How the Primer-Literate Read Ming Steles: A Digital Speculation

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-109
Author(s):  
Sarah Schneewind
Keyword(s):  
Digital Tool ◽  
Common People ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Political Messages ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Voice

AbstractHistorians disagree about the role of literacy in Ming society. Certainly, the stone inscriptions that littered the Chinese landscape displayed elaborate essays showing the gentry author's erudition and compositional skill. Yet steles for shrines to living officials also sent political messages. They authorized and amplified the voice of “the common people,” embodying and explicitly arguing for a popular voice in the evaluation of magistrates and prefects. How were these texts on public monuments understood by the many Ming people with only basic literacy? The Late Imperial Primer Literacy Sieve is a digital tool that sifts a target text, such as a commemorative stele, leaving only the characters found in one or more primers. The Sieve may bring us closer to understanding not only what was written, but what was read. The article argues that the message of premortem steles about popular participation could indeed come across.

scholarly journals Speaking for the People in Early Modern England*

2019 ◽  
Vol 244 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Coast
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
Common People ◽  
Wide Audience ◽  
The People ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Voice

Abstract The voice of the people is assumed to have carried little authority in early modern England. Elites often caricatured the common people as an ignorant multitude and demanded their obedience, deference and silence. Hostility to the popular voice was an important element of contemporary political thought. However, evidence for a very different set of views can be found in numerous polemical tracts written between the Reformation and the English Civil War. These tracts claimed to speak for the people, and sought to represent their alleged grievances to the monarch or parliament. They subverted the rules of petitioning by speaking for ‘the people’ as a whole and appealing to a wide audience, making demands for the redress of grievances that left little room for the royal prerogative. In doing so, they contradicted stereotypes about the multitude, arguing that the people were rational, patriotic and potentially better informed about the threats to the kingdom than the monarch themselves. ‘Public opinion’ was used to confer legitimacy on political and religious demands long before the mass subscription petitioning campaigns of the 1640s.

Marriage and Sexual Relations in the New Testament World

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Loader
Keyword(s):  
Roman Society ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Many ◽  
Marital Sex ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Common Understanding

After a brief overview of the social context and role of marriage and sexuality in Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, the chapter traces the impact of the Genesis creation narratives, positively and negatively, on how marriage and sexuality were seen both in the present and in depictions of hope for the future. Discussion of pre-marital sex, incest, intermarriage, polygyny, divorce, adultery, and passions follows. It then turns to Jesus’ reported response to divorce, arguing that the prohibition sayings should be read as assuming that sexual intercourse both effects permanent union and severs previous unions, thus making divorce after adultery mandatory, the common understanding and legal requirement in both Jewish and Greco-Roman society of the time. It concludes by noting both the positive appreciation of sex and marriage, grounded in belief that they are God’s creation, and the many dire warnings against sexual wrongdoing, including adulterous attitudes and uncontrolled passions.

scholarly journals Institutions and rural economy in Rolpa district of Nepal

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 135-152
Author(s):  
Shiba Raj Pokhrel
Keyword(s):  
Rural Economy ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Target Group ◽  
Common People ◽  
Rural Municipality ◽  
The People ◽  
Local Institution ◽  
The Common ◽  
Academic Debate

This paper aims to analyze a pertinent academic debate pragmatically whether institutions assist in promoting life standard and betterment of the common people or they act just as an instrument to perpetuate poverty and fulfill the interest of vested group. To accomplish this task, Marxist, Post-Marxist theories are taken into consideration in order to indicate how an institution or the process of institutionalization as such is debated and perceived in social science academia. Likewise, the research also uses the popular research methodology of pragmatism which focuses on data collection, analysis and field study. The research is conducted in Sunil Smirti Gaupalika (Rural Municipality) of Rolpa district and focuses on the role of institutions in order to transform particularly the economic life of the people. The research divides institutions into two parts. The first one includes the governmental local institution Gaupalika. The second part includes INGO/NGOs. This division enables to decipher and historicize what these government and non government institutions have done independently and collectively to uplift the life of target group. The research finds that INGO/NGOs and locals institution in the remote village like Sunil Smirti Gaupalika have played significant roles on uniting the economically poor and make individual and collective efforts to fight against poverty. They work to find out the poor and economically weak section of the society by setting target group, generating the awareness and providing conductive environment for putting collective effort in their fight against poverty to a certain extent. Therefore, these two types of institutions have been found tremendously supportive in uniting what Marx calls “have-nots” of Sunil Smirti Gaupalika. However, the research also finds that mostly Brahmin/Chhetri communities have been benefitted by these programs. In comparison the ratio of economic growth between Brahmin-Chhetri community and Janjati community-Dalit community, the first one is found to be accelerating whereas the second one is slower and sluggish.

