Challenges Of Religious Diversity Research Articles

America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. By Robert Wuthnow. Princeton University Press, 2005. 391 pages. $29.95.

In recent years, immigration has transformed the face of religious diversity in the United States. No longer do religious fault lines cut primarily between variants of Christianity and Judaism and the lines that Christians historically drew between themselves and the indigenous peoples they found already settled in the Americas. Instead, the new immigration tosses a set of theologically disparate world religions—Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and others—into the American melting pot. Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow’s newest offering—America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity—explores how and to what effect a “Christian nation” can incorporate religious people whose beliefs are not fully commensurate with Christianity. After briefly tracing a history of religious diversity in the United States, from the European explorers’ construction of natives as “other” to the incorporation of varieties of Christianity through subsequent waves of immigration, Wuthnow confronts the reality of religious diversity in the United States today where conservative estimates suggest that at least 2 million Muslims, 2.4 million Buddhists, and 1.3 million Hindus now live.

America and the challenges of religious diversity

America and the challenges of religious diversity

Elusive Togetherness: Church Group's Trying to Bridge America's Divisions and America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity

Elusive Togetherness: Church Group's Trying to Bridge America's Divisions. By Paul Lichterman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. 331p. 21.95 paper.America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. By Robert Wuthnow. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. 391p. $29.95.Robert Wuthnow's latest book is a wide-ranging and insightful study into how Americans are responding to dramatic increases in religious and cultural diversity. Wuthnow gives particular attention here to the ways in which Christians are addressing (or ignoring) the growing populations of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and other followers of non-Western religions in America. His aim is not only to understand the current terms by which American Christians are negotiating an increasingly complex and diverse religious setting but also to pointedly ask how pluralistic Americans are willing to be. The answers that are revealed throughout this book, drawing from hundreds of in-depth interviews and a large cross-national survey, offer plenty of room for deep worry as well as guarded optimism. Moving beyond these caged responses, Wuthnow pulls together the ambivalent stands of America's present attitudes toward religious differences and offers suggestive ideas about how Americans might begin to move beyond their currently shallow responses to diversity and embrace a more active, self-conscious form of pluralism, what he calls “reflective pluralism” (p. 289).

‘The Unity of the Spirit’: are Pentecostals inherently ecumenists and inclusivists?

Inherent within Pentecostalism by virtue of the innate unifying agency of the Holy Spirit is an impulse toward ecumenism and inclusivism in relation to religious others which has often been neglected through over identification with anti-Pentecostal ideologies. Arguments and examples from the New Testament, historical precedents in early classical Pentecostalism, and contemporary practice of missions by the global Pentecostal movement support this thesis. Contemporary Pentecostals are therefore called upon to help bring healing to the brokenness of the Body of Christ and to exorcise demonic assumptions and tensions regarding non-Christian religions through the power of Pentecost. Relationship with religious others is nonetheless placed within the context of an uncompromising loyalty to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Doctrinal or organizational assimilation are not sought. Therefore, Pentecostals should enthusiastically embrace ecumenism and inclusivism in meeting today's challenges of religious diversity and plurality with an uncompromising, all-encompassing stance faithful to Christ and his Spirit through the apostolic injunction of ‘the unity of the Spirit’.

America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. By Robert Wuthnow. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005. 421 pp. $29.95

America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. By Robert Wuthnow. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005. 421 pp. $29.95

