Changes In Religious Life Research Articles

Penguatan Nilai-nilai Moderasi Beragama Melalui Program Pengajaran Agama di Desa Tewang Kadamba

This study discusses the application of religious moderation in an effort to build a peaceful and tolerant community in Tewang Kadamba Village, Central Kalimantan. This village is known for its cultural and religious diversity, where the Dayak Kaharingan tribe is the majority of the population while Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity live side by side harmoniously. However, there are challenges related to the lack of motivation in worship activities and the shortage of Islamic religious teachers in the village. This is a serious concern because it can affect the social and religious life of the community. The Tewang Kadamba Village KKN Team took the initiative to empower the community through strengthening religious values ​​by involving the younger generation and cadres in the religious teaching program. This program is expected to encourage positive changes in religious life and social life in the village. This study uses the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method and literature study, with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of the religious teaching program in improving the understanding and practice of religious moderation values ​​among the Tewang Kadamba Village community. It is hoped that the results of the study can provide useful suggestions for the development of religious teaching programs in Tewang Kadamba Village, so that they can support the formation of a religious, tolerant, and peaceful society

RELIGIOUS LIFE IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S NOVEL THINGS FALL APART

This research is aimed at reflecting how Chinua Achebe reveals the religious life of Igbo people before and after the coming of the missionaries as well as the invasion of British in the southeastern part of Nigeria during the late 19th century. Achebe reflects that various practices of social and religious life are thrilling, cruel and even inhumane. This research is considered significant and worthy since it is an exertion to understand historical knowledge and life lessons about religious life of the local people. This study is supported by the theory of literary sociology proposed by Laurenseon and Swingewood's to understand and evaluate literary works by considering social aspects and holistically conducted by descriptive qualitative method in which the data from the novel are analyzed to reveal the religious life of Igbo people before and after the coming of British people and the significant contributions as well as changes they have brought. The findings of this research designates that various inhumane religious and cultural practices, such as abandoning or throwing twins born into the evil forest, throwing people dying with diseases, mutilating babies who die at birth and considering ogbanje, not burying people who die by suicide, surely no longer happen in Igbo society. In short, the changes in religious life carried out by white people bring enlightenment and positive life changes for Igbo people.

Нові аспекти релігійного життя в Україні в умовах соціальних викликів XXI століття

The changes in religious life of Ukrainian society of the 21st century are analysed in the article. Problems of church-state relations transformation, significance of religious-cultural heritage, confessional diversity and religious influence on society remain relevant not only in Ukraine, but in Europe as a whole. The peculiarity of Ukrainian religious life of the time period studied consists in its denominational diversity provided by law. Connection between religious affiliation and national identity in Ukrainian society, documented by researchers, is not only found in Orthodox midst, but also in Catholic, Islamic and Jewish religious communities. The Revolution of Dignity has become a turning point in the activity of church organizations. Many Prayerful Maidans, held during that time in various Ukrainian cities, are ecumenical in nature. The concept of Maidan theology has appeared and become widely used. It is introduced by the theologian Kyrylo Hovorun. This process has confirmed the necessity for church to start work in the direction of dialogue with society. Civic attitude of church leaders and social doctrine of the church have experienced significant changes because of military events in the Eastern Ukraine. Interconfessional consolidation of religious communities and believers on the principles of patriotism has taken place in the conditions of threat of the state security loss. The religious landscape of the country has been changed because of the territories loss and migration processes: a number of Protestant and Muslim communities is decreased on the occupied territories. The representatives of various denominations provide humanitarian aid to the wounded, displaced persons and the residents of the so-called Grey Zone. Military chaplaincy has become widespread and established by law. Receiving of the Tomos in 2018 and creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has become a significant geopolitical event, assessed by the public opinion as an act of justice restoring, restitution of its historical heritage to Ukrainian church. Covid-19 pandemia has corrected the development of the country’s religious life, influencing both the level of common religiosity of the population and social stability in general. The significance of digital technologies in churches’ activity has increased during this time. Virtual liturgies and public prayers have hundreds of thousands of views (especially on holidays), social media vaccine discussions, video addresses of religious leaders to the flock in connection with key social events testify the population interest in church issues and importance of the religious factor in modern Ukrainian society.

