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Employing A Chinese Ghost Story To Teach The Syncretism Of Chinese Religions, Gloria I-Ling Chien

Journal of Religion & Film

Upon its release in 1987, the Hong Kong blockbuster A Chinese Ghost Story resulted in sequels, adaptations, and two remakes in 2011 and 2020. Despite its popularity, only a few critics have noticed its eclectic representations of Chinese religions, nor has there been any evaluation of its pedagogical potential. This article details how the author employs this 1987 work to teach the syncretism of Chinese religions in an undergraduate course “Asian Religions in Film.” By decoding the embedded concepts, the meanings and history behind “the Jade Garland talisman,” the inclusion of the Diamond Sutra for exorcistic efficacy, and the portrayal …

Life In The Multiverse: Bringing Chaos Out Of Order?, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper was given as the opening keynote address at the International Conference on Religion and Film at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on June 8, 2022, and is here presented in that form.

My thanks go to those who organized the conference for Vrije Universiteit, notably Professor Johan Roeland and Miranda van Holland.

Introduction – Whither The Spiritual? Rethinking Secularism’S Legacy In Post-Ottoman Art, Hannah Feldman, Kirsten Scheid

Regards

This dossier seeks to pinpoint hazards emerging on the globally redrawn map of art and culture. It was conceived to expose and navigate the mines laid when the ostensibly methodologically secular discourse of art history turns to art made outside Euro-American cultural centers – art often considered out of sync with Euro-American modernity.¹ As commonly approached, the pinnacle of that modernity corresponds roughly to what one of us has referred to as the “decades of decolonization,” in an effort to avoid reaffirming the Eurocentrism inherent in labeling the period as ‘post-war’...

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reformatted Text Of Book Of Mormon Enhances Study

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Just in time for the study of the Book of Mormon in the 2008 churchwide Sunday School courses, the Maxwell Institute recently released an updated and expanded edition of Donald W. Parry’s Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon: The Complete Text.

Scripture Update: Lehi As A Visionary Man, Matthew Roper

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

One of the complaints leveled against Lehi by his rebellious sons Laman and Lemuel and his wife, Sariah, was that he was a “visionary man” (1 Nephi 2:11; 5:2). Although this term does not appear in the King James translation of the Bible, it accurately reflects the Hebrew word hazon, meaning divine vision.1 Although this Hebrew term appears in connection with true prophets of God, it is also sometimes written with a negative connotation, describing false prophets, especially in the writings of Lehi’s contemporary Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:14; 23:16).

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Welch Expounds The Sermon On The Mount At Museum Of Art Lecture

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

On January 31, John W. Welch addressed the topic “The Five Faces of the Savior in the Sermon on the Mount” as part of the Museum of Art lecture series on the life of Christ, which has now concluded. Welch, Robert K. Thomas professor of law at BYU, editor in chief of BYU Studies, and the founder of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, spoke about five specific layers of instruction within the Sermon text in Matthew 5–7. As Welch related, “the Sermon on the Mount is not a scrapbook” of moral maxims, but more importantly it reveals …

Institute Supports Graduates And Undergraduates

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute continues to encourage and support the work of graduate and undergraduate students through two funds.

Each year at this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program and its application deadline. Named in honor of the late eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, this pro-gram provides financial aid to students enrolled in accredited PhD programs in areas of study directly related to the work and mission of the Maxwell Institute, particularly work done under the auspices of one department of the Institute, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, such as studies of the …

President Samuelson Remembers Elder Maxwell In Institute Lecture

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Recalling how his longtime friend and mentor inspired others without preaching or condemning, President Cecil O. Samuelson shared memories of Elder Neal A. Maxwell at a lecture on March 23, 2007. The president of Brigham Young University and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, President Samuelson spoke at the inaugural annual lecture of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

Digitalizing Religion In The Age Of Covid-19: A Uses And Gratifications Perspective, Abdulaziz Altawil

Dissertations - ALL

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s religious behavior around the world. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, most in-person religious services have shifted to virtual platforms. The online religious transition amidst the outbreak has alleviated many issues for worshippers as it provided them with a sanctuary space to connect with their faith and community. According to a 2020 Pew Research analysis, the pandemic has made many Americans change their religious habits by watching religious content online instead of physically engaging with their local religious institution. This dissertation provides a preliminary examination of this phenomenon by exploring the role of digital …

