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God in the Corridors of Power: Christian Conservatives, the Media, and Politics in America
by Michael Ryan Les SwitzerGod in the Corridors of Power: Christian Conservatives, the Media, and Politics in America is a comprehensive study of Christian conservative power in America's political culture—how it was achieved, how it is maintained, and where it is going. It came about in part because of an enduring influence in the school room, the seminary and in the pulpit, and in part because conservatives are so skilled at using commercial and non-commercial media, including religious media, to disseminate their views to broader audiences. Though their power has waxed and waned, they continue to be a potent force in public policy today.The authors argue that the astonishing electoral successes of Christian conservatives at all levels of national, state and local government was made possible by linking political, social, media and religious interests with an emerging consensus about what constitutes a conservative mindset in American politics. Christian conservatives unquestionably have been the most significant component in a coalition of religious conservatives, traditionalist conservatives and neoconservatives that has driven the Republican Party now for almost two generations.This multifaceted understanding of Christian conservative activists in religion and politics traces the impact Christian conservatives have had on American Christianity as a whole while also examining the limitations imposed on the Christian conservative agenda by American civil religion, the Constitution and case law. The authors explore women's reproductive rights in the debate over contraception and abortion, and gay civil rights in the debate over gay marriage and family rights. The debate over intelligent design and evolution is examined in the context of the campaign to transform public school education. The run-up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is scrutinized against the background of the declared "war on terrorism."While the conservative religious and secular coalition within the Republican Party began to fragment even before the end of George W. Bush's first term in office, it remained a powerful force in the 2004 and 2008 elections. The book concludes with some thoughts about the impact of Christian conservatives in politics, media and religion in the future.
God in the Movies
by Andrew M. GreeleyThe religious imagination is alive and well in the movies. Contrary to those who criticize Hollywood, popular movies very often have metaphorically represented God on the screen. From Clint Eastwood as an avenging angel in Pale Rider and Nicolas Cage as a lovesick angel in City of Angels to Jessica Lange as an angel of death in All That Jazz, and from George Burns as God in Oh, God! to Audrey Hepburn in Always to pure white light in Fearless and Flatliners, God is very much present in the movies.
God in the Movies
by Andrew M. GreeleyThe religious imagination is alive and well in the movies. Contrary to those who criticize Hollywood, popular movies very often have metaphorically represented God on the screen. From Clint Eastwood as an avenging angel in Pale Rider and Nicolas Cage as a lovesick angel in City of Angels to Jessica Lange as an angel of death in All That Jazz, and from George Burns as God in Oh, God! to Audrey Hepburn in Always to pure white light in Fearless and Flatliners, God is very much present in the movies.
God in the Rainforest: A Tale of Martyrdom and Redemption in Amazonian Ecuador
by Kathryn T. LongIn January of 1956, five young evangelical missionaries were speared to death by a band of the Waorani people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Two years later, two missionary women--the widow of one of the slain men and the sister of another--with the help of a Wao woman were able to establish peaceful relations with the same people who had killed their loved ones. The highly publicized deaths of the five men and the subsequent efforts to Christianize the Waorani quickly became the defining missionary narrative for American evangelicals during the second half of the twentieth century. God in the Rainforest traces the formation of this story and shows how Protestant missionary work among the Waorani came to be one of the missions most celebrated by Evangelicals and most severely criticized by anthropologists and others who accused missionaries of destroying the indigenous culture. Kathryn T. Long offers a study of the complexities of world Christianity at the ground level for indigenous peoples and for missionaries, anthropologists, environmentalists, and other outsiders. For the first time, Long brings together these competing actors and agendas to reveal one example of an indigenous people caught in the cross-hairs of globalization.
God in the Rainforest: A Tale of Martyrdom and Redemption in Amazonian Ecuador
by Kathryn T. LongIn January of 1956, five young evangelical missionaries were speared to death by a band of the Waorani people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Two years later, two missionary women--the widow of one of the slain men and the sister of another--with the help of a Wao woman were able to establish peaceful relations with the same people who had killed their loved ones. The highly publicized deaths of the five men and the subsequent efforts to Christianize the Waorani quickly became the defining missionary narrative for American evangelicals during the second half of the twentieth century. God in the Rainforest traces the formation of this story and shows how Protestant missionary work among the Waorani came to be one of the missions most celebrated by Evangelicals and most severely criticized by anthropologists and others who accused missionaries of destroying the indigenous culture. Kathryn T. Long offers a study of the complexities of world Christianity at the ground level for indigenous peoples and for missionaries, anthropologists, environmentalists, and other outsiders. For the first time, Long brings together these competing actors and agendas to reveal one example of an indigenous people caught in the cross-hairs of globalization.
