http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/gateway/plugin/WebFeedGatewayPlugin/atomInterreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology2023-08-29T13:11:02+00:00Nelly van Doorn-Hardervandoopa@wfu.eduOpen Journal Systems<p>The journal provides a forum for scholars to share ideas and research on a wide range of topics to do with interreligious questions and issues impacting contemporary pluralist society, and to foster a deeper understanding of theoretical and practical matters concerning interreligious relations. <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/about">Read more about the journal.</a></p>http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26926The Cultural and Linguistic Diversity of Migrants in South Africa2023-12-21T11:04:03+00:00Christine Anthonissen
<p style="font-weight: 400;">This article reflects on the position of migrants in a South African setting and on their integration in the host community, with attention paid to family religious affiliation. As an interdisciplinary contribution, it introduces the concepts of “language policy” and “family language policy” in reference to African migrants’ narratives of adults who recently moved to the Western Cape in search of security and better life chances. Multilingual repertoires shape social mobility options, and vulnerable people draw on religious ideas to interpret their life journeys while seeking a better future. Also, in maintenance of heritage languages, religion often plays a central role. The notion of “family” applied to migrant workers rarely fits traditional definitions. The paper attends to how migrants’ and refugees’ mobility affects their experiences in culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse communities. Finally—mostly embedded in a discussion of other pertinent themes—the article indicates how migrants refer to the role of church and religion in their <br />itineraries.</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26921Interreligious Living in the Context of South Africa2023-12-21T11:04:04+00:00Bernard Lategan
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Interreligious dialogue presupposes conceptual articulation and verbal communication. This article focuses on a different and less prominent expression of interreligiosity, namely interreligious living. Instead of relying on conceptual and verbal instrumentalities, interreligious living speaks through action and practice. Because of the embodied nature of this phenomenon, it is highly contextual in nature and consequently manifests itself in diverse ways in different social settings. A tentative exploration of some examples in the South African context raises a series of basic questions: Does interreligious living complement interreligious dialogue or does it represent an alternative to (or even a form of protest against) it? Does interreligious living gloss over or underplay the real differences that exist between religions and interreligious dialogue sees as an important issue to address? Does interreligious living presuppose a common, overarching cause which invokes it in the first place? The article concludes with a plea for more extensive research into interreligious living as a social phenomenon in its own right. </p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26887A Journey into Other Faiths2023-12-21T11:04:06+00:00Peter White
<p>We live in a world of diversity, and so it is with people’s religious beliefs and how they approach their religious practices in relation to a deity and their social and relational lives. Bible history has taught us that God has always allowed religious diversity. The biggest threat to the world is not poverty, health, and economic challenges but rather religious intolerance, the fear of compromising our faith, bias, and prejudice about other faiths. This article narrates the author’s experience and journey as a Pentecostal scholar in dialogue with other faiths. It argues that it is possible to study other religions without losing one’s own faith insofar as the various methods and principles for the study of religions can be applied. The article promotes the use of dialogue and spiritual discernment as tools to engage with people of other faiths. These approaches therefore become means of moving together toward life.</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26885Plurality and Constitutionalism2023-12-21T11:04:07+00:00Marilyn Naidoo
<p>In the establishment of the new South African democracy, modernisation through constitutionalism, globalisation and economic freedom resulted in a pluralist space with pluralist ideas and pluralist politics. Living in plurality means living in a world of difference and living cooperatively with other religions, and this is also inextricably entangled with the history, economics, politics and culture of societies and individuals. Religion remains a key player in society, and, though the State is seen as secular, the Constitution does recognise and support religions and protects the religious rights of the citizenry. But navigating religious differences in a liberal democracy can create tensions when the application of rights is blind to how citizens differ. This article reveals how constitutional interpretations in public education can be perceived by religions as unequal treatment underscoring the limits of plurality.</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26884Interreligious Solidarity in South Africa2023-12-21T11:04:08+00:00A Rashied Omar
