bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Altskandinavische Opferrituale und das Problem der  Quellen
Authors: Hultgård Anders
Published: August 2018

The article discusses Old Norse sacrifical rituals and their practice in Scandinavia. The scarcity of research material in this special field raises methodological problems: how to interpret and understand rituals that are no longer practiced, which belonged to a culture long gone?The article analyses the three main source texts that contain coherent narratives of sacrificial narratives: Snorri's Heimskringla, the Eyrbyggjasaga and the Kjalnesingasaga. While these narratives cannot be regarded as precise depictions of how such rituals were performed in ancient times they should however not be entirely dismissed as literary fiction. In these narratives, traditional elements are intervowen with early Chrisitan influences and coloured by the cultural context in which they were created.
With Dance and Drum. A Psychocultural Investigation of the Ritual Meaning-Making System of an Afro-Brazilian, Macumba Community in Salvador, Brazil
Authors: DeMarinis Valerie
Published: August 2018

This paper focuses on the Macumba community's way of making meaning in its Afro-Brazilian cultural context. The community's meaning-making system is analyzed through five central points relating psychosocial function to religious ritual experience. In this Macumba community context ritual, through dance and drum, serves as the basic multi-dimensional vehicle for psychosocial and spiritual development in the community.
Images as Messengers of Coptic Identity. An Example from Contemporary Egypt
Authors: Finnestad Ragnhild
Published: August 2018

During the past thirty years the production of two-dimensional images designed to be used in religion has flourished in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. After generations with little or negligible activity, enterprising ateliers can today be found all over the country.' Many of them are strategically placed in influential convents and monasteries and at important educational institutions. In this production of art, the Section of Coptic Art at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in Abbasiya in Cairo occupies a leading position. Under the direction of Professor Isaac Fanous Youssef the section is attempting to develop a Coptic iconography and style — which the Coptic Orthodox Church does not have. Images of Christ, Mary, and the saints are central in Coptic cultic life, but there is a traditional openness to all kinds of styles and the dominant ones are European and Byzantinesque, well-known in both Western and Eastern Christianity. Also other artists are engaged in developing an especially Coptic iconography and style, but Isaac Fanous and his pupils have received the greater attention and also have the support of official church authorities. The primary aim given for images in Coptic religion is that of being tools for communicating with and partaking of the Holy World.' The focus of this paper is on the usages and functions which the images have in Coptic life, in particular how they serve the construction of ethnic consciousness and cohesion of the Copts. Coptic identity is an important issue for the Copts. The images in question are included in a conscious effort to formulate and mediate who the Copts are. Through choice of themes, composition of motifs, and style, the images impart Coptic self-conception.
Images of the Mind and Images for the Eye. An Iconographical Approach to UFO-Mythology
Authors: Rothstein Mikael
Published: August 2018

In the study of contemporary new religions and popular religious or metaphysical notions, the iconographical sources are often sadly overlooked. In this article it is the intention to present an iconographical approach to one single, although significantly versatile, aspect of modern, non-traditional mythology, namely the notion of "flying saucers" or UFOs (i.e. Unidentified Flying Objects). The actual UFO-religions may be insignificant in terms of adherence, but the very concept of UFOs holds a strong position in contemporary metaphysics and spirituality, as we find it in the so called New Age movement and elsewhere. Starting with the very notion of strange circular phenomena in the sky, a vast and very differentiated mythology of "flying saucers" or UFOs has developed. As far as the iconographical presentations reflect the narrative structure(s) of the UFO myth, these pictures are integrated elements of the UFO story, and sometimes even agents of a further ufological development.
Decoding the Hermetic Discourse in Salomon Trismosin's Splendor Solis - A Semiotic Study of Three Ways of Reading
Authors: Södergård J.
Published: August 2018

Alchemy and the Hermetic Art are terms that denote a most interesting transitional space, circumscribing an opaque region of human cultural history, shared between matter and psyche, between phantasmagoric reveries and practical experiments, between sincere natural theology and conscious fraud. This is an area of human experience that has been notoriously difficult to define and understand, and which has triggered off contradictory interpretations that are, in their own, of semiotic interest. It has been said that a text — in our case Splendor Solis, and the Hermetic–alchemical texts at large — is a picnic, a Dutch party, in which the author provides the words and the reader, especially a reader with too much or too little erudition, comes up with the meaning of the words. In this article, the author tries to give an overview of the general interpretations of alchemy that have been put forward, and apply Umberto Eco's intentional approach to these interpretations, viz. consider them as various sorts of intentions. The author uses a pseudonymous alchemical tractate from the sixteenth century, Salomon Trismosin's treatise Splendor Solis as an opportunity to picture and evaluate the three main decodings of alchemy that have been attempted; a chemical, a religious—soteriological and a psychological. The author also explores the intertextual web in the Hermetic discourse, and see if its mapping can generate usable knowledge about what has, since the Middle Ages, been called alchemy: a term acknowledging the taking up of a science or art which had been cultivated by Muslim and Nestorian scholars, but with its fountain head in Late Antiquity.
Tracks on the road-myth: Indo-European religions beyond Georges Dumezil’s moyen d’analyser
Authors: Jackson Peter
Published: August 2018

