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Spiritual oneness and the cognitive science of religion
By Veronica Campos and Daniel De Luca-Noronha, Jesuit School of Philosophy and Theology
In a 2008 paper, Justin Barrett designed a conceptual scale to measure the level of counterintuitiveness of concepts, “Barrett’s counterintuitiveness coding and quantifying scheme”. According to Barrett, the higher a concept scores in this scale, the more counterintuitive it is. The scale is meant as an auxiliary tool for one of the mainstream theories in the cognitive science of religion, namely, the Minimal Counterintuitiveness Hypothesis. For a concept to be adherent, i.e., to survive across cultures and across time, it has to score points in the counterintuitiveness scale, but it has to score low. Concepts that score too high or that don’t score at all are non-adherent. In this paper the case is made that at least some varieties of religious belief involve concepts that resist accurate measuring. The case study presented here features Spiritual Oneness, the belief that “all things are one”, frequently prompted by mystical experiences and frequently described as being very adherent. We purport that the failure of Barrett’s scale to allow for an examination of the concepts at stake in Spiritual Oneness is to be explained by the fact that the background assumptions about counterintuitiveness underpinning the scale are too narrow.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-024-09902-8
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Tags: #Religion #CSR #Spirituality
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An Occasionalist Reading of Al-Ashʿarī's Theory of Kasb in Kitāb al-Lumaʿ
By Zeyneb Betul Taskin PhD, Indiana University
This paper offers an occasionalist reading of al-Ashʿarī's theory of kasb in Kitāb al-Lumaʿ against Richard Frank's reading. Frank argues that according to al-Ashʿarī human beings have causal power that is created by God over their acts. Binyamin Abrahamov argues against Frank's reading because while al-Lumaʿ does not support this interpretation, the text suggests al-Ashʿarī's denial of causal efficacy from the created power. I expand Abrahamov's claims through a deeper comparison of al-Lumaʿ and Frank's analysis. First, I argue that the only textual evidence might be al-Ashʿarī's use of the verb waqaaʿ bi when al-Ashʿarī says that acquisition come through a created power. A mere employment of this word does not indicate a causal relation between the created power and acquisition. Moreover, al-Ashʿarī uses waqaaʿ bi to describe the concurrence of the so-called natural causes while he never attributes causal efficacy to them. Another problem in Frank's reading is that the attribution of causal efficacy to the created power not only takes al-Ashʿarī's theory out of the boundaries of occasionalism, but also approaches it to mere conservationism. Second, I agree with Abrahamov's occasionalist reading according to which the relation between the created power and acquisition can be a conditional relation.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12478
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #Occasionalism #Kalam
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Ḥuṭṭ awlawīya lil-ʻilm! Sherif Gaber's YouTube Videos and His Views on Science and Religion
By Stefano Bigliardi et al, Al Akhawayn University;
This article examines the YouTube videos of Egyptian activist Sherif Gaber, an important voice among contemporary critics of religion who have a Muslim background. We scrutinize his ideas, with a focus on Gaber's conceptualization of science, and advance a proposal on how to critically yet moderately engage with Gaber's arguments.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12480
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #ExMuslims
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Loving the imageless: Descartes on the sensuous love of God
By Zachary Agoff, University of Pennsylvania
Descartes claims that we can love God sensuously. However, it is prima facie unclear how this is possible, given that he is also committed to the impossibility of sensing or imagining God. In this essay, I show that Descartes has the metaphysical and psychophysical resources necessary to alleviate this tension. First, I discuss Descartes’s account of the intellectual love of God, demonstrating that the intellectual love of God constitutively involves the love of God’s creation. Second, I argue that an image of God’s creation is sufficient for communicating the intellectual love of God to the body, so as to produce a sensuous love of God. And third, I discuss Descartes’s reasons for developing an account of the sensuous love of God.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/21692327.2023.2268642
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Tags: #God #Descartes #Metaphysics
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Evil and responsibility in the Quran
By Bakinaz Abdalla, Nile University
