The text concerns the Tantric traditions of India, especially the South Indian Vaiṣṇava Pāñcarātra. It addresses some issues connected with the relationship between canonical literature and actual religious practice as well as the reasons for doctrinal and ritualistic changes. Among these reasons were the activity of the great religious teachers and philosophers, but also the changing historical, social and economic situation of the community of followers and of the region in which the tradition was developing. Other reasons for these changes were the controversies as well as the rivalry of the groups representing different sects and priests’ families active in the temples

The objective of the paper is to draw attention to the possible relevance of the categories of cognitive linguistics for the structural analysis of ritual. Taking the Iyengar Yoga āsana practice as an example, the author proposes to treat it as a quasi-linguistic phenomenon and analyses the symbolic structure of its elements (single āsanāni). The tools applied in this pursuit are the basic categories of Langacker’s cognitive grammar. By pointing to the key tenets of cognitive linguistics, including the claim concerning the symbolic (and, thus, semantic) nature of grammar, the author attempts to rephrase Staal’s thesis concerning the meaninglessness of ritual to accommodate it to the cognitive (or, more precisely, enactive) paradigm. She suggests a possible relationship between the schematic symbolic nature of ritual and the specific symbolic nature of doctrine. After some of the most salient linguistic phenomena within Iyengar Yoga āsana practice are described, their coherence with certain doctrinal interpretations is briefly discussed.

The article addresses the problem of the Christian discourse, and more specifically conceptual blends with “shepherd”, “sheep” and related concepts in an input space in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch, St Augustine, Cyprian of Carthage and others. The analysis of selected blends shows their importance in Christian discourse and their role in the creation of the doctrine and practice of the early Church. The article shows that conceptual blends are a flexible tool for conceptualising different notions in accordance with the aims of their authors. The overall objective of this article is to show the role of language in the formation of the Christian identity and doctrine, and the usefulness of the blending theory in the description of these phenomena.

There are two types of philosophy of mind in Brentano: (A) Aristotelian, and (B) genuinely Brentanian. The former (A) is to be found in the Aristotelica series; and by (B) I understand the content of Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint.  The manuscripts for its unwritten parts and Brentano’s lectures on God and immortality of the soul surprisingly fall into A . These lines of thought are so different that it can be astonishing that they were authored by one person. In my paper I will try to show the roots of this dichotomy as well as to check whether there is a conflict between these theories, and, if so, whether they can be reconciled. These are not only two different philosophical theories, but at least one of them is a manifestation of a world view, and a key to it can be found in Brentano’s biography.

The paper concerns the problem of the mythological origins of narrative and narrative identity. Referring to works of such narrative researchers as D. Carr, B. Williams and K. Atkins and to F.W.J. Schelling’s conception of a mythological consciousness, I prove that 1. ina narration – personal as well as collective (in a tale which constitutes given culture) – the type of necessity is similar to that which occurs in nature as well as in mythology (its higher potential) and which is responsible for a perfect story coherence that is unavailable in normal life and characteristic rather of art than of a usual experience; 2. although our personal narratives are shaped on the basis of a collective myth, they assume a first-person, reflective perspective, and this is the reason why an individual may in spite of such to some extent “untrue” origins keep personal freedom and autonomy.

Through analysis of doctrine, cult, social and political organisation and the relations with the outside world, the article traces a dual development in the history of Shakerism, an American communitarian religious group: its rise and decline as a religion that has led to its almost complete extinction, and the accompanying process of its absorption into the mainstream of American culture. This became possible when, in the 20th century, Shakers – celibate communitarian pacifists – ceased to be perceived as a serious challenge to the American values of individualism, private property and the traditional model of family. Instead, their image was romanticised and material aspects of their culture emphasised, thus making Shakerism a sort of antiquarian curiosity, despite the survival of a small community of believers.

Sam Harris, one of the new atheists, believes that science is an authority in moral issues. Science can help us understand what our moral duties are, and what is right and wrong in a moral sense. However, the cultural and historical diversity of human behaviors, especially history of wars and conflicts, suggests that it is difficult to show one, common and universal kind of morality. Here we show that Harris’s moral theory is a particular project which could not be “scientifically” justifiable.

Recenzja książki:

Steven J. Sutcliffe, Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, New Age Spirituality: Rethinking Religion, Acumen Publishing Limited, Durham 2014, 298 stron

Recenzja książki:

Relacja nauka – wiara. Nowe ujęcie dawnego problemu, J. Golbiak, M. Hereć (red.),Wydawnictwo KUL, Lublin 2014, s.254

Recenzja ksiązki

John Crook, Kryzys światowy a humanizm buddyjski. Ostateczna rozgrywka: upadek albo odnowa cywilizacji, tłum. P. Listwan, Warszawa 2014

Bibliografia prac opublikowanych w „Studia Religiologica” w latach 1977–2014