Divine Image Research Articles

“Idol talks!” AI-driven image to text to speech: illustrated by an application to images of deities

This work aims to provide an innovative solution to enhance the accessibility of images by an innovative image to text to speech system. It is applied to Hindu and Christian divine images. The method is applicable, among others, to enhance cultural understanding of these images by the visually impaired. The proposed system utilizes advanced object detection techniques like YOLO V5 and caption generation techniques like ensemble models. The system accurately identifies significant objects in images of Deities. These objects are then translated into descriptive and culturally relevant text through a Google text-to-speech synthesis module. The incorporation of text generation techniques from images introduces a new perspective to the proposed work. The aim is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the visual content and allow visually impaired individuals to connect with the spiritual elements of deities through the immersive experience of auditory perception through a multimodal approach to make them feel inclusive in the community. This work is also applicable to preserve Cultural Heritage, Tourism and integrating with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Images of the artistic cultural legacy are hardly available in annotated databases, particularly those featuring idols. So we gathered, transcribed, and created a new database of Religious Idols in order to satisfy this requirement. In this paper, we experimented how to handle an issue of religious idol recognition using deep neural networks. In order to achieve this outcome, the network is first pre-trained on various deep learning models, and the best one which outperforms others is chosen. The proposed model achieves an accuracy of 96.75% for idol detection, and an approximate 97.06% accuracy for text generation according to the BLEU score.

Semantics of Transition: Death and Resurrection of the Hero in Film Fantasy at the Turn of the 20th—21st Centuries

The article is devoted to the study of human metaphysical experience through cinema art. The material of the study is widely known fantasy films (“The Lord of the Rings”, “The Matrix”, “Harry Potter”, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “Avatar”), in which the sacral space is realized as a magical fairy tale or a dream, and the hero acting in it is identified with the concept of “soul” or “consciousness”. The aim of the study is to semantically and cognitively analyze the visual image of transition through death, which is offered to the viewer by cinematography, and to model the director’s concepts included in it. The author’s concept of transition is based on the works of M. Eliade, A. van Gennep, C.G. Jung, M.P. Hall and is revealed as a multi-phase process of soul transformation in the conditions of spiritual or perceptual crisis. It is established that the transition scenario in the films considered includes an “entry point” into another world, a series of initiations and an “exit point”. In this context, death and resurrection are the climactic phase and have different symbolic connotations, their essence depending on the prototype that the hero imitates. As it has been revealed, the imitation of cyclical forces of nature (solar, agrarian deities) by contemporary directors is interpreted by them as a long stage of soul maturation, which is no longer opposed to, but naturally precedes the imitation of the “divine archetype” (in the Christian tradition, Christ the Saviour). The axis of transition from forced submission to the endless cycle of renewal to the evolutionary stage of spiritual maturity is the act of “awakening” expressed in the willingness to voluntarily sacrifice oneself out of love and compassion for others. Death and resurrection in this case manifest the metaphysical transformation of the soul aspect into the spiritual one. At the same time, in the process of studying the film material, a tendency of a transgressive nature was detected, namely the replacement of the concept “soul” by the concept “brain”. As a result of identifying the functions of the human brain with the functions of a computer in the mental space, there is a danger of substitution of the divine image by artificial intelligence, which can provoke the blocking of the channel “soul – spirit” and the involutionary turn from spirit to matter.

