Our aim is to develop an ethical reflection and a case study on physical touching by Christian chaplains in their pastoral accompaniment of minors and persons with intellectual disabilities. To this end, we develop an ethical evaluation method consisting of four elements: context; motives; possible actions; and effects. Following this method, we highlight how to evaluate physical touch, formulate ten ethical recommendations, and discuss a case study. Regarding the context of the asymmetric relationship, our recommendations are for chaplains to (1) deal with power in a responsible way and (2) foster their sense of responsibility. Given the complexity of chaplains’ motives, we recommend that chaplains (3) clarify their motives and (4) strengthen their integrity. For the ambiguity of physical touch, we recommend chaplains to (5) seek the appropriateness of touch, (6) consider age and development, and (7) nurture professional ethics. As for the multiplicity of effects for vulnerable persons, our recommendations for chaplains are to (8) give priority to the vulnerable person, (9) not cause harm, and (10) obtain free and informed consent. We encourage chaplains to touch vulnerable persons when appropriate for pastoral accompaniment but to be particularly careful about the use of power and to make a strong effort to obtain consent for touching.
{"title":"To Touch or Not to Touch? An Ethical Reflection and Case Study on Physical Touching in the Pastoral Accompaniment of Vulnerable Persons, Especially Minors and Persons with Intellectual Disabilities","authors":"Axel Liégeois","doi":"10.3390/rel15010005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010005","url":null,"abstract":"Our aim is to develop an ethical reflection and a case study on physical touching by Christian chaplains in their pastoral accompaniment of minors and persons with intellectual disabilities. To this end, we develop an ethical evaluation method consisting of four elements: context; motives; possible actions; and effects. Following this method, we highlight how to evaluate physical touch, formulate ten ethical recommendations, and discuss a case study. Regarding the context of the asymmetric relationship, our recommendations are for chaplains to (1) deal with power in a responsible way and (2) foster their sense of responsibility. Given the complexity of chaplains’ motives, we recommend that chaplains (3) clarify their motives and (4) strengthen their integrity. For the ambiguity of physical touch, we recommend chaplains to (5) seek the appropriateness of touch, (6) consider age and development, and (7) nurture professional ethics. As for the multiplicity of effects for vulnerable persons, our recommendations for chaplains are to (8) give priority to the vulnerable person, (9) not cause harm, and (10) obtain free and informed consent. We encourage chaplains to touch vulnerable persons when appropriate for pastoral accompaniment but to be particularly careful about the use of power and to make a strong effort to obtain consent for touching.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"119 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138958334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores how psychotherapy, with its inherent focus on the self, may inadvertently contribute to problematic selfishness. By comparison with religious traditions which have encouraged humility and dedication to serving others, psychotherapeutic schools have historically emphasized ways to meet one’s own needs. We review here the evolution of ego-centric approaches toward more relational and growth- and virtue-oriented ones, before considering four clinical contexts which risk fostering undue absorption with oneself and one’s therapy. A greater awareness of these risks can help clinicians and patients appreciate the role of moral values, world views, and religious commitments in shaping the direction of their work.
{"title":"When Does Psychotherapy Encourage Selfishness?","authors":"Deborah Y. Park, J. Peteet","doi":"10.3390/rel15010008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010008","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores how psychotherapy, with its inherent focus on the self, may inadvertently contribute to problematic selfishness. By comparison with religious traditions which have encouraged humility and dedication to serving others, psychotherapeutic schools have historically emphasized ways to meet one’s own needs. We review here the evolution of ego-centric approaches toward more relational and growth- and virtue-oriented ones, before considering four clinical contexts which risk fostering undue absorption with oneself and one’s therapy. A greater awareness of these risks can help clinicians and patients appreciate the role of moral values, world views, and religious commitments in shaping the direction of their work.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"46 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139169262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For generations, Muslims have engaged in daily life in the West—what this study identifies as Muslim social activity. Through social activity in Western societies, Muslims transform spaces into places by seeking to belong, feel at home, care, materialise religious and ethno-cultural values, and live meaningfully. The concept of place has not been used to explain Muslim social activity in the West. This study addresses this lacuna by explaining it in Australia as placemaking.
