http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/collections/newbooks/MU Libraries New Books List for Religions. Mythology. Rationalism. Updated every Wednesday.en-usCopyright 2007 University of Missouri Libraries. Book Covers provided by Amazon.com. All Rights Reserved.Karen D. Darling, darlingk@missouri.eduMathew Stephen, stephenma@missouri.edu11/18/2009 9:00:20 AM10080The RSS feeds for the new books list is updated every Wednesday and contains a list of books added to the Ellis Library collection for the last six weeks. The titles are grouped by call number classification, and are listed by week and alphabetically by title. <p><p>Books for the most recent weeks are currently on the New Books Shelves inside the north entrance of Ellis Library. They can be checked out.<p></p>Copyright 2009 University of Missouri Libraries. Book covers and descriptions provided by Amazon.com. All Rights Reserved.11/18/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7159879><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/9042025689.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9042025689>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> This volume positions itself on the cutting edge of two fields in psychology that enjoy rapidly increasing attention: both the study of human lives and some core domains of such lives as religion and spirituality are high on the agenda of current research and teaching. Biographies and autobiographies are being approached in new ways and have become central to the study of human lives as an object of research and a preferred method for obtaining unique data about subjective human experiences. Ever since the beginning of the psychology of religion, autobiographies have also been pointed out as an important source of information about psychic processes involved in religiosity. In this volume, a number of leading theoreticians and researchers from Europe and the USA try to bring them back to this field by drawing on new insights and latest developments in psychological theory. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7159879>BL53 .A89 2008</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715987911/18/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7163409><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1602582416.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1602582416>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Review</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> Short, readable, philosophically informed, and easily accessible. I highly recommend it both to the interested non-philosopher and as a university-level text. Ganssle's non-confrontational style of debate is commendable, a superb example of how one should discuss the arguments of those with whom one has a fundamental disagreement. --Peter van Inwagen, John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7163409>BL2747.3 .G36 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b716340911/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7081972><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/9780761846956.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9780761846956>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7081972>BL65.C8 H388 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b708197211/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b6371124><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0700712674.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0700712674>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">From <a href="/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000027801">Booklist</a></h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> As stated in this volume&#x2019;s preface, &#x201C;Hinduism has come to be the accepted term designating the religion that traces its origins to the Veda dating from the second millennium B.C.E.&#x201D; Arguably the oldest extant religious tradition, Hinduism ranks third, behind Christianity and Islam, in number of adherents worldwide. Surprisingly, no substantial scholarly reference work exists that is devoted exclusively to Hinduism, though single-volume dictionaries have been published over the years, and some multivolume encyclopedias are being published in India. The Encyclopedia of Hinduism is, therefore, a welcome and much-needed addition to reference shelves. The nearly 900 alphabetically arranged entries were written by a team of international scholars and conclude with see references and supplemental bibliographies. Two survey articles (Hinduism and Hinduism, modern and contemporary) provide a good historical introduction. Although coverage of important concepts, deities, and sacred texts are, of course, included, the editors have taken special care to ensure that devotional, ritual, and nontextual aspects of religious practice are presented (e.g., Popular and vernacular traditions and Image worship). There are entries that discuss Hindus throughout the world (Americas, Hindus in), thereby demonstrating that it is a mistake to try to confine Hinduism as a religious tradition to the Indian subcontinent. Indeed, two additional survey entries (Western culture, Hindu influence on and Western popular culture, Hindu influence on) describe the influence of Hinduism not only on, say, Western poetry and philosophy but also on George Harrison of the Beatles. In addition to helping us understand the historical roots of the interaction of Hinduism and the modern world,&#xA0;the Encyclopedia of Hinduism brings together, at long last, the art,&#xA0;deities, ethics, myth, philosophy, worship, and practice of a long-lived tradition. Recommended for academic and large public libraries. --Christopher McConnell <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b6371124>BL1105 .E53 2008</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b637112411/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077379><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0761847669.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761847669>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077379>BL65.P7 R69 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707737911/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7154238><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0807831778.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807831778>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> <i>Nago Grandma and White Papa</i> is a signal work in Brazilian anthropology and African diaspora studies originally published in Brazil in 1988. This edition makes Beatriz Gois Dantas's historioethnographic study available to an English-speaking audience for the first time.<br> <br>Dantas compares the formation of Yoruba (Nago) religious traditions and ethnic identities in the Brazilian states of Sergipe and Bahia, revealing how they diverged from each other due to their different social and political contexts and needs. By tracking how markers of supposedly "pure" ethnic identity and religious practice differed radically from one place to another, Dantas shows the social construction of identity within a network of class-related demands and alliances. She demonstrates how the shape and meaning of "purity" have been affected by prolonged and complex social and cultural mixing, compromise, and struggle over time. Ethnic identity, as well as social identity in general, is formed in the crucible of political relations between social groups that purposefully mobilize and manipulate cultural markers to define their respective boundaries&#151;a process, Dantas argues, that must be applied to understanding the experience of African-descended people in Brazil. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7154238>BL2590.B7 D3513 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715423811/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7163407><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1847063411.