Religion and Globalization

Religion and Globalization PDF

Author: Peter Beyer

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 1994-03-31

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780803989177

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In his exploration of the interaction between religion and worldwide social and cultural change, the author examines the major theories of global change and discusses the ways in which such change impinges on contemporary religious practice, meaning and influence. Beyer explores some of the key issues in understanding the shape of religion today, including religion as culture and as social system, pure and applied religion, privatized and publicly influential religion, and liberal versus conservative religions. He goes on to apply these issues to five contemporary illustrative cases: the American Christian Right; Liberation Theology movements in Latin America; the Islamic Revolution in Iran; Zionists in Israel; and religiou

World Religions Today

World Religions Today PDF

Author: John L. Esposito

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 9780195102536

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The twenty-first century is witnessing a resurgence and globalization of religion. Around the world, religion has become an increasingly more important and pervasive force in personal and public life, and faith and politics now play a powerful role in international affairs. Revealing the significance of religion in contemporary life, World Religions Today explores major religious traditions--Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and East Asian religions--as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies. Moving beyond the almost exclusively historical perspective of many books in the field, this text takes a fresh approach, using solid historical coverage of the various religious traditions as a framework to help students understand how faiths have evolved to the present day. It connects today's religions to their classical beliefs and practices but also shows how these religions have responded to and been transformed by the modern world. To help students grasp what might be "new" about the emerging era of religious life in the 21st century, the authors open each discussion with a contemporary scenario of religious experience that illustrates the tensions between pre-modern views and modernity. World Religions Today includes a general introduction that provides essential background information for students and features many pedagogical aids including timelines, maps, numerous illustrations, questions for discussion, and a glossary of key terms. Ideal for undergraduate courses in world religions and comparative religion, World Religions Today emphasizes the interconnectedness of faith, culture, politics, and society, providing a peerless examination of the diverse ways in which contemporary human beings are religious.

Globalization and the Making of Religious Modernity in China

Globalization and the Making of Religious Modernity in China PDF

Author: Thomas Jansen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2014-03-20

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9004271511

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Globalization and the Making of Religious Modernity in China, co-edited by Thomas Jansen, Thoralf Klein and Christian Meyer, investigates the transformation of China’s religious landscape under the impact of global influences since 1800. The interdisciplinary case studies analyze the ways in which processes of globalization are interlinked with localizing tendencies, thereby forging transnational relationships between individuals, the state and religious as well as non-religious groups at the same time that the global concept ‘religion’ embeds itself in the emerging Chinese ‘religious field’ and within the new academic disciplines of Religious Studies and Theology. The contributions unravel the intellectual, social, political and economic forces that shaped and were themselves shaped by the emergence of what has remained a highly contested category. The contributors are: Hildegard Diemberger, Vincent Goossaert, Esther-Maria Guggenmos, Thomas Jansen, Thoralf Klein, Dirk Kuhlmann, LAI Pan-chiu, Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, Christian Meyer, Lauren Pfister, Chloë Starr, Xiaobing Wang-Riese, and Robert P. Weller.

Religion, Theory, Critique

Religion, Theory, Critique PDF

Author: Richard King

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2017-07-18

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 0231518242

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Religion, Theory, Critique is an essential tool for learning about theory and method in the study of religion. Leading experts engage with contemporary and classical theories as well as non-Western cultural contexts. Unlike other collections, this anthology emphasizes the dynamic relationship between "religion" as an object of study and different methodological approaches and openly addresses the question of the manifold ways in which "religion," "secular," and "culture" are imagined within different disciplinary horizons. This volume is the first textbook which seeks to engage discussion of classical approaches with contemporary cultural and critical theories. Contributors write on the influence of the natural sciences in the study of religion; the role of European Christianity in modeling theories of religion; religious experience and the interface with cognitive science; the structure and function of religious language; the social-scientific study of religion; ritual in religion; the phenomenology of religion; critical theory and religion; embodiment and religion; the impact of colonialism and modernity; theorizing religion in terms of race and ethnicity; links among religion, nationalism, and globalization; the interplay of gender, sex, and religion; and religion and the environment. Each chapter introduces the topic, identifies key theorists and issues, and respects the pluralistic nature of the scholarship in the field. Altogether, this collection scrutinizes the explicit and implicit assumptions theorists make about religion as an object of analysis.

