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The study examines the role of religion in shaping and enforcing social norms regarding the taboo of incest, with a focus on theological and historical interpretations within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Incest, as a form of intrafamilial sexual violence, is under-researched due to societal stigma. The research aims to provide insights into how religion influences values and social order, especially concerning taboo subjects like incest. A qualitative phenomenological approach is used, gathering primary data through interviews with religious leaders, academics, and individuals with personal experiences, alongside secondary data from sacred texts and academic sources. The findings reveal that the prohibition of incest in Abrahamic religions serves as both a moral rule and a social regulatory tool, reinforcing family and societal boundaries. The sacred texts from these religions explicitly forbid incest, with corresponding sanctions, underscoring the sanctity of family. The study also explores how these religious interpretations shift in response to social and cultural changes. This research offers a new perspective on the relationship between theology, law, and social structures, emphasizing religion's proactive role in addressing taboo issues, including offering solutions grounded in theological principles. It calls for a more open, inclusive approach to research on neglected and sensitive issues like incest.

This research aims to examine the role and authority of women in Islamic sacred texts, focusing on narratives within the Quran and Hadith and their implications for the social status and leadership of women in contemporary religious contexts. The urgency of this study stems from a significant discrepancy between women's representation in Islamic doctrine and their participation and recognition in broader religious and social power structures. Employing a qualitative methodology with a phenomenological approach, this study collected data from primary sources through in-depth interviews, as well as document analysis and secondary literature review, to explore interpretations of texts and prevailing practices. The findings reveal that although the sacred texts provide a basis for gender equality, traditional interpretations often restrict women's roles in leadership and authority capacities. Discussions on reinterpreting these texts with a more inclusive gender perspective offer opportunities to expand understandings of women's leadership in Islam. This study also highlights the importance of education in supporting women to take on more active roles in religious activities and leadership. Based on these findings, the research recommends adopting a more egalitarian interpretative approach in Islamic theology and integrating gender-inclusive religious education as strategies to overcome structural and social barriers that hinder women. These recommendations aim to encourage broader dialogue and fairer religious practices, supporting social change that recognises and promotes women's roles and authority in Muslim communities.

What rules of fighting (armed combat) does Hinduism espouse? The sacred texts are the pre-eminent sources, so these need to be summarized and compared to each other. Teaching mostly through stories, the texts describe deeds of people (especially warriors), gods and demons to show how to behave and not to behave in war. While the injunctions in the Mahābhārata and Arthaśāstra are already covered in the literature, including in this journal, this present work examines the Purāṇas in depth. After a thorough search of all relevant passages, we find the Purāṇas to be very similar to the epics in terms of the list of prescribed and proscribed actions in war that they provide. We also make comparisons to international humanitarian law (IHL); as in the epics, we find that the Purāṇas contain many similar provisions to those found in IHL but that they go above and beyond what is required by IHL in urging that fighting be fair at the tactical level (i.e., between individual fighters). Being religious texts, the Purāṇas also deal with the afterlife consequences of both righteous and unrighteous combat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its onset in Zimbabwe, COVID-19 disrupted the mental health of many Zimbabweans. Its quick transmission and viciousness caused fear and panic as people tried to ensure their safety from infection. When lockdown was first declared as the death toll slowly climbed up, it became clear that a number of people would suffer from mental health problems mainly because of isolation, failure to take care of the sick loved ones as well as stigmatization of those who got infected and recovered. In most cases, name calling resulted from ignorance of how to treat those who had recovered from the disease. While recovery was celebrated, the recovered patients were labelled as 'vaya vakamborwara neCOVID' (those ones who once suffered from COVID) or 'pamba peveCOVID-19' (the home of the COVID-19 sufferers, sic). As infection cases soared and hope seemed to be lost, many people turned to religion. The genderedness of the pandemic became clear as women suffered the most, both as carergivers for the sick as well as from Gender-based Violence (GBV). In such cases, the deployment of biblical texts took centre-stage in most Zimbabwean societies and beyond as women tried to make meaning of their situation. