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14 pages, 223 KiB  
Article
Dante and the Ecclesial Paradox: Rebuke, Reverence, and Redemption
by Jonathan Farrugia
Religions 2025, 16(8), 951; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16080951 - 22 Jul 2025
Viewed by 336
Abstract
In the past hundred years, three pontiffs have written apostolic letters to commemorate anniversaries relating to Dante: in 1921, Benedict XV marked the sixth centenary of the death of the great poet; in 1965, Paul VI judged it opportune to write on the [...] Read more.
In the past hundred years, three pontiffs have written apostolic letters to commemorate anniversaries relating to Dante: in 1921, Benedict XV marked the sixth centenary of the death of the great poet; in 1965, Paul VI judged it opportune to write on the occasion of the seventh centenary of his birth; and in 2021, Pope Francis added his voice to the numerous others wishing to honour the memory of the supreme Florentine poet on the seventh centenary of his death. Each letter is a product of its time: one hundred years ago, the Pope—still confined within the Vatican and refusing to recognise the Kingdom of Italy due to the Roman Question—addressed his text “to the beloved sons, professors and pupils of literary institutes and centres of higher learning within the Catholic world”; Paul VI, in full accord with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council and its vision of a Church seeking collaboration with the world, addressed his writing to Dante scholars more broadly, and within the same letter, together with other academic authorities, established the Chair of Dante Studies at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan; Pope Francis today, in his outward-facing style of evangelisation, challenges everyone to (re)read Dante, whose teaching remains relevant seven hundred years after his death. Despite the differing political contexts and ecclesial agendas, Benedict XV, Paul VI, and Pope Francis are united on one point: Dante is a Christian poet—critical of the Church, certainly, but loyal to his faith and desirous of a religious institution that is more serious and less corrupt. This brief study presents the homage which the Church, today, seven centuries later, renders to this Poet—now widely recognised as a passionate witness of an arduous and active faith, in pursuit of justice and freedom. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Casta Meretrix: The Paradox of the Christian Church Through History)
37 pages, 5617 KiB  
Article
Signalling and Mobility: Understanding Stylistic Diversity in the Rock Art of a Great Basin Cultural Landscape
by Jo McDonald
Arts 2025, 14(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030064 - 31 May 2025
Viewed by 772
Abstract
This paper explores Great Basin arid-zone hunter–forager rock art as signalling behaviour. The rock art in Lincoln County, Nevada, is the focus, and this symbolic repertoire is analysed within its broader archaeological and ethnographic contexts. This paper mobilises an explicitly theoretical approach which [...] Read more.
This paper explores Great Basin arid-zone hunter–forager rock art as signalling behaviour. The rock art in Lincoln County, Nevada, is the focus, and this symbolic repertoire is analysed within its broader archaeological and ethnographic contexts. This paper mobilises an explicitly theoretical approach which integrates human behavioural ecology (HBE) and the precepts of information exchange theory (IET), generating assumptions about style and signalling behaviour based on hunter–forager mobility patterns. An archaeological approach is deployed to contextualise two characteristic regional motifs—the Pahranagat solid-bodied and patterned-bodied anthropomorphs. Contemporary Great Basin Native American communities see Great Basin rock writing through a shamanistic ritual explanatory framework, and these figures are understood to be a powerful spirit figure, the Water Baby, and their attendant shamans’ helpers. This analysis proposes an integrated model to understand Great Basin symbolic behaviours through the Holocene: taking a dialogical approach to travel backward from the present to meet the archaeological past. The recursive nature of rock art imagery and its iterative activation by following generations allows for multiple interpretive frameworks to explain Great Basin hunter–forager and subsequent horticulturalist signalling behaviours over the past ca. 15,000 years. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rock Art Studies)
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18 pages, 441 KiB  
Article
The Secret of Golden Flower (Jinhua Zongzhi 金華宗旨) and Zhu Yuanyu 朱元育’s Neidan Method: Centering on the Examination of the Content of Chapter Eight, “Instruction for Rambling Without Destination (Xiaoyao Jue 逍遥訣)”
by Yuria Mori
Religions 2025, 16(5), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050550 - 25 Apr 2025
Viewed by 864
Abstract
This paper re-examines the Inner Alchemy methods found in The Secret of Golden Flower, or Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi (太乙金華宗旨, abbreviated as JZ), a text created through fuji (spirit-writing) attributed to Lüzu (呂祖) in Changzhou 常州 during the late 17th century. Recent [...] Read more.
