Religious Expansion Research Articles

Spatiotemporal topology of religious spread in a multi‐religious metropolis: A historical religious profile of Taipei City in Taiwan from 1660 to 2020

AbstractReligious identities play an important role in shaping migrants' experiences. Understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of religions enhances our knowledge of both religious expansion and religious cultures. This paper aims to leverage spatiotemporal analysis to characterise the topology of the spread of multiple religions in the Taipei metropolitan area from 1660 to 2020, including Folk Taoism (853 temples/altars, 55.39%), Christianity (306 churches, 19.87%) and Buddhism (332 temples, 21.56%). Three major factors affecting religious distribution are considered: the year of establishment of religious units (churches, temples or altars), the reclamation year of religious locations, and the economic index of religious sites. The results show that Folk Taoism and Buddhism have a long history of development in early reclamation regions with a hopping expansion pattern. However, Christianity expanded later in the later reclaimed and early reclaimed areas. The Christian religious units have highly concentrated spatial patterns and are located in the higher‐income districts, centralised in the core regions of the Taipei metropolis. Modern forms of highly institutionalised religion, such as Buddhism and Christianity, are more prevalent in the relatively higher‐income, later‐cultivated areas, which provide richer social resources for development. Folk Taoism, as a traditional religion, is maintained and developed by local communities. This macroscopic analysis helps to (1) identify the exact chronology of different growth waves and explain them in a historical context, and (2) elucidate the spatial distribution differences between institutionalised religions and folk religion. Our research shows the evolution of religious landscapes from an undeveloped city to a developed city, offering valuable insights for geographical and religious studies, and enhancing understanding of diffused and institutionalised religious expansion.

Analisis Peninggalan Keagamaan Hindu-Buddha di Kedatuan Sriwijaya: Perspektif Sosio-Kultural

This research aims to discover how the existence and development of the Hindu-Buddhist religion in Kedatuan Sriwijaya influenced society's social structure, culture and values at that time. The methods used in this research are literature study, field data collection, archaeological analysis, and interviews with historical and cultural experts. Religious life in the Srivijaya Kingdom, founded around the 7th to 14th centuries AD, was dominated by Hinduism and Buddhism. In that period, these two religions played an important role in shaping the culture, society, and politics of Sriwijaya. Socio-cultural, the start of the Cultural Integration of Hindu-Buddhist Heritage, reflects the solid cultural integration between these religions and local culture in Kedatuan Sriwijaya. Religious Harmony: this relic shows the existence of harmony between followers of these religions in Sriwijaya society. Religious Expansion: in this section, the Srivijaya chiefdom was essential in spreading Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Education Center Monks and Brahmins who visited Sriwijaya brought religious and cultural knowledge and influenced religious education. Economy and Trade started with Sriwijaya's strategy of developing the trade sector by building a substantial fleet of ships and controlling robust trading ports. Then, the artistic heritage, Hindu-Buddhist artistic and architectural heritage in Sriwijaya reflects the influence of the culture and religious beliefs that inspired it.

Taming the City: Unfinished Religious Expansion in Buryatia

ABSTRACT The paper explores Buddhism and urbanisation in post-Soviet Buryatia (Russian Federation). While post-socialist religious revivals have often been discussed by scholars as questions of temporality, this paper suggests that they might also be seen as spatial reconfigurations. Seen in this way, a Buryat Buddhist religious revival might be perceived as an unfinished religious expansion, absorbing new spaces and appropriating them along the way. In this light, and to local Buddhists, the city is a new territory that is subject to a continuing religious intervention, making it less hostile and more manageable in the new – and difficult – urban condition. This religious intervention is discussed here as ‘taming the city’, and it provides basis for a rethinking of post-socialist religious resurgence in the region as a spatio-temporal process. These spatial aspects are entwined with social ones amidst ongoing religious change, as shifting religious topography interplays with transforming social, economic and political conditions.

“I Shall Give Thee the Heathen for Thine Inheritance”

Abstract Taking the scriptural concept of the ‘heathen’ as its starting point, this article investigates the attitudes of Protestant ministers and parishioners in England towards the conversion of indigenous non-Christian people in colonial New England during the years of the English republic from 1649 to 1660. The article examines Psalm 2 as a framework within which churchgoers interpreted non-Christianity, before turning to the fragmentary prosopography of parishioners who donated money towards the cause of religious expansion. Illuminating the practical strategies that the new government developed as its pursuit of legitimacy intersected with attitudes towards evangelism overseas, the article demonstrates the ways in which liturgical, pastoral, political and socio-economic circumstances shaped local engagement with the wider Atlantic world. It suggests that English support for the propagation of the gospel emerged from profound theological ambivalence as animosity towards non-believers co-existed with the conviction that some among them could convert and might be saved.

