Pilgrimage expansion through tourism in contemporary India: the development and promotion of a Hindu pilgrimage circuit

This article investigates the development and promotion of the Char Dham Yatra (or Char Dham), a Hindu pilgrimage route in the Himalayas, to challenge some prevalent assumptions and models in current scholarship concerning pilgrimage and tourism. I argue that the current prominence of the Char Dham is closely tied to the efforts of public tourism agencies and the coming together of a popular religious concept (Char Dham) with a unit of tourism development (circuit). Turning to promotional literature, I find that, while the Char Dham is increasingly framed to incorporate tourist interests, it continues to retain a religious profile. Contemporary Char Dham guidebooks combine and sometimes merge tourist and religious selling points. The Char Dham is promoted as a picturesque pilgrimage that allows for both homage and holiday. Contrary to popular opinion, the findings of my research suggest that the interplay between pilgrimage and tourism produces changes in, rather than the removal of, pilgrimage religiosity and associated religious communication.     

Textbooks for teaching the anthropology of religion: a review

Written from the perspective of those who teach the anthropology of religion, the paper reviews a selection of texts commonly used in teaching. The authors find the texts are generally useful, although those written clearly and with good cross-referencing detail (index, bibliography, overviews) are the most helpful. One major finding is the range of views over what might constitute 'textbook’ - itself a fairly contested term more widely.     

Pilgrimage today: the meaning-making potential of ritual

Pilgrimage on the Road to Santiago is flourishing, even in late modern times characterised by detraditionalisation, individualism and pluralism. A large number of these pilgrims is either not explicitly religious at all, or only moderately religious. Why, then, do they submit to this ancient Christian ritual, and what are the psychological consequences? After a short introduction to the study of implicit religiosity and different perspectives on rituals from the past to today, current research on pilgrimage is reviewed and pilgrimage to Santiago is analysed as a personal ritual from a perspective of implicit religiosity. In the psychological theory of implicit religiosity, rituals are identified as one of three universal religious structures (along with myths and experiences of transcending) with strong meaning-making potential. Personal rituals are defined as formalised patterns of action, pointing beyond the actual event to a particular meaning imbued by the actor. Data from 85 pilgrims on the Road to Santiago are presented. Motives for peregrination, base-line sources of meaning, experienced meaningfulness and crises of meaning are reported, as well as changes in sources of meaning, meaningfulness and crises of meaning immediately after the pilgrimage and four months later. The majority of pilgrims (about two third) is motivated by a “need for clarification.” Multidimensional scaling shows that pilgrims either travel for explicitly religious reasons (conviction) or in search of clarification (quest); they either draw motivation from vertical transcendence (religiosity or spirituality) or from apparently purely secular reasons, such as athletic challenge. Religious and spiritual motives are mostly reported by highly religious individuals. A need for clarification is primarily stated by individuals who suffer from a crisis of meaning. Crises of meaning are significantly more frequent among pilgrims before the journey than in the general population. For the entire sample of pilgrims, the meaning-making potential of pilgrimage is supported by the data. Directly after the journey, as well as four months later, pilgrims experience life as significantly more meaningful, and crises of meaning are overcome. Pilgrims also report a strengthened commitment to vertical selftranscendence, horizontal selftranscendence and selfactualisation. These changes occur independently of the motivation for pilgrimage.     

A method of ‘things’: a relational theory of objects as persons in lived religious practice

ABSTRACT

Material expressions of religion are some of the most visible ways in which the lived realities of religions can be examined and understood. Religious materiality not only mediates between a continuum of still productive dualisms that exist between ‘official’ and ‘lived’ religion, but is also capable of inspiring relational methodological approaches. Based on a small-scale study of Marian statue devotion in Spain, the article asserts that ‘personhood’ as an approach is an appropriate conceptual and methodological tool with which to frame theoretically, address, and approach practically the religious objects that researchers encounter in the field. Such approaches are considered here as ‘relational’, as lived religion is best understood through the intimate relationships and negotiations that take place not only between religious group or community members, but also between human persons and other than human persons such as religious statues. Acknowledging that researchers and the objects being researched can bring each other into varying forms of personhood carries the possibility of expanding the ‘participant observer’ paradigm, thus expressing lines of possibilities for understanding the volatile relational phenomena that take place in the religious ‘worlds’ of others.     

