Product Description
This is an innovative, thematic presentation of the role of religion in human society, from traditional cultures to the modern world.This comprehensive account covers all the major traditions, features nearly 400 illustrations, and is accompanied by maps, timelines, a glossary, full explanatory notes, and an extensive bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

One of the Best Books Ever Written
This is one of the best books ever written on Religion and the history and development of religion. This book ia a "must have" for anyone that has anything to say about religion. Everyparagraph is so explainatory and well writen. I am going to keep it as a reference book in my personal library. So much work and thinking has gone into this book and it is easy to read. It flows nicely. Buy it and become informed about what people belive deep in their hearts.

Very Resourceful!!!
I bought this book for a sociology of religion class and I would have never opened it if it wasnt for the assignments that we had to do; however apon exploring the book it has some interesting information. My teacher picked this book and the book from Johnstone because she felt that they were pretty objective on their views of religion. I do not know how objective Momen is because i havent done enough research on religion; however this book is very informatative!!!

Astonishingly encyclopedic and readable
It is difficult nowadays to get an objective, nuanced opinion on religion, neither flattering nor biased against it. If I were to recommend a way to try and achieve that, I would suggest to read several good books on the matter, including this among them, for in my opinion this is a masterful work that can be savoured by the professional scholar and the educated layperson alike.

In "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach," Moojan Momen has undertaken a sweeping survey of religious phenomena and experience across the globe and throughout history. He analyzes various aspects of religion including chapters on "The Concept of Religion," "Pathways to Religious Experience," "Suffering, Sacrifice and Salvation," and "Fundamentalism and Liberalism." He examines what six major independent world religions - the Bahá'í Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism - have to say about each theme, and/or what their followers have come to understand or experience. As a resource on comparative religious studies, it an outstanding reference for anyone concerned with religion.

All that (and much much much more that I do not mention in this summary) is exhaustively developed in some 500 pages (626 pages with notes and index).

Therefore, my rate is between 5 (content) and 5 (pleasure, sometimes falling to 4).

Please see in any event the excellent review available in http://www.onecountry.org/e132/e13216as_Review_Phenonenon.htm which encouraged me to buy this book.

Other books I would recommend to read are the following: "Vampires, Burial, and Death : Folklore and Reality" by Paul Barber; "Ecstasies: Deciphering the witches' Sabbath", by Carlo Ginzburg; "Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion" by Brian Hayden; and "Islam. History, present, future" by Hans Küng (also a masterpiece).

Excellent Intro Book!
I am continually impressed with this text, so much so that I use it for my Intro to Religion course.The book covers all the basic Religious Studies topics--definition of religion, religious experience, theodicy, myth, sacred and profane, ethics, fundamentalism, religion and gender, religion and the modern world--all the good stuff is in here!
The genius of this book, though, is that Momen examines religions and religious bodies from both "eastern" and "western" religious perspectives.
He has great primary source quotes as well as interesting statistics and facts and perspectives.It's definitely difficult finding a palatable intro book that does justice to the brilliance of religious studies (students are usually confused with all the abstract language, and this too has its moments), but Momen does a great job with this book.

good book
This is an excellent overview of the major world religions and the way they address various common themes.Don't let the size of the book intimidate you.It is written in a clear and accessible manner and heavily illustrated. ... Read more

Product Description
Religion and Politics in the United States, Sixth Edition, offers a comprehensive account of the role of religious ideas, institutions and communities in American life. This book examines the ways religion can both compel and constrain involvement in politics and policy. What facilitates political participation? What impedes it? What are the limits of religious mobilization and involvement? Are there benefits? Are there dangers? Religion and Politics in the United States addresses these questions by exploring how religion has influenced the structure of American government and law as well as how religious perspectives inform contemporary political issues including topics such as equal rights for women and gays. The book also explores the ways that religion has affected the orientation of partisan politics in the United States. Through a detailed review of the political attitudes and behaviors of major religious and minority faith traditions, the book establishes that religion continues to be a major part of the American cultural and political milieu while explaining that it must interact with many other factors to impact political outcomes in the United States. The sixth edition reviews the role of religion in the 2008 election, and includes fully up-to-date coverage of how religion informs the civil rights struggles of women and gay Americans. ... Read more

Product Description

This book features a number of different articles and essays that focus on women as active agents of their spiritual lives—a topic that is often overlooked in most other world religion books. It explores how women from many parts of the world have thought about, acted, and have been treated as members of a religious tradition. Investigates how women of a variety of religious traditions (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc.) practice their religion, how their beliefs differ from men, and how they have carved out their own place within their religious tradition.For anyone interested in how women are shaped by and how they shape the various world religions.

Customer Reviews (1)

Fab Book
This book is a very interesting book with lots of different aspects on Women and Regigion around the World.I will only be using a few sections of the book for class but intend to read the entire book.I would suggest this as a book for anyone who is interested in Women and World Religions.A good book for any religious class. ... Read more

Product Description
RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE focuses on the relationship of religion to the social and cultural dynamics of American history. Because most survey texts provide only brief coverage of this topic, Marsden's narrative is designed to explore the role of religion in American culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Religion in America
Product received was missing pages.No response from seller regarding the condition of the product has been received.

Excellent survey
Marston's book is an excellent historical survey of the interplay of religion and its surrounding culture. Throughout Marston shows how two themes have consistently been held in tension in American religious life; these being the continuing impact of the Puritan ideal of "Christian Society" and the existence of pluralism in thje midst of prevailing ideas. What is particularly interesting is how Marston shows that this puritan ethos along with the elevation of the ideal of liberty as the `American Way' has been adopted by the non-WASP demographic.

As a general history of the role of religion in american society I struggle to see how it could be much improved. Excellent.

Primer on Christianity & American Culture
This is just an exceptional work by the noted Christian historian Marsden, whose previous works on Fundamentalism and American University history meld well with this intro to the topic of Christianity and American Culture.

Today this is vital topic of great discussion and interest in the church of Christ: how does the culture affect the church and how does Bible speak about this, if at all.

Marsden provides much of the answer here by his brief but penetrating summary glance at the founding of our country to this day, moving from pre-Colony days to Revolution to Civil War to two WW's, to modern times of ecumenism and relativism, et al.