Dumézil regarded the insistence on etymological equations as a blockage in consideration of the Indo-European ideology, whereas the occurrence of a comparative grammar and a common religious nomenclature necessitated the advantage of genetic comparisons over comparisons excluding the notions of organic contiguity. He considered it self-evident that societies sharing a political, juridical, ethical, and religious vocabulary likewise share a coherent system of thought, and that this system may be sought beyond the manifestations of signs. This presupposition led Dumézil to compare sets of ideas, circumscribed by their inherent systematic constancy, yet dissolved in an irreversible cluster of formal variability.
Beyond the given and the all-giving: extraneous speculations on women and the gift
Authors: Joy Morny
Published: August 2018

There needs to be a recognition that the phenomenon of the gift and the fascination it exerts for contemporary thinkers is a measure of dissatisfaction with prevailing norms. As a test case, the phenomenon of the gift needs to be perceived as an instance of heterogeneity in a culture that, despite its convoluted escape mechanisms, cannot honestly confront its repressive controlling impulses. The gift is thus a symptom par excellence of Western tendencies to distort for its own purposes (whether benign, malevolent or simply ignorant) whatever is viewed as alien, exotic or excluded. This has largely been (non-Western) cultures, women and those of other racial, class or ethnic varieties. Such behaviour is evident not just in anthropology and literature, but in philosophy, and especially in religious studies where the prevailing norm has been the cliché of the neutral male scholar. Insofar as this propensity is unacknowledged, the gift will remain an enigma to a society such as ours that refuses to admit not just its blind-spots (whether cultural, racial or sexual), but the mechanisms that continue to produce them. It will thus compensate by demonizing or idealizing uncritically, the other as bearer of those repressions that make its continued flourishing possible. These examples of selective reading of questionable data and utopian improvisations highlight a common predicament as the Eurocentric mindset is confronted by otherness — be it its former colonized peoples or its own internalized forms of exclusion.
Is philology relevant?
Authors: Thomassen Einar
Published: August 2018

The human sciences today all still exist as the effect of the breakup of the philological paradigm. The gains and losses of their emancipation from this paradigm can be discussed for each of them separately, but that will not be done here, for obvious reasons. Anyhow, as far as the history of religions is concerned, the philological paradigm continued to maintain itself more strongly than in other disciplines.  One major reason is that language and texts are generally conceived as playing a very great role in the study of religion. Religious ideas and sentiments are probably more difficult to translate than any other part of a culture, so in order to understand a religion from the agents' point of view you must get into their language.
Methodological choice and the study of sensitive issues
Authors: Ahlberg Nora
Published: August 2018

There has been relatively little concern with methodological issues within the study of religion. In this article the author considers the need for a continuing clarification of how diverse methodological approaches relate to the study of religion in general, and what is more, of certain aspects of the role of the researcher in particular. A main difference between the methodological approaches as referred to in this article — and illustrated by reference to minority studies -is in the closeness of the researcher to his field. One could perhaps state that while the researcher draws nearer to his field in soft approaches the theories remain further away from the empirical data (i.e. in that one creates greater vistas) while the opposite is true for those that work with hard data designs, that meta-theories are almost excluded (as pure speculation) due to the strict demands for operationalization, as the (effect of the) researcher is to a greater extend likewise excluded from the picture. Though in both cases the choices made must naturally be made explicit as must the researcher relate to a qualified discussion between experts who have some kind of relationship to the kind of empirical material or theoretical thinking that is at issue in the particular project.
Ecology of religion: a hermeneutical model
Authors: Meyer-Dietrich Erika
Published: August 2018

We have to investigate the function of religion, the nature of the environment, and the nature of the human being. We have to ask: what is the nature of the relationship which connects people to their world? The aim of this paper is to present the outline of a new hermeneutical model in ecology of religion. Here the term "ecology of religion" serves as an umbrella to unify different methodological tools which are needed. As the term ecology implies, what is at issue is the impact of the environment on religion investigated through the interrelation between living organisms and their environment. From the fact that the subfield is defined as contextual research, it follows that the environment is principally a non-religious context. The orientation for ecology of religion, as represented here, is the investigation of the direct interrelation of the human being, actor in all cultural processes, with the natural environment. If it were our intention to reduce human nature to a biological organism, then we could place our approach in the field of biology. But, because it is our intention to show that the human being by nature is essentially one that lives a religion and is enabled to do so through cognitive processes, it is cognitive psychology that offers the orientation for our research.
Protestant pilgrimage to Jerusalem: preparations for the kingdom of God in apocalyptic rhetoric strategy
Authors: Leppäkari Maria
Published: August 2018

