Pub Date : 2024-06-01DOI: 10.1177/20503032241254378
Gëzim Alpion
Mother Teresa’s spirituality has been under scrutiny following the revelation that she suffered from the dark night of the soul. This three-part study initially covers the Church's reactions to her aridity from 1999 to 2007. The second part focuses on three main approaches—theological, psychological, and medical—in academic writings to her emptiness, interpreting it as indicative of holiness and a mental health condition. Having acknowledged sporadic attempts to see Teresa’s ministry and spiritual dryness as being interrelated, employing both the “sociological imagination” and a biographical approach, the final part highlights the significance of exploring this relationship as a causality in the context of an array of interrelated personal, familial, and ethno-spiritual milieus. The study contends that Teresa’s desolation was a lifelong condition which determined her choice of vocation and every decision thereafter, including the charism of the Missionaries of Charity and the stages of her ministry.
{"title":"The incurably incredulous living saint: a multidisciplinary approach to Mother Teresa’s spiritual darkness","authors":"Gëzim Alpion","doi":"10.1177/20503032241254378","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032241254378","url":null,"abstract":"Mother Teresa’s spirituality has been under scrutiny following the revelation that she suffered from the dark night of the soul. This three-part study initially covers the Church's reactions to her aridity from 1999 to 2007. The second part focuses on three main approaches—theological, psychological, and medical—in academic writings to her emptiness, interpreting it as indicative of holiness and a mental health condition. Having acknowledged sporadic attempts to see Teresa’s ministry and spiritual dryness as being interrelated, employing both the “sociological imagination” and a biographical approach, the final part highlights the significance of exploring this relationship as a causality in the context of an array of interrelated personal, familial, and ethno-spiritual milieus. The study contends that Teresa’s desolation was a lifelong condition which determined her choice of vocation and every decision thereafter, including the charism of the Missionaries of Charity and the stages of her ministry.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"101 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141188929","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}
Pub Date : 2024-05-30DOI: 10.1177/20503032241254376
Favour Chukwuemeka Uroko
While previous studies have focused on the increasing insecurity bedeviling Nigerians, there is a dearth of knowledge on the endangered status of the Christian clergy in north-central and southern Nigeria. The aim of this study is to analyze the reasons for the kidnapping and killing of the Christian clergy by terrorist groups such as Jihadists, bandits, and herdsmen in north-central and southern Nigeria. This qualitative study was conducted with a phenomenological approach. Data was gathered from oral interviews and extant literature. Its findings reveal that terrorist groups have an agenda to instill fear in the citizens of north-central and southern Nigeria. Also, the terrorist groups used the kidnapping of priests to show their ability to achieve their plans. Recommendations are proposed.
{"title":"An analysis of the attacks on Christian clergy in north-central and southern Nigeria","authors":"Favour Chukwuemeka Uroko","doi":"10.1177/20503032241254376","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032241254376","url":null,"abstract":"While previous studies have focused on the increasing insecurity bedeviling Nigerians, there is a dearth of knowledge on the endangered status of the Christian clergy in north-central and southern Nigeria. The aim of this study is to analyze the reasons for the kidnapping and killing of the Christian clergy by terrorist groups such as Jihadists, bandits, and herdsmen in north-central and southern Nigeria. This qualitative study was conducted with a phenomenological approach. Data was gathered from oral interviews and extant literature. Its findings reveal that terrorist groups have an agenda to instill fear in the citizens of north-central and southern Nigeria. Also, the terrorist groups used the kidnapping of priests to show their ability to achieve their plans. Recommendations are proposed.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141188887","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}
Pub Date : 2024-05-17DOI: 10.1177/20503032241254377
Nathan Alexander Scott
{"title":"The Metaphysics of Light in the Hexaemeral Literature: From Philo of Alexandria to Gregory of Nyssa","authors":"Nathan Alexander Scott","doi":"10.1177/20503032241254377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032241254377","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"111 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141060899","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}
Pub Date : 2024-05-11DOI: 10.1177/20503032241254380
Gustavo Morello
{"title":"Book Review: Guarded by Two Jaguars. A Catholic Parish Divided by Language and Faith","authors":"Gustavo Morello","doi":"10.1177/20503032241254380","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032241254380","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140932627","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}
Pub Date : 2024-01-31DOI: 10.1177/20503032241226968
Ernils Larsson
This paper critically examines the process of “religion-making” as it occurs in Japanese courts of law, through an analysis of the recent Naha Confucius Temple case. The case concerned a small Confucius temple built on public land in Naha, the prefectural capital of Okinawa. The mayor of Naha had decided to waver lease for the land, since he considered the temple to be an “educational institution” focused primarily on disseminating knowledge about Okinawan history and local cultural heritage. Although the organization behind the temple was legally registered as a general incorporated foundation, the plaintiff argued that their activities and objectives were clearly religious in nature. In rulings handed down between 2018 and 2021, all three instances of the judiciary ruled in favor of the plaintiff, deciding that despite the organization’s legal status and stated objectives, their connection to Confucianism meant that they should be considered a “religious organization” under law.
