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Based on available specialist literature, the present paper deals with the RussianlanguageOrthodox Church websites − their origin, dynamics and popularity among users. Italso divides them up into subject matter categories, as well as discusses the main Orthodox Church web catalogues. It highlights the role the Internet plays in the Russian Orthodox Churchpractices and teachings − its assigned tasks and functions. Moreover, the paper discusses indetail the content and structure of “Русская Православная церковь. Официальный сайтМосковского Патриархата” (www.patriarchia.ru), the official website of the MoscowPatriarchate launched in September 2009.
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Eleven short lessons show the importance of the epic figures of the sociology of religion in Poland, professors Piwowarski, Ciupak, as well as earlier ones. Memory makes it possible to understand heritage, it is a vehicle of tradition. The disinherited have nothing to look for in sociology. The inheritance of knowledge is its condition, memory is the privileged honor of those who cultivate it. The sociology of religion is a constant maneuver on its heritage, on the history of religion, and as a discipline itself comes from that peccatum originale of social sciences, in which everything that is in the possibility of researching it is placed in that which is social. As in Durkheim, it discovers the essence of what is religious in what is social. Religion no longer manifests itself except in the mystery of what is social.
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Fr. prof. Władysław Piwowarski is known in Poland and abroad primarily as a sociologist of religion. His sociological works are an important component (one would like to say – classic) of Polish sociology of religion, they have determined and still determine its development. Most of them closed a certain stage in the development of the sociology of religion in Poland and opened a new one. It would be difficult to imagine a thorough study of religiosity today without taking into account the sociological achievements of Fr. prof. Piwowarski. In this study, we focus only on selected aspects of his concept of the sociology of religion and the sociology of the Church. We omit his scientific achievements in the areas of the sociology of morality, the sociology of the family, the sociology of ritual, social philosophy, Catholic social science, and pastoral theology. Piwowarski’s achievements in the field of theory, methodology of the sociology of religion and empirical research allow the statement that he is the founder of the Lublin school of sociology.
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This article consists of two parts – theoretical and empirical. In the theoretical part, I present various sociological concepts of priestly vocation, hierarchical priesthood and the profession of a Catholic priest, highlighting the concepts of Edward Ciupak and Joachim Wach. In the empirical part, I present priestly vocation, hierarchical priesthood and priests in the images and assessment of adult Polish Catholics in Kalisz, Kotłów and Przedborów whom I surveyed in the 1980’s. Here I consider the following issues: the essence of priestly vocation; the hierarchical structure of priesthood and the circumstances that define the religious character of hierarchical priesthood. In other words, I answer the question of how adult Catholics in Kalisz, Kotłów and Przedborów explain the essence of priestly vocation and its role in the choice of the priesthood by a man and his persistence in priesthood. How did the surveyed Catholic adults, in town and country, view the hierarchical structure of priesthood? How did they explain the question of the durability of the priesthood exercised by a priest – is a priest a priest in every situation and circumstance (always and everywhere), or is he a priest only in certain circumstances of priestly life? The results of sociological research constitute the basis for the analysis of the attitudes of adult Polish Catholics towards priestly vocation and hierarchical priesthood at that time.
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Although the problems of esoterism are not often undertaken in the area of sociology, this does not mean that it is insignificant for sociological theory itself. In esoterism, the key sociological issues intersect: modernity, sociological change, disenchantment of the world, secularization or counterculture. The article is an attempt to place the subject matter of esoterism within sociology in the framework of a separate subdiscipline. Its major research fields will also be specified. Due attention will be drawn to mutual relations and common research fields, but also to different research objects of the sociology of esoterism, the sociology of religion and the sociology of spirituality.
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The article presents some examples demonstrating the potential benefits that the sociology of religion can obtain from including a sociobiological perspective. The question posed by biologists about the evolutionary meaning of religion for human societies allows us to return to the question of the social functions of religion, which in turn sheds new light on the issue of secularization. The signaling theory used by sociobiologists to explain religious rituals reframed in the context of the relationship between – religious organizations and the faithful benefitting from their services, allows us to take into account an additional mechanism that explains the observed relationship between the number of religious staff and demographics.
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Postmodern society challenges include constant changes, liquidity and new forms of spirituality, which doesn’t vanish – as secularization thesis implied – but is transforming. Current state of religion and religiousness studies doesn’t cover the entire research area, especially the non-institutional aspect (spirituality outside the dogmatic “church” beliefs). Within the project, a quantitative pilot study involving 183 students was conducted. Responders shared their “esoteric knowledge”, beliefs and opinions, practices and their reasons, theories about life after death as well as definitions of God. The study is not of representative value, however it intends to start a discussion and propose some ways and directions regarding future empiric exploration over new spirituality.
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In the wake of the changes of the 19th century, the Church expressed its desire to be an active participant in social processes. Over time, the cause of promoting peace became an integral part of the Church’s social teaching. During the two World Wars, the Church did much to promote peace in an institutional framework. Vatican Council II has the merit of giving lay faithful a worthy recognition in the affairs of the Church. The teaching of the Council has been reflected in the new Code of Canon Law, so that lay faithful can be involved in the work of the Church, including the promotion of peace, not only in general but also in a legal framework. In this context, three legal relationships will be discussed: the general apostolicity of lay Christ-faithful, the ecclesiastical offices and the right of association of Christ-faithful.
