ENGLISH

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Secular World: From the 1870s to the Present

By Zoe Knox (auth.)

Book information

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Year
2018
ISBN
978-1-137-39604-4, 978-1-137-39605-1
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
4 MB (3827857 bytes)
Series
Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700-2000
Edition
1
Pages
XIV, 316\325
Time added
2018-03-04 00:00:30
Social History

Description

This book examines the historic tensions between Jehovah’s Witnesses and government authorities, civic organisations, established churches and the broader public. Witnesses originated in the 1870s as small, loose-knit groups calling themselves Bible Students. Today, there are some eight million Witnesses worldwide, all actively engaged in evangelism under the direction of the Watch Tower Society. The author analyses issues that have brought them global visibility and even notoriety, including political neutrality, public ministry, blood transfusion, and anti-ecumenism. It also explores anti-Witness discourse, from media portrayals of the community as marginal and exotic to the anti-cult movement. Focusing on varied historical, ideological and national contexts, the book argues that Witnesses have had a defining influence on conceptions of religious tolerance in the modern world. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Introduction (Zoe Knox)....Pages 1-28 Watch Tower, Witnesses, and the World (Zoe Knox)....Pages 29-60 Politics (Zoe Knox)....Pages 61-106 Ministry (Zoe Knox)....Pages 107-147 Blood (Zoe Knox)....Pages 149-201 Religion (Zoe Knox)....Pages 203-244 Opposition (Zoe Knox)....Pages 245-291 Conclusion (Zoe Knox)....Pages 293-305 Back Matter ....Pages 307-316

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