Feminen Characterization of The God

This study investigates how monotheistic religions depict God with masculine or feminine attributes, considering historical context. The issue arises from questioning the portrayal of a masculine God within these religions, influenced by a patriarchal socio-cultural backdrop. Instances mainly from Christianity and lesser from Judaism and Islam, the study analyzes the characteristics of religious theological language used in the depiction of God. In this context, we explore the linguistic challenge encountered by religious traditions when employing anthropomorphic language. Since the core issue revolves around expressing and labeling the divine, the paper initiates with a conceptual examination of God’s characterization as either masculine or feminine. In this analysis, tracing back historically, archaeological and anthropological evidence indicates that language used to describe God was initially predominantly feminine. Feminist perspectives contend that over time, particularly within monotheistic religions, this language has become masculine and that this historical shift has been a major factor in the social and cultural exclusion of women. Against this claim, the study aims to substantiate the claim that despite the effective historical dominance of the theological masculine language, the feminine divine image persists in both theistic and non-theistic traditions. Both the Holy Scriptures and early theological writings occasionally employ feminine language when discussing God, although less frequently than masculine language. Within this context, anthropomorphic depictions of God in the Holy Books of monotheistic religions—where God is perceived as an immaterial being—are interpreted metaphorically, analogically, or symbolically. In particular, the mystical traditions of these religions have emphasized feminine qualities more intensely in their depiction of the divine. They portray God not only as a father or male figure but also with feminine attributes, such as a mother, lover, or friend. These traditions contend that qualities like divine beauty and mercy find their fullest expression in women and the feminine manifestation of existence. Notably, the Nag Hammadi tradition, rooted in Jewish mysticism, highlights the feminine dimensions of the divine, emphasizing love and compassion. Medieval Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich also emphasized the feminine dimension of God in their experience of the divine. Similarly, within Islamic Sufism, influenced by the Our’an’s balance and harmony of tanzih(exoneratin God from human attributes) and tashbih (drawing similitude) the Ibn Arabi tradition, emphasizing the feminine portrayal of the divine. They recognized the divine presence within the feminine elements of creation. Additionally, a lesser-known figure, Molla al-Jaziri, dealt extensively with the theme of woman as a divine mirror. This study aimed aligns with the feminist theological approach, advocating for the reinterpretation of theological and religious language in order to liberate it from the dominance of a patriarchal language and reveal its feminine aspect. Additionally, study also suggests further research by examining specific time periods, approaches and individual scholars’ perspectives.

Mirrors of Death, Images of God: Likeness and Difference in Gregory of Nyssa’s Social Ethics

Abstract Gregory of Nyssa’s critiques of various forms of social injustice hinge on his rigorous theological anthropology. For Gregory, slavery, the accumulation of wealth, and the mistreatment of the poor are evil because they deny the freedom proper to human creatures created according to the divine Image. However, Gregory’s anthropology also contains, we will argue, a distinct account of the ways in which humanity’s difference from God – particularly its poverty and limitation – reveals important aspects of the particular and ultimately Christological mode in which finite humans imitate the infinitude God. The aim of this present essay is to articulate how both likeness and unlikeness to God – mirrors of God and mirrors of death – are integral to Gregory’s theological anthropology as it pertains to various forms of social critique.

Made in the Image of God: Seeing Humanity as God Sees Us

While many within the Christian tradition believe that humanity has been made in the image of God, there are differing views of what happened to that divine image once sin and brokenness entered the world. If we believe that our divine nature has been lost or is something to be attained, it follows that we might easily recognize the image of God in some (such as those we consider “saved”) while having a harder time recognizing God’s image within others, especially those who are different from us. A colleague of mine shared a statement that summarizes the danger of this phenomenon well: “when we fail to recognize someone’s divinity, we fail to recognize their humanity.” Great thinkers and social activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have also stressed the importance of recognizing the divine image that is inherent in all people in order to prevent dehumanization, which leads to injustice and oppression. This paper will explore some of these thoughts in relation to the evolution of St. Augustine’s understanding of what it means to be made in the image of God. By applying Augustine’s three different perspectives on what sin does to our divine image, we will see the consequences of failing to recognize the divinity of others. This reality can show up today in everyday situations such as fearing or distrusting our neighbors, hurting others through attempts to show God’s “love”, and even in atrocities such as treating civilians and children as “collateral damage” in war. When we are truly able to see the image of God in ourselves and each other, we are compelled to genuinely love those who are different from us, including those we believe to be our enemies.

Study of Ten Poems Written by William Blake

This study aims to present findings focused on the analysis of figurative language and central themes in a collection of ten poems by William Blake. Qualitative research methodology is used to conduct a comprehensive analysis. Among the ten poems, the writer discovered that the predominant use of figurative language is metaphors. Furthermore, the theme explored in the poem "Ah Sunflower" pertains to the concept of life beyond death, and the theme depicted in "The Sick Rose" revolves around desire and passion, then the theme conveyed in "A Poison Tree" revolves around anger and negative emotions. In contrast, the theme depicted in "A Dream" revolves around the narrative of an individual's life. The theme explored in "A Divine Image" pertains to the portrayal of humanity. "The Tyger" revolves around religious beliefs, portraying God as powerful and magnificent. "Infant Joy" revolves around the dialogue between a child and an adult. The central idea explored in "London" revolves around portraying the daily experiences of individuals residing in London. The poem explicitly highlights Blake's dissatisfaction with the prevailing political circumstances during his existence. The central theme of "Love Secret" revolves around emotions, feelings, and the power of imagination. The primary theme of the final poem, "The Lamb," delves into matters of spirituality, mainly focusing on the grandeur of God, His creations, the presence of peace, and the quality of gentleness. The predominant theme frequently explored by the writer centered around the relationship between humanity and the divine.