The God in Us: How African Spirituality Ignited World Religion and Global Civilisation (ISSN)
by Hlumelo BikoThis book traces the unitary source of all of the world’s major religions. The book underscores the fact that there are many ways in which humanity has sought revelation of God, yet there is a common inspiration behind humanity’s God concept.The author’s analysis of world religions or faiths adopts a multi-interdisciplinary approach taking the reader through historical, anthropological, archaeological, and theological viewpoints to make juxtapositions.God in us is a rich resource that helps the readers understand the origins of human civilisation and how humans began to worship God, domesticate animals like sheep, invent astrology and create languages. Biko’s research also delves deeper into unveiling African indigenous knowledge systems and science that predate the arrival of the colonisers on the African soil.Print edition not for sale in Sub Saharan Africa.
The God in Us: How African Spirituality Ignited World Religion and Global Civilisation (ISSN)
by Hlumelo BikoThis book traces the unitary source of all of the world’s major religions. The book underscores the fact that there are many ways in which humanity has sought revelation of God, yet there is a common inspiration behind humanity’s God concept.The author’s analysis of world religions or faiths adopts a multi-interdisciplinary approach taking the reader through historical, anthropological, archaeological, and theological viewpoints to make juxtapositions.God in us is a rich resource that helps the readers understand the origins of human civilisation and how humans began to worship God, domesticate animals like sheep, invent astrology and create languages. Biko’s research also delves deeper into unveiling African indigenous knowledge systems and science that predate the arrival of the colonisers on the African soil.Print edition not for sale in Sub Saharan Africa.
God Naturalized: Epistemological Reflections on Theistic Belief in light of the New Science of Religion (New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion #11)
by Halvor KvandalThis volume argues that theistic philosophy should be seen not as an “armchair” enterprise but rather as a critical endeavor to bring philosophy of religion into close contact with emerging sciences of religion. This text engages with the rationality of religious belief by investigating central problems and arguments in philosophy of religion from the perspective of new naturalistic research. A central question the book analyzes is whether findings in cognitive science of religion (CSR) falsify or undermine religious ideas and beliefs. With regard to CSR, this volume offers a sustained and critical investigation of the neutrality and positive-relevance view, before offering a re-appraisal of the conflict view. The text argues that when scrutinizing these views, much more attention must be paid to specific normative premises that allow empirical findings to have epistemic relevance. A novel feature is the theoretical application of analytical epistemology in virtue-epistemology to the central question of whether CSR undermines, supports, or is neutral with respect to religious belief. This book appeals to upper-level students and researchers in the field.
A God of One's Own: Religion's Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence
by Ulrich BeckReligion posits one characteristic as an absolute: faith. Compared to faith, all other social distinctions and sources of conflict are insignificant. The New Testament says: ‘We are all equal in the sight of God'. To be sure, this equality applies only to those who acknowledge God's existence. What this means is that alongside the abolition of class and nation within the community of believers, religion introduces a new fundamental distinction into the world the distinction between the right kind of believers and the wrong kind. Thus overtly or tacitly, religion brings with it the demonization of believers in other faiths. The central question that will decide the continued existence of humanity is this: How can we conceive of a type of inter-religious tolerance in which loving one's neighbor does not imply war to the death, a type of tolerance whose goal is not truth but peace? Is what we are experiencing at present a regression of monotheistic religion to a polytheism of the religious spirit under the heading of ‘a God of one's own'? In Western societies, where the autonomy of the individual has been internalized, individual human beings tend to feel increasingly at liberty to tell themselves little faith stories that fit their own lives to appoint ‘Gods of their own'. However, this God of their own is no longer the one and only God who presides over salvation by seizing control of history and empowering his followers to be intolerant and use naked force.
A God of One's Own: Religion's Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence
by Ulrich BeckReligion posits one characteristic as an absolute: faith. Compared to faith, all other social distinctions and sources of conflict are insignificant. The New Testament says: ‘We are all equal in the sight of God'. To be sure, this equality applies only to those who acknowledge God's existence. What this means is that alongside the abolition of class and nation within the community of believers, religion introduces a new fundamental distinction into the world the distinction between the right kind of believers and the wrong kind. Thus overtly or tacitly, religion brings with it the demonization of believers in other faiths. The central question that will decide the continued existence of humanity is this: How can we conceive of a type of inter-religious tolerance in which loving one's neighbor does not imply war to the death, a type of tolerance whose goal is not truth but peace? Is what we are experiencing at present a regression of monotheistic religion to a polytheism of the religious spirit under the heading of ‘a God of one's own'? In Western societies, where the autonomy of the individual has been internalized, individual human beings tend to feel increasingly at liberty to tell themselves little faith stories that fit their own lives to appoint ‘Gods of their own'. However, this God of their own is no longer the one and only God who presides over salvation by seizing control of history and empowering his followers to be intolerant and use naked force.
