Kent Greenawalt
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199756131
- eISBN:
- 9780199855292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199756131.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter examines how religious texts are interpreted. It begins by briefly exploring two related topics that are also relevant for ordinary law: Firstly, what counts as authoritative or ...
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This chapter examines how religious texts are interpreted. It begins by briefly exploring two related topics that are also relevant for ordinary law: Firstly, what counts as authoritative or canonical texts to be interpreted? Secondly, who can render authoritative or reliable interpretations? The chapter argues that as social conditions and attitudes evolve, interpretations of norms inevitably do and should change. Only with such change can religious traditions flourish over time. But even this insight does not help much in resolving crucial questions about interpreting secular law. The reason is that, although everyone agrees that secular law, as a whole, must change, that does not establish that judges, as contrasted with legislators and constitutional enactors, should be self-conscious organs for statutory and constitutional evolution.Less
This chapter examines how religious texts are interpreted. It begins by briefly exploring two related topics that are also relevant for ordinary law: Firstly, what counts as authoritative or canonical texts to be interpreted? Secondly, who can render authoritative or reliable interpretations? The chapter argues that as social conditions and attitudes evolve, interpretations of norms inevitably do and should change. Only with such change can religious traditions flourish over time. But even this insight does not help much in resolving crucial questions about interpreting secular law. The reason is that, although everyone agrees that secular law, as a whole, must change, that does not establish that judges, as contrasted with legislators and constitutional enactors, should be self-conscious organs for statutory and constitutional evolution.
Catherine Bell (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176452
- eISBN:
- 9780199785308
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176452.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Many teachers share an interest in bringing a better appreciation of ritual into their religious studies classes, but are uncertain how to do it. Religious studies faculty know how to teach texts, ...
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Many teachers share an interest in bringing a better appreciation of ritual into their religious studies classes, but are uncertain how to do it. Religious studies faculty know how to teach texts, but they often have difficulty teaching something for which the meaning lies in the doing. How do you teach such “doing”? How much need be done? How does the teacher talk about the religiosity that exists in personalized relationships, not textual descriptions or prescriptions? These practical issues also give rise to theoretical questions. Giving more attention to ritual effectively suggests a reinterpretation of religion itself — an understanding less focused on what people have thought and written, and more focused on how they engage their universe. Many useful analyses of ritual derive from anthropological and sociological premises, which may be foreign to religious studies faculties and even seen by some as theologically problematic. This book addresses the issues specific to teaching this subject. The chapter contributors explain what has worked for them in the classroom, what has not, and what they have learned from the experience of being more real about religion.Less
Many teachers share an interest in bringing a better appreciation of ritual into their religious studies classes, but are uncertain how to do it. Religious studies faculty know how to teach texts, but they often have difficulty teaching something for which the meaning lies in the doing. How do you teach such “doing”? How much need be done? How does the teacher talk about the religiosity that exists in personalized relationships, not textual descriptions or prescriptions? These practical issues also give rise to theoretical questions. Giving more attention to ritual effectively suggests a reinterpretation of religion itself — an understanding less focused on what people have thought and written, and more focused on how they engage their universe. Many useful analyses of ritual derive from anthropological and sociological premises, which may be foreign to religious studies faculties and even seen by some as theologically problematic. This book addresses the issues specific to teaching this subject. The chapter contributors explain what has worked for them in the classroom, what has not, and what they have learned from the experience of being more real about religion.
Frederick J. Ruf
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195102635
- eISBN:
- 9780199853458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195102635.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This book aims to bring about an understanding of how the concepts of “voice” and “genre” function in texts, especially religious texts. To this end, it joins literary theorists in the discussion ...
