Religious Meaning Research Articles

Bones of the Earth: Imitation as Meaning in Viking Age Burial Ritual

From excavation results of a pre-Roman Iron Age and Viking Age burialgroundin Västergötland, an example is presented ofhow religious meaning became projected into Viking Age burial ritual through imitation of an already then ancient custom. The burial-ground was abandoned for a period of at least 600 hundred years in between the two periods. In the Pre-Roman Iron Age and Viking Age graves the custom of depositing flakes of firecracked natural stone was documented. From a Viking Age perspective the tradition was imitated and derived from the urnfield burial-grounds ofther late pre-Roman Iron Age. The authors link the Viking Age ritual behaviour to the sagas, where stones are presented as symbolical representations of the human body and as cosmological parts of the skeleton that kept the earth together. In the interpretation it is argued that the very concrete use of older graves was essential in the Viking Age burial custom. In this specific example, the deposition of stones in the Viking Age ritual context is interpreted as a projection and representation of the past and the bodies of the dead.

Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Case Studies of Spiritual Exemplars

The constellation of social influences on the development of exemplary spiritual youth includes caregivers, spiritual mentors, and peers, but existing research inadequately captures the cultural and religious meanings of these social influences from the perspectives of young people. From a holistic perspective, this study seeks to understand how youth spiritual exemplars incorporate social influences in their own spiritual developmental trajectories and toward a humanistic psychology. Drawing on three narrative-based case studies of spiritual exemplars identified through a culturally embedded nomination process, this study provides illustrative person-centered examples of how youth recognized for being spiritual draw on social influences and excavate cultural and religious beliefs and values as part of their religious and spiritual development. We found that diverse youth’s narratives prominently featured multiple social influences and reflection about them that revealed the reciprocal manner in which religious, spiritual, and cultural beliefs and social relationships influence each other. We conclude by discussing implications for considering the complexity of diverse meanings of social influences for youth.

Inclusive and Included? Practices of Civic Inclusivity of American Muslims in Los Angeles

AbstractHow do American Muslims practice inclusivity and bridge religious differences in U.S. civic life? Sociological research on bridging focuses mostly on bridging efforts on the part of majority groups, leaving unanswered the timely question of if and how inclusivity is practiced by minority groups, particularly religious minorities, in U.S. civic spaces. Drawing on participant observation among two Muslim groups in Los Angeles, this paper identifies two practices of inclusivity that participants adopt to bridge religious difference: the interreligious heritage practice and the shared ethics practice. Both practices simultaneously draw and diffuse group boundaries, emphasize sameness, albeit using different sets of religious meanings, and are grounded in an understanding of civic spaces as implicitly exclusionary of minorities. I find that these practices can create tension points in the pursuit of mutual understanding and create textures of meanings that operate differently depending on the situation and the participants in the interaction.

Ana Dhei Dhato (An Analysis of Traditional Wedding Traditions at Rajawawo Village of Ende Regency)

This research aimed to describe each process of ‘Ana Dhei Dhato’ and revealed its cultural meanings based on the perspective of people in Rajawawo village of Ende regency. The method of this research was descriptive qualitative research. In collecting the data, the researcher used interviews, note-taking, and recording. The data were analyzed through transcribing and translating. The analysis results show that ‘Ana Dhei Dhato’ is considered the most valuable type of wedding because of its complexity and peculiar characteristics. It can be seen from the way they run this kind of wedding ritual. Some cultural meanings are found in these wedding rituals and language spoken, such as religious meaning, social meaning, historical meaning, juridical meaning, and didactic meaning. Therefore, it is expected that people in Rajawawo village must consider ‘Ana Dhei Dhato’ as one of the most valuable cultural heritages and should also maintain its existence.

