Coping with Evil in Religion and Culture : Case Studies /
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The various Christian, Muslim, traditional (African), and secular (Western) ways of imagining and coping with evil collected in this volume have several things in common. The most crucial perhaps and certainly the most striking aspect is the problem of defining the nature or characteristics of evil as such. Some argue that evil has an essence that remains constant, whereas others say its interpretation depends on time and place. However much religious and secular interpretations of evil may have changed, the human search for sense and meaning never ends. Questions of whom to blame and whom to address-God, the devil, fate, bad luck, or humans-remain at the center of our explanations and our strategies to comprehend, define, counter, or process the evil we do and the evil done to us by people, God, nature, or accident. Using approaches from cultural anthropology, religious studies, theology, philosophy, psychology, and history, the contributors to this volume analyze how several religious and secular traditions imagine and cope with evil.
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"This volume is part of the project on The problem of evil in religious traditions: origins, forms and coping, organized in cooperation with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Royal Tropical Institute at Amsterdam on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Vrije Universiteit and the exhibition "Religion & evil" in the Tropenmuseum (Amsterdam Museum of Tropical Ethnology)"--Title page verso. :
1 online resource (266 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401205375 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion and Coping in Mental Health Care /
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Joseph Pieper and Marinus van Uden have proposed a book consisting of previously published papers on the topics of religion, coping, and mental health care. It covers quite a bit of territory: the complex relationships between religion and mental health, surveys that present the views of therapists and patients about the interface between religion and mental health, a case study of a religious patient struggling with psychological problems, empirical studies of religious coping among various groups, and a method for teaching the clinical psychology of religion. Although the papers are diverse, they are unified by several themes. First, the papers convey a balanced approach to religion and psychology. They speak to the potentially positive and negative contributions religion can make to health and well-being. Second, several of the papers focus on the role of religious coping among patients in the Netherlands. This focus is noteworthy since the large majority of this theory and research has been limited to the USA. Third, they underscore the value of a cross-cultural approach to the field. Their surveys point to the importance of religious/worldview perspectives to many patients (and therapists) in the Netherlands, even though the culture is more secularised than the USA. However, their papers also suggest that the manifestation of these religious/worldview perspectives may take different shape in the Netherlands. Fourth, the papers have clinical relevance. The case history of the obsessive-compulsive patient by Van Uden (ch. 4) contains an excellent example of the way in which religious resources can be accessed to counter dysfunctional behaviours. This volume shows initial effort in a newly emerging area of study. It is encouraging to see a significant body of research and practice on the psychology of religion and coping coming out of the Netherlands. It could stimulate further advances in a more cross-culturally sensitive, clinical psychology of religion. - Kenneth Pargament, Professor of Psychology, Bowling Green State University in Ohio, USA.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401202954
9789042019973
Coping with violence in the New Testament /
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Violence is present in the very heart of religion and its sacred traditions - also of Christianity and the Bible. The problem, however, is not only that violence is ingrained in the mere existence of religions with their sacred traditions. It is equally problematic to realise that the icy grip of violence on the sacred has gone unnoticed and unchallenged for a very long time. The present publication aims to contribute to the recent scholarly debate about the interconnections between violence and monotheistic religions by analysing the role of violence in the New Testament as well as by offering some hermeneutical perspectives on violence as it is articulated in the earliest Christian writings. Contributors include: Andries G. van Aarde, Paul Decock, Pieter G.R. de Villiers, Ernest van Eck, Jan Willem van Henten, Rob van Houwelingen, Kobus Kok, Tobias Nicklas, Jeremy Punt, Jan G. van der Watt, and Wim Weren.
