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Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas (Routledge Archaeology of the Ancient Americas)
by Sarah Barber Arthur A. JoyceThis exciting collection explores the interplay of religion and politics in the precolumbian Americas. Each thought-provoking contribution positions religion as a primary factor influencing political innovations in this period, reinterpreting major changes through an examination of how religion both facilitated and constrained transformations in political organization and status relations. Offering unparalleled geographic and temporal coverage of this subject, Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas spans the entire precolumbian period, from Preceramic Peru to the Contact period in eastern North America, with case studies from North, Middle, and South America. Religion and Politics in the Ancient Americas considers the ways in which religion itself generated political innovation and thus enabled political centralization to occur. It moves beyond a "Great Tradition" focus on elite religion to understand how local political authority was negotiated, contested, bolstered, and undermined within diverse constituencies, demonstrating how religion has transformed non-Western societies. As well as offering readers fresh perspectives on specific archaeological cases, this book breaks new ground in the archaeological examination of religion and society.
Religion and Politics in the Developing World: Explosive Interactions (Routledge Revivals)
by Rolin MainuddinThis title was first published in 2002: What is the relationship between religion and politics? How are they associated in the developing world? When does the interface between them result in violence? This volume attempts to answer these questions. In particular, the objective is to understand the circumstances that lead to explosive interactions between religion and politics in the developing world. However, this focus does not imply a perpetual tension between the religious and political spheres. Rather, it explores those historical moments when the relationship does break down and often ends in violent conflicts. The contributors have expertise in fields such as anthropology, history and political science.
Religion and Politics in the Middle East
by Robert D. LeeThis is a comparative study of the interaction between the religious and political spheres in the Middle East. Lee (political science, Colorado College) examines the relationship in Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Iran in terms of group identity, ideology, institutions, and political culture. He concludes that, as independent variable, religion has contributed to political development as much as hindered it, but that religion is far more a dependent value that is shaped by the state context within which it operates. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Religion and Politics in the Middle East
by Robert D. LeeThis innovative book analyzes the interaction of politics and religion in the Middle East through a comparative study of four countries--Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. Author Robert D. Lee examines each country in terms of four areas in which state and religion necessarily interact: group identity, ideology, institutions, and political culture. He also considers twenty-five commonly encountered (but often contradictory) hypotheses asserting that religion is either an obstacle or an aid to political development, or that religion is largely irrelevant to the development process. The author concludes that politics shapes religion as much or more than religion shapes politics. The nature of religious organization and practice in the Middle East cannot be understood without reference to a national political context.
Religion and Politics in the Orthodox World: The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Challenges of Modernity (Routledge Religion, Society and Government in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet States)
by Paschalis KitromilidesThis book explores how the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the leading centre of spiritual authority in the Orthodox Church, based in Istanbul, coped with political developments from Ottoman times until the present. The book outlines how under the Ottomans, despite difficult circumstances, the Patriarchate managed to draw on its huge symbolic and moral power and organization to uphold the unity and catholicity of the Orthodox Church, how it struggled to do this during the subsequent age of nationalism when churches within new nation-states unilaterally claimed their autonomy reflecting local national demands, and how the church coped in the twentieth century with the rise of nationalist Turkey, the decline of Orthodoxy in Asia Minor and with the Cold War. The book concludes by assessing the current position and future prospects of the Patriarchate in the region and the world.
Religion and Politics in the Risorgimento
by Danilo RaponiThis book examines Anglo-Italian political and cultural relations and analyses the importance of religion in the British 'Orientalist' perception of Italy. It puts religion at the centre of a harsh political and cultural war, one that was fought on international, diplomatic, and domestic levels.
