Religion: general Books

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Book SynopsisA coffee-table book showcases the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, breaking the norm of no photography inside Hindu temples. It combines visuals, mythology, and history to celebrate the city's spiritual essence and the deity Shiva.

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Book SynopsisThe book concludes with a section about inter-religious dialogues between Jews and Indic faiths like Hindus, Bud dhists and Jains. Based on two thousand years of cohabitation, these old/new friendships reveal old surprises and new insights.

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Book SynopsisText in French: "LE DÉVOILEMENT DES IGNOMINIES GRECQUES ET LES ASPERSIONS PAR DE PIEUX CONSEILS"

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Book SynopsisKey writings in feminist spirituality drawing on the great diversity of women''s experience.

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Book SynopsisBy showing how Jesus'' teachings relate to our inner depths, this book guides us toward a more conscious and creative life. The Kingdom Within explores the significance of Jesus'' teachings for our interior life -- that inner reality that Jesus called the kingdom of God. It is Sanford''s conviction that contemporary Christianity has overlooked this inner dimension of Jesus'' teachings and so has lost touch with the human soul.Illustrated with case histories and dream material drawn from the author''s work as a psychotherapist, The Kingdom Within examines such characteristics as extroversion and introversion, masculinity and femininity, thinking and feeling, and sensation and intuition to show how Jesus met the criteria of wholeness or fullness of personhood. Step by step, Sanford helps us to shed the outer mask, to eschew sin, which means living in enslavement to what we don''t know about ourselves, and to follow the road of consciousne

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Book Synopsis“A genius . . . a writer who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine.” — The New YorkerBrave New World author Aldous Huxley on enlightenment and the ultimate reality.In this anthology of twenty-six essays and other writings, Aldous Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being, good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine. Featuring an introduction by renowned religious scholar Huston Smith, this celebration of ultimate reality proves relevant and prophetic in addressing the spiritual hunger so many feel today.

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Book SynopsisThe Benedictine tradition and practice of divine reading made accessible for everyone.

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Book SynopsisThe interrelationship of religion and tourism has barely been touched upon in scholarly research. This book aims to present and analyze this relationship from sociological, economic and anthropological perspectives. It identifies numerous contemporary issues worthy of attention and research.Table of ContentsChapter headings: Acknowledgements. Preface. Spiritual Life and Leisure Time. Religion as a Cause and Result of Migrations. Tourism -- A Form of Seasonal Migration. The Motivation of Tourist Journeys. Religious Feelings and Needs as Motives For Tourist Migrations. Religious Contents in Tourism. Homo Turisticus Religiosus. Tourism Theorists. The Theological View of Tourism. Pilgrimage -- Common to all Religions. The Tourististic Determinants of Pilgrimages. Medugorje -- A Tourism Case. Tourism in the Institutionalized Forms of the Church. The Economic Repercussions of Religious Tourism. Future Scenarios.

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Book SynopsisA gripping modern-day detective story about the scientific quest to understand the Oracle of Delphi Like Walking the Bible, this fascinating book turns a modern eye on an enduring legend. The Oracle of Delphi was one of the most influential figures in ancient Greece. Human mistress of the god Apollo, she had the power to enter into ecstatic communion with him and deliver his prophesies to men. Thousands of years later, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist William J. Broad follows a crew of enterprising researchers as they sift through the evidence of history, geology, and archaeology to reveal—as far as science is able—the source of her visions.

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Book Synopsis“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith“A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.”  —Kurt VonnegutCarl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as informed worship. Orig

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Book SynopsisThe definitive life of Jesus from the bestselling historian.

