Religion and politics Books

Book SynopsisAre human rights universal or the product of specific cultures? Is democracy a necessary condition for the achievement of human rights in practice? And when, if ever, is it legitimate for external actors to impose their understandings of human rights upon particular countries? In the contemporary context of globalization, these questions have a salient religious dimension. Religion intersects with global human rights agendas in multiple ways, including: whether ''''universal'''' human rights are in fact an imposition of Christian understandings; whether democracy, the ''''rule of the people,'''' is compatible with God''s law; and whether international efforts to enforce human rights including religious freedom amount to an illicit imperialism. This book brings together leading specialists across disciplines for the first major survey of the religious politics of human rights across the world''s major regions, political systems, and faith traditions. The authors take a bottom-up approacTrade ReviewFor three decades, scholars have shown that religion and human rights need each other. The volume opens an important new chapter of scholarship by illustrating precisely how religion and human rights interact today. Judiciously edited and strikingly original, the volume combines case studies of local communities with broad surveys of major religions and regions of the world that illustrate the complex and diverse controversies that remain, especially over women's rights, religious freedom, and the rights to life and bodily integrity. * John Witte, Jr., Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Emory University *Table of ContentsTHOMAS BANCHOFF AND ROBERT WUTHNOW; THOMAS BANCHOFF; PART I: ISLAM AND THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS; ROBERT W. HEFNER; YVONNE YAZBECK HADDAD; PART II: THREE REGIONS: LATIN AMERICA, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA; PAUL FRESTON; ROGAIA MUSTAFA ABUSHARAF; CHARLES KEYES; PART III: FOUR KEY COUNTRIES: INDIA, CHINA, RUSSIA AND THE US; PRATAP BHANU MEHTA; DAVID OWNBY; MARJORIE MANDELSTAM BALZER; THOMAS BANCHOFF

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Book SynopsisThe idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. A growing body of scholarly work explores how the category ''religion'' has been constructed in the modern West and in colonial contexts according to specific configurations of political power. Cavanaugh draws on this scholarship to examine how timeless and transcultural categories of ''religion and ''the secular'' are used in arguments that religion causes violence. He argues three points: 1) There is no transhistorical and transcultural essence of religion. What counts as religious or secular in any given context is a function of political configurations of power; 2) Such a transhistorical and transcultural concept of religion as non-rational and prone to violence is one of the foundational legitimating myths of Western society; 3) This myth can be and is used to legitimate neo-colonial violence against non-Western others, particularly the Muslim world.Trade ReviewWilliam Cavanaugh is a radical theologian who engages in subtle cultural analysis. * David Martin, Times Literary Supplement *Transforming the widely accepted narrative of religious violence will not be accomplished in the span of reading Cavanaughs book alone. Yet he has contributed a helpfully bold book that should spur a multi-disciplinary and critical reexamination of the narrative of religion and violence and the origins of the liberal, secular state. * Michael Kessler, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; NOTES

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Book SynopsisStorming Zion offers a compelling explanation for the growing trend of state raids on new and nontraditional religious communities. Stuart Wright and Susan Palmer base their study on a massive data set documenting 116 government raids over the last six decades, primarily in Western countries.Trade ReviewThe book's analysis of expanded government raiding of NRMs in France is a solid addition to ongoing discussions over religious pluralism, laïcité and French church–state relations, and European counter-extremism policy. * Brian Auten, Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsPreface ; Chapter 1. Government Raids on Religious Communities ; Chapter 2. Countermovement Mobilization and Government Raids ; Chapter 3. The Twelve Tribes ; Chapter 4. The Family International/Children of God\ ; Chapter 5. Branch Davidians ; Chapter 6. The United Nuwaubian Nation ; Chapter 7. The Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints ; Chapter 8. The Church of Scientology ; Chapter 9. Raids in France ; Chapter 10. Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Raids on NRM Communities ; Notes ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisThis revised and expanded edition of A World History of Ancient Political Thought examines the political thought of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, Iran, India, China, Greece, Rome and early Christianity, from prehistory to c.300 CE. The book explores the earliest texts of literate societies, beginning with the first written records of political thought in Egypt and Mesopotamia and ending with the collapse of the Han dynasty and the Western Roman Empire.In most cultures, sacred monarchy was the norm, but this ranged from absolute to conditional authority. ''The people'' were recipients of royal (and divine) beneficence. Justice, the rule of law and meritocracy were generally regarded as fundamental. In Greece and Rome, democracy and liberty were born, while in Israel the polity was based on covenant and the law. Confucius taught humaneness, Mozi and Christianity taught universal love; Kautilya and the Chinese ''Legalists'' believed in realpolitik and an authoritarian state. The coTrade ReviewIn this ambitious book, Antony Black provides a short and global explanation of ancient political thought. He should be considered one of the greatest and most consistent specialists in medieval political thought, but in this book he shows an impressive comprehension of the sources of ancient cultures ... can be highly recommended. * Rafael Ramis Barceló, Political Studies Review *Admirably ambitious ... This is not a merely encyclopaedic account of ancient thought but a genuinely comparative analysis, with the constant attention to the divergences from basic similarities that creates the exciting sense of a single argument. * Richard Seaford, History of Political Thought *Table of ContentsAbbreviations Time Chart Introduction 1: Early Communities and States 2: Egypt 3: Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylon 4: Iran 5: Israel 6: India 7: China 8: The Greeks 9: Rome 10: Greco-Roman Humanism 11: The Kingdom of Heaven and the Church of Christ 12: Topics: Similarities and Differences 13: Conclusion

