Issues Of Religion Research Articles

Intellectual history as a direction in the methodology of historical research

This article addresses the increased interest in intellectual history as a line of research. Additionally, focus is placed on the subject of intellectual history research, which covers many types of human creative activity. The authors of the article see it, rather, not as a subdiscipline of history, but as an interdisciplinary field focused on clarifying problems and drawing attention to boundaries, and believes that it should not follow one “correct” approach. The authors contend that the issues of religion and identity, problems of collective motivation, and our relationship with the natural world are important topics in intellectual history today. Intellectual history offers what other areas of history could not. Historians’ claims are more restrained than those of philosophers and social scientists. In modern intellectual history, the desire to unite the efforts of all specialists whose professional interests are associated with the study of various types of human creative activity, including its conditions, forms and results, prevails. This, however, does not deny the existence of more moderate versions of “intellectual history”, limited to the study of exclusively the intellectual sphere of consciousness, in particular the outstanding personalities of the past. Thus, in their scientific quest, intellectual historians can turn to disciplines such as economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, philosophy, literature and its criticism, but at the same time they should not neglect their own task and the restrictions imposed by their cultural horizons and disciplinary rules. When building a cultural context, intellectual history becomes an internal part of cultural history, and cultural history serves as the external side of intellectual history; therefore, historians should pay attention to both the internal and external. Key words: intellectual history, methodology, history of ideas, sociohistoricism, culture, mindset, history of mentalities, creativity, explanation

Intelligent Parallel Mixed Method Approach for Characterising Viral YouTube Videos in Saudi Arabia

In social networking platforms, comprehending vi-rality, exemplified by YouTube, is of great importance, which helps in understanding what characteristics utilised to create content along with what dynamics involved in contributing to YouTube’s strength as a platform for sharing content. The current literature surrounding virality problem appears sparse concern-ing development theories, investigations regarding empirical facts, and an understanding of what makes videos go viral. The over-arching objective is to understand deeply the phenomena of viral YouTube videos in Saudi Arabia, hence we propose an intelligent convergent parallel mixed-methods approach that begins, as an internal step, by a qualitative thematic analyses method and an NLP-based quantitative method independently, followed by training an unsupervised clustering model for integrating the internal analysis outputs for deeper insights. We have empirically analysed some trended YouTube videos along with their contents, for studying such phenomena. One of our main findings revealed that boosting entertainments, traditions, politics, and/or religion issues when making a video, that is associated in somehow with sarcastic or rude remarks, is likely the preeminent impulse for letting a regular video go viral.

Teaching Representations of the French ed. by Julia Douthwaite Viglione et al.

Reviewed by: Teaching Representations of the French ed. by Julia Douthwaite Viglione et al. Jessica L. Sturm Douthwaite Viglione, Julia, et al., eds. Teaching Representations of the French Revolution. MLA, 2019. ISBN 978-1-60329-400-3. Pp. 368. To quote the editors, "the Revolution was not one event but a complicated web of often brutal actions, interactions, and reactions" (1). Fittingly, this book presents several approaches to teaching the Revolution through a variety of cultural lenses and from multiple (and often interdisciplinary) perspectives, for example military history, hip-hop, and caricature. Christopher Tozzi points out the lack of courses covering military history and provides examples for integrating French Revolutionary history in the classroom. Séverine Rebourcet shows that hip-hop and the Revolution have in common issues of identity, religion, and heritage. As we know from Hamilton and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, hip-hop is the music of revolution itself. Melanie Conroy uses the Revolution and the ideas and laws of the First Republic to demonstrate how Charlie Hebdo developed in France. As she mentions, there is no equivalent [End Page 191] publication in the United States, which leaves American students unable to grasp Charlie Hebdo's place in French culture. Other approaches include theater, human rights, mass media, and the global impact of the Revolution during the nineteenth century through our current times. One particularly striking feature of every essay is that the authors make connections, whether implicit or explicit, between the French Revolution and present-day issues, including immigration, the role of the government, women's rights, and propaganda. In this way, beyond providing ways to teach the Revolution, the text makes an excellent argument for teaching it and suggests why students, or citizens of the world, should understand that period of history. To this end, in particular, one co-authored essay provides approaches for both French language and world history classes. Additionally, the authors provide ideas for applying the themes and concepts of the Revolution to other events, ideas, eras, and movements. The text serves as an excellent reference book on the Revolution, its major themes and players, as well as a teaching manual for courses in French history, culture, and current events. It is an excellent read for its own sake, as well as an important pedagogical tool. Jessica L. Sturm Purdue University (IN) Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French

