bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
På sporet af en mytes oprindelse
Authors: Leopold Anita Maria
Published: February 2018

This article is a rereading of Friedrich Max Müller’s theory of the origin and growth of religion and mythology in the light of modern cognitive theories. The intention of this research is to draw attention to Max Müller’s linguistic and cognitive hypothesis of mythology and religion and compare it to modern cognitive theories presented by Mark Turner, Gilles Fauconnier, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. In the theory of Max Müller, notions such as ‘myth being a disease of language’ and ‘man’s propensity to religion’ originate from a certain ‘mental faculty’,  which reveals an ontologically distinct definition of religion. According to Max Müller, myth is the result of the defective attempt of early language to classify the surrounding world of man. These theories, which have been considered idiosyncratic and useless, appear more plausible in the light of current cognitive linguistics, and Max Müller’s intuitions are viewed in the light of these recent theories.
Disputats om "Den fortærende ild"
Authors: Geertz Armin W. , Jensen Hans J. Lundager
Published: February 2018

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Hinduistiske helligsteder i religionsfænomenologisk og forskningsteoretisk belysning
Authors: Sand Erik Reenberg
Published: February 2018

The subject of the present article is the tírthas or sacred places in Hinduism. The first part deals with the manifold concept of tírtha, by giving a general phenomenological analysis of the concept in relation to what is called hierophanies and theophanies, and by giving a geographical survey of the more well-known tírthas.The second part shows how the tírtha as a phenomenon reflects the problem of different levels in Hinduism. First the theories of M.N. Srinivas, concerning “spread” and “sanscritization”, and of R. Redfield and M. Singer, concerning the dichotomy between “the Great Tradition” and “the Little Tradition”, as well as some of the criticism of these theories are being discussed. Secondly, it is shown, by help of the results of the cultural geographer S.M. Bhardwaj, how the tírthas might be particularly helpful in the attempt to systematically uncover these levels.Finally, some more general considerations are set forth about the significance of these methodological problems for the more traditional, textually based History of Religion.
Templets betydning i jødedommen på Jesu tid
Authors: Bilde Per
Published: February 2018

It is a widespread idea among students of ancient Judaism that the temple of Jerusalem in the post-exilic period gradually lost its religious and national significance and was replaced by the Torah, the Synagogue and a new spiritualized view of temple and worship. Bousset-Gressmann and R.E. Clements are well-known representatives of this hypothesis. It militates, however, against a great number of other sources bearing witness to the importance of the temple in the Greco-Roman period, especially as the driving force in Jewish revolts against the Seleucids and the Romans. In the article both temple-traditions are presented and analyzed with the aim of presenting a more adequate view of the temple which, at the same time, is able to account for both the temple-centered and the temple-critical traditions. The conclusion is that for Judaism as a whole the temple was the basic institution in the Greco-Roman period, playing as important a role as in the pre-exilic times. The temple-critical traditions are interpreted as supporting this conclusion as they are seen mainly as expressions of heretical groups – the Samaritans, the Qumran community and early Christianity – trying to re-interpret precisely the central symbol of Judaism – the temple.
Anmeldelse af "From Temple to Meetinghouse. The Phenomenology and Theology of Places of Worship" af Harold W. Turner
Authors: Geertz Armin W.
Published: February 2018

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Identiteternes møde, civilisationernes sammenstød?
Authors: Van Beek Martijn
Published: February 2018

Taking as its starting point Huntington’s thesis of a clash of civilisations, this article reviews anthropological critiques of primordialist conceptions of culture and identity as expressed in both cultural fundamentalist and multiculturalist understandings. The example of the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir in India is used to show that multiplicity and syncretism are the very substance of practices of identification, even where clear and at times antagonistic divisions between religious communities are found. The assumption that xenophobia is a necessary or natural reaction to the encounter with others is therefore rejected as an expression of identity fetishism.
Hvordan en lokaltradition bliver til i lyset af kulturmødets tredje-identiteter
Authors: Fibiger Marianne Qvortrup
Published: February 2018

The aim of this article, as exemplified by the Srilankan-Tamil Hindus, is to show how religion is changing in a cultural encounter and, in that perspective, how a local Danish-Tamil Hinduism is formed - a local tradition that you will not find anywhere else. This case study illustrates how a third identity comes into being, an identity shaped in the dialectic between the reshaped tradition and the elements of the same tradition that the members consider to be the key elements. It also shows how tradition as well as culture, identity and religion are dynamic phenomena which change along with the new environment and needs of the members.
Tid til IKKE at tale om forskel
Authors: Jenkins Richard
Published: February 2018

This paper outlines the currently-dominant ‘difference paradigm’ in the study of social identity, and argues that, for three reasons, it is time to move on. First, to concentrate on difference makes it impossible to understand what identity is and how it works. Second, to concentrate on difference is to fly in the face of the observable realities of everyday human life. Third, to concentrate on difference makes it impossible to deal with the core questions of social theory, or even, perhaps, to engage in social theory at all. It is proposed that a model of identification as simultaneously a matter of similarity and difference is required if these criticisms are to be met.
Religion og forståelse
Authors: Bilde Per
Published: February 2018

