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Pascal Boyer: Religion explained: The evolutionary origins of religious thought
No full textReligion explained is a daring title, and this is the kind of spirit in which cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer sets out to present his readers a provokingly new perspective on religion. While some might find it shocking to what extent Boyer reduces the supernatural to its natural origins, this fascinating book certainly contains food for thought for everyone
Olaf Hammer: Claiming Knowledge. Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age
No full textThe Swedish historian of religions Olav Hammer\u27s doctoral dissertation on the epistemological strategies of the current European esoteric traditions is a remarkable contribution to the understanding of the historical continuum ranging from traditional Theosophy to New Age religion. Hammer\u27s book brings together a number of different and relevant themes by discussing highly differentiated empirical material in the shape of religious texts. The main question, which the book seeks to explain, is how various religious phenomena are adapted to the conditions of the modern world? In order to answer the question, Hammer examines three discursive themes which are fundamental to the esotericism of Theosophy and subsequently New Age religion. These themes are: "Tradition", "Scientism", and "Experience"
THE FRENCH AND GERMAN VERSUS AMERICAN DEBATE OVER \u27NEW RELIGIONS\u27 , SCIENTOLOGY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
No full textThis article critically examines the allegations of religious intolerance that United States officials and governmental staff have leveled against France and Germany (along with other European countries) for their policies on, and actions toward, Scientology and other controversial groups. It argues that American officials appear to be poorly informed about the bases for the Europeans\u27 critical positions, and that those officials have been the recipients of selective information provided by Scientology itself along with Scientology\u27s supporters. It concludes by offering a preliminary analysis of this Euro-American debate in the context of \u27international social movements\u27 theory within the social sciences
Between Text and Practice: Considerations in the Anthropological Study of Islam
No full textThe anthropological study of Islam is one that has been plagued by problems of definition. What exactly are we studying? Local practices, universal texts and standards of practice, or something else entirely. At the heart of the question is how anthropologists define Islam. This paper1 reviews the major trends in the anthropological study of Islam and then suggests plausible theoretical directions for the future. It touches on issues surrounding Orientalism, the "Great- and LittleTraditions " paradigm. It move between theoretical considerations and "on the ground", lived, examples
"New Age" ja sukupuolitettu arvomaailma
No full textHelena Helve "New Age" and a gendered value world The introduction contextualises the topic. As a result of new feminist movements in the 1960´s women became socially visible. While their critical voices were heard even within patriarchal churches, many of them found new content outside the traditional churches, for example in neopaganistic "Wicca" groups where they felt that their female identity and spirituality was better understood. Other alternatives were found within the general range of "New Age".In the second section the concept of "New Age" is discussed. The concept includes very many meanings. Though mostly understood to refer directly to various "cults" there are also big commercial markets surrounding the religious phenomena. People are free to choose particular parts of it, e.g. New Age newspapers, radio programmes, music, internet pages etc. It can range from belief in UFOs as far as a new world view and value world. The third section seeks connections between "New Age" phenomena and the post-modern period, which has its own ideology and values. These are mostly possible only for people living in rich western countries. For example, western young people revolted during the 60´s against the Vietnam war and the materialism of modern culture
"The Common Ground On Which Students of Religion Meet": Methodology and Theory Within the IAHR
No full textOnly thanks to the guiding lights and the overwhelming majority of the members of the International Association for the History of Religions have the most recent world congresses of this body avoided slipping into congresses of religion after the model of the Parliament held in Chicago in 1893. If the history of religions is to preserve its spirit and further its autonomy, it must not only work out the peculiarities of its methods, it must also revive its religio-critical, or rather, its ideological function. - Kurt RudolphThe Need for Theories of ReligionApart from the meetings of the North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), that coincide with both the American Academy of Religion\u27s (AAR) and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion\u27s (SSSR) annual meetings, North American scholars have traditionally had few opportunities for meeting and discussing issues of theory and methodology with their colleagues in the wider field. Other than such sessions at the AAR\u27s annual meetings for the History of the Study of Religion and Critical Theory 2 , there are few avenues for engaging in methodological critique and, perhaps more importantly, for developing and debating the merits of various theories of religion. Certainly there exist those well known publications on methods and theories rightly associated with the Chicago School in the History of Religions 3 , but they are generally limited to issues of description, interpretation, and understanding and remain completely devoid of efforts to develop explanations and theories of religion.
