Journal Description
Religions
Religions
is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on religions and theology, published monthly online by MDPI.
- Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
- High Visibility: indexed within Scopus, AHCI (Web of Science), ATLA Religion Database, Religious and Theological Abstracts, and other databases.
- Journal Rank: CiteScore - Q1 (Religious Studies)
- Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 22.8 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 4.6 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the first half of 2024).
- Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.
Impact Factor:
0.7 (2023)
Latest Articles
A New Defence against the Problem of Evil
Religions 2024, 15(10), 1149; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101149 (registering DOI) - 24 Sep 2024
Abstract
In this paper, I propose a defence against the problem of evil. This defence does not involve either free will or soul-making, but, rather, is intended as a replacement for the traditional theodicies. The defence will have two components: firstly, a proposal for
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In this paper, I propose a defence against the problem of evil. This defence does not involve either free will or soul-making, but, rather, is intended as a replacement for the traditional theodicies. The defence will have two components: firstly, a proposal for why a good God would not intervene to eliminate the evil (natural or moral) in the world; and second, a proposal for why a good God would need to allow evil to exist in the world in the first place. I identify four desiderata for defences against the problem of evil and I argue that this new defence achieves all of these at least as well as traditional defences involving free will and/or soul-making.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theodicy and Challenges of Science: Understanding God, Evil and Evolution (Volume II))
Open AccessArticle
Secularization: A Response from Canon Law Based on the Concept of the “Church on the Move” and Cooperation with the Civil Order in Cases of Abuse of Minors by Priests
by
Jorge Salinas
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1148; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091148 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
The influence of secularization and secularism in today’s society has led to a process of privatization of religion. Faced with this reality, Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, has promoted the need for a pastoral conversion, betting on a “Church
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The influence of secularization and secularism in today’s society has led to a process of privatization of religion. Faced with this reality, Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, has promoted the need for a pastoral conversion, betting on a “Church going out” that, on the one hand, can cope with this process and, on the other hand, go out to meet all those people who suffer in the existential peripheries. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate, through a qualitative and quantitative methodology, how canon law is a reality that cannot stand aside from this call and how, in the specific area of child abuse within the Church, it must opt for a position that we call “expansion” or extra ecclesiam, capable of recognizing and dealing with the cases that have occurred, as well as operating a system of cooperation with the civil order, with the aim of promoting justice and the common good of society, in order to limit the growing process of secularization.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Canon Law and Secularization: Societal Trends and the Changing Role of Religious Law)
Open AccessArticle
A Reformation in Progress: The Path toward the Reform of Johannes Oecolampadius
by
Matteo Colombo, Benjamin Manig and Noemi Schürmann
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1147; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091147 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
This article examines the life, theological career, exegetical development, and posthumous biographies of Johannes Oecolampadius as illustrative examples of the fact that the Swiss Reformation, with all its religious movements, was far from a uniform concept in terms of its origins, purposes, and
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This article examines the life, theological career, exegetical development, and posthumous biographies of Johannes Oecolampadius as illustrative examples of the fact that the Swiss Reformation, with all its religious movements, was far from a uniform concept in terms of its origins, purposes, and methodologies. The article explains through Oecolampadius’s example an approach to reform that was ‘in progress’, traversing the nexuses of disparate methods and exegetical priorities. Oecolampadius’s experience occupied a position at the intersection between the authority of Patristics and the principle of sola scriptura, exemplifying a balance between the past and the present of Christian tradition. The path that led Oecolampadius to become a Protestant Reformer is characterised by a gradual transition, not abrupt, not radical. His example demonstrates the methodological and ideological diversity of the Reformation, which can be observed through the prism of a single life and its intellectual periods. His conversion offers insight into how these varied approaches shaped personal engagements with Scripture, and challenges the notion of an immediate or singular evangelical ‘calling’ or ‘conviction’. This article examines a specific phase within the broader and varied trajectory of the Swiss Reformation by analysing the transformation of Oecolampadius from a biblical scholar to a preacher, and eventually to a Reformer. This case study illustrates how disparate methodologies, whether rooted in humanism or Patristics, contributed to gradual and personal evolution, ultimately giving rise to distinctive individual stances on reform. This article presents a synthesis of three distinct perspectives on the question. The first part approaches the question through the lens of church history and intellectual history; the second one utilises the history of exegesis and New Testament scholarship; and the third draws upon the perspectives of Protestant historiography, from the standpoint of social history and the history of biographies in Early Modern times.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Swiss Reformation 1525–2025: New Directions)
