Study of Religions

‘[A] valid concept of “Islam” must denote and connote all possible “Islams,” whether abstract or “real,” mental or social’ (104)... Ahmed seeks to avoid two major pitfalls: (1) making Islam into a static essence or a category within an essentialist framework – such as proscription/prescription, ‘religion’,‘civilization’, ‘culture’, ‘orthodoxy’, etc., and (2) rendering Islam into a totally incoherent concept by conceding that there are as many islams as there are communities or individuals. Ahmed’s thesis (presented in Chapter 5) is that Islam is best conceptualized as a process of meaning-making or hermeneutical engagement in which the human agent engages with the Divine Revelation granted to Muhammad in one or more of this Revelation’s hierarchical dimensions – Pre-Text, Text, and Con-Text – in order to constitute meaning for himself."

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Apollo Cunomaglos leads to a multi-disciplinary discussion of Celtic religion: from wolves to cosmology, fertility, ancestry, afterlife, rites de passage and manty more.
The epithet Cunomaglos is known from an altar at the Britanno-Roman sanctuary of Nettleton Shrub in Wiltshire. He has traditionally been interpreted as a hunting deity, as «Apollo Hound Prince», in British scholarship. But since it is certain that the ancient Celtic word cuno was used to denote both wolf and dog in this period, it seems more probable that we are dealing here with Apollo «Lord of the Wolves» similar to the Greek Apollo Lykaios. It is important to jettison the negative image that wolves still have in scholarship in order to understand the meaning of Apollo Cunomaglos. An interdisciplinary analysis of pre-Roman and Romano-Celtic iconography —as well as evidence from other cultures in addition to medieval Welsh and Irish mythology— suggests that wolves must have played a significant role in people’s religious understandings, for example in relation to fertility, nourishment, cosmology, strength, ancestry, prophecy, afterlife beliefs, rites de passage, and many more. Altogether, there emerges a certain image of Apollo Cunomaglos as potentially a powerful, even omnipotent deity, perhaps related to Apollo Maponus, Belenos, Lugus, and Vaelicus.
[ES] Resumen: Apollo Cunomaglos es conocido gracias a un altar procedente del santuario britano-romano de Nettleton Shrub, en Wiltshire  Inglaterra). En la historiografía anglosajona, ha sido tradicionalmente nterpretado como una deidad cazadora, como «Apolo, el Príncipe  azador». Sin embargo, dado que la antigua palabra céltica cuno fue tilizada en esa época tanto para aludir al lobo como al perro, parece más probable que en este caso nos encontremos ante un Apolo «Señor de los Lobos» similar al Apollo Lykaios del mundo griego. Para poder comprender el significado de Apollo Cunomaglos es necesario superar la imagen negativa que se tiene de los lobos en el ámbito académico.
Con ese propósito, este artículo plantea un análisis interdisciplinar de la iconografía prerromana y romano-céltica, de las mitologías medievales galesase irlandesas, y de evidencias de otras culturas relacionadas con el lobo, que muestra la gran importancia de ese animal en las concepciones religiosas de esas poblaciones, como, por ejemplo, en las relacionadas con la fertilidad, la nutrición, la cosmología, la fortaleza, los ancestros, la profecía, las creencias escatológicas, y los ritos de paso, entre otras. De todo ello emerge una potencial imagen de Apollo Cunomaglos como una deidad poderosa, casi omnipotente, que quizás estuvo relacionada con otros dioses como Apollo Maponus, Belenos, Lugus y Vaelicus

The idea that there has been some kind of “esoteric” National Socialism has spread far and wide, particularly since the 1960s, becoming a significant topos in contemporary religious and political discourse. Not only the mainstream and academic press, but far-right and neo-Nazi circles maintain that there has been an “esoteric SS” still operating under the sign of the so-called “Black Sun,” combatting the “forces of evil.” The symbol of the Black Sun has become particularly popular since the 1990s, and other central topoi of “esoteric neo-Nazism” have become recognizable in popular culture today. This article will re-construct the genealogy of esoteric neo-Nazism and investigate the question of the alleged “esoteric” qualities of National Socialism. It will be shown that the “esoteric” content of National Socialism is to be regarded as a later, postwar invention without a historical foundation in the Third Reich.

This Overview is from the book 'Pliny The Younger: His Words & Phrases' (Pliny As The New Testament Paul), by Roman Piso. This work details the way in which the Letters (Epistles) & Panegyricus of Pliny The Younger should be studied (in contrast to how it had been studied in the past and is still being studied currently).

