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Introduction: There has been a growing number of people from Chinese backgrounds entering England and their perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care need to be addressed when their cultural context changes. Methodology: A Straussian grounded theory method was used. Twenty-five participants were recruited, after which point data saturation was reached. Results: Four themes emerged showing participants’ perceptions of the terms: holistic; family involvement; religious care; abstract and sensitive. Discussion: Participants held holistic and culturally sensitive perspectives of spirituality, which demonstrates that patient-centered care is important. Also, health care professionals need to consider methods to involve family member and use religious or cultural values to support their spiritual needs. Particularly, when implementing spiritual care, they need to be aware that people from Chinese backgrounds blend Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism together in their understanding of the terms and may provide contradictory information about their religious belief.

I suggest that in Kant’s conception of autonomy, we have a faithful variant of a perennial philosophical conception of divinity, distinctively re-configured by Kant’s own preoccupations and system, but still recognisably oriented around some philosophical conceptions of the divine, which have their origins in deep classical wells, with dreams and memories of thought-thinking-itself, and joyously diffusing itself, generating plenitude and harmony. If this is correct, then we might find that the most interesting dialogue in the realm of ‘public theology’ is not necessarily between Christianity and secularism, but between Christianity and a latent pagan religious philosophy, that draws upon a perennial strand of Platonism in Western philosophy.

International audience; The article provides an analysis of the views of Russian thinkers on historical progress; the concepts of freedom-opportunity, freedom-necessity, time and space are explored. Comparing the western and domestic approaches to the formation of the so-called "national idea", the author formulates his own hypothesis of progress, based on the creativity of the Person as conciliar unity.; В статье приведён анализ взглядов русских мыслителей на исторический прогресс; исследуются концепты свободы-возможности, свободы-необходимости, времени и пространства. Сравнивая западный и отечественный подходы к формированию т.н. "национальной идеи", автор формулирует свою гипотезу прогресса, в основе которой — творчество Личности как соборного единства

This concluding comment draws upon the common themes articulated by the preceding contributors about how Sociology of Religion and Religious Studies can influence each other, as well as considering some of the obstacles to that. It concludes with some intellectual suggestions for furthering some of our common interests.

Freedom of religion and the manifestation of religious belief can clash with working life in a number of ways, including time away from work for religious observance, conflicts over religious clothing and jewellery in an employer’s dress code or a request for a variation of duties based on a particular religious belief. Guidance issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (2013) following Eweida and others v. UK [2013] 57 EHRR 8 seems to suggest that employers in Great Britain should consider the ‘reasonable accommodation’ of religion in the workplace and, in particular, how an individual chooses to manifest that religious belief. Subsequently, there has been much debate about whether this is a better way of dealing with religious discrimination cases than the current complex legal framework of direct and indirect discrimination in the Equality Act 2010. Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 already allows for reasonable adjustments to be made to working practices and the physical working environment for disabled employees. Should this duty be expanded to include religion and what would be the consequences and impact of such an accommodation or adjustment on the employment relationship?

In ‘secular’ Western societies, religious topics permeate media texts of books, films, series and games and such texts even inform several religious-spiritual movements. Critically expanding on theories about ‘fiction-based religion’, ‘invented religion’ or ‘hyper-real religion’, this article studies if, how and why players of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft reflect on religious narratives in the game world and what influence it has on their personal perspective on religion. Based on interviews with 22 international players, three forms of ‘religious reflexivity’ are distinguished: (1) religious performance, an acting out of offline experiences with religion through online role-playing; (2) religious relativism, a shift from dogmatic atheism to a tolerant attitude towards religion; and (3) religious quests, an increased interest in religion and active ‘bricolage’ of online religion and official religion to create personal systems of meaning. Online games, it is concluded, can serve as laboratories where youngsters freely experiment with religion outside the established churches.

This article hypothesizes that religious motivation can explain varied responses to the political use of religious rhetoric. Religious motivation—religion’s place in an individual’s life—is an important determinant of individual behavior and attitude formation, and variation in religious motivation can explain why some religious citizens are attracted to candidates using religious appeals while others are clearly not. Using a survey experiment, this article tests the effect of Judeo-Christian religious language and attempts to isolate differences among the religious in how they respond to religious rhetoric in the American political environment. The goal of this article then becomes twofold. First, it introduces a measure of religious motivation and demonstrates that it is a unique measure of individual difference with independent effects beyond traditional measures of religiosity, personality, and conservatism. The second goal is to demonstrate that religious motivation can explain variance in reactions to religious rhetoric within a campaign environment. Religious individuals respond differently to religious appeals, with some evaluating candidates higher when religious words were used while others rated candidates lower. The types of religious motivation (extrinsic, intrinsic, and quest) are shown to be much better predictors of responses to religious rhetoric than traditional measures of religiosity.

