Videos by Gorazd Andrejč
A short video of highlights from the first day of the online symposium Religious Philosophy Betwe... more A short video of highlights from the first day of the online symposium Religious Philosophy Between Humanism and Posthumanism which took place on 19th and 20th November 2020. It was jointly organized by the Institute for Philosophical Studies at SRC Koper, and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen.
The event was live-streamed via the Facebook page of the Institute for philosophical studies (https://www.facebook.com/ZRS.kp.si/).
Speakers on the first day were Carool Kersten, Nadja Furlan Štante, Lenart Škof, Constantine Sandis, and John Durham Peters, with introductions by Gorazd Andrejč, Lenart Škof, and Mladen Popović.
Graphic art by @vaileart_insta (https://www.instagram.com/vaileart_insta/)
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
The event was live-streamed via the Facebook page of the Institute for philosophical studies (https://www.facebook.com/ZRS.kp.si/).
Speakers on the first day were Carool Kersten, Nadja Furlan Štante, Lenart Škof, Constantine Sandis, and John Durham Peters, with introductions by Gorazd Andrejč, Lenart Škof, and Mladen Popović.
Graphic art by @vaileart_insta (https://www.instagram.com/vaileart_insta/)
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
108 views
Books by Gorazd Andrejč
Key Concepts in Religion. Maribor: Aristej, 2018 (in Slovenian. Orig. title: Religijski pojmovnik... more Key Concepts in Religion. Maribor: Aristej, 2018 (in Slovenian. Orig. title: Religijski pojmovnik za mlade)
Gorazd Andrejč v svojem Pojmovniku religijo obravnava iz perspektiv različnih znanstvenih disciplin: zgodovine, sociologije, antropologije, politologije, filozofije, pa tudi teologije in religiologije, ki kombinira metode omenjenih disciplin.
»Prav zaradi tega, ker je religija polje kulturnih bojev, vkopanih mnenj, neredko močnih čustev, včasih pa celo vojn, moramo biti pri njenem preučevanju pozorni, potrpežljivi, natančni in odprtega uma. Religije se je, kot vsakega družbenega pojava, treba lotiti kritično in znanstveno. Nerazumevanje religijskih pogledov na življenje (če smo nereligiozni), in obratno, nerazumevanje ali obtoževanje ateističnega pogleda na življenje in religijo (če smo religiozni) sta navadno znak pomanjkanja posluha za druge in drugačnost. Kakršnokoli je že naše stališče do religije, duhovnosti, boga ali bogov, je družbeni dialog med neverujočimi in verujočimi neizogiben, če želimo živeti v vsaj minimalno urejeni in svobodni politični skupnosti.«
Gorazd Andrejč v svojem Pojmovniku religijo obravnava iz perspektiv različnih znanstvenih disciplin: zgodovine, sociologije, antropologije, politologije, filozofije, pa tudi teologije in religiologije, ki kombinira metode omenjenih disciplin.
»Prav zaradi tega, ker je religija polje kulturnih bojev, vkopanih mnenj, neredko močnih čustev, včasih pa celo vojn, moramo biti pri njenem preučevanju pozorni, potrpežljivi, natančni in odprtega uma. Religije se je, kot vsakega družbenega pojava, treba lotiti kritično in znanstveno. Nerazumevanje religijskih pogledov na življenje (če smo nereligiozni), in obratno, nerazumevanje ali obtoževanje ateističnega pogleda na življenje in religijo (če smo religiozni) sta navadno znak pomanjkanja posluha za druge in drugačnost. Kakršnokoli je že naše stališče do religije, duhovnosti, boga ali bogov, je družbeni dialog med neverujočimi in verujočimi neizogiben, če želimo živeti v vsaj minimalno urejeni in svobodni politični skupnosti.«
Interpreting Interreligious Relations with Wittgenstein: Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studi... more Interpreting Interreligious Relations with Wittgenstein: Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, co-edited with Daniel Weiss; Leiden: Brill (Volume 9 in Philosophy of Religion – World Religions series); 2019.
Interpreting Interreligious Relations with Wittgenstein argues that Wittgenstein’s philosophy of religion and his thought in general continue to be highly relevant for present and future research on interreligious relations. Spanning several (sub)disciplines – from philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, comparative philosophy, comparative theology, to religious studies – the contributions engage with recent developments in interpretation of Wittgenstein and those in philosophy and theology of interreligious encounter. The book shows that there is an important and under-explored potential for constructive and fruitful engagement between these academic fields. It explores, and attempts to realize, some of this potential by involving both philosophers and theologians, and critically assesses previous applications of Wittgenstein’s work in interreligious studies.
