K. M. University, India Christianity in the Land of Santhals: a study of Resistance and Acceptance in Historical Perspective(03U)

Alla, Zaluzhna

Ukrainian State University of Water Management and Natural Resources Application, Ukraine

Phenomenon of Holiness in Ukrainian Orthodox Tradition(17Q)

As an influential legacy of medieval culture, old Kyiv hagiography, with its strong national coloring, has been an enduring presence in the history of the Ukrainian people. The saints represent the finest example and highest attainment of the people. They embody the peoples' spiritual aspirations and moral ideals. Holiness was not only recognized as a spiritual value in Ukrainian tradition, it was raised to the high stage of social hierarchy when material aspects, especially private property, gained axiological weight. The image of the saint was a formative influence upon the whole language of sacred symbolism in Ukrainian culture, not only during the medieval era, but also in the most difficult periods of Ukrainian history. Holiness represents the incarnation of the moral foundation of Ukrainian culture. Likewise, holiness refers to the cultural and symbolic phenomenon that lies beyond the mundane and which repairs the mundane through the expiation of sins and transcendence of everyday life. Modern investigations of Ukrainian hagiography overlook this aspect of the saint as ethical hero. The influence of the saint's biography on personal moral development and the culture as a whole remains significant in Ukrainian national consciousness.

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Alla, Zaluzhna

Ukrainian State University of Water Management and Natural Resources Application, Ukraine

Historical and Political Studies of Religion in Russia(17Q)

*chairperson

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Allahyari, Rebecca A.

School of American Research, USA

Homeschooling Politics: Schooling Alone for the Social Good?(02I)

My ethnographic study, tentatively called Utopian Devotions, explores the worldviews of Anglo, Hispanic, Native American, and African-American homeschoolers who invoke "the sacred" in their daily practices and longer term aspirations. Two years of fieldwork have revealed a remarkable degree of "reflexive spirituality" (Roof 1999) among parents and children engaged in homeschooling education. What I have heard in interviews suggests that for many homeschooling is an on the ground, experimental utopian practice interwoven with the urgency of visions of sacred childhoods and the constraints of mundane life. While homeschooling might seem at first glance as an another instance of the phenomenon of "bowling alone" (Putnam 1995), many homeschoolers, although perhaps "schooling alone," structure their homeschooling to gain the social capital they deem essential to transform the world around them.

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Alles, Gregory D.

McDaniel College, USA

I Did Not Want to Write a War Book: Das Heilige in Context(02K)

Rudolf Otto always remained committed to fostering the well-being of the German nation. He also remained committed to the idea that theology, and later the study of religions, had a major role to play in furthering that well-being. But as circumstances changed this idea went through several variations: the insistence in the first decade of the 20th century that cultivating Weltanschauung was the key to German national well-being; the promotion of a cultural colonialism in the years just before World War I; the organization of a Religiöser Menschheitsbund to foster peace and seek genuine justice for conquered nations after the war; and finally an ambiguous relation to National Socialism. Otto wrote his most important book, Das Heilige, during World War I, while a member of the Prussian legislature. This paper will examine to what extent the war disrupted the union between Otto's religious thought and his nationalism.

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Alles, Gregory D.

McDaniel College, USA

The Cost of Religious Concepts: The Potential Application of Economics in the Cognitive Study of Religion(15K)

Cognitive scientists differ considerably on the cost of religious concepts. According to Pascal Boyer these concepts are moderately costly; that is, they are minimally counterintuitive. According to Harvey Whitehouse they are quite costly, maximally counterintuitive. But according to Stewart Guthrie religious concepts are actually preferred because they are least costly; what many have seen as counterintuitive traits are in fact quite intuitive. This paper will explore the extent to which we can sort out this disagreement by applying models from a discipline that is accustomed to dealing with costs: economics. Such models have already proven useful in the hands of cognitive psychologists such as John R. Anderson. This argument will suggest that it is a mistake to try to identify a natural, preferred cost, such as represented in Boyer's notion of a cognitive optimum, and will formulate the kinds of tasks that an alternative model needs to perform.

