Religious law and concordats Books

Book SynopsisThis anthology the first of its kind in eight years collects some of the best and most current research and reflection on the complex interactions between religion and computer-mediated communication (CMC). The contributions cohere around the central question: how will core religious understandings of identity, community and authority shape and be (re)shaped by the communicative possibilities of Web 2.0? The authors gathered here address these questions in three distinct ways: through contemporary empirical research on how diverse traditions across the globe seek to take up the technologies and affordances of contemporary CMC; through investigations that place these contemporary developments in larger historical and theological contexts; and through careful reflection on the theoretical dimensions of research on religion and CMC. In their introductory and concluding essays, the editors uncover and articulate the larger intersections and patterns suggested by individual chapters, inclTrade Review«This book is a very important waypoint on the quest for a better understanding of the digital change and its influence on religion. Based on a thorough scholarly analysis of how religious communities and pastors negotiate the new media, the authors develop new perspectives for the global future. Readers come away with a grounded theoretical and empirical understanding of this new and exciting landscape of digital religion and digital spirituality.» (Viggo Mortensen, Professor in Global Christianity at Aarhus University, Denmark) «Falling clearly in the realm of the ‘third wave of research’ exploring the relationship between religion and the Internet, this work is multidisciplinary and mature in its undertaking. Bringing together top scholars from the field, this volume develops new theories and insights based upon solid ethnographic research, case studies and an examination of the historical relationships between new media and religion. This book accomplishes what it set out to do – help us make sense of this new form of religious activity in our increasingly wired world.» (Christopher Helland, Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion, Dalhousie University, Canada)«This book is a very important waypoint on the quest for a better understanding of the digital change and its influence on religion. Based on a thorough scholarly analysis of how religious communities and pastors negotiate the new media, the authors develop new perspectives for the global future. Readers come away with a grounded theoretical and empirical understanding of this new and exciting landscape of digital religion and digital spirituality.» (Viggo Mortensen, Professor in Global Christianity at Aarhus University, Denmark) «Falling clearly in the realm of the ‘third wave of research’ exploring the relationship between religion and the Internet, this work is multidisciplinary and mature in its undertaking. Bringing together top scholars from the field, this volume develops new theories and insights based upon solid ethnographic research, case studies and an examination of the historical relationships between new media and religion. This book accomplishes what it set out to do – help us make sense of this new form of religious activity in our increasingly wired world.» (Christopher Helland, Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion, Dalhousie University, Canada)Table of ContentsContents: Pauline Hope Cheong/Charles Ess: Introduction: Religion 2.0? Relational and Hybridizing Pathways in Religion, Social Media, and Culture – Knut Lundby: Dreams of Church in Cyberspace – Bernie Hogan/Barry Wellman: The Immanent Internet Redux – Bala A. Musa/Ibrahim M. Ahmadu: New Media, Wikifaith and Church Brandversation: A Media Ecology Perspective – Heidi Campbell: How Religious Communities Negotiate New Media Religiously – Jørgen Straarup: When Pinocchio Goes to Church: Exploring an Avatar Religion – Peter Fischer-Nielsen: Pastors on the Internet: Online Responses to Secularization – Lorenzo Cantoni/Emanuele Rapetti/Stefano Tardini/Sara Vannini/Daniel Arasa: PICTURE: The Adoption of ICT by Catholic Priests – Mark D. Johns: Voting «Present»: Religious Organizational Groups on Facebook – Stine Lomborg/Charles Ess: «Keeping the Line Open and Warm»: An Activist Danish Church and Its Presence on Facebook – Pauline Hope Cheong: Twitter of Faith: Understanding Social Media Networking and Microblogging Rituals as Religious Practices – Tim Hutchings: Creating Church Online: Networks and Collectives in Contemporary Christianity – Stefan Gelfgren: «Let There Be Digital Networks and God Will Provide Growth?» Comparing Aims and Hopes of 19th-Century and Post-Millennial Christianity – Peter Horsfield: «A Moderate Diversity of Books?» The Challenge of New Media to the Practice of Christian Theology – Sam Han: Clocks and Computers: The Doctrine of Imago Dei, Technologies, and Humanism – Lynne M. Baab: Toward a Theology of the Internet: Place, Relationship, and Sin – Peter Fischer-Nielsen/Stefan Gelfgren: Conclusion: Religion in a Digital Age: Future Developments and Research Directions.

