Religion: Books

More than a quarter of the world's religions are to be found in the regions of Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, together called Oceania. The Religions of Oceaniais the first book to bring together up-to-date information on the great and changing variety of traditional religions in the Pacific zone. The book also deals with indigenous Christianity and its wide influence across the region, and includes new religious movements generated by the responses of indigenous peoples to colonists and missionaries, the best known of these being the `Cargo Cults' of Melanesia.

At a time when local traditions across the world are forcibly colliding with global culture, this work explores the future of indigenous religions as they encounter modernity and globalization. What role do indigenous religions play in today's world? Beyond Primitivism is a complete appraisal of indigenous religions - faiths integrally connected to the cultures in which they originate, as distinct from global religions of conversion - as practiced across America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific today.

The study of indigenous religions has become an important academic field, particularly since the religious practices of indigenous peoples are being transformed by forces of globalization and transcontinental migration. This book will further our understanding of indigenous religions by first considering key methodological issues related to defining and contextualizing the religious practices of indigenous societies, both historically and in socio-cultural situations. Two further sections of the book analyse cases derived from European contexts, which are often overlooked in discussion of indigenous religions, and in two traditional areas of study: South America and Africa.

Extremely distant and distinct indigenous communities have over recent decades become more like themselves and more like each other - a paradox prevalent globally but inadequately explained by established analytical frames, particularly with regard to religion. Addressing this rich and unfolding context, the Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) engages a wide variety of locations and perspectives. Drawing upon the efforts of a diverse group of scholars working at the intersection of indigenous studies and religious studies, this volume includes a programmatic introduction that argues for new ways of conceptualizing the field of indigenous religion(s), numerous case study-based examples, and an Afterword by Thomas Tweed.

This literary treasure provides one of the earliest glimpses into pre-colonial Hawaaiin culture. This book, one of six written by Dr. Westervelt, is a fascinating compilation of Hawaiian legends and historical tales.

When the first Europeans arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, the volcano goddess Pele was the central deity of a complex religion in the volcano districts of Hawai'i Island. While native Hawaiians were quickly converted to Christianity, Pele remained remarkably relevant as a deity. This book is a critical biography of the volcano goddess, as well as a history of her religion. Topics covered include the ongoing belief in Pele, her popular manifestations, her ceremonies, her new cultural roles and her current status in Hawai'i.

Stories of the volcano goddess Pele and her youngest sister Hiʻiaka are most familiar as a form of literary colonialism. But far from quaint tales for amusement, the Pele and Hiʻiaka literature published between the 1860s and 1930s carried coded political meaning for the Hawaiian people at a time of great upheaval. Voices of Fire recovers the lost and often-suppressed significance of this literature, restoring it to its primary place in Hawaiian culture.

The Legends and Myths of Hawaii, by King David Kalakaua, who lived from 1836 to 1890, is a remarkable work. It combines many traditional Hawaiian legends with stories about historical incidents, such as the death of Captain James Cook at the hands of Hawaiians in 1779 and the destruction of Hawaiian temples in 1819.

The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most sacred and venerated Hindu texts, is a series of conversations between the Lord Krishna – the divine one – and the warrior prince Arjuna in the prelude to the Kurukshetra war. Consisting of seven hundred stanzas and dealing with parables, and analogies covering the Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, it is thought by many to be the Hindu guidebook to life. The Bhagavad Gita is one installment in the Indian Epic the Mahabharata.

This book is a pioneering attempt to understand the prehistory of Hinduism in South Asia. Exploring religious processes in the Deccan region between the eleventh and the nineteenth century with class relations as its point of focus, it throws new light on the making of religious communities, monastic institutions, legends, lineages, and the ethics that governed them. In the light of this prehistory, a compelling framework is suggested for a revision of existing perspectives on the making of Hinduism in the nineteenth and the twentieth century.

