For much of the twentieth century, professional social work sought to distance itself from its religious origins with the consequence being that the role of spirituality in the lives of service users tended to be sidelined. Yet it is clear that many people begin to explore their spirituality precisely at times when they are trying to make sense of difficult life circumstances or experiences and may come into contact with social workers. In recent years, there has been an increasing understanding that in order to be relevant to the lives of people they work with, social workers need to go beyond their material needs, but there is little understanding of how spirituality can be sensitively incorporated into practice, especially when either practitioners or service users have no religious affiliation or there is no shared religious background. In this pathbreaking volume Beth Crisp offers social workers ideas of beginning conversations in which spiritual values and beliefs may surface, allowing service users to respond from their own framework and to begin to discuss the specific religious or spiritual practices and beliefs which are important to them. She considers spirituality in the context of lived experience, a perspective that she argues breaks down any mystique and suspicion of explicitly religious language by focusing on language and experiences with which most people can identify. Such a framework allows exploration of issues that emerge at different stages in the lifespan, both by persons who are religious and those who do not identify with any formal religion. Most literature on spirituality within social work refers to the elderly, to those who are sick or have been bereaved, yet, as Crisp points out, spirituality is important for people of all ages and not just at seemingly exceptional moments.

A collection of readings designed to accompany the editor's text, Religions in Practice; An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion . Articles from leading journals of anthropological research provide a sampler of current concerns and findings regarding religion and ritual throughout the world. The

This book addresses the various ways in which key social identities--for example, race, gender, and disability--intersect with, shape, and are shaped by traditional questions in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. The book both breaks new ground and encourages further analytic-theological work in these important areas of research.

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion draws on the expertise of an international team of scholars providing both an entry point into the sociological study and understanding of religion and an in-depth survey into its changing forms and content in the contemporary world. The role and impact of religion and spirituality on the politics, culture, education and health in the modern world is rigorously discussed and debated. The study of the sociology of religion forges interdisciplinary links to explore aspects of continuity and change in the contemporary interface between society and religion. Using a combination of theoretical, methodological and content-led approaches, the fifty-seven contributors collectively emphasise the complex relationships between religion and aspects of life from scientific research to law, ecology to art, music to cognitive science, crime to institutional health care and more. The developing character of religion, irreligion and atheism and the impact of religious diversity on social cohesion are explored. An overview of current scholarship in the field is provided in each themed chapter with an emphasis on encouraging new thinking and reflection on familiar and emergent themes to stimulate further debate and scholarship. The resulting essay collection provides an invaluable resource for research and teaching in this diverse discipline.

Includes section "Book reviews."

Inaugural issue of the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION | ISSN: 2633-352X (Print) | ISSN: 2633-3538 (Online) | Volume 1 | Number 1 | November 2020 | Special Issue: Politics of Religious Dissent Edited by Jeffrey Haynes, Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, and Eric M. Trinka | Editorial: Launching the International Journal of Religion - Jeffrey Haynes, Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, and Eric M. Trinka| From the Editorial Desk - Eric M. Trinka | Dissent among Mormons in the 1980 Senatorial Election in Idaho - Ronald Hatzenbuehler | Creating the Internal Enemy: Opportunities and Threats in Pro and Anti-LGBT Activism within South Korean Protestantism - Hendrick Johannemann| Is Right-wing Populism a Phenomenon of Religious Dissent? The Cases of the Lega and the Rassemblement National - Luca Ozanno and Fabio Bolzonar| A Religious Movement on Trial: Transformative Years, Judicial Questions and the Nation of Islam - Sultan Tepe | Finding the Right Islam for the Maldives: Political Transformation and State-Responses to Growing Religious Dissent - La Toya Waha| Islam, Catholicism, and Religion-State Separation: An Essential or Historical Difference? - Ahmet T. Kuru| Secularism, Religion, and Identification beyond Binaries: The Transnational Alliances, Rapprochements, and Dissent of German Turks in Germany - Nil Mutluer| Dissenting Yogis: The Mīmāṁsaka-Buddhist Battle for Epistemological Authority - Jed Forman| Tar & Feathers: Agnotology, Dissent, and Queer Mormon History - Nerida Bullock| New Religious-Nationalist Trends among Jewish Settlers in the Halutza Sands - Hayim Katsman

Berkeley Journal of Religion and Theology, Vol. 2, No. 1. This is the regular issue Journal. Featuring 2015 Distinguished Faculty lecture, the 2016 Readings of the Sacred Texts Lecture, and the 2016 Surjit Singh Lecture, as well as articles by Shin Young Park, Brent Lyons, Wesley Ellis, and Jessica Tinklenberg. Featuring several book reviews as well.