Religious Change Research Articles

“Wenn es nur einmal so ganz stille wäre...”

This article is a revised version of the inaugural lecture delivered on 5 October2023, on the occasion of the author's appointment as Professor of History of Religions at Lund University. It opens by depicting fundamental changes in the study of the history of religions in the twentieth century, followed by biographical notes, including her research on lay Buddhism in urban Taiwan, the emphasis on sensual dimensions of religious practice and the aesthetics of religion, and international academic networking in the analysis of practices of prognostication between Asia and Europe. Three areas are outlined that are central to the author's current research. It is pointed out that a focus on religion in contemporary society certainly includes a healthy awareness of current developments in the politics of religion, particularly in East Asia. In addition, the article addresses two fields of research that the author is currently engaged in: (1) The emergence of "Life Education" as a school subject in Greater China and the pedagogical shift that goes along with it. Particularly in Taiwan, this new subject is tailored to create a space for juveniles to develop self-reflection and life orientation in a success-oriented society while a new trust in religious organizations leads to the organizations' active engagement in these developments. The author is especially interested in how the transforming relationship between religion and public education gains special relevance in a comparative perspective between Asia and Europe. (2) Religious change in East Asia is evident in Buddhist ritual practices that are impacted by a consumer society that moulds emotionally profound experiences into marketable and distinct units that Eva Illouz has termed "emodities". Religious practices are subject to change in our contemporary world as they are reshaped by a growing global digitalized consumer culture. Tracing these changes leads to a deeper understanding of the underlying forces that distinctly reshape contemporary religious life.

Pottery Production Changes During the Transition from Byzantine to Umayyad Rule

Pottery is the most affected tool by the changes in human societies; this is due to its flexibility during forming. In order to estimate the effect of the transition of inhabitants of the urban center of Umm Qais (Gadara), north Jordan, from Byzantine (Christianity) to Umayyad (Islam) rule on pottery production traditions, a total of 29 cooking pots and sherds of pottery jars were selected. The samples were dated according to stratigraphy, archaeological context, and parallel examples to the proposed periods. The samples were investigated following the typological and archaeometric approaches. The raw materials and firing technology of the pottery during the two periods were determined following chemical and mineralogical methods using petrography, XRD, ED-XRF, and EDX-SEM techniques. The results revealed that many styles and forms of pottery continued to be produced and some new styles emerged at the urban center of Gadara. Technically, the potters inherited the knowledge of selecting the available raw materials and firing conditions of pottery during the Byzantine and Umayyad periods. During these periods, Umm Qais potters used the local raw materials—non-calcareous ferruginous illite clays mixed with medium to high amounts of coarse quartz grains and fired at temperatures around 1000° in an oxidizing atmosphere to produce cooking pots. They used the available medium to highcalcareous ferruginous illite clays and fired them at temperatures between 850° and 950° in an oxidizing atmosphere to produce the jars. Importing fine fabric jars and cooking pots during the seventh century from Jarash are indicated too. Thus, the types and forms of everyday use pottery were more affected by the political and religious changes than the technical aspects.

Navigating faith transitions: A 4-year longitudinal examination of religious deidentification among LGBTQ+ latter-day saints.

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) individuals raised in conservative religious traditions present to therapy with questions about how to navigate tension between their sexual/gender and religious identities. For therapists, having accurate information about (a) the typical process of religious deidentification, (b) its antecedents, and (c) its outcomes is critical to empowering these clients to make the decisions that are best for them. We present data from a preregistered 4-year longitudinal study of 164 LGBTQ+ people who were active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CJCLDS) at baseline to examine the phenomenology, antecedents, and outcomes of religious change. Across the 4 years of our study, we found that two thirds of our sample religiously deidentified to some degree. On average, participants shifted their attendance at the worship services from weekly to a few times a year, and 40% of participants disaffiliated with the CJCLDS. Longitudinal multilevel models suggested that age predicted deidentification with younger participants deidentifying more quickly than older participants. Religious deidentification was positively related to engagement with LGBTQ+ communities, and follow-up cross-lagged panel analyses suggested that engagement with LGBTQ+ communities was predictive of subsequent decreases in service attendance rather than vice versa. No relationships were observed between religious deidentification and mental health or well-being. These data suggest that religious deidentification is normative and developmental for LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints, this process is most active among younger individuals, and connecting with other LGBTQ+ people is a key facilitator for this process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Edge Computing with Deep Learning and Internet of Things for Recognising and Predicting Students Emotions and Mental Health