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Alles, Gregory D.

McDaniel College, USA

Critiques of Religious Studies from Economics, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy(15K)

*chairperson

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Alvstad, Erik

Goteborg University, Sweden

The Reading of Texts as Protection against Ominous Dreams: An Apotropaic Ritual in the Rabbinic Culture of Late Antiquity(04R)

As testified to in the rabbinic literature, the dream was viewed upon as an ambiguous phenomenon in early rabbinic Judaism. Usually considered to be of questionable status and value, but as a potential guide to the future as well as to contemporary issues, the dream was not easily dismissed. Situated in the intersection between folk belief and institutionalized religion, between magical practice and scholarly discourse, the oneiric conceptions and activities constitute what might be termed a marginal practice in rabbinic Judaism. As such it has potential to elucidate not only well-known cultural and religious patterns, but it sometimes also yields more unexpected insights into the culture's beliefs and customs. This paper will consider one aspect of Jewish dream culture: the ritual reading of texts with the aim to transform bad dreams into good ones.

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Amstutz, Galen

Ryukoku University, Japan

Modern Imagining of the "Uniqueness" of Japanese Buddhism in Japan and in the West(02S)

The dominant 20th century perceptions of uniqueness in Japanese Buddhism, either in Japan or in the West, are recent products of selective intellectual hybridization. In Japan, historically, most Buddhist organizations saw themselves universalistically and in terms of traditional foreign lineages of authority. Insistence on uniqueness appears mainly with modernist cultural nationalism after Meiji. Such crossbreeding has tended to dominate interpretations of Japanese Buddhism but is often contradictory: for example, Japan's ancient Buddhist art is handled as an aestheticized phenomenon based on the model of European art appreciation. On the Western side, various special interest groups have created their own hybridizations (especially from arts and Zen) in ways shaped by orientalism. Modern treatment of the Shin school shows the selectivity of these processes. From a comparativist viewpoint Shin really was a distinctive "protestant" form of Buddhism. However, Shin's importance has been minimized in both modern Japanese and Western accounts, which suggests that neither side has been seriously interested in any true historical uniqueness in Japanese Buddhism.

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Anderson, Carol

Kalamazoo College, USA

Symbols Worth Fighting For: Religious Conflict in South Asia(05C)

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Ando, Kiyoshi

Toyo University, Japan

Religious Activity and Psychological Health: a Preliminary Survey(02M)

There have been some controversies regarding religion's link to physical and mental health. In the present study, 260 members of Reiyukai completed a questionnaire including a GHQ (General Health Questionnaire), psychological scales (measures of group identity, world assumptions, locus of control, etc.), and several items that tapped their religious activities. Preliminary analyses indicated that the psychological health of the members was related to age, living standard, and belief in the instrumentality of the religious activity. Furthermore, the members had a tendency to believe in "benevolence of world" and "meaningfulness of world" (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). A main point of discussion is that belief in the instrumentality of the religious activity may enhance the motivation to engage in virtuous behaviors (showing forgiveness, expressing gratitude, etc.) in daily life, which reciprocally reinforce belief. This process might lead to better psychological health via the resolution of intra and inter-personal difficulties.

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Ando, Yasunori

Tottori University, Japan

Doi Takeo and His Amae Theory : Psychotherapy, human values, and beliefs(04U)

Doi Takeo is a famous psychoanalyst in Japan, and his book Amae no Kouzou (1971) has been widely read and discussed. His Amae theory is an original Japanese psychoanalytic theory. It attempts to both elucidate the Japanese mentality and human relationships and to reconsider the cultural background of the concepts of classical (western) psychoanalysis. Doi himself is a Catholic believer, and his spiritual crisis in post-war Japan is a typical model of creative illness. Through the process of integrating his Catholic faith, the national problem of spiritual recovery in post-war Japan and psychoanalysis as a new science, his Amae theory had gradually been formed. As a result, the theory is an original psycho-religious theory that gives us a profound insight into the relationship between psychoanalysis (or psychotherapy) and human values, especially in religion.