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Book SynopsisCombining a scholar''s command of fact with a narrator''s ease of style, the noted scholar H.A.R. Gibb presents an historic survey of Islam, from the days of the prophet, through the religion''s spread in Asia and Africa, to its confrontation with the modern world.Trade ReviewGibb has done a great service to students of Islam as well as general readers in the field of the history of religions. * Harvard Divinity School Bulletin *This classic remains one of the best introductions to Islam available. * Valerie J. Hoffman, University of Illinois *This highly reputed scholar offers us an historical synopsis of the inception and development of Islam....A concise yet sensitive treatment of the third great Semitic tradition. * New Review of Books and Religion *Still one of the clearest introductory texts for this Religion of Islam. Reflects a deep respect for this religion. * Jonathan Brockopp, Bard College *Gibb is a first-rate scholar who writes with imagination on a religion just about as widespread as Christianity. * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive history of the Calvinist movement.Trade Review"[McNeill] has done a great service in presenting in one volume not only an account of the life and teaching of Calvin but a survey of Calvinism down to our own day....One of the best short accounts of Calvin available, based on a thorough knowledge both of his life and writings and of modern scholarship."--American Historical Review"Will surely remain the standard book on Calvinism for many years to come. It deserves wide currency and careful reading."--Albert C. Outler"McNeill has given us a very good and much needed volume on Reformed Christianity."--Leonard J. Tinterud, Theology Today"A book that will certainly be the historical reference volume on Calvin in the English language for years to come."--Hugh Thomson Kerr, Jr., The Christian Century"A masterful historical portrait of the whole movement of Calvinism."--Union Seminary Quarterly Review"An excellent coverage of Calvinistic thought, its development and its expansion."--Richard Cherok, Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary"Still the best available single volume on Calvin and Calvinism."--William Loyd Allen, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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Book SynopsisDeals with the relationship between mystics and the religious communities out of which they emerge and of which they are a part.Trade Review"This volume includes essays by Katz, Robert M. Gimello, Hans Penner, Ninian Smart, Annemarie Schimmel, H.P. Owen, Ewert Cousins, John Carman, Julia Ching, and John E. Smith. Along with specific studies of Jewish, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Confucian, and Taoist mysticism, the book includes several broad, interpretive essays on mysticism in general."--Religious Studies Review "Along with specific studies of Jewish, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Confucian, and Taoist mysticism, the book includes several broad, interpretative essays on mysticism in general."--Religious Studies Review "I am quite impressed by this collection of essays and have learned much....Broad in scope and lucid."--Jon R. Stone, University of Northern Iowa "The book integrates very well the mysticism present in various religions."--Professor S.N. Desai, St. John's University

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Book SynopsisThis book is a study of the ancient Jewish and Christian apocalypses involving ascent into heaven, which have received little scholarly attention relative to apocalypses concerned primarily with the end of the world. Recent developments like the publication of the Aramaic Enoch fragments from Qumran and interest in questions of genre in the study of the apocalypses make this a particularly appropriate time to undertake this study. The book emphasizes the emergence of the understanding of heaven as temple in the Book of the Watchers, the earliest of these apocalypses, and the way in which this understanding affects the depiction of the culmination of ascent, the hero''s achievement of a place among the angels, in the ascent apocalypses generally. It also considers the place of secrets of nature and the story of creation in these works. Finally, it offers an interpretation of the pseudepigraphy of the apocalypses and their function. It places the apocalypses in relation to both their bibTrade ReviewThis monograph provides a welcome continuation of the trend away from a pre-occupation with eschatology when studying the apocalypses. Himmelfarb offers good evidence that priestly speculation played a role in the early apocalypses ... She makes a good case for regarding these apocalypses as scribal products. * Reviews in Religion and Theology *

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Book SynopsisOffering a feminist perspective on the significance of the body in the context of religious life and practice, this treatise examines the evidence, ranging from the novels of Toni Morrison to the paintings of Frida Kahlo.Trade ReviewCooey's descriptions are refreshingly clear. Her examples drawn from the literary works of Alicia Partnoy, Paule Marshall, and Toni Morrison, and the paintings of Frida Kahlo are compelling--at times, bone chilling--as she shows the interaction between the body as a physical locus and as a nexus of discursive practices, the body as site and sign....For anyone interested in the way in which issues of gender and sex are corporeally configured by the religious imagination and the epistemological issues such an analysis generates, this book is essential reading. * Edith Wyschogrod, Rice University *

