Keywords: Rosetti neighbourhood in Bucharest; Archaeus; scholarly journals; scholarly editing; RAHR; IHR; present-day History of religions
The introduction to this volume includes a concise outline and some evocative elements of the study of History of religions in Bucharest, in the worldwide context of the prior twenty years.
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Keywords: Parmenides’s Proemium; mythopoeic voyage imagery; journey of the gods and the wise; descent of mythical heroes into the nether realms; heroes’ flight across the aether or through the air; anábasis and
Scholars often noted that in the Proemium – which is conceived as a myth – Parmenides borrowed certain themes from the mythopoeic imagery of the time. He uses stereotypes and lieux communs, proceeds by analogy, reinterprets a series of myths and symbolic elements, while unfolding a narrative that is his own. Far from being simple artifices, these semantic and thematic-figurative borrowings, together with the way in which they are employed in the poem, indicate Parmenides’s intention to break with the pre-existing tradition by articulating his own approach and the principles that underlie it. For the sake of discerning Parmenides’s relationship to the preceding tradition, I will examine in detail the mythical motifs that are discernible in the Proemium in order to establish their individual function, meaning, and connotations. Albeit without a doubt inspired by the discourse of the poietaí and other “masters of truth”, Parmenides nevertheless aims at an independent adaptation and reinterpretation of elements borrowed from the mythopoeic imagery. In this fashion and like a veritable “myth-maker”, he departs from the traditional paradigm and proposes a new approach that competes with the pre-established one. When not appropriating already existing myths, he deliberately created others to explain better his philosophical position. Namely, his approach is derived from an understanding of philosophy as quest for the absolute knowledge of a truth that is essentially divine. In this way, the noetic quest for wisdom comes to replace the mythical voyage, both corporeal and spiritual, to exotic places of mythical geography.
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Keywords: angels of the nations; Deuteronomy; Book of Daniel; patristic exegesis; political theology; Christian identity
The biblical and apocryphal fragments referring to the “angels of the nations” have been intensively discussed by scholars in the fields of biblical studies and history of religions, but also in patristics due to the stimulating works of E. Peterson and J. Daniélou. The aim of the article is to review the main occurrences of the “angels of the nations” in patristic literature between the 2rd and the 6th centuries in the light of recent research especially on Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, Hilary of Poitiers, Basil of Caesarea, Evagrius Ponticus, Jerome, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrus and Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite. In order to understand the place of this significant theme within the development of Christian thought, we focused on the patristic exegesis of Deuteronomy 32, 8 and Daniel 10, 13-20, studying its main elements and changes at the crossroads between angelology, theology of history, political thought and the definition of the Christian identity in relation to other religions. The second part the article will deal with exegesis of Jerome, Theodoret of Cyrus and Gregory the Great on Daniel as well as with the book IV of Against Julian of Cyril of Alexandria and the Corpus dionysiacum.
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Keywords: Kairos; occasion; epigramm; rhetorics; Lysippos; Callistratus; Otranto; Erwin Panofsky; Aby Warburg; Macchiavelli
A complex concept that even Cicero found difficult to translate, the Greek term kairos expresses an idea of ‘grasping the right moment’, which travelled through art, literature, and philosophy. This article explores the artistic reception of this complex notion in the visual arts by bringing insights from Nachleben and classical reception studies, iconology and anthropology together. The essay brings together the hitherto largely disconnected ‘textual’ and ‘visual’ research traditions about kairos in order to explore, more systematically than has been attempted before, the Nachleben of this motif in the visual realm with specific attention to the transformation processes it underwent (such as Latinization, re-gendering, etc.). As the figure of kairos has been interpreted variously throughout history, from antiquity to the modern era, this research line problematizes the widespread idea that iconographies are essentially stable and static.
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Keywords: gender; Kabbalah; moon; myth; Nahmanides; ritual; ditheism
The present study describes the emergence of a Kabbalistic theory of gender, as a development from the Rabbinic ritual of blessing the moon, that is based on a myth that describes the diminution of the moon. In the pre-Kabbalistic text and in the Kabbalistic ones, it is possible to discern three different phases in the cycle of the moon and the divine Female hypostasis: the equality of the Male and Female, and Sun and Moon, the decrease of the Female/moon and finally the renewal or the restoration of Her status. These three phases should be understood as part of one unit, and are presented as a model for understanding the status of the Female in the Kabbalistic school of Nahmanides and in his many followers, who influenced a series of later Kabbalists.
