Search

The spread of Christianity to China initiated a process of indigenization, particularly evident in Christian art. This study explores the indigenization of early 20th-century Chinese Christian paintings through literature reviews, case studies, and comparative research. The analysis covers four forms of primary research. First, it explores the indigenization of Christian concepts, tracing their development from the introduction of Nestorian Christianity in the Tang dynasty through the establishment of Fu Jen Catholic University in the Republican era. Matteo Ricci's implementation of the "Ricci Rule" during the late Ming dynasty, subsequently expanded by Celso Costantini, played a crucial role in the indigenous adaptation of Christian painting in China. The second facet focuses on the Beijing Catholic School of Painting, led by Chen Yuandu, a group that innovated Chinese Christian art by integrating local artistic expressions with traditional depictions of saints, assimilating symbols from Chinese literati painting, and preserving time-honored Chinese painting techniques. The third facet examines the strategy behind Christian painting methods. Fourth, this study discusses how the Fu Jen School faced varied reception and evaluations from domestic and international audiences under the complex social currents of the Republic of China and how the artists reflected the national spirit and artistic responsibility in their narrative paintings. Fundamentally, the practice of Christian painting at the early 20th-century Catholic School is not only an innovative artistic endeavor but also a significant case of cultural exchange between East and West and religious localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Âşıks, renowned for their adeptness at improvisational poetry, are viewed as the inheritors of certain shamanic functions within historical contexts. Originally, shamans assumed diverse roles encompassing poetry, medicine, and priesthood before social and religious transformations prompted a gradual shift of the poetic responsibilities, first to individuals termed ozan (bards) and later to âşık, beginning from the 15th to 16th centuries. Âşıks share parallels with shamans in their upbringing, developmental stages toward âşıklık (bardhood), and esteemed societal positions. Their reverence for deceased masters becomes evident in their artistic presentations, wherein they express homage to the memories, and consequently the spirits, of their masters by reciting the works of esteemed âşık masters, notably Köroğlu, during their performances. This practice, referred to as "usta malı söylemek" (the performance of the masters' poems and folk songs) within the Turkish âşık tradition, represents an endeavor to establish a connection with the spirits of ancestors. The resemblance between the tradition of âşıks evolving within the master–apprentice dynamic and shamans invoking the spirits of departed ancestors, embarking on celestial and subterranean journeys empowered by them, and the âşıks' homage to their masters' spirits through recitations of their works, thereby sensing their masters' influence by engaging with them, is striking. This study explores the extent to which contemporary âşıks consciously embrace this resemblance. To this end, a sample group of 34 âşıks residing in diverse regions of Türkiye was interviewed, and the acquired data were analyzed using the document analysis method. Accordingly, all the âşıks who participated in the study were nurtured within the tradition of the master–apprentice relationship akin to shamans. They diligently sought to evoke the spirits of their masters during their performances by reciting masters' poems and songs, reminiscent of shamans invoking the spirits of deceased shaman ancestors through prayers resembling divine verses. Furthermore, while variations specific to different regions and age groups existed among these âşıks, it was observed that consciously reciting the poems of their masters elevated the masters' spirits. Simultaneously, they harbored concerns about the potential harm that neglecting this practice might inflict upon the tradition, themselves, and their surroundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the measurable impact of Buddhist liberal arts courses on college students' ability to engage in self-reflection. This study uses the data gathered to establish, through statistical analysis, any correlations between two variables—Buddhist liberal arts as courses as the independent variable and self-reflection intelligence as the continuous dependent variable. First, the following results of the study show that the mean of the four self-reflection sub-categories for the students who found that the courses were helpful was higher than that of the students who found that they were not helpful: self-awareness (4.10 ± 0.49 > 3.90 ± 0.87), self-design (3.84 ± 0.66 > 3.40 ± 0.97), self-regulation (4.01 ± 0.04 > 3.48 ± 0.18), and self-examination (4.21 ± 0.03 > 3.94 ± 0.15), respectively. Second, the mean of the four self-reflection sub-categories for students who experienced a positive change of their perception in the courses was higher than that of students who experienced a negative change, as follows: self-awareness (4.08 ± 0.50 > 3.75 ± 0.82), self-design (3.84 ± 0.68 > 3.51 ± 0.93), self-regulation (4.00 ± 0.59 > 3.56 ± 0.67), and self-examination (4.17 ± 0.49 > 4.04 ± 0.73), respectively. This study illuminates the role of Buddhist-related liberal arts courses in higher education, specifically in fostering students' self-reflection skills. It offers valuable insights into educational practices aimed at enhancing self-reflection levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses Roger Scruton's understanding of what he called "moments of revelation". In two short essays, both entitled "Effing the ineffable", Scruton framed his discussion of moments of revelation with reference to the medieval Christian mystical discourse. Introducing the medieval discussion of this topic, this study provides an analysis of Scruton's approach to the theme. In tune with the traditional discourse on revelation, his general aim was to demonstrate that there are ways of revealing important truths about the supernatural, of the world "beyond the window", that do not require words to be pronounced. He calls our experiences of such phenomena moments of revelation and identifies four different transitory sources of revelation. This study deals with them one by one, after considering whether it is right to label such a revelation transcendental. The four sources of Scruton's moments of revelation are natural beauty, the beauty of painting, the beauty of music, and personal encounters. The first three examples are connected to his thoughts on art and beauty as a substitute of divine revelation. Perhaps the most surprising of these is the last ones, moments of intersubjective human relationships, "our knowledge of each other". Relying on both Buber and Levinas, Scruton makes the strong claim that it is in the other that we can experience that world "beyond the window". His phenomenological exploration of human encounters sheds light on concepts like grace, shekhinah, or real presence and gift. He explains