Angels and Demons: Debunking the Myths
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Cleansing the Cosmos
CLEANSING THE COSMOS: A BIBLICAL MODEL FOR CONCEPTUALIZING AND COUNTERACTING EVIL By E. Janet Warren A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham November 14, 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSRACT Understanding evil spiritual forces is essential for Christian theology. Evil has typically been studied either from a philosophical perspective or through the lens of ‘spiritual warfare’. The first seldom considers demonology; the second is flawed by poor methodology. Furthermore, warfare language is problematic, being very dualistic, associated with violence and poorly applicable to ministry. This study addresses these issues by developing a new model for conceptualizing and counteracting evil using ‘non-warfare’ biblical metaphors, and relying on contemporary metaphor theory, which claims that metaphors are cognitive and can depict reality. In developing this model, I examine four biblical themes with respect to alternate metaphors for evil: Creation, Cult, Christ and Church. Insights from anthropology (binary oppositions), theology (dualism, nothingness) and science (chaos-complexity theory) contribute to the construction of the model, and the concepts of profane space, sacred space and sacred actions (divine initiative and human responsibility) guide the investigation. -
DIVINATION SYSTEMS Written by Nicole Yalsovac Additional Sections Contributed by Sean Michael Smith and Christine Breese, D.D
DIVINATION SYSTEMS Written by Nicole Yalsovac Additional sections contributed by Sean Michael Smith and Christine Breese, D.D. Ph.D. Introduction Nichole Yalsovac Prophetic revelation, or Divination, dates back to the earliest known times of human existence. The oldest of all Chinese texts, the I Ching, is a divination system older than recorded history. James Legge says in his translation of I Ching: Book Of Changes (1996), “The desire to seek answers and to predict the future is as old as civilization itself.” Mankind has always had a desire to know what the future holds. Evidence shows that methods of divination, also known as fortune telling, were used by the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Babylonians and the Sumerians (who resided in what is now Iraq) as early as six‐thousand years ago. Divination was originally a device of royalty and has often been an essential part of religion and medicine. Significant leaders and royalty often employed priests, doctors, soothsayers and astrologers as advisers and consultants on what the future held. Every civilization has held a belief in at least some type of divination. The point of divination in the ancient world was to ascertain the will of the gods. In fact, divination is so called because it is assumed to be a gift of the divine, a gift from the gods. This gift of obtaining knowledge of the unknown uses a wide range of tools and an enormous variety of techniques, as we will see in this course. No matter which method is used, the most imperative aspect is the interpretation and presentation of what is seen. -
A List of Other Psychic Arts
List of Psychic Arts - Compiled by Gary L. Wimmer - www.garywimmer.com/psychic PSYCHIC ART DEFINITION 1 Abacomancy The art of foretelling future events by the observation of patterns of dust 2 Aeromancy Divination from the air and sky, cloud patterns, comets and other phenomena not normally visible in the sky 3 Alchemy Transmutation, dissolving or combining of base metals to form gold though chemical or supernatural processes 4 Alectryomancy Divination by means of a bird picking grains of corn from a circle of letters 5 Aleuromancy Divination with flour and baked goods such as fortune cookies 6 Alomancy A form of divination by using salt 7 Alphitomancy Divination using barley or cakes digestible by persons with a clear conscience but are unpleasant to others 8 Amniomancy Divination by using a caul or membrane which sometimes envelopes a child's head at birth 9 Anthropomancy Divination using human entrails, often from human sacrifices 10 Anththroposcopy Divination by observing facial features 11 Apantomancy Divination of an object, but usually an animal, which presents itself by chance 12 Arithmancy Divination by numbers 13 Aromatherapy Holistic health practice of seeking to heal certain diseases or illnesses by inhaling scented steam or fragrances 14 Ashagalomancy A system of divination of casting small bones or dice, also known as Astraglomancy or Astragyromancy 15 Astrology Ancient system of divination based on the position of the planets and the Zodiac 16 Augury Divination by studying the behaviour and flights of birds 17 Aura reading -
Media and Commercialisation of Psychic Reading
