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The new edition has been fully revised and updated, and includes new discussions of: the study of religion and culture in the 21st century texts, films and rituals cognitive approaches to religion globalisation and multiculturalism spirituality in the West popular religion.
This book studies issues relating to minority religions' place within a multicultural society. Analyzing the particular case study of the Bhaktivedanta Manor campaign by ISKCON (the 'Hare Krishnas') alongside wider debates, it makes an important contribution to our understanding of the politics of cultural diversity and religious freedom.
This book offers a fully up-to-date and comprehensive guide to religion in Britain since 1945. A team of leading scholars provide a fresh analysis and overview, with a particular focus on diversity and change. They examine: relations between religious and secular beliefs and institutions the evolving role and status of the churches the growth and ‘settlement’ of non-Christian religious communities the spread and diversification of alternative spiritualities religion in welfare, education, media, politics and law theoretical perspectives on religious change. The volume presents the latest research, including results from the largest-ever research initiative on religion in Britain, the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme. Survey chapters are combined with detailed case studies to give both breadth and depth of coverage. The text is accompanied by relevant photographs and a companion website.
This unique guide provides a comprehensive and jargon-free introduction to the world of religion. It is the ideal first step in understanding the subject, suitable for both the interested reader and the new student.
Written by feminist scholars over a period of nearly thirty years, the selected readings are wide-ranging in content, offer a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural perspective, and reflect the work of scholars working within religious studies as well as other disciplines.The introductory essays link the sections and are packed with useful information on resources, issues, and the current debates. The book illustrates how debates about feminism within the study of religions have been impacted by broader theoretical discussions and provides evidence that feminist scholars working on religion have made their own contribution to feminist theory.
Religion is a racialized category, even when race is not explicitly mentioned. In Modern Religion, Modern Race Theodore Vial argues that because the categories of religion and race are rooted in the post-Enlightenment project of reimagining what it means to be human, we cannot simply will ourselves to stop using them. Only by acknowledging that religion is already racialized can we begin to understand how the two concepts are intertwined and how they operate in our modern world. It has become common to argue that the category religion is not universal, or even very old, but is a product of Europe's Enlightenment modernization. Equally common is the argument that religion is not an innocent c...
In the minds of many Americans, Islam is synonymous with the Middle East, Muslim men with violence, and Muslim women with oppression. A clash of civilizations appears to be increasingly manifest and the war on terror seems a struggle against Islam. These are all symptoms of Islamophobia. Meanwhile, the current surge in nativist bias reveals the racism of anti-Muslim sentiment. This book explores these anxieties through political cartoons and film––media with immediate and important impact. After providing a background on Islamic traditions and their history with America, it graphically shows how political cartoons and films reveal Americans’ casual demeaning and demonizing of Muslims and Islam––a phenomenon common among both liberals and conservatives. Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Sentiment offers both fascinating insights into our culture’s ways of “picturing the enemy” as Muslim, and ways of moving beyond antagonism.
Sati symbolizes ultimate loyalty and self-sacrifice. It often figures near the core of a Hindu identity that feels embattled in a modern world. Yet to those who deplore it, sati is a curse, a violation of every woman's womanhood.
A systematic introduction to Buddhist ethics aimed at anyone interested in Buddhism.