Daan F. Oostveen works as postdoctoral researcher and as a lecturer at Utrecht University. Currently, he works on the emergence of the new humanities together with prof. Rosi Braidotti. He finished his PhD at VU Amsterdam and Renmin University Beijing on multiple religious belonging. He holds a degree in philosophy and a degree in comparative literature from the University of Ghent in Belgium. His other interest include French critical theory, comparative philosophy, Daoism and new materialism.
Towards a New Materialism in Psychedelic Studies, 2023
We are currently living through a period of ‘psychedelic renaissance’,
with an increased interest... more We are currently living through a period of ‘psychedelic renaissance’, with an increased interest, both in clinical research and in society at large, in the use of psychedelic substances such as LSD, psylocybin, DMT and mescaline. This interest, however, has recently led to an increased influx of venture capital and a fast emerging psychedelic start-up ecosystem. In this article, I will discuss the metaphysical presuppositions of this psychedelic renaissance, and examine how these constitute the ‘pitfalls’ of a psychedelics ideology. I will argue in favour of a new materialism, by and large inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, as a more suitable metaphysical framework to understand psychedelics. New materialism implies both a monistic as well as a political framework, in which the challenges of cognitive capitalism vis-à-vis the psychedelic renaissance can be framed more accurately.
The phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is studied from different perspectives, each of wh... more The phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is studied from different perspectives, each of which reveals a different understanding of religion, religious diversity and religious belonging. This shows that the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is challenging the applicability of these central notions in academic enquiry about religion. In this article, I present the different perspectives on multiple religious belonging in theology of religions and show how the understanding of some central scholarly notions is different. In Christian theology, the debate on multiple religious belonging is conducted between particularists, who focus on the uniqueness of religious traditions, and pluralists, who focus on the shared religious core of religious traditions. Both positions are criticized by feminist and post-colonial theologians. They believe that both particularists and pluralists focus too strongly on religious traditions and the boundaries between them. I argue that the hermeneutic study of multiple religious belonging could benefit from a more open understanding of religious traditions and religious boundaries, as proposed by these feminist and post-colonial scholars. In order to achieve this goal we could also benefit from a more intercultural approach to multiple religious belonging in order to understand religious belonging in a non-exclusive way.
In this article I briefly survey the meaning of 'religion' in the context of multiple religious b... more In this article I briefly survey the meaning of 'religion' in the context of multiple religious belonging and the consequences of the so-called deconstruction of religion to it. I argue that we can distinguish three hermeneutics on religion and religious diversity in theology and religious studies: a hermeneutics of multiple religions, a hermeneutics of hybrid religiosity and a hermeneutics of deconstruction. Both a hermeneutics of hybrid religiosity and a hermeneutics of deconstruction challenge the common understanding of multiple religious belonging as belonging to multiple religious traditions. Following Wouter Hanegraaff and Paul Hedges, I will argue that the deconstruction of religion could make us aware that the idea of religious traditions are ultimately reified imaginative formations, which give rise to the so-called 'World Religions' paradigm. Following from this, we can learn how the imagination of multiple religions to which an individual can belong is always in interaction with the imagination of a hybrid or dynamic religious belonging.
This article explores the hermeneutical challenges to understand religious belonging and religiou... more This article explores the hermeneutical challenges to understand religious belonging and religious identity in the East Asian context. In East Asia, religious identities have not always been as exclusively delineated, as is the case in Western models of religious diversity, for example in the so-called World Religions paradigm. Various theoretical frameworks are discussed in religious studies, sociology and anthropology of religion in China and East Asia, to acquire a better understanding of religious belonging. It is observed that two hermeneutical frameworks are used by scholars to discuss religious diversity: a hermeneutics of multiple religions and a hermeneutics of religiosity. The former analyses "religious belonging" as a "belonging to religious traditions". In the latter, "religious belonging" is understood as transcending particular religious traditions. It is argued that we need to take another look at the philosophical concept of "multiplicity" to understand religious diversity and religious belonging. We can use the Deleuzian concepts of "rhizome" and "assemblage" to describe religious belongings in East Asia specifically and also religion in general. A rhizomatic thinking about religion enables us to reimagine the concept of religious belonging as rhizomatic belonging, and also, as is argued by Haiyan Lee and Mayfair Yang, make it possible to subvert power structures inherent to religion.
