The ‘Zen’ in the western monochrome

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Simon Morley
Keyword(s):  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The One ◽  
Contemporary Painting ◽  
The Impact

I look at the impact of Zen Buddhism on western painters during the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on the monochrome in particular, in order to create a historical context for the consideration of transcultural dialogue in relation to contemporary painting. I argue that a consideration of Zen can offer a ‘middle way’ between conceptions of the monochrome (and art in general) often hobbled by models of interpretation that function within a binary opposition between ‘literalist/sensory’ on the one hand, and ‘intellectual/non-sensory’ readings on the other.

Laughter on the Fringes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Peterson
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Literary Canon ◽  
Autobiographical Writing ◽  
Treasure Trove ◽  
Old Comedy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Aggressive Humor ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

This book examines the impact that Athenian Old Comedy had on Greek writers of the Imperial era. It is generally acknowledged that Imperial-era Greeks responded to Athenian Old Comedy in one of two ways: either as a treasure trove of Atticisms, or as a genre defined by and repudiated for its aggressive humor. Worthy of further consideration, however, is how both approaches, and particularly the latter one that relegated Old Comedy to the fringes of the literary canon, led authors to engage with the ironic and self-reflexive humor of Aristophanes, Eupolis, and Cratinus. Authors ranging from serious moralizers (Plutarch and Aelius Aristides) to comic writers in their own right (Lucian, Alciphron), to other figures not often associated with Old Comedy (Libanius) adopted aspects of the genre to negotiate power struggles, facilitate literary and sophistic rivalries, and provide a model for autobiographical writing. To varying degrees, these writers wove recognizable features of the genre (e.g., the parabasis, its agonistic language, the stage biographies of the individual poets) into their writings. The image of Old Comedy that emerges from this time is that of a genre in transition. It was, on the one hand, with the exception of Aristophanes’s extant plays, on the verge of being almost completely lost; on the other hand, its reputation and several of its most characteristic elements were being renegotiated and reinvented.

Monotheism in Isaiah

2020 ◽  
pp. 218-248
Author(s):  
Matthias Albani
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
Crisis Situation ◽  
Catalytic Function ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
Religious Crisis

The monotheistic confession in Isa 40–48 is best understood against the historical context of Israel’s political and religious crisis situation in the final years of Neo-Babylonian rule. According to Deutero-Isaiah, Yhwh is unique and incomparable because he alone truly predicts the “future” (Isa 41:22–29)—currently the triumph of Cyrus—which will lead to Israel’s liberation from Babylonian captivity (Isa 45). This prediction is directed against the Babylonian deities’ claim to possess the power of destiny and the future, predominantly against Bel-Marduk, to whom both Nabonidus and his opponents appeal in their various political assertions regarding Cyrus. According to the Babylonian conviction, Bel-Marduk has the universal divine power, who, on the one hand, directs the course of the stars and thus determines the astral omens and, on the other hand, directs the course of history (cf. Cyrus Cylinder). As an antithesis, however, Deutero-Isaiah proclaims Yhwh as the sovereign divine creator and leader of the courses of the stars in heaven as well as the course of history on earth (Isa 45:12–13). Moreover, the conflict between Nabonidus and the Marduk priesthood over the question of the highest divine power (Sîn versus Marduk) may have had a kind of “catalytic” function in Deutero-Isaiah’s formulation of the monotheistic confession.

Informed Consent: Ezenwa–Ohaeto between Past and Future Uses of Pidgin

Matatu ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Zabus
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
First Language ◽  
West African ◽  
The Other ◽  
Wole Soyinka ◽  
The West ◽  
West African Coast ◽  
African Coast ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The One

