Culture and Christianity: The Dialectics of Transformation (Contributions to the Study of Anthropology) [Hardcover]

George R. Saunders (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313261180 | ISBN-13: 978-0313261183 | Publication Date: September 2, 1988

As Christianity has gradually spread to all parts of the world, Christian symbology, meaning, and dogma have been adapted in unique ways to each new ethnic, tribal, and national culture encountered. This volume of essays looks at that process of adaptation--at how Christianity transforms culture and is transformed by it. One of the first comparative studies in an area of growing interest to anthropologists, the collection offers empirical ethnographic case studies of Christian movements and communities in Melanesia, Micronesia, Korea, Jamaica, Italy, and the United States and explores some new theoretical perspectives on the processes of cultural change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The volume analyzes local changes in Christianity in eight different cultures--in the Pacific, Jamaica, California, and Italy. The contributors are particularly effective in linking local religious and kinship systems to supralocal changes in Christian denominations, and in analyzing the motivations behind conversions, resistance, and disenchantment. Each essay includes a map, historical background, and a concise ethnographic case. The emphasis is on local interpretations rather than mission histories or theological variation, and the breadth of the cases makes the volume a very useful source for understanding contemporary religious change. A well-written and well-produced volume for college and university collections.”–Choice

About the Author

GEORGE R. SAUNDERS, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Lawrence University, is a specialist in the cultural and psychological anthropology of Italy and modern Europe.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (September 2, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313261180
• ISBN-13: 978-0313261183
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,397,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essays in the Ethnography of Christianity, February 11, 2001

By 

David K. Jordan (La Jolla, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Culture and Christianity: The Dialectics of Transformation (Contributions to the Study of Anthropology) (Hardcover)

There are lots of books about Christianity, but startlingly few ethnographic studies, let alone comparative ethnographic studies. This unusual little volume by a group of anthropologists describes the Christian life as it is lived by ordinary believers in a wide range of societies among whom these scholars lived while doing anthropolofical field research. Why do Catholics on the Micronesian island of Tobi resist Protestantism although they converted to Catholicism in a matter of days? Why is the book of Revelation so important in Jamaica? How are Chinese churches in California organized? How does politics get mixed up with religion in small-town Italy? What's with processions in Spain? And so on.

I have used the book (and continue to use it) as a text in a course I teach on the ethnography of Christanity and am impressed at how good a discussion each of these excellent brief essays can stimulate. If the publisher hadn't priced this volume to mildew in a warehouse, this would be a major textbook for College courses on Christianity.