%0 Thesis %9 Masters %A Joseph Ell, NIM.: 23200011028 %B PASCASARJANA %D 2025 %F digilib:72831 %I UIN SUNAN KALIJAGA YOGYAKARTA %K Belan, Belan Roa – Nangan, Nuhu Evav, Kei Archipelago, Larvul Ngabal, Sophia Perennis %P 242 %T ”BELAN EVAV” (CULTURAL HERMENEUTICS OF SOPHIA PERENNIS IN THE BELAN TRADITION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO INTER-RELIGIOUS HARMONY IN KEI ARCHIPELAGO) %U https://digilib.uin-suka.ac.id/id/eprint/72831/ %X This study affirms that the sacred and the profane are deeply embedded within human existence—reflected in both soul and body, spirit and matter, idealism and actuality. These dimensions also manifest themselves in the human environment: in religion, doctrine, and religious practice, and even in the particular experiences of humans with their world, especially through customary law and culture. From this perspective, the present study contributes to the understanding of perennial and sacred wisdoms as lived realities among the traditional Kei people, a community that experiences the interplay between the sacred and the profane through concrete empirical practices. Secularized desacralization, disharmony rooted in egocentrism, and alienation through conflictuality have reshaped people's view of living together in a shared world. Within this context, the Belan tradition in the Kei Archipelago stands as a model of a “common house” for the traditional Kei society. It offers a space for unity and communion (ain ni ain), togetherness and harmony, realized through relational systems such as roa-nangan (encounter and mutual enlivening), kovaat mir (social role and position), and embodied in spiritual beliefs and ritual practices. Through this tradition, the tomat Evav (Kei people) contribute to a form of “sacred knowledge” – what Seyyed Hossein Nasr refers to as The Sacred Science – universal and eternal values, a primordial wisdom that reconciles difference within unity. Such unity is sacred because it originates from the One God; reverence for life is sacred because it is the reason for our existence; preserving human dignity is sacred because human beings are noble creations of God; and justice is sacred because humanity yearns for peace. These values are alive in the Belan tradition and are even legitimized through the customary law of Larvul Ngabal. This research is a qualitative study that, methodologically, adopts an interdisciplinary approach by integrating ethnography with the hermeneutics of Sophia Perennis, utilizing interviews, field documentation, and document analysis as its main techniques of data collection. Ethnography serves as the initial method to understand Belan as a cultural practice within Kei society. Culture is seen as a “text” to be read, interpreted, and understood contextually. Belan is not only concerned with empirical reality but also with metaphysical dimensions, the perennialist approach is essential in uncovering the universal truths it contains. Sophia Perennis allows us to interpret Belan as an expression of cosmic harmony and divine order as embodied in the symbolic world of Kei society. The perennial values embedded in the Belan tradition offer meaningful contributions to interreligious unity and harmony in the Kei Archipelago. Difference is inevitable, like body and soul, but unity is a sacred value, a rahmatan lil-‘alamin, a Divine mercy and blessing for all beings. %Z Dr. Munirul Ikhwan, Lc., M.A.