01: The state of preaching around the world is the focus of the Winter issue of Theology News & Notes, the magazine of Fuller Theological Seminary. In general, the older styles of preaching which involve expositing biblical texts and exhortation still remain in the Global South, though there are exceptions to that rule. Lay-based Pentecostal preachers […]

01: The current issue of the Religious Studies Review (October) carries a special feature on Internet resources for religious studies. The section will probably be of interest to others besides religious studies professors as the articles cover web resources on Christianity, Wicca and Paganism, new religious movements, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, religion and the media, and religious statistics […]

01: The anti-cult movement is paying new attention to terrorism, believing that many of its methods and concepts can apply to a wider range of religious violence. This trend is clearly seen in the current issue of theCultic Studies Journal (Vol. 5, No. 2), which is devoted to understanding terrorism through a variety of anti-cultist models. […]

01: The role of religions in global capitalism is the special focus of the November/December issue of the journal Society. The special symposium, based on a Boston University conference on the subject, looks at Islamic, Jewish, Pentecostal, Eastern Orthodox and Chinese religions’ relationships with the market. A central question that all the contributors address is how […]

01: The 50th anniversary issue of Christianity Today magazine (October) features several noteworthy articles on the present and future of evangelicalism. Historian Mark Noll provides a succinct look at how the stress among evangelicals has shifted from preserving tradition to one of connecting with the culture. Along with interviews with such evangelical leaders as Billy Graham and […]

01: New Roots in America’s Sacred Ground (Rutgers University Press, $23.95) by Khyati Joshi, fills a gap in examining the “lived religion” of second generation Indian Americans. Based on 41 interviews in the Boston and Atlanta areas, the book is unique in attempting to cover the Indian religious mosaic–Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian. While the non-Hindu Indian […]

01: The cover story on religion in the “future of global civilization” in the September/October issue of The Futurist shows both the growing interest and the frustration over religion among futurologists. The writers concede that religion often lies “at the heart of culture,“ but because of this close relationship, the much predicted–and hoped for–“global village” will be […]

01: The combined Spring/Summer issue of the Hedgehog Review is devoted to the topic of “After Secularization.” A few of the articles tread the well-worn paths of the secularization debate (is religion declining or increasing?), but most introduce fresh approaches and follow the advice of Jose Casanova in his opening essay: “Sociologists of religion should be less […]

01: The June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion is devoted to the theme of religion and secrecy. Although several of the articles deal with (naturally) esoteric and historical topics, others touch on secrecy in contemporary religion. Michael Barkun looks at religion and secrecy after 9/11, noting that the Attorney General’s Guidelines on […]

01: The changing nature of music in the churches is the theme of the Spring issue of Theology News & Notes, the magazine of Fuller Theological Seminary. While much of its coverage–such as on “emergent” and hip hop services– has been reported elsewhere (including in these pages), the issue does discuss some recent developments. Roberta King […]