Chapter 2

The Crisis of the Holy
Process Overview

Alon Goshen-Gottstein
The Elijah Interfaith Institute

2.1	Defining Our Topic

The striking topic around which the present Elijah think-tank was formed was not our own invention. It was suggested by assembled religious leaders, who gathered in Seville, at the end of 2003, for the inaugural meeting of the Elijah Interfaith Academy’s Board of World Religious Leaders. It follows the successful implementation of the model according to which scholars from different religions  prepare materials for religious leaders, who then engage in conversation based upon this previous preparation, with an eye to addressing global contemporary concerns. We asked religious leaders gathered in Seville: What would you like us to further reflect upon, on your behalf? A number of the twenty or so answers that we received came neatly under the rubric of “Crisis of the Holy”. 
This is a topic for religions proper, rather than a topic that confronts society at large and that religions too need to address, like our earlier project on xenophobia and the attitude to the other. There are several underlying assumptions that inform the present project. The first is that there is indeed a crisis. Moreover, that crisis impinges itself as a significant factor in the minds and realities of religious leaders as well as practitioners. Secondly, while each religion may live the crisis in its own terms and in ways particular to its own structures, it seems (and so much of the present project is indeed based upon impressions, even if learned ones),  there is something common to the crisis of all religions. And in some sense the commonalities may outweigh the individual particularities, thereby making this crisis a subject worthy of sharing between different religions. Finally, if something is common to all traditions, then how we deal with it may also be similar. We may thus reflect upon concrete strategies for dealing with the problem in a collaborative framework. We may even be able to share strategies and coping mechanisms across different traditions. Hence, our coming together as scholars of different religions to discuss the crisis of the Holy.
Of course, not all religions experience crisis in the same way. For some crisis is an important component of their ongoing work and of how they assess their being in the world. Our discussions have taught us that this is certainly the case for Judaism and Christianity. For others, one may identify various aspects of crises, though these are not necessarily a focal point of their attention. Nevertheless, despite differences in how central crisis is to the continuing reflection of a given tradition, the significant fact is that religious leaders representing multiple religions and various streams within these religions concurred on the usefulness of these discussions and saw in the topic one that is helpful to their work as religious leaders in the contemporary world and one that holds the promise for mutual collaboration and inspiration. 
What is true of the one component of our theme is even more true of the other - the holy. Not all religions subscribe to the same notion of the holy, and within religious traditions we find considerable variations regarding how the holy is understood. The most extreme case, that came up time and again in our discussions, is that of Buddhism. David Chappell, a pioneer of Buddhist-Christian dialogue and himself a Buddhist practitioner and scholar of note, was taken away from us, soon after taking part in the first meeting of our Think Tank meeting in Barcelona in July 2004. All group members treasure his memory and value his friendship and partnership. One of the first things David pointed out was that the notion of the Holy is actually quite foreign to Buddhism, that developed in the first instance in reaction to existing notions of holiness, and through their explicit rejection. While various forms of Buddhism, especially of the Mahayana school, did develop de facto recognition in holiness, as this attaches itself to people, places, rituals etc., one must recognize that holiness is valued in very different ways in Buddhism as compared to the Abrahamic faiths or even to Hinduism.
Even traditions that place a high premium on holiness do not necessarily exhibit a single understanding of it. At the one extreme one may consider holiness to be the making of space, of setting apart, of various aspects, such as time, space, people. Holiness thus understood emphasizes the human action of setting apart and its normative and sociological implications. The opposite understanding emphasizes the essential and ontological dimensions of holiness. That which is holy has some inherent and essential characteristic that sets it apart from that which is profane, and even more, that which is impure and unholy. Some of the classical scholarly treatments of holiness assume some dimension of this latter, essential, sense of holiness. Thus, Rudolph Otto, in his classical work  “The Holy” refers to the numinous character and to the characteristic of the holy that is made manifest through acts of setting apart. Even more explicit is the treatment of holiness by Mircea Eliade. Holiness serves as a core concept in his work, with “The Sacred and the Profane” being but one of the many places where Eliade treats the subject. In Eliade’s understanding, the holy is indeed a manifestation of another order of being, finding its expression in our life through the various forms of manifestation and revelation captured in religion. It would seem that some of our religious traditions treat holiness more along the human, legal, institutional side. Others emphasize the essential dimension. A broad generalization, misleading as all generalizations are, allows us to consider Islam as approaching holiness in the former sense, while much, though not all, of Judaism approaches holiness in the latter sense.
With such varieties in the understanding of holiness, in what sense can we refer to ‘the crisis of the Holy’ as something that different religions can address? It should be stated at the outset of the present project that we do not assume a uniform understanding of holiness.  In one sense, ‘the crisis of the Holy’ is simply a catchy phrase. It points to an area of concern, rather than to a strictly conceived theological understanding that would be claimed as common to all religions. Thus, in a minimal sense, one need not conceptualize religion in terms of  ‘the holy’, as we noted above with reference to Buddhism, to find the topic relevant. However, there may be more to the present project than simple concern for the well-being of religions and their institutions. Discussions about ‘religion and secularity’ or ‘religion and modernity’ abide. The overlap between the present discussion and sociologically based discussion that examine the present state of a given religion or religion in general in contemporary society is, of course, significant. Yet, our project aspires to something more than a neutral sociological description of religion in change, or even of religion in crisis.
The present project grows out of the concerns of religious leaders, representing different religious traditions. It thus grows from within religion, or better yet: religions in dialogue. As such, it touches upon some of the ultimate concerns of religion. While survival and transformation are, of course, core concerns of any religious tradition, there are other aspects that are broached through the present posing of the problem. These concern the ultimate purpose and viability of religion. In this sense, to speak of ‘the crisis of the Holy’ is to suggest that the composite situation, to be described below, touches upon core issues that are deeper than the concern for continuity and transformation in religious institutions. Growing out of the initiative of religious leaders, the present project seeks to consider the relationship between religions and contemporary reality also through the lens of the ultimate purpose and significance, the telos of religions. As such, it is a project that combines perspectives that are both external and observation-based, such as sociology, and internal and reflection and theology-based. We thus engage in an attempt to think the complex situation of ‘the crisis’ in terms that are not simply descriptive, in an attempt to gage the possible significance of the crisis for the religions themselves. The present project undertakes to examine the ‘crisis of the Holy’ from a perspective that combines the observations and the descriptions of the outsider with the intuition that seeks to bring about positive growth and transformation, appropriate to the insider. In this way, we seek to stimulate a healthy exchange and reflection among the religious leaders, who felt the need in the first instance to devote thought and attention to the ‘crisis of the Holy’. Thus, the crisis of the Holy’ is more than a clever phrase inasmuch as it points to a dimension of ultimacy and of transcendence that is challenged by the ‘crisis’. 
It is recognized that the term ‘holy’ is not employed in equal ways by all religions. Nevertheless, it figures heavily both in most religious traditions and in much scholarly discussion of religion as a phenomenon. Hence, in using it we appeal, at the very least, to a broad, if not universal, convention. Some traditions or conceptualizations of religion may substitute terms such as ‘ultimacy’, ‘transcendence’ or ‘purpose’. The point is that the choice of language suggests concerns that bridge the external perspective with the concerns that are proper to religions as systems of meaning, seeking to address that self-same external perspective from the perspective of their own mandate of providing meaning.
This brings us to one of the key insights that has informed our work as a group. To speak of ‘crisis’ has negative connotations. The implied understanding is that the old is good, and that it is in some way threatened. Indeed, this may be the case and many religions may feel themselves precisely in such a position. Nevertheless, the ‘crisis’ contains within it also seeds of growth, potentiality for transformation. Threat may be the starting point of the crisis. Yet, along with threat come challenges and opportunities as well. Religions are challenged to address new situations and with that comes the opportunity for growth, for transformation, for purification, for discovering new forms and new meanings within religion. The crisis need not, therefore, be viewed as exclusively negative. It contains within it also possibilities for growth and transformation, opportunities and challenges for realizing the ultimate purpose of religion. 
This statement is to a large extent based upon a view of religion, that needs to be spelled out, namely:  religion as process. The view of crisis in relation to religion could address religion as static or dynamic entities. As static entities they may be thought of as fixed and closed systems, given from the beginning in their wholeness and thus perfect both historically and ideally. Against such a view, to admit crisis is to acknowledge a fundamental breakdown in tradition and to recognize that deep imperfection has set in. Moreover, the only response to such an understanding of crisis would be the attempt to return to the original wholeness, short of which all else is imperfect. For such a view, crisis is a threat to be overcome.
The alternative to such a view is a dynamic understanding of religion, as capable of growing and adapting itself to changing circumstances. Accordingly, the core spiritual impetus or vision adapts and accommodates itself to changing times, circumstances and challenges. According to such a vision, the crisis holds in it also the seeds of growth and positive transformation. What we experience as crisis may actually be the spiritual growth pangs of religion, as it becomes increasingly attuned to the will of God, or to its original purpose, given present circumstances. The history of religions is, according to such a view, a rich dialectic of stability and change, of continuity and challenge. 
It is this latter view that informs the present collection of papers. In our understanding, the challenge of the crisis contains the seeds of transformation. Difficult and painful as it may be, it is not necessarily a bad thing to be avoided. Rather, it is a challenge and those most challenged by it are the religious leaders to whom our thoughts are addressed. Thus, offering an overview of the crisis is, in fact, an invitation to constructive reflection upon the ways religions are called to grow in accordance with the higher design, made manifest at this point in time.

