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

Engler, Steven Joseph

Mount Royal College, Canada

Charting the Map Metaphor in Theory of Religion(11K)

Discussions of relations between language about religion and religious phenomena often use geographical metaphors: map, chart, landscape, site. This presentation argues that the theory of religion has been hampered by an overly simplistic appeal to these metaphors. After sketching epistemological critiques of the correspondence view of truth (i.e., the view that truth happens when language "maps onto" reality in a one-to-one correspondence), I argue that semantic theories (e.g., Donald Davidson) hint at a very different sort of theory of religion: one in which the use and context of maps and territory are more important than whether one is a true picture of the other. Scholars of religion frequently cite J.Z. Smith's statements, "map is not territory" and "there is no data for religion," as warrants for a naïve, relativist constructionism. A more nuanced appreciation for the metaphor of the map leads beyond this cul-de-sac.

Organized panel
Enomoto, Kaoru

University of Tokyo, Japan

A Term "Medium" in Religion – In the Case of Masaharu Taniguchi (the Founder of "Seicho-No-Ie") and the Radio –(03J)

From devices (television, radio, internet, etc.) to a person who communicate with the spirit of the dead, a word "medium/media" is used in many ways. The aim of this paper is to observe how this word is used pluralistically in a religious term, referring to the case of Masaharu Taniguchi (the founder of "Seicho-No-Ie"), who had a keen sense of using various kinds of media as a mean of his mission. Publishing magazines was the base of his mission, but he was interested in a radio since its broadcasting was started in 1925 in Japan. In those days, he frequently compared humans to the radio system in his magazines (for example, he lectured that the mind of human being is able to reach a divine nature by "tuning" his mind to that). In his mind, he seemed to have pictured a radio as not only the media, the device of transmitting his thought, but as the medium that extend the mind of human beings to the higher existence.

Organized panel, English
Erasmus, Johannes Christoffel

University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Confronting the Challenge of Social Exclusion/Inclusion in South Africa Through Religion(13L)

The purpose of this article is to establish the overlap between religion and social exclusion/inclusion in South Africa. A secondary question is whether the religious sector can help facilitate the process from exclusion to inclusion. The article will focus on: 1. Exploring the concept of social exclusion/inclusion. Special attention will be given to the north/south debate and the appropriateness of the concept in SA. Furthermore, the question of indicators relevant to the South African context will be explored; 2. Examining the positive role of religion in South Africa. Religious trends of the past century as well as the role of religion prior, during and after apartheid will be explored; 3. A case study in Khayelitsha, an area in the Cape Metropolitan Area where approximately 500,000 people live, using points raised in the above discussion.

Organized panel, English
Erdely Graham, Jorge

Research center for theological and social studies, Mexico

Apocalytism, Messianism, and Violence in Contemporary Latin America(15F)

This paper explores the relationships between messianism and the institutionalization of violence against women in Latin America by presenting an ethnographic study of La Luz del Mundo ("The Light of the world"), a Mexican-based and originated religious sect known for its theocratic and aggressive transnational agenda. Quickly expanding to different parts of the world and led by a patriarchal figure who is considered by followers a living incarnation of deity, La Luz del Mundo has become in recent years a paradigm for many scholars who study the interrelations of apocalyptic religiosity, gender violence money and politics in Hispanic non-mainstream movements. The wealth and publicly known political connections of the organization with Mexico's most powerful political party, help explain in part the impunity with which many alleged human rights violations have occurred for decades in a country where corruption in the judicial system is widespread.

Organized panel, English
Eslinger, Lyle

University of Calgary, Canada

The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Violence: Aetiologies from Biblical Literature and Buddhist Psychology(*joint presentation with Kawamura, Leslie Sumio)(02C)

The appalling acts of Muslim fundamentalists leave no room to doubt that religion is a fertile ground for religious violence. Though embarrassing to many members of implicated traditions, religious violence provokes angry reactions from moderates and the non-religious, for whom it poses a threat. There is no obvious way to resolve this growing tension between ultra- and non-religious; scholarship can make a small contribution toward easing it by exploring its sources (psychological and classical). The authors of this paper propose to explore a classical story from the Bible that reflects on the conditions for violence to emerge from religion. Though Buddhism's nuanced reflexivity is a well-established perception (based on texts such as the Dhammapada) the Bible is better known as an ideological source of animosity and aggressive behaviour. Nevertheless, in the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), the Bible also includes at least one reflection on the nature of human violence. Using Genesis 4 as a topical focus, our paper offers an analysis of the roots of violence in religion.

