On the Error of Profane Religions

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-75
Author(s):  
Mattias P. Gassman
Keyword(s):  
The City ◽  

In the mid-340s, Firmicus Maternus, a pagan astrologer turned Christian polemicist, became the first-known author to ask the emperors to abolish traditional cults. This chapter sets On the Error of Profane Religions in the context of Constantinian legislation and of the urban Roman religious milieu to which Firmicus had previously belonged. Often (and too quickly) dismissed as a self-serving work by an ill-tutored convert, Firmicus’ polemic aims not just to spur Constantine’s sons towards greater zeal but to end the Devil’s dominion over mankind. In the work’s first half, Firmicus targets the cults most popular in the city of Rome. Dismissing philosophical allegories, he argues that traditional rites teach their worshippers immorality. Juxtaposing Christian scripture and pagan ritual formulas in the work’s second half, he depicts polytheistic cults as a unified religious system counterfeited by the Devil from the Christian truth—a major departure from earlier polemicists’ conceptions of polytheism. Firmicus’ appeals to the emperors were rooted in the fundamental Christian conviction that idolatry would someday be abolished; that victory had, however, come much closer to realisation, in the years after Constantine’s endorsement of Christianity, than Lactantius had thought possible.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 850-857
Author(s):  
Adina Fairuz

This study discusses the relationship between costume design in films and the interest of the audience, especially young adult women, triggers of their interest in similar fashion products as consumers by using outfit styles from three films, The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Sex and The City: The Movie (2008) and Crazy Rich Asians (2018), which were selected through a questionnaire answered by 20 experts in the fashion field. The analysis was conducted on 258 young adult women (18-24 years old) domiciled in Indonesia through a questionnaire to find out their perceptions and preferences on outfit styles from the costume designs in those three films. Based on this analysis, it can be seen that if the audience is interested and feels that the outfit worn by the character fits them, then they will have the desire to wear fashion products that are similar to the appearance of the costume design in the film.


1919 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-200
Author(s):  
F. J. Foakes-Jackson

The idea of a Messianic kingdom pervades the whole of Acts. It is the subject of the discourse of the Risen Lord who speaks to his disciples “the things concerning the kingdom of God,” and the disciples ask him if he will “restore the kingdom to Israel” in their time. In the prayer of the Apostles, when they quote the words of the Second Psalm “the kings of the earth set themselves in array,” they are evidently regarding these as the natural antagonists of the Christ. When Peter preaches to Cornelius he says that Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God and went about doing good (εὐεργετῶν, a word applied to kings) and healing those under the rule (καταδυναστευομένους) of the devil, as though Satan were a rival prince.


2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Verdi Webster

One of the most popular and enduring legends in the Andean city of Quito recounts the vivid tale of a young Indian named Francisco Cantuña, the son of a powerful Inca captain, who lived and died in the sixteenth century. Maimed and horribly disfigured when the Inca general Rumiñahui burned the city of Quito, Cantuña was present when the general hid the treasure of Atahualpa before the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. In the aftermath of occupation, the young Cantuña was adopted by a benevolent Spaniard who taught him to read, write, and live a good Christian life. In return, Cantuña rewarded the Spaniard, as well as several local churches and chapels, with large sums of gold, which he secretly melted down from Atahualpa's hidden treasure. News of Cantuna's beneficence prompted all manner of speculation and suspicion among the local populace, to the extent that he was called before a tribunal to account for his mysterious wealth. In order to preserve the secret of the Inca treasure, Cantuña testified that he had acquired his riches by signing a pact with the devil. On this point, the earliest published version of the legend affirms that his testimony was a deliberate lie intended to quiet the gullible authorities, because Cantuna “was in reality a good Christian” who was very devoted to a local image of the Dolorosa (Virgin of Sorrows).


