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Newman and Wittgenstein on the Will to Believe: Quasi-Fideism and the Ground of Religious Certainty
The Influence of the Saints and Blessed of the Catholic Church on the Cultural Heritage of Kraków
Dervish Hatixhe’s Veneration in Contemporary Albania: Visual Representations, Devotional Practices, Sensory Experiences
Philosophy of Religion: Taking Leave of the Abstract Domain
Playful Pulpits: Exploring Multicultural Preaching Practices Through the Lens of Theology of Play

Journal Description

Religions

Religions is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on religions and theology, published monthly online by MDPI.

Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
High Visibility: indexed within Scopus, AHCI (Web of Science), ATLA Religion Database, Religious and Theological Abstracts, and other databases.
Journal Rank: CiteScore - Q1 (Religious Studies)
Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 24.5 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 3.7 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the second half of 2024).
Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.

Impact Factor: 0.7 (2023)

Imprint Information Journal Flyer Open Access ISSN: 2077-1444

Latest Articles

11 pages, 190 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fun, Trendy, Upbeat: Musical Tastes, Social Conditioning, and Contemporary Worship Music for Kids

by Laura Benjamins and Anneli Loepp Thiessen

Religions 2025, 16(4), 472; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040472 (registering DOI) - 7 Apr 2025

This article examines the correlation between “trendy” musical features and contemporary worship songs for kids. We engage in music video analysis, comparing three songs from a range of contemporary worship children’s ministries to critically examine the messages that their children’s covers convey. Further, [...] Read more.

This article examines the correlation between “trendy” musical features and contemporary worship songs for kids. We engage in music video analysis, comparing three songs from a range of contemporary worship children’s ministries to critically examine the messages that their children’s covers convey. Further, we question how contemporary worship music videos form children’s preferences and musical tastes, drawing on Lucy Green’s writing on musical taste formation and intersonic properties (2008). We argue that when children’s religious and musical experiences are formed by adults’ assumptions of their preferences—including that they prefer fun, cool, and trendy music—their overall experience of Christian music may be limited. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Worship Music and Intergenerational Formation)

18 pages, 296 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Religious Movements in the Philippines: Their Development, Political Participation, and Impact

by Yuchen Ma

Religions 2025, 16(4), 471; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040471 (registering DOI) - 7 Apr 2025

The Philippines’ new religious movements (NRMs) emerged in the context of the rise of the religious nationalism movement and gradually flourished during the martial law period in the 1970s. Compared with traditional Catholicism, the theology of NRMs is more realistic and temporal, therefore [...] Read more.

The Philippines’ new religious movements (NRMs) emerged in the context of the rise of the religious nationalism movement and gradually flourished during the martial law period in the 1970s. Compared with traditional Catholicism, the theology of NRMs is more realistic and temporal, therefore creating an inherent demand to become politicized. After the People Power Movement, changes in the social environment, media technology, and electoral system in the Philippines created conditions for NRM groups to participate in politics more extensively and directly. They intervened in the political process through various means, such as bloc voting and running for public positions, with characteristics such as opposition to the Catholic Church, proactive and pragmatic political strategies, grassroots appeals, and a transnational mass base. The participation of NRM groups in politics has impacted the Catholic Church’s transcendental political status, enriched the political ecology dominated by oligarchic families, improved public welfare, and provided new channels for the voice of the grassroots. Overall, the rise of NRMs has not only changed the religious landscape of the Philippines but also profoundly affected its democratization process as an important factor, especially in the coming 2025 election. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion as a Political Instrument)

15 pages, 400 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Cultural Accommodation and Linguistic Activities of the Jesuits in China in the 16th–18th Centuries

by Fangfeng Dong and Yang Yang

Religions 2025, 16(4), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040470 (registering DOI) - 7 Apr 2025

From the 16th to the 18th century, Jesuit missionaries in China pioneered inter-cultural exchange by integrating cultural accommodation with groundbreaking linguistic research. By adopting Confucian scholarly practices and systematically studying the Chinese language, they developed innovative approaches to Chinese phonetics, grammar, lexicography, rhetoric, [...] Read more.

