bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Swedish female folk healer from the beginning of the 18th century
Authors: Edsman Carl-Martin
Published: August 2018

Catharina Fagerberg was a tailor's daughter from Marbäck in Småland, South-Sweden, where she was born in 1700. For a period of seven years she was afflicted with severe vexations of spirit, and was visited by blasphemous and murderous thoughts. In January, 1727, physical weakness set in; she had a stitch in her side and other troubles that kept her sleepless for eleven weeks. For a while they stopped, but on Easter Monday while in church Catharina experienced great difficulty in breathing and mental agony. On the 5th of August, 1727, as Catharina was sitting at her loom she had an attack of yawning and convulsions felt in an unusual state, and then was addressed by a 'good spirit', but from inside her and without her perceiving any voice: "You are puzzled by this yawning. I want now to tell you what is the matter with you, namely, that several unclean spirits dwell in your body and cause your illness and your pains”. She devoted herself to steady prayer and Bible-reading.
Shamanism as an experiencing of "the Unreal"
Authors: Nordland Odd
Published: August 2018

Our usual conception of the shaman is, indeed, that he employs monotonous effects to fall into ecstasy and arrive at the state of trance: he sings and dances alone, or along with others. The auditory stimulations and the motoric movements, in increasing intensity, and the emotional induction from the crowd around him result in his falling into a trance in the end, and the disconnecting of higher cerebral centers: his "soul" journeys, released from the body. It is now that he is said to be capable of relating experiences which we cannot judge on the basis of our "knowledge", experiences which he and those present, on their part, accept as knowledge. The special position of the shaman, and the specific social and cultural situation which is the background for his contribution, make it extremely difficult to approach phenomena like ecstasy and the trance through observation and experiments. But there are other methods. In our technical and mechanized civilization, monotonous stimulation is steadily increasing, and a considerable number of situations exist which have raised problems for fertile meditation on this subject.
Non-Buddhist Buddhism and non-Christian Christianity in Japan
Authors: Thomsen Harry
Published: August 2018

The New Religions in Japan, is in disguise a real renascence of Buddhism. That, for one thing, it forces Buddhism into accommodating and streamlining for the new age at a much more rapid pace than would otherwise have been possible, and that, for another, the New Religions themselves in reality represent Buddhism with its fantastic ability to change. It may to some extent be said that Buddhism is a religious idea in constant movement more than a religion as such—and some observers might be tempted to say that Buddhism, as represented by the New Religions, has moved so far that it has been cut off from its roots and no more is master of its development. The Buddhist will probably answer that this is exactly the main pride of Buddhism, that it always accommodates, that it thrives on syncretism and religious cocktails, that it is always in evergreen renascence, modern to all times.
Tradition und Tendenz: zur Frage des christlich-vorchristlichen Synkretismus in der nordgermanischen Literatur
Authors: Ström Åke
Published: August 2018

to be added
I. Learning and magic
Authors: Wikman Karl
Published: August 2018

This part deals with the life history and interests of Carl Linnæus.
II. Popular faith
Authors: Wikman Karl
Published: August 2018

This part deals with the life history, religious and philosophical interests of botanist Carl Linnæus.
Prophecy and politics in the Old Testament
Authors: Albrektson Bertil
Published: August 2018

The purpose of this paper is to discuss aspects which concern the religious legitimation of the state, with a focus on the period of the Israelite monarchy, partly because it is during this particular period—the reigns of David and Solomon, and the time of the divided kingdom down to the exile—that the political organization of Israel may safely be called a state, and partly because the golden age of the prophetic movement falls precisely in this period. The author provides a sketch of the historical and ideological background and then says something about three different groups of prophets: the professional cultic prophets, the early Yahwistic prophets of the type of Elijah and Elisha, and the great prophets.
Formative factors of the Maria Åkerblom movement
Authors: Björkstrand Gustav
Published: August 2018

The Åkerblom movement exemplifies the best known impact on the cultural and religious environment of Swedish Finland, of a geographically and historically extensive phenomenon—the prophet movement. An obvious prerequisite for the emergence of a prophet movement is the prophet figure. The character and development of the movement are, to a great extent, dependent on the background and personality of this figure. The adolescence of Ida Maria Åkerblom (IMÅ), a cottar's daughter, born in Snappertuna in rural West Nyland in 1898, was both materially and spiritually barren. In matter of religion, she grew up in an atmosphere of piety best described as 'traditional and formalistic', with elements of evangelistic and later, also Anglo-Saxon revivalist piety. On the day on which IMÅ's confirmation priest and curate at Snappertuna, Karl-Erik Lindström died, IMÅ assumed the role of prophet and preacher, according to her account, after a severe illness. Lying in bed, she prophesied, while in a somnambulic state, imminent periods of hardship, and depicted her heavenly vision.
Children of God in Bergen
Authors: Kvideland Karin
Published: August 2018

