A history of judaism

A sweeping history of Judaism over more than three millenniaJudaism has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied through the centuries. Martin Goodman provides a comprehensive look at how this great religion came to be, how it has ev...

A reluctant welcome for jewish people

What place did Jews occupy in the editorials of Quebec’s daily Le Devoir in the first half of the 20th century? Historian Pierre Anctil takes a deep dive in the highly respected newspaper’s editorials published between 1910 and 1947.

A short history of medieval philosophy

African dominion

A groundbreaking book that puts early and medieval West Africa on the map of global historyPick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social h...

After one-hundred-and-twenty

A deeply personal look at death, mourning, and the afterlife in Jewish traditionAfter One-Hundred-and-Twenty provides a richly nuanced and deeply personal look at Jewish attitudes and practices regarding death, mourning, and the afterlife as they have existed and evolved from biblical times to to...

After the baby boomers

Much has been written about the profound impact the post-World War II baby boomers had on American religion. But the lifestyles and beliefs of the generation that has followed--and the influence these younger Americans in their twenties and thirties are having on the face of religion--are not so ...

America and the challenges of religious diversity

Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of other non-Western religions have become a significant presence in the United States in recent years. Yet many Americans continue to regard the United States as a Christian society. How are we adapting to the new diversity? Do we casually announce that ...

American jewbu

A revealing look at the Jewish American encounter with BuddhismToday, many Jewish Americans are embracing a dual religious identity, practicing Buddhism while also staying connected to their Jewish roots. This book tells the story of Judaism's encounter with Buddhism in the United States, showing...

American religion

The most authoritative resource on religious trends in America—now fully updatedMost Americans say they believe in God, and more than a third say they attend religious services every week. Yet studies show that people do not really go to church as often as they claim, and it is not always clear w...

American religion

A completely updated and expanded third edition of the most authoritative resource on religious trends in AmericaSince it was first published, American Religion has established itself as the essential source on key developments in American religion. Now fully revised, it provides the best and mos...

Andalus and sefarad

An integrative approach to Jewish and Muslim philosophy in al-AndalusAl-Andalus, the Iberian territory ruled by Islam from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, was home to a flourishing philosophical culture among Muslims and the Jews who lived in their midst. Andalusians spoke proudly of the r...

Anti-shechita prosecutions in the anglo-american world, 1855–1913

The book examines historical attempts by animal welfare groups, in Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States, to ban the Jewish method of slaughter (shechita). For the first time, the book studies these prosecutions, brought in the name of “humanity”, that reveal, an underlying,...

Ashkenazi

From a prize-winning historian, the first comprehensive narrative history of Ashkenazi Jews: their culture, their religion, their daily lives, and their many migrationsCovering two millennia of history, from late antiquity to the twentieth century, this landmark volume by an eminent historian tra...

Being german, becoming muslim

Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to one hundred thousand German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Isla...

Beyond the altar

Sheds light on how Ontario-based Canadian women religious overcome sexist subjugation by side-stepping the patriarchal power of the Roman Catholic Church and engendering women-led spiritual, governance and activist practices in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Boko haram

A comprehensive history of one of the world's deadliest jihadist groupsBoko Haram is one of the world's deadliest jihadist groups. It has killed more than twenty thousand people and displaced more than two million in a campaign of terror that began in Nigeria but has since spread to Chad, Niger, ...

Bringing back the social into the sociology of religion

Based on original empirical research, the contributions collected here make possible a fuller sociological understanding of power, emotions, the self, and ethnic relations in religious life.

Can islam be french?

Can Islam Be French? is an anthropological examination of how Muslims are responding to the conditions of life in France. Following up on his book Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, John Bowen turns his attention away from the perspectives of French non-Muslims to focus on those of the countr...

Choosing buddhism

Why has there been an upsurge in Canadians converting to Buddhism in recent decades and what does it mean to lead a Buddhist life in contemporary Canada? This book answers these questions and more athrough life stories richly complemented by images and contextual readings.

Coming of age in medieval egypt

Much of what we know about life in the medieval Islamic Middle East comes from texts written to impart religious ideals or to chronicle the movements of great men. How did women participate in the societies these texts describe? What about non-Muslims, whose own religious traditions descended par...

Communities of violence

In the wake of modern genocide, we tend to think of violence against minorities as a sign of intolerance, or, even worse, a prelude to extermination. Violence in the Middle Ages, however, functioned differently, according to David Nirenberg. In this provocative book, he focuses on specific attack...

Confronting political islam

How the conflicts of Western history shed light on current upheavals in the Middle EastPolitical Islam has often been compared to ideological movements of the past such as fascism or Christian theocracy. But are such analogies valid? How should the Western world today respond to the challenges of...

Criticism of heaven

This volume consists of a critical commentary on the interactions between Marxism and theology.

Defining neighbors

How religion and race—not nationalism—shaped early encounters between Zionists and Arabs in PalestineAs the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persists, aspiring peacemakers continue to search for the precise territorial dividing line that will satisfy both Israeli and Palestinian nationalist demands. ...

Dynamics of continuity and change in jewish religious life

Presents a group of distinguished scholars who examine key themes in Jewish religious life. Essays revolve around the dynamics of religious continuity and change. Contributors investigate the interplay of social and ideological forces, the impact of organizations, and the potential for individual...

Elusive togetherness

Many scholars and citizens alike have counted on civic groups to create broad ties that bind society. Some hope that faith-based civic groups will spread their reach as government retreats. Yet few studies ask how, if at all, civic groups reach out to their wider community. Can religious groups--...

