Approaching Religion is an academic open access journal published by the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture in Åbo, Finland.
The license of the published metadata is Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
This article intends to contribute to the understanding of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The author studies the entry, which is found in all the Gospels, in its Jewish context. The author argues that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on an ass is to be understood as a prophetic sign which was primarily meant to convey a message to the Jews.
Copyright (c) 2014 Juho Sankamo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This is the editorial for the special issue 'Pentecostalism around the Baltic Sea'.
Copyright (c) 2015 Tuija Hovi, Ruth Illman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Secular and Religious Environmentalism in Contemporary Turkey
Turkish environmentalism is gaining ground but has not yet become a serious source of influence in society. The environmental movements have long been held as left wing politics and less religious, but today environmental awreness is also reaching the religious establishment. This article presents some of the secular and religious environmental currents in contemporary Turkey based on fieldwork mainly conducted in 2011. The main research questions are: who are the central environmental actors in Turkey, are there differences ragarding ideology and way of working between the secular and reigious field, and why there is no strong environmental scene in Turkey?
Copyright (c) 2014 Laura Wickström https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Remaking the City: Archaeological Projects of Political Import in Jerusalem's Old City and in the Village of Silwan
Since the mid-90s, archaeology has been a powerful tool for changing landscape and narrative in the Old City of Jerusalem and the village of Silwan – the "Historic Basin of Jerusalem". As archaeological excavations relate directly to the appropriation of land and the interpretation of the past, they are intimately tied to the Israeli-Palestinian political conflict in Jerusalem.Archaeological excavations are tied to the political conflict in Jerusalem from two distinct aspects: one is the appropriation of land to be excavated, which can be interpreted as a means of control over a certain place or area. The second is the focus on the past, which can be seen as an instrument for appropriating the past to one particular group and its narrative.Located at the northern entrance to the Palestinian village of Silwan and just a few dozen meters from the Old City Walls and the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount, the Givati Parking Lot archaeological site is the future location of a tourist center known as the "Kedem Center”. The complex is expected to be joined with the "City of David" archaeological park and the Western Wall plaza via existing underground spaces and tunnels that will be dug out between them. If the current plans are carried out, the building will have a significant impact on the landscape between the Old City and Silwan, and on the way in which this area is perceived.In the area of the Old City and the village of Silwan are a number of ancient underground complexes that have been studied during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. In recent years, new excavations have exposed these complexes and opened them for the public. The underground trails allow visitors to avoid the need to confront the present (mainly Palestinian Muslim) reality of Jerusalem. Instead, they create a visiting experience in a parallel, imagined, Jerusalem: the city of the Kingdom of Judah and the Second Temple period. In the Israeli narrative these are the most meaningful periods for the formation of Israeli identity and the connection of the Jewish people to the land.
Copyright (c) 2014 Anna Veeder, Yonathan Mizrachi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Strategic Engagement and Religious Peace-building: a case study of religious peace work in Jerusalem
This article argues for the importance of a dialogue for strategic engagement and presents an analytical approach to it with reference to three different peacebuilding strategies in terms of conflict resolution theories. As a case study example, the article presents three religious organizations engaged in peacebuilding in Jerusalem and explores the different strategies utilized by them. The article further argues that each single strategy possesses a danger of going wrong, at the same time as each single strategy is a vital component as part of a parallel process along with the others – to achieve the common goal of conflict transformation.
Copyright (c) 2014 Yvonne Wang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Arab revolts and 'Civil State': a new term for old conflicts between Islamism and secularism
The Arab revolts that erupted in late 2010, forcing from power the rulers of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and dragging Syria through a ferocious civil war, reactivated the public debate on government in Islamic countries. In all those countries, after removing the authoritarian regimes (or fighting against them), the political arena saw a division into two main camps: Islamic parties and secularists; both claiming to stand for democracy. Within the political discourse of both sides a new concept began to play a pivotal role: that of the ’civil state’ – dawla madaniyya – a term which, however, renders different semantic interpretations according to the political actors involved, meaning both ‘no military or theocratic (but Islamic) State’, and ‘secular State’. We’ll especially analyse the usage of the term ‘dawla madaniyya’ in Tunisia and Egypt since the beginning of the Arab revolts and up until 2014 and, for the same time period, the political practices of Islamist and secularist parties (government experiences, constituent assemblies) focusing on the effectiveness of the dawla madaniyya paradigm for building a democratic state.
