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 second half of 2023).
- 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:
0.8 (2022)
Latest Articles
Thomas Aquinas and Some Neo-Thomists on the Possibility of Miracles and the Laws of Nature
Religions 2024, 15(4), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040422 (registering DOI) - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
This paper discusses how Thomas Aquinas and some Neo-Thomists scholars (Juan José Urráburu, Joseph Hontheim, Édouard Hugon, and Joseph Gredt) analysed the metaphysical possibility of miracles. My main goal is to unpack the metaphysical toolbox that Aquinas uses to solve the basic question
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This paper discusses how Thomas Aquinas and some Neo-Thomists scholars (Juan José Urráburu, Joseph Hontheim, Édouard Hugon, and Joseph Gredt) analysed the metaphysical possibility of miracles. My main goal is to unpack the metaphysical toolbox that Aquinas uses to solve the basic question about the possibility of miracles and to compare how his late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century followers solved the issue themselves. The key feature to differentiate the two approaches will reside in their use of different notions to account for the possibility of miracles, namely obediential potency for Aquinas and the laws of nature for the Neo-Thomists. To show why neo-Thomist scholars source to this notion, I also briefly discuss how the notion of the laws of nature emerged in the seventeenth century.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquinas and the Sciences: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future)
Open AccessArticle
Rebooting Ecumenism, the Theological Equivalent of the Climate Crisis: The Role of Urgency and Accountability on the Road to Ecclesial Interdependence
by
Dragos Herescu
Religions 2024, 15(4), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040421 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
This article puts forward the argument for the acute and urgent need to move from ecclesial self-sufficiency to ecclesial interdependency in the ecumenical process. The difficulties in ecumenical cooperation mirror those in the climate crisis, as despite a global crisis of relevance for
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This article puts forward the argument for the acute and urgent need to move from ecclesial self-sufficiency to ecclesial interdependency in the ecumenical process. The difficulties in ecumenical cooperation mirror those in the climate crisis, as despite a global crisis of relevance for Christianity and for the ecumenical movement, individual Churches, much like individual states, fail to work together effectively as they negotiate their own internal challenges. Not dissimilar to the ecological climate breakdown, what we understand as the history-bound reality of the Church will not be safeguarded and will not be made relevant in a today’s globalised, pluralistic, interconnected, and dominantly secular, in many contexts, world, except by concerted action from all Churches.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rebooting Ecumenism - New Paradigms for the 21st Century)
Open AccessArticle
Morisco Catechisms: Religious Incorporation and Differentiation in Early Modern Spain
by
Claire Gilbert
Religions 2024, 15(4), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040420 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
In the debate over the theory and practice of the Spanish empire at the beginning of the sixteenth century, political, religious, and legal discourses differentiated conquered peoples and recent converts to Christianity from so-called “old Christians”, thereby creating distinct categories of Spanish subjects.
