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Among the Scientologists: History, Theology, and Praxis

Donald Westbrook

The Church of Scientology is one of the most recognizable American-born new religious movements, but perhaps the least understood. Based on six years of interviews, fieldwork, and research conducted ... More

The Church of Scientology is one of the most recognizable American-born new religious movements, but perhaps the least understood. Based on six years of interviews, fieldwork, and research conducted among Scientologists in the United States, this groundbreaking work examines features of the new religion’s history, theology, and praxis from 1950 to 2018. While academics have begun to pay more attention to Scientology, the subject has received remarkably little qualitative attention in the secondary literature. Indeed, no work has systematically addressed questions such as: What do Scientologists have to say about their religion’s history, theology, and practices? How does Scientology act as a religion for them? What does “lived religion” look like for a Scientologist? When Scientology is viewed from the standpoint of its members, how might that perspective inform and modify existing scholarship? In response to these and other questions, this work puts forward an ethnographically informed historical and theological narrative of how and why Scientology functions as a religion in the lives of practicing members of the church, who are usually on the margins of discourse on the subject.Less

Archaeology and the Letters of Paul

Laura Salah Nasrallah

Through case studies of archaeological materials from local contexts, Archaeology and the Letters of Paul illuminates the social, political, economic, and religious lives of those whom the apostle ... More

Through case studies of archaeological materials from local contexts, Archaeology and the Letters of Paul illuminates the social, political, economic, and religious lives of those whom the apostle Paul addressed. Roman Ephesos, a likely setting for the household of Philemon, provides evidence of the slave trade. An inscription from Galatia seeks to restrain traveling Roman officials, illuminating how the travels of Paul, Cephas, and others may have disrupted communities. At Philippi, a donation list from a Silvanus cult provides evidence of abundant giving amid economic limitations, paralleling practices of local Christ followers. In Corinth, a landscape of grief includes monuments and bones, a context that illumines Corinthian practices of baptism on behalf of the dead and the provocative idea that one could live “as if not” mourning. Rome and the Letter to the Romans are the grounds to investigate ideas of time and race not only in the first century, when we find an Egyptian obelisk inserted as a timepiece into Augustus’s mausoleum complex, but also of Mussolini’s new Rome. Thessalonikē demonstrates how letters, legend, and cult are invented out of a love for Paul, after his death. The book articulates a method for bringing together biblical texts with archaeological remains in order to reconstruct the lives of the many adelphoi—brothers and sisters—whom Paul and his co-writers address. It is informed by feminist historiography and gains inspiration from thinkers like Claudia Rankine, Judith Butler, Giorgio Agamben, Wendy Brown, and Katie Lofton.Less

The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar

Eitan P. Fishbane

This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of ... More

This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of zoharic narrative, a morphology of mystical storytelling. Topics examined include mysticism and literature; fiction and pseudepigraphy; diaspora and exile; dramatic monologue and the representation of emotion; voice, gesture, and the theatrics of the zoharic tale; the wandering quest for wisdom; anagnorisis and the poetics of recognition; encounters with the natural world as stimuli for mystical creativity; the dynamic relationship between narrative and exegesis; magical realism and the fantastic in the representation of experience and Being; narrative ethics and the exemplum of virtuous piety in the Zohar; the place of the zoharic frame-tale in the comparative context of medieval Iberian literature, both Jewish and non-Jewish.Less

Augustine's Early Thought on the Redemptive Function of Divine Judgement

Bart van Egmond

This work addresses the relationship between Augustine’s account of God’s judgement and his theology of grace in his early works. How does God, both personally and through his ‘agents’ on earth, use ... More

This work addresses the relationship between Augustine’s account of God’s judgement and his theology of grace in his early works. How does God, both personally and through his ‘agents’ on earth, use his law and the penal consequences of its trangression in the service of his grace? From different perspectives Augustine came to reflect upon this question. As a teacher and bishop he thought about the nature of discipline and punishment in the education of his pupils, fellow monks, and congregants. As a polemicist against the Manichaeans and as a biblical expositor, he had to grapple with issues regarding God’s relationship to evil in the world, the violence God displays in the Old Testament, and in the death of his own Son. Futhermore, Augustine meditated upon the way God’s judgement and grace related in his own life, both before and after his conversion. This study follows the development of Augustine’s early thought on judgement and grace from the Cassiacum writings to the Confessions. The argument is contextualized both against the background of the earlier Christian tradition of reflection on the providential function of divine chastisement, and the tradition of psychagogy that Augustine inherited from a variety of rhetorical and philosophical sources. Within the field of Augustine studies, this work intends to contribute to the ongoing scholarly discussion on the development of Augustine’s doctrine of grace, and to the conversation on the theological roots of his justification of coercion against the Donatists.Less

