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Religions, Volume 16, Issue 7

2025 July - 139 articles

Cover Story: In my previous career in pharmaceutical science, I studied the phenomenon of paradigms. Having transitioned to the field of Biblical Studies, I am struck by the lack of scholarly acknowledgment of how paradigms affect competing or antithetical interpretations of Biblical texts when it comes to the issue of supersessionism. I think the time has come to examine what Kuhnian paradigms might reveal about this pertinacious problem. It is my hope that this essay will help Biblical scholars and theologians to admit that we are sometimes unable to see other perspectives precisely because we are inured to our own paradigms. My greatest concern is the ethical implications of our paradigms on the lives of those who rely on our work for their understanding and appropriation of the Scriptures. View this paper
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Articles (139)

  • Article
  • Open Access
2,783 Views
15 Pages

21 July 2025

The Confucian hermeneutic approach to the Yijing 易經 (or Book of Changes) delineates a transition from the pursuit of divinatory meaning to the cultivation of virtue and action. As an integral part of the Yijing’s semantic framewor...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ethical Concerns in Early Confucianism)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,701 Views
20 Pages

21 July 2025

This paper discusses the role of energy and movement in facilitating experiences of well-being from an anthropological perspective that considers energy as a situated form of knowledge. Drawing on fieldwork among Core Energetics (CE) and 5Rhythms (5R...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Spirituality and Medicine: Insights into Contemporary Perspectives)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,728 Views
16 Pages

21 July 2025

In this paper, I question what the relationship between psychology and spirit would mean for mental well-being if the ideas of the human being and the notion of spirit are viewed from the perspective of Max Scheler’s philosophical anthropology....

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interdisciplinary Approaches to Spirituality and Mental Health in Secular Societies)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
3,155 Views
15 Pages

21 July 2025

Sacrificial rituals provide a critical perspective for examining the fundamental characteristics and evolutionary trajectory of Chinese civilization. The Functionalist and Annales schools, through theoretical frameworks such as “natural necessi...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Sociological Study of Religion)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
5,867 Views
27 Pages

20 July 2025

This paper discusses the Chart of the Taoist Rituals of Lord Lao, or “chart of Lord Lao” for short, a document drawn up, preserved, and utilized by a local Taoist altar in the border region of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces in southeastern C...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transformations in Daoist Ritual Texts and Other Daoist Literature Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,093 Views
15 Pages

19 July 2025

This paper examines a previously unknown anonymous Hebrew letter inserted into a postwar edition of Shem HaGedolim, found in the library of the Jewish University in Budapest. The letter, composed in Győr in 1947, consists almost entirely of pass...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2,966 Views
18 Pages

19 July 2025

The film Defiance (2008) explores the true story of the Bielski Partisans in the Second World War, led by the brothers Tuvia and Zus Bielski. While the film is in many ways a conventional action-packed war story of resistance to Nazi domination durin...

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,335 Views
14 Pages

19 July 2025

Religiosity and political conservatism are often hypothesized to be negatively associated with attitudes towards science. Yet, past research has often failed to distinguish between trust in science versus the acceptance of science as a source of trut...

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3,218 Views
22 Pages

19 July 2025

This study investigates the complex relationship between levels of religiosity and attitudes toward secularization among individuals receiving higher religious education in Türkiye. Secularization is defined as the diminishing influence of relig...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Examining Religion's Influence in Non-formal and Informal Educational Contexts: Beliefs, Practices and Narratives)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
5,916 Views
17 Pages

18 July 2025

This article examines the theological trajectories of Watchman Nee (1903–1972) and Witness Lee (1905–1997) on sanctification, union with Christ, and deification, situating their contributions within recent reappraisals of the doctrine of...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Christian Theologies of Deification)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,693 Views
15 Pages

18 July 2025

When designing, implementing and assessing public policies, and, in particular, those affecting the public management of religious diversity, it is increasingly common to include ethnographic approaches from the field of social anthropology and the b...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches to Religious Pluralism: Integrating Law, Policies and Practice)
  • Article
  • Open Access
4,591 Views
16 Pages

18 July 2025

This article considers the dilemma between advocating for a religion-based environmentalism in the Himalayas and recognising that the different cultural traditions in the region make a uniform religious environmentalism difficult to uphold. Conservat...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Himalayan Ecospiritual Knowledges and Ethics of Sustainability in the Anthropocene)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,365 Views
14 Pages

18 July 2025

This paper examines Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island through a Hindu eco-spiritual framework to explore how ancient cosmological concepts illuminate contemporary environmental crises. Building upon the legend of Bonduki Sadagar and Manasa Devi, Ghosh...

