https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/gateway/plugin/WebFeedGatewayPlugin/atomJournal for the Academic Study of Religion2023-12-14T03:01:57+00:00Rosemary Hancockrosemary.hancock@nd.edu.auOpen Journal Systems<p>The <em>Journal for the Academic Study of Religion </em>is a fully refereed and interdisciplinary academic journal. The journal reflects the wide variety of research dealing with all aspects of the academic study of religion, but the journal does not publish purely confessional articles.</p>https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/27538Matthew Cunningham, Marinus La Rooij and Paul Spoonley (eds), Histories of Hate: The Radical Right in Aotearoa New Zealand2024-03-26T20:02:35+00:00Jayne Persian
<p>Matthew Cunningham, Marinus La Rooij and Paul Spoonley (eds), <em>Histories of Hate: The Radical Right in Aotearoa New Zealand</em>. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2022, pp. 443, $50, ISBN 978-1-99-004840-1 (pbk).</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/27493What is Religious Studies?2024-03-26T20:02:35+00:00Milad Milani
<p>This address was given in-person at the 2023 annual conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion, hosted by the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney. The purpose of the address was to raise the question about the fundamental aspects of our thinking about religion, and via this process of inquiry to underline the importance of our relationship to words, ideas, and their meaning. So as not to take for granted our existing relationship to the language we use, but to recognise that we are always and already in such a relationship. Thinking about religion, therefore, becomes not only the process but the nature of our being in relation to what we understand about religion. The talk drew upon my reflection on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, the mysticism of Meister Eckhart, and Zen Buddhism—the cross section of which was made particularly significant for me in reading Caputo’s The Mystical Element in Heidegger’s Thought. All of this, however, is underpinned by the methodological remarks made by Trompf about religious studies in In Search of Origins; something that has stayed with me since my time studying at the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney.</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/27254Omar Kasmani, Queer Companions: Religion, Public Intimacy, and Saintly Affects in Pakistan2024-03-26T20:02:36+00:00Suvarna Variyar
<p>Omar Kasmani, <em>Queer Companions: Religion, Public Intimacy, and Saintly Affects in Pakistan</em>. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022, pp. xvi + 208, US$99.95 (hb), US$25.95 (pb), ISBN 978-1-4780-1541-3 (hb), ISBN 978-1-4780-1803-2 (pb), ISBN 978-1-4780-2265-7 (eb).</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/27063Young Adult Ministry2024-03-26T20:02:36+00:00Timothy MullenTrudi Cooper
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The research reported in this article examines what can be learnt from listening to young people who stay engaged with churches and those who leave. This research compared both groups’ experiences for further analysis. The authors analysed fourteen qualitative phenomenological interviews with young people aged 19–28 that documented young adults’ experiences of the Baptist Church in Perth, Western Australia. Attitudes to spirituality and dogma were central themes relevant to young people’s decision-making. The data was then compared with Fowler’s faith development theory, to find that many of the participants displayed faith styles reminiscent of individuative reflective faith, and their communities exhibited modal development akin to synthetic-conventional and mythic-literal faith. The article concludes by suggesting that young people (both those who stayed and those who left the church) were seeking dialogue about faith and spirituality, and that dissonance between young people’s faith style and the modal faith style of their church community affected decisions to stay or leave the church, and this relationship was not always straightforward. The implications for youth ministry are that it would be beneficial to focus more on dialogue about faith which accommodates and explores disagreement and less on dogma.</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/27033An Evangelical Group’s Experience of Australian Secular Workplaces2024-03-26T20:02:37+00:00Ian Hussey
<p>This study employed the Qualitative Description methodology to investigate how a sub-group of Australian evangelicals associated with the City Bible Forum navigate their secular workplaces utilizing an anonymous online survey, discussion groups, and interviews. Compared to broader Christian samples, participants demonstrated greater faith–work integration. They were more likely to perceive colleagues as bearing God’s image and to display greater work diligence than other Australian Christians. However, they placed less emphasis on workplace creativity and deriving personal worth from their work. Their theological outlook centred on serving the Lord, ethical conduct, caring for colleagues, and witnessing. Yet, references to the creational mandate and sensing God’s presence in work were infrequent. These evangelicals found their workplaces both strengthening and challenging due to LGBTQIA+ initiatives in their organizations. Although faith-based persecution or micro-aggressions were rare, the study affirmed Paul Bramadat’s (2000) bridging and fortressing strategies. Christian Smith’s (2002) and Michael Lindsay and Bradley Smith’s (2010) work further interpreted the <br />qualitative description.</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26896Anna Hickey-Moody, Faith Stories: Sustaining Meaning and Community in Troubling Times2024-03-26T20:02:37+00:00Jerrold Cuperus
