Stories have always been important in religion, but systematic explorations of the narrative dimensions of religion are more recent and interdisciplinary explorations of narrative approaches in theology and religious studies are scarce. Religious Stories We Live By paves the ground for these much needed interdisciplinary conversations. It first offers philosophical, psychological, and epistemological reflections on the importance of narrative approaches in the study of religion. The subsequent sections contain case studies and disciplinary overviews of narrative perspectives in biblical, empirical, systematic, and historical approaches in theology and religious studies. Combined, the contributions showcase the potential of narrative perspectives in bridging theology and religious studies, as well as descriptive and normative approaches. Narrative perspectives offer a fruitful common ground for the study of religion. Contributors include Angela Berlis, Marjo Buitelaar, James Day, Maaike de Haardt, Marieke den Braber, Luco van den Brom, Marjet Derks, Toke Elshof, Dorothea Erbele Küster, John Exalto, Ruard Ganzevoort, Joep van Gennip, Annelies van Heijst, Chris Hermans, Liesbeth Hoeven, Anne-Marie Korte, Edwin Koster, Marit Monteiro, Michael Scherer-Rath, Klaas Spronk, Piet Verschuren, Wim Weren, and Willien van Wieringen.

Interweaving my experiences as a Canadian Muslim woman, mother, (grand)daughter, educator, and scholar throughout this work, I write about living and narratively inquiring (Clandinin and Connelly, Narrative Inquiry; Clandinin) alongside three Muslim mothers and daughters during our daughters’ transition into adolescence. I was interested in mother-and-daughter experiences during this time of life transition because my eldest daughter, Malak, was in the midst of transitioning into adolescence as I embarked upon my doctoral research. I had many wonders about Malak’s experiences, my experiences as a mother, and the experiences of other Muslim daughters and mothers in the midst of similar life transitions. I wondered about how dominant narratives from within and across Muslim and other communities in Canada shape our lives and experiences. For, while we are often storied as victims of various oppressions in media, literature, and elsewhere, little is known about our diverse experiences—par-ticularly the experiences of Muslim mothers and daughters composing our selves and lives alongside one another in familial places.

This text invites pre-service teachers to explore arts-informed practices that showcase the transformative potential of literature in the classroom. Through the lens of "stories-we-live-by," the authors recognize literature as interference, capable of disrupting the habitual patterns through which we interpret the world in order to reawaken the capacity of students and teachers alike to change. Chapters are designed to inspire students’ love of literature by fostering literary and artful encounters that provoke their thinking and sense-making. Each chapter includes engaging pedagogical features that spark thinking and analysis of literature and invite readers to further engagement. The appendices include directions for instruction as well as additional resources. An essential text for courses on children’s and adolescent literature and English methods, pre-service teachers will come away with plenty of text recommendations and arts- and social justice-informed practices to use with their future students. Through artful encounters with visual learning analyses, visual-verbal journals, drama, soundscapes, poetry, and so much more, readers examine their own transformative experiences with literature. Readers will learn to craft and curate practices that encourage engagement, imagination, experimentation, and self-awareness in and beyond the classroom.

Colin Grant challenges the popular use of "myth" as a dismissive designation of the superstitions and falsehoods of "other" cultures. The author maintains that myths occupy a place in our present-day lives that is every bit as important to us as the divinities and heroes of classical antiquity were to the ancients. The myths themselves are in a constant state of flux and transformation. They ebb and flow, both within the context of wider culture and individual experience.

Organized around a metaphor of an academic journey, D. Jean Clandinin offers published tracings of an unfolding journey over 40 years that, at its outset, appeared to focus only on questions of epistemology. However, the book illuminates how that apparent beginning focus shape-shifted to questions of methodology, ethics, ontology, and subsequently, political concerns. Clandinin shows that, even at the outset, her research wonders were grounded in relational understandings of experience, understandings that were simultaneously ontological, methodological, epistemological and ethical. Jean’s work is collaborative, an engagement alongside others and within the contexts in which they and she lived and worked, including those who were participants in the research. She continues to acknowledge that narrative inquiry changes people’s ways of being in the world, and those changes have ethical significance. While what she and her colleagues now call relational ethics has always been central, recently her sense of ethics has become more explicitly political. She shows the development of ideas over time, beginning as she entered doctoral work and continuing through 2019 and onward. Jean’s work, centered on relational understandings of experience, highlights ethical dimensions, and has come to define narrative understandings for generations of researchers. This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers and graduate students, and professional researchers in both educational and healthcare settings. .

