The First Jihad tells the story of Muhammad Ahmad, a Muslim religious leader in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and the uprising he led against British and Egyptian forces in the late nineteenth century. In 1881, Ahmad declared himself the Mahdi – the "Expec...

When the Gospel writings were first produced, Christian thinking was already cognizant of its relationship to ancient memorial cultures and history-writing traditions. Yet, little has been written about exactly what shaped the development of early Ch...

Considered by Muslims as the only true art, calligraphy has played a prominent role in Islamic culture since the time of the prophet Muhammad. Exploring this central role of the written word in Islam and how writing practices have evolved and adapted...

Riveting and eloquent, the collected writings of a key figure – and one of the first female leaders – of the eighteenth-century evangelical movement. Sarah Osborn (1714–1796) was one of the most charismatic female religious leaders of her time and o...

It may seem obvious that the Great War, with its immense cost in terms of lives lost and injuries of body and mind incurred, must have had a significant impact on the religious faith of the British people. There is much anecdotal evidence to support...

Some twenty-five centuries after the Buddha started teaching, his message continues to inspire people across the globe, including those living in predominantly secular societies. What does it mean to adapt religious practices to secular contexts? Ste...

A fascinating, vivid, and on-the-ground account of Russian Orthodoxy's resurgence. A bold experiment is taking place in Russia. After a century of being scarred by militant, atheistic communism, the Orthodox Church has become Russia's largest and mo...

Thomas Blanton sheds light on the philosophy surrounding gift giving in Paul's letters and on modern theories of gift exchange through the lens of religion. The exchange of gifts is a fundamental part of society and a foundational element in Greco-Ro...

A century after his presidency, Woodrow Wilson remains one of the most compelling and complicated figures ever to occupy the Oval Office. A political outsider, Wilson brought to the presidency a distinctive, strongly held worldview, built on powerful...

Insight meditation, which claims to offer practitioners a chance to escape all suffering by perceiving the true nature of reality, is one of the most popular forms of meditation today. The Theravada Buddhist cultures of South and Southeast Asia often...