Search Results (116)

In an era of accelerating secularization, art serves as a vital mediator for non-institutional forms of spirituality. This article examines Robert Rauschenberg’s Inferno series (1958–1960) as a case study of how modern art reconfigures religious narratives to engage with humanity’s “ultimate concerns.” Through his solvent transfer technique, Rauschenberg dismantles Dante’s theological structure and reconfigures it into a fragmented, participatory experience of spirituality. The argument develops in two parts. First, it demonstrates how Rauschenberg secularizes sacred imagery to portray modern social realities as a “contemporary inferno” marked by systemic violence and commodified desire. Second, it theorizes that the materiality of solvent transfer—its blurring, erasure, and contingent traces—creates what may be called “material spirituality,” a sacred presence perceived through absence and indexical trace. Within this reconfigured structure, spectatorship itself takes on a ritualistic character. When confronted with fragmented and unstable imagery, viewers engage in active, contemplative practice, transforming the act of viewing into a secular ritual of attentiveness. Thus, Rauschenberg’s Inferno radically redefines the religious function of art—not as redemption, but as the cultivation of fragile yet enduring forms of spirituality within the estrangement of modern life. Full article

The four ethical boundaries established in the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic (1993)—“Do not kill,” “Do not steal,” “Do not lie,” and “Do not commit sexual immorality”—though recognized as cross-civilizational consensus, face practical challenges as external commandments. From a comparative theological perspective, Christianity’s “Moral Golden Rule” originates from the Ten Commandments, with Sabbath observance serving as sacred temporal space for moral practice. While this time-bound practice has physiological and psychological foundations and plays a vital role in shaping religious identity, contemporary conflicts and divisions within Christian civilization reveal its sacredness facing secularization crises. The Buddhist ethical framework of the Five Precepts and Ten Virtues, grounded in the principles of dependent origination, karma, and mind-consciousness, manifests enhanced flexibility in sacred temporality and tolerant practical applications when interpreted through the lens of emptiness as a temporal perspective. The Christian Zen movement creatively employs Buddhist meditation techniques as methodological instruments, providing an embodied practice pathway for civilizational dialogue and constructing future communities of shared ethical values. Full article

Cardiac surgery, now a routine medical intervention, was once deemed unthinkable—not merely due to technical limitations, but because of deep-seated cultural, religious, and philosophical prohibitions. This article traces the historical and ethical trajectory of the human heart from a sacred, inviolable symbol of the soul to a surgically accessible organ. Through an interdisciplinary lens that integrates medical history, anthropology, theology, and contemporary bioethics, we examine how shifts in metaphysical belief, technological progress, and moral reasoning gradually legitimized cardiac intervention. From ancient Egyptian funerary rites and classical cardiocentric models to medieval religious taboos and Enlightenment redefinitions of the body, the heart’s transformation reflects broader changes in how humanity conceives life, death, and identity. The emergence of modern cardiac surgery, especially heart transplantation and extracorporeal technologies, raised new ethical dilemmas, challenging the boundaries between tissue and meaning, biology and personhood. This study argues that despite its clinical secularization, the heart retains a unique symbolic gravity that continues to shape public perception and professional responsibility. In the age of precision medicine, cardiac surgery remains not only a technical act but an existential gesture—a transgression that demands both scientific mastery and moral reverence. Full article

This article treats the familiar triad “Gold, God, and Glory” as a heuristic to track how commercial, missionary, and reputational aims were configured within overlapping jurisdictions of the Portuguese world. Through three cases—the 1552 clash in Malacca between St. Francis Xavier and Captain D. Álvaro de Ataíde da Gama; the Gama family’s bargaining over offices and revenues; and the 1759 expulsion of the Society of Jesus—it argues that localized, negotiable frictions in the sixteenth century evolved into a structural confrontation by the mid-eighteenth century. Drawing on published Jesuit correspondence and secondary analyses of royal and municipal records, the study shows how missions initially supported metropolitan aims yet increasingly challenged them as Jesuit educational networks and revenue-bearing assets expanded. The Malacca dispute is read as a jurisdictional struggle over diplomatic access and rents, not merely a moral drama. The 1750 Treaty of Madrid and the Guaraní War further politicized perceptions of Jesuit wealth and influence, while the Lisbon-centered reform agenda after 1755 turned tension into rupture. Full article