Relationships between Czech and Slovak scholars between the years of 1850 and 1882

Slovak scholars maintained close contacts with the Czech milieu in the 19th century, for which there are several reasons (for example, the historical background, related to the issue of language and religion, the political situation in the Habsburg Monarchy). This paper sheds light on certain types of cooperation which took place between Czech and Slovak scholars between the years 1850 and 1882: cooperation in the field of journalism, publishing and editing the first Czech encyclopaedia.

The Yankee in Catholic Ireland: Dorothy Gresham’s Dungar Sketches in the Catholic World, 1896–98

The Yankee in Catholic Ireland: Dorothy Gresham’s Dungar Sketches in the Catholic World, 1896–98 Marguérite Corporaal (bio) The Catholic World, a periodical founded by the Paulist Fathers in New York in 1865 to cater to a growing Catholic intellectual population, did not specifically address an Irish American readership, but was concerned with Catholicism across the globe. Nonetheless, this monthly periodical published many articles related to Catholicism in Ireland, its North American diaspora, as well as the Irish character and land issues, and not just during its first decade when the Famine generation became socially mobile, but also in the 1890s when—as studies by Charles Fanning and Peter O’Neill show—an Irish American middle class became more visible.1 The Catholic World’s engagement with Ireland becomes clear from various pieces concerned with the history of Irish Catholicism, discussions of Ireland’s land politics and Britain’s rule of the sister isle, Ireland’s industries, the Celtic Revival, as well as travelogues about Ireland’s specific regions.2 An example of the latter is a series of semi-autobiographical sketches by writer Dorothy Gresham, published between August 1896 and April 1898. These sketches focus on the main character’s journey from New York to Dungar, Co. Offaly. Fresh out of school in New York, Dolly travels to see relatives in Ireland she has never visited before. We know next to nothing about the author herself, apart from the fact that she was a regular contributor of fiction to Catholic World, writing stories like “The Delinquents” (July 1896), which addresses religious tensions between communities in Ontario. [End Page 161] The “Dungar” stories appear to have been inspired by the then popular genre of local color fiction, a common genre in the magazine, which aimed to record the traditions, language, and ways of life of a rural community in a specific region,3 and often explored the “the clash between modern and pre- or anti-modern without overly romanticizing or mystifying rural life.”4 Furthermore, scholars like Judith Fetterley and Marjorie Pryse have viewed the genre as a tool in the consolidation of shared identities among geographically remote communities.5 This article will explore Gresham’s sketches against the background of the genre’s conventions, while focusing on how these short narratives specifically represent issues of religion and identity formation. “Christmas Day in Dungar” (December 1897) and “The Station Mass” (February 1898), in particular, comment on Irish Catholicism from a US perspective. Furthermore, “Good-By” (April 1898) explores the complex nature of Irish American identity in terms of religious loyalties. The following analyses will investigate religious practice and conflict in Gresham’s “Dungar” tales, in light of concepts such as transnational identity formation and nostalgia. A Past of Religious Persecution That Gresham’s stories tap into the genre of local color fiction is evident from the first episode, “Where the Turf Fires Burn,” published in August 1896. The narrative provides a catalog of local customs such as turf cutting. The greater part of the sketches are, however, devoted to the religious life of the villagers, describing the community’s interaction with the Catholic clergy and mass rituals from the perspective of a Catholic American, the first-person narrator, Dolly. One thing that stands out is the narrator’s recurrent emphasis on Irish Catholics and their past suffering under Ireland’s penal laws, which limited the rights of Catholics. Already when she arrives in Queenstown, Co. Cork (present-day Cobh), Dolly finds that the spires of the Cathedral that “loom above the water” as well as a cross that “shines out over the harbour” are “gloriously suggestive of the trials and victories of those brave children of St. Patrick.”6 “The Station’s Mass,” which describes preparations for mass and confession at a local farmhouse, likewise foregrounds the suffering of Catholics worldwide and specifically in Ireland under the penal laws. The scene of worship is not set in an official church or chapel but a kitchen, just as Catholics during the penal days had to resort to other settings to hold Mass.7 Drawing analogies between the persecution of the first Christians in the Roman empire and the Irish...

