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The proliferation of miracle-working images in Italy from the end of the fifteenth century on has been well documented, as has the concomitant emergence of the sanctuary church. Less attention, however, has been given to the fortune of these sites in the later sixteenth century, when the zeal they incited in local populations was viewed by Catholic Church authorities as a powerful tool for engaging the faithful at a pivotal time of Catholic renewal—if harnessed correctly. According to visitation reports, superstitious practices were not uncommon, and greater scrutiny was afforded to both new prodigies and established cults; but the Catholic Church hierarchy continued to defend the veneration of miraculous images, and the latter years of the cinquecento saw the renovation of a number of key image shrines, including the focus of the current study. Situated in western Umbria, the Santuario di Mongiovino was the subject of an extensive decorative campaign during the 1560s to 1580s, and involved artists, such as Niccolò Circignani, who would also work on papal projects in Rome. Drawing on a range of textual sources, as well as a close analysis of the decorative reframing of the cultic image, I argue that the iconographic program employed at the site should be viewed in relation to contemporary debates around the use of religious imagery in churches. In particular I posit that the concerns voiced in the written record at the time, whether in treatises or visitation reports, may also have informed the way in which miraculous images were presented to the faithful, resulting in solutions that helped to underline the Catholic Church's position on the cult of saints, the role of images in devotion, and the primacy of Christ in the bestowing of grace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Uses of Idolatry" by William T. Cavanaugh explores the concept of idolatry and its prevalence in contemporary societies. Cavanaugh argues that everyone worships, whether they are believers or nonbelievers, and that idolatry is not limited to religious practices but also extends to economic and political spheres. He emphasizes that idolatry comes in degrees and can be discerned through worship, trust, loyalty, and devotion directed at something other than the God worshiped by Jews and Christians. Cavanaugh suggests that the remedy for idolatry is a sacramental approach, where humans make contact with the immaterial God in the material world without reducing God to the material. The book also examines the idolatrous devotion found in nationalism and consumerism, highlighting the need for discernment and the recognition of virtues within distorted forms of idolatry. While Cavanaugh's remedies for idolatry are questioned, his exploration of worship and the Eucharist as a remedy for idolatry is commended. [Extracted from the article]

This article considers how technological innovation transforms the value of religious materiality in Buddhist heritage reproduction projects in Japan. To illustrate the religiously and politically charged landscape of heritage care, I focus on the reproduction technologies developed by the Tokyo University of Arts researchers to create highly precise replicas of Buddhist heritage. One such 'super clone' replica of Japan's National Treasure homed at Hōryūji temple in Nara – a 1400-year-old 'Shaka Triad' sculpture of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha – was put on display at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum in Japan in April 2021. The 'cloned' statue is a highly precise copy that goes beyond the practices of exact duplication. With the use of 3D measurement, digital modelling technologies, and advanced casting techniques, this cloned religious heritage object transports the viewer back in time to the aesthetic moment of creation and allows them to experience anew the object's affective presence as crafted centuries ago. In drawing on this example and its potential to intervene in other religious heritage reproduction projects globally, I argue that technology transforms religious heritage to generate alternative socio-economic afterlives of Buddhist objects. By analysing the scientific narratives and processes of heritage care, I show how the religious heritage reproduction is where the aesthetic, political, and economic dimensions of Buddhist material futures are imagined and realized. It is also a space of contestation between devotion, science, and memory-oriented practices of care in transnational heritage preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The youngest daughter of one of the northwest of England's largest cotton magnates, Annie Barlow, was a well-educated and passionate woman. At the time of studying English Literature and History in London in 1880 to 1882 she became involved with the newly formed Egypt Exploration Fund, and at just nineteen years old became one of the first, and youngest, Honorary Local Secretaries for Bolton and the surrounding area—a roll she held for almost sixty years up to her death in 1941. The social circles opened to her by her father and brothers included world business leaders, academics and royalty. Through lectures, exhibitions and many cups of tea, Annie proclaimed the work of the fund across the United Kingdom, while modestly keeping her own efforts unannounced. Her fundraising surpassed that of many other local secretaries and led to the amassing of the largest