Showing papers in "Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses in 2011"
TL;DR: This article examined how changing patterns of religious affiliation in Canada have affected its five largest Protestant denominations since World War II, by looking at both Census data as well as chancery data.
Abstract: This paper examines how changing patterns of religious affiliation in Canada have affected its five largest Protestant denominations since World War II, by looking at both Census data as well as ch...
18 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the assumptions that serve as the foundation of both conservative and liberal treatments of the miraculous, and joins others in calling for the academic study of Christian origins to situate itself more fully within the academic studies of religion.
Abstract: All introductory textbooks to the New Testament have something to say about the miracles and resurrection of Jesus, sometimes implicitly but more often explicitly. Not surprisingly, conservative textbooks take a conservative approach, rejecting outright the “naturalism” that governs other human and natural sciences. Yet even liberal textbooks stop short of assuming a fully naturalistic paradigm. This paper analyses the assumptions that serve as the foundation of both conservative and liberal treatments of the miraculous, and joins others in calling for the academic study of Christian Origins to situate itself more fully within the academic study of religion.Tous les manuels d’introduction au Nouveau Testament ont quelque chose a dire sur les miracles et la resurrection de Jesus, parfois implicitement, mais le plus souvent de maniere explicite. Comme on pouvait s'y attendre, les manuels conservateurs adoptent une approche conservatrice, en rejetant purement et simplement le « naturalisme » qui regit les au...
15 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the Confucian teaching of self-transcendence and its modern implications for interreligious dialogue, and explore a new approach to the interreligious discussion of "ultimate reality" by considering Neo-Confucianism.
Abstract: This article presents the Confucian teaching of self-transcendence and its modern implications for interreligious dialogue. It first points out that most scholars in the field of interreligious dialogue share a common tendency to rely very heavily on Western concepts and/or Christian theological approaches. My discussion of self-transcendence is based on the classical teaching of Confucius and Mencius and its leading interpretation by two eminent Neo-Confucian thinkers, Chu Hsi (1130—1200) and Yi T’oegye (1501—1570). I present this core textual tradition while consulting its modern interpreters and some key examples of Confucian practice. Human beings have the potential to work toward perfection (sagehood), and embedded in this doctrine is a religious belief in the oneness of Heaven and human nature. We need to explore a new approach to the interreligious discussion of ‘‘ultimate reality’’ by considering Neo-Confucianism. A dialogue between the Neo-Confucian vision of self-transcendence and the converging...
15 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the use of ethnic reasoning in centrist Christian identity formation with the epistle of Barnabas as a specific case study, and found that ethnic reasoning can be used to construct a distinct Christian ethnic identity and to manufacture sharp differences between Christian and Judaean social praxis.
Abstract: There was no abstract conception of religion in antiquity, but religious beliefs and practices were closely intertwined with ethnicity in the Graeco-Roman period. Building on the groundbreaking studies of Denise Kimber Buell, I investigate the use of ethnic reasoning in centrist Christian identity formation with the epistle of Barnabas as a specific case study. The epistle of Barnabas utilizes ethnic reasoning to construct a distinct Christian ethnic identity and to manufacture sharp differences between Christian and Judaean social praxis. In order to promote the idea of a homogeneous Christian ethnic identity with pure origins, Barnabas re-appropriates the legacy of Israel while representing the ‘‘Judaean’’ as an adversaral foil.Il n’y avait pas de conception abstraite de la religion dans l’antiquite, mais les croyances et pratiques religieuses etaient etroitement entrelacees a l’ethnicite dans la periode greco-romaine. En me basant sur les etudes innovantes de Denise Kimber Buell, je recherche l’utilisa...
14 citations
TL;DR: The Imamate is one of the most important pillars in Twelver Shi'ism as mentioned in this paper, however, its meaning has been greatly debated by religious modernists in recent years.
Abstract: The Imamate is one of the most important pillars in Twelver Shi’ism. However, its meaning has been greatly debated by religious modernists in recent years. In this article, the Iranian religious mo...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors critically engage Timothy Fitzgerald's Discourse on Civility and Barbarity (2007), arguing that it takes an important step beyond Fitzgerald's first book, The Ideology of Religious Stud...
Abstract: This essay critically engages Timothy Fitzgerald’s Discourse on Civility and Barbarity (2007), arguing that it takes an important step beyond Fitzgerald’s first book, The Ideology of Religious Stud...
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Lonergan has called for a methodical theology that differentiates those aspects of religion that are humanistic from those that are strictly theological, distinguishing social-science and denominational realms of inquiry.
