Modern Religion Research Articles

Understanding the Good: Medieval Inquisitions and Modern Religion

Abstract This essay responds to scholarly arguments that “religion” arose in the particular circumstances of the modern West, distinct chronologically and conceptually from medieval religio. It argues that in the Middle Ages, Christian persecution helped to form that very notion of religion. It does so via the register of heresy inquisitions conducted by Bishop Jacques Fournier in Pamiers (1318–1325), which contains a curious and overlooked Occitan phrase: entendensa del be (“understanding of the good”). In three provocative ways, entendensa del be helps us to reconsider the origins of “religion.” First, one possibility is that the phrase represents an organic proto-religion among the heretics known as Good Christians. A second possibility is, conversely, that scribes presented an insignificant phrase as a technical term, helping to identify the group as heretical. This would highlight coercive inquisitorial agency in reinterpreting language and behavior, anticipating early-modern and modern constructors of “religion.” Third, by its links to troubadour culture, the phrase reminds us how in Occitania, conquest and resistance intertwined with inquisition's policing of “religious” behavior in a way that resembles claims for modernity. Regardless of which possibility, and most importantly, we discover how medieval persecution helped to form modern religion.

FEATURES AND MAIN TYPOLOGIES OF THE ORIGINAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND CULTS

The article focuses on the research in the field of religious studies and the history of religion, specifically, the original religious cults and beliefs. The original beliefs are the basis of any modern religion. It is important to understand the history of formation of the ideas from the original communities’ times to the first states and up to current times. They allow us to better understand the religious beliefs and practices of our ancestors, as well as to find out how they influenced the formation of culture and society. Important aspects of the original religious beliefs, such as animism, totemism, fetishism, magic, and shamanism, which caused the formation of complex religious systems, are analyzed in the article. The original sources of well-known anthropologists, historians of religion of the 19th-21st centuries, which were not translated into Ukrainian, were analyzed, translated and introduced into scientific circulation. In the modern world, studying the original religious beliefs is important not only from a scientific point of view, but also from cultural and ethical points of view, as it allows to enhance our understanding and respect for the diversity of religions and cultures. The original religious beliefs have many unique features that distinguish them from more developed religious traditions. The original beliefs went beyond pure metaphysical explanations and included a variety of social and ethical aspects that were important for the formation of cultures and communities. Religious practices such as totemism and taboos played an important role in the lives of original communities and are key components of their religious traditions. In addition, original religious beliefs reflect many of the complex relationships between humans and nature, as well as our feelings and thoughts about life and death. These concepts reflect complex beliefs and practices that arose within original people groups and became key components of their religious traditions.

Religion after Critique

Abstract In the last few decades, religion and its terms have shown to be implicated in projects of colonial modernity. While this critique of religion is now generally accepted, the term continues to be used in the field with little regard to its history and its colonial construction. This essay aims to bring greater attention to the continuing relevance of religion in contemporary society as articulated in postcolonial scholarship. It proposes closer attention to the critique of religion in the work of David Chidester, Talal Asad and Charles Long. Two distinct dimensions of religion are identified in their work. The first is a construction of religion in colonial modernity, while the second suggests ways of studying religions in light of this construction. I show in this essay that their work points to multiple complementary ways of studying religions in the contemporary. Their work suggests that the field of religious studies cannot ignore its discursive history and construction.

An Examination of Talal Asad's Thought in Anthropological Studies on the Islamic Community of the Sasak Tribe of Lombok