YHWH: A győzedelmes harcostól Izrael Istenéig

The aim of the study is to present the genesis of the name and concept of YHWH, primarily based on the results of the most recent research into the viewpoints of religious history. The significance of the Shasu nomads is primary in this regard, as the name YHWH occurred in connection with them in Egyptian inscriptions. It is highly likely that Moses and the group led by him in the southern areas (Sinai, Paran, Midian, Seir, Edom) encountered the YHWH warriors and the earlier form of the name YHWH. After entering the land of Transjordan and Canaan, the god-warrior YHWH adopted the attributes of the highest Canaanic god, El; moreover, it may be stated that a fusion – in the sense of religious history – was completed. In Genesis 49, Jacob asked for the blessings of El-Shaddai for Joseph. The Shaddai deities were the escorts of the storm-god Amurru. The next phase in religious history was the struggle between YHWH and Baal. Although the adoption of the attributes of the Canaanite storm-god was realised, the fusion was not perceived. The glorious divine warrior YHWH now also personified the storm-god, bringing rain and fertility. The YHWH divine image encountered the attributes of the Sun (solarisation) in Jerusalem, as attested by the archaeological finds from the period of pre-exile Israel.

Conscience and the continuum of constitutionalism: John Calvin on civil government

Abstract This article examines John Calvin’s theology on its own terms with the aim of appreciating the normative basis and implications of his political theory. Although the claim that Calvin’s account of civil government falls within the category of political ‘theology’ is less controversial, the normative implications of his theological ontology for political actors are more commonly contested. Calvin seminally wrote ‘on Civil Government’ in Book IV, Chapter xx of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. In contrast, his accounts of conscience and natural law are far less systemized.1 This article contends that this reticence is not due to lack of importance but rather, due to its foundational nature. Indeed, the opening statement of the Institutes is indicative of the coherence of the Reformer’s thoughts wherein any emerging polity is composed of what this article refers to as the ‘spheres-of-influence’ scheme—a normative system originating inward from the vertical relationship every human agent has with the divine, and then extending horizontally outwards to bind the collective in a common system of values. Such an ontology is predicated on the concepts of conscience and the divine image, which renders all persons, who possess this natural repository of moral knowledge, accountable to transcendent standards of virtue. It follows that when we overlay this ‘continuum’2 onto a constitutional framework, we place the priority, not on the individual rights of the citizen, but on the responsibilities of all political actors whereby others precede the self and the common good prevails over self-interest.

Freedom, Intentionality, and Trinitarian Love in Edith Stein’s Thought—The Need for a Phenomenology–Theology Dialogue to Have a Deeper Understanding of It

The school of phenomenology went with Edith Stein all her life and became one of the guiding strings of her thought, which deepens more and more on the experience of the crucified. The Steinian idea of freedom starts from philosophy. However, it is intimately crossed by the theological (and mystical) question, since, for the author, the historical realization of the human life is possible when it participates in the divine life because God configures his own life in perfect freedom. The basic idea in Stein’s proposal on human freedom is the self-configuration of oneself in the divine image. On the other hand, when Stein asks herself, “What is freedom?” she answers, “It means the same as this: I can”. What does this answer mean? In order to understand the comprehensiveness of Ich kann and its relation to self-configuration, it is necessary to realize the foundations that support this “I can”. Therefore, the present study will consider the two essential points of support for it: the phenomenological concept of intentionality (Intentionalität), proper to Brentano’s thought and inherited from Husserl, and the human experience of the phenomenon of divine love.

Cult Complex in Zanskar: Analysis, Interpretation

Purpose. The study investigates a Buddhist image on a standalone stone and an offering contained in a clay vessel. The cult complex is located near Zangla, not far from the Changut Choeling female monastery, in the north of Zanskar (Ladakh, India).Results. The image depicts the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, the patron deity of Tibet. The clay vessel (73 mm in height) found near the stone contains a square iron plate (~25x25 mm) with traces of insets, one of turquois; a transparent crystal bead; and two perforated bones. An examination of the vessel contents revealed that it originally contained a piece of meat or some blood. Based on a traceological analysis of the bone items, they appear to have been worn on a cord. All the items in the vessel are of special significance in the Buddhist culture as well as folk religion of Tibet. They could have served as offerings to Avalokiteśvara as well as local patron deities – btsan and lha, who were believed to live in that stone. After all, Buddhism in Tibet became part of the folk religion. The tradition of making offerings in a vessel placed at the foot of a stone with a divine image has parallels in the culture of Central Asian Turks. Excavations of Turkic mortuaries have revealed silver, as well as ceramic, vessels at the foot of heroic figures. Researchers believe that they were used for sacrificial offerings and for drinks in funeral rituals. Like in Zanskar, such vessels were left on the surface, and over a thousand years must have passed before they became fully covered with earth so that they would later be found during excavations.Conclusion. Offerings in vessels placed at the foot of stone statues of deities and ancestors, as well as stones accommodating local patron spirits, appear to have been common among the peoples of Central Asia in the Middle Ages.

