Finalist for the 2018 Best Book in Hindu-Christian Studies presented by the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies At the turn of the twenty-first century, Selva J. Raj (1952–2008) was one of the most important scholars of popular Indian Christianity and South Asian religion in North America. Vernacular Catholicism, Vernacular Saints gathers together, for the first time in a single volume, a series of his groundbreaking studies on the distinctively "vernacular" Catholic traditions of Tamil Nadu in southeast India. This collection, which focuses on four rural shrines, highlights ritual variety and ritual transgression in Tamil Catholic practice and offers clues to the ritual exchange, religious hybridity, and dialogue occurring at the grassroots level between Tamil Catholics and their Hindu and Muslim neighbors. Raj also advances a new and alternative paradigm for interreligious dialogue that radically differs from models advocated by theologians, clergy, and other religious elite. In addition, essays by other leading scholars of Indian Christianity and South Asian religions—Michael Amaladoss, Purushottama Bilimoria, Corinne G. Dempsey, Eliza F. Kent, and Vasudha Narayanan—are included that amplify and creatively extend Raj's work.

A collection of Raj's groundbreaking ethnographic studies of "vernacular" Catholic traditions in Tamil Nadu, India.

In many parts of the world, the Roman Catholic Church in the twenty-first century finds itself mired in scandal, and its future prospects appear fairly dim in the eyes of many social critics. In From Situated Selves to the Self, however, Hisako Omori finds a radically different situation, with jubilant Roman Catholics in an unexpected place: Tokyo, Japan. Based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, the author provides a culturally sensitive account of the transformative processes associated with becoming Catholic in Tokyo. Her ethnographically rich narrative reveals the ways in which Christianity as a cultural force can effect changes in one's personhood by juxtaposing two models of the self—one based on conventional Japanese social ideals and the other on Roman Catholic teachings. Omori takes readers to a living room ("ochanoma") in a parish, a Catholic bar in a nightclub area, Catholic charismatic meetings, and busy intersections in Tokyo. In so doing, she traces subtle yet emerging changes in women's agentive power that accompany the processes of deepening faith. From Situated Selves to the Self gives us a rare glimpse into Christianity as a cultural force in an East Asian context where Confucianism has historically been the dominant ethical framework.

"The Blickling Homilies, which date from the end of the tenth century, are one of the earliest extant collections of English vernacular homiletic writings. The homiletic texts survive in a composite codex consisting of Municipal Entries for the Council of Lincoln (fourteenth to seventeenth century), a Calendar (mid-fifteenth century), Gospel Oaths (early fourteenth century) and the eighteen homiletic texts that are based on the annual liturgical cycle. The Blickling Homilies are an important literary milestone in the early evolution of English prose." "The manuscript, in the William H. Scheide collection which is housed in Princeton University Library (MS. 71, s.x/xi), was edited in facsimile by Rudolph Willard and published as Volume 10 of Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile (Copenhagen, 1960). The previous edition of The Blickling Homilies is by Richard Morris, published as three volumes in 1874, 1876 and 1880 (reprinted as one volume in 1967) by the Early English Texts Society (London), though individual items from the collection have also been published in readers and anthologies." "This new edition makes certain corrections to Morris's editing of the manuscript and the translations are modernized and made more exact. It also formats both the original text and facing-page translation into paragraphs based on the considered opinion of the editor, which makes it easier to comprehend the flow of the prose. Finally, the text and translation are accompanied with a general introduction, textual notes, tables and charts, select bibliography and index."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"This book reveals contemporary vernacular religion expressed in gay Catholic spirituality, Father Divine's International Peace Mission movement, and material culture"--

Can spirituality be separated from "the complications of religious institutions"? Convert and theologian Reid Blackmer Locklin thinks not. Combining personal experience with insights from Hindu and Christian traditions, Locklin offers "Spiritual But Not Religious?," a guide to institutional commitment in a world characterized by religious pluralism.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker's witty, wise, and down-to-earth letters blend a love of literature, drama, and art with decades of experience as a pastor. They leave technical jargon, arcane arguments, and unrealistic ideals behind, offering in their stead accessible, practical ways to bring beauty and reverence back into Catholic worship.