Melampaui Sekularisasi : Meninjau Ulang Peran Agama di Ruang Publik pada Era Disrupsi

Is the theory of secularization dead? It seems not. The idea of secularization continues to develop and shows that secularization will never occur totally, but it will not be buried into a failed theory. However, since the world today is already in a reality far different from the era of the emerging secularization theory, secularization must be transcended. Nowadays, the world has entered a period of disruption marked by technological progress due to the Industrial Revolution 4.0. In this era, there have been significant changes in religious life. This article aims to complement the literature review regarding how religion should play a role in the public sphere in the era of disruption so that the benefits of religion can be felt in real life. Data collection was carried out using literature study techniques. Data analysis was carried out using the Miles and Huberman model. The results of this study indicate that religion does not have to be isolated from the public sphere, so far as the public sphere can be a common space to express the various religions that exist and religion is not only understood as symbolic, but is deeper in understanding the authenticity of religion. One important thing to avoid is the domination of one faith or one religious understanding within religion. The dynamics and dialectics of the various religious identities that exist can become cultural assets to build a better public life. Failure to neutralize the domination of one religion or religious understanding in religion in the public sphere will bring the world back to a dark past, full of wars and violence.

The Bride and Groom of the “Canticum novum”

The article concentrates on the “Coronation of the Virgin” in medieval art. This image is based on the Bride and Groom theme from the Canticles. However, whereas this text from the Old Testament was examined already by the Church Fathers in their exegetical writings, a “canonical” representation of it was coined only in the 12th century. This “late introduction” reflects deeply rooted changes in religious life which profoundly changed church history. The turtle dove whichsings in the Canticles is, according to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, not only a symbol of faithfulness but also of chastity. This chastity must, in turn, be connected with the chastity of the clergy and the development of the idea of celibacy precisely in this period. Hence, the “Coronation”, besides being a symbol of the Church, is also an expression of a precise conception of the Church, namely a body constituted of men who maintain their virginity as brides awaiting the arrival of the Groom.

Post-authoritarian diversity in Indonesia's state-owned mosques: Amanakibancase study

Indonesia's state-owned mosques are important sites for observing changes in religious life that have taken place since the demise of the Suharto regime. During the New Order period, ideological and political factors restricted access to mosques owned and managed by provincial and regency governments. In contemporary West Java, access to such mosques has been broadened, and they now display a diversity of religious programs and practices. Drawing on recent fieldwork, this article makes a case study of the intercession ritual known asmanakibanwhich has recently emerged in government-owned mosques of West Java. It identifies two dominant factors behind the new inclusiveness: a desire for visibility and public legitimacy on the part of some members of the Sufi order that promotes the ritual, and secondly, a broadening of access to state-owned mosques as a result of more inclusive participation in the electoral process. The article contributes to knowledge of the politicisation of religion in contemporary Indonesia, and suggests new possibilities for understanding the meanings of public Islamic infrastructure.

The Ministerial Future of Women Religious

Recognized for the establishment of the Catholic school and healthcare systems in the United States, women religious are still imaged as teachers and nurses by the general public. Where have all the sisters gone, and where are they likely to be found in the foreseeable future? Having experienced the dismantling of a stable past and living in a changing present, I would be foolish or dishonest to claim a clear blueprint for the ministerial future of women religious. Yet after thirty years of experimentation and experience, common threads are emerging, forming patterns of future development. The ministerial future of women religious may be glimpsed through tracing some key influences on the ministry changes of the past thirty years, describing the current state of ministry among women religious, and suggesting threads shaping the future. A couple of caveats are in order. First, I write not as a theorist but as a participant in these changes and as an observer from the perspective of leadership in my own congregation and in the national office of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Second, I write as an apostolic woman religious. Changes in religious life, including ministry, may have different

Chinese Religious Life ed. by David A. Palmer, Glenn Shive, Philip L. Wickeri (review)