<p>Anna Hickey-Moody, <em>Faith Stories: Sustaining Meaning and Community in Troubling Times</em>. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023, pp. 240, ISBN: 978-1-5261-6524-4. £25.00 [Open Access].</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26719W. Y. Alice Chan, Teaching Religious Literacy to Combat Religious Bullying: Insights from North American Secondary Schools2023-11-02T19:32:58+00:00Neville Buch
<p>W. Y. Alice Chan, Teaching Religious Literacy to Combat Religious Bullying: Insights from North American Secondary Schools, New York: Routledge, 2021, pp. 254, ISBN 9780367640415 (hbk). $77.99.</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26681Leigh Eric Schmidt, The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism2024-03-26T20:02:37+00:00Misha Hoo
<p>Leigh Eric Schmidt, <em>The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism</em>. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2021, pp. xvi + 248, ISBN: 9780691217253 (hbk). US$28.00.</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26669Inger Furseth and Pål Repstad, Modern Sociologists on Society and Religion2024-03-26T20:02:38+00:00Adam Possamai
<p>Inger Furseth and Pål Repstad, <em>Modern Sociologists on Society and Religion</em>. London and New York: Routledge, 2022, pp. 262, ISBN: 9781-032-02007-5 (pbk). £28.79.</p>
2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26617Respect on Social Media:2023-11-02T19:33:00+00:00Cheah Shu XuLim Soo Jin
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a halt with lockdowns and restricted public gatherings. This has resulted in religious organizations relying on social media to reach out to and stay in touch with their members. The current gauge of success of a social media community is based on the engagement and participation of its members—in liking, sharing, and generating content for the group. This article examines the online behaviour, through the use of online intensive interviews, of twenty-one young adults aged between 18–30 who were members of an online Buddhist Facebook group (BLIA YAD) during the pandemic. This article attempts to provide insight into the role of respect and effect on the online participation and engagement of its members. Respect being a crucial part of the belief system of the faithful has led to low levels of engagement and participation on the organization’s social media. This study examines the role that respect plays amongst the participants in the context of Malaysia where religion conservatism is at odds with the freedom of expression that is prevalent on most social media platforms.</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26174Anne F. Elvey, Reading the Magnificat in Australia: Unsettling Engagements2023-11-02T19:33:02+00:00Dianne Rayson
<p>Anne F. Elvey, Reading the Magnificat in Australia: Unsettling Engagements. Bible in the Modern World, 75. Sheffield: Phoenix Press, 2020, pp. 214, ISBN: 978-1-910928-79-0 (hbk). £70.00.</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/26169Adam Possamai and David Tittensor, Religion and Change in Australia2023-11-02T19:33:04+00:00Rosie Clare Shorter
<p>Adam Possamai and David Tittensor, Religion and Change in Australia. London and New York: Routledge, 2022, pp. 213, ISBN: 9781032186030 (pbk). AUS$73.99/£34.99.</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/25740Complementarianism, Heteronormativity and the Future of the Anglican Church2023-03-24T21:10:01+00:00Rosie Clare Shorter
<p>Within the Anglican communion tensions surrounding different approaches to sexuality and orthodoxy are not new. Among evangelical Sydney Anglicans, maintaining heteronormativity appears necessary for Christian living, maintaining orthodoxy and doing evangelism. I suggest that orthodoxy, sexuality and evangelism are held together by complementarian discourse. I explore this by focusing on the Sydney Anglican Diocese, reading former Archbishop Davies’ 2019 presidential address as an example of complementarian discourse. My reading primarily follows Sara Ahmed’s work on use and wilfulness. Drawing on interview and survey data collected between July 2019 and December 2020, I listen to the responses of parishioners and staff to the presidential address and the diocesan call to complementarianism, evangelism and heteronormativity. I suggest that complementarian models of ministry, and a concomitant refusal to affirm non-heterosexual intimacies, may actually be a barrier to living and doing Christianity in contemporary Australia.</p>
2023-03-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/25661Hans Mol and the Empirical Study of Australian Religion2023-11-02T19:33:06+00:00Andrew Singleton
