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

Chidester, David

University of Cape Town, South Africa

A Colonial House of Dreams: Zulu Dreams, Divination, and Religion in Nineteenth-Century South Africa(01F)

In Primitive Culture (1871), E. B. Tylor supported his theory of religion, animism, by referring to reports about "savage" dreams. Citing Henry Callaway's Religious System of the Amazulu (1868-1870), Tylor invoked the dreams of a Zulu diviner, a "professional seer" who becomes a "house of dreams," as a classic example of animism because "phantoms are continually coming to talk to him in his sleep." In the original account, however, the phantoms were not coming "to talk" to the diviner. They were coming to kill him. This paper explores the hermeneutics of dreams in relation to indigenous practices of Zulu divination, colonial situations of violence, and imperial theorizing about religion.

Organized panel, English
Chidester, David

University of Cape Town, South Africa

Questioning ' the Religious': Talking Outside the West(10E)

*respondent

Organized panel, English
Cho, Sun Taek

Korea University, Korea

Colonial Legacy in Korean Buddhism and Buddhist Scholarship(05D)

This paper will examine how a number of important problems in contemporary scholarship on Korean Buddhism, specifically and East Asian Buddhism in general, stem from a single source: the tendency to view Buddhism in purely rationalistic terms. I will argue that this rationalistic prejudice, in turn, derives from the history of Western colonialism in Korea, and the circumstances of Korean modernization - a radical cultural transformation imposed from outside. Furthermore, I will discuss the viewpoint of Korean Buddhist intellectuals during the period of colonialism. Overwhelmed by the powerful impact of "scientific" and "rational" ideas imported from the West, on one hand and by the colonial experiences imposed by Japan on the other, Korean Buddhist intellectuals lost perspective, failing to understand the implications of "scientific" and "rational."

Organized panel, English
Cho, Sung Youn

Cheju National University, Korea

Modernization and Folk Religion in Korea(08D)

Folk religion often is treated as a superstition compared with other religions. This way of thinking has been strongly influenced by school education. On the other hand, folk religion can be regarded as a rich deposit of information on the traditional culture. In this paper, I analyze folk religions in relation to the intensive process of rapid modernization in Korean society.

Symposium, Japanese
Choi, Shin-Hann

Hannam University, Korea

Schleiermacher and Asian Religions in View of Humanism or Religious Self-Formation and Self-Cultivation(11Q)

This paper aims to compare Schleiermacher's concept of religion with Asian religions in the current situation of religious pluralism, and to reveal that both can have dialogue in the horizon of religious self-formation or self-cultivation. For Schleiermacher the epoch making importance of religion is situated in the occurrence of a new significance for life through a individual's intuition of the infinite. Each religious intuition forms a human interior newly in every moment and elevates it to a new dimension of humanity. In this dimension, even though one has different religious teachings from tradition, they can meet and dialogue. In this point of view we want to find the same structure between Schleiermacher's religion and Asian religions. For both sides the fundamental question is becoming a religious virtuoso. According to Schleiermacher's 'Speeches', the religious virtuoso can build 'the communion of saints' with every other confessor. The communion of saints is the community of religious virtuosos whose interior is already newly formed and cultivated. In this sense sages in Confucianism and Buddhas in Buddhism can dialogue with Christian saints, because they seem to have the same structure of 'Frömmigkeit' (Schleiermacher) or 'seriousness' (T'oegye) in their own interiors.

Organized panel, German
Choudhary, Paras Kumar

Ranchi University, India

Religion of the Munda Tribe: Traditions and Modernity(16S)

In the early stages of history, members of the Munda tribe were nomadic. Later on, they cultivated land and settled in a certain geographical territory. This community generally speaks mundari of the Austroasiatic linguistic group. The Mundas have their own religious life. They celebrate many festivals like Maghe, Parab, Phagu, Honba, Karma, and Soharai.. The Munda call the festival Maghe because it is celebrated in the Hindi month of Magh (January). Similarly, the Phagu festival is celebrated in the month of Falgun (February). They call their common sacred place Sarana. They do different types of worship here including worship of their village god. The Pahan is a village priest who plays an important role in all religious activities. But nowadays they are also influenced by the Hindu religion. They have started worshiping of Hindu gods and goddesses. A few of them have contact with Christianity. However, due to the impact of various modern factors, many traditional rituals have disappeared.

Roundtable session, English
Choudhary, Paras Kumar

Ranchi University, India

Socio-Cultural Dimension of Munda Tribes and its Changes(17S)

In the early stage, the Munda were nomadic, later they went into hunting, food gathering and fishing. At last they cultivated land and settled in territorial units. The family of Munda tribes is known as "Killies", who claim descent from one common ancestor. The fraternities of mutual affection can be seen in their daily life. Their families follow the rule of the patriarchal system. The Munda celebrate many festivals, such as Mage Parab, Phagu Parab, Baha games, etc. This paper explores the type of change that the various kinds of rituals have undergone as a result of globalization and other factors which have impacted on the Munda community.