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Andre, Joao Maria

University of Coimbra, Portugal

Tolérance, Dialogue Interculturel et Globalisation :l'Actualité de Nicolas de Cues(04N)

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Andrews, Dale Kenneth

Tohoku University, Japan

The Sociological Aspect of Tatari (Curse) in Rural Japan(13P)

In present day rural Japan there exists ample evidence to suggest that people still adhere to a worldview in which the belief in tatari (curses) maintains significant meaning and familiarity. Based upon four years of fieldwork conducted in an agricultural village in Northern Japan, I propose that not unlike many cultural phenomena tatari demonstrates notable variation. On occasion, embedded within the dramatic religious context of tatari itself, a sociological aspect can be denoted that reflects the tensions found within the community. Through tatari the underlying social conflicts of the village, which are rooted in the doctrines of status and authority, are made manifest symbolically. Although tatari references fractured relations held with the supernatural, it may be observed that tatari is sometimes perceived by the villagers as relating a social disparity in the traditional social positions attached to houses (families) and individuals.

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Aneer, Gudmar

Power Structures, Identity and Fear in Processes of Religious Dialogue(15P)

Akbar the great Mogul in 16th century India let Shiis and then Hindus, Christians and people of other religions take part in religious discussions in the House of Worship where formerly only Sunnis were allowed. The Sunnis strictly following imitation (taqlid) felt that they were loosing their position in the power structure of the country. They were uncertain in their identity since the former borderlines towards other people were gradually abandoned and they feared that they would suffer the penalty for deviating from right religion. A Rabbi, an Imam and a Christian Pastor started a group of religious dialogue in Gothenburg Sweden some years ago. Especially the first two people were criticised we may assume for betraying their own religion by socialising with the enemy. The Imam was gradually marginalised by other Muslims who thus maintained their identity by keeping up the border lines against the Jews. Fear of loosing identity and power prevailed and the group was dissolved.

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Annaka, Naofumi

Rissho University Faculty of Buddhist Studies, Japan

Problems on the Development of Lotus Sutra Buddhism in Modern Japan and World Peace(09M)

Buddhist orders, including that of Nichiren Buddhism, took some roles in Japanese expansionist policy which started at the beginning of Meiji Period. Though the tendency continued until the end of the World War II in the case of Nichiren Buddhism, too much attention seems to have been given to it. Of course, we cannot deny that the activities of Tanaka Chigaku, who is said to have provided philosophical basis to the radical right-wing activists by his Nichiren Shugi (Nichirenism), and Honda Nissho, who contributed to spreading of Nichirenism and Social Education, gave great impacts on the society. However, the activities of those who attempted to realize peace through the thought of Lotus Sutra and Nichiren in contemporary Japan have not been properly appreciated. We intend to consider the problem of 'Peace' and modern Lotus Sutra Buddhism by examining the cases of such religious activists.

Roundtable session, Japanese
Antes, Peter

Universitaet Hannover, Germany

Islam in a Globalizing World(01O)

*chairperson

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Antes, Peter

Religion in the German School System(02D)

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Anttonen, Veikko Kalevi

The University of Turku, Finland

Space, Body, and the Notion of Boundary: A Category-Theoretical Approach to the Issue of Sacrality(13F)

The paper explores the issue of sacrality from the point of view of cognitive semantics, developed within the fields of cognitive psychology and linguistics, to explain the principles of human categorization. I will argue in support of the view that the notion of sacrality, expressed and transmitted in various genres of oral tradition and in written documents of a religious tradition, can be approached and explained on the basis of social and cognitive constraints that structure human thinking and behavior in general and various forms of religious representations in particular. In my theoretical vantage point that I call "the conceptual semantics of religion", space and body are seen as fundamental structuring factors, which give rise to various forms of cultural and religious symbolism. Places and sites set apart as 'sacred' are not only locations of power and prestige, but also mnemonic devices through which strategically important information can be mediated. They trigger forms of belief and behavior, especially rituals, that contribute in maintaining and generating such highly charged notions as faith, conviction and commitment.

