The paper focuses on the topic of conceptualizing religion in Czech society today from the perspective of the Study of Religions. The paper further develops and assesses in theoretical terms the findings of descriptive content analysis published by Veronika Hásová and Jan Váně (2014), who identified and quantified the frequency of variables of religiosity applied by researchers in the Czech Republic. The characteristics applied most frequently are categorized as functional characteristics (religious affiliation, church attendance) and substantive characteristics (belief in diverse religious phenomena) of religiosity. Results and conclusions of the analysis of religiosity in the Czech Republic depend heavily on how the functional and substantive characteristics of religiosity are conceived and formulated. The functional characteristic of religious affiliation conceived in terms of church membership results in a low measure of religiosity and supports the conclusion concerning the purported irrelevance of religions and religious identities in the Czech society today. Other surveys based on different conceptualizations of religious identities reveal the relevance of religion as far as the attitudes and values of respondents are concerned. Topics connected to religions and religious identities continue to be discussed within the public sphere of Czech society, e.g. through the media. As far as the substantive characteristics of belief in religious phenomena are concerned, the specification of the subject of such belief is of vital importance. As surveys of religiosity reveal, respondents relatively often declare their belief in or reliance on phenomena connected with alternative religiosity or spirituality. The ways of conceptualizing religion in Czech society today often ignore the dynamics of religious change in modern societies and do not take into account changes in the perceived content and functions of religious phenomena. Critical examination of the variables of religiosity leads towards a re-examination of conclusions concerning the purported irreligious or secular nature of Czech society today
The present paper aims to map the history, development, and present state of the Czech colony named Gorna Oryahovitsa and to place the particular case of this community's sugar factory within the broader context of Czech migration to Bulgaria. Specifically, it summarizes certain findings from field research in Bulgaria (2016). These are supplemented by information from archive materials and literature. The field research was mainly focused on establishing contacts and interviewing local residents, seeking and collecting archive materials, and mapping and documenting this locality. and Cílem tohoto textu je zmapovat historii, osud ale i současný stav české kolonie, a zasadit konkrétní případ cukrovaru v Gorné Orjachovici do širšího kontextu migrace Čechů do Bulharska. Předkládaný příspěvek shrnuje některé poznatky z terénního výzkumu v Bulharsku (2016). Ty jsou doplněny informacemi z archivních materiálů a literatury. Terénní výzkum byl zaměřen zejména na navazování kontaktů a rozhovory s místními obyvateli, vyhledávání a sběr archivních materiálů, mapování a dokumentaci dané lokality.
The article is focused on the individual spiritual crisis of one Religious Studies student as a case study of the tension between this field of study and one's own religious/spiritual identity. From a social constructivist perspective, Religious Studies is seen as a specific subworld with its own knowledge and rules which are internalized by students during their academic socialization process. As the text argues, academic socialization into Religious Studies also has a significant impact on the students' construction of their religious/spiritual identity. The analysis shows that spiritual crisis was stimulated by these factors: 1) the disintegration of the spiritual bricolage in relationship to the knowledge gained in Religious Studies; 2) the internalization of the scientific rationalization of religions and disenchantment in everyday life; and 3) the secularization of the Religious Studies students' identity and the privatization of their personal religious/spiritual identity. To decrease this tension, the text, inspired by Jürgen Habermas' conception of rational discussion in the public institutional space, proposes a shift from secular academic socialization to post-secular academic socialization. This means the direct integration of religious/spiritual identities into the academic socialization process and a shift from the Weberian conception of objectivity to the Latourian one regarding the ideal-typical construction of the scholar in the Religious Studies subworld.
The article concerns itself with the evolution of the perception of the affiliaton with the "old country" among the Bukovina Slovaks before 1947, and namely with the retrospective construction of the myth of the preservation of identity in abroad post reemigration to Slovakia in 1947.
