Sociology of Religion Commons^™

Seeing Witchcraft, Bernhard Udelhoven

Journal of Global Catholicism

When Christians in Zambia struggle with witchcraft, they also struggle with African cultural and religious concepts that deal with life’s ambiguities and that require discernment. It is not by working against the cultural and religious heritage, but by working with it, as far as possible, that the pastor can identify the broken relationships towards which many witchcraft discourses point. However, before we place the concepts of witchcraft into the realm of superstition (as are the trends of mission Christianity) or the demonic (as are the trends of charismatic Christianity), the Church has the duty to look at the concepts, stay …

The Devil Of The Missionary Church: The White Fathers And Catholic Evangelization In Zambia, Bernhard Udelhoven

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines how Western Catholic missionaries in Zambia dealt with claims of witchcraft and Satanism. Within an analytic frame that draws upon cultural history, theology, and anthropology the article also considers how African Christians appropriated missionary notions of the devil.

Editor's Introduction, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

An overview of African Catholicism. Part Two: Retrospect and Prospect, third issue of the Journal of Global Catholicism. A summary of the work of Bradford Hinze, Mary Gloria Njoku, Matthias Scharer, Mary Sylvia Nwachukwu, and Bernhard Udelhoven. Among the topics considered: African ecclesiology, African wellness and quality of life in Africa, interreligious dialogue in Africa, African Biblical scholarship, witchcraft and the Catholic Church.

Faith-Based Resistance, Human Rights, And Emancipatory Practices, Curtis Kline

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Progressive political theologies can expand and deepen both the strength and the conceptualization of human rights advocacy. However, not all political theologies are an effort to defend human dignity; neither are all understandings and practices of human rights. The validation of progressive political theologies as well as the validation of human rights conceptualizations comes from their capacity to concretely change the lived reality of poor and oppressed peoples of the world.

As with political theologies, there is a constant struggle over the control of how to conceptualize what constitutes a human rights issue. While many communities of faith find liberating …

The Rise Of Latino Protestants, Aida Isela Ramos

Faculty Publications - Department of World Languages, Sociology & Cultural Studies

Excerpt: "During one of my first visits to a church in San Antonio for the Latino Protestant Congregations Project, the pastor invited a church member to speak about his experience in a federal immigration detention center. An elderly gentleman rose from his seat with a Bible tucked under his arm. For the next hour, this man, a Salvadoran undocumented immigrant, told his story."

Stewards Of God’S Mercy: Vocation And Priestly Ministry In Africa, Jordan Nyenyembe

Journal of Global Catholicism

A reflection on the tasks of priestly ministry in Africa with specific reference to the example and exhortation of Pope Francis. Among the issues addressed and critiqued are Western “cultic” understandings of the priest and the, the “Igwe Syndrome" which likens the priest to a chief.

Contested Moral Issues In Contemporary African Catholicism: Theological Proposals For A Hermeneutics Of Multiplicity And Inclusion, Stan Chu Ilo

Journal of Global Catholicism

Drawing upon the broad work of Vatican II and Pope Francis’ Evangelicum Gaudium the article proposes how a hermeneutic of multiplicity and inclusion could help hold in balance the tension between tradition and innovation, universal principles and specific contextual application for Catholicism in Africa. Among the issues addressed are cultural relativism, natural law theory, and polygamy.

Communicating The Justice And Peace Of God In Africa Today, Walter Ihejirika

Journal of Global Catholicism

Engaging with the work and theories of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, the article charts out a spirituality of communication within Nigerian Catholicism. Discussing the intersection between various forms of media and community, the article argues for the utilization of media in the pursuit of social justice and the dismantling of inequalities.

Inculturation Of Liturgical Music In The Roman Catholic Church Of Igbo Land: A Compositional Study, Benedict Nwabugwu Agbo

Journal of Global Catholicism

A study of inculturation, composition and music among Catholics in Igboland, Nigeria. The article insects with contemporary discussions of inculturation/enculturation after Vatican II and the recommendation of St. John Paul II in his Ecclesia in Africa.

