Religious Outlook Research Articles

Islam, Religious Outlooks, and Support for Democracy

Despite a wealth of studies examining Muslim religiosity and democracy, uncertainty regarding Islam and attitudes toward democracy remains. Although the claims concerning the incompatibility of Islam and democracy are generally discarded, public opinion scholarship has yet to build much further from this important first step or incorporate a strong theoretical framework for analysis beyond this basic foundation. This paper seeks to integrate literature in social theory on religious worldviews with novel conceptualizations and measurement of distinct religious outlooks among the religious faithful to explain patterns in attitudes toward democracy. We construct a theory with clear expectations regarding these relationships and use the largest and best available survey data (Arab Democracy Barometer, Wave III) to test our predictions using latent class analysis and a series of multivariate regression estimations. The results of our empirical analysis reveal that there are important differences among practicing Muslims regarding the role that religion should play in the social realm and that these differences are relevant to the analysis of how faith shapes preferences for regime type and democracy. The analysis makes a significant contribution to the study of religion and political attitudes.

Islamic Counter-Hegemonic Legal Knowledge and Its Unofficial Interpretation and Glocal Dissemination

Despite the Kemalist repressive secularism, several Islamic groups and Sufi brotherhoods have either continued to exist or new ones in addition to modern ones such as faith-based civil society organizations (to satisfy both the official and unofficial laws) have emerged. All these have their own knowledge bases, religious outlooks and interpretation mechanisms. Gulen Movement, albeit being the most known one, is only one of these myriad number of religious or religio-secular societal formations. It is an Islamic civil society movement originated in Turkey. It has mainly focused on science and secular education. It is urbanite, composed of mainly educated participants. The movement has created its own spaces such schools, hospitals, dormitories, universities, cultural centers, think tanks, newspapers, TV stations, web portals and political lobbying associations to form and express an identity of a modern Sufistic Turkish Muslimhood. Even though Gulen is the main actor in the movement who has engaged with producing new Islamic knowledge in his constant responses to the socio-political affairs and challenges by reinterpreting Islamic sources in tune with contemporary time and space, the movement participants contribute to this process in different ways, such as by giving transferring knowledge to him from their own local contexts or by contextualizing and disseminating the knowledge produced by Gulen. There are interesting outcomes of these processes. For instance, many of the movement participants are of the view that something that I dubbed as “Muslim Secularism” is possible, an idea that unofficial Islamic law is compatible with Alfred Stepan’s twin tolerations. Similarly, following the maqasid conceptualization, many movement participants support universal human rights, liberal and/or social democracy and equal citizenship regardless of religious affiliation. There are also several expert participants in the movement who have been producing knowledge as theologians, social scientists and intellectuals in different parts of the world. Some of these are critical engagement with the movement itself and their critical stance on some actions of the movement (e.g. the movement’s Turkish nationalism, its existence within the Turkish bureaucracy, its close but problematic proximity to the AKP politicians until 2013, its media’s poor democratic performance, transparency and accountability problems) sometimes faces anti-expert sentiments from some other movement participants.

Role of Physical Attractiveness in Mate Selection by Educated Women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The present study was conducted to probe the role of physical attractiveness in mate selection among educated females of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Data for the study were collected through pre-tested questionnaire from 278 sampled working women from three public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa i.e. The University of Agriculture, University of Peshawar and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar. Results reveal that the females principally preferred well dressed, tall, broad shoulder, clean shaved, fair colored and physically attractive males with the same age and living in nuclear families. At the same time, there was a strong tendency of females towards westernization and materialistic values regarding mate selection. Despite emphasizing on physical characteristics, the females were also less concerned about physical appearance. A very large majority preferred economically sound intelligent man who have good job. The study recommends that an awareness campaign through mass media, religious leaders, civil society and political parties’ needs to launch to inform both the educated and uneducated females and their parents about the nature and impact of religious misinterpretations, western values, materialistic outlook and idealism affected the mate selection decision mainly.

