Neo Azzam

Response paper to Religion and Identity Charles Taylor: The Self in Moral Space Taylor thesis about the process of identity is as the dialectical process between us and our environment. He differs between condition and orientation (p.34). Those two are interwoven and make our identity based on our choice to choose what we feel the best for us. It means that there are no natural conditions that constitute us without our active action for those. In this sense, it seems to me that that Taylor tries to put the agency as the axis of life, which gives less for the role of structure such as society since we have and get our identity by choosing from our “conversation” with the situation outside. Although there is a dialectical process, we can see that the choice is coming from someone, rather than the influence from conditions outside. In his paper, Taylor questions are more started with “Who.” I do not think that this question word is the best representation to question the ident...

Response paper to Religion and Identity Order and Disorder in Global System Name    : Anwar Masduki Azzam Class     : CRCS 2012 At the first time, this article has attracted me strongly with its prelude that our era is “an era of disorder” (p. 233). It automatically brings me into the perspective that there is different view between now and past, today and yesterday. I would like to say that this article tends to differ and compare the reality. After reading into the conclusion, I see that this article truly emphasizes the disorder as a result of the process of fragmentation (p. 252). The conclusion above actually can answer my first question about what disorder we have already had recently, and why this disorder seems different from the past. However, using the second question as the main point, I think that this article has not given me a comprehensive understanding about the reality we have today. I would argue that the process of disorder...

Response paper to Religion and Identity Gregory Hooks: Can Grand Theories of The State Help Us Envision A Grand Theory of Peace? Name    : Anwar Masduki Azzam Class     : CRCS 2012 Reading this article, I found the pessimistic conclusion that there is a blur future to make peace around this world. Hooks argues that if we merely rely on the Westphalian states, we should be aware that those states will always wage war for ensuring and reaching the sovereignty and autonomy from other state. Thus, the function of several states organization such as United Nations is very unrealistic to make peace in the world. I would argue that this is very different from my understanding about the role of state and the effort to make a peace. If we merely see states as only the contestant for the other state, I could say that there are a lot of states which can build a peace each others. For example, the peace relation between Indonesia and Timor Leste recent...

Most of Muslims believe that God creates Adam as the first created man in the whole world. God creates him from clay, places him in heaven, creates Eve to be his wife, but then moves both of them into earth to pay for their mistakes in disobeying God’s command in the case of the heaven tree (we, Indonesian people name it: Khuldi tree). After coming to the Earth, then Adam and Eve have many children and become the first generation of human life in this earth. The creation story of Adam has clearly been portrayed in Quran in Al Baqarah: 30-39, Ali Imraan: 59, An-Nisaa: 1, Al Hujuraat: 13, Al-A’raaf 11-25 and 189, Al Hijr: 26-44, Al Israa: 61-65, Al Kahfi: 50, Thaaha: 55 and 115-126, Shaad: 67-68. [1] The creation Process of Adam In the Qur'an Adam was created by God from the dry soil that is then formed by God with the best possible shape. Once complete it is by God's spirit blown into him that he then came alive. This is confirmed by God in the Quran: "What...

My first question about relationship among religion, state and also civil society rose when there are many debates how to find the harmony among them. This conclusion ac c uses that historically we realize that there is a tight relationship among religion, state and civil society. We never found the rising one country without relating it to religion or specifically religious society. The obvious example is the first embodiment of USA. It was clearly stated that USA is always under one understanding about the rule of God there through the “In God We Trust” clause in the Pledge of Allegiance. It may happen only when there is a tight relationship among state, relig i on and society. Historically speaking, there is no denying about the role of relig i on or religious society in the world. Based on that conclusion, the conflict bet w een religious society and state is more about the need of defending the identity. The study of migration wave in Europe and America has triggered many wo...

1.     Normative study of religion is another language for emic way concerning the examination of religious study. This way tries to examine religion from within, which is trying to be deeper and broader area than another way of examining religion called descriptive or etic way. The differences between normative and descriptive study of religion emerged about the methodology of study. Descriptive way plays role in scientific methods, which contains many ideological values such as objectivity and universality of scientific knowledge. Those values are very important for many scientists because it can warrant the accuracy of research by using a set of scientific methodology which is so tight from the first research until the last by conducting several stages of those methodologies. The good example for normative or emic study of religion is theology. According to Davaney, Theology is a kind of study of religion which is trying to examine religion from that religious ...