Description Of Religion Research Articles

Василий Розанов: богоискательство как трагедия

Religion is the dominant aspect of Rozanov’s creativity. The main topics of Rozanov’s spiritual search include: God, the world and man are focused around this dominant. The peculiarity of this topics is the explication of intuition of a single whole. This intuition was realized by means of symbols that belong to the world of traditional religions. Rozanov’s creativity actualizes the opportunity of vision of religion as a phenomenon despite the prevalence of images of material things in his texts. This vision is based on a metaphysical foundation of suggestions, examined in the work “On Understanding”, where he understands religion as a temporal undetermined phenomenon. Contact with the world of religion allows us to explicate the human spirit as unity. Rozanov’s vision moves from a description of religion as unity to the description of single images of paganism, Judaism and the Christianity. Rozanov emphasizes this particular content, but his search is inspired by the doctrine of religion as having a certain potency. The realization of this certain potency is the historical development of religions, that conditions the occurrence of new religion in a cultural vacuum, and appears after the distraction of Christianity. The presentiment of metaphysical emptiness is the culmination of Rozanov’s search for God and at the same time the tragedy. Rozanov conceptualizes this intention as the absolutisation of particular things. The transparency of the religious search and the concentration on religion itself makes Rozanov’s position in some aspects close to the narrative of the classic phenomenology of religion. We study the creativity of Rozanov by means of historical-philosophical reconstruction, using elements of hermeneutic analysis.

Landscapes of Worship and of Death: The Imprint of Islam on the Cultural Landscape of Afghanistan in The Kite Runner

The paper is about the role of Islam in shaping the cultural landscape of Afghanistan under Taliban. Yi-Fu Tuan’s description of religion is used as a theoretical framework in this study, and it is juxtaposed to Taliban’s religious fanaticism. Afghanistan is addressed through the experiences and perceptions of Afghan characters in the The Kite Runner. The aim of this study is to explore the cultural landscape of Afghanistan after the Taliban held power during the years 1996-2001. The paper also aims at detecting the reason behind the discrepancy between Yi Fu Tuan’s description of religion and the humanitarian crisis that Taliban had created in Afghanistan.

Подступы к проекту новой феноменологии религии в творчестве Ниниана Смарта

The author considers a sketch the phenomenological study model of religion proposed by N. Smart. According to N. Smart, the phenomenology of religion should differ from the history of religion in the statement focusing on the structural description of religion not in its dynamics, but in statics, and should proceed from the fact that at different stages of the development of religion there are different normative pictures. N. Smart reduces all the variety of methods used by phenomenologists to two basic ones: an epoch and a neutral but evocative bracketing. Under the "epoch" of N. Smart understands psychological abstinence from value judgments, and defining "bracketing" he means putting the question of the reality of religious phenomena and their supernatural nature out of brackets. At the same time, the phenomenologist must simultaneously take into account both the fact that there is something real in religion and the fact that there is nothing except human actions, i.e. take into account both the reductive and non-reductive description of the phenomenon. Separately, the author considers the question of the influence of classical phenomenologists on N. Smart, since he was convinced that on the basis of individual developments of G. van der Leeuw, R. Otto and M. Eliade can create a discipline that would complement the general religious complex. The researcher shows that G. van der Leeuw influenced N. Smart most of all: with the help of the category of Force developed by him, N. Smart describes the process of the phenomenon interpolation into people's lives. The category of the numinous developed by R. Otto plays a significant role in N. Smart's model. N. Smart even creates the neologism "numinous forces" and speaks of "numinous charge". From M. Eliade N. Smart borrows the concepts of "illudtempus" and the dialectic of order and chaos.

PHILOSOPHY OF GANDHI: VIEWS ON RELIGION AND GOD

Religion, according to Gandhi, is more or less, a way of life, and as such is the personal concern of the individual who has to choose his way of life. Gandhi believes that different religions are the different ways of apprehending the Truth. The basic conviction of Gandhi is that there is one reality – that of God, which is nothing else but Truth. His religious ideas are also derived from that conviction. If Truth is God, sincere pursuit of Truth is religion. Religion is ordinarily defined as devotion to some higher power or principle, Gandhi is not against such a description of religion, he only qualifies it further by saying that higher principle being truth, devotion to Truth (or God) is religion. Gandhi believes that true religion has to be practical. Therefore, he says that religion should pervade every aspect of our life. Religion is the belief that there is an ordered moral government of the universe, and this belief must have practical bearings for all aspects of life. According to Gandhi there is no difference between religious ideal and metaphysical or moral ideal, the religious way is also the way of truth – Sathyagraha. This paper discuss about Gandhi’s ideas of God, religion, the way of religion and the religious harmony in the world.

