History Commons^™

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Asia In Saint Louis: Synergy Of Library Instruction, Digital Humanities, And Community Engagement, Joan Wang, David Romney

Journal of East Asian Libraries

This article explores the integration of library instruction, digital humanities, and community engagement through the "Asia in Saint Louis" project at Washington University in St. Louis. Led by subject librarians Joan Wang and David Romney, in collaboration with digital humanities specialists and local community organizations, the project aimed to digitally reconstruct and showcase the histories of Asian Americans in St. Louis from the late 19th to the 20th century. Funded by the Missouri Humanities Council, the project employed ArcGIS StoryMap technology to create a series of interactive narratives. These StoryMaps, supported by archival research and community involvement, highlight key themes …

Beyond Boundaries: Evaluating Bl/Yaoi Subject Headings In Academic Library Classification, Cecilia Zhang

Journal of East Asian Libraries

This study critically evaluates the effectiveness of the newly established Library of Congress Subject Headings, "Boys' Love (Gay Erotica)" and "Yaoi (Gay Erotica)," in classifying and facilitating the retrieval of information related to these genres. By examining the complex history of these terms within fan communities in Japan, China, and Korea across different historical periods, this research argues that the current LCSH oversimplifies the genre's rich cultural context and ongoing innovation, creating barriers to effective information retrieval and access. Additionally, the use of the term "Gay Erotica" is misaligned with the nuanced nature of BL/Yaoi, further complicating its classification. This …

Full Issue

Studia Antiqua

No abstract provided.

Towards Orthodox Polity: Episcopal Apology In Eusebius Of Caesarea’S Ecclesiastical History, Chris Cox

Studia Antiqua

During the last twenty years Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History has received some examination by scholars as a work of apology. In this paper, I propose that one element of Eusebius’ apologetics is a defense of the episcopal polity which existed during his lifetime. This is evident through the priority which the episcopacy is given throughout Ecclesiastical History’s narrative, and the authority that Eusebius presumes the episcopate holds from its origin. Additionally, it is possible that groups which Eusebius considered heretical and who rejected the authority of orthodox bishops may have motivated his episcopal emphasis.

A Pauline Dress Code Or A Roman Analogy: Reinterpreting Paul’S Discourse In 1 Corinthians 11:1–16, Nicole Francis

Studia Antiqua

Historically, the debate surrounding 1 Corinthians 11 has focused on whether or not Paul is referring to women veiling their heads in church or simply wearing their hair up. This debate roots itself in a nearly universally accepted assumption that Paul is requesting a sort of dress-code standard for praying and prophesying in church. While this has been the dominant reading in scholarship for centuries, there are numerous compelling weaknesses in this interpretation. This paper will explore those weaknesses and provide an alternative reading: When confronted with group conflict, Paul attempts to reason his way through the hierarchical structure he …

Retracing The Historical Via Dolorosa: A Logistical Exercise In First-Century Jerusalem, Calan Christensen

Studia Antiqua

Since the identification of Herod’s palace on the Western Hill of Jerusalem as the Praetorium (πραιτώριον) of the Gospels, the notion of Jesus being tried at the Antonia Fortress, and the associated Via Dolorosa, has been relegated to mere tradition. This presented a prime juncture to responsibly reinform a tantamount Christian pilgrimage tradition through the lens of archaeology. Unfortunately, this opportunity has seemingly been neglected by the greater academic community. Any scholar that ventures to mention a plausible route from the Praetorium to Golgotha hastily assumes a route through the Upper City and neglects to cite any compelling evidence. This …

The Different Esthers Of The Septuagint And Masoretic Text: How The Inclusion Of God Changes The Character Of Esther, Heidyn Von Bose

Studia Antiqua

The Book of Esther is a unique work that contains significant differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions of the text. One significant difference is the character of Esther herself. In the throne room scene of chapter five (or addition D in the LXX), the LXX Esther is more passive than the Esther of the Hebrew Bible because of the inclusion of God and more specifically the differences in the power structure between God, Esther, and the king. By analyzing the different characters’ movements and the language describing them in chapter 5 or Addition D, the differences of Esther’s character …

Embodiment And Ritual Clothing: Dressing The Israelite High Priest, Ally Huffmire