Abstract: Bernard Lonergan has called for a methodical theology that differentiates those aspects of religion that are humanistic from those that are strictly theological, distinguishing social-science and denominational realms of inquiry. We believe that Lonergan’s notion of human authenticity is pivotal for the humanistic or social-science dimension. Hence, focusing on authenticity, we call for application of Lonergan’s thought beyond strictly theological topics, and we elaborate how social science could effectively deal with aspects of beliefs, ethics, and psychological and spiritual health, traditionally taken to be religious. Finally, we report on a project to operationalize authenticity—that is, to construct a psychometrically sophisticated questionnaire—as a means of making Lonergan’s thought accessible and useful to social-science practitioners and researchers.Bernard Lonergan a fait appel a une theologie methodique qui differencie ces aspects de religion qui sont humanistes de ceux qui sont strictement the...
9 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the tensions in mid-century Montreal between the rabbis of the Yiddish-speaking Vaad Harabbonim and the freshly minted Modern Orthodox rabbis.
Abstract: The postwar years brought demographic expansion to Montreal’s Jewish community, including residential mobility into new neighbourhoods. These growing suburban Jewish communities engaged young, English-speaking and mostly American rabbis for their congregations. Not surprisingly, the arrival of several of these Modern Orthodox rabbis at mid-century was not unnoticed by the established, mostly eastern European, members of Montreal’s Rabbinical Council. Typically at this period, many European rabbis were sceptical of their American-trained colleagues’ authenticity, knowledge and capability. Montreal was no exception. Using archival documents, this article examines the tensions in mid-century Montreal between the rabbis of the Yiddish-speaking Vaad Harabbonim and the freshly-minted Modern Orthodox rabbis of the next generation.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a pair of essays reflect upon the unexpected encounter of Hindu and Jewish perspectives in the wake of the prohibition of wigs with human hair from India for use by Jewish women by prominent Haredi (ultra-orthodox) legal authorities in May 2004.
Abstract: This pair of essays reflects upon the unexpected encounter of Hindu and Jewish perspectives in the wake of the prohibition of wigs with human hair from India for use by Jewish women by prominent Haredi (‘‘ultra-orthodox’’) legal authorities in May 2004. The rulings sparked distress among Haredi communities in New York, London, and Jerusalem; some women took to the streets to burn their wigs, attracting international media attention. Yet questions about the status of the wigs also occasioned intensive halakhic discussions of Hindu rituals among Orthodox Jews, centered on tonsuring practices of pilgrims to the Ve kateśvara temple near the city of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India. These essays explore some of the insights that arise when one examines the controversy from historical perspectives, and in relation to theoretical questions about comparison and the study of religions. The first essay focuses on the tensions surrounding hair and its interpretation within Vaisnavite textual traditions and ritual p...
8 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that systematic, integrated study of religions, incorporating contemporary knowledge about human behavior, is necessary for understanding actions of religious people in social and historical circumstances. And they propose an integrated causal model, drawing on Michael Pye's concept of Religionswissenschaft and Talcott Parsons's general action theory.
Abstract: This essay considers an exchange between ‘‘new secular’’ theologians in the US and a Canadian proponent of the scientific study of religion, about humanistic and scientific values in the academic study of religion, in relation to the character of contemporary universities and the scope of the humanities. It suggests that the humanistic study of religion is culturally normal in North American higher education and educationally important, but is limited as a program for the study of religion as social reality. The essay argues that systematic, integrated study of religions, incorporating contemporary knowledge about human behavior, is necessary for understanding actions of religious people in social and historical circumstances. To this end it proposes an integrated causal model, drawing on Michael Pye’s concept of Religionswissenschaft and Talcott Parsons’s general action theory.
8 citations
TL;DR: The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) did not participate in the preliminary hearing of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism as mentioned in this paper, in order to protest the preamble's language that referred to the "two founding races".
Abstract: This article challenges the assumption that the Canadian Jewish community embraced the discourse and potential of multiculturalism rapidly and enthusiastically. It has been proven that certain groups—most notably the Ukrainians—used the hearings of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, which promised to consider the ‘‘contributions of the other ethnic’’ groups, to promote the idea that Canada is multicultural. But the largest organization of Canadian Jewry—the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC)—was very cautious in its dealings with the Commission. It only participated in the Preliminary Hearings, in order to protest the preamble’s language that referred to the ‘‘two founding races. From the records of meetings, it is evident that CJC, based in Montreal—which was the home of the largest Jewish community in Canada at the time—was worried that introducing ‘‘multiculturalism’’ would offend the French. This article also asserts that CJC was not willing to define the Jews as an ethnic group, whic...