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August 2022 marked 45 years of the missionary work in Africa undertaken by one of the so-called Honorat’s congregations, the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Taking into account the uniqueness of this assembly, the article demonstrates its commitment to the work of the mission ad gentes. The congregation’s founder assigned the sisters to the most needy. Today the sisters recognize their vocation as a mission to the periphery of the world and having understood and read the signs of the times, they courageously go to the periphery of today’s Church, bringing “the joy of the Gospel” to the poorest of the poor. Although Honorat’s congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was not founded with the intention of doing mission ad gentes, it nevertheless engaged in this form of work one hundred years later. The current teaching of the Church’s Magisterium on the engagement of religious congregations in the work of evangelization includes widening of the perception and implementation of the congregation’s charism. The local vocations of this Congregation as well as the African Sisters taking over missionary offices (mission in Butare), confirm the truth that missions are not merely about giving but also about exchanging gifts.
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The authors of the reviewed journal reflect on religious freedom as a specific aspect of freedom from the research perspectives of the various humanities disciplines and social sciences. The first issue of the reviewed journal demonstrates this diversity in form and content, as well as in the methods and scientific experience of the individual authors. Despite these differences in the scientific insight of the presented researchers, the editors of the journal decided to publish them on the assumption that, while the authors’ interests and methodological approaches differ, they are united above all by a much-needed diverse perspective on the problem of religious freedom. This vast scope of investigation, both workshop and cultural (as well as geographical) is critical here, since it imposes the multidisciplinary nature of the research, its holistic character and, to some measure, methodological cosmopolitanism, sooner or later. The titles of articles in the first volume suggest the relevance of the research included inside it, offering a fairly representative overview of the current interests of Polish scholars.
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Religious experience is an extremely important aspect of sociological and psychological research on religiosity. Psychologist William James laid the foundations for the research activities by analysing his own experiences and those of other emotionally hypersensitive people. Observation of one's "self" in this context allowed for the adoption of a way of defining religious experience and separating it from the category of religious feelings. Nowadays, a number of changes are taking place in the field of religiousness. Not only is social reality "separated" from religion, but also spirituality is defined on the boundary or beyond the categories of the Other or the sacred. Transcendence, spirituality, the reality "beyond" are increasingly seen in encounters with unusual cultural, ecological, virtual or recreational realities. The space of experience considered religious and serving as a component of new spirituality might be a forest, a sport activity, a city, a library, or a historic space. The following article is an attempt to reflect on whether family relations can be accepted, defined and researched today as a form of religious experience. If family life is experienced as contact with a reality that goes beyond everyday life, a reality "above"; if it gives meaning to human actions and constitutes a cognitive category; if it is a space of deep personal involvement, it seems that it can be treated and examined in terms of religious experience.
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This paper analyses the importance of religion for a population and the motives for following a religion. To perform the analyses, oficial statistical data of Brazil on the evolution of religion, crime and death rates as well as messages from internet networking groups related to losses were utilized.
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Modern times abound with various theories about religion. This trend can also be found in the thoughts of the American philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett. Based on his own version of evolutionism, he tries to introduce the reader to the theory that religion is a natural and vanishing phenomenon. Unfortunately, the foundations of his theory are not free from serious flaws. Moreover, he does not understand the content behind the classic terms like “God” and “religion”, which means that in his philosophy there is a strong tendency to “deify” and “absolutize” concepts such as “evolution” and “nature”. It can therefore be concluded that although he rejects the traditional understanding of religion, religious tendencies are still present in his divagations, and he is, above all, a man of a certain “faith and trust”.
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The headscarf (hijab) is among the essential elements of women's dress code in the mainstream Islamic tradition. Having an important place in the clothing practices of Muslim women with its religious dimension, the headscarf has come to the fore with different dimensions throughout its historical journey in Türkiye. Today, new phenomena related to the headscarf in Türkiye have emerged. The most recent of these phenomena is women's decision to stop wearing the headscarf. This phenomenon, which has gained visibility especially in the last decade, has brought many debates with itself. The fact that the headscarf is also a religious symbol has also brought to the agenda debates about women who stop wearing the headscarf and their relationship with religion. The research explores the relationship between women who have stopped wearing the headscarf and their religiosity. Employing a phenomenological research design, it centers on the lived experiences of twenty-two participants, aged 23 to 43, with an average age of 29, characterized by university education, employment, and the decision to discontinue wearing the headscarf. Semi-structured interviews, conducted between March and June 2020, make up the primary data corpus. Methodologically, purposive and snowball sampling techniques were employed to form the participant cohort. After data collection, content analysis, facilitated by MAXQDA software, was utilized to discern emergent patterns and themes. The analysis yields four distinct dimensions delineating the relationship between headscarf cessation and religiosity, thus illuminating intricate facets of this phenomenon: 1. Increase in devotion, curiosity, and sincerity to institutional religion; 2. Maintaining the level of relationship with institutional religion; 3. Partial disengagement from institutional religion; and 4. Complete deterioration and abandonment of institutional religion. The research concludes that stopping wearing a headscarf does not necessitate disengagement from institutional religion in every case. It further concludes that the process may differ from person to person depending on the experiences of individuals and that new religious/Islamic interpretations vis-à-vis the subject matter can relatively affect the nature and the direction of the process.
