Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Sufism in Europe and North America
This book focuses mainly on issues of inculturation or contextualization of Sufism in the West.
Religion, Conflict, and Democracy in Modern Africa
Spanning various regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, the authors of this volume come together to explore the complex relationship between religion and democracy in contemporary Africa. As a result of the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, many African countries have come to the realization, however partial, that political and social change is inevitable in spite of government heavy-handedness and threats. It has also become evident that no political system that refuses to permit freedom of political expression and alternative systems of governance could continue to be sustained. It is in precisely this political climate that religious institutions have collaborated with other elements of civil society to call for political reforms, with the church often becoming the prominent voice against oppressive governments in countries such as Kenya and South Africa. It is the purpose of this book to assess how religion shapes political issues and to what extent religious forces influence the civil society. By acknowledging the role of the civil society, the essays recognize the resilience that comes out of Africa even when the sociopolitical situation seems unbearable.
African Indigenous Religions and Disease Causation
This comparative and historical work provides rich material on religion and disease etiologies among five African peoples (San, Maasai, Sukuma, Kongo and Yoruba) and discusses possible reasons for an important shift from spiritual beings such as deities to living humans like 'witches' as agents of disease.
Holy Water and Evil Spirits
In Tanzania, the Marian Faith Healing Ministry offers Catholic healing rituals under the patronage of the Virgin Mary. Exorcism and a special water service are central to the healing process. People bring physical, spiritual, and social afflictions before the group's leader, Felicien Nkwera. Combining the perspectives of the study of religions and medical anthropology, this book analyzes Nkwera's pastoral texts and the personal healing narratives of the members. Thus, a complex image of the healing process is created and framed within its Tanzanian interreligious context and its global conservative Catholic context. (Series: Beitrage zur Afrikaforschung - Vol. 47)
Theology as Construction of Piety
This book argues that a primary purpose of theological discourses is to construct piety or spirituality. If this is the case, theologians need to constantly inquire into the kind of piety or spirituality which their work may construct. Drawing from some important moments in the development of Christian theology, such as the development of the Christian doctrine of God in the early church, the role of material things in the Christianity of medieval Europe, some elements of contemporary postliberal theology, and the theology of inculturation in Africa, the book argues that theological discourses that appear to be orthodox and innocuous may actually construct forms of piety that may diminish hu...
Studying Global Pentecostalism
AndrT Droogers is Professor Emeritus of Cultural Anthropology at VU University, Amsterdam --
European Traditions in the Study of Religion in Africa
This volume comprises case studies of five centuries of European encounters with and imaginations of Africa encompassing her triple religious heritage: African Traditional Religions, Christianity and Islam. The introductory chapters outline the challenges and present overviews; some of them also analyze the early accounts of European travelers and missionaries. The following contributions examine the lasting legacy of the European Enlightenment in employing an ambivalent language of human equality and universalism, while in actual fact consigning Africa to an inferior position. It has been difficult for western scholars to divorce themselves wholly from the perceptions thus established. However, there have been quite different approaches. This is indicated in the papers discussing the role and impact of influential European academics (scholars of religion, theologians, historians and social scientists) during the colonial and postcolonial period. Other contributions examine specific institutional centers of African religious studies in Europe. The concluding chapters critically assess European approaches and their use for the study of religion in Africa from an African perspective.
Muslim Tatar Minorities in the Baltic Sea Region
In Muslim Tatar Minorities in the Baltic Sea Region, edited by Ingvar Svanberg and David Westerlund, the contributors introduce the history and contemporary situation of these little known groups of people that for centuries have been part of the religious and ethnic mosaic of this region. The book has a broad and multi-disciplinary scope and covers the early settlements in Lithuania and Poland, the later immigrations to Saint Petersburg, Finland, Estonia and Latvia, as well as the most recent establishments in Sweden and Germany. The authors, who hail from and are specialists on these areas, demonstrate that in several respects the Tatar Muslims have become well-integrated here. Contributors are: Toomas Abiline, Tamara Bairasauskaite, Renat Bekkin, Sebastian Cwiklinski, Harry Halén, Tuomas Martikainen, Agata Nalborczyk, Egdunas Racius, Ringo Ringvee, Valters Scerbinskis, Sabira Ståhlberg, Ingvar Svanberg and David Westerlund.
Church-State Relations in Africa in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
This edited collection examines church-state relations in the European colonies in Africa during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The chapters focus on the period stretching from the most agitated stages of the ‘scramble for Africa’ during the 1870s and 1880s, to the great wave of independence of African colonies in the 1950s and 60s, and culminates in a discussion of colonial legacies during its aftermath. The Church and the State, although often having conflicting goals and agendas, walked hand-in-hand throughout the entire colonial period, with ‘imperialism of the spirit’ being inconceivable without the groundwork of Catholic missionaries. Exploring the major domains t...
Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa
America's War on Terrorism has thrown political Islam in Africa into the international spotlight. This book examines the social andpolitical manifestations of Islamism in north-east Africa, including the Nile Valley and the Horn.