A person's Mental Health (MH) dramatically influences their complete evolution in life, including their cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor components. A person with good MH is content with life and can be creative, learn new things, and take risks to accomplish more significant objectives. Currently, college students are dealing with MH concerns for various causes, which affect their academic performance and significantly contribute to poor academic results. Therefore, encouraging MH in college students presents a significant problem for educators, parents, teacher educators, and governments. Adolescence is a crucial and delicate time characterized by considerable physical, emotional, social, and religious changes. The physical, social, and psychological facets of an individual's growth are laid out in this period, with mental health as a crucial factor in promoting these gains. Therefore, it becomes crucial for researchers to use Deep Learning (DL) algorithms to study the association between MH and vital psychological characteristics, such as emotional intelligence, personality traits, and intelligence. The personal aspects, namely personality, emotional intelligence, and MH are all related ideas that influence one another. Individuals must have mental well-being and emotional harmony to have a good personality. The current study uses DL techniques to investigate the relationship between college students' MH, emotional intelligence, and personality features. To perform a thorough study on emotion identification and Mental Health Prediction (MHP) among college students, this project investigates the integration of edge computing enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of intelligent systems. Innovative treatments are urgently needed due to this population's rising prevalence of MH issues. This paper aims to continuously monitor and predict college students' MH using Edge Computing (EC) and IoT technology.

Diversity of Eucharistic Ritual in COVID-2019 Context

Discussing diversity in the celebration of the Eucharistic ritual in COVID-2019 contexts, this is a comparative study of CITAM (Christ is the Answer Ministries) Valley Road assembly and St. Andrew’s PCEA (Presbyterian Church of East Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya. COVID-2019 had a great impact on the order of worship in Christian churches across the world. Churches were closed down at times. Whereas CITAM Valley Road administered the Eucharist in the virtual space, St Andrew’s PCEA did not adopt virtual Eucharist and had to wait until the lockdown prohibiting church meetings was lifted. This ethnographic study was carried out in Nairobi County at CITAM Valley Road and St. Andrew’s PCEA over a period of six months from late 2021 to early 2022. The methodological approach taken by the researchers was a blend of ethnography and grounded theology. Data was collected through virtual ethnography, participant observation, interviews, and focus group discussions. Findings from the study demonstrated an emerging trend of administering the Eucharist digitally as the Church in Kenya navigated both continuity and change. The findings also revealed the fact that religious change advances not suddenly, or as a single complete change, but in specific expressions that are local and distinct. The researchers posit that in the PCEA, believers could not imagine themselves administering virtual Eucharist in their homes; in CITAM also some Christians felt that administering the Eucharist in the virtual space was different from when it was administered in the physical space.

Dakwah Salafi di Tanah Pakpak: Analisis Konflik dan Transformasi Sosial Keagamaan di Desa Silima Kuta, Pakpak Barat, Sumatera Utara

This article discusses how the conflict between the Pakpak community and Salafi groups has led to changes in social and religious practices in Desa Silima Kuta. The research is a qualitative-descriptive study where data were collected through field research using in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The data were then analyzed descriptively, using conflict and social change theories as the analytical framework. The study finds two main points: First, conflicts based on ideological differences have driven social and religious changes through two factors: (1) the hegemonic competition between Salafi groups and local religious leaders, with both vying for influence in the community; (2) a sense of threat among the Pakpak people, who fear that Salafi teachings might alter their religious traditions, thereby increasing the community’s enthusiasm and participation in religious activities in Desa Silima Kuta. Second, the forms of social and religious changes observed include: changes in practices of dhikr (remembrance of Allah), communal prayers after congregational prayers, tahlilan (commemorative prayers for the deceased), yasinan (recitation of Surah Yasin), changes in attire during worship, and decreased participation in major Islamic celebrations such as Maulid and Isra' Mi'raj.

