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Violence and New Religious Movements
by James R. LewisThe relationship between new religious movements (NRMs) and violence has long been a topic of intense public interest--an interest heavily fueled by multiple incidents of mass violence involving certain groups. Some of these incidents have made international headlines. When New Religious Movements make the news, it's usually because of some violent episode. Some of the most famous NRMs are known much more for the violent way they came to an end than for anything else. Violence and New Religious Movements offers a comprehensive examination of violence by-and against-new religious movements. The book begins with theoretical essays on the relationship between violence and NRMs and then moves on to examine particular groups. There are essays on the "Big Five"--the most well-known cases of violent incidents involving NRMs: Jonestown, Waco, Solar Temple, the Aum Shunrikyo subway attack, and the Heaven's Gate suicides. But the book also provides a richer survey by examining a host of lesser-known groups. This volume is the culmination of decades of research by scholars of New Religious Movements.
The Invention of Satanism
by James R. Lewis Asbjorn Dyrendal Jesper Aa. PetersenSatanism is a complex phenomenon that has often been the source of controversy across social and rhetorical contexts. Some consider it the root of all evil. Others see it as a childish form of rebellion or as a misapplication of serious esoteric beliefs and practices. Still others consider it a specific religion or philosophy that serves as a form of personal and collective identity. In The Invention of Satanism, three experts explore Satanism as a contemporary movement that is in continuous dialogue with popular culture, and which provides a breeding ground for other new religious movements. By shifting the focus from mythology to meaning-making, this book examines the invention of Satanism among self-declared religious Satanists. Like all ideologists and believers, Satanists incorporate, borrow, and modify elements from other traditions; the authors investigate how traditional folklore and prior strands of occultism were synthesized by Anton LaVey in his founding of the Church of Satan and creation of the Satanic Bible. Later chapters discuss contemporary Satanist subcultures, demonstrating how Satanism continues to reinvent itself despite its brief history as an organized phenomenon. There are now numerous forms of Satanism with distinctive interpretations of what being a Satanist entails, with some of these new versions deviating more from the historical "mainstream" than others. In this fascinating account of a seemingly arcane and often-feared movement, Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen demonstrate that the invention of Satanism is an ongoing, ever-evolving process.
Sexuality and New Religious Movements (Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities)
by James R. Lewis Edited by Henrik BogdanIssues relating to sexuality, eroticism and gender are often connected to religious beliefs and practices, but also to prejudices against and fear of religious groups that adopt alternative approaches to sexuality. This is especially apparent in connection with new religious movements, which many times find themselves accused by the media and anti-cultists of promoting illicit and controversial views on sexuality. This anthology aims to critically investigate the role of sexuality in a number of new religious movements, including Mormon fundamentalist communities, the Branch Davidians, the Osho movement, the Raël movement, contemporary Wicca and Satanism, in addition to the teachings of Adidam and Gurdjieff on sexuality.
Nordic Neoshamanisms (Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities)
by James R. Lewis Siv Ellen Kraft Trude FonnelandThis book proposes that the drive for religiosity and experiences of the sacred are far from lost in contemporary western societies. The contributors' objective is to explore the myriad of ways late modern shamanism is becoming more vital and personally significant to people, communities, and economies in Nordic countries.
Global Media Apocalypse: Pleasure, Violence and the Cultural Imaginings of Doom
by Jeff LewisThe modern world seems trapped between fantasies of infinite pleasure and the prospects of total global catastrophe. Global Media Apocalypse explores these contrary imaginings through an evolving cultural ecology of violence. Articulated through the global media, these apocalyptic fantasies express a profoundly human condition of crisis.
The Architecture of Medieval Churches: Theology of Love in Practice (Routledge Research in Architecture)
by John A.H. LewisThe Architecture of Medieval Churches investigates the impact of affective theology on architecture and artefacts, focusing on the Middle Ages as a period of high achievement of this synthesis. It explores aspects of medieval church and cathedral architecture in relation to the contemporary metaphysics and theology, which articulated an integrated theocentric culture, architecture, and art. Three modes of attention: comprehension, instruction, and contemplation, informed the builders’ intuition and intention. The book’s central premise reasons that love for God was the critical force in the creation of vernacular church architecture, using a selection of medieval writings to provide a unique critique of the genius of architecture and art during this period. An interdisciplinary study between architecture, theology, and philosophy, it will appeal to academics and researchers in these fields.