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1847063411>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> "Quiet Gardens" is an exploration of horticulture as a medium for meaning and for spirituality. In an increasingly secular age when absolute values are taboo, political correctness reigns supreme, and our lives orbit Planet Consumer, we need experiences to balance the emphasis on material acquisitions. Internationally, tensions are running high in the global village and environmental issues are at the top of the agenda. The shadow of terrorism emphasises ideological differences, but it also draws together those living underneath it: inter-faith and ecological conversations have become necessities rather than luxuries. In this climate, with the yearning for experience and our new understanding of collective responsibility, the spiritual dimension can flourish; but the desire to pursue the spiritual manifests itself, not in traditional or institutionalised religion but in new ways. This book describes a journey that seeks to re-investigate mankind's relationship with nature and, through this, an understanding of what is spiritual. The Bible begins with the story of creation and of God walking with the man and the woman in the garden in the cool of the day. For many, enjoying and/or making a garden is both a connection with the wider environment and a link to that which is beyond ourselves, and the book includes a section on the Christian charity, the Quet Garden Trust, featuring some of its unusual and remarkable gardens. From conversations with three leading garden thinkers and creators (Charles Jencks, Beth Chatto and Sir Roy Strong), the journey takes us on a path of exploration and discovery, via Buddhist, Baa??hai and Islamic gardens, to the making of an inter-faith garden which won a medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. It shows us that the relationship between meaning, spirituality and horticulture transcends cultural and religious differences and offers hope for the future. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7163407>BL629.5.G37 B69 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b716340711/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7157637><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0813344204.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813344204>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Review</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> <DIV>&ldquo;Lee skillfully balances a broad conceptual framework and careful analysis of particular Middle Eastern political systems. As a result, this book provides significant insights into the relationships between religion and politics in the region. In many ways, Lee moves the study of comparative politics to a new level in this synthesis of theory and descriptive specifics.&rdquo;<br> &mdash;John O. Voll, Georgetown University<br> <br> &ldquo;Stimulating, jargon-free theorizing about the tensions and balances between political and religious authority across time and space, putting into fresh comparative perspective the doctrines and ideologies of secularism, Islamism, and Zionism in the Middle East. &hellip; Rich reading for students and scholars alike.&rdquo; <br> &mdash;Clement Moore Henry, University of Texas at Austin<br> <br> &ldquo;The relationship between religion and politics is one of the most analyzed in the study of the Middle East. Few such studies are as clearly written and compelling as Robert Lee&rsquo;s <i>Religion and Politics in the Middle East</i>. Especially impressive is the author&rsquo;s comparative focus that brings together nation-states that rarely share the same analytic stage, namely Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. By offering a well developed set of 25 hypotheses that systematically assess the relationship between religion and politics, the author offers the reader both an empirically rich and conceptually sophisticated analysis. <i>Religion and Politics in the Middle East</i> not only provides an excellent introductory text for undergraduate and graduate students, but one from which specialists in the field of Middle Eastern studies will find new perspectives and empirical data drawn from a cross-national context.&rdquo;<br> &mdash;Eric Davis, Rutgers University, author of <i>Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq</i><br> <br> <br> <i><br> </i><br> <br> <br> </DIV><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7157637>BL65.P7 L424 2010</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715763711/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7163414><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0823230872.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823230872>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Review</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> "Essays that both examine and extend the work of the American scholar (1930-2009)."&#151;<i>The Chronicle of Higher Education</i> <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7163414>BL51 .S3493 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b716341411/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7157467><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1551118637.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1551118637>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> The doctrine of intelligent design has been maligned by atheists, but even though Monton is an atheist, he is of the opinion that the arguments for intelligent design are stronger than most realize. The goal of this book is to try to get people to take intelligent design seriously. Monton maintains that it is legitimate to view intelligent design as science, that there are somewhat plausible arguments for the existence of a cosmic designer, and that intelligent design should be taught in public school science classes. In Chapter 1, after setting aside the culture wars that many people associate with the intelligent design movement, Monton discusses the issue of what exactly the doctrine of intelligent design amounts to. In Chapter 2 Monton discusses the ruling of Judge Jones in the recent Dover, Pennsylvania intelligent design trial, and he takes issue with his arguments for the claim that intelligent design is not science. In Chapter 3 Monton takes up four arguments for intelligent design that he thinks are somewhat plausible: an argument based on the fine-tuning of the fundamental constants of physics, an argument based on the beginning of the universe, an argument based on the improbability of life originating from non-life, and an argument that suggests that we're living in a computer simulation. In Chapter 4 Monton argues that it could benefit students' science education to see the arguments for and against intelligent design, and to be introduced to the philosophy of science issues that are key components of those arguments. Monton's position is unique and of great interest to people involved in this debate (especially from those favoring intelligent design). Relatively few people in philosophy of science have suggested that there are decent arguments for why intelligent design is science (indeed, most of the well known philosophers have argued the contrary - e.g., Philip Kitcher, Abusing Science. MIT Press, 1983). <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7157467>BL262 .M668 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715746711/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155861><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0761847588.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761847588>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155861>BL530 .S94 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715586111/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077378><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/9781594772924.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9781594772924>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077378>BL624 .N39 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707737811/11/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076870><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/076184712X.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076184712X>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076870>BL2747.3 .H45 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707687011/4/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155805>BL41 .S56 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715580511/4/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7158905>BL2470.N5 R4335 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715890511/4/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7158915><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/9780226895130.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9780226895130>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7158915>BL2015.Y6 W55 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715891511/4/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7158937><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0195313909.