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Proceedings of a conference held Jan. 21-23, 2008 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. :
1 online resource (x, 305 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004221055 :
1566-208X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
AIDS and religious practice in Africa /
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This volume explores how AIDS is understood, confronted and lived with through religious ideas and practices, and how these, in turn, are reinterpreted and changed by the experience of AIDS. Examining the social production, and productivity, of AIDS - linking bodily and spiritual experiences, and religious, medical, political and economic discourses - the papers counter simplified notions of causal effects of AIDS on religion (or vice versa). Instead, they display people's resourcefulness in their struggle to move ahead in spite of adversity. This relativises the vision of doom widely associated with the African AIDS epidemic; and it allows to see AIDS, instead of a singular event, as the culmination of a century-long process of changing livelihoods, bodily well-being and spiritual imaginaries.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047442691 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Wrestling with God and with evil : philosophical reflections /
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The fact of evil continues to raises questions - questions about the relationship between God and evil but also questions about human involvement in it. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is now time to see the existence of evil not just as a problem for belief in God; it is a problem for belief in humanity itself as well. For human involvement in evil is not simply a matter of coping with evil but also concerns the fact that humans themselves often seem to do wrong and evil inevitably. Human finitude, ignorance and the unforeseeable consequences of good intentions as well as of neglect can often lead to tragedy. This volume contains contributions from an equal number of male and female scholars in Western Europe and America. It contains discussions of thinkers like Kant, Kierkegaard, Barth, Weil, Levinas, Naber, Caputo and Johnson. It deals with issues like tragedy, finitude, critiques of Western culture, violence and God, and the question of whether theodicies are needed or are even honest. This volume offers an interesting survey of 'wrestling with God and evil' from a variety of perspectives in the philosophy of religion on both sides of the Atlantic.
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International conference proceedings.
This volume is part of the project on The problem of evil in religious traditions: origins, forms and coping, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Vrije Universiteit and the exhibition "Religion & Evil" in the Tropenmuseum. :
1 online resource (240 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789401204019 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Toward a sociological theory of religion and health
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Driven by funding agencies, empirical research in the social scientific study of health and medicine has grown in quantity and developed in quality. When it became evident, in what is now a tradition of inquiry, that people's religious activities had significant health consequences, a portion of that body of work began to focus more frequently on the relationship between health and religion. The field has reached a point where book-length summaries of empirical findings, especially those pertinent to older people, can identify independent, mediating, and dependent variables of interest. Every mediating variable, even if considered as a "control" variable, represents an explanation, a small theory of some kind. However, taken in granular form, as it were, the multiple theories do not comprise mid-level theory, let alone a general theoretical framework. This volume seeks to move toward more general theoretical development.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004210844 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Undocumented Migration as a Theologizing Experience : Religious Stories Korean American Dreamers Tell in the Face of Uncertainty /
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In Undocumented Migration as a Theologizing Experience , Eunil David Cho examines how Korean American undocumented young adults tell religious stories to cope with the violence of uncertainty and construct new meanings for themselves. Based on in-depth interviews guided by narrative inquiry, the book follows the stories of ten Korean American DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients who have found their lives in limbo. While many experience narrative foreclosure, believing "My story is over," Cho highlights how telling religious stories enables them to imagine and create new stories for themselves not as shunned outsiders, but as beloved children of God.
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1 online resource (219 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004704053
Islamic traditions and Muslim youth in Norway /
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A major question regarding Islam in Europe concerns the religiosity of "Muslim youth" - a category currently epitomizing both the fears and hopes of multicultural Europe. How are Islamic traditions engaged and reworked by young people, born and educated in European societies, and which modes of religiosity will they shape in the future? Providing an in-depth ethnographic account from Norway, this book engages comparative research on Islam and young Muslims from across Europe, focusing on Islamic revitalization, Muslim identity politics, changing configurations of religious authority, and the formation of gendered religious subjectivities. The author discusses anthropological and other social science theorizing in order to examine religious continuities and discontinuities in a context of international migration, globalization, and secular modernity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047441250 :
1570-7571 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Research in the social scientific study of religion.
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RSSSR continues to offer a place for the publication of theoretical and empirical papers related to the broad area of how the social sciences understand religion. Two papers in the general section add important contributions to the fields of faith development and spirituality. The use of special sections has enabled particular topics to be dealt with in detail and shows how information that is gathered incrementally can help make great advances in a field. Spirituality, alongside religion, features as the key independent variable in many of the nine papers of the special section in this volume. Social scientific approaches have sought to show links between the experiences of health, well-being or disease, and individual differences in religiosity and/or spirituality.