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This book aims to bring about an understanding of how the concepts of “voice” and “genre” function in texts, especially religious texts. To this end, it joins literary theorists in the discussion about “narrative.” The book rejects the idea of genre as a fixed historical form that serves as a template for readers and writers; instead, it suggests that we imagine different genres, whether narrative, lyric, or dramatic, as the expression of different voices. Each voice, the book asserts, possesses different key qualities: embodiment, sociality, contextuality, and opacity in the dramatic voice; intimacy, limitation, urgency in lyric; and a “magisterial” quality of comprehensiveness and cohesiveness in narrative. These voices are models for our selves, composing an unruly and unstable multiplicity of selves. The book applies its theory of “voice” and “genre” to five texts: Dineson's Out of Africa, Donne's Holy Sonnets, Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, and Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. Through these literary works, the book discerns the detailed ways in which a text constructs a voice and, in the process, a self. More importantly, this book demonstrates that this process is a religious one, fulfilling the function that religions traditionally assume: that of defining the self and its world.Less
This book aims to bring about an understanding of how the concepts of “voice” and “genre” function in texts, especially religious texts. To this end, it joins literary theorists in the discussion about “narrative.” The book rejects the idea of genre as a fixed historical form that serves as a template for readers and writers; instead, it suggests that we imagine different genres, whether narrative, lyric, or dramatic, as the expression of different voices. Each voice, the book asserts, possesses different key qualities: embodiment, sociality, contextuality, and opacity in the dramatic voice; intimacy, limitation, urgency in lyric; and a “magisterial” quality of comprehensiveness and cohesiveness in narrative. These voices are models for our selves, composing an unruly and unstable multiplicity of selves. The book applies its theory of “voice” and “genre” to five texts: Dineson's Out of Africa, Donne's Holy Sonnets, Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, and Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. Through these literary works, the book discerns the detailed ways in which a text constructs a voice and, in the process, a self. More importantly, this book demonstrates that this process is a religious one, fulfilling the function that religions traditionally assume: that of defining the self and its world.
Veena Das
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077404
- eISBN:
- 9780199081172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077404.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This introductory chapter discusses Hindu caste and ritual. It examines the religious texts in Sanskrit, which serve as relevant sources of information on Indian society. It takes a look at ...
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This introductory chapter discusses Hindu caste and ritual. It examines the religious texts in Sanskrit, which serve as relevant sources of information on Indian society. It takes a look at anthropological research and the formation of a positivist approach, as well as the consequences of defining social reality based on concreteness. It introduces Louis Dumont's writings, where he rejects the dichotomy between behaviour and thought, and insists that an explanatory model cannot be limited to copying observed reality. It then pinpoints the two Sanskrit texts that will be analyzed in detail, namely the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila. The chapter also studies the caste Puranas, who are defined as a class of Sanskrit language that is concerned with the five main themes of creation.Less
This introductory chapter discusses Hindu caste and ritual. It examines the religious texts in Sanskrit, which serve as relevant sources of information on Indian society. It takes a look at anthropological research and the formation of a positivist approach, as well as the consequences of defining social reality based on concreteness. It introduces Louis Dumont's writings, where he rejects the dichotomy between behaviour and thought, and insists that an explanatory model cannot be limited to copying observed reality. It then pinpoints the two Sanskrit texts that will be analyzed in detail, namely the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila. The chapter also studies the caste Puranas, who are defined as a class of Sanskrit language that is concerned with the five main themes of creation.
Joseph Ziegler
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207269
- eISBN:
- 9780191677595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207269.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
This chapter deals with the use of religious language in medical texts and with the use of medical language in religious texts. It asks whether the ...
