Emotion, Identity, and Religion: Hope, Reciprocity, and Otherness

Deep emotions pervade our human lives and ongoing moods echo them. Religious traditions often shape these and give devotees a sense of identity in a hopeful and meaningful life despite the conflicts, confusion, pain and grief of existence. Driven by anthropological and sociological perspectives, Douglas J. Davies describes and analyses these dynamic tensions and life opportunities as they are worked out in ritual, music, theology, and the allure of sacred places. Davies brings some newer concepts to these familiar ideas, such as 'the humility response' and 'moral-somatic' processes, revealing how our sense of ourselves responds to how we are treated by others as when injustice makes us 'feel sick' or religious ideas of grace prompt joyfulness. This sense of embodied identity is shown to be influenced not only by 'reciprocity' in the many forms of exchange, gifts, merit, and actions of others, but also by a certain sense of 'otherness, whether in God, ancestors, supernatural forces or even a certain awareness of ourselves. Drawing from psychological studies of how our thinking processes engage with the worlds around us we see how difficult it is to separate out 'religious' activity from many other aspects of human response to our environment. Throughout these pages many examples are taken from the well-known religions of the world as well as from local and secular traditions.

Politics & Social Sciences

Davies, Douglas J.

Anthropology

Oxford University Press

Deep emotions pervade our human lives and ongoing moods echo them. Religious traditions often shape these and give devotees a sense of identity in a hopeful and meaningful life despite the conflicts, confusion, pain and grief of existence. Driven by anthropological and sociological perspectives, Douglas J. Davies describes and analyses these dynamic tensions and life opportunities as they are worked out in ritual, music, theology, and the allure of sacred places. Davies brings some newer concepts to these familiar ideas, such as 'the humility response' and 'moral-somatic' processes, revealing how our sense of ourselves responds to how we are treated by others as when injustice makes us 'feel sick' or religious ideas of grace prompt joyfulness. This sense of embodied identity is shown to be influenced not only by 'reciprocity' in the many forms of exchange, gifts, merit, and actions of others, but also by a certain sense of 'otherness, whether in God, ancestors, supernatural forces or even a certain awareness of ourselves. Drawing from psychological studies of how our thinking processes engage with the worlds around us we see how difficult it is to separate out 'religious' activity from many other aspects of human response to our environment. Throughout these pages many examples are taken from the well-known religions of the world as well as from local and secular traditions.

A people's lifestyle is one thing, their death-style another. The proximity or distance between such styles says much about a society, not least in Britain today. Mors Britannica takes up this style-issue in a society where cultural changes involve distinctions between traditional religion, secularization, and emergent forms of spirituality, all of which involve emotions, where fear, longing, and a sense of loss rise in waves when death marks the root embodiment of our humanity. These world-orientations, evident in older and newer ritual practices, engage death in the hope and desire that love, relationships, community, and human identity be not rendered meaningless. Yet both emotions and ritual have an uneasiness to them because "death" is a slippery topic as the twenty-first century gets under way in Britain. In this work, Douglas J. Davies draws from a largely anthropological-sociological perspective, with consideration of history, literature, philosophy, psychology, and theology, to provide a window into British life and insights into the foundation links between individuals and society, across the spectrum of traditionally religious views through to humanist and secular alternatives. He considers memorial sites (from churchyards to roadside memorials); forms of corporeal disposal (from cremation to composting); and death rites in a range of religious and secular traditions.

Mors Britannica: Life Style & Death Style in Britain Today

Describing a variety of funeral ritual, from major world religions and from local traditions, this book shows how cultures cope not only with corpses but also create an added value for living through the growth of afterlife beliefs. The key theme of the book is the rhetoric of death -- the way cultures use the most potent weapon of words to bring new power to life. Human identity and its transformation through mortuary rites is explored through the mummies of Chile and Egypt; African sacrificial deaths; Indian cremations; immigrant cemeteries in the USA; ancestor rites in Eastern religions and Mormonism; and the freezing of the dead in cryonics. Research findings are presented on cremation and afterlife beliefs, especially reincarnation, sensing the presence of the dead, and the death of pets in Britain, to show how mortuary rituals are constantly changing in response to death as a major feature of the human environment.

Death, Ritual, and Belief

Social Sciences

Bloomsbury Academic

An Introduction to Mormonism (Introduction to Religion)

Although one of the fastest growing religious movements in the world, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remains a mystery in terms of its core beliefs and theological structure. This timely book provides an important introduction to the basic history, doctrines and practices of The LDS--the "Mormon" Church. Emphasizing sacred texts and prophecies as well as the crucial Temple rituals of endowments, marriage and baptism, it is written by a non-believer, who describes Mormonism in ways that non-Mormons can understand.