<p>South Africa has a unique and vibrant interreligious solidarity movement. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the interreligious movement played a significant role in the anti-apartheid struggle via the South African Chapter of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Since the onset of a non-racial and democratic dispensation in 1994, the interreligious movement forms an integral part of South Africa’s burgeoning civil society, attempting to hold the post-apartheid government accountable for its political and moral mandate. This article explores the development of South Africa’s interreligious movement with special reference to the role of the Muslim community. It argues that, relative to its small size, the local Muslim community has played a disproportionate role in shaping the history and trajectory of the South African interreligious solidarity movement during the anti-apartheid struggle (1948–<br />1994) and in the contemporary democratic period (1994–2023).</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26883Muslim-Based Schools in South Africa and the Potential for Interreligious Dialogue as Democratic Engagement2023-12-21T11:04:09+00:00Nuraan Davids
<p>The proliferation of Muslim-based schools which accompanied South Africa’s transition to a democracy provides significant commentary not only on the historical bearing of these schools but also on their perceived role in relation to a democracy. Notably, while there are definitive differences between the contextual ideologies of an apartheid and a democratic state, it is possible to trace a common thread behind the formation of Muslim-based schools: specifically, that the state cannot be trusted with the education of Muslim children. Arising from the trajectory of Muslim-based schools are two interests that this article seeks to explore. The first centres on the motivations behind Muslim-based schools and whether these have shifted since their historical inceptions. The second examines how Muslim-based schools might (re)conceive of themselves in a democracy by drawing on their own paradigmatic foundations as a guiding philosophy for interreligious dialogue as a form of democratic engagement.</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26882On the (Im)Possibility of Religious (Dis)Engagement2023-12-21T11:04:09+00:00Yusef Waghid
<p>This article begins with the premise that the word “religious” implies having a connection with the human being, rationally and spiritually. In other words, we cannot talk about an experience of a religious kind if people, and their sense of rationality and spirituality are absent. Humans internalise a religious experience if they happen to connect with one another in some way or the other, (re-)examine one another’s claims of reason, and disclose their spiritual connections in the presence of one another. If any of the above constitutive notions of what makes religious experiences religious is not present, one cannot talk about any kind of religious experience. This article examines these three constitutive notions of religious experiences as the author (with a Muslim identity) endeavours to argue in defence of religious engagement. The argument for religious engagement is premised on the notion that people are social beings by their very nature—that is, they live together and are transformed by their contexts, including religious affiliations. And when human conditions for religious engagement prevail, as is the case in South Africa, exclusion and alienation are subverted.</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/26881Ukuthwasa in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa2023-12-21T11:04:10+00:00Dion A Forster
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The postcolonial era has brought a renewed appreciation of African Indigenous Religion and culture among some Southern African Christians. However, because of Southern Africa’s colonial religious heritage, some African Christians are opposed to a constructive engagement with African religiosity and practice. Others seem to operate with a double consciousness—participating in African Indigenous religious ceremonies and holding African religious beliefs during the week while claiming to be Christians on Sunday. This article engages the Methodist Church of South Africa’s consideration of <em>ukuthwasa </em>and the practice of being a Traditional Healer in light of some instances of ‘double consciousness’. It argues that this engagement is a form of religious pluralism that requires intentional and critical consideration. After introducing the concept of <em>ukuthwasa </em>and recent discussions around being both a Christian minister and a Traditional Healer, some examples of African Christian double consciousness among some members of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa are examined. Based on this critical reflection, some possibilities that Christian engagements with African religion and culture might offer for the contextualisation and decolonisation of Southern African Christianity are presented.</p>
2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20060Anthropological Case Studies As Research Design For Intercultural Theology2023-03-31T12:39:33+00:00Daniel Jara J
