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Research Summary

This scholarly essay reviews the virtue of modesty, recommended in various religions and philosophies since ancient times. Modesty often gets a bad press. It is associated with repression, especially sexism, where it takes the form of male-imposed coercion of females to dress restrictively and unfreely. This in turn is associated with the idea that women provoke men’s lust, a prejudice that we have turned away from in favour of holding men responsible for their actions. The writer recognises these difficulties but wants to promote modesty as a positive virtue nevertheless. She draws on mostly Christian but also Jewish and Islamic sources to recommend a modest attitude to dealing with other people and with the environment. Rather than unfreely being dominated by others’ demands, the form of modesty she recommends involves voluntarily holding back one’s power or consumption in order not to compromise others or damage the environment. She is particularly interested in environmental issues and sees parallels between modesty and permaculture. Those teaching about religion and the environment at GCSE or religious ethics at A level will find interesting material here. The material is suitable for presentation to and discussion with students, who could then refer to it in their written work.

Researcher

Laura M. Hartman

Research Institution

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

What is this about?

• The research is about modesty, an ancient virtue in various religions and philosophies. The writer reviews the discussions of modesty by influential writers such as St Thomas Aquinas and E.F. Schumacher.
• She builds the argument that although modesty has something of a bad reputation in much of today’s world – for example, it is associated with sexist male insistence on control over women’s dress – it is a virtue worth recovering.
• The reasons she offers in support of the recovery of modesty are that it enables people to have just and considerate relationships with one another and offers ways to protect and maintain the natural environment.
• The definition of modesty which she develops is one where people voluntarily restrain themselves from displays of power (in its various forms) or acts of consumption.
• She makes a particular connection between modesty and environmental concerns, finding that the form of modesty that she recommends is highly compatible with the practice of permaculture (an intensive form of agriculture or lifestyle based on working with rather than against local natural conditions).

What was done?

This is a scholarly essay, reviewing discussions of modesty in various influential religious and philosophical writings from ancient times to the present and finding reasons to recommend a modest approach to relationships with others and with the natural environment.

Main findings and outputs

• Modesty’s positive qualities outweigh the negative sexist baggage it may bring. It matters to the future of all life.
• Modesty is about power in relationships. Specifically, modesty is the voluntary restraint of power, for the the common good.
• Aquinas relates modesty to one’s own well-being, but it has more to do with relationships. One’s actions have impact on others. Boasting may cause them to be envious or resentful. The theologian Cara Anthony writes that “Modesty keeps in check any form of self-assertion that comes at the expense of another person’s dignity or freedom.”
• Modesty depends on context (the swimming pool is different from the high street); it should adapt to situations, but this should not mean that the powerful dictate it to the weak: unless chosen freely, it is not true modesty.
• Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg calls for a ‘new’ modesty, for all to “behave with a sensitivity both to oneself and one’s deepest needs, and to one’s context, to the reactions of others; to love our neighbors as ourselves in our actions and in our interactions.” It is a form of compassion based on recognising the consequences of our actions.
• Permaculture is an application of these principles to the environment. Humans should cultivate small areas in as caring and safe a way as possible.
• Jewish and Muslim dietary restrictions may offer good examples simply by promoting sensitivity.
• Generally, an emphasis on modesty can help to resolve many world problems.

Relevance to RE

• Because religious attitudes to the environment feature in many syllabuses and specifications, the issues addressed in this essay already form part of the curriculum.
• In GCSE courses on religion and the environment, the ideas presented in the essay could be presented to students in summary form and offered for discussion and debate. Is it true that we should restrain our power to create wealth? Is it true that small-scale production is more just and sustainable than large-scale trade? Do Jewish and Muslim dietary laws offer helpful examples to people?
• Where environmental issues are not taught directly, the ideas about the importance of modesty could be applied to various other issues. Need a modest person be a vegetarian? Or: when does less mean more?
• The concept of modesty itself could be analysed by pupils. What do they understand by it? When is it useful? When might modesty be less useful? This could take place in various RE contexts, including lessons about religious dress codes or moral principles. The pupils could be introduced to some of the beliefs discussed in the essay, at an appropriate language level (more able A level students could read and discuss the essay).

Generalisability and potential limitations

The discussion of modesty may be applicable to various situations, but as was mentioned above, the ideas in this article are probably most useful to teachers of religion and the environment courses at GCSE or religion and ethics courses at A level.

Find out more

Environmental Modesty: Reclaiming an Ancient Virtue, Journal of Religious Ethics 43.3 pages 475-492 (published online 22 July 2015), doi/10.1111/jore.12106

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jore.12106/pdf

Research Summary

How should Muslims’ religious lives be understood? What does it mean, in everyday life, to live as a Muslim? This research focuses on Muslim women in Austria and their everyday lived religion. 30 biographical interviews were conducted, in 2006, with first-generation female migrants from Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and later analysed. The findings confirmed those of other studies:
that Muslim religiosity is multi-dimensional. It consists of a belief dimension and a behavioural dimension, with the latter dividing into ‘rituals and duties’ and ‘ethical behavioural principles’.
Furthermore, religion and culture were found to be closely related, especially in the context of migration. These findings are useful to teachers teaching about Islam and also have implications for teaching about religion in general. It is necessary to look beyond accounts of ‘key beliefs’ into other areas such as rituals, duties, ethics and culture if Islam (or, by extension, any religious tradition) is to be taught about accurately.

