The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions

by Mark Juergensmeyer (Editor)

This is a reference for understanding world religious societies in their contemporary global diversity. Comprising 60 essays, the volume focuses on communities rather than beliefs, symbols, or rites. It is organized into six sections corresponding to the major living religious the Indic cultural region, the Buddhist/Confucian, the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim regions, and the African cultural region. In each section an introductory essay discusses the social development of that religious tradition historically. The other essays cover the basic social factsthe communitys size, location, organizational and pilgrimage centers, authority figures, patterns of governance, major subgroups and schismsas well as issues regarding boundary maintenance, political involvement, role in providing cultural identity, and encounters with modernity. Communities in the diaspora and at the periphery are covered, as well as the central geographic regions of the religious traditions. Thus,
for example, Islamic communities in Asia and the United States are included along with Islamic societies in the Middle East. The contributors are leading scholars of world religions, many of whom are also members of the communities they study. The essays are written to be informative and accessible to the educated public, and to be respectful of the viewpoints of the communities analyzed.

Genres: Reference

Hardcover

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Mark Juergensmeyer is a professor of sociology and global studies, affiliate professor of religious studies, and the Kundan Kaur Kapany professor of global and Sikh Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was the founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, and is a pioneer in the field of global studies, focusing on global religion, religious violence, conflict resolution and South Asian religion and politics. He has published more than three hundred articles and twenty books, including the revised and expanded fourth edition of Terror in the Mind of God (University of California Press, 2017).

Reviews

[Thomas Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapters 2, 3, 19, 34, 41, 44, 46, and 60 are particularly illuminating.

The chapter on Israeli Jews (chapter 19) is saddening. Their Gush Eminem faction, that cares only about occupying land, can and does destroy any possibility of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. They illegally occupy Palestinian land, and the Jewish state "has to" spend massive money and manpower protecting them and their homes from attacks by the Palestinians they displaced. Moreover the Israeli government spends vastly more money building highways bypassing Palestinian cities to these illegal Gush Eminem settlements. This carves up Palestine, making a Palestinian homeland impossible. Of course, the U.S. government massively subsidizes the Israeli state. The Israeli Jews are split into factions. The multiple factions of religious Jewish communities act like competing crime families, "smugglers, tax evaders, operate unregulated banking operations used by the PLO to launder money" (p. 191). Israelis from Europe look down on and marginalize Jews from North Africa and the Middle East. The latter are a growing bloc: the former fear that the dominance of African and Asian Jews will transform Israel into "occupied territory, imposing an alien religious law!" (p. 194.) This without irony. The original leaders of the Israeli state were not religious Jews at all, but secular. They saw their Jewishness as membership in a tribal group.

Chapter 46, Islamic Communities in South Asia, gives a lovely summary of teachings of Sufi master Nizam al-Din Awliya (1244-1325): (1) Service to the needy is better than ritual worship. There are innumerable ways leading to God; the surest is bringing happiness to others. (2) The presence of God is found among the destitute and needy. (3) Egoistic chauvinism is real idolatry, to be combated by loving compassion, open-hearted acceptance of others, and religious tolerance. The path is to (1) serve a spiritual master; (2) embrace voluntary poverty, and (3) revive the life of the heart by listening to devotional music.

Chapter 44, Shi'a Islamic Societies, surprisingly says there is "no serious difference in articles of faith between" Shi'a and Sunni Islam. Surprising, as Sunnis have destroyed Shi'ite shrines; news accounts of which suggested differences in interpretation of Islam played a role. p. 449,

The chapter on U.S. protestantism (chapter 32) strangely defines the “old-line, established" churches as Episcopal, Presbyterian, and, of all denominations, United Church of Christ—and the “more moderate” denominations as Disciples, Methodist, and, of all denominations, Lutheran. What I've heard is that while Lutheran churches were expelling openly gay clergy, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches welcomed them. And the UCC is so liberal it's been accused of standing for "Unitarians Considering Christ."

Mark Juergensmeyer has written the charming, perceptive, and unique Religion as Social Vision : the Movement against Untouchability in 20th Century Punjab, the brave translation of ancient Indian poetry in Songs of the Saints of India, and a number of other interesting books on Indian religion, religious violence, and conflict resolution. More books by Mark Juergensmeyer and related works:
https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/Tom...

[Stephen Cranney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very concise, readable summary of information on the world's disparate religions. Focusing more on the social and historical aspects than theological ones, the book itself is big but it's broken up into small enough bites that reading it isn't onerous. Each chapter is written by a different author, so some are better than others (hence the four star rather than five star rating). Also does a really good job addressing less renowned but still important religious movements that often get skipped (e.g. Voodoo, Native Aboriginal religions, Coptic Christianity, Indian Thomas Christianity), but doesn't dwell on Wicaans or other numerically insignificant religious movements that receive disproportionate attention from sociologists.