6 minute read
Religion
LIFEBLOOD OF THE PARISH
Men and Catholic Devotion in Williamsburg, Brooklyn ALYSSA MALDONADO-ESTRADA
A New York City ethnography that explores men's unique approaches to Catholic devotion
Every Saturday a group of men in old clothes can be found in the basement of the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Williamsburg. Each year the parish hosts the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Paolino di Nola. Its crowning event is the Dance of the Giglio, where the men lift a seventy-foot tall, four-ton tower through the streets, bearing its weight on their shoulders. Drawing on six years of research, Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada reveals the making of this Italian American tower, as the men work year-round to prepare for the Feast. She argue that this behind-thescenes activity represents largely overlooked devotional practices, and that paying attention to them sheds new light on how men embody and enact their religiosity in sometimes unexpected ways.
Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Kalamazoo College.
THE MAKING OF AMERICAN CATHOLICISM
Regional Culture and the Catholic Experience MICHAEL J. PFEIFER
Traces the development of Catholic cultures in the South, the Midwest, the West, and the Northeast, and their contribution to larger patterns of Catholicism in the United States
Most histories of American Catholicism take a national focus, leading to a homogenization of American Catholicism that misses much of the local complexity that has marked how Catholicism developed differently in different parts of the country. This book argues that regional and transnational relationships have been central to the development of American Catholicism. Exploring the history of Catholic cultures in New Orleans, Iowa, Wisconsin, Los Angeles, and New York City, the volume assesses the role of region in American Catholic history, carefully exploring the development of American Catholic cultures across the continental United States. Drawing on extensive archival research, The Making of American Catholicism argues that American Catholicism developed as transnational Catholics creatively adapted their devotional and ideological practices in particular American regional contexts.
Michael J. Pfeifer is Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center. December 2020 304 pages • 6 x 9 Paper • $32.00S(£24.99) 9781479830497 Cloth • $89.00X(£74.00) 9781479872244 In North American Religions
Religion
January 2021 256 pages • 6 x 9 Paper • $30.00S(£23.99) 9781479889426 Cloth • $89.00X(£74.00) 9781479829453
Religion
WOMEN IN RELIGIONS SERIES
General Editor CATHERINE WESSINGER Loyola University New Orleans
While women have been active within their religions for millennia, our understandings of women's contributions to their faith communities, as well as the ways in which religious worldviews have helped to shape cultural gender roles, have only fairly recently become the subject of research. Further, the exploration of the role of women in various religions can be seen as yet another means of expanding our general understanding of experiences of religion around the world, thus hopefully leading to more tolerance and acceptance of diversity in our increasingly multicultural societies. This carefully curated series offers volumes on women in selected religious traditions ranging from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese religions, Japanese religions, and New Religious Movements. Each book provides a short, single-authored, very accessible introduction to women and their roles, representations, and challenges within that religious tradition.
THEORY OF WOMEN IN RELIGIONS
CATHERINE WESSINGER
An introduction to the study of women in diverse religious cultures
This book offers an economic model to shed light on the forces that have affected the respective statuses of women and men from the earliest developmental stages of society through the present day. Catherine Wessinger integrates data and theories from anthropology, archaeology, sociology, history, gender studies, and psychology into a concise history of the complex relationship between gender and religion. She argues that the socio-economic factors that support specific gender roles, in conjunction with religious norms and ideals, have created a gendered division of labor that both directly and indirectly reinforce gender inequality. Yet she also highlights how, as the socio-economic situation is changing, religion is used to support the transition toward women's equality, noting the ways in which many religious representations of gender change over time.
Catherine Wessinger is the Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor in the History of Religions in the Religious Studies Department at Loyola University New Orleans. December 2020 224 pages • 6 x 9 11 black & white illustrations Paper • $22.00S(£17.99) 9781479809462 Cloth • $89.00X(£74.00) 9781479899197 In Women in Religions
Religion
WOMEN IN BUDDHIST TRADITIONS
KARMA LEKSHE TSOMO
A new history of Buddhism that highlights the insights and experiences of women from diverse communities and traditions around the world
Buddhist traditions have extended over a period of twenty-five centuries, and recent decades have seen an unprecedented spread of Buddhism globally. From India to Japan, Sri Lanka to Russia, Buddhist traditions around the world have their own rich and diverse histories, cultures, religious lives, and roles for women. This book chronicles pivotal moments in the history of Buddhist women, from the beginning of Buddhist history until today. The book highlights the unique contributions of Buddhist women from a variety of backgrounds and the strategies they have developed to challenge patriarchy in the process of creating an enlightened society.
December 2020 224 pages • 6 x 9 18 black & white illustrations Paper • $22.00S(£17.99) 9781479803422 Cloth • $89.00X(£74.00) 9781479803415 In Women in Religions
Religion
Reverend Dr. Raphael G. Warnock serves as Senior Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
NEW IN PAPERBACK
November 2020 276 pages • 6 x 9 Paper • 9781479806003 • $19.95S(£15.99) Cloth • 9780814794463 In Religion, Race, and Ethnicity
Religion THE DIVIDED MIND OF THE BLACK CHURCH
Theology, Piety, and Public Witness RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK
A revealing look at the identity and mission of the black church
What is the true nature and mission of the church? Is its proper Christian purpose to save souls, or to transform the social order? This question is especially fraught when the church is one built by an enslaved people and formed, from its beginning, at the center of an oppressed community’s fight for personhood and freedom. Such is the central tension in the identity and mission of the black church in the United States. For decades the black church and black theology have held each other at arm’s length. Black theology has emphasized the role of Christian faith in addressing racism and other forms of oppression, arguing that Jesus urged his disciples to seek the freedom of all peoples. Meanwhile, the black church, even when focused on social concerns, has often emphasized personal piety rather than social protest. With the rising influence of white evangelicalism, biblical fundamentalism, and the prosperity gospel, the divide has become even more pronounced. In The Divided Mind of the Black Church, Raphael G. Warnock, Senior Pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., traces the historical significance of the rise and development of black theology as an important conversation partner for the black church. Calling for honest dialogue between black and womanist theologians and black pastors, this fresh theological treatment demands a new look at the church’s essential mission.