collection of Egyptology in a local authority museum in the UK at Bolton Museum. Her travels took her far and wide, and she too built a sizeable collection of antiquities. Her passion for history, driven by a desire for educational development and religious devotion, was transmitted to those whom she met. It was through her influence and intimate knowledge of textile production that Bolton and its first curators became a renowned center for textile analysis, with excavators sending material to Bolton to aid their interpretations. During the First World War, Annie and her family homed European refugees. Her support for one girl in particular, Raymonde Frin, became a life-long friendship. Growing up under the wing of Annie, and surrounded by private collections of ancient material, Raymonde developed a passion for archaeology. Annie's financial legacy directly supported the development of Raymonde's life. Eventually achieving formal archaeological qualifications, she went on to be an integral part of the newly formed UNESCO museums and monuments division, becoming its first editor for Museums International Magazine, and involved in projects to save Egyptian heritage. This paper will look at the two women, Annie and Raymonde, within the context of women collecting and museum work, and their legacy for collections, in particular Egyptology, to the current day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pediatric drug expression presents different challenges and freedoms on account of the singular corporeal traits and enlightening stages of adolescents. Developing age-appropriate formulations makes necessary a deep understanding of pediatric pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, in addition to the security and productiveness characterizations of cures. This paper surveys the standards and practices complicated in pediatric drug expression, stressing the significance of the portion of the drug or other consumable veracity, palatability, and ease of presidency. It reviews differing portions of drugs or other consumable forms, containing spoken fluids, capable of disintegration tablets, and tiny tablets, and focal points the act of excipients in guaranteeing balance and reputation. Additionally, this paper addresses supervisory directions and the importance of including pediatric subjects and caregivers in the expression process to embellish devotion and healing effects. By checking current progress and case studies, this paper underlines the distracting need for tailor-made pediatric formulations to correct pediatric healthcare conditions. Future guidance in pediatric drug expression is labeled, accompanying a devoted effort to change the way that 3D publication, novel childbirth methods, and embodied cure approaches. This paper aims to determine an inclusive survey of pediatric drug expression, contribution observations, and methods for optimizing drug analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on Judge Bill Pryor's decade on the federal bench, celebrating his influence through the success of his law clerks, devotion to Alabama football, and commitment to judicial excellence. Pryor's chambers reflect a blend of legal history and football fandom, where loyalty to principles and meticulousness in legal work are central, shaping both his career and the lives of those he mentors.

This article investigates the Sanskrit hymn, ´Srī Gurugītā, from a scholarly, scriptural, historical, and ethnographic standpoint. Mystical yogic concepts such as chaitanya-shabda (Consciousness–sound) and shravana samadhi (absorption through reading or listening to holy texts) are introduced in the context of Gurugītā recitation. The history of diverse lineages that practice Gurugītā recitation and several historical dimensions of svadhyaya (long-text chanting) and namasankirtana (short chants) are briefly introduced, and the works of Jeremy Morse and Antonio Rigopoulos are closely considered. This article deals with the significant elements of yogic awakening referenced within the Gurugītā text and the goal of liberation cited therein. Many scholars have researched Hinduism, Tantra, Bhakti yoga, and devotion. This article investigates musical devotion in the context of yogic communities dedicated to Gurugītā recitation with the aim of experiencing the inner Self. The democratization and dissemination of this practice have global dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of canonisation trials on the promotion of new saints across the Spanish Empire. Focusing on New Spain and Peru, it demonstrates that the physical arrival of copies and summaries of a canonisation trial or hagiographies of a saintly candidate supported by the Spanish crown in Colonial America served as a catalyst for revitalising pre-existing devotions and even inspiring the creation of new ones. By examining the start of the canonisations of Fray Sebastián de Aparicio in Puebla (Mexico) and Toribio of Mogrovejo in Lima (Peru), the work provides an introduction to an often neglected phenomenon: the entanglement between religious, political and cultural forces in the formation of Latin American sainthood, mainly in four ways: causality, opposition, dialecticism and affiliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative study explores the significance of Catholic material religion of the Tamils in India and Malaysia in the celebration of Our Lady of Vēlānkaṉṉi feast which involves a complex interplay of materiality, religious