scholarly journals Militant Liturgies: Practicing Christianity with Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Weil

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
J. Aaron Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Traditional Philosophy ◽  
Religionless Christianity ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Church

Traditional philosophy of religion has tended to focus on the doxastic dimension of religious life, which although a vitally important area of research, has often come at the cost of philosophical engagements with religious practice. Focusing particularly on Christian traditions, this essay offers a sustained reflection on one particular model of embodied Christian practice as presented in the work of Søren Kierkegaard. After a discussion of different notions of practice and perfection, the paper turns to Kierkegaard’s conception of the two churches: the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. Then, in light of Kierkegaard’s defense of the latter and critique of the former, it is shown that Kierkegaard’s specific account gets appropriated and expanded in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s account of “costly grace” and “religionless Christianity,” and Simone Weil’s conception of “afflicted love.” Ultimately, it is suggested that these three thinkers jointly present a notion of “militant liturgies” that offers critical and constructive resources for contemporary philosophy of religion.

Habit, Practice, Grace

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Carlisle
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Traditional Philosophy ◽  
Propositional Form

Traditional philosophy of religion is shaped by its focus on the cognitive aspects of religious life—beliefs and doctrines—which can easily be articulated in propositional form. But “lived religion” encompasses more than belief, and if philosophers of religion are to do justice to our subject-matter, we need to learn to think philosophically about practice in general, and about religious practices in particular. This chapter considers some of the methodological questions and challenges that come with this task, and looks at two recent attempts to develop a philosophy of religious practice. It then outlines a concept of practice which tries to take account of two features of religious practice: how practice uses repetition to generate change, or even transformation; and how practice gives form to desire.

Keeping the Faith in Revolutionary Mexico: Clerical and Lay Resistance to Religious Persecution, East Michoacán, 1926-1929

2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Butler
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The State ◽  
Passive Resistance ◽  
Religious Persecution ◽  
Catholic Clergy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This article analyses the character of local religious practice in the archdiocese of Michoacán during Mexico'scristerorebellion, and explores the relationship between ‘official’ and ‘popular’ religion under persecution. In particular, it shows how the Catholic clergy and laity reconstructed the religious life at parish level in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the revolutionary state's campaigns against the Church. For a variety of reasons, the significance of such passive resistance to the state, and the complexity of the interaction between the ecclesiastical elite and the Catholic laity, tend to be downplayed in many existing accounts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many historians see cristero violence as the most important response to religious persecution, and therefore study it to the exclusion of alternative, less visible, modes of resistance. As for the Church, the hierarchy's wranglings with the regime similarly tend to overshadow the labours of priests and their parishioners under persecution. But the full range of popular experiences has also been deliberately compressed for ideological reasons. Many Catholic writers, for instance, seek to exalt the Church by describing a persecution of mythical ferocity. While Calles is likened to Herod, Nero, or Diocletian, the clergy and laity comprise a uniform Church of martyrs designate in revolt against a godless state. To achieve this instructive vision, however, a few exemplary martyrs—such as Father Pro and Anacleto González Flores—are allowed to stand for the whole mass of priests and believers, in the same way that Edmund Campion is revered as the protomartyr of the Elizabethan persecution in England. As a result, a stereotypical but politically serviceable image of a monolithic Church is perpetuated, an image which was recently institutionalised by the canonisation of 25 ‘cristero’ martyrs in May 2000.

scholarly journals Minding Children in the Study of Liturgy

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-29
Author(s):  
Faith Glavey Pawl
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Religious Educators ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
Religious Lives ◽  
The Church

Recent interest in philosophy of religion on religious practice more generally, and liturgical rituals in particular, opens up new avenues for thinking about the religious lives of young children. In this article I consider what it means to say that young children are part of a worshipping assembly, and in what ways they might count as exemplary religious practitioners. There is very little discussion of the religious experiences and practices of children in the philosophy of religion, and I argue that this lacuna should be addressed. Taking cues from Nicholas Wolterstorff and Terence Cuneo's work on the philosophy of liturgy, I make the case that young children can and do participate fully in the liturgical rituals of Christian communities. I draw on the work of religious educators Sofia Cavaletti and Jerome Berryman to illustrate what the religious world of the child looks like, and to make the case that there are respects in which children are at an advantage over adults in participating in the liturgical life of the church.