The vast majority of sacred shrines and holy sites host pilgrims united by strong degrees of cultural homogeneity. But Jerusalem differs on this point- it draws pilgrims from a vast multitude of nations and cultural traditions since the city is considered holy by three major religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The representatives of these traditions go partly to different places at different times where they are engaged in different forms of worship. Often these visits are marked by clashes at the holy places. The notion of Jerusalem in religious belief is constructed by the transmission of various representations concerned with the image of the city. For Western Christianity today, Jerusalem is not only important because of the things which Jesus of Nazareth, according to the tradition, did there. For many Christians Jerusalem is vitally important because of the apocalyptic promise Jesus left his followers with: I'll be back! Therefore, the position of Jerusalem in the religious end-time play is crucial, since apocalyptic representations of the New Jerusalem motivate contemporary believers to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to partake actively in political disputes about the Israeli—Palestinian conflict.
Conflict and concord on the Internet: selvet.dk
Authors: Hammer Olav
Published: August 2018

The Internet epitomizes globalization. Spanning most of the globe, yet leaving out the most marginalized populations, it reproduces the power structures and inequalities of the world at large. Nevertheless, as technologies become more widely available and more user-friendly, there is the potential to interact on an unprecedented scale with people of other nationalities, backgrounds and religious affiliations. Interaction may, of course, foster dialogue, but can also lead to polemics and aggressive behaviour. In discussion groups, Internet forums where opinions are exchanged, the potential for disagreement is evident. In a sensitive area such as religion, the risk of conflict is obviously present. People in different localities, who may well never meet face-to-face, and who do not even need to present themselves on-line under their real names, might in fact find it particularly tempting to handle conflict situations by using verbal invective. This risk is recognized by Internet users, who have adopted the militant metaphor ‘flame war’ to denote such excessive verbal aggression. Most research on religion on the Internet has focused on the use of this medium within one particular religious tradition, usually Christian or Muslim. Considerably less attention has been devoted to the question of what happens when members of different traditions interact and confront the opinions of others. The present article looks at some of the ways in which potential conflicts in this confrontation between various traditions are managed. The empirical material analysed has been chosen with one main objective in mind: the need to find a discussion group where people of sufficiently divergent opinions meet. The Danish site selvet.dk is a forum where people of quite different persuasions meet, and thus need to work out a modus vivendi when sharp divergences become manifest.
The Alevi and questions of identity, including violence and insider/outsider perspectives
Authors: Hamrin-Dahl Tina
Published: August 2018

Alevilik is the second largest religious movement in Turkey after Sunnite Islam. The Alevi worship Ali and the twelve Imams of his family. Ali is more or less deified and therefore Alevis are considered as being ghulat (‘exaggerated’, ‘extremist’) and heterodox. The elevated Ali personifies an aspiration to justice and righteousness. He fought on the side of the weak and oppressed against those with power in society. Theologically, Ali is assumed to be blessed by the divine light and is therefore able to see into the mysterious spirituality of Islam. Many Alevis today however totally dissociate themselves from Shi’ism. Still, the degrading­ abel kızılbaş (‘red-head’) is associated with Ali and thus is something alleged to be anti-Osman, since Isma’il fought against the Osman Empire. The colour red represents the blood of Mohammed: he was wounded in battle and Ali saw the prophet’s blood flowing. As Ali grew older, he wanted to remind people of Mohammed’s struggle and therefore started wearing red headgear. Red thus became the colour of the Shi’ites and over time a symbol of Shi’ite martyrdom. Later red also gained political significance for the Alevis. The religious and the political are closely intertwined, but despite this, neither the Left nor Shi’ism does simply stand on one side and the Right/Sunni on the other – there are no such simple dichotomies in reality.
Editorial note
Authors: Ahlbäck Tore
Published: August 2018

Editorial note of the Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, vol. 20, based on papers read at the symposium 'Western Esotericism', held at Åbo, Finland, on 15-17 August 2007.
Esoteric discourse and the European history of religion: in search of a new interpretational framework
Authors: Von Stuckrad Kocku
Published: August 2018