Interpreting Interreligious Relations with Wittgenstein argues that Wittgenstein’s philosophy of religion and his thought in general continue to be highly relevant for present and future research on interreligious relations. Spanning several (sub)disciplines – from philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, comparative philosophy, comparative theology, to religious studies – the contributions engage with recent developments in interpretation of Wittgenstein and those in philosophy and theology of interreligious encounter. The book shows that there is an important and under-explored potential for constructive and fruitful engagement between these academic fields. It explores, and attempts to realize, some of this potential by involving both philosophers and theologians, and critically assesses previous applications of Wittgenstein’s work in interreligious studies.
Na Poti Strpnosti: Monoteisticne religije in Verska svoboda (On the Path of Tolerance: Monotheistic Religions and Religious Freedom)
This is an edited volume on the conceptual, judicial, political and theological dimensions of rel... more This is an edited volume on the conceptual, judicial, political and theological dimensions of religious freedom, mostly by Slovenian authors (sociology, political studies, law, religious studies, and history) and published in Slovene language. The contributions address the topics ranging from the legal aspects of religious freedom in Slovenia, the Catholic-Protestant and religious-secular relations in Slovenia and beyond, Jewish-Christian relations in Europe, to feminist-Muslim perspectives on freedom of religious expression and the attitudes of the media towards Islam in Europe.
Contributors: Jernej Koselj, Marjan Tos, Fanika Krajnc-Vrecko, Marjana Harcet, Ahmed Pasic, Gorazd Andrejc, David Stevens, Drago Cepar and Pavel Gantar.
Contributors: Jernej Koselj, Marjan Tos, Fanika Krajnc-Vrecko, Marjana Harcet, Ahmed Pasic, Gorazd Andrejc, David Stevens, Drago Cepar and Pavel Gantar.
Academic Papers by Gorazd Andrejč
Wittgenstein and the Epistemology of Religion, First Edition, 2025
What is the relationship between freedom of religion and belief, as it is understood and (usually... more What is the relationship between freedom of religion and belief, as it is understood and (usually) affirmed in liberal democracies, and religious evidentialism: that is, the conviction that religious beliefs are, or should be, responsive to evidence-based, reasoned argument? Historically, both religious evidentialism and religious anti-evidentialism have been used to argue for what I call the liberal principle of freedom of religion and belief (FoRB). In this chapter, I examine, in some detail, two influential and opposite positions in Western epistemology of religion, Locke's evidentialist epistemology of religion and Wittgenstein's anti-evidentialist one, and their respective implications for the liberal principle of FoRB. I discuss why, if used as part of a philosophical grounding of the liberal principle of FoRB, both Lockean evidentialism and Wittgensteinian anti-evidentialism run into problems. In conclusion, I propose that Nussbaum's grounding of FoRB in the Kantian idea of equal respect of persons avoids the problems that both evidentialist and anti-evidentialist epistemologies of religion present when used to justify (the liberal principle of) FoRB.
Religions, 2023
This essay examines pantheism within the framework of the ‘faith and reason’ field in the philoso... more This essay examines pantheism within the framework of the ‘faith and reason’ field in the philosophy of religion, with an emphasis on the question of the relationship between pantheism and empirical–scientific rationality. I address this question from what I call the Wittgensteinian Nonoverlapping Magisteria (WNOMA) approach to religion and science. WNOMA affirms a categorial difference between religious and scientific language and attitudes. This difference is interpreted with the help of Wittgenstein’s distinction between religious and scientific beliefs and van Fraassen’s distinction between religious and empiricist stances. This means that WNOMA is antievidentialist regarding religious beliefs and sees the experiential and instinctive aspects of religion as more fundamental than the systematic–intellectual aspect. Part of the variety in contemporary pantheism relates to the question of whether the emphasis is on the experiential–spiritual side of pantheism or its intellectual side, i.e., whether pantheism is ‘hot’ or ‘cold’. I examine a few telling examples: Spinoza, Einstein, the World Pantheism Movement and a recent awe-some argument for pantheism by Ryan Byerly. The main contribution of this paper is a critical reading of these versions of pantheism from a WNOMA perspective, through which I hope to establish the plausibility and show some of the persuasive force of the WNOMA approach to pantheism, focusing on the relation of pantheism to scientific rationality on the one hand and felt experience on the other. I argue that hotter kinds of pantheism can be intellectually virtuous if they find a way to combine the empiricist stance and pantheist religious stance, even without a developed philosophical or theological system. I also argue that colder and philosophically rigorous pantheism can be problematic if it assumes religious evidentialism, neglects the experiential part of pantheism in favor of intellectualism or/and confuses the spheres of science and religion.
