Religious Connotations Research Articles

Religious Art of Wojciech Łukaszewski in the Context of the Composer’s Spiritual Attitude

The article discusses the religious creativity of Wojciech Łukaszewski. He composed three works for a large ensembles and five religious songs for solo voice and solo voice with piano or organ. These works have religious connotations. Confessioni were inspired by the Confessions of Saint Augustine. In De morte Boleslaui Carmina, the composer repeatedly quotes the Polish song Bogurodzica. In works on religious subjects, he used the texts of Roman Brandstaetter, Gallus Anonymus and Roger Degrelle and three Polish carols. The article is the first attempt to explore this topic. An important material helpful in the analysis of the composer’s compositions and spirituality were his letters to Maria Patrzyk – his bride.

Combination of the Chinese and Tibetan Architectural Languages——a Case Study of three Halls of Wusutuzhao in Inner Mongolia

In order to study the architectural style of Mongolian lamaist temple combining the han and Tibetan styles, this paper analyzes three main halls of the temple built in different periods in the same village.Secondly, the process of deformation and combination of spatial prototype is decomposed through illustration. The following conclusions are drawn: 1. The temple architecture of lamaism in Inner Mongolia flexibly utilizes the architectural vocabulary of the two language families on the premise of satisfying the architectural function and accurately expressing the religious connotation; 2.2. The two architectural languages use different spatial dominant principles to express similar spatial connotations and reflect the basic cognition of buddhist cosmology;3. With the improvement of the craftsman’s ability to master the two languages, the ways of integration of the two languages are always changing, and the manifestations of the palace are diversified.

Uruthiporul in Seera puranam

It is mentioned that the epics should contain the four objectives worthy of human pursuit, namely, ‘aRam’ (ethics), ‘poruL’ (economy), ‘inpam’ (joy) and ‘viiDu’ (heaven). These four objectives are mentioned as ‘purusharthams’ in Sanskrit. Dharma, artha, kaama and moksha are the equivalents for aRam, poruL, inpam and viiDu. However, the concept of moksha is not found anywhere in the Sangam literature. It came into existence by the influence of Sanskrit and the literary writings of the northern writers. Raj Gowthaman is of the opinion that the ‘trivarkkam’ of the north tradition is called aRam, poruL and inpam in Tamil and the left out ‘moksha’ in ‘chaturvitha purushartham’, i.e., the four objectives of human pursuit did not exist as ‘viiDu’ during Sangam period. It could be said even clearly the concept of northern tradition based ‘moksha’ was not there with religious connotation in the Sangam society. Rebirth, heaven, elite, heavenly immortal, world of the dead, world of deities-all are included in the poet’s poetic tradition’. Including the objectives of human pursuits in epics, a rule was set in the grammar. ‘Seera puranam’ talks about the first three objective of human pursuit. Except in Buddhism and Jainism, the concept of heaven could be found in all the religions. It is discussed in Vedic religions. Islam refers heaven as ‘the world of the dead’. Seera puranam mentions, however, all the four objectives.

Consuming the Tower of Babel and Japanese Public Art Museums—The Exhibition of Bruegel’s “The Tower of Babel” and the Babel-mori Project

Two Japanese public art museums, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Gallery and the National Art Museum of Osaka, hosted Project Babel, which included the Babel-mori (Heaping plate of food items imitating the Tower of Babel) project. This was part of an advertising campaign for the traveling exhibition “BABEL Collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: Bruegel’s ‘The Tower of Babel’ and Great 16th Century Masters” in 2017. However, Babel-mori completely misconstrued the meaning of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1–9. I explore the opinions of the curators at the art museums who hosted it and the university students who took my interview on this issue. I will also discuss the treatment of artwork with religious connotations in light of education in Japan. These exhibitions of Christian artwork provide important evidence on the contemporary reception of Christianity in Japan and, more broadly, on Japanese attitudes toward religious minorities.