Copyright (c) 2014 Barbara De Poli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Hezbollah's Military Intervention in Syria: political choice or religious obligation?
Hezbollah has been an important political and military actor in Lebanon and the Middle East since the mid-1980s. Its popularity grew especially after successfully deterring the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. With the emergence of the so-called Arab Spring, however, the party’s popularity declined for many reasons. One of these was its military intervention in Syria on the side of the Syrian government. This event has been interpreted in various ways, sometimes explaining it as religiously-motivated decision, due to Hezbollah’s strong affiliation to Shia Islam. This empirical research finds that, on the contrary, Hezbollah’s intervention is politically rather than religiously motivated. The data presented here shows that Hezbollah politicizes certain aspects of the religious sensitivities in the region in order to mobilize troops, yet, a study of its military activities inside Syria indicates that Hezbollah actually follows its political and geostrategic interests.
Copyright (c) 2014 Armenak Tokmajyan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Islamic Feminism: transnational and national reflections
This article focuses on contemporary interpretive knowledge projects that engage critically with Islamic religious sciences, and which are driven by the question of gender justice. These projects, which have been loosely termed as Islamic Feminism, are undertaken by Muslim women scholars from different countries who are committed to their religious faith and who are working towards the production of alternative, gender-sensitive religious knowledge. The paper has three aims: 1) to review the contestations about the definition, categorization, goals, and significance of what has been termed Islamic feminism, 2) to provide an alternative description of these knowledge projects and identify some hermeneutical characteristics that link them and which perhaps could be the basis for delineating them as a new field of knowledge, 3) to map out the trajectory of building new religion-based feminist knowledge in Egypt, shedding light on light on current knowledge projects that can be labelled as Islamic feminism.
Copyright (c) 2014 Mulki Al-Sharmani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Jesus’ antagonistic encounters with the Pharisees serve traditionally as a basis for the poor relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The conflict stories epitomized by Jesus’ parables have been assessed as descriptions of how he either justifiably revealed his adversaries’ falseness or falsely defamed them. These stories are used to justify later religious conflicts. I shall argue that the traditional anti-Pharisaic interpretations of Jesus’ parables have an inadequate basis in the actual stories. Instead, they are due to two axiomatic perspectives that dominate the interpretation: ill-fitting allegorical explanations and/or the search for some historical context. Both approaches have resulted in manipulating the parables, either by curtailing them or by importing into them information of which their actual audience(s) were unaware.
Copyright (c) 2014 Lauri Thuren https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A Sacred Landscape: an enquiry into the 'cubas' of southern Portugal
The purpose of this article is to study cubas – small architectural structures known for their whitewash-painted domes – and specifically, those located in the kûra of Beja in Portugal. Although we can pinpoint the existence of many of these buildings in the Beja territorial area, many questions remain about them, such as: What was the purpose of the cubas-? When were they built? What is their origin?In order to try and answer these questions, I will be following two methods of analysis. First, I will focus onthe correlation that exists between these buildings and the landscape in which they are located. This can shed some light on the rationale behind their construction and the purpose of this type of structure.Secondly, I willanalyse the buildings themselves – with special attention being given to metric and structural analysis – in order- to clarify the period in which they were constructed and the origin of their architectural typology.By means of this project I also aim to raise awareness, both within the academic community and amongst political decision-makers of the existence of these buildings and their importance for an understanding of Iberian-Islamic culture. Perhaps this will eventually inspire political action that will lead to the development of policies to ensure the preservation of this important part of our architectural and cultural heritage.
