exc-5a23fbb4343a9bd737479d96 “Imagine, exactly here would be a synagogue, a mosque, a Hindu temple, or a Buddhist stupa!” With this thought experiment passengers were confronted in the city of Essen in September…
Continue ReadingSONDERNUTZUNG – A Transdisciplinary Project Combining Art and Science to Evaluate the Meanings of Religious Diversity in Public Space
Abstract: This paper deals with the question of what experiences individuals do make, who aim for persuading and convincing others of their ‘own’ and how these experiences structure their everyday life and their self-image. To clarify this question a general and anthropological aspect of human being arises: the optimization and standardization of the human others under the provision of one’s own, which leads directly in the vibrant centre of modern societies in a globalized world. The idea of the ‘better man’ is best characterized by a variety of components, such as selfless service and charity to other, readiness to make sacrifices for fellow human being, self-flagellation, self-deception, and expediency of self-abandonment, which are necessary to one’s own task, especially to enforce a change, optimization, and equalization of other. Some of these strategies for alteration derive from previous theoretical considerations and reflexions on empirical research that has recently been accomplished: From the perspective of psychology of religion and culture, the current intercultural practice, the religious self and the meaning-making actions of contemporary Protestant missionaries have been investigated.As will be shown, missionary activity is rooted in both the process of the formation of experiences and the knowledge acquisition, in the course of which individuals ascertain oneself about their self by meanings and interpretations that are culture-specific and at the same time characterized by one’s own biography. Eventually, missionary activity is just one mode of a more general target-oriented human action, which aims at the improvement and perfection of other. The objective of the paper is at least twofold: both results of empirical research and new perspectives of methodological issues on inter- and transdisciplinary research in social, cultural, and religious sciences will be shown.
In a series of publication projects I focus on the question of how optimization and standardization of ‘others’ and foreigners takes place (or is supposed to take place) in the context of missionary strategies of religious persuasion. Missionary goals are inseparably connected to the Christian imagination of ‘the renewed man’. This concept of man can be characterized best by a range of elements – like e.g. improvisation by cultural adjustment, self-abandonment, willingness to make sacrifices under the banner of selfless service to the neighbor, directive or non-directive persuasive communication, self-alteration of the ‘others’ by assertion of one’s own ‘self’ – that are required to accomplish one’s own aspirations to change and optimize the others.The described strategies of persuasion and change are findings of an empirical study about the intercultural practice of Protestant missionaries. Missionary action represents a mode of purpose and goal-oriented, intentional and strategic action aiming at the ‘improvement’ and ‘perfection’ of others. Finally, the findings and reflections should lead to a ‘prototypical’ abstraction, so that a special type of action can be conceived which aims at optimization and standardization of the humane. Publications:
This unique exhibition project (co-authored with Alexander-Kenneth Nagel, Ruhr University of Bochum) combines science, religion, and fine arts took place on September 16-17, 2011 in Essen, Germany, and was funded by the fellowship program of the Global Young Faculty (Stiftung Mercator, Essen). Abstract: Making visible religious diversity and plurality in the immigration country Germany and highlighting the connective resources and potentials of religion, these have been the principle object of the exhibition and art project ‘Sondernutzung – Religious Diversity in the Public Sphere.’ The project addressed the question of how the perception of religious diversity does change when different religious groups were relegated for a moment from the ‘margins’ of our cities’ backyards and neighborhood communities, business parks and industrial area to the urban centers in the Metropolis Ruhr. An ‘interfaith pavilion’ was at the heart of a temporary exhibition that took place in the inner city of Essen, Germany, on September 16-17, 2010. A menacing-looking barbed wire fence surrounded a high tower constructed of bright and yellow concrete-timber panels with six square meters of area. The interior of the pavilion invited visitors to contemplate, rest, and tranquilize. On the inner surfaces, the visitors could post and share their impressions and experiences of religious diversity as well as their opinions about religion, posterity, etc. The space between the fence and the pavilion created an exhibition platform for the presentation of multimedia based student research projects. The exhibition served both to raise the awareness of ‘hidden’ aspects of religious diversity in familiar surroundings and to stimulate discussions about religious traditions of immigrants and minorities and their public validity claims. Finally, a ten-minute documentary recorded the reactions to exhibition and art project.
It seems obvious that the Christian religion is intrinsically intertwined with the missionary assignment and that the gradual and strategic alterations of the others initiated by missionaries are based on…
Continue ReadingReligious Self and Identity of German Protestant Missionaries
Telling stories about ourselves becomes an integral part of our lives quite early. Individuals remember and anticipate their lives, they present and flesh out their selves in stories. These stories deal with the past, the present, and the future, with experiences and hopes, past sufferings and wished-for happiness, real events and things imagined. They recapitulate and assess what was and what is, they imagine what could and what should be. Rational reconstruction and analysis go hand in hand with emotional turmoil and complex evaluations in which thought and emotion, conscious decisions and subconscious relations form a strong liaison. However, this paper presents the analysis and results of an empirical investigation into this matter.These papers focus on how young Protestant believers thematize their own lifes and themselves in the mode of story-telling. Particular interest is given to the psychologically relevant functions of story-telling. (1). It is dealt with narrative biographies to explain and analyze the meanings of actions of thus who are doing missionary work, following a tradition influenced by the symbolic action theory and cultural psychology (2). Because “mission” can mean very different things, furthermore, the concept and reality of mission (3) shows in a culturally diverse world as ours – liberated, pluralized, and open to very individualistic life-styles – an ambiguous picture of the existence and development of religions and worldviews. Thereafter, first, rather tentative results of an empirical research are presented (4). Attention is given to some possible meanings of experiences and actions, the practices and symbolic representations of those who are doing missionary work within intercultural contexts and how important their experiences, hopes etc. are for their life stories and their selves. The paper ends with a discussion about the relationship between thus activities in question and the concept of “intercultural competence” (5).
Although the Christian religion has at all times been and is still connected with a predefined missionary assignment, the experiences of cultural difference, alienation, and otherness made by Protestant missionaries in intercultural practice, the interwoven transformations of their personal identity as well as relevant learning processes which enlarge their potential have barely been systematically analysed so far.This article aims at eliminating and compensating these deficits. By doing so, it will contribute to one of the most fascinating research projects in contemporary globalised societies, i.e. to the empirical studies of intercultural communication, cooperation, and competence of missionaries. Mission as a religious practice is a part of a long historical tradition in different “world religions”. Besides, it has a great salience in the world at the present time. It is surprising that the research in intercultural communication, cooperation and competence until now has not been paid much attention to the rich experiences and expertise of missionaries.
Publications: Straub, Jürgen/ Arnold, Maik (2007). Mission. In Straub, Jürgen/ Arne Weidemann/ Doris Weidemann (Hg.), Handbuch Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Kompetenz (S. 646 – 657). Stuttgart/ Weimar: Metzler Verlag.
Dr. Maik Arnold is Professor for Non-Profit-Management and Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Transfer at University of Applied Science Dresden.