This article is a contribution to the special issue of Religions journal, titled "Religion, Science and Technology in Pantheism, Animism and Paganism", edited by Victoria Dos Santos and Gorazd Andrejc:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/RSTinPAP
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).
This article is a contribution to the special issue of Religions journal, titled "Religion, Science and Technology in Pantheism, Animism and Paganism", edited by Victoria Dos Santos and Gorazd Andrejc:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/RSTinPAP
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).
Philosophy and the Spiritual Life, edited by V. Harrison, T. McNabb. London: Routledge. pp. 125-141. , 2023
The main idea of this chapter stems from a grammatical peculiarity of ‘being a saint’ in the Chri... more The main idea of this chapter stems from a grammatical peculiarity of ‘being a saint’ in the Christian context, which can be described as follows: the term ‘saint’ seems to be ascribable only to others but not to oneself. To appreciate the nature of the problem the author have described in the introduction it is important to get a feel for the different meanings that ‘saint’ can have in Christianity and see for which of those the problem is relevant. The Lutheran-episodic conception of sainthood which the author suggests instead of the strong realist metaphysics of sainthood can live with the broader, inclusive sense of ‘saint’ which stems from early Christian usage, according to which all Christians are saints. The fact that everybody, even those individuals who do the most saintly acts, has defects and weaknesses, should always guide use of the term ‘saint’.
Slavia Centralis, 2019
Published in Slovenian in Slavia Centralis, 2019/1, 18-30.
Abstract
Deliberation as critical, ... more Published in Slovenian in Slavia Centralis, 2019/1, 18-30.
Abstract
Deliberation as critical, open, inclusive and argument-based discussion about matters of public interest is a crucial mechanism of a healthy democracy. According to deliberative democracy defenders, like Jürgen Habermas, deliberation contributes to achieving a better and more just society. The present essay analyses the
intertwinement between the development of this political value in the Euro-Atlantic world on the one hand, and Protestantism and its development on the other. Recent works in the history of Protestantism and the political history of democracy paint a complex, but powerful picture: despite the religious conservative tendencies in Protestantism, it seems that a notable measure of freedom of research, belief and debate could be found in the societies where Protestantism had become a dominant religious culture. While this development is partly a result of contingent historic events, it also had much to do with internal theological impulses within the Protestant thought.
Key words: deliberation, Protestantism, democracy, debate, public discussion
Povzetek
Deliberacija oziroma kritična, odprta, vključujoča in argumentirana javna razprava o stvareh javnega interesa je ključen mehanizem demokratične politične ureditve. Po prepričanju zagovornikov deliberativne demokracije, kot je Jürgen Habermas, deliberacija prispeva k doseganju boljše in pravičnejše družbe. Prispevek analizira prepletenost razvoja te politične vrednote v evro-atlantskem svetu s protestantizmom in njegovim razvojem. Novejša raziskovanja zgodovine protestantizma in politične zgodovine demokracije kažejo kompleksno, a zgovorno sliko: kljub prisotnosti religijskih konzervativnih tendenc v protestantizmu se zdi, da je za družbe, v katerih je protestantizem postal prevladujoča religijska kultura, postala značilna precejšnja mera svobode raziskovanja, verovanja in debatiranja. To dejstvo je bilo delno rezultat naključnih zgodovinskih dogodkov, delno pa notranjih teoloških impulzov v protestantski misli.
Ključne besede: deliberacija, protestantizem, demokracija, debata, javna razprava
Abstract
Deliberation as critical, open, inclusive and argument-based discussion about matters of public interest is a crucial mechanism of a healthy democracy. According to deliberative democracy defenders, like Jürgen Habermas, deliberation contributes to achieving a better and more just society. The present essay analyses the
intertwinement between the development of this political value in the Euro-Atlantic world on the one hand, and Protestantism and its development on the other. Recent works in the history of Protestantism and the political history of democracy paint a complex, but powerful picture: despite the religious conservative tendencies in Protestantism, it seems that a notable measure of freedom of research, belief and debate could be found in the societies where Protestantism had become a dominant religious culture. While this development is partly a result of contingent historic events, it also had much to do with internal theological impulses within the Protestant thought.
