Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift

I begyndelsen var festen?

2024-05-12T17:12:18+02:00

ENGLISH SUMMARY: The article discusses the concept of feasts as a possible important religio-phenomenological category. Against archaeological-anthropological theorizing according to which feasts are essentially battlegrounds for status competition (Hayden, Dietler), I argue (with Weismantel, Etzioni, Nahum-Claudel) for a more basic understanding of feasts as joyful gatherings of persons not normally together or eating and drinking together. Feast in this understanding is practically identical with Durkheim’s vision of social gatherings and the emergence of religion (and thereby culture) in outbursts of collective effervescence. Underneath actual religious rituals and more or less non-religious feasts (called ‘Feast¹’) is a more fundamental gathering of which both rituals and normal feasts (called ‘Feast²’) are transformations. The article includes two narrative examples from the Hebrew Bible: Hannah and the sacrifice in Shilo (1 Samuel 1) and Ezra’s reading of the law of Moses (Nehemiah 8) and some remarks on feasting in early Christianity.

DANSK RESUME: Artiklen her diskuterer begrebet ‘fest’ som en mulig central religionsfænomenologisk kategori. Imod arkæologisk-antropologiske teorier om fester som essentielt kamppladser for social status (Hayden, Dietler) argumenterer jeg (med Weismantel, Etzioni, Nahum-Claudel) for en mere basal forståelse af fester som muntre forsamlinger af personer der i dagligdagen ikke er sammen og ikke spiser og drikker sammen. I denne forstand ligger ‘fest’ nær Durkheims forståelse af religionens (og kulturens) oprindelse i forsamlingers spontane udbrud af effervescens. Under både etablerede religiøse ritualer og mere-eller-mindre ikke-religiøse fester ligger således en mere fundamental fest (kaldet ‘Fest¹’), der kan transformeres og manifesteres som ritual eller som fest (kaldet ‘Fest²’). Artiklen afrundes af to eksempler på fester fra Det Gamle Testamente: fortællingen om Hanna og offeret i Shilo (1 Samuels Bog 1) og Ezras oplæsning af Moses’ lov (Nehemias 8) samt bemærkninger om fester i tidlig kristendom.

Festers frygtforløsende funktion i jødisk religion

2024-05-12T17:22:07+02:00

ENGLISH SUMMARY: To move beyond the finding that tightly regulated rituals and affective feasts seem to occur in pairs, this article asks why this is so. The article draws on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s understanding of cultural phenomena, including religion, as a protection against chaos, and on Peter A. Levine’s understanding of adequate responses to potentially traumatising experiences to prevent emotional blockage. It analyses four calendar feasts in Jewish religion: the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles, Passover, and Purim, based on the thesis that calendar feasts have evolved to facilitate collective ‘shake-and-run’-reactions when people have had reason to ‘freeze’ in response to potentially chaotic and life-threatening situations during the year, albeit in changing contexts. Concretely, the article asks, what anxiety relief do these four calendar feasts offer in different phases of Israelite-Jewish history of religion?

DANSK RESUME: For at nå dybere end den erkendelse, at stramt regulerede ritualer og affektive fester synes at optræde i par, spørger denne artikel ind til, hvorfor det forholder sig således. Perspektiver til forklaring hentes fra Gilles Deleuze og Félix Guattaris forståelse af kulturelle fænomener, herunder religion, som et værn mod kaos og Peter A. Levines forståelse af ‘ryst-og-løb’-handlinger som nødvendige reaktioner på potentielt traumatiserende oplevelser, hvis blokeringer skal undgås. Artiklen undersøger fire kalenderritualer i jødisk religion: ugefesten, løvhyttefesten, påske og purim, ud fra den tese, at kalenderfester har udviklet sig til at facilitere kollektive ‘ryst-og-løb’-reaktioner, når mennesker har haft grund til at ‘fryse’ som reaktion på potentielt kaotiske og livstruende situationer i årets løb, om end i skiftende kontekster. Konkret spørges der til, hvilken frygtforløsning disse fire kalenderfester tilbyder i forskellige faser af israelitisk-jødisk religionshistorie?

Holī og Dīvalī – to hindufester

2024-05-12T17:27:15+02:00

English abstract: In this article, I will demonstrate how feasts and festivals serve as effective analytical tools to comprehend the diversity within the Hindu tradition. I will use the two festivals: Holī and Dīvalī as examples. Additionally, I aim to explore whether the historical anchors of a festival, or multiple anchors, have significance for the interpretative potential associated with the festival today. I will particularly focus on whether the festival is strongly or weakly tied to one or more myths and whether it has a tribal/early archaic or archaic origin. I will also investigate if certain festivals within the Hindu tradition seem more adaptable to new contexts outside of India than other.