The Witch, the Goat and the Devil: A Discussion of Scapegoating and the Objectification of Evil in Robert Eggers’ The Witch

The demise of a child, a tragedy that occurs every few seconds on the face on this planet, marred by starvation and abject poverty, always constitutes a grim mystery, challenging every religious outlook and philosophy. Robert Eggers’ 2015 movie, The Witch, depicts the tragic loss of a baby, in this case posing the additional mystery as to exactly how it occurred. Though the specters of malnutrition and malady haunt this film, the precise circumstances surrounding the child’s fate are left largely to the viewer’s imagination. The film explores the question as to where we can lay blame for ostensibly senseless tragedy. Within its narrative world, and arguably, within the worldview of the religious imagination more broadly, humanity seeks someone or something to blame for horrific events. Recent tragedies and world history attest to the human tendency, in the face of immense suffering, to scapegoat some alleged culprit, perhaps going so far as to allege their complicity with the devil, to directly identify them as Satan—or to more subtly demonize them. No single religion or worldview can boast sole claim to this propensity that to this present day claims lives. The Witch raises the question as to whether culpability for evil resides ultimately with the self, with social structures, with humanity as a whole, with inhuman forces of nature, or within the supernatural realm. The mystery is at its most agonizing when conventional moralizing is befuddled and there is no obvious culprit, no free-willed villain caught with a smoking gun. Eggers’ screenplay sustains the ambiguity that can enshroud tragedy such as the unresolved abduction of a child or sudden infant death, blurring the line between facticity and the archetypal imagery through which the psyche seeks to express that which it cannot explain.

Revisiting Delphi: Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece by Julia Kindt

Reviewed by: Revisiting Delphi: Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece by Julia Kindt William Hutton Julia Kindt. Revisiting Delphi: Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xv, 215. $99.99. ISBN 978-1-107-15157-4. Revisiting Delphi offers a remarkably clear and concise examination of a select number of literary accounts of Delphic oracular responses. Building on her previous work on the importance of narrative in the construction and communication of religious thought in ancient Greece, Julia Kindt avoids what she characterizes as the preoccupation of previous scholars with questions of the historicity of oracle narratives to focus on how such narratives—particularly those in which ambiguous or misunderstood oracles are later proven to be correct—reveal underappreciated aspects of Greek religious thought. Kindt structures her study upon chapters devoted to five authors: Herodotus, Euripides, Plato, Pausanias, and Athenaeus. Herodotus she rightly identifies as a pattern-setter for later authors. Focusing on episodes that are rich in oracular references, such as the Croesus story in Book 1, Kindt notes that all of Herodotus’ references to oracles are embedded in narrative and fulfill a number of narratological functions. More critically, however, she identifies the notorious ambiguity of many Herodotean oracles as a means of communicating the ontological difference between human and divine knowledge in Greek religious thought, and posits that this distinction is an important aspect not only of Herodotus’ mindset but also of Greek religion in general. In subsequent chapters she looks for confirmation of that proposition in oracular tales told by other authors. In a chapter entitled “Euripides,” the Delphic oracle in the Ion that makes Xouthos think that Ion is his son is examined as a manifestation of the playwright’s “semantics of polyphony” (83). In “Plato,” Kindt gives similar treatment to the oracle in the Apology that declares no one to be wiser than Socrates. Socrates’ search for the meaning of that vague and seemingly dubious statement serves as a metonym for his entire philosophical project. In chapters devoted to “Pausanias” and “Athenaeus,” Kindt examines oracle narratives attested in later sources: from Pausanias, the story of the puzzling oracle received by the Thasians regarding a statue of the famous athlete Theagenes (a case of interplay between theology and Greek “object culture”); and, from Athenaeus, the ambiguous Delphic advice received by Parmeniscus of Metapontum on how to recover his ability to laugh. Though both examples surely derived from much older sources, Kindt argues that Athenaeus’ and Pausanias’ choice to narrate these stories shows the persistence into the Imperial period of a similar religious outlook to that found in earlier authors. In an appendix, she also offers a reading of Plutarch’s dialogue on the “E” in Delphi. While not an oracle narrative like the other texts, Kindt reads the dialogue’s aporetic investigation of the meaning of the enigmatic symbol as expressing thoughts congruent to those in oracular narratives on the limits of human knowledge. Kindt’s treatment of all these narratives is thought-provoking and persuasive, but even she seems to realize that the broad claims she makes about Greek theologies require more corroboration than this volume’s brief compass can afford. She frequently refers to forthcoming work of her own that might delve into matters in greater detail, and in her conclusions she invites other scholars to investigate the usefulness of her readings in other texts. Although she frequently emphasizes the importance of context in interpreting these stories, one aspect that continually receives short shrift is the literary context. Though organized [End Page 730] by chapters named after authors, little consideration of generic and individual literary tendencies goes into Kindt’s analysis. This is less true of Herodotus, from whose work a broad range of oracle stories is considered, but particularly true of Pausanias and Athenaeus, who are treated as little more than inert receptacles for the oracle stories Kindt focuses on. An example of where important considerations are thereby missed is the tendency of Imperial Greek authors to enact a mimesis of classical authors (for Pausanias, Herodotus above all others). This might have as much to do with why classical-style oracle stories recur in the...