This paper re-examines the Inner Alchemy methods found in The Secret of Golden Flower, or Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi (太乙金華宗旨, abbreviated as JZ), a text created through fuji (spirit-writing) attributed to Lüzu (呂祖) in Changzhou 常州 during the late 17th century. Recent research has shown that Pan Yi’an (潘易庵), one of the primary editors of JZ, was, in fact, the same person as Pan Jingguan (潘靜觀), who assisted in the editing of Illuminating the Mystery of Concordance of the Three According to the Book of Changes (Cangtongqi chanyou, 参同契闡幽) and Illuminating the Mystery of Awakening the Perfection (Wuzhen pian chanyou, 悟真篇闡幽) as a disciple of Zhu Yuanyu (朱元育), the editor of these works. Meanwhile, in my recent research, I have reconstructed the Inner Alchemy methods described in these two works. (For the sake of convenience, in this discussion, I will refer to this system as the “Chanyou neidan method”, as both works include the term “Chanyou” in their titles.) Upon re-examining JZ with this framework in mind, I began to suspect that its content might be based on the Chanyou neidan method. This hypothesis is rendered highly plausible by the fact that Pan Yi’an, a key editor of JZ, was the same individual as Pan Jingguan, who assisted in the editing of the two Chanyou works. The aim of this paper is to analyze the similarities and differences between the content of JZ and the Chanyou neidan method, demonstrating that the former is indeed based on the latter. Furthermore, I intend to show that while JZ incorporates the Chanyou neidan method, it also simplifies its content significantly, making it a practical manual designed for literati (士大夫 shidafu) of the Qing dynasty to integrate Inner Alchemy into their daily lives. Additionally, although JZ was created through fuji (spirit-writing), I propose that fuji also functioned as a means for Qing-era literati to adapt Daoist cultivation practices to their own lifestyles. Full article
37 pages, 2012 KiB  
Article
Making Maoshan Great Again: Religious Rhetoric and Popular Mobilisation from Late Qing to Republican China (1864–1937)
by Qijun Zheng
Religions 2025, 16(1), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16010097 - 20 Jan 2025
Viewed by 5243
Abstract
This study investigates how religious rhetoric and popular mobilisation contributed to the preservation and propagation of Daoist traditions at the mountain Maoshan 茅山 from late Qing to Republican China (1864–1937), focusing particularly on the corpus of religious texts related to Maoshan and its [...] Read more.
