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Religion in the Military Worldwide
by Ron E. HassnerHow does religion affect the lives of professional soldiers? How does religion shape militaries, their organization, procedures, and performance? This volume is the first to address these questions by comparing religious symbols and practices in nine countries: Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, India, the United States, and Turkey. The contributors explore how and why soldiers pray, the role of religious rituals prior to battle, the functions that chaplains perform, the effects of religion on recruitment and unit formation, and how militaries grapple with ensuing constitutional dilemmas.
Religion in the Modern World: Celebrating Pluralism and Diversity
by Keith WardThe subject of religious diversity is of growing significance, with its associated problems of religious pluralism and inter-faith dialogue. Moreover, since the European Enlightenment, religions have had to face new, existential challenges. Is there a future for religions? How will they have to change? Can they co-exist peacefully? In this book, Keith Ward brings new insights to these questions. Applying historical and philosophical approaches, he explores how we can establish truth among so many diverse religions. He explains how religions have evolved over time and how they are reacting to the challenges posed by new scientific and moral beliefs. A celebration of the diversity in the world's religions, Ward's timely book also deals with the possibility and necessity of religious tolerance and co-existence.
Religion in the Neoliberal Age: Political Economy and Modes of Governance (AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Series)
by François GauthierThis book, together with a complementary volume 'Religion in Consumer Society', focuses on religion, neoliberalism and consumer society; offering an overview of an emerging field of research in the study of contemporary religion. Claiming that we are entering a new phase of state-religion relations, the editors examine how this is historically anchored in modernity but affected by neoliberalization and globalization of society and social life. Seemingly distant developments, such as marketization and commoditization of religion as well as legalization and securitization of social conflicts, are transforming historical expressions of 'religion' and 'religiosity' yet these changes are seldom if ever understood as forming a coherent, structured and systemic ensemble. 'Religion in the Neoliberal Age' includes an extensive introduction framing the research area, and linking it to existing scholarship, before looking at four key issues: 1. How changes in state structures have empowered new modes of religious activity in welfare production and the delivery of a range of state services; 2. How are religion-state relations transforming under the pressures of globalization and neoliberalism; 3. How historical churches and their administrations are undergoing change due to structural changes in society, and what new forms of religious body are emerging; 4. How have law and security become new areas for solving religious conflicts. Outlining changes in both the political-institutional and cultural spheres, the contributors offer an international overview of developments in different countries and state of the art representation of religion in the new global political economy.
Religion in the Primary School: Ethos, diversity, citizenship (Foundations and Futures of Education)
by Peter HemmingReligion and its relationship to schooling is an issue that has become more and more topical in recent years. In many countries, developments such as the diversification of state school sectors, concerns about social cohesion between ethnic and religious groups, and debates about national identity and values have raised old and new questions about the role of religion in education. Whilst the significance of this issue has been reflected in renewed interest from the academic community, much of this work has continued to be based around theoretical or pedagogical debates and stances, rather than evidence-based empirical research. This book aims to address this gap by exploring the social and political role of religion in the context of the primary school. Drawing on original ethnographic research with a child-centred orientation, comparisons are drawn between Community and Roman Catholic primary schools situated within a multi-faith urban area in the UK. In doing so, the study explores a number of ways in which religion has the potential to contribute to everyday school life, including through school ethos and values, inter-pupil relations, community cohesion and social identity and difference. At the centre of the analysis are two key sociological debates about the significance of religion in late modern societies. The first is concerned with the place of religion in public life and the influence of secularisation and post-secularism on the relationship between religion and schooling. The second relates to the increasingly multi-faith nature of many national populations and the implications for religious citizenship in educational settings. Religion in the Primary School will be a useful resource for academics, researchers and students as a key addition to existing knowledge in the disciplines of education, sociology and human geography. It will also be of value to both policy-makers and educationalists interested in the role of religion in schools and the implications for the wider community and society in a range of national contexts.
