Religion (Outside a Series)
Pilgrimage in the Christian Balkan World
The Path to Touch the Sacred and Holy
The purpose of this volume is to explore re-interpret and re-contextualise the various natures of practices performed by the Orthodox and Catholic pilgrims in Balkan countries in their devotional ʽpath to touch the sacred and holyʼ through the prism of pilgrimage contents and their articulating using and handling strategies. Inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives constitute a strong point for exploring the essence of this collective practice of worship which is theoretically and critically interpreted and chronologically and diachronically analysed. Therefore the various visions of the authors formed on the basis of qualitative and critical analysis of primary (ethnographic and folkloric data from field interviews archive documents samples etc.) and secondary sources come to fill a gap in research on pilgrimage in southeast Europe and especially on pilgrimage practices in Eastern Orthodoxy. Particularly the ritual practices sacred places in contemporary Balkan societies religious folklore divine intervention stories miracle-working icons relics and reliquaries as part of the structure of pilgrimage are discussed.
The authors explore the context in which the Christian shrines in the Balkans are spaces where the ethnic and denominational patterns in pilgrimage are revealed openly on multiple levels; they delve into how the correlative effects between politics and religion are manifested. In this volume which is the result of a project initiated by the Balkan History Association the authors focus on theoretical analysis stressing the historical and contemporary behaviour performed by the Christian pilgrims and highlighting the fact that the motivations for going to the sacred places can vary from seeking and obtaining Divine help to leisure religious/faith tourism etc.
The Discoveries of Manuscripts from Late Antiquity
Their Impact on Patristic Studies and the Contemporary World (Conference Proceedings 2nd International Conference on Patristic Studies)
This book offers an anthology from the proceedings of the Second International Conference on Patristic Studies “The Discoveries of Manuscripts from Late Antiquity: Their Impact on Patristic Studies and the Contemporary World” which took place in San Juan Argentina in March 2017. The aim of this event was to analyze and assess 20th- and 21st-century discoveries of manuscripts from Late Antiquity. Indeed complete libraries of manuscripts as well as individual documents of great importance for our understanding of historical authors and situations have come to light after having been buried for millennia. Just some examples are the incredible discoveries of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic library the Dead Sea Scrolls Origen of Alexandria’s homilies and Augustine’s sermons among others. Rather than being passive documents these manuscripts pose numerous questions to specialists from a diverse array of fields demanding new evaluations of a past that was already thought to be understood and judged.
Benedict XV: A Pope in the World of the 'Useless Slaughter' (1914-1918)
On August 1 1917 - three years after the outbreak of World War 1 - pope Benedict XV signed his famous peace note urging the governments of the belligerent Powers to seek a diplomatic solution to their disputes and stop the "useless slaughter". In order to commemorate the event and to define the place of this "forgotten pope" in twentieth-century history on November 3-5 2016 the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (Fscire) hosted an international conference entitled "Benedict XV in the world of the useless slaughter" in which more than a hundred historians from all over the world participated. The aim of the initiative supported by the Historical and Scientific Committee for Italy’s National Anniversaries is to shed light on the key issues of this pontificate from Giacomo Della Chiesa’s education in the theological seminary in Genua to his heritage and memory all along the twentieth century. The volume resulting from this conference provides a comprehensive and systematic reference work about a key figure in Church history that has all too often been neglected.
Patristic Studies in the Twenty-First Century
Proceedings of an International Conference to Mark the 50th Anniversary of the International Association of Patristic Studies
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of its inception the International Association of Patristic Studies in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Christianity in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem convened an international conference in Jerusalem on 25th – 27th June 2013. The theme of the conference was the state of patristic studies in the twenty-first century focusing on the implications of the various settings and interests of patristic studies for the future of the field.
The collected proceedings include an overview of the current state of patristic studies around the world with presentations from leading researchers from Eastern and Western Europe North and South America Africa Asia and Australia as well as plenary lectures and shorter papers on six designated themes which demonstrate the interdisciplinary relevance and contribution of Patristics: Patristics and the Confluence of Jewish Christian and Muslim Cultures; Patristics Between Eastern and Western Christian Traditions; Patristics and Theology; Patristics Literature and the Histories of the Book; Patristics and Art; Patristics and Archaeology.