Islamic perspective on the social cataclysms in the history of Kazakhstan (on the example of the heritage of the school “Zar zaman”)

The texts of traditional poetry «Zar zaman» («the era of sorrow») are a special reflection of the pessimistic, anti-colonial and religious sentiments of the Kazakhs in connection with the negative perception in the collective memory of the colonial system of the Russian Empire on the territory of Kazakhstan. These samples of poetry, which illustrate the Islamic self-consciousness of educated Kazakhs, such as the poets Shortanbai, Dulat, Murat, and others, remained insufficiently studied during the Soviet period. Although over the years of political Independence in Kazakhstan, an objective study of this topic has begun, but in the available studies, a philological approach prevails, and the connection with Islam is not considered. The spiritual heritage of the Kazakh school «Zar zaman» requires deep interdisciplinary research. It is not excluded that they can be used as alternative historical sources in the study of issues of religion, ethnic consciousness and culture of Kazakhs. In these works, created by the Kazakh poets of a religious and philosophical direction that are opposed to the political regime, a peculiar Kazakh historical self-consciousness is reflected, an interesting interpretation of the civilizational conflict between the empire and the nomads is given. At the same time, the general characteristic of the “Zar zaman” school is regret and lamentation over the fact of political defeat from tsarism and the moral degradation of the people in the spirit of the religious and eschatological ideas of Sharia and Sufism. The poetry texts “Zar zaman” are interesting in the context of the discourse on Kazakh Islamic identity related to the 19th century, since the assessment of social cataclysms in them is given in accordance with one of the main plots of the Muslim worldview - the expectation of the End of the World (“Akyr zaman”).

'I think one of the ways they will help is to create awareness': primary school teachers' perceptions of cardiovascular diseases in Nigeria.

The increasing incidence and prevalence of non-communicable diseases is a major global health concern. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) account for the highest percentage of deaths related to non-communicable diseases, and low and middle-income countries (LMIC) face the highest burden of CVDs. Understanding the knowledge and perception of CVDs and their risk factors in an LMIC such as Nigeria may play an important role in cardiovascular health promotion and improvement plans to reduce CVD-related deaths. A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews to gain an in-depth understanding of some personal and sociocultural views on CVDs and their risk factors. The participants were purposively sampled primary school teachers in South-Eastern Nigeria. Thematic analysis approach was used for data analysis. The study findings include knowledge of heart disease, perceived causes and risk factors of CVDs, spirituality, and the way forward. Overall, the knowledge of CVDs in the setting was found to be related to the psychosocial nature of the participants; the effectiveness of any intervention needs to take these factors into consideration. For example, health policies for CVD health education and awareness should be tailored to address some of the issues of belief, values, and religion, as mentioned in the study.

Захист права на життя: окремі аспекти в контексті сучасних ризиків

The article deals with certain aspects of the protection of the right to life in the context of contemporary risks. In particular, the use of the death penalty, artificial termination of pregnancy (abortion), which is relevant to issues of morality, religion and medicine, the use of euthanasia as a deprivation of life, the deprivation of life resulting from the absolutely

The Return of Religion and the Problem of Radical Evil: A Case Study of Russia’s War in Ukraine

The article analyses the case of Russia’s war in Ukraine by focusing on the ambivalent relationship between radical evil and the “return of the religious”. First, the revival of politicised religious fundamentalism in contemporary Russia is examined by discussing the relationship between the state and the church and its concretisation in the field of foreign policy – the “Russian World” teaching. The article shows how the Russian Orthodox Church legitimises a project that pursues geopolitical goals and justifies the started war as a metaphysical fight against evil. Attention is drawn to the fact that in this case we are dealing with a kind of “secular religion” or “inverted secularism”, when ecclesial forms are used to revive the Soviet imperialism, and faith is replaced by beliefs. Next, when considering the analysed case in the context of the “return of the religious” reflected by Jacques Derrida and Gianni Vattimo, the emphasis is not only on the principle of violence (which is born from the fusion of political and religious discourses), but also on the positive possibilities of this return, which aforementioned thinkers elaborated by formulating the concepts of elementary faith and ethics of charity. At the same time, the article shows that these concepts lack an existential focus that would allow the problem of radical evil to be grasped at the level of individual existence. Therefore, to highlight the existential aspect of radical evil, the concepts of the perverse will, “grey zone” and impossible hope are used.

