https://journal.fi/temenos <p>Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion is published by <a href="http://uskontotiede.fi/en/">the Finnish Society for the Study of Religion</a>. The journal was founded in 1965 as a joint publication with the learned societies of Comparative Religion in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to promote the research and communication of ideas between scholars. Temenos publishes scholarly articles, academic discussions, conference reports and book reviews within the field of the study of religion and culture.<br><br>Temenos is peer reviewed open access journal. In the Finnish Publication rating system it has been rated on top level (3). We are currently in the process of digitizing back issues, and past articles will be published in the archives section of this website as the project progresses. Please note that article abstracts are available only from 2005 and forward.</p> the Finnish Society for the Study of Religion en-US Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 2342-7256 <p><strong>Author's Guarantee</strong></p> <ul> <li class="show">The Author acknowledges that the Work will be publicly accessible on the Internet and that such access will be free of charge for the readers.</li> <li class="show">The Author guarantees that the Work is her/his original work that has not been published before and cannot be construed as copying or plagiarism. 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This agreement will be governed by the laws of Finland.</li> </ul> https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/112026 <p>Book review of Damian Janus: <em>Psychopathology and Religion: Structural Convergences Between Mental Disorders and Religion.</em> London: Lexington Books, 2019, 248 pp.</p> Francis Benyah Copyright (c) 2021 Francis Benyah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 259–61 259–61 10.33356/temenos.112026 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/112029 <p>Book review of Hans-Günter Heimbrock and Jörg Persch (eds): <em>Eco-Theology: Essays in Honor of Sigurd Bergmann.</em> Paderborn: Brill – Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2021, 311 pp.</p> Laura Wickström Copyright (c) 2021 Laura Wickström https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 262–5 262–5 10.33356/temenos.112029 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/112035 <p>Book review of Joseph Camilleri and Deborah Guess (eds): <em>Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace: Navigating the Great Transition.</em> Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 363 pp.</p> Duncan Reid Copyright (c) 2021 Duncan Reid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 266–68 266–68 10.33356/temenos.112035 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/109506 <p>This paper explores international aspects of Finnish folk magic. Folk magic objects in two Finnish museum collections (the National Museum of Finland and Museum Centre Vapriikki) are compared to analogous objects in the Nordiska museet in Sweden and the Pitt Rivers Museum in the UK to reveal the collections’ resemblances and differences. The material in question dates to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many similar objects occur in these collections. Explanations for this are sought in historical networks between peoples. Yet a closer inspection also reveals variation in practices and beliefs. This reveals the dynamic nature of folk magic traditions, although collection and curation policies also play a role. Moreover, the complex connections between religion, medicine, and <br />magic are uncovered.</p> Sonja Hukantaival Copyright (c) 2021 Sonja Hukantaival https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 155–80 155–80 10.33356/temenos.109506 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/107763 <p>This article focuses on a Spiritism board, <em>Yhteyslauta</em>, designed in the mid-1970s by occultist neo-Nazi Pekka Siitoin. The board represents an unexplored occult subchapter of Finnish gaming culture and exhibits the Finnish esoteric tradition. In addition to analysing <em>Yhteyslauta</em>’s game-like elements, the article explores the board’s themes and imagery, and situates these components in the context of Siitoin’s vernacular esoteric doctrine and cosmogony.</p> Tero Pasanen Copyright (c) 2021 Tero Pasanen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 181–207 181–207 10.33356/temenos.107763 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/95379 <p>Southwest Finnish folklore recorded in the early twentieth century contains a wealth of legends about local spirits, residing and acting both in the wilderness and on farm premises. They belong to belief systems that express social norms and regulations. Many of the legends contain enough information to allow us to locate exactly where local spirits are said to appear or interact with people. In this paper I study these locations and their place in the structure of village society, using historical village maps. The results shed new light on the nature of borders and boundaries in folklore and vernacular belief, as well as on the view of the social meaning of local spirits. Borders and border zones are common ground between several societies, lacking a clearly defined master. In places of uncertain mastery local spirits, endowed with taboos and the authority of the surrounding societies, play a social role in regulating the activities of people on such common ground.</p> John Björkman Copyright (c) 2021 John Björkman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 209 30 10.33356/temenos.95379 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/102585 <p>This article shows how Christmas in schools and public service media for children (PSM) involves negotiation and renewal of Christian cultural heritage. Across the studied cases from Norway and Denmark, we find that the institutions involved seek to realize community. However, community is approached differently in different settings. It is either understood restoratively as a process in which children, including immigrant children, become part of an existing societal community, or constructively as establishing an inclusive community across cultural and religious divides. A major finding is that activities associated with Christianity such as school services are framed in a language of ‘museumification’ and not as part of a living religious practice with the capacity to change and transform. Whereas Islam is positioned as a ‘religious other’, Christianity understood as culture facilitates creative heritage making, establishing community across religious divides. Contrary to political rhetoric, Christian cultural heritage in schools and PSM is by and large not dominated by a safeguarding nationalistic discourse. Rather, traditions and activities related to Christianity are negotiated and appropriated for the benefit of an inclusive community. A premise for making this succeed in schools and PSM is to negotiate Christian cultural heritage as culture, not as religion.</p> Elisabeth Tveito Johnsen Kirstine Helboe Johansen Copyright (c) 2021 Elisabeth Johnsen, Kirstine Helboe Johansen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 231–57 231–57 10.33356/temenos.102585 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/112114 Sofia Sjö Minna Opas Copyright (c) 2021 Minna Opas; Sofia Sjö https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 147 9 10.33356/temenos.112114 https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/112119 <p>Response to Margit Warburg's comment in&nbsp;<em>Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion</em>, <em>57&nbsp;</em>(1), 9–16.&nbsp;</p> Ruth Illman Mercédesz Czimbalmos Copyright (c) 2021 Ruth Illman, Mercédesz Czimbalmos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2021-12-21 2021-12-21 57 2 151 3 10.33356/temenos.112119