Rationality in Religious Epistemology: An Analysis of Abdul-Karim Soroush’s View on the Transformation of Contemporary Religious Thought

Toplumsal değişim, hızı, etkisi ve kapsadığı alan değişmekle birlikte her dönemde gerçekleşmiş bir olgudur. Toplumsal değişim sürecinden etkilenen pek çok faktör arasında din ve eğitim de vardır. Dolayısıyla din eğitiminde de toplumsal değişimle birlikte farklılaşmalar görülmektedir. Postnormal zamanlar; belirsizlik, hızlı değişim, gücün yeniden düzenlenmesi, karışık ve kaotik davranışlarla karakterize edilir. Ziyaüddin Sardar, postnormal zamanların özelliklerini üç ‘K’ ile açıklamaktadır. Bunlar, karmaşa, kaos ve karşıtlıktır. Sardar’a göre ilişkide bulunduğumuz her şey karmaşık/komplikedir. Postnormal zamanların ikinci özelliği kaostur. Kaosun asıl sebebi ise iletişim ağının doğasının, kapsamının ve işlevinin değişmesidir. Sardar, karşıtlığı hızlı değişim ve bilgiye ulaşma, bilgiyi kullanma ve yorumlamada meydana gelen değişimle ilişkilendirerek bu üç husus çerçevesinde yaşadığımız çağın özelliklerinden bahsetmektedir. Bu makalede Ziyaüddin Sardar’ın toplumsal değişimin geldiği noktayı betimlerken kullandığı postnormal zamanlar teorisi çerçevesinde Türkiye’de örgün ve yaygın din eğitimi incelenerek bu teorinin ortaya koyduğu dönemsel özelliklere göre yorumlamak amaçlanmıştır. Teorik olan bu çalışmanın, toplumsal değişim sürecinde ortaya çıkan ihtiyaçlar karşısında, örgün ve yaygın din eğitiminin mahiyetini değerlendirmesi bakımından alana katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir.

1 IntroductionThe last twenty years has brought rapid social, political and economic changes which have transformed the structure of society in many countries around the world, and especially in our region. A brief overview of these changes is sufficient to explain and justify attempts in recent years to reform education in most European countries. After the society clearly and profoundly changed it became necessary to reform education systems to be flexible, compatible with contemporary issues, and able to successfully tackle these challenges and the new realities.Education plays the most important role in the development and progress of an individual. It affects their social status and is the most important factor in economic prosperity and social emancipation. From a sociological point of view, the improvement of education does not happen solely because of individual needs, but originates and develops to meet the needs of the society. The educational system of any society is important for the overall social system. In static societies, the key function of the educational system is the transmission of cultural heritage to future generations. However, in today's modern world, education must respond to a number of other challenges and needs that it faces on a daily basis.Regardless of the level of development of society, education should be one of the most important social activities. Quality education is the main driving force of social progress. Today however, it is recognized that the most developed countries invest much more in education and different types of research in comparison to developing countries or underdeveloped countries.2 Changes in Educational SystemsCompetition for economic, military, and other forms of domination led to continuous analysis and re-evaluation of educational systems and the adoption of specific strategies for improvement with the aim of survival in the race for dominance. One of the most striking examples that authors constantly refer to is the competition between the United States and Russia in space exploration, especially after the Russian launch of Sputnik.Education is a key factor in social development. Social changes come with the collective transformation of individuals. Education is a process that allows all individuals to effectively participate in social activities and to contribute to social progress. Education systems then, have incalculable importance. Bringing about social change has a number of challenges however: professional, technical, social, moral, etc. These challenges require new standards and new approaches to training teachers both during faculty training as well as during their continuous professional development, because they have to be continuously trained in order to successfully face all the new challenges.After analysing the existing educational system, experts suggest specific needs for the transformation and harmonization of education systems, to new demands caused by social changes. Underscoring these needs, Patil (2012) suggests the following very common deficiencies in the current educational systems:(1) The present education does not generate or fortify the type of knowledge that is relevant to our changed society.(2) The technology associated with a particular body of knowledge is inappropriate to our stage of development in terms of its employment potential or investment demands.(3) Education has failed to provide a value-framework which may prepare committed politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, and professionals, on whom our nation can depend for a sophisticated system of support services, which will take the country to the highest level.The European concept of the new society, and its gradual application of those needs for the users of new educational services along with modern understanding of the role of education prepare teachers to face new demands within the education system. …