Religion and Poverty: Monotheistic Responses Around the Globe
by Stephen Offutt Susan Crawford Sullivan Shariq Ahmed SiddiquiThis book offers a timely and compelling look at religion and poverty, focusing primarily on the two largest world religions, Christianity and Islam, and considering religion and poverty in the United States and international contexts.Written by social scientists, the book incorporates relevant theology with a focus on how theology is lived in relation to issues of poverty. Topics include religion as it relates to social service provision, lived religion, philanthropy, faith-based social movements, public policy, and more. This volume synthesizes existing research on religion and poverty and includes new original research.It is an essential resource for upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses focused on religion and poverty and is also an outstanding supplementary text for broader courses in religion, poverty, social welfare, philanthropy, and non-profit organizations.
Religion and Poverty: Pan-African Perspectives
by Peter J. ParisA Ghanaian scholar of religion argues that poverty is a particularly complex subject in traditional African cultures, where holistic worldviews unite life's material and spiritual dimensions. A South African ethicist examines informal economies in Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, and South Africa, looking at their ideological roots, social organization, and vulnerability to global capital. African American theologians offer ethnographic accounts of empowering religious rituals performed in churches in the United States, Jamaica, and South Africa. This important collection brings together these and other Pan-African perspectives on religion and poverty in Africa and the African diaspora. Contributors from Africa and North America explore poverty's roots and effects, the ways that experiences and understandings of deprivation are shaped by religion, and the capacity and limitations of religion as a means of alleviating poverty. As part of a collaborative project, the contributors visited Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, as well as Jamaica and the United States. In each location, they met with clergy, scholars, government representatives, and NGO workers, and they examined how religious groups and community organizations address poverty. Their essays complement one another. Some focus on poverty, some on religion, others on their intersection, and still others on social change. A Jamaican scholar of gender studies decries the feminization of poverty, while a Nigerian ethicist and lawyer argues that the protection of human rights must factor into efforts to overcome poverty. A church historian from Togo examines the idea of poverty as a moral virtue and its repercussions in Africa, and a Tanzanian theologian and priest analyzes ujamaa, an African philosophy of community and social change. Taken together, the volume's essays create a discourse of mutual understanding across linguistic, religious, ethnic, and national boundaries. Contributors. Elizabeth Amoah, Kossi A. Ayedze, Barbara Bailey, Katie G. Cannon, Noel Erskine, Dwight N. Hopkins, Simeon O. Ilesanmi, Laurenti Magesa, Madipoane Masenya, Takatso A. Mofokeng, Esther M. Mombo, Nyambura J. Njoroge, Jacob Olupona, Peter J. Paris, Anthony B. Pinn, Linda E. Thomas, Lewin L. Williams
Religion and Pride: Hindus in Search of Recognition in La Réunion
by Natalie LangSeeking recognition presents an important driving force in the making of religious minorities, as is shown in this study that examines current debates on religion, globalization, diaspora, and secularism through the lens of Hindus living in the French overseas department of La Réunion. Through the examination of religious practices and public performance, the author offers a compelling study of how the Hindus of the island assert pride in their religion as a means of gaining recognition, self-esteem, and social status.
Religion and Prison: An Overview of Contemporary Europe (Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies #7)
by Julia Martínez-Ariño Anne-Laure ZwillingThis volume offers a European overview of the management of religious diversity in prisons and provides readers with rich empirical material and a comparative perspective. The chapters combine both legal and sociological approaches. Coverage for each country includes historical background, current penitentiary organization, and recent changes or trends. In their exploration of legal aspects, the contributors look at such factors as the status of prison chaplains and regulations concerning religious practice and religious freedom. These include meals, prayers, and visits. The sociological analysis examines religious discrimination in prison, church-prison relations, conversion and proselytism, and more. The European coverage includes countries for which such information is seldom available. The book offers readers a better understanding of governance of religion in prisons. This text appeals to students, researchers and professionals in the field.
