Religious Studies

The article examines Allen Ginsberg’s spiritual path, and places his interest in Asian religions within larger cultural agendas and life choices. While identifying as a Jew, Ginsberg wished to transcend beyond his parents’ orbit and actively sought to create an inclusive, tolerant, and permissive society where persons such as himself could live and create at ease. He chose elements from the Christian, Jewish, Native-American, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions, weaving them together into an ever-growing cultural and spiritual quilt. The poet never underwent a conversion experience or restricted his choices and freedoms. In Ginsberg’s understanding, Buddhism was a universal, non-theistic religion that meshed well with an individualist outlook, and worked toward personal solace and mindfulness. He and other Jews saw no contradiction between enchantment with Buddhism and their Jewish identity.

A well-known practice of self-scourging common within closed religious communities on the Apennine peninsula from the 11th century, ‘escalates’ into very emotionally charged, often hysterical processions of hundreds of flagellants across Southern and Central Europe in the 1260s. Flagellant confraternities were founded in Eastern Adriatic communes during the 13th and 14th centuries as well, but their practice was well-structured and defined in statutes, respecting the original concept of suffering as imitatio Christi. After a short introduction to the history of flagellant practice in the late Middle Ages, this paper analyses the causes for the establishment of confraternities, their economic activities, and their social and gender structure. The last three segments elaborate on the transformation of flagellant confraternities into charitable associations in the 15th and 16th centuries, analyse some visual representations, and review the remains of medieval devotion to Christ’s Passion in contemporary communes.

L'articolo trova posto nella pubblicazione Ripensare l'insegnamento religioso,  a cui hanno preso parte autori vari: A. Cortesi, G. Ibba, B. Salvarani, P. Dei Giorgi, P. Grassi, F. Pajer, L. Prenna, A. Jacopozzi, G. Migliorini, M.P.Giovannoni,D. Noffke, E. Noffke.

L’articolo propone una lettura di Lc 1,26-38 come vera e propria chiamata profetica di Maria di Nazaret. Il testo mette in parallelo Maria con Zaccaria, mostrando che la fede umile apre alla profezia mentre il dubbio chiude alla parola. La meditazione collega l’Annunciazione alla Visitazione: Maria, accogliendo lo Spirito, diventa subito missionaria di speranza e consolazione. Nel contesto del Giubileo 2025, Maria appare come profetessa di speranza: il dono ricevuto si trasforma in servizio, la grazia diventa responsabilità e annuncio vivo per il futuro, invitando la Chiesa a generare speranza concreta nel mondo.

Vivimos en la época del desánimo: lo cotidiano parece perder brillo y las promesas del progreso, la tecnología o la democracia no nos entusiasman como antes. Sin embargo, continuamos buscando el encanto de la vida.

El encanto compone una melodía en la que cada elemento encuentra su sitio, otorgándole a la vida otro tono, otro aire… descubrirlo en lo que hacemos es tan esencial como el acto de respirar. Se trata de una necesidad vital.

Este libro examina las distintas formas de ese encanto perdido: nuestras relaciones digitales, las esperanzas puestas en la ciencia, el deseo de una sociedad más justa. Sin evitar las contradicciones, plantea una pregunta urgente: ¿es aún posible reencontrar el encanto del mundo?

On 3rd October 2025, I will be presenting a paper which critically examines the phenomenon of ‘Evangelical a-Historicism’ within the evangelical world, particularly tracing its trajectory from the mid-20th century to the present. However, it should be noted that by ‘evangelical’ the terms extend to the whole Protestant way of thinking, and also includes particular conservative Catholic positioning. Positioning itself within the interdisciplinary fields of Studies-in-Religion and historiography, the paper aims to deconstruct certain evangelical claims and reassemble them into a framework of ‘philosophical compatibilism’. It introduces two key analytical frameworks: the “spiral theory of stupidity, virtue, and truth” and “ideological compatibilism” (see diagram at the end of paper, before bibliography).

We attempt to address some of this deficiency in this essay (and in other work) by measuring and marking the constitutional attitudes of members of the public through scientific surveys. We use the shorthand "constitutional thinking" to denote our interest in obtaining measurements of the public's views on constitutional issues, especially in contexts where the public is likely to articulate a distinctive voice, rather than simply mimicking the pronouncements of courts and judges. Over the Supreme Court's past two terms, the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, PublicMind, has asked voters their legal opinions about cases being heard by the high court, testing the proposition that members of the public not only can be, but actually are, capable constitutional thinkers. This national polling has provided unique measures of public opinion on a number of substantive constitutional matters before the Court. These issues, while notable to scholars and the most attentive Court watchers, were neither familiar to the public nor widely discussed in popular media. Indeed, while polling has provided snapshots and trend lines of the public's views over many decades on a number of high profile decision areas, 2 rarely do other obscure, but important, cases or topics receive similar treatment. Thus, we have a great deal of data on public attitudes towards gun control, abortion, affirmative action, and now, health insurance reform, 3 but minimal knowledge of what the public thinks about the scores of other important topics and controversies before the Court each term. With this "blind spot" in mind, this essay examines five important cases from the 2011 Term with which the public are unfamiliar and compares these results with the results from our first poll last year, when we also polled public attitudes regarding several obscure cases prior to the Court issuing its decisions. During the 2010 Term, we polled four cases to help us plumb the popular constitutionalism phenomenon. We were genuinely surprised by the results and encouraged to gather additional data and search for patterns. Thus, during the 2011 Term, we offered American voters the opportunity to weigh in on six constitutional issues pending before the Court. The first

