Approaching Religion
type: channel
description: Approaching Religion is an academic open access journal published by the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture in Åbo, Finland.
publisher: The Donner Institute
language: en
publication name: Approaching Religion
issn: 1799-3121
copyright: The license of the published metadata is Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
items: Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem
items: Pentecostalism around the Baltic Sea
items: Secular and Religious Environmentalism in Contemporary Turkey
items: Remaking the City: Archaeological Projects of Political Import in Jerusalem's Old City and in the Village of Silwan
items: Strategic Engagement and Religious Peace-building: a case study of religious peace work in Jerusalem
items: Arab revolts and 'Civil State': a new term for old conflicts between Islamism and secularism
items: Hezbollah's Military Intervention in Syria: political choice or religious obligation?
items: Islamic Feminism: transnational and national reflections
items: Jesus the Victimizer?
items: A Sacred Landscape: an enquiry into the 'cubas' of southern Portugal
items: In the Footsteps of Bagira: ethnicity, archaeology, and ‘Iron I ethnic Israel’
items: Concord, Conflict and Co-Existence: religion and society in the Middle East and North Africa
items: Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion: The position and meaning of Mari worldview in the current context
items: Political Parties and the Production of Islam-Secularism Cleavage in Turkey
items: Vernacular Religion, Contemporary Spirituality and Emergent Identities: Lessons from Lauri Honko
items: Religious diversity
items: Ethnicity and 'the Myth of the Reborn Nation': investigations in collective identity, monotheism and the use of figurines in Yehud during the Achaemenid period
items: The Role of the Temple Mount / Al-Haram Al-Sharif in the Deterioration of Muslim–Jewish Relations
items: Functions of Narrative Genres for Lived Religion
items: Putting the spiritual into practice
items: Vera Hjelt and the calling of theosophical universal work, 1894–1904
items: Esotericism in reverse
items: 'The one and only true and salvational faith'
items: A relation of Swedenborgianism and anthroposophy
items: The Symbolist aesthetic and the impact of occult and esoteric ideologies on modern art
items: Becoming Christians
items: Traditional and modern crossing process exchange in a Buddhist–Muslim society
items: Religious diversity and patrimonialization
items: Diversity and elite religiosity in modern China
items: Comparing 'religious diversities'

Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Jesus Christ
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Church history
  topic: keywords
subject: Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Jerusalem
  topic: keywords
subject: Bible, New Testament
  topic: keywords
subject: Christians -- Roman Empire
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Exegetics
  topic: disciplines
subject: Jesus-studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Juho Sankamo
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Juho Sankamo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 25
ending page: 36
doi: 10.30664/ar.67547

Pentecostalism around the Baltic Sea
type: item
description: This is the editorial for the special issue 'Pentecostalism around the Baltic Sea'.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Pentecostalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Scandinavia
  topic: keywords
subject: Baltic States
  topic: keywords
subject: Revivals
  topic: keywords
creator: Tuija Hovi
creator: Ruth Illman
rights: Copyright (c) 2015 Tuija Hovi, Ruth Illman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2015-05-26
publication date: 2015-05-26
starting page: 1
ending page: 3
doi: 10.30664/ar.67558

Secular and Religious Environmentalism in Contemporary Turkey
type: item
description: 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?
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Environmentalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Ecology
  topic: keywords
subject: Green movement
  topic: keywords
subject: Turkey
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Secularism
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Non-governmental organizations
  topic: keywords
subject: Comparative Religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Laura Wickström
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Laura Wickström https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 125
ending page: 40
doi: 10.30664/ar.67556

Remaking the City: Archaeological Projects of Political Import in Jerusalem's Old City and in the Village of Silwan
type: item
description: 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 th…
subject: Reflections
  topic: section
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Archaeology
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Jerusalem
  topic: keywords
subject: Israel
  topic: keywords
subject: Palestine
  topic: keywords
subject: Arab-Israeli conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Group identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnic conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Social conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Culture conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Religions -- Relations
  topic: keywords
subject: Archaeology
  topic: disciplines
subject: History of Religions
  topic: disciplines
subject: Cultural Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Anna Veeder
creator: Yonathan Mizrachi
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Anna Veeder, Yonathan Mizrachi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 141
ending page: 7
doi: 10.30664/ar.67557

