Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Popular culture – religious aspects – christianity »

This fieldwork-based article provides an ethnographic overview of the Mopin festival of the Galos and its underlying ritualistic aspects. The Galos have a rich, multi-faceted and distinct culture of their own. Among the diverse types of traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) of the Galo tribe, Mopin is the most popular and significant. In fact, it forms a part of the identity and heritage of the indigenous community. Mopin has certain established sacred and religious rituals which are usually accompanied by hymns and incantations chanted by the nyibo (priests) and the bo (co-priests) from their memory. Regrettably, due to modern education and the influence of other religions especially Christianity, rituals associated with Mopin have undergone immense changes in the contemporary time.

Widespread evidence indicates that Jesus Christ holds a most prominent place in popular cultures across Africa south of the Sahara. In the present article, empirical data generated through qualitative research in Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda serve to illustrate similar phenomena attested across the continent. Initial description and subsequent theological analysis highlight two central aspects of these Christologies: Jesus as Immanuel—God with us—in Africa, and Jesus as the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). Following a summary overview of Christological images in Africa, conclusions point out their significance to contemporary Christianity, particularly regarding the intrinsic relation between popular and academic theologies.

In light of the current appetite for early Christianity in popular discourse, this paper examines the rise of Christianity within the transformative context of late-Roman religious culture. Rather than viewing Christianity as an isolated and unique catalyst for religious change, this paper reminds readers that early Christianity was in fact part of a much broader process that saw a steady increase in the influence of eastern religious cultures throughout the later Empire.

AbstractThis paper will look at converted Christian communities on the Indian subcontinent and the emergent rich bricolage of religious traditions. A narrative of Indian Christianity takes us almost imperceptibly into the realm of cultural convergence and communication. While the concepts of 'syncretism' or 'composite culture' have framed many discussions regarding this interaction, newer perspectives have begun to emerge. Syncretism sometimes implies the harmonious interaction of different religious traditions, while ethnographies bring up a far more complicated picture of contestation and struggle. We also need to look closely at patterns of religious interaction and engagement. Christianity may take from Hinduism, but this is not always the case. Sometimes both Christianity and Hinduism simultaneously engage with a different religious and cultural environment. Processes are more complex than they at first sight appear and, as this paper will attempt to show, some amount of historicisation is essential when understanding the ways in which they work.

This article explores the way the character Athelstan serves as a narrative focal point in the popular television series Vikings. Using this series as its main case study, it addresses the question of the ways in which the character functions as a synthesis between the two opposing world views of Christianity and Norse religion that are present in the series. After establishing that Vikings is a prime example of the trend to romanticize Viking culture in popular culture, I will argue that while the character Athelstan functions as a narrative focal point in which the worlds can be united and are united for a while, his eventual death when he has reverted back to Christianity shows that the series ultimately favors Viking culture and paints a very negative picture of (medieval) Christianity indeed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the way in which the Korean church developed a popular image of Jesus Christ in her own context. Many scholars often refer to Minjung theology in order to find the Korean understanding of Jesus Christ. Yet, if one seeks to understand Korean Christology only through Minjung theology, he or she will not be able to grasp its whole nature. The evangelicals have also developed their own Christology that is rooted in a particular Korean context. As will be discussed in this paper, there are four popular images of Christ in Korean Christianity. These are: Christ as the Gift, the Reconciler, the Transformer, and the Liberator.

AbstractIn post-colonial Africa, Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity has slowly emerged as an influential shaper of culture and identity through its use of music, media, and dance. This article gives an overview of the transitions that have occurred in African politics, identity awareness, and culture, especially as it relates to the indigenous village public and it’s interface with the external Western public, and how the emergent cultural public has become the most influential player in shaping the African moral universe. Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity has navigated the shift from a missionary-driven avoidance of indigenous music and dance to the incorporation of indigenous elements, leading in turn to the popularization of Pentecostal music and dance that blends indigenous forms and concepts, Christian symbolism, and popular cultural expressions. The resulting forms have not only shaped Christianity, but also the surrounding culture and its political environment.

This thesis examines the role of Christianity in contemporary American culture using 1990s popular media as cultural artifacts. Building on theories of ideological analysis and hegemony, this project uncovers a balance between progressive and traditionalist ideologies in American culture with progressive ideologies most often superficially acknowledged and incorporated into dominant traditionalist Christian ideologies through hegemonic negotiation. An analysis of the popular Hollywood films The Last Temptation of Christ, Leap of Faith, Michael, City of Angels, Dogma and Keeping the Faith, illustrates this process by addressing Christian dominance in multicultural America, a backlash against feminism constructed through patriarchal and “family values” ideologies, and an integration of popular culture and traditionalist Christianity.

