Religious Commitment in Scriptural Reasoning: A Critical Engagement with Gavin D'Costa's “Catholics Reading the Scripture of Other Religions”

The essay considers the objection that Scriptural Reasoning does not actually bring particular religious points of view into discussion, but rather suppresses traditions by the way it is organized. The article contends that, while Scriptural Reasoning as a whole is not entirely determined by a defining statement from any single religious tradition, any given participant can and is encouraged to bring the fullness of their commitment to discussion, and even overarching accounts of Scriptural Reasoning may well deploy the resources of a tradition. The essay closes by testing Scriptural Reasoning against criteria for being religious, concluding that it allows religious commitment to function in every respect that matters, given that it allows multiple traditions to have a say in how the practice is configured.     

Attitudes toward religious diversity among American exemplars of Christian virtue

An important concern within contemporary Western societies is how religious adherents view and engage religious diversity. This study attempts to further understandings regarding religious diversity in contemporary society through the accounts of American Christian religious exemplars whose religious identification spans the conservative evangelical, liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions. Ninety‐six in‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals recognized by their congregational leadership as exemplifying Christian virtues and thereby Christian commitment. Weak denominational allegiances, accompanied by salient identification with broad Christian religious traditions were found. Mainline/liberal Christians tended to identify conservative/evangelical Christians as ‘others’, while conservative/evangelical Christians identified Mormons as ‘others.’ Also, a shift in attitudes toward Catholics was found among Protestants, and attitudes toward non‐Christian religions were respectfully civil across a range of theological understanding of these religions. The implications of these findings for religious identity in contemporary society are explored with particular attention to religious diversity.     

A Commentary on Religious Conflicts and a Call for a Focus on the Best the Traditions have to Offer

The casual observer of the religious traditions cannot get a very good impression when attending to the daily news. One might easily conclude that much of the troubles in the world today are caused by religious conflicts and the inability of the religious communities to get along. Sometimes, it appears that the planet would be better off without religion at all. Tragically, most of the general population are perhaps religious illiterates who focus on religious differences and conflicts rather than similarities and what they offer at their best. While there are a number of efforts by scholars and others to improve interfaith respect and conversation, our world would be better off if we focused on the best the religious traditions have to offer rather than the worst as well as respecting and being open to traditions other than our own. This could be accomplished if religious education and training were greatly altered.     

A REPLY TO ANNE KULL,EDUARDO CRUZ,AND MICHAEL DeLASHMUTT

In my reply to the essays by Anne Kull, Eduardo Cruz, and Michael DeLashmutt, I turn first to Cruz's charge that my use of “the sacred” is at odds with a growing religious studies mainstream that understands religion in secular terms. I suggest that this latter approach has its own problems, deriving partly from its neglect of the political, constructed nature of the category of “religion.” Second, in relation to Cruz's suggestion that my lack of attention to explanation compromises my claim to be social scientific, I defend a broader understanding of the human sciences and explore the relationships between understanding, critique, and history, and between sociology and theology. Third, reflecting on DeLashmutt's suggestion that I neglect the way that technical invention provides a glimpse of divine creativity, and the myth making that goes on around technology in vehicles such as science fiction, I argue that such issues have to be approached in a radically historical way. I conclude by identifying three challenges: to explore more deeply how technological objects form part of human being‐in‐the‐world, to show how my approach might offer practical resources for assessing technological and environmental developments, and to expand my analysis to include non‐Western religious traditions.     

