This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. Numen 67 (20... more This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. Numen 67 (2020) 453-482 brill.com/nu
This article is largely based upon fieldwork undertaken in Malaysia in March and April 1991, info... more This article is largely based upon fieldwork undertaken in Malaysia in March and April 1991, information received directly from Malaysia since that time, and contact with Malaysian students in Britain. Having lived in Bahrain for two years in the 1980's, the main aim of my fieldwork was to explore what contrasts and tensions exist between Gulf Islam and Malaysian Islam, particularly between Gulf cultural tradition and 'adat' (the Malay word for custom or cultural tradition) which are evidently dissimilar, and the inherent difficulties when Islam is just one ingredient, albeit the dominant one, in a multicultural situation. These are obviously complex issues which cannot be dealt with exhaustively in an article of this length, but my aim here is simply to outline some of the aspects involved, and to focus on the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri as an example of the dynamism and complexities of the Malaysian situation.
In an age of frequent flying, airports are sometimes characterised as "non-places," exp... more In an age of frequent flying, airports are sometimes characterised as "non-places," experienced as liminal spaces that are "neither here nor there." Yet, there is a widespread assumption that air travellers need or want some sort of spiritual services. Using a British regional airport (Glasgow), two European hub airports (Amsterdam and Brussels) and Singapore airport as initial case studies, this paper explores the negotiation of different beliefs, worldviews, functional needs, aesthetics, and local, regional, and national identity involved in the creation, claiming, and marking of sacred space within airports
Devotion to St. Gerard Majella played a significant role in the lived religious belief and practi... more Devotion to St. Gerard Majella played a significant role in the lived religious belief and practice of many Catholic women of Irish descent in Newfoundland in the twentieth century. In this chapter, I explore how St. Gerard gained particular popularity as The Mothers' Saint in Newfoundland, and how a male religious order, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (commonly and hereafter known as the Redemptorists) promoted devotion to this saint, who concerned himself with two specifically female conditions, pregnancy and motherhood. By outlining the development, spread, and conduct of devotion to St. Gerard in Newfoundland, and highlighting the changes in both physical and socio-religious conditions that had an impact on later generations of Newfoundland Catholic women in relation to this devotion, we gain valuable insights into "religion as it is lived: as humans encounter, understand, interpret and practice it." Devotion to St. Gerard flourished among Catholic Newf...
At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexua... more At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexual abuse scandals that came to light in Newfoundland, Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The focus of this piece is what happened after the abuse was uncovered, so often the untold story following the flurry of attention surrounding initial revelation. In order to understand this aftermath, the religio-cultural context of the abuse, reactions to the revelations and the many ways in which change occurred in their wake are examined through the lens of vernacular religion. This case study prompts reflection on what can be learned about the ways in which a range of people are forced to negotiate and interpret their relationship with institutional religion in times of crisis and change, and how a vernacular religious approach helps us to understand and contextualise this
The British Association for the Study of Religions, formerly the British Association for the Hist... more The British Association for the Study of Religions, formerly the British Association for the History of Religions (founded in 1954), is affiliated to the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) and to the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) Its object is the promotion of the academic study of religions through international interdisciplinary collaboration. The BASR
At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexua... more At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexual abuse scandals that came to light in Newfoundland, Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The focus of this piece is what happened after the abuse was uncovered, so often the untold story following the flurry of attention surrounding initial revelation. In order to understand this aftermath, the religio-cultural context of the abuse, reactions to the revelations and the many ways in which change occurred in their wake are examined through the lens of vernacular religion. This case study prompts reflection on what can be learned about the ways in which a range of people are forced to negotiate and interpret their relationship with institutional religion in times of crisis and change, and how a vernacular religious approach helps us to understand and contextualise this.
