Ecclesial Identities in a Multi-Faith Context

Ecclesial Identities in a Multi-Faith Context

Author: Darren Duerksen

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2015-01-12

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1625646550

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When Hindus and Sikhs become followers of Christ, what happens next? Should they join Christian churches that often look and feel very unfamiliar to them? Or to what degree can or should they remain a part of their Hindu/Sikh communities and practices? Uncomfortable with the answers that were provided to them by Christian leaders in northwest India, six followers of Christ began Yeshu satsangs (Jesus truth-gatherings) that sought to follow Christ and the teachings of the Bible while remaining connected to their Hindu and/or Sikh communities. Ecclesial Identities in a Multi-faith Context analyzes the contextualized practices and identities of these leaders and their gatherings, situating these in the religious history of the region and the personal histories of the leaders themselves. Whereas Christians worry that the Yeshu satsangs and related "insider movements" are syncretizing their beliefs and are not properly identifiable as "churches," Ecclesial Identities analyzes the Yeshu satsang's narratives and practices to find vibrant expressions of local church that are grappling with questions and tensions of social and religious identity. In addition to its ethnographic approach, Ecclesial Identities also utilizes recent sociological and anthropological theory in identity formation and critical realism, as well as discussions of biblical ecclesiology from the book of Acts. This study will be a helpful resource for those interested in global Christianity, the practices and identities of churches in religiously plural environments, and the creative ways in which Christ-followers can missionally engage people of other faiths.


Secularism and Religion in Multi-faith Societies

Secularism and Religion in Multi-faith Societies

Author: Ragini Sen

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-09-30

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 3319019228

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This Brief looks at the illustrative case of the Hindu-Muslim conflict in India, with the aim of understanding the dynamics of lived secularism as it exists in traditional multi-faith societies such as India. The data analyzed in this Brief comprise many interviews, conducted amidst Hindus and Muslims, with respondents of both sexes living in slum and middle class regions in the city of Mumbai. The volume begins by giving a brief summary of the historical and cultural background to the present situation in India. It then traces complementarities and similarities of opinions across diverse constituencies which cluster around three main anchoring points: communication, re-presentations and operationalizing of a shared dream. The first point explores the need to understand and to be understood, encourages processes of mutual acculturation, and describes the sensitive decoding of cultural symbols such as dress codes. The second point discusses changes in mind sets and mutual perceptions, where Muslims and Islam are portrayed in a balanced way and exploitation of religion for political purposes is stopped. The third main point is the involvement of the common, regular person, and a focus on children, as the unifying hope for the future. Throughout the volume, emphasis is on moral maturation, cultural interpretation in lieu of cultural imposition and creation of a sensitive media policy. The issues raised may help craft interdisciplinary and international frameworks, which address conflict resolution in culturally diverse multi-faith societies. Accordingly, the book concludes with policy recommendations for supporting the peaceful coexistence of secularism and religion in society from a peace psychological perspective.


The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858

The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858

Author: Penelope Carson

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1843837323

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An overview of the East India Company's policy towards religion throughout its period of rule in India. This wide-ranging book charts how the East India Company grappled with religious issues in its multi-faith empire, putting them into the context of pressures exerted both in Britain and on the subcontinent, from the Company's early mercantile beginnings to the bloody end of its rule in 1858. Religion was at the heart of the East India Company's relationship with India, but the course of its religious policy has rarely been examined in any systematic way. The free exercise of religion, the policy the Company adopted in its early days in order to safeguard the security of its possessions, was challenged by Evangelicals in the late eighteenth century. They demanded that the Company should grant free access to Christians of all Protestant denominations and an end to 'barbaric' Indian religious practices. This gave rise to an unprecedented petitioning movement in 1813, comparable in strength to that for theabolition of the slave trade the following year. It was an important milestone in British domestic politics. The final years of the Company's rule were dominated by its attempts to withstand Evangelical demands in the face of growing hostility from Indians. In the end it pleased no one, and its rule came to a gory and ignominious end. In this compelling account, Penny Carson examines the twists and turns of the East India Company's policy on religious issues. The story of how the Company dealt with the fact that it was a Christian Company, trying to be equitable to the different faiths it found in India, has resonances for Britain today as it attempts to accommodate the religions of all its peoples within the Christian heritage and structure of the state. Penelope Carson is an independent scholar with a doctorate from King's College, London.


Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality

Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality

Author: Essien, Essien D.

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-01-29

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1799845966

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

There is an interesting knowledge trajectory that God remains incomprehensible, not imperceptible. This lends credence to the fact that religious study since the Enlightenment has dedicated itself almost entirely to the problem of reconciling the non-existence of God in the physical world with his necessary existence in the metaphysical world. When seriously examined, it would be discovered that these two aspects are logically contradictory, and this is a problem with no solution. But interpreting God not as a physical being but as a phenomenological thing changes the nature of the problem enough that a solution emerges almost automatically. In this phenomenological model, the crux of the matter is that God does not exist, but God is real. Therefore, it is imperative to return to experience and verifiability, hence, purging it of unexamined and often hidden assumptions. Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality brings together the different disciplines and research approaches to provide a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenology of God and spirituality, as well as offering an effective epistemological apparatus capable of dealing with this concept. The book employs multidisciplinary approaches from religious studies, theology, philosophy, anthropology, and other segments to dissect the subject matter for efficient evaluation and all-inclusive findings. While covering various aspects of religion such as the testaments of the Bible, the church, the religious experience, and various aspects of spirituality, this book is intended for theologians, philosophers, religious leaders, policymakers, academicians, researchers, students, public institutions, and agencies with a special interest in religious matters, values, knowledge, and truth.