The Postsecular – Jürgen Habermas, the Intellectual Dark Web, and Alexandr Dugin as (In)Voluntary Participants in a Global Dispositif

Abstract While being decipherable as a normative positing within a Euro-American genealogy, the conflictual discourse on “religion” and “science” should be seen as a potent globalized dispositif with local variants, ultimately shaping the reality of, not only active discourse participants, but all individuals, collectives, and institutions in its gravitational field. In order to explore, examine, and attempt to explain both perspectives on the postsecular era – i.e., as an entity emerging from discursive articulations and a force acting upon discourse itself – three very different, yet conceptually related types of recent articulations and their discursive connection can be taken into account: first, Jürgen Habermas’ Eurocentric and Christocentric description of religion and science in the postsecular era; second, the so-called Intellectual Dark Web’s fusion of religious and scientific discourse elements via a Judeo-Christian narrative; third, Alexandr Dugin’s ethno-nationalist formulation of collective identities with a strong emphasis on religious elements and a fundamental opposition to the “West.”

“At War ’Twixt Will and Will Not”: On Shakespeare’s Idea of Religious Experience in Measure for Measure

“Religions in Shakespeare’s Writings,” the title of this special issue, can prompt consideration not only of singular exceptions to the normative religious landscape but also of the ideas that support the banner under which a plurality of examples together may be described as “religious.” In recent years, readers of Shakespeare have devoted attention to exploring Shakespeare’s engagement with specific theological and sectarian movements in early modern Europe. Such work has changed how we view the relation between theater and its religious landscapes, but it may be that in focusing on the topical we overlook Shakespeare’s place among such sociologists and philosophers of religion as Montaigne, Hobbes, James, Weber, and Berger. To this end, I argue that in Measure for Measure Shakespeare uses law to synthesize certain aspects of religious experience from divergent corners. And drawing on descriptions of religion from anthropology and phenomenology, I suggest that Shakespeare unites his characters through patterns of action within this deadly exigency that demonstrate a shared experience of religion as a desire for salvation beyond the law.

"The Journey I Have Been Through": The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Aging Well Among HIV-Positive Older Adults.

The National Institutes of Health human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Aging Working Group identified spirituality as a research emphasis. This qualitative study examines the importance of religion and spirituality among 30 HIV-positive older adults. Using modified grounded theory, adults 50+ were recruited in Ontario, Canada, through AIDS service organizations, clinics, and community agencies. Descriptions of religion and spirituality encapsulated the idea of a journey, which had two components: the long-term HIV survivor profile combined with the experience of aging itself. A final category of HIV as a spiritual journey was finalized through consensus and included the properties of (1) being rejected by as well as rejection of formalized religion, (2) differentiating spirituality from religion, (3) having a connection, (4) feeling grateful, and (5) mindfulness and learning new skills. Interventions fostering resilience and strengths in HIV-positive older adults using spirituality should be considered, including the promotion of person-centered spirituality and interventions that include mindfulness and skill building.

Coping-Related Themes in Cancer Stories of Young Finnish Adults

Coping was expressed in terms of identity, context and practices in the life stories of 16 young adults with cancer. Religion functioned as part of the process within each of these three dimensions of coping. By utilizing K. I. Pargament’s studies of religious coping and R. Ganzevoort’s formulation of narrative religious coping, the article focuses on the descriptions of religion in the coping process of young adults with cancer. The results show that the Finnish Lutheran metanarrative still has an impact. However, theoretical adjustments must be made in order to understand these young adults’ accounts of religion and its significance.

Charles J. Adams Antara Reduksionisme dan Anti-Reduksionisme dalam Kajian Agama

This paper is about a critical survey of Charles J. Adams’ insights concerning the definition and nature of religion. We are particularly interested in digging up the logic and methodological inconsistency of Charles Adams as far as his offer on religious studies is concerned. Initially we were impressed by the power of his allusions. But the deeper we go the more we found out that his thought is replete with methodological incongruence. First, he is not certain about the definition of religion; an uncertainty that leads to a lot of fundamental errors in the description of religion as a whole. Second, he is not sure what line of argument he follows, the fact that leads to confusion whether he is reductionist or anti-reductionist. It is about this confusion that this paper is concerned with. Although a major part of this paper deals with religions in general, its theme and problems are of particular importance to the study of Islam.

