Do We Need Walls to Celebrate Development?
Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb
(2 July 2014)
It used to be said that the Great Wall of China is the only human artefact seen from the moon. Even if this legend has been debunked by astronauts, the wall is indeed great. It stretches an extensive distance of 7,200 kilometres. The Chinese have something to be proud of marking how developed they were even in the pre-Christian era.
These days I am on an academic writing break in Moshi, a cosy little down at the foothills of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I am not staying at the town though, which is crowded these days with the wazungu visitors, who pretend to be enthusiastic Kilimanjaro climbers. Some parade it in their T-shirts: “I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.” Of course, these T-shirts are not sold at the Kibo peak nor does it need any ID of sorts to buy […]
Author: selvam
Sermon for the Ascension of the Lord
“I am with you always” (Mt 28:20)
Seeking redress for injustice is a human need: when we perceive that we are unjustly treated we want justice to be restored. There are mainly two ways in which we desire justice. One, by wanting revenge on the unjust aggressor; that is, by harming or wanting to harm the unjust aggressor we feel consoled, and our status restored. Though the Hebrew Scriptures see this means of seeking justice to be right, the teachings of Jesus totally rule this out. The second way in which we seek justice is by appealing to a higher authority – even God – to defend us and prove us righteous. This is often referred to as the vindication of the just; that is, without necessarily causing harm to the unjust aggressor, the integrity of the victim is restored.
Seated at […]
Contemplative Practice Among Young Adults in Nairobi
ABSTRACT
The scientific study of the role of religion and spirituality among adolescents and young adults is on the increase. Some of these studies have focussed on the association between religiousness and pro-social values and behaviour among youth. Other studies have examined the effect of mindfulness on emotional regulation and preventing risky behaviour. Such studies, however, have been wanting in the East African context. The aim of this paper is to report the themes emerging from interviews conducted among a sample of young adults who were part of a larger study examining the effect of meditation on wellbeing. This qualitative study focussed on two research questions: (a) what are the experiences of young people practicing Jesus Prayer technique of Christian contemplative practice? (b) What is the impact of the practice on their outlook of life and behaviour?
Twenty-five participants were recruited from […]
Maundy Thursday: Eucharist a Sacrificial Meal
Jesus knew that the hour had come (Jn 13:1)
In the Gospel of John, the concept of the ‘hour’ has a specific significance. At the Wedding at Cana, when the Mother of Jesus draws his attention to the fact that “They have no wine”, Jesus comes up with the very sharp reply, “My hour has not come yet” (Jn 2:4). But the Mother of Jesus continues to act as if the hour has already begun to come. In a sense she ushers in the hour. During the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus assures her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (Jn 4:21). Today’s gospel text introduces the last supper with these words: “knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world […]
1 Psychology of Religion: An historical overview
This research project is situated within the field of psychology of religion. “Why should we study religion psychologically?” Spilka and colleagues (2003) begin their book on the psychology of religion with this question. It is worth studying religion from the perspective of psychology because the majority of the people of the world take religion seriously, and it influences their motivation, cognition, behaviour and wellbeing. Therefore, the psychology of religion uses the theoretical framework and methods of general psychology to study the influence of spiritual and religious phenomena on people. (Emmons & Paloutzian, 2003; Gorsuch, 1988; Hill & Gibson, 2008; Jonte-Pace & Parsons, 2001; Spilka, Hood, Hunsberger & Gorsuch, 2003, pp.1-19; Wulff, 1997, pp.1-19).
There are basically three major strands in studies that relate psychology and religion: (a) Religious Psychology discusses psychological findings within the discourse of religion – Christianity; pastoral psychology as an offshoot of this approach draws insight from psychology […]