Tillich at War (1914–18)

This chapter studies Tillich’s war sermons, lecture on theodicy, and correspondence with Emanuel Hirsch. Tillich’s sermons exhibit at times a crass war theology; the war must be undoubtable. But religious doubt is given a voice and a pastoral response. Perhaps most strikingly in his Christmas sermons, Tillich speaks about the loss of faith among the soldiers. He also offers an unfinished theodicy with three moments, increasingly emphasizing the weakness and suffering of God. Tillich’s sermon from late October 1917 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Reformation is a clear expression of the justification of the doubter. Tillich subsequently explains and develops this new understanding of ‘faith without God’ in correspondence with Hirsch.

Conclusion

This chapter steps back from the critical discussions of the previous chapters to contemplate the bigger picture of Melville’s wisdom project as a response to the condition of modernity. It intersperses brief excursions on Clarel and “The Apple-Tree Table” to show that Melville deemed the spiritual crisis of his day an inescapable conflict, but one that could be weathered while holding on to at least some kind of spiritual belief. Wisdom represented for Melville the best strategic guide to surviving this crisis, and the wisdom books, this chapter contends, helped Melville engage the Bible constructively rather than antagonistically. Literature for Melville is a space in which religious doubt, critical inquiry, and biblical language and philosophy may be juxtaposed, contemplated, and moderated, so as to avoid radical suspicion and skepticism.

Uncertainty in Faith, Fear of Death? Transitions in Religious Doubt and Death Anxiety in Later Life

While religiosity is usually associated with lower death anxiety, holding doubts about one’s faith are associated with higher death anxiety. Using longitudinal data from the Religion, Aging, and Health Study (2001–2004), this study examines within-individual changes in religious doubt and death anxiety. Results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that compared to older adults who did not experience any doubt about their faith, those holding consistently high doubt or increasing or decreasing doubt reported greater death anxiety. Lingering religious doubt was associated with higher death anxiety among weekly religious attenders. Taken together, our findings suggest that being more assured in one’s faith and spiritual understanding may lead to a more peaceful experience when confronting thoughts about one’s own mortality, especially for older adults holding a stronger religious identity. We situate our findings within the literature on the “dark side” of religion and well-being in later life.

Introduction: ‘Religious Transformation in the Middle East: Spirituality, Religious Doubt, and Non-Religion in the Middle East’

The political impact—or rather the lack thereof—following the revolutionary uprisings in the Middle East has been well documented [...]

Attachment to God and Quest as Moderators of the Relationship between Religious Doubt and Mental Health

The present study examined attachment to God and quest as potential moderators of the relationship between religious doubt and mental health. A sample of Christian participants ( N = 235) completed a survey which included measures of attachment to God, quest, religious doubt, and mental health. As hypothesized, attachment to God and quest significantly moderated an individual’s experience of religious doubt. Low avoidant attachment to God (i.e., a more secure attachment) was associated with a more negative relationship between cognitive religious doubt and positive mental health than high avoidant attachment. In contrast, low avoidant attachment to God also ameliorated the positive relationship between affective religious doubt and mental health problems. Low anxious attachment was associated with a stronger negative relationship between both measures of religious doubt (i.e., cognitive and affective) and positive mental health. In addition, high soft quest weakened all four of the relationships between measures of religious doubt and mental health. High hard quest ameliorated the positive relationship between both measures of religious doubt and mental health problems. These results indicate that an individual’s attachment to God and the way an individual is oriented toward religion each play a role in the mental health outcomes associated with religious doubt.

Moral Ambivalence, Religious Doubt and Non-Belief among Ex-Hijabi Women in Turkey

This article investigates religious transformations in contemporary Turkey through the case of women’s unveiling. Drawing on 10 in-depth interviews with university-educated urban women who have recently stopped wearing the veil, the article examines their experiences and their motivations for unveiling. It asks to what extent and in what ways Muslim women’s decisions to unveil are a reaction against the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) shift towards electoral authoritarianism and Islamic conservatism. Some practicing Muslims, particularly youth, have withdrawn their support from the government because of its political authoritarianism and its abandonment of Islamic ideals relating to justice. Since the 2013 Gezi Park protests, the AKP has come under critical scrutiny, both economically (e.g., increasing youth unemployment rates, widening income inequality, the shrinking middle class, clientelism) and sociopolitically (e.g., gendered social welfare policies, pro-natalist campaigns, the discourse on creating a pious generation). However, although the current political atmosphere plays a significant role in women’s unveiling, the article also discusses women’s personal and theological motives. The article elaborates on how ex-hijabi women contest both Islamist politics and Islamic orthodoxy regarding female religiosity and how these women reinterpret dominant gender norms.

‘Uncovering the Self’: Religious Doubts, Spirituality and Unveiling in Egypt

Since the 1980s, discourse on religious piety has taken many different forms, from mosque lessons by lay preachers—such as `Amr Khalid—to religious TV programmes and leisure activities. Within this widespread religious culture and cultivation of forms of visible piety, wearing the veil became an almost uncontested norm for women. As Saba Mahmood demonstrated, the veil became a crucial way to express and cultivate a ‘pious self’. Yet especially since the 2011 revolution and its aftermath, many young Egyptians started to question political, religious and patriarchal authorities. Amongst others, this took on open or hidden forms of non-believing, as well as a search for new forms of spirituality. Based on fieldwork and interviews, this contribution looks into the motives and experiences of women who decided to cast off the veil. In view of the hegemonic piety discourse, this is a huge issue, which is met by fierce reactions and accusations of immorality and non-belief. Whereas for some women this decision is an expression of religious doubt or a turn to a non-religious worldview, for others it is a way to contest the current piety discourse in a search for a more personal and spiritual connection with God. While the relationship with religion among my interlocutors might differ, they share a common attempt to uncover their ‘authentic selves’. By unveiling, they express their wish to define their own space and ideas regarding religion, gender and their bodies.

Endings and Beginnings

This chapter looks into double lifers that were part of the loud heretical counterpublic that contributed to the contemporary ultra-Orthodox crisis. It reviews ongoing struggles in order to understand life-changing religious doubt, including its causes and its cures. It also analyzes how some rabbis and activists blamed the Internet, while others, including many religious therapists, blamed an ultra-Orthodoxy that had become too stringent and too rigid. The chapter emphasizes how faithful people and those living double lives came to a shared conclusion that the real threat of the medium of the Internet was its new possibilities for interaction with like-minded others that directly challenged ultra-Orthodox authority. It also summarizes the experience of life-changing doubt and its implications for families, friends, religious authorities, and institutions.