2.2	Is the Holy in Crisis?

Posing the question in this way points to the absurdness of taking the title of our project in the most literal sense. Few would argue that the Holy itself cannot be in crisis. To the extent that ‘the Holy’ is an epithet for divine or transcendent or ultimate reality, we should recognize that in its ultimacy this reality is not threatened by any of the factors that go into making the present ‘crisis of the Holy’. 
Nevertheless, it may be equally false to simply state that ‘the ultimate’ is happy in the heavens, while all problems reflect only crises in human institutions and organizations. The crisis is more significant than worry about declining church membership or increasing rates of assimilation in the Jewish community. If one is willing to accept the premise that the ultimate, the divine, is engaged in a project with humanity, and that within that project religions are formed as vehicles for education, transformation of society and the guiding of individuals and collectives to the good life, understood also in terms of higher spiritual realities, then the crisis may be located not simply within the human dimension of religion but at the interface of the human and the divine as well. In other words: as a time of change and transformation, brought about through the conglomeration of elements to be shortly described below, this point in time also constitutes a challenge for how the ultimate reality is expressed through the vehicles of religion. If by ‘crisis’ we refer not only to the negative expressions of the crisis but also to the challenges and opportunities that it includes, then in some sense it may be appropriate to refer to the ‘crisis of the Holy’ proper. In other words, there may be a sense in which the crisis is not simply a sociological matter, something to be described through the tools of sociology, but also something of metaphysical significance, calling for theological reflection and understanding. 
It is here that we may locate the uniqueness of the present project. We are seeking to consider ways in which the ‘crisis of the Holy’ may serve as a basis for creative reflection by scholars and religious leaders. The kind of reflection we envision goes beyond the merely descriptive sociological analysis. It calls for thinking from within about the challenges and opportunities created by the crisis. As such, it maintains a perspective on religions as vehicles for ‘the Holy’, and seeks to engage religions from the perspective of their ultimate meaning. 
Let us, then, turn our attention now towards the various dimension of that complex reality that we have chosen to address as ‘crisis of the Holy’. Because the phenomenon is broad and complex, it is made up by a variety of forces and circumstances. In what follows, various phenomena will be grouped under major group headings. The first of these touches upon what has been suggested as the uniqueness of our project: reference to the ultimate purpose of religion.

