Search Results (41)

This study primarily aims to articulate and analyze the Engaged Buddhism movement’s Indra’s Net Life Community in Korea and the ecological thoughts of its founder, Tobŏp. This study examines Reverend Tobŏp’s ideas, which form the foundation and drive the operations of the community. These ideas are informed by the Hua-yen worldview, expressed in the doctrine of “interdependent co-arising,” as put forth in his writings. This movement offers a new ecological vision beyond today’s neoliberal economic model. This study also suggests that ecologically Engaged Korean Buddhism can provide empowering religious teachings with important suggestions for how religio-ethical values might address contemporary ecological problems. Indra’s Net Life Community has the potential to address the shortcomings in most environmental ethics proposals, which often overlook the importance of “practical participatory projects” to promote ecological justice. Finally, this study argues that the focal point of Buddhist enlightenment is “in this place and in this body, in this world and not some other.” Venerable Tobŏp also emphasizes the present situation through the experience of “the here and now.” However, Indra’s Net and Engaged Buddhism are still works in progress. Full article

This study explores the intersection between religious and medical bathing practices across Monsoon Asia, with particularly reference to āyurvedic and Buddhist traditions. While previous scholarship has emphasised the ritualistic and social dimensions of bathing in Brahmanical and Buddhist contexts, this article complements it with discussions of its medicinal and healing functions, as outlined in classical texts and displayed in material culture. The research highlights how bathing was considered essential for maintaining bodily balance—a concept analogous to humoral theory in Galenic medicine—across different climatic and environmental conditions, particularly during the monsoon season. The article further examines the transregional circulation and localisation of these practices, considering how diverse Asian cultures adapted Indic bathing traditions to their unique climatic and cultural contexts. Notably, the study addresses the complex interplay between religious doctrines, health and environmental factors, drawing connections between āyurvedic principles and Buddhist medical discourses. The findings suggest that while the notion of balance in bathing practices was widespread, its interpretation and implementation varied significantly across regions, reflecting local environmental and cultural influences. Through a comparative analysis of sources from South Asia, China and Southeast Asia, this article provides a nuanced understanding of how religio-medical bathing practices were shaped by and responded to the diverse climatic realities of Monsoon Asia. Full article

The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith is perhaps the most logically structured and inspired work not only in the oeuvre of the seventh-to-eighth-century theologian John Damascene, but most likely throughout the entire Greek Patristic literature. As such, the Exact Exposition definitely presents some quite intriguing features, such as the prolific use of logical distinctions, syllogisms, or full-fledged arguments, to name a few. Regarding the latter, John Damascene’s use of certain arguments in order to prove the existence of God not only hold a unique place in Byzantine theology but have also exercised a tremendous influence on Eastern Orthodox apologetics. However, what I would call his rationalization agenda comes not only with merits but with faults as well. It is to both these that the present study draws attention by evaluating them logico-philosophically and interpreting them religio-hermeneutically. What is of special interest is the fact that John Damascene’s logical faults are the most interesting parts of his theologizing. Full article

In popular discourse, it is not uncommon to highlight the distinctiveness of systems of “Eastern thought” (e.g., Daoism) in contrast to so-called “Western” systems. However, there is an interesting congruence between Daoism and Meister Eckhart’s mystical theology, particularly in regard to the concepts of the Dao and the Godhead. Like the Dao, the Godhead is the “ground” of all being, simultaneously radically transcendent and immanent, considered as distinct from all things and yet the enfolded totality of them. Both these concepts are also dynamic principles, continually manifesting in the flux of the ever-changing universe. In both systems, nature at its fundamental level is characterized by namelessness, emptiness, encompassment, and dynamism. Nature as “ground” is also a religio-ethical concept. Humans are called to align with this ground and enter into a state of wandering joy, called wuwei (non-action) in Daoism and the “wayless way” for Eckhart. Through reverting to their indeterminate source, the person is able to become detached from rigid teleological norms. Thus is laid the foundation for an ethics of non-attachment, wherein individuals dwell in an existential flow and are attuned to all yet anchored unquestionably to none. Full article

The argument of the paper is that deras, as religio-spiritual and philanthropic organizations, play a critical role in the identity formation of their followers (by providing them distinct symbols, sacred texts, gurus, cultural traits, codes of conduct, rituals, and prayers), which score the social surface and carve out numbers of distinct religio-cultural groups in the Sikh-dominated society of Punjab. Moreover, the value gainsay, along with the orchestrated identity formation process of deras, generates conflict in the Sikh-dominated society of Punjab, which deepens the prevailing social cleavages as well as generating new conflicts in the society. Such conflicts further degrade the social position of deras’ followers (who invariably belong to Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes) and even marginalize them within their own erstwhile caste(s) and community. By taking Dera Sacha Sauda as a reference, the paper shows that the value gainsay and the identity formation processes of the dera generate social conflict between its followers and radical Sikhs in Punjab. The study reveals that such conflict not only generates new social cleavage(s) (viz., Premies vs. Sikhs) between the two ideologically distinct segments but also engenders the prevailing caste and class cleavages in society. Full article

