Download or read book Constructs of Meaning and Religious Transformation written by Herman Westerink and published by V&R unipress GmbH. This book was released on 2013 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the major trends in the psychology of religion is the growing interest in religious and spiritual meaning making in relation to religious and spiritual transformation processes, notably as the aftermath of traumatic experiences and in situations of crisis, stress or disease when personal well-being is at stake and coping activities and skills are enhanced. This volume covers this broad and complex area of interrelated issues. The contributions focus on religious and spiritual meaning making and transformation. They do not compose an integrated perspective on religious meaning making and transformation processes. Rather, this volume assembles and presents the current state of research on this complex of issues. Thus it not only provides an excellent overview of the psychological study of constructs of meaning and religious transformation, but also contributes to our knowledge of contemporary religious life in the context of socio-cultural transformation processes (pluralisation, globalization).
Download or read book Constructs of Meaning and Religious Transformation written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Theology Disability and Spiritual Transformation written by Michael Hryniuk and published by Cambria Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study, Michael Hryniuk develops a full phenomenological, psychological and theological account of spiritual transformation in the context of L'Arche, a federation of Christian communities that welcome persons with learning disabilities. The book begins with a critical examination of current perspectives on spiritual transformation in theology and Christian spirituality and constructs a new, foundational formulation of transformation as a shift in consciousness, identity and behavior. Through extensive analysis of the narratives of the caregiver-assistants who share life with those who are disabled, this case-study reveals an alternative vision of the "three-fold way" that unfolds through a series of profound awakenings in relationships of mutual care and presence: an awakening to the capacity to love, to bear inner anguish and darkness, and to experience radical human and divine acceptance. The book examines the psychological dimensions of spiritual transformation through the lens of contemporary affect theory and explores how care-givers experience a profound healing of shame in their felt sense of identity and self-worth.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion written by Lewis R. Rambo and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 829 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of religious conversion, which for centuries has profoundly shaped societies, cultures, and individuals throughout the world. Scholars from a wide array of religions and disciplines interpret both the varieties of conversion experiences and the processes that inform this personal and communal phenomenon. This volume examines the experiences of individuals and communities who change religions, those who experience an intensification of their religion of origin, and those who encounter new religions through colonial intrusion, missionary work, and charismatic and revitalization movements. The thirty-two innovative essays provide overviews of the history of particular religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. The essays also offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, political, feminist, and geographical-on methods and theories deployed in understanding conversion, and insight into various forms of deconversion.
Download or read book Religion and the Body written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-02-17 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reflects on the implications of neurobiology and the scientific worldview on aspects of religious experience, belief, and practice, focusing especially on the body and the construction of religious meaning.
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 Social constructionism and theology electronic resource written by Chris A. M. Hermans and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2002 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical theology starts its theological reflections from practices, aims at analyzing empirically practices, and is directed towards the transformation of these practices. From this practice-orientation there is a strong connection between practical theology and the social sciences. Social constructionism is a growing theory within the social sciences. This volume offers a theological and social scientific reflection on this emerging concept of social constructionism.
Download or read book Ritual A Very Short Introduction written by Barry Stephenson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it useful? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or innovative and transformational? Alongside description of a number of specific rites, this Very Short Introduction explores ritual from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Barry Stephenson focuses on the places where ritual touches everyday life: in politics and power; moments of transformation in the life cycle; as performance and embodiment. He also discusses the boundaries of ritual, and how and why certain behaviors have been studied as ritual while others have not. Stephenson shows how ritual is an important vehicle for group and identity formation; how it generates and transmits beliefs and values; how it can be used to exploit and oppress; and how it has served as a touchstone for thinking about cultural origins and historical change. Encompassing the breadth and depth of modern ritual studies, Barry Stephenson's Very Short Introduction also develops a narrative of ritual's place in social and cultural life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion Volume 28 written by Andrew Village and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2017-07-10 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion includes a wide range of papers from a social-science perspective. The special section gives a unique insight into the rapidly growing field of psychological studies of religion in China. It draws on experts from China and the USA who met for a conference at Fuller Theological Seminary and have together compiled a collection of original research and reviews that helps to locate the current state of the discipline from a specifically Chinese perspective. Other papers in the volume examine intergenerational religious transmission and religious problem-solving styles in the USA.
Download or read book Love of a God of Love written by Hugo Strandberg and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-09-15 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally, religious belief has in the philosophy of religion been understood along more or less epistemological lines. Love of a God of Love develops another understanding of belief, where the moral concept of love is central. In this context, what is distinctive about the concept of love is that it is both the "what" and the "how" of belief: for the one who loves a God of love, the concept of love characterizes both the content side and the act side of the belief. In that respect, this understanding of religious belief makes it possible to avoid certain formalist difficulties, arising when the "what" and the "how" of belief are sharply distinguished.
