A Latter-Day Sodom and Babylon

This chapter examines the manner in which Nigerian bloggers and web journalists interpreted, framed and represented Obama's gay rights diplomacy in Nigeria. The chapter specifically explores the extent to which these web journalists' interpretations of the American pro-gay movement generated new religion-inspired representations of the U.S. government and Americans on the social networks. The study is based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of over 162 online articles generated by Nigerian citizen journalists in reaction to Obama's gay rights advocacy in Nigeria and Africa. It answers the following research questions: how did Nigerian web/citizen journalists frame Obama's pro-gay move? What was their tone? How did they represent America and its people in their articles or posts? And how did religion and culture influence the latter's representations of America and Americans?

Tolstoy's text in the works of I. S. Shmelyov

This research is dedicated to the study of supertext in the works of the prominent writer of the white émigré – Ivan Sergeevich Shmelyov. The topic of supertexts is currently one of the most promising interdisciplinary trends in humanities. Despite the fact that literary studies feature quite a number of works dedicated to topological texts, there are virtually no research of supertext, to which Tolstoy's text is attributed to. Active creation of Tolstoy’s text falls on the turn of the XIX – XX centuries. The image of Tolstoy manifests in Shemlyov’s works of the early period, his last novel, diaries and correspondence. In literary texts, the writer creates the “protected” myth about L. Tolstoy, whole the “profane vector” can be observed in diaries and correspondence with the close circle of friends. Mythologemes that comprise Shmelyov’s myth are as follows: “Tolstoy is an outstanding Russian writer”, “Simplification of Tolstoy”, “Tolstoy is the Founder of the New Religion”. The latter is of particular significance, since Shmelyov positions himself, and is subsequently recognized by the readers, as the Orthodox writer irreconcilable with other religious pursuits. Having acknowledge the undisputable authority of L. Tolstoy as a writer, as a model for young authors, the heroes in Shmelyov’s works do not admit the spiritual leader and religious figure in the prominent Russian thinker.

The structure of knowledge

Medieval architectures of knowledge designed in the Islamic world constitute a special case: They neatly reflect the competition between different intellectual traditions and approaches. On the one hand, there are those classifications that are centered on what was perceived as the indigenous sciences during the formative period, i.e. those sciences that arose in connection with the new religion, Islam, and the language of its revelation, Arabic. On the other hand, scholars eagerly took over and adapted disciplines deriving from non-Arab and non-Muslim cultures, primarily Greek science and philosophy. These traditions, however, transmitted their own conceptions of knowledge that partly stood in conflict with Arabic-Islamic ideas. In this article, I first give an overview of the various approaches and then concentrate on Fārābī and Avicenna, in order to trace a remarkable development: the gradual dissolution of boundaries both within and between the different scientific spheres and paradigms on epistemological grounds.

The celebration of the lizard:

The aim of this paper is the analysis of the meaning of the iconography of the month of September in Late Antique Roman illustrated calendars. This image alludes to the apotropaic ritual of the grape harvest done through the suspension of a lizard above bunches of grapes or containers of wine. The use of this image attests to the continuity of the Dionysian cult in Late Antiquity, even if only at a popular level, because of the definitive affirmation of Christianity. At the same time, the new religion included this iconographic pattern, which has acquired an eschatological meaning related to eternal life.

Strategi Pembinaan Keagamaan Muallaf Dayak Meratus Kalimantan Selatan

A person becomes a Muslim convert because he believes in Islamic teachings' goodness, benefits, and truth. On the other hand, converts of Dayak Meratus generally still have many shortcomings and problems carrying out their new religion. Thus, the guidance of Dayak Meratus converts must be carried out by Muslims. It is still unclear that the guidance carried out for Dayak Meratus converts raises how the basic strategy for cultivating Dayak Meratus converts in South Kalimantan is necessary. Religion, supporting and inhibiting factors for converting. Data collection was carried out by observing, interviewing, and opening up documents that could present facts and events in the field. The interactive analysis process is in the following order: data collection, data condensation, data modeling, and describing and verifying conclusions. This research found that the convergence coaching program was made in detail by coaches who were in the field to suit field conditions. Dayak Meratus converts' religious guidance is carried out by using a family approach, warmth, meeting intensity or always being close to converts, teaching the practice of worship, muamalah, and instilling faith. The inhibiting factors for conversion are; lack of dai, converts are scattered over a wide area, it is challenging to gather at one place, the busyness of converts who make a living to a remote area.