Organized panel, English
Claerhout, Sarah

Ghent University, Belgium

Explaining the Paradox of Religious Violence(02C)

The paradox of religious violence - that religions promote a message of peace and charity and at once are a source of violence as their message has to be spread - is often mentioned in the literature. However, though this paradox is generally taken to be significant, scholars never really analyse it. They do not seem to feel the need to explain "this ambivalence of the sacred" scientifically. I will argue that any theory on religious violence at least has to explain the nature of this paradox. A hypothesis is proposed that accounts for the paradox and identifies it as the litmus test for other theories. It reveals a necessary link between this paradox and the structure of conversion in the Christian religion. Concluding, I raise the question of whether the paradox of religious violence is a universal human phenomenon or a typical feature of certain religions.

Organized panel, English
Claerhout, Sarah

Ghent University, Belgium

Freedom of Conscience and the Right to Convert: Human Values or Christian Precepts? ( * joint presentation with De Roover, Jacob)(04H)

In modern India, religious conversion has become a bone of contention. Christians and secularists claim that the right to propagate and change one's religion is part of the freedom of conscience. This freedom, they say, is a fundamental human right, which should be protected by any secular democracy. In contrast, many Hindus – including the advocates of Hindutva, but also moderate Gandhians and traditional swamis – claim religious conversion violates the very foundations of the Indian social fabric. Some even plead for a constitutional ban on conversion in India. In our paper, we argue that freedom of conscience is not as secular or neutral as it claims to be and that the same holds for the right to religious conversion. These notions make senseonly against the background of a religion like Christianity, which divides the human world into one true religion and many false religions. Historically, freedom of conscience became crucial in the Christian West, because of the basic belief that all human souls ought to be left free to be converted by the true God and His Spirit. Within this particular theological framework, religious conversion became a fundamental right never to be violated by the human authorities. Therefore, when Hindu spokesmen refuse to acknowledge "the universal human right to conversion," they have a leg to stand on. However, the fact that freedom of conscience is not a secular value does not imply it should be replaced by a legal ban on conversion. The predicament of religious conversion in India, we argue, should be revisited by examining the way it was successfully resolved in the past, when a plural society consisting of Hindus and Christians (and many other groups) was not torn apart by the issue of religious conversion.

Symposium, English
Clarke, Peter Bernard

The University of London, UK

Assessing the Impact of Religious Change(06S)

This presentation examines theories on the impact of religious change in the modern world as religions increasingly loose their regional character and globalize. Theses critiqued include Weber's easternization of the western mind hypothesis as developed by Campbell and Horton's influential account of religious change in modern Africa, and explanations of the rise of Islamist movements. Also critiqued are such units of analysis of religious change as the impact-response framework.

Organized panel, English
Clarke, Peter Bernard

Oxford University, UK

Religious Change in a Secularizing World(06S)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Clarke, Peter Bernard

Oxford University, UK

Contemporary Movements of Religion(13I)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Cornille, Catherine Marie

Boston College, USA

Humility and Dialogue(02G)

One of the central conditions for the possibility of interreligious dialogue is an attitude of humility with regard to the truth of the teachings and practices of one's own religious traditions. Humility indeed represents an important virtue in many religious traditions. However, religious humility does not necessarily generate the epistemic humility, necessary for dialogue. Most religions advocate humility toward, but not about the ultimate goal and truth of the own tradition. This latter, epistemic humility, presupposes a re-thinking of the status of truth within the own tradition. In this paper, I explore possibilities, within Christianity, for a more integral understanding of religious humility which would also include attitudes about doctrine and truth.

Organized panel, English
Cox, James

University of Edinburgh, UK

The Violence of the Sacred: Studying Religion(s) without Transcendence(01I)

*respondent

Organized panel
Cox, James

University of Edinburgh, UK

The Impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act on Indigenous Understandings of the Land(10U)

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which was passed by the United States Congress in 1971, must be seen as the culmination of over a century of concerted but at times sporadic efforts to assimilate the indigenous population into mainstream American culture. This paper explores the secularising impact of ANCSA on indigenous understandings of the land, which in traditional society was understood in terms of a 'religious' relationship to the animals, sea mammals and fish that lived on the land and within the adjacent seas. By re-defining land as ownership of corporate shares, the United States government sought to ensure that any sense of spiritual connection to the land held by the indigenous people was eliminated in favour of making profits and increasing personal wealth.

Organized panel
Cremo, Michael A.