This is great in its scope and insights that Marsden provides.But what is so wonderful about this textbook is its exposure that the reader will be given to a wide ranging yet vital topic for today.The bibliography is substantial and well done broken up as it is by topic and historical timeframe.

Highly recommended for anyone searching for one work intro to this fascinating issue.

Excellent Overview and Strong Thesis
George Marsden's Religion and American Culture is a strong contribution in the field of American cultural history.In this brief work, Marsden sets out to examine the complex relationship between religion and American culture and what each tells us about the other.Marsden's thesis is that America's identity as a religious nation has always co-existed with a strong inclination towards the secular.Sometimes this mix of the sacred and secular has been peaceful.Other times this mix has created great tensions.Often times, however, the mixture of the religious and the secular has gone unnoticed as the secularization is driven by groups or individuals with religious motivations.Marsden describes how this uniquely American process leads to the irony of a highly secular culture made up of (self-described) highly religious individuals.Following the dominant stream of American Protestantism from its origins in the English Reformation and the accompanying political context, Marsden sets out to explore how the relationship of the religious and the secular has progressed from the pragmatism of the founding fathers, to the cultural declension of the present day. Marsden's method is quite strong. For the most part, Marsden allows the content of history to guide his framework as opposed to forcing his framework on the historical data he examines.For example, Marsden divides the book into historical periods but within each section he subdivides by topics.Sometimes this arrangement follows a chronological pattern, at other times it does not.The arrangement of the book allows the reader to examine each period of American history in light of Marsden's thesis about the complex relationship between the religious and the secular.Marsden tells the story of American history but he does it based upon the development of religion and culture not based upon events. Marsden also shows his strength as a historian in another way. Marsden laments the fact that "most historians have dwelt almost solely upon the secular" developments and motivations within American history.According to Marsden, this is not only philosophically unfair but also epistemologically risky.As an unapologetic evangelical teaching at strongly Catholic university, the reader should not be surprised that Marsden brings his confessional identity to the fore from the very first page.Marsden argues that the religious self-understandings of the groups and individuals that make up American culture can be a highly useful tool in interpreting the whole of American history.In a sense, then, Marsden provides the reader a brief cultural history of the United States.The reader comes away not only knowing more about religion in America, but about the history of the United States as a whole. The strongest part of the book, however, is that Marsden is content not to relax the inherent tension in the interplay between religion and culture.From the very first pages, Marsden confronts the reader with irony, paradox, division, and dissent.For example, Marsden details how the influx of massive numbers of foreign-born Catholics influenced American culture in the 19th century.Many of these Catholics left nations where the Catholic Church was the established church, but they entered an American culture where Protestantism was the dominant religious culture.The tension that developed between the dominant Protestants, still fearful of the power and influence of the Catholic church, and the immigrant Catholics had a profound impact on American poltical culture and Marsden helps display such ironies and tensions effectively throughout his book. In summary, Marsden helps the reader to better grasp the tremendous complexity of the relationship between religion, politics, and culture in American history.Furthermore, Marsden does so while striking a wonderful balance between his own unapologetic endorsement of the value of religion in the development of American cultural life and the neccesity of providing a well-researched and documented history for the reader. ... Read more

Product Description
In this important, scholarly, and wide-ranging text, Brian Morris provides a lucid outline of the nature of the explanations of religious phenomena offered by such great thinkers as Hegel, Marx, and Weber. In doing so he also unravels the many theoretical strategies in the study of religion that have been developed and explored by later anthropologists. Besides discussing the classical authors and the debates surrounding their work, Morris presents perceptive accounts of more contemporary scholars such as Jung, Malinowski, Levi-Strauss, Geertz, and Godelier. Written from the standpoint of critical sympathy, and free of jargon, this book is an invaluable guide to the writings on religion of all the major figures in anthropology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A brilliant man
I've lost my copy of this book and am willing to buy it again!Having had the great privilege of taking several courses with Professor Morris, I highly, highly recommend this and any other book he's authored.He is an excellent anthropologist with a deep understanding of the concepts he delves into.

A good introduction
I just finished reading this book as a starting point for a larger research project into the anthropological perspective on religion and found it to be a useful and in-depth introduction. This is not a "for beginners" book and Morris does not talk down to the reader. Morris provides a broad overview of important perspectives on religion from sociologists (Marx, Weber, Durkheim), anthropologists (Turner, Levi-Strauss, Malinowski, Douglas), and even covering, although pretty critically, the psychoanalytic interpretations of Freud and Jung. This is a good, comprehensive introduction that gives a general overview and deals with the criticisms of a flaws in the theories covered.

in-depth theoretical approach with very little bias
This book is a great textbook for any beginning anthropological student (whether or not you're in school) though it is very dense and tough to get through.First, you get a paragraph or so explaining the background of the person whose theories are being presented.Then you get the basic reactions and opinions of the scholar and their theories, followed by an explanation of the theories themselves.In some cases, you also get other scholars' criticisms and then the original's rebuttals.Morris seems to have a pretty liberal approach to the field, and it is rare to see his biases show. ... Read more

Product Description
Finally, social scientists have begun to attempt to understand religious behavior rather than to discredit it as irrational, ignorant, or foolish--and Rodney Stark and Roger Finke have played a major role in this new approach. Acknowledging that science cannot assess the supernatural side of religion (and therefore should not claim to do so), Stark and Finke analyze the observable, human side of faith. In clear and engaging prose, the authors combine explicit theorizing with animated discussions as they move from considering the religiousness of individuals to the dynamics of religious groups and then to the religious workings of entire societies as religious groups contend for support. The result is a comprehensive new paradigm for the social-scientific study of religion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

The Single Best Book on the Sociology of Religion
Acts of Faith represents the culmination of more than 30 years of research in the sociology of religion by Rodney Stark (and also Roger Finke).It is Stark's magnum opus, putting together in one place the distillation of all of his important research, and is the single best book on the sociology of religion that I've come across.While no single theory, even a good one, can explain religion adequately, Acts of Faith represents the single best attempt I've yet seen.Like any good theory, it has power to explain a wide range of phenomenon.While it's not a book above criticism, many of the more negative reviews misunderstand what Stark and Finke are actually saying.I first came across this book when I was pursuing my Ph.D. in Religious Studies.