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This chapter deals with the use of religious language in medical texts and with the use of medical language in religious texts. It asks whether the language Arnau employs in his spiritual writings suggests possible links with his medical background and tries to locate the points of convergence between two worlds. The discussion introduces a level of medical language, differentiated between high and low. A religious text described as high-level medical language includes medical terms and concepts which originate specifically in academic medical discourse, and displays knowledge that is particularly expressive of a medical background. A text that uses low-level medical language contains banal medical terms such as references to organs of the body, the senses, and diseases, or allusions to the humoral theory, terms which do not signify any specific medical knowledge and training and which could have originated in biblical, philosophical, or theological sources.Less
This chapter deals with the use of religious language in medical texts and with the use of medical language in religious texts. It asks whether the language Arnau employs in his spiritual writings suggests possible links with his medical background and tries to locate the points of convergence between two worlds. The discussion introduces a level of medical language, differentiated between high and low. A religious text described as high-level medical language includes medical terms and concepts which originate specifically in academic medical discourse, and displays knowledge that is particularly expressive of a medical background. A text that uses low-level medical language contains banal medical terms such as references to organs of the body, the senses, and diseases, or allusions to the humoral theory, terms which do not signify any specific medical knowledge and training and which could have originated in biblical, philosophical, or theological sources.
Moulie Vidas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154862
- eISBN:
- 9781400850471
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154862.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed ...
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This book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. Nevertheless, it has been assumed that the ancient rabbis were committed to maintaining continuity with the past. This book argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition, and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis‘ self-conception. Both this self-conception and these structural features were part of a debate within and beyond the Jewish community about the transmission of tradition. Focusing on the Babylonian Talmud, produced in the rabbinic academies of late ancient Mesopotamia, the book analyzes key passages to show how the Talmud's creators contrasted their own voice with that of their predecessors. It also examines Zoroastrian, Christian, and mystical Jewish sources to reconstruct the debates and wide-ranging conversations that shaped the Talmud's literary and intellectual character.Less
This book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. Nevertheless, it has been assumed that the ancient rabbis were committed to maintaining continuity with the past. This book argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition, and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis‘ self-conception. Both this self-conception and these structural features were part of a debate within and beyond the Jewish community about the transmission of tradition. Focusing on the Babylonian Talmud, produced in the rabbinic academies of late ancient Mesopotamia, the book analyzes key passages to show how the Talmud's creators contrasted their own voice with that of their predecessors. It also examines Zoroastrian, Christian, and mystical Jewish sources to reconstruct the debates and wide-ranging conversations that shaped the Talmud's literary and intellectual character.
Lynn Huber and Robin Rinehart
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199732869
- eISBN:
- 9780199918522
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732869.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Undergraduate Research in the discipline that makes use of the textual studies model provides study of the construction, comparison, and close analysis of religious texts. This chapter describes the ...
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Undergraduate Research in the discipline that makes use of the textual studies model provides study of the construction, comparison, and close analysis of religious texts. This chapter describes the application of the textual studies approach to Buddhist and Christian biblical texts.Less
Undergraduate Research in the discipline that makes use of the textual studies model provides study of the construction, comparison, and close analysis of religious texts. This chapter describes the application of the textual studies approach to Buddhist and Christian biblical texts.
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300207125
- eISBN:
- 9780300231458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300207125.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter considers the problematic aspects of reading the religious texts themselves. It aims to help provide guidelines for the old and yet continuing polemical controversy on the part of those ...
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This chapter considers the problematic aspects of reading the religious texts themselves. It aims to help provide guidelines for the old and yet continuing polemical controversy on the part of those who reject the legitimacy of the slogan “Islam is the Solution,” which is the third approach in dealing with the phenomenon of the Islamic revival. This approach is not a by-product of the Islamist revival or merely a negative response to it: It is an approach that is rooted in modern thought, and the most prominent representatives of it may be the “advocates of enlightenment” who are now known by the name secularists—a name that is sometimes meant to stigmatize them as infidels, atheists, or heretics, with the implication that these people serve foreign interests and are traitors to their countries and to the wider Arab nation.Less
This chapter considers the problematic aspects of reading the religious texts themselves. It aims to help provide guidelines for the old and yet continuing polemical controversy on the part of those who reject the legitimacy of the slogan “Islam is the Solution,” which is the third approach in dealing with the phenomenon of the Islamic revival. This approach is not a by-product of the Islamist revival or merely a negative response to it: It is an approach that is rooted in modern thought, and the most prominent representatives of it may be the “advocates of enlightenment” who are now known by the name secularists—a name that is sometimes meant to stigmatize them as infidels, atheists, or heretics, with the implication that these people serve foreign interests and are traitors to their countries and to the wider Arab nation.
