Secular Culture Research Articles

Faith, reason and religious education: an essay for teachers of religions in a sceptical age

The following paper gives an abbreviated account of the argument in the recent book ‘Challenges for Religious Education: is there a disconnection between faith and reason?’ In paying particular attention to the perceived opposition between the systematic development of religious faith, on the one hand, and, on the other, the central educational aim of developing the rational basis of knowledge – especially within a more secular culture – so the book (and therefore this paper) identifies major challenges to be met by religious education in schools. Those are explicitly identified in the penultimate chapter of the book and briefly summarised in the final section of this paper.

HAPPINESS AS A DOUBLE GESTURE OF A TRIGGER: BREAKING AND CONCEPTING

The background of the study is an existential psychological analysis of the phenomenon of happiness as a state of radical break with the dominant signifiers of symbolic hegemony and, at the same time, voluntary value filling of the formed vacuum in the symbolic structure of a split subject with new meanings corresponding to his self. Research methods: structural psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, semiotics of culture, hermeneutics, philosophical comparative studies, deconstruction and universal ethics, theological methods of correlation between secular and religious models of thinking. Research results: comparison of the positive ontology of happiness in the Eastern Slavic Christian classical thought and the negative ontology of happiness in the Western post-Lacanian postmodernity; the implementation of the synthesis of images of happiness in the ways of thought of the postmodern West and the modern East on the basis of the dialogue of universalism and particularism, traditionalism and neo-modernism, personalism and collectivism. Conclusions: confirmation of the hypothesis of the double nature of happiness as a unity of metaphysical rupture and dialectical synthesis, manifested through the chronotopes of secular and religious cultures, traditions and innovations.

Redemption from Tyranny: Herman Husband’s American Revolution

Redemption from Tyranny: Herman Husband’s American Revolution

Radical Islamism in Schools of France and Germany

The article compares the tendencies of Islamism in school education in France and Germany. Despite the different approaches to the role of religion in schools in these countries with large Muslim communities, there is a growing process of the penetration of Islamism into schools. The external manifestations of this phenomenon coincide ‒ the segregation of schoolchildren in relation to religion. At the same time, the social factor clearly fades away. The author explores the cultural causes of Islamism, which are based on the gap between the secular culture of France and Germany and the worldview of Muslim youth. At the turn of the 1980s in France and Germany the assimilation policy of integration exhausted its possibilities, primarily due to the massive influx of migrants from Muslim countries who created their own territorial enclaves ("parallel societies"), in which the power of the state was minimized. There was a paradigm shift at the turn of the 1980s‒1990s, when Western countries began to implement a policy of multiculturalism, which also suffered a failure. The article examines how the value of a person's religious affiliation as opposed to civic value, the priority of group rights in relation to the rights of an individual became the reason for the strengthening of Islamism in schools in France and Germany. That was a direct consequence of both the mass migration of the 1980s and 1990s, which took the form of superficial naturalization, with the goal of obtaining social benefits without becoming introduced to the culture of Western countries, and the failed policy of multiculturalism. If these problems are not tackled, the success in curbing the Islamist wave in European schools is unlikely.

An empirical study of online food delivery services from applications perspective

The scientific advancement in urbanised locations with the relation of the lower classes and discovery to Secularized culture is boosting the growth of food delivery applications and restaurant industries in India. The convenience of users is the primary objective aspect of such, while the second thing that these software's are also beneficial for the development of the market in eating and food supply, as the use of the online platform is a place where the restaurant owner is prepared to attract as many users as he can by allowing them to see the entire food menu in accordance with item name, price, photo, etc. Apps for food delivery have proven to be a big success in India as people are very well about all its operations and services. As one can order food for any type of occasion, it is one of the most comfortable and trusted options available. This helps to save time, resources, fuel and efforts for people, which is one of the key reasons why this industry is thriving and will tend to do so. Therefore, part of my initiative would be to review the theoretical background in various aspects of food sector apps, business models and various factors affecting adoption of food delivery apps that have never been addressed before.