beliefs, and embodied practices. Employing Plate and Bruland's understandings of material religion, and based on ethnographic study, this essay seeks to unravel the power of material objects and embodied practices to replicate sacred spaces in new locales and to deliver the pilgrims new experiences of religious sensibilities and personal fulfilment in the sphere of divine and human relations. The findings reveal that material religion functions as a tangible, religious and nostalgic link to the original shrine of Vēlānkaṉṉi and as a symbol of filial piety to the motherhood of Mary for the Tamil community in both sites. This paper highlights the role of material Catholicism in fostering Marian devotion and in shaping and displaying people's personal, religious and cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the topic of worship and the importance of worshiping the correct God. It emphasizes that worship should be centered on God and not driven by personal gain or desires. The article also discusses the commandments and how they reflect God's nature and requirements for worship. It concludes that true worship involves acknowledging God's worth and fully devoting oneself to Him. Additionally, the text highlights the importance of the Trinity in worship and emphasizes that worship should be focused on God and His infinite worth. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the devotional practices presented by The Book of Margery Kempe in connection to late-medieval English image debates. While scholarly consensus holds that Kempe displays an uncritical approach to the popular devotional practices of her time and a strong attachment to effigies, I argue that she espoused a much more nuanced view, deeply influenced by the anxieties raised in the clash between the Church and the iconoclastic Lollards. This article offers a case study of Kempe's approach by analysing a scene in which her desire to experience a miracle of image animation is denied. This is a highly unusual outcome within The Book's literary genre, which can be explained as an active engagement with the issues raised in the image debates. I conclude that the scene should be read as offering guidance on the idolatrous potential of devotional images and how to properly engage with such artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jaimini's Book of the Horse Sacrifice (Jaiminīya Āśvamēdhikaparvan) is a late mediaeval Vaiṣṇava text that is unusual for several reasons. In this article we examine the interplay of violence, devotion and ritual in the Sanskrit vorlage and its Kannada transfiguration--the Jaiminibhārata of Lakṣmīśa (ca. 1500 CE). Violent emotions or extreme feelings are deeply imbricated in South Asia religious discourse. Extreme feeling is entangled with the history of texts that emerged as a result of interreligious and intra-religious debate. Our article puts forth the idea of violence as a mode of bhakti devotion, and we historicize the emergence of violence-as-bhakti in the Vaiṣṇava context, using the tale of Mayūradhvaja from Jaimini's Book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the history of the perception of sugar from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The author shows how changes in society can be demonstrated by changes in the reflection of dietary attitudes towards sweet taste. Medieval society was influenced by ambiguous attitudes towards sugar and sweets in general. On one hand, sweet taste was associated with the risk of mental malaise, which contradicted religious devotion to the Christian faith; on the other hand, the description of sweet taste was often used symbolically in the Bible as an allegory of reward for strong faith. Sugar, however, found its way into pharmacy as a medicine and, above all, as a sweetener. Medieval trade between Europe and its Arab neighbours and the development of urban and international trade eventually opened the way for sugar cane to enter Europe. European merchants learned to produce sugar and, from the 16th century onwards, took their technological knowledge or knowledge of the organisation of cane sugar production to the newly discovered territories in America. The transfer of knowledge was the precursor to the Industrial Revolution and medieval concepts of sugar were forgotten. This article therefore provides a brief overview of medieval mindset regarding sugar and sweet taste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ethos (0860-8024) is the property of John Paul II Institute, Faculty of Philosophy, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores how writers, predominantly adhering to a variety of different Christian denominations but also including Jewish writers, discussed religion and the body in letters throughout the long eighteenth century. It draws on a corpus of over 2,500 familiar letters written by men and women of different denominations between 1675 and 1820. That these letters were not chosen because of their religious content makes them a good 'test' of the role of faith in everyday understandings of the body. This article underscores the continued centrality of religious discourse and devotional practice in eighteenth-century everyday life. Our research finds that religion was a commonplace register deployed when discussing bodily matters throughout the long eighteenth century. Significantly, this was the case for individuals who otherwise made scant reference to their faith. Discussion of the physical body encouraged