Other Religion Commons^™

Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …

What Our Hearts Crave For: An Examination Of The Paradoxical Attraction To Dante’S Inferno, Ketzalt E. Marquez

Honors Projects

This paper serves to analyze and explain why audiences are attracted to stories with elements of Horror in them, using Dante’s Inferno as the vehicle for this conversation, as the Inferno’s setting is in the worse possible place imaginable. Horror narratives arise feelings of fear and disgust in its audiences through the use of monsters, as audiences relate to the fear and disgust the positive characters in the narratives are feeling because of the monster’s presence. Since these emotions arise in a safe space, such as in literature or film, where the source of the emotions is not endangering the …

Commencement Program 2023, Loma Linda University

Commencement Programs

CONTENTS

1 | Message from the President

3 | 2023 Events of Commencement

5 | The Academic Procession

6 | Institutional Administration

7 | Board of Trustees

8 | Significance of Academic Regalia

9 | University History Highlights

11 | Criteria for Institutional Awards

13 | Loma Linda University Health and Loma Linda University Honorees

25 | The Program, The School Honorees, and The Speakers

• School of Medicine, 26
• School of Pharmacy, 52
• School of Dentistry, 69
• School of Public Health, 93
• San Manuel Gateway College, 108
• School of Allied Health Professions—Allied Health Studies, Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Clinical Laboratory Science, Communication …

Cultural Folk, Political Lore: The Politics Of Folklore During The United States Occupation Of Haiti From 1915 To 1934, Cheyla G. Muñoz Ramos

Honors Theses

My project focuses on Haitian folklore in the early twentieth century in connection to the first United States’ occupation of Haiti. The United States’ Marine Corps occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934. This nineteenth-year occupation brought violence and racial stereotypes towards the Haitian population, especially the peasantry. United States Americans coming to Haiti intensified these stereotypes. During this period, Haitian upper-and middle-class members heavily politized Haitian folklore and used it to defend Haiti against these stereotypes. Scholars have long discussed the anthropological works of ethno-anthropologist Jean Price-Mars as someone who tried to show the value of Haitian folklore, especially the …

Akan Traditional Religion And Catholicism In Dialogue: Envisaging A Paradigm Shift In The Theology Of Marriage In Postmodern Ghana, Daniel Adjei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The changing phases of religions, cultures, and world history in postmodernity call on the Catholic tradition to be religiously and culturally interreligious. The identity and mission of the Church can no longer be defined in a Eurocentric, triumphalist, or exclusivist term as in colonial times. As the Church expands to new religio-cultural and socio-political territories, the theological principles of dialogue, interculturality, listening, and inculturation must guide her mission. This dissertation, tracing the historical, cultural, and theological development of interreligious and cultural dialogue in the Catholic Church, argues that the Catholic Church of Ghana must engage religious and cultural diversity with …

A Brief Analysis Of Contemporary Confucianism's Research On Feminine Topics, Jingzhi Pan

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although Confucianism has been recognized as a world religion for more than a hundred years today, recent research, which studies it as a religion, still seems numbed to or ignores day-to-day feminine topics like sexual crimes, domestic violence, male patronize, and even gendered religious value itself. More often, even if they announce they are studying the religion, people study Confucianism as a philosophy, an ethic, a phenomenon, a political strategy…everything else but a religion with transcendent values like other world religions. This essay will overview the research of contemporary Confucian feminine topics and analyze and argue their utilities in helping …

The Cult Of The Nymphs: Identity, Ritual, And Womanhood In Ancient Greece, Ivana Genov

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Examining archeological and epigraphic evidence in its historical context, in this thesis I explore the Cult of the Nymphs venerated across ancient Greek poleis. I analyze the nymph’s profound cultural and historical impact that is often overlooked in the study of ancient Greece. Nymphs were female deities thought to embody ecological sites, such as fountains and springs, and became fundamental to polis identity. Their locations were often central to city plans, and their faces, depicted on coinage, became representative of the city itself. In the community, nymphs were integral to rituals for major life events, most often in the lives …

To Have Sex Or Not To Have Sex: An Exploration Of Medieval Christian And Jewish Sexual Values, Rachel Zaslavsky

