Reid, Duncan: Time We Started Listening: Theological Questions Put to Us by Recent Indigenous Writing. 114 pp. Adelaide: ATF Press, 2020. ISBN 978-1925679809. AUD 26.98 Nikolai Kostin, Daniel Kisliakov

https://www.academia.edu/128280866/Reid_Duncan_Time_We_Started_Listening_Theological_Questions_Put_to_Us_by_Recent_Indigenous_Writing_114_pp_Adelaide_ATF_Press_2020_ISBN_978_1925679809_AUD_26_98?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=163a591d-674d-4ca8-bd53-0508ce1e7073 Duncan Reid's book is a timely piece on the developing field of Australian Indigenous theology. The key is listening to uncover what is unspoken, inasmuch as it is a path to uncovering implicit meaning. Reid derives this meaning theologically. It can help "save Australia". The approach noted by Reid is helpful in looking beyond analytic approaches to thought. This requires balance: as a reduction to identity politics, but as an ontological belonging, an opening into new knowledge, such as with fire management practice. Reid considers the possible correlation with Eastern Christianity and its reverence for the sense of place, which lends itself to John Chryssavgis's approach to the desert, metanoia, and a fundamental anthropology. The result is an expansion of insight that contributes to ontological and anthropological discourse.

Toby Davidson, Christian Mysticism and Australian Poetry , Elaine Lindsay Elaine S Lindsay

https://www.academia.edu/115185011/Toby_Davidson_Christian_Mysticism_and_Australian_Poetry_Elaine_Lindsay?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=c1a03c8c-19fb-4eef-8bde-e2e7f8d6f273

Dancing With Dionysus: Ecstasy, Naturalism and Religion in the Age of the Anthropocene Wayne M Mellinger

https://www.academia.edu/19324527/Dancing_With_Dionysus_Ecstasy_Naturalism_and_Religion_in_the_Age_of_the_Anthropocene?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=5fbf2101-b9b6-4a0d-806c-cf16b0d3e98c My goal in this essay is to explore a form of “Godless Paganism” I refer to as Dionysian Naturalism—an approach to religion ground in scientific evidence but imbued with reverence and awe, and centered around spiritual ecstasy. I contextualize this “earth-centered” spirituality and search for sacred ways to experience altered states of consciousness within the contours of my autobiography. The importance of ecstatic experiences in religious behavior is highlighted and I briefly mine the history of what has been called the “Western Mystery Tradition” (by Caitlin and John Matthews) for shamanic elements, mystical experiences and consciousness-transforming practices to briefly summarize their “base elements”. The interests of Dionysian Naturalists in reclaiming embodied ecstatic rituals is not just to infuse intense pleasure and passion into their religious lives. Through such mystical experiences pre-established ways of seeing the world are dissolved, ego-less realms of becoming are entered and spiritual connections with the natural world are greatly enhanced. These new-found spiritual connections with nature and fresh ways of thinking are essential if we are to develop sustainable ways of living on our planet as we enter the age of the Anthropocene.

2020_Narrative Cultures and the Aesthetics of Religion: An Introduction to the Volume Anja Kirsch, Dirk Johannsen

https://www.academia.edu/40217789/2020_Narrative_Cultures_and_the_Aesthetics_of_Religion_An_Introduction_to_the_Volume?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=1431a0f3-950f-448b-bd4d-0c41711b685e Introduction to the volume: Narrative Cultures and the Aesthetics of Religion, edited by Dirk Johannsen, Anja Kirsch & Jens Kreinath. Leiden: Brill (Supplements to Method and Theory in the Study of Religion), in press. The edited volume studies the aesthetics of narrativity in religious contexts by approaching narrative acts as cultivated and situated modes of engaging with reality, equally shaped by the immersive character of the stories told and the sensory qualities of their performances. Introducing narrative cultures as an integrative framework of analysis, the volume builds a bridge between classical content-based approaches to narrative sources and the aesthetic study of religions as constituted by sensory and mediated practices. Studying stories in conjunction with the role the act of storytelling plays in the cultivation of the senses and the cultivation of the world, the contributors explore the efficacy of storytelling formats in narrative cultures from Antiquity until today, in regions ranging from Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica to Europe, East and South Asia, and Africa.

Mysterious Ways: Some Reflections on the ‘Religion, Literature and the Arts Project' 1994-6 Carole Cusack

https://www.academia.edu/738424/Mysterious_Ways_Some_Reflections_on_the_Religion_Literature_and_the_Arts_Project_1994_6?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=c607a2d2-e78c-4a4e-8adc-c93f826c0d16 This paper considers the achievements of the ‘Religion, Literature and the Arts Project’ from 1994 to 1996. This project was developed by Michael Griffith (Australian Catholic University) and Jim Tulip (University of Sydney) in conjunction with Rod Pattenden’s Institute for Theology and the Arts, and the Blake Society for Religious Art, which awards the annual Blake Prize. The 1994 and 1995 conferences, both held at Australian Catholic University are reviewed, along with the published volumes of proceedings that emerged from these events. The author attended the most recent conference in 1996 at the University of Sydney. In conclusion the future of the RLA Project is discussed.

Religion, Art, Ritual: The History of Concepts, the Operation of Power, in Art-Making as Spiritual Practice (Eds. Eikelboom & Newheiser), 2025. David Newheiser

https://www.academia.edu/143190323/Religion_Art_Ritual_The_History_of_Concepts_the_Operation_of_Power_in_Art_Making_as_Spiritual_Practice_Eds_Eikelboom_and_Newheiser_2025?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=0c4d65a7-0133-4c43-837b-3b3a2a4823da This chapter examines the history of the concepts of religion, art, and ritual. In some places, these concepts are so familiar that they have become invisible. Yet however obvious they seem, this framework developed at a particular time, in a particular place. As we understand them today, art and religion emerged in early modern Europe in parallel with a new institution, that of the secular state. It is no accident that the link between art and religion is a source of unease: they were created to be incompatible. By retracing the path that brought us here, the author argues that we needn’t be bound by our predecessors’ anxieties, for these concepts are ripe for reinvention.

“Around the World in Religion and the Arts,” 11 books, Religion and the Arts 6:3 (2002): 359-73 John Renard

https://www.academia.edu/13613315/_Around_the_World_in_Religion_and_the_Arts_11_books_Religion_and_the_Arts_6_3_2002_359_73?rhid=41926048699&swp=rr-rw-wc-171604296&nav_from=79741ecb-81a7-4cc3-a40d-9c5f57fab285