Academic literature on the topic 'Christianity and religious humanism'

Abstract Dieser Beitrag bietet eine umfassende Diskussion des Textes “Humanismus und Christentum” (1950) des dänischen Philosophen und Theologen Knud E. Løgstrup. Er verortet den Text in seinem geistesgeschichtlichen Kontext und analysiert seine wichtigsten Argumente wie auch seine zentrale These, der zufolge Humanismus und Christentum einen entscheidenden Grundsatz teilen, insofern beide die Ethik als “stumm“ oder “unausgesprochen“ verstehen. Darüber hinaus wird dargelegt, wie Løgstrups Text zentrale Überlegungen in dessen späteren Publikationen, besonders in dem Hauptwerk Die ethische Forderung (1956), vorwegnimmt.

AbstractThe essay explores the relationship between Christian faith, ethical thought and political action. It examines two views of the matter. First, the autonomy thesis, advanced by writers such as Edward Norman in his Reith Lectures and elsewhere, which claims that Christianity in general is independent of political concerns, and that Church leaders in particular have no business engaging in political debate, or using their teaching authority to commend or condemn the actions of governments. Second, the commitment thesis, here derived from writings of Kenneth Leech, which maintains that fidelity to the biblical revelation involves an explicit commitment to Christian humanism, and thereby to practical opposition to capitalism and support for radical socialism.

The article examines the phenomenon of the religious factor in modern world politics, suggests taking into account the religious factor along with other factors of historical development (economic, political, social, natural and climatic, etc.). From the traditionalist point of view, the confrontation between the teachings of humanism and traditional religions is shown, as a spiritual confrontation of various religious teachings. The main spiritual and political processes in the modern world are revealed: the process of purposeful destruction of traditional values, religions and cultures and the process of reviving traditional values, religions and cultures in order to preserve the “blooming complexity”, i.e., the civilizational diversity of the world community. In the first process, on the basis of numerous data, shows the struggle of the supporters of the religious-philosophical doctrine of humanism with traditional religious teachings, especially Christianity, and the main task of this struggle provided dechristianization of man and society, because the Christian faith is the basis of the locomotive of world history, European civilization. The main goal of this struggle is to replace Christianity and the traditional world religions with the religion of man-God, i.e., humanism and rationalism. The author reveals the meaning of the concept of transhumanism: the creation of an artificial, unified, fully controlled world populated by biological objects without individuality or any personal characteristics at all. Thus, the ant-human essence of the religion of man-god is revealedthe destruction of the “natural man”. The article presents the main essential features of the second spiritual-political process, which is opposite to the first one. On the basis of numerous sociological studies, it is proved that in general, there is a noticeable increase in traditional religiosity and the importance of traditional religions in the world. The strengthening of the role of traditional religions and religious organizations in the life of society, especially Orthodoxy and the Russian Orthodox Church, is also recorded in Russia. At the same time, the article notes the contradictory nature of both processes, the confrontation of which is still far from complete. As a result of the analysis, three main conclusions are made. First, in the future, those peoples and civilizations whose spiritual roots will be the strongest will remain and will determine world politics, and traditional spiritual meanings and values will continue to be significant for the majority of members of a particular community. Second, those nations and civilizations that will continue to be in a state of spiritual impoverishment and, as a result, will finally lose their own spiritual sovereignty will be the losers, even to the point of complete disappearance. Third, the rejection of traditional religions, meanings and values in favor of the religion of man-god can lead humanity to the physical disappearance and replacement of “natural man” with “artificial intelligence”.

Abstract Throughout much of his career, Geoffrey Hill has been pilloried for his alleged conservativism as well as his positive treatment of Christianity in his poetry. A careful reading of his works, however, reveals a complex thinker who was attentive to the moral fallout of the Holocaust and the Second World War as he was a lover of England and European culture. Moreover, Hill’s writings reflect the apparent influence of a host of personalist, existentialist and what could also be called “humanist” twentieth century Jewish thinkers such as Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas. Throughout his poetry—especially his later work—Hill attempts (whether successfully or not) to fuse together this Jewish humanism with his own Christian and English voice.

“Narrative Theology” has often been construed in contrast to broader humanistic discourse. Protestant and particularly Reformed Christianity has often set the “Old, Old Story” apart from humanism and the humanities. This chapter explores the juxtaposition of humanism and reformed thinking in Paul Ricoeur. Ricoeur’s hermeneutics is compared with the Reformed “covenant theology” of 17th Century Puritanism. Covenant theology balanced the belief that God exceeds our powers of knowing and language and the conviction that God consents to be known within the limits of human understanding, as developed through the liberal arts. Similarly, Ricoeur sees God as limiting and disrupting human language, but while, for Ricoeur, encounter with God may begin as impossible dialogue, it develops by dispersing the names and signs of the divine throughout the tropes and genres of human discourse, narrative chief among them. Ricoeur’s thought is interpreted as a Christian humanism in which religious inquiry and secular humanistic thought coexist and mutually enhance one another. Ricoeur’s humanism will be preferred over approaches to narrative that set the Christian story and its hearers apart from the broader conversation of culture; a solipsism of faith is inadequate to the challenges of a modern pluralist culture.