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In the debate over the theory and practice of the Spanish empire at the beginning of the sixteenth century, political, religious, and legal discourses differentiated conquered peoples and recent converts to Christianity from so-called “old Christians”, thereby creating distinct categories of Spanish subjects. In Spain itself, cultural markers like language, dress, and diet became the foundations of fiscal and legal differences, while normative codes were promulgated and negotiated across a range of documents, e.g., legal instruments, civic and ecclesiastical records, university debates, and juridical theory. Concomitant with this process, a set of Christian catechisms was produced in Spain, both before and after the promulgation of Tridentine reforms, that were directed especially at the converted morisco populations in Granada and Valencia. These catechisms were produced in Iberian Arabic and Romance languages and included instructions about how new converts from Islam should behave, as well as what they should believe in order to participate in liturgical activities and to be recognized as full members of the Christian community. This article examines the morisco catechisms produced in Spain between 1496 and 1566, as these documents are representative of a unique period in both the history of Latin Christianity and the burgeoning Spanish empire. Through the emergence of this corpus and against the backdrop of targeted legislation and new policies aimed at Arabic-speaking moriscos, first in Granada and later in Valencia, the ideological foundations constraining the morisco experience were forged.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theology and Aesthetics in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires)
Open AccessArticle
Catholicism, Psychedelics, and Mysticism: Correlations and Displacements
by
Mark Slatter
Religions 2024, 15(4), 419; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040419 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
This article charts some of the conversations around psychedelics, mysticism, Catholicism, and the Catholic mystics. The first part, “Background and Orientation”, gives context for the current “psychedelic renaissance” and brings the focus to psychedelics and Catholicism. The literature’s frequent comparisons of psychedelic mystical
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This article charts some of the conversations around psychedelics, mysticism, Catholicism, and the Catholic mystics. The first part, “Background and Orientation”, gives context for the current “psychedelic renaissance” and brings the focus to psychedelics and Catholicism. The literature’s frequent comparisons of psychedelic mystical trips with Catholic mysticism raises questions about the legitimacy of religious ways of knowing, the status of the discipline of theology in Western academic cultures, and how Catholicism is often depicted in the psychedelic literature. The first part closes with a survey of the challenges of defining mysticism and some of the patterns perennial to the Catholic mystical experience. In the second part, “Through the Eye of the Methodology Needle”, I look at the problem of methodological displacement, that is, how a researcher comes to conclusions with material that is formally outside of their discipline’s boundaries. This is a challenge for scholars of every stripe when they countenance subject matter that is beyond their expertise—and the lure to still read that material through their known methodology and worldview—but the problem of displacement is conspicuously compounded when the sciences countenance theological and religious themes. I provide concrete examples of displacement with psychedelic and Catholic mysticism, how it can be corrected, and how this would benefit dialogue. In the Conclusions, I outline persistent concerns and theological objections about some of the claims of psychedelic mysticism but hold onto the hope for further dialogue. My sustained attention is to the comparisons that are frequently made between the psychedelic and Catholic mystical experiences and whether these correlations are critically warranted.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Theologies)
Open AccessArticle
The Efforts of Government-Driven Reform of Both State and Personal Rites in Early Chosŏn: A Historical Shift from Spiritual Efficacy to Meritorious Practice
by
Ch’oe Chongsŏk
Religions 2024, 15(4), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040418 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
In the fifteenth century, the government of Chosŏn, Korea, influenced by the new religious understandings from early Ming China, strived to reform state and personal rites by eliminating elements of spiritual efficacy to align with contemporary religious perspectives. This series of ritual reforms
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In the fifteenth century, the government of Chosŏn, Korea, influenced by the new religious understandings from early Ming China, strived to reform state and personal rites by eliminating elements of spiritual efficacy to align with contemporary religious perspectives. This series of ritual reforms mirrored various Ming policies that, despite being appealing theoretically, struggled with implementation due to a mismatch with local and personal realities. This suggests that Chosŏn’s government-led reforms, diverging from traditional beliefs, faced similar challenges in Korea, leading to various problems. This study delves into the ritual transformations prompted by the reforms in the early Chosŏn era. It highlights the government’s partial success in reforming state rites by removing elements of spiritual efficacy despite potential hindrances and deviations from traditional practices. However, this study also notes the failure of reforms concerning personal rites, which did not yield significant results. It reflects on the complexities and implications of these reforms, considering the socio-religious context of the time and the influence of contemporary Ming China.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Supernatural in East Asia)
Open AccessArticle