scholarly journals Art. IX.—Observations on the Maráthí Language

1843 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 84-91
Author(s):  
Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Common People ◽  
The People ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Voice

The study of the vernacular languages of India is every day becoming a subject of more and more importance. The Government, yielding to the voice of reason, has decreed, that in every province the language of the people shall be the language of their rulers. Christians and philanthropists, in every district of the country, are preparing books and communicating the elements of learning to the native inhabitants, in their own dialects. Grammars and dictionaries of the principal vernacular tongues, exist either printed or in manuscript; and the speech of the common people instead of being despised as a jargon, is every where cultivated as a language.

The Role of the Guangbao in Promoting Nationalism and Transmitting Reform Ideas in Late Qing China

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 1469-1518 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAM WONG ◽  
VALERIE WONG
Keyword(s):  
Common People ◽  
Late Qing ◽  
Moral Training ◽  
Christian Morality ◽  
Western Imperialism ◽  
Confucian Morality ◽  
Specialized Education ◽  
The Common ◽  
National Defence

AbstractThe Guangbao, published in Guangzhou between 1886 and 1891, was one of China's earliest native-owned newspapers, with a circulation three times larger than the Xunhuan Ribao. The newspaper, founded by Kuang Qizhao, provides important information on the ideas that were circulating at the time in Guangzhou, a place where a number of reformers were beginning to formulate their thoughts. The newspaper may have sown some of the seeds for the nationalism that would become a powerful force after the Sino-Japanese War. The Guangbao protested against the mistreatment of overseas Chinese and printed stories recommending retaliation against Americans. It opposed Western imperialism, advocated a strong national defence, and even suggested annexing Korea. However, the newspaper was not xenophobic and tried to encourage good relations between Chinese and foreigners in China. Unlike future political newspapers, the Guangbao continued to support the existing political system—not because of fear or ignorance, but because of a sense that democracy may not have been appropriate for China at this time. Although Kuang was not a supporter of many Neo-Confucian traditions or beliefs, because he equated Confucian morality with Christian morality, and morality was needed to combat corruption, the Guangbao emphasized Confucian moral training.The newspaper also served as a platform to promote reform ideas. Kuang carefully picked ideas that he felt were appropriate for China, including: free universal and specialized education, women's rights, economic nationalism/industrialization/business, free trade, entrepreneurship through patent and copyright protection, support for the common people versus corrupt officials, and philanthropy.

scholarly journals The Influence of Humanism on the Main Magisterial Reformers

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-64
Author(s):  
John F. Lingelbach
Keyword(s):  
Social Impacts ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Common People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact

In light of the wide acknowledgement that humanism influenced the Protestant Reformation, one must ask the question about how much of what Protestantism maintains owes a debt to this modern ideology often juxtaposed in contrast to Christianity. Given the remarkable role of such a controversial ideology during a seminal period of the modern church, this study seeks an answer to the following question: how did the humanism movement of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries impact the lives and work of the main Magisterial Reformers? This research is important and necessary because discovering the answer to this question leads to an understanding of the larger question of how humanism impacts the Protestant tradition. Understanding the nature of this impact sheds light on what Protestantism means and may induce some Christians to contemplate why they call or do not call themselves “Protestants” or “humanists.” This present study progressed through four phases. First, the study sought to describe the humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Second, it sought to describe the impact this humanism had on society. Third, the study analyzed how the social impacts of the humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries served to advance or hinder the causes of the main Magisterial Reformers. Finally, it synthesized the findings. This paper argues and concludes that the humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries impacted the lives and work of the main Magisterial Reformers by facilitating their desire to include the common people in a religious world previously dominated by the elite.

scholarly journals What has the beast’s mark to do with the COVID-19 vaccination, and what is the role of the church and answering to the Christians?

