Download or read book Versions of Deconversion written by John D. Barbour and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Versions of Deconversion John Barbour examines the work of a broad selection of authors in order to discover the reasons for their loss of faith and to analyze the ways in which they have interpreted that loss. For some the experience of deconversion led to another religious faith, some turned to atheism or agnosticism, and others used deconversion as a metaphor or analogy to interpret an experience of personal transformation. The loss of faith is closely related to such vital ethical and theological concerns as the role of conscience, the assessment of religious communities, the dialectical relationship between faith and doubt, and the struggle to reconcile faith with intellectual and moral integrity. This book shows the persistence and the vitality of the theme of deconversion in autobiography, and it demonstrates how the literary form and structure of autobiography are shaped by ethical critique and religious reflection. Versions of Deconversion should appeal at once to scholars in the fields of religious studies and theology who are concerned with narrative texts, to literary critics and specialists on autobiography, and to a wider audience interested in the ethical and religious significance of autobiography.
Download or read book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit written by Jeanette Winterson and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times–bestselling author’s Whitbread Prize–winning debut—“Winterson has mastered both comedy and tragedy in this rich little novel” (The Washington Post Book World). When it first appeared, Jeanette Winterson’s extraordinary debut novel received unanimous international praise, including the prestigious Whitbread Prize for best first fiction. Winterson went on to fulfill that promise, producing some of the most dazzling fiction and nonfiction of the past decade, including her celebrated memoir Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?. Now required reading in contemporary literature, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a funny, poignant exploration of a young girl’s adolescence. Jeanette is a bright and rebellious orphan who is adopted into an evangelical household in the dour, industrial North of England and finds herself embroidering grim religious mottoes and shaking her little tambourine for Jesus. But as this budding missionary comes of age, and comes to terms with her unorthodox sexuality, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household dissolves. Jeanette’s insistence on listening to truths of her own heart and mind—and on reporting them with wit and passion—makes for an unforgettable chronicle of an eccentric, moving passage into adulthood. “If Flannery O’Connor and Rita Mae Brown had collaborated on the coming-out story of a young British girl in the 1960s, maybe they would have approached the quirky and subtle hilarity of Jeanette Winterson’s autobiographical first novel. . . . Winterson’s voice, with its idiosyncratic wit and sensitivity, is one you’ve never heard before.” —Ms. Magazine
Download or read book Deconverted written by Seth Andrews and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-17 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "...and then Noah loaded the dinosaurs onto the ark." Assertions like these seem comical until you realize that many Christian parents aren't kidding when they teach them to their children as facts. Every day, impressionable young minds are conditioned to blindly accept wild biblical tales of floating zoos, talking shrubbery, 900-year-old humans, the undead, curses, levitation, demon/human hybrids and men who obtain super-human strength from the length of their hair. Allegiance to these teachings is expected, often demanded. Curiosity is muted. Doubt is frowned upon as a sin. And for those who dare to raise a dissenting hand, the threat of Hell looms ominously. A former religious radio host raised in the cradle of Christianity, Seth Andrews battled his own doubts for many years. His attempts to reconcile faith and the facts led him to a conclusion previously unthinkable, and this once-true believer ultimately became the founder of one of the most popular atheist communities on the internet.
Download or read book Deconversion written by Heinz Streib and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents case studies and empirical data of a phenomenon which increasingly gains popularity in Western societies: deconversion. There is, the authors argue, no better word than deconversion to describe processes of disengagement from religious orientations because these have much in common with conversion. Termination of membership may eventually be the final step of deconversion, but it involves biographical and psychological dynamics which can and need to be reconstructed by qualitative approaches and analyzed by quantitative instruments.In the Bielefeld-based Cross-Cultural Study on Deconversion disengagement processes from a variety of religious backgrounds in the USA and in Germany were examined, ranging from well-established religious organizations to new religious and fundamentalist groups. Nearly 1,200 persons participated in thestudy and were interviewed from 2002 to 2005. In the focus of the study are 100 deconverts from the USA and from Germany who were examined with narrative interviews, faith development interviews and an extensive questionnaire. For case study elaboration, the study followed a research design with an innovative triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data. Four chapters, corresponding to four types of deconversion, present 21 case studies. The highlights of the research project are new data on spirituality – the deconverts in particular appear to prefer a »more spiritual than religious« self-identification – and in-depth analyses of a variety of deconversion narratives with special focus on personality factors, motivation, attitudes, religious development, psychological well-being and growth, religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism. The results of this project which was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft are of special relevance for counselling and pastoral care, for religious education and for people concerned with administration and management of religious groups and churches, but also for a wider audience interested in contemporary changes in the religious fields in the USA and Germany.