In this thesis I study popular Hong Kong cinema through analysing specific films produced between 2001 and 2004. They are Shaolin Soccer (2001), The Infernal Affairs Trilogy (2002-2003), and Kung Fu Hustle (2004). My aim is to identify insights from these films in order both to interrogate and to inform the public expressions of faith by local Christians in the period after the reversion to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. In this thesis, these expressions of faith are represented by local Christian productions released in cinemas also between 2001 and 2004. Being the first detailed study of Chinese language film in the developing field of theology-religion and film, this thesis serves to extend the geo-cultural scope of this area of research. Throughout this study I adopt a tripolar approach to theology which is simultaneously practical, contextual, and cultural. It starts with practical concerns and aims at informing Christian praxis; it is concerned with local issues and reflects on local practices; it regards the cinema as a cultural text and as resource for local theology. My film analysis draws upon a cultural studies approach which combines textual and contextual studies, and is enriched by extensive references to writings by local critics and audience members. Using this multi-layered approach, I scrutinise the top grossing local film of each year from 2001 to 2004 within its original sociocultural context of production and reception. The same approach is also applied to examine the Christian films. At the heart of this thesis is my analysis of both Christian films and popular films. I demonstrate that the local Christian films exhibit a number of characteristics, which include: other-worldly spirituality; individualistic worldviews that focus on personal fulfilment; exclusive emphasis on marriage and the family; as well as disinterest from the social context and indifference towards the present. My contextual study on the development of Christianity in Hong Kong reveals that these characteristics mirror the popular theologies prevalent in many local Christian communities. In contrast, the popular films are often perceived locally to be implicit representations of circumstances after the reversion of sovereignty, and are thus regarded as stories of Hong Kong people and society. I discuss how these films address important issues which confront the people, take the local cultural-religious traditions seriously, assume the point of view of the marginal, and embrace rather than condemn human weaknesses. As cultural texts, they suggest that the people of Hong Kong are struggling with unresolved identities and anxiety over being marginalised, grappling with the tension of retention versus abandonment of collective memories, and longing for transformation from their perceived perpetual despair. These characteristics, I contend, are manifestations of a collective state of liminality experienced by many people in Hong Kong after 1997. In the conclusion, I propose a contextual approach to public expressions of Christian faith for Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. My proposed approach involves attentiveness and humility toward local cultural-religious traditions; relocation to the periphery for the assumption of a marginal perspective; identification with and embrace of the liminal condition of the people. Finally, I suggest that the challenge for public expressions of Christian faith in this context is two-fold. First, it is to be able to tell the stories of post-1997 Hong Kong; second, these stories need to be grounded on a sound theology of liminality which embodies and addresses the post-1997 experience in the city. This specific study on Hong Kong cinema also has wider implications for those seeking to express their Christian faith in the public realm, particularly through various popular audiovisual media.

This thesis attempts to take seriously the claims made by many postapocalyptic zombie narratives to represent the world as it truly is, analyzing and then assessing the theological value of their depictions of the human predicament. The approach is both formal and what Gary Wolfe calls transmedial, examining the recurring narrative structures and themes of texts across several media and eras as part of 'a popular aesthetic movement and not just a body of works of fiction on similar themes', with special attention given to the films and television of the new millennium. The aim is twofold: to extend the relevance of postapocalyptic zombie fictions beyond the relatively narrow vogue of a cultural moment, and to prompt a richer appreciation of the significance of the Christian faith within contemporary society. To this end, Chapter One contextualizes the complexity of these texts' relationship to Christianity by examining first the most prominent obstacles and then the implicit promise of these texts for theological reflection. It places special emphasis on the interior tension in many of these fictions between, on the one hand, aggressively emphasizing the apparent absence of the supernatural, while on the other, frequently claiming to disclose a dimension of human experience in excess of what can be ordinarily perceived by the senses. Chapters Two and Three extend this analysis to the complex content of what these stories depict. Chapter Two considers the multilayered symbolism of decline in their conspicuous spectacles of disaster, disintegration, and death. Chapter Three examines the countervailing symbolic motifs of residual integrity and regeneration that are exhibited most prominently by characters who attempt to live genuinely human lives in spite of these circumstances. The first half of the thesis concludes by proposing a composite postapocalyptic view of the human predicament, which represents the world as ambiguous, dramatic and quite possibly, although not certainly, absurd. Chapter Four begins the theological reflection upon this kind of postapocalyptic perspective, proposing how such depictions might be illuminated by Christian theological descriptions, particularly the absurd existential circumstances brought about by the original sin. Chapter Five, reciprocally, suggests some of the ways the dramatic images of these texts might enrich theological reflection by eliciting fresh insights into the significance of the central mysteries of Christianity, especially the paradoxical already-and-not-yet of eschatological expectation. The thesis concludes by offering a final evaluation of whether, all told, the world can be truly considered postapocalyptic from a Christian perspective, arguing that although there are significant differences, postapocalyptic fictions and Christianity put forward strikingly similar pictures of the deeply self-conflicted circumstances of the common human predicament.

This thesis explores Roman Catholic and secular responses to sexual imagery in popular culture. The Catholic and socio-philosophical responses may be subdivided according to specific ideal types to elucidate the major ideological and ethical movements operative within these two hermeneutical traditions. I use the media luminary Madonna as a case study to illustrate the inadequacy of much that Catholic and secular cultural critics have written about religiously ambiguous and sexually provocative popular culture phenomena. Typically, secular critics neglect the religious implications of such phenomena, while Catholic critics overlook their ideological implications. I shall demonstrate both that hermeneutical exclusivity weakens the two major approaches and that only methodologies which take seriously both Catholic and secular insights are appropriate for analyzing this aspect of popular culture.