Siyasi Muslims

Siyasi Muslims

Author: Hilal Ahmed

Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published: 2019-04-25

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 9353055121

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How do we make sense of the Muslims of India? Do they form a political community? Does the imagined conflict between Islam and modernity affect the Muslims' political behaviour in this country? Are Muslim religious institutions-mosques and madrasas-directly involved in politics? Do they instruct the community to vote strategically in all elections? What are 'Muslim issues'? Is it only about triple talaq? Are Muslims truly nationalists? Or do they continue to remain just an 'other' in India? While these questions intrigue us, we seldom debate to find pragmatic answers to these queries. Examining the everydayness of Muslims in contemporary India, Hilal Ahmed offers an evocative story of politics and Islam in India, which goes beyond the given narratives of Muslim victimhood and Islamic separation.


Religion and the City in India

Religion and the City in India

Author: Supriya Chaudhuri

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-08-19

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1000429016

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book offers fresh theoretical, methodological and empirical analyses of the relation between religion and the city in the South Asian context. Uniting the historical with the contemporary by looking at the medieval and early modern links between religious faith and urban settlement, the book brings together a series of focused studies of the mixed and multiple practices and spatial negotiations of religion in the South Asian city. It looks at the various ways in which contemporary religious practice affects urban everyday life, commerce, craft, infrastructure, cultural forms, art, music and architecture. Chapters draw upon original empirical study and research to analyze the foundational, structural, material and cultural connections between religious practice and urban formations or flows. The book argues that Indian cities are not ‘postsecular’ in the sense that the term is currently used in the modern West, but that there has been, rather, a deep, even foundational link between religion and urbanism, producing different versions of urban modernity. Questions of caste, gender, community, intersectional entanglements, physical proximity, private or public ritual, processions and prayer, economic and political factors, material objects, and changes in the built environment, are all taken into consideration, and the book offers an interdisciplinary analysis of different historical periods, different cities, and different types of religious practice. Filling a gap in the literature by discussing a diversity of settings and faiths, the book will be of interest to scholars to South Asian history, sociology, literary analysis, urban studies and cultural studies.


Mission in Context

Mission in Context

Author: Dr Cathy Ross

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2013-06-28

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1409481719

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Stimulated by Andrew Kirk's mission theology, this book brings fresh theological reflection to a wide range of mission issues. A formidable group of international missiologists are drawn together to explore current reflections on a wide range of issues including: poverty and injustice, environmentalism, secularism, the place of scripture in a pluralist culture, science and faith, liberation theology, oppression and reconciliation, and much more. Kirk's influence and reputation is international, and extends to South America, USA, Eastern Europe, Africa and SE Asia. Latin American mission has been especially enriched by Kirk's innovative thinking on revolutionary politics, contextualisation and holistic mission. This is an indispensable resource of up-to-date missiological reflections for all involved in mission at every level.


Thoughts and Philosophy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Thoughts and Philosophy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Author: C. D. Naik

Publisher: Sarup & Sons

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 9788176254182

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

All Observations Of Change In Masses; Outlook And Impact On Social Relationship Can Be Reduced To The Point, Whether The Steeply Rooted Fort Of Inequality Is Being Demolished Brick By Brick To Adopt The Fraternal Relationship In Its Social System One By One Or Not. The Problem Thus Reduced Has Further Practical Issues Of Inexorable Rule Of Inequality Inbuilt In Genetic, Traditional And Charismatic Individualism. But This Problem Is Not Insolvable. It Can Be Resolved By Assuming Reality And Value As Inseparable As Interrelationship Of Equality And Inequality, The Former Dictating What Principle Should Be Held In Treating All Individuals Of Society And The Latter Telling What The State Of Affairs Actually Exists. Then By Upholding Fraternal Equality As The Reigning Principle In Behaviour And Being Aware Of Existing Odds Against It The Problem May Be Resolved And The One Man One Value Oriented Fream Of Dr. Ambedkar Can Be Brought About In Our National Life. The Present Book, Thoughts And Philosophy Of Dr. Ambedkar Stressed The Philosophy Of Equality, Liberty And Fraternity As Expounded By Dr. Ambedkar Himself Under The Caption Of My Personal Philosophy Originally In Marathi, Translated Into English By This Author. It Deals With The Buddhist Development In East And West Since 1950; Ambedkarism In The World; Punjabi Speech On Ambedkar By Balley Translated Into English; Hindi Article Of Dr. Kausalyayan Translated As Had There Been No Ambedkar. Marathi Articles Of Babsaheb Translated Into English; And Author S Own Contributions Such As Education And Ambedkar, Ambedkar As A Great Relevance To A New Millennium And So On.