Studia Antiqua

Exodus 28 and 39 contain a detailed description of the clothing God instructed to be made and worn by Israelite priests. In this essay, sacred clothing will be understood through the lens of ritual studies, characterizing clothing with a sense of liminality that defines and endows the human wearer with identity and power. The social meanings and implications of the high priest’s dress will be reconstructed by engaging in sensory criticism, drawing upon insights from the greater eastern Mediterranean world. Given the ancient world’s unique conception of a permeable body, ritual clothing had the ability to imbue the wearer with …

The Carnivalesque And The Carmel Competition In 1 Kings 18, Paul Bryner

Studia Antiqua

While humor is a difficult feature to identify in the Bible, the concept of the “carnivalesque”—a form of literary humor with sociological implications, coined by Mikhail Bakhtin — is much easier to apply. I argue for the presence of carnivalesque themes in the Elijah narrative of 1 Kings 18 which give a subtle, implicit social commentary on Israelite society.

Front Matter

Studia Antiqua

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew Editor-In-Chief

Comparative Civilizations Review

Although the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations was formally launched in 1961 via a scholarly conference convened in Salzburg, Austria, which brought together many of the world’s leading experts on the subject under the sponsorship of the Austrian government and UNESCO, regular annual meetings for those interested in comparative civilizations have been held subsequently by the society variously in North America, South America, Asia or Europe almost every year since that time.

Former Iscsc President Wayne Bledsoe: An Appreciation, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

About three weeks before Wayne Bledsoe died on the 2nd of June 2024, at 83, my wife Elaine and I commented to each other that we simply had to get in touch with him and Deb again, for too much time had passed since we had seen each other. We did not know that he was ill, and so the news of his death surprised and distressed us.

Cognosis And The Evolution Of Civilization, Ken Baskin

Comparative Civilizations Review

From the time when the complex states such as Egypt or Sumer emerged roughly 5,000 years ago, the civilizations they represent have generally become more populous, more socially varied, wealthier, and more technologically advanced. As a result, the innovations they produced would begin to change the conditions in which they existed, and their cultures have had to evolve to adapt to this ongoing change. For instance, the cultures of Bronze Age Egypt and the Iron Age Han Dynasty had to be quite different, even though both were agricultural societies. And, of course, the Electronic Age cultures of the United States …

Is Donald Trump A Modern-Day Catiline?, Jamie González-Ocaña

Comparative Civilizations Review

Could the story of a failed Roman politician who organized a plot to seize the Roman republic in 63 BCE be a metaphor for Donald Trump’s political persona — his initial presidential run against the establishment, his rhetorical effort to overthrow the status quo and the natural order of things in national politics, the love affair Trump has always had with the struggling working-class voters (with the “forgotten” Americans), his constant testing the Constitutional limits of our republican system of government? Could both figures be symptoms of times when a republic is in crisis and reminders of the perils that …

Niccolò Longobardo And The Early Modern Encounter Of Europe With China, Yu Liu

Comparative Civilizations Review

Writing in 1962 about the founding fathers of the early modern Jesuit China mission, Jesuit historian George H. Dunne famously called them the generation of giants “who, breaking with the dominant spirit of their times and recalling a distant past, restored the concept of cultural adaptation to a central position in the world mission of Christianity.”

Seventeen Crises In Western Civilization That Have Arisen Since The Dark Ages: A Cognition Science-Oriented Approach, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The purpose of this article is to synthesize those crises in the unfolding of Western civilization that are controlled by human knowledge and wisdom. The methodology is transdisciplinary, utilizing a cognitive science-oriented, big-picture view of civilization and main conflicts. The crises are investigated across three time periods; the Dark Ages (from the fifth to the fourteenth century), Modern Times (from the fifteenth to the twentieth century), and the present century. The findings reveal that today Western civilization faces seventeen significant crises. Knowledge is not sufficient to solve these crises; we need to employ knowledge-based wisdom. This approach presents a new …

What Lessons Can Be Learned From The United Nations Preventive Deployment Mission In North Macedonia, On The Border Of Two Civilizations: Nothing Fails Like Success?, Mary Frances Lebamoff

Comparative Civilizations Review

Preventive deployment as a conflict prevention tool has not recurred in the past several decades, despite the broadly acclaimed success of the United Nations Preventive Deployment in Macedonia, UNPREDEP 1995-1999, and of its predecessor missions, UNPROFOR/Macedonia, and UNPROFOR/M 1992-1995.

