The appearance of post-Islamic religions, the Bābī and Bahā’ī Faiths, is a theoretical impossibility from an orthodox Muslim perspective, since the Qur’ān designates the Prophet Muḥammad as the “Seal of the Prophets” (Q. 33:40), widely understood as meaning the “Last of the Prophets”. To overcome this problem, the respective prophet-founders, the Bāb (1819–1850) and Bahā’u’llāh (1817–1892), each presented novel approaches which this article will explore. In short, the Bāb revealed a “new” Qur’ān, i.e., the Qayyūm al-Asmā’ (1844), and Bahā’u’llāh wrote the Kitāb-i Īqān (Book of Certitude) in January 1861. While acknowledging Muḥammad as the last prophet in the “Prophetic Cycle”, the Bāb and Bahā’u’llāh inaugurated the advent of the “Cycle of Fulfillment”. This new era was foretold in the Qur’ān by way of a symbolic code, understood metaphorically and spiritually. A key concept is that of the “divine presence” (liqā’ Allāh), i.e., the encounter/“meeting” with God, whereby Q. 33:44, Q. 83:6, Q. 7:35 (and their respective parallels) effectively transcend Q. 33:40. Recognizing that the Bāb and Bahā’u’llāh each manifests the “divine presence” thereby constitutes a “realized eschatology”. This paper represents the first time that a wide-ranging survey and analysis of the Shaykhī, Bābī, and Bahā’ī viewpoints on the subject of the “Seal of the Prophets” has been made and is the result of a collaboration between two scholars working in the United States and Russia. Full article

Through an investigation of two recently discovered paper sheets of the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment from the Silla kingdom, this paper reveals that early Korea had more diverse forms of dhāraṇī practices than previously assumed. Through analyses of these incantation sheets, this paper contributes toward filling the gap in our current understanding of the material practice pertaining to the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment of medieval East Asia. Previously, all known traces of material dhāraṇīs from early Korea, with just a few exceptions, were related to the Sūtra of the Pure Light Incantation enshrined in the relic crypts of pagodas—a practice that has little connection to contemporaneous Chinese dhāraṇī practice. However, the newly discovered Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment sheets, whose date this paper infers to be between the eighth and ninth century, show that Unified Silla had a dhāraṇī practice closely linked to coeval Chinese practice. The Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment sheets from Silla show the modification and continuation of Chinese dhāraṇī practice. Unlike the Chinese amulet sheets of the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment that were buried in tombs, the Silla amulet sheets were likely enshrined in one of the pagodas erected on Mount Nam in Silla’s capital. At the same time, they were placed in the pagoda to wish for good afterlives of the soldiers who died at the battle, suggesting that they had a mortuary function similar to those buried in Chinese tombs. Full article

This paper investigates the formation of monastic networks in Tang Dynasty (618–907) China, focusing primarily on the Buddhist traditions of Tiantai, Chan and Vinaya, which have yet to be explored as a series of related regional movements. Central to this effort is a dataset that documents over 2000 interactions between some 700 actors that were extracted from stelae inscriptions, monastic biographical collections, historical accounts, letters, and poems. The network data show two clear patterns in the organization of regional Buddhist communities: (1) individual actors bridged cliques of monastics and officials; (2) both monastics and officials contributed to network activities. To illustrate these two patterns, this paper focuses on the ego-network of Fayun 法雲 (?–766), a prominent Vinaya leader based in Jiangsu region, as an example of the formation and evolution of regional Buddhist communities in southern China. Degree centrality indicates that Fayun was one of the central figures in the southern Buddhist landscape of the early eighth century. By tracing his heterogeneous ties with prominent state officials, local authorities, and monastics affiliated with the Tiantai, Chan, and Vinaya traditions, this study outlines general patterns in the formation and legitimization of regional Buddhist communities in Tang China. All three traditions are revealed as intersecting social formations that were sustained through shared ties with local and nationally prominent bureaucrats. Full article