Often, when people nowadays talk of ‘esotericism’, they are using this word either as more or less synonymous with ‘New Age’, or as a term for movements that are based on a secret wisdom that is only accessible to an ‘inner circle’ of initiates. In academic discussions, however, during the past fifteen years, a field of research has been established that critically engages these assumptions and applies the term ‘esotericism’ in a very different way, namely as a signifier of a number of currents in Western culture that have influenced the history of religions in manifold ways. ‘New Age’ and secret initiatory knowledge are but two aspects of these traditions, and certainly not the most important ones. In this article, the author reflects on the various scholarly approaches to the concept of ‘Western esotericism’. He proposes an analysis that takes in­to account the manifold pluralisms that have shaped Western culture—not only in modernity. He argues that the academic study of Western esotericism should be understood as part and parcel of a broader analysis of European history of religion, with all its complexities, polemics, diachronic developments, and pluralistic discourses.
The proliferation of post-modern religiosity in the late sixties: the case of ’The Process Church of the Final Judgement’: from psychoanalysis as therapy to psychoanalysis as theology
Authors: Toti Marco
Published: August 2018

The sixties may be considered as a true turning point in the history of the West. It may be correctly stated that the counterculture ‘revolution’, which has characterized Western civilization since the sixties, gave rise to further acceleration of what has been called ‘post-modernity’, the most important character of which is the revaluation of the ‘religious’ and the detachment of the category of ‘sacred’—the divinity being generally considered as ‘impersonal’ and in terms of ‘energy’—from traditional religions.
Individual belief and practice in neopagan spirituality
Authors: Rensing Britta
Published: August 2018

This article deals with Neopaganism, which is one of the fastest growing spiritual practices today. Neopagans are often placed in the field of new religions and new religious movements. When focussing on the world-view shared by these groups, this classification is correct, but no neopagan practitioner believes and practices like another. Neopagan spirituality is flexible and personal, which is often expressed in the art of poetry. Practitioners of this way of spirituality, where there are no texts or other sources telling them what to believe and how, turn to producing art for their personal spiritual development. While dogma is strictly rejected in postmodern spirituality, art obviously has become a very important element on the individual’s way to find her or his place in life and in the world.
Andrew Wright’s critical radicalism, Clive Erricker’s radical postmodernism and teenage perceptions of spirituality
Authors: Wintersgill Barbara
Published: August 2018

This article is a report of the author's doctoral research completed in 2007. The research was carried out among secondary school pupils in England aged 12–17. Its purpose was to find out what they understood spirituality to be. ‘Spirituality’ here does not mean religious spirituality or the ‘alternative’ or ‘countercultural’ spirituality which was the primary focus of this conference. Instead the author addresses the distinctive debate in England about the nature of that spirituality, or to use the exact term, ‘spiritual development’, which has to be promoted by law in English schools. This is referred to this as spirituality-in-education. Students’ rationales for selecting religious education are dependent on their understanding and experience of the subject and what they get out of it. Students regard content as more important in religious education than any other subject, but as a means to ends (developing beliefs, developing in one’s religion, understanding others) than as an end in itself. What is apparent here is that many students from different perspectives have found religious education to make a significant contribution to their spiritual development, but that contribution varies for each person.
Unity and universe: understanding pilgrimage to Mount Athos
Authors: Gothóni René
Published: August 2018

Having found the specific universal unity of pilgrimages, namely that pilgrimages are journeys of spiritual transformation, the author began to look more closely at the uniqueness of the content of beliefs embodied in pilgrimages to Mount Athos, particularly with the aim of unfolding the universe of beliefs concealed in the word proskýnima, which is the Greek word for ‘pilgrimage’. Therefore, he shifted his focus from the concept to the word ‘pilgrimage’, denoting the human phenomena of visiting holy and sacred places, persons, mountains, wells and so forth. This article illustrates how our preconceptions of the word ‘pilgrimage’ determine our conception of the concept or category of ‘pilgrimage’, which again determines our interpretation and understanding of the content of beliefs of this form of human phenomenon. As a by-product this article also displays the process of how our limited horizon of conceiving the concepts and words is extended in parallel with the process of research. The article shows how this horizon determines our leaving out fundamental elements of ‘pilgrimages’  which, in this case, are characteristic of visits to the Holy Mountain of Greece.
"Souviens-toi, sois prudent": les pèlerinages motards
Authors: Jenny Magali
Published: August 2018

This paper presents a kind of pilgrimage which is different from the idea of the conventional pilgrimage, namely the pilgrimage of so-called pilgrimage bikers. The author views the pilgrimage of pilgrimage bikers as a making of a rhythmic ritual. In biker culture, issues of death and risk are present, why blessing the biker and the vehicle emerges as an important ritual.
Editorial note
Authors: Ahlbäck Tore
Published: August 2018

Editorial note of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, vol. 23, Religion and the Body, based on papers read at the symposium on Religion and the Body held at Åbo/Turku, Finland, on 16-18 June 2010.
Resurrection, revenance, and exhumation: the problematics of the dead body in songs and laments
Authors: Arukask Madis
Published: August 2018