  • Review
  • Open Access
4,140 Views
19 Pages

18 July 2025

During the 1970s’ military dictatorships in Chile and Brazil, the Catholic Church took the position of moral opposition to the authoritarian regimes, while in Argentina, the Church sided with the dictatorship. In his pathbreaking book utilizing...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Politics: Historical Developments and Contemporary Transformations)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
1,777 Views
18 Pages

The Soul at Prayer

  • Richard G. T. Gipps

18 July 2025

Wittgenstein lists prayer as a distinct language-game, but leaves to others the investigation of its character. Formulating it as “conversation with God” is correct but potentially unhelpful, in part because it presupposes that we can und...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Work on Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Religion)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,666 Views
15 Pages

18 July 2025

Focusing on the Pārijāta Tree on the summit of Mount Sumeru, the centre of Asian cosmology, this study analyses its depictions and images. These include Chinese translations of Buddhist texts, the most notable depictions in the handscrolls...

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Humanities/Philosophies)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,163 Views
20 Pages

18 July 2025

Expatriates and missionaries in China played a significant role in the development and transformation of Chinese architecture in the Late Qing period. However, a systematic comparison of their discourses and proposals on Chinese architecture has been...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chinese Christianity and Knowledge Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
1,932 Views
24 Pages

17 July 2025

Through an examination of his core doctrinal points, I argue that Shinran’s conception of Pure Land Buddhism (Jōdo Shinshū) should not be so readily dismissed as one that is only salvific in an otherworldly sense, with no relevance to...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Approaches to Buddhist Philosophy and Ethics)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3,171 Views
13 Pages

17 July 2025

This study explores the role of public theology in addressing contemporary societal challenges, emphasizing ethical dialogue in response to secularization, pluralism, technological transformation, and social and environmental issues. It situates past...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Culture and Spirituality in a Digital World)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3,871 Views
19 Pages

17 July 2025

This article discusses caste dynamics within the Punjabi diaspora in Italy—the largest in the EU—by focusing on the case of the Ravidassia community and describing its evolving relations with the local Sikh community. Previous research on...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sikhi, Sikhs and Caste: Lived Experiences in a Global Context)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
4,349 Views
16 Pages

17 July 2025

During the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, China underwent a period of broad-based economic and societal transformation. Among the cultural forces at play, the Christian culture has significantly impacted the trajectory of Chinese history. At the...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chinese Christianity and Knowledge Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,072 Views
20 Pages

16 July 2025

The Republican era of China witnessed three primary positions regarding Buddhist monastic robe reform. Taixu advocated preserving canonical forms (法服) for ritual garments while adapting regular robes (常服) to contemporary n...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monastic Lives and Buddhist Textual Traditions in China and Beyond)
  • Article
  • Open Access
4,524 Views
41 Pages

16 July 2025

Many contemporaries considered the crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 as a significant moment in Salvation History. This article investigates how the reception of the Roman conquest of the city (70 CE) contributed to such an understanding. The im...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue University of Konstanz, International Conference (25 October, 31 October, 8 November 2024): Emerging Historical Perspectives on Christian-Muslim Interactions in and Around the Mediterranean (c. 630–1614))
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,361 Views
24 Pages

16 July 2025

This article examines the communication strategies of religious diplomacy used by Pope Francis in his diplomatic relations with the countries of the Middle East from 2013 to 2025. The study identifies and characterizes key elements of papal communica...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,520 Views
27 Pages

16 July 2025

Walter Henry Medhurst’s translation of The Shoo King (尚書/書經) represents the first complete English rendering of this classic Chinese text. However, limited attention has been given to how Medhurst navigated the tensi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3,887 Views
16 Pages

16 July 2025

The last stop on the Muslim pilgrimage is the Kaʻba. Like all other holy and religious places, the Kaʻba has survived due to the repairs it has undergone since its construction. However, the Kaʻba has been rebuilt at times when it was destroyed for v...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pilgrimage: Diversity, Past and Present of Sacred Routes)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
1,514 Views
15 Pages

16 July 2025

This article examines how religious freedom is enacted and redefined through everyday practices in pluralistic urban settings. Moving beyond the classical notion of negative liberty as non-interference, it explores the social conditions that enable o...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Governance of Interreligious Dialogue and Freedom of/from Religion)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,210 Views
18 Pages

16 July 2025

Descola describes western culture, influenced by the Christian worldview, as “naturalist”. However, semiotic and ethnographic research shows that different perspectives about the relationship between humans and animals coexist with mainst...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religions, Cultural Memory and Heritage in the City: Reassembling a Plural Scenario)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,466 Views
18 Pages

16 July 2025

This study was carried out to determine if macro-level factors (namely, demographic and ecological factors) influence self-perceived social distance and actual social practice with individuals of different faith communities among tertiary students in...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,285 Views
18 Pages

16 July 2025

This article examines the religious practices of descendants of Bosnian migrants in Slovenia, a country that stands out as one of the most secular in Europe. While Bosnia and Herzegovina is known for its complex religious pluralism, where religious i...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Changes and Challenges in the Wake of Increasing Global Migration)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,190 Views
43 Pages

15 July 2025

This paper explores the perspectives of Master Taixu (太虛, 1890–1947) and Master Hsing Yun (星雲, 1927–2023) on the practice of the Buddhist Five Vehicles (五乘), particularly focusing on the relations...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1,648 Views
16 Pages

15 July 2025

In his passion, Jesus Christ was a victim of the intentional violent acts of others, which were highly likely to have been traumatic for him and those around him. In the Eucharist, traumatizing acts and events are represented through symbolism, narra...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Eucharist as the Bread of Life: Phenomenological and Existential Explorations)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,082 Views
13 Pages

15 July 2025

This study investigates the theological function of the contemporary worship song “The Blessing” by addressing the following guiding research question: in what ways does “The Blessing” function as a form of prophetic declarati...