Dansk resume: I denne artikel vil jeg demonstrere, hvordan fester og festivaler er et godt analyseredskab til at forstå den hinduistiske tradition i sin mangfoldighed, men også til at undersøge, om festens historiske forankringspunkt eller forankringspunkter har betydning for det fortolkningspotentiale, man kan knytte til festen i dag. Her vil jeg særligt tage udgangspunkt i de to fester Holī og Dīvalī. Et analytisk omdrejningspunkt er, om festen knytter sig stærkt eller svagt til en eller flere myter, og om den har et tribalt/tidlig arkaisk eller et arkaisk ophav. Jeg vil også undersøge om visse fester inden for den hinduistiske er mere adaptiv til nye sammenhænge uden for Indien end andre.

Keywords: Holī; Divāli; adaption; mythological strong, mythological weak

Sufi-festivaler i Europa: i kunstens og antiradikaliseringens tjeneste

2024-10-31T17:18:21+01:00

ABSTRACT: This paper presents Sufi festivals as a new site for institutionalising and negotiating Sufi identities in Europe and discusses them in their political framing as events in the fight against radicalisation. The comparative analysis of four Sufi festivals in Eigeltingen-Reute on Lake Constance (2022), in Glasgow (2022), Paris (2017-2019), and Hamburg (2022) shows that programmes, motivations for organising, conceptualisations of Sufism as well as ways of conveying it can differ greatly from each other, but at the same time have commonalities: the consolidation of Sufi identity as a cosmopolitan and tolerant version of Islam, the conveying of Sufism as a spirituality that can be experienced through art, as well as the presentation of Sufism as a value system.

RESUME: Denne artikel præsenterer sufi-festivaler som et nyt omdrejningspunkt for institutionalisering og forhandling af sufi-identiteter i Europa og diskuterer den politiske fremstilling af dem som begivenheder i en kamp imod radikalisering. Den komparative analyse af fire sufi-festivaler i Eigeltingen-Reute ved Bodensøen (2022), i Glasgow (2022), Paris (2017-2019) og Hamburg (2022) viser, at programmer, bevæggrunde for organisering, konceptualiseringer af sufisme og måder at formidle sufisme på kan adskille sig meget fra hinanden, men samtidig have fællestræk: konsolidering af sufi-identiteten som en kosmopolitisk og tolerant version af islam, formidling af sufisme som en form for spiritualitet, der kan opleves gennem kunst og præsentation af sufisme som et værdisystem.

Helte og kujoner til jættegilder

2024-05-08T16:39:55+02:00

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between Old Norse feasts and gender. Following Michael Dietler’s claim that examinations of gender offer insights into the practices of feasts of a given culture and vice versa, I analyse two Old Norse myths that both depict the god Thor attending feasts hosted by giants. I argue that Old Norse feasts were domains where relations were regulated and maintained, and where everyday norms were transgressed in order to strengthen and maintain society. In both myths, masculinities in particular are challenged and transformed. I apply gender theories by R. W. Connell and Judith Butler to analyse how transformations of masculinity provide insights into the established gender order of Old Norse society.

DANSK RESUMÉ: Formålet med denne artikel er at undersøge forholdet mellem norrøne fester og køn. Inspireret af Michael Dietlers påstand om at studier af kønsforestillinger tilbyder indsigter i en given kulturs festpraksisser og omvendt, analyserer jeg to norrøne myter om guden Thor der indebærer hans deltagelse i jættefester. Jeg argumenterer for at norrøne fester var domæner hvor dominans blev reguleret og opretholdt, og hvor hverdagens normer blev overskredet for at styrke og opretholde samfundet. I begge myter bliver især maskuliniteter udfordret og transformeret ved festerne. Jeg anvender kønsteorier af R. W. Connell og Judith Butler i min analyse af hvordan transformationer af maskulinitet tilbyder indsigt i den etablerede kønsorden i det norrøne samfund.