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Book SynopsisMuslims in the Western Imagination explores the ways in which Muslim men are depicted as monsters throughout history. Monsters help a society delineate who belongs in a social group and who, or what, is excluded. Even when Muslim monsters are symbolic, as in post-9/11 zombie films, they still function to define Muslims as non-human entities. These are not portrayals of Muslim men as malevolent human characters, but rather as creatures that occupy the imagination--non-humans that exhibit their wickedness outwardly on the skin. They populate medieval tales, Renaissance paintings, Shakespearean dramas, Gothic horror novels, and Hollywood films. Through an exhaustive survey of medieval, early modern, and contemporary literature, art, and cinema, Sophia Rose Arjana examines the dehumanizing ways in which Muslim men have been constructed and represented as monsters, and the impact such representations have on perceptions of Muslims. The study is the first to present a Foucauldian genealogy oTrade ReviewArjana succeeds in supplying ample evidence that exposes a long history of the 'monsterization' and vilification of Muslims within the Western European and North American traditions of popular culture. Her concern for how these perpetuate mischaracterization of both Muslims and Islam and result in mistreatment, unfair exclusion, and outright injustice is well grounded and deserves serious attention, with expressed hope for correction. * R. Charles Weller, Religion *Islamophobia is a broad pathology of our times. Pegged to September 11, 2001, it has continued to flourish in the shadow of subsequent wars waged by the US and its allies, throughout the Middle East. While Abu Ghraib became one of the showcases of American horror, Homeland set the mark for thinking about, or imagining, Muslim enemies. Both are highlighted in this, the first genealogy, which is also a semiotics, of Islamophobia. A well-researched, carefully staged book, it illumines how brutal images of monster Muslims have become commonplace, almost reflexive in the long afterlife of the War on Terror. * Bruce Lawrence, Professor of Islamic Studies Emeritus, Duke University *Rigorously historical, and partaking of the best of discursive analysis, this is a remarkable study of the distorted mirror in which the Western imagination has conceived of Muslims. As Arjana demonstrates, this tells me almost nothing about Muslims, and a great deal about the Western imagination. Arjana makes a persuasive case that in order to understand the dehumanizing practices in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and elsewhere, we need to cast a much longer critical look at the history of the Western imaginaire about Muslims [as] Monsters. Essential reading for Islamic studies, American studies, and European history. * Omid Safi, Director of Duke Islamic Studies Center, Duke University *In The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie wrote this about the power of representation: They describe us . . . that's all. They have the power of description, and we succumb to the pictures they construct. In her exhaustive and often disturbing work, Sophia Arjana catalogues the many ways in which Muslims have been described as monsters. It is a compelling book. * Amir Hussain, Editor, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Islam in the Western Imagination ; Chapter 1: The Muslim Monster ; Chapter 2: Medieval Muslim Monsters ; Chapter 3: Turkish Monsters ; Chapter 4: The Monsters of Orientalism ; Chapter 5: Muslim Monsters in the Americas ; Chapter 6: The Monsters of September 11th ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe history of deliverance politics in Anglo-American history contains remarkable moments of achievement, but this is not a story of triumphal progress. Exodus was hotly contested, used by the powerful as well as the weak, and mobilized to support a host of rival causes. By writing themselves into the Protestant history of liberty, African Americans undercut complacent narratives of progress, injecting a powerful sense of unease into the tradition. The argument over who owns the biblical narrative has continued into the twenty-first century. If Barack Obama saw himself as an inheritor of Exodus politics, so too did George W. Bush. Many Christians - and many non-Christians too - remain understandably suspicious of those who read Israel''s history as political paradigm, especially when it underpins religious nationalism. This story is riddled with moral ironies. The Books of Moses could be used to justify anti-black racism and the dispossession of Native peoples as well as freedom from sTrade ReviewThis book, a tour de force of historical research and cultural analysis, demonstrates that a rhetoric of 'deliverance' grounded in several key biblical texts has been an under-appreciated but vitally important theme of political mobilization in Britain and American from the 16th century to the present. The argument is built on careful analysis of these texts from the Book of Exodus and elsewhere in Scripture, and of their surprisingly broad effect in different historical periods and national circumstances. The effect adds significantly to political understanding of religious history and religious understanding of the political. It is a noteworthy, but also surprisingly timely work. * Mark Noll, author of Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Introduction: "Biblical Traditions that Call for Liberation" ; Part I: Reformations, Revolutions, and Political Slavery ; 1. "The Only Parallel": The Puritan Revolution as England's Exodus ; 2. "God's Favourite People": The Revolutions of 1688 and 1776 ; Part II: Abolitionists, African Americans, and Racial Slavery ; 3. "Pretended Votaries of Freedom": The Rise of Protestant Antislavery to 1807 ; 4. "Yours for the Jubilee": The Abolitionists' Scriptural Imagination, 1808-1865 ; 5. "When Israel was in Egyptland": Black Exodus Politics, 1808-1865 ; Part III: Exodus after Slavery ; 6. "I Have Seen the Promised Land": The Persistence of Deliverance Politics, 1865-2008 ; Conclusion: Sacred Texts, Godly Readers, and Historical Change ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisOne Sunday in February 1987, protesters stood outside the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst in Massachusetts, whose minister planned to hand out condoms during his sermon, dramatizing the need for the church to confront the AIDS crisis. The minister gave out nearly five hundred condoms as the audience exploded into applause. But he could not hang around to enjoy it; having received threats in advance of the service, he dashed out of the sanctuary immediately. Thus was the climate for religious AIDS activism in the mid-1980s. After the Wrath of God is the first book to tell the story of American religion and the AIDS epidemic. Anthony Petro shows how religious leaders and organizations posited AIDS as a religious and moral epidemic, and analyzes how this construction has informed cultural and political debates about public health and sexual morality. While most attention to religion and AIDS foregrounds the role of the Religious Right, this book examines the much broader-and moreTrade Review[O]f interest to graduate students in the social sciences. * Mary Jo Iozzio, Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion ; 1) Emerging Morality: American Christians, Sexuality, and AIDS ; 2) Governing Authority: C. Everett Koop and the Moral Politics of Public Health ; 3) Ecclesiastical Authority: AIDS, Sexuality, and the American Catholic Church ; 4) Protest Religion!: ACT UP, Religious Freedom, and the Ethics of Sex ; Afterword: We "Other Christians" ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive analysis of the philosophical issues raised by the hijab controversy in France, this book also conducts a dialogue between contemporary Anglo-American and French political theory and defends a progressive republican solution to so-called multicultural conflicts in contemporary societies. It critically assesses the official republican philosophy of laïcité which purported to justify the 2004 ban on religious signs in schools. Laïcité is shown to encompass a comprehensive theory of republican citizenship, centered on three ideals: equality (secular neutrality of the public sphere), liberty (individual autonomy and emancipation) and fraternity (civic loyalty to the community of citizens). Challenging official interpretations of laïcité, the book then puts forward a critical republicanism which does not support the hijab ban, yet upholds a revised interpretation of three central republican commitments: secularism, non-domination and civic solidarity. Thus, it articuTrade ReviewA provocative and stimulating read...Laborde's work above all facilitates a transatlantic conversation about the meaning of republicanism in modern political thought...A surefooted and intelligent guide to debates over identity politics in France...models a way to think about reforming 'non-ideal' societies and deserves the attention to anyone seriously interested in doing so. * French Politics, Culture and Society *Table of ContentsEGALITE: ON REPUBLICAN NEUTRALITY; LIBERTE: ON REPUBLICAN AUTONOMY; FRATERNITE: ON REPUBLICAN SOLIDARITY

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Book SynopsisAn examination of how, at the close of the Roman Empire, Christianity influenced the political and social philosophy of the peoples of the Near East, laying the groundwork for the blending of religious and ethnic identity that we see in the Middle East today.Trade ReviewPhilip Woods's book is a remarkable debut... a well-structured and convincingly argued work * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Things are often more complicated than they may seem, and this is certainly also true for the phenomenon Wood has been studying in such a brilliant way. * Joseph Verheyden, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Classification in a Christian Empire ; 2. Controlling the Barbarians: The First Syrian Hagiographic Collection ; 3. Theories of Nations and the World of Late Antiquity ; 4. Edessa and Beyond: The Reception of the Doctrina Addai in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries ; 5. The Julian Romance ; 6. Creating Boundaries in the Miaphysite Movement ; 7. A Miaphysite Commonwealth ; Conclusions

