Showing papers on "Faith published in 2020"

Ethics of Belief

Abstract: The broad question asked under the heading “Ethics of Belief” is: What ought one believe? An ethics of belief attempts to uncover the norms that guide belief formation and maintenance The dominant view among contemporary philosophers is that evidential norms do; I should always follow my evidence and only believe when the evidence is sufficient to support my belief This view is called “evidentialism,” although, as we shall see, this term gets applied to a number of views that can be distinguished from one another Evidentialists often cite David Hume (1999: 110) as their historic exemplar who said “a wise man … proportions his beliefs to the evidence” and thus argued against the reasonableness of believing in miracles (see Hume, David; Wisdom) Those who argue that there can be good practical reasons for believing, independent of one's evidence, can turn for inspiration to Blaise Pascal (1966: 124), who argued that the best reason to form a belief in God was a practical one, namely the possibility of avoiding eternal suffering (see Reasons; Reasons for Action, Morality and; Faith) Keywords: ethics; James, William; philosophy; Williams, Bernard; duty and obligation; knowledge; rationality; responsibility

Religion and Faith Perception in a Pandemic of COVID-19.

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted religion and faith in different ways. Numerous restrictions have been implemented worldwide. Believers are in conflict with authorities' warnings that gatherings must be limited to combat the spread of the virus. Religion has always played a role of the balm for the soul, and the regular religious participation is associated with better emotional health outcomes. In our study, we examined whether the exposure to COVID-19 enhances the faith. The instrument used was a survey verifying the power of spirituality in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Health promotion perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic: The importance of religion.

Abstract: In this article we examine the importance of religion for COVID-19 health promotion. We advance three main arguments. First, religion plays an important role in affecting how likely it is that people will become infected with COVID-19. Second, religion should not be seen as a 'problem' with regards to COVID-19 but as an important part of the worldview and lifestyle of many people. Third, there are valuable health promotion lessons we can learn not only from the intersection of religion and other infectious diseases, but also from approaches taken within science education. Contentious science topics such as evolution and vaccine hesitancy have been effectively communicated to those with a religious faith who are disposed to reject them by reframing and considering religion as a worldview and treating those who do not accept standard scientific theories sensitively. Religion has much to contribute to health promotion, including introducing perspectives on life's meaning and on death that can differ from those held by many without religious faith. Furthermore, religious leaders are important gatekeepers to their communities and can therefore play a vital role in policy implementation, even when that policy makes no overt reference to religion. Our contention is that by working with those of faith in the context of COVID-19, health promotion can be enhanced.

Critical Literature Review on the Definition Clarity of the Concept of Faith, Religion, and Spirituality:

Abstract: The critical review of the literature describes the definition clarity of spirituality, religion, and faith. These three terms are interchangeably used in the literature. However, each of these terms has its own definitions. For example, the term spirituality has more than 13 conceptual components. It is abstract and subjective and is different from religion and faith. Spirituality can be a connection to God, nature, others, and surrounding. Spirituality is associated with quality and meaning in life. Conversely, religion is attributed to traditional values and practices related to a certain group of people or faith. Religion is guided by tradition, rules, and culture. Religion is defined as a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Religion is the service or worship of God or the supernatural. Faith is often associated with religion and spirituality. Faith is more personal, subjective, and deeper than organized religion and relates to the relationship with God. The concept of spirituality lacks a professional understanding. It is imperative that the holistic view of nursing must strive to understand the definition of spirituality.