The labor of Job: The biblical text as a parable of human labor

This paper addresses how religion is playing an increasingly important role in empowering anti-nuclear protests at Gongliao in Taiwan. It begins by describing how the anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan was originally dependant on the opposition political party, and then examines how growing disaffection with party politics at Gongliao has resulted in a local temple dedicated to the goddess Mazu coming to the forefront of the struggle. This paper frames the dispute as a struggle between three different ways of generating power (and implicitly, of losing power): first, the generation of nuclear power by bureaucrats and scientists working through the industrial sector; second, the generation of political power by opposition politicians and elite campaigners; and third, the generation of religious power by people rooted in local communities, creating an alliance between religious power and secular protest.     

The reception of western philosophy in the Lithuanian philosophy of religion

The article examines the reception of Western philosophy in Lithuanian philosophy of religion. The purpose is to show how the discourse of philosophy of religion came about in Lithuania. This branch of philosophy has been not only culturally and socially important in Lithuania, it has been significant as well for the formation and maintenance of national identity. By the same token, it also was the most developed and controversial theoretically. The first part of the article lays out the genesis of the autonomous Lithuanian philosophy of religion, though strongly influenced by the transformations in the broader context of European philosophy. For that reason it will be useful to present the ideas of the most prominent Lithuanian thinkers in the field who have successfully adopted and adapted vital trends in Western philosophy into the Lithuanian cultural and intellectual context. The second part of the article is less historical and more problematic as it deals with specific issues concerning faith, God, anthropological problems as reflected in the works of contemporary Lithuanian philosophers of religion. Only after having explored certain affiliations of Lithuanian philosophy of religion with Western thought can we state that, although the latter was the necessary precondition of the former, Lithuanian philosophy of religion does substantiate its sovereign status while correlating in an original way major cultural transformations with the changes in theoretical context, according to the specific concerns of Lithuanian society. In addition, this historical and philosophical examination aims to look at the formation of Lithuanian identity, mentality, values, their roots in the Christian tradition as well as the capacity to respond at critical historical moments.

The Acquisition and Function of Religious Beliefs: A Review and Synthesis of Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Two main scientific approaches have renewed in the last decade the scientific study of religion: the cognitive and the adaptationist. The former is focused on proximate causes, the latter is looking for ultimate causes of religious beliefs and behaviours. Both approaches are useful and promising. However, in both cases, various important aspects and contexts associated with the origin, acquisition, and transmission of religious beliefs have been neglected. The present paper offers an approach that conjoins both models after reviewing several critical issues, to highlight a distinction between cognitive conditions and structures, on one side; and developments or applications, on the other. As a result greater attention needs to be paid to religious functions and their cultural framework to better understand religion and to explain some current processes, like massive secularization in several areas.     

Religion and Spirituality in Quality of Life Studies

The authors present their views on the current state of the art for research focused upon religion/spirituality and quality of life. Because of the undeniable influence of religion and spirituality at the macro-level of cultures, the internal and external worlds of individuals embedded in any culture are touched by religion and spirituality – even for individuals who deny any religious affiliation or beliefs. Religion and spirituality has already attracted attention from QOL researchers across a wide set of disciplines and should continue to do so in the future. The authors discuss approaches, topics and methodological issues that should be considered when researching religion/spirituality and QOL. Recommendations for future research are set in italics.     

Religion/spirituality and quality of life of international tertiary students in New Zealand: an exploratory study

Previous research links religion/spirituality to beneficial health outcomes, but the majority of these studies used samples from populations with long-term illness or older people. The present study explored whether the links between religion/spirituality and quality of life can be observed in a sample of younger adults, and also whether religion/spirituality could function as a coping mechanism in international tertiary students who are often subjected to significant stressors related to acculturation and being away from their families. The sample consisted of 218 domestic and 164 international students at a New Zealand university who were given the quality of life inventory and the additional special module about spirituality/religion/personal beliefs, both developed by the World Health Organization in collaboration with many member states. Religion/spirituality was significantly correlated with psychological quality of life in both groups, and social quality of life in international students. The results also show that religion/spirituality might function as a coping mechanism in international students in response to stressors of acculturation.     

