Popular religion

De rijke processiecultuur in Vlaanderen is een merkwaardig en opmerkelijk persistent fenomeen dat uiteenlopende betekenissen in zich draagt. Die vinden hun neerslag in divers en waardevol materieel en immaterieel erfgoed. De lokale traditiedragers en erfgoedgemeenschappen hebben nood aan ondersteuning en begeleiding. Initiatieven zoals die van het consortium 'Op handen gedragen' (Histories, PARCUM en KADOC-KU Leuven) spelen daarop in. Door het faciliteren van expertise-uitwisseling en de aanmaak van een centraal repertorium van processietradities wordt de zorg voor het betrokken erfgoed versterkt, een essentiële voorwaarde voor meer en vernieuwend onderzoek naar de historische en actuele praktijken. We bieden een stand van zaken en schetsen de contouren van een onderzoeksagenda. Processies in veelvoud Vlaanderen kan in historisch perspectief bogen op een bijzonder rijke en duurzame katholieke processiecultuur. Hoewel een volledig overzicht ont-breekt, mag gerust worden aangenomen dat tijdens de voorbije eeuwen nagenoeg elke lokale katholieke geloofsgemeenschap processies organi-seerde. Het bijzonder rijk maar ook kwetsbaar materieel en immaterieel erfgoed dat met het fenomeen is gelieerd, geniet een toenemende maat-schappelijke belangstelling. Dit is beslist toe te juichen. Maar kan een

לחומרים ומידע נוספים על המאמר - היכנסו לקישור:
https://marianna.ruahmidbar.com/h-worldviews-in-the-film-noah-eng-article

For more materials and information on this item - go to the link:
https://marianna.ruahmidbar.com/en/e-worldviews-in-the-film-noah-eng-article

The article proposes an interpretative study of Darren Aronofsky's film Noah. The film draws inspiration from various spiritual traditions ranging from shamanism to Buddhism, whilst relying heavily on Jewish midrash, and adds a layer of innovation. Our main assertion is that the film attempts to present three viewpoints on issues of religion, humanity, nature, and God-while negating two of them and preferring one. Each of the various characters and groups in the film represents one of the three stances, as the film's protagonist must cope with the problematic nature of his worldview and revisit it.
The film engages with current pivotal issues: climate change, the depletion of natural resources, materialism and hedonism, fundamentalism in both religious and environmental trends, suspicion of religious institutionalized interpretations, and gendered spiritual religious beliefs. Thus, the film Noah is a cultural product that disseminates spiritual ideas and values within mainstream culture.

Notre propos sera plus de lancer une problématique de recherche, que de faire une synthèse sur une question qui n'a jamais été traitée frontalement : la place de l' « ostau » (ou de l'etxe basque) dans la vie religieuse à l'époque moderne. La période moderne nous paraît un moment privilégié, car du fait des réformes et de la division religieuse, des comportements spécifiquement liés à l'ostau deviennent subitement détectables du fait de la question du choix confessionnel. Aussi notre observatoire privilégié sera la souveraineté de Béarn qui a connu une réforme calviniste très poussée à l'instigation de Jeanne d'Albret de 1564 à 1599, suivi d'une phase de réforme catholique qui s'est accéléré après 1620, date de l'Édit d'Union qui allait définitivement lié le sort de la vicomté souveraine avec le royaume de France. Nous nous autoriserons quelques incursions dans les territoires voisins du Labourd et des Pyrénées Centrales qui connaissent eux-aussi l'institution de l'ostau, structure sociale fondamentale des sociétés pyrénéennes (ou au moins des Pyrénées occidentales) qui a bien été reconnue par de nombreuses études. La dimension collective de l'ostau pyrénéens soumettant étroitement les individus qui le compose a été systématiquement mise en avant par les historiens, juristes et sociologues qui l'ont étudié. À l'âge des réformes, dans le cadre d'une religion cherchant à promouvoir une dimension plus individuelle dans le salut, les Églises se sont forcément heurtées à cette structure qui leur préexistait et dont les règles de fonctionnement très strictes pouvaient contrevenir avec les nouvelles attentes religieuses. Pour aborder ce sujet, nous rappellerons dans un premier temps les caractéristiques des communautés pyrénéennes, véritables sociétés de maisons qui ont conditionné dans chaque paroisse une assemblée (ecclesia) de maisons. Puis, dans un second temps nous verrons que les Réformes sont entrées en conflit avec l'ostau, ont cherché à le façonner en fonctions des nouvelles normes tout en s'y adaptant. Enfin, nous verrons à l'aide de quelques exemples comment l'ostau intervient dans la question du choix confessionnel dans le cadre d'une société béarnaise marquée par une coexistence confessionnelle à partir du XVIIe siècle.

