Aboriginal Religions in Australia

Aboriginal Religions in Australia PDF Author: Françoise Dussart
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351961276
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
Over the last 25 years there has been an explosion of interest in the Aboriginal religions of Australia and this anthology provides a variety of recent writings, by a wide range of scholars. Australian Aboriginal Religions are probably the oldest extant religious systems. Over some 50,000 years they have coped with change and re-invented themselves in an astonishingly creative way. The Dreaming, the mythical time when the Ancestor Spirits shaped the territories of the Aborigines and laid down a moral and ritual law for their occupants, is the fundamental religious reality. It is the basis of the Aborigines's view of their land or country, kinship relationships, ritual and art. However, the Dreaming is not a static principle since it is interpreted in different ways, as in the extraordinary movement in contemporary indigenous painting, and in attempts at an accommodation with Christianity. The contributions of anthropologists, cultural historians, philosophers of religion and others are included in this anthology which not only guides readers through the literature but also ensures this still largely inaccessible material is available to a wider range of readers and non-specialist students and academics.

Aboriginal Religions in Australia

Aboriginal Religions in Australia PDF Author: Françoise Dussart
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351961276
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 564

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over the last 25 years there has been an explosion of interest in the Aboriginal religions of Australia and this anthology provides a variety of recent writings, by a wide range of scholars. Australian Aboriginal Religions are probably the oldest extant religious systems. Over some 50,000 years they have coped with change and re-invented themselves in an astonishingly creative way. The Dreaming, the mythical time when the Ancestor Spirits shaped the territories of the Aborigines and laid down a moral and ritual law for their occupants, is the fundamental religious reality. It is the basis of the Aborigines's view of their land or country, kinship relationships, ritual and art. However, the Dreaming is not a static principle since it is interpreted in different ways, as in the extraordinary movement in contemporary indigenous painting, and in attempts at an accommodation with Christianity. The contributions of anthropologists, cultural historians, philosophers of religion and others are included in this anthology which not only guides readers through the literature but also ensures this still largely inaccessible material is available to a wider range of readers and non-specialist students and academics.

Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples

Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples PDF Author: James L. Cox
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317067959
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Offering a significant contribution to the emerging field of 'Non-Religion Studies', Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples draws on Australian 2011 Census statistics to ask whether the Indigenous Australian population, like the wider Australian society, is becoming increasingly secularised or whether there are other explanations for the surprisingly high percentage of Aboriginal people in Australia who state that they have 'no religion'. Contributors from a range of disciplines consider three central questions: How do Aboriginal Australians understand or interpret what Westerners have called 'religion'? Do Aboriginal Australians distinguish being 'religious' from being 'non-religious'? How have modernity and Christianity affected Indigenous understandings of 'religion'? These questions re-focus Western-dominated concerns with the decline or revival of religion, by incorporating how Indigenous Australians have responded to modernity, how modernity has affected Indigenous peoples' religious behaviours and perceptions, and how variations of response can be found in rural and urban contexts.

Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth

Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth PDF Author: Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad
Publisher: Islam International Publications Ltd
ISBN: 1853726400
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 787

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Book Description
Any divide between revelation and rationality, religion and logic has to be irrational. If religion and rationality cannot proceed hand in hand, there has to be something deeply wrong with either of the two. Does revelation play any vital role in human affairs? Is not rationality sufficient to guide man in all the problems which confront him? Numerous questions such as these are examined with minute attention. All major issues which intrigue the modern mind are attempted to be incorporated in this fascinatingly comprehensive statute. Whatever the intellectual or educational background of the reader, this book is bound to offer him something of his interest. It examines a very diverse and wide range of subjects including the concept of revelation in different religions, history of philosophy, cosmology, extraterrestrial life, the future of life on earth, natural selection and its role in evolution. It also elaborately discusses the advent of the Messiah, or other universal reformers, awaited by different religions. Likewise, many other topical issues which have been agitating the human mind since time immemorial are also incorporated. The main emphasis is on the ability of the Quran to correctly discuss all important events of the past, present and future from the beginning of the universe to its ultimate end. Aided by strong incontrovertible logic and scientific evidence, the Quran does not shy away from presenting itself to the merciless scrutiny of rationality. It will be hard to find a reader whose queries are not satisfactorily answered. We hope that most readers will testify that this will always stand out as a book among books – perhaps the greatest literary achievement of this century.