This article looks at the Tibetan Buddhism revitalization in China in particular, in Kham Tibet, ... more This article looks at the Tibetan Buddhism revitalization in China in particular, in Kham Tibet, and the way how it was both made possible and obstructed by the Chinese state. As a case, we look at the Yachen Gar monastery in the West of Sichuan. The Yachen Gar monastery became the largest Buddhist university in China in the past decades, but recently, reports of the destruction of large parts of the Buddhist encampment have emerged. This article is based on my observations during my field trip in late 2018, just before this destruction took place. I will use my conceptual framework of rhizomatic religion, which I developed in an earlier article, to show how Yachen Gar, rather than the locus of a "world religion", is rather an expression of rhizomatic religion, which is native to the Tibetan highlands in Kham Tibet. This rhizomatic religion could emerge because Yachen is situated both on the edges of Tibet proper, and on the edges of Han Chinese culture, therefore occupying an interstitial space. As has been observed before, Yachen emerges as a process which is the result of the revival of Nyingmapa Tibetan Buddhist culture, as a negotiation between the Tibetan communities and the Chinese state.
This dissertation explores the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging, the phenomenon of peop... more This dissertation explores the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging, the phenomenon of people in Western countries who combine elements from multiple religious traditions, as it has come to be known in theological scholarship. This phenomenon can be conceptually distinguished in three types: hard multiple religious belonging, medium multiple religious belonging and soft multiple religious belonging. The first refers to individuals who identify with two religious traditions. The second refers to individuals who identify with only one religious tradition, but also engage in practices from other religious traditions. The third refers to individuals who do not identify with any religious tradition in particular, but practice religion transversally. The research question is formulated as follows: How does the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging challenge existing interpretations of religious belonging and religious diversity, what are the historical backgrounds of these existing interpretations, and how can an cross-cultural comparison with Chinese approaches to religious belonging and religious diversity lead to a new hermeneutic of religious belonging and religious diversity that allows a fruitful engagement with multiple religious belonging? In the first chapter I discuss the history and the discourse of “multiple religious belonging” as it has developed in theology. I analyse that in theology two positions are most commonly expressed in favour of multiple religious belonging: a particularistic position, which emphasis the own religious tradition in engaging with multiplicity, and a particularistic positions, which emphasizes the equality of religious traditions and looks at it from a perspective outside any particular tradition. I also discuss cognate phenomena in social sciences; though not called “multiple religious belonging”, religious hybridity is also a widely studied phenomenon in social sciences. I conclude that there are two hermeneutics running next to each other: a hermeneutics of religions, which emphasizes distinct religious traditions, and a hermeneutics of religiosity, which emphasizes religiosity as an inherently multiple phenomenon. In the second chapter I use this distinction to look at the three constituting concepts of multiple religious belonging: multiplicity, religion, and belonging. The concept of the multiple can be distinguished between a “spatial” multiplicity, which understands religions as bounded off spatial areas, of a “temporal” multiplicity, which understands the multiplicity of religion as an infinite process, without putting importance of faith boundaries. The concept of religion has developed in the study of religion to come to refer to “world religions”, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam… But the concept of religion also refers to something which is beyond religious traditions, for example a “religious truth” or “ultimate meaning”. Belonging can refer to “possession”, “membership”, or “desire” (longing). Normally, the second definition is emphasized in “multiple religious belonging”, but I conclude that the understanding of belonging as “longing” is more appropriate to understand multiple religious belonging. In the third chapter, I compare Chinese understandings of religious diversity with multiple religious belonging. In China, religious traditions are not bounded off as faith communities with membership. Religious traditions can better be understood as complementary repositories of rituals, with different functions. Furthermore, the concept of “religion” has been absent for Chinese philosophy until very recently. This shows that Chinese culture has been more hybrid in understanding cultural multiplicities. In the fourth chapter, I will develop the concept of “rhizomatic belonging”, based on these insights from earlier chapters and argue that this concept is a more fruitful way to approach the belonging of multiple religious belonging. The concept of the rhizome, as it has been coined by Deleuze and Guattari, expresses the inherent multiplicity and interconnectedness of an infinite, temporal, multiplicity. Individuals with a “multiple religious belonging”, do not belong to “multiple religions”, nor to a unified religious truth beyond religious traditions, but to an infinite flux and a specific network of religious elements that they have come to know in their lives. Multiple religious belonging has challenged the scholar of religion to engage on a deeper level with the question what “the multiple” means in the context of religious belonging. The answer to this question is: rhizomatic belonging. Rhizomatic belonging can help us understand religious associations which are neither limited to a “religion”, nor a belonging to “everything”, nor a belonging that is simply “floating”. Rhizomatic belonging describes the specific connectedness of any individual in an infinitely diverse religious environment.