This study investigates how religious rhetoric and popular mobilisation contributed to the preservation and propagation of Daoist traditions at the mountain Maoshan 茅山 from late Qing to Republican China (1864–1937), focusing particularly on the corpus of religious texts related to Maoshan and its tutelary gods, the Three Mao Lords 三茅真君. Through a detailed analysis of primary sources, including editions of the Maoshan Gazetteer, liturgical manuals such as the scripture (jing 經), litany (chan 懺), and performative texts such as the precious scroll (baojuan 寶卷) of the Three Mao Lords, this study identifies six key rhetoric strategies employed by Maoshan Daoists, using the acronym IMPACT: (1) Incorporation: Appending miracle tales (lingyan ji 靈驗記) and divine medicine (xianfang 仙方) to address immediate and practical needs of contemporary society; (2) Memory: Preserving doctrinal continuity while invoking cultural nostalgia to reinforce connections to traditional values and heritage; (3) Performance: Collaborating with professional storytellers to disseminate vernacularized texts through oral performances, thereby reaching broader audiences including the illiterate. (4) Abridgment: Condensing lengthy texts into concise and accessible formats; (5) Canonization: Elevating the divine status of deities through spirit-writing, thereby enhancing their religious authority; (6) Translation: Rendering classical texts into vernacular language for broader accessibility. Building upon J.L. Austin’s speech act theory, this study reconceptualizes these textual innovations as a form of “text acts”, arguing that Maoshan texts did not merely transmit religious doctrine but actively shaped pilgrimages and devotional practices through their illocutionary and perlocutionary force. Additionally, this study also highlights the crucial role of social networks, particularly the efforts of key individuals such as Zhang Hefeng 張鶴峰 (fl. 1860–1864), Long Zehou 龍澤厚 (1860–1945), Jiang Daomin 江導岷 (1867–1939), Wang Yiting 王一亭 (1867–1938) and Teng Ruizhi 滕瑞芝 (fl. 1920–1947) who facilitated the reconstruction, reprinting and dissemination of these texts. Furthermore, this study considers pilgrimages to Maoshan as a form of popular mobilisation and resistance to anti-clerical and anti-superstition campaigns, illustrating how, against all odds, Maoshan emerged as a site where religious devotion and economic activity coalesced to sustain the local communities. Ultimately, despite the challenges identified in applying speech act theory to textual practices, the findings conclude that the survival and revival of Daoist traditions at Maoshan was not only a result of textual retention and innovation but also a testament to how religious rhetoric, when coupled with strategic social engagement, can fuel popular mobilisation, reignite collective devotion, and reshape cultural landscapes in transformative ways. Full article
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21 pages, 319 KiB  
Article
Wittgenstein’s Mysticism(s)
by Rodrigo César Castro Lima
Religions 2024, 15(12), 1460; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15121460 - 29 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1347
Abstract
I will argue that the examination regarding the topic of mysticism should play a much bigger role when it comes to the ensemble of Wittgenstein’s writings. In this sense, while drawing upon previous analyses, I will make the case that the Tractarian mystical [...] Read more.
I will argue that the examination regarding the topic of mysticism should play a much bigger role when it comes to the ensemble of Wittgenstein’s writings. In this sense, while drawing upon previous analyses, I will make the case that the Tractarian mystical spirit still animates other works by the author such as his Lectures on Ethics and the Philosophical Investigations. Then, I will propose that the unity of this mysticism lies in the sui generis discovery (or shock) that the world exists; however, as his work progresses, different strategies will be employed to convey this type of message—and they shall vary from the attempt of putting such a perspective into words until the full annihilation of the mere possibility in this regard. Hence, there would be one fundamental underlying type of mysticism in Wittgenstein’s proposals, but the unveiling of such a mystical insight will demand different forms of exposition and understanding. Full article
15 pages, 265 KiB  
Article
Mass Observation, Counterculture and the ‘Art of Living’
by Jill Marsden and Rebecca Harris
Humanities 2024, 13(6), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060161 - 21 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1241
Abstract
Mass Observation was the most ambitious and controversial investigation into cultural life in Britain in the twentieth century. Buoyed by a democratic spirit yet riven by eclectic intellectual allegiances, the project, in its inception, revelled in contradictions, many of which have endured in [...] Read more.
