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Articles 1 - 30 of 37
Full-Text Articles in Political History
Demythologizing Homer: Investigating Religion In Minoan Crete, Elizabeth Rybarczyk
Demythologizing Homer: Investigating Religion In Minoan Crete, Elizabeth Rybarczyk
Student Research Submissions
The Minoan civilization of Bronze-Age Crete has, until recently, been obscured in mythological uncertainty. As a prehistoric civilization, the available evidence for historic analysis is sparse and ambiguous. This paper evaluates the material evidence for ritual activity to chart the religious developments of Minoan Crete. In the earliest periods of their civilization, the Minoans practiced animism, which reflected their ideals towards survival and cooperation. As their prosperity grew due to technological advancements, a social hierarchy formed. The emerging elite employed religion to justify their claim to power by appropriating religion, which culminated in a dual-monotheistic Knossian theocracy. This lasted until …
The Troubles On The Brink Of Recurrence: Northern Ireland In A Post-Brexit World, Emma K. Bohner
The Troubles On The Brink Of Recurrence: Northern Ireland In A Post-Brexit World, Emma K. Bohner
Student Publications
The Troubles were a difficult and trying time for Northern Ireland beginning in the 1960s. The subsequent decades were filled with turmoil and violence, mainly centered in Belfast amongst the Protestant and Catholic groups. In 1998, peaceful means to ending the Troubles were accomplished through the Good Friday Agreement. The accord established peace primarily through implementing a new power sharing government, ending direct rule by the British, disarming the paramilitary groups and creating a soft border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The European Union was a critical asset in negotiating terms for peace. The aid of the European Union helped …
The Rise Of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response To Social Unrest In Imperial Russia, Katrina Sommer
The Rise Of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response To Social Unrest In Imperial Russia, Katrina Sommer
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
Imperial Russia became home to a unique form of witchcraft from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Combining its religious history, patterns of imperial expansion and governance, and social hierarchies, witchcraft accusations arose during especially troublesome economic and political times. Differing from eighteenth-century America Witchcraft trials, these trials were not only femicide. Targeting anyone who might subvert established social or cultural norms, these accusations often led to violent expungement, ending with a ritual of communal bonding.
Is Faith The Ultimate Divider?: The Intersections Between Religion And Political Behavior In The United States, Ryan Supple
Is Faith The Ultimate Divider?: The Intersections Between Religion And Political Behavior In The United States, Ryan Supple
Honors Projects
This thesis examines the complex relationship between religiosity and voting behavior in the United States. In a country where religion has diminished in importance over time, it seems rather fascinating that it still plays such a large role in the inner-workings of American politics. Chapter One analyzes the varying ways in which scholars have approached emergent political trends between religious groups, particularly with regards to political parties, voting behavior, and government representation. Chapter Two extends this analysis to the American National Election Studies (ANES), a national survey distributed to random samples of Americans during election seasons. The information from the …
Influence Of The Religious Factor On Modern Society Under The Conditions Of Globalization, Dilafruz Turdiyeva
Influence Of The Religious Factor On Modern Society Under The Conditions Of Globalization, Dilafruz Turdiyeva
The Light of Islam
World politics is a complex and multifaceted relationship based on national interests, due to the conditions and factors associated with the specifics and customs of a particular state. The role of religion in international relations is not considered as important as economics and politics. But the conflicts and disagreements that arise in the world under the guise of different religions remind the world community how important the religious factor is. This factor knows no boundaries and is not limited to the territory of a particular state. In the 20th century, negative attitudes towards religion changed radically. In the 21st century, …
From Repression To Appropriation: Soviet Religious Policy And Reform, 1917-1943, Andriy Dyachenko
From Repression To Appropriation: Soviet Religious Policy And Reform, 1917-1943, Andriy Dyachenko
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis analyses the dynamics of religious reform in the USSR from 1917 to 1943. It argues that the early Bolshevik policy of persecution was increasingly substituted by state co-optation. This dynamic was shaped primarily by Stalinist concerns with state security and problems of ideology.
