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

Prideaux, Melanie

Leeds University, UK

A Space of Interfaith Encounter in a Northern English City(14F)

"Faith Together in Leeds 11" is a multifaith project led by Muslims and Christians which, with public money, has built and runs two community centres for a deprived area of northern England. In so doing the project has provided fertile ground for an inductive exploration of the relationship between religion and space. In this paper I will observe and analyse the way in which the space of the community centres 'holds' issues including those of identity, ownership and difference, and provides an opportunity for interfaith encounter and negotiation through the practice of sharing space. The physical space is seen as a fundamental and powerful factor in structuring the nature of potential and actual interfaith and religious-secular encounter in the two centres.

Organized panel
Prins, Jacomien

University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Marsilio Ficino's Belief in the Creation of a Harmonic Universe(03T)

The central question of my paper is why Ficino used the Timaeus of Plato, a dialogue which was considered as an incomplete and poetic account of the creation of the harmonic universe, while he could also study the detailed explications of creation, as described in Genesis, by the Church Fathers. The answer will be searched for in the Renaissance's image of the ancient past. Ficino believed that if the Greeks had also received a kind of divine revelation about creation, even though it may not be as profound as that confided to the Hebrews, but enough to prepare them for the coming of Christianity, then their philosophies and poetic visions must certainly be the foreboding of that revelation. In that case they could be profitably studied by philosophers in order to formulate a definitive philosophy about eternal spiritual truths that were revealed to wise men in different cultures and ages.

Organized panel, English
Prohl, Inken

Free University of Berlin, Germany

Diversification of Religion - The Case of World Mate(02T)

The founder of World Mate, Fukami Toshu, built up a string of successful enterprises, which include a trading company, a publishing firm and a management-consulting firm. He is a multimillionaire, a composer, musical performer and a sponsor of a wide range of social activities. At the same time he acts as the leader of one of the so-called new new religion of Japan, the World Mate, that display many characteristics typical for new new religions: they offer their supporters a plethora of activities and goods, such as group pilgrimages, rituals for accessing divine energy for worldly concerns and a colourful palette of devotional wares. Fukami, who finds also the time to publish many bestsellers of which the title Lucky Fortune sold 950.000 copies worldwide, calls himself a believer in Shinto. He co-founded the International Shinto foundation to let the world know the "true nature of Shinto". How is a successful entrepreneur like Fukami able to combine his different roles, particularly his role as entrepreneur with his role as religious specialist and spiritual leader? In which ways do Fukami's business-activities affect the organizational and financial structure of World Mate? Which means do the group use to convince its supporters about the sincerity of its activities and goals? In my paper I present some answers to these questions. World Mate is described as a religion strongly directed by commercialism and diversification. In my conclusion these aspects are discussed in the context of Japanese religion as well as religion in general.

Organized panel, English
Prohl, Inken

Free University of Berlin, Germany

Transformations of the So-called New Age in Comparative Perspective(06M)

The so-called "New Age" has evolved in past decades. The New Age has become increasingly integrated into mainstream of society, through its tendency to exotize and orientialize as well as through its obsession with a vaguely defined "spirituality". Focussing on the East of Europe, Germany and Great Britain on the one hand, and Japan on the other hand, the papers in this panel deal with the role of "healing", the search for an "inner-self" or "self-spirituality" and with a "spiritual" lifestyle New Age movements. Also considered is the role of the exotic in mainstream religion. Another topic considered is the idea of "spirituality," which informs scholarly work on the so-called New Age. Can "spirituality" be found in the social reality of the practitioners of the so-called New Age or is it rather a construction?

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Prohl, Inken

Free University of Berlin, Germany

New Age in Germany and Japan in Comparative Perspective(06M)

Organized panel

Provost-Smith, Patrick

Harvard University, USA

Interdisciplinarity and Capacious Humanism: Analogy and Theological Method in the History of Religions(03Q)

Current debates concerning the place of religious studies in the study of theology, or vice versa, are unlikely to be resolved by current strategies of differentiation that restrain religious studies to descriptive and theology to constructive ends. Such differentiation is neither descriptive of what theologians or scholars of religion do in practice, nor their theoretical formations. Yet, many interdisciplinary approaches also fail to describe the ways in which theology, in its various forms, comes already invested in questions of describing, defining, and interpreting religious idioms that are outside of itself. By recourse to significant moments in the history of Christian theology, this paper will consider the ways in which theological method is not autonomous, but embedded in the problems of thick description and interpretation proper to the history of religions. Hence, theology and religious studies meet in a potentially productive epistemological space reducible neither to disciplinary boundaries nor shared epistemologies.

