Method and Theory in the Study of Religion

Vyprávěním ab ovo, od Velkého třesku, vstupujeme do fascinujícího světa lidského mozku. Tento dobrodružný příběh podložený vědou i se svou apokalyptickou částí ústrojně zapadl do dnešní doby, Zeitgeistu, jako velmi žádaný, jako potrava a doslova živá voda pro vyprahlé duše/mozky. Není tedy až tak s podivem, že v české verzi je již rozebrán 3. dotisk knihy a i v anglosaském světě se jedná o ojedinělý bestseller českého autora, o který se zajímá prestižní nakladatelství Penguin Books. Autora si není třeba na stránkách Přítomnosti představovat, je jím její vydavatel a známý česko-americký neurolog a pedagog z Univerzity v Yale MUDr. Martin Jan Stránský (*1956). Kniha představuje v úhrnu výsledek několika desítek let vědeckých výzkumů v oblasti mozku a v oblasti vlivu moderních technologií na něj. Pokud byl autor známý již předtím jako plamenný a neohrožený obhájce reálného světa v opozici proti tomu digitálnímu ve svých živých projevech a přednáškách za Atlantikem i u nás, zde máme poprvé možnost seznámit se s jeho cennými postřehy a myšlenkami v tištěné podobě v pohodlí našeho čtenářského zážitku. Není to však pouze odborná kniha z oblasti neurologie mozku. V neposlední řadě dílo vzniklo jako služba lidem a současnosti, jako důrazné varování, jako poslední výzva, která umožňuje běžnému člověku se lépe orientovat v komplexní přítomnosti. Kniha vznikla jako anglický originál a český čtenář má k dispozici překlad. Ovšem vzhledem ke zjištěným chybám v textu a k některým překladatelsky nedotaženým větám, které nejsou výjimkou, doporučuji anglický originál.

Vzestup a pád lidské mysli má v zásadě dvě základní roviny. Ta první vychází z premis vědeckého prostředí scientismu, experimentů, racionality a přesvědčivé lidské empirie. V té druhé se opouští striktně vědecké prostředí a o slovo se přihlásí prorocká a apokalyptická vize lidské budoucnosti, která má blíže spíše k lyričnosti, pocitovosti. Běžný čtenář téměř jistě nebude rozporovat Stránského odbornost v neurologii; uvedené poznatky o mozku v jeho evolučním vývoji a ve většině jeho běžných projevech jsou nejen fascinující, ale i podané s nadhledem a vtipem spolu s neodmyslitelnými příklady z praxe, které fungují jako pravá exempla a kromě své doslovné kvality mají i nespornou kvalitu satirickou a aforistickou.

Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 21 septembre 2020. © Archives de sciences sociales des religions Claude Calame, Bruce Lincoln (Ed.), Comparer en histoire des religions antiques. Controverses et propositions Liège, Presses universitaires de Liège, coll. « Religions », 2012, 146 p. Benoît Vermander RÉFÉRENCE Claude Calame, Bruce Lincoln (Ed.), Comparer en histoire des religions antiques. Controverses et propositions, Liège, Presses universitaires de Liège, coll. « Religions », 2012, 146 p.

This article studies references to Gnosticism in debates regarding gender at the turn of the twentieth century. Analyzing an array of sources, from activists for female empowerment in British Theosophy to continental traditionalist conservatives, the article shows that Gnosticism and ancient Gnostics were referenced to support both female liberation as well as male dominance. It is argued that this was made possible by (1) the polemical and contradictory state of the ancient second-hand sources regarding "Gnostic" views of the nature of male-and femaleness combined (2) with a key component constituting the reception of Gnosticism in modernity: counterculture and the reevaluation of the religious "other." It is concluded that a core feature of the modern revival and reception of Gnosticism is a particular form of alterity: the reevaluation of historical othering processes.

Myth flourishes in life situations associated with war, illness, loss of loved ones, aging and epidemics, transforming dangerous situations into something bearable. Man cannot tolerate violence, and tries to find a rationale for it, although violence may become self-perpetuating. Thus, violence and the threat of violence is what motivates mythmaking. The more violent a culture becomes, the more it needs mythology. Modern psychiatry seems to confirm the thesis that violence mythologises a person's experiences. In encounters with danger, men become transformed into gods and demons; and nature, in the eyes of those threatened, becomes bewitched. It is from the dangers of life that notions such as ethics, providence and immortality arise. In order to make sense of the dangers in life, people turn to narratives and rites. In this way, the sacred works as a protection against chaos.

