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Refashioning Secularisms in France and Turkey: The Case of the Headscarf Ban (Routledge Islamic Studies Series)

Over the past few years, secularism has become an intrinsic component of discussions on religious freedom and religious governance. The question of whether states should restrict the wearing of headscarves and other religious symbols has been particularly critical in guiding this thought process. Refashioning Secularisms in France and Turkey documents how, in both countries, devout women have contested bans on headscarves, pointing to how these are inconsistent with the ‘real’ spirit of secularism. These activists argue that it is possible to be simultaneously secular and religious; to believe in the values conveyed by secularism, while still remaining devoted to their faith. Through this examination, the book highlights how activists locate their claims within the frame of secularism, while at the same time revisiting it to craft a space for their religiosity. Addressing the lacuna in literature on the discourse of devout Muslims affected by these restrictions, this book offers a topical analysis on an understudied dimension of secularism and is a valuable resource for students and researchers with an interest in Religion, Gender Studies, Human Rights and Political Science.

Proceedings of the 2022 International Conference on International Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities (Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research #678)

This is an open access book. CISOC’2022 – The 2022 International Conference on International Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities, invites the entire scientific, academic and professional community to present their contributions, which can be written in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese. All papers (full articles) will be submitted to a “double-blind review” by at least two members of the Scientific Committee, based on relevance, originality, importance and clarity. The papers presented must bring discussions on actual theoretical, or methodological, or empirical workshop proposals around Social Sciences and Humanities. The topics proposed for the Conference are related to: Psychology, Education, History, Linguistics and language, Political science, Religious studies, Philosophy, Globalization, Humanities, Archaeology, Anthropology, Inter-cultural studies, Development, Geography, Library and Information Sciences.

Catholic Missionaries and Their Work with the Poor: Mitigating Market-Government Failure in Emerging Nations (Studies in World Christianity and Interreligious Relations)

This book explores the vital role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in compensating for the market’s and government’s inability to provide vital services. Its key theoretical contribution is the notion that poverty is the result of a triadic failure—when markets, government, and civil society become dysfunctional at the same time. Using data on Catholic missionaries’ development work, this study presents the various ways by which FBOs mitigate market and government failures in healthcare, education, and social services, and in the process build and strengthen civil society. This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to present an overview of missionaries’ development work, evaluating the socioeconomic significance of their faith-based development work. In addition, various comparative advantages and disadvantages have been imputed to FBOs in the religion-development literature, and we assess to what extent missionaries actually exhibit these posited qualities in practice. Second, the groundwork is laid for future religion-development scholars by presenting a theoretical framework and a method for evaluating the role and contributions of FBOs in the larger community. This is an important investigation of contemporary worldwide Christianity and its relationship with development. As such, it will interest scholars of religious studies and missiology, as well as development economics, public service and the political economy.

Catholic Missionaries and Their Work with the Poor: Mitigating Market-Government Failure in Emerging Nations (Studies in World Christianity and Interreligious Relations)

This book explores the vital role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in compensating for the market’s and government’s inability to provide vital services. Its key theoretical contribution is the notion that poverty is the result of a triadic failure—when markets, government, and civil society become dysfunctional at the same time. Using data on Catholic missionaries’ development work, this study presents the various ways by which FBOs mitigate market and government failures in healthcare, education, and social services, and in the process build and strengthen civil society. This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to present an overview of missionaries’ development work, evaluating the socioeconomic significance of their faith-based development work. In addition, various comparative advantages and disadvantages have been imputed to FBOs in the religion-development literature, and we assess to what extent missionaries actually exhibit these posited qualities in practice. Second, the groundwork is laid for future religion-development scholars by presenting a theoretical framework and a method for evaluating the role and contributions of FBOs in the larger community. This is an important investigation of contemporary worldwide Christianity and its relationship with development. As such, it will interest scholars of religious studies and missiology, as well as development economics, public service and the political economy.

New Studies in Christian Ethics: Compassion-Justice Conflicts and Christian Ethics (New Studies In Christian Ethics Ser.)