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Anuj, B.

SGM College, India

Snake Festival - A Cultural Identity in Tribes of Jhahkhand(17S)

Jharkhand is a tribal populated state of India. Numerous kinds of tribe live in the area and all have their distinctive social, cultural and religious life style. Anthropologists, sociologists and social scientists from the whole would concentrate to this area and promote research works on the various ethnic groups residing in this most conspicuous part. Tribes believe in various god and goddesses. They adopt specific worship styles. In my paper, an attempt is being made to project a specific cultural and religious identity of Tribes which is known as "Mansa" or "Snake worship". Snake worship is held in the month of August or September every year. Hindu tribes of Jharkhand worship lord Shiva. In Hindu mythology, god Shiva is portrayed having three snakes round his neck. During snake worship festival for tribes the ritual is conducted by Sokha. He brings the snake from the forest and plays with it before the crowd gathered round him. The snake is given some milk to drink. Some women observe three or four days fast during the worship. The whole village contributes towards the expenses. The snake worship festival has not only a religious significant rather social implications also. The paper will focus the social-religious and cultural implications of snake worship festival prevalent among the tribes of Jharkhand.

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Aoki, Takeshi

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan

When They Turn East, Zoroastrians in Far East (AD400-1992)(*co-author with Yan, Kejia)(01P)

We will clearify five things: (1)the route the Zoroastians went eastward; (2)the story as a whole and the periods of the Zoroastrians in Chine; (3)ethnic analysis (Persians and Parsis); (4)some sociological features (Especially the Parsi diaspora) (5)Zoroastrians in Japan

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Aono, Tashio

Seinan Gakuin University, Japan

Christian Belief and Violent Conflict(11N)

The main cause of violent conflicts seen repeatedly in the history of Christianity has almost always been caused by the exclusive Christian belief that the absolute salvation of humankind is possible only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If the absolute, exclusive nature of this Christian belief is to be relativized, the attitude of Christians who strive to solve religious conflicts will surely have to drastically change. My thesis argues that the beginning steps in the process of this relativization can be found in Jesus himself, and in Paul. As a New Testament scholar, I would like to point out these initial stages, through Biblical exegesis, and reflect on how we can integrate them in our own approaches to establish peace among ourselves.

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Apilado, Digna Balangue

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Philippines

A Historical Interpretation: Pre-Christian Beliefs and Practices Among Catholic Ilocanos(14E)

The Ilocanos are the dominant ethnic group in the region of Northwest Luzon who are known for their religiosity and intense devotion to the Roman Catholic religion. Despite their christianization, there are many pre-Christian practices still followed by the Ilocano people. This paper will identify specific pre-Christian practices, and will present two possible historical explanations for the persistence of such customs. The first is the historical role of the Roman Catholic religion as the prescribed orthodoxy of the Spanish colonial state. Many aspects in the daily life of the people remained outside the purvey of the clergy, and thus many practices that are non-Christian in origin continued as before. The combined beliefs and practices were an expression of the world view of the Ilocanos. The second possible explanation is that the Catholic clergy, and the Church itself, have always been tolerant of deviations from the orthodox teachings. So long as the deviations do not assume forms that would challenge the status quo, pre-Christian and unorthodox practices are allowed and even accepted as part of the total belief system of the people.