Stark and Finke begin by properly destroying the secularization thesis as it was taught for several decades.The old secularization thesis stated things such as "religion is false and harmful" and "religion is doomed."Stark and Finke's response is to properly understand the ways in which this older secularization thesis has been radically revised.Not only is religion alive and kicking in the world, but the religious piety of the past was also not as great as has been assumed.

The heart of the book deals with what the authors refer to as "the religious economy."While there are certainly other legitimate ways of analyzing religion, Stark and Finke's model has great explanatory power.For them, "a religious economy consists of all the religious activity going on in any society."One of the most important corollaries of this view is that "The capacity of a single religious firm to monopolize a religious economy depends upon the degree to which the state uses coercive force to regulate the religious economy."This statement is profoundly true and useful: it helps explain, for example, why religion can look strong in state-sponsored churches and yet be inwardly weak.It also helps explain how the Christendom of Europe could give way to the current atheism.In contrast to "religious economies" that are regulated by the state, countries that have unregulated religious economies have religious "competition," which leads to higher levels of religious commitment.This helps explain, for example, why religion is still a lot stronger in America (historically an unregulated religious economy) than in Europe (historically regulated religious economies).

Along the way, Stark and Finke help explain many other human factors associated with religion and religious behavior.One of the most important of all, which everyone should be familiar with, is the notion that the density of social networks helps explain religious conversion: we're much more likely to convert to a new religion or denomination if the people who are closest to us are involved with the new religion or denomination.

The book is tightly argued and clearly presented, but the best feature of all is the back of the book (pages 277-288) where Stark and Finke list, in order, all of the definitions and propositions they have made throughout the book.This is an amazing summary of the book and makes it very easy to rehearse their arguments and to access them for further thought and research.I wish every academic book had this feature!


There's a lot more here than I can explain in a review, but I highly recommend this book for anyone who is serious about the sociology of religion or wants to gain a better insight into the future of religion in the world.Other works by Rodney Stark are also worth reading, but this is the best of the best!

Compelling and informative, but somewhat biased
The authors propose that religion is analogous to a commodity that people buy. Religious behavior is said to be the result of people acting in their own interest. It is reinforced by dogmas claiming that good behavior will be rewarded in this life and the afterlife. Feelings of solidarity, friendships between parishioners, and other social interactions also reinforce religious behavior. These factors are most likely to be found in conservative religious groups. These assumptions allow the authors to account for many features of religion in contemporary society.

One of their most interesting arguments is that the absence of satisfactory sellers of religion suppresses church attendance in Europe whereas the abundance of denominations in the US stimulates church attendance. An equally interesting topic is the way they account for the decline in the number of people wishing to join Roman Catholic religious orders following Vatican II.

The treatment is very compelling but dry and academic. Much of the evidence derives from the authors' own research which focuses on the US and Europe. Latin America, Canada, Australia, and Islamic countries are not adequately covered. The rest of the world is not covered at all.

The book is marred by occasional criticisms of liberal religions, apparently because the authors perceive a bias against conservative religions in the literature. I would have preferred a more objective approach.

Good Economic Model of Religous Participation, But Flawed in Imprtant Ways
The main point of this book is that religious behavior conforms to the classic supply and demand economic model.Religions sell "products" and exact "costs."Cost/benefit determines why people join or leave religious groups.

Here is a partial summary of themes.

1) Religious belief is rational because believers evaluate the costs and benefits of their religious participation.They conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs.Therefore they are rational actors.

This is really silly.It confuses participation with belief.Yes, the perceived cost/benefit ratio may justify participation from a narrow economic point of view, but this says nothing about whether the actual beliefs are rational.Under S&F's analysis, participation in suicide cults, the Flat Earth Society, and spaceship cults is rational because the believer thought about participating and then concluded that benefits outweigh costs.

The authors also fail to recognize the equivocal nature of the term "rational."They use it in a narrow economic sense.But those who think religious belief is "irrational" do not disagree with this. They say, rather, that religious belief goes beyond the evidence, requires unwarranted, blind, assumptions, etc. and is therefore irrational.S&F do not address this conception of rationality. Accordingly, skip the first chapter. It's a waste of time.

2) Religious participation is subject to market principles of supply and demand.Religions exact "costs" for their "products" and religious participants are rational actors who perform cost/benefit analysis prior to engaging in religious activity.(Costs are such things as $$$, donations of time, willingness to undergo tension with surrounding culture, celibacy, separation from society, etc. Benefits are not usually material, but involve emotional satisfaction and often expectations of rewards after bodily death.)"High tension" groups exact more costs from their participants."Low tension" groups exact less.A bell curve shows that the MAJORITY of people want to be in medium tension groups, those in which they feel that they are making some sacrifices, (but not too many) and that they are different from the society around them (but not too different.) When Vatican II allowed nuns to dress in civies and live in apartments, recruitment dropped because nunhood was no longer so special.Women WANTED to pay the higher cost for a distinct and visible role in society.Post Vatican II they were just social workers and teachers who had to give up sex.People WANT to pay for a good religious product. If the product is watered down, they'll go somewhere else. Likewise if the product is too expensive, as in groups that require celibacy, separation from society, large financial donations, or that advocate doctrines that subject adherents to ridicule, members will leave. Thus, medium tension churches are the most successful.

When groups change from moderate tension to low or high tension, they tend to lose members. Liberal churches in the US are shrinking. When the Unitarian Universalists recently brought back some traditional elements of the liturgy, their numbers began to grow.

I would like to have been given more information on WHY folks are attracted to medium tension groups.

3) Free religious markets result in greater levels of religious participation. The United States is "the first fully unregulated religious economy."It has the highest level of religious participation.Countries with state monopolies on religion (most of Europe, including the Western democracies) have extremely low levels of participation.Pews are empty on Sunday in Sweden. Even though these countries are democracies, they restrict the abilities of unofficial groups to operate. This book contains some shocking information about the Western "democracies" and their repression and harassment of small, unofficial churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals.

Competition breeds increased religious participation because churches adjust their products to what the market wants.Also, the more supply, the greater likelihood that individuals will find a "vendor" that matches their preferences.