The United Nations in particular has continued with mainly first- and second-generation peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding actions even on civilizational borders. What may best explain why there has been no other engagement in preventive deployment missions? There has been much emphasis placed formally and informally on early warning, detection, mitigation, and prevention of conflict. There have also been increasing numbers of …

Book Review: Liberalism, Realism, Or … Integralism? Perusing John J. Mearsheimer’S Book The Great Delusion, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov

Comparative Civilizations Review

The paper presents an analysis of the scholarly views of prominent American political scholar John J. Mearsheimer as set forth in his book The Great Delusion (Yale University Press, 2019). It also offers analysis of other existing approaches, as well as elaborates on a new Integralistic Paradigm which has a potential to integrate the field of International Relations (IR) Theory.

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Books Of Interest, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

The journal is adding this section since there are books that may be of interest to scholars of the comparative study of civilizations and that may add significantly to the body of scholarship in the civilizational field. The books listed below are also available to be reviewed in the Book Review section of future editions of Comparative Civilizations Review.

Book Review: The Americans: The Democratic Experience And The Creators, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

Two classics by American historian Daniel Boorstin should be central in the analysis of civilization.

Civilizations From Toynbee To Coker: The Quest Of Christopher Coker (1953 – 2023) To Reinstate Comparative Civilizational Thinking In Western Scholarship, Greg Lewicki Vice President

Comparative Civilizations Review

In the gentlemen’s heaven, Christopher Coker must surely have his separate suite, one with golden busts of travelers, old-fashioned English furniture, and cold-toned walls resembling those of Athenaeum, a Pall Mall club in London, one of a few clubs where he liked to dine.

The Sociology Of Crisis: Pitirim Sorokin’S Scholarly Legacy And Current Problems, Resilience, And Community, Emiliana Mangone

Comparative Civilizations Review

In his writings on crises, Sorokin highlighted their complexity and their multiple consequences on a personal, cultural, and social level. In this paper, crises in the 21st century are analyzed from Sorokin’s incisive perspective. The significant points include:

1. the study of crises cannot be enclosed within the confines of individual disciplines but rather must incorporate interdisciplinary approaches.
2. the category “crisis” does not encompass only those conditions that are the consequences of specific disastrous events such as natural disasters, wars, and terrorism but also all those phenomena that produce the conjunction of harm to human beings and social disturbances.
3. successive crises …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Divergence Between The Teachings And Practice Of Islam: A Civilizational Analysis Of Muslims In Indonesia, Hisanori Kato

Comparative Civilizations Review

Indonesia is a country of cultural as well as religious diversity. Even before the advent of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism were widespread in the region. Some think that Islam in Indonesia spread to the archipelago through interaction with local civilizations. Although Islam has become a majority religion in Indonesia today, long-standing local cultural traditions, ones that have existed throughout its recorded history, are often still maintained and practiced widely in Indonesia. These pre-Islamic traditions have a profound association with nature, and the people tend to appreciate animistic entities.

The Geographic Clash Of Civilizations?, Mojtaba Sadeghi

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Geographic Clash of Civilizations represents a significant geographic-civilizational reality and process, a phenomenon that has occurred and is expected to unfold increasingly in the third millennium. Understanding, analyzing, and forecasting this phenomenon relies solely on the geographic conceptualization of civilization. Through that perspective, the world is undergoing another instance of the geographic clash of civilizations, a clash more profound than the Clash of Civilizations, impacting the survival or collapse of human civilizations. The geographic clash of civilizations epitomizes an inescapable conflict between the soul (das-man) and the body (no-da-sein) of a civilization, stemming from …

Book Review: Arabia Felix: From The Time Of The Queen Of Sheba (Eighth Century B.C. To The First Century A. D.), Tseggai Isaac

Comparative Civilizations Review

Arabia Felix is a book about Sheba, “modern Yemen” with added highlights on the broader region of Arabia. The author gives an in-depth analysis on how Arabia captured the attention of ancient empires. Arabia also conducted rich trade with her contemporary civilizations such as the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Persians who “encountered caravans of aromatic products coming from South Arabia.”

The Dravidian And Āryan Migrations In Europe And India, Alexander Jacob

Comparative Civilizations Review

Much has been written about the relationship between the Indo-Āryans and the Dravidians. Debates have proliferated on the question of whether the Āryans invaded Dravidian India or whether they were indigenous to Dravida. If we consider the literary evidence of the ancient Indians we can inform a different view of the origins of Indian Brāhmanical religion and the historical relationship between the two major population groupings of India.