Contemporary Religion Research Articles

Eradicated with Blood: Text and Context of Animal Sacrifice in Tantric and Tantra-Influenced Rituals

This essay discusses transformations in the ritual use of blood offerings from late medieval to contemporary Tantric and Tantra-influenced traditions. Specifically, it examines animal sacrifice and the use of animal blood or body parts in defensive and/or destructive Tantric uccāṭana rituals in historical text sources and in Tantra-influenced ojhāī practices (North Indian popular ritual practices of self-defense and/or destruction that are widely perceived as Tantra affiliated) in contemporary religion. The essay argues that while uccāṭana—mainly because of its partly destructive character and demand for blood—was apparently never integrated into non-Tantric traditions in an unaltered form, it does serve as one of several roots for contemporary ojhāī rituals. Thus, a form of ‘uccāṭana light’ (including but not limited to blood offerings) has found its way into popular Hinduism.

You need ‘help for the journey’: Freedom and regulation in a ‘market-friendly’ megachurch

One of the dominant trends in contemporary religion is a focus on individual freedom, choice and autonomy, all central tenets of mainstream consumer society. Rather than indicating a lack of religious regulation, we show how they can be the means through which regulation operates. Drawing on the theory of governmentality, which focuses on how power operates in discourse, we present a case study of a highly successful megachurch and global leader in Christian music – Hillsong – and show how this religious producer constructs a subject position for the consumer that promotes freedom and choice but nevertheless has regulatory implications by limiting what is thinkable and possible. Our findings show how Hillsong uses music and offers a worship experience that encourages continued reliance on the Church supported by its selective interpretation of the Pentecostal tradition. We trace how Hillsong claims knowledge of the religious consumer, identifying its central logic and contradictions. In doing so we show how religious regulation is taking new forms in contexts that may appear to be unregulated. We highlight the potential of this Foucauldian theory to not only enhance the understanding of current trends in religion but also to widen the repertoire used by critical marketing scholars to analyse how marketing discourse and practices are mobilized in specific contexts and with what effects.

Alternatives to vivisection: Scanning technologies replace and complement invasive autopsies.

EMBO Reports (2019) e48380 Invasive autopsy has been crucial to determine the cause of death—as part of a criminal investigation or for public health purposes—but the vivisection of the corpse often meets resistance from relatives or certain religious or ethnic groups. To address religious objections or feelings that invasive autopsy violates the dignity of the deceased, pathologists have been using non‐invasive scanning techniques, originally developed for medical diagnosis, either as alternatives to, or to complement traditional autopsies. The use of computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in places where they are readily available not only appeals to relatives who object to vivisection but it also provides additional information or helps to confirm conclusions about the cause of death. > … the rate of autopsy has been declining […], partly out of growing opposition to what is often considered unnecessary mutilation of the bodies of loved ones. Autopsy has a long history dating back to at least 3,000 years BC in ancient Egypt. Julius Caesar was subjected to an official autopsy in 44 BC after his murder in the Roman senate. In the modern era, autopsies are routinely used to determine causes of death, especially when people die unexpectedly or under suspicious circumstances. Yet, the rate of autopsy has been declining in almost every developed country and many developing ones, partly out of growing opposition to what is often considered unnecessary mutilation of the bodies of loved ones. For example, autopsies were performed on 40–60% of all people who died in hospital in the United States before 1970, but that rate has now fallen to below 5% [1]. This comes at a time when autopsies for reasons other than establishing cause of death have become increasingly valuable: to evaluate the extent of human disease in patients and the effectiveness of …

Religious cultures and gender cultures: tracing gender differences across religious cultures

ABSTRACTThis special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion focuses on varying empirical connections and theoretical relations between ‘religion’ and ‘gender’. The introduction to this special issue suggests a theoretical approach which is sensitive to culture by drawing on a phenomenological understanding of culture that is based on knowledge and meaning production and sense making. At first sight, this may not sound convincing because ‘culture’ is a category that is most notably used in combination with religion and gender in culturalist ways. In the migration societies of contemporary Europe, religion has become a metaphor for cultural difference and symbolic boundary-making. The core element of this approach is the conceptualisation of culture as a social web consisting of symbolic forms based on signs of meaning that shape social action, orientation, and experience in the world, including the religious sphere. This entails an understanding of religion as a distinct province of meaning that is structured by processes of social symbolisation just like any other sphere of life. This approach reveals that culturalist conceptions of both religion and gender have specific social meanings as meaningful signs in the symbolic order of secular modernity.

Editor’s Foreword

This issue of Implicit Religion is a collection of papers first presented at the conference Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspective: Publics and Performances, held at the Open University at Kent’s Hill, Milton Keynes, February 19–21, 2018. The conference was organized by Paul-François Tremlett, John Maiden, and myself. The call for papers solicited presentations on the themes of education, media, pilgrimage, politics, and ritual.

