01: The new book Holy Mavericks (NYU Press, $20) casts a wide net in its study of evangelical innovators, profiling charismatic televangelists Joel Osteen and Paula White, megachurch pastors Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes, and “emerging church” pioneer Brian McLaren. Co-authors Shayne Lee and Phillip Luke Sinitiere see these evangelical innovators as helping to create […]

01: The journal Religion, State and Society devotes its March/June issue to religion and the role it plays in the European Union (EU). While a good deal of philosophical and theological attention has been given to the foundations and purposes of European integration and expansion, the articles in this issue cover the social and political […]

01: Gay rights is a long-simmering and difficult subject for American Buddhists and it is currently making it into the media. The subject of homosexuality has been most difficult for American Buddhist converts who champion social and political liberalism, but acknowledge that such leaders as the Dalai Lama have taken a more conservative stance on […]

01: Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism (New York University Press, $23), by Jonathan Walton, is a critical examination of both the older and new generation of AfricanAmerica religious broadcasters. Whether it preached a strong otherworldly and conservative political message or a progressive or radical gospel, the black church, from its beginnings, […]

01: EnlightenNext is the latest incarnation of the New Age alternative spirituality magazine known as What Is Enlightenment? The change of title, along with its new subtitle, The Magazine for Evolutionaries, reflects the magazine’s concern to blend holistic spirituality with evolutionary science. An editorial in the inaugural issue (December/February) of the revamped magazine defines an […]

01: The World Religion Database (WRD) is a new online publication based on the research of the International Religious Demography project at Boston University’s Institute for the Study of Culture, Religion and World Affairs. The WRD collects, collates and offers analysis of primary and secondary source material on religious demography for all major religions in […]

01: A special section on “Future directions in the sociology of religion” in the journal Social Forces (June) suggests that Islam is becoming an important concern for up-and-coming scholars. Four of the eight articles in the section deal with some facet of Islam, including a study of “fundamentalism” among young Muslims in Egypt and Saudi […]

01: The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is exploring the possibility of setting up an international research program on the globalization of Asian new religious movements (NRMs), announces its director, Max Sparreboom. The institute devotes its Spring 2008 newsletter to NRMs. In an introductory article, Wendy Smith (Monash University, Australia) notes that several researchers […]

01: The March issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion features a special forum on racially and ethnically diverse congregations. An introduction by Michael Emerson notes the relative absence of research on these mixed congregations up until the 1990s, but with the growth of ethnic diversity, this subject has received more attention. […]

01: The March issue of Atlantic Monthly features a cover story on religious competition and conflict around the world. The lead article by Eliza Griswold is a photographic essay on the Christian-Muslim conflict in Nigeria, where she finds new forms of competition and even hints of reconciliation. Griswold reports that while the conflict continues, some […]