The essay represents the author's inaugural lecture held on 7 December 2001 as a professor at the Department of the Study of Religion. The essay is partly a summary of the author's recently published monograph En religion bliver til, partly an elaboration of one of the main theses of the book. The development of early Christianity is closely related to a need for interpretation. Looking at 1 Cor 1:18-25; Rom 11:25-27; Matt 13:9-17; Mark 8:14-12 and Luke 24:13-32 Bilde attempts to find tracks in the early Jesus-texts that indicate the efforts of the Jesus-movement to understand and interpret Jesus, his message, fate and importance.
Kristendom og hellenisme - en skæbnesvanger konstruktion
Authors: Petersen Anders Klostergaard
Published: February 2018

This essay - representing an elaborated version of the author's inaugural lecture as an associate professor at the Department of the Study of Religion - is a critical survey of the classical scholarly discussion of Hellenism that particularly focuses on the Judaism-Hellenism dichotomy. By an exposition of the intellectual history of the background to the debate (notably Droysen), the author argues that the discussion has to a great extent been subject to the influence of a perceptual filter, representing a Christian apologietic concern - the scope of which is not fully recognised. Hellenism has served as a significant flottant capable of being attributed almost any meaning, but ultimately the category itself stems from a Christian concern, i.e. to construct a period serving as a legitimising cultural and religio-historical foilage for the appearance of early Christianity.Although some important cultural changes do occur subsequent to Alexander the Great (an increased tendency towards urbanisation, important military innovation, for example), they do not constitute tendencies that may be extended to include a universal sultural watershed common to the entire Mediterranean and extra-Mediterranian world and uniting it across the centuries. In addition to that, the discussion is suffering from a deficient interpretation of culture and identity. tghe meeting of different cultures and the confusions of different cultural traditions are perceived in terms of 'pure cultures'. Culture is ontologised or naturalised to the exten that a meeting of cultures is conceived of in terms of separate and fundamentally different cultures that are simultaneously understood to be internally homogenous. Each person is thought to be a carrier or container of his or her culture, thus for instance the Jew incarnating or representing Judaism in its entirelt. From this perspective divergent, modes of dultures are perceived in  terms of cultural or religious contaminataion. Culture, however, does not exist - except as an abstraction - in such pure forms. It is per definition a messy affair.In conclusion I think that in future research we should refrain from using the category of Hellenism is the all-sweeping manner in which it has been used. In fact we should be very careful, when using Judaism, Hellenism or any other taxonomic abstraction, not to commit an 'ontological dumping', reifying concepts which exist only by virtue of scholarly categorisations. Rather than to continue to use a misunderstandable term and an ideologically biased category strongly dependent on a Christian perceptual filter, we should begin looking for the decisive innovations, the important cultural and religious changes, which at particular places and in specific periods may allow us to construe cultural watersheds.
Det hebræiske bibeloversættelsesprojekt
Authors: Herbener Jean-André P.
Published: February 2018

The guidelines of a planned translation of the Hebrew Bible into Danish and as an annotated sample translation of selected texts were published in Denmark last year. The work is based on a pilot project initiated in 1998 and completed in 2001. It is the intention that a retranslation of the Hebrew Bible will be published continously the following nine years, divided in eight annotated publications with a translation of the Pentateuch being the first.The purpose of The Hebrew Bible Translation Project is to work out a Danish translation of the Hebrew Bible on a scholarly and secular foundation. This article presents what this purpose implies, and it discusses some of the methodical and hermeneutical considerations constituting the basis of the translation, as compared with other Biblie translations.According to the publishers a secular scholarly translation implies that the Hebrew Bible texts must be reproduced in accordance with the geographical, historical and religious context in which they were written, and that no consideration must be taken of the historical effects of the text in post-biblical traditions or, consequently, to the perception and usage of the texts by modern religious communities.In this respect, the new project differs not only from the older, but also from the majority of modern Bible translations, based on a mixture between strictly scholarly and traditional/confessional considerations.
Metafysiske tegn. Skønlitteratur som religionsvidenskabeligt objekt
Authors: Liengaard Inge
Published: February 2018

Analysing The Black Book, a novel by the contemporary Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, this paper suggests that fiction can serve as an illuminating source in understanding one of the many roles that religion can play for modern man. Pamuk´s literary perspective is aesthetic and he disagrees with an essentialistic way of understanding and defining personal or cultural identity and cultural phenomena. In the novel he tries to create and describe alternative ways of conceiving reality. First and foremost by writing a novel without a fixed centre, but with many layers of undetermined meaning and persons with unclear, changing identities. Considering reality as chaotic and heterogenous he wants to avoid the common, monolitic descriptions of ‘tradition’, ‘modernity’, ‘East’ and ‘West’ and at the same time reintroduce elements long forgotten in the Turkish culture. It is at this point that Islam – or rather parts of the Islamic tradition - becomes interesting to Pamuk, who uses themes, metaphors and narrative structures especially from the Sufi-literature. Not only do these components present parts of a forgotten, but very rich, part of the Turkish culture, but the Sufi vocabulary and pictures are also useful vehicles to express the fluid and immaterial way of perceiving cultural as well as personal identities.
Pascal Boyer: Den ganske historie om religion (nogensinde)
Authors: Jensen Jeppe Sinding
Published: February 2018