4) Religious preferences don't change much. Change in participation comes when the SUPPLY SIDE responds to existing demand. The US has had a 65% rate of church membership for decades, irrespective of economic conditions. When people change religions or churches, it is not because their beliefs (preferences) have changed. Rather it is because the new group better appeals to their existing preferences.(This is probably a controversial point. Do they REALLY mean that religious values don't change much?)

5) Secularization theory is all wrong. Those who say religion will die as society becomes more educated have been proven wrong.The industrialized world shows that this is not happening. Even in societies with low participation, "believing without belonging" is very high. (Western Europe has high rates of religious belief, but low levels of participation.)This section could be better.Perhaps secularization IS happening, it just doesn't manifest itself in more atheism. Perhapsgod is becoming less anthropomorphic, less active, and therefore less real.This could still count as evidence of secularization in a given society. The authors don't do a good job addressing this subtle point.

Overall, this book offers a believable and coherent theory as to why religions succeed or fail, and religious believers will be disturbed to find that their purportedly sacred activities are government by crass economic forces of the Adam Smith variety.Ironically, the authors come across as very pro-religion, and pro-conservative religion to boot, even appearing subtly to offer advice to the Catholic Church on how to get its act together (though they say they don't.)Their clear preference for traditional religion is annoying and inappropriate. No need to call the Jesus Seminar an exercise in "preening silliness" or make repeated to references for the alleged vapidness of liberal theology.Their scholarship does not quite cross over into advocacy, but their sympathies are tastlessly and unprofessionally evident.

Worth reading, but you may not need to now that you've read this review.

How religious groups work at a nuts and bolts level
I'm not sure whether to give this book a 4 or a 5...but to play it safe I'll make it a 4.

One of the main points of this book is that religion/religious groups far from being a display of "irrationality" are very rational and based in logic of members...and these same groups hold many benefits for their members.

Moreover, the author shows how "fundamentalist" churches have more to offer their adherents and thus are growing, while on the otherhand "mainline" churches have less to offer and are thus shrinking.

He moreover goes on to discuss the structure of the successful "mega" churches. He notes that while they are technically one big church, they are in reality a bunch of smaller fellowships (about 40-80 people large) within a bigger church. It's these intra-church fellowships which are the real facilitators of growth, not the huge sunday morning studies where people feel lost in the crowd.

Anyways, what I just mentioned is the tip of the iceburg in regards to this book. It also goes into issues of religious economy, how that economy differs from nation to nation, conversion vs natural increase, and many other aspects concerning the dynamics and organization of religious groups

Very engaging, but some serious faults
This book is packed with arguments, facts, theories, and ideas that anyone in the sociology of religion will be interested in. Stark and Finke are leaders in their discipline, and their work demands attention.
There is a lot that is good here. For example, their illustration of the ways in which social networks determine religious identity is key. I also appreciate the whole "religious economy" metaphor; indeed, religions do compete for customers these days and definitely "market" themselves, which I agree does cause more people to actually get involved. In short, advertising works -- and religions have figured that out.
I had problems with a lot of their assertions. For one: secularization. They claim that secularization theory is dumb, dillusional, and dead. Are they serious? C'mon. Just look at the data. The evidence is strong and clear: belief in God and church attendance are CLEARLy declining in places like great Britain, France, Holland, Germany (especially east germany), Czech Republic, and religion is at an all-time low in Scandinavia (!!) -- and also Japan. Secularization may not be happening in the U.S. or much of the world, but to deny its reality in most of Europe is simply blind. Look also at Jews -- most are now non-believers, even in Israel. Compare that to Jews 200 years ago -- yet another major example of secularization that S and F avoid dealing with. And also see the rates in Canada, where belief is also down (see Reginald Bibby)....for the evidence of secularization in selected countries, see the work of Steve Bruce, Grace Davie, and even the recent World Values Surveys from Inglehart, et al.
Another problem with this book is the wacky "rational choice" silliness. Please -- and these guys claim to have degrees in sociology? Rational choice theory is so pithy, so lame, so weak it is hard to believe ANYONE takes it seriously. The bottom line is that "costs" and "rewards" are subjective. And to say that people "choose" their religion is obviously true on some basic level, but it obfuscates broader cultural, historical, and social forces that make up the heart of the sociological imagination - see Phil Zuckerman's solid critique in his latest book on soc. of religion.
Finally, their clear argument in the Introduction that only persons of faith can be "truly scientific" when studying religion is laughable. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume takes as its object not religion as such but a set of interventions that raised to scholarly consciousness some of the intellectual problems and political stakes in the representation of religion. Its point of departure is Wilfred Cantwell Smith's early critique of European and North American productions of religion as an object of knowledge. Selections take up something of the form and consequences of Smith's argument as the task of making explicit the historically determined status of religion's use as a category for describing and differentiating humans, their behaviors and social practices. Thematic links are made between classic interventions in Religious Studies and related fields of critical inquiry (including essays by Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Joan Wallach Scott, and Jonathan Z. Smith) and their contemporary interlocutors. Framed innovatively by the themes of cultural and scholarly mapping, the critique of texts and textuality, and sexualized, racialized, and gendered constructions of the body, with each section prefaced by original contributions from leading scholars in the field (e.g. Amy Hollywood and Burton Mack), Readings in the Theory of Religion will prove indispensable to students and scholars in every sub-field of critical and cultural studies of religion. ... Read more

Product Description
The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion is presented in three comprehensive parts. Written by a range of outstanding academics, the volume explores the current status of the sociology of religion, and how it might look in future.

• Explores the current status of the sociology of religion, and how it might look at the beginning of the next millennium.
  
• Traces the boundaries between sociology and other closely related disciplines, such as theology and social anthropology.
  
• Edited by one of the best known and most widely respected sociologists of religion
  
• Accessibly presented in three comprehensive parts.

