Recto and Verso: The Pictorial Fronts and the Marbled Reverses of Two Flemish Panel Paintings

From the first third of the 15th century onwards, panel paintings with marbled reverses increasingly appeared in Flemish art. The fronts of these panels primarily depicted religious narrative scenes or portraits. The backs were decorated with an abstract pattern, referred to as marbling. These painted marble facsimiles often differed in terms of design from other examples of stone imitations such as those used on the frame decorations of other panels. Unlike these frames, which suggest a greater illusionistic intention, the marbled reverses appear to function as abstract ornamentation. However, this article proposes that the painted backs are thematically linked to the pictorial narratives of the fronts. The marbled backs of Rogier van der Weyden’s Crucifixion and the Portrait of Margareta van Eyck will be considered in the context of a profane and a theological iconography. Both panels feature a reverse that can be identified as both an imitation of red porphyry and a representation of liquid paint. Metaphysical, material–semantic, and theological references will be revealed in the pictorial examples.

The Global Religious Imagery of the Cult of Duc Cao Ðài

"In 1926, in Tây Ninh province, about 100 km away from present day Ho Chi Minh City, a new spiritual movement was born, aiming at the symbolic unification of all the world’s major religions into one. Its hierarchical structure resembles Roman Catholicism while on the other hand integrating elements from Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. Besides worshipping the prophetic figures of the world major religions (Jesus Christ, Buddha and Mohammed), the Cao Đài claim to have communicated in spiritist séances with secular western and eastern literary, historical and political figures such as William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Jeanne D’Arc, Sun Yat Sen, Vladimir Lenin and the Vietnamese poet and prophet Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm, worshipping some of these (but not all) as saints. Within the present article, I aim at analyzing the syncretic religious imagery of the Cao Đài and discuss the manner in which they construct their religious narrative as well as worldview."

God and COVID-19 in Burundian social media: The political fight for the control of the narrative

While an incredible series of twists characterized the fight against COVID-19 in Burundi and its narration, references to God have never been missing in the narratives around the disease. Trust in God represented one of the pillars of the government’s narrative, next to an attitude of ‘denialism’, and the fight against ‘fake news’. This article analyses the evolution of the narration of COVID-19 on Twitter during the first three phases of the fight against the disease, focusing on the use of the religious narrative. Within Burundi’s contemporary sociopolitical context, analysis of these narratives on social media best demonstrates how the fight against COVID-19 in Burundi was a fight for the control of the narrative, and by extension for political legitimacy.

Islamic on Screen: Religious Narrative on Indonesia's Television

The digital era does not necessarily replace television as a source of information, including about religion. Television remains vital in the construction and dissemination of religious information in Indonesian society. The survey conducted by PPIM in 2018 shows that 33.73% of Generation Z (youth) access television as a source of religious knowledge (Saputra 2018). The previous research by Alvara in 2020 also found that 54.2% of respondents listen to and watch religious sermons from television (Alvara 2020). Therefore, PPIM UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta through Media and Religious Trend In Indonesia (MERIT) conducted a research entitled “Preaching on Screen: Television and Religious Narrative in Indonesia”, which ran from July to December 2020. The research found that moderate and conservative of islam are highly dominating on television programs in Indonesia.This research is also driven by the significance of television in disseminating religious knowledge demonstrated by the widespread proliferation of religious programs produced on television. These religious programs are broadcasted not only during Ramadan month but also on daily basis. The significant role of television as a source of religious knowledge is also illustrated by the high public interest in watching religious programs. For example, the "Damai Indonesiaku" program produced by TVOne successfully gains a share of 10.42% in the month of Ramadan and 8.33% on normal days (Tirto 2018). The program "Kata Ustadz Solmed" broadcasted by SCTV (Surya Citra Televisi), enjoys a high rating of 31 shares, which is much higher than the soap opera with the highest rating of only 15 shares. In addition to religious programs on public television stations, currently, many TV stations use satellite frequencies to exclusively broadcast religious programs for example RodjaTV, Ihsan TV, and Surau TV. In fact, with the rapid development of the internet, many televisions use Youtube platform to broadcast their religious programs such as CokroTV, Al BahjahTV, YufidTV, TVMU (TVMuhammadiyah), Nabawi TV, and so on.

The fight over the Marian Column and a religious narrative template in a society of unbelievers

The paper explains the current dominance of unbelievers in Czech society as a consequence of the replication of the narrative template about religion, which is part of the national collective memory. This narrative template manifests itself in certain events provided by the interpretative framework. The aim of the study is to identify the Czech religious narrative template based on the analysis of public debate on the restoration of the Marian Column in Prague. The paper shows that a key element of this narrative template is the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, which has not been resolved in the course of Czech history and is replicated in contemporary modern society through a discussion of the ‘meaning of Czech history’. This split has become a part of Czech national identity and its long-term consequence is the shift of Czech society away from religion.

Simile for the Devil: Paradise Regained and the Secularization of Satan

A central, secularizing plot of John Milton's Paradise Regained is the dissolution of Satan. As the Son passes from scriptural figure to reality, Satan is gradually reduced from mythological character to metaphor. While both the demythologization of evil and the explanation of religious concepts as metaphor have long histories as central examples of secularization and of the liberalization of religion, theorists from the political-theological right (e.g., Carl Schmitt) and postsecularist left (e.g., Talal Asad) have called attention to the analogies that can be drawn between apparently secular concepts and stories and earlier, religious doctrines and myths, claiming that such analogies call into question the legitimacy and distinctiveness of the secular. Against those critiques, I argue that secularization stories can be distinguished from religious narrative, albeit not for their naturalism, their liberalism, their rationalism, or other doctrinal content. Rather, they force us to face their own constructed, literary qualities.

Religious Narrative in Turkey

This chapter examined how religious opinion leaders guide people on religious issues and inform them how they should live shape the social segments they address. According to this review, four religious opinion leaders were selected, and their profiles on social media platforms were put into content analysis. As a result of the analysis, the forms of conservatism represented by religious opinion leaders were determined, and the characteristics of the Muslim identity they had built were determined. In this context, the similarities and differences of the identities revealed have been deduced. In this way, data was collected that could be used in other studies on religious opinion leaders.

LEO TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY AND THE STOIC TRADITION

The article investigates a contribution of the Stoic ideas to Leo Tolstoy's religious philosophy. The problem is considered in the context of the alleged “break” in the creative development of Leo Tolstoy in the late 1870s. Although Tolstoy had been familiar with the texts and ideas of the Stoics before this time and, probably, made some allusions to the Stoics in “War and Peace”, it is possible to say that in that time the Stoic ideas as such were not of significance for him. The thinker might have realized the deeper meaning of the Stoic tradition against the background of the teachings of Christ. Applying the methods of textual analysis, the author shows that after the conversion Tolstoy sought to use some aspects of the Stoic religious narrative (men's mind as a part of the divine one, the unity of the universe) as a support for his own pantheistic (panentheistic) views, in which both his ethical and social values were rooted.