This review article was occasioned by the publication of Pascal Boyer’s Religion Explained. The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (2001), the title of which left this reviewer in some doubt and intent on investigating whether Boyer’s ambition has been fulfilled. Here, it must be noted that this reviewer is generally positive about the rewarding aspects of the ‘cognitive turn’ in the study of religion and Boyer’s earlier substantial contributions to this, but he is also wary of the fallacy of ‘partial explanation’: explaining a part does not amount to an explanation of the whole.After a presentation of the reviewer’s perspective and involvement in a research group working on religious narrative, cognition and culture, a substantial step-by-step review of the contents and structure of Boyer’s argument is presented. Then follows a discussion of the central concepts of domain specificity concerning cognitive representations and the ‘counter-intuitive’ nature of religious thought and, further, Boyer’s subsequent ideas concerning rituals and the ramifications for social formations and historical developments in what he calls ‘The Full History of All Religion (ever)’. Next, the reviewer offers some ‘critical intuitions’ and questions the return of (a new mode of) psychologism in the human sciences and Boyer’s dependence upon earlier theorizing which is not clearly noted nor acknowledged, but which has consequences for the epistemic status of his project and for those who follow the same tracks in the cognitive study of religion. It turns out that the methodology is based on extreme individualistic and scientistic attitudes, where ‘higher-order’ theoretical objects are explained (away?) by lower-order phenomena. In short, Boyer (and others) stops where culture begins and, as a consequence, religion is transformed into an epiphenomenal category without any causal effects. In the chosen theoretical perspective, religions ‘mean’ nothing; there exist ‘nothing but’ the cognitive representations of individual individuals – but in this manner, the currently dominating approach in the cognitive study of religion perpetuates a Cartesian mystique and a dubious physicalist dualism concerning the mind and the objects it ‘cognizes’. Cognitive theory is definitely an advance in the study of religion but it takes more than materialist fideism to make it convincing. The work of language, culture etc. has to be accounted for more seriously and in more detail.
Roy Rappaport: Ritual and Religions in the Making of Humanity
Authors: Jensen Hans J. Lundager
Published: February 2018

Review-artikel af Roy A. Rappaport, Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity, Cambridge University press 1999
Ph.d.-afhandling om Arstides' hellige taler
Authors: Christensen Lisbeth Bredholt , Davidsen Ole
Published: February 2018

Det følgende er en skitse af mit arbejde med den selvbiografiske fortælling Hieroi Logoi – Hellige Taler (herefter HT) – af den græske taler og intellektuelle Aelius Aristides (117-181 e.v.t.). Teksten tematiserer, hvordan religion i det 2. århundrede ikke længere alene var et spørgsmål om kultisk praksis, men at religion i form af et personligt gudsforhold blev knyttet sammen med selvfortælling og identitet.Aristides er kendt som antikkens største sygdomstilfælde. Som 27-årig blev han første gang så alvorligt syg, at han for en årrække blev uarbejdsdygtig. HT er en beskrivelse af, hvordan han gennem et halvt liv led af utallige sygdomme, og hvordan de i perioder på det nærmeste invaliderede ham. Dermed blev hans selvopfattelse til et problem. Nok så vigtigt er det dog, at HT også er en ‘frelseshistorie’, som beskriver, hvordan lægeguden Asklepios igen og igen (men aldrig én gang for alle!) har helbredt Aristides, reddet hans liv og hjulpet ham med hans talervirksomhed, så at han blev en endnu bedre og endnu mere populær taler, end han var før sygdommene satte ind. HT er dermed en beretning om, hvordan Aristides på én gang oplevede, at hans helbred svigtede og hans ‘ånd’ blev større.
Forholdet mellem teologi og religionsvidenskab
Authors: Theissen Gerd
Published: February 2018

Theology and the Study of Religion answer distinct questions: Theology is committed to the truth of a concrete religion, but lacks universality. The Study of Religion deals with all religions, but brackets off questions of truth. For the time being, they both are incomplete because all academic studies must combine universality and truth. They both need one another. An outline shows how in general the Study of Religion may help Theology to a better understanding of its task - especially by explaining the theological contrast "revelation vs. religion" as a typical phenomenon of a "secondary religion" which originated by criticism of primary religions.
Fra huskult til basilika
Authors: Bilde Per
Published: February 2018

It is still an astonishing fact that no material remains of early Christian churches have been found antedating the building in Dura-Europos at the Euphrat River in present day Iraq. It was a usual private dwelling house that in 241 was rebuilt and transformed into a Christian cult place. This building, however, in no way resembled the magnificent Christian basilicas that were built from the time of Constantine the Great (ruling 306/324-337), and only the baptistery in the rebuilt houses proves that it actually was a Christian building. In the present article I briefly scetch the history of the development of the Christian cult building from the private meeting places at the time of the New Testament to the Constantinian basilicas. The main purpose, however, is to discuss the character of the Christian cult house in relation to a number of related earlier and contemporary types of buildings such as the classical Hellenistic-Roman temples, the Jewish synagogue and a number of Graeco-Roman buildings that can be reagrded as historical forerunners of the Christian church building: the Greek counsel hall (bouleutêrion), the hall of initiation (e.g. Eleusis), the lecture hall (such as gymnasium and stoa), the Greek and Near Eastern cult theatres, the roman basilica and the Roman mithraeum. From the beginning, obviously, the Christian cult building  was a meeting house like the Greek counsel hall, the roman basilica and the Jewish synagogue. But it was also a dining room, and, at least from 241, with thebatistery in Dura-Europos, it also became a hall of initiation. Thus, the Christian cult building developed by uniting a number of eatlier types of buildings, secular and sacred, and from the time of Constantine, the Christian basilica united the secular Greek meeting house, which was continued and further developed in the Jewish synagogue, the Greek hall of initiation, and the classical Graeco-Roman Temple.
Disputats om "Initiation, liminalitet og tilegnelse af numiøs viden"
Authors: Schjødt Jens Peter , Ross Margaret Clunies
Published: February 2018