Copyright (c) 2014 Luís Ferro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
In the Footsteps of Bagira: ethnicity, archaeology, and ‘Iron I ethnic Israel’
This article has two aims. The first is to show that the search for ethnicity in archaeology is dependent on the way ethnicity is defined and on written sources. The second is to review studies of Iron Age I ‘ethnic Israel’. There is an ongoing, heated debate between ‘maximalists’ and ‘minimalists’, trying to prove or refute such identity. Which side in this debate is right?
Copyright (c) 2014 Raz Kletter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Concord, Conflict and Co-Existence: religion and society in the Middle East and North Africa
This is the editorial for the special issue 'Concord, Conflict and Co-existence: Religion and Society in the Middle East and North Africa'.
Copyright (c) 2014 Ari Kerkkänen, Ruth Illman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion: The position and meaning of Mari worldview in the current context
Vernacular religion connected with the clan was expected to adapt in the context of globalisation and the vanishing ideals of traditional (tribal) societies. But at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries a revival of European ‘paganism’ has appeared. A return to vernacular beliefs is not only happening in the mass religious mind of some Eastern European and Asian people, but also in the romantic mythologemes which are being created by national elites. Lithuanians, who were Christianised in the fourteenth century – the last nation in the Baltic region to undergo this process – recall their heathen roots; Ukrainians revive their rodnoverie – indigenous beliefs – in an attempt to resist the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. Apart from this there are other pre-Christian faith organisations in Latvia, Estonia, Germany and England. The traditions of the pre-Christian societies attract people through their apparent proximity to communal peasant culture. Followers of some of these beliefs are interested in popularising Viking mythology. The activities of druids and adherents of the Northern European Asatru religion revive ancient festivals and ceremonies. The popularisation of these movements can be seen as an attempt to resist an encroachment of the modern, globalised, urbane society.
Orthodox Eastern Church, Russian, Pomestnyĭ sobor
Copyright (c) 2014 Tatiana Alybina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Political Parties and the Production of Islam-Secularism Cleavage in Turkey
This study demonstrates how profoundly Turkey's main social clevage –Islam versus Secularism – is produced and reproduced by political parties in their attempts to form coherent sociopolitical bloc as a basis of mass support. The main purpose is to challenge the paradigm which understands social cleavages to be part of a ‘social structure’ that exists prior to political articulations. According to this standard perspective, social cleavages create the demand for political parties.
Copyright (c) 2014 Toni Alaranta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Vernacular Religion, Contemporary Spirituality and Emergent Identities: Lessons from Lauri Honko
This article examines lessons which can still be learned from Professor Lauri Honko’s research and writings, particularly for those working at the interstices of folklore and religious studies who appreciate the mutually enriching relationship between the two fields which has been the hallmark of modern Finnish and Nordic scholarship. Three broad areas are considered here by way of illustration: the importance of studying belief and the continuing utility of genre as a tool of research; the use of folklore and material culture in the formation of cultural and spiritual identities in the contemporary milieu; and tradition ecology in relation to Celtic spirituality.
Copyright (c) 2014 Marion Bowman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The subject matter of this special issue is anything but new: religious diversity has already been widely discussed in theology, philosophy, history and sociology. (Too) many times, however, diversity has been measured against the yardstick of the changing face of monotheistic models of religion (mainly Christianity). Asian religions have stood at the opposite end of a spectrum of analytical models in religious studies ever since Max Weber’s classic analysis of Asian religions as mixed systems of beliefs per se. This distinction is, nevertheless, rather problematic, and calls for a closer examination of the conceptual status of diversity, and of the forms it assumes in Asian contexts.
Copyright (c) 2017 Lionel Obadia, Ruth Illman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Ethnicity and 'the Myth of the Reborn Nation': investigations in collective identity, monotheism and the use of figurines in Yehud during the Achaemenid period
The myth of the reborn nation’ was one of the results of my recent research on figurines, the history of the religion of Yehud, and the rise of monotheism. The purpose of this paper is presenting a discussion about ‘the myth of the reborn nation’ from the perspective of ethnicity.
