Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that Prof Tahir Abbas and I have a new edited volume that has just been published by Syracuse University Press. InPolitical Muslims: Understanding Youth Resistance in a Global Context,we share new international perspectives on Muslim young people, presenting them as agents of creative social change and as active participants in cultural and community organizations where resistance leads to negotiated change.  In a series of case studies that cross the globe, contributors capture the experiences of being young and Muslim in ten countries; America, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, and Indonesia. They examine urban youth from various socioeconomic backgrounds, addressing issues that range from hybrid identities and student activism to the strategic use of music and social media. With diverse disciplinary and methodological approaches, Political Muslims provides readers with a nuanced understanding of the everyday social, economic, and political realities of young people.

EEEndorsements:

“Muslim youth, like Muslims in general and Islam itself, resist narrow stereotypes and incendiary shibboleths. In Political Muslimsboth Islamism and Islamic radicalization are addressed, but so are music, sports and education. Indeed, no topic, no problem and no prejudice is omitted from this comprehensive, insightful and timely volume. Highly recommended for all categories of academics but also for all engaged in the new global politics marked by religious and cultural identities.”

–Bruce B. Lawrence, Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies, Duke University

“Political Muslims represents a significant work insofar as it provides an important and valuable alternative portrait of socially and politically engaged Muslim youth mobilizing their religious identity and particular interpretations of religion in ways that allow them to pursue political agendas.”

–Peter Mandaville, professor of international affairs, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University

I    

Intended readership:

Will be of interest to scholars and researchers in the fields of Islamic Studies, Political Science, Sociology of Religion, Youth Studies and Ethnic Minority Studies.

A

      About the Editors:

Tahir Abbas is currently Assistant Professor at the Institute Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University in The Hague. His most recent book is Contemporary Turkey in Conflict: Ethnicity, Islam, and Politics(Edinburgh University Press, 2016). Sadek Hamid is author of Sufis, Salafis, and Islamists: The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism. (I.B Tauris, 2017) and co-author of British Muslims: New Directions in Islamic Thought, Creativity & Activism (Edinburgh University Press, 2018).

Please do consider ordering it for your university libraries- it is available on Syracuse University Press website:http://syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/fall-2018/political-muslims.html

And on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Political-Muslims-Contemporary-Issues-Middle/dp/0815635834/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1545221942&sr=8-5

Best wishes

Sadek

1st Edition
Edited by Justin Beaumont

https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Han…/…/9781138234147

The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity offers an internationally significant and comprehensive interdisciplinary collection which provides a series of critical reviews of the current state of the art and future trends in philosophical, theoretical, and conceptual terms. The volume likewise presents a range of empirical knowledges and engagements with postsecularity. A critical yet sympathetic dialogue across disciplinary divides in an international context ensures that the volume covers a wide and interrelated intellectual and geographical scope.

The editor’s introduction with Klaus Eder offers a robust foundation for the volume, setting out the central aims and objectives, the rationale for the contributions, and an outline of the structure. Thorny issues of normativity and empirical challenges are highlighted for the reader. The handbook comprises four interrelated sections. Part I: Philosophical meditations discusses postsecularity from philosophical standpoints, and Part II: Theological perspectives presents contributions from a variety of theological viewpoints. Part III: Theory, space, social relations contains pieces from geography, planning, sociology, and religious studies that delve into theoretically informed empirical implications of postsecularity. Part IV: Political and social engagement offers chapters that emphasize the political and social implications of the debate. In the Afterword, Eduardo Mendieta joins the editor toreflect on the notion of reflexive secularization across the volume as a whole, alluding to new lines of inquiry.

The handbook is an invaluable guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate teaching, and a key reference for students and scholars of human geography, sociology, political science, applied philosophy, urban and public theology, planning, and urban studies.

‘This is an exceptionally strong collection examining one of the defining issues of our era. Readers will find it both broadens and deepens their thinking about changing roles of religion and secularism in contemporary society.’ – Craig Calhoun, Professor of Social Sciences, Arizona State University, USA

‘It is increasingly clear that what comes after postmodernity is not really the vaguely defined neo-modern, which is little more than a wave of nostalgia, but rather the post-secular, which is also a more genuine post-modern. It manifests itself variously as the challenge of other non-secular cultures, of the pre-modern and alternatively modern west, of the extra-human and the unavoidably metaphysical. This fine collection well represents this variety in both its disparity and its aspects of unity.’ – John Milbank, Emeritus Professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics, University of Nottingham, UK

