On the 11th February in the midst of some of the most serious flooding the country has seen, Prime Minister David Cameron declared “money is no object”. Keen to justify ‘austerity’, Cameron had previously encouraged a household budget mentality that could count, save and spend a tangible and sensual money as a means of avoiding or erasing debt. To hear him speak of money as something intangible and beyond sensual apprehension forced pause for thought. So if money is “no object”, what is it?
Author Archives: admin
Islamic finance has something to teach us all and may have more freedom to flourish here in the UK
During the last days of 2013 I found myself trying to explain to an old acquaintance why, although a non-Muslim myself, I have spent the last few years researching and writing about Islamic finance. Evidently I didn’t make a very good job of it, because eventually he pronounced that the only thing Islamic culture has ever contributed to the world is ‘some nice blue tiles’. Leaving aside any personal offence I may have taken, and without invoking the much disputed term Islamophobia (which I find problematic), this left me wondering why some people of Christian heritage seem so determined to deny that the Islamic tradition has anything to teach us at all. I believe that the area of finance and economics is one where an encounter with the Islamic tradition can be very rewarding for those not brought up in it.
The Votives Project
Our friends Emma-Jayne Graham and Jessica Hughes over at Classical Studies run
a blog on their Votives Project, which explores votive offerings to the Greek and Roman gods and to the present day. Please check out their website which you can find at http://thevotivesproject.wordpress.com/us/ . Incidentally, the cover image for Marion Bowman and Ulo Valk’s new edited volume (pictured) features votive offerings at the Divine Mercy Shrine, Lagiwniki, Cracow, Poland.
Animal religious slaughter and the politics of the multicultural
In the last few weeks the issue of religious slaughter of animals has again been widely discussed in the media, sparked it appears by an interview for The Times newspaper by John Blackwell, president-elect of the British Veterinary Association. In the background of the broader debate is the recent decision by the Danish government to ban religious slaughter for the production of kosher and halal meat. The point of this comment piece is not particularly to address the rights or wrongs of or dhabh, or consider their status from a philosophical, religious or political science point of view, but rather to reflect both historically and in the context of wider debates concerning British ‘multiculturalism’.
Defining religion
Front cover of Graham Harvey's Food, Sex and Strangers
Now and again, academics need to ponder the use of the words that appear to define their disciplines. Anthropologists have worried about “culture”, while “literature” has been debated in English. It isn’t that we claim ownership of particular topics, or that we think we have privileged access to phenomena that interest us. Usually the opposite is true. It’s possible to discuss everything as “culture” or “literature”. Scholars often revel in fertile debates when different disciplines say something provocative or fresh. Scholars of religion have been vigorously debating the meaning of the term “religion” recently. We’ve been considering where the boundaries lie between religion and whatever is “not religion”. Perhaps there are no boundaries. Those who are “not religious” (whether because they define themselves as “spiritual but not religious” or as atheists or secular humanists) often say or do things that clarify what it is that the study of religions focuses on.
Welcome!
Welcome to our blog. ‘Contemporary Religion in Historical Perspective’ is the broad research theme of the Religious Studies department at The Open University.
As a department we seek to apply a range of approaches and methods to a wide array of religious and other-than-religious phenomena. We are interested in contemporary religion, and its interactions with culture, society and politics. However, we are also fascinated by issues of continuity and change, and seek to inform our study and understanding of religion with historical perspective. Last year we ran an international conference on this theme, and this blog will encourage further reflection on the various themes and issues explored.
Contributors to this blog will include department members, Associate Lecturers from the Open University’s regions and nations, and our various Ph.D students. We’ll talk about ourselves and our work and interests, we’ll comment or contribute to news-worthy discussions, and we’ll celebrate developments in the study of religions.
Dr Graham Harvey (Head of Department) and Dr John Maiden (Director of Teaching)