Books And Religious Devotion

Objects of Devotion: Religion in Early America tells the story of religion in the United States through the material culture of diverse spiritual pursuits in the nation's colonial period and the early republic. The beautiful, full-color companion volume to a Smithsonian National Museum of American History exhibition, the book explores the wide range of religious traditions vying for adherents, acceptance, and a prominent place in the public square from the 1630s to the 1840s. The original thirteen states were home to approximately three thousand churches and more than a dozen Christian denominations, including Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Quakers. A variety of other faiths also could be found, including Judaism, Islam, traditional African practices, and Native American beliefs. As a result, America became known throughout the world as a place where, in theory, if not always in practice, all are free to believe and worship as they choose. The featured objects include an 1814 Revere and Sons church bell from Salem, the Jefferson Bible, wampum beads, a 1654 Torah scroll brought to the New World, the only known religious text written by an enslaved African Muslim, and other revelatory artifacts. Together these treasures illustrate how religious ideas have shaped the country and how the treatment and practice of religion have changed over time. Objects of Devotion emphasizes how religion can be understood through the objects, both rare and everyday, around which Americans of every generation have organized their communities and built this nation.

At a moment when "freedom of religion" rhetoric fuels public debate, it is easy to assume that sex and religion have faced each other in pitched battle throughout modern U.S. history. Yet, by tracking the nation's changing religious and sexual landscapes over the twentieth century, this book challenges that zero-sum account of sexuality locked in a struggle with religion. It shows that religion played a central role in the history of sexuality in the United States, shaping sexual politics, communities, and identities. At the same time, sexuality has left lipstick traces on American religious history. From polyamory to pornography, from birth control to the AIDS epidemic, this book follows religious faiths and practices across a range of sacred spaces: rabbinical seminaries, African American missions, Catholic schools, pagan communes, the YWCA, and much more. What emerges is the shared story of religion and sexuality and how both became wedded to American culture and politics. The volume, framed by a provocative introduction by Gillian Frank, Bethany Moreton, and Heather R. White and a compelling afterword by John D'Emilio, features essays by Rebecca T. Alpert and Jacob J. Staub, Rebecca L. Davis, Lynne Gerber, Andrea R. Jain, Kathi Kern, Rachel Kranson, James P. McCartin, Samira K. Mehta, Daniel Rivers, Whitney Strub, Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci, Judith Weisenfeld, and Neil J. Young.

Becoming Religious is a contemporary investigation of a classical question in the scientific study of religion -- why religion? Why do people devote themselves to unseen, mysterious powers and goals? An answer is proposed from the religious biographies of contemporary South Georgians from all walks of life. Relevant theories from across the subdisciplines of religious studies are marshaled to explain how personal religious commitment emerges and grows.

Underlying the discussion are basic questions about the format of medieval religious experience, ranging from the nature of authority to the relationship between priests and laity, and how far it is actually possible to talk of a monolithic catholicism.

In Emotion and Devotion Miri Rubin explores the craft of the historian through a series of studies of medieval religious cultures. In three original chapters she approaches the medieval figure of the Virgin Mary with the aim of unravelling meaning and experience. Hymns and miracle tales, altarpieces and sermons – a wide range of sources from many European regions – are made to reveal the creativity and richness which they elicited in medieval people, women and men, clergy and laity, people of status and riches as well as those of modest means. The first chapter, "The Global 'Middle Ages'," considers the current historiographical frame for the study of religious cultures and suggests ways in which the Middle Ages can be made more global. Next, "Mary, and Others" examines the polemical situations around Mary, and the location of Muslims and Jews within them. The third chapter, "Emotions and Selves," tracks the sentimental education experienced by Europeans in the late Middle Ages through devotional encounters with the figure of the Virgin Mary in word, image and sound. Each year one scholar of world fame is invited to present lectures in the framework of the Natalie Zemon Davis Annual Lecture Series at the Central European University, Budapest. This is the second volume in the series of published lectures.

A brilliant interplay between words and images informs this collection of stories, in which devotion is explored in its many forms.

Heart and Home is a short devotional book with daily devotions for 90 days. The devotionals seek to draw clear connection between the basics of interior design and scripture that encourages spiritual growth within our hearts. The devotionals inspire women to have a captivating heart and home. Included in each devotional is an applicable design tip and photographs. Example devotional topics include unity and harmony, negative space, flow, focal point, and balance. This devotional includes four-color photographs of home interiors throughout the book.

Do you long for the closeness with God that you've tasted in fleeting moments? You can begin to fill that longing by developing your capacity to receive and respond to God's love. In this rich resource Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe introduce you to people from the past who have known God deeply and model the seven paths to intimacy with God from Christian history.