Author: Sam George
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506447066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
South Asians make up one of the largest diasporas in the world and Christians form a relatively large share of it. Christians from the Indian subcontinent have successfully transplanted themselves all over the globe, and many from different faith backgrounds have embraced Christianity at overseas locations. This volume includes biblical reflections on diasporic life, charts the historical and geographical spread of South Asian Christianity, and closes with a call to missional living in diaspora. It analyzes how migrants revive Christianity in adopted host nations and ancestral homelands. This book portrays the fascinating saga of Christians of South Asian origin who have pitched their tents in the furthest corners of the globe and showcases triumphs and challenges of scattered communities. It presents the contemporary religious experiences from a plethora of discrete perspectives. It deals with issues such as community history, struggles of identity and belonging, linkage of religious and cultural traditions, preservation and adaptation of faith practices, ties between ancestral homeland and host nation, and diasporic moral dilemmas in diaspora. This book argues that human scattering amplifies diversity within Christianity and for the need for hetrogeneous unity amidst great diversities.
Author: Selva J. Raj
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317052293
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 294
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Book Description
The South Asian Christian diaspora is largely invisible in the literature about religion and migration. This is the first comprehensive study of South Asian Christians living in Europe and North America, presenting the main features of these diasporas, their community histories and their religious practices. The South Asian Christian diaspora is pluralistic both in terms of religious adherence, cultural tradition and geographical areas of origin. This book gives justice to such pluralism and presents a multiplicity of cultures and traditions typical of the South Asian Christian diaspora. Issues such as the institutionalization of the religious traditions in new countries, identity, the paradox of belonging both to a minority immigrant group and a majority religion, the social functions of rituals, attitudes to language, generational transfer, and marriage and family life, are all discussed.
Author: Kenneth Ross
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 9781683073246
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 512
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Book Description
Christianity in South and Central Asia Edited by Kenneth R. Ross, Daniel Jeyaraj, and Todd M. Johnson Students, pastors, missionaries, and professors looking for key information about Christianity in South and Central Asia need look no further. This comprehensive reference volume covers every country in South and Central Asia, offering reliable demographic and religious information, as well as original interpretative essays by indigenous scholars and practitioners. Combining empirical data and original analysis in a uniquely detailed way, it maps patterns of growth and decline, assesses major traditions and movements, analyzes key themes, and examines current trends. Readers will find profiles of Christianity through clearly presented statistical and demographic information. Also included are essays examining each of the major Christian traditions (Independents, Orthodox, United Churches, Protestants/Anglicans, Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals/Charismatics) as they are finding expression in South and Central Asia. Those who are interested in studying key themes of this region--such as faith and culture, worship and spirituality, theology, social and political engagement, mission and evangelism, religious freedom, gender, interfaith relations, monastic movements and spirituality, displaced populations, and ecclesiology--will find highly detailed essays and information. Compiled by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's Center for the Study of Global Christianity, this volume is unmatched in scope and detail. Countries covered in this volume include: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North India, Western India, South India, Northeast India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. About the Editors Kenneth Ross is Professor of Theology at Zomba Theological College, Malawi, Theological Educator (Africa) with the Church of Scotland and Associate Minister at Bemvu Parish, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. Over the last three decades he has published extensively on Global Christianity. Currently he is the Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh University School of Divinity, and Chair of the Scotland Malawi Partnership. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours in 2016. Daniel Jeyaraj is an Indian Christian theologian with expertise in historical theology, the studies on Indo-German missions, Indic religions and Tamil ethics. He is the Professor of World Christianity and Director of the Andrew F. Walls Center for the Study of African and Asian Christianity at Liverpool Hope University in England. He has earlier served as the Judson-DeFreitas Professor of World Christianity at Andover Newton Theological School, John A. Mackay Professor of World Christianity, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Aaron Professor for the History of Christianity, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute. Todd M. Johnson is the Paul E. and Eva B. Toms Distinguished Professor of Mission and Global Christianity and Co-director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA. Johnson is Visiting Faculty at Boston University's Institute for Culture, Religion and World Affairs, leading a research project on international religious demography. He has published encyclopedias, atlases, databases, monographs, and scholarly articles on counting religionists around the world.
Author: Corinne G. Dempsey
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791476338
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 234
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Book Description
Looks at perceptions of the miraculous in a variety of contemporary South Asian religious traditions-Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.
Author: Harold Coward
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791493024
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 315
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Book Description
This book explores the experience of religious communities that have migrated from South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) to live in Britain, Canada, and the United States, three countries sharing a common language (English) and an interwoven history. The work introduces the migration history of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs along with the cultural nuances of these traditions. The contributors discuss the various communities' experiences that grow out of or are related to religion. The book shows how traditions are reformed or reinvented and how they are passed on, both through the family and through institutions. Issues related to public policy and minority status are also addressed. While the main focus is on the Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities, specific sections also cover South Asian Christians, the Zoroastrian diaspora, and new religious movements in the West led by South Asians. The book strikes a balance between stories and statistics in order to emphasize the narrative of the immigrants' experience. [Contributors include: Roger Ballard, Judith Coney, Harold Coward, Diana L. Eck, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, John R. Hinnells, Kim Knott, Gurinder Singh Mann, Sheila McDonough, Jørgen S. Nielsen, Joseph T. O'Connell, and Raymond Brady Williams.]