Organized panel, English
Puntarigvivat, Tavivat

The World Buddhist University, Thailand

The Clash of Civilizations: A Buddhist Perspective(03K)

Religious ideology may be a crucial factor that leads to either peace or conflict, depending upon its interpretations. The suicidal bombing attacks by Muslim terrorists against the West has reminded us of the Japanese kamikaze during World War II. This paper is intended to explore if some of the interpretations of Islam today provide an ideology leading to militarism in a similar way that Shintoism did in Japan during World War II. Peaceful resolution is envisaged: First, transnational capitalism should be transformed so that people in the Third World - including Muslims - have a better standard of living. Second, people of all races, sexes, ages, nationalities and religious beliefs are called to peacefully co-exist in this pluralist world. Third, the modern interpretation of religious scriptures should be done in such a way that it provides ideology for peace, rather than conflict or war.

Organized panel, English
Pye, Michael

University of Marburg / Otani University, Germany

Possibilities of Religious Education in Secular Schools(02D)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Pye, Michael

University of Marburg / Otani University, Germany

Concepts of Tolerance and Condemnation: Buddhist Attitudes towards Competing Religions and Dissident Sects(03S)

*respondent

Organized panel
Pye, Michael

University of Marburg / Otani University, Germany

Religious Pluralism in Practice: Case Studies from South-East Asia(04I)

In many parts of the world, religious pluralism is a complex state of affairs which is managed not only by secular authorities but also by the religious participants themselves. Subtle interactions arise between wider civic requirements and the daily practice of religious communities at the grass roots. The papers in this panel will look at how this works out in specific situations in South-East Asia. In the context of this panel, there will be a brief report on the IAHR regional conference in Yogyakarta/Semarang (Sept/Oct 2003), possibly including the presentation of the proceedings.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Pye, Michael

University of Marburg / Otani University, Germany

The Significance of the Awareness of one's own "Evil" (aku) in Contemporary :A Focus on Shinran's Thought(05I)

*respondent

Organized panel
Pye, Michael

University of Marburg / Otani University, Germany

Elements of a Religious Education Programme for Japan(06L)

In an earlier paper (Tenri 2002) the author argued that an "integrative religious education" should take account of the academic study of religions (not confessional positions), the phases of child development, the variety of religions in the world, and the particular perspectives of each society. So which religious systems should be considered in any such educational programme? Educationists worldwide name major traditions such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, while Hinduism or Shinto seem to be of varying importance. But there are two further questions. First, what about less dominant religions such as Tenrikyo or Sikhism, or even politically "difficult" religions such as Aum Shinrikyo? Second, what about the widespread networks of religious practice and symbols referred to as "primal religion" and as "civil religion" which, though without legal status, are of great importance in Japan?

Organized panel, English
Pye, Michael

University of Marburg / Otani University, Germany

The Representation of Religions and the Negotiation of Conflict and Peace(16C)

*respondent

Organized panel
Pyysiainen, Ilkka E.

Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Finland

Whom the Bell Tolls(15K)

No theory is an island. Even the cognitive science of religion has its bridgeheads on the continent, called "Religious Studies." These bridges should not support only one-way traffic. It is possible to study cognition using religious materials, and to study religion using the cognitive approach. Scholars of religion should be primarily interested in the latter option. This is not possible if "cognitivists" in the study of religion separate themselves from what goes on in the study of religion. Only future history will show for whom the bell tolls: the "old-style" religionists or the avant-garde cognitivists. Personally, I would like to see something entirely new emerging from an interaction between these two.

Organized panel, English
Pyysiainen, Ilkka E.

Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Finland

Mind and Society in the Transmission of Religion(16U)

This panel will evaluate the "Modes Theory" of religiosity developed by Harvey Whitehouse in a number of recent publications. The central question is the relationship between mind and society in the transmission of religion. Two volumes edited by Whitehouse and Luther H. Martin on anthropological and historical and archaeological evidence will be evaluated by Ketola and Sjoblom, respectively. Whitehouse and Martin will respond.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Qin, Weigang

Sichuan University, China

'Qiwanbutong' in Huanglao School(16D)

Organized panel

Qing, Xitai

Sichuan University, China

Religious Conflicts and Peace from the View of Taoism(16D)

Organized panel

Qing, Xitai

Sichuan University, China

Taoist Cultures and Global Peace(16D)

Religion is one element of culture. Many conflicts in the world, including religious conflicts, are usually related with curtain cultural elements. In 1955, Dr. Joseph Needham, one of the most famous British Sinologist, already pointed out in the British-Chinese Friendship Association lecture, "the West and the East," that the evils which the Western civilization produced would be a serious threat to human beings. Taoism, or even the Chinese culture as a whole, may be attractive for the 21st century society, for Taoism has many reasonable ideas which can correct "the evils which the Western civilization produced" that Dr. Needham pointed out. Taoism may be an alternative worth studying for the modern civilization; the Taoist cultures may be a "good medicine" that can bring about happiness and peace to the world, when it contributes to the development of the new global cultures.