Towards the unification of Christians and Marxists: struggle to end exploitation and oppression

This article, which is a paper in Philosophy of Religion, argues in defence of the thesis that the followers of Jesus and Marx must discard their prejudice and unite in the struggle to end exploitation and oppression particularly, in Nigeria. The paper discovers that Jesus Christ and Karl Marx were both revolutionary figures whose missions were the liberation of man from the evils of exploitation and oppression. The paper strongly criticizes Marx for failing to make the important distinction between the practice of religion and the spirit of religion and condemns, in very strong terms, Marx’s description of religion as the opium of the people. While acknowledging the fact that Marx, as a person, was an atheist, this paper maintains that Marxism as a philosophy is not atheistic, in view of the fact that atheism is not essential to Marxism. The paper insists that Marxian socialism or communism and religion firmly have the common objective of liberating man from exploitation and oppression and maintains that both must unite, if that objective is to be achieved. It was Marxian socialism’s attempt, in Russia, to liberate man from exploitation and oppression without the cooperation of religion that led to the failure of socialism in Russia, the paper maintains. Socialism, the paper insists, can only be brought to full realization on the basis of authentic religion, a fact Marx did not realize.

Colonialism, Biblical World-Making, and Temporalities in Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative

The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797) offers an unusual portrait of the dynamic relationship between scripture and colonialism. In 1789 Equiano, who also went by the name Gustavus Vassa, related his experience of slavery to support abolitionism in Britain in the form of a best-selling, two-volume autobiography titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself. Equiano's autobiography comprises a striking description of religion and culture among the Igbo of West Africa, the nation with which he identified by birth. According to Equiano, the Igbo were descended from ancient Jews, and their religion was a modern survival of ancient biblical religion. This claim, seemingly casual at first, is actually a complicated maneuver that reveals how deeply he had mined a trove of biblical commentary to shape his interesting narrative for a skeptical readership. The early modern genre of biblical commentary, which was deeply influenced by the exigencies of European colonialism, constitutes in its own right an authoritative literature that proved quite useful for Equiano.

The Long march: Xenophon and the ten thousand

The March of the Ten Thousand is one of the most famous military adventures in the ancient world. Its fearless army of Greek mercenaries marched through western Asia (modern Turkey and Iraq) in 401--399 B.C., their hopes and hardships recounted by Xenophon, the Athenian, an admiring pupil of Socrates. Xenophon's history of the Long March, or Anabasis, is a classic of Greek literature. In this book, twelve leading scholars explore the Anabasis, a deceptively simple and profoundly rich source of social and cultural history and the mentality of the ancient Greek participants. The contributors explore a wide range of topics, from Xenophon's values, motives, and manner as a writer to the outlook of his companions as mercenary soldiers, from his descriptions of religion in soldiers' lives to their relations with women, boys, and the many foreign peoples encountered during the march.

A THEOLOGY FOR EVOLUTION: HAUGHT, TEILHARD, AND TILLICH

Abstract. Paul Tillich and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin both have made contributions to a theology of evolution. In a 2002 essay John Haught expresses doubt that Tilllich's rather classical theology of “being” is radical enough to account for the “becoming” of evolution. Tillich's ontology of being includes the polarity of form and dynamics. Dynamics is the potentiality of being, that is, becoming. Tillich's dynamic dialectic of being and nonbeing is a more descriptive metaphor for the five mass extinctions of evolutionary history than Teilhard's progress. This dialectic is also a more realistic description of cosmic evolution. Tillich's “Kingdom of God” within history as well as “the End of History,” in contrast to Teilhard's Omega Point, does not appear to contradict the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which predicts that the universe will ultimately disintegrate. Haught's contrast/contact modes of relating science and religion would regard Teilhard's Omega Point as an expression of spiritual hope and purpose rather than a scientifically verifiable principle. The contrast/ contact position is consonant with Tillich's description of religion as part of the vertical dimension of ultimate concern and science as part of the horizontal dimension of relationships between finite objects. Tillich did not share Teilhard's optimistic vision of the future.

DER ÖLBAUM UND SEINE FRUCHT IN DER KULTUR UND IM KULT DES ALTERTUMS

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Summary A fundamental problem for those who are engaged in the study of religions is the fact that many followers—in the case of an existing religion—do not recognize themselves in the description of that particular religion given by scholars. Descriptions of religions, especially of religions that are now extinct, are based on sacred texts and on traditions and interpretations that are transmitted in texts. In order to explain these texts and traditions very often a scholar has recourse to modern concepts like symbol and myth which obscure the relation between the religious experience and the reality with which this experience is connected. The present paper deals with an example: the olive tree and its fruit in the cultural and religious experience of people in Greco-Roman, Jewish and Christian antiquity.