Religion and Politics in the Post-Soviet Russia (Example of Islam)

In the article, the author uses the example of Islam to examine the interconfessional relations, developing in the Russian Federation in the context of return of religion and religious beliefs to public life (revival of religion). This process affects both institutional aspects (evolution of the state’s federal structure, political system, formation of civil society) and value aspects of religion, such as its influence on the political culture of society, ideology of federalism and change in the content of secularism of the state. J. Habermas’ theory of deliberative democracy, the concepts of post-secular society and federalism, as well as the civilizational approach are used as the methodological base of the research. The author justifies his conclusion about the necessity to ensure respect for religious values while preserving the secular nature of the Russian state as an asymmetric Federation.

MENANGGULANGI HOAKS DAN UJARAN KEBENCIAN BERMUATAN ISU SUKU, AGAMA, RAS, DAN ANTARGOLONGAN DI TAHUN POLITIK

The big challenge of Indonesia in the political year (2018-2019) is the rise of hoax and expressions of hatred, especially with issues of ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA). Both of them have the potential to be a nation-dividing tool. Islamic Tertiary Institutions have the responsibility to reduce the spread of hoaxes and expressions of hatred, based on the Tri Dharma of Higher Education. This research illustrates the strategy of IAIN Surakarta to overcome SARA hoaxes and expressions of hatred issues in the political year. Theoretically, media literacy includes two things: individual competence consisting of technical skills and critical understanding, and social competence in communicative abilities. In conclusion, the effort to overcome hoaxes and hate speech by IAIN Surakarta is to build critical attitudes of students and the community through various activities, such as: seminars, discussions, community service based study programs, and collaboration with anti-hoax communities. In addition, IAIN Surakarta also strengthened religious moderation through several ways, such as lecturing in community, classroom teaching, and research. Thus, critical understanding and technical skills as aspects of media literacy can be developed.

San Antonio de Lisboa y “el Santo”: entre la veneración y la (¿simple?) ficción

La veneración cristiana de los santos, en especial la católica romana y la ortodoxa, plantean dificultades a la crítica de la religión cuando trata de percibir la autenticidad de la fe del creyente devoto. Ha sucedido y continúa sucediendo, respecto de san Antonio de Padua, un caso relevante en este aspecto. El presente ensayo muestra el itinerario de su vida y de algunas facetas de lo acontecido en varias latitudes tras la proclamación de su santidad, de tal manera que se procuró revisar cuánto hay de construido a lo largo de la historia y quizá de legendario en “el Santo” de los nueve siglos sucesivos a su muerte. Y proponiendo al final, con el mismo método hermenéutico que interpreta los diversos hechos, los presupuestos para una comprensión nueva de la ficción que en torno a él ha ido entretejiéndose.

MEASURING THE IDENTITY, LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND TRANSFORMATIVE POLITICS: A CRITICAL CASE OF THE JAKARTA GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION 2017

The Jakarta Gubernatorial Election 2017 is an important momentum for improving and evaluating the quality of democracy at the local level. Various issues of religion, ethnicity, as well as differences in political support, colored both in the first and second round. Anies-Sandi's victory in this local election is interesting to study further by using the political representation approach by Olle Törnquist. The results of this study showed that voters have been polarized through strengthening religious and ethnic sentiments so it can be ignored the factor of achievement, capacity, and track record of candidates. Extensive efforts to spread identity politics were carried out through various movements and actors. The quality of political participation among DKI Jakarta residents can also be seen from the extent of voter autonomy and literacy in determining positions. Based on those results, a critical discussion of the Jakarta Gubernatorial Election 2017 will be a reflection of useful learning to observe the political climate, which transform relation to connect or disconnect relations between constituent and their representative.

Introduction to “Religions in Shakespeare’s Writings”

This special issue of Religions on “Religions in Shakespeare’s Writings” invited contributors to explore the gamut of religious issues and characterizations throughout Shakespeare’s writings [...]

