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Religions In Practice: An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion 3/e

John R. Bowen

Published June 2004 by Allyn & Bacon
Copyright 2005, 304 pp., Paper
ISBN: 0-205-41814-7
List Price:
$59.80

Inventory Status:
In-Stock
   
Sample Chapter


Summary

This widely used textbook offers a unique perspective on how people engage in everyday religious practices, such as prayer, sacrifice, pilgrimage, and dress, as well as investigates major issues of gender, nation-states, and laws with respect to religion.

Highlights of the Third Edition

  • Chapter 1, “Studying Religion through Practice” brings the entire volume up to date by relating the approach taken in the text to post-9/11 concerns.
  • A new Chapter 2, “Social Theory in the Anthropology of Religion,” considers the role of social theory in shaping the study of religion through an examination of the contemporary importance of work by Tylor, Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Freud, and more recent theorists.
  • Chapters 3 and 4 from the Second Edition have been combined into a single chapter--Chapter 4, “Rituals and the Shaping of Emotions.”
  • Chapter 6, “Patterns, Powers, and the Self” includes new sections on sports magic and new religions in the United States including Wicca or modern witchcraft.
  • An entirely new Chapter 14, “Religion, Violence, and War,” examines the role that religious beliefs and organizations play in promoting violence and war.

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Features

  • Provides in-depth coverage of contemporary movements and religious laws.
  • Focuses on the everyday life and practices of religion, and not solely on the history and religious doctrines, as do other texts in the market.
  • Reviewers praise Bowen's ability to integrate coverage of theoretical issues while still maintaining the text's accessibility for beginning students.


Table of Contents



Preface.


1. Studying Religion Through Practice.

What is “Religion”?

An Anthropological Approach to Religion.

Practices, Contexts, Diversity.



2. Social Theory in the Anthropology of Religion.

Religion as Intellectual Activity.

Religions in Social Life.

The Psychology of Religion.



3. Ideas and Practices of “Religion” in Europe and Elsewhere.

Western Ideas of Religion.

Other Religions, Other Models.

Combining Religious Practices in Japan.



4. Ritual and the Shaping of Emotions.

Rites of Passage.

Initiation, Secrecy, and Fear.

Death Ritual and the Social Order.

Grief and Ritual Form.



5. Gender, Religion, and Ethnography.

Creating Gender through Ritual.

Reanalyses Through the Lens of Gender.

Articulating Women's Perspectives Through Spirits.

Religious Patriarchy and its Challenges.

Women and Islamic Dress.



6. Patterns, Powers, and the Self.

Magic, Patterns, and Causes.

Explaining Misfortune.

The New Age.

Wicca or Modern Witchcraft.



7. Healing Through Religion.

Prayer, Faith, and Healing.

Narratives and Pain Relief.

Trance, Possession and Healing.

Modern Magic in Japanese New Religions.



8. Sorcery, Witchcraft and Modernity.

La Sorcellerie in Cameroon.

Azande Oracles.

Sorcery and Modernity.

Witchcraft as Satan versus God.



9. Objects, Images, and Worship.

Conveying Meaning through Symbols.

Masks in West Africa.

Images and Offerings in Hinduism.

Relics and Images in Catholicism.

Mary and Marys in European Societies.



10. Crossing Cultural Boundaries.

Converting.

Translating: Mary in the Americas.

Adapting: Islamic Sacrifice in New Cultures.



11. Sacred Speech and Divine Power.

The Qur'ân as Recitation of God's Speech.

The Creative Power of Navajo Speech and Song.

Speech and Grace in Protestant Churches.

Religion on the Web.



12. Pilgrimages and Places.

Centers and Directions.

Dimensions of Pilgrimage.

The Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Contrasts in Pilgrimage from Japan and India.



13. Saints, Visions, and Prophets.

Saints as Exemplars and as Source of Assistance.

Prophets and Social Change.

Revitalization Movements: Messiahs, Millennia, and Revivals.

Mormon Prophecy and Authority.

Muhammad and His Successors.



14. Religion, Violence, and War.

Cults, Sects, and Violence.

Struggle and Authority in Islam.



15. The Place of Religions in Modern Nation-States.

Religious Nationalisms.

Religion and State Law.

Religious Minorities and Public Religions.

Minority Religions in Europe: Toleration or Public Recognition?

Religion, Nation, and State in the United States.

Religion and Public Life.




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