Emerging voices

Emerging Voices: Contemporary Nigeria’s Literary, Filmic and Entertainment Platforms is a collection of fresh perspectives and opinions in the creative interventions on the Nigerian literary and entertainment space. Tackling issues from different authorial perspectives, the authors of the book ch...

For love of the prophet

For some, the idea of an Islamic state serves to fulfill aspirations for cultural sovereignty and new forms of ethical political practice. For others, it violates the proper domains of both religion and politics. Yet, while there has been much discussion of the idea and ideals of the Islamic stat...

Funerary practices in serbia

Funerary Practices in Serbia is the first book to offer a concise yet highly informative study of the historical development and current state of funerary practices in Serbia. It explores the historical roots of contemporary funerary practices in the country and provides illuminating insight int...

God interrupted

Could the best thing about religion be the heresies it spawns? Leading intellectuals in interwar Europe thought so. They believed that they lived in a world made derelict by God's absence and the interruption of his call. In response, they helped resurrect gnosticism and pantheism, the two most p...

Guru english

Guru English is a bold reconceptualization of the scope and meaning of cosmopolitanism, examining the language of South Asian religiosity as it has flourished both inside and outside of its original context for the past two hundred years. The book surveys a specific set of religious vocabularies ...

Hasidism

A must-read book for understanding this vibrant and influential modern Jewish movementHasidism originated in southeastern Poland, in mystical circles centered on the figure of Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, but it was only after his death in 1760 that a movement began to spread. Today, Hasidism is witnes...

Hasidism and modern man

Hasidism, a controversial, mystical-religious movement of Eastern European origin, has posed a serious challenge to mainstream Judaism from its earliest beginnings in the middle of the eighteenth century. Decimated by the Holocaust, it has risen like a phoenix from the ashes and has reconstituted...

Heavenly merchandize

Heavenly Merchandize offers a critical reexamination of religion's role in the creation of a market economy in early America. Focusing on the economic culture of New England, it views commerce through the eyes of four generations of Boston merchants, drawing upon their personal letters, diaries, ...

Hidden heretics

A revealing look at Jewish men and women who secretly explore the outside world, in person and online, while remaining in their ultra-Orthodox religious communities What would you do if you questioned your religious faith, but revealing that would cause you to lose your family and the only way of...

Hip hop's hostile gospel

Hip Hop’s Hostile Gospel is a wide-ranging and highly enjoyable attempt to unearth the theology of Hip Hop

How judaism became a religion

A new approach to understanding Jewish thought since the eighteenth centuryIs Judaism a religion, a culture, a nationality—or a mixture of all of these? In How Judaism Became a Religion, Leora Batnitzky boldly argues that this question more than any other has driven modern Jewish thought since th...

How the west became antisemitic

An examination of how the Jews—real and imagined—so challenged the Christian majority in medieval Europe that it became a society that was religiously and culturally antisemitic in new ways In medieval Europe, Jews were not passive victims of the Christian community, as is often assumed, but rath...

Idolatry and representation

Although Franz Rosenzweig is arguably the most important Jewish philosopher of the twentieth century, his thought remains little understood. Here, Leora Batnitzky argues that Rosenzweig's redirection of German-Jewish ethical monotheism anticipates and challenges contemporary trends in religious s...

Interpreting religion

This edited collection harnesses a diversity of interpretivist perspectives to provide a panoramic view of the production, experiences, contexts, and meanings of religion. Scholars from the US, South Asia and Europe explore religious phenomena using ethnographic, comparative historical, psychoso...

Islam

The Quran is a sacred book with profound, and familiar, Old and New Testament resonances. And the message it promulgated, Islam, came of age during an extraordinarily rich era of interaction among monotheists. Jews, Christians, and Muslims not only worshipped the same God, but shared aspirations,...

Islam and social work

This unique textbook enables social work practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of how Islamic principles inform and influence the lives of Muslim populations. Designed to support work with families and faith communities, this completely revised and updated edition examines religious precep...

Islam in a post-secular society

Byrd uses Critical Theory to reject the ‘clash-of-civilizations’ thesis, and compellingly argue for the compatibility of Islam and secularism.

Islam in prison

Are you a prison officer who feels nervous about dealing with Muslims on the wings? Are you a prison chaplain who wants to know how your chaplaincy affects the lives of prisoners? Are you a policymaker who needs a robust base of evidence for Islam in prison? Are you an academic or a journalist s...

Jewish emancipation

The first comprehensive history of how Jews became citizens in the modern worldFor all their unquestionable importance, the Holocaust and the founding of the State of Israel now loom so large in modern Jewish history that we have mostly lost sight of the fact that they are only part of—and indeed...

Jewish questions

In Jewish Questions, Matt Goldish introduces English readers to the history and culture of the Sephardic dispersion through an exploration of forty-three responsa--questions about Jewish law that Jews asked leading rabbis, and the rabbis' responses. The questions along with their rabbinical decis...

Jews, germans, and allies

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, more than a quarter million Jewish survivors of the Holocaust lived among their defeated persecutors in the chaotic society of Allied-occupied Germany. Jews, Germans, and Allies draws upon the wealth of diary and memoir literature by the people who live...

Keeping it halal

A compelling portrait of a group of boys as they navigate the complexities of being both American teenagers and good MuslimsThis book provides a uniquely personal look at the social worlds of a group of young male friends as they navigate the complexities of growing up Muslim in America. Drawing ...