{"title":"A Critical Reflection on the Ecumenical Movement in Korean Churches","authors":"Jaeshik Shin","doi":"10.46263/rc.42.5.","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46263/rc.42.5.","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82029538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Critical Reflection on John Milbank’s “Between Catastrophes”","authors":"Young Won Kim","doi":"10.46263/rc.42.7.","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46263/rc.42.7.","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73847363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Re-envisioning Civil Religion in a Collaborative, Constructive Model","authors":"Song-Chong Lee","doi":"10.46263/rc.42.2.","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.46263/rc.42.2.","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76216837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Harry Potter can be read as a critique of transhumanist aims of achieving immortality or radical superlongevity. The salience of transhumanism for Harry Potter is seen through the way that magic functions as an analogue to technology, and through the centrality of death throughout the series. Transhumanists pursue radical superlongevity by three pathways: bioengineering, cyborg engineering, and mind uploading. Each of these pathways, when applied heuristically to the magical pursuit of immortality in Harry Potter, receives explicit rejection in the text alongside the commendation of Harry’s nonpursuit of it. By way of analogy, Harry Potter’s perspective on death and immortality, which is informed in part by the Christian tradition, offers readers a critique of certain transhumanist aims along the lines of other ethical and religious analyses of the movement, and speaks to the deep desires and longings lying at their heart.
{"title":"Harry Potter and the Aims of Transhumanism: A Magical Critique of Technological Immortality","authors":"J. Dunne","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2021-0048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2021-0048","url":null,"abstract":"Harry Potter can be read as a critique of transhumanist aims of achieving immortality or radical superlongevity. The salience of transhumanism for Harry Potter is seen through the way that magic functions as an analogue to technology, and through the centrality of death throughout the series. Transhumanists pursue radical superlongevity by three pathways: bioengineering, cyborg engineering, and mind uploading. Each of these pathways, when applied heuristically to the magical pursuit of immortality in Harry Potter, receives explicit rejection in the text alongside the commendation of Harry’s nonpursuit of it. By way of analogy, Harry Potter’s perspective on death and immortality, which is informed in part by the Christian tradition, offers readers a critique of certain transhumanist aims along the lines of other ethical and religious analyses of the movement, and speaks to the deep desires and longings lying at their heart.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46742926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article describes the theology of attention that unfolds in John Green's young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars. Using Simone Weil's "doctrine of attention" as an interpretative lens, I explain how Green uses literary fiction to outline an alternative to abstract theological "solutions" to the horror of child cancer. Through intertextual connections to Infinite Jest and The Brothers Karamazov, Green implies that a focus on individual suffering is the basis for true compassion, translating the theological vision of "attentive love" presented by Foster Wallace and Dostoevsky for contemporary readers.
{"title":"The Theology of Attention in The Fault in Our Stars: John Green's Novel Contribution to \"Thinking About Suffering\"","authors":"Ewan Bowlby","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2021-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2021-0014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article describes the theology of attention that unfolds in John Green's young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars. Using Simone Weil's \"doctrine of attention\" as an interpretative lens, I explain how Green uses literary fiction to outline an alternative to abstract theological \"solutions\" to the horror of child cancer. Through intertextual connections to Infinite Jest and The Brothers Karamazov, Green implies that a focus on individual suffering is the basis for true compassion, translating the theological vision of \"attentive love\" presented by Foster Wallace and Dostoevsky for contemporary readers.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45302423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
thought for those seeking to develop aural methodologies to help study affect and subjective faith experiences. This is a captivating and scholarly read that helps unravel this complex religion for a specialist and non-academic audience alike.
{"title":"Mormons, Musical Theatre, and Belonging in America","authors":"Jo Whitehouse-Hart","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2020-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2020-0011","url":null,"abstract":"thought for those seeking to develop aural methodologies to help study affect and subjective faith experiences. This is a captivating and scholarly read that helps unravel this complex religion for a specialist and non-academic audience alike.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44583720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac, known as the Akedah (Genesis 22), is one of the more puzzling events in the Hebrew Bible. Most rabbinic commentaries and elaborations (midrashim) take an apologetic stance, defending Abraham and drawing spiritual lessons from his disturbing actions. A surprisingly sensitive treatment is found in “Altared States,” a first-season episode of the fantasy television series Xena: Warrior Princess, which reimagines the Akedah as a cautionary tale of sibling rivalry, coercion, and religious zealotry gone awry. This paper examines the Xena episode in the context of the show’s religious skepticism, 1990s spiritual eclecticism, and classical interpretations of the biblical story.
