Thinking does not need machines. Robert Couse-Baker, Creative Commons Art history studies cultures, societies, histories, and experiences and how they are given form. By Dr. Griselda Pollock / 08.22.2014 Professor of the Social & Critical Histories of Art University of Leeds Some computer scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey have written a computer programme that finds connections[…]
Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 (commonly known as Whistler’s Mother), by James McNeill Whistler (1871). Wikimedia Commons The famous portrait, usually resident in France, is on a rare tour in the US. From looking at it, one might assume its subject had a tranquil, even monotonous, life. But one would be wrong. By Dr. Donald E. Sutherland / 07.03.2015[…]
An exorcism being performed in Fafe, Portugal. Jose Manuel Ribeiro/Reuters The belief in demonic possession – often thought to be a relic of The Dark Ages and theSalem Witch Trials – remains surprisingly mainstream. By Dr. Joseph P. Laycock / 11.30.2015 Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Texas State University At Texas State University, I teach an honors course called “Demonology, Possession, and Exorcism.” It’s[…]
We need to move beyond assumptions that religion is simply about dogmatism. Daniel Montemayor We need to move beyond assumptions that religion is simply about dogmatism, and should continue teaching religion within a secular educational structure. By Dr. Constant Mews / 03.19.2015 Director, Center for Religious Studies Monash University Myth and religion are terms re-entering public debate in Australia. Certainly, myth is a[…]
Detail from a print featured in the first part of Vincent’s Wondertooneel der Nature – Rijks Museum Bert van de Roemer explores the curiosity cabinet of the Dutch collector Levinus Vincent and how the aesthetic drive behind his meticulous ordering of the contents was in essence religious, an attempt to emphasise the wonder of God’s creations by restoring[…]
Detail from a version of Sebastian Münster’s sea monster chart (1544 and after), composed from copies of the vignettes found in Olaus Magnus’s Carta Marina from 5 years earlier. (Note the blue Sea Orm curling round the boat in the top right corner) – Wikimedia Commons The terrifying Great Norway Serpent, or Sea Orm, is the most famous[…]