Soğuk savaşın ürünü olarak ortaya çıkan internet, her şey hakkında bilgi sunan ve sayıları gün geçtikçe artan web sitelerine anında ulaşım sağlayan dünya çapındaki bilgisayar ağı olmakla beraber yirminci yüzyılın en önemli teknolojik gelişmeleri arasında yer almaktadır. Bu yeni gelişmenin etkisi her geçen gün artmaktadır. Bu etkinin nedeni internetin fonksiyonu ile ilişkilidir. İnternet sayesinde gündemden haberdar olma, bilgi alma ve görüş paylaşma, zamanın ve mekânın sınırlarını aşarak hızlı bir biçimde yapılmaktadır. Böylesi fonksiyonlara sahip olan internet, artık hayatımızın en önemli parçası olmuştur. Dahası internetin kaynaklık etmiş olduğu yeni iletişim sistemleri, insan yaşamının temel boyutlarını, zamanı ve mekânı kökten dönüştürmeye başlamıştır. Zaman ve mekân arasındaki sınır belirsizleşmiş, kültürel, tarihsel, coğrafi anlamlar değişmeye başlamış ve internet, değişimin ana manivelası haline gelmiştir.
İnternetin bir diğer özelliği de günümüzde dini veya seküler grupların kurumsal kimliklerini gözler önüne serdiği sanal mekân olmasıdır. İnternetin sunduğu tüm araçları bir araya getirme imkanıyla dini gruplar, ideoloji ve söylemlerini takipçilerine ve grubun dışındaki sempatizanlara tanıtmakta; dini grubun vizyonunu, misyonunu veya hedeflerini kamuoyu ile paylaşmaktadır. Ancak dijital ortamda varlık gösteren gruplar, bu mecraların sunduğu interaktif iletişimden ziyade geleneksel tek yönlü iletişim türünü sürdürmeyi tercih etmektedir. Son dönemde dini gruplar da interneti etkin bir biçimde kullanmaya başlamıştır. Dini gruplar; kendilerini tanıtmak, gruplarına katılımı arttırmak ve mensuplarının da kendi iç dinamiklerini pekiştirmek çerçevesinde bütün kitle iletişim araçlarını kullanmaktadırlar. Bu sayede dini grupların ideoloji ve eylemleri hem kamuoyu ile paylaşılmakta hem de dini grubun kendini konsolide etmesi sağlanmaktadır.

Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM) is a biannual, not-for-profit, peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the latest social scientific, historiographic, and ecclesiastic research on religious institutions and their practices. SHERM is dedicated to the critical and scholarly inquiry of historical and contemporary religious phenomena, both from within particular religious traditions and across cultural boundaries, so as to inform the broader socio-historical analysis of religion and its related fields of study.

In partnership with the FaithX Project, SHERM is a full, no-fee, open access academic journal, which means it publishes and publicly makes available your research without charging subscription dues or publishing fees. Whereas other open access journals still require authors to pay for making their publications available, SHERM believes in making high-quality scholarship accessible to the public while promoting the wide dissemination and visibility of your published article. Our goal is to increase the opportunity for erudite academicians to publish their work, gain a larger readership outside the confines of conventional journals, and receive citations from future researchers.

Initial Evidence was the distinctive theology that was basic to a revival movement. At least that is the culture that I caught growing up.1  It is a doctrine discussed throughout the 20th century. There have been times that the issue caused discussion within a denomination. Usually a flow of writing followed. In the Assemblies of God there has been a steady production of tracts, pamphlets, and articles on initial evidence. It will be clear that this study focuses on North American sources, particularly on material from the Assemblies of God, U.S.A.

In his famous study „Islam Observed,“ Clifford Geertz poses general critical questions for the study of religion. Taking Geertz’s critique and the question „what is Islam?“ as starting points, this paper explores problems caused by misleading dichotomies such as „great“ and „little“ traditions, „oral/literal,“ „folk/orthodoxy,“ etc. Instead of perpetuating
the idea of a „true Islam,“ concepts such as „discursive tradition,“ „frame of reference,“ and „translocalisation“ are employed in order to dissolve the particularuniversal antagonism following several recent (trans-)local studies of Islam.

