Things: Religion and the Question of Materiality
Edited by Dick Houtman and Birgit Meyer
Fordham University Press, August 2012 (496 pp.)

About the book

This volume addresses the relation between religion and things. That relation has long been conceived in antagonistic terms, privileging spirit above matter, belief above ritual and objects, meaning above form, and “inward” contemplation above “outward” action. After all, wasn’t the opposition between spirituality and materiality the defining characteristic of religion, understood as geared to a transcendental beyond that was immaterial by definition? Grounded in the rise of religion as a modern category, with Protestantism as its main exponent, this conceptualization devalues religious things as lacking serious empirical, let alone theoretical, interest. The resurgence of public religion in our time has exposed the limitations of this attitude.

Taking materiality seriously, this volume uses as a starting point the insight that religion necessarily requires some kind of incarnation, through which the beyond to which it refers becomes accessible. Conjoining rather than separating spirit and matter, incarnation (whether understood as “the world becoming flesh” or in a broader sense) places at center stage the question of how the realm of the transcendental, spiritual, or invisible is rendered tangible in the world.

How do things matter in religious discourse and practice? How are we to account for the value or devaluation, the appraisal or contestation, of things within particular religious perspectives? How are we to rematerialize our scholarly approaches to religion? These are the key questions addressed by this multidisciplinary volume. Focusing on different kinds of things that matter for religion, including sacred artifacts, images, bodily fluids, sites, and electronic media, it offers a wide-ranging set of multidisciplinary studies that combine detailed analysis and critical reflection.

About the editors

Dick Houtman is Professor of Cultural Sociology at the Centre for Rotterdam Cultural Sociology (CROCUS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His principal research interests are the spiritualization of religion and the culturalization of politics in the contemporary Western world. His most recent books are Paradoxes of Individualization: Social Control and Social Conflict in Contemporary Modernity (with Stef Aupers and Willem de Koster); Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital (edited with Stef Aupers) and Farewell to the Leftist Working Class (with Peter Achterberg and Anton Derks). He is a member of the editorial boards of Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Politics and Religion, Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, and Sociologie.

Birgit Meyer is professor of Religious Studies at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. She has conducted research on missions and local appropriations of Christianity, Pentecostalism, popular culture, and video-films in Ghana. Her publications include Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity Among the Ewe in Ghana; Globalization and Identity: Dialectics of Flow and Closure (edited with Peter Geschiere); Magic and Modernity: Interfaces of Revelation and Concealment (edited with Peter Pels); Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere (edited with Annelies Moors); and Aesthetic Formations: Media, Religion, and the Senses. She is vice-chair of the International African Institute (London), a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, and one of the editors of Material Religion.

Religion in Public Spaces: A European Perspective
Ashgate, September 2012
Edited by Silvio Ferrari and Sabrina Pastorelli, both at The University of Milan,
Italy Series : Cultural Diversity and Law in Association with RELIGARE
http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&title_id=12052&edition_id=12431&calcTitle=1

This timely volume discusses the much debated and controversial subject of the presence of religion in the public sphere. The book is divided in three sections. In the first the public/private distinction is studied mainly from a theoretical point of view, through the contributions of lawyers, philosophers and sociologists. In the following sections their proposals are tested through the analysis of two case studies, religious dress codes and places of worship. These sections include discussions on some of the most controversial recent cases from around Europe with contributions from some of the leading experts in the area of law and religion.

Covering a range of very different European countries including Turkey, the UK, Italy and Bulgaria, the book uses comparative case studies to illustrate how practice varies significantly even within Europe. It reveals how familiarization with religious and philosophical diversity in Europe should lead to the modification of legal frameworks historically designed to accommodate majority religions. This in turn should give rise to recognition of new groups and communities and eventually, a more adequate response to the plurality of religions and beliefs in European society.