Religious Memetics

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Burroughs ◽  
Gavin Feller
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Institutional Authority ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Church

Recently leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon) faith have called upon members to “sweep the earth” with positive religious messages through social media. This digital moment in Mormonism exemplifies the interrelation and concomitant tension between everyday lived religion, technology, and religious institutions. While studies on digital religion have emphasized the push of participatory culture into everyday lived religion, this research on religious memes contributes to an emergent vein of digital religion scholarship focused on institutional authority. In our analysis of the “doubt your doubts” meme and antimemes we theorize religious memetics as a space for the reconnection of the everydayness of religious practice, which boils down meaningful moments of faith into facile, nonthreatening avenues for sharing religion. While this is beneficial for institutions, the reflexive and metonymic function of religious memes ruptures routine, offering participants momentary pauses from the demands of orthodox religious life.

The Potential Use-Value of Hume's ‘True Religion’

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre C. Willis
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Use Value ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
Philosophical Position ◽  
Natural Belief ◽  
The Church ◽  
Potential Use

Many hold that Hume was an atheist, that he despised the church, and that he was a devastating critic of religion. One cannot deny, however, the references to ‘true religion’ in his work, his sometimes seemingly favorable references to Deity, his call for religion in ‘every civilized community’, and his sense of (what has come to be known as) ‘natural belief’. The following essay describes a speculative Humean ‘true religion’ and discusses its potential use-value for contemporary philosophy of religion. It begins, anecdotally, with a description of Hume's happiness in France, which I attribute to the fact that Hume was not taken to be an atheist by the French reading public. The main argument is that while Hume was critical of ‘vulgar’ and ‘popular’ religion, his philosophical position did not deny our habit to accept a genuine theism that could, if informed by the calm passions, serve to ‘purify our hearts’ and bond us more closely together. Reconceiving Hume's ‘true religion’ in this way allows his insights to be used to support constructive efforts in the philosophy of religion. I conclude with a description of how this might work in light of three debates in religious studies and the philosophy of religion.

Summary

1998 ◽  
pp. 90-91
Author(s):  
Editorial board Of the Journal
Keyword(s):  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
The Church

In the first section “Scientific Reports and Notes” of the Bulettin there are published the papers by V. Suyarko “The Humanistic Mission of the Religious Studies”, O. Buchma “Personality, Society, Religion: the Spiritual Transformations on the Edge of the Millenium”, T. Gorbachenko “The Language and Literacy as the Components of the Church-Religious Life of the Christians”, G. Nadtoka “The Orthodox Monasteries in Ukraine of the 1900-1917”.

Inverse Correlation: Comparative Philosophy in an Upside Down World

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-116
Author(s):  
Mark T. Unno
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Inverse Correlation ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
Human Limitation ◽  
Final Work

Kitarō Nishida introduces the concept of “inverse correlation” (Jp. gyakutaiō 逆対応) in his final work, The Logic of Place and the Religious Worldview, which he uses to illuminate the relation between finite and infinite, human and divine/buddha, such that the greater the realization of human limitation and finitude, the greater that of the limitless, infinite divine or buddhahood. This essay explores the applicability of the logic and rhetoric of inverse correlation in the cases of the early Daoist Zhuangzi, medieval Japanese Buddhist Shinran, and modern Protestant Christian Kierkegaard, as well as broader ramifications for contemporary philosophy of religion.

