James L Cox
Biographic Data
| ID | 107337 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James L Cox |
| GIVEN NAMES | James L |
| FAMILY NAME | Cox |
| SIGNATURE | COX J L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4906-2574 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1967 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Dilemmas
Dilemmas: Beyond Binaries and Double Binds. 2025. By Michael Jackson. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 200pp. $120 (hardcover), $29.95 (paperback or e- book)
Susan Elizabeth Ramírez, In Praise of the Ancestors
In Praise of the Ancestors: Names, Identity, and Memory in Africa and the Americas. 2022. By Susan Elizabeth Ramírez. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 248pp. $99.00 (hardcover), $30.00 (paperback), $30.00 (e-book)
Book Forum
On 12 October 2022, a seminar was held in the University of Edinburgh to review, discuss and critique James L. Cox’s book, A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions: Theory and Practice (2022, Bloomsbury). This article contains revised papers from that event as prepared by the speakers, including Cox’s introduction and response to the presentations. The papers explore various themes, comprising a consideration of Religious Studies as a discipline, …
A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions
This book compiles James L. Cox's most important writings on a phenomenology of Indigenous Religions into one volume, with a new introduction and conclusion by the author. Cox has consistently exemplified phenomenological methods by applying them to his own field studies among Indigenous Religions, principally in Zimbabwe and Alaska, but also in Australia and New Zealand. Included in this collection are his articles in which he defines what he me…
A fundamental re-conceputalization of intelligence
This paper argues that human intelligence is the fundamental form of intelligence, and that cognitive activity is the premier component of the intelligence process. As practiced in the national security paradigm, intelligence is essentially humankind’s attempt to replicate human intelligence in purposeful social groups. Further analysis suggests that the pursuit of advantage is the central focus of true intelligence. Accordingly, a new universal …
Delimiting Religion
Religion is a word that is commonly used in everyday language uncritically by simply assuming that everyone knows what the term means. In like manner, the phrase "to be religious" frequently is employed without explanation to refer to people who practice religion. A prime example is found in the recent television program featuring British television presenter and adventurer Ben Fogle in the BBC production "Scotland's Sacred Islands." The descript…
Neo-Shamanism
Phenomenology
Religion as the Transmission of An Authoritative Tradition
Timothy Fitzgerald’s critique of the category “religion” was based on two main objections: the study of religion as a distinct discipline has grown out of the historical collusion with colonial interests that has culminated in the modern division between religion and the secular; by associating the term “religion” with sacred entities, theological assumptions have been smuggled into so-called scientific studies of religion. In this paper, I offer…
Restoring the Chain of Memory
Restoring the Chain of Memory describes and analyses the writings and records compiled by the notable linguist, T.G.H. Strehlow (1908–1978), on Australian Aboriginal Religions, particularly as practised by the Arrernte of Central Australia. During numerous research trips between 1932 and 1966, the local Indigenous Arrernte Elders entrusted him with sacred objects, allowed him to film their secret rituals and record their songs, partly because he …
Political Emotions
Martha Nussbaum is now Freund Professor of Law and Ethics in the University of Chicago. Her published work spans five decades. ‘Political Emotions’ successfully enfolds knowledge, battle and song f
Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions
Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples
Reconciliation and Religio-political Non-conformism in Zimbabwe
Religio-political organisations in Zimbabwe play an important role in advocating democratisation and reconciliation, against acquiescent, silenced or co-opted mainstream churches. Reconciliation and Religio-political Non-conformism in Zimbabwe analyses activities of religious organisations that deviate from the position of mainline churches and the political elites with regard to religious participation in political matters, against a background …
From Primitive to Indigenous
