RW has covered the rise and growth of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), and now Katherine Dugan fills out the picture considerably, showing how this group has fused evangelical practices and fervor with orthodox Catholicism in her new book Millennial Missionaries (Oxford University Press, $34.95). As its title implies, the book provides an in-depth […]
The rise of Hindu nationalism and the way it has morphed, particularly during the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, into what is called “Neo-Hindutva,” a diffuse movement comprising various leaders and strategies, is the subject of a special issue of the journal Contemporary South Asia (Volume 26, No. 4). The contributors view Neo-Hindutva as […]
British researcher Sophie Gilliat-Ray gained notoriety in 2005 (mainly among Muslims) for an article detailing the lack of access she experienced in trying to study the seminaries of a strict form of Islam practiced by Deobandi Muslims (whose name derives from their origins in an Indian town by that name). Now in the current issue […]
The report Islam as Statecraft from the Brookings Institution looks closer at the “geopolitics of religious soft power” used by Islamic countries in their foreign policy. Authors Peter Mandaville and Shadi Hamid write that “soft power,” which means the use of cultural outreach, including religion, in foreign relations and policy, is not confined to Islamic […]
A thorough overview of the state of Neopaganism in an age of nationalist populism is featured in the current issue of the pagan studies journal Pomegranate (20:1), particularly in the lead article by Michael Strmiska. The rise of far-right and nationalist parties and leaders throughout Europe, Russia, and the U.S. has led many observers to […]
The idea that religious beliefs and worldviews shape political orientations is challenged in Michele Margolis’ provocative new book From Politics to the Pews (University of Chicago Press, $32.50). Margolis argues that it is in the formative periods of young people’s development that they take on partisan political beliefs and identities, and that these shape people’s […]
The new book Religion and the Social Sciences (Templeton Foundation Press, $24.47) brings together contributors to account for the place of religion in their respective disciplines—from criminology and family psychology to outliers like epidemiology and gerontology (although the latter discipline has dealt with religious topics for over a century). Editor Jeff Levin of Baylor University […]
RW has cited various results from the Cultural and Religious Identity among 18–45 Year-olds in Canada Survey, and now the study (part of a larger project on religious diversity based at the University of Ottawa) has issued its final report. The survey was structured to allow respondents to identify themselves between the shifting poles of […]
Political scientist Janelle S. Wong began writing her book Immigrants, Evangelicals, and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change (Russell Sage Foundation, $24.95) firmly convinced that the rising tide of non-white and immigrant evangelicals was likely to reshape the evangelical political landscape, given the more liberal positions of these minority Christians on immigration and other […]
Placed under the editorship of the well-known and prolific Italian scholar Massimo Introvigne (Center for Studies on New Religions, CESNUR), Bitter Winter is a new, free online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China that was launched in mid-May. Its content is available in English, Chinese and Korean. Concerns about the fate of […]