Religion in the Public Sphere
by Lori G. Beaman Solange LefebvreThe place of religion in the public realm is the subject of frequent and lively debate in the media, among academics and policymakers, and within communities. With this edited collection, Solange Lefebvre and Lori G. Beaman bring together a series of case studies of religious groups and practices from all across Canada that re-examine and question the classic distinction between the public and private spheres.Religion in the Public Sphere explores the public image of religious groups, legal issues relating to "reasonable accommodations," and the role of religion in public services and institutions like health care and education. Offering a wide range of contributions from religious studies, political science, theology, and law, Religion in the Public Sphere presents emerging new models to explain contemporary relations between religion, civil society, the private sector, family, and the state.
Religion in the Ranks
by Joanne Rennick Romeo DallaireWhat role does religion play in the Canadian Forces today? Examining the changing functions of the official religious leaders in the chaplaincy as well as the place and purpose of religion in the lives of regular military personnel, Religion in the Ranks explores this question in the context of late modernity and the Canadian secular state.In-depth interviews with chaplains and with personnel of differing spiritual beliefs offer insight into how religion affects the real life experiences of those who have endured difficult assignments, witnessed atrocities, and struggled to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder. While identifying the historic function of religion in the Canadian Forces, Joanne Benham Rennick demonstrates that spiritual interests remain important, even to those who do not consider themselves to be religious. Arguing that the leadership, practices, and beliefs rooted in religious affiliations create essential support systems for individuals, both at home and on assignment, Benham Rennick shows that there is still a place for religion in Canada's military.
Religion in the Thought of Mikhail Bakhtin: Reason and Faith (Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies)
by Hilary B.P. BagshawThis book examines the significance of religion in the work of the twentieth century philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin. Exploring Bakhtin’s contribution to debates on methodology in the study of religion, this book argues that his use of religious terminology is derived from his source material in philosophy of religion and not from his confessional commitment to Russian Orthodox Christianity. Critiquing Gavin Flood’s important work Beyond Phenomenology, Hilary Bagshaw explains how Bakhtin’s work on ’outsideness’ presents invaluable insights for scholars of religion, particularly pertinent to the contemporary insider/outsider debate.
Religion in the University
by Nicholas WolterstorffFrom one of the world’s leading philosophers, this is a powerful defense of religion’s role within the modern university What is religion’s place within the academy today? Are the perspectives of religious believers acceptable in an academic setting? In this lucid and penetrating essay, Nicholas Wolterstorff ranges from Max Weber and John Locke to Ludwig Wittgenstein and Charles Taylor to argue that religious orientations and voices do have a home in the modern university, and he offers a sketch of what that home should be like. He documents the remarkable changes have occurred within the academy over the past five decades with regard to how knowledge is understood. During the same period, profound philosophical advancements have also been made in our understanding of religious belief. These shifting ideals, taken together, have created an environment that is more pluralistic than secular. Tapping into larger debates on freedom of expression and intellectual diversity, Wolterstorff believes a scholarly ethic should guard us against becoming, in Weber’s words, “specialists without spirit and sensualists without heart.”
Religion in the Victorian Era
by Elliott-Binns Leonard ElliottA comprehensive history of religion in Victorian England, covering such topics as religion and science, religion and society, the press, literature and art, worship, new critical methods, federation and reunion, showing both the relationship between the churches and the society in which they existed and also the major movements within the churches.
Religion of Love: Sufism and Self-Transformation in the Poetic Imagination of ʿAṭṭār (SUNY series in Islam)
by Cyrus Ali ZargarA groundbreaking study of Farid al-Din ʿAṭṭār, one of Persian literature's greatest poets.Religion of Love explores the life and work of the Persian Sufi poet and sage Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār. ʿAṭṭār changed the face of world literature, leaving his impact on all cultures that have valued Persian Sufi writings. Considered for the first time through the lens of religious studies, ʿAṭṭār's oeuvre offers much to contemporary readers. ʿAṭṭār's poems cast a light on the relationship between revelation and the intellect. They also encourage liberation from self-centeredness through the fiery path of love. Thus, Religion of Love considers one of Persian literature's greatest poets as more than just a poet, but also as a thinker and a commentator on moral psychology, ethics, and the intellectual debates of his age, debates that shed light on today's religious complexities.