Before Jonathan Edwards: Sources of New England Theology

Adriaan C. Neele

This volume will present the first comprehensive study of Jonathan Edwards’s use of Reformed orthodox and Protestant scholastic primary sources in the context of the challenges of orthodoxy in his ... More

This volume will present the first comprehensive study of Jonathan Edwards’s use of Reformed orthodox and Protestant scholastic primary sources in the context of the challenges of orthodoxy in his day. It will look at the way he appreciated and appropriated Reformed orthodoxy, among other topics. The book studies three time periods in Edwards’s life and work, the formative years of 1703–1725, the Northampton period of 1726–1750, and the final years of 1751–1758. A background of post-Reformation thought, but with particular attention to Mastricht, is offered for each period enabling readers to assess issues of continuity and discontinuity, development and change in Edwards. Since there has been limited research on Edwards’s use of his primary sources this study analyses the theological ideas of the past that found their way into Edwards’s own theological reflections. The book argues that the formation, reflection, and communication of theological thought must be historically informed. The teaching, preaching, and practice of theology must be rooted in the classical curricula, methods of preaching, and systema of theology. Inherited theology must be evaluated on its own terms, historically and theologically, so that meaningful answers for the present can be constructed. Tracing Edwards’s discerning engagement with past ideas exemplifies how theology unfolds in an era of intellectual, religious, social, and political transition.Less

The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics

Robert Wiśniewski

Christians always admired and venerated martyrs who died for their faith, but for a long time thought that the bodies of martyrs should remain undisturbed in their graves. Initially, the Christian ... More

Christians always admired and venerated martyrs who died for their faith, but for a long time thought that the bodies of martyrs should remain undisturbed in their graves. Initially, the Christian attitude toward the bones of the dead, whether a saint’s or not, was that of respectful distance. This book tells how, in the mid-fourth century, this attitude started to change, swiftly and dramatically. The first chapters show the rise of new beliefs. They study how, when, and why Christians began to believe in the power of relics, first, over demons, then over physical diseases and enemies; how they sought to reveal hidden knowledge at the tombs of saints and why they buried the dead close to them. An essential element of this new belief was a strong conviction that the power of relics was transferred in a physical way and so subsequent chapters study relics as material objects. The book seeks to show what the contact with relics looked like and how close it was. Did people touch, kiss, or look at the very bones, or just at reliquaries which contained them? When did the custom of dividing relics appear? Finally, the book deals with discussions and polemics concerning relics and tries to find out how strong was the opposition which this new phenomenon had to face, both within and outside Christianity on the way to relics becoming an essential element of medieval religiosity.Less

Bible Culture and Authority in the Early United States

Seth Perry

This book is a wide-ranging exploration of the place of the Christian Bible in America in the decades after the Revolution. Attending to both theoretical concerns about the nature of scriptures and ... More

This book is a wide-ranging exploration of the place of the Christian Bible in America in the decades after the Revolution. Attending to both theoretical concerns about the nature of scriptures and to the precise historical circumstances of a formative period in American history, the book argues that the Bible was not a “source” of authority in early America, as is often said, but rather a site of authority: a cultural space for editors, commentators, publishers, preachers, and readers to cultivate authoritative relationships. While paying careful attention to early national bibles as material objects, the book shows that “the Bible” is both a text and a set of relationships sustained by a universe of cultural practices and assumptions. Moreover, it demonstrates that bible culture underwent rapid and fundamental changes in the early nineteenth century as a result of developments in technology, politics, and religious life. At the heart of the book are typical bible readers, otherwise unknown today, and better-known figures such as Zilpha Elaw, Joseph Smith, Denmark Vesey, and Ellen White, a group that includes men and women, enslaved and free, Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Mormons, Presbyterians, and Quakers. What they shared were practices of biblical citation in writing, speech, and the performance of their daily lives. While such citation contributed to the authority of the Bible, it also meant that the meaning of the Bible constantly evolved as Americans applied it to new circumstances and identities.Less

