Religion And Folk Cosmology

This study refutes both the Western dominant paradigm of modernity and the Eurocentric stereotype of traditional Muslim culture, and demonstrates that rural Egyptians have their own paradigm of secular modernism that does not negate religious or sacred orientations. Islam is associated with ongoing attempts at religious purification and cultural unification and is inimical to cultural homogenization encouraged by Western globalization. Provides a holistic interpretation of the interplay between religion and folk cosmology, challenging the stereotypes that relegate traditional people to backwardness and a peripheral space or locality. Within this Muslim society the global/local nexus is one of ongoing creative integration, not separation. The cosmology can best be understood in the context of its totality, encompassing both visible and invisible zones. Muslims articulate personal or private order as well as social order within their cosmology. This cosmological view, endowing people with a unique imaginative sense of engagemenet with a supraphenomenal reality, accentuates the belief that divine cosmic invisible higher power surpasses any other power. Such a belief represents an inexhaustible source of spiritual and emotional empowerment that may be politically mobilized in certain critical moments and depicted as a religious, holy struggle, or jihad.

This volume examines the way in which cultural ideas about "the heavens" shape religious ideas and are shaped by them in return. Our approaches to cosmology have a profound effect on the way in which we each deal with religious questions and participate in the imaginative work of public and private world-building. Employing an interdisciplinary team of international scholars, each chapter shows how religion and cosmology interrelate and matter for real people. Historical and contemporary case studies are included to demonstrate the lived reality of a variety of faith traditions and their interactions with the cosmos. This breadth of scope allows readers to get a unique overview of how religion, science and our view of space have, and will continue to, impact our worldviews. Offering a comprehensive exploration of humanity and its relationship with cosmology, this book will be an important reference for scholars of Religion and Science, Religion and Culture, Interreligious Dialogue and Theology, as well as those interested in Science and Culture and Public Education.

This book connects traditional religions to the thriving religious activity in Africa today.

A religious cosmology (also mythological cosmology) is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the cosmos or universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition. Religious cosmologies usually include an act or process of creation by a creator deity or a larger pantheon. The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a flat disc-shaped earth floating on water, heaven above, underworld below. Humans inhabited earth during life and the underworld after death, and the underworld was morally neutral; only in Hellenistic times (after c.330 BC) did Jews begin to adopt the Greek idea that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an afterlife in heaven. In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a spherical earth suspended in space at the center of a number of concentric heavens. Around the time of Jesus or a little earlier, the Greek idea that God had actually created matter replaced the older idea that matter had always existed, but in a chaotic state. This concept, called creatio ex nihilo, is now the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of Judaism and Christianity. Most denominations of Christianity and Judaism claim that a single, uncreated God was responsible for the creation of the cosmos. This book gives an overview of the religious cosmologies, creationism or creation myths that are associated with Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Jainism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and numerous others.

This book has served the missiological community for twenty-five years as a resource for understanding human spirituality in any context. Thousands of students have incorporated the principles of this book into ministry around the globe. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition seeks to enable those who now bring their passion for mission to contemporary contexts affected by globalization, climate change, and political perspectives unimagined when this book originally appeared. Every community, wherever it is on earth, has its share of beliefs and values that manifest themselves in practices that reflect spiritual engagement. Those engaged in mission need to appreciate how underlying beliefs and values are reflected in handling spiritual power, worship and blessing, and interaction with others. Gospel communicators must account for these elements as they seek to make God’s intentions known to people who are searching for God. The models presented early in the book are essential for establishing what people consider spiritually critical. Applying these models in any religious environment will enable message-bearers to engage with beliefs and practices that promote a gospel presentation that makes sense. To that end, we commend this book for effective missional engagement.

We live in an era of exploding scientific knowledge about the universe, and our place and future within it. Much of this new knowledge conflicts with earlier wisdom, and some has frightening implications. Cosmic evolution, space exploration, the search for extraterrestrial life, and concerns about humanity's future prompt us to seek new answers to old existential questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Are we alone? What will become of us? In our search for answers, we turn to science, religion, myth, and varying combinations thereof. Exploring an ambiguous region between recognized findings and unfettered imagination, Starstruck explores the multifaceted, far-reaching, and often contentious attempts of people with contrasting worldviews to develop convincing and satisfying interpretations of rapidly accumulating discoveries in physics, astronomy, and biology.

During the last century the Christian faith has made massive inroads into areas dominated by traditional and folk religions. In many cases, however, varieties of syncretism have developed, both in the countries of origin and in the West. David Burnett's comprehensive study covers African, Indian, Polynesian, Australian, Asian and South American forms of traditional religion, together with Western expressions of these forms of faith. The topics covered include: Cosmology, Gods and spirits, Ghosts, Ancestor worship, Taboo and pollution, Rites of passage, Witchcraft, sorcery and magic, Methods of divination, Spirit possession, Shamans and healers. This is a standard text for all those studying or expecting to work in areas of traditional and folk religion.