Open AccessArticle
Southern Baptist Slaveholding Women and Mythologizers
by
C. A. Vaughn Cross
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1146; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091146 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
Christian slaveholding should not be forgotten or minimized, nor should its mythologies go unchallenged or uncritiqued. This article surveys some of the leading Southern Baptist women slaveholders and mythologizers before and after the U.S. Civil War. It examines sources of SBC hagiography about
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Christian slaveholding should not be forgotten or minimized, nor should its mythologies go unchallenged or uncritiqued. This article surveys some of the leading Southern Baptist women slaveholders and mythologizers before and after the U.S. Civil War. It examines sources of SBC hagiography about the Convention foremothers and their persistent apologia for slaveholding. In particular, it discusses how female mythologizers in the antebellum and postbellum eras linked slaveholding, evangelism, and mission identity. It demonstrates how postbellum Southern Baptist women chose to view women slaveholders as moral exemplars for their current missions. It concludes that understanding the myth-making by and about women slaveholders in Southern Baptist patriarchal society is instructive for understanding this group of American Evangelical Protestants in Christian history.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reclaiming Voices: Women's Contributions to Baptist History)
Open AccessArticle
Can Systematic Theology Be Saved? Doctrine and Its Discontents
by
Andrew Clark-Howard
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1145; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091145 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
This paper explores recent discussions on the nature and character of Christian doctrine and doctrinal arrangement within leading accounts of systematic theology, that is, the attempt to offer an integrated and cohesive account of the central commitments of the Christian faith. Through such
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This paper explores recent discussions on the nature and character of Christian doctrine and doctrinal arrangement within leading accounts of systematic theology, that is, the attempt to offer an integrated and cohesive account of the central commitments of the Christian faith. Through such discussion, I argue that the perennial epistemological problem systematic theology faces in its attempts to speak about a (divine) object who definitionally exceeds such speech is related to the specific ethical problem of systematic theology’s performances as a hegemonic discipline, one which often functions to exclude non-white, non-male perspectives. In light of these challenges, I contend that “positive” reasons for continuing systematic theology remain remote; systematic theology cannot be saved. Yet neither can it be avoided, lest such problems are willfully repeated and because of the ways systematic theology continues to be a leading site of doctrinal reflection within Christian education and intellectual reflection. I therefore conclude this paper by exploring two apocalyptic responses to the crises facing systematic theology which advocate for its continuation precisely by calling for its “end”.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature, Functions and Contexts of Christian Doctrine)
Open AccessArticle
God as Male–Female: Priscillian, Prophecy, and the Witness of Irenaeus and Marius Victorinus
by
Constant J. Mews
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1144; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091144 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
This paper examines a comment by Priscillian (d. c. 385) in his Liber apologeticus that certain people erroneously applied to God the unusual Latin neologism, masculofemina. He contrasts their perspective with scriptural teaching about the Holy Spirit being poured out on both
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This paper examines a comment by Priscillian (d. c. 385) in his Liber apologeticus that certain people erroneously applied to God the unusual Latin neologism, masculofemina. He contrasts their perspective with scriptural teaching about the Holy Spirit being poured out on both men and women. This raises two questions, namely, how Priscillian’s comment relates to accusations he faced of encouraging dangerous intimacy between men and women and the source of his information about their teaching. This paper argues that the central thrust of Priscillian’s teaching is around the notion that the spirit of prophecy was manifested in both sexes, but that he distinguished his teaching from that of Valentinian gnostics to defend his own orthodoxy. It argues that Priscillian acquired this teaching about God as masculofemina from the translation into Latin of the Aduersus haereses of Irenaeus of Lyons (d. c. 202). The term also occurs within the writing of Marius Victorinus (c. 359–61) in defense of Catholic Christianity. Priscillian drew on Irenaeus to defend the orthodoxy of his notion that the gift of prophecy was given to both men and women.