Contents: Religion and rethinking the public-private divide:
introduction, Marie-Claire Foblets; Part I Religions and the Public/Private Divide: Public and private, a moving border: a legal-historical perspective, Kjell Å. Modeer; Socio-historical perspectives on the public and private spheres, Adam Seligmann; The ‘public-private’ divide on drift: what, if any, is its importance for analysing limits of associational religious freedoms?, Veit Bader; Religious freedom and the public-private divide: a broken promise in Europe?, Alessandro Ferrari; The ‘public’ and the ‘private’ in the common law and civil law traditions and the regulation of religion, Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens and Noura Karazivan; Contested normative cultures. Gendered perspectives on religions and the public/private divide, Hanne Petersen; Religion in the European public spaces: a legal overview, Silvio Ferrari. Part II Religion and the Dress Codes: From front-office to back-office: religious dress crossing the public-private divide in the workplace, Katayoun Alidadi; Religious dress codes: the Turkish case, A. Emre Öktem and Mehmet C. Uzun; Religious dress codes in the United Kingdom, Javier Garcia Oliva; Religious dress codes: the Italian case, Sabrina Pastorelli; Religious dress codes: the Bulgarian case, Maya Kosseva and Iva Kyurkchieva; Comparing burqa debates in Europe: sartorial styles, religious prescriptions and political ideologies, Sara Silvestri. Part III Religion and the Places of Worship: The right to establish and maintain places of worship: the developments of its normative content under international human rights law, Noel G. Villaroman; The places of worship in France and the public/private divide, Anne Fornerod; ‘Stopp Minarett’? The controversy over the building of minarets in Switzerland: religious freedom versus collective identity, Vincenzo Pacillo; Places of worship: between public and private: a comparison between Bulgaria, Italy and the Netherlands, Tymen J. van der Ploeg; Index.

About the Editor: Silvio Ferrari is Professor of Canon Law, University of Milan and President, International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Italy. His research interests are in the areas of Church and State in Europe; Comparative law of religions, and Vatican-Israel relations. He has published widely on these and related areas.

Sabrina Pastorelli is research fellow at the Institute of International Law -section of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law – University of Milan, Faculty of Law. She is also a member of the Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (GSRL-CNRS/École Pratique des Hautes Études-Sorbonne) and teaching assistant at the Catholic University of Paris – Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences. Her research interests include sociology of religion; new religious movements; law and religion in Europe; religious education; regulation of religious pluralism; state public policy and religion. She is a member of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR); the Association for Sociology of Religion (ASR); the Italian Sociological Association (AIS).

Reviews: ‘This book offers more than its title promises. It is not only about Europe or about religion. Insightful, suggestive and as diverse as its contributors, it contains a persuasive reflection on the need to rethink the very notion of public space that Western democracies have used since the nineteenth century.’
  Javier Martinez-Torron, Complutense University School of Law, Spain

‘This is a highly important book in a remarkable controversy. Silvio Ferrari and Sabrina Pastorelli present a rich volume full of information, thought, and insight -presenting masterpieces of interdisciplinary research and political guidance. The book is a most valuable contribution to freedom and equality throughout Europe.’
Gerhard Robbers, University of Trier, Germany

The Religions of Canadians is a book about religions and the making of Canada. Drawing on the expert knowledge and personal insights of scholars in history, the social sciences, and the phenomenology of religion, separate chapters introduce the beliefs and practices of nine religious traditions, some mainstream, some less familiar.

The opening chapter explores how Aboriginal Canadian traditions continue to thrive after centuries of oppression. Subsequent chapters follow in the footsteps of Catholic and Protestant Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Baha’is as they have made their way to Canada, and reveal how different immigrant communities have adapted their rich religious heritages to a new life in a new land. Each chapter is divided into five sections: an introduction; a succinct overview of the tradition; its passage to and transformation in Canada; a close study of contemporary Canadian communities; and an afterword suggesting possibilities for future research. Chapters conclude with a list of important terms and dates, related websites, a concise bibliography of further readings, and key questions for reflection.
The Religions of Canadians is a timely and unique contribution to the field, introducing readers to the religions of the world while simultaneously building an overall picture of the development of Canada’s multicultural, pluralist society.

