Hagiography: Current and prospective contributions

This study considers the historical development of hagiographic research, including its antecedents and contemporary motivations and intentions. As a sub-approach of psychobiographical research, hagiography's defining qualities include the venerability of the subject, the aim of edifying the reader and illustrating issues of faith and morals as taught by a given religious group. Hagiography has the unique qualities to benefit research scholarship in its exploration of the psychological aspects of a positive human experience, virtue, religion and the spiritual life. Its limitations include overly positive accounts that ignore or minimise negative experiences and weaknesses of people considered to be venerable. Studies that utilise hagiography might be enhanced by researchers prioritising literature that is objective and historically accurate, relating the choice of psychological theory to the research question, and listening to critical and sympathetic voices regarding the subject. This would enable a holistic view of the human experience – with due consideration for the legacy and posthumous extrapolations that may exist regarding the subject, as well as the need to maintain a keen sense of personal awareness throughout the research.     

Hagiography and Monotheism in History: Doctrinal encounters between Zoroastrianism,Judaism and Christianity 1

Issues of hagiography and monotheism were central to the historical development of Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity (and subsequently Islam). Overlapping geo graphical locales and cultural heritages, especially during the rule of ancient Iranian dynasties and within Iranian territory, seem to have facilitated and reinforced common solutions that linked devotees across confessional lines through shared communal notions and doctrinal tenets. The hagiographical lives and preachings of Zarathushtra, or Zoroaster, and biblical figures from Moses to Jesus consciously came to parallel each other ex post facto and were regarded as representing different aspects of monotheism. The Zoroastrian dualistic worldview did not exclude monotheism, although it did postulate a separate source of evil. Variations notwith standing, for members of each faith, the spiritual entity venerated by their founder was believed to be God--a condition acknowledged by the other confessional groups as well. Uniting a community of believers around themselves in the veneration of a singular deity eventually transformed Zarathushtra, Moses and Jesus (and later Muhammad) into prophets. Religious founders, the historically created and cross-culturally shaped images of such founders and an intercommunally emergent notion that their words represented communion with the divinity forged and strengthened the shared links between hagiography and monotheism among Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians and, in time, Muslims.     

明清时期闽台多明我会关系的动态变迁

此文以闽台缘为着力点,以明清时期闽台多明我会的往来联系为考察对象,分明末和晚清两个时间段来论述闽、台多明我会的相互关系。具体为:明末时期,多明我会由台入闽,呈现单向流动特点;晚清时期,闽台多明我会互有往来,交流频繁,两地教务的发展呈现较大的相似性。剖析个中原因,闽台间的历史地理、经济文化渊源,与多明我会在闽台的传播过程中有密不可分的联系。     

Inclusionary Discrimination: Pigmentocracy and Patriotism in the Dominican Republic

This study explored the nature of racial hierarchy and the connection between racial identity and Dominican patriotism using a questionnaire given to an in situ sample in the Dominican Republic. The analyses compared the contradictory expectations of the "racial democracy" (or "Iberian exceptionalism") thesis and social dominance theory. Results showed that despite the very high level of racial intermarriage in the Dominican Republic, there was strong evidence of a "pigmentocracy," or group-based social hierarchy based largely on skin color. Furthermore, despite a slight tendency for people to give slightly higher status ratings to their own "racial" category than were given to them by members of other "racial" categories, this pigmentocracy was highly consensual across the racial hierarchy. These results were consistent with the expectations of social dominance theory. However, in contrast to similar analyses in the United States and Israel, these Dominican findings showed no evidence that members of different "racial" categories had different levels of patriotic attachment to the nation. Also in contrast to recent American findings, there was no evidence that Dominican patriotism was positively associated with anti-black racism, social dominance orientation, negative affect toward other racial groups, or ethnocentrism, regardless of the "racial" category one belonged to. These latter results were consistent with the racial democracy thesis. The theoretical implications of these somewhat conflicting findings are discussed.     

Paul Christian - A Jewish Dominican Preaching for the Jews

The so-called Barcelona disputation of 1263 was one of the earliest Jewish-Christian disputations in medieval Europe. The disputants were Paul Christian, a Jewish convert to Christianity and member of the Dominican order, and the well known Jewish sage Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman of Gerona). In the disputation Paul Christian used an innovative method: he attempted to prove the truth of basic Christian dogma, for instance that the Messiah had already come, by using classical Jewish texts, especially the Talmud. Paul Christian used the same method in his sermons which the Jews in the area were forced to listen to. When one analyses the arguments he employs, it becomes obvious how he alludes to both Jewish and Christian traditions in order to convince his listeners.     

Multiple Religious Belonging among visitors of Dominican spiritual centers in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

In the religiously pluralized Western world, a trend called ‘Multiple Religious Belonging’ (MRB) has been identified. Although it is a much theologically debated concept, empirical research on the practice of MRB is limited. The present research project therefore explores the phenomenon of MRB among visitors of Dominican spiritual centers in the Netherlands (n=472). It investigates to what extent and in which ways such visitors combine elements from more than one religious tradition in their lives and what they perceive to be the benefits of combining elements. It links this information to their views on religion, the resources they draw from, their (religiously diverse) networks, and their motivations for attending spiritual activities. The results indicate that respondents who combine elements from more than one religious tradition (‘combiners’) are more likely than ‘non-combiners’ to: a) see religion as something that is constantly changing during the life course; b) have networks which are religiously diverse; c) place importance on nature, in-depth conversations, personal rituals or practices, and theological, philosophical, and spiritual texts as resources; d) be motivated to attend spiritual centers because of a focus on self-exploration.     

多明我会士黎玉范与中国礼仪之争

多明我会传教士黎玉范是中国天主教史上著名的中国礼仪之争事件的主要参与者,他第一次在闽东传教区针对现实中的礼仪问题展开系统调查,并受命将托钵修会关于礼仪问题的疑问亲自递交给罗马教廷,从而打破了此前半个多世纪中国传教区只有耶稣会一种声音的局面,使中国礼仪问题从原本属于远东传教会内部的争端扩散到欧洲教会,促成礼仪之争的进一步扩大化.因为黎玉范的罗马之行,罗马教廷有关中国礼仪的1645、1656年文件,1661年多明我会兰溪会议,1669年教廷文件等一系列反应次第发生,中国礼仪问题逐渐演化为牵动东西方、延续数世纪的大事件.