Social support as a mediator of religious involvement and physical and emotional functioning in a national sample of African-Americans

Researchers propose social support as one of the factors that may explain the positive relationship often observed between religious involvement and health outcomes. African-Americans are a population that tends to have higher than average levels of religious involvement and are also disproportionately impacted by most health conditions. The present study sought to determine whether social support mediates the role of religious involvement in physical and emotional functioning and depressive symptoms, among a national probability sample of African-Americans (N = 803). Study participants completed telephone interviews. We used structural equation modelling to test hypotheses based on the theoretical model. Findings suggest evidence for a mediating role of belonging and tangible support in the association between religious behaviours and physical functioning as well as depression. There was no mediational role played by appraisal support, or for emotional functioning. Implications for faith-based health promotion interventions are discussed.     

The Role of the Dominant Social Paradigm in the Quality of Life/Environmental Interface

In this examination of the relationship between quality of life and the environment, it is argued that a broad framework within which the relationship can be established is required. The framework used is that of the dominant social paradigm (Pirages & Ehrlich, 1974) that contains political, economic, and technological institutions. It is these institutions that determine both the quality of life and environmental constructs within any society. The paper integrates these three areas in a single model that hypothesizes a particular relationship between the dominant social paradigm, the environment, and quality of life.     

Neither public nor private religion: the Russian Orthodox Church in the public sphere of contemporary Russia

Cross-country comparative studies of religion (e.g. the Religion Monitor) do not cover some important issues regarding the religious situation in Russia. The problem of contemporary Russian religiosity is beyond individual religiosity or religiosity as a spiritual phenomenon. In Russia—one of the countries which experienced Communism as a period of enforced secularization, there are very few people who have had any religious socialization or who have the experience of belonging to the Christian Church or to any religion. The main point of this article is that what is happening with religion in post-Soviet Russia cannot be adequately explained by the concept of ‘public religion’ and the dichotomy of public vs. private religion, due to the practices of private religion manifesting at a very low level among the Russian population, despite the fact that a large number of Russians consider themselves to be Orthodox Christians. However, the representation of the Church in the public sphere has little to do with what concerns Russians who are in some way involved in parishes. As an alternative tool we propose to describe the religiosity of Russians through the methods of network analysis. Results of a content analysis of contemporary Russian and Soviet media, survey data of the Russian population, and data obtained in a network analysis of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church are used for substantiating this conclusion.     

A Theological Challenge: Coordinating Biological, Social, and Religious Visions of Humanity

This paper attempts two tasks. First, it sketches how the natural sciences (including especially the biological sciences), the social sciences, and the scientific study of religion can be understood to furnish complementary, consonant perspectives on human beings and human groups. This suggests that it is possible to speak of a modern secular interpretation of humanity (MSIH) to which these perspectives contribute (though not without tensions). MSIH is not a comprehensive interpretation of human beings, if only because it adopts a posture of neutrality with regard to the reality of religious objects and the truth of theological claims about them. MSIH is certainly an impressively forceful interpretation, however, and it needs to be reckoned with by any perspective on human life that seeks to insert its truth claims into the arena of public debate. Second, the paper considers two challenges that MSIH poses to specifically theological interpretations of human beings. On the one hand, in spite of its posture of religious neutrality, MSIH is a key element in a class of wider, seemingly antireligious interpretations of humanity, including especially projectionist and illusionist critiques of religion. It is consonance with MSIH that makes these critiques such formidable competitors for traditional theological interpretations of human beings. On the other hand, and taking the religiously neutral posture of MSIH at face value, theological accounts of humanity that seek to coordinate the insights of MSIH with positive religious visions of human life must find ways to overcome or manage such dissonance as arises. The goal of synthesis is defended as important, and strategies for managing these challenges, especially in light of the pluralism of extant philosophical and theological interpretations of human beings, are advocated.     

