- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732586
- eISBN:
- 9780199894895
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732586.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book is a study and translation of the testimony given by witnesses at the canonization hearings of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who died in 1231 at age 24 in Marburg, Germany. In January 1233 and ...
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This book is a study and translation of the testimony given by witnesses at the canonization hearings of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who died in 1231 at age 24 in Marburg, Germany. In January 1233 and again in January 1235, papal commissioners interviewed hundreds of people as witnesses to the healing miracles associated with Elizabeth’s shrine. What these witnesses said about their maladies and their cures provides an unusually clear window into the workings of a nascent saint cult within the context of rural Germany. When the commission convened for the second time, it also heard from Elizabeth’s four closest associates, the so-called handmaids who had witnessed her transformation —under the guidance of her confessor Conrad of Marburg —from the powerful wife of the Thuringian landgrave (Ludwig IV) to a humble hospital worker in Marburg. Their statements, along with that of Conrad himself, allow for a better understanding of the effects of mendicant spirituality (normally associated with more urban environments) on a woman from the highest levels of German society.Less
This book is a study and translation of the testimony given by witnesses at the canonization hearings of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who died in 1231 at age 24 in Marburg, Germany. In January 1233 and again in January 1235, papal commissioners interviewed hundreds of people as witnesses to the healing miracles associated with Elizabeth’s shrine. What these witnesses said about their maladies and their cures provides an unusually clear window into the workings of a nascent saint cult within the context of rural Germany. When the commission convened for the second time, it also heard from Elizabeth’s four closest associates, the so-called handmaids who had witnessed her transformation —under the guidance of her confessor Conrad of Marburg —from the powerful wife of the Thuringian landgrave (Ludwig IV) to a humble hospital worker in Marburg. Their statements, along with that of Conrad himself, allow for a better understanding of the effects of mendicant spirituality (normally associated with more urban environments) on a woman from the highest levels of German society.
Steven J. Friesen
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195131536
- eISBN:
- 9780199834198
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195131533.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Examines the relationship between imperial cults and the Book of Revelation, focusing especially on the Roman province of Asia during the early Empire. The main argument is that Revelation and ...
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Examines the relationship between imperial cults and the Book of Revelation, focusing especially on the Roman province of Asia during the early Empire. The main argument is that Revelation and imperial cult institutions were in direct contradiction regarding cosmology and eschatology. The exaggerated cosmology of imperial cult institutions resulted in an absurd eschatology – their emphasis on Roman imperial order was so strong that they could not envision an end to Roman rule. Revelation, on the other hand, denigrated all temporal authority and focused attention on the throne of God in heaven and the eschatological inauguration of the New Jerusalem. In this way, the author of Revelation produced one of humanity's great religious critiques of hegemony, a critique that attempted to establish and maintain a just community in the face of imperial oppression.Less
Examines the relationship between imperial cults and the Book of Revelation, focusing especially on the Roman province of Asia during the early Empire. The main argument is that Revelation and imperial cult institutions were in direct contradiction regarding cosmology and eschatology. The exaggerated cosmology of imperial cult institutions resulted in an absurd eschatology – their emphasis on Roman imperial order was so strong that they could not envision an end to Roman rule. Revelation, on the other hand, denigrated all temporal authority and focused attention on the throne of God in heaven and the eschatological inauguration of the New Jerusalem. In this way, the author of Revelation produced one of humanity's great religious critiques of hegemony, a critique that attempted to establish and maintain a just community in the face of imperial oppression.
Hugh B. Urban
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139013
- eISBN:
- 9780199871674
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139011.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book is a companion volume to the author's The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal, but while The Economics of Ecstasy engages the theoretical issues of secrecy ...