TIME, THERMODYNAMICS, AND THEOLOGY

Keywords: A theological approach to understanding time and change in a modern way must consider the relationships between thermal physics and time as elucidated during the past century and a half. The fact of temporal change, including death and decay, has been a religious problem since antiquity, so that some traditions have simply attempted to transcend the world of change. However, a major current of the Christian tradition has seen change as a fundamental aspect of God's creation, and one with which God becomes identified in the Incarnation. This implies approval of history, as having an ultimate value, rather than transcendence of it.
We examine thermodynamics, and especially its Second Law, in order to understand more precisely the issues of temporal change. The Second Law states a universal tendency toward increasing disorder, and several implications of this law are discussed. Of particular significance, however, is the work of Prigogine and others on nonequilibrium thermodynamics, drawing attention to such phenomena as the enhancement of chemical reaction rates and the formation of "dissipative structures" in nonequilibrium situations. Such possibilities may be of considerable importance for understanding chemical and biological evolution.
These ideas can be included in an evolutionary picture in which, following Teilhard de Chardin, the Body of Christ is seen as the future of evolution-an "ultimate dissipative structure" in which the world of time and change is united with God. Suffering, death, and decay receive their meaning from the future. Within this framework it is therefore possible to believe that the material world of history may be part of the eschatological future and that science provides hints, though not predictions, of how that may happen.     

The Open-Ended Legacy of Ralph Wendell Burhoe

Through cultivating my thinking, along with that of many others, Ralph Burhoe taught me to understand myself in relational terms. He helped me to appreciate religious traditions on scientific grounds and to see how religion adapts to changing conditions even as it continues to provide meaning and guidance to the wider culture. He restored my belief in an ever-present sovereign God when God is understood in terms of function and system.     

Generating Trust in Congregations: Engagement,Exchange, and Social Networks

The relationship between religion and trust is complex and there is little consensus on why, in general, religious people appear to be more trusting than their unaffiliated peers. Most research on religion and trust focuses on differences between traditions and denominations, which offers rather limited insight into the genesis of trust for religious persons. In this study, we draw on recent theoretical developments in social psychology to explore how specific patterns of social interactions within congregations enhance within‐congregation trust among members to the benefit of both churches and individuals. Using survey data from the Portraits of American Life Study, we find that the positive relationship between religiosity and trust is driven less by religious beliefs or practices and more by particular characteristics of micro‐level processes that occur in churches (e.g., closeness of relationships to religious leaders, density of congregational ties, and both giving and receiving aid from other congregation members). In light of research on social learning and trust, we also discuss the potential benefits of this particularized trust for individuals’ levels of generalized trust.     

VISITING DEAD ANCESTORS: SHAMANS AS INTERPRETERS OF RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

Abstract. Religious traditions enable ancestors to encourage proper social behavior in their distant descendants. Although traditional myths and rituals can provide basic values, these values must be interpreted in light of the specific circumstances encountered by later generations. In tribal societies the task of interpreting religious traditions falls upon religious leaders known as shamans. Shamans, perhaps universally, are claimed to obtain instructions from dead ancestors on how to deal with social disruptions. This paper argues that a focus on the more exotic aspects of shamanism has kept previous studies from realizing the crucial role of shamans as interpreters of religious traditions.     

RE: religions,equality and curriculum time

Theory can mislead by ignoring detail and the practicalities of teaching situations. Understanding others requires just this attention to detail and practicalities. These observations identify the failings in the ambitions of the National Framework for RE to teach as many ‘religious’ traditions as possible. Part of the motivation of the authors of the Framework appears to reside in the commitment found in liberal education to equality. The author is not convinced that, unless this is religiously conceived, equality can be achieved amongst religions without creating serious inequalities. Attention to practical constraints given by existing language and culture suggests another way forward but in a dialogical spirit that recognizes an equality before God.     

Inclusivism and the spiritual journey of Marie de Souza Canavarro (1849–1933)

Every age has its share of religious seekers, but during some periods of spiritual crisis greater numbers of seekers seem to appear. Marie de Souza Canavarro, an American advocate and interpreter of Asian traditions, was a paradigmatic seeker in an age of religious wandering. Along the way, she embraced Catholicism, Theosophy, Buddhism, Bahá'í, and Hinduism. In this article I offer an interpretation of her life and work, drawing on her novels, poems, letters, lectures, articles, and autobiography. I argue that amidst the diversity of views she affirmed, there was some continuity. Canavarro longed for rest from her ceaseless wandering, and she hoped that religious and gender inclusivism might bring it. She, like others of her age, yearned for a tradition that elevated women and reconciled religions.     