The Quran contains numerous references to evil and some of these indicate that the responsibility of some instances of evil, which I call self-inflicted evil, lies with human beings rather than God. This idea of evil leads to an exploration of two interconnected issues in philosophical and theological discussions, moral responsibility and desert, along with the related tension between freedom of action and divine determinism. The article delves into this tension as it appears from the Quran and prevailing standpoints in Islamic theology. I propose that the tension between freedom of action and divine determinism resists a satisfactory reconciliation, which ultimately affects the plausibility of the idea of evil as self-inflicted. I further propose that embracing the contradictions arising from verses expressing freedom and responsibility, on the one hand, and those indicating divine determinism, on the other, could be a viable approach for the theologian.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412523001026
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Tags: #Quran #Islam #Theodicy #PoE
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Ancient Feminine Archetypes in Shi‘i Islam
By Amina Inloes, The Islamic College
This paper explores archetypes of femininity associated with Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ in Twelver Shi‘i hagiography through consideration of a broad range of archetypes found in the study of narrative and mythology. Many archetypes associated with goddesses of antiquity recur in portrayals of Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ, suggesting either cultural influence or universal archetypes. For instance, Fāṭimah embodies a youthful, innocent, virginal goddess; Jung’s light and dark mother figure; and the lamenting goddess. Similar archetypes are projected onto other sacred women in Shi‘ism, such as Zaynab bint ʿAlī and Fāṭimah al-Maʿṣūmah. However, other feminine archetypes are absent, some are sublimated onto male figures, and some are banalized through translating the esoteric into the exoteric. This leaves gaps in the narrative models available to faithful women. Furthermore, embodying archetypes like lamenting and suffering may be undesirable. While reformist portrayals of Fāṭimah have attempted to present her as a model for female activism, historical and hagiographical archetypes of Fāṭimah inherently clash and are difficult to disentangle. Nonetheless, considering how hagiography differs from history can help understand how the mythic does not always translate well to the mundane. Lastly, it helps to understand the hidden and unknown Fāṭimah.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020149
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #Shiasm
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Becoming Child of the Moment through Deleuzian Philosophy and Sufism
By Murat Sariyar, Bern University of Applied Sciences
My goal here is to make use of Deleuzian philosophy as a springboard for cultivating “being a child of the moment,” which is a phrase stemming from Sufism. Being fully present and aware in each moment is associated with surrendering oneself to the divine will and accepting whatever comes in the present moment without resistance. Unlike approaches that translate Deleuzian insights into theological concepts, the way of proceeding here involves traversing his philosophy, similar to traversing the phantasy in Lacanian psychoanalysis. Consequently, it neither fully adopts nor rejects Deleuzian philosophy but offers a parallax view that aims at deepening one’s connection with transcendence. The underlying premise is that strengthening this connection can be enhanced by engaging with an immanent philosophy that acknowledges non-representable singularities, provided its limitations are clearly delineated to prevent absorption into the depths and intricacies of that philosophy. To this end, the contrasting perspectives of eternity as a realm of potentialities and eternity as a timeless dimension detached from worldly connections are emphasized. During the writing process, the publication of MM Knight’s book “Sufi Deleuze” added a tangible ally and opponent, thereby lending further justification to the article’s title in retrospective. At the end, I will also delve into the relationship between Deleuzian philosophy and Derridean ontology, the realms of mysticism, and the existential aspect of death, and elucidate why Deleuzian philosophy can serve as a pivot for character development.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2022-0241
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #Sufism #IbnArabi
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God and Astrobiology
By Richard Playford, Leeds Trinity University; Stephen Bullivant, St Mary’s University; Janet Siefert, Rice University
The perception that life on other planets would be, problematic for religious people, and indeed for religion itself, is a longstanding one. It is partially rooted in fact: astrobiological speculations have, on occasion, engendered religious controversies. Historical discussions are often far more nuanced, and less one-sided than often imagined. 'Exotheology' is a lively subdiscipline within several religious traditions. This Element offers a wide-ranging introduction to the multifarious 'problems of God and astrobiology', real and perceived. It covers major topics within Christian theology (e.g., creation, incarnation, salvation), as well as issues specific to Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. It also discusses the very different perspectives offered by other (non)religious traditions, including Mormonism, various 'alien-positive' new religious movements (e.g., Heaven's Gate, Scientology, Raëlism), and the 'Ancient Astronaunt' theories popularized by Erich von Dāniken and the History channel's Ancient Aliens.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009296175
