History of Religion Commons^™

Christianity's Influence On Attitudes Toward Homosexuality In The Roman Empire, Jennie Jiang

Young Historians Conference

Attitudes towards sexuality are deeply influenced by the intricate interplay between religion and social values. How do polytheistic and monotheistic societies differ in how they view sexuality? In the pre-Christian days of the early Roman Empire, polytheism fostered a remarkable tolerance toward both same-sex relations and various expressions of sexuality, as evident in social expectations, literature, and written law. In contrast, a closer examination of the Roman Empire’s transition from a polytheistic to Christian society in the 4^th and 5^th centuries reveals that the rise of Christianity corresponded with, and likely contributed to, increasingly strict attitudes towards homosexuality.

Henri De Maupas Du Tour: The Funeral Oration For Vincent De Paul 23 November 1660, Edward Udovic

Mission and Ministry Publications

The first English translation of the funeral oration in memory of Vincent de Paul delivered by Bishop Henri de Maupas du Tour on 23 November 1660. The text of the oration was published in January 1661. The oration is the first public reflection on the life, virtue, and accomplishment of the recently deceased Monsieur Vincent. The translation is fully annotated and is accompanied by three introductory chapters: the first discusses Maupas du Tour, the second analyzes the content of the oration, and the final chapter examines the course of the canonization cause of Vincent de Paul from his death until …

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2015

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

“Servants, Obey Your Masters”: Southern Representations Of The Religious Lives Of Slaves, Lindsey K.D. Wedow

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This paper focuses on how representations of the religious lives of slaves, specifically their abilities to comprehend the Bible and flourish spiritually, became an issue that not only propelled the North and South toward the Civil War, but also perpetuated the conflict. Using original documents from the collections housed at Chicago’s Newberry Library, predominantly sermons written by proslavery ministers as well as documents published by missionary organizations, this paper explores the fierce defense of the institution of slavery mounted by proslavery Christians. Specifically, this paper’s interest is in how the representation of slaves by proslavery evangelical Christians as incapable of …

The Death Of Modesty: How The Decline In The Church’S Influence Along With Social And Cultural Factors In The Twentieth Century Directed Changing Views Of Modesty In America, Tracy-Ann M. Griffiths

Honors College Theses

As the topic of modesty and its origin is explored the creation of modesty can be traced back to religion and religious teachings and texts. Since the early twentieth century America’s modesty standards and ideals have slowly changed. With the increase in the influence of celebrities in the 1930s and 1940s along with the decrease in the influence of the church starting with the religious reformation, the death of modesty in American society has resulted. The purpose of this paper is to show a relationship between the origin of modesty and religion as well as show that America’s acceptance of …

Jewish Games For Learning: Renewing Heritage Traditions In The Digital Age, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Rather than a discontinuity from traditional modes of learning, new explorations of digital and strategic games in Jewish learning are markedly continuous with ancient practices. An explication of the close connections between traditional modes of Jewish learning, interpretive practice, and gaming culture can help to explain how Jews of the Digital Age can adopt and are adapting modern Games for Learning practices for contemporary purposes. The chapter opens by contextualizing a notion of Jewish Games and the field of Games for Learning. Next, the chapter explains the connections between game systems and Jewish traditions. It closes with a case study …

Luther And The Jews: An Exposition Directed To Christians On Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism, Defense, And Legacy, Megan Wilson

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the historical relations between reformer Martin Luther and the Jewish people. Its primary purpose is to defend Luther’s image as a prominent figure in Christian history while considering the possibility of his anti-Semitic views. This thesis focuses particularly on a number of Luther’s written works in order to achieve this goal, with a secondary concentration on historical and incidental defenses that can be used to exonerate him. This thesis also serves to inform contemporary Christians of the controversy surrounding these views and the result of his legacy in more recent centuries.

The Effect Of Religious Opposition On The Mexican-American War (1846-1848), April L. Pickens

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

The Effect of Religious Opposition on the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848

By April Pickens, History Major

James Madison University

The Mexican-American War began in dubious circumstances, and some Americans disagreed with “Polk’s War” from the beginning. But it was the united efforts of three Protestant denominations—the Congregationalists, the Unitarians, and the Quakers—that finally turned a large segment of the populace against the war. They were able to do this with their multiplying publications, which wielded significant influence in the religiously aware society that existed in America after the Second Great Awakening. When sufficient numbers of ordinary citizens and politicians began voicing …

Jesuits And Their Books: Libraries And Printing Around The World, Kathleen M. Comerford