The Religious Meaning System and Resilience in Spouse Caregivers of Cancer Patients: A Moderated Mediation Model of Hope and Affect

The character of the relationship between religiosity and resilience depends to a large extent on mediation and moderation mechanisms which rely on cognitive and emotional processes. Research conducted within hope theory and the broaden and build theory indicates that hope and affect can mediate and moderate this relationship. The present study explored whether the relationship of the religious meaning system with resilience in spouse caregivers of cancer patients can be mediated by hope and simultaneously moderated by positive and negative affect. A total of 241 spouse caregivers completed a set of questionnaires. The results revealed that hope mediated the relationship between the religious meaning system and resilience. Furthermore, positive affect but not negative affect moderated the indirect effect of the religious meaning system to resilience through hope.

The Failed Globalization of Psychedelic Drugs in the Early Modern World

AbstractThis article reassesses what has been called ‘the puzzle of distribution’: why did some drugs rapidly emerge as global consumer goods in the era of the Columbian Exchange, whereas others remained restricted to regional centres of usage? I argue here that the early modern concept of transplantation allows us to approach the puzzle of distribution from a novel perspective. Early modern intoxicants were not disaggregated, free-floating commodities. Their consumption and trade took place within a larger constellation of social codes, cultural practices, ecologies, and built environments. Psychedelic compounds such as peyote and ayahuasca serve here as case studies for examining how the globalization of drugs involved far more than the transport of the substances themselves. Despite their centrality to numerous societies throughout the pre-Columbian Americas, the larger ‘assemblage’ of material cultures, cultural assumptions, and religious meanings that accrued around these substances made it difficult for them to follow the same paths as commodified drugs like cacao or tobacco.

To Talk or Not to Talk: An Analysis of Parents’ Intentions to Talk with Children About Different Sexual Topics Using the Theory of Planned Behavior

Parents’ intentions to engage in parent-child sexual communication (PCSC) are largely understudied, especially when children are young. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study aimed to explore what factors are associated with parental intentions to talk with their children about different sexual topics. A sample of 561 parents of an oldest child between the ages of 6 and 11 were recruited to complete a survey through Prolific.co between December 2019 and January 2020. Results of a path analysis showed that all components of the TPB (attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy) were significantly associated with parents’ intentions to talk to their children about at least three of the five categories of sexual topics (“the basics,” “pleasure,” “sex in relationships,” “gender identity/sexual orientation,” and the “religious meaning of sex”). Of these components, self-efficacy was most consistently and strongly associated with increased intentions to discuss all topics, followed by the attitude of believing sex education was the parents’ responsibility. These findings support the assumptions of the TPB as applied to PCSC. These findings suggest that building self-efficacy and helping parents feel responsible for educating their children about sex would be most important in attempting to increase parental intentions to engage in PCSC on a wide variety of topics. Funding for parent-targeted programming should be allocated to increase parent intentions to engage in PCSC. This programming should focus on helping parents develop self-efficacy and a sense of responsibility for educating children about multiple sexual topics.

The Russian Orthodox Church and the Pandemic: Problems, Challenges, Responses

The article discusses the reaction of the Russian Orthodox Church on the pandemic of COVID-19. This research identifies and analyzes major ideological cleavages on this issue, such as the possibility of transmitting viruses via the Eucharist, the religious meaning of the pandemic, and possibilities of digitalizing the rituals. The article pays special attention to the camp of Orthodox fundamentalists, whose reaction to the corona-crisis partially follows the international model of “COVID-dissidence” and partially taps into the domestic Russian sources, such as the mainstream ideology of geopolitical Messianism, entertained by the authoritarian regime. The author argues that the Orthodox take on COVID-19 magnifies major problems of the post-Soviet Church, including the excessive reliance on the state, “magical-fundamentalist” inclinations of the religious believers, and fears of digitalization.

The Loss of Self-Dignity and Anger among Polish Young Adults: The Moderating Role of Religiosity

Does the way we think or feel about ourselves have an impact on our anger-based reactions? Is the direction and strength of this relationship direct, or affected by other factors as well? Given that there is a lack of research on the loss of self-dignity and anger, the first aim of the present study consisted in examining whether or not there is a connection between both variables, with particular emphasis on early adulthood. The second purpose was to explore the moderating role of religiosity on the relationship between loss of self-dignity and anger. Methods: Data were gathered from 462 participants aged 18 to 35. The main methods applied were the Questionnaire of Sense of Self-Dignity, Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and Religious Meaning System Questionnaire. The results show a statistically significant positive correlation between loss of self-dignity and anger, a negative correlation between religiosity and anger, and no significant association between the loss of self-dignity and religiosity. However, all other dimensions of the sense of self-dignity correlated positively with religiosity. Our findings also confirm that the level of anger resulting from the loss of self-dignity is significantly lower as the level of religiosity increases. Such outcomes seem to support the conception that religiosity may act as a protective factor between the risk (loss of self-dignity) and the outcome factor (anger).