Pushing the boundaries in Northern Ireland: young people, violence and sectarianism

Straipsnyje aptariama dorinio ugdymo Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose padėtis. Atliekama pagrindinės mokyklos etikos bendrųjų programų analizė, išryškinama jų metodologijos kaita ir dominuojantys orientyrai, kurie leidžia geriau įvertinti esamos padėties pranašumus ir trūkumus, numatyti dorinio ugdymo perspektyvas. Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų programų metodologiniai orientyrai lyginami su dominuojančiais Europos šalyse orientyrais, kartu apžvelgiamas platesnis Lietuvos socialinis kontekstas: socialinės raidos Lietuvoje ypatumai, jaunimo mąstymo kaita ir vertybės, mokytojų rengimas, vadovėlių leidyba. Pagrindinė straipsnio įžvalga yra Lietuvos mokyklų programų metodologijos eklektiškumas, o kita vertus, - dialogo filosofijos, kaip metodologinio orientyro, stiprėjimas. Atskleidžiami dialogo filosofijos pagrindiniai pranašumai, kurie svarbūs tobulinant dorinį ugdymą Lietuvoje.

This research project is about social change, and major hindrances to it, in Somalia. Drawing from Somali studies, migration/diaspora studies, and development communication, Somali diaspora members are proposed here as new (old) social change agents. The underpinning question is how they frame, promote, and communicate social change in their home country. Within this (ex) diaspora, those with an Italophone background could make up, I argue, a distinguished sub-group: the Italophone Somali diaspora, which is a major finding in itself. They are educated, at least in relative terms compared to the majority of their contemporaries, they are Italophone (among others), and they have been inspired by a modernization ideal. After addressing characteristics and background of this particular group of people, I explore their voices about social change and the main challenges they are confronted with. I first define, as rooted in the accounts of my interviewees (permanent and transitory diaspora members, returnees), the current main actors in the Somali social arena. These pertain to the so-called outer world, a notion that I put forward for the purpose of this research. Yet, the real battle for social change, I posit, is fought at the level of the inner world: the world of thoughts, beliefs, hopes, and fears. At this level, three main social institutions regulate Somali society: clan, tradition, and Islam. (Overlapping) rules and normative codes derive from these institutions, which embody forms of social or mass control. Within this understanding, and from an Italophone Somali diaspora perspective, social change is conceived as the lessening of the pervasive social control associated with these institutions. The impact of these forces, and especially of the new religious code in force, is far-reaching, resulting in a pervasive state of fear and widespread self-censorship that are full of implications for communication for social change. Within this framework, I then discuss the role that the Italophone Somali diaspora sub-group assigns to three (potential) vectors of social change. First, the Somali Diaspora as a whole, with its distinctive social change capital, as I call it. This is a form of socio-cultural capital, with a pro-active potential, that works as a source of inspiration for promoting social change. Second, development communication as a vector of social change in itself, and as pursued in practice by the members of the Italophone Somali diaspora. Messages and strategies of their “civic engagement” in Somalia are analysed with respect to the constraints deriving from the main social institutions. Third, education in its broad sense, which plays a paramount role in shaping the mindset and the socio-cultural capital of the Italophone Somali diaspora, in explaining current forms of communication for social change, and in constituting, in their eyes, the ultimate source of any possible social change in Somalia today.

Berkeley’s main aim in his well-known early works was to identify and refute “the grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion.” This appears to place Berkeley within a well-established tradition of religious critics of Locke's epistemology, including, most famously, Stillingfleet. I argue that these appearances are deceiving. Berkeley is, in fact, in important respects an opponent of this tradition. According to Berkeley, Locke’s earlier critics, including Stillingfleet, had misidentified the grounds of irreligion in Locke’s philosophy while all the while endorsing the true grounds of irreligion themselves. Locke’s epistemology is innocent; matter and abstraction are to blame.