Predicaments in the Management of Religious Heritage Buildings and Sites in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Perhaps the most challenging heritage management issue since the beginning of the modern conservation movement relates to religious buildings and sites. This paper investigates approaches to the management of religious heritage buildings and sites in Osogbo, a multireligious Nigerian city, through the perspectives of various stakeholders. These stakeholders include the State, and its role in formal legislation and enforcement, the religious authorities as heritage owners and decision-makers, local communities’ understanding of heritage, and expert opinions about the properties. Drawing on physical observations, ethnographic assessment methods and secondary literature, the paper demonstrates how decisions taken by political leaders to construct a secularised national heritage have shaped the community’s cultural heritage perceptions, alienated from religious connotations. This selective use of the past gave heritage owners a free hand in decision-making about conservation, without taking into consideration historic and architectural/artistic values. It has also rendered expert judgment marginal.

The cinema of entanglement: how not to contemplate Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder, Voyage of Time, and Knight of Cups

ABSTRACTTerrence Malick’s To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015), and Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey (2016) share a consistent use of theological and metaphysical references in voice-over narration. This paper frames the markedly spiritual and religious connotations of these 2010s films as an expression of a persistent teleological vision of time and history in contemporary settings. It argues that such vision is highly complicated and subverted by the films’ innovative formal and aesthetic elements. The analysis foregrounds the relevance of current scientific and philosophical notions of entanglement in Malick’s films and offers an ecocritical interpretation and application of some of the films’ formal and narrative complexities in contemporary settings.

Preaching the Gospel in China: Changes in the Concept of “Gospel” since the 17th Century

This paper focuses on the change of the meaning of “gospel” in Chinese context since the 17th Century. In the late Ming dynasty, Catholic missionaries were the first to translate “gospel” into Chinese with their writings about the Bible. Then the term became intermingled with traditional Chinese belief of seeking blessings. After the ban on Christianity imposed by the Emperor Yong Zheng, Chinese Catholics hid their faith and disguised it as Buddhism, Taoism and folk religions. At the end of the 19th century, “gospel” was connected to colonialism and became a trigger for Sino-Western conflict. The critique of and hostility toward the term abruptly arose. In the 20th century, “gospel” turned into a new concept, which went beyond its religious connotation and gradually referred to all kinds of “good news”.

Poems from Parts of a World: “Parochial Theme” and “Country Words”

Poems from Parts of a World: “Parochial Theme” and “Country Words” Gül Bilge Han, Glen MacLeod, Charles Altieri, Massimo Bacigalupo, Bart Eeckhout, Lisa Goldfarb, Rachel Malkin, Maureen N. McLane, Edward Ragg, Tony Sharpe, and Juliette Utard PREFATORY NOTE: The transcript of this third seminar, which took place on June 20, 2017, in Bogliasco, Italy, uses the following abbreviations: GH (Gül Bilge Han, Stockholm University), GM (Glen MacLeod, University of Connecticut), CA (Charles Altieri, University of California, Berkeley), MB (Massimo Bacigalupo, University of Genoa), BE (Bart Eeckhout, University of Antwerp & Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study), LG (Lisa Goldfarb, Gallatin School, New York University), RM (Rachel Malkin, University of Oxford), MM (Maureen N. McLane, New York University), ER (Edward Ragg, Beijing), TS (Tony Sharpe, Lancaster University), JU (Juliette Utard, Sorbonne University & CNRS). The transcript was heavily edited for readability and circulated among participants for fine-tuning; it thus reproduces the dynamic of exchange without in any way striving to be literal. Readers who come upon this material outside the special issue to which it belongs are advised to read the editorial introduction for an account of the rationale behind the following discussion. Exhaling Postromantic Health GM: We’ll start this session with “Parochial Theme,” the first poem in Parts of a World. I’ll read it out first, then Gül will make some introductory comments and I will follow through: Long-tailed ponies go nosing the pine-lands,Ponies of Parisians shooting on the hill. The wind blows. In the wind, the voicesHave shapes that are not yet fully themselves, [End Page 51] Are sounds blown by a blower into shapes,The blower squeezed to the thinnest mi of falsetto. The hunters run to and fro. The heavy trees,The grunting, shuffling branches, the robust, The nocturnal, the antique, the blue-green pinesDeepen the feelings to inhuman depths. These are the forest. This health is holy,This halloo, halloo, halloo heard over the cries Of those for whom a square room is a fire,Of those whom the statues torture and keep down. This health is holy, this descant of a self,This barbarous chanting of what is strong, this blare. But salvation here? What about the rattle of sticksOn tins and boxes? What about horses eaten by wind? When spring comes and the skeletons of the huntersStretch themselves to rest in their first summer’s sun, The spring will have a health of its own, with noneOf autumn’s halloo in its hair. So that closely, then, Health follows after health. Salvation there:There’s no such thing as life; or if there is, It’s faster than the weather, faster thanAny character. It is more than any scene: Of the guillotine or of any glamorous hanging.Piece the world together, boys, but not with your hands. (CPP 177) GH: Let me start off with the publication history of this poem. It appeared in 1938 in the Southern Review as part of the “Canonica” series, which is the title Stevens gave to twelve poems that would end up as one cluster at the beginning of Parts of a World. It’s the first poem in the series, hence in the volume, which is important to understand because it seems to anticipate other poems from the same series. In the image of the sticks rattling on tins and boxes, for instance, we recognize “The Man on the Dump.” We may find echoes of Ideas of Order as well: the “voices crying without knowing [End Page 52] for what,” the “shapes,” and the “Blar[ing]” music from “Sad Strains of a Gay Waltz” (CPP 100–01) return here as “the voices” that “Have shapes that are not yet fully themselves” and the “blare” of a hunting music. Yet if we look at the reference to parishes in the title, then there appear to be religious connotations as well, and I’m curious to hear what you make of the religious language in the poem. In the preparatory notes Glen sent me, he pointed out that the “parts” in the volume’s title can also refer to a world that is...

