Search Results (125)

Highway construction in China has bolstered Chinese claims of having the longest highways in the world, yet it has led to the involuntary relocation and resettlement of millions of people all over China. This study examines the interplay of power relationships in modernity and ethnic cultures. Using interviews with 201 Zhuang ethnic minority people and participant observations from two years in the Southwest of China, this paper presents findings that show both the positive and negative effects of urbanization and modernization as the consequence of highway expansion. By discussing the removal of a religious Sacred Rock which was in the way of the highway construction, the authors reveal the subtleties of the power interplay of majority–minority relations and the meanings of cultures and rituals in the face of modernity. In the process of modernization, highway construction reconstructs new communities while deconstructing the old one. The authors argue that recognizing the meanings of ethnic cultures as defined by ethnic people themselves is the first step to the reconciliation of social relationships between the majority and minority people in created new communities. To enhance social integration, religion has an important role to play in Chinese society. Full article

Monastic life presents a contrast to many aspects of modern existence (the rule of ideology, consumerism, various forms of negativity, dominance of the virtual, forgetfulness). The following essay explores this contrast and its presence throughout the long history of monasticism, with a focus on early Northern and Western monasticism on the one hand, and the modern Benedictine tradition on the other. The counter-cultural dimensions of monastic life range from special landscapes and sacred space to the function of time, and from the transcendental role of prayer to the earthy nature of hard work. Not only do the traditions of monastic scholarship and the books gathered in monastic libraries help preserve the memory and reinforce the special counter-culture of monasteries, but the monasteries remain to this day places of healing and sources of hope. The poem “Pilgrimage” composed in 1929 by Austin Clarke captures the character of monastic life not only as something contrary, but as an essential way of life, which has survived from the founding of medieval Clonmacnoise up until today. Full article

The Church of Christ is unity in diversity. Around the great centers of diffusion, the rites have been gradually defined as “the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of the history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested” (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches can. 28 § 1). At the same time, the necessity of the existence of the sacred ministry for the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacraments is the basis for the establishment of the hierarchy of bishoprics that are formed ontogenetically and diachronically around the primary diffusion center, recognized as the Mother Church or, starting from the IVth–Vth centuries, as the Patriarchates. The tensions between dissident factions culminated in the Ecclesiastical Schism of 1054, which separated Eastern Christianity from the Roman Church. The restoration of the unity of the Constantinopolitan Churches of Central and Eastern Europe began with the Union of Brest–Litovsk (1595–1596), which generated a process of gradual entry of the territories of the Eastern Churches into unity, in 1700 reaching Transylvania. The Greek Catholic Churches fought a pioneering struggle in asserting their own traditions in order to restore the unity of the Church. The Eastern churches that re-entered the unity of the Catholic Church faced a change of ecclesiological paradigm, being in a permanent struggle to preserve their own specificity and to affirm the unity. The signatories of the Union Acts rejected “the Uniatism” from the beginning, a fact accepted today within the theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, the canonical evolution and the treatises of Greek–Catholic theology being the result of a process of experimentation “from within” of unity and catholicity in the context of the modern and contemporary era. The United Churches have paved the way for the restoration of unity between East and West, being obligated to grasp different forms of canonical manifestation of unity in the absence of a Patriarchate in communion with the Church of Rome, during which they offer a reflection that fully grows through a theology of restoring the unity of the Church, benefiting today from the ecclesiological paradigm shift of Vatican II and by the conceptual tools provided by the traditions and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Full article

The polemics of idol worship in John Capgrave’s Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria have been interpreted by previous scholars as either the author’s engagement with the Lollard image controversy or a political critique of Henry VI. This essay, however, shifts the focus from Katherine and her iconoclasm to the concept of divine iconoclasm, defined here not only as the divinely sanctioned or divinely motivated destruction of religious images but also as God’s direct intervention to dismantle false representations and correct human perceptions of the divine. It further argues that Capgrave’s Life redefines sacred space as primarily constructed through light, emphasizing its immateriality and exposing the saint’s physical limitations. In these scenarios, divine iconoclasm emerges as a constructive force that resolves the tension between the secular and the sacred. Moreover, Christ’s celestial manipulation of the vision of sacred space and the relationship between body and space—encouraging confidence while discouraging self-inflation—serves as a model for how a monarch should inspire both love and fear. In this way, Capgrave’s Mirrors for Princes is embedded within his hagiography, where the image debate features prominently, addressing the heated political and theological controversies of his time. By combining these elements, the essay bridges two strands of criticism that have previously treated the political and theological dimensions of the text separately. Full article

