Alternative Salvations
Engaging the Sacred and the Secular
Published on 17. December 2015
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-4725-7994-2 (ISBN)
Description
By considering transformative ideas and experiences which are explicitly articulated or implicitly structured in languages of religion and spirituality, Alternative Salvations probes concepts including 'religious', 'secular', 'spiritual', 'post-Christian', and 'post-secular', providing a series of studies which question the functionality of these broad categories.
Part one draws on contemporary salvation narratives showing how current cultural forms, social practices and secular discourses are influenced by, or are interpreted through, the lens of religious and theological accounts of salvation. Examples include twelve step recovery programs, drug culture, and public policy surrounding HIV-AIDs in Kenya. Although outside traditional religious contexts, the contributors show ways in which they are not free from religious symbolism. Part two explores alternative accounts of salvation rooted in religious traditions. Established orthodoxies are confronted by contemporary critical questions, for example about gender, the status of animals, and the political dimensions of salvation.
By contributing new perspectives and unique case studies, Alternative Salvations provides a deliberate challenge to easy binaries which often underpin contemporary and traditional discourses of salvation.
Part one draws on contemporary salvation narratives showing how current cultural forms, social practices and secular discourses are influenced by, or are interpreted through, the lens of religious and theological accounts of salvation. Examples include twelve step recovery programs, drug culture, and public policy surrounding HIV-AIDs in Kenya. Although outside traditional religious contexts, the contributors show ways in which they are not free from religious symbolism. Part two explores alternative accounts of salvation rooted in religious traditions. Established orthodoxies are confronted by contemporary critical questions, for example about gender, the status of animals, and the political dimensions of salvation.
By contributing new perspectives and unique case studies, Alternative Salvations provides a deliberate challenge to easy binaries which often underpin contemporary and traditional discourses of salvation.
Reviews / Votes
Each author provides detailed examples which ... remain comprehensive enough for readers outside each author's area of expertise ... Alternative Salvations challenges the static orthodox Christian notions of salvation, both in the past and present, through the exploration of alternative theologies and lived experiences. * Theology * The chapters, which are relatively short but packed with content, in Alternative Salvations offer specific challenges to the black and white dogmas that so easily dominate religious thinking and belief. * Regent's Reviews * This diverse and expansive volume makes clear that constructions of salvation are far from monolithic, either within Christian contexts or beyond. 'Salvation' is shown to be an unstable yet deeply generative narrative device, communicating interactions with a range of human, animal and divine others. -- Susannah Cornwall, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Exeter, UK More than any other recent volume, Alternative Salvations challenges and expands the concept of 'salvation,' ultimately proposing 'alternative salvations' as a comparative category that can both disturb hegemonic and essentialist interpretations of salvation within traditions and illumine diverse religious exempla within and beyond conventional religion. Drawing on case studies of Christian and Muslim traditions as well as secular and post-Christian contexts, the volume eruditely troubles conventional binaries between the religious and secular and will be of tremendous interest to scholars of both theology and religious studies as well as general readers. -- Aaron S. Gross, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego, USAMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
523 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-7994-2 (9781472579942)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Hannah Bacon | Wendy Dossett | Steve Knowles
Alternative Salvations
Engaging the Sacred and the Secular
E-Book
12/2015
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€42.99
Available for download
Persons
Hannah Bacon is Deputy Head of Theology and Religious Studies and Senior Lecturer in Feminist and Contextual Theology at the University of Chester, UK.
Wendy Dossett is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Chester, UK.
Steve Knowles is Senior Lecturer in Religion and Popular Culture at the University of Chester, UK.
Wendy Dossett is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Chester, UK.
Steve Knowles is Senior Lecturer in Religion and Popular Culture at the University of Chester, UK.