Teologi Ibadah dan Spiritualitas Generasi Milenial

Discourse about millennial generation and religious campaigns has become a worldwide spotlight in various sectors of life. Their existence is the best commodity in human history. In addition, technological advances through the internet are very binding on them so that the millennial generation is a group that grows and is familiar also dependent on gadget technology that masters social media as their new religion. The Church as a Treaty for implementing theology. Warnings and solutions to solutions from Marva J. Dawn and related liturgical figures also support the role of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathy from Worship Theology to hold its missiological responsibilities reversed with the help of contemporary worship. ===== Diskursus tentang generasi milenial dan persoalan keagamaan telah menjadi sorotan mendunia dalam berbagai sektor hidup. Keberadaan angkatan mereka menjadi komoditi penting saat ini dan ke depannya. Di samping itu, kemajuan teknologi lewat jaringan internet sangat mengikat mereka sehingga generasi milenial adalah sebuah kelompok yang tumbuh dan akrab serta tergantung dengan teknologi gadget yang menTuan-kan media sosial sebagai agama baru mereka. Gereja sebagai konteks pelaksanaan Teologi Ibadah menghadapi kondisi ini. Peringatan dan rekonstruksi solusi dari Marva J. Dawn dan tokoh-tokoh liturgis lainnya turut menunjukkan pentingnya peran ortodoksi, ortopraksis dan ortopati dari Teologi Ibadah untuk menunjukkan tanggung jawab misiologisnya yang bersifat upside-down melalui ibadah kekinian.

Roman Games and Spectacle

As the Roman world became increasingly influenced by the spread of Christianity, contemporary social and political practices both shaped and were shaped by the new religion. For Christians the realm of public spectacle was marked by ambiguities, as religious authority figures strove to reconcile these cultural expressions, their origins embedded in commemorations of the pagan state, with their own evolving notions of what it was to be Christian. As Christian emperors co-opted the consolidated circus organization and the racing factions that spread from it, late antique public spectacles became a key venue for the formation of Christian identity.

Christian and Islamic Nubia, 543–1820

In the 6th century, after the arrival of the Christian missionaries from Constantinople, Nubia became the southernmost outpost of Byzantine culture in Africa. New religion brought new sacral iconography and literary genres based on Greek, which became the sacred language of the Nubian liturgy and hymnology. The Greco-Byzantine elements diluted in the indigenous African traditions created an original culture in the Middle Nile that preserved much of its Byzantine ideal until the fall of the Christian Kingdoms in the 14th and 15th centuries. However, at the beginning of the 11th century, Nubia witnessed the process of nationalization of its culture, which is evidenced by the proliferation of the Nubian language in official documents and visitors’ graffiti in the churches. The economy of Christian Nubia was enhanced by the high productivity of the riverine agriculture based on the widespread use of the water wheel (saagiya) and trade. Nubia played the role of intermediary in the exchange between Africa’s interior and the Mediterranean. However, the profitable trade in slaves, cattle, and gold was stripped of its benefits when the traditional north–south routes diverged from the Nile Valley, thus avoiding the Nile checkpoints where the duties in kind were levied from the caravans by the Christian rulers. The first symptoms of Nubia’s political decline appeared in the 9th century when the Arabs started to settle in the gold-bearing regions along the Nile. The fall of the Christian Kingdom of Makuria was preluded by a period of total dependence on the Mamlūk sultans of Egypt, who openly interfered in the dynastic disputes among the Nubian ruling families. The outbreak of the second plague pandemic in the mid-14th century destabilized the Nubian economy, ruined the agriculture, and forced people to turn to God and the heavenly intercessors for help. In the 15th century, Nubia reverted to its original state of political segmentation and anarchy under the rule of petty kinglets who could not prevent the subjugation of Upper Nubia to Funj Sultans and Lower Nubia to the Ottomans. The last attempt at military unification of the Middle Nile by an indigenous power was the ascendance of the Islamized Nubian tribe of the Shaiqiyya, which in the early 18th century dominated a huge part of the Middle Nile. The coming of the Mamlūk refugees from Egypt in 1811 weakened the Shaiqiyya’s supremacy. Ten years later the Middle Nile was incorporated into the Ottoman eyālet of Egypt governed by Muhammed Ali.

The Theme of Resistance in Rabindranath Tagore’s Malini: A Humanistic Perspective

This paper explores the themes of resistance emerged in a Hindu kingdom after the pervasion of a new religion namely the Buddhism in Rabindranath Tagore’s play Malini. The primary conflict arises when princess Malini follows the Buddhism in the land of orthodox Hindus. Her conversion and the conflicts that it drives, thus, is the major issue of this paper that invites a systematic exploration with the perspective of resistance theory. The ground of resistance solidifies with the oppositional feelings, beliefs, and the milieu of rebellions. Thus, these inciting aspects are enough to give birth to the resistance. As a qualitative applied research, this paper draws on ideas and theories of resistance postulated by the scholars like Kasper Masse, Miguel Tamen, Jocelyn A. Hollander, and Rachel L. Einwohner to observe the revolt and resistance in the play. Malini and Kemankar stand as the representatives of their respective religious ideologies, and their struggles against the “power bloc” expose the nature of the resistance. This resistance remains as the harbinger to spread the voice of humanity throughout the world. Tagore's idea of universal humanism sustains if only the religious dogmatism and fanaticism stop to judge, discriminate, and lynch people. It is only the resistance to such dogmatism that gives birth to the voice of humanity when the rationality rules the world.