DOCSLIB.ORG

Intersections Between Religion, Art and Science

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 Intersections Between Religion, Art and Science This is the last session of our course. We have examined how religion, art and science have contributed to our view of ourselves and the world we live in. The illustration is a 1932 watercolor by Paul Klee entitled “Two Ways.” There are two paths into the painting one from the left and one from the right. They come close to getting tangled but they both exit to the right. The abstract style of Klee and his colleagues did not sit well with fascism. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they closed the Bauhaus, where Klee was a professor. In 1937, the Nazis produced an exhibition of “degenerate” art, which included fifteen of Klee’s pictures. For fascism there was only one way. This session will tie up some ideas about religion and science. We shall deal first with our sense of the numinous. Then we shall consider theodicy – the justification for suffering in the universe – using the story of Job. The second half of the session will begin with the role of organized religion inhuman life. We shall end by discussing some of the implications of religious pluralism. 1 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 Understanding the Numinous To understand yet not understand is transcendence Not to understand yet understand is affliction Tao Te Ching, Verse 71 translated by Red Pine In a previous session we briefly considered the human experience of the “numinous:” the sensation that one is the in the presence of something beyond comprehension or control. The scriptures of various world religions warn that understanding the numinous may not come easily. Scriptures are inherently cryptic. This verse from the Tao Te Ching (dào dé jīng, The Book of the Way of Virtue) claims that To understand yet not understand is transcendence Not to understand yet understand is affliction zhī bù zhī shàng yĭ bù zhī zhī bìng yĭ Perhaps a simpler translation would be that we should try to understand what we do not know because not to do so leads to suffering. Yet perhaps I miss the meaning in the same way as I mar the pronunciation. A looser translation by R. B. Blakeney is To know that you are ignorant is best; To know what you do not is a disease. 2 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 Characteristics of the Numinous (i) a sense of being in the presence of something beyond comprehension or control. (ii) an intense emotional arousal, combining fear and wonder, like being at the edge of an abyss. (iii) a state of uncertainty and a need to do something about it (“You must change your life” Rilke) Sebastiano Delgado, 2009 The psychology of religions centers on the experience of the numinous. Mountains make it easier to feel the numinous. The photograph shows a view in the Brooks Mountains in the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Conversion And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (Acts 22:6-7) Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Conversion on the Way to Damascus Santa Maria del Populo, Rome, 1601 “You must change your life.” An intense experience of the numinous can lead to a complete re- thinking of one’s life. On the road to Damascus the persecutor Saul had a vision that led him to become the Apostle Paul. The nature of the vision is not known. Some have suggested that it might have been epileptic in origin. Yet the effect is perhaps more important than the cause. 3 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 Meditation The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains. Li Bai, 8th Century CE translated by Sam Hamill, 2002 Luohan, 11-12th Century Musée Guimet, Paris Once a religion is founded, behaviors are promoted to maintain the link to the original numinous experience. The mainstay of the Eastern religions is the process of meditation. The goal is to lose the self, to dissolve into the great sea of being. We have already seen a similar ceramic sculpture in a previous session. This is another. Eight of these statues were found in China in 1912. They are now scattered in various museums across the world. One is in the Royal Ontario Museum. None remain in China. Prayer And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. Isaiah 66:14 (Hebrew inscription on the Isaiah Stone of the Western Wall, 1798) Gustav Bauernfeind, 1890 Wailing Wall, Jerusalem Western religions tend to prayer more than meditation. Communing with a personal God rather than dissolving in a Universal Force. 4 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 Ecstasy I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. Gian-Lorenzo Bernini, 1652 Saint Teresa of Avila, 1581 The sense of the numinous can be attained through prayer and meditation. Though mainly peaceful, the experience can become ecstatic. St Theresa’s experience of the angel – “all on fire with a great love of God” – was both sexual and ascetic. Sublime And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man; A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things. Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth, 1798 Caspar David Friedrich, 1818 Wanderer above the Sea of Fog The numinous is not necessarily related to religion. The romantic revolution led to the search for the numinous in nature: “a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused . .” This carries on to the present in our search for “peak experiences.” 5 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 Psychodelic Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels To be wanderin' I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way I promise to go under it. Bob Dylan Martin Sharp, 1967 Mr. Tambourine Man The numinous can come from drugs as well as devotion. Wordsworth’s friend Coleridge’s visions of Kubla Khan were induced by opium. In the latter half of the twentieth century psychedelic experiences became the way to the numinous. The answer from the 1964 song Mr. Tambourine Man is blowing in the mind. “Take me on a trip upon you magic swirlin’ ship . .” Bob Dylan has insisted that the song has nothing to do with drugs but simply had to do with music and imagination. Most of his listeners disagreed. Art denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du mußt dein Leben ändern . here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life. Rainer Maria Rilke, 1906 Torso from Miletus 480 BCE, Louvre The numinous experience is the essence of scripture and the basis for religious belief. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote about his experience of the numinous while looking at an archaic torso of Apollo in the Louvre. 6 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 We have some understanding about the psychology that underlies the experience. Emotions of fear and wonder combine with a cognitive state of confusion and uncertainty. The outcome of the experience can be some accommodation of our understanding to a larger view of the world. We know very little about how the brain mediates the numinous experience. This is unfortunate since it is so important. The Book of Job William Blake 1806 In this section we shall deal with theodicy (‘justifying God’ from the Greek theos, God, and dike, trial). Why does an omnipotent and benevolent God allow evil and suffering? In the beginning the idea was that evil and suffering were divine punishment for bad behavior. However, this is patently false. The story of Job is the great demonstration of the truth that bad things happen to good people. Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead (Job 1:19) 7 Picton Intersections 8 Epilogue 2017 God allows Satan to test his follower Job, to see whether Job remains faithful even when he is afflicted by unnecessary suffering.
Recommended publications
  • The Changing Role of Leah Hirsig in Aleister Crowley's Thelema, 1919