Key words: deliberation, Protestantism, democracy, debate, public discussion
Povzetek
Deliberacija oziroma kritična, odprta, vključujoča in argumentirana javna razprava o stvareh javnega interesa je ključen mehanizem demokratične politične ureditve. Po prepričanju zagovornikov deliberativne demokracije, kot je Jürgen Habermas, deliberacija prispeva k doseganju boljše in pravičnejše družbe. Prispevek analizira prepletenost razvoja te politične vrednote v evro-atlantskem svetu s protestantizmom in njegovim razvojem. Novejša raziskovanja zgodovine protestantizma in politične zgodovine demokracije kažejo kompleksno, a zgovorno sliko: kljub prisotnosti religijskih konzervativnih tendenc v protestantizmu se zdi, da je za družbe, v katerih je protestantizem postal prevladujoča religijska kultura, postala značilna precejšnja mera svobode raziskovanja, verovanja in debatiranja. To dejstvo je bilo delno rezultat naključnih zgodovinskih dogodkov, delno pa notranjih teoloških impulzov v protestantski misli.
Ključne besede: deliberacija, protestantizem, demokracija, debata, javna razprava
Interpretations of Wittgenstein, Religion and Interreligious Relations
‘Interpretations of Wittgenstein, Religion and Interreligious Relations’, in G. Andrejč and D. We... more ‘Interpretations of Wittgenstein, Religion and Interreligious Relations’, in G. Andrejč and D. Weiss (eds.), Interpreting Interreligious Relations with Wittgenstein: Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies. Leiden: Brill; forthcoming Sept/Oct 2019.
In the introductive chapter to the volume, I place the studies presented in the volume within the most relevant scholarly contexts: first and foremost, the studies in Wittgenstein interpretation, especially of Wittgenstein on ‘religion’, ‘belief’, and related concepts; and second, the recent versions of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion and Wittgensteinian theology. I do this by offering a way to read Wittgenstein on religion through tracing four conceptions or ‘pictures’ of religion in Wittgenstein’s thought, which have a particular place in Wittgenstein’s specific understanding of philosophy as grammatical investigation. I show how the studies in the current volume relate to previous applications of Wittgenstein to the study of interreligious encounter, communication, disagreement, and related topics, and suggest how they are connected to some of the recent debates in religious studies, comparative theology, and comparative philosophy of religion more broadly.
Keywords: Wittgenstein, Religious language, Interreligious relations, Comparative theology, Interreligious dialogue.
In the introductive chapter to the volume, I place the studies presented in the volume within the most relevant scholarly contexts: first and foremost, the studies in Wittgenstein interpretation, especially of Wittgenstein on ‘religion’, ‘belief’, and related concepts; and second, the recent versions of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion and Wittgensteinian theology. I do this by offering a way to read Wittgenstein on religion through tracing four conceptions or ‘pictures’ of religion in Wittgenstein’s thought, which have a particular place in Wittgenstein’s specific understanding of philosophy as grammatical investigation. I show how the studies in the current volume relate to previous applications of Wittgenstein to the study of interreligious encounter, communication, disagreement, and related topics, and suggest how they are connected to some of the recent debates in religious studies, comparative theology, and comparative philosophy of religion more broadly.
Keywords: Wittgenstein, Religious language, Interreligious relations, Comparative theology, Interreligious dialogue.
Liberal Theology Today, 2019
‘Liberal Theology as a Slippery Slope: What’s in the Metaphor?’, in Jörg Lauster, Ulrich Schmied... more ‘Liberal Theology as a Slippery Slope: What’s in the Metaphor?’, in Jörg Lauster, Ulrich Schmiedel and Peter Schüz (eds.), Liberale Theologie heute/Liberal Theology Today. Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming 2019/20.
A metaphor, commonly used by the critics of Liberal Theology, portrays it as a slippery slope between Christianity and unbelief. Descriptively-sociologically speaking, the picture of " sliding through liberal theology towards unbelief " includes some truth. In this paper, however, I take a closer look at the philosophical and theological meaning of the slippery slope argument and offer a response to it. Firstly, I examine and critique the underlying conception(s) of religious belief in typical contemporary anti-Liberal uses of the slippery slope argument against Liberal Theology. Secondly, I argue that the Slippery Slope metaphor can and should be taken (also) as a positive interpretation of an adequate religious belief-attitude rather than (merely as) a negative criticism.
Delivered as an academic paper at the conference Liberal Theology Today, Ludwig Maximillan University, Munich, 18-21 July 2018.