<p>This article explores the suitability of anthropological Case Studies (CSs) as a research design for research related to intercultural theology. The introduction refers briefly to the crisis of modernity’s missiological paradigm and the emergence of contextual theologies and intercultural theology as responses. It subsequently focuses on the ambivalent historical relationship between anthropological research and theological endeavors and the current relevance of culture studies for theological research. The following section targets the characteristics and aims of CSs and their nature as a research design rather than a method, along with the nature of the cases, their types, and their selection criteria. It also evaluates the possibilities of CSs as a research design for intercultural theology with special attention to two “research styles”: action research and participatory action research. The main criticisms of the CS design (reliability, internal validity, and transferability) as well as the comparison issue among cases are explained. Finally, this describes how the conjunction of theological research and models from cultural studies transcends a purely practical approach, implying the epistemological and even ontological postulates that sustain both disciplines.</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/18430An Invitation to Interfaith Engagement2023-03-30T14:11:32+00:00Jessica Spence Moss
<p>In 2001, “Mormons” (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) were admonished to be friendly, helpful, protective, and supportive of members of other faiths, specifically Muslims. This article considers the ways in which this counsel has been heeded as well as the reasons why some may be struggling with them. The core contention of this article is that the ignorance of religious others, the complacency one has with their own beliefs, and the value of exclusivity hinder members of the Church in fulfilling the call to be friendly, helpful, protective, and supportive. Therefore, the author invites members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as others who are struggling with ignorance, complacency, and exclusivity in their traditions, to cultivate an interfaith ethic that will encourage the building of relationships with religious others. An interfaith ethic, the author proposes, is supported by Church doctrine and by the example of previous prophets, including Joseph Smith. By cultivating an interfaith ethic, members of The Church will build authentic friendships and increase their capacity for compassion in all relationships—in and out of The Church.</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19095God in All Things2023-03-30T14:11:31+00:00Jon Paul Sydnor
<p>One divine ontology can account for multiple religious experiences. Specifically, the theological metaphysic of Ramanuja integrates four distinct encounters with the holy. Due to its openness, Ramanuja’s theology resonates with Western panentheism—the belief that God is both within and beyond the material universe. We can experience 1. a personal, transcendent God, 2. a divine humanity, 3. a sacred cosmos, and 4. an awe-inspiring rational order. If the experiencer thinks exclusively, then they may believe that their experience is the only legitimate experience. But if one divine ontology can accommodate the varieties of religious experience, as does Ramanuja’s, then such exclusivism is unnecessary. This article proposes a panentheistic Christian ontology based on the Hindu (Visisitdvaita) theology of Ramanuja that accounts for the four religious experiences listed above. It then provides celebratory examples of each experience in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, thereby providing biblical support for Visisitdvaita, Christian panentheism. Finally, I argue that Ramanuja’s personalist panentheism better serves Christian faith than impersonalist Platonic Idealism.</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19979Han2023-03-30T14:11:29+00:00Kevin P Considine
<p>This article argues that <em>han</em> should be received as an intercultural anthropology into global theological discourse, provides insight into some of the nuances of this anthropology, and shows the benefits of a thorough engagement with han. It suggests han anthropology be received as “intercultural” as opposed to “cross-cultural” or “trans-cultural.” The article then provides a brief overview of the development of han as a local anthropology of the Korean people and then interprets han using the work of Hwa-Young Chong and the philosophy of Jae-Hoon Lee to focus on han’s various manifestations—original and secondary—as well as won-han, jeong-han, and especially hu-han. It explains han’s ambiguous relationality, its potential for negative and positive transformation of life and society, its evocation of woundedness beyond “trauma,” and its deep connection to religion and ritual. I conclude that han continues to offer a rich and under-utilized resource for articulating Christian soteriologies between global and local that prioritize the “sinned-against.”</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/24603Freedom of Religion amid Polarization and Religious Moderation Policy2023-03-30T14:11:27+00:00Suhadi Cholil
<p>To address religious extremism and radicalism, the Indonesian government initiated the idea of “religious moderation” as an official state policy centered at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Since 2019 the government has published books, guidance, and held various trainings on religious moderation, especially in institutions related to the Ministry. It also develops religious moderation instruments to ensure that government employees and officials, especially those within the Ministry, are free from exposure to extremism and radicalism. The idea is presented by the government as appreciating, respecting, and protecting the valued religious pluralism in Indonesia. But this article also argues that, upon critical examination, there are tensions between this idea and freedom of religion or belief in Indonesia. The religious moderation policy may run counter to freedom of religion or expression and overlooks central weaknesses in the existing state governance of religion </p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/24616Emerging Discourses on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Indonesia2023-03-30T14:11:25+00:00Zainal Abidin Bagir