In Engaging in Narrative Inquiry, Second Edition, D. Jean Clandinin, a pioneer in narrative research, updates her classic formulation on narrative inquiry, clarifying, extending, and refining methods. This updated edition looks at changes and developments in the field since the publication of the first edition in 2013, exploring how narrative inquiry explores human lives through a narrative lens that honors experience as a source of important knowledge and understanding. The book includes several exemplary cases with the author’s critique and analysis of the work. The following are new to this edition: New exemplary cases, including Menon’s autobiographical narrative inquiry as the starting point for framing a research puzzle and justifying a study, Chung’s account of a study that begins with living alongside participants, and a paper from Swanson’s autobiographical narrative inquiry An expanded discussion of the philosophical grounding of narrative inquiry An expanded discussion of relational ethics in narrative inquiry that highlights links to a relational ontology An updated account of the field of narrative inquiry that highlights future directions, including the necessity of response groups, and questions of responsibility and community The increasing interest in narrative inquiry as research methodology across disciplines makes this book an essential guide and an excellent text for graduate courses in qualitative inquiry, education and nursing research, sociology, and all courses in autobiographical and narrative research and inquiry.

Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By is a ground-breaking book which reveals the stories that underpin unequal and unsustainable societies and searches for inspirational forms of language that can help rebuild a kinder, more ecological world. This new edition has been updated and expanded to bring together the latest ecolinguistic studies with new theoretical insights and practical analyses. The book presents a theoretical framework and practical tools for analysing the key texts which shape the society we live in. The theory is illustrated through examples, including the representation of environmental refugees in the media; the construction of the selfish consumer in economics textbooks; the parallels between climate change denial and coronavirus denial; the erasure of nature in the Sustainable Development Goals; creation myths and how they orient people towards the natural world; and inspirational forms of language in nature writing, Japanese haiku and Native American writing. This edition provides an updated theoretical framework, new example analyses, and an additional chapter on narratives. Accompanied by a free online course with videos, PowerPoints, notes and exercises (www.storiesweliveby.org.uk), as well as a comprehensive glossary, this is essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers working in the areas of Discourse Analysis, Environmental Studies and Communication Studies.

Discover how to reconnect with the child in you and unlock the transformative power of play to live a more joyful life. Can you remember the utter delight of playing chase in the park, flying a kite in the summer breeze, or sinking your hands into a box of paints? As children, playing is how we make sense of the world and our place in it. Why then, as adults, do we forget how to play? Drawing on over twenty years of neuroscientific research, psychotherapist Joanna Fortune has discovered that play is the key to living a happier and more meaningful life. She shares the social, emotional, and physical health benefits of why it’s so good for us, including how to: - Practice micro moments of joy to boost positive mood - Embrace wonderment to help unlock creativity and problem solving - Find the fun in your everyday to alleviate stress - Use storytelling to heal from trauma and find emotional resilience - Nurture a holiday state of mind to rest your brain and recharge - Utilise simple techniques to repair and strengthen relationships From the first blissful sip of freshly brewed coffee to an immune-boosting good laugh with close friends, this ground-breaking book shows how play is rooted in our daily experiences. With helpful insights, tips, and exercises, you’ll discover the tiny changes that will revolutionise your life and why you’re never too old for play. Fans of Atomic Habits and Solve for Happy will love Why We Play. Read what everyone is saying about Why We Play: ‘Brilliant… joyful and transformative.’ Stefanie Preissner ‘I absolutely adore this book and it was a such a treat to read.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘The author does a tremendous job at collating scientific data… I am amazed at the writing, it did not lag or lacked any substance. Amazing!’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars ‘I loved the mixture of scientific research and suggestions on how to play... a very accessible read and equally good to read through or just dip into the play suggestions… An excellent and important book that I'd recommend.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars ‘An excellent reference guide to how we can introduce play and fun into every aspect of our lives, including the workplace where “a curious mind is a playful mind”. The exercises are terrific!’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars ‘What I like most about the book are the many exercises you can try to play, either alone or with another person. I really enjoy being silly so some of her exercises already belong to my daily routine. Seeing even more ideas was very inspiring for me… I would recommend this book to everyone who might feel stuck in the seriousness of life and is looking for more joy as part of their daily routine.’ Victoria’s Vlog ‘A necessary book for those aiming to improve their day-to-day lives through something as easy as PLAY!’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘A great book… highly recommend.’ Angelic Light Book Review ‘A great book… The activities are varied, extensive… a book I would 100% recommend to any adult who wants to enjoy life and live their best life.’ Goodreads reviewer

The study of lived religion is an enterprise which attempts to elucidate how 'ordinary' men and women in all times and places draw on religious behavior, media, and meanings to make sense of themselves and their world. Through the influence of liberation theology and postmodernism, pastoral theologians_like other scholars of religion_have begun more closely to examine the particularity of religious practice that is reflected through the rubric of lived religion. Pastoral Bearings offers up ten studies that exemplify the usefulness of the lived religion paradigm to the field of pastoral theology. The volume presents detailed qualitative research focused on the everyday beliefs and practices of individuals and groups and explores the implications of lived religion for interdisciplinary conversation, intercultural and gender analysis, and congregational studies. Reflecting upon the utility of this approach for pastoral theological research, education, and pastoral care, the studies collected in Pastoral Bearings demonstrate the importance of the study of lived religion.

A guide for building empowering new relationships between mother and daughter offers strategies for overcoming the common crises that result in diminished potential and loss of self-esteem for adolescent girls. 75,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.