WhatIsn’tReligion?

Looking Beyond the Social: Religion as a Solution to Alienation in Xu Dishan’s, Bing Xin’s, and Su Xuelin’s Republican Era Literature

“…First, they purport to resolve some social problem, what Schilbrack calls their "promissory function." Secondly, they acknowledge some ostensible reality 9 Schilbrack provides an overview of the debate between Religious Studies scholars regarding the best combination of these approaches for characterizing "religion" as accurately as possible within research (Schilbrack 2013). that exists beyond the realm of human perception as the justification for carrying out the practices that they claim will resolve social problems.…”

“…that exists beyond the realm of human perception as the justification for carrying out the practices that they claim will resolve social problems. Shilbrack calls this the "superempirical reality" of religious cultural phenomena (Schilbrack 2013). Using Schilbrack's definition as a basis for my study, all cultural phenomena represented within Su's and Xu's literature necessarily needs to be presented in their fictional narratives as resolving some social problem and as relying on a superempirical reality as the main rationale and justification for their existence to be considered "religious" cultural phenomena.…”

“…They exist independently of the social phenomena that make the protagonists 4 To understand the process of how "religion" was created by intellectuals of the European Enlightenment, see Talal Asad's Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (Asad 1993). 5 As part of a larger argument, Schilbrack provides a useful delineation of constructivist and functionalist approaches to "religion," which he subsumes under the single term "functionalist," as opposed to substantive or essentialist approaches to the concept (Schilbrack 2013). feel alienated in the first place. Thinking of these values as originating outside of the human social realm enables protagonists to discover them as an allegedly objective method of overcoming their struggles to build relationships with others, without having the face the contradiction that these values are inventions of the very society that has alienated them.…”

Sobre a definição de religião: historiografia, críticas e possibilidades

“…3 Para uma visão mais detalhada acerca do debate acadêmico em torno da definição de religião, ver Spiro, 1966;Lambert, 1991;Clarke;Byrne, 1993;Blasi, 1998;Wilson, 1998;Platvoet, 1999;Snoek, 1999;Mckinnon, 2002; e mais recentemente: Nongbri, 2013;Bergunder, 2014;Schilbrack, 2013;Arnal;Mccutcheon, 2013;Hanegraaff, 2016;Stausberg;Gardiner, 2016. 4 Thomas Leinkauf, Professor de Filosofia na Universidade de Münster, Alemanha, em seu artigo "O conceito de religião no início da filosofia moderna" (2014), discute o significado e desenvolvimento do conceito de religião no cenário histórico e teórico desse período.…”

The Will to Make‐Believe: Religious Fictionalism, Religious Beliefs, and the Value of Art

“…However, I take it that almost all recent definitions would recognise that a religion involves both practical and theoretical aspects. See Kevin Schilbrack, ‘What Isn't Religion?’, The Journal of Religious Studies , 93, 3 (), pp. 291–318.…”