GENDER BARGAINS IN A PENTECOSTAL (BORN-AGAIN) MARRIAGE: DIVORCE AS A SOCIO-RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE IN THE GLORIOUS VESSELS INTERNATIONAL CHAT GROUP

The rise of the Pentecostal movement in the last three decades is one of the most striking features in the global topography of contemporary religion. In Switzerland, the Pentecostal or charismatic movement is the most popular strand of migrant Christianity. This article is based on a three-year online ethnographic participant observation of different Nigerian-led online Pente-costal groups. The use of diverse interactive spaces seems to be of particular significance to both mega and non-mega Nigerian-led Pentecostal migrant churches in the country. By exploring the social practices of online commu-nities such as the Glorious Vessels International WhatsApp chat group, the article shows how different forms of biblical patriarchy shape conversations that “recognise” or “repress” the rights and roles of women – their economic status and sexuality in born-again movements. The exchange of ideas that ensued on the issues of divorce among members of Glorious Vessels International shows how bargaining in the physical (real) world is transferred into the online environment. I analyse this phenomenon by understanding the ideal online religious community as an assemblage that promotes a certain gendered image of the prosperous family.

Brief Considerations on the Relevance of the Inter-Religious Dialogue for the Mediation of the Conflicts and the Abolition of the Religious Violence from an Orthodox Perspective

In a globalized world, where the poverty from side of the world is in contrast with the richness of another part, where the big cultures try to put in the shadow the small cultures of the world, religion will assume as main missionary objective the research of the manner in which the ethical discourse, the spiritual values and the philanthropic actions - determinant markers of any contemporary religion – can mediate the conflicts, the disputes and the violence inspired by religion or with inter-religious connotations. We intend to present brief considerations on the capacity of the institutionalized Christian religion to fulfill, through dialogue, the ontological and social vocation for the absorption of the violence through an irenic social-philanthropic action inspired by religion.

The Mediatized Conditions of Contemporary Religion: Critical Status and Future Directions

During the last decade the framework of mediatization theory has been introduced in the field of media, religion and culture as a parallel perspective to the “mediation of religion” approach, allowing new questions to be posed that align with religious change within Europe. This article provides a critical review of existing research applying mediatization of religion theory, focusing on key issues raised by its critics as well as how the theory have moved the research field forward. These issues concern the concept of religion, institution and social change, religious authority, and the application of mediatization theory outside the North-Western European context where it originated. The article argues that an institutional approach to mediatization is a relevant tool for analyzing change as a dynamic process in which the logics of particular forms of media influence practices, values and relations within particular manifestations of religion across various levels of analysis.

Unblocking the Sacred: New perspectives on the religious revival in South Eastern Europe

A line of studies of contemporary religion in South East Europe links resurgent nationalism together with the revival of religion. These studies argue that nationalism are grounded on a re-use of religion and assumption of many former religious functions. This type of argument has become a key feature of social scientific studies of religion in the region, as already Daniela Kalkandjieva has pointed out in a 2011 study. In cases from Yugoslavia this argumentation and connection of religion and nationalism has blocked for a more nuanced description of the religious transformation of the religious communities in the period after the fall of communism. The local religious transformation of heritages, holy sites, communities and clergy are too often diminished and religion is instead interpreted to be “proxies”, “scenes” or “agents” for nationalism. The category of religion is emptied and nationalism seems to be all there is to say about religion. In this article it will be discussed what the danger are in such a simplification and, how it is possible to unblock the study of religion in the South East European context. This will be done through a critical revisiting of studies of religion in Montenegro and exemplified on some central cases from Montenegro. It is the intention of this article to craft a revised analytic strategy that on the one side keeps the attention on the connection between religion and nationalism, but at the same time acknowledge religion as a category in itself. Such an analytic frame can be used to nuance studies of religion in South East Europe.

Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movements. Edited by LukasPokorny and FranzWinter. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, Volume 16. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2018, Pp. xiv + 620. Hardback, $240.00; eBook, $ 217.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 44, Issue 4 p. 492-492 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: East Asia Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movements. Edited by Pokorny, Lukas and Winter, Franz. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, Volume 16. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2018, Pp. xiv + 620. Hardback, $240.00; eBook, $ 217.00. David W. Kim, Australian National UniversitySearch for more papers by this author David W. Kim, Australian National UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 18 December 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.13761Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume44, Issue4Special Issue: Religion and ScienceDecember 2018Pages 492-492 RelatedInformation

Introduction

This introduction offers an overall framework for the eight articles in this issue of the Journal of European Studies, which focus on Romanian identity and consciousness. It looks at the general history of Romania and the Republic of Moldova to show the evolution of consciousness over a century, since the formation of ‘Great Romania’ in 1918 to the present day. Aspects such as collective memory, migration, the change in the role of women, the crisis of the contemporary state, education and religion, as well as an overall crisis of patriarchy within a globalized context are discussed based on the analysis offered by the authors in their articles.

White sage, bears, and territory: contemporary indigenous religion among the Chumash

ABSTRACTSince the 1960s, indigenous revitalization has been widespread in Native North America. However, few systematic studies of contemporary indigenous religion exist. This article provides an in-depth analysis of revitalized beliefs and practices as they are lived among the Chumash of Southern California. Shaped by a colonial history that almost eradicated indigenous culture, Chumash tradition is reinterpreted through religious practices that ground it in local territory and anchor it in pre-Catholic traditions. Although postcolonial agendas are significant in indigenous Chumash religion has existential significance beyond ethnicity politics. Contemporary Paganism is employed as a comparative perspective to discuss how religion provides a way for individuals to define and explore their cultural specificities when they relate to and participate in globalized society. The practices of healing, cleansing, and divination as well as beliefs in the unity with animals, spirits, and ancestors form a framework not only for individuals’ search for meaning, but also for reestablishing community.

Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil, by Bettina E. Schmidt and Steven Engler

Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil, by Bettina E. Schmidt and Steven Engler

Religious Innovation and Competition in Contemporary African Christianity

ABSTRACTThis introductory essay lays out the main themes of a special issue of Journal of Contemporary African Studies which brings together six empirically grounded papers by African social scientists of different disciplinary backgrounds. These works touch on various aspects of the social impact of religious innovation and competition in present day African Christianity. They represent the first fruits on the social science side of an interdisciplinary initiative that made 23 research grants for theologians and social scientists to study Christianity and social change in contemporary Africa. These articles focus on a variety of dynamics in contemporary African religion (mostly Christianity), including gender, health and healing, social media, entrepreneurship, and inter-religious borrowing and accommodation. The editors conclude that the research and learning reflected in this volume will enhance understanding of religion’s vital entanglement in contemporary African society. The articles reveal problematic ethical and psychological dynamics in some of these new movements, particularly among some of the neo-Pentecostal groups. Yet the authors are determined to go beyond perspectives that are overly fixated with African problems and victimisation. They are keen to explore opportunities for understanding African agency and African wellsprings of hope. The editors conclude that scholars of religion and religiosity in Africa need to invest new conceptual and methodological energy in researching what it means to be actively religious in Africa today.

The Geist of Hegel Past and Present

Abstract This essay appreciates Taylor’s qualitative (rather than quantitative) approach to secularization, which has revolutionized recent discussions of this topic. Taylor’s earlier work on Hegel provides a context for interpreting his proposal in A Secular Age that Western societies are secularly religious or religiously secular—neither devoid of concern with transcendence, nor committed to theologically definite accounts of transcendence. Two major points of critique follow—first, that Hegelianism with its “immanent frame” excludes a distinctive Christian claim regarding Jesus’s incarnation; and, second, that Taylor’s hypothesis of faith “fragilized” by the “revisability” of contemporary religion needs empirical support to be fully credible. Taylor often represents religion as a lowest-common-denominator aspiration for something higher, rather than God coming to us incarnationally (John 1:14). Deism-with-transcendence is not Christianity. Taylor’s “fragilization” theory might mean that secularity, too, is “fragilized,” and it ought to provoke pastoral reflection on how “fragilized” faith might be stabilized.

An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Religion For the Religious Studies Scholar

This introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Implicit Religion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and religion will explore the some initial but important reasons why the interplay between these two fields should be of interest to the religious studies scholar. After introducing AI as well as elements of its cultural history and narratives, this article will lay out three arguments for researching AI and religion. First, that the potential disruption wrought by AI will effect society, and as religion and society are intrinsically intertwined these changes will have implications for religion. Second, that AI is potentially reinvigorating for contemporary religion, and may also incite the creation of new religious movements. And third, that AI’s uncertain status as a potential new intelligent being raises questions about personhood that religions have traditionally attempted to resolve based upon their theological understandings of the person, and that the continuing debate in this area will be of interest to scholars of religion.

Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil, edited by Bettina E. Schmidt and Steven Engler

Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil, edited by Bettina E. Schmidt and Steven Engler

Ritual and Recovery: Traditions in Disaster Ritualizing

AbstractThe aim of this article is partly to analyze and discuss the ritual traditions in the Norwegian context, called disaster services, which consists in ritualizing as a response to accidents and disasters. Furthermore, we find it relevant to understand these traditions in relation to two aspects of recovery: personal and social recovery. From a practical theological perspective, the new traditions are interesting for the understanding of how the churches work in situations where people have stressful experiences, and for developing an understanding of contemporary religion.

現代宗教としてのイスラーム : 世界的なウンマとモスクを中心とする地域コミュニティ(宗教の創りだす絆-信仰による交わりの意義と可能性-,公開シンポジウム, 第七十回学術大会紀要)

現代宗教としてのイスラーム : 世界的なウンマとモスクを中心とする地域コミュニティ(宗教の創りだす絆-信仰による交わりの意義と可能性-,公開シンポジウム, 第七十回学術大会紀要)

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s Lives

Book Review| July 01 2017 The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s Lives Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds., The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s Lives, Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016. 767 pp. Photographs, general presidencies, biographical directory, works cited, index. Hardback; $49.95; ISBN 978-1-62972-150-7. Cristina Rosetti Cristina Rosetti CRISTINA ROSETTI is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on American religious history and contemporary religion in the United States. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Mormon History (2017) 43 (3): 173–175. https://doi.org/10.5406/jmormhist.43.3.0173 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Cristina Rosetti; The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s Lives. Journal of Mormon History 1 July 2017; 43 (3): 173–175. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jmormhist.43.3.0173 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Mormon History Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2017 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2017 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.