Revisiting The Who And The Where: A Quest To Understanding The Identities Of Second-Generation Israeli-American Youth, Yuval Elbaz
Revisiting The Who And The Where: A Quest To Understanding The Identities Of Second-Generation Israeli-American Youth, Yuval Elbaz
Senior Projects Spring 2022
This is a study about identity formation patters on twelve second generation Israeli-Americans. The study will be divided into three sections: economic assimilation religious assimilation, and political assimilation. I will argue that living in the United States has a significant influence on the way participants viewed their Israeli identities. Although identity will be the focal point of this study, this is not to claim that identity is a fixed category, but rather is fluid and affected by various external and internal factors. In this study, identity is defined as the way people view themselves. For all participants, growing up in …
Barbarians & Heretics: Anti-Greek And Anti-Latin Sentiments In Crusade-Era Chronicles, 1096-1204, Ryan Saputo
Barbarians & Heretics: Anti-Greek And Anti-Latin Sentiments In Crusade-Era Chronicles, 1096-1204, Ryan Saputo
Honors Theses and Capstones
Historians have debated the role of stereotypes and hostile language in the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople mostly through the outdated "Clash of Civilizations" lens. This work investigates the role of hostile stereotypes in both Western and Byzantine narrative histories discussing the first four crusades through a deep textual and literary analysis. This work argues that contemporary narrative histories from the first four crusades demonstrate that virulently hostile attitudes abounded in both Byzantine and Western sources, and that these attitudes greatly affected diplomatic and political decision making during Byzantine-Crusader interactions from 1096-1204. This work's close textual examination of …
Medieval Infertility: Treatments, Cures, And Consequences, Zia Simpson
Medieval Infertility: Treatments, Cures, And Consequences, Zia Simpson
The Forum: Journal of History
Since the first civilizations emerged, reproductive ability has been one of the most prominent elements in assessing a woman’s value to society. Other characteristics such as beauty, intelligence, and wealth may have been granted comparable consequence, but those are arbitrary and improvable. Fertility is genetic, and for centuries it was beyond human control. Among the medieval European nobility, fertility held even greater power. The absence of an heir could, either directly or indirectly, bring about war, economic depression, and social disorder. Catholicism provided a refuge by allowing barren women to retain their hopes, while simultaneously enriching Rome’s coffers. Other women …
Separating God's Two Kingdoms: Regular Baptists In Maine, Nova Scotia, And New Brunswick, 1780 To 1815, Ronald S. Baines
Separating God's Two Kingdoms: Regular Baptists In Maine, Nova Scotia, And New Brunswick, 1780 To 1815, Ronald S. Baines
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The trans-national Regular Baptist tradition in the northeastern borderlands of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick grew rapidly from 1780 to 1815. The spiritual imperatives of this Calvinistic group with its commitment to believer’s baptism of adults and closed communion churches made them distinctive, and a central argument here is that the worldly implications of “Two Kingdom” theology, founded on the strict separation of religious and civil realms, was central to Regular Baptists’ success in the region in this period. Three leading ministers whose actions as authors, itinerants, and as organizational leaders receive especially close attention: Maine-based ministers Daniel Merrill …
Interview Of Margaret Mcguinness, Ph.D., Margaret Mcguinness Ph.D., Stephen Pierce
Interview Of Margaret Mcguinness, Ph.D., Margaret Mcguinness Ph.D., Stephen Pierce
All Oral Histories
Dr. Margaret McGuinness was born in 1953, in Providence, Rhode Island. She went to an all-girls Catholic high school called St. Mary’s Academy Bayview in Providence where she graduated in 1971. McGuinness went on to major in American Studies and Civilization as an undergraduate at Boston University graduating with a B.A in 1975. She continued her work at Boston University where McGuinness earned a master’s of theological studies (M.T.S) focusing on Biblical and Historical Studies in 1979. She would move to New York to work on her dissertation at Union Theological Seminary finishing with her Ph.D. in 1985 concentrating on …