Wangmo for their suggestions pertaining to some of the more difficult points in Buddhist philosophy. My colleagues at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Boudhanath, Nepal provided invaluable insights and advice. Special thanks go to Dr. Geoff Barstow. I owe much appreciation to Tibetan Buddhist language experts who supported me with translation of the Treasure text: Mingyur Dorjé and Venerable Lozang Zopa. Venerable Pakchok Rinpoche and Lama Oser also graciously offered suggestions. Julia Wilson's insights as an experienced translator of Tibetan Buddhism were very helpful. I also thank my dear friends and Tibetan language teachers Pünkyi Drolma and Chungkyi Tsering. This thesis is dedicated to my Dad.

ΖΗΤΗΜΑΤΑ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ  1. Εισαγωγή Ο Χριστιανισμός γεννήθηκε και άνθισε στο γεωγραφικό και πολιτισμικό χώρο της σημερινής Μέσης Ανατολής. Παρά την αριθμητική του μείωση, που οφείλεται στις ποικίλες ιστορικές περιπέτειες που πέρασε κατά τη διάρκεια των αιώνων, παραμένει διάσπαρτος στην Παλαιστίνη, την Αίγυπτο, τη Συρία, την Ιορδανία, το Λίβανο και το Ιράκ. Η διαρκής και αδιάλειπτη παρουσία των χριστιανών στην περιοχή αυτή, η συνύπαρξή τους με τους μουσουλμάνους συμπατριώτες τους για πάνω από δεκατέσσερις αιώνες, αλλά και η συμβολή τους στη διαμόρφωση του μεσαιωνικού και του νεότερου αραβικού πολιτισμού, τους αποδίδουν δικαιωματικά μια ιδιαίτερα σημαντική θέση στο σύγχρονο αραβικό κόσμο. Παρόλο που τα αριθμητικά τους μεγέθη είναι σήμερα περιορισμένα, λόγω των ποικίλων περιπετειών που βίωσαν κατά τη διάρκεια των αιώνων, οι ίδιοι αποτελούν την επιτομή μιας  Το άρθρο αυτό αφιερώνεται στον καθηγητή κ. Βασίλειο Γιούλτση, o οποίος με τον κοσμοπολιτισμό της σκέψης του και την «οικουμενικότητα» της δράσης του διεύρυνε τους ορίζοντες όλων όσοι είχαμε την τύχη να μαθητεύσουμε κοντά του. Η δημοσίευσή του είχε προβλεφθεί για τον τελευταίο έντυπο τόμο της Επιστημονικής Επετηρίδας του Τμήματος Θεολογίας Α.Π.Θ. (τ. 18/2009-2010) που είναι αφιερωμένος στον καθηγητή κ. Γιούλτση, αλλά ο «δαίμων του τυπογραφείου» το «αφαίρεσε» από την τελική έκδοση. Αφιερώνεται επίσης στους χριστιανούς της Μέσης Ανατολής οι οποίοι αγωνίζονται να επιβιώσουν στις πατρογονικές τους εστίες.

The war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine has provoked, among its many consequences, a profound crisis in the perception of Russian culture. In the past three years, the question of whether Russian literature, philosophy, and art should continue to be celebrated in the West has acquired an unprecedented urgency. Concerts have been canceled, authors removed from reading lists, exhibitions postponed or reframed. Even the mere presence of canonical figures-Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tchaikovskyhas become, in some circles, a source of discomfort or outrage. This phenomenon, often labeled the "canceling" of Russian culture, is not without precedent: history is replete with examples of cultures and traditions becoming collateral damage in geopolitical conflicts. Yet the logic behind such measures often collapses under its own weight. To hold a work of art or a philosophical text responsible for the political crimes of a state is to confuse the realm of cultural expression with the machinery of political power. It risks treating complex intellectual legacies as mere instruments of propaganda-either to be celebrated uncritically or rejected wholesale-when, in fact, they demand something more difficult and more productive: a critical engagement. The absurdity of canceling a culture, any culture, lies in the very nature of culture itself. Culture is, at its best, a realm of human creativity that transcends the narrowness of borders and the brutality of political expediency. It builds bridges across time, language, and nations; it opens channels of communication that no government, however repressive, can entirely control. To cancel Russian culture would be to sever lines of dialogue at precisely the moment when understanding-deep, critical, historically informed understanding-is most needed. Yet the alternative is not a passive or nostalgic embrace of Russian thought as if nothing has happened. Within Russia itself, the literary and philosophical canon has long been woven into the fabric of national self-identity-appropriated, at times aggressively, as a source of political legitimacy. Schoolchildren are taught to revere "our Pushkin" and "our Tolstoy" not only as literary geniuses, but as symbols of a unique civilizational mission; philosophers such as Solovyov, Berdyaev, and Ilyin are invoked in official discourse as if they were timeless custodians of Russian values. In this way, literature and philosophy are not merely celebrated for their intrinsic ✉ M.F. Bykova