Different types of folklore texts differ from each other by their function. We can distinguish between genres meant to be believed (like legend) and genres recognized in advance as fiction (fairy-tale). At the same time, textual fiction may also have served practical purposes—such as the telling of fairy-tales during the late autumn and early winter for purposes of fertility magic—as used to be the case in the Estonian folk tradition. There are folklore genres that have functioned, among other things, as an accompaniment, comment on, or support to rituals or practices being carried out—for instance, an incantation during a cure, or a lament in death-related procedures, when a person must be separated from his familiar environment. The same textual formulae fulfil different tasks in different genres, which means that they also carry a different meaning. The present paper considers some themes related to the bodily aspect of humanity in various genres of folklore, particularly in songs and laments, as well as in practices related to death and commemoration. As expected, the problems connected with the human body have in these genres undergone transformations of meaning, the understanding and interpretation of which may vary considerably. The mater­ial discussed in the article derives mainly from the Balto-Finnic and north Russian cultural area, partly from the author's own experience during his field trips.
Religion' and 'body': reclaiming the missing links of Western education
Authors: Ergas Oren
Published: August 2018

This paper depicts Western education as being led by a scientific ethos of objectivity. Such an ethos lends itself clearly to a disengagement from ‘religion’ as representing the realm of so-called ‘unscientific knowledge’ and speculation on the one hand, and to a disengagement from the ‘body’ as the locus of sentiment and idiosyncrasy on the other. It is argued, that Western education thus promotes a secular mind-oriented ideology, weeding out the spiritual realm on the one hand, and the emotional-physical realm on the other. It is claimed that education can only take place once it becomes an exploratory path which poses the question ‘who am I?’ at its core. The exploration of such a question will forever be a depleted one as long as it is deprived of ‘religion’ and the ‘body’ as possible research paths. This paper is thus an orientation call for the field of curriculum development serving as a foundation for the ‘holistic education’ discourse developed in recent years. ‘Well-being’ is claimed to be the goal of education. Following this it is showed why this goal cannot be achieved given Western education’s rational (‘body-less’) – secular (‘religion-less’) epistemology. There is thus a need for an attempt to reconceptualize education, which can be made by means of reclaiming the ‘body’ and ‘religion’ as Western education’s missing links, reintegrating them into its proper epistemological/ontological basis. Our inherent dualistic conceptualization of reality (education included) should be dealt with, as it constitutes an obstacle to the reconceptualization of education.
Ascetism: an endangered value? Mutations of ascetism in contemporary monasticism
Authors: Jonveaux Isabelle
Published: August 2018

This article seeks to understand the shifts which are affecting monastic asceticism in modern society. Is monastic asceticism really changing and in which terms? Why has the place of the body in religious virtuosity changed? As religious virtuosity is based on ascetic practices, we cannot consider that monastic life nowadays has totally eschewed asceticism. So we have to understand the new sense given to this traditional religious practice. It seems that both asceticism and the place of the body in monastic life are changing. Rather than a decline of asceticism, it is more accurate to say that its meaning is being redefined and it becomes more intellectual than physical. At the same time, the body acquires a new position: from mortification to self-fulfilment, it becomes a new ally—and no longer an enemy—of monastic life. So, is asceticism an endangered value? Yes, in the sense that it is no longer a religious value, as was proved by monks who said they are not ascetics, or the nun who said that her community lives a ‘non-ascetic asceticism’. However this does not mean that it has disappeared. The practice of asceticism is necessary to religious virtuosity, but the way to practise it and to define it has been changing, and this is contingent on other evolutions of the religious system and of society. The new kind of asceticism which monks are living nowadays is mainly intellectual asceticism.
The disorderly body: considerations of The Book of Numbers, 19 and ritual impurity after contact with a corpse
Authors: Junker Sandra
Published: August 2018

This article deals with the idea of ritual bodily impurity after coming into contact with a corpse in the Hebrew Bible. The evanescence and impermanence of the human body testifies to the mortality of the human being. In that way, the human body symbolizes both life and death at the same time; both conditions are perceivable in it. In Judaism, the dead body is considered as ritually impure. Although, in this context it might be better to substitute the term ‘ritually damaged’ for ‘ritually impure’: ritual impurity does not refer to hygienic or moral impurity, but rather to an incapability of exercising—and living—religion. Ritual purity is considered as a prerequisite for the execution of ritual acts and obligations. The dead body depends on a sphere which causes the greatest uncertainty because it is not accessible for the living. According to Mary Douglas’s concepts, the dead body is considered ritually impure because it does not answer to the imagined order anymore, or rather because it cannot take part in this order anymore. This is impurity imagined as a kind of contagious illness, which is carried by the body. This article deals with the ritual of the red heifer in Numbers 19. Here we find the description of the preparation of a fluid that is to help clear the ritual impurity out of a living body after it has come into contact with a corpse. For the preparation of this fluid a living creature – a faultless red heifer – must be killed. According to the description, the people who are involved in the preparation of the fluid will be ritually impure until the end of the day. The ritual impurity acquired after coming into contact with a corpse continues as long as the ritual of the Red Heifer remains unexecuted, but at least for seven days.
Multiple bodies in the spirituality of the gay porn star McCree: reflections on corporeality and subjectivity
Authors: Nynäs Peter
Published: August 2018