{"title":"The Naha Confucius Temple lawsuit and religion-making in Japan’s courts of law","authors":"Ernils Larsson","doi":"10.1177/20503032241226968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032241226968","url":null,"abstract":"This paper critically examines the process of “religion-making” as it occurs in Japanese courts of law, through an analysis of the recent Naha Confucius Temple case. The case concerned a small Confucius temple built on public land in Naha, the prefectural capital of Okinawa. The mayor of Naha had decided to waver lease for the land, since he considered the temple to be an “educational institution” focused primarily on disseminating knowledge about Okinawan history and local cultural heritage. Although the organization behind the temple was legally registered as a general incorporated foundation, the plaintiff argued that their activities and objectives were clearly religious in nature. In rulings handed down between 2018 and 2021, all three instances of the judiciary ruled in favor of the plaintiff, deciding that despite the organization’s legal status and stated objectives, their connection to Confucianism meant that they should be considered a “religious organization” under law.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139949277","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}
Pub Date : 2024-01-10DOI: 10.1177/20503032241226967
Warren S. Goldstein
{"title":"Judging jewish identity in the United States","authors":"Warren S. Goldstein","doi":"10.1177/20503032241226967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032241226967","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"76 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139440824","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}
Pub Date : 2023-09-13DOI: 10.1177/20503032231199483
J. Andrew Doole
The Bible has long permeated Northern Irish culture and politics and continues to play a role even today, as politicians appeal to the words of Scripture in reference to their position on social policy issues such as equal marriage and abortion. In this article, however, I will show that the Bible also appears incidentally in Northern Irish politics, employed in discourse to demean, console, or entertain, and not to direct policy decisions. I discuss examples of reference to the Bible in the Northern Ireland Assembly and show that by comparing others (or oneself) to characters from the Bible, members are mostly engaging in criticism or mild attack of political opponents, but not without a certain role for humor in what might be designated “biblical banter.” I thus illuminate one aspect of the cultural role played by the Bible in the everyday language of politics in Northern Ireland.
{"title":"Scripture in stormont: Incidental reference to the Bible in Northern Irish politics","authors":"J. Andrew Doole","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199483","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199483","url":null,"abstract":"The Bible has long permeated Northern Irish culture and politics and continues to play a role even today, as politicians appeal to the words of Scripture in reference to their position on social policy issues such as equal marriage and abortion. In this article, however, I will show that the Bible also appears incidentally in Northern Irish politics, employed in discourse to demean, console, or entertain, and not to direct policy decisions. I discuss examples of reference to the Bible in the Northern Ireland Assembly and show that by comparing others (or oneself) to characters from the Bible, members are mostly engaging in criticism or mild attack of political opponents, but not without a certain role for humor in what might be designated “biblical banter.” I thus illuminate one aspect of the cultural role played by the Bible in the everyday language of politics in Northern Ireland.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135691523","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}
Pub Date : 2023-09-12DOI: 10.1177/20503032231199492
Zhe Gao
As one of the most significant events in the history of Sino-Western interaction and that of Chinese Christianity, the “Chinese Rites Controversy” has been the subject of numerous studies from both Western and Chinese scholars since the 1980s. When interpreting the rites issue of the Controversy, most studies see the crux of it as the “religious” nature of the Confucian rites. In contrast to this dominant understanding, this article argues that both the uncritical repetition of “religious” in the modern interpretations of the Controversy and its tacitly approved validity presuppose a universal and timeless conception of “religion.” Through a method of historicisation, i.e., examining carefully in what sense “religious” and related terms such as “civil,” “political,” “superstitious,” and “yinsi,” etc. were used in the original texts of the Controversy, this article intends to show that the use of “religious” by modern authors constitutes, though to a great extent unconsciously, a hermeneutical anachronism. The root of this anachronism lies in that the use “religious” as a generic adjective defining a distinct sphere of human enterprise that can be differentiated from those “non-religious” ones is a modern invention, and could find its place in neither encompassing Christian truth nor the tianxia order, nor even the fusion of these two horizons manifested in the awareness of literati Catholics, all of which defined the context in which the rites issue was debated during the Controversy.
