Lisa D. Pearce and Melinda Lundquist Denton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199753895
- eISBN:
- 9780199894949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753895.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Narratives of religious change in adolescence are the focus of this chapter. Included is an exploration of what youth mean when they say they have become more or less religious or stayed the same. ...
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Narratives of religious change in adolescence are the focus of this chapter. Included is an exploration of what youth mean when they say they have become more or less religious or stayed the same. Few youth describe dynamics in their religiosity by referencing the content of their religious beliefs. A greater proportion discuss their religiosity in terms of religious conduct such as religious service attendance or prayer, but these are usually youth who are describing a decrease in religiosity during adolescence. Youth who rely on the centrality of religion in their life to describe stability or an increase in religiosity are (1) often the Abiders or Adapters who started with a very high level of religious salience and (2) at times report stability or increase in religiosity’s centrality despite decreasing religious conduct. In this period of life called adolescence, as autonomy grows and brain development continues, youth find increasing meaning and confidence in personally refining their religiosity.Less
Narratives of religious change in adolescence are the focus of this chapter. Included is an exploration of what youth mean when they say they have become more or less religious or stayed the same. Few youth describe dynamics in their religiosity by referencing the content of their religious beliefs. A greater proportion discuss their religiosity in terms of religious conduct such as religious service attendance or prayer, but these are usually youth who are describing a decrease in religiosity during adolescence. Youth who rely on the centrality of religion in their life to describe stability or an increase in religiosity are (1) often the Abiders or Adapters who started with a very high level of religious salience and (2) at times report stability or increase in religiosity’s centrality despite decreasing religious conduct. In this period of life called adolescence, as autonomy grows and brain development continues, youth find increasing meaning and confidence in personally refining their religiosity.
Lisa D. Pearce and Melinda Lundquist Denton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199753895
- eISBN:
- 9780199894949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753895.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Following the same youth over about three years of their adolescence, this chapter examines various dynamics in religiosity during adolescence. First, it looks at average change as well as individual ...
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Following the same youth over about three years of their adolescence, this chapter examines various dynamics in religiosity during adolescence. First, it looks at average change as well as individual trajectories in multiple measures of three dimensions of religiosity: conduct, content, and centrality. Then, combining these measures to consider religiosity more holistically, the chapter considers the likelihood of an adolescent’s changing religious profiles over time. Quotes from youth who typify the five most common types of religious change in adolescence are provided to illustrate these dynamics. This chapter reveals a reasonable degree of stability in adolescent religiosity, but describes the moderate refinements that often take place usually involving decreases, but sometimes increases, in certain dimensions of religiosity.Less
Following the same youth over about three years of their adolescence, this chapter examines various dynamics in religiosity during adolescence. First, it looks at average change as well as individual trajectories in multiple measures of three dimensions of religiosity: conduct, content, and centrality. Then, combining these measures to consider religiosity more holistically, the chapter considers the likelihood of an adolescent’s changing religious profiles over time. Quotes from youth who typify the five most common types of religious change in adolescence are provided to illustrate these dynamics. This chapter reveals a reasonable degree of stability in adolescent religiosity, but describes the moderate refinements that often take place usually involving decreases, but sometimes increases, in certain dimensions of religiosity.
Hugh McLeod
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199298259
- eISBN:
- 9780191711619
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298259.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter begins by discussing some of the main theories advanced by historians and sociologists to explain the religious crisis of the 1960s. It then suggests a historical framework within which ...
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This chapter begins by discussing some of the main theories advanced by historians and sociologists to explain the religious crisis of the 1960s. It then suggests a historical framework within which the dramatic developments in that decade can be understood. It argues that to understand the unique atmosphere of the 1960s one also has to take account of specific events and movements. In particular, three stand out as being of pivotal significance in the political and religious radicalization and polarization during that decade, namely the US Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Second Vatican Council.Less
This chapter begins by discussing some of the main theories advanced by historians and sociologists to explain the religious crisis of the 1960s. It then suggests a historical framework within which the dramatic developments in that decade can be understood. It argues that to understand the unique atmosphere of the 1960s one also has to take account of specific events and movements. In particular, three stand out as being of pivotal significance in the political and religious radicalization and polarization during that decade, namely the US Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Second Vatican Council.
