The Bloomsbury Handbook To Studying Christians

Drawing on a range of methodologies, editors George D. Chryssides and Stephen E. Gregg shift attention from normative textual and doctrinal matters to issues of materiality and everyday life in Christianity. This handbook is structured in four parts, which include coverage of the following aspects of Christianity: sacred space and objects, cyber-Christianity, food, prayer, education, family life, fundamentalism and sexuality. In addition, issues of gender, race and ethnicity are treated throughout. The international team of contributors provide in-depth analysis that highlight the current state of academic study in the field and explores areas in which future research might develop. Clearly organised to help users quickly locate key information and analysis, the book includes an A to Z of key terms, extensive guides to further resources, a comprehensive bibliography and a chronology of landmark events, making it a unique resource to upper-level students and researchers.

Drawing on a range of methodologies, editors George D. Chryssides and Stephen E. Gregg shift attention from normative textual and doctrinal matters to issues of materiality and everyday life in Christianity. This handbook is structured in four parts, which include coverage of the following aspects of Christianity: sacred space and objects, cyber-Christianity, food, prayer, education, family life, fundamentalism and sexuality. In addition, issues of gender, race and ethnicity are treated throughout. The international team of contributors provide in-depth analysis that highlight the current state of academic study in the field and explores areas in which future research might develop. Clearly organised to help users quickly locate key information and analysis, the book includes an A to Z of key terms, extensive guides to further resources, a comprehensive bibliography and a chronology of landmark events, making it a unique resource to upper-level students and researchers.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South presents new comparative perspectives on Religious Education (RE) across the Global South. Including 23 chapters written by scholars from the Global North and South, this is the first authoritative reference work on the subject. The handbook is thematically organised into seven sections. The first three sections deal with provision, response to changes in contemporary society, and decolonizing RE. The next four sections explore young people and RE, perspectives on teachers, RE in higher education, and finally, challenges and opportunities for RE. The term 'Global South' is used here primarily to signify the deep economic divide with the Global North, but the concept is also examined in historical, geographical, political, social and cultural terms, including the indelible influence of religion in all four broadly defined regions. Exploring RE from local, cross-national as well as regional and sub-regional perspectives, the handbook examines RE from its diverse past, present realities, and envisioned future revealing not only tensions, contestations, injustices and inequalities of power, but importantly, how inclusive forms of RE can help solve these problems.

What would happen if I accepted an invitation to Bible Study from Jehovah's Witnesses? What would attending a Kingdom Hall meeting involve? And if I invited door-knocking Witnesses into my home? This book introduces Jehovah's Witnesses without assuming prior knowledge of the Watch Tower organization. After outlining the Society's origins and history, the book explains their key beliefs and practices by taking the reader through the process of the seeker who makes initial contact with Witnesses, and progresses to take instruction and become a baptized member. The book then explores what is involved in being a Witness – congregational life, lifestyle, rites of passage, their understanding of the Bible and prophetic expectations. It examines the various processes and consequences of leaving the organization, controversies that have arisen in the course of its history, and popular criticisms. Discussion is given to the likelihood of reforms within the organization, such as its stance on blood transfusions, the role of women and new methods of meeting and evangelizing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second edition of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music provides an updated, state-of-the-art analysis of the most important themes and concepts in the field, combining research in religious studies, theology, critical musicology, cultural analysis, and sociology. It comprises 30 updated essays and six new chapters covering the following areas: · Popular Music, Religion, and Performance · Musicological Perspectives · Popular Music and Religious Syncretism · Atheism and Popular Music · Industrial Music and Noise · K-pop The Handbook continues to provide a guide to methodology, key genres and popular music subcultures, as well as an extensive updated bibliography. It remains the essential tool for anyone with an interest in popular culture generally and religion and popular music in particular.

Divided into four parts-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-this book takes an elemental approach to the study of religion and ecology. It reflects recent theoretical and methodological developments in this field which seek to understand the ways that ideas and matter, minds and bodies exist together within an immanent frame of reference. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Nature focuses on how these matters materialize in the world around us, thereby addressing key topics in this area of study. The editors provide an extensive introduction to the book, as well as useful introductions to each of its parts. The volume's international contributors are drawn from the USA, South Africa, Netherlands, Norway, Indonesia, and South Korea, and offer a variety of perspectives, voices, cultural settings, and geographical locales. This handbook shows that human concern and engagement with material existence is present in all sectors of the global community, regardless of religious tradition. It challenges the traditional methodological approach of comparative religion, and argues that globalization renders a comparative religious approach to the environment insufficient.

How do we study Christian life and thought? How have political and cultural events influenced the experiences of Christians in different places, at different times? How has the world's largest religion been lived in varied parts of the world? The Christian Experience is the first textbook to unite traditional approaches to Christianity with special attention to art, music, architecture, and lived experiences. The material, individual, and personal sides of Christianity are brought to the fore throughout this chronological survey. Every chapter begins with a "first encounter" in order to bring the subject matter to life for students, mirroring the author's approach in his successful book Experiencing the World's Religions. This book on Christianity features over 100 color images, maps, and diagrams, and each chapter ends by pointing to additional print and electronic resources. Michael Molloy considers practices, insights, and artistic creations of Christians across the centuries. The book shows how Christian belief is being practiced in our own time, and it invites readers to imagine how Christianity might evolve in the future.

Bridging the gap between cognition and culture, this handbook explores both social scientific and humanities approaches to understanding the physical processes of religious life, tradition, practice, and belief. It reflects the cultural turn within the study of religion and puts theory to the fore, moving beyond traditional theological, philosophical, and ethnographic understandings of the aesthetics of religion. Editors Anne Koch and Katharina Wilkens bring together research in cultural studies, cognitive studies, material religion, religion and the arts, and epistemology. Questions of identity, gender, ethnicity, and postcolonialism are discussed throughout. Key topics include materiality, embodiment, performance, popular/vernacular art and space to move beyond a sensory understanding of aesthetics. Emerging areas of research are covered, including secular aesthetics and the aesthetic of spirits. This is an important contribution to theory and method in the study of religion, and is grounded in research that has been taking place in Europe over the past 20 years. Case studies are drawn from around the world with contributions from scholars based in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The book is illustrated with over 40 color images and features a foreword from Birgit Meyer.