Does God Intervene in Our Lives? Special Divine Action in Aquinas
by
Mirela Oliva
Religions 2024, 15(4), 417; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040417 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
Does God intervene in our lives? In this paper, I respond “yes” and work out a Thomistic account of special divine action in human life. I argue that God intensifies His action in moments that are particularly significant for our salvation. In such
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Does God intervene in our lives? In this paper, I respond “yes” and work out a Thomistic account of special divine action in human life. I argue that God intensifies His action in moments that are particularly significant for our salvation. In such moments, God intervenes in a contingent mode and reorients our lives for the sake of our final good. First, I present Aquinas’ terminological choice of specialis and intervenire and address concerns expressed in the contemporary divine action debate against the term “intervention”. Second, I discuss the special divine action as a subtype of the special providence that rules over human beings. The special providence mirrors the special place of humans in the created order on account of their reason and freedom. Third, I show that divine interventions occur through irregular contingency. I refer to several interventions: test, habitual grace, God’s moving of the will, God’s enlightenment of the intellect, and punishment. Since it occurs contingently, the special divine action can be known through interpreting signs (a kind of conjectural knowledge). Fourth, I show that not all contingencies are divine interventions. To differentiate between them, I introduce an orientational criterion of interpretation: the transfiguration of a person’s life toward her final good.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medieval Philosophy and Religious Thought)
Open AccessArticle
Institutions and Countercultures: Christianity’s Impact on South Korean Modernization
by
Andrew Eungi Kim and Daniel Connolly
Religions 2024, 15(4), 416; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040416 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
The relationship between modernization and religion is contested, with the literature differing in how and in what ways religion helps or hinders countries’ social, economic, and political development. This paper draws upon the history of Christianity in South Korea to critically explore the
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The relationship between modernization and religion is contested, with the literature differing in how and in what ways religion helps or hinders countries’ social, economic, and political development. This paper draws upon the history of Christianity in South Korea to critically explore the links between religion and modernization. It makes two arguments. First, discussions of the link between religion and modernization frequently employ static definitions of religion, but Christianity is characterized by oscillations between worldly (institutionalizing) and unworldly (countercultural) impulses that theoretically make very different contributions to social, economic, and political development. Second, in the case of South Korea, it is shown that both impulses have made vital contributions to the country’s modernization at different times. This suggests that the dynamic tug-of-war between the institutional and countercultural facets of Korean Christianity, although problematic for individual believers and religious leaders, helped it become an important contributor to the country’s success story. However, this paper concludes on a cautionary note by warning that extreme instances of these impulses have caused cleavages between Christianity and the Korean state and society and could undermine its future contributions. This suggests that diversity and toleration—a hallmark of Korean Christianity—will continue to be the best pathway forward.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Protestant Christianity in South Korea: The Dynamic Relationship of Church and State)
Open AccessArticle
The Double Identities of the Shaman and the Dualistic Attitudes of the State: An Exploration of Contemporary Organizational Shamanism in Northeast China
by
Feng Qu
Religions 2024, 15(4), 415; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040415 - 28 Mar 2024
Abstract
This paper presents a case study of the first shamanic organization in China and argues that organizational shamanism in Northeast China is characterized by the double identities of the shaman and the dualistic attitudes of the national authorities. The analyses in this paper
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This paper presents a case study of the first shamanic organization in China and argues that organizational shamanism in Northeast China is characterized by the double identities of the shaman and the dualistic attitudes of the national authorities. The analyses in this paper reveal how the shamanic organization created a modernized and globalized space for traditional shamans and specialists to connect with the outside world, enabling them to gain empowerment, legitimacy, and agency. Chinese authorities hold dualistic attitudes towards shamanism: the positive attitude of seeing shamanism as part of cultural heritage has always been coupled with the negative attitude of seeing shamanism as superstition. The studies in this paper demonstrate that organizational shamanism in Northeast China has played a crucial role in negotiating with political authorities and linking local traditions with global discourse. In this sense, the traditional eco-cosmological way of maintaining relationships with natural forces and nonhuman beings has been irrevocably transformed into a cosmopolitical form for the shaman, where the animistic world engages with the outside world, global currency, and political forces.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Ritual, and Healing)
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“Christ Is Speaking”: The Psalms as the Grammar of Augustine’s Sermons
by
Matthew D. Love
