Today's Hours:
Queer Religiosities by
Queer Religiosities is the first comprehensive, comparative, and globally focused introduction to queer and transgender studies in religion. Addressing sophisticated topics in clear and accessible language, award-winning teacher and scholar Melissa M. Wilcox brings her engaging lecture style into conversation with the work of scholars around the globe to welcome students into these rapidly growing fields. Following an introduction to key concepts in religious studies, queer studies, and transgender studies and an overview of the history of transgender and queer studies in religion, thematic chapters address the topics of stories, conversations, practices, identities, communities, and politics and power. This inherently comparative organization helps readers to understand the details and complexities of religions, genders, and sexualities as they are lived out around the world. Additional resources include study questions, discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, a glossary, an annotated filmography, and a selected bibliography to encourage further study.
Revivals, Awakening and Reform by
In Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform, McLoughlin draws on psychohistory, sociology, and anthropology to examine the relationship between America's five great religious awakenings and their influence on five great movements for social reform in the United States. He finds that awakenings (and the revivals that are part of them) are periods of revitalization born in times of cultural stress and eventuating in drastic social reform. Awakenings are thus the means by which a people or nation creates and sustains its identity in a changing world. "This book is sensitive, thought-provoking and stimulating. It is 'must' reading for those interested in awakenings, and even though some may not revise their views as a result of McLoughlin's suggestive outline, none can remain unmoved by the insights he has provided on the subject."—Christian Century "This is one of the best books I have read all year. Professor McLoughlin has again given us a profound analysis of our culture in the midst of revivalistic trends."—Review and Expositor
The 7 Deadly Myths by
This revised and supplemented second edition features some of the author's most probing essays and speeches on antisemitism, published here for the first time. "With clarity and penetrating insight, Alex Ryvchin unravels the mystery of antisemitism... Mandatory reading for anyone concerned with the ethical fate of the human race." ― Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel The 7 Deadly Myths traces antisemitism from its earliest origins to the present day and uncovers the dangerous conspiracy theories that have corrupted reasoning and led people and nations to diabolical acts. Exploring some of the most significant events in history and uncovering little-known villains, this book answers the questions of how antisemitism takes hold, how it is transmitted and how it inspires violence to the present day. Written in a clear and compelling style, this book is essential to understanding why this ancient hatred continues to plague society, inspiring pop stars, athletes and demagogues alike. It is a crucial resource for policy makers, students and the reading public seeking to understand racism and how it can be stopped.
Belief and Cult by
A groundbreaking reinterpretation that draws on cognitive theory to show that belief wasn't absent from--but rather was at the heart of--Roman religion Belief and Cult argues that belief isn't uniquely Christian but was central to ancient Roman religion. Drawing on cognitive theory, Jacob Mackey shows that despite having nothing to do with salvation or faith, belief underlay every aspect of Roman religious practices--emotions, individual and collective cult action, ritual norms, social reality, and social power. In doing so, he also offers a thorough argument for the importance of belief to other non-Christian religions. At the individual level, the book argues, belief played an indispensable role in the genesis of cult action and religious emotion. However, belief also had a collective dimension. The cognitive theory of Shared Intentionality shows how beliefs may be shared among individuals, accounting for the existence of written, unwritten, or even unspoken ritual norms. Shared beliefs permitted the choreography of collective cult action and gave cult acts their social meanings. The book also elucidates the role of shared belief in creating and maintaining Roman social reality. Shared belief allowed the Romans to endow agents, actions, and artifacts with socio-religious status and power. In a deep sense, no man could count as an augur and no act of animal slaughter as a successful offering to the gods, unless Romans collectively shared appropriate beliefs about these things. Closely examining augury, prayer, the religious enculturation of children, and the Romans' own theories of cognition and cult, Belief and Cult promises to revolutionize the understanding of Roman religion by demonstrating that none of its features makes sense without Roman belief.
