New Directions in Spiritual Kinship: Sacred Ties across the Abrahamic Religions (Contemporary Anthropology of Religion)

This volume examines the significance of spiritual kinship—or kinship reckoned in relation to the divine—in creating myriad forms of affiliations among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Rather than confining the study of spiritual kinship to Christian godparenthood or presuming its disappearance in light of secularism, the authors investigate how religious practitioners create and contest sacred solidarities through ritual, discursive, and ethical practices across social domains, networks, and transnational collectives. This book’s theoretical conversations and rich case studies hold value for scholars of anthropology, kinship, and religion. Re-sacralizing The Social : Spritual Kinship At The Crossroads Of The Abrahamic Religions / Todne Thomas, Rose Wellman, And Asiya Malik -- Spritual Kinship Between Formal Norms And Actual Practice : A Comparative Analysis In The Long Run (from The Early Middle Ages Until Today) / Guido Alfani -- Spiritual Kinship In An Age Of Dissent : Pigeon Fanciers In Darwin's England / Gillian Feeley-harnick -- Kinship As Ethical Relation : A Critique Of The Spiritual Kinship Paradigm / Don Seeman -- Kinship In Historical Consciousness : A French Jewish Perspective / Joëlle Bahloul -- We All Ask Together : Intercession And Composition As Models For Spiritual Kinship / Frederick Klaits -- Forever Families : Christian Individualism, Mormonism And Collective Salvation / Fenella Cannell -- Substance, Spirit, And Sociality Among Shi'i Muslims In Iran / Rose Wellman -- Expanding Familial Ties : From The Umma To New Constructions Of Relatedness Among East African Indians In Canada / Asiya Malik -- Rebuking The Ethnic Frame : Afro Caribbean And African American Evangelicals And Spiritual Kinship / Todne Thomas -- The Seeds Of Kinship Theory In The Abrahamic Religions / Carol Delaney. Todne Thomas, Asiya Malik, Rose Wellman, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Introduction: Re-sacralizing the Social: Spiritual Kinship at the Crossroads of the Abrahamic Religions....Pages 1-28 Spiritual Kinship Between Formal Norms and Actual Practice: A Comparative Analysis in the Long Run (from the Early Middle Ages Until Today)....Pages 29-49 Spiritual Kinship in an Age of Dissent: Pigeon Fanciers in Darwin’s England....Pages 51-83 Kinship as Ethical Relation: A Critique of the Spiritual Kinship Paradigm....Pages 85-108 Kinship in Historical Consciousness: A French Jewish Perspective....Pages 109-129 “We All Ask Together”: Intercession and Composition as Models for Spiritual Kinship....Pages 131-149 “Forever Families”; Christian Individualism, Mormonism and Collective Salvation....Pages 151-169 Substance, Spirit, and Sociality Among Shi‘i Muslims in Iran....Pages 171-194 Expanding Familial Ties: From the Umma to New Constructions of Relatedness Among East African Indians in Canada....Pages 195-217 Rebuking the Ethnic Frame: Afro Caribbean and African American Evangelicals and Spiritual Kinship....Pages 219-244 The Seeds of Kinship Theory in the Abrahamic Religions....Pages 245-261 Back Matter....Pages 263-273