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Book SynopsisReligion, Law, and the Present Water Crisis documents current and impending global water shortages and opposes policies of commodification and privatization of water ownership by multinational water corporations. On the basis of the religions of the world, Richard A. Hughes appeals to pure, running water as a symbol of the sacred. Furthermore, he argues that all bodies of freshwater are commons and that they should be protected by the public trust doctrine. In addition, he contends that there is a right to water and that this right is independent, free-standing, and the prerequisite of other human rights, applying to all states and occupied territories. The increasing acidification of the oceans makes it mandatory to protect them under the reserved water right doctrine and to designate them as national parks of the seas. More generally, this book presents a synthesis of water studies and encompasses the religions of the world, theologies of baptism, American water law doctri

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Book SynopsisMembers of many religions live alongside one another in sprawling urban centers and isolated rural communities, and conflict and misunderstanding among religions are widespread. From a Christian and Anglican perspective, this book searchingly examines the nature of such encounters and explores the meaning of religious dialogue and terms like conversion, syncretism, salvation, and pluralism. Tightly focused historical chapters discuss expanding twentieth- and twenty-first-century Catholic and Protestant views about other religions and conclude with a fresh interpretation of the formative Asian contribution to contemporary interfaith encounters. Three established, successful examples of on-the-ground religious interaction are also presented, including the work of Muslim leader Eboo Patel in Chicago, Episcopal Bishop William E. Swing in San Francisco, and Anglican Bishop Tim Stevens in Leicester. Ultimately, interfaith religious dialogue benefits from the prayerful use of visual symbols iTrade Review«Frederick Quinn’s new book both warms and challenges. It warms with the theme of generous welcome, which he commends as an appropriate way for the worlds’ religions to engage one another. It challenges with a history of divided Christian response (Closed Door vs. Open Door), running from antiquity right up to the present. In our global context, in which practitioners of different faiths have so much more to do with one another, Dr. Quinn’s spirit points the way: a generosity that welcomes and learns, is enriched and enriching. Frederick Quinn has given us another wise book.» (Marilyn McCord Adams, Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy, UNC-Chapel Hill, and former Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford University)

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses the influence of the imperial cult in first-century AD Asia Minor and its subsequent relevance to the reading of the New Testament. In particular, this work argues, through a contrapuntal reading of 1 Timothy 2:1-7, that the early Christian community strongly resisted the Emperor’s claim to be the «mediator» between the gods and humanity. In contrast to this claim, the author shows that 1 Timothy 2:1-7 can be read as a polemic from a minority community, the Christian church in Ephesus, against the powerful voice of the Roman Empire in regard to divine mediation.Table of ContentsContents: Contrapuntal reading of New Testament – Imperial cult and New Testament studies – Historical, linguistic, cultural context of 1 Timothy – First-century conception of Mediator (Mediation) – Exegesis of 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

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Book SynopsisThe reign of James II, England’s last Catholic king, remains controversial. His attempt to manipulate the electoral system to obtain a parliament that would abolish the Test Acts and Penal laws, which discriminated against his fellow Catholics, provoked his subjects to resistance and paved the way for the Revolution of 1688. The campaign is breathtaking both in its innovation and naiveté and nowhere is this more clearly highlighted than in the canvass of the gentry in the winter and spring of 1687-8. The canvass asked prospective MPs and electors to commit themselves to repeal. Historians have viewed the canvass as a failure: it did not bring the results the king hoped for and created a united opposition to the Stuart regime. However, as this book shows, scrutiny of the original canvass returns reveals that support for the king was stronger than was once assumed. It also reveals an endorsement of the general concept of religious toleration. William of Orange’s invasion destroyed the king’s plans, but given the time, could James have nurtured these ‘green shoots’ of religious pluralism in what was still a fiercely Protestant nation?Table of ContentsContents: Dramatis Personae: James II, William of Orange and Louis XIV – The Religious Background - Reformation to 1685 – Background to the Canvass – Analysis of the Canvass Returns i. (Overall Statistics) – Analysis of the Canvass Returns ii. (Individual Answers) – Analysis of the Returns iii. (By County) – Leicestershire and the Three Questions – The Fate of the Canvass.

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Book SynopsisAfter the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, Orthodox Christians in Estonia and Latvia had to rethink their place in society and reorganise the local Orthodox Church. The Church was challenged both by the new political circumstances and by societal antagonism. In both cases, the local ecclesiastic authorities considered themselves independent from the Patriarchate of Moscow, although in very different fashions. This study uses primarily periodicals and other published sources from the period between 1917 and 1940 to shed light on the internal discussions in the respective Orthodox Churches on issues of authority, identity, and history. This includes creating adequate structures for the Church, reforming liturgical elements and emphasising the positive role of Orthodox Christianity in Estonian and Latvian history.Trade Review«Die Studie bietet viele Denkanstöße und kann zu den wenigen bestens gelungenen Grundlagenarbeiten über die Kirchengeschichte im Baltikum gezählt werden.» (Svetlana Bogojavlenska, Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung 63.2, 2014)Table of ContentsContents: Orthodox Church in Estonia and Latvia, 1917-1940 – Struggling for independence from Moscow – Managing ethnic diversity – Building democratic structures – Countering societal antagonism – Redressing unfavourable historiography.