Writers have focused on how Hindutva discriminates against minority religions in India. In this article, I concentrate on a different theme: how the quest for purity in Hindutva marginalizes common practices of popular Hinduism, leading to radical changes in the religion itself.

Catholicism become the most widespread religion in Latin America.By the 1990s Latin America was responsible for 42% of the world’s Catholic population. Despite their common Catholic identity,Latin Americans also have Amerindian, African, and popular non-Christian religious traditions inherited from Spain. Even today many Catholics incorporate practices and beliefs that are not accepted by the Church, including devotions to non canonized saints, some of them portrayed as bandits (or who protect criminals). Over the past few decades, the religious map of Latin America has been further enriched by the presence of new religions, predominantly Protestant denominations. Because Pentecostalism shares various cognitive and emotional ties with African and indigenous religions, this may help to explain its popularity among indigenous inhabitants of rural areas and for those with a history in Afro-Brazilian religions.This chapter also discuss religious practices in Latin America, including miracles; different hierarchies of “supernatural” beings; reciprocity, which includes promise and sacrifice; pilgrimages; popular celebrations; and a variety of devotional practices

During the years 1848-1917, religious leaders in San Francisco, California responded to prostitution in a variety of ways. Protestant leaders sought to address causes of prostitution and to "reform" prostitutes. Catholic leaders attempted to remove prostitutes from public view. Jewish leaders addressed prostitution both in terms of public health and also in answer to fears about illegal international slavery operations. Responses in Chinatown included both innovations on popular religious practices from China that afforded prostitutes a recognized place in temple life, as well as Protestant missions that sought to "reform" prostitutes in ways that were partially adopted by Chinatown residents themselves. These responses varied in the degree to which they directly sought to change public policy. When direct engagement was attempted, religious leaders were frequently surprised at their inability to have an impact on city and state policies. This development can be seen as an illustration of secularization in San Francisco. Furthermore, I suggest that San Francisco religious leaders’ lack of authority regarding prostitution can be explained in terms of local developments in labor and gender roles that occurred in the wake of the California Gold Rush. In order to understand religious leaders’ responses to prostitution more fully, I will consider three questions throughout this study. First, how did each leader perceive prostitution? Secondly, what were leaders’ goals in responding to prostitution? And third, how successful were they in accomplishing those goals? I will examine these goals in terms of the degree to which they directly engaged local or state government. Toward this end, I propose three categories of engagement: supplementing the state, extending the state, and challenging the state.

In the article the author presents three aspects of Archimandrate Clement
Sheptytskyi activities in 1944–1947 in order to save the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church: 1) visit to Kyiv and Moscow as a member of the official delegation of the
UGCC in December 1944; 2) efforts to safe the Church after the arrests of the
hierarchy, and 3) motivations for the attempts to find contact with the OUN
leaders.

Key words: the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Vatican, Clementiy Sheptyckyi.

Published in: Сторінки воєнної історії України : зб. наук. ст. / [відп. ред. О. Є. Лисенко]. - К. : Ін-т історії України НАН України, 2010. - Вип. 13. - С. 341-353.

Even thousands of years later, Lilith, the demonness, still tempts many. Her image, which appears in ancient tradition as a personification of the forbidden temptation, turns up and is manifest in our time in secular, religious, spiritual, and post-secular contemporary circles1 as an alluring and relevant character. What purposes or ends does her image serve nowadays? Why is she once again referred to and appropriated? What is there about her story that has had such wide appeal to so many in the feminist movement and in various forms of alternative spiritual discourse over the past few decades? Does she represent a certain value, leadership, spiritual perception, or a certain feminist movement?

To answer these questions, I would like to review how Lilith's image is utilized in contemporary feminist spiritual discourse, and to analyze the values and ideas embodied in these appearances. I will present the different and varied ways in which Lilith's image reappears, while attempting to understand what today's admirers view as her unique contribution to their spiritual and/or feminist purposes.

By way of critical appreciation, the author (an evangelical) investigates David Tracy's analysis of the Catholic imagination in relation to popular religiosity and inculturation in lowland Philippines. A survey of contemporary Evangelical and Roman Catholic views on folk religiosity sets the stage for the study as a whole. To explain and highlight the missiological significance of Tracy's approach, this study makes use of contemporary reli-gio-philosophical (hermeneutical) and missiological perspectives. Such perspectives open up the missiological usefulness of Tracy's socio-theological analysis of the Catholic imagination especially for religionists and missiologists. They also point to the naturalistic limitations of Tracy's revisionist understanding of religion even as it encounters a non-Western religious outlook such as in the Philippines. A conversation with Tracy's approach becomes an instance of dialogue between Roman Catholics and Evangelicals not only on folk Catholicism, but also on revelation, inculturation and mission.

