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Resumen En los ultimos anos ha crecido exponencialmente el cuerpo de literatura que se ocupa de ensayar diversas maneras de integrar la espiritualidad en la practica psicoterapeutica. Probablemente el interes por esta tematica haya surgido a proposito de la inclusion en el DSM-IV de la nueva categoria «Problema religioso o espiritual» (codigo V62.89). Hasta entonces las cuestiones religiosas o espirituales habian sido objeto de la clinica en tanto sintomas de algunas enfermedades mentales, como los delirios con contenidos religiosos propios de los esquizofrenicos. Pero con la cuarta edicion del citado manual comienza a interesar el estudio de la espiritualidad en tanto que expresa un aspecto fundamental de la personalidad. En esta linea, se han formulado diversos modelos de integracion de la espiritualidad y la psicoterapia. Nuestra intencion es estudiar el problema de la inconmensurabilidad como uno de los problemas epistemologicos y metodologicos medulares que supone un proyecto de este tipo. Presentamos los escritos de los Padres del desierto como un modelo explicativo que garantiza una integracion epistemologicamente legitima de las tradiciones espirituales con la practica psicoterapeutica. Y por eso mismo argumentamos que sus escritos podrian constituir una via superadora de la relacion de mutua inconmensurabilidad que aparentemente existe entre la racionalidad cientifica y la espiritualidad.

El artículo presenta un balance de la participación del movimiento evangélico-pentecostal en la política electoral colombiana, en el periodo 1991-2014. Describe la génesis de la participación electoral de este movimiento religioso y da cuenta de la trayectoria de sus principales líderes y organizaciones políticas (partidos o movimientos). Presenta las estrategias que estos han implementado para aprovechar su autoridad religiosa en el campo electoral. Finalmente, hace un balance de los logros del movimiento pentecostal en la política electoral y de las razones que han impedido la consolidación de un único movimiento político que represente los intereses de este movimiento religioso. This article presents a balance upon the participation of the evangelic-Pentecostal movement in the Colombian electoral politics between 1991-2014. It describes the genesis of the electoral participation of this religious movement telling about the track record of its main leaders and political organizations (parties or movements). It presents the strategies implemented to benefit from its religious authority in the electoral field. It finally brings about a balance of achievements of the Pentecostal movement within the electoral politics and any reasons preventing the consolidation of a sole political movement representing the interests of this religious movement. Este artigo apresenta um balanço da participação do movimento evangélico-pentecostal na política eleitoral desse movimento religioso e mostra a trajetória de seus principais líderes e organizações políticas (partidos ou movimentos). Apresenta as estratégias que estes vêm implantando para aproveitar sua autoridade religiosa no campo eleitoral. Finalmente, faz um balanço das conquistas do movimento pentecostal na política eleitoral e das razões que têm impedido a consolidação de um único movimento político que represente os interesses desse movimento religioso.

With the recent surge of “religious nones” in many Western nations, there is a growing interest among some church attenders to effectively “reach” this demographic. In this article, we build on theories of strictness and social embeddedness to tackle three questions regarding evangelistic belief and behavior in Canadian Catholic, mainline Protestant, and conservative Protestant congregations. First, in what ways are evangelistic beliefs and behaviors similar or dissimilar across theological traditions, notably when comparing stricter and less strict contexts? Second, how are evangelistic behaviors similar or dissimilar based on a person’s frequency of church attendance? Third, what challenges do people confront in their evangelistic efforts? Drawing on survey data with over 9100 Catholic, mainline, and conservative Protestant respondents in over 250 Canadian congregations, this study compares responses across theological sectors, reported levels of importance that church members attach to evangelism, as well as church attendance frequency. Data reveal that those in religious traditions with stricter “insider–outsider” boundaries and who were more socially embedded in their religious groups (i.e., conservative Protestant traditions) were the most likely to embrace evangelistic attitudes and behaviors, in contrast to those in religious groups with less strict boundaries or social embeddedness in their religious group (i.e., United Church of Canada). However, those with the strongest “us–them” boundaries also found those boundaries particularly prohibitive to their evangelistic efforts reflected, in part, in a widespread leaning toward passive versus assertive forms of evangelism.

Les Guarayos d’Amazonie bolivienne entretiennent un rapport paradoxal avec les missionnaires franciscains qui les ont christianises au xixe siecle. Ils sont tres attaches a ces pretres auxquels ils attribuent un role politique fondateur mais ils soulignent aussi la dimension violente ou destructrice, sur le plan culturel et social, de l’action de nombre de leurs representants, dont les mœurs (debauche, polygamie, sorcellerie) se seraient souvent fortement ecartees des normes catholiques. Cette relation paradoxale peut s’expliquer par la place a la fois centrale et exterieure que le cure a longtemps occupe dans la morphologie sociale guaraya.

Cet article analyse les activites de Michel Maxime Egger au sein du Laboratoire de la transition interieure qu’il a cree en 2016. Michel Maxime Egger est un acteur qui se definit comme « meditant-militant » et tente de « lier » differents mondes et publics potentiels – religieux, spirituels, academiques, ecologiques, altermondialistes, etc. Sous la forme d’une etude de cas, nous montrons comment il impulse un reseau de « transition interieure » se situant a la frontiere de trois milieux : spiritualite holistique, milieu des Eglises et militance ecologique. Nous constatons que la posture du « meditant-militant » permet effectivement a Egger de se positionner dans plusieurs milieux, insufflant a la fois un engagement eco-civique positif et un mouvement de « spiritualite positive », principalement pour des publics d’acteurs dans le milieu de la transition interieure ou de chretiens sociaux distancies. Son succes est certain, mais relatif. Il souligne les limites d’un redeploiement du religieux par l’engagement ecologique en Suisse.

