Undocumented Saints

Undocumented Saints follows the migration of popular saints from Mexico into the US and the evolution of their meaning. The book explores how Latinx battles for survival are performed in the worlds of faith, religiosity, and the imaginary, and how the socio-political realities of exploitation and racial segregation frame their popular religious expressions. It also tracks the emergence of inter-religious states, transnational ethnic and cultural enclaves unified by faith. The book looks at five vernacular saints that have emerged in Mexico and whose devotions have migrated into the US in the last one hundred years: Jesús Malverde, a popular bandido turned saint caudillo; Santa Olguita, an emerging feminist saint linked to border women's experiences of sexual violence; Juan Soldado, a murder-rapist soldier who is now a patron for undocumented immigrants and the main suspect in the death of an eight-year-old victim known now as Santa Olguita; Toribio Romo, a Catholic priest whose ghost/spirit has been helping people cross the border into the US since the 1990s; and La Santa Muerte, a controversial personification of death who is particularly popular among LGBTQ migrants. Each chapter contextualizes a particular popular saint within broader discourses about the construction of masculinity and the state, the long history of violence against Latina and migrant women, female erasure from history, discrimination against non-normative sexualities, and as US and Mexican investment in the control of religiosity within the discourses of immigration.

The book looks at five vernacular saints that have emerged in Mexico and have migrated into the US in the last one hundred years. Each chapter contextualizes a particular vernacular saint within broader discourses about the construction of masculinity and the state, the long history of violence against women in the region, female erasure from history, the discrimination of non-normative sexualities, as well as US and Mexican investment in the control of religiosity within the discourses of immigration.

"This handbook is organized by various themes with the study of U.S. Latina/x/o Christianities. Keeping in mind that the Oxford Handbooks are geared toward graduate students and professors, the organization and layout of this handbook provides a thorough examination of interlocking themes within the academic study of Latina/x/o Christian histories, sociologies, and anthropologies. These essays, taken individually and collectively, pay attention to both the diachronic (over time, historical) as well as the synchronic (contemporary). Moreover, the essays cover the major U.S. Latina/x/o ethnic groups as well as major Christian denominations and movements. Finally, essays in the handbook attend to important intersectional realities that include empire, migration, diaspora, hybridities, borderlands, and gender"--

Until the 1960s, little was known inside or outside Iran about the tribes living in the country. The anthropological research of Erika Friedl is now renowned for presenting comprehensive data collected over a 50-year period from her time among the Boir Ahmad tribal people living in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. In this new book, Friedl turns her attention to the subject of religion, which she had only touched upon in her previous work. About ninety percent of people in Iran and nearly everybody in Boir Ahmad are Muslims of the Twelver Shia group. However, studies of tribal people's religiosity, beliefs and rituals are scarce, and many researchers have discounted their views and experience, regarding the tribes as only “nominally religious” because their practices do not fit in with the mainstream practices and ideas in Iran. Religion and Daily Life in the Mountains of Iran corrects this view and provides a hallmark study of tribal people's religiosity. Demonstrating the great diversity of their philosophical and religious ideas, the book reveals the ways in which the tribes choose and express their religion, define their communities and understand their world. From conversations about God and his relationships with people, to observations on ageing and death, and research into the tribe's use of spells, amulets and sacrifices, to their beliefs about saints, health and well-being, the book is an original ethnographic exploration of religion and daily life.

If you have been wondering how to bring the rich traditions of the Catholic Church's liturgical year into your family life, this is the book for you. If you have no idea what the liturgical year is, but you are looking for ways to bring your faith home from Sunday Mass—in every season, all year long—this is the book for you too. With wisdom and humor mother and blogger Kendra Tierney shares how her family celebrates Catholic seasons and feasts—from Advent and Christmas, through Lent and Easter, to Pentecost and beyond. She provides ideas for stories, activities, foods, and decorations that will help you to celebrate your Catholic faith with your family and friends without expertise or much advance planning. She also offers tips and survival tricks from her fifteen years in the Catholic mommy trenches about such challenges as bringing young children to Mass and saying a family Rosary. Whether you're a convert or a revert or a lifelong Catholic, a member of a big family or a small one, a stay-at-home or a working parent, you're sure to find ways to make your Catholic faith a memorable and meaningful part of your busy family life—and have fun doing it!

The new edition of the standard resource for those teaching or learning Latinoax theology Now in its second edition, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latinoax Theology remains the most up-to-date, fully ecumenical collection of scholarship in the field. Bringing together contributions by a diverse panel of established scholars and newer voices within various theological disciplines, this comprehensive volume challenges Western readings of Christianity and offers fresh insights into theological truth from varied cultural and ethnic perspectives. The Companion addresses a wide range of Latinoax contexts while highlighting the thought of female, male, and LGBTQ+ Latinoax scholars in theology, introducing readers to this significant movement. Each chapter provides the historical background of a particular topic, explores its treatment by Latinoax theologians, discusses the current state of the topic, and offers the unique perspective of internationally recognized authors. The revised second edition incorporates recent developments within Latinoax studies, featuring new and expanded chapters that reflect numerous traditions of thought, up-to-date sources and methodologies, diverse intra-Latinoax communities, and contemporary Latinoax theologies and theologians. This invaluable and unique companion: Provides a systematic account of the past, present, and future of Latinoax theology Features new essays by the most influential voices in the field, incorporating recent research from Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical scholars Addresses the Latinoax experience of alienation and marginalization Represents the wide range of ecclesial and theological traditions Discusses Latinoax in timely contexts such as politics, immigration, feminism, gender, queer theory, and social and economic justice Edited by one of the world’s leading Latino theologians, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latinoax Theology, Second Edition is an indispensable resource for academic scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and instructors in universities and seminaries covering courses in theology, political thought, Latinoax studies, religion in the United States, and related topics.

This single-source guide to selected biographical dictionaries and directories covers the entire spectrum of biographical sources (serial and nonserial) that have been published in the last ten years. In each entry the book gives complete bibliographic information along with price and a critical evaluation. Most entries have been selected from American Reference Books Annual (ARBA), between 1986 and 1997. Organized in two broad categories-International and National Biographies and Biographies in Professional Fields-listings are also easily accessed through detailed author/title and subject indexes. This work will be valuable to reference librarians, researchers, and others who require information on the lives of individuals from all fields of study and all time periods, and of particular use to those involved in the library acquisition process.

The strength and vigor of the Catholic Church are nowhere more visible than in North and South America, where hundreds of millions of people claim the Catholic faith. Saints of the Americas features thirty heroes of this New World faith, with representatives from fifteen countries in South America, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. Through "conversations" between the authors and the saints, readers will be inspired by the stories of Catherine Drezel and Elizabeth Ann Seton, who built schools and hospitals in the United States; martyr Óscar Romero from El Salvador; Venezuelan physician and healer José Gregorio Hernández; Peruvian Rose of Lima, the first saint of the Americas; and others. The faith and perseverance of these martyrs and monks, laypeople and clergy, mystics and activists will encourage people today to make a lasting difference in the world.