The purpose of this paper is to present a clearer picture of Johann Weyer's conception of possession and exorcism by synthesizing various elements of his De Praestigiis Daemonum, and comparing these elements with Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Where appropriate, the two authors will also be compared with relevant contemporary Catholic authors, in order to better highlight the broader context in which they were writing. A particular emphasis is placed on what Weyer and Scot's views on possession and exorcism indicate about their broader religious and supernatural beliefs. To engage with these issues, the essay is broken into two parts. The first looks at how each author understood demons and the problem of demonic possession. The second examines how they engaged with exorcism as it was commonly practiced in the sixteenth century. The essay concludes by examining what the similarities between Johann Weyer and Reginald Scot mean for our understanding of the sixteenth century, and each author's broader ideas.

"TO EARN HEAVENLY SALVATION:  PEASANT RELIGION IN LITTLE POLAND FROM THE MID-16TH TO THE END OF THE 18TH CENTURY
This is a proposal of the complex, model outlook on the religious culture of the peasantry of Little Poland in the early modern times. Owing to the fact that the subject of the analysis is an illiterate group, the issue concentrates mainly on the impact made by religion upon social and economic life, ethics and beliefs of peasants, that is, on all what could be called an outward religiousness of a specific social group.
As a basic source the village courts’ registers of more than 120 estates or single villages were used, supplemented by the Church visitational reports and town courts’ books of criminal cases, normative sources, devotional prints, miracles collections, local chronicles and belles-lettres of early modern Poland. I
I. THE FORMATION OF PEASANT RELIGIOUS CULTURE OF THE EARLY MODERN TIMES
In the second half of the 16th c. religious culture of the peasantry in Little Poland was still of a medieval character. As a beginning of Tridentine reform on this territory could be regarded only the visitational and legislative activities of a Cracovian bishop, cardinal Jerzy Radziwill (1591–1600). Comparatively dense, though irregular parochial network in a diocese of Cracow and the western deaneries of Przemyśl was conducive to the Church influence on the faithful.
Simultaneous with the catechisation was a penetration into the country of the post-Tridentine forms of piety. It was not in any case a one-faceted process. Rural piety influenced other social strata as well, participating in formation of popular religion of early modern Poland. As an instant can be given the cult of the Virgin Mary related to the rural economic calendar and traditional family rituals. Cult of saints, however, played a secondary role in the country, incommensurate with its significance for the post-Tridentine Church. As it seems, these spiritual needs which were supposed to be met by the cult of saints in the rural area were satisfied by a diversity of forms of the Virgin Mary service.
Thus the religion of the peasants – influenced by the above-mentioned factors – gradually assumed a counter-reformative character. Yet the process encountered some significant obstacles, such as a local failure of the parochial network, low standard of spiritual service, or a distance from village to town. A new, Individual piety was motivated by conformity – adjustment to a proper scheme according to the position occupied in the local community. Reformation of the peasant religious culture was based on transformation of these patterns consisting in intensification of the practices and depth of the faith.
II. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF PEASANT RELIGION
Religion was a ceremonial and ideological basis for functioning of rural society. Village community formed a religious unity, thus excluding the people who come out against the community in the religious sense (for instance denominational renegades or obdurate sinners). The participation in church rituals and ceremonies confirmed the membership of an individual in the community, and at the same time a collective contribution to the liturgy consolidated the community as a social unit and introduced to it a religious dimension.
The community attempted to be responsible for the religious activities of its parochial church despite the fact that in early modern Catholicism the official ways of lay supervision were nonexistent. The most straightforward way of influencing a vicar was to inform a Church visitor against him or to turn to an owner of the estate who usually was also a patron of the parochial church.
The norms of social intercourse of a village were based on religious ideas and were legitimised by them. The system of values and fundamental principles of social order found expression in the concept of good neighbourhood to which an intense religious motivation was attributed. Also the hierarchic social order was identified with a supernatural one, which led to the assumption that the ability to behave socially involved a proper religious attitude, and the religious aspects accompanied the peasants during all activities connected with their social life, as for example at celebration of judicial assembly of the community, in conciliatory rituals or swearing an oath.
III. ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF PEASANT RELIGION
The material side of a cult required from the peasants a considerable expenditure. The endeavours around a church building were permanently and inseparably connected with the activities of the communities, taking part in collecting and expending the parochial budget. No less significant were individual expenses: offerings or irregular foundations of small elements of the parish church equipment. The bequests to the church customarily were made in wills – a practice which was supposed to contribute to salvation of the dying donor.