Assimilating to Art-Religion: Jewish Secularity and Edgar Zilsel’s Geniereligion (1918)

In 1918, Edgar Zilsel—a Marxist-Jewish philosopher who was soon to be exiled from Vienna—published a sociological study that later readers have found prescient of fascism. In Die Geniereligion (“The Religion of Genius”), Zilsel cautioned against the hidden dangers of elevating secular figures to the status of deities. As early as 1912, Zilsel was disturbed by how art-religion shaped music culture: his earliest published essay ruminated on timelessness and canonicity, on striving for heavenly tones while cast down to the earthly squalor of the concert hall. Indeed, in Zilsel’s Vienna, art-religion had come to dominate the music world—biographers made Beethoven a surrogate Christ, composers’ mementos circulated as relics, and historic houses became sites of pilgrimage. This article argues that Zilsel’s Geniereligion was not only an extension of his disdain for timelessness, but also bears subtle traces of Jewish disillusionment at the impossibility of assimilation to a secular arts culture. To enact their “civic self-improvement” (bürgerliche Verbesserung), Jews pursued educational self-cultivation (Bildung) that immersed them in the German national canon; and while this canon purported to be a secular neutral space, its Catholic practices of artist-veneration forced Jews to assimilate to a distinctly Christian brand of art-religion. When read against this cultural backdrop, Zilsel’s Geniereligion emerges as a subtle Jewish response to the promises and failures of secularity.

Innovation affecting growth aspirations of early stage entrepreneurs: culture and economic freedom matter

PurposeEarlier research confirms the positive effect of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of entrepreneurs. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of innovation on growth ambitions of entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of institutions, namely, culture and economic freedom. In other words, the authors’ objective is to provide an institutionally contingent understanding of the role of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of early-stage entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied hierarchical linear modeling technique on the data of 100,566 early-stage entrepreneurs in 109 countries that participated in annual surveys of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.FindingsThe authors find that the effect of innovation on shaping growth ambitions of early stage entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of culture such that, in secular cultures, innovation benefits growth ambitions more than traditional cultures. Further, the authors found that the effect of innovation on growth expectations is dependent on the level of economic freedom in the country in which the firms operate so that in the countries with higher level of economic freedom, early-stage entrepreneurs expect more growth out of their innovation as compared to their counterparts in the depressed economies.Originality/valueThe results contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurial growth aspirations as a result of the interplay of entrepreneur–firm–environment nexus.

INTEGRATION PROCESSES IN CENTRAL ASIA AND PROSPECTS OF THE IDEA OF “TURKISTAN – OUR COMMON HOME " IN THIS REGION

Central Asia is a region with its glorious history, ancient, great traditions and religious and secular culture. Studying the existing historical traditions in this region, continuing and enriching them in New historical conditions, inheriting a society that is comprehensively mature, perfect and sustainable for the future generation is today's urgent task. There are different views on cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and its prospects. But today, the countries of the region are solving the problems that will exist now and in the near future, establishing mutually beneficial and multilateral cooperation.

Rule of Law without Secularized Culture is a Myth: A Critical Analysis

Rule of law is the most uttered and cherished philosophy in present world as it is related to political democracy. [1] Each democratic or non-democratic regime reiterates her commitment for upholding rule of law in the process of governance. People of the developed and developing countries maintain a simple and honest belief that rule of law is truly practiced in the developed countries- USA, UK, France, etc. But reality is not so. Dicey innovated rule of law principle in 1885, when its total application was absent even in UK. Thereafter 1959 Delhi Declaration incorporated three more principles for making Dicey’s rule of law workable. Immediately after Delhi Declaration KC Davis clarified law for making it compatible with rule of law. Rule of law is not workable in a polluted society. Even in a democratic society rule of law is not fruitful if rationality, honesty and sincerity is not found in the action of the government and governed. If ethical values and personality integration are absent in the society rule of law can not achieve its goal. This rationality, honesty, ethical values are nothing but the outcome of secularized culture. Only secularized culture ensures rule of law in the society. State is considered as having secularized character. Secularism denotes to combination of rationality, moral and ethical values, and at last the dictate of right reason of a rational human being. State is emerged to protect and preserve the right to life, liberty and property of the people. But government, the trustee of the state, if not imbibed with this character, rule of law will not be visible in the society. Secularized character of government only expedites the journey of rule of law smooth, free and fruitful and, thereby making democracy and development meaningful. USA, UK and Western European countries are spokespersons of rule of law. Bangladesh and China also propagate rule of law and die for ensuring rule of law. In reality none of these states practice it. The reason lies in the non practice of secularized culture. This paper is intended to find out whether rule of law works without practice of secularized culture or not. Keywords : Rule of Law, Secularized Culture DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/109-10 Publication date: May 31 st 2021 [1] Shils Edward, Political Development in the New States, Mouton & Co., The Hague-Paris, 1966 pp.51-62