Religious Reflection Scales yield cross-cultural data suggesting that religious traditions have potentials to integrate intellect with faith. This investigation extended analysis of that possibility to Sunni Muslim university students in Malaysia ( N = 211) and also examined the hypothesis that Islamic commitments to knowledge ( Ilm) promote religious openness. Faith and Intellect Oriented Religious Reflection correlated positively and predicted openness. The Truth of Texts and Teachings factor from the Religious Schema Scales essentially assesses a form of fundamentalism and displayed direct linkages with religious openness as well. Ilm factors from the Ummatic Personality Inventory correlated positively with religious openness and mediated associations of Islamic Religious Reflection with other constructs. Quest as a presumed index of religious openness proved to be incompatible with sincere Muslim commitments. These findings supplemented previous Muslim, Christian, and Hindu data in confirming the potential openness of religious traditions.

The concept of “religion” and the idea of “world religions” are being critically reconsidered in the field of religious studies. Related questioning in the field of missiology has produced the concepts of “multiple religious belonging” and “insider movements.” The crisis in religious studies is outlined and new paradigms are supported. Traditional notions of conversion as change of religion are no longer relevant when traditional conceptions of world religions are no longer in vogue. Multiple religious belonging and insider movements are two possible responses from the missiological world. Legal aspects of religious identity in many countries suggest that attempts at a multiple religious belonging will necessarily result in an insider-movements approach since one identity is often a legal necessity.

For the past two decades, philosophers of religion have paid close attention to the debates on public reason taking place within the context of political philosophy. Some thinkers claim that religious arguments should play a very limited role in political discourse, as this would amount to a politically sanctioned imposition of religious beliefs on people with different religious or non-religious worldviews. Others claim that excluding religious reasons would lead to an unfair exclusion of religious citizens from democratic processes. Underlying these positions is a highly problematic idea of what it means to be a religious citizen. On the one hand, religious citizens are conceptualized as highly self-reflective theologians. Others instead imagine religious citizens to be wholly incapable of such self-reflection and of distinguishing between public and non-public spheres. In my article I attempt to criticize these underlying assumptions and point towards a more nuanced conception of the religious citizen.

Fionn Mac Colla's ideas of history can be characterised as postcolonial in their critique of historical determinism, Cartesian dualism and Whig progressivism. He utilises his theories, which encompass the psychological implications for individuals and nations of historical deficit, to oppose Scottish Reformation doctrine and the ostensible schisms of Scottish history, particularly the racial polarities promoted through Arnoldian Celticism. Mac Colla seeks to unify what he perceives as a divided Scottish history and identity through the adoption of Thomist religious philosophy.

The Religious Openness Hypothesis argues that traditional religions have resources for integrating intellect with faith. In a test of this hypothesis, Hindu graduate students in India ( N = 320) responded to Hindu religious reflection, attitudes toward Hinduism, religious schema, religious orientation, and psychological openness scales. Faith and intellect oriented religious reflection correlated positively with each other and with the all three religious schemas, which also correlated directly. Linkages with attitudes toward Hinduism and intrinsic and extrinsic personal religious orientations documented the compatibility of religious reflection and schema with Hindu commitments. Associations with greater openness to experience and need for cognition confirmed their psychological openness as well. Interactions between attitudes toward Hinduism and the intrinsic orientation suggested that Hinduism had more positive influences in those who were more sincerely religious. These data from India most importantly supported the Religious Openness Hypothesis.

Practitioners of psychotherapy often find themselves in clinical situations that challenge their ability to maintain both empathy and “charitable skepticism” toward clients’ narratives. The author approaches this question of clinical credulity through a comparison of the religious philosophies of Søren Kierkegaard and Franz Rosenzweig. Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments is read as advocating a necessary and provisional “leap of faith” when confronting such clinical aporias. This reading of Kierkegaard is then contrasted to Rosenzweig’s recommendations in his clinical allegory, Understanding the Sick and the Healthy, which suggests a model of empathic reflection that balances affirmation with skepticism. The author concludes from this comparison that (a) the initial exploration of material provided by the psychotherapy client must proceed from a tentative “willful suspension of disbelief” on the part of the therapist and (b) this epistemology of faith must be tempered with the particular concept of “everyday philosophy” proposed by Rosenzweig.