Catholic Bishops in the United States: Church Leadership in the Third Millenium

Stephen J. Fichter, Thomas P. Gaunt, Catherine Hoegeman, and Paul M. Perl

During the past 30 years the Catholic bishops of the United States have captured the national headlines with their statements on nuclear disarmament and economic justice, their struggles to address ... More

During the past 30 years the Catholic bishops of the United States have captured the national headlines with their statements on nuclear disarmament and economic justice, their struggles to address sexual abuse by clergy, their concerns about abortion and religious freedom, and their defense of refugees and immigrants. The nearly 200 bishops leading local dioceses, though, are a varied mix of Church leaders. In 2016 all of the bishops were surveyed with an eye to better understanding who are the bishops as individuals (their background, education, and experiences), what are their day-to-day activities, their challenges and satisfactions as Church leaders, how they manage their dioceses, and how they speak out on public issues. The data are enriched by frequent quotes and anecdotes from the interviewed bishops. During the past 25 years the Church has gone from Pope John Paul II to Benedict XVI to Pope Francis, and the Catholic Church in the United States, along with its bishops, are dramatically different. The bishops of the United States have had their leadership tested by the sex abuse scandals, the movement of Catholics from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West, and the arrival of more Catholic immigrants than they have seen in a century along with the ongoing decline in the number of priests and sisters serving the Catholic community. This book provides a unique and comprehensive view of who the bishops are, where they are from, and how they are leading the Church in the United States in the era of Pope Francis.Less

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

This book examines the dynamic between charisma and organization in the history of the True Jesus Church, China’s first major native church, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The True ... More

This book examines the dynamic between charisma and organization in the history of the True Jesus Church, China’s first major native church, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The True Jesus Church is one of the earliest Chinese expressions of charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity, now the dominant mode of twenty-first-century Chinese Christianity. The book argues that the charismatic mode of Christianity is not merely a reflection of native religious traditions or conditions of socioeconomic deprivation, but a powerful tool for organizing and sustaining community. The book’s chapters explore the relationship between charismatic experience and collective action from a variety of different angles, including transnational communications and transportation technology, the context for charismatic religious experience, women’s agency in patriarchal religious traditions, Christian churches during the Maoist era, clandestine culture, civil society groups, and the relationship between religion and the state from imperial times to the present. Although existing scholarship on global influences within modern Chinese history has tended to focus on elites such as political leaders or well-known intellectuals, this history illuminates global networks of interaction and exchange at the grassroots. Throughout the turbulent modern era, women and men of the True Jesus Church faced situations and made choices that highlight shifts and tensions within Chinese society on a human scale. Their various collective responses to the concerns of their day highlight the significance of charismatic religious community as a resource for empowerment and agency.Less

Christian Philosophy: Conceptions, Continuations, and Challenges

J. Aaron Simmons (ed.)

Perhaps one of the marks of being a philosopher is participating in debates about what counts as “philosophy.” Of particular note in such debates is the question of how to distinguish philosophy from ... More

Perhaps one of the marks of being a philosopher is participating in debates about what counts as “philosophy.” Of particular note in such debates is the question of how to distinguish philosophy from theology. Although a variety of answers to this question have been offered in the history of philosophy, in recent decades, the prominence of Christian philosophy has been heralded by many as a genuine triumph over the problematic narrowness of strong foundationalism, positivism, and scientism. For others, however, it signals that philosophy continues to risk being replaced by confessional theology. Wherever one comes down on such issues, and however one interprets recent trends in philosophy of religion, the idea of Christian philosophy continues to present pressing questions for those working in meta-philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, hermeneutics, and value theory. In this volume, established scholars representing a variety of cultural traditions, religious perspectives, and philosophical priorities all wrestle with how the idea of Christian philosophy should be understood, appropriated, and engaged in light of where philosophy is and where it is likely to go. The volume includes classical essays that have deeply marked the field and also new essays that explore the relevance of Christian philosophy to issues in disability studies, engaged pedagogy, lived phenomenology, the academic study of religion, and the workings of social power. Rather than offer a unified view that seeks to settle things, the contributors demonstrate that Christian philosophy remains a topic of lively debate. This volume shows that Christian philosophy is neither merely of historical interest, nor of interest only to Christians, but instead remains a thoroughly philosophical topic worthy of serious consideration and substantive critique.Less