recourse to providence, a public discussion of doctrine, and the shared expression of devotion. The ongoing force of religion in people's lives was thus intimately tied to their embodied experiences. Letters not only expressed but actively maintained this widely shared religious framework for understanding the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fanaticism involves a robust and epistemically peculiar form of commitment: the fanatic is willing to sacrifice himself and others for the sake of his goal, and the fanatic is unable or unwilling to adjust his commitment in light of critical reflection. But is this always morally bad? While Cassam (Extremism: a philosophical analysis, Routledge, New York, 2022b) and Katsafanas (Philos Imprint 19:1–20, 2019; Philosophy of devotion: the longing for invulnerable ideals, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2023a) have offered accounts of fanaticism that treat it as vicious, Battaly (Synthese 201:1–27, 2023) and others have argued that fanaticism is morally neutral: whether it is bad or good depends on several factors, including the context in which it occurs and the ends toward which it is directed. I argue that these debates are marred by a failure to distinguish devotion and fanaticism. Devotion captures what is good in fanaticism; fanaticism is a morally vicious form of devotion. Fanaticism is a form of devotion that springs from a morally problematic psychological profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can religious devotion make you happier and satisfied? It is a question that has plagued economists for a long time and despite that religion could add a significant meaning to individuals' lives, such as by giving hope through thick and thin. This study aims to present the analysis by using the latest data of wave 7 from World Value Survey while determining if happiness, the ultimate desire and goal, are an outcome of religiosity. By using SEM Maximum likelihood technique we draw the conclusion that religiosity has a positive and significant role in fostering happiness of individuals. Along with religiosity, other social variables including financial situation, victim of crime, health status and living as a couple were also added. All these variables have a positive and significant role in increasing level of happiness except whether the person is a victim of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period of Catholic reform witnessed the proliferation of printed works that narrated historical and contemporary miracles for the edification of a vernacular readership. This article examines the role of printed miracle narratives in stimulating interior Catholic devotional life through close examination of three Italian vernacular collections printed in Italy between 1587 and 1597. Previous studies have focused on miracle stories where the resolution or prevention of earthly suffering in the forms of illness, miscarriages of justice, or accidents was the main event. Such narratives were designed to shape their readers' understanding of the culture of the miraculous and its relevance for their lives. This article takes a different approach to the role of the miraculous in early modern Catholicism by bringing narratives that had spiritual rather than physical outcomes to the centre of study. By bringing into focus the diversity of narratives compiled in miracle collections, it argues that stories also provided readers with opportunities to examine and tend to the state of their interior religious lives. This article offers a fresh perspective on the messages that early modern Catholics received about the value of the miraculous for their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article analyzes an English miracle narrative in which a portion of the Holy Cross is implanted within a knight's body in the Holy Land and is translated to Cornwall. The text raises important questions about what implantation means for the relic and human matters so conjoined and their respective agencies. Drawing on ideas about prostheticized bodies developed in disability studies can help scholars better understand the ontological questions raised by the melding of human and nonhuman matters, the profound vulnerability this entails for the devout human subject, and the ways in which this fusion of relic and human matter is socially transformative for the broader community. The article thus outlines some of the complex negotiations of matter and agency that could be imagined as part of the affective world of late medieval and early modern Passion relic veneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there exists a robust scholarship on the cultural influences and public uses of the Bible in early American history, the historical development of biblical scholarship in America remains relatively understudied. The prevalent view suggests that biblical scholarship in America had its critical awakening with the importation of German Higher Criticism to northeastern divinity schools in the nineteenth century. This essay makes a corrective intervention by looking at Cotton Mather's unpublished Biblia Americana (1693–1728), the first comprehensive Bible commentary to be authored in British North America. More specifically, the essay examines Mather's response to critical interrogation of the canon and the Biblia's numerous revisions of King James translation in light of recent philological scholarship. What connects these two issues is