From the 16th to the 18th century, Jesuit missionaries in China pioneered inter-cultural exchange by integrating cultural accommodation with groundbreaking linguistic research. By adopting Confucian scholarly practices and systematically studying the Chinese language, they developed innovative approaches to Chinese phonetics, grammar, lexicography, rhetoric, and teaching. Their linguistic achievements not only facilitated missionary work but also contributed to early modern sinology and cross-cultural communications. This paper examines the Jesuits’ dual strategy of cultural accommodation and linguistic research, demonstrating how their deep engagement with Chinese intellectual traditions enabled them to study the Chinese language successfully, to communicate with local elites smoothly, and to disseminate Christianity effectively. Through the combination of local philological traditions with Western linguistic techniques, they introduced new perspectives on the Chinese language, influencing both Western sinology and China’s linguistic development. Their translations of religious, scientific, and philosophical texts also played a key role in shaping Sino-Western intellectual exchanges. By analyzing the Jesuits’ linguistic activities and the strategies they employed in the process, this study highlights the Jesuits’ impact on Chinese linguistic scholarship, the transmission of Christianity, and their role in cross-cultural communication. Their work also exemplifies how language, culture, and religion can effectively collaborate in cross-cultural encounters, shaping historical narratives and fostering dialogue between civilizations. Full article

14 pages, 2600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Jeremiah 44 and the Complexities of Ancient Migrations

by Terje Stordalen

Religions 2025, 16(4), 469; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040469 (registering DOI) - 6 Apr 2025

The transnational turn in migrant studies emphasizes complexities in migration, partly related to the agency that migrants may exercise. Chapter 44 in the biblical Book of Jeremiah holds a story of migration that is peculiarly insensitive to such aspects: religious practices performed by [...] Read more.

The transnational turn in migrant studies emphasizes complexities in migration, partly related to the agency that migrants may exercise. Chapter 44 in the biblical Book of Jeremiah holds a story of migration that is peculiarly insensitive to such aspects: religious practices performed by a local community are condemned, and so are they. Through a series of analytical steps—reflection on historical conditions of migration at the time, on the historical value of the biblical sources, on a cognitive theory of mimesis in narrative, and on praxeological analysis—this study tries to regain a view of migratory complexity and migrants’ agency in that story. The reading uncovers how migrants were “doing community” through their religious practices and through their dispute with the prophet. The story reflects an enduring pattern of struggle between local communities and trans-local forces. It also reflects change in traditional communal patterns due to social changes brought about by migration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transgressing Boundaries: Biblical and Social Scientific Studies of Migration)

58 pages, 605 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Helping Protestant Undergraduates in the United States Manage Their Religious Doubt: The Predictive Role of Facet and Domain Traits in the Five Factor Model

by Keith A. Puffer and Reka Brooks

Religions 2025, 16(4), 468; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040468 (registering DOI) - 5 Apr 2025

In a recent Barna poll, 60% of practicing Christians indicated rarely or never doubting religious beliefs. This puzzling statistic evokes questions. How did this approach to uncertainty benefit the respondents? Were suppression and concealment in their coping strategy? Would an alternative management approach, [...] Read more.

In a recent Barna poll, 60% of practicing Christians indicated rarely or never doubting religious beliefs. This puzzling statistic evokes questions. How did this approach to uncertainty benefit the respondents? Were suppression and concealment in their coping strategy? Would an alternative management approach, one derived from a compendium of personality traits in a four-stage doubting process, be of assistance? In a review of religion-personality literature, several gaps were uncovered. Gender effects with these constructs were often unattended; authors utilizing the Five-Factor Model (FFM) frequently didn’t include facet traits; positive and negative sides of religious doubt were usually not discussed together; multiple stages in the doubting process were seldom considered; and researchers rarely employed a multidimensional model of quest religious orientation (QRO) as a measure of doubt phenomena. Consequently, a sample of Protestant Christian undergraduates (n = 335) was recruited and administered the FFM using facet and domain traits along with unidimensional and multidimensional instruments of QRO. Findings from hierarchical regression analyses of constructs representing four stages in the doubting process revealed 11 facet and the five domain traits emerging as predictors. Implications and applications from the predictive associations forming a doubt management strategy were discussed. Full article

19 pages, 291 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Scientific Imagination as locus of Theology

by Robert J. Woźniak

Religions 2025, 16(4), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040467 (registering DOI) - 5 Apr 2025

Christian theology is not an isolated system of knowledge. The theological phenomena of revelation and inspiration are related to human knowledge of self, community and the world, yet it would be insufficient to think that their conceptual content comes only from human natural [...] Read more.