Religion and Psychology in Transition: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Theology
by James W. JonesIn this thought-provoking book, clinical psychologist and professor of religious studies James W. Jones presents a dialogue between contemporary psychoanalytic thinking and contemporary theology. He sheds new light on the interaction of religion and psychology by viewing it from the perspective of world religions, providing an epistemological framework for the psychology of religion that draws on contemporary philosophy of science, and bringing out the importance of gender as a category of analysis. Developments in psychoanalysis provide new resources for theological reflection, Jones contends. The Freudian view that human nature is isolated and instinctual has shifted to a vision of the self as constituted in and through relationships. Jones uses this relational model of human nature to explore the convergence between contemporary psychoanalysis, feminist theorizing, and themes in religious thought found in a variety of traditions. He also critiques the reductionism inherent in Freud's discussion of religion and proposes nonreductionistic and genuinely psychoanalytic ways for psychoanalysis to treat religious topics. For therapists, psychologists, theologians, and others interested in spiritual or psychological issues, Jones offers illuminating clinical material and insightful analysis.
Religion and Psychotherapy in Modern Japan (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series)
by Christopher Harding Iwata Fumiaki Yoshinaga Shin’ichiSince the late nineteenth century, religious ideas and practices in Japan have become increasingly intertwined with those associated with mental health and healing. This relationship developed against the backdrop of a far broader, and deeply consequential meeting: between Japan’s long-standing, Chinese-influenced intellectual and institutional forms, and the politics, science, philosophy, and religion of the post-Enlightenment West. In striving to craft a modern society and culture that could exist on terms with – rather than be subsumed by – western power and influence, Japan became home to a religion--psy dialogue informed by pressing political priorities and rapidly shifting cultural concerns. This book provides a historically contextualized introduction to the dialogue between religion and psychotherapy in modern Japan. In doing so, it draws out connections between developments in medicine, government policy, Japanese religion and spirituality, social and cultural criticism, regional dynamics, and gender relations. The chapters all focus on the meeting and intermingling of religious with psychotherapeutic ideas and draw on a wide range of case studies including: how temple and shrine ‘cures’ of early modern Japan fared in the light of German neuropsychiatry; how Japanese Buddhist theories of mind, body, and self-cultivation negotiated with the findings of western medicine; how Buddhists, Christians, and other organizations and groups drew and redrew the lines between religious praxis and psychological healing; how major European therapies such as Freud’s fed into self-consciously Japanese analyses of and treatments for the ills of the age; and how distress, suffering, and individuality came to be reinterpreted across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, from the southern islands of Okinawa to the devastated northern neighbourhoods of the Tohoku region after the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters of March 2011. Religion and Psychotherapy in Modern Japan will be welcomed by students and scholars working across a broad range of subjects, including Japanese culture and society, religious studies, psychology and psychotherapy, mental health, and international history.
Religion and Public Culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India
by Keith E. Keith E. Yandell John J. PaulThe last two centuries have witnessed profound changes in the nature of public consciousness. Nowhere has this been more true than in India, especially in relation to changing cultures of public life and religious tradition in South India. Essays in this collection attempt to explore the intricacies of what is perhaps the single most complex socio-religious environment in the world. The essays consider the evolution of the notion of Hinduism as a distinct and singular separate religion; the relationship between this kind of formulation and various European or western influences in India; and differences which the formation of this idea and its acceptance have made upon wider public consciousness. Each essay also considers certain general issues - such as the passing along of religious authority from one generation to the next, and the rise of disputes over matters both ideological (or doctrinal) and institutional, disputes that are fundamental to the traditions concerned and yet have unmistakable cross-cultural references.
Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India
by Christian Lee NovetzkeNamdev is a central figure in the cultural history of India, especially within the field of bhakti, a devotional practice that has created publics of memory for over eight centuries. Born in the Marathi-speaking region of the Deccan in the late thirteenth century, Namdev is remembered as a simple, low-caste Hindu tailor whose innovative performances of devotional songs spread his fame widely. He is central to many religious traditions within Hinduism, as well as to Sikhism, and he is a key early literary figure in Maharashtra, northern India, and Punjab. In the modern period, Namdev appears throughout the public spheres of Marathi and Hindi and in India at large, where his identity fluctuates between regional associations and a quiet, pan-Indian, nationalist-secularist profile that champions the poor, oppressed, marginalized, and low caste. Christian Lee Novetzke considers the way social memory coheres around the figure of Namdev from the sixteenth century to the present, examining the practices that situate Namdev's memory in multiple historical publics. Focusing primarily on Maharashtra and drawing on ethnographies of devotional performance, archival materials, scholarly historiography, and popular media, especially film, Novetzke vividly illustrates how religious communities in India preserve their pasts and, in turn, create their own historical narratives.
