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The Religious Divide: Why Religion Seems To Be Thriving In The United States And Waning In Europe, Steven Pfaff

Sociology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In the decades following the Second World War, most social scientists expected convergence among the Western industrial democracies. Modernization was expected to bring prosperity and opportunity, initiating a “culture shift” to posttraditional values and lifestyles.

However, in recent years observers have remarked on a growing divide between Europeans and Americans. This divergence may be nowhere greater than in the religious sphere. While faith is loudly proclaimed and a bustling diversity of religious organizations jostles for attention in all arenas of public life in the United States, the European Union (EU) is described as thoroughly secularized, comprised of societies in which …

Consciousness And Society: Societal Aspects And Implications Of Transpersonal Psychology, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Although transpersonal psychologies of self realization emphasize individual

development, earlier shamanic traditions also showed a central societal aspect and group based

consciousness. Indeed, many have understood the transpersonal movement as developing

towards an abstract globalized neo-shamanism. That altered states of consciousness, whether

as integrative realizations of the numinous or as dissociative “hypnoid” states, could be felt

and shared collectively was a familiar concept to the first generation of sociologists, who saw

all consciousness as social and dialogic in form. Durkheim, in particular, foresaw a globalized

spirituality of the future, his “cult of man,” in which modern individuation would progress

to …

Beyond Belief: Japanese Approaches To The Meaning Of Religion, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

For several centuries, Japanese scholars have argued that their nation’s culture—including its language, religion and ways of thinking—is somehow unique. The darker side of this rhetoric, sometimes known by the English term “Japanism” (nihon-jinron), played no small role in the nationalist fervor of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While much of the so-called “ideology of Japanese uniqueness” can be dismissed, in terms of the Japanese approach to “religion,” there may be something to it. This paper highlights some distinctive—if not entirely unique—features of the way religion has been categorized and understood in Japanese tradition, contrasting these with Western (i.e., …

From "Cults" To Cultures: Bridges As A Case Study In A New Evangelical Paradigm On New Religions, John W. Morehead

The Asbury Journal

The increased awareness of the new religions with the counterculture of the 1960s saw various responses, including a "counter-cult" approach by evangelicals. The counter-cult approach has tended to view new religions as "cults" and to respond to them as heretical systems of belief in need of refutation by doctrinal and apologetic arguments. Over the last decade or so a new evangelical paradigm has emerged based in missiology which, while recognizing theological disagreements that the new religions have with Christianity, approaches new religions as religious cultures rather than as cults. Various resources have been produced as a result of the new …

Book Reviews, Frances Adeney, Gwinyai Muzorewa, Laurence W. Wood

The Asbury Journal

Ogbu U. Kalu, ed., Alaine Low, Associate ed.

Interpreting Contemporary Christianity: Global Processes and Local Identities

2008, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Reviewed by Frances Adeney

Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock, eds.

Christianity in Africa and the Africa Diaspora: the Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage

2008. London: Continuum International Publishing Group

Reviewed by Guinyai Muzorewa

Jehu J. Hanciles

Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West

2008. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books

Reviewed by Guinyai Muzorewa

Thomas Jay Oord, ed.

Divine Grace and Emerging Creation, Wesleyan Forays in Science and Theology of Creation …

Laïcité In France - Contemporary Issues Panel Discussion, Nathalie Caron, Blandine Chelini- Pont, Rosemary C. Salomone, Emmanuel Tawil

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Shall Thou Reincarnate Or Not? A Quest For Spirituality Among Czech "Irreligious" People, Petr A. Činčala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Doctrine Of Religious Freedom, W. Cole Durham Jr.

Vol. 2: Service & Integrity

This devotional address was given to the BYU student body on April 3, 2001.