Meanings of "the existential" in a Secular Country: A Survey Study.

"The existential" is a concept that many people use albeit associated with different meanings. In order to increase research-based insight into the meaning of "the existential," we conducted a questionnaire study in Denmark in 2018 in which we asked 1.106 Danes of various age, gender, educational and geographical background about personal associations linked to "the existential." Factor analysis of the answers resulted in three different groups of meaning: (1) essential meanings of life, (2) spirituality/religiosity and (3) existential thinking. The findings show that "the existential" serves well as an overarching construct potentially including secular, spiritual and religious meaning domains, at least within the European context.

Valuing Water (Celebrate World Water Day, 2021): What it is and Why it’s Important

ABSTRACT A 40% increase in the demand of water is expected in the next two decades. This high demand of water is a result of increasing populations, agricultural needs, industrial use of water and electricity use. These statistics must be our motivation to conserve our water. If we want our future generations to have access to fresh, clean water, then we must work together to save our water supply and not waste it. Valuing water is a cornerstone for good water management, preventing conflicts over water allocation and facilitating more sustainable service delivery by ecosystems and infrastructures. Valuing water means recognizing and considering all the diverse benefits and risks provided by water, and encompassing its economic, social, and ecological dimensions as well as its diverse cultural and religious meanings.

The Sanctuary of the Spectacle: Megachurches and the Production of Christian Celebrities and Consumers

ABSTRACT Using mixed qualitative methods, this research analyzes the entanglement of religion, media, and celebrity culture in the context of a Las Vegas-based megachurch. First, we analyze how the church adopts a culture industry approach, transforming and retrofitting it for religious practice. Second, we unpack the implications of media and celebrity culture as a platform for the transmission of religious meaning. Finally, we explore the compounding quality of these elements (celebrity, technology, and religion) and its effects in this form of religious syncretism. Though a reductionistic analysis may be tempting, this research presents a case in which new forms of technology functions to synthesize and augment a blending of celebrity culture and spiritual practice that escapes any singular type of characterization. Religion, in this context, presents many physical and virtual faces, rooted in the blending of heterogenous elements in the worship experience.

KORELASI ANTARA MAKNA SITUS SEJARAH DENGAN SENSE OF PLACE

Preservation efforts The pilgrimage site area which has a fairly strong historical value is mostly done through physical approaches and visual approaches such as restoration, conservation, preservation and others. In this study, researchers attempted to conduct a study with a non-physical approach as one of the conservation efforts by conducting a correlation analysis between the meaning of pilgrimage sites with a sense of place. With a quantitative approach, the analysis process is carried out through two stages, the first stage is the analysis of content from questionnaires, analysis of open codings, axial coding to selective coding. The next stage is factor analysis and correlation analysis. Based on the results of correlation analysis, the results show that religious meanings have a strong relationship with sense of belonging in the sense of place category with a correlation coefficient of 0.64, while the socio-cultural meaning has a moderate correlation with the correlation coefficient of 0.18. Conversely, pilgrims who have negative meanings have a high correlation with unbound feeling with a coefficient of 0.52. Through this research, it is expected that a behavioral-based approach can be carried out as one of the efforts to preserve the area of the pilgrimage site.