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce three recently published books on Swaminarayan Hinduism:

An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism (3^rdedition) by Raymond Brady Williams (Cambridge University Press, 2019)

<https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/religion/buddhism-and-eastern-religions/introduction-swaminarayan-hinduism-3rd-edition?format=PB&isbn=9781108431514>

An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hindu Theology by Sadhu Paramtattvadas (Cambridge University Press, 2017)

< https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/religion/buddhism-and-eastern-religions/introduction-swaminarayan-hindu-theology?format=PB>

Swaminarayan Hinduism: Tradition, Adaptation and Identity edited by Raymond Brady Williams and Yogi Trivedi (Oxford University Press, 2016)

< https://global.oup.com/academic/product/swaminarayan-hinduism-9780199463749?q=Swaminarayan%20hinduism&lang=en&cc=us>

Raymond Brady Williams

LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities emeritus

Wabash College

Glocal Religions
Victor Roudometof (Ed.)

Pages: 152
Published: October 2018

The globalization of the world’s religions leads to a variety of fusions whereby local elements blend with global religions, leading to hybrid local-global or glocal religious forms. Glocal forms of religion provide a hitherto insufficiently explored research agenda with the potential of further growth in the future. This volume introduces the basic tenets of this research agenda and offers examples from around the globe. In the volume’s individual chapters, authors explore a diverse tapestry of such forms that cover cases from the Caribbean, Japan, Finland, Eastern Europe, US, Korea, Southeast Asia and Central America. Glocal forms of religious expression exist across diverse religious traditions. In this volume, religious traditions specifically explored include Buddhism, Hinduism, folk or traditional religions, Eastern Orthodox Christianity & Protestantism. The study of glocal religions involves a trans-disciplinary group of scholars and researchers. In this volume, contributions come from the fields of sociology, archaeology, anthropology, history and religious studies. This collection is an indispensable reader for scholars and students who wish to explore the dynamics of glocal religion in their part of the world

(This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Glocal Religions that was published in Religions)

Download PDF

ISBN 978-3-03897-316-4 (Pbk); ISBN 978-3-03897-317-1 (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-03897-317-1 (registering DOI)
© 2018 MDPI; under CC BY-NC-ND license

Governing Islam Abroad: Turkish and Moroccan Muslims in Western Europe

Bruce Benjamin

2018, Palgrave Macmillan

About the book

From sending imams abroad to financing mosques and Islamic associations, home states play a key role in governing Islam in Western Europe.  Drawing on over one hundred interviews and years of fieldwork, this book employs a comparative perspective that analyzes the foreign religious activities of the two home states with the largest diaspora populations in Europe: Turkey and Morocco. The research shows how these states use religion to promote ties with their citizens and their descendants abroad while also seeking to maintain control over the forms of Islam that develop within the diaspora. The author identifies and explains the internal and foreign political interests that have motivated state actors on both sides of the Mediterranean, ultimately arguing that interstate cooperation in religious affairs has and will continue to have a structural influence on the evolution of Islam in Western Europe.

Reviews

“Governing Islam Abroad is an authoritative guide to the nuances of transnational religious cooperation. Bruce uses extensive fieldwork to offer a multi-dimensional view of sending states and receiving states. It is a thought-provoking contribution to the debate over what constitutes a country of origin.”

Jonathan Laurence, Professor of Political Science, Boston College, USA

“Winner of the Rémy Leveau prize, this study provides a remarkable comparison of the public management of Islam abroad between Turkey, Germany, Morocco and France. Bruce’s exceptional work explores the implications of this new kind of foreign policy and migratory diplomacy, opening up new paths for research in comparative politics and on theories of public governance beyond borders.”

Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, CNRS Senior Researcher Emeritus, CERI, Sciences Po, France

Link: https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319786636

New Developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion: The Rationality of Religious Belief

Van Eyghen, Peels, van den Brink Ed. Vol. 2018 

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319902388

It is widely thought that the cognitive science of religion (CSR) may have a bearing on the epistemic status of religious beliefs and on other topics in philosophy of religion. Epistemologists have used theories from CSR to argue both for and against the rationality of religious beliefs, or they have claimed that CSR is neutral vis-à-vis the epistemic status of religious belief. However, since CSR is a rapidly evolving discipline, a great deal of earlier research on the topic has become dated. Furthermore, most of the debate on the epistemic consequences of CSR has not taken into account insights from the philosophy of science, such as explanatory pluralism and explanatory levels. This volume overcomes these deficiencies.