Life-Course and Severe Mental Illness: Implications for Caregiving Within the Family of Later Life* Judith A. Cook**, Bertram J. Cohler, Susan A. Pickett, and Jeff A. Beeler This analysis applies a life-course perspective to the study of family caregiving for persons with severe and persistent mental illness in later life. This involves understanding how family caregiving is impacted by changing socio-historical trends as well as recent discoveries about the course and treatment of serious mental illness. Application of new research on aging and psychiatr-ic disability as well as results from studies of caregiver burden and satisfaction in older families.s can enrich the study of both familial coping and life-course social science. Key Words: family caregiving, life-course social science, mental illness. A staggering number of social and scientific changes have impacted persons with severe mental illness and their families over the past five decades. These changes include the widespread availability of drug treatment with neuroleptics, deinstitutionalization and the closing of state mental hospitals, greater access to societal resources such as public education and legal protections of civil rights, and the rise of selfhelp movements for both families and their affected members. As a result, families and their ill relatives now have opportunities to interact with one another as never before and to transition through the life-course together in the community. Because of this, life-course social science presents a rich theoretical framework with which to view these social changes and their effects on families and family caregiving. At the same time, such study can enrich life-course scholarship by challenging traditionallyheld notions about the existence and power of age norms, the orderly sequencing of life transitions, and the interaction of lifecourse and illness course in family caregiving. This analysis applies a life-course perspective to research on societal trends, discoveries about the course of mental illness, new findings about aging and psychiatric disability, and studies of family burden and satisfaction, in order to better understand the implications of caregiving for a relative with major mental illness in later life. Social and Historical Forces Impacting People with Mental Illness and their Families In the last half of the 20th century, significant improvements in psychotropic medication for schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar mood disorders, along with shifts in financial reimbursement policies for care, enabled many persons to reside outside of hospitals and pursue life goals such as a career or higher education (Brown, 1985). Deinstitutionalization led to the movement, beginning in the 1950's and 1960's, of large cohorts of inpatients from state facilities to a community-based system of mental health care that was underfunded, undermonitored, and largely ineffective (Goldman, Regier, Taube, Redick, & Bass, 1980; Gronfein, 1985a, 1985b). A continuing emphasis on community care has involved periodic modification of this system despite its patchwork quality and vulnerability to political and economic manipulation (Lamb et al.,1993; Mechanic, 1989). Due to a paucity of housing options and lack of residential services designed to establish and maintain independent community living (Blanch, Carling, & Ridgway 1988), many former inpatients returned home to live with families or in board and care facilities. Service system inadequacies forced many families to assume the role of de facto therapist (Thompson & Doll 1982, p. 379) charged with case management-like responsibilities that were demanding and unrelenting (Cook,\. Recently, introduction of managed care into the public mental health arena has created additional uncertainty and instability for clients and families by erecting barriers that prevent access to appropriate levels of care (Malloy, 1995). …

This articles explores the ways in which Elizabeth Gaskell negotiates with issues of class and gender in her novella "Cousin Phillis." It first focuses on the representations of male scientists in the tale and the ways in which Gaskell disguises the class divisions between them and evades confronting the question of their social agency as scientists. The article then moves on to look at the ways in which Gaskell transfers the pain of social and scientific change onto the romantic plot and, in particular, onto the character of Phillis herself. A detailed account of Gaskell's description of Phillis's somatic symptoms throughout the narrative is then used to argue that by making Phillis the index of change, Gaskell both avoids confronting the complex class issues that her novella raises and simultaneously produces a radical critique of the ways in which the female subject is repressed and controlled by a masculine scientific culture. The article concludes that it is possible to read "Cousin Phillis" as indicative of Gaskell's own troubled response to rapid social change and to the iniquitous divisions between classes and sexes that, she seems to suggest, can be numbered among its results.

Family Law: A Very Short Introduction provides insight not only into what family law is, but why it is the way it is. How have laws had to respond to social changes in family life? The last few decades have seen rising divorce rates and an increase in the use of surrogate mothers. How do family courts deal with the chaos of modern family life? Family law has recently been challenged to keep up-to-date with the social and scientific changes which affect it. What is a family? What makes someone a parent? What rights should children have? What will families look like in the years ahead? What new dilemmas will the courts face?

