Communication and conversion in northern Cameroon : the Dii people and Norwegian missionaries, 1934-1960 /
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Was modern Christian mission to Africa primarily a colonial project and a civilizing mission or was it a spiritual revival spreading to new areas? This book tells the tale of the Dii people in northern Cameroon and describes their encounter with Norwegian missionaries. Through archival studies and through fieldwork among the Dii, an intriguing scenario is presented. Whereas the missionaries describe their mission as one of spiritual liberation, and the Dii highligt the social liberation they received through literacy and political independence, the author shows how both spiritual and social changes were results of captivation, miscommunication and constant negotiations between the two parties.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047430988 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
South Asians in the Diaspora, Histories and Religious Traditions.
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This volume deals with a phenomenon of increasing global significance, the South Asian diaspora. In particular it deals with the role of religion. The diversity of religious life in South Asia is remarkable and much of this diversity is replicated in the diaspora communities around the world. The case studies in this book explore and analyse the social, religious and cultural reality of people in the diaspora belonging to Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism and originating from four of the South Asian nation states (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). The book highlights the religious diversity that exists in the diaspora communities both across the traditions and within the particular religions.
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1 online resource. :
9789047401407
Intersecting Religion and Sexuality : Sociological Perspectives /
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This edited collection, Intersecting Religion and Sexuality: Sociological Perspectives , outlines what an intersectional analysis can offer research into religion and sexuality. It draws on various research projects which focus on different facets of this topic, such as queer sexualities, unmarried motherhood and heterosexuality, to explore how religion and sexuality intersect with each other, and with other identities such as ethnicity, gender and social class. Given the predominantly heteronormative nature of many religious traditions, marginality, power dynamics and inequalities are central to these interrogations. Intersectionality is an important theoretical lens through which to explore identities that are variously impacted by particular power dynamics and axes of privilege and disadvantage.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004390713
9789004372474
The hagiographical experiment : developing discourses of sainthood /
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"The Hagiographical Experiment: Developing Discourses of Sainthood throws fresh light on narratives about Christian holy men and women from Late Antiquity to Byzantium. Rather than focusing on the relationship between story and reality, it asks what literary choices authors made in depicting their heroes and heroines: how they positioned the narrator, how they responded to existing texts, how they utilised or transcended genre conventions for their own purposes, and how they sought to relate to their audiences. The literary focus of the chapters assembled here showcases the diversity of hagiographical texts written in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac, as well as pointing out the ongoing conversations that connect them. By asking these questions of this diverse group of texts, it illuminates the literary development of hagiography in the late antique, Byzantine, and medieval periods".
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004421332
Africas of the Americas : beyond the search for origins in the study of Afro-Atlantic religions /
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The anthropology and history of African American religious formations has long been dominated by approaches aiming to recover and authenticate the historical transatlantic continuities linking such traditions to identifiable African source cultures. While not denying such continuities, the contributors to this volume seek to transcend this research agenda by bracketing "Africa" and "African pasts" as objective givens, and asking instead what role notions of "Africanity" and "pastfulness" play in the social and ritual lives of historical and contemporary practitioners of Afro-Atlantic religious formations. The volume's goal is to open up contextually salient claims to "African origins" to empirical scrutiny, and so contribute to a broadening of the terms of debate in Afro-Atlantic studies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047432708 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Interpreting interreligious relations with Wittgenstein : philosophy, theology, and religious studies /
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This volume argues that Wittgenstein's philosophy of religion and his thought in general continue to be highly relevant for present and future research on interreligious relations. Spanning several (sub)disciplines - from philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, comparative philosophy, comparative theology, to religious studies - the contributions engage with recent developments in interpretation of Wittgenstein and those in the philosophy and theology of interreligious encounter. The book shows that there is an important and under-explored potential for constructive and fruitful engagement between these academic fields. It explores, and attempts to realize, some of this potential by involving both philosophers and theologians, and critically assesses previous applications of Wittgenstein's work in interreligious studies. Contributors are Gorazd Andrejč, Guy Bennett-Hunter, Mikel Burley, Thomas D. Carroll, Paul Cortois, Rhiannon Grant, Randy Ramal, Klaus von Stosch, Varja Štrajn, Nuno Venturinha, Sebastjan Vörös and Daniel H. Weiss.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004408050
Indigenous peoples and religious change /
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This book explores a range of societies in and around the Pacific and southern Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that encountered religions introduced from elsewhere, or fashioned their own responses to already established religious traditions. These changes observed through the responses of the receiving societies indicate that religious change is a creative dynamic, rather than a passive acceptance of new ideas, beliefs and practices. While change is often triggered by the introduction of new understandings, it can only become entrenched within a community when it takes on meaning for individuals, and becomes embedded within the social and cultural life of the community.