James G. Lochtefeld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386141
- eISBN:
- 9780199866380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386141.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant ...
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The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant economic benefits and pernicious social effects, among them attracting a clientele seeking ease and entertainment. Another is greater literacy and scientific education, which have generated greater skepticism about the literal reality of religious merit (punya). A final factor has been the rise of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), in which pilgrim crowds can send a political message. These changes have prompted a variety of Hindu responses. Some simply lament how such changes have disrupted traditional religious patterns, and others completely reject these patterns. The most sophisticated and productive responses have sought to reinterpret traditional ideas into a religious paradigm appropriate for contemporary times.Less
The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant economic benefits and pernicious social effects, among them attracting a clientele seeking ease and entertainment. Another is greater literacy and scientific education, which have generated greater skepticism about the literal reality of religious merit (punya). A final factor has been the rise of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), in which pilgrim crowds can send a political message. These changes have prompted a variety of Hindu responses. Some simply lament how such changes have disrupted traditional religious patterns, and others completely reject these patterns. The most sophisticated and productive responses have sought to reinterpret traditional ideas into a religious paradigm appropriate for contemporary times.
James Lochtefeld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386141
- eISBN:
- 9780199866380
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386141.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This book examines how sacred meaning is created, reinforced, and maintained in Hardwar, an important Hindu pilgrimage site (tirtha). Hardwar’s religious identity is inextricably tied to the river ...
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This book examines how sacred meaning is created, reinforced, and maintained in Hardwar, an important Hindu pilgrimage site (tirtha). Hardwar’s religious identity is inextricably tied to the river Ganges, and the city’s sacred narratives (present and past) present its identity as fixed and unchanging—as for many Hindu pilgrimage sites. This perspective ignores mundane factors such as economic, social, or technological change, which have sharply affected Hardwar’s development in the past two centuries. Yet these two differing visions of Hardwar are both emphatically, simultaneously “real.” The work begins with a short introduction to orient the reader to Hardwar and to the author’s guiding principles. Chapters 2 and 3 then lay out these contrasting histories (sacred and secular), and Hardwar’s complex identity lies in the tension between these narratives. The book’s second part analyzes Hardwar as a contemporary Hindu pilgrimage center. Chapters 4 through 6 are devoted to differing resident elites—businessmen, pandas (hereditary pilgrim guides), and ascetics—and delineate their roles in managing Hardwar as a holy place. Chapter 7 focuses on Hardwar’s pilgrims and examines factors drawing them there. The interaction between these groups creates and maintains Hardwar’s religious environment, and these forces shaping Hardwar have strong parallels in other north Indian pilgrimage sites. The final chapter addresses this wider context by examining changes in contemporary Hindu pilgrimage, particularly how modern Hindus are reinterpreting traditional symbols to make them meaningful for their time.Less
This book examines how sacred meaning is created, reinforced, and maintained in Hardwar, an important Hindu pilgrimage site (tirtha). Hardwar’s religious identity is inextricably tied to the river Ganges, and the city’s sacred narratives (present and past) present its identity as fixed and unchanging—as for many Hindu pilgrimage sites. This perspective ignores mundane factors such as economic, social, or technological change, which have sharply affected Hardwar’s development in the past two centuries. Yet these two differing visions of Hardwar are both emphatically, simultaneously “real.” The work begins with a short introduction to orient the reader to Hardwar and to the author’s guiding principles. Chapters 2 and 3 then lay out these contrasting histories (sacred and secular), and Hardwar’s complex identity lies in the tension between these narratives. The book’s second part analyzes Hardwar as a contemporary Hindu pilgrimage center. Chapters 4 through 6 are devoted to differing resident elites—businessmen, pandas (hereditary pilgrim guides), and ascetics—and delineate their roles in managing Hardwar as a holy place. Chapter 7 focuses on Hardwar’s pilgrims and examines factors drawing them there. The interaction between these groups creates and maintains Hardwar’s religious environment, and these forces shaping Hardwar have strong parallels in other north Indian pilgrimage sites. The final chapter addresses this wider context by examining changes in contemporary Hindu pilgrimage, particularly how modern Hindus are reinterpreting traditional symbols to make them meaningful for their time.