A metaphor, commonly used by the critics of Liberal Theology, portrays it as a slippery slope between Christianity and unbelief. Descriptively-sociologically speaking, the picture of " sliding through liberal theology towards unbelief " includes some truth. In this paper, however, I take a closer look at the philosophical and theological meaning of the slippery slope argument and offer a response to it. Firstly, I examine and critique the underlying conception(s) of religious belief in typical contemporary anti-Liberal uses of the slippery slope argument against Liberal Theology. Secondly, I argue that the Slippery Slope metaphor can and should be taken (also) as a positive interpretation of an adequate religious belief-attitude rather than (merely as) a negative criticism.
Delivered as an academic paper at the conference Liberal Theology Today, Ludwig Maximillan University, Munich, 18-21 July 2018.
Infiltrators, Imposters, or Human Beings? The Slovenian Socio-Political Imaginary, Christianity, and the Responses to the 2015–2016 Migrant Crisis
This chapter offers a comparative analysis of the discourse within two Christian communities in S... more This chapter offers a comparative analysis of the discourse within two Christian communities in Slovenia: the Roman Catholic Church (majority) and the Seventh-day Adventist Church (small minority). Among their responses to the 2015–2016 migrant crisis in Slovenia, we could find attitudes and arguments that were particular to the Slovenian context. Those attitudes and arguments had to do with the Slovenian socio-political imaginary and cultural memory, which includes anti-Muslim tropes, Slovenian political dynamics, and the Slovenian experience with Bosnian Muslims. A clear tension between a Christian-humanitarian attitude and an anti-Muslim identitarian Christianity brought a significant disunity into the Catholic response, while the Adventist response remained almost consistently Christian humanitarian. The main difference, however, was not along the denominational lines, but between those Christian responses that were theological and those that moved away from theology into securitarian and identitarian discourse.
Rooting itself in Catholic social teaching rather than theology of creation, this book develops a... more Rooting itself in Catholic social teaching rather than theology of creation, this book develops a novel approach to Catholic ecological ethics. It argues that the traditional conception of the social common good should be fully broadened to encompass all creation, including abiota. Furthermore, the book suggests a comparative-theological approach to ecological ethics through careful conversations with Buddhist, Hindu, and American Lakota conceptions and practices. While its vision of the cosmic common good at times appears too inclusive and perhaps ‘too good to be true’, this book is a valuable contribution to Christian ecological ethics and includes a fresh comparative-theological take on ecological questions.
Wittgenstein on Religion: The Four Conceptions
I suggest that we can recognize four major conceptions of religion in Wittgenstein’s work. I call... more I suggest that we can recognize four major conceptions of religion in Wittgenstein’s work. I call them grammaticalist, instinctivist, existentialist, and nonsensicalist conceptions of religion. The grammaticalist conception of religion depicts central religious utterances as ‘grammatical propositions’, or grammatical ‘remarks’ (PI §251). For example, Christian doctrinal formulations, such as ‘God has sent his Son Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls’, are understood as rules of grammar for the central Christian concepts, in this case ‘God’, ‘God’s son’, ‘salvation’, and ‘soul’. Instinctivist conception refers to Wittgenstein’s emphasis that religion (of linguistic behaviour, believing, rituals, and other religious practices), however complex and intellectually sophisticated, has primarily to do with ‘primitive’ or ‘instinctive reactions’, and not (at least not primarily) with ‘cool’ intellectual procedures. By Wittgenstein’s existentialist conception of religion I mean his affirmation of the intimate connection between religious believing on one hand and decisions of living importance as well as particular kinds of felt experience on the other (e.g. wonder at the existence of the world, feeling of absolute safety, existential guilt). Lastly, nonsensicalist conception depicts religious language as ‘[running] against the boundaries of language’, as the expressions of religiously and ethically salient experience are strictly speaking ‘nonsensical’ (LE 11–12).
In this paper, I explore the possibility of reading Wittgenstein’s understanding of religious bel... more In this paper, I explore the possibility of reading Wittgenstein’s understanding of religious belief with Tillich’s concept of existential/religious doubt, especially as developed in his Dynamics of Faith. I will argue, first, that Wittgenstein’s understanding of religious belief as a deep certainty of a grammatical remark is not the same as his understanding of hinge-certainty of “hinge propositions”, and that the relevant difference is that Wittgenstein leaves room for the possibility of doubt in the former but not in the latter. I then argue that Tillich’s concept of dynamic faith by which Tillich explicates the role of doubt internal to religious believing can significantly enrich the Wittgensteinian conception of religious belief. Despite the notable differences between Wittgenstein’s thoughts and Tillich’s overall system of theology, Tillich’s treatment of the concept of “faith” signals a possibility of a more positive way of relating Wittgenstein’s grammatical investigation and Tillich’s mature understanding of philosophical theology. At the end of the essay, responding to D.Z. Phillips’ negative assessment of Tillich’s theology in the name of Wittgenstein, I will suggest what that more positive way of relating the two might look like.
