No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1999.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1998.

Bahiṇa Bai was a female poet-Saint whose participation in the Maharashtrian devotional movement known as the Varkari Panth transformed the image of female devotionalism in the region. A collection of her poetic writings, the Samta Bahiṇabaica Gatha, demonstrates her struggle to reconcile the demands of domesticity with those of devotionalism. Bahiṇa Bai simultaneously extols the roles of the pativrata, devoted wife, and the bhakta, the devotee, in her lyrical compositions, and resolves the tensions between domesticity and devotion by merging her husband's identity with that of Viṭhoba, a localized force of Viṣṇu. This thesis argues that Bahiṇa Bai's rebellion against a parochial vision of female spirituality integrates elements of Brahmanic orthodoxy, non-dual philosophy and bhakti practice.

Denna studie undersöker hur rapporteringen kring de fem världsreligionerna skiljer sig mellan en sekulär och en religiös nyhetstidning. Tidningarna är den kristna tidningen Dagen samt Dagens Nyheter (DN). En kvantitativ innehållsanalys har genomförts på totalt 188 artiklar från kristna Dagen och 47 från sekulära DN för att analysera religionsrapporteringens innehåll. Nio artiklar har sedan analyserats kvalitativt med fokus på hur religionen och dess utövare gestaltas. Undersökningsperioden var första kvartalet 2014. Den kvalitativa analysen har genomförts med stöd av bland annat Martin Conboys teorier om nyhetsspråk och Brigitte Mrals modell av en klassisk retorikanalys. Den kvantitativa studien visar bland annat att officiella religiösa aktörer, som präster och imamer, kommer till tals oftare i Dagen än i DN. Religionsrapporteringen i Dagen har även en jämn fördelning mellan inrikes och utrikesnyheter, i kontrast till DN som oftast rapporterar om religion i andra länder. I DN spelar religionen en mindre roll och förekommer i en kulturell eller politisk kontext snarare än en religiös sådan, medan Dagen oftare belyser tro och andliga perspektiv med religionen som huvudämne. Den kvalitativa analysen antyder också att DN har ett kritiskt och sekulärt förhållningssätt till samtliga religioner, medan Dagens förhållningssätt varierar beroende på vilken religion som behandlas, till förmån för kristendomen.

This thesis offers a multi-faceted exploration of image worship theology and practice within a Vaishnava Hindu theistic devotional tradition founded in the sixteenth century, flourishing today largely in north and northeast India and, since recently, spreading worldwide. The thesis serves two aims. First, it augments existing scholarship on Hindu temple image worship and Caitanya (Gaudīya) Vaishņavism by focusing on two contemporary temple communities one in the north Indian pilgrimage centre Vrindavan, the second near Watford, outside London. These represent, respectively, an "embodied community" and a "missionizing tradition," following Barbara Holdrege's typology in her studies of Hindu and Jewish traditions. By considering the practice of worship (mūrti-sevā) in terms of two persistent themes, namely rule-governed practice (vaidhī-sādhana) and emotion-driven practice (rāgānuga-sādhana), I show how the elements of "embodiment" and "missionizing" blend to produce variations on the overarching theme of Krsna bhakti, devotion to Kŗşna as the supreme divinity. Second, by focusing on the divine image in these two temples and the practice of worship, I offer one study of how "religious truth" is understood within these communities in terms of three dimensions of truth proposed by the Comparative Religious Ideas Project at Boston University (1995-1999; Robert C. Neville, et al., Religious Truth, State University of New York Press, 2001). At the same time I offer an attempt to extend the scope of that project by adding the dimensions of physical image and ritual practice to its existing dimension, religious ideas. I show how the central notion of devotion to Kŗşna as God (bhagavān) entails a complex web of discursive, ritual, and narrative expression to sustain image worship as a truth of embodiment/practice (the opposite of failure) which is also expressive truth (the opposite of deceit) that follows from propositional/epistemological truth (the opposite of error).

According to a recent Pew poll approximately 97% of all Hindus live in the countries of India and Nepal. However, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Hindus living in other parts of the world. Across the United States, Hindu temples are joining the religious landscape of the country. They are often greeted as signifiers of a “model minority” by the mainstream because of Asian American economic success. However, as religious and racial minorities, Indian immigrants and Indian Americans just as frequently face ignorance and discrimination. This rejection by mainstream society, combined with a desire to reconnect with the traditions and heritage of their homeland, India, pushes many Hindus in diaspora to explore and embrace a nationalistic interpretation of their religion. This thesis seeks to understand the trend toward religious nationalism among diaspora Hindus in the United States through an ethnographic examination, using the Sri Ganesha Temple of Nashville, Tennessee as a case study. This community is an ideal case study for two reasons. For one, its internal diversity exemplifies the necessity in diaspora to find commonality in order to build new communities, which creates an opportunity for Hindu nationalism to address pragmatic concerns of the community. Second, the community’s location in the American South, particularly the Bible Belt, places the temple in an environment in which clear, logical and universalist interpretations of Hinduism are needed to deal with real and perceived threats from conversion and discrimination. Throughout this project, it is argued that the Hindu nationalist discourse is pervasive among the Sri Ganesha Temple community, though few in the community would actually endorse the political positions of Hindu nationalist organizations in India. This contradiction is explained theoretically in the nature of transnationalism and diaspora, which uproots ideas and practices from one context and adapts them to become meaningful in new circumstances. It is also explained ethnographically by acknowledging the particular concerns and issues faced by the diaspora community, especially the perceived need to create a strong community in order to prevent future generations from abandoning the Hindu religion and its distinctly Indian heritage.

[“If we zigzag in the middle, it’s OK”] The purpose of the following study is to examine the relationship between tourism and religion in a Balinese context. We look specifically at changes in religious practice, culture and mentality, as well as how religious philosophy is used as a tool for limiting the negative impact of tourism. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Central themes in the following essay are globalization in the form of tourism, westernization, subsystem theory and capitalism, which also make up the theoretical framework. By using this framework we have been able to conclude that tourism does indeed impact religious practice, culture and mentality on Bali. This impact is mainly focused around issues regarding a change in sacrificial practices, environmental changes and a sense of weakening of the communal mentality. We have also been able to identify a shift from a traditionally practice-oriented religion towards a more cognitively based religious understanding.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1971. / Bibliography: leaves 467-480. / xiii, 480 l map, tables

This thesis is concerned with the ideas of two of the most prominent thinkers within the 'fundamentalist' religious movements that have become so prominent over the last few decades in Pakistan and India; Maulana Maududi of the Muslim Jamaat-I-Islami and M.S. Golwalkar, of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Though both are now dead, their ideas live on in the thinking and deeds of others. This thesis explores a comparison of the ideas of these men and their radical/fundamentalist ideologies with a focus on the way they viewed the relationship between religon and the state. Others have established that such a comparison between significant individuals, who lived in the same historical timeframe, and in this case the same geographical and political contexts, offers valuable insight into the situations/nations in which they were directly involved.

Thesis (D.Phil.)--University of Oxford, 2008. / Supervisors: Professor John Hedley Brooke, Professor Francis X. Clooney. Bibliography: p. 344-367.