that they both concern the "givenness" of the Bible, which, in Mather's day, was being fundamentally challenged. Behind the discussions about the canonicity of diverse books and over how to render the Hebrew and Greek texts into modern languages always lurked fundamental questions regarding the divine authority, integrity, and perspicuity of the Bible. Examining a broad range of examples from across the Biblia, the essay demonstrates how Mather's work defies clear-cut categorization as either precritical or critical. In response to the intellectual currents of the early Enlightenment, Mather pioneered a new type of deeply learned, historically conscious but apologetically-oriented biblical criticism in America. The Biblia clearly reflects the challenges brought on by the deepening historicization of Scripture and the destabilization of texts and meanings through a new type of criticism. More widely read in current European scholarship and in many ways more curious and daring than any other early American exegete, Mather joined the infinitely complex and open-ended quest for better translations. Moreover, he was the first in New England to seriously address hard questions about the canon of the Bible and its historical development. But he always did so with the aim of providing constructive answers to these debates that would ultimately shore up the authority of Scripture, stabilize the scriptural foundation for what Mather regarded as the core of Reformed orthodox theological beliefs, and offer improved interpretations of the biblical texts, which would lend themselves even better to devotion and illuminate for Christians, with the help of the most up-to-date scholarship, the full riches of God's Word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of experimentation in religion through a case study of technological labor in a guru-led devotional (bhakti) Hindu organization called BAPS (Bocāsaṇvāsī Śrī Akṣar Puruṣottam Saṇsthā). It builds on recent theories of "experimental religion" to argue that religious practice operates in a dialectic between tradition and experimentation, and it outlines two types of religious experiments—those of "normal science" and "revolutionary science." The article draws on thirteen months of fieldwork with BAPS members in Gujarat, India, and suburban Chicago who perform devotional service (sevā) producing and circulating mass media from different positions within the organization—lifelong ascetics, salaried employees, and casual practitioners. These ethnographic accounts and the resultant understanding of experimental religion prompt scholars to reconsider classic theoretical divisions between religion and experimentation and counteract dominant narratives of high-tech as an inherent driver of modernizing progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the forms and expressions of the Christian piety of the Hungarian aristocracy in the early modern period on the example of Anton Erdődy (1714–1769), a representative of one of the most influential and most ancient Hungarian–Croatian noble families. The personal piety of this socially high-ranking aristocrat was shaped by familial, social, and spiritual traditions, which determined the nature of his artistic patronage. The unique Baroque organ preserved in the chapel of his no longer existing mansion in Trenčianske Bohuslavice, Slovakia (former Bohuslavice, Upper Hungary) is a magnificent manifestation of this patronage. The reconstruction of Anton Erdődy's idea of the spiritual world and of his piety enables us to formulate a hypothesis that the atypical architectural and structural design of this organ did not result only from the aesthetic requirements of its commissioner, but also had a theological foundation and religious essence in addition to its visual effect. This study is the result of extensive heuristic research and analysis of sources and extant artefacts using the methods of music historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebrating popular piety in different regions reflects the vibrant, diverse, and festive culture of the Philippines. The innumerable religious practices through rites and ceremonies show the intensity and vibrance of Filipino Catholic spirituality. It is part of the heritage and unique identity of the Filipino Catholic Church to the extent that it also impacts the local liturgical calendar. Given this distinctive characteristic of popular piety, finding its harmony with the liturgy is challenging. The focus on the ritual aspect of popular piety diverges from orthodoxy, raising conflict between its praxis and Church teachings, which allows for misinterpretation and syncretism. This paper will employ a descriptive research design to assess the reception of Vatican II’s Directory of Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines (DPPL), using the method of critical reflection. It comprehensively analyzes the reception of DPPL and its profound impact on Catholicism in the Philippines. This study aims to establish an understanding of popular piety as a valid form of worship through analysis and evaluation of the process of inculturation to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of these practices. It enriches theological discourse on the realm of inculturation, which leads to the preservation of cultural heritage and the understanding that popular piety is an encounter of evangelization and culture that should be treated with profound respect and mutual understanding.

