Search Results (89)

The history of women’s education in Portugal predates the implementation of an official system, which was only consistently addressed after 1836 with Passos Manuel’s reform of primary instruction. Long before that, particularly from the Early Modern period onwards, women religious played a key role in providing education. Convents and Third Order houses—alongside families, charities, and religion-inspired foundations—offered instruction considered appropriate to women’s gender and social status. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) extended strict enclosure to all female convents, leading to the “monasticisation” of education—an arrangement that neither promoted the visibility of female learners nor encouraged the development of the pedagogical models that shaped their instruction. The later emergence of teaching orders, despite their adherence to enclosure, began to challenge the traditional monastic model. Drawing on largely unpublished or scarcely explored archival sources, this article seeks to shed light on the historical reasons behind the prominent and precedent-setting role of monasticism in the field of female education, and to address the enduring invisibility that still shrouds the cloistered world. Full article

This study aims to understand how religious affective content in the digital realm influences epistemic authority, social imaginaries, and religious beliefs among young adults (individuals between 18 and 35) with a university education and who identify as Christian, Hindu, or Muslim in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Data indicate the growing role of digital platforms as epistemic sources for religious maintenance, while families, private sacred-text teachings, religious leaders, and the community continue to serve as primary sources. Cultural capital, such as higher education and social skills, does not necessarily make respondents psychologically or emotionally resilient to be able and effectively deal with moral distrust and hate speech on social media. In daily life individuals feel cross-pressured between their religious attitudes, and secular educational institutions and government agencies who promote liberal values while perceiving religion as a threat, despite not consistently adhering to those liberal values themselves. Hence, this experienced injustice in the city, enhanced by the negative framing of religion in digital media, may influence the social judgement of individuals and the processes of alienation, polarization and radicalization. Full article

Art is the most aesthetic creation produced by humankind, and it is quite unthinkable that art should exist independently of religion. Even in works of a profane nature, a sense of divinity can still be felt at some level. In the revealed religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—the teachings of the sacred scriptures, intermingled with certain pagan beliefs, have a profound influence on the shaping of art. In the works of the fourteenth century, when Classical Turkish literature began to flourish in Anatolia, numerous Christian elements appear in the form of metaphors, allusions, or similes. The early period of intense interaction with the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, the proliferation of written literary texts, the introduction of the devşirme (child-levy) system, Ottoman settlements in Rumelia, and the expanding military, commercial, and social relations all accelerated the entry of Christian motifs into daily life and literature. This article examines how Christianity—the religion with the largest number of adherents today—was reflected in fourteenth-century Turkish literary texts and how it influenced the cultural life of the period. Full article

The introduction of Christian culture to China during the late Ming Dynasty marked a pivotal moment in Sino–Western cultural exchanges. Jesuit missionaries, adhering to a strategy of aligning with Confucianism while rejecting Buddhism, encountered significant challenges in gaining acceptance. Their discourse on “hell” provoked opposition from both Confucian scholars and Buddhists. This paper focuses on key missionary works from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, specifically Tianzhu shilu 《天主实录》 (True Record of the Lord of Heaven), Tianzhu shiyi 《天主实义》 (The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven), Sanshan lunxue 《三山论学》 (The Records of Debate in Fuzhou), Tianzhu shengjiao shilu 《天主圣教实录》 (True Record of the Sacred Teachings Concerning the Lord of Heaven) and Kouduo richao 《口铎日抄》 (Diary of Oral Admonitions). Exploring this notable cultural controversy and analyzing the intricate process of rejection and acceptance within this cultural collision will undoubtedly provide special insights into deepening our understanding of different religions’ beliefs about the afterlife and facilitating dialogue among civilizations. Full article