God, Politics, Economy: Social Theory and the Paradoxes of Religion (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Bulent DikenThe book intervenes into the contemporary debate on religion, politics, and economy, focusing on the field of formation which emerges as these seemingly autonomous spheres encounter one another. Empirically, it concentrates on examples from literature, theatre, and cinema as well as a case study of the recent revolts in Turkey where a ‘moderate’ Islamic government is in power. Theoretically, its focus is on the contemporary ‘return’ of religion in the horizon of the critique of religion, seeking to articulate an affirmative politics that can re-evaluate the value of dominant values in religious governance and governance of religion.
God, Politics, Economy: Social Theory and the Paradoxes of Religion (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Bulent DikenThe book intervenes into the contemporary debate on religion, politics, and economy, focusing on the field of formation which emerges as these seemingly autonomous spheres encounter one another. Empirically, it concentrates on examples from literature, theatre, and cinema as well as a case study of the recent revolts in Turkey where a ‘moderate’ Islamic government is in power. Theoretically, its focus is on the contemporary ‘return’ of religion in the horizon of the critique of religion, seeking to articulate an affirmative politics that can re-evaluate the value of dominant values in religious governance and governance of religion.
God Save Texas: A Journey into the Future of America
by Lawrence Wright'This is a funny, pointed love letter to Texas, at once elegiac and clear-eyed' Ben Macintyre, The TimesFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, God Save Texas is a journey through the most controversial state in America.Texas is a Republican state in the heart of Trumpland that hasn't elected a Democrat to a statewide office in more than twenty years; but it is also a state in which minorities already form a majority (including the largest number of Muslim adherents in the United States). The cities are Democrat and among the most diverse in the nation. Oil is still king but Texas now leads California in technology exports and has an economy only somewhat smaller than Australia's.Lawrence Wright has written an enchanting book about what is often seen as an unenchanting place. Having spent most of his life there, while remaining deeply aware of its oddities, Wright is as charmed by Texan foibles and landscapes as he is appalled by its politics and brutality. With its economic model of low taxes and minimal regulation producing both extraordinary growth and striking income disparities, Texas, Wright shows, looks a lot like the America that Donald Trump wants to create.This profound portrait of the state, completed just as Texas battled to rebuild after the devastating storms of summer 2017, not only reflects the United States back as it is, but as it was and as it might be. As much the home of Roy Orbison and Willie Nelson as of J.R., Ross Perot and the Bush family, as filled with magical scenery as with desolate oil-fields and strip-malls, Texas is a bellwether, super-sized mass of contradictions: a life-long study.
God, Sex, and Gender: An Introduction
by Adrian ThatcherEngagingly and clearly written by a highly respected theologian, God, Sex, and Gender is the first comprehensive introduction to a theology of both sexuality and gender available in a single volume. Makes a theological contribution to understanding the unprecedented changes in sexual and gender relationships of the last fifty years Discusses many topics including: sexual difference; sexual equality; gender and power; the nature of desire; the future of marriage in Christian sexual ethics; homosexuality and same-sex unions; the problems of sexual minorities; contraception in a time of HIV/AIDS; the separation of sexual experience from marriage; and offers new arguments for marriage and for chastity Offers a consistent and engaging introduction at the cutting edge of theological inquiry, which is contemporary, undogmatic, questioning, and relevant to readers' experience, interests, and needs Written lucidly and engagingly by an established and respected academic who has published widely in this area
God, Sex, and Gender: An Introduction
by Adrian ThatcherEngagingly and clearly written by a highly respected theologian, God, Sex, and Gender is the first comprehensive introduction to a theology of both sexuality and gender available in a single volume. Makes a theological contribution to understanding the unprecedented changes in sexual and gender relationships of the last fifty years Discusses many topics including: sexual difference; sexual equality; gender and power; the nature of desire; the future of marriage in Christian sexual ethics; homosexuality and same-sex unions; the problems of sexual minorities; contraception in a time of HIV/AIDS; the separation of sexual experience from marriage; and offers new arguments for marriage and for chastity Offers a consistent and engaging introduction at the cutting edge of theological inquiry, which is contemporary, undogmatic, questioning, and relevant to readers' experience, interests, and needs Written lucidly and engagingly by an established and respected academic who has published widely in this area
God, Sex, and Politics: Homosexuality and Everyday Theologies
by Dawne MoonGod, Sex, and Politics examines both sides of the church controversy over homosexuality to consider the ways in which people develop, in everyday thought and interaction, their beliefs about God and justice. Dawne Moon explores how members of Protestant congregations determine what is just and what is not, what is right and what is wrong, what is loving and what is sinful. Through this compelling work we learn that the considerable turmoil surrounding homosexuality in churches has less to do with homosexuality than with the fear of weakening the church's spiritual, communal solidarity. We learn too how the church mirrors the secular world—the fear of division and politics leads members to avoid conflict in the congregations Moon examines. And so, the Protestants who are the subject of her study avoid debating the key issue of whether homosexuality is sinful because of its potentially polarizing effects. The religious culture Moon uncovers is ultimately critical of politics and of the intense moral and social discord that members believe it entails. God, Sex, and Politics will be of enormous value to sociologists of religion and anyone interested in religious controversies over sexuality.