Religion of the Field Negro: On Black Secularism and Black Theology
by Vincent W. LloydBlack theology has lost its direction. To reclaim its original power and to advance racial justice struggles today black theology must fully embrace blackness and theology. But multiculturalism and religious pluralism have boxed in black theology, forcing it to speak in terms dictated by a power structure founded on white supremacy. In Religion of the Field Negro, Vincent W. Lloyd advances and develops black theology immodestly, privileging the perspective of African Americans and employing a distinctively theological analysis.As Lloyd argues, secularism is entangled with the disciplining impulses of modernity, with neoliberal economics, and with Western imperialism – but it also contaminates and castrates black theology. Inspired by critics of secularism in other fields, Religion of the Field Negro probes the subtle ways in which religion is excluded and managed in black culture. Using Barack Obama, Huey Newton, and Steve Biko as case studies, it shows how the criticism of secularism is the prerequisite of all criticism, and it shows how criticism and grassroots organizing must go hand in hand. But scholars of secularism too often ignore race, and scholars of race too often ignore secularism. Scholars of black theology too often ignore the theoretical insights of secular black studies scholars, and race theorists too often ignore the critical insights of religious thinkers. Religion of the Field Negro brings together vibrant scholarly conversations that have remained at a distance from each other until now. Weaving theological sources, critical theory, and cultural analysis, this book offers new answers to pressing questions about race and justice, love and hope, theorizing and organizing, and the role of whites in black struggle. The insights of James Cone are developed together with those of James Baldwin, Sylvia Wynter, and Achille Mbembe, all in the service of developing a political-theological vision that motivates us to challenge the racist paradigms of white supremacy.
Religion of the Semites: The Fundamental Institutions (Journal For The Study Of The Old Testament Supplement #Vol. 183)
by William SmithScottish Semiticist and Arabist William Robertson Smith was a celebrated biblical critic, theorist of religion, and theorist of myth. His accomplishments were multiple. Smith's German mentors reconstructed the history of Israelite religion from the Bible itself; Smith ventured outside the Bible to Semitic religion and thereby pioneered the comparative study of religion. Where others viewed religion from the standpoint of the individual, Smith approached religion-at least ancient religion-from the standpoint of the group. He asserted that ancient religion was centrally a matter of practice, not creed, and singlehandedly created the ritualist theory of myth. Since Smith's time, the ritualist theory of myth has found adherents not only in biblical studies but in classics, anthropology, and literature as well.Smith's accomplishments are seen most fully in Religion of the Semites, adapted from a number of public lectures he gave at Aberdeen, and first published in 1889. Smith delivered three courses of lectures over three years. It is this set that is reprinted here. Only recently were the notes for the second and third courses of lectures discovered and published.Religion of the Semites combines extraordinary philological erudition with brilliant theorizing. Among the fundamental emphases of the book are the foci on sacrifice as the key ritual and non-ancient sacrifice as communion with God rather than as penance for sin. Most important is Smith's use of the comparative method: he uses cross-cultural examples from other ""primitive peoples"" to confirm his reconstruction from Semitic sources.Smith combines pioneering sociology and anthropology with a staunchly Christian faith. For him, Christianity is an expression of divine revelation. For Smith, only continuing revelation can account for the leap from the collective, ritualistic, and materialistic nature of ancient Semitic religion to the individualistic, creedal, and spiritualized nature of Christianity. Lectures on th
Religion on the Battlefield
by Ron E. HassnerHow does religion shape the modern battlefield? Ron E. Hassner proposes that religion acts as a force multiplier, both enabling and constraining military operations. This is true not only for religiously radicalized fighters but also for professional soldiers. In the last century, religion has influenced modern militaries in the timing of attacks, the selection of targets for assault, the zeal with which units execute their mission, and the ability of individual soldiers to face the challenge of war. Religious ideas have not provided the reasons why conventional militaries fight, but religious practices have influenced their ability to do so effectively.In Religion on the Battlefield, Hassner focuses on the everyday practice of religion in a military context: the prayers, rituals, fasts, and feasts of the religious practitioners who make up the bulk of the adversaries in, bystanders to, and observers of armed conflicts. To show that religious practices have influenced battlefield decision making, Hassner draws most of his examples from major wars involving Western militaries. They include British soldiers in the trenches of World War I, U.S. pilots in World War II, and U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hassner shows that even modern, rational, and bureaucratized military organizations have taken—and must take—religious practice into account in the conduct of war.