This edited volume seeks to build a scholarly discourse about how Hinduism is being defined, reformed, and rearticulated in the digital era and how these changes are impacting the way Hindus view their own religious identities. It seeks to interrogate how digital Hinduism has been shaped in response to the dominant framing of the religion, which has often relied on postcolonial narratives devoid of context and an overemphasis on the geopolitics of the Indian subcontinent post-partition. From this perspective, this volume challenges previous frameworks of how Hinduism has been studied, particularly in the West, where Marxist and Orientalist approaches are often ill-fitting paradigms to understanding Hinduism. This volume engages with and critiques some of these approaches while also enriching existing models of research within media studies, ethnography, cultural studies, and religion.

Understanding Judaism covers the history of Judaism and explores how the religion has evolved and expanded. Readers learn about the branches of Judaism, Jewish beliefs, and the influence Jews have had on the world. This title also discusses anti-Semitism Jews have faced, both today and during history. Features include a glossary, references, websites, source notes, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

What is Judaism? What is the Jewish creed? Most people--even those who call themselves Jews--would be hard-pressed to answer this question. The reason, according to Nicholas de Lange, is that the very idea of a religion has been artificially imposed on Judaism. "The term 'religion' has been foreign to Judaism until relatively recently," he writes, "when the dialogue with Christianity has compelled Jews to recognize and use it. Indeed the Hebrew language does not really have a word for religion."

A landmark reinterpretation of why Christianity became the dominant faith of the West The idea that Christianity started as a clandestine movement among the poor is a widely accepted notion. Yet it is one of many myths that must be discarded if we are to understand just how a tiny messianic movement on the edge of the Roman Empire became the dominant faith of Western civilization. In a fast-paced, highly readable book that addresses beliefs as well as historical facts, Rodney Stark brings a sociologist's perspective to bear on the puzzle behind the success of early Christianity.

Understand the religion behind the headlines. Do you want to understand the world's fastest-growing religion? Are you interested in knowing who Muhammad was and why he had such as lasting influence? This book, which features colour photographs throughout, is the essential overview for everyone who wants to understand what Islam is and what it means today. It includes: * The life of Muhammad * Understanding the Qur'an * Islam in history * What Muslims believe and do * Challenges facing Muslims today The only up-to-date illustrated guide to Islam, this book will be of interest to general readers and those studying Islam as part of Religious Studies GCSE and A-level.

The spread of Islam and the process of Islamisation (meaning both conversion to Islam and the adoption of Muslim culture) is explored in the twenty-four chapters of this volume. Taking a comparative perspective, both the historical trajectory of Islamisation and the methodological problems in its study are addressed, with coverage moving from Africa to China and from the seventh century to the start of the colonial period in 1800.

In the on-going discussions concerning Islam, the question of its numerous prohibitions and of its inability to adapt to modern society surfaces constantly. It is commonly considered to be a question of good taste to make a distinction between an Islam that is open, peaceful, and compatible with contemporary society and an Islam that is fundamentalist and decisively intolerant in all matters of faith. But is such a distinction valid? Does it not derive above all from an attitude that seeks to be "politically correct" and which makes any serious discussion impossible, to the great detriment of necessary evolutions, rendering them, indeed, unattainable?

From Greco-Roman Antiquity through to the European Enlightenment, philosophy and religious thought were inseparably interwoven. This was equally the case for the popular natural or 'pagan' religions of the ancient world as it was for the three pre-eminent 'religions of the book', namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Christianity, Judaism and Islam - the Children of Abraham - constitute the spiritual foundations of Western civilization. They affect the interactions of entire nations and individuals, though their history is often understood as one of conflict and controversy. The present volume documents past encounters and confrontations, though it also shows that the history of the three faiths is not merely one of conflict but also one of co-existence and dialogue. The rich shared theological traditions of the Abrahamic religions provide positive encouragement to present-day meetings between their followers. The book contains 16 contributions by scholars from various fields of religious studies. It should appeal to everyone interested in interreligious encounters.