Bible: Les récits fondateurs : (S. Bloch, F. Boyer, Montrouge: Bayard, 2016)

Published in 2016 by Bayard Culture, Bible: les récits fondateurs is an illustrated Bible rewritten by a general writer and designed by an illustrator. This Bible comes from the ambition to create a Bible that readers have never seen, read, or heard before. This Bible mainly contains illustrations with minimal writing. The greatest feature of this Bible is to show the process of producing the website and to introduce questions and answers by experts. As a media Bible, Bible: les récits fondateurs aims to promote the biblical message from children to adults and from beginners to believers.<BR> We live in a multimedia age today. Even without the fourth industrial revolution mentioned, the civilization will change rapidly in the future. The existing literal Bible would not be able to excite young people who are changing too quickly. It would be difficult to satisfy them. In fact, the media Bible, produced in an illustration and video form, is not a new Bible made in a new culture. Already for early Christians, the Bible was not just a written Bible, but a Bible that was made to be listened to in narrations and looked at in paintings. In this regard, the media Bible restores the ideology of the time when the Bible was produced. Therefore, it seems that Bible: les récits fondateurs comes from not only this motivation but also a deeper theological dimension. Faith is not just an intellectual acknowledgment or confession. Through the healing of emotions, a complete person must be created.<BR> In order to produce a media Bible, we need the infrastructure of writers, illustrators, voice actors, broadcasters, animators, and artists. And it should be based on healthy commentaries from biblical scholars. This work is possible when the Christian culture is established to some extent. Religion should not remain as a ghetto within the walls of religious people. It is necessary to communicate with the secular culture to make the biblical message be delivered to the general public more easily.

The Dynamic of Muslim Identity In Multicultural Politic of Australia

This research aims to explore the dynamic of Muslim Identities in a multicultural context. Taking Brisbane as a research locus, the research investigates modes of conflict resolution that are enacted in a Muslim minority area by considering the operation of Islam and Islamic modes negotiating identity within the wider society. The prime concern of the research based on the questions of how does the Muslim in Australia expresses their identity by developing the adaptation strategy as social action in a multicultural context?. Based on the questions, this article focused on the issues of the strategy of Muslim that used in responding to view and practices of multiculturalism. This research shows that Muslims in Australia have a wide variety of historical and social backgrounds. Amid Australia's multicultural politics, Australian Muslims have different responses to negotiate Islamic identity on the one hand and as Australian citizens on the other. The adaptation of Muslim in Australia then ranges from a moderate pattern, accepting a secular culture, to being reactionary as the impact of the feeling of being marginalized people as a “stepchild” in Australian citizenship.

Jewish culture, Chinese culture, and mathematics education

In the past three decades, there has been increased attention on the influence of culture on the teaching and learning of mathematics. Jews and Chinese both have a long history and a rich cultural heritage, and the populations in both communities are known to place high emphasis on education. Has this emphasis anything to do with the cultural heritage in these communities? This paper offers some observations on the essential features of the two cultures. Despite the contrast between the religious roots of the Jewish culture and the secular Chinese culture, the two cultures share some commonalities, including the emphasis on the collective and the reliance on the family and the clan in passing on cultural practices and values. Characteristics in the two cultures that are related to mathematics education are then examined. These include the early development of mathematics in the two cultures, the different traditions of education and academic studies, the collective culture, and the strong involvement of the family in children’s education in the two communities. Implications for contemporary mathematics education in the two cultures and beyond, including what mathematics should children learn, what is the goal of mathematics education, and what role does the family play in students’ learning, are then discussed. The paper serves to highlight the role played by culture in the development of mathematics and mathematics education.

Brain beats heart: a cross-cultural reflection.