Religious Change and Indigenous Peoples

Religious Change and Indigenous Peoples PDF Author: Helena Onnudottir
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317067037
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Exploring religious and spiritual changes which have been taking place among Indigenous populations in Australia and New Zealand, this book focuses on important changes in religious affiliation in census data over the last 15 years. Drawing on both local social and political debates, while contextualising the discussion in wider global debates about changing religious identities, especially the growth of Islam, the authors present a critical analysis of the persistent images and discourses on Aboriginal religions and spirituality. This book takes a comparative approach to other Indigenous and minority groups to explore contemporary changes in religious affiliation which have raised questions about resistance to modernity, challenges to the nation state and/or rejection of Christianity or Islam. Helena Onnudottir, Adam Posssamai and Bryan Turner offer a critical analysis to on-going public, political and sociological debates about religious conversion (especially to Islam) and changing religious affiliations (including an increase in the number of people who claim 'no religion') among Indigenous populations. This book also offers a major contribution to the growing debate about conversion to Islam among Australian Aborigines, Maoris and Pacific peoples.

Indigenous Peoples And Religious Change

Indigenous Peoples And Religious Change PDF Author: Peggy Brock
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004138994
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Ten historians and anthropologists analyse religious change as it was experienced by Indigenous Peoples in and around the Pacific and southern Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

On Aboriginal Religion

On Aboriginal Religion PDF Author: W. E. H. Stanner
Publisher: Sydney University Press
ISBN: 1743323883
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner is perhaps most well known for coining the phrase the 'great Australian silence', addressing the culture of denial or 'conscious forgetting' regarding the history Australia since European arrival. This reprint of On Aboriginal Religion pays tribute to the ongoing relevance of Stanner?s work. His research into Aboriginal religion was first published as a series of articles in the journal Oceania between 1959 and 1963. In 1963 the articles were published as the collection in as Oceania Monograph 11, which was later reprinted as a facsimile edition with introductory sections by Francesca Merlan and Les Hiatt (1989). As Stanner writes in his introduction to the 1963 collection, 'I thought I should take Aboriginal religion as significant in its own right and make it the primary subject of study, rather than study it, as was done so often in the past, mainly to discover the extent to which it expressed or reflected facts and preoccupations of the social order'. It is this dedication to recording the beliefs and observing the practice of Aboriginal religion that has made this monograph so important.

Aboriginal Spirituality

Aboriginal Spirituality PDF Author: Vicki Grieves
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780734041029
Category : Aboriginal Australians
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description


Believing in Australia

Believing in Australia PDF Author: Hilary M. Carey
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1742696570
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Australians have been slow to appreciate the rich variety of their religious inheritance. Believing in Australia is a much-needed cultural history of Australia's many religions which goes well beyond existing studies of denominationalism. Hilary Carey traces the changes in religions practice brought by waves of migration, including European occupation and the post-war growth of Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities. She also examines the slow European discovery of Aboriginal religions, the vital importance of religion for women and the recent growth of Christian fundamentalism and New Age sects. Believing in Australia demonstrates the central place of religion in the Australian experience and offers an engaging introduction to Australia's religious history for believers and non-believers alike. 'A landmark book: it opens up major new themes in Australian history which demand attention.' - Edmund Campion, Catholic Institute of Sydney 'Hilary Carey deftly weaves the histories of Australia's faith communities into a coat of many colours. Essential and absorbing reading for all who believe in Australia and its future as an integrated multi-religious nation.' - Rachel Kohn, 'Religion Today', Radio National

One Blood

One Blood PDF Author: John W Harris
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780987415028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1142

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Book Description
Over two centuries, Christian have carried their message to Aboriginal people throughout Australia, in the face of abuse, paternalism, prejudice, isolation and crippling hardship. Although sometimes blind to their own faults, those who brought this message were remarkable people of great compassion and courage.

Environment and Belief Systems

Environment and Belief Systems PDF Author: G. N. Devy
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000721868
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Part of the series Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies, this book focuses on the concepts that recur in any discussion of nature, culture and society among the indigenous. The book, the first in a five-volume series, deals with the two crucial concepts of environment and belief systems of indigenous peoples from all the continents of the world. With contributions from renowned scholars, activists and experts from around the globe, it presents a salient picture of the environments of indigenous peoples and discusses the essential features of their belief systems. It explores indigenous perspectives related to religion, ritual and cultural practice, art and design, and natural resources, as well as climate change impacts among such communities in Latin and North America, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands), India, Brazil, Southeast Asia and Africa. Bringing together academic insights and experiences from the ground, this unique book's wide coverage will serve as a comprehensive guide for students, teachers and scholars of indigenous studies. It will be essential reading for those in anthropology, social anthropology, sociology and social exclusion studies, religion and theology, and cultural studies, as well as activists working with indigenous communities.