The founder of the movement Children of God, David Berg, was born in Melrose, Oakland, Calif. on the 18th of February 1919. In 1969 the first congress takes place in Laurentide near Montreal. Here the followers of Berg establish themselves as a religious group. Bishops and elders were elected, Berg is called Moses, under which name he was referred to in the revelations of some of his young followers. The group is called Children of God, a name first used by a journalist and then adopted by them. The missionary efforts of the group are mainly directed towards the younger generation. Usually the members are in their late teens and early twenties. When joining the movement, they forsake everything. That means they leave school or universities, they give up other forms of training, they don't continue with their jobs and they leave their homes. They live together in communes, or as they prefer to call it "Christian house”. In 1972 the movement reached Europe. A colony was founded in London, and from there they proceeded to Oslo.
5. Der Lichtgott der alten Letten
Authors: Biezais Haralds
Published: August 2018

to be added
Dynamics of the spirit possession phenomenon in Eastern Tanzania
Authors: Swantz Marja-Liisa
Published: August 2018

The discussion on the spirit possession phenomenon is related in this study to the more general question of the role of religious institutions as part in the development process of a people living in a limited geographical area of a wider national society. It is assumed that religion, like culture in general, has its specific institutional forms as result of the historical development of a society, but at the same time religion is a force shaping that history. People's cultural resources influence their social and economic development and form a potential creative element in it'. Some of the questions to be asked are: "How are specific religious practices related to the dynamics of change in the societies in question? What is the social and religious context in which the spirit possession phenomenon occurs in them? What social and economic relations get their expression in them? To what extent is spirit possession in this case a means of exerting values and creatively overcoming a crisis or conflict which the changing social and economic relations impose on the people? The established spirit possession cults are here seen as the institutional forms of religious experience. At the same time it becomes evident that there is institutionalization in process as well as deinstitutionalization of spirit possession where it occurs outside established institutional forms. Institution is taken as a socially shared form of behaviour the significance of which is commonly recognized by those who share it. By the term spirit possession cult is meant a ritual form of spirit possession of a group which is loosely organized and without strict membership. The context of the study is four ethnic groups in Eastern Tanzania, near the coast of the Indian Ocean. The general theme of the project is The Role of Culture in the Restructuring of Tanzanian Rural Areas. The restructuring refers to a villagisation programme carried out in the whole country. People are being moved from their scattered homesteads to new villages and old villages are enlarged by incorporating several villages into one. People are going through a process of fundamental social change.
Man as symbol of God
Authors: Hultgård Anders
Published: August 2018

It is a well-known fact that Judaism and Zoroastrianism, being prophetic religions with a monotheistic character, present many affinities. One point of similarity is a clear tendency towards aniconic representation of the Divine, which, from the beginning, was the mark of Judaism as well as Zoroastrianism, being religions with a nomadic background. As a result of the confrontation with the agricultural and urban civilisations of the ancient Near East, attempts were made to introduce iconic representations of the Divine to be used in the cult. Many groups within Judaism, and most probably also within Zoroastrianism, levelled a vigorous resistance to these attempts. As a consequence, there arose in both religions a strong movement to prohibit cult-images, which in Judaism also tended to develop into a prohibition of figurative art in general. This movement became victorious in the end and its aniconic conception of the Divine has ever since remained the normative attitude of both Jews and Zoroastrians. What were the reasons for these attitudes in Judaism and in Zoroastrianism? And were there theological ideas that could function as a substitute to cult-images of the Divine?
Ecstasy research in the 20th century – an introduction
Authors: Holm Nils
Published: August 2018

Scholars have always been interested in distinctive phenomena in culture and religion. Thus the accounts and achievements of yogis and mystics received attention at an early stage. There is a similar tendency with shamans, different kinds of sorcerers and with the "group-hysterical" phenomena that have appeared from time to time. There is, on the other hand, no major collection of research contributions on all the phenomena belonging to this field. Before proceeding to discuss some of the research produced over this vast area, some of the technical terms and concepts current in this field of study need to be introduced: ecstasy, trance, mysticism, possession, and altered states of consciousness.
Ecstasy from a physiological point of view
Authors: Björkqvist Kaj
Published: August 2018