Christian theology is not an isolated system of knowledge. The theological phenomena of revelation and inspiration are related to human knowledge of self, community and the world, yet it would be insufficient to think that their conceptual content comes only from human natural experience. This truth is expressed in the doctrine of “theological places”, which is most often associated with the Spanish Dominican Melchior Cano because of its systematic presentation. In this contribution, I present the hypothesis that science (in the modern sense) can be understood as a “theological place”, not only from the perspective of direct assimilation of concrete and detailed scientific data, but also at the level of imagination. Imagination turns out to be one of the essential components of the scientific method, of course, differently at different stages of the history of science. At the same time, today, theology itself is increasingly appealing to the imagination. In this perspective, one of the main tasks facing theology is the reception of the scientific imagination at both levels of its functioning: as a paradigm of thinking and a specific set of information that makes up the modern scientific picture of the world. Scientific imagination, not only that which comes from art, literature and philosophy, can significantly stimulate the theological imagination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Sciences as a Contemporary Locus Theologicus)

18 pages, 342 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Mandate of the World Russian People’s Council and the Russian Political Imagination: Scripture, Politics and War

by Alar Kilp and Jerry G. Pankhurst

Religions 2025, 16(4), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040466 - 4 Apr 2025

The Mandate of the XXV World Russian People’s Council of 27 March 2024 framed the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine as a “holy war”. This paper presents an in-depth textual analysis of the Mandate followed by an extended thematic and contextual analysis. [...] Read more.

The Mandate of the XXV World Russian People’s Council of 27 March 2024 framed the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine as a “holy war”. This paper presents an in-depth textual analysis of the Mandate followed by an extended thematic and contextual analysis. The findings indicate that the Mandate’s mainstream discourses of eschatological–apocalyptic holy war and katechon state were not previously expressed at the level of official church leadership. They contribute to the ideological escalation of the Russian confrontation with Ukraine and the West around declared traditional values and the holy mission of the Russian people, while the involvement of Orthodoxy in the Russian ‘holy war’ narrative is neither exclusive of other religious referents nor of disbelief in ecclesial doctrine. The main referent of the Self (and correspondingly, of the sacred) is the (Russian) ‘nation’ or ‘people’, for which ‘spiritual’ and ‘civilizational’ are comprehensive religious markers of cultural identity. While two religious adversaries of the Russian geopolitical agenda of Ukraine—the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Ukrainian Orthodoxy—are not directly mentioned in the Mandate, it nevertheless attempts to re-formulate an Orthodox ‘just war’ theory, intensifies antagonistic inter-Orthodox relations in the Russia–Ukraine dimension and strengthens the resolve of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Russian Federation to retain Ukraine’s Orthodox Church as an exclusively Russian space. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interreligious Dialogue and Conflict)

20 pages, 913 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Religious Conversion and Political Incorporation: An Event-Based Model of Immigrant Political Socialization

by Andre P. Audette, Mark Brockway and Christopher L. Weaver

Religions 2025, 16(4), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040465 - 3 Apr 2025

Political socialization in the United States is circuitous and influenced by numerous outside sources, including parents, teachers, and peers. Moreover, civic organizations and political parties often work directly to recruit and mobilize citizens into politics. However, many foreign-born immigrants are denied these opportunities [...] Read more.

