Jonathan James

Books

View the range of books written by Jonathan James:

How to Communicate on Target
This book is a comprehensive and compelling book on how you can sharpen your communication skills for everyday living! It contains clear illustrations and examples with vital keys for: Job Success, Relationships, Personal Development, Family life and more.

This timely book presents the key to effective communication with great clarity. The principles expounded are applicable to all areas of human relationships....

"I expect that many lives and relationships will be transformed as a result of this book" Professor John Tay Sin Hock Head Department of Pediatrics National University of Singapore. Buy now through AEFI...

The Great Deception
The Great Deception What do Cosmic Consciousness Movement, New World Order, New Orientalism ,Human Potential, Aquarian Conspiracy have in common? These are but different facets of The New Age Movement. Buy now through AEFI...



That Asia May Know
Covering such topics as Historical & structural overview of AEF, AEF's Ministries in various countries, The strategic &religious dimensions of Asia, and Asian missions in the new millennium. Buy now through AEFI...




Making Sense of the Tsunami Disaster: Biblical Answers.
While in our humanness we may ask God: Why did countless people die such a horrific death? But the real question should be: 'God, why did you spare me?"

As people search for answers for what has been termed the greatest calamity of the century, Jonathan James, the International Director of Asia Evangelistic Fellowship shares seven amazing principles from the Bible to help us to come to terms with the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that hit Asia and Africa in December 2004. Buy now through AEFI...

Forthcoming Book - Out now

McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics: Televangelism in contemporary India.

McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics by Jonathan James (Sage Publications, to be released in August 2010), takes the American phenomenon of televangelism out of its usual context into India and seeks to understand its outworking in a new historical, cultural, religious, political, and economic setting. The Indian Government's open policy on satellite television is attracting a plethora of American-based television ministries (especially the Charismatic brand of Christianity).

The book, based on an ethnographic study of Church and Hindu community leaders from India likens global televangelism to 'McDonaldisation', because of its standardized, "one size fits all" approach. 'Glocal' televangelism, the fusion of American and Indian televangelism, is referred to as 'Masala McGospel,' because the Indian elements in the programs are overshadowed by the American grammar and logistics of global televangelism. Hindu televangelism, a relatively new phenomenon, is also creating a disjunction because of the blending of New Age spirituality with the Charismatic (American) marketing and commercial techniques.
 
With an incisive foreword by eminent scholar, Stewart Hoover of the University of Colorado, the book is a must read in this interesting new field of studies -- religion in a transnational, global context.

Here are some unique features of the book:

• It integrates the disciplines of religion, media, cultural studies and international communications.
  
• It is one of the few books that provides an in-depth analysis of televangelism and the mediation of religion in India.
• It is a fresh study of Christianity in India and the new form of mission that is taking place through new technology-assisted, satellite TV.
• It is a culturally-sensitive yet hard hitting study that challenges the Christian Church, the Charismatic movement, Hindu televangelism; the Hindu community and what is referred to as the  "post-colonial churches" as opposed to the "new churches" following the Charismatic model.
• It is perhaps the first book to attempt a sustained analysis of Hindu televangelism;
• It is a novel approach to Indology (Indian studies).
• It has devised a unique mix of methodologies in particular the historical-comparative methodology, which is a useful matrix for the study of Christianity and Hinduism in three eras -- pre colonial, colonial and post colonial. Future studies will certainly draw from this new approach.
• It explores the intriguing relationship between Christianity and Hinduism in a sensitive and captivating manner. The 'full circle accommodation' assertion points to the role played by Hinduism in today's Charismatic movement. Yet the study also shows how Hindu televangelism seems to be influenced by the marketing and commercial techniques of Charismatic Christianity. All this makes good reading and calls for further study in this interesting new field of studies.

What scholars say about the book:
This is one of the most intellectually stimulating books written in current times about the impact of globalisation on Christianity and Hinduism. It contains a novel approach in applying an assortment of methodologies for the study of media and religion.  This is truly a ‘must read’ among the books on religion, communication, mass media and culture studies.

Prof. Y.A. Sudhakar Reddy, Professor and Head, Centre for Folk Culture Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad, India.
As a contextualised case study outside the expected geographic and temporal contexts, it provides important insights into...interactions between religion, media and markets. Jonathan James thus presents us with a unique opportunity to look carefully at the evolving global situation in the new century through the lens of a particularly complex, layered, and compelling case study.

Prof. Stewart M. Hoover, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA (from the foreword to the book).
Jonathan James has written an important book about a little understood subject; Christianity in contemporary India. He has a clear grasp of theology and fine grasp of history. Here he brings the two together in an intriguing account of televangelism and its impact on traditional Christian practice throughout India. Dr James provides a nuanced account of the conjunction of religion, politics, social practices and technology that is well worth reading.

Prof. Brian Shoesmith, Professor of Media Studies and Liberalism, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and Adjunct Professor, Edith Cowan University, Australia.

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