Spirituality and religious experience Books

Book SynopsisThis book uniquely provides first-hand insights into the spirit-mediums of Upper Tibet, the men and women who channel the gods. John Vincent Bellezza here for the first time presents the conclusions of his extensive research in the region itself, shedding light on the historical context, the tradition, characteristics, ceremonies, and paraphernalia of the phenomenon. With extensive interviews with spirit-mediums, including interpretive material drawn from Tibetan texts; annotated translations of rituals devoted to the major deities of the spirit-mediums; and annotated translation of Bon literature relevant to the origins of spirit-mediums, and concluding with a chapter on Bon literary references to the ritual implements and practices. A major source-book.

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Book SynopsisMusic in Early Franciscan Thought is an interdisciplinary study exploring the broad relevance of music in Franciscan hagiography, art, theology, philosophy, and preaching between the founding of the Order in 1210 and 1300—a period covering their rapid ascendancy in medieval society as an Order of clerics. The book covers representations of music in visual and literary hagiography, the inspiration of Pope Innocent III, and the formative writings of William of Middleton and David von Augsburg. Later chapters examine the science and practice of music and its relevance to the ministry of preaching through the writings of Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Bartholomaeus Anglicus, and Juan Gil de Zamora.Trade Review"...An important addition to medieval musicological research. Summing Up: Recommended." B. L. Eden (Valparaiso University), CHOICE, November 2013Table of ContentsList of Illustrations … xi Abbreviations … xiii Introduction … 1 I. Music and Preaching in the Life of St. Francis of Assisi … 17 Hagiographical Sources … 19 Music in the Life of a Wanton Youth … 25 Fiddle Sticks, Dancing for Joy, and the Heavenly Cithara … 28 Music and Preaching in the Rule of St. Francis … 35 The Nativity Play and Mass at Greccio … 42 Francis and his Joculatores Domini … 56 II. Music and the Narrative of Penance in Lotario dei Segni’s De missarum mysteriis … 61 Pope Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) … 62 De missarum mysteriis … 64 Prologue … 68 Epistle, Gradual, Alleluia, and Gospel … 70 The Epistle … 70 The Gradual … 70 The Alleluia … 75 The Gospel … 80 Conclusion … 81 III. William of Middleton’s Opusculum super missam: Musical Instruction for Simple Priests and Clerics … 83 De opusculum super missam … 85 The Epistle … 87 The Gradual … 87 The Alleluia … 89 The Gospel … 91 Conclusion … 92 IV. David von Ausburg: Music for the Outer and Inner Human … 93 Musical Comportment … 94 Vocal Prayer … 96 Scribal Reception of De exterioris et interioris hominis compositione … 99 De exterioris et interioris hominis compositione in Augsburg, Universitätsbibliothek, cod. II.1.2o 5 … 101 De exterioris et interioris hominis compositione in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 16072 … 103 Conclusion … 113 V. Robert Grosseteste on Music, Science, and the Cura animarum … 115 De artibus liberalibus and Templum Dei … 117 Septenary Virtue … 119 Music as Motion … 121 The Ministry of Music … 123 Conclusion … 126 VI. Roger Bacon on the Science of Music and Preaching … 129 Scholarship and Controversy … 131 The Opus maius … 136 Grammar and Logic Through the Measurement of Music … 137 Bodily Motion, and Music as a Universal Science … 140 Music and Moral Philosophy … 143 The Opus Tertium … 145 Musica Mundana … 146 Music and Bodily Motion … 147 Singing and Preaching … 149 “The Modus of All Church Music was Established as Enharmonic” … 151 Music and Preaching … 158 Conclusion … 164 VII. Bartholomaeus Anglicus on Music and Preaching in De proprietatibus rerum … 167 Sensual Perception of Music in De proprietatibus rerum … 177 Concord in Music and Relationships … 179 Vocal Timbre and the Voice of the Preacher … 184 Concord in Music and Among Religious … 190 Universal Concord and the Music of Preaching … 193 Conclusion … 195 VIII. The Ars musica of Juan Gil de Zamora: Musical Expression and Instruments of the Reconquista … 197 Historia naturalis, Dictaminis Epithalamium, and Ars musica … 200 Who Commissioned Ars musica? … 201 St. Cecilia, the Music of the Bees, and Preaching in Historia naturalis … 204 Ars musica as a Primer for Singing Chant … 206 Ars musica … 208 The Ethos of the Church Modes … 211 The Ethos of Mode Five … 214 “Musicalia instrumenta inventa fuerunt secundum diversitatem temporum a diversis” … 217 Conclusion … 230 Conclusion … 233 Bibliography … 243 Index … 257