TL;DR: The authors examine the compatibilite des politiques de Badiou and sa lecture de Paul dans son livre St. Paul: The Foundation of Universalism au moyen d'une comparaison a une autre lecture politiquement radicale de Paul, celui du theologien and reformateur allemand Martin Luther.
Abstract: Le discours de la grâce universelle est utilise en tant que theo-politique revolutionnaire par plusieurs des lecteurs des lettres de Paul. Alain Badiou est un tel lecteur de Paul, qui trouve en Paul la possibilite d'un nouvel egalitarisme radical base sur la constitution d'un sujet investi dans la verite d'un evenement de grâce. Ce document examine la compatibilite des politiques de Badiou et sa lecture de Paul dans son livre St. Paul: The Foundation of Universalism au moyen d'une comparaison a une autre lecture politiquement radicale de Paul, celui du theologien et reformateur allemand Martin Luther. Comme Badiou, Luther est un exemple typique de la maniere dont la theologie, la philosophie, et la politique sont reliees intimement. Mais plus que ca, Luther a occupe une position dans laquelle il pouvait affecter et a affecte l'execution sociale et politique de ses idees. Ainsi, il fournit des moyens d'analyser les resultats de la coordination de la puissance et d'un universalisme Pauline de grâce. Cet essai conclut que la version de grâce materialiste avancee par Badiou est non seulement incommensurable avec sa vision politique mais qu'elle a-pour emprunter l'expression de Slavoj Žižek-un noyau pervers cache.
TL;DR: In this article, the spiritualite benedictine convient particulierement au loisir des personnes âgees, which is the main ingredient of the contemplation.
Abstract: Le but de cette reflexion theologique est de montrer, a l'aide d'un modele theorique, comment l'application de la spiritualite benedictine au loisir des personnes âgees peut favoriser le bonheur spirituel. L'analyse s'est articulee notamment autour d'un syllogisme. Le cœur de la spiritualite benedictine est la contemplation. Or, les personnes âgees sont tout naturellement disposees a la reminiscence, a l'introspection et a la contemplation. Donc, la spiritualite benedictine convient particulierement au loisir des personnes âgees. Quatre valeurs benedictines ont ete retenues, a savoir la fraternite, la moderation, l'hospitalite et l'humilite. Dans le modele, la spiritualite benedictine est reliee a la contemplation, a l'union avec Dieu et au bonheur spirituel. Par ailleurs, la spiritualite benedictine, le loisir contemplatif et les personnes âgees sont interrelies; en plus, les personnes âgees et le loisir contemplatif sont directement relies a la contemplation. Bref, il s'agissait de jeter un regard benedictin sur le loisir, le vieillissement et le bonheur.
TL;DR: In this paper, Engler argues that "religion" is a contingent, contested and historical discourse and not a natural kind, but it can still act as a useful descriptive and analytical category.
Abstract: I am grateful to Steven Engler for his careful and insightful critique of Discourse on Civility and Barbarity (DCB), and to the editor Francis Landy for inviting my response. Steven has raised some important issues which need this kind of focused public debate. Some of his criticisms I agree with; but I do not agree with his proposal for a middle third way between a properly critical agenda and leaving everything as it is. Throughout his critique Steven repeats his assertion, viz, that there is a third way. While he agrees that ‘religion’ is a contingent, contested and historical discourse and not a natural kind, it can in Steven’s view still act as a useful descriptive and analytical category:
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the repercussions of a 1931 sermon by Sheea Herschorn, an immigrant Orthodox rabbi in Montreal, on the public discourse of the Montreal Jewish community.
Abstract: This article examines in detail the repercussions of a 1931 sermon by Sheea Herschorn, an immigrant Orthodox rabbi in Montreal, on the public discourse of the Montreal Jewish community. It begins with a brief consideration of the position of the immigrant Orthodox rabbinate in Montreal and then explores the nature of the public discourse on this sermon, in which Rabbi Herschorn was accused of agreeing with an anti-Semitic position, through a close examination of the reportage of the controversy in Montreal’s Jewish press, which then included two newspapers in Yiddish, the Keneder Adler and Der Shtern, as well as the English-language Canadian Jewish Chronicle. Finally, the article explores some of the major issues raised in Rabbi Herschorn’s sermon regarding the contemporary situation of Polish Jews in relation to their society, tying it to his perception of the relationship of Canadian Jews and Canadian society as a whole. These latter issues included especially the relationship between Montreal Jews and ...