Copyright (c) 2014 Izaak de Hulster https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Role of the Temple Mount / Al-Haram Al-Sharif in the Deterioration of Muslim–Jewish Relations
For both Jews and Muslims the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem constitute highly important religious, cultural, political and national centres. For centuries Jews in the diaspora prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, vowed never to forget it (‘If I forget thee Jerusalem, may my right arm wither’); and blessed one another ‘Next year in Jerusalem’. The Zionist-Jewish movement (since the 1880s) – although predominantly secular – has considered Jerusalem (Zion) as the political and cultural centre of the Jewish people.By comparison, the Palestinian-Arab national movement has, since the 1920s established its national and political-cultural centre in East Jerusalem, while the Haram al Sharif, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque, has continued to be a top religious shrine for Muslims. They termed it Awla Al-Qiblatayn (the first prayer direction before Mecca); Thani Masjidayn (the second mosque after Mecca); a place where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven (Isra’ and Mi’raj).This article will examine the changes in Muslim–Jewish mutual relations, especially since 1967, at both government and public levels. Special attention will be given to the development of both Islamic Judeophobia and Jewish Islamophobia, which have been associated with the dispute over the Temple Mount and East Jerusalem.
Copyright (c) 2014 Moshe Ma'oz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Functions of Narrative Genres for Lived Religion
The article presents the object and results of a study which combines the psychology of religion and folkloristics in the form of a qualitative analysis of empirical ethnographic material compiled from sources in a local neo-charismatic congregation called the ‘Word of Life’. Personal narrative is discussed as a genre which represents the collective tradition of a religious community. It is a socially-learned speech act and a means of interpreting and sharing religious experience, thus constructing and confirming the faith of the community, both individually and collectively. In the neo-charismatic tradition, everyday speech draws on a literal (biblical) tradition as well as on socially-shared narrative genres such as ritual testimonies, prophecies, sermons and casual, personal narratives of co-believers. The faith-creative power of these stories can be found in their performative utterances and evaluative structures as well as in non-communication.
Copyright (c) 2014 Tuija Hovi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The aim of this article is to examine how Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical ideas were reflected and put into practice in the lives of the Finnish couple Olly (Olga) Donner (1881–1956, neé Sinebrychoff) and Uno Donner (1872–1958). They encountered anthroposophy in 1913 and subsequently embraced it as the guiding principle of their lives. Through a close examination of these two people we aim to shed light on how a new worldview like anthroposophy, which was gaining followers in early twentieth-century Finland, was also a manifestation of wider changes in religious culture in Europe. Our perspective could be described as biographical in the sense that it has been characterised by Simone Lässig (2008: 11) who writes that ‘the reconstruction of individual life courses helps to discover more about the context – for example, about daily rituals, pious practices, or kinship relationship’. Thus, the biographical perspective serves as a tool for grasping how something as deeply personal as an anthroposophical worldview was understood and practised, not only by Olly and Uno Donner, but also by a larger group of people who in the early twentieth century were looking for new ways to make sense of the surrounding world.
Copyright (c) 2018 Julia von Boguslawski, Jasmine Westerlund https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Vera Hjelt and the calling of theosophical universal work, 1894–1904
This article discusses the theosophy of Vera Hjelt (1857–1947), who was inspired by Annie Besant. Hjelt led an active life as a schoolteacher, factory owner, writer, occupational safety inspector and member of parliament. Hjelt experienced a theosophic-al awakening at the latest during the summer of 1894, after which her theosophical endeavours in Besant’s spirit and in imitation of her are revealed in Hjelt’s letters to her friend Cely Mechelin. These letters have not previously been used in scholarly study. The article argues that it is not possible to understand the underlying ethos behind Hjelt’s activities without considering her esotericism. In the worldwide unity of all creations, all bad deeds done to one were done to all. Thus it was essential to improve the working conditions of women in factories, for instance. When Hjelt experienced difficulties in her position as an inspector during the Voikka strike, and became an object of hatred amongst the workers against all her wishes, she was comforted by her theosophical thinking. This article for its part shows the many ways in which Western esotericism exerted an influence on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Finnish culture, politics and policy making.
