History Commons^™

Sexual Misconduct, Religion, And Culture, Alev Dudek

Alev Dudek

The Prospect Of Human Spiritual Unity Through The Cosmic Story, Philip Novak

Philip Novak

Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have noted that, “we seem to be moving beyond any religious expression so far known to the human into a meta-religious age that seems to be a new comprehensive context for all religions.” That “new comprehensive context” is of course now known as Big History -- a.k.a. the Evolutionary Epic, Universe Story, or New Cosmic Story—the astonishing contemporary synthesis of modern sciences that tells a coherent story of the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago to the present.

Yet with the notable exception of the writings of Berry and …

Religion And The Anzac Legend On Screen, Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud

This article explores the (non)relationship between religion and the Anzac story in Australian cinema and television dramas. It draws parallels between the absence of religious discussion in written literature and popular memory and the same absences in Anzac cinema. Anzac cinema has idealised and glorified the Anzac soldier, relocating spirituality from a religious force to a secular nationalism. The rare productions that show an engagement between religion and Anzac portray religion as a spent force in comparison to the new spirit of secular Anzac.

"Newspaper Notes: Gleaning Smith County Happenings From Area Newspapers: Agriculture, Religion." Chronicles Of Smith County, Texas 27 No. 1 (Summer 1988): 45-58., Vicki Betts

Vicki Betts

No abstract provided.

Religion And Conflict: The Case Of Northern Ireland, Padraig O'Malley

Padraig O'Malley

Now that the peace process, however fragile and tenuous, has stayed the course, despite some serious obstacles and setbacks, and talks between the British government and Sinn Fein are taking place, it is a time to reflect on the nature of the divisions that have scarred our lives and psyches. One of the most under-researched and least understood aspects of the conflict is the role religious differences play - or do not play. 1 While it is a common practice to label the two communities as "Catholics" and "Protestants," and to keep the tally-roll of the dead according to religious …

The Discourse Of Souls In Tana Toraja (Indonesia): Indigenous Notions And Christian Conceptions, Kathleen M. Adams

Kathleen M. Adams

No abstract provided.

Religion And Geopolitics In The New World, Elizabeth Dillon

Elizabeth Maddock Dillon

No abstract provided.

Review, The Spirits And The Law: Vodou And Power In Haiti, Gina Ulysse

Gina Athena Ulysse

Book review, Kate Ramsey, The Spirits and The Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti (UChicago 2011).

Abraham Lincoln's Religion: The Case For His Ultimate Belief In A Personal, Sovereign God., Samuel W. Calhoun, Lucas E. Morel

Samuel W. Calhoun

None available.

Birthright 2012, Andrew Blitman

Andrew Blitman

"Birthright 2012" is a personal account of my voyage throughout Israel. The outer story incorporates humor, science, history, and my own observations as I explore the land. It should appeal to the armchair traveler who would like to experience the country but is unable to and also to anyone who would like to learn more about this bastion of democracy in the Middle East. Beneath this outer story there exists an inner story. Filled with humor, philosophy, and poetry, this underlying aspect of the book follows my own personal voyage to self-awareness. "Birthright 2012" chronicles the daily activities of my …

“Truth Systematised" : The Changing Debate Over Slavery And Abolition, 1761-1916, Robert Forbes

Robert P Forbes

No abstract provided.

Los "Popol Wuj" Y Sus Epistemologías: Las Diferencias, El Conocimiento Y Los Ciclos Del Infinito, Carlos M. López

Carlos M. López

In this book the author studies one of the documents contained in the Ayer MS 1515, commonly known as the Popol Wuj (or Vuh). This text constitutes a fragmentary but not necessarily coherent corpus of writings, however, it still is a very important piece of the cultural and epistemological discourse of some of the pre-colonial Mesoamerican civilizations. Another important characteristic of this text is the superposition of multiple re-phonetizations and translations to which the text has been subjected. This transforms it into a text written under conditions of coloniality that encompasses several layers of meanings intersected by Western concepts. The …

The San Nicandresi Jews: A Brief Bibliographic And Photographic Essay, Michael C. Vocino

michael c vocino

Brief bibliographic, photographic essay on the conversion story of the Southern Italian Jews known as the Jews of San Nicandro.

Preface To Singing In A Strange Land, Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

Salvatore delves into the life of the one of the most influential clergyman in twentieth-century African-American religious life, from his 1915 origins as a poor Mississippi farmboy to his early years as a preacher in Tennessee to his 1950s rise to acclaim in Detroit. Along the way, Franklin's charismatic preaching style revolutionized the sermon yet he was no saint away from the pulpit. His encouragement to proclaim both faith and dignity in the black community helped bolster the civil rights movement.

Faith, Politics, And American Culture [Review Of The Books Letter To A Christian Nation, Pity And Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom, Faith And Politics: How The “Moral Values” Debate Divides America And How To Move Forward Together, The Compassionate Community: Ten Values To Unite America, Righteous: Dispatches From The Evangelical Youth Movement, And Believers: A Journey Into Evangelical America], Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] In January 2004, before a black church congregation in New Orleans, President George W. Bush commemorated Martin Luther King's birthday with a spirited promotion of his faith-based initiatives. Appropriating the slain Civil Rights leader's profession of faith, Bush proclaimed his ultimate purpose was to change "America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time." He emphasized voluntary action by citizens (four times he extolled them as "the social entrepreneurs") and he consistency denigrated the role of government but for one critical function: providing "billions of dollars" to faith-based social-service groups. Proclaiming the values of the Christian Bible as …

Religion And Nationalism: Four Approaches, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