The Presbyterian Enlightenment: The Confluence Of Evangelical And Enlightenment Thought In British America, Brandon S. Durbin
The Presbyterian Enlightenment: The Confluence Of Evangelical And Enlightenment Thought In British America, Brandon S. Durbin
Masters Theses, 2010-2019
Eighteenth-Century British American Presbyterian ministers incorporated covenantal theology, ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment, and resistance theory in their sermons. The sermons of Presbyterian ministers strongly indicate the intermixing of enlightenment and evangelical ideas. Congregants heard and read these sermons, spreading these ideas to the average colonist. This combination helps explain why American Presbyterians were so apt to resist British rule during the American Revolution. Protestant covenantal theology, derived from Protestant reformers like John Calvin and John Knox, emphasized virtue and duty. This covenant affected both the people and their rulers. When rulers failed to uphold their covenant with God, the …
Perceptions On Santería: Then And Now, Ludmille Glaude
Perceptions On Santería: Then And Now, Ludmille Glaude
Undergraduate Research
This paper will examine how the Batista and Castro regimes were able to impact the perception of Santería amongst the Cuban public. Santeria is a polytheistic religion practiced in Cuba that combines elements of Yoruba beliefs and Catholicism. Recently, Santeria appears to be experiencing a growth in visibility in Cuba. The syncretic religion and its visibility, has become of interest to examine and report on, amongst many media outlets. According to a Vice News article published as recently as 2014, the author dubs Santería as “Cuba’s New Religion”. The article describes Santería as a dynamic form of worship, with participation …
Review Of Rulers, Religion, & Riches: Why The West Got Rich And The Middle East Did Not, Lynne P. Doti
Review Of Rulers, Religion, & Riches: Why The West Got Rich And The Middle East Did Not, Lynne P. Doti
Economics Faculty Articles and Research
A review of Jared Rubin's Rulers, Religion, & Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not.
The Legacy Of British Rule On Lgbt Rights In Jamaica And The Cayman Islands, Zachary Stewart
The Legacy Of British Rule On Lgbt Rights In Jamaica And The Cayman Islands, Zachary Stewart
Master's Theses
This thesis explores the relationship between British colonial influence and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights in the Caribbean. Comparing the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, and Jamaica, an independent former colony of the United Kingdom, the situation for LGBT people is evaluated. While Jamaica has serious abuses and a concerning situation for the human rights of LGBT people, the Cayman Islands’ LGBT community’s position is far less concerning. Owing to its continued connection to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Cayman Islands’ LGBT rights situation is much less dire. Through British influence via …
Exorcising Power, John Jarzemsky
Exorcising Power, John Jarzemsky
Theses and Dissertations
This paper theorizes that authors, in an act I have termed “literary exorcism,” project and expunge parts of their identities that are in conflict with the overriding political agenda of their texts, into the figure of the villain. Drawing upon theories of power put forth by Judith Butler, I argue that this sort of projection arises in reaction to dominant ideas and institutions, but that authors find ways to manipulate this process over time. By examining a broad cross-section of English-language literature over several centuries, this phenomenon and its evolution can be observed, as well as the means by which …
Religion And The State: The Influence Of The Tokugawa On Religious Life, Thought, And Institutions, Savannah A. Labbe
Religion And The State: The Influence Of The Tokugawa On Religious Life, Thought, And Institutions, Savannah A. Labbe
Student Publications
This paper describes the influence of the Tokugawa government on religious life in Japan. It focuses on the religious traditions of Buddhism, Shintoism, and Neo-Confucianism and how the state used these religions to their advantage. The Tokugawa had strict control over all aspects of Japanese life including religion and this paper explores that.
