Religion has played a role in conflict throughout history, with religious scriptures often being used to justify violence. In Search of Solutions evaluates the role of religion in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Israel-Palestine. The book argues that religion has a tendency towards conflict and that peace is best guaranteed when human individuals commune directly with the divine without the mediation of organized religions. Different approaches to the reading of scriptures are introd...

Clinton Bennett reflects on four decades of engagement with Muslims and Christian-Muslim relations as a missionary, scholar, and interfaith activist. Set in the context of his personal story, chapters discuss a series of critical questions to the Christian-Muslim relationship reprising earlier writing. Bennett asks: can Christians appreciate the prophet Muhammad as a genuine messenger from God or is this theological treason? How might Christians respond to the Muslim claim that Jesus was a...

Since medieval times, English literature has often demonized Muslims. The term ‘Islamophobia’ is recent, but the phenomenon is old. This survey of literature focusing on the modern period up to 1914 identifies negative ideas about Islam in novels and plays. Some works are iconic, some more obscure. However, the book highlights writers who challenged stereotypes and tended to see Muslims as equally capable of virtue and vice as Christians and others. The book deals with the role of the imag...

This is one of a series of short, practical guides aimed at lecturers and tutors in colleges and universities, to help them get started on research. It covers all aspects of teaching methods, strategies for interactive teaching methods, small and large group teaching and student learning.

The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies is a comprehensive one volume reference guide to Islam and study in this area. A team of leading international scholars - Muslim and non-Muslim - cover important aspects of study in the field, providing readers with a complete and accessible source of information to the wide range of methodologies and theoretical principles involved. Presenting Islam as a variegated tradition, key essays from the contributors demonstrate how it is subject to diff...

This detailed book is a resource for students, practitioners, and leaders interested in how the major world religions have understood poverty and responded to the poor.Poverty is a universal phenomenon across history, regardless of country or culture. Today, the demographics of the poor are on the rise globally: it is a critical issue. Religious traditions are another universal aspect of human societies, and nearly all religions include directives on how to respond...

Forts and Forays is a rare account of frontier soldiering in the pre-Civil War Southwest by an enlisted man. James A. Bennett joined the regular army in 1849 and was stationed in New Mexico for six years before he deserted to Mexico. Assigned to the First Dragoons, he visited most major New Mexico posts such as Forts Union, Craig, and Fillmore. His company was stationed at or passed through Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, and other New Mexico settlements. In six years, his rank climb...

In the late twentieth century, fundamentalism has emerged as one of the most powerful forces at work in the world, contesting the dominance of modern secular values and threatening peace and harmony around the globe. Yet it remains incomprehensible to a large number of people. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong brilliantly and sympathetically shows us how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish.We see the West in the ...

Comprehensive, informative and authoritative, The Penguin Handbook of the World's Living Religions is compiled by a team of leading international scholars, and is the definitive guide to the religious belief systems and practices of the world today. This in-depth survey of active religions has now been fully updated to include modern developments and the most recent scholarship. It explains the sources and history of the world's religions, includes material on the phenomenon of Bl...

“A very persuasive argument for the best way to counter jihadism” (The Washington Post) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer“[A] thoughtful analysis of America’s War on Terror.”—The New YorkerThe wars in the Middle East have become religious wars in which God is believed to be directly engaged on behalf of one side against the other. The hijackers who attac...

With the growth of work based learning and practitioner research this book leads the way by addressing key issues faced by ′insider-researchers′ - learners, practitioners and managers doing research projects in the organizations and communities in which they themselves work, or where they are already familiar with the setting.The authors explore the implications of these research contexts, and discuss approaches and methodologies that work based researchers might adopt, with a part...

More than almost anything else, globalization and the great world religions are shaping our lives, affecting everything from the public policies of political leaders and the economic decisions of industry bosses and employees, to university curricula, all the way to the inner longings of our hearts. Integral to both globalization and religions are compelling, overlapping, and sometimes competing visions of what it means to live well.   In this perceptive, deeply personal, and bea...