In "Religion, Fundamentalism, and Violence", Andrew Gluck brings together distinguished scholars to address a fiercely debated topic: the intersection of religion and violence. Among the contributions is an anthropological analysis of the violence as...

Dismissing oversimplified and politically-charged views of the politics of Shi'ite Islam, Said Amir Arjomand offers a richly researched sociological and historical study of Shi'ism and the political order of premodern Iran that exposes the roots of w...

The relationship between Western democracies and Islam, rarely entirely comfortable, has in recent years become increasingly tense. A growing immigrant population and worries about cultural and political assimilation – exacerbated by terrorist attack...

In "The Choice", Arnine Cumsky Weiss and Carol Weiss Rubel present the stories of forty-five converts to Judaism. These reflective narratives demonstrate that no two converts' experiences are alike, yet most share some common characteristics: a spiri...

In "The Specter of Salem", Gretchen A. Adams reveals the many ways that the Salem witch trials loomed over the American collective memory from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Schoolbooks in the 1790s, for example, evoked the episode to de...

Contemporary theology, and Jewish theology in particular, Michael Fishbane asserts, now lies fallow, beset by strong critiques from within and without. For Jewish reality, a coherent and wide-ranging response in thoroughly modern terms is needed".Sac...

Although there are several studies dedicated to the lives of Francis and Clare of Assisi, Gilberto Cavazos-Gonzalez's "Greater Than a Mother's Love" is the first to investigate their spirituality in the context of family relationships. He delves into...

Beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, both practitioners and admirers of Buddhism have proclaimed its compatibility with science. In "Buddhism and Science", Donald S. Lopez Jr. explores how and why these two seemingly...

In the Middle Ages, Muslim travelers embarked on a rihla, or world tour, as surveyors, emissaries, and educators. On these journeys, voyagers not only interacted with foreign cultures – touring Greek civilization, exploring the Middle East and North...

American spirituality – with its focus on individual meaning, experience, and exploration – is usually thought to be a product of the postmodern era. But, as "The New Metaphysicals" makes clear, contemporary American spirituality has historic roots i...