Conversion To Islam In Colorado, Patrick D. Bowen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the scholarship concerning conversion to Islam in the West, few books or articles have been written that examine non-African American US converts. Furthermore, this literature generally neglects using models of conversion for analyzing US Muslims. This thesis is an attempt to begin such a project. For this thesis, I interviewed 13 converts to Islam over the course of a month and a half at a local mosque: 8 females and 5 males; 9 white, 3 Latina/o, and 1 non-African American black. These converts told me their stories of conversion: beginning with their life prior to conversion, the process leading …

Working The System: The Role Of Islam In Student Negotiations Of A Midwestern Charter School, Elizabeth J. Baer

Religious Studies Honors Projects

“What should the role of Islam be in American public life?” Rather than answer this question through broad, theoretical discourse, I turn to a case study of Somali Muslims in a Midwestern charter school. Through this case study, I analyze how individual Muslims, tied to communities and Allah in diverse ways, actively negotiate how to incorporate their religious practices into public space. I argue that by examining specific strategies used by individuals in an actual school setting, as opposed to making generalizing assumptions, one can better understand that Islam already plays a variety of constantly changing roles in American public …

Worship Renewal In The Latin American Context, Gerardo Oberman, Horacio Vivares

Symposium on Worship Archive

Slides from a plenary address called "Worship Renewal in the Latin American Context" at the 2009 Calvin Symposium on Worship.

Empowered21 Conversation Executive Summary, Empowered21 Committee

Empowered21 Global Council

The executive summary from the Conversation Process in preparation for the 2010 Global Congress on the Holy Spirit Empowerment in the 21st Century.

Empowered21 was formed by the Commission on Holy Spirit Empowerment in the 21st Century, which is a broad Kingdom coalition facilitated by the International Center for Spiritual Renewal in partnership with Oral Roberts University. Three ongoing conversations were established through the Commission and included a leadership track, a scholar track and a next generation track. These groups incorporated leaders from around the world in addressing questions and solutions for the future of the Spirit-empowered movement. Their findings …

Empowered21 Conversation Leadership Participants, Empowered21 Committee

Empowered21 Global Council

A list of participants in the three conversations: Leadership, Scholars, Next Gen, Student, Asian.

The Plurality Of Religions And The Spirit Of Pluralism: A Participatory Vision Of The Future Of Religion, Jorge N. Ferrer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper first uncovers the subtle spiritual narcissism that has characterized historical approaches

to religious diversity and discusses the shortcomings of the main forms of religious pluralism that

have been proposed as its antidote: ecumenical, soteriological, postmodern, and metaphysical. It

then argues that a participatory pluralism paves the way for an appreciation of religious diversity that

eschews the dogmatism and competitiveness involved in privileging any particular tradition over the

rest without falling into cultural-linguistic or naturalistic reductionisms. Discussion includes the

question of the validity of spiritual truths and the development of a participatory critical theory of

religion. The essay concludes …

Out Of India: Immigrant Hindus And South Asian Hinduism In The United States, Chad M. Bauman, Jennifer Saunders

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The article provides a survey of research on immigrant Hindus and South Asian Hinduism in the United States, focusing in particular on certain trends in the development of American Hinduism (e.g., Americanization, protestantization, ecumenization, congregationalization, homogenization, ritual adaptation) and prominent themes in more recent scholarship on the topic (e.g., race, transnational connections, and Hindu nationalism).

A New Age Of Goddess Worship In New Wave Feminism : Witch Way Forward? : A Qualitative Study, Joanne Kostopoulos-Riganello

Theses : Honours

This research investigates the question: Are women who are currently engaged in a Goddess religion, such as Wicca, practising a new wave of feminism, one that has its roots in a uniquely female order? This is grounded in a qualitative interpretive paradigm, using a feminist poststructuralist methodology. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken, drawing on relevant material from the areas related to the topics of the Goddess, feminism, thealogy, witches and Wicca. Five High Priestesses of Wicca were interviewed using one-on-one unstructured interview techniques. All five interviews were guided by open-ended questions focussed on participants' experiences and perceptions of Goddess …

Communicating For Influence: Christian Proclamation From The Margins, Brian A. Ross

Doctor of Ministry

It is my opinion that North American Christianity needs to re-consider how it communicates to young adults about following after the person of Jesus Christ. The Church should seek to understand the present cultural milieu and the implications of influencing from below. Established Christianity formerly held a position of prestige and relative power. Due to cultural and epistemological shifts this is no longer the situation. The message of Christ is still relevant in the new millennium, but the standard approaches to communicating and thus influencing others in this new world are at times no longer relevant. Much of organized Christianity …

The Pentacle Quest: Wiccan Religion In The Media, Paula Johnson

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

No abstract provided.