The Architecture of Medieval Churches: Theology of Love in Practice (Routledge Research in Architecture)
by John A.H. LewisThe Architecture of Medieval Churches investigates the impact of affective theology on architecture and artefacts, focusing on the Middle Ages as a period of high achievement of this synthesis. It explores aspects of medieval church and cathedral architecture in relation to the contemporary metaphysics and theology, which articulated an integrated theocentric culture, architecture, and art. Three modes of attention: comprehension, instruction, and contemplation, informed the builders’ intuition and intention. The book’s central premise reasons that love for God was the critical force in the creation of vernacular church architecture, using a selection of medieval writings to provide a unique critique of the genius of architecture and art during this period. An interdisciplinary study between architecture, theology, and philosophy, it will appeal to academics and researchers in these fields.
Looking for Life: Looking For Life: The Role Of 'theo-ethical Reasoning' In Paul's Religion (The Library of New Testament Studies #291)
by John G. LewisThrough exegetical studies of 1 Corinthians and Galatians, John Lewis shows how Paul synthesises theology and ethics - which interpreters frequently separate - as integrated aspects of Christian thinking and living. This fusion becomes evident in Paul's complex process of theological, moral reasoning that lies beneath the surface of his letters for which we have coined the phrase 'theo-ethical reasoning'. The book also examines how Paul encourages his churches to apply this theo-ethical reasoning in the community practice of spiritual discernment - a dialogical, comparative process of reasoned reflection on behaviour and experience. Through this practice of looking for life, community members are led by the Spirit as they reason together, attempting to associate the manifestations of new life with conduct that faithfully portrays Christ's self-giving pattern. This correlation of conduct with experience grounds Paul's own proclamation of Jesus Christ in word and deed. It also becomes the foundation for believers' faith and hope as they come to know Christ and experience the power of God. Thus, the book concludes that the practice of spiritual discernment by means of theo-ethical reasoning lies at the centre of Paul's religion.
Lonesome: The Spiritual Meanings of American Solitude (Library of Modern Religion)
by Kevin LewisThere is another loneliness', wrote the American poet Emily Dickinson: 'Not want of friend occasions it, but nature sometimes, sometimes thought'. For Kevin Lewis, that 'other loneliness' is uniquely expressive of a rich and resonant state of being that is distinctive to the American psyche as well as central to the mythology of America itself. He calls this state of being 'lonesomeness'. It evokes the luminous landscapes of the West and the cathedral-like space of the Great Plains. It lies at the root of personal identity and is inseparable from notions of personal discovery and of communion with the varied topography of the United States, whether it be rural hinterland or industrial urban rustbelt. In this continuously stimulating reflection, Kevin Lewis explores - in religion, poetry, fiction, country songwriting and art - the multiple meanings of that peculiarly American notion of solitariness. Discussing quintessential American writers like Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac and Ernest Hemingway - creative artists who have all embraced positive conceptions of solitude and wilderness - Lewis finds the apex of American lonesomeness in the melancholic and reflective paintings of Edward Hopper. Lewis argues that in expressive works like Nighthawks, Hotel Room and Morning Sun one sees Hopper's solitude redeemed by 'something more': by the notion that in isolation the individual may yet be touched by transcendence. Kevin Lewis argues that those echoes of 'something else' reveal a great deal about the American character that we would do well to heed, as well as deep rooted cultural attitudes towards religion, individualism and self-belief
Remembering Conquest: Feminist/Womanist Perspectives on Religion, Colonization, and Sexual Violence
by Nantawan B LewisRemembering Conquest: Feminist/Womanist Perspectives on Religion, Colonization, and Sexual Violence addresses the issue of sexual violence against women from feminist and womanist theological perspectives. Taken from proceedings of a panel discussion at the 1998 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, this informative book offers sociologists, clergy, and women an examination of how negative stereotypes in society are derived from Christian perspectives and other religions. Exploring abuse against Native American, African- American, Filipino, and Thai women, Remembering Conquest will help you recognize the combination of issues that lead to violence against women. Thorough and compelling, this valuable book will urge you to advocate for change in how religious groups interpret women so that religion can provide a moral and ethical source of equality for women instead of a social barrier.This intelligent book will help you understand the changes that need to be made as you read about numerous atrocities, including: the history of violence experienced by American Indian women during colonization and realizing that prior to this time, sexual violence did not exist in American Indian societies how the United States’colonization of Thailand is directly related to sexual violence today against women, which is expressed in the form of the booming sex industry as well as the AIDS epidemic how poverty in the Philippines has made women and children second-class citizens who must make the ultimate sacrifice and sell their bodies and their souls to surviveRemembering Conquest provides you with a unique religious perspective on the subject of violence against women to enlighten you as to how religion can unknowingly help or hinder a woman’s healing. You will discover how to assist religious communities in rediscovering new interpretations of their faith traditions and become a moral and ethical source of liberation for women, such as holding perpetrators of abuse responsible for their actions and not insinuating that the abuse victim needs to be “helped” by religion in some way. Compelling and informative, Remembering Conquest provides you with ideas to help bring healing and power to women who are suffering injustices by reinterpreting faith traditions.