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This book is a companion volume to the author's The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal, but while The Economics of Ecstasy engages the theoretical issues of secrecy and concealment associated with the Kartābhajās — a Bengali sect devoted to Tantra, an Indian religious movement notorious for its alleged use of shocking sexual language and rituals, this book presents the first English translation of the sect's body of highly esoteric, mystical poetry and songs. The period from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, during which these lyrics were written, was an era of change, experimentation, and transition from the older medieval styles to the new literary forms of “modern” Bengal. The original songs presented are an important part of this transitional period, reflecting the search for new literary forms and experimentation in new poetic styles. Long disparaged as an inferior, low‐class, or corrupt form of Bengali literature, these songs are concerned with contemporary social life in colonial Calcutta and with the real lives of common lower‐class men and women. With their vision of a universal “religion of humanity,” open to men and women of all classes, the Kartābhajā songs offer an alternative model of community, which made a special appeal to the working classes of colonial Calcutta. They delight in ridiculing and satirizing the foppish British rulers and pretentious upper classes, although at the same time, however, the satirical urban imagery is mingled with older Tantric connotations and employed in ingenious new ways to express profoundly esoteric and mystical religious ideas.Less
This book is a companion volume to the author's The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal, but while The Economics of Ecstasy engages the theoretical issues of secrecy and concealment associated with the Kartābhajās — a Bengali sect devoted to Tantra, an Indian religious movement notorious for its alleged use of shocking sexual language and rituals, this book presents the first English translation of the sect's body of highly esoteric, mystical poetry and songs. The period from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, during which these lyrics were written, was an era of change, experimentation, and transition from the older medieval styles to the new literary forms of “modern” Bengal. The original songs presented are an important part of this transitional period, reflecting the search for new literary forms and experimentation in new poetic styles. Long disparaged as an inferior, low‐class, or corrupt form of Bengali literature, these songs are concerned with contemporary social life in colonial Calcutta and with the real lives of common lower‐class men and women. With their vision of a universal “religion of humanity,” open to men and women of all classes, the Kartābhajā songs offer an alternative model of community, which made a special appeal to the working classes of colonial Calcutta. They delight in ridiculing and satirizing the foppish British rulers and pretentious upper classes, although at the same time, however, the satirical urban imagery is mingled with older Tantric connotations and employed in ingenious new ways to express profoundly esoteric and mystical religious ideas.
Eileen Barker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177299
- eISBN:
- 9780199785537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter presents an exercise in the practical application of the sociology of knowledge, the key question being the variety of often-conflicting descriptions that are publicly available on the ...
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This chapter presents an exercise in the practical application of the sociology of knowledge, the key question being the variety of often-conflicting descriptions that are publicly available on the content and nature of new religions. Various types of perspectives about the movements are delineated with an discussion of “where they are coming from” — that is, what are the underlying interests concerning the movements that motivate the members of different categories of “cult-watching groups” — how the methodology they employ results in their selecting certain aspects of the movements' beliefs, practices, and organization (and ignoring other aspects) in the construction of their images of the movements.Less
This chapter presents an exercise in the practical application of the sociology of knowledge, the key question being the variety of often-conflicting descriptions that are publicly available on the content and nature of new religions. Various types of perspectives about the movements are delineated with an discussion of “where they are coming from” — that is, what are the underlying interests concerning the movements that motivate the members of different categories of “cult-watching groups” — how the methodology they employ results in their selecting certain aspects of the movements' beliefs, practices, and organization (and ignoring other aspects) in the construction of their images of the movements.
James T. Richardson and Massimo Introvigne
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177299
- eISBN:
- 9780199785537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the development of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in the West, as well as countermovements that were designed to exert control over such movements. Such opposing movements ...
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This chapter examines the development of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in the West, as well as countermovements that were designed to exert control over such movements. Such opposing movements included both counter-cult movements which focused on content of beliefs, and more secular anti-cult movements which attended more to behaviors, but also used the “brainwashing” myth as a major justification for intervention. The development of a major moral panic in the US and other countries concerning NRMs is described, as is the key role played by the media in conjunction with anti-cult organizations. Teaching exercises are recommended for helping students understand the phenomena being described.Less
This chapter examines the development of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in the West, as well as countermovements that were designed to exert control over such movements. Such opposing movements included both counter-cult movements which focused on content of beliefs, and more secular anti-cult movements which attended more to behaviors, but also used the “brainwashing” myth as a major justification for intervention. The development of a major moral panic in the US and other countries concerning NRMs is described, as is the key role played by the media in conjunction with anti-cult organizations. Teaching exercises are recommended for helping students understand the phenomena being described.