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to investigate how biblical texts were deployed by women for the sake of taking care of their mental health in a threatening environment. The intention is to establish the many ways that religion becomes a useful resource in pandemic contexts particularly for the mental wellbeing of women in Zimbabwe. This is largely a qualitative paper which utilizes in-depth interviews of women in Harare's Central Business District (CBD). The African Womanist Approach informs the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores principles of teaching and learning found within the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu text. After an in-depth thematic hermeneutic analysis of two translations of the text, we found eight themes, including the disciple's role: questioning and emulating the Guru; the Guru's role: teaching as the supreme act of love; learning as Enlightenment; ultimate Self-knowledge as Self-realization; taming the mind through meditation; action superseding inaction in learning; devotion and effort as prerequisites to learning; and detachment from the outcomes of learning. Among our most prominent findings are insights regarding teacher and learner motivation and the centrality of effort to learning. We hope this paper adds to scholarly conversation surrounding the Gita and enriches education philosophy generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history, religions have been a whole and indispensable part of human life. Man's questioning of himself, his environment and nature, and his efforts to investigate the relationship between God-man and man-universe have been going on all over the world, in all existing nations, throughout past history. The phenomenon of religion has continued its existence from primitive cultures to the modern age and today. Under this title, we will investigate the elements that are in contact with God in the Indian belief, especially revelation. In Hinduism, revelation is used with the word shruti in the sense of heard and seen. In the Indian religion, which does not have a specific prophet and revelation concept, revelations are generally received by wise people called rishi. Rishis, who are also considered the authors of the first holy books, are considered the most authoritative people in Hinduism after God. Our article is aims to fill this gap, which is thought to be lacking in revelation in Hinduism. Therefore, in our research, concepts such as shruti, smriti, vedas and rishi, which have a direct connection with God and also have the status of revelation, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of ecological crises, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church-forests are, as many suggest, sacred spaces of resilience and restoration. The need for community forest management and sustainable use of natural resources is said to be based on an 'eco-theology of Edenic forests' so, we ask, What can be said about conceptually defined entanglements between the theological perspective on so-called forest-churches and the ecologically oriented perspective that applies to so-called church-forests? What is the history and the present self-understanding of this phenomenon? Does it have a global dimension? How does a sacred text like Śənä Fəṭrät, with its theocentric theology and its reference to biblical testimony, create 'sacred spaces' in nature? The socio-ethical dimension of these church-forests is of high concern. For this, with an interdisciplinary focus, I refer to results given by existing research on the interrelations of oriental-orthodox theology, including its miaphysite Christology. Such an understanding includes reference to church architecture, biology, sociology, and on forestry in those areas of forest-churches. So we want to understand the specific religious and cultural significance of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church-forests. The relevance of these unique sacred groves cannot easily be compared to examples in other religions. But we may at least draw conclusions from other forms of Christianity and religiosity and their interpretation of common biblical and dogmatic traditions referring to the 'creation of God'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This entry delves into the origin, sources, and role of the Dharmaśāstra (science of dharma) in the historical and cultural context of ancient India. In contrast to other ancient civilizations (such as the Roman Republic and Empire), ancient Indian society was characterized by the lack of a uniform legal system, having instead multiple legal systems united by a common jurisprudence called Dharmaśāstra. The initial works within this tradition are the Dharmasūtras, four of which are handed down from manuscripts (i.e. the āpastamba-, Gautama-, Baudhāyana-, and Vasiṣṭhadharmasūtra), approximately dated from the third century BCE to the first century CE. These works are written in aphoristic prose (sūtra) and tend to preserve the entire scholarly debate about dharma rather than provide an unambiguous, authoritative version of the issues addressed. Such argumentative modality is innovated by the composition of the Mānavadharmaśāstra, the first Dharmaśāstra or Smṛti to be handed down, approximately dated to the second century CE. This work, written in verse (śloka) and ascribed to a divine figure, imposes its authority in the debate surrounding dharma by taking an assertive stance and eliminating all dissent in most cases. The Mānavadharmaśāstra innovation was then followed by later Smṛtis, of which only four major texts are handed down from manuscripts – the Yājñavalkya-, Nārada-, Viṣṇu-, and Parāśarasmṛti – dated approximately from the late fourth century to the eighth century CE. Following an examination of the genesis of the Dharmaśāstric tradition, connected to the (re-)Brahmanization of the Buddhist concept of dharma, this entry deals with the four dharmamūlas (‘roots of law’) on which the Dharmaśāstra is grounded, i.e. śruti (‘revelation’), smṛti (‘tradition’), ācara (‘conduct’), and ātmatuṣṭi (‘self-satisfaction’ or ‘personal preference’), along with its textual history. Finally, coming to the present day, this entry discusses the role of Dharmaśāstra in the living forms of Hinduism and, specifically, how it has survived in modern Hindu law.

