Contemporary western Paganism is now a global religious phenomenon with Pagans in many parts of the world sharing much in common - from a nature-revering worldview and lifestyle to a host of chants, ...invocations, ritual tools and magical practices. But there are also locally-specific differences. Local religious contexts, landscapes, histories, traditions, politics, values and norms all impact on local Paganisms. This is nowhere more evident than in a strongly Catholic society, where religion and culture are deeply entwined. Taking the Mediterranean society of Malta as a case study, this book invites readers inside the world of a small, hidden sub-culture. Showing what it is like being Pagan in a society where the vast majority of the population is Roman Catholic, and Catholicism permeates every sphere of public and domestic, social and political life, Rountree reveals that Paganism here is a unique brew of indigenous and global influences. Pagans employ both creativity and borrowing in constructing identities within a cultural context characterized by antagonism as well as continuity. This book explores the intersections of religious and cultural identity, the global and local, Paganism and Christianity, with insights grounded in rich ethnographic detail based on long-term fieldwork. Rountree makes invaluable comparisons with other studies of modern Pagans and their various worlds.
Collectivistic Religions draws upon empirical studies of Christianity in Europe to address questions of religion and collective identity, religion and nationalism, religion and public life, and ...religion and conflict.& It moves beyond the attempts to tackle such questions in terms of 'choice' and 'religious nationalism' by introducing the notion of 'collectivistic religions' to contemporary debates surrounding public religions. Using a comparison of several case studies, this book challenges the modernist bias in understanding of collectivistic religions as reducible to national identities.& A significant contribution to both the study of religious change in contemporary Europe and the theoretical debates that surround religion and secularization, it will be of key interest to scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, political science, religious studies, and geography.
Drawing on theories of religious movements and nonviolent resistance strategies, this book analyzes the Reform Movement of liberal American Catholics who for over four decades have sustained a ...movement to expand on the reforms and visions of Vatican II. In the face of backlash from church officials, reformers have moved in a sectarian direction.
This is the first book-length study in English to investigate Freire’s landmark educational theory and practice through the lens of his lifelong Catholicism. A Pedagogy of Faith explores this ...often-overlooked dimension of one of the most globally prominent and influential educational thinkers of the past fifty years. Leopando illustrates how vibrant currents within twentieth-century Catholic theology shaped central areas of Freire’s thought and activism, especially his view of education as a process of human formation in light of the divinely-endowed “vocation” of persons to shape culture, society, and history. With the contemporary resurgence of authoritarian political and cultural forces throughout much of the world, Freire’s theologically-grounded affirmation of radical democracy, social justice, historical possibility, and the absolute dignity of the human person remains as vital and relevant as ever.
Este texto constituye una aportación clave para entender la política de la monarquía española en unos años de cambio y transición, entre los gobiernos de los Reyes Católicos y de Carlos V. La figura ...política y el papel de mecenas de Diego Ramírez de Villaescusa, su formación intelectual, política, artística y cultural; sus servicios a la monarquía y su vinculación con la corte; su labor pastoral, sus aspiraciones por el capelo cardenalicio y sus numerosos patrocinios artísticos determinan la importancia de este personaje para entender el devenir histórico de la monarquía española en las primeras décadas del siglo XVI. En estos análisis se conjugan magistralmente los estudios de la corte con la historia cultural y ahonda en el significado de la biografía política, más allá de los trabajos clásicos decimonónicos, vinculando al personaje con su época y con la labor realizada. La rigurosa consulta de fuentes primarias en archivos españoles y extranjeros y una exhaustiva puesta al día bibliográfica constituyen por sí mismos un elemento valioso y fundamental de este trabajo.
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