Religion on the Margins: Embodied Moravian Pieties on the Edges of Atlantic World Empire (Pietist, Moravian, and Anabaptist Studies)
by Benjamin M. PietrenkaIn the eighteenth century, missionaries of the radical, Pietist Moravian Church wandered from Germanic Europe to the edges of the known world in search of tolerance and a closer relationship to God. This open-minded, cosmopolitan undertaking led to unintended consequences, however, both for the Moravians and for the other persecuted peoples—European, African, and Indigenous—they sought to convert.Religion on the Margins examines the complexities of early modern Moravians as a cosmopolitan community focused on an eschatological global vision while having to negotiate diverse cultures and, most importantly, the institution of slavery. Drawing on a transatlantic archive of letters, diaries, teachings, and mission histories, Benjamin M. Pietrenka sheds light on how a professedly anti-colonial cast of characters became entangled in the complex realities of European colonialism in the Atlantic world. Ultimately, Pietrenka shows how the Moravians, operating from within the constraints of mission work, became complicit in the European imperial project in spite of their stated values and their own experience of marginalization.For scholars of early modern religion, empire, and politics, Pietrenka’s book challenges tendencies in the field to equate modernity with secularization and invites us to consider how nonelite actors understood religion and ethnicity through each other, in ways that contributed to the emergence of modern scientific racism and white supremacy.
Religion und Außenpolitik: Der Islam in der Außenpolitik nahöstlicher Regionalmächte (Globale Gesellschaft und internationale Beziehungen)
by Mevlüt ÖzevWie beeinflusst Religion die internationale Politik? Diese Frage gewinnt zunehmend an Bedeutung, da vielerorts der Aufstieg religiöser Bewegungen und Parteien erkennbar ist. Mevlüt Özev untersucht dieses Phänomen anhand der machtpolitischen Rivalität zwischen dem Iran, Saudi-Arabien und der Türkei im Nahen Osten. Die nahöstlichen Regionalmächte nutzen den Islam als außenpolitisches Instrument und verfolgen dabei weitreichende Führungsambitionen. Der Autor zeigt, warum die Region anfällig für zwischenstaatliche Konflikte ist und wie ein Ausweg aus dieser Krise gefunden werden kann.
Religion und Sozialkapital in der Schweiz: Zum eigenwilligen Zusammenhang zwischen Religiosität, Engagement und Vertrauen (Politik und Religion)
by Anastas OdermattIn diesem Open-Access-Buch unterzieht Anastas Odermatt die weitverbreitete Annahme, dass sowohl Religion als auch freiwilliges Engagement förderlich für soziales Vertrauen und damit für gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt und Demokratie seien, einer empirischen Überprüfung. Wirkt Religion eher konflikthaft und negativ auf unsere Gesellschaft oder wirkt sie eher brückenbildend, stabilisierend und damit positiv? Diese Frage wird in Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit kontrovers diskutiert und unterschiedlich beantwortet. Basierend auf den Daten des KONID Survey 2019 für die Schweiz werden die Wirkmechanismen zwischen Religion und Religiosität, freiwilligem Engagement und sozialem Vertrauen in der Schweiz vertieft untersucht und allgemein verständlich erklärt. Dabei ergibt sich ein differenziertes Bild für die unterschiedlichen, teils eigenwilligen Zusammenhänge – neue Erkenntnisse und einige Überraschungen miteingeschlossen.
Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason and other writings: And Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)
by Immanuel Kant George Di Giovanni Allen WoodReligion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason is a key element of the system of philosophy which Kant introduced with his Critique of Pure Reason, and a work of major importance in the history of Western religious thought.<P><P> It represents a great philosopher's attempt to spell out the form and content of a type of religion that would be grounded in moral reason and would meet the needs of ethical life. It includes sharply critical and boldly constructive discussions on topics not often treated by philosophers, including such traditional theological concepts as original sin and the salvation or 'justification' of a sinner, and the idea of the proper role of a church.<P> This new edition includes slightly revised translations, a revised introduction with expanded discussion of certain key themes in the work, and up-to-date guidance on further reading. <P>Revised and updated to take into account new scholarship on Kant and on this key work. The translations are both accurate and readable, making this an ideal text for university courses. <P>Explores religious issues that are often overlooked by philosophers, discussing traditional theological concepts such as original sin.
Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: And Other Writings
by Immanuel KantReligion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, a work of major importance in the history of Western religious thought, represents a great philosopher's attempt to spell out the form and content of a type of religion that would be grounded in moral reason and would meet the needs of ethical life. This volume presents it, together with three short essays that illuminate it, in a new translation by Allen Wood and George di Giovanni, with an introduction by Robert Merrihew Adams that locates this essential essay in its historical and philosophical context.
Religion within the Limits of History Alone: Pragmatic Historicism and the Future of Theology
by Demian WheelerAmong the greatest challenges facing religious thinkers today is that created by historicism, the notion that human beings and their myriad understandings of reality are utterly historical, conditioned by contingent circumstances and tied to particular contexts. In this book, Demian Wheeler confronts the historicist challenge by delineating and defending a particular trajectory of historicist thought known as pragmatic historicism. Rooted in the German Enlightenment and fully developed within the early Chicago school of theology, pragmatic historicism is a predominantly American tradition that was philosophically nurtured by classical pragmatism and its intellectual siblings, naturalism and radical empiricism. Religion within the Limits of History Alone not only undertakes a detailed genealogy of this pragmatic historicist lineage but also sets forth a constructive program for contemporary theology by charting a path for its future development. Wheeler shows that pragmatic historicism is an underdeveloped resource for contemporary theology since it offers a model for normative religious thought that is theologically compelling yet wholly nonsupernaturalistic, deeply pluralistic, unflinchingly liberal, and radically historicist.
Religion without God
by Ronald DworkinIn his last book, Ronald Dworkin addresses questions that men and women have asked through the ages: What is religion and what is God's place in it? What is death and what is immortality? Based on the 2011 Einstein Lectures, Religion without God is inspired by remarks Einstein made that if religion consists of awe toward mysteries which "manifest themselves in the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, and which our dull faculties can comprehend only in the most primitive forms," then, he, Einstein, was a religious person. Dworkin joins Einstein's sense of cosmic mystery and beauty to the claim that value is objective, independent of mind, and immanent in the world. He rejects the metaphysics of naturalism--that nothing is real except what can be studied by the natural sciences. Belief in God is one manifestation of this deeper worldview, but not the only one. The conviction that God underwrites value presupposes a prior commitment to the independent reality of that value--a commitment that is available to nonbelievers as well. So theists share a commitment with some atheists that is more fundamental than what divides them. Freedom of religion should flow not from a respect for belief in God but from the right to ethical independence. Dworkin hoped that this short book would contribute to rational conversation and the softening of religious fear and hatred. Religion without God is the work of a humanist who recognized both the possibilities and limitations of humanity.