The Bearded Man and the Pregnant Woman Terracotta Figurines: A Case of Divine “Open Relationship” in Persian-Period Levant?

ABSTRACT In this article, the authors analyze a widespread Persian-period terracotta figurine type in the Levant: the seated man with an atef crown or a cylindrical tiara and a hand touching his beard. As well as studying the specific attributes and the evolution of this iconography, the authors will address its association in cultic contexts with another figurine: the pregnant woman. By providing new arguments to identify the bearded man and the pregnant woman as (mainly) divine images, which are at the same time associated and distinct, the authors stress that the idea of a divine couple in an “open relationship” is of pivotal importance in understanding the organization of ancient polytheisms.

The Image of a Lesser God: Imago Dei and the Human Rights of Children

ABSTRACT: Since the time of Augustine, and continuing today, it is common for religious believers to say that humans are created in the “image of God.” This imago dei idea was also commonly invoked, beginning in the seventeenth century, by Liberal theorists like Locke and Jefferson, as the foundation for natural or human rights. In this article, I will argue that for centuries, the dominant interpretations of imago dei were used by religious philosophical and political leaders to deny rights to both women and non-white men. More centrally to my thesis, this theological idea is still invoked today to deny human rights to children. However, taking children’s human rights seriously offers both a new foundation for human rights generally, and a different interpretation of what it means for humans to reflect the divine image.

The Divine Image and A Divine Image: William Blake's Religious Gnostic Perspectives

It is well known that most of poems in Song of Innocence (1789) are contrary images to some of the in Songs of Experiences (1794). Both collections share two states of human souls. However, in some of the poems, William Blake distinguishes them by giving identical titles, as in The Devine Image and A Divine image or by giving completely different titles. This technique in Blake's songs gives clues to his intention to provide his readers with the direct shift from innocence to experience, from the universal view of the world to that limited, self-centered one. Moreover, in these two poems, the poet's condemnation of the tyranny of religion and the Church appears directly. It appears through his depiction of the existence of God in humans through the coexistence and disappearance of particular virtues. This paper will, first, shed light on the parallel between the two poems and how they interact with/build on/contrast one another. Second, it will shed light on William Blake's religious outlook in revolt to initialized Christianity.

On the Role of Signs in Epicurus’ Legal Theory

Epicurus holds, in Key Doctrine 31, that what is just according to nature is a súmbolon or sign of the interest there is in neither harming one another nor being harmed. Certain readings of this maxim equivocate this legal sign with other signs found in nature, thereby failing to give sufficient weight to the role of reciprocity in its production. Other readings simply import a legal sense from outside of Epicurean doctrine, thereby failing to explain what makes Epicurean súmbola legal. A final set of readings attempt to find a legal rule as a kind of innate concept or Kantian ‘scheme’. This article identifies new sources for understanding súmbolon, drawn principally but not exclusively from Aristotle’s Eudemian Ethics. This article offers an original argument that Epicurus adopts Aristotle’s’ image of the tally stick (symbolon) as a meeting of often divergent interests which constitutes something new and particularly valuable to the Epicurean: friendship. A theoretical argument is also advanced to support this reading which claims that one person’s reflection on a ‘divine image’ of the end (telos) is insufficient to constitute a súmbolon; rather real (as opposed to abstract or ideal) individual interests are filtered via the mechanism of the tally, that is via the meeting of two given individuals who together generate a sign (symbolon) of reciprocal interest in neither harming nor being harmed.