The academic study of Indigenous Religions developed historically from missiological and anthropological sources, but little analysis has been devoted to this classification within departments of religious studies. Evaluating this assumption in the light of case studies drawn from Zimbabwe, Alaska and shamanic traditions, and in view of current debates over 'primitivism', James Cox mounts a defence for the scholarly use of the category 'Indigenou…
Religion, “Non-Religion” and Indigenous Peoples on the 2011 Australian National Census
The 2011 Australian National Census revealed trends in the religious identities and affiliations of Australians that demonstrated wide cultural and religious diversity amongst the population, including a dramatic growth in the percentage of respondents who ticked the “no religion” box. This might suggest an increasingly secularised population, although this conclusion is not as straightforward as it may seem, particularly in light of the growth o…
Embedding Peace and Stability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
A Response to Retief Müller
Religion and Retributive Logic
Summoning the Spirits
Tongnaab
African Gifts of the Spirit
A case of decontextualization
The Quiet Wise Spirit
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Intercultural Encounters
Wim van Binsbergen, Intercultural Encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality. Münster: Lit Verlag (pb €40.90 – 3 8258 6783 8). 2003, 610 pp. - Volume 76 Issue 2
Rational Ancestors
Rehearsal Organizational Structures Used by Successful High School Choral Directors
Methodology textbooks disagree as to the most effective type of organizational structure to be used in choral rehearsal. Previous research, while supporting the use of rehearsal structure, added little support to any of the advocated designs. The author of this study sought to determine the type of rehearsal organizational structure used by successful Ohio high school choral directors. Relationships between rehearsal structure and either teaching…
The Classification 'Primal Religions' as a Non-Empirical Christian Theological Construct
From Primitive to Indigenous
The academic study of Indigenous Religions developed historically from missiological and anthropological sources, but little analysis has been devoted to this classification within departments of religious studies. Evaluating this assumption in the light of case studies drawn from Zimbabwe, Alaska and shamanic traditions, and in view of current debates over 'primitivism', James Cox mounts a defence for the scholarly use of the category 'Indigenou…
Religious studies in Scotland
This article treats the history of the study of religions in Scotland as a chapter in the history of the academic study of religions in the UK and Continental Europe. After sketching traditions of ‘Scottish comparative religion’ from the late nineteenth century to the interwar period, the authors map out an institutional history of ‘Religious Studies' as a distinctive disciplinary formation in Scotland since 1970. The emergence, consolidation and…
Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa
Land Crisis in Zimbabwe
Earlier this year, I received a small grant from the Edinburgh University Development Trust Fund to determine the feasibility of formulating a major research project exploring the religious dimensions within the recent land resettlement programme in Zimbabwe. Since spirit mediums had played such an important role in the first Shona uprising in 1896–97 against colonial occu¬pation (the so-called First Chimurenga) (Parsons, 1985: 50-51) and again i…
Contemporary Shamanism in Global Contexts
Religious Typologies and the Postmodern Critique
Ancestors, the sacred and God
This paper holds that the sacred refers to the central and most fundamental reality for believers which, although wholly other, is manifested through worldly objects or events (hierophanies). In this view, the concept of God also becomes a hierophany of the sacred through symbols and is neither higher nor lower than the hierophanies of the sacred which do not refer to a Supreme Being. An examination of three contemporary field descriptions of tra…
Federal Urban Development Policy and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Health and salvation as the ethical ideal
Health and salvation are related terms, because each seeks the well-being of the whole person. When placed within the Judeo-Christian context, health as salvation can be defined as the highest good for the total human community. This good is denied to humanity through the unequal use of the world's resources, a fact underscored by the current energy crisis. Two questions must be answered: 1) Do we possess the scientific means to rectify this ethi…
A Modified Approach To Systematic Desensitization
The system desensitization procedure was modified in a manner that more closely approximates learning principles. Selected muscle groups were tensed, then relaxed contiguous with hiearchy item exposure. Subjects treated with traditional SD and subjects treated with the modified desensitization approach (MD) showed significant improvement in approach behaviour and subjective fear rating of the phobic stimulus. Placebo and no- treatment control gro…