“Coming with clouds, and lightning is a portent of total destruction, such phraseology being used before, in the Old testament, when Judgment by Yhwh came on Jerusalem by Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and other "executioners", and now it's Rome”.
Bob Guyrik.

Dans cette enquête tirée de sa thèse de doctorat soutenue à l’École pratique des hautes études, Chrystel Bernat examine, à partir d’une mine archivistique, les mécanismes de basculement d’une société en guerre à l’occasion des troubles religieux du Grand Siècle, qui mettent aux prises réformés, sujets catholiques et représentants de la monarchie en une infinité de combinaisons guerrières. Identifiant les modalités d’affrontements larvés qu’elle développe à partir de la notion de violence diffuse, elle appréhende la guerre de 1702 comme un objet sociétal complexe et systémique. L’historienne explore la spécificité de cette guerre civile dérobée qui se joue dans la France catholique de Louis XIV, scrutant les leviers sociétaux et partisans de cette guerre inclassable née des révolutions des Sevennes, sans équivalent dans l’histoire des conflits religieux du royaume. Attentive aux modes d’affrontements pratiques, idéologiques et symboliques, et à l’exercice de la violence autonome, statutaire ou complice de la répression royale, elle interroge les propriétés de cette guerre sans nom et questionne le modèle des conflits confessionnels de la Seconde modernité que le cadre singulier du régime révocatoire distingue des guerres du XVIe siècle en posant la question de la redistribution des violences de Religion dans le cadre de l’absolutisme politique. Dans cette guerre sans épithète, réductible à aucun schéma guerrier traditionnel de la période moderne, l’innommé reste la marque d’une incongruité signifiante, cet espace blanc de clivages confessionnels bénéficiaires d’une violence d’État derrière laquelle se déploie une guerre fratricide dégagée de ses emblèmes de lutte traditionnels dont l’enquête cherche à tracer les contours et à saisir l’originalité.

Abstract

In this survey drawn from her doctoral thesis defended at the École pratique des hautes études, Chrystel Bernat examines, from a wealth of archives, the mechanisms that caused a society at war to tip over into religious unrest during the Grand Siècle, pitting Reformed Protestants, Catholic subjects and representatives of the monarchy against each other in an infinite number of warlike combinations. Identifying the modalities of latent confrontations that she develops from the notion of diffuse violence, she approaches the war of 1702 as a complex and systemic societal object. The historian explores the specificity of this concealed civil war that took place in the Catholic France of Louis XIV, scrutinizing the societal and partisan levers of this unclassifiable war born of the Revolutions of the Sevennes, without equivalent in the history of religious conflicts in the kingdom. Attentive to practical, ideological and symbolic modes of confrontations, as well as to the exercise of autonomous, statutory or complicit violence in royal repression, she examines the properties of this nameless war and questions the model of confessional conflicts of the Second Modernity that the singular framework of the revocatory regime distinguishes from the wars of the 16th century by raising the question of the redistribution of religious violence within the framework of political absolutism. In this war without epithets, which cannot be reduced to any traditional warlike pattern of the Early Modern period, the nameless remains the mark of a significant incongruity, this blank space of confessional divisions benefiting from state violence behind which unfolds a fratricidal war freed from its traditional emblems of struggle, the study of which seeks to trace the contours and grasp the originality.

In the face of dwindling membership and cultural irrelevance, Freemasonry in the twenty-first century stands at a crossroads. This thesis presents a bold and comprehensive vision for revitalizing the Craft by reuniting it with its original philosophical, spiritual, and civic purpose. Drawing on historical texts, sacred scriptures, Masonic rituals, esoteric traditions, and real-world leadership experience, the study outlines a multidimensional strategy to restore Freemasonry’s vitality as a global moral fraternity. Centered on the principle of universal brotherhood, the research explores how Craft, Scottish Rite, and York Rite Masonry can be reinvigorated through digital innovation, interfaith inclusion, educational reform, and humanitarian leadership. Case studies from Pennsylvania’s distinct Masonic system serve as both cautionary tales and guiding lights. This work challenges Grand Lodges, individual Masons, and the broader society to reimagine the Lodge not merely as a place of tradition, but as a transformative engine of virtue, knowledge, and social impact. By revitalizing its timeless tenets in contemporary form, Freemasonry can once again become a force of illumination in a fractured world.

