Amy L Allocco – författare

This book examines the understudied role of the interfaith movement in institutionalizing religious pluralism in the public life of contemporary societies through the case study of Interfaith Scotland. It analyzes the organization and their literature, demonstrating the ways in which they have cultivated a particular model of religious pluralism compatible with a secular civic-cultural nationalism. It places this case into a comparative discussion of the interfaith movement as an emerging global phenomenon. In this case study, the author considers how Interfaith Scotland presents ‘religions’ as equivalent, compatible bodies of ethical teachings through selective appeals to textual traditions or in some cases, their construction. It has also depended on conforming to the ‘world religions paradigm’, where it is only religions with global reach and cohesive characteristics which require representation. Liam Sutherland discusses how Interfaith Scotland encouraged a common, seemingly ‘apolitical’ attachment to Scotland’s democratic institutions and cultural heritage, especially in relation to the question of independence. This case study sheds light on the wider relationship between the global interfaith movement and nationalism – both in protecting religions against prejudice and exclusion but also pursuing integrationist goals.

This open access book is based on a unique body of data on a hitherto understudied field of Pentecostal prayer camps and mental health in Ghana. The book investigates and presents empirically grounded cases of persons with mental illness and how they deploy religious resources at prayer camps in Ghana in dealing with their illness. Particularly, the book explores perceived causes of mental illness and how such perceptions influence health seeking behaviours. The book illustrates how the perceived causes of mental illness and the healing practices found at prayer camps in Ghana that are meant to deal with the illness appeal very much to Ghanaians because they resonate with indigenous worldviews.Through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of in-depth-interviews with persons afflicted with mental illness and practitioners, this book points out the varied ways in which prayer camps have become a source of authoritative knowledge in Ghana’s medical pluralistic society, serving as an “informal” health sector in the provision of health care to persons with mental illnesses. It further highlights the network of relationships between prayer camps and hospitals as new ground of training in “cultural competence” for clinicians in their field of practice in psychiatry. The book proposes the intermediate continuum approach as a new framework or lens for examining the broader role of religion and culture in mental health care. The approach aims at providing a common ground to merge the differences in previous approaches in the studies of culture and mental health and thereby undo the tensions, conflicts, and controversies inherent in such approaches.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Åbo Akademi University.

Drawing on theories of myth and narratives from pop culture, this book develops a sociology of the story that shows how stories create meaning in contemporary religious practices in the West. Martin Stringer shows how stories work in religion within the context of the story-saturated world of the 21st century through discussions of a wide range of theories of myth. He traces religious elements in the stories of film, television and literature to explore how a wide range of stories impact how we engage with, talk about and live religion. In this way, he shows that the myths at the heart of religious traditions are not the only stories that shape how religion is practised today.Each of the ten chapters introduces an influential theory of myth, including those of Edward B. Tylor, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Sigmund Freud, before applying this theory to a story or trope from folklore, literature or popular culture. In addition to these entertaining excursions into the worlds of Frankenstein, werewolves and superheroes, each chapter also provides a retelling of the classic fairy tale Snow White framed by the theory introduced in the chapter. In highlighting core themes from the different theories of myth, these ten different Snow Whites reveal the fluidity of stories and the theories we create about them. In its bold combination of theories of myth, popular culture and religion, The Story in Religion shows how people use a range of stories to create identities, emotions and realities in their religious practices. In this way, the book alters how we think about meaning-making in religious contexts and in society more broadly.

Challenges prevailing conceptions of what religious ritual does and how it achieves its ends.Religious rituals are often seen as unchanging and ahistorical bearers of long-standing traditions. But as this book demonstrates, ritual is a lively platform for social change and innovation in the religions of South Asia. Drawing from Hindu and Jain examples in India, Nepal, and North America, the essays in this volume, written by renowned scholars of religion, explore how the intentional, conscious, and public invention or alteration of ritual can effect dramatic social transformation, whether in dethroning a Nepali king or sanctioning same-sex marriage. Ritual Innovation shows how the very idea of ritual as a conservative force misreads the history of religion by overlooking ritual's inherent creative potential and its adaptability to new contexts and circumstances.

Explores how these two currents are shaping the contours of contemporary Hindu worship, myth, and visual and material culture in contemporary South Asia and its diasporas.This volume focuses on two alternately converging and diverging currents that increasingly shape Hindu traditions—namely, sweetening and intensification. Sweetening is understood here to include the softening of deities' iconographies, the standardization of religious narratives, and the sanitization of ritual practices. Alongside this current exists intensification, which is understood as an insistence on the continuing relevance of rigorous, visceral, and frequently stigmatized practices and beliefs, often in response to new circumstances and challenges. This volume emphasizes an inclusive approach by bringing these two currents into sustained conversation. As Hindu traditions are increasingly expanding into new settings, including but not limited to new diaspora and new media contexts, the long-established yet ever changing scale of sweet/neutral/spicy unfolds in new ways, as well. The essays in this volume delineate these developments across diverse Hindu geographic, linguistic, ethnic, and social contexts; textual and theological traditions; and ritual and media formats. Indeed, the volume's multidisciplinary approach shows how these processes intersect with and even drive contemporary (re)negotiations, (re)interpretations, and (re)constructions of Hindu deities, practices, narratives, and symbols.

Explores how these two currents are shaping the contours of contemporary Hindu worship, myth, and visual and material culture in contemporary South Asia and its diasporas.This volume focuses on two alternately converging and diverging currents that increasingly shape Hindu traditions—namely, sweetening and intensification. Sweetening is understood here to include the softening of deities' iconographies, the standardization of religious narratives, and the sanitization of ritual practices. Alongside this current exists intensification, which is understood as an insistence on the continuing relevance of rigorous, visceral, and frequently stigmatized practices and beliefs, often in response to new circumstances and challenges. This volume emphasizes an inclusive approach by bringing these two currents into sustained conversation. As Hindu traditions are increasingly expanding into new settings, including but not limited to new diaspora and new media contexts, the long-established yet ever changing scale of sweet/neutral/spicy unfolds in new ways, as well. The essays in this volume delineate these developments across diverse Hindu geographic, linguistic, ethnic, and social contexts; textual and theological traditions; and ritual and media formats. Indeed, the volume's multidisciplinary approach shows how these processes intersect with and even drive contemporary (re)negotiations, (re)interpretations, and (re)constructions of Hindu deities, practices, narratives, and symbols.