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Book SynopsisThrough history, Islam was the dominant religion and source of legitimation for ruling entities in diverse contexts where cultures and religions thrived in harmony. Today, the presence of Muslims as citizens in secular societies poses challenges, either by belonging to minorities in Western countries with long secular traditions or by comprising minority or majority populations in post-communist East European and Central Asian societies, where secular values are being revised. As Muslims reconceive the role of religion in their lives in those contexts, Islamic education acquires importance. It assists the young, especially adolescents, in learning to identify more fully with local realities with the intention of building sense of inner connectedness through which they may truly take part in and be of service to society. The contributors to this volume explore how the religious and secular, as well as the traditional and modern intersect in Islamic educational institutions that benefit Muslims and their societies by averting extremism and promoting cohesion.Table of ContentsContents: Margaret Rausch: Introduction: Secularism and Islamic Education in Western and Post-Communist Societies – Ednan Aslan: Approaches to the Concept of Secularism from the Perspective of Muslims – Samim Akgönül: Religious Education and Education about Religion: Preliminary Reflections – Eileen M. Daily: Catholic Religious Education in the Secular Society of the United States – Margaret Rausch: Secularism and the Muslim Presence in the United States – Martin Rothgangel: Religious Education in Secular Germany from an Evangelical Perspective – Aysun Yasar: Islamic Instruction in Public Schools in Germany: Expectations and Challenges – Johan Meuleman: Islam and Education in the Netherlands – Jenny Berglund: Islamic Education in Sweden – Muhamed Ali: Educational Activities of Turkey in the Balkans in the Post-Cold War Period – Vitalii Khromets: Islamic Education in Ukraine: Challenges and Future – Denys Brylov: Islamic Education Between Tradition and Modernization: The Ukrainian Example – Nedzad Grabus: Islamic Cultural Centers in a Secular Society: Mosque Building in Ljubljana – Dmitry Shmonin: Theology in Secular and Denominational Universities in Contemporary Russia: Problems and Prospects for the Development of Religious Education – Makhach Musayev: Islamic Education in Dagestan – Leyla Almazova: Islamic Education in Contemporary Tatarstan – Lala Aliyeva: A History of Islamic Education in Azerbaijan – Anisa Borubaeva: The Situation of Religion and Education in Kyrgyzstan – Zaur G. Djalilov: Islamic Education in Kazakhstan.

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Book SynopsisThe book intends to grasp the meaning of upāsaka / upāsikā or Buddhist laity in Dīgha- and Majjhima-nikāya of the Pāli canon. Considering the texts as oral literature, the author examines and interprets the structure and stock phrases constructing the narrative with a theory of religious experience. Upāsaka / upāsikā is hence seen as the non-monastic follower, who, having experienced the significance of dhamma and the superiority of the Buddha, has the trust in the goal and spiritual path that the Buddha has shown. In this connection, Buddhist community is the assembly of the followers, monastic and non-monastic alike, sharing the same common ground and following the spiritual path in pursuit of individual liberation, which in tandem contributes to perpetuation of the community.Table of ContentsContents: Upāsaka – Upasaka – Laity – Lay follower – Buddha’s followers – Buddhist – Buddhist community – Religious experience in Buddhism – Nikāya discourse – Buddhist discourse – Sutta – Sutra – Pāli discourse – Pāli canon – Theravada Buddhism – Early Buddhism – Oral literature – Oral narrative – Orality in Pāli texts.

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Book SynopsisThis book discusses Theoderic the Great’s years of political activity, which coincided with the advent of a new era and were marked by features of two distinct civilizations. From the political and cultural viewpoint, he stood at the boundary between the Roman tradition and his Germanic origin. From the religious perspective, when he came to power in Italy at the Emperor’s behest, he found himself amid the conflict embroiling Rome and Constantinople at that time. It was the so-called Acacian schism centred around the issue of the recognition of the Council of Chalcedon (451) with its teaching on the two natures in Christ as well as the acknowledgement of Constantinople as the principal see of the Church in the East. Another ecclesiastical – and strictly Roman – problem noted in the Liber Pontificalis is the Laurentian schism, named after Lawrence, who was elected Pope on the same day as Symmachus.Table of ContentsContents: The Liber Pontificalis as a Primary Source – The Arian Church of the Goths – Liber Pontificalis on: Felix III, Gelasius, Anastasius II, Symmachus, Hormisdas, John I, Felix IV. – Theoderic and the «Acacian Schism» – Theoderic and the «Laurentian Schism» – Religious aspects in the Edict of Theoderic.

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