The adherents of various religions have during times of prayer and worship oriented themselves toward a fixed, sacred direction or location. Since ancient times, followers of Judaism have turned in prayer to Jerusalem. Traditionally, Zoroastrians have prayed facing a source of light—typically the sun or a fire—representing divine truth and presence. By the second and third centuries of the common era, many Christian communities prayed facing the east when offering the Lord’s prayer and other supplications. Initially, Muḥammad and his followers prayed toward Jerusalem, called the “Qiblih” (a technical word first used in the Qur’án for the direction of ṣalát, the Islamic obligatory prayer), but near the midpoint of Muḥammad’s ministry, the Qiblih was changed to the Kaabah in Mecca. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Báb, founder of the Bábí religion, redefined the Qiblih as “Him Whom God shall make manifest,” a figure whose imminent appearance the Báb anticipated. Years later, Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, confirmed the Báb’s designation of the Qiblih and claimed to be the figure promised by the Báb—and, thus, the Qiblih. Since Bahá’u’lláh’s passing in 1892, Bahá’ís have regarded the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh near ‘Akká as their Qiblih. This paper considers three issues related to the concept of the Qiblih. First, it briefly surveys the concept in Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, and other traditions. Second, it examines the significance and implications of the Qiblih in Bahá’í texts and their antecedents in Bábí texts. In this regard, it argues that in Bahá’í theology, the Qiblih symbolizes the role, station, and authority of the Manifestation of God, the figure who, in Bahá’í thought, serves as the intermediary between God and humanity from age to age. Moreover, Bahá’u’lláh’s designation of a new Qiblih signaled the independence of the Bahá’í religion. Third, this study explores how from a Bahá’í perspective, Quranic verses concerning the Qiblih may be viewed. These include how Muḥammad’s alteration of the Qiblih to the Kaabah reflected his authority as the Manifestation of God to change a prior law. Further, attention is given to Qur’án 2:143 (“And thus We have made you a middle community…”), which occurs in the midst of the only verses in the Qur’án that decree a change in the Qiblih. Whereas Quranic commentators and scholars of Islam, influenced by the doctrine of Islam’s finality, interpreted the word “middle” (vasaṭ) in this verse as meaning just, moderate, or exemplary, Bahá’u’lláh affirmed the word’s more basic meaning and regarded the Muslim community as a religious community between other communities that preceded it and that will come after it, thus anticipating the emergence of a new religious community, which could potentially have its own Qiblih. Full article

This article examines the contemporary Portuguese family through the lens of changes in the transmission of family values, with a particular focus on the religious sphere. Using a quantitative methodology based on a questionnaire survey administered to a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 3634 respondents in Portugal, this study explores the transformations in family values and the role of religion. The findings show that current values are increasingly oriented toward individualism, emotionality, expressiveness, and empowerment, with religion no longer underpinning these values. The religious decline within the family sphere has paralleled the erosion of traditional, positional, and hierarchical values—even among individuals with religious beliefs in whom the sense of belonging is weakening—favoring individualistic and expressive values related to work, education, and leisure. The analysis reveals significant generational differences in the perception of family, indicating an ongoing process of social transformation that reflects broader structural changes in Portuguese society. Younger generations exhibit a stronger adherence to individualistic values and a weaker attachment to traditional hierarchical patterns. The data suggest a profound reconfiguration of the value foundations of the family, with important implications for family policies and for understanding contemporary family dynamics in the Portuguese context. Full article

Purpose: The Mediterranean diet (MD) is associated with significant health benefits. However, adherence varies considerably, influenced by sociocultural and geographical factors. This review was designed to synthesize existing evidence on the prevalence of MD adherence in different Arab countries and identify sociodemographic, cultural, and behavioral factors associated with adherence. Methodology: Sixteen databases were searched to identify relevant articles, using MeSH search terms related to MD and its applicable terms, adherence, and the names of the 22 Arab countries. Findings: Out of approximately 2400 articles searched, nine articles were selected, investigating adherence to the MD across Arab League countries and exploring the impact of geographic location on dietary practices. Examined Arab populations showed generally moderate adherence to the MD. Wide variability was observed in adherence levels among the different Arab countries. This variability arises from a complex interplay of factors, including access to specific foods, economic considerations, cultural traditions, and the influence of globalization on dietary habits. Our review highlights the role of these factors in contributing to the observed heterogeneity in MD adherence across the Arab League, examining the prevalence of various MD assessment tools and their respective strengths and limitations within this specific context. Conclusions: The findings underscore the need for culturally sensitive and geographically tailored strategies that enhance adherence to the MD’s protective effects across all countries in the Arab League. Full article