    The Changing Role of Leah Hirsig in Aleister Crowley's Thelema, 1919

    Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 21 (2021) 69–93 ARIES brill.com/arie Proximal Authority The Changing Role of Leah Hirsig in Aleister Crowley’s Thelema, 1919–1930 Manon Hedenborg White Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] Abstract In 1920, the Swiss-American music teacher and occultist Leah Hirsig (1883–1975) was appointed ‘Scarlet Woman’ by the British occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), founder of the religion Thelema. In this role, Hirsig was Crowley’s right-hand woman during a formative period in the Thelemic movement, but her position shifted when Crowley found a new Scarlet Woman in 1924. Hirsig’s importance in Thelema gradually declined, and she distanced herself from the movement in the late 1920s. The article analyses Hirsig’s changing status in Thelema 1919–1930, proposing the term proximal authority as an auxiliary category to MaxWeber’s tripartite typology.Proximal authority is defined as authority ascribed to or enacted by a person based on their real or per- ceived relational closeness to a leader. The article briefly draws on two parallel cases so as to demonstrate the broader applicability of the term in highlighting how relational closeness to a leadership figure can entail considerable yet precarious power. Keywords Aleister Crowley – Leah Hirsig – Max Weber – proximal authority – Thelema 1 Introduction During the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain (1665–1714), Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660–1744), was the second most powerful woman in the kingdom. As the queen’s favourite, the Duchess overcame many restrictions hampering women of the time.
  • Archons (Commanders) [NOTICE: They Are NOT Anlien Parasites], and Then, in a Mirror Image of the Great Emanations of the Pleroma, Hundreds of Lesser Angels

    Archons (Commanders) [NOTICE: They Are NOT Anlien Parasites], and Then, in a Mirror Image of the Great Emanations of the Pleroma, Hundreds of Lesser Angels