This research reveals some perspectives of multi-religious interaction in Sumberjo hamlet concerning the forms of tolerance and the role of the environment. Sumberjo Hamlet exemplifies social awareness in a variety of religious life and has successfully presented social solidarity among distinct traditions of each religious group. There are four major religions living in Sumberjo Hamlet, namely, Islam, Hindu, and Christianity (both Protestantism and Catholics). This research aims at finding the processes of multi-religious interaction in Sumberjo Hamlet, the form of religious tolerance, and the role of the religious environment in building multi-religious tolerance. Conducting a semi-structured interview to the villagers, religious leaders, and village official, the study reaches the following results, firstly, there are three forms of religious tolerance in Sumberjo hamlet, and these three categories are Understanding, Openness, and Respect. Secondly, there are three periods of multi-religious interaction in Sumberjo hamlet, these three periods are: exclusivism, Inclusivism, and Open Integralism,. Thirdly, there are some roles of environment which give contribution in social and individual life: Social consciousness, Social solidarity, and Social humanism

THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT OF AMERICAN HUMANISM by Stephen P. Weldon. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. 285 pages. Hardcover; $49.95. ISBN: 9781421438580. *The Scientific Spirit of American Humanism by Stephen Weldon recounts with approval the rise of non-theistic, and even antitheistic, thought in modern science. At the outset, I will confess to being a biased reviewer (perhaps, even, an antireviewer). If I were to tell this story, I would lament, rather than celebrate, the seemingly antireligious stance lauded in this history. I must also confess to being an active participant in this history, both as an amateur student in the fundamentalist/modernist controversy in the Presbyterian churches and in my own active involvement in faith-science discussions among evangelicals in the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA). No historical account is objective--it will always reflect its author's perspective. This is true of this book and of this review. *Weldon tells the history episodically highlighting key people who contributed to this story. He begins in chapter 1, "Liberal Christianity and the Frontiers of American Belief," with Unitarians (theists/deists who reject the deity of Christ), liberal Protestants, and atheistic freethinkers. After a few chapters, he turns to a largely secular story dominated by philosophers rather than ministers. Chapter 12 presents charts that show how the 1933 Humanist Manifesto had 50% signatories who were liberal and Unitarian ministers, while the 1973 Humanist Manifesto II had only 21%. By the end of book, humanism becomes secular/atheistic humanism. Weldon describes humanism as "a view of the world that emphasizes human dignity, democracy as the ideal form of government, universal education, and scientific rationality" (p. 5). While not explicitly mentioned, but likely included in the phrase "scientific rationality," is atheism. The 1973 Humanist Manifest II begins with this theme in its opening article about religion: "We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the question of survival and fulfillment of the human race. As non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity." *Chapter 2, "The Birth of Religious Humanism," tells the early 1900s story of ministers John Dietrich, Curtis Reese, and philosopher Roy Wood Sellers, all who were or became Unitarians. "'God-talk' was no longer useful." Unitarianism ends up being a haven for religious humanists, even for those who have eliminated traditional religious language. These are the roots of today's secular humanism. *In many ways, this era is the other side of the religious history of America that this journal's readers may know. The ASA has roots in the more conservative and traditional end of American Protestantism. The old Princeton Presbyterians, Charles Hodge, A. A. Hodge, and B. B. Warfield, represent a strictly orthodox Christianity, but one open to the advances of modern science. One did not have to be theologically liberal to be proscience. The phenomenon of young-earth creationism is a relatively recent development. Conservative Protestants were not as opposed to conventional science as Weldon's treatment suggests. *The Humanist Manifesto (1933) is the subject of chapter 3, "Manifesto for an Age of Science." It was written by Unitarian Roy Wood Sellers and spearheaded by people associated with Meadville Theological School, a small Unitarian seminary, originally in Pennsylvania; after relocating, it had a close association with the University of Chicago. The Manifesto begins with the words, "The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional attitudes." The first affirmation is "Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created." *"Philosophers in the Pulpit" (chap. 4) highlights the University of Columbia philosophy department and John Dewey, in particular. Dewey was one of the more prominent signers of the Humanist Manifesto and a leading advocate of philosophical pragmatism. This chapter also tells the story of Felix Adler, also associated with Columbia, and the founder of Ethical Culture, an organization with nontheistic, Jewish roots. *"Humanists at War" (chap. 5) and "Scientists on the World Stage" (chap. 6) recount the increased secularization of humanism. Humanists in the 1940s increasingly struggled with the religious character of humanism. Should the category of religion be used at all? During this era, natural scientists, such as evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley and Drosophila geneticist Hermann Muller, rather than philosophers, led the most prominent forms of humanism. This humanism was increasingly secular, scientific, and even atheistic. *Weldon is not hesitant to expose the foibles of this movement. Chapter 7, "Eugenics and the Question of Race," traces how selective population