Religious Studies

Samhällets oro för barn som växer upp inom nya religiösa rörelser är en ständigt återkommande fråga i den offentliga debatten. Den massmediala bilden av hur det är att växa upp inom en ny religiös rörelse i kombination med rörelsernas ibland problematiska historia producerar ofta en onyanserad och stereotyp uppfattning som i allmänhetens ögon får stå för ”sanningen” om barnens situation. Detta blev tydligt i debatten kring boken Sektbarn: Ett reportage om de utvalda för paradiset som utkom 2008. Boken är skriven av journalisten Charlotte Essén och baseras på intervjuer med vuxna som vuxit upp inom olika nya religiösa rörelser. Essén ger också information om de olika rörelserna och jämför deras uppfostringsmetoder med FN:s barnkonvention. Boken har, sitt viktiga budskap till trots, minst två tillkortakommanden. För det första har berättelserna i de flesta fall en del år på nacken och mycket har i flera av rörelserna förändrats över tid.  För det andra är det bara ett enda perspektiv som beskrivs, nämligen det som representeras av barn som i vuxen ålder mått dåligt av att växa upp inom de respektive grupperna. Eftersom det inte förhåller sig så att alla som växer upp inom nyreligiösa grupper hoppar av och/eller är missnöjda  ger boken en mycket ensidig bild. Konsekvenserna, för barnen, av att denna ensidiga bild sprids framkommer sällan i debatten. Tillsammans med medias tendens  att behandla nya religiösa rörelser som en homogen kategori riskerar bristen på adekvat forskning att bidra till den isolering man anklagar de nya religiösa rörelserna att utsätta barnen för. För att motverka detta krävs vetenskapligt grundad forskning som på ett allsidigt sätt belyser barnens situation.

De senaste två åren har ett antal motioner rörande sekter och deras verksamheter lagts i riksdagen. Bakgrunden är att man menar att en del människor far illa av sitt medlemskap och att särskilt stöd kan behövas vid ett avhopp samt att utredningar om barn som växer upp inom sekter behövs eftersom kunskapen om dessas situation är bristfällig. Det finns olika aktörer i samhället som intresserar sig för sekter. Religionsvetare, journalister, före detta medlemmar, rörelserna själva och terapeuter är alla exempel på aktörer som intar olika positioner på fältet sektsyn. Aktörernas agerande utgår från det ställningstagande deras respektive positionering innebär vilken i sin tur genererar reaktioner från övriga aktörer på samma fält.

The present study is an interpretation of the two myths copied in the Old Babylonian period in which the Sumerian mother goddess is one of the main actors. The first myth is commonly called “Enki and Ninḫursaĝa”, and the second “Enki and Ninmaḫ”. The theoretical point of departure is that myths have society as their referents, i.e. they are “talking about” society, and that this is done in an ideological way. This study aims at investigating on the one hand which contexts in the Mesopotamian society each section of the myths refers to, and on the other hand which ideological aspects that the myths express in terms of power relations.
The myths are contextualized in relation to their historical and social setting. If the myth for example deals with working men, male work in the area during the relevant period is discussed. The same method of contextualization is used regarding marriage, geographical points of reference and so on. Also constellations of mythical ideas are contextualized, through comparison with similar constellations in other Mesopotamian myths. Besides the method of contextualization, the power relations in the myths are investigated. According to this latter method, the categories at issue, their ranking, as well as their changed ranking, are noted.
The topics of the myths are issues important for the kingship and the country, such as irrigation, trade, health and healing, birth, collective work, artisanry and rivalry. All these aspects are used in order to express what the power relations between the goddess Ninḫursaĝa/Ninmaḫ and the god Enki look like. The relations are negotiated and recalibrated, which leads to the goddess getting a lowered status. Part of the negotiations and recalibrations is gender behavior, which is related to historical developments in society. The present work points to the function of these myths as tools of recalibrating not only deities, but also men and women in society.