the Christian understanding of the human–divine relationship as well along the lines of the nature of interpersonal human relationship, both of them being in a certain sense, he claims, transcendental. From grace, his account moves forward to self-sacrifice and finally arrives at his idiosyncratic understanding of gratefulness for life. His moments of revelation in art and interpersonal exchange turn out to be, indeed, late and secular versions of the Christian understanding of revelation. In its summary, this study claims that revelation, understood by Scruton as a form of general human experience, allows to catch a glimpse of that which is beyond the window, by the direct, sensually based experience of either the existence of another person or of the beauty of nature and art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period between 1080 and 1160 saw an explosion in monastic construction throughout Western Europe. The textual sources from this period document this building boom and explicitly tie construction and refurbishment to monastic reform and the creation of spaces for spiritual renewal. Newly built or remodeled monasteries and churches were richly decorated with wall paintings and monumental sculpture and inscriptions. A new form of sculpture emerged during this period of increased construction—the historiated capital. Despite their small size, capitals in the eleventh and twelfth centuries were frequently decorated with figures of humans or animals, and these images usually referred to a narrative, with lapidary inscriptions serving as commentary to the images. This article will compare two capitals depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac to consider how location and movement around the capitals direct the interpretation and understanding of the narrative scenes and accompanying epigraphy. One capital is in the narthex of Saint-Seurin at Bordeaux, while the other is in the choir of Sainte-Foy at Conques. My analysis involves making connections between the location of the capital within the architectural space and its relationship to other sculpted imagery, monastic interpretations of their spaces, and the liturgical events that took place within those spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research delves into the intricacies of the "Buddha Story Stele" in Cave 133 of the Maiji Mountain Grottoes, China, examining the sculptural combinations and conceptual nuances rooted in Buddhist culture from the 5th to the 6th centuries CE. The research focuses on discerning the identities of the "Two Adjacent-Seated Buddhas" and the Cross-Legged Bodhisattva carved on the stele, concurrently delving into the embedded symbolic significance within its structural composition. Our investigation posits that the upper, middle, and lower segments of the "Buddha Story Stele" respectively symbolize the post-Nirvana Dharmakāya Shakyamuni, the Bodhisattva Shakyamuni, and the Buddha Shakyamuni of Sumedha. Advancing scholarly discourse, it reevaluates the Cross-Legged Bodhisattva's identity and the configuration of the "Two Adjacent-Seated Buddhas", elucidating the interplay of imagery and conceptual themes. This study provides pivotal insights into the sculptural arrangement and religious thought transmission in the Maiji Mountain Grottoes, contributing significant academic and cultural value to preserve this unique heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of analogia entis has undergone a long intellectual development and gained unprecedented importance in the twentieth century with the elaboration of Przywara. It seems difficult to correlate the development of this classical theological idea with Thomas Merton (1915–1968). Nevertheless, in the face of the challenges of the modern world, Merton's way of thinking resonates with many of the connotations of analogia entis as articulated by Przywara. This paper attempts to argue that Merton, in his late works, alludes to the metaphysics, epistemology, and, by extension, the methodology of inter-religious dialogue that analogia entis entails by elaborating on the ideas of natural contemplation, symbolism, and metaphysical intuition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has played a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of cloisonné enamel production in China during the 19th and 20th centuries. However, Christian workshops, whether operating under missionary subcontracting or owned by the Catholic Church, have yet to be accurately identified and contextualized. This article delves into three significant contexts. Firstly, it identifies and contextualizes the Christian connections and interactions of the Decheng private cloisonné workshop, involving the French Lazarist Bishop Alphonse Favier, in Beijing. Secondly, it identifies the cloisonné workshop stablished by the Lazarists in the Beitang complex in Beijing and elucidates the role it played. Finally, this paper presents new evidence concerning cloisonné Christian objects crafted by the Tushanwan Jesuit workshop in Shanghai. Some of the primary works of these three workshops are identified for the first time. Additionally, this paper shows that certain cloisonné crosses, some of them thought to be originally Japanese, including those referred to as Namban, were, in fact, crafted in Beijing during the 1920s. These preliminary results will contribute to placing Chinese Christian cloisonné within the history of Chinese Art and its interactions at a global level in the context of evangelization in China, the production of the so-called export art, and the processes of indigenization carried out by the Lazarists and the Jesuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heresies are intrinsically intertwined with the evolution and inner growth of the very religions that denounce them. They serve as theological junctures, challenging and thus refining the orthodoxy of religious beliefs. The Pelagian heresy touches on one of the central tenets of Christian theology: the question of salvation. Pelagianism posits that human beings retain freedom of the will and, more specifically, the capacity to earn salvation through their own merits rather than relying solely on the grace of God in Christ. This stands in contrast to the predominant Christian view that Original Sin fundamentally impaired man's will and intellect. A central tenet of Christianity is that through His suffering and death on the Cross, Christ atoned for humanity's Original Sin and paved the way for our redemption. But what exactly made this redemption possible through the suffering and death on the Cross? Unlike many of the answers offered, Abelard's explanation, also referred to as exemplarism, resonates with modern sensibilities: Christ set an example to imitate, and through this imitation, man learns humility and love. However, this stance faced criticism and was condemned by Bernard of Clairvaux as having Pelagian tendencies because it suggests that Christ's redemptive work might not inherently require Christ's divine nature. This study will attempt to defend the exemplaristic approach while ensuring Christ's essential role and addressing criticisms against the Pelagian heresy. This discussion is further enriched by an