Routledge New Religions
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£142.50
Taylor & Francis Christian Mysticism
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£43.99
Taylor & Francis Spirituality Health and Wholeness An Introductory Guide for Health Care Professionals
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£128.25
Taylor & Francis Prudentius Crown of Martyrs
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£109.25
Taylor & Francis The Routledge History of Witchcraft
Book SynopsisThe Routledge History of Witchcraft is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of the belief in witches from antiquity to the present day, providing both an introduction to the subject of witchcraft and an overview of the on-going debates.This extensive collection covers the entire breadth of the history of witchcraft, from the witches of Ancient Greece and medieval demonology through to the victims of the witch hunts, and onwards to children's books, horror films, and modern pagans. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of an international team of authors, the book examines differing concepts of witchcraft that still exist in society and explains their historical, literary, religious, and anthropological origin and development, including the reflections and adaptions of this belief in art and popular culture. The volume is divided into four chronological parts, beginning with Antiquity and the Middle Ages in Part One, Early Modern witTrade Review'The history of witchcraft, once narrowly focused on early modern Europe, now ranges widely across time and territory, and reaches deeply into every nook and cranny of human activity and experience. This diverse collection of essays, by leading experts in their fields, both reflects this remarkable historiographical development and does full justice to the importance of the subject in the twenty-first century.'Malcolm Gaskill, University of East AngliaTable of ContentsEditor’s Preface; Part 1: Witches in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages; Witches in Greece and Rome; Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology in the Bible, Ancient Judaism and Earliest Christianity; Demons and Witchcraft in the Early Church; Witchcraft and Demonology in the Middle Ages; The Rise of the Witchcraft Doctrine; Part 2: The Early Modern Witch Hunts: Regions and Issues; Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy; Germany – "the Mother of the Witches"; Witch Hunts in the Low Countries (1450-1685); Witch Hunts in France; Witch Hunting in Spain: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Witch Hunts in Britain; Witchcraft in Scandinavia; Witch Hunts in Eastern Central Europe; Witch Hunts in Eastern Europe; The Salem Witch Hunt; Witchcraft and the Early Modern Media; Witchcraft and Gender; Child-Witches; Witchcraft in Everyday Life; The Interrelationship of Magic and Witchcraft; Part 3: Modern Concepts of Witches; Child Eaters and Other Problems of Democracy: Witchcraft and the American Frontier; Witchcraft Accusations in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Europe; Shifting Figures of the Witch in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa; Wicca; Disciples of Hell: The History of Satanism; Part 4: Witches and the Arts; Witchcraft and Early Modern Art (1450-1550); The Witch Figure in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Literature; Where Have All the Witches Gone? The Disappearing Witch and Children’s Literature; Witchcraft in Film
£43.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd New Religious Movements
New Religious Movements: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to the field of New Religious Movements (NRMs). Western culture is currently going through a wave of fascination with cults, with numerous documentaries and television series dedicated to describing these groups. Meanwhile, scholars have been wrestling with the intricacies of this loaded category for decades.Introducing the reader to some of the key issues and debates in the field of NRM studies, this book includes discussions on: how to define the term new religious movement critically unpacking the term cult how to study NRMs brainwashing and deprogramming prophecy and failed prophecy charisma and authority NRMs and violence gender and sexuality This book is essential reading for students and scholars of religion who are approaching the study of NRMs for the first time as well as those in
£18.99
Taylor & Francis Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean
Book SynopsisThis volume explores aspects of ancient magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean, specifically ways in which religious and mythical ideas, including the knowledge and practice of magic, were transmitted and adapted through time and across Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian cultures.Offering an original and innovative combination of case studies on the material aspects and cross-cultural transfers of magic and religion, this book brings together a range of contributions that cross and connect sub-fields with a pan-Mediterranean, comparative scope. Section I investigates the material aspects of magical practices, including first editions and original studies on papyri, gems, lamellae containing binding curses and protective texts, and other textual media in ancient book culture. Several chapters feature the Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, the compilation of magical recipes in the formularies, and the role of physical book-forms in the transmission of magical knowlTable of ContentsPrologue – A Kind of Magic: A Tribute to Christopher Faraone - Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Carolina López-Ruiz, and Sofía Torallas Tovar; Section I Materials; 1. Mustering Knowledge in the Longer Greco-Egyptian Formularies - Richard Gordon; 2. The Composition of GEMF 31/PGM I and Its Sources - Sofía Torallas Tovar; 3. He Means ‘Rose’: Marginal Notes in the Greek Papyri of the Theban Magical Library - Korshi Dosoo; 4. The Magic Hour: Cultures of Timekeeping in GEMF 57/PGM IV - Kassandra Miller; 5. Practice your Spells When It Suits You Best. The “Cycles of the Moon” Transmitted in GEMF 74/PGM VII and GEMF 55 /PGM III - Raquel Martin Hernández; 6. Stars and Stones: Practice, Materiality, and Ontology in Astrological Rites - Ian S. Moyer; 7. The Limits of Textuality in Artemidorοs’ Oneirocritica - Kenneth W. Yu; 8. Magical Magnets? Mastering the Winds on a North Aegean Island - Sandra Blakely; 9. Fencing in the Drivers and the Chariot Horses in a Latin Defixio from Hadrumetum (DT 277 + 278) - Celia Sánchez Natalías; Section II Cross-Cultural Contexts;10. The Problem of the Magi - Bruce Lincoln; 11. Magicians and Mendicants: New Light from the Marmarini Inscription - Radcliffe G. Edmonds III; 12. Egyptian Herakles and Syrian Aphrodite?: Phoenician Art and Cultural Exchange in the Ancient Mediterranean - Carolina López-Ruiz; 13. Uncovering an Earlier Version of the Demeter-Persephone Story: The Anatolian Background of Hekate’s Appearance in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter - Mary R. Bachvarova; 14. A Bronze Medallion in Madrid: Cross-Cultural and Material Transmission of an Amuletic Tradition from Syria to Sicily - Roy D. Kotansky; 15. “Bind Them as a Sign on Your Hand”: Amulets and Tefillin in Rabbinic Texts - Megan S. Nutzman; 16. A Misplaced Mummy: Thelxinoe’s Corpse in Xenophon’s Ephesiaka - Janet Downie; Epilogue – A Kind of Magic: The Work and Legacy of Christopher Faraone - Clifford Ando.
£135.00
Taylor & Francis Ltd Occultism in a Global Perspective
Book SynopsisThe study of the ideas and practices associated with occultism is a rapidly growing branch of contemporary scholarship. However, most research has focused on English and French speaking areas and has not addressed the wider spread and significance of occultism. Occultism in a Global Perspective presents a broad international overview. Essays range across the German magical order of the Fraternitas Saturni, esoteric Satanism in Denmark, sexual magic in Colombia and the reception of occultism in modern Turkey, India and the former Yugoslavia. As any other form of cultural practice, the occult is not isolated from its social, discursive, religious, and political environment. By studying occultism in its global context, the book offers insights into the reciprocal relationships that colour and shape regional occultism.Trade Review“The book easily ranks as one of the significant contributions of the year.” – Heterodoxology blog"A welcome and valuable addition to our knowledge about this wide-ranging subject … Occultism in a Global Perspective is a book of profound significance for anthropologists." – Anthropology Review Database"A valuable set of studies of little known movements" – Magonia Review of BooksTable of Contents1. Introduction: Occultism in a Global Perspective, Henrik Bogdan and Gordan Djurdjevic2. Locating the West: Problematizing the Western in Western Esotericism and Occultism, Kennet Granholm3. The Magical Order of the Fraternitas Saturni, Hans Thomas Hakl4. ‘In communication with the powers of darkness’: Satanism in turn-of-the-century Denmark, and its use as a legitimating device in present-day esotericism, Per Faxneld5. Hidden Wisdom in the Ill-Ordered House: A Short Survey of Occultism in Former Yugoslavia, Gordan Djurdjevic6. Occultism and Christianity in Twentieth Century Italy: Tommaso Palamidessi’s Christian Magic, Francesco Baroni7. Savitri Devi, Miguel Serrano, and the Global Phenomenon of Esoteric Hitlerism, Arthur Versluis8. Sexual Magic and Gnosis in Colombia: Tracing the Influence of G.I. Gurdjieff on Samael Aun Weor, PiereLuigi Zoccatelli9. Occultism in an Islamic Context: The Case of Modern Turkey From the Nineteenth Century to the Present Time, Thierry Zarconne10. Reception of Occultism in India: The Case of the Holy Order of Krishna, Henrik Bogdan11. Transnational Necromancy: W. B. Yeats, Izumi Kyôka, and neo-nô as Occultic Stagecraft, Emily Somers12. An Australian Original: Rosaleen Norton and her Magical Cosmology, Nevill Drury
£39.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd New Age Spirituality: Rethinking Religion
Book SynopsisNew Age and holistic beliefs and practices - sometimes called the "new spirituality" - are widely distributed across modern global society. The fluid and popular nature of new age makes these movements a very challenging field to understand using traditional models of religious analysis. Rather than treating new age as an exotic specimen on the margins of 'proper' religion, "New Age Spirituality" examines these movements as a form of everyday or lived religion. The book brings together an international range of scholars to explore the key issues: insight, healing, divination, meditation, gnosis, extraordinary experiences, and interactions with gods, spirits and superhuman powers. Combining discussion of contemporary beliefs and practices with cutting-edge theoretical analysis, the book repositions new age spirituality at the forefront of the contemporary study of religion.Trade Review"The book moves the study of new age from the margins of the comparative study of religion. It resists the claim that religion must be institutional, yet similarly resists the idea that diffuse and individualistic phenomena, like new age, lack social and historical dimensions. New age - examined methodologically and discovered in rich empirical data - is revealed as religion, not fringe but central." - Carole M. Cusack, University of Sydney "Acumen Publishing continues to lead the way in the academic study of the overlapping fields of paganism, occultism, and New Age with this new collection - By treating New Age as 'core' or 'elementary' religion and by linking contemporary studies of New Age to classic literature on religion, the book has the potential to open new avenues of analysis and critique in anthropology." - Anthropology Review DatabaseTable of ContentsIntroduction: 'All mixed up': thinking about religion in relation to new age spiritualities, Ingvild Salid Gilhus and Steven J. Sutcliffe; PART I: RETHINKING NEW AGE SPIRITUALITIES; 1. New Age, World Religions and Elementary Forms, Steven J. Sutcliffe; 2. 