A revolutionary as a “beautiful soul”: Lev Tolstoy’s path to ethical anarchism

This article discusses Leo Tolstoy’s view of the Russian revolutionary movement. Taking as a focal point the writer’s lifelong interest in the Decembrist uprising of 1825 and particularly in the personalities of the gentry revolutionaries, the article argues that Tolstoy’s fascination for these figures was due to their superior moral qualities, rather than to their political and socioeconomic doctrines. Following Alexander Herzen, Tolstoy came to regard the Decembrists as full-fledged individualities and “beautiful souls” (in Friedrich von Schiller’s sense of the term). Thus, Tolstoy’s much debated “conversion” and subsequent attempts to transform literary art into a medium of religious and moral reform (and thus a peaceful cultural revolution) can also be viewed as extensions of his project of self-understanding and self-formation according to the model of kalokagathia provided by Russia’s aristocratic revolutionaries.

     

Judaism and the Contingency of Religious Law in Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason

For Kant’s moral universalism, contingent religious law is legitimate only when it serves as a means of fulfilling the moral law. Though Kant uses traditional theological resources to account for the possibility of “statutory ecclesiastical law” in historical religions, he denies this possibility to Jewish law. Something like Kant’s logic appears in the work of some of his intellectual successors who continue to define Christianity in terms of its moral superiority to Judaism while attempting to excise remaining “Jewish” elements from it. A more adequate account of the Hebrew Bible, Judaism, and the origins of Christianity exposes deficiencies in Kant’s universalizing logic which seems to deny any intrinsic value to historical religions. A possible alternative may lie in a modified account of the relationship between the moral law and religious law, perhaps nourished by Jewish thought, including the rabbinic tradition of the Noachide commandments.     

Spinoza and Tolstoy in Valentin Asmus’ comparative analysis

Studies in East European Thought - The paper investigates the dependence of Leo Tolstoy’s ethical, religious and political ideas on Benedict Spinoza’s philosophy. The Soviet philosopher...     

A Religious Point of View

The purpose of this paper is to show connections between Wittgenstein's approach to philosophy and the writings on religion of two authors whom we know Wittgenstein read and admired: William James and Leo Tolstoy. Wittgenstein stresses certain attitudes toward philosophical ‘problems’ which resemble the attitudes that James and Tolstoy connect with religious faith. There are also similarities of phrases and expressions. It is not possible to say that these writers influenced the way Wittgenstein regarded philosophy, but it suggests that he recognized the similarities between their approaches and his despite the differences in subject. Consequently it helps to clarify why he would speak of his approach to problems as being from ‘a religious point of view’ even though its orientation is not specifically religious.     

Die Vorahnung der Revolution in den Werken russischer Schriftsteller

This article discusses the intellectual and spiritual atmosphere in Russia on the eve of the 1917 revolution. In particular, through the examples of Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, the author shows how the changes in the Russian economic and sociopolitical situation effected the intellectuals of the era. Despite the differences in social backgrounds, lifestyles, worldviews and artistic styles, Tolstoy’s and Gorky’s assessments of Russia’s developmental prospects were in many ways consistent. As this article demonstrates, the values held by both writers were grounded in their unorthodox religious views. In conclusion, the author reexamines Lenin’s assessment of both writers.

     

Interfaith marriage attitudes in Muslim majority countries: A multilevel approach

ABSTRACT

This research uses multilevel structural equation modeling to examine Muslims’ attitudes toward interfaith marriage with Christians in 22 countries with a Muslim majority population (N = 21,373). Attitudes toward interfaith marriage, for sons and daughters separately, were measured with single items, and three binary items were used to measure participants’ religious beliefs. Overall attitudes were negative and more negative toward marriage of one’s daughter compared to one’s son. Stronger religious belief was associated with more negative attitudes, but less so for Muslims who perceived more similarities than differences between Islam and Christianity. Perceived religious similarity was associated with more positive attitudes. The proportion of Christians in a country was not associated with interfaith marriage attitudes. However, the association between belief and attitude was found to differ considerably across countries.     

Leo Tolstoy the spiritual educator

This paper considers the often overlooked religious and educational works of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). After outlining Tolstoy's life, religious and educational views, it is argued that Tolstoy has much to offer spiritual educators today. In particular, it suggests Tolstoy's insistence on the absolute and eternal nature of spiritual and moral truths, coupled with a free and heuristic pedagogy, are key ingredients of an authentic spiritual education.     