Religions 2024, 15(4), 414; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040414 - 27 Mar 2024
Abstract
The Psalms saturated Augustine’s sermons. He believed they were God’s words to the church as inspired Scripture, and the church’s words to God as prayer and praise. In the Psalms, he saw kenosis, the downward-directed God in Christ who emptied himself to
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The Psalms saturated Augustine’s sermons. He believed they were God’s words to the church as inspired Scripture, and the church’s words to God as prayer and praise. In the Psalms, he saw kenosis, the downward-directed God in Christ who emptied himself to take on human nature to stand in solidarity with the church and creation. He saw, too, the possibility of deification, the upward-directed church in Christ raised to share in the divine nature. Furthermore, Augustine believed that Christ himself spoke in the Psalms so that in them the church could hear his voice and come to know its own voice. In this essay, I examine why Augustine cherished the Psalms, and I consider how this might inspire contemporary preachers to cherish them and preach them. Moreover, I offer Augustine’s Christocentric preaching of the Psalms as a paradigm for how preachers might facilitate Christological formation among their congregants.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Homiletical Theory and Praxis)
Open AccessArticle
Stability of the Roman Catholic Church Financing System Based on Germany
by
Anna Mizak and Mariusz Sokołek
Religions 2024, 15(4), 413; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040413 - 27 Mar 2024
Abstract
To effectively carry out its tasks, the church needs a stable financial system. The aim of this article is to present issues related to ensuring the stability of the Catholic Church financing system in times of significant demographic and socio-cultural changes. This study
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To effectively carry out its tasks, the church needs a stable financial system. The aim of this article is to present issues related to ensuring the stability of the Catholic Church financing system in times of significant demographic and socio-cultural changes. This study identifies and characterizes the main sources of income and directions of expenses of the available financial resources. The challenges faced by church authorities in this regard are also described. State authorities finance places of prayer for social, cultural, and psychological reasons. Churches have been places of support in difficult times for centuries as well as places of survival and mental support for society.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Christian Prayer: Social Sciences Perspective)
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A Forgotten Eminent Buddhist Monk and His Social Network for Constructing Buddhist Statues in Qionglai 邛崍: A Study Based on the Statue Construction Account in 798
by
Mingli Sun
Religions 2024, 15(4), 412; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040412 - 27 Mar 2024
Abstract
By transcribing, punctuating, and analyzing the Statue Construction Account undertaken in 798, this article attempts a refreshed study of the construction background of the Buddhist statues and niches at Huazhi Temple 花置寺 in Qionglai. The aim of this article is twofold. Firstly, it
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By transcribing, punctuating, and analyzing the Statue Construction Account undertaken in 798, this article attempts a refreshed study of the construction background of the Buddhist statues and niches at Huazhi Temple 花置寺 in Qionglai. The aim of this article is twofold. Firstly, it brings to light an eminent monk named Sengcai, who has been forgotten in both secular and monastic histories. Secondly, it tries to clarify the social network formed by various figures recorded in the Statue Construction Account by tracing their roles and relationships in the course of constructing the Buddhist niches. The analysis of this article expounds that in the process of the statue construction project, Sengcai made full use of his social network to support this project and to seek protection for Huazhi Temple. The construction activities of the Buddhist niches at Huazhi Temple not only brought people of different identities together through politics, Buddhism, economics or kinship, but also connected Qiongzhou (in Sichuan) and the capital of Chang’an to the formation of a multi-identity and cross-regional network of power in which emperor, officials, monks, military generals, craftsmen, literati, and so on, participated and interacted with each other. The whole social network can be divided into two sub-networks in Chang’an and Qiongzhou, with Sengcai as the central figure connecting these two sub-networks. Although the Buddhist niches of Huazhi Temple were carved in Qiongzhou, both the decisive preparatory work and the composition of the Statue Construction Account took place in Chang’an. Hence, the power of the Chang’an sub-network was greater than that of the one based in Qiongzhou. This means that the Buddhist niches at Huazhi Temple from Sengcai’s project were not merely a local project, but one that was strongly connected with the capital Chang’an in 798. Lastly, the Statue Construction Account in 798 at Huazhi Temple indicated mutual aid and support between Sichuan Buddhism and Chang’an Buddhism.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Life History of Chinese Buddhist Monks)
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Mary of Bethany: Creation through Conversation
by
Susan Fish
Religions 2024, 15(4), 411; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040411 - 27 Mar 2024
Abstract
The author uses the story of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’s feet in John 12 as a jumping-off point for considering the prophetic role of artistic conversation, in the Gospel of John, in the whole Bible and in her own artistic life.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theology and the Arts: Embodied Belief)
Open AccessArticle
Citizenship of the Conservative Movements in Mexico and Defense of the Formation of the Family: The Case of Frente Nacional por la Familia
by
María Eugenia Patiño