Manifestations and prerequisites of religious expansion in the spiritual sphere of modern Kazakhstan

The article deals with the problem of religious expansion, which is accompanied by a wave of globalization. In particular, the analysis of its prerequisites and its place in society and consequences is carried out, which are the basis for its widespread spread in an information, "digitized" digitized society. A description of the manifestations of evangelization and Islamization of religious expansion, which cover all spheres of spiritual life and enter through the conquest of human consciousness, is given, and the processes of their development in the information society are considered. "I'm sorry," he said, «but I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't know what you're talking about". And the possibilities of modern technologies are the basis for changing the forms and areas of use of sites of religious organizations. The article examines the social, economic, political, spiritual background and main objects of religious expansion of neo-Christian, new Islamic, neo-Christian movements, Religious Studies analysis of missionary activities carried out in the internet space and social networks, its factors contributing to the formation of religious consciousness of young people. At the same time, the features of religious expansion in cyberspace are revealed and a description of their manifestation in modern Kazakh society is given. Keywords: religious expansion, evangelism, Islamization, virtual services, cyberspace.

La dimensión del mito en la conquista colonial Los pueblos azteca y baulé

In the colonial conquests, religious beliefs played important roles. Sometimes, religious expansion was the reason evoked. Some examples are the islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and Spain’s evangelizing mission in the New World. If this role of religious beliefs in favor of colonial conquests is well known, it is not the case with the place of the religious myths of the conquered peoples in their defeat against the conquering nations. This paper analyzes this dimension of the conquests through two myths: the myth of Quetzalcóatl among the aztecs in Mexico and the myth of the blôlô or afterlife among the baulé in the Ivory Coast. The aim is to propose from the vision of the aztecs and baulé, a reading of defeat based on the belief in these myths. In other words, it is a question of showing how easily these beliefs made the conquest of the respective peoples possible.

The End Has (Not Yet) Come: The 1918 Spanish Flu and the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Brazilian Seventh-day Adventist Bulletin

This is a comparative analysis of similarities and differences between the Brazilian Adventist discourse on the 1918 Influenza pandemic – also known as the Spanish Flu – and the current Brazilian Adventist discourse on the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on how Adventists articulate the distinctive eschatological and sanitary elements of their narrative tradition in order to explain the two crises and to situate themselves in relation to them. The analysis corpus contains select texts published in Revista Adventista, the official bulletin of Brazilian Seventh-day Adventists, pertaining to two time periods: 1918–1920 and the first quarter of 2020. Both materials present pandemic crises as opportunities for evangelism since they display the understanding that societal values and paradigms become less impervious to religion in such conditions. But they differ in the fact that the 1918–1920 material concentrates on religious expansion and doctrine, especially emphasising the message of impending judgement of a Great Controversy metanarrative, while the 2020 material explores the medical and humanitarian aspects connected to the pandemic, transcending a purely eschatological emphasis and accommodating a concerted effort to give the readers emotional support to face the pandemic.

Монгольський міжнародний порядок у середині ХІІІ ст. згідно із свідченнями папського легата Джиованні дель Плано Карпіні

The article considers the process of formation and development of the medieval international order during the end of the active phase of the Mongol conquests in Eastern and Western Europe in the middle of the thirteenth century. The main source in the study of this issue was the evidence set out in the treatise "History of the Mongols, called by us Tatars" by the famous Catholic diplomat Plano Carpini, who in the 40's of the thirteenth century by order of Pope Innocent IV, he carried out a mission to the Mongol Empire.The article notes that this aspect is one of the least studied in modern Ukrainian historiographyAs a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the work analyzed in the article is an important source in the study of the international order, which developed in the middle of the thirteenth century and was based on the dominance of the Mongol Empire in Eurasia. It allows us to consider the peculiarities of the organization of this state, to show the characteristics of its relations with the captured peoples, to determine the order of relations between the Mongols and their vassals. At the same time, this treatise is a manifesto in which, under the pretext of the Mongol threat, it is concluded that it is necessary to unite the rulers of Europe (especially its Orthodox part) under the authority of the Pope. Consideration of the ideas set forth by Carpini, allows us to conclude that the Catholic Church, and in this period, tried to implement the project of its religious expansion in the lands of Eastern Europe and Kiyvan Rus.