Religion and Racial Progress in Twentieth-Century Britain
by Patrick T. MerricksThis book is the first in-depth analysis of Ernest William Barnes' Christian-eugenic philosophy: 'bio-spiritual determinism'. As a testament to the popularity of the movement, mid-twentieth century British eugenics is contextualized within a remarkably diverse selection of discourses including secular and Anglican interpretations of modernism, poverty, population, gender equality, pacifism and racism. This begins to address the scholastic gap on Christian eugenics while highlighting the perseverance of eugenic racism after World War Two.
Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Iranian Tobacco Protest of 1891-1982
by Nikki R. KeddieAn account of the events of the Iranian Tobacco protest of 1891 to 1892. This book examines the developments which led to this sudden outburst of opposition, traces the course of events in each city and notes the importance of the protest for the creation of the Iranian opposition movemnent.
Religion and Relationships in Ragged Schools: An Intimate History of Educating the Poor, 1844-1870 (Routledge Studies in Evangelicalism)
by Laura M. MairFocusing on the interaction between teachers and scholars, this book provides an intimate account of "ragged schools" that challenges existing scholarship on evangelical child-saving movements and Victorian philanthropy. With Lord Shaftesbury as their figurehead, these institutions provided a free education to impoverished children. The primary purpose of the schools, however, was the salvation of children’s souls. Using promotional literature and local school documents, this book contrasts the public portrayal of children and teachers with that found in practice. It draws upon evidence from schools in Scotland and England, giving insight into the achievements and challenges of individual institutions. An intimate account is constructed using the journals maintained by Martin Ware, the superintendent of a North London school, alongside a cache of letters that children sent him. This combination of personal and national perspectives adds nuance to the narratives often imposed upon historic philanthropic movements. Investigating how children responded to the evangelistic messages and educational opportunities ragged schools offered, this book will be of keen interest to historians of education, emigration, religion, as well as of the nineteenth century more broadly.
Religion and Religious Practices in Rural China (Routledge Religion in Contemporary Asia Series)
by Mu PengThis book explores how, unlike in the West, the daily religious life of most Chinese people spreads without institutional propagation. Based upon more than a decade of field research in rural China, the book demonstrates the decisive role of rites of passage and yearly festival rituals held in every household in shaping people’s religious dispositions. It focuses on the family, the unit most central to Chinese culture and society, and reveals the repertoire embodied in daily life in a world envisioned as comprising both the “yin” world of ancestors, spirits, and ghosts, and the “yang” world of the living. It discusses especially the concept of bai, which refers to both concrete bodily movements that express respect and awe, such as bowing, kneeling, or holding up ritual offerings, and to people’s religious inclinations and dispositions, which indicate that they are aware of a spiritual realm that is separate from yet close to the world of the living. Overall, the book shows that the daily practices of religion are not a separate sphere, but rather belief and ritual integrated into a way of dwelling in a world envisaged as consisting of both the “yin” and the “yang” worlds that regularly communicate with each other.
Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt
by Emily TeeterThis book is a vivid reconstruction of the practical aspects of ancient Egyptian religion. Through an examination of artefacts and inscriptions, the text explores a variety of issues. For example, who was allowed to enter the temples, and what rituals were performed therein? Who served as priests? How were they organized and trained, and what did they do? What was the Egyptians' attitude toward death, and what happened at funerals? How did the living and dead communicate? In what ways could people communicate with the gods? What impact did religion have on the economy and longevity of the society? This book demystifies Egyptian religion, exploring what it meant to the people and society. The text is richly illustrated with images of rituals and religious objects.