Treacherous Faith: The Specter of Heresy in Early Modern Literature and Culture by David Loewenstein

Reviewed by: Treacherous Faith: The Specter of Heresy in Early Modern Literature and Culture by David Loewenstein Mark Rankin (bio) Loewenstein, David. Treacherous Faith: The Specter of Heresy in Early Modern Literature and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. $105 hardback, $50 paperback. In this important book, David Loewenstein investigates the representation of heresy and heretics in literary and polemical works, from the English Reformation during Henry VIII's reign through to the Civil War and the writings of John Milton. Its thesis is two- fold. On the one hand, the language used to describe heresy during this period is highly malleable and protean. Because they dissented from prevailing understandings of religious orthodoxy, heretics were perceived as seditious rebels, or as propagators of dangerous diseases. Heretics' ideas were said to threaten people's souls, and so heretics were viewed as harmful members of the body politic, capable of subverting and eroding the government's authority in both church and state. This language of contagion and sedition associated with the representation of heresy, Loewenstein argues, is constant across this entire period. One of the book's virtues is to demonstrate that Catholics and all kinds of Protestants were represented at one time or another through a uniform discursive register, one based upon irrational fear and anxiety as well as dark fantasies. At the same time, this book shows how the fears and linguistic strategies used to represent heretics themselves fueled creative textual production in numerous works, situated both within and without the canon of early modern English literature. Ultimately this conclusion constitutes the book's most enduring component—namely, that authorial choices made in representing heresy pushed writers into creative and imaginative terrains of composition that they might not otherwise have reached. This book offers readers a remarkable reach, in a chronological and a conceptual sense. It stretches from Thomas More's debate over religious orthodoxy with William Tyndale, during the early 1530s, through to Paradise Lost. Loewenstein includes chapters on the Lincolnshire gentlewoman Anne Askew, whose Examinations (1546–47) record her successive interrogation and torture during Henry VIII"s final years; on John Foxe's influential martyrology, the Actes and Monuments; on representations of Puritan, or forward Protestant, dissent in Elizabethan works such as Thomas Nashe's proto- novel The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) and Edmund Spenser's Faerie [End Page 178] Queene (1596); on mid- seventeenth- century heresiographies like Thomas Edwards's Gangraena (first published 1646); on imaginative responses to such works by selected radical Protestant dissenters; and on John Milton's imaginative engagement with the culture of heresy- making, both in his controversial prose and in Paradise Lost. Loewenstein demonstrates that a writer such as Edwards approaches the perceived heresy of unorthodox Independent Protestant "sects" that proliferated in his day, by employing nearly identical language, words and images, as those used by Thomas More to describe the Bible translator and reformer William Tyndale during the 1530s. By bringing together sixteenth- and seventeenth- century texts in this fashion, Treacherous Faith unites the study of English Reformation and Civil War- era literature in very productive ways. Few studies are able to do this. At the same time, Loewenstein convincingly traces a genealogical debate over "toleration" and "blasphemy," two terms related conceptually to the notion of the seditious and dangerous heretic. Both were understood differently in the early modern period than today. Orthodox seventeenth- century Presbyterian writers feared toleration because they viewed it as affording heretics a license to operate. The Quaker James Nayler allegedly blasphemed in 1656 when he rode a donkey into Bristol in reenactment of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, as told in the New Testament. Hysteria and paranoia in the Parliamentary debate over Nayler, Loewenstein argues, provide "the most striking illustration of the demonizing religious imagination at the very highest political levels" of seventeenth- century England (229). Treacherous Faith parts company with many studies by taking early modern polemical writing seriously and on its own terms. In his account of More's Dialogue Concerning Heresies (1529), for instance, Loewenstein documents how More's interest in exploring religious tension through his use of the dialogic form conflicts with his uncompromising religious outlook. Most productive in this section, however, is...