examination of the Eucharist, illuminating the theological tension between symbolic and realistic interpretations of religious rites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the region where the Precious Scrolls of Hexi (Hexi Baojuan) are recited, people often use the Precious Scrolls (Baojuan) as a tool to pray for peace and happiness, to prevent plagues and calamities, and to heal ailments. By creating a sacred healing field, the rituals of Hexi Baojuan materialize, symbolize, and sanctify the space to expel disasters and cure illnesses. Through the mechanism of imagination and symbolism, its functions of averting disasters and curing diseases become apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For all the important theological and practical diversity which emerged during the sixteenth century and later, a diversity whose legacies are still present in the forms of divided Christian bodies to this day, a uniquely medieval fascination with the cross endured. The reformation movements of the sixteenth century and later Protestants developed various ascetical programs and theological perspectives which were concerned with two well-worn medieval patterns: an appropriation of Jesus's work of atonement on the cross and an internalizing of the crucified Jesus as an exemplar. Thus, if we question the kind of role Jesus played in the spirituality of the Reformation era and later Protestantism, the answer must be the cross. This cruci-centrism appears in theologies of salvation, in sermons, prayers, and hymnody, in perceptions of Christian devotional art, and in varied conceptions of the Eucharist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Four Heavenly Kings, Sida Tianwang 四大天王, are the guardians of the four quarters of the world in Buddhism. They are among the most frequently represented protective deities in Buddhist art across different traditions. In their standard iconographies developed in China popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), they wear full armor, and each holds exclusive attributes—lute (pipa 琵琶), sword, snake, and parasol—from the east, south, west, to the north respectively. There is no direct textual base in the Chinese cannon for such iconographies. Neither can we find prototypes in India or central Asia. Indeed, how did this iconographic group develop in China? In the past, since the standard iconographies of the Four Heavenly Kings are clear, and identification is no problem, comprehensive in-depth study on this is lacking. Actually, those attributes came from a Tantric tradition related to Tibetan Buddhism filtered through the Xi Xia (1036–1227) and Yuan (1206–1368). What revealed in the development of this iconography is the complex relationship among the Tibetan, Tanguts, Mongols, and Chinese Buddhism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike a modern archaeological excavation of a Buddhist hoard, this article focuses on a collection of free-standing Buddhist images retrieved from at least four unofficial and intermittent excavations between 1882 and the 1950s. The excavation site in question is associated with the former site of Wanfosi, a historical monastery that has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times from the early Tang to late Qing. By examining various sources, including antiquarian scholarships, local gazetteers, pre-modern maps, and important Buddhist images found within the hoard, I aim to provide essential information that pertains to modern archaeology. This article seeks to address issues such as the accurate identification of the excavation location, the provenance of all materials from a single Buddhist hoard, the historical lineage of the monastery from which insights are gathered into the image cache, and the noteworthy observation that the preservation of the pre-Tang images occurred long before the final burial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myths and mythological figures serve as cultural symbols that people live by and emulate. Śravaṇ Kumār is one such mythological figure. He carried his blind parents on his shoulders and, with great hardships, tried to fulfil their wish for a pilgrimage. However, before he could complete the journey, he met a tragic end at the hands of Prince Daśrath. Due to his devotion to his parents, he is revered as an ideal youth in the Indian Hindu context. One wonders what values are conveyed about a society that has, for centuries now, idealised the tragic mythical figure of Śravaṇ Kumār? What could be the underlying fascination with the tragic story of Śravaṇ Kumār, his parents, and the guilt-ridden prince responsible for their tragic deaths and the subsequent ordeal the prince's son Rām had to endure in accordance with a curse? This paper reinterprets this myth and examines its relevance in contemporary times. The reinterpretation of the myth is further discussed in connection with the relevant psychoanalytic identity development theories, keeping in view the adolescents in the urban metropolitan context in India. The paper concludes by discussing the significance of having relevant mythical and cultural ideals for the identity development of youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mural scene under discussion illustrates Bodhisatva Siddhārtha's descent into Māyā's womb, a scene that is also named Māyā's Dream in art historical studies. Painted as the start of the Buddha's life sequence in Kizil Cave 110, it is the sole extant case of this story motif in Kucha. Its significance rests on the fact that it bridges Indian and Chinese pictorial traditions in its representation of the miraculous conception of Buddha's last life. This article analyses the mural's narrative elements in terms of Indian archetypes, as well as local innovations. The portrayal of Siddhārtha entering the mother-to-be's womb while riding an elephant is compared with its counterpart motif in Chinese Buddhist art from the mid 5th century. The approach will address the drastic textual and pictorial transformations between the Indian prototype, "Siddhārtha as the elephant", and the Chinese version, "Siddhārtha on the elephant", in the conception episode, which reflects the transmission of the Indian belief in embryogenesis and its adaption by non-Indian peoples in Central Asia and China. Reinvestigating this picture and several pertinent literary works, the article attempts to delineate one link in that transformation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Huayan sutras are important historical references for the Chinese worship of the Rocana Buddha; however, these Huayan sutras provide little help in understanding the worship for the larger Rocana triad (i.e., Rocana Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas) in niche no. 5 at the Feilai Feng complex. The Rocana triad images are primarily linked to the Buddhist texts written by Chinese monks which established the principle for teaching the Huayan ritual during the Tang period. With regard to the iconographic characteristics of the two bodhisattvas of the triad in niche no. 5, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra rides an elephant, while the bodhisattva Manjusri rides a lion. They are associated with Buddhist texts and