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Book SynopsisWritten by a team of internationally renowned scholars, this volume provides an in-depth introduction to religion in contemporary China. Instead of adopting the traditional focus on pre-modern religious history and doctrinal traditions, Chinese Religious Life examines the social dimensions of religious life, with essays devoted to religion in urban, rural, and ethnic minority settings; to the religious dimensions of body, gender, environment, and civil society; and to the historical, sociological, economic, and political aspects of religion in contemporary Chinese society.Trade ReviewThe essays in this volume present data on an important contemporary development, one with implications for insight into the human condition... * Journal of Chinese Political Science *Table of ContentsIntroduction Philip Wickeri ; Part I: Ways of Being Religious in the Chinese World ; 1. Spirituality in a Modern Chinese Metropolis, Lizhu Fan and James Whitehead ; 2. Communal Worship and Festivals in Chinese Villages, Wai-lun Tam ; 3. The Religious Life of Ethnic Minority Communities, Philip Wickeri and Yik-Fai Tam ; 4. Modalities of Doing Religion, Adam Chau ; Part II. Religion, Culture, and Society ; 5. The Body: Health, Nation, and Transcendence, David A. Palmer ; 6. Gender and Sexuality, C. Julia Huang, Elena Valussi, and David A. Palmer ; 7. Chinese Cosmology and the Environment, Robert Weller ; 8. Religious Philanthropy and Chinese Civil Society, Andre Laliberte, David A. Palmer, and Keping Wu ; Part III. Religion, Politics, and the Economy ; 9. Religion in Chinese Social and Political History, David A. Palmer ; 10. The Social Organization of Religious Communities in the Twentieth Century, Vincent Goossaert ; 11. Contemporary Issues in State-Religion Relations, Andre Laliberte ; 12. Market Economy and the Revival of Religions, Fenggang Yang ; Part IV. Global Perspectives ; 13. The Globalization of Chinese Religions and Traditions, Richard Madsen and Elijah Siegler ; Conclusion, Glenn Shive ; Glossary ; Suggested Further Readings ; Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers a timely and dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics, examining the public messages of political leaders over the past seventy-five years. The authors show that U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics. Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, America has seen a no-holds-barred religious politics that seeks to attract voters, identify and attack enemies, and solidify power. Domke and Coe identify a set of religious signals sent by both Republicans and Democrats in speeches, party platforms, proclamations, visits to audiences of faith, and even celebrations of Christmas. The updated edition of this ground-breaking book includes a new preface, an updated analysis of the last Bush administration, as well as a new final chapter on the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the candidacies of Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama''s victory.Trade ReviewThe God Strategy is a sobering look at just how deeply imbedded religion has become in the contemporary American political psyche. Both the person of faith and the non-believer should fear what is revealed in this carefully crafted review of modern campaign strategies to 'get the God vote'. Domke and Coe demonstrate, with stunningly clear examples, just how the union of government and religion tends to degrade the integrity of both. * Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State *Religion has become central to American politics. The God Strategy is a superb overview of what happened and how it has impacted our democracy. David Domke and Kevin Coe have done the nation a service. * George Lakoff, author of Don't Think of an Elephant! *Domke and Coe have done a masterful job of giving us insight into the mix of religion and politics. The God Strategy taught me much about a field I thought I knew. Anyone who wants to understand how the deeply religious character of America could be used to effect coming elections needs to read this book. * Joel Hunter, Pastor and Member, Board of Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals *The God Strategy offers an intriguing look at what has become one of the most powerful shaping forces in American political life. Like it or not, religion has for years been establishing the parameters of public debate. As Domke and Coe make clear, this is unlikely to change anytime soon. * Ron Reagan *Table of ContentsIntroduction A New Religious Politics ; Chapter One One Nation Under God, Divisible ; Chapter Two Political Priests ; Chapter Three God and Country ; Chapter Four Acts of Communion ; Chapter Five Morality Politics ; Chapter Six Religious Politics and Democratic Vitality ; Chapter Seven Act II ; Appendixes A to E

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Book SynopsisIslamophobia has been on the rise since September 11, as seen in countless cases of discrimination, racism, hate speeches, physical attacks, and anti-Muslim campaigns. The 2006 Danish cartoon crisis and the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI''s Regensburg speech have underscored the urgency of such issues as image-making, multiculturalism, freedom of expression, respect for religious symbols, and interfaith relations. The 1997 Runnymede Report defines Islamophobia as dread, hatred, and hostility towards Islam and Muslims perpetuated by a series of closed views that imply and attribute negative and derogatory stereotypes and beliefs to Muslims. Violating the basic principles of human rights civil liberties, and religious freedom, Islamophobic acts take many different forms. In some cases, mosques, Islamic centers, and Muslim properties are attacked and desecrated. In the workplace, schools, and housing, it takes the form of suspicion, staring, hazing, mockery, rejection, stigmatiTrade ReviewThis cannot be verbalized; it must be seen.... * Murad Wilfried Hofmann, The Muslim World Book Review *Edited with skill by John L. Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin...Together the authors give a comprehensive, well-documented account of the historical roots of present-day Islamophobia. * Times Literary Supplement *This well-presented collection of essays goes far towards analysing the nature of the problem and canvassing thereby the issues that need to be tackled if Islamophobia is to be eradicated...essential reading for all for whom Islamophobia is a pressing concern. * Douglas Pratt, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations *Table of ContentsFOREWORD EKMELEDDIN IHSANOGLU, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE; INTRODUCTION JOHN L. ESPOSITO; THE CONTEXT OF ISLAMOPHOBIA; CASE STUDIES; MANIFESTATIONS; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX

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Book SynopsisChinese traditional culture cannot be understood without some familiarity with the I Ching, yet it is one of the most difficult of the worlds ancient classics. Assembled from fragments with many obscure allusions, it was the subject of ingenious, but often conflicting, interpretations over nearly three thousand years. Teaching the II Ching (Book of Changes) offers a comprehensive study at a time when interest in Asian philosophy and the culture of China is on the rise. Still widely read in China, it has become a countercultural classic in the West. Recent scholarship has radically altered our understanding of this foundational work. Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-Ki Hon present an up-to-date survey of recent studies including reconstruction of the early meanings, excavated manuscripts, the New Culture Movement, and the Cultural Revolution. To facilitate introducing the classic to students, the necessary background is provided for university teachers and students, even non-China specialists. Trade ReviewThis balance between the critical and the nonjudgmental is one of the more distinctive features of this book. The stance continues in the sections "How Does the Yijing Work?" and sections on how the text has been compared with science, mathematics, and computers... It covers the major English translations, describes more fully the various layers of text, and provides very complete instructions on consulting the Yi and interpreting the results. * Joseph A. Adler, Dao *Teaching the I-Ching (Book of Changes) is a reliable road-map for students to navigate the intriguing intellectual terrain of the ancient Chinese Classic, detailing the historical background and the texts structure and content. Redmond and Hons narratives are readable, and their scholarship underpins the accessible translation. This book should serve as an important reference book for undergraduates, graduates, and general readers, who want to explore the multifarious and mysterious world of Changes'. * Dennis K. H. Cheng, Chair Professor of Cultural History, Hong Kong Institute of Education; European Chair of Chinese Studies, Leiden University; Professor of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University *A magnificent achievement, offering a well-written and judicious synthesis of existing scholarship on the origins, development, and transnational travels of the I Ching. In addition, Redmond and Hon offer their readers insightful suggestions about how to understand and productively use this fascinating document-not only in the classroom but also beyond. * Richard J. Smith, author of The I ching: 6IA Biography *The uniqueness of this book is its combination of scholarly rigor with a willingness to explore the phenomenology of divination practice. It is an excellent history of the I Ching as a book, including the ways it has been interpreted both in China and the West up to the present day. The two chapters (1 and 11) that cross the great water into divination practice do so without going overboard into the trendy realm of popular I Ching enthusiasm. * Joseph A. Adler, Author of Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: Zhu Xi's Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi *The authors are well-informed regarding the traditional Chinese context and modern issues alike...This volume belongs in all collections. * Russell Kirkland, Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsPreface ; Acknowledgements ; Chronology of Chinese Dynasties ; Structure of the Yijing ; List of Illustrations ; Introduction: Studying an Ancient Classic ; Chapter 1 Divination: Fortune-Telling and Philosophy ; Chapter 2 Bronze Age Origins ; Chapter 3 Women in the Book of Changes ; Chapter 4 Excavated Manuscripts ; Chapter 5 Ancient Meanings Reconstructed ; Chapter 6 The Ten Wings ; Chapter 7 Cosmology ; Chapter 8 Moral Cultivation ; Chapter 9 The Yijing in Modern China ; Chapter 10 The Yijing's Journey to the West ; Chapter 11 Reading the Book of Changes ; Chapter 12 The Future of the Yijing ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn the spring of 1968, a group of Catholic antiwar activists barged into a draft board in suburban Baltimore, stole hundreds of Selective Service records, and burned the documents in a fire fueled by homemade napalm. The bold actions of the ''Catonsville Nine'' quickly became international news, and they remained in the headlines throughout the summer and fall of 1968, when the activists were tried in federal court. Shawn Francis Peters tells the fascinating story ofthis singular witness for peace and social justice.Trade ReviewClearly a labor of love, The Cantonsville Nine is a useful examination of the ways in which conscience and politics combined to create both an important moment of protest and witness a larger drama critiquing US foreign policy in Vietnam and the rest of the world. * Sarah Thelen, Journal of American Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction: "Arguably the Single Most Powerful Antiwar Act in American History" ; Chapter 1: "I Want You to Meet This Priest" ; Chapter 2: "What About Destroying a Death Certificate?" ; Chapter 3: "In Jail For the Right Reason" ; Chapter 4: "A Great Human Act Done by Sincere Men" ; Chapter 5: "Guatemala Smells Like South Vietnam Did a Few Years Ago" ; Chapter 6: "Did You Hear What We Are Planning?"

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Book SynopsisScholars universally acknowledge the role that Christian belief played in the social movement engendered by Martin Luther King Jr. Yet few have actually delved into the complexity of King''s theology itself. The centrality of one aspect of his theology in particular - imago Dei, the belief that human beings are made in God''s image - has been surprisingly overlooked.In this book, Richard W. Wills Sr. offers a comprehensive analysis of King''s appeal for civil rights by investigating his understanding of imago Dei. Wills begins by tracing the evolution of this idea through the history of Christian thought, showing the intellectual sources King drew on in constructing his own beliefs. Wills then demonstrates how King employed this idea in his civil rights work. The belief that we are all made in God''s image was crucial, Wills shows, to King''s understanding of human nature and equality. While King shared with many of his black church forebears the view that humanity''s creation by God wTrade ReviewRichard Wills's Martin Luther King Jr. and the Image of God is the most illuminating account to date of the central theological themes in King's life and thought. King emerges as a skillful and synthetic thinker and practitioner who stands in continuity not only with the Hebrew prophets and the radical Jesus but with the seminal theological minds of the Christian tradition. And in reconnecting King to the religious past, Wills offers new ways of appropriating King's legacy as a resource for contemporary religious thought and social activism. * Charles Marsh, Director of the Project on Lived Theology and Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia *Christian anthropology asks the big questions: Who are we? What ought we to do? What might we become? Martin Luther King raised the same questions-and answered them in ways that have challenged succeeding generations. Richard Wills brings a wealth of data and insight to his portrait of King the theologian. He reminds us that under King's leadership the Movement was bursting not only with political promise but theological meaning as well. This is a carefully nuanced, yet exciting book. * Richard Lischer, author of The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America *Richard Wills' eagerly-awaited book offers a truly original perspective on one of the best known religious figures of the past hundred years. It is a helpful introduction to King's religious thought that will reward beginners and specialists alike. It deserves a wide audience. * Clayborne Carson, Professor of History and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University *It turns out that there is indeed more to say about the theology of our nation's greatest civil rights leader. Wills makes exceptionally good use of the King archives, leaving no stone unturned in the quest for clarifying how King honed a theology in service of racial justice. . . as a fresh reconsideration of the theology of one of America's greatest public figures, this volume is enormously successful. * Horizons *Table of ContentsPrologue ; Part 1. Historical Explication ; I. The Historical Context ; II. The Host of Witnesses ; Part 2. Theological Meditation ; III. King As Critical Thinker ; IV. King Among Theologians ; V. Theological Implications ; Part 3. Practical Application ; VI. Beloved Community ; VII. Beloved Community and Beyond ; Epilogue

