{"title":"How Does the Old Testament Speak About God’s Knowability? On the Complexity of the Topic, as Reflected in Previous Scholarship","authors":"Annette Schellenberg-Lagler","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10096","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article argues that the lack of comprehensive scholarly treatments of how the OT speaks about God’s knowability has to do with the complexity of the topic and the diversity of how the OT addresses it. It shows the diverse ways of how previous scholars have approached the OT statements and assumptions about God’s knowability (and the knowledge of God), clarifies how these statements and assumptions are related to each other, and gives some ideas about possible directions of future research.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"63 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141342486","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":"Double Turning and Other Duplicities. A Performative Reading of John 20:11–18","authors":"C. Breu","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10097","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10097","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In John 20:11–18, Mary Magdalene meets Jesus after his death. She turns around twice, a double gesture that has puzzled New Testament scholars. In this article, I offer a performative reading of Mary Magdalene’s turns based on Judith Butler’s theory of gesture and the literary inventory of ancient recognition scenes. I argue that the double gesture does not emphasize the difference between a physical and an inner status of recognition. Instead, it is conceived as a non-identical repetition or quotation. It points to other turnings and other duplicities. Both turns are part of a performative process that unfolds the new identities of the main characters after their separation. Mary is not portrayed as a misunderstanding disciple who needs two turns to recognize Jesus, but as part of a reciprocal process that mirrors Jesus’ double appearance and the text’s double layers of meaning.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":" 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141127001","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":"Fuzzy Hybrid Approach to Shatter Religious Tolerance and Fundamentalism Stereotypes across Diverse Nations","authors":"Alessandro Indelicato, Juan Carlos Martín","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10095","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The study transcends borders to challenge conventional narratives about religious tolerance and fundamentalism. Leveraging a Fuzzy-Hybrid Approach, we delve into the multifaceted realities of eight diverse nations: Germany, Cyprus, the United States, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, and Kenya. Our innovative analysis unveils surprising complexities, shattering stereotypes and painting a nuanced picture of religious beliefs. Germany emerges as a beacon of tolerance, boasting the highest tolerance levels with the lowest fundamentalism. However, the stark reality for citizens of Lebanon, Kenya, and Palestine reveals a landscape of lower tolerance and higher fundamentalism. This study delves deeper, using quantile regression models to expose the intricate interplay between religious tolerance, individual socioeconomic factors like education and religious discrimination, and even views on the death penalty. Our findings challenge simplistic assumptions, revealing intricate relationships between tolerance and fundamentalism across diverse contexts.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":" 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140992534","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":"Triggers of Exceptional Experiences on the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage","authors":"Snežana Brumec","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10093","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This study delves into triggers and transformative effects of exceptional experiences among Camino de Santiago pilgrims. Analyzing 32 travelogues, we identify triggers like exposure to natural beauty and visits to sacred sites, leading to emotional shifts characterized by heightened unity and love. These experiences influence moral and cognitive frameworks, fostering heightened spirituality, wisdom, and detachment. “Experience of deep calm and reconciliation” improves relationships, “Experience of interconnectedness” enhances intuition in decision-making, and “Cathartic experiences” encourage vulnerability expression, fostering connection. Supported by a survey of 501 pilgrims, our findings highlight the frequency and transformative impact of these experiences on a diverse pilgrim population.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"6 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141005269","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":"Esoteric Dance Practices of the Early Twentieth Century: Case Study of George Gurdjieff’s Movements","authors":"Makhabbad Maltabarova","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10092","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by colossal changes in various spheres of life, including art, where appeared numerous choreographies produced by both professional dancers and esoteric teachers. This article analyzes the choreography of George Gurdjieff, a dance practice simply called “Movements.” This practice was often considered as closely related to and being a product of the artistic environment of the time. The article argues that even though being the product of the time, Gurdjieff’s dance requires a close attention. It will show that his approach to dance downplays aesthetic and emotional aspects. Applying the hybrid methodology, this article will first identify the place of the Movements in Gurdjieff’s teaching. It will then illustrate how the Movements differ from modern German dance. Finally, it will analyze and describe the author’s ethnographic experiences in the study and practice of the Movements.