Instead of arguing whether or not Sayyid ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī (the Bāb, 1819–1850) and his writings are Islamic, this paper suggests that they are simultaneously Islamic and post-Islamic. The Bāb’s Qayyūm al-asmāʾ, written at the outset of the Bābī movement in 1844, can be understood as a commentary on the Quran, the original Quran, and divine revelation. Although the Bāb gradually disclosed his identity to the public, his status (associated with the Imām, Muḥammad, and a manifestation of God) is present in the Qayyūm al-asmāʾ, in which he refers to himself as the Gate (Bāb), Remembrance (Dhikr), Point (Nuqṭah), ʿAlī, and Muḥammad. The Bāb participates in the long tradition of Islamic literary culture by creating meaning through metaphorical, symbolic, and paradoxical language, which for the Bāb ultimately point to post-Islamic revelation. The simultaneous absence and presence of Islam in the Bāb’s writings created a real-world division between the Bāb’s followers and his critics, many of whom were Muslim scholars. By focusing on multiple meanings in the Bāb’s texts, this paper analyzes the interplay between the Bāb’s identity and his writings as they relate to Islam. Full article

The main goals of this essay are to describe and make clear the philosophical implications of self-cultivation concerning the concept of inwardness and examine how it contributes to the formation of the Confucian identity. In two representative Korean Neo-Confucian debates, the Debate on Supreme Polarity between Yi Ǒnjŏk and Cho Hanbo and one of the issues in the Horak Debate about the original substance of the tranquil state (mibal) of the mind, we can see that self-cultivation plays a crucial role in establishing the Confucian identity. For example, the debate between Yi and Cho shows how to teach people to achieve an ideal Confucian character by interpreting “learning human affairs below (hahag-insa)” and “reaching the heavenly principle above (sangdal-chŏlli)” differently. The concept of inwardness is significant as well as problematic in understanding the sense of rivalry against Buddhism earlier and the Yangming School later in the intellectual history of Korean neo-Confucianism. Those who think of themselves as true followers of Confucius and Zhu Xi criticize that a subjective way of experiencing inwardness is close to Buddhism and misleads one in the pursuit of some lofty metaphysical entity without any practical concerns. Despite such a criticism, some Neo-Confucian scholars have emphasized that the original substance of the mind is the tranquility of inwardness. In this vein, we will investigate what kind of philosophical identity most Korean Neo-Confucians have embraced as their own. Their consistent argument for keeping the balance between honoring the virtues and inquiring about learning leads to the claim that the achievement of self-cultivation should contribute to making the world peaceful. Thus, the matter of inwardness often described as deliberate solitude is not so much a subjective realm like religious confession, but vivid experiences of daily life that have never been separated from the manifestation of the Way (dao). In conclusion, the core issue of the Neo-Confucian identity having a sense of rivalry against heresy aims at the matter of practice, i.e., how actively and properly one participates in transforming the world. Full article

Tāhirih, also known as Qurratu’l-‘Ayn (1814–1852), was one of the leading disciples of the Bāb (1819–1844), Sayyid ‘Alī-Muhammad of Shiraz, the founder of Babism. She was formally educated in Islamic learning and theology, but relied heavily on inspiration for some of her most radical doctrines. Her poems contain radical theological pronouncements that would propel the Bābī movement beyond Islam. By no means typical or representative of other Bābī scholars, her theology seems to be filled with a woman’s sensibility, with its inclination towards peace, justice, and reconciliation. At certain moments, Tāhirih anticipates developments in Bābī /Bahā’ī teachings that would not take place until decades later. Tāhirih’s poetic voice offers a unique Bābī theology understood, perhaps, only by her few (women?) followers at the time. Full article

Vimalamitra’s (ca. the 8th–9th cent.) *Āryaprajñāpāramitāhṛdayaṭīkā (hereafter the PHT) sparks interest not only because of its detailed verbal commentary on the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya or the Heart Sūtra but also because it developed various philosophical arguments. However, these arguments have not always been clear due to the difficulty surrounding Tibetan translation and the complexity of the discussion. For instance, in 2021, Mathes, who examined some passages of the PHT, suggested that Vimalamitra endorsed the Yogācāra idea that the perfect nature exists ultimately as the dharmakāya—an idea that can be traced back to 1996, Lopez. However, a close reading of the relevant passages of the PHT through consultation with the commentary on the Saptaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā by Vimalamitra himself, a sub-commentary on the PHT by rNgog blo ldan shes rab (1059–1109), and a reading of the Tibetan translation (the only translation preserved) conjecturing the underlying original Sanskrit reveals that the opposite is true: there is a fierce and complex debate between Madhyamaka and Yogācāra on the passage, with Vimalamitra sharply criticizing the latter’s views as a Mādhyamika. Thus, this paper will reveal for the first time the previously unknown details of the dispute between Yogācāra and Madhyamaka in the PHT. This will offer new evidence for the confrontation between the two around the eighth and ninth centuries. Full article