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rantoa Letšosa
Keyword(s):  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Many ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Research Stage ◽  
The Church

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) escalated into a real pandemic within 3.5 months and had caused 183 000 deaths in 2020. The complexities of COVID-19 since the end of 2019 and throughout 2020 left a mouth full and the second wave has not least to be said. The purpose of this article is to challenge the response of the church in a time when her voice is mostly needed. During the lockdown Level 5, churches were amongst the many trends that had to close their doors to the believers and the community. This was a great shock because churches throughout history have been known as safe havens and anchorages. Churches helped with answers to unanswered questions, and in some instances, confessional statements and creeds were born. In the case of COVID-19, a lot of conspiracy theories went viral about COVID-19 and the vaccines that were still in their research stage. Lots of speculations rose as to the cause of this pandemic. The implementation of 5G was viewed as the cause of the coronavirus at the beginning of 2020, and much had to be done to correct this fallacy. Another controversial fallacy was the link of the vaccination with the beast’s mark, as was recently also insinuated in Chief Justice’s prayer. Questions have already been asked, what is the voice of the church in this regard? Congregation deals with this in different ways. Hence the relevance to the question, how timely can exegesis be to contemporary ecclesiology? What would be relevant hermeneutics that could assist in embodying faith in a corona-defined world?Contribution: This article strives to develop an interpretation of 666 that could be relevant to the questions asked and suggest a way forward in embodying faith in a corona-defined world and beyond.

‘Congiure contro a uno principe’

2020 ◽  
pp. 212-248
Author(s):  
Marta Celati
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Common People ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Comprehensive Treatise ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Century Literature

The final chapter examines the relationship between Machiavelli’s work and fifteenth-century literature on conspiracies. The analysis highlights the role that this humanist literature played in the development of Machiavelli’s complex theorization of conspiracies as a political phenomenon, but it also underlines how, although he was influenced by this background, he also radically departed from it. Machiavelli dealt with this political subject in several sections of his works: in particular in his long chapter Delle congiure in the Discorsi (III, 6), which can be considered a comprehensive treatise on plots; in chapter XIX of Il principe; and in some significant chapters of the Istorie fiorentine, where Machiavelli narrates the conspiracies that took place in Italy in the previous centuries. He was the first author to develop a substantial theorization of political plots and he based it on concrete historical examples drawn from previous narratives and from ancient history. Machiavelli’s analysis of conspiracies shares some key elements with the political perspective underlying fifteenth-century literature on plots: his focus on the figure of the prince as the main target of the conspiracy; the importance assigned to the role of the common people and to the issue of building political consensus; the attention paid to internal enemies and internal matters within the state, rather than to the relationship with foreign political forces; the evolution in the analytical approach regarding tyranny and tyrannicide; the centrality of the notion of crimen laesae maiestatis; the emphasis on the negative political outcome of plots.

scholarly journals Towards Transformative Propaganda: A History of Student Activism at the Australian National University

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iva Glisic
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
First Century ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
National University ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Comprehensive History

March 2021 saw the unveiling of a new addition to the vast collection of public artworks at the Australian National University (ANU) campus in Canberra. The piece—an installation entitled A History of Student Activism at the Australian National University—compiles and presents the first comprehensive history of sixty years of student activism at ANU, and sits proudly in the common area of the Marie Reay Teaching Centre. The work comprises a large-scale wall-mounted timeline designed by Joanne Leong, complemented by a pair of moving-image artworks by Esther Carlin and Aidan Hartshorn, all ANU alumni. This article considers A History of Student Activism in the context of contemporary debate on the role of public monuments, and the extent to which public art can drive collective emancipatory action. Drawing on a recent study of the activist potential of art in the twenty-first century by Dutch artist Jonas Staal, this article tests the extent to which A History of Student Activism might serve as a reference point in the turn towards transformative propaganda art.

Temples and Traders in Palmyra

2020 ◽  
pp. 461-480
Author(s):  
Leonardo Gregoratti
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City ◽  
Common Era ◽  
The Silk Road ◽  
Sources Of Capital

As is generally known, during the first three centuries of the Common Era, the Syrian city of Palmyra played a fundamental role in the trade between Asia and the Mediterranean area, to the point that it became the most important trade centre along the western section of the Silk Road. The different roles of merchants and businessmen involved in the Palmyrene caravan trade has been the subject of studies over a long period. What is still an elusive element is the role of capital in the Palmyrene trading system, that is to say the money used to organize the merchant expeditions and to buy the goods coming from the East. Besides, the very nature of the caravan trade implied long and dangerous journeys, which rendered the investment rather risky. On the other hand, a large profit was gained once the goods had reached Roman territory. In order to identify the possible sources of capital in Palmyrene society, that is to say the groups and the institutions able to provide the initial money necessary for the trade activity, this paper investigates the relations between merchant classes and sanctuaries. The many dedications made by traders and private citizens to the city sanctuaries, and the frequent presence of religious figures among the trading families’ members, seem to suggest that the numerous temples of Palmyra played a role in the commercial trade as holders of capital, which could be lent and employed in the activity of trade.

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