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140737652","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":"Global Religious History and Religious Comparison: a Programmatic Outline","authors":"Julian Strube","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10091","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This introduction outlines the contributions of Global Religious History, or Global History of Religion, to the issue of religious comparison. First, it argues for religious comparison as an integral part of religious studies that should not be abandoned but revised. Second, it addresses the larger framework of debates in religious studies and global history, arguing for the value of Global Religious History in avoiding Eurocentrism, but also tendencies within the postcolonial spectrum that mirror Eurocentric shortcomings. What is often perceived as a crisis in religious studies is understood here as an ongoing process of reflection and refinement that allows us to contextualize both the object of study and its researcher. Finally, this outline presents concrete elements that can inform revised approaches to religious comparison, including a genealogical method, entanglement and decentered historiography, and translingual practice. This allows us to expand our scope not only geographically, but also temporally.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"271 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140249395","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":"Church Life LIVE!","authors":"Barbora Spalová, Adam Gajdoš","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10088","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The unprecedented halt of social gatherings imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in the spring of 2020 highlighted the centrality of ritual participation in the Christian sense of belonging. Offering members of religious communities opportunities and instruments for sustaining their religiosity became a challenge. This time of crisis, adaptation and improvisation thus also shook what it meant to belong to a community of believers.\u0000Based on pre-pandemic in-person observations, interviews and online ethnography in four Christian communities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, our paper maps how different approaches to ritual practices during the pandemic affected the available repertoires of belonging to Christianity. Upon discussing the relevance of Hervieu-Léger’s vital types of religiosity (the universalist and independent pilgrim and the particularist and interconnected convert) throughout the pandemic, we conclude that the traditional approach to the church as a place of dwelling, as Wuthnow labelled it, was strengthened most.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"77 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139821724","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":"Church Life LIVE!","authors":"Barbora Spalová, Adam Gajdoš","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10088","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The unprecedented halt of social gatherings imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in the spring of 2020 highlighted the centrality of ritual participation in the Christian sense of belonging. Offering members of religious communities opportunities and instruments for sustaining their religiosity became a challenge. This time of crisis, adaptation and improvisation thus also shook what it meant to belong to a community of believers.\u0000Based on pre-pandemic in-person observations, interviews and online ethnography in four Christian communities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, our paper maps how different approaches to ritual practices during the pandemic affected the available repertoires of belonging to Christianity. Upon discussing the relevance of Hervieu-Léger’s vital types of religiosity (the universalist and independent pilgrim and the particularist and interconnected convert) throughout the pandemic, we conclude that the traditional approach to the church as a place of dwelling, as Wuthnow labelled it, was strengthened most.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"11 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139881159","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 Potentials and Limits of Going Global","authors":"Florian Zemmin","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10089","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article takes part in the current quest for more global histories of religion, yet also reflects on the possible limits of going global. To this end, it engages one specific perspective on religion, namely a sociological one. It probes into Arabic sociologies of religion, especially with reference to Islam. The author argues that epistemically, premises of social contingency may well complement assumptions of absolute truth. However, positions that would subject religion in general to contingency – that is, the idea that religion is constructed by humans rather than ensuing from divine revelation – are largely rejected. This partly explains the rather weak institutionalization of the sociology of religion in Arab countries, but it also recalls that such global institutionalization reflects one particular perspective on religion, which is itself underpinned by normative and epistemic assumptions of the social as absolute.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"134 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140484871","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":"Encounters of the Brahmanical Sanskrit Tradition with Persian Scholarship in the Mughal Empire","authors":"Michael Bergunder","doi":"10.30965/23642807-bja10087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10087","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Within the scope of global religious history, a Foucauldian genealogical critique makes “history” itself the central focus of inquiry. Genealogy is usually perceived as a methodology for historicizing general concepts within religious studies, which seemingly favours post-nineteenth-century history – something that causes discomfort among pre-colonial researchers. However, this article presents genealogy as a general starting point for any critical historiography across all historical periods, emphasizing its key characteristic as a counter-history originating from the present.\u0000Through a case study, it demonstrates this approach’s practicality by offering a fresh perspective on the notion of an unchanging Sanskrit tradition championed by Hindu nationalists. Genealogical analysis exposes how contemporary research unwittingly reinforces this notion, while the article proposes a counter-narrative using sixteenth to eighteenth-century sources, revealing a dynamic interplay between Sanskrit and Persian scholars under Mughal rule in India. This case underscores the efficacy and adaptability of genealogical critique across all historical periods.","PeriodicalId":53191,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society","volume":"42 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140481620","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}