Le second volume réunit le dossier cartographique et l’ensemble des annexes qui se présentent comme autant de dossiers conjoints et d’étapes de synthèse, tantôt comme des mises au point factuelles, chiffrées ou prosopographiques, tantôt comme des mines documentaires et des réservoirs de données archivistiques permettant d’entrer de plain-pied dans la matière et le quotidien tumultueux de la guerre.

The second volume brings together the cartographic dossier and all the appendices, which are presented as joint dossiers and stages of synthesis, sometimes as factual, numerical, or prosopographical clarifications, sometimes as documentary mines and reservoirs of archival data allowing us to dive right into the subject matter and the tumultuous daily life of war.

Le troisième volume rassemble la totalité des sources et trois index (nominum, locorum et rerum) qui offrent d’entrer dans l’étude de manière ciblée. À ces trois principaux index sont associés un index des anonymes (signalant individus, communautés d’habitants, membres de corporation sans identification patronymique mais identifiés par leur titre, leur surnom, leur fonction, ou leur qualité comme des acteurs et des actrices de la guerre) et quatre listes récapitulatives (celles des assemblées interdites ; des principaux combats, massacres et tueries ; des prédicants, prophètes et prophétesses, ministres du Désert, missionnaires et prosélytes ; des métiers des protagonistes cités dans l’enquête).

The third volume brings together all the sources and three indexes (nominum, locorum, and rerum) which offer a targeted entry into the study. Associated with these three main indexes are an index of anonymous individuals (listing individuals, communities of inhabitants, and members of corporations without patronymic identification but identified by their title, nickname, function, or role as actors and actresses in the war) and four summary lists (those of banned assemblies; major battles, massacres and killings; preachers, prophets and prophetesses, ministers of the Desert, missionaries and proselytes; and the occupations of the protagonists mentioned in the survey).

Every year, thousands of young people die, leaving in their wake circles of grieving friends in need of support. Many look to how clergy understand loss but few religious traditions have a defined mourning process-or even a role in mourning-for non-family members. Faith Unravels speaks to the profound pain experienced by a forgotten mourner, not by making an argument about God or by offering a recipe of rituals, but by sharing a profound story of faith lost and regained anew. Daniel Greyber is rabbi of Beth El Synagogue in Durham, North Carolina and will serve as USA Team Rabbi at the 2013 World Maccabiah Games in Israel. Formally a nationally ranked competitive swimmer and faculty member at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, he currently serves on the editorial board of Conservative Judaism, and his articles have been featured in a wide range of Jewish periodicals. "Rabbi Greyber has done something magnificent with the book you are holding in your hands. He has shared of himself, revealed in the most intimate way where loss can take you, and where it can't. He has allowed us a peek inside a world of religious observance, beauty, and joy, and in doing so has laid bare the profundity of Judaism. This book is not preachy or full of instructions. It's a personal testament of love for the Jewish people, God, and those friends he loved and lost." From the foreword by Mayim Bialik TV actor, Big Bang Theory and Blossom and author of Beyond the Sling "Faith Unravels teaches on many levels. It touchingly explores a young rabbi's heart and troubled faith as he confronts the deaths of two friends. But offering more than his own experience-always a flimsy platform on which to stand-Greyber illumines the riches of Jewish traditions and practices in the face of death. Two irresistible forces-a young man's first encounter with death, and the eternal vastness of God-make for a powerful story when they collide. All people of faith will benefit from this story." Duke Divinity School "Rabbi Greyber is smart, inspired, and empowering. His book Faith Unravels gives me comfort and faith! It's not a good read; it's a must-read." Craig Taubman singer songwriter "Families grieve a loss, but how do we mark the loss of the families we create-friends, teachers, students, colleagues? Rabbi Greyber's story touches each of us who mourn, and his wisdom helps us cope with our own bewilderment and grief.