Remembering Conquest: Feminist/Womanist Perspectives on Religion, Colonization, and Sexual Violence
by Nantawan B LewisRemembering Conquest: Feminist/Womanist Perspectives on Religion, Colonization, and Sexual Violence addresses the issue of sexual violence against women from feminist and womanist theological perspectives. Taken from proceedings of a panel discussion at the 1998 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, this informative book offers sociologists, clergy, and women an examination of how negative stereotypes in society are derived from Christian perspectives and other religions. Exploring abuse against Native American, African- American, Filipino, and Thai women, Remembering Conquest will help you recognize the combination of issues that lead to violence against women. Thorough and compelling, this valuable book will urge you to advocate for change in how religious groups interpret women so that religion can provide a moral and ethical source of equality for women instead of a social barrier.This intelligent book will help you understand the changes that need to be made as you read about numerous atrocities, including: the history of violence experienced by American Indian women during colonization and realizing that prior to this time, sexual violence did not exist in American Indian societies how the United States’colonization of Thailand is directly related to sexual violence today against women, which is expressed in the form of the booming sex industry as well as the AIDS epidemic how poverty in the Philippines has made women and children second-class citizens who must make the ultimate sacrifice and sell their bodies and their souls to surviveRemembering Conquest provides you with a unique religious perspective on the subject of violence against women to enlighten you as to how religion can unknowingly help or hinder a woman’s healing. You will discover how to assist religious communities in rediscovering new interpretations of their faith traditions and become a moral and ethical source of liberation for women, such as holding perpetrators of abuse responsible for their actions and not insinuating that the abuse victim needs to be “helped” by religion in some way. Compelling and informative, Remembering Conquest provides you with ideas to help bring healing and power to women who are suffering injustices by reinterpreting faith traditions.
The Missionaries: God against the Indians
by Norman LewisThe Missionaries is a searing examination of attempts by North American fundamentalist Christian missionaries to convert indigenous tribes around the globe. In a distillation of a lifetime's observation on the ground, Norman Lewis contrasts the self-contained, peaceful traditions of the tribal peoples he so admires with the violence, the ruthless double-standards and the greed of the men and women who seek to convert them. Lewis's description leaves the reader devastated by man's capacity for cruelty and with no doubt as to which of the two - missionaries or tribespeople - has developed the more admirable culture. It was Lewis's writing on this subject that led to the birth of Survival International, which seeks to counter his gloomy prediction that 'in another thirty years no trace of aboriginal life anywhere in the world will have survived'.
Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith (Dress Cultures)
by Reina LewisModest dressing, both secular and religious, is a growing trend across the world, yet so far it has been given little serious attention and is rarely seen as fashion. Modest Fashion uniquely studies and addresses both the consumers and the producers of modest clothing. It examines the growing number of women who, for reasons of religion, faith or personal preference, decide to cover their bodies and dress in a way that satisfies their spiritual and stylistic requirements. These are women who are making fashionable the art of dressing modestly. Scholars and journalists, fashion designers and bloggers explore the emergence of a niche market for modest fashion and examine how this operates across and between faiths, and in relation to 'secular' dressers.
Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Healing Kindness
by Rev. Jacqui Lewis'A message of resilience and hope' Gabby Bernstein, bestselling author of The Universe Has Your Back'Radical, just and joyous' Valarie Kaur, author of See No StrangerA manifesto for all generations: Fierce Love s a big-hearted, healing antidote to our divided, hurting world. We are living in an age of cynicism and division, in a world of 'we' against 'them'. What we desperately need is radical change. In Fierce Love, highly respected faith leader Reverend Jacqui Lewis shares the path to engineering the change we seek with nine essential daily practices. From downsizing our emotional baggage to speaking truth to power and fuelling our activism with joy, she reveals the power of small courageous steps to revitalize our souls and transform the world at large. Combining edifying lessons, evocative storytelling and inspired spiritual guidance, Fierce Love will equip you with the tools to seek transformational change from within and spread that change among family, friends, communities and the wider world, like ripples on a pond.