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Trade ReviewThere are 80 pages of scholarly notes about the tales, and an extremely helpful Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish words. * The Living Church *Gabriel's Palace offers tales on such intriguing topics as meditation and spiritual growth, psychic phenomena like clairvoyance and precognition, dreamwork, healing, near-death and out-of-the-body experiences, and potent encounters with angelic and demonic forces. It is impossible to come away from this book without absobring a good deal of Jewish mystical teaching about these subjects, especially since Schwartz's simple but poetic style helps bring the tales to contemporary life. * Gnosis Magazine *150 rabbinic, Kabalistic, Hasidic, and other mystical folktales from the international Jewish tradition....Schwartz delivers another monumental masterpiece that will inform, illuminate, and entertain. Highly recommended. * Library Journal *A wise book. * Sr. Anna M. Denbla, Spalding University *In recent years Howard Schwartz, combining the accumulative skills of scholarship with the lucently pure voice of the storyteller, has become the preeminent Jewish folklorist in America. What the Grimm brothers and Martin Buber gave to the German language, what Italo Calvino gave to the Italian, Schwartz now gives to English: a landmark collection of tales that expands our common patrimony of legend and mystical treasure. Where Gabriel's Palace is uniquely Jewish, however, is in its God-soaked search, under the light of Torah, for the saintly deed. * Cynthia Ozick, author of The Messiah of Stockholm and The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories *Once in a while, a book appears that is truly important. Gabriel's Palace is just such a volume. Howard Schwartz has gathered the essential tales that reflect the very foundations of Jewish mystical thought. His writing, as always, is beautiful, his research is breathtaking, his contribution is extraordinary. * Arthur Kurzweil, author of From Generation to Generation *Howard Schwartz, the foremost Jewish anthologist, has defined genres through his various collections of tales. In Elijah's Violin, he explored Jewish fairy tales; in Lilith's Cave he examined Jewish tales of the supernatural. Now, in Gabriel's Palace, he has collected mystical tales from a wide range of Jewish sources in the first book of its kind. These brief imaginative stories, written in a fluid oral style by a master storyteller, are truly marvelous and miracle-filled. Through these stories, we see the circle forming, the mystical dance beginning, and we are drawn into the circle to continue the spiritual journey of the Jewish people. * Peninnah Schram, author of Jewish Stories One Generation Tells Another and Tales of Elijah the Prophet *A handsome collection of little known tales, lyrical enough to read at children's bedtime and scholarly enough to be assigned in class. * Alan F. Segal, Professor of Religions, Barnard College, Columbia University *Tales drawn from the long traditions of Jewish mysticism and retold by Schwartz in an incomparably beautiful style for modern readers....The stories have been painstakingly researched, collected, and retold....An excellent gift book, a rare treasure trove. It's fascinatingly appealing and enduring. * St. Louis Post-Dispatch *You don't, of course, have to be Jewish to relish these sharp, clever, instructive anecdotes. * The Washington Post Book World *[Schwartz is ] among the most important literary figures helping to advance [the Jewish mystical tradition]....Artfully retold....An illuminating glimpse into Jewish mystical thought through the ages. * Moment *Schwartz is a spellbinding storyteller, and the stories he has collected here will grip and enchant the reader....Schwartz has collected the key legends of the Jewish mystical tradition....An enlightening introduction....The notes on the stories provide valuable background information and are accessible and illuminating. Schwartz is to be commended for both his insightful research and his clear and compelling use of language....Those who appreciate the power of the tale will want to savor this unusual collection. * The Jerusalem Post *Schwartz retells [these tales] in a poetic prose that captures not only the mystery and the miracles, but the contemporary reader as well....This is the definitive edition of Jewish mystical tales. It represents an enormous undertaking and a fine achievement. Scholars and researchers will find it indispensable. General readers will find it enchanting. * St. Louis Jewish Light *[These] stories are told by a gifted writer and poet to be read and savored, and to provide inspiration for other storytellers....Schwartz has given a new and powerful expression to the ancient voice of the traditional Jewish storyteller, a voice which deserves to be heard * and indeed needs to be heardin our generation.The Sagarin Review (The St. Louis Jewish Literary Journal) *Remarkable....An impressive work to house the various mystical themes and legends of Jewish literature, both sacred and secular....Serves not only as a resource for a particular genre of Jewish literature, but as a welcome stimulus for perceiving the interaction of the divine in everyday life. * Midstream *Gabriel's Palace provides us with an illuminating glimpse into Jewish mystical thought through the ages. * Edward Hoffman, Ph.D., Moment *