Ayesha Siddiqa, department of War studies, King's College Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir's frequent citation of the holy text and emphasizing Pakistan's status as a religious state on the pattern of the historic city-state of Medina seems to have brought back the conversation regarding the ideological bearings of the country's military. But the religious tendencies of the military remain an enigma mainly because those asking the question tends to be driven by their memory of violent extremists that engaged the world in the past couple of decades. What raises concerns Pakistan military mindset around the world is whether the officer corps and bulk of the soldiers are inclined towards extremism. There is a worry that Islamist tendencies in a nuclear armed defense force may result in exchange of non-conventional defense technology to jihadis that seem to surround Pakistan. Pakistan's neighboring Afghanistan continues to be a hotbed of different religious extremist groups such as the Taliban network the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISK), Al-Qaeeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and many others. Then there are the Pakistan-based militant groups like the Wahabi-oriented Lashkare Tayyaba (LeT) and the Deobandi Jaishe Muhammad (JeM). An additional reason for suspicion is that Islamabad's military has been engaged with most of these violent extremists for a long time, especially since the war in Afghanistan of the 1980s. Therefore, the American military, in particular, that has also been aligned with Pakistan for decades becomes concerned watching officers that have grown religiously inspired beards or are viewed as having a more than ordinary religious mindset. However, there has never been an instance when Pakistan armed forces were institutionally caught entirely replicating the jihadis. Indeed, American political scientist Christine Fair finds such a lens problematic and unsatisfactory. She believes that such fears are 'over-stated.' In fact, it could be argued that in many ways this military, born out the womb of the Royal British Army, like rest of the South Asian armed forces, has inherited a colonial institutional structure and adheres to the same formulas of hierarchical command and control, training and broader principles as were inherited by rest of the regional forces. It is technologically modern and operates comfortably with Western and Eastern armed forces. Another American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington considered this military, like that of Egypt and some other Muslim states as a rare modern institution in a relatively archaic social milieu.

This thesis traces the fictional necro-mythic polydaemons of Constantinople as a dispositif in which Byzantine demonology, necropolitics, and mythic multiplicity converge. What appears, in patristic polemic or apocryphal marginalia, as an errant proliferation of daemonic figures is here read as the spectral logic of empire itself: the multiplication of presences that both exceed and secure orthodoxy, the dissemination of death's administration through the very liturgico-political body of the city. Polydaemonism thus names not a deviation but a hidden syntax-a necro-mythic grammar through which sovereignty operates, producing life by staging its perpetual proximity to death. The city becomes the archive of this dispersal, its walls, liturgies, and imperial rituals inscribed with an invisible economy of spectral agencies. Drawing on patristic theology, Byzantine chronicles, occult handbooks, and heterodox scholia, I argue that the fictional polydaemon does not merely haunt Byzantium but constitutes its very mode of self-relation: the daemon as auto-immunitary double, the spectral multiplicity without which order cannot be imagined. In conclusion, the necro-mythic polydaemon emerges as a figure of constitutive absence, the unavowable mythic multiplicity that both underwrites and destabilizes Byzantine sovereignty, inscribed not at the margins but in the very stones of Constantinople.

This paper investigates the dialectic of good and evil, pain and joy, as fundamental polarities of human existence. Rather than treating evil or pain as accidental deviations, the argument develops the view that suffering, chaos, and destruction are necessary conditions for growth, transformation, and the experience of the good. Drawing from philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, cultural traditions, and spirituality, the text highlights how pain functions as a catalyst for development, while joy and play serve as complementary forces of creativity and balance. Resilience is presented as the bridging capacity that allows human beings to not only endure crises but to integrate them meaningfully into life. In conclusion, the paper argues that a mature humanity of the future will not seek a painless existence, but a conscious one-embracing both pain and joy as essential aspects of the dance of life.

Ovdje je zanimljivo naglasiti da II FranoIitevu popisu nalazimo i znatan broj filozofskih djela -primjerice. Herman Dalmatin, De Essentiis, Juraj Dragišić, Dia/eetica nova, Propheticae SO/lltiones, De natura caelestium spiritum quos ance/os vocamus,

Irina Sadovina defended her PhD dissertation at the Institute of Cultural Research, University of Tartu, on the 15th of June 2020. The supervisor of the thesis was Ülo Valk (University of Tartu, Estonia) and the opponent was Kaarina Aitamurto (University of Helsinki, Finland). What kind of profiles would you expect to find in a Russian online dating site with a search word "Vedic"? The answer is: a gamut of different kinds of identities and people, ranging from Orthodox Christians and followers of Slavic Native Faith to an Indian man searching for a Russian wife. With this example of the fluidity and diversity of alternative spirituality in contemporary Russia, Irina Sadovina begins her engaging study of the various understandings of and negotiations over the concept of Vedic in contemporary Russian society and cultic milieu. As Sadovina demonstrates, the term "Vedic" is used as a self-identification by adherents of different Hindu traditions, various self-help therapists, adherents of contemporary Slavic Paganism, and such movements as the Ringing Cedars of Russia. The study proposes that instead of analysing a specific movement or the cultic milieu at large, drawing attention to the cross-section of spiritual discourses opens new perspectives to the negotiation of ideas as well as to the boundary-making between communities. For this kind of approach, the underresearched concept of Vedic wisdom in Russia offers an excellent case study. The thesis is a doctoral dissertation by publication and consists of two parts. The first one is an extensive introduction to the study, which presents the research questions, materials, theories, and main arguments. It also binds the articles together and provides a context for them. The second one contains four research articles that have been or are about to be published in such journals as Journal of Contemporary Religion, Nova Religio, and Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media, as well as in the monograph Contesting Authority: Vernacular Knowledge and Alternative Belief. For the study of a cluster of religious movements or phenomena, a dissertation that is based on articles seems to be a particularly good form. The articles on spiritual consumerism and traditional authority at the Child of Nature Festival in Russia; on humour and resistance in the Anastasia Movement; on legitimating new religiosity and religious authority under attack; and on Putin memes in an online community of the Anastasia Movement make a balanced set in terms of both topics of research and theoretical approaches. The material of this study was gathered in an extensive fieldwork in St. Petersburg, Yoshkar-Ola, and Pskov region. In addition, Sadovina made digital ethnography in social media, on websites and online communities of different groups. The material is very impressive and so is Sadovina's discussion about the methodology and ethical concerns in ethnography. She takes very seriously such ethical issues as the power imbalance between the researcher and the people who are researched. She shows great reflexivity

