Nun sag, wie hast Du's mit der Religion. Eine Anleitung zur Erkundung verschiedener Glaubenstypen.

«Nun sag, wie hast du’s mit der Religion?», lässt Goethe das Gretchen den Faust fragen. Der folgende Beitrag stellt diese Frage seinen Leserinnen und Lesern. Wie haben Sie es mit der Religion? Eine Anleitung zur Selbstreflexion bietet Gelegenheit zur Erkundung des eigenen Glaubenstyps und verschafft einen Überblick über weitere mögliche Glaubenstypen.

„Religion“ konstituieren. Über die Rollen von Religionswissenschaft in europäischen Religionsdiskursen

Der Vortrag fragt nach den Prozessen, in denen Religionswissenschaft seit dem 19. Jahrhundert selbst Teil der von ihr erforschten Religionsgeschichte wurde. Dabei stehen theoretische Überlegungen im Vordergrund, die von der These eine doppelten Beziehung der Religionswissenschaft (RW) zu „Religion“ ausgehen: RW hat „Religion“ zum Gegenstand und zum konstitutiven Aussen. Wie wird der Gegenstand „Religion“ diskursiv konstituiert und welche Rolle spielt/e dabei RW? Anhand zweier Beispiele sollen die Prozesse erläutert werden.

Von der Klassifikation als "Religion" zum "Religionsdiskurs"

Der Vortrag geht der Frage nach, unter welchen Umständen es möglich und sinnvoll ist, von der Existenz eines Religionsdiskurses auszugehen und seine historischen Entwicklungen zu erfassen. Ich möchte dabei an einem historischen Beispiel zeigen, wie die Aushandlungen um die Klassifikation konkreter Gegenstande als "Religion" einerseits in ihren singulären Äusserungen von empirisch erfassbaren historischen, politischen, ökonomischen und anderen Faktoren abhängig sind. Andererseits besteht aber gleichzeitig eine Wechselbeziehungen dieser Aushandlungen mit der diskursiven Konstitution von Religionsverständnissen, Religionsdefinitionen und etablierten Zuordnungen, die als Tiefenstrukturen eines "Religionsdiskurses" im Hintergrund immer mitgedacht werden müssen. Ich werde von da aus argumentieren, dass ein Verständnis und eine Analyse diskursiver Prozesse im Kleinen nicht möglich wären, ohne die konstitutiven Wirkungen grösserer diskursiver Einheiten mit einzubeziehen.

Entwicklung und Validierung einer Skala der Bereitschaft zu verzeihen (SBV)

Verzeihen dient der Bewältigung von Kränkungen und zwischenmenschlichen Konflikten. Es werden Definitionen und Operationalisierungen aus dem englischen Sprachraum vorgestellt. Die Entwicklung eines deutschsprachigen szenarienbasierten Instruments zur Erhebung der Bereitschaft zu verzeihen wird beschrieben. Es wird eine Differenzierung des Konstruktes in zwei Komponenten vorgeschlagen: (a) die Bereitschaft, anderen Menschen zu verzeihen, wenn diese ihre Tat bedauern, (b) die Bereitschaft, anderen Menschen zu verzeihen, wenn diese ihre Tat nicht bedauern. Die Messeigenschaften der neu entwickelten Skala wurden in fünf Studien an insgesamt 1824 Probanden untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Instrument gute psychometrische Eigenschaften besitzt. Die theoretische Differenzierung des Konstrukts wird empirisch bestätigt. Hinweise auf die Konstruktvalidität der Skala ergeben sich aus Zusammenhängen mit theoretisch einschlägigen Referenzkonstrukten: der habituellen Ärgerneigung, der Wahrnehmung und Klarheit über eigene und fremde Gefühle, positiver und negativer Affektivität, den fünf Persönlichkeitsfaktoren und sozialer Erwünschtheit. Für die Konstruktvalidität der Skala sprechen ferner konvergente Korrelationen mit anderen Maßen der Bereitschaft zu verzeihen.

What Is behind God’s Name? Martin Buber’s and Franz Rosenzweig’s Reflections on the Name of God

What meaning does God’s name convey? This was a question Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig had to answer when working on their translation of the Bible. They noticed that, as certain crucial biblical verses suggest, there is indeed a meaning behind God’s name in the Bible. Thus, an important moment in their joint translation was their account of the self-revelation of God in Exod. III, together with the question of how best to translate the tetragrammaton YHWH— the name of God. This article will explore their decisions, based both on their dialogue concerning the translation of the Bible, and on their papers, especially Rosenzweig’s well-known article ‘Der Ewige’ (‘The Eternal’) and Buber’s response to it. Less well known is the fact that there exist two unpublished typescripts by Martin Buber reflecting on the name of God, which will also be taken into consideration. Contrary to the received view that the choice of the personal pronoun to transliterate the name of God in the Bible translation was mainly Rosenzweig’s, I will show that it was actually a joint decision in which both thinkers’ philosophies,1 and a question that had haunted Buber since his youth, played an important part. The choice of the personal pronoun is an answer to this question, addressing the omnipresent God, the eternal Thou, in a kind of cultic acclamation.

