scholarly journals Writings, Emotions, and Oblations: The Religious-Ritual Origin of the Classical Confucian Conception of Cheng (Sincerity)

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 382
Author(s):  
Jinhua Jia
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Synthetic Approach ◽  
Early Form ◽  
Folk Belief ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
Aesthetic Concepts

Cheng 誠 (sincerity) is one of the primary concepts in the Confucian tradition as well as Chinese intellectual history. Its rich implications involve dimensions of religion, ritual, folk belief, ethics, psychology, cosmology, metaphysics, aesthetics, and literature. In the Confucian classics, cheng is described as the “Dao of heaven”; humans through cultivation can reach the mysterious state of “the utmost sincerity functioning as spirits” and thus can “assist the transforming and generating power of heaven and earth.” Because of cheng’s rich, sacred, and mysterious implications, it has been regarded as the most difficult and perplexing of Chinese concepts. Scholars have long studied cheng mainly from the perspective of philosophy to analyze its ideological conceptions in the Confucian classics, resulting in fruitful and inspiring interpretations. However, because they have not traced the origin of cheng to its rich religious, ritual, and literary sources, their interpretations have been unable to answer the question: why is cheng covered with such a mysterious veil? In recent decades, some scholars have started exploring cheng’s relationship with ancient religious beliefs and rituals, but so far a comprehensive examination of the religious-ritual origin of this significant concept remains lacking. To discover cheng’s mysterious origins, we must apply a synthetic approach of etymological, religious, philosophical, and literary studies. Drawing upon both transmitted and excavated texts, this essay first analyzes the graphic-phonetic structure and semantic implications of the character cheng 成 (completion), which was the character cheng’s 誠 early form. It then examines the rich meanings implied in both characters related to sacrificial-divinatory rituals, including invoking the spirits with sincere writings, emotions, and oblations, in order to seduce them to descend and enjoy the offerings, as well as perfectively completing the human-spirit communication. Finally, the essay discusses how those religious beliefs and ritual ceremonies evolved into Confucian ethical values and aesthetic concepts, thus lifting the mysterious veil from cheng.

scholarly journals Between Heaven and Earth: Family ownership versus rights of monastic communities. The Theodosian Code and late antique legal practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-170
Author(s):  
Marzena Wojtczak
Keyword(s):  
Roman Law ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Monastic Communities ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One ◽  
Secular Power ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Heaven And Earth

This article investigates the relationship between the legislation introduced in the field of proprietary rights assigned to various Church entities and the practice of accumulation of wealth by the monastic communities in late antique Egypt. On the one hand, among the literary sources the predominant theme concerning Egyptian monasticism is the idea of voluntary poverty and renunciation of worldly possessions aimed at the pursuance of a contemplative life. On the other hand, the papyri offer insight into monastic life that does not seem to have been entirely detached from the outside world. In this vein, the laws of Valentinian I and Theodosius II clearly indicate that monks and nuns continued to own property without disturbance after undertaking religious life. In addition, Theodosius the Great and later emperors restricted the freedom of certain groups of citizens to disown their property, rendering the Christian ideal of voluntary poverty not always feasible. It is only with Justinian that the rules regarding monastic poverty are shaped and set by the secular power. The incentive for this study is to check for any conflict between the principles of classical Roman law in the field of private ownership and imperial legislation included in the Codex Theodosianus. Giorgio Barone-Adesi observed the tension that took place between the Christian communities and their corporations that were allotted ever broader privileges and the Roman principle of preservation of the property within the family unit. There is, however, still some room left for discussion since not all the data easily adds up to an unequivocal conclusion. In this analysis, the Code is treated as a measure for taking a stand by the legislator in the dispute between the will of the owner, recognition of the rights of the heirs and family members, and finally the privileges granted to the religious consortia.

Hans Maier

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
The Political ◽  
German History ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Academic Teacher

The political scientist and former Bavarian Minister of Culture Hans Maier has created a historically profound, theologically educated, literarily and musically highly sensitive, politically mature body of work, with which he has inscribed himself in the (intellectual) history of the Federal Republic. This book is the first to contain contributions by renowned scholars and politicians on the rich work and impact of the Catholic scholar and politician Hans Maier. It thematises and appreciates in detail his view of German history and the traditions of political thought, his critique of political language, political theology, totalitarianism and political religions, but also his contributions on Catholicism and modernity, his writings on literature and music, and finally his influence as an academic teacher, public intellectual and politician.