    A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES WATCH THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO UFOs, Aliens, and the Question of Contact MUST-SEE THE OCCULT REASON FOR PSYCHOPATHY Organic Portals: Aliens and Psychopaths KNOWLEDGE THROUGH GNOSIS Boris Mouravieff - GNOSIS IN THE BEGINNING ...1 The Gnostic core belief was a strong dualism: that the world of matter was deadening and inferior to a remote nonphysical home, to which an interior divine spark in most humans aspired to return after death. This led them to an absorption with the Jewish creation myths in Genesis, which they obsessively reinterpreted to formulate allegorical explanations of how humans ended up trapped in the world of matter. The basic Gnostic story, which varied in details from teacher to teacher, was this: In the beginning there was an unknowable, immaterial, and invisible God, sometimes called the Father of All and sometimes by other names. “He” was neither male nor female, and was composed of an implicitly finite amount of a living nonphysical substance. Surrounding this God was a great empty region called the Pleroma (the fullness). Beyond the Pleroma lay empty space. The God acted to fill the Pleroma through a series of emanations, a squeezing off of small portions of his/its nonphysical energetic divine material. In most accounts there are thirty emanations in fifteen complementary pairs, each getting slightly less of the divine material and therefore being slightly weaker. The emanations are called Aeons (eternities) and are mostly named personifications in Greek of abstract ideas.
  • Integrating Việt Nam Into World History Surveys

    Integrating Việt Nam Into World History Surveys

    Southeast Asia in the Humanities and Social Science Curricula Integrating Việt Nam into World History Surveys By Mauricio Borrero and Tuan A. To t is not an exaggeration to say that the Việt Nam War of the 1960–70s emphasize to help students navigate the long span of world history surveys. remains the major, and sometimes only, point of entry of Việt Nam Another reason why world history teachers are often inclined to teach into the American imagination. Tis is true for popular culture in Việt Nam solely in the context of war is the abundance of teaching aids general and the classroom in particular. Although the Việt Nam War centered on the Việt Nam War. There is a large body of films and docu- ended almost forty years ago, American high school and college stu- mentaries about the war. Many of these films feature popular American dents continue to learn about Việt Nam mostly as a war and not as a coun- actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, and Tom Cruise. There Itry. Whatever coverage of Việt Nam found in history textbooks is primar- are also a large number of games and songs about the war, as well as sub- ily devoted to the war. Beyond the classroom, most materials about Việt stantial news coverage of veterans and the Việt Nam War whenever the Nam available to students and the general public, such as news, literature, United States engages militarily in any part of the world. American lit- games, and movies, are also related to the war. Learning about Việt Nam as erature, too, has a large selection of memoirs, diaries, history books, and a war keeps students from a holistic understanding of a thriving country of novels about the war.
  • Gnosticism, Transformation, and the Role of the Feminine in the Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) Ellen P

    Gnosticism, Transformation, and the Role of the Feminine in the Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) Ellen P

    Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-13-2014 Gnosticism, Transformation, and the Role of the Feminine in the Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) Ellen P. Randolph Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI14110766 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, New Religious Movements Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Randolph, Ellen P., "Gnosticism, Transformation, and the Role of the Feminine in the Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.)" (2014). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1686. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1686 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida GNOSTICISM, TRANSFORMATION, AND THE ROLE OF THE FEMININE IN THE GNOSTIC MASS OF THE ECCLESIA GNOSTICA CATHOLICA (E.G.C.) A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in RELIGIOUS STUDIES by Ellen P. Randolph 2014 To: Interim Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Sciences This thesis, written by Ellen P. Randolph, and entitled Gnosticism, Transformation, and the Role of the Feminine in the Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment.
  • Narratives of Identity and Adaptation from Persian Baha'i Refugees in Australia