Considering Comparison: A Method for Religious Studies

Oliver Freiberger

This book seeks to rehabilitate the comparative method in the study of religion by highlighting its fundamental role for the academic mission of religious studies and by proposing both a responsible ... More

This book seeks to rehabilitate the comparative method in the study of religion by highlighting its fundamental role for the academic mission of religious studies and by proposing both a responsible theoretical approach and a methodological framework. Analyzing the ways in which comparison is used in the study of religion, the book identifies the primary goals of this method and argues that it is constitutive for religious studies as an academic discipline. Revisiting various critiques of comparison—decontextualization and essentialization charges, postcolonialist and postmodernist critiques, and the perspectives of recent naturalistic approaches—the book incorporates insights gained from such debates into an approach that is based upon thorough epistemological analysis of comparison and that takes the scholar’s situatedness and agency seriously. Few scholars have reflected deeply upon how comparison works in practice. The book argues, and tries to demonstrate, that such reflections are useful both for producing and for evaluating comparative studies. It proposes a methodological framework for the analysis of comparison that is meant to prove relevant both for theoretical reflections and for the pragmatics of comparative work. In addition, it suggests a comparative approach—discourse comparison—that helps to confront the omnipresent risks of decontextualization, essentialization, and universalization. Arguing that the comparative method is indispensable for a deeper analytical understanding of what we call religion, this book makes a case for comparison. It seeks to enrich the considerations of both aspiring and seasoned comparativists, stimulate much-needed further discussions about methodology, and encourage scholars to produce responsible comparative studies.Less

A Cultural Theology of Salvation

Clive Marsh

This book offers a demonstration of how theological ideas ‘work’ in the contemporary West. It does this through an exploration of the Christian doctrine of salvation. It is acknowledged that doctrine ... More

This book offers a demonstration of how theological ideas ‘work’ in the contemporary West. It does this through an exploration of the Christian doctrine of salvation. It is acknowledged that doctrine develops as it interweaves with life experience and as humanity evolves. Doctrine cannot simply repeat what has gone before, even as it recognizes the value and richness of the traditions Christianity carries with it. The focus of the book is on how salvation is to be understood and articulated now, when ‘redemption’ language is widely used outside Christianity, and when redemptive experiences are reported in response to the arts, popular culture, media, and through counselling. The book assesses what is to be made of such material theologically and addresses the question whether salvation discussions have anything to do with contemporary interest in ‘happiness’. The first part of the book sets the inquiry within the context of how theology operates as a discipline and the cultural climate in which theology has to be done. The second part undertakes a number of case studies (in art, music, TV, film, positive psychology, and economic life) exploring how the concerns of a doctrine of salvation are, in practice, being addressed directly and indirectly in Western culture. The third part distils the results of the case studies within a contemporary Christian exposition of salvation. The conclusion offers a practical summary of the book’s findings.Less

Debating the Sacraments: Print and Authority in the Early Reformation

Amy Nelson Burnett

The early Reformation debate over the sacraments provoked a crisis of authority within the evangelical movement. The conflict developed from contrasting presuppositions held by Martin Luther and ... More

The early Reformation debate over the sacraments provoked a crisis of authority within the evangelical movement. The conflict developed from contrasting presuppositions held by Martin Luther and Erasmus of Rotterdam concerning the relationship between spiritual and material reality; it also reflected differences in biblical hermeneutics and the interpretation of specific Scripture passages. Both infant baptism and the Lord’s Supper were discussed privately in the early 1520s, but the public debate began in late 1524 with the printing of Andreas Karlstadt’s pamphlets rejecting Christ’s corporeal presence in the Lord’s Supper. Printers, editors, and translators increased the controversy’s polemical tone and spread it throughout Germany and Switzerland and to every level of society. The sacramentarian alternative to Luther’s position gradually coalesced from arguments advanced by the reformers of Basel, Strasbourg, Zurich, and Silesia. Luther’s tremendous personal authority gave the Wittenbergers an advantage that their opponents lacked, and the Wittenbergers proved better at using print to reach even the illiterate. The two sides could not reach agreement on the Lord’s Supper at the Marburg Colloquy, but that meeting shifted the focus of debate away from Christ’s bodily presence to how communicants could receive Christ in the sacrament—a question that opened the way for future negotiations. The Marburg Articles also introduced a new source of authority for Protestants: an official confession of faith endorsed by all participants.Less