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Book SynopsisWaging a counterinsurgency war and justified by claims of ''an agreement between Guatemala and God,'' Guatemala''s Evangelical Protestant military dictator General Ríos Montt incited a Mayan holocaust: over just 17 months, some 86,000 mostly Mayan civilians were murdered. Virginia Garrard-Burnett dives into the horrifying, bewildering murk of this episode, the Western hemisphere''s worst twentieth-century human rights atrocity. She has delivered the most lucid historical account and analysis we yet possess of what happened and how, of the cultural complexities, personalities, and local and international politics that made this tragedy. Garrard-Burnett asks the hard questions and never flinches from the least comforting answers. Beautifully, movingly, and clearly written and argued, this is a necessary and indispensable book.-- Francisco Goldman, author of The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?Virginia Garrard-Burnett''s Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit is impressivelyTrade ReviewIn a country still torn over the war by polarizing accusations amplified by righteous self-exculpation, Garrard-Burnett listens carefully to as many sides as her sources allow-the Left, the Right, Catholic activists, evangelicals, the US embassy-to conclude that states turn genocidal, not just because they can, but because both perpetrators and public come to see their self-preservation, if not salvation, at stake. In helping us understand better that self-preservation, this book also speaks with respect-and hope-to the survivors. We should all be listening carefully. * John Watanabe, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth College *This is a careful narrative and sober analysis of Mott's seventeenth-month regime in Guatemala. * Religious Studies Review *Virginia Garrard-Burnett's examination of General Efrain Rios Montt is one of the best available historicalpolitical analyses of Guatemala's brutal armed conflict...Garrard-Burnett is arguably one of the most important contemporary historians of Protestantism in Latin America. In this slim volume, she not only demonstrates her deep and nuanced understanding of the evangelical movement in Guatemala but also explains the dynamics and contours of the political crisis that brought Rios Montt to power in 1982.. * American Historical Review *This work secures a solid place among some of the dominant works in modern Latin American historiography, particularly in its positioning within the field of subaltern studies. While remaining sensitive to the voice and agency of the victims of the genocide, Garrard- Burnett relies heavily on truth commission reports to provide a clear analysis of the influences of evangelical rhetoric that saturated Guatemala's violent struggles of the late Cold War. This useful, insightful work deserves a wide reading among students and specialists alike.. * Hispanic American Historical Review *Table of Contents1. Rios Montt Earns His Place in the History Books: Debates about la Violencia ; 2. Guatemala's Descent in Violence ; 3. Rios Montt and the New Guatemala ; 4. Terror ; 5. "Los Que Matan en el Nombre de Dios": Rios Montt and the Religious Question ; 6. Blind Eyes and Willful Ignorance: U.S. Foreign Policy, Media, and Foreign Evangelicals ; Epilogue ; Notes ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe immigration of Muslims to Europe and the integration of later generations presents many challenges to European societies. Unwanted builds on five years of ethnographic research with a group of fifty-five second-generation Muslim immigrant drug dealers in Frankfurt, Germany to examine the relationship between immigration, social exclusion, and the informal economy. Having spent countless hours with these young men, hanging out in the streets, in cafes or bars and at the local community center, Sandra Bucerius explores the intimate aspects of their, one of the most discriminated and excluded populations in Germany. Bucerius looks at how the young men negotiate their participation in the drug market while still trying to adhere to their cultural and religious obligations and how they struggle to find a place within German society. The young men considered their involvement in the drug trade a response to their exclusion at the same time that it provides a means of forging an identity Trade ReviewThis is one of the most exciting and original ethnographic studies on drug dealing I have read in a long time. It is the German counterpart of classical American studies as Philip Bourgois' In Search of Respect or Elijah Anderson's Code of the Street. The setting is not an American ghetto but a Frankfurt neighborhood in an advanced German welfare state. Bucerius has drawn on her extensive fieldwork in the neighborhood of Bockenheim to present an ethnography that explains the lifestyles and social exclusion of a group of second generation immigrants with a Muslim background that are involved in drug dealing. Her enduring fieldwork in a combination with her theoretical lenses based on Pierre Bourdieu, Mary Douglas and Max Weber offer an explanation why these young men choose to become drug dealers. It is a stunning achievement written with civic involvement, as well with academic detachment and humor. * Godfried Engbersen, Professor of Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam *In the tradition of the best urban ethnographies, Unwanted provides an insightful look at the lives of second generation Muslim immigrant young men involved in Frankfurt's drug economy. Sandra Bucerius deftly navigates structure, culture, and agency, grappling with how macro-level forces in German society impact the lives of young men she describes as 'perpetual foreigners,' and how their identity work constructs meaning in the face of marginalization and crime involvement. Unwanted illuminates unique features of the German context, while offering larger lessons for scholars who seek to better understand social exclusion and its impacts. It is an important and timely contribution. * Jody Miller, Professor of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University *Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction ; Chapter 2: "I Am a Bockenheimer": Social Exclusion and Local Identification ; Chapter 3: "As Long as You Don't Get Carried Away": On Choosing Lifestyle and Gaining Respect ; Chapter 4: "I'm Not a Dirty Crack Dealer": Purity and Impurity in the Drug Market ; Chapter 5: Muslim Virgin Wanted: In Search of Reasons to Quite Dealing ; Chapter 6: Where to Go from Here? ; Appendix: "Somehow you're a friend even though you're a woman" Some Thoughts on Negotiating Access and Trust ; References