From its onset in Zimbabwe, COVID-19 disrupted the mental health of many Zimbabweans. Its quick transmission and viciousness caused fear and panic as people tried to ensure their safety from infection. When lockdown was first declared as the death toll slowly climbed up, it became clear that a number of people would suffer from mental health problems mainly because of isolation, failure to take care of the sick loved ones as well as stigmatization of those who got infected and recovered. In most cases, name calling resulted from ignorance of how to treat those who had recovered from the disease. While recovery was celebrated, the recovered patients were labelled as ‘vaya vakamborwara neCOVID’ (those ones who once suffered from COVID) or ‘pamba peveCOVID-19’ (the home of the COVID-19 sufferers, sic). As infection cases soared and hope seemed to be lost, many people turned to religion. The genderedness of the pandemic became clear as women suffered the most, both as carergivers for the sick as well as from Gender-based Violence (GBV). In such cases, the deployment of biblical texts took centre-stage in most Zimbabwean societies and beyond as women tried to make meaning of their situation. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to investigate how biblical texts were deployed by women for the sake of taking care of their mental health in a threatening environment. The intention is to establish the many ways that religion becomes a useful resource in pandemic contexts particularly for the mental wellbeing of women in Zimbabwe. This is largely a qualitative paper which utilizes in-depth interviews of women in Harare’s Central Business District (CBD). The African Womanist Approach informs the study.

The Hebrew Psalter is a repertoire of paired phenomena. From parallelisms to twin Psalms, biblical scholars have paid attention to these structural and poetical features as keys to unlocking and interpreting the meaning and theology of these psalms. Unfortunately, the otherwise admirable results of these exegetical works remain abstract and largely removed from the interests of the African reader. An alternative way of engaging these texts is to realise that paired phenomena are not exclusive to the Hebrew Psalter. African indigenous sacred texts such as the Adinkra of the Akan people equally contain similar phenomena though relatively little attention has been paid to them. This article, using a dialogical approach of African Biblical Hermeneutics, studies the twin Psalms 111 and 112 as an example of a paired phenomenon in the Psalter. It brings this text into dialogue with the Adinkra denkyemfunefu to illustrate how focussing on similar structural phenomena in either text uncovers the same theme of the common good in either text and facilitates the reception of the biblical discourse in contemporary African contexts. Contribution: It is argued that common literary features in biblical and African indigenous sacred texts could be harnessed as vehicles for facilitating the reception of biblical discourse in contemporary Africa.

This study examines six Latter-day Saint youths’ textual ideologies of sacred texts. Inductive analyses point to three shared textual ideologies related to youths’ expectations about (a) the educative nature of sacred texts, (b) the relevance sacred texts had in their lives, and (c) the amount of time they should spend reading them. Findings support and extend existing language and literacy research by providing insights into the social and cultural forces that shape how religious youth engage with and use sacred texts. Implications of this work offer paths for future literacy research and practice.