This volume brings together new philosophical reflection on CSR. It examines the influence of CSR theories on the epistemic status of religious beliefs; it discusses its impact on philosophy of religion; and it offers new insights for CSR. The book addresses the question of whether or not the plurality of theories in CSR makes epistemic conclusions about religious belief unwarranted. It also explores the impact of CSR on other topics in philosophy of religion like the cognitive consequences of sin and naturalism. Finally, the book investigates what the main theories in CSR aim to explain, and addresses the strengths and weaknesses of CSR.

ISA-RC22 thanks Springer for supporting our Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars.

Jewish Population and Identity: Challenges and Trends 

DellaPergola, Sergio, Rebhun, Uzi (Eds.) Ed. Vol. 2018     

http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319774459

This book examines the fundamentals of Jewish demography and sociology around the world. It is not only concerned with documenting patterns of population change but also with an intriguing and ever-present issue like “Who is a Jew?” The latter transcends the limits of quantitative assessment and deeply delves into the nature, boundaries, and quality of group identification. A growing challenge is how to bridge between concept – related to ideals and theory – and reality – reflecting field research. Divided into six sections, the book discusses historical demography, immigration and settlement, population dynamics, social stratification and economy, family and Jewish identity in the U.S., and Jewish identity in Israel. The volume represents the dynamic and diverse nature of the study of world and local Jewish populations. It shows how that field of study provides an important contribution to the broader and now rapidly expanding study of religious and ethnic groups.

Scholars in disciplines such as history, geography, sociology, economics, political science, and especially demography follow and analyze the social and cultural patterns of Jews in different places around the globe, at various times, and from complementary perspectives. They make use of historical sources that have recently become accessible, utilize new censuses and surveys, and adopt advanced analytical methods. While some of their observations attest to consistency in the Jews’ demographic and identificational patterns, others evolve and ramify in new directions that reflect general processes in the areas and societies that Jews inhabit, internal changes within Jewish communities, and intergenerational trends in personal preferences of religious and ethnic orientations. This volume brings together contributions from scholars around the world and presents new and updated research and insights.

ISA-RC22 thanks Springer for supporting our Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars.

Jewish Medicine and Healthcare in Central Eastern Europe: Shared Identities, Entangled Histories           

Moskalewicz, Marcin, Caumanns, Ute, Dross, Fritz (Eds.)  Ed. Vol. 2018  

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319924793

Is ‘Jewish medicine’ a valid historical category? Does it represent a collective constituted by the interplay of medical, ethnic and religious cultures? Integrating academic disciplines from medical history to philology and Jewish studies, this book aims at answering this question historically by presenting  comprehensive coverage of Jewish medical traditions in Central Eastern Europe, mostly on what is today Poland and Germany (and the former Russian, Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Empires). In this significant zone of ethnic, religious and cultural interaction, Jewish, Polish, and German traditions and communities were more entangled, and identities were shared to an extent greater than anywhere else. Starting with early modern times and the Enlightenment, through the 19th century, up until the horrors of medicine in the ghettos and concentration camps, the book collects a variety of perspectives on the question of how Judaism and Jewish culture were dynamically related to medicine and healthcare. It discusses the Halachic traditions, hygiene-related stereotypes, the organization of healthcare within specified communities, academic careers, hybrid medical identities, and diversified medical practices.

ISA-RC22 thanks Springer for supporting our Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars.

Xenosophia and Religion. Biographical and Statistical Paths for a Culture of Welcome 

Hans Streib & Constantin Klein   Ed. Vol. 2018      

http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319745633

This book documents the current polarization in Germany regarding the issue of refugee immigration. It presents quantitative estimates for both xenophobia and xenophilia in the German population, including short-time changes. The book suggests a conceptual change of perspectives. It focuses not only on the pathogenic model that accounts for outcomes such as xenophobia, Islamophobia and other forms of (inter-religious) prejudice, but on a salutogenic model. In the book’s view, the salutogenic model entails xenosophia: the wisdom, creativity and inspiration that emerges from the encounter with the strange and the strange religion. The book addresses individual dispositions, which may lead to xenophobia or xenosophia, and takes into account predictors such as religiosity, religious schemata, value preferences, tolerance of complexity, and violence legitimizing norms of masculinity. A selection of case studies present typical biographical trajectories toward xenosophia.

ISA-RC22 thanks Springer for supporting our Varga Prize for New Generation Scholars.