Mass Observation was the most ambitious and controversial investigation into cultural life in Britain in the twentieth century. Buoyed by a democratic spirit yet riven by eclectic intellectual allegiances, the project, in its inception, revelled in contradictions, many of which have endured in its legacy. This paper revisits the early countercultural aspirations of Mass Observation in order to reflect on the significance of these contradictions for the fate of popular writing. It is argued that the tensions between art, philosophy and science, as articulated in the inaugural statements of Mass Observation, are illuminated by the anti-elitist agenda of the founders. Building on these insights, the paper revisits controversies in the use of Mass Observation data for research and calls upon the findings from a recent recreation of Mass Observation Diary Day (12 May 2024) to argue that Mass Observation’s ‘science of ourselves’ be reconsidered as creative cultural production and a contribution to the ‘art of living’. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Transdisciplinary Humanities)
30 pages, 678 KiB  
Article
Divine Medicine: Healing and Charity Through Spirit-Writing in China
by Qijun Zheng
Religions 2024, 15(11), 1303; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15111303 - 24 Oct 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4741
Abstract
This study traces the evolution of religious healing practices associated with divine presence in China, from pre-modern traditions to the modern use of spirit-writing for obtaining divine prescriptions. It examines the continuity and transformation of these practices from the late imperial period to [...] Read more.
This study traces the evolution of religious healing practices associated with divine presence in China, from pre-modern traditions to the modern use of spirit-writing for obtaining divine prescriptions. It examines the continuity and transformation of these practices from the late imperial period to contemporary times. It argues that healing through divine prescriptions obtained via spirit-writing challenges the perceived dichotomy between religion and science, demonstrating that they have complementary roles, rather than being strictly opposing categories. For members of Jishenghui 濟生會, a lay Buddhist charity devoted to the Buddhist god Jigong 濟公 in Republican China, religion and scientific medical practice were integrated as complementary elements of daily life, combining doctrinal beliefs, ritual practices, and moral self-cultivation. This study examines how Jishenghui used spirit-writing to obtain and distribute divine prescriptions and medicines, demonstrating that the organization’s philanthropic activities and social standing were enhanced by the integration of religious beliefs with medical and charitable practices during the Republican period. This study bridges existing research on the histories of spirit-writing and Chinese medicine, and the distinctions made between “Buddhist medicine” and “Daoist medicine”. The article contends that, for ordinary people, no strict distinction existed between Buddhist and Daoist healing practices; instead, a shared religious culture regarding illness and healing was predominant. By contextualizing key analytical concepts such as “divine medicine”, especially “divine prescriptions” (jifang 乩方 and xianfang 仙方) within the broader history of Chinese medicine and religious practices, this article demonstrates the social significance of spirit-writing as a ritual technique to provide healing and charity by lay Buddhists in Republican China, and its enduring relevance in contemporary Chinese societies. Full article
9 pages, 594 KiB  
Article
God as Male–Female: Priscillian, Prophecy, and the Witness of Irenaeus and Marius Victorinus
by Constant J. Mews
Religions 2024, 15(9), 1144; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091144 - 23 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1257
Abstract
This paper examines a comment by Priscillian (d. c. 385) in his Liber apologeticus that certain people erroneously applied to God the unusual Latin neologism, masculofemina. He contrasts their perspective with scriptural teaching about the Holy Spirit being poured out on both [...] Read more.
This paper examines a comment by Priscillian (d. c. 385) in his Liber apologeticus that certain people erroneously applied to God the unusual Latin neologism, masculofemina. He contrasts their perspective with scriptural teaching about the Holy Spirit being poured out on both men and women. This raises two questions, namely, how Priscillian’s comment relates to accusations he faced of encouraging dangerous intimacy between men and women and the source of his information about their teaching. This paper argues that the central thrust of Priscillian’s teaching is around the notion that the spirit of prophecy was manifested in both sexes, but that he distinguished his teaching from that of Valentinian gnostics to defend his own orthodoxy. It argues that Priscillian acquired this teaching about God as masculofemina from the translation into Latin of the Aduersus haereses of Irenaeus of Lyons (d. c. 202). The term also occurs within the writing of Marius Victorinus (c. 359–61) in defense of Catholic Christianity. Priscillian drew on Irenaeus to defend the orthodoxy of his notion that the gift of prophecy was given to both men and women. Full article
11 pages, 230 KiB  
Article
Aesthetics of Care: Caring for the Mother with Chantal Akerman
by Tingting Hui
Humanities 2024, 13(3), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13030079 - 22 May 2024
Viewed by 1354
Abstract
Caring for the other is an ethical as well as an aesthetic question: but where does one end and where does the other begin? Rita Charon, in her work Narrative Medicine (2006), builds a strong case against such separation in medical care, or [...] Read more.
