Why do we find historians, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, even neurologists so interested in religion in the first place? Perhaps it is because religion is less about God than it is about human beings--representing our psycho-social-emotional-biological state, our cultural values, and our overall history. The purpose of this book is to introduce the student to the main questions in religious studies and to survey some of the dominant theories drawing from a variety of disciplines. In sum, it is a short introduction to the field of religious studies.

Encyclopedic in scope, this book offers wide-ranging coverage of the foundational teachings and practices within the mainstream of the classical Christian tradition. It begins with their roots in the Scriptures, and also branches out into Eastern and Western Christianity, ancient, medieval, and modern, to the present-day. Part I provides an overview of some of these routes, then presents an historical survey of Christianity's major traditions. Part II unpacks some of the character of that revelation, focusing particularly on epistemological and procedural questions. Finally, Part III looks at Christian theology in a university setting: the possibility and shape of theology as a university discipline, its major subfields, and its relations with humanities and the sciences respectively. Fundamental Theology: A Protestant Perspective, 2nd edition, includes a wide range of pedagogical features: - each chapter begins with an outline thesis statement, highlighted in bold - charts and graphs - relevant headings and subheadings employed throughout the book - keywords - provides a survey of pertinent reference literature - questions for review and discussion - annotated suggestions for further reading

The phenomenological method in the study of religions has provided the linchpin supporting the argument that Religious Studies constitutes an academic discipline in its own right and thus that it is irreducible either to theology or to the social sciences. This book examines the figures whom the author regards as having been most influential in creating a phenomenology of religion. Background factors drawn from philosophy, theology and the social sciences are traced before examining the thinking of scholars within the Dutch, British and North American 'schools' of religious phenomenology.

What are the religious impulses in the 1976 film Rocky, and how can they work to shape one's social identity? Do the films Alien and Aliens signify the reemergence of the earth goddess as a vital cultural power? What female archetypes, borne out of male desire, inform the experience of women in Nine and a Half Weeks?These are among the several compelling questions the authors of this volume consider as they explore the way popular American film relates to religion. Oddly, religion and film?two pervasive elements of American culture?have seldom been studied in connection with each other. In this first systematic exploration, the authors look beyond surface religious themes and imagery in film, discovering a deeper, implicit presence of religion. They employ theological, mythological, and social and political criticism to analyze the influence of religion, in all its rich variety and diversity, on popular film. Perhaps more importantly, they consider how the medium of film has helped influence and shape American religious culture, secular or otherwise.More than a random collection of essays, this volume brings to the study of religion and film a carefully constructed analytic framework that advances our understanding of both. Screening the Sacred provides fresh and welcome insight to film criticism; it also holds far-reaching relevance for the study of religion. Progressive in its approach, instructive in its analyses, this book is written for students, scholars, and other readers interested in religion, popular film, and the impact of each on American culture.

In recent years there has been an intensifying debate within the religious studies community about the validity of religion as an analytical category. In this book Fitzgerald sides with those who argue that the concept of religion itself should be abandoned. On the basis of his own research in India and Japan, and through a detailed analysis of the use of religion in a wide range of scholarly texts, the author maintains that the comparative study of religion is really a form of liberal ecumenical theology. By pretending to be a science, religion significantly distorts socio-cultural analysis. He suggest, however, that religious studies can be re-represented in a way which opens up new and productive theoretical connections with anthropology and cultural and literary studies.

An updated, expanded, edition of the popular textbook for student and practising teachers of religious education. It is a book for and about teaching and learning religious education in schools, which is a lively and open-ended subject, ideal for those wanting to explore how people understand the world, and how they live their lives. A wide range of religious and non-religious ways of life are explored. New to this edition are descriptions of more recent research on teaching and learning religious education from the UK, Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Also included are personal accounts written by pupils, teachers and researchers, giving voice to those learning and researching religious education in practice. As well as revising and extending every chapter of the first edition, there are brand-new chapters on: - the real lives of teachers and pupils in religious education - religious education around the world - spirituality - thinking about philosophy, truth, and religious education - ethics, rights, values and virtues - creativity and religious education. A key feature of the book is the 33 classroom activities for learners aged 7 to 18, which are also designed for use by student and practising teachers. These activities enable those studying and teaching religious education to be active researchers.

The Sacred is the Profane collects nine essays by William Arnal and Russell McCutcheon that advance current scholarly debates on secularism-debates. The essays return, again and again, to the question of what "religion"—word and concept—accomplishes, now, for those who employ it, whether at the popular, political, or scholarly level. The focus here is on the efficacy, costs, and the tactical work carried out by dividing the world between religious and political, church and state, sacred and profane.

In Sacred Markets, Sacred Canopies, Ted. G. Jelen brings together the leading scholars in the sociology of religion to debate market theories of religion. As the contributors examine whether or not religious choices can be understood as responding to the same laws of supply and demand as other forms of consumer behavior, they bring out many of the issues, controversies, and concerns surrounding this innovative theory.

Focusing on the important relationship between the 'sacred' and the 'secular', this book demonstrates that it is not paradoxical to think in terms of both secular and sacred or neither, in different times and places. International experts from a range of disciplinary perspectives draw on local, national, and international contexts to provide a fresh analytical approach to understanding these two contested poles. Exploring such phenomena at an individual, institutional, or theoretical level, each chapter contributes to the central message of the book - that the ’in between’ is real, embodied and experienced every day and informs, and is informed by, intersecting social identities. Social Identities between the Sacred and the Secular provides an essential resource for continued research into these concepts, challenging us to re-think where the boundaries of sacred and secular lie and what may lie between.