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For this post I would like to examine the concept of phenomenology as it relates to video games. Phenomenology is defined as “the study of ‘phenomena’: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience” (Smith, n.d.). One way…
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Liz Bucar’s book titled Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation presents three case studies of religious appropriation. Bucar examines how different aspects of religious traditions and customs are appropriated by others and the ramifications of these actions. The three examples given are the hijab, pilgrimage, and yoga. This post examines the concepts and…
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Assumptions about a person’s religious background can be prompted by societal trends and religious data. However, these assumptions still warrant further investigation. Some of these assumptions are based on broader societal trends, at least in the United States. A Pew Research Center report found that 43 percent of Hispanic adults identify as Catholic. Catholics remain…
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Charitable Choices: Religion, Race, and Poverty in the Post-Welfare Era by John P. Bartkowski and Helen A. Regis is an interesting ethnographic study of faith-based poverty relief in the South. The work draws upon interviews and analysis of faith-based groups in Mississippi. This post will analyze aspects of the book with a comparative lens for…
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Can video games help children—or even adults—learn? This is an interesting question because I work as an educator and have seen children learn from technology. At the same time, I have also seen students become distracted by it. I have learned from video games myself, and I would like to explore this topic. This post…
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Jan Assmann (2006), in his work Religion and Cultural Memory, explores the concept of invisible religion as advanced by Thomas Luckmann. For simplicity’s sake, it is crucial to explore the definitions of invisible and visible religion that Luckmann uses. Invisible religion refers to the higher and invisible religion that determines the relationship between the individual,…
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Nicolai Sinai has a fascinating article in the book Reclaiming Islamic Tradition: Modern Interpretations of the Classical Heritage. This post will be a review and analysis of this article. The essay examines themes found in Surah 6 in the works of Sayyid Qutb and Rashid Rida. Rashid Rida was an Islamic thinker born in Lebanon…
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I find it interesting how different groups of people—namely Jews, Christians, Mormons, and Muslims—can read the same text, the Bible, and come away with completely different meanings. This text is sacred in some way to all of these groups of believers, but the stories within it are often interpreted differently. An important book on this…
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I have always found the musical city of Tunlan in the Breath of Fire series to be fascinating. The town’s musical theme in Breath of Fire II is remarkably brilliant. This post will theoretically examine this town on the basis of symbolic and semiotic themes. Tunlan is a town that appears in Breath of Fire…
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This post will be a review and expansion of Safwat Marzouk’s chapter, “Interrogating Identity: A Christian Egyptian Reading of the Hagar-Ishmael Traditions,” in Colonialism and the Bible: Contemporary Reflections from the Global South. This article can be examined through the lens of what scholars of religion call “lived religion.” Lived religion refers to religion as…
Triggered to Thinking 