Religion and Science as Forms of Life: Anthropological Insights into Reason and Unreason
by Carles Salazar Joan BestardThe relationships between science and religion are about to enter a new phase in our contemporary world, as scientific knowledge has become increasingly relevant in ordinary life, beyond the institutional public spaces where it traditionally developed. The purpose of this volume is to analyze the relationships, possible articulations and contradictions between religion and science as forms of life: ways of engaging human experience that originate in particular social and cultural formations. Contributions use this theoretical and ethnographic research to explore different scientific and religious cultures in the contemporary world.
Religion and Secularism in France Today
by Philippe Portier Jean-Paul WillaimeThis volume explores the dynamic life of religion and politics in France. The separation of church and state and the autonomy of school education from religion are the two fundamental pillars of France as a secular republic. The historical construction of French secularism (laïcité) was particularly marked by the strong opposition between the state and the Catholic church. However, the religious disaffiliation of a significant proportion of the French strengthened state secularism, which gradually became more consensual – despite some persisting tensions in the school context. Yet, in the last decades, several factors have revived public debate on laicity: the quarrel over ‘sects’ and new religious movements; controversies over Islam, today the second-largest religion in France; and, more recently, dispute over bioethics. Faced with these challenges, laicity as well as the religious groups involved have been changing. The authors of this book, ranking amongst the best French experts in the study of religion and secularism, introduce the reader to a living and lived laicity influenced by the social and religious dynamics of contemporary France. They demonstrate that the configurations of French secularism are both more flexible and complex than they appear to be. The volume investigates the extent to which the French idea of secularization has been pushed to be more thorough and radical in its interaction with its other European counterparts. A key work on French political thought, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of international politics, political philosophy, political sociology, and religion and politics.
Religion and Sexualities: Theories, Themes, and Methodologies (Sexuality Studies #0)
by Sarah-Jane Page Heather ShipleyThis book examines key themes and concepts pertaining to religious and sexual identities and expressions, mapping theoretical, methodological, and empirical dimensions. It explores the ways in which debates around sexuality and religion have been framed, and what research is still needed to expand the field as it develops. Through the deployment of contemporary research, including data from the authors’ own projects, Religion and Sexualities offers an encompassing account of the sociology of sexuality and religion, considering theoretical and methodological lenses, queer experiences, and how sexuality is gendered in religious contexts. This comprehensive text will act as an essential accompaniment to scholars and students across the social sciences and humanities, whether they have a general interest in the field or are embarking on their own research in this area.
Religion and Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective
by Stephen Ellingson M. Christian GreenIssues of sexuality and gender are hotly contested in both religious communities and national cultures around the world. In the social sciences, religious traditions are often depicted as inherently conservative or even reactionary in their commitments to powerful patriarchal and pronatalist sexual norms and gender categories. In illuminating the practices of religious traditions in various cultures, these essays expose the diversity of religious rituals and mythologies pertaining to sexuality. In the process the contributors challenge conventional notions of what is normative in our sexual lives.
Religion and Social Criticism: Tradition, Method, and Values
by Bharat Ranganathan Caroline AnglimThis volume brings together emerging and established religious ethicists to investigate how those in the field carry forward the practice and tradition of social criticism and, at the same time, how social criticism informs the scholarly values of their field. Contributors reflect on the nature of the moral subject and the ethical weight of human dignity and consider the limits and possibilities of religious humanism in orienting the work of social criticism. They compare religious sources and forms of research in religious ethics to secular sources and the tradition of liberal social criticism. And they offer proposals for how religious ethics can help humanists navigate our complex and multicultural moral landscape and what this field reveals about the ultimate ends of humanistic scholarship.
Religion and Society in Qajar Iran (Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies Series)
by Robert GleaveGleave brings together studies by experts in the area of religion in nineteenth-century Iran in order to present new insights into Qajar religion, political and cultural history. Key topics covered include the relationship between religion and the state, the importance of archival materials for the study of religion, the developments of Qajar religious thought, the position of religious minorities in Qajar Iran, the relationship between religion and Qajar culture, and the centrality of Shi'ite hierarchy and the state.