Search results

Saba Mahmood begins Politics of Piety with a question: '[H]ow should issues of historical and cultural specificity inform both the analytics and the politics of any feminist project?' She notes that while many forms of 'difference' have been integrated within feminist theory, 'religious difference' has received comparatively little emphasis. She attributes this to the 'vexing relationship between feminism and religion,' arising from feminism's firm situation within 'secular-liberal politics.' In this essay, I explore how Mahmood's insights might enrich the study of premodern Christianity. My particular focus will be a central, yet highly contested, aspect of medieval women's piety: the practice of nuns taking the veil during consecration, marking them as 'brides of Christ'. I hope, with Mahmood, to consider how an analysis of 'the particular form that the body takes might transform our conceptual understanding of the act itself', offering new possibilities for the practice of feminist historiography.

Cover Page -- Half Title Page, Title Page, Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Part 1. America -- 1. Protestant Dissenters, a Second Magna Carta, and Religious Freedom -- 2. William Jennings Bryan, the Round Table Club, and Religious Freedom -- 3. George W. Truett and Religious Liberty -- 4. "Their Blood Cries Out": Religious Freedom and Persecution Politics -- 5. Principled Position or Interest Group Politics?: Evangelicals and Religious Liberty in the Trump Era -- Part 2. The World -- 6. Evangelical Toleration in the Age of Wilberforce: Dissenters, Missionaries, and Colonial Others -- 7. "Totalitarianism in Religion": Roman Catholicism, Religious Liberty, and the British Evangelical Imagination before Vatican II -- 8. Norman Anderson, Islam, and Religious Freedom in Nigeria -- 9. Evangelicals and the Communist Regimes in Postwar East-Central Europe -- 10. An Open Door That No One Can Shut: Evangelicals under Repression in China, 1949-1982 -- Afterword -- Contributors -- Index.

A fault line in contemporary scholarship has emerged around what Gil Anidjar calls "the Christian Question," litigating Christianity's historical contributions to the creation of a profoundly unjust arrangement of global politics. On one side of the fault line stand those who argue that Christianity is ultimately abusive, and therefore should be discarded as much as possible through deconversion; on the other side are those who argue that the way out of perverse Christian products is a deeper conversion to a true, pure identity for Christianity. This dissertation wades into the dilemma by arguing that Christianity can be fruitfully understood as a technology of human beings, by which people change the world and themselves. Drawing from Paul Virilio, it suggests further that, like all technologies, Christianity contains unforeseeable accidents (e.g., the invention of the ship is also the invention of the shipwreck), consequences that may not at first seem recognizably Christian but nevertheless descend from Christian sources. Reading Christianity through the lens of the accident, the dissertation aims to provide a method for dealing with Christianity's historical relationship to oppression and liberation, arguing that Christian technologies must be retrofitted according to a horizon of liberation. The study is organized into six chapters, bookended by an introduction and conclusion that ground the dissertation broadly in what Enrique Dussel calls philosophy of liberation, which presents an alternative means of conceiving of the role of philosophy of religion beyond postmodern approaches. The study begins by explaining how Christianity could be conceived of as a technology, engaging media theorists like Peter Sloterdijk and Vilém Flusser (chapter one). Then, the study takes Virilio as a particular theorist of technology and guide for thinking about Christianity and accidents, briefly offering the emergence of white supremacy in the United States as a case study to illustrate this theoretical point (chapter two). To better understand Christianity's historical and formative role in global politics, the study explores critical scholarship on religion and secularism, proposing to see Christianity as an infrastructure undergirding categories that may not seem ostensibly Christian (chapter three). Philosophically, these insights have consequences for philosophy of religion and the secular, which the study demonstrates by engaging Charles Taylor and Jürgen Habermas through critics like Talal Asad and Saba Mahmood (chapter four). With a broad paradigm in place, the study directly engages the fault line around the Christian Question, reading theologian William Cavanaugh as representative of the conversion side and Gil Anidjar and Daniel Colucciello Barber as representative of the deconversion side (chapter five). Lastly, the study puts forward the possibility of constantly retrofitting Christian technology, always accountable to the negative inevitabilities of the accident (chapter six).