TL;DR: This paper studied a bilingual Yiddish-English track called "Kale bazetsn" (Veiling the Bride) by Canadian artist DJ Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin) on his 2003 album HipHopKhasene.
Abstract: Jewish identity is increasingly fluid in Canada, as evidenced by new developments in Jewish culture Klezmer music—traditionally associated with Jewish wedding celebrations—has experienced a mass revival and entry into the mainstream and has become firmly entrenched within Yiddish culture, including the emergence of new unions with genres such as hip hop This close study of a bilingual Yiddish—English track called ‘‘Kale bazetsn’’ (Veiling the Bride) by Canadian artist DJ Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin) on his 2003 album HipHopKhasene situates it within the paradoxical state of secular Yiddish culture today: while the Yiddish language is facing global attrition, there is renewed interest in its culture among young musicians and audiences
TL;DR: The calendrier joue un role essentiel dans l’identite d'un groupe as mentioned in this paper, i.e., it plays an important role in defining the identity of a group.
Abstract: Le calendrier joue un role essentiel dans l’identite d’un groupe. Apres la Seconde guerre mondiale, la question s’est posee si une date particuliere devait commemorer les victimes de l’Holocauste. Les reponses ont varie selon les pays. Au Canada, une date particuliere s’est imposee. D’une ceremonie limitee aux survivants et a leurs descendants, Yom Hashoah est, petit a petit, grâce a un certain nombre de changements dans son organisation, devenu un element marquant, quasi unanimement reconnu par les Juifs du Canada.
TL;DR: In a follow-up article as discussed by the authors, the same authors pointed out that the mixed review of points of agreement and disagreement clouds the air, potentially and misleadingly overemphasizing the latter.
Abstract: In formal terms, Tim’s response does two different things: it responds directly to points I made; and it reasserts his position more generally. This diffuses the dialogue between article and response, given that I explicitly agree with some aspects of his position and disagree with others. The mixed review of points of agreement and disagreement clouds the air, potentially and misleadingly overemphasizing the latter. So, for example, much of the first section of the response reiterates the view that naı̈ve usages of ‘religion’ have ideological effects, a point upon which we both agree. That said, Tim and I continue to disagree on the core issue. Basically, I suggested that ideological critique—not limited to the points raised in Discourse on Civility and Barbarity (DCB)—can inform a critical study of religion. I described this as a ‘‘middle ground between abandoning an apolitical conception of ‘religion’ and using the concept merely as a heuristic device’’ (Engler, 2011: 422). In his response, Tim characterizes this position of mine as a ‘‘middle third way between a properly critical agenda and leaving everything as it is’’ (2011: 443). This distorts what I said, reproducing the false dichotomy that I critiqued. Negating a ‘‘middle way’’ leaves a black and white choice between ‘‘a properly critical agenda’’ (Tim’s view) and ‘‘leaving everything as it is’’ (presumably mine). To the extent that I disagree with his position, I am said to propose ‘‘merely a useful adjustment to the already existing paradigm’’ (ibid.: 445). Tim’s choice to characterize my argument as proposing an untenable ‘‘third way’’ reinforces this false dichotomy. I did not use that term, which has a well-established meaning in a very different context: it describes a political hybrid of economic views from the right and social views from the left, for example, Anthony Giddens’ ‘‘utopian realism.’’ ‘‘Third way’’ is misleading for precisely that reason: I am not proposing that sort of middle ground, a hybrid of the view that Tim proposes and the one he rejects. I propose a broader critical view— one that I argue encompasses his position—and I reject the status quo just as he does. My
TL;DR: In this article, an etude historique des configurations matrimoniales d'immigrants juifs marocains is presented. Butteau et al. present an analysis of 740 dossiers (1480 personnes) from a Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal.
Abstract: Cet article, qui s’appuie sur l’analyse de dossiers de publication des bans d’une synagogue montrealaise (la Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue) de 1969 a 1981, propose une etude historique des configurations matrimoniales d’immigrants juifs marocains. Les auteures s’appuient sur l’analyse de 740 dossiers (1480 personnes dont 28 % sont nees au Maroc) et s’interrogent sur l’interaction des pratiques matrimoniales et migratoires dans le Montreal des annees 1970. Cette etude, particulierement attentive au genre et a l’integration des immigrants dans une nouvelle societe d’accueil, met en evidence que l’immigration dans un nouveau pays permet des pratiques matrimoniales inedites ou s’articulent de nouveaux rapports de genre mais revele aussi l’etroitesse des liens qui unissent des Juifs nes au Maroc a leur communaute et a leur religion.