Editor's Introduction, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction to African Catholicism: Contemporary Issues: Volume: 1, Issue 2 of the Journal of Global Catholicism

Why Are We Willing To Pay S$20 For A Bowl Of Ramen But Not Bak Chor Mee?, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Earlier this month, Singapore’s Hill Street Tai Wah Bak Chor Mee emerged first in the annual Top 50 World Street Food Masters list, making it the second time the hawker has been lauded internationally; it was one of two hawkers here to be awarded a Michelin Star earlier. Out of the top 50 in the World Street Food Masters list, 14 were Singapore hawkers. It says something about the high standards of our hawker fare in Singapore. Yet, Singaporeans are a spoilt lot when it comes to food, and the people we take most for granted are hawkers.

The Power Of Prayer, Victoria Dawn Thompson

Capstone Collection

If words are arbitrary, how does prayer have power?” is the question of inquiry in this paper. An unobtrusive Content Analysis inquiry methodology was used to answer this question. The answer lies in the finding that words and thoughts are not the same thing, and our thoughts expand beyond the audible and visible. The implication for professional practice these findings present is that a deeper awareness of “Self” is needed to understand people’s miraculous way of resolving conflict via prayer.

Hans Mol’S Sociology Of Religion: Reflection On The Relationship Between Identity And The Sacred As Applied To Bosnia And Herzegovina, Tomislav Tadić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The transformed character of religiosity requires a transformation in the scientific methodology where we are trying to capture the complex socio-ontological, epistemological and socio-anthropological granulations which form such a divergent term as religion. The importance of the theoretical interventions of Mol, from the standpoint of the history of sociology, lies in recognizing the reconstructing form within the discipline that needs to synthetically and polythetically understand the phenomenon which it explores."

Las Ofrendas A La Tierra En Un Mundo Global \ Offerings To Land In A Global World, Alison Wuensch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación aborda si las ofrendas a la Pachamama en el Cusco responden a la desvalorización de las culturas andinas en un mundo globalizado por el turismo, la globalización, la modernización, y la urbanización. El turismo místico en el Perú ha crecido desde las noventas con la promoción del estado peruano de la cultura viva, y una de las ceremonias andinas más importantes es la ofrenda a la Pachamama. El objetivo era identificar y explicar los efectos del turismo, la globalización, la modernización, y la urbanización en las ofrendas a la Pachamama según los chamanes y la observación. Fui a …

Pluralism And Religious Education In Bali: How Lack Of Implementation Of Educational Reform Threatens Indonesian Identity In The System Used To Construct It, Nikolai O. Birch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Indonesia’s education system was developed with the construction of the Indonesian as a cohesive people in mind. In doing so, the system adopted the practice of mandatory religious education as a means of developing the character of the Indonesian student through religion, a component imperative to the nation’s statehood. In the years and decades following, the education system, and subsequently its program of religious education, has been reformed and changed many times. This research attempts to look at how and why this changed system has struggled to implement these changes in the classroom, and why pluralism has been included in …

Tierra En Revuelta: La Presencia De La Cosmovisión Indígena En Las Luchas De Resistencia En La Región De Qoyllurit’I \ Earth In Revolt: The Presence Of The Indigenous Worldview In The Struggles Of Resistance In The Region Of Qoyllurit'i, Maya Pace

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El Santuario del Señor de Qoyllurit’i ha sido un lugar sagrado desde la época pre-inca y hasta ahora es el sitio de una peregrinación grandísima cada año. En 2011 recibió el título de Patrimonio Inmaterial Cultural de UNESCO en reconocimiento de su importancia para el Perú. Es un ejemplo fuerte de la mezcla de catolicismo con la cosmovisión indígena—la peregrinación es para honorar este sitio de un milagro católico, pero la peregrinación también incorpora danzas tradicionales, la creencia indígena en la nieve sagrada y en los apus, y pagos a la tierra. Entonces las propuestas de concesiones mineras recientes han …