Ralph Houlbrooke
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208761
- eISBN:
- 9780191678134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208761.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Social History
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to investigate the effects of religious change on the social history of death ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to investigate the effects of religious change on the social history of death between the close of the Middle Ages and the mid-18th century. It presents an overview of the subsequent chapters. The main respect in which this book differs from previous works on the social history of death in England is the attention which it pays to preparation for death. Some other accounts have focused on funeral rites above all.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to investigate the effects of religious change on the social history of death between the close of the Middle Ages and the mid-18th century. It presents an overview of the subsequent chapters. The main respect in which this book differs from previous works on the social history of death in England is the attention which it pays to preparation for death. Some other accounts have focused on funeral rites above all.
Charles T Mathewes and Christopher McKnight Nichols (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195342536
- eISBN:
- 9780199867042
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342536.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book explores the surprisingly similar expectations of religious and moral change voiced by major American thinkers from the time of the Puritans to modern times. These predictions of ...
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This book explores the surprisingly similar expectations of religious and moral change voiced by major American thinkers from the time of the Puritans to modern times. These predictions of “godlessness” in American society — sometimes by those favoring the foreseen future, sometimes by those fearing it — have a history as old as America, and indeed seem crucially intertwined with it. This book shows that there have been and continue to be patterns to these prophesies. They determine how some people perceive and analyze America's prospective moral and religious future, how they express themselves, and powerfully affect how others hear them. While these patterns have taken a sinuous and at times subterranean route to the present, when we think about the future of America we are thinking about that future largely with terms and expectations first laid out by past generations, some stemming back before the very foundations of the United States. Even contemporary atheists and those who predict optimistic techno-utopias rely on scripts that are deeply rooted in the American past. This book excavates the history of these prophesies. Each chapter attends to a particular era, and each is organized around a focal individual, a community of thought, and changing conceptions of secularization. Each chapter also discusses how such predictions are part of all thought about “the good society,” and how such thinking structures our apprehension of the present, forming a feedback loop of sorts.Less
This book explores the surprisingly similar expectations of religious and moral change voiced by major American thinkers from the time of the Puritans to modern times. These predictions of “godlessness” in American society — sometimes by those favoring the foreseen future, sometimes by those fearing it — have a history as old as America, and indeed seem crucially intertwined with it. This book shows that there have been and continue to be patterns to these prophesies. They determine how some people perceive and analyze America's prospective moral and religious future, how they express themselves, and powerfully affect how others hear them. While these patterns have taken a sinuous and at times subterranean route to the present, when we think about the future of America we are thinking about that future largely with terms and expectations first laid out by past generations, some stemming back before the very foundations of the United States. Even contemporary atheists and those who predict optimistic techno-utopias rely on scripts that are deeply rooted in the American past. This book excavates the history of these prophesies. Each chapter attends to a particular era, and each is organized around a focal individual, a community of thought, and changing conceptions of secularization. Each chapter also discusses how such predictions are part of all thought about “the good society,” and how such thinking structures our apprehension of the present, forming a feedback loop of sorts.
Hugh McLeod
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199298259
- eISBN:
- 9780191711619
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298259.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the changes that occurred in the religions history of the Western world during the ‘long 1960s’, a period which lasted from 1958 to 1974. Four ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the changes that occurred in the religions history of the Western world during the ‘long 1960s’, a period which lasted from 1958 to 1974. Four major themes are highlighted. First, from the 1950s to the 1970s there was an enormous increase in the range of beliefs and world-views accessible to the majority of the population. Second, there was a change in the way that people in most Western countries understood the religious identity of their own society. Third, there was a serious weakening of the process by which the great majority of children were socialized into membership of a Christian society and in particular were given a confessional identity and a basic knowledge of Christian beliefs and practices. Fourth, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, Catholics and Protestants moved closer together. But as the divisions between the Christian churches were narrowing, the divisions within each of the churches were deepening. The main objectives of the books are then described.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the changes that occurred in the religions history of the Western world during the ‘long 1960s’, a period which lasted from 1958 to 1974. Four major themes are highlighted. First, from the 1950s to the 1970s there was an enormous increase in the range of beliefs and world-views accessible to the majority of the population. Second, there was a change in the way that people in most Western countries understood the religious identity of their own society. Third, there was a serious weakening of the process by which the great majority of children were socialized into membership of a Christian society and in particular were given a confessional identity and a basic knowledge of Christian beliefs and practices. Fourth, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, Catholics and Protestants moved closer together. But as the divisions between the Christian churches were narrowing, the divisions within each of the churches were deepening. The main objectives of the books are then described.