In this article religion is viewed as a collectively produced good. Religious groups must, therefore, overcome collective action problems, namely, coordination. This problem is usually alleviated by entering into an agency relationship with an organizer whose job is to ensure efficient production of religious goods. This will lead to an increase in participation from congregants and an increase in quality of the religious goods. However, this relationship is open to the principal–agent problem. Using data from the American Congregational Giving Study this paper finds that the organizational structure of religious groups makes some groups more susceptible to principal–agent problems, which ultimately impacts participation levels.

This article takes up the problematic of the ‘new normal’ and its necessary twin, the ‘will to religion’. The notion of the ‘new normal’ describes the shift to the persistent presence, indeed requirement, for religious assessment in all manner of public and institutional life. The idea of the will to religion reflects a broadly Foucauldian perspective on the care of the self and the requirement to confess—in this instance to confess one’s belonging to a religious category. The article calls for a robust attention to the discursive construction of a normal in which we are all religious, and to which values are constituted as ‘universal’ or that we owe our moral and intellectual condition to religion. The article points to four consequences of this shift to a ‘new normal’ in which we are all religious, including the essentialization of religious identities, the overemphasis on religion, the infiltration of particular measures of religiosity, and the spread of religious freedom protectionism.

The religious economies theory proposes that individuals make religious choices like they make other choices—rationally. This assumption has sparked many theoretical propositions on both the macro- and micro-levels. However, most empirical research has focused on testing the macro-level propositions. This study contributes to addressing this gap by testing the micro-level hypothesis that religious human capital (i.e., religious knowledge and skills) increases religious participation. Previous research typically operationalized religious human capital indirectly through proxy measures, which makes it difficult to separate the effect of religious human capital from the effects of other variables such as religious beliefs, preferences, and religious social capital. As a result, findings from previous studies may support theories other than religious human capital theory. This paper separates different causal effects by using a direct measure of religious human capital (i.e., biblical knowledge), while controlling for other variables deemed important by the literature. Analysis of longitudinal panel studies generally supports the hypothesis.

Jean Price-Mars was a towering figure in the discipline of Africana studies and a passionate proponent of the revalorization of African retentions in the Black diaspora, especially on Haitian soil. Scholars have identified him as the Francophone counterpart of W. E. B. Du Bois for his activism, scholarly rigor, leadership efficiency, and efforts in the rehabilitation of the Black race. In Haitian thought, he is regarded as the most important Haitian intellectual in the 20th century, having exercised an enduring intellectual influence on the generation of the American occupation in Haiti (1915-1934) and the postoccupation culture from the 1930s to 1970s. While students of Haitian studies and scholars of religion have praised him for his scientific study of the Vodou faith and his intelligent argument for the viability of Vodou as religion, few critics have analyzed the complexity of his religious imagination and ideas. The goal of this essay is to analyze Price-Mars’s engagements with religion beyond the religion of Vodou. Particularly, it will focus on his philosophy of religion and his thought on the nature of belief. The author contends that Price-Mars’s support of cultural relativism theory had shaped his view on religious métissage and religious diversity. The author draws primarily from the religious rhetoric of So Spoke the Uncle and his other works. The author argues to view Price-Mars as a postmodernist religious thinker and a religious syncretist. This essay will show what and how Price-Mars contributed to the disciplines of religion, religious pluralism, and cultural studies and his promotion of religious tolerance.

This set of papers explores the topic of “Possible Futures for Philosophy of Religion.” Though the field of philosophy of religion today has grown relatively narrow, these four papers seek to stretch it back out and all four are (as befitting our topic) forward-looking. Although the papers cover several different issues, I am going to shoehorn them into that pre-conceived category—the future of philosophy of religion—and then focus on the parts of the papers central to that category and ignore the other parts that don’t fit that template. This will not do justice to the complexity of the reality I am describing, but this procrustean practice is not unusual in philosophy of religion. Cette palette d’articles explore la thématique des ‘futurs possibles pour la philosophie des religions’. Bien que le champ de la philosophie des religions se soit aujourd’hui relativement rétréci, ces quatre articles tentent de l’élargir à nouveau et tous les quatre sont (au bénéfice de la thématique) tournés vers son devenir. Bien qu’ils couvrent des aspects différents de cette thématique, je vais les faire entrer dans cette catégorie préconçue —le futur de la philosophie des religions— et me focaliserai sur les parties des textes qui sont essentielles à cette catégorie pour en ignorer celles qui n’entrent pas dans ce cadre précis. Une telle approche ne saurait rendre compte de la complexité de la réalité que je décris, mais cette pratique de Procuste n’est point inhabituelle en philosophie des religions.

