With this influential book of essays, Jonathan Z. Smith has pointed the academic study of religion in a new theoretical direction, one neither theological nor willfully ideological. Making use of examples as apparently diverse and exotic as the Maori cults in nineteenth-century New Zealand and the events of Jonestown, Smith shows that religion must be construed as conventional, anthropological, historical, and as an exercise of imagination. In his analyses, religion emerges as the product of ...

Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, Third Edition is the ideal textbook for those coming to the study of religion for the first time, as well as for those who wish to keep up-to-date with the latest perspectives in the field. This third edition contains new and upgraded pedagogic features, including chapter summaries, key terms and definitions, and questions for reflection and discussion. The first part of the book considers the history and modern practices of the m...

A new and expanded edition of a highly successful textbook on world religions with a comparative approach which explores how six major religions are lived and expressed through their customs, rituals and everyday practices. A new edition of this major textbook, exploring the world's great religions through their customs, rituals and everyday practices by focusing on the 'lived experience' This comparative study is enriched and broadened with the inclusion of a sixth religion, DaoismTakes a th...

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 ...

Offering an introduction to the New Testament, the author presents an historical study of the origins of Christianity by analyzing the literature of the earliest Christian movements. Focusing mainly on the New Testament, he also considers non-Biblical Christian writings of the era.

Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy offers mental health professionals of all disciplines and orientations the most comprehensive and rigorous introduction to the state of the art and science in integrating mindfulness, compassion, and embodiment techniques.

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?

This contemporary classic has been thoroughly updated to communicate with modern readers, helping them minister more effectively to people of different cultural and social backgrounds.

Why do human beings believe in divinities? Why do some seek eternal life, while others seek escape from recurring lives? Why do the beliefs and behaviors we typically call "religious" so deeply affect the human personality and so subtly weave their way through human society?Ideal as a supplementary text in introductory religion courses or as the main text in theory and method in religious studies or in sociology of religion courses, Ten Theories of Religion, Fourth Edition, offers an illumina...

This book is aimed at those training for ministry, those in ministry and lay people wishing to reflect upon their work. It seeks to enable those in pastoral ministry to reflect upon their institutional encounters and to enable lay people who work in institutions as professionals or managers to reflect upon their pastoral encounters. By generating shared encounters of theological reflection between these two groups the authors identify points of solidarity and tension between them.The book see...