History of Religion Commons^™

Art As Ammunition: The Creative Response To Violence In Ireland, Emma Muchow

Soaring: A Journal of Undergraduate Research

This essay examines the role of murals in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a period of sectarian violence from 1968 to 1998. It argues that these murals functioned as powerful instruments for both sides of the conflict, serving as a platform to express political ideologies, cultural identities, and lived experiences. The analysis draws upon scholarly works on art and conflict, historical accounts of the Troubles, and examinations of specific murals.

The paper explores the multifaceted role these murals played. It highlights how they served as reflections of the social, political, and cultural tensions of the time. Furthermore, it examines how …

Feeding Hungry Christians: The Liverpool Muslim Institute On Christmas Day, Brent D. Singleton

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

The Liverpool Muslim Institute (LMI), a group of mainly British Muslim converts led by Abdullah Quilliam, began an annual tradition of feeding the poor and hungry on Christmas Day soon after the groups’ founding in the late 1880s. The feasts would become the largest and perhaps most important public event on the LMI’s calendar until its demise in 1908. This chapter provides a brief outline of the history of Christmas charity in England and Liverpool and then delves into the Muslims’ rationale for the feedings, their fundraising and preparations, and actual Christmas Day feasts, as recorded in the LMI’s weekly …

Polygamy: Mormon Women’S Influence Throughout The Late 19th And Early 20th Century, Kaylan Finley

2024 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

Mormon religion has been perceived as an outsider due to various beliefs that are followed within its church. The belief that truly separated Mormons from the rest of the world is their practice of polygamy. This belief, which members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced throughout the 19th century until its banishment in the early 20th century, is not looked at through a clear lense. When a large portion of writers and historians think of polygamy, they tend to think of the husband and his point of view. In this paper, Mormon women and their perspectives …

Armenian Church Of Our Saviour Collection, Jennifer Krulisz-Hossain, Robyn Conroy

Strassler Center Archival Collection Finding Aids

This collection comprises of books, manuscript and volumes, and journal reviews donated by the Armenian Church of Our Saviour in Worcester, Massachusetts. The materials focus on Armenian history, culture, and literature, emphasizing the richness of Armenian heritage's intellectual and cultural aspects. These resources are preserved within the church's library and archives. The Shelved Books within the Rose Library include English-language books written by Armenian authors and translated works that explore themes of Armenian history, culture, and resilience. These texts serve as accessible educational tools for scholars, students, and the broader community. The Manuscript Volumes contain original works by Armenian authors, …

Calvin On War, David Crum

Selected Faculty Publications

Calvin’s teachings on war centred on providence, sovereignty, and judgment – doctrines that Christians have used throughout history to justify entrance into conflicts. In Calvin’s teachings, he always emphasized holiness and godly living. This led to another justification for war – protecting or defending humanity. This article examines Calvin’s instruction and views on war and determines when humanity should enter such a conflict. Further, within the Christian worldview, warfare obviously connects to judgment and sin, two issues that Calvin affirmed resulted in deadly clashes and encounters. Strongly adhering to the idea of providence, Calvin felt that no event in human …

Borders, Bollywood, And Butter Chicken: The Legacy Of The South Asian Partition, Jayesh Choudhary

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson focuses on the South Asian Partition, a pivotal moment in history that created lasting cultural and political divides. Students will explore how this event shaped modern identities and communities in South Asia. Through engaging discussions, film analysis, and interactive activities, the lesson will highlight the impact of the Partition on Bollywood, cuisine, and societal dynamics.

Students will begin by understanding the historical context of the Partition before participating in activities that simulate the separation of communities. They will reflect on personal narratives and analyze cultural expressions that emerged from this tumultuous period. By the end of the lesson, …

“The Scientist Is Wrong”: Joseph Fielding Smith, George Mccready Price, And The Ascent Of Creationist Thought Among Latter-Day Saints In The Twentieth Century, Thomas Benjamin Spackman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

At the beginning of the twentieth century, leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took a wary but open position regarding the burgeoning science of evolution. By the end of the century, Latter-day Saints had effectively become old-earth creationists. Through implicit hermeneutical framing and explicit statements, Church-published interpretive materials created a strong perception of a Church orthodoxy; scripture might allow for an old earth, but nothing died before the fall of Adam c. 4000 BC. Such a time frame ruled out the possibility of the evolution of plants, animals, and humans, and attributed the formation of fossils …

