Market globalization, technology, climate change, and postcolonial political forces are together forging a new, more modern world. However, caught up in the mix are some powerful religious narratives that are galvanizing peoples and reimagining – and sometimes stifling – the political and social order. Some are repressive, fundamentalist imaginations, such as the so-called Islamic Caliphate. Others could be described as post-religious, such as the evolution of universal human rights out of the European Christian tradition. But the question of the compatibility of these religious worldviews, particularly those that have emerged out of the Abrahamic faith traditions, is perhaps the most pressing issue in global stability today. What scope for dialogue is there between the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian ways of imagining the future? How can we engage with these multiple imaginations to create a shared and peaceful global society? Religious Imaginations is an interdisciplinary volume of both new and well-known scholars exploring how religious narratives interact with the contemporary geopolitical climate.

Explores how Christians created, used, and adapted religionized categories of non-Christians through the centuries Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other traces the genealogy of religionization, the various ways Christians throughout history have created a sense of religious normativity while simultaneously producing various categories of non-Christian "otherness." Covering a broad expanse of processes, practices, and socio-political contexts, this innovative volume analyzes the complex intersections of patterns of religionization in different eras while investigating their entanglements with racialization, sexualization, and ethnicization. With a readable and accessible style, Marianne Moyaert offers a nuanced and well-balanced critical analysis of how and why Christianity’s others were named, categorized, essentialized, and governed by those exemplifying Christian normativity in Western European society. The author takes a longue durée approach — a long-term perspective on history that extends past human memory and the archaeological record — that integrates different case studies and a variety of ecclesial, theological, and literary documents. Throughout the text, Moyaert demonstrates how religionization shaped the ways Christians classified people, organized Christian societies, interacted with different Christian and non-Christian groups, and more. Surveys the relationship between shifts in Christian normativity and the way non-Christians are imagined Helps readers connect the lasting effects of patterns of religionization with their everyday experiences Discusses the role of Christian expansion in the differential and unequal treatment of Christianity’s others Examines legal regulations and disciplinary practices that were established to define the boundaries between Christians and non-Christians Incorporates a wide range of scholarly resources, cutting-edge research, and the most recent insights and issues in the field Includes textboxes with helpful summaries, illustrations, and commentary in each chapter Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other: A History of Religionization is an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in interreligious studies, comparative theology, theological approaches to religious diversity, Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations, race and religion, and theorizing religion.

Politics and the Religious Imagination is the product of a group of interdisciplinary scholars each analyzing the connections between religious narratives and the construction of regional and global politics, combining a set of theoretical and philosophic insights with several case studies that represent varied geographies and religious customs. The past decade has seen increasing interest in the links between religion and politics, and this edited volume seeks to take religion seriously as a motivator of action. Few studies have attempted to bring together the multi-disciplinary work in this burgeoning field of study and this work takes a global perspective, using a variety of contexts including East-West relations to analyze the following key themes: the constructive and destructive hermeneutics of religious stories the relevance and importance of religion as a dominant political narrative the rise of new stories among groups as agents of change the way that religious narratives help to define and constrain the Other the manipulation of religious stories for political benefit This work argues that it is insufficient to judge the relationship of religion and politics through mere institutional or quantitative lenses, and this collection proves that while this promise of the narrative part of the social imaginary has been recognized in political theory to a certain extent, its influence in the realm of empirical political science has yet to be fully considered. Combining the work of a wide range of experts, this collection will be of great interests to scholars of politics, philosophy, religious studies, and the literary influence of religion.

Imagining Religious Communities tells the story of the Gupta family through the personal and religious narratives they tell as they create and maintain their extended family and community across national borders. Based on ethnographic research, the book demonstrates the ways that transnational communities are involved in shaping their experiences through narrative performances. Jennifer B. Saunders demonstrates that narrative performances shape participants' social realities in multiple ways: they define identities, they create connections between community members living on opposite sides of national borders, and they help create new homes amidst increasing mobility. The narratives are religious and include epic narratives such as excerpts from the Ramayana as well as personal narratives with dharmic implications. Saunders' analysis combines scholarly understandings of the ways in which performances shape the contexts in which they are told, indigenous comprehension of the power that reciting certain narratives can have on those who hear them, and the theory that social imaginaries define new social realities through expressing the aspirations of communities. Imagining Religious Communities argues that this Hindu community's religious narrative performances significantly contribute to shaping their transnational lives.

"This book is a nuanced discussion of contemporary feminist thought in a variety of religious traditions. It draws from both academic and popular writings and offers a rich selection of books to pursue on one's own." -- Re-Imagining "This remarkable book examines American women's religious thought in many diverse faith traditions.... This is a cogent, provocative -- even moving -- analysis." -- Publishers Weekly This study of the fruits of many different women's religious thought offers insights into the ways women may be shaping American religious ideas and world views at the end of the twentieth century. At its broadest, this book presents a multi-voiced response to the question: "When women across many traditions are heard speaking theologically, publicly and self-consciously as women, what do they have to say?"

A penetrating study of the impact of culture on the Catholic Church in the U.S., and the importance of the Church to the culture."Emmaus," writes the author, "is not only the name of a town in the gospel of Luke. It is also a state of mind." He portrays the American Emmaus as an ongoing conversion walk of twentieth-century Christians who attempt to recognize the crucified and risen Christ within the complex and pluralistic cultures of the United States. He focuses on the connections between being Catholic and American at this point in history, challenges the Church to give witness to the gospel message, and shows how it is through liturgy (the gathered American community) that the Church once again takes the walk to Emmaus. Here are insights not only for Catholics but for Christians of every denomination.

This book applies modern psychological understanding to a historical person. This work focuses on one aspect -- Francis' imagination -- and an analysis of Francis' writings builds on a survey of modern views of the imagination and the approach of Object Relations Theory.