Full article
Open AccessArticle
Leveling Up: Gamification Pedagogy in the Hagiological Classroom
by
Alexander E. Massad
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1143; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091143 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
Gamification is a specific type of experiential learning theory (ELT) that emphasizes student choice and activities to transform mundane tasks into a desirable opportunity to learn. This pedagogical approach is particularly useful in information-heavy courses, such as courses that engage in the study
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Gamification is a specific type of experiential learning theory (ELT) that emphasizes student choice and activities to transform mundane tasks into a desirable opportunity to learn. This pedagogical approach is particularly useful in information-heavy courses, such as courses that engage in the study of religious mysticism or “hagiology”. In hagiology classes, students are exposed to new hagiographic media and discuss methods that are particularly complicated because this content is not only heavy on data but also engages the affective dimensions of human experience. This article explores leessons learned from the successes and failures of gamification pedagogy in my “Masters and Mystics” course, where students comparatively study Christian mysticism and Muslim Sufism. In particular, this article analyzes gamifacation’s ability to promote intrinsic student motivation through “game mechanics and experience design”, which is particularly salient in the hagiological classroom. I end the article with a discussion of how I have reworked the course with new gamification practices into a “Comparative Mysticism: Christianity and Islam” course.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Hagiology: Issues in Pedagogy)
Open AccessArticle
The Introduction of Same-Sex Marriage in Germany—A Question of Conscience and/or Faith? A Case Study
by
Sabine Exner-Krikorian
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1142; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091142 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2024
Abstract
On 30 June 2017, the German Bundestag voted in favor of the introduction of marriage for same-sex couples—a historic moment. Only a few days earlier, the then Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel had released the vote as a decision of conscience and thus dissolved
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On 30 June 2017, the German Bundestag voted in favor of the introduction of marriage for same-sex couples—a historic moment. Only a few days earlier, the then Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel had released the vote as a decision of conscience and thus dissolved the usual underlying factional compulsion—does this mean that rights for homosexual people are a question of personal conscience and values? Such a localization arouses the interest of religious studies to investigate how the discourse actors from the fields of politics, church and society formulate the decision of conscience as a discursive strategy in the negotiation process of same-sex marriage in Germany argumentatively and which positionings as well as descriptions of others and themselves are derived from this. The starting point is a modernity in which the actors move, understand and articulate themselves. This understanding of modernity is based on the process of a vertical transfer (Gladigow) of sociological theories of religion, among others, whereby narratives of secularization, overcoming religion (as a necessary precondition of modernity) and narratives of an opposition of religious vs. secular or religious vs. homosexual reappear as positions and arguments in the discourse. Using the approach of discursive religious studies (von Stuckrad) in conjunction with sociological discourse analysis (Keller), these processes of positioning, demarcation and negotiation based on the premises of modernity will be analyzed for the period from 2013 to 2017 on the basis of the public debate on religious, political, and social actors in Germany.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promising Images of Love: Religion, Norms, and the Mediatisation of Weddings)
Open AccessArticle
Paul and Pseudo-Paul: Authorship, Ideology, and the Difference of Androprimacy
by
Luis Josué Salés
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1141; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091141 (registering DOI) - 22 Sep 2024
Abstract
This essay proposes a new conceptual approach to authorship and gender ideology in the Pauline corpus through the neologism ‘androprimacy’. I maintain that in addition to the scholarly literature that has engaged questions of authorship in the Pauline corpus and its relevance for
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This essay proposes a new conceptual approach to authorship and gender ideology in the Pauline corpus through the neologism ‘androprimacy’. I maintain that in addition to the scholarly literature that has engaged questions of authorship in the Pauline corpus and its relevance for the ordination of women, approaching this topic from the angle of ‘androprimacy’ exposes a distinct structure of sex-based discrimination that Paul rejects (1 Cor 11.11–16) and that the author of 1 Tim (1 Tim 2.11–15) affirms, demonstrating that androprimacy was a contested ideology in the first century, a relevant finding for promoting women’s ordination.