Caring for the other is an ethical as well as an aesthetic question: but where does one end and where does the other begin? Rita Charon, in her work Narrative Medicine (2006), builds a strong case against such separation in medical care, or more precisely, against the negligence of what she calls “narrative competence”—defined as the ability to absorb, interpret, and translate stories of others. Charon compares the work of health professionals to that of a skilled translator, who reads not only words but also silences and metaphors. While Charon focuses primarily on developing the concept of care as aesthetic experience for health professionals, Yuriko Saito’s recent publication Aesthetics of Care (2022) draws a parallel between care ethics in general and aesthetic experience. Both, according to Saito, share the same attitudes such as open-mindedness, receptivity, respect, and collaborative spirit. In this paper, I will discuss the concept of care in Belgian film director Chantal Akerman’s later works: My Mother Laughs (2019) and No Home Movie (2015). Through different media—the former being a memoir and the latter a documentary—Akerman cares for her mother and bears witness to the end of her mother’s life. Taking cues from Charon and Saito, I argue that both media are media of care: they are aesthetic means of bearing witness to illness, trauma, love, and care. Especially through filmmaking, Akerman seems to have achieved the impossible: that is, the desire of the daughter not to take her eyes off her dying mother and look at her eternally. Such desire is also expressed in her film aesthetics: the long take inscribes a waiting becoming infinite; it is as if the movie, or the motion picture, is exposed to both a slow death and a passage to eternity. At the same time, unlike Charon and Saito, who position the carer as an ideal reader and viewer, I argue that Akerman as the carer is by no means perfect: her memoir offers a detailed account of her need to keep a distance and hide from her mother, and of her mother’s complaint about Akerman not sharing her life with her. Distance is what Akerman struggles with regarding her relation to her mother, and she struggles with it through writing and filming. In Akerman’s case, the ability to achieve the impossible with aesthetic media lies precisely in mediation and mediality: they enable a relation of care that is close, yet still maintains a safe distance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Medicine)
18 pages, 331 KiB  
Article
A Trinitarian Ascent: How Augustine’s Sermons on the Psalms of Ascent Transform the Ascent Tradition
by Mark J. Boone
Religions 2024, 15(5), 586; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050586 - 10 May 2024
Viewed by 1816
Abstract
Augustine’s sermons on the Psalms of Ascent, part of the Enarrationes in Psalmos, are a unique entry in the venerable tradition of those writings that aim to help us ascend to a higher reality. These sermons transform the ascent genre by giving, [...] Read more.
Augustine’s sermons on the Psalms of Ascent, part of the Enarrationes in Psalmos, are a unique entry in the venerable tradition of those writings that aim to help us ascend to a higher reality. These sermons transform the ascent genre by giving, in the place of the Platonic account of ascent, a Christian ascent narrative with a Trinitarian structure. Not just the individual ascends, but the community that is the church, the body of Christ, also ascends. The ascent is up to God, the Idipsum or the Selfsame, the ultimate reality, confessed by the church as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Through the grace of the Incarnation, God the Son enables us to ascend, making himself the way of ascent from the humility we must imitate at the beginning of the ascent all the way up to Heaven, where he retains his identity as Idipsum. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit works in the ascending church to convert our hearts to the love of God and neighbor. I review the Platonic ascent tradition in Plato’s Republic and Plotinus’ Enneads; overview ascent in some of Augustine’s earlier writings; introduce the narrative setting of the sermons on the Psalms of Ascent; and analyze the Trinitarian structure of their ascent narrative. I close with some reflections on the difference between a preached Trinitarianism that encourages ascent and a more academic effort to understand God such as we find in Augustine’s de Trinitate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Augustine’s Concept of God and His Trinitarian Thought)
11 pages, 218 KiB  
Article
Theurgy, Paredroi, and Embodied Power in Neoplatonism and Late Antique Celestial Hierarchies
by Katarina Pejovic
Religions 2024, 15(3), 300; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15030300 - 28 Feb 2024
Viewed by 2327
Abstract
This article will place the rituals of the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) for the acquisition of a supernatural assistant (paredros) into conversation with broader late antique debates surrounding the place of daimones within the celestial hierarchy. In considering the writings of Plotinus, Plutarch, [...] Read more.
