Defining the Religious

2020 ◽  
pp. 152-192
Author(s):  
John J. Thatamanil
Keyword(s):  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter takes on the following tasks. First, it contends that genealogy of religions does not dispel the possibility of advancing new theories of the religious. Genealogical inquiry can provide a clearing in which new critically self-conscious definitions of the religious can be deployed because here is no doing without the category altogether. Second, this chapter offers a definition of the religious that attempts to avoid the kinds of reifications that have plagued theories that have not passed through the turbulent waters of the genealogical project. To be religious is to seek comprehensive qualitative orientation by means of interpretive schemes and therapeutic regimes assembled from the always fluid repertoires of religious traditions. Because religious traditions have always been composed of contested and fluid repertoires, no religion is a reified self-identical and static something that admits of no porosity and thus forestalls interreligious learning.

Il modello sociale europeo. Valutazioni e contributi delle chiese e confessioni religiose d'Europa

2013 ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Marco Ricceri
Keyword(s):  
Social Model ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Religious Congregations ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Definition Of

The evolution of the European integration process and the foundation of the Union, invite us to consider the National welfare systems in a wider outlook: the European Social Model (ESM). Integration process and EU foundation are both essential components to the ESM and they receive constant impulse towards the adoption of modern practices and rules. Without reference to the European framework we run the risk to simplify the understanding of both specific features of the national welfare models and of the contribution given by the religious traditions to their development. It is at the European level that the Churches and the religious Congregations have been able to introduce several central elements in the new social policy guidelines valid for the all national systems. An analysis and assessment of the influence brought by the Churches to the E.U. becomes a key factor in a scientific analytical study. Chapter aims to discuss: a) approaches to the "Social Question" assumed by the European authorities; b) the social system as defined by the Lisbon Treaty (2007); c) a shared definition of the "European Social Model"; d) the influence of Religious Congregations to defining the E.U. principles; e) the support of the Churches towards a sustainable social and economic development.

PRIMORDIAL SYMBOLS – THE COMMON TREASURY OF MANKIND

2021 ◽  
pp. 223-238
Author(s):  
VESNA GAJIĆ
Keyword(s):  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Active Imagination ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Human Form ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The World ◽  
Mundus Imaginalis ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Universe

The paper explores the wide distribution of symbols whose religious and folklore interpretations are the same or similar among different cultures. The definition of symbols and their origin are considered, with reference to the theory of the "Mundus Imaginalis" of the orientalist Henry Corben, and its similarity with the "active imagination" of the psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. The resemblances of the legends about the Cosmic man and the Centre of the world are followed through various mythologies, folklore traditions and cults. The Cosmic man – the first human being – who usually makes a sacrifice in order for the world to emerge and survive, in many cultures represents the embodiment of the highest virtues, towards which one should strive. The human form as the basis for temples or various sacral diagrams can be found in all ancient religious traditions and always symbolizes Imago Mundi – image of the world. At its center is the "navel" of the world, the Pillar of the Universe, Axis Mundi, which connects the earth with the sky and the underworld, and represents the axis around which the world revolves. Exploring these sets of symbols, we see that their essential aspect should not be understood as geographical places to be located, or personifications of some historical figures whose true identity needs to be interpreted. On the contrary, the symbols indicate that the search for meaning is, above all, internal; immersing ourselves in the domain of the archetype, we reflect on the essential questions of the purpose and origin of the universe, the nature of the self, kinship with the rest of humanity, which is why the symbolic layer of the human psyche helps us fight against the general alienation of the modern world.

Muslim philanthropy: living beyond a Western definition

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shariq Siddiqui
Keyword(s):  
Strict Adherence ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Western Scholarship ◽  
Philanthropic Studies ◽  
Definition Of

The commonly used definition of philanthropy used in Western scholarship excludes many Muslim acts of philanthropy. This definition privileges Western scholarly framing of philanthropy, which has been heavily informed by scientific approaches to philanthropy. This article argues that this framing of philanthropy limits our understanding of Muslim philanthropy and should not be privileged over other cultural and religious traditions’ notions of philanthropy. Muslim philanthropy is explored by examining theological and cultural sources in order to point towards a broader conception of philanthropy within an Islamic context. It illustrates the challenges of strict adherence to the Western definition of philanthropy for scholars of Muslim philanthropy. Ultimately, the article suggests a framework that the field of philanthropic studies can use to go beyond its Western-centric definition to be more inclusive of other cultural and faith perspectives, and proposes that Muslim philanthropy should be interpreted as a discursive tradition.

