Ásatrú in Iceland: The Rebirth of Nordic Paganism? (original) (raw)
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Two Perspectives on Religion in Contemporary World
2014
Review of Cristina Gavriluţă , The Everyday Sacred. Symbols, Rituals, Mythologies , (Saarbrucken, Germany: Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013). Review of Nicu Gavriluţă, Sociologia religiilor. Credinţe, ritualuri, ideologii (The sociology of religions. Beliefs, rituals, ideologies), (Iași: Polirom, 2013).
Religion: A Contemporary Critical Study
ABSTARCT RELIGION: A CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL STUDY ‘Religion’ is a complex phenomenon. It has occupied a significant position in the society and touches almost all the aspects of human life i.e.-emotional, cognitive and practical. Since Religion is a major factor in our life, hence one need to know What Religion is and what the essential elements are there in it. In religion the fundamental discussible concepts are - ‘what is religion?’, ‘problem of defining religion’, ‘its origin and development’, ‘ its impact in giving birth to a society’, ‘functions of religion’, ‘concept of god in religions’, ‘science, philosophy, and religion’. Religion and society goes hand in hand. Human beings are social in nature. They cannot live alone. In ancient time they were always in awe and wonder and frightened by some natural calamities; disasters, like flood, earthquake, storm, etc. Whenever they failed to protect themselves from such natural calamities and of course sometimes it automatically calmed down they thought that it was controlled by some Natural or Supernatural Powers whom they worshiped and tried to appease those powers to protect themselves. They began to share thoughts, ideas and experiences about their daily life with others which gradually gave birth to basic beliefs which were regarded as religious beliefs. Those Awe and Wonder developed social as well as religious nature among them. The theories regarding origin of religion like- Animism, Naturalism, Totemism, etc. was put forwarded by Emile Durkheim whose concern was ultimately both present and practical. Religion is regarded as the central force of the society. We cannot deny its existence. Regarding this Durkheim said,” Religion is an eminently social thing, because of its integrative or socializing power in society”. My paper is a descriptive and an evaluative approach towards the above mentioned concepts of religion in contemporary perspectives.
Through an examination of the concepts of universality and indigenousness, the authors' argument is that a more comprehensive definition of "religion" is possible than there is via traditional Western academic understanding. Instead of the more restricted, confrontational and inadequate "sacred"/ "secular" framework, the Japanese principle of Irekawari suggests the possibility of a mutual conversion between the sacred and the profane. The author explores two conceptual dyads: that of hare "festive" and ke "ordinary" that includes magic and sorcery along with religion and the sacred within a broader framework; and that between i/yu (a Japanese religious linguistic element) and ke that allows the consideration of defilement, pollution, danger, and obstacle as religiously significant-for example, the funeral ceremony, spiritual curing, and so on. The authors' endeavour is to avoid the necessity of positing a transcendent or supernatural reality for the study of religion in its fullest understanding.
Religion in the making: the Lived Ancient Religion approach
Religion
For the past five years (2012-2017), the Max Weber Center of Erfurt University has hosted a project on 'Lived Ancient Religion: Questioning "cults" and "polis religion"', financed by the European Research Council and embedded in the research group on 'Religious individualisation in historical perspective' (see Fuchs and Rüpke. [2015. "Religious Individualisation in Historical Perspective."
Our collective understanding of religion and human spirituality is inadequate, caricatured, and colonial. Attempts to clearly define religion and understand human spirituality have been hamstrung by our misplaced desire to simplify the phenomenon and our racist, ethnocentric, Eurocentric, and colonial derived attempts to assert European superiority at the expense of a nuanced and empirically grounded examination of progressive, authentic, and indigenous spiritual systems. This booklet attempts to get past all that by providing a definition of religion that adequately captures the phenomenon's complexity, that stimulates thought and research, and that sensitizes us to the profound manipulation, colonization, and destruction of human spirituality by elites, and how we have all participated in their colonization and diminishment.