Ecumenical and Inter‐religious Contributions to Asian Liberation Theologies

This essay surveys the varieties of liberation theologies that have emerged in different religious communities across Asia. It explores how Asian liberation theologians from across the major religious traditions of Asia have sought answers from within their own religious traditions and social locations to the endemic persistence of mass poverty, exploitative socio‐economic structures, and oppressive political systems that often deny basic human and democratic rights to the poor and marginalized masses in Asia. The article's basic premise is that liberation and social justice are not monopolies of Christianity, but are found across the great religious traditions of Asia, and it highlights examples such as Mahatma Gandhi in Indian Hinduism, B. R. Ambedkar in Indian Buddhism, and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in Thai Buddhism. Christian examples include Aloysius Pieris (Sri Lanka), Dalit and indigenous tribal theologies from India, and Minjung theology from Korea.     

Recovering the Lost: Remeasuring U.S. Religious Affiliation

Over the past several decades, survey research has found a growing percentage of Americans claiming no religious affiliation. In this article, we introduce a modified religious traditions (RELTRAD) typology to measure religious affiliation. The approach benefits from a more detailed data collection and coding scheme of religious tradition based upon religious family, denomination, and congregation. Using new national survey data from the Baylor Religion Survey, we find: (1) improvement to survey design and measurement makes it possible to accurately locate more Americans within established religious traditions; (2) Americans remain connected to congregations, but less so to denominations or more generic religious identity labels; and (3) religious adherents are considerably more evangelical than prior studies have found. Finally, we consider how affiliation as a form of religious belonging relates to religious beliefs and behaviors.     

The Axes of Debt: A Preface to Three Essays

This is a preface to three essays on different aspects of ontological and economic debt as themes in religious ethics. It frames their contribution by arguing that debt is central to traditions of philosophical and religious ethics yet is woefully neglected as a thematic problem and problematic in contemporary iterations of these traditions. In order to situate debt as a central moral concern, it is argued that any consideration of debt must wrestle with how debt exists on two axes. One is the axis of ontological and economic debt. The other is the axis of debt as an expression of mutuality and debt as a mode of domination. These axes generate deep ambiguities regarding the moral status of debt. But contemporary religious and philosophical ethics struggles to articulate, let alone address, this ambiguity due to being wedded to modern conceptions of the autonomous subject. The essay closes by setting out the themes of the three essays, the connections between them, and how they can be a catalyst for further reflection on this vital but under‐researched topic.     

Divine Appetites: Food Miracles,Authority and Religious Identities in the Gujarati Hindu Diaspora

Research of the Gujarati Hindu communities of the United Kingdom and New Zealand has uncovered an extraordinary diversity of belief concerning the miraculous consumption of devotional food offerings by murtis. Devotees of certain traditions have experienced these events first-hand, but many Hindus believe the process is more subtle. Others suggest that such claims are attempts to gain spiritual authority among Hindus in the diaspora, some dismiss them as simply fraudulent. This article examines the appetite of the divine and how it is understood and contested by various Gujarati Hindu traditions in the United Kingdom and in New Zealand. It will assess the significance of food miracles and how they strengthen ideas of religious identity and spiritual validity as well as their role creating a palpable tension between traditions as to who authoritatively represents Hinduism in the diaspora.     