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Tags: #Islam #Christianity #Religion #Science #Exotheology
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Ribāṭ in the Furthermost Coasts of Early Al-Andalus
By Joan Negre, Universität Hamburg
In recent decades, the concept of ribāṭ and its practice have been the subject of intense debate. Recent summary papers on the eastern Mediterranean, Ifrīqiya, al-Maghrib al-Aqṣà, and al-Andalus, among others, have made it possible to compare different realities that express strong links with their local historical contexts. In this paper, we present the results of a new study that analyses the specific case of Northern Sharq al-Andalus, where the practice and institutionalisation of ribāṭ took shape from the early 9th century. There are three elements that lead us to corroborate this hypothesis: the documented presence of numerous individuals and groups voluntarily involved in the active and passive defence of the furthermost frontier of al-Andalus; the confirmation of a construction programme with homogeneous characteristics aimed at building fortified enclosures along the coast, and, lastly, the founding, in the early 9th century, of the Ribāṭ Kashkī centre at the mouth of the Ebro, a building were these practices would become centralised. In conclusion, we propose a much more complex scenario than that proposed previously, which enables us to characterise local forms of armed spirituality and sacralisation of the land that globally enriches the historical reading of ribāṭ.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010124
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Tags: #Islam #Religion #History
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Between Religion and Politics: The Case of the Islamic Movement in Israel
By Suheir Abu Oksa Daoud, Coastal Carolina University
The power of the “moderate” branch of the Islamic Movement (Alharaka al-Islamiyya, subsequently referred to as IM) Southern Branch (IMSF) in Israel stems from its ability to adapt to different situations, reconcile with the complex reality of being an indigenous minority in a state that defines itself a “Jewish state”, and operate within the state structure accepting democratic processes that have long been debated to clash with Islamism. Besides being represented in the Israeli Knesset since 1996, the culmination of this adaptation was the joining of the movement to the short-lived Zionist coalition government on 2 June 2021 (the government collapsed in July 2022). This historic entry of an Arab Party into a Jewish/Zionist government coalition for the first time in Israel’s history was a shocking surprise to many, not only due to the IM being an Arab–Palestinian movement but also an Islamist movement. My analysis shows that despite this reconciliation, the IM continues to emphasize religiosity, binding it to the national political struggle and identity of Israel’s Palestinian minority. For its supporters, the IMSF is seen as a meeting point of spiritual/religious needs on the one hand and material needs in the social, political, and cultural spheres on the other. However, for its opponents, mainly from the other Arab political parties, the Islamic IM had deviated from the national consensus and accepted strategies and tools to deal with the challenges facing them as a minority in Israel. And, for some others, the IM had even deviated from Islam itself. I draw on a field study that spanned several years. It is based on qualitative, extensive interviews with senior Islamist and non-Islamist leaders in Israel, as well as primary sources of the IM, including publications, leaders’ speeches, and social media. All quotes in this article are based on the author’s interviews during 2022–2024. Interviews with the following leaders and activists: IM leader Abdul-Malik Dahamsheh, former MK Muhammad Hasan Kenan, Nosiba Darwish Issa, IM MK Eman Yassin Khatib, NDA’ chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, secretary general of Abnaa al-Balad (Sons of the Country) Muhammad Kananeh, and with Kufr Qare former mayor Zuhair Yahya were conducted by in-person or by phone during summer–fall 2023. The interviews with former IMNF activist Aisha Hajjar, activist Zuhriyyeh ‘Azab, journalist Abd el-Rahman Magadleh, and DFPE member Elias Abu Oksa were conducted via What’s App, Messenger, and e-mail in 2022. The interview with political analyst Ameer Makhoul was conducted in December 2023 via Messenger. Follow-up communication was mainly through What’s App to clarify certain points. The interview questions focused on the reasons for the Islamic Movement’s division into two wings, the religious and political justifications for entering the Knesset and the coalition, the relationship between the southern wing and the main Arab parties active in the Israeli Knesset, the experience of unity with them, and the experience of its members while in the Zionist coalition. This article examines how the Islamic Movement in Israel uses religion as a tool to influence the national, cultural, political, economic, and social lives of the Arab minority in Israel. It asks: How does the Islamic Movement, religiously and politically, justify its involvement in the political game and in a Zionist government coalition, and how do Arab parties perceive this involvement? Moreover, it raises an important question about the nature of the movement: to what.....