REVIEWS

Reviews in Religion & TheologyVolume 13, Issue 1 p. 23-121 REVIEWS First published: 29 November 2005 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9418.2006.00277.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Books reviewed: James E. Atwell. The Sources of the Old Testament – A Guide to the Religious Thought of the Hebrew Bible.Reviewed by Benjamin Bury Craig A. Evans (ed.). Of Scribes and Sages: Early Jewish Interpretation and Transmission of Scripture.Reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton Lester L. Grabbe. A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period – Volume 1. Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah.Reviewed by Benjamin Bury Charles Matson Odahl. Constantine and the Christian Empire.Reviewed by Tarmo Toom G.R. Evans (ed.). The First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church.Reviewed by Tarmo Toom David Dunn-Wilson. A Mirror for the Church: Preaching in the First Five Centuries.Reviewed by Tarmo Toom Jim Fodor and Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt (eds). Aquinas in Dialogue: Thomas for the Twenty First Century.Reviewed by Tracey Rowland Paul Helm. John Calvin's Ideas.Reviewed by Philip McCosker Peter C. Hodgson. Hegel & Christian Theology: A Reading of the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion.Reviewed by Owen Anderson Kenneth J. Collins. The Evangelical Moment: The Promise of an American Religion.Reviewed by Bryan Bademan Robert K. Johnston. Useless Beauty: Ecclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary Film.Reviewed by Jason A. Fout Judith Plaskow. The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1973–2003.Reviewed by Teresa J. Hornsby Rebecca J. Lester. Jesus in Our Wombs: Embodying Modernity in a Mexican Convent.Reviewed by Marc Cortez Douglas A. Campbell (ed.). Gospel and Gender. A Trinitarian Engagement with Being Male and Female in Christ.Reviewed by Sally Bruyneel Rosemary Radford Ruether. The Goddess and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History.Reviewed by Rick Arrandale David Brown. God and Enchantment of Place: Reclaiming Human Experience.Reviewed by A. Denise Starkey William R. Miller and Harold D. Delaney (eds). Judeo-Christian Perspectives on Psychology: Human Nature, Motivation, and Change.Reviewed by Hung-En Sung Richard Nelson-Jones. Cognitive Humanistic Therapy: Buddhism, Christianity and Being Fully Human.Reviewed by Ruth Walker Stuart Chandler. Establishing A Pure Land on Earth: The Foguang Buddhist Perspective on Modernization and Globalization.Reviewed by Elizabeth J Harris Nancy Tatom Ammerman. Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners.Reviewed by Todd Breyfogle Russell Jeung. Faithful Generations: Race and New Asian American Churches.Reviewed by Timothy S. Lee George L. Murphy. The Cosmos in the Light of the Cross.Reviewed by Randall Otto Mikael Stenmark. How to Relate Science and Religion. A Multidimensional Model.Reviewed by Alessandro Giostra Philip Clayton. Mind and Emergence: From Quantum to Consciousness.Reviewed by Paul Voelker Joel B. Green and Stuart L. Palmer (eds). In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind–Body Problem.Reviewed by Marc Cortez Paul J. Griffiths and Reinhard Hütter (eds). Reason and the Reasons of Faith.Reviewed by Ronald Grant Nutter David F. Ford, Ben Quash and Janet Soskice (eds). Fields of Faith: Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-first Century.Reviewed by Philip McCosker Richard Rorty, Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala (eds). The Future of Religion.Reviewed by Ruth Walker Robert Wuthnow. Saving America? Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society.Reviewed by Gerald Vinten Linda Barnes and Susan Sered (eds). Religion and Healing in America.Reviewed by Revd Canon Martyn Percy Ellen M. Umansky. From Christian Science to Jewish Science: Spiritual Healing and American Jews.Reviewed by Michael A. Chester Daniel J. Price. Karl Barth's Anthropology in Light of Modern Thought.Reviewed by Peter Kalve Eberhard Busch. The Great Passion: An Introduction to Karl Barth's Theology.Reviewed by Thom Chittom Margaret Chatterjee. Gandhi and the Challenge of Religious Diversity: Religious Pluralism Revisited.Reviewed by John Hick Suha Taji-Farouki and Basheer M. Nafi (eds). Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century.Reviewed by Jason Walsh Ron Geaves, Theodore Gabriel, Yvonne Haddad and Jane I. Smith (eds). Islam and the West Post 9/11.Reviewed by Jeffry R. Halverson David Cook. Understanding Jihad.Reviewed by Jason Walsh Anthony O’Mahony, Wulstan Peterburs and Mohammad Ali Shomali (eds). Catholics and Shi’a in Dialogue: Studies in Theology and Spirituality.Reviewed by Jason Walsh Matthew Grimley. Citizenship, Community, and the Church of England: Liberal Anglican Theories of the State between the Wars.Reviewed by Gerald Vinten Volume13, Issue1January 2006Pages 23-121 RelatedInformation

The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity

The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity

The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity

The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity

The challenge of religious diversity: A middle ground

So where does all this leave us? The reality of religious diversity, I have argued, does notnecessitate the rejection of exclusivism. But this does not end the discussion, as some apparently believe. The reality of religious diversity, I have also argued, does justifiably remainfor many a significant challenge to exclusivistic thought and practice.

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity, Gerd Lüdemann Spitting at Dragons: Towards a Feminist Theology of Sainthood, Elizabeth Stuart Hermeneutics as Theological Prolegomena: A Canonical Approach, Charles J. Scalise Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy: A Study in the History of Gnosticism, Alastair H. B. Logan, T. & T. Clark Judas ‐ Betrayer or Friend of Jesus?, William Klassen Celibacy: A Way of Loving, Living and Senving, A. W. Richard Sipe, Gill & Macmillan Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism, Grace Jantzen Postmodem Theologies: The Challenge of Religious Diversity, Terence W. Tilley (ed.) On Naming the Present: cod, Hermeneutics and Church, David Tracy The Character of Our Communities: Toward an Ethic of Liberation for the Church, Gloria Albrecht The Future of Anglicanism ‐ Essays on Faith and Order, Robert Hannaford (ed.) Our Lady: The Mother of Jesus in Christian Faith and Devotion, Norman Pittenger The Cross on the Sword Catholic Chaplains in the Forces, Tom Johnstone and James Hagerty, Geoffrey Chapman In Search of the Sacred: Anthropology and the Study of Religions, Clinton Bennett Transforming Practice: Pastoral Theology in an Age of Uncertainty, Elaine Graham Religion in the Modern World: From Cathedrals to Cults, Steve Bruce Global Gods: Exploring the Roles of Religions in Modem Societies, David W. Shenk

Postmodern Theologies: The Challenge of Religious Diversity; By Terrence W. Tilley with others Maryknoll, Orbis, 1995. 182 pp. $18.95

Postmodern Theologies: The Challenge of Religious Diversity; <i>By Terrence W. Tilley with others</i> Maryknoll, Orbis, 1995. 182 pp. $18.95

Book Review: Postmodern Theologies: The Challenge of Religious Diversity

Book Review: Postmodern Theologies: The Challenge of Religious Diversity

THE WILD AND CROOKED TREE: BARTH, FISH, AND INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITIES

God the Spirit by Michael WelkerKarl Barth's Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology: Its Genesis and Development 1909‐1936 by Bruce L. McCormackGod Owes Us Nothing: A Brief Remark on Pascal's Religion and on the Spirit of Jansenism by Leszek KolakowskiThe Gift of Death by Jacques Derrida, trans. David WillsDesiring Theology by Charles E. WinquistPostmodern Theologies. The Challenge of Religious Diversity by Terrence W. Tilley, with others