BIBLE MOTIVES AND IMAGES IN THE CREATIVITY OF T. Shavchenko and B. Lepkiy

BIBLE MOTIVES AND IMAGES IN THE CREATIVITY OF T. Shavchenko and B. Lepkiy

Gagasan Pluralisme Agama pada Kaum Teosofi Indonesia (1901-1933)

This article elucidates the idea of religious pluralism among Indonesian theosophies society (MTI), an association of well-educated people of Nusantara from 1901 through 1933, whose members were dominated by the high-class of Javanese and Sumatran people, Dutch and other Europeans. It argues that MTI’s ideas about pluralistic and inclusive religious perceptions and attitudes were indeed influenced by perennialism, religious humanism, Javanese Islam and Sufism that accepted religious pluralism. MTI’s deep religious outlooks and insights resulted from mixed ideas coming from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds: Europe, America, India, China and indigenous Nusantara traditions which emphasizes the principles of harmony. 

Corrigendum to “Who Favors al-Qaeda? Anti-Americanism, Religious Outlooks, and Favorable Attitudes toward Terrorist Organizations”

Ciftci, Sabri, Becky O’Donnell, and Allison Tanner. 2017. “Who Favors al-Qaeda? Anti-Americanism, Religious Outlooks, and Favorable Attitudes toward Terrorist Organizations.” Political Research Quarterly 70 (3): 480–94. (Original DOI: 10.1177/1065912917702498)

The Image of Refugees and the Features of its Development in Lithuanian Online Newspapers

The considerable number of refugees fleeing to Europe has an impact on countries’ economic, political and social agenda, as well as the processes of society. The European refugee (migrant) crisis, which began in 2015, brought out not only different attitudes toward refugees among Eu­ropean Union politicians, but also revealed how diverse the coverage of na­tional media may get on the refugee topic. Refugees flee to Europe from various countries and diverse cultural back­grounds. However, society lacks the knowledge about their religious beliefs, lifestyles and outlooks. Moreover, the media has the power to decide which events and individuals to portray, and in such a way constructs the audi­ence’s perception about the world they live in. Refugee-related messages in the media usually occur in a negative context: terrorist attacks, refugee deaths, criminal activity and protests. However, the media does not only construct, but also has the power to change prejudice toward refugees, ensuring that one of its aims is interaction between diverse social groups. The author combines quantitative and qualitative research methods for media messages and analyzes dominant stereotypes about refugees in Lithu­anian online media. The types of refugee-related publications are also exam­ined. Three research periods were chosen: 1-31 July 2015, 1-30 November 2015 and 1-31 January 2016. The main goals are to theoretically discuss the media’s role and peculiarities in shaping certain images which society main­tains, as well as to define the stereotypes and their role in society. Lithuanian online newspapers are commercial institutions, which – in order to compete in the market – strive to engage consumers. Delivering mes­sages quickly and in large quantities often matters more than their content and the reliability of sources. This, in turn, leads to the information being distorted or superficial. Lithuanian newspapers construct a negative refugee image, where the most dominant images of refugees are as individuals who are uncontrollable, aggressive and prone to commit crime, being either gang members, terrorists or benefit recipients.

Who Favors al-Qaeda? Anti-Americanism, Religious Outlooks, and Favorable Attitudes toward Terrorist Organizations

This study examines why ordinary people sympathize with a terrorist network in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Holding literalist religious outlook resonating with al-Qaeda’s marginal interpretation of Islam constant, it is maintained that anti-Americanism and its varieties matter a great deal in explaining attitudes toward al-Qaeda. Using Pew Global Attitudes Surveys conducted in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, the authors run conditional mixed process estimations combining seemingly unrelated regressions with selection models to account for the missing values and endogeneity problems. The analysis reveals significant variation both cross-nationally and in the effects of varieties of anti-Americanism on favorability of al-Qaeda. While the dislike of certain aspects of American culture generates sympathy toward al-Qaeda, anti-Americanism as a general attitude does not. More interestingly, dislike of American democracy, technology, and policy has either negative or no effect on favorable views of al-Qaeda. Literalist religious outlook generates positive views of al-Qaeda, but religiosity has a negative impact. These findings imply that we need to draw careful distinctions between politicized Islamic preferences and personal religiosity as well as the different types of anti-American sentiments in understanding Muslim political attitudes about terrorist groups.

Scientific and Religious Outlook

In this article, the problem of scientific ratio and religious outlook is analyzed. Features of scientific outlook, in particular the fact that it is formed on the basis of scientific knowledge are emphasized. The objective reality is reflected in the consciousness of people in the form of fantastic images in religious outlook. As the religion and religious doctrines are based on belief, and belief, as we know, assumes the emotional and mental condition of the person accepting statements of basic provisions of the religious doctrine. For religion, these provisions are firm and eternal. Unlike religion, the science relies on knowledge and reason of the person, forms a scientific picture of the world, which is described in the form of scientific laws, categories and principles. Today, science and religion play an important role in the outlook formation.