Customer Reviews (1)

Great range and variety of subjects
With wonderful editorial and personal commentary running throughout the book, this text would be of great use for students, teachers and the general public interested in the sociology of religion.Its authors both lead us through the history of sociology of religion and show us new paths which are being explored today.I found it exciting to read, particularly the articles by Bell, Fenn and the one on feminism by Woodhead. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

On the problem of 'mediatization of religion' and vice versa
The title says it all, doesn't it. Yes, this book is about Religion and Media, and contains essays by or interviews with 25 scholars from Europe and the US, including some famous ones: namely, J. Derrida, JL Nancy, S. Weber, TW Adorno, and others. I bought this without the benefit of having another reader's review of it and so was pleasantly surprised to see so many heavyweights present: the scholars featured here occupy positions of influence in their respective fields - from philosophy to anthropology to comparative religion to sciology.

The book serves as a very serviceable prism to refract the blinding and blindingly bright light of the subject into so many colorful opinions about the relationship between R and M.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the problem of framing of the problem through an interdisciplinary approach. The second part is less speculative about the issue as it deals with the historical and academic examples of approaches to the study of this phenomenon. The last part offers case studies and field work done by anthropologists and scholars of comparative religion.

The common concern in all these essays is the resurgence and fortification of religion (in some cases with lethal results) the world over in tandem with increasing de-religionization (that is to say, removal of all and any sense of the sacred from the public sphere of life.) Some of the questions asked are: Why is Christianity so much more mediatic than the other religions? How does the media's intervention in religion (and vice versa), with its instantaneous communication affect that particular sense of time that is crucial to a religious worldview? What is the function of politics in the mediatization of religion?

There's much food for thought here to help one figure out which way is north in this age of `New Age' in which so much seems to be heading south (of Reason). A solid read for those who understand the social importance of the phenomenon of religion. ... Read more

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"Bednarowski is especially good at elucidating the theological daring of these new American religions.... [She] demonstrates in a very few pages how... theology and group adherence made the individual count, a configuration simultaneously American, un-American, and important."-- Jon Butler

"The cultural confrontation with these `new religions' is very real and usually very misinformed. Bednarowski has gone to great lengths to dispel the ignorance."-- The Christian Century

"A groundbreaking study."-- Syzygy: Journal of Alternative Religion and Culture

Organized as a series of theological conversations about ultimate questions, this book offers a guide to the answers these six religions offer. Drawing heavily on sources from the movements themselves, it presents a balanced comparative account of the emerging theological systems of America's new religions.

Product Description
Now available in a revised second edition, this popular introduction to the anthropology of religion combines discussion of the origin and development of debates within the field, with a look at where the subject is heading.

• Introduces readers to the central theoretical ideas in the anthropology of religion and illustrates them with specific case studies.
  
• Features self-contained chapters, each with its own comprehensive bibliography, so that they can be approached in any order.
  
• Contains an additional chapter on mythology and a number of new illustrations.
  
• Incorporates coverage of the following topics in the existing structure: pilgrimage, spirit possession and cargo cults.
  
• Includes a list of ethnographic films and videos that can be used to illustrate and extend discussion of particular issues.

Customer Reviews (4)

blah
the book is ok, better than most text books, tho im sure most people will order this for a bit of light reading... hehe

Anthropology of Religion by Bowie
Bowie's Introduction to The Anthropology of Religion is well written and introduces the reader to a broad spectrum of religions and worldviews. Basic and complex perspectives are presented in a format that is understandable and enlightening. I highly recommend this reading. I plan to use it as a introductory textbook in my Anthropology of Religion class.

Not an easy read
This is the main textbook for my analysis course in a Religious Studies major. As an introduction to anthropology it seems to assume quite a bit of prior knowledge. It is also unnecessarily heavy on the anthropology and light on the religion. Certain chapters offer almost no mention of religion.

That said, some chapters were captivating such as the one on Ritual.

To sum up, if this book were not required reading for a course I would have skipped it.

The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction
The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction by Fiona Bowie is a fascinating textbook that takes up subjects such as "The body as a symbol", "Sex, gender and the sacred" and Shamanism to mention a few. Bowie writes with authority on all the subjects and seems to truly know what she is writing about. In fact she inspires the reader to further ones knowledge in several fields and this is indeed a tall task as many textbooks are quite difficult and taxing to read and one does it merely to finish a class. The chapters that I thought were the best where the following, "Maintaining and transforming boundaries: the politics of religious identity" and the chapter that took up gender and the sacred was also great. I highly recommend this textbook and I will definitely buy the next edition whenever that is published. ... Read more

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Asad explores how religion as a historical category emerged in the West and has come to be applied as a universal concept. He writes that "religion" is a construction of European modernity, a construction that authorizes--for Westerners and non-Westerners alike--particular forms of "history making". ... Read more

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Amazing for anyone seeking thoughtful understanding of religion
Talal Asad is one of the remarkable minds of our times. This work is one of the most insightful works on how to understand religion in the modern world...

Interesting
A fascinating book, in which the author argues that "religion" as a historical and political category was created in Europe, an interesting book. ... Read more

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This important book describes as accurately as possible the religious situation of Great Britain at the end of the twentieth century, and evaluates this evidence within a sociological framework. Two key themes emerge within the book. The first concerns the growing mismatch between indices of religious belief in this country, which remain relatively high, and statistics which reflect either religious membership (in its strict sense) or religious practices, both of which demonstrate a marked decline in the post-war period. Hence the phrase `believing without belonging' which becomes a refrain within the book. The sacred persists but not necessarily in traditional forms. The second theme concerns the European framework within which the book is set. As Britain moves inexorably - if not always very steadily - to a greater European identity, the considerable variety of religious cultures within the United Kingdom take on a new significance. Religion in Britain since 1945 will be welcomed by anyone interested in religion in contemporary society. ... Read more

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This book is an easy-to-read resource focusing on the interrelationship of religious traditions and particular cultural contexts, including the political economy. It demonstrates the connection between social structure, class, caste, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Basic issues that provide insight into the anthropological perspective on religion are discussed, leading into the topics of mythology and folklore, ritual, shamanism, sorcery and witchcraft, aboriginal religions, African religions, classical Old and New World religions, Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, and New Age religious trends. For anyone interested in an introduction to the religions of the world, and a glimpse into the future development of religion in the twenty-first century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Educational but repetitive
I found this book to be informative about religions and their origins, but most of the chapters could have been summed up in a page or two instead of twenty... very repetitive.

Excellent
Book was just what I wanted.A little wear and tear, but that was told to me before I purchased it.Very fast shipping.

excellent service
This book was in the exact condition as advertised and I received it right away. Thank you!