Divine Agency and Divine Action, Volume III: Systematic Theology

William J. Abraham

Volume III of Divine Agency and Divine Action articulates a vision of systematic theology focused on divine action from creation to eschatology. Volume I developed the foundational conceptual work by ... More

Volume III of Divine Agency and Divine Action articulates a vision of systematic theology focused on divine action from creation to eschatology. Volume I developed the foundational conceptual work by showing that the concept of action is a radically open concept that makes possible the appropriation of divine action for today. Volume II argued that in exploring divine action one needs to specify the actual divine actions under review and showed that there could be no progress without extensive soundings across the tradition. Work on divine action requires extended work in doctrinal criticism rooted in the history of theology as a prelude to work that communicates a normative vision of divine action for today. This vision is best explored by taking up the great themes of systematic theology from creation to eschatology yet treating them in a deflationary manner that sees systematic theology as university-level, post-baptismal, Christian instruction. We live in a golden period of theological studies. Yet we also live in a period of disorientation and confusion that calls for a fresh engagement with the demands of systematic theology. Volume III meets that demand by insisting that systematic theology has its own content and modes of inquiry, that it belongs intimately to the journey of faith, and that it requires authentic academic clarity and rigor. It reclaims the rightful place of systematic theology as the center of gravity for theological studies but does so in a manner that makes it accessible to both the church and to the academy.Less

A Documentary History of the Book of Mormon

This book includes key documents, along with annotation, related to the origin of the Book of Mormon, from Joseph Smith’s first mention of the gold plates to the book’s publication in 1830. Smith ... More

This book includes key documents, along with annotation, related to the origin of the Book of Mormon, from Joseph Smith’s first mention of the gold plates to the book’s publication in 1830. Smith claimed that on the night of September 21–22, 1823, an angel, later identified as Moroni, appeared to him and informed him of an ancient record, inscribed on gold plates, buried in the nearby Hill Cumorah. Smith finally obtained the plates in 1827, and, assisted by Martin Harris, began translating in 1828. After Harris lost the first 116 pages of the manuscript, however, translation essentially ceased until 1829, when Oliver Cowdery arrived on the scene. The Book of Mormon, considered scripture by believers, was finally published in Palmyra, New York, in 1830. Key topics discussed in both introductions and endnotes include the question of whether Smith’s story of the angel actually originated as a treasure-seeking yarn, whether the gold plates actually existed, and whether the testimonies of the three witnesses and eight witnesses count as historical evidence.Less

Does Judaism Condone Violence?: Holiness and Ethics in the Jewish Tradition

Alan L. Mittleman

We live in an age beset by religiously inspired violence. Terms such as “holy war” are the stock-in-trade of the evening news. But what is the relationship between holiness and violence? Can acts ... More

We live in an age beset by religiously inspired violence. Terms such as “holy war” are the stock-in-trade of the evening news. But what is the relationship between holiness and violence? Can acts such as murder ever truly be described as holy? This book offers a searching philosophical investigation of holiness and ethics in the Jewish tradition, and more specifically whether Judaism condones violence. Jewish texts feature episodes of divinely inspired violence, and the position of the Jews as God's chosen people has been invoked to justify violent acts today. Are these justifications valid? Or does our understanding of the holy entail an ethic that argues against violence? Reconstructing the concept of the holy through a philosophical examination of biblical texts, the book finds that holiness and goodness are inextricably linked, and that our experience of holiness is authenticated through its moral consequences. Our understanding of the holy develops through reflection on God's creation of the natural world, and our values emerge through our relations with that world. Ultimately, the book concludes, religious justifications for violence cannot be sustained. This book is a powerful counterargument to those who claim that the holy is irrational and amoral. With philosophical implications that extend far beyond the Jewish tradition, this book should be read by anyone concerned about the troubling connection between holiness and violence.Less

Early Judaism: New Insights and Scholarship

Frederick E. Greenspahn (ed.)

The Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient inscriptions, and Jewish books preserved within various Christian communities demonstrate that Jewish identity took a variety of forms in the period following that ... More

The Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient inscriptions, and Jewish books preserved within various Christian communities demonstrate that Jewish identity took a variety of forms in the period following that described in the Hebrew Bible. However, the teachings of only one of these groups – the rabbis – became normative. This was also the period during which prayer and synagogues emerged as a widespread practice. It was also at this time that the foundation for the eventual break with Christianity, which began as a form of Judaism, was laid. Remarkably, several of the features from this Second Temple period are shared with our modern times.Less

Envisioning a Tibetan Luminary: The Life of a Modern Bönpo Saint

William M. Gorvine

The book examines the religious biography of Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1859–1934), the most significant modern figure representing the Tibetan Bön religion, a vital minority tradition underrepresented ... More

The book examines the religious biography of Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1859–1934), the most significant modern figure representing the Tibetan Bön religion, a vital minority tradition underrepresented in Tibetan studies. The work is based on periods of fieldwork conducted in eastern Tibet and in the Bön community in India, where traditional Tibetan scholars collaborated closely on the project. Utilizing close readings of two versions of Shardza’s life-story, along with oral history collected in Bön communities, the book presents and interprets the biographical image of this major figure, culminating in the first English translation of his remarkable life-story. The book contends that the disciple-biographer’s literary portrait not only enacts and shapes religious ideals to foster faith among its readership, but also attempts to quell tensions that had developed among segments of its original audience. For while Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen has come to be unequivocally revered among the Bön community today for an impressive textual legacy and a saintly death, during his lifetime he faced a number of prominent critics within his own lineage who went so far as to issue polemical attacks against him. The biographical texts that inform us about Shardza’s life are thus best understood when read on multiple registers, with attention given to the ways in which the religious ideals on display reflect the broader literary, cultural, and historical contexts within which they were envisioned and articulated.Less

Exploring Gregory of Nyssa: Philosophical, Theological, and Historical Studies

Anna Marmodoro and Neil B. McLynn (eds)

This collection brings together an interdisciplinary team of historians, classicists, philosophers, and theologians for a holistic exploration of the thought of Gregory of Nyssa. Topics covered—some ... More

This collection brings together an interdisciplinary team of historians, classicists, philosophers, and theologians for a holistic exploration of the thought of Gregory of Nyssa. Topics covered—some here examined for the first time—include: Gregory’s role in the main philosophical and religious controversies of his era, such as his ecclesiastical involvement in the Neo-Nicene apologetical movement; his complex relationships—for example with his brother Basil of Caesarea and with Gregory of Nazianzus; Gregory’s debt to Origen, but also the divergence between the two thinkers, and their relationships to Platonism; his wider philosophy and metaphysics; deep questions in philosophy of language such as the nature of predication and singular terms that inform our understanding of Gregory’s thought; the role of metaphysical concepts such as the nature of powers and identity; the nature of the soul, and connection to theological issues such as resurrection; questions that are still of interest in the philosophy of religion today, such as divine impassibility and the nature of the Trinity; returning to more immediately humane concerns, Gregory also has profound thoughts on topics such as vulnerability and self-direction. All of this paints a picture of Gregory as a groundbreaking philosopher-theologian.Less

Feeding a Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual, and Ecology in India- An Exploration of the Kolam

Vijaya Nagarajan

Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book investigates aesthetic, symbolic, metaphorical, literary, mathematical, and philosophical meanings of the kōlam, the popular Tamil women’s daily ephemeral ... More

Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book investigates aesthetic, symbolic, metaphorical, literary, mathematical, and philosophical meanings of the kōlam, the popular Tamil women’s daily ephemeral practice, a ritual art tradition performed with rice flour on the thresholds of houses in southern India. They range from concepts such as auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, ritual purity, and ritual pollution. Several divinities, too, play a significant role: Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, good luck, well-being, and a quickening energy; Mūdevi, the goddess of poverty, bad luck, illness, and laziness; Bhūdevi, the goddess of the soils, the earth, and the fields; and the god Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. Braiding art history, aesthetics, and design, this book analyzes the presence of the kōlam in medieval Tamil literature, focusing on the saint-poet Āṇṭāḷ. The author shows that the kōlam embodies mathematical principles such as symmetry, fractals, array grammars, picture languages, and infinity. Three types of kōlam competitions are described. The kinship between Bhūdevi and the kōlam is discussed as the author delves into the topics of “embedded ecologies” and “intermittent sacrality.” The author explores the history of the phrase “feeding a thousand souls,” tracing it back to ancient Sanskrit literature, where it was connected to Indian notions of hospitality, karma, and strangers. Its relationship to the theory of karma is represented by its connection to the five ancient sacrifices. This ritual is distinguished as one of the many “rituals of generosity” in Tamil Nadu.Less