New theologies developed in tandem with evolutionary biology during the nineteenth century, which have been called metaphysical evolutionisms and evolutionary theologies. A subset of these theologies analyzed here were developed by thinkers who accepted biological science but rejected both biblical creationism and materialist science. Tools from the cognitive science of religion, including conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and blending theory, also known as conceptual integration theory (CIT), can help to explain the development of these systems and their transformation between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. The analysis focuses on several stable and popular blends of ideas, which have continued with some alteration into the twenty-first century. The three blends evaluated here are Progressive Soul Evolution, Salvation is Evolution, and Evolution is Therapy. Major contributors to these blends are the Theosophist and theologian Helena P. Blavatsky and psychologist Frederic W. H. Myers, both influenced by the spiritualist movement, particularly the ideas of the spiritualist and biologist Alfred Russel Wallace. The influence of these blends can be seen in the twentieth-century “Aquarian Frontier,” a group of 145 thinkers and organizations identified in 1975 by counterculture historian Theodore Roszak. Part of the appeal of these blends may be seen in their use of metaphors, including the Great Chain of Being and A Purposeful Life is a Journey. The application of the polysemic term evolution in a sense that does much of the theological work of salvation in Christianity can in part be explained by applying the principles of blending theory, including the vital relation “achieve a human scale,” as well as compressions of time and identity. These blends have been successful because they meet the needs of a population who are friendly towards science but disenchanted with traditional religions. The blends provide a satisfying new theology that extends beyond death for a subset of adherents, particularly in the New Age and spiritual but not religious (SBNR) movements, who combine the agency of self-directed “evolution” with the religious concepts of grace and transcendence. Full article

This study empirically investigates the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools within Hungarian religious communities, with a focus on Catholic respondents, to assess their awareness, application, and acceptance of AI in religious contexts. By religious communities, we do not mean monastic or priestly communities, but rather communities of lay religious people. Conducted between 10 February and 11 March 2025, the questionnaire-based research (N = 133) employs Campbell’s Religious Social Shaping of Technology (RSST) framework to analyze attitudes toward AI across 15 religious functions. Six hypotheses explore gender differences, religiosity types (church-based vs. self-defined), and the acceptability, authenticity, and ethicality of AI applications. Findings reveal high acceptance for administrative tasks (e.g., email list updates: 64.7%) and technical functions (e.g., live translation: 65.4%), but low acceptance for spiritual roles (e.g., spiritual leadership: 12.8%). Self-defined religious individuals are significantly more accepting, perceiving AI as more authentic and ethical compared to those adhering to church teachings. No significant gender differences were found. The study contributes to digital religion studies, highlighting the influence of religiosity on AI adoption, though its non-representative sample limits generalizability. Full article

The paper aims to determine the associations of mediators’ religiosity, assessed as self-reported religious belief and religious practice frequency, with their recognition of the existence of a work ethic of mediators, their personal approach to the occupation, their values, their adherence to the rules of mediation, and their perception of its objectives. The article is based on the results of a quantitative study conducted among Polish court mediators (n = 391). It was found that the mediators who were religious believers and regularly practiced their religion were more often convinced about the existence of a work ethic, treated work in their occupation as an opportunity to help people, and remained neutral in disputes, but they were also more inclined to violate the principle of impartiality by being prepared to conduct mediation in their friends or family members’ cases. Our research on mediators’ work ethic may be useful in raising the standards of mediator training in specific areas of specialization, including working with migrants and multicultural communities, enhancing the effectiveness of mediations, improving their quality, and boosting the level of disputants’ satisfaction. Full article

This study investigates the experiences of Afro-Dutch Muslim women facing anti-Black racism within Dutch Muslim communities, illuminating the complexities of their identities as they navigate the intersections of race, religion, and belonging. Utilising in-depth narrative interviews with nine participants, alongside an online qualitative survey (n = 45), the research captures how the participants encounter exclusion, inferiorisation, and stereotyping, often feeling marginalised in spaces expected to foster inclusivity. Through the lens of intersectionality, the findings reveal a sense of conditional acceptance based on religious identity that erases part of their racialised experiences, leading to feelings of alienation within certainMuslim communities. The study explores the concept of religious innocence, an attitude adopted by some (Muslim) religious adherents who perceive themselves as immune to racism by virtue of adhering to religious (Islamic) doctrine, which they view as inherently anti-racist, thereby perpetuating injustices within their own practices. By contextualising these experiences within the framework of the Ummah, the study highlights the disconnection between Islamic ideals of unity and the realities of intra-Muslim racism. The implications underscore the need for greater inclusivity and equity within religious practices, challenging the existing racial hierarchies. Ultimately, the research aims to amplify the voices of marginalised Afro-Dutch Muslim women, contributing to an enhanced understanding of their unique challenges and resilience in the face of systemic discrimination. Full article

