Publikationsserver der UB Marburg
Not a member yet
601 research outputs found
Sort by
Blum, Mark L., and Yasutomi Shin’ya (eds.): Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism
No full textModern Japanese Buddhism is a complex pattern of various denominations among which Shin Buddhism (Shinshū) is one of the most important. This tradition is a form of Pure Land Buddhism which highlights a strongly subjectivised reliance on the compassionate vow of the mythical Amitābha Buddha (Japanese: Amida Butsu). Though it was founded in principle on the basis of the profound and subtle religious thought of Shinran Shōnin (1173-1262), who refined the tradition he had himself received from earlier expositors such as Hōnen Shōnin, Shin Buddhism was given a massive institutional boost as a result of the life-work of Rennyo Shōnin (1415-1499). (The title Shōnin is often loosely translated as "Saint".) The volume briefly reviewed here is a long overdue, and very successful attempt, to explore and present the teaching and activity of Rennyo, being a multi-authored work based on a top-flight conference in the field at Ōtani University, Kyōto, in 1998
Shinto, primal religion and international identity
No full textNational identity and religious diversity in Japan Questions of social and political identity in Japan have almost always been accompanied by perceptions and decisions about religion. This is true with respect both to internal political issues and to the relations between Japan and the wider world. Most commonly these questions have been linked to the changing roles and fortunes of Shinto, the leading indigenous religion of Japan. Central though Shinto is however, it is important to realize that the overall religious situation is more complex and has been so for many centuries. This paper examines some of these complexities. It argues that recent decades in particular have seen the clear emergence of a more general "primal religion" in Japan, leaving Shinto in the position of being one specific religion among others. On the basis of this analysis some of the options for the Shinto religion in an age of internationalization are considered
Ugo Dessí: Ethics and Society in Contemporary Shin Buddhism
No full textThis is the first book-length account of contemporary Shin Buddhist ethics in English. It describes the ethical thought of numerous modern scholars of the Shin school (mainly from the Ōtani-ha and Honganji-ha), as well as the activities of contemporary activists who struggle against war and discrimination, and for peace and social welfare. It is a unique mixture of textual analysis with primary data gathered through fieldwork and participant observation. Until the publication of Dessi’s study, most scholarship on Shin ethics in English consisted of essays (some of these translated from Japanese). Dessi adds to this previous scholarship by introducing the depth and breadth of works on Shin ethics in Japanese
Pluralität und Pluralismus: Zu Kontexten und Grundformen des christlich-islamischen Dialogs in Deutschland
No full textThe fact that Islam is now the second religion of Germany, as with much of Western Europe, raises profound questions. What does it mean for the self-understanding of both Christians and Germans within Germany, as well as for the life of the nation? What constitute key impacts and effects of this relatively new situation? What are the consequences for understanding and thinking? And what comprises the key context for the situation of, as well as critical reflection upon, the phenomenon and development of Christian–Muslim interreligious dialogue? In this paper the authors explore dimensions of the fact of plurality and the cognitive response to it that issues in the paradigm of pluralism. The paper takes account of critical theological and philosophical considerations together with the perspectives of cultural theory and reflection upon the context of Christian-Muslim dialogical engagement in Germany
Who Should Be Allowed to Participate in Official Interreligious Dialogues? A Review of Issues
No full textInterreligious dialogue is an important communications activity that has many of the characteristics and problems of new religious movements. Failure can be devastating, and yet scant critical attention has been devoted to assessing the legitimate qualifications of event participants. Seven dialogic parameters were identified and explicated pertaining to: (a) sanctioning, (b) representation, (c) relevancy, (d) knowledge, (e) technical competence, (f) articulation, and (g) appropriateness. Professional awareness of their range, depth and contours has important ramifications for participant selection, preparation and event organisation
Profiling the Sangha. Institutional and Non-Institutional Tendencies in Early Buddhist Teachings