Religions 2024, 15(4), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040410 - 27 Mar 2024
Abstract
The presence of the conservatives in Mexico, and their main characters, is long-standing. In Mexican history, some of the conservative movements have been present in religious thinking, especially in Catholicism, e.g., the quick departure from socio-cultural and political Mexican spaces as a consequence
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The presence of the conservatives in Mexico, and their main characters, is long-standing. In Mexican history, some of the conservative movements have been present in religious thinking, especially in Catholicism, e.g., the quick departure from socio-cultural and political Mexican spaces as a consequence of the evangelical Spanish process, whose roots come from the XVI century Of the population in contemporary Mexico (7.7% belong to Catholicism, 2.5% to Evangelical Christians and Protestants, and 2.5% to non-Christian groups, while 8.1% do not follow a religion. Catholicism has a significant presence and influence on different forms of belief and practice in daily life in Mexico. This paper aims to highlight the role of the conservative movement called Frente Nacional por la Familia. It presents its history as the heritage of other conservative movements in Mexico, the stages of its formation, and the agenda and intervention in public life. The methodological approach is qualitative, using multi-situated ethnography. The results allow us to visualize the construction of the public agenda with legislative strategies that have operated with relative success and national presence, obstructing the progress of the proposals of feminist groups and sexual diversity and the defense of a national and cultural project that has as one of the symbols the traditional family.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sin, Sex, and Democracy: Politics and the Catholic Church)
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Phénoménologie de la Vérité: The Phenomenological Roots of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theology
by
Balázs M. Mezei
Religions 2024, 15(4), 409; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040409 - 27 Mar 2024
Abstract
Hans Urs von Balthasar, one of the leading theologians of the twentieth century, uses the methods and results of classical phenomenology in many ways. Balthasar’s repeated criticism of Husserl, Scheler, and Heidegger conceals the fact of his dependence on these authors in various
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Hans Urs von Balthasar, one of the leading theologians of the twentieth century, uses the methods and results of classical phenomenology in many ways. Balthasar’s repeated criticism of Husserl, Scheler, and Heidegger conceals the fact of his dependence on these authors in various ways. The present text examines the implicit and explicit phenomenological elements in Balthasar’s thought. As a starting point, the title of the first French translation of one of his early books, Phénoménologie de la vérité, is used to outline the context of Balthasar’s endeavor. In what follows, I will show the phenomenological features of some of his major writings, analyze what he himself calls supernatural phenomenology, and argue for a more consistent phenomenological methodology that Balthasar could have worked out had he carefully considered the internal development of the phenomenological movement. “Apocalyptic phenomenology” emerges as the general title of an approach that links Balthasar’s methodology to that of the major phenomenological works, properly examined and extended.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Varieties of Revelation: Scripture, Theology, and Philosophy in the Perspective of Divine Disclosure)
Open AccessArticle
Temple Dedication and Construction Texts of the Ancient Near East with Elapsed Years: Implications for Long Duration Chronologies
by
Titus Kennedy
Religions 2024, 15(4), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040408 - 26 Mar 2024
Abstract
Ancient texts dedicating or commemorating temples that can be associated with archaeological remains such as architecture and inscriptions, along with identifiable kings who built or commemorated those temples and the specification of the elapsed number of years from a past event, are known
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Ancient texts dedicating or commemorating temples that can be associated with archaeological remains such as architecture and inscriptions, along with identifiable kings who built or commemorated those temples and the specification of the elapsed number of years from a past event, are known from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant over the span of several centuries. Although the texts originate from differing religious, cultural, and geographic contexts and were recorded on various mediums, the similarity in content, style, and objective indicates a shared tradition and allows the grouping of these texts into a distinctive category. These temple construction and dedication texts document a king or kings involved in the construction, reconstruction, or remembrance of a temple, a deity with whom the temple was connected, the location of the temple, and the specific number of years elapsed between construction or dedication and another significant cultural or religious event. Known examples come from Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia, and Israel, spanning the 13th to the 2nd centuries BC, along with a text from ancient Rome that was likely influenced by this practice. Because the kings named are known from various historical documents and inscriptions, archaeological remains related to the temples have often been recovered; since the construction or dedication texts record elapsed years in reference to another event, these texts can be analyzed in regard to their viability as sources for the history and chronology of the ancient Near East in the context of religion and official records of the state. Investigation of these texts alongside king lists and temples reveals that temple construction and dedication texts of the ancient Near East that included mention of elapsed years provide valuable, detailed, and accurate information that can be used to identify the existence of ancient temples in time, corroborate periods of kingship or other important events, and contribute to understanding a method of historical chronology used by the ancients.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and Religion)