Catholics and Communists in Twentieth-Century Italy: Between Conflict and Dialogue

Exploration of the social context of the civil war has become increasingly problematic. It is also unfashionable, as can be illustrated from the titles of two collections of sources covering early modern social history. In 1965 Laurence Stone published Social Change and Revolution in England, 1540–1640, whereas in 1988 Barry Coward produced Social Change and Continuity in Early Modern England, 1550–1750. The coupling of continuity rather than revolution with social change in the latter work reveals a more qualified assessment of the extent of transformation in early modern England, but the different choice of chronology is also significant. Where Stone saw social change as crucial to the political breakdown of 1640–2, Coward refers only briefly to the civil war and in the main does not find it valid to tie social developments to a time scale defined by political conflicts.1 There are many reasons for this change in the approach to the origins of the English civil war, ranging from shifts in the general intellectual atmosphere to problems with the specific attempts to discover a social context for the divisions of 1642. As was suggested in Chapter 1, it is much less common now for historians to see the English civil war as a major landmark in the ‘modernization of traditional society’ and this has affected views of social change as well as encouraging scepticism about the emergence of modern liberty or the rise of religious toleration. Furthermore, although the emergence of a ‘modern world’ has been the focus for historians and sociologists working in several traditions, in its social and economic aspects this has often been expressed in Marxist terms as the shift from a feudal to a capitalist society. The eclipse of Marxism as an intellectual system has had an obvious impact on interpretations of the civil war.

Learning in religious counseling education is still dominated by conventional approaches that are monological, normative, and lack critical reflection, thus having an impact on the low cognitive and affective involvement of participants. This study aims to explore and analyze the potential of the SER (Spirituality-Education-Reflection) approach as an integrative model in optimizing the learning process in religious counseling education programs. The method used is a literature study with a qualitative descriptive approach, analyzing 60 scientific sources published in the 2015–2025 period and relevant to the themes of religious education, critical pedagogy, reflection, and social transformation. The results of the study show that the SER approach is able to present a participatory, contextual, and transformative learning process. The spirituality component forms the basis of values, education directs an experiential dialogical process, and critical reflection bridges awareness between values and actions. These three elements form praxis as a conscious action that has an impact on personal and social change. In conclusion, the implementation of SER requires curriculum support, extension training, holistic evaluation, and contextual and participatory institutional policies. The implications of this research include strengthening the capacity of religious extension workers, curriculum design reform, and cross-sector collaboration in the sustainable implementation of SER. Further research can be directed to the implementation test of the SER model in various religious education contexts as well as the development of evaluation instruments based on spiritual and social reflection.


 Indonesia is a region that has thousands of islands spread out with different regional characteristics so that it has various tribes and cultures. various social habits, culture and customs of society in Indonesia will always experience developments in accordance with the times. Modernization aims to create a prosperous society. Modernization is one of the causes of social and cultural change. Modernization is the process of changing from a traditional society to a more advanced or modern society. However, not all regions prioritize modernization and forget their customs. This is proven by the fact that there are still regions in Indonesia that still today maintain their customs and culture from the reach of the outside and modern world. For example, the Baduy tribe in the Lebak district, Banten, still maintains and preserves their original culture. The rapid development of the times causing modernization is of course also felt by the Baduy tribe, more precisely by the Baduy community outside. The purpose of this writing is to explain the influence of modernization on the Outer Baduy tribe. The method used in this research is literature study.
 Keywords: Baduy Tribe, Modernization, Social Change

In religious epistemology there is a significant amount of focus on religious knowledge, but much less attention has been paid to religious understanding. This is unfortunate. It is unfortunate not just because religious understanding is an interesting topic but also because religious understanding is more epistemically valuable than religious knowledge. This chapter presents two reasons for thinking this is the case. The first is that the connection between understanding and action gives us reason to think this, and the second is that understanding plays a more important role in a religious context. Following this, the chapter argues that we ought to reconsider skeptical arguments against religious belief because although they may undermine knowledge, they may not undermine understanding—the chapter offers an example of a skeptical argument where focusing on understanding rather than knowledge provides us with a straightforward response.

Expectant first-time fathers’ experiences of pregnancy