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is an exploration of Medieval Jewish and Christian conceptions of sex and aims to challenge the notion of Judeo-Christian values. Medieval Judaism and Christianity are at odds with each other in their understandings of sexuality. By considering Judaism, the belief that medieval religion was averse to sexuality and sexual pleasure is disproven. An analysis of religious works, such as those produced by Christian theologians and Jewish rabbis, yields the following conclusion: medieval Christianity restricted sex on the basis of abstinence, while medieval Judaism restricted sex on the basis of ritual impurity but mandated sex for procreation and female …

Purpose In Place: Discerning And Forefronting Forgotten Landscapes Using The Methodological Lens Of Augmented Reality, Lindy Westenhoff

Doctoral Dissertations

Augmented reality (AR) is an under-studied tool that deserves more academic attention and gaze. By using the built landscape as its point of orientation, but providing a virtual interface with which to engage, the augmented landscape serves as a departure of the traditional digital-physical divide. This realm raises questions regarding purpose and intention, but also has its own limitations and issues with dynamic, complex spaces that change frequently. Each chapter of this dissertation stands alone as a “part” – they connect, however, through the use of this technology to answer questions unique to their spaces.

Part 1 explores the relationship …

Tejiendo Imágenes. Homenaje A Victòria Solanilla Demestre, Catalina Simmonds Caldas , Editora, Marina Valls I García , Editora

Zea E-Books Collection

A collection of 35 essays in honor of the retirement of Prof. Victòria Solanilla Demestre, a renowned and respected scholar of the pre-Columbian culture and iconography of the Americas.

SUMARIO — Miquel-Àngel Sànchez i Fèrriz: El porqué de este homenaje a la Dra. Victòria Solanilla Demestre • Catalina Simmonds Caldas: Un pensamiento sin fronteras • Luz Adriana Alzate Gallego: «A lomo de piedra»: rescatando una gran colección lítica • Denise Y. Arnold: Los textiles andinos teñidos por amarras, el motivo del punto en el rombo y su patrón de difusión: Felinos, serpientes y el cultivo del maíz en un mundo …

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 …

A Return To The Roots: Mysticism And Psychodrama For Traumatized Populations: A Literature Review, Hyde Nichols

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper is a literature review on the spiritual roots of psychodrama and how this can be utilized for traumatized populations. To support this hypothesis, I reviewed research done on post- traumatic stress disorder, spirituality and mysticism, as well as how psychodrama has been utilized for traumatized populations. J.L. Moreno’s original writings on psychodrama and its components and philosophy are utilized to situate mysticism and spirituality within the psychodramatic paradigm. All terms listed above are defined using research done within the United States, although Moreno began his career in Austria. To end the paper I discussed the importance of staying …

Purim: Origins, Traditions, And Meaning, Holly Hatcher

Scholars Day Conference

An analysis of the history and purpose behind the Jewish festival of Purim and of its celebration among various Jewish cultures.

Exploring Interfaith Sex Education, Bailey Lewis

Honors College

Sacred Sexuality explores the intersections of religion and sexuality. I worked with Dr. Birthisel, Director of the Wilson Center, and Kate Dawson, co-facilitator of the sex education class, to survey the sex education class participants on how the experience has been for them. I surveyed the sex education class participants after the class to analyze their opinions of the sex education class, interfaith dialogue, and how their spirituality or religious perspectives inform their beliefs around sexuality. Overall, the sex education class was highly recommended and gave an interesting look into how faith and sexuality interact. While the sex education class …

The Autobiography Of An American Peace Bishop, Jens Mueller

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Building Bridges Through Shared Spirituality: A Practical Theology Of Fasting And Prayer Among Christians And Muslims In Mombasa, Mathew Musyoki

The Journal of Social Encounters

Christians and Muslims who live at the coastal region of Kenya frequently engage in inter-religious conflict. Following Gerben Heitink, action domains of religion and society where practical theology is seen as a theology [medium] of action. This research aims at establishing what Christian pastors and Muslim imams could potentially do to build bridges around the shared spirituality of prayer and fasting. Questionnaires and interview guides for focused group discussions were used to collect data which from a sample size of 60 respondents who were selected randomly and purposively. The data were analyzed and the results discussed. The research established that …

God Games: An Experimental Study Of Uncertainty, Superstition, And Cooperation, Aidin Hajikhameneh, Laurence R. Iannaccone