ON THE QUESTION OF ARCHITECTURAL IMAGE OF THE HOLY TRINITY TEMPLE IN PRZEMYSL

The article deals with the issue of the lost heritage of the Eastern Christian culture of the city of Przemyśl. Being in the area of intense Latin religious expansion, the city underwent numerous transformations and changes, which led to the loss of almost the entire authentic layer relating to the most ancient and Rus` periods in its history. The circle of iconographic materials and the chronology of its origin are given. Highlighted are those images that can be considered closest to the authentic look of a lost building. They are: a drawing of the siege of Przemysl by the troops of Prince Yuri II Rakoczi, which contains information on materials and colors of the Lviv suburbs and a sketch of the same drawing made for the book by L.-A. Guser "Monograph of Przemysl", which gives an idea of some features of the architectural design of the building. A number of iconographic materials and a timeline of their appearance are indicated. Highlighted are those images that can be considered closest to the authentic look of a lost building. They are: a drawing of the siege of Przemysl by the troops of Prince Yuri II Rakoczi, which contains information on materials and colors of this suburb and a sketch of the same drawing made for the book by L.-A. Guser "Monograph of Przemysl", which gives an idea of some features of the architectural design of the building. On the basis of the analysis the hypothetical appearance of the building in the 17th century is outlined. According to him, plan of the temple was a rectangle formed by the merging of the nave and the vestibule, to which was adjacent from the east a large apse of the altar. In terms of space, it looked like an array formed by a stepwise mass of nave and lower vestibule and a high altar apse reaching the height of the nave.

The spread of foreign toxicology along the Silk Road during Medieval China

ABSTRACT Throughout the Middle Ages, antidotes and toxicological learning originating from foreign territories were conveyed along the Silk Road (via both land and maritime routes) – propelled by diplomacy, religious expansion, and trade – eventually into China. In this article, such threads of remnant text that have been discovered along the Silk Road are pieced together to reveal the story of foreign toxicology’s spread and use in China. Accounts aplenty of this trajectory fill the Dunhuang manuscripts and Traditional Chinese Medicine records handed down to posterity. These documents perhaps evince the willingness of Chinese physicians to accept foreign toxicological direction even while engaged upon their own course of development in the field and may even indicate their endorsement of certain imported concepts. What resulted was a broader, multifaceted approach to toxicology by practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The hope is to better understand Chinese medicine culture’s richness and diversity.

Wpływ wahabizmu na pozycję społeczno-polityczną Arabii Saudyjskiej

<p>Celem artykułu jest określenie roli wahabizmu dla współczesnej pozycji Arabii Saudyjskiej w wymiarach społecznym oraz politycznym. W związku z powyższym, weryfikacji poddano trzy hipotezy badawcze. Pierwsza z nich zakłada, że słabnąca pozycja Imperium Osmańskiego na przełomie XIX i XX wieku oraz sojusz z rodziną Saudów były głównymi elementami, które wpłynęły na rozwój ruchu wahabickiego w A rabii Saudyjskiej. Po drugie, w wyniku bliskich powiązań z rodziną Saudów, ruch wahabicki odgrywa współcześnie decydującą rolę w kreowaniu społeczno-politycznej pozycji Arabii Saudyjskiej. Po trzecie, wahabizm wspiera rozwój organizacji terrorystycznych o charakterze salafickim z powodu bliskości religijno-politycznej.</p><p>Główny wniosek niniejszej pracy zawiera się w stwierdzeniu, że ruch wahabistyczny odgrywa decydującą rolę w kreowaniu życia społecznego Arabii Saudyjskiej oraz dąży do religijnej ekspansji w regionie Bliskiego Wschodu, między innymi za pośrednictwem powiązań z salafickimi organizacjami terrorystycznymi. W artykule przedstawiono ponadto genezę wahabizmu oraz główne założenia doktrynalne. </p><p>Chcąc zilustrować wykorzystany warsztat metodologiczny, należy wymienić metodę case study, za pomocą której scharakteryzowano powiązania arabskiego wahabizmu z salafickimi organizacjami terrorystycznymi (w odniesieniu do Al-Kaidy oraz Państwa Islamskiego). W celu właściwego przedstawienia wpływu wahabizmu na pozycję społeczno-polityczną Arabii Saudyjskiej, w pracy wykorzystano też założenia wywodzące się z nurtu realizmu neoklasycznego.</p>

