Claiming Knowledge, Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age.
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This volume deals with the transformation of religious creativity in the late modern West. Its point of departure is a set of esoteric beliefs, from Theosophy to the New Age. It shows how these traditions have adapted to the cultural givens of each successive epoch. The claims of each movement have been buttressed by drawing on various structural characteristics of late modernity. The advance of science has resulted in attempts to claim scientific status for religious beliefs. Globalization has given rise to massive loans from other cultures, but also to various strategies to radically reinterpret foreign elements. Individualism has led to an increasing reliance on experience as a source of legitimacy. The analytical tools applied to understanding religious modernization shed light on changes that are fundamentally reshaping many religious traditions. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.
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1 online resource. :
9789047403371
The secular religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff : an intellectual history of anti-intellectualism in modern America /
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In The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff: An Intellectual History of Anti-intellectualism in Modern America , Dave Vliegenthart offers an account of the life and teachings of the modern American mystic Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985), who combined secular and religious sources from eastern and western traditions in order to elaborate and legitimate his metaphysical claim to the realization of a transcendental reality beyond reason. Using Merrell-Wolff as a typical example of a modern western guru, Vliegenthart investigates the larger sociological and historical context of the ongoing grand narrative that asserts a widespread anti-intellectualism in modern American culture, exploring developments in religious, philosophical, and psychological discourses in North America from 1800 until the present.
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1 online resource (viii, 378 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004361256 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Scripture and Knowledge, An Essay on Religious Epistemology.
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At the core of Scripture and Knowledge lies the problem of the nature of religious knowledge. The author argues that religion is a particular framework rather than a particular content or defined set of performances. He sees this framework as epistemological, that is, as one that furnishes believers with a conception of knowledge alternative to that of philosophical reasoning. The thesis on the epistemological nature of religion will be developed by the examination of the concept of scripture as a body of authoritative and even infallible texts. The concept of scripture is presented as one of the constitutive concepts of the epistemological framework of religion. The author argues that the various scriptures and their commentaries should be understood as the arena within which the epistemological process of religion takes place and the central epistemological means by which religious knowledge is made possible.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378919
Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions /
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This collection of papers from two workshops - held in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 1996 and Jerusalem, Israel, in October 1997 - is concerned with anthropological rather than theological aspects of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, ranging from the 'primary' religions of the archaic period and their complex developments in Egypt and Mesopotamia to the 'soteriological' movements and 'secondary' religions that emerged in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book focuses on \'Confession and Conversion\', while the second part is devoted to the topic of \'Guilt, Sin and Rituals of Purification\'. The primary purpose of this volume is to convey a sense of the dynamics and dialectical relationships between the various Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions from the archaic period to Late Antiquity.
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Two contributions in German, one in French. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004379084 :
0169-8834 ;
'The Heathen in his Blindness...', Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion.
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Today, most intellectuals agree that (a) Christianity has profoundly influenced western culture; (b) members from different cultures experience many aspects of the world differently; (c) the empirical and theoretical study of both culture and religion emerged within the West. The present study argues that these truisms have implications for the conceptualization of religion and culture. More specifically, the thesis is that non-western cultures and religions differ from the descriptions prevalent in the West, and it is also explained why this has been the case. The author proposes novel analyses of religion, the Roman 'religio', the construction of 'religions' in India, and the nature of cultural differences. Religion is important to the West because the constitution and the identity of western culture is tied to the dynamic of Christianity as a religion.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378865
The problem of disenchantment : scientific naturalism and esoteric discourse, 1900-1939 /
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The Problem of Disenchantment offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to the intellectual history of science, religion, and "the occult" in the early 20th century. By developing a new approach to Max Weber's famous idea of a "disenchantment of the world", and drawing on an impressively diverse set of sources, Egil Asprem opens up a broad field of inquiry that connects the histories of science, religion, philosophy, and Western esotericism. Parapsychology, occultism, and the modern natural sciences are usually viewed as distinct cultural phenomena with highly variable intellectual credentials. In spite of this view, Asprem demonstrates that all three have met with similar intellectual problems related to the intelligibility of nature, the relation of facts to values, and the dynamic of immanence and transcendence, and solved them in comparable terms.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004254947 :
0169-8834 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in Modern Religions, Religious Movements and the Bābī-Bahā'ī Faiths.
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In this book leading scholars contribute comprehensive studies of the religious movements in the late 18th and 19th centuries: the Hassidic movements in Judaism, the Mormon religion, in Christianity, and the Bābī-Bahā'ī faiths in Shī'te Islam. The studies, introduced by the editor's analysis of the underlying common source of this religious activity, lead the reader into a rich world of messianism, millenniarism and eschatological thought fueling the intense modern developments in the three major monotheistic religions.
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1 online resource. :
9789047405573
What is Religion?, Origins, Definitions, and Explanations.
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What is Religion? consists of fourteen essays written by a selection of scholars who represent a wide spectrum of approaches to the acedamic study of religion. Each of the essays is an effort not only to take stock of the present controversy concerning appropriate methodologies for the study of religion, but also to take one giant step beyond that to formulate a precise definition of religion. Given the considerable confusion today about what it is exactly that religious studies scholars take to be their subject matter when they presume to professionally teachabout religion, this volume provides a much needed forum for leading scholars to debate and clarify what professors of religious studies understand as the central object or objects under their scrunity.