In a paper given at a Roundtable at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) National Annual Conference in Montreal in November of 2009, jointly organized by the North American Association for the Study of Religion and the Critical Theory and Discourses in Religion Group of the AAR, I argued for the ineluctably philosophical nature of what is most commonly called ‘method and theory in the study of religion.’ That paper ( Rennie, 2010 ) also argues that what is conventionally referred to as ‘philosophy of religion’ does not, strictly speaking, warrant that name since it is in fact a form of theology that utilizes philosophical methodologies to consider principally, if not exclusively, Christian concerns. I also argued that a philosophy of religion(s) constituted along the lines of the philosophy of science would be a potential improvement in both ‘philosophy of religion’ and ‘method and theory in the study of religion.’ In this paper I would like to consider—with the help of a closer look at contemporary philosophy of science—precisely what a reconstituted history (and philosophy) of religions might look like, how it might differ from current scholarship, and what it might achieve.Dans une communication donnée lors d’une table ronde à l’American Academy of Religion (AAR) National Annual Conference à Montréal en novembre 2009, organisée conjointement par le North American Association for the Study of Religion et le groupe de Critical Theory and Discourses in Religion de l’AAR, j’avais argué la nature inéluctablement philosophique de ce qui est couramment appelé « Method and Theory in the Study of Religion ». Cet article ( Rennie, 2010 ) soutient également la thèse que ce qu’on appelle couramment « Philosophie de la religion » ne correspond pas stricto sensu à ce qu’une telle dénomination recouvre puisqu’il s’agit en fait d’une forme de théologie recourant à des méthodes philosophiques pour envisager des préoccupations principalement, sinon exclusivement, chrétiennes. Je soutiens aussi qu’une philosophie des religions constituée à partir des lignes de force de la philosophie des sciences pourrait apporter une amélioration potentielle de la philosophie de la religion, de la méthode et de la théorie dans l’étude des religions. Dans cet article, j’aimerais examiner précisément —par le biais des apports de la philosophie des sciences contemporaine— ce à quoi l’histoire (et la philosophie) des religions pourrait ressembler, les termes dans lesquels elle se distinguerait des approches actuelles et ce à quoi nous pourrions ainsi aspirer.

The cultural constructions of what “religious woman” means usually imply gender and religion as reified entities. Such constructions have prominent place in the social life of a society. Narratives of women of Catholic and Muslim faith in Italy allow us to analyse the meaning-making processes involved in defining themselves as women, as human beings and as religious persons. Being immersed in a religious belief system enhances empowerment through―and not in spite of―feelings constrained to the faith. Cultural psychology of religious feelings needs to understand the processes involved in religious commitment, as this is strongly related to the cultural discourse about other interrelated human differences―such as gender―and the renovated demands for metaphysical sense-making in post-modern era. The present study revealed the particular elaboration of personal narratives about how these women use religion to approach differences and similarities in society, as well as to stress the local and multifaceted construction related both to religion- and gender-belonging.

The cohabitation of philosophy with the study of religion has such a long history that we have not been motivated to consider the terms of that relationship. This paper proposes that this relationship needs to be examined radically. That is to say it proposes to query the nature, or possible natures, of the relationship of philosophy to the study of religion by posing such questions as the following: What kind of philosophy belongs in the study of religion? Constructive? Critical? Does philosophy have an independent role in the study of religion or does it, rather, best play the role of ‘handmaiden’? To the extent that philosophy plays an integral part in the study of religion, how should philosophy reflect the global and cross-cultural nature of the study of religion? To what extent does a philosophy that is integral to the study of religion need to change in order to reflect the philosophical agendas integral to other religions than Christianity? La cohabitation de la philosophie avec l’étude de la religion a une si longue histoire que nous ne nous sommes pas penchés sur les termes de cette relation. Cet article montre le besoin d’un examen radical de cette relation. C’est-à-dire qu’il propose d’interroger la nature, ou les natures possibles, de la relation que la philosophie entretient avec l’étude de la religion à partir de plusieurs questions: Quels types de philosophie font partie de l’étude de la religion? Constructive? Critique? La philosophie a-t-elle un rôle indépendant dans l’étude de la religion ou est-elle plutôt dans le rôle de « servir » ? Dans la mesure où la philosophie est une partie intégrante de l’étude de la religion, comment la philosophie devrait-elle refléter la nature mondiale et culturellement croisée de l’étude de la religion ? Dans quelle mesure, une philosophie faisant partie intégrante de l’étude de la religion doit-elle être transformée de façon à rendre compte des programmes des religions autres que la Chrétienté?

