This book addresses the fact that, for the first time in history, a large segment of the population in the western world is living without any form of religious belief. While a number of writers have examined the implications of this shift, none have approached the phenomenon from the perspective of religious studies. The authors examine what has been lost from the point of view of sociology, psychology, and philosophy of religion. The book sits at the nexus of a number of important debates including: the role of religion in public life, the connection between religion and physical and psychological well-being, and the implications of the loss of ritual in terms of maintaining communities.

O'Murchu offers penetrating, original insights into evolving spiritual awareness, one that is rapidly out-growing the time honored but exhausted vision of formal religion.

Saints in Exile studies, from an insider's perspective, the worship practices and social ethics of the African American family of Holiness, Pentecostal, and Apostolic churches known collectively as the Sanctified Church. Cheryl Sanders identifies the theme of exile, both as an idea and an experience, as the key to understanding the dialectical nature of African American religious and intellectual life, that W.E.B. Du Bois called "double-conscious." Sanders's saints in exile are a people who see themselves as "in the world but not of it"; their marginalized status is both self-imposed and involuntary, a consequence of racism, sexism and other forms of elitism. When joined with the biblical tropes of homecoming and reconciliation, the concept of exile serves as a vital vantage point from which to identify, critique, and remedy the continued alienation of blacks, women, and the poor in the United States. Sanders's interpretive approach clarifies many paradoxical features of black existence, especially the peculiar interplay of the sacred and the secular in African American song, speech, and dance. She particularly scrutinizes gospel music, a product of the Sanctified worship tradition that has had a significant influence on popular culture. Saints in Exile goes further than any previous study in illuminating the African American experience; it will be welcomed by scholars and students of American religion, African American studies, and American History.

The person of exile may be considered a wanderer, a nomad, a refugee, or a rebel. People of exile can be the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the outcast, the left out, and the pushed away. Different terms are used, but what defines them all is separation. Exile is a dangerous and dominant theme that runs through Scripture, through the lives of the people of Israel, and through the universal church. Women who have known the sacred place of exile are uniquely qualified to form a women's mission. The case is made for a momentum shift in missiological thinking. There is a desperate and aching need for a women's mission, which could lead the way to a women's missionary movement. The emergence of such a mission/movement is indeed fraught with skepticism and suspicion from many of those inside the church and leaders in the missionary world. But the radical, disruptive, costly following of Jesus to those outside the camp is our calling.

Photography

An in-depth investigation of the facts and mythology surrounding the historical Mary Magdalene • Reveals new details about the life of the beloved of Jesus • Illustrated with rare and unusual imagery depicting Mary’s central role in Christianity • By the author of the bestselling The Woman with the Alabaster Jar The controversy surrounding Mary Magdalene and her relationship to Jesus has gained widespread international interest since the publication of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, which specifically cites Margaret Starbird’s earlier works as a significant source. In Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile Starbird examines the many faces of Mary Magdalene, from the historical woman who walked with Jesus in the villages of Judea to the mythic and symbolic Magdalene who is the archetype of the Sacred Feminine. Starbird reveals exciting new information about the woman who was the most intimate companion of Jesus and offers historical evidence that Mary was Jesus’ forgotten bride. Expanding on the discussion of medieval art and lore introduced in her bestselling book The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, Starbird sifts through the layers of misidentification under which the story of the Lost Bride of Christ has been buried to reveal the slandered woman and the “exiled” feminine principle. She establishes the identity of the historical female disciple who was the favored first witness of the Resurrection and provides an interpretation of Mary’s true role based on prophecy from the Hebrew scriptures and the testimony of the canonical gospels of Christianity. Balancing scholarly research with theological reflection, she takes readers deeper into the story and mythology of how Magdalene as the Bride embodies the soul’s own journey in its eternal quest for reunion with the Divine.

This book explores the ideological origins of the Puritan migration to and experience in America.