Stuart A. Wright
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177299
- eISBN:
- 9780199785537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines two dimensions of conversion/affiliation: the cultural and social structural factors affecting NRM growth; and conversion processes and models. The second section explores the ...
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This chapter examines two dimensions of conversion/affiliation: the cultural and social structural factors affecting NRM growth; and conversion processes and models. The second section explores the research on disengagement or disaffiliation. Finally, the third section outlines ways to teach a college course on NRMs, and suggests research exercises that can be conducted within the framework of the course and help illustrate key concepts, models, and theories.Less
This chapter examines two dimensions of conversion/affiliation: the cultural and social structural factors affecting NRM growth; and conversion processes and models. The second section explores the research on disengagement or disaffiliation. Finally, the third section outlines ways to teach a college course on NRMs, and suggests research exercises that can be conducted within the framework of the course and help illustrate key concepts, models, and theories.
David Ulansey
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195067880
- eISBN:
- 9780199853328
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195067880.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This book argues that the Roman cult of Mithras did not originate in Persia, as previously thought. Instead, the author suggests that the cult was triggered by the reaction of a group of Tarsian ...
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This book argues that the Roman cult of Mithras did not originate in Persia, as previously thought. Instead, the author suggests that the cult was triggered by the reaction of a group of Tarsian intellectuals to the discovery in 128 BCE of the Precession of the Spheres. To these fatalistic Stoics the only possible explanation for this phenomenon was the existence of a divinity powerful enough to shift the heavens, and this was to become the revelation at the heart of the Mithraic mysteries. This information was then married to the astrology of the zodiac and to the symbolism of popular Tarsian myths surrounding Perseus to create the fabric of the religion. This study is a carefully researched description of an ancient cult, which has long fascinated scholars by virtue of the lack of written evidence concerning it and the paradoxical wealth of artefacts and iconography uncovered by archaeologists.Less
This book argues that the Roman cult of Mithras did not originate in Persia, as previously thought. Instead, the author suggests that the cult was triggered by the reaction of a group of Tarsian intellectuals to the discovery in 128 BCE of the Precession of the Spheres. To these fatalistic Stoics the only possible explanation for this phenomenon was the existence of a divinity powerful enough to shift the heavens, and this was to become the revelation at the heart of the Mithraic mysteries. This information was then married to the astrology of the zodiac and to the symbolism of popular Tarsian myths surrounding Perseus to create the fabric of the religion. This study is a carefully researched description of an ancient cult, which has long fascinated scholars by virtue of the lack of written evidence concerning it and the paradoxical wealth of artefacts and iconography uncovered by archaeologists.
Milette Gaifman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199645787
- eISBN:
- 9780191741623
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199645787.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical, History of Art: pre-history, BCE to 500CE, ancient and classical, Byzantine
This book explores a phenomenon known as aniconism — the absence of figural images of gods in Greek practiced religion and the adoption of aniconic monuments, namely objects such as pillars and ...
