JournalTOCs

About Help News

Temenos
Number of Followers: 1

This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 0497-1817 - ISSN (Online) 2342-7256
Published by Finnish Society for the Study of Religion

[1 journal]

Editorial note
- Authors: Minna Opas, Sofia Sjö
  Pages: 5 - 6
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.115492
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Putting a Q into the Study of Religions
- Authors: Peter Nynäs
  Pages: 7 - 40
  Abstract: The Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective (YARG) research project implemented a cross-cultural, comparative, and mixed-method study of religious subjectivities in twelve countries worldwide. At the core of YARG was the use and development of the Faith Q-Sort (FQS), originally designed by David Wulff (2019). The FQS is based on Q methodology and a novel method in the study. Religion as an object of study has become increasingly evasive, and the FQS met our ambition of finding sensitive ways to assess contemporary religiosity in an international perspective. This article seeks to describe the project with a specific focus on the FQS. I draw here on other publications from the project, and our use of the FQS is further exemplified by two of the main analyses we conducted: the bird’s-eye view of the shared patterns of being religious in the international sample, and the exploration of cross-cultural variations of these patterns across our country-specific cases.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.116001
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
God Making in China
- Authors: James R. Lewis, Magrethe Løøv
  Pages: 41 - 65
  Abstract: Some religious leaders tend to gravitate towards claims of increasingly greater holiness. This sometimes results in the assumption of explicitly prophetic roles or in more extreme cases, claims of divinity. The present paper discusses the apotheosis of Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong. Although a comprehensive theory of divinization remains elusive, some general points can be made. First, we argue that any effort to theorize deification must include the observation that it is a process that arises in the context of social interaction between leader and followers rather than exclusively within the psyche of the leader, a point which has sometimes been missed in previous analyses. Second, divinization is a gradual process, with claims of divinity typically being amplified over time. Third, one must consider that divinization typically takes place within social spaces more or less set apart from the larger society, with group dynamics that facilitate deification. Fourth, divinization can be a strategy for coping with external threats like critical outsiders and repression. Finally, we argue that any effort to understand deification needs to consider the wider cultural and religious context. ‘God’ is a polythetic term, and divinization may therefore take on many different forms.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.97064
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Otherworldly Beings in the Pre-Christian North
- Authors: Simon Nygaard
  Pages: 67 - 89
  Abstract: The interplay between societal and cultural change consists of a host of different factors. Religious conceptions are just one and are this article’s focus. Various conceptions of Otherworldly beings can be found in the textual sources for pre-Christian Nordic religion. To better understand these differing descriptions, one can employ various theoretical frameworks when constructing the particular model for the reconstruction of pre-Christian Nordic religion. For this article a cultural evolutionary framework inspired by the work of Robert N. Bellah is paired with a model of ontology in a case study suggesting that specific types of Otherworldly beings belong to specific types of religion. It is suggested that Otherworldly beings such as the álfar may represent what might be termed a tribal religion, while Otherworldly beings such as the vanir seem to belong to an archaic religion. The proposed intermediate category of chiefdom religion is then suggested as relevant for a different kind of Otherworldly being, which is explored by applying Phillipe Descola’s work on ontology. These differing groups of Otherworldly beings further seem to fulfil similar functions while remaining relevant throughout our textual corpus. This is ultimately seen as an example of Bellah’s notion that ‘nothing [important] is ever lost’.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.102495
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
The Dichotomy of Branding
- Authors: Laura Kokkonen
  Pages: 91 - 117
  Abstract: This article investigates branding in the Orthodox Church of Finland. How does the Orthodox Church discuss its public image, and how does the theoretical lens of branding add to this discussion' In this study church communication workers were interviewed, and church strategies examined. The results indicate that discourses within churches are diverse and even contradictory. In the identified discourses the authenticity of the church is defended and the improper nature of marketing is asserted. At the same time marketing techniques are considered useful: marketing strategies employ public image and visibility. Based on Beyer, it is suggested that interviewees place a greater emphasis on church function. Moreover, this article discusses how identified discourses contribute to a broader discussion of the Orthodox Church’s relationship with modernity.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.99585
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Unveiling the Character Gallery of Sermons
- Authors: Anne Agersnap, Kirstine Johansen, Ross Kristensen-McLachlan
  Pages: 119 - 146
  Abstract: In this article we examine the character gallery in a digitized corpus of 11,955 Danish sermons from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark written between 2011 and 2016. We study these sermons as a collective text production in which the characters represented illustrate aspects of Christian tradition and cultural history. We depart from the following questions: which characters populate Danish sermons, and what representations of biblical texts and history are displayed from the interrelations of these characters' In line with Bakhtinian thought we approach the sermonic character gallery as a polyphony of voices, and informed by the Deleuzian idea of the rhizome, we understand this character gallery as a network in which characters through their connections to other characters form clusters of thematic narratives. We represent this network through a social network analysis using computational tools, and closely analyse which characters are connected in the network’s sub-groups, and how. We find that biblical figures especially enhance stories of Jesus as saviour, teacher, or caretaker, while political figures tend to be dissociated from biblical figures and representing narratives of historical atrocities. In addition to these figures a large group of anonymized characters prevails.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.100454
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Book Review: Religious Hatred
- Authors: Ruth Illman
  Pages: 147 - 149
  Abstract: Book review of Paul Hedges: Religious Hatred. Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context. Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, 297 pp.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.114997
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Book Review: The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal
- Authors: Måns Broo
  Pages: 150 - 151
  Abstract: Book Review of Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong (eds): The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal. London: Routledge, 2020, 266 pp.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.119412
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Book review: Unity, Division and the Religious Mainstream in Sweden
- Authors: Maria Klingenberg
  Pages: 152 - 154
  Abstract: Book Review of Erika Willander: Unity, Division and the Religious Mainstream in Sweden. Palgrave Studies in Lived Religion and Societal Challenges, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 137 pp.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.119462
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)
Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought
- Authors: Gabriella Beer
  Pages: 155 - 158
  Abstract: Book Review of Caryl Emerson, George Pattison, and Randall A. Poole (eds): The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, 752 pp.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.33356/temenos.119489
  Issue No: Vol. 58, No. 1 (2022)

JournalTOCs
School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK
Email: journaltocs@hw.ac.uk
Tel: +00 44 (0)131 4513762

Your IP address: 34.239.147.7

Home (Search)
API
About JournalTOCs
News (blog, publications)