History

This study examines the historical context, spiritual development, and theological arguments of four Protestant critics of Second Great Awakening revivalism who published critiques from the mid-1830s to the late-1840s: Calvin Colton, John Henry Hopkins, John Williamson Nevin, and Horace Bushnell.  Historians have begun to give increased attention to the role played by critics of revivalism in the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century, but inadequate attention has been devoted to critics of revivalism in the Second Great Awakening of the first half of the nineteenth century.

Several competitors vied for the right to define revivalism in the Second Great Awakening.  New Divinity revivalists legitimated their revivals by the construction of an Edwardsean tradition of sober revivalism, but their definition of genuine revival was contested not only by Frontier, New Haven, and New Measures revivalists, but also by critics who questioned the underlying theological assumptions of revivalism.

The counter-revivalists in this study were not merely reactive; they sought to counter revivalism by formulating alternative understandings of Christian theology and spirituality.  High Church Episcopalians Calvin Colton and John Henry Hopkins argued for the superiority of the Episcopal Church; Colton praised his church’s refusal to meddle in political affairs in the manner of revivalistic reformers, and Hopkins appealed to his church’s faithfulness to the pattern established by the “Primitive Church” of the first four centuries against the “novelties” of revivalism.  John Williamson Nevin criticized revivalism’s subjectivism, countering with a churchly piety, grounded on the objective presence of Christ in the sacraments.  Nevin envisioned an alliance between the German Reformed and German Lutheran Churches as a bulwark against Americanized evangelicalism.  Horace Bushnell criticized revivalism for its supernaturalistic dualism; as an alternative, Bushnell offered a Romantic revision of the means of grace, in which parents could shape the Christian character of their children through the power of organic connections.  The counter-revivalists in this study offered counter-narratives set against prevailing revivalistic norms to offer an alternative understanding of American religious culture and to open up new directions for the future of Christian piety and theology.

PhD dissertation, The University of Iowa, 2005

From the kings seeking to sexually please Inanna in exchange for success in war, to the famed poems to Inanna by Enheduanna, to the peasant couple seeking fertility services from Inanna's cult, Inanna was popular among kings and peasants alike throughout the entire Bronze Age.  Some scholars assert her role in myths as a “gender transgressor” actually worked to reify cultural gender norms by pointing out the boundaries she outrageously crossed (eg. Frymer-Kensky).  Given the evidence for homosexuality (including men living as wives dressing as females and using female names), transvestism, limited ritual prostitution, the “sacred marriage” ritual between goddess and king, and non-heteronormativity in Mesopotamian culture, I suggest Inanna may actually represented concrete social realities among Mesopotamians.  While non-heteronormativity may not have been practiced by a majority, Inanna's myths and her professional cult personnel may have offered a safe ideological and social space for those who did not fit the larger societal construction of gender and sexuality.

While apparent religiosity among Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human burials is still debated, the improved climate of the Bølling-Allerød saw a break from Paleolithic “broad spectrum” hunter-gatherer strategies and the introduction of unambiguous ritual burials and possible ancestor worship tied to the land with the sedentary Early Natufian culture.  A reversion to mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence during the climate crisis of the Younger Dryas necessitated an innovation to mortuary practices – the portable “skull cult” by the Late Natufians.  When favorable climate returned later in the Holocene, Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) religion carried on the skull cult tradition with innovations brought on by a return to sedentary subsistence and increasing social complexity, namely intramural burials under house floors.

Scholars have long been aware of the wide diversity of supposed homogenous religions.  It is also apparent that ancient communities claimed patriarchal or apostolic succession, when in fact there often was none.  It is also apparent that ancient communities did not have our modern concept of a closed canon, where authoritative texts are not meant to be reinterpreted or modified.  They took, what we would consider, “liberties” with their use of sacred texts.  Just as appealing to apostolic succession where there was none may be considered dishonest to our modern sensibilities, so too ancient religious communities' use of texts may be considered abusive by our modern sensibilities.  In this light, the focus of this paper is to examine the ways the Pseudo-Clementine R1 source, an early Jewish-Christian text, viewed and used, two particular pre-Christian Jewish texts, 1 Enoch and Jubilees.