Lot of info; not all accurate
Summary:
The book is a collection of essays covering the anthropology of religion, ranging from theories to descriptions of the major world religions to their histories.
 
Comments:
The book is very long and covers a lot of material.  Alone it could serve as the text for a course on the anthropology of religion.  As I had two books for the course I took, I didn't read the entire book (it's over 400 very dense pages).  But the material I did read, mostly the chapters by Scupin himself, were not very impressive. 
 
Two things bothered me.  First, Scupin doesn't ever mention rationalization or secularization in his discussion of religious modernization.  It's as though Scupin doesn't want to consider late 19th centuries ideas about the eventual decline and disappearance of religion.  I got the impression that Scupin was writing either to express his beliefs or to appeal to a religious audience.  Even if he doesn't agree with the ideas they merit discussion.
 
The second thing that bothered me was Scupin's treatment of the oppressive elements of religion.  Understandably, scholars are supposed to be objective and, ideally, they will treat religions fairly.  Scupin, however, presents many of these things in a positive light.  For instance, on p. 414 he discusses the resurgence of the wearing of the hijab among Muslim women.  Scupin argues that this is a demonstration of Muslim women's dissatisfaction with Western colonialism.  There is certainly a degree of this, but there are other elements to it and, it isn't universally an option for women.  To argue that it is just a political statement is to misconstrue what can be an oppressive element of certain cultures.
 
Overall, though the book is informative and contains a great deal of information, the treatment isn't entirely objective and can, at times, misconstrue elements of religions.  I should also note the the index isn't very comprehensive.  If you choose to use the book for a course in the anthropology of religion, I would suggest making it the sole course text.  However, I would also suggest that you supplement the text with information on the stuff that is missing (e.g. secularization and rationalization), as the book's treatment isn't complete.

Too much religion, not enough culture
I took an anthropology course in college that used this book, and while it is a good introduction to religions and their similarities and differences, it was lacking (with a few exceptions) in details from an anthropological perspective.Too much history, not enough about what people actually believe and practice.The chapters in the book are written by different "experts" and they vary widely in readability, information and cultural examples. ... Read more

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"This is an outstanding book that provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of religion in the lives of African Americans. Both historical and empirical research findings provide a context for understanding religion in the lives of African Americans. Most importantly, this book highlights the role religion plays in affecting emotional and physical health processes and outcomes among African Americans. The contributions of this book to the discussion of religion in the social and behavioral sciences will last for years!"

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Evaluating the nature and functions of religion
Religion In The Lives Of African Americans: Social, Psychological, And Health Perspectives is the collaborative work of Robert Joseph Taylor (Sheila Feld Collegiate Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan), Linda M. Chatters (Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan), and epidemiologist and academician Jeff Levin. Religion In The Lives Of African Americans incorporates findings from eight national surveys containing representative cross-section samples of the adult black population living in the continental U.S., plus a focus group study conducted by the Program for Research on Black Americans at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. A work of definitive scholarship, the primary perspectives are sociological and psychological, yet transcend those disciplinary boundaries in evaluating the nature and functions of religion within black families and the black community. Informed and informative, Religion In The Lives Of African Americans is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of data sources, tables, recommendations for further study, end-of-chapter summaries, and implications for future research. Religion In The Lives Of African Americans is especially recommended as a seminal contribution to Black Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists, as well as Contemporary American Religious and Cultural Studies. This is particularly rewarding reading for students of psychology, sociology, human development, social work, public health as well.
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Essential reading to separate fiction from fact
The research in this book essential for understanding the complexity of religious beliefs and practices. For years, I have objected to the ways that many fine authors have portrayed religious activity in America; if writers like Dawkins, Harris, and others had accessed this book, they might find that not only are most religious practices benign, but they would also discover that America is far more secular than many people suspect. For example, in the child development chapters, I discovered that teens are far more skeptical of their parent's religion than I would have thought. I was also intrigued to discover that some young children, even when raised in anti-religious families, still maintained their belief in God. There are even some independent youngsters who will stand by their belief in the reality of the Easter Bunny, even when presented with evidence to the contrary!

The chapters on fundamentalism are particularly important because the researchers detail how authoritarian ideologies govern small communities of people.This raises the question: is religion the culprit when violence erupts, or authoritarianism (a socio-political ideology that lies at the root of genocidal acts of hatred)?

If you want to speak knowledgeably about the religious landscape of America, this is the book you must own. Don't trust public-opinion polls; they only show you 10% of the picture.

Finest Review of Research of These Subjects in 20 Years
Paloutzian and Park have gathered an excellent group of scholars to make contributions to this book. The articles in the field review the research conducted in this field from before Starbuck (1899) and James (1902) to 2004. Each article not only reviews the literature but makes major contributions to the issue it discusses such as Paloutzian's article on conversion and Alemeyer and Hunsberger on fundamentalism and authoritarian.
Many of the articles have practical applications for both secular and religious counselors. Oman and Thoresen article on spiritual and health strongly suggests that these two issues are deeply related. I strongly recommend any one conduction research on the psychology needs to own this important work. ... Read more

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Handbook for Religion and Social Institutions is written for sociologists who study a variety of sub-disciplines and are interested in recent studies and theoretical approaches that relate religious variables to their particular area of interest. The handbook focuses on several major themes:

- Social Institutions such as Politics, Economics, Education, Health and Social Welfare

- Family and the Life Cycle

- Inequality

- Social Control

- Culture

- Religion as a Social Institution and in a Global Perspective

This handbook will be of interest to social scientists including sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and other researchers whose study brings them in contact with the study of religion and its impact on social institutions.

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American Grace is a major achievement, a groundbreaking examination of religion in America.

Unique among nations, America is deeply religious, religiously diverse, and remarkably tolerant. But in recent decades the nation’s religious landscape has been reshaped.

