Introduction: Modernity and Transcendence1

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Carroll ◽  
Staf Hellemans

Abstract The idea of a Catholic modernity, first introduced by Charles Taylor in 1996, offers a third “grand strategy” of relating modernity and religion (transcendence) in our time. In this introduction, the project is presented: six leading authors from different religious traditions (David and Bernice Martin, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Robert Cummings Neville, Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Jonathan Boyarin) examine the idea of a Catholic modernity and Taylor responds to their reflections and looks back 25 years on.

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 508-543
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Carroll ◽  
Staf Hellemans

Abstract In a time when the two major strategies followed by Christian religious traditions in modernity have lost traction—Christendom and subcultural isolation on the one hand and liberal and socialist assimilation with modernity on the other hand—Charles Taylor’s Catholic modernity idea opens up a “third grand strategy,” a new perspective on the relationship between religion and modernity. Moreover, the perspective can be put to use in other religious traditions as well. We will, hence, argue for the extension from a Catholic modernity to a religious modernities perspective. With the help of the arguments and suggestions as well as the critiques put forward by Taylor and the other authors in this volume Modernity and Transcendence, we will chart some of the main axes of this vast research field: (1) the clarification of Catholic/religious modernity; (2) the generalization of the Catholic modernity idea into a religious modernities perspective; (3) the invention of an inspiring, post-Christendom Christianity/post-fusional religion and theology; (4) the issue of religious engagement in our time—what Taylor calls “the Ricci project”; (5 and 6) the need for encompassing theories of modernity and religion (transcendence).


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-413
Author(s):  
Ruth Tsuria

Purpose This paper aims to argue for the importance of considering religious and cultural background as informing participant's access and attitudes towards digital media. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes a socio-cultural theoretical approach. In terms of methodology, it refers to case studies based on discourse analysis of online content. Findings The paper argues that the online discourse in the case studies presented discourages women from using digital media for their own empowerment. Research limitations/implications Some limitation include that this research focuses only on a case study from Judaism. Future research should examine how other religious traditions impact internet access and uses. Originality/value The paper's contribution is in its novel inclusion of religion as an element of the digital divide.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabeel Muhammad ◽  
Gerard McElwee ◽  
Leo-Paul Dana

Purpose Focussing on entrepreneurs’ experiences inhibiting them from launching a business – at the micro level – the purpose of this paper is to identify issues that limit rural entrepreneurship in Pakistan and also, to identify the cultural, social, economic and religious traditions and settings that discourage entrepreneurship thus hindering economic development Design/methodology/approach An ethnographic approach was used to obtain a picture of current problems and perspectives of rural inhabitants. Members of 84 families were interviewed. Findings Religious, socioeconomic and structural forces play a significant role in suppressing social and cultural capital in rural areas of Pakistan, explaining the low level of entrepreneurship in these areas. Social and cultural capital requires a certain socioeconomic context for entrepreneurship to thrive. Originality/value This study examines the determinants of very low levels of entrepreneurship in rural settings in the agro-based regions of interior Sindh, Pakistan; this contributes to the gap of understanding the context of rural entrepreneurs in agro-based economies. This study makes recommendations for policy makers to promote entrepreneurship in such areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-195
Author(s):  
Aaron Ricker

This article considers imperial Roman and German forms of liberal elite consensus on “proper religious diversity” to set the stage for an examination of the contemporary form of liberal consensus discernible in a recent public talk given by Charles Taylor and Rowan Williams. In each case, attention is drawn to the ways in which “proper religious diversity” is defined to serve ideological and theological agendas. Romanitas, Germanentum, and the Taylor–Williams consensus are cannibalistic theological systems: each uses a public stance of reasonable openmindedness regarding “proper religious diversity” to build and police a theological position that arrogates the perceived value of selected “religious” traditions by re-making them in its own image. Imperial Romanitas and Germanentum served in this way to absorb a diversity of traditions deemed palatable and digestible into overarching theological visions which were convenient to those in power. When Taylor and Williams use the platform of Religious Studies to promote the modern liberal view of “diversity in (true) religion” as a source of pro-social order, their efforts serve a similar crypto-theological and imperialist project.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-195
Author(s):  
Rupali Misra ◽  
Sumita Srivastava ◽  
Devinder Kumar Banwet

Purpose In spite of an intuitive appeal regarding association between personality and investment efficacy, there is a dearth of empirical support for the effects of theoretically meaningful personality difference on intuitive and analytical ability, which further explains investment efficacy. The current study aims to explore this link using multi-method analysis. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, the experimental protocol captures intuitive responses of naïve investors in four different investment horizons and maps the findings with personality constituents of the Big Five (Costa and McCrae, 1992), while in Study 2, survey of active investors seeks their preference for intuition or deliberation (PID, Betsch, 2004) in decision-making, along with measuring their investment efficacy and analysing the results on the basis their personality Type A vs Type B. Findings Subjects with lower extraversion tend to have superior forecasting accuracy for gold and dollar, while those with lower neuroticism have tendency of superior forecasting for dollar and Nifty index in mid-term investment. Further, in Study 2, the results indicate superior intuitive ability, analytical ability and investment efficacy of Type B investors. Originality/value The study is unique in two ways. One, it explores the role of personality in ambidextrous decision-making framework, where rationality and intuition iteratively operate in a parallel, yet synchronous, fashion. Two, the study attempts to examine the role of personality in the unique socio-cultural context of an emerging economy such as India with Eastern religious traditions, having strong implications on the personal characteristics of the decision agents.


Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1653-1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Usó Doménech ◽  
Josué Antonio Nescolarde-Selva ◽  
Lorena Segura-Abad ◽  
Mario Sabán

Purpose The doctrine of coincidentia oppositorum (the coincidence of opposites), the interpenetration, interdependence and unification of opposites has long been one of the defining characteristics of mystical (as opposed to philosophical) thought. Mystics of various persuasions have generally held that such paradoxes are the best means of expressing within language, truths about a whole that is sundered by the very operation of language itself. Any effort, it is said, to analyze these paradoxes and provide them with logical sense is doomed from the start because logic itself rests upon assumptions, such as the principles of non-contradiction and excluded middle, that are violated by the mystical ideas. Design/methodology/approach Mathematical development of a dialectical logic with truth-values in a complex field. Findings The coincidentia oppositorum is a common trope in many religious traditions, particularly those with a mystical or initiatory aspect, and fields of knowledge such as Psychology and Quantum Physics, with wave-particle duality. The aim of this paper is to present a mathematical theory of the coincidence of opposites, and where truth-values are expressed in a complex field. A propositional coincidentia oppositorum algebra is developed. Originality/value Although the literature of paraconsistent logics is abundant, the authors think that this is the first time that a dialectical logic has been developed with truth-values belonging to a complex field. The impossibility of reaching an absolute truth from opposite propositions is discovered, both being true, because of the existence of irrational numbers in the truth-values.


2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 441-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Boyarin

Abstract For two main reasons, I am not much tempted to articulate a “Jewish modernity” analogous to “a Catholic modernity” as presented by Charles Taylor. First, modernity is “lost”. In the last decades, dreams of a bright secular future of modernity (“later is better”) have collapsed. This affects also the possible role one envisages for non-scientific allegiances and worldviews. It renders this engagement with Taylor seem almost nostalgic or retrospective. Second, I have reservations about many of the concepts Taylor is using. Some of them, like theology and transcendence, are specific to a tradition in ways that must be specified. Others, like religion, the secular and modernity, likewise demand more definite settings. Taylor’s generous Catholicism, extending to the (pre-Christian) past, is a post-Catholicism as it attempts, like various post-Judaisms, to find a new place for Catholicism in a modernity characterized by skepticism and naturalism. Finally, Taylor’s critique of “rights talk” is contrasted to a Jewish notion of mutual obligation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 907-932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Thomas Tackney ◽  
Imran Shah

Purpose Authenticity/ الصحة (as-sehah) serves as a criterion or predictor variable for the purpose of a comparative theological investigation of employment relations parameters in light of social teachings from Sunni Islam and Roman Catholicism. Authenticity finds initial, shared significance in both religious traditions because of its critically important role in judgments concerning the legitimacy of source documents. It also stands in both traditions as an inspirational goal for human life. Design/methodology/approach Particular issues of theological method for cross-cultural analysis are addressed by the use of insight-based critical realism as a transcultural foundation. Workplace parameters, the minimal enabling conditions for the possibility of authentic employment relations, are then identified and compared. The authors explore shared expectations for authenticity enabling conditions in terms of the direct and indirect employer: those national laws, systems and traditions that condition the functional range of authenticity that can be actualized within national or other work settings as experienced in the direct employment contract. Findings The study found remarkable consistency in the minimal conditions identified by Roman Catholic and Sunni Islam social teachings for the prospects of authenticity in employment relations. These conditions addressed seven parameters: work and the concept of labor; private property; the nature of the employment contract; unions and collective bargaining; the treatment of wages; the relationship between managerial prerogative and employee participation; and the crucial role of the state as indirect employer. Practical implications Specific minimal or threshold conditions of employment are described to ensure the prospect for authenticity in modern employment relations according to religious traditions. These include just cause employment conditions, unions and collective bargaining support, some form of management consultation/Shura, a living wage and a consultative exercise of managerial prerogative. Social implications The study offers prescriptive and analytical aid to ensure assessment of circumstances fostering authenticity in employment relations. Originality/value The method and findings are a first effort to clarify thought and aid mutual understanding for inter-faith employment circumstances based on Roman Catholic and Sunni Islam social teachings through a transcultural foundation in cognitional operations. The criterion variable specification of authenticity conditions offers a fully developed basis to support further empirical research in management spirituality, corporate social responsibility and enterprise sustainability.


Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.


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