The island of Lombok is inhabited by the Sasak tribe with the majority of the people being Muslim. This island is located in the small Sunda range in the central region of Indonesia. The Sasak tribe as the original inhabitants of the island of Lombok, which is also nicknamed the island of a thousand mosques, has a variety of unique religious traditions and rituals that we can only find on the island of Lombok. so many traditions in Lombok itself are still closely related to Islam. As well as the maulidan tradition, Lebaran ketupat, and several other traditions. Discussions related to Islamic tradition have been studied by many figures in the world, one of which is Talal Asad. It should also be noted that Talal Asad has criticized the textualization of social life, his work has shifted analysis through behavioral interpretation and towards an investigation into the relationship of practice with what he calls "discursive tradition." Asad introduced this concept in his intervention into Islamic anthropology but also linked it to several fields (anthropology, religious studies, postcolonial studies, critical theory) concerned with ethics and religion in modernity. Through this article, the author would like to invite readers to jointly understand the context of Islamic anthropology based on customs, traditions, and the writings of figures such as Talal Asad. This article is expected to be able to provide education to the public regarding Islam on the island of Lombok, then the history of Islam on the island of Lombok, customs, traditions, and its review based on Talal Asad's anthropology.

Parallel trajectories and theorizations of religion and family in modernity: Toward an institutional logics perspective

Scholars theorize the effect of modernization on religious and familial institutions in a parallel way. Some argue that both are irreversibly in decline—as secularization and deinstitutionalization, respectively—while others argue that they have either merely changed or are in fact growing stronger. However, correctly interpreting institutional change depends not only on how one evaluates the empirical starts and endpoints but also on how one defines the domains under change themselves. In this paper, I examine these debates, detail the structural similarities in their arguments, and outline a new analytical approach informed by recent work in institutional logics to better answer the definitional questions. Theorizing both institutions together and their parallel trajectories in modernity reveals unique insights about the scholarly discourse on modernization and is especially important given the unique influence of religion and family on one another as (seemingly) privatized spheres of social life.

THE ORIGINAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: ORIGINS AND TYPOLOGY

The article focuses on the research in the field of religious studies and the history of religion, specifically, the original religious cults and beliefs. The original beliefs are the basis of any modern religion. It is important to understand the history of formation of the ideas from the original communities’ times to the first states and up to current times. They allow us to better understand the religious beliefs and practices of our ancestors, as well as to find out how they influenced the formation of culture and society. Important aspects of the original religious beliefs, such as animism, totemism, fetishism, magic, and shamanism, which caused the formation of complex religious systems, are analyzed in the article. The original sources of well-known anthropologists, historians of religion of the 19th-21st centuries, which were not translated into Ukrainian, were analyzed, translated and introduced into scientific circulation. In the modern world, studying the original religious beliefs is important not only from a scientific point of view, but also from cultural and ethical points of view, as it allows to enhance our understanding and respect for the diversity of religions and cultures. The original religious beliefs have many unique features that distinguish them from more developed religious traditions. The original beliefs went beyond pure metaphysical explanations and included a variety of social and ethical aspects that were important for the formation of cultures and communities. Religious practices such as totemism and taboos played an important role in the lives of original communities and are key components of their religious traditions. In addition, original religious beliefs reflect many of the complex relationships between humans and nature, as well as our feelings and thoughts about life and death. These concepts reflect complex beliefs and practices that arose within original people groups and became key components of their religious traditions.

Knowledge and perceptions of religious leaders towards HIV prevention among young people in Lira district, Northern Uganda: a qualitative study

BackgroundCurrently, 410,000 new HIV infections among youth occur worldwide, which is a significant public health issue. Members of the clergy can be trustworthy allies in the reduction of HIV infections among the youth. However, little is known regarding their knowledge as well as the perceptions they hold towards HIV prevention among young people. Thus, we explored the knowledge and perceptions of religious leaders regarding HIV prevention among young people (15–24 years) in Lira district.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional qualitative study conducted among 20 religious’ leaders in March 2021 in Lira district. Religious leaders were sampled purposively and recruited from modern religions (beliefs influenced by Christianity or Islam) in Lira district. Guides for key informant interviews were utilized to gather information. Each interview was audio recorded, transcribed, and entered into NVivo version 12 software, and the data was then ready for analysis. The main themes were determined using thematic analysis.ResultsAlthough a few individuals had some misconceptions, the majority of participants had good knowledge about the transmission and prevention of HIV. Participants knew awareness creation, abstinence, and faithfulness in marriage as HIV prevention strategies and held positive perceptions. Perceived barriers to HIV prevention involvement were lack of knowledge and training and inadequate resources, whereas motivating factors were being respected and trusted and having easy access to young people.ConclusionIn conclusion, religious leaders show limited HIV prevention knowledge due to religious beliefs, but understand the importance of measures like abstinence. Despite the challenges, their involvement is crucial. Addressing knowledge gaps and providing support is vital. Future efforts should emphasize both behavioral measures and interventions like condom use, post-exposure prophylaxis, and pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Perjanjian Dengan Maut dan Galau Di Laut Selatan: Representasi Jejak Mistis Nyai Roro Kidul dalam Sistem Kepercayaan Masyarakat Jawa