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

This paper uses a novel lab experiment to test claims about the origins and functions of religion. We modify the standard public goods game, adding a computer-based agent that adjusts earnings in ways that might depend on players' contributions. Our treatments employ three different descriptions of the adjustment process that loosely correspond to monotheistic, atheistic, and agnostic interpretations of the computer's role. The adjustments neither mask players' contributions nor magnify their impact. Yet players in all three adjustment treatments contribute much more than those who play the standard public goods game. Players' contributions and survey responses show that adjustments induce …

The Scientific Study Of Positive Psychology, Religion/Spirituality, And Physical Health, Kevin S. Masters, Julia K. Boehm, Jennifer M. Boylan, Kaitlyn M. Vagnini, Christina L. Rush

Psychology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Humans have long been interested in relations among religion/spirituality (R/S), positive psychological constructs, and physical health. Furthermore, many religions attempt to influence behavior through health-related prescriptions about food choices, sexual activity, substance use, and resting. Similarly, positive psychological constructs have been discussed in light of their presumed benefits on both mental and physical health (Ryff & Singer, 1998). However, R/S and positive psychological constructs have only recently become objects of scientific investigation of their associations with physical health.

Til Valhall: The Formation Of Nordic Neopagan Identity, Religiosity, And Community At A Norwegian Heavy Metal Festival, Padraic M. Fitzgerald

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A major draw of Nordic Neopaganism is the great degree of personal freedom practitioners have in the construction and performance of their spiritual identity. Nordic Neopaganism has no central hierarchy or unifying dogmatic system to dictate such endeavors. Instead, practitioners draw from the tradition’s body of “lore” -- the historical accounts, archaeological records, pre-Christian myths, folklore, and folk traditions from the Nordic cultural area -- to inform their religiosity. The works of visual artists, musicians, and scholar-practitioners inspired by elements of this body of lore serve to further constitute it. This lore provides the basis and inspiration for religious identity …

The Kin-Ship, Zheng Moham Wang

Comparative Woman

This is a group of two English poems the author composed separately in 2019 and 2021 about the imaginary scenes of his grandpa and mother from a Iu-Mien family of Southeast Asia and Southwestern China. The group was submitted to the upcoming Kinship volume of the Comparative Woman journal of Louisiana State University.

Contract Law Should Be Faith Neutral: Reverse Entanglement Would Be Stranglement For Religious Arbitration, Michael J. Broyde, Alexa J. Windsor

Faculty Articles

The first section of this Article will outline the ways in which communities—religious and other groups, including the LGBTQ+ community—have used and continue to use private law to achieve meaningful dispute resolution. By diminishing the role of civil courts to review arbitrations, parties may tailor their resolutions to prioritize community values that may be misaligned with secular society. Outside of historical religious usage, private law offers a field ripe for jurisprudential growth. Through alternative dispute resolution, affinity-based minority groups can pave an avenue towards justice which accurately reflects the unique values of their lived experiences.

The second section will provide …

The Jaina Goddess Padmāvati In Karnataka, Robert Zydenbos

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Stories about Padmāvati played an important role in the founding of the Ganga Dynasty (ca. 350-1000 C.E.) and the Hoysala Dynasty (ca. 950-1350 C.E.) in what is now the modern state of Karnataka. Although not without its critics, goddess worship has been integral to Jainism as practiced in south India for more than a millennium. This article surveys primary and secondary literature written about Padmāvati and describes worship at the main shrine dedicated to her, located in Hombuja in central Karnataka.

Póster De La Conferencia Segundo Congreso Internacional De Iconografía Precolombina

Segundo congreso internacional de iconografía precolombina. Barcelona, 2023. Actas.

Victòria Solanilla, organizadora

17 al 20 de octubre de 2023.

En el Museu de Cultures del Món de Barcelona. Calle Montcada, nº12-14, 08003, Barcelona.

Y en el Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Calle del Carme, nº 47, 08001, Barcelona.

Understanding An American Paradox: An Overview Of The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom, Spearit

Articles

In The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom, Sahar Aziz unveils a mechanism that perpetuates the persecution of religion. While the book’s title suggests a problem that engulfs Muslims, it is not a new problem, but instead a recurring theme in American history. Aziz constructs a model that demonstrates how racialization of a religious group imposes racial characteristics on that group, imbuing it with racial stereotypes that effectively treat the group as a racial rather than religious group deserving of religious liberty.