scholarly journals New religious movements and quasi-religion: Cognitive science of religion at the margins

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-122
Author(s):  
Alastair Lockhart
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Science Of Religion ◽  
Definition Of

The article offers a critical analysis of the cognitive science of religion (CSR) as applied to new and quasi-religious movements, and uncovers implicit conceptual and theoretical commitments of the approach. A discussion of CSR’s application to new religious movement (NRM) case studies (charismatic leadership, paradise representations, Aḥmadiyya, and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) identifies concerns about the theorized relationship between CSR and wider socio-cultural factors, and proposals for CSR’s implication in wider processes are discussed. The main discussion analyses three themes in recent work relating CSR to religious and religion-like activities that extend and reframe the model. These include (1) identification of distinctive and accessible cognitive pathways associated with new forms of religious belief and practice (in particular in ‘New Age’ movements), (2) application of CSR to movements and practices outside traditional definitions of religion (near death experiences, conspiracy theories, virtual reality), and (3) engaging CSR in wider cultural processes and negotiations (religion in healthcare settings, and the definition of the study of esoteric religious traditions within academic domains). The conclusion identifies two particular findings: (1) that application of CSR in these areas renders underlying cognitive processes more available to scrutiny and (2) that CSR is employed to identify and enlarge the category of religion. The conclusion suggests that the study of CSR in its application to NRMs and quasi-religion identifies a wide field of common and overlapping themes and interests in which CSR is a more active operand than is commonly assumed.

scholarly journals CONSERVATION ETHICS AND PRINCIBLES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEXTILE

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (78) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Textile Conservation ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
Definition Of

Textiles made of organic fibers, include anthropologic knowledge about lifestyle, art idea, mythology, daily life and religious traditions of the culture made them. These tangible examples of Cultural identity of the society important for transfer traditional knowledge from next generation. Textile Cultural artefacts responsibility and interest of conservation and restoration science professionals can find from archaeological excavations or gathering from urban areas and given to museums from collectors. Historic textiles are hard to found well preserved and hard to passing it onto the next generation compared to artefacts made from inorganic materials because of they made of organic materials. Every country on the earth has their own definition of Cultural Heritage and preservation laws. Under this diversity in the field of conservation and restoration science, it is necessary to establish standard definitions and use a common language at academic field likewise in every profession. Ethical codes and principles made for conservation of Cultural Heritage are a guide for conservation professionals. Politics of conservation practices change by technology development. In recent years, by analytical research, has been noticed that active conservation activities can damage the cultural heritage hence passive conservation activities like documentation and preservative conservation becomes priority. Descriptive scanning model based on screening of literature related to textile conservation was adopted for this paper. Keywords: Cultural heritage, archaeological textile, conservation, restoration, ethics

scholarly journals “Vai viņa daļa dzīvo manī?” Smokija Mo dziesmas “Kas ir radītājs” interpretācija popkultūras un reliģijas studiju kontekstā

Ceļš ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Ņikita Andrejevs ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Definition Of Religion ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

The Russian hip hop artist Smoki Mo has frequently referenced religious and spiritual topics in his lyrics. The composition “Who is the creator” discusses the positive and negative replies to this question. The lyrics are interpreted as a popular culture text with the aim to discover how popular culture texts can function as religious ones and how popular culture can function as religion. The article employs a functional definition of religion to explore how the studied text discusses existential questions and struggle with identity that religion also is concerned with. The popular culture itself is understood in the article as the meaning and value that people ascribe to mass culture products, such as popular music, in their everyday lives. The article also summarizes the possible issues with reading popular culture texts as religious ones to avoid misinterpretation due to researcher’s indebtedness to traditional religious definitions or to scholarly traditions of interpretation. The article also employs the notion of spirituality to connect the ideas expressed in Smoki Mo’s lyrics to a relevant ideological framework. The understanding of the “creator”, “God” and other theological notions in the lyrics is closely related to the broad features of modern spirituality that include the focus on the individual self and universal statements rather than particular religious traditions. In this way, the studied composition in itself is an expression of modern spirituality dealing with existential questions.