Political socialization in the United States is circuitous and influenced by numerous outside sources, including parents, teachers, and peers. Moreover, civic organizations and political parties often work directly to recruit and mobilize citizens into politics. However, many foreign-born immigrants are denied these opportunities to acquire socialization. Immigrants are also often further overlooked or ignored by the civic and political organizations that incorporate most native-born Americans into politics. While a range of previous scholarship has sought to demonstrate and explain these disparities, few studies have examined alternative routes to political socialization or reconsidered the paradigm of incremental socialization as it applies to foreign-born populations. We argue that immigrants may instead become involved in the U.S. political system through religious conversion—a pivotal event in their lives. Using surveys of the two predominant U.S. immigrant groups, Asian Americans and Latinos, we show that religious conversion can catalyze the socialization process. Among both groups, religious conversion in the U.S. is associated with increased rates of political participation. These results suggest that immigrant socialization may follow different pathways than those of native-born populations, and that scholars should take into greater consideration the role of critical life events when modelling political socialization among foreign-born populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Politics: Historical Developments and Contemporary Transformations)

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18 pages, 3027 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Causality in Jain Narratives: Teaching Dharma Through Karma by Sītā’s Abandonment

by Achyut Kant Jain

Religions 2025, 16(4), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040464 - 3 Apr 2025

This paper investigates the complex causal relationships within Jain narrative literature (prathamānuyoga/dharmakathānuyoga), specifically focusing on the examination of the Sītā abandonment narrative across Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Apabhramsha textual traditions. By employing textual analysis and philosophical interpretation, the study explores the intricate [...] Read more.

This paper investigates the complex causal relationships within Jain narrative literature (prathamānuyoga/dharmakathānuyoga), specifically focusing on the examination of the Sītā abandonment narrative across Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Apabhramsha textual traditions. By employing textual analysis and philosophical interpretation, the study explores the intricate causative mechanisms in narratives by Vimalasūri, Raviṣeṇa, and Svayambhūdeva. The paper addresses critical research questions examining the multifaceted nature of causality: the root causes of Sītā’s abandonment, the identification of precursory causal signs like dreams, cravings during pregnancy and omens, an analysis of Sītā’s philosophical response to her circumstances, and the complex interplay between external and internal instrumental causes (bahiraṅga- and antaraṅga-nimitta-kāraṇa). Through rigorous textual comparison and philosophical analysis of the Paümacariyaṃ, Padmapuraṇa, and Paümacariü, the study reveals that Jain narrative literature predominantly employs instrumental causality as its primary explanatory framework. The paper demonstrates how external and internal instrumental causes interplay, and explores the role of Sītā’s bad or good karma in shaping her narrative trajectory. The paper contributes to the ongoing scholarship on Jain narratives by analyzing causality in religious narratives, offering philosophical insights into narrative causation, providing an interdisciplinary perspective that bridges literary analysis with philosophical interpretation, and illuminating the ways Jain narratives employ causality to explain complex human experiences and ethical dilemmas, ultimately revealing how narrative structures reflect deeper metaphysical and philosophical concepts within the Jain textual tradition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Jainism and Narrative)

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25 pages, 1462 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Historical Transformation of the Religion–Politics Relationship in Türkiye Through the Prism of Its Media Representation During the 2023 Presidential Elections

by Emel Arık, Hakkı Akgün, Rıdvan Yücel and Fatih Yıldız

Religions 2025, 16(4), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040463 - 3 Apr 2025

This study aims to examine how religion in Türkiye, beyond having social value, has been instrumentalized by political parties into a power dynamic and explore the role of the media in this process. Adopting an inductive approach, the study first examines how the [...] Read more.

This study aims to examine how religion in Türkiye, beyond having social value, has been instrumentalized by political parties into a power dynamic and explore the role of the media in this process. Adopting an inductive approach, the study first examines how the boundaries between religion and politics have changed over the years, despite the Republic of Türkiye being constitutionally defined as a secular state, using a qualitative historical method. Then, in order to explore the current reflections of this transformation, focus is placed on the most recent presidential election, held in 2023. News reports about a widely circulated photograph of opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu “stepping/standing” on a prayer rug, used by Muslims for worship, during his campaign are analyzed using the critical discourse analysis (CDA) method. The findings reveal that religion has become a significant component of political strategies and propaganda tools in Türkiye. Religious values and symbols function as powerful instruments, shaping societal perceptions through political discourse. As a hegemonic apparatus, the media reproduces religious discourse in line with ideological tendencies and mediatizes religion as a political tool. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Politics: Historical Developments and Contemporary Transformations)