Religious principals and beliefs ordered an economic life of the village and shaped the community’s culture, which could be seen for example in connection with the ideas about incomes regarded as undeserved or with all kinds of exchanges of land. A primary religious importance was attached to an assumption of a field after the death of the owner. A new holder was burdened with a duty to the soul of his predecessor, or even, as it appears, to the souls of all its previous owners.
IV. RELIGION AND MORALITY
The core of behaviours condemned and punished by rural community comprised sins against the Decalogue, but the peasant ethical system modified and relativised some of the catechetical commandments, while some even practically rejecting. As an example of effectual absorption of the Decalogue by the peasant ethical system could be cited a reception of the commandment of “Thou shalt sanctify the holy day”. Regular attendance at masses became one of the lasting rural customs, similar to abstaining from work on festive days, even though the specificity of peasant labour often required breaking the ban. However, the peasant sexual ethics began to conform to the official Church patterns only in the 18th c. The significant differences could be observed in the sphere of sexual life of unmarried people, extend of the acceptable sexual liberty of spouses, and possibilities of parting mismatched couples.
The absorption of Christian moral standards by the peasantry took place mainly as a result of individual spiritual control of a priest, namely confession. An establishment of the custom to confess the sins meant forcing the faithful to regularly analyse their behaviour. The Church aimed to develop in every Christian the ability of self-reflection in the categories of religious moral principles. Probably in the country this aim was not achieved. It was possible, however, to arouse the need of making such analysis, although with the active participation of a confessor. The concept of sin was intensified by a consciousness that misdeeds could be expiated by regret, penance and humility, even though they were limited to the religious gesture alone.
In propagating Christian moral standards an important role was played by the system of supernatural punishments and rewards, in particular by a belief in the existence of earthly punishment for sins. Starting from at least the mid-18th century the peasant popular perception of the world was shaped in a significant part by the relationship between the commitment of sin and damnation after death, in which an active role was played by the widespread images of purgatory.
V. RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION
In the peasant religious culture there still could be traced some archaisms of pre-Christian origins, but its character was influenced mainly by the phenomena occurring at a point of junction between traditional beliefs and Christianity. Although, admittedly, some of the folk rituals were accepted by the Church and were Christianised, the Church generally attempted to associate the magical sphere with a negative connotation and relate it to infernal powers. While limiting a significance of traditional superstitions the transformation of popular religion did not lead the peasants to reject their way of comprehending the world in the magic categories. Less and less intelligible witchery was still regarded as very mighty, so it aroused fear and aggression which gave vent in persecution of witches.
Christianity intermingled with popular beliefs over the analysed period, and in the common notions of the peasants a basic event releasing supernatural forces was religious ceremony, which brought about the practice of exploiting for magical purposes the objects of religious cult as well as ceremonial itself, which at the threshold of modern times became for the peasants an obvious and practical way of contact with the supernatural world.
The widespread needs for magic were satisfied also by the customs recognized by the Church, such as pilgrimages to the miraculous images, the cult of the Holy Sacrament, blessing of fields at Easter or on the Corpus Christi day. In a way, magical use of Christian religious practices was intended by the Church as a sui generis correction of the mistakes of popular religion. It was, however, a considerable compromise: the Church permitted the use of many superstitious practices on condition that they were only superficially Christianised.
Traditional popular culture did not become a main target of the post-Tridentine clergy’s offensive in Little Poland, like in whole Commonwealth. A chief aim of the pastoral work was to introduce the people to regular attendance at the cult and to induce them to learn rudiments of the religious knowledge.

Religion, whether orthodox or popular, has historically played an integral part in Chinese society and contributed to a high level of cultural integration and the forming of a Chinese identity. Among the many popular deities venerated, the Lord of Guan was one of the most prominent and well-received. Originally a historical figure – the general from the state of Shu 蜀 in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280) – the person of Guan Yu 關羽
gradually departed from his original image as recorded by Chen Shou 陳壽 (233-297) in his Records of the Three Kingdoms 三國志, and instead was reimagined by people in different hierarchies and social positions. This paper attempts to provide a glimpse into the historical development of the Guan Yu cult. It focuses on the appropriation of the figure by various historical groups – Buddhists, Daoists, local people, and the imperial state – suit their needs and purposes. These historical agents constructed and expanded different versions of the Guan Yu myth that contributed to the widespread popularity of the deity’s image in both oral and textual narratives and in popular forms of worship. Whether it was Guan Yu who was converted to religious doctrines, Guan Gong as a deified god who assisted the local community, or Guandi who was standardized by conforming to state-accepted models, the cult of Guan Yu was an evolving social phenomenon that was susceptible to changes and adaptations once interfaced with other prevailing ideologies, social agencies, and power.

