Are Things 'Indifferent'? How Objects Change Our Understanding of Religious History
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Early Pyrrhonism As a Sect of Buddhism? a Case Study in the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy
Comparative Philosophy Volume 9, No. 2 (2018): 1-40 Open Access / ISSN 2151-6014 www.comparativephilosophy.org EARLY PYRRHONISM AS A SECT OF BUDDHISM? A CASE STUDY IN THE METHODOLOGY OF COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY MONTE RANSOME JOHNSON & BRETT SHULTS ABSTRACT: We offer a sceptical examination of a thesis recently advanced in a monograph published by Princeton University Press entitled Greek Buddha: Pyrrho’s Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia. In this dense and probing work, Christopher I. Beckwith, a professor of Central Eurasian studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, argues that Pyrrho of Elis adopted a form of early Buddhism during his years in Bactria and Gandhāra, and that early Pyrrhonism must be understood as a sect of early Buddhism. In making his case Beckwith claims that virtually all scholars of Greek, Indian, and Chinese philosophy have been operating under flawed assumptions and with flawed methodologies, and so have failed to notice obvious and undeniable correspondences between the philosophical views of the Buddha and of Pyrrho. In this study we take Beckwith’s proposal and challenge seriously, and we examine his textual basis and techniques of translation, his methods of examining passages, his construal of problems and his reconstruction of arguments. We find that his presuppositions are contentious and doubtful, his own methods are extremely flawed, and that he draws unreasonable conclusions. Although the result of our study is almost entirely negative, we think it illustrates some important general points about the methodology of comparative philosophy. Keywords: adiaphora, anātman, anattā, ataraxia, Buddha, Buddhism, Democritus, Pāli, Pyrrho, Pyrrhonism, Scepticism, trilakṣaṇa 1. INTRODUCTION One of the most ambitious recent works devoted to comparative philosophy is Christopher Beckwith’s monograph Greek Buddha: Pyrrho’s Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia (2015). -
Adiaphora, Luther and the Material Culture of Worship Andrew Spicer
Adiaphora, Luther and the Material Culture of Worship Andrew Spicer During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, English merchants and travellers to Germany and the Baltic were surprised by the pre-Reformation furnishings that remained in the Lutheran churches they visited, particularly commenting on the altarpieces, organs and statues.1 The survival of these aspects of late medieval worship has been attributed to the so-called ‘preserving power’ of Lutheranism. Significant numbers of images, ecclesiastical plate and vestments together with altarpieces remain even to this day through having been retained by Lutheran congregations.2 Recent scholarship, however, has acknowledged that this material culture has not always survived without some adaptation to accord with the needs of Lutheran worship.3 Furthermore, it has been questioned whether ‘preservation’ or ‘survival’ are the appropriate terms to refer to these items associated with pre-Reformation worship but with which the Lutheran faithful continued to engage.4 Adiaphora has become a convenient term to explain the retention of this ecclesiastical material culture, particularly in relation to religious art and images, within the Lutheran tradition.5 Adiaphora, a Greek term, had its origins in classical philosophy but had been adopted by the some of the Church Fathers. The meaning of the concept gradually evolved so that by the late middle ages, it had come to refer to things that were permitted because they had neither been divinely commanded nor prohibited, as determined by the New Testament. These were matters, which were not regarded as necessary for salvation. It was this understanding of the term that was applied by the Reformers in the early sixteenth century. -
The Limits Upon Adiaphoristic Freedom: Luther and Melanchthon1 Bernard J
THE LIMITS UPON ADIAPHORISTIC FREEDOM: LUTHER AND MELANCHTHON1 BERNARD J. VERKAMP Vincennes University, Indiana HEN LUTHER and his principal spokesman, Philip Melanchthon, Wlaunched their attack against the many ecclesiastical laws and regulations which had cropped up over the centuries, it was not so much a matter of attacking the traditions in themselves as it was an attempt to restore the doctrine of solafideism, which in their opinion the traditions had severely jeopardized. Once that doctrine was fully appreciated, Luther wrote, the Christian would "easily and safely find his way through those myriad mandates and precepts of popes, bishops, monas teries, churches, princes, and magistrates."2 As it turned out, that way, according to both Luther and Melanchthon, was an adiaphoristic via media. But whether such a path was as "easily and safely" to be discerned as Luther thought, may be doubted; for, as a matter of fact, the adiaphoristic freedom championed by the two Wittenberg Reformers was closely circumscribed by "limits" from without and within, which, because of their subtlety and complexity, could be and not infrequently were overlooked. In what follows, it will be my intention to show exactly what those limits are. I will begin by trying to establish the outer boundaries, or, in other words, the precise locus of the adiaphorism proffered by Luther and Melanchthon. At its sixth session the Council of Trent declared: "Si quis dixerit, nihil praeceptum esse in Evangelio praeter fidem, cetera esse indifferentia, ñeque praecepta, -
