Western Religion Research Articles

(Re) Thinking the representation of Nigerian traditional religious practices and Western religion in selected Nollywood movies

This paper sets out to analyze the depiction of Nigerian traditional religious practices vis-à-vis Western religious practices in some Nigerian movies against the backdrop that some Nollywood films are imbued with ideologies that uphold and promulgate western Christian values at the expense of core Nigerian traditional religious values. Previous studies demonstrate that the tendency in Western religious thought has been to see African cultural practices and spirituality as void of moral character in the history of human civilization deserving distillation. It is unfortunate that the tendency for most African filmmakers is still to produce contents that discredit Nigerian spirituality by portraying it as void of moral character. The study is informed by Multimodal Discourse Analysis which provides methodological tools applied in the analyses of the selected movies. The paper, therefore, analyses the discursive strategies used to promote western Christian practices against those of Nigeria in particular and Africa at large in the movies under study. This paper assumes that Nigerian traditional religions and spirituality are depicted in contrast to western religious values in a conflicting space. By depicting custodians of Nigerian traditional religions and spirituality in malevolent practices in contrast to custodians of western religion depicted as benevolent, the filmmakers in the films under study undermine the essence of Nigerian core values. The analyses demonstrate that the Nollywood movies selected for the study are imbued with stereotypes that serve a colonial agenda by properly engaging Nigeria’s religious history with western religions. They serve as a medium through which western religious ideologies are upheld at the detriment of traditional Nigerian values in particular and African in general.

A Review on Li Zhizao’s Scientific Translation and His Contribution to the Chinese Science Development

During the period from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, some Chinese scholars began to translate western science and culture. Li Zhizao, an excellent Chinese scientist, not only introduced a lot about western religion to the Chinese people, but also translated a great deal of western scientific knowledge. He committed himself to the introduction of western science and translation of western books, greatly promoting the advance of science in China. This paper first reviews the previous studies on scientific translation during the period from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, and the previous studies on Li Zhizao, then holds that: (1) the previous studies mainly focus on the contribution of Li Zhizao as a scholar or translator in general, rather than his specific translation activities and his translation contribution to the Chinese science development; (2) the previous studies are relatively scattered and need to go deeper. Therefore, a systematic and in-depth study of Li Zhizao’s translation needs to be made.

The Plight of Western Religion: The Eclipse of the Other-Worldly. By Paul Gifford

The Plight of Western Religion: The Eclipse of the Other-Worldly. <i>By Paul Gifford</i>

Patient privacy and autonomy: a comparative analysis of cases of ethical dilemmas in China and the United States

BackgroundRespect for patients’ autonomy is usually considered to be an important ethical principle in Western countries; privacy is one of the implications of such respect. Healthcare professionals frequently encounter ethical dilemmas during their practice. The past few decades have seen an increased use of courts to resolve intractable ethical dilemmas across both the developed and the developing world. However, Chinese and American bioethics differ largely due to the influence of Chinese Confucianism and Western religions, respectively, and there is a dearth of comparative studies that explore cases of ethical dilemmas between China and the United States.MethodsThis paper discusses four typical cases with significant social impact. First, it compares two cases concerning patient privacy: the “Shihezi University Hospital Case”, in which a patient was used as a clinical teaching object without her permission, and the “New York-Presbyterian Hospital Case”, in which the hospital allowed the filming of a patient’s treatment without his consent. Second, it compares two cases regarding patient autonomy and potentially life-saving medical procedures: the “Case of Ms. L”, concerning a cohabitant’s refusal to sign a consent form for a pregnant woman’s caesarean, and the “Case of Mrs. V”, concerning a hospital’s insistence upon a blood transfusion for a dissenting patient. This paper introduces the supporting and opposing views for each case and discusses their social impact. It then compares and analyses the differences between China and the United States from cultural and legislative perspectives.ConclusionsEthical dilemmas have often occurred in China due to the late development of bioethics. However, the presence of bioethics earlier in the US than in China has not spared the US of ethical dilemmas. This paper highlights lessons and inspiration from the cases for healthcare professionals and introduces readers to the role and weight of privacy and autonomy in China and in the US from the perspectives of different cultures, religions and laws.

