Living Folk Religions presents cutting-edge contributions from a range of disciplines to examine religious folkways across cultures. This collection embraces the non-elite and non-sanctioned, the oral, fluid, accessible, evolving religions of people (volk) on the ground. Split into five sections, this book covers: What Is Folk Religion? Spirit Beings and Deities Performance and Ritual Praxis Possession and Exorcism Health, Healing, and Lifestyle Topics include demons and ambivalent gods, tree and nature spirits, revolutionary renunciates, oral lore, possession and exorcism, divination, midwestern American spiritualism, festivals, queer sexuality among ritual specialists, the dead returned, vernacular religions, diaspora adaptations, esoteric influences underlying public cultures, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), music and sound experiences, death rituals, and body and wellness cultures. Living Folk Religions is a must-read for those studying Comparative Religions, World Religions, and Religious Studies, and it will also interest specialists and general readers, particularly enthusiastic readers of Anthropology, Folklore and Folk Studies, Global Studies, and Sociology.

This book has served the missiological community for twenty-five years as a resource for understanding human spirituality in any context. Thousands of students have incorporated the principles of this book into ministry around the globe. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition seeks to enable those who now bring their passion for mission to contemporary contexts affected by globalization, climate change, and political perspectives unimagined when this book originally appeared. Every community, wherever it is on earth, has its share of beliefs and values that manifest themselves in practices that reflect spiritual engagement. Those engaged in mission need to appreciate how underlying beliefs and values are reflected in handling spiritual power, worship and blessing, and interaction with others. Gospel communicators must account for these elements as they seek to make God's intentions known to people who are searching for God. The models presented early in the book are essential for establishing what people consider spiritually critical. Applying these models in any religious environment will enable message-bearers to engage with beliefs and practices that promote a gospel presentation that makes sense. To that end, we commend this book for effective missional engagement.

From the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist: a revelatory portrait of religion in China today, its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China's future. Following a century of violent antireligious campaigns, China is now awash with new temples, churches, and mosques as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty over what it means to be Chinese, and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is still searching for new guideposts. Ian Johnson lived for extended periods with underground church members, rural Daoists, and Buddhist pilgrims. He has distilled these experiences into a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world s newest superpower. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout).

In some senses, Albania is a living museum of the past. Originally a small herding community in the most inaccessible reaches of the Balkans, the presence of Albanians in southeastern Europe has been documented for over a thousand years. Albanian traditional folk culture, which evolved over centuries of relative isolation, is surprisingly rich. Yet despite recent events this culture remains little known to the Western world. Due to the lasting effects of a half century of Stalinist dictatorship, very few individuals even in Albania know much about their own popular traditions. The Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture makes available for the first time a wealth of knowledge about Albanian popular belief and folk customs. Alphabetical entries shed light on blood feuding, figures of Albanian mythology, religious beliefs, communities, and sects, calendar feasts and rituals, and popular superstitions, as well as birth, marriage, and funeral customs, and sexual mores. This unique volume will stand as the standard reference work on the subject for years to come.

This book has served the missiological community for twenty-five years as a resource for understanding human spirituality in any context. Thousands of students have incorporated the principles of this book into ministry around the globe. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition seeks to enable those who now bring their passion for mission to contemporary contexts affected by globalization, climate change, and political perspectives unimagined when this book originally appeared. Every community, wherever it is on earth, has its share of beliefs and values that manifest themselves in practices that reflect spiritual engagement. Those engaged in mission need to appreciate how underlying beliefs and values are reflected in handling spiritual power, worship and blessing, and interaction with others. Gospel communicators must account for these elements as they seek to make God’s intentions known to people who are searching for God. The models presented early in the book are essential for establishing what people consider spiritually critical. Applying these models in any religious environment will enable message-bearers to engage with beliefs and practices that promote a gospel presentation that makes sense. To that end, we commend this book for effective missional engagement.

This is an introduction to the most frequently encountered Chinese deities focusing on those gods which express the most common concerns of the Chinese people.