DAVID A. PALMER, GLENN SHIVE, and PHILIP L. WICKERI, eds., Chinese Religious Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. xii, 277 pp. US$29.95/£18.99 (pb). ISBN 978-0-19-973138-1 Studies of religious activity in Chinese societies have proliferated over the past twenty years, with a large and growing number of books, articles, and edited volumes by anthropologists, sociologists, and religious studies scholars. Recent edited books include State, Market, and Religions in Chinese Societies (2005), Chinese Religiosities (2008), Making Religion, Making the State (2009), Social Scientific Studies of Religion in China (2011), and Religion in Contemporary China (2011).1 Some of the chapter authors of Chinese Religious Life have recently published books, articles, and chapters in other edited books on various aspects of religion in China. David Palmer’s own recent work with co-author Vincent Goossaert includes The Religious Question in Modern China (2011),2 a broad and deep historical account of development and change in religious life in China over the past century, up to the 2000s, including a review of a wide array of published research in several languages by sociologists, anthropologists, and historians. One of the chapter authors, Fenggang Yang, also has published a very useful review and analysis in Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule (2012).3 There are also rich ethnographic studies by anthropologists (e.g.: The Temple of Memories [1996], Miraculous Response: Doing Popular Religion in Contemporary China [2006], and Constructing China’s Jerusalem [2011]),4 available in paperback and highly readable even for non-specialists. Many readers of this journal are already familiar with much of this literature. One way to approach a review of a new edited book such as Chinese Religious Life is to ask: What does it contribute to this growing collection of work on religions in China which has not already been covered in the previous published work of these chapter authors or other scholars? Should you add this book to readings that you assign to students, or consult it for material relevant to your own research? 2 Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer, The Religious Question in Modern China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011). 3 Fenggang Yang, Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). 4 Jun Jing, The Temple of Memories: History, Power, and Morality in a Chinese Village (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996); Adam Yuet Chau, Miraculous Response: Doing Popular Religion in Contemporary China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006); Nanlai Cao, Constructing China’s Jerusalem: Christians, Power, and Place in Contemporary Wenzhou (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011). 1 Fenggang Yang and Joseph Tamney, eds., State, Market, and Religions in Chinese Societies (Leiden: Brill, 2005); Mayfair Mei-hui Yang, ed., Chinese Religions: Afflictions of Modernity and State Formation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank, eds., Making Religion, Making the State (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009); Fenggang Yang and Graeme Lang, eds., Social Scientific Studies of Religion in China (Leiden: Brill, 2011); Adam Yuet Chau, ed., Religion in Contemporary China: Revitalization and Innovation (London: Routledge, 2011). BOOK REVIEWS 169 In the Introduction, Philip Wickeri outlines the scope and aims of Chinese Religious Life as follows: ‘‘This book is an introduction to [contemporary] Chinese religious life in its great diversity [. . . ] for the general reader [. . . ] by [. . . ] scholars who approach their subject from a variety of different disciplines [. . . with] an emphasis on religious practice [and on public collective religious activities]’’ (p. 4). This suggests that the book would be suitable for an introductory course. Does the book meet this aim? If so, will the chapters be engaging also for specialists? The answers vary from chapter to chapter. To illustrate, I briefly review some (but not all) of these chapters. The first chapter—‘‘Spirituality in a modern Chinese metropolis’’ by Lizhu Fan and James D. Whitehead—begins with an account of lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in Shenzhen 深圳 that also hosts Buddhist rites in a back room along with occasional Buddhist lectures. The authors ask, ‘‘what is going on here?’’ and then explore the eclectic ‘‘spiritual search’’ of migrants in Shenzhen for meaning and morality, using the abundance of choices...