The essay shows how Ezenwa–Ohaeto's poetry in pidgin, particularly in his collection (1988), emblematizes a linguistic interface between, on the one hand, the pseudo-pidgin of Onitsha Market pamphleteers of the 1950s and 1960s (including in its gendered guise as in Cyprian Ekwensi) and, on the other, its quasicreolized form in contemporary news and television and radio dramas as well as a potential first language. While locating Nigerian Pidgin or EnPi in the wider context of the emergence of pidgins on the West African Coast, the essay also draws on examples from Joyce Cary, Frank Aig–Imoukhuede, Ogali A. Ogali, Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka, and Tunde Fatunde among others. It is not by default but out of choice and with their 'informed consent' that EnPi writers such as Ezenwa–Ohaeto contributed to the unfinished plot of the pidgin–creole continuum.

scholarly journals Setting Boundaries to Solidarity: Explaining Danish and Swedish asylum policy divergences, 1989-2001

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjell Winkens
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Integration ◽  
Integration Policy ◽  
Asylum Policy ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Political Perceptions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Welfare State

This thesis seeks to answer the question 'when, how, and why the Danish asylum system become more restrictive than the Swedish one between 1989 and 2001'. In the analysis of these reasons, a particular emphasis is placed on the different political perceptions of both countries’ welfare philosophies on the one hand, and their political culture on the other. The influence of anti-immigration parties on mainstream political culture is an important part of this analysis. Through a distinction between border and integration policy, it becomes clear that the Danish asylum policy becomes more restrictive in the second half of the 1990s, because of its focus on cultural integration as a duty to the welfare state. The thesis concludes with a discussion regarding the impact of (neoliberal) economic changes on solidarity within political culture.

scholarly journals Women and Ijtihad: Towards a New Islamic Discourse

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-33
Author(s):  
Heba Raouf Ezzat
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Women's Issues ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Contested Terrain ◽  
The One

A phenomenon of extreme polarization between the Islamist and the secular camps characterizes the intellectual scene regarding social, economic, and political issues in the Arab-Islamic world. This is especially true with respect to women’s issues, which are a very hotly contested terrain. Understanding this reality clearly requires a historic overview to comprehend how this polarization occurred and map the debate between supporters of “modernity and contemporality” (al-hadatha wa-l-mu‘asara) on the one hand, and supporters of “tradition and authenticity” (al-turath wal-asala) on the other. Though this is not at the heart of our research, framing it in its historical context enables us to better understand the roots and origins of the problem, in order to map the debates and foresee future courses more clearly.

scholarly journals AKOMODASI PESANTREN PADA KESENIAN RAKYAT DI CANGKRINGAN, SLEMAN, YOGYAKARTA

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-296
Author(s):  
Kholid Mawardi
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Boarding School ◽  
Folk Art ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Diverse Society ◽  
Art Community ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigated the construction of thoughts by KH. Ahmad Masrur and al-Qodir Islamic Boarding School to accomodate folk art; to reveal the relationship among KH. Ahmad Masrur, al-Qodir Islamic Boarding School, and folk art communities in Wukirsari village; and to find out the approaches of accommodation implemented in the folk art Village. The findings of this study led to some conclusions. First, on the one hand, Mr. Masrur (an Islamic expert) wanted to send the goodness and the beauty of Islam not only to be achieved by Moslems but also by other religious community. On the other hand, the folk art community wanted to maintain their existence in the diverse society. Therefore, those two intentions are linked to each other in order to accomplish those goals. Second, the relationship among Mr. Masrur, al-Qodir Islamic Boarding School, and Wukirsari village folk art community; in terms of historical context, it was the repetition of the relationship pattern in the past time that occured during the Islamisation process in Java. It was carried out by placing the locality as the basis of Islam. Mr. Masrur, al-Qodir Islamic Boarding School put themselves as the exponents of folk art; Mr. Masrur had the role as the patron and the community folk art had the role as the clients, and the overall relationship was accomplished based on mutually beneficial relationship. Third, the forms of accommodation  roposed by Mr. Masrur towards folk art in Wukirsari village were through compromise and tolerance. The form of the compromise was visible through the willingness of both parties to feel and understand the circumstances of one to each other party. As for the form of tolerance, it was implemented by Mr. Masrur and al-Qodir Islamic Boarding School deliberately to avoid various disputes and conflicts.

