Spiritual Heritage and Spiritual Healing

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2021) | Viewed by 15405

Special Issue Editor

Center for Business and Social Innovation, Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
Interests: placemaking and creative space; art, culture and creativity engagement; digital transformation; digital applications in teaching and learning practices; revitalisation of industrial spaces

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue of Religions is devoted to just such a conversation. Spiritual Heritage and Spiritual Healing seeks an interdisciplinary contribution. It aims to understand and interpret the cross-cultural perspective of spirituality. This issue will include investigation and discussion on the complex relationship between heritage, spirituality and religion with an emphasis on tragic events or trauma.

Heritage is about what meaning we want to pass to future generations. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 showed that we are living in times of rapid change and our world experiences the unprecedented. This pandemic as a tragic event in the world will require time to heal for cultures, economies and emotions; it will be both remembered and never forgotten. But, at the same time, people started to question their life choices, how much humans harm the nature, how a well-connected world also created overtourism and how economies are fragile. The value of being social creatures, spending time with families and looking after both mental and physical health has become under scrutiny. It has been known that spiritual backgrounds and religious belief systems guide people’s everyday lives and it can provide a symbolic healing that make people feel better.

Dr. Ece Kaya
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • spirituality and healing
  • spiritual and cultural heritage
  • symbolic meaning of religion
  • social construction of belief systems
  • repairing cultures

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 317 KiB  
Article
Religious and Spiritual Trends among Female Students of Different Ethnic Origins and Fields of Study at a Secular Academic College in Israel
by Anat Feldman and Dikla Barak
Religions 2021, 12(6), 453; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060453 - 19 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2305
Abstract
The current study examined trends regarding religion and spirituality among Jewish and Bedouin female students studying education and sciences at Achva Academic College, a rural secular college in southern Israel. The Bedouin women all originated from an isolationist traditional society, vigilantly maintained over [...] Read more.
The current study examined trends regarding religion and spirituality among Jewish and Bedouin female students studying education and sciences at Achva Academic College, a rural secular college in southern Israel. The Bedouin women all originated from an isolationist traditional society, vigilantly maintained over many years. Contrastingly, the Jewish women come from a secular or traditional society, which is not isolationist. Science and education are two completely different worlds of content. Science studies include analytical research, with the students carrying out experiments in laboratories and within the community, whereas education studies focus on pedagogy and transfer of knowledge. The study employed a questionnaire with Likert items regarding religion and spirituality. We found the Bedouin students were more religious than the Jewish ones, but spirituality levels were similar. This finding indicated that the Bedouin students have indeed broken down the barriers to academic education, but still have retained their traditional community framework. Likewise, we found that the students of science were less observant of religious practices in comparison to those studying education, but they were similar regarding spirituality and the theoretical aspects of religion. This finding showed that practical aspects of religion can be a factor influencing the choice of field of study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spiritual Heritage and Spiritual Healing)
14 pages, 528 KiB  
Article
Spiritual Heritage of Europe in the Light of Personalistic Universalism of Karol Wojtyla—John Paul II
by Arkadiusz Modrzejewski
Religions 2021, 12(4), 244; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12040244 - 29 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2333
Abstract
The article is devoted to the philosophical and theological thought of Karol Wojtyła, i.e., John Paul II, who in his considerations gave a lot of attention to European issues, including the spiritual heritage of Europe, to European Christianity in its two varieties, i.e., [...] Read more.
The article is devoted to the philosophical and theological thought of Karol Wojtyła, i.e., John Paul II, who in his considerations gave a lot of attention to European issues, including the spiritual heritage of Europe, to European Christianity in its two varieties, i.e., Latin and Byzantine, and to the relationship between European unity and the pluralism of national cultures. We discover the proper sense of Wojtyła’s European thought by referring to his inspiration with the theology of spirituality, which was the future Pope’s first research experience. His vision of Europe is based on personalistic philosophy, thanks to which these considerations take a universal form. The key to understanding universalism is personalistic hermeneutics, owing to which we perceive the source of universality in man understood as a person. However, Wojtyła’s universalism has two faces. It is universalism in the literal sense, thanks to the personalistic perspective. In the axiological layer it also takes the form of Christian or European and in a way also Eurocentric universalism, which is related to the perception of Europe as a depositary and promoter of universal values of Christianity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spiritual Heritage and Spiritual Healing)
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27 pages, 358 KiB  
Article
Puritan Lecturers and Anglican Clergymen during the Early Years of the English Civil Wars
by Youngkwon Chung
Religions 2021, 12(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12010044 - 9 Jan 2021
Viewed by 3088
Abstract
During the early years of the Civil Wars in England, from February 1642 to July 1643, Puritan parishioners in conjunction with the parliament in London set up approximately 150 divines as weekly preachers, or lecturers, in the city and the provinces. This was [...] Read more.
During the early years of the Civil Wars in England, from February 1642 to July 1643, Puritan parishioners in conjunction with the parliament in London set up approximately 150 divines as weekly preachers, or lecturers, in the city and the provinces. This was an exceptional activity surrounding lectureships including the high number of lecturer appointments made over the relatively brief space of time, especially considering the urgent necessity of making preparations for the looming war and fighting it as well. By examining a range of sources, this article seeks to demonstrate that the Puritan MPs and peers, in cooperation with their supporters from across the country, tactically employed the institutional device of weekly preaching, or lectureships, to neutralize the influence of Anglican clergymen perceived as royalists dissatisfied with the parliamentarian cause, and to bolster Puritan and pro-parliamentarian preaching during the critical years of 1642–1643. If successfully employed, the device of weekly lectureships would have significantly widened the base of support for the parliament during this crucial period when people began to take sides, prepared for war, and fought its first battles. Such a program of lectureships, no doubt, contributed to the increasing polarization of the religious and political climate of the country. More broadly, this study seeks to add to our understanding of an early phase of the conflict that eventually embroiled the entire British Isles in a decade of gruesome internecine warfare. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spiritual Heritage and Spiritual Healing)
18 pages, 282 KiB  
Article
Healing Space: The Synaesthetic Quality of Church Architecture
by Bert Daelemans
Religions 2020, 11(12), 635; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11120635 - 26 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5877
Abstract
There is a growing literature on the healing effects of buildings designed for healthcare, but publications that insist on this spiritual and healing dimension in church architecture are rare. Contemporary ecclesial buildings are often rightly criticized for their cold and soulless emptiness. However, [...] Read more.
There is a growing literature on the healing effects of buildings designed for healthcare, but publications that insist on this spiritual and healing dimension in church architecture are rare. Contemporary ecclesial buildings are often rightly criticized for their cold and soulless emptiness. However, through the analysis of four emblematic case studies, this article aims to lay bare an essential dimension of architecture that is often overlooked, a multisensory and synaesthetic dimension that engages our body even before we become aware of it. Hence, this article builds upon the recurrent plea of spatial theorists, philosophers, and architects for synaesthetic space as a reaction to a dominant ocularcentric environment. Surprisingly, contemporary church architecture seems rather propitious to deploy this inherently religious dimension that is at once healing and spiritual in a new sense, which is especially needed nowadays. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spiritual Heritage and Spiritual Healing)
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