Religious issues and debates Books

This book analyzes the transformation of ethnic and religious political parties in Turkey with special focus on their role in the country's democratization and regime changes. Turkey went through a process of autocratization under the rule of the AKP...

This volume presents results from new and ongoing research efforts into the role of nonreligion in education, politics, law and society from a variety of different countries. Featuring data from a wide range of quantitative and qualitative studies, the...

This book includes a number of distinct religious and secular views on the anthropological, ethical and social challenges of reproductive technologies in the light of human rights and in the context of global bioethics.  It includes contributions of...

The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the unrest in the US following the unlawful death of George Floyd, and other sources of social unrest and insecurity, have brought to a head something that has been brewing in Western societies since...

This book investigates the relation between Durkheim's sociology, Critical Theory, and the philosophy of social sciences. The book is organized in four sections: confronting Durkheim and other critical traditions; inquiring his social and critical...

Moving from a historical and cultural perspective, this book examines the geo-political and socio-economic changes involving the enlarged Mediterranean. Organised into two main sections, the first section (The new centrality of the Mediterranean Basin:...

This first study of faith-based development NGOs' (FBOs) political roles focuses on how U.S. FBOs in international development educate and mobilize their constituencies. Most pursue cautious reformist agendas, but FBOs have sometimes played important...

This book offers a re-evaluation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the prominent Italian Renaissance philosopher and prince of Concord. It argues that Pico is part of a history of attempted concordance between philosophy and theology, reason and faith...

This book is the first to systematically examine the connection between religion and transitional justice in post-communism. There are four main goals motivating this book: 1) to explain how civil society (groups such as religious denominations)...

This volume addresses three things many people do not discuss candidly with strangers or mere acquaintances: God, sex, and politics. These can easily become topics of fierce debate, particularly when taken together, as has been the case with same-sex...

The painful reality faced by refugees and migrants is one of the greatest moral challenges of our time, in turn, becoming a focus of significant scholarship. This volume examines the global phenomenon of migration in its theological,...

This book challenges the modern myth that tolerance grows as societies become less religious. The myth inseparably links the progress of toleration to the secularization of modern society. This volume scrutinizes this grand narrative theoretically and...

This volume, dedicated to the memory of Gerard Mannion (1970-2019), former Joseph and Winifred Amaturo Chair in Catholic Studies at Georgetown University, explores the topic of changing the church from a range of different theological perspectives...

This book provides original and controversial contributions into specific areas of Johannine studies, along with defenses of various traditional theological interpretations of John that are commonly overlooked in New Testament scholarship. Kirk R...

Interrogating Modernity returns to Hans Blumenberg's epochal The Legitimacy of the Modern Age as a springboard to interrogate questions of modernity, secularisation, technology and political legitimacy in the fields of political theology,...

There is a growing realization that religion plays a major role in development, particularly in the Global South. Whereas theories of secularization assumed that religion would disappear, the reality is that religion has demonstrated its tenacity. In the...

This book addresses the discourses, agendas and actions of Muslim faith-based organizations and activists to empower Muslim communities in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. The individual chapters discuss how traditional Muslim welfare and charity...

Situated within the wider post-secular turn in politics and international relations, this volume focuses not on religion per se, but rather explicitly on theology. Contributions to this collection highlight the political theological foundations of...

This book addresses the challenge of providing for the free exercise of religion without allowing religious exercise by some individuals and groups to impinge upon the conscientious convictions of others. State neutrality toward religion is impossible,...

Orthodox Churches, like most religious bodies, are inherently political: they seek to defend their core values and must engage in politics to do so, whether by promoting certain legislation or seeking to block other legislation. This volume examines the...

Written around 400 B.C. by Kautilya, the 'Indian Machiavelli', THE ARTHASHASTRA was thought lost for more than a thousand years. It was rediscovered in 1905, when scholar Rudrapatnam Shamashastry was asked to catalogue an unpromising pile of...

Queering the Pulpit addresses the huge gap between the Queer community and the church by looking at the historical, cultural, theological, and biblical issues that too often marginalize the Queer community. After setting that contextual foundation the...

Are Truth and Reconciliation Commission processes enough to achieve reconciliation? This volume discusses issues that arise once the task of reconciliation emanates from the limited scope of a specific Truth and Reconciliation Commission and into the...

Picking up a fresh metaphor from the field of urban planning, Wayfinding with Dietrich Bonhoeffer applies a "wayfinding" lens to consider how Bonhoeffer might be a wayfinder for followers of Christ today. Wayfinding provides an accessible entry point...

