China and the True Jesus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Human Scale ◽  
True Jesus Church ◽  
The Relationship

This book examines the dynamic between charisma and organization in the history of the True Jesus Church, China’s first major native church, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The True Jesus Church is one of the earliest Chinese expressions of charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity, now the dominant mode of twenty-first-century Chinese Christianity. The book argues that the charismatic mode of Christianity is not merely a reflection of native religious traditions or conditions of socioeconomic deprivation, but a powerful tool for organizing and sustaining community. The book’s chapters explore the relationship between charismatic experience and collective action from a variety of different angles, including transnational communications and transportation technology, the context for charismatic religious experience, women’s agency in patriarchal religious traditions, Christian churches during the Maoist era, clandestine culture, civil society groups, and the relationship between religion and the state from imperial times to the present. Although existing scholarship on global influences within modern Chinese history has tended to focus on elites such as political leaders or well-known intellectuals, this history illuminates global networks of interaction and exchange at the grassroots. Throughout the turbulent modern era, women and men of the True Jesus Church faced situations and made choices that highlight shifts and tensions within Chinese society on a human scale. Their various collective responses to the concerns of their day highlight the significance of charismatic religious community as a resource for empowerment and agency.

Private Associations in the Ancient Greek World

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Private Associations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Greek World

Private associations abounded in the ancient Greek world and beyond, and this volume provides the first large-scale study of the strategies of governance which they employed. Emphasis is placed on the values fostered by the regulations of associations, the complexities of the private-public divide (and that divide's impact on polis institutions) and the dynamics of regional and global networks and group identity. The attested links between rules and religious sanctions also illuminate the relationship between legal history and religion. Moreover, possible links between ancient associations and the early Christian churches will prove particularly valuable for scholars of the New Testament. The book concludes by using the regulations of associations to explore a novel and revealing aspect of the interaction between the Mediterranean world, India and China.

scholarly journals Staging tourism: Performing place

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Boyd ◽  
Jan Smitheram
Keyword(s):  
Research Methodology ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Paradigmatic Shift ◽  
The Public ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Final Experiment ◽  
Human Scale ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Design Experiments

This project examines the relationship between architecture and the tourist experience. In architecture, an understanding of the active tourist body is underdeveloped as visuality is often positioned as the dominant mode of analysing tourism. This project mobilizes the tourist by recognising a paradigmatic shift from the”‘gaze” towards “performance”, which privileges the multisensuous experiences of the tourist engaged with architecture. The project investigates how architecture can stage and amplify the performances of tourists in order to produce place, en route. To test this enquiry, a “design through research” methodology is employed where the design proposition is developed through iterative design experiments. The design proposition is explored across three increasing scales, progressing the research through stages of development and refinement. The first experiment engages with the human scale through a 1:1 installation. The next experiment amplifies the practices of performing tourism through the design of a hotel. In the final experiment, the design of an artificial island stages the public performances of tourists.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prema A. Kurien
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global South ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Global Movement ◽  
Religion And Ethnicity ◽  
American Society

The conclusion provides an overview of what the Mar Thoma case teaches us regarding the types of changes globalization is bringing about in Christian immigrant communities in the United States, and in Christian churches in the Global South. It examines the impact of transnationalism on the Mar Thoma American denomination and community, specifically how the Kerala background of the community and the history of the church in Kerala impact the immigrant church. It also looks at how contemporary shifts in the understanding and practice of religion and ethnicity in Western societies impact immigrant communities and churches in the United States, the incorporation of immigrants of Christian backgrounds into American society, and evangelical Christianity in America. Finally, it discusses how large-scale out-migration and the global networks facilitated by international migrants affect Christianity in the Global South. The chapter concludes with an overview of how religious traditions are changed through global movement.

scholarly journals The Absence of Presence and the Presence of Absence: Social Distancing, Sacraments, and the Virtual Religious Community during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Parish
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Social Culture ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Church And Community ◽  
The Relationship

