One of the most pressing concerns for contemporary society is the issue of violence and the factors that promote it. In ____Altared Ground: Levinas, History and Violence__ Brian Schroeder stages an engagement between Emmanuel Levinas, one of the leading figures in 20th century Continental philosophy, and Plato, Hegel, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida and others in the history of ideas. Not merely an exposition of Levinas' original and complex thinking, Brian Schroeder seeks to re-read the history of Western philosophy and religion (...) by going beyond Levinas' alternatives to traditional theories of the self in order to suggest a notion of subjectivity that is not grounded in violence. (shrink)

This essay is an attempt to think through some of the problems of idolatry and sacrifice for the early modern period and more generally, for the constitution of religious and political community. In particular, it argues that the altars of the idols condensed two problems: first, the problem of communion, and specifically the Protestant ability to communicate with God; and second, the problem of distinction. At a time when the nature of the religious polity was in question, the analysis (...) of idolatry and sacrifice produced a conceptual structure for understanding, in anthropological fashion, the very constitution of religious and political community. In fact, this essay will suggest, this structure lives on, alive and well, among modern theorists seeking to diagnose the ailments of modernity. (shrink)

Santa Julia, en la Ciudad de México, surgió a principios del siglo XX como un fraccionamiento dirigido a la población de escasos recursos económicos. En el pasado adquirió fama por ser el lugar donde vivió y fue aprehendido uno de los bandidos más renombrados del porfiriato: “El Tigre de Santa Julia”. Este hecho lo llevó a ser considerado como “barrio bravo”. En contrapartida, el fervor religioso de la población que ahí habita, los lleva a manifestarse a través de altares callejeros (...) que en la actualidad son tradición, así como referentes urbano-arquitectónicos importantes del paisaje identitario de esta zona. (shrink)

Explores the strategies of design, contrast, and resonance in the works of Hezel, Heidegger, Bataille, Blanchot, Derrida, and Kierkegaard The history of society and culture is, in large measure, a history of the struggle with the endlessly ...

This article analyses the role of sacred and religious art in Amazonia in the context of the catholic renovation movement of the 19th century, known as Catholic Reform. For that, it takes the order of the main altar of Our Lady of Belém by Pará’s Bishop Antônio de Macedo Costa to Italian architect Luca Carimini as its study object. This piece, along with others made throughout the period of Pio IX’s pontificate, constitutes an iconological programme as well as an artistic (...) and sacred narrative body, which testify to the pedagogical and political debates on the history of Roman Catholicism in Brazil in the 19th century. Besides that, it moves artists that acted under the patronage of Pope Pius IX in Latin American cities such as Santiago, in Chile, and Belém do Pará, in Brazil, putting in evidence the artistic, intellectual and religious connections between the Vatican and South America, as part of an international renewal movement of Catholicism. (shrink)

The “Trypillian altars” are important and diverse group of Eneolithic religious objects discovered by archaeological science during the last century in the vast territory of the Cucuteni-Trypillian cultural community. To date there has been a considerable accumulation of information which is in need of a proper systematization and religious understanding of this phenomenon. Trypillian altars, as elements of the Trypillian religious system, have so far remained outside the scope of comprehensive study. However, they are undoubtedly of great importance (...) as a source of information on the ritual and mythological system not only of the Cucuteni-Trypillian community, but of prehistoric societies in general. The altars discovered in Ukraine during the excavations of the Nebelivka Temple (Trypillian culture) in Kirovohrad region of Ukraine are of particular importance for the study, as they are among the largest temple altars of their time in the entire oikonomia of the ancient world, and their design and iconography are well preserved. These sacred objects are also the earliest type of altars in world history that were part of the celebration of archaic temple rites (approximately 4000-3900 BC). The paper deals with typological, iconographic, chronological and ideological questions concerning Trypillian altars from the territory of modern Ukraine, Romania and Hungary. The function of altars in places of worship—sanctuaries and temples of the Trypillians, as well as in domestic and public spaces—is of particular interest. As a result, the religious and social function of the “Trypillian altars” is revealed by the author of the paper. (shrink)

In later antiquity few monuments at Athens had such a great reputation as what the Athenians called with pride the Altar of Eleos or Pity, the suppliants' altar. Philostratos links it in fame with Olympia and Delphi. The Athenians pay homage to Eleos along with Athena Polias, says Sopatros. ‘You have an Altar of Eleos’, says Apsines to the Athenians; ‘…for this you have a great reputation amongst all other men.’.