When Durga Strikes. The Affective Space of Kolkata’s Holy Festival

This paper provides a description of the Durga Puja religious festival that is held each autumn in Kolkata. During the ten days of the celebration, the Indian city is enriched by a multitude of temporary temples, where local communities come together for both religious and social gatherings. The colourful marquees host rituals and music, flooding urban space with a festive atmosphere that has become a hallmark of Kolkata, attracting large crowds of visitors and tourists who are interested in the folk festival and in its religious connotation. The description focuses on the emotional response to the transformed space, analyzing how the rituals performed in the temporary temples, and the urban and architectural features of the festival’s instalment affect the visitors’ corporeal feelings.

El retablo de Isenheim: religión, arte y medicina

Northern Europe at the beginning of the 16th Century was in turmoil as a result of religious and political dissention, epidemics of plague, syphilis, ergotism, and famine, and the threat of the Ottoman Empire. In Alsace, a fulcrum between Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Grünewald painted his celebrated and complex altarpiece at Isenheim in a convent chapel of the Antonine religious order that kept a hospital for the care of patients suffering from ergotism, plague, syphilis and other illnesses. The ten paintings of this altarpiece convey a series of religious, medical and political meanings, with the scenes of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection being thought to play an integral part of the curative process. This was because patients could be soothed by comparing their suffering to that of Christ on the cross and could console themselves by the Resurrection. The portrait of Christ in the cross is astounding in its realism and naturalism. It represents, with great pathological veracity, a tortured body in agony, a break with previous traditional representations of this event. Impressive pathological detail is also given to a figure in the Temptation scene. The entire work is suffused with religious connotations provided by the composition, the forms and the richness and sophisticated use of colors. Although Grünewald's paintings are few and the facts of his personal life sparse, it is known he married a Jewish woman, supported the peasant revolts, and was probably a Lutheran in a Catholic area. While Grünewald is considered the epitome of a German artist, the universal projections of his art have influenced physicians and the artistic productions of many painters, writers, musicians and sculptors throughout the world.

Ciência, experimento e história em Bacon

Este artigo visa a apresentar a concepção geral da grande restauração do conhecimento pretendida por Bacon. Para isso, apresentam-se, em primeiro lugar, os vários significados da palavra instauratio, mostrando como o projeto científico se reveste de um significado mais amplo, que inclui aspectos religiosos, políticos e históricos, e as seis partes que deveriam compor sua obra inacabada A grande restauração. Em seguida, examinam-se sucessivamente os auxílios que Bacon propõe a cada uma das faculdades mentais: para o entendimento, um novo método ou via; para os sentidos, os experimentos; e, para a memória, uma nova história natural.