From Pork to Kapores : Transformations in Religious Practice among the Jews of Late Imperial Kiev

Until recently, studies of Jewish religious practices in Imperial Russia have focused on major movements such as Hasidism and mitnagdism as well as the challenges that Haskalah presented to traditional Judaism. Few scholars have scrutinized transformations in everyday religious practices such as the observance of Sabbath and other holidays, synagogue attendance, and liturgical practices. However, new political, social, and economic realities had generated subtle changes in religious practices even in earlier periods and it comes as no surprise, therefore, that religious practices among Jews during the tsarist period, especially in Kiev, were neither monolithic nor static. This article provides a new perspective on this topic by analyzing patterns of religious practice among Jews in one city – examining personal observance, communal practice, synagogue rites and attendance, and religious education – while providing a broader context of reform in Russia. In large urban centers like Kiev, the pressures and temptations of modern life, big-city anonymity, and the vitality and diversity of Jewish community often led to a transformation of prior belief and behavior among new arrivals. The author concludes that despite the absence of a movement for religious reform in the Russian Empire, we can nonetheless observe innovations and changes in religious life emerging out of the attempt to make observance compatible with modern urban life and a nascent Russian-Jewish identity.

Positive Consequences of Surviving a Stroke

This exploratory study focused on gaining insight into the psychological experience of stroke survivors undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. Specifically it investigated whether stroke survivors undergoing inpatient rehabilitation were able to identify any positive consequence of their stroke. This phenomenon, also know as benefit finding or positive reframing, has recently received more attention in the coping literature examining reactions to severe illness. Using a case series methodology and qualitative analytic techniques, 16 stroke survivors were interviewed using standardized open-ended questions related to identification of positive consequences attributed to surviving a stroke. Sixty-three percent of the patients interviewed were able to identify positive consequences of their stroke. The following five themes regarding positive consequences of stroke emerged from this case series: increased social relationships, increased health awareness, change in religious life, personal growth, and altruism. It was concluded that some individuals who have survived an acute stroke are able to reframe their experience in a positive light. This study provides occupational therapists and others with further insight into the coping mechanisms of those individuals who have survived a stroke. The need for further research is stressed.

De ontwikkeling van de godsdienstsociologie in Nederland

In this article a review is given of the development of the sociology of religion on the basis of the areas of research. The review is preceded by a short description of the position and meaning of the discipline as such. In the beginning, research has been concentrated on the churches and the Christian religion. In the course of time the conception of religion becomes broader, with the result that the area of research becomes broader too. Parallel to the changes in religious life, the object of research has moved from religion in the traditional sense to meaning systems. The whole development of the sociology of religion can be characterized both by alteration, as well as by continuity.

The changing position and meaning of religion and the church in Western Europe-a sociological analysis

AbstractThe changes that have taken place in religious and ecclesiastical life in Western Europe are characterised as a process of secularisation. Secularisation encompasses three different processes, namely a decline in the religiosity of people, the restriction of the range of influence of religion and the adaptation of religion to the values of society. By means of these processes on three levels the developments with relation to religious life in its entirety can be described. Since changes in religious life are connected with changes in society and the culture of the society in which that religion functions, a better understanding of what secularisation entails demands that we look at those developments in society which have promoted changes in religion and the church. Developments in society that are discussed include the changed organisation of society and processes of rationalisation, democratisation and subjectivation. Finally, it is shown how these developments resulted in the diminishing significance of religion and the churches in and for society.

La recherche appliquée: le cas du « Katholiek Sociaal Kerkelijk Instituut (KASKI) » aux Pays-Bas

