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The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their fellow Muslims. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Over the centuries, the Kharijites have repeatedly been invoked whenever militant opposition arose and today the label is frequently applied to extremist Islamic movements. After a brief look at Kharijite origins, this book focuses on contemporary Egypt. The book shows how religious images of the Kharijites have dominated public discussion about political opposition movements, effectively undermining attempts to discuss the real issues generating such movements.

Why does agency — the capacity to make choices and to act in the world — matter to us? Why is it meaningful that our intentions have effects in the world, that they reflect our sense of identity, that they embody what we value? What kinds of motivations are available for political agency and judgment in an age that lacks the enthusiasm associated with the great emancipatory movements for civil rights and gender equality? What are the conditions for the possibility of being an effective agent when the meaning of democracy has become less transparent? This book addresses these crucial questions by uncovering the political, moral, philosophical, and religious dimensions of human agency. The book treats agency as a form of religious experience that reflects implicit and explicit notions of the good. Of particular concern are the moral, political, and religious motivations that underpin an understanding of agency as meaningful action. Through a critical engagement with the work of theorists such as Judith Butler, Charles Taylor, and Stanley Cavell, this book argues that late modern and postmodern agency is found most effectively at work in “projects of regenerating agency” or critical and strategic responses to loss. Agency as melancholic freedom begins and endures, this text maintains, through the moral and psychic losses associated with a broad range of experiences, including the moral identities shaped by secularized modernity and the multi-fold forms of alienation experienced by those who suffer the indignities of racial, gender, class, and sexuality discrimination and oppression. This book calls for renewing the sense of urgency in our political and moral engagements by seeing agency as a vocation, where the aspiration for self-transformation and the human need for hope are fundamental concerns.

While religious communities often stress the universal nature of their beliefs, it remains true that people choose to worship alongside those they identify with most easily. Multiethnic churches are rare in the United States, but as American attitudes toward diversity change, so too does the appeal of a church that offers diversity. Joining such a community, however, is uncomfortable — worshippers must literally cross the barriers of ethnic difference by entering the religious space of the ethnically “other”. Using the story of one multiethnic congregation in Southern California, this book examines what it means to confront the challenges in forming a religious community across ethnic divisions and attracting a more varied membership.

Since its inception around 1970, the study of new religious movements (NRMs) has evolved into an established multidisciplinary field. At the same time, both the movements and the scholars who study them have been the subjects of intense controversy. In this book, a group of senior NRM scholars who have been instrumental in the development of the field offer pivotal essays in the form of chapters that present the basics of NRM scholarship along with guidance for teachers on classroom use.

This book provides analyses of the many ways Japanese Zen Buddhism can be interpreted as either a cure‐all for the world's problems as stated by the Traditional Zen Narrative (TZN) view or whether Zen is a contradictory, self‐serving entity as offered by the Historical and Cultural Criticism (HCC) view. Through the concepts of Zen “writes, rites, and rights,” the book examines the character of Zen. “Zen writes” describes the contradiction that although Zen is traditionally considered to be an esoteric religion based on personal transmissions between monks, it has created an extraordinary amount of written literature. The chapter considers whether the voluminous literature is a strength or a weak point for Zen. In the debate of “Zen rites,” the critical view (HCC) points out the history of religious syncretism in Japan as a compromise by Zen to appeal to the general public by incorporating folk gods and rituals into monastic rites, while the traditional view maintains that there is a separation between the syncretic and the monastic sides of Zen. And finally, “Zen rights” deals with both the ethical benefits that Zen can provide in addition to the moral atrocities that Zen has committed in the past. Zen can be a powerful tool in environmental preservation and world peace, but has also been used to justify discrimination and extreme nationalism in Japan through the 20th century. The final chapter seeks to rectify the two views of TZN and HCC through an acknowledgment of both sides and a balanced recommendation for the future of Zen.

Religiously motivated terrorism is a religious phenomenon; thus the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism is the psychology of religion. For many decades the author of this book has been working in the discipline of the psychology of religion as both a professor of religious studies and a practicing clinical psychologist. Here he applies that work to the topic of religious terrorism, addressing it from both perspectives. Both the clinician’s concern with the dynamics of individual personalities and the scholar’s knowledge of the diversity and complexity of the religious life enter into this book. This book analyzes the psychological dynamics involved in religiously motivated violence and discusses how understanding those dynamics can contribute to understanding both the psychology of religion and contemporary, religiously motivated terrorism. In the literature on this topic there is a paucity of discussion of both of these factors—the psychodynamics of religious terrorism and the religious aspect itself. This dual perspective on a topic of obvious interest and importance is unique to this book. Besides the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism, chapters include contemporary terrorism as seen from multiple perspectives, Islamic terrorism in the context of world religions, Aum Shrinkyo, American apocalyptic Christianity, what this perspective tells us about religion, and religious responses to terrorism.