TL;DR: The importance of the early religious commitment of Friedrich Engels, who had such an ambiguous effect on world history, is often recognised but rarely analysed as discussed by the authors, which offers a critical treatment of the formative religious experience of the young Engels.
Abstract: The importance of the early religious commitment of Friedrich Engels, who had such an ambiguous effect on world history, is often recognised but rarely analysed. This article offers a critical treatment of the formative religious experience of the young Engels. His was a (Calvinist) Reformed upbringing and the faith he inherited was taken up with a zeal and exuberance he would later transfer to communism. In the early part of the article, this exuberance is balanced with Engels’s increasing frustrations with the narrow piety of his home town in Wuppertal, a frustration enhanced by his increasing engagement with critical biblical analysis in Germany at the time. The second half of the study deals with two features that would stay with Engels: his sense of the political ambivalence of Christianity, torn between reaction and revolution (as he saw it embodied in his formidable minister, F. W. Krummacher); and his intimate knowledge of the Bible, which would lead to a life-long practice of citing biblical pass...
TL;DR: In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on the case of Bruker v. Marcovitz with the majority position being delivered by Justice Abella as mentioned in this paper, which had many ramifications in terms of freedom of religion and state.
Abstract: In 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on the case of Bruker v. Marcovitz with the majority position being delivered by Justice Abella. Although on one hand the case might appear simply as one of contract law in Quebec, this particular ruling had many ramifications in terms of freedom of religion and state—church interaction. The article addresses the particularities of Jewish divorce laws and the complexities entered into within a civil society. Questions of the separation of church and state and the interaction of two legal systems continue to cause conflict and debate in both Canada and the United States of America. The couple involved had many years of litigation, and had already been both civilly divorced and Jewishly divorced. The issue at hand was whether one party could sue the other party for breach of contract if the said contract involved a religious obligation. The debate intrigues scholars and community participants alike.
TL;DR: In this article, des elements de comprehension theologique de la praxis ludique de Jesus le Christ are presented, e.g., the dimension symbolique du vin, the miracle-don, the plaisir sexuel and the procreation.
Abstract: Cet article presente des elements de comprehension theologique de la praxis ludique de Jesus le Christ. Nous explorons tout d’abord les categories de la fete en interpretant les noces de Cana sous l’angle de la dimension symbolique du vin, du « miracle-don », de la consecration du plaisir sexuel et de la procreation ainsi que de l’annonce du Royaume de Dieu que nous propose ce signe evangelique. Par la suite, nous porterons un regard sur le rire comme chemin d’esperance en evoquant le statut du rire chez les chretiens et dans la Bible. Une attention particuliere sera donnee sur le rire de Jesus et du jeu ironique de sa passion en empruntant au theologien Harvey Cox l’image du Christ-Arlequin qui ouvre a la comprehension de la dimension eschatologique de la resurrection.
TL;DR: This paper explored the way in which Jewish religious paradigms are manifested and sometimes subverted in Clarice Lispector's novel The Passion According to G.H. The question which guides this enquiry is the theoretical issue of examining what is being represented in this text: What is the mimetic relationship between the character's development and the ineffable referent to which the narrative refers?
Abstract: This essay is an exploration of the way in which Jewish religious paradigms are manifested and sometimes subverted in Clarice Lispector’s novel The Passion According to G.H. The question which guides this enquiry is the theoretical issue of examining what is being represented in this text: What is the mimetic relationship between the character’s development and the ineffable referent to which the narrative refers? Utilizing a phenomenological philosophical hermeneutic literary methodology, it is found that an ineffable referent in the text of The Passion According to G.H. is articulated through a tension between religious reference and a self-reflective narrator questioning the limits of language. As this tension plays out, ostensibly through contemplation of a squashed cockroach, the narrator’s consciousness is transformed to an understanding larger than that of the ordinary quotidian.Ce travail est une exploration de la maniere par laquelle des paradigmes religieux juifs sont manifestes et parfois renve...
TL;DR: This paper looked back on the first 40 years of Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses and reviewed its original mandate, and some of the people and institutions that were responsible for its success.
Abstract: This article looks back on the first 40 years of Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses. It reviews its original mandate, and some of the people and institutions that were responsible for its success.Cet article revient sur les 40 premieres annees de la revue Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses. Il explore son mandat original, ainsi que certaines des personnes et institutions qui ont ete responsables de sa reussite.