The biological study of man is one of today's most rapidly advancing sciences. There is no reason for not utilizing these methodologies of research and the knowledge already gained when studying ecstasy and other similar religious phenomena. Drugs have been used in all parts of the world as an ecstasy technique. Since mental states and physiological correlates always accompany each other, it is obvious that the human mind can be affected by external means, for instance by drugs. But the opposite is also true; mental changes affect the body, as they do in the case of psychosomatic diseases. Ecstasy is often described as an extremely joyful experience; this pleasure must necessarily also have a physiological basis. It is of course too early to say anything for certain, but the discovery of pleasure centres in the brain might offer an explanation. It is not far-fetched to suggest that when a person experiences euphoric ecstasy, it might, in some way or other, be connected with a cerebral pleasure center. Can it be, for example, that religious ecstasy is attained only by some mechanism triggering off changes in the balance of the transmitter substances? Or is it reached only via a change in the hormonal balance, or only by a slowing down of the brain waves, or is a pleasure centre activated? When a person is using an ecstasy technique, he usually does so within a religious tradition. When he reaches an experience, a traditional interpretation of it already exists.
Possession as a clinical phenomenon: a critique of the medical model
Authors: Wikström Owe
Published: August 2018

The focus of this article is on the individual's specific experience of his personality being possessed, either partially or completely, momentarily or for an extended period of time, by evil spirits. It must be seen as necessary to supplement the narrow medical model for interpreting states of possession. The clinically interested psychologist of religion, in particular, needs consider aspects of the phenomenology of religion and clinical psychology in order to gain a broader understanding of this phenomenon. To declare that possession experiences are "nothing but psychosis, mania, epilepsy or schizophrenia, are examples of this type of over-simplification. The structure of possession can above all be understood as an interaction between a cognitive, linguistic level, and an emotional, affective level. Only if one unites these two levels can one attain a deeper understanding of the individual's possession experience. It is, in other words, important to remember that to increase understanding of the structure of possession, we must relate the individual's (bio-chemically conditioned) intensive feeling experience to the surrounding subculture's way of defining these intensive feelings. Religious language provides one way of dealing verbally with the unstructured and terrifying aspects of a developing psychosis. It is, for example, possible to describe the personal transformation as a dynamic relationship between the verbal representatives for evil or the Evil One in the world of mythological language, and the intrapsychic, anxiety-filled emotive state, regardless of whether this inner state is considered to be the result of neurosis, psycho-sis, or the consequence of intensive suggestion.
Berserker und Erzbischof: Bedeutung und Entwicklung des altnordischen Berserkerbegriffes
Authors: Ström Åke
Published: August 2018

to be added
Old Nordic and Christian elements in Saami ideas about the realm of the dead
Authors: Pettersson Olof
Published: August 2018

The fact that a word or concept has been borrowed from outside does not mean that the original content, the original ideas which the loan word in question expresses, have also been adopted. This is by no means the case when it is a question of abstract words and notions, such as the afterlife. A word, an idea, a custom is taken over but filled with new content; in its new context it acquires a genuinely Saami conceptual load, which has its original domiciliary rights in Saami, north Eurasian culture. The present brief notes on the Nordic and Christian influence on Saami ideas about the realm of the dead proceed from the Saami religion as a whole, examining and explaining it from an external perspective: what connecting-points are there in the "original" mother tradition for the new ideas which have been adopted over the course of time and which have been grafted on to the old? The first and fundamental starting-point for the study of the meeting of the Saami religion with the old Nordic and Christian ones will be the Saami religion itself in its Finno-Ugric and North Euroasiancontext and not the old Norse or Christian beliefs. The question is what has inspired ideas: Are they ideas which have emerged from the Saamis' own religion, or are these ideas the result of old Norse/Christian influence? As far as old Norse influence is concerned, its relevance seems to be limited to the saivo concept. The sources for Saami religion which we possess are not primary sources, which go back to the Lapps themselves; they have been assembled by outsiders. Those who compiled these records were "children of their time" and bound by the conceptual models of the day and by the frames of reference of their religion—Christianity. The Saami realm of death, Jabmeaimo, is Saami in character, with certain Christian elements (purgatory, heaven–hell, heavenly god–devil).
Rijkuo-Maja and Silbo-Gåmmoe - towards the question of female shamanism in the Saami area
Authors: Lundmark Bo
Published: August 2018

Among the Saamis shamanism has been predominantly male, at least from what we know of it through 17th and 18th century accounts. However, among the forest Saamis of Arvidsjaur the traditions about Rijkuo-Maja are still alive. The general belief was that she was master of the noaidie's arts. Judging by tradition, the thunder god, Horagalles or Atjakatj, seems to have been the object of her particular devotion. In the recorded traditions about Rijkuo-Maja, there are a number of things which conflict with the woman's role in the cult as represented in the older sources. According to these, the sacrificial sites were "as a rule a forbidden area for women". We find the next female figure of interest to our discussion among the mountain Saamis of Täma. She was called Anna Greta Matsdotter and came from Vapsten, being better known by the name of Silbo-gåmmoe or Gammel-Silba. According to the tradition, she was using the drum. There is no information on whether they were elected or rewarded as shamanistic functionaries. Neither Rijkuo-Maja or Silbo-gåmmoe functioned on the orders of a Saami community or sijte, but they represent a stage where it was possible for a woman to perform in new roles which were previously taboo to them. From another point of view, they are possibly latter-day exponents of an even earlier, extant shamanism with female characteristics in the Saami.
Courvvot
Authors: Outakoski Nilla
Published: August 2018