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010110
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Tags: #Islam #Religion #Politics
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Islam, Salafism, and Peace: Facing the Challenges of Tradition and Change
By Amine Tais, California State University Fresno
Moving away from both the apologetic and polemical frames that have become ubiquitous in public discourses about Islam and Muslims, I position Salafism within the interpretative battles of the mainstream Sunni tradition. Through that analysis, I also highlight how the salafi orientation presents a difficult challenge for contemporary Muslims who seek to promote peace, pluralism and harmony within their communities and with other groups and communities in a fast-changing world.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010093
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Tags: #Islam #Religion #Culture
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Akbarian Metaphysics: A Brief Elaboration
The positivistic attitude brought forth by modernity, insofar as its insistence on perpetuating a reductionistic epistemological model founded on empiricism and materialism is concerned, contradicts the Islāmic viewpoint not only in terms of its metaphysics, but permeates the loci of thoughts and comprehension. The locus of cognition, in all senses, is the heart, which comprises a litany of layers that cognize different aspects of reality, from the material to the metaphysical, and the rational to ...
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Facing death without religion: how non-religious elders imagine death and how that shapes their lives
By Christel Manning, Sacred Heart University
Religious beliefs in the afterlife are often found to help people cope with death anxiety. This article explores how non-religious elders imagine death and the impact such imaginaries have on their lives. Data come from a qualitative study of non-religious US elders (n = 97). The author finds that non-religious elders imagine death in three main ways (lights out, recycling, mystery). While at least one of these imaginaries allows for a sense of continuity after death, they are distinct from religious beliefs about the afterlife in their affirmation that death marks the end of individual consciousness. That acceptance was seen as an important part of what it means to be non-religious. While some non-religious elders appear to seek symbolic immortality through building a legacy, for others the acceptance that death is end of individual consciousness prompts an effort to focus on the present, on finding joy and connection with people they love.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2023.2243855
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Tags: #Sprituality #Religion #Psychology #Atheism
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Monotheism and Divine Aggression
By Collin Cornell, Fuller Theological Seminary
The aggression of the biblical God is notorious. The phrase 'Old Testament God' conjures up images of jealousy and wrath, smiting and judging. But is it only an accident that this god became capital-G God, the unique creator and sustainer of three world religions? Or is there a more substantive connection between monotheism and divine aggression? This Element proposes exactly this causal connection. In three case studies, it showcases ways that literarily treating one god alone as god amplifies divine destructiveness. This happens according to two dynamics: God absorbs the destructive power of other divine beings-and God monopolizes divinity such that other beings, even special ones like God's beloved king or the people of God, are rendered vulnerable to divine aggression. The Element also attends to the literary contexts and counterbalances within which the Hebrew Bible imagines divine aggression.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009067171
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Tags: #God #Religion #Metaphysics #Monotheism
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Evoking, Grounding, and Defining: How Contemporary Scientists Connect Religion, Spirituality, and Aesthetics
By Bridget Ritz, University of Notre Dame; Di Di, Santa Clara University; Brandon Vaidyanathan, University of America
