The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies

Author(s):  
2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-43
Author(s):  
Margaret D. Kamitsuka

This essay explores how gender studies in academe, including in religious studies, might remain relevant to ongoing feminist political engagement. I explore some specific dynamics of this challenge, using as my test case the issue of abortion in the US. After discussing how three formative feminist principles (women’s experience as feminism’s starting point, the personal is political, and identity politics) have shaped approaches to the abortion issue for feminist scholars in religion, I argue that ongoing critique, new theoretical perspectives, and attentiveness to subaltern voices are necessary for these foundational feminist principles to keep pace with fast-changing and complex societal dynamics relevant to women’s struggles for reproductive health and justice. The essay concludes by proposing natality as a helpful concept for future feminist theological and ethical thinking on the subject.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Rahman Mantu ◽  
Siti Aisa

Western intellectuals are so concerned about religious studies. Their arguments are the subject of criticism and studies that continue to this day. the debate is about the position of religion whether as a way of life, belief, belief in something that is supernatural or religion as an object of study that can be interpreted with a logical scientific approach. This article will answer questions regarding the interpretation of religion by orientalists. Some names such as Max Muller to Charles Adams contributed thought. By using a comparative library analysis, the writer maps the ideas, ideas, and concepts of western scholars to the meaning of religion and the results of each orientalist express their thoughts that religion can function in accordance with the approach used, be it cultural, social, political , and economics. Keywords: Orientalist; West; Religion; Scientific; Confidence.  Intelektual Barat begitu memberikan perhatian terhadap studi agama. argumentasi mereka menjadi bahan kritikan dan kajian yang berlangsung terus menerus hingga hari ini. perdebatannya ada pada soal kedudukan agama apakah sebagai pedoman hidup, kepercayaan, keyakinan atas sesuatu yang gaib sifatnya ataukah agama sebagai objek studi yang bisa di maknai dengan pendekatan ilmiah yang logis. Artikel ini akan menjawab pertanyaan berkenaan dengan pemaknaan atas agama oleh para orientalis. Beberapa nama seperti Max Muller sampai Charles Adams memberikan sumbangsih pemikiran. Dengan menggunakan analisis kepustakaan yang komparatif, penulis melakukan pemetaan atas ide, gagasan, serta konsep para sarjanawan barat terhadap pemaknaan atas agama dan didapati hasilnya masing-masing orientalis mengemukakan pikirannya bahwa agama bisa berfungsi sesuai dengan pendekatan yang digunakan, baik itu budaya, sosial, politik, maupun ekonomi. Kata kunci: Orientalis; Barat; Agama; Ilmiah; Keyakinan


2006 ◽  
pp. 99-104
Author(s):  
Henryk Hoffmann

The geography of religion is one of the younger (but dynamically developing) areas of religious studies. The subject of her interests is the reciprocal ties that stand between religion and the geographical environment. On the one hand, the influence of the geographical environment on the formation of religious imaginations is investigated, and on the other hand, feedback, that is, what kind of religion does the change in the geographical environment. In addition, this area of ​​religious studies is engaged in the distribution (or reduction) of individual religions, demographic and statistical issues, as well as analysis of the topography of holy places (hierotopografia), problems of religious migration (including religious refugee), pilgrimage, missions, religious tourism, etc.


2013 ◽  
pp. 96-108
Author(s):  
Anatoliy Leschynskyy

Today, the doctrine of the Living Ethics and its media institution - the Roerich movement - is relatively little studied by academic religious studies. Such a situation is characteristic of both foreign and domestic religious studies. Meanwhile, the Roerich movement and its doctrine, which was actively promoted in the broad masses two decades ago, remains the subject of international religious life. The cells of this movement are also available in Ukraine. The specificity of their present state is that they have significant connections with the post-Soviet Rheerich movement and thus take part in the processes characteristic of this movement. However, both general and individual processes that are developing in the Roerich movement in general, are now out of scientific coverage of their contemporary academic religious studies.


Buddhism ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kieschnick

The study of material culture belongs to a relatively young discipline that examines artifacts as well as ideas about, and practices related to, artifacts, with artifacts defined as material objects created or modified by people. Aspects of research in material culture overlap with art history, archaeology, and anthropology, but studies in material culture approach the subject from a different perspective, focusing on areas not necessarily emphasized in these disciplines. Unlike traditional art history, material culture studies concentrate on the function of objects, devoting little attention to their aesthetic qualities, with more emphasis, for instance, on miracles associated with icons than on the style or iconography of icons; unlike traditional archaeology, material culture studies do not necessarily focus on extant artifacts, giving as much attention to references to objects in texts as to extant objects; and, unlike traditional anthropology, material culture studies often give great emphasis to historical development, often over vast expanses of time. While the field of material culture studies has flourished for decades, religious studies have been slow to recognize the importance of material things. Many areas of religion in which material culture plays a prominent role remain largely unexplored, including the place of objects in ritual, religious emotion, pilgrimage, and doctrine. Readers interested in the material culture of Buddhism will want to consult entries for Buddhist art, archaeology, and anthropology as well; in the entries below, the focus is on areas of material culture not necessarily emphasized in these disciplines as well as on studies within these disciplines that are especially relevant to the study of material culture. The term visual culture overlaps with much of what is considered material culture, but excludes objects associated with other senses, such as taste, smell, and touch, which are covered by the term material culture. The material culture approach is particularly well suited for exploring the qualities of particular classes of objects. What is it about relics as body parts that accounts for their appeal? Why are miracles so often associated with physical representations of holy figures and how do these differ from textual representations? How do clothing and food differ from language as a medium of communication? To highlight this aspect of research in Buddhist material culture, the scholarship listed below is divided according to type of object. At the same time, material culture studies also offer an opportunity to examine attitudes toward the material world as applied to a wide variety of objects normally separated by discipline. The doctrine of merit inspired the creation of a wide variety of different types of objects, and the monastic ideal of renunciation permeates many different areas of Buddhist material culture.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bergunder

Religious studies cannot agree on a common definition of its subject matter. To break the impasse, important insights from recent discussions about post-foundational political theory might be of some help. However, they can only be of benefit in conversations about “religion” when the previous debate on the subject matter of religious studies is framed slightly differently. This is done in the first part of the article. It is, then, shown on closer inspection of past discussions on “religion” that a consensus-capable, contemporary, everyday understanding of “religion,” here called Religion 2, is assumed, though it remains unexplained and unreflected upon. The second part of the article shows how Religion 2 can be newly conceptualized through the lens of Ernesto Laclau’s political theory, combined with concepts from Judith Butler and Michel Foucault, and how Religion 2 can be established as the historical subject matter of religious studies. Though concrete historical reconstructions of Religion 2 always remain contested, I argue that this does not prevent it from being generally accepted as the subject matter of religious studies. The third part discusses the previous findings in the light of postcolonial concerns about potential Eurocentrism in the concept of “religion.” It is argued that Religion 2 has to be understood in a fully global perspective, and, as a consequence, more research on the global religious history of the 19th and 20th centuries is urgently needed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Lofton

Abstract What is belief? Is it a usable categorical for analysis in the study of religion? This was the subject of a one-day workshop hosted by the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University on April 15, 2011. The participating scholars were asked to present comments on the meaning of belief for their own research. This text introduces a sampling of these responses prompted in part by a set of advance readings that represented the bibliography of belief in contemporary religious studies.


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