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This book explores a phenomenon known as aniconism — the absence of figural images of gods in Greek practiced religion and the adoption of aniconic monuments, namely objects such as pillars and poles, to designate the presence of the divine. Shifting our attention from the well-known territories of Greek anthropomorphism and naturalism, it casts new light on the realm of non-figural objects in Greek religious art. Drawing upon a variety of material and textual evidence dating from the rise of the Greek polis in the eighth century bc to the rise of Christianity in the first centuries ad, this book shows that aniconism was more significant than has often been assumed. Coexisting with the fully figural forms for representing the divine throughout Greek antiquity, aniconic monuments marked an undefined yet fixedly located divine presence. Cults centred on rocks were encountered at crossroads and on the edges of the Greek city. Despite aniconism's liminality, non-figural markers of divine presence became a subject of interest in their own right during a time when mimesis occupied the centre of Greek visual culture. The ancient Greeks saw the worship of stones and poles without images as characteristic of the beginning of their own civilization. Similarly, in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the existence of aniconism was seen as physical evidence for the continuity of ancient Greek traditions from time immemorial.Less
This book explores a phenomenon known as aniconism — the absence of figural images of gods in Greek practiced religion and the adoption of aniconic monuments, namely objects such as pillars and poles, to designate the presence of the divine. Shifting our attention from the well-known territories of Greek anthropomorphism and naturalism, it casts new light on the realm of non-figural objects in Greek religious art. Drawing upon a variety of material and textual evidence dating from the rise of the Greek polis in the eighth century bc to the rise of Christianity in the first centuries ad, this book shows that aniconism was more significant than has often been assumed. Coexisting with the fully figural forms for representing the divine throughout Greek antiquity, aniconic monuments marked an undefined yet fixedly located divine presence. Cults centred on rocks were encountered at crossroads and on the edges of the Greek city. Despite aniconism's liminality, non-figural markers of divine presence became a subject of interest in their own right during a time when mimesis occupied the centre of Greek visual culture. The ancient Greeks saw the worship of stones and poles without images as characteristic of the beginning of their own civilization. Similarly, in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the existence of aniconism was seen as physical evidence for the continuity of ancient Greek traditions from time immemorial.
Emma Cohen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195323351
- eISBN:
- 9780199785575
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323351.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The reader is introduced to possession, and many of the key “why” questions that the book addresses, through the description of a possession healing ceremony and to the principal ethnographic focus ...
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The reader is introduced to possession, and many of the key “why” questions that the book addresses, through the description of a possession healing ceremony and to the principal ethnographic focus of the book—a terreiro, or Afro‐Brazilian cult house in the city of Belém, northern Brazil. Brief introductions to dominant approaches to possession within academic scholarship and to the explanatory approach adopted by the author are given. This is followed by a chapter‐by‐chapter summary of the book.Less
The reader is introduced to possession, and many of the key “why” questions that the book addresses, through the description of a possession healing ceremony and to the principal ethnographic focus of the book—a terreiro, or Afro‐Brazilian cult house in the city of Belém, northern Brazil. Brief introductions to dominant approaches to possession within academic scholarship and to the explanatory approach adopted by the author are given. This is followed by a chapter‐by‐chapter summary of the book.
Lowell Edmunds
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691165127
- eISBN:
- 9781400874224
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165127.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Folk Literature
This chapter reexamines the evidence for two cults of Helen, as part of a discussion into the origins of Helen and her myth outside of her narrative. Some scholars have posited that Helen, before ...
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This chapter reexamines the evidence for two cults of Helen, as part of a discussion into the origins of Helen and her myth outside of her narrative. Some scholars have posited that Helen, before becoming humanized into a heroine in Homer's epic, had originated as a goddess, and is thus hypostatized as an essential or real being who exists before and outside of myth and poetry and somehow enters the extant sources. To make matters more obscure, there are two such goddesses—two hypostases. In one, Helen is the avatar of an Indo-European goddess, who is also reflected in certain goddesses in the Rig Veda. In the other hypostasis, Helen is a goddess of cult.Less
This chapter reexamines the evidence for two cults of Helen, as part of a discussion into the origins of Helen and her myth outside of her narrative. Some scholars have posited that Helen, before becoming humanized into a heroine in Homer's epic, had originated as a goddess, and is thus hypostatized as an essential or real being who exists before and outside of myth and poetry and somehow enters the extant sources. To make matters more obscure, there are two such goddesses—two hypostases. In one, Helen is the avatar of an Indo-European goddess, who is also reflected in certain goddesses in the Rig Veda. In the other hypostasis, Helen is a goddess of cult.
Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195098358
- eISBN:
- 9780199854134
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098358.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
In the autumn of 1834, New York City was awash with rumors of a strange religious cult operating nearby, centered around a mysterious, self-styled prophet named Matthias. It was said that Matthias ...
