"Imagining a Theory: Questioning the Eschatological and Soteriological Motivations in Gananath Obeyesekere's Imagining Karma

No Abstrac

Review of Wei Zhang, Heidegger, Rorty, and the Eastern Thinkers: A Hermeneutic of Cross-Cultural Encounter

No Abstrac

Teaching & Learning Guide for: On Spirituality: Natural and Non-Natural

Author’s IntroductionReligious conversations – both scholarly and popular – routinely employ the term ‘spirituality,’ a term whose ubiquity is matched only by its obscurity. ‘Spirituality’ is seldom, if ever, defined. Most people seemingly appeal to commonsense when they speak of ‘spirituality’ as ostensibly referring to something immaterial and by a certain extension non-natural. The spiritual is supposed to transcend the historical. For those working in Religious Studies, such a position ought to be, and finally is beginning to be, looked upon with suspicion because the (substance) dualism informing commonsense definitions of spirituality is no longer viable. As such, the commonsense definition of ‘spirituality’ is untenable for scholarly purposes. We need a new definition of ‘spirituality,’ and this new definition demands a new approach. To be sure, contemporary academic consilience counsels methodological naturalism. Religious Studies rightly abides such academic consilience. Eschewing all appeals to the supernatural, a natural definition of spirituality suggests that it is existential self-esteem. Although there may be multiple manifestations of self-esteem, spirituality is a misrecognized form of self-esteem as the ‘sociometer.’ Existential self-esteem mitigates interpersonal death anxiety. There are two types of ‘spirituality,’ the non-natural and the natural. Non-natural spirituality pursues ‘literal’ immortality; natural spirituality pursues ‘symbolic’ immortality. Methodological naturalism disallows the former and at least countenances the latter. This guide outlines an approach to teaching about and ultimately defining spirituality as a wholly natural phenomenon

Recollected Pressure to Eat in Childhood Predicts College Student Eating Behaviors

Picky eating (PE) is a childhood behavior that vexes many parents. How this behavior develops into adulthood and whether it is predictive of adult eating behavior is relatively unstudied. Both PE in childhood and low intuitive eating (IE) in adulthood are associated with controlling feeding practices, eating disorder symptomology, and a low variety of preferred foods. Pressure to eat (PR), a parental controlling feeding practice aimed at encouraging a child to eat more, is positively associated with PE. Current IE and disordered eating behaviors were measured in 170 college students using the Intuitive Eating Scale and the Eating Disorder Inventory, and childhood PE and PR were measured using parents’ retrospective reports. It was hypothesized that PE and PR in childhood would predict low IE and disordered eating behaviors in college students. Furthermore, it was hypothesized the interaction between PE and PR would be a stronger predictor

The Principal’s Role in Defining a Student Success-Based School Culture: The Impact of Specific Behaviors on School-Level Teacher Working Conditions

The purpose of this study was to examine principal behaviors that influenced working conditions. Further, the relationship between those behaviors and student success indicators was explored. Qualitative research methods were used to explore the research questions related to the study. First, detailed profiles of the schools were developed using historical student success indicators. Second, detailed individual interviews with case study school principals were conducted. Third, focus group interviews were conducted to collect data from school certified staff. According to principals and teachers at the case study schools, the school culture influenced student success outcomes positively when a vision of high expectations was realized in the schools, when the school subscribed to a learning-centered focus, and when the school genuinely believed in parental involvement as a cornerstone of success. Study participants revealed that specific behaviors of the principal influenced teacher satisfaction levels. When the principals valued staff, including their planning and instructional time, and when the principals listened to staff, their behaviors influenced teacher satisfaction. Principals influenced teacher satisfaction in a positive manner when they empowered staff, were visible within the school, and valued staff development, including the use of Professional Learning Communities. Study participants also revealed that the work environment influenced student success indicators positively or negatively. The work environment influenced outcomes positively when the principal placed a high value on teacher satisfaction, when the principal valued and built positive relationships, and when the principal communicated positively within the educational environment. A comprehensive analysis of student success indicators and qualitative data from principal and staff interviews revealed that principal behaviors influenced school culture and student success. Further, implications for practice and suggestions for further research are presented