At the heart of many forms of Hinduism is a multiple-layered vision of becoming concentred in the divine reality. Across three millennia of Hindu socioreligious history, various texts, teachers, and traditions have envisioned a world suffused with divine presence within which individuals are engaged in projects of self-negating reformation. Central to many of these images of divine-human alignment is the notion of bhakti, which defies straightforward translation: bhakti encompasses various ontological, experiential, cultural, and sociological dimensions of Hindu worldviews. Thus, bhakti is interwoven with the scriptural cosmologies, ritual practices, affective sensibilities, spiritual disciplines, and material cultures associated with Hindu lineages founded by several paradigmatic gurus. Some of these templates are sketched with Sanskrit philosophical and theological vocabularies; they have also been articulated, especially over the last millennium, with the vernacular idioms of Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and others. Bhakti is encountered in diverse socioreligious contexts of Hindu life – as an attitude of self-effacing dedication to an icon (mūrti) of the divine reality (brahman) placed in a massive stone temple or a small household shrine; as an expression of effervescent joyfulness in congregational singing (bhajana) or seasonal festivals of a deity; as the animating force on arduous pilgrimages to sacred sites (tīrtha); as a colloquial way of expressing one’s heartfelt reverence for a teacher; as a transformative vehicle for energizing egalitarian communities, and so on. So, to speak of bhakti is to engage with inquiries into the nature of the human self, the relation between humanity and divinity, the structure of the spatiotemporal world, the goal of human existence, and so on. A comprehensive exploration of bhakti would take an individual through the crisscrossing labyrinths of polycentric patterns of Hinduisms (Lipner 2010) – a lifelong (academic) quest. Given the limited scope of an encyclopaedia entry, this article will focus on some north Indian expressions of bhakti. With the help of this overview as well as its bibliography, the reader will hopefully be able to venture out into terrains of bhakti in other regions.

This article examines various aspects of the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition, a Hindu devotional tradition that centres on devotion to the deity Krishna (Kṛṣṇa). First, the entry provides a historical overview, followed by a description of how the tradition views Krishna as an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient personal God. The article goes on to describe the three main components of the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition’s theological framework. The first of these components is sambandha, or relationship. This knowledge of sambandha includes knowledge of Krishna’s relationship with his śaktis, or energies. These śaktis are māyā-śakti (the material energy which constitutes and creates this phenomenal world); jīva-śakti (the living entities); and svarūpa-śakti (the Lord’s personal energy which consists of his own nature). Krishna is simultaneously both one with and different from his śaktis, and the nature of this relationship of oneness and difference is unfathomable (acintya) to the human intellect. The second component of the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava theological framework is abhidheya, or spiritual practice. This is divided into various stages that correspond with an individual’s degree of devotion for Krishna. The third component is prayojana, or the final goal, which is pure love of Krishna (kṛṣṇa-preman). After attaining this goal, a self attains spiritual perfection. Finally, the article describes the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition’s epistemology, which acknowledges various forms of acquiring knowledge, such as sense perception (pratyakṣa), reasoning (anumāna), and scriptural testimony (śabda).

In this article, we delve into the role of religious images in the doctrine, worship, and social fabric of Catholic faithful in Tunja, Colombia. As a city steeped in colonial heritage, Christianity has become deeply ingrained in both spiritual and cultural aspects of life. The text explores the intricate relationships between believers and sacred images, reflecting on how the imagery encapsulates, while representing, forms of cohesion and social identification mediated by devotional and organizational experiences. It also presents ethnographic and historical references focusing on the experiences of devotion of members of brotherhoods and devotional groups, particularly their involvement in processions and religious celebrations within the city’s historic center. As a result of these public activities with the images, there is a binding association between believers and imagery that extends beyond the religious realm, influencing various aspects of collective life. The article discusses two key processes: the borrowing and extraction of images from religious sites, and the significance attributed to these images by believers outside the ecclesiastical institution, extending their value and meaning to guild and organizational processes that are also part of the faithful’s lives and social values.

The article examines Southern religious pamphlet literature or narratives that have defined the Civil War era. It explains themes of the tracts that contributed to the Confederate war effort including significance of the religious devotion of soldiers, divine providence and role of God in the war's outcome, salvation and death, morale of soldiers and importance of their sacrifice. It explores the influence of religious pamphlets on enlisted men beyond the use of chaplains.