The roots of the Laestadian movement have been sought by theological scholars principally in Lars Levi Laestadius' own experiences and in those religious movements that influenced and continue to influence people in the area of his ministry. Among such movements mention may be made of Readers, the Wiklund movement and Herrnhutism. The Saami aspect has almost entirely been neglected. Nevertheless, it would be natural to include this aspect in studying Laestadianism when examining the phenomena occurring within a certain people's region. The roots of the Laestadian movement is found in an earlier local movement, a religious movement that had flourished in the Kautokeino region quite a long time before, in about 1765, called the Čuorvvot, the shouting callers. Even after the movement had passed its peak, its influence among the people was considerable and both the Čuorvvot themselves and those who had turned to a better life through their influence continued to make an impact on religious life about the turn of the century. In looking for the roots of Laestadianism it is not possible to ignore the Čuorvvot and the groundwork it did when studying the reasons for the rapid spread of the Laestadian sermon and the Laestadian movement. The Čuorvvot, the shouting callers, the most Christian of the Saamis obviously smoothed the way for Laestadianism and made it possible for its wildfire spread. The most striking similarity was the absolute, public sermon of the law and repentance, criticism. It was present in Laestadius' sermons even before his conversion.
Scandinavian-Saami religious connections in the history of research
Authors: Rydving Håkan
Published: August 2018

The religions of Scandinavians and Saamis have, for decades of scholarship, functioned as sources of analogies to explain elements in one another. For the study of Saami religion answers to questions about origins were sought in Scandinavian religion, while Saami religion has been seen by students of Scandinavian religion, as a preserver and a faithful witness of Scandinavian concepts and rites that had vanished in the times reflected in the literary sources. This view has now changed. In recent decades the tendency has been to use the loan- explanations more and more sparsely. Elements in Saami religion that were seen earlier as Scandinavian loans are now explained in a Finno-Ugric context, whereas the few elements in Scandinavian religion that were thought of as loans from the Saamis are more often looked upon as inherited from a common origin, a North Eurasian cultural stratum. The search for analogies has, in any case, preoccupied the historian of religions in this field, too. The purpose here is to provide a short and selective résumé of some aspects of a theme in the history of scholarship, a theme where "resemblances" have been found, compared, used as analogies, and — called into question: the comparative study of the religions of the Scandinavians and Saamis.
The change of religion and the names
Authors: Kousgård Sørensen John
Published: August 2018

What actually happened at the time when Denmark was christianized? An important viewpoint to the topic is the nomenclature, both personal names and place-names. What happened to these in the missionary period? Can they be exploited as evidence about the change of religion? What happened to these and to the naming practices in connection with the introduction of Christianity? These questions are relevant, because several pre-Christian cultic words entered into the personal nomenclature which the Christian mission found in use on its arrival. The fate of the nomenclature in the period does suggest that the change in religion took place reasonably peacefully and gradually. There are, however, certain features about the place-names suggesting that there were local differences in the conduct of the mission.
Ritualistics: a New Discipline in the History of Religions
Authors: Podemann Sørensen Jørgen
Published: August 2018

The history of Religions is in need of subdisciplines. Those that it has are mostly derived from other academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, or, to mention a more recent invention, aesthetics. Interdisciplinary studies are in many ways a characteristic, inherent feature of the humanities, and certainly not to be resented or mistrusted. It is, however, worth noticing that the History of Religions has only one discipline entirely of its own: a comparative, cross-cultural, religio-specific discipline sometimes called the phenomenology of religion. The study of ritual is more than just the study of a very broad. It is with a view to the further exploration of the way meaning and form are put to work in ritual, and the way ritual determines and conditions  the form of representations, that ritualistics can be suggested  as a new discipline.
Liturgy as Experience - the Psychology of Worship.  A Theoretical and Empirical Lacuna
Authors: Wikström Owe
Published: August 2018

This article has three aims: 1) to plead for an approach to the study of the liturgy based on the psychology of religion, 2) to draw up a preliminary theoretical model for how the liturgy can be interpreted, and 3) to narrow down the field for further interdisciplinary development and empirical analysis. People undergo more or less strong experiences during and in conjunction with church services. Perhaps people are moved, experience holiness, reverence, fellowship or closeness to the risen Christ. The problem is what factors during the service strengthen such a religious experience. What is the role played by the music, symbols, the place or building where the service is held, the number of participants and the liturgical event?
The Cult of the Roman Emperor before and after Christianity
Authors: Warmind Morten
Published: August 2018

