01: As is evident in the study from The Lancet cited above, the issue of the relation of faith and spirituality to health is coming under increasing debate. A good resource for understanding the subject is a symposium published in the  December issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Although the articles focus on mental […]

01: For the first time in its long history, The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches will offer comprehensive online material. Using a grant from the Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis, Indiana, the editors are offering CD-ROM and Web-based materials to supplement its annual volume due out on Feb.  1, 1999. The new software will bring together for the first […]

01: Robert Wuthnow’s After Heaven: Spirituality in America Since the 1950s (University of California Press, $29.95) is an in-depth treatment of the many ways Americans have approached the spiritual life in recent years. The Princeton sociologist draws a sharp line between the pre-60s period, which was characterized by a “spirituality of dwelling,” as it was tied to […]

01: There has been a growing debate among scholars studying new religious movements over the issue of how objective and disinterested such research has been. A large part of the current issue of Novo Religio, (October)  the journal of new religions, is devoted to this question, particularly looking at the issue of academic integrity in studying NRM’s. The […]

01: Religion in the News has staked out new territory as it takes a critical look at how the media covers religion. The magazine, issued three times yearly, is published by the Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, and examines a broad range of religion-and-society issues. The charter issue (June) includes critiques about how […]

01: The Complete Guide to Buddhist America (Shambhala, $23.95), edited by Don Morreale, not only profiles Buddhist groups in the U.S. and Canada, but also provides interesting accounts of  Buddhism as practiced at the group and individual level. The book mainly concentrates on the Theravada, Vajrayana, Mahayana (Zen) and “non-sectarian” varieties of Buddhism that practice meditation and acknowledges […]

01: Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X (Jossey-Bass Publishers, $22) by Tom Beaudoin, shows how popular culture drives much of the spiritual concerns of the baby analyzes everything from fashions (tattoos and baggy clothes) to rock music to show how Generation X spirituality is shaped by four themes: a suspicion of institutions; an emphasis […]

01: The entire issue of the Review of Religious Research (December)  is devoted to analyzing how the media portrays new religious movements. Most of the scholars contributing to the issue are strongly critical of such coverage. In an opening essay, Stuart Wright of Lamar University asserts that the focus on abuse by leaders of new religious movements is […]

01: There has been a recent spate of books and studies about evangelical women.  Godly Women (Rutgers University Press, $19) by Brenda Brasher is unique since it focuses on women in the burgeoning evangelical megachurches. Brasher, a religion professor at Mount Union College, participated in services and women’s cell groups and interviewed women in congregations affiliated […]

01: The Winter issue of the quarterly newsletter Science & Spirit is devoted to computers and spirituality. The articles focus on how computer technology poses new challenges to theology and spirituality. Philosopher and theologian Philip Clayton writes that the creation of computer-based intelligence systems, such as robots, will force theologians and believers to redefine concepts of “soul” […]