{"title":"Islam and the Discursive Landscape of Globalisation","authors":"Asif Mohiuddin","doi":"10.1163/15743012-bja10007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15743012-bja10007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Globalisation is a multidimensional process, involving both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, playing out simultaneously within the domains of economy, politics, technology—particularly media and information communication technology (ICT)—culture and environmental change. By contrast, the spread of knowledge that transforms global Islamic authority in heterogeneous forms, challenging conventional understandings, location and mode of articulation of authority, is considered to be a distinct process. This paper attempts to investigate the role of knowledge in the construction of globalised Islamic authority in Islam. It explores the evolution of Islamic authority vis-à-vis the rapidly developing network of interconnections and interdependencies. Focusing on identifying the element of consensus (ijmā) in sustaining and upholding religious authority in Islam, the paper examines how modernist critiques of consensus take various forms in light of what modernists consider to be “true” and how they see the challenges and opportunities of global transformations. While shedding light on a growing fragmentation and decentralisation of religious authority in the Muslim world, this paper argues that the authoritative religious knowledge was established and sustained down to 18th century when new methods of interpretation emerged challenging the authoritative corpus of religious structures. Consideration is also given to the causes, spectrum, and effects of increasingly diverse, and disjointed transformations of religious authority in Muslim societies, the outcome of which is a spectacularly wild growth of interpretation.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90710902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Le devoir des époux”","authors":"Chris L. de Wet","doi":"10.1163/15743012-bja10003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15743012-bja10003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The purpose of this article is to examine and evaluate Michel Foucault’s use of John Chrysostom’s (c. 349–407 CE) views on marriage and sexuality, as it is expounded in Foucault’s fourth volume of Histoire de la sexualité, Les aveux de la chair (2018). The following question is asked: does Foucault have anything new and relevant to say to current scholarship of John Chrysostom, especially in terms of his views about sexuality and marriage? The article brings Foucault’s contribution into dialogue with more or less current scholarship of Chrysostom. The study first examines the sources Foucault used for Chrysostom, and then critically delineates and assesses Foucault’s argument regarding marriage in John Chrysostom. In the analysis of Foucault’s reading of Chrysostom’s marital ethic, attention is given to three central aspects present in the chapter, “Le devoir des époux” (“The Duty of the Spouses”). First, the links Foucault establishes between the micro-politics of sexuality (and the domus or private life) and the macro-politics of the Christian Empire is discussed. Second, it is asked how Foucault reconstructs Chrysostom’s marital ethic as a type of technē for the married life, including how Foucault attempts to deconstruct the dichotomy between marriage and virginity. Finally, the study analyses how Foucault interprets Chrysostom’s view of the conjugal relationship as one based on the rights of property ownership and debt.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75155377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religious Secularity: A Theological Challenge to the Islamic State, by Nasir Ghobzadeh","authors":"Mehrajuddin Bhat","doi":"10.1163/15743012-bja10008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15743012-bja10008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83704829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Shamanic Poetics","authors":"F. Landy","doi":"10.1163/15743012-bja10002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15743012-bja10002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This essay examines the relationship between the biblical prophets and prophetic poetry in terms of the “shamanic complex.” First, a short characterization is given of the phenomenon of shamanism in archaic societies, shamanic techniques and alternate states of consciousness, as well as the social, cultural, and political role of shamanic figures. Second, the similarity between shamanism and biblical prophecy is considered. Third, the figure of First Isaiah as presented in the eponymous book in the Hebrew Bible is analyzed in terms of the shamanic complex and shamanic poetics as to aspects of his initiation as prophet and represented features of his actions as prophet.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80785414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religious Satire and the Crucified Christ","authors":"J. Abrahamse","doi":"10.1163/15743012-bja10006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15743012-bja10006","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses the relationship between religious satire and Christian theology to explore the possibility of satiric theology. It takes its departure from the proclamation of the cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:27) to demonstrate that the Crucified Christ can be a source for satire. To accomplish this, Paul Simpson's analysis of satire is used to analyse the notorious crucifixion scene of Monty Python's Life of Brian. Subsequently, by way of Stanley Hauerwas's theorising of irony, it is argued that satiric theology is theology in iconoclastic fashion. Hence, satiric theology supplies alternative comical stories to estrange people from the familiar and challenge misconceptions, thereby offering a valuable contribution to theological debate and Christian practice.