<p>This article examines the Religion in Australia survey (RIA) that was conducted in 1966. Led by sociologist Hans Mol, this was the first major survey of religion in Australia. Mol’s findings were published in his landmark monograph, Religion in Australia (1971), which is arguably the most comprehensive work ever written on the religious lives of Australians. To reveal the varieties of Christian belief and practice, Mol developed a typology that categorised Australians into different kinds of believers (not unbelievers). However, Mol’s efforts were circumscribed by the computational, statistical and practical limitations of the time, and he barely engaged with the secularisation literature or other social developments. Using cutting-edge statistical procedures (latent class analysis), this article re-examines Mol’s empirical study of Australian religion and offers deeper and more complex insights into the ‘religious patterns of the Australian population’ in the 1960s. The article highlights Mol’s pioneering empirical sociology of religion and the contribution that he made to the understanding of post-war religion in Australia.</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/25652Sarah Shortall, Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics2023-11-02T19:33:09+00:00Andrew Clark-Howard
<p>Sarah Shortall, Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics. Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press, 2021, pp. 338, $49.95/£43.95/€45.95, ISBN: 9780674980105 (hbk). </p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/25571The Circumplex of Faith Modes2023-11-14T16:37:47+00:00Piotr SzydłowskiJan Cieciuch
<p style="font-weight: 400;">This article presents the Circumplex of Faith Modes (CFM), a model that integrates and organizes the existing body of knowledge about the types of religiousness in the Allportian approach and related strands of research. The model was developed from the emic perspective, describing the various forms of Christian religiousness understood as the relationship between man and God within the community of the Church. Here, faith plays out in two domains: the relationship with Transcendence (God) and the relationship with the community of the Church (the psychosocial domain). In both domains, the various faith modes are described using two orthogonal dimensions: in the former domain these are (1) one’s attitude to God/relationship with God and (2) one’s attitude to the doctrine/rites/prescriptions/law; and in the latter domain the dimensions are (1) the significance/role of the religious community and (2) the role/strength of self in one’s personal attitude to God and the doctrine. The circumplex was created by superimposing the orthogonal dimensions of the two domains rotated by 45 degrees with respect to one another, with the four dimensions forming its main axes. The resulting model distinguishes and describes eight modes of faith (poles of the four dimensions), which are related to one another in specific ways and which comprise the Circumplex of Faith Modes. </p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/24439For God, Queen, Country and Israel2023-11-02T19:33:10+00:00Timothy Lynch
<p>The Christian Democratic Party was formed in 1977 with the aim of ensuring that Australian laws, institutions and mass media were consistent with Christian values. This article considers whether the strong support and practical aid that the party provided to the state of Israel from 2002 were relevant to its stated concerns. It is argued that the immediate cause of its enthusiasm for Israel was hostility towards Islam, which it came to see as a threat to Australian ‘Christian Nationhood’. The party subsequently adopted, but also adapted, Christian Zionist ideas and language, and incorporated support for Israel into its longstanding beliefs about and conduct of ‘spiritual warfare’.</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23946Marion Maddox (ed.), Charles Strong’s Australian Church: Christian Social Activism 1885–19172023-11-02T19:33:11+00:00Rosemary Hancock
<p>Marion Maddox (ed.), Charles Strong’s Australian Church: Christian Social Activism 1885–1917. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2021, pp. 208, ISBN: 9780522877892 (hbk).</p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23913Alda Balthrop-Lewis, Thoreau’s Religion: Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism2023-11-02T19:33:12+00:00Rebecca Banham
<p>Alda Balthrop-Lewis, Thoreau’s Religion: Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. 308, ISBN: 978-1-108-83510-7 (hbk). </p>
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23622Charles McCrary, Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers2023-03-24T21:10:19+00:00Elenie Poulos
<p>Charles McCrary, Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers. Class 200: New Studies in Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021, pp. 296, ISBN: 9780226817958 (pbk). US$30.00.</p>
2022-09-20T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23529Introduction to the Special Issue2022-07-22T00:38:16+00:00Anna HalafoffEnqi WengAlexandra RoginskiCristina Rocha
<p>.</p>
2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23466Trish Griffin, Dancing on the Head of a Pin: Reflections on the Camino2023-03-24T21:10:21+00:00Jamie S Scott