Hermetic texts express sacred words (of the revelation of the sacred) through a philosophical language. The attempt here is to determine whether these texts were received as divinely inspired. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the primary role of Hermes Trismegistus as a charismatic, mythical, authoritative, inspiring persona and transmitter of Gnōsis and Eusebeia in the Corpus Hermeticum. Moreover, it is impossible to comprehend these texts as inspired without reflecting on the hermeneutic approach that must be applied to identify their sacredness, with details that are more sacred, profane, immanent, transcendent, optimistic, pessimistic, etc. This article reviews the understanding of the Corpus Hermeticum not as a merely philosophical work, but as a Sacred Text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every society possesses systems for accessing, preserving, and transmitting its traditions. These are meant to ensure that privileged knowledge entrusted to reliable custodians is passed on unchanged between generations for the preservation of society. In Africa, scholars have advocated new hermeneutical approaches to the study of the Bible, arguing that the adoption of traditional methods of exegesis served as another instrument in the colonialists' toolkit to undermine the reception and preservation of Africa's sacred traditions. Using African Biblical Hermeneutics, this paper studies the processes for preserving Sacred Tradition in Psalm 40. Similar processes are found in African Indigenous Sacred Texts such as the mate masie of the Adinkra textual system. I argue, therefore, that a complementary reading of the texts of the two traditions could serve to de-link from the monocular vision of traditional exegesis and offer a much more fruitful approach to interpreting these texts and making them relevant to the contemporary African reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African biblical scholars have long advocated a shift in existing exegetical and hermeneutical approaches. The reasons include not simply the inadequacy of these approaches in dealing with the existential questions of contemporary African societies, but also their lack of effectiveness in transmitting the results of the exegetical process to receptor cultures in Africa, partly to be blamed on their colonialist legacy. One pathway to resolving the above challenge, which remains insufficiently explored, is to engage in a dialogue between the biblical text and African indigenous sacred texts. This paper, using a dialogical approach of African biblical hermeneutics, brings Psalm 137 into dialogue with the Adinkra amammer? (tradition), an indigenous text of the Akan of Ghana. It argues that reading these texts together uncovers their complementary views on the preservation and transmission of sacred discourse and could facilitate reception of the biblical message in contemporary Ghanaian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an anthropological look at sacred textuality by exploring the social and theological structure of Jewish religious nationalism in Israel and the West Bank. It argues that the study of sacred texts serves as a medium through which Jewish religious Zionists articulate what it means to return to an ancestral homeland. It demonstrates how the study of these sacred texts is implicated in the cultivation of two different structural modes through which religious Zionists relate to ideas of homecoming. On one side, homecoming rests in a revolutionary force of intellectual insight; on the other, it is expressed through the mystical and mysterious force of prophecy. In a broader sense, this article critiques the reticence of anthropologists to engage seriously with the broader theological ideas that are expressed through a textual medium that can be so much a part of the everyday experiences of individuals living in text-based societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the conditions, reasons and factors of characterization of religious style in the field of linguistics. In addition, religious style and its main peculiarities, its importance in the social life, and the functional features of religious style are highlighted in the article. As a result of our investigation, the following results were obtained: a) the increase in the need for the creation and significance of religious language, particularly religious texts has been scientifically proved; b) the possibility of religious texts to represent the thoughts of the people, culture and world outlook has been verified; c) the specificity of religious language, religious texts has been revealed; d) the development of religious style as a functional style has been grounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Christian New Testament contains surprisingly few references to age and aging, and what readers do encounter is usually read through the lens of their own experiences and assumptions about age. In this article, I approach the New Testament from my vantage point as a historian of early Christianity to glean meaning relevant for aging and intergenerational relationships today by engaging a contextual approach to the reader and the text. I begin with a sketch of the diversity of attitudes and approaches among people who may have interest in finding meaning in the Bible as they age and among caregivers who want to nurture meaning as they care for older family members or clients. I then consider older age in the New Testament, noting that we find relatively few older individuals or inspiration for aging in the texts of the New Testament. However, focusing on one text in particular (1 Timothy) through a lens of storytelling, I argue that a historically and culturally sensitive reading of the biblical text in its own context opens new possibilities for finding meaning related to aging. Namely, I reflect on the value of three relational aspects of intergenerational interaction that may inspire such relationships today: (1) the power and wisdom of storytelling, (2) the importance of fictive kin, namely surrogate grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren and (3) the value of legacy, which includes instilling and transmitting inherited traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports findings from a sacred text scholarship project in Religious Education/Religion and Worldviews (RE/RW) lessons. In the Texts and Teachers project secondary school teachers found that RE became more meta through a more scholarly treatment of texts, and led