Religious Studies

It would seem unlikely that one could discover tolerant religious attitudes in Spain, Portugal, and the New World colonies during the era of the Inquisition, when enforcement of Catholic orthodoxy was widespread and brutal. Yet this groundbreaking book does exactly that. Drawing on an enormous body of historical evidence--including records of the Inquisition itself--the historian Stuart Schwartz investigates the idea of religious tolerance and its evolution in the Hispanic world from 1500 to 1820. Focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of common people rather than those of intellectual elites, the author finds that no small segment of the population believed in freedom of conscience and rejected the exclusive validity of the Church.

The book explores various sources of tolerant attitudes, the challenges that the New World presented to religious orthodoxy, the complex relations between "popular" and "learned" culture, and many related topics. The volume concludes with a discussion of the relativist ideas that were taking hold elsewhere in Europe during this era.

Announcing a new series: FAITH IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

This series of books explores what it means to live and worship among the many faiths unique to America's neighborhoods. Each book in the series illuminates the questions Christians have about other faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, Afro-Caribbean religions, Native-American religions, Confucianism, and Shinto. Different faiths have different ideals of community, and different kinds of rules. In Belonging Lucinda Mosher explores the vocabulary of America's many religions, the theologies and rituals that create a sense of belonging, and how these religions handle life's stages--welcoming babies, rites of passage for adolescents, initiation, and conversion.

Interwoven with interviews and personal stories, Belonging is intended for interfaith education of all kinds. A quick guide to each religion, a glossary, and recommended reading are included.

In recent years, North American and European nations have sought to legally remake religion in other countries through an unprecedented array of international initiatives. Policymakers have rallied around the notion that the fostering of religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Beyond Religious Freedom persuasively argues that these initiatives create the very social tensions and divisions they are meant to overcome.

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd looks at three critical channels of state-sponsored intervention: international religious freedom advocacy, development assistance and nation building, and international law. She shows how these initiatives make religious difference a matter of law, resulting in a divide that favors forms of religion authorized by those in power and excludes other ways of being and belonging. In exploring the dizzying power dynamics and blurred boundaries that characterize relations between expert religion, governed religion, and lived religion, Hurd charts new territory in the study of religion in global politics.

A forceful and timely critique of the politics of promoting religious freedom, Beyond Religious Freedom provides new insights into today's most pressing dilemmas of power, difference, and governance.

Buddhism is a tradition which has cultivated a profound sense of the interconnection of all life-forms in its doctrine of dependent origination. This teaching of interrelatedness may be a critical basis for the recovery of human reciprocity with nature and with all life-forms. This volume examines Buddhism's understanding of the intricate web of life. In noting the cultural diversity of Buddhism, it highlights aspects of the tradition which may be helpful in formulating an effective environmental ethics. It cites examples from both Asia and the United States of socially engaged Buddhist projects to protect the environment. Finally, the volume explores some of the theoretical and methodological issues involved in such a project. Elaborating upon topics introduced at a conference at the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, the authors analyze the prospects and the problems of using Buddhism as an environmental resource in both theory and practice.

The disproportionate influence of Buddhist thought and philosophy found in cultural circles such as education, entertainment and the media coupled with the dramatic recent surge of asian immigrants, many of whom are Buddhist, has brought Buddhism to the forefront of Western culture. And more and more of those who have become disenfranchised from Christian spirituality are embracing Buddhism as a replacement way of organizing their life. In this clear and balanced introduction, Keith Yandell and Harold Netland set out to educate Christians about Buddhism, laying out the central metaphysical claims of this significant world religion, including a concluding chapter which offers an honest comparison with Christianity. The authors acknowledge some overlap of belief while also noting the clear and significant differences between the two religions. As both religions affirm, these distinctions have enormous consequences for the spiritual well-being of adherents. This book guides any reader who wants to understand the central tenets and claims of Buddhism more deeply and how learn how it compares to Christian faith.

Chan Buddhism has become paradigmatic of Buddhist spirituality. Known in Japan as Zen and in Korea as Son, it is one of the most strikingly iconoclastic spiritual traditions in the world. This succinct and lively work clearly expresses the meaning of Chan as it developed in China more than a thousand years ago and provides useful insights into the distinctive aims and forms of practice associated with the tradition, including its emphasis on the unity of wisdom and practice; the reality of sudden awakening; the importance of meditation; the use of shock tactics; the centrality of the teacher-student relationship; and the celebration of enlightenment narratives, or koans.

Unlike many scholarly studies, which offer detailed perspectives on historical development, or guides for personal practice written by contemporary Buddhist teachers, this volume takes a middle path between these two approaches, weaving together both history and insight to convey to the general reader the conditions, energy, and creativity that characterize Chan. Following a survey of the birth and development of Chan, its practices and spirituality are fleshed out through stories and teachings drawn from the lives of four masters: Bodhidharma, Huineng, Mazu, and Linji. Finally, the meaning of Chan as a living spiritual tradition is addressed through a philosophical reading of its practice as the realization of wisdom, attentive mastery, and moral clarity.