Copyright (c) 2018 Marjo Kaartinen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Western esotericism appears to be a field most precarious in terms of positioning. This article will highlight the divide between ‘critics’ and ‘religionists’ from a pre-Enlightenment position by discussing René Descartes’ role within esotericism. The study attempts to show that a pro-Enlightenment predilection tends to blur its object of research as to the kinds of knowledges that are under scrutiny. The conclusions drawn from the case of Descartes suggests that the perception of what the ‘esoteric’ in modern studies is generally agreed upon being, is reversed.
Copyright (c) 2018 Tomas Mansikka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
'The one and only true and salvational faith'
In the 1880s, the religious life in Finland was in the midst of a turbulent period which, for some, presented a threat to traditional moral values and social cohesion while for others it was the beginning of a new, more liberal era. During this period, new ideas and religious currents also stirred in the local milieu. For example, modern Western esoteric currents played a role in the process as well as many other ideological, scientific and religious phenomena. This article scrutinizes the period in question by focusing on a writing individual who entered the field of Finnish public debate somewhat suddenly. For him, the time was all about creating the best possible religion from all the ingredients that contemporary debate could offer.
Copyright (c) 2018 Antti Harmainen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A relation of Swedenborgianism and anthroposophy
My article discusses the influence of Emanuel- Swedenborg on a Finnish female author, Kersti Bergroth (1886–1975) through one of Bergroth’s novels Eläviä ja kuolleita (‘The Living and the Dead’, 1945). Bergroth was a prolific author with an anthroposophical bent, and an admirer of German idealism. In this particular novel Bergroth refers explicitly to Swedenborg and the story discloses a number of Swedenborgian themes: the doctrine of correspondences; a world divided into material, spiritual, and divine realms; and communication with the spirits of the dead. As Bergroth was an active member of the anthroposophical movement, I will also consider the route, spread, and place of Swedenborg’s ideas within anthroposophy and theosophy in the twentieth century.
Copyright (c) 2018 Tiina Mahlamäki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Symbolist aesthetic and the impact of occult and esoteric ideologies on modern art
Within the past couple of decades, art-historical scholarship has developed a more acute awareness of the need to reassess and re-evaluate its dominant narratives. It has become apparent that the value judgements that have guided modernist historiography can no longer be taken for granted, and there has been an ever-increasing demand for more diverse perspectives. One central issue which has gradually surfaced into broader consciousness, is the impact of occult and esoteric ideas on artistic theories and practices since the late nineteenth century. This article looks into the background of this phenomenon, locating a point of culmination in the new Symbolist direction of art that emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century. The aim is to demonstrate that central Symbolist principles, such as inwardness, intuition, and dematerialisation are linked with popular esoteric beliefs, and that the late nineteenth-century aesthetic theorisations of these issues have had significant effects on later artistic developments. The artists of this new movement were no longer satisfied with the old ‘window on the world’ paradigm. Instead of copying a tangible reality as it appeared to their eyes, they turned inward, towards the world of dreams, fantasies and nightmares, visions and hallucinations, ancient myths and fairy tales. But they were not merely looking for new kinds of subject matter in order to ‘shock the bourgeoisie’. The innovative aesthetic attitude that they developed in both theory and practice rested on a philosophical foundation that was deeply rooted in occult and esoteric ideologies and their quest for new directions and forms of expression in art was paralleled by an intensive religious searching.
