Syncretism in Religion

Syncretism in Religion
Author: Anita Maria Leopold
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2016-05-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1136733523

Long a fascinating but problematic category of religious studies, "syncretism" is an elastic term that describes a wide range of practices characterized by the mixing or overlap of traditions. Syncretism in Religion offers the student a broad selection of essays, both classical contributions to the study of syncretism and new essays commissioned especially for this volume. Some important selections appear here in English for the first time. Also included is a list of references for further reading.

The Matrix of Mysticism

The Matrix of Mysticism
Author: Martin Hudale
Publisher: Xulon Press
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2008-10
Genre:
ISBN: 1606476572

The Matrix of Mysticism A Call for a New Reformation is on the cutting-edge pioneering into rarely-explored theological and religious history of Roman Catholicism. This book reveals that while under influence of humanistic and mystical teachings of the Roman Church, many Catholic priests committed vicious acts of homosexual molestation against Catholic adolescent boys and children. Using the 2002 clergy sexual-abuse scandal as a launching pad, the author exposes the cause and effect relationship between Catholicisms celibate-monastic mysticism and its long history of clerical sexual dysfunctions. The author documents how the Catholic Churchs occult Gnostic/Neoplatonic worldview regarding the antagonistic differences between the flesh and spirit became the motivating cause for its history of clerical sexual promiscuity and antifeminine mind-set as well as its rationale to deify Mary, the mother of Jesus, as an incarnation of the divine feminine. Martin Hudale spent 12 years in pre-Vatican II Catholic boarding schools and seminaries. During this time, he studied various Roman Catholic doctrines pertaining to dogmatic, moral, ecclesiastical, sacramental and patristic theology. He was required to study Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy along with logic, epistemology and the Latin and Greek classical literature. As a result, he has the background experience, knowledge and credibility to write this book. After being ordained a Catholic priest, he worked four years at an inner-city parish church in the United States where his awareness of the homosexual and immoral lifestyles among some of his fellow priests was an important factor causing him to leave the priesthood. After he became a born-again Christian at the age of 40, he spent approximately 25 years researching and writing this book while receiving an M.S.degree in Counseling Psychology. He is presently married to his wife of 35 yrs. and the father of three adult children.

SCM Core Text: Religious Syncretism

SCM Core Text: Religious Syncretism
Author: Eric Maroney
Publisher: SCM Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2006-05-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0334040183

Even a quick scan of today's headlines makes clear that the growth of fundamentalist versions of Islam is having a vast impact on our world. For Americans the rise of Christian fundamentalism, especially the Evangelical movement, is also socially and politically shaping the country, as debates about abortion, stem cell research and other important issues are often driven by fundamentalist notions. In profound ways, orthodox versions of Judaism have altered the fabric of Middle Eastern politics through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially regarding settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, making peace there all the more difficult, and further destabilizing an already unstable region. The rise of fundamentalism in the three monotheistic faiths is fully examined in this textbook. It is not about fundamentalism however, it is about its opposite trend: religious syncretism. Syncretism describes the phenomenon of one religion borrowing elements from another, and it is part of religion that fundamentalists will seldom acknowledge. This textbook explores Judaism, Christianity and Islam, using compelling examples of how syncretism works and looks, to show how these three religions have adopted customs and conceptions of other religions, most often acquiring practices from pagan predecessors and neighbours. The book shows how these three faiths - despite how modern media would have us believe - have been willing, at various times and places, to borrow.