Most studies of the religio-racial constellation begin with the medieval taxonomy of Christians, ‘Jews’, ‘pagans’ and ‘heretics’. Some scholars examine how this medieval taxonomy functioned as a system of dehumanization in the Middle Ages; others are more interested in how it has been adopted and adapted in modern racist taxonomies; and still others examine how religious images continue to influence the way non-white, non-European, non-Christian, and non-secular bodies are seen and treated today. What is lacking in the literature to date is an in-depth examination of how this fourfold taxonomy came to be. To understand how modern racialized taxonomies incorporated the earlier “religious” categories—a question that is beyond the scope of this article—we also need to better understand the genealogy of these religious categories, their scope, and their implication in processes of unequal power distribution. To that end, we must address the following questions: Where did the distinction between true and false religion come from; how did the figure of the pagan emerge; what about the Jews as anti-Christian? Rather than focusing on contemporary expressions of religio-racialization, or directing our attention to modern or even late medieval expressions of the religio-racial constellation, this article turns to the period of early Christianity when Christian apologists created the key religionized taxonomies that would shape the way Christians imagined, related to, and, in a later stage of history, governed Christianity’s others: the Jews, the heretics, and the pagans. Full article

In the months following the Turkish capture of Constantinople in 1453, Nicholas of Cusa composed his De Pace Fidei, a text with which he defended and highlighted the value of interreligious dialogue and peace. Beginning with a textual analysis of its central formula (“una religio in rituum varietate”), I analyze the role that Christianity occupies in the text: I exclude its possible reduction to the una religio or to one of the multiple world religions. I then identify through a literal analysis its role as a mediator between the plurality of historical religions and that religio founded on the fides orthodoxa on which the cardinal rests his argument. In addressing this matter, I also establish how the German cardinal makes the heavenly representatives of Christianity consciously use philosophical and not only theological arguments to avoid the reduction of his position to any kind of historical one. I, hence, argue for the possible transposition of the De Pace Fidei’s method to a contemporary philosophy of interreligious dialogue. Full article

Taiwanese popular religion has encountered significant challenges due to the sweeping social changes accompanying the modernization of Taiwanese society. This paper seeks to uncover the distinct dynamics at play, focusing on the transformation of procession troupes, which are an essential part of important religious events known as divine processions: a common collective ritual among local worship communities in Taiwan. Two pivotal external forces have surfaced, providing traditional procession troupes with opportunities for revitalization amidst what had been waning relevance. The first is the narrative of cultural heritage advanced by the public sector, and the second is the commercialization trend of the troupe market. The interplay of ‘cultural coding’ and ‘commercial coding’ has emerged as a key factor in maintaining the relevance and operations of traditional procession troupes in contemporary times. The analysis in this paper reveals that the modern evolution of popular religion is grounded not in its religious core but rather in the cultural significance of its rituals amidst the broader process of ‘culturalization of religion’. Full article

In 2009, Seth Grahame-Smith published Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, sparking a subgenre that situates itself within multiple genres. I draw from the rebellious nature of nineteenth-century proto-feminists who tried to reclaim the female monster as an initial methodology to analyze Grahame-Smith’s Elizabeth Bennet. I argue that the (white) women in this horror rewriting inadvertently become the oppressors alongside contextualized zombie theory. This article also explores Grahame-Smith’s Charlotte Lucas as a complex female monster, as she is bitten and turned into a zombie, which reflects in part Jane Austen’s Charlotte’s social status and (potential) spinsterdom. It is the mythos of the zombie that makes Grahame-Smith’s Elizabeth Bennet’s feminist subversion less remarkable. And it is Charlotte’s embodiment of both the rhetorical and the religio-mythic monster that merges two narratives: the Americanized appropriated zombie and the oppressed woman. Grahame-Smith’s characters try to embody the resistance of twenty-first feminist sensibilities but fail due to the racial undertones of the zombie tangentially present in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Full article

The study examines how members of the historically white possessive and supremacist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States (mis)appropriated Māori genealogy, known as whakapapa. The Mormon use of whakapapa to promote Mormon cultural memory and narratives perpetuates settler/invader colonialism and white supremacy, as this paper shows. The research discusses Church racism against Native Americans and Pacific Peoples. This paper uses Anthropologist Thomas Murphy’s scholarship to demonstrate how problematic the Book of Mormon’s religio-colonial identity of Lamanites is for these groups. Application of Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s white possessive doctrine and Hemopereki Simon’s adaptation to cover Church-Indigenous relations and the salvation contract is discussed. We explore collective and cultural memory, and discuss key Māori concepts like Mana, Taonga, Tapu, and Whakapapa. A brief review of LDS scholar Louis C. Midgley’s views on Church culture, including Herewini Jone’s whakapapa wānanga, is followed by a discussion of Māori cultural considerations and issues. The paper concludes that the alteration perpetuates settler/invader colonialism and Pacific peoples’ racialization and white supremacy. Genetic science and human migration studies contradict Mormon identity narratives and suggest the BOM is spiritual rather than historical. Finally, the paper suggests promoting intercultural engagement on Mormon (mis)appropriation of taonga Māori. Full article

