Comparative religion

The Rhetoric of Religious Cults takes as its departure point the notion that 'cults' have a distinctive language and way of recruiting members.

The book describes the challenge of modernity faced by Muslims and Christians and the issue of religious pluralism.

Reluctant Witnesses: Jews and the Christian Imagination is an analysis of the ancient Christian myth that casts Jews as a 'witness-people', and this myth's presence in contemporary religious discourse.

This pioneering study is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between Judaism and the world's religions.

Using south-western England as a focus for considering the continued place of witchcraft and demonology in provincial culture in the period between the English and French revolutions, Barry shows how witch-beliefs were intricately woven into the fabric of daily life, even at a time when they arguably ceased to be of interest to the educated.

Cattoi and McDaniel present a selection of articles on the role of the body and the spiritual senses - our transfigured channels of sensory perceptions - in the context of spiritual practice.

There appears to be a hierarchy of cultures with the West perceiving the East as inferior, so much so that it is referred to simply as 'the Other'.

A comparative analysis of early witch trials in Lucerne, Nuremberg and Basel, within the context of criminal justice and social control.

The late Victorian period witnessed the remarkable revival of magical practice and belief.

'The Haunted' is the first truly comprehensive social history of ghosts.

Men - as accused witches, witch-hunters, werewolves and the demonically possessed - are the focus of analysis in this collection of essays by leading scholars of early modern European witchcraft.

Witch-hunts in Central Europe were by no means focused only on women; one in four alleged witches was male.

Since 1990, direct sales have attracted over two million recruits in Mexico and are characterized by a belief in the power of positive thinking.

Afro-Eccentricity explores three overlapping stories of Black Religion: the Soul, Black Church, and Ancestor Narratives.

Do we all possess a soul?

Speaking of Gods analyzes the figurative-narrative creation of gods, their heavenly abodes, and behaviors, reaching back to the beginning of history in Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Persia and Greece, and continuing through the figures and narratives of a biblical tradition that includes the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur'an.

This volume addresses what happens to Christian theology when it follows its traditional habit of excluding religious others from the theological conversation.

New approaches to a central area of Latter-day Saint belief The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christians have always shared a fundamental belief in the connection between personal salvation and the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Performing a critical analysis of new scientific research on religious and spiritual phenomena, Grassie takes a two-staged phenomenological approach working from the 'outside in' and the 'bottom up' without privileging at the outset any religious traditions or philosophical assumptions.

This book explores 'A Common Word Between Us and You', a high-level ongoing Christian-Muslim dialogue process.

This study of various female deities of Graeco-Roman antiquity is the first to provide evidence that primary goddesses were conceived of as virgin mothers in the earliest layers of their cults.

This book is the first in over a decade to attempt a systematic synthesis of the field of conversion studies, encompassing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and theology.

Over the last decade there has been ongoing discussion about the place of religion in Quebecois society, particularly following the proposed Charter of Quebec Values in 2013.

An essential single-volume companion to the critical interpretation of Islamic scriptureThis book provides detailed and multidisciplinary coverage of a wealth of key Qur'anic terms, with incisive entries on crucial expressions ranging from the divine names allah ("e;God"e;) and al-rahman ("e;the Merciful"e;) to the Qur'anic understanding of belief and self-surrender to God.

Drawing on the latest research and scholarship, this newly revised and updated edition of Religions of the Silk Road explores the majestically fabled cities and exotic peoples that make up the romantic notions of the colonial era.

Dialogue on the conflict between religious fundamentalism and women's rights is often stymied by an 'all or nothing' approach: fundamentalists claim of absolute religious freedom, while some feminists dismiss religion entirely as being so imbued with patriarchy as to be eternally opposed to women's rights.

With insight and scholarship, Alan Brill crisply outlines the traditional Jewish approaches to other religions for an age of globalization.

This innovative, interdisciplinary collection of essays by scholars based in Europe and the United States offers stimulating approaches to the role played by religion in present-day South Asia.

Sixteen Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars sought to answer one question: 'Do our three scriptures unite or divide us?

Draws on mid-seventeenth to nineteenth-century slave narratives to describe oppression in the lives of enslaved African women.

This book examines the pilgrimages to China from Taiwan in the late 1980s and early 1990s and offers a wide-ranging account of urban planning statements, arguments about ritual propriety, and the material culture of pilgrimage.

This book explores the life and ideas of the enigmatic twentieth century philosopher, mystic, and teacher of esoteric dances George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, performing a hermeneutic textual analysis of all his writings to illuminate the place of hypnosis in his teaching.

Thoughtful essays to revive dialogue about atheism beyond belief.

A powerful reimagining of the world in which a young Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution.

A bold challenge to rethink the humanities as intimately connected to the superhuman and to "e;decolonize reality itself.

The powers of political secrecy and social spectacle have been taken to surreal extremes recently.

Across the Western world, the air is filled with talk of immigration.

Across early modern Europe, men and women from all ranks gathered medical, culinary, and food preservation recipes from family and friends, experts and practitioners, and a wide array of printed materials.

In this major new work, philosopher of religion Nancy Levene examines the elemental character of religion and modernity.

In Jews, Christians, and the Abode of Islam, Jacob Lassner examines the triangular relationship that during the Middle Ages defined-and continues to define today-the political and cultural interaction among the three Abrahamic faiths.

At most church weddings, the person presiding over the ritual is not a priest or a pastor, but the wedding planner, followed by the photographer, the florist, and the caterer.

When we consider the concept of sexual abuse and harassment, our minds tend to jump either towards adults caught in unhealthy relationships or criminals who take advantage of children.

"e;Somehow I woke up one day and found myself in bed with a stranger.

Human genomes are 99.

Until now the advent of Western romantic love has been seen as a liberation from-or antidote to-ten centuries of misogyny.

Human genomes are 99.

During the first half of the twentieth century, supporters of the eugenics movement offered an image of a racially transformed America by curtailing the reproduction of "e;unfit"e; members of society.

Rodney Stark's provocative new book argues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture.

Religious exoticism implies a deeply ambivalent relationship to otherness and to religion itself: traditional religious teachings are uprooted and fragmented in order to be appropriated as practical methods for personal growth.

Adolf Grunbaum is one of the giants of 20th century philosophy of science.