Religion and politics Books
NIAS Press Fishers, Monks and Cadres: Navigating State,
Book SynopsisThis remarkable and timely ethnography explores how fishing communities living on the fringe of the South China Sea in central Vietnam interact with state and religious authorities as well as their farmer neighbors - even while handling new geopolitical challenges. The focus is mainly on marginal people and their navigation between competing forces over the decades of massive change since their incorporation into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975. The sea, however, plays a major role in this study as does the location: a once-peripheral area now at the center of a global struggle for sovereignty, influence and control in the South China Sea. The coastal fishing communities at the heart of this study are peripheral not so much because of geographical remoteness as their presumed social 'backwardness'; they only partially fit into the social imaginary of Vietnam's territory and nation. The state thus tries to incorporate them through various cultural agendas while religious reformers seek to purify their religious practices. Yet, recently, these communities have also come to be seen as guardians of an ancient fishing culture, important in Vietnam's resistance to Chinese claims over the South China Sea. The fishers have responded to their situation with a blend of conformity, co-option and subtle indiscipline. A complex, triadic relationship is at play here. Within it are various shifting binaries - e.g. secular/religious, fishers/farmers, local ritual/Buddhist doctrine, etc. - and different protagonists (state officials, religious figures, fishermen and -women) who construct, enact, and deconstruct these relations in shifting alliances and changing contexts. Fishers, Monks and Cadres is a significant new work. Its vivid portrait of local beliefs and practices makes a powerful argument for looking beyond monolithic religious traditions. Its triadic analysis and subtle use of binaries offer startlingly fresh ways to view Vietnamese society and local political power. The book demonstrates Vietnam is more than urban and agrarian society in the Red River Basin and Mekong Delta. Finally, the author builds on intensive, long-term research to portray a region at the forefront of geopolitical struggle, offering insights that will be fascinating and revealing to a much broader readership.
£64.00
NIAS Press Belittled Citizens: The Cultural Politics of
Book SynopsisWhat does childhood mean in contemporary Thailand? What constitutes childhood in a slum? How does childhood figure in the construction of national citizenships? Rich in ethnographic detail, this fascinating, engaging and illuminating study explores the daily lives, constraints, and social worlds of children born in the slums of Bangkok, and their ways of defining themselves in relation to a range of governing technologies, state and non-state actors, and broad cultural politics. It does so by interrogating the layered meanings of “childhood” in slums, schools, Buddhist temples, Christian NGOs, state and international aid organisations, as well as social media. Giuseppe Bolotta’s analysis employs “childhood” as a prism to make sense of broader socio-political, religious, and economic transformations in Thai society. By examining the competition between different Thai and foreign actors to define and control the world-view formed by these children, he demonstrates how Bangkok slums are political arenas within which local, national and global social forces and interests converge and clash. At the same time, this analysis highlights the roles played by Bangkok’s poor children in processes of social change, considering how young people’s efforts to make sense of themselves in an era of authoritarian rule reflect the broader tensions facing the urban poor in this complex moment of Thai history. The book shows how “marginal childhoods” and the “cultural technologies of childhood” – schools, religious agencies, NGOs – reflect both endemic inequalities in Thailand’s larger socio-political structure and global transformations in transnational childhood governance. Marginalized young people’s increasingly plural cultural references create space for both existential fragmentation and creative self-reformulation, which provide socially disadvantaged citizens with unexpected religious, economic, and political resources to challenge Thai society’s generational structures of power. Through these arguments, Belittled Citizens demonstrates that “childhood” is best understood in Thailand as a political category that has been fundamental to the military state’s rule and, potentially, its undoing. It also shows more broadly how attention to children, typically excluded from national politics and therefore invisible in most political analyses, has important potential for producing startling insights into contemporary Southeast Asian societies.Trade ReviewThis splendidly original and meticulously documented exploration of the constricted life chances of Bangkok’s slum children illuminates the problems of youth and class in a world shaped by karmic concepts of destiny and hierarchy. Gracefully written and resonant with compassionate insight, it deserves a wide readership. – Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University, author of Siege of the Spirits
£20.66
NIAS Press Salafism and the State: Islamic Activism and