This paper is concerned with a complete set of rituals and certain connected ideas, namely the Roman emperor-cult, that had survived the change of religion from Roman religion to Christianity. The rituals endure, even while their mythological basis is perishing. The emperor-cult includes the rituals and symbols which surround the Roman emperor and clearly demonstrate that he is more than an ordinary human.
The Relation between the two Phenomenological Categories Initiation and Sacrifice as Exemplified by the Norse Myth of Óðinn on the Tree
Authors: Schjødt Jens
Published: August 2018

Many articles have been devoted to the Old Norse myth which relates how Odin was hanging from a tree for nine nights without being offered food or drink. The question we are going to investigate here is, as mentioned, whether we are facing a sacrifice or an initiation. Both possibilities have been proposed, and some scholars have even believed that the strophes deal with an exemplary myth which has served directly as a model for some ritual.
Religious Foundations of Group Identity in Prehistoric Europe: The Germanic Peoples
Authors: Buchholz Peter
Published: August 2018

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of  myth as a foundation for group identity in Germanic societies. Religious foundations of group identity can, in the Germanic field in any case, only be proven with the help of written sources, and at best further confirmed or illustrated by archaeological and pictorial material.
Rituals as Dance and Dance as Rituals. The Drama of Kok Nji and Other Festivals in the Religious Experience of the Ngas, Mupun and Mwaghavul in Nigeria
Authors: Danfulani Umar
Published: August 2018

Chadic-speakers perform annual festivals of the ancestors, kok nji; cropping kop; harvesting, dyip and hunting kwat, which are usually accompanied by dancing, singing and other numerous rites and rituals. These ritual dramas symbolically and overtly express the religious experience, feelings and emotions that are deeply buried in the religious consciousness of the people. This article intends to provide a vivid description of some of these festivals, particularly those of the Ngas, Mupun and Mwaghavul.
Ritual Art: a Key to the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
Authors: Podemann Sørensen Jørgen
Published: August 2018

The Bambara sculpture is a ritual object, in fact one of the dramatis personae of a ritual drama. The Civara, as it is called, is carried on the head during the ritual dance as a token of the presence of the mythical antilope which brought agriculture to the Bambara. Besides the male Civara there is also a female one, and in their dance, the two of them dramatize the fertilizing interaction of sun and soil. Without further exploring Bambara ritual, we may notice that a piece of pictorial art is here an integral part of a ritual. It is a mask, carried during the dance and designating its bearer as the mythical antilope. Also belonging to a ritual are the space and the surroundings in which it is carried out. It is well known how ritual places and temple rooms are often structured and decorated to make out the background and the framework of ritual acts. The place of ritual may be designed as an imago mundi, or it may be chosen or named according to mythical prototypes. Temple rooms may be decorated with mythological and cosmological motifs to identify the ritual acts that take place in them as mythical deeds and cosmologically significant events, exactly as the civara-mask identifies the ritual dance in its mythological and cosmological significance.
Methodological integration in the study of religions
Authors: Pye Michael
Published: August 2018

"Religions" constitute a field of study and accordingly "the study of religion (or religions)" is a discipline. What is a discipline, that is, in the scientific sense? It is no more, and no less, than a methodically ordered approach to the study of a field. The field "religion(s)", no less than any other fields, requires a methodically ordered approach for its study. The methodically ordered approach, the discipline, takes on particular characteristics as required for the best study of the field. Consequently, the discipline of the study of religion(s) is not necessarily quite the same as the discipline required for the study of other fields, though it may be rather similar to the discipline required for the study of closely related fields. The disciplined study of religion cannot be split down the middle, for example between history and ethnology, just because some people prefer to work with a certain kind of source material or prefer a certain kind of professional badge. It is an unduly easy alibi to say that the study of religion is "interdisciplinary", even if this is helpful in a preliminary way. All too often an emphasis on "interdisciplinarity" seems to suggest an openness to a variety of methods while it in fact allows the challenge of methodological reflection to be avoided. By contrast, as has been seen above, the discipline of the study of religions both requires and can find its own specific methodological integration.
Unity and diversity: intentional multidimensionality in Persian Sufi language and the method of decoding it
Authors: Aneer Gudmar
Published: August 2018