Numerous discussions on religion were held within the communicative network among Jewish enlighteners in Berlin and Breslau. These discussions were characterized by a hitherto unknown form of skeptical and critical questioning of religious customs and practices of Ashkenazi Jewry. Moreover, they were characterized by an unprecedented skeptical questioning of religious customs and traditions of Ashkenazi Judaism. The places of these discussions were located where many different people gathered and contributed in their verbal exchanges to their mutual understanding. The experience of different opinions became the starting point for a self-reflective comparative review process of their own religious positioning and to their own stand on questions of an individual’s education and development. These oral discourses in many ways found expression in written statements, as in introductions to German translations of Biblical books and liturgical texts, in school programs, journals and modern sermons. Full article

Angels take on a unique role in Augustine’s understanding of creation. Traditionally, researchers have focused on De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim, Confessiones, and De Civitate Dei contra paganos to generate a descriptive account of the angelic role in creation. As such, not much attention has been paid to the emergence of his understanding of angels in his earlier texts. The largely descriptive accounts have also left the theological implication, specifically the linkage between Augustine’s angelology and Christology, unaddressed. This paper offers a two-fold contribution. First, this paper argues that the often-overlooked text De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber represents the pivotal moment in the development of Augustine’s germinating thoughts on angels and creation. Augustine’s mature notions of angels as created light and created wisdom, as well as angelic noetic movement, find their roots in De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber. Second, this paper argues that, from De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber to his more mature works, angels extend Christ’s work in creation. Augustine solves the problem of fashioning the corporeal from the spiritual by locating the production of intellectual prototypes within angels. Together with the designation of angels as “knowledge”, “light”, and “wisdom”, angels mirror Christ’s activity as creator. Full article

The article analyses the theology of homecoming in the book of Isaiah and makes a case for using resilience theory as a hermeneutical frame for the task of Hebrew Scripture theology. Defined as “positive adaptation despite adversity”, resilience builds on the crisis setting of wide parts of the Hebrew Scriptures and demonstrates that the formation of theology represents a resilience discourse. In the case of the Isaianic prophecies of return, three concepts of return are distinguished (return, gathering and homecoming, a second Exodus) that respond to the adversities of exile and diaspora. Thus, the prophecies offer a literary home that the different religious communities through time can inhabit. Full article

Even though the Pentecostal movement in Kerala, South India, is a unique expression of Global Christianity, it has not been given due recognition either in the history of Kerala Christianity or Global Pentecostalism. It was rooted in both local and global discourses of the early 20th century. So, in order to understand the origin and early history of the Pentecostal movement, we need to delve deep into the history of socio-religious reform movements, which were enthusiastically embraced by Dalits, women, and other marginalized sections of Kerala. Unique features of Kerala Pentecostalism were shaped by various revival and reform movements among Christians in Kerala. With the arrival of American missionaries associated with the Azusa Street revival, the homegrown brand of Kerala Pentecostalism engaged in the global discourse on Pentecostalism. It equipped Pentecostals with the language and interpretations to make a break with the past and carve out a new identity for themselves. The usual method of approaching it as an extension of global Pentecostalism will not help us to understand how Pentecostals in Kerala creatively engaged in local and global discourses at the turn of the 20th century. Full article