Organized panel, English
Ess, Charles

Religion and ICT in Japan(16T)

*respondent

Organized panel
Euler, Walter Andreas

"De Pace Fidei" und die Ringparabel(04N)

Als Vergleichspunkt für den cusanischen Ansatz zur Lösung des Religionsproblems wird oft auf die Ringparabel hingewiesen, die Lessing in sein Drama "Nathan der Weise" eingefügt hat. Allerdings ist wohl noch nie ein systematischer Vergleich zwischen Cusanus' "De pace fidei" und dem Konzept der Ringparabel vorgenommen worden. Dies ist das Anliegen meines Vortrags. In diesem Zusammenhang ist zunächst zu klären, ob Cusanus die Ringparabel (in einer ihrer mittelalterlichen Fassungen) kannte und ob umgekehrt Lessing von Cusanus beeinflusst wurde. Im Hauptteil werde ich mich auf die je eigene religionstheoretische Lösung des Problems der unterschiedlichen religiösen Wahrheitsansprüche bei Cusanus und in der Ringparabel konzentrieren. Letztlich kreisen beide Konzeptionen um die zentrale Frage, wie sich Gewohnheit und Wahrheit im Bereich der Religion sowie der Religionen voneinander trennen lassen. In diesem Punkt kommen Cusanus und Lessing zu prinzipiell unterschiedlichen Antworten, die im Einzelnen erörtert werden.

Organized panel
Fadzil, Ammar

International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia

Does the Qur'an Condone Killing: Revisiting the Qur'anic Verses on Jihad with Special Reference to Malaysian's Government's Notion of Jihad(06C)

September 11, 2001 marked a crucial turning point for the Islamic notion of jihad. This tragedy has been linked to Muslim terrorists. Terrorists have resorted to Qur'anic injunctions to justify their action i.e. jihad which might give the idea that terrorism has its roots and support in the Qur'an. This paper revisits the Qur'anic verses pertaining to the concept of jihad which have been used to justify terrorism in order to get more impartial and better interpretation of these verses. In addition, the paper will highlight some of Malaysian government positions against terrorism.

Organized panel, English
Faivre, Antoine

École Pratique des Hautes Études, France

Western Esotericism and Polemics (1) Esotericism, Scriptural Religions, and Religious Pluralism: Conflict or Concordance?(10G)

*co-convener

Symposium, English
Farhadian, Charles

Westmont College, USA

Emerging Theology on an Asian Frontier: Christianities, and the Future of Memories in Indonesia(02E)

Given its minority status, Christianity's history and resilience in Asia warrant a re-examination of the contemporary expressions of Christian theology in its wider Asian context. In order to tease out themes within emerging Christian theology in Asia, this paper highlights the complicated nature of the relationship between ethnicities in Asia and Christianity by illuminating various responses to crises within Christian minority groups in Indonesia. How are pre-Christian religious and cultural practices drawn up into contemporary expressions of Christianity? In periods of conflict and crisis, what sources of strength are employed by Christian minorities? In what contexts are pre-Christian practices either discarded or re-adopted by Christian groups? What can Western approaches to theology learn from emerging theology in Asia? By teasing out the continuities and discontinuities of Christianity and local traditions in Indonesia, this paper underscores some of the promising Christian theological themes within the Asian context.

Organized panel, English
Faure, Bernard

(01Q)

Organized panel

Fetzer, Joel Steven

Pepperdine University, Hong Kong

A Response to THE UNDERLYING TERROR: Public Attitudes toward the Accommodation of European Muslims' Religious Practices before and after September 11(01C)

Over nine million Muslims currently live in Western Europe, which makes them the largest religious minority in the region. There has been significant political controversy in various European states over how best to recognize Muslims' religious rights. These questions have become even more significant and contentious in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks by Islamic extremists. Using privately commissioned polls on attitudes toward Muslim religious rights taken before and after September 11 in Britain, France, and Germany, this paper determines the extent of popular opposition to state accommodation of Muslim practices and tests several leading theories of attitudes towards Muslims. We conclude that the most important determinants of attitudes toward Muslims are education and religious practice.

Symposium, English
Filus, Dorothea Magdalena

Monash University, Australia

Religious Education in Japan: Can Problems Be Solved?(06L)

It seems that the current debate on religious education in Japan has come to a dead end. Unless the Constitution of Japan and the Fundamental Law of Education are amended in regard to the relationship between the state and religion, no religious education, except for chishiki kyoiku (education in objective historical knowledge of religious leaders and facts) will be permitted in public schools. However, some scholars argue that such education will not contribute to a positive enhancement of moral values of the young people and call for the incorporation of joso kyoiku (education in religious ideals and sentiments) into the curriculum. However, this type of religious education, being inevitably related to a particular religious tradition, is at this stage not allowed in public schools. The papers in this panel will discuss the current problems in the debate on religious education and will aim at finding solutions by proposing reinterpretation of the Japanese religious and social beliefs and values, and redefinition of the relationship between religious and public spheres. Some innovative models of religious education in private schools will be examined in order to enlighten the ideas and methods of teaching religious education.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Filus, Dorothea Magdalena