I this essay, I compare Schleiermacher’s and Tillich’s attitudes towards Judaism and explore how ... more I this essay, I compare Schleiermacher’s and Tillich’s attitudes towards Judaism and explore how these were related (or weren't?) with their respective philosophical theologies.
Wittgenstein and 'Dialogue'
Dialogue Theories 2. Frances Sleap & Omer Sener (editors), London: Dialogue Society, forthcoming.
Wittgenstein's work is especially relevant for understanding ‘hard’ kinds of dialogue: intercultu... more Wittgenstein's work is especially relevant for understanding ‘hard’ kinds of dialogue: intercultural, interfaith and religious-secular dialogue, i.e. dialogues between individuals or groups with different overall perspectives on reality as a whole, and orientations in life. Wittgenstein emphasized the fact that different world-pictures – and hence, we can extrapolate, different religions and cultures – are often characterized by different depth-grammars. But he also affirmed important ‘connecting links’ between these: in his later work he repeatedly writes that a persistent grammatical investigation reveals that the roots of most language games are not in intellectual reasoning but in instinctive reactions. While these are not necessarily 'good', they comprise 'non-intellectual grounds' that enable - especially if dialogue partners persist in joint, cross-worldpicture grammatical investigation for some time - significant degree of interfaith and intercultural (literal) communication.
Slovenian Military Chaplaincy and Religious Diversity
To be published in an edited volume on military chaplancies and religious diversity (edited by Torkel Brekke and Vladimir Tikhonov)
Religious Plurality and the Slovenian Military Chaplaincy
Gorazd Andrejč and George R. Wilkes
T... more Religious Plurality and the Slovenian Military Chaplaincy
Gorazd Andrejč and George R. Wilkes
This study focuses on the the ways in which religious diversity features in and affects the activities, the structure and the attitudes of the military chaplaincy in the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF). The chaplaincy's future is shaped by the fact that this is a post-Communist state with a historically Catholic majority affected by a vibrant conflict over secular-religious relationships, a conflict evoked in regular debate between the politically dominant parties of the Left and Right. This study illustrates how chaplaincy staff are affected by this polarization, and explores the extent to which their treatment of religious diversity supports their attempts to surmount the constraints placed on chaplaincy by the polarization they experience.
Brief Description of the Book:
Title: Military Chaplaincy in an Era of Religious Pluralism: Military–Religious Nexus in Asia, Europe, and USA. Oxford/New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Edited by Torkel Brekke and Vladimir Tikhonov
Part of Religion and Democracy Series
Present-day militaries are often microcosms of the societies that maintain them. Unsurprising then that the armed forces have to come to terms with the question of religion, a subject that has increasingly become of importance in modern nation states.
At the very heart of these connections between the armed forces, religion, and society is the institution of military chaplaincy. Acting as spiritual guides, military chaplains contribute to war efforts by espousing the legitimacy of state violence and preserving the mental health of soldiers. Their role in performing the last rites of the fallen is also of paramount importance Through cross-cultural analysis and taking into account the diversities of military chaplaincies, this volume examines how they mirror societal attitudes towards the armed forces and also contribute in shaping them. Comparing the varied cultural and political contexts of the USA, India, Slovenia, South Korea, Japan, and many other countries, the book takes a pioneering step towards broadening the horizons of existing scholarship in this field.
About the Editors
Torkel Brekke is Deputy Director and Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Norway. He is the author of several books, among them Faithonomics: Religion and the Free Market (2016) and Fundamentalism: Prophecy and Protest in an Age of Globalization (2012).
Vladimir Tikhonov is Professor at the University of Oslo. Recently, he published Modern Korea and Its Others: Perceptions of the Neighbouring Countries and Korean Modernity (2015) and co-edited (with Torkel Brekke) Buddhism and Violence: Militarism and Buddhism in Modern Asia (2012).