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18 pages, 488 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Strategic Use of “雜” (zá) in Xuanzang’s Translations

by Yanyan Shen and Zhouyuan Li

Religions 2025, 16(4), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040462 - 3 Apr 2025

The character “雜” (zá), commonly found in Chinese Buddhist literature, typically conveys the meaning of “mixed” or “varied”. However, in the translations of the renowned Tang dynasty translator Xuanzang, its usage stands out both in frequency and distinctiveness, setting his work apart from [...] Read more.

The character “雜” (zá), commonly found in Chinese Buddhist literature, typically conveys the meaning of “mixed” or “varied”. However, in the translations of the renowned Tang dynasty translator Xuanzang, its usage stands out both in frequency and distinctiveness, setting his work apart from that of other translators. Terms traditionally conveyed using “不淨” (bù jìng, “impure”) or “穢” (huì, “filth”) were deliberately transformed by Xuanzang into “雜染” (zá rǎn, “mixed defilement”) and “雜穢” (zá huì, “mixed filth”), with “雜” nearly becoming synonymous with impurity. Examining the original meaning of “雜”, we find that it primarily signifies “to gather” or “miscellaneous”, typically carrying a neutral connotation. However, when used as an adjective describing a state, “雜” transcends its neutral sense of “various” or “diverse” to encompass notions of impurity, disorder, and deviation from normative standards—often with negative implications. Building on this understanding, it becomes clear that the abstract opposition between purity and impurity in the doctrinal meanings of Buddhist scriptures was reinterpreted by Xuanzang as a concrete opposition between “清淨” (qīng jìng, “purity”) and “雜穢” (mixed filth). This reinterpretation allowed “雜” to describe anything defiling the mind or carrying negative overtones—even when the original Sanskrit text did not explicitly indicate such a notion—thereby constituting a strategic substitution in translation. Furthermore, Xuanzang and his contemporaries frequently employed “雜” as a functional component within disyllabic compounds that collectively expressed negative meanings. Some terms containing “雜” thus cannot be understood simply as “mixed” or “varied”; instead, “雜” functions as a negative marker, reinforcing unfavorable connotations. This paper provides a focused case study on the lexical strategies of ancient Buddhist translators, illustrating how particular concepts—including 雜—were leveraged to reshape doctrinal content. In doing so, it highlights the deliberate linguistic and interpretative choices made by translators like Xuanzang, offering insights into their motivations and the cultural–linguistic contexts that framed their work. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Localization, Globalization and Glocalization: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond)

20 pages, 274 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Confession Is Good for the Soul?” Charismatics and Confession in Conversation

by Andrew P. Rogers

Religions 2025, 16(4), 461; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040461 - 3 Apr 2025

Scripture speaks of confessing our sins to God and to one another (e.g., Ps 32:5; Jas 5:16; 1 Jn 1:9). For a tradition that has been strong on sin and the Bible, how do evangelicals deal with confession? In this article, I explore [...] Read more.

Scripture speaks of confessing our sins to God and to one another (e.g., Ps 32:5; Jas 5:16; 1 Jn 1:9). For a tradition that has been strong on sin and the Bible, how do evangelicals deal with confession? In this article, I explore practices of confession in UK charismatic networks based on interviews with five national leaders using a critical conversation methodology. These networks have largely adopted an informal and spontaneous ‘liturgy’ since they began in the 1970s, so this is also a case study of what shape practices take when traditional Christian practices have been put aside. As a semi-indigenous researcher, I offer an account of the ‘what’ of charismatic confession practice from a leader’s perspective: as a network, in public worship, in small groups, and individually. I conclude that these confession practices can be characterised as relational, DIY, and ‘as and when’. I then proceed to offer some ‘whys’ for these practices, including pendulum swings of recent tradition, the relation of confession to charismatic sung worship, and both emic and etic deformations. Finally, I ask, ‘Whither charismatic confession?’ and answer this through posing three questions for reflection around the Bible and confession, the retrieval of practices, and the formative power of practices. This leads into a response to the Special Issue question of how God’s own action is disclosed through these conversations about confession with charismatics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Disclosing God in Action: Contemporary British Evangelical Practices)

