Robert C. Neville (ed.), The Human Condition: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project; Ultimate Realities: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project; Religious Truth: A Volume in the Comparative Religious Ideas Project

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

The Younger Generation of Culture Scholars and Culture-studies in Russia Today

I consider the main problem areas within theacademic project ``The 1990s: The Semantics ofRussian Culture,' undertaken by researchers,recent graduates, and the first post-graduatesof the Moscow Institute for European Cultures.The areas include new figures on the publicscene; new forms of communication; newinstitutions; current processes in culture andsociety. I examine the social and historicalframework of the formation of culture studiesas an academic discipline in contemporaryRussia, the alternative perspectives and tasksof the sociology of culture in Russian today.     

Religious Life Under Theocracy: The Case of Iran

The occurrence of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, followed by a large‐scale “Islamization” of society, resulted in some unique developments with regard to religious life in this country. Over the past two decades, there has been a lively debate among social scientists about the nature of such developments, and over their implications for other Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. Most of the contributions to this debate so far have been limited to the examination of different theoretical possibilities, without strong references to empirical evidence. In the present study, we attempt to address this shortcoming in the existing literature on religious developments in Iran by relying on a rich set of empirical data recently gathered through a large‐scale national survey of values and attitudes in Iran. Through a composite index of religious sentiments, we explored the magnitude and the nature of religious sentiments among groups of different age and gender. Also, we examined changes with regard to religiosity in the period between 1975 and 2001. The outstanding finding is that the establishment of a theocratic regime in Iran has led to the transformation of the nature of faith, marked by a noticeable shift from “organized” to a more “personalized” religion, in which the emphasis is placed on beliefs rather than on practices. Also, among both beliefs and practices, more emphasis is placed on those with a purely individual nature, or with a social nature but organized through civic and nongovernmental bodies, as opposed to those commanded by the government. The article ends with a brief discussion of the implications of such developments for the existing debate among sociologists of religion on secularization and “de‐secularization.” Our findings indicate that any linear perspective on the demise or survival of religion in society will unreasonably brush aside the fact that religion is not merely a social institution, but also a “cultural resource” that individuals may draw upon, depending on their surrounding sociopolitical circumstances and their reading of those circumstances.     

俄罗斯颁布新宗教法以后的宗教状况及存在问题

俄罗斯是一个有着深厚宗教传统的国度。信教居民占其人口的大多数。苏联政治体制改革以后，在俄国社会生活领域，新宗教法的颁布似乎成了其民主化进程的试金石。1997年9月，俄罗斯颁布了《信仰自由与宗教组织联邦法》，受到国际社会的广泛关注。这是俄国历史上迄今为止最为详尽的一部宗教法。它是在总结了以往正反两方面的经验教训以后，即既吸取了70年社会主义时期“左”的教训，又经历了解体前后完全放开导致国外各种颠覆势力、分裂势力渗透、新兴宗教蜂拥而起的失控状态后，痛定思痛，在政府、教会和信教群众各个方面都感到迫切需要重新…     

Exceptionalism or Chinamerica: Measuring Religious Change in the Globalizing World Today

Religion is changing fast in this era of globalization. Major global trends include the growth of Muslims, the shrinking percentage of unaffiliated, and the rapid rise of Christianity in global China. By 2030, China is likely to become the largest Christian country in the world while retaining large numbers of Buddhists, Muslims, and folk religious believers. To capture religious changes more accurately, social scientists of religion must sharpen their measurement tools regarding religiosity; pay more attention to the reality of nonalignment among religious identity, belief, and practice; and acknowledge the reality of nonexclusive/multiple religious beliefs, practices, and identities. Scholars must also take responsibility for developing a clear and nuanced definition of religion, abandon exceptionalist thinking, and seek to discover common patterns of religious change across societies. Conceptual and measurement tools at the disposal of social scientists of religion should enable us to perceive and understand the converging changes of religion in China, the United States, and other societies, without ignoring their historical differences and contemporary particularities.     

生命自主:当代生命伦理学的终极价值追求

1　生命自主的含义人的生命 ,首先表现为一种自然存在形式和物质复合体 ,也就是指人的自然生命。但是 ,人之为人 ,不在于他有自然生命 ,而在于他还有着特定的人格 ,在于他的“价值生命”。“价值生命”作为对自然生命的否定 ,是人的自为之有的存在状态。在生命的类化过程中 ,人扬弃的是自然生命的自在性 ,超越的是生命的内在性和主观性 ,获得的是一个新的以意识自觉为前提的个体性的生命 ,即价值生命的创生。按照马克思的说法 ,“动物和它的生命活动是直接同一的。人则使自己的生命活动本身变成自己的意志和意识的对象。正是这一有意识的生…