The Everyday Crusade by
What is causing the American public to move more openly into alt-right terrain? What explains the uptick in anti-immigrant hysteria, isolationism, and an increasing willingness to support alternatives to democratic governance? The Everyday Crusade provides an answer. The book points to American Religious Exceptionalism (ARE), a widely held religious nationalist ideology steeped in myth about the nation's original purpose. The book opens with a comprehensive synthesis of research on nationalism and religion in American public opinion. Making use of survey data spanning three different presidential administrations, it then develops a new theory of why Americans form extremist attitudes, based on religious exceptionalism myths. The book closes with an examination of what's next for an American public that confronts new global issues, alongside existing challenges to perceived cultural authority. Timely and enlightening, The Everyday Crusade offers a critical touchstone for better understanding American national identity and the exclusionary ideologies that have plagued the nation since its inception.
Jewels of Authority by
The essays in this collection address the problem of Hindu women's relationship to authority, both within and without the textual traditions of Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, and English. The authors adopt a method of close textual and ethnographic reading, which results in some surprisingly new and subtle ways of interpreting older, more "classical" discourses, such as Veda and Mimamsa, as well as newer discourses, such as the RSS use of the Devimahatmya.
A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century by
Nihilism - the belief that life is meaningless - is frequently associated with twentieth-century movements such as existentialism, postmodernism and Dadaism, and thought to result from the shocking experiences of the two World Wars and the Holocaust. In his rich and expansive new book, Jon Stewart shows that nihilism's beginnings in fact go back much further to the first half of the nineteenth century. He argues that the true origin of modern nihilism was the rapid development of Enlightenment science, which established a secular worldview. This radically diminished the importance of human beings so that, in the vastness of space and time, individuals now seemed completely insignificant within the universe. The author's panoramic exploration of how nihilism developed - not only in philosophy, but also in religion, poetry and literature - shows what an urgent topic it was for thinkers of all kinds, and how it has continued powerfully to shape intellectual debates ever since.
The Great Conversation by
Tracing the exchange of ideas among history's key philosophers, The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy, Ninth Edition, provides a generous selection of excerpts from major philosophical works and makes them more easily understandable to students with lucid and engagingexplanations. Extensive cross-referencing shows students how philosophers respond appreciatively or critically to the thoughts of other philosophers.The Great Conversation, Ninth Edition, is also available in two separate e-book volumes to suit your course needs:The Great Conversation: Volume I: Pre-Socratics through Descartes, Ninth EditionThe Great Conversation: Volume II: Descartes through the Twentieth Century, Ninth Edition
The Philosophy of Comics by
How do comics produce such a striking range of vibrant stories, representations, and expressions of the sensibilities of their creators? Henry John Pratt's The Philosophy of Comics provides a ground-breaking, illustrated introduction to the study of comics and graphic novels, advancing the field of comics studies by attending to some of its most notable problems. Pratt examines the history of comics, the contrast between comics and cartoons, the tenuous place of comics in the art world, and what it is to be a comic in the first place. Comics work through extensive modes of representation and expression, including through film, non-graphic literature, and theatre. Pratt examines questions such as, why and how are so many films based on comics? Can there be a perfect adaptation from one to the other? Are some comics better than others? Why is reading comics not regarded in the same light as reading literary books? Pratt urges us to look closely at the most significant problems and puzzles that comics provoke, having to do with the very nature of comics, what composes them, how comics are related to other art forms, how they function to manage space and time in storytelling, and why they've been neglected in academic circles despite being a culturally significant art form for decades. With illustrations by Kurt F. Shaffert, The Philosophy of Comics ultimately tries to explain the true underlying value of comics as an art form.