In identifying a racialization process that effectively veils religious discrimination, Aziz’s book points to several important …

Manifesting Magic: Occultism And Feminism In The Art Of Leonora Carrington And Remedios Varo, Margaret Dirschl

MA Theses

The artworks of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo are replete with
symbolism and evocations of the occult, formulating bodies of work that are charged with magic and mysticism. When studied within the context of their male contemporaries of the Surrealist group, it becomes apparent that this use of the occult operates as a compelling and historically based feminist strategy. Immediately stemming from the occult revival of the previous century and the issues for females presented by Surrealism, the foundations of this idea originate much earlier in the pagan traditions of antiquity and the witch hunts of the 15th through 18th …

Cognitive Illusion, Lucid Dreaming, And The Psychology Of Metaphor In Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen Contemplative Practices, Michael R. Sheehy

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

A classic set of eight similes of illusion (sgyu ma’i dpe brgyad) are employed recurrently throughout Indian and Tibetan Buddhist literature to illustrate the operations of cognition, its correlative perceptions, and experiences that emerge. To illustrate a Buddhist psychology of metaphor, the fourteenth century Tibetan scholar and synthesizer of the Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) or Great Perfection system, Longchen Rabjam Drimé Ödzer (1308-1363), composed his poetic text, Being at Ease with Illusion. This work on illusion is the third volume in Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Being at Ease (Ngal gso skor gsum) in which he presents a series of Dzogchen instructions on …

Spirituality As A Coping Mechanism For Academic Stress, Zurab Kherodinashvili

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Current research has emphasised the adverse effects of stress on well-being and mental health. This paper explores the aspect of stress and well-being in the college student population. Students face multiple stressors during their academic life, such as isolation from family, academic stress, social interactions, financial difficulties, love, and a list of requirements for their future careers. During this period, individuals develop skill sets, ideas, mental prototypes, and coping mechanisms that may be used as a guiding point and retrieved later in life. Coping is mobilizing ideas and behaviors to manage internal and external stressful events. It is a word …

Why Bad Things Happen To Good People: Polytheism As A Response To Questions Of Human Suffering, Mikaela L. Taylor

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

This thesis argues that there are some interpretations of Christian traditions which are not adequate in response to questions of human experience, particularly suffering, which results in a crisis of faith. Questions of purpose or greater meaning of suffering people face are often answered by their relationship to the divine. Through the process of critiquing the American Prosperity Gospel, Karl Barth’s Universal Predestination of Grace, and biblical narratives, I argue that there are some authoritarian monotheistic conceptions of divinity which do not adequately respond to questions of human suffering. As a way of providing an imaginative approach to divinity, I …

El Refugio De La Imagen Chamánica En El Mundo Malagana, Sonia Blanco, Catalina Simmonds Caldas

Segundo congreso internacional de iconografía precolombina. Barcelona, 2023. Actas.

La voluntad de elaborar una pieza antropomorfa, es incidir sobre el objeto, haciéndolo actuante. Tratándose del mundo Malagana – sociedad prehispánica colombiana –, que consideró el papel primordial de la mujer, esta imagen femenina y robusta, en cerámica, de pie, portadora de una máscara, como pieza – soporte simbólica contendría en su epidermis y gesto, una narrativa ritual. Desarrollada en un espacio funerario, como ajuar, personificaría los atributos del mono aullador y convocante de los “espíritus (auxiliares) alter-ego”, de los monos ardilla, intervendría de forma ritualista sobre los humedales del pueblo Malagana, aportándoles el equilibrio para la inflorescencia de la …

Ancient Migrations In West Mexico: Mtdna Analyses, Patricio Gutiérrez Ruano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the mounting evidence that suggests The Aztatlán tradition in West Mexico was a major cosmopolitan region during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521) with connections to the rest of what is now Mexico, archaeologists have characterized items in West Mexico as culturally distinct from the rest of Mesoamerica. Recently, endogenous, and exogenous material culture has been interpreted as movement and exchange of goods and ideas between subregions and surrounding areas, all of which mention physical contact and trade were involved between Aztatlán and elsewhere. This has included interacting with areas as far as the U.S. Southwest, as well as in …