his very large three-volume work opens with a strong statement of current relevance; the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the framing context of Orthodox Christianity is discussed in detail in Andrew Holt’s “General Introduction,” as is Islamic terrorism and its impact on Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Holt warns the volume will “not shy away from the gritty or disturbing instances in which religious influences appear to have been for the worse ... represent[ing] an effort by sober-minded scholars to address forthrightly the broader impact of religion on human societies, for better or worse” (p. xxix).

isu krusial dari tindak kekerasan berlatar agama adalah berkait isu pluralisme agama, khususnya menyangkut keberadaan Ahmadiyah, penutupan rumah ibadah dan isu Kristenisasi. Mengenai isu Ahmadiyah mi-2010 tercatat 117 kasus, lebih tinggi dibandingkan 2009 yang mencatat 114 kasus, belum termasuk kasus HKBP di Ciketing dan pembakaran masjid Ahmadiyah di Ciampea, Bogor. indonesia.com/ citizen read/1202, diunduh pada Sabtu, 30 Juli 2011. Hingga 2012 masih terjadi sejumlah kasus kekerasan berlatar agama yang sama di Jawa Barat. Hal ini menunjukan belum adanya kemajuan yang berarti dalam penyelesaian konflik-konflik dan kekerasan yang berlatar belakang agama. Lihat, CRCS, Laporan

“The Myth of the Mythical Jesus” was the title of a 2016 Patheos.com blog posting written by the prolific Christian apologist Philip Jenkins, the author of more than 25 books. It spawned an entire school of apologetics that seems ubiquitous throughout the Internet of 2025. It attempted to refute scholars who have argued that “Jesus of Nazareth” was not a historical figure. According to Jenkins, “The ‘Christ Myth Hypothesis’ is not scholarship, and is not taken seriously in respectable academic debate.” “The Myth of ‘The Myth of the Mythical Jesus’” is a slightly edited consolidation of the numerous postings made by Frank R. Zindler on Kathleen Johnson’s NoGodBlog in order to refute Jenkins. It is an exhaustive deconstruction of Jenkins’ blog, submitting every paragraph and nearly every sentence to logical and evidentiary analysis. It shows that Jenkins has produced no evidence at all to show the likely historicity of the New Testament Jesus and, for good measure, it presents an overwhelming amount of evidence in favor of the Christ-Myth Theory.
The Myth of ‘The Myth of the Mythical Jesus’” was rescued from Internet Oblivion by Martijn Linssen of Leiden University, to whom the author is deeply indebted.

Gavriel Bechhofer, Y. (2025). Building communities. A history of the eruv in America: by Adam Mintz, Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2023, 187pp., $26.95, ISBN 9798887190853. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 24(2), 638–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725886.2025.2468231

The article is devoted to analyzing the historical antecedents of the concept of open theism, which was formed in the late XX century in the environment of North American evangelicalism. This concept speaks of God’s openness to the world, man, and the future. This openness implies God’s creative interaction with the world, where free human actions are unpredictable to God, and therefore the future, which is not subject to divine omniscience. The paper also analyzes and explains other names for open theism. The given main features of this concept are sought in analyzing its predecessors. The article concludes with an evaluation of the resulting list of historical antecedents in the context of Eastern Orthodox theology.

The article offers a general overview of the Montanist ideas that Tertullian expresses in his works, after joining the sect of the Cataphrygians. A number of works of a moral-practical and theological-polemical nature are considered, such as: «On the Warrior’s Crown», «On Flight in Persecution», «On Modesty», «On Monogamy», «On Fasting», «On the Soul», «Against Praxeas» and others. Sectarian influence in these writings was expressed in Tertullian’s support of «spontaneous martyrdom», rigorism in the discipline of repentance, severity in relation to marriage and fasting, citing of «new prophecies» as authoritative statements, disdain for members of the Church, whom he called «psychici», who were inferior to the Phrygian «spiritales», conviction that the schismatics are guided by the Holy Spirit as an Hypostasis, that revealed the fullness of Revelation throgh Montanus in the present final age or era of the Paraclete.