Copyright (c) 2018 Marja Lahelma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Prayers in Christianity are often considered to be a theological or pastoral topic; while social scientific studies generally tend to reduce them, like prayers in other religious contexts, to the status of psychological responses bringing comfort to the practitioner, or a collective construction connected with social and cultural institutions. However, what prayer actually is, and what it means to Christians who practise it remains an open issue for further, more intensive and thorough study. Based on fieldwork in an urban church in China, this article provides some perspectives on contemporary Chinese Christians and their prayer life, attempting to elaborate its possible significance, especially in terms of subject-formation processes within these Christians. Meanwhile, this article argues that, in working towards a better understanding of Christians, it is more efficacious to take ‘Christians’ as those who are, rather than a given or acquired identity, or a status of being, engaged in a process of becoming through a practice, or set of practices, which in this case is prayer,. Moreover, in the case of this Chinese Christian church, the practise of prayer also indicates some reflections on the cultural and religious diversity of contemporary Chinese society.
Prayers, Christians, Subject Formation, Contemporary China
Copyright (c) 2017 Jianbo Huang, Mengyin Hu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Traditional and modern crossing process exchange in a Buddhist–Muslim society
Economic exchange in the Zangskar valley (in the high Indian Himalayas) was a tightly integrated element of the social and political network of this Buddhist–Muslim society . Accordingly people of the lower stratum could not take part in the exchange and circulation of wealth coming from farming; the only way to have a role in the circulation of goods is by using cash. Since 1970, paid civil servants and the development of tourism and facilities have opened up cash exchange. Nowadays being able to procure manufactured goods by integrating into the Indian monetary exchange system has become synonymous with social success. Based on an ethnographical study carried out since 2000, this article proposes to show how the use of goods and green or stamped money for economic exchange impacts on and is impacted by the religious diversity of the population of Zangskar, which is not immune to influences emanating from the wider social, political and economic environment.
Diversity, India, Himalaya, Zangskar, Money, Butter, Barley, cash, exchanges, hierarchy
Copyright (c) 2017 Salome Deboos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Religious diversity and patrimonialization
With the emergence of the neologism ‘intangible cultural heritage’ in 2003 and the adoption of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Law of the People’sRepublic of China in 2011 various popular religious practices in China which used to be considered as feudal superstitions started to be recognized as examples of cultural heritage worthy of protection. If we examine the concept of religious diversity at a local level in contemporary China, the process of a ‘patrimonialization’ of popular religious practices that reflect the dynamic relationships which can be detected across diverse discourses, multiple stakeholders and cultural policies in different arenas could offer us a new perspective on religious practices to explore. In this article I offer an analysis, based on fieldwork conducted between 2013 and 2016 on the Leizhou Peninsula in southern China’s Guangdong Province, of the varying degrees of acceptance, accommodation and resistance prompted by the actualization of popular religious practices in this era of patrimonialization.
Copyright (c) 2017 Shanshan Zheng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Diversity and elite religiosity in modern China
This article looks at religious diversity among late imperial and modern Chinese elites; by contrast with most of the existing literature, which looks at correlations between social class and religiosity, this article adds the dimension of the exercise of personal choice and agency in the context of a vast and variegated religious repertoire. After reviewing existing theoretical models, it argues for the importance of two factors: a level of commitment to religious practices, in both the public and private realms, and knowledge (about the religion of others, whether one engages in such religion or not). It then charts these two factors on a graph onto which individuals can be placed, and thus grouped into types. These types represent a new and fruitful way of thinking about religious diversity.
Copyright (c) 2017 Vincent Goossaert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This paper aims at reopening the debate regarding ‘religious diversity’ in religious studies. A review of (recent or ancient) literature demonstrates that we have not finished with the complexity of the issue of ‘diversity’, whether in academic or social debates. Furthermore, diversity must not only be taken seriously, but impels us towards a comparative methodology in order to highlight the variations of the forms, dynamics, effects and contexts of diversity. As such, Asian countries represent a very interesting location for an epistemological deconstruction of the Western-style and monotheistic-centred concept of ‘religious diversity’, as it is often used in religious studies and the social sciences.
Copyright (c) 2017 Lionel Obadia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0