In this article, we delve into the role of religious images in the doctrine, worship, and social fabric of Catholic faithful in Tunja, Colombia. As a city steeped in colonial heritage, Christianity has become deeply ingrained in both spiritual and cultural aspects of life. The text explores the intricate relationships between believers and sacred images, reflecting on how the imagery encapsulates, while representing, forms of cohesion and social identification mediated by devotional and organizational experiences. It also presents ethnographic and historical references focusing on the experiences of devotion of members of brotherhoods and devotional groups, particularly their involvement in processions and religious celebrations within the city's historic center. As a result of these public activities with the images, there is a binding association between believers and imagery that extends beyond the religious realm, influencing various aspects of collective life. The article discusses two key processes: the borrowing and extraction of images from religious sites, and the significance attributed to these images by believers outside the ecclesiastical institution, extending their value and meaning to guild and organizational processes that are also part of the faithful's lives and social values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an analysis of the impact of Mami-Wata spirituality on an understanding of the place and fate of Christianity in Africa today. A section of the Christian population negotiates their Christian beliefs through the prism of their traditional African religious cosmology and worldviews. This new Christian African spirituality is generating waves of faith crises. While previous scholarship has investigated the crises of African Christian faith from the dominant point of view of African culture and context, from Christian-Muslim interaction, or from the influence of Western elements, there are no works that show the multidimensional impacts of Mami-Wata spirituality on Christians and their faith, identity, and theological discourses. Departing from past works, the present work investigates how rudimentary constructs of African spirituality have engaged Christianity on several fronts, from the problem of faith crisis and the engagement of the Mami-Wata deity to how some African Christians wrestle with their devotion to the Virgin Mary vis-à-vis the traditional Mami-Wata deity. This analysis also demonstrates the indispensability of the female divine in spiritual and religious discourses, and it provides a pathway to construct a theology that is both truly Christian and grounded in African realities. [End Page 157] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bible journaling is a creative practice that has become increasingly popular within Christian communities over the past few years, particularly in the United States and the Netherlands. Journalers decorate, illustrate, and annotate their Bibles with colourful drawings and extensive notes as a devotional practice and as a way of shaping personal connections with the transcendent. When comparing these practices with early modern Bible use, striking parallels appear. These can provide further insight into the why of the active involvement of believers in the material construction and customisation of Bibles. Both modern and early modern Bible use activities can be understood as forms of 'vernacular religious creativity', as individuals engage in a creative manner with and within the material space of their Bibles in order to establish meaningful connections with a higher entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, popular Catholicism in Latin America and the Caribbean was perceived with suspicion by liberation theologians and official Roman Catholicism for its eccentricities, lack of doctrinal coherence, and fears of syncretism with folk religions. Nowadays, popular Catholicism in Latin America and the Caribbean has been a source of theological reflection, ecumenism, and religious revitalization. The apparition of the Holy Mother in 1953 at barrio Rincón in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, is a case study in global Catholicism that exemplifies this turn to see popular Catholicism as a source of liberation, perseverance, and deep spiritual devotion by the faithful. Using cultural, social, and reception historiography, the article argues that the Puerto Rican faithful were not passive recipients of the literary narratives of journalists covering the events as narrated by the main protagonists, the children/seers, but rather themselves formulators of history through their reception and participation. This is demonstrated by the allegiances of the faithful to popular Catholicism and their rejection of the official mandates of the clergy to ignore the events taking place at barrio Rincón regarding the apparition of the Virgin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys and examines the translations into English of Luther's works during the early modern period. Certain themes emerge, with anti-Catholicism, devotion, and consolation particularly noted as safe and unobjectionable Lutheran topics for English audiences. English reformers chose to integrate certain divines from the European mainland at certain points, with Luther playing key roles. The reign of Elizabeth (1558–1603) was a highpoint for English translations of Luther, and these coincided with other efforts by some in England as well as Germany to emphasize unity among Protestants while downplaying divisions. A flexible and contingent deployment of Luther in English continued into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when developments such as the Civil Wars, the Restoration, and German immigration provided moments of relevance for Luther. The article draws on and points to the considerable scholarship that has reshaped English Reformation studies over the past few decades, and it offers reflections on how the particularity of early modern England can be seen in relation to the heterogeneity of Reformation Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Life of Adam and Eve contains an episode in which Satan describes