to leap moments with pupils who could accomplish multidimensional engagement with texts. This article contributes to an improved understanding of how classroom textual hermeneutics addresses concerns with teaching sacred texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines anthroponyms in the Holy Qur'an in three different English translations to shed light on how procedures used by translators can help target-language (TL) readers understand the implied meaning of anthroponyms. In order to conduct the research, the anthroponyms in the Holy Qur'an were isolated and English equivalents were identified. Then Vermes's (2003) model was applied to the collected data to find answers to the following research questions: (1) What strategies are used most frequently by the translators examined to render the Qur'anic anthroponyms into the target-language (TL)?; (2) How consistent are the translators in using particular strategies when translating the anthroponyms?; (3) Does the type of translator affect their choice of translation strategy?; (4) Does the model suggested by Vermes (2003) cover all of the strategies employed by the three translators?; and (5) Which procedures are source-language-oriented, TL-oriented, or deep-reader oriented? Overall, the findings indicated that the procedures most frequently used by the translators were "substitution" and "transference." It was found that the native speaker of neither Arabic nor English foreignized 96.80% of the Qur'anic anthroponyms by using "transference," while the native translators of either the target-language or the source-language domesticated 71.00% of the anthroponyms by using "substitution." "Substitution" was used when an exact Biblical equivalent for the Qur'anic anthroponym existed. Otherwise, "transference" was used along with notes to transport the meaning and form while remaining faithful to the intended meaning of the sacred text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on Shoaib Mansoor's feminist film, Bol (2011), seen as a commentary on religious "absolute explanatory schemes."1 Arguing that the film demonstrates how Pakistani patriarchy maneuvers sacred texts to construct comforting illusions for women, this paper uses the theory of Islamic Feminism to unravel the politics of religious interpretation and the discursive influence of Islamic fundamentalism. It notes that the protagonist's inner conflict is a transgressional act and dragoons her into disrupting socio-religious boundaries. The paper also examines the film's confessional nature, exposing gender inequalities and injustices exercised through self-authorized religious dogma. Viewers of Bol enter a journey not only through the nodi that confront women and plague contemporary enunciations of Islam, but also through heterogeneous forms of iniquitous oppression, systematic bigotry, forced marriage, and endemic violence. The article concludes that by bridging the gulf between Islam and feminism, women's rights movements can be effective in the Islamic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines anthroponyms in the Holy Qur'an in three different English translations to shed light on how procedures used by translators can help target-language (TL) readers understand the implied meaning of anthroponyms. In order to conduct the research, the anthroponyms in the Holy Qur'an were isolated and English equivalents were identified. Then Vermes’s (2003) model was applied to the collected data to find answers to the following research questions: (1) What strategies are used most frequently by the translators examined to render the Qur’anic anthroponyms into the target-language (TL)?; (2) How consistent are the translators in using particular strategies when translating the anthroponyms?; (3) Does the type of translator affect their choice of translation strategy?; (4) Does the model suggested by Vermes (2003) cover all of the strategies employed by the three translators?; and (5) Which procedures are source-language-oriented, TL-oriented, or deep-reader oriented? Overall, the findings indicated that the procedures most frequently used by the translators were “substitution” and “transference.” It was found that the native speaker of neither Arabic nor English foreignized 96.80% of the Qur’anic anthroponyms by using “transference,” while the native translators of either the target-language or the source-language domesticated 71.00% of the anthroponyms by using “substitution.” “Substitution” was used when an exact Biblical equivalent for the Qur’anic anthroponym existed. Otherwise, “transference” was used along with notes to transport the meaning and form while remaining faithful to the intended meaning of the sacred text.

The article collects results of archaeological investigations on a church initially built to celebrate the birth of Jesus seen as able to problematize the traditional view regarding the origins of Islam and the formation of the Qur'ān. It seeks to move beyond what has already been suggested in this regard, pointing out possibilities, arising from the connection between results of archaeological research and studies on texts constituting the Muslim holy book, to rethink the complex socio-religious scenario in Southwest Asia in Late Antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our era, characterized by the breaking of old stereotypes of thinking, ideological schemes and the formation of new spiritual foundations of social development, acutely actualizes the problem of person's identification and the formation of his/her spiritual and moral values. The article reveals the role of women in the Ashkenazi tradition, a place that the Torah assigns to women in the general scheme of Jewish ritual life. The Torah texts in which the role of women in a family are analyzed in detail. The study clarifies the importance and dignity of the mission that is assigned to Jewish women and which they so faithfully carry out throughout history. The urgency of the study of the above problems is also necessitated by the generalization of the spiritual experience of Judaism, in-depth study of the patterns of new functioning of religions in the conditions of dramatic social changes, their praxeological manifestations, analysis of the mechanism of spiritual and cultural continuity in the practice of religious communities. Materials and articles can be used by specialists in the field of religious and theological studies, students, professors, while writing scientific papers, as well as at lectures related to the study of theology.

