The unique cultures of minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide – spanning a wide variety of customs and practices – are under threat. This year’s edition of State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples highlights the impact of land dispossession, forced assimilation and other forms of discrimination on the most fundamental aspects of their identity, including language, art, traditional knowledge and spirituality. But while the effects of this attrition can be devastating, minority and indigenous cultures have also been critical in strengthening communities and providing activists with a platform to fight for their rights. As this volume illustrates, ensuring that the cultural freedoms of minorities and indigenous peoples are protected is essential if their other rights are also to be respected.

In a context of rapid growth, an increasing proportion of minorities and indigenous peoples are now living in urban areas. But while they offer the possibility of greater freedoms, improved livelihoods and more equitable opportunities, cities often magnify existing patterns of discrimination and insecurity. This year's edition of State of the world's minorities and indigenous peoples explores the many challenges communities face in urban areas, from segregation and lack of services to targeted violence and exclusion. Nevertheless, the volume also includes numerous cases of minorities and indigenous peoples achieving better social and political outcomes for themselves in cities, as well as examples of the substantial benefits their inclusion can bring to the entire urban population.

Few letters have been so enthusiastically received & so widely diffused as those of the sixteenth-century Jesuit missionary & Saint, Francis Xavier. Written from India, the Indonesian archipelago, Japan, & the island of Sancian off the coast of China, these letters were copied, recopied, translated into Latin, German, French, & other languages, & frequently printed for wider circulation. They are filled with information on newly discovered lands & cultures, & they are filled with the missionary spirit, the zeal for the honor & glory of God, which animated the whole of Xavier's life & work. They constitute a religious classic & an historical resource heretofore unavailable in English. Francis Xavier was one of the first companions & followers of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In 1540, he set off as a missionary to southern Asia, where in the midst of ten years of ceaseless labor he produced the 138 letters & instructions that this book contains. The translator of this highly readable English version, M. Joseph Costelloe, S.J., is well known in scholarly circles for his masterful translation of the definitive four-volume biography, FRANCIS XAVIER, HIS LIFE, HIS TIMES by Georg Schurhammer, S.J., published by the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome.

This book advances that history by exploring stories, images and discourses across a worldwide range of geographical, cultural and confessional contexts. Its twelve authors not only enrich our understanding of the significance of the contextual method, but also produce a new range of original ways of doing theology in contemporary situations. The authors discuss some prioritised thematic perspectives with an emphasis on liberating paths, and expand the ongoing discussion on the methodology of theology into new areas. Themes such as interreligious plurality, global capitalism, ecumenical liberation theology, eco-anxiety and the anthropocene, postcolonialism, gender, neo-pentecostalism, world theology, and reconciliation are examined in situated depth. Additionally, voices from Indigenous lands, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe and North America enter into a dialogue on what it means to contextualise theology in an increasingly globalised and ever-changing world. Such a comprehensive discussion of new ways of thinking about and doing contextual theology will be of great use to scholars in Theology, Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Political Science, Gender Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Global Studies.

On October 29, 2005, three Indonesian schoolgirls were beheaded as they walked to school -- targeted because they were Christian. Like them, many Christians around the world suffer violence or discrimination for their faith. In fact, more Christians than people of any other faith group now live under threat. Why is this religious persecution so widely ignored? In Christianophobia Rupert Shortt investigates the shocking treatment of Christians on several continents and exposes the extent of official collusion. Christian believers generally don't become radicalized but tend to resist nonviolently and keep a low profile, which has enabled politicians and the media to play down a problem of huge dimensions. The book is replete with relevant historical background to place events within their appropriate political and social context. Shortt demonstrates how freedom of belief is the canary in the mine for freedom in general. Published at a time when the fundamental importance of faith on the world stage is being recognized more than ever, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in people's right to religious freedom, no matter where, or among whom, they live.

O Cross of Christ is an original, new prayer composed by Pope Francis himself and recited by him on the occasion of Good Friday 2016. It guides all who pray it to recognize Jesus’ cross in some of the most distressing circumstances of today’s world — modern-day martyrs, victims of war, unfaithful ministers, and more—as well as in the lives of people who do great good—consecrated men and women, families, volunteers, and others. Presented as a litany, with responses that make it ideal for group use, this little booklet is beautifully illustrated with original art by the American artist Deborah Luke. The result is a prayer resource that promises to serve as a profound source of spiritual nourishment for Christians for years to come. Recommended for personal, family, group, or parish-wide prayer.