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In the autumn of 1834, New York City was awash with rumors of a strange religious cult operating nearby, centered around a mysterious, self-styled prophet named Matthias. It was said that Matthias the Prophet was stealing money from one of his followers; then came reports of lascivious sexual relations, based on odd teachings of matched spirits, apostolic priesthoods, and the inferiority of women. At its climax, the rumors transformed into legal charges, as the Prophet was arrested for the murder of a once highly regarded Christian gentleman who had fallen under his sway. This book recaptures the strange tale, providing a window into the turbulent movements of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening—movements which swept up great numbers of evangelical Americans and gave rise to new sects like the Mormons. Into this teeming environment walked a down-and-out carpenter named Robert Matthews, who announced himself as Matthias, prophet of the God of the Jews. His hypnotic spell drew in a cast of unforgettable characters: the meekly devout businessman Elijah Pierson, who once tried to raise his late wife from the dead; the young attractive Christian couple, Benjamin Folger and his wife Ann, who seduced the woman-hating Prophet; and the shrewd ex-slave Isabella Van Wagenen, regarded by some as “the most wicked of the wicked.” None was more colorful than the Prophet himself, a bearded, thundering tyrant who gathered his followers into an absolutist household, using their money to buy an elaborate, eccentric wardrobe, and reordering their marital relations. By the time the tensions within the kingdom exploded into a clash with the law, Matthias had become a national scandal.Less
In the autumn of 1834, New York City was awash with rumors of a strange religious cult operating nearby, centered around a mysterious, self-styled prophet named Matthias. It was said that Matthias the Prophet was stealing money from one of his followers; then came reports of lascivious sexual relations, based on odd teachings of matched spirits, apostolic priesthoods, and the inferiority of women. At its climax, the rumors transformed into legal charges, as the Prophet was arrested for the murder of a once highly regarded Christian gentleman who had fallen under his sway. This book recaptures the strange tale, providing a window into the turbulent movements of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening—movements which swept up great numbers of evangelical Americans and gave rise to new sects like the Mormons. Into this teeming environment walked a down-and-out carpenter named Robert Matthews, who announced himself as Matthias, prophet of the God of the Jews. His hypnotic spell drew in a cast of unforgettable characters: the meekly devout businessman Elijah Pierson, who once tried to raise his late wife from the dead; the young attractive Christian couple, Benjamin Folger and his wife Ann, who seduced the woman-hating Prophet; and the shrewd ex-slave Isabella Van Wagenen, regarded by some as “the most wicked of the wicked.” None was more colorful than the Prophet himself, a bearded, thundering tyrant who gathered his followers into an absolutist household, using their money to buy an elaborate, eccentric wardrobe, and reordering their marital relations. By the time the tensions within the kingdom exploded into a clash with the law, Matthias had become a national scandal.
William Sims Bainbridge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177299
- eISBN:
- 9780199785537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This annotated bibliography is designed for teachers of classes about new religious movements, sometimes called cults. It suggests additional readings, studies of specific movements, how to use ...
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This annotated bibliography is designed for teachers of classes about new religious movements, sometimes called cults. It suggests additional readings, studies of specific movements, how to use primary source materials, studies of the wider cultural context, miscellaneous edited collections, and general reference works. The aim is to identify a few publications that can be valuable for preparing lectures or for writing term papers, including classic social science and reliable descriptive studies of particular new religions.Less
This annotated bibliography is designed for teachers of classes about new religious movements, sometimes called cults. It suggests additional readings, studies of specific movements, how to use primary source materials, studies of the wider cultural context, miscellaneous edited collections, and general reference works. The aim is to identify a few publications that can be valuable for preparing lectures or for writing term papers, including classic social science and reliable descriptive studies of particular new religions.
David Albert Jones
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199287154
- eISBN:
- 9780191713231
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287154.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The argument of Augustine in De civitate Dei is strikingly similar to that of Ambrose in De bono mortis. However, while Ambrose treats death as something good in itself, Augustine sees it as bad in ...
