scholarly journals Atmosphere and Religion: The Phenomenology of Hermann Schmitz and the Possibility for a Comparative Study of Religion

2016 ◽  
pp. 89-98
Author(s):  
Shinji Kajitani
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Theory ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Folk Religion ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Folk Culture ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Religious Aspects ◽  
Insight Into

[full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian] On the basis of his phenomenological theory of body and emotion, and especially his concept of emotion as atmosphere, Hermann Schmitz (1928–) defines religion as “behavior derived from affectedness by the divine,” i.e., communication with a powerful atmosphere overwhelming human beings. This definition enables us to explore religion in a broader context, such as dwelling, daily practice, rituals, architecture, art, etc. From this perspective, religion cannot be confined to the fields of theory, practice, institution, or convention but covers a much richer field in life. On the other hand, this view means that our daily existence is more profoundly related to the religious. This makes it understandable why new religious movements appear repeatedly, and why social phenomena appear that are not called religions but have some religious aspects even in a modern, secularized society. In this way, the theory of atmosphere can give us insight into the general necessity of the religious for human existence in each culture. Schmitz’s phenomenology of religion has, therefore, its advantage in the analysis of folk religion, which is rooted more deeply in folk culture and such of its aspects as customs, festivals, and folklore. This article will address some characteristics of Japanese folk religion and then compare monotheism with polytheism.

The Changing Faces of the Terror of Cultism in Nigerian Society: An Islamic Perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 97-111
Author(s):  
Abdulrazaq Kilani
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
National Life ◽  
Indigenous Religions ◽  
Almost All ◽  
New Recruits ◽  
Populous Country

The menace of cultism in Nigeria society in general and our educational institutions in particular has reached an alarming stage that requires affirmative actions from all stakeholders. The scourge of cultism has claimed many lives of our youths and no serious authority can fold its arms and allow it to continue. It appears that the various efforts at curbing the menace have yielded no result. The corruption in most facets of our national life has finally subdued the educational institutions, which used to be the pride of place in the past. Most families are astonished to find out that children sent to school to learn and become better human beings in the society have initiated themselves into cult groups. The emergency of secret cultism has been characterized by some violent activities which include, physical torture of new recruits, maiming and killing of rival cult members and elimination of real and perceived enemies. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups with 36 states and one federal territory (Abuja). There are three major religions namely Islam (50%), Christianity (40%), and Africa Indigenous Religions (10%). The effect of globalization is also making other new religious movements to be making inroads into Nigeria. Nigeria has a population of about 141 million people (2006 census). Nigeria which is rich in both human and material resources is a country that is facing a lot of developmental challenges in almost all sectors due to poor leadership. The menace of cultism especially among youths and some influential people in the society represents one of the distortion facing the popular ‘giant’ of Africa. The aim of this chapter is to bring into the fore the menace of cultism in modern Nigeria as a brand of terrorism mind not the fact that there are even religious cults in both the developed and developing societies. The paper also adopted an Islamic lens to provide an analysis of the terror of cultism in contemporary Nigeria.

Staying after Class

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-93
Author(s):  
Megan Goodwin
Keyword(s):  
San Diego ◽  
San Diego County ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Santa Fe ◽  
Group Methods ◽  
Heaven's Gate ◽  
Material Form ◽  
Insight Into

In March 1997, Marshall Herff Applewhite (Do) and thirty-eight of his students made headlines when they exited their human bodies in a home in Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County, California. While the class (as they called their group) is gone, the legacy of Heaven’s Gate remains on the Heaven’s Gate website preserved by Mark and Sarah King. These two former members shared their experiences in the class at the New Religious Movements Group Methods Meeting on 21 November 2014 in San Diego at the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting. Their presentation and participation in a question-and-answer session provided insight into the complex, ambiguous legacy of Heaven’s Gate: a group that strove for existence beyond the materiality of human bodies now survives on Earth in material form, disseminated by human persons dedicated to preserving the teachings of Do, and his mentor Ti (Bonnie Lu Nettles) in a dynamic, ephemeral space—the internet.

