This month’s newsletter features students’ reflections from their classes at CRCS, covering various topics such as religion and ecology, religion and culture, religion and local custom, and theoretical approaches to study religion.
Franciscus van Lith pursued Catholic acculturation with Javanese culture; separating the then common association between the Catholic mission and colonialism; and establishing a school that gave birth to pro-nationalist Catholic prominent figures, such as Soegijapranata, known for his slogan "100 percent Catholic, 100 percent Indonesian". (Indonesian)
There are at least three kinds of responses religion can take in addressing ecological crisis: recovery, by returning to tradition; reformation, by reinterpreting tradition; or replacement by finding a new religion. These are issues discusses in CRCS’ first meeting of its Religion and Ecology class. (Indonesian)
Similar to the pattern that occurred in many other areas in the archipelago, the history of religious conversion in Batak was also a history of world religions brought by colonialism, quite often with the ‘interest’ of civilizing primitive societies. As a result, Batak indigenous religion has become marginalized. (Indonesian)
The construction of what religion means or should mean in Indonesia does not only place modernist Muslims as the main historical actors. Traditionalist Muslims within Nahdlatul Ulama also took part, played a role in defining religion, and to some extent also pit it against local custom (adat). (Indonesian)
Cultural materialism holds the view that understanding the origin of ideas, including those which people call ‘culture’ or ‘religion’, cannot be separated from the material conditions that gave birth to those ideas. Sacred cows in Hinduism can serve as an example of the application of this approach. (Indonesian)
In compliance with Gadjah Mada University’s Covid-19-related policies, CRCS-ICRS weekly public discussion Wednesday Forum will be held online for the whole semester. Up to this week, we have had seven webinars. Next week’s talk will discuss about to recent development of the Islamic state.
CRCS Newsletter - November 2020
The Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) is a Master's Degree program in Religious Studies and a research center at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM).
Gedung Sekolah Pascasarjana UGM Floors 3 & 4
Jl. Teknika Utara, Pogung, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281
Telephone: + 62274-544976. Email: crcs@ugm.ac.id
Website: crcs.ugm.ac.id
