The Case for Religious Constitutions: Comparative Constitutional Law among Buddhists and Other Religious Groups

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Benjamin Schonthal
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Global History ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Social Ordering ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Higher Law

This article argues that there is body of governing laws appearing widely throughout the global history of religions that warrants classification as constitutions. Like national constitutions, these religious constitutions present themselves as a form of “higher law” that declare the identity of a given a community, organize its structures of governing power, define its foundational norms, and authorize further acts of rulemaking. In this article, I offer an overview of these texts across several traditions and a defense of their importance in the study of comparative constitutional law. I then draw on fieldwork from Sri Lanka to provide a firsthand account of what a modern religious constitution looks like and how it works to govern one of the country’s largest communities of Buddhist monks. I conclude by urging scholars to view religion and constitutional law not as opposing legal domains but, rather, as homologous forms of social ordering that draw upon similar concepts and logics to address common human dilemmas.

Constitutional Democracy and Electoral Commissions: A Reflection from Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Rosalind Dixon ◽  
Mark Tushnet
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Global South ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law

This symposium explores the role of “fourth branch” institutions, and specifically the role of independent electoral commissions (IECs) in protecting and promoting constitutional democracy. It does so by focusing on the global South, and Asia in particular. It aims to go beyond the “usual suspects” in comparative constitutional law, and put the constitutional experiences of countries such as Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka at the centre of a decolonized constitutional project and understanding, supplementing them with an examination of more-often-studied systems such as Australia and India.

Managing Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka through Constitutional Arrangements

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Ilam Khan
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
History Of

Marginalization causes conflicts; they may be political, social, or economic. A careful contemplation over the history of Sri Lanka reveals that the sentiments of being marginalized have been present — in one (ethnic) group or the other — in the island right from its independence. When the majority ethnic group, i.e., the Sinhala, was in a position of power, it manipulated the constitution of the country to safeguard its own interests. This widened the rift among different ethnic and religious groups, especially between the Sinhala and the Tamil. This structural marginalization resulted in a civil war, starting in 1983, that lasted for 26 years. However, the ethnic conflict did not resolve even after the end of the civil war and continues to exist in the form of a political struggle between the Tamil and Sinhala. The Tamil demand for federation, autonomy, inclusion, and self-determination can only be achieved through constitutional means. Therefore, this research evaluates the post-Civil Warconstitutional development and amendment processes that were, at a point in time, more pluralistic and liberal, and contributing well to managing the ethnic conflict in the country. It was expected that the ethnic conflict would be permanently resolved through the constitutional arrangements, which Sri Lanka was already heading. However, the majority (Sinhala) reversed the progress through a new (20th) amendment to the constitution. Against this backdrop, this article argues that all segments of the society can be accommodated in the political sphere of the state through political liberalization which is possible only through constitutional arrangements.

After Church History? Writing the History of Christianity from a Global Perspective

Horizons ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul V. Kollman
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Demographic Changes ◽  
Global History ◽  
History Writing ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTRecent efforts to write the global history of Christianity respond to demographic changes in Christianity and use “global” in three ways. First, “global” suggests efforts at more comprehensive historical retrieval, especially to place the beginnings of Christian communities not within mission history but within the church history in those areas. Second, “global” can refer to the broader comparative perspectives on Christianity's history, especially the history of religions. Finally, “global” can indicate attempts to retell the entire Christian story from a self-consciously worldwide perspective. Recent works also raise new theological and pragmatic challenges to the discipline of church history.

scholarly journals Construction, Performance, and Interpretation of a Shared Holy Place: The Case of Late Antique Mamre (Rāmat al-Khalīl)

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Heyden
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Holy Places ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Holy Place

Multi-religious places of worship are a continuous phenomenon in the history of religions from Antiquity to the present day, despite all concrete differences. Analysing a very well-documented example from late Antiquity, Mamre (today Rāmat al-Khalīl) in Palestine (Hebron/al-Khalīl), this article discusses and refines the theoretical concept of “spiritual convergence” developed by Benjamin Z. Kedar. By applying differentiated analysis criteria recommended by Dorothea Weltecke, it also examines the influence of economic interests, political power, concepts of purity, and aspects of time, as well as symbolic and narrative interpretations of the place, in order to explain why spiritual convergence took place at this location for at least five hundred years. The thesis is put forward that it is not only the peripheral location or lower symbolic importance that favoured the side-by-side cult at Mamre, as Ora Limor stated. Even more important for the successful sharing of that holy place was the limit of festivals to one per year and the narrative and symbolism linking the place of Mamre with the virtue of philoxeny and hospitality. This enabled the religious authorities to tolerate and perhaps even promote multireligious coexistence—especially as this was to the economic benefit of the region and thus of all ethnic and religious groups. Based on the detailed case study on late antique Mamre, the article also inquires which methodological findings and questions can be applied to other shared holy places. The emphasis lies on the interplay between building activities, ritual performance, and symbolic interpretation in constructing and sharing holy spaces.

Ineffability

2000 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN HICK
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
The Other ◽  
Global History ◽  
World Religions ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Concrete Form ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
William Rowe ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius

Within each of the major world religions a distinction is drawn between the ultimate ineffable Godhead or Absolute and the immediate object of worship or focus of religious meditation. I examine the notion of ineffability, or transcategoriality, in the influential Christian mystic Pseudo-Dionysius, who reconciles the divine ineffability with the authority of the Bible by holding that the biblical language is metaphorical, its function being to draw us towards the Godhead. If we extend this principle to other faiths we have gone half way towards making the global history of religions intelligible. The other half consists in a recognition of the different human conceptualities and spiritual practices that give concrete form to the divine reality within religious experience. However, William Rowe, and Christopher Insole, have criticized this use of ineffability, and their arguments are responded to here.

Interfaith relations in the context of freedom of religion

1996 ◽  
pp. 41-45
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Babiy
Keyword(s):  
Religious Life ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Scientific Conference ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Round ◽  
International Round Table

This is extremely relevant and very important both in theoretical and practical dimensions, the problem was at the center of the discussions of the international scientific conference, which took place on May 6-7, 1996 in Lviv. The mentioned conference was one of the main events within the framework of the VI International Round Table "History of Religions in Ukraine", at its meetings 3-6, as well as on issues of outstanding dates in the history of the development of religious life in Ukraine on the 8th of May: "400 "the anniversary of the Brest Union", and "400th anniversary of the birth of Peter Mohyla"

Constituting Scotland

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Elliot Bulmer
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
National Movement ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Constitutional Thought ◽  
Scottish Government ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Constitutional Tradition

The rise of the Scottish national movement has been accompanied by the emergence of distinct constitutional ideas, claims and arguments, which may affect constitutional design in any future independent Scotland. Drawing on the fields of constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, and Scottish studies, this book examines the historical trajectory of the constitutional question in Scotland and analyses the influences and constraints on the constitutional imagination of the Scottish national movement, in terms of both the national and international contexts. It identifies an emerging Scottish nationalist constitutional tradition that is distinct from British constitutional orthodoxies but nevertheless corresponds to broad global trends in constitutional thought and design. Much of the book is devoted to the detailed exposition and comparative analysis of the draft constitution for an independent Scotland published by the SNP in 2002. The 2014 draft interim Constitution presented by the Scottish Government is also examined, and the two texts are contrasted to show the changing nature of the SNP’s constitutional policy: from liberal-procedural constitutionalism in pursuit of a more inclusive polity, to a more populist and majoritarian constitutionalism.

A Global History of War

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Chaliand
Keyword(s):  
Global History ◽  
History Of
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