Locating Religion in the Context of Charitable Food Assistance: An Ethnographic Study of Food Banks in a Finnish City

This article explores how, for whom, and to what extent religion is part of the reality that people enter into as they seek food assistance from a religious organization. Drawing from an ethnographic study of food assistance places in a Finnish city and applying Lefebvre’s spatial triad as a theoretical approach, the article describes the role of religion in the perceived, conceived, and lived space of charitable food provision in a secular Nordic welfare state. The findings show how the role of religion in the context of food assistance is subject to particular contexts and that this role is socially produced in the practices of the food banks, in the goals of the food providers, and in the lived experiences of the food recipients. The findings suggest that charitable food assistance is a social space where divergent readings of space as either religious or secular are potentially contested. The study provides a novel approach to understanding food assistance with its interconnections with religion and poses further questions for policy development, for religious organizations engaged in charitable food provision, and for future research.     

Interethnic Factors as Predictors of the Subjective Well‐Being of Minority Individuals in a Context of Recent Societal Changes

Our research examined the impact of contextual intergroup variables on the subjective well‐being of ethnic Russians in Estonia (N = 190) who have experienced major social changes with the demise of the Soviet Union. A mediational model was tested where aspects of intergroup relations (i.e., relative deprivation, status legitimization, and temporal comparisons) acted as mediators of the influence of cultural identity and representations of history on subjective well‐being. Preliminary analyses indicated polemical representations of history in which Estonian historical narratives are established around the struggle for independence, and Russian representations of history are consolidated around victory in World War II. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the importance of Russian history increased the perceptions of relative deprivation, status delegitimization, and the frequency of temporal comparisons, which negatively affected life satisfaction. At the same time, the importance of Estonian history led to positive perceptions of the intergroup situation and, in turn, to greater subjective well‐being. The effect of Russian identity on well‐being was mediated by delegitimizing beliefs, but not by relative deprivation and temporal comparisons. Estonian identity did not exert a significant effect on the proposed mediators. The research demonstrates the salience of the effects of contextual intergroup factors on subjective well‐being, and the article discusses implications for the study of intergroup relations and subjective well‐being.     

Theory as a Tool in the Social Scientific Study of Religion and Martin Riesebrodt's The Promise of Salvation

No single paradigm or debate currently orients the social scientific study of religion. Because of this, those engaged in the multidisciplinary study of religion find that a public conversation is often difficult. In this article and the Forum it introduces, we explore Martin Riesebrodt's recently published book, The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion. Responding to the inadequacies of secularization paradigms, rational choice models, and postmodern criticism, Riesebrodt proposes an approach that ideal‐typically reconstructs the subjective meanings of institutionalized religious practices (liturgies). These subjective meanings center on the prevention and management of crises—social, natural, and bodily—through appeal and access to superhuman powers. This pragmatic emphasis on the superhuman defines religion as a distinct sphere of social action transhistorically and transculturally. Riesebrodt's theory creates new analytical possibilities, especially for understanding the modern resurgence of religion under conditions of secularization.     

Breaking the will: relations between mental mortification in monastic life and the psychological abuse of children in Catholic institutions

This article will go into relations between mental mortification and the timely topic of abuse of children in Catholic institutions. Explorations are based upon qualitative research carried out at the University of Groningen. As unexpected as it may seem, in Dutch monastic life mortification was (still) being practiced during the 1950s and 1960s. Besides physical mortification that was primarily aimed at disciplining the body, members of religious communities also performed mental mortification to discipline their will. In this article the psychological context of mental mortification will be described in order to shed light on the topic of psychological abuse in particular. In the concluding section attention will be paid to parallels between mental mortification practices and experiences brought forward in testimonies of victims. In addition, the ways in which mental mortification may have caused abusive behaviour will be discussed.     

日常生活事件对中学生社会适应的影响：社会问题解决能力的中介作用

采用问卷法,对2157名中学生日常生活事件的特点,及其与社会适应、社会问题解决能力的关系进行研究。结果发现：（1）学业压力与人际冲突是中学生所遇到的最主要的日常生活事件,低年级经历的事件显著少于高年级,女生经历的事件显著少于男生;（2）中学生日常生活事件显著负向预测积极适应,显著正向预测消极适应;（3）社会问题解决能力在日常生活事件和社会适应之间起到部分中介作用,其中问题趋近、问题回避的作用尤其突出。