Jalal al-Din Rumi and Muhammad Hafez Shirazi are two of the great mystics, Sufis, writing  in Persian in the 13th and 14th century. Their poetry is still an essential part of the Turkish and the Persian religious and cultural settings. The objectives of this article are to suggest a method for analyzing the poetry of Rumi and Hafez within the discipline of History of religions. The various combinations of symbols, symbolic clusters, together create a totality from which parts are taken and combined in various ways in the poems. Seldom all of them are there together, but reading some poems with various themes gives the whole combination of symbols, which has been used by the poet. It gives the picture of a Sufi setting, where the essential thing is the path to the unity with God. With it goes the Persian identity indicated in the garden of roses symbolizing paradise, kingship, justice, prosperity, the love of nature etc. Only in combination do these symbols point to the complex situation of the Persian Sufis.
Rituals between religion and politics: the case of VHP’s 2001-2002 Ayodhya-campaign
Authors: Reenberg Sand Erik
Published: August 2018

The present paper deals with rituals in a political discourse, namely the rituals employed by the right wing, Hindu nationalist movement, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in its campaign for a Rama temple in the north Indian town of Ayodhya. As is probably well-known, VHP is part of a group of organizations known as the Sangh Parivar, or sangh family, which also includes the presently ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the ultranationalistic organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS. The rituals of VHP are instruments of the construction of an ideal Hindu society and part of an encounter between Hindu-nationalist tenets and the secular, political establishment. However, the rituals employed by VHP can not be said to represent a separate ritual genre, since they are not different from similar, traditional Hindu rituals. What makes them different is their context and their motives, the fact that they do not serve ordinary material, eschatological, or soteriological aims, but rather political aims, as well as the fact that the ritual agents in this case do not seem to have a satisfactory juridical legitimacy to perform the rituals.
Editorial note
Authors: Ahlbäck Tore
Published: August 2018

Editorial note of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, vol. 19, based on papers read at the symposium "Exercising Power: the Role of Religions in Concord and Conflict", held at Åbo, Finland, on 17-19 August 2005.
They bewitched the generator: state power and religious authority at the New Year’s festival in Makunduchi, Zanzibar
Authors: Echtler Magnus
Published: August 2018

The New Year’s festival in Makunduchi, Zanzibar, has been one of the central sites for the interaction between state power and religious authority. It has changed considerably since colonial times, as political rituals were grafted onto religious ones, and a commercial fair developed. In this article, it is argued that these changes can be explained in part by the renegotiation, both in conflict and co-operation, of the relationship between local religious experts and state officials. First the New Year’s rituals as central practices for the production of local religious authority is analysed. Then the colonial history of the festival is discussed, before finally turning to the interactions between state power and local authority at the festival in post-colonial times.
From Artaxerxes to Abu Ghraib: on religion and the pornography of imperial violence
Authors: Lincoln Bruce
Published: August 2018

In the wake of September 11, 2001, much has been written about religious groups commonly called ‘terrorist’, building on an older literature whose equally tendentious buzzwords were ‘cult’ and ‘fundamentalism’. In general, the conclusions advanced within such works tilt sometimes in the direction of alarm, and sometimes in that of reassurance. The amount of academic attention devoted to a given threat ought reflect its seriousness, based on calculations of the likelihood that threat will be realized and the destruction it can unleash. Among the most dangerous of situations is that in which an extremely powerful state bent on conquest finds and deploys religious arguments that encourage its aggressive tendencies and imperial ambitions. Believing that it may be useful to consider data sufficiently removed from the present to afford some critical distance, I have devoted much of my research in recent years to the role played by religion in Achaemenid Persia (550–330 bce), the largest, wealthiest, most powerful empire of antiquity before the emergence of Rome. As a convenient summary of that research, I propose to discuss two Achaemenian data, each of which can assume emblematic status. Only after that exercise will I return to contemporary materials and issues.
Religion and the Rwandan genocide
Authors: Van’t Spijker Gerard
Published: August 2018

This article discusses the problems concerning the relation of religion and the genocide in Rwanda in 1990. One of the most urgent questions – formulated as an accusation by the present political regime in Rwanda – is whether religion and the influence of the churches and church leaders have, in fact, fuelled the genocide, or even was Christian missionary activity the ultimate cause of the genocide? In the broader circles of the present regime that articulate public opinion, it is argued that the presence of Christianity, more precisely the activities of the Roman Catholic Church, has not only contrib­uted to the possibility of the genocide, but has been at the root of the political constellation that led to the genocide, and that during the genocide, Church leaders were actively involved in it. In many documents, it is argued that the Rwandan genocide would never have taken place, if Christian mis­sions, particularly those of the Roman Catholic Church, had not been estab­lished in Rwanda. Related to this is the question of how the religious change after the genocide is to be interpreted, since in fact, after 1994, many new Christian communities have been founded, and a striking growth of Islam may be noticed.
New religious movements and their perception as conflict religious groups: the case of the Czech Republic
Authors: Václavíc David
Published: August 2018