control became part of the conversation. In addition to Huxley and Muller, Margaret Sanger is also part of this story. Philosopher Paul Kurtz makes his first appearance in this chapter and continues to be a significant player in the rest of the book. He was the editor of the Humanist Manifesto and used its pages to explore the question of race and IQ. *Chapter 8, entitled "Inside the Humanist Counter'culture," describes a period dominated by questions of human sexuality and psychology. Weldon's use of the word "counterculture" is apt. In the 1960s, the feminist Patricia Robertson and lawyer/activist Tolbert McCarroll expressed the zeitgeist of the sexual revolution. The psychology of Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm, and Abraham Maslow moved humanism from a more objective/scientific focus to a more experiential one. They are representatives of the third force (or humanistic) school of psychology, in contrast to Freudian psychoanalysis or Skinnerian behaviorism. Although agreement was rare, by the end of the decade, under Paul Kurtz (influenced by B. F. Skinner), the public face of humanism returned to a more scientific leaning. *Chapter 9, "Skeptics in the Age of Aquarius," is one chapter where I found myself, as a traditional evangelical, to be in nearly complete agreement. This chapter describes how New Age beliefs, along with an ascending occultism, came under fire from the scientific humanists under the leadership of Paul Kurtz. Weldon even cites a Christianity Today article that makes common cause with the secular humanists in their resistance to the growing occultism of western culture. I found this chapter to be a useful critique of New Age thinking. *"The Fundamentalist Challenge" (chap. 10) and "Battling Creationism and Christian Pseudoscience" (chap. 11) recount the clash between secular evolutionists and fundamentalist creationists, especially regarding the public-school science curriculum and the teaching of evolution. Here the author clearly demonstrates his prosecularist/anti-fundamentalist inclinations. On a more personal note, the mention of Francis Schaeffer, R. J. Rushdoony, and Cornelius Van Til, strikes at my own history. While some elements of this conservative Presbyterianism were clearly anti-evolutionist, others in the conservative Reformed camp were open to the proscience (including evolutionary biology) views of Warfield and Hodge, even in the early days of anti-evolutionism among fundamentalists. While some in the ASA would count themselves among young-earth creationists or flood geologists, the majority are open to old-earth geology and even to evolutionary biology. The reaction of Weldon himself, and other critics of this era, seems more akin to a religious fundamentalism of its own--albeit a fundamentalism of naturalism. Fundamentalists are not the only ones engaging in a culture war. My own view is that old-earth geology, old universe (big bang) cosmology, and evolutionary biology should be taught as the mainstream scientific consensus even in private religious schools. But dissent and disagreement should be allowed among teachers and students alike. Sometimes it seems to me that these fundamentalist creationists and atheistic evolutionists are all more interested in indoctrination than education. *Embedded in chapter 10 is the history of the Humanist Manifesto II (coauthored by Paul Kurtz). It clearly espouses positions antithetical to traditional Christian orthodoxy, especially in the explicit anti-theistic and prosexual revolution statements. But it is striking to me how much agreement I can find with people who so strongly disagree with traditional Christian faith. This tells me two things: while fundamental religious differences may exist between people, there is something about being human in this world that brings Christians and non-Christians together on many very fundamental questions such as liberty, human dignity, friendship, and peaceful co-existence. Such values are not the unique provenance of humanists or Christians or other religious groups. The second thing is that we are much better at emphasizing differences and seeking to force others to conform to our way than we are at tolerating differences and persuading those who disagree. *The opening of chapter 12, "The Humanist Ethos of Science and Modern America," brought me once again to a personal reflection that is relevant in reviewing this book. My own love of the natural sciences can be traced to Sagan, Asimov, Clarke, Gould, Dawkins, and others who brought the wonder of science to the broader public. Without denying their a-religious, and even antireligious posture, it is noteworthy that the truths about the natural world are independent of who discovered them or communicates them. And they are wondrous whether or not you acknowledge the hand of God in creating them. The process of science works whether the world was created by God or is the result of properties of the universe that just are. It is interesting to me that a brief discussion of post-modernism appears in this chapter. Postmodernism's undermining of the objectivity of natural science leads one to wonder whether this undermines the whole book by hinting that a postmodernist perspective is the consistent non'religious/atheist view. In contrast, the ASA's faith statement states: "We believe that in creating and preserving the universe God has endowed it with contingent order and intelligibility, the basis of scientific investigation." According to Christians, natural science is possible because creation is orderly and intelligible. Atheists and skeptics simply assert the world's orderliness and intelligibility. *Like myself, readers of this journal are likely to have a different perspective on the events traced in Weldon's book. Nevertheless, the history recounted here helps us to see why there is such a divide between science and those who continue to be influenced by more conservative religious views. As such, it is a worthwhile read and of interest to those who follow the science-faith literature. *Reviewed by Terry Gray, Instructor in Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523.

