El presente artículo, inserto en el marco de los estudios cidianos, se propone señalar la existencia de una fuerte impronta del culto a la Virgen María en el Poema de Mio Cid (PMC), a partir del cual ...se articulan las escenas bélicas del poema y que se presenta como una proyección de las intenciones expansionistas de Castilla en el contexto de las guerras de reconquista española. Asimismo, se pretende demostrar la marcada influencia francesa en el culto mariano, que se puede apreciar a lo largo del texto, y su adopción por parte de la religiosidad peninsular, en particular, en relación con la ideología de cruzada que coincide con la cambiante noción de reconquista y se constituye como uno de los motores del poema.
The first book that deals with the territorial cults of early Japan by focusing on how such cults were founded in ownerless regions. Numerous ancient Japanese myths and legends are discussed to show ...that the typical founding ritual was a two-phase ritual that turned the territory into a horizontal microcosm, complete with its own ‘terrestrial heaven’ inhabited by local deities. Reversing Mircea Eliade’s popular thesis, the author concludes that the concept of the human-made horizontal microcosm is not a reflection but the source of the religious concept of the macrocosm with gods dwelling high up in the sky.
Fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council serves as a decision to guide the implementation of Muslim religious worship in Indonesia. Problems that occur related to religious harmony are indications of ...cult practices in Indonesia. This research looks at Islam and Cults in Indonesia and the mechanism of the Indonesian Ulema Council's Fatwa policy towards the dissolution of cults. In addition, this study looks at the implications of the Fatwa Policy of the Indonesian Ulema Council on Muslim harmony. This research used a desk research approach through qualitative methods and aimed to identify objectives, select sources, collect data, and compile and analyse data to conclude. The results showed that MUI Fatwa plays an essential role in maintaining the order of religious life in Indonesia by determining the religious life of Muslims based on Islamic teachings. This includes determining the status of heretical groups, involving proper interpretive science, dissolving and stopping heretical activities, and cooperating with the government and religious leaders to protect the community. MUI's Fatwa has a positive impact on the eradication of cults based on a solid Islamic legal foundation, acting as a party that protects the community from deviant activities.
This book offers a detailed analysis of the construction, reception and eventual decline of the cult of the Hungarian Communist Party Secretary, Mátyás Rákosi, one of the most striking examples of ...orchestrated adulation in the Soviet bloc. While his cult never approached the magnitude of that of Stalin, Rákosi’s ambition to outshine the other “best disciples" and become the best of the best was manifest in his diligence in promoting a Soviet-type following in Hungary. The main argument of Balázs Apor is that the cult of personality is not just a curious aspect of communist dictatorship, it is an essential element of it. The monograph is primarily concerned with techniques and methods of cult construction, as well as the role various institutions played in the creation of mythical representations of political figures. Separate chapters present visual and non-visual methods of cult construction. Apor uses the case of Rákosi to explore how personality cults are created, how such cults are perceived, and how they are eventually unmade. The book addresses the success --generally questionable-- of such projects, as well as their uncomfortable legacies.
This article explores Maurice Blondel’s (1861–1949) later notion of the “cycloid” of thought, particularly as this helps us to understand his earlier work L’Action (1893). The aim is to demonstrate ...how Blondel incorporates aspects of the Christian faith, particularly the Eucharist, into his philosophy without abrogating his “method of immanence”. In particular, the article shows how Blondel saw attention to the Christian spirit as essential to the development of a metaphysics that attends both to finite actions and to the action of God, actus purus.
The main purpose of the study is to determine the religious essence of the ritual actions performed at the settlement Belinskoye, located on the western borders of the Bosporan Kingdom. The rite has ...been performed in a special pit in the ashy sanctuary and dates back to the late Classical time. Using a comparative typological method of research, the authors concluded that a ceremony of glorification of a deceased person was held here, who was buried, most likely, somewhere near the sanctuary or on the necropolis. The fact that this rite was performed not on the grave of the deceased, but on the old ash pit between the necropolis and residential buildings, testifies to the preservation of the ancient Scythian tradition by the population of the settlement. The features of the ritual pit are sufficiently specific, since, apparently, they reflect a kind of regional transformation of religious beliefs in a complex border region, as a result of the influence of ancient and barbaric cultures in the era of the crisis of ancient civilization and Bosporan statehood.
In ancient Rome, it was believed some humans were transformed into special, empowered beings after death. These deified dead, known as the manes, watched over and protected their surviving family ...members, possibly even extending those relatives’ lives. But unlike the Greek hero-cult, the worship of dead emperors, or the Christian saints, the manes were incredibly inclusive—enrolling even those without social clout, such as women and the poor, among Rome's deities. The Roman afterlife promised posthumous power in the world of the living. While the manes have often been glossed over in studies of Roman religion, this book brings their compelling story to the forefront, exploring their myriad forms and how their worship played out in the context of Roman religion’s daily practice. Exploring the place of the manes in Roman society, Charles King delves into Roman beliefs about their powers to sustain life and bring death to individuals or armies, examines the rituals the Romans performed to honor them, and reclaims the vital role the manes played in the ancient Roman afterlife.
The American presidency of Donald J. Trump has been notorious in its disregard for established norms, while his radical reformation of the American project have led many to equate his presidency to a ...work of “performance art.” The worship of his followers and the devotion of his Republican base have led to Trump being hailed as a “flawed redeemer,” and all those who worship him as a new form of “religious cult.” News and media anchors regularly refer to the former American president as a cult leader, a performance artist, or both; yet neither signifiers are ever contextualized within the history of religion, or western art by those who invoke them. Both the performance artist and the cult leader are contemporary media constructions that activate the religious imagination through intrigue and horror. As an artist inventing a religion as art, and a scholar of new religious movements, I present this article as an excavation of these signifiers and speculate upon their unique conflation around the unprecedented American presidency of Donald J. Trump.
In this newly updated second edition of the Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, George D. Chryssides traces the rise and development of new religious movements throughout the world. An ...updated introduction summarizes the phenomenon of new religious movements and lays out the changes to the dictionary since the 2001 edition, while the main body of the dictionary consists of close to 600 cross-referenced entries on key figures, ideas, themes, and places related to various new religious movements. An index organizes the information in the dictionary, and a comprehensive bibliography leads the researcher to further sources.