Moving through history, views of Mary's role in Christian-Muslim relations have constantly shifted back and forth from bridge to barrier and back again. This book focuses on history, and the use (sometimes polemical, sometimes irenic) of Mary as either a bridge or barrier between Islam and Christianity. It is NOT a comparative theology of Mary in both traditions; rather it focuses on how Mary has functioned within the Christian theology of Islam over time (and to a lesser degree, in the Islamic theology of Christianity). The book begins with a comparison of biblical and Qur'anic accounts of Mary. The author walks readers through these texts, with some attention given to extra-scriptural sources (hadith, Christian tradition). Subsequent chapters highlight key texts/theologians from various time periods (mostly Christians, but some Muslims) who discuss Mary in light of the other, ending with a consideration of Nostra Aetate's groundbreaking theology of Islam.

Why do certain groups and individuals seek to do harm in the name of God? While studies often claim to hold the key to this frightening phenomenon, they seldom account for the crucial role that religious conviction plays, not just in radical Islam, but also in the fundamentalist branches of the world's two other largest religions: Christianity and Hinduism. As the first book to examine violent extremism in all three religions together, Competing Fundamentalisms draws on studies in sociology, psychology, culture, and economicswhile focusing on the central role of religious ideasto paint a richer portrait of this potent force in modern life. Clarke argues that the forces of globalization fuel the aggression of these movements to produce the competing feature of religious fundamentalisms, which have more in common with their counterparts across religious lines than they do with the members of their own religions. He proposes ways to deescalate religious violence in the service of peacemaking. Readers will gain important insights into how violent religious fundamentalism works in the world's three largest religions and learn new strategies for promoting peace in the context of contemporary interreligious conflict.

In this major reinterpretation of religion and society in India, Harjot Oberoi challenges earlier accounts of Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam as historically given categories encompassing well-demarcated units of religious identity. Through a searching examination of Sikh historical materials, he shows that early Sikh tradition was not concerned with establishing distinct religious boundaries. Most Sikhs recognized multiple identities grounded in local, regional, religious, and secular loyalties. Consequently, religious identities were highly blurred and several competing definitions of what constituted a Sikh were possible.

In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, however, the Singh Sabha, a powerful new Sikh movement, began to view the multiplicity in Sikh identity with suspicion and hostility. Aided by social and cultural forces unleashed by the British Raj, the Singh Sabha sought to recast Sikh tradition and purge it of diversity. The ethnocentric logic of a new elite dissolved alternative ideals under the highly codified culture of modern Sikhism.

A study of the process by which a pluralistic religious world view is replaced by a monolithic one, this important book calls into question basic assumptions about the efficacy of fundamentalist claims and the construction of all social and religious identities. An essential book for the field of South Asian religions, this work is also an important contribution to cultural anthropology, postcolonial studies, and the history of religion in general.

The Sabbath is the original feast day, a day of joy and freedom from work, a holy day that allows us to reconnect with God, our fellows and nature. Now, in a compelling blend of journalism, scholarship and personal memoir, Christopher D. Ringwald examines the Sabbath from Creation to the present, weaving together the stories of three families, three religions and three thousand years of history.
A Day Apart is the first book to examine the Sabbath in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A marvelously readable book, it describes the three weekly holy days--the Muslim Juma on Friday, the Jewish Shabbat on Saturday and the Christian Lord's Day on Sunday--and introduces us to three families, including Ringwald's own, and shows how they observe the holy day and what it means to them. The heart of the book recounts the history of the Sabbath, ranging from the Creation story and Moses on Mount Sinai to the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad, the impact of the Protestant Reformation and the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of the modern weekend. Ringwald shows that the Sabbath instinct, to observe a special day of withdrawal and repose, is universal. Indeed, all religions and philosophies teach that life is more than toil, that time should be set aside for contemplation, enjoyment and culture.
In today's frantic 24/7 world, the Sabbath--a day devoted to rest and contemplation--has never been more necessary. A Day Apart offers a portrait of a truly timeless way to escape the everyday world and add meaning to our lives.

"I can not recall reading anything on the three faiths that so deftly engages them in robust conversation. Amazingly learned, Ringwald nonetheless has a light, friendly touch. The warmth of his soul is unmistakable."
--Christian Century

Dialogue of Life is the inspiring testament of Bob McCahill, a priest and missioner who for twenty years has pursued an unusual witness among the Muslim poor of Bangladesh. Rather than traditional pastoral work, McCahill simply tries to live as a friend and brother to his Muslim neighbors, offering a positive witness to the gospel ideals of service and love. In a series of small towns he has lived a life of utter simplicity, serving the sick, showing respect for Muslim piety, and explaining to all those who inquire the reasons for his way of life and good works. In simple yet vivid prose, Father McCahill describes his life, the rhythms of his days and those of his poor but faith-filled neighbors, the occasions for "interreligious dialogue" that emerge out of this living encounter, and his challenging reflections on the implications of this experience for Christian life and mission in the world. Enhanced by McCahill's own prizewinning photographs, Dialogue of Life is a moving example of spirituality in action, and witness to "God who is larger than our hearts."