Suchergebnisse

"Die ökonomische Forschung nutzt bei der Analyse der Religion im Wesentlichen zwei Herangehensweisen. Der erste Ansatz beschäftigt sich mit dem Einfluss der Religion auf die Wirtschaft. Die Religionen beinhalten ein Wertesystem, welches ökonomische Einstellungen und die Produktion beeinflussen. Innerhalb des zweiten Ansatzes wird religiöses Verhalten mit Hilfe ökonomischer Modelle erklärt. Diese zeigen, wie Individuen Nutzen aus Religion ziehen können. Die moderne Glücksforschung ermöglicht es des Weiteren, den Einfluss von Religion auf das subjektive Wohlbefinden empirisch zu messen. Wir bestätigen die positive Korrelation von Religion und Glück für die Schweiz und zeigen, dass vor allem der positive Effekt des Kirchgangs auf das Wohlergehen robust und beträchtlich ist." (Autorenreferat)

The scientific study of religions began with M. Muller's investigation of mythology, which accounted for them as due originally to linguistic confusion in the description of natural processes. This was challenged by alternative hypotheses tracing the origins of religion to the animist belief that all objects have souls, or to various preanimistic sources. Gradually, the importance of materials from historical ethnology came to be recognized. By the end of the nineteenth century, three fields had emerged as sources of studies in this field, all focused on the relation beween myth & ritual: classical studies, anthropology, & Old Testament studies. Psychoanalysis contributed to the study of religion in particular by its stress of unconscious meanings of actions & symbols. Sociological, ethnological, & interdisciplinary approaches have also been important. It is now generally recognized that it is impossible to define the origin of religion, & that the results of such varied disciplines as history, sociology, psychology, & phenomenology must be synthesized to understand religious forms. W. H. Stoddard

Both the critical & the systemic perspectives that currently inform the sociology of religion deal with the connection between myth & reality in contemporary society, but neither is sufficiently forceful to sway scientific opinion. The critical view, as articulated by Roland Robertson (Meaning and Change. Explorations in the Cultural Sociology of Modern Societies, New York: New York U Press, 1978), argues that present-day reality has little to do with myth, even in fragmented form; although it holds that as individuals mature, they may be attracted to various mythic presentations. A systemic orientation, as held by Sabino Acquaviva (The Decline of the Sacred in Industrial Society, Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell, 1979) maintains that sacred beliefs can be integrated into secular society through institutions (eg, the U & the law). Another distinction is observed in priestly & prophetic methodological approaches (eg, to language). Sociologists, who use a combination of theoretical & methodological approaches, need to be aware of the persistence of myth in nonscientific social reality. D. Dunseath.

"Dieser Essay widmet sich der nach wie vor großen Bedeutung der Religion in Afrika, nicht nur in Bezug auf die Anzahl der Gläubigen, sondern auch in Bezug auf die Varianten religiöser Erfahrung und ihre Verbindungen zu Politik und Öffentlichkeit. Parallel zur Demokratisierungswelle und zur ökonomischen Liberalisierung seit den 1990er Jahren wurde Religion öffentlich immer präsenter und wurde in der Politik immer stärker Bezug auf Religion genommen. Neben 'Entwicklung' wird Religion in den politischen Debatten auf dem Kontinent ein wichtiges Thema bleiben. Die erneute Präsenz von Religion im öffentlichen Raum hat zu einem neuen Verständnis ihrer Bedeutung bei der Bildung von Weltsichten und politischen Identitäten geführt. Damit werden auch die Herausforderungen auf der Tagesordnung bleiben, die mit der Rolle und dem Status von Religion in einem 'säkularen Staatsmodell', wie es in den meisten Staaten Afrikas gewählt wurde, verbunden sind. Können diese von Gläubigen 'bedrängten' Staaten ihre Neutralität gegenüber unterschiedlichen Weltsichten bewahren - und wenn ja, wie? Diese Fragen werden hier übergreifend diskutiert, aber unter Bezug auf Beispiele aus Afrika, die teilweise auf Erfahrungen des Autors während seiner Feldforschungen zurückgehen. Der Autor plädiert für die Entwicklung einer neuen Art des 'Säkularstaats' in Afrika, in dem die religiösen Bindungen unterschiedlicher Bevölkerungsgruppen respektiert werden." (Autorenreferat)

"From the mid-1990s, the Organization of the Islamic Conference promoted the adoption of an anti-defamation resolution as a means of getting the protection of Islam and Muslims from defamation and discrimination in the Western world enshrined as a new norm within the UN system. After an initial period of receptivity,support for the idea waned. The author reconstructs the course of the OIC's UN campaign between 1999 and 2011, exploring its political,
historical, and human-rights context. She examines the underlying circumstances and normative clashes that prevented the norm from being incorporated into human-rights legislation." (author's abstract)

At first an overview about marriage patterns in Albania around 1900 and the influence of religion on marriage patterns in Southeastern Europe is given. The Albanian census of 1918 used for this analysis is presented and the religious situation in Albanian in 1918 is explained. Research questions are defined and possible other factors influencing marriage patterns in Albania are discussed. The descriptive analysis reveals religious influences on marriage patterns, but cannot quantify the amount of different factors. This first analysis of the influence of religion on marriage ages in Albania using microdata in a logistic regression shows that a considerable influence of religion on marriage ages remain even after including a series of other variables. Generally other variables like the regions within Albania, literacy, Slavic ethnicity, and age had stronger influences on ages at marriage than religion. But religion in the form of Roman Catholicism was the main factor influencing the share of unmarried women around an age of 50 years.

This essay focuses on animals as a site for religion and identifies what McGregor calls the "religion of animals." The construction of the human-animal divide is explored through the Quran, Islamic theology, and philosophy, with particular attention paid to the encyclopedic epistle The Case of the Animals versus Man from tenth-century Iraq. The same human-animal divide is shown to be maintained variously among European philosophers. McGregor argues that both modern and medieval formulations are organized around a series of assumptions about language, the self, and the religious other. The study of comparative religion is thus usefully decentered by the question of the animal. The Case of the Animals versus Man, the essay contends, represents a solution to the challenges of comparison. The religion of others, then, along with the religion of animals creates a discursive gesture of openness: an opening that points beyond the exclusivity of communitarianism and the ego-centered limitations of religion.