A Goddess in Motion: Visual Creativity in the Cult of María Lionza (New Directions in Anthropology #42)
by Roger CanalsThe current practice of the cult of María Lionza is one of the most important and yet unexplored religious practices in Venezuela. Based on long-term fieldwork, this book explores the role of images and visual culture within the cult. By adopting a relational approach, A Goddess in Motion shows how the innumerable images of this goddess—represented as an Indian, white or mestizo woman—move constantly from objects to bodies, from bodies to dreams, and from the religion domain to the art world. In short, this book is a fascinating study that sheds light on the role of visual creativity in contemporary religious manifestations.
Goddesses of Kathmandu Valley: Grace, Rage, Knowledge (Nepal and Himalayan Studies)
by Arun GuptoIn South Asia goddesses are conceptualized and worshipped in a fascinatingrange of forms – from cosmic beings to bacterial manifestations, from human-like appearances to creatures with animal and insect semblances. This book maps the diverse identities of goddesses through metaphors of Grace, Rage and Knowledge, and offers an in-depth insight into femininity, sexual politics, ritual worship, religion, ecology and gender. The volume explores how these deity attributes are expressed and embedded through anthropomorphic as well as inorganic forms of nature: beautiful women, multi-legged and many-armed animals, epistemic selves, demonic beings, glamorous personifications and also grotesque sub-humans. The second edition contains an Epilogue which further explores how the discourses on Goddesses are moulded by the myth and folklore. It opens discussions on how the dynamism of Goddess cultures have been appropriated into contemporary variations of those archetypes over time. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious studies, cultural studies, folklore, art, literature, sociology and gender studies, especially those interested in Nepal and Hinduism.
Goddesses of Kathmandu Valley: Grace, Rage, Knowledge (Nepal and Himalayan Studies)
by Arun GuptoIn South Asia goddesses are conceptualized and worshipped in a fascinatingrange of forms – from cosmic beings to bacterial manifestations, from human-like appearances to creatures with animal and insect semblances. This book maps the diverse identities of goddesses through metaphors of Grace, Rage and Knowledge, and offers an in-depth insight into femininity, sexual politics, ritual worship, religion, ecology and gender. The volume explores how these deity attributes are expressed and embedded through anthropomorphic as well as inorganic forms of nature: beautiful women, multi-legged and many-armed animals, epistemic selves, demonic beings, glamorous personifications and also grotesque sub-humans. The second edition contains an Epilogue which further explores how the discourses on Goddesses are moulded by the myth and folklore. It opens discussions on how the dynamism of Goddess cultures have been appropriated into contemporary variations of those archetypes over time. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious studies, cultural studies, folklore, art, literature, sociology and gender studies, especially those interested in Nepal and Hinduism.
Godless Intellectuals?: The Intellectual Pursuit of the Sacred Reinvented
by Alexander Tristan RileyThe Durkheimians have traditionally been understood as positivist, secular thinkers, fully within the Enlightenment project of limitless reason and progress. In a radical revision of this view, this book persuasively argues that the core members of the Durkheimian circle (Durkheim himself, Marcel Mauss, Henri Hubert and Robert Hertz) are significantly more complicated than this. Through his extensive analysis of large volumes of correspondence as well as historical and macro-sociological mappings of the intellectual and social worlds in which the Durkheimian project emerged, the author shows the Durkheimian project to have constituted a quasi-religious quest in ways much deeper than most interpreters have thought. Their fascination, both personal and intellectual, with the sacred is the basis on which the author reconstructs some important components of modern French intellectual history, connecting Durkheimian thought to key representatives of French poststructuralism and postmodernism: Bataille, Foucault, Derrida, Baudrillard, and Deleuze.