This chapter gives an overview of the concept of energy from a transcul-tural perspective. Often,... more This chapter gives an overview of the concept of energy from a transcul-tural perspective. Often, energy is only approached by means of the stipulative definition as used in science. This usage disregards the specific philosophical origins of the concept. In the comparative philosophy of Ulrich Libbrecht, the concept of energy is used as a comparative category, which has related concepts in each of the various ideal types of worldviews-the Greek, the Indian, and the Chinese-his comparative model describes. By informing ourselves of particularly Buddhist and Chinese perspectives on energy and ethics, we can transform and expand our understanding of energy, in order to increase its explanatory power, with regard to contemporary questions of energy justice. This includes a posthuman approach towards it.
Multiple religious belonging (MRB) has recently gained a lot of attention as a new way of approac... more Multiple religious belonging (MRB) has recently gained a lot of attention as a new way of approaching hybrid religiosity. This topic has been approached from a wide variety of different academic disciplines, including theology, sociology, anthropology and religious and cultural studies. These disciplines often treat multiple religious belonging in a variety of ways that are not always compatible with one another. This prompts a number of questions. How do different disciplines address the phenomenon? In what ways do they talk about MRB? What are the main differences in their approaches? How can we come to a way of speaking about multiple religious belonging that captures the many facets of the phenomenon? How does multiple religious belonging transform concepts like ‘religion’, ‘multiplicity’ and ‘belonging’? My paper will outline some hermeneutic explorations in the field to arrive at new ways of under-standing and speaking about MRB, that capture the richness of hybrid religiosity.
Meditation and the political are often seen as two completely distinct fields of interest. Howeve... more Meditation and the political are often seen as two completely distinct fields of interest. However, it is more and more often assumed that religion and politics are in fact much related. Is meditation also political? In this essay, I explore how different understandings of meditation (mindfulness, vipassana and zen) relate to the political.
Towards a New Materialism in Psychedelic Studies, 2023
We are currently living through a period of ‘psychedelic renaissance’,
with an increased interest... more We are currently living through a period of ‘psychedelic renaissance’, with an increased interest, both in clinical research and in society at large, in the use of psychedelic substances such as LSD, psylocybin, DMT and mescaline. This interest, however, has recently led to an increased influx of venture capital and a fast emerging psychedelic start-up ecosystem. In this article, I will discuss the metaphysical presuppositions of this psychedelic renaissance, and examine how these constitute the ‘pitfalls’ of a psychedelics ideology. I will argue in favour of a new materialism, by and large inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, as a more suitable metaphysical framework to understand psychedelics. New materialism implies both a monistic as well as a political framework, in which the challenges of cognitive capitalism vis-à-vis the psychedelic renaissance can be framed more accurately.
The phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is studied from different perspectives, each of wh... more The phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is studied from different perspectives, each of which reveals a different understanding of religion, religious diversity and religious belonging. This shows that the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging is challenging the applicability of these central notions in academic enquiry about religion. In this article, I present the different perspectives on multiple religious belonging in theology of religions and show how the understanding of some central scholarly notions is different. In Christian theology, the debate on multiple religious belonging is conducted between particularists, who focus on the uniqueness of religious traditions, and pluralists, who focus on the shared religious core of religious traditions. Both positions are criticized by feminist and post-colonial theologians. They believe that both particularists and pluralists focus too strongly on religious traditions and the boundaries between them. I argue that the hermeneutic study of multiple religious belonging could benefit from a more open understanding of religious traditions and religious boundaries, as proposed by these feminist and post-colonial scholars. In order to achieve this goal we could also benefit from a more intercultural approach to multiple religious belonging in order to understand religious belonging in a non-exclusive way.
In this article I briefly survey the meaning of 'religion' in the context of multiple religious b... more In this article I briefly survey the meaning of 'religion' in the context of multiple religious belonging and the consequences of the so-called deconstruction of religion to it. I argue that we can distinguish three hermeneutics on religion and religious diversity in theology and religious studies: a hermeneutics of multiple religions, a hermeneutics of hybrid religiosity and a hermeneutics of deconstruction. Both a hermeneutics of hybrid religiosity and a hermeneutics of deconstruction challenge the common understanding of multiple religious belonging as belonging to multiple religious traditions. Following Wouter Hanegraaff and Paul Hedges, I will argue that the deconstruction of religion could make us aware that the idea of religious traditions are ultimately reified imaginative formations, which give rise to the so-called 'World Religions' paradigm. Following from this, we can learn how the imagination of multiple religions to which an individual can belong is always in interaction with the imagination of a hybrid or dynamic religious belonging.