From the Egyptian Book of the Dead to the doctrine of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, ancient secular and religious cultures throughout the world often considered the heart — and not the brain — to be the home of the emotions, cognition and even the soul. Brandt and Huppert reflect on the reasons behind this belief.

Negotiating Science and Religion in America: Past, Present, and Future

Negotiating Science and Religion in America: Past, Present, and Future

The history of formation of the foundations of higher education in Buryatia

This article explores poorly studied aspects of the emergence and development of the foundations of higher education in Buryatia. Special attention is given to the historical analysis of the knowledge traditions of the Buryat society and educational practice of Buddhism, as well as to examination of the experience of proliferation of the Western secular culture in Siberia after its annexation to Russia. The author considers the key principles of functionality and main trends in evolution of the traditions of higher education in the context of specific historical conditions of the late XIX &amp;ndash; early XX centuries. The article describes the pivotal historical periods of the formation of higher education in the region. It becomes clear that the educational institutions that existed in different historical periods &amp;nbsp;served as catalysts for the development of higher education in Buryatia. The author determines that the development of the foundations of higher education in the region was influenced by the main trends in the development of pre-revolutionary Russian society and the initial stage of Soviet modernization. However, the peculiarities of historical-cultural development of Buryatia substantiated the specificity of solution of educational problems that were grounded on the rich cultural-historical heritage of the Buryat ethnos, ethnic processes, and national traditions of the Russian system of education. Soviet modernization accelerated the establishment of the foundations of higher education. The opening of higher education institutions in the republic in 1932 prompted the development of higher education in Buryatia, as well as preparation of highly qualified specialists.

The Barmen Declaration and the American Church

The faithful church took a brave stand for truth against the false German Christian Church in Nazi Germany with the Barmen Declaration. The Declaration serves as a good guide for the American Church which facing an increasingly secular and hostile culture and government.

Home music engagement among families of culturally closed communities

ABSTRACT No study thus far has investigated music engagement in the home among sectors of society, that because of cultural and/or ethno-religious characteristics, have a drastically different lifestyle and home environment than typically ordinary conventional local residents, who represent the more hegemonic popular Western liberal-minded secular culture. The current study recruited 96 families belonging to one of two subgroups: Modern-Orthodox (n = 49) or Ultra-Orthodox (n = 47) Jews in Israel. They completed the Children's Music Behavior Inventory (CMBI). The findings show no differences between the overall Orthodox sample to a matched sample of the general population. However, when comparing between the two subgroups significant differences surfaced concerning parent-initiated music activities in the home environment. The study demonstrates that even among families who do not fit into the mainstream of society, music is a crucial part of family life embedded in the home, and that music engagement is an essential component within parent–child relationships.

Integrasi antara Agama dan Ilmu Dalam Perspektif Malik Bennabi

As a Muslim sociologist, Malik Bennabi has both an answer and a criticism of western scholars' opinions on the dichotomy between science and religion. In this paper, the author tries to describe and analyze malik Bennabi's pattern of thinking related to the integration between religion and science. In this brief study, it can be seen that according to Bennabi between science and religion has a very close relationship, even the two have a single role in the formation of a civilization. This is certainly what is meant by Islamic civilization. Islamic civilization is a civilization of science, even Islam itself is a religion and civilization, so in Islamic civilization between science and religion is an inseparable unity. While Western civilization according to Bennabi at this time is on the verge of destruction, because of the moral decadence manifested from the dichotomy between religion and Science. This is because basically the identity of Western civilization itself must be a separation between science and religion, namely with secularization. Gradually but surely European culture has melted away with secular travel, which further led them towards positivism and materialism. From there science and morals have their own paths, so the separation between science and conscience becomes common in areas covered by secular culture.