Mark Christensen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804785280
- eISBN:
- 9780804787314
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804785280.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This book examines ecclesiastical texts written in Nahuatl and Yucatec Maya to illustrate their role in conveying and reflecting various Catholic messages—and thus Catholicisms—throughout colonial ...
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This book examines ecclesiastical texts written in Nahuatl and Yucatec Maya to illustrate their role in conveying and reflecting various Catholic messages—and thus Catholicisms—throughout colonial Central Mexico and Yucatan. It demonstrates how published and unpublished sermons, confessional manuals, catechisms, and other religious texts betray “official” and “unofficial” versions of Catholicism, and how these versions changed throughout the colonial period according to indigenous culture, local situations, and broader early modern events. The book’s study of these texts also allows for a better appreciation of the negotiations that occurred during the evangelization process between native and Spanish cultures, the center and periphery, and between official expectations and everyday realities. In many cases, these negotiations ensured that the religious instruction prescribed for and experienced by one differed from that of the other. Whereas many studies on colonial religion have focused solely on the Nahuas and their texts, this book employs both Nahuatl and Maya religious texts. This allows for a unique comparative study that expands beyond Central Mexico to include Yucatan. Such a comparison allows this book to illustrate important subregional and regional similarities and differences between the evangelization efforts made among the Nahua and Maya, and to expand beyond a monolithic understanding of colonial Catholicism to better visualize the diversity that religious texts both created and reflected.Less
This book examines ecclesiastical texts written in Nahuatl and Yucatec Maya to illustrate their role in conveying and reflecting various Catholic messages—and thus Catholicisms—throughout colonial Central Mexico and Yucatan. It demonstrates how published and unpublished sermons, confessional manuals, catechisms, and other religious texts betray “official” and “unofficial” versions of Catholicism, and how these versions changed throughout the colonial period according to indigenous culture, local situations, and broader early modern events. The book’s study of these texts also allows for a better appreciation of the negotiations that occurred during the evangelization process between native and Spanish cultures, the center and periphery, and between official expectations and everyday realities. In many cases, these negotiations ensured that the religious instruction prescribed for and experienced by one differed from that of the other. Whereas many studies on colonial religion have focused solely on the Nahuas and their texts, this book employs both Nahuatl and Maya religious texts. This allows for a unique comparative study that expands beyond Central Mexico to include Yucatan. Such a comparison allows this book to illustrate important subregional and regional similarities and differences between the evangelization efforts made among the Nahua and Maya, and to expand beyond a monolithic understanding of colonial Catholicism to better visualize the diversity that religious texts both created and reflected.
Gregory Starrett
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520209268
- eISBN:
- 9780520919303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520209268.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Middle Eastern Cultural Anthropology
This chapter reviews several processes that change the Islamic tradition, not only by molding it into a new format, but also by folding the child's experience of daily life into his understanding of ...
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This chapter reviews several processes that change the Islamic tradition, not only by molding it into a new format, but also by folding the child's experience of daily life into his understanding of God's will. It looks at the interpretation of culture and the culture of interpretation, and shows how elementary schools introduce students to the proper political and social use of official religious texts. The chapter then discusses the goals of modern religious education at the primary level, and the ways textbook authors emphasize Islam's place in a child's daily life. It also studies the school and family as sources of moral authority, and identifies several supplements to the public sector instructional media.Less
This chapter reviews several processes that change the Islamic tradition, not only by molding it into a new format, but also by folding the child's experience of daily life into his understanding of God's will. It looks at the interpretation of culture and the culture of interpretation, and shows how elementary schools introduce students to the proper political and social use of official religious texts. The chapter then discusses the goals of modern religious education at the primary level, and the ways textbook authors emphasize Islam's place in a child's daily life. It also studies the school and family as sources of moral authority, and identifies several supplements to the public sector instructional media.
