Illness, Aesthetics, and Body Politics: Forging the Third Republic in Émile Zola's 'La Faute de l'abbé Mouret'

This article examines the political role of illness in Émile Zola’s La Faute de l’abbé Mouret (The Sin of Father Mouret) (1875) in articulating the difference between a religious and a secular body. Published in the early French Third Republic (1870–1940), this novel shows the Zolian body as the nexus upon which religious and republican discourses compete. Using Paul Ricœur’s theory on Christianity’s original sin, this article compares Mouret’s sickness with physical evil and illustrates how Zola redeploys the traditional religious symbols of the heart, the blood, and the Word to the secular realm. It will show that original sin is a Christian myth inscribed on the body, and that Zola’s reformulation of a core religious doctrine and its supporting framework can and must be dismantled for the fledgling secular Third Republic. The article shows an attempt by Zola to forge a republican self, and thereby offers a new perspective on the nature of the Zolian body which merits further study under the field of Medical Humanities. Through the construction of the religious body, the article also contributes to wider critical discussion on mythology in Zola’s work.

Evaluation of Television as a Medium for Promotion of Indigenous Culture and Traditional Heritage; a Study of the Nigeria Television Authority

Television is a medium of communication and communication is a means through which culture is spread, shared, maintained, repaired and transformed. Contemporarily, the term culture covers the domains of arts, sciences, beliefs, manner or even attitude of a group of people such as tribe, religious body or society. It can be defined as the sum total of way of life of a people such as festivals, dances, religion, language, norms/traditions etc. This study examined how the Nigeria Television Authority has been or not used in promoting Nigeria cultural values and heritage. The method adopted in the study is survey. The interview technique was used involving a total of 400 respondents drawn from the staff members of the NTA, Enugu zonal station, and the Station’s audience. Findings of the study revealed that television is a powerful medium through which a people can, through programming and content, share and export their cultural values for sustainable development, as well, a medium for eroding culture and tradition. It was further found that the NTA has not been sufficiently utilized to promote the Nigerian culture. The study recommended that mass media workers, particularly television programmes designers should sit up in the area of promoting Nigeria cultural heritage through TV programme content. Secondly, it is recommended that TV producers should endeavour to down play indecent dressing and violence, while emphasizing more of educative, informative, technological and entertainment in their productions.

Evaluation of Television as a Medium for Promotion of Indigenous Culture and Traditional Heritage; a Study of the Nigeria Television Authority

Television is a medium of communication and communication is a means through which culture is spread, shared, maintained, repaired and transformed. Contemporarily, the term culture covers the domains of arts, sciences, beliefs, manner or even attitude of a group of people such as tribe, religious body or society. It can be defined as the sum total of way of life of a people such as festivals, dances, religion, language, norms/traditions etc. This study examined how the Nigeria Television Authority has been or not used in promoting Nigeria cultural values and heritage. The method adopted in the study is survey. The interview technique was used involving a total of 400 respondents drawn from the staff members of the NTA, Enugu zonal station, and the Station’s audience. Findings of the study revealed that television is a powerful medium through which a people can, through programming and content, share and export their cultural values for sustainable development, as well, a medium for eroding culture and tradition. It was further found that the NTA has not been sufficiently utilized to promote the Nigerian culture. The study recommended that mass media workers, particularly television programmes designers should sit up in the area of promoting Nigeria cultural heritage through TV programme content. Secondly, it is recommended that TV producers should endeavour to down play indecent dressing and violence, while emphasizing more of educative, informative, technological and entertainment in their productions.

Pre-Clinical Study of Immediate Effects of Religious and Non-Religious Mindfulness Practice on Cardiovascular and Cortical Modulation

Although low levels of stress can be motivating, high levels of stress – especially when it is sustained – can be detrimental to mental and physical health. Mindfulness practice has been widely applied in health care worldwide as an effective stress management approach. This study compared the immediate effects of two types (religious: Serenity Prayer; and non-religious: Body Scan) of mindfulness practice with a control condition (resting: sitting) in six adults. This study found no statistically significant difference between the conditions, but data visualization showed a trend of cardiovascular modulation (increased high frequency of heart rate variability) and cortical modulation (increased alpha to beta ratio and theta to beta ratio of quantitative encephalogram) with a greater level of perceived stress-relieved by both types of mindfulness practice. In addition, religious belief may be a moderator of the effects of intervention. The results of this study offered insight into the effect of prayer on cardiovascular and cortical modulation for promoting the wellbeing of a person.