'All over the place': The Contribution of New Age to a Spatial Model of Religion, Ingvild Salid Gilhus; 3. Towards a New Paradigm of Constructing 'Religion': New Age Data and Unbounded Categories, Liselotte Frisk; 4. On Transgressing the Secular: Spiritualities of life, Idealism, Vitalism, Paul Heelas; 5. Hiding in Plain Sight: The Organizational Forms of 'Unorganized Religion', Ann Taves and Michael Kinsella; PART II: COMPARING NEW AGE BELIEFS AND PRACTICES; 6. Narrow New Age and Broad Spirituality: A Comprehensive Schema and a Comparative Analysis, Norichika Horie; 7. Dolphins and other Humans: New Age identities in Comparative Perspective, Mikael Rothstein; 8. New Age, Sami Shamanism and Indigenous Spirituality, Trude Fonneland and Siv Ellen Kraft; 9.
£38.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Angels of Desire: Esoteric Bodies, Aesthetics and Ethics
Book SynopsisThe idea that the human body consists of 'subtle bodies' - psycho-spiritual essences - can be found in a variety of esoteric traditions. This radical form of selfhood challenges the dualisms at the heart of Western discourse : mind/body, divine/human, matter/spirit, reason/emotion, I/other. 'Angels of Desire' explores the aesthetics and ethics of subtle bodies. What emerges is an understanding of embodiment not exclusively tied to materiality. The book examines the use of subtle bodies across a range of traditions, yogic, tantric, theosophical, hermetic and sufi. 'Angels of Desire' shows the relevance of the subtle body for religion, philosophy, art history and contemporary feminist religious studies and theories of desire.Table of ContentsIntroduction Section I: Subjectivity Chapter 1: Subtle Bodies Chapter 2: Difference Chapter 3: Subtle Subjects of Desire Section II: Aesthetics Chapter 4: "Seering" Desire: The Between Chapter 5: Inhabiting Sight Chapter 6: Duree: the Aesthetics of Desire-Time Section III: Ethics Chapter 7: An Ethics of Emptiness Chapter 8: Witnessing: Detached Immersion Chapter 9: An Ethics of Grace: The Law of Desiring Angels Conclusion: The Angelic Ternary
£36.99
Random House USA Inc The Four Horsemen
Book SynopsisIn 2007, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett filmed a landmark discussion about modern atheism. The video went viral. Now in print for the first time, the transcript of their conversation is illuminated by new essays from three of the original participants and an introduction by Stephen Fry. At the dawn of the new atheist movement, the thinkers who became known as “the four horsemen,” the heralds of religion's unraveling—Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett—sat down together over cocktails. What followed was a rigorous, pathbreaking, and enthralling exchange, which has been viewed millions of times since it was first posted on YouTube. This is intellectual inquiry at its best: exhilarating, funny, and unpredictable, sincere and probing, reminding us just how varied and colorful the threads of modern atheism are. Here is the transcript of that conversation, in print for the first time, augmented by material from the living participants: Dawkins, Harris, and Dennett. These new essays, introduced by Stephen Fry, mark the evolution of their thinking and highlight particularly resonant aspects of this epic exchange. Each man contends with the most fundamental questions of human existence while challenging the others to articulate their own stance on God and religion, cultural criticism, spirituality, debate with people of faith, and the components of a truly ethical life.Praise for The Four Horsemen “This bracing exchange of ideas crackles with energy. It’s fascinating to watch four first-class minds explore a rugged intellectual terrain. . . . The text affords a different, more reflective way of processing the truly vital exchange of ideas. . . . I commend the book to those seeking an honest reckoning with their religion—and those curious about how the world looks from a rigorously naturalistic and atheistic point of view.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “The full, electrifying transcript of the one and only conversation between the quartet of luminaries dubbed the ‘four horsemen’ of the New Atheism, which took place in Washington, D.C., in 2007. Among the vast range of ideas and questions they discuss: Is it ever possible to win a war of ideas? Is spirituality the preserve of the religious? And, are there any truths you would rather not know?”—The Bookseller (UK) (starred review)
£19.20
Houghton Mifflin The God Delusion
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£26.00
Baker Publishing Group Biblical Christian Ethics
Book SynopsisAfter examining what Scripture teaches about the goal and motive of the Christian life, the author addresses moral dilemmas, human-life issues, sexuality, economic justice, and truthfulness.