With a profound cultural crystalization, China was one of the first countries to brew wine in the world. As a Cultural carrier, wine ever performed the functions of religion, literature, art, and entertainment. To have a deep understanding of Chinese extensive and profound culture, it is necessary to pore over Chinese ancient wine’s various functions.

The topic of this article is religious materiality in a Finnish, Lutheran setting. Reflecting on the altar cross of the Luther Church Helsinki – and more specifically the elevated role the cross played in the re-opening of the church in 2016 – the article supports the argument of recent scholars that Protestant engagement with materiality is not unambiguously negative but rather ambivalent. Using James Bielo’s concept of “legitimizing frames” – i.e. boundaries or landmarks within which Protestants feel safe enough to (...) deal with things and objects – the article suggests a so-called heritagization frame. Objects or things used within such a frame induce in people a sense of past events and experiences – preferably events in which God has made himself known in this world. This, in turn, enables people’s engagement with the objects. (shrink)

La narración de la etiología del altar de Júpiter Pistor asume el surgimiento de ese sitio cultual como retribución al dios por ayudar a los romanos ante el asedio galo. Roma es presentada como vencida y la construcción de esta derrota se vincula estrechamente con el tratamiento del espacio a lo largo del relato. Asimismo, dicha configuración espacial muestra una singular inclusión de escenarios épicos. Demostraremos que, al alejarse de los elementos y tópicos propios de la epopeya y acercarse al (...) ámbito de la elegía, este relato ovidiano deja ver los mecanismos genéricos del mismo poema. (shrink)

La narración de la etiología del altar de Júpiter Pistor asume el surgimiento de ese sitio cultual como retribución al dios por ayudar a los romanos ante el asedio galo. Roma es presentada como vencida y la construcción de esta derrota se vincula estrechamente con el tratamiento del espacio a lo largo del relato. Asimismo, dicha configuración espacial muestra una singular inclusión de escenarios épicos. Demostraremos que, al alejarse de los elementos y tópicos propios de la epopeya y acercarse al (...) ámbito de la elegía, este relato ovidiano deja ver los mecanismos genéricos del mismo poema. (shrink)

A. W. Verrall considers rightly that the scene at Thebaid I 2. 481 ff. is ‘the cardinal point of the whole poem’. I hope to show that Statius has portrayed the goddess Clementia as a force which functions in a way very different from that which his readers would expect from their experience of the usage of the word clementia and that his new portrayal is closely related to a theme of the poem. I shall suggest that his redefinition of (...) the concept was inspired by the political situation in which he found himself. The Altar of Mercy focuses Statius' thoughts on the position of man in the universe and of the individual in society, and coming as it does after eleven books of disaster offers some comfort to man in his suffering. Statius is concerned in the Thebaid with man as a tragic victim, and the Altar of Mercy affords him comfort precisely in that area in which he most seeks it. (shrink)

A. W. Verrall considers rightly that the scene at Thebaid I 2. 481 ff. is ‘the cardinal point of the whole poem’. I hope to show that Statius has portrayed the goddess Clementia as a force which functions in a way very different from that which his readers would expect from their experience of the usage of the word clementia and that his new portrayal is closely related to a theme of the poem. I shall suggest that his redefinition of (...) the concept was inspired by the political situation in which he found himself. The Altar of Mercy focuses Statius' thoughts on the position of man in the universe and of the individual in society, and coming as it does after eleven books of disaster offers some comfort to man in his suffering. Statius is concerned in the Thebaid with man as a tragic victim, and the Altar of Mercy affords him comfort precisely in that area in which he most seeks it. (shrink)

Flowers are placed on the altar in many Christian churches. However, while many other items on the altar have given rise to a vast body of theological research, this is not the case with altar flowers. In this article the author makes a constructive contribution to the theology of altar flowers and looks at the contexts in which altar flowers are imagined and how these can help to illustrate theological elements. Two initial contexts for altar flowers are assumed: the liturgical (...) and the extra-liturgical, suggesting that altar flowers hold particular meanings both for those who know the Christian story, and equally for those who do not. It is suggested that a role which seems merely decorative is not that after all, as deeper Christian meanings can be offered in both contexts. Moreover, altar flowers as objects of nature have the capacity to speak to new groups of people on urgent contemporary themes. Finally, it is suggested that altar flowers may also bridge a divide between the secular and sacred. Apart from contributing to the construction of a theology of altar flowers, a deeper understanding of the intersections of aesthetics, faith and reason is sought. (shrink)