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Keywords: Seleucus I Nicator; Seleucid Syria; Antioch; Seleucia in Pieria; Laodikeia; John Malalas; Zeus Keraunios; thunderbolt
The aim of this paper is to briefly discuss the religious context of the process of city-foundation of Seleucus I Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid dynasty. This has so far been viewed solely from a pragmatic point of view, encompassing political and ideological reasons, which were necessary as means of propaganda for a dynasty that needed to legitimize itself in the eyes of its subjects. This paper attempts to look at the religious dimension of the foundation of a city excluding the above mentioned pragmatic reasons and it should be noted that in the case of the six known foundation stories, Seleucus Nicator did consult with gods (in fact, only one, which is surprisingly not Apollo, the god protecting the dynasty, but Zeus), who made their will known through omens and miracles. A few case studies are taken into account, namely those of Seleucia in Pieiria, Seleucia on the Tigris, Antioch on the Orontes and Laodikeia on the Sea. The difference in patterns in the ancient accounts (Appian, Libanius, Malalas) are also briefly discussed, as well as the unexpected occurrences of human sacrifices in the chronicle of John Malalas in his accounts of the foundations of Antioch and Laodikeia.
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Keywords: Islamic tradition; progressive Islamic interpretations; Islamic feminism; gender; domestic violence; Quran; sunnah; tafsir.
There is a series of contemporary Islamic issues which cannot be solved by invoking the pre-modern exegeses or the classical Islamic jurisprudence, otherwise than, at most, by resorting to a strategic artifice of identifying minority and isolated perspectives from the tradition or through selective and forced reformulations of some canonical opinions. Verse four of Surah Al Nisaʼ | the Women chapter of the Quran is probably the most unsettling Quranic verse, at least from a gender perspective, its exegesis being an infallible criterion for the tracking of egalitarian or hierarchical visions promoted by various pre-colonial Islamic schools of thought or by contemporary Islamic orientations. The interpretations attached to this verse concretely and very decisively affect the Muslim women’s life, their right to self-determination and autonomy, creating the juridical framework according to which all the other rights and duties of women have been traditionally distributed. Although Muslim authors have argued the validity of certain egalitarian interpretations, relying even on pre-modern juridical and hermeneutic procedures, progressive Muslims have also highlighted the need to reconstruct the bases of the traditional exegesis and jurisprudence by including the non-Islamic knowledge, through the contextualization and a holistic-thematic approach to the sacred text, in keeping with the universal Quranic ethical principles and, simultaneously, the contemporary realities, suppositions and necessities, with a view to an efficient and productive reshuffling of the classical, and gender-discriminating juridical verdicts.
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Keywords: Hieromonk Gerasimos Vlachos of Crete; War of Candia; Alvise Mocenigo; Martinengo cavalier; Laonikos Zamitris; Victory over the Turkish Empire; Hagarenes; Lucifer; 17th century anti-Ottoman and anti-Is
The aim of the present paper is to take a closer look at the anti-Ottoman and anti-Islamic stance of the 17th century Greek scholar Gerasimos Vlachos by analysing and placing in its context an encomium entitled Trionfo del Illustrissimo et Eccelentissimo Signor Alvise Mocenico Secondo Procurator di San Marco et Dignissimo Capitan General da Mar. Hastily recorded by Nestor Camariano and rarely mentioned in passing by the scholars dealing with Vlachos, this text is part of one of the Greek manuscripts of the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest – BAR ms. gr. 889. Including (mainly) homilies preached in Candia between October 1649 and May 1650, the codex counts among the oldest autographs of “padre Don Girassimo Vlacho Greco di Creta predicatore”. Delivered on November 25, 1649, after the sermon concluding the liturgy of the day, in the monastery of Saint Catherine in Candia, a dependency of the monastery with the same name from Mount Sinai, the encomium of Alvise Mocenigo celebrates the successful defence of the vital Martinengo cavalier of Candia during the first stages of the Cretan War (July – August 1649). Therefore, one is offered the possibility to look into the earliest depiction by Vlachos of the Ottoman Empire and of Islam, to see how (if ever) his opinion on the topic evolved over time.
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Keywords: theological anthropology; Nichifor Crainic; Francisc Rainer; D. Stăniloae; Filokalia; sacred art; hagiography; nationalism; genetics; bioethics.
A very popular spiritual figure nowadays in Romania, Arsenie Boca’s theological profile is rather seldom addressed. The main aim of this short contribution is to question the place Arsenie Boca has in Romanian religious history of the 20th century, by tracing the main topics of his theological teaching and the figures which mostly inspired it, among his teachers and friends. Apart from the fact that most of his works are occasional writings, there are hints that show Arsenie Boca aimed to account theologically for a total anthropology, as a theoretical framework which would do justice to the biological (and genetic) conditioning of man as well as to the spiritual strive towards God. This vision he could confront with the Patristic/philokalic anthropology he was working on in order to make it accessible to a wider Romanian public. This original synthesis – a rather original bioethics – was never fully articulated as such, yet it can be regarded as the main theological legacy of his work.
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Keywords: karma accounts (Vedic/Brahmanic; Hindu; Buddhist vs. Catholic indulgences); fiscal imagery of deeds; theology of debt and usury (ancient Indian); cognitive metaphors; Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā.
In the footsteps of two contributions previously published in Religion 43 (2013) by Jens Schlieter and the present writer, this note discusses auxiliary Indic evidence instrumental in shaping a largely misunderstood fiscal imagery of deeds e.g. as rna (debt), kusīda (usury) and even karman as palpable cash money in a post-ascetic context.
