Abstract
Based on a lecture first presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), this paper explores the possible reasons for the continued popularity of the work of ...the late Huston Smith - carried out in what could be characterized as the pre-history of the North American field's rebirth in public universities throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. For unlike other works dating from the 1950s, which are now read, if at all, only as primary sources and thus as evidence of an earlier time in the field, his book (originally entitled The Religions of Man 1958) presents a dated example worth considering, inasmuch as it is, for many, still the preferred classroom resource for training newcomers to the field.
Most major contemporary religions have been absolved of the charge of idolatry. What remains of "idolatry" once it no longer serves as a tool for evaluating other faiths? Does the category continue ...to have theological appeal? A cadre of Jewish scholars and thought leaders explore in this volume what the continuing relevance of "idolatry" is.
Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? From ancient Confucian temples, to nineteenth-century archives, to the testimony of people interviewed by the author throughout ...China over a period of more than a decade, this book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion.
The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of "world religions" and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. Anna Sun shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change.
Sun also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality?
With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection,Confucianism as a World Religionwill engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.
This article analyses the implementation of a policy that introduced the teaching of world religions in religious education in Northern Ireland. Using a policy implementation evaluation framework ...informed by strategic action field (SAF) theory we assess the effectiveness of the policy intervention by exploring teachers' descriptions of their practice. We discover that there is evidence of teacher buy-in to the policy, but very significant variation in the quality of implementation and reasons for this are explored. It is concluded that the policy evaluation tool developed here is likely to have value in assessing the implementation of curriculum policy in other contexts.
In Judentum, Christentum und Islam ist die Orientierung an "Heiligen Texten" zentral. War früher unstrittig, dass diese Texte aufgrund einer "Offenbarung" als direkt von Gott gegeben und als "Wort ...Gottes" verstanden werden können, ist seit der Aufklärung und historisch-kritischer Methoden die Normativität dieser Texte fraglich geworden. Inwiefern können Glaubende diese Texte als "Wort Gottes" verstehen, ohne in einen "Offenbarungspositivismus" zu verfallen? Wie können sich Religionen bei ethischen Themen oder gesellschaftlichen Positionierungen auf diese Texte aus der Vergangenheit beziehen? Kann der historische Abstand überhaupt überbrückt werden, oder sind diese Texte nur noch aus "rein historischen" Gründen von Interesse? Der Band diskutiert diese Fragen angesichts neuerer Schrifthermeneutik der drei großen monotheistischen Religionen in der Perspektive aufgeklärter Normativität.
This article demonstrates the potential relevance of a discursive study of religion for Religious Studies. It outlines the main assumptions, questions, materials and methodical guidelines of a ...discursive study of religion and argues that the implementation of a discursive approach - its ways of constructing the approach, the research object and area of expertise - is a relevant step forward in the study of religion. However, the organisation of Religious Studies departments and the job market according to the so-called World Religions paradigm has been a major challenge in making space for discursive studies despite the intellectual criticism that has been directed towards paradigms based on religious traditions or World Religions.
The article discusses the volume Jewish Theology and World Religions, edited by Alon Goshen-Gottstein and Eugene Korn. It depicts its core contents, presenting them in light of the relatively new ...discipline of interreligious or dialogical theology that challenges exclusivist and inclusivist approaches to other religions. The lines between a nonexclusivist theology of religions present in the volume and a pluralist, dialogical world theology described in the article are not clear-cut. In fact, many ideas and concepts found in Jewish Theology and World Religions lead in the direction of a pluralist theology of religions. I argue that what is needed today is not only a revisited confessional Jewish theology, but also and foremost a dialogical theology from a Jewish vantage point that values the uniqueness of the religious Other and promotes a religiosity based on human rights and a shared humanity.
This book presents a collection of essays, setting out both the special concern of classical Indian thought and some of its potential contributions to global philosophy. It presents a number of key ...arguments made by different schools about this special concern: the way in which attainment of knowledge of reality transforms human nature in a fundamentally liberating way. It also looks in detail at two areas in contemporary global philosophy - the ethics of difference, and the metaphysics of consciousness - where this classical Indian commitment to the spiritually transformative power of knowledge can lead to critical insights, even for those who do not share its presuppositions. Close reading of technical Indian texts is combined with wide-ranging and often comparative analysis of philosophical issues to derive original arguments from the Indian material through an analytic method that is seldom mastered by philosophers of non-western traditions.
Spirituality and economics Zsolnai, Laszlo
Journal for the study of spirituality,
07/2022, Letnik:
12, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This paper argues that mainstream economics is a materialist and reductionist science. It criticizes the core assumptions of mainstream economics - namely, the existence of 'Homo Oeconomicus' and the ...goals of profit maximization, economic efficiency, and economic growth; and shows that these goals lead to an economy that is not only unhealthy for people but is making the planet unsustainable. The paper makes a case for the development of a spiritually informed economics. It concludes that by helping to create ecological and human economic practices and policies, spiritually informed economics can support the flourishing of life on Earth (both human and non-human, present and future).
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