Faith Travels by Streetcar

Published: 2022
Falschrum Books

Abtract

How do faith, norms, and objects of daily use relate to each other? Does faith necessarily imply a limitation of freedom? How do members of religious and non-religious communities give visibility to their beliefs, and how are they perceived from the outside?

Both religious and secular normative practices which structure and regulate public and private life often involve objects of daily use. Focusing on the rules, convictions, and conventions of the monotheistic religions – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity – as well as on secular beliefs, Faith Travels by Streetcar combines photos of such objects and texts written by scholars of various disciplines: sociology, philosophy, Arabic, Islamic and Jewish studies, as well as Protestant Theology.

The objects included in Faith Travels by Streetcar relate to norms and rules surrounding food consumption, clothing and fashion, as well as education and play. While on the one hand showing that rules and norms which limit the freedom of the individual exist in all societies, the items displayed in this volume also highlight how these norms and rules are constantly contested and subjected to negotiation, dispute, and change. The permeability and fluidity between faith, norms, and deliberate limitations of one’s freedom for the sake of the common good or a belief is mirrored in the art installation by Tim Greaves, created for an exhibition curated by the editor, Dr. Stefan Maneval.

The book is in English and German.

Contributions by AGYA members

Die Rettung der Heiligen Zeit. Eine Annäherung an Islamische Rituale mit Byung-Chul Han.

Salvaging Sacred Time: Approaching Islamic Ritual through Byung-Chul Han

Amro Ali
p. 192-207