Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons^™

Revisioning A Japanese Spiritual Recovery Through Manga: Kobayashi Yoshinori’S ‘Gōmanism’ As Aesthetics And Ideology, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

This essay provides a critical analysis of the aesthetic ideology of “Gomanism” in the manga of Kobayashi Yoshinori (b. 1953), particularly Yasukuniron (On Yasukuni, 2005) and Tennōron (On the Emperor, 2009), in order to flesh out the implications of the author’s “revisionist” approach to Japanese religion, politics and history.

Liberation As Revolutionary Praxis: Rethinking Buddhism Materialism, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

While it is only in recent decades that scholars have begun to reconsider and problematize Buddhist conceptions of “freedom” and “agency,” the thought traditions of Asian Buddhism have for many centuries struggled with questions related to the issue of “liberation”—along with its fundamental ontological, epistemological and ethical implications. With the development of Marxist thought in the mid to late nineteenth century, a new paradigm for thinking about freedom in relation to history, identity and social change found its way to Asia, and confronted traditional religious interpretations of freedom as well as competing Western ones. In the past century, several attempts …

A Comparative Study Of The Apocalyptic Kingdom Of God In Second Temple Jewish Literature And The Teachings Of Jesus In Matthew, Jeremiah Stallman

Masters Theses

The apocalyptic kingdom of God is a common theme in Second Temple Jewish literature. This kingdom is often presented differently in the various literary works of this era. This first chapter of this thesis considers the various aspects of the kingdom in relation to God's coming judgment and the coming messiah who is often seen as the one bringing judgment and setting up the kingdom of God. The second chapter elaborates upon Jesus' teachings about the apocalyptic kingdom of God and compares and contrasts them with the teachings of the kingdom in His day as understood through the Second Temple …

An Investigation Of Ancient Hebrew Music During The Time Of The Old Testament: Especially The Role Of Music In The Lives Of Israel's First Two Kings, Saul And David, Holly J. Delcamp

Senior Honors Theses

Music has always been an inextricable component of Jewish culture from its beginnings. Even before the construction of the Temple, music was used for worship, feasts, festivals, and various other cultural activities. Since much of this music involves the singing of texts, poetry was also a central part of the Jewish music culture. Singing in ancient Israel often involved instrumental accompaniment. The Bible records the texts of much musical activity. Instrumental music, vocal music, and accompanied vocal music are found throughout the Bible. Instrumental music is found in 1 Samuel 16 when David played his harp to soothe Saul and …

Il Futuro (The Future), Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Il Futuro (The Future) (2013) directed by Alicia Scherson.

Salma, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Salma (2013) directed by Kim Longinotto.

Fill The Void, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Fill the Void (2012) directed by Rama Burshtein.

A Blueprint For Buddhist Revolution: The Radical Buddhism Of Seno’O Girō (1889–1961) And The Youth League For Revitalizing Buddhism, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

In the early decades of the twentieth century, as Japanese society became engulfed in war and increasing nationalism, the majority of Buddhist leaders and institutions capitulated to the status quo. One notable exception to this trend, however, was the Shinkō Bukkyō Seinen Dōmei (Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism), founded on 5 April 1931. Led by Nichiren Buddhist layman Seno’o Girō and made up of young social activists who were critical of capitalism, internationalist in outlook, and committed to a pan-sectarian and humanist form of Buddhism that would work for social justice and world peace, the league’s motto was “carry the …

Russian Spirituality And The Theology Of Negation, Mikhail Epstein

Russian Culture

Toward the end of the twentieth century Russian culture found itself at a crossroads which cannot be ascribed to any political election but which rather presupposed a radical change in its religious and social orientation. Two somewhat opposing theses will be developed in this article. First I will discuss the processes of secularization in Russian culture and the necessity of a third, neutral zone between the "sacred" and the "profane." Next, the dangers of social neutralization in culture and the necessity of retaining elements of the dual model along with the introduction of intermediate elements will be presented. We will …

Religious Culture: Faith In Soviet And Post-Soviet Russia, Jerry Pankhurst

Russian Culture

The former Soviet Union is undergoing a religious revival. People inside and outside the Russian Orthodox church are reexamining its ancient ways, rediscovering its long-forgotten saints, searching its institutional memory for answers to urgent questions facing the nation. The Western reaction to this remarkable resurgence of religion in Russia has been mixed. All observers welcome the fact that free inquiry about religion and free religious worship have been restored in the Russian Federation. At the same time, many are concerned about the xenophobic tendencies that have accompanied the religious revival in Russia and that became especially evident after the liberal …

Exploring Taksu & Meditation - Mysterious Power And The Tools To Realize It, Leonard Swanson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I came to the island of Bali hoping to learn about the local people's spirituality, to witness how they practice faith, and to see if local wisdom could be brought back to America. Here, I became intrigued by the mysterious power of Taksu and the worldwide practice of meditation. For this Independent Study Project, I aim to examine the relationship between meditation and Taksu, and see if the combined wisdoms can be cross-culturally applicable to foreigners in the west.