Teaching about Christianity: a configurative review of research in English schools

This article presents a systematic review of empirical research on teaching about Christianity in state schools in England between 1993 and 2013. First, I explain the background to this religion’s current place within English religious education. The value of a configurative review is set out, and inclusion criteria are outlined, leading to the selection of 58 publications. Then the article’s theoretical frame is explained, drawing on activity theory, and the analysis is set out under three broad organising principles: (1) Teachers’ professional and pedagogical intentions; (2) How teachers draw on different pedagogical strategies to enact these intentions, for example systematic or thematic approaches; and (3) How these intentions and strategies affect pupil learning, such as pupils’ conceptions of difficult topics. The implications for research in religious education are then drawn together, notably the need to consider the pedagogical issues for different religions individually.     

Gandhi’s perspective on non-violence and animals: ethical theory and moral practice

Mahatma Gandhi’s profound theory of non-violence takes into account both human beings and animals. His fundamental thought on the subject of protecting animals is the outcome of a cluster of theories, including the non-violence of Jainism, the teachings of the Gitā, Sānkhya, Christianity, and Tolstoy. While retaining the literal meaning of non-violence i.e. non-killing, Gandhi attributes to it certain features that expand its scope and yet also determine its limitations. He suggests that non-violence does not merely imply non-hurting in thought and deed, but that it entails an extension of love and compassion. He identifies its limitation by unmistakably denying the possibility of absolute non-violence. He defends his stance on animals on the basis of a wide range of perspectives: religious, scientific, political, as well as economic. Gandhi demands protection of their lives (rights) and also enhancement of their welfare. This paper aims (a) to philosophically analyse Gandhi’s doctrine of non-violence; (b) to demonstrate how he offers solutions based on non-violence for resolving issues of animal exploitation such as human–animal conflict, meat-eating, experimentation on animals etc.; (c) to systematize his accounts of animals.     

宗教身份与罗马人格法

宗教身份是指某宗教团体(派别)及其信徒在世俗社会中所处的地位。在基督教传入罗马前,各宗教间保持着和平共处的态势。其时,拥有某宗教身份不会影响人们的法律地位。但随着基督教的出现,这种情况改变了。帝政初期,他教信仰者因憎恶基督徒而对其迫害。因基督教身份,基督徒或被剥夺市民身份降为外邦人;或被剥夺自由身份降为奴隶。此时,宗教身份是人格变更的因素。而当基督教成为帝国国教时,信仰正统的基督教则成为完整人格的构成要素。凡信仰正统基督教则享有完整的权利能力;反之则具体权利能力受限,但不会导致身份的剥夺。     

Ecology: Religious or Secular?

‘Ecology: religious or secular?’ addresses the issue of the relation between ecology and the idea of God. ‘Social’ interpretations of ecology seem to fit with traditional Christian models, such as stewardship, for grasping the relation between humanity and nature. ‘Deep’ interpretations of ecology, in which nature is understood to encompass humanity, appear, by contrast, less amenable to assimilation by Christianity. The choice – for so it is often presented – between ‘deep’ and ‘social’ forms of ecology is thus a test case for Christianity. Does the Christian theologian opt for ‘social’ ecology because it best addresses the issue of human embeddedness in nature or because it fits better with prior metaphysical commitments? This article argues that the only way such a dilemma can be addressed theologically is by thinking through at a fundamental level the character of God’s relation to the world. An enquiry in philosophical theology, through the consideration of the concept of divine simplicity, it is argued, suggests that Christianity is not condemned to ‘religious’ readings of ecology. That is, Christianity is not obliged to select evidence based on criteria derived from prior theological commitments (e.g. to the model of stewardship). Instead, beginning in the concept of God enables a truly ‘secular’ enquiry which acknowledges a wide range of evidence of our materiality. Indeed, such a ‘secular’ enquiry can only be established by reference to the idea of God.     

Patriotism,Orthodox religion and education: empirical findings from contemporary Russia

In recent years, an objective of some Russian Orthodox activists and Church leaders has been the introduction of religious education in state schools which was established in Russia in 2012, following a 2009 Presidential Directive. Today, however, there are two different strands in religious education. On the one hand, there is the state’s emphasis on the bonds between Orthodox Christianity and Russian history, culture and identity. Based on this so-called culturological understanding of religion, the Russian state hopes to use Orthodoxy in nation- and institution-building and in the strengthening of patriotism. On the other hand, while the culturological language is also used in the Church’s official discourse, in practice there are many attempts by Orthodox clergymen and activists to use religious education for the purposes of evangelisation.     