This volume brings together articles on various aspects of cultural, religious, social and commercial interactions between Jews, Christians and Muslims in the medieval and early modern periods.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

An ancient prayer for the dedication of the high chief Lonoikamakahiki to the gods soon after his birth, and at which time the honors of Kapu, Wela, Hoano, and Moe were conferred on him by his father, Keaweikekahialiiokamoku, King of Hawaii. After the ceremony his name was changed to Ka Ii Mamao. The book is: He Kumulipo (The creation) for Ka Ii Mamao from him to his daughter, Alapai Wahine. The book is divided into sixteen eras or ages.

How the rise of Christianity profoundly influenced the development of Judaism in late antiquity In late antiquity, as Christianity emerged from Judaism, it was not only the new religion that was being influenced by the old. The rise and revolutionary challenge of Christianity also had a profound influence on rabbinic Judaism, which was itself just emerging and, like Christianity, trying to shape its own identity. In The Jewish Jesus, Peter Schäfer reveals the crucial ways in which various Jewish heresies, including Christianity, affected the development of rabbinic Judaism. He even shows that some of the ideas that the rabbis appropriated from Christianity were actually reappropriated Jewish ideas. The result is a demonstration of the deep mutual influence between the sister religions, one that calls into question hard and fast distinctions between orthodoxy and heresy, and even Judaism and Christianity, during the first centuries CE.

Mortuary Dialogues presents fresh perspectives on death and mourning across the Pacific Islands. Through a set of rich ethnographies, the book examines how funerals and death rituals give rise to discourse and debate about sustaining moral personhood and community amid modernity and its enormous transformations. The book's key concept, "mortuary dialogue," describes the different genres of talk and expressive culture through which people struggle to restore individual and collective order in the aftermath of death in the contemporary Pacific.

Tales of Lights and Shadows offers a fresh approach to the traditional mythology and literature of the afterlife, centering on tensions and polarities in the afterlife concepts: bright vs. dismal, heaven vs. reincarnation, theocentric vs. anthropocentric heaven, etc. Presenting examples from virtually all the world's religious cultures past and present, this fascinating book puts the concepts clearly in the context of the worldview and social issues of that society.Robert Ellwood depicts the many rich mythologies of the afterlife from the ancient Mesopotamians, Japanese, Greeks of the Homeric era, to Christian views of heaven or the Buddhist western paradise. He explores views of the concept of reincarnation as well as the arduous preparation for the afterlife that must be taken in some traditions. Ellwood concludes by looking at the way varying views of the afterlife influence religious and even secular culture, and how in turn culture can influence the popular heavens and hells of the time and place.

What do various spiritual and ethical belief systems have to say about modern medicine's approach to the end of life? Do all major religions characterize the afterlife in similar ways? How do funeral rites and rituals vary across different faiths? Now there is one resource that gathers leading scholars to address these questions and more about the many religious, ethical, and spiritual aspects of death, dying, and bereavement in America. Religion, Death, and Dying compares and contrasts the ways different faiths and ethical schools contemplate the end of life. The work is organized into three thematic volumes: first, an examination of the contemporary medicalized death from the perspective of different religious traditions and the professions involved; second, an exploration of complex, often controversial issues, including the death of children, AIDS, capital punishment, and war; and finally, a survey of the funeral and bereavement rituals that have evolved under various religions.

Drawing on current scholarship and exhaustive textual study, this volume offers a detailed exploration of creation--of the cosmos and humanity--in the thought of the second-century Irenaeus of Lyons, connecting it to themes of trinity, image, progress and perfection.

Every natural symbol - derived from blood, breath or excrement - carries a social meaning and this work focuses on the ways in which any one culture makes its selections from body symbolism. Each person treats their body as an image of society and the author examines the varieties of ritual and symbolic expression and the patterns of social ritual in which they are embodied. Natural Symbols is a book about religion and it concerns our own society at least as much as any other. It has stimulated new insights into religious and political movements and has provoked re-appraisals of current progressive orthodoxies in many fields. As a classic, it represents a work of anthropology in its widest sense, exploring themes such as the social meaning of natural symbols and the image of the body in society which are now very much in vogue in anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. In this reissue and with a new Introduction, Natural Symbols will continue to appeal to all students of anthropology, sociology and religion.

