PHI 210 PHI 101 Eryca Part 3 Knowledge

Eryca 

5:25

https://youtu.be/87heidlFqG4

New Books in Religion Podcast: Shinto, Buddhist, Kami, Japan

In her recent monograph, Assembling Shinto: Buddhist Approaches to Kami Worship in Medieval Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2017), Anna Andreeva focuses on a complex network of religious sites, figures, and texts to help us better understand the way in which Japanese deities were worshipped in medieval Japan. In so doing, she illuminates the medieval stages of a process that led to what was later called Shinto, and adds to the growing body of scholarship that challenges the relatively recent idea that Shinto is simply the native religion of Japan, unchanged since ancient times.

To tackle such a grand undertaking, Andreeva focuses on a mountain in central Japan called Mt. Miwa as well as on Ise, the location of the Ise shrines and the abode of the most important imperial deity. Beginning with the significance of Mt. Miwa as a religious site for pre-ninth-century Japanese rulers, Andreeva charts the decline of this mountain’s importance during the eighth-to-twelfth centuries and the subsequent revival of the site during the thirteenth century by non-elite practitioners of esoteric Buddhism stationed at small Miwa temples and by the Saidaiji lineage under the direction of the Buddhist monk Eison and his disciples. Continuing chronologically, she then shows how the thirteenth-century revival led some time later to the emergence of the so-called Miwa-ryu Shinto, an eclectic tradition which spread to different regions of Japan and whose influence continued until the early nineteenth century.

Central to Andreeva’s project is the world of Japanese esoteric Buddhist thought and ritual, for it was in this setting that the Japanese deities could be transformed from beings characterized by ignorance and desire into embodiments of Buddhist awakening. Throughout the book Andreeva addresses many religious elements, Japanese and not, that were incorporated into esoteric Buddhist traditions active at Mt. Miwa and Ise. These include the incorporation of deities from ancient Japanese mythology into medieval legends and esoteric ritual, serpentine and dragon imagery, initiation rites modeled on the enthronement of a king, pilgrimage, and the use of royal symbolism. In addition, she provides a number of detailed descriptions of rituals and translations of liturgical and exegetical works.

The book’s topic is very complex: Andreeva has opted out of the usual approach, which would be to trace the development of a single figure, text, idea, or institution. This makes the project far more difficult for the researcher, but has the invaluable advantage that it allows the reader to perceive and appreciate the fascinating networks that show how medieval Japanese religion actually existed and developed on the ground. Beyond its importance for understanding Japanese Buddhist intellectual history, esoteric Buddhist thought and ritual, and the development of Shinto, the book also serves as an example of how to study the intricate social, economic, and geographical networks that lie behind the development of religious ideas, practices, and institutions.

February 7, 2018 at 6:00 AM

36.1 MB (Audio)

HUM 111 Holy Roman Empire

When the various Germanic tribes found that they could settle on the lands once occupied by the Romans and their vassals, they were elated. Before the highly symbolic victory of Alaric, wandering tribesmen were in danger of being slaughtered by Roman border garrisons should they find themselves inextricably deep into Roman territory and without hope of withdrawal and retreat.

With the increasing incursions of the Huns into German lands, and the panic this caused, the tribes became ever more incautious, and in some cases the ancient councils decided on uprooting and migrating into Roman franchises defended by Roman forces, with all the risks that entailed.

The so-called Visigoths, or Western Goths were among the first of the Germanic peoples to survive for a prolonged period of time within Roman borders. After being confronted with the reality of annihilation through some unrecorded massacre of their tribal brethren by Hunnic invaders, the Visigothic warriors hoisted Alaric on their shields, and decided to enter Italy.

The great Vandal general Stilichus was charged by the Roman Senate with pursuing and destroying Alaric and his army, however in a whirlwind of military strategy Alaric saved his people and his soldiers sacked Rome, before the group escaped to first Aquitania and then Iberia.

Similar stories were repeated elsewhere, until all the major parts of the Western Roman Empire hosted substantial Germanic populations, such as the Franks, the Burgundians, the Suebi, the Vandals and others. These quickly learned to speak the dialects that the locals had created from proper Latin, and called themselves Romans, as well.

There is no evidence that these new Romans, who might be Christians, had any idea of the pagan and sometimes hedonistic Roman Imperial life-style that had been the unchallenged norm before Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity. They grew increasingly conscious that the Catholic religion, as led by the Pope of Rome, was extremely important in their new lives on Roman lands, and those who still followed traditional religious beliefs, whether Christian or not, would be persuaded to embrace Catholicism wholeheartedly before long.

When these new Roman citizens first came together for battle against an enemy of Rome, and Mohammad had declared himself such at an early date, it was natural that they should style themselves as Holy Romans, rather that simply Roman.

The label stuck, and the entire Gallo-German-Roman culture became an intertwinement of religious and military duties, where some of the Imperial Roman institutions (titles and duties) were preserved in one form, or another, but other things were done strictly through the offices of the Church, the Bishops, Priests and other Clerics.