Full article
Open AccessArticle
Stone Altars, Wooden Tables, Silver Chalices, Unleavened Hosts, and Plain Bread: The Long Reformation of the Eucharist’s Materiality in the Pays de Vaud (1400–1600)
by
Caleb Abraham
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1140; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091140 (registering DOI) - 22 Sep 2024
Abstract
Recent scholarship on the late medieval Pays de Vaud has allowed for a better understanding of the Reformation (1536) in this region, revealing it as a period marked not only by ruptures but also by significant adaptations and continuities. This article employs a
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Recent scholarship on the late medieval Pays de Vaud has allowed for a better understanding of the Reformation (1536) in this region, revealing it as a period marked not only by ruptures but also by significant adaptations and continuities. This article employs a trans-periodic approach to explore the material culture of the Eucharist, tracing its developments across the late medieval and Reformation periods. Key findings include the transition from stone altars to wooden communion tables, the contested continuity in the substance and shape of chalices, and the gradual shift from unleavened hosts to plain bread. These changes highlight a complex interplay of theological and practical concerns. The study provides a nuanced perspective on the Reformation in the Pays de Vaud, emphasizing the ongoing influence of medieval ecclesiastical reforms and the gradual nature of liturgical transformations. This analysis underscores the importance of material culture in understanding religious and cultural shifts during this pivotal period.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Swiss Reformation 1525–2025: New Directions)
Open AccessArticle
The Wedding and Its Medialization from the Perspective of the Ljubljana Lacanian School
by
Paul Löffler
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1139; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091139 (registering DOI) - 21 Sep 2024
Abstract
The ritual of marriage serves as a nexus for various dimensions of social and personal life, including sexuality, gender, religiosity, family, and parenthood. This pivotal event is laden with a multitude of expectations, hopes, and fears for all involved parties. The psychological energies
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The ritual of marriage serves as a nexus for various dimensions of social and personal life, including sexuality, gender, religiosity, family, and parenthood. This pivotal event is laden with a multitude of expectations, hopes, and fears for all involved parties. The psychological energies converge not only within the spouses or participants but extend to encompass the entire cultural community. Simultaneously, it represents a ritualistic identification, where individuals, through the ritual, become what they are, establishing an identity. This article aims to provide a Lacanian interpretation of the marriage ritual, informed by the interpretation popularized by the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis. Lacan’s framework allows for the conceptualization of identification as a socially mediated process, revealing the psyche as extending beyond the individual into intersubjective structures. This approach might help to clarify the inner logic of the ritual, allowing for a better understanding of the role of medialization. It will be shown, that under these lenses wedding photography and other forms of medialization do not only preserve memories of the event afterward but are already playing an active and even constitutive role during the event.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promising Images of Love: Religion, Norms, and the Mediatisation of Weddings)
Open AccessArticle
The Religious Component in Contemporary Russian Imperialism
by
Pål Kolstø and Bojidar Kolov
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1138; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091138 (registering DOI) - 21 Sep 2024
Abstract
Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have been trying to make sense of Russia’s new place in the world, its geopolitical horizons, and the identity of its people. One of the dominant trends that
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Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have been trying to make sense of Russia’s new place in the world, its geopolitical horizons, and the identity of its people. One of the dominant trends that have emerged is Orthodox imperialism, which combines religious symbols and narratives with a geopolitical vision of Russian expansion and “reunification”. This article provides an overview of the Russian Orthodox imperialist voices, analysing the political norms and identities they have enabled. Our investigation shows that by advancing a programme that combines geopolitical restoration and eschatological religious mission, Orthodox imperialism offers an ideological solution to the problem of Russia’s lost great-power status. This solution, however, does not envisage a bright future for Russia or the world. On the contrary, it remains firmly fixated on the past, foretelling of an apocalyptic disaster if Moscow does not regain its former imperial glory and exercise its divine role as a “restrainer” to any global domination.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Sacred Battlefields of the Eastern Europe: The Role of Orthodox Christianity in Geopolitics)
Open AccessArticle
Association between Religiosity and Forgiveness: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model of Self-Compassion and Adverse Childhood Experiences