Thesis (D. Th.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The need of reconciliation in South Africa is still voiced by many. Along with this need, the absence of church unity between the DRChurch and URChurch, churches which are still divided along racial lines, remains a sad reality. A division which has its origin partially in a reconciliation-ritual of commensality which was inculturated in Africa on wrong unscriptural grounds. Within this South African and Reformed reality the question of this research was born, namely: “Which rituals can be inculturated in South Africa in general, and in the liturgy of the DRC and URC in particular, to assist with the processes of reconciliation and church unity?”. This question is subsequently approached in a multi-disciplinary fashion with a ritualliturgical exploration. The methodological starting points in the research process entail firstly that Post’s liturgical-scientific research methodology of intereference and intuition is used as an overarching approach, and secondly along with this in the initial phase of the research the method of ethnography or participatory observation for the collection of the ritual data. Within this methodology the theoretical starting points centre around the concepts of ritual, reconciliation and liturgical inculturation. And within the field of Practical Theology this research process moves with a spiral movement between practice and theory. The basic theoretical starting point is that within the field of Liturgy a ritual approach is used, and for this reason partners were found within the domain of Ritual Studies to examine the phenomenon of reconciliation-rituals. The ritual theory of some experts on the topic is presented with which the collected data was later evaluated. Along with this ritual theory, liturgical inculturation is used as a critical reciprocal steering concept which also involves both the tradition and theology in a criterium for the evaluation and formation of rituals. With this methodological and theoretical basis five ritual probes were conducted with regards to reconciliation, namely a cultural anthropological, a Biblical, a liturgicalhistorical, an actual descriptive and a South African ethnographic probe. These probes brought several findings to the fore which can, within an African and Reformed context,be systematised within the context of the process from fast to feast as an overarching metaphor. Drinking and eating together, or the absence thereof, coupled with reconciliation, is present throughout all the probes like a leitmotiv and is also the central finding of this research. More findings concerning reconciliation rituals however came to the fore in each probe. These findings are summarised at the end of each probe and will help to stimulate the ritual imagination concerning reconciliation. However, such imagination must remain within a critical-normative Practical Theological liturgical scientific framework. The finding of this research basically attempts to show that a variety of rituals can be inculturated within the processes of reconciliation and church unity in the DRC, URC and South Africa. The process from fast to feast gives insight into the ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ concerning the inculturation of reconciliation rituals within an African and Christian context. Fast and feast, which amongst other things also entails eating and drinking together or the absence thereof, runs like a golden thread throughout all the probes. Rituals showing these qualities of commensality are pre-eminently fit to serve as reconciliation rituals, although they have sometimes in the past had the power to do exactly the opposite. Therefor the finding of this research is that this feature of commensality can be developed within South African and Reformed reconciliation rituals, but in such a way that it serves reconciliation and church unity. And for this purpose some ritual-liturgical guidelines are presented.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vanuit verskeie oorde word die noodsaak vir versoening in Suid-Afrika steeds bepleit. Saam hiermee is die uitbly van kerkeenheid tussen die NGKerk en VGKerk, kerke wat steeds op grond van ras verdeel is, ‘n betreurenswaardige realiteit. ‘n Verdeeldheid wat deels sy oorsprong het in ‘n versoeningsritueel van saam eet en drink wat op ‘n verkeerde onskriftuurlike wyse in Afrika geïnkultureer is. Vanuit hierdie Suid-Afrikaanse en Gereformeerde situasie kom die vraag wat hierdie ondersoek aanspreek na vore, naamlik: “Watter rituele kan in Suid-Afrika in die algemeen, en in die liturgie van die NGK en VGK in die besonder, geïnkultureer word om te help in die prosesse van versoening en kerkvereniging?”. Hierdie vraagstelling word vervolgens op ‘n multi-dissiplinêre wyse met behulp van ‘n ritueel-liturgiese ondersoek aangespreek. Die metodologiese uitgangspunte in hierdie proses van ondersoek behels dat daar van Post se liturgiewetenskaplike ondersoekmetode van interferensie en intuïsie as oorkoepelende benadering gebruik gemaak word, en saam daarmee in die inisiële fase van data-kollektering die metode van etnografie of deelnemende observasie. Binne hierdie metodologie sentreer die teoretiese vertrekpunt rondom die begrippe ritueel, versoening en liturgiese inkulturasie. En binne die kader van die Praktiese Teologie word daar met ‘n spiraalbeweging tussen teorie en praktyk beweeg. Die basiese teoretiese uitgangspunte behels dat vanuit die Liturgiek met ‘n rituele benadering gewerk is. Binne die veld van die sogenaamde Rituele Studies is vennote gevind om die fenomeen van versoeningsrituele te bestudeer. Die rituele teorie van enkele eksperte word gepresenteer waarmee die gekollekteerde data beoordeel is. Saam met hierdie rituele teorie is die begrip liturgiese inkulturasie gebruik as ‘n krities wederkerige studerende konsep wat ook die teologie en tradisie betrek in die kriterium vir die beoordeling en ontwerp van rituele. Met hierdie metodologiese en teoretiese basis is vyf rituele peilings ten opsigte van versoening gedoen, te wete ‘n kultureel-antropologiese, ‘n Bybelse, ‘n liturgiehistoriese, ‘n aktueel beskrywende en ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse etnografiese peiling. Hierdie peilings hetverskeie bevindinge na vore gebring wat in ‘n Afrika-Gereformeerde konteks binne die proses van vas tot fees as oorkoepelende metafoor gesistematiseer kan word. Saam eet en drink, of die afwesigheid daarvan, gekoppel aan versoening loop as ‘n leitmotiv deur al die peilings en is die sentrale bevinding van hierdie ondersoek. Daar het egter ook meerdere bevindinge of roetemerkers ten opsigte van versoeningsrituele uit die peilings na vore gekom. Hierdie bevindinge wat saamgevat word aan die einde van elke peiling, help om die rituele verbeelding te stimuleer, maar dít juis binne ‘n krities-normatiewe Prakties Teologiese liturgiewetenskaplike raamwerk. Die bevinding van hierdie ondersoek behels basies dat ‘n verskeidenheid rituele in die prosesse van versoening en kerkvereniging geïnkultureer kan word in die NGK, VGK en Suid-Afrika, maar dat die proses van vas tot fees insig verleen in die ‘wat’, ‘wanneer’ en ‘hoe’, ten opsigte van die inkulturasie van versoeningsrituele binne ‘n Afrika- en Christelike-konteks. Vas en fees, wat onder andere saam eet en drink of die afwesigheid daarvan behels, loop soos ‘n goue draad reg deur al die peilings. Rituele wat hierdie eienskappe van kommensaliteit vertoon, is by uitstek geskik om te dien as versoeningsrituele, al het diesulke rituele ook soms in die geskiedenis juis die teenoorgestelde vermag. Daarom word voorgestel dat hierdie eienskap van kommensaliteit juis uitgebou word in Suid-Afrikaanse Gereformeerde versoeningsrituele, maar op só ‘n wyse dat dit versoening en kerkeenheid dien. En hiervoor word enkele ritueel-liturgiese riglyne aangereik.