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Keywords: Gheraṇḍa; Haṭha-yoga; ṣaṭkarma; āsana; mudrā and bandha; pratyāhāra and prāṇāyāma; pañca-dhāraṇā; dhyāna and samādhi
In this paper, conceived as a short introduction to the Romanian translation of the Gheraṇḍa-saṁhitā – a Haṭha-yoga text attributed to Gheraṇḍa (cca 17th century AD) – we are, on one hand, offering a brief overview of the major late medieval Yoga schools (Mantra-°, Laya-°, Haṭha-° and Rāja-yoga), with a focus on Haṭha-yoga, and on the other hand giving a careful description of the subject matter from within the seven chapters of the book in comparison with some of the most important Yoga texts (Yoga-sūtra, Haṭha[yoga]-pradīpikā, Śiva-saṁhitā, Gorakṣa-śataka, Dattāteyayoga-śāstra, etc.). Our effort was to give a text-based-tool in understanding Gheraṇḍa-saṁhitā for both the neophyte and the scholar.
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Keywords: Mandaean religion; Mandaic astrology; scientific edition; academic discourse
The aim of this note is to briefly delineate the task of editing the Mandaean astrological treatises along the lines set by researches nearly 70 years ago as well as according to new scientific insights.
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Keywords: media policy;liberalism;state;crisis;regulation;marketization
Lithuanian governments had been conducting liberal economic policies regarding media subjects for almost two decades, till the end of 2008. However, the economic crisis in 2008 influenced the Lithuanian government to apply the measures of fiscal consolidation: in similar fashion, liberal media policy was adjusted with the state gaining more power. The aim of this article is to analyze Lithuanian media policy decisions and their effects on media sectors, organizations and workers during the period of the economic crisis and since then. The article claims that essentially reduced liberalization of taxation, slightly reduced commercialization of the national media environment and reinforced overly bureaucratic system of media regulation resulted in a lesser degree of liberalism in the Lithuanian media policy from the end of 2008 to 2015.
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Keywords: money laundering;undercover investigative journalism;anti-money laundering (AML);Slovakia;Czech Republic;Hong Kong
The present article analyzes a relatively unusual case, in which a quasi-investigative journalist, working in an entirely independent capacity, succeeded in uncovering and foiling an international money laundering attempt. Th is extremely signifi cant story reveals the existence of a complex legal framework for tackling money laundering operations in the EU. In this particular instance, local police and prosecutors were unable to take action against the perpetrator of illegal activity, as the case did not fulfi ll conditions of local legislation. Th e present study thus draws attention to the weakness of anti-corruption and anti-money laundering legislation. It provides evidence that a non-affi liated journalist can also be a great asset to society, although the actual mostly low coverage of the case indicates a poor media understanding of the social implications of crime detection across both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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Keywords: unnamed sources;Pakistan media;politics;politicians;army;themes
Journalists use sources to accord credibility to their news stories. However, they use unnamed sources when they feel the sources would be harmed for revealing information to the media. Th is qualitative study analyzes news from unnamed sources in political stories in Pakistani media. It uses grounded theory to find common themes in the news obtained from unnamed sources. Th e common themes found in the study were about political crises, and breakdown of law and order in Pakistan. The author discusses the ways in which unnamed sources were used in the stories. Many unnamed sources gave views that were different from those given by named sources in the same story, while a few stories did not give any indication of the rank of the unnamed sources in the hierarchy of the political party or the army.
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Keywords: public relations;global society;social change;communication technologies;marketization;community
This article contributes to the discussion on societal changes and their impact on communication disciplines by focusing on public relations and its role in contemporary global society. The thesis is that the public relations profession has been affected by contemporary societal changes that challenge the existing body of knowledge and its underpinning theories. To understand the role of public relations in 21st century global societies and pursuing future public relations theorizing, the authors argue it is paramount to comprehend which factors at macro, meso, and micro levels lie beneath the substantial changes in today?s global society. The article presents and refl ects on four major macro trends of contemporary global society and concludes with suggestions for future directions for public relations scholarship and practice that are rooted in the concept of community and the idea of being part of and at the service of a community.
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Keywords: organizational learning;reflexivity of organizations;public relations;online survey
PR increases the refl exivity of organizations, thereby providing a central opportunity or learning. While this consideration is implicitly contained in many definitions and theories relating to PR, organizational learning has until now remained a ?hidden topic? in international PR research. This is all the more surprising when we consider that learning is relevant to PR on two counts at least: first, the aforementioned role of PR as a central learning opportunity within an organization. PR identifies stakeholder demands and develops strategies to help ensure the legitimacy of the organization. This will be referred to as legitimation-based learning. Second, PR learns with respect to its own methods and skills. This will be referred to as method-based learning. This article will present a theoretical framework for legitimation-based and method-based learning. Then, the initial results of an online survey (N = 121) that examines selected issues relating to this approach will be presented.
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