the protoplast Adam receiving worship from the angels of heaven, worship commanded by God himself. This tradition has played a role in recent debates over the nature of Second Temple religious devotion to the God of Israel. In particular, it has been put forward as an example that undermines arguments that Israel's God alone was the exclusive recipient of Jewish cultic worship. Within this debate, the reliability of Satan as a narrator within the Life of Adam and Eve has yet to be considered. Demonstrating Satan to be an unreliable narrator would have significant implications for the role of the Life of Adam and Eve in the debate regarding the nature of Jewish religious devotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Edmonton, the capital city of the province of Alberta, Canada, music, sound, and devotion have gained extraordinary popularity and proliferation among the South Asian Hindu diaspora. From festival celebrations to community gatherings or congregations in temples, this phenomenon of Hindu religio-cultural practice has been an important magnet to attract a vast number of the Hindu diaspora. Spending hours together, members of the South Asian Hindu diaspora engage in devotional musical soundscapes; immerse themselves in those soundscapes through clapping, singing, and bodily movements; and deeply engage in devotional activities. Based on the ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2022, including three case studies, this article discusses how these homeland echoes – recreating and resembling homeland music, sound, and devotional practices – play a powerful role in maintaining homeland ties and function as a constitutive element of collective identity of South Asian-ness for the South Asian Hindu diaspora in the Canadian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christianity is the main religion in the Pacific Islands, and what is unique about Christianity in the Pacific is that religion cannot be separated from everyday life experiences. This is because the worship and veneration of a divine source is the foundation of Pacific cultures and worldviews. In the Samoan context, faith in the Christian God is not only a rational activity but a concrete, practical experience embracing the physical and emotional manifestation of one's faith in God. This essay is a contextual theology paper examining the significance of applying authentic expressions of the gospel from a Samoan cultural worldview while acknowledging Christian traditions passed down by Western missionaries of the 19th century. Faith in God, without good works, is impossible in the Samoan context. This is because service to God and one another is imperative to social cohesion and prosperity. The physical manifestation of one's faith through active, committed service to the church ministry is a sign of good faith, evident through excessive monetary offerings, responsibility for fulfilling specific roles in the ministry and a commitment to all church programs. The Samoan cultural nuance of community and service helps form an authentic expression of Samoan Christian identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that even as the legal dispute over the Ram Janmabhumi site remained unresolved for decades, an unimpeded surge in Marwari mercantile financing of new temples for Hanumān, Rāma's most celebrated devotee, provided the material foundation for a nationwide space exalting Rāma through the worship of Hanumān. Living in the pan-Indian urban diaspora and tracing descent to Rajasthan, Marwari merchants coalesced into devotional organizations dedicated to Hanumān and allied Vaiṣṇava deities (such as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa), initially centered on shrines in Rajasthan itself, from the 1980s on – coeval with the Ram Janmabhumi movement's escalation. Marwaris had long been known as philanthropists for various social causes, but this article suggests that their philanthropy had evolved by the 1990s. Since the destruction of the Babri mosque at that time, Marwaris funded numerous new temples for Hanumān, in which Rāma was of course also revered. Some Marwaris assumed advisory roles in Hindu activist groups, seemingly embracing a commitment to restore canonical Hindu values eroded by centuries of foreign rule and modern caste politics. This article thus looks at Marwari patronage of deities' temples as anticipating a post-2019 Ayodhya verdict Hindu devotional geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the representation and significance of the Holy House of Mary as a metaphor for the domus Dei in the initial letters of a 13th-century Book of Hours (Brailes Hours BL MS Add. 49999) using hermeneutics, visual studies, and anthropology of art methodologies. The manuscript delves into the theological implications of the doctrine of the Incarnation and the virginal divine motherhood of Mary depicted in these images. Additionally, it explores the connection between these representations and the devotion to the Holy House of Nazareth and its replica in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Walsingham, recognized as a sacred pilgrimage site. To conduct this analysis, the article considers the figures of the Holy House depicted on pilgrim badges and religious jewels. Specifically, it focuses on the Hylle jewel, whose effectiveness, attributed to its form and materiality, symbolized the aurea palatium Dei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jaimini’s Book of the Horse Sacrifice (Jaiminīya Āśvamēdhikaparvan) is a late mediaeval Vaiṣṇava text that is unusual for several reasons. In this article we examine the interplay of violence, devotion and ritual in the Sanskrit vorlage and its Kannada transfiguration—the Jaiminibhārata of Lakṣmīśa (ca. 1500 CE). Violent emotions or extreme feelings are deeply imbricated in South Asia religious discourse. Extreme feeling is entangled with the history of texts that emerged as a result of interreligious and intra- religious debate. Our article puts forth the idea of violence as a mode of bhakti devotion, and we historicize the emergence of violence-as-bhakti in the Vaiṣṇava context, using the tale of Mayūradhvaja from Jaimini’s Book.