Kant's Doctrine of Religion As Political Philosophy
Kant's Doctrine of Religion as Political Philosophy Author: Phillip David Wodzinski Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/987 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2009 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Political Science KANT’S DOCTRINE OF RELIGION AS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY a dissertation by PHILLIP WODZINSKI submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2009 © copyright by PHILLIP DAVID WODZINSKI 2009 ABSTRACT Kant’s Doctrine of Religion as Political Philosophy Phillip Wodzinski Advisor: Susan Shell, Ph.D. Through a close reading of Immanuel Kant’s late book, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, the dissertation clarifies the political element in Kant’s doctrine of religion and so contributes to a wider conception of his political philosophy. Kant’s political philosophy of religion, in addition to extending and further animating his moral doctrine, interprets religion in such a way as to give the Christian faith a moral grounding that will make possible, and even be an agent of, the improvement of social and political life. The dissertation emphasizes the wholeness and structure of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason as a book, for the teaching of the book is not exhausted by the articulation of its doctrine but also includes both the fact and the manner of its expression: the reader learns most fully from Kant by giving attention to the structure and tone of the book as well as to its stated content and argumentation. -
The Cruciform Womb: Process, Symbol and Salvation in Bodleian Library MS
The Cruciform Womb: Process, Symbol and Salvation in Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 399 Karl Whittington Introduction Among the medical texts and illustrations that make up MS Ashmole 399 in the Bodleian Library in Oxford lies an image of striking graphic power and beauty (Figure 1). Colored lines curve and twist, connecting abstract shapes and irregular fields of text. At the top corners of the manuscript page, two red lines curve down towards the center, stopping abruptly and jutting out to form two points before continuing as parallel straight lines to the bottom of the page. Around them, shapes lie across the largely symmetrical surface: two black lines arch over the top of the red lines, connecting to two spheres that float near the center of the page. In the bottom corners, two columnar forms anchor the composition, and just inside of them lie two large teardrop-shaped red forms, outlined in green ink. At the top stands a tiny human, enclosed in a shaded oval. Small captions and labels cover parts of each shape, while longer texts weave haphazardly around them. This image is a diagram of the female sexual anatomy, from a thirteenth-century book of medical texts Figure 1. Female anatomy, Oxford, Bodleian and illustrations. Modern viewers can Library MS Ashmole 399, fol. 13v. Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art (ISSN 1935-5009) Issue 1, September 2008 Whittington– The Cruciform Womb: Process, Symbol and Salvation in Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 399 decipher easily only a few of these forms: to us, the drawing resembles some kind of map or abstract diagram more than a representation of actual anatomy, or anything else recognizable, for that matter. -
Early Christians Identified Jesus' Shroud with His Royal & Priestly Robe!
Early Christians Identified Jesus’ Shroud With His Royal & Priestly Robe! __________________________ By Larry Stalley1 Copyrighted © 2020 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Based on an abundance of scientific and historical evidence that has surfaced in recent years, the author believes the Shroud of Turin is the genuine burial cloth that Joseph of Arimathea purchased and used to wrap the body of Jesus. Peter and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” found the tomb empty of a corpse on Resurrection Day. However, when they found the funeral linens, something about their appearance caused the disciple to “believe” (John 20.8). The cloth was stained with blood and had been defiled by its contact with a corpse. Why then wasn’t the Shroud viewed as “unclean,” discarded and buried? Why did the early Church treasure this piece of linen and seek to safeguard it from opponents and enemies of the Faith? How did they come to perceive this cloth? What beliefs became attached to it? In a former paper2 the author attempted to show that the early Christians likely perceived the Shroud as being the miraculous “sign of Jonah” that Jesus had promised.3 In this paper he will seek to demonstrate that the early Christians also identified Jesus’ Shroud, typologically, as his royal- priestly robe, sanctified by His sacrificial blood! The earthly Shroud was a “type and shadow” of the heavenly robe! With its miraculous image, the Shroud was viewed as being a link between the earthly and heavenly realities. ____________________________________________________ 1. INTRODUCTION Being Jewish and living in Rome during the 1st century had its difficulties! You felt the contempt native Romans held concerning your race! From their unwelcomed glares you could sense their unspoken but heartfelt animosity: Another Jew! I despise you! You despise the customs of our ancestors! You have no idols like all other religions. -