Download or read book Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Second Edition written by Raymond F. Paloutzian and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2014-12-19 with total page 717 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paloutzian (experimental and social psychology, Westmont College) and Park (psychology, U. of Connecticut) provide a 33-chapter handbook on the psychology of religion and spirituality, for social and clinical psychologists, pastoral counselors, and students and researchers in psychology and religious studies. Psychologists and a few religious studies specialists from the US and some countries in Europe address the foundations, including definitions, core issues, measurement assessment, research methods, psychodynamic psychology and religion, and evolutionary psychology as a foundation for the psychology of religion; religious and spiritual development across the lifespan; and the neural and cognitive bases of religion and connections to emotion, personality, culture, and social behavior. They discuss religious practices and rituals, conversion experiences, prayer, spiritual struggles, fundamentalism, forgiveness, values, and morality, and implications for individual and collective well-being in terms of health, mental health, coping, psychotherapy, workplace spirituality research, terrorism, and other areas. New topics in this edition include cross-cultural issues, spiritual goals, emotional values, and mindfulness. Most chapters have been redesigned or rewritten, with 25 new and eight revised chapters. The main themes of the book are more integrated, and the introductory and concluding chapters argue that the application of religious meaning systems and the multilevel interdisciplinary paradigm can allow reconceptualization of the field and expand research. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
Download or read book Conversion in Luke Acts written by Joel B. Green and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Repentance and conversion are key topics in New Testament interpretation and in Christian life. However, the study of conversion in early Christianity has been plagued by psychological assumptions alien to the world of the New Testament. Leading New Testament scholar Joel Green believes that careful attention to the narrative of Luke-Acts calls for significant rethinking about the nature of Christian conversion. Drawing on the cognitive sciences and examining key evidence in Luke-Acts, this book emphasizes the embodied nature of human life as it explores the life transformation signaled by the message of conversion, offering a new reading of a key aspect of New Testament theology.
Download or read book The Open Secret written by Alister E. McGrath and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-23 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural theology, in the view of many, is in crisis. In this long-awaited book, Alister McGrath sets out a new vision for natural theology, re-establishing its legitimacy and utility. A timely and innovative resource on natural theology: the exploration of knowledge of God as it is observed through nature Written by internationally regarded theologian and author of numerous bestselling books, Alister McGrath Develops an intellectually rigorous vision of natural theology as a point of convergence between the Christian faith, the arts and literature, and the natural sciences, opening up important possibilities for dialogue and cross-fertilization Treats natural theology as a cultural phenomenon, broader than Christianity itself yet always possessing a distinctively Christian embodiment Explores topics including beauty, goodness, truth, and the theological imagination; how investigating nature gives rise to both theological and scientific theories; the idea of a distinctively Christian approach to nature; and how natural theology can function as a bridge between Christianity and other faiths
Download or read book Reimagining Apologetics written by Justin Ariel Bailey and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How should one proclaim of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a secular age? Seeking to infuse apologetics with an appeal to the imagination, the aesthetic, and the affective, Justin Bailey engages with two examples of those who have done apologetics through the imagination: George MacDonald and Marilynne Robinson.
Download or read book Global Sceptical Publics written by Jacob Copeman and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2022-12-08 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Sceptical Publics is the first major study of the significance of different media for the (re)production of non-religious publics and publicity. While much work has documented how religious subjectivities are shaped by media, until now the crucial role of diverse media for producing and participating in religion-sceptical publics and debates has remained under-researched. With some chapters focusing on locations hitherto barely considered by scholarship on non-religion, the book places in comparative perspective how atheists, secularists and humanists engage with media – as means of communication and forming non-religious publics – but also on occasion as something to be resisted. Its conceptually rich interdisciplinary chapters thereby contribute important new insights to the growing field of non-religion studies and to scholarship on media and materiality more generally.
Download or read book A Place Somewhat Apart written by Philip E. Harrold and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-10-01 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of secularization and religious disestablishment in American higher education is told from the standpoint of a lively community of professors, students, and administrators at the University of Michigan in the late nineteenth century. This campus culture--one of the most closely watched of its day--sheds new light on the personal and cultural meanings of these momentous changes in American intellectual and public life. Here we see how religion was not so much displaced or marginalized in the heyday of university reform as translated into new arenas of public service and scholarly pursuit. The main characters in this story--professors Calvin Thomas and Henry Carter Adams--underwent profound religious crises of faith accompanied by major adjustments in their interpersonal relationships. Together, with students and administrators, their lives constituted a communal biography of religious deconversion. A close examination of these private and public worlds provides a more complete understanding of the dynamics behind new academic policies and intellectual innovations in a leading public university. The non-cognitive, intersubjective, gendered, quasi-religious shadings of academic modernism and early pragmatist philosophy, in particular, come to light in vivid ways. As John Dewey later observed, Michigan became an experimental laboratory for new meanings to unfold, new acts to propose.
Download or read book Handbook of Leaving Religion written by Daniel Enstedt and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-10-07 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of Leaving Religion introduces a neglected field of research with the aim to outline previous and contemporary research, and suggest how the topic of leaving religion should be studied in the future. The handbook consists of three sections: 1) Major debates about leaving religion; 2) Case studies and empirical insights; and 3) Theoretical and methodological approaches. Section one provides the reader with an introduction to key terms, historical developments, major controversies and significant cases. Section two includes case studies that illustrate various processes of leaving religion from different perspectives, and each chapter provides new empirical insights. Section three discusses, presents and encourages new approaches to the study of leaving religion.