Concentrated Creation: Creation and Salvation in the Christology of Edward Schillebeeckx (T&T Clark Studies in Edward Schillebeeckx)
by Rhona LewisThis book widens the understanding of salvation from a narrow focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to one which is inseparable from creation theology. In this analysis of the Thomist and Irenaean sources of Edward Schillebeeckx's creation faith, God's absolute saving presence to humanity is found to be intrinsic to his creative action. This becomes most explicit in God's humanity in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lewis argues that Jesus is both God's invitation to humanity and is himself the perfect human response to God. Because of this, Jesus' followers are called to be engaged in God's saving action, by working to remove suffering from people and to build a better world in which all may flourish.Schillebeeckx's theology is sometimes thought to divide into two disconnected halves, a pre- and post-Vatican II version. The way in which Schillebeeckx's Christological soteriology has developed over his theological career, before and after Vatican II, is here examined using the Annales model of continuity and change. This book finds that Schillebeeckx both breaks with the language of Chalcedon while remaining adamantly faithful to the truth which it expresses. The final chapters discover how Schillebeeckx's ideas and methods are crucially relevant in an analysis of contemporary social suffering in Ciudad-Juárez by Nancy Pineda-Madrid, and in the project of the Catholic Dialogue School in Flanders by Lieven Boeve.
Concentrated Creation: Creation and Salvation in the Christology of Edward Schillebeeckx (T&T Clark Studies in Edward Schillebeeckx)
by Rhona LewisThis book widens the understanding of salvation from a narrow focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to one which is inseparable from creation theology. In this analysis of the Thomist and Irenaean sources of Edward Schillebeeckx's creation faith, God's absolute saving presence to humanity is found to be intrinsic to his creative action. This becomes most explicit in God's humanity in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lewis argues that Jesus is both God's invitation to humanity and is himself the perfect human response to God. Because of this, Jesus' followers are called to be engaged in God's saving action, by working to remove suffering from people and to build a better world in which all may flourish.Schillebeeckx's theology is sometimes thought to divide into two disconnected halves, a pre- and post-Vatican II version. The way in which Schillebeeckx's Christological soteriology has developed over his theological career, before and after Vatican II, is here examined using the Annales model of continuity and change. This book finds that Schillebeeckx both breaks with the language of Chalcedon while remaining adamantly faithful to the truth which it expresses. The final chapters discover how Schillebeeckx's ideas and methods are crucially relevant in an analysis of contemporary social suffering in Ciudad-Juárez by Nancy Pineda-Madrid, and in the project of the Catholic Dialogue School in Flanders by Lieven Boeve.
Paul's 'Spirit of Adoption' in its Roman Imperial Context (The Library of New Testament Studies #545)
by Robert Brian LewisRobert Lewis examines Paul's use of the phrase “Spirit of Adoption” in Romans 8:12-17 against the background of its Roman Imperial context in order to shed light on interpretation of Paul's Letter to the Romans. Whereas other scholars have explored what Paul may have meant when he uses the term “adoption” Lewis instead explores the reasons behind Paul's coupling of it with the term “spirit”. Having examined theories for a possible Jewish antecedent for Paul's use of this phrase, and found them less than persuasive, Lewis unlocks the data within the term's Roman Imperial context that significantly clarifies what Paul means when he uses the phrase “Spirit of adoption". Lewis shows that when Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, adoption had become a feature of Imperial succession. Roman religion gave a great deal of prominence to the Roman family spirit - the genius. The Emperor's genius became identified as a deity in Roman religion and its veneration was widespread in Rome as well as the provinces. When Romans 8.12-17 is read against this background, a very different kind of exegetical picture emerges.
