scholarly journals Orthodox Christian Bulgarians Coping with Natural Disasters in the Pre-Modern Ottoman Balkans

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 367
Author(s):  
Raymond Detrez
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
World View ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Secondary Importance ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Ottoman Balkans

Premodern Ottoman society consisted of four major religious communities—Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Armenian Christians, and Jews; the Muslim and Christian communities also included various ethnic groups, as did Muslim Arabs and Turks, Orthodox Christian Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbs who identified, in the first place, with their religious community and considered ethnic identity of secondary importance. Having lived together, albeit segregated within the borders of the Ottoman Empire, for centuries, Bulgarians and Turks to a large extent shared the same world view and moral value system and tended to react in a like manner to various events. The Bulgarian attitudes to natural disasters, on which this contribution focuses, apparently did not differ essentially from that of their Turkish neighbors. Both proceeded from the basic idea of God’s providence lying behind these disasters. In spite of the (overwhelmingly Western) perception of Muslims being passive and fatalistic, the problem whether it was permitted to attempt to escape “God’s wrath” was coped with in a similar way as well. However, in addition to a comparable religious mental make-up, social circumstances and administrative measures determining equally the life conditions of both religious communities seem to provide a more plausible explanation for these similarities than cross-cultural influences.

Stuck in the Middle: The Inspector for Religious Denominations as Mediator between the Religious Community and the Early Communist Romanian State

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-147
Author(s):  
Anca Șincan
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Belief System ◽  
State Policies ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Communist State ◽  
State Administration ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between state and religious denominations in communist Romania was mediated, supervised and enforced among others by a member of the state administration—the local inspector for religious denominations. Inherited from the Soviet practice this position is new in the state apparatus. The present article offers an overview of the particularities of the inspector’s work. Constantly moving between the requirements of his position, his communist orthodoxy and his own belief system and world view he had a difficult task of going between the state administration and the religious communities and make the policies and regulations of the totalitarian state palatable and enforceable. A sounding board for state policies whose applicability they tested in the field they were the last link of the newly designed relationship between the communist state and religious denominations.

Faith in a Secular Humanism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa L. Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Religiously Affiliated ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Shared Spaces ◽  
Secular Theology ◽  
Care And Justice

This chapter presents the concept of a “secular theology of compassion.” Through a discussion of the ways in which Moscow’s religious communities cooperate to forge common cross-denominational interests through social justice projects, the chapter considers how clergy, staff, and volunteers in religiously affiliated welfare programs separate their personally held religious beliefs and theological philosophies from the larger ethical values that guide their work. Of particular concern are the political, spiritual, and ethical negotiations that take place between Russia’s Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christian communities as they strive to pursue shared goals of social justice while maintaining their respective histories and communities. Their collective efforts demonstrate how ethical values of empathy, care, and justice traverse, confuse, and even transcend religious/secular distinctions and provide opportunities for new shared spaces and practices of religiosity and compassion.

scholarly journals The Closed Religious Community: the Strategy of Forming аnd the Principles of Functioning

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Riazanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
World View ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Total Community

The point of the author’s research interest is mechanisms for the formation of a private religious community on the example of the Intersession brotherhood. A group of believers was emerged as part of the revival of the Orthodox life of the Kama region, but transformed into specific organization with features of popular religion, new religious movements and so-called “historical sects.” Author reconstructs the history of the community involving elements of the biographical method. The study is based on interviews and correspondence with former members of the community, close people of the residents of the commune, as well as analysis of the materials of the closed group on the social network, some audio of the groups’ seminars, photocopies of the working notebooks of the group and a series of photographs made by the believers. The investigation is based on the theoretical constructions of E. Goffman and the concept of total community. Intersession brotherhood appears as a community with the features of totality – territorial and communication closure of the residents, their employment in internal jobs, perception of the group as a family. Lack of privacy is combined with the presence of “mother-child” connection to the leader. The practice of naming for adults, the creation of new marriages, participation in gender-oriented councils create a special micro-environment with the unification of the world view. The system of privileges for advanced residents is supplemented by a developed system of fines. It makes possible to speak about special tools that lead to a change of values, a narrowing of the set of social roles and a reduction of critical thinking.

