Ritual and Social Dynamics in Christian and Islamic Preaching
Ebook
Christian and Islamic sermons from past and present, and their preachers, are analyzed to reveal the socio-cultural dynamics of religious speeches.
Part I focuses on the explicit contribution of sermons in socio-cultural transformation processes. It shows how sermons connect with holy texts, religious norms of the specific group, and social-cultural contexts.
Part II analyzes the dynamic tension between normativity and popularity. Rather than juxtaposing normative stances and the popularity of sermons, it shows how that normativity can itself contribute to popularity and the quest of popularity carries its own normative stances.
Part III explores the ritual embeddedness of religious speech in the sermon in relation to social dynamics, normativity, and popularity, and shows how speech and rituals have a reciprocal relationship.
Explores the socio-cultural dynamics of religious speeches through an analysis of Christian and Islamic sermons and preachers.
Presents interdisciplinary research by historians, anthropologists and theologians on Christian and Islamic sermons in history and the present day
Each chapter presents concrete sermons or case studies in order to enhance the analysis
Brings together nine contributions by international experts in their respective fields
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction, Ruth Conrad (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany), Roland Hardenberg (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany), Hanna Miethner (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany), Max Stille (NETZ Partnership for Development and Justice, Wetzlar, Germany)
Part I: Preaching and Social Dynamics
1. Are 1000 Sermons Representative Enough? Political and Social Dimensions of Sermons and Religious Speeches 1800–1950 in Germany and Some Methodological Problems, Olaf Blaschke (University of Münster, Germany)
2. The Struggle for Hope Continues: The Christmas Sermons of Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, 2009–2019, Cas Wepener and Marileen Steyn (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
3. Moral Exhortation in Islamic Discourse: Performance and Ethics in Islamic Sermons, Abdulkader Tayob (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
Part II: Popularity and Normativity in Sermons
4. Unity, Justice and Freedom: Preached Religious Staging of Political Values in the Public Sermons on the Day of Germany Unity ('Tag Der Deutschen Einheit'), Jan Hermelink (University of Göttingen, Germany)
5. Joel Osteen's Prosperity Gospel and the Enduring Popularity of America's 'Smiling Preacher', Maren Freudenberg (University of Bochum, Germany)
6. A Case on Behalf of the 'Routine Listener', Julian Millie (Monash University Melbourne, Australia)
Part III: Ritual and Religious Speech
7. 'Words Against Death' Religious Speech: Perspectives From Ritual Ambivalences and Trends, Paul Post (University of Tilburg, the Netherlands)
8. Arabic Oration in Early Islam: Religion, Ritual, and Rhetoric, Tahera Quitbuddin (University of Chicago, USA)
9. The Rain Rogation khutba: A Case Study of the Reciprocal Relationship Between Islamic Ritual and Religious Speech, Linda Gale Jones (Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain)
Appendices
Index
This is a splendid book that gathers essays on the meaning of preaching with regard to its ritual and social dynamics. It is one of the first volumes to bring Islamic and Christian preaching into conversation. With case studies from different time periods and continents, as well as more theoretical reflections, we are offered a very rich collection.
A strength of this volume is its focus on Christianity and Islam, two religions that value the verbal art of preaching, and thus the particular attention given to aesthetics, rhetoric, and listeners' perspectives. By combining case studies with broader methodological considerations, the book pushes forward into a promising field of research.
Juxtaposing analyses of Muslim and Christian preaching, this important volume offers a theoretically rigorous demonstration of the unique discursive powers and historical significance of the sermon genre its various social, political, religious, and linguistic dimensions. In doing so, it opens up new and productive pathways for the comparative study of religious traditions.
- Title: Ritual and Social Dynamics in Christian and Islamic Preaching
- Authors: Ruth Conrad, Roland Hardenberg, Hanna Miethner, Max Stille
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350408869, 9781350408845, 1350408840, 1350408867
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350408869
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-09T08:58:02Z
Ruth Conrad is Professor of Practical Theology at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.
Roland Hardenberg is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.
Hanna Miethner is a research assistant for the Faculty of Practical Theology at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.
Max Stille is Executive Director of NETZ Partnership for Development and Justice, Germany.