Pub Date : 2023-02-07DOI: 10.1080/0048721x.2023.2175299
H. Munson
{"title":"A Cultural History of Genocide, 6 volumes","authors":"H. Munson","doi":"10.1080/0048721x.2023.2175299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721x.2023.2175299","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44588570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-06DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174914
Helena Kupari
ABSTRACT According to the basic starting point of the study of material religion, religion is an inextricably material phenomenon. In theorizations of religious conversion, however, materiality is accorded little attention. This article presents a case study that investigates the role of materiality in individual religious change, as well as highlighting the dematerialized underpinnings of modern Western conceptualizations of conversion. It concerns transitions from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Finland. In this context, the sensory aspects of liturgical life are often identified as a central pull-factor of Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, partiality towards Orthodox aesthetics is not always considered a proper reason for switching churches. The article analyses interview material gathered from converts and is informed by the concept of semiotic ideology, which it applies to examine the different and sometimes conflicting assumptions regarding material expressions as mediators between humanity and divinity present in the data.
{"title":"The ambiguous role of materiality in transitions to Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Finland","authors":"Helena Kupari","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174914","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174914","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT According to the basic starting point of the study of material religion, religion is an inextricably material phenomenon. In theorizations of religious conversion, however, materiality is accorded little attention. This article presents a case study that investigates the role of materiality in individual religious change, as well as highlighting the dematerialized underpinnings of modern Western conceptualizations of conversion. It concerns transitions from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Finland. In this context, the sensory aspects of liturgical life are often identified as a central pull-factor of Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, partiality towards Orthodox aesthetics is not always considered a proper reason for switching churches. The article analyses interview material gathered from converts and is informed by the concept of semiotic ideology, which it applies to examine the different and sometimes conflicting assumptions regarding material expressions as mediators between humanity and divinity present in the data.","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"314 - 334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48544765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-03DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174313
Herman Tull
{"title":"Embodying the Vedas: Traditional Vedic Schools of Contemporary Maharashtra","authors":"Herman Tull","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2023.2174313","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"371 - 373"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43141072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-09DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150401
Esther Eidinow
ABSTRACT Cults of the nymphs were both popular and extremely widespread in the ancient Greek countryside and it was possible for individuals to build significantly close relationships with local nymphs. The term used to describe such people was ‘nympholept’ (‘one captured by the nymphs’) and we know some of their names and the locations of their cults; scholars describe the nympholepts as exhibiting ‘devotion’. This essay explores and challenges current interpretations of nympholepsy. Drawing on the work of Scott Atran, it investigates the behaviours of the nympholepts in relational terms, as encompassing mental, physical and emotional dimensions. Using ecological cognitive approaches, and the I-Thou and I-It dichotomies of the philosopher Martin Buber, it argues that the devotion of the nympholepts was a process of making sense of the environment, in which there was profound entanglement between mortal and space, place and nymph, nymph and mortal.
{"title":"I-Thou-Nymph: a relational approach to ancient Greek religious devotion","authors":"Esther Eidinow","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150401","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Cults of the nymphs were both popular and extremely widespread in the ancient Greek countryside and it was possible for individuals to build significantly close relationships with local nymphs. The term used to describe such people was ‘nympholept’ (‘one captured by the nymphs’) and we know some of their names and the locations of their cults; scholars describe the nympholepts as exhibiting ‘devotion’. This essay explores and challenges current interpretations of nympholepsy. Drawing on the work of Scott Atran, it investigates the behaviours of the nympholepts in relational terms, as encompassing mental, physical and emotional dimensions. Using ecological cognitive approaches, and the I-Thou and I-It dichotomies of the philosopher Martin Buber, it argues that the devotion of the nympholepts was a process of making sense of the environment, in which there was profound entanglement between mortal and space, place and nymph, nymph and mortal.","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"24 - 42"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47153777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-08DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2146428
Hester Oberman
{"title":"Religion and Medicine: A History of the Encounter Between Humanity's Two Greatest Institutions","authors":"Hester Oberman","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2022.2146428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2146428","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"364 - 368"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48025468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-08DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150400
J. Bremmer
ABSTRACT In the Roman Empire, there was a trend to formulate total devotion to a deity as being a slave to a master. My contribution analyses how this relationship is elaborated in the Acts of Peter, a late second-century Christian apocryphal text. As Christianity was still an emerging religion, total devotion was not a given but a quality that needed to be nurtured as it was continuously under threat. The narrative of the Acts of Peter illustrates the nature of the right relationship with Christ and God, but it also highlights the dangers of earthly patrons and heretics. Finally, in line with the insights of Atran [2016. ‘The Devoted Actor.’ Current Anthropology 57 (Supplement 12): S192–S203], it shows that martyrdom, that is, to die for Christ, to die like Christ, is the ultimate form of Christian total devotion.