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Interculturation theology as a way of communication in religious cultural arenas is the most recent and remarkable methodology that can be used to open space for mutual witness and dialogue with regard to ideas about and the praxes of ancestral rituals between South Korean and South African Christians. The purpose of this research is to overcome some dichotomised problems that are inherent in exclusive, inclusive, and religious pluralistic approaches in dialogue with other religious cultures. In this regard, we examined some problems of the colonial way of mission and the functional translation of the exclusivistic approach and noted that the inclusive approach also has its weakness, in that it weakens the historicity of the subject. We attempted to show that theocentric and religious pluralistic approaches do not solve the problem of mutual identity simply by searching for commonalities between religious traditions. Our rationale is that although these approaches have their weak points, we should not overlook their benefits. Therefore, in appraising these approaches, attention is drawn to how these benefits may be used to complement one another. Consequently, we proposed a meaningcentred and praxis-centred communication methodology using a holistic approach. To appropriate a meaning-centred and praxis-centred methodology of communication, we began by adopting the theological principle of perichoresis, which is the inner relationship among the Persons of the Divine Trinity. Perichoresis is the foundation of missio Dei, which is God’s initiative love to the world in praxis. Through incarnational self-giving, missio Dei is revealed in the world. Secondly, we re-interpreted perichoresis as an intercultural term and ideology, based on its components, mutual indwelling, mutual space, and mutual identity. The intercultural meaning of mutual indwelling is continual mutual penetrating, while cultural meaning of mutual space is interpreted as the others, that is, from the viewpoint of emptying themselves in mutual communication instead of that of dominion and replacement. Further, we re-interpreted mutual identity through the ‘praxis of with’. Based on this cultural reinterpretation of perichoresis, we established a praxis-centred and meaning-centred model of interculturation theology. More importantly, the perichoretic model of interculturation enabled us to construct a theological and cultural identity of Christianity in encountering with others, which is the ‘praxis of with’. In particular, the study attempted to apply intercultural communication method to the encounter between Xhosa churches and Korean missionaries in Khayelitsha in terms of ancestor related matters. Through this intercultural and comparative evaluation of shifting identities, we suggested how Korean missionary and Xhosa churches could mutually construct theological cultural identities. For this purpose, we first carried out a literature study of Korean and South African indigenous theologies concerning ancestor worship.1 Subsequently, we conducted an empirical survey in Khayelitsha to determine the missiological views of Korean missionaries in the light of their traditional religious background and Korean theologians’ indigenised interpretations of ancestral matters. We also considered the theological positions of some Western missionaries in Khayelitsha on the same issue. Finally, we investigated the identities of Xhosa churches in Khayelitsha on literature and empirical levels and how intercultural theology can be reconstructed to evaluate the missiological identities of Korean missionaries and Xhosa churches in terms of ancestor worship.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Interkulturasie teologie as 'n kommunikasiewyse in godsdienstige kultuurgebiede is die mees onlangse en merkwaardigste metodologie wat aangewend kan word om ruimte te skep vir wedersydse getuienis en dialoog rakende idees aangaande en die praktyke voorouerlike rituele onder Suid-Koreaanse en Suid-Afrikaanse Christene. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om sekere gedigotomiseerde probleme te oorkom wat inherent is in eksklusiewe, inklusiewe en religieus pluralistiese benaderings wat in dialoog is met ander religieuse kulture. In hierdie verband het ons ondersoek ingestel na sekere probleme van die koloniale wyse van sendingwerk en die funksionele oorskakeling van die eksklusivistiese benadering en gemerk dat die inklusiewe benadering ook sy swakheid het deurdat dit die historisiteit van die onderwerp verswak. Ons het gepoog om aan te dui dat teosentriese en religieus pluralistiese benaderings nie die probleem van onderlinge identiteit oplos nie deur eenvoudig te soek na gemeenskaplikhede tussen religieuse tradisies. Ons rasionaal is dat alhoewel hierdie benaderings hul swakpunte het, behoort ons nie verby hul voordele te kyk nie. By die inskatting van hierdie benaderings word die aandag dus gevestig op hoe hierdie voordele gebruik kan word om die ander aan te vul. Gevolglik het ons 'n betekenisgesentreerde en praktykgerigte kommunikasiemetodologie voorgestel wat 'n holistiese benadering aanwend. Om 'n betekenisgesentreerde en praktykgerigte kommunikasiemetodogie aan te wend, het ons begin deur die teologiese beginsel van perichoresis te aanvaar, wat die innerlike verhouding tussen die lede van die heilige drie eenheid is. Perichoresis is die fondament van missio Dei, wat die inisiatief verteenwoordig wat God se liefde vir die wêreld in die praktyk is. By wyse van inkarnasionele gee-van-die-self, word missio Dei aan die wêreld openbaar. Tweedens het ons perichoresis herinterpreteer as 'n interkulturele term en ideologie wat op sy samestellende elemente gebaseer is, naamlik 'n gemeenskaplike woning, gemeenskaplike ruimte en gemeenskaplike identiteit. Die interkulturele betekenis van 'n gemeenskaplike woning is voortdurende gemeenskaplike deurdringing, terwyl die kulturele betekenis van gemeenskaplike ruimte geïnterpreteer word as die andere, met ander woorde vanuit die oogpunt van die lediging van hulself in gemeenskaplike kommunikasie, eerder as oorheersing en verplasing. Ons het verder gemeenskaplike identiteit herinterpreteer by wyse van die 'praktyk waarmee'. Gebaseer op hierdie kulturele herinterpretasie van perichoresis, het ons 'n praktykgerigte en betekenisgesentreerde model van interkulturele teologie daargestel. Belangriker nog het die perichoretiese model van interkulturasie ons in staat gestel om 'n teologiese en kulturele identiteit van die Christendom op te stel temidde van 'n ontmoeting met andere, wat die 'praktyk waarmee' verteenwoordig. In die besonder het die studie gepoog om die interkulturele kommunikasiemetode toe te pas op die ontmoeting tussen Xhosa-kerke en Koreaanse sendelinge in Khayelitsha in terme van voorouerverwante sake. Deur hierdie interkuturele en vergelykende evaluering van verskuiwende identiteite, het ons voorgestel hoe Koreaanse sendelinge en Xhosa-kerke wedersyds teologiese kulturele identiteite kan daarstel. Vir hierdie doel het ons aanvanklik 'n literatuurstudie onderneem van Koreaanse en Suid- Afrikaanse inheemse teologieë aangaande die aanbidding van voorouers. Daarna het ons 'n empiriese opname in Khayelitsha onderneem om die missiologiese sienings van Koreaanse sendelinge vas te stel in die lig van hul tradisionele godsdienstige agtergrond en die Koreaanse teoloë se verinheemste interpretasie van voorouerlike sake. Ons het ook aandag geskenk aan die teologiese posisies van sommige Westerse sendelinge in Khayelitsha oor dieselfde aangeleentheid. Laastens het ons die identiteite nagevors van die Xhosa-kerke in Khayelitsha op literêre en empiriese vlakke en hoe interkulturele teologie gerekonstrueer kan word om die missiologiese identiteite van Koreaanse sendelinge en Xhosa-kerke te evalueer ingevolge die aanbidding van voorouers.