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195313909>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> The idea of the pre-existence of the soul has been extremely important, widespread, and persistent throughout Western history--from even before the philosophy of Plato to the poetry of Robert Frost. When Souls Had Wings offers the first systematic history of this little explored feature of Western culture. <br> Terryl Givens describes the tradition of pre-existence as "pre-heaven"--the place where unborn souls wait until they descend to earth to be born. And typically it is seen as a descent--a falling away from a happier and untroubled state into the turbulent and sinful world we know. The title of the book refers to the idea put forward in antiquity that our souls begin with wings, and that only after shedding those wings do we fall to earth. The book not only traces the history of the idea of pre-existence, but also captures its meaning for those who have embraced it. Givens describes how pre-existence has been invoked to explain "the better angels of our nature," including the human yearning for transcendence and the sublime. Pre-existence has been said to account for why we know what we should not know, whether in the form of a Greek slave's grasp of mathematics, the moral sense common to humanity, or the human ability to recognize universals. The belief has explained human bonds that seem to have their own mysterious prehistory, salved the wounded sensibility of a host of thinkers who could not otherwise account for the unevenly distributed pain and suffering that are humanity's common lot, and has been posited by philosophers and theologians alike to salvage the principle of human freedom and accountability. <br> When Souls had Wings underscores how durable (and controversial) this idea has been throughout the history of Western thought, the theological dangers it has represented, and how prominently it has featured in poetry, literature, and art. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7158937>BL290 .G58 2010</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715893711/4/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155789><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0826347339.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0826347339>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> The Umbanda religion summons the spirits of old slaves and Brazilian Indians to speak through the mouths of mediums in trance. Its practitioners worship African gods, often calling them by the names of Catholic saints; simultaneously embrace the concepts of karma, reincarnation, and Christian charity; and believe in the capacities of both modern science and ancient magic. A relatively new religion dating to the beginning of the twentieth century, Umbanda has its origins in Rio de Janeiro and its surrounding urban areas where Afro-Brazilians, many ex-slaves or the descendants of slaves, practiced versions of the religion handed down to them by their ancestors. Umbanda's popularity has grown tremendously over the past century, attracting not only those who seek the assistance of spirits in solving problems in their lives, but those in pursuit of a path to a rich spiritual life and a fellowship of faith and service.<br><br>Over the course of nearly a decade, Lindsay Hale spent countless hours attending rituals and festivals and interviewing participants of Umbanda, immersing himself in this fascinating religious world. In describing its many aspects and exploring its unique place within the lives of a wide variety of practitioners, Hale places Umbanda spiritual beliefs and practices within the broader context of Brazilian history and culture. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155789>BL2592.U5 H35 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715578910/28/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7159645>BL1803 .O83 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715964510/28/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155851><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0691143943.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691143943>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>James Wood</b> <i><b>New Yorker</b></i> ) <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155851>BL51 .J75 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715585110/28/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155855><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0824833430.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824833430>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> Thirty years ago, anthropologist Laurel Kendall did intensive fieldwork among South Korea's (mostly female) shamans and their clients as a reflection of village women's lives. In the intervening decades, South Korea experienced an unprecedented economic, social, political, and material transformation and Korean villages all but disappeared. And the shamans? Kendall attests that they not only persist but are very much a part of South Korean modernity. This enlightening and entertaining study of contemporary Korean shamanism makes the case for the dynamism of popular religious practice, the creativity of those we call shamans, and the necessity of writing about them in the present tense. Shamans can be found thriving in the high-rise cities of South Korea, working with clients who are largely middle class and technologically sophisticated. Emphasizing the shaman's work as open and mutable, Kendall describes how gods and ancestors articulate the changing concerns of clients and how the ritual fame of these transactions has itself been transformed by urban sprawl, private cars, and zealous Christian proselytizing. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155855>BL2236.S5 K463 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715585510/28/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155730><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0307269183.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307269183>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Review</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> Praise for Karen Armstrong's <i>The Case for God</i><br><br>"The time is ripe for a book like <i>The Case for God,</i> which wraps a rebuke to the more militant sort of atheism in an engaging survey of Western religious thought."<br>&mdash;Ross Douthat, <i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br>&#160;<br>"Armstrong's argument is prescient, for it reflects the most important shifts occurring in the religious landscape."<br>&mdash;Lisa Miller, <i>Newsweek</i><br>&#160;<br>"A thoughtful explanation, well-sourced and impressively rooted in the writings of theologians, philosophers, scholars and religious figures through the ages. . . . If Armstrong is out to bring respect to both reason and faith in the search of that transcendent meaning, she has done well."<br>&mdash;Repps Hudson, <i>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</i><br>&#160;<br>"<i>The Case for God </i>is Armstrong's most concise and practical-minded book yet: a historical survey of hwo rather than what we believe, where we lost the "knack" of religion and what we need to do to get it back."<br>&mdash;Michael Brunton, <i>Ode</i><br>&#160;<br>"In over a dozen books [Armstrong] has delivered something people badly want: a way to acknowledge that faith can be taken seriously as a response to deep human yearnings without needing to subscribe to the formality of organized belief."<br>&mdash;<i>The Economist</i><br>&#160;<br>"<i>The Case for God</i> should be read slowly, and savored."<br>&mdash;Karen R. Long, Cleveland <i>Plain Dealer</i><br>&#160;<br>"Armstrong's thesis is provocative, and her book illuminates a side of Christianity that has recently been overshadowed."<br>&mdash;Margaret Quamme, <i>Columbus Dispatch</i><br>&#160;<br>"Armstrong is ambitious. <i>The Case for God </i>is an entire semester at college packed into a single book&mdash;a voluminous, dizzying intellectual history. . . . Reading <i>The Case for God, </i>I felt smarter. . . . A stimulating, hopeful work.&#160; After I finished it, I felt inspired, I ... <em>--This text refers to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/b002otkeow/ref=dp_proddesc_1/180-4955759-6572506?ie=UTF8&n=283155" class="product">Kindle Edition</a> edition.</em> <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155730>BL473 .A76 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715573010/28/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7052791><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0195326520.