History of Religion

In this essay, we collected and analyzed evidence from Cologne, where there was no strong rabbinic academy during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, in order to show some features that we associate with lay leadership and the differences between lay leadership and rabbinic scholars who led communities. This will be achieved by contrasting the lay leadership with the more prominent form of decision making in medieval Ashkenaz— namely, the scholarly leadership documented in halakhic literature, which is our main, and often only, source of information. Texts composed by the rabbinic elite have been scrutinized for information on those “beyond the elite,” such as women, the poor, and the sick; thus we seek to extract from rabbinic texts traces of a lay leader-ship, a presence that, since it did not actively contribute texts, has remain silenced behind the literate culture associated with the rabbinic academies of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz (collectively referred to by the acronym ShUM)

Drawing on research funded by the European Commission, this book explores how religious diversity has been, and continues to be, represented in cultural contexts in Western Europe, particularly to teenagers: in textbooks, museums and exhibitions, popular youth culture including TV and online, as well as in political speech.

Topics include the findings from focus group interviews with teenagers in schools across Europe, the representation of minority religions in museums, migration and youth subculture.

The precession has its cause in the gyroscopic movement of Earth's axis, which has an enormous influence on human temporal orientation since ancient times. This very slow movement is noticeable by several essential effects: The change of the star at the celestial pole due to the gyration of Earth's axis and the shift of the constellations at the equinoxes and solstices, caused by the difference between the tropical and sidereal year. Usually the discovery of precession is attributed to Hipparchus, who, like Ptolemy misjudged its rate, although both had much more accurate data available. In addition, there is strong evidence that another effect of the precession, namely the difference between the tropical and sidereal year, was recognized by the Babylonian astronomer Kidinnu even before Hipparchus. Numerous descriptions of the earlier functions of polar stars and constellations as seasonal vertices have been handed down to us in myths and religious symbols. The lecture also deals with the ages and in particular with the difference between the ages caused by precession and the Platonic year, which is actually based on the Great Year of which Plato wrote and which is triggered by the course of the planets. An intriguing question is how the rate of precession was estimated by different scholars. Finally, the influence of the vernal equinox constellations on the yearly count is explained in more detail.

In this chapter, I explore the tension present in these two very different understandings of politics and the selection of leaders in contemporary India, namely competing notions of democratic and divine election. While some might draw the distinction between the two forms as struggle of a modern, rational political system versus a traditional religious worldview, I argue that the overlap between the two ways of viewing election is based on the development of political theologies in the early modern period in which sovereignty itself was reconceptualized in the transition from kingdoms to princely states under British control.

THE NEPHILIM, KINGS OF AN EPIC AGE, is a pioneering work tracking down the story of the enigmatic scions of the gods or Nephilim in ancient Middle Eastern tradition. Commencing with the most ancient strata of traditions of Sumer and Egypt, the focus falls on the earliest known and perhaps greatest of heroic ages, the Epic Age of great Sumerian kings like Gilgamesh and mighty Akkadian god-kings who ruled over the ends of the known world. Their epic traditions, which include some of the greatest legends and myths our world has seen, are brought to life in an unprecedented way.

THE NEPHILIM also explores their secret doctrine. Although many authors have written about the strange world of the ancients, this work explores the secrets and enigmas specifically associated with the Sumerians and the Akkadians, something that has never been done before. The author’s newly published chronology for the ancient Middle Eastern world, dramatically confirmed by the recent discovery of an important cuneiform text, is utilised to shed new light on many gaps in our knowledge and to unlock those mysteries.

Also investigated and studied is the relationship between the Sumero-Akkadian and the Israelite, Persian, Indian and Egyptian traditions as well as the history of religion. Readers intrigued by the ancient world and all its marvels will find this work truly fascinating and absolutely worth the read.

Review Essay of Religion and European Philosophy: Key Thinkers from Kant to Žižek. The author argues that European Continental philosophers have a problem with “religion”: they repeatably try to surpass, use, or transform religion to define the proper ends of philosophy but rarely stop to question the predominately Christian or theological assumptions that inform their parochial ideas about the category.

When dealing with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal and with the building of anti-Jesuitism in the eighteenth century, historians usually focus on their alleged involvement in the attempt to murder king Dom José I and on the complex economical questions related with the foundation of the state trade company in Brazil. However, the Pombaline accusation of obscurantism and scientific illiteracy also played a central role in the history of anti-Jesuitism in Portugal, mainly due to its wide acceptance and longevity. This argument was not only directly relevant for the expulsion of the Jesuits in the eighteenth century but it was also a keystone of the anti-Jesuit propaganda that eventually led to the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Portugal in the twentieth century.