We will look at the lives of several mansin (shamans), both Korean and not. In section 1, we’ll look at the life stories of mansin from the 1970s to see how closely they follow Kim Tae-kon’s archetype of becoming, and also to give us a baseline for understanding how the definition and self-definition of Korean shamans has changed in subsequent years. Section 2 discusses two mansin who have brought Korean shamanism into the public sphere in different ways, one as a celebrity and symbol of cultural preservation. In section 3, we will meet three non-Koreans, born and raised in the West and without any Korean heritage, who fit the definition of mansin. Freda, from Switzerland, was my principal informant during my fieldwork in Korea in the summer of 2014, and her story is the heart of this narrative. Finally, section 4 presents some conclusions about what the initiation of foreigners has meant for the Korean shaman who has initiated them, as well as for the initiates themselves. I hope to reveal some of the ways that the identities of Korean shamans are shifting over time – self-identities, as well as how they’re perceived by their communities and by the community of scholars. The extension of the identity of Korean shaman to people with no Korean nationality or ethnic heritage will be seen in context as one of many strategies that Korean shamans have used to negotiate their place in the ever-changing cultural landscape of South Korea.

During the past decade, worship of the Mexican folk saint Santa Muerte has been on the rise. Santa Muerte, literally translated as ‘Holy Death’ or ‘Saint Death,’ is thought to be the female personification of death, and is usually depicted as a skeletal figure robed in black, red or white and carrying a scythe. Although a reverence for death has long been part of traditional Mexican culture, exemplified by the hugely popular celebrations of Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), Santa Muerte is a highly controversial figure. Persecuted and condemned as satanic by the Catholic Church, the skeleton saint is strongly connected to the lower classes and criminal elements of Mexico. Moreover, veneration of her by several well-known criminals and drug cartel members as well as sensationalistic news reports linking Santa Muerte worship to murder and human sacrifice have added to her sinister reputation. There are also indications that the Santa Muerte cult can provide a spiritual framework that legitimises acts of extreme brutality. However, the Catholic establishment’s demonization of Santa Muerte is also part of a religious power struggle, as most members of her cult invoke her aid for benevolent ends. Candles, statues, incense and rosaries connected to Santa Muerte are available in botanicas and stores selling Mexican imports. She is also considered a protector of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people, and is often invoked in same-sex marriage ceremonies in Mexico. Furthermore, she is strongly associated with love, and often invoked by women wishing either to punish or bring back wayward lovers or unfaithful husbands. This chapter will introduce this feared and beloved folk saint and attempt to explain the growing popularity of this allegedly ‘evil’ figure, examining how and why Santa Muerte is constructed as an ‘Other’ of the Catholic Church and what this means for those who venerate her. I will also analyse how perceptions of what constitutes ‘authentic’ religion versus superstition or witchcraft are socially constructed and shaped by power relations.

After World War II in Poland took place, at least 50 miracles and apparitions , which led to significant social impact and probably hundreds of others, which remained only in the local memory.
The aim of the article is to present and demonstrate the sociological aspects of the most important of them, which took place in Poland during the communist era and after the collapse of the system.
The text is divided into three parts. The first is devoted to methodological problems related to the study miraculous phenomena, especially in the Polish context. In the second, I present the most important miracles that took place after the Second World War, up to the present day. In the third, I draw some sociological aspects of these events. Article complete a brief summary.

