Thinking About Religious Texts Anthropologically

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-182
Author(s):  
Joel S. Kahn
Keyword(s):  
Muslim World ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Anthropology Of Religion ◽  
Religious Literature ◽  
Religious Texts

This paper addresses the conference themes by asking what contribution anthropology can make to the study of religious literature and heritage. In particular I will discuss ways in which anthropologists engage with religious texts. The paper begins with an assessment of what is probably the dominant approach to religious texts in mainstream anthropology and sociology, namely avoiding them and focussing instead on the religious ‘practices’ of ‘ordinary believers’. Arguing that this tendency to neglect the study of texts is ill-advised, the paper looks at the reasons why anthropologists need to engage with contemporary religious texts, particularly in their studies of/in the modern Muslim world. Drawing on the insights of anthropologist of religion Joel Robbins into what he called the “awkward relationship” between anthropology and theology, the paper proposes three possible ways in which anthropology might engage with religious literature. Based on a reading of three rather different modern texts on or about Islam, the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three modes of anthropological engagement is assessed and a case is made for Robbins’s third approach on the grounds that it offers a way out of the impasse in which mainstream anthropology of religion finds itself, caught as it is between the ‘emic’ and the ‘etic’, i.e. between ontologically different worlds.

scholarly journals Islam and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Between Religious Practice and Health Protection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldona Maria Piwko
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practice ◽  
Health Protection ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Rapid Transmission

AbstractThis paper concerns a problem, the global pandemic COVID-19, which has influenced religious practices with respect to health protection across the Muslim world. Rapid transmission of the virus between people has become a serious challenge and a threat to the health protection of many countries. The increase in the incidence of COVID-19 in the Muslim community took place during and after the pilgrimages to Iran's Qom and as a result of the Jamaat Tabligh movement meetings. However, restrictions on religious practices have become a platform for political discussions, especially among Muslim clergy. This paper is an analysis of the religious and political situation in Muslim countries, showing the use of Islam to achieve specific goals by the authorities, even at the price of the health and life of citizens.

Jihad Poetry in the Age of the Crusades

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
К. Хилленбранд
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Religious Literature ◽  
Core Component ◽  
Conventional Form ◽  
Intrinsic Quality ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Seamless Transfer ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The article examines how the pre-Islamic with its pagan tribal character could be transformed into a core component in Arabic Muslim religious literature. Indeed, it proved to be elastic enough to adapt itself to the realities of running a vast Muslim empire. Moreover, this conventional form of medieval Arab panegyric poetry came to be deployed as a political and religious tool in the monumental struggle between Western Christendom and the Muslim world at the time of the Crusades. To the state the obvious, jihad poetry is poetry in the service of religion. Its function mattered more at the time than its intrinsic quality. Jihad poetry was not the creation of Muslim poets as a response to their unprecedented contact with Western Christendom at the time of the Crusades. What we see in the twelfth and thirteenth century jihad poetry is in fact the easy and seamless transfer of earlier invective against Christian Byzantium to a new Christian target, the Crusaders. The Muslim poets who extolled the virtues of Nur al-Din, Saladin and their successors in the jihad do not belong in the pantheon of the greatest names of medieval Arabic poetry. But their verses resonate with the spirit of a period which would change the relationship between Christendom and the Muslim world and would harden the ideological battle lines between them. The jihad poetry gives us insights into the stereotypical way in which the Muslims viewed the Christian «other».

Vernacular Theology

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Gillespie
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Pastoral Theology ◽  
Julian Of Norwich ◽  
Piers Plowman ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Religious Literature ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Vernacular Theology ◽  
History Of

Vernacular theology was first used by Ian Doyle in relation to Middle English texts in 1953. Doyle comments that “there was little or no original thought in the vernacular.” While Doyle’s model of vernacular theology embraced both catechetic and contemplative texts, “vernacular theology” has recently been associated with attempts to explore complex ideas and articulate advanced spiritual experiences. This article examines the history of vernacular theology in England and its connection with religious literature. It considers the advanced and highly sophisticated vernacular theology of Julian of Norwich as well as Nicholas Watson’s influential discussions of the English instantiation of vernacular theology in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Furthermore, it analyzes William Langland’s poem Piers Plowman and its progressive and sequential dramatization of the difficulties and rewards of vernacular theology. Finally, it discusses the Oxford debate on translation as an issue in pastoral theology, with reference to Thomas Arundel’s 1409 decrees against the use of the vernacular in religious speculation and against translation of religious texts into English.