Narrative Structure of Memories in Texts of F. Werfel and A. Okopenko

The specificity of the narrative structure of the story, which connects the memory as an element of a fictional autobiography with the forms of a diary and a “story in a story”, which is one of the most productive in the second half of the twentieth century in German literature, is considered. Based on a fragment of the unfinished novel by F. Werfel “Sella, or the Conqueror” and the novel by A. Okopenko “Kindernatsi”, built as memories of the Anschluss and the arrival of the Nazis in Austria, the principles of organizing a multilevel system author — focalizer — actant, the purpose of which is interweaving of historical, moral and religious, moral and ethical meanings are shown. It is studied how a specific historical plot (which has a real prototypical model for the story of Werfel and an autobiographical one for Okopenko) is filled with religious and existential meanings in Werfel, becomes a reflection of the crisis of identity — a key characteristic of the Austrian mentality — in Okopenko. Particular attention is paid to artistic techniques that complicate and destroy linear narrative: duplicity, with the help of which Werfel shows different ways of solving the same moral issues, and literary editing techniques, which gives Okopenko a fragmented character to the process of recollection and allows to reveal the integrity of the author’s moral and ethical positions at the deep-semantic level.

Man's vocation as a topic of Weber's thought

The article explicates the significance of M. Weber’s works for understanding of calling as an important world view idea of the European culture. The author observes Weber’s analysis of forming of the notion of calling in the times of ancient Egypt state and Judaic captivity as well as in the Old Testament and its interpretations by M. Luther. Particularly significant for the understanding of social processes during the Reformation in Europe and then in America became Weber’s analysis of the transformation of the religious meaning of calling as “task” and “mission” of a man in the world into the motivation for a practical professional activity. The study shows the ways of implementation of Weber’s theory of social action and political leadership within the concept of calling. The internal collision of the experience of calling is explicated by the examples of charismatic leadership, responsibility of a politician and ethos of a scientist. Combination of affective motivation, value and target oriented rationality in the calling forms the problem for a decision, although this complexity is a driving force of the realization of calling by a person. The philosophical and theological substratum of the Weber’s concept of calling is his looking for the integration of temporal and eternal dimensions in human existence. Calling as an idea of postreformational European culture serves for finding and realization of the meaning of personal life as well as for legitimation of social action. Especially this idea grounds the possibility and necessity of conciliation of the ethics of conviction and the ethics of responsibility in individual as well as in social existence and morality.

Koronavirüs Salgını Sürecinde Türkiye’de Dinî ve Toplumsal Etkiler

oronavirus, which has become a global epidemic, has and continues to affect entire societies on a global scale in a multidimensional way. After the first case detected in Turkey on March 11, 2020, a number of restrictive measures were implemented to reduce human movement, such as the practice of quarantine in social and public spaces, in order to reduce or eliminate the impact of the epidemic. In this context, health, economy, education, religion, family, business, politics, etc., it has led to significant permanent or temporary changes, transformations and developments in many Social Space. In this framework, it is very important to analyze the changes, transformations and developments arising in social life, religious life and practices and in the service areas of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA) in the context of the coronavirus epidemic. In addition, as an extraordinary situation, due to the extremely shocking, destructive and socio-traumatic multidimensional impact of the epidemic crisis, people have engaged in a number of searches for religious meaning. All this makes it necessary to conduct such research aimed at addressing society, religion, religious life and PRA in Turkey in the context of coronavirus in the field of sociology of religion. The study is a qualitative research and is based on the analysis of the findings with a sociological perspective within the framework of the text scanning method.

The Scholar’s study in Painting and the History of Collection in Dutch XVII century