How does religious belief promote farmer entrepreneurship in rural China?

We investigate whether and if so, how religious belief promotes farmer entrepreneurship in rural China. We find a significant and positive relationship between religious belief and farmer entrepreneurship. Our results show that a family member’s religious belief, especially a male member’s religious belief, spills over to the family’s engagement in farmer entrepreneurship. In addition, the religion effect is more pronounced in eastern China, where conditions for developing entrepreneurship are more favourable. We demonstrate that compared with Western religions, Eastern religions have a stronger influence on farmer entrepreneurship in China. Our results have important implications for policymakers in other developing economies who seek to achieve sustainable rural economic development.

Changing Demographics and the Future of Religious Exercise

Post-Enlightenment Western religion, and legal frameworks responding to it, place special emphasis on individuality and personal conscience. But as the racial and ethnic makeup of the nation evolves, an increasing portion of the nation’s population follows religious traditions that emphasize communal practices. Thus, as demographics change, the appearance of religious exercise will change too. Recent scholarly critique, which questions robust protections for religious free exercise, should consider how certain protections may be particularly valuable for minority, but growing, religious perspectives. Specifically, protections for institutional free exercise and religious land use, with the proper limitations, should be seriously considered as desirable safeguards of minority rights. Such approaches to religious liberty law would respect the communal and embodied nature of religious life which looks to expand in years to come.

Istwa across the Water: Haitian History, Memory, and the Cultural Imagination by Toni Pressley-Sanon

Reviewed by: Istwa across the Water: Haitian History, Memory, and the Cultural Imagination by Toni Pressley-Sanon Angela Watkins Istwa across the Water: Haitian History, Memory, and the Cultural Imagination. By Toni Pressley-Sanon. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017. ISBN 0-8130-5440-7. 192 pp. $74.95 hardcover. In Istwa across the Water: Haitian History, Memory, and the Cultural Imagination, Toni Pressley-Sanon foregrounds her examination of cultural production and cultural memory in the African diaspora within three theoretical concepts: tidalectics (the figurative ebb and flow of water that symbolizes the transatlantic dispersal of enslaved Africans and the resulting physical/metaphysical displacement), La Marassa (the sacred twins in Haitian Vodou), and istwa (history, story, and memory).1 Tracing the origins of enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) to Dahomey (present-day Benin) and the Kongo, Pressley-Sanon explores how African belief systems were sustained and redefined in the New World despite the attempted erasure by slave owners and colonists. At times poetic in her explanation of the African diaspora as both fractured and reinvented in an attempt to be made whole, Pressley-Sanon reimagines the capture and survival of enslaved Africans and the transformation of cultural practices that preceded slavery. Beginning with the significance of Haiti's bicolor flag, legendarily created by removing the French flag's white stripe—which, according to Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, had once symbolized the white, slave-owning population of Saint-Domingue (1–2)—Pressley-Sanon contextualizes the fight for independence during the Haitian Revolution as the reclamation of African roots among free and enslaved people of color and the (re)invention of Haitian identity. According to the author, the blue and red of the Haitian flag, which represent the Black and mulatto populations, respectively, also symbolize "two lwa who were invoked most strongly during the Haitian Revolution: Èzili Dantò and Ogou Feray" (1). Bolstered by faith in the African deities from whom they sought guidance and protection, the insurgents defeated their oppressors. [End Page 208] In her book, Pressley-Sanon examines storytelling as an integral part of African and African diasporic culture. She recalls the story of Bokofio, which Melville Herskovits writes about in Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938) after an anthropological field study in the 1930s. Bokofio is taken on a treacherous journey before he is freed and allowed to return home. Pressley-Sanon presents three scenarios through which the story may be understood. She reinscribes the protagonist as someone uprooted from his homeland as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, who is taken to new lands and forced to adapt to a new way of life. Alternatively, she interprets Bokofio's "return" as the physical return to Africa after the end of slavery, in reference to documented cases in which newly freed people were sent back to their native land. Finally, she suggests that Bokofio's return to his homeland is an allusion to the belief that after death the souls of enslaved Africans return to Ginen, the spiritual underworld. She argues that both the oral tradition and the material culture specific to certain regions of the African continent and its diaspora reveal a deeper understanding of how enslaved people "died to one way of being as a result of their contact with the transatlantic slave trade [and] were also reborn to another" (11). According to Pressley-Sanon, the forced assimilation involved the act of forgetting (due to the passage of time or as a survival technique) or maintaining one's cultural beliefs by adopting Western religions and practices as a guise. Pressley-Sanon focuses on material culture in explaining tidalectics in terms of the cyclical nature of history, specifically focusing on how the past informs the present and the recognition of contemporary iterations of bondage and racial oppression. She also explores how these ruptures, as a consequence of chattel slavery, led to a fusion and reinterpretation of various African cultural practices. For example, she refers both to a performance group in Haiti whose costumes consist of cords that represent the power of bociọ, sculptures crafted "to 'work' for their owners to shield them against harm and function in conjunction with vodun [sic] energies to protect humans and...