artistic productions beyond the Huayan school and are possibly related to esoteric Buddhism. Similarly, the crowned Rocana seen in niche no. 5 is likely derived from an older tradition dating to the Tang and Five Dynasties periods. Similar descriptions can be found in esoteric Buddhist texts and images. Nevertheless, niche no. 5 is the earliest extant example of such a Rocana triad, wherein the triad is represented by a central crowned Buddha with a special hand gesture or mudra, who is flanked by two bodhisattvas riding animals. From niche no. 5, one can see the development of the Huayan Rocana triad within the tenth century. The combination of elements seen in this niche also indicates that Buddhist artists were not limited by the boundaries of different schools or teachings when they created a new form of iconography. The specific iconography of niche no. 5 can be linked to the Han-style Buddhist artistic traditions from previous periods, such as the Tang, Five Dynasties/Wuyue Kingdom. Ultimately, the contemporary Northern Song capital, Kaifeng, was likely the most direct influence. The Rocana Buddhist triad at niche no. 5 is reflected in the iconography of the same triad installed at the Huiyin monastery at a later time during the Northern Song Dynasty. In turn, the similarities between the images in niche no. 5 and those from other regions, such as Sichuan, Yunnan, Korea and Japan, reveal the connection between the Huiyin monastery and these other sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When studied in political and ideological contexts, the numerous references to the Virgin Mary in Machiavelli's comedic masterpiece Mandragola enable us to see how the author not only parodies a sacred play, but also deftly repurposes Christological and Mariological symbolism to celebrate his work's unnamed referent: the first Medici pope, Leo X. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the cultural integration of Indian Buddhist art and Chinese Buddhist art, standing Buddha statues carved in-the-round with thin, tight-fitting robes require special attention. Unlike other types of Buddha statues found in China, they are depicted wearing robes of a foreign style, while displaying the facial and body features of East Asians. These statues, which were excavated on the Shandong Peninsula in the last century, are believed to have been carved during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550–577). After years of academic exploration, the transmission route, transit point and reasons for their introduction into Shandong remain unclear, which are topics that this paper aims to address. According to typology analysis, the Buddha statues in question can be divided into three types, and their foreign counterparts have been identified through the iconology comparisons of Chinese and foreign Buddha statues. From this, in chronological order, the transmission route of three Buddha statue types can be inferred, namely from India to the Shandong Peninsula via the Malay Peninsula, the Mekong Delta and the southeastern coast of China. The route of contemporaneous Indian monks travelling from the east to the Northern Dynasties, as recorded in Chinese historical documents and the Buddhist Canon, verifies this conclusion. Along this route, the north-central Malay Peninsula is one of the main transit points where the Buddha statues were locally adapted and then spread further east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the question of how religious symbolism functions to provide a more meaningful or enriched experience of life. It examines a common and highly influential view, referred to here as the "source model", for which this function requires the addition to experience of transcendent meanings generated by rituals and other specially adapted kinds of symbolic activity. Using Robert Bellah's Religion in Human Evolution and Clifford Geertz's "Religion as a Cultural System" as representative examples, I critique a key premise of the source model, namely that the meaning-making function of religious symbolism evolved in response to a universal experience of life as problematic. I argue that the experience of life as problematic is a product of symbolism, not a precondition. Moreover, with respect to this experience, I propose that symbolism functions not to add meaning but to enhance meanings that are vaguely discerned in everyday life. I close with the suggestion that an enhanced experience of life as problematic is itself a kind of enriched meaning and an important source of the affective power of religious practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining religious and national symbolism is not a new phenomenon. There are known examples of countries where there were or still are connections between nationality and religion. Pilgrimage centres are examples of symbolic religious landscapes based on the presence of the sacred. Such anthropogenic landscapes are a visible result of culture formed under the influence of religion, a special spiritual and often national heritage expressed through sacred objects, visual evidence of religiousness and, likewise, national identity. Here, we present a detailed analysis of religious and patriotic symbolism present in the largest pilgrimage centres in Poland. Additionally, the paper discusses a. the historical and socio-cultural conditions of the presence and significance of these elements in religious landscapes; b. the strong relationships between religiousness and the sense of national identity, and c. the resulting significant importance of pilgrimage centres in the development and consolidation of a sense of national identity. Symbolic elements in the analysed pilgrimage centres refer to both universal religious content and cults popular in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as to the identity of the analysed places. In addition to religious symbolism, national and patriotic symbols often occur in Polish sanctuaries. Their occurrence is historically conditioned and, to a large extent, results from the strong ties between religiousness and national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When monastics of the Indic North and Northwest around the turn of the Common Era made the decision to introduce art into monasteries, current cultural assumptions regarding the aesthetic experience of such objects, which were axiomatically negated by Buddhist ideology, led to certain confrontations in law and praxis and an attempt to resolve these within certain monastic legal codes (vinaya) redacted during this period. Tracing the historical relation between monasticism and art in this context, this paper focuses on two such uneasy relations. The first deals with an opposition between the worldly aesthetics of pleasure associated with art and fashion and the aesthetics of asceticism as a representation of monasticism's renunciate ideal. The second considers the aesthetics of fear associated with images of deities, the rejection of such objects as mere signs, and the resulting acts of theft and iconoclasm enacted upon them. It will show that resolution to both was sought in a particular semiotic which negated the aesthetic experience of such objects and rendered them signs