For more details to order copies, please see: http://www.utppublishing.com/The-Religions-of-Canadians.html

You may be interested in knowing about the publication of the following book, the first in the Ashgate Religare series:

A Test of Faith? Religious Diversity and Accommodation in the European Workplace
Edited by Katayoun Alidadi, Marie-Claire Foblets and Jogchum Vrielink, all at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

See the following link for a fuller description and free access to the contents and introduction chapter:
http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&forthcoming=1&title_id=11755&edition_id=15297

Post-Secular Society
Peter Nynas, Editor Mika Lassander, Editor Terhi Utriainen, Editor Transaction
Publishers, 2012
http://www.transactionpub.com/title/Post-Secular-Society-978-1-4128-4610-3.html

Are we still secular? If not, what can one possibly mean by “post-secular”? The answers depend on what one considers secular as well as the people, societies, and institutions that one considers. Post-Secular Society argues for the experience of living in a secular world and a secular age and the experience of living without religion as a normal condition.

Religion in the Western world is often described as being marked to some degree by both innovation and disarray. The past couple of decades have seen the emergence of reformulated versions of theories of secularization, variants of rational choice and supply-side models of religion, and new theoretical perspectives on de-secularization of religion. In spite of these different approaches and
perspectives, a majority of scholars agree that the West is experiencing a general “resurgence” of religion and that the public visibility of religious actors and discourses is on the rise across most Western societies.

Post-Secular Society discusses the changes in religion related to globalization, as well as New Age and other forms of popular religion. The contributors review religion that is rooted in the globalized political economy, and the relationship of post-secularism to popular and consumer culture. They also detail current innovative discourse as a religious belief system; discuss theories
of the post-secular, religious, and spiritual well-being; and consider healing practices in Finland and environmentalism.

New book: “Invisible Population : The place of the dead in East-Asian Megacities,
edited by Natacha Aveline-Dubach”.

Announcing the new Springer Book Series Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies

Editors:
Prof. Lori G. Beaman University of Ottawa, Canada | Department of Classics and Religious Studies

lbeaman@uottawa.ca
Assoc. Prof. Lene Kühle Aarhus University, Denmark | Department of Culture and Society – Study of Religion lk@teo.au.dk
Dr. Anna Halafoff Deakin University, Australia | Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation anna.halafoff@deakin.edu.au

Call for Book Proposals:
Book proposals are invited for research monographs and edited collections that fit within the series’ scope and themes. Please email your initial book proposals to the Series Editors.
Scope:
Processes of globalization have resulted in increasingly culturally and religiously diverse societies. In addition, religion is occupying a more prominent place in the public sphere at the turn of the 21st Century, despite predictions of religious decline. The rise in religious diversity, and in the salience of religious identity, is posing both challenges and opportunities pertaining to issues of governance. Indeed, a series of tensions have arisen between state and religious actors regarding a variety of matters including burial rites, religious education and gender equality. Many of these debates have focused on the need for, and limits of, religious freedom especially in situations where certain religious practices risk impinging upon the freedom of others. Moreover, different responses to religious pluralism are often informed by the relationship between religion and state in each society. Due to the changing nature of societies, most have needed to define, or redefine, the boundaries of religious freedom reflected in laws, policies and the design and use of public spaces. These boundaries, however, continue to be contested, debated and reviewed, at local, national and global levels of governance.

Themes: This series will publish monographs and edited collections on how various societies deal with religious diversity and the limits of religious freedom within social structures and social institutions, including law, education, prisons, hospitals, as well as in the day to day negotiations around religious difference that take place in civil society. The publications included in this series will contain either case studies on specific geographical regions or comparative studies on certain themes as they relate to different local, national or international contexts.
The series will be multi- and interdisciplinary, and welcomes contributions from various disciplines such as religious studies, sociology (of religion), history, political science, law, gender studies, education and economics.

Possible themes for monographs and edited collections will include:
Governance and Religion; Shari’a Law; Religious Education; Gender and Sexual Discrimination in Religious Groups; Violence Against Women; Religious Exemptions; Missionizing; Regulating Death and Dying; Faith and Citizenship; Religious Organisations and Welfare Provision; Anti-multiculturalism and Islamophobia; Chaplaincy in Prisons; Religion in the Military; and Limits of Religious Freedom.