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The argument of Augustine in De civitate Dei is strikingly similar to that of Ambrose in De bono mortis. However, while Ambrose treats death as something good in itself, Augustine sees it as bad in itself. Their contrasting attitudes have practical effects on how they regard virginity, marriage, and mortification; on how each reads the letters of Paul; and on their discussions of suicide and martyrdom. Furthermore, it leads to a noticeable shift in the Christian treatment of fear of death, grief, and the care of the dead (that is, prayers said for those who have died).Less
The argument of Augustine in De civitate Dei is strikingly similar to that of Ambrose in De bono mortis. However, while Ambrose treats death as something good in itself, Augustine sees it as bad in itself. Their contrasting attitudes have practical effects on how they regard virginity, marriage, and mortification; on how each reads the letters of Paul; and on their discussions of suicide and martyrdom. Furthermore, it leads to a noticeable shift in the Christian treatment of fear of death, grief, and the care of the dead (that is, prayers said for those who have died).
J. Gordon Melton
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177299
- eISBN:
- 9780199785537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In the 1980s, the term “new religion” replaced “cult” when referring to the many relatively new Eastern, esoteric, and other religious movements emerging in the predominantly Christian West. ...
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In the 1980s, the term “new religion” replaced “cult” when referring to the many relatively new Eastern, esoteric, and other religious movements emerging in the predominantly Christian West. Subsequent to its appearance, the term has undergone a process of refinement as scholars have sought more precisely to define exactly what characteristics designated a new religion. Based on an overview of the hundreds of new religions now operating in the East, new religions are now defined as those groups on the fringe of culture that both deviate substantially from the dominant Christianity (unlike sect groups) now practiced in the west, and lack ties with any ethnic religions traditionally identified with the belief and practices of the new religion (especially the Eastern religions). New religions often become well known for their identification with violence, active proselytization, and various questionable beliefs and practices.Less
In the 1980s, the term “new religion” replaced “cult” when referring to the many relatively new Eastern, esoteric, and other religious movements emerging in the predominantly Christian West. Subsequent to its appearance, the term has undergone a process of refinement as scholars have sought more precisely to define exactly what characteristics designated a new religion. Based on an overview of the hundreds of new religions now operating in the East, new religions are now defined as those groups on the fringe of culture that both deviate substantially from the dominant Christianity (unlike sect groups) now practiced in the west, and lack ties with any ethnic religions traditionally identified with the belief and practices of the new religion (especially the Eastern religions). New religions often become well known for their identification with violence, active proselytization, and various questionable beliefs and practices.
Robert Parker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199216116
- eISBN:
- 9780191705847
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216116.003.0020
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
Studies of religion and history of Greece have traditionally gone their own, largely independent ways. Studies of Greek social and moral values are a more recent genre, but now that they exist they ...
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Studies of religion and history of Greece have traditionally gone their own, largely independent ways. Studies of Greek social and moral values are a more recent genre, but now that they exist they too follow a third path of their own that only occasionally intersects with the other two. Specialists in Greek religion may be inclined to seek an explanation in the inadequacies of traditional approaches to Greek history. Superficial similarities between the Greeks and ourselves have created the illusion, they might urge, that their political behaviour like ours can be analysed in secular and rational terms; the omnipresent myths, rituals, and expressions of respect for the gods are ignored, whereas in reality they are the underpinning, the emotional and cognitive foundation, of the whole of communal life. Respect for the gods, respect for the fatherland, respect for ancestral tombs, respect for parents: the deep conservatism inherent in Greek religion could not be more clearly revealed.Less
Studies of religion and history of Greece have traditionally gone their own, largely independent ways. Studies of Greek social and moral values are a more recent genre, but now that they exist they too follow a third path of their own that only occasionally intersects with the other two. Specialists in Greek religion may be inclined to seek an explanation in the inadequacies of traditional approaches to Greek history. Superficial similarities between the Greeks and ourselves have created the illusion, they might urge, that their political behaviour like ours can be analysed in secular and rational terms; the omnipresent myths, rituals, and expressions of respect for the gods are ignored, whereas in reality they are the underpinning, the emotional and cognitive foundation, of the whole of communal life. Respect for the gods, respect for the fatherland, respect for ancestral tombs, respect for parents: the deep conservatism inherent in Greek religion could not be more clearly revealed.
J. P. Telotte and Gerald Duchovnay (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781781381830
- eISBN:
- 9781781382363
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781381830.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Critical discussion of cult cinema has often noted its tendency to straddle or ignore boundaries, to pull together different sets of conventions, narrative formulas, or character types for the almost ...