Getting Married by
Getting Married is the third and final volume on Hindu and Buddhist life-cycle rituals among the Newars of the ancient city of Bhaktapur in Nepal. It combines extensive fieldwork and the edition and translation of relevant ritual handbooks. While Handling Death, the first volume, focused on the dynamics of death and ancestor rituals, and Growing Up, the second volume, focused on the rituals of childhood, adolescence and youth (especially the male and female initiation rituals), the present volume deals with a number of rituals related to marriage. After an introductory overview of studies on marriage rituals in Nepal the authors give some basic marriage rules of Hindu and Buddhist Newars, the social topography and hierarchy, the families of the marriage partners as well as the problems of endogamy and exogamy in Bhaktapur. They present a detailed description of Hindu and Buddhist marriage rituals among Newars (which are partly documented on the DVD included in this book) and come to relevant conclusions regarding life-cycle rituals in general and the place marriage rituals occupy in Newar society and Hinduism. Furthermore the texts used by Brahmin and Buddhist priests during these rituals are edited and translated and complemented by comprehensive Appendices including a list of elements of Newar rituals and mantras as well as a mantra and general index to all three volumes. These richly illustrated books have been highly appreciated by the scholarly community as a unique attempt to provide a comprehensive ethno-indological study of all major life-cycle rituals of a certain Hindu and Buddhist community.
The Avatar Faculty by
The Avatar Faculty creatively examines the parallels between spiritual and digital activities to explore the roles that symbolic second selves--avatars--can play in our lives. The use of avatars can allow for what anthropologists call ecstasy, from the Greek ekstasis, meaning "standing outside oneself." The archaic techniques of promoting spiritual ecstasy, which remain central to religious healing traditions around the world, now also have contemporary analogues in virtual worlds found on the internet. In this innovative book, Jeffrey G. Snodgrass argues that avatars allow for the ecstatic projection of consciousness into alternate realities, potentially providing both the spiritually possessed and gamers access to superior secondary identities with elevated social standing. Even if only temporary, self-transformations of these kinds can help reduce psychosocial stress and positively improve health and well-being.
The Legacy of Rome by
A sweeping history of the Roman Empire's influence beyond its borders and through time At its height in the second century AD, the Roman Empire extended across continents, from Hadrian's border wall to the port towns of the Red Sea. But its influence spread even further, with a legacy that lasts to this day. In this brand-new analysis of the world of Rome, award-winning historian, archaeologist and broadcaster Simon Elliott sets off on a grand tour of the whole Empire, reviewing each region in turn to show how the experience of being part of the Roman world still dramatically influences our lives today. This includes far-flung Britannia - the wild west of the Roman world - whose extreme north was never conquered. Here the legacy of a lengthy period of conquest is writ large across the urban landscape and transport network, but also in present-day Britain's differential relationship with its continental neighbors. In central Europe, Emperor Diocletian created a schism that still dominates the region, while the complex struggle for dominance in the Middle East is directly linked to the world of Rome, and the boundary between North and sub-Saharan Africa still broadly follows the Roman frontier, a so-called 'limes'. Beyond the limits of Empire, Elliott concludes with a chapter reviewing how Rome has influenced other regions of the world including India, China and the United States. The result is a fascinating exploration of the reach of Rome beyond its borders and through time.
The Rhetoric of Conversion in English Puritan Writing from Perkins to Milton by
This rhetorical study of the persuasive practice of English Puritan preachers and writers demonstrates how they appeal to both reason and imagination in order to persuade their hearers and readers towards conversion, assurance of salvation and godly living. Examining works from a diverse range of preacher-writers such as William Perkins, Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter and John Bunyan, this book maps out continuities and contrasts in the theory and practice of persuasion. Tracing the emergence of Puritan allegory as an alternative, imaginative mode of rhetoric, it sheds new light on the paradoxical question of how allegories such as John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress came to be among the most significant contributions of Puritanism to the English literary canon, despite the suspicions of allegory and imagination that were endemic in Puritan culture. Concluding with reflections on how Milton deploys similar strategies to persuade his readers towards his idiosyncratic brand of godly faith, this book makes an original contribution to current scholarly conversations around the textual culture of Puritanism, the history of rhetoric, and the rhetorical character of theology.