Gods and Rollercoasters: Religion in Theme Parks Worldwide
by Crispin PaineThis worldwide study examines how religion gets into theme parks – as mission, as an aspect of culture, as fable, and by chance. Gods and Rollercoasters analyzes religion in theme parks, looking at how it relates to modernism, popular culture, right-wing politics, nationalism, and the rise of the global middle class. Crispin Paine argues that religion has discovered a major new means of expression through theme parks. From the reconstruction of Biblical Jerusalem at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, through the world of Chinese mythology at Haw Par Villa in Singapore, to the great temple/theme-park Akshardham in New Delhi, this book shows how people are encountering and experiencing religion in the context of fun, thrills and leisure-time. Drawing on examples from six of the seven continents, and exploring religious traditions including Christianity, Daoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, Gods and Rollercoasters provides a significant contribution to the study of religion, sociology, anthropology, and popular culture.
Gods and Rollercoasters: Religion in Theme Parks Worldwide
by Crispin PaineThis worldwide study examines how religion gets into theme parks – as mission, as an aspect of culture, as fable, and by chance. Gods and Rollercoasters analyzes religion in theme parks, looking at how it relates to modernism, popular culture, right-wing politics, nationalism, and the rise of the global middle class. Crispin Paine argues that religion has discovered a major new means of expression through theme parks. From the reconstruction of Biblical Jerusalem at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, through the world of Chinese mythology at Haw Par Villa in Singapore, to the great temple/theme-park Akshardham in New Delhi, this book shows how people are encountering and experiencing religion in the context of fun, thrills and leisure-time. Drawing on examples from six of the seven continents, and exploring religious traditions including Christianity, Daoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, Gods and Rollercoasters provides a significant contribution to the study of religion, sociology, anthropology, and popular culture.
God's Blueprints: A Sociological Study of Three Utopian Sects (Routledge Library Editions: Sociology of Religion #4)
by John McKelvie WhitworthViewing the world with abhorrence, members of utopian sects isolate themselves from its influence. As this book, first published in 1975, shows, they seek to establish and promulgate radically distinctive forms of society according to what they claim to be God’s blueprint and which they believe are destined by his intervention and their example to spread throughout the world. Rooted in the sociology of religion and more particularly in the concepts of sectarianism and communitarianism, this study presents an analysis of three sects: the Shakers; the Oneida Community; and the Bruderhof. The author examines the origins, religious conceptions, social structure and composition, modes of social control, and development of each group; and in a concluding chapter he discusses the utopian sect as a distinctive social form.
God's Blueprints: A Sociological Study of Three Utopian Sects (Routledge Library Editions: Sociology of Religion #4)
by John McKelvie WhitworthViewing the world with abhorrence, members of utopian sects isolate themselves from its influence. As this book, first published in 1975, shows, they seek to establish and promulgate radically distinctive forms of society according to what they claim to be God’s blueprint and which they believe are destined by his intervention and their example to spread throughout the world. Rooted in the sociology of religion and more particularly in the concepts of sectarianism and communitarianism, this study presents an analysis of three sects: the Shakers; the Oneida Community; and the Bruderhof. The author examines the origins, religious conceptions, social structure and composition, modes of social control, and development of each group; and in a concluding chapter he discusses the utopian sect as a distinctive social form.
God's Businessmen: Entrepreneurial Evangelicals in Depression and War
by Sarah Ruth HammondThe evangelical embrace of conservatism is a familiar feature of the contemporary political landscape. What’s less well-known, however, is that the connection predates the Reagan revolution, going all the way back to the Depression and World War II. Evangelical businessmen at the time were quite active in opposing the New Deal—on both theological and economic grounds—and in doing so claimed a place alongside other conservatives in the public sphere. Like previous generations of devout laymen, they self-consciously merged their religious and business lives, financing and organizing evangelical causes with the kind of visionary pragmatism that they practiced in the boardroom. In God’s Businessmen, Sarah Ruth Hammond explores not only these men’s personal trajectories but also those of the service clubs and other institutions that, like them, believed that businessmen were God’s instrument for the Christianization of the world. Hammond presents a capacious portrait of the relationship between the evangelical business community and the New Deal—and in doing so makes important contributions to American religious history, business history, and the history of the American state.