The systematic value (i.e., religious) assumptions of many areas of psychology are being increasingly explored. This article focuses on the organizational values reflected by actions of the American Psychological Association (APA). For illustrative purposes, humanism and evangelical Christianity are described and related to several APA activities and publications. APA is found to favor humanistic values and is encouraged to adopt several specific organizational changes. APA can become a stronger organization by encouraging professional self-evaluation and pluralism.

L. Stasyuk «Projection of Humanistic and Reformational reception in Protestant Ortodoxy». There is performed a philosophical and theological reflection of the process in which main subjects of Renaissance and Reformation changes adhere to the principle of getting back to sources such as appeal, thorough rethinking, borrowing of the antique heritage within which a foundation of the Humanism philosophy is laid, as well as to the Holy Scriptures and to the teachings of spiritual and religious leaders of Christianity. There is made a comparative analysis of the attitude to the antique philosophical and medieval scholastic achievements and to the philosophy as a way of thinking generally by representatives of Humanism and Protestant Orthodoxy which typify the spiritual paradigm of European history.

В статье анализируется влияние патристики и схоластики на эволюцию философского мировоззрения Г.П. Федотова. Важной вехой на этом пути явилось обращение Г.П. Федотова к наследию Августина Блаженного и Абеляра. Под влиянием западной традиции философ окончательно переходит от марксизма к неохристинству, пытаясь соединить веру и разум, синтезировать гуманизм и христианство, сблизить в духе экуменизма Восточную и Западную церковь. Изучение западной традиции во многом способствовало обращению Г.П. Федотова к проблемам агиографии в русском православии. The article examines the influence of patristics and scholasticism on the evolution of G.P. Fedotov's philosophical worldview. Fedotov's appeal to the legacy of St. Augustine and P. Abelard should be considered as a milestone on this path. Under the influence of the Western tradition, Fedotova finally moves from Marxism to neo-Christianity, trying to combine faith and reason, synthesize humanism and Christianity, and bring the Eastern and Western churches closer together in the spirit of ecumenism. The study of Western tradition was largely facilitated by Fedotov's appeal to the problems of hagiography in Russian Orthodoxy.

Aotearoa-New Zealand received Christianity as part of the colonial/missionary matrix of nineteenth century European expansion. Consequently the form and content of faith was largely shaped by factors distant both in geography and symbolic resonance. Christian theology maintains a cultural dissonance, particularly from an emergent Pakeha cultural indentity. The quest for contextualisation has become a familiar one in post-colonial societies, though not as vigorously pursued in Western nations as in other parts of the world. Only recently has attention been paid to the possibilities of local theologies in New Zealand. C.S. Song�s suggests �Perhaps a poet can tell us how we should go about theology�. In this he is pointing to the necessity of contextual theology using domestic cultural product as an important source for theological reflection, encapsulating as it does local history and experience. James K. Baxter, one of New Zealand�s finest poets, was also a Catholic and social critic. In the last years of his life particularly, the major part of his writing, both poetry and prose, was concerned with his vision of a Christian humanism which might make a practical difference in the immediate context. He established a community at the small settlement of Jerusalem beside the Whanganui River, where he sought to give tangible expression to a mixture of radical Christian acceptance and Maori spiritual values. This thesis examines Baxter�s contribution to the task of contextual theology. In particular, it draws on a great deal of unpublished prose material, until now largely unexamined, from the late period of his life. This, together with the wider body of his writings, is used to investigate his religious thought and movement within it. After an introductory and methodological chapter, the thesis examines Baxter�s categorisation of the fragmented and spiritually bereft nature of Pakeha existence. It then seeks to follow the major themes of his own powerfully articulated responses to this condition, in a series of chapters introduced with Maori terms; a cultural connection which was important to Baxter. The investigation uncovers a commitment to a Christian humanism that recognises the immanence of Christ, and a rather startling manifesto which parallels the approach of Liberation Theology in a distinctly New Zealand context. The survey of Baxter�s religious thought concludes with a critical reflection on his themes. A final chapter considers the contribution which Baxter makes toward the challenge of contextual theology. Considering the relationship between poetic reflection and theology, it stops short of classifying Baxter as a theologian. Rather the argument is advanced that he has provided vital raw material to the ongoing task of local theology; his role is one of �funding� contextual theology symbolically. Baxter is significant in the development of theology in Aotearoa-New Zealand, both for his contribution and his encouragement to further reflection.

This qualitative frame analysis examines how print media handles the concept of Fundamentalist Christianity. The researcher examined news reports in four prominent national newspapers over the ten-year period between 2000 and 2009 for references made to Fundamentalist Christianity. The sample is examined on the basis of Mark Silk's "topoi," a term taken from classical rhetoric meaning commonplaces or themes (1995). Silk outlines seven common topoi on which stories about religion are written, and these are utilized as a framework for this present study. While much has been written and researched on how religious groups, Fundamentalist Christians, and Evangelicals use mass media to promote their message to a secular audience, few studies have examined how the secular press frames Fundamentalist Christianity. This study, therefore, fills an existing literature gap by dissecting the portrayal of a demographic that has had a historical and cultural media presence for more than a century.

Este trabalho de pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os desafios e perspectivas do diálogo inter-religioso a partir das inovações propostas pelo Concílio Vaticano II, como também seus desdobramentos em vários documentos no período pós conciliar, particularmente na Instrução Diálogo e Anúncio. Ante a insuficiência da postura do Magistério eclesial na abordagem da questão, das controvérsias suscitadas nas diversas esferas da instituição eclesial, a teologia do pluralismo religioso de Jacques Dupuis poderá situar melhor o problema, ao propor que as religiões sejam incluídas no projeto salvífico de Deus para toda a humanidade, reconhecendoas como caminhos ordinários de salvação. A atitude da Igreja em relação às religiões não cristãs tem sido marcada pela ambiguidade, rompendo, assim, com as orientações pastorais emanadas do Concílio que exorta os cristãos a descobrir os valores positivos destas tradições religiosas. Neste sentido, a Declaração Dominus Iesus, abrirá uma verdadeira cruzada contra os teólogos adeptos do pluralismo, a fim de impedir o avanço deste novo paradigma para a teologia, favorecendo um discurso com tendências exclusivistas que não consegue dialogar com o mundo moderno, plural e secularizado.