Religion in the Age of Re-Globalization

Religion in the Age of Re-Globalization PDF

Author: Roland Benedikter

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-12-13

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 3030808572

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This book provides a concise introduction into twenty-one trends that are transforming the role of religion and spirituality in “re-globalizing” societies. In referring to processes of “re-globalization”, the book draws attention to profound ongoing changes in the patterns and mechanisms of contemporary globalization. Inter- and transdisciplinary in its approach, clearly structured, and easy to read, the book analyzes the impact of religious self-understanding, rhetoric, and practice on five core fields: economics, politics, culture, demography, and technology. In turn, it describes the effects of these five fields on religion and spirituality themselves. This book represents a broad, encompassing overview of the main transformations that religion is undergoing today. Roland Benedikter combines a “big picture” approach with a keen attention to the details of specific case studies. With its clear and accessible structure and timely examples, this book is ideally suited for students of international relations and religious studies, and will also appeal to researchers engaged in those fields and to interested general readers. The book is also apt to serve as an encompassing basis for contemporary debates in civil society, including both grassroots and expert discussions.

Transnational Transcendence

Transnational Transcendence PDF

Author: Thomas J. Csordas

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-09-01

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 0520943651

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This innovative collection examines the transnational movements, effects, and transformations of religion in the contemporary world, offering a fresh perspective on the interrelation between globalization and religion. Transnational Transcendence challenges some widely accepted ideas about this relationship—in particular, that globalization can be understood solely as an economic phenomenon and that its religious manifestations are secondary. The book points out that religion's role remains understudied and undertheorized as an element in debates about globalization, and it raises questions about how and why certain forms of religious practice and intersubjectivity succeed as they cross national and cultural boundaries. Framed by Thomas J. Csordas's introduction, this timely volume both urges further development of a theory of religion and globalization and constitutes an important step toward that theory.

God and Globalization

God and Globalization PDF

Author: Max L.. Stackhouse

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2000-06-01

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 156338311X

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In the late 20th century, the world has grown increasingly smaller because of advances in technology and the erosion of the nation-state as a political paradigm. The process of globalization—with its promises of a common culture, a common currency, and a common government—offers a new political model for the world that fosters unity and community. At the same time, however, this process threatens to destroy the values, norms, and ideals that particular cultures have wrought and established and to thereby diminish the power of each culture's unique identity. As globalization occurs, society must decide which values will be normative and what roles that social institutions like religion and education will play in selecting and fostering these values. The contributors to this volume examine both the promise and the threat of globalization using the tools of theological ethics to understand and evaluate the "social contexts of life at the deepest moral and spiritual levels." This inaugural volume of a projected four volume series, Theology for the 21st Century: God and Globalization, examines five spheres of life—economics (Mammon), political science (Mars), psychology and sexuality (Eros), the mass media and the arts (Muses), and religion—that foster normative values for society. As the writers argue, their efforts attempt to determine whether "God is behind globalization in any substantive way." Contributors to the volume include: Roland Robertson, University of Pittsburgh; Yersu Kim, UNESCO; Donald W. Shriver, Jr., New York; William Schweiker, University of Chicago; Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Eastern College; David Tracy, University of Chicago. Max L. Stackhouse teaches at Princeton Theological Seminary and is the author of Covenant and Commitments: Faith, Family, and Economic. Peter Paris teaches at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Religions/Globalizations

Religions/Globalizations PDF

Author: Dwight N. Hopkins

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2001-10-03

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0822380404

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For the majority of cultures around the world, religion permeates and informs everyday rituals of survival and hope. But religion also has served as the foundation for national differences, racial conflicts, class exploitation, and gender discrimination. Indeed, religious spirituality, having been transformed by contemporary economic and political events, remains both empowering and controversial. Religions/Globalizations examines the extent to which globalization and religion are inseparable terms, bound up with each other in a number of critical and mutually revealing ways. As the contributors to this work suggest, a crucial component of globalization—the breakdown of familiar boundaries and power balances—may open a space in which religion can be deployed to help refabricate new communities. Examples of such deployments can be found in the workings of liberation theology in Latin America. In other cases, however, the operations of globalization have provided a space for strident religious nationalism and identity disputes to flourish. Is there in fact a dialectical tension between religion and globalization, a codependence and codeterminism? While religion can be seen as a globalizing force, it has also been transformed and even victimized by globalization. A provocative assessment of a contemporary phenomenon with both cultural and political dimensions, Religions/Globalizations will interest not only scholars in religious studies but also those studying Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Contributors. David Batstone, Berit Bretthauer, Enrique Dussel, Dwight N. Hopkins, Mark Juergensmeyer, Lois Ann Lorentzen, Eduardo Mendieta, Vijaya Rettakudi Nagarajan, Kathryn Poethig, Lamin Sanneh, Linda E. Thomas

The Globalization of Communications

The Globalization of Communications PDF

Author: Chris Arthur

Publisher: World Council of Churches

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13:

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The process of globalization has been accelerated by rapid developments in communication technology. Behind the political and economic issues raised by the globalization of communication lie important ethical and religious questions, such as, for example, the effect of our constant exposure through the media to the reality of human suffering far away, and the effects on religions and religious people of how the media portray faith.