2.3	The Crisis of the Holy as a Crisis of Purpose

The most important aspect of ‘crisis of the Holy’ touches upon the ultimate meaning and purpose of religions. Are religions able to achieve their ultimate stated spiritual purpose? Perhaps the most important area for reflection is to what extent the series of factors listed below and the accumulated pressures they exert upon the forms of religion impede the spiritual functioning of religion. It is recognized that to speak of the telos of religion assumes a particular spiritual worldview or vantage point, other than the purely descriptive perspective of religions as they are. This, however, is precisely the perspective appropriate for religious leaders and for religious thinkers. Hence, it informs the present reflections.
There are multiple levels of meaning and purpose. One aspect is that of the loss of spiritual purpose. This finds expression in the various expressions of religions being concerned with their own physical survival. The sum total of pressures exerted upon religions may amount to a paralyzing effect upon religions’ ability to conduct their believers to the stated spiritual goals of the religious traditions.
Loss of telos may itself express itself in various ways. On the one hand one may identify a loss of transcendence. Emphasis upon the concrete forms of religion and the attempt to safeguard them may lead to over identification with these forms, at the expense of using them as vehicles to achieve their ultimate goals. Broader perceptions of religion often reinforce such loss of ultimacy and transcendence. For example, in a variety of circles, religions - individually or collectively - are configured as cultures. Emphasis upon culture is often an attempt to uphold religion as something of enduring value, despite a secular perspective from which religion is viewed. Thus, the human, social or cultural values are highlighted at the expense of those elements of religion that address the ultimate, the beyond, and the transcendent. However, loss of telos need not be limited to the transcendental dimension of religion. Religion addresses broader social reality and contains a social vision. In certain instances an inwardness produced by the ‘crisis of the Holy’ leads to withdrawing from the broader social arena and to the loss of social vision particular to the tradition. 
One may consider both dimensions of loss of telos as expressions of a yet broader phenomenon. Religions are comprehensive systems, better yet: comprehensive systems of providing meaning to life. Religion addresses both the ultimate, usually the hereafter, and the here and now in all its concrete manifestations. Ideally, religion provides meaning to all individual, family, social, national, universal  - and one may go on in naming the relevant aspects - expressions of life. Whether it actively and directly controls all aspects of life or not, it nevertheless ideally has the task of charging them with meaning. One important way of characterizing the ‘crisis of the Holy’ is precisely that such comprehensiveness is lost. If in former times religion was the norm, providing the canons of interpretation for life in all its diverse aspects, today religion may be considered the alternative, the break, from the norm. The norm of life is often set by market realities and the unrelenting pressures of work. These shape life, while religion is relegated to a mere break from this unrelenting pressure. Consequently, a more fragmented way of making sense of life is often the norm. Political forces, market forces, science and technology, psychology and any number of additional forces have each carved out slices of life and provided them with an interpretive framework through which meaning is provided. Religions collectively have been challenged to either integrate a variety of competing systems of endowing meaning into their own worldview or to justify from within the resources of their own self understanding why both control and meaning-giving should be relinquished in favor of competing systems of providing meaning. As more and more dimensions of life are seen outside the range of the interest of religion and as more of more of life is surrendered to the many forces competing for control, religion gradually ceases to be the broader factor that endows, orients and structures life. To recognize this  breakdown of the holistic and integrated function of religion and the resultant tensions, competitions and mechanisms through which religions address the breakdown is perhaps to gain the broadest perspective upon the ‘crisis of the Holy’ . 