Monash University, Australia

Religious Education in Japan: What Are the Problems?(06L)

The infamous association of Shinto with the pre-war Japanese state and the wartime collusion of other Japanese religious institutions led to the post-war separation of religion and state. There has therefore been no religious education per se in Japanese public schools in the post-war era. However, growing social problems such as bullying and violence perpetrated by juveniles, and in particular the 1995 Aum Shinri-kyō incident have given rise to calls for the introduction of religious education in public schools. Some critics argue that a lack of spiritual guidance and religious education gives rise to juvenile violence. However, other critics are skeptical about the effectiveness of religious education and argue that religious education at school cannot solve social problems but only increase state control. If however religious education is introduced in public schools, it should be based on religious beliefs and social values of the Japanese people and not on foreign ideals. These beliefs should be carefully reinterpreted in accordance with global cultural trends for the purpose of religious education, which should be committed to mutual tolerance.

Organized panel, English
Fitzgerald, Timothy

Stirling University, UK

Religion and Early European Colonialism: 'Religion' and Other Categories in 16th and 17th Century Travel Journals(16B)

Following the Reformation, the English language word 'religion' was, in world terms, a parochial concept meaning Christian Truth, usually Protestant Christian Truth. Its main contrast was with 'superstitious' systems of thought against which Protestants defined themselves: in degrees of distance Catholic, Muslim, Pagan and 'Ethnicke' superstitions. However, with voyage journals and the early beginnings of European colonialism, something like ethnography emerged in the attempt to describe and classify the regions being colonised, and 'religions' quickly become ubiquitous. Here is a look at two interesting editors of voyage journals, Richard Hakluyt and Samuel Purchas who published late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Organized panel
Fletcher, Paul

Lancaster University, UK

Commitment or Objectivity: Between Theology and the Study of Religion(03Q)

The recent re-evaluation of the relationship between Theology and Religious Studies arises as a specific effect of the critical appraisal of the status of modernity and its fundamental critique of theological claims. Indeed, such a postmodern questioning of modern rationality and its pretensions highlights the manner in which modern critical analyses of the world - of which Religious Studies is exemplary for our purposes - include their own tradition-specific stances and a set of elided metaphysical assumptions. The panel will utilise the intellectual space opened up by this reassessment of the two academic disciplines and will attempt a set of critical interventions which hope to expose the challenges that contemporary theology and the study of religion pose for each other.

Organized panel, English
Flugel, Peter

SOAS, UK

Discourses on War and Violence in Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism(06R)

*co-convener

Organized panel
Flugel, Peter

SOAS, UK

Jain Attitudes towards Violence and War(06R)

Jains are often rightly portrayed as the most radical advocates of non-violence. Yet, Jains are not pacifists. There are many instances of Jain generals being celebrated for their heroic defence of kingdom or country in Jain literature and journalism. Even today, there are soldiers in the Indian army who come from Jain communities. The paper investigates different interpretations of the concepts of 'legitimate self defence' and 'necessary violence' in the Jain tradition, and analyses the conflicting attitudes of the Jains to violence and war.

Organized panel
Frahm, Eckart

Yale University, USA

Revision, Commentary, and Counter-Text: Politically Motivated Interpretations of the Babylonian Epic of Creation(03N)

The Babylonian Epic of Creation celebrates the city of Babylon as the center of the world, and extolls Marduk, the city's patron deity, as king of the gods. Probably written in the 12th century BCE to commemorate a major military victory, the epic served for many centuries both as cult legend for the Babylonian Akitu festival and as a canonical text studied in school. This enduring importance is surprising, for Babylonia fell into a state of political turmoil soon after the epic's composition, later coming under foreign, Assyrian domination. This paper will explore the textual strategies that Mesopotamian "theologians" used to retain the religious plausibility of the epic under radically altered political conditions. I will argue that the Babylonian Erra Epic, an etiology of chaos, was created to counter the Epic of Creation, and will consider Assyrian efforts to appropriate and reinterpret it.

Organized panel, English
Franke, Edith

University of Hanover, Germany

Religious Diversity in Indonesia: National Policies and Daily Realities(04I)

Religious diversity in Indonesia is shaped by an Islamic majority as well as by various religious minorities. Although the minority groups amount to no more than 13 % of the population they have a significant presence and influence in Indonesia today. Not only the local religious traditions but also the historical Hindu-Buddhist dynasties and the Christian churches have contributed to the formation of a specifically Indonesian approach to the coexistence of religions. Being neither simply Islamic nor fully secularized, the Indonesian state tries to handle the variety of religions with the help of a central state-philosophy: the pancasila. In this paper I examine specific examples of how such concepts of national policy are combined with daily realities and how these dimensions influence each other. I focus especially on the integrative power of familiar neighborhood, and the tradition of unification and integration in Javanese culture, and how these forces provide a foundation for mutual understanding and social harmony.