Author: Felix Wilfred
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199329060
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 685
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Book Description
Named by the International Bulletin of Missionary Studies as an Outstanding Book of 2014 for Mission Studies Despite the ongoing global expansion of Christianity, there remains a lack of comprehensive scholarship on its development in Asia. This volume fills the gap by exploring the world of Asian Christianity and its manifold expressions, including worship, theology, spirituality, inter-religious relations, interventions in society, and mission. The contributors, from over twenty countries, deconstruct many of the widespread misconceptions and interpretations of Christianity in Asia. They analyze how the growth of Christian beliefs throughout the continent is linked with the socio-political and cultural processes of colonization, decolonization, modernization, democratization, identity construction of social groups, and various social movements. With a particular focus on inter-religious encounters and emerging theological and spiritual paradigms, the volume provides alternative frames for understanding the phenomenon of conversion and studies how the scriptures of other religious traditions are used in the practice of Christianity within Asia.
Author: Knut A. Jacobsen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429622066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 471
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Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions presents critical research, overviews, and case studies on religion in historical South Asia, in the seven nation states of contemporary South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, and in the South Asian diaspora. Chapters by an international set of experts analyse formative developments, roots, changes and transformations, religious practices and ideas, identities, relations, territorialisation, and globalisation in historical and contemporary South Asia. The Handbook is divided into two parts which first analyse historical South Asian religions and their developments and second contemporary South Asia religions that are influenced by both religious pluralism and their close connection to nation states and their ideological power. Contributors argue that religion has been used as a tool for creating nations as well as majorities within those nations in South Asia, despite their enormous diversity, in particular religious diversity. The Handbook explores these diversities and tensions, historical developments, and the present situation across religious traditions by utilising an array of approaches and from the point of view of various academic disciplines. Drawing together a remarkable collection of leading and emerging scholars, this handbook is an invaluable research tool and will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of Asian religion, religion in context, and South Asian religions.
Author: Birendra Nath Prasad
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000416755
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 475
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Book Description
In the religious landscape of early medieval (c. AD 600-1200) Bihar and Bengal, poly-religiosity was generally the norm than an exception, which entailed the evolution of complex patterns of inter-religious equations. Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism not only coexisted but also competed for social patronage, forcing them to enter into complex interactions with social institutions and processes. Through an analysis of the published archaeological data, this work explores some aspects of the social history of Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jaina temples and shrines, and Buddhist stūpas and monasteries in early medieval Bihar and Bengal. This archaeological history of religions questions many ‘established’ textual reconstructions, and enriches our understanding of the complex issue of the decline of Buddhism in this area. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Author: Ian Gilman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136109781
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412
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Book Description
The history of Christianity in Asia is little dealt with either by Church historians or by historians of religion. It is generally unknown, even amongst theologians, that there was a long history of Christianity in Persia, India, Central Asia and China before the appearance on the scene of the first missionaries from the West. A systematic history of the Christian Church in Asia before 1500 is needed. Drawing on material hitherto unknown in the English speaking world, this is a timely and important book because there is a heightened interest today in the early forms of Asian Christianity. The Church in Asia today seeks to find forms of religious expression that are in harmony with Asian culture as was the case in the earlier period. The book covers the period up to 1500 CE. The geographical areas dealt with are Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, Central and South East Asia, China and Japan. The book takes into account the outward development of the Church in these areas as well as the inner, theological issues.
Author: Chandra Mallampalli
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190608900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369
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Book Description
South Asia is home to more than a billion Hindus and half a billion Muslims. But the region is also home to substantial Christian communities, some dating almost to the earliest days of the faith. The stories of South Asia's Christians are vital for understanding the shifting contours of World Christianity, precisely because of their history of interaction with members of these other religious traditions. In this broad, accessible overview of South Asian Christianity, Chandra Mallampalli shows how the faith has been shaped by Christians' location between Hindus and Muslims. Mallampalli begins with a discussion of South India's ancient Thomas Christian tradition, which interacted with West Asia's Persian Christians and thrived for centuries alongside their Hindu and Muslim neighbours. He then underscores efforts of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries to understand South Asian societies for purposes of conversion. The publication of books and tracts about other religions, interreligious debates, and aggressive preaching were central to these endeavours, but rarely succeeded at yielding converts. Instead, they played an important role in producing a climate of religious competition, which ultimately marginalized Christians in Hindu-, Muslim-, and Buddhist-majority countries of post-colonial South Asia. Ironically, the greatest response to Christianity came from poor and oppressed Dalit (formerly untouchable) and tribal communities who were largely indifferent to missionary rhetoric. Their mass conversions, poetry, theology, and embrace of Pentecostalism are essential for understanding South Asian Christianity and its place within World Christianity today.