Table of Content:
Introduction: Military Chaplaincy in Comparative Perspective
Torkel Brekke
1. Religious Teachers in the Indian Army
Torkel Brekke
2. Religious Plurality and the Slovenian Military Chaplaincy
Gorazd Andrejč and George R. Wilkes
3. Paths Untrodden in Japanese Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Imperial Military
Micah Auerback
4. ‘Operation Dhamma’: The Sri Lankan Armed Forces as an instrument of Buddhist Nationalism
Iselin Frydenlund
5. Military Rabbis as Community Builders: The Israeli Case
Ori Goldberg
6. The Divine Is in the Details: Managing Religion in Pluralizing Militaries
Kim Philip Hansen
7. Pluralistic Permutations: The Thai Buddhist Military Chaplaincy
Michael Jerryson
8. From Confessional to Concessional: The Adaptation to Religious Pluralism by the Chaplaincy of the Norwegian Armed Forces
Bård Mæland and Nils Terje Lunde
9. Religion in the Sepoy Army of British India
Kaushik Roy
10. Twilight of the Padres: The End of British Military Chaplaincy in India
Michael Snape
11. South Korean Military Chaplaincy in the 1950–70s: Religion as Ideology?
Vladimir Tikhonov
Gorazd Andrejč and George R. Wilkes
This study focuses on the the ways in which religious diversity features in and affects the activities, the structure and the attitudes of the military chaplaincy in the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF). The chaplaincy's future is shaped by the fact that this is a post-Communist state with a historically Catholic majority affected by a vibrant conflict over secular-religious relationships, a conflict evoked in regular debate between the politically dominant parties of the Left and Right. This study illustrates how chaplaincy staff are affected by this polarization, and explores the extent to which their treatment of religious diversity supports their attempts to surmount the constraints placed on chaplaincy by the polarization they experience.
Brief Description of the Book:
Title: Military Chaplaincy in an Era of Religious Pluralism: Military–Religious Nexus in Asia, Europe, and USA. Oxford/New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Edited by Torkel Brekke and Vladimir Tikhonov
Part of Religion and Democracy Series
Present-day militaries are often microcosms of the societies that maintain them. Unsurprising then that the armed forces have to come to terms with the question of religion, a subject that has increasingly become of importance in modern nation states.
At the very heart of these connections between the armed forces, religion, and society is the institution of military chaplaincy. Acting as spiritual guides, military chaplains contribute to war efforts by espousing the legitimacy of state violence and preserving the mental health of soldiers. Their role in performing the last rites of the fallen is also of paramount importance Through cross-cultural analysis and taking into account the diversities of military chaplaincies, this volume examines how they mirror societal attitudes towards the armed forces and also contribute in shaping them. Comparing the varied cultural and political contexts of the USA, India, Slovenia, South Korea, Japan, and many other countries, the book takes a pioneering step towards broadening the horizons of existing scholarship in this field.
About the Editors
Torkel Brekke is Deputy Director and Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Norway. He is the author of several books, among them Faithonomics: Religion and the Free Market (2016) and Fundamentalism: Prophecy and Protest in an Age of Globalization (2012).
Vladimir Tikhonov is Professor at the University of Oslo. Recently, he published Modern Korea and Its Others: Perceptions of the Neighbouring Countries and Korean Modernity (2015) and co-edited (with Torkel Brekke) Buddhism and Violence: Militarism and Buddhism in Modern Asia (2012).
Table of Content:
Introduction: Military Chaplaincy in Comparative Perspective
Torkel Brekke
1. Religious Teachers in the Indian Army
Torkel Brekke
2. Religious Plurality and the Slovenian Military Chaplaincy
Gorazd Andrejč and George R. Wilkes
3. Paths Untrodden in Japanese Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Imperial Military
Micah Auerback
4. ‘Operation Dhamma’: The Sri Lankan Armed Forces as an instrument of Buddhist Nationalism
Iselin Frydenlund
5. Military Rabbis as Community Builders: The Israeli Case
Ori Goldberg
6. The Divine Is in the Details: Managing Religion in Pluralizing Militaries
Kim Philip Hansen
7. Pluralistic Permutations: The Thai Buddhist Military Chaplaincy
Michael Jerryson
8. From Confessional to Concessional: The Adaptation to Religious Pluralism by the Chaplaincy of the Norwegian Armed Forces
