Faith in the future: religion, aging, and the role of religion

2004 ◽  
Vol 42 (02) ◽  
pp. 42-0981-42-0981
Keyword(s):  
Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Shaw

Discussions around the future of Religious Education (RE) in England have focused on the need to address the diversity of religion and belief in contemporary society. Issues of the representation of religion and belief in Religious Education are central to the future of the subject. This article draws on research into key stakeholders’ views and aspirations for RE to map an alternative representation of religion and belief to that found in existing approaches that universalise, sanitise and privatise religion. The data reveal a thirst for the study of a broader range and a more nuanced understanding of religion and belief. This incorporates a focus on religion and belief as identity as well as tradition, the study of the role of religion in global affairs as well as the controversies and challenges it can pose for individuals and the exploration of religion and belief as fluid and contested categories. What may be described as a contemporaneous and sociological turn, moves beyond the existing binaries of religious/secular, public/private, good/bad, fluid/static that shape much existing representation, towards a representation of the ‘real religion and belief landscape’ in all its complexity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-408
Author(s):  
Ulrich Riegel ◽  
Mirjam Zimmermann ◽  
Oliver Hohenschue

Abstract Despite the strong status of denominational religious education (RE) in the German constitution this organizational form of RE finds itself increasingly under pressure at state schools. Reasons for this development are among others the shrinking percentage of baptized people in Germany, problems in organising this form of RE at school and the discussion on the role of religion in civil society. Concerning the future of RE four options can be determined that need to be discussed: denominational RE, cooperative RE, integrative RE and Moral Education instead of RE. This article presents a survey of 228 school principals who have introduced a cooperative RE at their school to find out which form of RE they prefer for which reasons. The results show that they prefer integrative RE (M = 4.07) over cooperative RE (M = 4.00). Moral Education does not get much support (M = 2.57), but still more than denominational RE (M = 2.27). Regression analysis gives evidence that issues like organizational aspects (for example size of the school) and educational goals (for example views on “taking position in RE”) predict the principals’ preferences. These results provide first impressions of an important group of people within the educational system who have hardly been considered in the discussion about how religion should be taught in the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz Richter-Bernburg

By means of the three questions “what can I know, what shall I do, what may I hope”, which can be traced back to Immanuel Kant, this article highlights the role of religion concerning in generating meaning and questions its exclusive claim to truth. Especially when dealing with the written religious heritage the author sees the need for a critical self-questioning on the part of the religions in view of an awareness of empirical as well as historical human sciences. The author calls for the “self-historicization” and a “humanized enclosure” of the religions. For this purpose, it is necessary to critically analyze the texts and traditions and be willing to say farewell to outdated traditions and interpretations in order to be open for the future of new exegesis, which satisfies the scientific demand. The author takes up a much-discussed Islamic tradition in order to show that Kant’s categorical imperative has also to be applied to religious issues.


2021 ◽  
pp. l-16
Author(s):  
Grace Davie ◽  
Lucian N. Leustean

This chapter introduces The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Europe: its rationale, timeline, geographical scope, approach, structure, and contents. The timeline—from Antiquity to the present day—is captured in a series of ‘portraits’ taken from European museums. The scope, methods, theories, and approaches are then outlined. No single theory or theoretical approach drives the volume as a whole, but particular attention is paid to the work of Max Weber, Jürgen Habermas, and David Martin. The structure (five parts) and contents (forty-five chapters and a statistical appendix) of the Handbook are carefully set out. A number of cross-cutting themes are then identified, including the role of religion in the circulation of knowledge and the tensions between Europe and its constituent states. The future is difficult to predict as Europe becomes not only more secular, but more religiously diverse.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 520
Author(s):  
Michael Scheibach

In the early postwar era, from 1945 to 1960, Americans confronted a dilemma that had never been faced before. In the new atomic age, which opened with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, they now had to grapple with maintaining their faith in a peaceful and prosperous future while also controlling their fear of an apocalyptic future resulting from an atomic war. Americans’ subsequent search for reassurance translated into a dramatic increase in church membership and the rise of the evangelical movement. Yet, their fear of an atomic war with the Soviet Union and possible nuclear apocalypse did not abate. This article discusses how six post-apocalyptic science fiction novels dealt with this dilemma and presented their visions of the future; more important, it argues that these novels not only reflect the views of many Americans in the early Cold War era, but also provide relevant insights into the role of religion during these complex and controversial years to reframe the belief that an apocalypse was inevitable.


2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽  
Jan Richter

Abstract. As the criticism of the definition of the phenotype (i.e., clinical diagnosis) represents the major focus of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, it is somewhat surprising that discussions have not yet focused more on specific conceptual and procedural considerations of the suggested RDoC constructs, sub-constructs, and associated paradigms. We argue that we need more precise thinking as well as a conceptual and methodological discussion of RDoC domains and constructs, their interrelationships as well as their experimental operationalization and nomenclature. The present work is intended to start such a debate using fear conditioning as an example. Thereby, we aim to provide thought-provoking impulses on the role of fear conditioning in the age of RDoC as well as conceptual and methodological considerations and suggestions to guide RDoC-based fear conditioning research in the future.


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