This article will place the rituals of the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) for the acquisition of a supernatural assistant (paredros) into conversation with broader late antique debates surrounding the place of daimones within the celestial hierarchy. In considering the writings of Plotinus, Plutarch, Porphyry, and Iamblichus, it will survey points of contention surrounding questions of appropriate and inappropriate displays of ritual power, as facilitated by intermediary spirits who act as intercessors between humanity and the divine. Through analyzing the metaphysical underpinnings of the nature of the paredros, as variously articulated within the rituals for their conjuration within the Greek Magical Papyri, it will contextualize the aims of the ritualist against the backdrop of Iamblichus’ theurgy in pursuit of mastery of—and intimate, transcendent communion with—the fundamental numinous nature of the world. In doing so, this article argues that Iamblichus’ theurgy and the paredros rituals of the PGM ultimately grasp towards similar soteriological goals using different ritual methodologies; both seeking to elevate the incarnated body of the ritualist into a higher level of spiritual attainment through direct confrontation with the powers of nature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Platonic Tradition, Nature Spirituality and the Environment)
16 pages, 254 KiB  
Article
Dissembling Bodily and Literary Wholeness: Centering the Spirit in Disability Studies through Black Women’s Writing
by Anna Hinton
Religions 2024, 15(2), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020193 - 4 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1389
Abstract
In this article, I analyze Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day and Erna Brodber’s Myal in order to demonstrate that African-derived spiritual systems are central in Black women’s fictional depictions and theorizing of healing and disability. I argue that the violence of what Moya Bailey [...] Read more.
In this article, I analyze Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day and Erna Brodber’s Myal in order to demonstrate that African-derived spiritual systems are central in Black women’s fictional depictions and theorizing of healing and disability. I argue that the violence of what Moya Bailey terms misogynoir is writ on Black women’s body, mind, and spirit—the latter of which is absent in disability studies frameworks yet central to healing and liberation in this literature. These writings present a syncretized spirituality drawn from African Diasporic, African Indigenous, and Indigenous American religious beliefs that have a more capacious understanding of wholeness and wellness to reimagine healing in ways that make space for a diversity of bodymindspirits. Black spiritual practice enables self-love and acceptance of disabled Black womanhood, and the Word, Nommo, bestows spiritual healing power. Full article
15 pages, 1288 KiB  
Article
The Way to Achieve “This Culture of Ours”: An Investigation Based on the Viewpoints of Pre-Qin Confucianism and Song Confucianism
by Xin Lyu
Religions 2023, 14(12), 1480; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121480 - 29 Nov 2023
Viewed by 2231
Abstract
The concept of wen 文 has multiple meanings, but it plays an exceptionally important role in the development of Confucianism and Chinese philosophical terms. Pre-Qin Confucianism 先秦儒学 and Song Confucianism (Song dynasty Neo-Confucians 宋代儒学/宋代新儒家) are two important representatives in the history of Confucianism. [...] Read more.
