We were greeted with a lovely array of advance copies when we got into the office after Christmas, all publishing over January and February in the UK and March and April in the US. Here is a roundup:
Silver Screen Buddha, Sharon Suh
(publishing 29th January in the UK and 26th March in the US)
Sharon Suh presents an exploration of the representation and mis-representation of Buddhism and Buddhists in both Western and Asian contemporary films.
Silver Screen Buddha is a gem of a book. And Sharon Suh is a cultural critic of the highest order. With this book, Suh has emerged at the forefront of cultural studies of religion. Through lucid prose and provocative insights, Suh provides vivid access to the embodied spiritual economies of lay Buddhist lives. Her deep dive into film widens our engagement with the cultural imaginary of Buddhism well beyond the rarefied and stubbornly Orientalist accounts of ascetic meditation practices. By rightfully demanding that we draw our attention to the funk and mess of ordinary Buddhist practice, Suh reveals paths that are singular and utterly invaluable for understanding the mutual world making of film and everyday religious life. What an achievement!
David Kyuman Kim, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies, Connecticut College, USA and author of 'Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics' (2007)
Jainism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Sherry Fohr
(publishing 29th January in the UK and 26th March in the US)
The latest book in Bloomsbury Academic’s popular Guides for the Perplexed series. Jainism: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Jainism, providing a guide to its important beliefs and practices.
Jains have long learned the principles and history of Jainism through narratives. Stories are at the heart of the sermons that mendicants regularly deliver to laypeople. Mothers and grand-mothers recount narratives to young Jains. In the home of most Jains are one or more bookshelves full of volumes of edifying tales. Sherry Fohr has followed this time-honored example, and provided an accessible introduction to the Jain tradition through narratives. The reader will encounter memorable characters and memorable tales, and in the process come to see why Jainism has been one of the world's enduring religious systems that has provided insights to generations of seekers for three-thousand years.
John E. Cort, Professor of Asian and Comparative Religions & Chair, Department of Religion, Denison University, USA
The Attraction of Religion, edited by D. Jason Slone and James A. Van Slyke
(publishing 26th February in the UK and 23rd April in the US)
The second book in our Scientific Studies of Religion: Inquiry and Explanation series. The editors explore the ever-persistent attraction of religion from an evolutionary psychological perspective.
Slone and Van Slyke have put together a treasure-trove, a much needed compendium that is not only a valuable source book for some of the most cogent hypotheses for the biological evolution of religion, but also the first coherent attempt to empirically assess the legitimacy of each. The Attraction of Religion delivers on its promise, and part of its attraction to serious researchers is that it marks the beginning of serious inquiry into an important human trait, bespeaking the degree to which even something so delicate and culture-bound as religion is also susceptible to the long reach of natural selection. An admirable and noteworthy achievement!
David Barash, Professor of Psychology, University of Washington, USA and author of 'Buddhist Biology: Ancient Eastern Wisdom meets Modern Western Science' (2013)
Christian Metal, Marcus Moberg
(publishing 26th February in the UK and 23rd April in the US)
The second book in our Bloomsbury Studies in Popular Music series, Christian Metal is a comprehensive guide to the phenomenon of Christian metal music, its history, development, and main ideological traits, from its formative years in the early 1980s to the present day.
An invaluable guide to a thriving yet frequently misunderstood subgenre, Moberg's authoritative, insightful work on Christian metal is essential reading for metal scholars.
Jeremy Wallach, Associate Professor, Bowling Green State University, USA
For more information on these books and more, please visit our website here