with a significance that accorded with Buddhist ideology. Yet the solution remained incomplete, with issues arising when the same ideology was applied to monasticism's own representation in the art of monasteries, stūpas and Buddha-images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A glimpse of the history of Islamic art indicates that Sufism and mysticism have long been among the most important intellectual and spiritual currents influencing Persian art and architecture. Accordingly, re-reading the symbolic concepts as well as the mystical and spiritual semiotics and seeking their reflection in the body of architecture is an obligatory instruction that should be considered in the process of architectural design. In this research, the authors endeavor to investigate the semiology in the physical elements of Sheikh Lotf-Allah Mosque in Isfahan and its relationship with Rumi's mysticism using inferential–analytical methods and based on library studies and empirical observations. This research found that the Sheikh Lotf-Allah Mosque was constructed according to the mystical opinions of Rumi in order to demonstrate the semantic values of different levels of the universe in its physical form, structure and configuration. According to the findings, the use of Rumi's mysticism propagates a God-centered semantic spirit to the body of Persian architectural elements, which always reminds human beings of their true home, which is the heavenly world. According to Rumi, the nature of architecture is beyond the material, and it is God-centered contemplation that turns the architecture into magnificent buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many recent studies show that during the early Joseon dynasty, even kings who externally appeared strongly anti-Buddhist defended or condoned royal relatives who sponsored Buddhist works. Extant sutras produced under court sponsorship attest to this fact. An analysis of the production of court Buddhist prints, focusing on the King Sejo era when a particularly large number of Buddhist projects were completed, yields diverse information such as changes in the style of Buddhist prints and their causes, as well as the intentions of the sponsors. This article examines the creation of new iconography and other aspects of Buddhist prints sponsored by the royal family during the early Joseon period, focusing on the print in the Record of the Manifestation of Avalokitesvara, published during the reign of King Sejo. This new iconography was created at a time that, according to the intentions of the sponsor, clearly attests that the independent creation of iconography did occur in Joseon Buddhist prints, which were mostly considered to be reproductions made by copying the woodblocks of existing prints. Moreover, the projection of the ruler onto Buddhist images as a way to strengthen power shows that Joseon shared perceptions with other countries that sought to use Buddhism as a means of rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document, titled "Medieval Christian Religion and Art," explores the formation and evolution of various iconographic types in Christian art during the Middle Ages. The articles in this issue cover topics such as the representation of Joseph and the Woman of the Apocalypse, the allegorical representation of the virtue of Temperance, and the demonic possession of Judas and Mary Magdalene. The authors approach these topics from an interdisciplinary perspective, considering the cultural and historical context of the images. The importance of the miniature as a cultural artifact is also highlighted. Additionally, the document examines the prominence of images of Mary and explores the imagery and devotion associated with various saints. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the place of music in the classical liberal arts curriculum, which consists of the trivium (the arts of language) and the quadrivium (the arts of number). Music is part of the quadrivial disciplines and studied as applied arithmetic. However, as argued in this article, it is also a bridge to the discipline of rhetoric, which is part of the trivium. The article begins with a brief review of St. Augustine's De Musica, the first in a planned (but unrealized) series of dialogs on the value of the classical liberal arts to the emerging Christian culture of Antiquity. It proceeds to a discussion of music and its relation to the contemporary American liberal arts curriculum. Two case studies follow that address the ontological reality of music as a time-bound medium, and attempts to mute this reality in the service of creating a sense of timelessness. Thus subsuming the temporal into the Divine–what Augustine called "a poem of the universe". The first case study is Dante Alighieri's Paradiso, which is a journey through the heavens with each planet representing one of the seven liberal arts as preparatory to the Beatific Vision. The second case study focuses on J.S. Bach's attempts to create a sense of timelessness in the St. Matthew Passion by the use of musical forms and musical rhetorical devices that tend to abolish time. The article concludes with suggestions on how teachers can use 20th and 21st-century movements in Western art music as pathways to appreciate music's pivotal role in the Catholic liberal arts tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the apparent chaos that ensued at Ajaṇṭā during the so-called "period of disruption" in the wake of King Hariṣeṇa's death (ca. 478–480 CE), local monks and residents in the caves continued to sponsor the donation of what we term "intrusive" images after the late Walter Spink. These new donations consisted of hundreds of Buddha images, a few of which retain today painted or incised dedicatory inscriptions in Sanskrit. Many of these images represent the Buddha preaching and seated in the "auspicious pose" (bhadrāsana) on the conventional lion throne with his legs down. In this article, the author focuses on the images accompanied by inscriptions since they provide a better understanding of the reuse of consecrated caves, and of the nature of this new and brief iconographic development implemented by local Buddhist residents. The sudden appearance of Bhadrāsana Buddhas seems indeed to correlate with a rise to prevalence of Mahāyāna Buddhist practices at Ajaṇṭā during the late Middle Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rubric of the presence of Buddhist sculpture in the absence of an actual deity represents an admirable aspect of Buddhist art, especially sculpture, where the best works have drawn on this paradox in an astounding fashion. An important element in the realization of this religious archetype is the Buddhist statues' sublime poses. This article demonstrates the Buddhist posture hierarchy, based on a case study of a Tang-Dynasty Chinese Buddhist Bronze collected by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, the posture of which is identified as lalitāsana: one leg pendant and the other bent horizontally. This article shows how this pose engendered various other compositional situations and postures popular in East Asia icon design and, moreover, that this sculpture might form part of an assemblage, where the pose indicates