Religious rebound, political backlash, and the youngest cohort: understanding religious change in Turkey

Abstract We distinguish two streams of theory that dominate explanations of religious change: cohort-based cumulative decline theory, which emphasizes small and ongoing declines in individual religiosity accruing across generations; and political backlash theory, which emphasizes period- and identity-based changes due to the politicized meaning of religion. Notably, Muslim countries have largely been excluded from a recent wave of quantitative research on individual-level religious change, implicitly continuing an assumption that Islamic societies require different theoretical concepts. We deploy both theories to examine religious identity and behavior over multiple decades in Turkey, a Muslim-majority country with recent social conflict over religion. Utilizing age-period-cohort interaction models, our results suggest minimal evidence for a cohort-based process in Turkey, in contrast to that observed in Western countries. Rather, a political transformation—the politicization of religion through the rise of Turkey’s AKP (Justice and Development Party) and President Erdogan—is most salient to Turkish religious change. We introduce two concepts to backlash theory—identity updating and performance signaling—to show how different dimensions of individual religiosity respond to different politicized contexts. These findings extend our understanding of religious change beyond the Western context, with further implications for theorizing political backlash and cohort-based processes.

An Archaeological Exploration on Religious Change in Liwa, West Lampung

Mountains, hills, and highlands have long been venerated in ancient beliefs as the dwelling places of deities. West Lampung, with its sacred sites, is a prime example of such places. These sites, evidenced by numerous archaeological findings, have recorded the evolution of religious significance over time. This study aims to explore the transformation of these sacred sites and their contemporary interpretations. The main objective of this research is to explore the progression of religious shift in Liwa, West Lampung. By examining archaeological records from 2011 to 2018, this study constructs chronological narrative of the region’s early religious history. The findings reveal four prevalent patterns that encapsulate the religious transformations from the 10th to the 19th centuries. These patterns, derived from archaeological data and supplemented by contextual and historical analysis, indicate a shift in religious practices in this region. This shift aligns with Lewis Rambo’s model of religious change in a macro context, characterized by encounter, interaction, communication and subsequent consequences. This study, therefore, provides valuable insights into the dynamic nature of religious practices and beliefs in Liwa over centuries.

Symbolic Pollution and Religious Change: The Religious Imaginary of Anglo-Canadian Spiritual but Not Religious Millennials

Symbolic Pollution and Religious Change: The Religious Imaginary of Anglo-Canadian <i>Spiritual but Not Religious</i> Millennials

Book Review: Baptizing Burma: Religious Change in the Last Buddhist Kingdom

Book Review: Baptizing Burma: Religious Change in the Last Buddhist Kingdom

More than a Biography . . . Emma Wild‐Wood on Religious Change and African Agency in the Missionary History of Uganda and Eastern Africa

More than a Biography . . . Emma Wild‐Wood on Religious Change and African Agency in the Missionary History of Uganda and Eastern Africa

Leaving the “Discomfort” Zone: The Correlation between Politics and New Artistic Practices at the Beginning of the 19th Dynasty

At the end of the Amarna Period, a process of political and religious restoration began. This attempt at recovery went beyond the strictly official, as the Egyptian society seemed to demand a moral reparation. It was a much-needed change that would encompass all aspects of society and it was imperative that the changes be visible. It is for this reason that visual art would be one of the main means of communication. The artistic image was the propaganda necessary to reconstruct historical memory and religious sentiment. This was most evident in the early years of the 19th dynasty, when, in addition, the need to legitimize the new royal lineage was reflected in private tombs. The Egyptian artist used art to visually consolidate these changes, and the owner of the tomb was keen to do so. This article aims to analyze the artistic changes, mainly in the private sphere, that occurred in funerary art in opposition to the religious changes that had been made during the Amarna Period and that were most evident from the reign of Horemheb until the first half of the reign of Ramesses II. Politics and art intermingled at a time when reconstructing the past and the relationship with divinity was an urgent necessity.