(1) Background: From a post-secular perspective, the relationship between religions in the public sphere is conceived as an exchange in which religious beliefs, when formulated as rational arguments, contribute to building a shared public culture and foster a democratic transformation of interreligious relations. This article critiques this approach, highlighting its neglect of the lived experience of religion and, in particular, the situated and situational nature of processes of religious identity and religious difference formation. (2) Methods: Ethnographic observation of a performance held in a sacred art museum in Tuscany by immigrants from different religious backgrounds, four semi-structured interviews with performers, and one interview with the museum director were conducted. (3) Results: Personal and religious narratives, along with face-to-face interactions, generate dynamics of identification, differentiation, and situated identity redefinition. Interaction with the artwork, framed as a shared space, facilitates shifts in religious self and other positioning. It also reconfigures the boundaries between “us” and “them.” The artwork acts as a symbolic device that enables multiple interpretations and unexpected forms of recognition. (4) Conclusions: Relations of identification and distinction among religious identities are transformed not through abstract rational deliberation but through concrete, discursive, and performative practices. Full article

Traditional cultural practices, increasingly impacted by modernisation and urbanisation, are experiencing diminished transmission and declining interest among younger generations. Teochew opera in Malaysia is no exception, pressured under similar challenges in sustaining its relevance and appeal within contemporary society. Considering these shifts, the sustainable preservation and revitalisation of traditional arts has become a pressing concern for scholars and cultural practitioners alike. This study investigates strategies for sustaining Teochew opera in Malaysia, employing qualitative methods including participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that Teochew opera operates within a sacred and secular framework, serving religious rituals and cultural festivals. This duality allows for continuity through tradition in sacred settings and adaptation through innovation in secular contexts. The coexistence of these realms offers a blueprint for sustainable cultural evolution. While challenges such as low youth engagement and limited institutional support persist, the research underscores the potential of educational initiatives and community-driven efforts to renew interest and ensure continuity. The study contributes valuable insights for policymakers and cultural stakeholders seeking to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in pluralistic, rapidly modernising societies. Full article

Tibet occupies a central place in the avant-garde narratives of Ma Yuan (b. 1953), whose works significantly advanced the thought liberation movements of the 1980s in the People’s Republic of China. As global interest in the intersection of religion, literature, and cultural identity grows, Ma Yuan’s experimental writings offer a unique lens into the reconfiguration of religious and marginalized narratives in modern Chinese literature. While previous research has focused on his formal and stylistic innovations, this study uncovers how Ma Yuan transforms Buddhist rituals, myths, and customs within Tibetan culture to reexamine the spiritual dimensions of trauma and identity among marginalized groups. By engaging with Tibet as both a cultural reality and a mythological allegory, his narratives explore the interplay between body and soul, sacred and secular, and center and periphery within the late twentieth-century Chinese artistic landscape. This interdisciplinary study highlights how modernist literature reinterprets sacred practices and bridges Tibetan cultural heritage with China’s socio-historical modernization, contributing to broader understandings of cultural and intellectual transformations in the study of religion. Full article

Our proposal is aimed at analyzing a series of sacred forms that question that initial hallmark of the general theory of secularization which, based on a teleological conception, postulated a movement from the sacred to the profane, from the religious to the secular. These new sacred forms describe a different pattern that goes from the secular to the religious, as new forms of sacralization. In this sense, we analyze, first, the historical emergence of the grand narrative of secularization in Europe, which describes a unidirectional process from the religious to the secular. Second, we carry out a genealogical critique of the narrative of secularization. Third, we analyze the other direction in that dynamic tension that goes from the secular to the religious. Fourthly, we analyze new forms of sacralization that emerged in the French Revolution, in American “civil religion”, in post-war Europe, in the commemorations of Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day, in the Coronation Ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II, in the proto-event of 11 September 2001, in the sacralization of the person and in the sacralization of the child. “See to it that no one enslaves you through the vain fallacy of a philosophy, founded on human traditions, according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ.” (Saint Paul, Epistle to the Colossians 2: 8); “In the imagination of the simple patriot, the nation is not a society but the Society. Although its values are relative, they appear, from his naive perspective, as absolute. The nation is always endowed with an aura of sacredness, which is the reason why religions, which claim universality, are so easily captured and domesticated by national sentiment, religion and patriotism converging in such a process.” (Reinhold Niebuhr); “Everyone can only choose for himself who for him is God and who is the devil because with respect to values, in fact, it is always and everywhere not only a matter of alternatives, but of an irreconcilable fight to the death, between ‘god’ and the ‘devil’.” (Max Weber). Full article