O trabalho tem o propósito de traçar alguns pressupostos epistemológicos para o diálogo entre cristãos e muçulmanos. Dividido em cinco capítulos, o trabalho inicia com a conceituação de diálogo à luz dos pensamentos de Paulo Freire e Martin Buber. Nesse capítulo, define-se o que seja diálogo inter-religioso, diferenciando-o do ecumenismo. Em seguida, apresenta-se uma síntese dos grandes encontros inter-religiosos ocorridos no mundo, desde o Primeiro Parlamento Mundial das Religiões realizado em Chicago, E.U.A, no ano de 1893 até a Jornada Mundial da Oração ocorrida em Assis, Itália, no ano de 1986. No segundo capítulo, as teologias pluralistas de John Hick e John Spong são utilizadas para uma nova compreensão da encarnação divina de Jesus Cristo de forma metafórica e a importância deste fato para o diálogo inter-religioso. No terceiro capítulo, mostra-se que o mundo muçulmano, através de seus teólogos, também tem procurado fazer o aggiornamento de sua base teológica, reinterpretando alguns fundamentos do Alcorão e da Sharia. No quarto capítulo, aborda-se a necessidade do diálogo inter-religioso à luz das filosofias da alteridade de Martin Buber, Emmanuel Lévinas e Boaventura Santos. O quinto capítulo, tratou-se da aplicação da epistemologia transdisciplinar de Basarab Nicolescu e Edgar Morin no diálogo inter-religioso, com a integração dos saberes, a partir do axioma lógico do terceiro incluído. Na conclusão destacam-se os pontos essenciais, dentro de uma nova lógica epistemológica, para a coexistência pacífica entre cristãos e muçulmanos na construção de uma cultura de paz
This dissertation is to draw some epistemological assumptions for the dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Divided into five chapters, this dissertation begins with the concept it of dialogue in the light of the thoughts of Martin Buber and Paulo Freire. In this chapter, is defined what is inter-religious dialogue, differentiating it from ecumenism. Then, the summary of major inter-religious encounters occurred in the world since the First World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, USA, in the year 1893 up to the World Day of Prayer held in Assis, Italy, in 1986 was given. In the second, the pluralistic theologies of John Hick and John Spong are used for a new understanding of the divine incarnation of Jesus Christ in a metaphorical significance of this fact and for the inter-religious dialogue. In the third chapter, it is shown that the Muslim world, through its theologians, has also sought to update its theological basis, reinterpreting some foundations of the Koran and Sharia. In the fourth chapter, it is discussed the necessity of inter-religious dialogue in the light of the philosophies of alterity of Martin Buber, Emmanuel Lévinas and Boaventura Santos. The fifth chapter is about the implementation of transdisciplinary epistemology Basarab Nicolescu and Edgar Morin in inter-religious dialogue, with the integration of knowledge of the logical axiom of the third included. In conclusion we highlight the key points within a new epistemological approach to peaceful coexistence of Christians and Muslims, in order to build a culture of peace

Hadriaan Beverland (1650-1716) was banished from Holland in 1679. Why did this humanist scholar get into so much trouble in the most tolerant part of Europe in the seventeenth century? In an attempt to answer this question, this thesis places Beverland's writings on sex, sin, Scripture, and scholarship in their historical context for the first time. Beverland argued that lust was the original sin and highlighted the importance of sex in human nature, ancient history, and his own society. His works were characterized by his erudite Latin, satirical style, and disregard for traditional genres and hierarchies in early modern scholarship. Dutch theologians disliked his theology and exegesis, and hated his use of erudition to mock their learning, morality, and authority. Beverland's humanist colleagues did not support his studies either, because they believed that drawing attention to the sexual side of the classics threatened the basis of the humanist enterprise. When theologians asked for his arrest and humanist professors left him to his fate, Dutch magistrates were happy to convict Beverland because he had insolently accused the political and economic, as well as the religious and intellectual elite of the Dutch Republic, of hypocrisy. By restricting sex to marriage, in compliance with Reformed doctrine, secular authorities upheld a sexual morality that was unattainable, Beverland argued. He proposed honest discussion of the problem of sex and suggested that greater sexual liberty for the male elite might be the solution. Beverland's crime was to expose the gap between principle and practice in sexual relations in Dutch society, highlighting the hypocrisy of a deeply conflicted elite at a precarious time. His intervention came at the moment when the uneasy balance struck between Reformed orthodoxy, humanist scholarship, economic prosperity, and patrician politics, which had characterized the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, was disintegrating, with unsettling consequences for all concerned. Placing Beverland's fate in this context of change provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual environment of the Republic in the last decades of the seventeenth century.

A educação tem o caráter de formar o cidadão para a vida, estando em sintonia com a realidade que circunda o educando. O Ensino Religioso tem o indicativo de trabalhar o Fenômeno Religioso de maneira abrangente. A preocupação de formar o educando com a consciência crítica e uma visão de mundo abrangente passa também pelo entendimento, assim como o estudo sistemático da religião, enquanto instituição que tem sua presença na história, trabalhando o ser humano enquanto ser que busca a transcendência. Diante de um mundo marcado por conflitos e numa sociedade voltada para o consumismo, algo bem pertinente na sociedade Pós-Moderna, urge a necessidade da formação do educando para uma cultura em que se imprima um Ethos que ilumine a moral na sociedade, em que a escola possa educar para o respeito com o outro em sua opção de manifestar sua religiosidade e de poder discutir, de forma madura e democrática, os assuntos pertinentes às diversas manifestações nesse âmbito, porém, de uma maneira crítica. Outrora, nos primórdios da colonização do Brasil, o ER tinha como característica a catequese, necessariamente para a conversão e vivência religiosa voltada para a fé, direcionada para a Igreja Católica. No decorrer da história da educação no Brasil, o ER passou por algumas modificações até o último desfecho que se deu com a Lei de n 9.475, sancionada no dia 22 de julho de 1997, que coloca o ER como disciplina normal, não atendendo às formas proselitistas, porém, de matrícula facultativa e limitada ao Ensino Fundamental. Os PCNs de ER são divididos em cinco eixos, nos quais o Ethos é o foco principal neste trabalho, primando pela formação de valores que visem o reflexo de uma convivência humana embasada no respeito e na tolerância, entendendo que a diferença religiosa, nos seus diversos seguimentos, representa uma dimensão de riqueza que deve gerar um ambiente saudável, em especial o escolar, primando pela formação da cidadania e do direito de poder manifestar sua opção religiosa, buscando contribuir para a construção de um Ethos que dê abertura ao transcendente nas mais diversas formas