One of the prolific writers in the discipline of African Biblical Hermeneutics is the Nigerian Old Testament (OT) scholar, Professor Tuesday David Adamo. In his tireless efforts to unlock the OT reality for African contexts, persuaded by his commitment to decolonise the subject of Biblical Studies, Adamo has made successful efforts to reflect on the African presence in the Old Testament. The present study seeks to engage Adamo's concept of African Biblical hermeneutics in order to investigate whether the author sufficiently discussed the theme of gender in his discourses. This research attempts to respond to the following two main questions in view of Adamo's discourses: (1) In Adamo's concerted effort of confirming the presence of Africa and Africans in the Hebrew Bible, does the woman question feature? (2) If so, how does Adamo navigate the question? Keywords: Adamo; African Biblical Hermeneutics; African Woman; Bosadi; Hebrew Bible/Old Testament; Wife.

This paper deals with the African reading of Psalm 24:3-6: The implications for the enforcement of morality among Christians in Africa. The book of Psalms is subdivided into five books comparable to the Pentateuch. Psalm 24 falls into the first book which is used as a liturgy of entrance into the Israelite temple. In Psalm 24:3-6 a worshipper asks for entry requirements to be met which are clean hands and pure hearts, not lifting up the soul to what is false, and not swearing deceitfully. The methodology used is the African perspective of readers’ response. Pastors and Christian leaders must lead the people with integrity befitting the sacredness of the hill of the Lord. Christians are the temple of God and are expected to observe ritual purity everywhere every time in order to receive blessings from God, (Onyame). Keywords: Morality, Shrine, clean hands, pure hearts, ritual purity.

Critical thinking is a highly valued skill in the twenty-first century, and its incorporation into formal school curricula as a core skill is nearly ubiquitous globally. It is considered imperative for educational quality, employability, competitiveness, and for promoting democratisation and social integration. While schools are tasked to promote critical thinking, non-formal Islamic education (NFIE) provided by mosques or by private organisations or tutors is often criticized for its emphasis on rote learning and memorisation, and for fostering an uncritical acceptance of authority. Based on interviews with 27 young adult alumni from four different Muslim communities in the Netherlands, this study seeks to explore the pedagogy of NFIE, with a focus on critical thinking. The accounts of young adults revealed that an emphasis on stimulating critical thinking was largely absent, and there were limited opportunities for interactions, questions, debating or challenging the authority of religious educators or Islamic texts. The traditional pedagogical approach, discouraging attitudes of educators and peers, lack of language proficiency, the young age of learners, and a perceived lack of need for critical deliberations were identified as key challenges. Young adults called for reforming the pedagogy of NFIE to allow for more reflexive, inquisitive and dialogical learning. Some argued that lack of critical deliberation would lead to weakness in the belief structures and faith of new generation Muslims in Europe, resulting in a sense of confusion and disorientation, and limited embodiment of Islamic principles.

On 27 September 2020, Azerbaijan went to war with Armenia on a scale not seen since the ceasefire of 1994. The conflict ended in another ceasefire on 10 November 2020, however, in addition to the t...

In this paper we analyse Max Weber's view on Islam as a religion of warriors who lived at the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century, and also, we analyse this interpretation in the context of Edward Said’s (orientalistic) theoretical approach. The first part of the paper presents various aspects of the analysis of Islam by Max Weber, which must be taken into the context of comparative theology, that is, in the light of considering the characteristics of Islam against the background of other world religions. In the second part of the work, we will analyse the concept of Said’s orientalism. We will construct the framework of moderate orientalism, which, according to the author of this paper, is an important conceptual adjustment that can contribute to a better understanding and analysis of various oriental discourses, including Weber discourse. Taking into account that we are talking about the most influential classics sociologists, especially in the case of the sociology of religion, it is very important to critically analyse his understanding of Islam so that we can determine which of his conclusions are significant for the sociology of religion and the sociology of Islam today, and which of his hypotheses can we attribute to some kind of reductionism or orientalism.

International audience

As part of the review symposium of From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2020) by Aaron W. Hughes, this review essay compares and contrasts the narrative it tells us to other national contexts and explores what might be the Canadian peculiarities not necessarily obvious to those who have been educated in that system.