Chinese philosophy has been a major cornerstone of Chinese culture for millennia and has bestowed on the world traditions such as Taoism, Yin and Yang, and filial piety. Although these beliefs have remained steadfast over thousands of years, their ability to survive unchanged in the future is uncertain. As the world forges ahead into the 21st century, several pertinent questions arise: Will age-old axioms, primarily those concerning elderly Chinese and their relationship with their children, survive? When ancient, traditional beliefs conflict with newer, Western ideas, which system of thought is likely to be the victor? Moreover, will elderly Chinese Americans and their perceptions concerning long-term care facilities cause problems with the traditional familial unit? This article will discuss these issues in detail.

The idea of religious freedom is not new in Canadian law or wider public discourse, although it has taken on a life of its own in the post- Charter era (1982 onward) and certainly in the last several years. As the courts wade more fully into the swirling abyss that is religion they find themselves struggling with the issues that preoccupy scholars of religion (and for which they have found no conclusive answer): what is “religion” and how can it be defined in a manner that is inclusive and meaningful? This article takes as its point of departure the provocative and compelling argument made by Winnifred Sullivan in her book, The Impossibility of Religious Freedom (2005), that religious freedom as a legal promise is untenable. In this article I argue that while plausible and convincing in the context of the United States, Sullivan’s thesis may be less applicable in Canada for three key reasons. First, the embeddedness of Roman Catholicism in Canadian social structure has resulted in a textured and nuanced understanding of religion, or, at the very least, a recognition that religion is in some measure a multifaceted notion. Secondly, the recognition of group rights, however defined, means that there is a space created for alternative religious discourses, in part because of the constitutional recognition of multiculturalism. Thirdly, the recent turn by the Supreme Court of Canada to an understanding of the subjectivity of religious freedom strengthens the idea that religion must be conceptualized in relation to the ways in which individuals understand and practice it in their day to day lives.

The assumption of rationally motivated individual religious behavior was tested in a survey of undergraduate university students from four different cultural/religious environments: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the United States of America. In particular, an attempt was made to explain readiness to bear religious costs by the expectation of otherworldly rewards and some other variables, such as religious socialization, support in the upbringing of children, religious capital, satisfaction with religious services and the perceived social sanctions for possible religious nonparticipation. It was found that it is the otherworldly rewards in all the samples that explain by far the major part of the variance in the readiness to bear religious costs. These results suggest that individuals do tend to make rational choices even when it comes to religion. Based on their beliefs, they are ready to accept religious costs approximately to the level of their expectation of otherworldly rewards.

Background: Culture is important to how populations understand the cause of mental disorder, a variable that has implications for treatment-seeking behaviour. Asian populations underutilize professional mental health treatment partly because of their endorsement of supernatural causation models to explain mental disorders, beliefs that stem from their religious backgrounds. Aims: This study sought to understand the dimensions of explanatory models used by three groups of Singaporean Chinese youth ( n = 842) — Christian, Chinese religionist, no religion — and examined their responses to an instrument that combined explanations from psychological and organic perspectives on mental disorder with approaches from Asian and Western religious traditions. Results: Factor analysis revealed five factors. Two were psychological corresponding to the humanistic and cognitive-behavioural perspectives respectively. Another two, which were supernatural in nature, dealt with karmaic beliefs popular among Asian religionists and more classical religious explanations common in monotheistic religions. The remaining factor was deemed a physiological model although it incorporated an item that made it consistent with an Asian organic model. Conclusion: While groups differed in their endorsement of supernatural explanations, psychological perspectives had the strongest endorsement among this population. Regression analysis showed that individuals who endorsed supernatural explanations more strongly tended to have no exposure to psychology courses and heightened religiosity.

This paper sketches an historical outline of philosophy in Russia from the modern era to present time. It describes the main philosophical trends that characterized the ‘Silver Age’ in pre-revolutionary Russia (Cosmism, religious philosophy and early Marxist philosophy), and draws some lines of continuity both with Marxist and pre-Marxist philosophy. It studies the internal evolution and organization of Soviet official philosophical thought, and describes the main features the philosophical Renaissance that took place in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. It finally describes the main trends, authors and publication of philosophy in Russia today.