The failure of Islamization policies in Turkey: a “Victory” of Secularization Theory?

ABSTRACT Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s aim to raise a pious generation has failed to achieve its objectives. On the contrary, relevant academic studies reveal that Turkish society is secularizing. Therefore, the present study seeks to explain the reasons why Erdoğan’s policy of Islamizing Turkish society failed despite him having the whole state apparatus at his disposal. Recent studies argue that this transformation is a reaction to the repressive policies of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP) and that the dissatisfaction with Erdoğan and AKP has turned into a parallel dissatisfaction with religion. However, this article argues that the secularization debates centering on hot politics are only a small part of the picture and that the modernization process, as the secularization theory claims, is behind the young generations’ disaffection with religion in Turkey. The article argues that Turkey has been experiencing a demographic transition and religious change similar to what occurred in regions where scientific developments, industrialization and urbanization, i.e., modernization, had occurred.

Religious Institutions in Saudi Arabia: History, Evolution and Development Features

This work is devoted to religion and religious institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, being a Muslim state according to the law, turns to religion in order to legitimize its policy. Therefore, due to the increasing role of Saudi Arabia in the region and the world, the study of religion and its place in the state is considered very relevant and important. The first introductory part of the article examines the role of Islam in the history of the formation of Saudi statehood outlines the main provisions of the doctrine of Wahhabism. The main part of the work examines the history, evolution and features, the role and positions of various religious institutions in the country. In conclusion, it is concluded that the authorities of the kingdom are undertaking an increasing securitization of state policy in relation to religious institutions; religion is being «nationalized». The analysis of the role of religious change in the kingdom is based on the approach of dividing reforms into tajdid and islah.

The Literary Works of the Gentlemen of the Elizabethan Chapel Royal: Politics, Religion and Print

The Gentlemen of the Elizabethan Chapel Royal worked at the ecclesiastical heart of the English court. Their religious beliefs, when discussed by historians and musicologists, are usually characterised as ranging from crypto-Catholic conformity to the a-confessionalism of individuals keen to survive seismic religious change. This article revises orthodox images of the Gentlemen of the Elizabethan Chapel Royal as religious ‘conservatives’ drawn to royal employment by the ceremonialism of services, and instead emphasises their energetic theological interests and the strength of Protestant doctrinal opinion among their ranks. Their striking construction of public identities in printed religious works also illustrates the ways in which a group of ‘middling’ courtly churchmen and singing-men negotiated their own identities alongside and against that of their place of employment. 1 1 This article was awarded proxime accessit in the Court Historian Essay competition, 2023. The author also thanks Dr Alexandra Gajda, Dr Ellen Patterson, Professor Peter McCullough, Ms Helena Rutkowska, the attendees of the IHR Tudor-Stuart seminar and the reviewers at The Court Historian for their helpful comments and suggestions at various stages of this research. This work was funded by the AHRC and Merton College, Oxford.

Churchgoing in Glasgow, 1836–2016: The Statistical Record

Historiographical debate about religious change and secularisation in Scotland often fails to take a sufficiently long-term perspective and to subject the sources used to critical scrutiny. In this article, one possible metric of secularisation (churchgoing rates) is investigated for Scotland’s largest city (Glasgow), by a statistical examination of fourteen church censuses between 1836 and 2016. Emphasis is placed on the varying methodologies of the censuses and the limitations to their comparability. Churchgoing in the city has declined, relative to population, since the later nineteenth century, initially among Protestants. The net scale of decrease was mitigated after the Second World War by the Catholic majority in the pews, but even Catholic attendance has shrunk absolutely in recent decades.