Classic Christian theology regards evil as the product of sin, the emphasis in traditional African religion and culture is on human sin as the result of evil forces. This thesis investigated the way in which African Christian theologians understand the relationship between sin and evil. The question, which was addressed was, does sin lead to evil or evil lead to sin.

This thesis examines the extent and nature of the impact of the contextualization of Christianity upon the amaXhosa from the missionary irruption in the nineteenth century to the present day, and proceeds to examine the implications of this impact for the presentation of the Christian gospel in the contemporary Eastern Cape. Chapter One describes the problem, offers definitions of key concepts and outlines the procedural method for the rest of the thesis. Chapter Two deals with the question of the cross-cultural communication of the Christian gospel in theory. Doctrinal questions such as the nature of the gospel are examined. The basic hermeneutical issue of the categorization of doctrinal tenets according to whether they are required or simply permitted is discussed in terms of Osborne's categories: 'cardinal', 'non-cardinal'. Tenets which are found to be 'anti-scriptural' would be rejected. Specific hermeneutical topics such as language and meaning, symbolics, textuality and orality are then discussed. This is followed by a survey of secular influences which affect a conceptualization. This chapter is preparatory to, and definitive for, the discourse which follows. Chapter Three outlines the cultural heritage from which the Western missionary contextualization of Christianity developed. It shows the extent to which this presentation of the gospel was dependent upon the philosophy which Britain and Europe inherited from the classical Greek culture. More modern developments such as the Enlightenment, Empiricism and Historicism bring the discourse up to the point at which the missionaries arrived. Chapter Four deals with the initial encounter between the missionaries and the amaXhosa. A brief account is given of the nature of the religious and spiritual aspects of the Xhosa culture which first encountered Christianity. The doctrinal section of this chapter deals with those doctrines in the missionary message which became issues for the amaXhosa. The hermeneutical section shows how the cultural setting of the West (vii) affected both the contextualization by the missionaries and the conceptualization by the amaXhosa. To a large extent, the missionaries made the double mistake of imposing their culture on the amaXhosa and failing to accord respect, even recognition, to the Xhosa culture. This amounted to imperialism, which, together with the political imperialism of Britain as the colonizing power, evoked responses from the Xhosa community which are outlined in section 4.4, including those of Nxele and Ntsikana. Because the impact of the Western contextualization is an on-going phenomenon, the thesis continues to trace its development up to the present time. Apartheid is briefly mentioned in Chapter Five. The point is made that all white people were perceived by the amaXhosa to be Christians, and the architects and practitioners of apartheid claimed to be Christians. This ideology therefore had a direct effect on the Xhosa conceptualization of the gospel. The architects of apartheid actually believed that they were accepting God's gift and mandate. This chapter includes Black theological reaction to apartheid in terms of the South African version of Liberation theology. Chapter Six returns to Western Theology in order to bring the sphere of discourse from the point at which it left off at the end of Chapter Three up to the present time. The schools of thought in this period are: Secularism and Existentialism, together with their theological extension, Demythologization. The main religious movements are the Charismatic Movement and Neo-Pentecostalism. Postmodernism came as a later philosophical school, to be followed by Globality. Chapter Seven deals with black South African reactive and proactive responses. The predominant theologies are those of Dwane, Buthelezi, Boesak and Mtuze. Although Dwane, Buthelezi and Boesak came on the scene at the same time as the black theologians reviewed in Chapter Five, their work is placed here because it differs significantly from the more radical responses of the latter. Mtuze is post-apartheid, and responds to the developments outlined in Chapter Six. Chapter Eight draws the findings of the thesis together, by considering how the Christian Gospel ought to be presented to the various contemporary sub-cultures of the amaXhosa. (viii) The last Chapter applies the findings of the thesis to the task in hand. The desired outcomes are listed and briefly discussed. The task ahead is enunciated in terms of manpower and other resources for the effective communication of the Christian gospel in the twenty-first century. The past, present and projected programmes of the Bible Institute Eastern Cape [the target institution] are described and assessed. Finally, topics which presented themselves in the course of the preparation of this thesis are suggested for future research.

The thesis argues that Neopaganism on the Web is an example of mythopoesis and aims at showing both the novelty and the limits of such mythopoesis. I use the term "mythopoesis" in its original Greek meaning, i.e. "the creation (the making/crafting) of a myth or myths", thus stressing the dynamic way in which the process of creation (of myths, rituals, divinities, identities—all implicitly or explicitly played out, connected, and organised as "stories", which can be told, written or performed, as well as represented as images) unfolds in Neopaganism. Neopagan mythopoesis on the Web is new, original, and structurally different from other previous and contemporary examples of mythopoesis, either religious or not, since it does not refuse, put aside, or implicitly contradict, the rational framework elaborated by Western culture. The research involves exploring the contemporary cultural and historical context that allows for mythopoesis to take place and the technology that allows for it to develop. It analyses the key features of Neopaganism on the Web as they emerge from the mythopoeic recreation of two ancient goddesses (Gaia, and Artemis/Diana) and an ancient ritual (the Eleusinian mysteries). In covering several different fields (from ancient religions, to the Internet, to myth and ritual theory), and in examining a range of heterogeneous materials (from ancient texts, Neopagan hymns and art, to hypertexts), the analysis adopts an interdisciplinary approach.

This chapter considers the ways in which religion can be a form of social control. In particular, it looks at the societal pressures which encourage women to embrace a so-called religion of thinness. This concept is not meant to suggest that the pursuit of slenderness is, in fact, a religion. Rather, it aims to illuminate how this pursuit has become a profound source of meaning for many people today—especially women. The idea of the religion of thinness brings into focus aspects of our culture's devotion to slenderness that functionally resemble certain features of traditional religion, especially Christianity, which has had the most power to influence Western norms and attitudes regarding appetite and body size.

The modern revival of interest in Celtic Christianity which reached its height during the last decade of the twentieth century was a largely popular and non-academic phenomenon. However, it did stimulate academic interest and activity within Scottish university departments of theology and religious studies. This chapter surveys the academic aspects of the Celtic Christian revival, focusing especially on the work of James Mackey and Noel O’Donoghue in Edinburgh, Thomas Clancy and Gilbert Markus in Glasgow, and Donald Meek in Aberdeen. It explores the tensions between enthusiasts for Celtic Christianity and those highly sceptical of the entire concept and charts the way the focus of studies in this area has moved from Britain to the United States and from the theological to the historical, linguistic, and cultural.