The Nikāya Suttas frequently mention the concept of fear (bhaya) and related synonyms. This concept does not receive much scholarly attention by subsequent Buddhist philosophers. Recent scholars identify a ‘paradox of fear’ in several traditions of classical Indian Buddhism (Brekke 1999; Finnigan 2019; Giustarini 2012). Each scholar points out, in their respective textual contexts, that fear is evaluated in two ways; one positive and the other negative. Brekke calls this the “double role” of fear (1999, p. 443). Each also identify fear as purposely elicited to motivate acts aimed at achieving fearlessness, where freedom from fear is characteristic of nibbāna. They all find this puzzling. Finnigan asks: “Why would one purposefully incite fear if one’s goal is its elimination?” (2019, p. 221). Giustarini says that fear has a “contradictory nature” (2012, p. 513); Brekke calls it “the paradox of fear” (1999, p. 442). This article introduces the ‘paradox of fear’ as it appears in the Bodhicaryāvatāra of Śāntideva and the Nikāya suttas. It then critically examines Brekke and Giustarini’s proposed solutions. It argues that they get some things right in ways that are both supported by the Nikāyas and relevant to Śāntideva but that they leave some important questions unanswered. The article concludes by arguing that these questions are best answered if fear is analysed as appropriate when its objects are related to karma and rebirth.

This research investigates Finnish teachers' personal worldviews, by focusing on understanding what kinds of approaches teachers use concerning the visibility of their personal worldviews in an educational context. This issue is discussed in the light of teachers' professional autonomy and ethics, since these are two fundamental dimensions of teacher professionalism that are discussed a lot. The research was conducted using a qualitative attitude approach, and included interviews (N = 20) from Finnish in-service basic education class teachers. The results show that teachers use three different approaches where their personal worldview and its visibility in their work are concerned. When reflecting on worldview questions, there was uncertainty about balancing between practicing teacher autonomy and following teachers' official responsibilities. Teachers' personal worldview expressions were limited to the institutional worldview, which means in practice adopting norms and language of the worldview majority, and professional ethics was highlighted even more than autonomy when reflecting on the visibility of worldviews.

“Come as you are to Islam as it is”. Religious individualism and the work of conversion within an American Muslim organization -- Relying on in-depth interviews with Muslim converts and ethnographic observations in an American Muslim organization, this article critically examines the discursive centrality of religious individualism in conversion stories. It seeks to complicate these discourses by identifying the modalities through which religious organizations continue to shape beliefs and practices. In the organization under study, which caters primarily to the well-to-do and educated sections of the American Muslim population, the work of conversion draws its effectiveness from the fact that it is euphemized. Such work of conversion is also a work of distinction that reflects class preferences and enables boundary making with other interpretations of Islam.; À partir d’entretiens avec des personnes converties à l’islam et d’observations ethnographiques dans une organisation musulmane américaine, cet article interroge la prévalence du registre discursif de l’individualisme religieux dans les récits de conversion. Il cherche à mettre en perspective ces récits en repérant la manière dont des organisations religieuses continuent de façonner durablement les croyances et les pratiques. Dans l’association étudiée, qui touche principalement les fractions aisées et éduquées de la population musulmane, le travail de conversion ainsi mené tire son efficacité de son euphémisation. Ce travail de conversion est aussi un travail de distinction qui traduit des préférences de classe et vise à se démarquer d’autres interprétations de l’islam.

La secularisation des societes a suscite de tres nombreux debats au cours du xxe siecle. Une premiere periode, tres marquee par des sociologues cherchant a la combattre et a combattre la dechristianisation, a ete suivie d’une prise d’autonomie par rapport au champ religieux : la sociologie de la religion s’est construite autour du paradigme dominant d’une secularisation comme perte de pouvoir progressif des religions instituees. Mais depuis la fin du xxe siecle, les analyses sont plus nuancees. A l’aide des enquetes European Values Study et International Social Survey Programme, cet article etudie les differentes facettes du religieux (rapport aux religions instituees, pratiques, sentiment religieux, croyances, dimension consequentielle) qui n’evoluent pas necessairement dans le meme sens : des recompositions complexes s’operent, souvent sur le mode du possible et de l’incertitude meme si la secularisation correspond a un systeme de valeurs particulier, toujours assez distinct de celui des croyants. Cet article cherche a mieux comprendre le mouvement de secularisation et les resistances des religions.

Spiritual connections to the natural world are fundamental to Micronesian worldviews. Structured interviews gathered ethnoecological information about Serianthes. The kosmos-corpus-praxis conceptual framework analyzed spirituality surrounding this leguminous tree and its connection with Indigenous cosmology, traditional knowledge, and practices. We can summarize the results as follows: (a) interspecies relationships expressed through rituals and oral history guide ethnobotanical practices in Belau (Palau) and Wa’ab (Yap); (b) the tree is critically endangered on Guåhan (Guam) and Luta (Rota). In Luta, the tree is celebrated as a flagship species for endangered plant recovery, while the last Guåhan tree has become a rallying point for spiritual resistance when its habitat became threatened by military plans to construct a firing range; (c) spirituality is a fundamental value for island communities; and (d) traditional knowledge holders and scholars strive to work together toward a co-production of knowledge, using spirituality as a fundamental principle toward respectful and sustainable biocultural conservation.

The yearly first fruit ceremony for yams has been described in most societies of Kanaky New Caledonia. In the far north of the country, however, Arama society’s special feature is that a few weeks before the yam ceremony a small ceremony is held which revolves around the fruit of a tree, the nôôle. This ceremony concerns ad hoc collectives of people acting together. Classically in Kanaky New Caledonia, the yam ceremony concerns a localized social configuration, here the Great House and its ancestors. It is made up of four hamlets conceptualized as Houses organized by an order of precedence. This ceremony also concerns kinship groups (and relations with the Catholic Church). This article analyses both ceremonies in relation to their environments, to horticulture and to their sequential unfoldings. Its perspective is a dynamic, processual description of aspects of the Kanak world construed as a socio-cosmic space and system.

