Living in a Sacred Cosmos: Indonesia and the Future of Islam, by Bernard T. Adeney-Risakotta
Year: 2019
Type: book-review
Abstract: 9780985042974 (cloth), price: USD 39.00, 9780985042967, USD 28.00 (paperback).Indonesia is one of the world's most religious societies.99 % of Indonesians say religion is "important" in their daily lives.That is even higher than Saudi Arabia (93%), Pakistan (92%), Turkey (82%), or Iran (73%) (Crabtree 2010).But whereas these countries all have strong theocratic, authoritarian elements in their politics, Indonesia remains a democracy with overwhelmingly secular politics.Substantial non-Islamic minorities, totalling about an eighth of the population, have full citizenship rights.Why, two and a half millennia after philosophical thought emerged in societies all around the world (Karl Jaspers' "Axial Age", 2010), and three centuries after the Age of Enlightenment, do Indonesians appear to be still so deeply "preaxial?"Why do they still seemingly live in a "sacred cosmos" even while they enjoy the freedoms of modernity?Those are the questions this book addresses.Adeney-Risakotta's answer is that they have the genius to adhere to a uniquely open, tolerant form of religiosity.They practice their religion on a level that places it beyond the reach of philosophical truth claims.It is to them far less a matter of personal theological conviction than of communal ritual.By participating daily in the mimetic bodily movements of Islamic prayer, they signify solidarity with others, and even with the cosmos, which appears to them as sacred.The book is inspired by the communitarian philosophies of Charles Taylor, Robert Bellah, and ultimately Emile Durkheim.Religion is the glue that holds a society together.Berney Adeney-Risakotta calls Indonesia home.He has taught religious studies in Yogyakarta since the early 1990s.His is essentially an anthropology of an educated, religious segment of the population (his colleagues, we might say).He has interviewed a number of prominent Indonesians about their religious views.Several have foreign postgraduate degrees.Most lead religious
Author: Gerry van Klinken
Language: Dutch
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2925007112