The Theosophical Society was founded to promote occult research and establish a Brotherhood of Humanity. While the Society has brought Theosophical teachings to many, it has yet to achieve its goal of universal brotherhood. To succeed, more individuals must apply Theosophical principles in their lives and actively promote the Path of hastened evolutionary unfoldment.

The Ancient Mysteries, with their emphasis on spiritual unfoldment and initiation, could be restored to address modern world crises. The Theosophical Society, founded by H.P. Blavatsky, aims to promote this knowledge and the existence of the Mystery Tradition. The Society’s objectives, including Discipleship and Initiation, could be expanded to include affirming the continuance of the Mystery Tradition.

The Mystery Tradition, with its emphasis on Discipleship and the oneness of all people, should be more widely known. Theosophical literature and meetings can serve as effective platforms to disseminate this knowledge, potentially counteracting the cruelty in the world. However, it is crucial to distinguish between true and false occult teachings, as spurious claims can mislead aspirants.

No Tree is Solitary in Kumano explores the shifting symbolism of the solitary tree through the lens of artistic research, ecological history, and the life and philosophy of Kumagusu Minakata. Drawing on Minakata’s integrative methodology—which blends spirituality, natural philosophy, and science—this project investigates how images of solitary trees reflect broader cultural notions of the self, nature, and belonging. While the motif of the lone tree in Western art history often symbolizes individualism and separation from nature, the solitary trees found in the Kumano region of Japan tell a different story. These trees, often located at the sites of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, are embedded within networks of spirituality, ecology, and cultural memory. Their continued existence is intimately connected to Minakata’s early environmental activism against industrial deforestation and the destruction of sacred local sites. Through fieldwork, photography, and reflection, this research reframes the solitary tree not as a symbol of isolation, but as a living node in a web of relational, more-than-human coexistence—an emblem of rootedness rather than detachment.

This article is based on the draft of my article in Japanese, Nise joho wo dou toraeru ka-"Jinrui shakai" to shite no "Net shakai", [ʻHow should we understand disinformation?-"The Internet Society" as a "Human Society."ʼ]
This paper explores disinformation not merely as a technological issue but as a deeply human phenomenon rooted in our evolutionary history. Drawing on anthropology and social learning theory, the author argues that deception and propaganda are inherent in human communication. The study introduces the “In-group Truth-default Hypothesis,” emphasizing how trust and cooperation emerged within small groups to support cumulative culture. As societies expanded, mechanisms to suppress deception evolved. Today’s internet society, often perceived as fragmented by disinformation and echo chambers, requires renewed efforts to foster pluralism, trust, and social cohesion beyond polarized narratives.

History and the Study of Religion by Stanley Stowers offers a noteworthy contribution to the theoretical and methodological frameworks of religious studies. Through a historiographically rigorous approach, Stowers challenges essentialist, phenomenological, and theological paradigms that have long dominated the field, advocating for a historically contingent and socially embedded understanding of religion. His writings are part of a larger intellectual movement that challenges "religion" as a subject of study, interacting with academics like Bruce Lincoln, Talal Asad, and Jonathan Z. Smith while providing critical perspectives on the historiography of religious traditions.

Early post-Vatican Catholic moral theologians made significant global proposals for renewed theological ethics in their own time and culture. However, after the culmination of the work of these great scholars in the 1980s and 1990s, Catholic moral theology became anchored in contingent polemic and polarized debates. It ceased to offer integral proposals of fundamental Christian ethics for the new challenges in the personal, intersubjective, and social scenarios. Subsequent studies often focused on bioethics, sexuality, family, and social justice but rarely attempted to renew a public fundamental morality for the 21st century. The essential features of this article are the proposal of new categories and debates for fundamental moral theology, grounded on the conviction that promoting this discipline as a humanization proposal builds on the profound potential human beings are called to fulfill. Humanity understood in all its complexity requires a theological ethics capable of incorporating this human condition and its categories, such as vulnerability, corporality, and recognition from a transdisciplinary point of view. These challenges underscore the urgent need for a renewed ethical framework articulated in a significant language for our time. Drawing on extensive literature and analytical research methods, it examines the interplay between these multifaceted issues.