Abstract The field of enquiry of this essay is what may be termed the popular religion of Sasanian Babylonia. The material from which we can try to reconstruct it is rather limited. In the present context, I shall concentrate on the numerous magical texts in a variety of Aramaic dialects that have come to light from Mesopotamia. They display to us at least one aspect of the faith and practice of people in Babylonia during the Sasanian period, mostly between the fifth and the seventh centuries C.E.1 In historical terms, this faith can be described as an amalgam of pieces of mythology and religious perceptions that derive from the different cultures of the region before this period and contemporary with it. The best-known religions of this period are Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Mandaeism, and they are probably complemented by remnants of Babylonian paganism, by notions derived from Greek culture, and by other faiths that are less conspicuous in our corpus of texts, such as Manichaeism and Christianity.

Distinctly American aspects of fundamentalism may be seen by comparison with similar movements with which fundamentalists were connected in Great Britain. One contrast is that anti-evolution was never nearly as popular among religious conservatives in Britain as in America. “The dynamics of unopposed revivalism” offers part of the explanation for the difference. England had a state church and a tradition of Christendom, while popular religion in the United States was dominated by revivalism. That helped contribute to tendencies in American popular religion to accept simple antitheses and dichotomies. While England had long traditions and historical development, American evangelicals tended to interpret history in common sense or either/or categories.

Abstract In this chapter I explore conjure as a defining spirituality among black North Americans that bears both covert and transparent aspects. I focus first on the covert aspects that derive from traditional practices beginning in the slavery period. Second, I consider certain iconographic modes that allow for increased openness and transparency. In the first case, conjuring culture by means of biblical figures operates covertly in black America because conjure, in its traditional form as folk magic, has been censured and marginalized since the earliest days of missionary supervision of black Christianity. In reaction to such censure, the use of biblical figures to conjure culture involved a collective strategy to cloak, mask, or disguise conjurational operations by employing approved religious content—namely biblical and Christian content. In this connection the historian Albert Raboteau has reprised the much debated thesis of the anthropologist Melville Herskovits: that “some elements of African religion survived in the United States not as separate enclaves free of white influence but as aspects hidden under or blended with similar European forms.”2 Such legitimation strategies are rarely explicit and conscious, of course, and may even be forgotten or repressed if ever rendered transparent. My task in this book is to retrieve, from either disguise or repression, such conjurational strategies and intentions and thus render them as fully transparent as possible. With this task in mind I am responding in particular to Lucius Outlaw’s concerns for “the mediation of our people’s traditions; and, most importantly, the achievement of increased self-transparency.”3

South Indian Christians trace their history to the ministry of the Apostle Thomas in modern-day Kerala and in Mylapore. Orthodox Christianity in South India has most complex history. Members are native to Kerala; yet most carry on the legacies of ancestors who were loyal to either the Patriarchs in Persia and Constantinople or the Popes in Rome. Under these external ties lie the forces of caste identity and rivalries among influential families. Socio-religious customs of varna, avarna and jāti still affect society, despite opposition from religious groups. Since 2014, the fundamentalist ideology of one nation, one religion, one language, one people and one culture, forced dissidents and minorities to blend in. While Christianity in South India is an urban phenomenon, it has not spread among the Adivasis (‘original inhabitants’) of South India, who live in tune with the nature surrounding them. In fact, most South Indians call themselves Hindus; they may belong to either philosophical or popular Hinduism, each consisting of numerous subgroups. Theological education is still offered through several outlets; however, despite the history and presence of Christianity, many Christians have yet to engage fully with the intellectual and spiritual heritage of South India.

In the early modern elite court culture, dance held a prominent sociopolitical position. Nevertheless, in the Counter-Reformation era, the Catholic Church put dance culture under scrutiny. The moresca, one of the most popular dance spectacles that expressed the elite’s taste in exceptional and wondrous bodies, was criticized as deviant by Catholic reformers. In this criticism, the religious discourse often overlapped with contemporary medical discourse, which considered aspects of dance culture as unhealthy for both body and soul. In Counter-Reformation Rome, Girolamo Mercuriale, the court physician of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, following the aspirations of the Counter-Reformation papacy for spiritual reform, moderates in his medical treatise De arte gymnastica the controversial moresca: by modifying it into a medical exercise, he regulates the moresca in both medical and religious terms, making it an appropriate body practice for the elite.

This chapter recounts the end of John Leland’s life and considers his place in American religious history. Leland lived a remarkably long life—he was nearly eighty-seven when he died—during some of the most eventful decades of American history. His almost seventy years in the public eye allowed Leland to witness, and participate in, sweeping transformations in American society. These included the achievement of religious disestablishment in both Virginia and New England, the ascendancy of popular revivalism in American religious culture, the promotion of radical individualism in Baptist Christianity, the wide-scale rejection and modification of Calvinistic theology, the rise of denominationalism and voluntary evangelical societies, the ascendancy of evangelicals in American politics, and more.