Organized panel
Rahn, Patsy

Indiana University, USA

China: Crisis, Identity, and Proselytization(06H)

In July 1999, a spiritual movement known as Falun Gong (FLG) was banned in China. The group, which existed primarily in China but also in the United States and elsewhere, responded to the crisis by taking pro-active measures in China and on the international level to end the ban. To reach this prosaic goal, the Internet and media were used as means of protest and seeking redress. This paper will explore the link between the group's crisis, protest and proselytization. I suggest that for the Falun Gong, due to doctrinal developments in response to their crisis, the goal of exposing and ending the suppression in China has become inexorably linked to their higher spiritual goal of personal and universal salvation. One result of this is that while the media has become their main means of dispute, the dispute has become their main means of proselytization. Examining the development of FLG teachings and the role the internet and media have played to reach both prosaic and spiritual goals, helps us understand the important role of technology.

Symposium, English
Raisanen, Heikki Martti

University of Helsinki, Finland

Islam and Christianity: A Mutual Intellectual Challenge(05O)

Islam rejects the doctrine of the Trinity. While mainstream Christianity insists on this doctrine, Muslim criticisms converge with some strands within Christianity itself. Some theologians interpret traditional christology symbolically, emphasizing the diversity of New Testament images of Jesus. None are fully consonant with the traditional doctrine, and some come close to Muslim perceptions. Christians have asked: Could not Muslims adopt a historical-critical approach to the Qur'an? In this case, too, critical questions from outside converge with existing strands within the religion. Some Muslim scholars admit that the Qur'an makes use of older stories and that its contents are intimately related to the person and experience of Muhammad. My paper will discuss the contribution of some of these scholars. A mutual recognition of such challenges could lead to a dialogue (between "enlightened" minorities, to be sure) in which central tenets of each are somewhat relativised.

Organized panel, English
Raj, Selva J.

Albion College, USA

Recent Hindu-Christian Conflict in India: A Critique(05C)

Organized panel

Raj, Selva J.

Albion College, USA

Religion and Violence in South Asia(05C)

Cradle of at least four world religions and home to major populations of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists, South Asia presents an enormous diversity of religious traditions. The sub-continent prides itself of a long and celebrated history of religious accommodation, tolerance, and hospitality. Some have claimed that this tradition of tolerance and hospitality is not only evident in the mutual borrowing, assimilation, and hybridity characteristic of these traditions but also in the inclusive and pluralistic approach they have traditionally adopted in interreligious discourse and exchange. These claims notwithstanding, South Asia has recently been the site of intense religious conflict, contestation, and violence. While actual incidents of interreligious conflict are not entirely uncommon or unknown in South Asia, frequently these are inspired and guided by social, political, and nationalist agenda engineered by politicians and political activists rather than religious or doctrinal issues. Our panel will examine recent expressions of religious conflict and violence in South Asia and delineate the social, political, and nationalist issues that undergird contemporary manifestations and discourse on religious violence.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Rakow, Katja

Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

"You will not find the Term in the Holy Scripture" - Virtual Discussion Groups as a Substitute for the Inability to Express Criticism within the Community(03J)

In a first reaction to critical media-campaigns that began in the early 1990s, the Chief Apostle of the New Apostolic Church (NAC) declared "You will not find the term `criticism' in the Holy Scripture. Therefore we don't need it in our church!" The NAC is the third largest Christian community in Germany, but since its 19th-century beginnings has remained an isolated community. As a result of the growing pressure following critical press coverage in the mid-1990s, the NAC-leadership initiated an opening-up process centering on better external communication. Through this readiness to be more open with outsiders, the once sharp contrast between internal community life and the outside world has started to dissolve, as external critical impulses are now having a much bigger impact on the community than before. Critical positions within the community used to lead to irresolvable conflicts that very often resulted in the excommunication of the critic. Recently it has become possible to monitor this change in dealing with such inner-communal critical positions. At least in virtual space, the development of an atmosphere of constructive criticism among a number of NAC members has been observed. Chat-rooms and information boards on the Internet have created a kind of free, informal space for uninhibited discussion that up to now was unthinkable in the religious life of the local communities. The paper analyzes these still evolving processes.

Organized panel, English
Reeh, Niels

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

On the Importance of Warfare, Inter-State Relations and State Form in the Study of Religion(03V)

The state and the state form have not played a prominent role in the traditional academic study of religion. Instead, religion is most often treated as an empirical phenomenon that exists independent of the state form. Inspired by approaches and methods used in ethnology and sociology this paper seeks to open up a new perspective. If a state is viewed as an organisation that is forced to organise itself in a such a way that it can defend itself, then it can be argued that this self- organisation has important implications for the formation of religion. This paper thus argues in favour of an approach that illuminates the consequences and influences that state form, inter-state relations and warfare have on religion within a state.