This paper analyzes why philosophy of religion can surprisingly be considered a rather new field in Russian philosophy. While religion has played a major role in modern Russian culture, the philosophy of religion is still searching a precise definition of its object and domain. Initially, Russian philosophies of religion were inspired by Western influential works, whereas philosophy of religion is barely considered as distinct from theology. As such, philosophy of religion presents a double origin: in a wide sense, it coincides with philosophy, while in a more specific sense its origins are to be found in the modern era. From this point of view, Spinoza is seen as a seminal author for this field of work. This conception is analyzed and used to draw some perspective for the development of philosophy of religion in Russia.

Bulgakov's theology is not only a continuation of a tradition of Russian religious philosophy that he inherited, but is also an attempt to reconceive the task of theology in the West, where others (Barth and some Catholic theologians) also felt the need to break away from traditional patterns. Bulgakov's conception of theology is ecclesial, even priestly, rooted in his (at times, daily) celebration of the Divine Liturgy, and based on his reading of the Fathers of the Church. Theology grows out of a relationship with God experienced in prayer, especially liturgical prayer, and provides a `personalist' approach in contrast to the traditional `cosmological' approach and the modern `anthropological' approach (to use Balthasar's terms), but based on a notion of person as shaped by community, rather than person as individual. Finally this approach to theology is related to the notion of the Wisdom of God, `Sophia,' which throughout remained important to Bulgakov.

This article calls nursing to engage in the study of religions and identifies six considerations that arise in religious studies and the ways in which religious faith is expressed. It argues that whole-person care cannot be realized, neither can there be a complete understanding of bioethics theory and decision making, without a rigorous understanding of religious-ethical systems. Because religious traditions differ in their cosmology, ontology, epistemology, aesthetic, and ethical methods, and because religious subtraditions interact with specific cultures, each religion and subtradition has something distinctive to offer to ethical discourse. A brief example is drawn from Native American religions, specifically their view of `speech' and `words'. Although the example is particular to an American context, it is intended to demonstrate a more general principle that an understanding of religion per se can yield new insights for bioethics.

This article applies group analytic thinking to the relationship between religious fundamentalism and mental illness. Religion is explored as a means of social cohesion, and religious fundamentalism as a regressive response to globalization. Extrinsic and intrinsic religious attitudes are compared, with evidence of mental health within the latter. Clinical examples are offered to explore the potential heightening of mental distress for those presenting with culturally liminal attitudes within fundamentalist communities. Within contemporary society, it is proposed that the inclusion of psychoanalytic thinking within religious practice and the secular acceptance of the religious function could enable the emergence of a self-reflexive, and therefore more humane, spirituality.

Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852–1925) is best known as a religious philosopher from the late nineteenth and early twentiethth century. Less well known is von Hügel's work as a spiritual director, which some have suggested underlies his entire religious philosophy. This article seeks to examine aspects of von Hügel's understanding of the nature of mature spirituality as exemplified in his practice of spiritual direction: his theology of God and the necessary response of adoration; the three elements of religion, suffering well, humility, cultivating non-religious interests and leisurely spirituality.

Community formation in Japanese religiosity has played a central role in providing social organization and relational meaning. The stability it once lent to socieQ has been largely undone by rupid modernization. This fragmentation drives many Japanese to seek meaning for their lives in “new” and “new-new” religions. This article examines several contemporary religious groups, with special attention to relational jormation. The role of popular culture and mangu is also considered. Insights gained from this examination are applied to the Christian context in Japan, with suggestions for how the church might pursue being missional in the contemporary Japanese context. ommunity formation has been a defining characteristic of Japanese religiosity from its earliest times. A foundational source of this emphasis on connectC edness is the cultural understanding of the physical and spiritual realms as integrated. In contrast to the Western concept of a transcendent God, traditional Japanese religion understands the “gods” to be imminent. This religious philosophy ultimately crystallized as Shinto, or “the way of the gods.” Originally, Shinto, as a nomenclature, did not exist. The religious practice that it identified was simply understood as integral to the Japanese way of life. It awakened in the individual a sense of belonging to the greater Japanese family and a sense of the divine quality of the universe. Today, Shinto tradition lies behind most of the seasonal holidays, and Shinto shrines are still centers for gathering local people at various auspicious occasions. Shinto festivals are orchestrated at the local neighborhood level, which continues to demonstrate a Japanese religiosity expressed through community solidarity.