Sacred choral music continues to hold a significant place in contemporary concert settings, with historical and newly composed works featuring in today’s choral programmes. Contemporary choral composers have continued to engage with the longstanding tradition of setting sacred texts to music, bringing fresh interpretations through their innovative compositional techniques and fusion of styles. Irish composer Rhona Clarke’s (b. 1958) expansive choral oeuvre includes a wealth of both sacred and secular compositions but reveals a notable propensity for the setting of sacred texts in Latin. Her synthesis of archaic and contemporary techniques within her work demonstrates both the solemn and visceral aspects of these texts, as well as a clear nod to tradition. This article focuses on Clarke’s choral work O Vis Aeternitatis (2020), a setting of a text by the medieval musician and saint Hildegard of Bingen (c. 1150). Through critical score analysis, we investigate the piece’s melodic, harmonic, and textural frameworks; the influence of Hildegard’s original chant; and the use of extended vocal techniques and contrasting vocal timbres as we articulate core characteristics of Clarke’s compositional style and underline her foregrounding of the more visceral aspects of Hildegard’s words. Clarke’s fusion of creative practices from past and present spotlights moments of dramatic escalation and spiritual importance, and exhibits the composer’s distinctive compositional voice as she reimagines Hildegard’s text for the twenty-first century. Full article

Daoist robes in the Ming Dynasty literature underwent a marked transformation from exclusive religious vestments to widespread secular attire. Originally confined to Daoist priests and sacred rites, these garments began to appear in everyday work, entertainment, and ceremonies across social strata. Drawing on a hand-coded corpus of novels that yields robe related passages, and by analyzing textual references from Ming novels, Daoist canonical works, and visual artifacts, and applying clothing psychology and semiotic theory, this study elucidates how Daoist robes were re-coded as secular fashion symbols. For example, scholar-officials donned Daoist robes to convey moral prestige, laborers adopted them to signal upward mobility, and merchants donned them to impersonate the educated elite for commercial gain. By integrating close textual reading with cultural theory, the article advances a three-stage model, sacred uniform, ritual costume, and secular fashion, that clarifies the semantic flow of Daoist robes. In weddings and funerals, many commoners flaunted Daoist robes despite sumptuary laws, using them to assert honor and status. These adaptations reflect both the erosion of Daoist institutional authority and the dynamic process of identity construction through dress in late Ming society. Our interdisciplinary analysis highlights an East Asian perspective on the interaction of religion and fashion, offering historical insight into the interplay between religious symbolism and sociocultural identity formation. Full article

Early modern theologians often cast female curiosity as both a moral flaw and an epistemic transgression. Aware of this suspicion, Teresa of Ávila professed to have renounced such dangerous impulses in her youth. Yet the persistent presence of curiosity in her writings suggests a strategic redeployment—one that fosters attentiveness and subtly renegotiates ecclesiastical authority as she actively advances reform within the Carmelite order. Through life-writing and scriptural exegesis, Teresa cultivates a disciplined appetite for knowledge: an appetite that outwardly conforms to, yet quietly subverts, doctrinal anxieties surrounding women’s intellectual desires. Her use of curiosidad moves fluidly between sacred and secular registers—sometimes connoting superficial fascination, at other times signaling a deeper, interior restlessness. Resisting reductive interpretation, Teresa reveals a sophisticated and self-aware engagement with a disposition both morally ambiguous and intellectually generative. The same culture that once feared her intellect would ultimately aestheticize it. After her death, Teresa’s relics were fragmented and displayed in Philip II’s Wunderkammer, transforming her once-condemned curiosidad into curiositas, an imperial collectible. Reading Teresa alongside her posthumous interpreters—Fray Luis de León and Miguel de Cervantes—this essay explores how her radical epistemological ambition reverberated through Spanish intellectual culture. Spanning this cultural arc—from sin to spectacle, from forbidden desire to sanctified display—Teresa emerges as a masterful theorist and activist reformer of spiritual authority. In these expansive roles, she reveals the immense and often contradictory power that curiosity wielded in the early modern world. Full article

From the mid-Ming to early Qing dynasties, Mount Jizu 雞足山 in Yunnan achieved unexpected prominence within China’s Buddhist sacred landscape—an event of regional, national, and transnational significance. Employing an explicit comparative lens that juxtaposes Jizu with China’s core-region sacred sites like Mount Wutai and Emei, this study investigates the timing, regional dynamics, institutional mechanisms, and causal drivers behind the rapid ascent. Rejecting teleological narratives, it traces the mountain’s trajectory through four developmental phases to address critical historiographical questions: how did a peripheral Yunnan site achieve national prominence within a remarkably compressed timeframe? By what mechanisms could its sacred authority be constructed to inspire pilgrimages even across vast distances? Which historical agents and processes orchestrated these transformations, and how did the mountain’s symbolic meaning shift dynamically over time? Departing from earlier scholarship that privileges regional and secular frameworks, this work not only rebalances the emphasis on religious dimensions but also expands the analytical scope beyond regional confines to situate Mount Jizu within national and transnational frameworks. Eventually, by analyzing the structural, institutional, and agential dynamics—spanning local, imperial, and transnational dimensions—this study reveals how the mountain’s sacralization emerged from the convergence of local agency, acculturative pressures, state-building imperatives, late-Ming Buddhist revival, literati networks, and the strategic mobilization of symbolic capital. It also reveals that Mount Jizu was not a static sacred site but a dynamic arena of contestation and negotiation, where competing claims to spiritual authority and cultural identity were perpetually redefined. Full article