Cette étude constitue la première publication complète de tous les éléments associés à l’autel des Césars au cœur de l’agora de Thasos : les vestiges architecturaux, la dédicace à Lucius César et la tête sculptée mises au jour lors de la fouille du monument. L’identification de l’édifice à un autel est désormais assurée et l’appartenance du bloc inscrit à ce dernier confirmée. La présence d’une seconde dédicace, vraisemblablement à Caius César, est rendue très probable par la structure du monument, dont (...) une restitution est proposée pour la première fois. L’association à la construction de l’autel des deux soubassements de bases qui le flanquent à l’Est est démontrée, ce qui conforte l’identification de la tête à l’un des deux princes de la jeunesse, dans lequel il faut reconnaître Caius plutôt que Lucius. Ces nouveaux éléments permettent de dater précisément le monument entre 4 et 6 apr. J.‑C. et de lui donner sa juste place dans l’histoire des relations entre Thasos et la famille impériale. (shrink)

This article explores questions about chatbots in particular and artificial intelligence (AI) in general from a Pauline, that is, a Christian theological perspective. It does so in a way that focuses on a particular scene in the New Testament: Paul in the Athenian Areopagus, considering an altar to an “unknown God,” quoting Greek poets and philosophers, and sharing curious theology as he dialogues with Stoic and Epicurean thinkers (Acts 17:16–34). By examining the sociohistorical nuances of this scene and their philosophical (...) and theological implications, this article shows how the altar Paul considers philosophically and theologically becomes the focal point for an important dialogue about apocalyptic ends, or ideas about who we are, where we are going, and who or what is responsible for that who‐ness and where‐ness. In turn, this can teach us how to ask practical questions, which can uncover the unsuspected apocalyptic ends represented by, or even contained within, common technological objects such as chatbots. (shrink)

A comparison between Eliade and Deleuze would seem at the first sight a lost cause. But, if we look more carefully, we can notice that the ontology, alterity and difference alike represent subjects for the history of religions and the post-modern speech.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture eds. by Juan M. Floyd-Thomas, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, and Mark G. ToulouseMichael R. Fisher Jr.The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture Juan M. Floyd-Thomas, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, and Mark G. Toulouse LOUISVILLE: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX PRESS, 2016. 250 pp. $25.00The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture (...) is notable for interested readers of religion and contemporary popular culture. The authors expand scholarly understandings of religion and the sacred, but [End Page 194] more important, the spaces where they appear in society by providing analysis of the religious nature of six aspects of American culture. These "meaning-making" aspects of popular culture function as "altars of worship." They are the body and sex, big business, entertainment, politics, sports, and science and technology. How religious devotion and worship are manifest in everyday life of Americans is fully examined. This book offers an alternative entry to classical secularization debates that have garnered the attention of religious scholars across fields of study. Resisting polarized battle lines in which secularization debates have positioned the death of religion on one hand, and its resilience in industrialized societies on the other hand, this book considers the idiosyncratic nature of secularization by foregrounding historical, national, and local differences that exist in various contexts.The authors argue that "religion is important to Americans. But the religion we practice is often not the religion we confess" (1, emphasis in the original). According to them, Americans basically believe in a serviceable, friendly "God" who meets their every desire and need. In contemporary American culture, the objects that are deemed to fulfill Americans' desires and passions become their God(s) and thus their religion(s). They support their argument by citing studies by the Pew Research Center on "America's Changing Religious Landscape" and "'Nones' on the Rise," which indicate a decrease in religious affiliation among adults and a notable tension between Americans' professed religious beliefs and their actual religious practices. Given these trends, they contend that Americans discover and produce religious meaning in places outside traditional or conventional sacred spaces. Consequently, they confess, Americans have "laid our fair share, if not our all" (186) on the six altars of American popular culture. Thus, though studies indicate a trending decline in traditional religious affiliations, for the authors, this does not "sound the death knell of religion" (185). Religion, they insist, exists in different shapes and practices.In The Religious Experience of Mankind (1969), the religious historian Ninian Smart offers a seven-dimensional scheme for the interpretation of religion: doctrinal, mythological, ethical, ritual, experiential, institutional, and material. This scheme is adopted in the book as a framing device for interpreting the religious nature of popular culture. The sevenfold scheme is paralleled in each of the six chapters dedicated to a particular altar. Making their case, the authors draw on and weave thinkers from across disciplines and over time as critical interlocutors—from Friedrich Nietzsche, Rudolf Otto, Paul Tillich, and Robert Bella to Cornel West, Audre Lord, and bell hooks, among many others—in examining the religious significance of popular culture.Although a truly engaging and provocative book, The Altars Where We Worship is not without challenges. Some readers may find certain categories of analysis underdeveloped. For example, what makes big business or politics sites of popular culture? This line of inquiry may raise questions for readers about what constitutes popular culture in general. Such challenges, however, do not [End Page 195] detract from the overall accomplishments and contributions this book offers the study of religion in the United States.Michael R. Fisher Jr.Vanderbilt UniversityCopyright © 2018 Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