In religiously pluralized societies, caregivers frequently care for patients or clients with a religious, spiritual, or secular orientation that differs from their own. Empirical studies exploring the implications of this faith diversity for spiritual care interactions between caregivers and clients are scarce. Some literature suggests that similarities in faith orientation between caregivers and clients relate to better professional caring relationships than encounters with dissimilar faith orientations, while other studies suggest that faith similarities do not relate, or relate only under certain conditions, to the way in which professional caring relationships are perceived. This study supports the second line of thought. Based on a survey among 209 clients and 45 chaplains in hospitals in the Netherlands, it shows that clients in faith-concordant encounters evaluate the spiritual care encounter just as positively as do clients in faith-discordant encounters. This is in line with broader trends of secularization and blurring of boundaries between the religious, spiritual, and secular domains.

This article introduces the concept of ‘threshold of adversity’ as an, at present, tentative means of understanding the turning points to radicalization and extremism within educational systems. The conceptual frame is, we argue, of pedagogical and policy relevance across and beyond Nordic countries. Across Nordic countries, then, the main objective for the prevention of radicalization and extremism through education (PVE-E) is to strengthen the students’ resilience against ideological influences. Given the specialist complexities of the interdisciplinary research literature on terrorism, from which much PVE-E derives, for teachers and policy-makers, understanding the theoretical contexts, which underlie such policy innovations and their pedagogical implementation, are, understandably, problematic. To discuss extremism and the possibilities of its prevention especially in the education sector, an understanding of what exactly is being prevented or fought against is needed. Our conceptual ‘threshold of adversity’ model offers at least a starting point for a more practicable pedagogical implementation.

In October 2015 the Zambian president broke ground on a new National House of Prayer, a building project meant to reaffirm the country's status as Africa's only self-proclaimed “Christian nation.” Over the next four years architects produced three separate sets of plans for the House of Prayer, images of which were circulated among Zambian Christians, primarily church leaders. Each set of plans has provoked conversations about what the House of Prayer should look like. This article shows how discussions of the building's aesthetic features were connected to the theological-political possibilities of Christian nationalism, crystalizing around two competing models of how to go about making Zambia a (more) Christian nation. By tracing the tension between these models through architectural and aesthetic debates, this article shows the link between images and the theological-political imagination. It therefore builds on anthropological analyses of other parts of the world that have emphasized the political power of aesthetics as more than representations of already existing ideas—that is, as an ideologically and politically productive force in its own right.

This paper is an effort at theorizing the neologism godsplaining. The term interrogates the attempt by religious clerics to earn cultural capital by explaining God’s actions and preferences. The paper does so by deconstructing the political rhetoric of two popular Ghanaian prophets, following the outcome of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections. Using deconstruction as an analytical tool, the study analyses a 2-hour interview the clerics granted an Accra-based local radio station on its morning show. The analysis showed that the religious leaders engaged in “godsplaining” by employing five basic rhetorical strategies— appeal to prophetic authority, kategoria versus apologia, erotema, biblical allusion, and anecdote in order to defend why their perceived political party either won or lost the 2020 general elections. The analysis revealed that the deliberative rhetoric of the prophets suggested a biased hermeneutic of God’s will in favor of their preferred political affinity. The study has implications for further research in media studies, religious communication, and the question of divinity in partisan politics.

Understanding the idea of the reign of God in the affairs of humans must not only be envisaged or experienced by the ecclesiastical setting or arena. The hope in the existence of God’s kingdom transcends the spiritual emphasis to the socio-cultural and politico-economic realms. This article looks at the penetrating effects of the Christian principles and ideals of God’s kingdom envisaged in the Church and the human historical experiences which as the mouthpiece of the coming kingdom of God represents its message to the wider human sociality. Are there any socio-cultural, economic and political implications of reechoing God’s active role in making the life of the people become meaningful and peaceful? The study concentrates on the Kingdom of God in its relationship with human history. It focuses on some theological thoughts from both catholic and protestant perspectives. It elucidates the significance of the Kingdom of God in the transformation of human history by first considering the Universal Kingdom of God, as a symbol of hope for humanity and examining critically the socio-political implication of the Kingdom in the proclamation of Jesus the Christ. Keywords: Kingdom of God, Political theology, Historical Experience, Socio-political, Social transformation.

The epistemic relevance of forgiveness has been neglected by both the discussion of forgiveness in moral psychology and by social epistemology generally. Moral psychology fails to account for the forgiveness of epistemic wrongs and for the way that wrongs in general have epistemic implications. Social epistemology, for its part, neglects the way that epistemic trust is not only conferred but repaired. In this essay, I show that the repair of epistemic trust through forgiveness is necessary to the economy of knowledge for fallible persons like us. Despite the fact that forgiveness is never included on lists of important intellectual virtues or epistemic activities, it is vital to our lives as social knowers. Likewise, an account of forgiveness that neglects its epistemic dimension is importantly incomplete.