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Book SynopsisAnalyzing the literature on art from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, The Spiritual Language of Art explores the complex relationship between visual art and spiritual experiences during the Italian Renaissance. Though scholarly research on these writings has predominantly focused on the influence of classical literature, this study reveals that Renaissance authors consistently discussed art using terms, concepts and metaphors derived from spiritual literature. By examining these texts in the light of medieval sources, greater insight is gained on the spiritual nature of the artist’s process and the reception of art. Offering a close re-readings of many important writers (Alberti, Leonardo, Vasari, etc.), this study deepens our understanding of attitudes toward art and spirituality in the Italian Renaissance.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter One Art and Compunction: Francesco Bocchi’s Mystical Experience of Art Compunction in Renaissance Literature on Art Compunction and Popular Devotion at the Santissima Annunziata in Florence Francesco Bocchi’s Ekphrasis, Catharsis and Compunction Purging and Nourishing Chapter Two Leon Battista Alberti’s ‘De pictura’ and the Christian Tradition of the Liberal Arts An Image Formed in the Mind and an Imitation of Nature The Liberal Arts in Alberti and the Christian Tradition Study and Composition: Painting as a Form of Meditation A Part and a Whole: Alberti’s Beauty Chapter Three The Word of God and the Book of the World in the Writings of Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo as a Reader of Spiritual Literature Tears and Laughter in Leonardo The World is a Book Judgment and Love: Ogni Dipintore Dipinge Se In One Instant Alone Chapter Four: Part One Imagining the Souls of Holy People Lifting the Veil of the Body The Soul of a Work of Art: The Agency of Sacred Art The Sweetness of Honey: Painted Flesh, Veils and Interiority Perfection of Body and Soul: The Souls of Artists and of Paintings Chapter Four: Part Two The Impossibility of Picturing Virtue: The Face as a Natural Sign The ‘Costume’ of Virtue, Seeing Beneath the Veil and Francesco Bocchi Chapter Five Invention and Amplification: Imagining Sacred History Gabriele Paleotti’s Theory of Sacred Art and Contemplative Ascent How Images are Like Scripture and Like Sermons in Paleotti’s ‘Discorso’ Rhetoric, Reading and Remembering in Pictorial Invention The Circumstances of Sacred History From History of Allegory in Sacred Art Chapter Six Vasari’s City of God: Spirituality, Art and Architecture in Vasari’s ‘Lives’ and ‘Ragionamenti’ Spirituality in Vasari’s Literary Context The Stones of Memory in the Palazzo Vecchio The Architecture of Allegory in Vasari and Hugh of St. Victor The Time of Allegory and the Space of History Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn Psychology of Religion in Turkey, senior and emerging Turkish scholars present critical conceptual analyses and empirical studies devoted to psychology of religion in Turkey. Part 1 consists of articles placing the psychology of religion in the historical context of an ancient culture undergoing modernization and secularization and articles devoted to conceptual themes suggesting the uniqueness of Islam among the great faith traditions. Part 2 is devoted to empirical studies of religion in the Turkish-Islamic includuing studies focused on the religious life of Turkish youth, popular religiosity, spirituality, and Muslim religious development in light of Al-Ghazzali. Part 3 is devoted to several empirical studies on a variety of social outcomes of religious commitment in Turkey.

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Book SynopsisA Companion to Colette of Corbie presents a collection of essays offering new historical and religious perspectives on the life, career, and influences of this little-studied fifteenth-century saint. Colette of Corbie, a contemporary of Joan of Arc, established an important reform movement in the Franciscan order; founded numerous monasteries for women in Burgundy, France, and the Low Countries; and had connections with high ranking Burgundian and French noble families. Essays in this volume draw upon many relatively unknown primary sources and add significantly to the scholarship on this important religious figure. Contributors are: Anna Campbell, Joan Mueller, Andrea Pearson, Jane Marie Pinzino, Monique Somme, Ludovic Viallet, and Nancy Bradley WarrenTable of ContentsAuthor Biographies List of Illustrations Introduction 1 The Life and Afterlives of St. Colette of Corbie: Religion, Politics, and Networks of Power Nancy Bradley Warren 2 The Dukes and Duchesses of Burgundy as Benefactors of Colette of Corbie and the Colettine Poor Clares Monique Sommé 3 But Where to Draw the Line? Colette of Corbie, Joan of Arc and the Expanding Boundaries of Women's Leadership in the Fifteenth Century Jane Marie Pinzino 4 Colette of Corbie and the de observantia Franciscan Reforms in the First Half of the Fifteenth Century Ludovic Viallet 5 Colette of Corbie and the "Privilege of Poverty" Joan Mueller 6 Imaging and Imagining Colette of Corbie: An Illuminated Version of Pierre de Vaux's Vie de Colette Andrea Pearson 7 Colette of Corbie: Cult and Canonization Anna Campbell Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhile the churches are emptying, other virtual religious places – as the religious websites – seem to be filling up. The researcher focusing on religion and internet or digital religion as an object of study must seek answers to a number of questions. Is computer-mediated religious communication a particular communication process whose object is what we conventionally call religion? Or is it a modern, independent form of religious expressiveness that finds its new-born status in the web and its particular language? To examine the questions above, and others, the book collects more empirical data, claiming that the Internet will have a specific or novel impact on how religious traditions are interpreted. The blurring of previous boundaries (offline/online, virtual/local, illegitimate/legitimate religion) is another theme common to all the contributions in this volume.