The Theosophical Society and its Subaltern Acolytes (1880-1986)
No full textThe Theosophical Society (est. 1875), and its associated texts have sometimes been characterized as counter-Orientalizing or only partially Orientalizing, in the sense of at least departing from "official" British-Indian Orientalism and providing a critique of that discourse. In somewhat the same vein, the society has also been characterized as playful, self-ironic and/or postmodernist, and/or as broadly reformist in not only an anti-colonial but also an anti-patriarchal and pro-or-protofeminist way. These approaches fail to grapple with the nature of the orientalism that was fundamental to the foundation of the TS, as well as the pronounced entrepreneurial and exploitative aspect of the cult, its strategic and emotional structuring, and the significance of its syncretizing and revitalizationist processes
Henrik Bogdan: Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation
No full textWer den Themenbereich „Magie“ betrachtet und die Fülle der hierher zurechenbaren wissenschaftlichen Publikationen besieht, kann – je nach eigenem Verständnis der Problematik – zu dem Schluss kommen, dass es – zumindest bis vor kurzer Zeit – keine wissenschaftliche Disziplin gegeben zu haben scheint, die sich selbst als zuständig für dieses Gebiet erachtet. Am deutlichsten signalisieren von den konventionellen Disziplinen die Historiker und Mediävisten Zuständigkeit, deren theoretischer Rahmen jedoch oft in christlichtheologischen Konzepten verhaftet bleibt bzw. sich, wenn es eine Theoriendiskussion gibt, mit evolutionistischen Stufenmodellen aus überholten ethnologischen Arbeiten oder aus der Soziologie auseinandersetzt. Diese tendieren dann dazu, ausschließlich westliche Geschichte zum Maßstab zu erheben sowie eine gewisse Linearität historischer Ereignisfolgen zu unterstellen und „[d]as Nebeneinander der Völker [...] als ein Hintereinander“ zu verstehen
Fritz Heinrich: Die deutsche Religionswissenschaft und der Nationalsozialismus. Eine ideologiekritische und wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Untersuchung
No full textFritz Heinrich behandelt mit der Religionswissenschaft im Dritten Reich ein Thema, dass allzu lange vernachlässigt wurde. Das Buch ist die Veröffentlichung seiner im Jahr 2001 dem Fachbereich Evangelische Theologie der Philipps-Universität Marburg vorgelegten Dissertation. Eine ideologiekritische Untersuchung der religionswissenschaftlichen Fachentwicklung für den besagten Zeitraum zu schreiben, kann sicherlich als das Leitmotiv der Studie angesehen werden
Церковь и религия в царской России: историографический обзор. (Перевод с английского2)
No full textFor English Version see "Church and religion in Imperial Russia. A Review of Recent Historiography, Marburg Journal of Religion 9/2 (2004).This article is a historiographical survey of substantial critical revisions of church and religious history in Imperial Russia undertaken since 1991. Among the broad range of works presented in this survey, several significant studies challenge a common assumption that the Russian Orthodox Church was a “handmaiden of the state” by arguing that, in the last decades of the ancien regime , the Church was not willing to support the Russian state and that the “crisis of the old order” had incorporated the crisis of the church-state relations. In terms of religion per se, it has been established that the dynamics of popular religion in Russia did not parallel the processes of secularization evident in Western Europe. As time progressed, popular piety did not disappear and the rate of religious observance, both among males and females, was extraordinary high in absolute numbers and as compared to other countries. From a gendered perspective, some historians have also suggested that religion often functioned as a source of empowerment for women in Imperial Russia, especially for upper-class women, and that monasticism (convents) enjoyed a revival at the end of the nineteenth century. Finally, a significant body of scholarly works analyses religious minorities in Russia (Muslims, Catholics, Old Believers, etc.) and relates ethnic identity to the discourse of religion to conclude that religion was strongest in those communities where it was linked to ethnic or national identity. Suggestions for further research are also incorporated into this study