"Религиозное мировоззрение старообрядцев и их социально-экологические практики

"Религиозное мировоззрение старообрядцев и их социально-экологические практики

РЕЛІГІЙНА РАЦІОНАЛІЗАЦІЯ ТА ЇЇ ЗНАЧЕННЯ ДЛЯ ПОЯВИ МОДЕРНИХ ОСВІТНІХ ІНСТИТУЦІЙ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the general pattern of the historical development of Western society, which consists in a gradual increase in the trend of rationalization. Under rationalization is understood the process of gradual replacement of random, situational, openly irrational motives of human actions into logical, predicted, wholerelevant. An understanding of the rationalization and of the by M. Weber explores the essence of the modernist project as a disenchantment of social relations. At the same time, disenchantment was understood by them not only as the liberation of society from the rule of magic and superstition. Disenchantment is the growth of trust in the mind, science, education, rational procedure in all manifestations of social life, which is the leading trend and the internal meaning of the entire era of modernity. The role of religions of salvation is clarified to form integral pictures of the world not only for the religious outlook, but also for the born philosophical systems. It turns out that religious rationalization was only the beginning of the universal process of rationalization of social relations. A consequence of this trend is the differentiation of value spheres and the emergence of New European social institutions: the market, law, bureaucracy etc. Modern transformations are made possible through religious rationalization and secularization. The role of scientific rationality as an educational reference point in the Enlightenment is researched. During this time the school begins to draw knowledge not from the religious tradition, but from science. The importance of religious rationalization for the emergence of modern educational institutions, including secular schools and universities.

Adaptation and Acceptance: Moses Ḥayim Luzzatto's Sojourn in Amsterdam among Portuguese Jews

Although scholars have written extensively about Moses Ḥayim Luzzatto and his literary oeuvre, there has been virtually no work on his stay in Amsterdam (1735–43). The controversy over his supposed Sabbatianism, which engulfed much of the European rabbinate and led to his self-imposed exile from Padua, did not rage overtly in the Dutch Republic, and historians have generally regarded these years as nothing more than a quiet period for Luzzatto and of little consequence to him personally.Using previously unpublished archival material, this article demonstrates that Luzzatto was highly regarded in Amsterdam's generally insular Portuguese community. He received charity and a regular stipend to study in the Ets Haim Yeshiva, forged relationships with both rabbinic and lay leaders, and arguably influenced the community's religious outlook. However, a comparison of the manuscript and print versions ofMesillat yesharim, his famous Musar treatise composed and published in the city, reveals the limitations under which Luzzatto lived. Research into Luzzatto's time in Amsterdam shows the man's enduring self-assurance and relentless critique of his critics, as well as the Portuguese rabbinate's broadening horizons.

THE CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIMENSION OF THE FOREIGN POLICY OF RUSSIA AT THE TURN OF 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

The author of this article aims to examine the role and place of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia's transition from the regional state of the Middle Ages to an absolutist state of Modern history. Transformations in states' domestic and foreign policies that took place in Modern history cannot be reduced to a simple set of changes in various spheres of life of states, nations and peoples. By studying the transition from one type of statehood to another one we are dealing with a fundamental transformation of the entire state organism, the state as a cultural phenomenon, with a change in the very notion of what a state is and what its goals, objectives and functions are. The process of transformations in statehood affected all countries of the world including our Motherland. In Russia these changes had their own cultural and historical specificity which was largely formed by religiosity of our people and was rooted in the Orthodox faith. Therefore, the author considered it necessary to raise the question of how the cultural, historical and religious identity of the Russian people could influence the course of reforms in the sphere of the Russian state system in Modern history. The author focuses on the foreign policy of the Russian state built on cultural and religious values in I7th-I8th centuries. This foreign policy is seen as an alternative paradigm of the modern Russia's foreign policy. The author believes that the modern Russian state does not shape its foreign policy on the basis of core values of the Russian world view arising from the religious consciousness of our people. This fact deprives Russia’s foreign policy of unity with cultural and historical tradition of our state and in many respects weakens it. The article provides a possible answer to the question why a tendency to the framing of a foreign policy on the basis of values and religious outlook inherent in the Russian people did not prevail in the foreign policy of the Russian state.