The book is the first in-depth ethnographic study of churched religion in the Pacific Northwest. It describes and explains how Protestant churches survive and thrive in the most unchurched region of the country. The study is based on nearly 450 interviews from thirty-four vital liberal and evangelical Protestant churches in the Pacific Northwest. These two sets of congregations embody separate moral worldviews and the study shows how these moral worldviews conflict, compete, and, on rare occasions, find common ground in five areas: ideology; religious beliefs; organizational and ritual life; mission (both local and international), and finally, how each relates to the politics of the region and nation. Evangelicals have dominated the public discourse on American religious life and politics over the last decade; it has become popular to accuse them of advocating an American theocracy. There was no evidence for this claim in the data from this study. Evangelicals do want influence — focusing intense energy on a political culture to nurture families — but they express the same intense distrust of the government that was found among liberals. Moreover, the study found relative disinterest on the part of liberals in influencing the public square. There was little consensus among liberals in protesting the Iraq War. Nonetheless, liberals were committed to a “moral culture” like evangelicals, though with distinctively different values — embracing a culture of inclusiveness and hospitality for homosexuals, the homeless, and the hungry.

The academic study of death rose to prominence during the 1960s. Courses on some aspect of death and dying can now be found at most institutions of higher learning. However, these courses tend to stress the psycho-social aspects of grief and bereavement, ignoring the religious elements inherent to the subject. This book addresses the teaching of courses on death and dying from a religious studies perspective. The book is divided into seven sections. The hope is that this book will help to unify a field that is now widely scattered across several disciplines.

The Mandaeans are a Gnostic sect that arose in the Middle East around the same time as Christianity. Although it is one of the few religious traditions that can legitimately claim a 2000‐year literary history, there has been very little written about them in English. What little study of the religion there has been has focused on the ancient Mandaeans and their relationship to early Christianity. This book examines the lives and religion of contemporary Mandaeans, who live mainly in Iran and Iraq but also in diaspora communities throughout the world, including New York and San Diego (USA). The author seeks to cross the boundaries between the traditional history‐of‐religions study of the Mandaean religion (which ignores the existence of living Mandaeans) and the beliefs and practices of contemporary Mandaeans. She provides a comprehensive introduction to the religion, examining some of its central texts, mythological figures, and rituals, and looking at surviving Mandaean communities – showing how their ancient texts inform the living religion, and vice versa. The book is arranged in three parts: Beginnings; Rituals; and Native hermeneutics. A glossary and extensive endnotes are included.

In 1993, when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sealed the Oslo peace agreement, it was heralded as the beginning of a new era in the Middle East peace process. Instead, violence on both sides has continued to plague the region. The brutal facts on the ground have called into question the style of diplomacy that saw its greatest triumph with the Oslo Accords. This book asserts that the failure of the peace process stems in large part from its complete neglect of cultural and religious factors; attempted solutions have ignored the basic needs and values of average people. The author argues for a far greater integration of the religious communities of the region into peace‐building efforts. Drawing on his own personal experience with religion‐based peace initiatives in Israel and Palestine, he writes of the individuals and groups that are already attempting such reconciliations. He offers a detailed prescription for future negotiations using methods specifically designed to undermine the appeal of religious extremists by subtly incorporating religious values and symbols into the procedures of official and unofficial diplomacy, believing that a combination of secular and religious methods of peacemaking will yield a rich and creative model for conflict resolution. Any effort at peacemaking that fails to take into account the deep religious feelings of Muslims, Jews, and Christians is destined to fail. Only by including religion in the peace process can we move past fragile and superficial agreements and toward a deep and lasting solution. The book is arranged in two parts – Analysis, and Practical applications.

At present numbering twenty million adherents and spread the world over, the Sikhs represent a monotheistic tradition founded by Guru Nanak (1469–1539) in the Punjab, a region that served as a cultural bridge between the Middle East and South Asia. The Sikhs are fortunate to have in their possession a large number of early sacred manuscripts, including sixteenth‐ and seventeenth‐century protoscriptural texts. This unique context makes it possible for scholars to trace the history of Sikh canon formation with a degree of accuracy unimaginable in other major religious traditions. On the basis of a close examination of the extant manuscripts and other early Sikh sources in private custody of families in the Punjab, the author presents a detailed reconstruction of the making of the Adi Granth (“original book”) – the primary Sikh scripture, which comprises about 3,000 hymns. In the process, he traces its origin, expansion, canonization, and place within the institutional development of the Sikh community. His findings on many key issues differ from the traditional Sikh position, as well as from the hypotheses of other twentieth‐century scholars; they also raise some entirely fresh questions. The revised and expanded picture of the history of the text and institution of Sikh scripture will be of interest not only to scholars of Sikhism and Sikh religionists, but to scholars of comparative canon formation.