Medieval encyclopedia as a form of of religious worldview universalization (on the example of "Speculum Maius " by Vincent of Beauvais)

The article actualizes the significance of scholastic encyclopedias for the religious and secular culture of medieval Europe. Their role as a compendium of accumulated knowledge and at the same time ideological synthesis of Christian religious doctrine and scientific achievements, ancient and scholastic traditions, university, and church-monastery intellectual culture is shown.&#x0D; The main attention is paid to the multi-volume Vincent of Beauvais’ work «Speculum Maius» («The Great Mirror») as the most significant work among medieval encyclopedias and its conceptual completion. The extraordinary role of the encyclopedia as a documentary evidence of knowledge, ideas, worldview, mentality of the Western European Middle Ages is proved. The author outlines the principles of codification of «The Great Mirror»; highlights the influence of the Christian-theological context on the content, structure and methods of organizing its material; the relationship of encyclopedic work with the processes of development and rationalization of the religious worldview. The focus is on the universalizing potential of the Christianity concepts, the extraordinary expression of which was the work by Vincent of Beauvais. The aspiration for universality was manifested both in the desire to understand the world as a Whole, created by God-completed omnipresence, and in attempts to base all the accumulated human experience, all kinds of knowledge and life on the principles of the Christian worldview. The encyclopedia is valued as a real «mirror» of an entire era, the medieval reception of Christianity, the history of European science and knowledge.

Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg

Reviewed by: Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg James Keating Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2019), 200 pp. In this compelling book, David Fagerberg urges Christians to have their thinking arise from their worship. To worship the triune God is to have one's being penetrated with the truths and symbols of the Paschal mystery. Slowly, developmentally, relationally, these truths inhabit the mind and rebirth it with a true metanoia. Such a change of thinking is analogical to a man moving from a bachelor mind in order to welcome a new and other-encompassing spousal mind. The Eucharistic [End Page 991] liturgy is mind-altering. A person's vulnerable and regular participation in the liturgy is life changing. Within the Eucharistic liturgy, theologians and mystics are born and sustained, their identities and mission deepened and secured (ix). Such a view of liturgy is never possessed by all in the Church, due to the weight and drag of sin and human finitude. Those who do embrace such a view long to have the liturgy transform them into icons of Christ (x). Such icons become living windows through which the secular culture can view divine love affecting a person. Even though such personal transformation is being accomplished within a liturgical life, most of what happens in each liturgy is, at levels, imperceptible to sensation or consciousness. Divine life is being communicated to the soul akin to how bodily nutrition enters the bloodstream—silently, inexorably, but vitally. No, we do not "feel" the Mass in a dramatic way, no matter how we tinker with music, preaching, and architecture. We benefit from the Mass as one benefits from food: It keeps us living. The Mass keeps us safe unto eternal life. The liturgy is like a huge iceberg where what we see "isn't the half of it." What Fagerberg wants to know in this powerful work of theology that he has written is simple: How are individual believers affected by what is happening beneath the waterline? (83). What is happening inside of a person while he or she participates in the liturgy? This book is an exploration of liturgical mysticism. If we were to read Fagerberg prayerfully and with pastoral hearts, a new appreciation of what ecclesial formation is would be embraced. Fagerberg's work is a meditation on how Catholics are being saved by Christ, on how one is formed into salvation. Fagerberg breathes the liturgy, theology, and pastoral life with both lungs. His mind is oxygenated in a unique way. It is a mind that nourishes others and forms others to be formators themselves. With this current text and his previous two—On Liturgical Asceticism (2013) and Consecrating the World (2016)—we have a formation library for mystical (sacramental) Catholicism. What is happening beneath the waterline of the liturgical iceberg is this: "Liturgy is the perichoresis of the Trinity kenotically extended to invite our synergistic ascent into deification" (30). We are used to Fagerberg being in harmony with the Eastern masters and his beloved Alexander Schmemann, Aidan Kavanagh, and Jean Corbon; but here he is dancing more fully with the West (Louis Bouyer, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Blessed Dom Marmion, Jean Daniélou) and inviting us all to listen to the full orchestra that captivates him. And the music enchanting him is the melody of life rising from within the liturgy, from Christ's own ongoing vim and vigor shared as grace. This life is purifying, securing a clearer sense of the Christian faith as mystical. The mystic is a person who seeks the face of Jesus and beholds his mysteries unto a change [End Page 992] of heart. Paradoxically, we become mystics by allowing the Holy Spirit to lift us up and abduct us by his own descent at the liturgy. The mystic is one who is "ascending" all through his or her own mundane life. The mystic himself is a "presence in the mundane of supernatural things" (37), because his life is the life of the liturgy. The mystic lives life as a liturgical being, as one formed in the ways of Christ in and through liturgical worship. To be a mystic is to travel...