마테오 리치와 대순사상의 관계성에 대한 연구

In Daesoon Thought, Matteo Ricci is regarded highly as a Jongjang, ‘religious leader,’ (of Christianity). This paper deals with the life and philosophical/theological thought of Matteo Ricci as homo-religiosus from the perspective of phenomenology of religion. Examining his historical background and biographical sketch, I will analyze Ricci’s understanding of God, humanity, and salvation and re-evaluate his relationship with Daesoon Thought. Matteo Ricci, born in Italy, became a Jesuit missionary to China and transmitted various products of western civilization. Accepting the pro-cultural approach of Jesuit mission, he applied it to Chinese culture and language by learning the Chinese language and regarding Chinese people as his friends. This was a sympathetic way to transmit Western religion and culture while on Chinese soil. He suggested eight reasons to look towards the future of China with optimism and taught Chinese people his Christian message through his indirect means of understanding and persuasion. In China, Jesuit missionaries called the Christian God ‘Tianzhu (Cheonju in Sino-Korean),’ meaning Lord of Heaven. Ricci identified the Confucian notion of ‘Shangdi (Sangje in Sino-Korean),’ meaning Supreme Emperor (or God) with Tianzhu. While translating Confucian scriptures, he found the common ground between Confucianism and Christianity to be the monotheism of ancient Confucianism. He criticized the concepts of God in Buddhism and Daoism, and justified the Christian doctrine of God by way of a Confucian understanding of deity. Ricci’s understanding of humanity was based on his Christian faith in creation, and he criticized the Buddhist concept of transmigration. He proposed Christian ethics and doctrine of salvation by using discourse on the afterlife and in particular, the concepts of heaven and hell. Concerning the relationship between Daesoon Thought and Ricci, the following aspects should be examined: 1.) Ricci’s contribution to the cultural exchanges between East and West, 2.) his peaceful approach to his mission based on dialogue and persuasion, 3.) the various activities conducted by Ricci as a Christian leader, and 4.) his belief in miraculous healings. His influence on Korea will likewise be explored. Ricci’s ultimate aim was to communicate with Asian people and unify East and West under a singular worldview by emphasizing the similarities between the Christian and Confucian concepts of God.

The Black Madonna: A Theoretical Framework for the African Origins of Other World Religious Beliefs

This review summarizes existing scholarship in order to theorize how Abrahamic religions and Hinduism were influenced by African beliefs, in order to illuminate the contributions that African beliefs have had on other world religions. The review begins with a brief historical overview of the origins of indigenous ideologies, followed by a review of classical theories of religion and a summary of contemporary religious trends, with particular attention on African beliefs. The Black Madonna, with origins in Africa, is a prominent example of how African beliefs have been integrated into other faiths in ways that are often obscured from view. The Black Madonna is compared with the characteristics and symbolism of the traditional fair-skinned Virgin Mary. It is estimated that there are hundreds of depictions of the Black Madonna, yet her identity as truly black is generally minimized. This review contributes a theoretical rationale for the lack of recognition and acceptance of the Madonna as black, contextualizing this within a feminist theoretical viewpoint and analyzing the connection to African folklore and traditional religious beliefs. The theoretical framework articulated in this paper contributes an elucidation of the ways that indigenous African religions have affected other world religions. Acknowledging this influence challenges the simplistic notion of reified distinctions between Western and non-Western religions.