This is in no way an endorsement for Simon, Resnikoff, and Motzkin's "The First Hebrew Primer 3rd ed."  Though I would like to say, it is an excellent textbook.  This is, however, a guide I put together for the first semester of my own coursework through the book.  It can be useful tool, even without the textbook, when combined with alphabet and pronunciation materials found with a simple internet search.

An analysis of linguistic and literary features demonstrate the author of Ruth's intention for their work.  The author uses a variety of methods to weave a compelling fable.  The central function of which is an attempt to address the question of theodicy.  The book of Ruth represents an impressive literary effort resembling a play in five acts.

Este artículo argumenta que los temas postcoloniales y transnacionales tratados por los escritores
inmigrantes de cultura islámica son más significativos que las lenguas europeas que eligen como
vehículos de creación. Su “translingüedad” viene dada por su condición de inmigrantes de segunda
generación o por su elección de una audiencia europea y su identificación con la lengua del país de
acogida. Los temas que tratan en sus obras, sin embargo, reflejan una Europa única. Una Europa
que atrapa a los inmigrantes musulmanes en sus orígenes y les limita su potencial humano porque
no los reconoce como europeos. Un rechazo que lleva a los musulmanes a establecer comunidades
cerradas en las que los jóvenes y las mujeres terminan por perder su libertad.

En aquest article, s’hi analitza la literatura en català escrita per persones immigrants amb l'objectiu
d'extraure les visions dels diversos autors sobre la seva experiència migratòria i la recepció que la
societat d'acollida els ha donat. Alhora, l'article tracta d’explicar la influència que ambdues han
tingut en la formació de la identitat dels autors. El fet que tots ells hagin decidit escriure en català,
per compte de fer-ho en castellà o altres llengües, és una tria identitària que, no obstant això, els
autors consideren compatible amb la seva "altra" identitat: la de la família o dels llocs d'origen
(Índia, Marroc, Guinea Equatorial, Anglaterra, Alemanya, Palestina, Benín i Japó). Així doncs, a
través dels autors Agnès Agboton, Najat El Hachmi, Salah Jamal, Laila Karrouch, Asha Miró, Ken
Saro, Edmundo Sepa Bonaba, Tilbert Stegman, Ko Tazawa i Matthew Tree, l'article explora aquest
espai entre dos mons, un espai híbrid que evidencia els límits de la frontera entre la catalanitat i
l'alteritat. Els fenòmens migratoris han estat definits com a trasplantament o desarrelament. Aquest
article argumentarà que, contràriament, la literatura en català feta per immigrants és el fruit sucós i
llaminer d'un empelt ben fet.
En primer lloc es farà un recorregut pels orígens i la cronologia de la literatura en català feta per
immigrants i es descriuran les característiques de les diferents obres. En segon lloc, s’explorarà la
relació entre identitat i escriptura. Per què escriuen aquests autors? Què expliquen sobre la seva
identitat? En tercer lloc, respondrem a per què escriuen en català. Finalment, seguint la dita de Joan
Fuster, “puis parla en català, vegem què ha dit” (Fuster, 1968: 165), explorarem les experiències
migratòries dels autors i les seves opinions sobre la societat receptora.

In this history of Spain since 1975, with the collapse of dictatorship and transition to democracy, Aitana Guia demonstrates that a key factor left out of studies on the period—namely immigration and specifically Muslim immigration—has helped reinvigorate and strengthen the democratic process.  Despite broad diversity and conflicting agendas, Muslim immigrants—often linking up with native converts to Islam—have mobilized as an effective force. They have challenged the long tradition of Maurophobia exemplified in such mainstream festivities as the Festivals of Moors and Christians; they have taken to task residents and officials who have stood in the way of efforts to construct mosques; and they have defied the members of their own community who have refused to accommodate the rights of women. 
    Beginning in Melilla, in Spanish-held North Africa, and expanding across Spain, the effect of this civil rights movement has been to fill gaps in legislation on immigration and religious pluralism and to set in motion a revision of prevailing interpretations of Spanish history and identity, ultimately forcing Spanish society to open up a space for all immigrants.