‘We Will Revive’: addiction,spiritual warfare,and recovery in Latin America’s cocaine production zone

Abstract

Once a key site in the War on Drugs against cocaine, the Upper Amazon in northeastern Peru has lately seen an increase in addiction to coca paste, a toxic by-product of the cocaine manufacturing process. Unregulated and coercive Pentecostal ministries, founded and administered by recovered pastors, constitute the main form of addiction treatment in the Upper Amazon today. Based on ethnographic research in nine ministries and using the example of the ministry ‘We Will Revive,’ this article suggests that Pentecostal ministries re-articulate addiction as demonic possession. Accordingly, ministries treat addiction through spiritual warfare against the Devil. In so doing, Pentecostal ministries change the locus of the War on Drugs from trade networks to sinful bodies.     

赫鲁晓夫时期的“反宗教运动”及其教训

赫鲁晓夫的"反宗教运动"持续了6年,直到赫鲁晓夫被赶下台为止.赫鲁晓夫的"反宗教运动"从其规模、破坏程度和后果看,与以前相比有所不同.这场"反宗教运动"的失误,在苏联历史上留下了深刻的教训,为社会主义制度国家如何处理好政教关系和宗教问题提供了宝贵的借鉴.值得关注的是,宗教与民族关系的和睦息息相关,民族和宗教问题都是十分重要的问题.对宗教极端主义者尤其是打着宗教的幌子企图分裂国家的不法分子,要加大打击力度,维护国家安定和民族团结,促进社会和谐发展.     

中世纪哲学的合法性及其道德向度

中世纪哲学与基督教紧密结合表现出信仰与理性融合的特征,符合“哲学是爱智慧”的立场与标准;海德格尔关于“木制的铁”之说从某种意义上论证了哲学的多样性和超越性,他为中世纪哲学合法性提供了佐证.此外,中世纪哲学的道德向度也为合法性提供了实践上的依据.“正当生活”是中世纪哲学的道德之维,它的原罪论、神义论、存在论及世界观的实现...     

Migration,gender, and mobility: Ethiopian–Israeli women's narratives of career trajectories

ABSTRACT

Most studies on the Ethiopian community in Israel discuss the difficulties in its social, cultural, occupational, and educational integration. Too little attention has been paid to the young professionals in the community who are experiencing upward mobility and to the women in particular. As opposed to stereotypes of Ethiopian–Israelis as poor, uneducated, and marginalized, this article explores socio-economic advancement of Ethiopian–Israeli women in Israel. We look at their integration in the labour market and their professional mobility in the areas of arts, business, religion, the army, and education by analysing the factors that play a role in their success. This study allows us to explore Ethiopian women's worlds by looking at their background and the steps they have taken to succeed in their careers.     

But our citizenship is in heaven: a proposal for the future study of Christian citizenship in the global south

For a field whose continual points of departure have been such Christian themes as belonging responsibility, and stewardship, and whose current conceptual framing prioritizes transnational processes and globalization's cultural complexities, astoundingly little has been written in citizenship studies about global Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity. In critical response, this article addresses how scholars of citizenship might begin to think about global Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity and, more importantly, about the formation of Christian citizenship in the global south: in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Using the Guatemalan context as a case study, this article proposes a new way of thinking about contemporary formations of Christian citizenship. The article follows the work of Michel Foucault to see Christian citizenship as a political rationality for millions of believers at everyday levels of action and practice.     

The Ethiopian root of Thomas More’s Utopia

The classical utopian novels of early-modern Europe, such as Utopia, Christianopolis and City of the sun, are widely understood in mainstream academics as products of the writers’ inventive imaginations of better social organisations. Suggestions regarding the possibility that places with the social and administrative features depicted in the novels might actually have existed in medieval times, are often dismissed by Western scholars who argue that the role of non-European civilisations in the early-modern proliferation of utopian novels did not go beyond helping to inspire the writers’ creative mix of narrations. A disregard for the fact that medieval utopian novels could be modified and/or de-identified versions of earlier reports about 12^th- and 13^th-century Ethiopians (‘the Land of Prester John’) has severely distorted the mainstream understanding of utopianism and renaissance by African scholars. This article specifically focuses on More’s Utopia, to assert its Ethiopian root using historical and religious evidence.     

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN POST-CIVIL WAR SRI LANKA

Post-civil war, Buddhism has gone from being a privileged religion in Sri Lanka to a hegemonic religion. If the ethnic conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam calcified Sinhalese Buddhist sensibilities, the comprehensive victory over the group has emboldened Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists who insist on majority superordination and minority subordination. This essay discusses how the nationalist ideology undergirding Sinhalese Buddhist majoritarianism has exacerbated religious intolerance especially towards the island's Muslims and Christian Evangelicals.     

Book Review

One of the most important influences on my perspective on justice has been my Christian faith, and, in particular, my roots in evangelical Christianity. Because of the media’s too frequent portrayal of evangelical Christianity as monolithic in its political viewpoints, many may doubt that evangelical Christianity has much to contribute to the discussion of social justice. In fact, evangelical Christianity is actually multivocal, and the evangelical left’s views on social justice have been life changing for me. This essay describes that influence.     

Evaluating the potential of Protestant Christianity to stimulate democracy and good governance in sub-Saharan Africa through the valuing of the individual

ABSTRACT

The global distribution of Christians is expected to change by 2050, with the largest proportion of Christians – more than a billion – residing in sub-Saharan Africa. Historical and empirical studies have argued for a positive relationship between the proportion of Christians – Protestants in particular – and the development of liberal democracy. A key explanation for this positive influence is cultural, namely the valuing of the individual. Could the growth in Christianity have the potential to influence democratic development and good governance in the sub-Saharan region? To test our hypotheses – (1) sub-Saharan states with proportionally larger Protestant populations are more likely to have higher levels of democracy and good governance, and (2) sub-Saharan states with growing Protestant populations are more likely to have increasing levels of democracy and good governance – we employ a longitudinal and cross-sectional study (a panel of data) using data from the World Christian Database, Polity IV and the International Country Risk Guide. Our data show that the population share of Protestants is positively related with both levels of and growth in democracy and good governance. With the spread of Protestantism we could expect the future improvement of democracy and governance in the region.     

恩格斯晚年对基督教起源问题的分析初探

基督教的起源问题是恩格斯晚年非常关注的一个重要问题。从历史唯物主义的基本分析范式出发,在批判总结鲍威尔宗教起源论的基础上,恩格斯明确指出,基督教产生的思想根源在于晚期希腊哲学和犹太神学的整合,社会根源在于罗马的统治。恩格斯从思想和社会渊源上对基督教的起源问题做出全面深入的论述,形成了马克思主义系统化的宗教理论。