What Purpose Does the Religious Image Serve?

2021 ◽  
pp. 237-264
Keyword(s):  
Religious Image

The Soul of the Leningrad Blockade: Leonid Chupiatov’s Bogomater of the Protecting Veil

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie O'Bell
Keyword(s):  
Present Essay ◽  
Religious Paintings ◽  
Artistic Work ◽  
Religious Image ◽  
Traditional Image

The present essay is the first article devoted to the religious paintings of the Soviet artist Leonid Chupiatov (1890–1941), with special attention to his Veil of the Mother of God over the Dying City, created during the desolate Leningrad siege winter of 1941-42. Dmitry Likhachev memorably called this work the “soul of the siege.” The article analyzes what it offers the viewer directly, as a modern version of the traditional image. It goes on to place the painting in the context of Chupiatov’s religious production, both during the siege and previous to it and to explore the circumstances which ensured its preservation against all odds. An apocalyptic context which challenges even divine compassion and saving grace, one which recapitulates the forty days of Christ in the desert—such is the immediate context of Chupiatov’s icon of the Protecting Veil in his artistic work from the winter of 1941–42. In the end, the survival of this powerful image becomes comprehensible through the connections of a fragmented religious-philosophical confraternity. The article thus represents a step towards finally acknowledging the presence of the religious image in the artistic response to the Leningrad siege.

Accountability through accounting and reporting lenses

Humanomics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisham Yaacob ◽  
Saerah Petra ◽  
Azimah Sumardi ◽  
Hairul Suhaimi Nahar
Keyword(s):  
Management Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Islamic Country ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
Religious Image

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review, understand and document the contemporary waqf-S management, financial accounting and reporting practices and to understand relevant drivers behind the current accountability culture in waqf-S, aiming at exploring the intertwined nature of accounting, reporting and the religion of Islam. The accountability literature has been relatively scant on the role played by accounting and reporting in not-for-profit, religious-based organizations and its implications for accountability discourse. Three accountability drivers of regulatory, stakeholders and religious image are tested. It is interesting to research how management, accounting and reporting are being practiced in an Islamic organization setting in a non-Islamic country. Design/methodology/approach – Consistent with the established research objectives, this study adopts the qualitative research approach of a single case study research involving semi-structured interviews and archival documentation review and analyses. Sample is chosen using purposive sampling to suit the research objectives. Findings – The paper finds that waqf-S is a very successful awqaf manager. The administration and management are carried out in the most effective manner with comprehensive rules, guidelines and procedures. The awqaf financial reporting and management are impressive as annual financial reports are published on time and available for the public online. The paper proposes three lenses to examine the accountability drivers of waqf-S: Regulatory, Stakeholders and Religious image of Islamic organization and, it turns out that all three are equally important in driving the organization accountability practices. Research limitations/implications – The sample is an Islamic organization in a non-Islamic country; therefore, the results are unique and may not be generalised to organizations in Islamic nations, as it will be a different setting with different variables. Secondly, the paper only focuses on awqaf financial accounting, awqaf reporting and investigating the driving factors for the institution’s accountability culture. Practical implications – This paper is important as it shows that the management and administration of awqaf, which has been plague by mismanagement, embezzlements and lack of talents, can be improved and managed systematically, although there is a clear evidence of the lack of capable or talented human resources. It is compensated by the significant use of technology. Originality/value – Focusing on a single awqaf institution (waqf-S) operating in a non-Islamic Southeast Asian country, our analysis allows us to observe the influence of multiple factors influencing its organizational wide accountability policy. We consider this as a contribution to the literature, as it generates knowledge on how management, accounting and reporting are being devised as strategic tools in the institution’s accountability policy framework, beyond the normal office management, financial data recording and disclosure per se. Multiple factors drive the structured and transparent reporting by waqf-S, transcending beyond the traditional financial accounting and reporting boundary of meeting regulatory requirements; it reaches the concerned while ensuring that the necessary accountability towards stakeholders is observed and upheld.

scholarly journals Engraving and Religious Imagery in the Modern Age: Between Verisimilitude and the Suggestion of Non-Existent Realities. Analysis of Some Cases Elaborated in Spain

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1096
Author(s):  
María José Cuesta García de Leonardo
Keyword(s):  
Urban Society ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Religious Imagery ◽  
Religious Image

The didactic importance of the religious image can be appreciated in the use of engraving and its power to disseminate, especially in the urban society of the Modern Age, in connection with the printed book. Such images will use their evocative power to suggest, based on observable realities, a reality that never existed, but which is convenient to create: The image will be able to construct this reality and convince observers of its undoubted existence. Some examples elaborated in Spain will be analyzed, as well as their inventors or the engravers who followed the instructions of the previous ones.

