Religio

Alternative spiritualities, Czech and worldwide, and Czech Academia

2025-02-04T15:29:10+01:00

Counterintuitive yet unsuccessful : the spreadability of Universe People's religious ideas

2025-03-19T14:25:41+01:00

This paper examines religious concepts within the belief system of the Czech new religious movement, the Universe People. Using Minimal Counterintuitiveness (MCI) theory, in the following paper I analyze the first volume of their central text, Talks with Teachings from My Cosmic Friends (1998). Concepts identified within the text were coded using J. L. Barrett's method to calculate their counterintuitiveness scores. The Universe People's syncretic worldview, as presented in the text, draws from New Age and Christianity, and emphasizes an impending ecological threat, the fight against opposing forces, and individual and collective spiritual development. In this paper, I identify five main thematic areas and thirteen main concepts that, on average, scored as minimally counterintuitive. While MCI suggests these concepts should be memorable and successfully transmitted, the decline of the Universe People likely stems from other factors, such as their narrative framework and the broader societal context.

Spiritual and social strategies of the Matsés ethnic group : application of the poisonous secretion Kambo (Acaté), diet, the snuff mixture në-në, and gender flexibility as natural adaptations

2025-03-16T14:33:10+01:00

The negative impacts of environmental changes, the introduction of new diseases, and disputes over land and resources require natural adaptations that enable optimal survival and reproductive success in an ever-changing environment. This article focuses on the social and spiritual strategies developed by the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon, the Matsés, to adapt to the challenging conditions of the rainforest. The methodology is based on ethnographic research conducted in the Matsés Reservation in 2018, 2023, and 2024. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted among the residents of the town of Angamos and the community of San Roque. Key strategies identified with spiritual elements include the application of Kambo (in the Matsés language "Acaté"), the poisonous secretion from the frog species Phyllomedusa bicolor; the practice of a diet involving the snuffing of the psychotropic mixture në-në; and gender flexibility that supports adaptation. These strategies have helped increase the socio-ecological resilience of the Matsés people at various levels and, along with an enhanced spiritual relationship with nature, have increased their adaptability and the psychological support available to them.

Lara Croft as a spiritual seeker : religious and spiritual motifs in the Tomb Raider transmedia universe

2025-01-30T13:18:32+01:00

In this article, I offer a concise survey of the religious/spiritual motifs identifiable in Tomb Raider. Based on hermeneutics and discursive analysis applied mainly (but not exclusively) to the main game series, I identify a marked influence of both Western Esotericism (in the case of the older games) and Alternative Spirituality (especially in the case of the Survivor Trilogy). Furthermore, there is enough ground to interpret Lara Croft as a spiritual seeker rather than an archaeologist.

Rábi'a al-'Adawíja : láska k Bohu jako cesta i cíl

2025-01-30T13:11:51+01:00

Rābi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya (ca. 716 – 801 AD) was a famous Arab Muslim saint, one of the earliest Sufi mystics and an influential religious figure. Her name appears in many classical Sufi 'encyclopaedias', which usually include the hagiographies of great masters (tabaqāt), explanations of Sufi terminology (istilāhāt) and elaborations of the spiritual path to God, its various stages and key concepts related to its psychological and ethical dimensions. Despite her importance, she does not have her own chapter in many of them. This also includes the famous Letter on Sufism (al-Risāla al-Qushayriyya), which is generally regarded as the most popular summary of classical Sufi teachings and the first volume of the Czech annotated translation of which has recently appeared on our book market. The collection of Rābi'a's statements and episodes is intended to pay this debt to the Czech reader.

"Nature, Ecology, and Religious Responses to Climate Change" : a report on the 21st EASR annual conference, 19-23 August, 2024

2025-03-19T14:23:04+01:00

Reckoning with the Past, BASR Annual Conference, University of Leeds, 2-4 September, 2024

2025-01-30T13:14:48+01:00

Report on the CESAR International Conference in Vienna, 4-6 October, 2024

2025-03-19T14:20:31+01:00

Zpráva z konference Alternativní spiritualita 2024, Plzeň, 17.-18. října 2024

2025-03-19T14:16:56+01:00

Digital Religion III: Conference on the constructive and destructive power of religion in a digital environment, SpinPLACE, University of Silesia in Katowice, 17-18 October, 2024

2025-03-24T11:58:56+01:00

Čaj u Mefista: druhý ročník mezinárodní konference o výzkumu okultismu, Brno, 25.-28. října

2025-03-24T12:03:59+01:00

Zpráva z osmého ročníku islamologické konference, České Budějovice, 7.-8. listopadu 2024

2025-03-19T14:12:04+01:00

Workshop "Identita migrantů z Východní Evropy" v Praze 27. listopadu 2024

2025-03-19T14:14:53+01:00

Zemřel jeden z nejvýznamnějších papežů v dějinách církve

2025-04-25T11:02:41+02:00

[Glomb, Tomáš. Connecting the Isiac cults: formal modeling in the Hellenistic Mediterranean]

2025-03-19T15:40:09+01:00

Recenzované dílo:

Glomb, Tomáš. Connecting the Isiac cults: formal modeling in the Hellenistic Mediterranean. First published. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. xiii, 178 p. Scientific studies of religion: inquiry and explanation. ISBN 978-1-350-21069-1.

[Podzimek, Michal. Bůh ve škole: na cestě od uzavřeného dogmatu k dospělé křesťanské spiritualitě...]

2025-01-30T12:59:08+01:00

[Misic, Blanka; Graham, Abigail (eds.). Senses, cognition, and ritual experience in the Roman world]

2025-03-19T15:33:06+01:00

[Horák, Pavel. Návrat starých bohů: od falešného náboženství k modernímu pohanství]

2025-03-19T14:41:32+01:00

[Yacoob, Saadia. Beyond the binary: gender and legal personhood in Islamic law]

2025-03-19T15:35:01+01:00

[Rychetská, Magdaléna. Bouřlivý příběh: postavení katolíků v Čínské lidové republice]

2025-03-19T15:51:13+01:00

[Rehman, Sofia. Gendering the Ḥadīth tradition: recentring the authority of Aisha, mother of the believers]

2025-03-19T15:44:16+01:00

[Taussig, Michael T. The devil and commodity fetishism in South America]

2025-03-19T15:48:05+01:00