[“Miraculous Sites” in Lesser Poland in the 16th-18th c.]
One of the least studied aspects of Polish folk religiousness after the mediaeval period is the spontaneous cult of miraculous places, not recognised by the Church. This phenomenon was particularly important in the 16th c., when negligence on the part of parish priests, combined with peasants’ reserve towards new religious trends, fed unorthodox forms of worship.
Miraculous sites were usually discovered by uneducated and socially deprived people, experiencing visions of Virgin Mary, in which she revealed that she had chosen a particular place to be specially worshipped in. Such revelations often happened in the wilderness, close to an easily recognisable spot: a glade in the woods, a tree, or a source of healing water. After such a discovery a miraculous place was decorated with basic religious symbols, starting with a simple cross, then a crucifix, a picture of the Virgin or images of other saints. This is documented by a seventeenth-century painting from the cycle devoted to the history of the cult of the Holy Virgin of Leżajsk, in which the central part shows the future pilgrimage place at an early stage of development. Only after a miraculous site began to attract burghers or nobility was it possible to build a chapel or a church.
Similarly to relics and miraculous images officially acknowledged by the Church, spontaneously created miraculous sites were believed to have healing properties and to bestow blessings. Analogically, then, they became objects of pilgrimages. Pilgrims arriving at such a place brought votive offerings and said prayers, as in a church. Sometimes, however, they manifested their devotion in dancing or carousing, which was disapproved of by the clergy. Some parish priests tried to assimilate the cult of miraculous sites into mainstream worship by organising masses and sermons there. Bishops and church inspectors, however, approached such phenomena with reserve, and in the 18th c. with open hostility, trying to uproot the cult and threatening worshippers with excommunication. As a result, the cult, banned by the hierarchy as a superstitious practice, was degraded to the role of a local folk custom. Nevertheless, some miraculous sites received the seal of Catholic orthodoxy after they had been taken care of by various orders, which in this way took advantage of the devotional tradition of the place.

The present study investigates questions of religious syncretism and household cult through an interdisciplinary study of terracotta figurines of Egyptian deities found at Delos, an important Hellenistic Greek port of trade. A comparison of the figurines’ iconography to parallels in Egyptian religious texts, temple reliefs, and ritual objects reveals that many of the figurines depict deities or rituals associated with the festival of the Inundation. Furthermore, an analysis of the figurines’ clay fabrics and manufacturing techniques suggests that the vast majority of the Egyptianizing terracottas on Delos were locally made, so the figurines’ allusions to Egyptian religion accurately reflect the theological knowledge of craftsmen on Delos. Finally, the use of unpublished excavation notes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries enables a reconstruction of the figurines’ previously-lost archaeological contexts, shedding light on their roles and significance in both domestic and temple cults.

This monograph investigates the spread of Egyptian religion into the Greek world through an interdisciplinary study of the iconography, archaeological contexts, clay fabric, and manufacturing techniques of terracotta figurines of Egyptian deities found at the important Hellenistic Greek trading port of Delos. Extant studies of Hellenistic terracotta figurines often take an art-historical approach, rather than considering the webs of social relations and practices surrounding these artifacts. However, when examined in their proper archaeological context, these figurines can shed light on many issues important to anthropologists as well as Classicists and Egyptologists. In particular, the presence of themes from so-called “official” religion in mass-produced, widely accessible objects such as terracotta figurines suggests a closer, more complex relationship between “popular” and “official” cults than is often acknowledged.

In the following article we will examine at length some of the dynamics by which R. Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad—the renowned Ben Ish Hai (1834–1909) - integrated Kabbalah into daily life, and the complex way that he combined the teachings of the Rashash with simplified, esoteric practices meant for the general public. Needless to say, the relationship between the Kabbalists of Jerusalem and R. Yosef Hayyim illuminates a fascinating chapter in the history of Kabbalah in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century.

http://mj.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/2/148.short?rss=1

The Eastern Slavic rusalki are feminine mythological beings commonly associated with water, death, and sexuality. They have been thoroughly ethnographically described, classified and compared. This paper presents a re-evaluation of D. K. Zelenin's classic interpretation of these beings as the souls of women deceased by untimely or unjust death. By means of analysis of their function and embedding in the entire social-cultural environment, it is shown how rusalki make sense in the symbolic system of East Slavic folklore. One of the main goals is to understand how intricately are rusalki and stories about them connected with the Orthodox liturgical year, specifically with the week following Pentecost. The paper concludes that these feminine revenants are symbolic representation of an eternal unripenness, which needed to be annually revived temporarily in order to help the symbolic system to cross the liminal phase of the agricultural and liturgical year cycle.

The past decade has witnessed a huge expansion of research on the “archaeology of ritual,” but the field is still grappling with serious theoretical and methodological issues, concerning everything from the definition of “ritual” itself to the challenges of identifying ritual activity outside of designated sanctuary spaces. The present paper argues for a greater role for coroplastic studies in the ongoing scholarly discourse on defining and refining an archaeology of ritual. As the case study of Greco-Roman Egypt demonstrates, terracotta figurines provide valuable data for rituals embedded within the daily routines and living space of the household. A range of archaeological and textual data suggest that terracotta figurines may have taken part in at least three types of domestic ritual in Greco-Roman Egypt: (1) the veneration of cult images at domestic shrines; (2) the performance of magical rites; and (3) construction rituals for houses. The figurines in question thus provide important evidence for the interrelationship of “popular” and “official” religion.