Breaking the Religious Image

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Abstract Art ◽  
Positive Form ◽  
Acceptable Alternative ◽  
The Status ◽  
Caspar David Friedrich ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Church Art ◽  
Religious Iconography ◽  
Religious Image

The chapter provides an overview of two tendencies in the transformation of the status of religious motifs in art starting with the painting of Caspar David Friedrich and ending with Expressionism. This period was characterised by a major shift in the mutual positioning of art and religion both institutionally and aesthetically. Church art became an increasingly problematic category at the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, partly because the clergy objected to decorating churches with the unusual interpretation of religious iconography associated with modernist aesthetics. Considered from this perspective abstract art appeared as an acceptable alternative precisely as opposed to other images with unusual modernist interpretations. The absence of figurative images removes all controversies as to how religious subjects should be interpreted. Religious iconography had a continued presence within the work of numerous artists in the different movements of the historical avant-gardes. While the figurative references to religious motifs in most of the cases were quite critical in their tone (whether this was intended by the artist or not) and used as tools of criticism of the institutions of art and religion, abstract art became the medium for expression of a positive form of spirituality.

of the house, both practically and symbolically — a role which links women, not only with the traditional concept of hearth and home, but also indicates her authority and control in that sphere (Bonomi & Ruta Serafini 1994). Keys and women are further symbolised in religious iconography, as we will see later. Sex The depiction of love-making, on both beds and chairs, is very graphically represented in situla art (fig. 6). Boardman wrote that "love-making has iconographie conventions like any other . . . whether the intention is pleasure, display, procreation or cult" and indeed all these explanations have been offered as explanation for such scenes in situla art. I would concur with Boardman and Bonfante that these depictions are purely secular (Boardman 1971; Bonfante 1981), rather than ritual, as suggested by Kastelic and Eibner. The scene on the Castelvetro mirror (fig. 6, 1), which, as we have seen, is for Kastelic a hieros gamos, could, perhaps, be more plausibly can be read in the form of a strip cartoon, in which a rider arrives on horseback, a prostitute is procured, with price being negotiated between a man and a woman — with the women holding up two fingers the man one — and the act subsequently carried out after further arrangements between a woman and a seated man. In all probability this was a recognisable story, perhaps related to the one about the inn-keeper's daughter still celebrated in Italian popular song, or, if we take into account the link between this and Etruscan mirrors, perhaps even some myth or legend. Even though the bed is in the form of the Urnfield bird-headed sun-boat, since the latter is such a common decorative motif, it cannot be used to interpret this as a religious image. The fact that this 'tale' is depicted on a mirror, which one presumes was a female item, is rather surprising and suggests that, either it was intended as a gift for a high class prostitute, or can be seen a rather crude allusion to sex on a gift for a more respectable woman. Whatever the interpretation, there is surely some relationship between the mirror, as an object of self adornment, and the subject matter depicted on it, which again follows the tendency of situla art to relate decoration to the function of the object. This and other depictions of love-making, rich in the sensuous detail of vibrating mattresses and pubic hair, indeed are more redolent of an earthy Italic sense of enjoyment than any religious allusion to sacred marriage. Such sexually explicit designs are comparable with Eruscan tomb painting and may reflect the open sexuality held to be characteristic of Etruscan women, which was commented on by Theopompus in the 4th century BC (Bonfante 1994). We can conclude that women may be shown in mainly subservient roles on the situlae because these were used in the context of male entertainment and festivals, but on the rattle they appear in a more productive light. The mirror, certainly belonging to someone with wealth, if not respectability, carries a more uncertain message. On Greek red figure drinking cups, objects of male use, we sometime find a duality of the representation of the hetairai and the virtuous wife, sometimes on the same cup, with the latter, incidentally, often engaged in spinning or weaving (Beard 1991: 28- 9). Female deities The representation of a goddess with the keys, as well as animals, is found in situla art on five votive plaques probably found in a hoard near Montebelluna (Fogolari 1956) (fig. 7). The figure, accompanied by both plants and animals, is, according to Fogolari, probably a fertility goddess, Pothnia theron — a Venetic equivalent of Demeter — carrying the key to both the opening of the fertility of plants and help in the birth of animals and women (Fogolari 1956). Keys, however, as we have seen, are also found in female graves in the area, where they suggest the role of women as keepers of the household, a role which may also have been sanctioned in the supernatural world (Bonomi & Ruta Serafini 1994).

