This book focuses on anthropological questions and methods, and is offered as a supplement to textbooks on the anthropology of religion. It is designed to help students collecting and interpreting their own fieldwork or archival data and relating their findings to the work of others.

This book focuses on anthropological questions and methods, and is offered as a supplement to textbooks on the anthropology of religion. It is designed to help students collecting and interpreting their own fieldwork or archival data and relating their findings to the work of others.

Belief Beyond Boundaries explores 'religions' or forms of spirituality that tend to be marginal to the mainstream of British and North American religious expression. The book examines how alternative spiritualities traditionally classed as 'New Age' or new religious movements have grown exponentially in recent years. It progresses to detailed examination of Paganism, Celtic spirituality, Wicca, witchcraft, North American indigenous religion and New Age, considering the impact of the rise of science on religion and the emergence of new categories of spirituality. The authors explore why these forms of spirituality are so popular in the contemporary UK and USA, and how they impact on mainstream traditions. The five textbooks and Reader that make up the Religion Today Open University/Ashgate series are: o From Sacred Text to Internet o Religion and Social Transformations o Perspectives on Civil Religion o Global Religious Movements in Regional Context o Belief Beyond Boundaries o Religion Today: A Reader

In "Belief Beyond Boundaries: Embracing the Extraordinary Through Christian Faith," Dr. Selva Sugunendran offers an invigorating invitation to explore the depths of faith beyond conventional boundaries. Structured as a spiritual pilgrimage, this book guides readers through a 12-chapter journey, starting from the awakening to belief, laying the foundations of faith, exploring the power of prayer, and culminating in leaving a legacy of faith. Dr. Sugunendran challenges readers to go beyond mere curiosity, to live out their faith in transformative ways, and to embrace the extraordinary possibilities that belief in God can unveil. With chapters dedicated to awakening belief, understanding Christian principles, cultivating a prayerful life, overcoming doubt, and living a purpose-driven life, this book serves as both a map and a compass for navigating the Christian faith. It is designed to inspire, challenge, and equip readers to live out an extraordinary expression of Christian faith, turning the mundane into the magnificent and the impossible into the doable. "Belief Beyond Boundaries" is more than a book; it is an experiential odyssey inviting you to embark on a journey from hearing the first call of faith to laying up treasures in heaven. It beckons you to slay your doubts, banish your fears, and embrace the swirling waters of faith. Whether you are seeking to deepen your relationship with God, longing for a more intimate experience of His love, or yearning to make a significant impact with your life, this book is your launchpad into a life defined not by limitations, but by the limitless grace, power, and love of Christ. Welcome to your new adventure, where the extraordinary becomes your reality.

Why have modern nationalists built religious identity as the foundational signifier of nationality in an increasingly secular world? The cases of 20th century Ireland and Turkey reveal the answer: religious nationalism is not a knee-jerk reaction to secular modernization, but a tool that forges new and independent national identities.

Vernacular religion is religion as people experience, understand, and practice it. It shapes everyday culture and disrupts the traditional boundaries between 'official' and 'folk' religion. The book analyses vernacular religion in a range of Christian denominations as well as in indigenous and New Age religion from the nineteenth century to today. How these differing expressions of belief are shaped by their individual, communal and national contexts is also explored. What is revealed is the consistency of genres, the persistence of certain key issues, and how globalization in all its cultural and technological forms is shaping contemporary faith practice. The book will be valuable to students of ethnology, folklore, religious studies, and anthropology.

In this collection of anthropological writings drawn from many different world areas, contemporary theoretical issues and conflicts in the anthropological study of religion are explored and illustrated. The editors present these anthropological writings on religion within a larger cultural matrix by drawing upon literature exhibiting an interdisciplinary as well as global approach.The book examines religion within social, political, and historical contexts to confront theoretical and methodological questions that apply across time and borders. How do belief systems respond to conquest and the imposition of foreign values, beliefs, and practices? What happens to religion when the colonial rulers depart? What are the relationships between gender, sexuality, and religious rules and restrictions? How is gender constructed and maintained within ideological systems? How do the beliefs and practices underlying possession and trance deal with illness and death, and how do they respond to science and other belief systems? Is religion a tool or weapon of the state'or an enemy of the people? And how does religion, often erroneously perceived as changeless and constant, respond to the pressures and technologies of this rapidly changing world? Across the Boundaries of Belief examines these issues and many others.The readings derive from interdisciplinary as well as global literature, and the titles of the sections reflect the contexts within which religion is explored and portrayed in this collection: ?Colonialism and the Post-Colonial Legacy,? ?Gender and Sexuality,? ?The Healing Touch and Altered States,? ?Religion and the State,? and ?Changes and Continuities.' The book will help students and general readers to perceive religion as a pan-human institution embedded in social structures, political systems, and historical contexts.