Content
Introduction
PART I: Contemporary Salvation Narratives
1. Only We Can Save Ourselves: An Atheist 'Salvation', Thomas J. Coleman (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA) and Robert B. Arrowood (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA)
2. Reflections on the Language of Salvation in Twelve Step Recovery, Wendy Dossett (University of Chester, UK)
3. Public Policy Dialogue as a Salvation Practice for Women and Youth living with HIV in Kenya, Irene Ayallo (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
4. Dieting for Salvation: Becoming God by Weighing Less? Hannah Bacon (University of Chester, UK)
5. Spontaneous Transcendent and Transformative Experiences in Everyday Life, Madeleine Castro (Leeds Metropolitan University, UK)
6. Timothy Leary and Alternative Salvation, William Stephenson (University of Chester, UK)
7. Religious Doctrines in Group Discussions on Ideas of the Afterlife: What Do You Think Comes after Death? Kornelia Sammet (Universitaet Leipzig, Germany)
8. Salvation, Death and Nature as Grace, Douglas Davies (University of Durham, UK)
PART II: Re-Reading Traditions
10. Whose Salvation? A Very Particular Christian Question, Jenny Daggers (Liverpool Hope University, UK)
11. 'Unlock Paradise with your own Blood': Martyrdom and Salvation in Christianity and Islam, Paul Middleton (University of Chester, UK)
12. Christian Salvations in a Multi-Faith World: Challenging the "Cult of Normalcy", Wayne Morris (University of Chester, UK)
13. Gendered Constructions: Overcoming the Binaries, Emily Pennington (University of Chester, UK)
14. Animals and Universal Redemption: All Dogs Go to Heaven, Kris Hiuser (University of Chester, UK)
15. Teaching Practical Theology for Flourishing, Katja Stuerzenhofecker (University of Manchester, UK)
16. A Muslim Argument for Universal Salvation, Jon Hoover (University of Nottingham, UK)
17. Signs of Salvation: Insecurity, Risk and the End of teh World in Late Modernity, Steve Knowles (University of Chester, UK)
Bibliography
Index
PART I: Contemporary Salvation Narratives
1. Only We Can Save Ourselves: An Atheist 'Salvation', Thomas J. Coleman (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA) and Robert B. Arrowood (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA)
2. Reflections on the Language of Salvation in Twelve Step Recovery, Wendy Dossett (University of Chester, UK)
3. Public Policy Dialogue as a Salvation Practice for Women and Youth living with HIV in Kenya, Irene Ayallo (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
4. Dieting for Salvation: Becoming God by Weighing Less? Hannah Bacon (University of Chester, UK)
5. Spontaneous Transcendent and Transformative Experiences in Everyday Life, Madeleine Castro (Leeds Metropolitan University, UK)
6. Timothy Leary and Alternative Salvation, William Stephenson (University of Chester, UK)
7. Religious Doctrines in Group Discussions on Ideas of the Afterlife: What Do You Think Comes after Death? Kornelia Sammet (Universitaet Leipzig, Germany)
8. Salvation, Death and Nature as Grace, Douglas Davies (University of Durham, UK)
PART II: Re-Reading Traditions
10. Whose Salvation? A Very Particular Christian Question, Jenny Daggers (Liverpool Hope University, UK)
11. 'Unlock Paradise with your own Blood': Martyrdom and Salvation in Christianity and Islam, Paul Middleton (University of Chester, UK)
12. Christian Salvations in a Multi-Faith World: Challenging the "Cult of Normalcy", Wayne Morris (University of Chester, UK)
13. Gendered Constructions: Overcoming the Binaries, Emily Pennington (University of Chester, UK)
14. Animals and Universal Redemption: All Dogs Go to Heaven, Kris Hiuser (University of Chester, UK)
15. Teaching Practical Theology for Flourishing, Katja Stuerzenhofecker (University of Manchester, UK)
16. A Muslim Argument for Universal Salvation, Jon Hoover (University of Nottingham, UK)
17. Signs of Salvation: Insecurity, Risk and the End of teh World in Late Modernity, Steve Knowles (University of Chester, UK)
Bibliography
Index