Religion in Motion
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/26759
2024-03-28T22:46:56ZThe Function of Bachelardian Epistemology in the Post-colonial Project of Mohammed ‘Abed al-Jabri
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27202
The Function of Bachelardian Epistemology in the Post-colonial Project of Mohammed ‘Abed al-Jabri
Kynes, Jordan
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22965
This paper explores the function of historical epistemology in the thought of Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) and Mohammed ‘Abed al-Jabri (1935–2010). Attributing thought with a particular function challenges our tendency to explain the development of thought in other socio-historical contexts in terms of mere conceptual influence. Available English-language literature on al-Jabri commonly references Bachelard’s concept of epistemological rupture as a source of inspiration. Though the reference is astute, this term remains poorly understood and has long been overshadowed by Thomas Kuhn’s notion of ‘paradigm shift’. The broader function of Bachelard’s thought as a renegotiation of time, place, subject, and reason in the natural sciences has been largely neglected in historiographies of the philosophy of science outside of France. This paper emphasizes the level of insight and ingenuity with which al-Jabri employs the function of Bachelard’s epistemology by re-interpreting it within the framework of his own socio-historical context. Far from reducing al-Jabri’s thought to a mere programmatic reproduction of French thought, I suggest that al-Jabri was among the most astute interpreters of this long-misunderstood theorist.
Final version published as: Jordan Kynes: “The Function of Bachelardian Epistemology in the Post-colonial Project of Mohammed ‘Abed al-Jabri”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 221–237. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_12
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZBeyond a Dichotomy of Perspectives: Understanding Religion on the Basis of Paul Natorp’s Logic of Boundary
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27201
Beyond a Dichotomy of Perspectives: Understanding Religion on the Basis of Paul Natorp’s Logic of Boundary
Hensold, Julian
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22964
Based on Paul Natorp’s (1854–1924) late post-Neo-Kantian “Logic of Boundary” (German: “Grenzlogik”) I will offer a methodically controlled, non-reductionist and equally anti-essentialist reconstruction of the notion of religion. The pre-eminent objective of this reconstructive work is to overcome the well-known epistemological as well as methodological problem of a dichotomy between inside and outside perspectives on the subject of religion. Differently put, the objective consists in an attempt to demonstrate that there actually is “reason in religion” that is intellectually accessible for academic knowledge production. Following Natorp’s splendid formulation I will argue that religion operates neither ‘within’ nor ‘beyond’ the ‘boundary of humanity’ but exactly on [or ‘in’] this boundary. More precisely, I will explicate that religious praxis (including its specific production of knowledge) from Natorp’s standpoint can be understood as the performative realization, and habitual embodiment of the (contextually concrete) boundary of humanity or human reason itself. Due to its principial self-referentiality this boundary carries the crucial sense of a first and last positive and, therefore, both in theoretical terms definitive and in practical terms eminently instructive notion of boundary with no outside. This paradoxically all-enclosing, positive boundary, while explicitly including life’s inevitable negativity but, nonetheless, able to ideally sublate it, is the reason why the practice of religion, as empirical evidence unmistakably documents, can provide an incommensurably fulfilling, significant and meaningful closure with regards to the innermost self-perception of its practitioners (concerning their self-determination or agency).
