{"title":"Not about religion: A reinterpretation of the Chinese rites controversy","authors":"Zhe Gao","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199492","url":null,"abstract":"As one of the most significant events in the history of Sino-Western interaction and that of Chinese Christianity, the “Chinese Rites Controversy” has been the subject of numerous studies from both Western and Chinese scholars since the 1980s. When interpreting the rites issue of the Controversy, most studies see the crux of it as the “religious” nature of the Confucian rites. In contrast to this dominant understanding, this article argues that both the uncritical repetition of “religious” in the modern interpretations of the Controversy and its tacitly approved validity presuppose a universal and timeless conception of “religion.” Through a method of historicisation, i.e., examining carefully in what sense “religious” and related terms such as “civil,” “political,” “superstitious,” and “yinsi,” etc. were used in the original texts of the Controversy, this article intends to show that the use of “religious” by modern authors constitutes, though to a great extent unconsciously, a hermeneutical anachronism. The root of this anachronism lies in that the use “religious” as a generic adjective defining a distinct sphere of human enterprise that can be differentiated from those “non-religious” ones is a modern invention, and could find its place in neither encompassing Christian truth nor the tianxia order, nor even the fusion of these two horizons manifested in the awareness of literati Catholics, all of which defined the context in which the rites issue was debated during the Controversy.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135878111","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":"Reproducing whiteness? A critical race analysis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ process for drafting the framework for secondary religious education","authors":"Kathleen M. Sellers","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199490","url":null,"abstract":"This article draws on critical race theory and social reproduction theory to analyze the process resulting in the curriculum framework for secondary, Catholic, religious education in the US. This document, promulgated by Church leaders, has impacted millions of US Catholic high school students. Recent calls for racial justice, within and outside of the Catholic Church, invite inquiry into whether this framework is impacting all students equally. This article explores two key questions: Whose knowledge mattered in the creation of the Framework? Was the Framework constructed so as to support the creation of a culturally-sustaining religion curriculum for all students? This analysis demonstrates why the Framework may be problematic for Students of Color and suggests Catholic leaders and educators must learn more from critical race scholars and education researchers if they are to enhance the quality of this and future pedagogical resources for religious instruction. Recommendations are made for addressing the issues raised.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41830672","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":"Hegemonic fundamentalism in Wichita, Kansas: The Defenders of the Christian Faith, 1926-1931","authors":"P. J. Rooks","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199484","url":null,"abstract":"In 1926, Gerald Winrod, who was already a deeply committed Protestant revivalist and Chautauqua evangelist, founded The Defenders of the Christian Faith to battle the rise of the modern, liberal lifestyle. Winrod was one of several members of the newly formed World Christian Fundamentals Association who insisted upon a literal interpretation of the Bible and believed in subservience for women and Blacks as divinely sanctioned. This article elaborates findings from a case study of Winrod’s writings and particularly explores syncretic theological elements drawn from Calvinist and Arminian religious traditions that appear to have appealed to the new fundamentalists for their usefulness in sustaining the social privileges of white, Christian men.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44343396","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":"Measuring the strength of belief in the supernatural entities in the Babylonian Talmud. A method based on the Elyonim veTachtonim project","authors":"Wojciech Kosior","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199491","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199491","url":null,"abstract":"This paper offers a technique for assessing the strength of belief in the traditions involving supernatural entities (angels, demons, ghosts, and monsters) present in the Babylonian Talmud. The method is based on the appreciation of the formal features of the text (genre, language, attribution, etc.) in the theoretical and technical framework of the Elyonim veTachtonim project and allows to grade relatively the perceived reality of particular accounts. The analysis of the quantitative data shows that these are the traditions about the demons, which are usually provided in the form of pragmatic recommendations transmitted in Aramaic and featuring the Babylonian sages. This allows us to infer that the demons appeared to the final redactors (i.e., the Stammaim) as the most real among the supernatural entities: they were presented as posing real danger and as demanding adequate means of action.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46155423","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":"Book Review: Resurrecting the Jew: Nationalism, Philosemitism, and Poland’s Jewish Revival","authors":"Warren S. Goldstein","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199486","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199486","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42591239","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":"Book Review: Minority Churches as Media Settlers: Negotiating Deep Mediatization","authors":"Moch. Zainul Arifin","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199485","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45845261","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":"Corrigendum to Japanese divine light in Kinshasa: Transcultural resonance and critique in the religiously multiple city","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/20503032231195720","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231195720","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46659162","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":"Sacred suffering and the construction of political spirituality in the Iranian Shiism discourse","authors":"Zahra Khoshk Jan","doi":"10.1177/20503032231174205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231174205","url":null,"abstract":"This article tries to discuss this claim that Shia or as Henry Corbin puts it, “Iranian Islam,” is a discourse of political spirituality based on sacred suffering and governmentality (in Foucault's terms). The author aims to answer these questions: What do sacred suffering and governmentality mean in Shia discourse? How does sacred suffering articulate and give meaning to concepts related to political spirituality? To answer these questions, the author applied Laclau and Mouffe's discourse analysis, arguing that the sacred suffering constructs Shia antagonistic approach and plays a key role in constructing these discursive moments: the Karbala paradigm as a paradigm of both spirituality and political action, oppression, and martyrdom (as the holy death with spiritual-political goals). Moreover, in this discourse, the suffering of awaiting the Twelfth Imam during his absence becomes an opportunity to restore Shia governmentality through the establishment of a political government by Shia clerics in Iran.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48791438","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":"Book Review: An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville","authors":"R. Horsley","doi":"10.1177/20503032231174207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231174207","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42808296","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":"An Islamic framework for animal ethics: Widening the conversation to include Islamic ethical vegetarianism","authors":"M. Mukhtar, Mary-Justine Todd","doi":"10.1177/20503032231174209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231174209","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores normative ways of conceptualizing Islamic ethics, animal ethics, and the divergent positions on the ethical treatment of animals by Muslims within Islamic scholarly discourse. Too often, the literature addressing the intersection between Islamic ethics and animal ethics is narrowly focused on the topic of halal slaughter. Therefore, this article proposes a wider conversation about an alternative relationship between Muslims and nonhuman animals in the industrialized factory farming era, suggesting that an ethical-vegetarian lifestyle may more accurately uphold the Islamic principles of compassion and mercy, as well as the Islamic practice of intellectual effort, ijtihad. At the very least, a reconceptualization to that end deserves rigorous consideration within Islamic scholarship, taking the debate beyond simply the moment and manner of an animal’s death.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44989091","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}