The response of churches to the challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic invites a closer examination of the relationships between virtual and embodied religious communities during a time of social distancing. The speed and the scale of the closure of church buildings during Easter 2020 sheds light upon the multiplicity of practical, emotional, and spiritual responses to a relationship between church and people that is increasingly dominated by online interactions. Such a seismic shift in social culture opens up the possibility and challenges of a new understanding of belonging and participation in a religious community. Given its liturgical, pastoral, and sacramental significance, Easter 2020 was a highly charged moment for the relationship between the Christian churches and the faithful, and between religious worship and social media. In the shift from embodied community to virtual congregation that followed, the material absence of physical presence in collective worship was striking, as was the psychological presence of that absence. This paper analyses different understandings of religion, church, and community in the period of a pandemic, and argues for the value of an approach that situates the debates spawned in the context of historical precedent, personal experience, and theoretical approaches to networks, communities, religion, and social media.

scholarly journals CHINESE PHILOSOPHY IN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

2021 ◽  
pp. 149-165
Author(s):  
Liu Youren ◽  
◽  
Anatoly T. Zub ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Modern Business ◽  
Chinese Ethics ◽  
The Relationship

The article analyzes the differences between the philosophical traditions of the West and the East. Among the foundations of Chinese philosophy, the main categories of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are differentiated and separately presented. The understanding of this difference gives us the key to several mysteries in the development of Chinese society and to the understanding of how traditional Chinese philosophy affects interpersonal relations in modern China. In particular, the article discusses the concept of ancient Chinese ethics as the basis for religious and scientific views of traditional and modern Chinese society. In addition, the article indicates that the human-centered Chinese morality, oriented outside of human experience, determines the relationship between people and the outside world. The paper also provides a comparison of Christian and Chinese ethics. Since people are one of the most important factors of governance, it makes sense to understand how differently people behave in different countries. The study was conducted with the use of comparative analysis and document research methods. Reflecting on interpersonal relations through ancient Chinese philosophical thoughts, the authors try to explain the problem of Needham (The Great Question) and interpret the modern meaning of the philosophy of science using the philosophical truth of modern interpersonal relations. From this point of view, the thoughts contained in the article are of interest and novelty. In the context of researching Needham’s problem, the authors compare socio-political and religious traditions in China and Europe. The paper also discusses the guanxi mystery — the basis of social and business relationships that have a «quasi-family» trusting nature. In addition, when discussing the peculiarities of modern business relations, the text unfolds the mystery of mianzi, which determines the understanding of reputation and human dignity. From the point of view of philosophy, human is the first of the motivations in science, as well as one of the most important factors of influence in modern management, the authors try to investigate the characteristics of humanity of different countries in order to explain the behavior of people. The study also provides a basis for studying the role of the human factor in governance.

Die Entwicklung des Verhältnisses des Bahá’í-Rechts zum säkularen deutschen Recht

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-310
Author(s):  
Emanuel V. Towfigh
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
German Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
State Law ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Religious Law ◽  
The One ◽  
German Constitutional Law ◽  
The Relationship

Bahá’í law differentiates between a secular and a sacred legal sphere, intertwining both by positing a religious duty for its adherents to abide by secular (state) law. In Germany, it encounters a secular legal framework that aims at something similar – creating an equilibrium between state law and religious law by establishing the principle of the division of State and Religion, while at the same time facilitating religious freedom; it provides a secular justification for the recognition of religious law. With this, both orders provide mechanisms ensuring that state law and religious law are able to enforce their own claim of validity, while at the same time avoiding conflicts between the respective legal orders. The article argues that this unique interaction between Bahá’í law and the German constitutional law framework impacted both legal orders. For German law, on the one hand, it proved to be crucial for the development and opening of this legal field – whose original purpose was the regulation of the relationship between the state and the (two) Christian churches – for other religious traditions. The interaction with state law has impacted the Bahá’í Community of Germany, on the other hand, by catalyzing a number of developments that in other comparative law contexts have been dubbed “constitutionalization” effects.