Muslims were introduced to modern Western philosophy during the time of Western colonization, when they were not emotionally or mentally ready to absorb it and were generally skeptical of anything Western. This has caused an intellectual crisis, and some Muslims saw new ideas from the West as a direct threat to Islamic identity. The point here is why Muslim societies have always been skeptical of modern Western philosophy, even though Western societies accepted all new ideas without any trouble, and it does not stop the West from moving forward as a civilization. This study uses a comparative analytical method to look at how modern Western philosophy is received in Islamic societies, what it has caused, and where it might go in the future. It focuses on the issue of faith and reason as a talking point to show how Western and Islamic ways of knowing are different. Finally, the study makes important suggestions about how to deal with the effects of modern Western philosophy on Islamic societies. Full article

Divorce emerges as a phenomenon in counterpoint to marriage, both terms representing processes or phases of interaction punctuated by moments of completion and transition to further phases. We can make an initial distinction between divorce, viewed as undoing of preceding phases, and marriage, viewed as prospective of moving into a new relationship. Both divorce and marriage may carry different meanings depending on the wider culture in which they occur. Where marriage comes into being via a series of reciprocal transactions of wealth objects, divorce correspondingly consists of the undoing of such transactions, with the aim of creating a new order of relationships. This process can, in turn, itself vary as it turns on emotional manifestations between the parties involved, sometimes connected with the presence of offspring, as in the case of the Nuer people of South Sudan, among whom a wife does not shift to her husband’s settlement place until the couple have a child. The question of transactions goes with the significance of the wider kin networks in which marriages and divorces are regulated. All in all, our paper examines a counterpoint between legal and emotional aspects of both marriage and divorce, raising issues about what a marriage is and what constitutes a divorce, together with nuances of ritual processes that mark pathways between these categories. We draw on ethnography from Pacific cultures, especially Papua New Guinea, and from Africa, to explore these processes. Full article

This paper discusses the concept of religious conversion in the Bahá’í Faith through conversion narratives of first-generation Bahá’ís. Through life story interviews, the converts narrate their process of becoming Bahá’í as “not converting”, which aligns with a principle of the Bahá’í Faith called “progressive revelation”. Religious conversion has frequently been described in the literature as a radical, sudden, dramatic transformation–often following a personal crisis and seemingly entails a definite break with one’s former identity. Consequently, religious conversion studies have focused on the subjective experiences of the rapid changes in the lives and identities of individuals. However, such perspectives have, until now, focused mainly on Christianity and Christian models and have not adequately addressed religious conversion models in other Abrahamic religions, such as the Bahá’í Faith. The paradigm of conversion focuses our attention on the ways particular theologies shape life stories of conversion and what kind of narratives social scientists will include in the corpus of conversion. Therefore, this research asks to broaden the social scientific paradigms of religious conversion through the case study of the Bahá’í Faith. Full article

St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, a seminary located in southern Indiana, was founded in 1857 by monks of the Benedictine order of Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The seminary has since been devoted to the education of faith leaders—priests, deacons, and graduate lay students. Due to the growth of underserved Latino populations in the Midwest region of the United States, there is a need to prepare future faith leaders to serve Latino congregations. This work provides an exploration into the ways in which language learning collaborations based on Benedictine hospitality can cultivate community. It outlines a Benedictine pedagogy of community that is threefold. First, given the importance of language to communicate with members of Latino communities in the United States, the cultivation of community is understood in terms of the world readiness standards of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Second, because Benedictine monasteries were founded on the value of hospitality, these interactions are imbued with Benedictine hospitality. Third, it is argued that Benedictine communities are contexts in which the liminal intertwines with the liminoid, resulting in fertile ground for the creation of what we call liminal/liminoid encounters that have the potential to level asymmetric power relations and lead to meaningful dialogue. The final section shows how this Benedictine pedagogy of community is enacted in one specific Spanish language learning immersion that takes place at a sister Benedictine Monastery abroad, Our Lady of Angels, in Cuernavaca, Mexico. It also provides a small sample of seven students’ responses to two critical questions from a survey questionnaire. Even though this small qualitative sample is not generalizable, it helps illuminate how these interactions may lead to the development of cultural sensitivity, of a sense of community, between students and members of this language learning immersion abroad. Responses indicate that students who participated in this program for at least eight weeks exhibit an interest in continuing to interact and collaborate in multicultural communities as well as a willingness to learn the target language beyond this experience. Full article