In some senses the entire Holy Roman establishment was more unified, not less, than the Roman Empire that preceded it. This was because Clerics could keep accurate marriage records of the noble landowners, and advise marriages based upon these records, strengthening ties between the ruling families. It was even said on some occasion or other that all the nobles of Europe were related to Jesus Christ to some degree. Holding such a belief in these days might entitle you to an extended stay in a mental institution, and imitation of the religious fervor and depth of belief of those times is generally discouraged, much as would have had the “enlightened” instructors in the ages that followed.

Both the ancient Roman families and the Germanic newcomers were more or less satisfied with this system, which allowed some of the old Romans an excessive amount of influence in the distribution of entitlements through their long residency in the city of Rome, itself, while giving the Germanic settlers a chance to work the land and prove themselves through service to their feudal overlords, whether they be Roman or German.

The Medieval Age and the Holy Roman Empire are denigrated by the thinkers, or philosophers of the Enlightenment as “Dark Ages,” but they were as much a part of European History as the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery and might have been a fortunate way that the newcomers from the North were spared immersion in the greatest excesses of the pagan Roman world, including the gratuitous violence and blood-sport of the gladiatorial arenas, the prostitution of slaves and servants, as well as other exploitative and abusive practices known to have been ordinary business in the dark places and shadows of Ancient Rome, the Rome that existed as a pagan construct, replete with witches and their magic, gods and demi-gods and auguries of all sorts.

Mahattan Catholic Islamist College

manhattan-islamic-balkan

PHI 212 PHI 101 Robot Olympics

Olympics

HUM 111 Collapse and Fall of the Roman Empire

At-what-point-of-history-did-the-Roman-Empire-start-to-fall-apart

HUM 112 HIS 105 American Literature Mark Twain

American Lit

PHI 212 Stoic Philosophy for Moderns

/9-stoic-practices-that-will-help-you-thrive-in-the-madness-of-modernity

REL 212 HUM 111 Roman Jerusalem

Jerusalem

REL 212 World Religions Hinduism

What do Hindus believe? How do they see the world? What do Christians and Hindus have in common, and what are the major differences?

January 16, 2013 at 1:00 AM

70.9 MB (Audio)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hinduism/id592632558?i=1000331995894&mt=2


Beaver Creek Nazarene Church

REL 212 Hora, Jewish Wedding Dance

Hora

what-gift-do-you-give-at-a-jewish-wedding

REL 212 Diwali

Hinduism Festivals Module for HUM 111

Learning Objective:

The student in the Hinduism Festivals module will understand Diwali and the Festival of Lights by answering the six prompts during the video.

Assessment:

The professor will verify the learning objective by responding individually to the student, correcting if necessary, and answering any additional questions the student has about Diwali.

REL 212 Zoroastrian

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REL 212 Hinduism: Rama, A God Among Humans

The story of “ Rama, A God Among Humans” is about a prince named Rama who was favored to reign on the throne of his father Dasaratha; but was banished to our world when his evil stepmother Kaikeyi wished that her son Bharata would rein in his place . His father could not refuse the request of his wife because he was a righteous king and this transgression would have looked bad in the eyes of his citizens. Dasaratha died of a broken heart after banishing Rama. Rama was sent to the forest of Dandaka where he was estimated to have killed fourteen thousand demons in battle. His brother Laksmana accompanied him along with Sita, “the model of a devout Hindu Wife.” Ravana, the king of demons, hearing about the slaughter of his kin, kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita and fled to his Kingdom of Linka. Hanuman the great monkey joined Rama in his quest to find Sita in the Kingdom of Linka. Hanuman burned the city down, but spared Sita in his fierce attack. Rama defeated Ravana when he travelled to the city and named Vibhisana as the lord of the demons in Lanka after. Sadly, Rama had to banish Sita from his kingdom because people began questioning if she had remained pure and faithful to him while staying in the castle of Ravana. This broke Ramas heart because he knew that she was faithful, but in order to maintain his reputation as a righteous kind he banished his wife.

REL 212 Hindu Response to Muslim Aggression

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REL 212 HUM 112 Palestinian Lies: Jewish Colonialism

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REL 212 Sufism

Sufism, like many terms in the study of Islam, can be difficult to define and even more difficult to handle, but Alexander Knysh, in Sufism: A New History (Princeton University Press, 2017), has produced a primer that will both challenge and reinforce many of the assumptions we’ve made in the study of Islamic mysticism. Knysh walks us through how to define Sufism, the origins of Sufism (including the influence of the Hellenic world), how texts fit into our consideration of Sufism, contemporary developments in Sufism, and more. He places this within the framework of outsiders and insiders (to Sufism), challenging us to understand better how the study of Sufism itself came into being. The entire book itself is in conversation, not simply with theoretical debates in Islamic studies and the study of religion, but also the greater field of history. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing.

alexander-knysh-sufism-a-new-history-princeton-up-2017 Podcast

HUM 111 Mayan Complex Discovered

Mayans

How I Stayed Roman Catholic at Harvard

/How-Stayed-Catholic-Harvard-Faithful

aurora-griffin-on-being-catholic-at-harvard

Top Training Resources

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