Religion and politics Books

Book SynopsisContemporary mass media descriptions of Muslims often suggest that Islam and Muslims are fundamentally undemocratic. Policy-makers in the West have weaponized these descriptions in attempts to legitimize anti-Muslim right-wing policy developments across the West and in the United States in particular, from surveillance in the aftermath of 9/11 to the anti-Islamic travel ban of 2017. But are Muslims undemocratic? Ahmed Khanani argues that this is not the case. In All Politics are God's Politics, Khanani shows that in fact, the opposite holds true: for socially conservative, politically active Muslims (Islamists), democracy or dimuqrāṭiyya reflects and extends their religious values. By drawing on conversations with over 100 Islamists in Morocco, this book enables readers to understand and appreciate the significance of dimuqrāṭiyya as a concept alongside new prospects for Islam and democracy in the Arab Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Khanani's in-depth analysis of the Moroccan case brings these Islamists and their attending political views to the forefront. Trade Review"Scholars, journalists, and politicians routinely speak of 'democracy' around the world as if the meaning of this term were universally shared. Khanani shows with great flair and sensitivity how blinding this assumption is. Highly illuminating and methodologically exemplary." -- Frederic Schaffer * author of Elucidating Social Science Concepts: An Interpretivist Guide *"What if to act democratically is to follow the Prophet’s sunna? This book turns the literature on 'Islam and democracy' on its head. Drawing on ordinary language philosophy Khanani explores the political-religious thought of Moroccan Muslim activists to appreciate contemporary democratic political thought and practice in an Islamic register. An extraordinary listener and innovative thinker, Khanani charts new terrain in decolonial studies, religion and politics, Islamic studies, and the study of Moroccan and MENA politics." -- Elizabeth Shakman Hurd * author of Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion *"Ahmed Khanani’s book is a most welcome contribution to the debate on religion and politics." * Perspectives on Politics *Table of ContentsContents Note on Names Introduction 1. Ordinary Language Philosophy and the Study of Democracy 2. islāmiyūn, Islam, Democracy 3. Institutions as Bridges 4. On Democracy and Substantive Goods 5. Democracy at Work Epilogue Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisContemporary mass media descriptions of Muslims often suggest that Islam and Muslims are fundamentally undemocratic. Policy-makers in the West have weaponized these descriptions in attempts to legitimize anti-Muslim right-wing policy developments across the West and in the United States in particular, from surveillance in the aftermath of 9/11 to the anti-Islamic travel ban of 2017. But are Muslims undemocratic? Ahmed Khanani argues that this is not the case. In All Politics are God's Politics, Khanani shows that in fact, the opposite holds true: for socially conservative, politically active Muslims (Islamists), democracy or dimuqrāṭiyya reflects and extends their religious values. By drawing on conversations with over 100 Islamists in Morocco, this book enables readers to understand and appreciate the significance of dimuqrāṭiyya as a concept alongside new prospects for Islam and democracy in the Arab Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Khanani's in-depth analysis of the Moroccan case brings these Islamists and their attending political views to the forefront. Trade Review"Scholars, journalists, and politicians routinely speak of 'democracy' around the world as if the meaning of this term were universally shared. Khanani shows with great flair and sensitivity how blinding this assumption is. Highly illuminating and methodologically exemplary." -- Frederic Schaffer * author of Elucidating Social Science Concepts: An Interpretivist Guide *"What if to act democratically is to follow the Prophet’s sunna? This book turns the literature on 'Islam and democracy' on its head. Drawing on ordinary language philosophy Khanani explores the political-religious thought of Moroccan Muslim activists to appreciate contemporary democratic political thought and practice in an Islamic register. An extraordinary listener and innovative thinker, Khanani charts new terrain in decolonial studies, religion and politics, Islamic studies, and the study of Moroccan and MENA politics." -- Elizabeth Shakman Hurd * author of Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion *"Ahmed Khanani’s book is a most welcome contribution to the debate on religion and politics." * Perspectives on Politics *"Scholars, journalists, and politicians routinely speak of 'democracy' around the world as if the meaning of this term were universally shared. Khanani shows with great flair and sensitivity how blinding this assumption is. Highly illuminating and methodologically exemplary." -- Frederic Schaffer * author of Elucidating Social Science Concepts: An Interpretivist Guide *"What if to act democratically is to follow the Prophet’s sunna? This book turns the literature on 'Islam and democracy' on its head. Drawing on ordinary language philosophy Khanani explores the political-religious thought of Moroccan Muslim activists to appreciate contemporary democratic political thought and practice in an Islamic register. An extraordinary listener and innovative thinker, Khanani charts new terrain in decolonial studies, religion and politics, Islamic studies, and the study of Moroccan and MENA politics." -- Elizabeth Shakman Hurd * author of Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion *"Ahmed Khanani’s book is a most welcome contribution to the debate on religion and politics." * Perspectives on Politics *Table of ContentsContents Note on Names Introduction 1. Ordinary Language Philosophy and the Study of Democracy 2. islāmiyūn, Islam, Democracy 3. Institutions as Bridges 4. On Democracy and Substantive Goods 5. Democracy at Work Epilogue Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisPowerful Devices studies spiritual warfare performances as an apparatus for disestablishing structures of power and knowledge, and establishing righteousness in their stead. Drawing on performance studies’ emphasis on radicality and breaking of social norms as devices of social transformation, the book demonstrates how Christian groups with dominant cultural power but who perceive themselves as embattled wield the ideas of performance activism. Combining religious studies with ethnography, Powerful Devices explores Nigerian Pentecostals and US Evangelicals’ praxis of transnational spiritual warfare. By closely studying spiritual warfare prayers as a “device,” Powerful Devices shows how the rituals of prayer enable an apprehension of time, paradigms of self-enhancement, and the subversion of politics and authority. A critical intervention, Powerful Devices explores charismatic Christianity’s relationship to science and secular authority, technology and temporality, neoliberalism, and reactionary ideology.Trade Review"A dazzling portrait of the contemporary Nigerian Pentecostal spiritual warfare prayer “showdown” with 'the new demons that modernity has vomited.' Adelakun shows how the rise of Pentecostalism is imbricated with neoliberalism, giving rise to new subjectivities, identities, and imaginaries ready for apocalyptic battle." -- Elizabeth McAlister * author of Rara! Vodou, Power and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora *"Powerful Devices provides an original, nuanced counterpoint to prevailing scholarship on Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria. With deep insights into the performative nature of prayer, Abimbola Adelakun charts a new course for understanding Pentecostalism’s growth in Nigeria and beyond that will continue to shape the field for years to come." -- Jacob K. Olupona * author of City of 201 Gods: Ilé-Ifè in Time, Space, and the Imagination *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: Spiritual Warriors: Powerful Devices and the Devices of PowerChapter 1: Aborting Satanic Pregnancies: Prayer as Apocalyptic DevicesChapter 2: Rehearsing Authority: Spiritual Warriors as God’s Human WeaponsChapter 3: The Noisome Pestilence: COVID-19 Pandemic and Conspirituality of “Fake Science”Chapter 4: Churches Going Virtual: Empty Auditoriums and the Essential Services of PrayerConclusion: Jesus Has WonAcknowledgmentsBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage s’intéresse à la place centrale qu’occupe le corps, notamment dans ses aspects genrés, dans l’expression et la gestion du religieux, par les religions elles-mêmes et par l'État. En effet, au-delà des impacts des politiques décidées par l’État sur une ou plusieurs religions, on peut élargir la question et interroger l’influence religieuse – ou ce qu’il en reste – sur ses politiques.