{"title":"The Binding of Ikus—Reimagining the Akedah in Xena: Warrior Princess","authors":"Jonathan L. Friedmann","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2020-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2020-0019","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac, known as the Akedah (Genesis 22), is one of the more puzzling events in the Hebrew Bible. Most rabbinic commentaries and elaborations (midrashim) take an apologetic stance, defending Abraham and drawing spiritual lessons from his disturbing actions. A surprisingly sensitive treatment is found in “Altared States,” a first-season episode of the fantasy television series Xena: Warrior Princess, which reimagines the Akedah as a cautionary tale of sibling rivalry, coercion, and religious zealotry gone awry. This paper examines the Xena episode in the context of the show’s religious skepticism, 1990s spiritual eclecticism, and classical interpretations of the biblical story.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42420407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Historically Sufism has been portrayed as an acceptable mode of Islam in Bollywood, and political Islam as a threat to Indian secular ethos. This has been particularly true of Kashmir films. However, Bollywood’s emphasis on the syncretic dimension of Sufism is a misappropriation of Kashmir’s Islamic history. This study establishes that Kashmir’s Sufism has to be seen as a socio-political movement that has been instrumental in liberating the lower caste Kashmiris from the Brahminic hegemony. Also, Islamization in Kashmir has to be seen as a historical evolution of a community, rather than a transition from one set of beliefs to another. The syncretization of Hinduism and Islam in Hindi cinema is an assertion of the postcolonial nationalist imagination of a secular India. This assertion is a product of the anxieties of loss of the territory with which the nation shares a turbulent relationship. Sufism conceived of in this way, becomes instrumental in ideological co-optation of the Muslim-majority Kashmir. The study probes Laila Majnu’s (2018) wandering dervish protagonist to chart out the representation of “individualistic” and “renunciatory” dimension of Sufism that couches Orientalist notions of the primitive and repressive “Muslim mind”. The apolitical narrative of the film mandates a critical inquiry since it is set amidst the politically charged atmosphere of Kashmir. Keywords: Bollywood, Islam, Kashmir, Laila M
{"title":"Wandering Dervish of Laila Majnu: Sufism and Socio-Political Mobilization in Kashmir","authors":"Waseem Ahad, Selma Akgül","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2021-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2021-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Historically Sufism has been portrayed as an acceptable mode of Islam in Bollywood, and political Islam as a threat to Indian secular ethos. This has been particularly true of Kashmir films. However, Bollywood’s emphasis on the syncretic dimension of Sufism is a misappropriation of Kashmir’s Islamic history. This study establishes that Kashmir’s Sufism has to be seen as a socio-political movement that has been instrumental in liberating the lower caste Kashmiris from the Brahminic hegemony. Also, Islamization in Kashmir has to be seen as a historical evolution of a community, rather than a transition from one set of beliefs to another. The syncretization of Hinduism and Islam in Hindi cinema is an assertion of the postcolonial nationalist imagination of a secular India. This assertion is a product of the anxieties of loss of the territory with which the nation shares a turbulent relationship. Sufism conceived of in this way, becomes instrumental in ideological co-optation of the Muslim-majority Kashmir. The study probes Laila Majnu’s (2018) wandering dervish protagonist to chart out the representation of “individualistic” and “renunciatory” dimension of Sufism that couches Orientalist notions of the primitive and repressive “Muslim mind”. The apolitical narrative of the film mandates a critical inquiry since it is set amidst the politically charged atmosphere of Kashmir. Keywords: Bollywood, Islam, Kashmir, Laila M","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42781673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Virgin Comics (subsequently known as Liquid Comics and Graphic India) was founded in 2006 as a comic book publisher that aimed to market Indian comics to a global, cosmopolitan audience. This article focuses on their Shakti line, which draws upon Hindu narratives about gods, goddesses, and holy people. In order to market these narratives, Virgin Comics unsettled them from their contexts using creative forms of transcultural intertextuality and secularizing apologetic. The resulting product illustrates the tensions of globalization in the early 2000s: optimism about a shrinking world together with the pressures of global financescapes and the harbingers of resurgent nationalisms.
{"title":"Virgin Comics: Hindu Narrative Themes for a Cosmopolitan Audience","authors":"Daniel Heifetz","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2019-0041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2019-0041","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Virgin Comics (subsequently known as Liquid Comics and Graphic India) was founded in 2006 as a comic book publisher that aimed to market Indian comics to a global, cosmopolitan audience. This article focuses on their Shakti line, which draws upon Hindu narratives about gods, goddesses, and holy people. In order to market these narratives, Virgin Comics unsettled them from their contexts using creative forms of transcultural intertextuality and secularizing apologetic. The resulting product illustrates the tensions of globalization in the early 2000s: optimism about a shrinking world together with the pressures of global financescapes and the harbingers of resurgent nationalisms.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48164716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Echoing the writings of their American counterparts, Filipino evangelicals have published bestselling books on love and sex. These books appeal because of their practical tips, often narrated in conversational Tagalog and English. We turn to some of the most influential books in this article. These works exhort their readers to embrace sexual purity in preparation for the one God intends for them—“God’s best.” Although decidedly evangelical, these writings are packaged within the language of a secular genre—love and relationships—known for espousing more liberal views on romance and sexuality. Two rhetorical techniques matter: (1) the simultaneous promotion and disavowal of courtship; and (2) the use of religious testimony. The article ends with critical reflections on evangelicalism as a countercultural movement in Philippine society.
{"title":"Waiting for “God’s Best”: Love and Sex in Evangelical Christianity in the Philippines","authors":"J. Cornelio, Lisandro E. Claudio","doi":"10.3138/jrpc.2021-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2021-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Echoing the writings of their American counterparts, Filipino evangelicals have published bestselling books on love and sex. These books appeal because of their practical tips, often narrated in conversational Tagalog and English. We turn to some of the most influential books in this article. These works exhort their readers to embrace sexual purity in preparation for the one God intends for them—“God’s best.” Although decidedly evangelical, these writings are packaged within the language of a secular genre—love and relationships—known for espousing more liberal views on romance and sexuality. Two rhetorical techniques matter: (1) the simultaneous promotion and disavowal of courtship; and (2) the use of religious testimony. The article ends with critical reflections on evangelicalism as a countercultural movement in Philippine society.","PeriodicalId":38290,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion and Popular Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41682024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}