Vol. 2 : Attributes - Butler. - 742 p.

As the first comprehensive work to assemble ideas, concepts, discourses, and extensive essays in this vital area, the Encyclopedia of African Religion explores such topics as deities and divinities, the nature of humanity, the end of life, the conquest of fear, and the quest for attainment of harmony with nature and other humans. Editors Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama include nearly 500 entries that seek to rediscover the original beauty and majesty of African religion.

There are a number of people who deserve thanks: Rhoda Himmel Mazur, my mother, who introduced me to old “classic” films, and Marvin Irwin Mazur, my father (Z’’L), who would see any film as long as my mother told him that it was a “musical comedy”; Jody Risa Mazur, my sister, who lent me a variety of materials (often without her remembering); Lillian Weintraub, my aunt (Z’’L), who sent me articles on religion and film from the time I started graduate school until her death in 2008; Bill Mandel, annual host of the seasonal “Mandel Bijou”; Benton Knight (who dragged me to see Be My Bloody Valentine ) and Scott Baradell (who dragged me to see C.H.U.D. ); Robin Alperstein and the editorial staff of The Declaration (at the University of Virginia, way back in 1986–1987), who published “Reel to Reel,” a movie review column I coauthored with Scott Baradell, which was based on the work of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (only funny, and in print); and of course Claudia Anne Mazur, my wife, who has humored me when I have insisted that we watch any number of questionable films with the declaration that “it’s for work, dear.” To all of these people, I say thank you. You have encouraged—or at least tolerated—my often childish musings about film, and I think that with thisvolume, I have become both better educated and humbled by my professional digression into this field. I also want to thank Lynn Malloy Aranjo—whom I barely knew—and Rob (“RobRobRob”) Kirkpatrick—whom I know a bit better—for letting me pitch the idea of the encyclopedia to Greenwood in the first place. Rob was particularly patient as I worked out a number of the details, and for that I am grateful. And yes, Rob, you were right; the entry on Krzysztof Kies´ lowski is dedicated to you. Thanks also to Debra Adams, who saw the project through its hardest stretch, and Mariah Gumpert at ABC-CLIO, who provided the last bit of energy and assistance needed to get it all finished. If patience is a virtue, you are all saints. I must also thank the hard-working people in the Interlibrary Loan office at the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library of Bucknell University, particularly Candice Hinckley, who worked tirelessly locating many of the materials listed in the bibliography. Without knowing it, they helped me forget the difference, if only for a moment, between a large research institution and a relatively small teaching college. A special thanks also to Julia Miller (Bucknell ’08) and Stephanie Johnson (Virginia Wesleyan College ’11) for their dedicated filmographic work, and Brittany Hayes (Virginia Wesleyan College ’12) for her fact-checking. Contributor Melanie J. Wright passed away just as this project was going into its final production. She was a friendly colleague and an insightful scholar in many fields, but particularly in the study of religion and film. She will be missed. I would also like to thank all of the contributors, particularly those who got their entries in on time and according to style. You are a very talented bunch of scholars and critics, and I have enjoyed reading all that you’ve sent me. I hope you like what I’ve done with your work!

New Religious Movements (NRMs) can involve vast numbers of followers and in many cases are radically changing the way people understand and practice religion and spirituality. Moreover, many are having a profound impact on the form and content of mainstream religion. The Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements provides uniquely global coverage of the phenomenon, with entries on over three hundred movements from almost every country in the world. Coverage includes movements that derive from the major religions of the world and to neo-traditional movements, movements often overlooked in the study of NRMs. In addition to the coverage of particular movements there are also entries on topics, themes, key thinkers and key ideas, for example the New Age Movement, Neo-Paganism, New Religion and gender, NRMs and cyberspace, NRMs and the law, the Anti-Cult Movement, Swedenborg, Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, Lovelock, Gurdjieff, al-Banna, Qutb. The marked global approach and comprehensiveness of the encyclopedia enable an appreciation of the innovative energy of NRMs, of their extraordinary diversity, and the often surprising ways in which they can propagate geographically. The most ambitions publication of its sort, the Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements is a major addition to the reference literature for students and researchers of the field in religious studies and the social sciences. Entries are cross-referenced with short bibliographies for further reading. There is a full index

"Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions" is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive portrait of love in the context of the classic and contemporary literature of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, as well as other cultures and philosophies. Like no volume published to date, it reveals the full richness of religious teachings on love in all its many forms, exploring an extensive range of topics that offer philosophical, psychological, and religious perspectives to guide the quest for the meaning of love. "Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions" features approximately 300 subject entries, as well as insightful biographic sketches of preeminent thinkers, all written by a multidisciplinary team of some of the foremost scholars on the subject. Entries examine both general and culture-specific interpretations of love: not just the dichotomy of spiritual and physical love, but the full emotional spectrum of love in relationships and practices. Collectively, they encompass love's integral-and sometimes conflicting-role in shaping beliefs and behavior in a vastly diverse world.

Contrary to popular opinion, there is more to Sikhism than the distinctive dress. First of all, there is the emergence of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and the long line of his successors. There are the precepts, many related to liberation through the divine name or nam. There is a particularly turbulent history in which the Sikhs have fought to affirm their beliefs and resist external domination that continues to this day. There is also, more recently, the dispersion from the Punjab throughout the rest of India and on to Europe and the Americas. With this emigration Sikhism has become considerably less exotic, but hardly better known to outsiders. This expanded and updated second edition of the dictionary is an excellent place to learn more about the religion. It provides a chronology of events, a brief introduction that gives a general overview of the religion, and a dictionary with several hundred entries, which present the gurus and other leaders, trace the rather complex history, expound some of the precepts and concepts, describe many of the rites and rituals, and explain the meaning of numerous related expressions. All this, along with a copious bibliography, provides readers with an informative and accessible guide toward understanding Sikhism.