2.4	Creating the Crisis  - Religion Under External Pressure

The association of religion and crisis may not, in and of itself, be new or unique to the present point in time. One may claim that some sense of crisis is fundamental to all forms of religion. If religion negotiates between ideals and realities, the strive for the ultimate and the realization in the here and now, some sense of tension, failure and crisis is inevitable. Indeed, some of the foundational stories of different religious traditions hinge on crisis, built into the fabric of their view of life or history. Crises have been present in different forms in all religions’ histories. Some of those crises are also part of the contemporary challenges facing religion. For example:  issues of identity, as these play themselves out in the relations between religions today are a continuation of centuries-old tensions. The same holds true for issues of authority and group definition within the Christian world, a problem that continues to inform crisis in a Christian context.  Nevertheless, there is something unique about the present point in time, when considering religions, in their plurality, and crisis. When the various factors we are about to consider are taken in their totality, they amount to unprecedented pressure upon religion. The variety of factors and their intensity suggest this situation is unique in history. What is certainly unique is the fact that the various factors are not affecting one single religious tradition, or even several. Rather, what we refer to as the ‘crisis of the Holy’  is affecting all our religions collectively. Despite differences in emphasis, particular to one religion over and against another, there are broad commonalities that affect all religious traditions, thereby making the crisis a global phenomenon. Thus, to the extent that the ‘crisis of the Holy’  consists of opportunities, as much as threats, these broad phenomena, common to all of our religions, are in fact possibilities for growth for all of our religions and hence suggest new possibilities relevant to all our religions.
The following list of phenomena constitutes a partial catalogue of the external factors bringing pressure to bear upon our religions. While the list may not be exhaustive, it is suggestive of the breadth, variety and intensity of factors affecting the forms religions take and the ways in which they are challenged to address contemporary challenges.
Having pointed to the global nature of the processes at hand, we may begin this catalogue by pointing the phenomenon of globalization. Along with the economic and the political dimensions of globalization come also strong influences in the fields of ideas, ideology and lifestyle. While not necessarily impacting religion directly, they do impact life in society in significant ways that affect religion globally. Thus, the forces of globalization serve as carriers for many of the attitudes, habits and new forms that religions are taking. Media and mass communication play, of course, a central role in creating a single culture around the world, thereby leading to the creation of common attitudes in parts of the globe previously separated by deeper cultural divides. Technology too is ubiquitous, its fruits being enjoyed worldwide. However, along with the spread of technology comes the challenge it presents. As technology gives control of greater areas of life, this sense of control of human creativity can potentially challenge religion. The increase in human autonomy and power may, though it need not always, create the sense that various arenas of life can be controlled and determined through human initiative and its technological feats. This could, and often does, lead to a sense of the diminished relevance of religion in providing meaning to those areas. It is not argued here that this is a necessary consequence of the spread of technology. Often it is a consequence of what may be termed ‘scientism’, a pseudo-scientific attitude or one that exhibits excessive faith in the power of science and its rational premises in providing answers to the absolute questions and providing directions in facing all contemporary challenges, simply on the basis of scientific and technological knowledge alone.
Technology initiates change in religion even when it does not threaten religion directly. Two examples suffice. Through technology, holy sites previously accessed only by means of arduous pilgrimage, are now accessible within the click of a mouse. Notions of sacred time and place are thus challenged and transformed through the possibilities provided by technology. Technology also leads to the spread of knowledge and its greater accessibility. While this might seem as an accomplishment of religious ideals to some, in other ways it threatens traditional forms of religion. The secrecy attached to certain ancient bodies of knowledge is undermined, leading to shifts in the sociology and spread of knowledge. Similarly, authority is challenged and reconfigured as knowledge spreads and the boundaries of the canon are potentially redrawn, by means of technological advance. 
Further expressions of the sweeping effects of ideological trends throughout our word may be found with reference to the effects of secularization. While statistical studies do show that most societies still consider religion to play a major role, there is also a strong tendency to secularization that is affecting all religions, leading to drop in membership along with increasing distance and criticism towards religion. Often secularization is a byproduct of economic progress, contact with western, perhaps better yet: European, trends. While different societies and religions experience secularism in different ways, there is a rise in secularism, especially among elites. Thus, while some forms of secularism may not be anti-religious in and of themselves, the overall dominance of secular ideologies in the western world constitutes a serious challenge to religions.
Along with an increase in secularism, we may note the effects of democracy and its spreading to new territories. This is not to suggest that democracy is inherently incompatible with a religious worldview. Nevertheless, along with democracy comes also an appreciation of the role of the individual and the potential decline in status of traditional figures, structures and institutions of authority, as these have found traditional expression. Further ideological support for these tendencies is found in the rise of a variety of related ideals and values, primary among which is the notion of human rights. In fact, universal ideals that are broader than the individual, such as environmentalism and animal rights, can potentially exert additional pressures upon religions, thereby indirectly bringing further pressure to bear upon the individual, in relation to collective religious identity. The  upshot of it all is that individual choice, quest and identity emerge as factors that must be reckoned with by religions and their structures of authority, in ways not imagined by earlier generations.
There are other, less ideologically justifiable, aspects of globalization that deeply affect religion. Consumerism is an important byproduct of globalization. The primary driving force through which ideas and attitudes spread is, of course, economical. This drive creates consumer societies, wherever buying  power, coupled with the possibility of implementing the particular life-style, permit it. The effects of consumerism on religion can be devastating. In a culture that sees reality through the lens of consumer reality, religion too becomes a commodity. Thus buying religious objects could replace genuine spiritual practice. The rise of religious tourism, noted below, certainly contributes to this tendency. From here arises also the growing phenomenon of treating religion as one more item on a supermarket shelf, picking and choosing the appropriate brand, or the mix and match of religious practices, as though they were pieces of apparel of a (divine) designer’s wardrobe. The effects of such mentality on the stability of religious institutions and on their perceived authority is obvious. Religions are forced to sell themselves, and are thus transformed in the process. Consumerist mentality, applied to religion, creates a new type of religious competition. Earlier theological competition can give way to a competition driven by market forces, as these become intertwined with religious concerns. One instance of such commodification of religion is the creation of religious superstars (such as the late Pope and the Dalai Lama) by media and market forces. While not as ideologically motivated as some of the other movements and tendencies discussed here, the sheer power of consumerism as a way of life has profound impact upon how religion is perceived and how in turn it is made to function. 
One important factor that is related to the changing landscape of growing individuality and the insistence of various groups upon their rights and claims for specific and adequate identity and recognition is the challenge of feminism. Feminism constitutes a critique of traditional forms of religion and in its secular versions offers a strong challenge, as well as strong alternative perspective on society and reality than those often espoused by traditional religions. 
Feminism, as well as scientism, are world views, even epistemologies in their own right. We may also consider historicism a critical epistemology, affecting the view of religion. Thus, the ability to reduce religions to historical developments and thereby to emphasize their historical contingency provides one, among several, critical epistemologies, that weaken the absolutism associated with religion, its status, truth claims and authority in earlier periods. One particular mental attitude, common in particular in the so-called post-modern period, is that of relativism. Accordingly, all religions are but relative expressions of the same, or similar realities. Religion can not make absolute truth claims and its institutions and authorities falsely claim absolute validity for their teachings. Relativism touches both at the heart of the relationship between one religion and another and of the relationship between religion and other systems of endowing meaning. A broader relativistic view thus undermines the public standing of religion.
Erosion of religion’s authority and standing need not be direct. There are forces in society that contribute to such erosion even without targeting religion in an intentional or focused way. Two examples suffice.
The family is a primary locus for the practice of religion. It is where religion is learned, celebrated and transmitted. Broadly speaking, society is witnessing significant changes in the understanding and function of the family. Indeed, in the present context we may refer to a crisis of the family, as a parallel crisis, that ultimately is refracted in ‘the crisis of the Holy’. Thus, the breakdown, leading to the eventual redefinition, of the meaning of family has direct repercussions on the knowledge of, transmission of and capacity to celebrate religion. 
A second, less dramatic, but nevertheless interesting, example is that of religious tourism. This is not a reference to pilgrimage, that actually assumes new and original forms, in response to the ‘crisis of the Holy’ . Rather, this is a reference to the unprecedented possibilities that modern travel presents for visiting religious sites, worldwide, in a context that is no longer traditional or religious. While modern travel is not in and of itself negative, the question must be posed what are the consequences of widespread practices as these create new approaches and views of religion. In what way do traditional understandings of sacred space, sacred time and ritual become eroded through new habits that lead to exposing the intimacy of one’s religion to the gaze of the visiting other? Trivial as this case may be at first hearing, it actually portrays fundamental issues and difficulties that bring us to the heart of our crisis.

