Concepts Crisscrossing

Author(s):  
Veena Das

This chapter takes up a reading of certain classic texts of British anthropology to ask how are anthropological concepts generated? Looking closely at the terms around which religious beliefs and practices are organized among the Dinka and the Nuer, as described by Lienhardt and Evans-Pritchard respectively, the chapter shows that the idea of God is transported from the Old Testament notions to decide which terms can qualify to be translated as God depending on what is taken to be real and what an illusion. As a thought experiment, the chapter draws on different notions of god(s) and of ritual practices (such as sacrifice) from Vedic texts in the Sanskritic tradition and asks what if gods were seen as entities produced through grammar, brought into existence only for the duration of a ritual, as some texts on ritual hermeneutics in India argued? Would we have thought of the Dinka and Nuer concepts of god or witches or spirits differently? The chapter also offers a way to think of what Cora Diamond called a “crisscross” philosophy as a tapestry of overlapping threads put together patiently and with many hands.

Author(s):  
Adibah Binti AbdulRahim

ABSTRACT Secularism is the most serious challenge of modernity posed by the West. Its main ideology is to liberate man from the religious and metaphysical values and expel religion from the practical aspect of man’s life. It clearly presents its materialistic viewpoint which is cut off from Divine, Transcendent or Supernatural principles and does not refer to and is isolated from Revelation. In terms of its intensity and scope as well as its discernable effects upon people’s mind, the repercussion of secularism is so pervasive and universal. It gives a great impact on every facet of life including individual and family lives as well as educational, political, economic and social-cultural realm. Most importantly, secularism affects the very tenets of traditional religious beliefs and practices. This paper tries to focus on the danger of secularism and its principles which are contradict to the religious worldview.  


Author(s):  
G. Sujin Pak

The Reformation of Prophecy presents and supports the case for viewing the prophet and biblical prophecy as a powerful lens by which to illuminate many aspects of the reforming work of the Protestant reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It provides a chronological and developmental analysis of the significance of the prophet and biblical prophecy across leading Protestant reformers in articulating a theology of the priesthood of all believers, a biblical model of the pastoral office, a biblical vision of the reform of worship, and biblical processes for discerning right interpretation of Scripture. Through the tool of the prophet and biblical prophecy, the reformers framed their work under, within, and in support of the authority of Scripture—for the true prophet speaks the Word of God alone and calls the people, their worship and their beliefs and practices, back to the Word of God. The book also demonstrates how interpretations and understandings of the prophet and biblical prophecy contributed to the formation and consolidation of distinctive confessional identities, especially around differences in their visions of sacred history, Christological exegesis of Old Testament prophecy, and interpretation of Old Testament metaphors. This book illuminates the significant shifts in the history of Protestant reformers’ engagement with the prophet and biblical prophecy—shifts from these serving as a tool to advance the priesthood of all believers to a tool to clarify and buttress clerical identity and authority to a site of polemical-confessional exchange concerning right interpretations of Scripture.


Author(s):  
Adrian Curtis

Knowledge of the religion of ancient Syria has increased significantly in recent years thanks to key archaeological discoveries. Particularly important have been those from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), which may offer the best window available for an understanding of Canaanite religious beliefs and practices. Excavations have revealed structures of religious significance, such as temples, sanctuaries, and tombs, as well as numerous texts. Of special interest are those mythological texts which tell the exploits of Baal, El, and the other great gods. There are also legends, sacrifice lists, pantheon lists, and prescriptions for various rituals. Some of these, notably the legends of Keret, and of Danel and his son Aqhat, provide evidence for beliefs about the religious status and significance of the king. This material enables a more considered understanding of ideas and practices that may have impacted upon Israelite religion.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Kim Harding ◽  
Abby Day