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC Media and Commercialisation of Psychic Reading Dr. Manash Pratim Goswami* Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Media and Mass Communication, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak (MP) Email: [email protected] ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT : Derived from Greek word, ‘Psyche’ means ‘breath of life’ in context to soul or spirit, is the method of communicating with those who have passed from the physical world. The word ‘psychic reading’ means a specific attempt to discern information with clairvoyance. In general, it is associated with consultation of paranormal needs of the people. Of different types and methods of foretelling the future of a person, distance reading, psychometric reading, astrology, numerology, past-life readings and palm reading are some popular methods of psychic reading. Although, the practice of psychic reading is often considered controversial, as focus of it assumed to revolve are skeptical inquiry, but the growing demand and rising faith of the people on these ancient arts of fortune telling have been fueling the industry to grow leaps and bounds. The proliferation of media and the growth of disposable amount of money among the people in the last decade have been also catalysing the business of Psychic Reading a high octane growth. This research paper is a study to understand and analyze the role of media in commercializing the psychic reading and its impact among people. Keywords: : Business, Commercialization, Media, Psychic reading. _________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Introduction: The word ‘Psychic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Psyche’, which means ‘breath of life’ in context to soul or spirit. -
Appendix AA Glossary of Terms Pertaining to Astrology And
Appendix A A Glossary of Terms Pertaining to Astrology and Divination Aëromancy (a.k.a. nephelomancy): Divination by observing clouds or other atmo- spheric phenomena. Agricultural astronomy: The observed correlation between celestial phenomena, seasonal weather patterns, and the tasks of the agricultural year; this does not involve an astrological attempt to predict future events (apart from the obvious recurrence of seasonal patterns). Alchemy: An ancient body of chemical, philosophical, mystical, and religious lore whose primary focus was the magnum opus (the transmutation of base metals into gold by means of the lapis philosophorum, or philosopher’s stone). Other alchemical operations included the quest for the panacea [elixir of life] and the alkahest [universal solvent]. The oldest extant alchemical texts arose in Egypt during the 1st-4th centuries ad and are attributed to Zosimus of Panopolis and Mary the Jewess. Alchemy was of great interest to Muslim intellectuals, and from them it spread to Mediaeval Europe. Just as astrology was the precursor of mod- ern astronomy, alchemy was the precursor of modern chemistry. Isaac Newton left more than 30,000 manuscript pages on alchemy (more than he wrote on any other subject). King Vakht’ang VI of Georgia was also a student of alchemy. Almanac: Annual weather prognostic, derived from lunar configurations to planets, and configurations of the planets to each other. Alveromancy: Divination by listening for sounds. There are many forms of alvero- mancy, of which the Chechen practice of listening to the ground is a typical example. Angles: (a.k.a. Pivots, Centers): In any horoscope, the four primary points along the ecliptic: Ascendant, m.c., Descendant, l.c. -
Stephan N. Kory 柯思廸 Sept
CURRICULUM VITAE Stephan N. Kory 柯思廸 Sept. 2019 CONTACT INFORMATION Assistant Professor of Chinese Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures University of Florida / 301 Pugh Hall PO Box 115565 / Gainesville FL 32611-5565 Office: Phone: 352-392-2422 [email protected] / [email protected] Website: https://cofc.academia.edu/StephanKory TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS Han and Medieval Chinese literature, culture, and religion (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and popular religion); Classical Chinese language; literature and history of East Asian medical and mantic sciences; tea history and culture EDUCATION Ph.D. Indiana University, 2012 (East Asian Languages and Cultures) - Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese, Minor in Religious Studies - Dissertation: “Cracking to Divine: Pyro-plastromancy as an Archetypal and Common Mantic and Religious Practice in Han and Medieval China”; Committee: Robert Eno (dissertation advisor), Stephen Bokenkamp (academic advisor), Robert Campany, Manling Luo, and Aaron Stalnaker M.A. University of Colorado, 1998 (East Asian Languages and Literatures) - Master of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature - Thesis: “Five Types of Fangji Accounts in the Tang Official Histories: Masters of Medical Arts, Extrapolation from the Marches, Prognostication, Physiognomy, and ‘Crafts’”; Committee: Paul Kroll (academic and thesis advisor), Victoria Cass, and Madeline Spring B.A. Washington and Lee University, 1991 (East Asian Studies) - Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies Non-degree courses of study: Tsinghua University -