Balinese Hindus place an important emphasis upon frequent, elaborate ceremonies, but this practice is too place/time/context specific to adapt into American …

Sherpa Inc. The Cultural Commoditization Of The Sherpa Identity, Melissa Mittelman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the ways the Sherpa identity has been commoditized for a Western audience, the Sherpa responses to such a process and the repercussions it creates when understanding Sherpa cultural “authenticity.” Located in Kathmandu and the Solukhumbu district of Nepal, the findings were acquired through interviews with various members of the Sherpa community, discourse analysis and observation. This research concludes that the Sherpa community views their cultural commoditization as both a source of discredit and honor, creating difficulty in rationalizing how it both de-authenticates and re-asserts their Sherpa culture.

Smashing The Mirror Of Yamato: Sakaguchi Ango, Decadence & A Postmetaphysical Buddhist Critique Of Culture, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

This article focuses on several key philosophical themes in the criticism of Sakaguchi Ango (1906–1955), one of postwar Japan’s most influential and controversial writers. Associated with the underground Kasutori culture as well as the Burai-ha of Tamura Taijirō (1911–1983), Oda Sakunosuke (1913–1947) and Dazai Osamu (1909–1948), Ango gained fame for two provocative essays on the theme of daraku or “decadence”—Darakuron and Zoku darakuron—pubished in 1946, in the wake of Japan’s traumatic defeat and the beginnings of the Allied Occupation. Less well-known is the fact that Ango spent his student years studying classical Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Pali and …

Like The Roar Of A Thousand Thunders: Instrumental Music And Creativity In Tibetan Buddhist Ritual, Eben Yonnetti

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tibetan Buddhism has numerous detailed and diverse traditions of ritual music that play an integral part in religious practices. Despite the prominence of such performances in Tibetan Buddhist life, spectators and researchers alike have frequently misunderstood them based purely on physical observation. As a religion that focuses on the cultivation and development of the mind, any analysis focusing only on physical description is significantly flawed. Music in Buddhist practice is at a base level a sound offering. On a higher level, however, it is much more. If done with the proper motivation, musical performance during ritual is a method to …

Hadith-Hadith Dalam Kitab Sayr Al-Salikin Karangan Syeikh 'Abd Al-Samad Al-Falimbani : Satu Kajian Dalam Bab Al-Salat ., Wan Aminurrashid Wan Abd Hamid

Student Works (2010-2019)

Sayr al-Sālikīn is among the classical works of Syeikh ‘Abd al-Samad al-Falimbani. It comprises of four volumes which contain many hadīths, among which on hadīths of prayer. Writer only study one hundred sixteen (116) hadiths on the subject of prayer first constituent with approach to external criticism (al-Naqd al-Khārijiy). This study is to identify sources of hadīth, status of each hadīth, also explainations on each hadīth. This study is done by research in the library (library research) using the method of takhrīj namely to identify the sources of hadith, then writer referring to al-Marāji‘ al-Asliyyah (primary sources) as well as …

Treatment Of A Wife's Body In The Fiction Of Indian Sub-Continental Muslim Women Writers, Hafiza Nilofar Khan

Dissertations

Ismat Chughtai of India, Tehmina Durrani of Pakistan, and Selina Hossain of Bangladesh depict some of the sociological, religious and legal aspects of wife abuse that is a chronic, yet little discussed anathema in a Sub-Continental Muslim wife's life. "Treatment of the Wife's Body in the Fiction of Indian Sub-Continental Muslim Women Writers," examines the fiction and autobiographical works of these women writers who problematize the deeply ingrained traditional modes of domestic violence as perpetuated upon the minds and bodies of Sub-Continental Muslim wives. Chughtai, Hossain and Durrani identify culture specific practices such as child marriage, dowry, polygamy, honor crimes, …

Less Than Equal: Secularism, Religious Pluralism And Privilege, Anne Aly, Lelia Rosalind Green

Research outputs pre 2011

In its preamble, The Western Australian Charter of Multiculturalism (WA) commits the state to becoming: “A society in which respect for mutual difference is accompanied by equality of opportunity within a framework of democratic citizenship”. One of the principles of multiculturalism, as enunciated in the Charter, is “equality of opportunity for all members of society to achieve their full potential in a free and democratic society where every individual is equal before and under the law”. An important element of this principle is the “equality of opportunity ... to achieve ... full potential”. The implication here is that those who …

'Listen, Rama’S Wife!’: Maithil Women’S Perspectives And Practices In The Festival Of Sāmā-Cakevā, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