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195326520>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> Religion is, and has always been, a powerful force in American politics. Over the past three decades, the study of religion and politics has gone from being ignored by the scholarly community to being a major focus of research. Yet, because this important research is not easily accessible to nonspecialists, much of the analysis of religion's role in the political arena that we read in the media is greatly oversimplified. This Handbook seeks to bridge that gap by examining the considerable research that has been conducted to this point and assessing what has been learned, what remains unsettled due to conflicting research findings, and what important questions remain largely unaddressed by current research endeavors. This volume enlists noted scholars in the field to write essays that examine a particular subject area that: (a) assess the "state of the art" within that area; (b) review important findings, insights, and theoretical advances; (c) outline the current debates that engage scholarly attention; and, (d) raise some important, but currently understudied, questions. Thus, the authors review previous work, explain the findings of that research, and speculate about the bases of the various findings related to that topic, with each essay containing an excellent bibliography. The Handbook is unique to the field of religion and American politics and should be of wide interest to scholars, students, journalists, and others interested in the American political scene. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7052791>BL2525 .O94 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b705279110/28/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7159634>BL1530 .W55 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715963410/28/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155879><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0824829573.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824829573>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> Among the most exciting developments in the study of Japanese religion over the past two decades has been the discovery of tens of thousands of ritual vessels, implements, and scape-goat dolls (hitogata) from the Nara (710-784) and early Heian (794-1185) periods. Because inscriptions on many of the items are clearly derived from Chinese rites of spirit pacification, it is now evident that previous scholarship has mischaracterized the role of Buddhism in early Japanese religion. "Weaving and Binding" makes a compelling argument that both the Japanese royal system and the Japanese Buddhist tradition owe much to continental rituals centered on the manipulation of yin and yang, animal sacrifice, and spirit quelling. Building on these recent archaeological discoveries, Michael Como charts an epochal transformation in the religious culture of the Japanese islands, tracing the transmission and development of fundamental paradigms of religious practice to immigrant lineages and deities from the Korean peninsula. In addition to archaeological materials, Como makes extensive use of a wide range of textual sources from across Asia, including court chronicles, poetry collections, gazetteers, temple records, and divinatory texts. As he investigates the influence of myths, legends, and rites of the ancient Chinese festival calendar on religious practice across the Japanese islands, Como shows how the ability of immigrant lineages to propitiate hostile deities led to the creation of elaborate networks of temple-shrine complexes that shaped later sectarian Shinto as well as popular understandings of the relationship between the Buddhas and the gods of Japan. For much of the book, this process is examined through rites and legends from the Chinese calendar that were related to weaving, sericulture, and medicine - technologies that to a large degree were controlled by lineages with roots in the Korean peninsula and that claimed female deities and weaving maidens as founding ancestors. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7155879>BL2202.3 .C66 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715587910/28/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7154198><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0199245495.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0199245495>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> Forms of Astonishment sets out to interpret a number of Greek myths about the transformations of humans and gods. Such tales have become familiar in their Ovidian dress, as in the best-selling translation by Ted Hughes; Richard Buxton explores their Greek antecedents. One pressing question which often occurs to the reader of these tales is: Did the Greeks take them seriously? Buxton repeatedly engages with this topic, and attempts to answer it context by context and author by author. His book raises issues relevant to an understanding of broad aspects of Greek culture (e.g. how 'strange' were Greek beliefs?'); in so doing, it also illuminates issues explored by anthropologists and students of religion. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7154198>BL795.M47 B89 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715419810/21/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7154259><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0231149522.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0231149522>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">From Publishers Weekly</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> The subtitle declares that these collected essays, published from 1972 to 2001, are still relevant. Readers confronting the planetary degradation that Berry chronicles in later essays and those recognizing a basic human need for spirituality will likely agree. Berry, a Catholic priest and author of <I>The Dream of the Earth</I>, devoted his life's work to connecting modern people with a spirituality that respects and is fed by our relationship with nature. In four parts, this book addresses how the history and diversity of world religions offer ways to engage with Earth; how it is necessary to connect with a spirituality that is Earth derived; how science can be in conversation with the religious sensibilities of wonder and awe; and how our relationship to the natural world is crucial to our spirituality. In the earliest essays, Berry sounds most optimistic and urges readers to reconcile modern impulses and technology with religious traditions. The later essays strike a more imperative tone, pressing for a change of mind and soul to deeply engage our sacred universe. The essay collection acquires even more significance and urgency in light of Berry's death in June. <I>(Sept.) </I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7154259>BL624 .B4638 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b715425910/21/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b1034091>BL1411.V3 E53</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b103409110/14/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076851><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0814795684.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814795684>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Hellenic Temples and Christian Churches</b> is a tour de force of a book that is now the foundational text on which all future research will be based.&quot;<br> - Thomas W. Gallant, University of California, San Diego</p><br /><br /><p>&quot;The first synthetic survey of a complex plurality of voices from antiquity to the present; it is broad in scope, rich in detail for every period, and theoretically challenging. Like the Greek tradition itself, it builds bridges between disciplines that have for too long remained separate.&quot;<br> - Anthony Kaldellis, author of <i>The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens</i></p><br /><br /><p>&quot;Provides a careful new look at the palimpsest of Hellenism and Christianity over the long course of Greek history, revealing the immense complexity of the religious cultures of Greece. The book is at once a valuable contribution to the comparative study of religion and to our understanding of Greece&#xC2;&#x92;s dense religious history.&quot;<br> - K. E. Fleming, author of <i>Greece: A Jewish History</i></p> <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076851>BL980.G8 M36 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707685110/14/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7133514><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1902210433.