Intro -- IS GOD A REPUBLICAN? ESSAYS FROM A CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT -- IS GOD A REPUBLICAN? ESSAYS FROM A CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT -- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1: POLITICS AND RELIGION -- 1. IS GOD A REPUBLICAN? -- 2. GOD AND HISTORY -- 3. THE GOLDEN MEAN AND PATIENCE WITH POLITICIANS -- 4. CHURCH SPLITS AND EXTREME POLITICS -- 5. PRESIDENTS AND THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY -- Chapter 2: REVELATION AND THE GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 2. THE ANTICHRIST -- 3. ISRAEL AND CHRIST -- 4. THE RAPTURE -- 5. MILLENNIALISM -- Chapter 3: GOD'S NATURE AND OUR SOCIETY -- 1. THE TRIUNE GOD -- 2. GOD'S MODE OF COMMUNICATION -- 3. GOD AND OUR SOCIETY -- 4. GOD'S LIMITS -- 5. GOD AND NATURAL DISASTERS -- 6. GOD'S PERSONALITY -- 7. IN THE IMAGE OF MAN -- Chapter 4: CHRISTIAN PUBLIC POLICY: OUR RESPONSE TO GOD -- 1. THE BASIC IDEA -- 2.MEDITATION AND PUBLIC POLICY -- 3. REMEMBERING GOD'S NATURE -- 4. AMERICAN OPTIMISM -- 5. OUR RELATIONSHIP TO HIM -- 6.MISSIONARIES AND POLICY -- 7. HEAVEN AS THE FINAL GOAL -- Chapter 5: THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH -- 1. GIVING AND THE CHURCH -- 2. SPREADING THE WORD -- 3. SIN IN A CORPORATE CONTEXT -- 4. LIVING LIFE WITH FULLNESS -- 5. PRAYER IN THE CHURCH -- Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS: CIVILITY IN RELIGION AND POLITICS -- 1.WISDOM AND RESTRAINT -- 2. FORGIVENESS AND CIVILITY -- 3. PRAYER BREAKFASTS -- 4.WHEN THINGS GO WRONG -- 5. APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING -- 6. CIVILITY IN RELIGION -- 7. FINAL THOUGHTS -- REFERENCES -- INDEX

This book gathers scholars from the three major monotheistic religions to discuss the issue of poverty and wealth from the varied perspectives of each tradition. It provides a cadre of values inherent to the sacred texts of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and illustrates how these values may be used to deal with current economic inequalities. Contributors use the methodologies of religious studies to provide descriptions and comparisons the perspectives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on poverty and wealth. The book provides citations from the sacred texts of all three religions along their interpretations, contexts, and elaboration for deciphering their stances. Poverty and Wealth in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam identifies and details a foundation of common values upon which individual and institutional decisions may be made.

This essay focuses on the topic of the emergence of Christianity and Judaism as related but distinct religious traditions, as an example of a process of religious and cultural change, which has had an enormous impact on Western and other societies around the world. At the heart of this question lies what appear to be contradictions between normative practices in antiquity and those we know of today, leading us to consider the historical and hermeneutical issue of continuity and change over time; its how, when and why. Rejecting the idea that theological differences between Judaism and Christianity necessitated a 'parting of ways' between them, it is argued that social, political and colonial decision-making was essential to this process, and that, furthermore, a historical focus on institutional realities in the ancient Mediterranean world, including in Jewish society, will challenge many long-held assumptions about the origins not only of Christianity but also of Judaism. The general historical reconstruction offered is then applied to a specific archaeological site, Capernaum, showing how traces of the larger pattern of development from the first to the fifth century CE may be seen in the histories of two buildings in this town.