Don’t Be Like the Gentiles (1974–Present)

2019 ◽  
pp. 235-259
Author(s):  
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Community Culture ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Shared Culture ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
True Jesus Church

Within China’s diverse civil society, certain groups including Christian churches like the True Jesus Church are autonomous ideological communities (communities oriented around a shared ideology or set of truth-claims about the nature of reality, including the moral dimensions of right and wrong). Autonomous ideological communities (or “truth-claiming” groups) are not hermetically sealed off from surrounding society, but their strong ideological orientation creates a distinctive and complex community culture. Within the True Jesus Church, efficacious charismatic practices such as healing, exorcism, and tongues-speaking strengthen shared community culture by certifying that the church’s sacred worldview, governance, and shared way of life are legitimate (rooted in truth). This shared culture within the church gives rise to discourse that sometimes rejects Chinese society and sometimes affirms it, but always refers back to the church’s own internal truth-claims as the basis for engaging with the wider world. Despite the stereotypically “uncivil” insularity and exclusivity of the True Jesus Church’s teachings, its strong community culture strengthens civil society on a society-wide scale by valuing truth, building trust, and contributing to ideological pluralism.

Buying with You, Selling with You, Praying with You

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefania Tutino
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Social Views ◽  
Cultural Reality ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter presents a second case study showing another concrete example of the issues to which probabilism was applied. Like the previous chapter, this chapter puts the theoretical and theological discussions on probabilism into the concrete social, economic, and cultural reality of the post-Reformation Catholic Church. This chapter explores the relationship between Catholic theology and money lending by examining the key role that probabilism played in helping theologians to maintain the traditional Catholic ban on usury while at the same time engaging with the burgeoning money-market economy and with other religious traditions with different doctrinal and social views on money, such as Judaism.

Repressive Religious Regulation and Political Mobilization in Central Asia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin Gamza ◽  
Pauline Jones
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Religious Persecution ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Perceived Harm

What is the relationship between state repression of religion and political mobilization in Muslim-majority states? Does religious repression increase the likelihood that Muslims will support acts of rebellion against the state? This chapter contends that the effect of repression on attitudes toward political mobilization is conditional on both the degree of enforcement and the type of religious practice that is being targeted. When enforcement is high and the repressive regulation being enforced targets communal (rather than individualistic) religious practices, Muslims expect state persecution of their religious community to increase, and that this persecution will extract a much greater toll. They are thus more willing to support taking political action against the state in order to protect their community from this perceived harm. The chapter tests this argument with two novel survey experiments conducted in Kyrgyzstan in 2019. It finds that the degree of enforcement has a significant effect on attitudes toward political mobilization, but this effect is negative (reducing support) rather than positive (increasing support). The chapter also finds that repression targeting communal practices has a stronger effect on attitudes toward political mobilization than repression targeting individualistic practices, but again, these effects are negative. The chapter’s findings suggest that the fear of collective punishment increases as the degree of enforcement increases, particularly when it comes to repression targeting communal practices. Thus, while Muslims are motivated to protect their community from harm, it may be that the certainty of financial and physical harm outweighs the expectation of increasing religious persecution.

Islam et structures sociales chez les immigrés Soninké en France

1979 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constant Hames
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Country ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Category ◽  
French Society ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
The One ◽  
Muslim Immigration ◽  
The Relationship

In spite of the fact that Islam represents the second largest religious community in France, as a result of the African Muslim immigration, we do not know anything about its dif ferent national components, nor about the reactions or the transformations it undergoes in a foreign country. This article presents a few elements of a survey devoted to the case of the Mauritanian Soninké. The author emphasizes the relationship which exists between religion and a certain social category, the moodi, i.e. those who are depositaries of religious knowledge. Religious action is seen under two aspects : Muslim teaching as it is provided by the moodi, on the one hand, and certain magic practices which claim to be attached more or less to Islam, on the other. While the latter practices enjoy the possibility of being spread through im migration, the teaching nevertheless continues to be given in the context of the homes that are provided for the immigrants. As a result, Islam seems to be advancing amidst the soninké immigration, except for the practices of ramadân. This is due not only to the permanent character of the soninké social structures which are reproduced during immigration — the moodi continue to play their role, but also to a shift in Muslim values, which tend to identify themselves with the sociological essence of the community which confronts a French society perceived as a danger for the soninké identity.

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