Of the numerous terracotta figurines from Hellenistic Delos, a small minority depict Egyptian deities or other figures from Egyptian religious cult. This article presents selected conclusions derived from a broader research project examining (1) what commonalities exist among the possessors of Egyptian or Egyptianizing figurines, and (2) the social meanings and religious beliefs that people signified through the possession and use of such artifacts.

This paper focuses on one subgroup of these terracottas: ithyphallic figurines of Harpocrates from the Delian necropolis on Rheneia. Such images are often dismissed as “grotesque,” but a detailed examination of their iconography and archaeological context reveals a highly sophisticated understanding of Egyptian theology. The presence of themes from so-called “official” religion in mass-produced, widely accessible objects such as terracotta figurines suggests a closer, more complex relationship between “popular” and “official” cults than is often acknowledged.

This paper aims to critically analyse the testimonies concerning Athenian impiety trials of the classical period. First, it reaffirms the arguments that some of them must have been an invention of Hellenistic and later authors. Second, it presents a likely political background behind the historical cases. Third, it discusses a number of legal issues, along with new arguments concerning the procedures employed. Finally, it examines some less well-known material from the fourth century BCE. Overall, it seeks to provide a possibly coherent and comprehensive framework of Athenian impiety trials based on their shared characteristics.

http://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/159203

Ligada a ciertos ideales y luchas populares, la Nueva Canción Chilena fue un movimiento musical que surgió en la década de 1960 con piezas que, entre otras características, explícita o implícitamente tienen un contenido social. Dentro de este contenido se observa una característica que resulta relevante tanto por el gran número de composiciones que la muestran como por su amplia presencia en las culturas latinoamericanas. Se trata de la religión popular, que no es popular solo por vincularse a la música popular, sino por conformar el núcleo fundamental de sentido de la cultura popular porque se encuentran allí las prácticas que enmarcan la significación última de la existencia”. Es la unidad teológico-filosófica en donde reside el modo de vivir de un pueblo que se revela, en este caso con la Nueva Canción, como exterioridad crítica del sistema. Esto, mediante una religión en la que el pueblo se ha apropiado por siglos de su espiritualidad y ha tenido la capacidad histórica para construir y reconstruir las estructuras de su fe.

Ante esto, la presente tesis se plantea comprender e interpretar desde una perspectiva musicológica una de las muchas relaciones posibles entre música y religión popular en la Nueva Canción Chilena, a través del caso de Rolando Alarcón. Para esto, se utilizará la investigación documental y el método cualitativo, además del método semiótico-musical de tipo interobjetivo de Philip Tagg (2013) para dos canciones de Rolando Alarcón: “Trotecito de Navidad” (1965) y “El hombre” (1970). Con esto, la pesquisa da nuevas luces respecto al cruce entre música y religión popular, entendidas ambas como parte fundamental del entramado simbólico de la cultura que en última instancia explica y da sentido a la vida de la comunidad, del pueblo.

//

Ligada a certos ideais e lutas populares, a Nova Canção Chilena foi um movimento musical que surgiu na década de 1960 com peças que, entre outras caraterísticas, explicita ou implicitamente tem um conteúdo social. Dentro deste conteúdo se observa uma caraterística que é relevante tanto pelo grande número de composições que a mostram, como por sua ampla presença nas culturas latino-americanas. Se trata da religião popular, que não é popular só por ligar-se à música, se não por conformar o núcleo fundamental de sentido da cultura popular porque se encontram ali as práticas que demarcam a significação última da existência. É a unidade teológico-filosófica onde se encontra o jeito de viver de um povo que se revela, neste caso com a Nova Canção, como exterioridade crítica do sistema mediante esta religião na que o povo se apropriou por séculos da sua espiritualidade e teve a capacidade histórica para construir e reconstruir as estruturas da sua fé.

Frente a isto, a presente tese pretende compreender e interpretar desde uma perspectiva musicológica uma das muitas relações possíveis entre música e religião popular na Nova Canção Chilena, a traves do caso de Rolando Alarcón. Para isto, se utilizará a investigação documental e o método qualitativo, além do método semiótico-musical de tipo interobjetivo de Philip Tagg (2013) para duas canções de Rolando Alarcón: “Trotecito de Navidad” (1965) e “El Hombre” (1970). Com isto, a pesquisa dá novas luzes quanto ao cruzamento entre música e religião popular, entendidas ambas como parte fundamental da rede simbólica da cultura que em última instância explica e dá sentido à vida da comunidade, do povo.