A Theory of African Constitutionalism

A Theory of African Constitutionalism
Author: Berihun Adugna Gebeye
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2021
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0192893920

A Theory of African Constitutionalism asks and seeks to answer why we need a new theoretical framework for African constitutionalism and how this could offer us better theoretical and practical tools with which to understand, improve, and assess African constitutionalism on its own terms. By locating constitutional studies in Africa within the experiences, interactions, and contestations of power and governance beginning in precolonial times, the book presents the development and transformation of African constitutional systems across time and place, along with the attendant constitutional designs and practices ranging from the nature and operation of the African state to its vertical and horizontal government structures, to its constitutional rights regime. This title offers both a theoretically and comparatively rich, historically and contextually informed, and temporally and spatially extensive account of the nature, travails, and incremental successes of African constitutionalism with detailed case studies from Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa. A Theory of African Constitutionalism provides scholars, policymakers, governments, and constitution builders in Africa and beyond with new insights for reimagining the purpose, substance, and scope of constitutions and constitutionalism.

Bourdieu on Religion

Bourdieu on Religion
Author: Terry Rey
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-12-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317490878

Pierre Bourdieu was one of the most influential social theorists of our time. He developed a series of concepts to uncover the way society works and to challenge assumptions about what society is. His ideas illuminate how individuals and groups find value and meaning and so have rapidly come to be seen as hugely productive in analysing how religion works in society. 'Bourdieu on Religion' introduces students to Bourdieu's key concepts: cultural, social and symbolic capital; habitus and field; and his challenge to the structures of social inequality. This study will be invaluable to any student interested in the relationships between religion, class and social power.

The Abrahamic Religions

The Abrahamic Religions
Author: Charles L. Cohen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2020
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190654341

Connected by their veneration of the One God proclaimed by Abraham, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share much beyond their origins in the ancient Israel of the Old Testament. This Very Short Introduction explores the intertwined histories of these monotheistic religions, from the emergence of Christianity and Islam to the violence of the Crusades and the cultural exchanges of al-Andalus.

Pluralism: The Future of Religion

Pluralism: The Future of Religion
Author: Kenneth Rose
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 144115776X

Theology of religions has defaulted in the last two decades to an epicyclic inclusivism which seeks to undermine pluralism with claims that it is covertly triumphalistic and that it mirrors the logic of exclusivism. With the exception of pioneers in the field such as John Hick and Paul Knitter, most major figures in this theological field have retreated from pluralism and promote versions of particularism and inclusivism. Pluralism: The Future of Religion argues for an apophatic pluralism that is motivated by the insight that it is impossible to secure universal assent for changeable bodies of religious teachings. This insight implies the non-finality and consequent 'departicularization' of all religious teachings and their inclusivistic defenses. These conclusions point us inevitably toward pluralism and lead us out of the inclusivistic impasse of contemporary theology in religions.

Writing Religion

Writing Religion
Author: Markus Dressler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190234091

Markus Dressler tells the story of how a number of marginalized socioreligious communities, traditionally and derogatorily referred to as Kizilbas (''Redhead''), captured the attention of the late Ottoman and early Republican Turkish nationalists and were gradually integrated into the newly formulated identity of secular Turkish nationalists.

Theorising Religion

Theorising Religion
Author: John Walliss
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2017-10-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351879618

Religion is controversial and challenging. Whilst religious forces are powerful in numerous societies, they have little or no significance for wide swaths of public or private life in other places. The task of theoretical work in the sociology of religion is, therefore, to make sense of this apparently paradoxical situation in which religion is simultaneously significant and insignificant. The chapters of Part One consider the classical roots of ideas about religion that dominated sociological ways of thinking about it for most of the twentieth century. Each chapter offers sound reasons for continuing to find theoretical inspiration and challenge in the sociological classics whilst also seeking ways of enhancing and extending their relevance to religion today. Part Two contains chapters that open up fresh perspectives on aspects of modern, post-modern and ultra-modern religion without necessarily ignoring the classical legacy. The chapters of Part Three chart new directions for the sociological analysis of religion by fundamentally re-thinking its theoretical basis, by extending its disciplinary boundaries and by examining previously overlooked topics.

UFO Religions

UFO Religions
Author: Christopher Hugh Partridge
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2003
Genre: Unidentified flying object cults
ISBN: 9780415263245

UFO Religions critically examines some of the fascinating issues surrounding UFO worship and gives a clear profile of modern UFO controversies and beliefs.