The concept of wen 文 has multiple meanings, but it plays an exceptionally important role in the development of Confucianism and Chinese philosophical terms. Pre-Qin Confucianism 先秦儒学 and Song Confucianism (Song dynasty Neo-Confucians 宋代儒学/宋代新儒家) are two important representatives in the history of Confucianism. Confucius has insisted that although the heaven is not going to destroy wen, wen must exist in everyone’s xing 性, and only when placed within a community can it develop. In Pre-Qin Confucianism, wen completed the transformation from the long established social political structure of the Zhou dynasty and its corresponding moral principles to the consciousness of consummate conduct and ritual propriety based on human instinct and humanistic rationality. Song dynasty Neo-Confucians inherited this Confucian mission and developed the spirit of wen in their period. They emphasized the necessity of learning classics and then writing articles to get closer to the heart-mind of sages and then to build a cultural community together. Both Pre-Qin Confucianism and Song Confucianism have been applying their viewpoints to achieve a community, which is “this culture of ours” 斯文. Full article
15 pages, 376 KiB  
Article
The Usually Invisible, Occasionally Visible, Spirits of the Dead in Early Twentieth-Century Sámi Folklore
by Thomas A. DuBois
Humanities 2023, 12(5), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/h12050094 - 7 Sep 2023
Viewed by 3037
Abstract
Turn-of-twentieth-century Sámi concepts of spirits of the dead are presented along with accounts of those exceptional individuals able to see, hear, interact with, and sometimes control them, particularly persons termed noaideslágáš, i.e., skilled in noaidi arts. Examples and analysis are drawn from [...] Read more.
Turn-of-twentieth-century Sámi concepts of spirits of the dead are presented along with accounts of those exceptional individuals able to see, hear, interact with, and sometimes control them, particularly persons termed noaideslágáš, i.e., skilled in noaidi arts. Examples and analysis are drawn from the writings of Sámi author and scholar Johan Turi (1854–1936), contemporaneous accounts recorded by Norwegian folklorist Just Qvigstad (1853–1957), the fieldwork of Sámi legislator, educator, and folklore collector Isak Saba (1875–1921), and an 1886 anthology of Aanaar (Inari) Sámi folklore. Described with varying names and sometimes contradicting accounts, the spirits of the dead in Sámi culture during the early twentieth century could be used to protect or enhance the fortunes of the living, but could also play roles in situations of disease, misfortune, and interpersonal conflict. The various narratives recorded in the period reflect a complex fusion of Indigenous Sámi traditions with ideas stemming from various Christian denominations and the belief legends of non-Sámi neighbors in the Finnish, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish sides of Sápmi—the Sámi homeland. Spirits of the dead figure as potent, expectable, but sometimes unpredictable elements of daily life—beings that could help or harm, depending on how they were dealt with by those with whom they came in contact and those who could wield power over them, particularly noaiddit, Sámi ritual and healing specialists. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seen and Unseen: The Folklore of Secrecy)
15 pages, 272 KiB  
Article
Spirit, Word and Love: Insights of Pietro Rossano towards a Mystical Theology of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue
by Giulio Osto
Religions 2023, 14(5), 635; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050635 - 9 May 2023
Viewed by 1619
Abstract
Pietro Rossano was an important protagonist of interreligious dialogue in the 20th century, serving for more than twenty years in the Vatican office in charge of this field. His experience and writings show how dialogue has many anthropological and theological dimensions and, because [...] Read more.
Pietro Rossano was an important protagonist of interreligious dialogue in the 20th century, serving for more than twenty years in the Vatican office in charge of this field. His experience and writings show how dialogue has many anthropological and theological dimensions and, because we are talking about an event between religious people, dialogue also has a mystical dimension. Rossano was very involved in the dialogue with Muslims, both in the theoretical study and in some meetings, like the one in Tripoli in 1976 and others. Spirit, Word and Love can be seen as the three keys to interpreting Rossano’s testimony in relation to the Bible, to dialogical thought—in particular, Ferdinand Ebner—and to the Christian theology of dialogue. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mystical Theology and Muslim-Christian Dialogue—2nd Edition)
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