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Economic Ethics (Oxford Handbooks)

What do world and regional religions say about economic morality? The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Economic Ethics presents together for the first time the key tenets and teachings of numerous faiths on this subject. In doing so, it also compares the major religions in their positions on various social, business, and policy topics, such as consumerism, competition, ecology, and feminism. It concludes with an analytical synthesis that presents and explains the patterns that emerge from the various religions and themes explored across the Handbook's chapters. Together, these chapters underscore a symbiosis between religion and economic life as they mutually enrich each other. On the one hand, religion improves the efficiency and efficacy of economic life by lowering the frictional and monitoring costs of market operations. Virtuous market participants internalize norms of good economic conduct and behave accordingly. On the other hand, socioeconomic life offers manifold enticements, comforts, and overindulgences that paradoxically push devout adherents to invest themselves even further in their beliefs. Socioeconomic life provides an opportunity for religions to build strong faith communities and for believers to reify their religion in their economic conduct. This Handbook presents the richness, nuances, and rationale of religions and their economic ethics. Readers will discover a remarkable convergence in religions' teachings on economic morality, despite their wide differences in dogma, ecclesial structures, and social practices. This confluence can be traced to similarities in the underlying anthropologies and cosmologies of these faiths. Finally, this Handbook shows, the major faiths share far more values than divide them, at least when it comes to economic morality.

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Economic Ethics (Oxford Handbooks)

What do world and regional religions say about economic morality? The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Economic Ethics presents together for the first time the key tenets and teachings of numerous faiths on this subject. In doing so, it also compares the major religions in their positions on various social, business, and policy topics, such as consumerism, competition, ecology, and feminism. It concludes with an analytical synthesis that presents and explains the patterns that emerge from the various religions and themes explored across the Handbook's chapters. Together, these chapters underscore a symbiosis between religion and economic life as they mutually enrich each other. On the one hand, religion improves the efficiency and efficacy of economic life by lowering the frictional and monitoring costs of market operations. Virtuous market participants internalize norms of good economic conduct and behave accordingly. On the other hand, socioeconomic life offers manifold enticements, comforts, and overindulgences that paradoxically push devout adherents to invest themselves even further in their beliefs. Socioeconomic life provides an opportunity for religions to build strong faith communities and for believers to reify their religion in their economic conduct. This Handbook presents the richness, nuances, and rationale of religions and their economic ethics. Readers will discover a remarkable convergence in religions' teachings on economic morality, despite their wide differences in dogma, ecclesial structures, and social practices. This confluence can be traced to similarities in the underlying anthropologies and cosmologies of these faiths. Finally, this Handbook shows, the major faiths share far more values than divide them, at least when it comes to economic morality.

Reading Acts in the Discourses of Masculinity and Politics (The Library of New Testament Studies #559)

This book looks at the Acts of the Apostles through two lenses that highlight the two topics of masculinity and politics. Acts is rich in relevant material, whether this be in the range of such characters as the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius, Peter and Paul, or in situations such as Timothy's circumcision and Paul's encounters with Roman rulers in different cities. Engaging Acts from these two distinct but related perspectives illuminates features of this book which are otherwise easily missed. These approaches provide fresh angles to see how men, masculinity, and imperial loyalty were understood, experienced, and constructed in the ancient world and in earliest Christianity. The essays present a range of topics: some engage with Acts as a whole as in Steve Walton's chapter on the way Luke-Acts perceives the Roman Empire, while others focus on particular sections, passages, and even certain figures, such as in an Christopher Stroup's analysis of the circumcision of Timothy. Together, the essays provide a tightly woven and deeply textured analysis of Acts. The dialogue form of essay and response will encourage readers to develop their own critiques of the points raised in the collection as a whole.

Decolonial Horizons: Reimagining Theology, Ecumenism and Sacramental Praxis (Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue)

This is the first of two volumes of essays from the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network's 14th International Conference focused on decolonizing churches and theology, addressing oppressions based on gender, racial, and ethnic identities; economic inequality; social vulnerabilities; climate change and global challenges such as pandemics, neoliberalism, and the role of information technology in modern society, all connected with the topic of decolonization. The essays in this volume focus on decoloniality in religious and theological dialogue, migration, history, and education, written from historical, dogmatic, social scientific, and liturgical perspectives.

Decolonial Horizons: Reshaping Synodality, Mission, and Social Justice (Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue)

This is the second of two volumes of essays from the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network's 14th International Conference focused on decolonizing churches and theology, addressing oppressions based on gender, racial, and ethnic identities; economic inequality; social vulnerabilities; climate change and global challenges such as pandemics, neoliberalism, and the role of information technology in modern society, all connected with the topic of decolonization. The essays in this volume focus on decoloniality in empire, family, and mission, written from historical, dogmatic, social scientific, and liturgical perspectives.