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1 online resource (x, 262 pages) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-251) and index. :
9789047405559 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religions challenged by contingency : theological and philosophical approaches to the problem of contingency /
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In this volume, the relationship between religion and contingency is investigated. Its historical part comprises analyses of important philosophers' interpretations of this relationship, viz. that of Leibniz, Kant, Lessing, Jaspers, and Heidegger. Its systematic part analyses how this relationship should be currently (re-)interpreted. The upshot of the different interpretations is a re-evaluation of the traditional assumption that accepting contingency is detrimental to the pursuit of religion. It is shown that a number of the philosophers scrutinized are not as critical regarding the acceptance of (certain sorts of) contingency in the religious realm as is often thought, and the systematic contributions show that it may be unavoidable, sometimes even desirable, to accept contingency when dealing with religion. Contributors include: Lieven Boeve, Wim Drees, Joris Geldhof, Dirk-Martin Grube, Frans Jespers, Peter Jonkers, Donald Loose, Ben Vedder, Henk Vroom.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047433583 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Myths, martyrs, and modernity : studies in the history of religions in honour of Jan N. Bremmer /
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This volume in honour of Jan N. Bremmer contains the contributions of numerous students, colleagues, and friends offered to him on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Throughout his career, Bremmer has distinguished himself as an internationally renowned scholar of religion both past and present, including first and foremost Greek and Roman religion, but also early Christianity and post-classical developments in religion and spirituality. In line with these three main areas of Bremmer's research, the volume is divided into three parts, bringing together contributions from distinguished scholars in many fields. The result is a diverse book which provides a broad spectrum of original ideas and innovative approaches in the history of religions, thus reflecting the nature of the scholarship of Bremmer himself.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004193659 :
0169-8834 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Constructing irregular theology : bamboo and Minjung in East Asian perspective /
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The project of constructing Asian irregular theology in East Asian perspective, based on life-word of Bamboo and social political reality of minjung, embraces Dr. Chung's cross-cultural existence as he develops his long-standing interest and expertise in Christian minjung theology in new ways with the image of bamboo as a symbol for the theological perspective of grass roots marginality. Using the ancient Chinese story "The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove," Dr. Chung engages with Christian eschatological discourse to support an aesthetical-utopian theological ethics that is opposed to an ethics concerned with legitimation of a socio-economic status quo. In addition, Dr. Chung's develops his deep commitment to the Lutheran theology of the cross and the suffering Christ through the Buddhist concept of dukkha (suffering) to create, in the end, a genuinely East Asian contextual theology
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-223) and index. :
9789047444497 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Interreligious hermeneutics in pluralistic Europe : between texts and people /
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At the second major conference held in Salzburg in 2009 of The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies (ESITIS), participants probed the broad theme of 'interreligious hermeneutics in a pluralistic Europe'. Due to the phenomenon of an increasingly plural Europe, questions arise about how we see each other's cultural heritage, religious traditions and sacred scriptures. Following the discussions that took place at the conference, this book focuses on the usage of texts in our global and mass media world, the possibility of 'scriptural reasoning', the theological comparison of selected topics from religious traditions by scholars belonging to multiple religions or interreligious communities of scholars, the pragmatics of using sacred texts in social contexts of family and gender, polemical attacks on the other's sacred text and the challenge to interreligious hermeneutics of the postcolonial deconstruction of religion by cultural studies. The future of interreligious hermeneutics is going to be complex. This book exhibits the multiple agendas - power, gender, postcolonialism, globalisation, dialogue, tradition, polemics - that will have a stake in these future debates.
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Book inspired by discussions after the second conference of the European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies held in Salzburg, Austria, April 15-17, 2009. :
1 online resource (x, 449 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401200370 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The wisdom of Egypt : Jewish, early Christian, and gnostic essays in honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen /
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This collection of essays gives a vivid impression of Egypt as background and stage of Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic thought and life in antiquity. It demonstrates Egypt's important role in the history, literature and culture of these religions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 537-547) and indexes. :
9789004331013 :
0169-734X = :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The unheard prayer : religious toleration in Shakespeare's drama /
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Titus shoots his arrows bearing petitions for justice to the gods; Claudius asks 'what form of prayer can serve my turn?'; Lear wishes he could crack the vault of heaven with his prayers. Again and again, Shakespeare dramatises the scenario of the unheard prayer, in which the one who prays does so full well in the knowledge that no one is listening, interested, or even there at all. The scenario is keyed to the anxieties that surrounded the act of praying itself, so full as it was with controversy, the centrepiece of sectarian dispute over what was good and bad religion. This study reads the unheard prayer scenario as itself an appeal for a vision of tolerance, unobtainable perhaps, but nevertheless desired and imagined.