Resilience And Resistance: Culture, Conversion, And Survival Among The Stockbridge Mohicans, Mariah N. Ramdeen

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates the history of conversion among the Mohican band in Stockbridge, Massachusetts from the 1730s to the 1740s. Focusing on the praying town under the ministry of Reverend John Sergeant at Stockbridge in 1736, I seek to reconstruct the resistance and survivance at the heart of the Stockbridge Mohicans’ experience. My research will explore why the Mohicans chose to establish the Stockbridge praying town and why they chose to convert to Christianity, the religion of the Puritan colonizers. I will also explore how they used their conversion to promote their own community goals. While praying towns were designed …

The Holy Abject: The Narrative Arc Of Female Christian Martyrdom And Its Implications For Subjecthood In The Roman Empire, Gillian Murdock Gardner

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis aims to utilize modern critical theory to reveal how the hagiographies of early female Christian martyrs follow a standardized narrative arc. The martyr’s body is hyperfeminized, transformed, and eventually eclipsed in a simultaneous process of unbecoming in the corporeal realm and becoming in a divine register. The martyr’s augmented femininity signals her ability to endure as far as womens’ abject position in the Empire allows, while her bodily transformation conveys a transgression of the ontological pairings of active masculinity and passive femininity that govern Roman social order. Finally, the martyr’s death communicates an imperial attempt to reestablish the …

Rabbi Mordukh Krol: “Little Man” In The Background Of The Soviet Epoch, Tetiana Savchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the life path of Rabbi Mordukh Krol in the background of the socio-political transformations in Soviet Ukraine (1920-1940s). For the first time, special sources are introduced into the scholarly circulation such as the Rabbi’s correspondences addressed to the Jews of Denmark, Germany, France, the USA, the USSR, Palestine, and Africa during the Holodomor. Major milestones of the Rabbi’s life are identified. He served in the Chernihiv and Melitopol Region, in Voroshylovhrad, Novoukrayinka of Odessa, and later Kirovohrad regions, in Dnipropetrovsk. Rabbi M. Krol, who was the father of many children, was forced to fight with the challenges …

Ban Of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate In Ukraine: Limitation Of Religious Freedom Or The Fight Against Russian Influence, Bohdan Synchak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article reviews the activity of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine and abroad, particularly in the EU and the USA. The main problem this study deals with is the probable ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) in Ukraine, which is potential against the background of the consideration in the 2nd reading of draft law No. 8371, which refers to “impossibility of the activity of religious organizations in Ukraine, the management center (management) of which is located in the state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine.” In the course of our review, the key question is whether …

17th Century Ecumenical Activities Between Ecumenical Patriarchate And The Early Protestant Churches, Svetoslav Ribolov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The ecumenical activities and contacts between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Protestant churches in the 17th century were largely shaped by two remarkable figures of the Orthodox Church–the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lucaris and Metrophanes Kritopoulos, who later became the Patriarch of Alexandria. Their sincere desire for contact with Protestant theologians, along with their commitment to open dialogue and cooperation was the most important factor in Orthodox-Protestant relations in that era. However, while the political climate in Europe initially allowed for some rapprochement between Christians in the Ottoman Empire and those who had embraced the Reformation, things eventually changed after …

Faithful Partner: The Role And Agency Of Pastors' Wives In The Protestant Reformation, Elizabeth M. Dubendorfer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores the critical yet often overlooked roles of pastors' wives during the Protestant Reformation, focusing on three key figures: Katharina von Bora, Katharina Schütz Zell, and Elisabeth Cruciger. It examines how these women navigated the complexities of Reformation-era Germany, blending traditional gender roles with new practices that emerged from their unique positions as clerical spouses. By investigating their personal histories, theological contributions, and community engagements, the thesis demonstrates that these pioneering women established a distinct archetype for pastors' wives. This archetype was characterized by a profound commitment to faith, an expanded view of motherhood and wifely duties, and …

In My End Is My Beginning: Mary Stuart And The Foundation Of Her Religious Pragmatism, Shantelle M. Clement

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and Dowager Queen of France, demonstrated atypical religious tolerance during the turmoil of the sixteenth-century reformations, particularly in comparison to other monarchs of the time. This research especially focuses on her upbringing in France, and how her education and those around her influenced the pragmatism and actions displayed as a monarch in Scotland until July 1565. Her youth in France and religious tolerance is a rare focus in secondary sources compared to the more dramatic events in her later life.

