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Are religions like everything else in the world subject of permanent change – in their practices and their doctrines – or are they the perhaps only stable element for people in a world of permanent change? Within the wide field of this discourse alternative, the five authors – Rowan Williams, Judith Wolfe, Guy G. Stroumsa, Vassilis Saroglou and Azza Karam – of the book are discussing various constellations, in which the relation of religion and change with its diverse aspects is illuminated.
The development of Islamic landscapes in Europe, is first and foremost related to Islamic authority. Religious authority relies on persuasiveness and deals with issues of truth, authenticity, legitimacy, trust, and ethics with reference to religious matters. This study argues that Islamic authority-making among European Muslims is a social and relational practice that is much broader and versatile than theological proficiency and personal status. It can also be conferred to objects, activities, and events. The book explores various ways in which Islamic authority is being constituted among Muslims in Western Europe with a particular focus on the role of ‘ordinary’ Muslims. This book is available in its entirety in Open Access.
Diversity characterises internal dynamics and external relations of all religious faiths in their different dimensions: texts - in their origins, exegesis, hermeneutics, critical editions; cults - in their anthropology, aesthetics, adaptations; norms - in their sources, implementation, collection; doctrines - with their languages, narratives, transmissions; practices - in their motivation, evolution, connection or antagonism with other societal actors. A complex system with multiple variants which finds its most visible reasons and outcomes in the way societies transform and represent it into their political, juridical, social systems, but also in the ways that the faith communities generate...
How does the powerful effect that religion has on public and personal life relate to the various spheres of our culture? Is the relationship between power and religion always negative or can religion also affect individuals and societies positively? This volume of the EuARe Lectures, edited by Herman Selderhuis, collects the texts of the lectures delivered at the Third Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (2020) on the topic “The Power of Religion / Religion and Power”. Scott Appleby explores the connection, in the religious imagination, among glorifying the divine, sanctifying the mundane and exercising political and cultural power. Cyril Hovorun addresses the issue of the politicization of religion, focusing in particular on Eastern Christian cases. Susanne Schröter offers an insight into the current debate on Islam in Germany. Finally, Kristina Stoeckl analyses the complex relationship among Europe’s new religious conflicts, Russian orthodoxy, American Christian conservatives and the emergence of a European populist right-wing.
To what extent was the evolution of secularism in South and Southeast Asia between the end of the First World War and decolonisation after 1945 a result of transimperial and transnational patterns? To capture the diversity of twentieth-century secularisms, Clemens Six explores similarities resulting from translocal networks of ideas and practices since 1918. Six approaches these networks via a framework of global intellectual history, the history of transnational social networks, and the global history of non-state institutions. Empirically, he illustrates his argument with three case studies: the reception of Atatürk’s reforms across Asia and the Middle East; translocal women’s circles in the interwar period; and private US foundations after 1945.
Russian Orthodoxy and Secularism surveys the ways in which the Russian Orthodox Church has negotiated its relationship with the secular state, with other religions, and with Western modernity from its beginnings until the present. It applies multiple theoretical perspectives and draws on different disciplinary approaches to explain the varied and at times contradictory facets of Russian Orthodoxy as a state church or as a critic of the state, as a lived religion or as a civil religion controlled by the state, as a source of dissidence during Communism or as a reservoir of anti-Western, anti-modernist ideas that celebrate the uniqueness and superiority of the Russian nation. Kristina Stoeckl argues that, three decades after the fall of Communism, the period of post-Soviet transition is over for Russian Orthodoxy and that the Moscow Patriarchate has settled on its role as national church and provider of a new civil religion of traditional values.
Religious liberty is America’s first freedom. But in recent years, challenges to religious liberty have abounded. For example, some claim that religious freedom promotes intolerance and bigotry, while others contend religious freedom condemns people to hell. And others weaponize religious liberty for culture warring. Nevertheless, evangelicals believe that religious liberty is fundamentally a matter of human dignity; thus, religious liberty is a right we must preserve for all people. This book will explore how evangelical anthropology, cosmology, and eschatology offer the most stable basis for religious freedom. Secular and Roman Catholic theories may positively contribute to religious liberty, but the evangelical model is superior because it answers fundamental questions left unanswered in other models.
Can digital games help us understand real life religion? With World Youth Day: Religious Interaction at a Catholic Festival, Skjoldli suggests that they can. The change is particularly visible from Skjoldli's new theoretical framework religious interaction, which draws on digital game studies. The framework centers on three key terms—interaction, interface, and immersion. Interaction constitutes the core of the stipulative definition of religion operative in this framework: interaction with culturally postulated superhuman persons. Interface represents the means by which interaction takes place. When interaction becomes emotionally charged, immersion takes place—whether it happens in rel...
CJEU – The most important cases in the field of direct Taxation A great number of cases pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) concern the fundamental freedoms and direct taxation. In particular, the number of infringement procedures brought before the CJEU by the European Commission has been increasing year on year. The CJEU is still in the driver’s seat in the area of direct taxation. All judgements and pending cases, therefore, have to be carefully analyzed by academics as well as practitioners. This book discusses the most important cases in the field of direct taxation pending before or recently decided by the CJEU. Moreover, the national background of these cases is discussed and possible infringements of the fundamental freedoms and secondary EU law are analyzed. The analyses are presented by esteemed national and European tax law experts. By examining the preliminary questions, the arguments brought forward by the parties and existing CJEU case law, the authors provide insight into the possible reasoning of the Court. Moreover, this book goes to the heart of the national tax systems, exposing hidden obstacles to the fundamental freedoms.
This book postulates that the rise of right-wing populism in the West and its references to religion are less driven by a resurgence of religious fervour, than by the emergence of a new secular identity politics. Based on exclusive interviews with 116 populist leaders, key policy makers and faith leaders in the USA, Germany, and France, it shows how right-wing populists use Christianity as a cultural identity marker of the 'pure people' against external 'others' while often remaining disconnected from Christian values, beliefs, and institutions. However, right-wing populists' willingness and ability to employ religion in this way critically depends on the actions of mainstream party politicians and faith leaders. They can either legitimise right-wing populists' identitarian use of religion or challenge it, thereby cultivating 'religious immunity' against populist appeals. As the populist wave breaks across the West, a new debate about the role of religion in society has begun.