Introduction: The Charismatic Movement and Contemporary Social Change

The ‘Emerging Church’ is an American-born movement that dates to the late 1990s. It is fundamentally a movement of cultural critique in which the primary interlocutor is the dominant tradition in the United States, conservative Evangelicalism. In this article I address the phenomenon of Emerging Christianity based on historical, literary, and ethnographic analyses of Emerging Church advocates and critics. In particular, I argue that four points of dialogue characterize the status of Emerging in the United States: ‘post-foundational’ theology, ‘ancient-future’ worship, ‘missional’ evangelism, and a general posture of ‘deconversion.’ Ultimately, I present the story of the Emerging Church for its significance to two broad theoretical questions. First, how do new forms of religious identity come into being? And, second, for those working in the ‘anthropology of Christianity’: what happens when Christianities interact? In response to these questions, I stress the Janus-faced quality of Emerging Christianity and its reliance on the categories, narratives, and vocabulary of conservative Evangelicalism in constructing its thoroughgoing cultural critique.     

Religious exploration and conversion in forced displacement: a case study of Syrian Muslim refugees in Lebanon receiving assistance from Evangelical Christians

The idea of religious conversion as a break with one’s past and a change in identity and belonging is precarious when religious practices are considered in a context of displacement. Forced migrants’ sense of identity often becomes volatile when social and political pressures lead them to break with various aspects of their past lives. During a season of displacement, refugees and forced migrants may begin to attend religious meetings of a tradition different to that of their family or cease engaging in religious activities at all. Using the humanitarian engagement of Lebanese Evangelical churches with Syrian Muslim refugees as a case study, this article explores some of the unique dynamics in religious engagement in refugee communities. Many Syrian refugees began to attend church and study Christianity and this did indeed seem to have some sort of ‘spiritual’ influence on them, although few considered making a more radical change in their identity.     

(Re)producing Buddhist hegemony in Sri Lanka: advancing the discursive formations of self-Orientalism,religious (im)mobility and ‘unethical’ conversion

This paper explores how Buddhist groups in Sri Lanka attempt to suppress conversion to Christianity. Conversion to Christianity can dilute the power and legitimacy of Buddhist groups, which has caused them to promote a discourse of ‘unethical’ conversion. My argument is that such a discourse is self-Orientalising in nature, and is designed to enable the (re)production of Buddhist hegemony in Sri Lanka. By constructing Buddhists as vulnerable and in need of protection, the hegemonic actions of Buddhist groups are validated. These constructions serve to restrict the religious (and socio-cultural) mobility of Buddhists, and to legitimise the persecution of Christians through both legislative and violent means. Sensitivity to the effects of self-Orientalism reveals the need for more critical readings of the effects of religious protectionism on both the Christian other, and the national self as well.     

Using REBT in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Couples Counseling in the United States

This article addresses how marriage functions within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Case studies of couples within these three religions are used to demonstrate how rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) can help address marital issues within couples counseling of religious individuals in a manner that supports the couples’ religious values but decreases disturbance associated with religious issues within marriage.     

Christian Identification and Self‐Reported Depression: Evidence from China

The nexus between religion and mental health in the East has been understudied, where the coexistence of multiple religions calls for scholarly attention to religious identification. This article investigates the impact on self‐reported depression of an individual's identification with Christianity in a non‐Judeo‐Christian and religion‐regulating social setting. Taking advantage of the Chinese General Social Survey 2010, our empirical analyses suggest that people who explicitly identify with Christianity report a significantly higher level of depression compared with both religious nones and self‐claimed Buddhists. In contrast, there is no significant difference in self‐reported depression between religious nones and self‐identified Buddhists. This study supplements current literature on the connection between religious affiliation and mental health with a particular interest in East Asia, suggesting that the consequence on mental health of religious identification is contingent on a religion's social status, and a religion's marginal position may turn religious identification into a detrimental psychological burden.     

Religion and Madness

The question I try to answer in this paper is: How should we distinguish mad from sane religious belief? After looking at the clear-cut but opposed answers of Freud and Jung, I then examine the modern psychiatric answer, particularly as presented in the DSM IV. After arguing that each of the three answers is unsatisfactory, I look at what I take to be the more promising approach of Con Drury, Wittgenstein’s friend and biographer, in an essay called “Madness and Religion,” where, drawing on the religious histories of Joan of Arc, George Fox and Tolstoy and three of his own psychiatric patients, Drury suggests that there is no objective yet ethical way to make the distinction. This leads to my own answer, which is that the best we can do is to distinguish mad from neurotic religious belief; and hence that the safest position, although not the most comfortable, is the neurotic one.