This paper aims to identify and discuss core concepts of importance to the ethics of urbanism by undertaking a detailed study of urban issues in the light of the Holy Quran based on their associated ethical dimensions and the nature of the urban structure. This study attempts to analyze the concepts of ethical urbanism by conducting a thorough content analysis of urbanism themes within the divine message of Muslims (the Quran) and related prior literature focusing on their related ethical aspects. The Islamic view of ethical urbanism is systematic and unambiguous. The analyzes identified 1819 verses in all 30 sections of the Quran, including five themes linked to urban Structure Quality and Ethical Responsibility. Particularly environmental, physical, social, economic, and political responsibility. This urban content and the associated principles are embedded in the idea that men are God's rulers on earth and their deeds have earthly and celestial benefits. This paper leads to the intellectual growth of Islam through promoting involvement in Ijtihad. Therefore, this is the interest of urban scholars and responsibility to properly urban practices and religious traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English abstract: The size of religious books matters to how religion and religiosity has been mediated up through history, not only the history of religion, but also the history of the book. The purpose of this article is to offer a functional approach to how size, especially small size, comes to matter in religious medialization. To be able to treat miniaturized books as a religious phenomenon, the article offers a comparative, brief trajectory of developments in book formats and writing/typing techniques that detects a development towards smallness. From here, it proceeds to analyzing and reflecting on miniaturized religious books in Judaism. It goes into details with the functional aspects in the use of community rules, prayer books, Book of Psalms, haggadot shel pesach, Purim-scrolls, Hebrew Bibles and Torot. The article conjoins the author’s own distinction between the hermeneutical and artifactual use of scripture with theoretical­ reflections by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jonathan Z. Smith, Danièle Dehouve, Steven J. Gores, and Ian Reader. This platform has explanatory potential with regard to explaining how the small size of religious books in Jewish religion has come to matter to the medialization of religion and religiosity. Dansk resume: Religiøse bøgers størrelse har betydning for, hvordan jødisk religion og jøders religiøsitet er blevet medieret op gennem historien – ikke kun religionshistorien, men også boghistorien. Artiklens formål er at tilbyde en funktionel forklaring af, hvilken betydning størrelsen, især liden størrelse, har for denne mediering. For at sikre at formindskede bøger behandles som et religiøst fænomen, tager artiklen afsæt i en komparativ, kort redegørelse for udvikling i bogformater og skrive-/printteknikker for at analysere og reflektere over formindskede, religiøse bøger i jødedommen. Særligt gennemgås funktionelle aspekter ved brugen af menighedsregler, bønnebøger, udgaver af Salmernes Bog, påske-aggadot, Purim-ruller, hebræiske bibler og Torahruller. Teoretisk sammenstilles forfatterens egen skelnen mellem hermeneutisk og artefaktisk helligtekstbrug med overvejelser hos Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jonathan Z. Smith, Danièle Dehouve, Steven J. Gores og Ian Reader. Den sammenstilling muliggør en forklaring af måden, hvorpå religiøse bøgers størrelse er af betydning for mediering af religion og religiøsitet.

Simply reading sacred texts across religious boundaries rarely achieves an “aha moment” or an encounter with ultimacy. The possibility of engaging with ultimacy requires establishing some necessary conditions. Any attempt to compel an experience results in false spiritual encounters rather than permitting authentic ones to occur. Therefore, a balance is necessary between being open to the possibility of a religious experience and seeking, but not forcing, an encounter with ultimacy. Placing oneself in a prayerful or spiritual state, for example, achieves the potential for encountering ultimacy by actively reading and meditating on various traditions’ sacred texts. These diverse writings relate others’ encounters with ultimacy and reveal multiple perspectives and imaginative descriptions of the transcendent. An encounter with ultimacy entails an open, willing, prayerful demeanor, intellectual curiosity, a rich imagination regarding divine imagery, and a sincere effort at understanding such a religious experience. A Christian contemplative process known as Lectio Divina satisfies many of these requirements. The method is general and flexible enough to utilize with sacred texts across religious boundaries; it invites a person to slow down, read, pay attention, respond with wonder, and humbly submit to the transforming presence and revelation of ultimate reality.

