This text examines the history, theory, cultural context, and professional aspects of media and religion. While religion has been explored more fully in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the humanities, there is no clear bridge of understanding to the communication discipline. Daniel A. Stout tackles this issue by providing a roadmap for examining this understudied area so that discussions about media and religion can more easily proceed. Offering great breadth, this text covers key concepts and historical highlights; world religions, denominations, and cultural religion; and religion and specific media genres. The text also includes key terms and questions to ponder for every chapter, and concludes with an in-class learning activity that can be used to encourage students to explore the media–religion interface and review the essential ideas presented in the book. Media and Religion is an ideal introduction for undergraduate students in need of a foundation for this emerging field.

The Handbook of Religion and Society is the most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of a vital force in the world today. It is an indispensable resource for scholars, students, policy makers, and other professionals seeking to understand the role of religion in society. This includes both the social forces that shape religion and the social consequences of religion. This handbook captures the breadth and depth of contemporary work in the field, and shows readers important future directions for scholarship. Among the emerging topics covered in the handbook are biological functioning, organizational innovation, digital religion, spirituality, atheism, and transnationalism. The relationship of religion to other significant social institutions like work and entrepreneurship, science, and sport is also analyzed. Specific attention is paid, where appropriate, to international issues as well as to race, class, sexuality, and gender differences. This handbook includes 27 chapters by a distinguished, diverse, and international collection of experts, organized into 6 major sections: religion and social institutions; religious organization; family, life course, and individual change; difference and inequality; political and legal processes; and globalization and transnationalism.

Whether the issue is the rise of religiously inspired terrorism, the importance of faith based NGOs in global relief and development, or campaigning for evangelical voters in the U.S., religion proliferates in our newspapers and magazines, on our radios and televisions, on our computer screens and, increasingly, our mobile devices. Americans who assumed society was becoming more and more secular have been surprised by religions' rising visibility and central role in current events. Yet this is hardly new: the history of American journalism has deep religious roots, and religion has long been part of the news mix. Providing a wide-ranging examination of how religion interacts with the news by applying the insights of history, sociology, and cultural studies to an analysis of media, faith, and the points at which they meet, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media is the go-to volume for both secular and religious journalists and journalism educators, scholars in media studies, journalism studies, religious studies, and American studies. Divided into five sections, this handbook explores the historical relationship between religion and journalism in the USA, how religion is covered in different media, how different religions are reported on, the main narratives of religion coverage, and the religious press.

Since the 1970s, more and more religious stories have made their way to headline news: the Islamic Revolution in Iran, televangelism and its scandals, and the rise of the Evangelical New Right and its role in politics, to name but a few. Media treatment of religion can be seen as a kind of indicator of the broader role and status of religion on the contemporary scene. To better understand the relationship between religion and the news media, both in everyday practice and in the larger context of American public discourse, author Stewart P. Hoover gives a cultural-historical analysis in his book, Religion in the News. The resulting insights provide important clues as to the place of religion in American life, the role of the media in cultural discourse, and the prospects of institutional religion in the media age. This volume is highly recommended to media professionals, journalists, people in the religious community, and for classroom use in religious studies and media studies programs.

This volume explores the contradiction between the news coverage given to issues of religion, particularly since 2001 in relation to issues such as terrorism, politics, security and gender, and the fact of its apparent decline according to Census data. Based on media research in Australia, and offering comparisons with the UK, the author demonstrates that media discussions overlook the diversity that exists within religions, particularly the country’s main religion, Christianity, and presents religion according to specific interpretations shaped by race, class and gender, which in turn result in very limited understandings of religion itself. Drawing on understandings of the sacred as a non-negotiable value present in religious and secular form, Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia calls for a broader sociological perspective on religion and will appeal to scholars of sociology and media studies with interests in religion and public life.

The second edition of Leadership for Increasingly Diverse Schools helps both practicing and aspiring school leaders deepen their knowledge, skills, and dispositions to create schools that best serve all students. This book helps readers sharpen their awareness of how students’ multiple dimensions of diversity intersect, as well as develop strategies for working with students of all socioeconomic statuses, races, religions, sexual orientations, languages, and special needs. Leadership for Increasingly Diverse Schools provides school leaders with the theory, research, and practical guidance to foster teaching and learning environments that promote educational equity and excellence for all students. Special features: Each chapter focuses on a specific dimension of diversity and discusses intersectionality across other areas of difference, including ability/disability, linguistic diversity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and social frontiers. Chapters synthesize literature, share practical strategies and tools, include school-level and district-level cases illustrating inclusive leadership, and provide extended learning opportunities. Online eResources features additional resources, documents, and links to specific tools described in the chapters, accessible at www.routledge.com/9780367404604.

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Methodism in the public and private lives of the politician After more than forty contentious years in the public eye, Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the best-known political figures in the nation. Yet many of her admirers would be surprised to hear Clinton state that her Methodist outlook has “been a huge part of who I am and how I have seen the world, and what I believe in, and what I have tried to do in my life.” Gary Scott Smith examines the role of Clinton’s faith in her life and work. Clinton’s lifelong Methodism shaped a missionary zeal that, combined with her impressive personal talents, fueled many of her high-profile political endeavors while helping her cope with the prominent travails brought on by never-ending conservative rancor and her husband’s infidelity. Smith places Clinton’s faith within the context of projects ranging from healthcare reform to a “Hillary doctrine” of foreign policy focused on her longtime goal of providing basic human rights for children and women. The result is an enlightening reconsideration of an extraordinary political figure who has defied private doubts and public controversy to live the Methodist dictum that one must “do all the good you can.”

This volume offers a timely and dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics, examining the public messages of political leaders over the past seventy-five years. The authors show that U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics. Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, America has seen a no-holds-barred religious politics that seeks to attract voters, identify and attack enemies, and solidify power. Domke and Coe identify a set of religious signals sent by both Republicans and Democrats in speeches, party platforms, proclamations, visits to audiences of faith, and even celebrations of Christmas. The updated edition of this ground-breaking book includes a new preface, an updated analysis of the last Bush administration, as well as a new final chapter on the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the candidacies of Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama's victory.