£27.78
1517 Media More Cat Psalms Prayers My Cats Have Taught Me
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£10.62
Ibis Press Tantric Temples Eros and Magic in Java
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£49.60
Hay House Inc 21 Days to Understand Qabalah
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£13.49
Red Wheel/Weiser Perils of the Soul: Ancient Wisdom and the New
Book SynopsisIn this text, join Jungian analyst John Haule on a tour of New Age beliefs and practices to reach a comprehensive historical perspective that shows just how far from "new" the New Age actually is.
£12.34
Weiser Books Alchemy--The Great Work: A History and Evaluation
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£14.24
Sounds True Inc Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian
Book SynopsisA paleoanthropologist reveals the teaching he received from a revered Hawaiian shaman, including the three life rules of a spiritual warrior, solemn rituals for communing with nature and purifying the consciousness and how to look at the Grand Plan of one's ancestors. By the co-author of Awakening to the Spirit World. Original.
£13.99
See Sharp Press Disbelief 101: A Young Person's Guide to Atheism
Book SynopsisFilled with wit, humor, and clear metaphor, this exploration into atheism is written specifically for young adults, though any adult interested in learning more about atheism will find value within. Not just focused on atheism, this crash course in logical thinking addresses the issues of indoctrination, whether it be religious, political, or commercial, and makes the case that morality is created through reasoning and logic, not through divine communication. Many hot topics are touched upon, such as traditional arguments for God’s existence, the relationship of evolution and religious belief, the incompatible nature of science and religion, and the harmfulness of both Christianity and Islam.
£8.95
Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH Religiose Heiler Im Medizinischen Pluralismus in
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£56.00
Obelisco El Pensamiento Esoterico de Leonardo Da Vinci
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£17.02
NIAS Press Spirit Possession in Buddhist Southeast Asia:
Book SynopsisIn dramatic contrast to the reported growing influence of doctrinal and fundamentalist forms of religion in some parts of Southeast Asia, the predominantly Buddhist societies of the region are witnessing an upsurge of spirit possession cults and diverse forms of magical ritual. This is found in many social strata, including the urban poor, rising middle classes and elite groups, and across the different political systems of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This volume reveals both the central historical place of spirit possession rituals in the Buddhist cultures of mainland Southeast Asia and their important contemporary roles to enhance prosperity and protection. This book examines the increasing prominence of spirit mediumship and divination across the region by exploring the interplay of neoliberal capitalism, visual media, the network cultures of the Internet, and the politics of cultural heritage and identity. It advances beyond critiques of the “secularization” and “disenchantment” theses to explore the processes of modernity that are actively producing magical worldviews and stimulating the rise of spirit cults. As such, it not only challenges the assumptions of modernization theory but demonstrates that the cults in question are novel ritual forms that emerge out of inherently modern conditions.
£999.99
Peeters Publishers Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion
Book SynopsisThis volume is based upon papers read during the innovative section "Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion" organized at the 17th International Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) in Mexico City, August 5-12, 1995. The section was created in order to fill a long-standing hiatus in the academic study of religions: whereas phenomena such as gnosticism and hermetism in antiquity, and even the occult sciences of that period, have long been recognized as subjects worthy of serious investigation, the history of similar and related phenomena in more recent periods has hardly received the same measure of scholarly attention and recognition. The present volume is devoted to the academic emancipation of these areas as constituting a legitimate domain of research, which may be referred to by the generic label "western esotericism". Preceded by an introductory essay on the birth of this new discipline in the study of religion, the volume provides a sample of current research in the field and devotes special attention to some central methodological questions.
£40.22