Black Fundamentalists by
Reveals the history of Black Fundamentalists during the early part of the twentieth century As the modernist-fundamentalist controversy came to a head in the early twentieth century, an image of the "fighting fundamentalist" was imprinted on the American cultural consciousness. To this day, the word "fundamentalist" often conjures the image of a fire-breathing preacher--strident, unyielding in conviction . . . and almost always white. But did this major religious perspective really stop cold in its tracks at the color line? Black Fundamentalists challenges the idea that fundamentalism was an exclusively white phenomenon. The volume uncovers voices from the Black community that embraced the doctrinal tenets of the movement and, in many cases, explicitly self-identified as fundamentalists. Fundamentalists of the early twentieth century felt the pressing need to defend the "fundamental" doctrines of their conservative Christian faith--doctrines like biblical inerrancy, the divinity of Christ, and the virgin birth--against what they saw as the predations of modernists who represented a threat to true Christianity. Such concerns, attitudes, and arguments emerged among Black Christians as well as white, even as the oppressive hand of Jim Crow excluded African Americans from the most prominent white-controlled fundamentalist institutions and social crusades, rendering them largely invisible to scholars examining such movements. Black fundamentalists aligned closely with their white counterparts on the theological particulars of "the fundamentals." Yet they often applied their conservative theology in more progressive, racially contextualized ways. While white fundamentalists were focused on battling the teaching of evolution, Black fundamentalists were tying their conservative faith to advocacy for reforms in public education, voting rights, and the overturning of legal bans on intermarriage. Beyond the narrow confines of the fundamentalist movement, Daniel R. Bare shows how these historical dynamics illuminate larger themes, still applicable today, about how racial context influences religious expression.
Living with Hate in American Politics and Religion by
In the United States, people are deeply divided along lines of race, class, political party, gender, sexuality, and religion. Many believe that historical grievances must eventually be left behind in the interest of progress toward a more just and unified society. But too much in American history is unforgivable and cannot be forgotten. How then can we imagine a way to live together that does not expect people to let go of their entrenched resentments? Living with Hate in American Politics and Religion offers an innovative argument for the power of playfulness in popular culture to make our capacity for coexistence imaginable. Jeffrey Israel explores how people from different backgrounds can pursue justice together, even as they play with their divisive grudges, prejudices, and desires in their cultural lives. Israel calls on us to distinguish between what belongs in a raucous "domain of play" and what belongs in the domain of the political. He builds on the thought of John Rawls and Martha Nussbaum to defend the liberal tradition against challenges posed by Frantz Fanon from the left and Leo Strauss from the right. In provocative readings of Lenny Bruce's stand-up comedy, Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, and Norman Lear's All in the Family, Israel argues that postwar Jewish American popular culture offers potent and fruitful examples of playing with fraught emotions. Living with Hate in American Politics and Religion is a powerful vision of what it means to live with others without forgiving or forgetting.
Bollywood Weddings by
Bollywood Weddings examines how middle to upper class second-generation Indian-American Hindus negotiate wedding rituals, including the dating and engagement processes. Many of these couples are (in Ramdya's neologism) 'occasional Hindus' who display their Hindu religious background only on important occasions such as the rite of passage that is marriage. These couples (and their extended families) negotiate two vastly different cultures and sets of values inside a community that has itself largely pre-determined how to mix American and Indian/Hindu elements into this ritual. As a rule, the first generation organizes the wedding, which is largely Hindu, and their children coordinate the American-style reception. Instead of choosing either India or America, or arriving at a compromise in between the two, this community takes a 'both/and' approach, embracing both cultures simultaneously. Ramdya's ethnographic fieldwork includes in-depth interviews of engaged couples, observation at their wedding ceremonies, wedding videography and photography, and material culture such as the clothing her participants wore on their wedding day. She explores pre-wedding day topics such as America's Indian-Hindu marriage market and bridal industry, then goes on to describe pre-wedding and wedding-day customs including the engagement party, kanyadan, and baraat. Bollywood, whose Indian origins grants it authenticity from the Hindu perspective and whose emphasis on romance accommodates American values, emerges as the key mediating third culture around which the community applies the both/and model to wedding rituals. The both/and model uncovered here reinforces the community's identity as ethnic and American even as it confirms that success in America need not be bought at the expense of one's religious background and cultural heritage.