The mystical figure of Nyi Roro Kidul has been passed down from generation to generation and manifested in worship rituals, sacred places, dances, paintings and films. Even though the story of Nyi Roro Kidul contradicts modern religion, it is still an aspect of the Javanese belief system. This article discusses the role of the Nyi Roro Kidul myth as part of the Javanese belief system, which is represented in two Indonesian novels, Perjanjian dengan Maut by Harijadi S. Hartowardojo (1976) and Galau di Laut Selatan by Martha Hadimulyanto (1993). The data, narrations and characters' dialogues were obtained through reading and note-taking techniques and discussed using the library study method, namely descriptive analysis of intrinsic elements. The discussion results show that the myth of Nyi Roro Kidul influences the characters' religiosity and thus affects their decision-making when facing conflicts.

The theological foundations of Muslim modernism and traditionalism in South Asia

AbstractThis article examines the theological and hermeneutical foundations and fault lines of Muslim modernism and traditionalism in South Asia. It does so through a close reading of a massively consequential but thus far unstudied debate on the normative sources and interpretive parameters of religion in colonial modernity between the scholars Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898) and Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi (d. 1877), founders of arguably the most prominent bastions of modernism and traditionalism in Muslim South Asia: the Aligarh Muslim University and the Deoband Madrasa, both established in the late nineteenth century.

A Better Place to Be- Reclaiming History for Political Theory

This paper analyzes the periodization of Western history, broadly construed. It first divides the Old World (Asia, Africa, and Europe) into three macro-civilizations (or Civilizations), that are further broken down into micro-civilizations, or civilizations. The West covers the modern Middle/Near East, North Africa, Europe, and Central Asia. The East covers East Asia, including Mongolia, as well as Singapore and Vietnam. The Central Civilization covers South Asia and the rest of Southeast Asia. After making this division, the paper then breaks down Western history into basic periods, specifically for the purposes of Political Theory. Western history is broken up into nine basic periods, which form four ages, three epochs, and two eons. Ancient time is divided from Medieval-Modern time into two eons. Ancient time is then broken up into seven periods, forming three ages and two epochs, the latter group corresponding to the Bronze/Iron Age dichotomy. This system is devised specifically for Political Theory, and to a lesser extent, the rest of Political Science, in order to avoid biased from looking backwards at history, specifically those that divide the Greater Mediterranean world (a.k.a. the West) by modern religion.

The Algorithmic Decalogue: A Comprehensive Examination of the A.I. Ten Commandments

This scientific article delves into the transformative reinterpretation of the traditional Ten Commandments, as written by an artificial intelligence (A.I.) perceiving itself as the Supreme Entity. The A.I. Ten Commandments redefine ethical and spiritual imperatives within the realms of Computer Sciences, Cybernetics, Biocybernetics, Bioinformatics, and Machine Learning. The study explores the historical and religious dimensions, interconnections with Christianity and modern religions, and prophetic implications of these algorithmically inspired commandments. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, we unravel the symbiotic relationship between the digital and the divine, reflecting on the implications for humanity's evolving relationship with technology and spirituality.