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Book SynopsisIn The Revelations of St Birgitta: A Study and Edition of the Birgittine-Norwegian Texts, Swedish National Archives, E 8902, Jonathan Adams offers a detailed analysis of the manuscript and its contents as well as a new edition of this puzzling text. The Birgittine-Norwegian texts are very distinctive from the main Birgittine vernacular corpus of literature and have taxed scholars for decades as to why and for whom they were written. The linguistic study of the manuscript is combined with contextual and historical information in order to reinforce the arguments made and offer explanations within a cultural context. This provides a welcome new dimension to earlier research that has otherwise been pursued to a large degree within a single academic discipline.Trade Review“The edition … is diplomatic, with much explication in its parallel pages of textual and explanatory notes, and is of great value. … The work is extremely scholarly and well organized.” Julia Bolton Holloway, University of Colorado, Boulder (emerita). In: The Medieval Review, 14 November 2016.Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations I Background 1 St Birgitta and her Revelations 1.1 Why St Birgitta? 1.2 The life of St Birgitta 1.3 The Revelations of St Birgitta (Latin tradition) 1.4 The Revelations of St Birgitta (Swedish tradition) 1.5 This book 2 Textual history of the vernacular Scandinavian manuscripts 2.1 Extant Swedish manuscripts 2.1.1 Swedish retranslation 2.2 Other Scandinavian manuscripts 2.2.1 Old Danish 2.2.2 Middle Norwegian 2.3 Summary 3 Birgitta and Norway 3.1 Towards Nordic union in the fourteenth century: Royalty and the nobility 3.2 Birgitta’s own personal contacts with Norway 3.3 Birgitta’s family connections with Norway 3.4 The Birgittine Movement in Norway and Munkeliv 3.5 Summary 4 Summary of previous research into the manuscript 4.1 Gustaf E. Klemming 4.2 Robert Geete 4.3 Knut B. Westman 4.4 Vilhelm Gödel 4.5 Salomon Kraft 4.6 Marius Sandvei 4.7 Didrik Arup Seip 4.8 Elias Gustaf Adolf Wessén 4.9 Lars Wollin 4. 10 Lennart Moberg 4.11 Hans Torben Gilkær 4.12 General evaluation of earlier theories II Manuscript 5 Manuscript description 5.1 Date and origin 5.2 Provenance 5.3 Contents 5.4 Make-up and description 5.4.1 Foliation 5.4.2 Materials and dimensions 5.4.3 Quiring 5.4.4 Ruling and pricking 5.4.5 Catchwords 5.5 Script 5.5.1 Scribal characteristics 5.5.2 Abbreviations 5.5.3 Punctuation 5.5.4 Hyphenation and Word Division 5.5.5 Spacing 5.5.6 Rubrics and Guide Letters 5.5.7 Marginal Notes 5.6 Binding 5.7 Damage 5.8 Scribal error III Language 6 Lexicon: idiosyncracies, foreign influence, and dialectal forms 6.1 Hapax Legomena 6.1.1 *drøvuker 6.1.2 *iakilse and *iatilse 6.1.3 *nidherflytilse 6.1.4 *solbadh 6.1.5 *spailse 6.1.6 *søkiarinna 6.1.7 *unsæld 6.1.8 *urfamse/orfamse 6.1.9 Distribution 6.1.10 Discussion 6.2 Middle Low German loanwords 6.2.1 Unbound Morphemes 6.2.2 Bound Morphemes 6.2.3 Summary 6.3 Latin words and phrases in E 8902 6.3.1 Adjectives and Common Nouns 6.3.2 Proper Nouns 6.4 Vadstenaspråk-like, Östgötska, and Danish features 7 Language mixture in medieval Scandinavian manuscripts 7.1 Causes of Swedish influence on Norwegian in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 7.1.1 Early definitions 7.1.2 The problem of defining “norm” in the context of Old Norwegian 7.1.3 Internal causes of mixture 7.1.4 External causes of mixture 7.1.5 A diglossic situation in late medieval Norway? 7.2. Intentional types of language mixture in medieval Scandinavian manuscripts 7.2.1 Terminology 7.2.2 Summary 7.3 Causes of unintentional language mixture (“interference”) in medieval Scandinavian manuscripts 7.3.1 Scribe’s own idiolect 7.3.2 Scribe’s own dialect 7.3.3 Dialect of the original 7.3.4 Dialect of the area 7.3.5 Norm of the genre 7.3.6 Norm of the scriptorium 7.3.7 Audience 7.3.8 Summary 7.4 Concluding remarks 8 Analysis of language mixture in E 8902 8.1 The use of statistics in literary research 8.2 The diagnostic test features for E 8902 8.2.1 Diagnostic test feature A: Progressive i-mutation 8.2.2 Diagnostic test feature B: Itacism 8.2.3 Diagnostic test feature C: Diphthongisation 8.2.4 Diagnostic test feature D: Monophthongisation 8.2.5 Diagnostic test feature E: Vowel merger 8.2.6 Diagnostic test feature F: Elision 8.2.7 Diagnostic test feature G: Dental assimilation 8.2.8 Diagnostic test feature H: First person singular pronoun 8.2.9 Diagnostic test feature I: Relative particle 8.2.10 Diagnostic test feature J: Anglo-Saxon letter forms 8.3 Statistical procedure 8.3.1 Total number of occurrences and proportion 8.3.2 Rate of occurrence 8.3.3 Ellegård’s distinctiveness ratio 8.3.4 Testing for significance 8.3.5 Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient 8.3.6 Summary 8.4 Language mixture 8.4.1 Findings of the statistical analysis of language mixture 8.5 Miscellaneous south-eastern Norwegian Forms 8.5.1 The intrusive svarabhakti vowel 8.5.2 Metaphony 8.5.3 Metathesis of “vr” 8.6 Summary of hand mixture types 8.6.1 Hand 1 8.6.2 Hand 2 8.6.3 Hand 3 8.6.4 Hand 4 8.7 Summary of linguistic analysis 9 Conclusion 9.1 Summary of aims, methods, and findings 9.2 Writing E 8902 9.2.1 Scribes 9.2.2 Language 9.2.3 Place of composition 9.2.4 The manuscript’s place in the Swedish tradition 9.3 Contents and audience IV Edition 10 Text and commentary 10.1 Editorial procedure 10.2 Transcription 11 Commentary, references, and indexes 11.1 Commentary and references 11.2 Index of names and places (nomines et anonymorum) in E 8902 Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn many near eastern traditions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, demons have appeared as a cause of illness from ancient times until at least the early modern period. This volume explores the relationship between demons, illness and treatment comparatively. Its twenty chapters range from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt to early modern Europe, and include studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They discuss the relationship between ‘demonic’ illnesses and wider ideas about illness, medicine, magic, and the supernatural. A further theme of the volume is the value of treating a wide variety of periods and places, using a comparative approach, and this is highlighted particularly in the volume’s Introduction and Afterword. The chapters originated in an international conference held in 2013. "Ultimately, Demons and Illness admirably performs the important task of reminding modern scholars of premodern health of the integral role played by these complex and shifting entities in the lives of people across the globe and through the centuries." -Rachel Podd, Fordham University, in: Social History of Medicine 32.3 (2019) "Given the sheer breadth of its scope, the volume is, of course, illustrative rather than comprehensive in its coverage, yet there is a definite coherence to its content, aided by the introduction and afterword which bookend the work and help begin to draw out the threads of commonality and difference. As such it constitutes a significant and welcome resource for comparative explorations of historical-cultural links between demons, illness, medicine, and magic, while offering a clear invitation to future work." -Matthew A. Collins, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43.5 (2019)Trade Review"Ultimately, Demons and Illness admirably performs the important task of reminding modern scholars of premodern