As a female-only festival in a significantly gender-segregated society, sāmā cakevā provides a window into Maithil women’s understandings of their society and the sacred, cultural subjectivities, moral frameworks, and projects of self-construction. The festival reminds us that to read male-female relations under patriarchal social formations as a dichotomy between the empowered and the disempowered ignores the porous boundaries between the two in which negotiations and tradeoffs create a symbiotic reliance. Specifically, the festival names two oppositional camps—the male world of law and the female world of relationships—and then creates a male character, the brother, who moves between the two, loyal …

Review Of Interpreting The Legacy: John Neihardt And "Black Elk Speaks", Dale Stover

Religion Faculty Publications

This volume represents a feisty defense of John Neihardt's literary role in crafting the classic presentation of the voice of a Lakota "holy man" in Black Elk Speaks. Holloway explicitly addresses a variety of criticisms leveled against Neihardt that in one way or another accuse him of supplanting Black Elk's voice with one resonating with the biases of his own cultural and religious vision. Holloway not only provides intelligent critiques of these charges, but also takes the reader directly to the texts behind the published text, supplying a great many photocopied pages from Enid Neihardt's typed transcriptions of her …

Perbandingan Antara Peradaban Jepun Dan Islam : Satu Analisis Dari Aspek Kepercayaan, Mohd Syariefudin Abdullah

Student Works (2000-2009)

The Japanese civilization is among distinctive civilization in technology and domination in economical aspect. Destruction in World War II and limited resource is not obstruction for Japanese to raise and give the competition to the western countries, especially the United States of America (USA). This is because their leaders are stressing on the Japanese education. The Japanese had assimilated the other civilization into its own civilization to make it strong in various aspects like faith, religion ethics and morale. These various aspects were explicated with the original religion of the Japanese such as Shintoism, Buddhism and Confucianism that were originated …

Albert Camus : An Existentialist With A Sense Of The Absolute, Eamon Maher

Articles

Material reproduced by kind permission of The Month

The Search For Authenticity In François Mauriac's ''Thérèse Desqueyroux'', Eamon Maher

Articles

Material reproduced by kind permission of The Month

Metaphors And Similes For Yahweh In Hosea 14:2-9 (1-8) : A Study Of Hoseanic Pictorial Language, Bernhard Oestreich

Dissertations

Problem.

Compared with the effort to interpret other parts of the book of Hosea, especially the first three chapters, the final chapter has been rather neglected. Additionally, the variety of explanations offered for certain biblical images in Hos 14 indicates a necessity to clarify the methods of interpretation of biblical metaphorical language.

Method.

Chapter 1 clarifies the theory of metaphors on which the study is based.

Chapter 2 determines the limitation and the structure of the passage Hos 2:2-9 (Eng. 1-8). In chapters 3 to 6 the metaphors and similes of this passage which refer to Yahweh, i.e., "healing," "loving," …

War And Migration : The Example Of ''An Ordinary Exodus'' By Roger Bichelberger, Eamon Maher

Articles

Material reproduced by kind permission of The Month

Jean Sulivan : Champion Of The Marginalised, Eamon Maher

Articles

Material reproduced by kind permission of The Month

Validation Of Goals For Pre-Departure Missionary Orientation, Donna M. Worley

Dissertations

Problem

Cross-cultural orientation programs facilitate missionary preparedness. Orientation is more effective if driven by valid and suitable goals determined before methods are selected and programs implemented. This study attempted to identify valid goals for pre-departure programs and develop a framework for selecting them.

Method

The goals of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Institute for World Mission (IWM) were selected for validation. IWM is a 4-6 week pre-departure orientation program that started in 1966 and had effectively prepared 2,500+ cross-cultural missionaries by 1993. Their goals are broad areas suitable for establishing sub-goals and objectives. The validation process comprised four phases: identification and …

1. Introduction, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XII: The Post-Enlightenment Period

Criticism of the methods and conclusions of the Enlightenment was initiated almost as soon as the movement itself had begun. It is for this reason that this chapter follows immediately after the one on the Enlightenment, rather than after the later chapters on nationalism, liberalism, industrialism, evolutionary biology, and the social sciences. These movements made their appearance during the latter part of the eighteenth century, but often served only to broaden and strengthen the earlier criticisms of the Enlightenment and the demands for a more adequate way of thinking than it offered. The movements of thought with which we are …

Disciples Of Christ And Indian Americans, Muriel A. Watkins

Stone-Campbell Books

A booklet about the Disciples of Christ's missionary efforts in the Yakima Reservation. The booklet tells the story of the Yakima Reservation, the beginning of the First Christian Church of Yakima, conversions among the Yakimas, religious activities at the mission, and plans for the future of the mission.