    Narratives of Identity and Adaptation from Persian Baha'i Refugees in Australia

    Ahliat va Masir (Roots and Routes) Narratives of identity and adaptation from Persian Baha'i refugees in Australia. Ruth Williams Bachelor of Arts (Monash University) Bachelor of Teaching (Hons) (University of Melbourne) This thesis is submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Behavioural and Social Sciences and Humanities University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, University Drive, Mount Helen, Ballarat, Victoria, 3353, Australia Submitted for examination in December 2008. 1 Abstract This study aims to discover what oral history narratives reveal about the post- migration renegotiation of identity for seven Persian Baha'i refugees and to assess the ensuing impact on their adaptation to Australia. Oral history interviewing was used as the methodology in this research and a four-part model of narrative classification was employed to analyse the oral history interviews. This small-scale, case study research offers in-depth insights into the process of cross- cultural renegotiation of identities and of adaptation to new situations of a group who do not reflect the generally negative outcomes of refugees. Such a method fosters greater understanding and sensitivity than may be possible in broad, quantitative studies. This research reveals the centrality of religion to the participants' cosmopolitan and hybrid identities. The Baha'i belief system facilitates the reidentification and adaptation processes through advocating such aspects as intermarriage and dispersal amongst the population. The dual themes of separateness and belonging; continuity and change; and communion and agency also have considerable heuristic value in understanding the renegotiation of identity and adaptation. Participants demonstrate qualities of agency by becoming empowered, self-made individuals, who are represented in well-paid occupations with high status qualifications.
  • Dr. Roy Murphy

    Dr. Roy Murphy

    US THE WHO, WHAT & WHY OF MANKIND Dr. Roy Murphy Visit us online at arbium.com An Arbium Publishing Production Copyright © Dr. Roy Murphy 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner. Nor can it be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on a subsequent purchaser. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover design created by Mike Peers Visit online at www.mikepeers.com First Edition – 2013 ISBN 978-0-9576845-0-8 eBook-Kindle ISBN 978-0-9576845-1-5 eBook-PDF Arbium Publishing The Coach House 7, The Manor Moreton Pinkney Northamptonshire NN11 3SJ United Kingdom Printed in the United Kingdom Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici 863233150197864103023970580457627352658564321742494688920065350330360792390 084562153948658394270318956511426943949625100165706930700026073039838763165 193428338475410825583245389904994680203886845971940464531120110441936803512 987300644220801089521452145214347132059788963572089764615613235162105152978 885954490531552216832233086386968913700056669227507586411556656820982860701 449731015636154727292658469929507863512149404380292309794896331535736318924 980645663415740757239409987619164078746336039968042012469535859306751299283 295593697506027137110435364870426383781188694654021774469052574773074190283
  • BONA DEA, a Mind Portrait of Individualism

    BONA DEA, a Mind Portrait of Individualism

    BONA DEA, A Mind Portrait of Individualism The thesis composes a mind-portrait of a millennial notion of fear and anxiety. I created a fictional character named BONADEA ; she embodies the millennial longings and self-devotion. I am connecting her mind to occult philosophy- and theory, this to elevate her subjective worldview, which is a product of the individualistic culture of late Western capitalism. I am presenting One selected structure of be- liefs, excluded from objectivity that might lead to an ephemeral subjective understanding of fear and anxiety. Every I is from the perspective of BONA DEA, ev- ery WE is referring to the millennials. The work is fictional and consists of diary notes and essays. BONA DEA, the roman goddess, the wife, the sister, Daughter of the nature god Faunus. She was the fauna, the female equivalent to the horned god. Cornelia Isaksson 2 Rietveld Academie 2017/2018 Biliography (1) (10) “The shining ones” is used by DEA to en- She uses the story of Pan to understand her hance her belief in the millennials being off- own actions, furthermore to legitimize them springs of occult gnosis theory. The term re- by accepting them as a necessity creating fers to her generation being descendants of change. Serpent power. (11) (2) By connecting Pan to her own anxiety, she Thelema and The book of the Law serve as undermines it and starts believing she actu- the catalyst for DEA by connecting the Thel- ally can control it. emite law to contemporary individualistic standards. (12) The Night of Pan translates her overcoming (3) of anxiety.
  • Lucifer Over Luxor: Archaeology, Egyptology, and Occultism in Kenneth Anger’S Magick Lantern Cycle