Urban Sufism, Media and Religious Change in Indonesia

In this paper, I contend that Sufism is only preoccupied with initiating new disciples and performing emotive religious rituals. By focusing on Naqshbandi-Haqqani, I argue that Sufi group actively involves in propagating its teaching to the general public. I also argue that Sufi movement actively involves in public campaign, along with other Muslim groups with similar religious outlook, to respond the perceived growing influence of Salafism and political Islamism among Indonesian Muslims. It represents contemporary public face of Sufism and Sufi activism in Indonesia. At the heart of the argument of this chapter is to examine collective efforts to maintain Sunni orthodoxy ( Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah ) as a dominant religious norm, reclaim Sufism as a legitimate voice within Sunni orthodoxy and general Muslim community, oppose to Salafism and political Islamism, and rationalise Sufism to academic community in Indonesia. This chapter will demonstrate that active propagation through the internet plays a significant role in generating new Islamic consciousness with greater appreciation toward Sufi tradition among Indonesian Muslims. Sufism contributes not only to shape public religious discourse/morality, influence consuming patterns of urban upper-middle class Muslims, but also maintain moderate and peaceful Islam in Indonesia.

Urban Sufism, Media and Religious Change in Indonesia

In this paper, I contend that Sufism is only preoccupied with initiating new disciples and performing emotive religious rituals. By focusing on Naqshbandi-Haqqani, I argue that Sufi group actively involves in propagating its teaching to the general public. I also argue that Sufi movement actively involves in public campaign, along with other Muslim groups with similar religious outlook, to respond the perceived growing influence of Salafism and political Islamism among Indonesian Muslims. It represents contemporary public face of Sufism and Sufi activism in Indonesia. At the heart of the argument of this chapter is to examine collective efforts to maintain Sunni orthodoxy (Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah) as a dominant religious norm, reclaim Sufism as a legitimate voice within Sunni orthodoxy and general Muslim community, oppose to Salafism and political Islamism, and rationalise Sufism to academic community in Indonesia. This chapter will demonstrate that active propagation through the internet plays a significant role in generating new Islamic consciousness with greater appreciation toward Sufi tradition among Indonesian Muslims. Sufism contributes not only to shape public religious discourse/morality, influence consuming patterns of urban upper-middle class Muslims, but also maintain moderate and peaceful Islam in Indonesia.

The Coming of the Star-Child: The Reception of the Revelation of the Magi in New Age Religious Thought and Ufology

The Revelation of the Magi is the longest and most complex ancient Christian apocryphal writing devoted to the Magi. In this paper, after discussing the basic issues surrounding the interpretation of this text, I explore the popular reception of the text after my publication of it in 2010. This popular reception has been dominated by New Age and ufological (that is, the theorizing of unidentified flying objects) interpretative perspectives. Rather than viewing these interpretations as anachronistic, the paper argues that they may have far more in common with the circumstances that gave rise to the Revelation of the Magi than might initially be supposed. Ultimately, the Revelation of the Magi can be profitably characterized as a “gnostic” text—despite its lack of a demiurge—because of its strongly countercultural religious outlook, an outlook it shares with much New Age religious thought.

Spiteful Zeus: The Religious Background to Axial Age Greece

Recent discussions of the Axial Age in Greece (R. Bellah, 2011; K. Raaflaub, 2005) detailed some of the distinctive features of Greek religious life that allowed for the eventual development of a more secular outlook. In contrast to the religion of the ancient Israelites with its strong emphasis on the providential nature of human history, Greek religion evolved as a traditional set of ritual practices and cults that allowed humankind to maintain the goodwill of the gods. However, divine favor was no substitute for human effort as the Greeks did not regard the gods as the architects of their fate. Human beings were ultimately seen as responsible for their own individual fates with bad outcomes attributed to misfortune or personal character defects. Positive outcomes in everyday life were ultimately the result of individual or collective effort. This attitude is reflected in the text of Hesiod, who dates from the outset of the Axial era. Hesiod stated that the gods have created a world that provides everything we need for prosperity, but that they were also spiteful in that they required mankind to work hard to take advantage of it. This religious outlook led to the development of a Weberian worldly asceticism among individual Greeks which allowed for the economic rationalization that transformed Greece into a more competitive society in which social mobility was possible and poverty scorned. The growth in the size of the rural middle class made the political life of the polis more participatory, thus laying the basis for the competitive political and intellectual climate of Axial Age Greece.