The pervasive assumption that all Christian literature and history in the first one hundred years or so sprang from and mirrored communities inhibits historical explanation by social and psychological theory that is normal for the rest of the academy. A community in this sense is a highly coherent social formation with commonality in thought and practice. The idea that the Christian movement began with these communities derives from Christianity’s own myth of origins, but has been taken as historical reality. The myth can be traced to Paul, Acts and Eusebius.

Islamic historiography started evolving during the time of the rightly guided caliphs. However, it strongly emerged during the Umayyads' rule and reached its apogee during the Abbasid period. Similarly, the trend of compilation of Aḥādīth (traditions) was started during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his Progeny and Companions). However, that practice also reached its pinnacle during the time of the Abbasid caliphate. 'Urwah ibn az-Zubair (d. 712), therefore, is an important literary figure of early Islamic historiography as well as Tradition. Besides his intellectual prowess, he was a very devoted, pious, and intellectual personality. An axiological, analytical, and descriptive research approach has been applied in this study. This study explores and evaluates his literary contributions. Additionally, an effort has also been made to critically dissect his sīrah and ḥadīth work as well as his research methodology. The findings indicate that he may be considered among the pioneers of Islamic historiography and an impartial, upright, and honest historian.

This two-volume study explores the life of the Muslim scholar Ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī and his historical work, the Kitāb al-futūḥ (Book of Conquests).
This study re-contextualises Ibn Aʿtham within the early fourth/tenth century, highlighting his contributions to Islamic historiography.
Volume 1 examines his biography, refines the timeline of his life and work, and traces its reception across the Muslim world. It provides codicological descriptions of the surviving Arabic manuscripts, analyses the narratives of the ridda (‘apostasy’) wars, and includes critical editions of the Kitāb al-futūḥ’s collective isnāds, accompanied by translations and analyses.
Volume 2 presents a new critical edition of the work’s opening sections, focusing on the saqīfa and ridda narratives, based on manuscripts kept at Forschungsbibliothek Gotha (Germany) and Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna (India).

The article examines references to baptism in the earliest forms of Christ religion. At the same time, it develops a new theory of religion based on Durkheim and the late Wittgenstein. It introduces the notion of the 'simpleton of the past' claiming that this figure functions parallel to the notion of the 'noble savage' in anthropology. In the study of past religion, it is generally claimed that religious representations correspond to belief assertions containing a proposition of an explanatory character. In dire contrast to such a view, I argue that also people in pre.modern societies and cultures oscillated between different epistemologies entailing distinct ontological expectations. Moreover, 'belief' does not amount to what it is generally thought to constitute. Rather, it represents an emotional investment into certain tenets constituting the fundamental ideals, norms, and values of the group. Hence, the emphasis lies on the emotional counterpart rather than the cognitive element per se, although the latter is not excluded. Finally, I emphasise that religion is all about what Popper called World 3.

This article addresses the present debate regarding the study of Islam and modernity by highlighting conceptions of mediation, both implicit and explicit, predominant in the contemporary anthropology of Islam. The essay comprises two parts. The first explainss the historical, conceptual significance of mediation to the subfield from its roots in 19th century anthropology and comparative religion through its consolidation on Talal Asad'sconception of Islam as a "discursive tradition" in The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam. Specifically, it proposes that Asad's critical intervention consisted in defining Islam as a tradition of mediation, that is, a tradition of reiterative individual and collective self-making encompassing the distinct media of text, ritual, and institution, compatible with but never determined by the material, mediating conditions of Muslims' particular cultural and historical contexts. The second part of the article, a response to Aaron Rock-Singer's insightful and timely provocation, argues that Asad's genealogical critiques of religion and secularism presented a very different reading of Islam as a tradition of mediation vis-à-vis the material conditions of modernity. Specifically, I suggest that, in reframing global capital and modern states as material instantiations of modern Euro-American secular mediation, Asad now opposed Islam's traditions to their to material contexts. The result, no doubt unintended, was a new and powerful emphasis on Islam's opposition and Muslims' resistances not simply to secular modernism, but to modernity as such, and with it an inability to theorize Islam's historical resonances and complicities with capital and the international state system. Yet this is precisely what scholars need if we are to grasp Islam's capacities for renewal and revival in and beyond the current epoch.

