A Relational Approach to the Study of Religious Survival Units

Reeh, Niels

doi:10.1163/15700682-12341261

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In the last few decades, research on the role and strategy of spreading religion in Indonesia has been increasingly widespread. This is because there are interreligious interrelationships that can become a relational phenomenon and religions are involved in competing struggles against other religions (Reeh, 2013). Christians, for example, use a strategy of symbolization as an effort to defend themselves from the persecution of other religions.…”

Section: Symbolizing Fish As Survival Strategy For Christianitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish in Faith: Exploring Symbol as Survival Strategies in Christianity

Suprianto

Alfian

Kristanto

2022

Relig. J. Agama dan Lintas Budaya

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This study explores the history of one of the important symbols in the Christian tradition, namely the history of the fish symbol. This study argues that the fish symbol is one of the survival strategies for Christians to survive and contest with other groups in the socio-religious context at that time. Thus, this study formulates research questions such as how is the history of fish in the Christian tradition? How does the fish symbol become a medium of survival and resistance? Does the fish symbol have any relevance in the history of Christianity in Indonesia? This research uses literature study, which means relying on written literature discussing fish symbolism in Christianity's history. The results of this study indicate that the symbolization of fish in Christian history can not only be seen from the theological aspect but also from the socio-historical aspect as a survival strategy. Furthermore, the research material is structured with the following framework: the first part discusses the history and meaning of the fish symbol as a savior and unifier in ancient Christianity; the second part discusses the symbolic significance of fish as the spread of Christianity in Indonesia; the third part, symbolism as a strategy to survive both in the form of acculturation and religious-cultural identification in the context of religion and culture. In short, the symbolism of fish in the Christian tradition is very complex, containing theological content and historical-social-cultural. By understanding how symbolization works in religious traditions, we, therefore, can understand how religion in all its aspects developed from the past to the present, and also to the future.

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Section: Symbolizing Fish As Survival Strategy For Christianitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish in Faith: Exploring Symbol as Survival Strategies in Christianity

Suprianto

Alfian

Kristanto

2022

Relig. J. Agama dan Lintas Budaya

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“…In order to establish a relational approach to religious groups or religions, I have previously drawn on the work of the German sociologist Norbert Elias (1978Elias ( , 2008Reeh 2013a). The reason is that Elias was perhaps one of the most consistent relational social thinkers (Kaspersen 2013) and his approach can be transferred to a focus on the relations between religions and, as I will suggest here, nonreligions.…”

Section: A Relational Approach To the Study Of Religion And Nonreligionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, religions (and nonreligions) can be analyzed as religious (and nonreligious) survival units that in a similar manner as states relate to their significant other religions (Reeh 2013a(Reeh , 2020.…”

Section: A Relational Approach To the Study Of Religion And Nonreligionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…has in recent years resulted in an increased attention from scholars of religion (Beyer 1998(Beyer , 2015Wolf 2006;Martin 2007;Kosmin et al 2007;Lee 2012;O'Brian and Smith Baker 2009;Zuckerman 2008;Beaman and Tomlins 2015;Taves, Asprem, and Ihm 2018;Smith 2010;Smith and Cragun 2019). A recurrent theme in the scholarship on nonreligion that increasingly has been picking up steam is that nonreligion must be defined (scholars such as Lois Lee, Johannes Quack, Jesse M. Smith, and Ryan T. Cragun), analyzed, and understood in relation with religion (Edgell, Gerteis, and Hartmann 2006;Kettell 2014;Stolz et al 2016;Bullivant and Lee 2012;Reeh 2013aReeh , 2013bBeaman and Tomlins 2015;Beyer 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this article, I will, in the first part, suggest a modified version of a theoretical approach to the study of religions that can also be used in the analysis of dynamic relations between religion and nonreligion (Reeh 2013a(Reeh , 2016(Reeh , 2020. This contribution will be toward an analysis on the level of the nonreligious group and not on the level of the nonreligious individual.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Dancing with Religion: Organized Atheism and Humanism in the Field of Religions in Denmark

Reeh

2022

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The article firstly presents a modified version of a relational theoretical approach to the study of religions that can also be useful in the analysis of dynamic relations between religions and nonreligions. Nonreligious groups can be studied as relational collective groups that define themselves vis-à-vis other religious groups. Following this, the article suggests that scholars should take this relation between religions and nonreligions much further into consideration. Religious and nonreligious groups define themselves in a relation to what they perceive to be their most immediate competitors. Thus, the article posits that there is a social field of groups that relate and react to the other, and since we by convention know some of these groups as religions and nonreligions, we can study the set of interrelated groups as a social reality without the need of a definition. Instead of defining “religion” and “nonreligion,” the analysis can depart from the relation between the groups or the fact that both religions and nonreligions relate to and constitute themselves vis-à-vis other religions. In the last part, the article analyzes a piece of rare empirical evidence, namely, the founding event of a nonreligious group (i.e., the Danish Humanist Society). Here, the article shows how the Danish Humanist Society combined meaning and strategy in its relational struggle against its significant religious other, the Danish National Church.

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Introduction

Reeh¹

2016

Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies

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A Relational Approach to the Study of Religious Survival Units

Cited by 9 publications

References 24 publications

Fish in Faith: Exploring Symbol as Survival Strategies in Christianity

Fish in Faith: Exploring Symbol as Survival Strategies in Christianity

Dancing with Religion: Organized Atheism and Humanism in the Field of Religions in Denmark

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