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300207125
- eISBN:
- 9780300231458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300207125.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
First published in Arabic in 1994, this book's controversial approach argued that conventional fundamentalist interpretations of the Quran and other Islamic religious texts are ahistorical and ...
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First published in Arabic in 1994, this book's controversial approach argued that conventional fundamentalist interpretations of the Quran and other Islamic religious texts are ahistorical and misleading. Conservative religious leaders accused this book's author of apostasy. Marking the first time a work by this author is available in its entirety in any Western language, this English edition makes the author's erudite interpretation of classical Islamic thought accessible to a wider audience at a critical historical moment. The book discusses the life and work of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943–2010); the rise of the Islamist movement, a phenomenon that Islamists call the Awakening; religious discourse; the Islamic left; and the problematic aspects of reading the religious texts themselves.Less
First published in Arabic in 1994, this book's controversial approach argued that conventional fundamentalist interpretations of the Quran and other Islamic religious texts are ahistorical and misleading. Conservative religious leaders accused this book's author of apostasy. Marking the first time a work by this author is available in its entirety in any Western language, this English edition makes the author's erudite interpretation of classical Islamic thought accessible to a wider audience at a critical historical moment. The book discusses the life and work of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943–2010); the rise of the Islamist movement, a phenomenon that Islamists call the Awakening; religious discourse; the Islamic left; and the problematic aspects of reading the religious texts themselves.
Nagappa K. Gowda
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198072065
- eISBN:
- 9780199080748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198072065.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The introduction discusses the importance of the Bhagavadgita in the nationalist discourse in India. No religious text has been as frequently invoked or as passionately deployed by Indian ...
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The introduction discusses the importance of the Bhagavadgita in the nationalist discourse in India. No religious text has been as frequently invoked or as passionately deployed by Indian nationalists as the Bhagavadgita. In fact, nationalists of different stripes, including exponents of modern Hinduism, critical modernists, ethical and spiritual nationalists, seem to agree that they could all draw sustenance and seek vindication from the Song Celestial. This chapter also provides an outline of the coverage of this book.Less
The introduction discusses the importance of the Bhagavadgita in the nationalist discourse in India. No religious text has been as frequently invoked or as passionately deployed by Indian nationalists as the Bhagavadgita. In fact, nationalists of different stripes, including exponents of modern Hinduism, critical modernists, ethical and spiritual nationalists, seem to agree that they could all draw sustenance and seek vindication from the Song Celestial. This chapter also provides an outline of the coverage of this book.
Kenneth Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789774167249
- eISBN:
- 9781617976780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774167249.003.0007
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter focuses on the Ritual of the Hours of the Night in the First Pillared Hall of the tomb of Karakhamun. The Ritual of the Hours of the Day and Night is one of a series of religious texts ...
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This chapter focuses on the Ritual of the Hours of the Night in the First Pillared Hall of the tomb of Karakhamun. The Ritual of the Hours of the Day and Night is one of a series of religious texts relating to the cycle of the sun god. The Hours of the Night have been interpreted as consisting of extracts from the Book of the Dead. In the earliest versions of the ritual, attested within the memorial temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty, it is the pharaoh who is the beneficiary. The ongoing reconstruction of the tomb of Karakhamun offers the potential to better understand the Hours of the Night. The chapter first considers the sources for the texts of the Hours of the Night before analyzing its complete text.Less
This chapter focuses on the Ritual of the Hours of the Night in the First Pillared Hall of the tomb of Karakhamun. The Ritual of the Hours of the Day and Night is one of a series of religious texts relating to the cycle of the sun god. The Hours of the Night have been interpreted as consisting of extracts from the Book of the Dead. In the earliest versions of the ritual, attested within the memorial temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty, it is the pharaoh who is the beneficiary. The ongoing reconstruction of the tomb of Karakhamun offers the potential to better understand the Hours of the Night. The chapter first considers the sources for the texts of the Hours of the Night before analyzing its complete text.