{"title":"Muslim Social Activity and Placemaking in Australia","authors":"Rizwan Sahib, Vanessa Katakalos","doi":"10.3390/rel15010006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010006","url":null,"abstract":"For generations, Muslims have engaged in daily life in the West—what this study identifies as Muslim social activity. Through social activity in Western societies, Muslims transform spaces into places by seeking to belong, feel at home, care, materialise religious and ethno-cultural values, and live meaningfully. The concept of place has not been used to explain Muslim social activity in the West. This study addresses this lacuna by explaining it in Australia as placemaking.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"27 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138957354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study analyses several of the key principles of Father Dumitru Stăniloae’s conception of Orthodox ecumenical theology. It considers the foundations, the possibilities, and the type of ecumenical manifestation, specifically regarding the relationships between Orthodox Christians and Christians of different denominations and traditions. This is a necessity as the result of the profound actual theological crisis and the lack of clarity of principles of faith at the ecumenical level across the whole Christian world. This study fills this gap by seeking to identify the doctrinal principles that define Orthodox Christian life in an ecumenical context and the manner in which such theology can be practically applied.
{"title":"“Open Sobornicity” in Dumitru Stăniloae’s Theology—Christian Orthodox Creeds in the Context of Contemporary Ecumenical Relationships","authors":"Nathanael Neacșu","doi":"10.3390/rel15010012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010012","url":null,"abstract":"This study analyses several of the key principles of Father Dumitru Stăniloae’s conception of Orthodox ecumenical theology. It considers the foundations, the possibilities, and the type of ecumenical manifestation, specifically regarding the relationships between Orthodox Christians and Christians of different denominations and traditions. This is a necessity as the result of the profound actual theological crisis and the lack of clarity of principles of faith at the ecumenical level across the whole Christian world. This study fills this gap by seeking to identify the doctrinal principles that define Orthodox Christian life in an ecumenical context and the manner in which such theology can be practically applied.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"126 15","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138953696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Books are complex objects. They have an undeniable material dimension, because they are artifacts characterized by a refined technology that has evolved over the centuries, and at the same time, they are vectors of intellectual products, consisting of the work(s) that they convey. However, books may also have a third dimension, since they embody the sacrality of a cult, belong to a performing rite, are offered to god(s) for the salvation of a soul, etc. Therefore, they incorporate an intrinsic sacredness for the simple reasons that they contain certain texts and are used on certain occasions to perform a certain rite. This paper explores the sacred aspect of Coptic codices and their third dimension, analyzing in particular the special case of books buried with a deceased person.
{"title":"The Third Dimension of Coptic Books: Sacrality in Materiality","authors":"Paola Buzi","doi":"10.3390/rel15010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010004","url":null,"abstract":"Books are complex objects. They have an undeniable material dimension, because they are artifacts characterized by a refined technology that has evolved over the centuries, and at the same time, they are vectors of intellectual products, consisting of the work(s) that they convey. However, books may also have a third dimension, since they embody the sacrality of a cult, belong to a performing rite, are offered to god(s) for the salvation of a soul, etc. Therefore, they incorporate an intrinsic sacredness for the simple reasons that they contain certain texts and are used on certain occasions to perform a certain rite. This paper explores the sacred aspect of Coptic codices and their third dimension, analyzing in particular the special case of books buried with a deceased person.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"31 26","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138955904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Considering the intermingling of problems in today’s multi-crisis environment, this text explores the possibilities of intertwining social work and pastoral care. In the search for effective approaches, we find dynamic patterns in the activities of the Royová (Roy) sisters. Their diaconal work is an important source for social work history illustrating how social work took the form of diaconal (charity) work with a rich pastoral reach at the time. Their activities represent a natural link between Christian anthropology and social work. This study mainly investigates the Christian (spiritual) basis of the social and charitable activities of the Royová sisters, the beginnings of the institutionalisation of social and charitable work in Slovakia and Serbia through the organisations founded by the Royová sisters, the Christian-social interpersonal contribution of the Roy sisters to the development of Slovak and European social work personified by their cooperation with several personalities of social and charitable work at the international, national, and local levels, and the contribution of the Roy sisters in the creation of women’s, volunteer, and international roots of social and charitable work in Slovakia and Europe. In their responses to the needs of their environment, we find significant stimuli for pastoral theology, which is supposed to respond to the needs of the multi-crisis environment of today.