THE EVOLUTIONARY BASIS OF RELIGIOUS ETHICS

Abstract. I propose that religious ethical traditions can be understood as cultural expressions of underlying evolutionary processes. I begin with a discussion of evolutionary theories of morality, specifically kin selection and reciprocal altruism, and then discuss some recent work on the evolution of religion, setting out those features of religion that prepare it to take on a moral function in society. Having established the theoretical framework for the thesis, I turn to a close reading of early Jewish and Christian ethical teachings, as found in the Bible, in order to set out preliminary support for the proposal. My goal is to argue for the plausibility of the thesis and to indicate how, if correct, it provides new insight into Judeo‐Christian moral traditions and into the phenomenon of religious violence. Such an approach to religious ethics has important metaethical implications. In the last section I consider issues such as the foundation of ethics and the possibilities and limitations of a secular ethics.     

Reflexive Ecclesiology: A Challenge to Applied Research in Religious Organizations

This essay addresses the issue of applied research in, on, and for religious organizations, especially trends in how research has been carried out in relation to religious organizations. It asks how applied research has changed, and what are the implications for the larger field of social scientific research. The essay begins with some general comments about the challenges that face religious organizations in a post‐traditional world that require reflexive monitoring of their traditions and ecclesial practices if these organizations are to survive and engage the future in a significant way. Applied research is defined as one form of reflexive monitoring and includes both (1) research commissioned by leaders of religious organization as an aid for understanding a particular situation or shaping policy or programs, and (2) research that, though not commissioned by religious organizations, has as its primary intent providing religious organizations with policy‐relevant information. Using this definition, the essay then traces trends in applied research from the earlier part of the twentieth century to the present, focusing especially on the past fifty years. It concludes with an assessment of these research efforts as examples of reflexive monitoring.     

White sage,bears, and territory: contemporary indigenous religion among the Chumash

ABSTRACT

Since the 1960s, indigenous revitalization has been widespread in Native North America. However, few systematic studies of contemporary indigenous religion exist. This article provides an in-depth analysis of revitalized beliefs and practices as they are lived among the Chumash of Southern California. Shaped by a colonial history that almost eradicated indigenous culture, Chumash tradition is reinterpreted through religious practices that ground it in local territory and anchor it in pre-Catholic traditions. Although postcolonial agendas are significant in indigenous Chumash religion has existential significance beyond ethnicity politics. Contemporary Paganism is employed as a comparative perspective to discuss how religion provides a way for individuals to define and explore their cultural specificities when they relate to and participate in globalized society. The practices of healing, cleansing, and divination as well as beliefs in the unity with animals, spirits, and ancestors form a framework not only for individuals’ search for meaning, but also for reestablishing community.     

Religious Belonging,Religious Agency,and Women's Autonomy in Mozambique

Women's autonomy has frequently been linked with women's opportunities and investments, such as education, employment, and reproductive control. The association between women's autonomy and religion in the developing world, however, has received less attention, and the few existing studies make comparisons across major religious traditions. In this study, we focus on variations in levels of female decision‐making autonomy within a single religious tradition—Christianity. Using unique survey data from a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique, we devise an autonomy scale and apply it to compare women affiliated with different Christian denominations as well as unaffiliated women. In addition to affiliation, we examine the relationship between autonomy and women's religious agency both within and outside their churches. Multivariate analyses show that women belonging to more liberal religious traditions (such as Catholicism and mainline Protestantism) tend to have higher autonomy levels, regardless of other factors. These results are situated within the cross‐national scholarship on religion and women's empowerment and are interpreted in the context of gendered religious dynamics in Mozambique and similar developing settings.     

AFTER LYNN WHITE: RELIGIOUS ETHICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

The fields of environmental ethics and of religion and ecology have been shaped by Lynn White Jr.'s thesis that the roots of ecological crisis lie in religious cosmology. Independent critical movements in both fields, however, now question this methodological legacy and argue for alternative ways of inquiry. For religious ethics, the twin controversies cast doubt on prevailing ways of connecting environmental problems to religious deliberations because the criticisms raise questions about what counts as an environmental problem, how religious traditions change, and whether ethicists should approach problems and traditions with reformist commitments. This article examines the critiques of White's legacy and presents a pluralist alternative that focuses religious ethics on the contextual strategies produced by moral communities as they confront environmental problems.