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1902210433>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> This book explores the diversity of Hindu goddesses and the variety of ways in which they are worshipped. Although they undoubtedly have ancient origins, Hindu goddesses and their worship is still very much a part of the fabric of religious engagement in India today. The book offers an introduction to a complex and often baffling field of study. Part I, 'Beliefs' provides a series of encounters with a range of Hindu goddesses starting with the idea of 'Goddess' as a philosophical concept. Topics include textual evidence for belief structures, goddess mythology, and the importance of 'the Goddess' in Tantrism. Part II, 'Practices' leads the reader through the tangled web of goddess worship, pausing along the way to examine the contrast between temple and local worship, the splendour of festivals and the importance of pilgrimage to those places in India where goddesses are considered to reside. A conclusion provides details of contemporary developments in goddess worship, such as the appearance of new deities who supply the needs of worshippers in the twenty-first century. No prior knowledge is necessary as the book is aimed at undergraduate students and anyone interested in the religions and philosophy of India. <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7133514>BL1216 .F68 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b713351410/14/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7062325><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/8291626219.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/8291626219>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Product Description</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> The present volume is the result of a joint effort of a group of scholars who felt the need to discuss the nature of what is commonly labeled "myth," all being actively engaged in the interpretation of concrete expressions of ancient, mostly Greek, culture. Despite the fact that two centuries of scholarly debate have passed and wonderful progress has been made in interpreting specific manifestations of "myth" during the last 25 or so years, there still exists a palpable reluctance to define "myth" in a clear and concise way. A recently held congress on the theme of ancient myth did not address the problem at all. It is within this situation we felt the necessity to address the crucial question of definition within a comparative framework. The result was a symposium held at the University of Tromso in the midnight sun of 1998. It was not our aim to endorse once more some ethnocentric belief in the universal existence of a category of tales, "myths," but on the contrary, to discuss the problem and examine the various assumptions and questions that have dominated the study of "Greek myths." <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7062325>BL304 .I57 1998</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b706232510/14/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7062326>BL304 .I572 2000</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b706232610/14/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7071319>BL1515.5.H8 A43 1992</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707131910/14/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076490><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0300152981.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300152981>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Review</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> "This is an unusually well-integrated roundtable on a very timely subject."-Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, author of God''s Universe (Owen Gingerich ) <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076490>BL241 .R35 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707649010/14/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076525><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0789038129.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789038129>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td></h2> <div class="content"> <h3 class="productDescriptionSource">Review</h3> <div class="productDescriptionWrapper"> <P>At a time when religious diversity increases daily, this book provides healthcare workers with a valuable resource. It not only introduces them to the health-related beliefs and practices of the major world religions but serves as a handy guide to healthcare etiquette. <EM>Ronald L. Numbers, University of Wisconsin, USA</EM></P><BR><P><EM>World Religions for Healthcare Professionals</EM> is a sensitive, engaging, and deeply informative book that offers new insights to those who thought they understood the worlds great religious traditions, as well as an orientation for those who have given little attention to matters of religion and health up till now. The consistent pattern in each chapter makes the book eminently accessible. It is a book to be read from beginning to end, and then consulted whenever the reader encounters persons from a tradition other than theirs - an invaluable resource. <EM>David A. Hogue, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA</EM></P> <div class="emptyClear"> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076525>BL65.M4 W67 2010</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707652510/14/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7081961><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/081354517X.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/081354517X>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Review</b><br /> &#34;Children and Childhood in World Religions is not only a convenient resource for scholars, but also a useful text for courses on children and childhood, as well as for courses in world religions that seek to delve beneath the standard beliefs and practices offered in typical survey courses. The richness of this material and its readability makes it ideal for students and scholars alike.&#34; --Christine Godorf, Florida International University <br /><br /> <b>Review</b><br /> <i>"<b>Children and Childhood in World Religions</b> is not only a convenient resource for scholars, but also a useful text for courses on children and childhood, as well as for courses in world religions that seek to delve beneath the standard beliefs and practices offered in typical survey courses. The richness of this material and its readability makes it ideal for students and scholars alike."</i><br><b>Christine Gudorf, Florida International University</b> <br /><br /> <b>Product Description</b><br /> This is the first book to examine the theme of children in major religions of the world. Each of six chapters, edited by world-class scholars, focuses on one religious tradition and includes an introduction and a selection of primary texts. Through both the scholarly introductions and the primary sources, this comprehensive volume addresses a range of topics, from the sanctity of birth to a child's relationship to evil, showing that issues regarding children are central to understanding world religions and raising significant questions about our own conceptions of children today. <br /><br /> <b>From the Inside Flap</b><br /> This is the first book to examine the theme of children in major religions of the world. Each of six chapters, edited by world-class scholars, focuses on one religious tradition and includes an introduction and a selection of primary texts. Through both the scholarly introductions and the primary sources, this comprehensive volume addresses a range of topics, from the sanctity of birth to a child's relationship to evil, showing that issues regarding children are central to understanding world religions and raising significant questions about our own conceptions of children today. <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> DON S. BROWNING is a professor emeritus at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. He is the author of <i>Christian Ethics and Moral Psychologies</i> and <i>American Religions and the Family: How Faith Traditions Cope with Modernization and Democracy.</i><br><br>MARCIA J. BUNGE is a professor of theology and humanities at Valparaiso University and director of the Child in Religion and Ethics Project. She is the editor of <i>The Child in Christian Thought</i> and the coeditor of <i>The Child in the Bible.</i> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7081961>BL85 .C45 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b708196110/7/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b6666014><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0674033329.