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Book SynopsisThe manger or Macy's? Americans might well wonder which is the real shrine of Christmas, as they take part each year in a mix of churchgoing, shopping, and family togetherness. In Christmas in America, Restad brilliantly captures the rise and transformation of our most universal national holiday.Trade Reviewboth informative and illuminating, a gem of cultural history ... Best of all, Restad offers an intelligent and richly furnished answer to all the Christmas killjoys who shake their heads over modern materialism and secularism. * Christina Hardyment, The Independent *a charmingly informative work of social history * Sally Singer, The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThis work offers a comparative cross-cultural history of dreams. The authors examine a range of texts concerning dreams, from a variety of religious contexts (including China, the Americas and Greek and Roman antiquity) to explore the ways in which different cultures experience the world of dreams.Trade ReviewDream Cultures offers titbits from various cultures and serves as a perfect appetizer to read more about dreams in antiquity * Veit Rosenberger, The Classical Review, Vol.51, No.1, 2001 *Fifteen essays by an impressive international team of specialists in literature, anthropology and history of religion... Dream Cultures strengthens the view that dreams are not necessarily the domain of psychology. * Charles Stewart, TLS 11/08/2000 *

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Book SynopsisWhat social conditions and intellectual practices are necessary in order for religious cultures to flourish? Paul Griffiths finds the answer in ''religious reading'' -- the kind of reading in which a religious believer allows his mind to be furnished and his heart instructed by a sacred text, understood in the light of an authoritative tradition. He favourably contrasts the practices and pedagogies of traditional religious cultures with those of our own fragmented and secularized culture and insists that religious reading should be preserved.Trade ReviewA provocative book that deserves the serious consideration of every scholar in the field ... a book that has the potential for stimulating important discussions about our roles in the modern study of religion * Religion *Table of Contents1: Religion 2: Religion and Literary Work 3: The Context of Religious Reading 4: The Fundamental Genres of Religious Reading 5: Commentary and Anthology in Buddhist India 6: Commentary and Anthology in Roman Africa Conclusion Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAgainst the Modern World is the first history of Traditionalism, an influential yet surprisingly little-known twentieth century anti-modernist movement. Involving a number of important, yet often secret, religious groups in the West and Islamic world, it affected mainstream and radical politics in Europe and religious studies in the United States. Emerging from the ''discovery'' in the West of non-Western religious writings, at a time in the nineteeth century when progressive intellectuals had lost faith in the ability of Christianity to deliver religious and spiritual truth, it was fuelled by the widespread religious scepticism that followed World War I. It found its voice in Rene Guenon, a French writer who rejected modernity as a dark age, and sought to reconstruct the Perennial Philosophy - the fundamental truth uniting all the world''s religions. Mark Sedgwick reveals how this pervasive intellectual movement helped shape major events in twentieth century religious life, politics aTrade ReviewMark Sedgwick's book, Against the Modern World, was published in 2009, but it is compulsive reading for commentary on the contemporary world, beset as it is with the rise of the traditional far right as well as far right religious fundamentalisms. The book spells out some intellectual influences on both traditions of thought. * Alison Assiter, Feminist Dissent *Sedgwick's scholarship regarding Traditionalists themselves is exhaustive and admirable ... Sedgwick contributes an introduction and overview of an otherwise little-known, but important, moment in modern intellectual history. * Colin Beech, Journal of World History *... a wealth of information on the lives of the Traditionalists ... This book is a valuable companion to their works, a comprehensive and neutrally presented archive of the personalities and authors, along with their political activities and personal lives. * Financial Times Magazine - Weekend *Against the Modern World is a valuable and comprehensive effort by a non-Traditionalist to chronicle this fascinating and often troubling movement in its entirety. * Financial Times Magazine - Weekend *Table of ContentsPROLOGUE; LIST OF MAIN CHARACTERS; PART I: THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADITIONALISM; PART II: TRADITIONALISM IN PRACTICE; PART III: TRADITIONALISM AT LARGE; PART IV: TRADITIONALISM AND THE FUTURE