Melanchthon Versus Luther: the Contemporary Struggle
CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY Volume 44, Numbers 2-3 --- - - - JULY 1980 Can the Lutheran Confessions Have Any Meaning 450 Years Later?.................... Robert D. Preus 104 Augustana VII and the Eclipse of Ecumenism ....................................... Sieg bert W. Becker 108 Melancht hon versus Luther: The Contemporary Struggle ......................... Bengt Hagglund 123 In-. Response to Bengt Hagglund: The importance of Epistemology for Luther's and Melanchthon's Theology .............. Wilbert H. Rosin 134 Did Luther and Melanchthon Agree on the Real Presence?.. ....................................... David P. Scaer 14 1 Luther and Melanchthon in America ................................................ C. George Fry 148 Luther's Contribution to the Augsburg Confession .............................................. Eugene F. Klug 155 Fanaticism as a Theological Category in the Lutheran Confessions ............................... Paul L. Maier 173 Homiletical Studies 182 Melanchthon versus Luther: the Contemporary Struggle Bengt Hagglund Luther and Melanchthon in Modern Research In many churches in Scandinavia or in Germany one will find two oil paintings of the same size and datingfrom the same time, representing Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon, the two prime reformers of the Church. From the point of view of modern research it may seem strange that Melanchthon is placed on the same level as Luther, side by side with him, equal in importance and equally worth remembering as he. Their common achieve- ment was, above all, the renewal of the preaching of the Gospel, and therefore it is deserving t hat their portraits often are placed in the neighborhood of the pulpit. Such pairs of pictures were typical of the nineteenth-century view of Melanchthon and Luther as harmonious co-workers in the Reformation. These pic- tures were widely displayed not only in the churches, but also in many private homes in areas where the Reformation tradition was strong. -
I Speak As One in Doubt
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses August 2019 I Speak as One in Doubt Margaret Hazel Wilson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Fine Arts Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, and the Sculpture Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Margaret Hazel, "I Speak as One in Doubt" (2019). Masters Theses. 807. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/807 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. I Speak as One in Doubt. A Thesis Presented by Margaret Hazel Wilson Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS May 2019 Department of Art I Speak as One in Doubt. A Thesis Presented by MARGARET HAZEL WILSON Approved as to style and content by: _____________________________ Alexis Kuhr, Chair _____________________________ Jenny Vogel, Member _____________________________ Robin Mandel, Member _____________________________ Sonja Drimmer, Member ______________________________ Young Min Moon, Graduate Program Director Department of Art ________________________________ Shona MacDonald, Department Chair Department of Art DEDICATION To my mom, who taught me to tell meandering stories, and that learning, and changing, is something to love. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to my committee members for their generous dialogue in the course of this thesis, especially my chair, Alexis Kuhr, for her excellent listening ear. -
Antonello Da Messina's Dead Christ Supported by Angels in the Prado
1 David Freedberg The Necessity of Emotion: Antonello da Messina’s Dead Christ supported by Angels in the Prado* To look at Antonello da Messina’s painting of the Virgin in Palermo (fig. 1) is to ask three questions (at least): Is this the Virgin Annunciate, the Immaculate Mother of God about to receive the message that she will bear the Son of God? Or is it a portrait, perhaps even of someone we know or might know? Does it matter? No. What matters is that we respond to her as if she were human, not divine or transcendental—someone we might know, even in the best of our dreams. What matters is that she almost instantly engages our attention, that her hand seems to stop us in our passage, that we are drawn to her beautiful and mysterious face, that we recognize her as someone whose feelings we feel we might understand, someone whose emotional state is accessible to us. Immediately, upon first sight of her, we are involved in her; swiftly we notice the shadow across her left forehead and eye, and across the right half of her face, the slight turn of the mouth, sensual yet quizzical at the same time.1 What does all this portend? She has been reading; her hand is shown in the very act of being raised, as if she were asking for a pause, reflecting, no doubt on what she has just seen. There is no question about the degree of art invested in this holy image; but even before we think about the art in the picture, what matters is that we are involved in it, by * Originally given as a lecture sponsored by the Fondación Amigos Museo del Prado at the Museo del Prado on January 10, 2017, and published as “Necesidad de la emoción: El Cristo muerto sostenido por un ángel de Antonello de Messina,” in Los tesoros ocultos del Museo del Prado, Madrid: Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado; Crítica/Círculo de Lectores, 2017, 123-150. -