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674033329>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> <p> Throughout Chinese history mountains have been integral components of the religious landscape. They have been considered divine or numinous sites, the abodes of deities, the preferred locations for temples and monasteries, and destinations for pilgrims. Early in Chinese history a set of five mountains were co-opted into the imperial cult and declared sacred peaks, <i>yue,</i> demarcating and protecting the boundaries of the Chinese imperium. </p><p> The Southern Sacred Peak, or Nanyue, is of interest to scholars not the least because the title has been awarded to several different mountains over the years. The dynamic nature of Nanyue raises a significant theoretical issue of the mobility of sacred space and the nature of the struggles involved in such moves. Another facet of Nanyue is the multiple meanings assigned to this place: political, religious, and cultural. Of particular interest is the negotiation of this space by Daoists and Buddhists. The history of their interaction leads to questions about the nature of the divisions between these two religious traditions. James Robson&rsquo;s analysis of these topics demonstrates the value of local studies and the emerging field of Buddho-Daoist studies in research on Chinese religion. </p> <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> <b>James Robson</b> is Associate Professor of Chinese Religion at Harvard University. <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b6666014>BL1812.M68 R63 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b666601410/7/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7082089><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0300149891.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300149891>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Review</b><br /> "In this highly original study, Gary Anderson draws on a cornucopia of sources (biblical, patristic, rabbinic) to show how different metaphors, e.g. a weight on one''s back or a debt to be paid, have shaped the development of Jewish and Christian understandings of sin. Though Anderson ranges far and wide, he never loses sight of the big picture."-Robert Louis Wilken, University of Virginia (Robert Louis Wilken )<br /><br />"Anderson is developing a new approach to biblical theology, by probing the root metaphors for theological ideas, and tracing their interpretation in postbiblical Judaism and Christianity. This book is important not only for the history of sin, but also for the central theological idea of atonement. An important and original book."-John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale University (John J. Collins ) <br /><br /> <b>Product Description</b><br /> <DIV><DIV><DIV><DIV><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">What is sin?&nbsp;Is it simply wrongdoing? Why do its effects linger over time? In this sensitive, imaginative, and original work, Gary Anderson shows how changing conceptions of sin and forgiveness lay at the very heart of the biblical tradition. Spanning nearly two thousand years, the book brilliantly demonstrates how sin, once conceived of as a physical burden, becomes, over time, eclipsed by economic metaphors. Transformed from a weight that an individual carried, sin becomes a debt that must be repaid in order to be redeemed in God&#8217;s eyes.</P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Anderson shows how this ancient Jewish revolution in thought shaped the way the Christian church understood the death and resurrection of Jesus and eventually led to the development of various penitential disciplines, deeds of charity, and even papal indulgences.&nbsp;In so doing it reveals how these changing notions of sin provided a spur for the Protestant Reformation. </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Broad in scope while still exceptionally attentive to detail, this ambitious and profound book unveils one of the most seismic shifts that occurred in religious belief and practice, deepening our understanding of one of the most fundamental aspects of human experience.</P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</P></DIV> <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> <DIV><DIV><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Gary A. Anderson is professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in the Department of Theology at Notre Dame. He lives in South Bend, IN.</P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">.</P></DIV> <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7082089>BL475.7 .A53 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b708208910/7/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7059279>BL2450.G6 T39 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b705927910/7/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076797><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0801448069.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801448069>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> Sacred sites offer believers the possibility of communing with the divine and achieving deeper insight into their faith. Yet their spiritual and cultural importance can lead to competition as religious groups seek to exclude rivals from practicing potentially sacrilegious rituals in the hallowed space and wish to assert their own claims. Holy places thus create the potential for military, theological, or political clashes, not only between competing religious groups but also between religious groups and secular actors. <P> <i>In War on Sacred Grounds</i>, Ron E. Hassner investigates the causes and properties of conflicts over sites that are both venerated and contested; he also proposes potential means for managing these disputes. Hassner illustrates a complex and poorly understood political dilemma with accounts of the failures to reach settlement at Temple Mount/Haram el-Sharif, leading to the clashes of 2000, and the competing claims of Hindus and Muslims at Ayodhya, which resulted in the destruction of the mosque there in 1992. He also addresses more successful compromises in Jerusalem in 1967 and Mecca in 1979. Sacred sites, he contends, are particularly prone to conflict because they provide valuable resources for both religious and political actors yet cannot be divided. <P> The management of conflicts over sacred sites requires cooperation, Hassner suggests, between political leaders interested in promoting conflict resolution and religious leaders who can shape the meaning and value that sacred places hold for believers. Because a reconfiguration of sacred space requires a confluence of political will, religious authority, and a window of opportunity, it is relatively rare. Drawing on the study of religion and the study of politics in equal measure, Hassner's account offers insight into the often-violent dynamics that come into play at the places where religion and politics collide. <br /><br /> <b>From the Back Cover</b><br /> &#34;Ron E. Hassner has drawn on a wide swath of secondary literature on conflicts in sacred spaces; he weaves these insights, along with theoretical insights from religious studies, sociology, and political science, into his discussion of substantive cases. The extremely topical and compelling subject of <i>War on Sacred Grounds</i> will attract the attention of policy analysts and journalists.&#34;-Sumit Ganguly, Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University, author of <i>Conflict Unending</i> <P> <P>&#34;This is a brilliantly argued book. Ron E. Hassner offers an explanation for why religious sites become contested and why these conflicts are often very difficult to resolve, but reminds us that in some instances resolution is possible. <i>War on Sacred Grounds</i> is forcefully and vividly written.&#34;-Daniel Philpott, University of Notre Dame, author of <i>Revolutions in Sovereignty</i> <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> Ron E. Hassner is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076797>BL580 .H375 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b707679710/7/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077384><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0742562263.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0742562263>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> <I>Gods in the Desert</I> explores the fascinating religious cultures of the ancient Near East. From the mysterious pyramids, tombs, and temples of Egypt to the powerful heroes, gods, and legends of Mesopotamia, Glenn Holland guides readers through the early religions that are the root of many of today's major faiths. <P>Holland compares the religions of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syria-Palestine, including Israel and Judah, from the Neolithic era through the conquest of Alexander the Great. He provides a historical survey of each region, then discusses the gods, the rulers, the afterlife, and the worship rituals. This accessible overview makes clear how these religions converged and diverged, and are intimately connected to many of the religions we recognize today, sometimes in surprising ways. <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> <B>Glenn S. Holland</B> is professor of religious studies at Allegheny College. He is also the creator of the Teaching Company's popular lecture series &#34;Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World.