This panel explores divine-human interaction, community formation, and religious diversity in various cultural contexts. Each paper addresses its theme in a distinctively comparative manner, juxtaposing ancient Greek and Song Chinese rituals, Hindu and Muslim religious movements founded in India and Turkey, respectively, and debates about identity-formation in Muslim and Christian communities in South Korea.
This study compares attitudes towards religious diversity in Islam and Hinduism, focusing on the Muslim Nur Movement and the Hindu Ramakrishna Mission. The work explores historical and theological discourses, examining the debates in both religions on dealing with the religious "other." The study uses a tripolar classification to categorize attitudes as exclusivist, inclusivist, and pluralist. In the modern phase, the author narrows down the research by comparing the attitudes of two mainstream religious movements: the Hindu Ramakrishna Mission and the Muslim Nur Movement founded in India and Turkey, respectively. The aim is to understand the philosophy behind religious diversity and its impact on the relationship between religious communities. The investigation is based on critical analysis and discourse analysis of materials produced by both movements, such as texts, events, and grey literature, in the context of the religious "other."
In both ancient Greek and Chinese religions, dreams had been produced for direct communication with gods. A comparison of dream production in two polytheisms will involve further theological discussions than studying each polytheism separately. For example, can gods be directly accessed, or are they more hierarchical and can only be approached through priests? Do they only help with problems of this life, such as illness, wealth, exams and careers, or also have concerns over afterlife? Are rituals for producing dreams rigid or flexible, complex or simple? Are priests indispensable facilitators of dream production, or can they be absent from the process? Are temples designated place for dream production or are they not a decisive factor? From a comparative perspective, this study will explore the similarities and differences in dream production in ancient Greek and Chinese religions, and how they reflect the idea of controlled divine-human interactions.
This study was derived from the interest in building an Islamic prayer room with the increasing number of Muslim tourists and immigrants in South Korea, where the researcher lives. The Islamic prayer room has continued to trigger controversy due to the possibility of religious privilege and rising concerns that Islam will settle in South Korea, beyond simply providing facilities for tourists’ convenience. This study compared and analyzed the Islamic community Ummah and the Christian community church, focusing on the principle of community formation, the purpose of community existence, and the nature and identity of community rather than functional differences. Although there is a limit to in-depth study of the characteristics of Ummah, a community that each Islamic country has, it is hoped this study will help to understand Ummah, an Islamic community, in a deeper way within World Christianity.