{"title":"The Diaconal Work of Sisters Kristína and Mária Royová—An Example of the Link between Christian Anthropology and Social Work","authors":"Peter Jusko, Albín Masarik, Ján Nvota","doi":"10.3390/rel15010009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010009","url":null,"abstract":"Considering the intermingling of problems in today’s multi-crisis environment, this text explores the possibilities of intertwining social work and pastoral care. In the search for effective approaches, we find dynamic patterns in the activities of the Royová (Roy) sisters. Their diaconal work is an important source for social work history illustrating how social work took the form of diaconal (charity) work with a rich pastoral reach at the time. Their activities represent a natural link between Christian anthropology and social work. This study mainly investigates the Christian (spiritual) basis of the social and charitable activities of the Royová sisters, the beginnings of the institutionalisation of social and charitable work in Slovakia and Serbia through the organisations founded by the Royová sisters, the Christian-social interpersonal contribution of the Roy sisters to the development of Slovak and European social work personified by their cooperation with several personalities of social and charitable work at the international, national, and local levels, and the contribution of the Roy sisters in the creation of women’s, volunteer, and international roots of social and charitable work in Slovakia and Europe. In their responses to the needs of their environment, we find significant stimuli for pastoral theology, which is supposed to respond to the needs of the multi-crisis environment of today.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"33 15","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138994265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates how Martin Heidegger’s notion of “the thing” (Das Ding) can help rescue modern disenchantment with regard to its root in the World, a concept developed from “being-in-the-world” presented in Being and Time, and later taken as a participant in the bilateral polemos illustrated in die Gestalt (signifying Being’s strife to disclose itself against the Earth: self-concealing concealment). In Section 1, I analyze the occurrence of disenchantment by critically reviewing several thinkers’ discussions of it, pointing out that “faciality”—which has structured the modern Western understanding of reality—is the cornerstone of ontotheology, as well as the collapse of it: disenchantment. In Section 2, to demonstrate how Heidegger’s rediscovery of usefulness in a de-subjectified discourse of signification has challenged the positivistic view attached to “faciality”, I examine Heidegger’s idea of “readiness-to-hand,” revealing the basic temporal–spatial units composing the “handiness” of categorical beings and its relation to Dasein, progressing thereon to the analysis of a thing-centered worldview of Heidegger’s phenomenology. In Section 3, I demonstrate how this thing-centered worldview has the potential to form a preparative stage for re-enchantment of the World by uncovering the concealed existentiality within things, aligning with Heidegger’s polemos in his philosophy of art.
{"title":"Heidegger’s World: Re-Enchanting through Thingness","authors":"Xiaochen Zhao","doi":"10.3390/rel15010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010003","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates how Martin Heidegger’s notion of “the thing” (Das Ding) can help rescue modern disenchantment with regard to its root in the World, a concept developed from “being-in-the-world” presented in Being and Time, and later taken as a participant in the bilateral polemos illustrated in die Gestalt (signifying Being’s strife to disclose itself against the Earth: self-concealing concealment). In Section 1, I analyze the occurrence of disenchantment by critically reviewing several thinkers’ discussions of it, pointing out that “faciality”—which has structured the modern Western understanding of reality—is the cornerstone of ontotheology, as well as the collapse of it: disenchantment. In Section 2, to demonstrate how Heidegger’s rediscovery of usefulness in a de-subjectified discourse of signification has challenged the positivistic view attached to “faciality”, I examine Heidegger’s idea of “readiness-to-hand,” revealing the basic temporal–spatial units composing the “handiness” of categorical beings and its relation to Dasein, progressing thereon to the analysis of a thing-centered worldview of Heidegger’s phenomenology. In Section 3, I demonstrate how this thing-centered worldview has the potential to form a preparative stage for re-enchantment of the World by uncovering the concealed existentiality within things, aligning with Heidegger’s polemos in his philosophy of art.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"72 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138956698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article proposes a Thomistic account of graced human nature that emphasizes the importance of underlying developments in Aquinas’ doctrine of creation that inform his approach to the doctrine of grace. While post-Cartesian accounts of the human person often reduce the complex causal structure that marks the relationship between God and the human person in Aquinas’ pre-modern theological anthropology, this article recovers a more comprehensive account of Aquinas’ account of human sanctification and divine causality. Where modern and postmodern anthropologies are often marked by scientific determinism or subjectivism, Aquinas’s anthropology of grace refuses the modern dichotomization of immanence and transcendence, proposing instead an understanding of grace as the divinization of the human person as image of God that is marked not only by the supernatural finality of beatitude, but the intrinsic and personal immanence of divine indwelling.