Body modification practices have lately gained growing visibility in contemporary Western cultures. It is more like a trend or fashion ranging from, on the on hand, decorative tattoos and piercing, to branding, implants and surgery on the other. In most forms body modification occurs without any obvious religious, spiritual or ideological marks attached, but some forms involve discourses that explicitly address such aspirations. However, despite the fluidity and diversity of practices, it can be claimed that body modification represents specific or distinct ways of working with the body that differ from other forms of contemporary Western body cultures. Further, it needs be considered as part of the broader body culture. Hence it draws our attention to the role of corporeality in contemporary Western culture. Body modification could be regarded as a reaction to the nature of contemporary society, a way of compensating the lack of corporeal engagement in the world. Its former association with different subcultures might underpin this oppositional position. On the other hand, some scholars regard body-modification as nothing but part of the contemporary free floating carnival of signs, as mere mainstream supermarket signifiers, emptied of meaning and deprived of any external references. In this article emphasis is put on forms of body modification that more explicitly connote religion. One example of body modification is explored from an empirical perspective: the story about the spirituality of the gay porn star Logan McCree. This is a personal narrative about spirituality in which tattooing plays a central role. Still, despite being personal it is also part of McCree’s public image. With the help of both literature and the examples on body modification the place of corporeality in the story of McCree is explored. The aim is to shed some light on corporeality and in particular in relation to subjectivity.
Embracing the lash: pain and ritual as spiritual tools
Authors: Pearson Jo
Published: August 2018

Whilst the use of flagellation for the purposes of purification, punishment or redemptive salvific activity has long been accepted in Christianity, its use in newly emergent religions such as Wicca, where the religious use of pain cannot be sidelined as an historical aberration but must instead be understood within the context of (post)modern spirituality, has elicited little debate. Whilst purification and, to a far lesser extent, punishment still have their place, in Wicca submission to pain must also be explored in terms of initi­atory ordeal, as well as an opportunity for transcendence and as arousal, sensation, and energy generation. However, voluntary submission to the infliction of pain, especially in order to enable religious/spiritual experience, tends to be regarded as anathema and as such, remains largely hidden, concealed behind a veil of categorisations of sexuality and psychopathology. Whilst acknowledging that BDSM remains taboo amongst most practitioners of Wicca, this 60 year old religion contains within its practices elements of techniques often associated with BDSM, techniques which, though having an established history in the world’s religions, are now being pioneered by a small cohort of priests and priestesses within the ritual framework of a twentieth/twenty-first century religion. This article concentrates on those elements now more or less stripped of their association with medieval Christianity, and more commonly framed within the context/s of BDSM.
The religion of thinness
Authors: Lelwica Michelle
Published: August 2018

This paper examines the almost religious-like devotion of especially women in pursuing the goal of a thinner body. The quest for a slender body is analysed as a ‘cultural religion’, which the author calls the ‘Religion of Thinness’. The analysis revolves around four observations. The first is that for many women in the US today, the quest for a slender body serves what has historically been a ‘religious’ function: providing a sense of purpose that orients and gives meaning to their lives, especially in times of suffering and uncertainty. Second, this quest has many features in common with traditional religions, including beliefs, myths, rituals, moral codes, and sacred images—all of which encourage women to find ‘salvation’ (i.e., happiness and well-being) through the pursuit of a ‘better’ (i.e., thinner) body.Third, this secular faith draws so many adherents in large part because it appeals to and addresses what might be referred to as spiritual needs—including the need for a sense of purpose, inspiration, security, virtue, love, and well-being—even though it shortchanges these needs, and, in the long run, fails to deliver the salvation it promises. Fourth, a number of traditional religious ideas, paradigms and motifs tacit­ly inform and support the Religion of Thinness. More specifically, its soteri­ology resurrects and recycles the misogynist, anti-body, other-worldly, and exclusivist aspects of patriarchal religion. Ultimately, the analysis is not only critical of the Religion of Thinness; it also raises suspicions about any clear-cut divisions between ‘religion’, ‘culture’, and ‘the body’. In fact, examining the functions, features, and ideologies embedded in this secular devotion gives us insight into the constitutive role of the body in the production and apprehension of religious and cultural meanings.
Does the 'old' media's coverage of religion matter in times of 'digital' religion?
Authors: Taira Teemu
Published: August 2018