The mother goddesses in all cultures are in one way or another related to pregnancy, childbirth, children and nursing. Further, although the mother goddesses promote life and birth, they are also commonly closely linked to death. This paper will explore the aspects of birth, death and power as expressed by the Sumerian mother goddesses in the early state formation of Sumer. As a point of departure we will take the assumption of the Assyriologist Piotr Steinkeller that in the pre- and protohistorical period each city had a goddess as its owner and ruler. These city goddesses are further assumed to have ruled every aspect of human life (1999: 113). In the historical period the goddesses had specialized in different areas of life, like mother goddess in a narrow sense (Ninhursaga), goddess of love and war (Inanna) and wife of the king of the pantheon (Ninlil). Are there traces in the textual sources on the goddesses of a former period when they were a sort of mother goddess who ruled all aspects of life, or do we not find support in the sources for this hypothesis?

By a notion of mobility relating to the capability approach, and turbulence, a notion of mobility justice is developed that potentially may include human beings as well as non-human animals, and seemingly avoids the problem of marginal cases. Central to the argument is a non-representationalist understanding of intentionality and autonomy.

The present study has a twofold purpose: Firstly, it is an analysis of the Karbalā´ Drama—i.e. the death of Ḥusayn b. `Alī in the hands of an army which had been sent out by the Umayyad authorities, at Karbalā´ in 60/680—as it is retold by the Muslim jurist and historiographer Abū Ja`far Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923). Despite its importance, especially to Shī`ite Islam, this text as such has received relatively little attention among scholars of Islam. In this study, the Karbalā´ Drama is regarded as a myth and the method used to analyze it is inspired by the structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss. Lévi-Straussian structuralism has probably never before been applied to early Arabic material to the extent that it is used here. The second purpose of the study, then, is to investigate to what extent and in what mode such a method is applicable to this material.
A portion of the text, called the “Text of Reference,” has been selected and thoroughly analyzed. In that analysis, a number of structural features such as codes, oppositions, mediations, and transformations has been identified and made the basis for a more cursory study of the rest of the story. An important structural feature that is detected in this way is the way the argument of the story is forwarded. By the transformation of metaphors into metonyms, the story attempts to make arbitrary relationships look natural and intrinsic. Such a relationship is that between water and blood—two liquids which are at times shed, at times withheld in the story. Husayn takes a mediating position in that he gives his water and his blood. He acts as mediator both in a negative sense (he establishes the basic Islamic opposition of good and evil), and in a positive sense (as religious guide he acts as a bridge between them).

This article in Swedish is a short introduction to the concept of myth, mainly for undergraduate students. It is published in the electronic book "Människor och makter 2.0: En introduktion till religionsvetenskap", ed. Jonas Svensson & Stefan Arvidsson, Halmstad: Högskolan i Halmstad, 2010.

Essentialist concepts of religion are common in the teaching of religion in schools and to a certain extent also in the academic discipline of religious studies. In this article, a num­ber of problems with essentialist perceptions of religion are discussed. In the first part of the article a thesis is maintained, according to which essentialist conceptions of religion or spe­cific religions are too limited to be of value in the teaching of religion. This is done through exam­ples of essentialist expressions on religion. The examples are grouped according to a typol­ogy of different kinds of essentialism. Two main categories, each with two sub-categories are identified. Thus, the category of essentialism regarding the substance of religion is divided into transcendental or theological essentialism (which presupposes the existence of a sacred power of some kind, the experience of which is the basis for religion), and core essentialism (where it is presupposed that certain ideas or concepts constitute religion as a general category or specific religions). Likewise, the category of essentialism regarding the function of religion has two sub-categories: positive and negative essentialism. These kinds of essentialism presup­pose that religion or specific religions are inherently good or harmful respectively to human be­ings. Examples from each of these categories are given and discussed. In the second part of the arti­cle, Benson Saler’s open concept of religion is presented as an alternative to essentialist or bounded perceptions. It is based on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of family resemblances and on proto­type theory. In connection with this, it is argued that a certain kind of conscious ethnocen­trism is needed as a point of departure in the study and teaching of religion. The metaphor of educa­tion as a journey from the familiar out into the unfamiliar and back again is suggested as a possible pattern for such teaching. Finally, some examples of non-essentialist ways to intro­duce religions are offered.