Publisher:
Anita Fei van der Linden
Springer | Philosophy & Religious Studies
AnitaFei.vanderLinden@springer.com

Building a Shared Future: Religion, Politics and the Public Sphere
by Qamar-ul Huda, PhD, Ayatollahi Tabaar, Jocelyne Cesari, Nader Hashemi, Amjad Saleem, Mark Hammond, Florence Laufer, Sajjad Rizvi, Prof. Abdellatif Bencherifa, Maleiha Malik, Hilary E. Kahn, PhD, M.H. Vorthoren & Sheila B. Lalwani

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/building-shared-future-religion/id543980300?mt=11

Description
During the last decade, debates on the role of religion in the public space, migration, social cohesion and other issues have revealed increasing social tensions and polarisation in public opinion. Misperceptions and misinformation often dominate public dialogue about relations between Muslims and others. Although they don’t speak with the loudest voice, academics, scholars and thought leaders have a key role to play in helping to rebalance these debates by providing fact-based opinion and informed arguments. In the ‘Building a Shared Future’ series, these opinion leaders offer insights into the issues facing Muslims through American and European communities today.

How successful have European models of integration been compared with the American model of multiculturalism? How can multiple layers of identity be accommodated in pluralistic societies? This volume explores a selection of these questions.

ORDINARY LIVES AND GRAND SCHEMES
An Anthropology of Everyday Religion
Edited by Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec Berghahn Books, 2012
http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=SchielkeOrdinary

“This volume is very well put-together. The editors have done a good job to rein in the various authors to a single collective argument.It’s an important volume on an important issue.”  ·  Jon Mitchell, University of Sussex

“The topic of everyday religion is becoming an increasingly attractive in the social sciences of religion, as an alternative to more orthodox and canonical accounts of religious phenomena. This volume sets out to debate the concept of ‘everyday religion’ in a very explicit and straightforward manner.The final result is a convincing volume with diverse and challenging case studies that open different paths for the discussion of the main theme.”  ·  Ruy Blanes, Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon

Everyday practice of religion is complex in its nature, ambivalent and at times contradictory. The task of an anthropology of religious practice is therefore precisely to see how people navigate and make sense of that complexity, and what the significance of religious beliefs and practices in a given setting can be. Rather than putting everyday practice and normative doctrine on different analytical planes, the authors argue that the articulation of religious doctrine is also an everyday practice and must be understood as such.

Samuli Schielke is a research fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin. His research interests include Islam, festive culture, subjectivity and morality, and migration and aspiration in Egypt.

Liza Debevec is a research fellow at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts. Her research focuses on the anthropology of everyday life practices in urban Burkina Faso.

Series: Volume 18, EASA Series
Subject: Religion, Anthropology, Sociology

Contents

Introduction
Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec

Chapter 1. Divination and Islam: Existential Perspectives in the Study of Ritual and Religious Praxis in Senegal and Gambia Knut Graw

Chapter 2. Postponing Piety in Urban Burkina Faso: Discussing Ideas on When to Start Acting as a Pious Muslim Liza Debevec

Chapter 3. Everyday Religion, Ambiguity and Homosocial Relationships in Manitoba, Canada from 1911 to 1949 Alison R. Marshall

Chapter 4. ‘Doing Things Properly’: Religious Aspects in Everyday Sociality in Apiao, Chiloé Giovanna Bacchiddu

Chapter 5. The Ordinary within the Extraordinary: Sainthood Making and Everyday Religious Practice in Lesvos, Greece Séverine Rey

Chapter 6. Say a Little Hallo to Padre Pio: Production and Consumption of Space in the Construction of the Sacred at the Shrine of Santa Maria delle Grazie Evgenia Mesaritou

Chapter 7. Going to the Mulid: Street-smart Spirituality in Egypt Jennifer Peterson

Chapter 8. Capitalist Ethics and the Spirit of Islamization in Egypt Samuli Schielke

Afterword: Everyday Religion and the Contemporary World: The Un-Modern, or What Was Supposed to Have Disappeared but Did Not Robert A. Orsi

Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index

Read The Swiss Minaret Ban: Islam in Question

Edited by Patrick Haenni and Stéphane Lathion

With an Afterword by Olivier Roy

On 29 November 2009 Swiss voters approved the proposal to introduce a ban on building minarets on Swiss territory into the Federal Constitution. The result surprised large parts of the media and political class. The most frequently mentioned motive of supporters of the initiative was the wish to give a clear signal against the expansion of Islam and the type of society associated with this religion. The vote’s real objective was not the minaret as such. Rather, the minaret was being turned into a symbol of the issues raised by Islam.

Read full text: http://www.minaret.li/