Mary Douglas
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199265237
- eISBN:
- 9780191602054
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199265232.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Focuses on the absence of ancestor cults in the Bible, and notes that the ground already covered in the book indicates that the priestly editors of the Pentateuch in the sixth and fifth centuries ...
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Focuses on the absence of ancestor cults in the Bible, and notes that the ground already covered in the book indicates that the priestly editors of the Pentateuch in the sixth and fifth centuries bce, and their interpretation of monotheism, make it unlikely that there would have been room for such an idea. Considers the limited role of the dead in biblical Israel in the context of the major advance that was monotheism, and asks whether Leviticus represents a Utopian religion or a real one that was actually practiced in the past, emphasizing the intellectual consistency of the Pentateuch in its uncompromising monotheism. The question is asked as to whether Israel ever had an ancestral cult, and the biblical evidence against such a cult is reviewed. The possible benefits of an ancestor cult in taking the blame are discussed, along with some alternative views to this (notably, the horror of death), and the possibility of the forcible suppression of ancestor cults as part of a centralizing government programme (here certain parallels are drawn with other cultures, and the cult of purgatory is discussed). Other ways in which cults of the dead can fade are discussed in the last part of the chapter; these include the secularizing effect of modernization, intergenerational tension, the character of the resource base in relation to the fate of ancestor cults (as illustrated by religious dynamism in the Calabari Delta of Nigeria), religious change instigated by changing regimes in which either the old or the young may become ascendant, and the position of eighth‐century Israel as having everything that would favour a revolt by the young – thus setting a trail for the priestly editors that had been laid centuries before, and embodied the central doctrine of monotheism.Less
Focuses on the absence of ancestor cults in the Bible, and notes that the ground already covered in the book indicates that the priestly editors of the Pentateuch in the sixth and fifth centuries bce, and their interpretation of monotheism, make it unlikely that there would have been room for such an idea. Considers the limited role of the dead in biblical Israel in the context of the major advance that was monotheism, and asks whether Leviticus represents a Utopian religion or a real one that was actually practiced in the past, emphasizing the intellectual consistency of the Pentateuch in its uncompromising monotheism. The question is asked as to whether Israel ever had an ancestral cult, and the biblical evidence against such a cult is reviewed. The possible benefits of an ancestor cult in taking the blame are discussed, along with some alternative views to this (notably, the horror of death), and the possibility of the forcible suppression of ancestor cults as part of a centralizing government programme (here certain parallels are drawn with other cultures, and the cult of purgatory is discussed). Other ways in which cults of the dead can fade are discussed in the last part of the chapter; these include the secularizing effect of modernization, intergenerational tension, the character of the resource base in relation to the fate of ancestor cults (as illustrated by religious dynamism in the Calabari Delta of Nigeria), religious change instigated by changing regimes in which either the old or the young may become ascendant, and the position of eighth‐century Israel as having everything that would favour a revolt by the young – thus setting a trail for the priestly editors that had been laid centuries before, and embodied the central doctrine of monotheism.
Jenny Trinitapoli and Alexander Weinreb
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195335941
- eISBN:
- 9780199979080
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335941.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapters 1 through 9 focus on how religion in Africa shapes the popular understanding of the AIDS epidemic, modes of prevention, and mitigation of effects. This chapter flips the direction of the ...