scholarly journals Analysis of real-estate property issues between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Montenegrin state in the context of adopting the Act on freedom of religion or belief and the legal status of religious communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (88) ◽  
pp. 111-133
Author(s):  
Sanja Arežina
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The Status ◽  
Estate Property ◽  
Mutual Relations

The entry into force of the Act on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Legal Status of Religious Communities (hereinafter: the Freedom of Religion Act) in January 2020 provoked reactions and protests from the Orthodox population of Serbian descent in Montenegro because some provisions of this Act allow for the confiscation of centuries-old real-estate property of the Serbian Orthodox Church dioceses in Montenegro. It should be noted that the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) is the only religious community in Montenegro with which the Montenegrin authorities have not concluded a Fundamental Agreement on the Regulation of Mutual Relations. In order to reach a compromise solution, negotiations have begun between the dioceses of the SOC in Montenegro and the Montenegrin authorities. In this article, the author discusses the history of relations between the SOC and the Montenegrin state in the period from the beginnings of Montenegrin statehood in the 15th century to the enactment of the the Freedom of Religion Act in early 2020. In particular, the paper focuses on the regulation of real-estate property issue in that period, the factors that influenced the adoption of this Act, the adoption process, the analysis of provisions related to real-estate property issues, and the recommendations of the Venice Commission. The author uses the structural-functional analysis, induction and deduction methods to prove the basic hypothesis that the Montenegrin authorities will not be able to ignore the legitimate rights of the SOC's dioceses in Montenegro regarding the regulation of real-estate property issues, and that the two sides will find an interest to reach a compromise during the negotiations on the disputed Act and conclude the Fundamental Agreement in order to permanently resolve the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.

Intellectual Elites

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-101
Author(s):  
Sarah Stroumsa
Keyword(s):  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
Intellectual Elites

This chapter focuses on Andalusian philosophers. Philosophers, in al-Andalus as elsewhere in the medieval Islamicate world, were committed to what can be called “the philosopher's life,” namely, the unremitting effort to attain human perfection. At the same time, as intellectuals integrated into their own societies, they could significantly shape their communities' cultural, communal, and even political profiles. Philosophers in al-Andalus truly shared a common philosophical tradition. Jews and Muslims alike read scientific and philosophical works translated from Greek into Arabic, as well as books by earlier Muslim and Christian thinkers. Being a small minority within their respective religious communities, and sharing the same education, interests, concerns, and ideals, philosophers constituted, in some ways, a subculture of their own. While they lived fully within their own religious community and adhered to the boundaries between it and other religious groups, they were acutely aware of the commonality of philosophy. The chapter then evaluates the philosophical curriculum which guided the advancement of students to become philosophers, as well as the friendships formed between philosophers. It illustrates the inherently elitist nature of the philosophers' life qua philosophers.

Compassion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa L. Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Field Site ◽  
Affective Labor ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Unique Position

This chapter introduces themes of care, kindness, compassion, civic action, social justice, and faith-based assistance within the context of contemporary Russian society. The chapter presents the ethnographic field site of Moscow’s faith-based assistance community and sets the stage for the book’s larger discussion about the ways in which members of this community link their acts of assistance with performances of civic action and possibilities for understanding faith as a form of affective labor that produces future-oriented results. The discussion is contextualized within details about Russia’s contemporary political and economic situation, including the unique position of non-Orthodox Christian communities within the country’s religious and social justice spheres.