Iconic Turn in den christlichen Konfessionen Erkundungen und Perspektiven Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

This article focuses on the place of "al-Fisal fil-milal val-ahwa vannihal", written by Ibn Hazm Andalusi, among the books written on religions. In particular, the article provides informations about the history of the book, its structure, classification of religions and movements, and the author's approach to the classification of religions and the coverage of religious teachings. At the same time, a brief account of the activities of the Muslim scholar Ibn Hazm in this field is given.

The primary scope of these articles is to contextualize their mystical writings and life events in their own historical times. The aim of this volume is to expand on the existing literature currently available and to make clear why these mystics from different cultures and religious traditions were involved in the most urgent political, economic, social, and religious issues in their times. The overall focus of this issue is to examine their contemplative, mystical, spiritual, prophetic, social, political, artistic, and religious legacies in greater depth. In this collection of articles, the reader will find a clear trend of interdisciplinary studies proving, once and for all, the innumerable interconnections and mutual influences exhibited by the great mystics in their own times.

It has been a great privilege to exchange ideas with scholars from all over the world. In total, twelve articles were published electronically in this Special Issue of Religions. The authors were scholars from Argentina (Raggio, Margulies), Israel (Meir), the United States (Robinson, Yong, Long, Kelly), Spain (Velez de Cea, Serrán-Pagán), Colombia (Santos Meza), and China (Liu, Na Liu).

The traditional Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) mind-based model suggests that humans understand the world through ontological categories and make socially strategic inferences to avoid threats and focus on utility. This study used an image choice task to test three key factors—category templates, threat, and utility—believed to influence people's preferences within the CSR framework. The study had three main goals: (1) to refine previous CSR research by providing a more accurate, empirically scaled measure of these three factors using the image choice task; (2) to assess how each factor affected participants' image preferences; and (3) to explore any interactions between these factors. In a pilot study, we first quantified the threat and utility levels for each image stimulus. Our main study found that, contrary to some previous findings, category templates significantly influenced image preferences, though not in the hierarchy proposed by traditional CSR models. Threat and utility also had independent, significant effects on preferences. However, category templates had the strongest influence on participant choices. The effects of threat and utility varied depending on whether the influence of category templates was accounted for. These findings support certain CSR theories but challenge the proposed hierarchical structure. We also confirmed some previous findings, clarified the relative impact of the three factors, and provided empirical measures of template typicality, utility, and threat for future research.

This article claims to uncover the core problematics that have made the debate on defining and conceptualizing "religion" so difficult and argues that this makes it possible to move beyond radical deconstruction towards reconstructing the concept for scholarly purposes. The argument has four main steps. Step 1 consists of establishing the nature of the entity "religion" as a reified imaginative formation. Step 2 consists of identifying the basic dilemma with which scholars have been struggling: the fact that, on the one hand, definitions and conceptualizations do not seem to work unless they stay sufficiently close to commonly held prototypes, while yet, on the other hand, those prototypes are grounded in monotheistic, more specifically Christian, even more specifically Protestant, theological biases about "true" religion. The first line of argument leads to crypto-theological definitions and conceptualizations, the second to a radical deconstruction of the very concept of "religion." Step 3 resolves the dilemma by identifying an unexamined assumption, or problematic "blind spot," that the two lines of argument have in common: they both think that "religion" stands against "the secular." However, the historical record shows that these two defined themselves not just against one another but, simultaneously, against a third domain (referred to by such terms as "magic" or "superstition"). The structure is therefore not dualistic but triadic. Step 4 consists of replacing common assumptions about how "religion" emerged in the early modern period by an interpretation that explains not just its emergence but its logical necessity, at that time, for dealing with the crisis of comparison caused by * I am grateful to

The programme of the conference "The Aesthetics of Esoteric Practices: Materialities, Performances, Senses", held in Venice from November 12-14, 2024. The conference was organized jointly by the Giorgio Cini Foundation (Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations and Spiritualities), the DFG-funded Center for Advanced Studies “Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices  from a Global Perspective” (CAS-E) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Center for the History  of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at University of Amsterdam, and the Research Network for the Study  of Esoteric Practices (RENSEP).