No full textStudents of Buddhism use to discover early on in their studies that it is misleading to speak of a \u27church\u27 in early Buddhism. Christian ecclesiastical phenomena like priests, Sunday services, sermons, parishes and communal prayers, let alone a centrally organized institution like the Roman catholic church, did not exist in what we know of early Buddhism. Instead of a church, one is tempted to say, early Buddhism possessed the sangha, the monastic community. Basic religious functions the church fulfils in Christianity seem to be fulfilled by the sangha: as a member of this group, one follows the ideal path to salvation, and it is the task of the community to preserve and hand over the teaching of the Buddha (the dhamma) to following generations. It seems obvious that the sangha constitutes the central, if not the only religious institution of early Buddhism
Autobiography of a Schism
No full textIn my youth, I was a member of Yogi Bhajan’s Healthy Happy Holy Organisation (3HO), a new religious movement that blends kundalini yoga with Sikhism. In the process of leaving that organisation, I formed a short-lived splinter group – the Spiritual Dawn Community – that lasted less than a year. In the present article, I recount the narrative of this splintering, and then reflect on the split in terms of different theoretical discussions of schisms and apostasy. Though prior theorizing provides certain insights, no analyst has thus far adequately captured the dynamic and fluid situation that leads up to a schism. From the perspective of someone who has experienced the schismatic process from the inside, it is clear that there are any number of different points at which a schism could have been prevented – even in cases where the split appears to have been inevitable
Jay R. Feiermann. The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion
No full textIn recent years, interdisciplinary studies on the evolution of religion (commonly defined as behavior towards supernatural agents) made some encouraging progress, with two European conferences leading to shared projects and publications. In September 2007, a range of scientists from diverse fields convened at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) in Delmenhorst, Germany, exploring “The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior” (Springer 2009) especially from empirical perspectives. Among the participants, zoologist Jay R. Feierman advocated a deeper understanding of the “behavioral” side of religion, organizing another conference in July 2008 at Bologna University, leading to the volume “The Biology of Religious Behavior” reviewed here. Owing to this perspective, the volume is structured according to the five-step concept of Nobel Laureate ethologist Niko Tinbergen (1907-1988): 1. Describe the behavior. 2. Explore its evolutionary history. 3. Explore its development in the individual life-cycle. 4. Explore the behavior’s immediate, mechanistic causes. 5. Explore the adaptive (reproductive and survival) potentials of the behavior. The volume offers an exciting read, running the whole gamut from seriously empirical to wildly speculative
Archaeology, Mormonism, and the Claims of History
No full textThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “Mormonism”) is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today (Stark 1998a, b), including India, where membership (especially in the South) has increased dramatically over the last decade. With notable exceptions (e.g., Leone 1979; Murphy 1999; Olsen 2000; Rodseth and Olsen 2000), however, Mormonism has been neglected in the anthropology of religion. The purpose of this paper is to act as a corrective to this imbalance by addressing changes in Mormonism’s conception of itself as a world religion that makes certain claims about its own history. Specifically, I examine Mormonism’s claim – possibly unique among the major world religions -- that a large part of its scriptural tradition took place in ancient America. My purpose is not to explore the history of this claim, nor to take any position on its validity. Instead, I explore the claim itself as it unfolds with reference to a particular domain, Mesoamerican archaeology, and a particular object – the so-called “Tree of Life” stone (also known as Izapa Stela Five) that some Mormons occasionally cite as archaeological evidence for the ancient American origins of the Book of Mormon
Peter W. Edge: Religion and Law: An Introduction
No full textPeter W. Edge’s Religion and law: an introduction follows David Herbert’s Religion and civil society as the second volume of the Ashgate Religion, Culture & Society Series. Edge, himself coeditor of this series, is Reader in Law and Religion at Oxford Brookes University, UK, and his new publication offers an introduction to legal responses to religion and religious practice in international and national (Anglophone) jurisdictions. As a legal scholar with long expertise in the field of law and religion, Edge aims at a broad, non-jurisdictional and student-friendly overview for a non-legal readership