by
Justyna Mróz, Loren Toussaint and Kinga Kaleta
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1137; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091137 (registering DOI) - 21 Sep 2024
Abstract
(1) Background: Forgiveness is one way to deal with negative experiences. The protective–protective model and the resource-caravan model assume that positive resources come together and support coping. In this study, we tested the association of religiosity, decisional and emotional forgiveness, and the indirect
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(1) Background: Forgiveness is one way to deal with negative experiences. The protective–protective model and the resource-caravan model assume that positive resources come together and support coping. In this study, we tested the association of religiosity, decisional and emotional forgiveness, and the indirect associations running through self-compassion. In addition, negative experiences in childhood were considered as a moderator of the indirect model of associations. (2) Methods: The sample consisted of 309 participants. The measures included the Religious Meaning System Questionnaire, the Decisional Forgiveness Scale, the Emotional Forgiveness Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. SEM and PROCESS models were applied to test the moderated mediation model. (3) Results: The results partially supported our moderated mediation model. Self-warmth mediated the associations between religiosity and decisional forgiveness and between religiosity and emotional forgiveness—presence of positive emotions. Self-coldness mediated the relationship between religiosity and emotional forgiveness. The relationship between religiosity and forgiveness was fully mediated by self-compassion when ACEs were low. (4) Conclusions: Both religiosity and self-compassion are assets for forgiveness, and their influence is more pronounced in individuals with more negative childhood experiences.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intersections of Religiousness/Spirituality and Forgiveness and Implications for Mental Health and Well-Being)
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Open AccessArticle
The Church Amidst the War of Attrition: Ukrainian Evangelical Community in Search of a New Mission Paradigm
by
Roman Soloviy
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1136; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091136 (registering DOI) - 20 Sep 2024
Abstract
The article is a comprehensive analysis of the struggles and challenges faced by Ukrainian evangelicals in the wake of the Russian aggression against Ukraine between 2022 and 2024. This analysis focuses on how the ongoing war has impacted the church’s overall mission and
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The article is a comprehensive analysis of the struggles and challenges faced by Ukrainian evangelicals in the wake of the Russian aggression against Ukraine between 2022 and 2024. This analysis focuses on how the ongoing war has impacted the church’s overall mission and how it has adapted to a rapidly changing political and social environment. The author argues that with Ukrainian society experiencing significant social and existential challenges due to the ongoing war, the traditional model of mission work that solely focuses on evangelism and promoting Christian values as a counter to “neo-Marxist gender ideology” is gradually being replaced by a more holistic and inclusive approach to missionary theology and practice. This new approach emphasizes compassion, solidarity, social responsibility, and a prophetic vision for Ukrainian society after the war. Through this article, the author hopes to deepen understanding of how the role and mission of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church have evolved recently and outline a concept of missional theology that can be relevant for other communities facing significant social, economic, and political challenges.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evangelical Theology Today: Exploring Theological Perspectives)
Open AccessArticle
“Ministry of Presence” as Emotional Labor: Perspectives from Recipients of Care
by
Amy Lawton and Wendy Cadge
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1135; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091135 - 20 Sep 2024
Abstract
This paper analyzes the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care from the perspective of care recipients. Chaplains call their work a “ministry of presence,” a term of art that is often unclear to many who are not chaplains. How else might we conceptualize
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This paper analyzes the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care from the perspective of care recipients. Chaplains call their work a “ministry of presence,” a term of art that is often unclear to many who are not chaplains. How else might we conceptualize “presence” in order to ground it in the social science literature? Using sociological theory, we show that care recipients may experience a chaplain’s work as emotional labor, specifically “other-focused emotional labor.” Based on in-depth interviews with a sample of 38 care recipients, we find recipients feeling reassured by the chaplain; being offered support and help by the chaplain; and not feeling judged by the chaplain. These findings enlarge sociological concepts about spiritual care to include what recipients experience as emotional labor and call for a broader engagement between sociologists of religion and emotions.