This panel examines how the scholar's understanding of the historical nature of knowledge influences their work in the study of religion. The imperative to 'always historicize,' as famously urged by Fredric Jameson, has often encountered several obstacles in this context. Indeed, the Western episteme's inclination for universalistic and meta-historical concepts, coupled with the de-historicizing qualities often ascribed to its object, has made the task of historicization particularly complex for scholars of religion. The reflexive examination of the categories scholars employ then becomes essential. Without such reflexivity, one runs the risk of running into the contradiction of looking at historical materials through the lens of ahistorical theoretical frameworks and methodological tools. However, even though greater attention toward the historicity of our enterprise has been a common point of emphasis, what is to be historicized and how this should be done remain open questions that have been taken in an array of different directions. This panel provides a platform in which these diverse possibilities can be explored, showing how a reflexive stance on historicization can operate at multiple levels of inquiry, from questioning the most abstract and analytic categories to the examination of those concepts pertaining to specific historical contexts. Hoping to foster a stimulating exchange on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the issue of historicization in the study of religion, we warmly invite participants across disciplines to engage in this conversation and explore its implications for contemporary scholarship.
Deadline: April 4th 2025

Call for papers for the European Academy of Religion's 2025 Conference

Open panel
Being in the World, Both Of and For this World: On Historicization in the Study of Religion

This panel examines how the scholar's understanding of the historical nature of knowledge influences their work in the study of religion. The imperative to 'always historicize,' as famously urged by Fredric Jameson, has often encountered several obstacles in this context. Indeed, the Western episteme's inclination for universalistic and meta-historical concepts, coupled with the de-historicizing qualities often ascribed to its object, has made the task of historicization particularly complex for scholars of religion. The reflexive examination of the categories scholars employ then becomes essential. Without such reflexivity, one runs the risk of running into the contradiction of looking at historical materials through the lens of ahistorical theoretical frameworks and methodological tools. However, even though greater attention toward the historicity of our enterprise has been a common point of emphasis, what is to be historicized and how this should be done remain open questions that have been taken in an array of different directions. This panel provides a platform in which these diverse possibilities can be explored, showing how a reflexive stance on historicization can operate at multiple levels of inquiry, from questioning the most abstract and analytic categories to the examination of those concepts pertaining to specific historical contexts. Hoping to foster a stimulating exchange on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the issue of historicization in the study of religion, we warmly invite participants across disciplines to engage in this conversation and explore its implications for contemporary scholarship.

Deadline: April 4th

The Training and Work of an Initiate is complete in itself, and an entirely independent work, it is complementary to the author's previous book, The Esoteric Orders and their Work. Consequently, many points which are dealt with at length in that book are only touched upon briefly in these pages. The two books, taken together, cover the whole field of initiation upon the Right-hand Path of the Western Tradition. Information concerning the nature and working of the Black Lodges is given in another of Dion Fortune's books, Sane Occultism. I I * This is a high grade of initiation and is normally preceded by lesser initiations of graded intensity.