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Book SynopsisIn God's Own Party, Daniel K. Williams presents the first comprehensive history of the Christian Right, uncovering how evangelicals came to see the Republican Party as the vehicle through which they could reclaim America as a Christian nation.Trade ReviewI have long sought a book that would present the history of how the GOP became, in the mind of most conservative Christians, God s Own Party...This is the book I have been waiting for...For an interesting and objective history of the Christian Right, I highly recommend Williams book. * Laurence M. Vance, LewRockwell.com *This book is a needed addition to scholarship on the rise of the New Right. * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Chapter 1: From Isolation to Influence ; Chapter 2: The Emergence of a Fundamentalist Right ; Chapter 3: God and Country during the Kennedy Presidency ; Chapter 4: The Christian Silent Majority ; Chapter 5: Nixon's Evangelical Strategy ; Chapter 6: The Grassroots Campaign to Save the Family ; Chapter 7: Culture Wars in the Carter Years ; Chapter 8: Moral Majority ; Chapter 9: Reagan ; Chapter 10: Crashing the Party ; Chapter 11: Capturing the White House ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisIslam''s relationship to liberal-democratic politics has emerged as one of the most pressing and contentious issues in international affairs. In Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy, Nader Hashemi challenges the widely held belief among social scientists that religious politics and liberal-democratic development are structurally incompatible. This book argues for a rethinking of democratic theory so that it incorporates the variable of religion in the development of liberal democracy. In the process, it proves that an indigenous theory of Muslim secularism is not only possible, but is a necessary requirement for the advancement of liberal democracy in Muslim societies.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Chapter 1. Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies: The Historical Background ; Chapter 2. Dueling Scriptures: The Political Theology of John Locke and the Democratization of Muslim Societies ; Chapter 3. A Concise Anatomy of Secularism: Examining Its Linkages to Liberal Democracy ; Chapter 4. Secularism and Its Discontents in Muslim Societies: Indigenizing the Separation between Religion and State ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Trade ReviewA solidly resourced, cogently analyzed, and persuasively argued brief. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Perilous Times ; 2. The Nuclear-Haunted Era ; 3. What to Mobilize Against ; 4. Waging War on Terror ; 5. Weapons of Mass Destruction ; 6. Panics and Pandemics ; 7. Environmental Catastrophe ; 8. Setting a New Agenda ; 9. The Call for Action ; Notes ; Selected Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisMillions of American Christians see U.S. support for the State of Israel as a God-ordained responsibility. Millions more see the ''''special relationship'''' between the two countries as a bond that should never be challenged, much less broken. Robert O. Smith provides an in-depth look at the English Protestant tradition of Judeo-centric prophecy interpretation at the heart of this popular affinity. In 2006, John Hagee founded Christians United for Israel. Several high-level policymakers, both Christians and Jews, flocked to endorse the effort. Soon, however, questions rose about apparently anti-Catholic and anti-Islamic ideas contained in Hagee''s preaching and writing. More Desired Than Our Owne Salvation explores the content of Christian Zionist attitudes, their resonance in popular American culture, and the history of the ideas that have contributed to present realities. After discussing polling data and exploring how Black Protestant views clarify general American attitudes, Smith revisits sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant interpretations of scripture and history. The Pope and the Turk figured significantly, identified by both Luther and Calvin as the two heads of the Antichrist. Protestant exiles from England carried these ideas back to Elizabethan England, provided a nationalist twist, and set Anglo-American history on a new path.The resulting English Protestant tradition of Judeo-centric prophecy interpretation shaped Puritan identity, which was then transferred to New England, where it began informing the foundations of American vocation and self-understanding. Through its developments and adaptations, this Judeo-centric tradition provided English colonists and Anglo Americans with purpose and vision. When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, many Americans readily welcomed it as a prophetic counterpart, a country whose preservation ''''may be more desired then our owne salvation.''''Trade Reviewoffers readers a deeper understanding of Christian Zionism * Caitlin Carenen, American Hisorical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Introduction ; Chapter 1 Blessing the Jew: The Traits of Contemporary American Christian Zionism ; Chapter 2 Supporting the Jew: Culture, Doctrine, and American Popular Opinion on the State of Israel ; Chapter 3 Mythologizing the Jew: The Reformation Foundations of Judeo-centric Prophecy Interpretation (1530-1603) ; Chapter 4 Militarizing the Jew: Judeo-centric Prophecy Interpretation, Thomas Draxe to Joseph Mede (1608-1627) ; Chapter 5 Admitting the Jew: Parliamentary Authority, Christian Zionism, and British Imperial Identity ; Chapter 6 Typologizing the Jew: The Judeo-Centric Foundations of America's Covenantal Vocation ; Chapter 7 Systematizing the Jew: John Nelson Darby and the Putative Paternity of Christian Zionism ; Chapter 8 Politicizing the Jew: William E. Blackstone and the Mobilization of Cultural Fundamentalism ; Conclusion: Christian Zionism from the Cartwright Petition to American Empire ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisExamines how English Catholic exiles in Spain used print and other written media to promote the conquest of England and the spiritual renewal of Christendom. Trade Review“Domínguez has provided a focused, informed, and lively account of the publishing activities of Elizabethan English Catholic exiles—and through these activities the exiles’ deep involvement in Spanish political-ecclesiastical culture—during a critical moment in the history of Anglo-Spanish politics.”—Daniel Knapper Reformation“Domínguez makes a clear and forceful argument for the impact of Spanish Elizabethan authors on Spanish politics during the final decades of Philip II’s reign. Yet this book achieves something even more significant for those of us looking to the future of early modern studies. It demonstrates the benefits of transnationalism in furthering our understanding of Europe’s religious and political environment.”—Kelsey J. Ihinger Bulletin of the Comediantes“Scholarship on English Catholicism has started to take greater account of its broadly European and international dimensions, and Domínguez makes an important contribution to this line of scholarship. Radicals in Exile presents a convincing case for the central role of English Catholics in late sixteenth-century Spanish and wider European politics. It casts new light on English Catholics’ links with Spain, and future scholarship will no doubt expand on these links, looking at connections beyond the printed word.”—Jonathan Roche Journal of British Studies“Freddy Domínguez’s important book expands our knowledge of English and Spanish Catholic print culture beyond immediate confessional considerations to illuminate instead the tangled polemics of secular rule and spiritual authority.”—Anne J. Cruz Renaissance and Reformation“Domínguez’s work, with its transnational perspective, rejection of confessional and nationalist narratives, and recovery of marginal voices, contributes positively to encouraging trends in modern Reformation scholarship.”—Alexander DeWitt SJ Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu“Skillfully researched and written with enviable clarity, Freddy Domínguez’s Radicals in Exile explores in detail a series of texts English Catholics wrote from Spain during the dramatic years of the 1580s and ’90s. His readings of these works are original and illuminating, and they integrate this singular corpus into the wider religious and intellectual history of the period.”—James S. Amelang,author of Parallel Histories: Muslims and Jews in Inquisitorial Spain“This book puts the punch back into early modern religious polemic. Radical English Catholic exiles deftly bob and weave across the pages with hired-gun Protestant apologists. London swings at Madrid, Madrid jabs back at London, while Rome, Paris, and Antwerp stand by, eager to climb into the ring. The many contenders in this post-Reformation prizefight in print yield refreshingly unfamiliar viewpoints, internecine agendas, and a dynamic polyglot literature that has been too often overlooked.”—Earle Havens,Nancy H. Hall Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Johns Hopkins University“Through a meticulous engagement with both English and Spanish works and ideas, Domínguez reminds us that exiles were influenced not only by developments in England, but also by the historical circumstances and ideas present in their adoptive home. Radicals in Exile is a much-needed study, which is sure to make an indelible impact in the field.”—Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer Journal of Modern History

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Book SynopsisFor the exhausted, the hurting, and the faithful, The After Party helps reframe our political identity away from the what of political positions and toward the how being centered on Jesus.This paradigm-shifting book complements The After Party Project--a six-part, video-based, highly interactive curriculum that provides churches, small groups, and individuals with an on-the-ground, biblically based approach to a very complex topic.The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics helps readers who feel despair about political divisiveness: Engage with others across political differences Learn specific steps to reframe political identity outside of partisan divides Focus on how we relate to one another as Jesus teaches before moving to the what of political topics The After Party is ideal for:Republicans, Democrats, and Independents looking for renewed hope a

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Book SynopsisReligious Freedom in a Secular Age describes today’s complicated debates about religious freedom, suggesting a way forward that neither privileges nor punishes religion. Tackling many complicated topics, this practical book encourages Christians to stand up for their faith in a way that is humble and gentle, yet also courageous.Trade Review'Michael Bird is an astute and measured voice in today's discourse on religion and politics. This book's global perspective will challenge readers of all backgrounds and beliefs toward better arguments and better understanding.' * John D. Inazu, Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion, Washington University in St. Louis *'Rev. Dr. Michael Bird's Religious Freedom in a Secular Age is a book long overdue--religious freedom has been eroding rapidly in Australia since 2017, after the legalisation of same-sex marriage. But this book is also very timely, arriving just as the Victorian state government determines to enact antireligion laws one after another to silence faith communities and just as the Australian federal government seeks to pass new laws to better protect religious freedom. This book will bring the much-needed debate over religious freedom--a challenging topic--to our discussion tables. Bird offers us a comprehensive, unapologetic, honest, and unbiased analysis from a historical, philosophical, biblical, and sociopolitical perspective. It's a must-read book for all Christians, pastors, church leaders, theologians, and seminary students living in this hostile and secular age--because it's not too late to turn the world upside down again, just like the early church did!' * Jasmine Yuen, Victorian State Coordinator, Australian Christian Lobby *'With his characteristic wit, Michael Bird demonstrates that religious liberty is of interest not only to Christians but also to the marketplace of ideas that helped deepen faith while simultaneously making room for peaceable difference. With a keen assessment of cultural events and theological dexterity, Bird is now among those doing needed work to retrieve the forgotten ideal that is religious liberty.' * ­Andrew T. Walker, associate professor of Christian ethics, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, author of Liberty for All *

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Book SynopsisHaving grown from lectures which Moltmann has given in predominantly secular institutions, this text covers theology and politics, theology and the changing values of the modern world, and theology and religion.