This essay focuses on the topic of the emergence of Christianity and Judaism as related but distinct religious traditions, as an example of a process of religious and cultural change, which has had an enormous impact on Western and other societies around the world. At the heart of this question lies what appear to be contradictions between normative practices in antiquity and those we know of today, leading us to consider the historical and hermeneutical issue of continuity and change over time; its how, when and why. Rejecting the idea that theological differences between Judaism and Christianity necessitated a 'parting of ways' between them, it is argued that social, political and colonial decision-making was essential to this process, and that, furthermore, a historical focus on institutional realities in the ancient Mediterranean world, including in Jewish society, will challenge many long-held assumptions about the origins not only of Christianity but also of Judaism. The general historical reconstruction offered is then applied to a specific archaeological site, Capernaum, showing how traces of the larger pattern of development from the first to the fifth century CE may be seen in the histories of two buildings in this town.

Es werden Hintergründe der gegenwärtigen Diskussion um Religion in der Übergangssituation zur Postmoderne skizziert. Thematisiert werden einerseits Phänomene der Säkularisierung und andererseits die Wiederkehr von Religion, die in dem individuellen Bedürfnis zum Ausdruck kommt, den behaupteten oder tatsächlichen Zwängen der Moderne mit religiöser Hilfe zu entkommen. Aufgezeigt wird, daß sich die bisherigen religionssoziologischen Theoriestücke für die Analyse von solchen Bewegungen des Zeitgeistes, wie z. B. die New Age-Bewegung, nur beschränkt eignen. Abschließend wird die Frage nach der Bedeutung oder Funktion von Religion im Lichte bisheriger religionstheoretischer Erörterungen differenziert, um zu zeigen, daß die Argumentationen über das Schicksal der Religion keineswegs beliebige Reaktionen auf die Wandlungen des Phänomenbereichs sind. (GF)

Abstract: It is no accident that democracy first arose within the ambit of Western or Latin Christianity. Looking at Christianity and democracy around the world today, one sees that the Roman Catholic Church has shed its stance of opposition, or at best grudging accommodation, to democracy and in fact become a defender of human rights and government by consent. Protestants affirm democracy as well, and the world of Orthodoxy, while ambivalent, is leaning in a direction that essentially accepts democracy. In their attitudes toward politics and the public sphere at least, all faiths that embrace democracy also tend to undergo a certain "Protestantization."

"Church, State, and Political Culture in Orthodox Christianity" published on by Oxford University Press.

In Church, State, and Citizen, Sandra F. Joireman has gathered political scientists to examine the relationship between religion and politics as seen from within seven Christian traditions: Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican, Evangelical and Pentecostal. In each chapter the historical and theological foundations of the tradition are described along with the beliefs regarding the appropriate role of the state and citizen. While all Christian traditions share certain beliefs about faith (e.g. human sin, salvation, Christ's atonement) and political life (e.g. limited government, human rights, the incompleteness and partiality of all political action) there are also profound differences. The authors discuss the contemporary implications of these beliefs both in the United States and in other areas of the world where Christianity is showing increasing vigor.

This book centers around mid-level charismatic pastors in Ghana. Karen Lauterbach analyzes pastorship as a pathway to becoming small "big men" and achieving status, wealth, and power in the country. The volume investigates both the social processes of becoming a pastor and the spiritual dimensions of how power and wealth are conceptualized, achieved, and legitimized in the particular context of Asante in Ghana. Lauterbach integrates her analysis of charismatic Christianity with a historically informed examination of social mobility-how people in subordinate positions seek to join up with power. She explores how the ideas and experiences surrounding the achievement of wealth and performance of power are shaped and re-shaped. In this way, the book historicizes current expressions of charismatic Christianity in Ghana while also bringing the role of religion and belief to bear on our understanding of wealth and power as they function more broadly in African societies