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Ph.d.-afhandling om "Kulturmødets hermeneutik"
Authors: Riis Anita Holm , Paludan Peter Steensgaard
Published: February 2018

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Om religion og kognition
Authors: Geertz Armin W.
Published: February 2018

“On Religion and Cognition: A Brief Historical and Thematic Introduction”. This article is a brief introduction to the cognitive study of religion. Ten problems are identified which serve as the backdrop of the article. These concern the problems of historical depth in the study of cognition; the increase of many different disciplinary approaches; the resultant termino­logical confusion; the weaknesses of the natural sciences in terms of the philosophy of science; the corresponding weaknesses of the cognitive science of religion in terms of the philosophy of science; the need to replace strategic triumphalism on the one hand and strategic isolationism on the other with strategic sobriety; the need to maintain that the study of religion concerns origins, functions, forms, meanings and structures as well as texts; the realization that the methodological tools accompanying cognitive approaches should be handled with care and prudence; the reduction of cognition exclusively to processes in the brain ignores recent neurological research that points to alternative models of cognition; and there are many more possibilities in cognitive research than have been acknowledged by the pioneers of cognitive approaches to the study of religion. The article briefly discusses the many histories of research in cognition during the past 150 years and illustrates various cognitive themes which might be fruitfully pursued by scholars of religion.
Aspekter af kristen gudsdyrkelse set i lyset af historiske studier og ritualstudier
Authors: Lang Bernhard
Published: February 2018

Artiklen ligger i forlængelse af Bernhard Langs bog Sacred Games (1997). Tre centrale dele i den tidlige kristendoms rituelle dimension: nadve­ren, Bibel­oplæsning og bønnen Fadervor, analyseres vha. dels historiske, dels religions­videnskabelige positioner. Ud fra klassisk og nyere religions­fæno­meno­logi kan nadveren ses som en transformation af slagtofre. Ud fra Max Webers tese om stigende rationalisering kan jødisk oplæsning af bibelske tekster ses som gennembrud for en intellektuel religionsform. Ud fra Émile Durkheims tese om religion som en social gruppes kollektive bevidsthed kan Fadervor ses som en oprindeligt politisk bøn om genoprettelse af en uafhængig jødisk stat.
Kongen, krigen og Ringen
Authors: Kinch Nanna
Published: February 2018

Den engelske forfatter J.R.R. Tolkiens Ringenes Herre (RH) kan betragtes som et stykke moderne mytologi, der udviser samme trefunktionelle struktur, som den franske religionsforsker Georges Dumézil har identificeret i indoeuropæisk mytologi og religion.Trefunktionaliteten kommer til udtryk i Ringens Broderskab, hvor førstefunk­tionen repræsenteres af Gandalf (magtens magiske side) og Aragorn (magtens politiske side), andenfunktionen (krig og kamp) repræsenteres af Legolas, Gimli og Boromir, og tredjefunktionen (frugtbarheden) repræsenteres af de fire hobbitter. Den trefunktionelle struktur optræder ikke blot blandt disse personer og deres kulturelle baggrunde, men også i de handlingstråde, personerne følger, og i måden, hvorpå de konfronteres med Saurons ondskab. Trefunktionaliteten former således fortællingen i dens tre grundtemaer: kongen, krigen og Ringen.
Shamanismes substrukturer i Kalevala
Authors: Nielsen Mikael Kuusisto
Published: February 2018

Forskningen tager ofte for givet, at det finske national-epos, Kalevala, og dets folkloristiske baggrund er af shamanistisk natur. Denne identifikation hviler normalt på en implicit eller ikke-eksisterende definition af begrebet ‘shamanisme’. Artiklen her vil følge Lazlo Vajdas definition og forstå shamanisme som en kom­pleks struktur, der omfatter otte substrukturer: ekstase, zoomorfe hjælpeånder, ikke-zoomorfe skytsånder, initiation, sjælerejse, en særlig kosmologi, kamp mellem shamaner og diverse udrustning. Alle disse substruk­turer findes i Kalevalamaterialet. Imidlertid har shamanisme i egentlig forstand også en bestemt social kontekst, som knytter substrukturerne sammen til en helhed, og denne kontekst kan ikke klart identificeres i Kalevala-materialet. Kalevala og dets folkloristiske kilder kan derfor ikke bestemmes som sha­ma­nisme i egentlig forstand.
Ph.d.-afhandling om "Syncretism: The Problem of Defining a Category"
Authors: Leopold Anita Maria , Gilhus Ingvild Sælid
Published: February 2018

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Velfærdsstatens normative grundlag
Authors: Petersen Jørn Henrik
Published: February 2018

Artiklen udvikler den danske velfærdsstats egenart baseret på en afkobling på det individuelle niveau af det finansielle grundlag og retten til ydelser i modsætning til andre velfærdsstaters anvendelse af mere eller mindre ækvivalent reciprocitet. Formålet er at give et bud på et muligt normativt grund­lag bag denne konstruktion. Hypotesen er, at en ontologisk baseret etik mod­svarer prototypens egenskaber. Videre udvikles spændingsforholdet mellem den heraf flydende værensordning og den enkeltes daglige gøren og laden. Bidraget afsluttes med en heuristisk refleksion over forholdet mellem velfærdsstaten som begreb og en almen religiøs dybdestruktur.
Etableringen af "Den Danske Kirke i Amerika"
Authors: Holm Ole
Published: February 2018