Conversion and the Idea of the Secret

Gauri Viswanathan, “Conversion and the Idea of the Secret” (pp. 161–186) Obsessed with the notion of the secret in his writings on religion, Jacques Derrida uncannily evokes a predecessor with whom he has rarely, if at all, been compared—the Russian occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. This essay argues that Blavatsky’s occult writings set the stage for the kinds of speculations on crypto-conversion, conscience, and responsibility that subsequently engaged Derrida. Like Blavatsky, Derrida saw conversion not as change but as retaining whatever it displaces in the form of a secret, persisting as an enduring reminder of supplanted religious beliefs. While Derrida was more interested in conversion as a form of repression that mutually constitutes the old and the new, Blavatsky held a broader and more dynamic view of conversion-as-repression: in describing Christianity’s battle against the heterogeneous belief-systems it eventually supplanted, she sought to illuminate conversion as a larger process well beyond the individual and involving religious expansion and consolidation. The essay culminates in a close reading of an occult text, W. B. Yeats’s “The Manuscript of ‘Leo Africanus,’” that exemplifies the problematics of crypto-conversion as delineated by Blavatsky and Derrida in their respective ways. “Leo Africanus” stages Yeats’s encounter with a dead spirit alternatively grasped as his anti-self and historical conscience. A breakthrough in understanding allows Yeats to acknowledge an occluded history—his as much as that of his deceased interlocutor—that can only be told in the terms of crypto-conversion, in this instance of a sixteenth-century African slave forcibly converted to Christianity and turned into a native informant of African history and geography.

RELIGIOUS EXPANSION OF TURKEY IN TATARSTAN IN THE POST-SOVIET PERIOD

Turkey considers Tatarstan a sphere of its geopolitical interests in the framework of pan-Turkism concepts. With the collapse of the USSR Ankara began to pursue an active policy in the Volga region, strengthening its influence there. One of the Turkish policies towards Tatarstan became religious expansion. Islamic Jamaat of Turkey sent its missionaries to Tatarstan. This led to the fact that some Muslims of Tatarstan began to focus on Turkey and the spiritually obey Turkish sheikhs. Authorities in Tatarstan treated religious intervention of Turkey in the region favorably. The ideological rapprochement with Turkey was a part of the foreign policy strategy of Tatarstan elite that after gaining independence in the early 1990s saw in Ankara a natural ally. Turkey acted as a "big brother" for Tatarstan. The religious sphere of cooperation was seen as one of the factors bringing the two Turkic republics togather. A huge variety of Turkish islamic jamaats in Tatarstan is due to the fact that Ankara has actively supported the religious expansion in those regions that are a zone of its interests. And often those religious groups that were in opposition to the Turkish authorities inside Turkey, are supported by Ankara outside the country in their missionary work.

Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, written by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar

Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, written by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar

Fighting for God or Fighting in God’s Name! The Politics of Religious Violence in Contemporary Nigeria

After a brief theoretical discussion of the relationship between religion and violence, Dr Adogame analyzes the history and politics of religious violence in contemporary Nigeria through the prism of boundary making and negotiation; religious expansion and competition. The articles demonstrates that religion and politics are often manipulated by individuals and religious groups in ways that sustain religious strife, violence and ethnic bigotry, thus hampering meaningful inter-faith dialogue and coexistence.

Book Review: Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, edited by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar,

Book Review: Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, edited by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar,

Діни сауаттылық пен діндарлық феноменінің қазіргі келбеті

The article deals with religious problems arising from the standpoint of religious ethics, culture and literacy in multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Kazakhstan society. As you know the main part of the problems connected with religion, arises from the religious illiteracy, poor understanding of the functions and the place of religion in society. For the prevention and elimination of the existing shortcomings, the decisive role played by the implementation of the planned and systematic activities. To do this you need to open a concept – «faith», to clarify its place and importance it occupies in society, to determine the types of beliefs prevent religious fanaticism and spiritual decay, given the characteristics of our multi-confessional and multi-ethnic state. This helps to stick to the best direction in social development, decision-making related to religion in times of globalization and prevent a religious expansion.

Book review: Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, written by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar

Book review: Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, written by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar

Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World

Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World

Book Review: Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World

Book Review: Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World