01: In Reflections of an Accidental Sociologist (Prometheus Books, $26), prominent sociologist of religion Peter Berger recounts his long and varied career, in the process providing readers with an interesting and often humorous look at religious developments in the last 50 years. Writing about one’s graduate education, professorial appointments and research projects can make for […]

01: In 2006, the Italian marketing expert Bruno Ballardini attracted a good deal of attention with his book Gesu’ lava più bianco (Jesus washes whiter), which argued that the Roman Catholic Church invented marketing. Products like soap are commercialized through marketing campaigns and branding, and in the same way the Roman Catholic Church created a […]

01: Olivier Roy, a prominent Islamic specialist, has branched out considerably to study the contours of globalized religion in his new book Holy Ignorance (Columbia University Press, $27.50). Roy looks at the whole spectrum of contemporary religion and sees a dominant trend of individualized faith and a separation of religious faith from cultural roots and […]

01: The November issue of First Things magazine features a survey that attempts to rate the strength of religion in U.S. colleges. The survey’s ratings, based on informal surveys of students and such “objective” factors as whether religion majors are offered and religious associations are active on campus, are likely to be contested, yet they […]

01: The current issue of the journal Religion, State and Society is devoted to the religious situation in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, which many have viewed as among the most religiously vibrant and pluralistic in the region. The issue looks at most of the religious expressions in the republic, as well as providing an […]

01: Glenn Beck’s Mormon faith has been one more source of controversy swirling around the popular and provocative conservative radio and television commentator—a fact not lost on American Mormons, judging by the June issue of Sunstone. The independent Mormon magazine features several articles on Beck, arguing that he is better versed in the faith than […]

01: Nova Religio, a journal of new religious movements, devotes its May issue to new religious groups in Israel and how these groups have catered to the needs of personal fulfillment as Zionism has weakened its hold on Israelis. The issue looks at both Jewish movements and those promoting foreign and global religious and spiritual […]

01: The protests and strikes surrounding the conservative makeover of IslamOnline, one of the largest and most well-known Muslim Internet news and opinion outlets, may suggest new kinds of media battles unfolding in Islamic societies. In mid-March, long-simmering tensions between staffers and the board over control of content in the Cairo, Egypt-based website led to […]

01: Operating in multi-faith contexts abroad poses new challenges to military chaplains, writes Dennis R. Hoover (Institute for Global Engagement) in the introduction to an issue of the Review of Faith and International Affairs (Winter 2009) devoted to “The Past and Future of Military Chaplaincy.” Besides their traditional roles, should chaplains contribute to the training […]

01: The November/December issue of Society magazine carries a special section on the charismatic and Pentecostal movement. The lead article by Todd M. Johnson provides an interesting statistical overview of the growth of the various Pentecostal streams in the global South and North, revealing how classical Pentecostals, charismatic renewalists (those within mainstream and Catholic churches) and […]