At løfte himlen, forene sig med solen og sætte pottemagerskiven i gang

2024-05-12T17:38:14+02:00

SUMMARY: Rituals are often redundant sequences repeating important themes, e.g. a key mythological event, very much as a refrain. This mythological redundancy may, however, also consist in analogous, but narratively unconnected mythical events, e.g. killing a dragon – stabilizing the earth – civilizing the country. A good example of this transmythological redundancy is an ancient Egyptian festival of Khnum in Esna. All festivals are, with an expression borrowed from C.J Bleeker, ‘enactments of religious renewal.’ In the Esna festival three mythological motifs are juxtaposed and united to perform this renewal: the creative act of Shu, who lifted the sky from the earth, Khnum’s creation of all beings on his throwing table, and the mythological, exemplar birth of the royal child. When Khnum is eventually carried in procession outside the temple and the festival becomes public, there is a ritual sequence to ‘establish the potter’s wheel in the belly of all females.’ The universal (transmythologically expressed) idea of creation and renewal is thus given specific significance in human and animal reproduction, and the festival ends in informal celebration. Torches are kept burning till dawn.

RESUMÉ: Ritualer indeholder ofte gentagelser af vigtige temaer, fx en mytologisk begivenhed, omtrent som et omkvæd i en sang. En sådan mytologisk redundans kan imidlertid også bestå i en kæde af analoge, men narrativt uforbundne mytiske begivenheder, fx dragedrab – stabilisering af jorden – civilisering af landet. Et godt eksempel på en sådan transmytologisk redundans er en gammel ægyptisk fest for Khnum i Esna. Alle fester er, med C.J. Bleekers udtryk, ‘enactments of religious renewal’. Ved festen i Esna sammenstilles tre mytologiske motiver for at gennemføre fornyelsen: Shus skabende handling, hvor han løftede himlen op fra jorden, Khnums skabelse af alle væsener på sin pottemagerskive og kongebarnets mytologiske, forbilledlige fødsel. Når Khnum til sidst bæres i procession uden for templet og festen bliver offentlig, optræder der en rituel sekvens der skal ‘anbringe pottemagerskiven i alle hun-væseners mave.’ Den universelle (transmytologisk udtrykte) skabelses- og fornyelsestanke gives altså sin specifikke betydning i menneskers og dyrs reproduktion, og festen munder ud i uformel festivitas i fakkelskær, lige til den lyse morgen.

KEYWORDS: Ritual drama, transmythological redundancy, festivals, Esna

Festlarm og Stilhed

2024-05-12T22:04:22+02:00

SUMMARY: In Vilhelm Grønbech’s The Culture of the Teutons (1931), there was a chapter on ‘The Creative Festival’, originally the final chapter in the first Danish edition and entitled ‘Festal silence and festal noise’. To the English edition was finally added an ‘Essay on ritual drama,’ often considered the very foundation of the traditionally strong interest in the myth-ritual relationship among Danish historians of religions. Grønbech did not pretend to have discovered the myth-ritual relationship but admitted inspiration primarily from American ethnography. This paper explores the role of the myth-ritual theme at the International Congress of Anthropology in Chicago on the occasion of the World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1893, especially a methodologically remarkable paper by W.W. Newell, “Ritual regarded as the dramatization of myths,” containing in nuce many of the most important insights in ritual drama, that later acquired more substance through the studies of Vilh. Grønbech and others.

RESUMÉ: Vilh. Grønbechs Vor Folkeæt I Oldtiden I-IV (1909-12) mundede ud i kapitlet “Feststilhed og Festlarm.” I den engelske udgave (1931) blev det lidt forøget og fik titlen “The Creative Festival”, og der tilføjedes det berømte “Essay on Ritual Drama”, der for mange stod som selve grundlæggelsen af den stærke danske religionshistoriske interesse for kult-myte-forholdet. Grønbech foregav ikke at være den, der havde opdaget dette forhold, men vedgik en inspiration især fra amerikansk etnografi. Denne artikel undersøger temaet myte-ritual, og den rolle det spillede ved den internationale antropologiske kongres i forbindelse med den store verdensudstilling i Chicago i 1893, navnlig W.W. Newells metodologisk bemærkelsesværdige bidrag “Ritual regarded as the dramatization of myths”, der in nuce allerede rummer mange af de vigtigste af de indsigter i kultdramaet, der sidenhen fik tilført mere substans ved Vilh. Grønbechs og andres studier.