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Chapters 1 through 9 focus on how religion in Africa shapes the popular understanding of the AIDS epidemic, modes of prevention, and mitigation of effects. This chapter flips the direction of the relationship and asks how, if at all, AIDS is changing religious belief and practice in sub-Saharan Africa over and above broader determinants of religious change. Historical precedents of epidemics effecting religious change are reviewed. Contrasts between those cases and AIDS are clarified. Using data from sermons and from religious life histories collected in Malawi, the chapter then points to signs of AIDS’s role in increasing religiosity, encouraging denominational shifts to congregations with stricter moral codes and more extensive social support, and more generally affecting patterns of religious expression—in particular through the infusion of more and sharper messages about sexual morality and caregiving in religious teachings.Less
Chapters 1 through 9 focus on how religion in Africa shapes the popular understanding of the AIDS epidemic, modes of prevention, and mitigation of effects. This chapter flips the direction of the relationship and asks how, if at all, AIDS is changing religious belief and practice in sub-Saharan Africa over and above broader determinants of religious change. Historical precedents of epidemics effecting religious change are reviewed. Contrasts between those cases and AIDS are clarified. Using data from sermons and from religious life histories collected in Malawi, the chapter then points to signs of AIDS’s role in increasing religiosity, encouraging denominational shifts to congregations with stricter moral codes and more extensive social support, and more generally affecting patterns of religious expression—in particular through the infusion of more and sharper messages about sexual morality and caregiving in religious teachings.
Keith Wrightson and David Lavine
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203216
- eISBN:
- 9780191675799
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203216.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Social History
This book was first completed in October 1977. This postscript provides a reappraisal of some of the arguments advanced since then in the light of the discussion that they have subsequently provoked. ...
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This book was first completed in October 1977. This postscript provides a reappraisal of some of the arguments advanced since then in the light of the discussion that they have subsequently provoked. This is worth doing because whatever its limitations and deficiencies, the Terling study has influenced the discussion of English society in the later 16th and 17th centuries. Two sets of arguments in particular have been repeatedly singled out. The first relates to a specific social-structural question: the role of kinship in the structuring of social relationships in the village. The second encompasses a larger range of issues arising from what is sometimes referred to as the ‘Terling thesis’: the interpretation of the interaction of demographic, economic, social, and cultural change that runs throughout the study, and above all that part of the argument relating to the impact of religious change on social relations.Less
This book was first completed in October 1977. This postscript provides a reappraisal of some of the arguments advanced since then in the light of the discussion that they have subsequently provoked. This is worth doing because whatever its limitations and deficiencies, the Terling study has influenced the discussion of English society in the later 16th and 17th centuries. Two sets of arguments in particular have been repeatedly singled out. The first relates to a specific social-structural question: the role of kinship in the structuring of social relationships in the village. The second encompasses a larger range of issues arising from what is sometimes referred to as the ‘Terling thesis’: the interpretation of the interaction of demographic, economic, social, and cultural change that runs throughout the study, and above all that part of the argument relating to the impact of religious change on social relations.
Nigel Aston (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205968
- eISBN:
- 9780191676871
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205968.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, History of Religion
The focus of this book is the nature of religious change over more than two centuries, here examined in tribute to John McManners on his eightieth birthday. Ranging across Europe (with a particular ...
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The focus of this book is the nature of religious change over more than two centuries, here examined in tribute to John McManners on his eightieth birthday. Ranging across Europe (with a particular emphasis on France and Britain), chapters survey individual responses to crises in the religious life of the state, discuss contacts between communions, note changing patterns of worship and devotions, and explore the ways in which religion (and the lessons of the past) can offer help or consolation in the conduct of life. Some contributors deal with the close, often tense, links between religion, churchmen, and the formation and evolving character of the state; others consider the survival and adaptability of minority groups such as 18th-century monks, or British Jews, in response to external considerations. In all of the chapters, the interaction of private and public life is a strong feature, a reflection of its own importance in Professor McManners' own writings.Less
The focus of this book is the nature of religious change over more than two centuries, here examined in tribute to John McManners on his eightieth birthday. Ranging across Europe (with a particular emphasis on France and Britain), chapters survey individual responses to crises in the religious life of the state, discuss contacts between communions, note changing patterns of worship and devotions, and explore the ways in which religion (and the lessons of the past) can offer help or consolation in the conduct of life. Some contributors deal with the close, often tense, links between religion, churchmen, and the formation and evolving character of the state; others consider the survival and adaptability of minority groups such as 18th-century monks, or British Jews, in response to external considerations. In all of the chapters, the interaction of private and public life is a strong feature, a reflection of its own importance in Professor McManners' own writings.