Die diskursive Konstitution von Religion

Frank Neubert geht der Frage nach, wie Religion als Kategorie und wie Gegenstände und Akteure der sozialen Umwelt als Religion oder religiös diskursiv konstituiert werden. Im Fokus stehen die dabei aktivierten Differenzen und die Frage nach den Positionen der Akteure in diesen Diskursen. Dabei wird auch das Spektrum unterschiedlicher – teilweise diametral entgegengesetzter – Klassifikationen, der mit ihnen verbundenen Hierarchisierungen und ihrer historischen, sozialen und politischen Auswirkungen in den Blick genommen. Der Autor schlägt einen diskursiven Zugang vor, um mit der Kategorie Religion wissenschaftlich umgehen zu können, ohne selbst Religion definieren, Gegenstände klassifizieren und damit eine Position im untersuchten Diskurs einnehmen zu müssen.

How gender fair are German schoolbooks in the twenty-first century? An analysis of language and illustrations in schoolbooks for mathematics and German

Schoolbooks convey not only school-relevant knowledge; they also influence the development of stereotypes about different social groups. Particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, many studies analysed schoolbooks and criticised the overall predominance of male persons and of traditional role allocations. Since that time, women’s and men’s occupations and social functions have changed considerably. The present research investigated gender portrayals in schoolbooks for German and mathematics that were recently published in Germany. We examined the proportions of female and male persons in pictures and texts and categorized their activities, occupational and parental roles. Going beyond previous studies, we added two criteria: the use of gender-fair language and the spatial arrangements of persons in pictures. Our results show that schoolbooks for German contained almost balanced depictions of girls and boys, whereas women were less frequently shown than men. In mathematics books, males outnumbered females in general. Across both types of books, female and male persons were engaged in many different activities, not only gendertyped ones; however, male persons were more often described via their profession than females. Use of gender-fair language has found its way into schoolbooks but is not used consistently. Books for German were more gender fair in terms of linguistic forms than books for mathematics. For spatial arrangements, we found no indication for gender biases. The results are discussed with a focus on how schoolbooks can be optimized to contribute to gender equality.

Racing against Time: Varying Patterns of Social Mobilization in Serbia and Georgia

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, a number of actors started to engage in the power struggle for the opportunities to shape the new order in successive nation-states. In Serbia and Georgia historically hegemonic Orthodox Christian churches were among the firsts in the frontlines for political and economic power. More than a decade has passed since the so-called Coloured Revolutions in Georgia and Serbia, and the Orthodox churches still remain participants of an ongoing socio-political transition of these states. The revival of public role of religion appeared temporary in Serbia followed by a gradual decline of an influence of the Orthodox Church over political life and legal process. However, in Georgia the public and political role of religion increased rather than declined albeit changed shape. Examining the degree to which the two Orthodox churches can influence the political agenda in Serbia and Georgia, the paper attempts to understand how church-State relations work in practice. By bringing rich empirical data from the field (70 interviews with (arch)bishops, priests and religious clerics in Georgia and Serbia added to field observations), the paper reflects on the themes under which the two Orthodox churches mobilize public protest in Serbia and Georgia. The paper further looks at varying State responses and their broader implication for church-state problematique.

The Secular State Under Siege: Religion and Politics in Europe and America

Throughout human history, religion and politics have entertained the most intimate of connections as systems of authority regulating individuals and society. While the two have come apart through the process of secularization, secularism is challenged today by the return of public religion. This cogent analysis unravels the nature of the connection, disconnection, and attempted reconnection between religion and politics in the West. In a comparison of Western Europe and North America, Christianity and Islam, Joppke advances far-reaching theoretical, historical, and comparative-political arguments. With respect to theory, it is argued that only a “substantive” concept of religion, as pertaining to the existence of supra-human powers, opens up the possibility of a historical-comparative perspective on religion. At the level of history, secularization is shown to be the distinct outcome of Latin Christianity itself. And at the level of comparative politics, the Christian Right in America which has attacked the “wall of separation” between religion and state and Islam in Europe with the controversial insistence on sharia law and other “illiberal” claims from some quarters are taken to be counterpart incarnations of public religion and challenges to the secular state. This clearly argued, sweeping book will provide an invaluable framework for approaching an array of critical issues at the intersection of religion, law and politics for advanced students and researchers across the social sciences and legal studies, as well as for the interested public.

Leaving Home: Philo of Alexandria on the Exodus.

For Jewish-Hellenistic authors writing in Egypt, the Exodus story posed unique challenges. After all, to them Egypt was, as Philo of Alexandria states, their fatherland. How do these authors come to terms with the biblical story of liberation from Egyptian slavery and the longing for the promised land? In this chapter I am taking a close look at Philo’s detailed discussion of the Exodus and locate it within the larger context of Jewish-Hellenistic literature (Wisdom of Solomon, Ezekiel’s Exagoge). In Philo’s rewriting of the Exodus the destination of the journey is barely mentioned. Contrary to the biblical narrative, in the scene of the burning bush, as retold by Philo, God does not tell Moses where to go. Philo’s main concern is what happens in Egypt: both in biblical times and in his own days. The Exodus is nevertheless important to Philo: He reads the story allegorically as a journey from the land of the body to the realms of the mind. Such a symbolic reading permitted him to control the meaning of the Exodus and to stay, literally and figuratively, in Egypt.

Table to accompany Religion/Spirituality and Change in Meaning after Bereavement: Qualitative Evidence for the Meaning Making Model

This table accompanies the manuscript entitled "Religion/Spirituality and Change in Meaning after Bereavement: Qualitative Evidence for the Meaning Making Model" by Wortmann & Park (2009). The table summarizes the sample characteristics for published, qualitative studies that describe the involvement of religion/spirituality in adjustment after bereavement. Fields include author(s)'s last name, publication year, population characteristics and sample size, study design, age of the bereaved, type or cause of death, and time post-loss.