17 pages, 667 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mourning and Melancholy in The 1990s and The 2000s Korean Novels—Focusing on Yoon Dae-nyeong and Kim Hoon’s Works

by Yonghee Bae

Religions 2025, 16(4), 460; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040460 - 2 Apr 2025

According to recent appraisals, despite its pathological aspects, melancholy can be a psychological impetus for spiritual creativity and utopianism. Drawing on those appraisals, this article examines some religious implications of mourning and melancholy in novels of Yoon Dae-nyeong and Kim Hoon in the [...] Read more.

According to recent appraisals, despite its pathological aspects, melancholy can be a psychological impetus for spiritual creativity and utopianism. Drawing on those appraisals, this article examines some religious implications of mourning and melancholy in novels of Yoon Dae-nyeong and Kim Hoon in the context of Korean society in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Firstly, Yoon Dae-nyeong’s early works depict an intense sense of loss arising from the compressed pace of Korean modernity, and, throughout religious imagery, they express an aspiration for spiritual renewal. However, in Yoon’s works, spiritual aspiration soon gives way to a sense of resignation. Next, this article explores melancholy in Kim Hoon’s novels. Although Kim’s first two novels share with Yoon’s works an intense sense of loss, the melancholic traits in their characters are sublimated thanks to the characters’ openness to others and patient utopianism. They thus avoid the spiritual trap induced by melancholy’s self-destructive aspect. Kim’s utopianism is expressed again in his more recent works, such as Black Mountain and Harbin, which illustrate the Korean people’s present aspiration toward a spiritual utopia. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious and Theological Interactions in East Asia: Issues, Channels and Impact)

14 pages, 265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Imaginations of the Other Side: Heinrich Bullinger, the Apocalypse and the Pastoral and Exegetical Challenges of the Future

by Benedikt Brunner

Religions 2025, 16(4), 459; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040459 - 2 Apr 2025

Interpretations of the Book of Revelation were extremely popular in the 16th century, not least due to the precarious situation of Protestantism in Europe. In these contexts, the Revelation of John was of utmost importance to the issue of pastoral care in the [...] Read more.

Interpretations of the Book of Revelation were extremely popular in the 16th century, not least due to the precarious situation of Protestantism in Europe. In these contexts, the Revelation of John was of utmost importance to the issue of pastoral care in the early modern period, despite the intensive discussions about its canonicity. It contained the most detailed explanations of what awaited Christians after their death and how the events of the end times would unfold until the return of Christ. The perspective of what to expect after death was of great pastoral, and therefore, theological importance. One of the most important commentaries was the ‘Hundred Sermons on the Apocalypse’ by the Zurich-born reformer Heinrich Bullinger. This article examines the biblical concepts of the future that Bullinger identified, as well as the reformer’s own emphases and their practical implications. This article combines, therefore, the flourishing history of the reception of the Bible with the history of Christian conceptions of the future—and its pastoral implications—that have yet to be applied to the Swiss Reformation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Swiss Reformation 1525–2025: New Directions)

20 pages, 747 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Beyond Disenchantment: How Science Awakens Spiritual Yearning

by Benedetta Nicoli, Stefano Sbalchiero and Brandon Vaidyanathan

Religions 2025, 16(4), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040458 - 2 Apr 2025

Scholars of secularization suggest that while the processes of disenchantment and the delegitimization of religious institutions have weakened religious belief systems, they also produced, as an unforeseen result, a renewed awakening of spiritual and existential longing. From this perspective, the search for meaning [...] Read more.