The Historian and the Study of International Relations

THE CUSTOM OF INVITING DISTINGUISHED FOREIGN SCHOLARS to become honorary members of the American Historical Association goes back to the year 1885; and the first of them were Leopold von Ranke, William Stubbs, Samuel Rawson Gardiner, and Theodor Mommsen. This was a formidable quartet, and their names are still capable of causing an involuntary nod of respect when they are mentioned; but I should be surprised to learn that their works were much read now. The importance of reading the older works even in one's special field seems to have diminished as a result of the great expectations of new discoveries engendered by the invention of scientific techniques for exploiting the archives;' and, as for general reading, so many books roll off the presses every year that it is easy to conclude that there is no time for reading the classics, which are, in any case, oldfashioned and out of date. This prejudice, for that is what it is, sometimes makes our critical judgments unbalanced, if not naive. It was surprising to find, in the special issue of the Journal of Modern History devoted to Fernand Braudel's The Mediterranean,2 no mention of Mommsen's Roman History, although it too dealt with the Mediterranean as a physical and human unit and discussed such questions as overlapping civilizations, the Jews as a separate civilization, and the extension of Mediterranean culture to the Western world, and although it included descriptions of religion, money, industry, agriculture, the institutions and economy of war, architecture, art and literature, public morality, crime, cuisine, and other aspects of Mediterranean life from Egypt to Spain that are as rich as, and perhaps more disciplined than, Braudel's.3

On Peter Berger's Definition of Religion

Peter L. Berger (Berger, 1974a) has proposed definitions and descriptions of religion. The purpose of his efforts is to place some boundaries around area of scientific study of religion. Berger is much concerned with such dichotomies as secular (the mundane, the ordinary safe of everyday life, and the ordinary, everyday 'life-world' ), and religious (ecstacies, the 'otherness' of religious experience, transcendental). He is worried that scientific study of religion must exhibit methodological atheism and would lead to secularization, which to him is a progressive loss of plausability to religious views of reality (p. 132), and to flattening out of' religious phenomenon and greyness of view of reality. Berger is wary of defining: many definitions of religion are really reductionist; others are really post hoc rationalizations; some are used ideologically. He stresses transcendence and transcendental in connection with religion, almost to point of making them sine qua non of religion. Elsewhere he (Berger, 1974b) states that religions are many sided and gigantic effort to come to terms with experience of transcendence, and that transcendence is human life experience of world of uncanny, of totally other, in which assumptions of life no longer hold. Berger's dichotomy of transcendence-religion and daily living is not universally shared. For example, in normative Judaism every act from moment of awakening in morning to that of going to sleep at night is an act of worship. And this holds true for some aspects of Islam and Hinduism. Jensen (Jensen 1951: 203) parallels this in his quotation from Kant that all duties are divine commands and awe is not special act of religion but rather religious temper in all our actions done in conformity with duty. However, it should be noted that Berger (Berger, 1974a: 132) feels uneasy about this dichotomy: at one point he says that ecstacies are domesticated by channelling them into socially acceptable and useful activity such as moral conduct. Berger, however, mentions mundane act of study as a preliminary to religious mysticism. Judaism, however, considers study as higher than prayers, etc., and, therefore, to devout Jew study is not trigger to religious experience; it is religious experience. Religion is better defined as system of practices and ideas, or perhaps better

Christomonism in Karl Barth’s Evaluation of the Non-Christian Religions

One of the sharpest and most constant criticisms which Paul Althaus leveled against Karl Barth's views of the non-Christian world was that of Christomonism. Althaus feit that the basic lack and the abiding sin in Barth's evaluation of the religions was his narrow, restrictive, exclusive understanding of the reality of Christ, which bans all extra-Christian reality into the realm of meaninglessness and godlessness. Althaus, indeed, was not alone in such accusations.. He voiced an objection which, he feit, every Christian theologian must make: because Barth's vision of Christ was too narrow, too "monistic", because he set undue limitations on Christ — he missed the breadth of God's plan of salvation and the religions' role in this plan. Barth' understanding of religion and the religions is christomonistic — and therefore to be rejected. Is such a diagnosis correct? Unfortunately, Althaus, like many of Barth's critics, never spelled out in detail just how Christomonism vitiated his views of the religions. Others, therefore, warn of oversimplifying or misinterpreting Barth's sweeping, harshly condemnatory Statements on the religions. The "Theologischer Konvent Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses" in 1963 cautioned against making a "Popanz" of Barth's description of religions in the Kirchliche Dogmatik* And more recently

Dokumentationsproblemer indenfor arkæologien

Dokumentationsproblemer indenfor arkæologien

The Description of Religion

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Description of ReligionA. S. WoodburneA. S. Woodburne Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 24, Number 3Jul., 1920 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/480137 Views: 308 Journal History This article was published in The American Journal of Theology (1897-1920), which is continued by The Journal of Religion (1921-present). PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.