Religious Studies

Myths are grouped by theme under such headings as Creation, Fertility and Cultivation, Gods and Men, and the Afterlife, allowing readers to compare similar stories from different parts of the world and to gain insight into other cultures. Background information about historical and cultural events includes photos of places and objects mentioned in each story.

A guide to Hinduism through the ages, offering readers an accessible way of exploring its complex deities, mythological characters, and ideas. A chronology of the mythological universe and the history of Hinduism, explaining the working and purpose of time and mythic time within the culture. An illustrated A-Z section with entries on major deities, characters, themes, rituals, and beliefs of Hinduism in cultural context

In this marvelous collection of hundreds of fascinating, mysterious, and revealing tales, Harold Scheub captures the immense sweep and diversity of African mythology.

The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion offers a fully rounded (and highly authoritative) point of access to all aspects of ancient religious life and thought.

Exploring the elements of reality in early modern witchcraft and popular magic, through a combination of detailed archival research and broad-ranging interdisciplinary analyses, this book complements and challenges existing scholarship, and offers unique insights into this murky aspect of early modern history.

Shamanism is the oldest form of spirituality and magic on earth. In Finland, shamanism is the source of their system of magick. Now you can learn their system in Finnish Magic by Robert Nelson, Ph.D. In this book you will discover the ancient national epic of Finland known as the Kalevala. This book involves the search for magical power and is "the single greatest influence on the formation and definition of modern Finland" according to the author. Finnish Magic describes the ancient Finnish beliefs about deities and spirits. You'll learn about the primary Finnish deity, Jumala, and how the Finns also adopted some of the Norse deities. Also described is the notion that everything has a spirit, followed by a discussion of how those spirits are different from each other. Next, Finnish Magic goes into the methods of shamanism and Finnish magic.

Magic has served to designate a form of alterity or deviance against which dominant Western notions of appropriate religious piety, legitimate scientific rationality, and orderly social relations are brought into relief. Scholars have found magic an invaluable tool in their efforts to define the appropriate boundaries of religion and science. On a broader level, says Styers, magical thinking has served as an important foil for modernity itself. Debates over the nature of magic have offered a particularly rich site at which scholars have worked to define and to contest the nature of modernity and norms for life in the modern world.

Gideon Bohak gives a pioneering account of the broad history of ancient Jewish magic, from the Second Temple to the rabbinic period. It is based both on ancient magicians' own compositions and products in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek, and on the descriptions and prescriptions of non-magicians, to reconstruct a historical picture that is as balanced and nuanced as possible. The main focus is on the cultural make-up of ancient Jewish magic, and special attention is paid to the processes of cross-cultural contacts and borrowings between Jews and non-Jews, as well as to inner-Jewish creativity. Other major issues explored include the place of magic within Jewish society, contemporary Jewish attitudes to magic, and the identity of its practitioners.

This handy guide to the Greek and Roman Myths brings classical mythology to life. The book features an engaging blend of stories, facts and quotations from ancient authors, and places ancient myths in a modern context, discussing the 'afterlives' of the myths and the relevance of their messages today. Factfiles on heroes and heroines and family trees of the gods also make this a useful book for students.

Religion & the Decline of Magic is Keith Thomas's classic history of the magical beliefs held by people on every level of English society in the 16th and 17th centuries and how these beliefs were a part of the religious and scientific assumptions of the time. It is not only a major historical and religious work, but a thoroughly enjoyable book filled with fascinating facts and original insights into an area of human nature that remains controversial today- the belief in the supernatural that still continues in the modern world.

Covering 30,000 years of goddess worship, this fascinating book is the first and most comprehensive biographical dictionary devoted exclusively to mythological deities.

This is an engaging introduction which explores the latest thinking about Classical mythology, the history of interpreting myths and the role of myths in cultural tradition, from painting to opera, philosophy, politics, drama, and religion in the modern day. It answers such questions as what are ancient myths and who invented them where do gods come from what makes a hero how is Classical myth used in the modern world and what approaches are there to the study of myth?

Focusing on the oldest available texts, buttressed by data from archeology, comparative linguistics and human population genetics, Michael Witzel reconstructs a single original African source for our collective myths, dating back some 100,000 years.Identifying features shared by this "Out of Africa" mythology and its northern Eurasian offshoots, Witzel suggests that these common myths - recounted by the communities of the "African Eve" - are the earliest evidence of ancient spirituality. Moreover these common features, Witzel shows, survive today in all major religions.

Discourse in Ritual Studies invites you to enter a conversation on the topic of liturgy from the perspective of ritual studies. Since liturgical topics are not among the most frequently addressed issues in ritual studies, this volume supplies a need for studies of public worship that take into account the multidisciplinary and innovative research in ritual studies while dealing with basic issues of religious studies and theology. The contributing authors share an action-oriented and empirical interest in ritual studies while not losing sight of perennial and normative questions that characterize the study of liturgy. Thus, a valuable discourse unfolds that opens up new opportunities for worship research in ritual studies.

Japan is one of the most urbanised and industrialised countries in the world. Yet the Japanese continue to practise a variety of religious rituals and ceremonies despite the high-tech, highly regimented nature of Japanese society. Ceremony and Ritual in Japan focuses on the traditional and religious aspects of Japanese society from an anthropological perspective, presenting new material and making cross-cultural comparisons. The chapters in this collection cover topics as diverse as funerals and mourning, sweeping, women's roles in ritual, the division of ceremonial foods into bitter and sweet, the history of a shrine, the playing of games, the exchange of towels and the relationship between ceremony and the workplace.

The collection explores the importance of magic within Early Christianity, an issue shared with its Old Testament and Jewish roots and with its ancient background, implying reluctance and critique. Both magical traits and the critique of non-Christian magic have an impact on later scripture and still exert influence now on modern theoretical discussion and popular ideas.