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Open AccessArticle
Akkirmânî’s Occasionalist Approach to the Neuroscientific Research on the Human Will
by
Nazif Muhtaroglu
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1134; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091134 - 20 Sep 2024
Abstract
In this paper, I explore the problem of human freedom and responsibility in light of current neuroscientific research, particularly focusing on Libet-style experiments. Beginning with a review of significant experiments on the nature of human will, starting with Libet’s influential series from the
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In this paper, I explore the problem of human freedom and responsibility in light of current neuroscientific research, particularly focusing on Libet-style experiments. Beginning with a review of significant experiments on the nature of human will, starting with Libet’s influential series from the 1980s, I survey various interpretations of these experiments including those that pose challenges to concepts of human freedom and responsibility. Subsequently, I introduce the perspective of Mehmed Akkirmânî (d. 1760), an Ottoman scholar who advocates for a libertarian view of human freedom within an occasionalist framework and constructs sophisticated arguments against theological determinism. Akkirmânî’s analysis of human will delineates different aspects such as inclinations, intentions, and decisions, positing that humans possess freedom solely in their conscious decisions, thereby suggesting a limited scope of free will. I argue that Akkirmânî’s views are remarkably consonant with contemporary scientific findings and align with some libertarian positions. His occasionalist perspective offers an alternative model to contemporary naturalist physicalism in elucidating the connection between mental and neurophysical states.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Classical Theism, Evil and Its Varieties: Abrahamic Science-Engaged Theology)
Open AccessArticle
Religion, Discrimination, and the Nation-State—A History of Catholics and Burakumin in Nagasaki, Japan
by
Akihiro Yamamoto
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1133; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091133 - 20 Sep 2024
Abstract
This paper examines the socio-political history of the discrimination suffered by the group called Burakumin (部落民) in the city of Nagasaki in early modern and modern Japan (1600–present). More specifically, it looks into, first, the emergence and evolvement of hostility and antagonism between
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This paper examines the socio-political history of the discrimination suffered by the group called Burakumin (部落民) in the city of Nagasaki in early modern and modern Japan (1600–present). More specifically, it looks into, first, the emergence and evolvement of hostility and antagonism between Burakumin and Catholics in Nagasaki, and second, how discrimination against Burakumin became socially invisible in post-1945 Nagasaki when post-atomic bomb reconstruction transformed the urban landscape of Nagasaki and representations of the city came to be dominated by the Catholic imagery of prayer. The paper argues that, on the one hand, the modern nation-state, established on the principles of the freedom and equality of citizens, did not eradicate discrimination, but instead concealed it, resulting in discrimination continuing in changed forms, and on the other hand, Catholics in Nagasaki, while having themselves suffered political persecution in Japanese history, have been involved in practices of discrimination against the Burakumin. There is, however, not an innate relationship between religion and discrimination, but rather the relationship is historically contingent. Understanding its contingent nature requires us to address the historical conditions contributing to discrimination. By so doing, we can start imagining new ways to tackle and eliminate discrimination.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Liberalism and the Nation in East Asia)
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The Word of Life and the Simultaneous Presence of Scriptural Allusions: Resonances of Phil 2:12–18 with Deuteronomy, Deutero-Isaiah, and Daniel
by
Simon Dürr
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1132; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091132 - 19 Sep 2024
Abstract
In recent scholarship on Philippians, there is renewed interest in Paul’s use of Israel’s Scriptures. While the separate textual interactions between Phil 2:12–18 and its evoked texts have been explored in detail by McAuley and others, this article attends to the simultaneous presence