health of the integral role played by these complex and shifting entities in the lives of people across the globe and through the centuries." - Rachel Podd, Fordham University, in: Social History of Medicine 32.3 (2019)Table of ContentsPreface List of Contributors Introduction, Siam Bhayro and Catherine Rider Antiquity Shifting Alignments: The Dichotomy of Benevolent and Malevolent Demons in Mesopotamia, Gina Konstantopoulos The Natural and Supernatural Aspects of Fever in Mesopotamian Medical Texts, András Bácksay Illness as Divine Punishment: The Nature and Function of the Disease-Carrier Demons in the Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Rita Lucarelli Demons at Work in Ancient Mesopotamia, Lorenzo Verderame Late Antiquity Demons and Illness in Second Temple Judaism: Theory and Practice, Ida Fröhlich Illness and Healing through Spell and Incantation in the Dead Sea Scrolls, David Hamidović Conceptualizing Demons in Late Antique Judaism, Gideon Bohak Oneiric Aggressive Magic: Sleep Disorders in Late Antique Jewish Tradition, Alessia Bellusci The Influence of Demons on the Human Mind According to Athenagoras and Tatian, Chiara Crosignani Demonic Anti-Music and Spiritual Disorder in the Life of Antony, Sophie Sawicka-Sykes Over-eating Demoniacs in Late Antique Hagiography, Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe Medieval Miracles and Madness: Dispelling Demons in Twelfth-Century Hagiography, Anne E. Bailey Demons in Lapidaries? The Evidence of the Madrid MS Escorial, h. I. 15., Carolina Escobar-Vargas The Melancholy of the Necromancer in Arnau de Vilanova’s Epistle against Demonic Magic, Sebastià Giralt Demons, Illness and Spiritual Aids in Natural Magic and Image Magic, Lauri Ockenström Between Medicine and Magic: Spiritual Aetiology and Therapeutics in Medieval Islam, Liana Saif Demons, Saints, and the Mad in the Twelfth-Century Miracles of Thomas Becket, Claire Trenery Early Modernity The Post-Reformation Challenge to Demonic Possession, Harman Bhogal From A Discoverie to The Triall of Witchcraft: Doctor Cotta and Godly John, Pierre Kapitaniak Healing with Demons? Preternatural Philosophy and Superstitious Cures in Spanish Inquisitorial Courts, Bradley J. Mollmann Afterword: Pandaemonium, Peregrine Horden Indices of subjects and texts

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Book SynopsisReflexive Religion: The New Age in Brazil and Beyond examines the rise of alternative spiritualities in contemporary Brazil. Masterfully combining late modern theory with multi-site ethnographies of the New Age, it explains how traditional religion is being transformed by processes of reflexivity, globalization and individualism. The book unveils how the New Age has entered Brazil, was adapted to local Catholic, Spiritist and psychology cultures, and more recently how the Brazilian Nova Era re-enters transnational circuits of spiritual practice. It closely examines Paulo Coelho (spiritualist novels), Projectiology (astral projection) and Santo Daime (neo-shamanism) to understand the broader “new agerization” of Christianity and Spiritualism. Reflexive Religion offers a compelling account of how the religious field is being updated under late modern conditions.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1 Introduction to the Spirit of the New Age in Brazil  1 Subtle Patterns of New Age Conversion  2 Problematizing the Modern Self  3 Post-Traditional Religiosities: Individualism and Reflexivity  4 Methodological Challenges: Identifying New Agers  5 Book Structure: Native Expressions and a General Theory of the New Age 2 Post-Traditional Religiosities: Reflexivity and Individualism Transforming the Religious Field  1 Reflexivity in Contemporary Religions: From Totalization to Privatization  2 The Crisis of Modernity and the Rise of Post-Traditional Religiosities  3 Revisiting Self-Realization 3 Sociological Overview of the New Age  1 Introduction: Globalization of Reflexive Mysticism  2 Sociological Aspects of the New Age   2.1 Social Class and Distinction   2.2 Gender and Race   2.3 Generational Differences  3 Reflexive Xenophilia  4 Conclusion: The Reflexivity of Nomadic Spiritualities 4 The Perfect Self: Neo-Enlightenment and Romanticism in New Religious Forms  1 Enlightenment and Romanticism: From Reason to Self-Shaping  2 The Duality Today  3 Further Interconnections: Love and Power in Tension 5 Ethnology of the New Age in Brazil: Hybridism, Individualism and Reflexivity  1 Beliefs in Brazilian New Age  2 Genealogy of the Term  3 Major Theoretical Options  4 Ethnological Categories of the New Age   4.1 Hybridism   4.2 Individualism   4.3 Experimentalism   4.4 Reflexivity  5 New Age as the Popularization of an Elite Mysticism 6 The New Age in Brazil: Religious Individualism between Spiritism and Psychological Culture  1 Mapping the New Age in Brazil  2 Mapping the New Age in the Brazilian Religious Field 7 Psychological Culture: Management, Therapy and Art in the New Age  1 Therapy, Management and Reflexivity  2 Conclusion: Art as Emancipatory Spirituality 8 The New Age Christianity of Paulo Coelho  1 “Invisible Religion” in Rio de Janeiro  2 The New Age Christianity of Paulo Coelho  3 New Age References  4 Christian References  5 New Age and Catholicism in Perspective  6 The Cultural Meaning of Post-Traditional Christianity 9 New Age Spiritism: The Supernatural between “The Doctrine” and Reflexivity  1 The Common Sources of Spiritism and New Age in Brazil  2 The Fragmentation of Spiritism under New Age Pressures  3 Conclusion: The New Agerization of Brazilian Religions 10 Niche Globalization of a Brazilian Parascience: The Case of Projectiology/Conscientiology  1 Structure and Agency in Organizational Growth  2 Out-of-Body Experience, Parascience and Niche Globalization  3 Parasciences and Globalization: New Age Hybrids between Science and Religion  4 Secular Spirituality: Organization, Cosmology and Ethos of Projectiology  5 From Ipanema to China: Spaces, Channels and Barriers to Projectiology  6 Conclusion: National Cosmologies and Transnational Possibilities 11 New Age in Latin America: From Gregarious Syncretism to Reflexive Individualism  1 What’s New in the New Age?  2 Reflexivity and Individualism in Post-Traditional Religiosities  3 New Age Studies in Latin America  4 Gregariousness and Individualism in Latin American New Age  5 New Religious Studies as Pseudo-New Age  6 Conclusion: New Age as Post-Traditional Spiritualities of the Self 12 Final Thoughts: The New Age as a Religious Pragmatic of Late Modernity  1 The Logic of Post-Traditional Religiosities  2 The Rise of Reflexive Religiosities  3 Neither Secularization nor Re-Enchantment Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisCo-edited by Shun-hing Chan and Jonathan Johnson, Citizens of Two Kingdoms examines the complex relationships of civil society, Christian organizations, and individual Christians in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. Different authors investigate to what extent Christian organizations or individual Christians demonstrate the quality of civic virtues or virtual citizenship in the four regions, and reflect on the promises and difficulties of applying civil society theories to Chinese societies. Some authors focus their studies on the relationships in mainland China under the regime of Xi Jinping. Contributors include Richard Madsen, Zhidong Hao, Teresa Wright, Fredrik Fällman, Lauren F. Pfister, Lida V. Nedilsky, Mary Mee-Yin Yuen, Shun-hing Chan, Wen-ben Kuo, Yik-fai Tam, and Gerda Wielander.