Strategic Engagement and Religious Peace-building: a case study of religious peace work in Jerusalem
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Jerusalem
  topic: keywords
subject: Israel
  topic: keywords
subject: Palestine
  topic: keywords
subject: Arab-Israeli conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnic conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Social conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Culture conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Religions -- Relations
  topic: keywords
subject: Dialogue
  topic: keywords
subject: Peace
  topic: keywords
subject: Peace-building
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Yvonne Wang
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Yvonne Wang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 71
ending page: 82
doi: 10.30664/ar.67551

Arab revolts and 'Civil State': a new term for old conflicts between Islamism and secularism
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Africa, North
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Secularism
  topic: keywords
subject: Democracy
  topic: keywords
subject: Arab Spring, 2010-
  topic: keywords
subject: Tunisia
  topic: keywords
subject: Egypt
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Contemporary history
  topic: disciplines
creator: Barbara De Poli
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Barbara De Poli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 95
ending page: 104
doi: 10.30664/ar.67553

Hezbollah's Military Intervention in Syria: political choice or religious obligation?
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Syria
  topic: keywords
subject: Lebanon
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Social conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Culture conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: War
  topic: keywords
subject: Violence
  topic: keywords
subject: Terrorism
  topic: keywords
subject: Hizballah (Lebanon)
  topic: keywords
creator: Armenak Tokmajyan
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Armenak Tokmajyan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 105
ending page: 12
doi: 10.30664/ar.67554

Islamic Feminism: transnational and national reflections
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Feminism
  topic: keywords
subject: Feminist theology
  topic: keywords
subject: Women in Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Gender
  topic: keywords
subject: Women
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Egypt
  topic: keywords
subject: Equality
  topic: keywords
subject: Qurʼān
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Anthropology
  topic: disciplines
subject: Sociology of Religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Mulki Al-Sharmani
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Mulki Al-Sharmani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 83
ending page: 94
doi: 10.30664/ar.67552

Jesus the Victimizer?
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Jesus Christ
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Parables
  topic: keywords
subject: Bible, New Testament
  topic: keywords
subject: Criticism, Textual
  topic: keywords
subject: Biblical Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Theology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Lauri Thuren
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Lauri Thuren https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 37
ending page: 50
doi: 10.30664/ar.67548

A Sacred Landscape: an enquiry into the 'cubas' of southern Portugal
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Portugal
  topic: keywords
subject: Architecture, Islamic
  topic: keywords
subject: Buildings
  topic: keywords
subject: Art
  topic: keywords
subject: Iberia (Kingdom)
  topic: keywords
subject: Domes
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Historical Architecture
  topic: disciplines
subject: History of Islamic Architecture
  topic: disciplines
subject: Landscape Architecture
  topic: disciplines
subject: Archeology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Luís Ferro
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Luís Ferro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 51
ending page: 9
doi: 10.30664/ar.67549

In the Footsteps of Bagira: ethnicity, archaeology, and ‘Iron I ethnic Israel’
type: item
description: 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?
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Archaeology
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnicity
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnoarchaeology
  topic: keywords
subject: Israel -- History
  topic: keywords
subject: Iron Age -- Palestine
  topic: keywords
subject: Israelites, Ancient
  topic: keywords
subject: Archaeology
  topic: disciplines
subject: History of Religions
  topic: disciplines
subject: Middle East Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Raz Kletter
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Raz Kletter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 2
ending page: 15
doi: 10.30664/ar.67545

Concord, Conflict and Co-Existence: religion and society in the Middle East and North Africa
type: item
description: This is the editorial for the special issue 'Concord, Conflict and Co-existence: Religion and Society in the Middle East and North Africa'.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Religion -- Congresses
  topic: keywords
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Africa, North
  topic: keywords
subject: Concord
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnic conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Social conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Culture conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Middle East Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Peace and Conflict Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Ari Kerkkänen
creator: Ruth Illman
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Ari Kerkkänen, Ruth Illman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 1
ending page: 1
doi: 10.30664/ar.67543

Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion: The position and meaning of Mari worldview in the current context
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Mari (European people)
  topic: keywords
subject: Paganism
  topic: keywords
subject: Globalization
  topic: keywords
subject: Indigenous peoples
  topic: keywords
subject: Russia
  topic: keywords
subject: Finno-Ugrians
  topic: keywords
subject: Folklore, Russian
  topic: keywords
subject: Soviet Union
  topic: keywords
subject: Orthodox Eastern Church, Russian, Pomestnyĭ sobor
  topic: keywords
subject: Ritual
  topic: keywords
subject: Prayer
  topic: keywords
subject: Worship
  topic: keywords
subject: Rites and ceremonies
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Folkloristics
  topic: disciplines
creator: Tatiana Alybina
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Tatiana Alybina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-05-07
publication date: 2014-05-07
starting page: 89
ending page: 100
doi: 10.30664/ar.67541

Political Parties and the Production of Islam-Secularism Cleavage in Turkey
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Turkey
  topic: keywords
subject: Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Secularism
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Sociology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Toni Alaranta
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Toni Alaranta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 113
ending page: 24
doi: 10.30664/ar.67555

Vernacular Religion, Contemporary Spirituality and Emergent Identities: Lessons from Lauri Honko
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Honko, Lauri, 1932-2002
  topic: keywords
subject: Finland
  topic: keywords
subject: Spirituality
  topic: keywords
subject: Identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Group identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Celts -- Religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Material culture
  topic: keywords
subject: Folklore
  topic: keywords
subject: Everyday life
  topic: keywords
subject: Belief and doubt
  topic: keywords
subject: Great Britain
  topic: keywords
subject: Ireland
  topic: keywords
subject: Druids and Druidism
  topic: keywords
subject: Paganism
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Folkloristics
  topic: disciplines
creator: Marion Bowman
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Marion Bowman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-05-07
publication date: 2014-05-07
starting page: 101
ending page: 113
doi: 10.30664/ar.67542

Religious diversity
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
creator: Lionel Obadia
creator: Ruth Illman
rights: Copyright (c) 2017 Lionel Obadia, Ruth Illman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2017-09-26
publication date: 2017-09-26
starting page: 1
ending page: 1
doi: 10.30664/ar.65899

Ethnicity and 'the Myth of the Reborn Nation': investigations in collective identity, monotheism and the use of figurines in Yehud during the Achaemenid period
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Middle East
  topic: keywords
subject: Archaeology
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnicity
  topic: keywords
subject: Israel -- History
  topic: keywords
subject: Palestine -- History
  topic: keywords
subject: Group identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Monotheism
  topic: keywords
subject: Yehud (Persian province)
  topic: keywords
subject: Statues
  topic: keywords
subject: Sculpture
  topic: keywords
subject: Bible, Old Testament
  topic: keywords
subject: Middle East Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Archaeology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Izaak de Hulster
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Izaak de Hulster https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 16
ending page: 24
doi: 10.30664/ar.67546

The Role of the Temple Mount / Al-Haram Al-Sharif in the Deterioration of Muslim–Jewish Relations
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Temple Mount (Jerusalem)
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Islam
  topic: keywords
subject: Politics and Judaism
  topic: keywords
subject: Israel
  topic: keywords
subject: Palestine
  topic: keywords
subject: Arab-Israeli conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Zionism
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethnic conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Social conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Culture conflict
  topic: keywords
subject: Religions -- Relations
  topic: keywords
subject: Dialogue
  topic: keywords
subject: Political History
  topic: disciplines
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
creator: Moshe Ma'oz
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Moshe Ma'oz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-12-08
publication date: 2014-12-08
starting page: 60
ending page: 70
doi: 10.30664/ar.67550

Functions of Narrative Genres for Lived Religion
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Narration
  topic: keywords
subject: Pentecostalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Christianity
  topic: keywords
subject: Livets ord
  topic: keywords
subject: Psychology and religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Folklore
  topic: keywords
subject: Everyday life
  topic: keywords
subject: Interviewing
  topic: keywords
subject: Storytelling
  topic: keywords
subject: Religious Studies
  topic: disciplines
subject: Folkloristics
  topic: disciplines
creator: Tuija Hovi
rights: Copyright (c) 2014 Tuija Hovi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2014-05-07
publication date: 2014-05-07
starting page: 80
ending page: 88
doi: 10.30664/ar.67540

Putting the spiritual into practice
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: history
  topic: disciplines
subject: comparative religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Julia von Boguslawski
creator: Jasmine Westerlund
rights: Copyright (c) 2018 Julia von Boguslawski, Jasmine Westerlund https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2018-04-21
publication date: 2018-04-21
starting page: 48
ending page: 68
doi: 10.30664/ar.66739

