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Wheds light on the rationale behind the Wahhabi movement and addresses the reshaping of the definition of Sunnism which is currently taking place.

Few figures in the Western imagination are as haunting and mysterious as that of the shaman. This work offers a comprehensive history of the ways in which 'shamanism' has inspired Westerners from the 17th century to the present.

Throughout human history twins have been an unsettling and ambiguous presence. Rarely treated neutrally, in any cultural context, twins present an anomaly: the appearance from the same womb of two human beings when only one is expected. The anxiety they caused could often only be resolved through ritual and belief.

Addresses the colourful and diverse history of Shi' Islam in both premodern and contemporary times. Focusing on the importance of apocalypticism in the development of modern Shi'i theology, this book shows how an immersion in messianic ideas has shaped the conservative character of much Shi'i thinking.

Pentecostalism is a movement within Christianity placing special emphasis on a believer's personal encounter with God through the Holy Spirit. This book addresses Pentecostalism's relationship with other faiths and beliefs.

Exploring the rise of atheism as an explicit philosophical position, Hyman traces its development in the ideas of Descartes, Locke and Berkeley. He shows that, since in recent theology the concept of God which atheists negate is changing, the triumph of its advocates may not be quite as unequivocal as Hitchens and Dawkins would have us believe.

From India to Iraq, from London to Lahore, the relationship between religion and violence is a bitterly contested and casually misrepresented issue. This volume brings together several perspectives from a variety of fields to probe it. It seeks to shift analytical focus on to the contexts in which violence is expressed, enacted and reported.

Focusing on one of the oldest and most important Tantric traditions, based in Assam, northeast India, this book shows that Tantra is less about optimal sexual pleasure than about harnessing the divine power of the goddess that flows alike through the cosmos, the human body and political society.

The bond between mother and child has always been viewed as something profound.

Dharma is central to all the major religious traditions which originated on the Indian subcontinent.