A theory of religion that when it came out did not really resemble any of its contemporaries, is Martin Riesebrodt's The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion (henceforth TPS). True, his definition of religion is close to Melford Spiro's definition, which Riesebrodt himself also acknowledged: "a complex of practices that are based on the premise of the existence of superhuman powers, whether personal or impersonal, that are generally invisible" (TPS 74-75), and in its short version "a system of practices with relation to superhuman powers" (TPS 169). True is also that Riesebrodt's comparative approach, use of analy tical terms, as well as his focus on "a specific kind of social action" (TPS 66) were strongly influenced by Max Weber. Moreover, practices have already become an important scholarly focus after Mauss, Foucault, and Bourdieu's work on the subject. Nevertheless, Riesebrodt's emphasis that religion can and should be defined was a departure from Weber's famous hesitation to do so, and Weber focused on (social) actions rather than practices. Riesebrodt's approach to practices was also quite different from that of Foucault and Bour dieu, of whom the first can be identified with the constructivist approach that Riesebrodt rejected (TPS 7-8), and the second whose concept of habitus Rie sebrodt dismissed as overly rigid (TPS 85). Neither did Riesebrodt pursue a developmental explanation, such as e.g. Robert Bellah in Religion in Human Evolution (2011; see Seth Abrutyn's chapter in this volume) and Jürgen Haber mas, who used Riesebrodt in Also a History of Philosophy (2023). Riesebrodt, in contrast, strove for a cross-historical analysis. Nor did Riesebrodt try for a naturalistic explanation of religion such as the cognitive approaches that have been popular in recent decades . Moreover, as I elaborate on below, he strongly criticized the functionalist, postmodern, postcolonialist, and critical study of religion.

El objetivo específico de nuestro trabajo es iluminar el lugar de la música en el pensamiento de Gastón Soublette, indagando en su relación con los temas y problemas fundamentales que este autor presenta e investiga. El trabajo está organizado en dos secciones. La primera está dedicada al mito del Paraíso según su centralidad en la obra de Soublette. En la segunda sección, es examinada la perspectiva de este autor respecto de la música, en correspondencia con los elementos medulares del mencionado mito. La conclusión aspira a explicar la participación que Soublette otorga a la música en el “saber de salvación” descrito en los inicios de la corriente antropológico-filosófica, presentado como itinerario espiritual cuyo fin apunta a restaurar la unidad entre hombre y mundo.

סוד כל הדתות הוא המסתורין
סוד כל הדתות הוא המסתורין, ההתקדשות והחניכה הרוחנית לקראת מה שהוא מֵעֵבר לצורה, מֵעֵבר לשם ולתואר דרך הצורות, הכלים והשפות. הסוד העמוק מכולם הוא אינסופיות האל, אחדותו, ייחודו, המקום שבו הרִיק והיש אחוּזים. צעיפי ההכרה והתודעה עוטפים בו-בזמן את הסוד, מכסים עליו ומובילים אליו. כאלה הן הדתות כולן – צעיפיהם של סודות האל. על פי ספרות הסוד הקדומה של היהדות, האל יושב בהיכל השביעי מתוך שבעה היכלות. על פי ספר יצירה, המבנה הארכיטקטוני של ההיכלות הוא קונצנטרי. הם כשבעה עיגולים והיכל קודש מכַוֵון באמצע, בדיוק כפי שתיארה אותם הקדושה תרזה מאווילה.

סוד כל הדתות הוא המסתורין - חביבה פדיה 23 ביולי 2019

Ce séminaire propose d'introduire les étudiantes et étudiants du PG Sciences des religions ainsi que les doctorantes et doctorants en sciences religieuses de l'EPHE aux différentes approches en usage aujourd'hui dans la discipline et aux débats actuels qui animent celle-ci en France et à l'international. L'objectif est d'amener les étudiantes et étudiants à réfléchir de manière critique sur les théories, catégories et méthodes qui sous-tendent en particulier la recherche en histoire des religions. Le séminaire prend pour point de départ les discussions sur la définition même de l'objet « religion » et la manière dont différentes définitions de l'objet s'articulent à différents paradigmes théoriques, en interrogeant à chaque fois les enjeux, apories, et forces de chacune de ces approches. Ceci nous amènera à envisager de manière diachroniques les grandes questions traversant l'histoire des sciences religieuses, notamment la comparaison, l'universalité de la religion, le rapport entre magie, science et religion ou encore le rapport entre histoire des religions, théologie et sciences sociales.

This article examines the concept of a 'terror of history' in the work of historian of religion Mircea Eliade, particularly in his 1948 book The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History. The article turns to Eliade's journals to trace the genesis of this concept, showing that this book which became a foundational text in the history of religions was originally conceived as a work on the philosophy of history. Tracing the incoherences and contradictions of this 'terror' in the context of his wartime diary entries, the continuity of Eliade's thought from his time as an outspoken supporter of the Romanian Iron Guard in the 1930s to his publication of Cosmos and History in 1948 becomes clear. Eliade's 'terror,' it is shown, is conditioned by his despair at the retreat and collapse of the European fascist powers, but is more fundamentally an expression of horror toward the dissolution and loss of identity that he associates with historicity and, indeed, with difference itself. As this article shows, Eliade's solution was not an 'eternal return' but rather an eternal escape from history, a religious oblivion that would collapse all events into 'archetypes' and blot out the horror of history and difference.