Karma and redemption
Rehearsal Organizational Structures Used by Successful High School Choral Directors
Methodology textbooks disagree as to the most effective type of organizational structure to be used in choral rehearsal. Previous research, while supporting the use of rehearsal structure, added little support to any of the advocated designs. The author of this study sought to determine the type of rehearsal organizational structure used by successful Ohio high school choral directors. Relationships between rehearsal structure and either teaching…
Ancestors, the sacred and God
This paper holds that the sacred refers to the central and most fundamental reality for believers which, although wholly other, is manifested through worldly objects or events (hierophanies). In this view, the concept of God also becomes a hierophany of the sacred through symbols and is neither higher nor lower than the hierophanies of the sacred which do not refer to a Supreme Being. An examination of three contemporary field descriptions of tra…
Odoyoye, Mercy Amba. 1995 . Daughters of Anowa. African Women and Partriarchy . Maryknoll, NY
Peelman, Achiel. 1995 . Christ is a Native American . Maryknoll
The Classification 'Primal Religions' as a Non-Empirical Christian Theological Construct
Religious Typologies and the Postmodern Critique
Chidester, David, 1996 . Savage Systems. Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa . Charlottesville and London
"Chidester, David, 1996. Savage Systems. Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, pp. xviii + 324.." , 5(2), pp. 241–242
Rational Ancestors
Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa
African Dance
It is widely held that religion in Africa cannot be separated from other aspects of life. One cannot read this book without reaching a similar conclusion. Kariamu Welsh Asante has skilfully organised the contributions into a multi-faceted analysis of African culture by focusing specifically on the medium of dance, which the con tributors to the volume link in various ways with religious expressions. This is accomplished under four headings all de…
Kariamu Weish Asante, African Dance
Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe
Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa
Missionaries, the Phenomenology of Religion and 'Re-Presenting' Nineteenth-Century African Religion
James L. Cox, Missionaries, the Phenomenology of Religion and 'Re-Presenting' Nineteenth-Century African Religion: A Case Study of Peter McKenzie's "Hail Orisha!", Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 31, Fasc. 3 (Aug., 2001), pp. 336-353
Missionaries, the Phenomenology of Religion and 'Re-Presenting' Nineteenth-Century African Religion
This article examines the use of phenomenological typologies as a means for filtering out biases and distortions within nineteenth-century missionary records in order to elucidate the main features of indigenous religions at the time of first extensive contact with Christianity. To explore this, Peter McKenzie's book Hail Orisha! (1997) is used as a case study, first to analyse McKenzie's interpretation of phenomenology as a morphology of religio…
Contemporary Shamanism in Global Contexts
Land Crisis in Zimbabwe
Earlier this year, I received a small grant from the Edinburgh University Development Trust Fund to determine the feasibility of formulating a major research project exploring the religious dimensions within the recent land resettlement programme in Zimbabwe. Since spirit mediums had played such an important role in the first Shona uprising in 1896–97 against colonial occu¬pation (the so-called First Chimurenga) (Parsons, 1985: 50-51) and again i…
Intercultural Encounters
Wim van Binsbergen, Intercultural Encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality. Münster: Lit Verlag (pb €40.90 – 3 8258 6783 8). 2003, 610 pp. - Volume 76 Issue 2
Religious studies in Scotland
This article treats the history of the study of religions in Scotland as a chapter in the history of the academic study of religions in the UK and Continental Europe. After sketching traditions of ‘Scottish comparative religion’ from the late nineteenth century to the interwar period, the authors map out an institutional history of ‘Religious Studies' as a distinctive disciplinary formation in Scotland since 1970. The emergence, consolidation and…
A case of decontextualization
The Quiet Wise Spirit
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Sociology (28 works) · Philosophy (26 works) · Political science (15 works) · History (14 works) · Religious studies (14 works) · Anthropology (12 works) · Epistemology (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Art (9 works)