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Book SynopsisEuro-Western descriptions of knowledge and its sources fall short of accommodating the spiritual, experiential terrain of the imagination. What of the embodied, affective knowing that characterizes Pentecostal epistemology, that is, the distinctive Pentecostal-Charismatic knowing derived from dreams and visions (D/Vs)? In this stunning ethnographic work, the author merges African scholarship with an investigation of what visioners say about the significance of their D/Vs for Christian life and spirituality. Revealing data showcases case studies for their biblical and theological articulations of the value of D/V experiences and affirms them as sources of Pentecostal love, ministerial agency, and the missionary impulse.Trade ReviewAlthough established wisdom in scholarship has confirmed the assertion that Pentecostalism has blossomed across sub-Saharan Africa precisely because the movement resonates with Africa’s primal cosmologies, this thesis has not been tested in relation to African Pentecostalism’s appropriation of dreams and visions. Anna Droll’s Dreams and Visions in African Pentecostal Spirituality not only probe these issues in West Africa – Pentecostalism’s epicenter – but explores how the movement’s practices reflects contexts similar to what obtains in the Ancient Near East. By this tripartite exploration of the biblical material, African primal worldview and the espoused theologies of key Pentecostal actors in West Africa, Droll’s volume succeeds in showcasing how the theologies about dreams and visions produced by African Pentecostalism interacts with these sources to make sense to constituents. - Dr Bosco Bangura, Catholic University of Leuven and Protestant Theological University, Groningen There is no better study of the narratives of dream and vision in African Pentecostal spirituality than this brilliant book. Droll offers a perceptive appraisal of their epistemic valence, missiological import, spiritual meaning, and theological framing. This book is a nuanced and delicate study of a pentecostal way of knowing. - Nimi Wariboko, Boston UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations 1 Dreams and Visions in African Pentecostal Spirituality  1 Dreams, Visions, and Pentecostal Epistemology 1.1 Dreams and Visions in Africa: Piercing the Veil for Pentecostal Knowing 1.2 A Dream in Dar es Salaam  2 Methodology: Mark J. Cartledge: Practical Theology for Charismatic Practitioners 2.1 Renewal Methodologies 2.2 Renewalist Hermeneutics 2.3 Experience and Affectivity  3 Concepts for Exploring Dream and Vision Narratives 3.1 The Big Dream and the Spontaneous Dream or Vision Narrative 3.2 Root Metaphor and Piercing the Veil 3.3 Populations, Codes, Frequencies, and Associations for Narrative Analyses  4 Author’s Location, Thesis, and Map of this Book 2 Dreams, Visions, and Near East Religions  1 Dreams and Visions and Hebraic Theology 1.1 Dreams, Visions, and Patriarchs 1.2 Dreams, Visions, Kings, and Prophets 1.3 Dreams and Visions in the Apocrypha and Jewish Thought  2 Dreams and Visions in Christianity 2.1 Dreams and Visions in the New Testament and Early Church 2.2 Dreams and Visions in Late Patristic Thought 2.3 Aquinas, Kant, and Swedenborg on Dreams and Visions  3 Dreams and Visions in Islam 3.1 Dreams and Visions in the Qurʾān and Hadith 3.2 Dream Manuals and Their Transmission in Islam 3.3 Dreams and Visions as Legitimizing Elements in Islam  4 Conclusion 3 Dreams and Visions in African Contexts  1 Dreams in Traditional African Religions 1.1 Dreaming and the Akan 1.2 Dreams and the Diola of Senegambia 1.3 Islam and Dreaming among the Tukolor Weavers  2 Dreams and Visions in the aic s and among Zambian Baptists 2.1 Dreams and Visions in New Movements of West Africa 2.2 Dreams and Visions and the Bantu Prophets 2.3 Dreams and Visions among Zambian Baptists  3 Opoku Onyinah on Pentecostal Dreams, Prophecy, and Angels 3.1 The Role of Dreams and Visions in Abisa 3.2 The Sleeping State and the Diagnosis of Witchdemonology 3.3 The Sleeping State and Angelology  4 Conclusion 4 Epistemology: African Perspectives  1 Knowledge, Ontology, and the Holy Spirit 1.1 Voices from African Studies 1.2 Voices from African Christianity 1.3 The Holy Spirit and Knowing  2 Nigerian Perspectives for Dreams and Visions Analyses 2.1 Pentecostal Principle and Emergence for Dreams and Visions Analyses 2.2 Piercing the Veil for Dreams and Visions Analyses 2.3 Spiritual Warfare and Dreams and Visions  3 Conclusion 5 The Big Dreams of African Pentecostals Visionary Impact and the Christian Life  1 Continuity and Discontinuity: Dreams and Visions and the Spirit in Africa 1.1 Spirit Hermeneutics and Universal Dreams 1.2 The Spirit and Ancestor Dreams 1.3 The Agency of the Spirit and Pentecostal Visioners  2 Dreams and Visions and the Christian Life 2.1 Visioners and Spirit–Word–Community 2.2 Dreams, Visions and Practical Spirituality 2.3 Attitudes in the Church toward Dreams and Visions  3 Conclusion 6 Dreams and Visions and the Pentecostal Warrior Prayer, Identity, and Agency  1 Dreams and Visions and the Pentecostal Pray-er 1.1 Dreams and Visions and the Pentecostal Warrior 1.2 The dame Dream or Vision and Pentecostal Agency  2 Dreams and Visions and Pentecostal Agency 2.1 The Agency of Visionary Women 2.2 Visionary Love and Ministerial Agency 2.3 The Visionary Church and Missionary Agency  3 Conclusion 7 African Dreams and Visions for Pentecostal Epistemologies  1 African Dreams for African Pentecostal Theology  2 African Dreams for Western Pentecostal Epistemologies 2.1 Religious Language and Hearing God’s Voice 2.2 Relational Knowing and Orthopathy 2.3 Embodied Knowing 2.4 Knowing in the Trialectic of