America has experienced three seismic shocks, say Robert Putnam and David Campbell. In the 1960s, religious observance plummeted. Then in the 1970s and 1980s, a conservative reaction produced the rise of evangelicalism and the Religious Right. Since the 1990s, however, young people, turned off by that linkage between faith and conservative politics, have abandoned organized religion. The result has been a growing polarization—the ranks of religious conservatives and secular liberals have swelled, leaving a dwindling group of religious moderates in between. At the same time, personal interfaith ties are strengthening. Interfaith marriage has increased while religious identities have become more fluid. Putnam and Campbell show how this denser web of personal ties brings surprising interfaith tolerance, notwithstanding the so-called culture wars.

American Grace is based on two of the most comprehensive surveys ever conducted on religion and public life in America. It includes a dozen in-depth profiles of diverse congregations across the country, which illuminate how the trends described by Putnam and Campbell affect the lives of real Americans.

Nearly every chapter of American Grace contains a surprise about American religious life. Among them:

• Between one-third and one-half of all American marriages are interfaith;

• Roughly one-third of Americans have switched religions at some point in their lives;

• Young people are more opposed to abortion than their parents but more accepting of gay marriage;

• Even fervently religious Americans believe that people of other faiths can go to heaven;

• Religious Americans are better neighbors than secular Americans: more generous with their time and treasure even for secular causes—but the explanation has less to do with faith than with their communities of faith;

• Jews are the most broadly popular religious group in America today.

American Grace promises to be the most important book in decades about American religious life and an essential book for understanding our nation today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Extremely good social science
With 550 page of text and another 123 pages of appendices, notes, and index this is an extensive assessment of the role of religion in American society. The information is strictly factual, measured from two major surveys led by the authors. In addition they draw on many standard sources, Gallup, the General Social Survey, the Pew Religious Landscape Survey, and others. The authors present the data,- the cross classifications, the correlations, the trend lines -in half page, black and white graphs. Emphasis is on four major religious traditions, Catholics, main line Protestants, evangelical Protestants, and the not religious, i.e. those answering "none" when asked their denomination. The authors make it clear that most of the "nones" do in fact believe in God; only a tiny number of Americans label themselves as atheists or agnostics. These four groups account for 90 percent of Americans. The Authors can classify individuals by the extent of their "religiosity" on the basis of how often they attend church and other variables.

The authors examine the role of religion by ethnicity, gender, denomination, and race. They ask how the womens revolution has impacted religion. They examine religion and social class. Most of all they devote a chapter to "Religion in American Politics" to bring out how the current period seems to have divided Republicans from Democrats. Yet over the long run, that is since the fifties, religious adherence has varied greatly.

The authors also examine religion and civic virtues. Interestingly they find, - and of course document, - that religious Americans are more generous, more civically active, more trusting and trustworthy, in short, better neighbors. On the other hand, religious Americans are less tolerant of others' views and have difficulty accepting dissent.

This is a very good book. The authors are the first to point out where they think their assessment is fully supported, and also warn the reader where the data are inadequate, and therefore the conclusions tentative. This is must reading to understand the complexity of religion in America.

An Extraordinary and Unique Achievement - Read It !!!!!


I for one was blown away by the contents of this book. Once I started reading, I found it difficult to put down and fascinating. I am now convinced that we are all walking around with presuppositions about religion and religious beliefs in America that are just plain wrong. Think about it. You're a smart, educated, well-read adult. You try to keep an open mind throughout your life, and then along comes this 550 page book and smacks you, and your belief systems right in the face. Everything I thought about our country's religious status is now subject to re-interpretation. Here's why:


The authors did very substantial research, over a period of years. It was painstaking, and brutally honest. They approach this project the way you would do a massive pharmaceutical drug research study. They did not inflict their own belief systems on what they found. There has been no study like this, anywhere approaching this effort in more than 50 years. At the same time, they made the book highly readable which for a research study is more than surprising.


If I had to compare this study to anything comparable, it would be the Master's and Johnson study on sexual practices in America published many decades ago. That study revolutionized our thinking about sexual mores in this country, and this study will do the same thing for religion. You do not have to follow this book in sequence. Go into the table of contents, find a chapter that interests you and you will be able to go into whatever depth you like. Read a few pages or read the whole chapter, just be prepared to realize that what we think is not necessarily what the rest of us are thinking, and believing.


Here are a few concepts straight out of the book that should pique your interest in reading more.


* One third to one half of all marriages in America are interfaith marriages. Wow, this is surprising. It is difficult to stay married to someone if you do not respect that person. These marriages are producing a powerful respect for other religions, and that's probably good for all of us.


* One third of all Americans have switched religions in their lifetime. I would never have dreamed the number was so large.


* The young are more opposed to abortion than their parents, and more accepting of gay marriage. I would not have believed the abortion statistic, but research is research.


* Fervently religious Americans believe that people of another faith can go to heaven. This is another mind blowing statistic because it implies that people are starting to treat otherpeople's religions with the same respect they accord their own.


* I was completely taken aback with the following. I knew that in 1960 a number of Protestants (30%) said they could not bring themselves to vote for a Catholic (John Kennedy) for President. I was alive then, I remember. Did you know that in 2004 John Kerry, a Catholic took only half the Catholic vote in this country? The other half went for George Bush, an evangelical Protestant.


* Jewish people are the most broadly popular religious group in America. Statistics are clear on this, regardless of what the news media would have you believe. What's interesting also is that Mormons tend to like, and are most comfortable with other people's religions, and yet are the least liked religion themselves. This would imply that Mormons are the most accepting, and yet least accepted of the religions in America.



In summary I believe that you should be prepared to be amazed at your new understanding of who and what America believes in. It turns out we are the most religious country in the industrial world. Over 83% of us belong to a religion. More than 40% of us go to church almost every week, while 59% pray weekly, and one third of us read the scriptures every week, and 80% of Americans say that they absolutely believe there is a God. By way of comparison, 54% of the people in England never pray, that is true for only 18% of Americans. More than anything else, I was taken aback by the following. Almost 40% of Americans belong to a church or church group versus 9% for Italians, and 4% for the French. If you watch CNN when the Vatican elects a Pope, you see a million people in Vatican Square,you would think that 100% of Italians belong to the church.