This article seeks to demonstrate both the importance of expertise and scholarship in framing a religion’s claim of legitimacy in law, and how expertise can be harnessed by a religious group to gain this legitimacy. From a broad overview of the consequences of religious status in law, the article analyses the tests used to attribute the status, to show the crucial role that their application affords to experts and scholarship. It then argues that new religious movements, and Scientology, are ideal case studies to illustrate the importance of scholars and scholarship. Scientology is indeed the only major religion to have emerged in the twentieth century and is unique in that it has, over this period, gained, lost, re-gained, and grappled with ongoing challenges to its status in law. The article then illustrates these issues with an analysis of two key periods from Scientology’s history: its ultimately successful fight to gain tax-exempt status in the United States in the 1980s, and its response to modern-day challenges to this status. Both periods illustrate, in different ways, how Scientology has recognised the power of expertise and scholarship, and sought to harness it to frame its claim of legitimacy in law.

No contexto brasileiro, a graduação caracteriza a identidade profissional – e não o mestrado ou o doutorado, que formam pesquisadores(as). São estes cursos que vão fornecer as bases formais de uma profissão, sendo responsáveis pela formação de qualidade dos seus egressos. Pensando em graduados da Ciência das Religiões que irão atuar profissionalmente na sociedade, tanto licenciados quanto bacharéis, como formá-los profissionais úteis à sociedade e que tenham renumerações dignas? Nesse texto, buscamos responder à pergunta acima por meio de uma discussão curricular. Nosso objetivo nesse breve texto é mostrar como inserir uma visão eficaz de aplicação dos conhecimentos da Ciência das Religiões em várias áreas de atuação profissional na formação de cientistas das religiões, mantendo-se fiel à história dessa ciência e ao mesmo tempo conduzindo uma formação prática.

A tanulmány először – rövidebb verzióban – megjelent: FODOR, István: Nők az iszlám világban. Barankovics, 2017.07.26. Online: https://barankovics.hu/cikk/jatekon-kivul/nok-az-iszlam-vilagban. A Barankovics Online honlapon elérhető verzió közel azonos a jelen tartalommal, ugyanakkor itt kisebb kiegészítésekkel bővült az írás.: A tanulmány elején a Korán vizsgálatának egyik tudománya, az asbab al-nuzul került említésre. A 24:2-es vers kontextuális vizsgálata, illetve a paráználkodást-házasságtörést megkövezéssel szankcionáló gyakorlat történeti kialakulása több magyarázatot kapott. Illetve két újabb hivatkozás is olvasható, amelyek a következők lennének: 14. és 29-ik. Nők az iszlám világában-Muszlim nőjogi mozgalmak Az iszlámmal kapcsolatos diskurzusok egyik kedvelt témája a nők helyzete a muszlim világban. Épp a napokban keltett feltűnést a köztudottan rigid berendezkedésű Szaúd-Arábiában egy lázadással felérő videó, amely egy miniszoknyában szabad fővel sétálgató fiatal lányt mutat be. Közkeletű sztereotípia Európában, hogy a muszlim nők kiszolgáltatott helyzetben vannak, státuszuk több ponton ütközik az európai értelemben vett emberi jogi elvárásokkal. Cikkünkben a kérdéskör két aspektusát vizsgáljuk. Előbb a Korán (Qurʾān) útmutatásaiból adunk ízelítőt, majd a XXI. századi muszlim női mozgalmak helyzetét és néhány jellemzőjét mutatjuk be, amelyek legitimációja maga a vallás.

This introductory chapter sets out the rationale for the ensuing chapters and their division into different parts. It also provides an overall and comprehensive prologue to the Gramsci–Ambedkar encounter. Indeed, ‘parallels are strong and very striking for two thinkers who are otherwise so different – in political experience, philosophical background, and ideas of effective strategy’ (Jon Soske, personal communication). However, the moral fabric of their human and political commitment to Dalits/subalterns brings them very close, particularly when upholding and inspiring Gramsci’s ‘intellectual and moral reform’ and Ambedkar’s ‘social and moral consciousness of society’.