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This master‟s dissertation aims to present some aspects of the itinerary followed by Christian theology in its effort to understand the relationship between Christianity and other religions, as well as to maintain an openness to dialogue with other religious traditions. The reflection takes into account the opening promoted after Vatican II, which dealt with the salvation of non-Christians and members of other religious traditions, emphasizing that this perspective does not negate or reduce the value of religious identities, especially in the case of the Christian faith, the relevance of Christ, but leads them to a deepening and maturing, motivated by dialogue and a lovely and co-responsible encounter. In the particular case of the Christian faith, as an example, it would be reinterpreted from the dialogical encounter with the other faiths. In the particular case of the Christian faith, as an example, be reinterpreted from the dialogical encounter with the other faiths. The same should occur with any religious tradition. It is considered that such a vision, in a certain sense, supplants other models such as exclusivism, which considers Jesus Christ and a Church as the exclusive way of salvation; Inclusivism, which considers Jesus Christ as the way of salvation for all, albeit implicitly; and Pluralism, which is a relativistic perspective in which Jesus is the way of salvation for christians, for others, the way is a tradition, with no greater efforts of self-criticism, revision, and mutual interpellation. In other words, all religions participate of the salvation of God, each one by himself and in his own way. The approach and the dialogue between the various religious traditions helps them to build and rebuild their founding identities and principles.
Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo apresentar alguns aspectos do itinerário seguido pela teologia cristã, no seu esforço de compreender a relação do Cristianismo com outras religiões, bem como manter uma abertura ao diálogo com as outras tradições religiosas. A reflexão leva em conta a abertura promovida após o Vaticano II, que tratou da salvação dos não cristãos e de membros de outras tradições religiosas, ressaltando que esta perspectiva não anula e nem reduz o valor das identidades religiosas, mormente no caso da fé cristã, a relevância de Cristo, mas leva-as a um aprofundamento e amadurecimento, motivados pelo diálogo e pelo encontro amável e corresponsável. No caso particular da fé cristã, como exemplo, seria reinterpretada a partir do encontro dialógico com as demais fés. Devendo o mesmo ocorrer com toda e qualquer tradição religiosa. Considera-se que tal visão, em certo sentido, suplanta outros modelos como o exclusivismo, que considera Jesus Cristo e a Igreja como caminho exclusivo de salvação; o inclusivismo, que considera Jesus Cristo como caminho de salvação para todos, ainda que implicitamente; e o pluralismo, que é a perspectiva relativista na qual Jesus é o caminho de salvação para os cristãos, enquanto para os outros o caminho é a sua própria tradição, sem maiores esforços de autocríticas, revisões e mútua interpelação. Em outras palavras, todas as religiões participam da salvação de Deus, cada uma por si mesma e da sua maneira. A aproximação e o diálogo entre as diversas tradições religiosas contribuem para que elas possam construir e reconstruir suas identidades e princípios fundantes.

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This dissertation is linked to the Master's Degree in Religious Sciences of the Catholic University of Pernambuco, in the line of research: Brazilian religious field, culture and society. It aims to analyze Religious Education in the schools of the Municipal Network in Recife, in the light of the presuppositions of the postcolonial approach, seeking to understand its relation with the curricular decolonization and the displacements in the references of the Christian tradition, as well as the concretization of a secular teaching and in harmony with the religious diversity, both from the bibliographical survey about the theme, and from the concepts expressed by teachers located in three schools of the referred network. Considering the particularities surrounding the formation of the Brazilian state, whose fusion between religion and politics was the mark of the political-economic project of Portuguese territorial expansion, we initially sought to contextualize the aspects related to the constitution of secularism in Brazil and the establishment of Religious Education to then present the references of the postcolonial approach through bibliographic review. This is a field research with a qualitative and descriptive approach. Thus, the data collection was done through semi-structured interviews applied to the eleven interviewees having as complementary instrument the semiparticipant observation of the classes of Religious Education taught in the three schools that were the field of this research, with the purpose of analyzing what were the understandings and the concepts about secularity and religion and their relationship with the implementation of the principle of secularity and religious diversity, as well as to analyze the religious contents present in their practice in order to establish relations between them and the contents conveyed in the teaching proposal of the New policy of the educational network, regarding Religious Education and the treatment of the Christian tradition. The analysis of the collected data was carried out from the content analysis, where, after the identification of the general categories, we selected the final categories for the problematization of the discussed thematic axes. As a result, we hope to contribute to the expansion of the debates about lay religious teaching and attentive to the religious diversity present in the daily school life, through actions and practices capable of promoting the inclusion of the margins once subsumed and silenced by Eurocentrism, which includes tradition Christian, beyond the mere polarization between his hegemony or rejection, rather, constructing a dialogical perspective.
A presente dissertação está vinculada ao curso de Mestrado em Ciências da Religião da Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, na linha de pesquisa: Campo religioso brasileiro, cultura e sociedade. Ela tem como objetivo analisar o Ensino Religioso nas escolas da Rede Municipal em Recife, à luz dos pressupostos da abordagem pós-colonial, buscando compreender sua relação com a descolonização curricular e os deslocamentos nos referenciais da tradição cristã, bem como a concretização de um ensino laico e em consonância com a diversidade religiosa, tanto a partir do levantamento bibliográfico acerca da temática, como das conceituações expressas por docentes localizados em três escolas da referida rede de ensino. Tendo em vista as particularidades que cercam a formação do estado brasileiro, cuja fusão entre religião e política foi a marca do projeto político-econômico de expansão territorial portuguesa, buscamos inicialmente contextualizar os aspectos ligados à constituição da laicidade no Brasil e o estabelecimento do Ensino Religioso para, em seguida, apresentarmos os referenciais da abordagem pós-colonial por meio de revisão bibliográfica. Esta é uma pesquisa de campo, com abordagem qualitativa e descritiva. Assim, a coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas aplicadas aos onze entrevistados, tendo como instrumento complementar a observação semiparticipante das aulas de Ensino Religioso ministradas nas três escolas que foram o campo desta pesquisa, com o objetivo de analisarmos quais eram as compreensões e os conceitos acerca da laicidade e da religião e suas relações com a implementação do princípio da laicidade e da diversidade religiosa, assim como analisar os conteúdos religiosos presentes em sua prática para estabelecer relações entre estes e os conteúdos veiculados na proposta de ensino do caderno da nova política da rede de ensino, no que se refere ao Ensino Religioso e ao trato da tradição cristã. A análise dos dados coletados foi realizada a partir da análise de conteúdo, onde, após a identificação das categorias gerais, selecionamos as categorias finais para a problematização dos eixos temáticos discutidos. Como resultado, esperamos contribuir para a ampliação dos debates acerca do Ensino Religioso laico e atento à diversidade religiosa presente no cotidiano escolar, por meio de ações e práticas capazes de promover a inclusão das margens outrora subsumidas e silenciadas pelo eurocentrismo, o que inclui a tradição cristã, para além da mera polarização entre a sua hegemonia ou rejeição, antes, construindo uma perspectiva dialogal.