A Scandinavian Relief Brooch: Artistic Vision and Practical Method Combined

THIS PAPER considers the craftspeople that created ornamental metalwork, the contexts in which they operated, and the communication they had with their contemporaries. The study focuses on the Dalem brooch, a 6th-century Scandinavian relief brooch from Norway. By examining an object which expresses a complex symbolic language through intricate and demanding crafting processes, we emphasise the importance of considering both ornamentation and technology when studying these exquisite dress items. The brooch was manufactured from a variety of materials and decorated in Salin Style 1. This ornamentation, with its religious, political and social connotations, was completely integrated into the object from its conception. A combination of new and old designs indicates that the craftspeople purposefully created and transformed motifs for use on the brooch, operating within a creative, cross-disciplinary and intellectual centre of expertise.

Ûzsaz als Metapher. Lepra im Kontext von Liebe, Ehe und Ehebruch in Mittelalterlichen Erzählungen

Publisher and artist Susan Sontag has taught us to be aware of the fact that diseases are widely used as cultural metaphors. They are given a negative meaning by using repressive, stigmatizing, and horrifying rhetoric figures and images. This article tries to look at this theory with regard to medieval narratives about leprosy: leprosy seems to be the perfect example of a ‘meaningful’ disease, often connecting the illness with horrible symptoms, emotions like disgust and fear and religious connotations like sin or holiness. But leprosy is not only a matter of medicine and religion in medieval literature: narratives about leprosy characterize literary figures and determine plots and narrative strategies. They connect the disease with subjects like love and adultery, courtly virtues, and rulership. They also develop an understanding of corporealities, human relationships, and exclusion. Literary sources analyzed include German and French Tristan romances (Eilhart von Oberg, Ulrich von Türheim, Béroul, Thomas) and Ulrich von Lichtenstein's Frauendienst.

Imagery and Religious Conversion. The Symbolic Function of Jonah 1:13

Jonah 1:13 has a delaying function in the narrative, introducing a pause between Jonah’s demand to be thrown in the sea (1:12) and the event’s occurrence (1:15). Most commentators discuss only the events of 1:13 and their causes. In this article, I suggest an interpretation of Jonah 1:13 based on the imagery of the narrative. An analysis of the use of metaphors and symbols does not replace the message of the verse; such an analysis simply augments it with motives of the seamen’s conversion. Beside the narrative level, there is a hidden level suggesting a deeper understanding of the story where symbols and metaphors have a consolidating function. Distance, directions, and movement in Jonah 1 describe acts with religious connotation. At the same time, the physical action of rowing is a symbolic anticipation of the seamen’s conversion. It contains a message about the inner itinerary that leads to the transformation of the sailors. Thereby, I suggest that Jonah 1:13 not only reveals YHWH’s plan with Jonah but it also focuses on the sailors and their conversion.

Singing and spirituality in a South African male voice group

Abstract Since the mid 1970s, a group of twelve business and professional members of a male singing group have continued singing together in Pretoria, South Africa. These singers were interviewed as part of a project on spirituality and well-being: music in the community. From the interview data, two overarching themes emerged, membership benefits and spiritual connections; these are discussed in this research project. Members’ views of benefits related mainly to fulfilment of personal, including musical, needs, although all were gratified that their singing provided enjoyment to community audiences and benefits to disadvantaged communities, mainly from ticket sale proceeds. Most saw an association between singing and the spiritual, but only a minority identified a religious connotation, the remainder relating to nonreligious factors such as the ‘human spirit’. A deep sense of commitment and a love of music impacts positively on social engagement, benefiting and enhancing quality of life for the group members.