This article explores the hermeneutical challenges to understand religious belonging and religiou... more This article explores the hermeneutical challenges to understand religious belonging and religious identity in the East Asian context. In East Asia, religious identities have not always been as exclusively delineated, as is the case in Western models of religious diversity, for example in the so-called World Religions paradigm. Various theoretical frameworks are discussed in religious studies, sociology and anthropology of religion in China and East Asia, to acquire a better understanding of religious belonging. It is observed that two hermeneutical frameworks are used by scholars to discuss religious diversity: a hermeneutics of multiple religions and a hermeneutics of religiosity. The former analyses "religious belonging" as a "belonging to religious traditions". In the latter, "religious belonging" is understood as transcending particular religious traditions. It is argued that we need to take another look at the philosophical concept of "multiplicity" to understand religious diversity and religious belonging. We can use the Deleuzian concepts of "rhizome" and "assemblage" to describe religious belongings in East Asia specifically and also religion in general. A rhizomatic thinking about religion enables us to reimagine the concept of religious belonging as rhizomatic belonging, and also, as is argued by Haiyan Lee and Mayfair Yang, make it possible to subvert power structures inherent to religion.
This article looks at the Tibetan Buddhism revitalization in China in particular, in Kham Tibet, ... more This article looks at the Tibetan Buddhism revitalization in China in particular, in Kham Tibet, and the way how it was both made possible and obstructed by the Chinese state. As a case, we look at the Yachen Gar monastery in the West of Sichuan. The Yachen Gar monastery became the largest Buddhist university in China in the past decades, but recently, reports of the destruction of large parts of the Buddhist encampment have emerged. This article is based on my observations during my field trip in late 2018, just before this destruction took place. I will use my conceptual framework of rhizomatic religion, which I developed in an earlier article, to show how Yachen Gar, rather than the locus of a "world religion", is rather an expression of rhizomatic religion, which is native to the Tibetan highlands in Kham Tibet. This rhizomatic religion could emerge because Yachen is situated both on the edges of Tibet proper, and on the edges of Han Chinese culture, therefore occupying an interstitial space. As has been observed before, Yachen emerges as a process which is the result of the revival of Nyingmapa Tibetan Buddhist culture, as a negotiation between the Tibetan communities and the Chinese state.
This dissertation explores the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging, the phenomenon of peop... more This dissertation explores the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging, the phenomenon of people in Western countries who combine elements from multiple religious traditions, as it has come to be known in theological scholarship. This phenomenon can be conceptually distinguished in three types: hard multiple religious belonging, medium multiple religious belonging and soft multiple religious belonging. The first refers to individuals who identify with two religious traditions. The second refers to individuals who identify with only one religious tradition, but also engage in practices from other religious traditions. The third refers to individuals who do not identify with any religious tradition in particular, but practice religion transversally. The research question is formulated as follows: How does the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging challenge existing interpretations of religious belonging and religious diversity, what are the historical backgrounds of these existing interpretations, and how can an cross-cultural comparison with Chinese approaches to religious belonging and religious diversity lead to a new hermeneutic of religious belonging and religious diversity that allows a fruitful engagement with multiple religious belonging? In the first chapter I discuss the history and the discourse of “multiple religious belonging” as it has developed in theology. I analyse that in theology two positions are most commonly expressed in favour of multiple religious belonging: a particularistic position, which emphasis the own religious tradition in engaging with multiplicity, and a particularistic positions, which emphasizes the equality of religious traditions and looks at it from a perspective outside any particular tradition. I also discuss cognate phenomena in social sciences; though not called “multiple religious belonging”, religious hybridity is also a widely studied phenomenon in social sciences. I conclude that there are two hermeneutics running next to each other: a hermeneutics of religions, which emphasizes distinct religious traditions, and a hermeneutics of religiosity, which emphasizes religiosity as an inherently multiple phenomenon. In the second chapter I use this distinction to look at the three constituting concepts of multiple religious belonging: multiplicity, religion, and belonging. The concept of the multiple can be distinguished between a “spatial” multiplicity, which understands religions as bounded off spatial areas, of a “temporal” multiplicity, which understands the multiplicity of religion as an infinite process, without putting importance of faith boundaries. The concept of religion has developed in the study of religion to come to refer to “world religions”, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam… But the concept of religion also refers to something which is beyond religious traditions, for example a “religious truth” or “ultimate meaning”. Belonging can refer to “possession”, “membership”, or “desire” (longing). Normally, the second definition is emphasized in “multiple religious belonging”, but I conclude that the understanding of belonging as “longing” is more appropriate to understand multiple religious belonging. In the third chapter, I compare Chinese understandings of religious diversity with multiple religious belonging. In China, religious traditions are not bounded off as faith communities with membership. Religious traditions can better be understood as complementary repositories of rituals, with different functions. Furthermore, the concept of “religion” has been absent for Chinese philosophy until very recently. This shows that Chinese culture has been more hybrid in understanding cultural multiplicities. In the fourth chapter, I will develop the concept of “rhizomatic belonging”, based on these insights from earlier chapters and argue that this concept is a more fruitful way to approach the belonging of multiple religious belonging. The concept of the rhizome, as it has been coined by Deleuze and Guattari, expresses the inherent multiplicity and interconnectedness of an infinite, temporal, multiplicity. Individuals with a “multiple religious belonging”, do not belong to “multiple religions”, nor to a unified religious truth beyond religious traditions, but to an infinite flux and a specific network of religious elements that they have come to know in their lives. Multiple religious belonging has challenged the scholar of religion to engage on a deeper level with the question what “the multiple” means in the context of religious belonging. The answer to this question is: rhizomatic belonging. Rhizomatic belonging can help us understand religious associations which are neither limited to a “religion”, nor a belonging to “everything”, nor a belonging that is simply “floating”. Rhizomatic belonging describes the specific connectedness of any individual in an infinitely diverse religious environment.