Social scientific research challenges stereotypes of scientists as irreligious, on the one hand, and lacking aesthetic sensitivity, on the other. Yet, while some research suggests connections between these domains, the question remains as to whether and how scientists themselves connect their religion or spirituality with their aesthetic experiences in science. Drawing on interviews with 71 biologists and physicists in India, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we find three distinct logics by which scientists connect these experiences, which we call “evoking”, “grounding”, and “defining”. We also find some scientists assume a modernist logic on which religion or spirituality and science are seen as separate to explain why they do not experience their religion or spirituality and aesthetic experiences as connected. Our findings enhance our understanding of how personal beliefs can shape and be shaped by professional experiences and suggest opportunities for dialogue between scientists and communities of faith centering aesthetic experience.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010065
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Tags: #Sociology #Religion #Science #Spirituality
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19th Century Polemic at Shahjahanpur: Muḥammad Qāsim Nānawtawī's Philosophy of Khilāfat-Allāh and his Response to the Critics of Islam in regard to Kaʿbah
By Atif Suhail Siddiqui, Yale University
This article1 is focused on Muḥammad Qāsim Nānawtawī's two important books Ḥujjat al-Islām and Qiblah Numā. These books are Nānawtawī's response to Christian missionaries and Hindu critic of Islam. Nānawtawī's polemics led the foundation of neo-ʿilm al-kalām (neo-Islamic scholastic theology) in South Asia. This article is an effort to trace Nānawtawī's corpus in polemics and the dialectics, which he covered in these books. Most of his works include his critiques and strong arguments against Christian and Hindu critics of Islam. However, this article is concise and covers a limited part of Nānawtawī's dialectical discussions. This article focuses on a precise response to a Hindu critic of Islam, man's merits and his status among all creatures and thus, man's selection by God as His khalīfah (vicegerent) on the earth.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12476
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #History #Kalam
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Layers of Authority in Shāh Walī Allāh's Persian Interlinear Qur’ān Translation
By Nihal Ahmad Khan, Hartford International University
This article explores the genealogy of the Persian Qur’ān translation of the eighteenth-century Indian scholar Shāh Walī Allāh (d. 1762/3). Firstly, I argue that this translation engendered a populist engagement with the Qur’ān, which allowed Walī Allāh to decentralize the interpretive agency of the Mughal scholarly class, all the while building his own authority. Including the Arabic text with the Persian translation allowed lay Muslims to recite the text, but with the new caveat of understanding it. Secondly, I argue that Walī Allāh's amalgamation between ‘under-the-line’ and ‘succinct summary’ models in his interlinear translation affirmed the inimitability doctrine. This is the belief that the Qur’ān is inherently defined as an Arabic text, in word and meaning. Thirdly, I argue that the inclusion of the Arabic text in this translation prevented the potential emergence of a hegemonic interpretation by a subversive political authority. The results of this hypothesis can be observed in relation to nineteenth-century British efforts of translating Islamic law texts into English common law in India; and twentieth-century attempts by secular nationalists in producing a Turkish-only Qur’ān in modern Turkey. Walī Allāh's Qur’ān translation also carved a path for later Urdu and English Qur’ān translators to follow.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12481
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #Quran #Exegesis
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Ghafla in Ghazālī's Scale of Action Meaningful Word or Device of Argument?
By Adrien Leites, Sorbonne Université
Ghafla is remarkably absent from research on Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111).1 Ghazālī, however, uses the word widely. To start lighting up this use, we will conduct a search on ghafla in Ghazālī's Scale of Action (Mīzān al-‘amal). The Scale was written before the much larger Revival of the Sciences of Religion (Iḥyā’ ‘ulūm al-dīn),2 while the relationship between the two works remains unclear.3 The Scale, on the other hand, is described by contemporary researchers as dealing with a specific discipline, itself connected with philosophy.4 Our search will enable us to check this description.