    Lucifer Over Luxor: Archaeology, Egyptology, and Occultism in Kenneth Anger’S Magick Lantern Cycle

    Doyle White, E 2016 Lucifer Over Luxor: Archaeology, Egyptology, and Occultism in Kenneth Anger’s Magick Lantern Cycle. Present Pasts, 7(1): 2, pp. 1–10, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/pp.73 RESEARCH PAPER Lucifer Over Luxor: Archaeology, Egyptology, and Occultism in Kenneth Anger’s Magick Lantern Cycle Ethan Doyle White* One of the great figureheads of American experimental cinema, Kenneth Anger (b.1927), is internationally renowned for his pioneering work, recognisable for its blend of homoerotica, popular and classical music, and dark, symbolist imagery. A follower of Thelema, the religion of infamous British occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), Anger’s work is imbued with occult themes and undercurrents rarely comprehen- sible to the non-initiated viewer. In exploring these esoteric ideas, Anger makes use of archaeology and heritage in his short filmsEaux d’Artifice (1953) and Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954–66), as well as in the lost films The Love That Whirls (1949) and Thelema Abbey (1955), which utilize such disparate elements as Aztec human sacrifice and putative Renaissance Satanism. However, this theme only reaches its apex in Lucifer Rising (1980), an exploration of Thelemic theology filmed at such sites as Avebury, Luxor, and Karnak, which reflects and propagates the Thelemic view of the past—an ‘alternative archaeology’ rooted in Crowley’s own fascination with Egyptomania. This paper seeks to explore Anger’s use of the past and place it in its proper context of twentieth-century Western esotericism. Kenneth Anger (b.1927) is one of the foremost figures of through the transformation of individual consciousness American experimental cinema, an artist who produced via artistic mediums (Hughes 2011: 12).
  • New Religions in Global Perspective

    New Religions in Global Perspective

    New Religions in Global Perspective New Religions in Global Perspective is a fresh in-depth account of new religious movements, and of new forms of spirituality from a global vantage point. Ranging from North America and Europe to Japan, Latin America, South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, this book provides students with a complete introduction to NRMs such as Falun Gong, Aum Shinrikyo, the Brahma Kumaris movement, the Ikhwan or Muslim Brotherhood, Sufism, the Engaged Buddhist and Neo-Hindu movements, Messianic Judaism, and African diaspora movements including Rastafarianism. Peter Clarke explores the innovative character of new religious movements, charting their cultural significance and global impact, and how various religious traditions are shaping, rather than displacing, each other’s understanding of notions such as transcendence and faith, good and evil, of the meaning, purpose and function of religion, and of religious belonging. In addition to exploring the responses of governments, churches, the media and general public to new religious movements, Clarke examines the reactions to older, increasingly influential religions, such as Buddhism and Islam, in new geographical and cultural contexts. Taking into account the degree of continuity between old and new religions, each chapter contains not only an account of the rise of the NRMs and new forms of spirituality in a particular region, but also an overview of change in the regions’ mainstream religions. Peter Clarke is Professor Emeritus of the History and Sociology of Religion at King’s College, University of London, and a professorial member of the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford. Among his publications are (with Peter Byrne) Religion Defined and Explained (1993) and Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective (ed.) (2000).
  • Cultural Additivity: Behavioural Insights from the Interaction of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Folktales

    Cultural Additivity: Behavioural Insights from the Interaction of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Folktales