"Pilgrimage Into Pentecost: The Pneumatological Legacy Of Howard M. Ervin", Daniel D. Isgrigg

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

Howard M. Ervin, a Baptist and Pentecostal scholar, paved the way for other scholars to defend the Pentecostal faith in the academic world. During the last half of the twentieth century, charismatics, evangelicals and Pentecostals scholars have debated the nature and function of Spirit baptism. This paper explores the life and legacy of Dr. Howard Ervin and his impact on the Pentecostal-charismatic community.

Oru Commission On Holy Spirit Empowerment In The 21st Century, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library

Empowered21 Global Council

The Commission on Spirit-Empowered Living in the 21st Century was an initiative of the Oral Roberts University Board of Trustees. The University Board Chair appointed a small number of trustees for the commission to develop the parameters of the plan and work with University administration on future implications. The Board initiated this conversation to ascertain the macro-environment in which ORU presently exists. It also utilized this process to inform the University’s future environment in which the ‘whole person’ educational process will be experienced.

It was during this process that the idea for a Global Congress on Spirit-Empowered Christianity was birthed …

Meet The Mormons: From The Margins To The Mainstream, Mathew N. Schmalz

Religious Studies Faculty Scholarship

A reflection on the relationship between Catholicism and Mormonism, specifically focusing on the Sunstone symposium.

4. Some Reflections On Adventist Identity By A "Sympathetic Outsider" On The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Publication Of Questions On Doctrine, Donald W. Dayton

Questions on Doctrine 50th Anniversary Conference, October 2007

Paper

2. Evangelical Reflections On Seventh-Day Adventism: Yesterday And Today, Kenneth Richard Samples

Questions on Doctrine 50th Anniversary Conference, October 2007

Paper

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 7, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Problematic Issues Concerning The Freedom Of Association And Group/Collective Rights In The Republic Of Armenia, Shavarsh Khachatryan

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Muhammad And Joseph Smith In The Prophetic Pattern, Todd J. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

As early as 1831, critics attacked Joseph Smith by comparing him to Muhammad. Over time, the comparison deepened as critics and scholars observed doctrinal and political similarities between Mormonism and Islam. Later, scholars compared Joseph Smith to Muhammad because both had generated a new religion and there seemed to be several similarities in the lives of Joseph Smith and Muhammad. These and other comparisons between the two men and their religions have been made from 1831 to the present, yet there have been few thorough, non-polemic examinations of Joseph Smith and Muhammad in the typology of prophethood. While notable similarities …

Book Review: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, By Michael A. Singer, Gene Thursby

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Reports Of Transpersonal Experiences By Non-Native Practitioners Of The Native American Sweat Lodge Ceremony: A Critical Appraisal, Whit Hibbard

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Interviews with 30 experienced non-native practitioners of the Native American sweat lodge

ceremony revealed 184 reports of transpersonal experiences. Interview questions sought to (a)

disclose how practitioners discern or critique their own experiences, (b) consider alternative

explanations for practitioners’ experiences, and (c) critically reflect on the sweat lodge

ceremony per se as a spiritual practice. It was found that practitioners generally (a) interpreted

their experiences as trustworthy interactions with a spiritual reality, (b) did not seriously

consider alternative explanations for their experiences, and (c) neglected to reflect critically

on the sweat lodge ceremony per se as a spiritual practice.

The Epistemology Of Esoteric Culture: Spiritual Claim-Making Within The American Neopagan Community, Marty Laubach

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Research

Non-institutionalised religious communities within western esotericism, such as New Age or Neopagan subcultures, are dynamic marketplaces for knowledge construction that may appear to be chaotic and governed only by the rule of caveat emptor. However, a close examination reveals authorization processes developing along similar lines as those followed by scientific empiricism during the seventeenth century. Claims of esoteric knowledge are developed from psychism experiences, and are authenticated by examining the claimant’s social standing, the narrative structure of the claim and the interests of the claimant and the judge. Such claims are authorized by incorporation into collective action, publications, workshops and …

Grace Notes: Layering Small Grace Upon Small Grace, Terry C. Muck

The Asbury Journal

God's truth comes to us from different places at different times. Each truth event sounds a small note of grace that together, if we listen, make up the musical score of God active in the world today. Listen to these ten small notes ofgrace from ten recent books.