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Religion stands as one of the institutions profoundly influencing human life. Over the years, the effects of religion on social life have been a subject of discussion by many scholars. In this respect, the effect of religion on society has always been found worthy of research by scientists due to changing social and periodic conditions. In particular, the problem that the individual or society has moved away from the social effects of religion in recent times or that its effect on people has increased in different ways has pushed many sociologists to research on this subject. In this context, Peter Berger emerges as a significant figure in the sociology of religion, in terms of his views and ideas. In articulating his thoughts on the changing nature of religion over time, Berger was heavily influenced by Karl Marks, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. This study will provide a detailed examination of Berger's phenomenological approach used in his works as a method and perspective on the social construction of reality. Additionally, the influences of Weber, Durkheim, and Marks on Berger's thesis of secularization will be discussed. Finally, Berger's thoughts on secularization and desecularization will be analyzed in detail. A literature review technique was used in the study. The study's main purpose is to contribute to the literature and understand the changes that have occurred over time in Berger's secularization thesis. The main question shaping the study is how, according to Berger, the effects of religion on human life in social life have changed over time. According to the study results, Berger was significantly influenced by the ideas of founding sociologists on secularization. However, it seems that Berger put forward the desecularization thesis to analyze the revival of new religious movements around the world that developed as a reaction to modernity. Furthermore, although Berger is thought to have used mainly social constructionist and interpretative approaches in his studies, he is also thought to have made use of phenomenology. Berger's ideas on secularization and desecularization are also expected to guide scientists conducting research on this subject.
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Stanisław Hadyna was a versatile artist – he composed music, gave concerts on the piano, created theatre plays, and authored plenty of books. In the collective conscience, however, he remains the founder of the band “Śląsk”, which now bears his name. The aim of the article is to present his interests in spirituality, which were related to concepts of renewal – of man and the world. In Stanisław Hadyna’s search for spirituality he combined two visions of reality, which at first glance seem irreconcilable. The foundation of the first was the mythology of childhood, containing stories about happy times and glorified nature. The second vision, on the other hand, led to the darkness of a world devastated by wars and totalitarianism, where gloomy cities and machines reign; people forget about the most important values, and survival turns out to be virtually impossible. Both images, however, are integrated by a myth that combines the story of an idyllic beginning with the tragedy of the characters who are looking for freedom, despite everything that happens around them. Creating a new world, as if against all odds, also became the main message of his work in “Śląsk”.
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The article presents the church centers in Lipsk (Our Lady of the Angels),Mikaszówka (St. Mary Magdalene), Mikołajki (Our Lady of the Rosary),Mikołajki (St. Nicholas) and Miłki (Mother of God, Queen of Poland).
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The article presents the Church centers in Pruska (Our Lady ofCzęstochowa), Przerośl (Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), Puńsk (Annuncia-tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary), Raczki (The Holy Trinity) and Radzieje (Christthe King).
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The subject of the article is to present the issues related to offering and accounting for offerings for sacraments and sacramentals using the example of the Diocese of Ełk. The primary source for these considerations is the Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983, with amendments up to 2022.The starting point of these considerations is to provide a definition of sacrament and sacramental, essentially referring to the 1983 Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with historical data taken into account. The article further clarifies the concept of offering by referring to its dictionary meaning, whether it is an offering made to God or an offering made of oneself. In the first part, the article also presents the general church legislation regarding offerings made for sacraments and sacramentals, considering issues related to accounting, the sustenance of clergy, determining Mass stipends, iura stolae, and associated practices.In the later part of the article, there is a reference to particular legislation within the Diocese of Ełk, with special emphasis on the statutes of the First Synod of the Diocese of Ełk and decisions made by individual bishops of the Diocese of Ełk. The Synod recalls the force of canon 848 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which states that, on the occasion of administering sacraments, it is permissible to accept an offering determined by competent church authority and in accordance with prevailing custom. In this part of the article, it becomes evident that particular legislation does not make significant resolutions on the discussed issue but rather creates a space for the practical application of the general norm. Particularly, in the Economic Decree of the Diocese of Ełk, certain practical provisions are found.The last part includes the presentation of customs and issues in applying the legal norm and a summary. It is worth noting that the issue of offerings made by the faithful on the occasion of administering sacraments and sacramentals, the voluntary nature of donations, and the fairness of compensation for clergy is a highly complex matter. It combines the spiritual and material aspects - invisible grace and material object. The Church must safeguard the purity of the sign, eliminate any abuses, and simultaneously ensure the fairness of compensation for clergy. In today's times, when society, including the faithful of the Catholic Church, expects a high level of transparency, it is important to address the issues that can contribute to a better understanding of the practices of the Catholic Church.
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