Pushing the Naked Envelop Further: A Missiological Deconstruction of the Empire and Christianity in Africa

In re-visiting issues of empire and African Christianity, this article sought to provide a missiological deconstruction of empire and Christianity in Africa, and to draw some missiological lessons that can help shape the agenda of Christianity in Africa moving to the future. Using a liberating praxis of engagement with available literature, this article concluded that the relationship between empire and Christianity is not only historical, but a present reality – it can be traced back from early Christianity, Roman Empire, colonial and imperial era, to post-colonial and independent/democratic Africa. The article discovered that while the empire dominates and enslaves, Christianity in Africa could be liberated to liberate the rest of the world from the stronghold of the empire. Optics – in the form of various hermeneutic lenses – should be used to unmask the empire for what/who it is. The theology of ubuntu and other life-affirming African theologies should be used as liberating tools, not only from the empire but also from the myth that Christianity is a Western religion.

Christianity in Lin Shu's Translation of La Dame aux camélias (Bali Chahuanu Yishi) -- With Discussion on Lin’s Theory on Heaven Veneration and Reflection on Ghosts and Spirits

&lt;p&gt;本文析論林紓譯《巴黎茶花女遺事》筆下的信仰與宗教話語，以之比對《茶花女》原文宗教意涵，再聯繫林紓畏天與鬼神論，說明林紓《遺事》對基督宗教的詮釋和重塑，主要指出：《茶花女》原作與林譯均述及「天」與「上帝」，二者皆言「天意」與「天佑」，但林譯中的「天命」為原文所無，其「天從人願」渴求也與原作「爾旨得成」觀念相悖。《遺事》的「天」賞善罰惡，鑒察人心，但林譯卻刪去了許多原作的基督宗教隱喻，其贖罪思想與原作救贖觀並不相同。另一方面，也正由於林譯的重塑，《遺事》筆下基督宗教上帝（天）的形象和道德觀，與林紓本人「畏天循分」、天佑忠孝的觀念，因而變得相當貼近。林紓認為基督宗教的上帝為「善」，這一認識，是他即使視耶穌教為「迷信」，但在譯作中仍屢作介紹，並始終未曾敵視基督宗教的重要原因。&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The religious discourse in Lin Shu’s Chinese translation of La Dame aux cam&amp;eacute;lias is analysed and compared to the religious meanings conveyed in the original. The results are then connected to Lin’s theory on Heaven veneration and his reflection on ghosts and spirits, in order to explain how he interpreted and recreated Christianity. The major findings are that: Lin’s translation retains two terms from the source text, Heaven (tian) and God (Shangdi), both bearing the meanings of &amp;quot;providence&amp;quot; (tianyi) and &amp;quot;Heaven’s blessings&amp;quot; (tianyou). However, &amp;quot;fate&amp;quot; (tianming) is found to be the translator’s own additions. His translation also projects a wish for &amp;quot;Heaven to have any Earthly wish fulfilled&amp;quot; (tiancongrenyuan), which differs from the concept of &amp;quot;let Thy will be done&amp;quot; expressed in the original French work. The Heaven as depicted in the original and Lin’s translation also rewards the righteous, punishes the evil, searches the heart and examines the mind, but Lin’s translation does not preserve most of the religious metaphors, and presents an idea of redemption which is different from the concept of salvation in the original. Because of Lin’s rewriting, the Christian image of God and moral values reflected in his translation are close to his understanding of Heaven veneration (weitian) and belief that &amp;quot;people embodying loyalty and filial piety will have divine blessings&amp;quot; (tianyouzhongxiao). Even though Lin equates Christian faith with superstition, the Western religion is frequently introduced in his translations as he considered the Christian God to be of good nature. This is why he was never hostile to Christianity.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

