sacred

Body and Sociality in New Age Pilgrimage

The paper explores the interaction with sacred places in New Age pilgrimage. There is a tendency in social theory of religion to define New Age spirituality as individualized form of religiosity in accordance with the notion of “private religion”. Such an interpretation is based on the priority of personal beliefs and narratives upon bodily aspect of religious experience and the ways of reflecting about it.

Phenomenology of the Sacred and Fiction: The Fantastic World of Algernon Blackwood

The article deals with the work of Algernon Blackwood, the British classic of horror and science fiction literature. His novels and stories’ central theme is manifestations of another world in everyday life. To analyze Blackwood’s worldview, the author uses the tools of the phenomenology of religion, in particular, Mircea Eliade’s ideas on the sacred and the profane dichotomy and the hierophany; Rudolf Otto’s theory of the numinous; and the phenomenological theories of W.B. Kristensen and G. van der Leeuw.

The Image of the Sun in Georges Bataille’s Philosophy of the Sacred

This article considers the image of the sun in Georges Bataille’s philosophy and its position in relation to his theory of the sacred. The author puts forward the hypothesis that the sun as a conceptual metaphor accumulates meanings, notions, and intuitions that are later attributed to the sacred and are finally inscribed in its composition.

Theorising Post-Secular Society

In this article, the author speaks self-consciously as a man of faith addressing both believers and non-believers, but with the latter especially in mind.