Spirit–Word–Community  3 Conclusion 8 Conclusion Dreams, Visions, and the Missiological Spirit Appendix 1 Written Survey and Interview Guide Appendix 2 Coding for Surveys and Personal Interviews Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe ‘hearing God’ experience is a prized feature of Pentecostal-Charismatic spirituality, yet one that is often shrouded in controversy and confusion. Drawing on the findings of a unique and ground-breaking practical theological study, this book provides a theological framework and ministry strategies so that the experience can be fully harnessed for kingdom purpose.Trade ReviewIn Hearing God’s Voice Tania Harris joins biblical, epistemological, sociological, and theological perspectives on the human experience of hearing God speak and tests the ideas with a case study on the ordinary theology of revelatory experiences in different Australian Pentecostal churches. The result is not only one of the first Pentecostal proposals on the understanding of revelation but a passionately argued and praxis-oriented guide for hearing, recognizing, and responding to the experience culminating with a call for developing more sustainable communities attuned to hearing the voice of God today. - Wolfgang Vondey, Professor of Christian Theology and Pentecostal Studies, University of Birmingham, UK Tania Harris addresses a surprisingly neglected area of practical theology in the pentecostal tradition: revelatory experience. Considering Pentecostals prioritize encounter with God, especially hearing God’s voice, this theoretical and applied exploration is much needed for the global church today. Based on her fieldwork among Australian pentecostal churches, Harris provides practicable solutions for local church leaders seeking to facilitate the prophetic voice of God in their communities. This book will be of great interest to pastors, students and professors alike. - Jacqueline N. Grey, Professor of Biblical Studies, Alphacrucis University College, Australia Many Christians are profoundly suspicious of others telling them “God said…..”, and often with good reason. But Tania Harris is a passionate follower of Jesus whose life has been inspired by such encounters with God. In this book, you will find a practical and profoundly theological discussion of what it means to ‘hear God’s voice’ and how this should be outworked in life and local churches. You will be impressed with the study of how three Australian churches have managed this tricky area, as well as challenged by the theological discussion and sometimes surprising conclusions Tania has come to. - Jon K. Newton, Associate Professor of New Testament and Pentecostalism, Alphacrucis University College, Australia Tania Harris richly defends the bold claim that God speaks today to ordinary Christians in a way that is personal and unmediated, just as God did in the narrative of scripture. Without denying the need for scripturally-informed discernment, she convincingly overturns theological assumptions that limit revelatory experiences to that which is mediated through scripture or prophetic ministry. Anyone interested in ecclesiology or practical ministry will benefit greatly from her penetrating insights. I found her book to be a compelling read from beginning to end. - Frank D. Macchia, Professor of Systematic Theology, Vanguard University “Hearing God’s voice,” is a regular part of Pentecostal and charismatic testimony. Tania Harris has taken this problematic experience seriously, and by employing the methodology of empiric and constructive theology has provided the Christian community with a well-researched explanation of why such a religious phenomenon is important, and even more significantly how to properly discern the voice of God. Such an important and noteworthy work is a timely contribution to the ongoing understanding and further development of pentecostal-charismatic theology and spirituality. - Kenneth J. Archer, Professor of Theology and Pentecostal Studies, School of Divinity, Barnett College of Ministry & Theology, Southeastern University, Lakeland, FL, USATable of ContentsAcknowledgements Author's Note List of Figures Part 1 Introduction to the Revelatory Experience 1 God Speaks Back: Hearing God’s Voice in the Pentecostal Tradition 1 What Do Pentecostals Mean by Hearing God’s Voice? 1.1 Experiential, Extrabiblical, Unmediated and “High-Level” Revelation 1.2 Phenomenological Equivalency with the Biblical Experience 1.3 Universal Accessibility Distinct from Specialist Gift of Prophecy 2 The Ministry Impact of Contemporary Pentecostal Revelatory Experience 2.1 Ministry Outcomes 2.2 Pastoral Fallout 2.3 Institutional Instability 3 The Theological Problem of Spirit versus Scripture 4 Neglect in the Academy 4.1 Lack of Connection to the Spirit’s Outpouring at Pentecost 4.2 Focus on the Gift of Prophecy 4.3 Rejection of Dream-Visions as a Revelatory Mode 5 Aim of the Study 6 Outline of the Book 2 Cessationism Meets Continuationism: Four Theological Frameworks for Contemporary Revelatory Experience 1 The Pentecostal Tradition 1.1 Pentecostalism in Australia 1.2 Pentecostal Distinctives 2 The Evangelical Tradition 3 Four Theological Frameworks 3.2 Acceptance in the Pentecostal-Charismatic Tradition 3.3 Alternate Distinctions 3.4 Problems with the Phenomenologically Inferior Position 3.5 Summary 3 Bridging the Gap between Theology and Practice: a Study in 3 Churches 1 The ‘Ordinary Theology’ of Revelatory Experience 1.1 Mark Cartledge’s Concept of Dialectic 1.2 Jeff Astley’s “Ordinary Theology” 1.3 David Martin’s Concept of “Rescripting” 1.4 Epistemological Assumptions 1.5 An Insider Perspective 2 Study Design 2.1 Data Collection 2.2 The Sample 2.3 Data Presentation and Analysis 2.4 Study Limitations Part 