This article presents a Czech translation with commentary of the anonymous text entitled De heresi catharorum in Lombardia by its finder and editor, Antoine Dondaine. The translation is based on the edition of the Basel manuscript (Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, ms. C.V.17, fol. 85r-87v) in Antoine Dondaine (ed.), "La hiérarchie cathare en Italie I: Le De heresi catharorum", Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 19, 1949, 306-312. The introduction summarizes and develops the arguments in favor of a very early date for the text, between 1190 and 1215. Besides notes on particular passages of the text, one topic is commented on in greater detail: the image of Cathar churches as having very definite teachings and a solid awareness of their own identity, history and succession in the episcopal ordination. Against the background of current discussions on the "invention of heresy" and on the deconstruction of anti-heretical discourses, the article argues that there are good reasons not to consider the narrative in the De heresi a mono-vocal polemical fable – as Jean-Louis Biget has claimed, following and slightly simplifying Gabriele Zanella's ideas – but a relatively fair poly-vocal narrative trying to make sense of Cathar groups using not only polemical knowledge but also the narratives of the non-conformists themselves. This conclusion deliberately counters the current deconstructionist trend, eye-opening in many ways but highly ideological when transformed into a dogma sweeping away what interpretive historical work should remain in the first place, i.e. the patient and close reading of sources.
This article analyzes the historical narratives presented in the exhibitions at the Museum of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka. It also clarifies who promotes that particular representation of history and what factors influence the museums decisions. The article explores the museums development, its organization, financing, and self-presentation, and most importantly the narratives of its permanent and temporary exhibitions. During our analysis, we emphasize the way in which an ingroup is defined in opposition to outgroups, and especially the question of whether or not this act of defining is aimed towards a calming of inter-ethnic relations. The article shows that the Museum of Republika Srpska has a strongly Serbian nationalist tone since, as a key cultural institution of Republika Srpska, it has become an instrument of the centralized politics of memory within the Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. and Článek analyzuje historické narativy prezentované v Muzeu Republiky srbské v Banje Luce a zároveň osvětluje, kdo prosazuje danou reprezentaci historie a které faktory mají vliv na muzejní produkci. Mapuje vývoj muzea, jeho správu, financování, sebeprezentaci a zejména narativy trvalých i krátkodobých expozic. Při jejich analýze je kladen důraz na způsob definování vlastní skupiny vůči těm ostatním, zvlášť na otázku, jestli je nastaveno směrem k smíření mezietnických vztahů. Ukazuje se, že v Muzeu RS je používán narativ s výrazně nacionalistickým akcentem, neboť je jako centrální kulturní instituce převážně srbské entity Bosny a Hercegoviny úzce provázáno s politickou scénou Republiky srbské a stává se nástrojem prosazované politiky paměti.
Cílem naší studie je analýza soudobých proměn v bulharské televizní produkci. Pozornost je věnována především zvratům, které přinesl rok 2011. V souladu s obecným posunem směrem k zábavním žánrům bude podrobně analyzována sféra televizní seriálové produkce. Příklad seriálu Nadbytek Sofijčanů (Столичани в повече) prezentuje jak televizní seriál stejně jako například náboženství může dávat odpovědi na esenciální otázky každodenního života, týkající se především toho, kdo jsem, jaký jsem a kdo a jaký je ten druhý. Seriály tedy tvoří platformu pro diskuzi o identitách a tím dává svým konzumentům odpovědi na otázky, které mají politický základ. Politické aspekty bulharské seriálové produkce budou hodnoceny především ve vztahu k turecké seriálové produkci. and The aim of our study is to analyse contemporary transformations in Bulgarian television production. Special attention will be paid to the transformations which occurred in 2011. In accordance with the general shift towards entertainment genres, we will analyse in detail the domain of TV series production. The serial 'The Sofia Residents in Surplus' (Столичани в повече) displays how a TV series in ways analogous to religion could answer the essential questions of everyday life, which usually include questions like; who I am, what I am like, and who and what the other is like. The series create a platform for discussion about identities and answers politically based questions. The political aspects of Bulgarian series production are evaluated primarily in relation to the production of Turkish series.