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Being a Buddhist Nun
They may shave their heads, don simple robes, and renounce materialism and worldly desires. But the women seeking enlightenment in a Buddhist nunnery high in the folds of Himalayan Kashmir invariably find themselves subject to the tyrannies of subsistence, subordination, and sexuality. Ultimately, Buddhist monasticism reflects the very world it is supposed to renounce. Butter and barley prove to be as critical to monastic life as merit and meditation. Kim Gutschow lived for more than three years among these women, collecting their stories, observing their ways, studying their lives. Her book offers the first ethnography of Tibetan Buddhist society from the perspective of its nuns. Gutschow d...
Yasodhara and the Buddha
By combining the spirit of fiction with the fabulism of Indian mythology and in-depth academic research, Vanessa R. Sasson shares the evocative story of the Buddha from the perspective of a forgotten woman: Yasodhara, the Buddha's wife. Although often marginalized, Yasodhara's narrative here comes to life. Written with a strong feminist voice, we encounter Yasodhara as a fiercely independent, passionate and resilient individual. We witness her joys and sorrows, her expectations and frustrations, her fairy-tale wedding, and her overwhelming devastation at the departure of her beloved. It is through her eyes that we witness Siddhattha's slow transformation, from a sheltered prince to a deeply ...
Agnes Blannbekin, Viennese Beguine
Female mysticism, usually nourished in contemplative surroundings, in Blannbekin's case drew its inspiration from urban life; Weidhaus identifies her visions as 'street mysticism'. This early example of a spiritual diary incorporating the visions of a female mystic offers a glimpse of religious women's daily life and spiritual practices. Agnes Blannbekin was from an Austrian farming family, but as a Beguinelived an urban life: Ulrike Weithaus refers to her experiences as 'street mysticism'. Blannbekin's spiritual life revolved around the liturgical cycles of the church year, but also embraced the opportunities and vagaries of city life. Her visions comment on memorable events such as a popul...
Religion in the Making
This volume deals with the emergence of a scientific discourse on religion in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Europe and North America. This process is examined in a broad academic context, among different disciplines, in terms of socio-historical developments.
Belief Beyond Boundaries
Belief Beyond Boundaries explores 'religions' or forms of spirituality that tend to be marginal to the mainstream of British and North American religious expression. The book examines how alternative spiritualities traditionally classed as 'New Age' or new religious movements have grown exponentially in recent years. It progresses to detailed examination of Paganism, Celtic spirituality, Wicca, witchcraft, North American indigenous religion and New Age, considering the impact of the rise of science on religion and the emergence of new categories of spirituality. The authors explore why these forms of spirituality are so popular in the contemporary UK and USA, and how they impact on mainstream traditions. The five textbooks and Reader that make up the Religion Today Open University/Ashgate series are: o From Sacred Text to Internet o Religion and Social Transformations o Perspectives on Civil Religion o Global Religious Movements in Regional Context o Belief Beyond Boundaries o Religion Today: A Reader
Historical Dictionary of Sufism
The most broadly accepted explanation of Sufism is the etymological derivation of the term from the Arabic for “wool,” ṣūf, associating practitioners with a preference for poor, rough clothing. This explanation clearly identifies Sufism with ascetical practice and the importance of manifesting spiritual poverty through material poverty. In fact, some of the earliest “Western” descriptions of individuals now widely associated with the larger phenomenon of Sufism identified them with the Arabic term faqīr, mendicant, or its most common Persian equivalent, darwīsh. Sufism, as presented here embraces a host of features including the ritual, institutional, psychological, hermeneutical, artistic, literary, ethical, and epistemological. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Sufism contains a chronology, an introduction, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, major historical figures and movements, practices, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Sufism.
Women, Too, Were Blessed
The Women, Too, Were Blessed by David Zakarian is the first extensive study of the representation of women in the fifth-century Armenian literature and historiography. It investigates the ways in which the ecclesiastical authorities envisioned the role of women in society after Christianisation and reveals some aspects of women’s lived experience in the patriarchal society of Armenia. The book offers a close scrutiny of all the passages that speak about women examining them within the context of pre-Christian (Zoroastrian) beliefs of the Armenians and the works of Greek and Syriac Church Fathers. The texts invariably evince the authors’ tendency to construct and promote role models of influential, pious Christian women who contributed to the preservation and promulgation of the new religion.
The Food Movement, Culture, and Religion
This book explores the cultural and religious politics of the contemporary food movement, starting from the example of Jewish foodies, their zeal for pig (forbidden by Jewish law), and their talk about why ignoring traditional precepts around food is desirable. Focusing on the work of Michael Pollan, Jonathan Schorsch questions the modernist, materialist, and rationalist worldview of many foodies and discusses their lack of attention to culture, tradition, and religion.
Women in the Biblical World
Women in the Biblical World: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives is a volume featuring the most current research in biblical scholarship. This collection will whet the reader's appetite for cutting-edge research and encourage a closer look at some of the familiar passages that may have been overlooked in the biblical text. New insights will be gained, a greater depth of understanding in the biblical text will be fostered, and a greater appreciation for women in the Bible will inevitably result from this unique compilation. Contributors featured in this volume have shared their papers in conference meetings at the regional or national levels at the Society of Biblical Literature or are already published authors as well as professors in biblical studies. Contributors: Lynn B.E. Jencks, Lee A. Johnson, Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge, William L. Lyons, Elizabeth A. McCabe, Julie Faith Parker, Victoria Phillips, Tammi J. Schneider, Hope Stephenson, Gail P.C. Streete
The Taming of the Demons
"The Taming of the Demons" examines mythic and ritual themes of violence, demon taming, and blood sacrifice in Tibetan Buddhism. Taking as its starting point Tibet's so-called age of fragmentation (842 to 986 C.E.), the book draws on previously unstudied manuscripts discovered in the "library cave" near Dunhuang, on the old Silk Road. These ancient documents, it argues, demonstrate how this purportedly inactive period in Tibetan history was in fact crucial to the Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism, and particularly to the spread of violent themes from tantric Buddhism into Tibet at the local and the popular levels. Having shed light on this "dark age" of Tibetan history, the second half of the book turns to how, from the late tenth century onward, the period came to play a vital symbolic role in Tibet, as a violent historical "other" against which the Tibetan Buddhist tradition defined itself.