For the linguistic meaning of ghafla, we may be content with translation. The word is commonly translated as...
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12482
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Tags: #Ghazali #Metaphysics #Religion #Islam
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“The Maqāṣid Are the Qibla of the Jurists”: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary References to and Usages of Abū Ḥāmid Al-Ghazālī’s Dictum
By Eva Kepplinger, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Modernity reveals an intense preoccupation with the Intentions of the Sharia (maqāṣid al-sharīʿa) and reflections of premodern scholars on this legal concept. Within contemporary research in this field, the famous scholar Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111), who is counted among the pioneers of premodern contributions to the maqāṣid, occupies a special position. In addition to his general treatment of the maqāṣid, one dictum of his in particular is often referred to in the modern literature on the maqāṣid. The quotation reads: “The maqāṣid are the qibla of the jurists”, which he mentioned in his book Kitāb Ḥaqīqat al-qawlayn and is indicative of the central position of the maqāṣid in al-Ghazālī’s (legal) thought. My investigation of the contemporary, primarily Arabic, literature on the maqāṣid which cites this popular dictum reveals that the quote is used for many reasons and in various contexts; however, a fuller engagement with the quote itself and in the context of al-Ghazālī’s thought, as well as in his book, takes place very rarely, if at all, and even then, it is cursory. In order to embed al-Ghazālī’s dictum in the wider frame of his thought, this article first presents his general maqāṣid-related thought and consequently expounds on it in the context of his book. To better understand the usage of the quote in modern scholarship, the current maqāṣid literature that refers to the dictum is analyzed and categorized, showing how authors deploy it and to what end.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020165
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Tags: #Ghazali #Islam #Shariah #Law
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The Aristotelian Proof Revisited: A Reflection
By Tyler McNabb, Saint Francis University
McNabb and DeVito have recently argued that Graham Oppy’s objections to the First Way are found wanting. In response, McNabb and DeVito restructured the First Way on behalf of St Thomas. More recently, Joseph Schmid and Daniel Linford argue that the restructured argument given by McNabb and DeVito is problematic, claiming that it is either valid but unmotivated or it is plainly invalid. In this paper, I argue that McNabb and DeVito’s schematic glossing of the First Way is both valid and motivated.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/nbf.2023.7
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Tags: #Religion #God #Metaphysics
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Blind Man, Mirror, and Fire: Aquinas, Avicenna, and Averroes on Thinking
By Zhenyu Cai, Peking University
In Islamic tradition, the Falsafa school is well known for its naturalistic account of religion. When Falsafa’s theory of religion made its way to the Latin West, it was embraced and developed into the so-called “double truth theory” in Latin Averroism. However, this theory quickly lost its influence in the Latin tradition, primarily due to the critique by Thomas Aquinas. One of the key aspects of Aquinas’s critique is his criticism of the emanation theory of concepts and the doctrine of the unity of the intellect, which in turn undermines the foundation of Falsafa’s theory of religion, particularly their theory of natural prophecy. This paper aims to revisit the debate between Aquinas and Falsafa regarding the theory of intellect as the basis for natural prophecy, with a focus on highlighting Falsafa’s perspective. In particular, I examine how Aquinas’s arguments overlook the key insights that underpin Falsafa’s doctrine of the intellect.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020150
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Tags: #Religion #Islam #Avicenna #Aristotle
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On the Nature (and Irrationality) of Non-religious Faith
By M. Benoit Gaultier, University of Zurich
My main aim in this paper is to contribute to the elucidation of the nature of non-religious faith. I start by summarising several well-known arguments that belief is neither necessary nor sufficient for faith. I then try to identify the nature of the positive cognitive attitude towards p that is involved in having faith that p. After dismissing some candidates for the role, I explore the idea that faith and hope are similar attitudes. On this basis, I then advance a new characterisation of faith. Finally, I turn to the question of the rationality of faith. I argue that faith is intrinsically irrational because it is an intrinsically incoherent propositional attitude, but that there is nonetheless a sense in which faith is neither intrinsically epistemically irrational nor intrinsically practically irrational.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00776-2
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Tags: #Religion #Logic #Faith #Atheism