This chapter gives an overview of the concept of energy from a transcul-tural perspective. Often,... more This chapter gives an overview of the concept of energy from a transcul-tural perspective. Often, energy is only approached by means of the stipulative definition as used in science. This usage disregards the specific philosophical origins of the concept. In the comparative philosophy of Ulrich Libbrecht, the concept of energy is used as a comparative category, which has related concepts in each of the various ideal types of worldviews-the Greek, the Indian, and the Chinese-his comparative model describes. By informing ourselves of particularly Buddhist and Chinese perspectives on energy and ethics, we can transform and expand our understanding of energy, in order to increase its explanatory power, with regard to contemporary questions of energy justice. This includes a posthuman approach towards it.
Multiple religious belonging (MRB) has recently gained a lot of attention as a new way of approac... more Multiple religious belonging (MRB) has recently gained a lot of attention as a new way of approaching hybrid religiosity. This topic has been approached from a wide variety of different academic disciplines, including theology, sociology, anthropology and religious and cultural studies. These disciplines often treat multiple religious belonging in a variety of ways that are not always compatible with one another. This prompts a number of questions. How do different disciplines address the phenomenon? In what ways do they talk about MRB? What are the main differences in their approaches? How can we come to a way of speaking about multiple religious belonging that captures the many facets of the phenomenon? How does multiple religious belonging transform concepts like ‘religion’, ‘multiplicity’ and ‘belonging’? My paper will outline some hermeneutic explorations in the field to arrive at new ways of under-standing and speaking about MRB, that capture the richness of hybrid religiosity.
Meditation and the political are often seen as two completely distinct fields of interest. Howeve... more Meditation and the political are often seen as two completely distinct fields of interest. However, it is more and more often assumed that religion and politics are in fact much related. Is meditation also political? In this essay, I explore how different understandings of meditation (mindfulness, vipassana and zen) relate to the political.
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with an increased interest, both in clinical research and in society at
large, in the use of psychedelic substances such as LSD, psylocybin,
DMT and mescaline. This interest, however, has recently led to an
increased influx of venture capital and a fast emerging psychedelic
start-up ecosystem. In this article, I will discuss the metaphysical
presuppositions of this psychedelic renaissance, and examine how these
constitute the ‘pitfalls’ of a psychedelics ideology. I will argue in favour
of a new materialism, by and large inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, as a
more suitable metaphysical framework to understand psychedelics. New
materialism implies both a monistic as well as a political framework,
in which the challenges of cognitive capitalism vis-à-vis the psychedelic
renaissance can be framed more accurately.
with an increased interest, both in clinical research and in society at
large, in the use of psychedelic substances such as LSD, psylocybin,
DMT and mescaline. This interest, however, has recently led to an
increased influx of venture capital and a fast emerging psychedelic
start-up ecosystem. In this article, I will discuss the metaphysical
presuppositions of this psychedelic renaissance, and examine how these
constitute the ‘pitfalls’ of a psychedelics ideology. I will argue in favour
of a new materialism, by and large inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, as a
more suitable metaphysical framework to understand psychedelics. New
materialism implies both a monistic as well as a political framework,
in which the challenges of cognitive capitalism vis-à-vis the psychedelic
renaissance can be framed more accurately.