Organized panel, English
Reeves, Gene

The University of Tsukuba (retired), Japan

The Lotus Sutra and Peace(01M)

This panel will look at three aspects of the Lotus Sutra and its influence in the 20th century. One presentation will focus on the Lotus Sutra in relation to religious tolerance and intolerance and to inter-religious cooperation. Another will focus on the impact of the Lotus Sutra on the life of poet and children's story writer Kenji Miyazawa, particularly on his apparent movement away from his early enthusiasm for the ideas of Chigaku Tanaka. A third panelist will discuss the dynamic view of peace based on the Lotus Sutra developed by Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, a modern Lotus Sutra-based Buddhist movement active in interfaith cooperation for world peace. Though developed independently, the three presentations can be understood to be explorations of three different dimensions of the Lotus Sutra and peace.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract
Reeves, Gene

The University of Tsukuba (retired), Japan

Gender in Buddhism(10F)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Reid, Jennifer

University of Maine at Farmington, USA

Sacred Language and Aboriginal Entitlement: Kluskap Myths and the Failure of 18th Century Treaties(01F)

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, folklorists recorded a body of Mi'kmaq myths that focused on the mythic hero Kluskap Given Kluskap's centrality in these collections, one might expect he would have remained the focus of sacred narratives into the present, but this is not so. Although Kluskap is associated with landscape, widespread knowledge of the earlier myths has disappeared. We might conclude that Kluskaps earlier centrality in Mi'kmaq oral culture was over-emphasized by scholars, but this would be an error. I believe Kluskap figured prominently during the period, and that interest in these myths has recently waned. Obvious questions, then are why (I) these myths had such popularity, and (ii) this popularity ebbed. The answer is that Kluskap myths have functioned as a symbolic apparatus for interpreting 18th century treaties, and for opposing the dominant epistemological/ legal foundations of the relationship between the Mi'kmaq and non-aboriginal Canadian society.

Organized panel, English
Reill, Peter Hanns

UCLA, USA

Between Theosophy and Orthodox Christianity: Johann Salomo Semler's Hermetic Religion(10G)

The paper will investigate the thought of one of Germany's most important religious thinkers of the late eighteenth-century. Central to Semler's project to redefine religion was his commitment to a modern form of hermeticism, derived from his deep knowledge of esoteric literature. Central to this project was his critique of traditional hermeticism that tended in his view to become theosophy and his equally critical opinion of orthodox Christianity. By reforming hermetic thought, Semler believed he could provide the key to correctly understand the hidden message of Christianity. Semler's theological thought was greatly shaped by his believe that a "higher chemistry," capable of producing refined substances, served as the model for instituting a refined Christianity.

Symposium, English
Reinders, Eric

Emory University, USA

The Corpse and the Idol in Victorian Missionary and Military Cultures(12U)

This paper examines the relations of violence on living bodies and violence on symbolic bodies (icons), focusing on accounts of late Qing China by Protestant missionaries and Western soldiers. I argue that, especially in reportage on the Taiping and Boxer rebellions, the corpse and the idol became pervasive metaphors of China as a whole. Many reports dwelled on the heaps of corpses, suicides, charnel houses, severed heads on display, noisy public funerals, chaotic graveyards, and unburied corpses awaiting burial. Westerners imagined China as a vast "spectacle of death" and also of idolatry. In their respective tasks, to destroy the bodies of gods (or demons), and to kill on the battlefield, what kinds of religious rhetoric did missionaries and soldiers share? What do these rhetorical continuities say about either of these forms of violence? I will conclude with remarks on the larger thematic issues, and analogous cases from recent history.

Organized panel
Rennie, Bryan Stephenson

Westminster College, USA

THE UNDERLYING TERROR: Religious Studies Perspectives on the War on Terrorism(01C)

The projected volume brings together interdisciplinary essays primarily by religious studies scholars, offering critical analyses of 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terrorism. The essays reflect a broad spectrum of scholarly approaches and perspectives. An underlying focus is the claim that the attacks of September 11, 2001 reactions to those events were intimately linked to cultural and social authorizing processes that could be called "religious." We are exploring national identity formation, ritualization of traumatic events, and cultural power contestations along with reflections on the role of the public intellectual in such situations. We claim that the violence emerged from serious underlying factors, including post-colonial political factors. What we hoped to accomplish in this volume was to offer a discursive space for serious critical analyses of these events by various scholars working in the field. Now, with the collection almost complete, this symposium offers a wonderful opportunity for the contributors to meet to discuss the development of the volume and their current understandings in the light of the papers that have emerged.

Symposium, * Session Abstract, English