Windows into the house of Islam: Including women’s spaces

2020 ◽  
pp. 009182962093740
Author(s):  
Moyra Dale
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
Muslim Men

We ask which windows into the house of Islam we have traditionally looked through. Perspective determines which questions are asked to understand Islam. As with other fields, Islamic studies have had a focus on official religious texts, formal religious rituals, and public space, written mostly by male scholars. A balanced approach does not assume one normative subject, but views diversity as normative, including female as well as male perspectives. Looking at a few of the areas encountered through women’s standpoints, I ask what new insights they bring in understanding how the gospel meets both Muslim men and women. Other areas also invite our exploration, for a richer understanding of women and men in the Muslim world.

scholarly journals Zakaria Ouzon’s Thought on Hadith

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rikza Muqtada
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Logical Consequence ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
The Past ◽  
World Today

Departing from the discomfort over the stagnation of intellectual life in Muslim world today, which mainly imprisoned in ”traditional reading” (qirā’ah taqlīdiyyah), Zakaria Ouzon tries to break the tradition by restoring religious texts into historical frame. For him, the ultimate authority of revelation belongs only to the Qur’an, while other religious texts are the products of ijtihād and very open to criticism and more dynamic. Hadith and its sciences are very dynamic. Therefore, Ouzon looks at the hadits from different frame. For him, the hadits is the Prophet’s reports on events that happened to the Prophet and his interaction with his companions. As the logical consequence, Ouzon offers the hadith criticism models with an emphasis on the historicity and rationality of the content. The knowledge of hadith not only limited to the past as the truth was improsined within the text, but it is necessary to contextualize the hadith. Therefore, the hadith sciences is very dependent on the dynamics of social and humanities sciences along with scientific knowledge, so that the truth that is brought also becomes local and temporal entity.[Berangkat dari kegelisahan atas fenomena kejumudan nalar umat Islam saat ini yang terbiasa dengan pembacaan tradisional (qirā’ah taqlīdiyyah), Zakaria Ouzon berusaha mendobrak tradisi dengan mengembalikan teks-teks agama pada sisi historisitasnya. Baginya, yang memiliki otoritas kewahyuan hanyalah al-Qur’an, sementara teks-teks agama lainnya bersifat  ijtihādī sehingga ia sangat terbuka atas kritik dan lebih dinamis. Hadis dan Ilmu Hadis merupakan wilayah yang sangat dinamis. Karena itu Ouzon memandang Hadis dari episteme yang berbeda. Baginya, Hadis merupakan laporan-laporan sahabat Nabi atas peristiwa yang terjadi pada diri Nabi dan interaksinya dengan sahabat-sahabatnya. Konsekuensi logisnya, Ouzon menawarkan model-model kritik hadis dengan penekanan pada sisi historisitas dan rasionalitas teks. Pengetahuan hadis tidak sekedar pengetahuan masa lalu dengan atribut kebenarannya ada pada teks, tetapi upaya kontekstualisasi hadis adalah keharusan pengetahuan. Karena itu pengetahuan hadis sangat bergantung pada dinamika pengetahuan sosial humaniora dan pengetahuan sains modern sehingga kebenaran yang diusung juga bersifat lokal dan temporal.]

scholarly journals O valor da viagem entre a cristandade e o mundo muçulmano medieval

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 273
Author(s):  
Augusto Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Value Of Knowledge ◽  
Medieval Christianity ◽  
The Middle Ages