At first sight, both the role and the position of religion in the Czech Republic may appear to confirm the secularization thesis. The results of sociological surveys and census statistics show a clear decline in religious faith and practice. According to last national census of 2001 more than 59 per cent of Czech people declared themselves to be ‘non-believers’, while only 32 per cent of Czechs declared themselves to be ‘believers’. And if we look at the statistics that concern the intensity of religious life, we can see a more ‘secularized picture’ of Czech society. For example, only 5 per cent of the Czech population attends religious services regularly, and only 20 per cent of population is willing to contribute 1,50 euro a month to a religious group or church. But do these data present a true picture of secularization in Czech society? What exactly is the attitude of Czech society towards religion? These and other questions are examined in this article.
A matter of balance in a fast paced society: performing Ayurvedic health counseling
Authors: Ståhle Göran
Published: August 2018

This paper concerns the practice of so called ‘Ayurvedic health counselling’ in Sweden today. It is a case study involving semi-structured interviews with six practitioners in the Stockholm area. The focus is on how the practitioners construe the therapeutic processes involved in their practice. The aim of the case study is to develop theoretical interpretations of these processes in terms of a performance perspective based upon Catherine Bell’s concept of ‘ritualization’. The client’s participation can be interpreted as a ritualized agency with a sense of practical mastery of the specific ritualized space. The cause and cure of the illness is attributed to concrete factors through the emphasis on body and habits, a contextualization and embodiment of the illness. By being recognized as a person that is active in relation to her/his life problems, a person with responsibility and control of the illness, the client’s engagement in (and recognition of ) the ritualized space is made an integral part of the ritualization.
Them that believe: a postmodern exploration of the contemporary Christian serpent-handlers of Appalachia
Authors: Hood Ralph
Published: August 2018

The call for a new paradigm is loud and clear and consistent with postmodern methods. They are no gold standard to be applied to all investigations; no master narrative to be defended. Interdisciplinary, as the author tries to demonstrate, can mean not only cooperation among disciplines, but also the use of a variety of often discipline favoured methods by a single investigator or a team of investigators whose location within a particular ‘discipline’ is both historically contingent and likely dated in terms of its usefulness. Likewise, the use of multilevel considerations means that the diversity of methods and approaches at various levels of abstraction are necessary to begin any study of religious phenomena in their immense complexity. This study of serpent handlers focuses upon archival research; hermeneutical explorations of textual criticism of the Bible; ethnography linked to videotapes; phenomenological interviews analyzed in terms of a hermeneutical method that reveals the meaningfulness of handling serpents, being anointed, and the experience of near death from serpent bites. The author is committed to exploring the meaning of serpent handling from personal and cultural perspectives, and also takes into account psychological theories to link the symbolic and sign value of serpents that further does justice to the power of the serpent to elicit genuine religious experiences and to serve as an apologetic for a tradition that has been maligned and misunderstood by lay persons and scholars alike.
Our queen of hearts' - the glorification of Lady Diana Spencer: a critical appraisal of the glorification of celebrities and new pilgrimage
Authors: Grünhagen Céline
Published: August 2018

Religiosity and spirituality respectively have always been and will be subject to change. The emergence of the manifold forms of new religious and spiritual movements in the last century includes a variety of cult-like vener­ations of specific individuals, such as politicians (e.g. Mao, Lenin) and modern idols (e.g. Elvis Presley, Princess Diana, Michael Jackson), who are glorified like saints. Devotees gather annually for memorials of their departed idols or travel­ long distances to visit the tomb, former home, etc. of a specific person to pay tribute to him or her. Due to the motivations of these devotees, the trouble they take, the practices and the tangible emotionality that are connected with this phenomenon, it can be considered a form of pilgrimage. This article presents some thoughts about the glorification of celebrities which leads to these considerable forms of cult and pilgrimage, using as an example the case of Lady Diana Frances Spencer (d. 1997).
This-worldly and other-worldly: a holocaust pilgrimage
Authors: Hamrin-Dahl Tina
Published: August 2018