2016 ◽  
pp. 162-165
Keyword(s):  
Pubic Hair ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
Traditional Concept ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Female Deities ◽  
The One ◽  
Religious Iconography ◽  
And Control ◽  
Religious Image

The Global Religious Configuration. Realities and Forecasts

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-178
Author(s):  
Gabriel-Viorel Gârdan
Keyword(s):  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
Religious Image ◽  
The Church ◽  
Global Population

"Based on recent research, we aim to present the current global religious configu-ration, the religious demographic evolution during the twentieth century, and the main trends for the first half of the twenty-first century. From a methodological point of view, we chose to present only those religions that register a share of 1% of the global population, among which we paid increased attention only to Christiani-ty and Islam. The only exception to this rule is Judaism, the reason for advancing this exception being the desire to compare the evolution of the three religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a more nuanced picture of the geographical distribution of each religion and, on the other hand, to illustrate the global religious diversity. From a chronological point of view, the landmarks are the years 1910, 1970, 2000, 2010, 2014, 2030, and 2050. The data collected for the years 1910–2014 is the basis of the forecasts for the years 2030 and 2050. The former ones describe the religious realities, while the latter two open up perspectives on the trends in religious demography. We would like to draw attention to the potential of religious demography in deciphering the religious image of the world in which we live. On the other hand, we consider that exploring the global religious profile and the way it evolves, as well as the factors that bring forth change, is not only an opportunity generated by the organic development of religious demography research but also a necessity for rethinking the pastoral and missionary strategies of the church. Religious demographics provide valuable data about the past together with nuanced knowledge of the present, helping us anticipate and even influence the future. The church, at any time, assumes the past, manages the present, and prepares the future. From this perspective, we believe that a strategic pastoral thinking, regardless of religion or denomination, can be organically outlined, starting from the data provided through the means available to religious demography. While religious demography provides specific data, it does not explain the phenomena behind this data; it notes and invites questions, debates, and explanations about religious affiliation, religiosity, and religious behaviour. Keywords: religious, demography, agnostics, atheists, Christians, Muslims."

PUBLIC RELATION DAN PEMBANGUNAN CITRA AGAMIS (Studi Implementasi Manajemen Hubungan Masyarakat Sebagai Upaya Membangun Citra Religius di SMPN 1 Pamekasan)

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Mohammad Thoha ◽  
Ika Nurul Jannah
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Effective Community ◽  
Religious Image

Education is the most valuable investment to improve the quality of human resources in building a nation. The greatness of a nation is measured by the extent to which its people are educated. Educational institutions and society are two different but inseparable environments that even need each other in their growth and development. The community needs information about what educational institutions are doing. here the role of public relations is absolutely needed. The image of the educational institution depends on the success of the public relations actor. This role was well played by SMPN 1 Pamekasan public relations. Religious values agreed upon as a school culture are communicated to all stakeholders through the implementation of effective community relations management, thus giving birth to a religious image. This article will portray the implementation of public relations management in fostering a religious image in SMPN 1 Pamekasan. With a phenomenological approach, the qualitative data in this article will be described descriptively to be dialogue with previous public relations management theories.

Souffrances sociales, parler ordinaire, imaginaires religieux et expression politique

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Corten
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Religious Image ◽  
Humanitarian Work

Suffering has always been intimately related to speech and no power has been able to separate it from ordinary language. However, in the last 15 years, be it in the fields of medicine, anthropology, humanitarian work or religious studies, the discourse on social suffering has become an expert’s discourse. Having held together religion in both its popular and learned forms, Christianity has long prevented this separation. Paradoxically, the proselytism that characterizes evangelical movements constitutes a new way of resisting this separation of suffering from ordinary language. Conformist in their approach, the new religious image-makers have progressively accustomed a part of the population to ignoring the order of things put into place by juridico-political image-makers. Ordinary men and women are thereby prompted to express social doubts in everday language. Suffering is thereby reappropriated as social suffering, and new political spaces are thereby created.

scholarly journals Religious Lives of Image-Things, Avodah Zarah, and Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-122
Author(s):  
Rachel Neis
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Material Turn ◽  
Religious Lives ◽  
Religious Image ◽  
Late Roman

Abstract Drawing on rabbinic sources redacted in the early third and late fourth/ early fifth centuries, this paper tracks the intertwined lives of divine image-things and rabbis living in late Roman and Byzantine period Palestine. The paper argues that the religious image-things of others (or avodah zarah, in rabbinic terms) pressed in different ways on rabbinic notions of animation, materiality, agency, and representation, as well as on the boundaries between the thing, the human, and the divine. Additionally, the paper argues that while rabbis attempted to neutralize the claims of such image-things, in part by exposing their materiality, their excess nonetheless escaped such rabbinic efforts. Finally, the paper argues that in the fourth century, along with the “material turn” in the Roman world inspired by Christian engagement, we find not only a greater sense of the excess in the things of avodah zarah, but also a concomitant thingification of the rabbinic sage.

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