Elisabetta Ruspini, Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, and Consuelo Corradi (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447336358
- eISBN:
- 9781447336396
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447336358.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book provides interdisciplinary, global, and multi-religious perspectives on the relationship between women's identities, religion, and social change in the contemporary world. The book ...
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This book provides interdisciplinary, global, and multi-religious perspectives on the relationship between women's identities, religion, and social change in the contemporary world. The book discusses the experiences and positions of women, and particular groups of women, to understand patterns of religiosity and religious change. It also addresses the current and future challenges posed by women's changes to religion in different parts of the world and among different religious traditions and practices. The chapters address a diverse range of themes and issues including the attitudes of different religions to gender equality; how women construct their identity through religious activity; whether women have opportunity to influence religious doctrine; and the impact of migration on the religious lives of both women and men.Less
This book provides interdisciplinary, global, and multi-religious perspectives on the relationship between women's identities, religion, and social change in the contemporary world. The book discusses the experiences and positions of women, and particular groups of women, to understand patterns of religiosity and religious change. It also addresses the current and future challenges posed by women's changes to religion in different parts of the world and among different religious traditions and practices. The chapters address a diverse range of themes and issues including the attitudes of different religions to gender equality; how women construct their identity through religious activity; whether women have opportunity to influence religious doctrine; and the impact of migration on the religious lives of both women and men.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226204895
- eISBN:
- 9780226204925
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226204925.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Existing work on religious change suggests that the degree to which attempts to change a congregation's tradition will be successful depends on how the changes fit or articulate with the external ...
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Existing work on religious change suggests that the degree to which attempts to change a congregation's tradition will be successful depends on how the changes fit or articulate with the external environment (for example, market conditions or demographic shifts) and/or internal context (for example, existing congregational culture). Relying on a series of case studies and direct comparisons between Lutheran congregations, this chapter explores when, why, and how change succeeds and fails. One way in which explanations based on the concept of articulation may be made more robust is to attend to the ongoing processes by which cultural change is produced and received. This chapter looks at the conflict and schism at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, as well as rearticulation and compromise at Grace Lutheran Church. It shows that there are multiple pathways to consensus, compromise, and conflict when congregations attempt to change the religious tradition that governs their collective lives.Less
Existing work on religious change suggests that the degree to which attempts to change a congregation's tradition will be successful depends on how the changes fit or articulate with the external environment (for example, market conditions or demographic shifts) and/or internal context (for example, existing congregational culture). Relying on a series of case studies and direct comparisons between Lutheran congregations, this chapter explores when, why, and how change succeeds and fails. One way in which explanations based on the concept of articulation may be made more robust is to attend to the ongoing processes by which cultural change is produced and received. This chapter looks at the conflict and schism at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, as well as rearticulation and compromise at Grace Lutheran Church. It shows that there are multiple pathways to consensus, compromise, and conflict when congregations attempt to change the religious tradition that governs their collective lives.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226204895
- eISBN:
- 9780226204925
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226204925.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Scholarly and popular accounts of the restructuring of American religion suggest that the culture of religious choice, seeker spirituality, and the move away from denominationalism have weakened the ...
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Scholarly and popular accounts of the restructuring of American religion suggest that the culture of religious choice, seeker spirituality, and the move away from denominationalism have weakened the relevancy and authority of specific religious traditions. This book has provided a window onto the ongoing process of religious change at the onset of the twenty-first century and suggests that the familiar story of restructuring needs to be amended. This chapter explains how this study of Lutheran congregations contributes to the larger account of religious change in America. It begins by examining how the colonization of Lutheranism by evangelical and non-denominational religious forces has altered the historic tradition. It then shows how these changes have affected the nature of community at several of the congregations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how this study contributes to our understanding of the more general processes of religious and cultural change.Less
Scholarly and popular accounts of the restructuring of American religion suggest that the culture of religious choice, seeker spirituality, and the move away from denominationalism have weakened the relevancy and authority of specific religious traditions. This book has provided a window onto the ongoing process of religious change at the onset of the twenty-first century and suggests that the familiar story of restructuring needs to be amended. This chapter explains how this study of Lutheran congregations contributes to the larger account of religious change in America. It begins by examining how the colonization of Lutheranism by evangelical and non-denominational religious forces has altered the historic tradition. It then shows how these changes have affected the nature of community at several of the congregations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how this study contributes to our understanding of the more general processes of religious and cultural change.