The constructive use of ‘vernacular religion’

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-426
Author(s):  
W. Graham Monteith
Keyword(s):  
Civil Religion ◽  
Diagnostic Technique ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Folk Religion ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Everyday Experience ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Vernacular Religion ◽  
British Culture

The study of vernacular religion is often confined to the discussion of ‘folk religion’ in a rather derogatory and sterile manner. An attempt is made to correct this by describing seven ideal-typical ways in which vernacular religion can be studied and defined. The seven types or discussions are: 1) whether vernacular religion represents elitist or popular religious practices and the nature of New Religious Movements; 2) the study of cults and New Religious Movements; 3) vernacular religion as folklore; 4) Bellah's concept of ‘civil religion’ and its application to modern British culture particularly as it relates to public expressions of mourning; 5) ecclesiastical historians' use of the concept in historical studies; 6) Küng's use of paradigm as formulated by Kuhn, discussed in the context of two examples of modern usage of the term in vernacular religion; and 7) vernacular religion and modern hermeneutics as preachers attempt to relate local practices to their congregations. In order to use any combinations of these constructions in a positive manner, it is suggested that we develop a diagnostic technique which recognises that people have an inherent desire to discover ways of relating everyday experience to their religious expression. Such a method is developed using both Murphy and Tracy to show how attention may be paid to vernacular religion without succumbing to the trap of relativism.

New Religions and Youth Movements

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Lewis ◽  
Zhou Ze’en
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Youth Movements ◽  
Youth Identity ◽  
Specific Category ◽  
New Religions

The present article delineates a distinction between New Religious Movements (NRMs) and a specific category of youth movement—which we will designate as Youth Identity Movements (YIM)—that is frequently, but not invariably, an NRM. We will argue that this distinction has been missed in large part because of the overlap between the participants in these two movements. We will further point out that, back in the Seventies when new religions emerged as significant social phenomena, it would have been difficult to have distinguished religiously-oriented Youth Identity Movements from other New Religious Movements. It is only now, with the benefit of hindsight and the ageing of NRM memberships, that such movements can be brought into focus.

From Spiritualism to Theosophy: “Uplifting” a Democratic Tradition

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Prothero
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
American Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Democratic Tradition ◽  
The Status ◽  
Taboo Topics

The status reversal ritual that American religious historiography has undergone in the last two decades has done much to “mainstream” previously taboo topics within the field. Many religious groups once dismissed as odd and insignificant “cults” are now seen as “new religious movements” worthy of serious scrutiny. One subject that has benefited from this reversal of fortunes is theosophy. Thanks to the work of scholars such as Robert Ellwood and Carl Jackson, theosophists are now part of the story of American religion. Exactly what part they are to play in that story remains, however, unclear.

Brazilian Ayahuasca Religions

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-186
Author(s):  
Robin Wright
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Rubber Tappers ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Legal Expertise ◽  
Religious Understanding

This article reviews the forthcoming issue of FIR containing an important collection of articles on the origins and developments of religious movements and, later, research movements focused on a powerful psychoactive beverage consisting of the mixture of certain vines (ayahuasca) and leaves (chacrona) found mainly in Western Amazonia. The religious interpretations resulting from the ritual ingestion of the beverage have produced the most varied practices and beliefs, beginning with the indigenous peoples and mestizo herbalists, then migrant rubber-tappers from northeastern Brazil; in the 1960s, urbanites from major cities in Brazil and Europe seeking alternative forms of religious inspiration; and, in the 1990s, a group of Brazilian researchers who have combined anthropological and religious understanding of the phenomena along with legal expertise for the protection of the religious freedom necessary for the religions’ developments. With the diversification and globalization of these new religious movements, the article points to new directions for field research in these religions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document