Book SynopsisRecent studies of Indonesian Islam have pointed to the growing prominence of ‘conservative’ and globally expansive Islamic doctrines. Salafism is one such doctrine, and it has gained increasing popularity in Indonesia over the past several decades. Aiming to propagate a ‘literalist’ interpretation of Islam, Salafi activists argue that many local Islamic traditions, histories and cultures are unIslamic. This has led to significant controversy, and accusations by many Indonesians that Salafism is foreign to country, an intolerant religion, and should have no part in the religious life of the nation. This book offers an ethnographic study of this often misunderstood and controversial movement. It explains why Salafism is growing in numbers, especially amongst young people, and how Salafi activists promote their faith within the wider public. It explores the range of propagational activities and products Salafis use in their public outreach, including literature, mosque sermons, social media ventures, and even fashion, and describes how these activities are tailored to a young Indonesian audience. Salafis may have global roots, but as this book outlines, its success in Indonesia is best understood as an intrinsically local phenomenon entangled within Indonesian ideas of Islamic praxis, consumerism, modernity, political action and citizenship. Salafi activists do not see themselves as foreign religious agents or detached from Indonesian life, but increasingly as part of a religiously conservative moral vanguard. Salafism is, consequently, part of the broader re-orientation of social, cultural and political life we are seeing in contemporary Indonesia.Trade Review‘Chris Chaplin’s carefully argued and sophisticated analysis of Salafism in Indonesia not only shows its appeal as a mix of social movement and individualizing force; it leverages rich ethnographic detail to reveal Salafism’s internal tensions and paradoxes as a defining trait, a necessary condition for the movement’s growth as it continues to inspire an increasingly conservative and politicized religious landscape. Relevant well beyond the Indonesian context, this book is an important contribution to the study of Islam. It will be widely read.’ (Dr David Kloos, KITLV - Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies)
£73.00
Viella Senato Sapiente: L'Alba Della Cultura Laica a
Book Synopsis
£100.44
Viella Papacy Religious Orders and International Politics in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
£33.32
Gregorian & Biblical Press Religion and Politics: Religious Liberty and
Book Synopsis
£26.00
Gregorian & Biblical Press Ethics of Coexistence or Ethics of Conflict:
Book Synopsis
£31.97
Peeters Publishers Essays on Religious and Political Experience
Book SynopsisThe precise nature and relationship between religious and political experiences has been the subject of much controversy and debate in recent years. It is well known that some religious experiences have been used to justify terrible political violence and ideologies, causing serious problems in the social and political life of modern citizens. The purpose of this book is to study the nature of religious experiences and work out their spiritual and political implications. Unlike spiritual experiences that limit themselves to the lives of the individual at a personal level, political experiences tend to have vast social consequences. This book advances the argument that religious experiences on many occasions have contributed immensely to spiritual and social progress, and that they must not be confused with political prejudices and motivated ideologies of some disgruntled individuals.
£53.87
Peeters Publishers Sharing the Word of Hope with the World - Das
Book SynopsisThe 16th conference of the ESWTR, held in Crete, took place in the midst of the European financial and banking crisis in Greece and the beginning of the challenge of refugees. In this yearbook, female scholars reflect on the current political situation in Europe in the light of Hope. The fact that the conference took place in Greece gave a unique chance to women from Southern and Eastern countries in Europe to participate. The articles in this yearbook not only highlight the aspects of the hostile relations that human beings developed towards each other, they analyze very sharply the reactionary and misogynic politics in Europe nowadays. The role of women in the dissemination of the hopeful biblical message, their social involvement as well as their engagement in the transformation of this world, is a main focus in the relevant theological discussion.
£59.85
Peeters Publishers Theos and Polis: Political Theology as
Book SynopsisThis volume is the fruit of the twelfth LEST-conference (Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology), which took place between 23 and 26 October 2019. The theme was “Theos & Polis: Political Theology as Discernment”. Current global challenges – climate change, extreme poverty, large refugee camps, violence and abuse, failing democracies and the rise of populism – were the starting point for choosing this conference theme. The choice of the theme was also influenced by the theo-political concerns of people in churches worldwide and of a new generation of junior scholars and students in theology: How to theologically understand and respond to political situations that affect faith communities? How to shape a theology that both responds to local, socio-economic contexts and acknowledges being part of a global movement? How to engage with the politics of synodality as a new task for church and theology today? Part One (Understanding Political Theology as Discernment) could be seen as providing the theological and theoretical foundations for seeing, judging, and acting theo-politically. In Part Two (Discerning Political Theology in the Face of Trauma and Conflict), political theology is discerned in concrete situations. Part Three (Conversing with Political Theologians) presents ongoing discussions with modern philosophers and theologians who have impacted the development of political theology until today.
£125.00