Vera Hjelt and the calling of theosophical universal work, 1894–1904
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Marjo Kaartinen
rights: Copyright (c) 2018 Marjo Kaartinen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2018-04-21
publication date: 2018-04-21
starting page: 17
ending page: 30
doi: 10.30664/ar.66735

Esotericism in reverse
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: René Descartes
  topic: keywords
subject: Rosicrucians
  topic: keywords
subject: Imagination
  topic: keywords
subject: Enthusiasm
  topic: keywords
subject: Mnemotechnics
  topic: keywords
subject: History of Religion
  topic: disciplines
creator: Tomas Mansikka
rights: Copyright (c) 2018 Tomas Mansikka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2018-04-21
publication date: 2018-04-21
starting page: 79
ending page: 90
doi: 10.30664/ar.66731

'The one and only true and salvational faith'
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Antti Harmainen
rights: Copyright (c) 2018 Antti Harmainen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2018-04-21
publication date: 2018-04-21
starting page: 5
ending page: 16
doi: 10.30664/ar.66727

A relation of Swedenborgianism and anthroposophy
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Emanuel Swedenborg
  topic: keywords
subject: Kersti Bergroth
  topic: keywords
subject: Anthroposophy
  topic: keywords
subject: literature
  topic: keywords
subject: correspondence
  topic: keywords
subject: comparative religion
  topic: disciplines
subject: western esotericism
  topic: disciplines
subject: literary critics
  topic: disciplines
creator: Tiina Mahlamäki
rights: Copyright (c) 2018 Tiina Mahlamäki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2018-04-21
publication date: 2018-04-21
starting page: 69
ending page: 78
doi: 10.30664/ar.66723

The Symbolist aesthetic and the impact of occult and esoteric ideologies on modern art
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Marja Lahelma
rights: Copyright (c) 2018 Marja Lahelma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2018-04-21
publication date: 2018-04-21
starting page: 31
ending page: 47
doi: 10.30664/ar.66685

Becoming Christians
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Prayers, Christians, Subject Formation, Contemporary China
  topic: keywords
subject: Anthropology
  topic: disciplines
subject: Anthropology of Christianity
  topic: disciplines
creator: Jianbo Huang
creator: Mengyin Hu
rights: Copyright (c) 2017 Jianbo Huang, Mengyin Hu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2017-04-10
publication date: 2017-04-10
starting page: 46
ending page: 54
doi: 10.30664/ar.65906

Traditional and modern crossing process exchange in a Buddhist–Muslim society
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Diversity, India, Himalaya, Zangskar, Money, Butter, Barley, cash, exchanges, hierarchy
  topic: keywords
subject: Anthropology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Salome Deboos
rights: Copyright (c) 2017 Salome Deboos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2017-04-10
publication date: 2017-04-10
starting page: 32
ending page: 45
doi: 10.30664/ar.65904

Religious diversity and patrimonialization
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: diversity
  topic: keywords
subject: patrimonialization
  topic: keywords
subject: intangible cultural heritage
  topic: keywords
subject: popular religion
  topic: keywords
subject: Nianli Festival
  topic: keywords
subject: Leizhou Peninsula
  topic: keywords
subject: Anthropology
  topic: disciplines
creator: Shanshan Zheng
rights: Copyright (c) 2017 Shanshan Zheng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2017-04-10
publication date: 2017-04-10
starting page: 21
ending page: 31
doi: 10.30664/ar.65903

Diversity and elite religiosity in modern China
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: China
  topic: keywords
subject: elites
  topic: keywords
subject: Daoism
  topic: keywords
subject: Buddhism
  topic: keywords
subject: Confucianism
  topic: keywords
subject: history of religions
  topic: disciplines
creator: Vincent Goossaert
rights: Copyright (c) 2017 Vincent Goossaert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2017-04-10
publication date: 2017-04-10
starting page: 10
ending page: 20
doi: 10.30664/ar.65902

Comparing 'religious diversities'
type: item
description: 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.
subject: Review Articles
  topic: section
creator: Lionel Obadia
rights: Copyright (c) 2017 Lionel Obadia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2017-04-10
publication date: 2017-04-10
starting page: 2
ending page: 9
doi: 10.30664/ar.65900