The Goals of Philosophy of Religion: A Reply to Ireneusz Zieminski

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Kirk Lougheed
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Epistemic Standard ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Essentialist Definition ◽  
The Way

In a recent article, Ireneusz Zieminski (2018) argues that the main goals of philosophy of religion are to (i) define religion; (ii) assess the truth value of religion and; (iii) assess the rationality of a religious way of life. Zieminski shows that each of these goals are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Hence, philosophy of religion leads to scepticism. He concludes that the conceptual tools philosophers of religion employ are best suited to study specific religious traditions, rather than religion more broadly construed. But it’s unclear whether the goals Zieminski attributes to philosophy of religion are accurate or even necessary for successful inquiry. I argue that an essentialist definition of religion isn’t necessary for philosophy of religion and that philosophers of religion already use the conceptual analysis in the way Zieminski suggests that they should. Finally, the epistemic standard Zieminski has in view is often obscure. And when it is clear, it is unrealistically high. Contemporary philosophers of religion rarely, if ever, claim to be offering certainty, or even evidence as strong as that found in the empirical sciences.

The Esipov Chronicle and the Creation of the Concept of Siberia as a Special Sacred Space

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 594-607
Author(s):  
Isolde Thyrêt
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
The Urals ◽  
Russian Orthodoxy ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Regional Perspective

The conquest of Siberia and the conversion of its peoples to Russian Orthodoxy are generally seen as the outcome of a successful Muscovite imperial policy, which aimed at the political subordination of the area east of the Urals to the tsar’s will and at Siberia’s economic exploitation. While scholars tend to view even the definition of a Siberian identity as an outgrowth of Muscovite political and religious thought, this article explores how the Esipov Chronicle, composed in 1636 by Savva Esipov, a deacon of the Sophia Cathedral in Tobolsk, articulated the Siberian hierarchs’ view on the importance of their border diocese to their Muscovite homeland. The Esipov Chronicle achieved this purpose by presenting Ermak’s expedition into Siberia and the defeat of the pagan tsar Kuchum as an important chapter in the Christian salvation drama. Portraying the land beyond the Urals as a place with its own local religious traditions, the Esipov Chronicle created the notion that Siberia was a unique sacred space that needed to be respected. In the early seventeenth century, the Muscovite agenda regarding Siberia was seemingly not yet fully developed, allowing the Siberian hierarchs to formulate their own regional perspective on their outpost diocese.

scholarly journals The Mysticism Scale as Measure for Subjective Spirituality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Streib ◽  
Constantin Klein ◽  
Barbara Keller ◽  
Ralph Hood
Keyword(s):  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Cross Cultural Study ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Definition Of

In this chapter, we suggest the use of Hood’s Mysticism Scale (M-scale) for a differential assessment of subjective spirituality. We base this view on the conceptualization of mysticism and its relation to spirituality, and on the definition of spirituality as individualized experience-orientated religiosity. This perspective was empirically tested in the Bielefeld-based Cross-cultural Study on Spirituality, which explored in comprehensive semantic analyses how participants in the USA and Germany define spirituality and revealed that more spiritual than religious people preferably associate spirituality with experiences of all-connectedness, search for a higher self, existential truth, and humanistic morality. Moreover, structural equations modeling based on this and other recent data sets reveal that the M-scale and its factors have considerable effects on self-rated spirituality. Thus, we recommend the M-scale as measure for subjective spirituality, which avoids the widespread problem of many extant measures that assess spirituality primarily in terms of either (Christian) religiosity or psychosocial well-being. The M-scale may be very useful in research that intends to assess the subjective spirituality of a diversity of participants who might affiliate with various religious traditions and worldviews, including the non-religious, atheists, and non-theists. Besides the well-established 32-item version of the M-scale, the chapter additionally presents an economic 8-item short form of the M-scale and its psychometric properties.

scholarly journals Faith Borders, Healing Territories & Interconnective Frontier? Wellness & Its Ecumenical Construct in African Shrines, Christian Prayerhouses & Hospitals

Numen ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 240-260
Author(s):  
Michael Matthew
Keyword(s):  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
Religious Geography ◽  
Definition Of Health ◽  
Border Policy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Religious Landscape

The religious geography of most health-seekers in modern Africa easily transverses the faith worlds of other religious traditions, thus building inevitably a lively-network of ecumenical spaces that surprisingly create an interpenetrating dialogue between African traditional shrines, Christian prayerhouses and western hospitals. The open-border policy of healing sites in Nigeria and Ghana in particular provides ecumenical directions and enriches interfaith conversations among different religious traditions. Consequently, the present study underscores the subversion of the dogmatic rhetoric of the different faith traditions in the quest of health and wholeness at healing sites. This ecumenical triangulation of the faith-borders projects a new religious landscape where the hostile rhetoric of faith traditions are clearly suspended, and a new appreciation of other faiths in definition of health and wellness is popularly entrenched. The existential blurring of dogmatic and traditional faith-borders raises new questions—and interesting perspectives in the modern study of religions, health and inter-faith/ecumenism in Africa.

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