What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know?There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and travelling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Chapter by chapter, it setsout the current state of scientific knowledge: the origins of space and time; energy, mass, and light; galaxies, stars, and our sun; the habitable earth, and complex life itself. Drawing together the physical and biological sciences, Baggott recounts what we currently know of our history,highlighting the questions science has yet to answer.

Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty and Camus. These were some of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, and the key existentialist thinkers. This Very Short Introduction provides an accessible account of the existentialist movement, and of the themes of individuality, free will, and personal responsibility which make it a 'philosophy as a way of life'. -;Existentialism was one of the leading philosophical movements of the twentieth century. Focusing on its seven leading figures, Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty and Camus, this Very Short Introduction provides a clear account of the key themes of the movement which emphasized individuality, free will, and personal responsibility in the modern world.Drawing in the movement's varied relationships with the arts, humanism, and politics, this book clarifies the philosophy and original meaning of 'existentialism' - which has tended to be obscured by misappropriation. Placing it in its historical context, Thomas Flynn also highlights how existentialism is still relevant to us today.

Existentialism is the philosophy of human existence, which flourished first in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s and then in France in the decade following the end of World War II. The operative meaning of existentialism here is thus broader than it was circa 1945 when the term first gained currency in France as a label for the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. However, it is considerably less broad than the view proposed by commentators in the 1950s and 1960s who, in an attempt to overcome Sartre's hegemony, discovered the seeds of existentialism far and wide: in Shakespeare, Saint Augustine, and the Old Testament prophets. In this dictionary, existentialism is understood as a decidedly 20th-century phenomenon, though with roots in the 19th century. Effort has been made to understand the philosophy of existentialism, as all philosophies should be understood, as part of an ongoing intellectual tradition: an evolving history of problems, concepts, and arguments. The A to Z of Existentialism explains the central claims of existentialist philosophy and the contexts in which it developed into one of the most influential intellectual trends of the 20th century. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and more than 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries offering clear, accessible accounts of the life and thought of major existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, as well as thinkers influential to its development such as Wilhelm Dilthey, Henri Bergson, Edmund Husserl, and Max Scheler. This book affords readers an integrated, critical, and historically-sensitive understanding of this important philosophical movement.

Religion and Morality addresses central issues arising from religion's relation to morality. Part I offers a sympathetic but critical appraisal of the claim that features of morality provide evidence for the truth of religious belief. Part II examines divine command theories, objections to them, and positive arguments in their support. Part III explores tensions between human morality, as ordinarily understood, and religious requirements by discussing such issues as the conflict between Buddhist and Christian pacifism and requirements of justice, whether 'virtue' without a love of God is really a vice, whether the God of the Abrahamic religions could require us to do something that seems clearly immoral, and the ambiguous relations between religious mysticism and moral behavior.

The rising population known as "nones" for its members' lack of religious affiliation is changing American society, politics, and culture. Corinna Nicolaou is a none, and in this layered narrative, she tours America's major traditional religions to see what, if anything, one might lack without God. Though she remains a devout none, Nicolaou's experiences reveal points of contact between the religious and the unaffiliated, suggesting nones may be radically revising the practice of faith in contemporary times.

This book spotlights individual expressions of atheist, agnostic, and secular humanist opinion--both public and private--to shed light on the phenomenon of religious disbelief throughout history and across cultures. Voices of Unbelief: Documents from Atheists and Agnostics is the first anthology to provide comprehensive, annotated readings on atheism and unbelief expressly for high school and college students. This diverse compilation brings together letters, essays, diary entries, book excerpts, blogs, monologues, and other writings by atheists and agnostics, both through the centuries and across continents and cultures.