New Book: “The Russian Orthodox Church, 1917-1948: From Decline to Resurrection”

By Daniela Kalkandjieva

Routledge, 2015

This book tells the remarkable story of the decline and revival of the Russian Orthodox Church in the first half of the twentieth century and the astonishing U-turn in the attitude of the Soviet Union’s leaders towards the church. In the years after 1917 the Bolsheviks’ anti-religious policies, the loss of the former western territories of the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union’s isolation from the rest of the world and the consequent separation of Russian emigrés from the church were disastrous for the church, which declined very significantly in the 1920s and 1930s. However, when Poland was partitioned in 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Stalin allowed the Patriarch of Moscow, Sergei, jurisdiction over orthodox congregations in the conquered territories and went on, later, to encourage the church to promote patriotic activities as part of the resistance to the Nazi invasion. He agreed a Concordat with the church in 1943, and continued to encourage the church, especially its claims to jurisdiction over émigré Russian orthodox churches, in the immediate postwar period. Based on extensive original research, the book puts forward a great deal of new information and overturns established thinking on many key points.

Link: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138788480/

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New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa
Edited by Rosalind I. J. Hackett and Benjamin F. Soares
Foreword by Francis B. Nyamnjoh
Indiana University Press, 2015

New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa casts a critical look at Africa’s rapidly evolving religious media scene. Following political liberalization, media deregulation, and the proliferation of new media technologies, many African religious leaders and activists have appropriated such media to strengthen and expand their communities and gain public recognition. Media have also been used to marginalize and restrict the activities of other groups, which has sometimes led to tension, conflict, and even violence. Showing how media are rarely neutral vehicles of expression, the contributors to this multidisciplinary volume analyze the mutual imbrications of media and religion during times of rapid technological and social change in various places throughout Africa.

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Religion and Politics in the European Union. The Secular Canopy, by François Foret

Cambridge University Press, 2015

This book analyzes the place and influence of religion in European politics. François Foret presents the first data ever collected on the religious beliefs of European decision makers and what they do with these beliefs. Discussing popular assumptions such as the return of religion, aggressive European secularism, and religious lobbying, Foret offers objective data and non-normative conceptual frameworks to clarify some major issues in the contemporary political debate.

http://www.cambridge.org/ar/academic/subjects/politics-international

-relations/european-government-politics-and-policy/religion-and-politics-european-union-secular-canopy

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The Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from around the World

Possamai, Adam, Richardson, James T, Turner, Bryan S. (Eds.)

http://www.springer.com/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+%28default%29/book/978-3-319-09604-9

This edited volume offers a collection of papers that presents a comparative analysis of the development of Shari’a in countries with Muslim minorities, such as America, Australia, China, Germany,  Italy, Singapore, South Africa and the Philippines, as well as countries with Muslim majorities, such as Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Tunisia. The Sociology of Shari’a provides a global analysis of these important legal transformations and  examines the topic from a sociological perspective. In addition, the third part of the book includes case studies that explore some ground-breaking applications of theoretical perspectives such as those from Chambliss and Eisenstadt.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction: Legal Pluralism and Shari’a, Bryan S. Turner and Adam Possamai.- Part 1. Case Studies from Muslim Majority Countries.- 2. One State, Three Legal Systems: Social Cohesion in a Multi-ethnic and Multi-religious Malaysia, Shamsul, A. B.- 3. Modern Law, Traditional ‘Shalish’ and Civil Society Activism in Bangladesh, Habibul Haque Khondker.- 4. Semi-Official Turkish Muslim Legal Pluralism: Encounters between Secular Official Law and Unofficial Shari’a, Ihsan Yilmaz.- Part 2. Case Studies from Muslim Minority Countries.- 5.  Soft Authoritarianism, Social Diversity and Legal Pluralism: The Case of Singapore, Bryan S. Turner.- 6.  The Philippine Shari’a Courts and the Code of Muslim Personal Laws, Isabelita Solamo-Antonio.- 7. Shari’a and Muslim Women’s Agency in a Multicultural Context: Recent Changes in Sports Culture, Helen McCue and Ghena Krayem.- 8. Shari’a Law in Catholic Italy: A Non-agnostic Model of Accommodation, Vito Breda.- 9. Trial and Error: Muslims and Shari’a in the German Context, Wolf D. Ahmed Aries and James T. Richardson.- 10. Between the Sacred and the Secular: Living Islam in China, Yuting Wang.- 11. The Case of the Recognition of Muslim Personal Law in South Africa: Colonialism, Apartheid and Constitutional Democracy, Wesahl Domingo.- Part 3. Theoretical and Comparative Considerations.- 12. The Constitutionalization of Shari’a In Muslim Societies: Comparing Indonesia, Tunisia And Egypt, Arskal Salim.- 13. Legal Pluralism and the Shari’a: A Comparison of Greece and Turkey.- Bryan S. Turner and Berna Zengin Arslan.- 14. Contradictions, Conflicts, Dilemmas, and Temporary Resolutions: A Sociology of Law Analysis of Shari’a in Selected Western Societies, James T. Richardson.- 15. Perception of Shari’a in Sydney and New York Newspapers, Adam Possamai, Bryan Turner, Joshua Roose, Selda Dagistanli and Malcolm Voyce.- 16. Profiting from Shari’a: Islamic Banking and Finance in Australia, Salim Farrar.- 17.  Shari’a and Multiple Modernities in Western Countries: Toward a Multi-faith Pragmatic Modern Approach Rather Than a Legal Pluralist One? Adam Possamai.- 18. The Future of Legal Pluralism, Bryan S. Turner and James T. Richardson.  

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