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Book SynopsisThis is the credo and seminal text of the movement which was later characterized as liberation theology. This powerful, compassionate and radical book attracted criticism for daring to mix politics and religion in so daring a manner.

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Book SynopsisOffers a reading of the political history of the world as an against-story, a story of an anti-traditional tradition. This text presents an alternative reading of the history of the political world and the ideas that have inspired their political philosophy.

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Book SynopsisHow does empire mould human subjectivity, for instance, and how does it affect the understanding of humans within the whole of creation? This title analyzes the global empire in its political and economic dimensions, in its symbolic constructions of power, and in its general assumptions often taken for granted.Trade Review'This rich and interdisciplinary book presents a powerful up-to-date critique of the spirit of Empire, using critical insights from post-Marxist, postmodern, and postcolonial theories. Written by authors who have engaged liberation Christianity from three different geographical locales, this text provides resources and visions for those who believe that annother world and an alternative spirit that resists Empire are possible. I highly recommend this creative theological reading of transcendence, subjectivity, and democracy in the political present.' Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology ‘This unusual and engaging book can be properly described as “the geography of religion and the constitution of Western empires.” A Methodist from Germany, a Catholic Korean in Brazil and a Methodist from Argentina and of Italo-Spanish descent allows for an intra-religious and inter-national disciplinary dialogue. The book will be of interest to all readers interested in religion, theologians or not, Christians or not, whether or not they are located within the realm of Western Empire or in its exteriority, that is, beyond Christian theology in all its diversity. The book makes a signal contribution to understanding the double role of theology and religion. On the one hand, Christian Theology was and continues to be part of Western imperialism and, on the other, from Christian Theology emerged variegated theologies of liberation, of which this book is an excellent example.' Walter Mignolo, Duke University

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Book SynopsisThis is the credo and seminal text of the movement which was later characterized as liberation theology. This powerful, compassionate and radical book attracted criticism for daring to mix politics and religion in so daring a manner.

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Book SynopsisMother Teresa was one of the most written about and publicised women in modern times. Apart from Pope John Paul II, she was arguably the most advertised religious celebrity in the last quarter of the twentieth century. During her lifetime as well as posthumously, Mother Teresa continues to generate a huge level of interest and heated debate.Gëzim Alpion explores the significance of Mother Teresa to the mass media, to celebrity culture, to the Church and to various political groups. A section explores the ways different vested interests have sought to appropriate her after her death, and also examines Mother Teresa''s own attitude to her childhood and to the Balkan conflicts in the 1980s and 1990s.This book sheds a new and fascinating light upon this remarkable and influential woman, which will intrigue followers of Mother Teresa and those who study the vagaries of stardom and celebrity culture.Trade Review'It is a clever book, providing a great deal of original and new thought on the subject.' - Primrose Peacock, Friends of Albania 'In his unparalleled scholarly book, Alpion has presented a multidimensional portrait of Mother Teresa. And she appears human as she rarely did in any discourse about her.' - Gaston Roberge, The New Leader'In its depth, breadth, and seriousness, this volume may stand for some time to come as the single most imporant biography of Mother Teresa in English ... A great value of this book is that [Alpion] has provided us with the fullest portrait yet of her native culture and her maturation' – Center for Islamic Pluralism'This book of Alpion's feels like a whiff of delightfully fresh air. It is the work of an open and dedicated scholar, who despite his reverence for the nun has yet striven to be as unbiased as possible, never letting his emotions get in the way. I would have no hesitation at all in recommending this book to everyone.' – Bulletin of the Faculty of Foreign Studies'I enjoyed this book and anyone interested in how Albanian identity is understood and constructed should take the time to read it carefully.' -- Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies‘Alpion’s examination of Mother Teresa’s celebrity is a case study of corporate identity management in today’s global media environment. His weaving of primary texts into the setting of this character piece creates a comprehensive cross-cultural examination that has the potential to become a new archetypal work of this mercurial personality.’ -- Marvin Williams, American Communication Journal, USA‘In its depth, breadth, and seriousness, this volume may stand for some time to come as the single most important biography of Mother Teresa in English.’ -- Stephen Schwartz, Illyria, New York, USA‘After Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? scholarship about Mother Teresa will not be the same.… In his unparalleled scholarly book, Alpion has presented a multidimensional portrait of Mother Teresa. And she appears human as she rarely did in any discourse about her.’ -- Professor Gaston Roberge, The New Leader, India‘One must ungrudgingly give it to Alpion that this has been a work of monumental proportions involving great dexterity….All methodological exclusivity has been abjured, allowing the multihued disciplines to coalesce as needed in the research….All this makes the book compulsory reading.’ -- Professor Bonita Aleaz, Head of Department of Political Science, University of Calcutta, The Asia Journal of Theology, India‘[A] superbly researched work…. After Germaine Greer, Christopher Hitchens and Susan Shields this book of Alpion’s feels like a whiff of delightfully fresh air…. I would have no hesitation at all in recommending this book to everyone.’ -- Professor Cyril Veliath, Bulletin of the Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan‘Alpion is to be congratulated on both the depth of his research spread over several years, and the balanced way he sets out his facts….It is a clever book, providing a great deal of original and new thought on the subject but it is not a book to skim through in a couple of hours.’ -- Primrose Peacock, Catholic South West, UK‘Alpion’s book....is unique in locating the appeal of Mother Teresa within today’s broader celebrity culture…. For Alpion, celebrity culture is a modern form of religion and Mother Teresa was the ultimate religious celebrity of the modern era.’ --Dr Stuart Derbyshire, Spiked Magazine, UK‘Alpion [who] writes illuminatingly about different forms of "celebrity discourse"…has written an absorbing analysis what this nun has meant to the world.’ -- John Hodgson, Light Magazine, UK‘This engaging book raises as many questions as it answers…. Alpion unpacks the full historical background in meticulous detail... The result is intriguing, if a little unsatisfactory. His thesis is original: Mother Teresa knew well what she was about… Her success and subsequent "fame" were of her own making, and she was far brighter than she made out… So there was sacrifice involved in her quest for fame, but was her integrity one of the casualties? That is what this book tries to explore — hence its telling subtitle.’ -- Dr Lavinia Byrne, Church Times, UK‘Alpion has not simply added another book to the already vast literature on Mother Teresa; he has actually enriched it. …Alpion has made an outstanding contribution to contemporary popular culture.’ --Dr Michael Schmidt-Neke, Albanische Hefte, Bochum, Germany‘I can’t but conclude that after all of his careful research and reasoned probing, Alpion was personally touched by this great woman…. Alpion does ask some controversial questions. However, his answers are fair and reasoned from his point of view.’ -- Dr Margaret Nutting Ralph, Albanian Journal of Politics, Chapel Hill, NC, USA‘[T]he book does offer the migrationist a very useful account of an exceptional migration trajectory and, although this is not a declared objective of the book, it is also worth reading for its migratory sub-text. Mother Teresa as a migrant woman in the early part of the twentieth century makes for fascinating speculation regarding her motives and the modality of her mobility. I enjoyed this book and anyone interested in how Albanian identity is understood and constructed should take the time to read it carefully.’ -- Professor Glyn Davies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, UK‘The most authoritative English-language author on Blessed Teresa of Kolkata is Gëzim Alpion…a pioneer in the academic study of the phenomenon of celebrity.’ -- Stephen Schwartz, Folks Magazine, India‘In addition to [Aroup] Chatterjee’s books Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict and Mother Teresa: The Untold Story, and Christopher Hitchens’ The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, there is one by Gëzim Alpion, titled Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? which was as critical of Teresa as the other works mentioned earlier. Published in 2006, it exposed the well-orchestrated publicity blitz that Mother Teresa encouraged about herself, even when her real charity work didn’t count for much.’Dr T. Hanuman Chowdary, Swarajya, India'The main thrust of this carefully argued work is two fold. Firstly it concentrates on the loss of her father when a child becoming the mainspring driving the rest of Mother Teresa's life with 'Jesus' as a parental and marital substitute. Secondly it shows with considerable clarity how Mother Teresa used and was used by politicians, governments, the church, her admirers and a few detractors to achieve her objectives in what I consider was the result of her Albanian psyche. It is a clever book, providing a great deal of original and new thought on the subject but it is not a book to skim through in a couple of hours.' - Primrose Peacock, Friends of Albania '...this book of Alpion's feels like a whiff of delightfully fresh air. It is the work of an open and dedicated scholar, who despite his reverence for the nun has yet striven to be as unbiased as possible, never letting his emotions get in the way. I would have no hesitation at all in recommending this book to everyone.' - Journal of the Faculty of Foreign Studies'In his unparalleled scholarly book, Alpion has presented a multidimensional portrait of Mother Teresa. And she appears human as she rarely did in any discourse about her.' - Gaston Roberge, The New Leader'This book is the work of an open and dedicated scholar, who, despite his reverence for the nun, has striven to be as unbiased as possible, never letting his emotions get in the way. I would have no hesitation at all in recommending this book to everyone.' - Cyril Veliath, The New Leader'In its depth, breadth, and seriousness, this volume may stand for some time to come as the single most imporant biography of Mother Teresa in English ... A great value of this book is that [Alpion] has provided us with the fullest portrait yet of her native culture and her maturation' – Center for Islamic Pluralism'This book of Alpion's feels like a whiff of delightfully fresh air. It is the work of an open and dedicated scholar, who despite his reverence for the nun has yet striven to be as unbiased as possible, never letting his emotions get in the way. I would have no hesitation at all in recommending this book to everyone.' – Bulletin of the Faculty of Foreign Studies'Alpion has written an absorbing analysis.' –Light Magazine'Alpion unpacks the full historical background in meticulous detail ... the result is intriguing ... original.' – The Church Times'Alpion gives us a thorough and well researched look in Mother Teresa's life.' - Margaret Nutting, Albanian Journal of Politics'In its depth, breadth, and seriousness, this volume may stand for some time to come as the single most important biography of Mother Teresa in English.' - Stephen Schwartz, IllyriaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface by Professor David Marsh Introduction 1. Mother Teresa and Celebrity Culture 2. The Balkans Appropriation of Mother Teresa 3. The Forgotten Years 4. Mother Teresa’s Attitude towards Her Early Years 5. Jesus the Divine Superstar 6. From Church Rebel to Church Asset Conclusion. Select Bibliography. Select Filmography. Index