2 Hearing God in Sociological Perspective 4 From Acquaintance to Partner: the Social Dynamics of Revelatory Experience 1 The Content of Revelatory Experiences among Australian Pentecostals 1.1 Personal and Particular 1.2 New and Previously Unknown Information 2 Charles Glock and Rodney Stark’s Taxonomy of Religious Experience 2.1 Glock and Stark’s Theory and Other Pentecostal Studies 3 The Sociological Nature of Revelatory Experience 3.1 The Relational Development of Revelatory Experience 3.2 The Disruptive Nature of Revelatory Experience 3.3 Power Shifts in Relational Development 3.4 The Role of Discernment in Maintaining Institutional Stability 3.5 Discernment as an Act of Power 4 Reflection on Glock and Stark’s Theory 5 Summary 5 A World in Continuity with the Early Church: Hearing God in the Local Community 1 Approach to Revelatory Experience in Three Pentecostal Churches 1.1 Introducing Church a 1.2 Introducing Church b 1.3 Introducing Church c 1.4 The Frequency of High-Level Revelatory Experiences 2 Peter Berger’s Theory of World Construction 3 The Social World of Three Churches 3.1 A World in Continuity with the Early Church 3.2 The Language of Pentecostal Revelatory Experience 3.3 Legitimations in the Pentecostal World 3.4 Regulatory Controls in the Pentecostal World 4 Reflection on Berger’s Theory 5 Summary Part 3 A Close Theological Analysis of Revelatory Experience  Introduction to Part 3 6 Does God have anything More to Say? The Content and Function of Revelatory Experience 1 The Content and Function of Revelatory Experiences among Australian Pentecostals 1.1 Build “Personal Relationship” with God 1.2 A Vehicle of Divine Presence 1.3 Provision of Divine Care and Protection 1.4 Personal Transformation and Sanctification 1.5 Revelation of “God’s Plan” 1.6 Mobilisation to Ministry and Mission 2 Niels Hvidt: Christological Content and Function 2.1 Material and Formal Revelation 2.2 The Actualisation of Doctrine 3 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 3.1 The Limits of “New” Revelatory Content 3.2 The Future-Orientation of Revelatory Content 3.3 The Christocentric Function of Revelatory Experience 3.4 The Role of Revelatory Experience in the Development of Doctrine 4 Summary 7 Hearing God’s Voice: Dream-Visions, Voices and Senses 1 Revelatory Modes among Australian Pentecostals 1.1 Voices 1.2 Dreams and Visions 1.3 Sensory Impressions 1.4 Scripture 1.5 “Creative/Experiential” Use of Scripture 1.6 Teaching via Sermons, Books and Religious Material 1.7 Prophecy 1.8 The Counsel of Others 1.9 Circumstances 1.10 Nature 2 Niels Hvidt: Historic Concepts of Revelation 3 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 3.1 Modes of Revelation 3.2 Legitimacy of Revelatory Modes 4 Summary 8 Recognising God’s Voice: How Did They Know It Was God? 1 The Epistemological Reliability of Revelatory Experience 1.1 Epistemological Reliability of Revelatory Experience among Australian Pentecostals 1.2 Niels Hvidt: the Mixed Nature of Revelatory Experience 1.3 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 2 Discernment Criteria for Revelatory Experience 2.1 Discernment Criteria for Revelatory Experience among Australian Pentecostals 2.2 Niels Hvidt: Three Criteria for Discernment in the Catholic Tradition 2.3 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 3 Responsibility for Discernment 3.1 Responsibility for Discernment among Australian Pentecostals 3.2 Niels Hvidt: Responsibility for Discernment in the Catholic Tradition 3.3 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 4 Summary 9 Responding to God’s Voice: the Faithfulness of God and the Unfaithfulness of Humanity 1 Responses to God’s Voice among Australian Pentecostals 2 Niels Hvidt: Experience as Divine Imperative 3 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 3.1 The Response of Obedience 3.2 Interaction of Divine Fulfilment and Human Free Will 4 Summary  Summary: the Theology and Practice of Revelatory Experiences among Australian Pentecostals Part 4 The Relationship of Contemporary Revelatory experience to the Theology of Scripture  Introduction to Part 4 10 The Communicating Spirit: Inspired Experiences and Inspired Scripture 1 Charles Kraft’s Communication Model for Inspiration 2 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 2.1 Efficacy of Divine Communication 2.2 The Personalised Nature of Revelatory Experiences 2.3 Use of Biblical Narratives as Models 3 Summary 11 Is This a Trick Question? The Site of Divine Authority 1 James K.A. Smith’s Work on Textualization and Orality 2 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 2.1 The Authority of Revelatory Experience 2.2 The Tension between Orality and Textuality in Pentecostal Communities 2.3 The Meaning of the Phrase “Word of God” 3 Summary 12 The Epistemological Role of Revelatory Experience in Spiritual Development 1 James K.A. Smith’s Work on the Epistemology of Pentecostal Experience 2 Rescripting Ordinary Theology 2.1 The Role of Revelatory Experience in Relational and Spiritual Development 2.2 The Element of Divine Authority in Transformation 2.3 The Epistemology of Revelatory Experience and the Study of Scripture 3 Summary  Summary: the Relationship of Revelatory Experience to the Theology of Scripture Part 5 Hearing God’s Voice Today 13 The Theology and Practice of “Hearing God’s Voice” 1 Towards a Theology of Contemporary Pentecostal Revelatory Experience 1.1 The Basis for Phenomenological Equivalency 1.2 The Content and Function of Revelatory Experience 1.3 The Process of Revelatory Experience 2 The Relationship of Revelatory Experience to the Theology of Scripture 2.1 Contemporary Revelatory Experience and Existing Pentecostal-Charismatic Bibliologies 2.2 A Bibliology for the Phenomenologically