the central Buddha figure, to which all of the other figures are formally and doctrinally posed following a hierarchy. This article argues that Buddhist figures of different religious ranks are characterized by their pose and degree of movement. This research proves that the myriad forms of Buddhist postures and hierarchy have been devised to illustrate mythologies and philosophical, doctrinal, or social concepts, and their representations, in turn, have engendered other myths and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a time when the minimalist emptiness of many contemporary church buildings rightly encounters criticism for its incapacity to create a sacred atmosphere, it is good to plead again for sacred emptiness as a religious symbol in its own right. Because this term concerns the apophatic dimension of religion and the importance of mystery and transcendence in daily life, it is not just an important question for architects but for anybody who considers the meaning of religion today. This article recovers first the insights of two thinkers of the twentieth century who pleaded for sacred emptiness, the Protestant theologian Paul Tillich and the Roman Catholic architect Rudolf Schwarz, before examining the fruitfulness of sacred emptiness for church architecture today. The conclusions of this research will be that their approaches are complementary and that their plea for sacred emptiness has gained importance today but must be answered in a new way. Some contemporary case studies of sacred space by renowned architects demonstrate the importance of sacred emptiness. At first, it is still anonymous, but gradually, through the mystagogical interaction with visitors and users, sacred emptiness gains more definite meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates two issues regarding the Buddhism of premodern Japanese martial arts. The first issue concerns the historical channels through which Buddhist elements were adopted into martial lineages, and the second pertains to the general character of the Buddhism that can be found in the various martial art initiation documents (densho). As for the first issue, while previous scholarship underscored Shugendō (mountain asceticism) as an important factor in the earliest phases of the integration process of Buddhist elements in martial schools, this study focuses on textual evidence that points to what is referred to as "medieval Shinto"—a Shinto tradition that heavily relied on Esoteric Buddhist (Mikkyō) teachings—in scholarship. Regarding the second issue, although numerous studies have already shown the indebtedness of premodern martial schools to Buddhist teachings drawn mainly from the Esoteric Buddhist or Zen traditions, this article sheds more light on the nature of these teachings by drawing attention to the fact that they often emphasize the Buddhist thought of isshin or "One Mind". The article illustrates how this thought was adopted in premodern martial art texts and in doing so clarifies the reasons why Buddhism was valued in those arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, the curation of Islamic art and artifacts has been crossed by tensions at both the theoretical and practical level. Not only has it been continuously grappling with the Orientalist legacy, but it has also been operating in a global contemporaneity affected by multiple conflicts engendering a misperception of Muslims and Islam by non-Muslims. With this heavy background, this curation has been pursuing three main objectives: educating the public, decolonizing the museum, and reaching out to the Muslim communities and refugees living in non-Muslim societies. However, in the West, which remains worldly influential in the domain of heritage management, the first two objectives drove curators to engage in problematic practices, most notably the suppression of what we may call the "religious plot" in the exhibits' narrative. Moreover, while the educational impulse led to a secular didactic scholasticism erected as the supreme exhibitory norm, the decolonizing enterprise took on an ideological turn in the form of a neo-postcolonial discourse at odds with a reality that has considerably changed since the seventies. Contesting the "being Islamic" of the material curated, this discourse separates religion from culture, thus relegating the faith to a theme among other multiple themes in the museum displays. That this state of affairs is problematic appears in crude light as, in the last decade, a new Muslim-led curatorship has been challenging this secularist curatorial politics. Re-centering Islam in the representational emplotment regarding Islamic culture in the exhibitory space and experimenting in the installations' design to this effect, this curatorship, this essay's author believes, holds the future of Islamic museology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about Catholicism in the Philippines, highlighting the events and objects of the popular devotion to the Black Christ Nazarene of Manila, popularly known as Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno of Quiapo or NPJN. What are the motivations of the devotees? How have the religious practices changed over time in Quiapo? This study also calls for more scholarly attention to the historical and religious connection between the Philippines and Mexico, so that through them we can better understand how Filipinos reimagined Baroque Catholicism. In addition to commercial goods, the Manila Galleon facilitated the first transpacific people-to-people exchange along with their ideas, and the transmission and transplantation of Catholicism to the Philippines. This study is both historical and ethnographic, using sources from the archives and research materials collected in the Philippines, Mexico, and Spain. Although the devotion to NPJN is central to the arguments of this paper, the discussion takes a broader consideration of Quiapo, a district of Manila as a shared space for performing the sacred vow or PSV, popularly known as panata. This analytical step is consistent with the main argument of this study, that consideration of the PSV particular to Jesus Christ is crucial to understanding the historical and religious connections and how popular Catholicism has changed in the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā is a Mahāyāna dharmaparyāya and is the eighth chapter of the great canonical collection of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Mahāsaṃnipāta. The text is lost in the original Indic, but survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations, with several passages of the Sanskrit version preserved as quotations in later commentaries. It has been regarded as an authoritative canonical source throughout the intellectual history of Mahāyāna Buddhism, but scant scholarly attention has been paid to this important text. Thus, this paper aims to provide a concise yet comprehensive introduction of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā, including its textual history, its basic structure, and its reception in Indian, Tibetan, and East Asian Buddhist traditions. It also examines how the fundamental concepts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, such as