According to the doctrine of so-called docetic Christology, earthly Jesus and heavenly Christ were two different persons. It was Jesus who suffered on the cross, Christ just entered Jesus’ body for a while and abandoned it before his death on the cross; consequently, suffering of Christ was mere appearance. On the base of some passages from Gnostic texts containing examples of docetic Chrstology, the author attempts here to trace the origin of that concept, starting with the New Testament (Pt. 1: Synoptic Gospels). In the previous part of the article (Pt. 2. 1) he analyzed such Paul’s passages as Rom. 1.3–4 and Gal. 4.4–7; in this part he deals with 1Cor 8.4–6 in order to find out whether the concept of pre-existent Jesus is present or not. The author argues in favour of the second answer. To be continued .

Alignment patterns in the Eastern varieties of modern Aramaic varieties are generally said to originate in an ergative source construction based on the so-called ‘passive’ participle qṭīl- ‘killed’ and the preposition l- where ergative person markers gradually extended to all intransitive predicates. While various source constructions have been suggested, this article demonstrates that most explanatory power and scope for the complex historical background of the alignment microvariation in Neo-Aramaic is offered by the typology of resultatives. There was instability from the beginning due to the versatile nature of resultatives and the increasing polyfunctionality of the preposition l-. This, in turn, indicates that the suggested source constructions for ergative alignment need not be mutually exclusive. Moreover, this also points to ergativity as merely one among several outcomes rather than the original source.

This article unpacks the connections between empire, piety, and pilgrimage in the early modern western Indian Ocean world by examining the history of a reliquary shrine dedicated to a qadam, or footprint relic of the Prophet Muḥammad located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Classified by the Archeological Survey of India as the ‘Tomb of Mir Abu Turab’ (ASI Monument no. N-GJ-44), the site was a qadamgāh in the Mughal period and from the late-sixteenth to the early-eighteenth centuries functioned as a place of visitation (mazār) for pilgrims eager to see the naqsh-i qadam-i sharīf (the impression of the noble foot), whose white appearance stood in stark contrast against the black stone. By examining Persian historical narratives, including one authored by the man responsible for the relic’s arrival to South Asia, this article demonstrates how relics mediated Mughal imperium, devotion to the Prophet Muḥammad, and sayyid identity in early modern Gujarat.

The similarities between Noah’s ark and the saving boat in Mesopotamian flood accounts are widely known. Likewise known are the links between Noah’s ark and the chest of Moses (Exod 2:3). However, the connections between the “chest” of Noah and the “chest” of the testimony have not hitherto drawn adequate scholarly attention. The article explores these connections on both the linguistic and the conceptual level. Moreover, it investigates their function in hypertextual links of the Genesis flood account to earlier Israelite literary works, especially the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Joshua.

Kanhwa Sŏn has often been perceived as iconoclastic and impervious to theorizing. Furthermore, its critique of “hermeneutical rigidity” and “ hwadu absolutism” point to the impossibility of a meaningful dialogue between its practitioners and scholars of Buddhism. It has even been argued that such characteristics of kanhwa Sŏn have compromised the possibility of its practice becoming adoptable in contemporary life. But kanhwa Sŏn practiced in the summer and winter Sŏn/Chan retreats has all the trappings of ritual. In an effort to build a methodological bridge, this article attempts to provide the grounds for discussing kanhwa Sŏn practices from the perspective of social science. With this in mind, this article will highlight the experiences of the practitioners in the context of ritual practice while perceiving those experiences as socially determined manifestations. The reason for this attempt is that there seems to be much similarity in the soteriological structure of kanhwa Sŏn practice with the structure of ritual practice that involves constructing and eliciting transformative experiences. Further similarities are in the motif of returning from the ritual/retreat having been transformed into a person with a new identity. By framing the practice of kanhwa Sŏn as ritual practice and experience, one can bring the discussion of kanhwa Sŏn into the wider discourses of the academic study of religion.

The allusion to Aristophanes’ Birds plays an important role in the intertextual-illustrative rhetoric of the Lucan parable of the unjust steward (Lk 16:1–8). People generally assume that good legal systems promote moral honesty and legal justice. Against this background, the Pauline idea of the presence of the law, but also its ineffectiveness in giving righteousness (Gal 3:19b; cf. 3:21), is quite difficult to explain. In order to illustrate this Pauline idea in his sequential hypertextual reworking of the Letter to the Galatians, Luke used the allusion to Aristophanes’ comedy, which presented the classical Athenian legal system as likewise ineffective against the activity of the morally corrupt legal agent, the sycophant. The Lucan unjust steward not only uses the language of the Athenian sycophant, but also engages in similar, apparently legal but morally unjust activity, thus questioning the effectiveness of the whole legal system in promoting righteousness. The reworking of the sequence of Pauline ideas explains the meaning of the enigmatic parable of the unjust steward (Lk 16:1–8).

Is Thomas Kuhn’s model of scientific revolutions in terms of paradigm shifts appropriately applied to cases of radical changes in religious outlook, and in particular conversion to faith, or loss of faith? Since this question cannot be addressed in purely a priori terms, three case studies of philosophers who have described significant changes in their own perspectives are examined. Part of the justification for such an approach is to see how changes in view seem from the first-person perspective. Although what is offered here is a very limited group of studies, each of them perforce brief, a key theme emerges: that the incommensurability between paradigms which is part of the Kuhnian model is mirrored by the shift away from atheist or humanistic perspectives, though not necessarily by loss of faith.