Religious suasion: introduction to the special issue

AbstractIn this introduction, we outline a comparative tool for studying communicative ideologies and practices, which we call ‘religious suasion’. Developing a conversation about religious forms of ‘suasion’ is important because it provides a vocabulary for comparing parallel practices of religious influence across different religious communities, allowing for more nuanced understandings of what might commonly – and negatively – be termed ‘proselytizing’. The proposed analytical frame is not concerned with how the ‘convert’ might experience religious change, nor with how social and religious change unfolds on a grand scale. Rather, it interrogates and puts into dialogue multiple forms of discursive practice, demonstrations of virtue, and material forms of religion to reach beyond suasive strategies based on formal doctrines about religious propagation that tend to be associated with traditionally evangelistic religious communities, especially with Christianity. Focusing on the rhetorical strategies, religious imaginaries, and ethical evaluations that underpin how religious actors pursue change in others and in and of the world, ‘religious suasion’ contributes to the development of an anthropology of influence.

Māori atheism: a decolonising project?

ABSTRACT New Zealand census data points to a pattern of religious change – a growing sector of the Māori community are disaffiliating from Christianity at roughly the same rate as the ‘no religion’ category is expanding. Drawing on 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Māori who do not believe in god(s), we explore the contours of atheism and how it is experienced and articulated in their specific cultural location. Our analysis shows that Māori atheism is plural and often politically charged. Religion is commonly viewed as a colonial tool for the oppression of Māori people/culture, against which atheism stands as a decolonising project. Aside from this, the participants’ operationalisation of intellectual doubt and other moral criticisms, including religious hypocrisy, religious exclusivism and religious bigotry, were found to be consistent with the narratives of atheists elsewhere.

Syncretism and Cultural Resilience: The Coexistence and Evolution of Traditional Itolimin and Christian Burial Practices in Esanland, Nigeria

Purpose of the Study: This research aims to uncover how traditional second burial rites coexist with and have adapted to Christian funeral norms, reflecting the socio-religious negotiation in a postcolonial context. Methodology: Employing a qualitative ethnographic approach, the study gathered data through semi-structured interviews with local chiefs, elders, and adults, alongside observations and an extensive review of related literature. Participants were selected based on their deep knowledge of Esan customs and involvement in the Itolimin practice. Main Findings: The study revealed that Itolimin, while embracing certain Christian elements, remains a vital cultural practice that reinforces the community's moral and social order. The rite's evolution showcases the Esan people's ability to blend traditional and Christian values, thereby preserving their cultural identity amidst religious changes. This syncretism illustrates the community's broader cultural resilience and adaptation approach in a rapidly changing religious landscape. Applications of this Study: Insights from this study apply to the broader discourse on funeral practices in postcolonial societies, providing a framework for cultural preservation amidst religious transformation. It is relevant for policymakers and public health officials regarding community health and burial practices. The findings also offer a basis for developing contextual theological education that respects indigenous beliefs within Christian teachings. Novelty/Originality: This study provides a unique contribution to the understanding of funeral rituals within African postcolonial societies by documenting the living tradition of Itolimin. It highlights how syncretism acts as a dynamic cultural force, shaping the way communities like the Esan negotiate identity and religious practice in a contemporary Christian-dominated context.

Epiphenomenal suasion: Jehovah's Witnesses and the politics of preaching against the state

AbstractThe individual is the conventional way religious change is figured when considering ‘conversion’. This essay argues this is rooted in the soteriological focus of Christian evangelism and shifts what are typically taken to be the objects of change to view them as agents of change. As an example of this, the essay compares two ethnographic examples of Jehovah's Witnesses’ evangelism: the ways that Witnesses preach with mobile literature carts; and the way three Witnesses ‘preached’ at an academic conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In order to make sense of these examples, it is necessary to unpack the theopolitical context underlying the common suasive strategy, and doing so is revealing in both instances of different objects and agents of evangelism, allowing for a comparison that explores how causality and agency are distributed in Witness preaching work. This leads to a consideration of the ways Witnesses’ public evangelism subtly preaches against the state as a process of ‘vindicating the name of God’.