Decolonial Christianities: Latinx and Latin American Perspectives (New Approaches to Religion and Power)

What does it mean to theorize Christianity in light of the decolonial turn? This volume invites distinguished Latinx and Latin American scholars to a conversation that engages the rich theoretical contributions of the decolonial turn, while relocating Indigenous, Afro-Latin American, Latinx, and other often marginalized practices and hermeneutical perspectives to the center-stage of religious discourse in the Americas. Keeping in mind that all religions—Christianity included—are cultured, and avoiding the abstract references to Christianity common to the modern Eurocentric hegemonic project, the contributors favor embodied religious practices that emerge in concrete contexts and communities. Featuring essays from scholars such as Sylvia Marcos, Enrique Dussel, and Luis Rivera-Pagán, this volume represents a major step to bring Christian theology into the conversation with decolonial theory.

Acts of the Apostles: A Shorter Commentary

An abbreviated edition, in paperback, of the two-volume commentary in the critically-acclaimed International Critical Commentary series.For those who lack the linguistic and historical grounding, or the time, to deal with the ICC volumes, this Shorter Commentary retains all the important elements of the introduction and commentary, but excludes foreign-language material, technical notes and excurses.

On Paul: Essays on His Life, Work, and Influence in the Early Church

A valuable collection of C. K. Barrett's writings on Paul, the summation of a lifetime's work by the pre-eminent New Testament scholar.This book contains a number of essays, some hitherto unpublished, on historical aspects of Paul's work. Sometimes Professor Barrett takes a broad view, often he looks sharply at important topics. Many of the themes are familiar, but Barrett always illuminates them from new angles, formulating fresh questions and approaches.A new and extensive introductory essay examines the relation of Paul to Christian leaders in Jerusalem.

Second Epistle to the Corinthians: Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Black's New Testament Commentaries)

"Second Corinthans is one of the most difficult writings in the New Testament to interpret. Yet, this commentary, which follows Barrett's works on Romans and I Corinthians in the same series, is superb in every respect. The author's command of the Greek language, his skillful use of the Old Testament and background writings, and his sensitive handling of complex exegetical problems provide a panorama of a mature scholar's work which is at times almost breathtaking. Moreover, the restrained use of Greek and technical terms makes this commentary as useful for the layman or pastor as it is for the scholar."-Review and Expositor

A Brief Guide to Secret Religions: A Complete Guide to Hermetic, Pagan and Esoteric Beliefs (Brief Histories)

This wide-ranging book explores the diversity of esoteric and occult beliefs.Neo-Paganism is one of the fastest-growing new religions in the western world where witchcraft or Wicca, Druidry, and Urban Shamanism are thriving. Alongside this there has been an upsurge in New Age ideas of an even wider variety, including astrology, Tarot, numerology, and many others. And then there are members of various schools of occult science, practising High Magic.Why this new interest in old beliefs? Why are millions of educated people today abandoning both the established religion of their parents and 21st century scientific rationalism and turning to magic and esoteric teachings? In their search for spirituality those who follow these paths claim to be applying ancient wisdom to the modern world. The Brief History of Secret Religions, a companion book to The Brief History of Secret Societies, looks at the history and variety of these esoteric movements, where they came from and what they tell us about the world today.Praise for The New Believers:'an excellent guide to fringe religions that juxtaposes "respectable" movements and those conventionally dismissed as cults.' The Telegraph.'no-nonsense, comprehensive survey packed with non-judgmental information about the beliefs, aims and activities of such movements. Daily Mail.

The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok

Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have taught more than twenty thousand children how to read and write. Despite the crippling neglect found in impoverishment, he is raising international scholars and injecting a sense of purpose into shantytowns and squatter camps that used to have neither.

The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion (Oxford Handbooks)

Why have religious beliefs and behaviors been nearly universal in human societies? What accounts for similarities and differences across time and across cultures? Could the answer lie in the human brain? Scholars in the cognitive science of religion (CSR) believe that it can- the prevalence of religion is a result of the way our minds work. CSR advances in psychology explain various patterns in religious thought and action. This scientific approach has grown rapidly over the past couple of decades. However, it has often been conflated with related subjects such as evolution and neuroscience. CSR is neither: it straddles the line between cognitive sciences and the study of religion. The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion directly identifies CSR's unique contributions and clarifies its relationship to neighboring disciplines. With contributions from the field's founders and its rising stars, this volume offers a critical overview of more than 25 years of research. From discussions of human nature to the role of ritual, the contributors offer comprehensive and in-depth analysis of key questions in CSR. Readers will have a variety of entry points to truly grasp where CSR has been, where it is, and where it might go.