Growing Up Amid The Religion And Science Affair: A Perspective From Indology

Abstract. This article identifies the tropes of “maturity” and “immaturity” in the dialogue between religion and science. On both sides of the aisle, authors charge, either directly or indirectly, that their dissenting interlocutors are not mature enough to see the value of their respective positions. Such accusations have recently emerged in discussions pertaining to Hindu theology, Indology, and science. Those who dismiss the substance dualism of Hindu yoga, according to Jonathan B. Edelmann, evince immaturity. Appeals to Hindu yoga are yet one more appeal to religious experience. Indeed, what we find in Edelmann’s text is an appeal to appreciate the private, unverifiable—or falsifiable, for that matter—“insights” of Hindu yogis. Yogic experience is interminably steeped in motivated perception and confirmation bias. There is simply no good evidence or rational argument to take yogic claims seriously. Insofar as that is the case, Indology must achieve consilience with the natural and human sciences, remaining thereby reductive of such supernatural claims

“Of And and Of : The Politics of Grammar and the Study of Religion”

Grammatical constructions in course titles and research agendas reflect particular theoretical orientations in the study of religion. Privileging one construction over the others amounts to a politics of grammar. Two constructions are examined here—the conjunction and the genitive: “Religion and…” and “…of Religion.” Whereas non-reductive methods such as theology/phenomenology and cultural anthropology endorse the conjunction, reductive methodologies such as biological anthropology invoke the genitive. With the evidence amassing in favor of natural, human universals (pace cultural anthropology) and against supernatural realities (pace theology/ phenomenology), the essay argues that only the genitive construction has a place in the study of religion

Comparison of two wood filler types with respect to relative shrinkage across variations in temperature, in humidity, and within wood species

The purpose of this research was to compare two different types of wood filler (commonly known as wood putty) with respect to fill capability and relative shrinkage across varying levels of temperature and humidity. The investigation was developed based on processing requirements set forth by Shaw Industries Group at their facility located in Franklin, North Carolina. The processing requirements for Shaw’s hardwood flooring product lines governed the scope of this investigation and environmental conditions were simulated in an environmental control chamber. Characteristics of performance exhibited by the filler material are crucial for assuring the production and delivery of quality wood flooring. This research specifically focused on the investigation of relative shrinkage for two different water-based wood putty materials used for filling defects in hardwood flooring prior to finishing. Akzo Nobel brown wood putty (Type I) is currently used in Shaw’s defect-void filling process and Famowood walnut filler (Type II) is proposed as an alternative for the current filling materials. Both fillers were applied to a consistent, pre-defined defect cavity volume, and evaluated based on dimensional changes. Each standard test cavity was produced in a laboratory setting by a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine to represent a consistent defect volume. Shrinkage data was collected using a Contura HTG coordinate measuring machine (CMM) manufactured by Zeiss, Maple Grove, Minnesota. Results showed that relative shrinkage of both wood fillers can be affected by variations in humidity while curing in the initial 1 hour set time. This research aimed to improve production quality of hardwood flooring in Western North Carolina and eliminate processing extremes at Shaw Industries Group

I Love You, I Hate You: Toward a Psychology of the Hindu Deus Absconditus

No Abstrac

Disgusting Bodies, Disgusting Religion: The Biology of Tantra

ABSTRACTHard-core Tantric practice is disgusting, a point several scholars make. Scholarly interpretations of Tantric disgustingness, however, tend to follow the lead of Mary Douglas in suggesting that what disgusts is ultimately a reflection of social–historical concerns with borders and boundaries. Such interpretations fail to take seriously the Tantric con- sumption of feces, menstrual blood, urine, semen, and phlegm. Likewise, they fail to take seriously the particular sexual act involved, that is, intercourse with a menstruating, riding-astride, out-of-caste, mother-substitute. Consulting contemporary disgust research, I suggest that hard-core Tantra is literally disgusting because it is literally malad- aptive. Disgust was naturally selected to deter the ingestion of bio-toxic pathogens as well as the practice of suboptimal sexual intercourse. Disgust maintains the species’ viability. Tantra confounds disgust and thus disgusts. Tantra engages antibiological behaviors in its characteristically religious war against the body. As a disgusting religion, Tantra may be a perfected religion