<p>Trish Griffin, Dancing on the Head of a Pin: Reflections on the Camino. Kiama, NSW: AIA Publishing, 2020, pp. 158. Colour photographs. ISBN: 9781922329059 (pbk). AU$29.70; US$28.43.</p>
2022-09-28T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23297Dianne Rayson, Bonhoeffer and Climate Change: Theology and Ethics for the Anthropocene2023-03-24T21:10:23+00:00Eve Mayes
<p>Dianne Rayson, Bonhoeffer and Climate Change: Theology and Ethics for the Anthropocene. London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2021, pp. 283, ISBN: 978-1-9787-0183-0 (hbk). US$110.</p>
2022-09-28T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23265David Rankin, Film and the Afterlife2022-12-06T00:24:26+00:00Anton Karl Kozlovic
<p>David Rankin, Film and the Afterlife. London: Routledge, 2020, pp. viii + 193, ISBN: 978-0-367-78548-2 (pbk). £36.99.</p>
2022-09-20T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/23030David J. Shepherd (ed.), The Silents of Jesus in the Cinema (1897–1927)2022-12-06T00:24:29+00:00Anton Karl Kozlovic
<p>David J. Shepherd (ed.), The Silents of Jesus in the Cinema (1897–1927). London: Routledge, 2019, pp. xii + 292, ISBN: 978-0-367-86944-1 (pbk). $77.99.</p>
2022-07-13T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/22964David Newheiser, Hope in a Secular Age: Deconstruction, Negative Theology, and the Future of Faith2022-12-06T00:24:32+00:00Petra Brown
<p>David Newheiser, Hope in a Secular Age: Deconstruction, Negative Theology, and the Future of Faith, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 177, ISBN: 9781108498661 (hbk). $156.95 AUD.</p>
2022-07-13T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/22882Andrew R. Polk, Faith in Freedom: Propaganda, Presidential Politics and the Making of an American Religion2022-12-06T00:24:36+00:00Manas Pandey
<p>Andrew R. Polk, Faith in Freedom: Propaganda, Presidential Politics and the Making of an American Religion. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021, pp. 230, ISBN: 9781501759222 (hbk). $63.69 AUD.</p>
2022-07-13T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/22810Selling (Con)spirituality and COVID-19 in Australia2022-10-04T14:18:23+00:00Anna HalafoffEmily MarriottRuth FitzpatrickEnqi Weng
<p>Conspirituality—the merger of conspiracy theories and spirituality—has attracted significant global media and scholarly attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article expands upon the ‘two core’ conspiritual convictions proposed by Ward and Voas that ‘1) a secret group covertly controls, or is trying to control, the political and social order, and 2) humanity is undergoing a “paradigm shift” in consciousness’. We identify an additional ten key convictions central to (con)spirituality, including those that result in vaccine hesitancy and/or refusal. We chose to bracket the ‘con’ to problematize the term, and to encompass a wider spectrum of spiritual beliefs and practices, including those that are non-controversial, those that may be deceptive cons, and/or those that draw on conspiracy theories. The article presents an analysis of these twelve (con)spiritual convictions, focusing on a sample of ‘Aussie Warriors’ selling (con)spirituality, and also on influencers attempting to counter the spread of dis/misinformation within wellness circles. In so doing, the article provides a more nuanced understanding of (con) spirituality and vaccine hesitancy, and a greater knowledge of the benefits and risks of spiritual practices and ideas during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/22674Doing the Lord’s Work or Taking His Name in Vain2023-03-24T21:10:25+00:00Juliet Chevalier-Watts
<p>This article considers the relationship between the law, charity and religion, and specifically, the charitable doctrines of the advancement of religion and public benefit. In doing so, it addresses a number of matters, including controversy and morality, from the perspective of some key religious charity law cases. The discussions consider whether or not the Lord’s name may be taken in vain through the works of these charities, and thus require legal reform, or whether charity law is indeed doing the Lord’s work within the constructs of charity law such that the law remains fit for purpose.</p>
2023-03-03T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/22510Representations of Jesus in Australian Poetry in the 1950s2022-05-10T23:17:31+00:00Paul Watt
<p>Studies of Australian poetry in the 1950s are preoccupied with the form, function and style of the genre. Poetry was regarded as high art cultivated by learned men and women, and published by international publishers such as Oxford University Press. Religious poetry is occasionally represented in these anthologies, but poems of or about Jesus are noticeable by their absence. By contrast, poems about Jesus can be found in newspapers and in self-published or boutique anthologies of religious verse. These personal expressions of faith, outside the sphere of high art, often show both European and Australian imaginings of Jesus. A study of religious verse of the period outside of the canonical literature illustrates the variety of the genre in the 1950s and the significance it held for Australian Christians.</p>
2022-05-10T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.