Newly reissued, this remains a rare work on the systems of interpretation and meaning, mythological traditions and realities of the Karanga people in Zimbabwe. The author considers the Karanga's cosmology, as a system of psychological and biological expressions, and in relation to mythological feeling and thinking. Topics covered include: creation myths; mythologies of the symbols of life and death; incest and marriage problems; forbidden sexual intercourse; pregnancy and birth; mythology as experienced reality; the mythology of an image of god; and the mythology of the night. Further cultural sources drawn on are Shona proverbs, which are to some extent included in the work. Throughout the study, the author aims to apply appropriate African, rather than narrowly Western, systems of interpretation and analysis to his material.

Newly reissued, this remains a rare work on the systems of interpretation and meaning, mythological traditions and realities of the Karanga people in Zimbabwe. The author considers the Karanga's cosmology, as a system of psychological and biological expressions, and in relation to mythological feeling and thinking. Topics covered include: creation myths; mythologies of the symbols of life and death; incest and marriage problems; forbidden sexual intercourse; pregnancy and birth; mythology as experienced reality; the mythology of an image of god; and the mythology of the night. Further cultural sources drawn on are Shona proverbs, which are to some extent included in the work. Throughout the study, the author aims to apply appropriate African, rather than narrowly Western, systems of interpretation and analysis to his material.

Published 1887-90, this six-volume compilation of Maori oral literature, with English translations, contains traditions about deities, origins and warfare.

The Heart of Myth: Wisdom Stories From Endangered People by Dave Alber is a global anthology of myths from the living polytheistic traditions of six continents. The Heart of Myth unpacks the spirituality of the myths of each region in a local context, then traces connections and archetypes between regions so that world myth may be understood as both a communicative vocabulary and a grand cultural continuity. Dave Alber’s The Heart of Myth: • reveals the universal language of mythology, • explains the spiritual function of myth as expressed in collective archetypes, • tells about the ecological and sustainable vision of indigenous people, • describes the lives of living polytheistic communities, most of them endangered people from six geographic regions (North America, Central and South America, Arctic, Asia, Africa, and Oceana), • tells stories of myth, legend, and folklore from around the globe (American Mythology, Central American Mythology, South American Mythology, Arctic Mythology, Asian Mythology, African Mythology, and Oceanic Mythology) In the tradition of Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, Dave Alber’s The Heart of Myth: Wisdom Stories From Endangered People tells stories from the mythic world. David tells stories of Native American Mythology, Central American Mythology, South American Mythology, Arctic Mythology, Asian Mythology, African Mythology, and Oceanic Mythology. From Native America Dave Alber’s The Heart of Myth relates the myths of the Crow, Onodowaga, Zuni, Cree, and Chemehuevis. From the Arctic it covers the myths of the Chuckchi, Igloolik Inuit Eskimo myths, Inuit, and Buriyat. From Central and South America, David Alber tells myths from the Circum-Caribbean People of the Orinoco River Valley, Bororo, Yekuana, Aymara, Mapuche. From Africa Dave tells myths of San, Ogoni, Dinka, Masai, and Karanga. From Asia The Heart of Myth tells the myths of the Tharu, Kashmiri, Akha, Ainu, Karen, and Agta. From Australia and the Pacific Islands, The Heart of Myth speaks myths from Wurundjeri, Torres Strait Islanders, Hawaiian, Maori, and Samoan peoples. Samples from The Heart of Myth are at davealber.com.

The coming of Colonization and Christianity to Africa and other indigenous cross-cultural contexts was a “mixed bag” of pros and cons. The impact of the advent of the two has had a lasting effect being felt even today. It created issues of bi-culturalism and bi-religiousness in personal and religious identities that counselors and the church need to address when working with people from these contexts. There is the existence of deep cultural trauma (including psychological and spiritual scars) needing healing for those living in most of these post-colonial contexts. The Western counseling approaches and Christian rituals need contextualization. A counselor or pastoral caregiver with an integrative consciousness is required to address the psychological and religious identity conflicts existing in African and other indigenous cross-cultural contexts.

Caves have been used in various ways across human society, but despite the persistence within popular culture of the iconic caveman, deep caves were never used primarily as habitation sites for early humans. Rather, in both ancient and contemporary contexts, caves have served primarily as ritual spaces. In Sacred Darkness, contributors use archaeological evidence as well as ethnographic studies of modern ritual practices to envision the cave as place of spiritual and ideological power that emerges as a potent venue for ritual practice. Covering the ritual use of caves in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Mesoamerica, and the US Southwest and Eastern woodlands, this book brings together case studies by prominent scholars whose research spans from the Paleolithic period to the present day. These contributions demonstrate that cave sites are as fruitful as surface contexts in promoting the understanding of both ancient and modern religious beliefs and practices. This state-of-the-art survey of ritual cave use will be one of the most valuable resources for understanding the role of caves in studies of religion, sacred landscape, or cosmology and a must-read for any archaeologist interested in caves.

Divided into four parts-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-this book takes an elemental approach to the study of religion and ecology. It reflects recent theoretical and methodological developments in this field which seek to understand the ways that ideas and matter, minds and bodies exist together within an immanent frame of reference. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Nature focuses on how these matters materialize in the world around us, thereby addressing key topics in this area of study. The editors provide an extensive introduction to the book, as well as useful introductions to each of its parts. The volume's international contributors are drawn from the USA, South Africa, Netherlands, Norway, Indonesia, and South Korea, and offer a variety of perspectives, voices, cultural settings, and geographical locales. This handbook shows that human concern and engagement with material existence is present in all sectors of the global community, regardless of religious tradition. It challenges the traditional methodological approach of comparative religion, and argues that globalization renders a comparative religious approach to the environment insufficient.