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Book SynopsisIn this text, David Pleins looks at the history of our attempts to understand Noah's flood, from medieval Jewish and Christian speculation about the details of the ark to contemporary efforts to link the story to scientific findings.Trade ReviewNo one else has given us such sustained readability in an effort to summarize the historical and cultural impact through the centuries of the biblical Flood story. * L. Russ Bush III, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *No one who writes on this subject in the future, however, will successfully ignore this work by Pleins. * L. Russ Bush III, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *

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Book SynopsisAlternative religious groups have had a profound influence on American history-they have challenged the old and opened up new ways of thinking about healing, modes of meaning, religious texts and liturgies, the social and political order, and the relationships between religion and race, class, gender, and region. Virtually always, the dramatic, dynamic history of alternative religions runs parallel to that of dissent in America. Communities of Dissent is an evenhanded and marvelously lively history of New Religious Movements in America. Stephen J. Stein describes the evolution and structure of alternative religious movements from both sides: the critics and the religious dissenters themselves. Providing a fascinating look at a wide range of New Religious Movements, he investigates obscure groups such as the 19th-century Vermont Pilgrims, who wore bearskins and refused to bathe or cut their hair, alongside better-known alternative believers, including colonial America's largest outsideTrade ReviewClearly presented material... [The religious groups'] ideas, organizational structure, and beliefs and practices are described in a readable narrative style.... Enough detail is included to give a clear understanding of the practices and ideas that have made each group unique.... The tone throughout is nonjudgmental and the emphasis is on people and their ideas. Black-and-white photos and reproductions add information and perspective to the presentation. * School Library Journal *A fair and balanced treatment of a wide range of alternative traditions in America. The prose is very readable and the vocabulary is well within the range of junior or senior high school students. * Religious Studies in Secondary Schools *Primary source inserts for each chapter and an abundance of period illustrations move the discussion along. * Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books *Exactly what the title says: a survey of Quakers, Christian Scientists, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses, among many others....One unique aspect of Stein's work is how he shows the connection between the rise of some of these alternative religious groups and how they affected racial relations and the growing liberation and empowerment of women. This feature alone makes the book worthwhile. * Reformation & Revival *

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Book SynopsisMore people read the Bible than any other book. Indeed, many try to live their lives according to its words. The question is, do they understand what they''re reading? As Steven McKenzie shows in this provocative book, quite often the answer is, No. McKenzie argues that to comprehend the Bible we must grasp the intentions of the biblical authors themselves--what sort of texts they thought they were writing and how they would have been understood by their intended audience. In short, we must recognize the genres to which these texts belong. McKenzie examines several genres that are typically misunderstood, offering careful readings of specific texts to show how the confusion arises, and how knowing the genre produces a correct reading. The book of Jonah, for example, offers many clues that it is meant as a humorous satire, not a straight-faced historical account of a man who was swallowed by a fish. Likewise, McKenzie explains that the very names Adam and Eve tell us that these are notTrade Review...the author has produced a worthwhile taster for the fruits of the historical-critical method and How to Read the Bible would be a valuable textbook to accompany biblical studies introductory modules. * Paul Middleton, Theology *...a remarkably readable, balanced, and clear set of arguments that can appeal as much to the non-theologian as to the biblical scholar...a very useful book, which this reviewer can warmly recommend to anyone interested in finding out how to read the Bible. * Reviews in Religion and Theology *Table of ContentsIntroduction JONAH AND GENRE Chapter One - NOT EXACTLY AS IT HAPPENED: Historiography in the Bible Chapter Two - FORTHTELLING, NOT FORETELLING: Biblical Prophecy Chapter Three - LIFE'S REAL QUESTIONS: Wisdom Literature in the Bible Chapter Four - NOT THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: Apocalyptic Literature in the Bible Chapter Five - ISSUES IN THE CHURCHES: The Letters of the New Testament Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAs public funding for social services has been slashed, there has arisen an unprecedented interest in the potential (and dangers) of faith-based institutions as agents of social change. Now, as President Bush begins his second term, he has placed government funding of faith-based programs at the top of his domestic agenda. What distinguishes church-based from secular social activism? What is particularly religious about church-based social services? How do churches express their religious identity in the context of social services, and how does this affect their access to resources and partners? This book, based on a Lilly-funded study of fifteen Philadelphia churches with active outreach, seeks to answer these and other pressing questions surrounding this important and controversial issue. Providing a far more objective understanding of faith-based initiatives than previously available, this study will be of interest not only to scholars of sociology of religion, social work, and social policy, but to denominational leaders, non-profit professionals, social policy analysts, community development practitioners, and others with the common goal of aiding struggling communities.Trade ReviewWhereas most scholars focus on the social service side of faith-based social services, Unruh and Sider integrate the faith factor and evangelism in understanding congregational social services. They convincingly demonstrate that one cannot understand faith-based social services without understanding its faith dimensions. This is a most innovative and groundbreaking book that is a must for all those concerned with the faith-based initiative and congregational studies. * Ram A. Cnaan, author of The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare *

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Book SynopsisIn this book, John Gatta argues that the religious import of American environmental literature has yet to be fully recognized or understood. Making Nature Sacred explores how the quest for ''natural revelation'' has been pursued through successive phases of American literary and intellectual history. It shows how the imaginative challenge of ''reading'' landscapes has been influenced by biblical hermeneutics. Though focused on adaptations of Judeo-Christian religious traditions, it also samples Native American, African American, and Buddhist forms of ecospirituality. It begins with Colonial New England writers such as Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, re-examines pivotal figures such as Henry Thoreau and John Muir, and takes account of writings by Mary Austin, Rachel Carson, and many others along the way. The book concludes with an assessment of the spiritual renaissance underway in current environmental writing, as represented by five noteworthy poets and by authors such as WendelTrade Review...outstanding merits. At times, the scope of the work attains the encyclopedic. The discussion of lesser known authors and poets opens spaces of interest somewhat removed from a purely religious dimension. * Consciousness , Literature and the Arts *

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Book SynopsisIn recent years there has been an intensifying debate within the religious studies community about the validity of religion as an analytical category. In this book Fitzgerald sides with those who argue that the concept of religion itself should be abandoned. On the basis of his own research in India and Japan, and through a detailed analysis of the use of religion in a wide range of scholarly texts, the author maintains that the comparative study of religion is really a form of liberal ecumenical theology. By pretending to be a science, religion significantly distorts socio-cultural analysis. He suggest, however, that religious studies can be re-represented in a way which opens up new and productive theoretical connections with anthropology and cultural and literary studies.Trade ReviewFitzgerald's work ranks him as one of the most significant figures in the debate as to what is 'religious studies'. * Gavin D'Costa, Theology *

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Book SynopsisThe Indian state of West Bengal is home to one of the world''s most vibrant traditions of goddess worship. The year''s biggest holidays are devoted to the goddesses Durga and Kali, with lavish rituals, decorated statues, fireworks, and parades. In Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls, June McDaniel provides a broad, accessibly written overview of Bengali goddess worship. McDaniel identifies three major forms of goddess worship, and examines each through its myths, folklore, songs, rituals, sacred texts, and practitioners. In the folk/tribal strand, which is found in rural areas, local tribal goddesses are worshipped alongside Hindu goddesses, with an emphasis on possession, healing, and animism. The tantric/yogic strand focuses on ritual, meditation, and visualization as ways of experiencing the power of the goddess directly. The devotional or bhakti strand, which is the most popular form, involves the intense love and worship of a particular form of the goddess. McDaniel traces these strTrade ReviewA well-researched and documented study. ... Highly recommended. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisThis is the third and final volume of the complete annotated correspondence of the extraordinary nun, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). One of the most remarkable women of her day, Hildegard was, for more than 30 years, an unflinching advisor and correspondent of all levels of church and society, from popes and kings to ordinary lay persons, from Jerusalem to England. This present volume (letters 218-390) is noteworthy for its large collection of letters to a non-ecclesiastical audience, and because it contains letters not just to such high-ranking notables as Frederick Barbarossa, King Henry II of England, or Eleanor or Acquitaine, but also to common, ordinary individuals of no importance whatsoever, save that they received a letter from Hildegard of Bingen. Addressing matters as diverse as the humors and their relation to health and salvation, the fate of departed souls, the frequency and horror of homicide in her age, a means of exorcising malignant spirits, an effective kind of inca

