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All Journal Heritage of Nusantara: International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage Heritage of Nusantara: International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage
Joel S. Kahn, Joel S.
Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
Religion Arts Humanities Civil Engineering, Building, Construction & Architecture Social Sciences

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Modern Gnostics: The Pursuit of the Sacred in Indonesian Islam Kahn, Joel S.
Heritage of Nusantara: International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage Vol 3, No 2 (2014)
Publisher : Center for Research and Development of Religious Literature and Heritage

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Abstract

This paper reports on an ongoing research project on “New Southeast Asian Spiritualties” and offers a preliminary analysis of new Muslim religiosities in the Jakarta metropolitan area (Jabodetabek). Most of the analyses of the pro­cesses of “Islamization” in places like Indonesia and Malaysia in the last few decades focus on a particular set of social cum political agendas: the impo­si­tion of sharia law, the Islamization of the state apparatus, the in­creased emphasis on the external markers of ‘Islamic identity’ and the like. Yet, there appears to be an equally significant, even sometimes opposing, tendency among Southeast Asian Muslims that involves them in seeking out more intense and personalised ‘inner’ forms of religious experience, a pro­cess with parallels elsewhere in the world. In the paper, I discuss examples of this tendency based on fieldwork in the greater Jakarta area, and ask about its implications for current understandings of the consequences (for democracy, secularism, human rights, gender relations, etc.) of Islamization in Southeast Asia.
Thinking About Religious Texts Anthropologically Kahn, Joel S.
Heritage of Nusantara: International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage Vol 4, No 2 (2015)
Publisher : Center for Research and Development of Religious Literature and Heritage

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Abstract

This paper addresses the conference themes by asking what contribution anthropology can make to the study of religious literature and heritage. In particular I will discuss ways in which anthropologists engage with religious texts. The paper begins with an assessment of what is probably the dominant approach to religious texts in mainstream anthropology and sociology, namely avoiding them and focussing instead on the religious ‘practices’ of ‘ordinary believers’. Arguing that this tendency to neglect the study of texts is ill-advised, the paper looks at the reasons why anthropologists need to engage with contemporary religious texts, particularly in their studies of/in the modern Muslim world. Drawing on the insights of anthropologist of religion Joel Robbins into what he called the “awkward relationship” between anthropology and theology, the paper proposes three possible ways in which anthropology might engage with religious literature. Based on a reading of three rather different modern texts on or about Islam, the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three modes of anthropological engagement is assessed and a case is made for Robbins’s third approach on the grounds that it offers a way out of the impasse in which mainstream anthropology of religion finds itself, caught as it is between the ‘emic’ and the ‘etic’, i.e. between ontologically different worlds.
Modern Gnostics: The Pursuit of the Sacred in Indonesian Islam Kahn, Joel S.
Heritage of Nusantara: International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage Vol. 3 No. 2 (2014): HERITAGE OF NUSANTARA
Publisher : Center for Research and Development of Religious Literature and Heritage

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.31291/hn.v3i2.6

Abstract

This  paper  reports  on  an  ongoing  research  project  on  “New  Southeast Asian  Spiritualties”  and  offers  a  preliminary  analysis  of  new  Muslim religiosities in the Jakarta metropolitan area (Jabodetabek). Most of the analyses of the processes of “Islamization” in places like Indonesia and Malaysia in the last few decades focus on a particular set of social cum political  agendas:  the  imposition  of  sharia  law,  the  Islamization  of  the state  apparatus,  the  increased  emphasis  on  the  external  markers  of ‘Islamic  identity’  and  the  like.  Yet,  there  appears  to  be  an  equally significant,  even  sometimes  opposing,  tendency  among  Southeast  Asian Muslims that involves them in seeking out more intense and personalised ‘inner’ forms of religious experience, a process with parallels elsewhere in the world. In the paper, I discuss examples of this tendency based on fieldwork in the greater Jakarta area, and ask about its implications for current understandings of the consequences (for democracy, secularism, human rights, gender relations, etc.) of Islamization in Southeast Asia.
Thinking About Religious Texts Anthropologically Kahn, Joel S.
Heritage of Nusantara: International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage Vol. 4 No. 2 (2015): HERITAGE OF NUSANTARA
Publisher : Center for Research and Development of Religious Literature and Heritage

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.31291/hn.v4i2.82

Abstract

This  paper  addresses  the  conference  themes  by  asking  what  contribution anthropology  can  make  to  the  study  of  religious  literature  and  heritage.  In particular I will discuss ways in which anthropologists engage with religious texts. The paper begins with an assessment of what is probably the dominant approach  to  religious  texts  in  mainstream  anthropology  and  sociology, namely  avoiding  them  and  focussing  instead  on  the  religious  ‘practices’  of ‘ordinary believers’. Arguing that this tendency to neglect the study of texts is  ill-advised,  the  paper  looks  at  the  reasons  why  anthropologists  need  to engage  with  contemporary  religious  texts,  particularly  in  their  studies of/in the  modern  Muslim  world.  Drawing  on  the  insights  of  anthropologist  of religion  Joel  Robbins  into  what  he  called  the  “awkward  relationship” between anthropology and theology, the paper proposes three possible ways in  which  anthropology  might  engage  with  religious  literature.  Based  on  a reading  of  three  rather  different  modern  texts  on  or  about  Islam,  thestrengths  and  weaknesses  of  each  of  the  three  modes  of  anthropological engagement is assessed and a case is made for Robbins’s third approach on the  grounds  that  it  offers  a  way  out  of  the  impasse  in  which  mainstream anthropology  of  religion  finds  itself,  caught  as  it  is  between  the  ‘emic’  and the ‘etic’, i.e. between ontologically different worlds.
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