Bård Mæland and Nils Terje Lunde
9. Religion in the Sepoy Army of British India
Kaushik Roy
10. Twilight of the Padres: The End of British Military Chaplaincy in India
Michael Snape
11. South Korean Military Chaplaincy in the 1950–70s: Religion as Ideology?
Vladimir Tikhonov
Poligrafi, No. 71/72, 2014. (in Slovenian) pp. 95-120., Feb 2014
Mystical experience can be interpreted as experience in which existential feelings have a promine... more Mystical experience can be interpreted as experience in which existential feelings have a prominent role - unintentional, all-encompassing, affective states which open (or close) the world of possibilities of being for one and enable intentionality (beliefs, emotional feelings, etc.) in the first place (Heidegger, Ratcliffe). What is the relationship between relevant existential feelings and Christian religious language? In this essay I am asking this question with the help of a phenomenological understanding of existential feelings, late-Wittgensteinian understanding of religious language, and a protestant (Schleiermacher-Tillichian) mystical theology. The result is a somewhat counter-intuitive "late-Wittgensteinian phenomenology of mystical experience", which is possible, however, because Wittgenstein's critique of (Jamesian) religious experience is not a complete rejection, i.e. anti-experientialist, but aimed at a particular model of the mind in which an 'inner person' supposedly looks at an 'internal screen of consciousness'. Once such picture of religiously significant, felt experience is abandoned, a late-Wittgensteinian phenomenology of feelings is enabled which, I argue, is a promising framework for understanding the relationship between certain kinds of existential feelings and religious language.
The article engages with two contemporary understandings of Schleiermacher’s notion of feeling wh... more The article engages with two contemporary understandings of Schleiermacher’s notion of feeling which are in important aspects in conflict: a social understanding (Kevin W. Hector and Christine Helmer) and an existentialmystical understanding (Thandeka). Using the phenomenological category of ‘existential feelings’ drawn from the work of Matthew Ratcliffe, I argue that they can be brought into a coherent overall account that recognizes different aspects of feeling in Schleiermacher’s work. I also suggest that such an interpretation of Schleiermacher’s concept of religious feeling offers a different and better understanding of the role of feelings in religious experience and belief than the contemporary ‘perception-model’ of religious experience.
The present essay is a reflection on philosophical and theological foundations for, and interpret... more The present essay is a reflection on philosophical and theological foundations for, and interpretation of, a neglected intercultural dialogue between Protestant Christianity and Animism/Shamanism. David Abram in his book The Spell of the Sensous (1997) develops an ecologically-minded defense of animism on the basis of Heidegger's and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology. In his ecological critique of Christianity, Abram makes a case that Christianity has robbed nature of her sacredness and spiritual relevancy, and confined spirituality within the social space of the Church and a narrowly defined orthodox doctrine. Such spirituality entails a flight from our mortal, bodily nature which is intextricable from the rest of nature, claims Abram, and argues that Western destructivity towards the environment and non-human animals is a consequence of the Christian fixation on the written word of its founding text, anthropocentric view of spirituality, and Platonist reification of ideas set in a vertical opposition to the less valued, material/sensual world. While conceding that contemporary Christianity can not but acknowledge the validity of some of the central points of this ecophenomenological critique, there are powerful resources in Christian tradition that can rise to the challenge. One such is Friedrich Schleiermacher's philosophy of 'religious feelings', which I interpret in conversation with Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger. Schleiermacher argues that the common feature of religious feelings is a fact that in them, human beings can experience a communion with the universe, or with 'all' – either through/with their social or natural environment. A healthy faith in God is related, for Schleiermacher, to such deep, phenomenologically non-intentional aspects of being-in-the-world. Despite great theological and cultural differences between Christianity and animism, a progressive-Protestant understanding of Christian spirituality shares with animism at least one important wisdom: it is ethically and religiously/spiritually significant that we humans are related to our environment on a depth-phenomenological level.
The paper examines the discussion from the late 1980ies to the present of most influential unders... more The paper examines the discussion from the late 1980ies to the present of most influential understandings of, and attitudes towards, non-Christian religions in British Protestant theology. Starting with the liberal-inclusivist and pluralist perspectives of John Macquarrie and John Hick, respectively, influential during 1970s and 1980s, I examine different theological reactions to pluralism. Special attention is given to the evangelical (represented by Leslie Nebwign and Alister McGrath), the postliberal (Rowan Williams, Nicholas Adams), and the radical orthodox (John Milbank) responses to the pluralist paradigm. All three schools of thought enjoy considerable influence in contemporary British theology. Furthermore, among recently developed positions that attempt to move the debate forward and overcome the universalist-particularist dichotomy in Christian theology of religions are the so-called 'postliberal-evangelical-universalist' approach by Tom Greggs, and the (very different) pluralist-syncretist approach of Perry Schmidt-Leukel. In the concluding discussion, I argue that the (over-)emphasis on particularism, characteristic for the evangelical, postliberal and radical orthodox positions, has impoverished Christian theological approaches to non-Christian religions and need to be thoroughly rethought.