Partindo de André Miatello e Beatriz Bissio, realiza-se uma revisão bibliográfica com o intuito de demonstrar o diferente valor da viagem para a cristandade e para o mundo muçulmano, objetificando ampliar análises relativas ao Outro. Ao apresentar a perspectiva de que ao longo da Idade Média a viagem para o mundo cristão estava vinculada a prática religiosa, busca se demonstrar o modo como à busca por conhecimento fazia parte da prática da viagem para os muçulmanos, para além das práticas religiosas. Ao contrastar-se o valor do conhecimento entre Ocidente cristão e Oriente muçulmano, se define a importância de analisarmos o Outro com atenção, buscando ir além de estereótipos e perspectivas simplistas.Palavras-Chaves: A viagem medieval; Cristandade Medieval; Oriente muçulmano; Valor do conhecimento.Abstract Starting from André Miatello and Beatriz Bissio, a bibliographic review was carried out in order to demonstrate the different value of the trip to Christianity and to the Muslim world, aiming to expand analyzes related to the Other. By presenting the perspective that throughout the Middle Ages the trip to the Christian world was linked to religious practice, it seeks to demonstrate how the search for knowledge was part of the practice of traveling for Muslims, in addition to religious practices. By contrasting the value of knowledge between the Christian West and the Muslim East, the importance of carefully analyzing the Other is defined, seeking to go beyond stereotypes and simplistic perspectives.Keywords: The medieval journey; Medieval Christianity; Muslim East; Value of knowledge.

Terrorism and Religion: Palestine

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie Perliger
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
The West ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Stages

In its early stages the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was dominated by two secular nationalist movements, which marginalized religious practices and institutions. However, since the early 1980s, it has gradually become a struggle that includes, and some may argue also is led by, fundamentalist parties that justify their national aspirations via religious texts, principles, and practices. It is no wonder then that a conciliation seems less and less of a realistic endeavor. On the Palestinian side, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are the main forces that dominant the violent Palestinian struggle, while aspiring to establish a Palestinian state that will operate as a theocracy. In Israel, Religious Zionist militant organizations engaged in violent campaigns to solidify Israel’s control over the West Bank as part of a theological framework that sees such a control as a crucial phase in the re-creation of a Jewish kingdom. Moreover, Jewish ultra-orthodox parties, which in the past refrained from engaging with the conflict with the Palestinians, in the last couple of decades became strong opposition to any conciliation efforts which will include territorial concessions by Israel.

Religion and Violence from Literary Perspectives

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo Kitts
Keyword(s):  
Religious Literature ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Collective Imagination ◽  
Violent Acts

This chapter investigates how violence gets into religious texts and how it gets out of them, into action. Religious literatures clearly help to provide archives of cosmologies, memories, personalities, and symbols for collective imagination. Trauma, terror, pain and the like are among the fundamental components of religious literature, and conjure a violent imaginary, which, by definition, takes shape in violent acts. It surely modifies wartime actions constituted within ancient literature, in some cases saturating warlike acts with sacrificial themes. Upon reading, hearing, or seeing, it is hard to imagine that any conscious being would not be focused by a spectacle of violent destruction, grasping immediately the specter of his or her own demise.

The Sacred and the Profane: Menstrual Flow and Religious Values

2021 ◽  
pp. 097168582110065
Author(s):  
Shefali Kamat ◽  
Koshy Tharakan
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practices ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Sexual Discrimination ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Menstrual Flow ◽  
Mary Douglas ◽  
Religious Perspectives ◽  
Feminist Perspectives

Most religious texts and practices warrant the exclusion of women from religious rituals and public spheres during the menstrual flow. This is seemingly at odds with the very idea of ‘Religion’ which binds the human beings with God without any gender and sexual discrimination. The present article attempts to problematize the ascription of negative values on menstruating women prevalent in both Hinduism and Christianity, two major world religions of the East and the West. After briefly stating the patriarchal values that restrict women from participating in religious rituals and shaming them during menstruation as seen from both these religions, the article highlights the alternate feminist perspectives in beliefs that positively value the menstruating bodies. Thus, the notion of profanity is revalued as sacred in these alternate religious perspectives. Drawing from the writings of Mary Douglas, we then examine the connection between the notion of purity/impurity and menstruation and argue that what makes something pure or impure depends upon the archetype the society chooses to represent itself. In itself, nothing is either pure or impure in the sense of having a value or disvalue. This argument is exemplified through a feministic-hermeneutic approach to the religious practices in two major world religions. The article concludes by uncovering the patriarchal values held by religions as the cause of menstrual taboos in religious practices and argues that the notions of purity/impurity and sacred/profane are the results of the valuations made—from a patriarchal or feministic perspective.

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