This comparative study of 100 iTunes mobile applications featuring sacred texts from five major world religions emphasizes how such texts are represented when digitized. Specifically, this research investigates the technological affordances these apps offer, how these affordances are communicated to users, and the messages about religion these app designs communicate. This article thus portrays the relationship between innovative technological features and traditional religious presentations of sacred texts in mobile apps. We find that app designers use one of three strategies so that sacred texts become either transferred, mediated or transformed when digitized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2522-3380) is the property of Arab Journal of Sciences & Research Publishing (AJSRP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Edad de Oro is the property of Departamento de Filologia Espanola de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article reports a seed corn pilot study that presents a moment of the collective consciousness of an RE department in the midst of curriculum change. It records their concerns about the impact of increased content on depth in a new exam course, and the particular consequence this has for the kind of learning happening around texts. It reveals concerns about the representation of religion in the curriculum, the distance between that representation and teachers' perceptions of pupils' spiritual and religious lives. It also identifies teachers' sense of fear and guilt about the challenge of fulfilling their duties to pupils, the secular authorities and the Catholic authorities, and reveals insights around the question of science and religion. In this single focus group, the collective consciousness of an RE department captures and illuminates many key issues of significance in RE today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comment has been made about contemporary modalities of protest that they are "loud, raucous and at times profane, but nonetheless ... righteous." This paper argues that during the course of the social justice movement of recent years, the public assembly of bodies during protests, the ways in which the bodies of those assembled are marked through tattooing, and the activists' speeches during protests, which have the character of the rhetoric of Confession, and are all ways in which the twenty-first century has birthed new constructions of sacred text – new ways of communicating divine truth authoritatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cohosts of the Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile, along with producer Ariana Nedelman, work chapter by chapter through the Harry Potter series, reading each chapter through randomly selected themes and applying sacred textual reading practices to find hidden layers of meaning within the text. This witches' brew of analysis invites their listeners to move from fandom-focused media consumers to promoters of fandom-inspired political engagement.

Torah primarily refers to the first section of the Tanakh–the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, but the term is sometimes also used in the general sense to also include both of Judaism's written law and oral law, encompassing the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history, including the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Midrash, and more. Although there are two Talmuds, they are not really separate. The Rabbis of Babylon had access to the Jerusalem Talmud while they were working on their text. But if there is dispute between the two Talmuds, the Babylonian Talmud is followed. Both because Babylonian Talmud is considered more authoritative and the Jerusalem Talmud is more difficult to study, Jewish students pouring over the Talmud in yeshiva are using chiefly the Babylonian Talmud. The Talmud is more than just an application of the details of the Jewish law as expounded in the Mishnah. It’s the encyclopedia of all Jewish existence. This article to a limited extent unpacks the terms Talmud, Midrash and Gemara.

This paper focuses on the sacred text-production work of a Nyingma Buddhist group based in Berkeley, California. It unpacks their selective engagement with the tools afforded to them by digitisation and new media. Digitisation projects – appearing in growing numbers – offer a powerful resource for the re-assembly of Tibetan Buddhist textual collections scattered in the political upheaval of recent decades. Yet the meeting place between the digital and the sacred is sometimes contested in this context where sacred text is an embodiment of the Buddha's speech. This paper argues that the choice to print ink-and-paper texts is more than a simple rehearsal of tradition and in fact demands alternative forms of engagement with the potential offered by media tools. It explores how the moral invectives contained within sacred Tibetan texts become reshaped through the prisms of contemporary media and the American sponsorship landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our era, characterized by the breaking of old stereotypes of thinking, ideological schemes and the formation of new spiritual foundations of social development, acutely actualizes the problem of person's identification and the formation of his/her spiritual and moral values. The article reveals the role of women in the Ashkenazi tradition, a place that the Torah assigns to women in the general scheme of Jewish ritual life. The Torah texts in which the role of women in a family are analyzed in detail. The study clarifies the importance and dignity of the mission that is assigned to Jewish women and which they so faithfully carry out throughout history. The urgency of the study of the above problems is also necessitated by the generalization of the spiritual experience of Judaism, in-depth study of the patterns of new functioning of religions in the conditions of dramatic social changes, their praxeological manifestations, analysis of the mechanism of spiritual and cultural continuity in the practice of religious communities. Materials and articles can be used by specialists in the field of religious and theological studies, students, professors, while writing scientific papers, as well as at lectures related to the study of theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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