Download or read book Religious Identity and Social Change written by David Radford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-19 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious Identity and Social Change offers a macro and micro analysis of the dynamics of rapid social and religious change occurring within the Muslim world. Drawing on rich ethnographic and quantitative research in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, David Radford provides theoretical insight into the nature of religious and social change and ethnic identity transformation exploring significant questions concerning why people convert and what happens when they do so. A crisis of identity occurs when religious conversion takes place, especially from one major religious tradition (Islam) to another (Christianity); and where religious identity is intimately connected to ethnic and national identity. Radford argues for the importance of recognising the socially constructed nature of identity involving the dynamic interplay between human agency, culture and social networks. Kyrgyz Christians have been active agents in bringing religious and identity transformation building upon the contextual parameters in which they are situated.
Download or read book Religious Transformations and Socio Political Change written by Luther Martin and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems– both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.
Download or read book Spirituality and the Good Life written by David McPherson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosophical exploration of the relationships between spirituality, well-being, religion, and philosophy, examining specific spiritual practices and spiritually informed virtues.
Download or read book Dynamics of Religion written by Christoph Bochinger and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-11-21 with total page 1425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious ideas, practices, discourses, institutions, and social expressions are in constant flux. This volume addresses the internal and external dynamics, interactions between individuals, religious communities, and local as well as global society. The contributions concentrate on four areas: 1. Contemporary religion in the public sphere: The Tactics of (In)visibility among Religious Communities in Europe; Religion Intersecting De-nationalization and Re-nationalization in Post-Apartheid South Africa; 2. Religious transformations: Forms of Religious Communities in Global Society; Political Contributions of Ancestral Cosmologies and the Decolonization of Religious Beliefs; Esoteric Tradition as Poetic Invention; 3. Focus on the individual: Religion and Life Trajectories of Islamists; Angels, Animals and Religious Change in Antiquity and Today; Gaining Access to the Radically Unfamiliar in Today’s Religion; Religion between Individuals and Collectives; 4. Narrating religion: Entangled Knowledge Cultures and the Creation of Religions in Mongolia and Europe; Global Intellectual History and the Dynamics of Religion; On Representing Judaism.
Download or read book The Transformation of American Religion The Story of a Late Twentieth Century Awakening written by Amanda Porterfield Professor of Religious Studies University of Wyoming and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001-04-05 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As recently as a few decades ago, most people would have described America as a predominantly Protestant nation. Today, we are home to a colorful mix of religious faiths and practices, from a resurgent Catholic Church and a rapidly growing Islam to all forms of Buddhism and many other non-Christian religions. How did this startling transformation take place? A great many factors contributed to this transformation, writes Amanda Porterfield in this engaging look at religion in contemporary America. Religious activism, disillusionment with American culture stemming from the Vietnam war, the influx of Buddhist ideas, a heightened consciousness of gender, and the vastly broadened awareness of non-Christian religions arising from the growth of religious studies programs--all have served to undermine Protestant hegemony in the United States. But the single most important factor, says Porterfield, was the very success of Protestant ways of thinking: emphasis on the individual's relationship with God, tension between spiritual life and religious institutions, egalitarian ideas about spiritual life, and belief in the practical benefits of spirituality. Distrust of religious institutions, for instance, helped fuel a religious counterculture--the tendency to define spiritual truth against the dangers or inadequacies of the surrounding culture--and Protestantism's pragmatic view of spirituality played into the tendency to see the main function of religion as therapeutic. For anyone interested in how and why the American religious landscape has been so dramatically altered in the last forty years, The Transformation of Religion in America offers a coherent and persuasive analysis.
Download or read book Addiction and Spiritual Transformation written by Srdjan Sremac and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2013 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study explores the relationship between addiction and spiritual transformation. More specifically, it examines how recovering drug addicts employ testimonies of conversion and addiction to develop and sustain a sense of personal unity and create meaning from varied experiences in life. Drawing on 31 original autobiographies, the book analyzes conversion and addiction testimonies in two European contexts: Serbia and The Netherlands. (Series: Religion and Biography / Religion und Biographie - Vol. 22)
Download or read book Philosophy and the Study of Religions written by Kevin Schilbrack and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-03-03 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto advocates a radical transformation of the discipline from its current, narrow focus on questions of God, to a fully global form of critical reflection on religions in all their variety and dimensions. Opens the discipline of philosophy of religion to the religious diversity that characterizes the world today Builds bridges between philosophy of religion and the other interpretative and explanatory approaches in the field of religious studies Provides a manifesto for a global approach to the subject that is a practice-centred rather than a belief-centred activity Gives attention to reflexive critical studies of 'religion' as socially constructed and historically located