History

World

Cambridge University Press

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

The Mormon Culture of Salvation: Force, Grace and Glory

The Mormon Culture of Salvation presents a comprehensive study of Mormon cultural and religious life, offering important new theories of Mormonism - one of the fastest growing movements and thought by many to be the next world religion. Bringing social, scientific and theological perspectives to bear on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Douglas Davies draws from theology, history of religions, anthropology, sociology and psychology to present a unique example of a truly interdisciplinary analysis in religious studies. Examining the many aspects of Mormon belief, ritual, family life and history, this book presents a new interpretation of the origin of Mormonism, arguing that Mormonism is rooted in the bereavement experience of Joseph Smith, which influenced the development of temple ritual for the dead and the genealogical work of many Mormon families. Davies shows how the Mormon commitment to work for salvation relates to current Mormon belief in conversion, and to traditional Christian ideas of grace. The Mormon Culture of Salvation is an important work for Mormons and non-Mormons alike, offering fresh insights into how Mormons see the world and work for their future glory in heavenly realms. Written by a non-Mormon with over 30 years' research experience into Mormonism, this book is essential reading for those seeking insights into new interdisciplinary forms of analysis in religion, as well as all those studying or interested in Mormonism and world religions. Douglas J. Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion in the Department of Theology, Durham University, UK. He is the author of many books including Death, Ritual and Belief (Cassell, 1997), Mormon Identities in Transition (Cassell, 1994), Mormon Spirituality (1987), and Meaning and Salvation in Religious Studies (Brill, 1984).

The Mormon Culture of Salvation

Religion & Spirituality

Routledge

The Mormon Culture of Salvation presents a comprehensive study of Mormon cultural and religious life, offering important new theories of Mormonism - one of the fastest growing movements and thought by many to be the next world religion. Bringing social, scientific and theological perspectives to bear on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Douglas Davies draws from theology, history of religions, anthropology, sociology and psychology to present a unique example of a truly interdisciplinary analysis in religious studies. Examining the many aspects of Mormon belief, ritual, family life and history, this book presents a new interpretation of the origin of Mormonism, arguing that Mormonism is rooted in the bereavement experience of Joseph Smith, which influenced the development of temple ritual for the dead and the genealogical work of many Mormon families. Davies shows how the Mormon commitment to work for salvation relates to current Mormon belief in conversion, and to traditional Christian ideas of grace. The Mormon Culture of Salvation is an important work for Mormons and non-Mormons alike, offering fresh insights into how Mormons see the world and work for their future glory in heavenly realms. Written by a non-Mormon with over 30 years' research experience into Mormonism, this book is essential reading for those seeking insights into new interdisciplinary forms of analysis in religion, as well as all those studying or interested in Mormonism and world religions. Douglas J. Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion in the Department of Theology, Durham University, UK. He is the author of many books including Death, Ritual and Belief (Cassell, 1997), Mormon Identities in Transition (Cassell, 1994), Mormon Spirituality (1987), and Meaning and Salvation in Religious Studies (Brill, 1984).

Sociology

Christianity as a cultural force, whether rising or falling, has seldom been analysed through the actual processes by which tradition is transmitted, modified, embraced or rejected. This book achieves that end through a study of bishops of the Church of England, their wives and their children, to show how values fostered in the vicarage and palace shape family, work and civic life in a supposedly secular age. Davies and Guest integrate, for the first time, sociological concepts of spiritual capital with anthropological ideas of gift-theory and, alongside theological themes, use these to illuminate how the religious professional functions in mediating tradition and fostering change. Motifs of distant prelates, managerially-minded fathers in God and rebellious clergy children are reconsidered in a critical light as new empirical evidence offers unique insights into how the clergy family functions as an axis of social power in an age incredulous to ecclesiastical hierarchy. Bishops, Wives and Children marks an important advance in the analysis of the spirituality of Catholic, Evangelical and Liberal leaders and their social significance within a distinctive Christian tradition and all it represents in wider British society.

Bishops, Wives and Children: Spiritual Capital Across the Generations

Guest, Mathew

Christianity as a cultural force, whether rising or falling, has seldom been analysed through the actual processes by which tradition is transmitted, modified, embraced or rejected. This book achieves that end through a study of bishops of the Church of England, their wives and their children, to show how values fostered in the vicarage and palace shape family, work and civic life in a supposedly secular age. Davies and Guest integrate, for the first time, sociological concepts of spiritual capital with anthropological ideas of gift-theory and, alongside theological themes, use these to illuminate how the religious professional functions in mediating tradition and fostering change. Motifs of distant prelates, managerially-minded fathers in God and rebellious clergy children are reconsidered in a critical light as new empirical evidence offers unique insights into how the clergy family functions as an axis of social power in an age incredulous to ecclesiastical hierarchy. Bishops, Wives and Children marks an important advance in the analysis of the spirituality of Catholic, Evangelical and Liberal leaders and their social significance within a distinctive Christian tradition and all it represents in wider British society.

Bishops, Wives and Children

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Davies, Douglas J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Davies, Douglas J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Davies, Douglas J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Emotion, Identity, and Religion: Hope, Reciprocity, and Otherness

Emotion, Identity, and Religion: Hope, Reciprocity, and Otherness

Mors Britannica: Life Style & Death Style in Britain Today

Death, Ritual, and Belief

An Introduction to Mormonism (Introduction to Religion)

An Introduction to Mormonism (Introduction to Religion)

The Mormon Culture of Salvation

The Mormon Culture of Salvation: Force, Grace and Glory

Bishops, Wives and Children: Spiritual Capital Across the Generations

Bishops, Wives and Children