On medical and religious significance of burial Ephedra in Lop Nur region

The prevailing sandstorm environment of Lop Nur is a high-risk factor which can induce respiratory diseases. Ephedra can cure the patients or relieve the symptom. These may make ancient Lop Nur peoples worship ephedra. Therefore, viewed it as burial objects. From the point of view of some eastern and western religions, ephedra was the elixir of life. Since ephedrine ephedra contains can excite the sympathetic nerves of human body, it makes people have an illusion.Ephedra can restore their youth. Ancient people of Lop Nur viewed ephedra as a holy item. Both the functions of therapy and "youth restoration" from exciting the nerves, meant guarantee for life. For ancient Lop Nur peoples, ephedra has the value of both medicine and religion.

The Impact of World Religions on Conservatism

ABSTRACTThis study examines the association between world religions and the earnings attribute of conservatism. I group the major world religions into two sub-groups, Western and Eastern. Prior literature documents that followers of Western religions have a lower preference for risk relative to followers of Eastern religions. Prior literature also finds a lower preference for risk is associated with more conservative reporting. Using a large sample of firms listed on exchanges around the world, I find earnings of firms domiciled in countries with larger Western religious presence are more conservative. The results hold after using an indicator for whether the predominant religion in the country is a Western religion, controlling for religiosity, and using a sample of U.S. foreign registrants that file a 20-F reconciliation with the SEC. My study contributes to our understanding of how social norms affect financial reporting.JEL Classifications: G14; G15; M41.

Unpacking the moderating role of age and gender in the belief–behaviour link: a study within the context of water resources pollution

In Ghana, water resources represent a symbol of cultural authority, spiritual strength and a major source of wealth and power. To preserve these resources, taboos and customary practices were instituted as precepts in precolonial Ghanaian societies to regulate access. However, recent studies claim that the proliferation of Western religions has significantly diminished the potency of these centuries-long belief systems, with a potential impact on the role of beliefs on behaviours. Applying conditional process modelling to survey data from four rural communities in Ghana, we explore whether some beliefs influence pro-environmental behaviours in relation to water resources pollution; and examine the potential factors that moderate this link. Results show that some belief factors predict pro-environmental behaviour. However, this link depends on gender and age. The present study thus advances our understanding of the complex ways in which beliefs interact with sociodemographic variables to influence the adoption of pro-environmental behaviours.

PaulGifford: The Plight of Western Religion: The Eclipse of the Other‐Worldly. London: Hurst &amp; Company, 2019; pp. v + 161.

PaulGifford: <i>The Plight of Western Religion: The Eclipse of the Other‐Worldly</i>. London: Hurst &amp; Company, 2019; pp. v + 161.

The Animal Ethic Thoughts in the Eastern and Western Religions and Their Resource Significance

From the perspective of religion, philosophy and science, the animal world is a part of nature, and interacts with the human world to jointly shape the natural world and create the present state of human world outlook. However, the animal ethics in eastern and Western religions have different positions and contents because of their different ideological origins and values. The Abrahamic religions all embody a kind of religious humanitarianism in the relationship between man and animal. Compared with Western religions, Buddhism and Jainism do not embody a clear human centralism position in terms of doctrine, and Taoism also holds a kind of gentle bio-egalitarianism. With modern science development, no matter the human centralism animal ethics in Western religions, or the biological egalitarian animal ethics in Eastern religions, there are some conflicts and fusions on theoretical and practical aspects. Through the comparative study of Eastern and Western religions in animal ethics, we can clarify the differences and integration of animal ethics in the Eastern and Western religious systems, and actively seek the coexistence and development of modern science and technology and religious animal ethics in theory and practice, which has a very important positive value in promoting the harmonious development of human and nature and improving the ecological environment.