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In recent scholarship on Philippians, there is renewed interest in Paul’s use of Israel’s Scriptures. While the separate textual interactions between Phil 2:12–18 and its evoked texts have been explored in detail by McAuley and others, this article attends to the simultaneous presence of the allusions to Deuteronomy, Deutero-Isaiah, and Daniel as a contribution to a coherent overall pragmatics, which does not, however, reduce the allusive force of scriptural passages. Attention to the composite nature of Paul’s scriptural intertext discovers the motif of the word of God as a central concern of the evoked texts, which has implications for the interpretation of the word of life in Phil 2:16.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends in Pauline Research: Philippians)
Open AccessArticle
The Digital Sufi Gaze: Between Love, Longing and Locality in COVID Britain
by
Hafza Iqbal
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1131; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091131 - 19 Sep 2024
Abstract
This article examines British Sufi responses to the COVID-19 pandemic within the broader context of Muslim experiences of and reactions to the pandemic. Set within a discussion pertaining to classical and contemporary expressions of Sufism, this article explores Sufi phenomena, including the murshid–murid
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This article examines British Sufi responses to the COVID-19 pandemic within the broader context of Muslim experiences of and reactions to the pandemic. Set within a discussion pertaining to classical and contemporary expressions of Sufism, this article explores Sufi phenomena, including the murshid–murid (Sufi master–novice) dynamic, collective gathering and Sufi gaze (nazar) and whether these phenomena were possible within the inevitable digital environments Sufis were forced into as a result of the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, experienced in Britain. The author explores Sufi social and intellectual phenomena within classical and contemporary literature in relation to Sufi experiences in the West. She concludes that varied lived experiences and differing views on Sufism and both its classical and contemporary expressions were brought into question as a consequence of the COVID pandemic, the exploration of which are necessary in juxtaposition to one another to add nuance and depth and create holistic research of Sufi communities and Sufism more broadly, within contemporary Britain and further afield.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Muslims and COVID-19: Everyday Impacts, Experiences and Responses)
Open AccessArticle
Unraveling the Local Hymnal: Artistic Creativity and Agency in Four Indonesian Christian Communities
by
Matt Menger
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1130; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091130 - 19 Sep 2024
Abstract
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Local hymnals are cultural artifacts that express a community’s values, history, and identity and serve as vehicles for communal agency. This study investigates the role of local hymnals in shaping cultural identity and theological expression within four Indonesian Christian communities. Through interviews with
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Local hymnals are cultural artifacts that express a community’s values, history, and identity and serve as vehicles for communal agency. This study investigates the role of local hymnals in shaping cultural identity and theological expression within four Indonesian Christian communities. Through interviews with church leaders, songwriters, and musicians, and an analysis of four hymnals from different communities in Indonesia, this study explores how these communities exercise agency in creating, perceiving, experiencing, and utilizing locally created songbooks. The research reveals that local hymnals are not only tools for shaping communal identity and transmitting theological understanding but also instruments through which communities assert their agency, fostering cultural dynamism. The study also considers the impact of colonialism and globalization on the development of local hymnody, highlighting how these communities have actively adapted and reinterpreted external influences to create unique and meaningful expressions of faith. The research concludes that local hymnals are not merely collections of songs but living artifacts embodying the agency of communities: the ongoing dialogue between tradition and innovation, faith and culture, and the individual and the community. By fostering autogenic cultural reflection and asserting communal agency, local hymnals fuel momentum and sustainability within a culture.
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