Review: Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy, by Marla Segol

Review: <i>Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy</i>, by Marla Segol

Постановка проблемы о понимании божественного у Платона

This article is devoted to the consideration of such an aspect of Plato's philosophy as theology. Starting with the "Platonic Theology" of Proclus Diadochus, this point of view and the system of interpretation of philosophical research character continued to develop and refine a number of categories and ideas developed by Plato - Demiurge, ideas of "mixing", ideas of "creation", categories of paradigm (within the dispute about universals), etc. However, if we recognize the equality of the ontological status of the Demiurge, the paradigm and the created world (to whom the blessed god was given life), we come across a number of problems that are expressed not only in the understanding of the "divine" itself, but also in relation to what, within the framework of the "theological" view of Plato, can be called deified or divine images (Demiurge, paradigm and the created world). In this paper, an attempt will be made to demonstrate these contradictions, and to make a number of comments.

Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God by J. Richard Middleton

Reviewed by: Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God by J. Richard Middleton Paul K.-K. Cho j. richard middleton, Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021). Pp. xv + 272. Paper $26.99. J. Richard Middleton wrote Abraham’s Silence “to help people of faith recover the value of lament prayer as a way to process our pain (and the pain of the world) with the God of heaven and earth” (p. 9). M. does more. At the topical level, he maps lament prayer onto “the very pattern of biblical story” (p. 36) and “the paradigm of Moses’s intercession” (p. 42) to argue that lament is “the hinge—even the fulcrum—between bondage and deliverance” (p. 36). That is, M. emphasizes the value of lament as a response to suffering and as a means of overcoming it. At the hermeneutical level, M. commits to “an intrinsic reading” of the biblical text in arguing for the bold thesis that Abraham fails God’s test in Genesis 22 (p. 191). Middleton frames the book with two chapters on lament (chap. 1 and conclusion). In these chapters, M. argues that engaging in lament can reawaken and deepen one’s own faith (p. 4), lead “to a fresh discernment of the character of God” (pp. 237–38), and “be the beginning of a journey of ethical transformation” that steers us clear of both the Scylla of ethical paralysis and despair and the Charybdis of anger and violence (p. 239). The much-appreciated claim is that lament in itself has psychological, theological, and ethical value. In addition to underlining the importance of lament in itself, M. connects lament— which he loosely understands as honest speech in the face of suffering, such as “complaint,” “protests,” and “honest, abrasive prayers” (p. 28)—to other genres and patterns of speech: [End Page 138] supplication (p. 35), lament psalms (p. 28), “the very pattern of the biblical story” (p. 36), and the paradigm of “prophetic intercession” (p. 42). The interweaving of these speech types makes clear that M. is interested in the general question of “how to talk back to God” and not only in lament. Accordingly, M. celebrates Moses, who intercedes for Israel against God’s judgment in the aftermath of the golden calf incident, and Job, who protests and complains to God about his innocent suffering, on the one hand, and, on the other, critiques Abraham, who does neither when God commands him to sacrifice Isaac. Framing the larger discussion about “how to talk back to God” within a discourse about lament, however, results in a confusing conflation of categories that unfortunately leads to the narrativization of lament as “the hinge—even the fulcrum” in a plot that moves from bondage to deliverance, suffering to healing. Clearer distinctions would have been helpful. In chap. 2, M. praises Moses for interceding for Israel and argues that his example establishes a pattern in which God’s love both makes possible and invites a “bold challenge [against God] rooted in faithfulness.” Middleton helpfully discusses reflections of this pattern in biblical and postbiblical Jewish traditions. In two chapters on Job (chaps. 3 and 4), M. argues that the Book of Job explores several ways of talking about and to God in light of innocent suffering, that Job honestly complains about his suffering and audaciously protests to God, and that, in the divine speeches, God praises Job for “his honest, abrasive, unsubdued speech” (p. 128) and seeks to make of Job “a worthy conversation partner” (p. 121). According to M., Job demonstrates that, “between the extremes of blessing God explicitly and cursing God, there is the viable option of honest, forthright challenge to God in prayer, which God (as Creator) both wants and expects of those made in the divine image” (p. 128). Middleton’s flat position that God praises Job is an overstatement of one among several possible readings of a dynamic relation requiring more nuance. In three chapters on the Aqedah (Genesis 22) (chaps. 5–7), M. argues that the close reading...