//

Linked to certain ideals and popular fights, the New Chilean Song was a musical movement which emerged in the 1960’s with pieces that, among other characteristics, explicitly or implicitly have social content. Within this movement, a characteristic is observed which is relevant for the great number of compositions which show it, as well as for its wide presence in the Latin-American cultures. It is about the popular religion, which is not popular only for being linked to the popular music, but also because it forms the fundamental nucleus of the sense of the popular culture because the practices which frame the ultimate signification of existence are there. It is the theological-philosophical unity where the way of living of a people who rebels resides, in this case with the New Song, as critical exteriority of the system through this religion in which the people has appropriated for centuries of its spirituality and has had the historical capacity to build and re-build the structures of its faith.

Faced with this, the present thesis considers understanding and interpreting from a musicological perspective one of the many possible relationships between popular musica and popular religion in the Chilean New Song, through the case of Rolando Alarcón. For this, the documentary investigation and the qualitative method will be used, in addition to semiotic-musical method of inter-objective kind of Philip Tagg (2013) for two songs by Rolando Alarcón: “Trotecito de Navidad” (1965) and “El hombre” (1970). With this, the inquest gives new lights about the crossing between popular music and popular religion, both understood as fundamental part of our symbolic fabric of the culture which ultimately explains and gives sense to the life of the community, of the people.

The satirical writings of Lucian of Samosata had a tremendous influence on the literature of the Eastern European Haskalah, shaping its criticism of the burgeoning Hasidic movement in the nineteenth century as if there were no gap between it and the Roman Empire of the second century. Lucian’s criticism of false prophets, self-proclaimed philosophers, and common fools and frauds, like his satirical dialogues with the world of the dead, provided the perfect model for those Maskilim who opposed the revelations of the Hasidic movement in both theological and social realms. One particularly salient testimony to the classical satirist’s influence is the astounding translation of his story “Alexander the False Prophet” by the Maskilic writer Meir Letteris, the first translation of Lucian’s work into Hebrew. The translation, printed in full below, was based on the German edition of Christoph Martin Wieland and published in the journal Ha-Tsefirah, which Letteris edited in 1823. As with every translation, it is a new product, shaped in and by its own context. This essay discusses the tendencies and apparent goals of the translator, the additions and omissions he made to the text, and the influence of Lucian’s satirical style on the Haskalah.

This article discusses the sociological understanding of popular religion by first exploring the theories of Gramsci. It then critiques this approach by arguing that the social construction of popular religion in contrast to institutionalized religion is not as clear cut in our late modern, multi-faith and global world as it was in the early modern period. Indeed, through consumer culture, some institutionalized religions are now reaching for the popular. Through the use of new internet methodologies (e.g. Ngram Viewer), this article explores the various understandings of the words popular religion, mysticism, and spirituality. It discovers that the usage of these words has evolved over time and reflects wider socio-cultural changes. This article then argues that spirituality (technical or unchurched) can be sociologically understood as an outcome of two processes that intertwine within late modernity; that is the gentrification of popular religion and the democratisation of mysticism.

Cet article d'encyclopédie discute de notre connaissance sociologique à propos de la religion populaire en explorant d'abord les théories de Gramsci. Ensuite, il critique cette approche en argumentant que la construction sociale de ce qu'est la religion populaire en contraste avec la religion institutionnalisée n'est plus aussi si claire dans notre monde global aux multiples croyances et à la modernité tardive que lorsque l'on se trouvait au début de la modernité. A travers l'usage de nouvelles méthodologies sur Internet (par exemple NGram viewer), cet article propose que si la spiritualité reflète un processus de démocratisation du mysticisme, la religion populaire, au contraire, représente celui d'un embourgeoisement.

http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/MonthTranslation.aspx. Featured as the November Translation of the Month (2022) in Feminae on the Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index website. Did you hear the one about the Mother Superior who was so busy casting the first stone that she got caught in flagrante delicto with her lover? What about the drunk with a Savior complex who was fool enough to believe himself to be the Second Coming? And that’s nothing compared to what happens when comedy gets its grubby paws on the confessional in Confessions of a Medieval Drama Queen and Blue Confessions. Welcome to the world of what I’ve typically called “the long Middle Ages.” Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century French farce was the “bestseller” of its day and it stands to tell us a lot about the sources of the humor of a Shakespeare or a Molière. It’s the world of Immaculate Deception, the third volume of my series of stage-friendly translations, featuring twelve more obscene, over-the-top, sacrilegious satires, each targeting religious hypocrisy in that in-your-face way that only true slapstick can muster. At long last and after many months of COVID-wrought delays, Volume 3 of the farces seems headed out into the world. If anyone is interested in an actual or virtual workshop, please let me know. I might be able to share a sneak peek of the script.