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“Will I or Won’t I Be Sorry?”—Qualitative Research on Emotional Reactions of Secondary School Students in Poland after Resignation from Religion Lessons
by
Radosław Rybarski, Helena Słotwińska, Marta Buk-Cegiełka and Janusz Mariański
Religions 2024, 15(4), 407; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040407 - 26 Mar 2024
Abstract
There is an empirical underestimation with regard to the study of the emotional states of young people. In Poland, an increasing number of secondary school students are deciding to stop attending their schools’ religious lessons. Of these, 57 students shared their experiences during
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There is an empirical underestimation with regard to the study of the emotional states of young people. In Poland, an increasing number of secondary school students are deciding to stop attending their schools’ religious lessons. Of these, 57 students shared their experiences during structured interviews that were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Before the young people taking part in the interview were asked about their emotional state, they were previously given the opportunity to express their attitudes towards their school’s religious lessons. The students had various emotional reactions after dropping out of their school’s religious lessons. In many cases, the students had difficulty noticing and naming their emotional states. These students were in the majority. Other students did specify their emotional states related to this decision. The analysis of these emotional reactions reveals students’ attitudes towards secondary-school religious lessons. The results of the study may prove to be an important voice for those responsible for the substantive design of religious lessons at schools. In addition, young people’s inability to name their emotions may prove to be an alarming fact for mental health professionals.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Child and Adolescent Spirituality/Religiosity and Religious Education)
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Islam and the Challenge of Epistemic Sovereignty
by
Joseph E. B. Lumbard
Religions 2024, 15(4), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040406 - 26 Mar 2024
Abstract
The search for knowledge has been central to the Islamic tradition from its inception in the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (aḥādīth). The injunctions to obtain knowledge and contemplate the signs of God in all things undergird a
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The search for knowledge has been central to the Islamic tradition from its inception in the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (aḥādīth). The injunctions to obtain knowledge and contemplate the signs of God in all things undergird a culture of ultimate questions in which there was an underlying epistemic unity among all fields of knowledge, from the religious sciences to the intellectual sciences to the natural sciences. Having lost sight of the underlying metaphysic that provides this epistemic unity, many thinkers in the modern period read the classical Islamic texts independently of the cognitive cartography and hierarchy of which they are a part. This approach leads to further misunderstandings and thus to a sense of hermeneutical gloom and epistemic subordination characteristic of coloniality. Postcolonial theory provides effective tools for diagnosing the process by which this epistemic erosion produces ideologically and epistemically conscripted subjects. But as it, too, arises from within a secular frame, it is only by understanding the cognitive cartography of the sciences within Islam that epistemic confidence and sovereignty can be reinstated.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam and the West)
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What Justification? Pauline Reception and the Interpretation of Phld. 8.2
by
Jonathon Lookadoo
Religions 2024, 15(4), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040405 - 26 Mar 2024
Abstract
While studies of how Paul and the Pauline letters were received in early Christianity continue to appear at an ever-quickening rate, there are still corners of early Christian literature that remain underexplored with regard to Pauline reception. The letters of Ignatius of Antioch
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While studies of how Paul and the Pauline letters were received in early Christianity continue to appear at an ever-quickening rate, there are still corners of early Christian literature that remain underexplored with regard to Pauline reception. The letters of Ignatius of Antioch would not usually be included in the underexplored category, but this article argues that one statement within Ignatius’s letters is deserving of more careful attention vis-à-vis its relationship to Pauline themes and terminology. After showing that interpretations of Ignatius’s Philadelphians (Phld.) 8.2 have typically run along two opposing tracks, the article argues that both ways of interpreting Ignatius’s letter fail to do justice to his rhetoric in the letter. The article proposes an alternative way of reading Ignatius’s justification language in Phld. 8.2. Whereas Paul wrote about justification before God, Ignatius desires to be proven right in the eyes of his Philadelphian readers, with whom he has had a dispute. The article concludes by offering ways to account for the different meanings evidenced in the letters of Ignatius and Paul while also endeavouring to explain the purpose for which Ignatius employs terminology that is similar to that of Paul. In the final clause of Phld. 8.2, Pauline terminology provides Ignatius not with his doctrinal substance but rather with authoritative rhetoric that evokes the Apostle.
