Enlightening religion: Light and darkness in religious knowledge and knowledge about religion

Stolow, Jeremy; Meyer, Birgit

doi:10.1177/20503032211015276

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Despite the widespread prominence of light in religious rituals and metaphors, it has not been given adequate attention in the academic study of religion. This is why Bille and Sørensen (2007) called for the development of an anthropology of light, while Stolow and Meyer (2021) dedicated a special issue of the journal Material Religion to the subject. In different spatio-temporal contexts, the articles in the special issue (Stolow and Meyer 2021;Rakow 2020;Verrips 2020) highlight how light and lighting techniques and technologies are harnessed to orchestrate religious mediation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is why Bille and Sørensen (2007) called for the development of an anthropology of light, while Stolow and Meyer (2021) dedicated a special issue of the journal Material Religion to the subject. In different spatio-temporal contexts, the articles in the special issue (Stolow and Meyer 2021;Rakow 2020;Verrips 2020) highlight how light and lighting techniques and technologies are harnessed to orchestrate religious mediation. In this article, I focus my analysis on how the Sufis have borrowed and reconceptualized Christmas lights, not only as a part of the paraphernalia of the Mawlūd celebrations, but also as an instrument of presence-and place-making in the city.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The clash of sound, image and light: inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations during Mawlūd celebrations in the city of Jos, Nigeria

Ibrahim

2022

Africa

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This article explores recent inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations between Sufi Muslims, members of the Izala and Christianity, which have emerged as a result of a new way of celebrating Mawlūd in the Nigerian city of Jos. Through the adept use of loudspeakers, Izala projects a sense of dominance over the public sphere of the city and uses this as a platform to critique the Sufis. In part as a response, and as a counter-critique of Izala, the Sufis have rejuvenated their Mawlūd celebrations as a mass public spectacle, involving the use of Christmas lights to decorate the city and the construction at the entrance to major streets of temporary wooden arches decorated with flowers, Christmas lights, wreaths and images of Shaykh Ibrahim Nyass. This article argues that the Sufis, who are at a disadvantage in the practice of organized preaching and the use of sound media, have transformed the Mawlūd celebrations into a mechanism to counterbalance Izala’s dominance of the public sphere and to reassert their presence in the city. The Sufis’ incorporation of decorative Christmas objects reveals the fluid boundaries between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, which sometimes generate dynamics of interreligious borrowing and mutual influence. This article attempts to remap and push the boundaries of studying Islam and Christianity in Nigeria, because focusing on one religion in isolation downplays the intertwining and intersection of practices between the two religious groups.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The clash of sound, image and light: inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations during Mawlūd celebrations in the city of Jos, Nigeria

Ibrahim

2022

Africa

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The haunting influence of Jean Rhys on Leila Aboulela

Thomas

2023

Feminist Modernist Studies

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Japanese divine light in Kinshasa: transcultural resonance and critique in the religiously multiple city

Lambertz

2021

Critical Research on Religion

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The Japanese “new religions” ( Shin Shūkyō) active in Kinshasa (DR Congo) nearly all perform healing through the channeling of invisible divine light. In the case of Sekai Kyūseikyō (Church of World Messianity), the light of Johrei cannot be visually apprehended, but is worn as an invisible aura on the practitioner’s body. This article discusses the trans-cultural resonances between Japan and Central Africa regarding the ontology of spiritual force, regimes of subjectivity, and the gradual embodiment of Johrei divine light as a protection against (suspicions of) witchcraft. Meanwhile, I argue that religious multiplicity in urban Africa encourages cultural reflexivity about concepts of health and healing, self-responsibility, and Pentecostal suspicion-mongering of occult sciences. Thus, Johrei divine light not only feeds into a longstanding local tradition of spiritual healing; within the religiously multiple city, it is also a discursive space for, and an experience and performance of, emic critique.

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Enlightening religion: Light and darkness in religious knowledge and knowledge about religion

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

The clash of sound, image and light: inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations during Mawlūd celebrations in the city of Jos, Nigeria

The clash of sound, image and light: inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations during Mawlūd celebrations in the city of Jos, Nigeria

The haunting influence of Jean Rhys on Leila Aboulela

Japanese divine light in Kinshasa: transcultural resonance and critique in the religiously multiple city

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