Final version published as: Julian Hensold: “Beyond a Dichotomy of Perspectives: Understanding Religion on the Basis of Paul Natorp’s Logic of Boundary”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 165–197. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_10
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZBeyond the Insider—Outsider Perspective: The Study of Religion as a Study of Discourse Construction
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27200
Beyond the Insider—Outsider Perspective: The Study of Religion as a Study of Discourse Construction
van den Heever, Gerhard
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22963
This essay reflects on contemporary theorizing of religion which embodies an explicit critique of the imperial project, seeing that by most common consent the scholarly disciplinary field of religious studies (history of religion, phenomenology of religion, Religionswissenschaft) is a late nineteenth century invention that coincides with the emergence of anthropology and ethnography as epiphenomena of the colonial project (whether as Orientalism or as exoticism the Other is rendered manageable subjects). The scholarly study of religion is, therefore, simultaneously a study of the history of theory and concept formation, and the social, cultural, and political work performed by such study and theorizing. The metatheory of the study of religion is a main focus of the essay. Alongside that, the essay focuses more pointedly on the concept of discourse, and considers the extraordinary situation where the same methodological vocabulary that functions in religious studies also functions in critical theological studies, which relativizes the division of ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ perspectives. Yet both are conventionally practised either in isolation from each other as distinct theoretical and disciplinary bounded/defined study fields, or—the other and almost direct opposite—religious studies being performed in the context of theological study, situated in and offered by theological faculties. An overview of recent debates in the field of religious studies serves to highlight the continued struggle to demarcate the boundaries between the study of religion and the study of theology—in some of the recent, very strident debates mainstream religious studies is labelled as nothing more than theology. This contribution, then, aims at a kind of metatheoretical reflection on the study of religion and theology both as discourses that serve mythmaking, identity formation, culturally strategic purposes. That is, from the discourse perspective that is proposed here, it is possible to move beyond the definitional divide between religious studies and theology—even beyond ‘religion’ itself—to focus on the mundanely material practices that constitute that which is called religion. In the way in which the terms are used it is clear that the terminologies themselves bear the imprint of historical social discourses that occasioned the rise of their use. This essay, then, is something of a metacritique of the language of the study of religion—beyond religion, and beyond the study of religion and theology.
Final version published as: Gerhard van den Heever: “Beyond the Insider—Outsider Perspective: The Study of Religion as a Study of Discourse Construction”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 141–164. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_9
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZNew Technologies’ Promise to the Self and the Becoming of the Sacred: Insights from Georges Bataille’s Concept of Transgression
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27199
New Technologies’ Promise to the Self and the Becoming of the Sacred: Insights from Georges Bataille’s Concept of Transgression
Righi, Céline
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22961
This article draws on Georges Bataille’s concept of transgression, a key element in Bataille’s theory of the sacred, to highlight structural implications of the way the self-empowerment ethos of new technologies suffuses the digital tracking culture. Pointing to the original conceptual stance of transgression, worked out against prohibition, I first argue that, beyond a critique of new technologies’ promise of self-empowerment as coming at the expense of an acknowledgement of the ultimate taboo—death—is the problem of the sanitizing of the tension between the crossing of the line of the symbolic taboo and prohibition; this undermines a “libidinal investment” towards the sacred, which is central in Bataille’s theory. Second, focussing on “eroticism”, since this embodies the emancipative potential of the Bataillean sacred, I argue that while a fear of eroticism marks out the digital technological realm, this is covered up by the blurring of boundaries between pleasure, fun and sex(iness) that currently governs our experience with technological devices.
Final version published as: Céline Righi: “New Technologies’ Promise to the Self and the Becoming of the Sacred: Insights from Georges Bataille’s Concept of Transgression”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 79–99. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_6
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZOld and New Gods: In Conversation with Arjun Appadurai and Michael Lambek
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27198
Old and New Gods: In Conversation with Arjun Appadurai and Michael Lambek
Kynes, Jordan; Rau, Vanessa; Schinagl, Rosa Coco
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22959
“Old and New Gods: in Conversation with Arjun Appadurai and Michael Lambek” introduces the reader to some of the broader themes of the work – appropriately – through dialogue; a casual discussion between three young researchers and two distinguished anthropologists. Here the passage of time is thematized as the latter reflect on the various institutional and intellectual changes which they have witnessed leading up to the present; a point in time which constitutes for the junior researchers, a point of departure into an uncertain but exciting future. Furthermore, as with all dialogue, context and location is significant. Though Berlin’s status as a cultural and creative metropole is widely-confirmed, it remains in many ways ‘a house divided unto itself’. No two areas in Berlin are exactly alike, and the young and senior researchers – relative ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ to the city, respectively – explore together its many contours, textures, and contrasts.
