Jacob Gordin: The Religious Crisis in Jewish Thought

This article offers an English translation of an essay published in 1946 by Jacob Gordin (1896–1947), a Russian-Jewish philosopher of religion, who is considered the founding figure of the postwar Paris School of Jewish Thought (École de pensée juive de Paris). In “The Religious Crisis in Jewish Thought”, Gordin presented a sweeping meta-narrative of the history of Jewish thought, formulated as a history of repeated “religious crises”, both existential and intellectual. In Gordin’s condensed narrative, these crises could be detected in the life and philosophy of the most canonical Jewish thinkers inside and outside the tradition: from Abraham the biblical patriarch to Hermann Cohen, through a diverse list including the rabbinical sage Elisha Ben-Abuyah, Philo, Halevi, Maimonides, and Spinoza. In an introduction to Gordin’s text, I provide a brief biography, locate Gordin in existentialist discourse of the early postwar years, and discuss the affinities between Gordin’s “The Religious Crisis” and Levinas’s and Sartre’s early reflections on the Jewish question.

The Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria: Corruption a Major Challenge

The proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) is gradually and perilously becoming a transnational organized crime. In Nigeria, this peril assumed its delicate stage with incessant killings by Boko Haram insurgents, herdsmen-farmers clashes, kidnappings, communal and religious crisis, and armed robbery. The drift of this threat is the availability of weapons that are trafficked through Nigeria’s porous borders. Regulating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons has been challenged by several factors such as border porosity, inadequate personnel, lack of equipment, lack of data, weak enforcement, stockpile management, local arms manufacturers. Corruption takes center stage and is the focus of this paper. Corruption directly or indirectly is related to other challenges. The paper recommends that corruption must be addressed if all legal and institutional measures for border security and curtailing the spread of weapons in Nigeria are to achieve their objectives.

Relating Compassion, Spirituality, and Scandal before Unjust Suffering: An Empirical Assessment

Recent studies in the field of cognitive science of religion have proposed a connection between religious beliefs, theory of mind, and prosocial behaviour. Theory of mind appears to be related to empathy and compassion, and both to a special sensitivity towards unjust suffering, which could trigger a religious crisis, as has often happened and is revealed in the “theodicy question”. To test such relationships, adolescents were surveyed by an exploratory questionnaire. The collected data point to a more complex, less linear interaction, which depends more on cultural factors and reflexive elaboration than cognitive structures. In general, compassion and outrage before unjust suffering appear to be quite related; compassion is related to religious practice and even more to spiritual perception.

Assessment of selected suicide risk factors and the level of spirituals transcendence and religiosity

Suicide is a global phenomenon and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The analysis covers suicidal risk factors (depression, psychological pain, fascination with death) and protective factors (spirituality, religiosity) in the population of healthy people in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the relationship between recent stressful events and suicide risk factors. In the period from October 2020 to March 2021, 260 people aged 18-63 were surveyed electronically, using the own questionnaire and Polish adaptations of research tools to assess: depression, mental pain, anxiety and fascination with death, spirituality and religiosity and the AUDIT screening test. 38.8% of the respondents achieved the result indicating the presence of symptoms of depression and the need for specialist consultation. Women achieved higher results compared to men (Z = -2.424; p = 0.015). In the measurement of religiosity and spiritual transcendence, the lowest score was noted on the following scales: religious commitment, religious crisis and fulfillment in prayer, while the highest score in the sense of attachment scale. Among the maximum results, the lowest was recorded in the measurement of transcendence and the highest in religious commitment. In the subscale of religious commitment, the respondents achieved the lowest average intensity, and slightly higher in the measurement of the religious crisis. However, the feeling of fulfillment in prayer and universality were the most intense. Statistical significance was demonstrated between depression and fascination with death (ρ = 0.399; p <0.001) and depression and psychological pain (ρ = 0.677; p <0.001). As the religious crisis intensified, the following also intensified: depression (ρ = 0.290; p <0.001), psychological pain (ρ = 0.279; p <0.001) and fascination with death (ρ = 0.224; p <0.001). A positive correlation was found between the number of stressful events and depression (ρ = 0.259; p <0.001) and psychological pain (ρ = 0.295; p <0.001). Statistical significance was demonstrated in the analysis of the impact of recent stressors on suicide risk factors. Psychological pain is the strongest predictor of the "S" sample, and the religious crisis is associated with a greater severity of suicide risk factors. Depressiveness correlates with the intensity of mental pain and fascination with death in people with a high level of spiritual transcendence and religiosity. Increased depression and psychological pain are more common in women and in people experiencing recent stressful situations in life.