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1 online resource (xxxi, 187 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004230064 :
1877-3192 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religious transformation in modern Asia : a transnational movement /
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This volume explores the religious transformation of each nation in modern Asia. When the Asian people, who were not only diverse in culture and history, but also active in performing local traditions and religions, experienced a socio-political change under the wave of Western colonialism, the religious climate was also altered from a transnational perspective. Part One explores the nationals of China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, focusing on the manifestations of Japanese religion, Chinese foreign policy, the British educational system in Hong Kong in relation to Tibetan Buddhism, the Korean women of Catholicism, and the Scottish impact in late nineteenth century Korea. Part Two approaches South Asia through the topics of astrology, the works of a Gujarātī saint, and Himalayan Buddhism. The third part is focused on the conflicts between 'indigenous religions and colonialism,' 'Buddhism and Christianity,' 'Islam and imperialism,' and 'Hinduism and Christianity' in Southeast Asia.
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1 online resource (xxxiii, 304 pages) : color illustrations, color map. :
Includes bibliographical referenced and index. :
9789004289710 :
0169-8834 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Research in the social scientific study of religion.
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Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion publishes empirical and theoretical studies of religion from a wide range of disciplines and from all parts of the globe. A special section is devoted to the issue of psychological type and religion and especially how psychological type can increase our understanding of Christian ministry. Alongside this section are papers presenting studies on subjects such as civic participation, suffering with God, and spirituality. Together these papers represent important contributions that advance theory and evidence in a number of different fields of contemporary relevance to the study of religion.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004216471 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity : text and context /
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The question of the origins of Christianity is a theme still discussed in historical research. This book investigates the relations between the Rabbinic Judaism and the Primitive Christianity. It studies the factors of influences, the polemics in the texts and factors of mutual conceptions between two new movements: Rabbinical Judaism and Primitive Christianity. Finally it offers an analysis of the perception of Christianity in the corpus of talmudic literature. La question des origines du christianisme est un thème encore débattu par la recherche historique. Cet ouvrage choisi d'explorer les relations entre le judaïsme rabbinique et le christianisme primitif. Il étudie les facteurs d'influences, les polémiques dont témoignent les textes et les emprunts réciproques entre les deux mouvements naissant : le judaïsme rabbinique et le christiansime primitif. Il propose également une analyse sur la perception du christianisme à l'oeuvre dans la littérature talmudique.
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"This volume emerged from the symposium held at Paris in March 2007 on the theme 'Rome, Athens or Jerusalem. Where does Christianity come from?' under the auspices of the Alliance Israelite Universelle" -- Introd. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004190627 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Study of Religion in Southern Africa, Essays in Honour of G.C. Oosthuizen.
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This collection of essays is brought together in the honour of Gerhardus Cornelis (Pippin) Oosthuizen on his eighty third birthday. Pippin has been one of the most significant religion researchers and prolific Humanities publishers South Africa has ever produced. Among his friends and colleagues are some of the most important scholars of religion in South Africa and elsewhere. With his critical acumen and insightful understanding of the ebb and flow of the South African socio-political landscape of the last fifty-odd years, he has been a distinguished leader in research and has been honoured with Honorary doctorates from South Africa's leading universities. This collection constitutes a small token of appreciation for his more than fifty years in academia and his academic leadership.
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1 online resource. :
9789047407492
Messias Puer: Christian Knorr von Rosenroth's Lost Exegesis of Kabbalistic Christianity : Editio princeps plena with Translation and Introduction /
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Previously considered irretrievably lost, the discovery of the only manuscript of the Messias Puer composed by Knorr von Rosenroth, the leading exponent of Christian Kabbalah in the seventeenth century, gives us an important insight into the evolution of his thought and specific vision of the relations between Jews and Christians. Moreover, the subtle intertwining of both Kabbalah and the emerging biblical criticism at work in this partial commentary on the New Testament Gospels sheds new light on the largely unexplored role of Esotericism during the Modern Era in the construction of the future study of religion. This book includes a critical edition of the original manuscript and an annotated translation.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004443426
9789004426481
Further studies on Mesopotamian witchcraft beliefs and literature /
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"Among the most important sources for understanding the cultures, religions, and systems of thought of ancient Mesopotamia is the large corpus of magical and medical texts directed against witchcraft. The most important of these texts is the Akkadian series Maqlû ("Burning"). This volume offers a collection of studies on Mesopotamian witchcraft and Maqlû written subsequent to the appearance of the author's 2002 collection of studies on witchcraft (Brill, 2002). Many of the studies reprinted here take a diachronic approach to individual incantations and rituals and attempt to solve textual difficulties using literary-critical and/or text-critical approaches".
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004421912