The subject of the present article is the establishment of “The Danish Church in America”. In the 1860’s, when the emigration from Denmark to the USA began to accelerate, the Danish emigrants who wanted the service of a Lutheran evangelical church still had to turn to non-Danish churches, especially Norwegian and Swedish churches. This problem was recognized in Denmark in the late 1860’s and consequently a committee was formed, which is 1871 began to send out Danish laymen who were then ordained in America for Danish congregations. In 1872 the first Danish ministers in America formed a missionary society, and in 1874 they proclaimed themselves as “The Danish Church in America”. Even if not all of the Danish ministers subscribed to the particular biblical views held by Grundtvig, these biblical views caused vehement opposition to all the new ministers, especially from the more pietistic ministers of the Norwegian churches. In the beginning, ministers of the Grundtvigian observation were able to co-exist in harmony with the more pietistic ministers within the Danish Church, but in 1886 the harmony began to be disrupted by dogmatic dispute. The church was organized in such a way that these disputes could not be brought to an end within the framework of the organisation, and so the church split up in 1894 when the pietistic ministers and congregations left “The Danish Church in America” to form an alternative church.
Balkanisering og rekonstruktion af kulturer
Authors: Petersen Anders Klostergaard , Schjødt Jens Peter
Published: February 2018

'Balkanisering'; Rekonstruktion af kulturer
Hvad er det i grunden, vi rekonstruerer?
Authors: Schjødt Jens Peter
Published: February 2018

I religionshistoriens forskningshistorie har der været en tendens til at se religioner som sammenhængende tankesystemer. Man har nok været opmærksom på, at de kunne ændre sig over tid; men man har sjældent overvejet, om kohærensen i den religiøse opfattelse i forskellige geografiske områder, hos forskellige individer og selv hos ét og samme individ stemmer overens med det, vi ved om nutidige religioner. Denne artikel søger derfor at diskutere problemer vedrørende forskellige former for diversitet samt de konsekvenser, disse problemer har for vore rekonstruktioner af fortidige religioner. Det konkluderes, at skønt der er flere problemer, end man tidligere har erkendt, så er det faktisk muligt at arbejde med fortidige religioner, så længe vi er bevidste om de forskellige niveauer i vore kilder, idet vi skelner mellem lokale og individuelle forestillinger på den ene side og strukturelle karakteristika på den anden.
Religionssociologien i en kultur i fortsat forandring
Authors: Ahlin Lars
Published: February 2018

Muligheden for at konstruere det religiøse felt i dag og dets forandringer på en adækvat og sociologisk relevant måde forudsætter, at en dominerende, traditionel religion ikke fungerer som referencepunkt. En relevant forståelse af individets situation i det senmoderne samfund forudsætter inddragelse af indsigter fra almen sociologi. Hvis vi skal forstå det religiøse felts forandring på en sociologisk relevant måde, skal vi desuden som udgangspunkt have en teori, der sammentænger enkeltindividers sociale erfaringer og typer af religiøsitet.
Religion som virus
Authors: Albinus Lars
Published: February 2018

Denne review artikel fremlægger kognitionsfilosofien Daniel Dennetts forsøg på i sin nye bog at bryde religionens fortryllelse ved at forklare den som et naturligt fænomen. Med udgangspunkt i Dawkins teori om memer, der er genernes kulturelle pendant, hævder Dennett, at religiøse ideer opfører sig som parasitter, der snylter på vores bevidsthed for at fremme deres egen udbredelse. Som sådan er ideerne ikke nødvendigvis gavnlige for værtsorganismen, men alene for sig selv. Dennett indrømmer, at religiøse ideer kan opfattes som gavnlige for troende, men lægger ikke desto mindre større vægt på deres farlighed, hvorfor en objektivt videnskabelig forklaring i sidste ende må være i alles interesse og bane vejen for en bedre verden. Problemet ved Dennetts position er, at det er vanskeligt at se, hvorledes han ud fra en teori om naturlig selektion kan argumentere normativt for en demystifisering af religionen. Nærværende artikel diskuterer således den cirkularitet, som mem-teorien pådrager sig, og argumenterer for, at de begreber om videnskab og religion, som Dennett trækker på, er alt for snævre.
Xunzis ritualanalyse
Authors: Nielsen Klaus Bo
Published: February 2018

Denne artikel undersøger en oldkinesisk filosofs syn på ritua­lernes praksis i samspil med moderne sociologiske forståelser af religion. Den ritual­teoretiker, jeg her vil beskæftige mig med, er de er  n kinesiske forfatter Xunzi eller Xun Kuang (310-230 f. Kr.). I hans afhandling om ritualer (Li Lun) går han videre end blot at beskrive den rituelle akt, og anlægger en mere distanceret indstilling til ritualet og skitserer dermed en sociologisk baseret ritualteori, som har lighedspunkter med klassiske positioner som Durkheim, Radcliff-Brown og Rappaport. Det er i dette lys, at Xunzis ritualteori fortjener at blive taget alvorligt.
Tidlig islamisk historie i mnemohistorisk betydning - et case-study af sûrat al-kâfi rûn
Authors: Butler Jean
Published: February 2018

