scholarly journals Generating Sacred Space beyond Architecture: Stacked Stone Pagodas in Sixth-Century Northern China

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 730
Author(s):  
Jinchao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Structural Resemblance ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
The Way

A large number of stone blocks, stacked up in diminishing size to form pagodas, was discovered in northern China, primarily eastern Gansu and southeastern Shanxi. Their stylistic traits and inscriptions indicate the popularity of the practice of making stacked pagodas in the Northern dynasties (circa the fifth and sixth centuries CE). They display a variety of Buddhist imagery on surface, which is in contrast with the simplification of the structural elements. This contrast raises questions about how stone pagodas of the time were understood and how they related to contemporaneous pagoda buildings. This essay examines these stacked pagodas against the broader historical and artistic milieu, especially the practice of dedicating Buddhist stone implements, explores the way the stacked pagodas were made, displayed, and venerated, and discusses their religious significance generated beyond their structural resemblance to real buildings.

scholarly journals Sporting Space, Sacred Space: A Theology of Sporting Place

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 473
Author(s):  
Robert Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Ordinary Space ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Sacred And Profane ◽  
Special Places ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
The Way

Religion often designates locations that are considered sacred, marked off from ordinary space. Sporting venues also take on a significance for players and supporters that is seldom adequately explained in solely sporting terms. Can theological understandings of place illuminate the way in which players and spectators relate to the ‘sacred space’ of their sporting endeavors? In this paper, I explore and assess the theological and religious significance of sporting space by reflecting upon descriptions of both religious and sporting special places. I use a range of types of descriptions of experiences of such spaces together with theological ideas and concepts, including Christian notions of incarnation, sacrament, and Trinity, which are found to be useful resources, undermining a strict binary of ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ space. I then build upon previous theological and empirical work with sports participants to explore a theological understanding of special sporting places and the experiences of those who play and support sporting endeavors in them.

Inventing Synagogue Conversion

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-416
Author(s):  
Shira L. Lander
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Space Transformation

Historians of the ancient synagogue often use the term “conversion” to describe any kind of adaptation of a building once designated as a synagogue into a church. This label oversimplifies and misconstrues complex processes, both rhetorical and architectural, that were at work in transforming the landscape of the late antique Mediterranean. I explore the dynamic of this triumphalist rhetoric and architectural strategy, showing that Christian writers meant something very specific by the term “conversion,” and that they invented the paradigm of synagogue conversion in order to interpret the changing landscape to their readers. The architectural program of replacement as a strategy for converting subject populations to Christianity emerged in the sixth century. By characterizing changes made to building structures and changes in religious belief as “conversion,” imperial policy concretized the association of sacred space transformation with the victory of Christianity over Judaism and paganism.

Linguistic Co-existence in Constantinople: Greek and Latin (and Syriac) in the Acts of the Synod of 536 C.E.

2009 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 92-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fergus Millar
Keyword(s):  
Sixth Century ◽  
Church Councils ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

This paper considers the interplay of Latin and Greek in the workings of both State and Church in sixth-century Constantinople, and the way that these two languages are represented in the written records of each. The richest source of evidence is provided by the Acts of the Church Councils and Synods, because at the end of a session, or of a multi-authored document, it was the custom for those involved to make a one-sentence statement of assent in their own handwriting. These processes also leave room for reflections of the use of Syriac (but not for items of actual Syriac text), but of no other language.

scholarly journals An Inquiry into the Role of Women in Pre-Ahom and Ahom Society with Special Focus on the Institution of Kamakhya

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-298
Author(s):  
Nilam Kakati
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Feminist Theology ◽  
Mixed Methodology ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Way

The role of women in Pre- Ahom and Ahom society could be regarded in the broader environment within the ambit of sacred space dedicated to them. Kamakhya temple, situated near Guwahati, Assam is the most profound illustration of the sacred space of women. It is celebrated as one of the renowned centres of Tantra in India in general and Assam in particular. It has established itself not only as an eminent Tantric centre but also as a menstruating Goddess. However, menstruation has been treated as a taboo since the earliest times in various religious texts. It represented the image of impurity and pollution and was dubbed as hot and dangerous. However, in Kamakhya temple, annual menstruation of the goddess is celebrated as a festival. In June every year, Ambubachi Mela represents one of the chief celebrations of the temple. The paper attempts to analyze the theme of menstruation, placing it in the border context of Kamakhya. The article also highlights the unrestricted movement of women in the pre- Ahom and Ahom society owing to its characteristics of the tribal bearing. The study claims that the inherent dichotomy of pure-impure, auspicious- inauspicious becomes unfitting in the case of Kamakhya and her annual menstruation festival. This specifics could pave the way to identify the theme of menstruation as a lone entity beyond the dichotomy which might aid in offering a fresh understanding of the same. The study employs the mixed methodology of hermeneutics and feminist theology.