The process of secularization was long considered irreversible and characteristic of all contemporary culture. Nonetheless, more recent approaches view it as strictly linked to Western religiosity and in relation to a process of de-secularization and post-secular orientations regarding the sacred. For Romanian Orthodox theologians, secularization represents more of a trial than a danger. The current article presents the results of qualitative research regarding the religiosity of future graduates of Orthodox vocational theological high schools in Romania. The students enrolled in the research were asked to graphically represent God and briefly explain their drawings. The data were theoretically coded and compared with the canonical attributes of God as acknowledged by Orthodox theology. The results indicated the canonical correctness of students’ representations of divinity. Orthodox vocational high school education proves to be effective in imposing the Christian dogmatic line to the detriment of popular religiosity characterized by old pre-Christian beliefs and practices. Full article

This essay serves as an expansive, conceptual anchor and scholarly argument that demonstrates the modality of “reflexive extractivist” religious studies and also orients the Special Issue on Religion in Extractive Zones. We demonstrate that critical religious and theological scholarship have existing tools and methods for deepening the study of extraction in the environmental humanities and related discourses. We make two interconnected arguments: that religion has been and continues to be produced out of extractive zones in the conflicts, negotiations, and strategic alliances of contact zones and that the complex production of sacred and secular in these zones can be fruitfully analyzed as imaginaries and counter-imaginaries of extraction. We present these arguments through a dialogical and critically integrative methodology, in which arguments from theorists across several disciplines are put into conversation and from which our insights emerge. This methodology leads to a final section of the essay that sets a framework for, and invites further dialogical and integrative scholarship on, the practical ethics of non- or counter-extractive academic research, scholarship, and publishing. Offering theoretical, methodological, and practical suggestions, we call for a turn toward reflexive extractivist religious studies, articulate the specific conceptual and methodological approaches linking religion and extraction, and thus set the framework and tone for the Special Issue. Full article

The “hand-waving sacrifice” is a large-scale sacrificial ceremony with more than 2000 years of history. It was passed down from ancient times by the Tujia ethnic group living in the Wuling Corridor of China, and it integrates religion, sacrifice, dance, drama, and other cultural forms. It primarily consists of two parts: ritual content (inviting gods, offering sacrifices to gods, dancing a hand-waving dance, etc.) and the architectural space that hosts the ritual (hand-waving hall), which together constitute Tujia’s most sacred ritual space and the most representative art and culture symbol. Nonetheless, in existing studies, the hand-waving sacrifice ritual, hand-waving hall architectural space, and hand-waving dance art are often separated as independent research objects, and little attention is paid to the coupling mechanism of the mutual construction of space and ritual in the process of historical development. Moreover, with the acceleration of modernization, the current survival context of the hand-waving sacrifice has undergone drastic changes. On the one hand, the intangible cultural heritage protection policy and the wave of tourism development have pushed it into the public eye and the cultural consumption system. On the other hand, the changes in the social structure of traditional villages have led to the dissolution of the sacredness of ritual space. Therefore, using the interaction of “space-ritual” as a prompt, this research first uses GIS technology to visualize the spatial geographical distribution characteristics and diachronic evolution process of hand-waving halls in six historical periods and then specifically analyzes the sacred construction of hand-waving hall architecture for the hand-waving sacrifice ritual space throughout history, as well as the changing mechanism of the continuous secularization of the hand-waving sacrifice space in contemporary society. Overall, this study reveals a unique path for non-literate ethnic groups to achieve the intergenerational transmission of cultural memory through the collusion of material symbols and physical art practices, as well as the possibility of embedding the hand-waving sacrifice ritual into contemporary spatial practice through symbolic translation and functional extension in the context of social function inheritance and variation. Finally, this study has specific inspirational and reference value for exploring how the traditional culture and art of ethnic minorities can maintain resilience against the tide of modernization. Full article