Andrea Sterk and Nina Caputo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451829
- eISBN:
- 9780801471056
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451829.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. This book presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has ...
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Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. This book presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has exemplified compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important area of historical inquiry. The chapters range chronologically from Late Antiquity to modern America and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women's agency in religion, considering familiar religious communities alongside those on the margins and bringing a range of spiritual and religious practices into historical focus. Focusing on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the book addresses matters central to the study of religion in history, in particular texts and traditions of authority, interreligious discourse, and religious practice and experience. Some chapters examine mainstream communities and traditions, others explore individuals who crossed religious or confessional boundaries, and still others study the peripheries of what is considered orthodox religious tradition. Encompassing a wide geographical as well as chronological scope, the book illustrates the persistence of central themes and common analytical challenges for historians working in all periods.Less
Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. This book presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has exemplified compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important area of historical inquiry. The chapters range chronologically from Late Antiquity to modern America and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women's agency in religion, considering familiar religious communities alongside those on the margins and bringing a range of spiritual and religious practices into historical focus. Focusing on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the book addresses matters central to the study of religion in history, in particular texts and traditions of authority, interreligious discourse, and religious practice and experience. Some chapters examine mainstream communities and traditions, others explore individuals who crossed religious or confessional boundaries, and still others study the peripheries of what is considered orthodox religious tradition. Encompassing a wide geographical as well as chronological scope, the book illustrates the persistence of central themes and common analytical challenges for historians working in all periods.
Perry Dane
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199246601
- eISBN:
- 9780191697616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246601.003.0021
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter examines the legal encounter between the religious and the secular institutions of marriage. It considers two official texts — one civil and one religious — that figure in the current ...
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This chapter examines the legal encounter between the religious and the secular institutions of marriage. It considers two official texts — one civil and one religious — that figure in the current struggle in both spheres over the possibility of marriage, or some related status, for same-sex couples. The civil text is a statute of Vermont enacted at the end of April 2000, that allows same-sex couples to enter into, and have legally certified, something called a ‘civil union’, which the statute explicitly distinguishes from marriage. The religious text is a decision of the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbyterian Church USA. The decision authorizes ministers and congregations under its jurisdiction to perform ceremonies called ‘holy unions’ for same-sex couples — ceremonies that the Commission also emphatically distinguishes from marriage.Less
This chapter examines the legal encounter between the religious and the secular institutions of marriage. It considers two official texts — one civil and one religious — that figure in the current struggle in both spheres over the possibility of marriage, or some related status, for same-sex couples. The civil text is a statute of Vermont enacted at the end of April 2000, that allows same-sex couples to enter into, and have legally certified, something called a ‘civil union’, which the statute explicitly distinguishes from marriage. The religious text is a decision of the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbyterian Church USA. The decision authorizes ministers and congregations under its jurisdiction to perform ceremonies called ‘holy unions’ for same-sex couples — ceremonies that the Commission also emphatically distinguishes from marriage.
Assaf Gamzou and Ken Koltun-Fromm (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496819215
- eISBN:
- 9781496819253
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496819215.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
Comics and Sacred Texts: Reimagining Religion and Graphic Narratives explores how comics and notions of the sacred interweave to produce new modes of seeing and understanding the sacred. The creative ...
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Comics and Sacred Texts: Reimagining Religion and Graphic Narratives explores how comics and notions of the sacred interweave to produce new modes of seeing and understanding the sacred. The creative texts explored within this edited volume share an expressive interest in modes of seeing the sacred in graphic structures. We examine the intersections between religion and comics in ways that critically expand our ability to think well about religious landscapes, rhetorical practices, pictorial representation, and the everyday experiences of the uncanny.