The notion of the Other is basically about distinguishing between oneself and others. As such, it is a vital element in constructing an identity, be that identity socially, religiously or politically defined. This article takes its theoretical point of departure in German Egyptologist Jan Assmann's thesis on monotheism as building on a Mosaic Distinction between 'true' and 'false' in religion; 'belief' and 'unbelief,' and ultimately 'us' and 'them'. It focuses on some of the more grave aspects of Islamic monotheism, namely those of religiously defining oneself as the more righteous party in opposition to other people perceived as being unbelievers, or even shayâtîn, 'satans.' Furthermore, as also pointed out by Assmann, in salvation-oriented monotheistic religions 'forgetting' means being lost, while 'remembrance' spells salvation. This insight appears to be relevant for a study of the Islamic religious tradition in particular, constructed as this is on a strong historical tradition of transmission of memorized and normative narratives. Cultural Memory, in the shape of the narrative Qur'ân, staging and defining Islamic religious culture and telling its story of origins is thus here viewed as crucial to that culture's continued relevance and existence. The exemplary case-study is sûrat al-kâfi rûn, 'The Infidels;' at the same time illustrating the inherited Mosaic Distinction in Islam.
Ved forsvaret for disputatsen "Transformationen Gottes. Abwandlungen des Begriffs des Unbedingten in der Moderne"
Authors: Andersen Vagn
Published: February 2018

Indledningsforelæsningen fra disputatsforsvaret præsenterer kort hovedideerne i afhandlingen Transformationen Gottes. Abwandlungen des Begriffs des Unbedingten in der Moderne. Forfatterens projekt har været at konfrontere sig med Jürgen Habermas’ eftermetafysiske tænkning som en religionsfilosofisk udfordring. Det begreb om ubetingethed, som fortsat indgår i Habermas’ sprogfilosofi, betragtes som skæringspunktet mellem to tankelinjer henholdsvis udgående fra Hegel og Kierkegaard. I den forstand kan det ses som en sidste sekulariseret transformation af den metafysiske gudstanke. På den baggrund diskuterer afhandlingen, i hvilken form teologi fortsat kan overleve side om side med Habermas’ filosofi. Inden for Habermas’ egen tænkning synes en hovedsageligt sekulariserende hegelsk tankelinje fremherskende, skønt han – modsat Hegel – ikke prætenderer nogen restløs ophævelse af religion i filosofi. Inspireret af Kierkegaard fremsætter forfatteren et alternativt forslag, som efter hans opfattelse er mere kompatibelt med Habermas’ egen modernitetsforståelse.
Anmeldelser
Authors: Haaland Gunnar , Hallbäck Geert , Bull Christian , Thelle Notto Reidar
Published: February 2018

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Fortidens sind: Hvad kan historiografien lære af kognitionsvidenskab og evolutionære studier?
Authors: Sørensen Jesper
Published: February 2018

Artiklen diskuterer forholdet mellem historiografiske studier på den ene side og kognitive og evolutionære teorier og modeller på den anden. På den baggrund præsenteres tre epistemologiske modeller for interaktionen mellem psykologi, historie og sociokulturelle systemer og disse diskuteres i forhold til forskerens mål med undersøgelse. Der argumenteres for, at historiografien nødvendigvis må inddrage aktuelle psykologiske modeller for ikke at bygge sine studier på forældet eller naiv psykologi.Artiklen er forfatterens bearbejdede oversættelse af "Past Minds: Present Historiography and Cognitive Science." I Luther Martin og Jesper Sørensen: Past Minds: Studies in Cognitive Historiography. London: Equinox 2010.
Om religion og evolution: En introduktion
Authors: Geertz Armin W.
Published: February 2018

I denne artikel introduceres indledningsvis evolutionsteoriens idéhistorie i korte træk. Efter en kritisk beskrivelse af evolutionspsykologiens antagelser, metoder og foretrukne emner opstilles en alternativ anskuelsesmåde, som afviser dele af evolutionspsykologiens grundlag og som argumenterer for kulturens kausale virkning på den menneskelige kognition og ikke mindst den hominine evolution. Ud fra, hvad vi ved om den menneskelige evolution, ses det, at den hominine evolution har en dybde, som sjældent medtænkes i teorier og hypoteser om den menneskelige evolution. Den menneskelige evolution er begyndt længe før homo-arten, endog før Australopithecus, hvor man finder primitive stenredskaber og tilstedeværelse af (dog ikke kontrol over) ild, og hvor de fysiologiske og genetiske forandringer, som førte til mennesket, også var påbegyndt. Dernæst opstilles otte træk, som kan have været til stede i, hvad man kan kalde en ‛proto-religion’. Den art, som sandsynligvis har besiddet disse træk, er Homo erectus; men der kan have været ansatser til denne proto-religion endnu tidligere. Artiklen afsluttes med en diskussion af de mest kendte teorier og hypoteser, der har forsøgt at forklare, hvorfor mennesket blev religiøst. Hovedtesen i denne artikel er, at mennesket har udviklet sig som hybridt væsen, dvs. som et væsen hvis biologiske udvikling er gået hånd i hånd med dens kulturelle udvikling. De udgør to sider af samme sag, også i kausal forstand. Mennesket er følgelig et biokulturelt og biosemiotisk væsen.
Fortidens sind
Authors: Sørensen Jesper
Published: February 2018

Artiklen diskuterer forholdet mellem historiografiske studier på den ene side og kognitive og evolutionære teorier og modeller på den anden. På den baggrund præsenteres tre epistemologiske modeller for interaktionen mellem psykologi, historie og sociokulturelle systemer og disse diskuteres i forhold til forskerens mål med undersøgelse. Der argumenteres for, at historiografien nødvendigvis må inddrage aktuelle psykologiske modeller for ikke at bygge sine studier på forældet eller naiv psykologi.
Omvärdering av offentliga religion
Authors: Woodhead Linda
Published: February 2018