{"title":"Creation and Grace: Understanding the Pre-Modern Frame of Aquinas’ Approach to Sanctification","authors":"Reginald Lynch, OP","doi":"10.3390/rel15010002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010002","url":null,"abstract":"This article proposes a Thomistic account of graced human nature that emphasizes the importance of underlying developments in Aquinas’ doctrine of creation that inform his approach to the doctrine of grace. While post-Cartesian accounts of the human person often reduce the complex causal structure that marks the relationship between God and the human person in Aquinas’ pre-modern theological anthropology, this article recovers a more comprehensive account of Aquinas’ account of human sanctification and divine causality. Where modern and postmodern anthropologies are often marked by scientific determinism or subjectivism, Aquinas’s anthropology of grace refuses the modern dichotomization of immanence and transcendence, proposing instead an understanding of grace as the divinization of the human person as image of God that is marked not only by the supernatural finality of beatitude, but the intrinsic and personal immanence of divine indwelling.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":" 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138962748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The current increase in religiously motivated radicalism is a serious social problem in various countries. Through our qualitative research, which was based on the knowledge and experience of experts recorded during the focus group interview, it was possible to identify the most frequent causes of religious radicalism in Slovakia today. The Slovak Republic, a small post-communist country in the region of Eastern Europe, served as an empirical example for research purposes. Following the research findings, a second research objective was set, namely to present the possibilities and contribution of citizen journalism that can play a key role in tracking, documenting and sharing cases of religious radicalism. The research presents the causes of religious radicalism and the optimal possibilities of citizen journalism, which would adequately respond to contemporary religious radicalism with the use of online media. The activities of “people’s journalists” appear not only as a trigger for public debate that takes place on social media, blogs, and independent journalistic platforms but also as a necessary voice calling for accountability and transparency of solutions concerning religious radicalism, which is inherently complex and a multifactorial process, often leading to extremism. This study attempts to answer the question of why civic engagement using online media is important in this issue.
{"title":"Online Media, Civic Engagement, and the Prevention of Religious Radicalism: Together for an Inclusive Future (A View of Empirical Evidence)","authors":"Hedviga Tkáčová, Daniel Slivka","doi":"10.3390/rel15010001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010001","url":null,"abstract":"The current increase in religiously motivated radicalism is a serious social problem in various countries. Through our qualitative research, which was based on the knowledge and experience of experts recorded during the focus group interview, it was possible to identify the most frequent causes of religious radicalism in Slovakia today. The Slovak Republic, a small post-communist country in the region of Eastern Europe, served as an empirical example for research purposes. Following the research findings, a second research objective was set, namely to present the possibilities and contribution of citizen journalism that can play a key role in tracking, documenting and sharing cases of religious radicalism. The research presents the causes of religious radicalism and the optimal possibilities of citizen journalism, which would adequately respond to contemporary religious radicalism with the use of online media. The activities of “people’s journalists” appear not only as a trigger for public debate that takes place on social media, blogs, and independent journalistic platforms but also as a necessary voice calling for accountability and transparency of solutions concerning religious radicalism, which is inherently complex and a multifactorial process, often leading to extremism. This study attempts to answer the question of why civic engagement using online media is important in this issue.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"124 41","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138958930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines concubinage in late Ming China through Foucaudian discourse analysis of sexuality in order to explore different responses to the Sixth Commandment by the Jesuits and Chinese literati. It will be interdisciplinary and conducted by way of philology, sexuality studies, feminist studies, cross-cultural criticism, and inter-religious dialogue. Topics include the relationship between religion and sexuality, concubinage in late Ming China, the Jesuits’ attitude towards concubinage, and the case study of the Confucian Catholic Wang Zheng’s struggle. A cross-cultural study of the Six Commandment not only illustrates the complex interaction between religion, sexuality, and gender but also presents early encounters of the Chinese and Christian cultures and the dialogues between them.
{"title":"Religion and Sexuality: Reading the Sixth Commandment (“You Shall Not Commit Adultery”) in the Context of Late Ming China","authors":"Haihua Tian","doi":"10.3390/rel14121552","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121552","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines concubinage in late Ming China through Foucaudian discourse analysis of sexuality in order to explore different responses to the Sixth Commandment by the Jesuits and Chinese literati. It will be interdisciplinary and conducted by way of philology, sexuality studies, feminist studies, cross-cultural criticism, and inter-religious dialogue. Topics include the relationship between religion and sexuality, concubinage in late Ming China, the Jesuits’ attitude towards concubinage, and the case study of the Confucian Catholic Wang Zheng’s struggle. A cross-cultural study of the Six Commandment not only illustrates the complex interaction between religion, sexuality, and gender but also presents early encounters of the Chinese and Christian cultures and the dialogues between them.","PeriodicalId":38169,"journal":{"name":"Religions","volume":"82 S362","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138965249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}