The Social, Political, And Psychological Extensions Of Expatriation Through Views Of Place, Ioannis Galanopoulos Papavasileiou

All Works

The project Views from Expatria: Photographing Place and the Self in Transience investigates the intersection between photography, expatriation, and an expanded context of human migrations. Expatriates, transient skilled workers, within today’s ease of mobility for work can easily lose sight of “home.” Recurrent transits and travels away from home are associated with the everyday experience of expatriates. Although there are many benefits associated with working abroad, these do not come without challenges for the expatriated individual. My creative work Photographing Place and Self in transience and this article reveal the social, political, and psychological complexities associated with the global phenomenon …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Chat With The New Editors Of The Maxwell Institute Journals

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Accompanying this issue of Insights is volume 17 (combining numbers one and two) of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies; however, readers will note that the Journal now carries a new name, the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture. In connection with this change, the Institute asked Andrew H. Hedges, an associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, to become the new editor, replacing Professor S. Kent Brown, who served as editor and associate editor for many years, and who recently retired from the university. The new associate editors are Grant Hardy, professor of …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Director Appointed For The Maxwell Institute

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In June Brigham Young University announced the appointment of M. Gerald Bradford as the new executive director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Bradford, previously associate executive director of the Maxwell Institute, replaces Andrew C. Skinner, who has accepted an assignment at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and is returning to teaching and research.

Farms Review Stresses Biblical Studies, Remembrance, And Church History

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Issue 19/2 of the FARMS Review, which is now available, follows a long tradition of dealing with a wide variety of fascinating topics. Of particular interest in this issue is a series of articles on pre-serving and enlarging the memory of the Saints. As Louis Midgley notes in his introduction to this section, “In the April 2007 General Conference, Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy delivered a powerful sermon entitled ‘Remember and Perish Not,’ in which he urged the Saints to pay close attention to the ways of remembrance in our scriptures” (p. 23). At the next conference, President …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Institute Supports Graduates And Undergraduates

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute continues to encourage and support the work of graduate and undergraduate students through two funds.

Japanese Buddhist Women In Hawai‘I: Waves Of Change, Karma Lekshe Tsomo

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

Beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century, successive waves of Japanese Buddhist immigrants settled in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, bringing with them a variety of Japanese Buddhist schools and traditions. Overcoming many hardships, Japanese immigrant women worked with great devotion to help establish numerous temples in the Hawai‘i through Buddhist women’s associations known as Fujinkai. These dedicated women not only maintained ancestral Buddhist practices but also integrated Japanese Buddhist, native Hawaiian, and other cultural elements in ways that were entirely new. Persevering through the war years and through successive waves of cultural adaptation, they transmitted and protected Buddhist …

Is Trash Hybrid?, Todd Levasseur

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[From first paragraph] The scholarship focusing on globalization over the last thirty years has achieved impressive gains in nuance and understanding. Some of the more prominent approaches to study globalization that have developed in this period include network, feminist, gender, economic, political, media, religious, diaspora, and migratory lenses. All of these lenses are adroitly utilized by scholars to help us better understand globalization and their use helps to shape the field of global studies. This article argues that environmental humanities scholars must build upon insights from these disciplines, while bringing scholarly tools from the environmental sciences into their research projects, …

Pastoral Pitfalls: Solutions To Navigating The Stresses Of Twenty-First Century Ministry, Chris Moore

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

American church clergy and their families are suffering from the effects of Twenty-First Century ministry and the stresses of the local church, according to research from the Fuller Institute, Barna Group, and Pastoral Care Inc. Much of the research in this area and its effects on the clergy and churches occurred more than a decade ago. Through updated research and surveys of current Southern Baptist ministers in the Baptist General Convention of Texas, this thesis will offer solutions to how these dangers can be lessened or alleviated. Through the presentation of updated statistics, the seriousness of this problem for the …

Jennifer Holberg Talks With Makoto Fujimura, Jennifer Holberg, Makoto Fujimura

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In this episode, Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell interviews Jennifer Holberg, professor of English at Calvin University, co-director of Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, and frequent writer for the Reformed Journal Blog. Jennifer discusses her childhood as an army brat, the effects of the early death of her mother, and her forthcoming book “Nourishing Narratives: The Power of Story to Shape our Faith,” which is expected to come out in July 2023.