The study of digital religion and religion in the ‘new’ media, especially in tracing the transformation of communities, ideas, practices and forms of interaction which people tend to classify as religious, has already proved fruitful. What is not well-justified is the assumption that the ‘old’ media does not really matter anymore. This is something to be examined, although the structures and business models of the mainstream media are changing because of the ‘new’, digital media. Furthermore, we need to explore the interactions between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, what emerges from their convergence, and start theorising about its implications in the context of religion. Some of the things that will be dealt with apply to the media in general. Only some are religion-specific. However, the intention is not to repeat what media scholars have already said about intermediality, media convergence and the relationship between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media. The reflections shared here are rather based on empirical research of religion in the media, especially in the ‘old’ mainstream mass media in Britain and Finland.
New religious movements and alternative religions in France: the use of digital media as a counter-strategy against social and legal exclusion
Authors: Königstedt Christiane
Published: August 2018

The internet is widely used internationally by individuals and groups who otherwise perceive and experience a lack of influence and even repression by authorities and whose opinions remain invisible in or are ignored by the mass media. The new media are a frequently-used means of expression in the political struggles of social and religious movements, especially as part of attempts to increase the number of supporters and to mobilise public opinion. The extent, of the usage as well as its degree of success, does vary and because of this variety, a comparative analysis can illuminate parts of the whole conflictuous configuration as well as the chances and limits of resistance and opposition via these media channels. Organisations which were chosen to be investigated here were the so-called ‘new religious movements’, or more precisely, the many forms of alternative religion in France who face significant levels of social and legal exclusion, while most of their members are themselves usually strongly committed to democracy and their identities as equal French citizens. Therefore, they choose to perform counter-actions which are within the law and act strategically, which makes them a special case compared to revolutionary political movements which may question the social order of the state as a whole. France, with its ‘anti-cult’ policy, has come to a unique standing within the Western world in this respect. Though religious freedom and state neutrality in relation to religious issues are constitutionally granted, a differentiation is made – and partially even legally enforced – between good religions and harmful ones which attempt to manipulate their adepts mentally. The debates are held in a constant dynamic between the struggling parties of ‘anti-cult’ movements and alternative religions. The exclusion of the latter from the mass media is revealed be one central means of hindering them from gaining approval within society, because positive portrayals which might counterbalance the widespread negative public view are prevented. Two umbrella associations of and for NRMs in France have been formed in oppostion to French ‘anti-cult’ activism and therefore have also started to make use of the relatively unregulated and uncontrolled internet, including social online networks and digital media. An investigation into how they do this and how far they are and potentially can be successful is the main focus of this article.
Respectfully eating or not eating: putting food at the centre of Religious Studies
Authors: Harvey Graham
Published: August 2018

With reference to data drawn from both ethnology and ethology, I argue that studying foodways does not merely add additional information about religions, but enables better understanding of religion. Rather than defining religion cognitively in relation to beliefs and believing (modernist tropes that have shaped the study of religion) I explore the effect of defining religion in relation to the questions, ‘what do you eat?’ and ‘with whom do you eat?’
Prestige and alcohol in South Mexican fiesta: drinking with saint patrons in the central valleys of Oaxaca
Authors: Zamorska Joanna
Published: August 2018

Food and alcohol are the key elements of celebrating a Mexican fiesta. I show that drinking at patronal feasts can be the way of constructing a respectful position, as presented in the ethnographic material collected in the three suburban communities of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca (in the years 2012–13). I discuss the relation between drinking alcohol at fiestas, participation and collective identity. I analyse the issue of prestige in the context drinking at fiestas and its relation to gender. I also discuss the role of alcohol in ritual exchanging of gifts at the patronal feasts which were under study and its relation with prestige. Other questions being analysed include the problem of refusing drink and the Catholic and non-Catholic critiques of patronal feasts as based on perceptions of excessive drinking.
“A Shmita Manifesto”: a radical sabbatical approach to Jewish food reform in the United States
Authors: Krone Adrienne
Published: August 2018

A revolutionary movement recently cropped up with a vision to revitalize American Jewish environmentalism through food reform. This movement implemented shmita (sabbatical) year practices, which Jewish law mandates only inside the land of Israel, in the United States during the shmita year that began in September 2014. This article offers a brief historical overview of shmita and then utilizes the main texts of the shmita movement to explore how the Shmita Project connects- the diverse worlds of Judaism, environmentalism, ethics, and food reform. The Shmita Project encapsulates a multivalent environmentalist strain of American Judaism that is deeply concerned with climate change, industrial agriculture, and food injustice. The unprecedented- observance- of an American shmita year, focused on land stewardship and food security, is emblematic- of this movement’s efforts towards sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, and repairing the American food system through practices that are inspired by Jewish tradition and values.
Meditation and perception: some notes on the psychology of religious mysticism
Authors: Sundén Hjalmar
Published: August 2018