Scholars of secularization suggest that while the processes of disenchantment and the delegitimization of religious institutions have weakened religious belief systems, they also produced, as an unforeseen result, a renewed awakening of spiritual and existential longing. From this perspective, the search for meaning and spiritual yearning in contemporary Western societies is not simply a residual feature of human experience; rather, it emerges with new strength and urgency as an unintended consequence of secularization itself. Scientists, who are typically perceived as carriers of secularization, are an important population in which to study this phenomenon. How is spiritual yearning manifested among scientists, and what are the differences between religious and non-religious individuals? How does spiritual yearning fit within the broader context of scientific inquiry? Does science suppress spiritual yearning—as suggested by the classical thesis of disenchantment—or stimulate it? Additionally, can science offer a framework that allows scientists to explore their spiritual or existential desires outside traditional religious systems? To address these questions, we draw on data from 104 in-depth interviews conducted in 2023–2024 with biologists and physicists across four countries: India, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Through qualitative analysis, we examine how spiritual yearning intersects with scientific inquiry, and illuminate how scientists navigate and express their search for meaning in a secular age. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engaged Spiritualities: Theories, Practices, and Future Directions)

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16 pages, 338 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Its Communion with the Bishop of Rome: Nurturing Its Ecumenical Engagement

by Roman Fihas

Religions 2025, 16(4), 457; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040457 - 2 Apr 2025

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is an Eastern Catholic Church that lives according to the Ukrainian–Byzantine Christian theological, liturgical, canonical and spiritual tradition and is in full and visible communion with the successor of Peter. Unity with the Roman Apostolic See has [...] Read more.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is an Eastern Catholic Church that lives according to the Ukrainian–Byzantine Christian theological, liturgical, canonical and spiritual tradition and is in full and visible communion with the successor of Peter. Unity with the Roman Apostolic See has become one of the most important foundations of the UGCC’s identity, enriching its church life and strengthening its ecumenical ministry. As a sui iuris Church in the “family” of Catholic communion, the UGCC actively develops its ecumenical commitments with the Orthodox Churches and Protestant ecclesial communities. In this article, we will briefly examine how the UGCC developed its communion with the Bishop of Rome and how communion with the Apostolic See was a blessing for this Church, but at the same time sometimes became a threat to its existence in times of persecution by totalitarian regimes. We will also present the current religious context in which the UGCC operates, analyze some of its most important ecumenical initiatives and examine its participation in the development of interfaith dialogue in Ukraine. We will consider the challenges that the Russian invasion has brought to the UGCC and other religions in Ukraine, and how the UGCC, by developing communion with Rome, manages to witness the Gospel of life in the difficult circumstances of war and death. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Light from the East: The Catholic Eastern Churches Sixty Years After Vatican II)

36 pages, 5676 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Verbum Verbo Concepisti. The Word’s Incarnation in Some Images of the Annunciation in the Light of Medieval Liturgical Hymns

by José María Salvador-González

Religions 2025, 16(4), 456; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040456 (registering DOI) - 1 Apr 2025

This article aims to explain why, in some European representations of the Annunciation, a bundle of rays of light comes from the mouth of God the Father toward the head/ear of the Virgin Mary. In order to find a satisfactory answer to this [...] Read more.

This article aims to explain why, in some European representations of the Annunciation, a bundle of rays of light comes from the mouth of God the Father toward the head/ear of the Virgin Mary. In order to find a satisfactory answer to this problem, the author first studies a series of biblical, patristic, theological, and liturgical sources referring to the supernatural human conception of the Word of God in Mary’s immaculate womb. He then analyzes eleven images of the Annunciation that present this peculiarity. Finally, through a comparative analysis between the doctrinal texts and these exceptional images, the author concludes that the latter illustrate as visual metaphors the textual metaphors contained in the writings of some Church Fathers, medieval theologians, and liturgical hymnographers; that is to say, the beam of rays of light emitted by the mouth of the Most High to the Virgin’s head/ear metaphorizes the human conception/incarnation of the Word of God in the virginal womb of Mary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Words and Images Serving Christianity)

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20 pages, 303 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metaphors for Metamorphosis: The Poetics of Kenosis and the Apophasis of Self in Saint John of the Cross

by George Faithful

Religions 2025, 16(4), 455; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040455 - 1 Apr 2025

Spanish mystic Saint Juan (John) of the Cross (1542–1591) began writing poetry while imprisoned by his own monastic order. He developed manuals for contemplation, in part, in the form of commentaries on his principal poems. Their first-person narrators were women who underwent metamorphoses [...] Read more.