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(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Theologies)
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Strategic Use of Karma in Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge
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Zhi Huang and Wei Li
Religions 2024, 15(4), 404; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040404 - 26 Mar 2024
Abstract
Most critics focus on the pain and suffering of the first-generation Vietnamese immigrants depicted in Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge. This paper explores how Cao strategically uses the philosophy of karma in Vietnamese Buddhism to provide a method for alleviating their suffering in
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Most critics focus on the pain and suffering of the first-generation Vietnamese immigrants depicted in Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge. This paper explores how Cao strategically uses the philosophy of karma in Vietnamese Buddhism to provide a method for alleviating their suffering in this novel. It argues that she employs karma to investigate the origins of the adversity and trauma experienced by the first-generation Vietnamese immigrants, including the pro-American attitude of the early Vietnamese authorities during the Vietnam War, the imperialistic actions of the United States, and the resulting karmic consequences. In addition, they demonstrate, through actions like forming “hui”, a way to change their fate and heal their trauma for later generations of Vietnamese immigrants, emphasizing positive transformation of karma. This paper suggests that the Buddhist philosophy of karma provides an effective strategy for Vietnamese American immigrants to reflect on the Vietnam War, overcome adversity, and heal their own trauma.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Buddhism)
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Early Chan Buddhism: A Meditation Movement or New Ways of Writing about Final Authority in Tang China?
by
Alan Robert Cole
Religions 2024, 15(4), 403; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040403 - 26 Mar 2024
Abstract
This essay argues that the long-standing assumption that Chan Buddhism began as a meditation movement is outdated and needs to be replaced by a paradigm that sees the origins of Chan in a set of literary inventions that took form in the mid-Tang
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This essay argues that the long-standing assumption that Chan Buddhism began as a meditation movement is outdated and needs to be replaced by a paradigm that sees the origins of Chan in a set of literary inventions that took form in the mid-Tang era and were designed to prove that the totality of tradition was owned by certain masters of the day. These bold claims to own perfect tradition were bolstered by newly invented genealogies that worked to show that this or that master was, in effect, a descendant of the Indian Buddha, and, thus, a quasi-Buddha himself. Further finessing these efforts to take over final authority in the world of Tang Buddhism was the studied use of Daoist tropes to naturalize and soften these aggressive claims, all in order to make them more appealing to elite readers who could now be impressed by decidedly Chinese-looking portrayals of perfect Buddhism, set on the timeless ground of the Great Dao, where there could be no competition, envy, literary pretensions, or even Buddhist practices—just pure and total truth in the body of a Chinese man. In trying to make sense of this cycle of carefully rewriting the past in order to control the present (and future), it should be clear that we need to switch to a paradigm that accepts that the seductive reinvention of tradition was done consciously and with no small amount of craft and cunning.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Relationship between Buddhist Worldviews and Contemplative Practices)
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