History: Faculty Publications

The geographical and chronological spread of topics in this thematic issue of the Journal of Jesuit Studies is the result of a mandate to give coverage to both pre- and post-suppression research, around the globe, on Jesuit libraries and printing, in a total of six or seven articles. As this is no small task, a great deal of information is missing from the volume. I began with the premise that the subjects and regions which have received the most coverage over the previous two decades should be excluded: therefore, there is no article on Argentina, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, …

The Movie Mogul, Moses And Muslims: Islamic Elements In Cecil B. Demille’S The Ten Commandments (1956), Michael D. Calabria Ofm

Journal of Religion & Film

Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 film, The Ten Commandments, has come to define the genre of the biblical epic. It has earned a permanent place in American culture due to its annual airing on television during the Easter and Passover holidays. Most viewers are unaware, however, that DeMille had sought to make a film that would appeal to Jews, Christians and Muslims at a time when their common Abrahamic ancestry had yet to be articulated, and interreligious dialogue was all but unheard of. To this end, Henry Noerdlinger, DeMille’s researcher for the film, consulted the Qur’an, and screenwriters incorporated Islamic …

An Evil Threat To Marriage, Children And The Future: Queer Theory, "The Passion Of The Christ," And Evangelical Political Rhetoric, Richard Wolff

Journal of Religion & Film

This article employs queer theory to analyze Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ (2004) for its portrayal of queer characters (Satan and Herod) in contrast with non-queer (Pilate and Claudia, Seraphia, Simon the Cyrene, and Mary, Christ’s mother), and how it depicts the former as evil and the latter as good. In particular, these contrasts involve self-indulgent or predatory sexual expression versus a healthy marital relationship, and evil versus loving influences over children, who represent hope for the future. Finally, the article looks at the film’s heavy marketing to American evangelicals and how the symbolic representations in the …

April 2015, Temple Shalom Synagogue Center

Newsletter Archive

Contents: Sing My Soul; From the Rabbi; President's Message; Announcements; Book Group; A Bissel of Jewish Maine

Stoning In Iran: A Sexist And Overlooked Practice, Megan R. Haugh

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

This paper seeks to dissect and expose the ancient practice of stoning in Iran, and to analyze the injustices that are built into this punishment.

Catholic Labor Education And The Association Of Catholic Trade Unionists. Instructing Workers To Christianize The Workplace, Paul Lubienecki Ph.D.

Journal of Catholic Education

This article analyzes the effect of the American Catholic Church, through its program of specialized labor education, on the growth and development of organized labor in the twentieth century. With the proclamation of Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, he requested that the Church complete the work began by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 with his landmark social encyclical Rerum Novarum.

However, the American interpretation and utilization of the social encyclicals varied from their intended European meaning. The cumulative effect of these two encyclicals was support for the workers’ rights to organize and create Christian labor associations. From …

Mirrored Images: The Passion And The First Crusade In A Fourteenth-Century Parisian Illuminated Manuscript (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale De France, Ms Fr. 352), Susanna A. Throop

History Faculty Publications

This lavish mid-fourteenth-century Parisian illuminated manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 352) combines a description of the Holy Land with an abridged version of the history and continuations of William of Tyre in Old French known as the Eracles. It is both visually familiar to scholars and under-studied. Several of its Gothic panel miniatures, especially folio 62r, the conquest of Jerusalem, have been published more than once, yet the manuscript's illumination programme as a whole has not been assessed since Jaroslav Folda's 1968 doctoral dissertation. Analysis of folio 62r in the context of both the full illumination …

March 2015, Temple Shalom Synagogue Center

Newsletter Archive

Contents: Purim Masked Ball; From the Rabbi; President's Message; Announcements; Colby Professor Visits to Discuss the Significance of Food to Religious Groups: Book Group; Jewish Genealogical Tidbits

Reclaiming And Reconciling What Was Originally Ours--Christianity And Feminism: A Concise History, Soquel Filice

History

No abstract provided.

Emerging Ireland: Antiquarian Writing And The Molding Of Irish Catholic Identity In The 18th Century, Patrick Gibbons

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The 18^th century was a period of great activity in the field of historical and antiquarian scholarship in Ireland, as Catholics and Protestants wrote accounts of the island’s early history which were equally concerned with the present state of affairs in Ireland. Previous scholarship has focused on the political nature of antiquarian writing by Irish Catholics as responses to competing Protestant narratives, but their role as a means of both reconstructing and reaffirming previous identities among Irish Catholics has been overlooked. Examining the writings of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, James MacGeoghegan, and Sylvester O’Halloran, the three Irish Catholic antiquarians …

Heaven In Conflict: Franciscans And The Boxer Uprising In Shanxi, Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

Whitworth Faculty Scholarship Forum 2015

A Case Study: Sex Education In Mainline Protestant Denominations, Alexa Juhl

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.