<p>The notion of religious freedom has existed since the founding of an independent Indonesia in 1945, but it took on a more prominent and effective profile only after the democratization that started in 1998. While the discourse has been dominated by discussion of the normative legal dimensions and lack of effective implementation that led to certain violations of the rights to FORB, it has recently expanded to deeper, more foundational questions and touched on more theoretical issues. This article considers three relevant developments that constitute the context: the legal landscape, advocacy, and the emerging conceptual discourses. It then positions the three issues discussed in the following three articles. Acknowledging that the three issues do not exhaust the whole landscape of FORB discourses in Indonesia, this article concludes by mentioning a few other issues that deserve attention and suggests discussing them as part of the international discourse on FORB.</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/24617Religious Freedom and Mediation2023-03-30T14:11:24+00:00Ihsan Ali-FauziRaditya Darningtyas
<p>In recent years, Indonesia has experienced a decline in religious freedom. An increasingly popular strategy in dealing with this issue is mediation, which is perceived to be less costly, less divisive, and more lasting. While mediation has opened up new opportunities for strengthening religious freedom, it also has its own challenges. This article evaluates three initiatives in this direction. The first is the efforts of the local government to mediate disputes about houses of worship as evident in the recent case of the Yasmin Christian Church in Bogor City (West Java). Although the two conflicting parties finally agreed to relocate the church, both its process and end result leave behind potential legal issues that could emerge in the future. The second is the use of mediation by the Indonesia National Commission of Human Rights to resolve religious conflicts. While the Commission is relatively successful in pushing the local government to mediate the conflicts, the solutions it has achieved are not necessarily effective. The third is attempts at the institutionalization of interfaith mediation through the Interreligious Harmony Forum. Although the central government has supported these attempts, some structural problems continue to limit its progress.</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/24947Toward a (More) Inclusive FORB2023-03-30T14:11:23+00:00Samsul MaarifAsfinawati
<p>Freedom of religion or belief (FORB) is supposedly universal, but religion has been predominantly defined as prototyping and privileging the so-called “world religions.” As a consequence, the religions of indigenous people have been treated as culture and as such excluded from FORB discourse. Drawing on the Indonesian context, this paper shows a new potential framework for a more inclusive FORB. It examines two decisions by the Indonesian Constitutional Court that dismantled the politics of “official” religions and expanded the notion of FORB, hence it fosters a more inclusive FORB. This article examines the commonly conceptualized anthropocentric human rights/FORB and compares it with the ecocentric paradigm of indigenous religions. It concludes that kepercayaan, as the constitutional term for indigenous religions, should be advocated to accommodate the ecocentric paradigm. In this way, the Indonesian understanding and practice of FORB may contribute to the global discourse of FORB and indigenous religions.</p>
2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19435Writing African History in a Global World2023-03-17T10:24:24+00:00Jean Luc Enyegue
<p>In addressing the question of the relevance of neocolonialism and race as an epistemological framework for the writing and teaching of African history today, this article argues that history has a role to play in bridging parallel historiographies. Using the historiography of Cameroonian Engelbert Mveng and that of his main critique Elridge Mohammadou, the article challenges traditional methods of Western historiographies of Africa and warns against the reductionisms of monocultural and nationalist histories and their traumatic effects. It concludes that interculturality can help historians unleash the healing powers of history as an academic and a taught discipline. For history to not repeat the same errors from the past, historians should not only respect the diversity of perspectives in interconnected yet multi-cultural settings, but also overcome monocultural and nationalistic histories in the classroom. Researching and writing African history today should therefore be global, intercultural and pedagogical processes.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19366Ghost Stories2023-03-17T10:22:09+00:00Judith Gruber