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Book SynopsisSince the emergence of religious studies and the social sciences as academic disciplines, the idea of magic has played a major role in defining religion and in mediating the relation of religion to science. Across these disciplines, magic has regularly been configured as a definitively non-modern phenomenon, juxtaposed to the distinctly modern models of religion and science. As a category, however, magic has remained stubbornly amorphous. In Making Magic, Randall Styers seeks to account for the extraordinary vitality of scholarly discourse purporting to define and explain magic despite its failure to do just that. He argues that it can best be explained in light of the European and Euro-American drive to establish and secure their own identity as normative: rational-scientific, judicial-ethical, industrious, productive, and heterosexual. Magic has served to designate a form of alterity or deviance against which dominant Western notions of appropriate religious piety, legitimate scientiTrade ReviewMagic has always been a marginal, umbrageous subject. Despite numerous attempts, no philosopher, scientific observer, or cultural theoretician has managed to describe its essential nature or to circumscribe its proper boundaries-and no wonder. The virtue of Randall Styers compelling study is not that it finally succeeds in defining magic with clarity-an impossible and patently misguided objective. Instead, through a meticulous and incisive examination of the major and minor writers on the subject, Styers shows that the highly pliable, always shifty, devious, and problematic category of magic has been an extremely effective device with which to define and to empower that which it is not: religion proper, (real) science, rationality, modernity. The result, then, is far from marginal. * Tomoko Masuzawa, University of Michigan *

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Book SynopsisThis is a companion volume to The Koan and The Zen Canon, by the same editors. The first volume collected original essays on koan collections, recorded sayings of individual masters, histories of major schools, and compilations of monastic regulations. The second focuses on the early history of Zen in China, providing overview assessments of many of the most important canonical texts that set the Zen tradition in motion throughout East Asia. Zen Classics will follow that historical movement, focusing primarily on texts from Korea and Japan that brought this Buddhist movement to fruition. Although enormously diverse in style and structure all of the texts and genres of texts considered here were fundamental to the unfolding of Zen in East Asia. The range of genres reveals the varieties of Zen practice, from rules of daily practice to sermons and meditation manuals. The all new essays in this volume will be contributed by an international team of distinguished scholars of Buddhism. It is aimed at a broad audience including college students, Zen practitioners, and scholars of East Asian history, religion, and culture, as well as specialists in Buddhist history.Trade Reviewa welcome addition to university libraries * The Middle Way *

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Book SynopsisThe relationship between science and religion is generally depicted in one of two ways. In one view, they are locked in an inevitable, eternal conflict in which one must choose a side. In the other, they are separate spheres, in which the truth claims of one have little bearing on the other. This collection of provocative essays by leading thinkers offers a new way of looking at this problematic relationship. The authors begin from the premise that both science and religion operate in, yet seek to reach beyond, specific historical, political, ideological, and psychological contexts. How may we understand science and religion as arising from, yet somehow transcending, human experience? The volume is divided into four sections. The first takes a fresh look at the relationship between science and religion in broad terms: as spheres of knowledge or belief, realms of experience, and sources of authority. The other three sections take on topics that have been focal points of conflict between science and religion: the nature of the cosmos, the origin of life, and the workings of the mind. Ultimately, the authors argue, by seeing science and religion as irrevocably tied to human experience we can move beyond simple either/or definitions of reality and arrive at a more rich and complex view of both science and religion.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: Rethinking Science and Religion-James D. Proctor Part I: Theory Chapter 2: "Thou Shall Not Freeze-Frame"- Or How Not to Misunderstand the Science and Religion Debate-Bruno Latour Chapter 3: Modernity and the Mystical: Techno-Science, Religion, and Human Self-Creation-Thomas A. Carlson Chapter 4: The Depths and Shallows of Experience-Hilary Putnam Chapter 5: In ____ We Trust: Science, Religion, and Authority-James D. Proctor Part II: Cosmos Chapter 6: Science, Religion, Metaphor, And History-Jeffrey Burton Russell Chapter 7: Kabbalah and Contemporary Cosmology: Discovering the Resonances-Daniel C. Matt Chapter 8: The Complementarity of Science and Religion-Harold Oliver Part III: Life Chapter 9: Darwin, Design, and the Unification of Nature-John Hedley Brooke Chapter 10: Darwinism and Christianity: Must They Remain at War or is Peace Possible?-Michael Ruse Chapter 11: Experiencing Evolution: Varieties of Psychological Responses to the Claims of Science and Religion-Ronald L. Numbers Part IV: Mind Chapter 12: Gods and the Mental Instincts that Create Them-Pascal Boyer Chapter 13: Empathy and Human Experience-Evan Thompson Chapter 14: Uneasy Alliances: The "Faith Factor" in Medicine; the "Health Factor" in Religion-Anne Harrington Chapter 15: The Intersubjective Worlds of Science and Religion-B. Alan Wallace