North India

2019 ◽  
pp. 119-130
Author(s):  
Leonard Fernando SJ
Keyword(s):  
North India ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Constitutional Protection ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Nicobar Islands ◽  
Missionary Societies ◽  
Christian Population ◽  
The Church

The Christian population in North India is varied, from less than 1% (in most North Indian states) to 22% in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Many fix its emergence in the 16th century, when Jesuits were invited by the Muslim Emperor Akbar the Great. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, many Protestant missionary societies were established in India. Six churches in India united in 1970, forming the Church of North India (CNI). Recently, Christians have been attacked as a threat to the hierarchical social system and threatened by radical Hindu fundamentalism. Amidst the persecutions, Christianity has continued in unique paradigms: whether in the adoption ashram life to promote the mystical traditions of Christianity as well as Hinduism, in translations of the Bible into tribal languages; or in the faculties of philosophy and theology in North India preparing men and women for ministry. Religious communities and NGOs in North India have served those at the peripheries. Lack of growth of Christian communities can be attributed to hostility against Dalit Christians who risk losing constitutional protection given to other Dalits. In fact, the collaboration of lay Christians is on the increase through different associations, basic Christian communities and Charismatic movements.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTASI SEMANGAT PERSATUAN PADA MASYARAKAT MULTIKULTURAL MELALUI AGENDA FORUM KERUKUNAN UMAT BERAGAMA (FKUB) KABUPATEN MALANG

HUMANIKA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Nashrul Wahyu Suryawan ◽  
Endang Danial
Keyword(s):  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Value Functions ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Diverse Society ◽  
Community Forum ◽  
The Government ◽  
Using Data

The background of this research is the social diversity of Indonesian people. This situation causes conflicts among Indonesian people which need solutions to minimilize the effects of the conflict among the society. The study over the value of unification and harmony of the Religious Community Forum is one of the implementation of the unification spirit, the aspect of toleration, which needs to be spread out among the society. The goal of this research is to dig down how the Religious Community Forum works in  increasing the Malang multicultural society understanding over the value of unification. It is also to know how the Religious Community Forum increases the society toleration and the importance of unification among Malang society diversity.  Alt last but not least, the study over the unification value functions as a report of how the Religious Community Forum maintain the Indonesian people unification. This research use subjects of the Religious Community Forum members, religion leaders, government officers, and Malang people. The approach used in this research is qualitative with case study method. The data collection techniques used in this study are observation, interview, documentation, and participation. Meanwhile, the data is analyzed by using data reduction, data display, and verivication.The findings of this research are: 1) The activities done by the Religious Community Forum contain the unification value; the unification and harmony religious communities, conflicts and dialogues counseling, toleration, socialization over the government policy of the unification and harmony of diverse society; 2)The Religious Community Forum contains social aspects; the diversity value, toleration, pluralism, and the society unification,  which can be descended to the next generation; 3) The forum has some roles in maintaining and keeping the unification value of multicultural society through the activities applied in the society. Malang government supports and coordinates any institution works in society unification and harmony. The actions taken shows that the government are concerned on the unification of multicultural society. Thus, it can be concluded that the activities done by the Religious Community Forum of Malang contain the unification value

Writing African Christianity

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 275-312
Author(s):  
Elias Kifon Bongmba
Keyword(s):  
Religious Communities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Disciplinary Practices ◽  
African Identity ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The Third ◽  
Cultural Movements ◽  
Material Conditions

In this overview of the historiography of Christianity in Africa a number of desiderata and considerations for future research are reviewed. The first issue considered relates to the practice of historiography. The second issue relates to African identity/-ies and its relationship to global cultural movements. The third desideratum is the pursuit of new disciplinary practices in the study of African Christianity, especially interdisciplinarity as scholarly ethos. Finally, a number of themes that should become foci in historiography of African Christianity are explored, among these are: concentration on local and regional narratives, the gendered character of Christianity in Africa, attention to the material conditions and needs of African religious communities and the various cultural innovations adopted to cope with these conditions, as well as the role of Christian communities in development in Africa and the wider encompassing question of ethics and morality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document