Habermas coined the term post-secularism to reflect a time period in which religions are given a more central part in social and political life. Even if there is more openness to religion, many religious groups would claim that Western societies are nevertheless still dominated by secularism and want to ensure that freedom of religion and belief remain protected and promoted. This article explores the recent Australian Religious Freedom Review as a case study of the social tension between freedom for and from religion to argue that we might have moved beyond a post-secular sphere in this country. In this phase, what is meant by freedom of religion has shifted from a focus in having all religious groups being able to freely practice their faith to a focus by some mainstream religions to remain free to discriminate on the basis of their faith.

This paper concerns a problem, the global pandemic COVID-19, which has influenced religious practices with respect to health protection across the Muslim world. Rapid transmission of the virus between people has become a serious challenge and a threat to the health protection of many countries. The increase in the incidence of COVID-19 in the Muslim community took place during and after the pilgrimages to Iran's Qom and as a result of the Jamaat Tabligh movement meetings. However, restrictions on religious practices have become a platform for political discussions, especially among Muslim clergy. This paper is an analysis of the religious and political situation in Muslim countries, showing the use of Islam to achieve specific goals by the authorities, even at the price of the health and life of citizens.

In 2019 alone, the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James), one of Europe’s three most significant medieval pilgrimage routes, was followed by 347,511 pilgrims from around the world. This pilgrimage route has been the subject of numerous research projects conducted by international groups of specialists in various scientific disciplines. This study presents correlations between St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine on the virtue of fortitude and the experience of Polish pilgrims on the Camino based on 50 in-depth interviews conducted in the summer of 2019 on Monte do Gozo in Santiago de Compostela. This objective was achieved using the methodology of qualitative research following Steinar Kvale’s recommendations. The transcriptions of the interviews were coded based on the classifications in the Summa Theologica by Aquinas, classified into categories, and subsequently analyzed using MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020. The virtue of fortitude is indispensable in the decision-making process and the ability to put one’s decisions into practice (Morales-Sánchez & Cabello-Medina, 2013. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(4), 717–734). One manifestation of the Camino pilgrims’ virtue of fortitude allowed them to believe that they would be more employable after they returned to their communities.

The Sanskrit Mahābhārata is considered to be a śāstra in Mādhva Vaiṣṇavism, and Madhva composed one of the earliest treatises dedicated to explaining the Mahābhārata’s deeper meaning. In doing so, he pays careful attention to the distinction between the righteous Pāṇḍavas and corrupt Kauravas—a distinction that exists in theory if not always in practice. How does Madhva demarcate the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas, and why does this matter for his own theology? Looking at two episodes that either blur or upend the demarcation of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas, the mace-battle between Bhīma and Duryodhana (9.60) and the Pāṇḍavas’ journey to heaven (17-18.3), this article shows how Madhva’s Mahābhāratatātparyanirṇaya explains key tenets of Madhva’s ontology and theology. When read carefully, each episode brings out important features of Madhva’s doctrine of devatātāratamya—the gradation of gods. Rather than simply understanding Madhva’s commentary as a theologisation or vedānticisation of the narrative, I argue that his exegesis itself develops and explains central doctrines of Dvaitavedānta, particularly tāratamya and aparokṣajñāna. Vedānticization, in this understanding then, is not simply bringing forth an interpretation of the narrative that fits one's prior philosophical commitments, but it is a process of constituting theology through the narrative.

The article investigates the development of discourses related to freedom of religion and discrimination against religious minority in current Indonesia by identifying the discourse constructions of Ahmadiyya in various texts and talks produced and disseminated by government institution and the Indonesian Council of Ulama (the MUI). This study aims to reveal these institutions’ views and perspectives on Ahmadiyya issue using various discourse strategies. The data analysed are some legal proclamations issued and personal views delivered by the officials of these two institutions. The CDA theoretical framework employed is to examine the positive-self and negative-other presentations. The finding reveals that the issue of Ahmadiyya is addressed through discourses related to Indonesian national interest and discourses related to religious matters. in these discourses, the two institutions and their officials present themselves positively and portray the Ahmadiyya sect negatively. The sect followers are negatively presented as the troublemaker, blasphemer, and the destroyer of religious harmony and social order.

As social theorists seek to understand the contemporary challenges of radical populism, we would do well to reconsider the febrile insights of the psychoanalytic social theorist Erich Fromm. It was Fromm who, at the beginning of the 1930s, conceptualized the emotional and sociological roots of a new ‘authoritarian character’ who was meek in the face of great power above and ruthless to the powerless below. It was Fromm, in the 1950s, who argued that societies, not only individuals, could be sick. This essay traces the intertwining of psychoanalytic and sociological methods that allowed Fromm to create such new ideas. At the same time, it highlights how Fromm’s sociology was hampered by an economistic Marxist approach to the institutions and culture of democratic capitalist societies. Such theoretical restriction prevented Fromm from conceptualizing how institutions like democracy, science, and psychotherapy can provide resources for widespread emotional recuperation and civil repair.