This article seeks to determine how the masculinities of clergymen influenced the church's responses to Covid-19. In Malawi, about 70% of confirmed Covid-19 cases were men, and about 83% of those who died were men. Pastors influence the church's response to the world. There are many responses from the Churches to the need for prevention and care during Covid-19. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research on the church's responses to Covid-19 in the global south and how the masculinities of clergymen played a role in the church's reactions during Covid-19. The article, thus, focuses on clergymen's masculinities of power and authority in influencing the church's responses to Covid-19. This article builds on grounded theory and qualitative methods. The article is based on data from two evangelical and two mainline churches in the four cities of Malawi. The study found that the masculinities of clergymen had little influence on the responses of evangelical churches during Covid-19. However, the masculinities of clergymen significantly impacted the responses of mainline churches within the confines of Sunday services but not outside it. We found that African realities, such as African beliefs in healing, among others, limited the role of masculinities of clergymen in evangelical churches during and after Sunday services. This article discusses ways of solidifying the roles of clergymen in the church responses.

O texto analisa uma narrativa autobiográfica, publicada em livro pela editora LeYa em 2011, como um testemunho de tornar-se ateu - ampliando o foco para a observação dos processos de crítica e saída da religião. Analisando as tentativas de reprodução da moralidade evangélica conservadora familiar e as críticas do narrador (Fábio Marton), o artigo argumenta que a saída da religião e a concomitante formação de uma subjetividade ético-política ateia masculina heterossexual ocorreu em um processo com duas fases de produção de alteridade diante do núcleo familiar: primeiro como uma alteridade interna ao cristianismo por meio das contracondutas pastorais e, posteriormente, pela criação de uma posição de alteridade externa ao cristianismo, com a elaboração de um enquadramento moral distinto.

A intolerância religiosa é um fenômeno que ultrapassa o campo das crenças e impacta diretamente os direitos fundamentais da personalidade, como a liberdade, a honra, a imagem e a integridade moral dos indivíduos. Este livro apresenta uma análise aprofundada das formas de discriminação religiosa no Brasil, seus efeitos práticos na vida das pessoas e os mecanismos jurídicos disponíveis para proteção e reparação. Com base em estudos acadêmicos, jurisprudência atualizada e reflexões críticas, a obra combina teoria e prática, oferecendo uma leitura essencial para estudantes, profissionais do Direito, pesquisadores e todos que desejam compreender e combater a intolerância religiosa de forma consciente e fundamentada. Descubra como o Direito pode ser uma ferramenta poderosa na promoção do respeito, da dignidade e da proteção dos direitos da personalidade em contextos de discriminação religiosa. Uma leitura impactante, necessária e transformadora

Categorias: Direitos Humanos

Bu calisma, ortaokul Din Kulturu ve Ahlak Bilgisi (DKAB) ders kitaplarinin ogrenme-ogretme sureclerine katkisini incelemektedir. Inceleme, 2010 yilinda kabul edilen Ilkogretim DKAB Dersi Ogretim Programi ve 2011-2017 tarihleri arasinda kullanilan ders kitaplari uzerinde yurutulmustur. Ders kitaplari, ogretim programinin benimsedigi yapilandirmaci yaklasimin ogrenme-ogretme sureci icin ongordugu ilkelere katki verme duzeyleri acisindan degerlendirilmistir. Calismada ilgili literatur dogrultusunda yapilandirmaci ogrenme surecinin genel ilkeleri ve bu ilkelerden DKAB ogretim programinda yer alanlar tespit edilmis; boylece ders kitaplarini degerlendirme olcutleri elde edilmis (toplam 11 olcut); ve kitaplar bu kriterlere gore incelenmistir. Ders kitaplarinda tespit ettigimiz ve arastirmamizda analiz birimi olarak kullanilan toplam 1210 adet bolumun yeterlik duzeyleri “yetersiz”, “alt duzeyde yeterli” veya “ust duzeyde yeterli” olmak uzere kaydedilmis ve dersin bolumlerine gore yeterli ka...

Conform Vedelor, timpul se desfășoară întrun ciclu etern. În acest fel, timpul cosmic urmează calea naturii-trecem prin patru anotimpuri în fiecare an, luna crește și descrește în revoluția sa repetată a Pământului, iar sufletul experimentează nașterea, tinerețea, maturitatea, bătrânețea și, în final, moartea, doar pentru a retrăi acest ciclu într-un corp nou, expus unei noi varietăți de experiențe. În acest articol, explorăm conceptul de timp așa cum este explicat în literatura vedică, inclusiv dilatarea timpului vedic, unitățile de timp vedice, cele patru yuga ale unei ere cosmice și multe altele.