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1 online resource. :
9789004379046
The Russian-Orthodox Tradition and Modernity /
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The book attempts to identify the uniqueness of the Russian-Orthodox religious tradition and to contrast it with two of the characteristics of modern Western society: its particular economic ethics and individualism. Max Weber and Louis Dumont provide the theoretical framework. The first part of the analysis is concerned with the economic ethics among Orthodox Russians, Old Believers and the adherents of various sects in the historical context of Russian society. The second part centres on the place and the kind of individualism in the Orthodox tradition since its beginnings in early monasticism and up to the twentieth century. The comparative perspective does not only shed new light on Russia but also on the development of Western individualism and on the Janus-like features of a traditional culture exposed to modernization.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [208]-218) and index. :
9789047402725 :
0169-8834 ;
Studying religions with the iron curtain closed and opened : the academic study of religion in Eastern Europe /
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Studying Religions with the Iron Curtain Closed and Open. The Academic Study of Religion in Eastern Europe offers an account of the research focused on the origins, development and the current situation of the Study of Religions in the 20th century in countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, and Russia. Special attention is devoted to the ideological influences determining the interpretation of religion, especially connected with the rise of Marxist-Leninist criticism of religion.
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1 online resource (xviii, 320 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004292789 :
0169-8834 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Envisioning Magic, A Princeton Seminar and Symposium.
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This collection of twelve articles presents a selection of papers delivered in the course of a seminar 1994-95 and its concluding international symposium at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The common theme is the interrelation between magic and religion, focussing particularly on the Mediterranean world in Antiquity - Egyptian, Graeco-Roman and Jewish beliefs and customs - but also treating the early modern period in Northern Europe (the Netherlands and Germany) as well as offering more general reflections on elements of magic in language and Jewish mysticism. The volume is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and the use of varied methodologies, emphasizing the dynamic nature of the often contradictory forces shaping religious beliefs and practices, while dismissing the idea of a linear development from magic to religion or vice versa. The contributors are outstanding scholars in their fields: Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Classical Studies, Early Christianity, Islamic Studies, Anthropology, Egyptology and Comparative Literature. Without a doubt this re-evaluation of a fascinating age-old subject will stimulate scholarly discussion and appeal to educated non-specialist readers as well.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378971
An arena for higher powers : ceremonial buildings and religious strategies for rulership in late Iron Age Scandinavia /
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In An Arena for Higher Powers Olof Sundqvist investigates ceremonial buildings and religious ruler strategies in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (i.e. AD 550-1050/1100). The author offers here an account of the role played by religion in political undertakings among the pre-Christian ruling elites at halls and cultic buildings. Sundqvist applies a regional approach, so as to be able to account for the specific historical, cultural and social contexts. The focus is mainly on three regions, the Lake Mälaren area in Sweden, Trøndelag in Norway, and Iceland. Since the political structure and other contextual aspects partly differed in the three regions, the religious strategies for gaining legitimacy and authorization at the sanctuaries also varied to some extent in these areas.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004307483 :
0169-8834 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Friedrich Max Müller, A Life Devoted to the Humanities.
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Friedrich Max Müller was one of the great scholars of the nineteenth century. His studies on the history and nature of religion were of great interest to both scholarly and more popular circles, and he was for a long time an influential figure in the cultural life of Victorian Britain. Therefore, a new study of his life and especially of his works needs no apology. The book gives a survey of Müller's life and his main ideas on language, mythology, religion, Christianity and the missions, as well as his philosophy of religion. The last chapter deals with the legacy of Müller's ideas in the twentieth century. The book is particularly useful for historians of religion interested in the origin of the science of religion and for historians specialized in the history of ideas.
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1 online resource. :
9789004379176
The social dimension of Shin Buddhism /
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Shin Buddhism (Jōdo Shinshū), although weakened in many ways by secularization, continues to be a stable presence in Japanese society, as is emblematically shown by the very symmetrical position of the Nishi (Honganji-ha) and the Higashi Honganji (Ōtani-ha) head temples in the center of Kyōto, and by the recent projects for their renovation. This book addresses the need for more academic research on Shin Buddhism, and is specifically directed at describing and analyzing distinctive social aspects of this religious tradition in historical and contemporary perspective. The contributions collected here cover a wide range of issues, including the intersection between Shin Buddhism and fields as diverse as politics, education, social movements, economy, culture and the media, social ethics, gender, and globalization.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004193796 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The founder of the Hare Krishnas as seen by devotees : a cognitive study of religious charisma /
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The Hare Krishna movement is one of the most well-known new religious movements in the Western societies. It was founded in New York in 1966 by the Indian monk A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda (1896-1977). The fact that it emerged during the heyday of the countercultural protests is often invoked in the explanations of its success. This book offers a completely new account for the rise and growth of the Hare Krishna movement by analysing it from the viewpoint of cognitive science of religion. It focuses on the charisma of the founder-guru through the writings of his earliest disciples and also takes a close look at the theology and ritual practices of the movement.
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Based on the author's dissertation (doctoral--University of Helsinki, 2002). :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-225) and indexes. :
9789047433262 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.