Dialogue and the Imagination: Reflections by an Indian Christian Artist

Exchange ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70
Author(s):  
Jyoti Sahi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Indian Aesthetics ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Implied Meaning

AbstractAs an Indian Christian artist, I have reflected on Jesus’s dialogue with the Woman at the Well . Here we see the relation of Jesus to cultures beyond the Jewish one. The Biblical text has many layers of meaning. In Indian aesthetics, we learn of the ‘Dhvani’ or ‘implied meaning’ of a text. This implied meaning is discovered by the imagination, and is the basis for a re-interpretation of the text in our modern context of religious diversity, and ecological challenges. Attempts to relate Biblical narratives to images found in other religious traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, have sometimes been questioned as being syncretistic. However, a story like that of the woman at the well, has echoes in a similar story to be found in the Buddhist tradition, and in the universal theme of water, and its importance for life.

Secularism and Multiculturalism in India: Some Reflections

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochana Bajpai
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

What role does secularism have in the governance of religious diversity in an age marked by the assertion of religio-cultural identities across the world? India, with its long history of religious pluralism, a state ideology of secularism, and the ascendancy of Hindu nationalism, is a key site for examining the disposition of secularism towards religious identities and diversity. Secularism and multiculturalism are often seen as opposed in political debates involving religious minorities, notably the well-known French headscarf case. Several scholars have suggested that religious traditions offer better resources for toleration than modern secularism (for India, see, for example, Madan 1998: 316; Nandy 1998:336–7). Others, more sympathetic to secularism, have also suggested that it may be deficient in the normative resources required for the accommodation of religious practices, particularly in the case of minorities (Mahajan, this volume; Modood 2010).

Ties and Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-104
Author(s):  
Doriano Saracino
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
Meaningful Relationships

Abstract Immigration from the Global South is a recent phenomenon in Italy, which is turning from a prevalently homogenous Catholic country into a multi-faith one. This transformation is evident too in prisons, where people from different religious traditions share space. The long road from religious diversity to social acceptance of differences is difficult. The public debate concerns essentially Muslim inmates, and the arguments swing from ‘securitarian’ views to an inclusive approach as an alternative way to prevent radicalisation. The lack of meaningful relationships between inmates of different faiths and their religious communities can be a serious obstacle to social reinsertion. An analysis of the Italian prison system with statistical data and qualitative research enables us to outline a model of the evolution of the penitentiary systems.

Religious Education Between the Traditions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eboo Patel ◽  
Noah Silverman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Interfaith Education

This chapter addresses how the continuity of individual and communal religious identity can be preserved in a modern context characterized by a rapid rise in religious diversity and a concomitant decline in traditional religious association. The chapter discusses various postures that religious communities can take in such a context. The authors advocate an intentional and engaged religious pluralism, achieved through “interfaith education.” This concept is defined and parsed into three activities in which religious communities should engage: developing a theology of interfaith cooperation, nurturing appreciative knowledge of shared values, and engaging in relationship-building activities. The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of how North American seminaries have been on the vanguard of adopting interfaith—sometimes referred to as multifaith or inter-religious—education.

Buddhist Encounters with Diversity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald K. Swearer
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Singular Terms ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Japanese Buddhism

All singular terms for designating a religious tradition (e.g. Buddhism, Christianity) belie their multiplex diversity. Historically evolved, culturally embodied religious traditions are by their very nature dynamic, complex, and multilayered. Buddhism is no exception. The tripartite division that developed to encompass the historical breadth of the Buddhist tradition—Hinayana (Theravada), Mahayana, Tantrayana (Vajrayana)—merely suggests a diversity that includes perhaps hundreds if not thousands of different sects, subsects, and movements. Even broad historical-cultural distinctions such as Thai Buddhism or Japanese Buddhism fail to encompass differences in belief and practice interwoven into the textures of global Buddhisms. This chapter addresses the question of Buddhist encounters with diversity in terms of the tripartite division familiar to all Buddhist traditions, namely, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. While this model is shared by the varied forms of Buddhism, the ways in which it is embodied and expressed have been quite diverse.

scholarly journals Dynamics and Stability in the Encounters between Asian Buddhists and European Christians

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Berkwitz
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Encounters ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
The Face ◽  
Patterns Of Interaction

The aim of this paper is to theorize broadly about how cultural encounters between Asian Buddhists and European Christians spurred various efforts to demarcate, systematize, and stabilize religious traditions. It focuses on the dynamics seen in Buddhist responses to contact situations from the sixteenth century onwards in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Japan in order to map out some patterns of interaction among these communities. Theories of cultural imitation and independence do not suffice to theorize interreligious encounters in these cases. Using select examples, this paper will contend that Asian Buddhists often responded to various kinds of European interventions by redefining and reimagining the Buddhist tradition in new ways in order to argue for its continued validity and to secure its stability in the face of external encounters and pressures.