Sacred Texts and Comics engages the diverse and expansive universe of comic studies and its capacity to reveal new modalities of the sacred. We explore how the sacred erupts in places, and through mediums, that challenge where we should see and encounter divine presence. Comics also reimagine sacred texts, and move readers to see traditional texts anew. But the sacred also has limits and borders, so we look at monsters and wizards in comic books, and how these beings challenge visual assumptions about the normal and the sacred. Finally, we show how comics reveal the everyday sacred: a presence in the mundane, common, and often overlooked features of familiar existence. Collectively, the essays in Sacred Texts and Comics reveal how comics, as a visual medium, moves readers to reimagine the sacred. We claim that seeing the sacred is a learned practice: we must learn where to look for and how to envision the sacred.Less
Comics and Sacred Texts: Reimagining Religion and Graphic Narratives explores how comics and notions of the sacred interweave to produce new modes of seeing and understanding the sacred. The creative texts explored within this edited volume share an expressive interest in modes of seeing the sacred in graphic structures. We examine the intersections between religion and comics in ways that critically expand our ability to think well about religious landscapes, rhetorical practices, pictorial representation, and the everyday experiences of the uncanny.
Sacred Texts and Comics engages the diverse and expansive universe of comic studies and its capacity to reveal new modalities of the sacred. We explore how the sacred erupts in places, and through mediums, that challenge where we should see and encounter divine presence. Comics also reimagine sacred texts, and move readers to see traditional texts anew. But the sacred also has limits and borders, so we look at monsters and wizards in comic books, and how these beings challenge visual assumptions about the normal and the sacred. Finally, we show how comics reveal the everyday sacred: a presence in the mundane, common, and often overlooked features of familiar existence. Collectively, the essays in Sacred Texts and Comics reveal how comics, as a visual medium, moves readers to reimagine the sacred. We claim that seeing the sacred is a learned practice: we must learn where to look for and how to envision the sacred.
Mark Z. Christensen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804785280
- eISBN:
- 9780804787314
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804785280.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This section summarizes the general contributions of each chapter. It exposes the role of native-language religious texts in diversifying the Catholic message intended for Nahuas and Mayas. Moreover, ...
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This section summarizes the general contributions of each chapter. It exposes the role of native-language religious texts in diversifying the Catholic message intended for Nahuas and Mayas. Moreover, it sheds further light on the important role unpublished texts authored by native assistants in providing a numerous messages of varying orthodoxy.Less
This section summarizes the general contributions of each chapter. It exposes the role of native-language religious texts in diversifying the Catholic message intended for Nahuas and Mayas. Moreover, it sheds further light on the important role unpublished texts authored by native assistants in providing a numerous messages of varying orthodoxy.
Andrea Sterk and Nina Caputo
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451829
- eISBN:
- 9780801471056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451829.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This introductory chapter explains the importance of examining the work of twelve scholars, whose research about religious traditions and communities have exemplified strategies for overcoming the ...
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This introductory chapter explains the importance of examining the work of twelve scholars, whose research about religious traditions and communities have exemplified strategies for overcoming the difficulties inherent in this subfield of historical study. To facilitate discussion, the book operates on two levels. First, by incorporating widely varied case studies and approaches, it captures the unifying focus on faith as a historical force that had had consequences in the lives of individuals and in the development of communities. Second, the essays themselves are narratives that attempt to be faithful to the demands of critical analysis and sensitive to the beliefs, ideals, and struggles of their religious subjects. These studies address the challenges of integrating a scholarly engagement with religious texts, practices, people, and power into historical analysis and narrative.Less
This introductory chapter explains the importance of examining the work of twelve scholars, whose research about religious traditions and communities have exemplified strategies for overcoming the difficulties inherent in this subfield of historical study. To facilitate discussion, the book operates on two levels. First, by incorporating widely varied case studies and approaches, it captures the unifying focus on faith as a historical force that had had consequences in the lives of individuals and in the development of communities. Second, the essays themselves are narratives that attempt to be faithful to the demands of critical analysis and sensitive to the beliefs, ideals, and struggles of their religious subjects. These studies address the challenges of integrating a scholarly engagement with religious texts, practices, people, and power into historical analysis and narrative.
