Academic

Read more about the article Lecture: An Academic Outlook of New Age and Contemporary Religions – Mapping the Research Field and the Challenges it Faces
Disputation or conflict / Education and higher education / Israel / Methodology and models / Science/medicine and technology / State politics and law

Lecture: An Academic Outlook of New Age and Contemporary Religions – Mapping the Research Field and the Challenges it Faces

At the founding conference of the Israeli Association for the Study of Religions, this lecture offered an extensive view of the contemporary religiosity and spirituality space, from an academic angle. Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro was a member of the founding committee of the association and later - of its executive committee.

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November 2, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: Hermenuetical Challenges in the Study of the New Israeli Mysticism
Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Methodology and models

Lecture: Hermenuetical Challenges in the Study of the New Israeli Mysticism

An innovative research field sometimes also calls for innovative research approaches. This lecture presented five unique hermenuetical challenges in the study of the new mysticism (New Age), in Israel and in general. Along with their presentation - a corresponding research approach is offered - a network outlook. The lecture - under the title "Hermenetical Challenges in the Study of the New Israeli Mysticism" - was presented at a conference of the Department of Jewish Thought at Ben Gurion University of the Negev on "Research Trends and Methods in the 2000s", in the spring of 2003. The lecture was based on a seminar paper, and formed the basis for the first chapter of Ruah-Midbar's doctorate on New Age culture in Israel.

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November 1, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: Recycled Witches – The Retelling of Narratives from Rabbinical Literature within Contemporary Alternative Spirituality
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Popular culture and mass media / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: Recycled Witches – The Retelling of Narratives from Rabbinical Literature within Contemporary Alternative Spirituality

This lecture presents a surprising and innovative spiritual-alternative strategy of Israeli-Jews to refer to the Jewish tradition - an interpretation of the tradition while identifying with the anti-heroines of an ancient Jewish legend. In this way, the characteristic approach of the "spiritual-but-not-religious" (SBNR) trend that criticizes the religious establishment is expressed, while adopting the criticism inherent in the ancient Jewish sources. In our case it's the retelling of an ancient Jewish legend - about a witch hunt conducted by Rabbi Shimon ben Shatach in Ashkelon in the second century BC.

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October 13, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: Meditation in the Eyes of Medical Research – On the Border between Spiritual and Scientific
Critical theory / Magic and paganism / Science/medicine and technology / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: Meditation in the Eyes of Medical Research – On the Border between Spiritual and Scientific

Is there a connection between the fact that Mindfulness has become fashionable in the cultural space and the scientific recognition it has received? How did Mindfulness turn from a spiritual practice to a evidence-based scientific practice? In this lecture, we presented the development process of the scientific-medical discourse about Mindfulness, in an unusual context: observing this phenomenon as part of a cultural process. One of the main conclusions was that the intensity of the secularization and the Westernization of the meditation is a predictor of the degree of its acceptance in the Western discourse.

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June 27, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: The Mindfulness Trend Conquers the Scientific-Medical Discourse
Critical theory / Magic and paganism / Science/medicine and technology / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: The Mindfulness Trend Conquers the Scientific-Medical Discourse

this lecture presented the scientific-medical discourse on mindfulness, in which this meditation became an accepted and desirable trend. In order to illustrate the success of mindfulness - a comparison with the status of Transcendental Meditation in the scientific-medical discourse is also presented.

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June 27, 2023
Read more about the article Article: “The Most Powerful Portal in Zion”—Kursi: The Spiritual Site that Became an Intersection of Ley-lines and Multicultural Discourses
Feminism gender and sex / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Science/medicine and technology / State politics and law

Article: “The Most Powerful Portal in Zion”—Kursi: The Spiritual Site that Became an Intersection of Ley-lines and Multicultural Discourses

This article deals with the sanctification process of a site in the Land of Israel, by the Alternative Spirituality, or Neo-Pagans/Shamans. The site, that has a Christian history, and is directed by an Israeli governmental authorities, has become a focus if an invention of tradition that synthesizes a variety of discourses and traditions. Though it is percieved as a hub in a network of power sites arrayedthroughout Israel and the whole planet, some view it as the most powerful spiritual site on Earth.

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June 19, 2023
Read more about the article Panel: Spiritual Leadership in Israel
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Geography / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / State politics and law

Panel: Spiritual Leadership in Israel

This panel concluded the 9th Israeli Conference (and the last one - 2018) for the Study of Contemporary Spiritualities. It included four Israeli spiritual teachers who examined contemporary society, in Israel in particular, and its challenges, from the spiritual aspect they are occupied with.

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May 21, 2023