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Book SynopsisIs Western civilization in an accelerating decline? And if it continues will it eventually weaken and cause us to come to the end of cultured civilization as we now know it? Yes, says David Jeremiah, and in his book, I Never Thought I''d See the Day! he details numerous signs of this cultural decay including: America held hostage by IranMarriage becoming obsoleteCreeping socialismThe invisibility of culture''s enemiesIncrease in spiritual warfareAmerica turning its back on Israel Atheist attack on religionCan this downward spiral be reversed? Yes, but only if one person at a time returns to God with our heart, our manner of life, our dedication to genuine worship of God, in serving God by helping others, in our giving, and in prayer.

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Philips is Tutor in Theology and Ethics at Westcott House and also lectures in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK.Trade ReviewThis short volume by Elizabeth Philips is a welcome contribution that will assist the beginner to understand theological debates over the nature of politics . . . The presentation is clear and direct, and appropriate particularly for undergraduate students. -- Christopher Craig Brittain, University of Aberdeen * The Expository Times *Elizabeth Phillips offers a solid and concise introductory text for those who want to become acquainted with Political Theology or introduce students to this field. -- Nathan Willowby, Marquette University, US * Theological Book Review *‘This is one of the most lucidly composed and carefully constructed books on political theology. Undergraduates and graduate students alike will greatly appreciate Elizabeth Phillips' systematic thinking and crystal clear writing. I can't wait to use this book in the classroom!' - Craig Hovey, Ashland University, USA. -- Craig Hovey‘This book is unlike any other. It is an accessible map of the field of political theology, providing a brief history of its emergence, an outline of types of approach, and a sampling of how major theologians have dealt with the central issues in political theology. The clear organization and writing make the book ideally suited for the classroom. Beyond introducing the thought of others, Phillips also interjects insightful comments and questions into the text that show her to be a worthy participant in the wider conversation that she summarizes so lucidly. This book is a valuable contribution to a growing field." - William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University, USA -- William T. Cavanaugh‘A fine introduction to political theology. Writing in a style that makes the book eminently suitable for undergraduate as well as postgraduate students, Phillips offers a refreshingly non-partisan presentation, focussing on both theological sources and political contexts. Discussion of important historical figures—such as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Barth and Bonhoeffer—are complemented by an engagement with contemporary political theologians—from Gutiérrez and Cone to Yoder and O'Donovan, from Milbank and Cavanaugh to Althaus-Reid and Ruether. Interwoven with these discussions is the critical consideration of contexts: from ‘liberal society' to ‘marginalisation'. Above all, the reader is persuaded that political theology matters. A compelling introduction.' - Peter Manley Scott, The University of Manchester, UK -- Peter Manley ScottTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I: Defining Political Theology; 1. The Emergence of Political Theology; 2. Approaches to Political Theology. Part II: Issues in Political Theology; 3. The Church and the Political; 4. The Politics of Jesus; 5. War and Peace; 6. Race, Gender and Class; 7. Liberalism, Democracy and Human Rights; 8. Creation, History and Eschatology; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisEberhard Jüngel is Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion, University of Tübingen, Germany.Philip G. Ziegler is a Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, UK.Table of ContentsTranslators' Preface Introductory Essay by A.J. Torrance The Barmen Theological Declaration, A New Translation by Douglas S. Bax Introduction Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Index

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