Author: Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9047429478 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 310
Book Description
This volume points to methodological innovations in social research and their potential for social scientific studies of religion. Computerization has opened for both quantitative and qualitative systematic analyses of complex materials, and the epistemological discourse after Positivism has opened for reconsidering the foundation of empirical social research. Furthermore religion is changing, and sociology of religion therefore widens its scope by including non-institutional forms of religion. This refocusing calls for new methodological considerations. As the range of available methods expands, it becomes more pressing to consider whether and how methods can be combined, such as quantitative and qualitative methods. Studying religion as a complex social phenomenon calls for a variety of methods, but an integration of the empirical findings points back to the epistemological issue.
Author: Giuseppe Giordan Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004401261 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
Interreligious Dialogue: From Religion to Geopolitics discusses how interreligious dialogue takes place within, and is influenced by, important sociological categories and theories, such as modernity, secularization, deprivatization, social movements, and pluralism. Starting from the study of interreligious coexistence, sacred spaces, and multi-religious rituals, the book explores the patterns of interreligious governance and politics and forms of interreligious social action in European, North American, and West and South Asian contexts. The contributors to this volume apply broader theories of organizational change and planning, communication, urban neighborhood and community studies, functionalist perspectives, and symbolic interactionism, thus presenting a wide range of possibilities for sociological engagement with studies on interreligious dialogue.
Author: Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004260498 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
Prayer is a phenomenon which seems to be characteristic not only of participants in every religion, but also men and women who do not identify with traditional religions. It can be practised even by those who do not believe either in a God or transcendent force. In this sense, therefore, we may assert that the prayer is a typically human activity that has accompanied the development of different civilizations over the course of the centuries. Both the material issues of concrete daily life as well as more symbolic elements expressed through words, gestures, body positions, and community celebration are brought together in the act of praying.
Author: Solange Lefebvre Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004380078 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 315
Book Description
Catholicism is generally over-institutionalized and over-centralized in comparison to other religions. However, it finds itself in an increasingly interrelated and globalized world and is therefore immersed in a great plurality of social realities. The Changing Faces of Catholicism assembles an international cast of contributors to explore the consequent decline of powerful Catholic organisations as well as to address the responses and resistance efforts that specific countries have taken to counteract the secularization crisis in both Europe and the Americas. It reveals some of the strategies of the Catholic Church as a whole, and of the Vatican centre in particular, to address problems of the global era through the dissemination of spiritually progressive writing, World Youth Days, and the transformation of Catholic education to become a forum for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The volume also reflects on the adaptation of Catholic institutions and missions as sponsored by religious communities and monastic orders.
Author: Nanlai Cao Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004443320 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 299
Book Description
This volume explores Chinese religions on a global stage so as to challenge the traditional dichotomy of the western global and the Chinese local, and to add a new perspective for understanding religious modernity globally. Contributors from four different continents aim at applying a social scientific approach to systematically researching the globalization of Chinese religions.
Author: Roman R. Williams Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317677803 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 249
Book Description
The potential of visual research methods in the sociology of religion is vast, but largely untapped. This comes as a surprise, however, given the visual, symbolic, and material nature of religion and spirituality. Evidence of religious faith and practice is materially present in everything from clothing and jewelry to artifacts found in people’s homes and workplaces. Not only is religion’s symbolic and material presence palpable throughout society, it also informs attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of countless people worldwide. Words-and-numbers approaches to social research, however, sometimes miss important dimensions of religion and spirituality in the contemporary world. Seeing Religion is an invitation to a visual sociology of religion. Contributors draw from their current research to discuss the application of visual methods to the study of religion and spirituality. Each chapter stimulates the sociological imagination through examples of research techniques, analytical approaches, and methodological concerns.
Author: Katie Day Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000289222 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 469
Book Description
Like an ecosystem, cities develop, change, thrive, adapt, expand, and contract through the interaction of myriad components. Religion is one of those living parts, shaping and being shaped by urban contexts. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Cities is an outstanding interdisciplinary reference source to the key topics, problems, and methodologies of this cutting-edge subject. Representing a diverse array of cities and religions, the common analytical approach is ecological and spatial. It is the first collection of its kind and reflects state-of-the-art research focusing on the interaction of religions and their urban contexts. Comprising 29 chapters, by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into three parts: Research methodologies Religious frameworks and ideologies in urban contexts Contemporary issues in religion and cities Within these sections, emerging research and analysis of current dynamics of urban religions are examined, including: housing, economics, and gentrification; sacred ritual and public space; immigration and the refugee crisis; political conflicts and social change; ethnic and religious diversity; urban policy and religion; racial justice; architecture and the built environment; religious art and symbology; religion and urban violence; technology and smart cities; the challenge of climate change for global cities; and religious meaning-making of the city. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Cities is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and urban studies. The Handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as sociology, history, architecture, urban planning, theology, social work, and cultural studies.
Author: Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004302549 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 229
Book Description
While the churches are emptying, other virtual religious places – as the religious websites – seem to be filling up. The researcher focusing on religion and internet or digital religion as an object of study must seek answers to a number of questions. Is computer-mediated religious communication a particular communication process whose object is what we conventionally call religion? Or is it a modern, independent form of religious expressiveness that finds its new-born status in the web and its particular language? To examine the questions above, and others, the book collects more empirical data, claiming that the Internet will have a specific or novel impact on how religious traditions are interpreted. The blurring of previous boundaries (offline/online, virtual/local, illegitimate/legitimate religion) is another theme common to all the contributions in this volume.
Author: Michael Wilkinson Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004344187 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 347
Book Description
The intersection of religion, ritual, emotion, globalization, migration, sexuality, gender, race, and class, is especially insightful for researching Pentecostal notions of the body. Pentecostalism is well known for overt bodily expressions that includes kinesthetic worship with emotive music and sustained acts of prayer. Among Pentecostals there is considerable debate about bodies, the role of the Holy Spirit, possession of evil spirits, deliverance, exorcism, revival, and healing of bodies and emotions. Pentecostalism is identified as a religion on the move and so bodies are transformed in the context of globalization. Pentecostalism is also associated with notions of sexuality, gender, race and class where bodies are often liberated and limited. This volume evaluates these themes associated with contemporary research on the body.
Author: Dobroslawa Wiktor-Mach Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG ISBN: 3110534630 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
The book explores the complex world of Islam from the perspective of its adherents and activists in Azerbaijan. Baku, the most secular Muslim capital city, is a battlefield for the minds and souls of „ethnic Muslims.” Visiting pirs was till now the typical expression of religiosity among Azerbaijani Muslims. Sunni-Shia division was blurred. Nowadays, Shia and Sunni Muslim movements propose new distinctive identities. Foreign and local preachers took advantage of liberal religious policies of the 1990s to promote their ideas. Salafis stress the „pristine” Islam and the idea of universalism, while Shias underline rationality in their faith tradition. Turkish model of Islam is more inclusive towards local customs. Sufism, although not as powerful as before, also finds a committed audience. Finally, independent charismatic local leaders gain supporters. The book investigates how this pluralism affects both religious groups and believers. Competitive environment requires effective strategies and flexibility. In this process, the traditional dominance of Shiism is challenged by Sunni movements. Shiism, however, is not giving up and adapts its concepts and practices to contemporary contexts.
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Author: Giuseppe Giordan
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Author: Solange Lefebvre
Author: Nanlai Cao
Author: Roman R. Williams
Author: Katie Day
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Author: Michael Wilkinson
Author: Dobroslawa Wiktor-Mach