Deification and the Divine Image

Deification and the Divine Image

Saints of Resistance: Devotions in the Philippines under Early Spanish Rule by Christina H. Lee

Reviewed by: Saints of Resistance: Devotions in the Philippines under Early Spanish Rule by Christina H. Lee Florina H. Capistrano-Baker Saints of Resistance: Devotions in the Philippines under Early Spanish Rule. By Christina H. Lee. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,. 2021. Pp. xii, 216. $74.00. ISBN 978-0-190-91614-5.) A small statue of the Christ Child with a darkened face towers above the blurred images of devotees’ hands holding the divine image aloft. The main title (Saints of Resistance) in large white font against an orange background anchors the eyes as they travel below to the secondary title and author’s name. The evocative title and book jacket design entice the reader to explore the contents within. The book is organized in six chapters including the introduction (chapter 1) and conclusion [End Page 202] (chapter 6). Each of the four main chapters focuses on a particular Philippine devotion: Santo Niño de Cebu (chapter 2), Our Lady of Caysasay (chapter 3), Our Lady of the Rosary (chapter 4), and Our Lady of Antipolo (chapter 5). The font is reader-friendly, and the photographs, though black and white, are well chosen. The author, Christina Hyo-Jung Lee, is a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Princeton University. Her work addresses cultural productions of Iberian Spain and the Spanish Pacific. Born in South Korea and raised in Argentina, she immediately engages the reader with her introductory statements: My first visit to the Philippines was laced with simultaneous feelings of eerie familiarity and strangeness. I encountered reverberations of my Hispanic and Asian upbringing wherever I went (p. 1). The introduction includes a useful review of studies on iconographic devotions in the Spanish world in general, and in Spanish colonial Philippines in particular. Lee’s transpacific background, native fluency in the Spanish language, and meticulous scholarship generate important new interpretations and insights into popular Philippine devotions heretofore unexplored. For example, her careful rereading of primary sources interrogates conflicting translations of sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler Antonio Pigafetta’s original account of their encounter with the ruler Humabon and his wife on the Philippine island of Cebu. An important point of contention is whether the image now venerated as the Santo Niño de Cebu is indeed the icon that Magellan had gifted Humabon’s wife in 1521 (pp. 19–21). Combining contemporary field research in Cebu with critical re-reading of early Spanish accounts, Lee calls attention to competing narratives where local inhabitants claim the statue as their own, all versions claiming that the Spanish usurped a pre-existing local devotion by snatching the image away. The next three chapters on Our Lady of Caysasay, Our Lady of the Rosary, and Our Lady of Antipolo similarly explore how foreign icons and narratives are purposely appropriated as autochthonous phenomena and subsumed into the corpus of Filipino culture. Closely reading primary sources, Lee points to mechanisms that transform the narrative of European images into counter-hegemonic narratives and strategies of resistance. Lee concludes with the general observation that the santos discussed “were widely embraced by their followers . . . because their devotions embedded narratives that memorialized their communities’ survival and resistance amid impossible situations” (p. 132). Lee’s intriguing interpretations and engaging writing style, free of jargon that often plagues academic writing, encourage the reader to read the entire book in one sitting; and to re-read and ponder the ideas presented anew. I have advocated in previous publications for scholarly dialogue between “cultural insiders” and “cultural outsiders” to de-colonize and move forward the discourse [End Page 203] on global history. In studying Spanish colonial Philippine iconographic devotions, Lee occupies a liminal space between cultural insider and outsider, creating an intellectual bridge for both to meet. This book is useful for students and scholars of cultural history, art history, religious studies, and material religion. It is a must read for scholars of the sixteenth-to-nineteenth-century Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. Florina H. Capistrano-Baker Ayala Museum Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press ...

Вобраз Бога ў паэзіі Янкі Купалы і Антоніа Мачада

The image of God (or gods) and of the divine is one of the universal problems that poetry in particular and literature in general have considered central throughout history. Despite the predominance and relevance of the aforementioned topics, the question of God’s image in Belarusian poetry remains under‑‑researched; philologists like Jan Čykvin and Iryna Bahdanovič have undertaken the study of this matter, yet it continues to be largely unexplored from a comparative perspective. In this manner, the present article is an attempt to complement the research of its predecessors and to present a new perspective of the subject. The purpose of this work is to identify, study and compare the image(s) of the God and the divine in the poetic work of Yanka Kupala and Antonio Machado. Special attention is paid to the moral and philosophical attitude of the authors towards higher powers. Folk and literary influences on the formation of their interpretation of the divine and, above all, metaphors and symbols that build divine images in their poetry are studied. Thus, their tendencies towards symbolic landscape poetry, which unite both poets, are analyzed. As a result of this analysis, several points of convergence have been found in Yanka Kupala’s and Antonio Machado’s representation of God in poetry, particularly in their metaphors of landscape and natural elements, as well as their vision of God as a source of inspiration and strength. Our attention has also been drawn to certain differences.