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1 online resource (xii, 368 pages) :
9789004252073 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Orthodoxy, liberalism, and adaptation : essays on ways of worldmaking in times of change from biblical, historical, and systematic perspectives /
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How does religion cope with changing situations? Are orthodoxy and liberalism really competing strategies? The essays in this volume argue three views. (1)Orthodoxy is not to be seen as the real and original form of a given religion, but as an idealized original form that should be construed as a construction in reaction to changes in time. (2) Over the ages, liberalism - despite its laudable strive for adaptation - has been less successful than generally assumed. This lesson from history can be quite important in view of the adaptation processes for Muslims in Western Europe. (3) Of great importance for the survival of religion seems to be a clear definition of the boundaries of religiously informed practices and ethics. Their recognisability and authenticity shall - when combined with a due lack of obtrusion - be of great influence for the ongoing acceptance of religion(s) in the public domain.
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Proceedings of a symposium held in Feb. 2008 at the Conference Centre "Bovendonck" in southern Netherlands. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. :
9789004209848 :
1566-208X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The concept of religion : defining and measuring contemporary beliefs and practices /
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In The Concept of Religion Hans Schilderman edits a volume on the definition and empirical study of religion within the changing landscape of modern society. Now that we can no longer assume a simple harmony between the scientific concept of religion, church doctrine and practiced belief, issues concerning the definition and measurement of religion are becoming crucial issues to academic institutions. The contributing authors present empirical studies studying issues of lifespan and socialisation at school settings; of vocation and profession at church and hospital settings; and culture and nation of society at large. The volume offers a beautiful sample of the empirical study of religion; a conceptual and illustrative overview of the academic field for students and scholars in religion.
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1 online resource (198 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004299320 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Extreme Klimaereignisse und Hungerkatastrophen in den Prophetenbüchern /
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Extreme Klimaereignisse und Hungerkatastrophen zählen zu den kontinuierlichsten Problemen, mit denen sich Menschen durch alle Zeiten hindurch auseinandersetzen mussten. Gleichzeitig sind sie eng verflochten mit zeitlichen, räumlichen und gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen. Mit Methoden der historischen Hungerforschung und dem da etablierten Vulnerabiltitätskonzept werden die Texte der Hebräischen Bibel danach befragt, wie die Menschen extreme Klimaereignisse wahrgenommen, gedeutet und bewältigt haben. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Texte nie einfache, monokausale Erklärungen bereithalten, sondern sich auf eine Reihe von unterschiedlichen, teilweise widersprüchlichen Aussagen stützen. Gott, Mensch und Natur erscheinen in dieser Vorstellung als Akteure, die miteinander agieren und die Katastrophe gleichermaßen mitverantworten. Extreme climate events and famines are among the most continuous problems that humans have had to deal with throughout the ages. At the same time, they are closely intertwined with temporal, spatial and social conditions. Using methods of historical hunger research and the established concept of vulnerability, this study examines the texts of the Hebrew Bible to determine how people perceived, interpreted and coped with extreme climate events. In doing so, it becomes apparent that the texts never provide simple, monocausal explanations, but rely on a number of different, sometimes contradictory statements. God, humans and nature appear in this conception as actors who interact with each other and share equal responsibility for the catastrophe.
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1 online resource (640 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004526723
9789004526853
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. This volume has a special section on Islam and Mental Health, an important and neglected area of study. The section draws on work, from six countries, that have applied different theoretical frameworks and empirical methods to examine the link between religion, psychology, and health in very diverse Muslim communities. Other articles examine topics as diverse as spirituality, psychological health, conversion, and the cultural psychology of religion. Disciplines represented include those that draw on qualitative, quantitative, and theoretical methods of study which together represent an important contribution to the contemporary study of religion.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047429067 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Research in the social scientific study of religion.
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The 25th volume of Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion continues to provide readers with an interdisciplinary assortment of high quality research studies aimed at capturing salient, contemporary trends in the field. The current volume presents a special section examining the role of spiritual and religious themes in sexuality research. Engaging analyses evaluate homonegativity and how religious advocacy influences perceptions of gay and lesbian individuals across different cultures. Also included are papers on the development of sexual identities among religious committed individuals. These papers help to connect concepts too frequently considered unrelated. The regular articles provide similarly stimulating evaluations of timely topics such as religious coping, gratitude, and the role of personality in describing religious experiences.
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1 online resource (xxi, 264 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004272385 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Research in the social scientific study of religion.
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This volume includes a wide range of papers that explore individual and institutional aspects of religion from a social-science perspective. The special section has articles from research groups in Europe, the USA and Australia on clergy work-related psychological health, stress, burnout and coping strategies. The general papers include studies on coping strategies among Buddhists, gender differences in response to church decline, teenage participation in religion, social capital among Friends of Cathedrals, psychological profiles of clergy, education effects on Roman Catholic deacons, and an analysis of prayer requests. Together these papers form a valuable collection indicating the depth and vibrancy of research in these fields.