Fernanda MelchorHurricane Season by Sophie Hughes

J. M. Coetzee The Death of Jesus London. Harvill Secker. 2020. 197 pages. THE DEATH OF JESUS presumably concludes J. M. Coetzee’s cycle on the messianic figure. It is not surprising that this author would eventually write a great work on this theme, as his books often bring out a truth that does not redeem. The magistrate in Waiting for the Barbarians, David Lurie in Disgrace, and the figure of Coetzee himself in his autobiographical fiction; all these figures are in possession of an emasculated truth. By focusing on the messianic, then, Coetzee can put this thesis—perhaps the central concern of his work—to the test. In The Death of Jesus, Simon, guardian of young David—the remarkable, graceful boy to whom the book’s title alludes—frantically attempts to salvage some of his ward’s legacy as he tries to find the message or meaning that David decided not to share with him. Simon often speaks in the name of reason, even if his voice has a sentimental edge to it, which he often indulges. David is the strong-willed child who—in defiance or excess of Simon’s logic—holds his idiosyncratic convictions about mathematics, astronomy, the relationship between truth and fiction, and, above all, dance. “It all came down to dance. . . . Somehow or other David translated anything and everything to dance. Dance became the master key or master language, except that it was not a language in the normal sense, with a grammar and a vocabulary and so forth that you could learn out of a book. You could learn only by following.” This statement not only captures some of David’s message but also illuminates Coetzee’s book, his composition or choreography. For Coetzee’s trilogy on the life of Jesus comes closest to a dance. Within the trilogy, the essential tenets of Western religion and thought acquire an eerily mobile quality: everything that David touches—mathematics , astronomy, and philosophy—moves through a lens of fiction and is judged only from an eschatological perspective, from the standpoint of grace. Importantly, Coetzee’s literary intervention is special, nongeneric. This puts it at a distance from what other heirs of Kafka have done before (e.g., Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled, where a similar kind of alienation appears as a common feature of modern existence). Instead, in Coetzee’s writing there are exact, particular tropes of Western religion and thought that become identifiable thanks to—and in spite of—a bended and warped fictional distortion that is proper to them. Reading The Death of Jesus and its precursors means to follow, as in a dance, an ongoing reconfiguration of their constellation . A highly elegant deconstruction of eternal bodies. Arthur Willemse University of Maastricht Fernanda Melchor Hurricane Season Trans. Sophie Hughes. New York. New Directions. 2020. 224 pages. OF THE TWO epigraphs that appear at the beginning of Hurricane Season, the second is taken from Mexican author Jorge Ibargüengoitia’s novel The Dead Girls. It reads: “Some of the events described here are real. All of the characters are invented.” An apt forewarning that what the reader is about to discover is at best a fictionized account of reality. A native of Veracruz, Mexican novelist Fernanda Melchor graduated from the Universidad Veracruzana with a degree in journalism, a craft she practiced before turning to fiction writing. Her first book, Aquí no es Miami (2013; This is not Miami), a collection of crónicas, served as a bridge between journalism and her first novel, Falsa liebre (2013; False hare). Hurricane Season (Temporada de huracanes in Spanish ) is Melchor’s second novel. Published in 2017 by Literatura Random House, it represents a harmonious melding of journalism and fiction, absent the autofiction popular among many of her contemporaries. The trope that unites her work, both journalistic and fictional, which reaches its apex in this novel, is the violence—in particular femicide—of her native state of Veracruz. In 2019, of Mexico’s thirty-two states, Veracruz ranked seventh, registering 2,161 murders, a Books in Review 78 WLT SUMMER 2020 statistic that does not reflect the hundreds of forced disappearances that occur annually. The novel’s story unfolds in...