&#34; <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077384>BL1060 .H635 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70773849/30/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077383><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/041541170X.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/041541170X>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> <P>Drawing on textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence, this book highlights a historically documented (but often ignored) instance, where five single women were elevated to a position of supreme religious authority. The women were Libyan and Nubian royal princesses who, consecutively, held the title of God's Wife of Amun during the Egyptian Twenty-third to Twenty-sixth dynasties (c.754&#x2013;525 BCE). At a time of weakened royal authority, rulers turned to their daughters to establish and further their authority. Unmarried, the princess would be dispatched from her father&#x2019;s distant political and administrative capital to Thebes, where she would reign supreme as a God&#x2019;s Wife of Amun. </P><BR><P>While her title implied a marital union between the supreme solar deity Amun and a mortal woman, the God&#x2019;s Wife was actively involved in temple ritual, where she participated in rituals that asserted the king's territorial authority as well as Amun's universal power. As the head of the Theban theocracy, the God's Wife controlled one of the largest economic centers in Egypt: the vast temple estate at Karnak. Economic independence and religious authority spawned considerable political influence: a God's Wife became instrumental in securing the loyalty of the Theban nobility for her father, the king. </P><BR><P>Yet, despite the religious, economic and political authority of the God's Wives during this tumultuous period of Egyptian history, to date, these women have only received cursory attention from scholars of ancient Egypt. Tracing the evolution of the office of God's Wife from its obscure origins in the Middle Kingdom to its demise shortly after the Persian Conquest of Egypt in 525 BCE, this book places these five women within the broader context of the politically volatile, turbulent Seventh and Eighth centuries BCE, and examines how the women, and the religious institution they served, were manipulated to achieve political gain.</P> <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> University of Memphis, USA <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077383>BL2450.A45 A93 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70773839/30/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7072526><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0415999022.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415999022>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> <P>In this study, E. Frances King explores how people first learn to relate to the images and artefacts of religious belief within their domestic environments. As a sense of religious belonging is instilled on a daily basis in the home, it also becomes emotionally linked to family, community, and homeland, resulting in two different genealogies &#x2013; one to do with faith and one to do with motherland &#x2013; that become entangled. </P> <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> Queen's University, Belfast <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7072526>BL65.C8 K56 2010</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70725269/30/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077005><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0292719027.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0292719027>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Review</b><br /> "This book represents the most current state of knowledge about cults in Magna Graecia and will set standards for subsequent discussions of the topic." Larry J. Alderink, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota <br /><br /> <b>Review</b><br /> This book represents the most current state of knowledge about cults in Magna Graecia and will set standards for subsequent discussions of the topic. (Larry J. Alderink, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota ) <br /><br /> <b>Product Description</b><br /> <p>In Vergil's <cite>Aeneid</cite>, the poet implies that those who have been initiated into mystery cults enjoy a blessed situation both in life and after death. This collection of essays brings new insight to the study of mystic cults in the ancient world, particularly those that flourished in Magna Graecia (essentially the area of present-day Southern Italy and Sicily). </p><p>Implementing a variety of methodologies, the contributors to <cite>Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia</cite> examine an array of features associated with such "mystery religions" that were concerned with individual salvation through initiation and hidden knowledge rather than civic cults directed toward Olympian deities usually associated with Greek religion. Contributors present contemporary theories of ancient religion, field reports from recent archaeological work, and other frameworks for exploring mystic cults in general and individual deities specifically, with observations about cultural interactions throughout. Topics include Dionysos and Orpheus, the Goddess Cults, Isis in Italy, and Roman Mithras, explored by an international array of scholars including Giulia Sfameni Gasparro ("Aspects of the Cult of Demeter in Magna Graecia") and Alberto Bernab&eacute; ("Imago Inferorum Orphica"). The resulting volume illuminates this often misunderstood range of religious phenomena.</p> <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> GIOVANNI CASADIO is Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Salerno in Italy. He is the associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Religion and has written more than one hundred articles on various topics of religious history and historiography.<br /><br />PATRICIA A. JOHNSTON is Professor of Greek and Latin Philology and Literature at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. A past president of the Vergilian Society and founder and director of the Vergilian Society's annual Symposia Cumana, she has published extensively on Greek and Latin literature and culture, specializing in Vergil. <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077005>BL793.M34 M97 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70770059/30/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7072177>BL723 .B66 2002</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70721779/30/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077426><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0195385047.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195385047>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. A growing body of scholarly work explores how the category 'religion' has been constructed in the modern West and in colonial contexts according to specific configurations of political power. Cavanaugh draws on this scholarship to examine how timeless and transcultural categories of 'religion and 'the secular' are used in arguments that religion causes violence. He argues three points: 1) There is no transhistorical and transcultural essence of religion. What counts as religious or secular in any given context is a function of political configurations of power; 2) Such a transhistorical and transcultural concept of religion as non-rational and prone to violence is one of the foundational legitimating myths of Western society; 3) This myth can be and is used to legitimate neo-colonial violence against non-Western others, particularly the Muslim world. <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> Dr. William T. Cavanaugh is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas. <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7077426>BL65.V55 C39 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70774269/30/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7061990><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0801447801.