Spanish mystic Saint Juan (John) of the Cross (1542–1591) began writing poetry while imprisoned by his own monastic order. He developed manuals for contemplation, in part, in the form of commentaries on his principal poems. Their first-person narrators were women who underwent metamorphoses in order to pursue love: one became a dove in her despair; another became flame itself; the last disguised herself as a knight. Juan explained that all three represented the soul that is seeking God. For readers, these metaphors could engender cognitive dissonance, through which they might step outside of themselves and move closer to union with the Divine. This process of human self-emptying and self-negation mirrored the self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ in traditional Christology and the negation (apophasis) of human pretense at knowledge about God in apophatic (“negative”) mysticism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Ultimacy: Religious and Spiritual Experience in Literature)

21 pages, 276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Future of Religious Education: The Role and Contributions of Youth Theology

by Handan Yalvaç Arıcı

Religions 2025, 16(4), 454; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040454 (registering DOI) - 1 Apr 2025

Studies on youth theology, although a relatively new research field, offer various theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches concerning young people’s theological thought structures. These studies not only illuminate the process of religious identity formation among youth but also provide an opportunity to reassess [...] Read more.

Studies on youth theology, although a relatively new research field, offer various theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches concerning young people’s theological thought structures. These studies not only illuminate the process of religious identity formation among youth but also provide an opportunity to reassess the pedagogical and practical dimensions of religious education. In particular, analyses of the intersections of youth theology with family, educational, and religious contexts offer practitioners of this field new perspectives and horizons not only at the theoretical but also at the practical level, contributing to a more inclusive and effective structuring of religious education. The main purpose of this study is to present the contributions of youth theology to the theoretical and practical dimensions of religious education in an analytical framework. In this context, the focus of this study is to examine how the perspectives offered by youth theology on the religious identity construction, spiritual development, and social roles of young individuals can shape the content, methods, and practices of religious education. In this regard, examining the relationship between the pedagogical dynamics of youth theology and religious education aims to provide a theoretical enrichment to the literature and innovative approaches to practical applications. This study was designed with the case study method, which is one of the qualitative research designs, and the document analysis technique was used as a data collection tool. The research data were analyzed using the descriptive evaluation method. This approach enabled the research to be handled in an in-depth and systematic manner and to present the relevant data in a meaningful way. This study, which deals with the phenomena of youth and theology in relation to each other, aims to examine the interactions between these phenomena in depth. In the concluding section, various educational models for religious education targeting young individuals are proposed, offering practical recommendations derived from a theoretical framework. These recommendations aim to highlight the potential contributions of youth theology to religious education, serving as a guiding resource for future research and applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theological Studies on Youth: Family, Education and Religion)

15 pages, 266 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Saadya on Necessary Knowledge

by Xiuyuan Dong and Abd-Salam Memet-Ali

Religions 2025, 16(4), 453; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040453 - 1 Apr 2025

Most Muslim and Jewish Mutakallimūn accepted the definition of necessary knowledge as opposed to inferential knowledge, with one remarkable exception, namely, Saadya’s problematic use of this term. He characterized some type of mediate knowledge as “necessary knowledge” and accordingly introduced a second-order necessary [...] Read more.

Most Muslim and Jewish Mutakallimūn accepted the definition of necessary knowledge as opposed to inferential knowledge, with one remarkable exception, namely, Saadya’s problematic use of this term. He characterized some type of mediate knowledge as “necessary knowledge” and accordingly introduced a second-order necessary knowledge that is necessarily concomitant of the original one. This move may have marked a synthesis of the two main epistemological trends (classical intellectualism and analytical empiricism) at the time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medieval Theology and Philosophy from a Cross-Cultural Perspective)

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