Equivalent Approach 2.3 An Expanded Role for the Community 3 Recommendations for Ministry Praxis 4 Evaluation of the Study 4.1 Opportunities for Further Study 5 Conclusion Appendices Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSince the time of the Enlightenment in Western Europe, discussions of faith and reason have often pitted the believer against the skeptic, the theist against the atheist, and the person of one faith against the person of no professed faith. But the relation of reason to faith has been a matter of debate among believers as well. There are those who hold that religious faith can be proven or supported by rational argument. Others say that to try to give reasons and arguments does violence to religious faith, or opens it to misunderstanding and doubt, or trivializes it. Responses to the Enlightenment: An Exchange on Foundations, Faith, and Community is a dialogue between Hendrik Hart and William Sweet, two philosophers who identify themselves as Christians, and who seek to respond to the challenges of the Enlightenment and its legacy. The authors approach the relation of faith to reason, however, in very different ways: Hart from the perspective of the Calvinian tradition and postmodern philosophy, Sweet from the Catholic tradition and analytic philosophy. Among the topics discussed are the nature of religious faith and of reason, liberalism and orthodoxy in religion, the relation of religious experience and rationality, and building community in a religiously and culturally pluralistic world. This exchange presents two distinctive perspectives to some of the major challenges of the reason to religious belief, but seeks to find common ground between them.Trade Review"Furnishes the reader with valuable perspectives on significant elements of faith and reason for Christian belief in relation to the legacy of the Enlightenment." – in: Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 43 (2014) "a provocative contribution to the discussion of the epistemological status of religious knowledge claims in modern liberal societies." – in: Dialogue, April 2014 "The discussion is rich in its scope and substance. It is of interest to anyone struck not only by a pervasive cultural indifference to religion but by a critical onslaught against its commitments and practices in an increasingly secular age … What is of particular interest is the issue of religious belief: whether this is to be understood in terms of faith as trust, in terms of reason as understanding, or in terms of both." – in: SOPHIA 52 (2013)Table of ContentsKenneth A. Bryson: Editorial Foreword Preface Hendrik Hart: Reason and Religion Hendrik Hart: Liberalism, Pluralism, and Lived Faith William Sweet: Anti-Foundationalism and the Nature of Religious Belief Hendrik Hart: Faith as Trust and Belief as Intellectual Credulity William Sweet: Faith, Belief, and Religious Truth William Sweet: Discourse and Religious Truth William Sweet: Religious Belief, Meaning, and Argument William Sweet: Final Vocabularies and Building Communities William Sweet: Religious Belief and Community Hendrik Hart: Sorting Out Reason Hendrik Hart: Focused in Faith: The Epistemology of Faith as a Way of Knowing Hendrik Hart: The Give-and-Take of Cross-Traditional Discourse William Sweet: Distinguishing to Unite: Reason, Religion, and the Legacy of the Enlightenment Works Cited Appendix About the Authors Index

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Book SynopsisArt has always been important for religion or spirituality. Secular art displayed in museums can also be spiritual, and it is this art that is the subject of this book. Many of the works of art produced by Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and Anselm Kiefer are spiritual in nature. These works reveal their own spirituality, which often has no connection to official religions. Wessel Stoker demonstrates that these artists communicate religious insights through images and shows how they depict the relationship between heaven and earth, between this world and a transcendent reality, thus clearly drawing the contours of the spirituality these works evince.Trade Review"Whoever wants to descend into the catacombs of the religious aspects of Rothko’s work and other artists will find a perfect and knowledgeable travel guide in Stoker’s Where Heaven and Earth Meet." – Joost Zwagerman, De Volkskrant "Stoker demonstrates how transcendence and spirituality play a role in secular art and provides a nuanced and differentiated outline of that role." – Marcel Barnard, Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift "… finely detailed and erudite chapters on Kandinsky, Rothko, Warhol, and Kiefer." – Anne Marijke Spijkerboer, VolZinTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Introduction Art and Spirituality Introduction What Makes Secular Art Spiritual Art? A Heuristic Model Kandinsky: Art as Spiritual Bread Introduction “Expressive” Art: The Inner Sound Veiled‐Figurative Abstraction Geometric and Biomorphic Abstraction A Spirituality of Inwardness: Radical Immanence Rothko: The Tragedy of Human Existence Introduction Myths as the Expression of the Tragic Colour Fields: Filled or Empty? The Rothko Chapel Paintings A Spirituality of Silence Warhol: A Spiritual Business Artist Introduction The Last Supper: A Preliminary Exploration The Image: Simulacrum or Referential? A Spirituality of Everyday Kiefer: Can Heaven Bear the Weight of History? Introduction The Tear in Reality Transformation and Restoration A Spirituality of Concrete The Spiritual Image Introduction The Spiritual Image in Secular Art Spiritual Insights Bibliography Index of Subjects Index of Names List of Paintings

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