Haniflik kavrami; cogu Musluman âlim tarafindan Islam oncesi doneme kadar genelde Arap yarimadasinda varligini surduren Hz. Ibrahim’in Tevhid Dini olarak kabul edilir. Bu makalede psiko-tarih / psiko-biyografi ve dilbilimsel cozumlemeler yaparak, Hanifligin bir dinin adi olmayip, bir sifat oldugu tezi ileri surulmektedir. Hanifligi psikolojik acidan elealan bu teze gore, Haniflik bir din olmaktan ziyade, bedensel/zihinsel/ duygusal/sosyal ve spirituel anlamda buyumekte olan bir bireyin dine yonelik tutumudur. Kavram aslinda psikolojik bir haleti ruhiyeye isaret etmektedir. Haniflikte dini bir anlamdan ziyade, psiko-sosyal bir baglam on plandadir. Gerek kavramin etimolojisi, gerek Hz. Ibrahim’in hayati, gerekse Kur’ân-i Kerim deki kullanimi dikkate alindiginda, Hanifligin  manevi /dini gelisimde bir  asama, modern psikolojinin vurguladigi ergenlik ruhunu yansitan bir gelisimsel donum noktasi , bir moratoryum durumu ve bir kimlik arayis ve insa sureci oldugu gorulur.

Silvia Beltramo, Medieval abbeys and Foglianti: construction sites in Staffarda and Novalesa


Many of Piedmont’s most important medieval religious buildings have been restored in modern times, and this has significantly modified parts of the monasteries. Many of these, originally built to house monastic communities, were chosen for the settlement of new congregations, such as the Foglianti monks. The pre-existence of the church and the parts of the building reserved for the monks ensured that the main liturgical and cenobitic activities could be carried out right from the start, even after considerable reconstruction and restoration work. An important milestone was marked at the beginning of the 18th century with the policy implemented by Vittorio Amedeo II and with the opening of architectural sites of central importance, led by a group of technicians which included Tommaso Sevalle, Giovan Giulio Bertola and Carlo Gerolamo Re, under the direction of Antonio Bertola. This essay focuses on two of these buildings, the abbeys of Staffarda and Novalesa.

The Ismaili Shiʿi Muslims of Central Asia have had a long and eventful history. This book presents a brief survey of their history and heritage and disucsses how they have been understood in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet academic literature.

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, sobriety movements have flourished in America during periods of social and economic crisis. From the boisterous working-class temperance meetings of the 1840s to the quiet beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1930s, alcoholics have banded together for mutual support. Each time they have developed new ways of telling their stories, and in the process they have shaped how Americans think about addiction, the self, and society. In this book Eoin Cannon illuminates the role that sobriety movements have played in placing notions of personal and societal redemption at the heart of modern American culture. He argues against the dominant scholarly perception that recovery narratives are private and apolitical, showing that in fact the genre's conventions turn private experience to public political purpose. His analysis ranges from neglected social reformer Helen Stuart Campbell's embrace of the "gospel rescue missions" of postbellum New York City to William James's use of recovery stories to consider the regenerative capabilities of the mind, to writers such as Upton Sinclair and Djuna Barnes, who used this narrative form in much different ways. Cannon argues that rather than isolating recovery from these realms of wider application, the New Deal - era Alcoholics Anonymous refitted the "drunkard's conversion" as a model of selfhood for the liberal era, allowing for a spiritual redemption story that could accommodate a variety of identities and compulsions. He concludes by considering how contemporary recovery narratives represent both a crisis in liberal democracy and a potential for redemptive social progress.

Dieser Beitrag „beschaftigt sich nicht mit den Erscheinungsformen der nationalsozialistischen Asthetik, sondern mit den Wunschen und Motiven, die sich in ihr artikulierten. Im Vordergrund stehen zwei Thesen: (1) Der Nationalsozialismus wurde aus einer Folge von Erlosungswunschen konstruiert, fur die er eine symbolische Losung formulierte, die ihren Ausdruck in der Asthetik fand, die aber auch ins soziale Handeln einging; (2) bei der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung handelte es sich um eine moderne, sakulare Variante des aktivistischen, Sozialrevolutionaren Chiliasmus.“ Zunachst gehen die Autoren auf den Chiliasmus ein. Anschliesend werden „einige Komplexe jener Erlosungswunsche umrissen […], die der Nationalsozialismus aufgriff und ansprach und die er fur sich mobilisieren konnte; aus diesen Erlosungswunschen ergibt sich die Gestalt des nationalsozialistischen Millenniums als handlungsleitendem Zukunftsentwurf“ erortert. Abschliesend konstatieren die Autoren: „Das nationalsozi...

Asatrú as a religious movement in Scandinavia, particularly in Iceland, shows a continuing line of dialogue dating back at least to the 16th Century. At its core, the practice of Asatrú and its place within society reflects the push towards creating a model of the “ideal Scandinavian”. The very act of promoting this mythology of larger-than-life role models also reflects what is valued by the society. Examining how this religion is used as a tool for group cohesion further reveals such things as what other cultures are seen to represent, and what is important when defining such terms as “strength,” “citizen,” and “sacred.”