Author(s):  
Stanisław Rosik

The cult of Triglav in the Polabian-Pomeranian territory in the 12th century confirms an evolution of the religious system of the local Slavic communities towards monolatry, largely affected by confrontation as well as a cultural dialogue with the Christian culture. At first, at the time of the Pomeranian missions of Saint Otto of Bamberg in the 1120s, attempts at suppressing the cult did not bring about long-term effects. However, a wave of the so-called pagan reaction led to some sort of a compromise made in Szczecin, leading to official coexistence of the cult of Triglav and the newly introduced cult of Jesus Christ. From the point of view of mythology, the competences of the two divine figures turn out to be convergent and universal, yet still, as part of the Szczecin “religious dualism”, no attempt was made to identify them (following the rule of interpretatio Slavica of the elements of Christianity). The belief in the autonomy of Triglav and Christ (“A German God”) was confirmed in Szczecin in the course of Otto’s evangelization which resulted in a Christian community in the city. The phenomenon of syncretism, present there until Otto’s second mission (1128), was therefore an attempt at maintaining unity in a religiously divided society following the first mission of the Apostle of Pomeranians (1124-1125).


Author(s):  
Adam Gussow

This chapter argues that the meaning of the blues-devil has shifted over time, with white understandings that highlight Robert Johnson's soul-sale at the crossroads coming to dominate the contemporary conversation. Clarksdale, Mississippi has become a center of touristic interest in Johnson and a place where artists and investors seek to profit from a stereotyped, gothic-laden idea of the crossroads; this development bothers some black residents of the city, who feel as though their neighborhood, one historically connected with the blues, has been bypassed. The devil-blues lyric tradition, meanwhile, has flourished in the first fifteen years of the new millennium, a development driven both by Johnson's popularity and by a post-9/11 anxiety about "evil" at large in the world. The longstanding struggle between black southern ministers and purveyors of "the devil's music" continues into the present, at least in Mississippi, but with noticeably less intensity than in days gone by.


2019 ◽  
pp. 68-95
Author(s):  
Carl Suddler

This chapter investigates New York City’s postwar crime wave. After World War II, predictions of a postwar crime wave saturated the headlines of newspapers across the country, and law enforcement officers were advised to be on alert for a rise in crime. This chapter examines the crime-wave sensationalism that plagued New York City after the war, debates surrounding the legitimacy of its rhetoric, its causes, its impact on the community, and prevention plans that were put in place to fight it. Black crime discourse reestablished itself in ways similar to the Progressive era, when many reformers, both white and black, attributed criminal behaviors to social conditions. In postwar New York City, these reformers included social psychiatrists, criminologists, and politicians committed to stopping crime. These efforts, combined with a fortified police presence in the city, made it difficult for black youths to escape presumptions of criminality. The crime wave was packaged with racial undertones, which were reinforced by disproportionate arrest statistics and crime data, that synonymized New York’s crime problem and its black residents, mainly youths.


2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Susan Verdi Webster

One of the most popular and enduring legends in the Andean city of Quito recounts the vivid tale of a young Indian named Francisco Cantuña, the son of a powerful Inca captain, who lived and died in the sixteenth century. Maimed and horribly disfigured when the Inca general Rumiñahui burned the city of Quito, Cantuña was present when the general hid the treasure of Atahualpa before the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. In the aftermath of occupation, the young Cantuña was adopted by a benevolent Spaniard who taught him to read, write, and live a good Christian life. In return, Cantuña rewarded the Spaniard, as well as several local churches and chapels, with large sums of gold, which he secretly melted down from Atahualpa's hidden treasure. News of Cantuna's beneficence prompted all manner of speculation and suspicion among the local populace, to the extent that he was called before a tribunal to account for his mysterious wealth. In order to preserve the secret of the Inca treasure, Cantuña testified that he had acquired his riches by signing a pact with the devil. On this point, the earliest published version of the legend affirms that his testimony was a deliberate lie intended to quiet the gullible authorities, because Cantuna “was in reality a good Christian” who was very devoted to a local image of the Dolorosa (Virgin of Sorrows).


2006 ◽  
Vol 2006 (7) ◽  
pp. 5110-5130
Author(s):  
April Z. Gu ◽  
T. Hughes ◽  
D. Fisher ◽  
D. Swartzlander ◽  
B. Dacko ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 564-566
Author(s):  
Else R. P. Vieira
Keyword(s):  
The City ◽  

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