Essentialist concepts of religion are common in the teaching of religion in schools and to a certain extent also in the academic discipline of religious studies. In this article, a number of problems with essentialist perceptions of religion are discussed. In the first part of the article a thesis is maintained, according to which essentialist conceptions of religion or specific religions are too limited to be of value in the teaching of religion. This is done through examples of essentialist expressions on religion. The examples are grouped according to a typology of different kinds of essentialism. Two main categories, each with two sub-categories are identified. Thus, the category of essentialism regarding the substance of religion is divided into transcendental or theological essentialism (which presupposes the existence of a sacred power of some kind, the experience of which is the basis for religion), and core essentialism (where it is presupposed that certain ideas or concepts constitute religion as a general category or specific religions). Likewise, the category of essentialism regarding the function of religion has two sub-categories: positive and negative essentialism. These kinds of essentialism presuppose that religion or specific religions are inherently good or harmful respectively to human beings. Examples from each of these categories are given and discussed. In the second part of the article, Benson Saler’s open concept of religion is presented as an alternative to essentialist or bounded perceptions. It is based on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of family resemblances and on prototype theory. In connection with this, it is argued that a certain kind of conscious ethnocentrism is needed as a point of departure in the study and teaching of religion. The metaphor of education as a journey from the familiar out into the unfamiliar and back again is suggested as a possible pattern for such teaching.
If you want a copy of the paper, please let me know. E-mail: thy@du.se

Paper presented at MESA, Washington DC, Nov. 24, 2014

This paper will discuss the emergence of Shiʿite mourning rituals around the grave of Husayn b. ʿAli. After the killing of Husayn at Karbala’ in 61/680, a number of men in Kufa feel deep regret for their neglect to come to the help of the grandson of the Prophet. They gather and discuss how they can best make penitence for this crime. Eventually, they decide to take to arms and go against the Umayyad army – to kill those that killed Husayn, or be killed themselves in the attempt to find revenge for him. Thus, they are called the Penitents (Ar. Tawwābūn). On their way to the battlefield they stop at Husayn’s tomb at Karbala’, dedicating themselves to remorseful prayer, crying and wailing over the fate of Husayn and their own sin.
When the Penitents perform certain ritual acts, such as weeping and wailing over the death of Husayn, visiting his grave, asking for God’s mercy upon him on the Day of Judgment, demand blood revenge for him etc., they enter into already existing rituals in the pre-Islamic Arab and early Muslim context. That is, they enter into rituals that were traditionally performed at the death of a person. What is new is that the rituals that the Penitents perform have partially received a new content. As described, the rituals are performed out of loyalty towards Husayn and the family of the Prophet. The lack of loyalty in connection with the death of Husayn is conceived of as a sin that has to be atoned. Blood revenge thus becomes not only a pure action of revenge to restore honor, but equally an expression for true religious conversion and penitence.
Humphrey and Laidlaw argue that ritual actions in themselves are not bearers of meaning, but that they are filled with meaning by the performer. According to them, ritual actions are apprehensible, i.e. they can be, and should be filled with meaning, and the people who perform them try to do so within the context where the ritual is performed. The story of the Penitents is a clear example of mourning rituals as actions that survive from earlier times, but that are now filled with new meaning when they are performed in a new and developing movement with a different ideology. In later Shiʿism, these rituals are elaborated and become a main tenet of this form of Islam.

Torsten Hylén (Th.D.)
Dalarna University
Falun
Sweden