Interart Studies from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era: Stylistic Parallels Between English Poetry and the Visual Arts Roberta Aronson
Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 1-1-2003 Interart Studies from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era: Stylistic Parallels between English Poetry and the Visual Arts Roberta Aronson Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Aronson, R. (2003). Interart Studies from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era: Stylistic Parallels between English Poetry and the Visual Arts (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/11 This Worldwide Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Interart Studies from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era: Stylistic Parallels between English Poetry and the Visual Arts A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Roberta Chivers Aronson October 1, 2003 @Copyright by Roberta Chivers Aronson, 2003 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my appreciation to my many colleagues and family members whose collective support and inspiration underlie all that I do: • To my Provost, Dr. Ralph Pearson, for his kind professional encouragement, • To my Dean, Dr. Connie Ramirez, who creates a truly collegial and supportive academic environment, • To my Director, Dr. Albert C. Labriola, for his intellectual generosity and guidance; to Dr. Bernard Beranek for his enthusiasm and thoughtful conversation; and to Dr. -
El Rostro De Cristo Y La Santa Faz De Alicante
Archivo Ibero-Americano 75, nº 280 (2015): 327-358 ISSN 0004-0452 IMÁGENES DE FACTURA DIVINA: EL ROSTRO DE CRISTO Y LA SANTA FAZ DE ALICANTE IMAGES OF DIVINE CRAFTSMANSHIP: THE PORTRAIT OF CHRIST AND THE HOLY FACE OF ALICANTE (SPAIN) RAÚL MORALES SANES Universidad de Murcia [email protected] RECIBIDO: 7/07/2016 ACEPTADO: 14/11/2016 Para citar este artículo: Morales Sanes, Raúl. «Imágenes de factura divina: el rostro de Cristo y la Santa Faz de Alicante». Archivo Ibero-Americano 75, nº 280 (2015): 327-358. RESUMEN: ABSTRACT: El presente trabajo pretende hacer un repaso por This paper has the primary intention to offer las principales imágenes acheiropoietai refe- an overview of the main acheiropoeitai images ridas al rostro de Cristo con el fin de elaborar related to the portrait of Christ. Secondly, we have un contexto donde estas se pongan en relación analysed the particular case of the Santa Faz in con la Santa Faz de Alicante. Para la construc- Alicante. In order to explore the context in which ción de dicho marco se abordan temas como el these images were created, we have also studied proceso de legitimación de la imagen en la Edad the strategies of legitimization of images in the Media, las principales imágenes milagrosas no Middle Ages, the most prominent acheiropoietai hechas por manos humanas y las leyendas que a images and the legends that justified many estas acompañan. Finalmente, partiendo de estos particular cases. Finally, we have explored the parámetros, se aborda la llegada de estos cultos motifs and features that accompanied this kind of a tierras hispanas y se lleva a cabo una interpre- images in a Hispanic context and have carried out tación sobre el lienzo alicantino tras cotejar las a more thorough study of the Alicante image by versiones que nos ofrecen los distintos cronistas comparing the different local chronicles referring de dicha ciudad. -
Practicing Love of God in Medieval Jerusalem, Gaul and Saxony
he collection of essays presented in “Devotional Cross-Roads: Practicing Love of God in Medieval Gaul, Jerusalem, and Saxony” investigates test case witnesses of TChristian devotion and patronage from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages, set in and between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, as well as Gaul and the regions north of the Alps. Devotional practice and love of God refer to people – mostly from the lay and religious elite –, ideas, copies of texts, images, and material objects, such as relics and reliquaries. The wide geographic borders and time span are used here to illustrate a broad picture composed around questions of worship, identity, reli- gious affiliation and gender. Among the diversity of cases, the studies presented in this volume exemplify recurring themes, which occupied the Christian believer, such as the veneration of the Cross, translation of architecture, pilgrimage and patronage, emergence of iconography and devotional patterns. These essays are representing the research results of the project “Practicing Love of God: Comparing Women’s and Men’s Practice in Medieval Saxony” guided by the art historian Galit Noga-Banai, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the histori- an Hedwig Röckelein, Georg-August-University Göttingen. This project was running from 2013 to 2018 within the Niedersachsen-Israeli Program and financed by the State of Lower Saxony. Devotional Cross-Roads Practicing Love of God in Medieval Jerusalem, Gaul and Saxony Edited by Hedwig Röckelein, Galit Noga-Banai, and Lotem Pinchover Röckelein/Noga-Banai/Pinchover Devotional Cross-Roads ISBN 978-3-86395-372-0 Universitätsverlag Göttingen Universitätsverlag Göttingen Hedwig Röckelein, Galit Noga-Banai, and Lotem Pinchover (Eds.) Devotional Cross-Roads This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.