Mubarak A Waseem
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198870753
- eISBN:
- 9780191913365
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198870753.003.0014
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law, Comparative Law
This chapter explores, through a survey of individual Separate and Dissenting Opinions, the treatment of religious texts within the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and provides an argument for ...
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This chapter explores, through a survey of individual Separate and Dissenting Opinions, the treatment of religious texts within the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and provides an argument for their continued usage. In order to maintain its legitimacy, the ICJ is under an obligation to serve the international community and its principles, in all their variety. International law is already, at least in part, based on natural law as reflected in religious texts. The answer to the central question, whether the Court’s judges should be more willing or more hesitant to express their own identity through citing religious texts, depends on one’s view of the role of the Court. If we view the ICJ as a quasi-arbitral forum for the clinical resolution of disputes, the answer to this question is probably negative. But this chapter argues that the Court ought to be viewed as an apex forum for a truly international legal order, one that is geographically, religiously, and culturally diverse, and whose legal concepts are the result of long and storied histories, and as such, the expression of religious identity has a place in the corpus of the living law.Less
This chapter explores, through a survey of individual Separate and Dissenting Opinions, the treatment of religious texts within the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and provides an argument for their continued usage. In order to maintain its legitimacy, the ICJ is under an obligation to serve the international community and its principles, in all their variety. International law is already, at least in part, based on natural law as reflected in religious texts. The answer to the central question, whether the Court’s judges should be more willing or more hesitant to express their own identity through citing religious texts, depends on one’s view of the role of the Court. If we view the ICJ as a quasi-arbitral forum for the clinical resolution of disputes, the answer to this question is probably negative. But this chapter argues that the Court ought to be viewed as an apex forum for a truly international legal order, one that is geographically, religiously, and culturally diverse, and whose legal concepts are the result of long and storied histories, and as such, the expression of religious identity has a place in the corpus of the living law.
John D. Carlson and Jonathan H. Ebel (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520271654
- eISBN:
- 9780520951532
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520271654.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Violence has been a central feature of America's history, culture, and place in the world. It has taken many forms: from state-sponsored uses of force such as war or law enforcement, to revolution, ...
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Violence has been a central feature of America's history, culture, and place in the world. It has taken many forms: from state-sponsored uses of force such as war or law enforcement, to revolution, secession, terrorism and other actions with important political and cultural implications. Religion also holds a crucial place in the American experience of violence, particularly for those who have found order and meaning in their worlds through religious texts, symbols, rituals, and ideas. Yet too often the religious dimensions of violence, especially in the American context, are ignored or overstated—in either case, poorly understood. This book corrects these misunderstandings. Charting and interpreting the tendrils of religion and violence, this book reveals how formative moments of their intersection in American history have influenced the ideas, institutions, and identities associated with the United States. Religion and violence provide crucial yet underutilized lenses for seeing America anew—including its outlook on, and relation to, the world.Less
Violence has been a central feature of America's history, culture, and place in the world. It has taken many forms: from state-sponsored uses of force such as war or law enforcement, to revolution, secession, terrorism and other actions with important political and cultural implications. Religion also holds a crucial place in the American experience of violence, particularly for those who have found order and meaning in their worlds through religious texts, symbols, rituals, and ideas. Yet too often the religious dimensions of violence, especially in the American context, are ignored or overstated—in either case, poorly understood. This book corrects these misunderstandings. Charting and interpreting the tendrils of religion and violence, this book reveals how formative moments of their intersection in American history have influenced the ideas, institutions, and identities associated with the United States. Religion and violence provide crucial yet underutilized lenses for seeing America anew—including its outlook on, and relation to, the world.