Why Would Anyone Believe In God? (PDF)

Because of the design of our minds. That is Justin Barrett's simple answer to the question of his title. With rich evidence from cognitive science but without technical language, psychologist Barrett shows that belief in God is an almost inevitable consequence of the kind of minds we have. Most of what we believe comes from mental tools working below our conscious awareness. And what we believe consciously is in large part driven by these unconscious beliefs. Barrett demonstrates that beliefs in gods match up well with these automatic assumptions; beliefs in an all-knowing, all-powerful God match up even better. Barrett goes on to explain why beliefs like religious beliefs are so widespread and why it is very difficult for our minds to think without them. Anyone who wants a concise, clear, and scientific explanation of why anyone would believe in God should pick up Barrett's book.

The Wind, the Fountain and the Fire: Scripture and the Renewal of the Christian Imagination: The 2020 Lent Book

Scripture, and especially the Book of Psalms, has always formed the substance of the daily prayer of Christian monks and nuns. Monastic men and women spend more time among the scriptures each day than in most other activities. How do such regular interactions with the texts of Old and New Testaments help us renew our Christian imaginations; how might these reflective encounters enable all of us to discover the wind of the Spirit, the fountain of living water and the fire from which God speaks, within the printed pages of our Bibles?In The Wind, the Fountain and the Fire, Mark Barrett, a Benedictine monk of Worth Abbey, offers a Lenten pathway through scripture, opening the gateway of sacred imagery as a mode of prayerful reflection. For each week of Lent he has selected a different image: the Dust; the Mountain; the Well; the Light and the Tomb. In these richly imagined biblical symbols we are invited to find keys which can unlock both our experience of scripture and our understanding of our own hearts.

The Wind, the Fountain and the Fire: Scripture and the Renewal of the Christian Imagination: The 2020 Lent Book

Scripture, and especially the Book of Psalms, has always formed the substance of the daily prayer of Christian monks and nuns. Monastic men and women spend more time among the scriptures each day than in most other activities. How do such regular interactions with the texts of Old and New Testaments help us renew our Christian imaginations; how might these reflective encounters enable all of us to discover the wind of the Spirit, the fountain of living water and the fire from which God speaks, within the printed pages of our Bibles?In The Wind, the Fountain and the Fire, Mark Barrett, a Benedictine monk of Worth Abbey, offers a Lenten pathway through scripture, opening the gateway of sacred imagery as a mode of prayerful reflection. For each week of Lent he has selected a different image: the Dust; the Mountain; the Well; the Light and the Tomb. In these richly imagined biblical symbols we are invited to find keys which can unlock both our experience of scripture and our understanding of our own hearts.

God's Word Alone - The Authority Of Scripture: What The Reformers Taught... And Why It Still Matters (pdf)

Scholar and pastor Matthew Barrett retraces the historical and biblical roots of the doctrine that Scripture alone is the final and decisive authority for God's people. God's Word Alone is a decisive defense of the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Revitalizing one of the five great declarations of the Reformation—sola Scriptura—Barrett: Analyzes what the idea of sola Scriptura is and what it entails, clarifying why the doctrine is truth and why it's so essential to Christianity. Surveys the development of this theme in the Reformation and traces the crisis that followed resulting in a shift away from the authority of Scripture. Shows that we need to recover a robust doctrine of Scripture's authority in the face of today's challenges and why a solid doctrinal foundation built on God's Word is the best hope for the future of the church. This book is an exploration of the past in order to better understand our present and the importance of reviving this indispensable doctrine for the Christian faith and church today. —THE FIVE SOLAS— Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory. The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.

Disloyalty and Destruction: Religion and Politics in Deuteronomy and the Modern World (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

The goal of the work is a heuristic reading strategy for a modern reader to engage with YHWH's threats against Israel in Deuteronomy. This goal is accomplished in three steps. First, the biblical text is considered through close reading to discern the logic of YHWH's threats: what motivates the threats, what form the threats take, and what effect the threats expect to produce. Second, a modern analogy is sought that most helpfully matches the structure and logic observed in the biblical text. A number of common modern analogies for the divine-human relationship (e.g., parent-child, master-slave, husband-wife) are deemed unhelpful because they cannot support the features of the biblical pattern. However, the threats of the modern state against those who threaten it are found to bear significant resemblance. Finally, this analogy is developed for each of several significant passages of Deuteronomy.In order to justify and substantiate the analogy, this book examines the religious and political background surrounding both Deuteronomy and the modern state through historical reflection. Since there are significant differences between the religio-political situations, sociological perspectives are used to provide patterns that can be applied within both the ancient and modern contexts.Finally, although the focus of the work is on establishing an analogy between YHWH's threats and those of the modern state, the book dedicates one chapter to discussing dis-analogous features to avoid over-emphasizing the similarity between the two.