The study of mysticism must be carried on with more attention paid to the meditative techniques used by mystics and to the problems of perception. In this paper the author presents some remarks on the difference between Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross, and then mentions some recent studies of meditation and some problems of perception. If meditative techniques have become of great importance in psychotheraphy, the organismic approach of the "mindcurers" and their results will permit us to complete phenomenological descriptions of mystic conscious states with more exact information of their physiological conditions. In this way "mystical experiences" in general can be seen as results of meditative techniques and we need not regard "an hysterical predisposition" of the subject as their necessary condition.
Mystische Anklänge in den altägyptischen Vorstellungen von Gott und Welt
Authors: Bergman Jan
Published: August 2018

to be added
The Pythagoreans in the light and shadows of recent research
Authors: Thesleff Holger
Published: August 2018

It has been said' that "Pythagoras casts a long shadow in the history of Greek thought". Indeed, the shadow both widens and deepens spectacularly in course of time. He has not only been considered—on disputable grounds, as we shall see as the first European mystic. No other personality of the Greco–Roman world (except Christ, and perhaps Alexander the Great) has been credited with such powers and all-round capacities.
L'expérience mystique chez Philon
Authors: Giversen Sören
Published: August 2018

In this paper, the author explores the mystic experiences and philosophy of Philon of Alexandria.
Das mystische Erlebnis bei Plotin
Authors: Jansen H.
Published: August 2018

to be added
Mysticism and Greek monasticism
Authors: Rinne Johannes
Published: August 2018

There is reason to assert that Christian mysticism is as old as Christianity itself. In the Pauline epistles, e.g., there are obvious signs of this fact. The later Christian mysticism has, in a high degree, been inspired by these elements and likewise by various corresponding thoughts in the Johannine writings, which traditionally are interpreted from this angle and which have played a central role especially for the Orthodox Church.'In the light of the above-mentioned circumstances, it seems fully natural that there exists, from the very beginning, a clear connection also between mysticism and Christian monasticism. It has been pointed out by certain authors that the role of mystical visions is of essential and decisive significance also as regards the development from the stage of the hermits of the deserts to that form of life which, in the proper sense of the word, is characterised as monastic. There is, generally speaking, no possibility to understand correctly the intentions and the thoughts of the great pioneers of monasticism, unless one takes into account the mystically visionary factors. To this end it is necessary, furthermore, to penetrate in an inner, spiritual way, into the holy symbolism of the monastic tradition and into the sacred legends of its history. In other words, it is necessary to keep constantly in mind the visionary factor and to remember that the pioneers of monastic life, as a rule, are men of which it may be said that they have their conversation in heaven: on the mystical level of vision they converse with the angels as the representatives of the heavenly world and as those organs, by means of which the principles of monastic life are transmitted and given to the men of mystical visions.
Mystik und gegenstandslose Malerei
Authors: Ringbom Sixten
Published: August 2018

to be added
Formes de mystique dans le Nord préchrétien
Authors: Ström Åke
Published: August 2018

In this paper, the author explores mysticism found in a Nordic context, exemplified by different forms of mystic experiences in old Norse religion described in old Scandinavian poetry and literature.
Mystik und Bantu-Frömmigkeit
Authors: Von Sicard Harald
Published: August 2018

to be added
KARAGÖZ OYUNLARINDA TASAVVUF İZLERİ
Authors: KILIÇ Çiğdem
Published: August 2018

İlkel
çağlardan günümüze kadar gelen süreçte büyü, bilim, gelenek, modern yaşam içe
içe yol almıştır. Birbirlerine karıştıkları, birbirlerini reddettikleri
dönemler de olmuştur. Ve her dönem mistisizm kendine farklı ifade yolları
bulmuştur. Geleneksel tiyatromuz içinde önemli bir yere sahip olan Karagöz
oyunlarında hayal gücüne geniş yer verilmesi, oyunların birtakım fantastik
olaylara da açık bulunmasını sağlamıştır. Oyunların daha başında perde
gazellerinde görülen tasavvufi motifler mistik dünyanın sadece anlayana açık
olduğu sembolleridir.  Karagöz
oyunlarında geçen kimi mistik öğeler ise zaman zaman güldürü unsuru yaratmak
için kullanılmıştır. Bu makale ile Karagöz oyunlarındaki tasavvufa ait öğeler
araştırılarak, bu unsurların oyun yapılarına nasıl etki ettiği ortaya konulmaya
çalışılmıştır.