Part I: Chapter 1
Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/20526 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation. Author: Beerden, Kim Title: Worlds full of signs. Ancient Greek divination in context Issue Date: 2013-02-14 Part I An introduction to ancient divination 1. Historiography Divination was omnipresent in the ancient world: ‘If the ancient Mediterranean world was full of gods, it was full of their messages as well. ’1 The mindset of ancient individuals might even be described as a state of ‘omen-mindedness’ , as is testified by the amount and nature of the ancient evidence.2 We know that everyone – from king to slave – was a potential user of divination. Public (official) and pri- 1 D.E. Aune et al., ‘Divination and prophecy’ in: S.I. Johnston (ed.), Religions of the ancient world: a guide (Cambridge, MA 2004) 370-391, at 371. ‘[…] it was full of their signs as well’ would be more appropriate. After all, the sign is the occurrence produced by the supernatural, as perceived by man. Cf. below for the crucial role of man in the recognition and interpreta- tion of a sign (which then becomes a message). 2 The term was coined by S. Freedman in: If a city is set on a height: the Akkadian omen series Šumma alu ina mēlê šakin, 2 vols (Philadelphia 1998-2006) Vol. 1, 1. The word ‘omen’ is not used in what follows because I consider the meaning of this word to be too restricted (in Graeco-Roman studies it usually refers to unprovoked signs only) and also too wide (it can refer to a text as well as to a sign in Assyriological studies). -
The Translation of Southern African Sangoma Divination Towards a Global Format, and the Validity of the Knowledge It Produces
The translation of Southern African sangoma divination towards a global format, and the validity of the knowledge it produces paper to be read at the symposium ‘World views, Science and Us’, Brussels, Centre Leo Apostel, Free University Brussels, Belgium, 10 June 2003 Wim van Binsbergen chair of Intercultural Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam/ Theme group ‘ Agency in Africa, African Studies Centre, Leiden © 2003 Wim van Binsbergen Abstract interculturality,1 of which the present paper One of the principal reasons the North is chapter 7 in a revised version: Atlantic has had both for studying ‘other cultures’, and for reifying these as absolutely • my own extensive and painful and insurmountably different, has been: to confrontation as an anthropologist with allow North Atlantic civilisation to construct non-Western world views in a number of itself on the basis of a claim of a rationality fieldwork settings; and science incomparably superior to the • my long-standing practice (as from thought processes engaged in by humans in 1990) of one non-Western knowledge other continents. One of the tasks of system as a sangoma, i.e. a spirit intercultural philosophy is then to explode medium/ diviner/ healer/priest in the such hegemonic projection from the North Southern African tradition; Atlantic. Intercultural philosophy can do so • my extensive evidence that knowledge by taking seriously the human thought sources not recognised by North Atlantic processes elsewhere, by approaching in their science can yet yield valid knowledge; own right the belief systems based on them, • my attempt to formulate a non-relativist and particularly by exposing the geopolitical, unitary epistemology; class, gender, racial, and other collective • and my long-ranging historical and interests that have imposed the violence of comparative analyses that help establish boundaries between subsets of humankind in the empirical conditions which underpin the first place. -
The Anthropology of Religion, Magic and Witchcraft
Third Edition The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft Rebecca L. Stein Los Angeles Valley College Philip L. Stein Los Angeles Pierce College ROUTLEDGE Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2011, 2008, 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc. Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2011, 2008, 2005 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. $SFEJUTBOEBDLOPXMFEHNFOUTCPSSPXFEGSPNPUIFSTPVSDFTBOESFQSPEVDFE XJUI QFSNJTTJPO JOUIJTUFYUCPPLBQQFBSPOQBHF 270. ISBN: 9780250 718115 (pb k) Cover Designer: Bruce Kenselaar Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stein, Rebecca L. The anthropology of religion, magic, and witchcraft / Rebecca L. Stein, Philip L. Stein.—3rd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-205-71811-5 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-205-71811-6 (alk. paper) 1. Religion. 2. Anthropology of religion. 3. Religion and culture. I. Stein, -