In Great Britain, “religion or belief” is one of nine “protected characteristics” under the Equality Act 2010, which protects citizens from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. This paper begins with a discussion about a 2020 ruling, “Jordi Casamitjana vs. LACS”, which concluded that ethical vegans are entitled to similar legal protections in British workplaces as those who hold philosophical religious beliefs. While not all vegans hold a philosophical belief to the same extent as Casamitjana, the ruling is significant and will be of interest to scholars investigating non-religious ethical beliefs. To explore this, we have analysed a sample of YouTube videos on the theme of “my vegan story”, showing how vloggers circulate narratives about ethical veganism and the process of their conversion to vegan beliefs and practices. The story format can be understood as what Abby Day has described as a performative “belief narrative”, offering a greater opportunity to understand research participants’ beliefs and related identities than, for example, findings from a closed-question survey. We suggest that through performative acts, YouTubers create “ethical beliefs” through the social, mediatised, transformative, performative and relational practice of their digital content. In doing so, we incorporate a digital perspective to enrich academic discussions of non-religious beliefs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yashika J. Watkins ◽  
Lauretta T. Quinn ◽  
Laurie Ruggiero ◽  
Michael T. Quinn ◽  
Young-Ku Choi

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Dini Farhana Baharudin ◽  
Suhailiza Md. Hamdani ◽  
Marina Munira Abdul Mutalib ◽  
Mohd. Zaliridzal Zakaria

Previous studies show strong relation between religion and marital satisfaction. However, there are still lack of study that looks into this area from the Malaysian context, especially among the Muslims. This paper will explore connections between religion and transformational processes in marriage. Transformational processes refer to processes that occur in marriage relationships that do not require outside or professional intervention, especially when an issue or conflict arises in marriage. The methodology of the study utilizes a qualitative approach. Purposive sampling comprising of five Malay Muslim couples whose age of marriage is more than ten years were interviewed. Findings show that specific Islamic religious beliefs and practices are related to the maintenance of relationship for a married couple. The findings highlight the importance for a marital counselling approach which integrates naqli and ‘aqli knowledge that supports the clients’ needs. ABSTRAK Kajian lepas menunjukkan perkaitan yang kuat antara aspek-aspek keagamaan dengan kesejahteraan dalam hubungan pasangan berkahwin. Walau bagaimanapun, masih kurang kajian yang meneroka tentang perkara ini dalam konteks Malaysia, khususnya dalam kalangan orang Islam. Kertas ini akan meneroka tentang kefahaman agama dengan proses transformasi dalam perkahwinan. Kefahaman agama dalam kajian ini mencakupi kepercayaan dan amalan keagamaan. Manakala, proses transformasi dalam perkahwinan pula merujuk kepada proses-proses yang berlaku dalam hubungan perkahwinan yang tidak memerlukan intervensi secara professional daripada luar, khususnya apabila berlakunya isu atau konflik dalam perkahwinan. Metodologi kajian adalah menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Sampel bermatlamat melibatkan lima pasangan Melayu beragama Islam yang usia perkahwinan mereka melebihi sepuluh tahun. Temubual berstruktur telah dijalankan dan dapatan menunjukkan kefahaman beragama iaitu kepercayaan dan amalan Islam adalah berkait dengan pengekalan hubungan sesuatu pasangan dalam perkahwinan. Dapatan ini menunjukkan kepentingan untuk menggunakan intervensi kaunseling perkahwinan yang mengintegrasikan ilmu naqli dan ‘aqli yang dapat membantu menyokong keperluan klien.


2021 ◽  

The best accounts of Hindu religious beliefs and practices to reach Europe before 1800 came overwhelmingly from the pens of missionaries. There are several reasons why this was so. Their missionary task obviously motivated them to attempt to understand Hindu religion even if they ultimately rejected it as a false religion. Beyond this, missionaries were more likely than other Europeans, such as travelers or colonial officials, to spend the bulk of their lives, often several decades, in India. They were more likely to be well-educated, to learn Indian languages, and, especially, to read Indian literature. Although many remained in European coastal enclaves, in the early period they were also much more likely than other Europeans to spend extended periods beyond the colonial frontier, living and working in the hinterland. They were also usually required to give an account of their activities to their superiors in Europe. Their letters and reports are also more likely than those produced by independent travelers (although not colonial officials) to have survived by being preserved in European archives. Although missionary scholarship has continued into the 20th century and even beyond, it was gradually eclipsed by colonial and later professional scholarship from the end of the 18th century. The emphasis here will be on works emerging from the earlier period. Scholarship on missionaries has, until quite recently, been very largely the domain of historians of mission, many of whom were missionaries themselves. This has begun to change as the value of missionary accounts have been more widely recognized, and there has been a welcome shift from the often frankly hagiographic character of earlier secondary scholarship.


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