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Apple Arai, Shinobu

Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Canada

The System of Empowerment for Ordinary Individuals in Tiantai Zhiyi's Liumiao famen(03M)

The thought of the Latter Days of the Law was engendered through the event of persecution of Buddhism in Northern Zhou. This persecution is one form of a critical response against a monk-based recluse form of Buddhism. Daijo Tokiwa reads this persecution within the context of a current of thought that calls for "Mahayana Bodhisattva Buddhism" to be accessible to anyone, regardless of one's socio-religious status. Along these lines, this paper focuses upon the "empowerment for ordinary individuals" depicted in the Liumiao famen by Zhiyi (538-597). In this text, which was taught at the request of a lay follower, Zhiyi outlines for ordinary individuals seeking the Buddhist path practical methods of cultivation that enable them to become bodhisattvas. The empowerment for ordinary individuals discussed in the Liumiao famen serves as an exemplum to these cultural concerns and a response to the current of thought passing through the 6th century in China.

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Apple Arai, Shinobu

Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Canada

Religions, Power-Relations, and Human Flourishing at the Crossroad of Violence and Respect: Daisaku Ikeda's Interpretation of Nichiren's Doctrine(16P)

Truth claims in religious discourse inevitably contain power-relations between "self" and "others," and, when applied to the everyday world, the relations often generate forms of violence that tend to one-sidedly stipulate and/or condition "others." This presentation examines Daisaku Ikeda's interpretation of Nichiren's doctrine, "the three meanings of Myo," which claims the ultimate supremacy of the Lotus Sutra over any other teachings. The paper also demonstrates that his interpretation is a translation of the truth claim in religious discourse into the claim of human flourishing - character of humanity - in ethical discourse. Analysis of the nature of power-relations in both discourses will find that Ikeda's translation into human flourishing allows the power-relations of ethical discourse to generate forms of respect when the relations are applied into the everyday world. Finally, this paper discusses that Ikeda's endeavor of the translation can serve as a work that lays a foundation of dialogue among people who vary in religious tradition (among other things).

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Apple, James B.

University of Alberta, Canada

Analytic Parallels between Buddhist Philosophical Thought and Socio-rhetorical Approaches to the Study of Religion(05K)

The history of the history of religions has in general provided two approaches to the academic study of religion: an essentialist approach, carrying underlying theological presumptions, and a socio-rhetorical approach incorporating post-modern critical techniques. This paper examines parallels between classical Indian Buddhist analytical procedures and socio-rhetorical approaches to the study of religion. Classical Indian Buddhist philosophy developed a wide range of second order analytical procedures for investigating categories within language and epistemology, including the examination of definition along with reasoned analysis for deconstructing "substantialist" ontological presumptions. The paper juxtaposes these Buddhist philosophical investigative procedures with socio-rhetorical approaches to defining "religion" and the categories of essentialist/functionalist. The paper then re-describes these issues in the framework of classical Buddhist reasoned analysis and provides a reinterpretation of studying religion from the perspective of a "sliding scale" of analysis where varying levels of essentialist assumptions may be provisionally accepted according to a pragmatic socio-cultural context of application.

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Arai, Kazuhiro

Kyoto University, Japan

Innovation in Organization and Expression of Religious Emotion in a Sufi Order – with Special Reference to the Jazuliya Shadhiliya in Contemporary Egypt(03O)

Jazuliya Shadhiliya is a new Sufi Order born out of contemporary urban Egyptian society. The group was mainly shaped by changes that had occurred in the everyday lives of the middle classes of Cairo. A key feature of this order is the efficient system of division-of-labor according to which a Shaykh is found in the position of leader and the members are divided up into sub-groups distinguished by differently colored hats signifying the different roles and functions of these sub-groups. In light of the modern nature of the administration and organization of this group, it also has to be mentioned that they still condone and encourage the expression of emotions and aggressive physical movements characteristic of ecstatic states that have come to be generally criticized among modern Muslim intellectuals. Although such an emphasis on the expression of emotion can be commonly seen in traditional Sufi orders, modernization-oriented orders tend to highly regulate or restrain above-mentioned activities. Therefore, I want to investigate how this particular movement balances these two aspects (the emotional and intellectual) in order to shed light on newly emerging modern Sufi orders.

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