his article is devoted to analysis the theme of the “scholar’s study” in Netherland XVII century painting. The reason for the rise of this theme is closely related to the great development of science and navigation in the XVII century in Netherland. Under the economic development, the tradition of collecting prevails among scholars. People admire knowledge and work on scientific inquiry. The author analyzes Gerrit Dou’s self-portrait The Artist’s studio and the symbolic meanings of objects in the painting. The author states that his self-portrait portrays himself as a scholar, reflecting the social ethos of worshiping knowledge. The specificity of his work, the themes of the scholar’s study, the influence of science, religion, philosophy on the painting of Gerrit Dou, the symbolic meanings of objects surrounding the scientist are considered. Jan van der Hayden’s paintings Still Life with a Globe, Books, Sculpture and Other Objects reflect the wide-ranging style of the collection at that time, reflecting both the worship of religion and the abundance of Netherland foreign products under the background of the great geographical discovery in the XVII century. During this period, establishment of Netherland universities and advent of the maritime age encouraged a thriving cartography producing. A large number of globes and scientific tools appeared in the paintings. They not only have religious meaning, but also show the progress of the new era. Audience can get a glimpse of the characteristics of a typical Netherland scholar’s collection from his paintings. The purpose of this article is to analyze the scientific progress, social development of the Netherlands. This allows you to take a fresh look at the assessment of creativity on the theme of the scholar’s study. To fulfill that purpose, need to complete following tasks: to characterize the specifics of paintings in the themes of the scholar’s study, to reveal the symbolism in the paintings The Artist’s studio by Gerrit Dou, Still Life with a Globe, Books, Sculpture and Other Objects and A Corner of a Room with Curiosities by Jan van der Hayden, to show the close connection between the development of science in the 17th century and the topic of the scientist’s office. The author concludes that the theme of the “scholar’s study” in Netherland XVII century paintings reflect the collection characteristics and aesthetics in the XVII century.

(Not) Forgotten “Vilnius stories and legends” by Władysław Zahorski

The purpose of the article is to show how Vilnius stories and legends, collected by Władysław Zahorski, are alive today and are reflected in the physical, visual form of the city, including in monuments, memorial plaques, installations, but also in stories told to guests and residents of the Lithuanian capital.The stories explain the appearance of specific historical and geographical objects in Vilnius, contain signs of the past, reflect old beliefs, customs, ethical and social principles, and clarify encrypted religious, historiographic and national meanings. They bring information about legendary rulers and important places.Zahorski’s book is part of the city’s presentations characteristic of tourist guides addressed to the universal recipient. Stories and legends create a picture of a multicultural, multi-faith city with a complex past that is visible today through various physical signs. Zahorski combines various narratives about Lithuanian, Polish and Jewish Vilnius in the book.

Theology of disaster: a study on west bandung people’s responses to the potency of earthquake

This article deals with the beliefs living among societies in Indonesia. These beliefs are studied through the responses of West Bandung people to the potency of earthquake. Geographically, West Bandung area is located in the ring of fire where natural calamities potentially could occur. These responses shed light varied beliefs and theological perspectives of people. This study belongs to qualitative research. However, the reseachers also use questionnares, Through data collection and analysis, the researchers conclude that West Bandung people are religious (they see the earthquake by religious meaning and explanation where they regard natural disaster as God’s decree and will, God’s testing, therefore they have to be patient and repent to God). However, they also look it as natural phenomenon which can be observed by scientific approach. In term of Islamic theology, The people are close to tradisional theology, especially Asy’ariyah school of Islamic theology. However, this reseach shows the religious pattern of contemporary Indonesia where the grouping to certain theological school seems irrelevant. Due to the diversity of religious authorities and sources of knowledge, the pattern of religiosity of society is now no longer leading to a particular school of thought, but rather shows a hybrid pattern (hodgepodge).

Preservice biology teachers’ decision-making and informal reasoning about culture-based socioscientific issues

ABSTRACT The current study aims to explore how Thai preservice biology teachers make decisions upon and informally reason about two culture-based socioscientific issues, which are different yet contextually related. Participants included 46 fourth-year preservice biology teachers (12 males and 34 females) who completed a written questionnaire asking about personal engagement, opinions, and reasons regarding floating vessels into rivers and releasing lanterns into the sky as part of a cultural tradition. The data were inductively analysed using an iterative process of coding. The Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were also conducted to determine the significant differences between and within the two issues. The results indicate that the participants, while collectively considering both issues from multiple perspectives, tended to approach each issue differently. They tended to engage personally with and argue for the conservation of floating vessels, as this activity has stronger religious and cultural meanings and a clearer connection with modern science than the activity of releasing lanterns. The results are discussed based on the concept of collateral learning. In addition to technology-based socioscientific issues, it is recommended that culture-based socioscientific issues can be appropriately used to promote science learning and develop some of the characteristics of global citizens.