From Liberation To Salvation: Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy Meets Liberation Theology, Peter Mclaren, Petar Jandrić

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This conversation between Peter McLaren and Petar Jandric´ brings about some of the most recent and deepest of McLaren’s insights into the relationship between revolutionary critical pedagogy and liberation theology, and outlines the main directions of development of McLaren’s thought during and after Pedagogy of Insurrection. In the conversation, McLaren reveals his personal and theoretical path to liberation theology. He argues for the relevance of liberation theology for contemporary social struggles, links it with social sciences, and addresses some recent critiques of Pedagogy of Insurrection. McLaren identifies the idolatry of money as the central point of convergence between liberation …

Rulers, Religion, And Riches: Why The West Got Rich And The Middle East Did Not, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Books and Book Chapters

For centuries following the spread of Islam, the Middle East was far ahead of Europe. Yet, the modern economy was born in Europe. Why was it not born in the Middle East? In this book Jared Rubin examines the role that Islam played in this reversal of fortunes. It argues that the religion itself is not to blame; the importance of religious legitimacy in Middle Eastern politics was the primary culprit. Muslim religious authorities were given an important seat at the political bargaining table, which they used to block important advancements such as the printing press and lending at interest. …

Balancing The Sacred And The Secular, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

Professor Lily Kong, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading social and cultural geographers, studies the complexities that surround a society’s religious spaces and practices.

See her book: Religion and space: Competition, conflict and violence in the contemporary world

and journal article:

Religious processions: Urban politics and poetics

Christians’ Cut: Popular Religion And The Global Health Campaign For Medical Male Circumcision In Swaziland, Casey Golomski, Sonene Nyawo

Anthropology

Swaziland faces one of the worst HIV epidemics in the world and is a site for the current global health campaign in sub-Saharan Africa to medically circumcise the majority of the male population. Given that Swaziland is also majority Christian, how does the most popular religion influence acceptance, rejection or understandings of medical male circumcision? This article considers interpretive differences by Christians across the Kingdom’s three ecumenical organisations, showing how a diverse group people singly glossed as ‘Christian’ in most public health acceptability studies critically rejected the procedure in unity, but not uniformly. Participants saw medical male circumcision’s promotion and …

On Making A Difference: How Photography And Narrative Produce The Short-Term Missions Experience, Joshua Kerby Jennings

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Short-term missions participants encounter difference in purportedly captivating ways. Current research, however, indicates the practice does not lead to long-lasting, positive change. Brian M. Howell (2012) argues the short-term missions experience is confined to the limitations of the short-term missions narrative. People who engage in short-term missions build assumptions, seek experiences, understand difference, and convey meaning, as a result of this narrative. The process of telling and retelling travel stories is integral to the short-term missions experience. Drawing upon literature on tourism, narrative, development, and photography, this study intends to evaluate the inefficacy of short-term missions through the stories which …

An Interpersonal Exploration Of Zen Buddhism: A Case Study Of Thiền Viện Trúc Lâm, Yuwen Michelson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Through ethnographic research, I plan to examine the institution of Zen Buddhist education. I study how the applied socio-cultural meanings of what it means to be a “Buddhist” affect individual and shared meanings of Zen Buddhism. I focus on how pedagogy and practice of Zen Buddhism influences personal interpretations of Buddhist thought and tradition.

Over the years, many Buddhist scholars have brought to light several methodological issues with the study of Buddhism via examination of the canon. These concerns range from issues of objectivity and intention to interpretation and creativity; while also including other complications regarding politics and power. Scholars …

Illuminating Infertility: An Exploration Of The Socioreligious Implications Of Infertility In Bali, Michaela Schwartz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I will examine infertility in Bali in a socioreligious context. I will use background research and interviews with infertile women and couples to draw connections between the customs, rituals, and traditions of Bali and the way people experience infertility. I hope to illuminate how Balinese religion and social structures affect the lived experiences of couples who cannot have children, both positively, negatively, and neutrally. Overall, my study aims to generate better understanding of the specificity of life in Bali for those who are unable to have children.