The day of Pentecost serves as a central integrative theme for the practices, theological concepts, and biblical narratives nurturing Pentecostal soteriology. The so-called “full gospel” provides the basic contours for ritual reflection among Pentecostals and recognizes salvation as both initial metaphor for Pentecostal theology and principal theological theme. The foundational soteriological plot of Pentecost is appropriated by Pentecostals in diverse contexts through the foundational rite of the altar call and response. A Pentecostal reading of salvation from the biblical account of (...) Pentecost and a subsequent articulation of Pentecostal soteriology cast in the image of Pentecost identifies the Pentecostal contribution to Christian soteriology as a persistent emphasis on salvation as praxis. (shrink)

In the beginning, says the ancient Hindu text the _Rg Veda_, was man. And from man’s sacrifice and dismemberment came the entire world, including the hierarchical ordering of human society. _The Head Beneath the Altar _is the first book to present a wide-ranging study of Hindu texts read through the lens of René Girard’s mimetic theory of the sacrificial origin of religion and culture. For those interested in Girard and comparative religion, the book also performs a careful reading of Girard’s (...) work, drawing connections between his thought and the work of theorists like Georges Dumézil and Giorgio Agamben. Brian Collins examines the idea of sacrifice from the earliest recorded rituals through the flowering of classical mythology and the ancient Indian institutions of the duel, the oath, and the secret warrior society. He also uncovers implicit and explicit critiques in the tradition, confirming Girard’s intuition that Hinduism offers an alternative anti-sacrificial worldview to the one contained in the gospels. (shrink)

The Head beneath the Altar: Hindu Mythology and the Critique of Sacrifice. By Brian Collins. Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture Series. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2014. Pp. x + 310. $24.95.