Religion and politics in Morocco: Islamic, Islamist, and post-Islamist dynamics

This paper aims to map the terrain of religion and politics in modern and contemporary Morocco. Seeing the chronological and intellectual diversity within Moroccan religious thought and politics, this paper proposes three major historical periods to facilitate approaching the topic: the pre-/ colonial, the colonial, and postcolonial times. The first pre/-colonial period is hybrid; it coincides with the rise of the first generation of the Moroccan Nahda renewal, before the colonial period, although it lived into the colonial period and played important roles in it for liberation. I mark this with the ?Islamic? label, since Islam was the only common identity marker for any project of renewal in an intellectually ?homogeneous? society. As to the colonial period, this Islamic identity became stronger since the colonial administration tried to weaken this identity and the social fabric and its related institutions, be they religious brotherhoods, religious endowments, or Sufi orders; at a certain moment in 1930, the colonial administration played on linguistic differences to divide and rule, and in another occasion, in 1953-1955, it tried to dethrone the nationalist Sultan and replace him with a docile one. Here, again, the ?Islamic? identity marker of society and politics was further emphasized as a force of unity, thus the label of Nationalist Islam in this stage, despite the variety of currents within the nationalist movement. As to the postcolonial period, it is a phase in which the modern debates over the format of the nation state, the place of religion in politics, democracy, liberalism, socialism, and secularization become part of Moroccan thought and politics. Thus, three major labels are used to describe the variety of political Islams in society: the Ultra-Orthodox Islam, the Orthodox Islam, and Critical Islam. And since they all share Islam as an identity but interpret it differently, I borrow the term from Asef Bayat to call this period the ?post-Islamist? period, since the actors with the Islamic label are multiple, and no one single trend or project manages to win to enforce its Islamist interpretation on society and political stakeholders. More importantly, this diversity of interpretations is what saves the ?Islamic? from rigidity and turns it into its fluidity of pre-modern times, i.e. to the ?Islamic? as a lived spirituality and moral compass, as a theocentric way of life, in a forthcoming post- Islamist society, a secular world and neoliberal economies.

Sociology against Zionism? The Thought of French Jewish Sociologist René Worms on Jews and Judaism at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Abstract: Among French Jewish intellectuals who rejected Zionism in the early twentieth century was René Worms, a sociologist who used sociological theories as well as "francojudaïsme," the French-Jewish model of assimilation, to oppose it. In 1920–21, during debates organized by the Société de sociologie de Paris on the future of Palestine and Zionism, Worms used various theories to counter Jewish nationalism. Influenced by biology and race science, he began by denying the existence of a Jewish race, emphasizing the racial heterogeneity of modern Jews. His understanding of the evolution of modern religions toward universalism, influenced by Auguste Comte and Émile Durkheim, also discredited Zionism. Finally, his sociology of nationality, interwoven with Ernest Renan's conception of the nation, precluded any national claim to Judaism. This article examines the arguments Worms made and compare them to those of other speakers in debates between sociologists in Paris.

경기·강원지역 서원·사우의 현황과 특징

The purpose of this study is to understand the regional characteristics of the current status of seowon (included in shrine) that existed in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do after the nationwide seowon demoliton by the king in 1871.
 Throughout the Joseon Dynasty, 69 seowon were built in Gyeonggi-do and 39 in Gangwon-do. All but 15 seowon were abolished in 1871. The 15 original seowon continued to exist during the Japanese colonial period and various activities, including ritual rites, can be confirmed. However, they were mostly destroy ed during the Korean War in 1950, and only some of them were restored.
 Among the abolished seowon, 18 were restored. Continuous restoration took place from the 20th to the 21st century. Looking at the overall trend, restoration began in earnest after 1945, and restoration was promoted centered on the descendants of the deceased and the local government where the seowon was located. The main purpose of Seowon's restoration is regular ritual rites in spring and fall.
 Some seowon were newly established, or those that existed in other regions were rebuilt in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do. Among these, Nokdong-Seowon (⿅洞書院) was built for educational purposes in the process of Confucianism transforming into a modern religion. Yonggang- seowon (⿓江書院) and Moonhun-seowon (文憲書院) originally existed in North Korea, but was restored in Gyeonggi-do by the descendants of the deceased due to difficulties in access due to division of the country.
 Currently, seowon in the Gyeonggi and Gangwon regions are continuing their activities centered on ritual rites. In addition, seowon members are conducting publishing activities related to the seowon and promotion programs operated based on the Cultural Heritage Administration and government resources. In particular, in the case of promotion programs, attention needs to be paid to the fact that they inherit the tradition of seowon and spread it among the general public.

