Fertility and Faith

Fertility and Faith PDF Author: Philip Jenkins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481312608
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Demography drives religious change. High-fertility societies, like most of contemporary Africa, tend to be fervent and devout. The lower a population's fertility rates, the greater the tendency for people to detach from organized or institutional religion. Thus, fertility rates supply an effective gauge of secularization trends. In Fertility and Faith, Philip Jenkins maps the demographic revolution that has taken hold of many countries around the globe in recent decades and explores the implications for the future development of the world's religions. Demographic change has driven the secularization of contemporary Western Europe, where the revolution began. Jenkins shows how the European trajectory of rapid declines in fertility is now affecting much of the globe. The implications are clear: the religious character of many non-European areas is highly likely to move in the direction of sweeping secularization. And this is now reshaping the United States itself. This demographic revolution is reshaping Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism. In order to accommodate the new social trends, these religions must adapt to situations where large families are no longer the norm. Each religious tradition will develop distinctive emphases concerning morality, gender, and sexuality, as well as the roles of clergy and laity in the faith's institutional structures. Radical change follows great upheaval. The tidal shift is well underway. With Fertility and Faith, Philip Jenkins describes this ongoing phenomenon and envisions our collective religious future.

Fertility and Faith

Fertility and Faith PDF Author: Philip Jenkins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481312608
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
Demography drives religious change. High-fertility societies, like most of contemporary Africa, tend to be fervent and devout. The lower a population's fertility rates, the greater the tendency for people to detach from organized or institutional religion. Thus, fertility rates supply an effective gauge of secularization trends. In Fertility and Faith, Philip Jenkins maps the demographic revolution that has taken hold of many countries around the globe in recent decades and explores the implications for the future development of the world's religions. Demographic change has driven the secularization of contemporary Western Europe, where the revolution began. Jenkins shows how the European trajectory of rapid declines in fertility is now affecting much of the globe. The implications are clear: the religious character of many non-European areas is highly likely to move in the direction of sweeping secularization. And this is now reshaping the United States itself. This demographic revolution is reshaping Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism. In order to accommodate the new social trends, these religions must adapt to situations where large families are no longer the norm. Each religious tradition will develop distinctive emphases concerning morality, gender, and sexuality, as well as the roles of clergy and laity in the faith's institutional structures. Radical change follows great upheaval. The tidal shift is well underway. With Fertility and Faith, Philip Jenkins describes this ongoing phenomenon and envisions our collective religious future.

Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?

Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth? PDF Author: Eric Kaufmann
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847651941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Dawkins and Hitchens have convinced many western intellectuals that secularism is the way forward. But most people don't read their books before deciding whether to be religious. Instead, they inherit their faith from their parents, who often innoculate them against the elegant arguments of secularists. And what no one has noticed is that far from declining, the religious are expanding their share of the population: in fact, the more religious people are, the more children they have. The cumulative effect of immigration from religious countries, and religious fertility will be to reverse the secularisation process in the West. Not only will the religious eventually triumph over the non-religious, but it is those who are the most extreme in their beliefs who have the largest families. Within Judaism, the Ultra-Orthodox may achieve majority status over their liberal counterparts by mid-century. Islamist Muslims have won the culture war in much of the Muslim world, and their success provides a glimpse of what awaits the Christian West and Israel. Based on a wealth of demographic research, considering questions of multiculturalism and terrorism, Kaufmann examines the implications of the decline in liberal secularism as religious conservatism rises - and what this means for the future of western modernity.

Fertility and Jewish Law

Fertility and Jewish Law PDF Author: Ronit Irshai
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 161168241X
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
A comprehensive comparative study of Jewish law on contemporary reproductive issues from a gender perspective

Reconceiving Infertility

Reconceiving Infertility PDF Author: Candida R. Moss
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691164835
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
A more complete picture of how procreation and childlessness are depicted in the Bible In the Book of Genesis, the first words God speaks to humanity are "Be fruitful and multiply." From ancient times to today, these words have been understood as a divine command to procreate. Fertility is viewed as a sign of blessedness and moral uprightness, while infertility is associated with sin and moral failing. Reconceiving Infertility explores traditional interpretations such as these, providing a more complete picture of how procreation and childlessness are depicted in the Bible. Closely examining texts and themes from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Candida Moss and Joel Baden offer vital new perspectives on infertility and the social experiences of the infertile in the biblical tradition. They begin with perhaps the most famous stories of infertility in the Bible—those of the matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel—and show how the divine injunction in Genesis is both a blessing and a curse. Moss and Baden go on to discuss the metaphorical treatments of Israel as a "barren mother," the conception of Jesus, Paul's writings on family and reproduction, and more. They reveal how biblical views on procreation and infertility, and the ancient contexts from which they emerged, were more diverse than we think. Reconceiving Infertility demonstrates that the Bible speaks in many voices about infertility, and lays a biblical foundation for a more supportive religious environment for those suffering from infertility today.