This study focuses on the altars of the major annual Hopi ceremonials which display ritual objects, the possession and use of which give religious and secular power. With the importance of such objects in mind, an iconographic study of Hopi religion is particularly illuminating. This study aims to demonstrate how to view Hopi altars and is supplemented by a theory of the mechanics of efficacy in the Hopi altar context. The text provides a general introduction to Hopi religious (...) practice and distinguishes three levels of information: 1) the calendrical and ritual contexts of Hopi altars, 2) the functions of these altars within those contexts, and 3) the iconography and iconology of the altars, understood here in a literal sense as the study of the forms and structures of the altars on the one hand and the study of the implicit and explicit symbology of the altars on the other. The book provides keys to understanding through exemplification and typology, and is meant to be of particular use to museums and research libraries. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Holy Communion: Altar Sacrament for Making a Sacrificial Sin Offering, or Table Sacrament for Nourishing a Life of Service? Paul J. Nuechterlein Emmaus Lutheran Church, Racine, WI The title spells out the alternative I would like the reader to consider: Is Holy Communion more appropriately considered the "table sacrament" or, as is more commonly accepted, the "altar sacrament "? I will make my preference clear. In Holy Communion, I (...) believe Jesus Christ to be offering nourishment for a different way to live —namely, the way offreely chosen service to others, as opposed to violent domination over others. "Table sacrament" more appropriately conveys the sense of nourishment toward a new life. I will support this positive reasoning in favor of "table sacrament" through an appeal to Christian scripture. I will also suggest a negative reasoning against "altar sacrament," by questioning whether the very reference to "altar" betrays a link to violence, with its base in the blood ofsacrifice. For this negative argument, the support will come primarily from the brilliant and far-reaching theories ofRené Girard regarding the relation between religion and violence. I would like us to consider whether the most obvious point of the relation between religion and violence—namely, rituals ofsacrifice—has been precariously intermingled with the church's practices and experiences of the "altar sacrament." Girard's theories force us to ask: Is not the altar ofsacrifice essentially the site for a ritualized form of collective violence? 202Paul J. Nuechterlein Girard contends that there are overwhelming cultural and anthropological forces that make it difficult for religions to free themselves from such violent underpinnings. He considers that all religions, in fact, are cultural manifestations ofa generative mimetic scapegoating mechanism, a natural human/social mechanism which contains an all-against-all, communitywide violence by means ofan all-against-one act of violence, i.e., a scapegoating. Religion is, according to this theory, the primary cultural institution that forms in the aftermath ofwhat Robert Hamerton-Kelly summarily calls the "Generative Mimetic Scapegoating Mechanism, or "GMSM" event (1994). Institutionalized religion fortifies the relative peace that the event has accomplished through a three-fold structure: (1) laws and prohibitions, established to prevent further outbreaks ofmimetic violence; (2) mythical stories of the GMSM event, told from the perspective of the perpetrators as a means to justify their violence and disguise it behind the veil of the sacred; and (3) ritual reenactments ofthe GMSM event, most commonly in the form of blood sacrifice, that channel any continuing violent impulses into structured, contained releases. We must be bold to ask of each religion, then, the ways in which it manifests and perpetuates the GMSM. This includes Christianity. To the extent that Christians practice religion, we can expect to find effects ofthe GMSM in essential aspects of the church, such as its practice ofthe "altar sacrament." Girardian support for my argument, however, does not end with this negative thesis regarding the "altar sacrament." Nor does Girardian criticism leave us with a wholly negative assessment of the Christian tradition. In fact, Girard himself experienced a conversion of sorts (see Golsan 129-30), as he began to see his basic premises and theories already revealed in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, especially the gospel narratives of Jesus Christ. He came to view the Christian faith—in spite of its susceptibility to the violent forces of religion—as unique in its core message ofrevealing the one true God. Contrary to the gods ofmythology, the Christian message, through Jesus Christ, reveals the true God to be on the side ofthe GMSM's victims. As such, the Gospel ofJesus Christ stands in opposition to the three-fold structure of religion: (1) it frees people from the oppressive systems oflaws and prohibitions;1 (2) it demythologizes the mythical stories told from the perspective of the perpetrators;2 and (3) it 1 A theme of St. Paul and his criticism of the Law? (see Hamerton-Kelly 1992). 2 A theme of St. John's emphasis on Jesus, the Lamb of God, as bearing witness to the Truth? Holy Communion203 makes obsolete the need for rituals of sacrificial violence.3 The Gospel opens up the way for new life, and for rituals that nourish the new... (shrink)

Modern republicanism - distinguished from its classical counterpart by its commercial character and jealous distrust of those in power, by its use of representative institutions, and by its employment of a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances - owes an immense debt to the republican experiment conducted in England between 1649, when Charles I was executed, and 1660, when Charles II was crowned. Though abortive, this experiment left a legacy in the political science articulated both by (...) its champions, John Milton, Marchamont Nehdham, and James Harrington, and by its sometime opponent and ultimate supporter Thomas Hobbes. This volume examines these four thinkers, situates them with regard to the novel species of republicanism first championed more than a century before by Niccolo Machiavelli, and examines the debt that he and they owed the Epicurean tradition in philosophy and the political science crafted by the Arab philosophers Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes. (shrink)

“Outsiders” addressing ethical issues in medicine—Strangers at the Bedside —became “bioethicists.” Bioethicists providing research ethics consultation have been described as “stranger...

Der Text enthält die im dritten Method Lab im Januar 2019 an der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf präsentierten Erhebungen zu Milo Raus Inszenierung Lam Gods – the Ghent Altarpiece am NTGent 2018. Zentral ist hier einerseits die in der Inszenierung thematisierte soziomaterielle Zugänglichkeit des ursprünglichen Altarbilds in der Stadt Gent für ihre aktuelle Bürgerschaft und Touristen, andererseits der Affektraum, insbesondere der Affekt der Scham, der im Reenactment der Adam und Eva-Figuren des Altarbilds in der Inszenierung erzeugt wurde. Die dort auf der Bühne (...) vor den Augen des Kinderchors und den Zuschauer*innen vor der Bühne präsentierte ‚Geste der Scham’ provozierte bei der Forschenden eine affektive Reaktion, die den Umgang mit Scham, Fremdscham und unfreiwilliger Zeugenschaft in der Inszenierung hinterfragte. (shrink)