ADHD, Religiosity, and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Adolescence and Adulthood

2020 ◽  
pp. 108705472097280
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Dew ◽  
Scott H. Kollins ◽  
Harold G. Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Psychiatric Comorbidity ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Add Health ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Adhd Symptoms ◽  
Childhood Adhd ◽  
Mediation And Moderation

Objective: Religiosity has been repeatedly proposed as protective in the development of depression, sociopathy and addictions. ADHD frequently co-occurs with these same conditions. Although ADHD symptoms may affect religious practice, religiosity in ADHD remains unexplored. Method: Analyses examined data from >8000 subjects aged 12 to 34 in four waves of the Add Health Study. Relationships of religious variables with childhood ADHD symptoms were statistically evaluated. Observed correlations of ADHD symptoms to depression, delinquency, and substance use were tested for mediation and moderation by religiosity. Results: ADHD symptoms correlated with lower levels of all religious variables at nearly all waves. In some analyses at Wave IV, prayer and attendance interacted with ADHD to predict worsened psychopathology. Conclusion: ADHD symptoms predicted lower engagement in religious life. In adulthood, some aspects of religiosity interacted with ADHD symptoms to predict worse outcomes. Further research should explore whether lower religiosity partially explains prevalent comorbidities in ADHD.

Hospitality at community wells: The life-giving waters of John 4:7–15

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-535
Author(s):  
Cindy Bolden
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
God's Love ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Church ◽  
Samaritan Woman

Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well is a paradigmatic text for the Church, showing new possibilities for how the Church can engage the world, specifically engagement through invitational conversation and acts of charity at modern-day community wells. A Place at the Table is a pay-what-you-can café in Raleigh, North Carolina. Patrons can pay the suggested price, less than the suggested price, redeem a token worth the cost of a meal, or pay by volunteering at the café. Patrons who are able to “pay it forward” can further support the mission by tipping or buying meal tokens for others. At this café, a space reminiscent of an ancient “community well,” thirsty travelers receive the life-giving waters of acceptance, connection, and sustenance. The custom of hospitality is a life-giving and transformational practice for the Church, a viable and tangible way to connect with its neighbor and draw all persons into the experience of God’s love.

La recherche appliquée: le cas du « Katholiek Sociaal Kerkelijk Instituut (KASKI) » aux Pays-Bas

1971 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolf Holl ◽  
Hyacinthe Crépin
Keyword(s):  
Professional Competence ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The People ◽  
Pastoral Planning ◽  
Senior Research ◽  
The Right

Following Vatican II changes are rapidly taking place within Dutch Catholicism — the bishops no longer make decisions in an authoritarian way: religious practice is de clining ; priests and religious are decreasing in numbers and many religious and pastoral experiments have come into being. KASKI has the responsibility of keeping pace with the Church during this process of change. In order to do this it makes use of several modes of work — the production of statistics relating to the position of religion in Society, the planning of religious and pastoral institutions and the study of new forms of the religious life in orders and congregations. For the first task it has used the same instruments for twenty- five years and the censuses thus produced yield valuable infor mation. As far as pastoral planning is concerned, it works in the field, playing the role of catalyst for those who have to make decisions and the people who have to carry out these decisions. This was the case, for instance, in the pastoral planning of the town of Eindhoven. Finally, when dealing with the new forms of communal religious life it adopts the method of studying through participation so that two of its researchers working in this sector are themselves members of religious groups. Applied research poses important problems, both from the methodological and from the political points of view. Amongst them may be noted the difficulty of determining precisely what constitutes rapid change in religious life, and the political choice of the persons for whom the research is being con ducted; the latter inevitably imposes a certain degree of conformity upon the perspectives of the work. (For example, the choice of the Dutch hierarchy which was to follow the general lines given by a large majority of Catholic opinion when it was tested particularly on questions like the liturgical and parochial changes). The fact, also, that the director of KASKI himself has a personal commitment to what may be described as the « right of centre » position in Dutch Catho licism poses problems for the work of the Institute. Political and religious radicalism is not a strong characteristic of the more senior research workers. KASKI is a rare example of a centre which brings socio logists together and uses their professional competence to accompany change in religious institutions.

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