History of European Ideas (2024, forthcoming).

In this rejoinder for the Book Symposium on WILD EXPERIMENT, I consider several themes that recurred across the five responses. These themes are: the way we classify and morally position science, religion, and secularity; the relationship between scientific rationality and its others; the roles of scientific emotions in scientific training; and the relationship between the cool or calm cognitive emotions and scientific practice.

All essays in the symposium available here:

https://www.zygonjournal.org/article/id/17162/

Reports of people who have survived death have captured the attention of mainstream audiences. Why do these ideas enjoy persistent and widespread success in contemporary Western culture? Adopting a cognitive approach to the study of afterlife accounts and drawing upon our own research, we argue that mainstream survival narratives are popular because they provide convincing evidence that one has journeyed to another realm. Such accounts are convincing, in part, because they meet default cognitive assumptions about what human survival would look like if it were possible. We support this claim by highlighting recurring common themes in recounted episodes of near-death experiences and past life accounts and outlining how key findings in the cognitive science of religion, in conjunction with culturally situated accounts, can help scholars concerned with ideas about anomalous experiences to better understand their appeal.

Celebrated for developing objective, secular methods for social analysis of religion, Max Weber has come under increasing scrutiny for his nationalist politics, Protestant assumptions, racism, and antisemitism. Building on this critical scholarship, the present article exposes Weber's theory of charisma as shaped by his German liberal nationalism, especially his assimilationist resolution to the Jewish Question. Through close analysis of Weber's publications in light of his private letters, political associations, and intellectual debates, it demonstrates that Weber's conceptualization of charisma as a quality of leadership that advances a release from tradition reinscribes the antisemitic logic of Protestant biblical interpretation -namely, the exaltation of Pauline Christianity as emancipation from Jewish law, ritual, and self-segregation. Further metacritical investigation of influential social-scientific studies of early Christianity demonstrates that the Weberian theory of charisma continues to prime scholars toward Christian triumphalism. A historically untenable vehicle for Weber's nationalism, charisma should be retired as a sociological tool.

Le judaïsme est-iL une reLigion ? À propos de Daniel Boyarin. -Judaism. The Genealogy of a Modern Notion, New Brunswick (N.J.), Rutgers University Press, 2019, 234 pages (« Key Words in Jewish Studies »). i Qu'est-ce que le judaïsme ? À cette question, la plupart des gens répondront spontanément : « Le judaïsme, c'est la religion des juifs ! » Et pourtant cette réponse ne peut qu'attirer d'autres questions : « Qu'est-ce exactement qu'une religion ? » ; et aussi, au fond : « Qui sont les juifs ? » Sans doute vaut-il la peine de reculer un instant, et considérer comment certains spécialistes du judaïsme ont euxmêmes cherché à définir leur objet d'étude. Pour ne citer qu'un exemple, Michael Fishbane écrit que « le judaïsme est (…) l'expression religieuse du peuple juif, de l'antiquité à nos jours, dans son effort visant à former et vivre une vie de sainteté devant Dieu » 1 . Ce qui est implicite dans cette définition, c'est l'idée selon laquelle différents peuples ont différentes manières d'exprimer leur croyance en une (ou plusieurs) puissance(s) transcendante(s) et supérieure(s) à l'homme, et que ces croyances façonnent leurs actions et leur expérience du monde. Le fait qu'une telle définition repose sur une conception relativement moderne de ce qu'est la religion passe inaperçu, tout comme le fait que, pour la plus grande part de leur histoire, les juifs n'ont en fait jamais utilisé la notion de « judaïsme » pour parler de leur relation avec Dieu, ou pour définir leur mode de vie. Ce n'est qu'à partir de la fin du xviii e siècle que les juifs ont commencé à parler de leurs croyances, pratiques et traditions en termes de « religion », un mot qui avait alors acquis une valeur nouvelle, et un nouveau pouvoir d'action dans le monde occidental. C'est cette histoire que raconte Daniel Boyarin dans un petit livre publié dans une collection destinée à éclairer une série de notions fondamentales des études juives. Sa thèse est audacieuse. Pour lui, « il n'y a pas de mot dans le langage des juifs avant la modernité qui signifie "judaïsme" », et donc, « du point de vue linguistique, l'on peut considérer que seul le judaïsme moderne existe » (p. xi ; je traduis). Selon Boyarin en effet, « il est hautement problématique d'attribuer à une culture une catégorie ou un concept abstrait que cette culture ne connaît pas, ou que l'on ne retrouve pas dans sa langue ». En utilisant le terme « judaïsme » pour décrire des réalités prémodernes, les chercheurs imposent inévitablement et de manière anachronique une distinction entre ce qui relève ou non de la « religion ». Boyarin insiste : « utiliser des termes comme "religion" et "judaïsme" pour délimiter l'univers