Religion – Gewalt – Minderheiten: Studien zu religiöser Identität im Kontext der geopolitischen Herausforderungen der Moderne
by Hüseyin ÇiçekDer Band nimmt aus unterschiedlichen religionswissenschaftlichen und sozialwissenschaftlichen Perspektiven aktuelle Themen der Religionswissenschaft in den Blick. Sie gehen explizit oder implizit von der zentralen religionswissenschaftlichen sowie -politischen These aus, dass Solidarität im Inneren von Gemeinschaften durch Feindschaft nach Außen begünstigt wird. Diese simpel wirkende Formel hat viele Facetten und wird deshalb in den jeweiligen Artikeln mit dem spezifischen Fokus auf Religion, Gewalt/Terrorismus und Minderheiten aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven analysiert, um sie sowohl komparativ als auch konnektiv auf den Prüfstand zu stellen.
Religion, Art, and Visual Culture: A Cross-Cultural Reader
by S. Brent PlateThis book is a cross-cultural exploration of the study of visuality and the arts from a religious perspective. This forward looking and accessible collection gathers together the most current scholarship for those interested in art, religion, visual culture, and cultural studies. <p><p> Inherently interdisciplinary, this reader approaches the study of world religions through the human, meaning-making activity of seeing. The volume oscillates between specific visual subjects (painting, landscape gardens, calligraphy, architecture, mass media) and the broader theoretical discourses which are relevant to Humanities students today.
Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America
by Marie W. Dallam and Benjamin E. ZellerClothing, dress, and ornamentation are crucial parts of individual and communal religious life and practice, yet they are too often overlooked. This book convenes leading scholars to explore the roles of attire and adornment in the creation and communication of religious meaning, identity, and community. Contributors investigate aspects of religious dress in North America in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, considering adornment practices in a wide range of religious traditions and among individuals who straddle religious boundaries. The collection is organized around four frameworks for understanding the material culture of religion: theological interpretation, identity formation, negotiation of tradition, and activism.Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America features essays on topics such as Black Israelites’ use of African fabrics, Christian religious tattoos, Wiccan ritual nudity, Amish “plain dress,” Mormon sacred garments, Hare Krishna robes, and the Church of Body Modification. Spanning the diversity of religious practice and expression, this book is suitable for a range of undergraduate courses and offers new insights for scholars in many disciplines.
Religion, Authority, and the State
by Leo D. LefebureIn commemoration of Constantine's grant of freedom of religion to Christians, this wide-ranging volume examines the ambiguous legacy of this emperor in relation to the present world, discussing the perennial challenges of relations between religions and governments. The authors examine the new global ecumenical movement inspired by Pentecostals, the role of religion in the Irish Easter rebellion against the British, and the relation between religious freedom and government in the United States. Other essays debate the relation of Islam to the violence in Nigeria, the place of the family in church-state relations in the Philippines, the role of confessional identity in the political struggles in the Balkans, and the construction of Slavophile identity in nineteenth-century Russian Orthodox political theology. The volume also investigates the contrast between written constitutions and actual practice in the relations between governments and religions in Australia, Indonesia, and Egypt. The case studies and surveys illuminate both specific contexts and also widespread currents in religion-state relations across the world.
Religion, Citizenship and Democracy (Religion and Human Rights #8)
by Alexander UnserThis innovative volume is focused on the impact of religion on the realization of democratic citizenship. The researchers contributing provide empirical evidence on how religion influences attitudes towards citizenship and democracy in different countries. The book also tackles the challenges and opportunities for citizenship education. Experts contributing from sociology, political science, theology, and educational science look at the impact of religious beliefs and practices on democratic attitudes and behavior. Chapters also concern how religion influences the recognition of others as citizens. The text appeals to graduates and researchers in these fields with a secondary market for the general interest reader.