Salafism, Wahhabism, And The Definition Of Sunni Islam, Rob J. Williams
Salafism, Wahhabism, And The Definition Of Sunni Islam, Rob J. Williams
Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works
My capstone deals with the historical definition of Sunni Islam, and how it has changed in approximately the past 200 years. Around 1800, Sunni Islam was pretty clearly defined by an adherence to one of four maddhabs, or schools of law: the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali schools and are all based in nearly a millennium of legal scholarship. Since 1800, however, numerous reform movements have sprung up which disavow previous scholarship and interpret Islamic law their own way. However, certain reformist groups, such as Traditionalist Salafis and Wahhabis, claim that their version of Islam is the only “pure” …
When "Comoners Were Made Slaves By The Magistrates": The 1627 Election And Political Culture In Norwich, Fiona Williamson
When "Comoners Were Made Slaves By The Magistrates": The 1627 Election And Political Culture In Norwich, Fiona Williamson
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This article tells the story of a contested provincial election for sheriff which took place in Norwich during 1627. In light of recent scholarly critiques of studies that frame the early-modern period in terms of binary opposites, this article demonstrates that 1620s political culture is hard to define in such stark terms. Through a close reading of the events, characters, and outcomes of the election, this article also shows the importance of embedding local peculiarities into wider historiographical narratives of change, or continuity, and reveals the essential role of the urban middling sorts in shaping the political narratives of the …
Bethlehem Chapel: How A Place Can Be Reinterpreted By Government, Maya Lemaster
Bethlehem Chapel: How A Place Can Be Reinterpreted By Government, Maya Lemaster
Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
An important source of legitimacy for all types of government is the creation of or building up of a sense of nationhood for the citizens of the state. This can be achieved in many ways, including through the use of physical nationalist symbols. In my paper, I address this topic by exploring how the Communist government of Czechoslovakia reinterpreted and changed the traditional meaning of the historical Bethlehem Chapel in Prague in order to fit their own ideology. I found that the Communist government emphasized the communal aspects of the Hussite movement and ignored religious associations. My research is primarily …
Introduction To "The Chosen People: A Study Of Jewish History From The Time Of The Exile Until The Revolt Of Bar Kocheba", James M. Donovan
Introduction To "The Chosen People: A Study Of Jewish History From The Time Of The Exile Until The Revolt Of Bar Kocheba", James M. Donovan
James M. Donovan
Allegro documents a vivid example of the manner in which a project to define oneself in opposition to the Other inevitably generates antagonism. But a thorough understanding of the genesis of anti-Semitism requires more than mapping the tensions that arise between co-existing communities. It must also explain the fear we find associated with anti-Semitism, and how these emotional presumptions are communicated to populations that have little direct contact with members of the Jewish faith. Allegro does not take us as far as this, and thus the account is unfinished. He has perhaps brought us as far as documentary texts will …
Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton
Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton
Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This work documents the role of sixty gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals in the African American civil rights movement in the pre-Stonewall era. It examines the extent of their involvement from the grassroots to the highest echelons of leadership. Because many lesbians and gays were not out during their time in the movement, and in some cases had not yet identified as lesbian or gay, this work also analyzes how the civil rights movement, and in a number of cases women’s liberation, contributed to their identity formation and coming out. This work also contributes to our understanding of opposition to …
Using The Past To "Save" Our Nation: The Debate Over Christian America, John Fea
Using The Past To "Save" Our Nation: The Debate Over Christian America, John Fea
History Educator Scholarship
The article examines the widespread cultural debate in the U.S. regarding whether or not the country was founded as a Christian nation. The author charts the development of right-wing Christian nationalism in the U.S., which sees the country as essentially Christian in origin, noting their belief in American exceptionalism, anti-historical revisionist stance, and belief in the Christian identity of many Founding Fathers. She goes on to argue that many founders actually supported the separation of church and state despite their Christian beliefs, and notes that applying 20th and 21st century religious ideals to the founding moment is anachronistic and erroneous. …