2.5	The Crisis as Threat - The Structures of Religious  Institutions

Needless to say, religions cannot remain the same in view of all the above pressures. The sum total of the pressures and movements mentioned above may be considered in terms of power negotiation. Religions concentrate power and negotiate it. By power is intended both political and social power, as well as means of guiding a variety of expressions of power in life. In fact, power and its negotiation in accordance with their own stated ideals constitutes one of the greatest of challenges for religions, as these find themselves cyclically in positions at times closer and at times further removed from a place of influence on power in the concrete spheres of life. The ‘crisis of the Holy’  may thus be seen as a threat to the powers of religion. Its primary challenge is to the authority of established religious structures. The processes here described amount to a challenge, at times even a denial, of the power and authority of religious traditions and their structures.
One of the immediate effects of these forces is the increasing demand on equality within religious structures. The demand for equality will, of course, find different expressions in different traditions. Thus the push for equality in face of the traditional Hindu caste system, the push for more democratic processes within ecclesiastical structures or the push for broader diffusion of knowledge within religious movements that had previously exercised control over knowledge and its dissemination.
What is under threat is thus the stability of religious institutions. And more is at stake than simply the authority of religions, measured in the degree that adherents follow the commands of religious leaders. By stability of religious institutions we refer to the very viability of religious institutions, measured in the long run. Thus, monastic orders, both east and west, are undergoing change, but also frequently decimation. Similarly, religious traditions that depend on transmission frequently remain without the next generation to continue the tradition. While all traditions may be touched by such lack of continuity, perhaps the variety of sub-traditions of Hinduism are most affected by it. Yet, the challenge of transmission of knowledge and its continuity challenges all of our traditions.

2.6	The Crisis - Habits of Mind

If the objective threats to the physical stability of religious institution is one pole through which the crisis is expressed, the subjective attitudes of mind that are brought to bear upon religion are the other. Indeed, it may be argued that at the core of the crisis are attitudes, ideas and habits of mind, that eventually impinge upon the concrete and institutional expressions of religion. Turning our attention to the habits of mind characteristic of the crisis we may best begin with individualism as a feature of the contemporary mind. Highlighting the individual as an ideal, as witnessed by several of the forces listed above, has significant consequences for the overall standing of religion. We have already noted some of those, such as the increasing pressure for democratization and broader diffusion of knowledge, along with the pressure to increase representation and opportunity for previously under-represented groups, foremost amongst which are women. But there is more to the emphasis upon the individual. Here too we may consider positive and negative expressions of such individualism.
On the one hand we note a sense of distance and disconnectedness of individuals, in relation to religion. Thus, to use Max Weber’s term, we may speak of disenchantment with the spiritual life, having lost the power of attraction and interest, this having been taken up by some of the other forces spelled out above. A related, though not identical expression, of flailing individual relationships to the collective may be found in the recognition of alienation, as an almost all-pervading phenomenon in relation to each of our religions. Thus, there are broad segments of religions’ former membership, that suffer from alienation in relation to religions and their structures. The youth are prime carriers of such sentiments of alienation, but not exclusively so. In part, the sense of alienation hinges upon the fulfillment, or lack thereof, of the quest for democratization and representation, referred to above. The consequences of alienation are, of course, dropping membership in religious communities. These may be expressed in some cases in terms of lowered attendance in houses of worship and in others in terms of assimilation and of moving out of traditional religious structures.
Yet, alongside these negative expressions of individualism, we also encounter attempts at religious revival and the quest for spiritual meaning, carried out along the lines of individualism. Disenchantment with secularism, modernity and scientism generate alternative religious responses. Primary among these is the strong quest for spirituality that has come to dominate the private, and to a certain degree public, religious landscape. Spirituality is slowly gaining standing and is becoming the appropriate buzz word through which that which is essential in religion is portrayed. The quest for spirituality finds various expressions both in and beyond religion. Within religious traditions there are any number of attempts to recast, rediscover or configure anew the significance of established religion in light of spirituality in general, or more particularly - in light of the spiritual heritage of the individual religious tradition. Yet, spirituality cannot be contained within one particular religion. Often, the quest for spirituality leads to borrowing and sharing of religious traditions, across traditional religious lines, in an attempt to deepen religious awareness. Some contemporary phenomena such as the so-called Jew-bus, that is: Jews who seek their spirituality through the practice of Buddhist meditation and other forms of practice, are expressions of the quest for spirituality cutting across religious traditions. More broadly speaking, the so-called new age is a broad and not fully defined attempt to highlight spirituality as an alternative to existing religious forms. The great suspicion with which it is met by traditional religious authorities testifies both to the need it fulfills and to the threat it constitutes. Established religions are wary both of the competition and of what they consider immature and eclectic spiritual practices. The new age is often, perhaps usually, syncretistic, drawing upon various mixed religious traditions. The ultimate arbiter of the value of those traditions and of how they are to be put into practice is the individual herself. Hence, one may recognize here a consumerist expression of the individual quest for spirituality.
But perhaps the most strident expression of the tension between traditional forms of religion and the contemporary quest for spirituality may be found in what originated in a slogan, but seems to be gaining the status of a movement: I am spiritual, not religious. To thus juxtapose religion and spirituality is to suggest the latter’s autonomous standing. It is the height of expression of individual religion, divorced from traditional forms, seeking new expressions for individual realization, while consciously rejecting traditional religion.