Workhorse Models

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pol Antràs
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Central Unit ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Features ◽  
The Rich

This chapter provides a succinct account of the rich intellectual history of the field of international trade and offers an overview of its modern workhorse models. This field has experienced a true revolution in recent years. Firms rather than countries or industries are now the central unit of analysis. The workhorse trade models used by most researchers both in theoretical work as well as in guiding empirical studies were published in the 2000s. While these benchmark frameworks ignore contractual aspects, they constitute the backbone of the models developed later in this volume, so the chapter provides a basic understanding of their key features.

Guest Column—Epilogue: Celebrity's Face Book

PMLA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 1131-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wicke
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Iconic Images ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
Heaven And Earth

Celebrity relies on a gaze, a collective or public regard that, in gazing, confers value. Celebrity also demands a face to celebrate—faciality is a sine qua non of “celebrification.” The historian Peter Brown demonstrates in The Cult of the Saints that late antiquity introduced the overriding importance of saints' images, bodies, relics, or tomb sites in a Christian worship that emphasized the mediation of saints between heaven and earth and in place of angels; celebrity had its origins in the woodcut portraits and wayside shrines that proliferated as well as in the professionally wrought iconic images of the saints. Against David Hume's judgment of this phenomenon as “vulgar” and a remnant of pagan folk religion, he argues that the rise of the cult of the saints was as influenced by elites, including Augustine, as by supposedly lesser folk, and that the latter, especially women and the poor, were thus able to participate in a democratizing of culture profoundly indebted to graveside practices that promoted personal relationships, even friendships, with the dead saints and the circulation of their faces in imagery and their body parts as relics (17). Moreover, far from introducing vulgarity into Christian rituals, Brown shows how the cult was imbued with the culture of classical antiquity and with values associated with Athenian democracy and the philosophy of nous, a non-rational intelligence linking us to the divine (48). That we deploy the term celebrity icon for such figures as Oprah or Angelina Jolie only underscores the vestiges of public religious ritual that remain embedded in celebrity practices and the nimbus of the sacred that haloes even seemingly debased celebrity discourses.

Problems in Translating Culture: The Translated Titles of Fusheng Liuji1

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Kwong
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Abstract Concept ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Aesthetic Concepts

Translating culture poses fundamental problems of perception and conception far deeper than matters of linguistic expression. This essay explores some of these problems by examining Fusheng liuji (Six Records of a Floating Life), a Chinese autobiographical text that has been translated into fourteen Asian and European languages. Even without going into the details of the rendered versions, one can notice various forms of intercultural mediation and reshaping in the translated titles and added subtitles. At one end is direct, partly helpless substitution: lexically flawless “float” cannot encompass the rich matrix of philosophical connotations and artistic resonances of fu in the source culture. At the other end is active reshaping: recasting, addition and omission based on interpretive (mis)reading, including a reduction of imagistic language into abstract concept (e.g., fu becomes “fleeting”). Through examining 17 renditions of the title of Fusheng liuji, this essay offers a case study that helps to cast light on the unavoidable factor of intercultural mediation in the translation process, with special focus on the translation of philosophical and aesthetic concepts. Some forms of mediation carry more significant effects than others, and there may be differences in verbal resources and orientations in various languages worthy of notice.

scholarly journals Introduction

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Whalen
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
International Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Cultural Integration ◽  
Model Assessment ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Early Form ◽  
The Rich

This volume of Frontiers signals a further maturation in the short history of this journal. Frontiers is now cosponsored by ten colleges and universities, and their support reflects the academic nature and purpose of this journal. In addition, our new Editorial Board members bring with them expertise in a variety of academic fields that relate to study abroad. The journal's expanded Board and its sponsors will assist Frontiers in fulfilling its mission of providing the profession of study abroad with a broad, provocative, and stimulating approach to topics within the field.  The articles in this volume offer excellent examples of this purpose. Skye Stephenson's lead article, "Study Abroad as a Transformational Experience and Its Effect upon Study Abroad Students and Host Nationals in Santiago, Chile" provides insights into the views of the "other" in study abroad and how students affect a local culture and are in turn affected by it. Stephenson's research helps us to understand the myriad ways in which student, professor, and host family effect one another.  John and Lilli Engle's article, "Program Intervention in the Process of Cultural Integration: The Example of French Practicum" describes the French Practicum course they developed as part of the curriculum of the American University Center in Aix-en-Provence. The presentation and analysis of this course alerts us to a number of substantial issues regarding study abroad pedagogy and learning that strike at the very nature and purposes of international education.  Colin Ireland's article, "Seventh-Century Ireland as a Study Abroad Destination," examines an early form of study abroad and reveals that the issues that were at work within the study abroad experience of the seventh century, including the challenge of cultural integration, are similar to the ones facing international educators today. Ireland's article is a provocative example of the rich traditions of study abroad that lie buried in our collective past.  "College Students with Disabilities and Study Abroad: Implications for International Education Staff," by Brenda Hameister and colleagues, addresses a critical topic in the field and suggests a useful approach toward advising students with disabilities about study abroad. Drawing on their considerable collective experience in this field, the authors present important concepts and case studies to help guide international education staff in their work with students with disabilities.  In their article, "Evaluation and Study Abroad: Developing Assessment Criteria and Practices to Promote Excellence," Joan Gillespie and her colleagues focus on an essential topic for the field of study abroad: how best to evaluate and improve programs abroad. The Model Assessment Practice developed by IES should stimulate discussion and debate among international educators concerned about program quality.  I hope that you find the variety of articles contained in this volume of Frontiers both stimulating and useful. The next volume of Frontiers, scheduled to be published in fall, 2000, will be a thematic one that focuses on the topic of Study Abroad and Area Studies.  Brian Whalen Dickinson College 