<p>A crucial issue in methodological reflections on African theologies is the question how we can define “African” identity. Since Contextual Theologies first emerged in the early 1970s, it has become clear that the search for cultural identity cannot be pursued independently from the legacies of colonial power/knowledge regimes that continue to shape imaginations of Africa. Starting from a case study of the post/colonial relationship between Belgium and the DRC as it is imagined in the exhibition of the Africa Museum near Brussels, this contribution argues that postcolonial historiographies can have both, de- or recolonizing effects. It also brings theology into the conversation, arguing that core themes in postcolonial historiographies resonate deeply with central motives of the Christian tradition. Based on this interdisciplinary commentary, the article aims to contribute to a framework for conceptualizing post/colonial African identity in the wake of colonial trauma.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19371From Opponent to Advocate2023-03-17T10:20:10+00:00Dries Vanysacker
<p>In the debates starting in 1958 in Kinshasa, around a possible (or impossible) African theology, the Belgian theologian Alfred Vanneste played a central role. Based on an analysis of Vanneste’s own articles and papers in relation to contemporary African and European theologians, I argue that Vanneste’s opinion changed over time. Originally an opponent of an authentic African theology, he developed into an ardent advocate. In order to explore the different stages that led Alfred Vanneste to change his ideas on the subject, I will first describe the debates and ideas about developing an authentic “African theology” that took place between 1958 and 1968. After that, I analyze developments within theological discourses (1974–1980) that led Alfred Vanneste to change his opinion. I conclude by summarizing his theological turn from opposing to advocating an indigenous African form of theology, and by contextualizing this shift as a transition from colonial, pre-Vatican II thinking about indigenous theologies to the current day developments within intercultural theology.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20083Contemporary African Historiographies2023-03-17T10:16:14+00:00Reginald D. Cruz
<p>This paper considers historiographical trends in contemporary African ecclesiastical and civil circles. Given the relative brevity of this essay, it does not pretend to give an exhaustive exposition of the theological trends in this rather vast and multicultural continent. Nonetheless, I hope to paint a satisfactory picture of this landscape, despite the limitations, so that readers could understand the methodological problems, epistemological controversies, and cultural complexities they would encounter through African history.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20559Looking Back – Looking Forward2023-03-17T10:14:09+00:00Laurenti Magesa
<p>Proclaiming Christ throughout the world – or evangelization – is the mission of God entrusted to the church. As such it is achieved through the agency of human beings, situated in time and space. This means that the mission of evangelization, because it is necessarily culture-bound, takes different forms, models, or paradigms depending on the identity and convictions of the evangelizer, on the one hand, and the situation of the recipient, on the other. In Africa, it is European missionaries who undertook this mission, and its process has manifested itself differently at different times. This brief essay identifies three major models that have been used in Africa since the end of the nineteenth century (Common Era), and discusses their implications for Christianity.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20560Decolonial Approaches and Practices in African Theology2023-03-17T10:12:29+00:00Ignace Ndongala
<p>This paper surveys the main paradigms of francophone Catholic African theology from the late twentieth century until the present. It proposes that a new paradigm has emerged in the work of O. Bimwenyi Kweshi, M-P. Hebga and J-M. Ela. After outlining the development of the paradigms, this article summarizes and assesses the paradigm associated with Bimwenyi, Hebga, and Ela within the perspective of the decolonization of African theology. Relaying on Ela, he accounts for the knowledge which devalues the interpretations of the margins as defective, pre-scientific and primitive. Its aim is broad, in part to introduce these traditions to an English-speaking audience, but also to show the depth of resources within a particular tradition which is placed in the interstice between theology and social sciences, scholarly research and popularization, in a perspective of a de-occidentalization, de-compartmentalization and de-clericalization of theology. This makes it possible to point towards the shape of a decolonized African theology.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20563Do Interritual Practices Demonstrate Religions’ Theologies of God? Toward a Critical Assessment2023-03-17T10:10:51+00:00Najib George Awad
<p>Can people of different faiths worship the same God and pray inter-religiously? Can this worship demonstrate that the religions believe in the same God? Does the participation in interreligious prayer verify that the participants believe in one God? The essay tackles these inquiries by pointing to theological voices claiming that Christian-Muslim interreligious worship is a reliable basis for concluding that Christianity and Islam believe in the same God. It also offers an assessment in light of a personal interreligious worship experience. The essay shows whether or not there is an authentic, open, epistemic trajectory between religions and their followers’ religiosity, and whether the data collector can certainly rely on this relationship to construct a reliable epistemological perception of the religion’s interpretation of God. In sum, it examines critically whether it is the case that interreligious worship is always a reliable epistemic medium of the religious faith of the worshipping subjects.</p>