2.7	The New Forms of Religion

Of course, traditional religions cannot remain impervious to the challenges posed by the crisis and to the attitudes of mind that are characteristic of it. There is not one response, typical of religious traditions. Multiple responses characterize the different traditions. What they all have in common are the new forms they take in response to the crisis. Forms that religions adapt in response to crisis, be it the current aggregate of factors or earlier crises characteristic of the various stages of modernity, colonialism, secularism and the likes, are in many ways unanticipated. They come at the expense and sacrifice of some portions of tradition, that are relinquished in the process of shaping a new religious response to the perceived threat. Thus, crisis in general, and the present ‘crisis of the Holy’ end up shaping religions in new ways. Some of these ways may be creative; many represent a loss and may be judged as a more imperfect form of the religious traditions, compared with their own past and ideals. Let us note some examples.
As the papers in this volume will suggest, some of our religions suffer from a form of corporate religion, or as called by other observers - syndicated religion. By this is meant a form of religion that highlights the collective, its values and ideals at the expense of classical spiritual ideals associated with the tradition. One could see how a response to excessive individualism might be an excessive emphasis on the corporate elements of the same tradition. Thus, both Hinduism and Islam know of attempts to cast national, political collective identities, that are identified with the tradition. These attempts serve as powerful social and political forces within the respective traditions, seeking to create an ideal society, or a coherent collective identity. Yet they do so at the price of distortion and obliteration of that self-same collective memory, which should feed the collective identity. Thus, individual smaller religious traditions, expressions of cultural diversity, a variety of mystical, hermeneutical and philosophical traditions, are wiped out of memory, as a new collective identity is imposed upon the religion.
Such imposition would be undermined by excessive knowledge or the development of critical and historical awareness of tradition. Hence, portions of tradition are obliterated from memory,  in what is ultimately a failure of education on behalf of religious traditions to transmit themselves fully from one generation to the next.  Uncritical traditionalism is adopted. New and exclusive paradigms are developed in an attempt to create a uniform and triumphant form of the religion.
This form of religion is triumphant both in relation to how it recasts its own past and in relation to other religious traditions. Typically, those forms of religion, cast in the context of an embattled self-awareness, seeking to express itself in the face of collective adversity, also feature the specific religious tradition as superior to other traditions. As such, they tend to be less dialogical, less open to the other and less open to introspection and self-criticism.
While there are many dimensions to the term fundamentalism, and not all are necessarily relevant to the present description, much of what is called fundamentalism may be viewed in the context of the ‘crisis of the Holy’ . Thus, the uncritical reliance upon traditions, seen in isolation from others, from broader society, and cast in ways that are ultimately distorting of the history of the individual religious tradition are marks of fundamentalism as it is relevant to the concerns of the ‘crisis of the Holy’ . In the context of the present discussion, we may suggest that the  need to respond to the crisis by creating new and appropriate religious forms, leads to the emergence of fundamentalisms, here viewed as expressions of the crisis. Fundamentalism, thus defined, is a phenomenon that cuts across religious traditions. To the extent that all our traditions are beleaguered by the challenges of the crisis, they all develop some form or another of fundamentalism, respective to their own internal understanding and the sense of authenticity and faithfulness to historical memory appropriate to those traditions.
It would be a mistake to represent the forms of religion as exclusively limited to reactionary forms, generated by the crisis. Alongside those we also encounter alternative and creative forms, intended to replace the forms of religion under critique. Much as the breakdown of the traditional family is accompanied by the rise of new forms and new definitions of the family, so we note the rise of alternative forms of religion. Returning to the influences of feminism upon religion, we note the rise in the role of women in all religious traditions. The rise of religious feminism leads to various new forms of religion, involving redefinition of traditional roles of authority, knowledge and worship. 
All religions also experience the rise of alternative forms of leadership and authority within them. This is true of the rise of lay leadership and the increasing shift of authority and power from religious officials and virtuosi to broader segments of society. The quest for spirituality also produces new forms of leadership, at times more capable of addressing spiritual concerns proper. The situation is in some ways analogous to the relationship between classically practiced medicine and the slow rise and increasing acceptance of alternative means of practicing medicine. The quest for health and healing seems to be pointing in the direction of the integration of alternative forms of healing within the conventional norms of medical practices. Similarly, it seems that alternative religious forms are gradually becoming integrated into traditional power structures.  Thus, new emphases upon aspects of tradition coupled with the rise of alternative leadership amount to emerging new forms within the religious traditions themselves. 