Spacious Minds: Trauma and Resilience in Tibetan Buddhism
by Sara E. LewisSpacious Minds argues that resilience is not a mere absence of suffering. Sara E. Lewis's research reveals how those who cope most gracefully may indeed experience deep pain and loss. Looking at the Tibetan diaspora, she challenges perspectives that liken resilience to the hardiness of physical materials, suggesting people should "bounce back" from adversity. More broadly, this ethnography calls into question the tendency to use trauma as an organizing principle for all studies of conflict where suffering is understood as an individual problem rooted in psychiatric illness.Beyond simply articulating the ways that Tibetan categories of distress are different from biomedical ones, Spacious Minds shows how Tibetan Buddhism frames new possibilities for understanding resilience. Here, the social and religious landscape encourages those exposed to violence to see past events as impermanent and illusory, where debriefing, working-through, or processing past events only solidifies suffering and may even cause illness. Resilience in Dharamsala is understood as sems pa chen po, a vast and spacious mind that does not fixate on individual problems, but rather uses suffering as an opportunity to generate compassion for others in the endless cycle of samsara. A big mind view helps to see suffering in life as ordinary. And yet, an intriguing paradox occurs. As Lewis deftly demonstrates, Tibetans in exile have learned that human rights campaigns are predicated on the creation and circulation of the trauma narrative; in this way, Tibetan activists utilize foreign trauma discourse, not for psychological healing, but as a political device and act of agency.
Anti-Methodism and Theological Controversy in Eighteenth-Century England: The Struggle for True Religion (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Simon LewisJohn Wesley and George Whitefield are remembered as founders of Methodism, one of the most influential movements in the history of modern Christianity. Characterized by open-air and itinerant preaching, eighteenth-century Methodism was a divisive phenomenon, which attracted a torrent of printed opposition, especially from Anglican clergymen. Yet, most of these opponents have been virtually forgotten. Anti-Methodism and Theological Controversy in Eighteenth-Century England is the first large-scale examination of the theological ideas of early anti-Methodist authors. By illuminating a very different perspective on Methodism, Simon Lewis provides a fundamental reappraisal of the eighteenth-century Church of England and its doctrinal priorities. For anti-Methodist authors, attacking Wesley and Whitefield was part of a wider defence of 'true religion', which demonstrates the theological vitality of the much-derided Georgian Church. This book, therefore, places Methodism firmly in its contemporary theological context, as part of the Church of England's continuing struggle to define itself theologically.
Anti-Methodism and Theological Controversy in Eighteenth-Century England: The Struggle for True Religion (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)
by Simon LewisJohn Wesley and George Whitefield are remembered as founders of Methodism, one of the most influential movements in the history of modern Christianity. Characterized by open-air and itinerant preaching, eighteenth-century Methodism was a divisive phenomenon, which attracted a torrent of printed opposition, especially from Anglican clergymen. Yet, most of these opponents have been virtually forgotten. Anti-Methodism and Theological Controversy in Eighteenth-Century England is the first large-scale examination of the theological ideas of early anti-Methodist authors. By illuminating a very different perspective on Methodism, Simon Lewis provides a fundamental reappraisal of the eighteenth-century Church of England and its doctrinal priorities. For anti-Methodist authors, attacking Wesley and Whitefield was part of a wider defence of 'true religion', which demonstrates the theological vitality of the much-derided Georgian Church. This book, therefore, places Methodism firmly in its contemporary theological context, as part of the Church of England's continuing struggle to define itself theologically.
The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity
by Theodore J. LewisFew topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone, The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.
The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity
by Theodore J. LewisFew topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone, The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.
Why Philosophy Matters for the Study of Religion—and Vice Versa
by Thomas A. LewisWork in philosophy of religion is still strongly marked by an excessive focus on Christianity and, to a lesser extent, Judaism — almost to the exclusion of other religious traditions. Moreover, in many cases it has been confined to a narrow set of intellectual problems, without embedding these in their larger social, historical, and practical contexts. Why Philosophy Matters for the Study of Religion—and Vice Versa addresses this situation through a series of interventions intended to work against the gap that exists between much scholarship in philosophy of religion and important recent developments that speak to religious studies as a whole. This volume takes up what, in recent years, has often been seen as a fundamental reason for excluding religious ethics and philosophy of religion from religious studies: their explicit normativity. Against this presupposition, Thomas A. Lewis argues that normativity is pervasive—not unique to ethics and philosophy of religion—and therefore not a reason to exclude them from religious studies. Lewis bridges more philosophical and historical subfields by arguing for the importance of history to the philosophy of religion. He considers the future of religious ethics, explaining that the field as whole should learn from the methodological developments associated with recent work in comparative religious ethics and 'comparative religious ethics' should no longer be conceived as a distinct subfield. The concluding chapter engages broader, post-9/11 arguments about the importance of studying religion arguing, that prominent contemporary notions of 'religious literacy' actually hinder our ability to grasp religion's significance and impact in the world today.