The Mufti and the State Administration of Islam: Some Selected Fatwas in Contemporary Perlis, Malaysia (Mufti dan Pentadbiran Islam Negeri: Beberapa Fatwa Terpilih di Perlis, Malaysia)

The paper explores an Islamic institution in contemporary Malaysia. It studies the roles of the Mufti and the State mufti office as actors in issuing and informing religious edicts (fatwas) in Perlis, a northern state of Peninsular Malaysia. As an autonomous state institution coupled with the official state’s subscription to Ahlul Sunna wal Jama’ah as a principle in interpreting Islam, the state has issued fatwas that are perceived to embrace the religious nuances of contemporary realities. The paper examines the fatwas issued by Perlis’s Mufti Office on establishing paternity claim, unilateral conversion and child custody, child vaccination, and woman leaving marital home. The fatwas unveil a meticulous process that involves consulting relevant experts in both the religious scholarly fields and the modern scientific disciplines. The fatwas indicate deep appreciation and use of centuries old Islamic religious body. The fatwas also reflect the state’s religious institution’s commitment to and understanding of protecting the basic rights of individuals as much as serving the public good. Keywords: fatwa, State Administration of Islam, Perlis, Malaysia, Mufti Office. Abstrak Artikel ini meneroka Institusi Keislaman dalam konteks Malaysia masa kini. Artikel ini meneliti peranan Mufti dan Pejabat Mufti sebagai pihak bertanggungjawab penting dalam mengeluarkan dan memaklumkan fatwa di Perlis, sebuah negeri di utara Semenanjung Malaysia. Sebagai institusi yang berautonomi, dan disokong oleh pegangan rasmi kerajaan negeri Perlis dengan fahaman Ahlul Sunna wal Jama’ah, Pejabat Mufti telah mengeluarkan fatwa yang dilihat mencakupi nuansa realiti masyarakat masa kini. Artikel ini meneliti teks fatwa yang dikeluarkan oleh Pajabat Mufti Perlis tentang isu-isu berkaitan dengan penentuan paterniti, pertukaran agama sebelah pihak dan penjagaan anak, pemvaksinan anak, dan isteri yang meninggalkan rumah. Berdasarkan penelitian, fatwa-fatwa telah disepakati melalui proses teliti dan cermat dengan merujuk kepada pakar-pakar dalam bidang agama dan saintifik. Selain itu, fatwa-fatwa ini mendedahkan tentang penghargaan mendalam terhadap legasi keilmuan Islam. Tambahan, fatwa-fatwa ini juga mencerminkan iltizam institusi keIslaman negeri dalam melindungi hak-hak individu serta melindungi kebaikan umum. Kata Kunci: fatwa, pentadbiran Islam negeri, Perlis, Malaysia, Pejabat Mufti.

Contrasting Patterns of Belonging and Believing

This chapter analyzes the strikingly divergent trajectories of Christian belief and practice in Scandinavia and the United States. All Scandinavian countries in the twentieth century experienced a decline in regular church attendance that appears to have been consistent throughout the century, and that may have begun as soon as religious compulsion was lifted in the nineteenth century. This protracted decline mirrored the slow waning of orthodox Christian belief, but this was not a decline from a previous golden age of faith; rather there seems every likelihood that the adherence of many Scandinavian people to Christian faith had been quite tenuous ever since the region was first evangelized. Yet the Scandinavian countries also illustrate in a pointed way the possibility that in certain conditions, stable patterns of religious belonging can exist almost independently of personal religious belief. Meanwhile, the United States in the twentieth century was by some criteria a more “secular” nation than Sweden or Denmark. The American state from its inception has refused to give any religious body privileged status before the law. In consequence, religion in the United States has always been divorced from the apparatus of government and public institutions to a much greater extent than in the Scandinavian nations, and in the course of the twentieth century, that divorce became more absolute in certain spheres, notably in the universities, public education, and the media.

THE TIJĀNIYYAH ṢŪFĪ BROTHERHOOD AND THE NIGERIAN PARTY POLITICS IN RETROSPECT

Religion appears to be one of the factors that determine the political situation of a country. It has played a significant role in shaping the form of Nigerian politics. The objective of this paper is to examine the participation of a religious body in the Nigerian party politics. The body is the Tijāniyyah, a Ṣūfī (mystical) brotherhood and one of the major Islamic mystical organisations in the country, the other being the Qādiriyyah. Historical and phenomenological methods were adopted for this purpose. The study revealed that the involvement of the members of the Tijaniyyah in politics was circumstantial and reactionary to the unfriendly attitude of the Qadiri-dominated Sokoto Council. It concluded that intolerance and suppression of a particular religious group could lead to political instability and social unrest, hence the need for the existing political parties and most especially the ruling party to accommodate others irrespective of their disparity.