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1 online resource (xviii, 311 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004299436 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 30 /
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The 30th volume of Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion consists of two special sections, as well as two separate empirical studies on attachment and daily spiritual practices. The first special section deals with the social scientific study of religion in Indonesia. Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country whose history and contemporary involvement in the study of religion is explored from both sociological and psychological perspectives. The second special section is on the Pope Francis effect: the challenges of modernization in the Catholic church and the global impact of Pope Francis. While its focus is mainly on the Catholic religion, the internal dynamics and geopolitics explored apply more broadly.
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1 online resource. :
9789004416987
9789004414747
Simon Dubnow's "new Judaism" : diaspora, nationalism and the world history of the Jews /
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In this volume Robert Seltzer examines Simon Dubnow (1860-1941) as the most eminent East European Jewish historian of his day and a spokesperson for his people, setting out to define their identity in the future based on his understanding of their past. Rejecting Zionism and Jewish socialism espoused by contemporaries, he argued in "Letter on Old and New Judaism" that the Jews of the diaspora constituted a distinctive nationality deserving cultural autonomy in the liberal multi-national state he hoped would emerge in Russia. Seltzer traces the young Dubnow's personal encounter with European intellectual currents that led him from the traditional shtetl world to a non-religious conception of Jewishness that resonated beyond Tsarist Russia.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004260672 :
1873-9008 ;
Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32 : Lesser Heard Voices in Studies of Religion /
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The present volume brings together scholars from all over the world in an open section and three special sections that explore how lesser-heard and unheard voices may be studied. Special section 1, Religion in Higher Education interrogates lived experiences of religion in higher education contexts and how certain voices are marginalised and minoritised. Special section 2, Cultural Blindness in Psychology, explores how culture as a lived experience, especially in its religious dimension, is rendered invisible in psychological science. Finally, special section 3 entitled Religious Authority in Practice in Contemporary Evangelical, Charismatic, and Pentecostal Christianity outlines "evangelicalism" and introduces "authority" as a sociological concept from various theoretical perspectives.
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The present volume explores lesser-heard and unheard issues in the study of religion. Among other things, lived experiences of religion in higher education are interrogated; culture is studied as lived experience; and "evangelicalism" is outlined as an emic and etic concept. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004505315
9789004505308
Islam, Muslims, and COVID-19 : The Intersection of Ethics, Health and Social Life in the Diaspora /
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This volume brings together diverse disciplinary perspectives to provide a multidisciplinary and multidimensional account of Muslim ethics operating in the COVID-19 era, where scriptural values, lived experiences, societal structures, and cultural contexts combine in fresh and diverse ways. Indeed, Islamic ethical evaluation often ignores contributions from the social sciences, and contextual factors are not fully understood when issuing Islamic edicts. This volume thus aims at a more connected account of how religious concerns generated challenges and how Muslims lived out their religious values during the pandemic. Alongside descriptive accounts are normative evaluations, and insights from interviews are connected with survey analyses; in this way, the chapters render a more complete account of the intersectional engagement of Muslim healthcare professionals and community members living in minority contexts with the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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1 online resource (320 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004679771
Envisioning Magic, A Princeton Seminar and Symposium.
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This collection of twelve articles presents a selection of papers delivered in the course of a seminar 1994-95 and its concluding international symposium at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The common theme is the interrelation between magic and religion, focussing particularly on the Mediterranean world in Antiquity - Egyptian, Graeco-Roman and Jewish beliefs and customs - but also treating the early modern period in Northern Europe (the Netherlands and Germany) as well as offering more general reflections on elements of magic in language and Jewish mysticism. The volume is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and the use of varied methodologies, emphasizing the dynamic nature of the often contradictory forces shaping religious beliefs and practices, while dismissing the idea of a linear development from magic to religion or vice versa. The contributors are outstanding scholars in their fields: Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Classical Studies, Early Christianity, Islamic Studies, Anthropology, Egyptology and Comparative Literature. Without a doubt this re-evaluation of a fascinating age-old subject will stimulate scholarly discussion and appeal to educated non-specialist readers as well.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378971