    ARTICLE DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0189-2 OPEN Cultural additivity: behavioural insights from the interaction of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in folktales Quan-Hoang Vuong 1, Quang-Khiem Bui2, Viet-Phuong La3, Thu-Trang Vuong4, Viet-Ha T. Nguyen1, Manh-Toan Ho1, Hong-Kong T. Nguyen 3 & Manh-Tung Ho 1,5,6 1234567890():,; ABSTRACT Computational folkloristics, which is rooted in the movement to make folklore studies more scientific, has transformed the way researchers in humanities detect patterns of cultural transmission in large folklore collections. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the literature through its application of Bayesian statistics in analyzing Vietnamese folklore. By breaking down 307 stories in popular Vietnamese folktales and major story collections and categorizing their core messages under the values or anti-values of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, the study shows how the Bayesian method helps discover an underlying behavioural phenomenon called “cultural additivity.” The term, which is inspired by the principle of additivity in probability, adds to the voluminous works on syncretism, creolization and hybridity in its technical dimension. Here, to evaluate how the values and norms of the aforementioned three religions (“tam giáo” 三教) co-exist, interact, and influ- ence Vietnamese society, the study proposes three models of additivity for religious faiths: (a) no additivity, (b) simple additivity, and (c) complex additivity. The empirical results confirm the existence of “cultural additivity” : not only is there an isolation of Buddhism in the folktales, there is also a higher possibility of interaction or addition of Confucian and Taoist values even when these two religions hold different value systems (β{VT.VC} = 0.86).
  • 9789004226487.Pdf

    9789004226487.Pdf

    Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion Series Editors Carole M. Cusack, University of Sydney James R. Lewis, University of Tromsø Editorial Board Olav Hammer, University of Southern Denmark Charlotte Hardman, University of Durham Titus Hjelm, University College London Adam Possamai, University of Western Sydney Inken Prohl, University of Heidelberg VOLUME 4 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/bhcr Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production Edited by Carole M. Cusack and Alex Norman LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Handbook of new religions and cultural production / edited by Carole M. Cusack and Alex Norman. p. cm. — (Brill handbooks on contemporary religion, ISSN 1874–6691 ; v. 4) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-22187-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Religion and culture. I. Cusack, Carole M., 1962– II. Norman, Alex. BL65.C8H365 2012 200.9’04—dc23 2011052361 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.nl/brill-typeface. ISSN 1874-6691 ISBN 978 90 04 22187 1 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 22648 7 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
  • Semiotics and Magick

    Semiotics and Magick

    Berkeley Journal of Religion and Theology Volume 6, Issue 1 ISSN 2380-7458 Semiotics and Magick Author(s): Nathan W. Bjorge Source: Berkeley Journal of Religion and Theology 6, no. 1 (2020): 30-51. Published by: Graduate Theological Union © 2020 Online article published on: December 12, 2020 Copyright Notice: This file and its contents are copyright of the Graduate Theological Union © 2020. All rights reserved. Your use of the Archives of the Berkeley Journal of Religion and Theology (BJRT) indicates your acceptance of the BJRT’s policy regarding the use of its resources, as discussed below: Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited with the following exceptions: Ø You may download and print to a local hard disk this entire article for your personal and non- commercial use only. Ø You may quote short sections of this article in other publications with the proper citations and attributions. Ø Permission has been obtained from the Journal’s management for exceptions to redistribution or reproduction. A written and signed letter from the Journal must be secured expressing this permission. To obtain permissions for exceptions, or to contact the Journal regarding any questions regarding any further use of this article, please e-mail the managing editor at [email protected] The Berkeley Journal of Religion and Theology aims to offer its scholarly contributions free to the community in furtherance of the Graduate Theological Union’s mission. Semiotics and Magick Nathan W. Bjorge Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, California, U.S.A. ABSTRACT: In this essay Maurice Blanchot’s structuralist concept of symbolic transcendence is hermeneutically deployed to reexamine Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic theory of Magick through a semiotic and materialist lens.