AbstractSupernatural agents, although imagined by humans as omnipresent, cannot escape being placed (at least mentally) by believers somewhere in physical space. For example, kami in Shintoism are believed to reside in natural elements of the landscape. In Christianity, God is typically associated with Heaven. Similarly, Jesus is said to have ascended into Heaven after his resurrection. According to Buddhist mythology, gods live in the heavens, and the next Buddha, Maitreya, will descend to earth from heaven.This study (Part I of a two-part project) investigates the role of spatiality in children’s conceptions of the divine as shown through their drawings of god. We collected drawings by participants from four different cultural and religious environments (n = 1156): Japanese (Buddhism and Shinto), Russian-Buryat (Buddhism, Shamanism), Russian Slavic (Christian Orthodoxy) and French-speaking Swiss (Catholic and reformed Christianity). Our study indicates that the tendency to place god in the sky was not strongly related to a particular cultural or religious context. Children from all groups most often drew god either in the sky or with no background at all. We note two implications for folk psychology: (1) Children tend to conceptualize god in single location, (2) They often associate the divine with a celestial background.

In this paper, William Blake�s religious system, the relationship between Natural Religion (Deism) and Art will be discussed. Blake rejected Natural Religion because Deism, which he considered Atheism and the tree of mystery, that is the dichotomy of good and evil, is false religion. �Natural religion�s impossible absurdity� urged him to allege The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which proclaim that nature is God�s creation, follow Urizen�s cruel practices. Deism, Druidism is responsible for human slavery, war, and spiritual backwardness. Blake�s Protestant Jesus, that is imagination incarnated is spirituality and productivity. This does not mean that Catholicism and Orthodoxy are consisted by false religious beliefs. The basic idea of the differentiation between religions is not the division of the spirit in good and evil but the ground on which this division is based. Although �Man must and will have some Religion,� religion is a �web� and a �direful wheel.� Jesus is not a religion, in the sense that religion is a system of justice which is based on single standards that regulate human ethics and conduct. Understanding Jesus is a process of self - knowing. Man should not strive to express himself through religion but through his creative imagination and the humanitarian values of annihilation of the selfhood, universal brotherhood, and mutual forgiveness of sins. In a false religious system these values are ignored and forgotten. In order to form these ideas Blake received various influences from Boehme�s assertions, for example about the single root of the God of the holy world, and the God of the dark world. Also, God is the Fire and Jesus is the Light; Boehme saw the incarnation of Jesus not as a sacrificial offering to redeem humans from sins but as an offering of love to all humanity. In addition, Blake�s ideas about Virgin Mary are significant to compare and contrast to Boehme�s. The latter�s Marian views helped Blake to construct his own view on divine birth and Jesus�s human side.