Seeing with Different Eyes : Essays in Astrology and Divination
Seeing with Different Eyes Seeing with Different Eyes: Essays in Astrology and Divination Edited by Patrick Curry and Angela Voss Cambridge Scholars Publishing Seeing with Different Eyes: Essays in Astrology and Divination, Edited by Patrick Curry and Angela Voss This book first published 2007 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing 15 Angerton Gardens, Newcastle, NE5 2JA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2007 by Patrick Curry and Angela Voss and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-84718-361-1, ISBN (13): 9781847183613 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgments ..............................................................vii Introduction .............................................................................................ix PART I: ANCIENT EYES Chapter One..............................................................................................3 A World full of Signs: Understanding Divination in Ancient Stoicism Peter T. Struck Chapter Two...........................................................................................21 Chaldean Divination and the Ascent to Heaven Algis Uzdavinys Chapter Three.........................................................................................35 -
Putnam's Word Book by Louis A. Flemming</H1>
Putnam's Word Book by Louis A. Flemming Putnam's Word Book by Louis A. Flemming Produced by the Distributed Proofreaders. Putnam's Word Book A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas through the Use of an Exact and Varied Vocabulary By Louis A. Flemming Copyright, 1913 by G. P. Putnam's Sons (Under the title _Synonyms, Antonyms, and Associated Words_) Preface page 1 / 1.424 The purpose of this book, as conceived by the author, is not to attempt to create or to influence usage by pointing out which words should or should not be used, nor to explain the meaning of terms, but simply to provide in a form convenient for reference and study the words that can be used, leaving it to those who consult its pages to determine for themselves, with the aid of a dictionary if necessary, which words supply the information they are looking for or express most accurately the thoughts in their minds. The questions, therefore, that were constantly in the author's mind while he was preparing the manuscript were not, _is_ this word used? nor _should_ it be used? but is it a word that some one may want to know as a matter of information or to use in giving expression to some thought? When the word in question seemed to be one that would be of service it was given a place in the collection to which it belongs. Believing the book would be consulted by students and workers in special fields, the author incorporated into it many words, including some technical terms, that might, in the case of a work of more restricted usefulness, have been omitted. -
EDITORIAL on Behalf of the Managing Editor, I Sincerely Thank
EDITORIAL On behalf of the Managing Editor, I sincerely thank all the contributors to this issue. Our thanks also go to our in-house and external reviewers for their continued support. Papers submitted that are not in this issue will be published in the next issue. We continue to encourage scholars in all biblical, religious and theological fields who are interested in academic publishing to send their papers to ERATS. Our capable internal and external reviewers are ready to work with you. We are expecting your work. Professor Prince S Conteh, ThD; PhD Chief Editor - x - THEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF NECROMANCY AND ITS PARALLEL IN DANGME RELIGIO-CULTURAL SETTING EBENEZER TETTEH FIORGBOR, EMMANUEL KOJO ENNIN ANTWI & JONATHAN EDWARD TETTEH KUWORNU-ADJAOTTOR1 ABSTRACT This paper offers a theological examination of necromancy in ancient Israel and its parallel in Dangme religio-cultural setting about the place of the dead. This encounter with the spirit of Samuel, rhetoric or realism? Why was necromancy considered a theological aberrant in biblical theology? What form or nature is life after death? Should theology identify rational grounds for accepting or rejecting the messages from the dead? The paper discusses the -Dor and its sensitivities in biblical history will as the background to the deliberation along with necromantic theories of the of the place of the dead and afterlife in Dangme religious and cultural settings. The paper 1 EBENEZER TETTEH FIORGBOR is a PhD candidate at the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. EMMANUEL KOJO ENNIN ANTWI is a Lecturer in Old Testament Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.