“If it wasn’t for the women” is a common refrain in Black Church culture, made most popular by Cheryl Townsend Gilkes’ sociology of religion work in the 1990s. As conversations grow around a perceived disconnection from the church—particularly among younger generations—many Black congregations and denominations are asking the following question: Where do we go from here? One possible response is to ask the women. Black women have long been central to the sustenance and theological framing of the Black Church. However, many contemporary Black women theologians and church-adjacent writers are reshaping religious discourse in ways that move beyond traditional ecclesial boundaries and into the interiority of Black womanhood. This turn should be considered essential in any reimagining of the Black Church. This paper employs content analysis to examine five contemporary works by Black women thinkers—Candice Benbow, Lyvonne Briggs, Tricia Hersey, EbonyJanice Moore, and Cole Arthur Riley—whose writings reflect Black women’s embodied spirituality, theological imagination, cultural meaning-making, and institutional critique within Black religious life. Rather than signaling a decline in moral or spiritual life, their work points to the search for sacred spaces that are more liberative, inclusive, and attuned to lived experience. Through a thematic analysis of Power, Authority, and Institutional Critique; Afrofuturistic Visioning of Faith; Sacred Embodiment and Spiritual Praxis; Language and Rhetorical Strategies; Gender, Sexuality, and Sacred Autonomy; and Liberation, Justice, and Social Transformation, this study contributes to the evolving conversation on Black women’s spirituality, leadership in religious spaces, and a possible iteration of the Black Church. Full article

Faith and conservation are deeply entangled in the Himalayas. Focusing on a single Hindu community in Darchula, Nepal, we investigate the forms of governance used to manage an extensive sacred forest on a nearby mountain and five smaller community forests at its base. To understand the effects of these different models of governance, we use a mixed method approach to examine two indicators of biocultural diversity: forest resource use and spiritual practices. These data reveal a concentrated human impact on the community forests through the harvesting of plant resources, while the sacred forest receives a far smaller impact from these activities. The community considers the sacred forest and mountain to be the home of a local god, who is worshiped in annual pilgrimages attended by people throughout the region. Spiritual practices in the community forests are more localized, small-scale, and associated with women’s traditions. From a biodiversity perspective, the sacred forest appears useful for conservation because of its large size and the spiritual governance that protects it from most human impacts. In terms of biocultural diversity, however, the two forest types play complementary roles in supporting biocultural heritage: the community forests provide the resources required for daily life, while the sacred forest nourishes identity, embodies communal history, and upholds the fertility of the land. The two forest types ultimately blend together in the ways that they are valued and used by people, showing that only a landscape-level perspective can provide a full understanding of the links between forest and community. Full article

In 2002, the Justice and Development Party came to power in Turkey, while Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became its leader in 2003, and both have remained in power until today. Initially, Erdoğan had a predominantly Islamist discourse, and in that period, Islam became gradually more visible in public space and foreign relations. However, that Islamist discourse later increasingly gave way to realpolitik due to domestic requirements and international economic and political changes. This article deals with this transition from Islamism to civil religion and secularism during Erdoğan’s power and explores its nature and characteristics as well as the impact on politics. I suggest that while still sometimes making use of an Islamist rhetoric, Erdoğan’s focus in recent years has been more on various secular–sacred items of civil religion, like homeland, nation (as a chosen people), national flag, (sacralized) state, and, additionally, national development. I examine the civil religion Erdoğan advocates by analyzing his official and casual speeches, interviews he gave, and some of the slogans he used. I also suggest that Erdoğan’s transition to civil religion also represents a shift to secularism, as modern civil religions undermine and subordinate established religions to a great extent and also create their own secular sacredness. Full article