Dharma Dogs: A Narrative Approach To Understanding The Connection Of Sentience Between Humans And Canines, Anna Caldwell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

India has the highest population of stray dogs in the world1. Dharamsala, a cross-cultural community in the north Indian Himalayan foothills, is home to a number of particularly overweight and happy canines. However, the street dogs of Dharamsala are not an accurate representation of the state of stay dogs across India. This paper explores why this may be through narrative stories about the day-to-day interactions between humans and dogs. The following research addresses religious motives as well as the lack thereof.

Watch Chöd Self: An Examination Of Chöd, Its Practitioners, And Its Music, Weston Conner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The practice of Chöd is a form of Vajrayāna meditation that involves cutting one’s attachment to one’s self and compassionately offering one’s body as a feast for various deities and spirits. This study examines the practice of Chöd in the context of Boudha, Kathmandu, where there is a large community of Chödpas, Chöd practioners. This work aims to document the history of the practice, the experiences of some current Chöd practitioners, and the role that music plays in Chöd. This knowledge was acquired through observing Chödpas, speaking with them directly, and sitting in on various learning opportunities to gain firsthand …

Contributors To Indian Catholicism: Interventions And Imaginings, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

Contributors to Indian Catholicism: Interventions and Imaginings, the inaugural issue of the Journal of Global Catholicism.

Authority, Representation, And Offense: Dalit Catholics, Foot Washing, And The Study Of Global Catholicism, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

In reflecting on a sharp scholarly exchange at a conference, this article explores issues of authority, representation, and offense in global Catholic and South Asian Studies. Focusing on the act of foot washing by Dalit Catholics, the article examines how scholarly offense is linked to particular claims of representational authority. The article also puts this discussion within the context of contemporary debates about Western portrayals of Indian culture and society.

The Tying Of The Ceremonial Wedding Thread: A Feminist Analysis Of “Ritual” And “Tradition” Among Syro-Malabar Catholics In India, Sonja Thomas

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article presents a feminist analysis of patriarchy persisting in Catholicism of the Syro-Malabar rite in Kerala. The article specifically considers the impact of charismatic Catholicism on women of the Syro-Malabar rite and argues that it is important to interrogate this new face of religiosity in order to fully understand how certain rituals are allowed to change and be fluid, while others, especially concerning female sexuality, are enshrined as “tradition” which often restricts the parameters for women’s empowerment and may reinforce caste and patriarchal hegemonies preventing feminist solidarity across different religious- and caste-based groups.

Dalit Catholic Home Shrines In A North Indian Village, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines three Catholic home shrines in a Dalit community in North Indian and argues that it is misleading to think that home shrines and other collections of material objects are somehow static conveyors of meaning. “Meaning” can mean many things or nothing at all, depending upon the terms we are using and the scholarly methods we deploy. The crucial aspect of Dalit Catholic home shrines is that they are literally open to interpretation and reinterpretation, to touching and being touched. Their significance—their meaning—depends not on decoding their structure or symbolic logic, but interacting with them as part of …

The Grace Of God And The Travails Of Contemporary Indian Catholicism, Kerry P. C. San Chirico

Journal of Global Catholicism

This essay discusses the challenges faced by Indian Catholicism, particularly as it seeks to adapt to and in contemporary, post-colonial India through the process or program of what is called inculturation, a self-conscious program of adaptation to Indian religion and culture. Since Indian Catholicism is constituted by so many irreducible persons-in-relation, the article focuses on the life of the Catholic priest, Swami Ishwar Prasad in whose life we may chart something of the inculturation movement and the Catholic tradition as it is found in North India region, in one rather long and rich lifetime connecting two centuries. The article seeks …