BACKGROUND One of the main obstacles for the mainstreaming of religious traditions as tools for the conservation of nature is the limited applicability of research results in this field. We documented two different restrictions implemented by local people (taboos and sacrifices) related to the use of ritual plants in Benin (West Africa) and Gabon (Central Africa). METHODS To see whether these...

Barry Smith In previous work, I have drawn attention to certain systematic differences among philosophical traditions as regards to the literary forms that are prevalent In each. In this paper, however, I focus on the commentary form. I raise the question of why the use of commentaries abounds In most traditions except those transmitted In the English language and suggest that problems of trans...

Researchers have recently proposed that "moralistic" religions-those with moral doctrines, moralistic supernatural punishment, and lower emphasis on ritual-emerged as an effect of greater wealth and material security. One interpretation appeals to life history theory, predicting that individuals with "slow life history" strategies will be more attracted to moralistic traditions as a means to ju...

This article discusses the function of dialectic in religious history, focusing on the works of two major sixth century Indian intellectuals and doxographers Bhāviveka and Haribhadra Sūri, who belonged to the competing Madhyamaka Buddhist and Jaina traditions respectively. The article studies how these two figures used medical metaphors for their dialectic purposes.

This article argues that scholarship on Umbanda (a distinctively Brazilian hybrid of Candomblé, Kardecist Spiritism, and popular Catholicism, with romanticized indigenous elements) manifests certain limitations that lead to insufficient emphasis on the religious tradition’s internal doctrinal, ritual, and organizational variation. It compares the complex and ambivalent place of African traditio...

This essay seeks to contribute to work on moral agency of religious women through the creative naming of a dynamic that is emerging in recent scholarship. Drawing on fieldwork in Iran in 2004, I argue that prominent models of agency based on autonomy, heteronomy, and theonomy are unable take into account both religious influence on and individual creativity of women's actions. I propose the neo...

Judaism has many traditions, customs, rules, and laws, which relate to the proper and ethical disposition of a decedent when a Medical Examiner/ Coroner is involved. In almost all United States jurisdictions, statutes mandate the need to determine the cause and manner of death (Coroners' Act PA Pl. 323, num. 130, section 1237). This article is a review of some religious writings, legal preceden...

  Children are a precious gift from God, and the blessing of a child is a special time in a person's life. All cultures and religious traditions have certain ways of welcoming a newborn child into the community; also, each culture and religion has its own customs and traditions for the birth of a child. During and after the birth of a Muslim child, there are certain rituals the mother and fathe...

The modern world is marred by a variety of environmental problems such as pollution, deforestation, and the depletion of natural resources. They have affected every corner of the world, and India is no exception. This country has long suffered from overpopulation, and with increased industrialization India's environmental problems have only multiplied. In desperate times it is only natural to s...

One of the bigg est challenges facing Theologica l/ Religious Education in Nigeria is access to quality learning materials. For instance at the Trinity (Union) Theological College, Umuahia, it was difficult for lecturers to access suitable and qualitative materials for instruction especially the ones that would suit the African context and stimulate a deep rooted intere st among the students. S...