Final version published as: Jordan Kynes, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl: “Old and New Gods: In Conversation with Arjun Appadurai and Michael Lambek”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 13–26. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_2
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZIntroduction
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/27197
Introduction
Hensold, Julian; Kynes, Jordan; Öhlmann, Philipp; Rau, Vanessa; Schinagl, Rosa Coco; Taleb, Adela
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22885
This first chapter serves as the reader’s initial orientation to the general layout of the present work. It begins by thematizing the ineffable dynamism and complexity of the term religion as signifier. Contrary to the long-reigning secularization thesis, this single term remains deeply entrenched in a broad spectrum of discursive frameworks, traversing both popular social imaginaries as well as academic disciplinary divides. Amid this constant state of flux, one can only say with certainty that religion is here to stay. In spite of this complexity, the present edition proposes a way forward, offering a cross-section of some of these fascinating developments via an introductory interview and four thematically-organized sections; Part I: Religion, Gender, Body and Aesthetics – Stagnation or Change in the Authority over Religious Knowledge Production, Part II: Religion, Economics and Development – Interaction of Discursive Spheres; Part III: Theological and Religious Knwoledge Production: Overcoming the Dichotomy between Inside and Outside Perspective(s) on Religion; and IV: Religion, Politics, Power – Decentered Analyses.
Final version published as: Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb: “Introduction”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 1–12. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_1
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZWays and Travels of the Sacred Feminine from Brazil to Central Europe Feminine Power and Agency in the Contemporary Umbanda Community Ilê Axé Oxum Abalô
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/26761
Ways and Travels of the Sacred Feminine from Brazil to Central Europe Feminine Power and Agency in the Contemporary Umbanda Community Ilê Axé Oxum Abalô
Scharf da Silva, Inga
Philosophische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22960
This study examines the Afro-Brazilian theology of the Orixás (Yorùbá deities from West Africa) as practised in a translocated and diasporic Umbanda community in the Central European region of Switzerland, Austria and Germany, the Ilê Axé Oxum Abalô / Terra Sagrada. In contrast to religious traditions of the Candomblé from Brazil (Cf. the definitions of Umbanda and Candomblé in its religious field: Gonçalves da Silva (Candomblé e Umbanda. Caminhos da Devoção Brasileira. Selo Negro, São Paulo, 2005), which are based on the interpretation of the West African Ilê Ifé oracle deciphering the deities’ influence on people through the Orixás, this spiritual community refers its way of learning about the deities to the effects of music, dance and the inner knowledge of one’s own body. Particularly, change and renovation is sought in the oral transmission of knowledge production by a feminist liberation from shameful and powerless attributions in the mythology of the goddess Obá, among other female goddesses. Spiritual tourism of the community to Brazil encourages these new ways. This text argues that these feminist activists expressed in contemporary performances in Central Europe select certain historical precursors in the religious field of the Afro-Brazilian religions.
Final version published as: Inga Scharf da Silva: “Ways and Travels of the Sacred Feminine from Brazil to Central Europe Feminine Power and Agency in the Contemporary Umbanda Community Ilê Axé Oxum Abalô”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 29–47. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_3
2020-05-29T00:00:00ZReligion and Sustainable Development: The “Secular Distinction” in Development Policy and Its Implication for Development Cooperation with Religious Communities
http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/18452/23725
Religion and Sustainable Development: The “Secular Distinction” in Development Policy and Its Implication for Development Cooperation with Religious Communities
Öhlmann, Philipp; Hunglinger, Stefan; Gräb, Wilhelm; Frost, Marie-Luise
Theologische Fakultät
http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/22962
Development policy and research increasingly recognize the potential contribution of religious communities to sustainable development. The emerging discourse on religion and development, however, is contingent on Western discursive contexts that operate on the basis of a “secular distinction” between the religious and the secular. Development is located in the secular sphere and the resultant approach to religion is functional. We show this for the case of German development policy by investigating key policy documents on religion and development. The secular notion of development stands in contrast to the perspective of development by religious communities in “developing countries”, which we highlight using the example of African Initiated Churches. In these churches’ view, people’s spiritual and material needs are intertwined, and sustainable development as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be separated from religious dimensions of life. Notions of development, we hence argue, constitute forms of situated knowledge dependent on their discursive contexts. If development cooperation is to engage with religious communities at the level of values, ideas and beliefs, it must also engage with their notions of development as ends of mutual partnership.
Final version published as: Philipp Öhlmann, Stefan Hunglinger, Wilhelm Gräb, Marie-Luise Frost: “Religion and Sustainable Development: The ‘Secular Distinction’ in Development Policy and Its Implication for Development Cooperation with Religious Communities”. In: Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Edited by Julian Hensold, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Coco Schinagl, Adela Taleb. Cham: Springer, 2020, pages 119–137. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_8
2020-05-29T00:00:00Z