Building on recent literature, this paper discusses four ways of studying the relation between religion and nationalism. The first is to treat religion and nationalism, along with ethnicity and race, as analogous phenomena. The second is to specify ways in which religion helps explain things about nationalism - its origin, its power, or its distinctive character in particular cases. The third is to treat religion as part of nationalism, and to specify modes of interpenetration and intertwining. The fourth is to posit a distinctively religious form of nationalism. The paper concludes by reconsidering the much-criticized understanding of nationalism as a …

The New Atheists' Narrow World-View, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The article discusses atheism, Buddhism, and the practice of animism in southeast Asia. Atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris are discussed as is the argument regarding the "provincialism" of religion. It is noted that some atheists echo the statement by philosopher Karl Marx that religion is an opiate that should be done away with because it has little moral value. The use of spirit houses as a part of religious practice in southeast Asia is described. The opinion held by theists on animism is explored. Other topics include living conditions in Cambodia and the role of religion in …

‘Good News’ At The Cape Of Good Hope: Early Lds Missionary Activities In South Africa., Jay H. Buckley

Jay H. Buckley

"Not Charity But Justice": Charles Gore, Workers, And The Way, John F. Wirenius

John F. Wirenius

Charles Gore, Bishop of Oxford, co-author of "Lux Mundi" and leading liberal Anglo-Catholic of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, was an early exponent of the rights of labor, and advocate for collective bargaining. This Article examines the theological underpinnings of this advocacy, finding it inextricably rooted in Gore's vision of Christianity as "the Way" fundamentally a way of life, and not a series of doctrinal commitments.

September 11th, John Maynard Keynes, Kenneth J. Arrow, And Me: The Nexus, David Randall Jenkins

David Randall Jenkins, Ph.D.

Kirk In Danger: Presbyterian Political Divinity In Two Eras, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

Recent decades have witnessed the fragmentation of Reformation studies, with high-level research confined within specific geographical, confessional or chronological boundaries. By bringing together scholars working on a wide variety of topics, this volume counteracts this centrifugal trend and provides a broad perspective on the impact of the European reformation. The essays present new research from historians of politics, of the church and of belief. Their geographical scope ranges from Scotland and England via France and Germany to Transylvania and their chronological span from the 1520s to the 1690s Considering the impact of the Reformation on political culture and examining the …

Haiti's Condemnation: History And Culture At The Crossroads, Marc E. Prou

Marc E. Prou

As Haiti emerges from its recent bicentennial, the persistent underdevelopment combined with the absence of independent social and judicial institutions denote an increase in the level of repression and social division. Such social divergence has been intensified since the overthrow of (Baby Doc) Duvalier in 1986, and subsequent political turmoil throughout the 1990's and beyond. Thus, political instability, violent overthrows, successive coups and countercoups, persistent poverty, the state against the nation, all constitute the trademarks of this economically collapsed but cultural rich Caribbean island. Interestingly, individual Haitians are relatively successful peple abroad. Thus the question then becomes: what explanations do …

Christianity And Craft Guilds In Late Medieval England: A Rational Choice Analysis, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

In late-medieval England, craft guilds simultaneously pursued piety and profit. Why did guilds pursue those seemingly unrelated goals? What were the consequences of that combination? Theories of organizational behavior answer those questions. Craft guilds combined spiritual and occupational endeavors because the former facilitated the success of the latter and vice versa. The reciprocal nature of this relationship linked the ability of guilds to attain spiritual and occupational goals. This link between religion and economics at the local level connected religious and economic trends in the wider world.

'Mass Delusion' Or 'True Myth'? Pbs Considers The Question Of God, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The Question of God is a new 4-hour miniseries from PBS. It is based on a long-running course taught by Harvard University psychiatry professor Armand Nicholi that compares the biographies and theories of Sigmund Freud, skeptic, and C. S. Lewis, believer. On balance, the miniseries succeeds as an introduction to complex issues.

Jane E.A. Dawson, The Politics Of Religion In The Age Of Mary, Queen Of Scots: The Earl Of Argyll And The Struggle For Britain And Ireland, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

No abstract provided.

Social Discipline In Scotland, 1560-1610, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

This volume is an excellent introduction to Calvinist morals’ control in sixteenth-century Geneva, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland. The Calvinists were typically seen as stricter than Lutherans, Catholics, or Anglicans—and in some ways as strict as groups associated with the Radical Reformation. The six case studies presented here are based largely on archival research. They explore the Calvinist endeavor to set high standards of behavior and to enforce them through the consistory.

Conflict And Sacred Space In Reformation-Era Scotland, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

No abstract provided.

A King's Impossible Dream, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

No abstract provided.

Bury St. Edmunds: A Reassessment Of Town-Abbey Relations, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

These essays explore various topics in European history ranging from a study of the medieval Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds to an essay on the issue of the restoration of the Kaiser prior to Hitler's assumption of power. Enno Kraeh contributes a personal narrative of philosophical journey through the study of history. Three of the essays address literary and cultural themes dealing with German theatre politics, belle epoque opera, and Polish drama. The volume has strong representation on Austrian history, including essays on diplomacy, the Anschluss, and Austrian anti-Semitism.

The Uses Of Reform: 'Godly Discipline' And Popular Behavior In Scotland And Beyond, 1560-1610, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

The "Uses of Reform" is a study of the Reformation as a movement for behavioral reform, concentrating on Scotland during the first fifty years (1560-1610) of its Reformation as a primary example. The opening chapters trace the development of "Godly Discipline" as part of the European-wide reform movement. Graham follows this general narrative with a study of the creation and implementation of a disciplinary system in Scotland. Finally, he compares disciplinary practices in the Scottish Church with those of the Huguenot communities of France. Looking closely at the proceedings of church courts which enforced regulations concerning behavior, Graham paints a …