Overview
- Given a special mention of excellence in the senior scholar category for the Giuseppe Alberigo Award conferred by the European Academy of Religion
- Analyses the influence of Jehovah’s Witnesses from a transnational perspective in a variety of contexts
- Tackles previously un-discussed issues to present an innovative contribution to the field of Watch Tower studies
Part of the book series: Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700–2000 (HISASE)
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About this book
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.
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Keywords
Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“For the past few decades, the landmark books on Jehovah’s Witnesses have largely been written by ex-members. Zoe Knox’s impartial, scholarly, and rigorous account of the Watch Tower organisation comes as a welcome contrast, providing useful and illuminating analysis of the Society’s position on several key themes.” (George D. Chryssides, Honorary Research Fellow at York St John University, UK, and author of Historical Dictionary of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jehovah’s Witnesses: Continuity and Change)
“Zoe Knox offers an ambitious study of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Malawi to the Soviet Union. This balanced examination of how minority faiths interact with modern states and societies is a valuable contribution to scholarship on religious tolerance and freedom of conscience, and a must-read for scholars of this religious community.” (Emily B. Baran, Assistant Professor, Middle Tennessee State University, USA, and author of Dissent on the Margins: How Soviet Jehovah’s WitnessesDefied Communism and Lived to Preach About It)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Zoe Knox is Associate Professor of Modern Russian History at the University of Leicester, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Jehovah's Witnesses and the Secular World
Book Subtitle: From the 1870s to the Present
Authors: Zoe Knox
Series Title: Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700–2000
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39605-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-39604-4Published: 08 February 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-67941-6Published: 13 November 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-39605-1Published: 29 January 2018
Series ISSN: 2946-3351
Series E-ISSN: 2946-336X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 316
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: Social History, History of Religion, Cultural History