The Use of evangelicus in the Paraphrases

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-160
Author(s):  
Dean Simpson
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Word Study ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The One

This article is a word study that analyses and interprets how Erasmus uses the adjective evangelicus, -a, -um in his New Testament Paraphrases. The development of the idiom ‘gospel-blank’ (evangelicus + noun) is analyzed diachronically; the phrases denoting gospel things are divided into six semantic categories. The study shows, on the one hand, that there is a general consistency in how evangelicus is used, the most common pairings predominating in most Paraphrases on the Epistles and Gospels, while, on the other, there is some broadening and lowering of the nouns with which evangelicus is joined, moving from the Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Gospel Paraphrases. Erasmus’ changing attitude to the project of paraphrasing the New Testament provides biographical and historical context in which to place the study’s findings. The study concludes by highlighting the New Testament Paraphrases as Erasmus’ humanistic response to worsening divisions in the early 1520s.

Greek Necromancy: Reality or Myth?

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Tomáš Vítek
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
The Other ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The One ◽  
Source Ability

SummaryThe article investigates the extent to which Greek necromancy fits into the wider eschatological, cultic and historical context of an epoch demarcated on the one hand by Homer and on the other by the Classical period. The oldest purported necromantic ritual, with the help of which Odysseus descended into the underworld, is a literary construct inspired especially by the heroic tomb-cults. Scenes depicting funereal necromancy, written by dramatists of the Classical period, were also drawn from this source. Ability, behavior and appearance of heroes were additionally ascribed to the so-called restless spirits and revenants and later came to include all the dead. The main cause of this was a change in eschatological ideas and especially heroization, which in the Roman period spread nominally to all the dead. Reports about necromancy include a high percentage of mythical and literarily-dramatized elements that simply do not correspond with contemporary ideas about the soul, the dead, the underworld and chthonic deities. It therefore appears almost certain that, at least to the end of the period described, necromancy was not carried out in reality but remained only the literary surmise of the possibility indicated by Homer.

The Impact of Harmful Habits on Academic Performance and Sports Activities among Young People

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-273
Author(s):  
Victoria Yermilova ◽  
◽  
Natalia Stroiteleva ◽  
Zhanna Egorova ◽  
Ekaterina Vanina
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Young People ◽  
The Other ◽  
Control Group ◽  
The Third ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sports Activities

Smoking and alcohol consumption is a growing trend among young people worldwide. The purpose of this study was to provide students with a comparative analysis of adherence to harmful habits (smoking and alcohol) on the one hand and the frequency of sports and academic performance on the other, taking into account gender differences. The research was conducted in 2019-2020 in 5 cities of Russia; the sample included 1500 people aged 18.4 ± 1.1 years, divided into three equal groups. The control (first) group had students who are not engaged in sports, and the second group comprised students practicing sports but not professionally. The third group was made up of student-athletes. All participants were surveyed to determine the frequency of adherence to harmful habits. In the control group, boys smoked 50% more often than girls (p ≤ 0.05), while in the third group, smoking among boys was registered 70 times less often (p ≤ 0.001). Alcohol consumption in controls was 0.5 times more likely among boys (p ≤ 0.05). Harmful habits affect young people's free time and reduce their academic performance and ability to practice sports.

Spiders, Ants, and Bees

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Doina-Cristina Rusu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Natural Histories

This paper argues that the methodology Francis Bacon used in his natural histories abides by the theoretical commitments presented in his methodological writings. On the one hand, Bacon advocated a middle way between idle speculation and mere gathering of facts. On the other hand, he took a strong stance against the theorisation based on very few facts. Using two of his sources whom Bacon takes to be the reflection of these two extremes—Giambattista della Porta as an instance of idle speculations, and Hugh Platt as an instance of gathering facts without extracting knowledge—I show how Bacon chose the middle way, which consists of gathering facts and gradually extracting theory out of them. In addition, it will become clear how Bacon used the expertise of contemporary practitioners to criticise fantastical theories and purge natural history of misconceived notions and false speculations.

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