Religious diversity in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades. How are Christians relating to their Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and other new religious neighbors? Using local examples, this book covers the gamut of Christian perspectives in a multireligious America, including debate over a new Hindu temple in town, an Episcopal church that has hosted a mosque since 1987, cooperative efforts between African American pastors and Muslim leaders, immigrant Christians seeking to save non-Christian fellow immigrants, evangelicals resettling immigrants and refugees through “friendship evangelism,” Catholics learning about other religions in the spirit of Vatican II, and Greek Orthodox Christians and Turkish Muslims gaining a new appreciation of their shared history. The effects of September 11, 2001, are also discussed from increased dialogue to missionary initiatives. Here Christian theology meets the multireligious real world, with multiple results suggestive of national trends.

This volume collects together lectures by distinguished scholars. One lecture examines medieval religious relics, focusing on what they actually comprised and asking how these paltry items came to be so highly valued. Another lecture takes the authentic medieval Welsh literary corpus associated with Owain Glyndwr, consisting in the main of bardic eulogies rather than prophecies, and examines them in their historical context. A lecture on Alexander Pope asks what part Shaftesbury's polite wit, Mandeville's cynicism, and Augustan sentimentalism played in the poetry of England's greatest satirist. Another lecture focuses on the Romantic poets' fascination with the lens-made and projected images that the modern world has come to think of as the virtual image. A further lecture examines the choices made by young musicians in Renaissance Italy. The next lecture examines how the paradoxical doctrine of ‘the one and the multiple’ was translated into visual language in Chinese Buddhist art. In some cases, groups related to certain numbers bearing metaphorical significances; while in others, objects were simply replicated in large numbers to create a sense of awe. The final lecture explores the way the natural history of the Americas was exported to 16th-century northern European scientists and how they reacted intellectually and politically.

This book is a primer on the political prophet and Christian social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), who is widely cited for his political realism in the aftermath of George W. Bush’s presidency. His works are on the favorite reading list of Barack Obama. In addition to mapping the “Niebuhr revival” on the political left and right, the book’s seven chapters acquaint readers with the central teachings and ways of thinking behind this fresh interest. The core of Niebuhr’s Christian realism and the role of irony in his thought are made accessible to non-specialists in ways that explain his appeal to secular as well as deeply religious minds. The book begins with an account of the fresh interest in the Protestant thinker and argues for Niebuhr’s sense of history as a prelude to explaining how his view of the human self as sinful and self-preoccupied (individually and in groups) relates to his passion for social justice. Three chapters then examine Niebuhr’s teaching as a preacher and writer with uncommon literary sensitivity, take up his classic 1952 title, The Irony of American History as an expression of his Christian realism, and probe the reasons for his mixed reception in contemporary Christian circles, both popular and academic. A final chapter examines the ways that Niebuhr’s legacy invites levels of self-reflection that judiciously illumine the personal, political, and religious challenges that we face in the contemporary world.

Protestantism abandoned Christendom by way of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and Catholicism did the same in the Declaration of Religious Liberty of the Second Vatican Council. Because scholars have misinterpreted and manipulated the historical background of the meaning of the Free Exercise of Religion and Establishment of Religion, they have led legislators and judges back into the problem of Church and State that prevailed in Christendom, and that the Amendment solved. As a result, the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment has reached a point of deep confusion and crisis. Whereas the Amendment was intended to specify government's lack of jurisdiction in religion, modern interpretations of it have conferred upon government power to define the meaning of the Free Exercise of Religion, religious neutrality, and what aids or hinders religion. The way out of the present confusion lies in confining government to what is secular and forbidding it to make religious assessments and decisions. Examining the decisions of the Supreme Court, this work demonstrates that by reconnecting with the history of the First Amendment and approaching it as a limitation on the power of government, rather than as a grant to government to protect religious liberty, the courts can escape the crisis and confusion they are presently experiencing. Religious liberty is a natural right. Within the meaning of the First Amendment, the Free Exercise of Religion means freedom from government jurisdiction in religion, not a government guarantee to allow individuals to exercise the religion of their choice.