Researchers

Caroline Berghammer & Katrin Fliegenschnee

Research Institution

University of Vienna

What is this about?

• When Islam is studied from the ‘ground up’ – when practising Muslims are asked about the meaning of Islam in their lives, and how they express it – what is it about? What are its most important features?
• These issues are considered in relation to 30 Muslim women. All live in Austria: some have migrated there from Turkey, others from Bosnia-Herzegovina. That the women are immigrants from different countries is significant to their religious ways of life.
• Religion and culture are closely related. The research shows how Islamic belief and practice can give the women studied a sense of identity in the adopted country, where they are part of minorities.
• The research is also about the dimensions of Islam, or religion in general, and the need to consider belief, practice, knowledge, experience and their consequences (how the first four impact on a religious person’s life).

What was done?

• Thirty interviews with first-generation Muslim female migrants from Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina were carried out in Austria. The interviews were biographical, meaning that the women were asked about their life-stories and in the course of this, about the ways in which Islam had impact on their lives.
• The overall finding is that religiosity consists of faith and behaviour. Behaviour can be divided into: rituals and duties; and ethical behavioural principles.
• The link between religion and culture is particularly important for members of
  minority religions.
• Religiosity is strongly influenced by life-events and social networks. It has specific consequences in daily life.
• Within faith, religious knowledge is viewed as very important: how to read the Qur’an in Arabic, how to pray. God is described as omnipresent and all-encompassing. None of the Turkish women doubted God’s existence, even if describing themselves as non-religious: some Bosnian women did (Islam in Bosnia-Herzegovina tends to be more ‘open’). No other religious figure, e.g. Prophet Muhammad, was mentioned.
• Regarding rituals and duties, all of the obligations apart from giving to the poor are mentioned: pilgrimage to Mecca, avoidance of pork and alcohol, fasting during Ramadan. The importance of prayer was stressed intensively.
• There are different opinions about the headscarf. For many women it is unimportant. Others speak of how an event, e.g. childbirth or their mother’s death, intensified their religion and influenced them to wear it. Some saw it as cultural pressure, which knowledge that it is not a religious requirement could help women to resist.
• Ethical principles (no lying or stealing; having a positive attitude and helping others) are very important but no different from those of other religions, e.g. Christianity. The women wish to continue their own culture and simultaneously integrate with Austrian culture.

Main findings and outputs

• The overall finding is that religiosity consists of faith and behaviour. Behaviour can be divided into: rituals and duties; and ethical behavioural principles.
• The link between religion and culture is particularly important for members of
  minority religions.
•  Religiosity is strongly influenced by life-events and social networks. It has specific consequences in daily life.
• Within faith, religious knowledge is viewed as very important: how to read the Qur’an in Arabic, how to pray. God is described as omnipresent and all-encompassing. None of the Turkish women doubted God’s existence, even if describing themselves as non-religious: some Bosnian women did (Islam in Bosnia-Herzegovina tends to be more ‘open’). No other religious figure, e.g. Prophet Muhammad, was mentioned.
• Regarding rituals and duties, all of the obligations apart from giving to the poor are mentioned: pilgrimage to Mecca, avoidance of pork and alcohol, fasting during Ramadan. The importance of prayer was stressed intensively.
• There are different opinions about the headscarf. For many women it is unimportant. Others speak of how an event, e.g. childbirth or their mother’s death, intensified their religion and influenced them to wear it. Some saw it as cultural pressure, which knowledge that it is not a religious requirement could help women to resist.
• Ethical principles (no lying or stealing; having a positive attitude and helping others) are very important but no different from those of other religions, e.g. Christianity. The women wish to continue their own culture and simultaneously integrate with Austrian culture.

Relevance to RE

• The ‘lived religion’ approach is something for RE teachers to consider. Encounters and conversations with members of faith communities can deepen teachers’ subject knowledge and understanding. In turn, they can do the same for pupils, also enlivening RE.
• Another issue for curriculum planning and pedagogy results from the ‘religion as multi-dimensional’ finding. This finding echoes many findings about religion and many recommendations for its study, but that only underlines the importance of those. For balance, accuracy and interest, teachers should plan to cover various aspects of Islam or indeed any faith: not only beliefs but also practices, knowledge, experiences and their consequences combine to build up religious lives. Pupils’ knowledge and understanding of religion can be developed through tasks which ask them to account for and connect the different dimensions.
• Pupils’ might also benefit from considering the impact of migration on religious practice. What are the differences and similarities between the practice of Islam or Christianity in the original country and the new one? What challenges have to be faced or problems solved?

Generalisability and potential limitations

The study is of Islam in a particular context. Though that in many ways provides its interest, the findings may not be generalisable elsewhere. The researchers say that a follow-up study of men rather than women is highly desirable. The principle of a balanced, multi-dimensional approach to religion is certainly generalisable.

Find out more

Developing a Concept of Muslim Religiosity: An Analysis of Everyday Lived Religion among Female Migrants in Austria, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 29:1, 89-104

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2014.864810