During the twentieth century, the number of Christians in Africa grew from an estimated 4 million to more than 300 million. One of the forces that has propelled the church's remarkable growth is its liturgical music, which has been heavily influenced by indigenous musical traditions. This rewarding book takes readers inside the music for the first time.

This volume provides researchers and students of religion with a valuable reference work on the history, cultural impact and reshaping of Christianity in Japan.

This book presents inspiring profiles of more than 25 African American religious leaders for young adults. This new addition to the Black Stars series tells the fascinating stories of African American religious leaders from different periods in history.

What is the "emergent church movement" all about and why does it matter to the future of Christianity? Following on the questions raised by Brian McLaren and others about faith in a postmodern age, Tony Jones has written an engaging exploration of the emergent church movement that points the way toward a new kind of Christianity.

The Irrational Augustine takes the notion of St Augustine as rigid and dogmatic Father of the Church and turns it on its head. Catherine Conybeare reads Augustine's earliest works to discover the anti-dogmatic Augustine, who values changeability and human interconnectedness and deplores social exclusion.

George Pattison provides a bold and innovative reassessment of Kierkegaard's Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses and our reading of his work as a whole. The first full length assessment of the discourses in English, this volume will be essential reading for philosophers and theologians, and anyone interested in Kierkegaard and the history of philosophy.

Historians have long been aware that the encounter with Europeans affected all aspects of Native American life. But were Indians the only ones changed by these cross-cultural meetings? Might the newcomers' ways, including their religious beliefs and practices, have also been altered amid their myriad contacts with native peoples?

Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.

Singing for the Gods develops a new approach towards an old question in the study of religion - the relationship of myth and ritual. Focusing on ancient Greek religion, Barbara Kowalzig exploits the joint occurrence of myth and ritual in archaic and classical Greek song-culture.

Primary religion, which is popularly known as Paganism, was founded in the worship of personified nature that, according special homage to the imaginary genii of the stars, and inculcating supreme adoration to the divinity supposed to reside in the sun, it was anciently known by the general name of Astrolatry, and by the more specific one of solar worship and that its founders, arrogating to themselves the title of Astrologers, gave to its dogmatic element the name of Astrology.

Author Jean-Marie Abgrall is Europe's foremost expert on cults, a practicing psychiatrist and a professional criminologist. This book is the fruit of 15 years of research, and delivers the first methodical analysis of the cult phenomenon, decoding of the mental manipulation. In order to describe this psychopathology and the means to resist it, the author applies the framework of criminology and forensic psychiatry dealing with a "crime against individual rights."