Bhaktivedanta Institute, USA

The Mayapur Pilgrimage Place, West Bengal, India: A Mandala of Peace and Ecological Harmony(01L)

In 1486, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an avatara of Krishna, appeared at Mayapur, West Bengal. Mayapur is located in the Navadvipa (nine island) region, the nine islands representing the nine processes of devotional service that serve as the foundation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's movement. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted his movement for spiritual peace and love, which took in people from all castes and religions in India, would spread throughout the world. The place of his appearance was later lost. In the late nineteenth century, the Gaudiya Vaishnava acharya Bhaktivinoda Thakura rediscovered the appearance place and constructed a temple there. Succeeding acharyas in his line undertook further development of the site. Today the prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has come true. Each year, on the occasion of his appearance, thousands of his followers from around the world gather at Mayapur, in a striking display of peace among all peoples, in an atmosphere of ecological harmony.

Organized panel, English
Crislip, Andrew

University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA

Healing Traditions of Late Antique Egypt: Medicine and Religion in a Multicultural Society(12J)

Late antique Egypt was the inheritor of two venerable cultures: the dominant Hellenistic culture brought by the armies of Alexander the Great, and the indigenous Egyptian (or Coptic) culture. This multicultural society gave birth to Christian monasticism. Christian monastics did not generally live in strict isolation, but were engaged with nonmonastics in wide range of spiritual, financial, and social activities. Among these social functions, perhaps none was more prominent than the monastic's role as healer--both of body and soul. Monastic healing has long been understood as a charismatic gift, enacted through religious rituals; yet early Christian monastics also practiced traditionally "medical" healing practices. My paper will explore the complementarity and conflict between medical and "spiritual" healing traditions in late antique Egypt as well as Egypt's special place as heir to the medical traditions both Egypt and Greece, which constructed the boundaries between medical and religious healing very differently.

Organized panel, English
Crnic, Ales

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

New Religious Movements in 'New Europe'(06E)

In the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe we have been witnessing significant legal (and formal) re-regulation of the field of religious activities. In these societies it is possible to detect clearly articulated and well-led attempts of traditional churches to acquire a dominant social status, comparable to the one they had before the World War II. This is also connected to nationalism and the concomitant emergence of a religious and national identity. On the other hand, these societies are exposed to an invasion of New Religious Movements (NRMs), which enter this re-opened spiritual area and thus present a challenge of religious pluralism. Both processes lead to the formation of different and often contradictory notions of religion. In practice, however, the social status of religion is most frequently based on traditional notions, which are better suited to the established churches and often push new religious groups to the margins, as these are usually associated with negative stereotypes. NRMs are often perceived as a threat to society, national identity and 'traditional' religions. Generally it can be said that countries with a majority Orthodox population are the least open to NRMs.

Organized panel, English
Cuevas, Martha Garcia

Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico

The Gods at Palenque's Incense Burners(03R)

According to the study of several ceramic incensers, that have been discovered through archaeological explorations in the temples of the Cross, Foliated Cross and the Sun in Palenque, we have surprising data about the deities venerated in this Maya city of the Classic period of 500-850 A.C. It is possible to recognize in the incensers a group of deities whose identity is discussed in this paper. On the one hand we have information of their specific archaeological contexts and on the other hand the iconographic patterns which characterize each of the gods. Aside from that, we have information from the extensive glyphic text and scenes represented in the sculpture of stone and stuco, that are integrated in the architecture of the ceremonial precinet. All these will permit us to appreciate some viable explanations about the Palencan deities and their association with ritual conducts and religious beliefs.

Symposium, English
Curbelo, Juana Berges

Center for Psychological and Sociological Research, Cuba

The New Religious Movements in the Changes of the Latin American and Caribbean Religiosity(15F)

The emergence and development of new non-traditional religious trends and movements, is a substantial part of a transformation process, which has had peculiar impact on Latin American and Caribbean religiosity. Multiple systems of classification attempt "to put them in order" and to explain their logic. However, the debate has also moved to reflection on the concept of religion and forms of belonging. The New Religious Movements have developed by synthesizing factors from different origins and adapting them to various spaces in a perspective that is sometimes said to be eclectic and other times selective. It is our interest to show the differentiated styles of the new movements that are indicators of the high complexity of the phenomenon. In the evaluation of their meaning in our region, we will take into account their social and political implications and their rejection of traditional models.