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are progressively integrated across life domains, religious organizations are negotiating opportunities and tensions as AI applications are incorporated into their daily practices. Given the limited and growing research on AI and religion, this study explores how religious leaders perceive and manage emerging automation to align with institutional values. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with pastors in Christian churches in the United States, this study reveals how they understand and prioritize their mission, community solidarity, and beliefs regarding human dignity and agency in their AI adoption. This study helps shed light on the significance of faithful adherence to values in advancing responsible AI and religious human–machine communication. Findings also highlight the performance of religious authority amid the plurality of institutional logics in current church settings. This paper concludes with a call for future research to extend our understanding of the socio-cultural implications of automation and recognize efforts by key religious leadership to influence AI adoption, ethics, and governance. Full article

Buddhism is renowned for its adherence to the principle of “Anatta”, yet it does not merely negate the self. Instead, Buddhism employs a flexible categorization and stratification of the self based on specific value orientations and practical objectives. Although Christian traditions present a variety of perceptions of the self, they align with Buddhism in terms of stratifying the self. In the practical path of self-cultivation, both religions adopt meditation as a spiritual exercise, aiming to manifest the true self. A comparative analysis of Buddhist and Christian meditation practices within the framework of naturalism not only enhances the profound understanding of the self-concept for both parties but also fosters the creative transformation and innovative development of the theories of self within these two religious traditions. Full article

Self-transcendence has been extensively studied and discussed among scholars, both theoretically and empirically. However, further academic inquiry into self-transcendent experiences (STEs), particularly their nature, religious implications, and spiritual benefits, is still needed. This paper undertakes a qualitative exploration of the topic, phenomenologically analyzing the author’s first-person STEs within Buddhist and Christian contexts. In addition to personal journals and reflections, the dataset includes email exchanges with and reports to supervisors, as well as comparative insights drawn from testimonies shared by individuals of various religious backgrounds. The findings suggest that while religion may sometimes inhibit its adherents from experiencing STEs, it can also serve as a catalyst for such experiences among nonreligious individuals. Furthermore, the universal nature of STEs, which transcends cultural and religious boundaries, has the potential to promote interfaith dialogue and provide a theoretical framework for fostering religious harmony. Data on STEs could also act as a bridge connecting science with other forms of human knowledge, enabling shared discourse and offering a complementary perspective for understanding the world. Finally, a proposed mechanism of STEs highlights their role in achieving lifelong peace by balancing physical and mental needs, while also offering insights to help individuals maximize their potential and lead fulfilling lives. Full article

This article explores how the unique cosmology of Korean shamanism, which continues to function as a living religion in contemporary Korea, has been shaped. A key characteristic of the cosmology in Korean shamanism is its combination of two cosmological beliefs. First, it adheres to the general shamanistic cosmology of protection, where suffering caused by supernatural beings can be overcome through the protection of even more powerful beings, who also assist in predicting the future. Second, it incorporates the belief that human life and the universe operate according to specific cosmological principles. The coexistence of these two distinct cosmologies which form an explanatory system of modern Korean shamanism reflects the historical experiences of Koreans with Confucianism during the Joseon dynasty and with Western modernity. In this paper, I analyze the dynamics of conflict and compromise between the two cosmologies through a historical approach and case studies. Specifically, I examine the use of the terms ‘unse (wheel of fortune)’ and ‘spirit’s intervention’ as conceptual metaphors representing each cosmology, as they are employed in interactions between shamans and their clients. Furthermore, I maintain that contemporary Korean shamanism is a form of religious practice constructed as a compromise between various worldviews, including those of shamans and their clients. Full article