Read this book and be prepared to be amazed at what you will learn. The authors did a superb job at wringing out their personal biases, and portraying religion in America in an honest, respectful fashion, and they deserve to be read for what they have accomplished in this highly readable book. Good luck, and thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

comprehensive and thought provoking
This book is a treasure trove of observations about multi-denominational attitudes and behaviors and its intersection with political and social issues.But what I found most surprising and hopeful were the findings of integration across religious belief systems (e.g., the high rate of inter-faith marriages, friendships and shifts from one's parents' faith to another or no affiliation at all, etc.).As the subtitle suggests, faith does not only divide us, but in unexpected ways also unites us.A much needed message in today's volatile climate. The authors attribute this to a high level of religious tolerance.Unfortunately, they stopped short of distinguishing between religious tolerance and religious acceptance (tolerance involves "putting up with" people you disapprove of; acceptance involves refusing to pass judgment on people who are different from you).This would have been an important distinction as tolerance, with its condescending tone, is far less hopeful than acceptance.You can and must legislate tolerance while acceptance must come from the heart.And I believe that much of what they discovered was indeed religious acceptance. You'd have to go elsewhere for more on this distinction, such as another new book - Tolerant Oppression: Why promoting tolerance undermines our quest for equality and what we should do insteadKeeping that in mind, the authors' application of religious distinctions and affiliations to a range of political issues including premarital sex, homosexuality, abortion, etc. spawned interesting observations. An important book. ... Read more

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In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, proclaiming elementary rights for children world-wide. Among other provisions, the convention safeguards children's religious freedom and their freedom of thought. But because child rearing is recognised as the primary responsibility of parents, the question of what children are raised to : believe is left up to their mothers and fathers. In this controversial critique of the UN convention, humanist lnnaiah Narisetti forcefully argues that children's rights should include complete freedom from religious belief. Narisetti proposes that the choice of religious belief or non-belief should be deferred till adulthood.Just as most societies recognise that marriage and civic responsibilities such as voting are adult prerogatives that children should not be allowed to exercise, so should the choice of a belief system wait till an individual is competent to exercise mature judgement.Narisetti cites numerous examples of the ways in which early religious indoctrination leads to later negative attitudes such as intolerance, suspicion, and outright hostility directed toward those who believe differently.He also notes that religion provides a cloak for such obvious evils as sexual abuse, genital mutilation, and corporal punishment of children. While most societies are quick to condemn such abuses, Narisetti suggests that they should be willing to take the next logical step and look to the role of religion in such problems. Including the complete text of the "Convention on the Rights of the Child", this candid, unflinching critique of childhood religious education will provoke much thoughtful discussion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not the best argument.
I agree with many of the points of this book.All the major religions do promote practices that are abusive.The author points out these abuses in wonderful detail.If he had stuck with that argument, it would be a wonderful book.The problem is that the book is so narrow-minded that it ends up being dogmatic itself.We get the same stale argument that religion needs to be replaced by science.

Science has also been responsible for gross human rights abuses.It was scientists that devised the Nazi death camps, scientists that came up with all the inventions of modern warfare, be it hydrogen bombs or whatever else, scientists that tested on patients in Russia, in World War II, on mental patients, and on children. Scientists are responsible for all the chemical pollutants now wrecking havoc on planet earth. A priest didn't invent plastic. Yes, despite the passionate claims in this book, scientists also abuse the rights of children.Doctors routinely dose children with drugs for supposed mental conditions that those children do not have, and if they do have, are being subjected to diabolical chemical treatments under the guise of cures. The author seems to believe that if we all put our faith in science, the world will have utopia.I have heard some of the most unsympathetic arguments for euthanasia or not providing preventative medicine from the mouths of environmental scientists. This book is naive at best.

I think a better argument would be a truer one.Religions do not cause psychological problems and child abuse.People do these things naturally because they do not know any better.The problem that I see with religion is that it doesn't fix these problems.Instead of fixing the serious problems that people have, religion gives them a stamp of approval.Violence against women, child abuse,hierarchies, and patriarchy all exist as social problems and will continue to exist long after eradication of all the major religions if poor education persists.The book has an over reliance on brainwashing as the cause of societal ills. All religious people are not brainwashed, and all abusers are not religious. Many people are brainwashed as children into their religious faith, but still overs convert as adults. The author insists that we teach strict materialism to children as the cure for abuse. Although, I agree that children shouldn't be taught religion, I do not think that teaching them materialism is going to prevent brainwashing; it is just more brainwashing.

Another issue here is that the author seems to believe that it is the nature of religion to be abusive.That is not necessarily the case.Many people believe the major religions who do not abuse, and many don't. Nothing is black and white. He also thinks it is logical that all spiritual beliefs are abusive and some how manages to argue that even astrology abuses children. How? The major religions abuse because they were written thousands of years ago.You cannot expect that these religions are going to function adequately in the modern era, and they do not. Bottom line, strict adherence to old ideas is bad for human rights. I think that statement would have made a better argument than this.

The main point of his argument is that religion always hinders inquiry, and that religious people are always abusive.This is untrue.In order to back his arguments, he misrepresents the truth himself.He talks about Galileo's discoveries and doesn't mention that Galileo was an astrologer as well as an astronomer. Nor does the author dutifully inform his readers that the discovery of a heliocentric Milky Way did not stop Galileo from believing in astrology for the totality of his life. This fact is true of Kepler, Copernicus, Ptolemy, and the vast majority of all western scientists prior to the modern age. It is only now that science has merged with atheism that we get these false arguments. Teaching religion no more harms science than teaching math erodes English. He also provides long lists of religious abuses, but mentions nothing about religious leaders like Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr that campaigned for human rights. Different strokes for different folks.

The author basically has a complete and total disrespect for anyone that believes in any type of spirituality.He ignores scientists like Lovelock that outright reject his point of view.He argues that school should never be allowed to teach religion from the point of view of the people participating in the practices, and can only teach from the point of view of scientists that agree with him.He then declares that what is needed is absolute compulsory schooling.Compulsory schooling is known to be the single killer of children's curiosity.If he wants to find out what dumbs people down, he need have searched no further than the essays of John Taylor Gatto and others that actually teach in compulsory schools! His ultimate aim is that children never hear the views of people with religious beliefs until they are 18 years of age.Anyone who teaches from another view should have their children removed from their custody.I think that children should be taught as many views as it is time appropriate to instruct them--if it is their desire to be instructed.Children that don't like science shouldn't have to be scientist to appease this man.
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