Under det innevarande århundradet har det också i de mest "sekulära" samhällen i Väst blivit allt tydligare att religion spelar en roll i det offentliga livet och att det inte bara kan beskrivas som något "privatiserat". Men hur skall denna offentliga roll förstås och analyseras? Denna artikel presenterar en ram för en sådan analys som tar de olika roller, som olika slags religioner spelar i de moderna samhällenas differentierade sfärer (utbildning, juridik, välfärd osv.), på allvar. Med andra ord, den laborerar med ett antal variabler: Vilken typ av religion? Vilken är relationen mellan det religiösa och det sekulära? Inom vilken/vilka sociala sfär(er)? Vilken typ av roll spelar religon? I vilka relationer till klass, gender, etnicitet och andra utgångspunkter för ojämlikhet? Denna differentierade modell tager sin utgångspunkt i en kritik av existerande uppfattningar av offentlig religion (ex. Bryan Wilson resp. José Casanova) och de antagelser som de utgår ifrån, inklusive en insnävning till det nationella, en sammansmältning av social differentiering och en snäv kyrko- eller denominations-fokuserad syn på religion. Resultatet är ett analytiskt verktyg som är bättre utformat för att kunna taga hänsyn till olika former för offentlig religion som är finna på lokalt, nationellt och transnationellt nivå i de senmoderna konsumtionssamhällena.
Migrant-buddhismer
Authors: Borup Jørn
Published: February 2018

Buddhismen vinder frem i vesten, både som kulturreligiøs migrantreligion og som spirituel praksis for konvertitter. Konkrete kontekster viser dog, at en sådan udvikling er flertydig, og at både vækst og krise forekommer. Med en lang tradition for multireligiøsitet og for forskellige former for migrantbuddhisme er Hawai’i som knudepunkt mellem Øst og Vest et interessant laboratorium for studier af religionens rolle og funktion i nutidig og historisk perspektiv. Artiklen analyserer relationerne mellem etnicitet og religion i en multikulturel kontekst og påpeger transformationer og strukturer som symptomatiske for generelle udviklingstendenser.
Anmeldelser
Authors: Aktor Mikael , Bjørnvig Thore , Bønding Sophie , Davidsen Markus , Madsen Lars , Nielsen Marie Vejrup , Petersen Anders Klostergaard , Thomsen Søren Feldtfos
Published: February 2018

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Reformationens tøvende omfortolkning af kætterbegrebet
Authors: Holm Bo Kristian , Thomsen Søren Feldtfos
Published: February 2018

Denne artikel undersøger påstanden om en omfortolkning af kætterbegrebet i den lutherske reformation. Der argumenteres for, at det giver god mening at tale om nytænkning af kætterbegrebet hos den unge Luther i form af en internalisering af kætteriet, hvor den enkeltes eget syndige selv udpeges som den syndige, potentielt kætterske anden. Denne omfortolkning indebærer i første omgang en afsvækkelse af det traditionelle juridiske og dogmatiske kætterbegreb, men tekster fra perioden omkring 1530 viser, at det nye kætterbegreb kun langsomt sætter sig igennem og lader andre lutherske teologer fremstå mere konsekvente end Luther og Melanchthon. Den nye kætterforståelse indebærer her i modsætning til tidligere en teologisk sanktionering af magtanvendelse over for kættere.
Kætterbegrebet i den danske reformationstid
Authors: Lausten Martin Schwarz
Published: February 2018

I forlængelse af fordømmelsen af Luther for kætteri og hans egen forfølgelse af kættere drøfter artiklen kætterdommen over lægmanden Melchior Hoffmann ved de lutherske myndigheder i Flensburg i 1529. Som led i den åndelige kontrovers mellem katolikken Poul Helgesen (Paul Helie) og de første evangeliske forkyndere anklagede begge parter gensidigt hinanden for kætteri (1525-1535). Med den etablerede evangelisk-lutherske kirke fra 1537 gjorde både Hans Tausen, biskop fra 1542, og Peder Palladius, biskop fra 1537, udfald mod, hvad de opfattede som kættere, det vil sige katolikker, ikke-lutherske protestanter og jøder.
Anmeldelse af Arild Hvidtfeld: "Hinduismen"
Authors: Pind Ole Holten
Published: February 2018

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Robert Bellah - en stor sociolog
Authors: Kühle Lene
Published: February 2018

English abstract: Bellah, who died in 2013, was a grand sociologist. His name is often connected to the concept civil religion, a concept introduced by Bellah in a 1967-article. During the 1970’s Bellah revised his thinking on civil religion, but he was unsuccessful in finding resonance for it. The legacy of Bellah is therefore not so much to be found within the specific study of civil religion. His legacy lies in his engagement with connecting mainstream sociology with the Humanities.Dansk resumé: Robert N. Bellah, som døde i 2013, var en stor sociolog. Hans navn forbindes i høj grad med begrebet civilreligion, som Bellah introducerer i en artikel fra 1967. Bellah reviderede i løbet af 1970’erne sin tænkning om amerikansk civilreligion, men de nye forståelser vandt til Bellahs store frustration ingen genklang. Den arv, som Bellah efterlader sig, består derfor kun i mindre grad af forståelsen af civilreligion, men i højere grad af hans varige engagement i at forbinde mainstream-sociologi med kulturvidenskab.
Spiritualitet og buddhisme som behandling - En systematisk læsning af 63 selvpræsentationer hos kvinder med brystcancer før og efter mindfulnessintervention
Authors: Danelund Jakob Rindum , Bihal Tina , Flyger Henrik , Kay Signe Maria , Khan Sadia , Jensen Christian Gaden , Jensen Sivi Svenning , Johansen Christoffer , Neustrup Line , Pedersen Anne , Wurtzen Hanne , Elsass Peter
Published: February 2018