Faith, Politics, And American Culture [Review Of The Books Letter To A Christian Nation, Pity And Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom, Faith And Politics: How The “Moral Values” Debate Divides America And How To Move Forward Together, The Compassionate Community: Ten Values To Unite America, Righteous: Dispatches From The Evangelical Youth Movement, And Believers: A Journey Into Evangelical America], Nick Salvatore
Nick Salvatore
[Excerpt] In January 2004, before a black church congregation in New Orleans, President George W. Bush commemorated Martin Luther King's birthday with a spirited promotion of his faith-based initiatives. Appropriating the slain Civil Rights leader's profession of faith, Bush proclaimed his ultimate purpose was to change "America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time." He emphasized voluntary action by citizens (four times he extolled them as "the social entrepreneurs") and he consistency denigrated the role of government but for one critical function: providing "billions of dollars" to faith-based social-service groups. Proclaiming the values of the Christian Bible as …
"Not Charity But Justice": Charles Gore, Workers, And The Way, John F. Wirenius
"Not Charity But Justice": Charles Gore, Workers, And The Way, John F. Wirenius
John F. Wirenius
Charles Gore, Bishop of Oxford, co-author of "Lux Mundi" and leading liberal Anglo-Catholic of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, was an early exponent of the rights of labor, and advocate for collective bargaining. This Article examines the theological underpinnings of this advocacy, finding it inextricably rooted in Gore's vision of Christianity as "the Way" fundamentally a way of life, and not a series of doctrinal commitments.
(Review) The World Catholic Renewal 1540-1770 By R. Po-Chia Hsia, Marc R. Forster
(Review) The World Catholic Renewal 1540-1770 By R. Po-Chia Hsia, Marc R. Forster
History Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Dhimmitude And Disarmament, David B. Kopel
Dhimmitude And Disarmament, David B. Kopel
David B Kopel
Under shari'a law, non-Muslims, known as dhimmi, have been forbidden to possess arms, and to defend themselves from attacks by Muslims. The disarmament is one aspect of the pervasive civil inferiority of non-Muslims, a status known as dhimmitude. This Essay examines the historical effects of the shari'a disarmament, based on three books by Bat Ye'or, the world's leading scholar of dhimmitude. As Ye'or details, the disarmament had catastrophic consequences, extending far beyond the direct loss of the dhimmi's ability to defend themselves. The essay concludes by observing how pretend gun-free zones on college campuses turn the adults there into 21st …
Self-Defense In Asian Religions, David B. Kopel
Self-Defense In Asian Religions, David B. Kopel
David B Kopel
This Article investigates the attitudes of six Far Eastern religions - Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism - towards the legitimacy of the use of force in individual and collective contexts. Self-defense is strongly legitimated in the theory and practice of the major Far Eastern religions. The finding is consistent with natural law theory that some aspects of the human personality, including the self-defense instinct, are inherent in human nature, rather than being entirely determined by culture.
Armed Resistance To The Holocaust, David B. Kopel
Armed Resistance To The Holocaust, David B. Kopel
David B Kopel
Contrary to myth of Jewish passivity, many Jews did fight back during the Holocaust. They shut down the extermination camp at Sobibor, rose up in the Warsaw Ghetto, and fought in the woods and swamps all over Eastern Europe. Indeed, Jews resisted at a higher rate than did any other population under Nazi rule. The experience of the Holocaust shows why Jews, and all people of good will, should support the right of potential genocide victims to possess defensive arms, and refutes the notion that violence is necessarily immoral.
The Catholic Second Amendment, David B. Kopel
The Catholic Second Amendment, David B. Kopel
David B Kopel
At the beginning of the second millennium, there was no separation of church and state, and kings ruled the church. Tyrannicide was considered sinful. By the end of the thirteenth century, however, everything had changed. The Little Renaissance that began in the eleventh century led to a revolution in political and moral philosophy, so that using force to overthrow a tyrannical government became a positive moral duty. The intellectual revolution was an essential step in the evolution of Western political philosophy that eventually led to the American Revolution.