Product Description: Adelmann of Liege was one of the first interlocutors of Berengar of Tours in the Eucharistic controversy of the eleventh century. For that reason, his contribution was of great importance for the development of sacramental theology...read more

Humour and Religion highlights the importance and functioning of humour in different world religions. Exploring the major religious cultures, the book looks at more constructive aspects to the relation between humour and religion, with humour seen as a pathway to spiritual wisdom.Exploring how religions contain (implicit) references to the finitude and relativity of the human condition, and why humour and spirituality fit well together, contributors discuss what the meaning of humour in different religions is - Did it evolve historically? How does it function? How is humour related to the realization of spiritual goals? Looking at religions from an external perspective, the contributors then analyze the way religion interacts with humour in society. How does a religion respond to sarcasm and irony? Are there limits to mockery and making fun of believers? Does humour have a pacifying effect when societal tensions run high or does it intensify the sensitivities? This volume will provide essays of value to scholars in the various religions and literatures covered.

Product Description: This volume consists of several contributions to a refined understanding of religious experience in view of contemporary theological epistemology. Diverse sample studies taken from the extensive field of religion, theology and religious studies reveal that 'religious experience' is today clearly a pivotal issue...read more

Product Description: Today, the few remaining beguines in Belgium are all elderly women. Their death will also mean the end of the beguine movement, a spiritual history lasting eight centuries that has mainly been focused in the late-medieval and early-modern Low Countries...read more