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Mindfulness flows over the West. It is often branded as a method rooted in Buddhism, but in academical research its relations to a series of Buddhist and spiritual concepts remain undefined. We’ve conducted a systematic reading of 63 self-presentations from women with breast cancer that have participated in mindfulness intervention. Through a simple count of words and meaning units we find that patients describe the effect as becoming more attentive of the present moment and not worrying about the past or the future as much as before. But in a linguistic analysis we find that beginner-meditators are strikingly unarticulated. Common phrases about ‘being more present in the now with an accepting attitude’ may be related to spiritual experiences, but are more frequently inserted in a phenomenology of attention in recent neuroscience. This branch of research lacks qualitative studies that can provide a better understanding of how the mindfulness-phenomenology is related to neuroscience, spirituality and religion.DANSK RESUME: Mindfulness bølgen strømmer ind over Vesten. Den markedsføres ofte som en metode, der har rødder i buddhisme; men set ud fra universitære forskningssammenhænge er dets forhold til en række buddhistiske og spirituelle begreber uafklarede. Vi har foretaget en systematisk læsning af 63 selvpræsentationer hos kvinder med brystkræft, som har gennemgået mindfulness intervention. Ved en simpel optælling af udsagn finder vi, at patienterne beskriver udbyttet som at være blevet mere opmærksomme på det nuværende øjeblik og ikke bekymre sig i ligeså høj grad om fortid eller fremtid som før behandlingen. Men ved en sproglig analyse finder vi, at begynder-meditatorerne er påfaldende uformulerede. Italesættelser om ‘at være mere tilstede i nu’et med en accepterende holdning’ kan dække over spirituelle oplevelser, men sættes hyppigere ind i en fænomenologi om opmærksomhedsfænomener knyttet til nyere neuroscience. Men denne forskning savner flere kvalitative undersøgelser for at kunne begrunde, hvorledes mindfulness fænomenologien sættes i relation til neuroscience og til spiritualitet og religion.
Forside
Authors: Redaktionen Redaktionen
Published: February 2018

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Den danske religionsmodels grænseflade
Authors: Warburg Margit
Published: February 2018

The Danish model of religion designates the conditional ways according to which the Danish national church and other parts of the system of religion are unfolded in Danish society. The special constitutional position of the national church and its dominance in terms of demography of religion explains why the national church constitutes the core of the Danish model of religion. Between this churchly core and the surrounding society the Danish model of religion has a mediate space, which harbours a number of groups and actors who are part of the model of religion, though without a central position in it. The article discusses the historical development of the Danish model of religion and its characteristics. Additionally, it provides some examples of groups and institutions that are placed at the fringes of the model.Ved den danske religionsmodel forstås de former og rammer, hvorunder folkekirken og de øvrige dele af religionssystemet ¬udfoldes i det danske samfund. Folkekirkens grundlovssikrede særstilling og dens religionsdemografiske dominans er grunden til, at folkekirken udgør kernen i den danske religionsmodel. Mellem denne folkekirkelige kerne og det omgivende samfund har den danske religionsmodel en grænseflade, som rummer en række grupper og aktører, der indgår i religionsmodellen, dog uden at være centralt placeret her. Artiklen behandler den danske religionsmodels historiske udvikling og karakteristika og omtaler nogle eksempler på grupper og institutioner, som er placeret i religionsmodellens grænseflade
Forside
Authors: Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift Redaktionen
Published: February 2018

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Religionshistoriske og typologiske overvejelser over fænomenet askese
Authors: Klostergaard Petersen Anders
Published: February 2018

In the current article I raise the question of asceticism as a ubiquitous and multifarious phenomenon in human culture. Contrary to much traditional scholarship on asceticism within the history of religion that has focused almost exclusively on the phenomenon as confined to a Judaeo-Christian and Indian context, I point to the importance of bringing the later phenomena into dialogue with previous examples in tribal and archaic types of religion. In anthropology there has from an early period been a strong acknowledgement of the pervasiveness of ascetic practices not least in conjunction with ritual. Yet, this appreciation has never really been taken into consideration by scholars working on subsequent forms of asceticism. By means of genealogically typological reflections, I aim to develop a full scale understanding that will enable us to take the entire gamut of ascetic practices and phenomena into consideration. My ruminations rest on a biocultural evolutionary approach that allows me, on the one hand, to account for the pluriform nature of the phenomenon under scrutiny and, on the other hand, to place emphasis on the uniting features. From this perspective, two points of transition come to the fore of discussion. The first crucial transformation pertaining to asceticism took place at the time of the emergence of axial age thinking and practice at which period asceticism changed from being ritually to be ideologically determined. The second decisive change occurred at the transition from post-axial age types of religion to modernity when the element of privation disappeared. I develop my understanding of the specific nature of asceticism pertinent to the singular stages in the history of asceticism in the wake of thinkers such as Robert Bellah, Peter Sloterdijk and Pierre Hadot.