Following Vatican II changes are rapidly taking place within Dutch Catholicism — the bishops no longer make decisions in an authoritarian way: religious practice is de clining ; priests and religious are decreasing in numbers and many religious and pastoral experiments have come into being. KASKI has the responsibility of keeping pace with the Church during this process of change. In order to do this it makes use of several modes of work — the production of statistics relating to the position of religion in Society, the planning of religious and pastoral institutions and the study of new forms of the religious life in orders and congregations. For the first task it has used the same instruments for twenty- five years and the censuses thus produced yield valuable infor mation. As far as pastoral planning is concerned, it works in the field, playing the role of catalyst for those who have to make decisions and the people who have to carry out these decisions. This was the case, for instance, in the pastoral planning of the town of Eindhoven. Finally, when dealing with the new forms of communal religious life it adopts the method of studying through participation so that two of its researchers working in this sector are themselves members of religious groups. Applied research poses important problems, both from the methodological and from the political points of view. Amongst them may be noted the difficulty of determining precisely what constitutes rapid change in religious life, and the political choice of the persons for whom the research is being con ducted; the latter inevitably imposes a certain degree of conformity upon the perspectives of the work. (For example, the choice of the Dutch hierarchy which was to follow the general lines given by a large majority of Catholic opinion when it was tested particularly on questions like the liturgical and parochial changes). The fact, also, that the director of KASKI himself has a personal commitment to what may be described as the « right of centre » position in Dutch Catho licism poses problems for the work of the Institute. Political and religious radicalism is not a strong characteristic of the more senior research workers. KASKI is a rare example of a centre which brings socio logists together and uses their professional competence to accompany change in religious institutions.

Theological Problems of Conversion

THE THOMIST A SPECULATIVE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY EDITORS: THE DoMINICAN FATHERS OF THE PRoviNCE oF ST. JosEPH Publishers: The Thomist Press, Washington 17, D. C. VoL. XI OCTOBER, 1948 No.4 THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF CONVERSION T HERE exists a rather curious discrepancy between the very lively interest taken nowadays in apologetical, oecumenical, and other works which by their very nature tend to result in conversions to the Catholic Church, and the almost complete lack of reflection among Catholics on the problems connected with these conversions. This lively interest hardly needs demonstration. It can be measured, for example, by the numerous stories of converts which are being published and read and which furnish the principal material for psychological studies of conversion (Starbuck, James, DeSanctis, Th. Mainage, 0. P.) The lack of theological reflection is shown, among other instances, from the fact that the Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique does not even mention the word conversion ; the Dic·tionnaire Apologetique de la Foi Catholique and the Lexicon Fur Theologie und Kirche have only very short articles on the subject and they are more historical than theological . In this study, we intend only to examine some of the theological problems related to conversion and indicate certain solutions; all of these problems could not be studied in one article. 409 410 C. F. PAUWELS It must be noted immediately that the word " conversion " can have several different meanings, all of these meanings having some connection between them. The different uses of the same word have been the cause of much confusion in the psychological study of conversion as we understand it. Conversion can mean (and it is in this sense that we write of it) a change of religious conviction, and notably the acceptance of the Catholic faith. It indicates a motion to something new from something old; therefore it has a counterpart in apostasy, and if we attend to the fact that as an old conviction is given up a new one is acquired we note that every conversion can be called an apostasy. Conversion in this first sense, however, implies something more than a merely intellectual act, for whoever accepts the Catholic faith enters the Catholic Church and intends to live a Catholic life. In another sense, conversion may mean the justificatio impii, the change from a bad life to a good one. In this sense, conversion has been the object of numerous theological studies, and has been considered by St. Thomas 1 and the modem authors. The latin term, conversus, has been used to designate a laybrother in the same sense. It should be noted that a conversion to the Catholic faith always implies some change from a bad to a good life, in this respect at least that the Catholic standards of good and bad must be accepted with the faith; therefore, almost every convert, even if he could be called a good Christian before his conversion, has to make some changes in his manner of life. Still, one can be a bad Catholic and a sinner at the same time, and such a one needs the justificatio impii without needing any change of faith. On the other hand, many non-Catholics are already in a state of grace before they are converted to the Catholic faith. Hence a connection between these two kinds of conversion is not only possible, but necessary. In a third sense, conversion may mean a change in religious life without any change of faith. This kind of conversion is studied by ascetical and mystical theologians.2 We call it a 1 Summa Theol., I-II, q. 113. 'Cf. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, London, 194~. THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF CONVERSION 411 conversion when a man changes from a humdrum religious life to a more serious one, from carelessness about venial sin to a systematical endeavor to reach perfection. Although this kind of conversion implies no change in religious conviction and is thus very different from the first kind, it should be noted that the acceptance of the Catholic faith, which is the fullness of revelation and grace, must bring about in the life of good Christians who are in a...