Kosť predstavuje živé tkanivo, ktoré sa počas života stále obmieňa, to znamená, že látky, ktoré sa uvoľňujú je potrebné nahradiť. Ak v krvi nie je dostatok vápnika tak kostné tkanivo redne. Prebiehajú v nej dva procesy, – odbúravanie a novotvorba. Novotvorba kostného tkaniva prebieha len do 30.-35. roku života. Po tomto veku kostná hmota z tela človeka už len ubúda (priemerne ročne o 0,5–1,5%). Rýchlosť odbúravania vápnika z kostí ovplyvňujú individuálne rozdiely vplyvu jednotlivých faktorov, ako aj vplyv životného štýlu. Najmä výživa a telesná aktivita. Čo sa týka životného štýlu, oba faktory zdravá strava a pravidelná fyzická aktivita (zaťažovanie celej pohybovej sústavy rovnomerne) sú významnými činiteľmi, prispievajúcimi ku kostnému zdraviu a k udržiavaniu funkcie kosti v neskoršej etape života.

Analizaremos la sexualidad femenina en Grecia, partiendo de la hipótesis de que la sexualidad humana es una construcción sociocultural que refleja las relaciones de poder en una sociedad determinada. En este sentido, trataremos de establecer una equivalencia entre las jerarquías sociales, que adjudicaban los roles de dominación y superioridad a los hombres (dueños del espacio exterior: la economía, la política y la guerra) y reservaba los roles de subordinación e inferioridad a las mujeres (relegadas al espacio interior: madres y administradoras del hogar), y las prácticas sexuales, que limitaban el rol activo a los primeros, ya sea en su unión con un joven, con su compañera de lecho (esposa o concubina) o su compañera de la vida, pero reduciendo a las segundas al rol pasivo de objeto erótico o receptáculo de la simiente generadora. La oposición fundamental no era homosexualidad/heterosexualidad, sino actividad/pasividad.

We will analyze the female sexuality in Greece, starting by the hypothesis that human sexuality is a sociocultural construction, which s hows the powerrelationships in a determined society. In this sense, we will try to set an equivalent among social ranks, which gave the roles of domination and superiority to men (owners of the external space: economy, politics and war) and left the roles of subordination to women (relegated to the internal space: mothers and home managers) and the sexual practices, in which the active role was for the first ones, either joined with a young one, with his bed partner (legal or illegal wife) or life partner, but limiting the second ones to the passive role of an erotic object or a keeper of the birth seed. The fundamental opposition was not homosexuality/heterosexuality, but activity/passivity.

Ummah adalah komunitas Muslim di seluruh dunia yang terikat oleh keimanan bersama daripada batas wilayah, etnis, atau negara. Konsep ini berakar kuat dalam Al-Qur'an dan tradisi Islam, yang menggambarkan persaudaraan antara orang-orang dari berbagai negara yang melampaui identitas negara-bangsa. Seringkali dianggap sebagai pihak yang ideal dalam teori hubungan internasional Islam, Ummah menantang perspektif Barat yang menitikberatkan negara sebagai pusat sistem internasional. Untuk kepentingan politik, solidaritas ini dapat digunakan untuk mempengaruhi kebijakan negara Muslim di luar negeri dan menghasilkan gerakan politik transnasional (pan-Islamisme) yang bertujuan untuk menyatukan umat dalam entitas politik yang kuat. Dalam praktiknya, negara-negara Muslim dan pemimpin politik sering memanfaatkan konsep Ummah untuk mendukung legitimasi dan kepemimpinan mereka di tingkat global. Para pemimpin, misalnya, dapat menegaskan peran mereka sebagai perwakilan rakyat dan memperkuat kekuasaan domestik melalui institusi internasional, konferensi, dan retorika solidaritas Islam. Namun, ide-ide ini juga menghadapi masalah, seperti identitas sektarian dan realitas pragmatis negara. Hal ini sering menyebabkan konflik antara prinsip transnasional dan praktik politik negara-bangsa.

O presente estudo procurará apontar e analisar os problemas, diferente das perspectivas deferente e confessional, sobre as ideias e as práticas da Kundalinī Yoga, por trás da pregação dos gurus e da apologia dos adeptos.  Portanto, trata-se de uma abordagem desde uma perspectiva rara, uma vez que quase todas as obras e as instruções sobre o assunto são tratadas desde uma perspectiva deferente e, muitas vezes, apologética. Durante a preparação deste estudo, não foi possível encontrar sequer um estudo sobre kundalinī desde uma perspectiva crítica, uma vez que os autores acadêmicos são todos professores de religião. Quando encontramos algo crítico, é sempre de uma tradição rival atacando a outra, portanto com viés sectário. Sendo assim, o leitor irá estranhar a abordagem deste estudo, visto que todos estão acostumados a ler sobre yoga através dos olhos de um adepto ou de um simpatizante. De modo que, o estudo seguinte apontará e analisará problemas que são geralmente encobertos pelos apologistas, pelos instrutores e pelos praticantes, a fim de que o leitor tenha ideia do que existe nos livros e nas práticas por trás dos elogios e do otimismo dos adeptos.