Åbo Akademi: Open Journal Systems
Not a member yet
892 research outputs found
Sort by
An instance of secularization? The Finnish online discussion of the issue of same-sex marriages
No full textIn October 2010 one of Finland’s four national TV channels aired a panel discussion dealing with gay and lesbian rights in society. Among the debaters were members of parliament from various parties, well-known actors and other public figures, as well as a priest, a bishop and other religious spokespeople. Afterwards, a great number of people publicly expressed their views on same-sex marriages. The ways the Lutheran Church treated the same-sex couples, as well as the reasons and outcomes of a vast number of resignations from the Church were discussed, particularly in the online discussion forums. The public discussion spread rapidly, especially through the social media. Resignations from the Church are often perceived as a clear sign of the decline of religious beliefs and practices, which is an integral aspect of the secularization process. But lately the whole notion of a secularization of society has been questioned and a growing number of researchers have stated that the concepts of resacralization, desecularization, or a resurgence of religion would actually better describe the current situation than the theory of secularization. The aim of this article is to examine whether the concept of secularization still has some explanatory power at least in the Nordic countries. Another aim is to contemplate what kind of knowledge this special case has to offer when rethinking secularization
Individual belief and practice in neopagan spirituality
No full textThis article deals with Neopaganism, which is one of the fastest growing spiritual practices today. Neopagans are often placed in the field of new religions and new religious movements. When focussing on the world-view shared by these groups, this classification is correct, but no neopagan practitioner believes and practices like another. Neopagan spirituality is flexible and personal, which is often expressed in the art of poetry. Practitioners of this way of spirituality, where there are no texts or other sources telling them what to believe and how, turn to producing art for their personal spiritual development. While dogma is strictly rejected in postmodern spirituality, art obviously has become a very important element on the individual’s way to find her or his place in life and in the world
Of watchdogs and safe havens: control mechanisms and/in online sacred spaces
No full text‘Die große Schlacht. Der Hass des Satans auf Benedikt XVI. Non praevalebunt’ is the headline of an article the Austrian-based and Catholic news portal, kath.net, published in early June 2012. It is about how badly and unfairly the media treat the Catholic Church and its official representatives in the wake of the so-called ‘Vatileaks’ scandal and it reasons that Satan is behind the attacks of the media, society, popular culture, on saintly figures such as Pope Benedict XVI. ‘Gegen die Diktatur des Relativismus’ is another article published on the same platform in the context of a conference hosted by the Catholic Heiligenkreuz monastery. On the forum kath.net, powerful language is employed to draw the faithful in, to make them feel themselves to be safe within a community of like-minded people in the midst of turmoil. News portals and message boards such as kath.net create safe spaces within a world whose culture, values, and morals are not only not understood but despised. The analysis is informed by critical discourse analysis and based on Paul Ricœur’s understanding of narratives and how narratives create worlds. As a first step, the concept of space and Ricœur’s understanding of narrative identity are discussed. After an introduction to the news portal kath.net, a close reading of some articles shows how these safe spaces are created and guarded. To conclude, a reflection on the implications of the self-understanding of kath.net and some of its user base on the understanding of hierarchy and the role of theology in the Church, is provided
Cult sites in northern Sweden
No full textThe pagan cult in northern Sweden, i.e, Norrland, has for some decades been a neglected chapter in our history, a situation which unfortunately applies to Sweden as a whole, at least where onomastics are concerned. The aim is thus to deliver an overview of the evidence that we have of pre-Christian religious activities in these northern parts — in this aspect, onomastic material is nearly almost all we have got — and some general remarks about the conversion to the new Christian religion. The area of investigation is what in the (Swedish) medieval period was known as Norrland. In other words, the part of Sweden considered here is modern Central Norrland. With our state of knowledge of today it is not so easy to pick out the place-names that have denoted some kind of pagan cult activity. The place-name material can be divided into: 1. Theoforic place-names 2. place-names denoting the site of a pagan cult, which do not however contain theoforic elements 3. place-names with a possible pagan cultic element
Dracula tourism as pilgrimage?
No full textThis article is about Dracula tourism in Romania and how it may be seen as pilgrimage. The author approaches this connection especially through the place myth of Transylvania and through the status Transylvania has in Western popular culture. The subject is approached purely from a ‘Western’ point of view, that is, in this article Romania, although a member of the EU and NATO, is treated not as part of the West but part of the East. This is due to the fact that in Western popular culture Romania and especially Transylvania have always been portrayed as the Other in relation to the West. Western popular culture plays a significant role in Dracula tourism
On the Islamic theory of the state
No full textFrom the very beginning, Islam has devoted more interest to polities and political theory than most other religions. If it can be said with some right that Jesus was unpolitical, Muhammad was certainly not. Islam makes no distinction between religion and polities, but the two are intimately connected, and political theory has a religious and theological motivation. That implies that, in theory, it is based on the Koran and on Tradition (sunnah) in the same way as jurisprudence in general or as any other theological discipline
Opferbeschreibungen in christlichen Schriften
No full textThe article analyses Christian influences as they can be observed in the narrations of traditional Icelandic Sagas from the early Christian period. It gives special attention to rituals of offering as these are depicted in the Landnámabók (dating from the early 12th century) and a selection of Sagas
Digital religion out of the book: the loss of the illusion of the 'original text' and the notion of a 'religion of a book'
No full textSince the classical age, a detailed knowledge of philology and critical editions of textshave been developed in the field of ancient Greek texts. This knowledge is at risk today because the new digital support draws new parameters for texts and textuality itself. The gradual disappearance of the notion of the ‘original text’ and the undermining of the philological approach is tinged with nostalgia for all scholars whose roots are in classical, philosophical or linguistic studies. It is interesting to examine how this disappearance of the notion of an ‘original text’ will affect the relationships to the sacred texts of those religions which are called ‘religions of the book’, in the context of a global transformation of the notion of ‘textuality’ itself in Western culture through the development of digital culture
Psychology, philosophy, theology, epistemology: some reflections
No full textThis paper considers the implication of the researcher's own world-view for his research; the relationship between theory and empiri. General questions concerning the formation of knowledge, its epistemological propositions and social functions, so much dis-cussed in the humanities and social sciences, have had little impact upon the history of religion, where the theoretical debate seems to remain more specific, more bound to the discipline. In the polarization between "positivists" vindicating the notion that theories are abstracted from "reality" and "relativists" maintaining that "reality" is selected and formed according to theories, most historians of religion belong in practice to the first camp, and many belong so exclusively that they do not even acknowledge the problem itself. The historian of religion is not concerned with metaphysics, but with faith in its human and cultural manifestations. The researcher' own atheistic or religious commitment has no bearing on the result of the investigation, nota bene provided that he adheres to strictly empirical principles. Is this credo not only a necessary ideal, but also a true description of research? Is an uncomplicated belief in its possible realisation a strength or a hindrance in the pursuit of a relative objectivity that might be attainable outside the predictions of natural sciences? Does the historian of religion have no metaphysical involvement in the material under investigation? Is it without interest whether he is a materialist or a devout religious person, whether he is a believer or non-believer in the physical reality of the gods and spirits he describes, and in the actual efficacy of the sacrifices and other rituals in which he partakes? Statements about human and social reality are mostly true or false from a certain point of view. Objectivity in a deeper sense must be multi-dimensional and complex. Both the object beheld and the beholder must be taken into consideration. Too strong a belief in objectivity, actual or pretended, might produce subjectivity of either a naive or a hypocritical kind