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Book SynopsisFür Deutschland gilt in besonderer Weise, dass seine Tradition eines korporatistischen Sozialversicherungsstaats mit dualer Wohlfahrtspflege ohne Berücksichtigung des religiösen Faktors nicht begriffen werden kann. In einer Integration von begriffsgeschichtlichen und wissenssoziologischen Zugängen untersuchen die Verfasser dieses Bandes die Bezugnahme religiöser Akteure auf wohlfahrtsstaatliche Leitsemantiken in Deutschland seit dem Kaiserreich in ihrer konfessionsspezifischen Prägung. Analysiert werden zum einen institutionelle Semantiken (Staat, Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Armut, Familie), zum anderen Wertsemantiken (Gerechtigkeit, Solidarität, Subsidiarität, Verantwortung, Sicherheit). Die Studien zeigen, wie sich auf dem semantischen Feld der Kampf sowohl zwischen den Konfessionen als auch zwischen religiösen und säkularen Akteuren um die Welt des Sozialen abspielt. Sie eröffnen einen Blick auf die religiöse Dimension der Tiefengrammatik des deutschen Wohlfahrtsstaats.

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Book SynopsisReligion is both too dangerous and too important to be left to any single belief community, academic association or political group. The challenges of secularity and competing belief systems require attention within the curriculum of every state school. The authors of this volume, more than thirty authoritative practitioners and scholars, illuminate the context for religion in public education nationally and globally. Their principal focus is on Religious Education in England, with its distinctive matrix of Christianity, plurality of beliefs and secularity. The complementary attention to RE provision in eight other countries and within Europe is revealing of each and a source for comparative comment on the 'English approach'. Religion is understood universally as referring to the deepest meanings which we have generated to live with, both individually and collectively. The peculiarity of England with a constitutional monarchy and established church is identified as an enabling feature for understanding, inclusivity and openness rather than separation and mutual ignorance, but that RE is threatened by government inattention.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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