Download PDF: Crane, Arboreal Wisdom Editor’s note: This piece was first presented at a conference on religion and ecology at Emory University titled “The Sacred Mundane” on September 10 and 11, 2015. Practical Matters is pleased to feature some of the reflections from
Download PDF: Kaell, Notes on Pilgrimage Studies Abstract This article discusses some recent theoretical and methodological trends in studies of pilgrimage, a field that has grown significantly as of late. It begins by exploring how scholars might study failure during pilgrimage,
Download PDF: RV Sigmon, Scandal of Having Something to Say By Lance B. Pape Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2013. 176 pages. $39.95 Is postliberal preaching a possibility? That is the question driving Lance Pape’s trimmed and published dissertation project, The Scandal
Download PDF: RV Massaro, Peacebuilding Edited By Robert J. Schreiter, R. Scott Appleby, and Gerard F. Powers Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010. 480 pages. $30.00 The buzzwords are familiar: conflict transformation, post-conflict reconciliation, restorative justice. Scholars of religion who hasten to
Download PDF: Exploring Conflict and Peacebuilding Exploring World Religions through the Lens of Sacred Space “Sacred Space in World Religions” is a course taught at Candler School of Theology as a summer intensive. In it, we take advantage of the
Download PDF: RV Lowe, Religion as a Conversation Starter By Ina Merdjanova and Patrice Brodeur New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2009. 194 pages. $120.00. Ina Merdjanova and Patrice Brodeur interpret religious pluralism as a basically neutral condition. Whether
“Good Coffee” is the first-person story of Ethiopian civil war refugee Keleme Bayu. In this documentary, we witness one example of the often resilient power of hope in the lives of those affected by mass violence. Ms. Bayu is no
Download PDF: Five Issues In It has been five years since the idea of Practical Matters began, not on the website screen, but rather in the imaginations of graduate students who observed an important convergence of interests between scholars of religious practices and
Download PDF: RV Baker, The Mormon Menace By Patrick Q. Mason New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 264 pages. $29.95 Patrick Mason’s The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South begins with the murder of Elder Parley Pratt. This tragic event
Download PDF: RV Holt, When Religion Becomes Lethal By Charles Kimball San Francisco: Wiley, Jossey-Bass, 2011. 272 pages. $27.95. As the title of the book When Religion Becomes Lethal implies, author Charles Kimball aims to educate the reader about the sensitive relationship between the great monotheistic
Download PDF: RV Neville, Finding God By Frank Rogers, Jr. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2011. 212 pages. $24.00. The fourth title in the Youth Ministry Alternatives series from Pilgrim Press, this new book from Frank Rogers, Jr., professor of Spiritual Formation and
Download PDF: Mingo, Restoring Rosewood Abstract1 January 1, 1923, marked the beginning of a massacre that abolished the small, predominantly Black town of Rosewood, Florida, following an alleged rape of a young White woman. Rosewood is a story of physical, emotional,
Download PDF: The Crossroads of Religion, Violence, and Peace We welcome you to the fifth issue of Practical Matters. This issue is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the ways that religion and religious practices contribute to both violence and peace.
Download PDF: RV Douglas, Ethnography Edited By Christian Scharen and Aana Marie Vigen New York: Continuum, 2011. 304 pages. $29.95. Methods in Christian theology and ethics have been undergoing dramatic changes over the past several decades, perhaps most noticeably in their
Download PDF: RV Murphy, After the Smoke Clears By Mark J. Allman and Tobias L. Winright Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010. 220 pages. $20.00 What are the responsibilities of promoting a just peace after military conflicts conclude, and whose are they
Download PDF: Teaching Overcoming Violence Editor’s Note: The following reflection is based on the authors’ experiences teaching a collaborative course entitled, “Overcoming Violence”. The syllabus and supplemental materials for this course can be downloaded here. The Decline of Violence? By the recent
Download PDF: Appleby, Religious Violence Abstract The literature on religious violence is contested to such a degree that one is uncertain what to call the field of study. This essay argues that there is such a thing as religion and
Download PDF: RV Smith, Violence and New Religious Movements Edited by James R. Lewis New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 456 pages. $35.00 Arguably, it is difficult to imagine the serious study of New Religious Movement (NRMs) without the contributions of