{"title":"Slaves of God/Christ: narrated total devotion in the apocryphal Acts of Peter","authors":"J. Bremmer","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150400","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150400","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the Roman Empire, there was a trend to formulate total devotion to a deity as being a slave to a master. My contribution analyses how this relationship is elaborated in the Acts of Peter, a late second-century Christian apocryphal text. As Christianity was still an emerging religion, total devotion was not a given but a quality that needed to be nurtured as it was continuously under threat. The narrative of the Acts of Peter illustrates the nature of the right relationship with Christ and God, but it also highlights the dangers of earthly patrons and heretics. Finally, in line with the insights of Atran [2016. ‘The Devoted Actor.’ Current Anthropology 57 (Supplement 12): S192–S203], it shows that martyrdom, that is, to die for Christ, to die like Christ, is the ultimate form of Christian total devotion.","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"87 - 115"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43490676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-07DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150402
Laura Feldt
ABSTRACT This article analyses ideals of total devotion in the Hebrew Bible, concentrating on the book of Deuteronomy. Understanding total devotion as an intense, emotional, and total relationship between a god and the worshippers, the analysis spotlights Deuteronomy 6–7, investigating emotion expressions used of the relation between the deity and Israel, their narrative embedding, and how narrativity stimulates and sustains emotions. I argue that the ideal of devotion involves a totality of scope, and – taking the broader affective and narrative economy into account – significant emotional intensity. The command to love is entangled in an emotionally intense elicitation of fear and disgust supporting enclave formation, identity fusion and costly sacrifice. Deuteronomy 1–11 can be understood as aiming to train devotion affectively and narratively. The analysis indicates that more attention should be paid to emotions, narrativity, and group-internal ideals of devotion in radical religion research.
{"title":"Training for total devotion: emotionality and narrativity in Deuteronomy","authors":"Laura Feldt","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150402","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyses ideals of total devotion in the Hebrew Bible, concentrating on the book of Deuteronomy. Understanding total devotion as an intense, emotional, and total relationship between a god and the worshippers, the analysis spotlights Deuteronomy 6–7, investigating emotion expressions used of the relation between the deity and Israel, their narrative embedding, and how narrativity stimulates and sustains emotions. I argue that the ideal of devotion involves a totality of scope, and – taking the broader affective and narrative economy into account – significant emotional intensity. The command to love is entangled in an emotionally intense elicitation of fear and disgust supporting enclave formation, identity fusion and costly sacrifice. Deuteronomy 1–11 can be understood as aiming to train devotion affectively and narratively. The analysis indicates that more attention should be paid to emotions, narrativity, and group-internal ideals of devotion in radical religion research.","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"43 - 67"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46720128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-02DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150403
Christian Høgel
ABSTRACT Most modern studies have treated Christian pillar saints as constituting one among many types of Christian sainthood that appeared in the first centuries of Christianity. In general, these studies have emphasized the similarities that connected pillar sainthood to other forms of Christian ascetic practice and performance, However, the ascetic practice of the stylites can also be seen as a form of total devotion characterized by an extreme and conspicuous visual performance. Taking the first and most famous of these, namely saint Symeon Stylites (the Elder, ca. 390–459 CE) as our case study, this contribution suggests that Symeon’s performance should be viewed as a new form of visible and competitive super-religiosity, with the saint performing within an intense in-group exchange and with obvious emulation of imperial practices, based primarily on the account of Theodoret of Cyrrhus.
{"title":"The pillar saint seen as a totally devoted emperor: the in-group around Symeon Stylites the elder","authors":"Christian Høgel","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150403","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Most modern studies have treated Christian pillar saints as constituting one among many types of Christian sainthood that appeared in the first centuries of Christianity. In general, these studies have emphasized the similarities that connected pillar sainthood to other forms of Christian ascetic practice and performance, However, the ascetic practice of the stylites can also be seen as a form of total devotion characterized by an extreme and conspicuous visual performance. Taking the first and most famous of these, namely saint Symeon Stylites (the Elder, ca. 390–459 CE) as our case study, this contribution suggests that Symeon’s performance should be viewed as a new form of visible and competitive super-religiosity, with the saint performing within an intense in-group exchange and with obvious emulation of imperial practices, based primarily on the account of Theodoret of Cyrrhus.","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"161 - 175"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46153196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-30DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150407
Klazina Staat
ABSTRACT This article concentrates on ideals of total devotion in Latin late antique Lives of secret saints. It argues that total devotion is narrativised according to a standardised plot structure or ‘masterplot’. The plot starts with the saints’ performance of total devotion in religious competition, which increases their fame and emotional attraction among the followers. Imitating the example of earlier ascetics, the saints withdraw in isolation to avoid the followers’ attention, but to no avail: the more they hide, the more they become known through the spreading of rumours. The saints’ subsequent disclosure intensifies their emotional attraction, and results in the people’s demonstration of total devotion. In a final step, the audience of the hagiographical tales is invited to follow the saints’ example. Laying bare the recurring plot elements, the article highlights the nexus of ascetic withdrawal, secrecy, fame, emotions, storytelling, and imitation in the constitution of total devotion.
{"title":"Emplotting total devotion: secrecy, fame, and imitation in late antique Lives of Christian ascetics","authors":"Klazina Staat","doi":"10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150407","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This article concentrates on ideals of total devotion in Latin late antique Lives of secret saints. It argues that total devotion is narrativised according to a standardised plot structure or ‘masterplot’. The plot starts with the saints’ performance of total devotion in religious competition, which increases their fame and emotional attraction among the followers. Imitating the example of earlier ascetics, the saints withdraw in isolation to avoid the followers’ attention, but to no avail: the more they hide, the more they become known through the spreading of rumours. The saints’ subsequent disclosure intensifies their emotional attraction, and results in the people’s demonstration of total devotion. In a final step, the audience of the hagiographical tales is invited to follow the saints’ example. Laying bare the recurring plot elements, the article highlights the nexus of ascetic withdrawal, secrecy, fame, emotions, storytelling, and imitation in the constitution of total devotion.","PeriodicalId":46717,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION","volume":"53 1","pages":"135 - 160"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43500338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}