Figuring Religions offers new ways of comparing prominent features of the world's religions. Comparison has been at the heart of religious studies as a modern academic discipline, but comparison can be problematic. Scholars of religion have been faulted for ignoring or reinterpreting differences to create a universal paradigm. In reaction, many of today's scholars have placed chief emphasis on the differences between traditions. Seeking to reinvigorate comparison and avoid its excesses, contributors to this volume use theories of metaphor and metonymy from the fields of philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology to look at religious ideas, images, and activities. Traditions considered include Hinduism, ancient Greek religions, Judaism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam. By applying trope theories, contributors reveal elements of these religions in and across their cultural contexts.
The thought of Paul Ricoeur continues its profound effect on theology, religious studies and biblical interpretation. The 28 papers contained in this volume constitute the most comprehensive overview of Ricoeur's writings in religion since 1970. Ricoeur's hermeneutical orientation and his sensitivity to the mystery of religious language offer fresh insight to the transformative potential of sacred literature, including the Bible.
The field of religion and ecology is an emerging and growing movement that is becoming relevant and influential in the world. It seeks to analyse, encourage, inspire, use, compare, and combine religious traditions to engage and shape environmental issues. Tony Watling seeks to ethnographically analyse this important field and its expressions. In particular, he analyses and compares its explorations of different world religions for ecological themes and the resulting expressions of ecological visions, in what he terms 'religious ecotopias' - idealized, environmentally-friendly re-imaginings of nature and humanity, and correspondingly religion, which seek to influence environmental attitudes.
More than just a litany of artifacts, rituals, and symbols, this valuable book provides a cultural bridge for emergency responders. It places the information in a relevant context and offers crucial keys to communication, assessment, and treatment in culturally sensitive situations. Beginning with the importance of trans-cultural communication, the book separates fact from fantasy regarding Neo-Paganism, Santeria, Bantu religion (Palo Mayombe), Voodoo, and Curanderismo. Promoting functional cultural competency, this book provides the tools to properly assess situations, open lines of communication, protect cultural diversity, and provide effective emergency treatment.
In the face of the current environmental crisis—which clearly has moral and spiritual dimensions—members of all the world’s faiths have come to recognize the critical importance of religion’s relationship to ecology. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Ecology offers a comprehensive overview of the history and the latest developments in religious engagement with environmental issues throughout the world. Newly commissioned essays from noted scholars of diverse faiths and scientific traditions present the most cutting-edge thinking on religion’s relationship to the environment. Initial readings explore the ways traditional concepts of nature in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and other religious traditions have been shaped by the environmental crisis. Readings then address the changing nature of theology and religious thought in response to the challenges of protecting the environment. Various conceptual issues and themes that transcend individual traditions—climate change, bio-ethics, social justice, ecofeminism, and more—are then analyzed before a final section examines some of the immediate challenges we face in caring for the Earth while looking to the future of religious environmentalism. Timely and thought-provoking, Companion to Religion and Ecology offers illuminating insights into the role of religion in the ongoing struggle to secure the future well-being of our natural world. With a foreword by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and an Afterword by John Cobb
This book by Professor (Dr.) Ashok Rathore compares influence of Christianity on Australian Dreamtime belief and Indian Hinduism (Sanatan Dharm) religion. This is innovative work of theology and sociology with mature understanding of Christianity in two Indian subcontinents and Australian continent. The author has worked in America, Australia, and the Philippines and interacted with people of various faiths and religions (Jews, Christians, freemasons, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Unitarians, atheists, and numerous movements). Being a skeptic, the author always asked this question: where and why do we differ and have different religions, and where do we converge? In the world, with over two billion Christians, why is Christianity so popular worldwide? Why does Christianity remained stagnant at 2.3 percent in India? Whereas Christianity arrived in Australia only 227 years ago from Britain and over 70 percent Aborigines were converted to Christianity. The book evince There is no relative superiority of one religion over another. The world needs is a fellowship of faiths for a common goals for a global ethic which rejects conflict, revenge, aggression and retaliation with the foundation of love. The book is expected to serve as an important component to improve relationship for theologians, biblical scholars of different religions at an international level in both countries so that a common set of core values is found in the teachings and understanding of different religions and this will form the basis of a global ethic as recommended by the 1993 Parliament of the World. India is called the Land of Faith and Religion. One can witness the Indians practicing almost all the religions prevalent in the present world - Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism and many others (including many movements and cults). Christianity's greatest contribution to our understanding of God is, Jesus of Nazareth.
This new edition of the bestselling Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy is fully revised and significantly expanded. Major new features include a full chapter on Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movements, an expanded epilogue, and a new appendix ("How and Why I Became an Orthodox Christian"). More detail and more religions and movements have been included, and the book is now addressed broadly to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, making it even more sharable than before.
Leif-Hagen Seibert carries out a three-step praxeological analysis of empirical data from field studies in the research project “The ethos of religious peace builders” that allows for novel assessments of societal conjuncture (field theory), subjective meaning (habitus analysis), and the mutual ‘rules of engagement’ of religious practice (the religious nomos). Over the course of this three-step argument, the sociological concept of religious credibility – i.e. the determinants of religious legitimacy – gains more and more contours and facilitates the reevaluation of risks and chances in a peace process where religion is a vector for both peace and division.
How do persons come to faith in our time? Are they active seekers or brought in by others? Is it a journey? Or is it a more sudden conversion? Are spouses, relatives, and friends most important to the process? Do clergy matter? What sorts of values, practices, and lifestyles tend to change for those who newly come to faith? What are the differences among the various religious traditions in how one comes to faith? This book presents the findings of a multi-year study on how people come to faith in the US context. It involves about 1,800 persons who recently made a new profession of faith or some other public commitment across various religious traditions in the US. An initial study was conducted twenty-five years ago on Christian populations in England by Bishop John Finney, but surprisingly little research has been done since then. Finding Faith Today is an expansion and follow-up of that study. The book sheds new light on how people come to faith and what sort of spiritual, practical, and social changes accompany that. The book will be a help to those seeking to open up their communities of faith to others with hospitality and integrity.