C. C. Martindale (1879–1963), the History of Religions, and the Theological Imagination of David Jones (1895–1974)

Although the work of his Jesuit contemporaries Ronald Knox and Martin D’Arcy is perhaps better known today, C. C. [Cyril Charlie] Martindale’s (1879–1963) thinking about “the relationship between paganism and Christianity” in the early twentieth-century theological debates surrounding the field of “History of Religions” would have a profound effect on the unique intersection of theological thinking and artistic form in the work of the British Catholic poet and painter David Jones (1895–1974). Jones’s reading of Martindale’s short story collection The Goddess of Ghosts (1915) in 1919 would help to resolve a “religious crisis” Jones experienced in his exposure to the arguments of the skeptical scholar of “History of Religions,” James Frazer. Martindale’s presentation of his ideas in a literary form not only provided Jones with a hermeneutic (derived from the church fathers) for thinking about the relationship between paganism and Christianity, but also suggested an artistic model for exploring theological ideas with literary language.

The Role and Impact of the Islamic Religion on the Auchi Kingdom in Nigeria Since 1914

Academic discourse on religion and inter-group relations over the years has been trending in Nigeria. This is due to several cases of inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts witnessed in multi-cultural and ethnic Nigeria. The paper argues that despite the escalating ethnic and religious crisis the Islamic religion had played significant roles in the lives of the people of the Auchi kingdom since 1914. It also affirms the view that, as far as Islam is concerned, there were transformative roles the religion played in the lives of the people since 1914 till date. A high level of cordial inter-group relations has been achieved between the Auchi Kingdom and neighbouring communities, owing to inter-communal mechanisms of the same religion and similar culture over the years of interaction. The Islamic religion, which preaches peace, has become interwoven with the cultural practices of the people of the Auchi Kingdom This paper relies heavily on primary and secondary sources. Consulted written sources were cross examined.

“Whatsoever You Do unto the Least of My Brethren, You Do unto Me:” Using the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) Scale in a Socially and Economically Marginalized Rescue Mission Sample

Homelessness is a continual problem around the world, leaving many organizations uncertain of how to serve these individuals. Although 60-percent of homeless are being served by faith-based organizations, religiosity and spirituality have been largely ignored by researchers as a way of treatment. In this study, we looked at 121 men who were admitted to a Christian-based rescue mission. The mission offered programs such as NA/AA and Spiritual Development. Those that agreed to participate in the study filled out the survey after the first 7-days of treatment, and again after 3 months. Our results revealed that due to the program, there was an overall increase in Religious Involvement, and a significant decrease in Religious Crisis. It is evident that religious and spiritual counsel is vital to improving the lives of those who are economically marginalized, and to ignore this is to not treat these individuals holistically.

Religious Education and the Challenge of Christian-Muslim Co-existence in Northern Nigeria

The northern region of Nigeria where this research is concentrated isunfortunately known of a historical religious crisis which has situated the adherents in a dysfunctional relationship. Consequently, the religious groups co-exist with diverse challenges that often trigger inter-religious tension. Nigeria is generally understood as a religious country with citizens committed to the rigorous practice of their faiths. Christians and Muslims are the proliferating religious groups who co-exist as neighbors yet as rivals struggling for dominance. One of their means of propagation and indoctrination is religious education. In Nigeria, religious education takes many forms depending on the religion and whether it is moderated through government policy or privately by the religious group. However, by religious education, I refer to a formal instruction in school where particular religious adherents are taught their doctrines, beliefs, customs, rituals, rites, and other relevant themes. Exclusive religious education in some public schools is a challenge to Christian-Muslim co-existence in Nigeria.