This article addresses paucity in literature on the conceptualising of the true nature of a Protestant revival. Through a literary review and document study, the article aims to compile a Protestant revival evaluation criterion (PREC) to assess protestant revivals. This was done by integrating the distinctives (characteristics) of Evangelical revivals throughout history as described by prominent scholars such as Armstrong, Cairns, Edwards, Lloyd-Jones and Sprague in general. In addition, various past and present examples and exponents of true and juxtaposing anti-revivals were investigated and beacons set for sustainable revival. From the PREC, three levels were established by which to assess revivals: individuals (micro), the church (meso) and surrounding communities (macro). For the case study, information was gleaned from multiple sources, including interviews, documents, sermons, newsletters, observations and research reports. Applying the PREC in a case study, demonstrates how it operates as a valuable tool; in this case, the revival among the Zulus in KwaSizabantu, South Africa.

The transfer of pastors is an age-old phenomenon dating from the early church as recorded in the Bible. This process was conducted in consultation with the Holy Spirit and the leaders of the Church. In the contemporary Church, the same format is used. However, what is lacking is unequal treatment given to pastors who are posted to rural areas that were not evident in the early church. This paper employed the qualitative research approach in studying rural pastoral care in three Classical Pentecostal churches in Ghana. The study findings indicate that children of rural pastors face challenges which affect their holistic development. It recommends pastors and their families should be given fair treatment in the transfer process to ensure the holistic development of their children. Keywords: Rural Pastoral Transfer, Equity, Holistic Development

In his quest for awakening, according to the traditional account the Buddha tried and discarded various ancient Indian practices as being not in themselves conducive to awakening. Nevertheless, closer inspection shows that key elements of these practices became part of the Buddhist path, a transformation that involves mindfulness in one way or another. In this way, fasting transforms into mindful eating, breath control into mindfulness of breathing, and a reformulation of an aspiration for annihilation of the self, apparently held by ancient Indian cultivators of the meditative sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, comes to be conjoined to the cultivation of mindfulness of the body. These transformations shed light on the importance and adaptability of mindfulness in early Buddhist soteriology.

2 Peter typically does not receive much attention within the study of early canon development. This article, however, focuses on the term ἀπόστολοι in 2 Pet. 3.2 and examines whether it points beyond historical followers of Jesus so as to implicitly include the written legacy produced by them or by their close associates. My inquiry consists of three components: (a) a survey of Justin Martyr’s use of ἀπόστολοι in his stock phrase ‘memoirs of the apostles’ as a roughly contemporaneous analogue to 2 Peter, (b) a study of the juxtaposition ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’ in 2 Pet. 3.2 and (c) an inquiry into 2 Peter’s literary dependence on the canonical gospels.

Is God perfect? The recent volume entitled The Question of God’s Perfection stages a conversation on that topic between mostly Jewish philosophers, theologians, and scholars of rabbinic literature. Although it is neither a work of biblical theology nor a contribution to the theological interpretation of scripture, The Question of God’s Perfection yields stimulating results for these other, intersecting projects. After briefly describing the volume’s central question and contents, the present essay situates the volume’s offerings within the state of the biblical-theological and theological-interpretive fields. In its next section, it considers—and compares— The Question of God’s Perfection with one twentieth-century theological antecedent, the Dutch theologian K.H. Miskotte. In closing, it poses questions for ongoing discussion. The Question of God’s Perfection: Jewish and Christian Essays on the God of the Bible and Talmud, edited by Yoram Hazony & Dru Johnson. Philosophy of Religion – World Religions 8. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2019. ISBN 9789004387959

Biblical theology should be grounded in a broad perspective, an Überblick, on the character of God as the main actor in biblical history. Without such a perspective, we will lose sight of what kind of agent motivates the main story-line of the Bible. If our perspective is inadequate, we will fail to recognize how God works in history, including biblical history. Biblical interpreters typically have neglected a key feature of the biblical God: God as righteous agitator for redemptive good in human lives, individually and socially. In doing so, they have failed to give an adequate portrayal of what God is doing or trying to do in history. This article corrects that neglect by acknowledging the biblical God as agitating in history for righteousness among humans as a reflection of God’s unique moral character. It explains how such agitating distinguishes God from the gods of deism and determinism, while enabling the redemptive work of this God to be seen not only in biblical history but also in everyday human life. The article relates divine agitation to the crisis of Jesus in Gethsemane in relation to the kingdom of God and to the apostle Paul on dying-and-rising with Christ.

It was almost inevitable that something as dominant as the COVID crisis of 2020–2021 would change how the Bible has been understood in mainstream political discourses. It is also unsurprising that the language associated with apocalypticism would come to the fore. Building on recent scholarship, this article looks at some of the language about ‘the apocalypse’ and apocalypticism, including that associated with Revelation and the New Testament, and how understandings of the Bible in contemporary political discourses have now been updated. The focus is primarily on England/Britain, America and New Zealand because these countries have been the object of much of the work on the reception history of the Bible in politics. This article also analyses the dominant cliches about the Bible as a source of liberalism, neoliberalism, left-leaning radicalism, and the far right. Examples include the use of apocalyptic themes in relation to QAnon and conspiracy theories, ready-made ironic language to describe lockdown, radical social transformation, and constructing political positions outside the traditional liberal consensus.

James A. Sanders, Scripture in Its Historical Contexts. Vol. I: Text, Canon, and Qumran and Scripture in Its Historical Contexts. Vol. II: Exegesis, Hermeneutics, and Theology. Edited by Craig A. Evans. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 118, 126. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018, 2019.