Geçmişten Günümüze Dinler Tasnifinde Morfolojik Yaklaşım

XIX. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren dinler tasnifi teşebbüslerinin artarak çoğalması ve ortaya çıkan tasniflerin dini araştırmalarda kullanılmasının sonucunda dinleri tasnif etme yaklaşımları ön plana çıkmıştır. Dinler Tarihinde coğrafi yaklaşımın yaygınlığına rağmen morfolojik yaklaşımın yadsınamaz şekilde cezp ediciliğe sahip olduğu ve konunun ilk defa bu bağlamda belli bir sistematiğe kavuştuğu ve dinamik hale geldiği belirtilmektedir. XIX. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısında hâkim olan ve XX. Yüzyılın ortalarına kadar Batı’daki dini araştırmalarda kullanılan dinin kaynağına ilişkin teoriler morfolojik dinler tasnifinin ilk tezahürleri niteliğindedir. Morfolojik dinler tasnifini sistematize eden din bilimcisi olma payesini ise Din Fenomenolojisinin mimarlarından Cornelius Petrus Tiele hak etmiştir. Çünkü Tiele’nin dinleri ahlaki dinler olarak kategorize edip evrensel dinlere/dünya dinlerine alt kategoride yer vermesi morfolojik dinler tasnifi açısından bir dönüm noktası olmuş ve yapılan morfolojik dinler tasniflerini etkilemiştir. Tiele’nin dünya dinleri kavramını İngilizceye kazandırması akademik ve popüler Dinler Tarihi çalışmalarının, Hıristiyanlık, Budizm, İslam, Hinduizm ve Yahudilik dinlerinin daimî üye olduğu; Konfüçyanizm, Taoizm, Şintoizm, Caynizm, Sihizm ve Zerdüştilik dinlerinin ise sıklıkla kullanıldığı bir dinler listesi ekseninde şekillenmesine kadar uzanmıştır. Jonathan Z. Smith ve Tomoko Masuzawa gibi din bilimcilerinin politik ve teolojik varsayımlara dayandığı gerekçesiyle eleştirdikleri bu durum, James L. Cox tarafından dünya dinleri paradigması şeklinde nitelendirilmiş ve dinleri daha iyi anlamak ve yerli dinleri de araştırmalara dâhil etmek için aşılması gereken bir problem olarak görülmüştür. Günümüzde özellikle batılı Dinler Tarihi çalışmaları incelendiğinde dünya dinleri kavramının üst bir kategori olarak kullanılmakta olduğunu ve belli başlı dinleri kapsayan bir dinler listesi sunduğunu görmek ve bu durumun alandaki pek çok çalışmayı kapsadığını söylemek mümkündür.

Western Religion in the Long 1960s

The Yale church historian, Sydney Ahlstrom, had just emerged somewhat dazed from the Sixties when he reviewed the religious trajectory of the United States during that decade. He wrote that by 1966 it was clear that ‘the post-war religious revival had completely frittered out, that the nation was moving towards acrise de la conscienceof unprecedented depth’. As well as a ‘growing attachment to naturalism and “secularism”’ he mentioned ‘a creeping or galloping awareness of vast contradictions in American life between profession and performance, the ideal and the actual’ and ‘increasing doubt concerning the capacity of present-day ecclesiastical, political, social and educational institutions to rectify these contradictions’. As Ahlstrom made clear in a later essay, he saw the crisis faced both by the Roman Catholic Church and by the ‘mainline’ Protestant Churches as part of a wider loss of ‘confidence or hope’ in American society and a passing away of ‘the certitudes that had always shaped the nation's well-being and sense of destiny’.

‘[God] Is A Flaming Hebrew Letter’: Esoteric Camp in Angels in America

This article turns attention to the mystical theology of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America to demonstrate how Kushner aligns the long theological history of spiritual revelation and textual exegesis with the performative associations of camp, the stylised heightening of otherness, citation, and irony central to contemporary gay culture. Kushner’s play underscores the role of the divinely-inspired interloper in the development of both Western religion and the esoteric currents which run beneath, defining mystical experience as a form of camp which has historically ascribed questionable alterity to the receiver. As this article maintains, this suggestive correlation between high camp and esoteric faith works to resist a positivism firmly rooted in the scientific materialism of modernity and which had previously served as the most consistent artistic and academic response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.