Et kultisk fletværk af fester og fejringer af stat, kirke og familie

2024-06-15T16:42:36+02:00

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Throughout the past forty years, the concept of religion has been criticized at regular intervals without having led to the development of actual analytical alternatives. In what follows, I will not repeat the criticism of the concept of religion. Instead, I will develop an alternative analytical approach to a description of a significant part of what we usually call religion in Denmark. The first aim of the article is to provide an overview of the most important Danish feasts and celebrations. The second aim is to argue that there is a culturally and historically determined pattern in the typical and recurrent Danish feasts and celebrations. This second argument will be based on the description of the social group of Émile Durkheim, Norbert Elias and John Searle. The analytical strategy of the article is to depart from the simple observation of who it is that is responsible for the feast and celebration. The result of this analytical strategy is that there are celebrations that are the responsibility of state, church and family, which corresponds to a state-, church- and family-cult. Based on the analysis, the article continues to argue that Danish feasts and celebrations are interwoven. Several of the celebrations support each other. The article therefore argues that there is a system of celebrations in which family celebrations, or the family cult plays a crucial but overlooked role, simply because family celebrations fall outside usual definitions of religion.

DANSK RESUMÉ: Gennem de sidste fyrre år er religionsbegrebet med blevet kritiseret med jævne mellemrum, uden at det har ført til egentlige analytiske alternativer. I det følgende vil jeg ikke gentage kritikken af religionsbegrebet. For at tilvejebringe et egentligt analytisk alternativ, vil jeg i stedet eksperimentere med en ny beskrivelse af en væsentlig del af det, vi normalt kalder religion i Danmark. Artiklens teoretiske grundlag er Émile Durkheim, Norbert Elias og John Searles tanker om sociale grupper. Resultatet af artiklens analytiske eksperiment er, at der er fejringer, som er statens, kirkens og familiens ansvar, og at disse fejringer derfor kan forstås som en stats-, kirke- og familiekult. I forlængelse af denne analyse argumenterer artiklen for, at danske højtider og fester udgør en sammenhængene fletværk eller ligefrem et system, da flere af festlighederne støtter hinanden. I dette fletværk af fester er det familiefesterne, eller familiekulten som spiller en afgørende, men overset rolle, formodentlig fordi familiefester falder uden for de sædvanlige definitioner af religion.

Fest, ritual og myte fra et socialontologisk og fra et neurosociologisk perspektiv

2024-10-31T16:01:56+01:00

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In recent years, new research has emerged that support Emile Durkheim's claim about the existence of collective consciousness and effervescence from different angles. This applies firstly to the research field of social ontology, secondly to a series of biological and endocrinological studies of the human hormone system and thirdly to the emergence of the field of neurosociology. In this contribution, I would like to propose that collective intentionality as well as the hormone system should be included as a new part of the foundation under sociology of religion. That the human hormone system is important is further emphasized by the fact that the human oxytocin-system seems to be able to unite classical sociology's two opposing perspectives on social formation, namely the fusion and fission perspective. The first part of this contribution will be about celebration and ritual as collective actions in human groups and its absence in chimpanzee groups, the second part about the hormone oxytocin as a link between collective actions and the body in humans and chimpanzees, and the third part about the hormone oxytocin's potential to unite the two fundamental perspectives on human social formation, namely the fusion and fission perspective.

DANSK RESUMÉ: Inden for de senere år er der fremkommet forskningslitteratur, der fra forskellige vinkler kan underbygge Emile Durkheims påstand om eksistensen af kollektiv bevidsthed og kollektiv begejstring (effervescens). Det gælder for det første forskningsfeltet social ontologi, for det andet en længere række biologiske og endokrinologiske studier af menneskets hormonsystem og for det tredje forskningsfeltet neurosociologi. I dette bidrag vil jeg foreslå, at menneskets kollektive intentionalitet og hormonsystem fremover i højere grad bør inddrages som en del af (religions)sociologiens fundament. At menneskets hormonsystem er vigtigt skærpes af, at særligt oxytocinsystemet ser ud til at kunne forene sociologiens to modsatrettede perspektiver på samfundsdannelse, nemlig fusions- og fissionsperspektivet. Første del af dette bidrag vil handle om fest, ritual og myte som kollektive handlinger i menneskegrupper og fraværet heraf hos chimpanser, anden del om hormonet oxytocin som forbindelsesled mellem kollektive handlinger og krop hos mennesker og chimpanser og tredje del om hormonet oxytocins potentiale til at forene de to grundlæggende perspektiver på menneskets samfundsdannelse, nemlig fusions- og fissionsperspektivet.