{"title":"Not about religion: A reinterpretation of the Chinese rites controversy","authors":"Zhe Gao","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199492","url":null,"abstract":"As one of the most significant events in the history of Sino-Western interaction and that of Chinese Christianity, the “Chinese Rites Controversy” has been the subject of numerous studies from both Western and Chinese scholars since the 1980s. When interpreting the rites issue of the Controversy, most studies see the crux of it as the “religious” nature of the Confucian rites. In contrast to this dominant understanding, this article argues that both the uncritical repetition of “religious” in the modern interpretations of the Controversy and its tacitly approved validity presuppose a universal and timeless conception of “religion.” Through a method of historicisation, i.e., examining carefully in what sense “religious” and related terms such as “civil,” “political,” “superstitious,” and “yinsi,” etc. were used in the original texts of the Controversy, this article intends to show that the use of “religious” by modern authors constitutes, though to a great extent unconsciously, a hermeneutical anachronism. The root of this anachronism lies in that the use “religious” as a generic adjective defining a distinct sphere of human enterprise that can be differentiated from those “non-religious” ones is a modern invention, and could find its place in neither encompassing Christian truth nor the tianxia order, nor even the fusion of these two horizons manifested in the awareness of literati Catholics, all of which defined the context in which the rites issue was debated during the Controversy.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135878111","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}
Pub Date : 2023-09-06DOI: 10.1177/20503032231199490
Kathleen M. Sellers
This article draws on critical race theory and social reproduction theory to analyze the process resulting in the curriculum framework for secondary, Catholic, religious education in the US. This document, promulgated by Church leaders, has impacted millions of US Catholic high school students. Recent calls for racial justice, within and outside of the Catholic Church, invite inquiry into whether this framework is impacting all students equally. This article explores two key questions: Whose knowledge mattered in the creation of the Framework? Was the Framework constructed so as to support the creation of a culturally-sustaining religion curriculum for all students? This analysis demonstrates why the Framework may be problematic for Students of Color and suggests Catholic leaders and educators must learn more from critical race scholars and education researchers if they are to enhance the quality of this and future pedagogical resources for religious instruction. Recommendations are made for addressing the issues raised.
{"title":"Reproducing whiteness? A critical race analysis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ process for drafting the framework for secondary religious education","authors":"Kathleen M. Sellers","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199490","url":null,"abstract":"This article draws on critical race theory and social reproduction theory to analyze the process resulting in the curriculum framework for secondary, Catholic, religious education in the US. This document, promulgated by Church leaders, has impacted millions of US Catholic high school students. Recent calls for racial justice, within and outside of the Catholic Church, invite inquiry into whether this framework is impacting all students equally. This article explores two key questions: Whose knowledge mattered in the creation of the Framework? Was the Framework constructed so as to support the creation of a culturally-sustaining religion curriculum for all students? This analysis demonstrates why the Framework may be problematic for Students of Color and suggests Catholic leaders and educators must learn more from critical race scholars and education researchers if they are to enhance the quality of this and future pedagogical resources for religious instruction. Recommendations are made for addressing the issues raised.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41830672","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}
Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1177/20503032231199484
P. J. Rooks
In 1926, Gerald Winrod, who was already a deeply committed Protestant revivalist and Chautauqua evangelist, founded The Defenders of the Christian Faith to battle the rise of the modern, liberal lifestyle. Winrod was one of several members of the newly formed World Christian Fundamentals Association who insisted upon a literal interpretation of the Bible and believed in subservience for women and Blacks as divinely sanctioned. This article elaborates findings from a case study of Winrod’s writings and particularly explores syncretic theological elements drawn from Calvinist and Arminian religious traditions that appear to have appealed to the new fundamentalists for their usefulness in sustaining the social privileges of white, Christian men.
1926年，杰拉尔德·温罗德（Gerald Winrod）创立了“基督教信仰捍卫者”（The Defenders of The Christian Faith），与现代自由主义生活方式的兴起作斗争。温罗德是新成立的世界基督教基础协会的几名成员之一，他们坚持对《圣经》进行字面解释，并相信对女性和黑人的顺从是神圣的认可。本文阐述了温罗德著作的案例研究结果，并特别探讨了加尔文主义和阿米尼主义宗教传统中的融合神学元素，这些元素似乎吸引了新的原教旨主义者，因为它们在维持白人基督徒的社会特权方面很有用。
{"title":"Hegemonic fundamentalism in Wichita, Kansas: The Defenders of the Christian Faith, 1926-1931","authors":"P. J. Rooks","doi":"10.1177/20503032231199484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032231199484","url":null,"abstract":"In 1926, Gerald Winrod, who was already a deeply committed Protestant revivalist and Chautauqua evangelist, founded The Defenders of the Christian Faith to battle the rise of the modern, liberal lifestyle. Winrod was one of several members of the newly formed World Christian Fundamentals Association who insisted upon a literal interpretation of the Bible and believed in subservience for women and Blacks as divinely sanctioned. This article elaborates findings from a case study of Winrod’s writings and particularly explores syncretic theological elements drawn from Calvinist and Arminian religious traditions that appear to have appealed to the new fundamentalists for their usefulness in sustaining the social privileges of white, Christian men.","PeriodicalId":43214,"journal":{"name":"Critical Research on Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44343396","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}
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