Summoning the Powers Beyond collects and reconstructs the old religions of preindustrial Micronesia. It draws mostly from written sources from the turn of the nineteenth century and the period immediately after World War II: reports of the Hamburg South Sea Expedition of 1908–1910, articles by German Roman Catholic missionaries in Micronesia included in the journal Anthropos, and reports by the Coordinated Investigation of Micronesian Anthropology (CIMA) and the American Board of Commissioners of the Foreign Missions (ABCFM). A detailed introduction and an overview of Micronesian religion are followed by separate chapters detailing religion in the Chuukic-speaking islands, Pohnpei, Kosrae, the Marshall Islands, Yap, Palau, Kiribati, and Nauru. The Chamorro-speaking group of the Marianas is omitted because lengthy periods of intense military and missionary activity eradicated most of the local religion. The Polynesian outliers Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi are discussed at the end primarily to underscore the contrasts between Polynesian and Micronesian religion. In a concluding chapter, the author highlights the similarities and differences between the areas within Micronesia and then attempts an appreciation or evaluation of Micronesia religion. Finally, he addresses the evidence of a tentative hypothesis that Micronesian religion is sufficiently different from that of Polynesia and Melanesia to justify the continued claim of a separate Micronesian religion.

This work collects and reconstructs the old religions of preindustrial Micronesia. It draws mostly from written sources from the turn of the nineteenth century and the period immediately after World War II. A detailed introduction and an overview of Micronesian religion are followed by separate chapters detailing religion in the Chuukic-speaking islands, Pohnpei, Kosrae, the Marshall Islands, Yap, Palau, Kiribati, and Nauru.

This volume, edited by Tobie Openshaw and Dean Karalekas, will guide you on a multidisciplinary journey through Indigenous peoples’ centuries-old lore of “little people” in Taiwan and the Pacific. Learn about the Taiwan SaiSiyat people’s paSta’ay ritual, still held to this day to commemorate the koko ta’ay. Follow the distribution of the legends, interspersed with original stories by modern Indigenous authors. Explore the archaeological find of small-statured negrito remains in Taiwan, and delve into the most current research on the topic by linguists, anthropologists, folklorists, and other specialists to unravel the mystery of what—or who—inspired these ancient legends.

Budapest, a pioneer of the women's spirituality movement, uses fairy tales, historical lore, and personal stories to describe the stages and roles of a woman's life and the three Fates who rule over each stage.

Assigned to administer the closure of a crumbling inner city Athenaeum, Mears finds himself caught up in an extraordinary cross-worlds venture, where the heroes of his comic books, pulp magazines, and fantastic novels fill its landscape. His only route back to the sanity of his own world lies in coordinating these disparate heroes into an unlikely team, banding them to oppose a fiendishly evil master-mind's plot to unleash unspeakable dark gods upon the world. Drawn from a vast trove of pulp and super-hero sources, from H. Rider Haggard through Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft and Sax Rohmer, NIGHT OF THE HEROES plunges the reader into a bizarre world where anything ever read about becomes very much alive -- and invariably kicking!

The volume Religion beyond its Private Role in Modern Society aims at contributing to the debate on the distinction between public and private spheres with regard to the role of religion in modern societies. This issue which is inherent to many conceptions regarding social order, modernity, freedom of conscience, and the changing role and function of religion is discussed not only from a social scientific but also from a historical and philosophical point of view. The articles dwell on several aspects of the role of religion in different societies in modern times, and the overall theme is explored from the perspective of various religious traditions and groups, both institutional and non-institutional. It turns out that the distinction made is difficult to maintain. Contributors include: Bart Labuschagne, Linda Woodhead, Niek Brunsveld, Dick Douwes, Mohammed Ghaly, Heleen Murre-van den Berg, David Novak, Alexandros Sakellariou, Matthew Tennant, Bruno Verbeek, Ernestine G.E. van der Wall, William Arfman, Stef Aupers, Jeroen Boekhoven, Meerten B. ter Borg, and Kees de Groot.

This clear and engaging guide introduces students to key areas of the field and shows how to apply an anthropological approach to the study of religion in the contemporary world. Written by an experienced teacher, it covers major traditional topics including definitions, theories and beliefs as well as symbols, myth and ritual. The book also explores important but often overlooked issues such as morality, violence, fundamentalism, secularization, and new religious movements. The chapters all contain lively case studies of religions practiced around the world. The second edition of Introducing Anthropology of Religion contains updated theoretical discussion plus fresh ethnographic examples throughout. In addition to a brand new chapter on vernacular religion, Eller provides a significantly revised chapter on the emerging anthropologies of Christianity and Islam. The book features more material on contemporary societies as well as new coverage of topics such as pilgrimage and paganism. Images, a glossary and questions for discussion are now included and additional resources are provided via a companion website.