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85945399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transhumanism and Christianity","authors":"M. Lipowicz","doi":"10.1163/15743012-bja10001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15743012-bja10001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Although supporters of transhumanism present their agenda as a secular movement that specifically challenges the basic ontological and ethical premises of Christian metaphysics, there are also techno-progressive thinkers who claim that Christians should endorse a moderate version of biotechnological human enhancement. The main objective of this essay is to scrutinise this claim by outlining the relationship between transhumanism and Christian anthropology from the perspective of Joseph Ratzinger’s thought. The order of this analysis is constituted by three steps: first, I will critically analyse Benedikt Paul Göcke’s main arguments in favor of a Christian transhumanism; secondly, I will discuss the normative foundation of the techno-progressive agenda with regard to Ratzinger’s/Benedict XVI’s critique of the modern concept of freedom and its anthropological implication – the technological “new man”; finally, I will refer the notion of the posthuman to Ratzinger’s theo-evolutionary image of Jesus Christ as the “man of the future.”","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91392424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Offerings","authors":"A. Pascal","doi":"10.4018/978-1-5225-1955-3.CH005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1955-3.CH005","url":null,"abstract":"The chapter will discuss the key role that offerings play in everyday life in Asian and Byzantine traditions, and the ontological and eschatological beliefs behind it. Other examples of metaphysical gifts are discussed, like the Biblical notion of sacrifice, which is present both in the Old and the New Testament, that is in the Avraam-Isaac episode and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, respectively. Some relevant pagan rituals will also be mentioned, before reflecting on what all these have in common. Since they are observed through a personal journey, and reflected upon through philosophical analysis, findings do not claim to have the ‘objectivity' of an anthropological study. Instead, they might lead to a kind of practical understanding similar to that, which narratives or images provide. Indeed, Andrey Tarkovsky's last film, Sacrifice, will serve as an illustration of the existential and, at times, eschatological meaning of the range of acts of giving that we discuss – from spiritual gifts, to offerings, and ultimately to sacrifice.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75262341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultural Hemorrhage of Religion and Spirituality on Healthcare and Wellness","authors":"F. S. Topor","doi":"10.4018/978-1-5225-0522-8.CH015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0522-8.CH015","url":null,"abstract":"As life approaches expectancy and senescence actualizes, the regenerative capacity of the vital organs and their functionality is reduced. Such a reality gives rise the need to identify with a better purpose in life. Religion and spirituality assume a central role in the wellness and healthcare in such circumstances. Although societies and civilizations differ in their religious and spiritual orientations, all peoples everywhere ascribe to some God or gods. The globalization of religion was initiated sometime between the late Bronze Age and late classical antiquity. The pivotal point was characterized by a conversion from polytheism, or primary religions as practiced by the Ancient Egyptians; Phoenicians; Babylonians; Greek; and Romans on the one hand, to monotheism—secondary religions characterized by the worship of one supreme God. Religion and spirituality has now become the one and remaining source of solace for the terminally ill.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80260600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Electric Soul","authors":"Benjamin J. Cline","doi":"10.4018/978-1-7998-2457-2.ch016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-2457-2.ch016","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter will use media ecology, and rhetorical theories of ideology construction and social intervention to look at the ways that contemporary digital media interact with religious and spiritual practices in order to inform and create identities. This chapter will examine the ideology construction that occurs in the Crosswire.org applications, specifically PocketSword designed for the iPhone/iPad and AndBible designed for Android devices. This chapter will also look at the ideology construction and identity creation in the English language section of onislam.net, a website designed to help English-speaking Muslims live out their faith. Finally the chapter will consider Osel Shen Phen Ling, a website designed for “Practicing Buddhadharma in the Tibetan Gelugpa Tradition”.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81627062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Land and Soil in the Religious Culture of Kôyasan in Medieval and Early Modern Japan","authors":"Eiji Ôkawa","doi":"10.4018/IJPPPHCE.2017010103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/IJPPPHCE.2017010103","url":null,"abstract":"In traditional worldviews, the natural environment was replete with sacred powers. With a holistic worldview, people interacted with nature and sacred manifestations through ritual practices, and organized their lives in spaces suffused with supranormal beings. Nowhere is this more evident than in the religious cultures that developed at sacred mountains. Yet due partly to the sway of the normative analytical model that privileges doctrinal and ideological dimensions of religious phenomena, little attempt has been made to explore the rich relationships between nature and the sacred in the religious cultures of sacred mountains. By examining legendary narratives, rituals, and the landscape of Kôyasan Buddhist monastery in Japan, the paper investigates how elements of nature, in particular land and soil, were infused with symbolic meanings, and played vital roles in the production of a local political space and trans-local religious culture in medieval and early modern periods.","PeriodicalId":41841,"journal":{"name":"Religion and Theology-A Journal of Contemporary Religious Discourse","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88799495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}