A massive religious transformation has unfolded over the past forty years in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a region where the Catholic Church could once claim a near monopoly of adherents, religious pluralism has fundamentally altered the social and religious landscape. Conversion of a Continent brings together twelve original essays that document and explore competing explanations for how and why conversion has occurred. Contributors draw on various insights from social movement theory to religious studies to help outline its impact on national attitudes and activities, gender relations, identity politics, and reverse waves of missions from Latin America aimed at the American immigrant community. Unlike other studies on religious conversion, this volume pays close attention to who converts, under what circumstances, the meaning of conversion to the individual, and how the change affects converts’ beliefs and actions. The thematic focus makes this volume important to students and scholars in both religious studies and Latin American studies.

This book is about the recently revived technique of Kock pouch in inflammatory bowel disease. It discusses the Kock pouch as an alternative to patients not suitable for a pelvic pouch or where the pelvic pouch has failed. It provides clinicians with all the necessary information on patient guidance and surgical revisions after a long life with a Kock pouch. The reader will learn about the development of the pouch, pre and post-operative strategies, surveillance, complications and the limitations and weaknesses of the method. New pioneering experimental methods used by the authors are also discussed. The use of ileorectal anastomosis and Kock’s continent ileostomy has regained interest as the long term problems of the pelvic pouch have and this book brings the knowledge and valuable experiences of a few experts at international centres to a large audience. This is an indispensable guide for colorectal surgeons, gastroenterologists and stoma therapi sts involved in the care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease where colectomy is still needed, either in an emergency setting or due to dysplasia or cancer.

The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of religious conversion, which for centuries has profoundly shaped societies, cultures, and individuals throughout the world. Scholars from a wide array of religions and disciplines interpret both the varieties of conversion experiences and the processes that inform this personal and communal phenomenon. This volume examines the experiences of individuals and communities who change religions, those who experience an intensification of their religion of origin, and those who encounter new religions through colonial intrusion, missionary work, and charismatic and revitalization movements. The thirty-two innovative essays provide overviews of the history of particular religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. The essays also offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, political, feminist, and geographical-on methods and theories deployed in understanding conversion, and insight into various forms of deconversion.

The study, Terrorism in Africa: The Evolving Front in the War on Terrorism, represents a research endeavor aimed at increasing scholarly discourse on the ever-expanding threat of terrorism and terrorist-related violence in the region. It offers the most wide-ranging analysis of the sub-national and transnational terrorists groups that have made Africa the second most violent region in the world. Additionally, the study expands the coverage of the multiple dynamics that indicate why terrorist-related violence continues to increase in the region and closes with regional solutions to the threat of terrorism. This collection of essays offers a comprehensive analysis of the states, terrorist groups, and critical issues that have increased the specter of terrorism in Africa. The study is divided into three themes: (1) the diversity of the terrorist threat among states in the region, (2) the regional dynamics and the local response to terrorism, and (3) regional solutions to the threat of terrorism in Africa.

This handbook generates new insights that enrich our understanding of the history of Islam in Africa and the diverse experiences and expressions of the faith on the continent. The chapters in the volume cover key themes that reflect the preoccupations and realities of many African Muslims. They provide readers access to a comprehensive treatment of the past and current traditions of Muslims in Africa, offering insights on different forms of Islamization that have taken place in several regions, local responses to Islamization, Islam in colonial and post-colonial Africa, and the varied forms of Jihād movements that have occurred on the continent. The handbook provides updated knowledge on various social, cultural, linguistic, political, artistic, educational, and intellectual aspects of the encounter between Islam and African societies reflected in the lived experiences of African Muslims and the corpus of African Islamic texts.

This volume brings together a set of articles by Professor Anton Scharer dealing with the themes of conversion, court culture and royal representation in Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Europe. It includes two previously unpublished papers, and another four specially translated into English for this publication. Three papers focus on different aspects of conversion: the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England by means of social relations, the role of language in this process and the monastic and social background of the insular mission to the Continent. With conversion came the import of Latin written culture, including charters, and one study focuses on royal styles in Anglo-Saxon charters. A second paper on early mediaeval royal diplomas, and what they at times reveal about very personal reactions and sentiments, leads to the theme of court culture. This is further explored in a batch of papers centred on Alfred the Great and covering the subjects of historiography, of inauguration rites or ordines, and of hitherto neglected personal contacts, as a clue to the transmission of experiences, ideas and texts. Closely linked are studies on the role of Charlemagne's daughters at their fathe's court and on objects of princely and royal representation. Throughout, particular attention is given to the examination of mutual, Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian, influences and to viewing the matters under discussion from an 'Anglo-Saxon' as well as a 'Continental' perspective.

The Second International Symposium on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases was held in Jerusalem from September 8-11, 1985, under the auspices of the Israel Academy of Sciences, the Israel Gastroenterological Society and the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School. Five hundred physicians and researchers from 26 countries attended. The symposium was organized into six panels devoted to state of the art reviews and presentations of the latest findings and approaches on etiology, pathogenesis, medical and surgical management of IBD and clini cal assessment of disease. In addition, 89 abstracts were presented as posters during the symposium, all of which were published in the book of abstracts. The concluding panel outlined new directions for future re search on IBD. The organizing committee gratefully acknowledges all the contributors who presented their work in a clear and concise manner, and to all the participants whose active role in the discussions contributed to the suc cess of the meeting. In view of the great interest in the symposium and the tradition es tablished following the first, in 1981, it was decided to convene a third international symposium on IBD in Jerusalem in September 1989.