2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19596Multiple Religious Belonging and Religious Communities2022-07-15T00:35:14+00:00Jonatan HendriksAndré van der Braak
<p>This contribution investigates the concept “community” as a previously underexplored dimension of multiple religious belonging (MRB). A review of the MRB approach to multireligiosity reveals there has been paid relatively little attention to community influence and fluid, non-dualistic styles of religious belonging. We argue that these styles of multiple belonging cannot be accounted for by conventional understandings of MRB that assume a “World Religions Paradigm.” After reviewing two approaches to this problem, the article explores a rhizomatic approach to MRB and religious communities. To illustrate this approach, a brief review of several Dutch multireligious communities is presented.</p>
2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/19378Coping with a Qur’anic Truth Claim2022-12-04T23:33:05+00:00Yaser Ellethy
<p>Since the latter half of the twentieth century, Western philosophers of religion and scholars of religion have been fervently preoccupied with the question of religious truth claims and how to evaluate a Christian theological view of other religious traditions. This resulted in the standardization of inclusivism, exclusivism, and pluralism as distinct universal approaches to the truth claim predicament. Employing Qur’anic exegesis, hermeneutics, and the semantics of core Islamic concepts, this article offers a critique of this standardized typology as less relevant to the Muslim perspective of religious diversity. Based on an Islamic view of the relativity of human knowledge and the centrality of a revelatory epistemic premise, this typology is hardly akin to a Muslim traditional perspective. The Qur’an defines the boundaries between the Islamic truth claim, salvific exclusion, and the ethical codes for Muslims to deal with a worldly context that is ab initio diverse. This article argues that an Islamic pluralistic view, as delineated on the basis of the Qur’an, supersedes the dilemma of religious truth claims and seeks realistic ethical regulations to deal with religious otherness.</p>
2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20024Toward a “Religious Cosmopolitanism” in the Age of Globalization2022-07-15T00:35:13+00:00Yun Kwon Yoo
<p>This article reflects critically on cosmopolitanism in our contemporary context of globalization. It examines whether cosmopolitanism can serve as an adequate anthropological perspective that responds sufficiently to the challenges of globalization, particularly in its economic, political, and cultural dimensions. Cosmopolitan anthropology is relevant and necessary in the age of globalization in that the critical challenge posed by today’s globalizing world is not only how to recognize differences per se but also, and more importantly, how to live together with all these differences. This requires our cosmopolitan awareness that we all are fellow human beings. This paper argues, however, that cosmopolitanism needs to be sublated into a religious cosmopolitanism by incorporating a theological anthropology that provides a more full-blown conception of being human as a concrete totality of all its constitutive relations whose ultimate source is God.</p>
2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20249Theology without Walls: The Transreligious Imperative, edited by Jerry L. Martin.2022-07-15T00:35:12+00:00Hans S Gustafson
<p>Theology without Walls: The Transreligious Imperative, edited by Jerry L. Martin. Routledge, 2020. xviii + 250 pp., Pb., $48.95 US. ISBN: 978 1032088631.</p>
2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/20520Social Distance and Intergroup Contact2022-12-04T23:41:27+00:00Abe W AtaKlaus Baumann
<p>The effects of intergroup contact in reducing prejudices have been well documented, but few studies have investigated the importance of the broader context within which contact occurs. This article examines the predictors of social distance from Muslims in a large sample of (non-Muslim) German university students (N = 404). Intergroup contact was an important predictor of reduced social distance even after demographics and perceptions of parents, tertiary institutions, media and broader intergroup dynamics were taken into account. The contact-social distance relationship was, however, mediated in part by perceived parental support for intergroup relations and perceived fairness of media representation. Students’ perceptions of broader group dynamics relating to assigning positive and negative attributes largely impeded the relationship – more so for male students than female. The findings attest to the importance of the broader context within which contact occurs. Having contact with outgroup members leads to reduced social distance from the outgroup, but perceived norms and outgroup perceptions play a pivotal role in explaining this relationship.</p>
2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/23411Preface2022-07-15T00:35:07+00:00Nelly van Doorn-Harder2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing ltd.http://journal.equinoxpub.com/ISIT/article/view/18600Defining the Field2020-11-06T12:07:56+00:00Nelly Van Doorn-Harder2020-11-06T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing ltd.