emptiness, endlessness, and imperishability, are signified in the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā by the image of the sky (Skt. gagana), the central metaphor of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine Hungary's Catholic arts industry and its material practices of cultural production: the institutions and professional disciplines through which devotional material objects move as they become embedded in political processes of national construction and contestation. Ethnographic data come from thirty-six months of fieldwork in Hungary and Transylvania, and focuses on three museum and gallery exhibitions of Catholic devotional objects. Building on critiques of subjectivity- and embodiment-focused research, I highlight how the institutional legacies of state socialism in Hungary and Romania inform a national politics of Catholic materiality. Hungarian cultural institutions and intellectuals have been drawn to work with Catholic art because Catholic material culture sustains a meaningful presence across multiple scales of political contestation at the local, regional, and state levels. The movement of Catholic ritual objects into the zone of high art and cultural preservation necessitates that these objects be mobilized for use within the political agendas of state-embedded institutions. Yet, this mobilization is not total. Ironies, confusions, and contradictions continue to show up in Transylvanian Hungarians' historical memory, destabilizing these political uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddhist art became the focus of discussion when Japanese scholars began to construct Korean art history as an academic discipline. This paper presents a case study of how a particular Buddhist site, Mount Nam in Kyŏngju, was recognized, researched, and represented during the colonial period (1910–1945). By analyzing representative Japanese publications on the subject, I argue that there existed disconnection between the colonial government and the site-researchers. I re-evaluate the conventional narrative that the colonizers regarded Buddhist statues as "art" removed from their original religious setting. This paper reveals a more layered picture of the early years of historical discourse on the so-called Buddha Mountain and Buddhist sculptures of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article places Dmitry Merezhkovsky's Chiliastic concept of Three Testaments into a unified structure. The author analyzes the writer's integral system of Christological, anthropological, and historiosophicidiomyths and meta-symbols. He studies the religious, philosophical, and aesthetic genesis of the semantic transformation of traditional theological constructions and the doctrinal compilation of Russian fin de siècle culture dominant elements. It is shown how religious Modernist mythmaking alters political reality in Merezhkovsky's mind and draws him towards radical ideologies of the extreme left and right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rites of Initiation in early medieval Ireland have been studied only with reference to contemporary texts; recourse to other sources, most notably the substantial corpus of extant high crosses, has not been made. Here it will be demonstrated that the iconography and programmatic arrangement of the depictions of Noah's Ark, the Baptism of Christ, and the Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace can significantly advance theological and liturgical understanding of the early medieval rites of baptism and ordination in this region, indicating the central role of these biblical events and their associated literatures in these contexts. It will be further suggested that this relationship between text, image, and ritual points to the role of the high crosses in facilitating the liturgical rites of the early medieval Irish Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liturgical worship has at times been controversial within parts of the Christian tradition. This article uses phenomenology—especially the thought of Paul Ricœur, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Gabriel Marcel—to analyse, evaluate, and respond to five common objections to liturgy by those who reject it: (1) the absence of freedom and spontaneity, (2) the absence of authenticity, (3) the use of symbols to mediate the divine, (4) the use of the liturgical calendar, and (5) liturgy's repetitive nature. This article concludes that those who practice liturgy have something to learn from each objection, but that none of the objections invalidates liturgy. On the contrary, what phenomenology teaches us about the human condition suggests that liturgy is more suitable than forms of worship that try to do without it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viacheslav Ivanov (1866, Moscow–1949, Rome) is one of the most prominent Russian symbolist poets and a leading theorist of symbolism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The article demonstrates that Ivanov understood art (and, more broadly, aesthetic experience) as one of the most effective forms of contact between the human being and the spiritual world, as well as with its first cause. Ivanov distinguishes between three "aesthetic principles" of the universe, which all together constitute "the beautiful"—the sublime, beauty, and the chaotic—and links them to the three stages of being of the artist in the process of creative activity. The artist first passes through the chthonian, subconscious stage of demonic chaos. Next, artists undergo the process of ascent into the ideal, spiritual sphere, where they gain experience, which cannot be expressed in words. After that, the process of the descent of the artist towards the earth takes place, where artists attempt to express in the form of artistic symbols the experience that they have acquired. Ivanov sees the artistic symbol as a materially given structure, which nevertheless cannot be described in words. This structure not only expresses a spiritual essence, but also really and energetically manifests it. Hence, Ivanov sees the creator of high, symbolic art ("realist symbolism") as an artist-theurge (theurgy is the art of the future, of the future mystery on the basis of a synthesis of the arts that receives divine assistance), who contributes to the augmentation of being. For the recipient, the artistic symbol is anagogical (from the Greek ἀναγογή, "leading up"). It leads one up from the real world to a more real one (a realibus ad realiora). According to Ivanov, both the symbol and its content, myth, are of divine origin; they are "embodiments of the divine truth." Therefore, high art is one of the principal ways of one's ascent to spiritual reality by means of sensory reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The final 15 folios of the Nepalese illuminated palm-leaf manuscript of the Sanskrit Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra of c. 1100 have more paintings per page, larger picture planes, and different types of scenes than are found on the leaves surviving from the first 340 folios. One example is Folio 348 in the Cleveland Museum of Art, which has been painted with scenes of a bodhisattva tossing a blue-skinned heretic, an unusual