01: The Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life has done the public a service in publishing its latest book, Can Charitable Choice Work, edited by Andrew Walsh. The book provides interesting background essays relating to faith-based social services and its government initiative Charitable Choice. Especially noteworthy are the essays dealing with how congregations adapt […]

01: The New Believers (Sterling Publishing, 387 Park Ave. So., New York, NY 10016-8810, $29.95) by David I. Barrrett, is an exhaustive overview of new religious movements (NRMs). In its 544 pages, Barrett looks beyond the traditional “cultic” boundaries used to define NRMs in order to explore movements as diverse as the charismatic renewal, the Alpha program (a Christian basics […]

01: The fall issue of Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is devoted to religion and ecology. The issue looks at the whole spectrum of world religions and how they (through their teachings as well as practices) relate to environmental concerns. The opening article by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim […]

01: Korean churches have been seen as the most dynamic of immigrant churches, as they have often eclipsed American white congregations with their large memberships and fast growth. The recent book Korean Americans and Their  Religions (Penn State Press, $19.95) edited by Ho-Youn Kwon, Kwang Chung Kim and R. Stephen Warner, gives the reader a comprehensive account of […]

01: The new book Religion On Campus (University of North Carolina Press, $24.95) provides a comprehensive examination of religion on college campuses — from academic study of religion to extracurricular activities. The book, by Conrad Cherry, Betty A. DeBerg, and Amanda Porterfield, features four in-depth case studies of campuses, including  Catholic and Lutheran-affiliated colleges and state and private universities. […]

01: The relation of new religious movements (NRM’s) to society is now a concern in most parts of the world — from Africa to Japan. The current issue of Nova Religio (Spring), a journal on NRM’s, looks at this phenomenon in 14 nations, particularly focusing on the legal contexts of the interaction between minority religions and governments. […]

01: This is the first July issue of Religion Watch to come off the press in our 16 years of publishing. As might be expected, the move from a combined July/August issue to two separate issues involves  more time and money. As summer is usually a dry time for new subscriptions and renewals, we welcome gift subscriptions and […]

01: The summer issue of  Spirituality & Health magazine devotes a special section to Chi, the Chinese spiritual teachings and practices that have attracted a large and diverse Western following. Chi, or Qi, is the “vital energy” that is sought by groups and practices as diverse as the slow motion exercises that characterize tai chi to the persecuted […]

01: Richard Kew’s Brave New Church (Morehouse Publishing, $15.95) has a distinctly Anglican tone in its forecasting of trends that will impact churches in the near future. But Kew, an Episcopal priest, also covers wide terrain in his trend-watching (he has written two previous books on trends in the churches in the late 1980s and 90s that […]

01: A new religious freedom report from Forum 18, a Norwegian coalition of non-governmental organizations, is unique in its focus on how nations deal with conversions to other faiths, as well as differing registration systems — in other words, how religions are officially recognized and tolerated by governments. The report, entitled Freedom of Religion, looks at […]