Symbolic Research on “Water God” Image in Paper-Charms of Yunnan

The paper-charms of Yunnan as a kind of unique woodcut printmaking of Chinese folk cultural heritage, is a widespread phenomenon of folk culture in Yunnan minority areas, and also is the product of the folk beliefs activities for a long time. The paper-charms as a communication with god for folk beliefs, reflect the inherent spirit of people through the image of the external outline, which along with the unique, rustic, rough mad styling with local artistic features of the native character and unique aesthetic sense. The unique image style not only reflects the rich spiritual connotation of Yunnan minority Ethnic people, but also demonstrated the metaphysical meaning of religious folk art. But there are more multiple meanings of portraying water god image in the nature worship, from the religious connotation, the images dragon style reflects the special features of water dragon king divinity; from the folk belief, the images figurative dragon image reflected reverence of the dragon in Bai nationality; from the semiotic perspective, abstract dragon Patron hold more symbolic symbolism. With these multiple meanings, the shape of the paper charms reflects the rich spiritual appearance of the local people, and the common folk beliefs and speculation special significance.

Hindu Jati (Castes) from Diu Island and the Reproduction of Religious Expressive Culture in the Hindu-Gujarati Diaspora in Mozambique and in Portugal: The Kathiyawadi Bhajan

Despite the fact that it was a Portuguese colony until late 1961, having since then acquired the status of a union territory, the Indian island of Diu was culturally and religiously influenced and marked by its proximity to the neighbouring territory of Kathiawar (also known as the peninsular region of Saurashtra) located in the south of Gujarat state and forming part of the Arabian Sea coast. This circumstance helps to explain the reason why the Gujarati language was the dominant idiom on the island and Hinduism the prevalent religion. To this extent, the reproduction of cultural and religious practices among the Hindu population of the island include the use of various stylistic typologies of bhajan (devotional songs), with particular emphasis on the Kathiyawadi bhajan – a category of bhajan associated with expressive practices globally connoted with the territory of Gujarat, but particularly with the Kathiawar region. In addition to religious connotations, Kathiyawadi bhajan are also identified with lok geet (folk music) practices and envisions a dense interaction between devotional singing intercalated (in the beginning or in the middle of the performance) by poetic-musical forms, such as sakhi, doha, and chaand, traditionally composed and transmitted by bards and jati (caste/castes) of Gujarat musicians (e.g. Gadhvi, Charan, Bharot). Perhaps because of the lack of migratory history on the part of these jati of musicians, in the Hindu-Gujarati diaspora in Mozambique and in Portugal, Kathiyawadi bhajan are particularly practised and transmitted by musicians from Diu jati (although not limited to these). Based on archival research (including audio-visual archives) and on participant observation during multi-sited fieldwork in Lisbon, the state of Gujarat, and Diu island, this article explores the ambiguities related to the practices of representing the Kathiyawadi bhajan: on some occasions perceived as an archaic and potentially transgressive practice by some urban Gujarati groups, on other occasions discursively valued and praised when it comes to performing and representing the ‘authenticity’ and ancestrality of Gujarati culture in which the Diu jati represent the connection to the ‘true’ Gujarati folk, rural, and ancestral traditions.

Религиозные коннотации в картине «Царевна-Несмеяна» В. М. Васнецова

Религиозные коннотации в картине «Царевна-Несмеяна» В. М. Васнецова

Spanish

What is introduced as metaphysics of light attached to religious connotation, turns out to be one of the most dominant and discussed topics during the medieval period, though more exhaustive addressed during the scholastic period, that is, from the late-ninth century to the middle-fourteenth. Nevertheless, thoughts about the idea of lux began with Neoplatonism, more precisely with the Egyptian Plotinus who championed the idea of revitalizing the doctrine of the Academy, which was founded by Plato. In fact, consideration about light stands out as one of the elements that had repercussions on medieval patristic philosophy, establishing a solid base for formulations of Christian dogma. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of the article is to introduce some meanings of the concept of lux, as developed by Plotinus of Lycopolis, aiming for a better understanding of the symbolic consequences of this idea for theological considerations and arts during the scholastic period.

La experiencia existencial como concepto naturalista de la espiritualidad

In this paper, I propose the use of the term existential connection experience as a possible replacement of the term spirituality, to avoid religious connotations and to better represent a naturalistic fuller view of human experience. I discuss the current debate on the best term to represent the phenomenon associated to connections of the human subject with his/her own existence and their situated existence with the universe. This term, which should become a concept represents the relationship of belonginess and commitment with reality. Moreover, the existential component refers to the traditional topics dealt with by philosophical existentialism.