2.8	Presenting the Crisis of the Holy - Overarching Perspectives 

It should be obvious by now that it is impossible to offer a definitive analysis of all aspects of the ‘crisis of the Holy’ . The crisis as described above is broad and encompassing. It straddles traditions, finding varying expressions in different religions and their sub-traditions. It is therefore both beyond the scope of the present study and beyond the abilities of scholars of the Think Tank to offer an exhaustive presentation of the crisis so broadly conceived. The goals we have set ourselves are, therefore, more modest. The first among these is the attempt to bring together the disparate elements described above within an overarching conceptual framework. It is hoped that such grouping will allow religious leaders an overview of a broader situation, through which they may inspired to reflect upon the crisis not simply in relation to individual components, as these present themselves, but seen in a broader scope. The challenges and opportunities for traditions could thus become more apparent when a synthetic perspective on the crisis is offered. 
A second purpose of the project is to raise awareness both among religious leaders and among the thinking religious regarding the crisis as a topic worthy of consideration. Such raising of consciousness to the topic holds the promise of constructive thought and greater reflexivity when addressing issues related to the crisis.
But we also hope to achieve more by entering a discussion of ‘the crisis of the Holy’. The goal of good analysis is also to provide tools through which a topic might be approached. Getting a conceptual handle on a topic is an important step in addressing it and seeking to find appropriate responses to it. Fresh insight and conceptual grasp may even pave the way to new practical initiatives and strategies in approaching the crisis. We have thus sought to enter a more detailed discussion of aspects of the crisis through particular conceptual frameworks. Two such frameworks were examined in the context of preparing the present set of papers. While both figure to some extent in the final presentation, one figures more heavily.
The first conceptual handle concerns comprehensiveness and totality. As noted above, one way of describing the crisis is as the breakdown of earlier comprehensive systems that offer meaning to all aspects of reality. The crisis is thus a breakdown in comprehensiveness. If that is indeed the case, one response to the crisis might be the quest to rediscover or reintroduce comprehensiveness. This, of course, would have to be done in ways that do not constitute a blind return to the past, nor reinforce fundamentalist responses, as described above. It is possible to entertain ways of restoring lost comprehensiveness without undermining those elements considered positive in and of themselves, even while recognizing the ways in which they challenge religion. Thus, the quest for a new comprehensiveness of meaning and a search for how religion might address all aspects of life, discovering a new comprehensiveness, might be one way of getting a conceptual handle on the crisis and developing responses to it.
The second conceptual handle, and one that figures more heavily in the work of the Think Tank, concerns the relations of individual and collective. Upon analysis of the various components of the crisis we noted just how many issues and agendas are related in some way or another to the relationship of individual and collective. By this is intended more than simply the tension between individual will and autonomy and the collective mandates of tradition. Phenomena such as the quest for spirituality, the role of women, syncretism and new religious forms, alternative sources of authority and more all hinge on some relationship of individual and collective. Thus, we considered this axis to be a helpful one in developing conversation and in encouraging new approaches to the crisis.

It should be acknowledged that certain issues that could be considered as part of the crisis will be excluded from the present project. Primary among them are politics and church-state relations. While relevant to a consideration of the crisis, to comprehensiveness and to individual-collective relations, these subjects are too vast to discuss in the present context, and will therefore not be discussed here. Other aspects relevant to the role of religion in the public sphere will occupy our attention.

2.9	Presenting the Crisis of the Holy - Identifying Critical Moments of Crisis

Recognizing overarching concerns through which the crisis of the Holy may be tackled is one strategy for facilitating a conversation between different religions as they seek to recognize the commonality of their crises and to learn from each other how to better cope and how they might collaborate. The other strategy is to identify specific crises and issues that affect most, perhaps all, of our religious traditions. Identifying particular issues, or moments of crisis, allows us to focus our attention upon the concrete expressions of the broader tendencies spelled out in this overview. The papers of the Elijah Think Tank have attempted both strategies. Alongside the overarching conceptual approach, we have attempted to focus upon specific moments of crisis. These moments are deemed central to the traditions and we found a broad consensus concerning their relevance to the traditions represented in the Think Tank. We are grateful to Mr. Michael Weil for facilitating the process of identifying critical issues and specific moments of crisis that are common to our traditions. Accordingly, the members of our Think Tank attempted to address these critical moments in their descriptions of the crisis of the Holy in their specific traditions. Not all critical areas are highlighted in the same way in all papers. This is in part due to the difference in how each of these critical issues is experienced in each of the traditions. While the papers do not follow a strict structure that seeks to address each of these issues, they are deeply aware of these issues, which provide the concrete framework for the entire project. Let us then offer a brief presentation of these moments of crisis. 

2.9.1 	Integrity and change of religious traditions
In some sense, this is what our project is all about. The crisis of the Holy addresses change in religions. Change may be welcome or unwelcome. It may undermine the stability of religion or push it towards greater growth. However we may view change, religions are all challenged to change and must cope with this challenge. In the process, they are challenged to identify that which is fundamental to their being, or if we are willing to use the term - essence. The dynamics of stability and change, of recognizing the essential and the changeable in religion are the sub text of the crisis of the Holy. In this way, the crisis challenges our religions to identify their core and to establish the means appropriate to them for their presence in the world and for the achievement of their ultimate purpose, under and through conditions of change.