The Book of Daniel is an anthology that comes to us in a variety of compositional configurations distinguished in their organization by genre and chronology. Daniel’s varied compositional configurations—MT, Old Greek, Theodotion, Syriac—characterize the book as a literary exercise in divinatory wisdom that can point readers in different directions. The wisdom promoted in MT Daniel is mantic in that it is concerned with how knowledge of God’s effective reality in history can be divined (apocalyptic). In other forms of Daniel, the wisdom recommended for ancient Jews is mundane in that it is concerned with how they may conduct themselves with integrity within their own communities and relative to others (wisdom). I argue that, in the case of Daniel, the meaning of this biblical book is indicated not only in its semantic content but also through the various compositional configurations given to it during antiquity. This finding is consistent with a need for the sort of textually and compositionally pluriform Bible edition articulated by James Sanders.

Jephthah (Judges 11–12) is the eighth of the twelve charismatic/military leaders in the book of Judges. Prior to a crucial battle he vows that if he is successful and returns safely “then the one who comes out of the doors of my house to meet me … shall be offered up by me as a burnt offering to yhwh” (Judg 11:31). It is difficult to know what Jephthah means by these words. The Hebrew verb used ( ha-yotzey) in this context could mean equally “the one that comes out,” “whatever comes out,” or “whoever comes out.” In the event it is his only child, a daughter who greets him. Jephthah feels unable to revoke his vow and so appears actually to sacrifice her. This article considers how three sources address this narrative: ancient Rewritten Bibles; early as well as medieval and 18th/19th century Rabbinic commentary; and Contemporary scholarship.

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the possibility of embracing an Islamic perspective on interculturality and social justice as an underlying system of multicultural education. While western thought continues to dominate the education scholarship, advancing an alternative epistemology can ameliorate the scope of multicultural education by considering other relevant elements. In particular, interreligious relations have not been researched extensively in terms of managing cultural capital in schools. This paper argues that Islamic ethics provide a system of justice and rules of conduct that satisfy the principles of multicultural education. Design/methodology/approach Classical texts (Qu’ran and Hadith) are analyzed to explore the Islamic perspective on interculturality and social justice. While the plurality of interpretations is remarkable, the aim is to examine these texts on the basis of ethical and humanistic orientation. Findings Islamic ethics are commensurate with intercultural empathy and multicultural education. While some verses are interpreted as evidence of the religious legitimacy of enmity and hostility towards non-Muslims, they are decontextualized readings isolated from the verses’ historical contexts. Practical implications This paper proposes considering Islamic ethics as a foundation of multicultural education. Because Islam promotes social justice, teachers and students are encouraged to take action and never tolerate any act of oppression. Teachers should pay attention to conflicts that may arise from theological differences among students. Originality/value This paper offers a new perspective that has been sidelined and not considered in Modern issues. Because multicultural education recognizes the necessity of appreciating all cultures, Islam delivers a similar framework that is based on peaceful intercultural communication and social justice.

In 4Q285 frg. 7 the eschatological Branch of David defeats the Kittim (the Roman army) and puts to death the king of the Kittim (the Roman emperor). After this victory the women of Israel beat timbrels and dance, even as Miriam and the women did (Exod 15) after the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds. It is proposed that Miriam’s action reflected a custom, perhaps even inaugurated it, that is witnessed in the song of Deborah (Judges 5) and in the song of Judith (Judith 16). It is further proposed that the figure of Miriam loomed large in Israel’s sacred story—inside and outside the literature that became canon—and that her custom of timbrel, song, and dance will be observed one more time in the aftermath of the anticipated great eschatological battle.

Although there is a growing body of research on the nature and content of digital religion, we still know little about the prevalence of digital religious and spiritual practices among different populations in North America. To what extent do digital technologies play a complementary role to in-person religious and spiritual activities only, or do they also reach out to and provide important spaces for new segments of the population removed from more conventional forms of organized religion? The goal is to answer this research question and to explore the prevalence of different types of digital religion practices specifically among young adult Millennials in both the U.S. and Canada. Three contrasting hypotheses are tested: that digital religion practices are prevalent among large segments of the Millennial population and are part of a wider turn towards individual spiritualization (H1); that digital religion practices are another set of religiosity indicators showing signs of a secular transition among Millennials (H2); or that both trends are occurring in tandem, in that some Millennials are practising digital religion, mostly but not exclusively tied to in-person religious activities and socialization (H3). To test these hypotheses, we generate a series of descriptive and logit regression statistical analyses using novel and high-quality 2019 Millennial Trends Survey data from both Canada and the U.S. We find that (1) digital religion as measured in this study is a phenomenon present among many Millennials, although it is also not present among all or a vast majority of this demographic; (2) this is especially the case for more passive forms of digital religion, notably digital content consumption, compared with more active forms such as social media posting; (3) social environment does play an important role, with digital religion practices much more prevalent in the generally more religious U.S. context, compared with the generally more secular Canadian context; and (4) digital religion practices are often, but not always, tied to other in-person religious and spiritual activities among Millennials. We find support especially for our third hypothesis (H3) with these results. Consequently, we argue that we should understand the individual spiritualization and secular transition frameworks as complementary, rather than in complete opposition, regarding the prevalence of digital religion among Millennials.