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Why Do They Not Do More? Analyzing Peacebuilding Actions of Religious Leaders during and after Violent Conflicts
By Stipe Odak, Université catholique de Louvain
This article examines how religious leaders navigate between tensions involving theological ideals of peace and pragmatic realities during violent conflicts. The findings are based on 75 in-depth interviews with Orthodox, Catholic, and Islamic religious leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina, conducted between the years 2015 and 2017. The paper introduces the concepts of “theological dissonance” to describe mismatches between principles and actions, and “pastoral optimization” for the strategy of maximizing influence under constraints. Factors influencing engagement in peacebuilding include doctrinal traditions, individual differences, organizational capacity of a religious community, effective control over messaging, and audience receptivity. In terms of practical suggestions, the article proposes several measures that could enhance synergy between religious and nonreligious actors working together in this field, most notably, understanding each other’s scopes and limitations and clarifying what “peace” and “peacebuilding” represent to each partner.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010116
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Tags: #Islam #Christianity #Religion #Sociology
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Maqāsid al-Sharī‘a in Islamic Finance: A Critical Analysis of Modern Discourses
By Necmeddin Güney, Necmettin Erbakan University
This study delves into the complexities surrounding the determination, interpretation, and application of maqāsid al-sharī‘a within modern Islamic economics and finance. By conducting an extensive review of classical and contemporary literature, this research explores the diverse methods and criteria employed for ascertaining maqāsid. It critically examines the inherent subjectivity involved in categorizing maqāsid, shedding light on the ambiguity in delineating their boundaries. Additionally, the study scrutinizes the unintended consequences of broader utilization of maqāsid, particularly in transactions such as bay‘ al-‘īnah, and evaluates the risks associated with prioritizing maslaha (utility) over textual evidence. The findings underscore the challenges posed by the subjective nature of maqāsid interpretation, illustrating how diverse perspectives can lead to differing conclusions. They emphasize the potential misuse of maqāsid for legitimizing practices contrary to the core principles of sharia. This research underscores the preservation of legislative intent and advocates a cautious approach to integrating maqāsid al-sharī‘a into Islamic economics and finance. The objective is to strike a balance that upholds Islamic principles. It highlights the essential need for collectively establishing standards for both macro and micro maqāsid and their usage in ijtihād, promoting responsible applications within contemporary Islamic finance for informed and ethical solutions.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010114
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Tags: #Islam #Religion #Shariah #Law
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The Problem of Animal Pain
By Victoria Campbell, Global Methodist Church
In this Element atheists cite animal pain as compelling evidence against the existence of the loving God portrayed in the Judeo-Christian Bible. William Rowe, Paul Draper, Richard Dawkins and others claim widespread unnecessary suffering exists in nature and challenge theism with the Evidential Problem of Natural Evil. This Element engages the scientific literature in order to evaluate the validity of those claims and offers a theodicy of God's providential care for animals through natural pain mitigating processes.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009270717
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Tags: #Theodicy #PoE #God #Religion
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The Health/Salvation Nexus: Religion, New Forms of Spirituality, Medicine and the Problem of “Theodicy”
By Antonio Camorrino, University of Naples Federico II
The health/salvation nexus can be better understood if analyzed through the transformations that have affected the social relationship with the sacred in Western society. These changes have caused relevant implications concerning the sphere of “ultimate meaning”, in the words of Peter Berger. Today, we are witnessing a weakening of legitimized “theodicies” capable of promising—according to Max Weber—salvation and guaranteeing “just equalization”, that is, compensation or metaphysical condemnation for worldly conduct. However, this occurs to different extents depending on whether we are in the field of Western religions or new forms of spirituality. Medicine deserves a separate discussion. The hypothesis is that the health/salvation nexus leans towards salvation in the case of Western religions; towards health in the case of medicine; and, in the case of new forms of spirituality it leans neither exactly towards health nor exactly towards salvation: new forms of spirituality promise more than the achievement of health, but less than the achievement of salvation. Ultimately, the health/salvation nexus is structured differently depending on how much Western religions, new forms of spirituality and medicine are able to respond, more or less effectively, to the questions of “theodicy” and of “ultimate meaning”. I use the term of “theodicy” in the way Max Weber and Peter Berger conceived it: therefore, this concept can also be usefully applied to non-theistic and secular worldviews.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010097