STAY - The Power of Meditating in God's Presence

Do you aspire to live a life of joy, peace and fulfillment only to find that it's as elusive as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Do feelings of inadequacy, disappointment and frustration hold you back? Sophia was a busy working mother of two when chronic sleeplessness struck and left her struggling to cope. Stay is the honest and hopeful story of how she identified the roots of her restlessness and overcame them through the ancient and powerful practice of biblical meditation. In her ground-breaking book, Sophia invites us all to realize that when we learn to be mindful of God and 'stay' in his presence, we experience a life-transforming power that frees us to live a joyful and fulfilled life, one where we are truly at peace. Written with refreshing candour and wisdom, Stay is a life-changing read.

BMH as Body Language: A Lexical and Iconographical Study of the Word BMH When Not a Reference to Cultic Phenomena in Biblical and Post-Biblical Hebrew (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

It is customarily assumed that the Hebrew word BMH denotes a "high place," first a topographical elevation and derivatively a cult place elevated either by location or construction. This book offers a fresh, systematic, and comprehensive examination of the word in those biblical and post-biblical passages where it supposedly carries its primary topographical sense. Although the word is used in this way in only a handful of its attestations, they are sufficiently numerous and contextually diverse to yield sound systematic, rather than ad hoc, conclusions as to its semantic content. Special attention is paid to its likely Semitic and unlikely Greek cognates, pertinent literary, compositional, and text-critical matters, and the ideological and iconographical ambiance of each occurrence.This study concludes that the non-cultic word BMH is actually *bomet, carrying primarily (if not always) an anatomical sense approximate to English "back," sometimes expanded to the "body" itself. The phrase bmty->rs (Amos 4:13, Micah 1:3, and CAT 1.4 VII 34; also Deut. 32:13a, Isa. 58:14ab-ba, and Sir. 46:9b) derives from the international mythic imagery of the Storm-God: it refers originally to the "mythological mountains," conceptualized anthropomorphically, which the god surmounts in theophany, symbolically expressing his cosmic victory and sovereignty. There is no instance where this word (even 2 Sam. 1:19a and 1:25b) is unequivocally a topographical reference. The implications of these findings for identifying the bamah-sanctuary are briefly considered.

In the Shelter of Elyon: Essays on Ancient Palestinian Life and Literature (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)

This magnificent collection of articles on OT literature, history, religion and culture comprises the following studies: A.L. Merrill and J.R. Spencer, 'The Uppsala School' of Biblical Studies. W. Boyd Barrick, G.W. Ahlström in Profile. B. Glazier-McDonald, G.W. Ahlström: A Bibliography. W. Boyd Barrick and J.R. Spencer, Parentheses in a Snowstorm: G.W. Ahlström and the Study of Ancient Palestine. P.A.H. de Boer, Psalm 81.6a: Observations on Translation and Meaning of One Hebrew Line. N.C. Habel, The Role of Elihu in the Design of the Book of Job. C.E. L'Heureux, The Redactional History of Isaiah 5.1-10.4. D. Pardee, The Semantic Parallelism of Psalm 89. J. Van Seters, Joshua 24 and the Problem of Tradition in the Old Testament. M. Haran, The Shining of Moses' Face: A Case in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Iconography. A.S. Kapelrud, The Prophets and the Covenant. M. Ottosson, The Prophet Elijah's Visit to Zarephath. B. Otzen, Heavenly Visions in Early Judaism: Origin and Function. A.W. Sjöberg, Eve and the Chameleon. G. Widengren, Yahweh's Gathering of the Dispersed. P.R. Ackroyd, The Biblical Interpretation of the Reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah. S. Herrmann, King David's State. S.A. Kaufman, A Reconstruction of the Social Welfare Systems of Ancient Israel. T.W. Overholt, Thoughts on the Use of Charisma in Old Testament Studies. J.M. Sasson, The Biographic Mode in Hebrew Historiography.