Popular religion is frequently considered as the remains of “pre-modern” times. To some it may seem anachronistic in an era of highly developed technologies and urban life styles. However, in Mexican society, new types of religious practices and the devotion to secular saints are associated with the drug world and the informal sector at the margins of urban life. These new forms of popular religion are a sign of a changing Mexican society that has been deeply impacted by globalization and neoliberal economics. This paper explores this contemporary religious phenomenon by using Giorgio Agamben’s notion of “bare life”. The worship of Jesús Malverde, La Santa Muerte and other laic figures is gaining popularity among those who are abandoned by the mainstream and involved in the informal sector, where they remain exposed to danger and violence and abandoned by the law. The role of new religious icons is to provide protection, identification and a sense of community without authorization by the Catholic Church the traditional system of Christianity. Practitioners of these forms of popular religion may be accused of justifying illicit activities and reproducing the culture of fear and everyday violence. This study discusses these controversial practice in order to examine a social environment in which the informal sectors have been condemned illegality while nonetheless constructing their own culture, identity and ways of life.

This concluding chapter reflects on the decline of Christianity in Ireland. The Irish experience of secularization was sudden, shocking, and decisive. On both sides of the border, the tipping point may have occurred in the mid-1990s. In the north, the peace process led to sustained efforts to de-politicize religious identity, as weekly church attendance declined. In the Republic, popular culture internationalized, reflecting stronger links with the USA, an influence that was noticed in the changing accents of middle-class young people as much as in the cosmopolitan values they increasingly espoused. The grip of Catholic social teaching then began to relax, and this relaxation was symbolized by the changing status of contraception. In addition, the moral authority of the Church, which had so profoundly shaped the self-consciousness of the Republic as to become almost invisible, was shattered by a devastating sequence of scandals. These scandals include churchmen having secret families, financial misconduct, and child abuse. Ultimately, the institutions that had been inspired by Catholic religious nationalism had betrayed both church and nation. Christian Ireland was dead and gone, and Catholic politicians had killed it. The chapter then considers the possible future of Christianity in Ireland.

Dynamic changes in Russian social life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the elimination of its rigid ideological framework influenced the development of our society. The turning points were not limited to economic and political changes. There was a radical change in the worldview paradigm, which, accordingly, influenced the content of ideals, values, life-sense attitudes, and rules of social interaction. The rearrangement of the components of the spiritual and semantic core of culture at the end of the 1990s testified to a crisis in this area. It was the crisis processes in culture that predetermined the further search for its adequate interpretation and, in this regard, aroused tremendous research interest in its genesis, structure, driving forces and internal potential. Undoubtedly, attention to this phenomenon is also connected with the fact that culture in modern conditions is becoming the dominant social force. No social phenomenon can take place outside of culture and independently of it. This means that cardinal changes in society entail changes in the system of its norms and values, i.e. cultural change, and conversely, change in culture is necessarily accompanied by a shift in the social field. Regulating interpersonal interactions, cultural systems, first of all, semantic complexes (ideas, norms, values) constitute any social phenomenon. Accordingly, in modern philosophy, interest in culture as a factor in creative life and social development is becoming more acute. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the extremely specific conditions of “Russian life”, representatives of Russian religious philosophy directed their creative search to comprehending the essence of culture and determining ways out of the crisis. In this regard, it seems relevant to appeal to the ideas of such philosophers as S.N. Bulgakov, N.A. Berdyaev, who comprehend the fate of Russian culture and put forward a number of provisions that determine the understanding of this phenomenon. In line with the assessment of culture as a factor in social life order, the topic is relevant, which highlights the problematic field of analysis outlined by representatives of Russian religious philosophy of the late XIX - early XX centuries. This is the understanding of culture as a specific holistic organism, as a way of familiarizing a person with the spiritual essence of the world, as a value space oriented towards ideals. This is a deep faith in culture, its interpretation as a means of spiritual life, in which the personal beginning of a person is revealed. At the beginning of the 20th century, the selfdetermination of Russian religious philosophy took place in the context of an appeal to the spiritual heritage, including the religious one. And already self-determined as such, Russian religious thought reflects on the state of national culture. One of the most popular problems of the beginning of the 20th century is the problem of the cultural crisis. The religious concept of culture is inherent in the desire to comprehend the essence of culture in order to open the way from a crisis state to renewal and cultural revival. The Russian thought of this period is distinguished by the breadth of its consideration of the theme of the crisis: from theoretical and historical-cultural analysis to sharp socio-philosophical journalism. The concept of the crisis of culture, developed by Russian religious philosophers, is the basis of their own philosophy of culture. Representatives of this trend focus their creative search on determining ways out of the crisis, therefore, addressing this issue in the presence of a tendency to overcome the cultural crisis that began in Russian society at the end of the 19th century is also relevant. It should be noted that the identified problems, the topics developed by Russian religious philosophers of the late XIX - early XX century are polemical both in theoretical terms and in the context of the realities of modern Russian culture. Is culture a space of absolute values? Is it possible to truly understand culture in detachment from social pragmatics? Why should human activity necessarily be associated with ideals and values? Should a philosophical approach to understanding culture be based on historical realities? Is it possible to identify the concept of culture as a whole with spiritual culture? What is a crisis - cultural exhaustion or being without cultural orientation? The answers to these and many other questions, one way or another touched upon by representatives of this trend, no doubt introduce new aspects into the philosophical vision of culture, enrich modern cultural and philosophical knowledge and, which is very important, contribute to an in-depth understanding of Russian cultural processes of the new millennium.