This paper explores how religion—both as a proximate factor, addressing immediate societal concerns like sectarianism, and as a distal factor, reflecting deep-seated historical traditions—continues to influence Scotland’s democratic nationalism. By examining the interplay of religious diversity, political neutrality, and historical legacies, we uncover how Scotland’s evolving religious landscape supports its aspirations for autonomy, offering a nuanced perspective on the nation’s democratic identity.

El presente trabajo propone reconsiderar algunas dificultades clásicas relacionadas con la significatividad y referencia de las proposiciones religiosas y explorar la posibilidad de lidiar con ellas bajo la suposición de que ‘Dios’ es un término teórico, es decir, una palabra que nombra una entidad no susceptible de observación directa pero aun así capaz de cumplir un rol explicativo dentro de teorías que pretenden explicar el mundo disponible a nuestra experiencia. La consideración de ciertos rasgos
distintivos de los términos teóricos puede arrojar una luz nueva sobre varias temáticas discutidas en la filosofía de la religión contemporánea, especialmente porque entrega un marco nuevo desde el que pensar la naturaleza y funciones de la teología natural.

Palabras clave: Teología Natural; Términos Teóricos; Teorías de la Referencia; Lenguaje Religioso; Metateología

The Roman cult of Mithras has left us one of the richest groups of material sources from the 1st to the 5th century AD. The cult, emerging in the Roman Period, presumably in Rome, has almost two hundred archaeologically investigated sanctuaries and three thousand known reliefs and statues, with a significant concentration in the Danubian provinces, an area spanning from the Alps to the Black Sea. The study discusses the research history of some of the best-known Mithras sanctuaries in the region, the religious-historical and iconographic characteristics of the cult, as well as the archaeological and touristic potential of sanctuaries made accessible to visitors, particularly the ones in Poetovio and Aquincum.

Ancient cults found their expression not in a set of orthodox statements of faith, but rather in orthopraxic ritual activities. Ritual practice functions as a foundational element for both communal and personal identity, binding allies as well as manifesting animosities. Yet as cults spread throughout the Roman Empire, their fundamental ritual elements also shifted to a new location, a new set of actors, and a new set of ritual actions. This, in turn, created entirely new cults and new communities. This panel shall explore the spread of ritual practices in the Roman World, as traceable through material remains, in order to examine this interaction of new and old ritual dissemination, the formation of new communities from old, and the development of the Roman Empire's multi-cultural environment as seen through its diverse cult communities. Thus, our discussion will contribute to further understanding of culture change and adaptation across the Roman world as well as the role that shared ritual practice plays in the formation of communities and identity.

The article sets the essays that constitute the two-part theme issue, Manufacturing Religion: From Christian Origins to Classical Islam, in a broader theoretical framework. The framework employed here is the work of Russell T. McCutcheon and Willi Braun that emphasise the human manufacturedness of both the concept “religion” and the practices and discourses that go by the descriptor “religion.” The essays collected here in this theme issue collectively perform the double act of historicising the concept “religion” as well as the constituent operations of religion-making.
Keywords:
Manufacturing religion – Anthropocene – anthropocentric study of Christian origins – theory of religion – historicising religion – invention of tradition