Gramsci and Ambedkar were contemporaries – both born in 1891 – and although operating in very different environments, the similarities of their strategies and political philosophy to empower subalterns/Dalits are indeed striking. Their activity as leaders, always combined with solid theoretical reflection, springs out of their own and others’ lived experience of subalternity. Both found inspiration in Marxism, both were critical of religion, but considered religion culturally and politically relevant; both assessed the presence of subalterns through social, cultural and historical critical analysis, and sought to negotiate a rightful place within the state, society and history/historiography for these ‘excluded’ individuals. For both of them, the solution would come from the effort of the subalterns themselves, as active protagonists of their own destiny, to achieve ‘consciousness’, and ‘collective will’ aided by the role of leaders/intellectuals. Their ‘holistic’ approach – which is a global critique to culture and to the structures of subalternity – enlightens the present-day ‘Dalit Question’ as a challenge posited not simply to Dalits and concerned scholars, but to societies/states and to the international community. Gramscian studies are currently flourishing in Italy and elsewhere. Although ‘Ambedkar has never really been taken seriously as a thinker in India’, (Omvedt 2006: 438), recent studies invite us to reflect on his fundamental intuition of the Untouchable subject becoming a Dalit (A. Rao 2009; Guru ed. 2009; Omvedt 2003; Zelliot 2004).

In this chapter, following a summary of Gramsci’s reception in South Asia, I briefly discuss both Gramsci’s demise and Ambedkar’s silencing, to then reaffirm the relevance of their being discussed in conjunction with each other. In conclusion, I offer a reflection proposing an introductory presentation of the articles offered in this volume.

Until 1993 there were conducted first excavations in what promised to be the site of one of the most important buildings of Petra, the stunning capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Its construction, whose initiation century BC, several changes, reconstructions and landslides along its more than five hundred years of operation. But despite this still unknown for certain functions for which it was designed and that, regardless of the construction elements, materials have been located just still less inscriptions that shed some light on a mystery that will try here exhibit various theories that enable closer to resolution.

We read with great interest the editorial by Krüger (2020) in which she provides a review of some of the cultural aspects of dissociation and trauma. We especially appreciate her call for the study of the “entire spectrum of dissociation” (p. 1) from normal to pathological. We have been working along similar lines (e.g., Maraldi et al., 2017; Maraldi et al., 2019) and would like to take the opportunity offered by Krüger to explore further the literature on possession experiences, which she mentions only briefly in her paper. Cardeña et al. (2009, p. 173) define possession trance as “a temporary alteration of consciousness, identity, and/or behavior, attributed to possession by a spiritual force or another person”. When involuntary, unwanted and incompatible with cultural or religious norms and practices, such experiences might be classified as pathological. The diagnosis of “possession trance disorder” was first proposed in the DSM-IV (APA, 1994) as a condition for further study, but in the DSM-5 (APA, 2013) pathological experiences of possession were subsumed under the dissociative identity disorder (DID) category. Pathological possession is now thought in terms of a “possession-form presentation” of DID. But the link between DID and possession trance has been contested by researchers from different countries (e.g., Delmonte et al., 2015; Maraldi et al., 2017; Van Duijl et al., 2013). Also, it is still unclear to what extent pathological possession differs from other pathological phenomena, such as possession delusions in psychosis and some of the so-called cultural syndromes (e.g., ataque de nervios, LewisFernández, 1994), which are considered by some authors as instances of dissociative phenomena (Hegeman, 2013; Ross et al., 2018). On the other hand, there are many nonpathological dissociative experiences about which we know very little, including spiritual experiences reported during religious or ritualistic practices (Alvarado, 2005; Queiroz, 2017). The DSM

19. yüzyılın sonu itibariyle başlayan Mitra kültü araştırmaları günümüze dek çok farklı yöntemlerle ele alınmıştır. Mithra kültünü araştıran ilk bilim insanı olarak kabul edilen Franz Cumont'un ortaya attığı tezler yaklaşık 50 yıl sorgulanmadan kabul edilmişse de sonraki süreçte bu teze karşı birtakım itirazlar yükselmiştir. 1950'li yıllarda Stig Wikander ile başlayan Cumont tezine dair eleştiriler, 1971 yılında yapılan Mithra Araştırmaları Kongresi ile zirve yapmıştır. Düzenlenen bu kongre sonrası Mithra araştırmalarında Cumont tezi hâkim paradigma olmaktan çıkmış ve bilim insanları bu teze alternatifler üretmeye çalışmışlardır. Roma Devleti tarih sahnesinde ilk belirdiği zamandan itibaren pagan kültürün temelleri üzerine kurulmuştur. Farklı dini sistemlere hoşgörüyle yaklaştığı bilinen ve hatta bazı araştırmalara göre Hıristiyanlık karşısında tutunamamasının en büyük sebebinin bu hoşgörü olduğu iddia edilen paganizmin Roma Devleti bünyesinde benimsenmiş olması farklı bölgelere ait çok çeşitli dini organizasyonların devlet içerisine intikal etmesine neden olmuştur. Bunun sonucunda da Roma İmparatorluğu içerisinde birçok doğu dini ve kültü kendine yer bulmuştur. Gizem dini olması bağlamında üzerinde farklı yorumların yapıldığı, kökeni ve nasıl yayıldığı konusunda tam bir konsensüsün olmadığı görülen Mithra kültü de Roma İmparatorluğu sınırları içerisinde yayılım göstermiş bir doğu gizem kültü olarak ele alınmaktadır.