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Humanities/Philosophies)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,851 Views
23 Pages

15 July 2025

This study examines the distinctive male leadership—comprising procurators, parish priests, and chaplains—of the beguinage of St. Elizabeth in Valenciennes during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Contrary to the majority of beguin...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Church, Clergy, and Authority: An Exploration of Medieval Religious Life and Culture)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,298 Views
13 Pages

15 July 2025

The image of the vasa domus Dei, repeated on two occasions in the book of the prophet Daniel (Dan 1:2 and 5:4), enables Jerome to formulate an explicit judgement on pagan culture. Drawing extensively on a well-established repertoire, he highlights in...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Interaction of Early Christianity with Classical Literature)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,730 Views
22 Pages

15 July 2025

The subject of this article is the centuries-old religious heritage of Vilnius. The aim of the article is to analyse this heritage and its reflection in the gaze of tourists. In particular, it focuses on selected Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewis...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1,164 Views
14 Pages

15 July 2025

Technological advancements keep influencing religious landscapes in unpredictable ways. This implies changes at the level of personal spirituality and also at the level of community building and civic engagement across different denominations. In thi...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Institutional Innovation and Tradition: Understanding Changes and Continuities in Religious Leadership, Communication, and Technology Ethics)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,703 Views
15 Pages

14 July 2025

Daoist robes in the Ming Dynasty literature underwent a marked transformation from exclusive religious vestments to widespread secular attire. Originally confined to Daoist priests and sacred rites, these garments began to appear in everyday work, en...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Symbols and Fashion: Identification, Representation and Regulation in Dress)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,143 Views
16 Pages

14 July 2025

The term ziran first appears in the Daodejing, yet its precise meaning and attribution remain ambiguous in this book, sparking ongoing scholarly debate. This paper argues that Laozi’s idea of ziran fundamentally pertains to all things and the c...

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Humanities/Philosophies)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,873 Views
14 Pages

14 July 2025

Why have thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Zhuang Zi, across different cultures, sought something beyond the self? Whether through God, nature, or abstract ideals, the longing for transcendence has been a recurring theme across philosophical and...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Comparative Study of the Concepts of Self-Transcendence, Value and Power in the Works of Emerson and Zhuang Zi)
  • Article
  • Open Access
3,964 Views
35 Pages

14 July 2025

A Sanskrit manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā or Perfection of Wisdom in eight thousand verses, now in the Cambridge University Library, Add.1643, is one of the most ambitiously designed South Asian manuscripts from the eleventh c...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Beyond the “Spice Routes”: Indic and Sinitic Religions across the Asian Maritime Realm)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2,877 Views
23 Pages

13 July 2025

This study provides a comprehensive philological analysis of ten Old Uyghur manuscript fragments of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra (Lotus Sutra) in the Berlin Turfan Collection, while systematically examining all extant Old Uyghur...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reviving Ancient Wisdom on the Northern Silk Road: Research on Old Uyghur Buddhism and Buddhist Scriptures)
  • Article
  • Open Access
4,287 Views
15 Pages

13 July 2025

Writing from a Reformed perspective, I intend to develop a concept of the duplex iustitia. I will argue that it is possible to affirm that infused righteousness is the sole formal cause of justification, while holding that imputation is its material...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1,626 Views
12 Pages

13 July 2025

In Jer 15:19, Yhwh calls the prophet Jeremiah “my mouth”. This unique designation highlights his importance and finds support in several other features: Jeremiah is portrayed as the promised successor to Moses (Jer 1:7, 9), opposes all ot...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Echoes of the Divine: The Historical, Literary, and Theological Dimensions of Prophetism)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,651 Views
14 Pages

12 July 2025

Ṭāhā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s Suʼāl al-ʻunf (The Question of Violence) is perhaps the most extensive philosophical-religious critique of violence in Islamic ethics in the last decade. He distinguishes betw...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2,271 Views
18 Pages

12 July 2025

The relationship between Scripture and the Liturgy remains one of the most extensively debated subjects in theological discourse. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, a divided Christendom witnessed the rise...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Witness of the Orthodox Church in the Political Context of the Secularized Modern State)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
5,490 Views
21 Pages

Good Grief! After-Death Communication, Grief, and Gratitude

  • John Elfers,
  • Patty Hlava,
  • Monique Patrice Sudduth,
  • Cassandra Gaddis,
  • Elizabeth Leigh Foster,
  • Slade Richards and
  • Yujia Zhu

12 July 2025

This study sought to clarify the role of after-death communication in resilience in grief. The primary research question guiding this study was: In what way do experiences of after-death communication inform the cultivation of gratitude and compassio...

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences)

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Religions - ISSN 2077-1444