Daniel B. Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142913
- eISBN:
- 9781400842261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142913.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter skips ahead fifty years from the previous chapter to find the roots of the heroic and prototypical image of Spinoza in the historical fiction of the young Berthold Auerbach (1812–1882), ...
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This chapter skips ahead fifty years from the previous chapter to find the roots of the heroic and prototypical image of Spinoza in the historical fiction of the young Berthold Auerbach (1812–1882), using his engagement with the Amsterdam heretic in the 1830s as a lens for exploring tensions in early Reform Judaism between organic and revolutionary visions of religious change. It contends that his 1837 historical novel, Spinoza, ein historischer Roman (Spinoza, a Historical Novel), when studied against the backdrop of his previous Jewish writings, evinces a very personal—but also very contemporary—tug-of-war between two different visions of Jewish modernity: one more reformist and accommodating of a religious framework for change, the other more uncompromisingly radical.Less
This chapter skips ahead fifty years from the previous chapter to find the roots of the heroic and prototypical image of Spinoza in the historical fiction of the young Berthold Auerbach (1812–1882), using his engagement with the Amsterdam heretic in the 1830s as a lens for exploring tensions in early Reform Judaism between organic and revolutionary visions of religious change. It contends that his 1837 historical novel, Spinoza, ein historischer Roman (Spinoza, a Historical Novel), when studied against the backdrop of his previous Jewish writings, evinces a very personal—but also very contemporary—tug-of-war between two different visions of Jewish modernity: one more reformist and accommodating of a religious framework for change, the other more uncompromisingly radical.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226204895
- eISBN:
- 9780226204925
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226204925.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
One of the strategies of change used at one of the congregations documented in this book is tied to the Lutheran Church's religious tradition and is akin to the so-called retraditioning—a way of ...
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One of the strategies of change used at one of the congregations documented in this book is tied to the Lutheran Church's religious tradition and is akin to the so-called retraditioning—a way of “creating new cultural formations that provide alternative visions of spiritual and ethical life.” This chapter explores the strategies of change and draws on existing cultural, ecological, and market theories of religious change to explain the patterns of change. It looks at the organizational conditions under which congregations will use specific strategies of cultural resignification or market adaptation. It demonstrates how larger religious trends, especially the growing dominance of evangelicalism (that is, the pietist tradition) in American Protestantism and the new spirituality, shape the strategies of change used by the congregations. It also shows how the solutions presented in congregations' causal stories influence the change strategies they employ. Furthermore, the chapter examines how cultural theories understand the process of change and how leaders of the congregations use different strategies of resignification to push their congregations toward a liberal form of sectarianism.Less
One of the strategies of change used at one of the congregations documented in this book is tied to the Lutheran Church's religious tradition and is akin to the so-called retraditioning—a way of “creating new cultural formations that provide alternative visions of spiritual and ethical life.” This chapter explores the strategies of change and draws on existing cultural, ecological, and market theories of religious change to explain the patterns of change. It looks at the organizational conditions under which congregations will use specific strategies of cultural resignification or market adaptation. It demonstrates how larger religious trends, especially the growing dominance of evangelicalism (that is, the pietist tradition) in American Protestantism and the new spirituality, shape the strategies of change used by the congregations. It also shows how the solutions presented in congregations' causal stories influence the change strategies they employ. Furthermore, the chapter examines how cultural theories understand the process of change and how leaders of the congregations use different strategies of resignification to push their congregations toward a liberal form of sectarianism.
Darren E. Sherkat
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814741269
- eISBN:
- 9780814741283
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814741269.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the influence of voluntary shifts in religious identifications on the dynamics of religious affiliation over time. Using data from the 1973–2012 General Social Survey, it ...