The Autobiography of Saint Marguerite-Marie Alacoque recounts her many visions, ecstasies, and sufferings as she became God’s messenger, initiating the highly successful modern form of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Reading the Autobiography today is difficult, however. She constantly practices forms of obedience, self-control, and self-abuse that are offensive to today’s sensibilities. Her image of Jesus is as her “Master’ and “Sovereign” who desires and demands suffering on the part of those who love him. Her theology of the necessity of repairing God’s wounded honor by suffering is likewise outdated. Finally, the reliance of her message on visions does not inspire trust in an era that generally views visions as symptoms of pathology. This essay proposes that it is possible to discover authentic inspiration in the Autobiography by reading it with the help of several mediating theories. First, Hubert Hermans’ Dialogical Self Theory offers insight into traditional, modern, and postmodern styles of self-construction, thus situating Alacoque’s stories and practices within her time (at the cusp between traditional and modern styles) while offering a glimpse of how she can be understood within our time (at the cusp between modern and postmodern styles). Second, a historically contextualized eucharistic theology of embodied self-giving helps to see past the problematic elements of her theology. Finally, an ecotheological theory of visions suggests a way to understand her visions that may unveil their significance for our own time of crisis. Full article

This study offers an in-depth exploration of the visual representation of Roman Rite liturgical altars in medieval images from the 13th to the 15th centuries, presenting a fresh perspective on the altar as a central and complex element of medieval liturgical furnishings. It examines key iconographic themes, such as the introit Ad te levavi animam meam and masses celebrated by saints, often depicting divine interventions during the Eucharist. Additionally, the research investigates the role of performative visual elements, such as curtains, which contributed to the depiction of sacred space within altar scenes. These visual devices help convey the altar as a space imbued with spiritual significance. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary visual and documentary sources, the study traces the continuity and variation in the altar’s iconography, offering a nuanced understanding of its role in medieval Christian worship. By examining how artists employed visual symbolism to emphasize the sanctity of the altar, this research sheds new light on the ways medieval altars were imagined and represented in the broader context of medieval art. Full article

Medieval writers designated Siena as a “new city”. Seemingly confirming this assessment, the Sienese Church possessed no hagiographic tradition of early bishops that would prove that their urban settlement was a true civitas in late antiquity. As part of their effort to verify that their city had not only Roman but also early Christian origins, the Sienese, primarily spearheaded by lay officials, refashioned the image of their martyr-saint, Ansanus (d. 296). By the thirteenth century, the implication that the lay martyr had baptized the citizens was added to his second Latin passion narrative. Yet, only beginning in the fifteenth century do vernacular passions and images of Ansanus baptizing the Sienese appear, revealing that the baptismal event emerged as a defining point in the sacred history of the city and was communicated to citizens both textually and visually. These were produced at the behest of lay institutions, such as the Opera del Duomo and the communal government. By performing the sacrament of baptism, Ansanus fulfilled a crucial function of a proto-bishop, namely the transformation of the pagan Sienese into a true community of the baptized. Though some Sienese humanists sought to identify the earliest bishops, no episcopal cult was ever established. Considering that the default for other major cities in Italy was to identify and venerate their early bishops, Ansanus’s transformation into “the Baptizer” presents a case study of how saints could be adapted in unconventional ways to fix a problematic civic past. Full article

Humans and more-than-humans experience injustices related to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Nurses hold the power and shared Responsibility (Note on Capitalization: Indigenous Scholars resist colonial grammatical structures and recognize ancestral knowledge by capitalizing references to Indigenous Ways of Knowing (Respect, Relations, and Responsibilities are capitalized to acknowledge Indigenous Mi’kmaw Teachings of our collective Responsibilities to m’sit no’ko’maq (All our Relations). Respect for Land, Nature, Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and the names of Tribes, including the Salmon People and sacred spaces, such as the Longhouse, are also denoted with capitals)) to support the health and well-being of each other and Mother Earth. The heart of the Planetary Health movement to address these impacts centers on an understanding of humanity’s interconnection within Nature. As nurses, we seek partnerships with more-than-human communities to promote personal and collective wellness, Planetary Health, and multispecies justice. This article introduces a longitudinal, collaborative autoethnography of our initial engagement with more-than-human communities. In this research, we utilize reflexive photovoice and shared journals to describe our early conversation about this interconnection with three waterways across diverse geographies. This work acknowledges the importance of relational and embodied Ways of Knowing and Being. We invite nurses to embrace the heart of the Planetary Health movement and share these stories with their more-than-human community partners. Full article