In his Deconstruction of Christianity, the contemporary French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy described Christianity as “the exit from religion and the expansion of the atheist world”. Inspired by this assertion, we will reassess the traces of atheism in Christianity and its secular supplements. We will examine the broad context of Christianity and some seemingly external factors such as the Enlightenment and the development of science. Several features of Christianity, such as the emphasis on spirituality, individual faith, and the deinstitutionalization of religious experience, have prepared the ground for the rise of atheism. First, Christianity, most clearly in the Protestant denominations, places great emphasis on the inner spiritual experience of the believer, the conscience as the inner presence of God. The subjective personal relationship with God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are central tenets of Christian theology. However, this emphasis on individual, private spirituality can inadvertently lead to a devaluation of external religious structures and communal rituals and even pave the way for atheistic isolation. Moreover, throughout its history, Christianity has repeatedly produced its own critics, movements that have challenged institutional authority and hierarchical structures within the church. From the Hussites to the Protestant Reformation to today's movements advocating spiritual autonomy, the goal has always been to decentralize religious authority, separate it from worldly powers (secularization) and empower individual believers. While this deinstitutionalization is certainly meant to promote a more authentic and personal faith that is closer to God's will, it can also create room for doubt and scepticism, which in turn can lead to atheism. Furthermore, Christianity has grappled more than other religions with the tension between faith and reason, two completely different areas of our relationship with reality and the world. This relationship has completely changed with advances in science and philosophy, as traditional religious doctrines and supernatural explanations are increasingly challenged and even rendered obsolete. The struggle to reconcile faith and reason has led some people to the practical solution of rejecting religious faith altogether in favour of a purely secular worldview. We should also mention that even the pervasive influence of Christianity on Western culture may have inadvertently facilitated its own decline. Because Christianity is deeply embedded in societal norms, people who have grown up in Christian cultures may take their faith for granted, not as something out of the ordinary, but as something normal, leading to complacency or indifference toward religious beliefs. Over time, this cultural familiarity with Christianity can erode the foundations of religious belief and eventually contribute to the rise of atheism. Given this internal dynamic, it is clear that Christianity itself has played a crucial role in its own atheization. This paper will highlight some of the key features of Christian atheism and one of its most notorious examples, socialist atheization.

The article presents an analysis of the basic humanistic principles of Islamic culture in a philosophical manner. The subject of the research is the peculiarities of the development of the humanistic tradition in Islamic philosophy and culture. The work notes that representatives of Arab philosophy consider the special concept of “tawhid” as the main postulate of Islamic culture, which is interpreted as a belief in one God. The methodological basis of the research was formed by the philosophical-anthropological and historical-cultural approach. As a scientific novelty, a comprehensive analysis of humanistic principles in the philosophy and culture of medieval Islam is proposed. The article concludes that religious teaching in Arab-Muslim philosophy is inextricably linked with ethics and basic moral principles of humanistic philosophy and has a significant impact on the practical side of life in the social and cultural sphere.

The current pandemic has created new scenarios and problems regarding religious freedom. To combat the spread of the coronavirus, governments have ordered social distance and total closure of numerous activities including the celebration of sacred rites without consulting religious authorities. Religions have accepted the restrictions with a sense of responsibility, but the sacrifice of religious freedom for the faithful has been great. In addition, the effects of the pandemic together with the negative effects of globalization will continue over time, generating economic and social damage. In addition to prayer, religions have invited the faithful to a social commitment to reduce the critical issues of the crisis and specially to combat poverty. It is therefore necessary to analyze some topics: critical issues relating to the limitation of the right to religious freedom; what problems arise in the relations between powers (civil and religious); what problems arise in relations between state and religions; how the constitutional rights of the faithful and citizens are protected; what are the legal problems internal to the different religions, considering that the judgment on the validity of online rites is different; what is the role of religions in the face of the economic crisis. For the first time since the beginning of the human rights era, there has been a serious conflict between human rights, especially for the greater protection given to the right to health. The right to religious freedom also suffered, but it must be considered that the protection of the right to religious freedom also contributes to the recovery of a „good” economy, which can counteract the negative effects of the pandemic and globalization. We must build a personalist humanism, which the alliance between religions can promote. A humanism that respects the rights and dignity of man, against the logic of profit, and that rewrites the ethical rules of the economy. Looking at the post-pandemic, religions can be the soul of the ethical and moral rules that must guide the „good economy” in society to overcome social and economic differences.

Huang Lihai is one of the most active contemporary Chinese poets in the past two decades. His poems are a return to poetry, language and life. In the era of change and grand discourse dominating the aesthetic interpretation of literature, Huang Lihai’s poetry and spiritual exploration have obvious implications. His vitality in poetry creation and poetry activities has an important connection with his Christian faith and his thought resources. Huang Lihai pays close attention to individual life with heavy religious feelings, and tries to restore the relationship between man and god, the relationship between man and man, and the relationship between man and nature in the post-modern era. Backed by belief, he maintained human dignity and integrity with poetry, and opened up the divine dimension of poetry writing, which opened up a new aesthetic dimension for the Chinese contemporary poetry.

The paper traces the development from the medieval, traditional union, through the modern disunion, toward a possible post-modern reunion of the sacred and the profane. It concentrates on the modern disunion and conflict between the religious and the secular, revelation and enlightenment, faith and autonomous reason in the Western world and beyond. It deals specifically with Christianity and the modern age, particularly liberalism, socialism and fascism of the 2Oth and the 21st centuries. The problematic inclination of Western Catholicism toward fascism, motivated by the fear of and hate against socialism and communism in the 20th century, and toward exclusive, authoritarian, and totalitarian populism and identitarianism in the 21st. century, is analyzed, compared and critiqued. Solutions to the problem are suggested on the basis of the Critical Theory of Religion and Society, derived from the Critical Theory of Society of the Frankfurt School. The critical theory and praxis should help to reconcile the culture wars which are continually produced by the modern antagonism between the religious and the secular, and to prepare the way toward post-modern, alternative Future III - the freedom of All on the basis of the collective appropriation of collective surplus value. Distribution and recognition problems are equally taken seriously.