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This chapter examines the influence of voluntary shifts in religious identifications on the dynamics of religious affiliation over time. Using data from the 1973–2012 General Social Survey, it analyzes the predictors of religious switching and apostasy to highlight people's tendency to shift their religious identifications. It also considers trends in religious switching and patterns of mobility across religious groups and how these trends and patterns vary across generations and across ethnic groups. Finally, it explores the impact of ethnicity, gender, social status, and geographic mobility on religious switching, apostasy, and which religious changes are most and least likely. It shows that the observed changes in religious identification over the past four decades and across many generations are a function of the ethnic milieu created by patterns of immigration.Less
This chapter examines the influence of voluntary shifts in religious identifications on the dynamics of religious affiliation over time. Using data from the 1973–2012 General Social Survey, it analyzes the predictors of religious switching and apostasy to highlight people's tendency to shift their religious identifications. It also considers trends in religious switching and patterns of mobility across religious groups and how these trends and patterns vary across generations and across ethnic groups. Finally, it explores the impact of ethnicity, gender, social status, and geographic mobility on religious switching, apostasy, and which religious changes are most and least likely. It shows that the observed changes in religious identification over the past four decades and across many generations are a function of the ethnic milieu created by patterns of immigration.
Mark Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269830
- eISBN:
- 9780191683824
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269830.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book is a study of religious change in northern Italy under the Roman empire, focusing on the origins and development of Christianity down to the end of the 4th century. It aims to liberate that ...
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This book is a study of religious change in northern Italy under the Roman empire, focusing on the origins and development of Christianity down to the end of the 4th century. It aims to liberate that history from the conventional models of ecclesiastical narrative, by demonstrating the unreliability of many of the traditional sources and by constructing a new methodology that locates the development of the Church in the context of what is termed the north Italian human environment. In other words, it is an attempt to understand the growth of Christianity in the social and cultural context of a region of the Roman Empire.Less
This book is a study of religious change in northern Italy under the Roman empire, focusing on the origins and development of Christianity down to the end of the 4th century. It aims to liberate that history from the conventional models of ecclesiastical narrative, by demonstrating the unreliability of many of the traditional sources and by constructing a new methodology that locates the development of the Church in the context of what is termed the north Italian human environment. In other words, it is an attempt to understand the growth of Christianity in the social and cultural context of a region of the Roman Empire.
Stuart Clark
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208082
- eISBN:
- 9780191677915
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208082.003.0033
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Social History
This chapter places demonology among the general theological and evangelical notions that sustained it and shows how prevalent these were. And, in a sense, this is a task already achieved for us in ...
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This chapter places demonology among the general theological and evangelical notions that sustained it and shows how prevalent these were. And, in a sense, this is a task already achieved for us in reformation discourse itself in those very areas of writing on which hopes for religious reform ultimately rested — dogmatics, casuistry, and catechesis. These synoptic presentations of the religious world — precise, inclusive maps of its terrain — give us the exact location of clerical demonology. Together with all the other manifestations of church-type evangelism — confessions of faith, visitation articles, church and school ordinances, codes for regulating orders and missions, and the like — the publications surveyed were the means for making religious change a spiritual and moral reality for laypeople as well as a dream of scholars and priests. To appeal to them is, thus, to pinpoint both the theological co-ordinates of magic and witchcraft and, simultaneously, the relevance of these sins to the day-to-day practice of reformation.Less
This chapter places demonology among the general theological and evangelical notions that sustained it and shows how prevalent these were. And, in a sense, this is a task already achieved for us in reformation discourse itself in those very areas of writing on which hopes for religious reform ultimately rested — dogmatics, casuistry, and catechesis. These synoptic presentations of the religious world — precise, inclusive maps of its terrain — give us the exact location of clerical demonology. Together with all the other manifestations of church-type evangelism — confessions of faith, visitation articles, church and school ordinances, codes for regulating orders and missions, and the like — the publications surveyed were the means for making religious change a spiritual and moral reality for laypeople as well as a dream of scholars and priests. To appeal to them is, thus, to pinpoint both the theological co-ordinates of magic and witchcraft and, simultaneously, the relevance of these sins to the day-to-day practice of reformation.