We examined an understudied aspect of religiosity, namely engagement with a sacred text, in relation to a multidimensional construct of well-being. Specifically, we hypothesized that the relationship between Bible use (various ways of utilizing the Bible) and human flourishing would be positive and mediated by three likely outcomes of Bible use: spiritual engagement, positive beliefs about the Bible, and the behavioral influence of the Bible. These relationships were also hypothesized to be reciprocal over time. To test these hypotheses, we estimated three-wave structural equation models using panel survey data from a quasi-experiment that assessed a scripture engagement program developed for the U.S. military members and their families. The results showed that Bible use and human flourishing were positively related, and that this relationship was partially explained by the behavioral influence of the Bible and, to a lesser extent, spiritual engagement and positive beliefs about the Bible. However, these relationships were not reciprocal across all waves. Full article

This article builds on a previous essay and arises from research carried out between the summer of 2018 and the spring of 2020 among pilgrims who had participated in the Camino de Santiago in northwestern Spain and St Patrick’s Purgatory on Lough Derg in the northwest of Ireland. Research focused on embodied experience in relation to pilgrim motivation, groundedness and the enduring power of sacred travel as ritual. Convergent considerations about psychology, theology and pilgrimage studies were deployed as lenses of analysis of the pilgrims’ experience. The findings brought clarity in relation to pilgrims’ motivations and the subsequent satiation experienced as they became more grounded in relation to the physical rituals of the pilgrimage. The experience of full-blooded, fleshy embodiment, the analysis suggests, has considerable psychological dividend and is, the discussion argues, of theological significance, particularly from the perspective of Incarnation. As pilgrimage scholars have noted, a refreshing outcome of 21st Century research is the way in which it has been lifted out of the ‘narrow fields of religious or medieval studies’ and yet the analysis of this study suggests that we not dismiss the enduring possibility of religious quest as a still traceable element in the experience of contemporary pilgrimage. Full article

Indigenous women and children in Canada are significantly more likely to experience some form of family violence than their non-Indigenous counterparts. However, biomedical and academic discussions around the violence that Indigenous women and their families and communities face reflect a colonial narrative emphasizing Euro-Canadian perspectives and values; a colonial narrative that disconnects the role of past and ongoing forms of colonial violence and naturalizes family violence within Indigenous communities, informing a view of Indigeneity as risk. Through a decolonial lens, the underlying causes of family violence in Indigenous communities can be connected to the gendered violence of patriarchal colonialism targeting Indigenous women. It is revealed how Indigenous women’s bodies became a site of the coloniality of violence as colonization disenfranchised and displaced Indigenous women from their lands, communities, and central roles. Gendered colonial violence attacked Indigenous women’s scared status in their societies and disrupted Indigenous relational modes of being. This informed a coloniality of being for Indigenous peoples; a coloniality of being integral to intergenerational trauma and family violence. Through the lens of Indigenous laws as a decolonial approach to family violence, the centrality of Indigenous women’s roles and responsibilities as mothers is linked to community wellbeing and intertwined with leadership and governance. By grounding the rights of Indigenous women within relationships, Indigenous women can reclaim their sacred places within respectful, reciprocal, and interconnected ways of being. Full article

Between the 16th and 17th centuries, the conservative characteristic of rural environments and mountain communities represented one of the main worries of the Larian Church, which, despite the work of reform of religious customs undertaken by the order of preachers in the late Middle Ages (not unrelated to the genesis of the accusation of diabolic witchcraft), it found itself confronted with the shortcomings (from the interference of the laity in religious life to suspicious devotions via the mixture of the sacred and magical animistic legacies) originating from decades of neglect in the management of valley parishes and the laxity of the secular clergy. This concern had to be reconciled, from the first decades of the sixteenth century onward, with the need to counter the Protestant presence. The “singular” way in which diocesan ordinaries sought in the aftermath of the Tridentine Council to re-establish orthopraxy in the only diocese in the peninsula subject to secular authorities of the Reformed faith, and in which an Italophone Protestant community was permanently present for several decades, represents an important case study for understanding the anomaly of the local bishop’s courts (and the inquisition) transformed during this time from bitter enemies of the secta strigiarum into “witch lawyers”, and for illuminating the deeper reasons for the limits of the fight against superstitions in the entire peninsula. Full article