The Faith Community and the SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Abstract: The current outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a critical moment in time for institutional religion in the USA and throughout the world. Individual clergy and congregations, across faith traditions, have been sources of misinformation and disinformation, promoting messages and actions that engender fear, animosity toward others, and unnecessary risk-taking. But there is a positive role for religion and faith-based institutions here, and many examples of leaders and organizations stepping up to contribute to the collective recovery. Personal faith and spirituality may be a source of host resistance and resilience. Religiously sponsored medical care institutions are vital to health care response efforts. Ministries and faith-based organizations are source of religious health assets that can help to meet community-wide needs. There is a pastoral role for clergy and laypeople who are instrumental in providing comfort and strength to the suffering and fearful in our midst. The outbreak presents an ethical challenge to all of us to step outside of our own preoccupations and to be present and of service for others. This includes having the courage to represent the highest values of our faith in speaking out against religiously motivated foolishness and hatred and in calling for political and public health leaders to be truthful and transparent in their messages to us.

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Abstract: In Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Steven Pinker champions the modern enlightenment project against two types of opponents: (1) pre-modern religious faith a...

Well-Preserved Boundaries: Faith and Co-Existence in the Late Ottoman Empire

Abstract: ..................................................................................... iv ÖZ ..................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION ................................................................................viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................. ix LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................ xi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................... xii TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................... xiii

Religious construction of disease: An exploratory appraisal of religious responses to the COVID-19pandemic in Uganda

Abstract: This article presents empirical analysis of religious attitudes and interpretation of pandemics in Uganda. The study sought to analyze the religious explanatory models of pandemics offered by the three major religions of Uganda: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional religious belief system. The COVID-19 pandemic which ravaged the whole world, Uganda inclusive, was used as a case study. Based on a qualitative research process, the study relied on key informant interviews, media reports and online sources of information. It was established that pandemics have been part of human history. Pandemics provide an opportunity for human reflection on transcendent life since they are a challenge to science and human wisdom. Pandemics draw people closer to religion and the spiritual due to the fear, panic, and uncertainty with which they are associated. Religions are left with the responsibility of providing theological answers beyond what human beings can comprehend. The hope and trust that society has in religious institutions make them ultimate institutions to provide solace to millions of people affected with a pandemic for which scientists and politicians have no immediate answers. The study unravels the complementary role that religion and theological studies can make in understanding effective management and prevention of pandemics in society. It also adds to the continuous debate on the relationship between science and religion, arguing for the significance of religious ideas in making science effective enough to combat societal challenges like epidemics. Key words: Pandemics, religion, religious, construction, disease, Tondism Faith, State, science, traditional healing, coronavirus, Covid-19.

Thinking God in contemporary theology: The Trinity and Christian life through the lens of a theology of interruption

Abstract: In this dissertation, I consider the question: How does a theology of interruption help us to understand the relationship between Christian life and faith in the Trinity today? Flemish theologian Lieven Boeve has developed a contextual-theological-hermeneutical approach to theology—a “theology of interruption”—that brings a postmodern critical consciousness into dialogue with the Christian narrative tradition. He argues that such an approach can be supported not only on contextual grounds, but also on theological grounds. For Boeve, the recognition of the cultural interruption of the Christian tradition by means of an increasing diversity in the religious and cultural landscape leads to a rediscovery of the interruptive nature of the Christian narrative, and it is this insight that I take up in this work. By considering a theology of interruption as a lens through which to think about the relationship between Christian life and faith in the Trinity, I explore the implications of Boeve’s approach for contemporary theology. The dissertation begins with an exegesis of Boeve’s work. I examine his philosophical and theological influences, and I discuss critically his contention that a theology of interruption is narratively signified in the Christian tradition. As Boeve is not explicit about the ways in which he engages a theology of interruption as a hermeneutical approach to theology, I examine case studies within his corpus to distil its philosophical-conceptual elements. Turning to the question of the relationship between trinitarian faith and Christian life, I examine modern and postmodern trinitarian approaches and engage these critically through the lens of postmodern philosophical and contextual concerns. I then consider this theme through the lens of a theology of interruption and offer a critical evaluation of Boeve’s approach. This work contributes to theological discourse in a number of ways. It supports the use of a theology of interruption as a means by which theology might proceed today. It presents a way of thinking about the relationship between trinitarian faith and Christian life that takes seriously the particularity of the Christian tradition and other faith traditions and worldviews in the contemporary context. It recognises the importance of engaging reflexively with diverse particular discourses within the context and affirms the fruits of such an engagement for Christian self-understanding. Finally, it provides theological support for a recontextualisation of sacramentality in relation to Christian life.

