Pious Imperialism
"This is what is most innovative in Conover’s work: to argue that the Cult of the Saints is the nodal point of the dissemination of the specific and intimate relationship between Spanish imperial rule, religious devotion, and social and political life itself in the colonies is to place Catholic liturgical practice at the very heart of the empire as a political and colonial structure.” – Daniel E. Nourry Burgos
A Theology of Failure
"Rose has done a masterful job taking disparate perspectives and bringing them into conversation. Due to both the nature of the project and the presumed hesitancy of readers to buy into a materialist theology, Rose is careful to offer this Žižekian approach as one possible approach. To those familiar with the debates she wades in, and especially those of the deconstructionist crowd, her arguments will be provocative." – Felix Rivera-Merced
The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics
"The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics offers the reader an impressive array of essays exploring the intersection, both rich and impoverished, between religion and animal welfare. It uses an analysis of the world’s major religious traditions to explore the breadth of human attitudes towards non-human animals and, with feet firmly planted in the real, confronts the plain and irrefutable fact of animal exploitation by religious (and secular) humans. It challenges the ordinariness, even banality, with which animal exploitation is undertaken." – Anne Vallely
The Sea and the Sacred in Japan
"As Rambelli highlights, 'we know very little about Japanese conceptualizations of the sea' (xiv). This edited volume tries to close this gap with its broad range of topics and approaches. And although there is still a lot of work to do as some of the authors indicate, the volume successfully highlights the multifaceted 'ideas and practices regarding the sea”' (xv). Overall, [the book] makes a valuable contribution to the field of Japanese maritime religion that will grant important insights to scholars and graduate students of Japanese religion, history, and literature." – Cora Gaebel
Myanmar's Buddhist-Muslim Crisis
"The structure of the book and reliance on interview profiles is certainly innovative and allows the reader to deeply understand the multiple positions in play. Yet, as Holt reminds us, it is difficult not to become personally invested in the conflict. This reader felt similar frustration levels similar to Holt during his interview with the “Anti-Nationalist,” Venerable Jotika, who claimed international media is reporting fake news about the situation for Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine." – Brooke Schedneck