The increase in domestic violence—particularly against women—is one of the most alarming indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting countries worldwide. Following a mixed-methods approach, this paper examines religious leaders’ perspectives on and their engagement with this topic. It scrutinises the findings of the online survey Religious Leaders’ Perspectives on Corona, conducted from 2020 to 2021 by the Research Programme on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Most answers came from the African continent and showed that more female than male leaders perceived an increase in domestic violence during the pandemic or see the need to respond to this topic. However, both male and female participants warned that domestic violence is underreported, inter alia, because of religio-cultural norms. To illustrate how the relationship between women and men in marriage is understood and (re)interpreted and how domestic violence is addressed in individual communities, this paper additionally draws on semi-structured interviews with church leaders conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda from 2017 to 2019 and in 2022. In addition to forms of support and advocacy against domestic violence, the examples also show that church leaders might call for women’s empowerment while upholding the idea of male headship. Full article

This article expresses the importance and theoretical viability of Black religious communities reflecting on armed struggle as an option in their pursuit of liberation. African Americans have wrestled with various perspectives on what forms of resistance to white supremacy were religiously legitimate and those that were deemed practical. From moral suasion, immigration, a Black separate state, to violent resistance, Black people in the United States have debated these perspectives and have charted paths forward that continue to be accompanied by Black suffering and death at the hands of racists to the present day. While moral suasion has obtained a hegemonic place in mainstream Black political discourse, violent resistance has often been characterized as both religiously illegitimate and impractical. However, by using concepts from Afrofuturism and traditional African religion, the author will present Denmark Vesey as a model for contemporary Black religio-political thought. Using the themes of “past future”, time travel, resurrection, reincarnation, trance, and conjure, the author grounds himself in an African-centered epistemology that transcends the limitations of the Eurocentric model limited only to scientific “reality”. The author claims that by conjuring Vesey’s revolutionary interreligious Pan-African approach, it will provide more options for Black religio-political theory and praxis. Full article

This article studies the Taiqing jinye shendan jing 太清金液神丹經 (Grand Clarity Scripture of Divine Elixir Made from Liquid Gold, hereafter Scripture of Liquid Gold), attributed to Ge Hong 葛洪 (283–343 CE), to examine the intersection of religion, science and medicine in China. Passages from the Scripture of Liquid Gold describe the healing powers of drugs and highlight ways medieval writers imagined the transmission of medical knowledge, as well as the specific places producing potent substances. The text provides a view that contravenes standard narratives of foreign medical migration that vector into China via Buddhist channels. As such, we argue that it provides a novel view of medical migration in its time period. As one of the early sources on physical geography and trade goods from Southeast Asia, it is an important resource for early knowledge of the region and is one of the earliest examples of possible Daoist religio-technical continuities between the regions. Full article

This paper seeks to analyze the recent phenomenon of the development of a Matri Sena (literally, an ‘Army of Holy Women’) among the Matua sect of West Bengal, India. Historically known to have suffered caste-based untouchability and forced migration due to communal conflict, the Matua community’s current political motivations surround the issue of ‘refugeehood’ and Indian citizenship. Given this background, the emergence of the Matri Sena as a complex identity among a religion–caste–gender–nation nexus is oriented towards bipartite objectives: one, to actualize the gender-egalitarian ethos that informs Matua religious foundations, and two, to claim legal citizenship status for its community members precisely through a new gendered ideology. We argue that the women gurus of the Matri Sena are able to realize their religious/political aims by fashioning themselves as mothers of an ideal family, community, and by extension, the nation. In deploying their specific gendered ideological constructions, they enact their new roles as influencers in both private and public Matua lives. In such renderings, the woman guru’s mother-figure emerges as a political subject through crucial engagements with Matua religiosity on one hand, and dominant Hindu nationalist discourses on the other. In this article, we critically analyze ways in which the Matri Sena constructs a new maternal notion of religio-political power, and how such power furthers both collective Matua aspirations and contemporary national imaginations. Full article

Although emotions occupy an important place in Alevism, their representation in Alevi history and the present has not yet been sufficiently researched. This study addresses this desideratum and discusses the representation and codification of emotions on the basis of central representatives of Alevi poetry. The focus of this study is the conjunction of constitutive teachings with basic emotions. In the poems, religious beliefs that are considered constitutive are explicitly linked to emotions such as love, grief and anger. In this way, central beliefs become emotionally charged and correspondingly more accentuated. At the same time, the poems convey an emotional expectation to the target audience: various rhetorical stylistic devices are used to convey to the addressees how they should react emotionally to certain ideas, memories and beliefs. In this way, these emotions fulfil the function of feeling rules that must be observed in order to be part of the collective. The analysis of Alevi poetry suggests that emotions have been an important factor in the history of Alevism for social order, group formation and religio-cultural demarcation. Full article