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Book SynopsisStudies of African-derived religious traditions have generally focused on their retention of African elements. This emphasis, says Dianne Stewart, slights the ways in which communities in the African diaspora have created and formed new religious meaning. In this fieldwork-based study Stewart shows that African people have been agents of their own religious, ritual, and theological formation. She examines the African-derived and African-centered traditions in historical and contemporary Jamaica: Myal, Obeah, Native Baptist, Revival/Zion, Kumina, and Rastafari, and draws on them to forge a new womanist liberation theology for the Caribbean.Trade ReviewWhat Stewart is speaking for in a remarkable trans-discipline manner is a revision which allows religions to be able to talk with--rather than howl at--one another. Stewarts scholarship makes a major pathfinding and breakthrough contribution to theological studies, Caribbean theology in particular, and Caribbean studies. * Kamau Brathwaite, Professor of Comparative Literature, New York University *

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Book SynopsisIn this wide-ranging book Paul Christopher Johnson explores the changing, hidden face of the Afro-Brazilian indigenous religion of Candomblé. Despite its importance in Brazilian society, Candomblé has received far less attention than its sister religions Vodou and Santeria. Johnson seeks to fill this void by offering a comprehensive look at the development, beliefs, and practices of Candomblé and exploring its transformation from a secret society of slaves--hidden, persecuted, and marginalized--to a public religion that is very much a part of Brazilian culture. Johnson traces this historical shift and locates the turning point in the creation of Brazilian national identity and a public sphere in the first half of the twentieth century. His major focus is on the ritual practice of secrecy in Candomblé. Like Vodou and Santeria and the African Yoruba religion from which they are descended, Candomblé features a hierarchic series of initiations, with increasing access to secret knowledge atTrade Review"A reader interested in learning about Candomblé would be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive yet deftly written introduction to the religion and to the intellectual debates that surround it.... Secrets, Gossip and Gods is an ambitious, rich book that succeeds on many levels; it is a good read, to boot. There is little doubt that it will become a point of reference in the field."--History of Religions"Highly recommended"--American Journal of Sociology"In this elegantly written and theoretically sophisticated book, Paul Johnson has made an important contribution to the scholarly discussion not only of Candomblé, but of the relationship between religion and Brazilian society-and, indeed, between religion and society in general." --John Burdick, Author of Blessed Anastacia: Women, Race, and Popular Christianity in Brazil"Johnson has achieved a masterful synthesis of fieldwork and theory, replacing the misleading notion of syncretism and its reified dualisms with the historically nuanced concept of 'secretism.' His book represents a breakthrough in studies of Brazilian Candomblé because it relates local worlds and ritual networks to the rise of nationalism and the bourgeois public sphere." --Andrew Apter, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago

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Book SynopsisIt has become a commonplace that Biblical religion bears a heavy share of responsibility for our past negligence towards the environment. In this provocative book, Norman Wirzba argues that the Biblical doctrine of creation actually holds the key to a true understanding of our place in the environment and our responsibility toward it. Wirzba contends that an adequate response to environmental destruction depends on a new formulation of ourselves as part of a larger whole, rather than as radically free individuals. Drawing on the work of biblical scholars, ecologists, agrarians, philosophers, theologians, and cultural critics, Wirzba presents a compelling vision of a new religious environmentalism.

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