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801447801>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> The <i>Will to Imagine</i> completes J. L. Schellenberg's trilogy in the philosophy of religion, following his acclaimed <i>Prolegomena to a Philosophy of Religion</i> and <i>The Wisdom to Doubt</i>. This book marks a striking reversal in our understanding of the possibility of religious faith. Where other works treat religious skepticism as a dead end, <i>The Will to Imagine</i> argues that skepticism is the only point from which a proper beginning in religious inquiry-and in religion itself-can be made. For Schellenberg, our immaturity as a species not only makes justified religious belief impossible but also provides the appropriate context for a type of faith response grounded in imagination rather than belief, directed not to theism but to ultimism, the heart of religion. This new and nonbelieving form of faith, he demonstrates, is quite capable of nourishing an authentic religious life while allowing for inquiry into ways of refining the generic idea that shapes its commitments. <P> A singular feature of Schellenberg's book is his claim, developed in detail, that unsuccessful believers' arguments can successfully be recast as arguments for imaginative faith. Out of the rational failure of traditional forms of religious belief, <i>The Will to Imagine</i> fashions an unconventional form of religion better fitted, Schellenberg argues, to the human species as it exists today and as we may hope it will evolve. <br /><br /> <b>From the Back Cover</b><br /> &#34;This book provides a comprehensive and original perspective on the relation between faith and reason. J. L. Schellenberg's detailed, historically connected defense of what he aptly calls skeptical religion will significantly challenge both nonskeptical theists and skeptical detractors of religion.&#34;--Robert Audi, Professor of Philosophy and David E. Gallo Chair in Ethics, University of Notre Dame <P> &#34;J. L. Schellenberg is one of the most innovative philosophers of religion today. <i>The Will to Imagine</i> is rich with vigorous, challenging arguments on the limits of reason, skepticism, the nature of religious faith, belief, and the imagination, and a sustained, original defense of a combination of skepticism and religious faith.&#34;--Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College <P> &#34;In this completion to his important trilogy, J.L.Schellenberg compellingly defends a critical and imaginative philosophy of religion against the contemporary tendencies of turning philosophy of religion into an analytical theology or of replacing it by a dogmatic naturalism. His rigorously argued nonnaturalist alternative breaks new ground.&#34;--Ingolf U. Dalferth, Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Claremont Graduate University <P> <P>&#34;J. L. Schellenberg throws much light on some central issues in the philosophy of religion and upon important figures in its development such as Pascal, Kant, and James. He challenges us to take skeptical faith seriously, as a living alternative to traditional forms of religious belief and practice. <i>The Will to Imagine</i> is technically accomplished, while at the same time offering insights into matters of human importance such as the pursuit of beauty. It will be a rewarding read for all students of the philosophy of religion.&#34;--P. A. Byrne, King's College London, editor of Religious Studies <P> &#34;This book attempts to reconcile faith and reason in a manner that is so radical it might actually succeed!&#34;--Paul Draper, Purdue University <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> J. L. Schellenberg is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Saint Vincent University and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at Dalhousie University. He is the author of </i>Prolegomena to a Philosophy of Religion</i>, <i>The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Skepticism</i>, and <i>Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason</i>, all from Cornell. <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7061990>BL51 .S4265 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70619909/30/2009<td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076384>BL48 .C575 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70763849/23/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076500><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0824833279.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824833279>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> "Spirits of the Place" is a rare and timely contribution to our understanding of religious culture in Laos and Southeast Asia. Most often studied as a part of Thai, Vietnamese, or Khmer history, Laos remains a terra incognita to most Westerners - and to many of the people living throughout Asia as well. John Holt's new book brings this fascinating nation into focus. With its overview of Lao Buddhism and analysis of how shifting political power - from royalty to democracy to communism - has impacted Lao religious culture, the book offers an integrated account of the entwined political and religious history of Laos from the fourteenth century to the contemporary era. Holt advances the provocative argument that common Lao knowledge of important aspects of Theravada Buddhist thought and practice has been heavily conditioned by an indigenous religious culture dominated by the veneration of phi, spirits whose powers are thought to prevail over and within specific social and geographical domains. The enduring influence of traditional spirit cults in Lao culture and society has brought about major changes in how the figure of the Buddha and the powers associated with Buddhist temples and reliquaries - indeed how all ritual spaces and times - have been understood by the Lao. Despite vigorous attempts by Buddhist royalty, French rationalists, and most recently by communist ideologues to eliminate the worship of phi, spirit cults have not been displaced. Rather they continue to persist and show no signs of abating. Not only have the spirits resisted eradication, but they have withstood synthesis, subordination, and transformation by Buddhist political and ecclesiastical powers. Rather than reduce Buddhist religious culture to a set of simple commonalities, Holt takes a comparative approach, using his nearly thirty years' experience with Sri Lanka to elucidate what is unique about Lao Buddhism. <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> John Clifford Holt is William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7076500>BL2067 .H66 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70765009/23/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7073157><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1934843474.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1934843474>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><b>Product Description</b><br /> Over fifty years after the Holocaust, Marion Wyse explores interfaith dialogue between the Jewish and Christian communities and attempts to evaluate what goals these communities have reached and where they now stand. While many painful issues have been addressed and Jewish-Christian dialogue have achieved a solid respect for each other, the but basic disagreement over the Christian designation of Jesus as the Jewish messiah still stands. Theologians have suggested varying approaches but none convince both partners, so this work employs William James radical empirical method to show that the original Jewish messianic concept, the Christian shift, and the Jewish repudiation of the shift, can each be seen as valid faith variants. <br /><br /> <b>About the Author</b><br /> Marion Wyse is a multi-University of Toronto graduate, during which time Tyndale published her novel The Prophet and the Prostitute. Her ThD (1998) investigated the history of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue. She taught six years in China's Xiamen University and three in Moscow affiliated with Touro College New York. CrossCurrents published her &#34;Fa Lung Gong and Religious Freedom&#34; in Spring 2000 <br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7073157>BL475 .W97 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70731579/23/2009<table><tr><td width='130' style='padding:7px 0px 7px 0px'; valign='top'><a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7073159><img src='http://images.amazon.com/images/P/9783892049890.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg' style='border-style: none'/></a><p><center><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9783892049890>View title at<br>Amazon.com</a></center>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></td><td><br /><p>Call #: <a href=http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b7073159>BL85 .W46 2009</a></p></td></tr></table>http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b70731599/23/2009