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Critical discussion of cult cinema has often noted its tendency to straddle or ignore boundaries, to pull together different sets of conventions, narrative formulas, or character types for the almost surreal pleasure to be found in their sudden juxtapositions or narrative combination. With its own boundary-blurring nature — as both science and fiction, reality and fantasy — science fiction (sf) has played a key role in such cinematic cult formation. This volume examines that largely unexplored relationship, looking at how the sf film's own double nature neatly matches up with a persistent double vision common to the cult film. It does so by addressing key questions about the intersections of sf and cult cinema: how different genre elements, directors, and stars contribute to cult formation; what role fan activities, including ‘con’ participation, play in cult development; and how the occulted or ‘bad’ sf cult film works. The volume pursues these questions by addressing a variety of such sf cult works, including Robot Monster (1953), Zardoz (1974), A Boy and His Dog (1975), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Space Truckers (1996), Ghost in the Shell 2 (2004), and Iron Sky (2012). What these chapters afford is a revealing vision of both the sf aspects of much cult film activity and the cultish aspects of the whole sf genre.Less
Critical discussion of cult cinema has often noted its tendency to straddle or ignore boundaries, to pull together different sets of conventions, narrative formulas, or character types for the almost surreal pleasure to be found in their sudden juxtapositions or narrative combination. With its own boundary-blurring nature — as both science and fiction, reality and fantasy — science fiction (sf) has played a key role in such cinematic cult formation. This volume examines that largely unexplored relationship, looking at how the sf film's own double nature neatly matches up with a persistent double vision common to the cult film. It does so by addressing key questions about the intersections of sf and cult cinema: how different genre elements, directors, and stars contribute to cult formation; what role fan activities, including ‘con’ participation, play in cult development; and how the occulted or ‘bad’ sf cult film works. The volume pursues these questions by addressing a variety of such sf cult works, including Robot Monster (1953), Zardoz (1974), A Boy and His Dog (1975), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Space Truckers (1996), Ghost in the Shell 2 (2004), and Iron Sky (2012). What these chapters afford is a revealing vision of both the sf aspects of much cult film activity and the cultish aspects of the whole sf genre.
Dominic J. O’Meara
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199285532
- eISBN:
- 9780191717819
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285532.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter concerns the political importance of religion. Plato’s views on this theme are briefly sketched, as is the Neoplatonic interpretation of these views, with particular reference to Julian ...
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This chapter concerns the political importance of religion. Plato’s views on this theme are briefly sketched, as is the Neoplatonic interpretation of these views, with particular reference to Julian the Emperor’s political programme, Iamblichus’ views on religious cults, the place of public and private cult, and of theurgy in the divinization of the soul.Less
This chapter concerns the political importance of religion. Plato’s views on this theme are briefly sketched, as is the Neoplatonic interpretation of these views, with particular reference to Julian the Emperor’s political programme, Iamblichus’ views on religious cults, the place of public and private cult, and of theurgy in the divinization of the soul.
Adiel Schremer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383775
- eISBN:
- 9780199777280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383775.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter raises the question whether rabbinic texts that seem to be relating to issues standing at the heart of the Jewish and Christian debate throughout the ages—such as Christology and the ...
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This chapter raises the question whether rabbinic texts that seem to be relating to issues standing at the heart of the Jewish and Christian debate throughout the ages—such as Christology and the Christian belief in the Messiahship of Jesus, Israel's election, faith, and the observance of the commandments—should indeed be interpreted as an anti-Christian polemic on the part of the Rabbis. It suggests a different context for the interpretation of these texts, namely, the imperial cult and the imperial power, and it maintains that the Rabbi's need to accentuate certain religious stances—such as the rejection of the idea of Divine Man, or the importance of faithfulness—was determined, to a large degree, by the circumstances and the historical context in which they were expressed.Less
This chapter raises the question whether rabbinic texts that seem to be relating to issues standing at the heart of the Jewish and Christian debate throughout the ages—such as Christology and the Christian belief in the Messiahship of Jesus, Israel's election, faith, and the observance of the commandments—should indeed be interpreted as an anti-Christian polemic on the part of the Rabbis. It suggests a different context for the interpretation of these texts, namely, the imperial cult and the imperial power, and it maintains that the Rabbi's need to accentuate certain religious stances—such as the rejection of the idea of Divine Man, or the importance of faithfulness—was determined, to a large degree, by the circumstances and the historical context in which they were expressed.