scholarly journals URDU-POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND ISLAMIC WELFARE STATE (An analytical study according to Islamic teachings)

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Basic Human Needs ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Economic Philosophy ◽  
Heaven And Earth

Poverty is a dangerous social problem which puts man under trial dissuading him from his religion and compromising his dignity and character. It is a potential threat to the peace and stability of society. Islam has enjoined upon the state as well as community to share the responsibility of eliminating poverty from society. The Quran and the Sunnah identify the ways and means by which this responsibility should be carried out. The economic philosophy of Islamic aims, in the first place, to eliminate poverty by providing the basic human needs, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, and developing the resources of the earth for the welfare of human beings for whom every thing in heaven and earth is made subservient.within the boundaries of its economic philosophy. Islam has contrived many ways to care the problem of poverty. Some of these are responsibility of the Islamic welfare state, others are to be fulfilled by the society and some are shared obligation of both Islamic welfare state and society.

scholarly journals Reconstructing the Pre-Meroitic Indigenous Pantheon of Kush

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-189
Author(s):  
M. Victoria Almansa-Villatoro
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Border Area ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Literary Sources

Abstract This article sets out to address questions concerning local religious traditions in ancient Nubia. Data concerning Egyptian gods in the Sudan are introduced, then the existence of unattested local pre-Meroitic gods is reconstructed using mainly external literary sources and an analysis of divine names. A review of other archaeological evidence from an iconographic point of view is also attempted, concluding with the presentation of Meroitic gods and their relation with earlier traditions. This study proposes that Egyptian religious beliefs were well integrated in both official and popular cults in Nubia. The Egyptian and the Sudanese cultures were constantly in contact in the border area and this nexus eased the transmission of traditions and iconographical elements in a bidirectional way. The Meroitic gods are directly reminiscent of the reconstructed indigenous Kushite pantheon in many aspects, and this fact attests to an attempt by the Meroitic rulers to recover their Nubian cultural identity.

Exploring Ibn ‘Arabi’s Metaphysics of Time and Space in Sufi Ritual: the ‘Issawiya Dhikr of Sidi Bou-Sa‘id

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248
Author(s):  
Dia Barghouti
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Islamic Philosophy ◽  
Performance Traditions ◽  
Metaphysics Of Time ◽  
The Rich ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Embodied Practice ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between medieval Islamic philosophy and contemporary Tunisian Sufi ritual. Focusing on the metaphysics of time and space in the writings of the twelfth-century Andalusian saint Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, the author explores the dhikr ritual within the framework of Sufi ontology in order to highlight the relevance of Islamic intellectual history to the religious practices of the ‘Issawiya Sufi community. The dhikr is one example of many indigenous performance traditions that are part of the rich cultural life of Tunisia. These are spaces where adepts engage with complex philosophical ideas through embodied performances. Thus, Sufi rituals raise important questions about the relationship between theory and embodied practice, which, although grounded in a particular cultural context, could be of relevance to the broader range of theatre. Dia Barghouti is a playwright and PhD candidate in the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her plays have been performed at the Ashtar Theatre, the SIN festival of video and performance art, and the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, all in Ramallah, Palestine.

Religious Origin of the Terms Dao and De and Their Signification in the Laozi

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
JINHUA JIA
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Synthetic Approach ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Chinese Intellectual ◽  
New Interpretation

AbstractThis article applies a synthetic approach of philological, religious, philosophical, and cultural studies to explore the original meaning of the terms dao 道 and de 德, two primary concepts in traditional Chinese intellectual history. Through an etymological analysis of the characters dao and de, and supported by both received and discovered texts and materials, this article demonstrates that dao originally represented the spirit of the Pole Star/High God and the movement of Heaven, and de, in relation to dao, originally represented the impartial virtue and power of Heaven. In terms of this new interpretation, the article further discusses the signification of dao and de in the Laozi to uncover the mystic aspects of the text.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document