Where Humans And Spirits Meet

Zanzibar, an island off the East African coast, with its Muslim and Swahili population, offers rich material for this study of identity, religion, and multiculturalism. This book focuses on the phenomenon of spirit possession in Zanzibar Town and the relationships created between humans and spirits; it provides a way to apprehend how society is constituted and conceived and, thus, discusses Zanzibari understandings of what it means to be human.

What would happen when the Christian message is introduced to various groups of people? How would their contexts and worldviews influence their responses to the message? To this age-old missiological question, the study takes the readers to a narrowed and concerted question, "What is the effect of Pentecostal messages on animistic people," or in other words, "What are results when the (Holy) Spirit meets the spirits of the tribal people?" Julie Ma chose the Kankanaey tribe in the northern Philippines to prove that the Pentecostal type of Christian has invited a very positive response from the Kankana-eys. She approaches the matter from historical, anthropological and theological perspectives. This may challenge the readers to look more closely at the phenomenal Pentecostal movement, especially with their potential for mission. She also urges her fellow Pentecostals to be more appreciative of their heritage and to fully appropriate it to reach "the end of the earth."

In the name of Allah, The All-Merciful, The Ever-Merciful “And they ask you, (O Muhammed), about the soul. Say, “The soul is the affair of my Lord. And mankind haven’t been given of knowledge except a little”

This book draws attention to a striking aspect of contemporary Japanese culture: the prevalence of discussions and representations of “spirits” (tama or tamashii). Ancestor cults have played a central role in Japanese culture and religion for many centuries; in recent decades, however, other phenomena have expanded and diversified the realm of Japanese animism. For example, many manga, anime, TV shows, literature, and art works deal with spirits, ghosts, or with an invisible dimension of reality. International contributors ask to what extent these are cultural forms created by the media for consumption, rather than manifestations of “traditional” ancestral spirituality in their adaptations to contemporary society. Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan considers the modes of representations and the possible cultural meanings of spirits, as well as the metaphysical implications of contemporary Japanese ideas about spirits. The chapters offer analyses of specific cases of “animistic attitudes” in which the presence of spirits and spiritual forces is alleged, and attempt to trace cultural genealogies of those attitudes. In particular, they present various modes of representation of spirits (in contemporary art, architecture, visual culture, cinema, literature, diffuse spirituality) while at the same time addressing their underlying intellectual and religious assumptions.