Religious Upheaval In A South Dakota Mennonite Community, 1874-1940, Ryan Mews

Dissertations and Theses

In 1874, multiple colonies of German-Russian Mennonites and Hutterites entered the Dakota Territory to settle into tightknit religious communities. These Anabaptists sought to escape religious persecution and assimilation in Russia but found themselves influenced by American religious groups. Their history of isolationism caused these groups to draw lines between their congregations that kept them small but allowed them to interact with new ideas in different ways, but caused them to redefine their German Mennonite identity. One such influence erupted from the Presbyterian Church called fundamentalism that encouraged evangelical works in America and sought to combat modernism in religious institutions. In …

Buddhist Music As A Contested Site: The Transmission Of Teochew Buddhist Music Between China And Singapore, Jie Zhang

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

In the Chaozhou City Gazetteer of Buddhism & Chaozhou Kaiyuan Monastery Gazetteer published in 1992, the then Abbot of the Kaiyuan Monastery, Shi Huiyuan 释慧原 heavily condemned the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) monk Shi Kesheng 释可声 (date unknown) for "starting the sins among laities in the Chaozhou region who dared transgressing (the Buddhist doctrines) and became chant leaders in a flaming mouth ceremony.” Why was the Abbot so upset with a fellow monk back in history? What did Kesheng do, and what were the implications of him starting this "transgression"? This article investigates the history of the international traffic of Buddhist …

"I Know The Dream Mine Is True": Mormons, Mining, And The Making Of "Bad Religion" In Early Twentieth-Century Utah, Christine V. Shell

American Studies ETDs

In 1894, folksy Mormon farmer-turned-prophet John H. Koyle, Jr, dreamed that an angel from the Book of Mormon showed him where and how to mine for golden ore and Book of Mormon treasures. Shortly afterwards, Koyle and a handful of friends established the “Dream Mine” at the revealed location, and as word spread additional workers joined the cause—for this was a mine destined to save the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members from financial and spiritual ruin during the long-foretold apocalyptic “Last Days.”

Koyle’s followers took delight and solace from their participation in the Dream Mine’s …

The Hidden History Of The Norseman And Celts, Amber Nicole Johnson

Whittier Scholars Program

When people hear the word Celts or Vikings there seems to be a common stigma or romanticization of them. This seems to stem from the early iron age and has shifted over to the 21st century with the production of movies and franchises. They are often depicted as being savage, barbaric, or warrior based (a term used to describe them) when there is a whole other side to these people. In the Spring of 2023, I took an independent study course that allowed me to examine the available archaeological and other evidence to understand the identities of the Germanic and …

Curriculum As Theology: A Framework For Analyzing Curriculum As Theological Text, Russell Miller

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This article seeks to establish a framework that contemplates curriculum as theological text by exploring the works of Neil Postman, W.F. Pinar, and C.S. Lewis in relation to past and present research and commentary. The paper investigates a range of concepts related to theology and curriculum including culture and religion, ethics, and morality. The author argues that curriculum is intrinsically a theological endeavor due to the nature of humanity and the interaction between learning and spiritual development.

La Fiesta Del Espiritu Santo: An Original Work For Choir, Soloists, And Small Ensemble Influenced By The Santeria Music Of The African-Dominican Community In The Dominican Republic, Rafael Scarfullery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This study examines the role of Santería music as practiced by African Dominicans in Villa Mella, a neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This musical tradition comes from the culture and religion of the Yoruba people who were brought as slaves from Africa, and features complex drum rhythms and call-and-response chants. This paper deals with the historical and social context of Santería music within the Dominican Republic, but its principal objective is to adopt the musical language of this tradition and use it to create a new contemporary work for mixed choir and small ensemble.

One of the most …