“Jeg var i akut fællesskabsmangel”

2024-11-13T11:05:16+01:00

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic and the concomitant restrictions caused Danish religious groups to seize meeting physically for longer periods of time. Consequently, these groups were affected in terms of their rituals, communication, and community, and for many groups the pandemic gave rise to engaging (further) in the incorporation of digital tools. While other research has examined the pandemic’s effect on the reconstruction of rituals and the integration of social media among religious groups, this article instead focuses on the specific consequences of the pandemic related to the feeling of community among religious groups in Denmark. Based on analyses of 23 interviews and fieldnotes from fieldwork in Buddhist, Muslim and Christian communities as part of the RECOVIRA-project we find that the informants lacked community during the lockdowns and that the digital alternatives offered could only rarely replace the physical copresence in the groups. We highlight two main reasons for this; firstly, the informants do not find the digital alternatives to function well in terms of conveying a feeling of mutual recognition and intimacy; and secondly, they miss the physical, sensory co-presence, which is difficult to replicate in the digital sphere. We discuss these findings and engage with Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition as well as with a complex of theories related to embodiment and senses to understand how the informants conceptualize their idea of a meaningful, effectful religious community. Finally, we discuss the methodological limitations of the study and the theoretical implications of our findings.
DANSK RESUME: COVID-19-pandemien og dens medfølgende restriktioner bevirkede, at danske religiøse grupper i lange perioder ikke kunne mødes fysisk. Dette påvirkede selvsagt gruppernes ritualer, kommunikation og fællesskab, og for mange gruppers vedkommende blev pandemien en anledning til at engagere sig (yderligere) i brugen af digitale værktøjer. Hvor anden forskning f.eks. har undersøgt, hvilke effekter denne situation havde for religionsgruppers omstrukturering af ritualer og deres integration af sociale medier, fokuserer nærværende artikel specifikt på konsekvenserne af pandemien i forhold til danske religionsgruppers følelse af fællesskab. Baseret på analyse af 23 interviews og feltnoter fra feltarbejde i henholdsvis buddhistiske, muslimske og kristne fællesskaber som en del af RECOVIRA-projektet, finder vi, at informanterne i høj manglede fællesskabet under nedlukningerne, idet de digitale alternativer for langt de fleste ikke kunne erstatte det fysiske samvær i grupperne. Det er der to primære årsager til. For det første oplever informanterne ikke de digitale fællesskabsalternativer som velfungerende i forhold til at formidle en følelse af gensidig anerkendelse og nærvær medlemmerne i blandt. Og for det andet savner de det fysiske, sanselige samvær, som dårlig repliceres i det digitale rum. Vi diskuterer disse fund og inddrager Axel Honneths anerkendelsesteori kombineret med et paraplykompleks af teorier relateret til kropslighed og sanselighed for at forstå, hvordan informanterne konceptualiserer det meningsfulde, effektfulde fællesskab. Vi diskuterer dernæst de metodiske begrænsninger for studiet og afrunder artiklen med at reflektere over de teoretiske implikationer af vores fund.

Anmeldelse af Emil Hilton Saggau, red., Moderne ortodokse kirker

2024-06-17T13:10:04+02:00

Anmeldelse af Emil Hilton Saggau, red., Moderne ortodokse kirker, Samfundslitteratur, Frederiksberg 2021

Anmeldelse af Peter Brown, Journeys of the Mind – A Life in History

2024-06-25T10:12:48+02:00

Anmeldelse af Peter Brown, Journeys of the Mind – A Life in History

Anmeldelse af Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandeans

2024-06-25T10:20:30+02:00

Anmeldelse af Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandeans

Anmeldelse af Brian Patrick McGuire, Glemte danskere – helgener i Danmarks skabelse

2024-07-05T15:57:22+02:00

Anmeldelse af Brian Patrick McGuire, Glemte danskere – helgener i Danmarks skabelse

Anmeldelse af Jacques Derrida, Tro & viden. De to kilder til “religionen” ved den blotte fornufts grænser

2024-09-12T17:51:22+02:00

Anmeldelse af Jacques Derrida, Tro & viden. De to kilder til “religionen” ved den blotte fornufts grænser

Anmeldelse af Laura Feldt, Catharina Raudvere & Jørn Borup, eds., Metode i religionshistoriske analyser – eksempler for studerende

2024-10-10T16:10:46+02:00

Anmeldelse af Laura Feldt, Catharina Raudvere & Jørn Borup, eds., Metode i religionshistoriske analyser – eksempler for studerende

Anmeldelse af Stuart Vyse, Overtro

2024-10-10T16:32:17+02:00

Anmeldelse af Stuart Vyse, Overtro