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Tags: #Spirituality #Religion #Theodicy
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Feeling grateful to God and change in chronic health problems: exploring variations by age
By Neal Krause, The University of Michigan; Gail Ironson, University of Miami
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between feeling grateful to God and change in chronic health problems. Three sets of findings are provided. First, the data suggest that feeling grateful to God is associated with more chronic health conditions among younger adults while older adults who are grateful to God report fewer chronic conditions. Second, the results reveal that feeling grateful to God is associated with more spiritual struggles among younger people but elderly individuals who are grateful to God experience fewer spiritual struggles. The third set of findings emerge from a three-way statistical interaction between age, gratitude to God, and spiritual struggles on change in health. The data indicate that the most vulnerable group consists of younger adults who are grateful to God and who experience more spiritual struggles. In contrast, fewer health problems are found among older adults who are grateful to God and who experience more spiritual struggles.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2022.2153395
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Tags: #Sprituality #Religion #Psychology
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“To err is human, to forgive, divine”: religious doubt, psychological well-being and the moderating role of divine forgiveness
By Laura Upenieks, Baylor University; Christopher G. Ellison, University of Texas; Neal M. Krause, University of Michigan
A significant amount of research to date has been done to study the effects of forgiveness on mental health and well-being, but less research has been conducted on divine forgiveness. The main purpose of the current study is to examine the possible moderating role of divine forgiveness. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of 1,500 older adults, regression results suggest that greater divine forgiveness exacerbated the relationship between high religious doubt and greater depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction. We did not document similar moderation patterns between religious doubt and forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness. Understanding the impact of divine forgiveness for those experiencing uncertainty in their faith is crucial to gaining a more complete picture of religion’s “dark side, and we hope future research continues to pursue these objectives.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2023.2262406
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Tags: #Sprituality #Religion #Psychology
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Quantum Physics and the Existence of God
By Stephen Priest, University of Oxford
Interpretations of quantum physics are shown to presuppose the reality of consciousness. But if a minimal realism about the external world is true, then the consciousness presupposed by quantum reality cannot be only that of the scientific observer, cannot be only ‘local’ but must be ‘global’. Global consciousness is argued to have all and only the essential properties of God. Quantum reality depends on God’s consciousness and the physical world depends on quantum reality. Therefore, the physical world depends on God’s consciousness.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010078
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Tags: #God #Religion #Science #Consciousness #QuantumPhysics
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Time, atemporal existence, and divine temporal consciousness: a bimodalist account for divine consciousness
By Lyu Zhou, Colgate University
If God exists atemporally, could God still be temporally conscious? This article aims to clarify a conceptual space for a divine temporal mode of consciousness under the traditional assumption that God exists atemporally. I contend that an atemporally existing and conscious God – by the divine nature, and not just the human nature in Christ – could also be conscious of the temporal world – and indeed, all possible temporal worlds – through a temporal mode that is akin to human temporal consciousness, albeit exempt from its limitations. I submit that although (a) God exists atemporally (ontological atemporalism), (b) God could be both temporally and atemporally conscious (bimodalism of divine consciousness), and (c) these two modes of consciousness could be unified in an absolute divine consciousness without incurring schizophrenia-like problems (unity of bimodal divine consciousness).
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-023-09900-2
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Consciousness