This story is about a kind of pilgrimage, which is connected to the course of events which occurred in Częstochowa on 22 September 1942. In the morning, the German Captain Degenhardt lined up around 8,000 Jews and commanded them to step either to the left or to the right. This efficient judge from the police force in Leipzig was rapid in his decisions and he thus settled the destinies of thousands of people. After the Polish Defensive War of 1939, the town (renamed Tschenstochau) had been occupied by Nazi Germany, and incorporated into the General Government. The Nazis marched into Częstochowa on Sunday, 3 September 1939, two days after they invaded Poland. The next day, which became known as Bloody Monday, approximately 150 Jews were shot deadby the Germans. On 9 April 1941, a ghetto for Jews was created. During World War II about 45,000 of the Częstochowa Jews were killed by the Germans; almost the entire Jewish community living there.The late Swedish Professor of Oncology, Jerzy Einhorn (1925–2000), lived in the borderhouse Aleja 14, and heard of the terrible horrors; a ghastliness that was elucidated and concretized by all the stories told around him. Jerzy Einhorn survived the ghetto, but was detained at the Hasag-Palcery concentration camp between June 1943 and January 1945. In June 2009, his son Stefan made a bus tour between former camps, together with Jewish men and women, who were on this pilgrimage for a variety of reasons. The trip took place on 22–28 June 2009 and was named ‘A journey in the tracks of the Holocaust’. Those on the Holocaust tour represented different ‘pilgrim-modes’. The focus in this article is on two distinct differences when it comes to creed, or conceptions of the world: ‘this-worldliness’ and ‘other- worldliness’. And for the pilgrims maybe such distinctions are over-schematic, though, since ‘sacral fulfilment’ can be seen ‘at work in all modern constructions of travel, including anthropology and tourism’.
Foot-pilgrims and backpackers: contemporary ways of travelling
Authors: Mendel Tommi
Published: August 2018

This article deals with two modern forms of travelling, which both have developed into boom industries over the last 25 years: the foot pilgrimage along the Camino Francés to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and journeys along so called backpacker’s trails. Whereas the label of ‘pilgrim’ is still mostly associated with devotional persons leaving home out of purely religious motives, young people taking to the road as ‘backpackers’ are generally perceived as pleasure seeking globetrotters. However, the intention of this essay is to break with these stereotypes and to work out some of the major similarities between what at first glance appear as two entirely different ways of travelling. Within this long lasting travelling process the exterior journey always correlates with the inner journey. At the same time, a personal transformation of the protagonists is very possible to occur, be it an increase in self-confidence or an enhancement in status, prestige and identity, alongside further personal insights. Whilst travelling can therefore be seen as a form of a transition, in contrast to traditional rites de passage there is neither a fixed starting point nor a determined ending point, moreover the transformation is self-imposed and occurs on an individual than on a social level. In this context a foot-pilgrimage and a backpacker’s trip can be understood as an ideal way to evade the daily routine and the societal pressure in order to look for a different kind of living. But it may also be a personal quest for a change or an improvement of one’s situation as well as an alternative to the established social and religious institutions.
The female body in early Buddhist literature
Authors: Grünhagen Céline
Published: August 2018

In this paper the author presents Theravāda Buddhist perceptions of the female body and their impact on sexuality, gender equality and salvation. In doing so the author draws on a selection of texts from the Buddhist canonical literature, which are relevant to the Theravāda tradition. Early Buddhist literature reflects an understanding of the female body as being more closely connected to the material world and the cycle of reincarnation, due to its biological qualities. This has a severe impact on the woman’s status and her chances of attaining enlightenment. Considering the early teaching of individuals possessing equal capacities to attain liberation, no matter what sex or social background, Buddhism as it developed over time failed to translate the equality of the sexes into a social reality. In fact, the perception of a distinct female ‘nature’ which was deemed a hindrance could not easily be erased from the collective consciousness. It is, however, important to note that Buddhist countries are subject to diverse influences that affect attitudes towards the female body, sexuality and the status of women—thus one has to be very careful with generalizations regarding norms and practices. Over time the negative attitudes and restrictions have been questioned; social changes have given way to new interpretations and perspectives. Pondering religious and cultural implications of the Buddhist attitude towards the body and its sex while also considering, for example, modern Mahayana Buddhist interpretations—especially by Western Buddhists and Buddhist Feminists—can lead to an acknowledgement of its potential of interpreting anattā, selflessness and an equality of capacity to practice Dhamma in favour of a general sex and gender equality.
Praising as bodily practice: the neocharismatic culture of celebration
Authors: Hovi Tuija
Published: August 2018

Rhythmic body movements and dancing, as well as singing, have been used as a means and inspiration for both individual and communal spiritual experience throughout the history of religions. This article takes a tentative look at the contemporary neocharismatic culture of celebration as a means of aiming at religious experience through collective bodily practice; namely praising, which is generally understood to take the form of singing but is, in fact, expressed also in bodily movements such as dancing. In the neocharismatic context, a celebration means a certain type of a meeting with a special focus on contemplative worship and prayer, accompanied with lively music of praise. First, the historical background of the neo­charismatic branch is outlined shortly. Secondly, the tradition of praise itself within this context is described – what are the insider definitions and what kinds of forms praise in the culture of celebration actually includes, especially in Finland. The description is basically based on internet material and the author's previous field experiences in the Word of Life congregational meetings and other charismatic Christian events. In conclusion, acts of praise as a source of religious experience are discussed.