REALITAS ERA VICTORIA DALAM CERPEN “NELAYAN DAN JIWANYA” KARYA OSCAR WILDE: KAJIAN HERMENEUTIKA GADAMER* (Reality of Victorian Era in Oscar Wilde’s Short Story: “Nelayan dan Jiwanya”: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics Study)

The purpose of this study is to find out reality and morality in Oscar Wilde’s short story entitled Nelayan dan Jiwanya (“NdJ”) written by Oscar Wilde. This study applied Gadamer’s hermeneutics approach. The hermeuneutic procedure of Gadamer’s is dialogic involving historicity and prejudice. Hermeneutics is an interpretative concept towards symbols, traditions, actions, texts, and other forms of concrete materials. The method established in this study is a qualitative descriptive one. It lead the researcher to describing the background of the historical text and the author’s prejudice. The result of this study shows that the description of reality and morality in the Victorian Era, for instance women style or fashion and life, religion issues and atheism, poverty and slavery. Keywords: hermeneutics, gadamer, victorian

Introduction to the Special Issue “Current Trends in New Testament Study”

This special issue of Religions focuses on seven of the most important formal methods used to interpret the New Testament today [...]

ASPECTS OF INCULTURATION OF NEOPENTECOSTALISM IN THE CONDITIONS OF A POLICONFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Purpose: The article discusses aspects of the inculturation of neo-Pentecostal churches in a multi-confessional environment. Methodology: The authors describe the introductions of elements of the Orthodox cult and Orthodox spiritual culture into the religious practice of neo-Pentecostal churches, based on data from field studies conducted in 2015-2017 in Kazan.Results: The article raises issues of changing religion in a late modern society and under the influence of the processes of glocalization and globalization. Applications: This research can be used for universities, teachers, and students. Novelty/Originality: This research is devoted to the problems of inculturation of neo-Pentecostal churches in a multi-confessional environment and religion change issues in the context of glocalization and globalization processes.

Gendered Embodiment of the Ethnographer during Fieldwork in a Conflict Region of India

ABSTRACT Militarization and various forms of state repression are continuous factors shaping daily life and practices in Manipur. Within this context my paper grapples with the impossibility of preparing for ethnographic fieldwork in a conflict region. What does it mean to work as a lone woman researcher and to negotiate various subjectivities like gender, class, and caste during fieldwork in a conflict region? I unpack the experience of preparing for ‘fieldwork’ and what it entails by focusing on the gendered experience of power differentials and negotiations of various subjectivities. I explain how I negotiated my identity as a researcher in the field, what it entailed, and how my gender and marital status affected my interactions. I entered the field as an autonomous doctoral researcher but was reduced to dependency as a presumed unmarried woman. When I faced challenges working with a women’s collective on the issue of religion, it reoriented my study. Finally, I look at some ways in which I practiced self-care through seeking support from informal networks of friendships, support from my partner, journaling and giving time to myself to process the conflicting emotions I felt during fieldwork.

MUTUAL ENHANCEMENT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE EPIPHANY PHILOSOPHERS

AbstractThis article describes some key features of the distinctive approach to issues in science and religion of the Epiphany Philosophers (EPs), and introduces a set of articles from a recent meeting. The objective of the EPs is not merely to establish harmonious coexistence between science and religion. Rather, they are dissatisfied with both, and have a reformist agenda. They see science as unduly constrained by arbitrary metaphysical assumptions, predominantly of an atheist kind, and wish to see it liberated from such constraints. They are also interested in the potential contribution of contemplative enquiry to scientific research. They see no reason why science should not engage with the transcendent, but they do not support any simplistic argument from scientific research to religious belief. They wish to see an approach to religion that is rooted more firmly in the contemplative path.

Gramsci and the issue of religion: Catholic modernism and the Italian Partito Popolare

ABSTRACTGramsci's interest in Italian politics led him to tackle a key issue in the present-day discourse: the relationship between the Holy See and the national State. Additionally, he paid close attention to internal issues of Christianity, from its origins to his own times and – similar to many other socialist thinkers – he believed that there were several echoes between the early Christian experiences and contemporary socialism. From this arose his concern with the religious crisis of the early twentieth century – so-called ‘Modernism’ – as well as the story of the Partito Popolare (Popular Party, PPI), the organization founded by the priest Luigi Sturzo after the First World War, which was marked – especially amongst its left-wing components – by its anti-fascist positions.