Jiang Wu
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231171601
- eISBN:
- 9780231540193
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171601.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 2 studies the devotional aspect of the canon and suggests a cult of the canon took form in history and greatly shaped Chinese Buddhism. The author argues that the cult of the canon is an ...
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Chapter 2 studies the devotional aspect of the canon and suggests a cult of the canon took form in history and greatly shaped Chinese Buddhism. The author argues that the cult of the canon is an extension from the cult of the book and constitutes an important aspect of religious life in Chinese Buddhism.Less
Chapter 2 studies the devotional aspect of the canon and suggests a cult of the canon took form in history and greatly shaped Chinese Buddhism. The author argues that the cult of the canon is an extension from the cult of the book and constitutes an important aspect of religious life in Chinese Buddhism.
Joshua A. Berman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374704
- eISBN:
- 9780199871438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374704.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Biblical Studies
This chapter examines how Deuteronomy offers an egalitarian political prescription for the shape of Israelite society and its leadership regime. The program is egalitarian in that it attenuates, in ...
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This chapter examines how Deuteronomy offers an egalitarian political prescription for the shape of Israelite society and its leadership regime. The program is egalitarian in that it attenuates, in the first place, the institutional power of the monarchy as construed in the ancient Near East in the following realms: the military, the cult, the judiciary, the economy, and the harem. It further establishes a set of checks and balances that curb the power of the various seats of authority: the king, the priesthood, the judiciary and the prophet. Moreover, Deuteronomy's egalitarian program for the regime is reflected in its rejection of the institutions and language of tribal patriarchy so evidenced in the other pentateuchal texts, in favor of collective, national identity. Whereas earlier studies that examined Deuteronomy's plan for the regime have focused on chapters 16–18, this study maintains that one must read all of Deuteronomy as an integrated whole in order to perceive the full intricacy of its blueprint for a society in the land. Particular attention is paid to the role played in this regard by the so‐called narrative frames of the book—chapters 1–4, and chapters 27–30. While previous studies have noted that Deuteronomy seems to adopt a form of checks and balances, this study locates the statement it makes in this regard within the history of political thought on the subject. Scanning theories from Roman jurists through Montesquieu, this study concludes that the kernel of a theory of checks and balances that one may adduce from a reading of Deuteronomy is suggestive of formulations that we do not encounter again until the writings of the American Founding Fathers.Less
This chapter examines how Deuteronomy offers an egalitarian political prescription for the shape of Israelite society and its leadership regime. The program is egalitarian in that it attenuates, in the first place, the institutional power of the monarchy as construed in the ancient Near East in the following realms: the military, the cult, the judiciary, the economy, and the harem. It further establishes a set of checks and balances that curb the power of the various seats of authority: the king, the priesthood, the judiciary and the prophet. Moreover, Deuteronomy's egalitarian program for the regime is reflected in its rejection of the institutions and language of tribal patriarchy so evidenced in the other pentateuchal texts, in favor of collective, national identity. Whereas earlier studies that examined Deuteronomy's plan for the regime have focused on chapters 16–18, this study maintains that one must read all of Deuteronomy as an integrated whole in order to perceive the full intricacy of its blueprint for a society in the land. Particular attention is paid to the role played in this regard by the so‐called narrative frames of the book—chapters 1–4, and chapters 27–30. While previous studies have noted that Deuteronomy seems to adopt a form of checks and balances, this study locates the statement it makes in this regard within the history of political thought on the subject. Scanning theories from Roman jurists through Montesquieu, this study concludes that the kernel of a theory of checks and balances that one may adduce from a reading of Deuteronomy is suggestive of formulations that we do not encounter again until the writings of the American Founding Fathers.
