Living Traditions in Contemporary Contexts


Book Description

This book examines a monastic institution the Madhava Matha of Udupi (Udipi) in Southern Karnataka as a site of the formation of religious opinion, of monastic training, and practice, and the transmission of knowledge. The author brings both sociological and textual perspectives to bear on his work.




Conflict in the Archaeology of Living Traditions


Book Description

The first text to address the contentious issues raised by the pursuit of anthropology and archaeology in the world today. Calls into question the traditional, sometimes difficult relationship between western scholars and the contemporary cultures and peoples they study and can easily disturb.




Healing Power


Book Description

People around the world are seeking for new healing methods, and they do so not in isolation but in global interaction. This publication provides new perspectives by combining essays from ritual specialists and scientists active in spiritual healing practices worldwide.




Sacred Claims


Book Description

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990 provides a legal framework within which Native Americans can seek the repatriation of human remains and certain categories of cultural objects--including "sacred objects"--from federally funded institutions. Although the repatriation movement among Native Americans has heretofore received scholarly attention specifically focused on this act, Sacred Claims is the first book to analyze the ways in which religious discourse is used to articulate repatriation claims. Greg Johnson takes this act as one instance in a larger context wherein native peoples around the globe must engage legal arenas in order to preserve their heritage. Methodologically, Sacred Claims is based on a close reading of government documents concerning the law and participant observation in a variety of NAGPRA-related events and provides the background and legislative history of the law, the life history of the act's axial term cultural affiliation (the most delicate and least understood aspect of NAGPRA), and several case studies of highly visible and contentious Hawaiian repatriation disputes. Johnson then moves beyond the strictly legal context to analyze NAGPRA discourse in the public realm. He concludes by way of a theoretical treatment of the foregoing issues, arguing that religious language was the chief means by which native representatives ultimately persuaded non-native audiences of the applicability of widely-held human rights principles to their cultural remains. Theorizing modes of cultural vitality in the repatriation context, Johnson argues that living tradition is not found in the objects themselves but is instead located in struggles over them. With the law on the brink of receiving crucial tests, and repatriation issues making daily headlines in Native American and Hawaiian news, Sacred Claims is a timely and necessary examination of these issues.




Living Traditions of the Bible


Book Description

More than half the people in the world today share traditions taken from the book that Christians call the Bible. What the Bible means and how it has been used in Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Islam--historically and in the present--is the subject of this book. Contributors include: James E. Bowley, Demetrios Constantelos, Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J., Kathryn Johnson, Adam Kamesar, James S. McClanahan, Bruce M. Metzger, Michael A. Meyer, John C. Reeves, and David C. Steinmetz.




Living Folklore


Book Description

Living Folklore is a comprehensive, straightforward introduction to folklore as it is lived, shared and practiced in contemporary settings. Drawing on examples from diverse American groups and experiences, this text gives the student a strong foundation—from the field’s history and major terms to theories, interpretive approaches, and fieldwork. Many teachers of undergraduates find the available folklore textbooks too complex or unwieldy for an introductory level course. It is precisely this criticism that Living Folklore addresses; while comprehensive and rigorous, the book is specifically intended to meet the needs of those students who are just beginning their study of the discipline. Its real strength lies in how it combines carefully articulated foundational concepts with relevant examples and a student-oriented teaching philosophy.




The Hindu Monastery in South India


Book Description

Drawing on both textual and archaeological evidence, this study offers an integrated approach to scholarly debates on monasteries and guru relics in South India between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. This study analyzes the role of the guru in the development of Hindu monastic orders, from centers of education to institutions of traditional authority. Focusing on the complex socio-religious context of the whole-body icon, the author analyzes the relic as a nexus of contradictions surrounding sacredness and death.




A Living Tradition


Book Description

Seeking to bridge the distance between scholarship and praxis, to be accessible to both pastoral ministers and academic theologians, this volume is organized according to three categories: liturgical year, Christian initiation, and Eucharist. Within these categories, the contributors are especially attentive to three important aspects of liturgical history: the role that important figures in liturgical history played as liturgical pastorshow liturgical history has been used in shaping contemporary liturgical rites and prayershow liturgical history informs contemporary understandings and beliefs Ultimately, the book pays tribute to Maxwell Johnsons contributions to the life of the church by exploring ways that the study of liturgical history might help the church remain faithful to God and to the sacramental worldview that continues to define and characterize classic Christianity.







The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez


Book Description

This work chronicles the life and pottery of Maria Martinez in a tribute ofoth the artist and one America's greatest natural resources.




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