scholarly journals Procedury związane z wprowadzeniem stałego diakonatu w diecezjach polskich

2010 ◽  
Vol 53 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 79-104
Author(s):  
Tomasz Jakubiak
Keyword(s):  
Sixth Century ◽  
John Paul Ii ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

Permanent Deaconship received without intention of future priesthood has been known since the beginning of the Church. Sixth century turned out to be a crucial moment in the history of Deaconship. That’s then when in the Western Church because of various reasons it started to loose its importance. Vaticanum II tried to change the way it was perceived. Together with promulgation of the norms contained in the Code of John Paul II part of the documents which had been promulgated earlier regulating this subject was canceled. After presenting most important documents issued by the Popes, Congregations and Conference of Polish Bishops together with explanations, the author focuses on the most important actions undertaken by Diocese Bishops from the moment permanent Deaconship was accepted in the Diocese till the moment the newly ordained deacon is send for the service.

Concrete holiness and place attachment: Christian Zionist agricultural volunteers in Samaria

2022 ◽  
pp. 003776862110624
Author(s):  
Gideon Elazar ◽  
Miriam Billig
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
The West ◽  
God's Will ◽  
Agricultural Work ◽  
Global Era ◽  
Christian Zionism ◽  
Religious Significance

Christian Zionism is a Protestant theology rooted in nineteenth-century Britain, advocating the return of Jews to the land of Israel as the fulfilment of God’s will and plan for the salvation of humanity. This article deals with the unique theology of the Christian Zionist group Hayovel, an organization dedicated to bringing Christian volunteers for agricultural work in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Based on fieldwork conducted among Hayovel volunteers, this article offers an analysis of Hayovel’s theology of rootedness and faith in the religious significance of the land. In contrast to mainstream Evangelical Christianity, Hayovel emphasizes the importance of sacred space and attempts to construct an experience of concrete holiness through agricultural work and touring the region’s Biblical sites. Hayovel’s activity is described here as the construction and cultivation of the Israel as a spatial and spiritual core and as a place of potential refuge and as a reaction to the increasing detachment from space in the global era.

Prologue

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Paul A. Rahe
Keyword(s):  
Sixth Century ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Way

This chapter analyzes the character of the Spartan polity, traces its origins, and describes the grand strategy that the Lacedaemonians first articulated in the mid-sixth century. It discusses the defense of the Spartan polity and the way of life associated with it before Persians burst on the scene. It also investigates how Spartans gradually adjusted their strategy to fit the new and unexpected challenge that suddenly loomed on the horizon when the Mede first appeared. The chapter describes the fashion in which Spartans organized and managed the alliance with which they confronted and defeated the invader bearing down on Hellas. It also highlights the way the victorious Hellenes gradually and awkwardly worked out a postwar settlement that seemed to suit all concerned.

Affective Narratives: Harlem and the Lower East Side

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 777-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
CATHERINE ROTTENBERG
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Jewish American ◽  
Lower East Side ◽  
East Side ◽  
American Novels ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Way

This paper begins by juxtaposing contemporary discourses on Harlem and the Lower East Side, arguing that the processes of iconization of these two neighborhoods have been very different. Whereas the iconicity of Harlem has always been shot through with ambivalence, the Lower East Side has come to signify a relatively unambivalent sacred space for US Jewry. The second part of the essay then traces the representations of Harlem and the Lower East Side back to early twentieth-century African American and Jewish American novels, claiming that critically analyzing the theme of ambivalence in these texts – and, more specifically, how ambivalence manifests itself differently within each literary tradition – is key to understanding not only why Harlem and the Lower East Side have undergone parallel but divergent processes of iconization, but also the way Jews and blacks have been positioned and have attempted to position themselves in relation to dominant white US society.

The Religious Significance of the Ontological Argument

1975 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Philip E. Devine
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Argument ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Necessary Existence ◽  
The Way

It seems clear that the ontological argument can no longer be dismissed as a silly fallacy. The dogma of the impossibility of necessary existence is seriously threatened by the case of necessary existential truths in mathematics, and as for the claim that the ontological argument must beg the question, since by mentioning God in the premise his existence is presupposed, it is undermined by the fact that we often refer to things—Hamlet for instance— we do not for a moment think exist. The doctrine that existence is not a property (‘exists’ is not a predicate), insofar as it does not reduce to one of the foregoing points, is very murky, for the sense in which ‘red’ is a predicate and ‘exists’ is not has never been clearly defined. Moreover, the way many believers hold that ‘God exists’ is immune to empirical refutation strongly suggests that we are dealing here with an analytic statement, which is just what the ontological argument should be expected to produce. It seems in order, then, to conduct theological discussion under the supposition that the argument is in fact sound.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document