The Sacred and the Search for Significance: Religion as a Unique Process
Journal of Social Issues, 2005
Although many social scientists have assumed that religion can be reduced to more basic processes, there may be something unique about religion. By definition, religion has a distinctively meaningful point of reference, the sacred. Empirically, studies also suggest that religion may be a unique: form of motivation; source of value and significance; contributor to mortality and health; source of coping; and source of distress. These findings point to the need for: theory and research on the sacred; attention to the pluralization of religious beliefs and practices; evaluation of individual and social interventions that address spiritual problems and apply spiritual resources to their resolution; and collaboration between psychological and religious groups that draws on their unique identities and strengths. "How unique is religion?" This is the question Dittes (1969) posed to begin his landmark 1969 review of the psychology of religion for the Handbook of Social Psychology. Dittes was not the first psychologist to raise this question. In 1933, one of the early figures in the psychology of religion, Leuba, asked: "Is there a religious instinct? Is there at least a specific religious purpose? Is there a religious emotion?" (pp. 17-19). Today, psychologists of religion continue to grapple with the question
Religion, 1987
This two-volume reference work is presented as a `sequel' to J. Waardenburg's Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion published as volumes I and II in this same Mouton series (Reason and Religion). The work is meant to complement thè story' of the academic study of religion in its development up to 1945 implicit in the selections of representative scholars in the field gathered together by Waardenburg. The substance of these volumes does not, however, comprise select passages from key authors in `religious studies', that being virtually impossible given the extensive development of the field since 1945. Nor do these volumes present a unified historical narrative of that `further development' of religious studies. Rather, they contain the reflections of a `team' of scholars, each summarizing the character of the study of religion within the framework of various sub-disciplines, so to speak, that constitute that study. It is the aim of the editor (and most of the authors, it appears) not only to indicate the variety of legitimate research interests in religious studies, but also to show how that variety of approaches interrelate, or, at least, can be integrated so as to constitute a kind of unified theory of the nature of the study of religion. It soon becomes evident to the reader, however-and reluctantly admitted by the editorthat even with this two-volume assault on the problem there is no single paradigm for the study of religion even within sight let alone within our grasp. What unity does appear to exist derives more from the hopes expressed by the editor than from the substance of the essays. Volume I is focussed on `the humanities', i .e. on approaches to the study of religion that, as Whaling puts it in the introductions to the two volumes, transcend the positivism of the scientific approach to religious phenomena by means of the intuitive insight `that the study of religion has to do with man' (I : 25, 26 ; II : 12). In the introduction to the first volume, Whaling attempts to highlight, the contrasts between the classical and contemporary periods in the study of religion and enunciates some general methodological claims that seem to constitute a set of assumptions for all the authors. Five essays follow which cover the historical and phenomenological approaches to the study of religion (U. King), the comparative study of religion (F. Whaling), the study of religious texts and myth (K. Bolle), the scientific study of religion in its plurality (N. Smart), and the global context of the contemporary study of religions (F. Whaling). U. King's essay is more than merely descriptive. It is a polemical essay that argues for a historical and phenomenological study of religions that is more than a narrow, empirical approach to the phenomenon. Such an `empirical positivism', as she calls it, jeopardizes the autonomy of `religious studies' and is, moreover, inadequate to its subject matter. Her review of the methodological debates amongst historians and phenomenologists over the last 40 years, however, is thorough and stimulating .
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 2009
The present article discusses indigenous views concerning religion as part of a contemporary trend that wishes to expand understanding of religious phenomena and be more inclusive of nature worship and Pagan orientations that are otherwise excluded when the sacred is strictly dichotomized from the secular, the profane or the ordinary. Although there are phenomena that are classified academically as ‘religion’, our initial question asks whether an appropriate framework is actually established by the concept. This question is vitally pertinent for the study of nature worship and contemporary Western forms of Paganism as bona fide religious expressions. On the legal front alone, new religious movements often face huge hurdles when it comes to gaining recognition, legitimacy, and their benefits. The academic study of spiritual orientations that counter the already established world religions is part of this expanding arena of potential debate and innovation. In the preceding paper (Part...
WLC 2016 World LUMEN Congress. Logos Universality Mentality Education, 2016
Transformation is one of the current social realities. Climates and conditions change, as well as the symbolic structures that accompany them. Religion, as a segment of society and contributing significantly to its configuration, is no exception to the dynamics of change, of transformation, of progress. Indeed, the new religious expressions, embedded in the new religious phenomenon that includes the New Religious Movements and New-Paganism, appear constantly and some of them claim to be the new religion, adequate to the 21st century. Ideologically, the new religiosity aims to revisit everything that has been previously thought about man. We are interested in ascertaining whether these new forms of religiosity are able to provide any meaning to man in his religious dimension, and identifying the socio-psychological implications in the social and ethical field.