By analysing two cases from the recent history of Vaishnavism (a temple festival in Vrindavan; the development of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON), this paper shows that the notion of dépense as developed by Marcel Mauss, Robert Hertz and Georges Bataille can be applied as an analytical tool in the study of rituals and religion as an indicator of religious commitment. At the same time it is possible to show that, by constructing a kind of macro-economic theory that includes religious behaviour, recent theories of religious economics are part of, and reproduce, a modern discourse of rationality that rules out, rather than understands, forms of irrationality such as unproductive expenditure ( dépense).

Teaching philosophy statements reflect our personal values, connect us to those with shared values in the larger teaching community, and inform our classroom practices. In this article, we explore the often-overlooked foundations of teaching philosophies, specifically philosophy and historical educational philosophies. We review three elements of pure philosophy and five seminal educational philosophies to help readers ground their personal philosophies in both a theoretical and historical context. We illustrate how core elements of one's teaching philosophy can influence course design and the classroom environment. We suggest that teachers can develop greater authenticity in the classroom by deepening their understanding of their own philosophical ideas and beliefs.

We operationalize three dimensions of religion—religious affiliation, religious commitment, and religious belief—to offer a detailed analysis of how religion affects presidential approval ratings. Using data from the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 American National Election Studies, we demonstrate that operationalizing religion as a rudimentary Protestant—Catholic affiliation dichotomy masks its influence on presidential approval. We find that religious affiliation, even when measured more precisely than with a Protestant—Catholic dichotomy, contributes less to models of presidential approval than do measures of religious commitment and (especially) orthodoxy of religious belief.

This article examines some of the problems androcentric religious anthropologies raise for Jewish, Christian and Muslim women-particularly, with respect to their demand to occupy leadership roles within their respective faith-communities-while also considering the failure of conservative thinkers adequately to respond to these problems. Focusing on the connection between religious anthropologies and the conception of God within the Abrahamic faiths reveals, what many religious feminists have described as, a symbiotic relationship between the conception of God employed in their tradition and an androcentric religious anthropology. Given that religious anthropologies have been, and will continue to be, subject to change as the religious traditions evolve, the article concludes that, by seeking greater control over such changes, religious feminists have an opportunity to re-shape the Abrahamic faiths in ways that could make them genuinely capable of responding to the religious requirements of both women and men.

When a person defines his or her own identity, religious belief is a powerful, decisive factor. Throughout history, religion has often been a source of conflict. This article will show how religious communities can promote a peace process and how religion can be part of a peaceful solution.

This article examines the interrelationships between religion and enterprise. The authors find that these are highly context-specific, and will vary markedly over time and social setting, mediated by other socio-cultural variables such as political structures and ideologies, and religious symbolism in the workplace. The individual elements making up an entrepreneur's belief matrix influence the entrepreneurial process. Where religious salience is high, entrepreneurs will tend to use religious criteria to inform their decision making, even if it harms their short-term commercial interests. Religious groups can also provide a resource for the generation of entrepreneurial social capital.

Recent functional neuroimaging data, acquired in studies of religious experience, have been used to explain and justify religion and its origins. In this paper, we critique the move from describing brain activity associated with self-reported religious states, to explaining why there is religion at all. Toward that end, first we review recent neuroimaging findings on religious experience, and show how those results do not necessarily support a popular notion that religion has a primitive evolutionary origin. Importantly, we call into question an assumption—key to that account of religion—concerning a conceptual relation between ‘religion’ and ‘religious experience’. Then, we examine the conditions that must be met in order to explain religion on the basis of brain imaging findings. Moreover, we list principled reasons to be sceptical of explanations of religion in terms of the neural underpinnings of experiences. We conclude that the data from neuroimaging studies are not suited for an explanation of religion.

I will argue here that a history of the study of religion in the Canadian academic context will reveal it to be little more than an extension of the kind of intellectual treatment religion receives in traditional religious contexts. To put it bluntly, I believe that an examination of "Religious Studies" in Canada will uncover a fundamental affinity between its "brand" of Religionswissenschaft and what is traditionally recognized as Glaubenswissenschaft, and, consequently, that it has contributed more to the leamed practice of religion than it has to the creation of a scientific study of religion. I will further argue that no scientific study of religion (rather than scientific analyses of particular aspects or elements of religious traditions) can possibly emerge on the Canadian scene until scholars in the field transcend the aim of making possible for their students the achievement of a new kind of religiosity or the creation of a more inclusive culture/society.