Organized panel, English
Cush, Denise Amelia

Bath Spa University College, UK

Should Religious Studies Be Part of the Compulsory State School Curriculum?(02D)

How can education systems best respond to the increasing recognition of the power of religion in international events and the plurality of beliefs and values world-wide? States have taken different approaches to the issue of including religion in school curricula. It can be argued that religious freedom is best served by omitting consideration of religion from the curriculum, by providing each pupil with religious education within the confessional tradition of their parents, or by providing an education which takes a non-confessional approach to a variety of religious traditions. Where the latter approach is taken, options include having a separate subject called religious studies, or teaching about religious traditions within such areas of the curriculum as citizenship, social studies or the humanities. This paper will argue that without a separate subject taught by specialist teachers, education programmes will fail to provide young people with adequate preparation for contemporary life.

Organized panel, English
Cush, Denise Amelia

Bath Spa University College, UK

Teaching about Religion and Faith Development(05L)

*chairperson

Organized panel, English
Dahbany-Miraglia, Dina

Queensborough Community College, The City University of New York, USA

Religion + Custom = Realities: Why Some Women Are Not in Cyberspace(12C)

Cyberspace has created novel linkages between individuals worldwide that could not have existed without computer and internet technology. Nevertheless, "old habits die hard." The majority of web sites, particularly religious ones, are controlled by men. The more traditional religious the site, the less women contribute: a reflection of the established media. Women tend to "secularize" their cyber selections to more or less innocuous, "womanly," homemaker/children-oriented sites. Religious discourse, commentary, interpretation and critique, in most Christian divisions, as well as in Islam and Judaism, are like computers and the internet "men's work." Religious women may e-mail prayers to specific individuals, chat rooms, and other cyber loci; they may refer to particular sources from their religious literatures; individual women will sometimes offer interpretations; they may offer admonitions, advice, commands, suggestions, resources and customary practices with reference to religion, spirituality and religious literature. They rarely contribute to the religious discourses that are dominated by men. This paper will delineate, within the varieties of conventional media and cyberspace, the parameters of religious women's participation in religious and religion-based discourse. Alternative modes of expression: gifts, photos, jokes, personal writings, cards, will contribute to the picture.

Organized panel, English
Dahiya, Neelima

Maharshi Dayanand University Rohatak, India

Women in Buddhist Text: Some Progressive Shifts(10F)

This paper probes the position of women in the early Buddhist society of India. This area of work enthusiates me because violence against women exists in various forms in all societies. The recent International Conferences on Women - Vienna-1993, Cairo-1994, Copenhagen-1995 and Beijing-1995 have taken note of elimination of gender based violence is central to equality, development and peace. The Buddhist India from the 6th cent. B.C. to 3rd cent. A.D. is characterised by mainly two features i.e. growth of second urbanization and the development of new socio-religious order. In the Brahmanical society the position of women was equal to sudras in the social hierarchy. I have taken up Buddhist texts to explore the progressive attitude towards women as against the brahminical attitudes towards women. Here will be an attempt to see the text "Therigatha" recovered from Burmese and Sinhalese manuscripts, published in 1883 and subsequently translated. This is a collection of verses attributed to nuns. Other Buddhist text will also be studied. These verses of "Therighatha" were uttered to mark the attainment of liberation. So this paper will like to bring out the spirit of women liberation of ancient India.

Organized panel
Daiguji, Makoto

Hokkiado University School of Medicine, Japan

Human Mind and Technology: From a Psychiatric Point of View(06J)

Psychiatry has tried to solve many problems in the human mind through a medical approach. However, looking at this approach through a philosophical point of view, it is not a self-evident truth that the mind becomes ill just as the body does. Still harder to accept is the approach to treat the problems in the human mind using modern technology, which might be seen as foreign matter when considering the human mind. Two kinds of approaches are seen in the field of clinical medicine. One is orientated in clear evidence and reasoning, I.e. evidence based medicine, and the other is orientated in stories told by a patient, I.e. narrative based medicine. It is the fate of clinical medicine to have to pay attention to both the generalism in natural science and the individualism in human science. In this presentation I shall discuss the relationship between the human mind and technological science from a psychiatric point of view.

Symposium, English
Damian, Theodor

Metropolitan College of New York, USA

The Divine Trinity as Paradigm for Ideal Human Relationships: An Orthodox Perspective(15U)

From an anthropological point of view violence seems to be intrinsic to human nature. But from a theological point of view it is not. It is acquired behavior due to circumstantial causes. As opposed to the many zoological definitions given to man, Theology defines the human being as the image of God. According to the Christian tradition God reveals himself in history in three hypostasis, as a Trinity. It is then in the image of this Trinity that man is created, and this is the basis of the human personhood and at the same time the paradigm of our ideal relationship with one another. In an age of war and violence, when the jungle within is cultivated by the outside jungle, man needs to reflect seriously on the model he or she adopts, because what one adopts, one is going to become. This paper intends to suggest that the divine Trinity in the understanding of the Orthodox Tradition can offer such a model.

Organized panel, English