{"title":"Blurring the boundaries of religious identity: a phenomenological exploration of conversion and deconversion in Northern Thailand","authors":"J. Blumenstock","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2138024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2138024","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Recent literature on deconversion has highlighted the fluid nature of religious identity that occurs throughout periods of religious change. However, an inordinate emphasis has been placed on the roles of doubt and individual choice in deconversion over and against emotion and group belonging. This study presents a phenomenological interpretation of the experience of deconversion as occurring among Protestant Christian converts in Northern Thailand. Rather than investigating deconversion retrospectively, however, this study targets the felt ‘temptation’ that Christian converts experience to return to their previous Buddhist social worlds. By approaching the phenomenon in this way, I aim to describe better the fluid nature of religious identity as lived through by participants themselves. Further, by providing a cross-cultural comparison, I suggest that factors pertaining to social pressure and the consequent emotional strain should be given more consideration when investigating deconversion in cultural contexts outside North America and Europe.","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"38 1","pages":"21 - 39"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46580506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Normalisation of nonreligious identity in Finland","authors":"T. Taira, K. Ketola, Jussi Sohlberg","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2138020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2138020","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Based on representative survey material analysed with the help of Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA), this article examines nonreligious identification in Finland. It focuses on those who positively identify themselves as nonreligious, describes them according to selected social variables, and explores their attitudes. The results demonstrate that nonreligious identity is more prevalent among Millennials and even more so among urban men. An examination of attitudes towards minority religions, church–state interaction, and national pride shows that the nonreligious are relatively liberal and tolerant, but what makes them different from others is their opposition to church–state interaction and their lack of national pride, thus indicating the weakening of ‘cultural religion’. On the basis of these findings, this article argues that in addition to the general process of secularisation, national history and recent social changes offer plausible reasons for the questions of how and why such normalisation is taking place, especially among Millennials.","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"38 1","pages":"1 - 19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45966502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Europe","authors":"A. Giorgi","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2065052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2065052","url":null,"abstract":"control since their inception. The global targeting of anarchists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was critical for developing cross-national, multi-level police enforcement and the diffusion of scientific and pseudo-scientific techniques. While race was certainly relevant to these and other surveillance efforts, they cannot all be reduced to a racist project. Muñiz has drawn a map to a set of hidden circuits. Further research will uncover other pathways in the United States and beyond.","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"38 1","pages":"155 - 157"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49631589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mormon Lifestyles: Communicating Religion and Ethics in Documentary Media","authors":"Brenda R. Weber","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2075547","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2075547","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"37 1","pages":"574 - 576"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48422763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trajectories of East Asian Buddhism in South Africa: a comparative perspective","authors":"Ugo Dessì","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2124684","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2124684","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this article I take my cue from Michel Clasquin-Johnson’s reflections on six main themes (lay practice, gender equality, adhesion to democratic principles, impact of Western psychology, social engagement, creation of a non-sectarian tradition) underlying the development of mainstream South African Buddhism to explore three forms of East Asian Buddhism operating in the country: the Dharma Centre (Korean Sŏn)—a representative of mainstream South African Buddhism—and the local branches of two large new religious movements—the Japan-based Soka Gakkai International (Nichiren Buddhism) and the Taiwan-based Foguangshan (Chinese Pure Land/Chan Buddhism)—which include a more diverse section of the South African population. Besides providing a detailed analysis of these forms of East Asian Buddhism in the country, I test the applicability of Clasquin-Johnson’s themes to the case studies and explore four further topics for the comparative study of South African Buddhism: interactions with local religions, proselytization, hybridization, the promise of worldly benefits.","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"37 1","pages":"435 - 455"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48653605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Memory and Religion from a Postsecular Perspective","authors":"Teuvo Laitila","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2126587","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2126587","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"37 1","pages":"553 - 555"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43157766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Regulating Difference: Religious Diversity and Nationhood in the Secular West","authors":"F. Gauthier","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2063535","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2063535","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"37 1","pages":"556 - 558"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43722402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religion and Touch","authors":"Terhi Utriainen","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2063536","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2063536","url":null,"abstract":"scholars interviewed, and I have argued for a critical hermeneutical phenomenology in today’s context. To get a better sense of what the discipline is, where it came from, and where it is going, this volume provides a very useful key to unlocking the often fractious debates around the PoR, in which scholars tend to talk at cross purposes and understand this signifier to mean very different things.","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"37 1","pages":"581 - 583"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44174966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Card-Carrying Christians: Debt and the Making of Free Market Spirituality in Colombia","authors":"Bernice Martin","doi":"10.1080/13537903.2022.2064658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2022.2064658","url":null,"abstract":"This book addresses an important aspect of contemporary religious life in Colombia, and by extension anywhere that the “ prosperity gospel ” has taken root. Working with extensive data from interviews, case studies, and a lengthy experience of field work in Colombia, Bartel sheds light on the fact that many in these churches rely on credit (and credit cards now widely diffused in the country) to enable a self-presentation of prosperity. The unsurprising result is that many believers end up with crushing debt burdens. The author presents a wealth of original ethnographic data, and she knows both the general issues about religious change and the specifics of Colombian society and history very well. The result is a really fresh analysis, as well as a significant contribution to contemporary scholarship","PeriodicalId":45932,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Religion","volume":"37 1","pages":"565 - 567"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41714680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}