Author: Victoria Smolkin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691197237
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360
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Book Description
When the Bolsheviks set out to build a new world in the wake of the Russian Revolution, they expected religion to die off. Soviet power used a variety of tools--from education to propaganda to terror—to turn its vision of a Communist world without religion into reality. Yet even with its monopoly on ideology and power, the Soviet Communist Party never succeeded in overcoming religion and creating an atheist society. A Sacred Space Is Never Empty presents the first history of Soviet atheism from the 1917 revolution to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and in-depth interviews with those who were on the front lines of Communist ideological campaigns, Victoria Smolkin argues that to understand the Soviet experiment, we must make sense of Soviet atheism. Smolkin shows how atheism was reimagined as an alternative cosmology with its own set of positive beliefs, practices, and spiritual commitments. Through its engagements with religion, the Soviet leadership realized that removing religion from the "sacred spaces" of Soviet life was not enough. Then, in the final years of the Soviet experiment, Mikhail Gorbachev—in a stunning and unexpected reversal—abandoned atheism and reintroduced religion into Soviet public life. A Sacred Space Is Never Empty explores the meaning of atheism for religious life, for Communist ideology, and for Soviet politics.
Author: M. C. Wright
Publisher: Winepress Publishing
ISBN: 9781414122052
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
Have you bought into the lie that God demands you follow a performance-based list of “spiritual rules” before you get on His good side? Sacred Space will take you deeper into the presence of God than mere bullet-point Christianity. Great for encouraging pastors, individuals, or small groups. Discussion questions included. Visit SacredSpaceTheBook.c
Author: Mircea Eliade
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156792011
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268
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Book Description
Famed historian of religion Mircea Eliade observes that even moderns who proclaim themselves residents of a completely profane world are still unconsciously nourished by the memory of the sacred. Eliade traces manifestations of the sacred from primitive to modern times in terms of space, time, nature, and the cosmos. In doing so he shows how the total human experience of the religious man compares with that of the nonreligious. This book serves as an excellent introduction to the history of religion, but its perspective also emcompasses philosophical anthropology, phenomenology, and psychology. It will appeal to anyone seeking to discover the potential dimensions of human existence. -- P. [4] of cover.
Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
Author: Page Herrlinger
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501771167
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359
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Book Description
Drawing on multiple archives and primary sources, including secret police files and samizdat, Holy Sobriety in Modern Russia reconstructs the history of a spiritual movement that survived persecution by the Orthodox church and decades of official atheism, and still exists today. Since 1894, tens of thousands of Russians have found hope and faith through the teachings and prayers of the charismatic lay preacher and healer, Brother Ioann Churikov (1861–1933). Inspired by Churikov's deep piety, "miraculous" healing ability, and scripture-based philosophy known as holy sobriety, the "trezvenniki"—or "sober ones"—reclaimed their lives from the effects of alcoholism, unemployment, domestic abuse, and illness. Page Herrlinger examines the lived religious experience and official repression of this primarily working-class community over the span of Russia's tumultuous twentieth century, crossing over—and challenging—the traditional divide between religious and secular studies of Russia and the Soviet Union, and highlighting previously unseen patterns of change and continuity between Russia's tsarist and socialist pasts. This grass-roots faith community makes an ideal case study through which to explore patterns of spiritual searching and religious toleration under both tsarist and Soviet rule, providing a deeper context for today's discussions about the relationship between Russian Orthodoxy and national identity. Holy Sobriety in Modern Russia is a story of resilience, reinvention, and resistance. Herrlinger's analysis seeks to understand these unorthodox believers as active agents exercising their perceived right to live according to their beliefs, both as individuals and as a community.
Author: Louis P. Nelson
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253218225
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 295
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Book Description
This volume examines a diverse set of spaces and buildings seen through the lens of popular practice and belief to shed light on the complexities of sacred space in America. Contributors explore how dedication sermons document shifting understandings of the meetinghouse in early 19th-century Connecticut; the changes in evangelical church architecture during the same century and what that tells us about evangelical religious life; the impact of contemporary issues on Catholic church architecture; the impact of globalization on the construction of traditional sacred spaces; the urban practice of Jewish space; nature worship and Central Park in New York; the mezuzah and domestic sacred space; and, finally, the spiritual aspects of African American yard art.
Author: Monty Wright
Publisher: TrustedBooks
ISBN: 9781632691958
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
Are you tired of living a "formula faith" that leaves you empty, frustrated, and discouraged? We were created to experience so much more of God than most people currently do. However, too often we settle for the A + B = C approach to faith and life-which never truly meets the deep longings of the soul. We have bought into the lie that we will become spiritual people if we simply do the right spiritual things. This has crafted a works-based religious culture that fosters discouragement, disillusionment, and apathy. Sacred Space: - helps us journey deeper than bullet-point Christianity - teaches us how to unmask the shallowness and emptiness of cultural spirituality - shows us how to live connected to God If you long to uncover the secret to cultivating "God-space" amidst the busyness of life, then prepare to experience the divine movement from information towards transformation. Discover how to free your soul, moment by moment, in the midst of a frantic, noisy world. It's time to revolutionize the way you live out your faith and begin experiencing a God-saturated life-the zoe life of God-from the inside out! It's time to create some sacred space.
Author: Isabella Kasselstrand
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479814253
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
Demonstrates definitively that the secularization thesis is correct, and religion is losing its grip on societies worldwide In the decades since its introduction, secularization theory has been subjected to doubt and criticism from a number of leading scholars, who have variously claimed that it is wrong, flawed, or incomplete. In Beyond Doubt, Isabella Kasselstrand, Phil Zuckerman, and Ryan T. Cragun mount a strong defense for the theory, providing compelling evidence that religion is indeed declining globally as a result of modernization. Though defenses of secularization theory have been mounted in the past, we now have many years’ worth of empirical data to illuminate trends, and can trace changes not just at a given point in time but over a trajectory. Drawing on extensive survey data from nations around the world, the book demonstrates that, in spite of its many detractors, there is robust empirical support for secularization theory. It also engages with the most prominent criticisms levied against the theory, showing that data that are said to refute the narrative of religious decline are easily explainable and in keeping with the broader tendency toward secularization. Beyond simply defending secularization theory, the authors endeavor to formalize it, offering clear definitions of relevant terms and creating propositions that can be repeatedly and accurately tested. Beyond Doubt offers the strongest argument to date for the existence of a global secularization trend, and will be a vital resource for students and scholars alike who study religion and secularism.
Author: Andrei-Razvan Coltea
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9819947014
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 335
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Book Description
Author: Benjamin Z. Kedar
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349140848
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348
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Book Description
Sacred Space: Shrine, City, Land - a collection of articles that deal with Holy Places from Antiquity to the present; from the lands of the Fertile Crescent to Europe, India, Japan and Mexico; from mountains and seas to temples, cities and countries; from the construction, perception and functioning of sacred sites to the psychotic breakdowns they bring on some visitors.