Religion's Sudden Decline

Religion's Sudden Decline PDF Author: Ronald Inglehart
Publisher:
ISBN: 0197547044
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Mass attachment to religion is rapidly declining in most of the world; Why, and What comes next?The world is becoming less religious. Since 2007, there has been a pervasive decline in religious belief and most of the world's people now say that God is less important in their lives than they said He was in the quarter century before 2007. The American public showed the most dramatic shift of all. The United States, which for many years stood as a highly religious outlier among the world's high-income countries, now ranks as the 12th least religious country for which data are available. Many factors contributed to this dramatic worldwide shift, but as Inglehart shows, certain ones stand out. For centuries, virtually all major religions encouraged women to stay home and produce as many children as possible; and they sternly discouraged divorce, abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and any other form of sexual behavior not linked with reproduction. These norms were necessary for societies to survive when facing high infant mortality and low life expectancy: societies that didn't instill them tended to die out. Recent technological advances have greatly increased life expectancy and cut infant mortality to a tiny fraction of its historic levels, making these norms no longer necessary for societal survival. These norms require repressing strong natural urges, but, since they present traditional norms as absolute values, most religions strongly resist change. The resulting tension, together with the fact that rising existential security has made people less dependent on religion, opened the way for an exodus from religion. Utilizing a massive global data base, Inglehart analyzes the conditions under which religiosity collapses, and explores its implications for the future.

Fertility Policy in Israel

Fertility Policy in Israel PDF Author: Jacqueline Portugese
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
An examination, with feminist perspective, of Israel's fertility practices and policies surrounding abortion, family planning, in vitro fertilization and the welfare state. This book exposes the complex web of issues, actors, and power relations that shape the Israeli political agenda. At the same time, it contributes to ongoing feminist debates concerning the politics of reproduction and the role of the state in contributing to the oppression of women. Israel's commmitment to Zionist ideals and policies, its ambiguous relationship with Jewish Orthodoxy, and the intersection of the two at the level of gender relations have played a great role in determining the shape, scope,and direction of many government policies. This book explores the relationship between these three ideological and institutional forces in the context of development of fertility policy. In the process, it touches upon various points of interest, including the state's treatment of the Palestinian Arab minority and its relationship with the wider Palestinian national movement; the power relations and political agenda underlying policy-making in Israel; the development of Israeli social and political identity; and the use of gender to explain both the status of Israeli women and the overall unfolding of politics and policy-making.

Low Fertility Regimes and Demographic and Societal Change

Low Fertility Regimes and Demographic and Societal Change PDF Author: Dudley L. Poston, Jr.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319640615
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book explores how low fertility levels could fundamentally change a country's population and society. It analyzes the profound effects below average birthrates have on virtually all aspects of society, from the economy to religion, from marriage to gender roles. An introduction written by Dudley L. Poston Jr. provides a general overview of this relatively new phenomenon that has already impacted nearly one-half of the countries of the world today. Poston also discusses the broad implications of the changes that these societies are currently experiencing and the ones that they will soon confront. Next, each of the 12 essays collected in this volume look into how a low fertility level affects a particular demographic or societal structure or process. In addition, case studies offer an in-depth portrait of these changes in the United States and China. Coverage includes the dynamics of low and lowest-low (where the birthrate is well below average) fertility, high and increasing life expectancies in the United States, the implications of native-born fertility and other socio-demographic changes for less-skilled U.S. immigration, ageing and age dependency in post-industrial societies, good mothering and gender roles in China, the increasing prevalence of voluntary childlessness, how low fertility and prolonged longevity could result in slow economic growth, the decreasing relevance of traditional religious systems, and more. The emergence and persistence of population decline produced by low fertility levels has the potential to greatly alter key aspects of society as well as individual lives. Containing insightful analysis from some of the top minds in demography today, this book will arm readers with the knowledge they need to fully understand these transformations.

Managing Reproductive Life

Managing Reproductive Life PDF Author: Soraya Tremayne
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781571815002
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
In 1999, the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford held a workshop on the social dynamics of human reproduction. This volume contains 12 papers from scholars in Britain and the U.S. that were originally presented at that workshop. Topics include, for example, motherhood among young prostitutes in Thailand, the meaning of children in Hong Kong, and the reproductive health of refugees. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Native Religions of North America

Native Religions of North America PDF Author: Åke Hultkrantz
Publisher: Waveland Press
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
The religious life of Native Americans is a panorma featuring an immense diversity of beliefs, cermonies, and ways of life. Native Religions of North Ameria reflects this rich tradition as it admirably distills a complex subject in a practical and engaging manner. Through concise expression and careful choice of examples, Hultkrantz identifies the diversity and continuities in American Indian spirituality. He introduces the hunters and farmers, the past and presents, and the physical contexts and the sublime speculations of tribal religions, even the subtle shades of meaning within an Indian community. --

Analyzing Contemporary Fertility

Analyzing Contemporary Fertility PDF Author: Robert Schoen
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030485196
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This edited volume offers state-of-the-art research on the dynamics of contemporary fertility by examining the implications of the economic and social forces that are driving the rapid change in fertility behavior, and the changing context, determinants, and measurement of contemporary human reproduction. The volume explores new theoretical avenues that seek to incorporate uncertainty, examine social contagion effects, and explain the rise in childlessness. Reproductive attitudes are re-examined in chapters that deal with models of parenthood and with the persistence of race-ethnic-nativity differences. A new and important subject of multi-partner fertility is also described by examining it in the context of total fertility and from the usually neglected perspective of men. The impact of divorce on fertility, the measurement of childlessness and the postponement of first births, developments in assortative mating and fertility, and current patterns of interracial fertility are also addressed in this volume. By combining up-to-date research spanning the entire field to illuminate contemporary developments, the book is a valuable source for demographers, sociologists, economists, and all those interested in understanding fertility in today's world.