Review: Jehovah’s Witnesses: A New Introduction, by George D. Chryssides
George Chryssides’ Jehovah’s Witnesses is a master class in religious ethnography or the study of lived religion. Long-term, emic engagement along with copious primary source research weight this introduction with the heft of authority. An "introduction" is perhaps a misnomer as this volum...
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| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Californiarnia Press
2023
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| In: |
Nova religio
Year: 2023, Volume: 26, Issue: 4, Pages: 123-125 |
| Further subjects: | B
Book review
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | George Chryssides’ Jehovah’s Witnesses is a master class in religious ethnography or the study of lived religion. Long-term, emic engagement along with copious primary source research weight this introduction with the heft of authority. An "introduction" is perhaps a misnomer as this volume details both idiosyncratic and nearly universal Witness practice and belief, historical and contemporary. Chryssides’ reflexivity and self-consciousness adds to the readability of the volume; his sympathy towards his subject walks the line between situated objectivity to apologia without crossing it.Chapters 1 and 2 discuss researching Jehovah’s Witnesses and give a concise historical background to the movement, beginning with its origins as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Chryssides provides a review of the literature, both scholarly and lay, critical and primary. He also offers an account of his own interaction with the group and how it became a central focus of his own research. Chapters 3 through 6 examine and detail JW belonging, teaching, congregational life, and Witness lifestyle. As expected, a key part of belonging involves field ministry or publishing, that is, spreading the message through door-to-door visits, literature carts, pamphlets, online, through relationships, and so on. After pausing to discuss Bible studies, congregational discipline and shunning, Chryssides turns to official teaching and popular understanding. Here the Bible, its authorship, trustworthiness, and chronology are central, although the Witnesses have their own perspective on all of these. As the name of the group implies, the divine name, Jehovah, is extremely important as it is the personal name of God and the basis for worship and relationship. But what else sets Witnesses apart from other Christian denominations is their view on Jesus. As non-Trinitarians, they believe that he "is not God himself but the only begotten Son of God; he is not merely human but pre-existed in spirit form before entering the womb of the Virgin Mary" (50). |
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| ISSN: | 1541-8480 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nova religio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1525/nr.2023.26.4.123 |