The purpose of this article is to reveal Chinese-rooted meanings present within the Western nursing metaparadigm and to illustrate some similarities with Rogers’s Science of Unitary Human Beings. Confucian and Taoist beliefs have the potential to illuminate the basic constructs inherent in holistic nursing. The Western nursing metaparadigm of four concepts—person, nursing, health, and environment—was explored through the lens of a Chinese worldview and led to the presentation of a broadened view for an integrated model of nursing. Asian and Western worldviews of human beings and health are not mutually exclusive. The Chinese holistic worldview of Taoism and Confucianism resonates theoretically and cosmically with the dynamic nature of the human-environment mutual relationship basic to Rogers’ unitary view. This strong, theoretical link, when elaborated for its similarities and implications, can broaden the knowledge base to guide contemporary nursing practice, education, and research, particularly relevant for holistic nursing.

In order to care ethically nurses need to care holistically; holistic care includes religious/spiritual care. This research attempted to answer the question: Do nurses have the resources to offer religious care? This article discusses only one aspect - the provision of religious care within the Taiwanese health care system. It is assumed that, if hospitals do not provide enough religious services, nurses working in these hospitals cannot be fully ethical beings or cannot respect patients’ religious needs. The relevant literature was reviewed, followed by a survey study on the provision of religious facilities and services. Aspects considered are: the religions influences in and on Taiwanese society; the religious needs of patients and their families; strategies that patients use to enable them to cope with their health care problems; professional motives for attuning to patients’ religious needs; and hospital provision for meeting the religious and spiritual needs of patients. A survey of nursing executives showed differences between religious service provision in hospitals with and without a hospice ward. The practical implications for hospital management and nursing practice are discussed.

Four decades have passed since the publication of Gerhard Lenski's The Religious Factor. While generally regarded as a classic in the sociology of religion, the book has had a curious history, largely because of the interest it generated in differences between Protestants and Catholics. In this paper I provide an alternative reading of The Religious Factor's impact on sociology of religion that points to its larger theoretical implications. I argue that the book should be understood in relation to continuing debates about the classification of religious traditions, differentiation among socioreligious groups, intergroup relations among religious traditions, and friendship ties within religious communities. Through understanding these contributions, the book's legacy as well as continuities and new opportunities in the study of religion can be appreciated.

It would appear that certain deeper concerns about epistemic status and credibility underlie recent heated controversies about faith schools. The evident hostility of secular liberals to religious education in general and faith schools in particular rests on the deep-seated conviction that religious claims, beliefs and narratives are essentially non-rational, if not irrational, and therefore that no religious instruction could avoid indoctrination. Proceeding via an exploration of the non-literal signification of myth and fiction, this essay sets out to show how religious and other non-literal stories and narratives can be routes to objective meaning and truth that fully engage reason and understanding as well as feeling and emotion. However, the article also acknowledges the likely reservations of some religious believers to any such approach.

Recent work by political sociologists and social movement theorists extend our understanding of how religious institutions contribute to expanding democracy, but nearly all analyze religious institutions as institutions; few focus directly on what religion qua religion might contribute. This article strives to illuminate the impact of religious culture per se, extending recent work on religion and democratic life by a small group of social movement scholars trained also in the sociology of religion. In examining religion's democratic impact, an explicitly cultural analysis inspired by the new approach to political culture developed by historical sociologists and cultural analysts of democracy is used to show the power of this approach and to provide a fuller theoretical account of how cultural dynamics shape political outcomes. The article examines religious institutions as generators of religious culture, presents a theoretical model of how religious cultural elements are incorporated into social movements and so shape their internal political cultures, and discusses how this in turn shapes their impact in the public realm. This model is then applied to a key site of democratic struggle: four efforts to promote social justice among low-income urban residents of the United States, including the most widespread such effort—faith-based community organizing.

Providers of genetic services need to be broadly aware of the role that religious beliefs can play in the public's understanding of genetic information and of the choices that are posed. This paper identifies three religious themes that tend to arise when religious people, especially Christians, are involved in genetic testing and pre-symptomatic diagnosis. The first theme of fate and freedom leads to the prediction that religious people will be less likely than others to ascribe fatalistic or deterministic powers to genes but will want to maintain room for human and divine freedom, and that perhaps they will err too much in this direction. The second theme, having to do with religious community, suggests that religious people will experience a tension between the need for genetic privacy and the desire to share personal concerns with their faith community. Third, religious people regard the unborn with respect, even if not all regard the fetus as a person. Those who accept abortion for genetic reasons are likely to grieve the loss and to look for rituals to mark the value of the life that was not continued.