At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexua... more At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexual abuse scandals that came to light in Newfoundland, Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The focus of this piece is what happened after the abuse was uncovered, so often the untold story following the flurry of attention surrounding initial revelation. In order to understand this aftermath, the religio-cultural context of the abuse, reactions to the revelations and the many ways in which change occurred in their wake are examined through the lens of vernacular religion. This case study prompts reflection on what can be learned about the ways in which a range of people are forced to negotiate and interpret their relationship with institutional religion in times of crisis and change, and how a vernacular religious approach helps us to understand and contextualise this.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. Numen 67 (20... more This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. Numen 67 (2020) 453-482 brill.com/nu
This article is largely based upon fieldwork undertaken in Malaysia in March and April 1991, info... more This article is largely based upon fieldwork undertaken in Malaysia in March and April 1991, information received directly from Malaysia since that time, and contact with Malaysian students in Britain. Having lived in Bahrain for two years in the 1980's, the main aim of my fieldwork was to explore what contrasts and tensions exist between Gulf Islam and Malaysian Islam, particularly between Gulf cultural tradition and 'adat' (the Malay word for custom or cultural tradition) which are evidently dissimilar, and the inherent difficulties when Islam is just one ingredient, albeit the dominant one, in a multicultural situation. These are obviously complex issues which cannot be dealt with exhaustively in an article of this length, but my aim here is simply to outline some of the aspects involved, and to focus on the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri as an example of the dynamism and complexities of the Malaysian situation.
In an age of frequent flying, airports are sometimes characterised as "non-places," exp... more In an age of frequent flying, airports are sometimes characterised as "non-places," experienced as liminal spaces that are "neither here nor there." Yet, there is a widespread assumption that air travellers need or want some sort of spiritual services. Using a British regional airport (Glasgow), two European hub airports (Amsterdam and Brussels) and Singapore airport as initial case studies, this paper explores the negotiation of different beliefs, worldviews, functional needs, aesthetics, and local, regional, and national identity involved in the creation, claiming, and marking of sacred space within airports
Devotion to St. Gerard Majella played a significant role in the lived religious belief and practi... more Devotion to St. Gerard Majella played a significant role in the lived religious belief and practice of many Catholic women of Irish descent in Newfoundland in the twentieth century. In this chapter, I explore how St. Gerard gained particular popularity as The Mothers' Saint in Newfoundland, and how a male religious order, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (commonly and hereafter known as the Redemptorists) promoted devotion to this saint, who concerned himself with two specifically female conditions, pregnancy and motherhood. By outlining the development, spread, and conduct of devotion to St. Gerard in Newfoundland, and highlighting the changes in both physical and socio-religious conditions that had an impact on later generations of Newfoundland Catholic women in relation to this devotion, we gain valuable insights into "religion as it is lived: as humans encounter, understand, interpret and practice it." Devotion to St. Gerard flourished among Catholic Newf...
At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexua... more At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexual abuse scandals that came to light in Newfoundland, Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The focus of this piece is what happened after the abuse was uncovered, so often the untold story following the flurry of attention surrounding initial revelation. In order to understand this aftermath, the religio-cultural context of the abuse, reactions to the revelations and the many ways in which change occurred in their wake are examined through the lens of vernacular religion. This case study prompts reflection on what can be learned about the ways in which a range of people are forced to negotiate and interpret their relationship with institutional religion in times of crisis and change, and how a vernacular religious approach helps us to understand and contextualise this
The British Association for the Study of Religions, formerly the British Association for the Hist... more The British Association for the Study of Religions, formerly the British Association for the History of Religions (founded in 1954), is affiliated to the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) and to the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) Its object is the promotion of the academic study of religions through international interdisciplinary collaboration. The BASR
At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexua... more At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexual abuse scandals that came to light in Newfoundland, Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The focus of this piece is what happened after the abuse was uncovered, so often the untold story following the flurry of attention surrounding initial revelation. In order to understand this aftermath, the religio-cultural context of the abuse, reactions to the revelations and the many ways in which change occurred in their wake are examined through the lens of vernacular religion. This case study prompts reflection on what can be learned about the ways in which a range of people are forced to negotiate and interpret their relationship with institutional religion in times of crisis and change, and how a vernacular religious approach helps us to understand and contextualise this.
At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexua... more At the core of this article is a significant but generally neglected incident, the clerical sexual abuse scandals that came to light in Newfoundland, Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The focus of this piece is what happened after the abuse was uncovered, so often the untold story following the flurry of attention surrounding initial revelation. In order to understand this aftermath, the religio-cultural context of the abuse, reactions to the revelations and the many ways in which change occurred in their wake are examined through the lens of vernacular religion. This case study prompts reflection on what can be learned about the ways in which a range of people are forced to negotiate and interpret their relationship with institutional religion in times of crisis and change, and how a vernacular religious approach helps us to understand and contextualise this.
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