"They Do Not Represent My Religion": The Notional Peripheries of Religious Ideologies (original) (raw)
Illiberal and violent practices undertaken by adherents of a religion, which are not the result of a balanced interpretation of core religious doctrines are pervasive across the world. However, it would be just as inaccurate to say that these acts are entirely doctrinal as it is to say that they have nothing to do with the religion. This middle position, which may be termed the "notional periphery", has gone under-theorized for far too long. The notional periphery of a religion or ideology refers to the interaction between the core of the ideology and the behavioural dispositions of ignorance, self-service and/or contextual conditions among those who adopt the ideology. This paper argues that two of the world's largest religions, Christianity and Islam, theologically endogenize their peripheries in proportion to the thesis of humanity's compulsion in following its passions and whims which are often self-serving. It then follows that, rather than become stuck on the debate on whether certain illiberal and violent acts are truly part of a religion or not, religious adherents should turn to the interaction between doctrines and human preferences and behaviour, and consequently to the measures that can be put in place to mitigate the prevalence and intensity of notional peripheries.
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