Religious Syncretism In Spanish Latin America: Survival, Power, And Resistance, Ian Mcguckin

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

This paper explores the theory of religious syncretism and its application within early modern Latin America. It proposes a new model for understanding religious syncretism in order to eliminate the previous bias in the scholarship and misconceptions inherent in the term and seeks to discover why cultures chose specific religious elements over their counterparts in syncretic scenarios. Reviewing primary and secondary sources analyzing the religious characteristics and atmosphere of this period revealed that there was a pattern to syncretism and religious selection in Spanish Latin America. Europeans, Indigenous Peoples, and Africans in the New World selected religious elements based on …

The Orthodox Theology Of Modernity: Problem Statement And Prospective Tasks, Hennadii Khrystokin, Vasyl Lozovytskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article studies the problem of Orthodoxy's attitude to modernity. The concept of the theology of modernity–a new section of the social theology of the church, which considers the specifics, main trends, problems, and tendencies of modernity–is proposed. The theology of modernity raises questions about the possibilities, boundaries, and ways of renewal of the church. The concept of the theology of modernity is a set of methods, approaches, and discourses that allow us to comprehend modernity, carry out its assessment by means of Orthodox theology, and find its religious potential for the actualization of Christianity in our time. The analysis …

The Rejection Of Women Imams In Indonesia: Between Religious And Socio-Cultural Texts, Nurun Najwah, Irwan Abdullah, Saifuddin Zuhri Qudsy, Ahmad Baidowi

Journal of International Women's Studies

Discourses regarding women as imams became widespread after Amina Wadud led communal Friday prayers in 2005. Academics have predominantly responded by analyzing religious doctrine and its exegesis, ignoring the fact that women's ability to lead worship is strongly influenced by their specific socio-cultural contexts and dynamics. This article will investigate how religious texts structure and are structured by the socio-cultural context of Indonesia. In this study, data were collected by identifying hadiths of leadership, then analyzing them using content analysis. It was found that religious doctrines tend to emphasize the primacy of men (as leaders) while underscoring the (physical, intellectual, …

The Beat Generation In The Mountains: After The Famous San Francisco Reading, Fire Lookouts Became Literary Sites, Ron Dart

Appalachia

No abstract provided.

Introducing A Bit Of Active Latin Into Your Current Advanced Latin Classroom: Usus Loquendi Et Audiendi De Terentio Catulloque, Ronnie Ancona

New England Classical Journal

The purpose of this paper is to show how easily and profitably one can introduce a small portion of active Latin into an upper-level Latin classroom through select questioning and response that draws directly from and reinforces grammatical structures and forms, as well as key vocabulary, from the students’ advanced Latin texts under study. Use of active Latin supports SLA (Second Language Acquistion) research about the value of spending time “in the language” in the classroom. The current Standards for Classical Language Learning recognizes this value as well.

The Japanese Church And Cultural Engagement, Sarah Jane Garon

Masters Theses

This thesis addresses the current cultural engagement done by the Japanese church, with particular attention given to music and the arts. Japan has hosted Christian missionaries for over five centuries and yet most of the population do not claim the religion as their own. Much research has been devoted to understanding the history of Christianity in Japan and the relationship between Japanese Christians and non-Christian Japanese culture. However, very little research has been done on the interactions between Japanese Christians and music and art specifically. This thesis, therefore, is dedicated to discovering how Japanese Christians are currently engaging with music …

A Christian Perspective On Islam's Origins: Its Religion, Founder, And Practices, German Matos

Masters Theses

The many years of exposure to Islamic believers in the five boroughs of New York State, but more specifically, the Bronx, set a precedent for this thesis to comprehensively analyze the religion of Islam by investigating the Abrahamic monotheistic connection to its historical origins and religious practices. The methods used in this thesis to prove Islam’s legitimacy as an Abrahamic monotheistic heir consisted of sources like the Qur’an, hadith, and tafsir texts translated from Arabic into English. The simultaneous usage of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and authoritative secular sources was used to scrutinize Islam’s theological and historical claims to formulate a …