2.9.2	 Individualism
We have already noted the centrality of this issue in referring to overarching concerns. Perhaps the most prominent battle ground on which the crisis of the Holy is being fought is that of the individual, or perhaps better yet - the range of relations between individual and collective. The most obvious expression is the tension between individualism and the collective structures of religions. But the formation of collective identities and the ways in which these identities are themselves distorting of the historical and spiritual reality of the traditions is but the other side of the coin. To pay attention to this axis and to the tensions brought to bear by the rise of the idea of the individual as expressed in ideology, psychology and market forces and as these in turns produce interact with religious life, leading to new expressions of religion, is thus to address a core issue that shapes and drives the broader crisis of the Holy.

2.9.3	 Religious Authority
This is one of the most threatened and challenged areas. Virtually all aspects of the crisis converge in relation to religious authority. Change is often geared to changing leadership structures and entitlement to leadership roles. The conceptual rise of the individual further undermines authority. Concerns of gender and youth, spelled out below, obviously play into this issue as well. Shifting balances of religious leadership and community, of consecrated and laity, are significant expressions of the change in religious authority produced as part of the broader crisis. The present papers are being offered to a body of religious leaders who, in and of themselves, represent classical religious authority. The purpose of the analysis is not to make any specific suggestions regarding how authority should be negotiated in light of the crisis; neither to bolster it nor to weaken it. We hope to raise these issues for open and honest discussion these issues, seen in the broader context of the holy, with the understanding that our mandate from our board of religious leaders gives us permission to explore challenges and opportunities associated with authority in an open and thoughtful context. 

2.9.4	 Women
With the increasingly dominant role that women play in society at large, a host of challenges have been addressed to all our religions in relation to religion and gender. These go well beyond the association of women and religious authority and the call to broaden women’s position in contexts of religious leadership. Issues of practice, knowledge, representation and position in the overall economy of religious traditions are matters that all our religions deal with on a regular basis. The convergence of threats and opportunities in the crisis of the Holy is clearly visible in relation to gender issues.

2.9.5	 Youth and Education
Crisis and change touch upon the survival and continuity of religious traditions. These in turn depend upon education and in particular the attitude to the youth within religions. All religions struggle with how to best transmit religion to the next generation and how to avoid the alienation and distancing from tradition that have become symptomatic of the crisis. But youth is only one component of the challenge. Proper religious education is an even broader  challenge. It concerns spiritual formation, the attitude to the religious other, attitude to the world at large and the way tradition should be taught and kept for the future. Change in educational patterns spells change for the shape of tradition to come. Propagation of successful educational patterns ensures not only the survival of traditions but the form they will take in the world and their continued relevance. Religions have always been centers of cultural, religious and spiritual education. The task and challenge of education are as old as our religions. However, the stakes have risen, in the framework of  the crisis of the Holy, and education plays a unique role both in shaping the crisis and in shaping the appropriate responses to it. 

2.9.6	 Technology
Technology is directly related to education. It has come to shape how we think and view the world. It can create a mind set opposed to that which a given religious tradition seeks to cultivate, or support it, depending on how it is used. Technology affects our knowledge base, by broadening and expanding it. Broader dissemination of knowledge opens up the treasures of traditions, while potentially shaking the ancient vessels in which they were contained. Technology further places great challenges before religion as it touches all areas of life, creating new realities to which religions must respond. 

2.9.7	 Secularism and Modernity
These are often identified with technology. An interesting symbiotic relationship exists between them, as each carries and reinforces the other. Both secularism and modernity are usually seen as threats to the classical forms of tradition. They undermine it ideologically, as do most forms of secularism, and practically, as does a life style associated with modernity. Whether these contradictions are real or apparent is something that each religion must decide. Thinkers within each of the traditions are often divided on this issue, and hence differing attitudes to modernity and technology. 

2.9.8	 Media and Image
If Secularism and many aspects of modernity are ideologically based, media constitutes a controlling force in contemporary reality that, at least on the face of is, does not espouse a given ideology. Nevertheless, it is a powerful force, shaping life everywhere and exerting important influences upon all religions. Part of the crisis of religion is a crisis of image. How religions are perceived shapes attitudes to their relevance, message and meaning. It has profound influence upon religious authority and structures. If the crisis of the Holy is, in some sense, an expression of the state of consciousness associated with religion in the world today, the media play a crucial role in shaping that state of consciousness. Thus, to meet the challenge of media has become an important concern for all religions. While media may be perceived as a threat to religions, it also provides endless opportunities for communication and for religions to reach broader audiences. Even its critical exposure of the ills of religions and their leaders could be considered a blessing, a purification of religions. 
The essays explore how these different critical moments in the crisis are played out in each of the traditions, the ways in which they challenge religions and the opportunities that these challenges present. Considering these eight topics as they are configured in the different traditions allow us to understand the uniqueness of each of our traditions as it struggles with its particular expressions of the crisis and the ways in which our traditions share in common processes of growth and transformation. It is hoped that by opening up this comparative perspective ways will be found for deeper understanding between the traditions that will allow them to move from parallel experiences to collaborative initiatives. By recognizing the deeper commonalities in the contemporary experiences and challenges of our diverse traditions we may be moved to learn from the other how to cope with challenges, to find ways of sharing in the struggle and possibly to forge a collaborative and common front in reflection and in action in relation to key issues that confront all of our religions as part of the crisis of the Holy.