Religion and Spirituality, Meaning, and Faith in American Psychiatry From the 19th to the 21st Century

Abstract: Since the beginning of American psychiatry, we have discovered and rediscovered connections among religion, spirituality, meaning, and mental health. In the 19th century, religion was an embedded attribute of moral therapy, the framework for treatment in mental institutions. During the decades in the 20th century when psychoanalysis was ascendant in the profession, some psychiatrists collaborated with the emerging field of pastoral care. As biological psychiatry has come to dominate the profession, though, pastoral care providers and some psychiatric researchers have identified gaps in the human interactions that characterize ideal and meaningful encounters with patients. This article examines how religion has been mobilized in American psychiatry over the centuries within institutional settings, but also looks at a broad consideration of faith in psychiatrists' clinical interventions, how that has affected their interactions with religious ideas and people, and where they have found meaning and purpose in mental health care.

Discipline lessons from American faith-based autonomous schools: a narrative of power and ‘mini-public’ ideology

Abstract: Widespread neoliberal approaches to education consider schools increasingly accountable for self-management and ‘client’ recruitment, encapsulating economic ideologies that assume privatisation is

Teacher experiences of LGBTQ- inclusive education in primary schools serving faith communities in England, UK

Abstract: This article reports on the experiences of teachers delivering an LGBTQ-inclusive education programme in four English primary schools serving faith communities. These teachers tended to start the w...

Exploring a Faith-Led Open-Systems Perspective of Stewardship in Family Businesses

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine how faith-led practices in family firms affect organizational stewardship. Current studies highlight the relevance of religious adherence for family businesses, yet provide limited understanding of how this shapes the key traits of these organizations. Drawing on six autobiographies of family business leaders who openly express their adherence to their faith, and adopting an open-systems analysis of these autobiographies, we demonstrate that faith-led values influence organizational and leadership practices. Overall, our study suggests that the influence of religious beliefs in the organizational practices of family businesses have greater repercussions than previously thought. By introducing a faith-led approach to stewardship, we enrich the theoretical discussion around stewardship and the relevance of religion in family business.

Securityquaexistential surviving (while becoming otherwise) through performative leaps of faith

Abstract: This paper analyzes the idea of ‘ontological security’ to make three arguments: (a) that to be secure in one's being is paradoxical in the sense that to be is to survive while always becoming otherwise, (b) that to survive is to be anxious, and (c) that to get attached to such a security of one's always becoming otherwise is to engage in performative leaps of faith in the security of one's existence. This framework is used to suggest a new interpretation of the security dilemma.

Nicodemus. A Disciple Liberated by the Cross of the Christ from the Darkness of Fear and Disbelief

Abstract: Nicodemus, a Pharisee and one of the Jewish leaders, appears only in the Fourth Gospel. Three events in which he participates—a night meeting with Jesus (John 3:1-21), a verbal clash with members of the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-52) and a funeral, performed for Jesus together with Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38-42)—are perceived negatively by numerous exegetes, and Nicodemus’s attitude is (sometimes harshly) criticised. However, taking into consideration the significance of all the details of the current narrative and the context of the occurring events, one should be led to the conclusion that this man, nowhere explicitly referred by the Evangelist with the term μαθητής, deserves to be called “a disciple of Christ,” who passed through the three-stage process of maturation in faith. Gradually he began to gain courage in advocating for Christ, and at the decisive moment—during Jesus’ death on the Cross—he definitely stepped out of hiding and gave a public testimony of his adherence to the Master of Nazareth. His person, through a gesture shown to the Crucified, became the locus theologicus in which Jesus revealed himself as the immortal Messiah, Prophet, and King.