image of a monk or upāsika wearing blue robes, and a Vajrācārya priest setting a Hindu rishi ablaze. From the point of view of the Mahāyāna Buddhist makers of this manuscript, these figures may personify the wrong views that derail pilgrims on the bodhisattva path to enlightenment. The dramatic shift in imagery appears to reflect the transition from the end of the inspirational pilgrimage of Sudhana to the popular, protective dhāraṇī verses of the Bhadracarī that form the finale to the text. The scenes of destruction and elimination of heretical figures correspond with sentiments in the Bhadracarī, indicating that the artists understood the structure and content of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a selection of examples from the sculptural art of Andhra, the paper discusses what possibly motivated the inclusion of motifs and stylistic elements from the ancient Mediterranean into the Buddhist art of the region. While in some cases such adaptations may have been driven by the need to find suitable solutions for the depiction of critical events or by the fact that a foreign motif tied in perfectly with already existing concepts, and thus, reinforced the message to be conveyed, in other cases no such reasons can be detected. Artists seem to have used foreign image types and stylistic variations deliberately to show their supreme craftsmanship or to add aesthetic sophistication to the image programme. The artists of Andhra, therefore, can by no means be regarded as epigones slavishly adhering to the examples set by the Mediterranean; the region—which is the place where narratives later spreading over large parts of Asia and Europe were first depicted—rather has to be regarded as on par with the classical cultures of Greece and Rome in terms of artistic versatility and creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Asia, cobras are the animals most dangerous to humans—as humans are to cobras. Paradoxically, one threat to cobras is their worship by feeding them milk, which is harmful to them, but religiously prescribed as an act of love and tenderness towards a deity. Across cultural and religious contexts, the Nāgas, mostly cobra-shaped beings, are prominent among Hindu and Buddhist deities. Are they seen as animals? Doing ethnographic fieldwork on a Himalayan female Nāga Goddess, this question has long accompanied me during my participant observation and interviews, and I have found at least as many possible answers as I have had interview partners. In this article, I trace the ambiguous relationship between humans, serpents and serpent deities through the classical Sanskrit literature, Hindu and Buddhist iconographies and the retelling of myths in modern movies, short stories, and fantasy novels. In these narrations and portrayals, Nāgas are often "real" snakes, i.e., members of the animal kingdom—only bigger, shape-shifting or multi-headed and, curiously, thirsty for milk. The article focuses on those traits of Nāgas which set them apart from animals, and on those traits that characterize them as snakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper will concentrate on the lion featured in Vittore Carpaccio's Meditation on the Passion. The multiple meanings of the lion in primary sources will serve as a key towards demonstrating the concept of prophecy, one of the multi-level meanings referring to all three figures featured in the painting—Job, Christ and St. Jerome. To this, an interpretation not discussed hitherto with reference to the Meditation will be added—the lion as alluding to the concept of wisdom as referred to in the book of Job. Furthermore, the lion and the wisdom will be discussed as an allusion to the self-image of Venice during the period in which the painting was executed, and thus add another, social and civic, reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dante's Divine Comedy is frequently taught in core curriculum programs, but the mixture of classical and Christian symbols can be confusing to contemporary students. In teaching Dante, it is helpful for students to understand the concept of noumenal truth that underlies the symbol. In re-telling the Ulysses' myth in Canto XXVI of The Inferno, Dante reveals that the details of the narrative are secondary to the spiritual truth he wishes to convey. Dante changes Ulysses' quest for home and reunification with family in the Homeric account to a failed quest for knowledge without divine guidance that results in Ulysses' destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with interpretations of images on silver ecclesiastical objects from the Southern Andes dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The silverworks communicate contents on a nonverbal level and are integrated into ritual acts in the context of church services; this facilitates associations with non-Christian beliefs. If the images are studied by means of a combination of various analytical levels, transcultural processes become apparent in the images on the objects studied, and meanings emerge that would not have been brought to light by simple image analysis. This applies particularly to the comparison with possible indigenous meanings of European images, which enables a much more comprehensive interpretation. Depending on the beholder, the images may be interpreted as expressing continuity, i.e., as representations of indigenous beliefs; as expressing discontinuity, i.e., as representations of Christian beliefs; or as the result of a transfer of meaning encompassing and combining both belief systems, thus enabling a new way of "reading" them. However, a transcultural process of regional relocation and use of cultural elements is not only visible in the images; it is also illustrated by the ecclesiastical silverworks in the Americas as such, given the European influence manifest in them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many conventional features of world tree motifs in the ancient Near East—including stalked palmettes, aureoles of water lily palmettes connected by pliant stems, floral rosettes, winged disks and bud-and-blossom motifs—trace largely from Egyptian practices in lotus symbolism around 2500 BCE, more than a millennium before they appear, migrate and dominate plant symbolism across the Fertile Crescent from 1500 BCE to 200 CE. Several of these motifs were associated singularly or collectively with the Egyptian sema-taui and ankh signs to symbolize the eternal recurrence and everlasting lives of Nilotic lotus deities and deceased pharaohs. The widespread use of lotus imagery in iconographic records on both sides of the Red Sea indicates strong currents of cultural diffusion between Nilotic and Mesopotamian civilizations, as does the use of lotus flowers in religious rituals and the practice of kingship, evidence for which is supported by iconographic, cuneiform and biblical records. This perspective provides new insights into sacral tree symbolism and its role in mythic legacies of Egypt and the Middle East before and during the advent of Christianity. Closer scholarly scrutiny is still needed to fully comprehend the underlying meaning of immortalizing plants in the mythic traditions of Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]