Organized panel, English
Freiberger, Oliver

University of Texas, USA

Blind Ascetics and True Brahmans: Interreligious Hermeneutics in Early Buddhism(03S)

Organized panel

Freitas, Maria-Otavia

Constructing the Association between Religion and Conflict(13S)

Organized panel, English

Freston, Paul

Calvin College // Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, USA

The Browning of Christian Proselytization(04H)

The paper looks at the global proselytization effort by Christian missions originating from the Third World, a growing phenomenon on which very little sociological study has been done. This new reality will then be related to the questions raised by the symposium, regarding controversies surrounding, and real or attempted political restrictions on, religious proselytism. How do these controversies affect the phenomenon analysed? And how does the phenomenon of the 'browning' of Christian proselytizing affect the debate on proselytism, its social acceptability and political legitimacy? To what extent is the validity of various arguments for or against proselytism cast in a different light when the identity of the proselytizers changes radically, especially when the new actors have the legitimacy of being from the oppressed 'South' and are not obliged to carry post-colonial stigma?

Symposium, English
Frisk, Liselotte

Department of Arts and Languages, Sweden

New Religious Movements: Different Developments Over Time(06T)

This paper discusses new religious movements and their development over time. Five well-known new religious movements with origins in the 1960´s and 70´s have been chosen: The Hare Krishna movement, The Osho movement, Children of God/The Family, The Church of Scientology and The Unification Church/The Family Federation. The movements are discussed in a global perspective, but with a strong local emphasis on one European country: Sweden. Several of these movements demonstrate an interesting and dramatic development with many changes during their first decades. The paper discusses in a comparative perspective questions such as: the death of the charismatic leader and different alternatives of succession, charisma and institutionalization, changes in organizational structure, and the second generation. The developments of these movements are discussed in the light of traditional sociological theories about the development of religious organizations over time.

Organized panel, English
Frisk, Liselotte

Department of Arts and Languages, Sweden

New Religious Movements (2)(06T)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Fuchigami, Kyoko

Planned Parenthood Federation of Korea, Japan

The Religious View on Ovum Donation: Japanese Couples and Korean Infertility Treatment(09J)

Since February 2003, in spite of criticism on ethical grounds, more than 400 sterile Japanese couples have visited Korea to obtain ovum donations, which are prohibited in Japan, and more than 200 children have been born in Japan via Korean ova. In my report, from a religious point of view, I will study the process in which, after long and painful infertility treatment, a sterile woman obtained ova from another woman and the sterile couple came to accept the baby as their own. I will also discuss the religious meaning of ovum donation in today's world.

Organized panel, Japanese
Fujii, Jun

Tokyo University, Japan

The Reinterpretation of Historical Records about Kukai's Study in China(09O)

Kukai (774-835), the founder of the Shingon sect, introduced the system of esoteric Buddhism - via China - to Japan. Kukai's study in China distinctly influenced the formation of his thought. Traditional studies have considered that Kukai had questions about his understanding of the Mahavairocana sutra or esoteric Buddhism and went to China in order to seek the truth of esoteric Buddhism. Next, these traditional scholars have, intentionally or unintentionally, interpreted historical records for the sake of the justification of their own theories. However, I want to propose another possibility for the reason behind Kukai's study in China, using the same historical records. Considering the historical situation at the time before Kukai went to China, Kukai's first purpose for traveling to China must have been for the study of ordinary Mahayana Buddhism, which helped the reception of esoteric Buddhism.

Organized panel, English
Fujii, Kyoko

Hokkaido University, Japan

The Acceptance and Transfiguration of Buddhadhaatu Theory in Chinese and Japanese Bouddhism(07M)

In this panel I would like to discuss the problem on how the buddhadhaatu theory had been received and transfigured in the Chinese Buddhism by taking up concretely the word fozhong, and to verify the dissemination thought developed from an interpretation of the word. Next, when Chinese Buddhism was introduced into Japan via the Korean Peninsula, as there was also a friction with the native religion, Buddhism was established in the form of harmonization of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan. The thought of harmonization of Shintoism and Buddhism also changed with the progress at the time and from the end of medieval times to modern times, the anti-Shito-Buddhist syncretic system has appeared. In this phase I want to verify how the dissemination thought previously developed in Chinese Buddhism was received and developed in Japanese Buddhism.

Organized panel, Japanese