Download or read book The Social History of the American Family written by Marilyn J. Coleman and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 3575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American family has come a long way from the days of the idealized family portrayed in iconic television shows of the 1950s and 1960s. The four volumes of The Social History of the American Family explore the vital role of the family as the fundamental social unit across the span of American history. Experiences of family life shape so much of an individual’s development and identity, yet the patterns of family structure, family life, and family transition vary across time, space, and socioeconomic contexts. Both the definition of who or what counts as family and representations of the "ideal" family have changed over time. Available in both digital and print formats, this carefully balanced academic work chronicles the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of American families from the colonial period to the present. Key themes include families and culture (including mass media), families and religion, families and the economy, families and social issues, families and social stratification and conflict, family structures (including marriage and divorce, gender roles, parenting and children, and mixed and non-modal family forms), and family law and policy. Features: Approximately 600 articles, richly illustrated with historical photographs and color photos in the digital edition, provide historical context for students. A collection of primary source documents demonstrate themes across time. The signed articles, with cross references and Further Readings, are accompanied by a Reader’s Guide, Chronology of American Families, Resource Guide, Glossary, and thorough index. The Social History of the American Family is an ideal reference for students and researchers who want to explore political and social debates about the importance of the family and its evolving constructions. Key Themes: Families and Culture Families and Experts Families and Religion Families and Social Change Families and Social Issues/Problems/Crises Families and Social Media Families and Social Stratification/Social Class Families and Technology Families and the Economy Families in America Families in Mass Media Families, Family Life, Social Identities Family Advocates and Organizations Family Law and Family Policy Family Theories History of American Families
Download or read book Disaffiliating Ministry written by Gregory Baker and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-08-23 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the shifting role of the minister in light of the experiences of college men in the United States. Young men frequently struggle to know what it means to be a man and doubt that churches can supply the meaning and direction for which they hunger. These men are not necessarily lost, but they do need a certain kind of spiritual accompaniment that is likely to push many ministers outside of postures and practices with which they have grown comfortable. This interdisciplinary work draws together feminist and masculinist theories, contemporary practices in campus ministry, recent literature on religious deconversion and individual interviews with college men in order to argue for new ways amid the practice of ministry. This work invites ministers to become more apophatic—to grow comfortable with moving away from clarity and to adopt ungrasping postures of ministry that attend to the unfolding theology of the individual. This repositions campus ministers to support young adults from a range of spiritual commitments. Disaffiliating Ministry invites ministers to eliminate wasteful ministerial habits, to explore new ministry practices and to enjoy the freedom of accompanying young men in processes of leaving behind attitudes and actions that cease to be life giving while deepening in faith, courage and responsibility for others.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Atheism written by Stephen Bullivant and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 781 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is a pioneering edited volume, exploring atheism - understood in the broad sense of 'an absence of belief in the existence of a God or gods' - in its historical and contemporary expressions. It probes the varied manifestations and implications of unbelief from an array of disciplinary perspectives and in a range of global contexts.
Download or read book Creative Negativity written by Carol Hanbery MacKay and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the early Modern and Victorian periods, the author finds covert revolutionaries in four familiar practitioners of a strategy she calls creative negativity: poet-photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), novelist-essayist Anne Thackeray Ritchie (1837-1919), activist-spiritual leader Annie Besant (1847-1933), and actress-writer Elizabeth Robins (1862-1952).
Download or read book Journeys of Transformation written by John D. Barbour and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-31 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western Buddhist travel narratives are autobiographical accounts of a journey to a Buddhist culture. Dozens of such narratives have since the 1970s describe treks in Tibet, periods of residence in a Zen monastery, pilgrimages to Buddhist sites and teachers, and other Asian odysseys. The best known of these works is Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard; further reflections emerge from thirty writers including John Blofeld, Jan Van de Wetering, Thomas Merton, Oliver Statler, Robert Thurman, Gretel Ehrlich, and Bill Porter. The Buddhist concept of 'no-self' helps these authors interpret certain pivotal experiences of 'unselfing' and is also a catalyst that provokes and enables such events. The writers' spiritual memoirs describe how their journeys brought about a new understanding of Buddhist enlightenment and so transformed their lives. Showing how travel can elicit self-transformation, this book is a compelling exploration of the journeys and religious changes of both individuals and Buddhism itself.
Download or read book Out on Waters written by James Michael Nagle and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-03-25 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For a denomination like Roman Catholicism that is canonically difficult to leave, many American Catholics are migrating beyond the institution’s immediate influence. The new religious patterns associated with this experience represent a somewhat cohesive movement influencing not just Catholicism, but the whole of North American religion. Careful examination of the lives of disaffiliating young adults reveals that their religious lives are complicated. For example, the assumption that leaving conventional religious communities necessarily results in a non-religious identity is simplistic and even, perhaps, misleading. Many maintain a religious worldview and practice. This book explores one “place” where the religiously-affiliated and religiously-disaffiliating regularly meet—Catholic secondary schools—and something interesting is happening. Through a series of ethnographic portraits of Catholic religious educators and their disaffiliating former students, the book explores the experience of disaffiliation and makes its complexity more comprehensible in order to advance the discourse of fields interested in this significant movement in religious history and practice.