scholarly journals Widzenie pustki a doświadczenie mistyczne – przypadek madhjamaki

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-96
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Jakubczak
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
The Mediterranean

Seeing of emptiness and mystical experience — the case of Madhyamaka: The problem of Buddhist religiosity is one of the most classic problems of Buddhist studies. A particular version of this issue is the search for mystical experience in Buddhism. This is due to the conviction that mystical experience is the essence of religious experience itself. The discovery of such an alleged experience fuels comparative speculations between Buddhism and the philosophical and religious traditions of the Mediterranean area. Madhyamaka is the Buddhist tradition which many researchers saw as the fulfillment of such mystical aspirations in Buddhism. In this paper I specify the standard parameters of mystical experience (non‑conceptuality, ineffability, paradoxicality, silence, oneness, fullness) and I conclude that they either cannot be applied to Madhyamaka or that the application is only illusory.

Presbyterians, Religious Diversity, and World Religions

2019 ◽  
pp. 437-456
Author(s):  
Martha L. Moore-Keish
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
African Traditional Religions ◽  
The Church

This chapter on Presbyterians, religious diversity, and world religions offers a few important caveats and then describes major themes in Presbyterian engagement of religious diversity: the sovereignty and freedom of God, the significance of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the nature of revelation, the role of scripture, and the church. It then walks through the five centuries of Presbyterianism, noting how Presbyterians have engaged with and interpreted the changing world of many religions, drawing from philosophical, theological, and historical sources. It briefly describes Presbyterian interaction with the particular religious traditions of Judaism, Islam, African traditional religions, and Hinduism. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of contemporary challenges and theological trajectories.

scholarly journals Religious Belonging in the East Asian Context: An Exploration of Rhizomatic Belonging

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daan Oostveen
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Philosophical Concept ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Asian Context

This article explores the hermeneutical challenges to understand religious belonging and religious identity in the East Asian context. In East Asia, religious identities have not always been as exclusively delineated, as is the case in Western models of religious diversity, for example in the so-called World Religions paradigm. Various theoretical frameworks are discussed in religious studies, sociology and anthropology of religion in China and East Asia, to acquire a better understanding of religious belonging. It is observed that two hermeneutical frameworks are used by scholars to discuss religious diversity: a hermeneutics of multiple religions and a hermeneutics of religiosity. The former analyses “religious belonging” as a “belonging to religious traditions”. In the latter, “religious belonging” is understood as transcending particular religious traditions. It is argued that we need to take another look at the philosophical concept of “multiplicity” to understand religious diversity and religious belonging. We can use the Deleuzian concepts of “rhizome” and “assemblage” to describe religious belongings in East Asia specifically and also religion in general. A rhizomatic thinking about religion enables us to reimagine the concept of religious belonging as rhizomatic belonging, and also, as is argued by Haiyan Lee and Mayfair Yang, make it possible to subvert power structures inherent to religion.

No One Ascends Alone

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-107
Author(s):  
John J. Thatamanil
Keyword(s):  
Religious Diversity ◽  
John Hick ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Catherine Keller

This chapter surveys and assesses major contemporary versions of pluralist and particularist theologies of religious diversity including those of John Hick, David Ray Griffin, and Mark Heim. While finding commendable elements in each, the chapter argues for a relational pluralism derived from the work of Roland Faber and Catherine Keller. Central to the work of this chapter is the challenge to accounts of “religion” which tend to homogenize out difference and accounts of “religions” which tend to reify traditions over against each other. Even positive pluralist accounts that seek to speak of the different religions as valid paths up the same or even different mountains often fail to recognize just how deeply intertwined religious traditions are. Relational pluralism, by contrast, rightly recognizes that religious traditions have always emerged in relation and that their ongoing flourishing will continue to require relational encounter.

Omission, Created Ambiguity, and Chronology in the Book of Jubilees

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-122
Author(s):  
Betsy Halpern Amaru
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
Ancient Texts

Abstract Omission is a common strategy in ancient texts that rework biblical narratives and the author of the Book of Jubilees frequently employs the strategy. Particularly striking is the omission of chronological material, for the dating of events is a primary feature of Jubilees. This essay examines two cases in which Jubilees omits biblical chronological data. One involves the age of Noah; the other the ten years that Abram is living in the land. In each instance ambiguity within the Jubilees-created chronology accompanies the omission. In the matter of the age of Noah the created ambiguity responds to incongruities in the biblical text and supports a reworked chronology. By contrast, in the matter of the ten years the created ambiguity responds to postbiblical interpretation of the biblical text.

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