This captivating study engages two of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century: Karl Barth, the Swiss Protestant theologian, who constructed his theology ""from above"" and engaged the powers in the background of Nazi Germany, and James...

In this volume McSwain continues to deploy Karl Barth, Julian of Norwich, Athanasius, James Cone, and dozens of others to buttress his claim about human duplicity and the Easter asymmetry which allows us to properly interpret our lives by the gospel...

Are Muslims threatening the core values of the West? Jocelyne Cesari examines this question through the lens of testimonies from Muslims in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Her book is an unprecedented...

The current global resurgence of religion is more wide ranging than a clash of civilizations driven by religious extremism, terrorism, or fundamentalism. This global cultural and religious shift is challenging our interpretation of the modern world--what...

During World War II, approximately 10,000 Moldovan Jews were imprisoned in the Obodovka ghetto, located in the Romanian-occupied part of Ukraine. Unlike the areas under German control where Jews faced systematic extermination, survival rates were...

A checklist of human rights must include basic housing, universal healthcare, equitable funding for public schools, and tuition-free college and vocational training.In addition to the fundamentals, though, we need much more to fully thrive. Subsidized...

When scientists invent the world's first time machine, and selects a young American journalist, history buff, and descendent of Ben Franklin, to travel back to colonial Philadelphia to fulfill his noble mission of creating a more perfect Constitution and...

The intersection of theistic religion and politics sparks continued controversy, particularly when addressing complex social issues like immigration. When religious ideologies influence political decisions, they can lead to policies that are less...

What influence have the OSCE, Council of Europe, EU and Russia had on policy and legislative adaptation in Estonia and Ukraine since 1991?‘Stateness’ is congruence between the territorial definition and the right of citizenship in the state...

Radical Two-Kingdom theology would have us believe that God has created a divided world. This world is bifurcated into two realms, one of "nature" and the other of "grace," whereby the things common to believer and unbeliever are understood to occupy a...

Glaube ist nicht unmodern. Der Autor legt nachvollziehbar dar, dass moderne Naturwissenschaften sowie Geisteswissenschaften hochmoderne Begründungen für die Existenz Gottes liefern - entgegen der landläufigen Fehlmeinung. Je weiter die wissenschaftlichen...

Literature, images, and metaphor are often where most of a nation's history are embedded. A study of modern Kurdish literature highlights a fealty to a rich literary past and a rich source of historiography. The articles in this volume address many...

So far religion has been seen as cause for dramatic developments in the history of cities, it has contributed to the monumentalisation of centres and or has given importance to ex-centric places. Very recently, anthropologists have been discovering...

This is a book for anyone seeking a way out of deadlock in Church conflict situations. In employing a contemplative approach to the conflict in the Anglican Communion, it shows how relationships can be rebuilt with affection leading to trust. The author...

In a day when the polar opposite world views are endlessly hostile, confrontational and seemingly intent on eliminating each other from public dialogue and discourse of each's particular views of life, this is a book on how we Christians should respond...

St. Anselm in the twelfth Century said, "I do not seek understanding in order to have faith, but faith leads me to seek understanding." The same was true for many of the Old Testament writers such as Joshua, Samuel, Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezra. And the...

The Bible and politics unite in a new non-fiction book which discovers that finding the answers to the Biblical mysteries leads to understanding that politics and the Bible must come together for our country of freedom to survive.Hidden within the Bible...

Because of one verse in the Holy Bible that God says, many people find themselves embroiled in conflict over this verse and the image of Jesus they have formed in their mind. I never knew one verse could cause so much controversy. I believe to be a true...

Many people the world over are vexed at the alleged blatant and unbridled corrupt practices engaged in by Politicians and other public officials in their respective governments. Many are lamenting over these corrupt practices with mixed feelings of...

What happens when two philosophically-minded friends sit down around a firepit to chat about life's biggest topics? Within these pages, you'll find out. In The Bonfire Sessions: The Long Road to Redemption, authors and podcasters Matthew J. Distefano and...

Herman Bavinck, the prominent, Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologian wrote The Christian Philosophy of Science in 1904, at the pinnacle of his career. However, the emphasis of this work sets it apart from Bavinck's other writings. Even...

Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) was one of the most influential interpreters of the Bible in the sixteenth century, and his works garnered praise from contemporaries like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Erasmus. Melanchthon's 1555 commentary on Proverbs,...

Join with Pete, the lead-pastor, Joe, his son, transitioning to be Jo, his daughter and Jack, the popular youth leader who creates a scandal when he leads his youth club to split off from the parent church. These and other engaging characters grapple...