This is an essential introductory to liturgy for both ordinands and trainee lay readers - indeed for anyone who finds themselves having to plan or lead public worship. Well-known worship writer and speaker Mark Earey has written this book both for lovers and loathers of liturgical worship - and for those who want to discover it for the first time. This updated and enlarged second edition now includes:* How liturgy works as ritual;* The use of liturgy in different traditions; * The shape of th...

From handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection, ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still, few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors, much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly, because of the variety of activities that qualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet, in many ways, equally legitimate interpretations, ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny.

In this book, Catherine Bell off...

Gives an account of the emergence of progressive religious thinkers and organisations on the 'religious left'. This book offers an analysis of the cultural roots, key ideas and organisational structures of this faith, assessing its significance in the changing moral and religious landscape of contemporary western society.

This leading textbook for world religion is designed to help students in their study and research of the world's religious traditions. Known and valued for its balanced approach and its respected board of consulting editors, this text addresses ways to study religion, provides broad coverage of diverse religions, and offers an arresting layout with rich illustrations. Introductory sections on understanding religion and the religions of antiquity lay the foundation for the study of the numerou...

Rather than focus solely on theological concerns, this well-rounded introduction takes an expansive view of Islamic ideology, culture, and tradition, sourcing a range of historical, sociological, and literary perspectives. Neither overly critical nor apologetic, this book reflects the rich diversity of Muslim identities across the centuries and counters the unflattering, superficial portrayals of Islam that are shaping public discourse today. Aaron W.

Hughes uniquely traces the development of...

In religious studies, theory and method research has long been embroiled in a polarized debate over scientific versus theological perspectives. Ronald L. Grimes shows that this debate has stagnated, due in part to a manner of theorizing too far removed from the study of actual religious practices.

A worthwhile theory, according to Grimes, must be practice-oriented, and practices are most effectively studied by field research methods. The Craft of Ritual Studies melds together a systematic the...

Today's religious violence challenges our understanding of religion. Do we need special notions such as 'cult' and 'fundamentalism' to come to terms with it? Does monotheism, with its claim to exclusivity, necessarily generate intolerance? Kippenberg rejects the idea that violence and religion are inherently connected and instead considers the actions, motives, and self-perceptions of real people. He shows that the violent outcomes of the American tragedies of Jonestown and Waco were not inev...

Keeping Faith in Practice is an addition to SCM's growing Practical and Pastoral Theology list. Most books in this field are written by authors from various Protestant backgrounds. Catholic teachers in this field are frequently asked by colleagues for suggestions of Catholic resources, and find themselves at a loss.

The central subject of this book is an exploration of how theology engages with the dimension of practice in the life of the Church and contemporary society and culture. The book ...

Happiness comes from within. Can these 'truths' hold the key to a happier, more fulfilled life?In The Happiness Hypothesis, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines ten Great Ideas which have been championed across centuries and civilisations and asks: how can we apply these ideas to our twenty-first century lives?

How can we reconcile the ideal church described by theology with the broken church that we see in the world? In this book Joseph Small argues that the church's true identity is known somewhere in the tension between the two.

Small revisits familiar ecclesiological concepts--people of God, the body of Christ, the communion of the Holy Spirit--but rather than focusing on theological abstractions or worldly cynicism, he carefully evaluates the church in its scriptural, historical, theological, ...