Death and the afterlife are two concepts that have always gone hand in hand in African cul t11ral thought and practices as well as in the African mode of philo­sophical reflections and religious beliefs. The core meanings of these concepts, as retained in tradition and carried through the diverse cultural histories of Africa, relate to a general notion that all life, and not just human life, is commonly owned and shared by all living organisms and species.

Die iranisch-manichaischen Fragmente der Berliner Turfansammlung des 4. bis 11. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., einzigartige Selbstzeugnisse der Religion Manis, geben mit ihren wertvollen zeitgenossischen Milieuschilderungen aus dem taglichen Leben ebenso Einblick in die Gesellschaft des Iran der Sasanidenzeit. Diese Arbeit untersucht Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen den Sozialterminologien der mitteliranischen Manichaica und der nichtmanichaischen iranischen Quellen, wie den sasanidischen Inschriften und der Pahlavi-Literatur. Dafur werden in sechs Hauptkapiteln ausgewahlte "Problemworter" sozialen Inhalts (azad, bannag/bandag, i'koh/iskoh, tuwan/tawag, wuzurg, wispuhr) sowie weitere Syn- und Antonyme hinsichtlich ihrer Etymologie, semantischen Entwicklung und Wechselbeziehungen untereinander sowie ihrer Verwendung im sozialen, didaktisch-moralischen, religiosen und allgemeinsprachlichen Kontext analysiert. Damit wird sowohl ein Beitrag zur Sozialgeschichte Irans als auch zur Problematik der Anpassung manichaischer Terminologie an das jeweilige Missionsgebiet geleistet.

Η παρούσα μελέτη επιδιώκει να «ανακρίνει» τις θεωρίες που αναπτύ-χθηκαν στον ακαδημαϊκό χώρο για την επιστημονική μελέτη της θρησκείας, αλλά και να αναδείξει νέους τρόπους και μεθόδους μελέτης και ανάλυσης του θρησκευτικού φαινομένου. Τα θέματα που απασχολούν το βιβλίο αφορούν στην επιστημονική μελέτη της θρησκείας και τη διατήρηση του ενδιαφέροντος για το ακαδημαϊκό μάθημα της μελέτης της θρησκείας, με σκοπό την ώθηση που απαιτείται για την ανάπτυξη νέων ιδεών. Ιδιαίτερα, δίνεται έμφαση στην εξέταση της μεθοδολογίας και της θεωρίας που αναπτύχθηκε από το παρελθόν μέχρι σήμερα γύρω από το αντικείμενο της μελέτης της θρησκείας, ενώ παράλληλα προκρίνεται πως η προτιμότερη λύση για τον ιστορικό της θρησκείας είναι η αναλογική σύγκριση και προσέγγιση, που μπορεί να προσφέρει νέες κατηγορίες μελέτης και ταξινόμησης γύρω από το θέμα «θρησκεία». Επίσης, παρουσιάζονται οι «θρησκείες του κόσμου» και συγκεκριμένα η Κινεζική θρησκεία, ο Ινδοϊσμός, ο Ιουδαϊσμός, ο Βουδισμός, η Ιαπωνική θρησκεία και το Ισλάμ, ενώ αφιερώνονται ξεχωριστές ενότητες για τις λεγόμενες «νέες θρησκείες» και «θρησκείες των παραδοσιακών λαών». Κάθε θρησκεία παρουσιάζεται σύμφωνα με τις αρχές της Ιστορίας των Θρησκειών, ενώ παράλληλα επιδιώκεται η ανάλυση όρων, διδασκαλιών και κεντρικών εννοιών μέσα από την παρουσίαση χρονολογικών πινάκων για την καλύτερη ενημέρωση του αναγνωστικού κοινού.