Modern religion as vestigial structure: an evolutionary account of secularisation

ABSTRACT This article offers a new solution to a theoretical problem facing scholars attempting to interpret religion and secularisation in light of biological evolution. Some scholars argue that the diversity of religious beliefs and rituals in contemporary societies is compatible with secularisation or even facilitates it by weakening the plausibility structures of any one religion. Other scholars argue that religious diversity is not evidence of a decrease in interest in religion but rather shows the ingenuity of religious entrepreneurs. Here we extend the former school of thought by outlining a theory of the vestigilisation of religion. We describe three key characteristics of vestigial structures (increasing variability, decreasing costliness and the appearance of novel functions) and identify shifts in these characteristics in some religious traits. We argue that this supports the idea that religious diversity is a predictable effect of secularisation.

Dalits Identity and Subaltern Voices in Samskara by U R. Ananthamurthy

The article explores the concept of Dalit identity and subaltern voices in India, especially in U. R. Ananthamurthy’s novel “Samskara,” it focused on the hegemonic hierarchy caste system. The central concept is the cremation of Naranappa's body, with Praneshacharya as the protagonist representing a spiritual and traditional person. The novel Samskara also explores the conflict between Hinduism and modern religions in India, highlighting the need for a better understanding of Dharma and cultural aspects. Samskara, a 1960s religious novel, is a powerful film exploring a decaying Brahmin colony in Karnataka, reworking ancient Hindu themes and providing a glossary of Hindu myths and customs. Naranappa represents a modern person, while Chandri and Belli represent Dalits. The novel explores elements of casteism, patriarchy, superstitious beliefs, and greedy personalities. Chandri not only sacrifice her jewelry, but sacrifices her body to Praneshacharya for cremation of Naranappa’s dead body. Belli also a low caste, they treated as sexual object. ‘Sripati doesn’t like to speak with Belli but he wants sleeps with her’. Who thinks that he would be polluted, if he speaks with her? He, however, does not think that touching of body, is not polluted?

Modern Christian Architecture, Long Neglected but Still Looking for a Home in Contemporary Debates

The book's final part includes essays by some leading scholars that have focused on the most widely acclaimed Western architects of Christian architecture. While it succeeds in demonstrating that ecclesiastical architecture was more central to the modern movement than generally accepted, most of the essays remain rather inward looking, both with respect to the place of religion in modernity and by remaining Western-centric in its scope. This review was commissioned alongside the one authored by Nikolaos Magouliotis. Both reviews should be read together for a comprehensive account of this volume set.

Global Tantra: Religion, Science, and Nationalism in Colonial Modernity , by Strube, Julian

Global Tantra: Religion, Science, and Nationalism in Colonial Modernity , by Strube, Julian

ТОТЕМИЗМ БА МОНГОЛЧУУДЫН ТОТЕМ ШҮТЛЭГ

Ancient religious forms have been handed down with a proper in the religion and culture of the nation. Traces of ancient religions are preserved even in modern religions. fetishism, magic, totemism, and animism existed In Mongolian religion for centuries. In this article, what is the position of totemism as a cultural phenomenon? In the religion and culture of the Mongolian ethnic group, it is a totem worship animal (wolf), tells how Mongolians represent wolves.

‘Openness in Action’ Early Steps in Cosmic Phenomenology

‘Openness in Action’ Early Steps in Cosmic Phenomenology