Millenarism and agricultural settlement in the Holy Land in the nineteenth century

The pioneers of modern agricultural settlement in the Holy Land were Christians. Foremost among these were several Americans who came in the 1850s and 1860s to settle—ignoring warnings from local experts and from representatives of the United States government. The leaders of the settlers were inspired by millenarist ideas and by faith in the Return to Zion—rife among fundamental Protestant sects in the early nineteenth century. The personal accounts of these visionaries provide insights into what drove them to attempt to migrate to remote and backward Palestine and also throw light on the economic concepts and practical plans for implementing their schemes. Despite their failure, these attempts were very important in the history of agricultural settlement in nineteenth-century Palestine. The settlers maintained a wide range of international contacts through letters, pamphlets, sermons and publicity in the press in America, England, Germany and Palestine. In addition, many people who heard indirectly about these ventures, took an interest in their ideology and practice. Millenarist schemes influenced early preachers and founders of Jewish societies for agricultural settlement in Palestine. The Jewish forerunners of the Hovevi Zion and Zionist movements promoted remarkably similar ideas. Millenarist and Jewish visionaries alike spoke of the hour being propitious for the coming of the Messiah and favourable for settlement in the land of Israel. Both groups established schools to teach the lore of the land and to educate youth in agricultural pursuits. Many years after the disappearance of American settlers from Palestine, their story reverberated in Jewish polemic literature.     

Expanding women's rural medical work in early modern Brittany: the Daughters of the Holy Spirit

During the eighteenth century, orders of nursing sisters took on an expanded role in the rural areas of Brittany. This article explores the impact of religious change on the medical activities of these women. While limits were placed on the medical practice of unlicensed individuals, areas of new opportunity for nuns as charitable practitioners were created by devout nobles throughout the eighteenth century. These nuns provided comprehensive care for the sick poor on their patrons' estates, acting not only as nurses, but also in lieu of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. This article argues that the medical knowledge and expertise of these sisters from the nursing orders were highly valued by the elites of early modern Brittany.     

圣职推荐权与教士的职业生涯

教士在历史上曾经是一个居于强势的职业群体。本文以中世纪的英格兰为例 ,论述了教士任职制度的运用机制。教士就任新职需由教皇或主教进行资格审查并安排教区 ,然而在授予圣职的教会组织与接受圣职的教士之外 ,存在着起决定作用的第三种力量———圣职推荐人。圣职推荐人为教士任职提供经济收入来源———圣俸或薪俸 ,是教职界潜在的“雇主” ,在很大程度上决定着教士在职业生涯中的升迁沉浮。教职界的职业竞争在本质上是对圣俸与薪俸的追逐 ,良好的职业前景固然需要良好的职业素质 ,更需要圣职推荐人强有力的支持。     

The military,the clergy and Christian faith in sixth‐century Gaul

The Christianization of a society is a lengthy process that is not completed as soon as every individual is baptized and considers himself a Christian. It also requires subsequent and continuous instruction of believers, and maybe also the adaptation of religious requirements and morals in order to meet their needs and to allow them all to identify with the new faith. This latter process is especially perceptible where the new religion clashes with the values and priorities of large groups of believers, or where external circumstances prevent them from conforming to the religion's requirements. In the early Middle Ages, this situation can be retraced for the military in sixth‐century Gaul. The aim of this paper is to investigate the ongoing process of post‐Roman Christianization by using this relatively well‐documented example. It analyses the Christian identity associated with the military, the significance that fighting men might have attributed to faith, their relation to the clergy, and the options available to members of the military to live according to Christianity's rules and requirements. The paper sets out to argue that although the military was generally considered Christian, its relationship with the clergy contained significant potential for conflict, which was only resolved in the long term. The investigation therewith reveals a largely neglected but very interesting intermediate phase in the ongoing process of Christianization and integration.     

Holy Weddings,Unholy Marriages: Christian Spouses and Domestic Discords in Early Colonial Lesotho, 1870–1900

In the Lesotho Archives in the capital Maseru, lies unreferenced, scattered files containing testimonies of Christianised BaSotho couples embroiled in marital litigations in the last third of the nineteenth century. Reading these testimonies in relation to one another, and engaging in an in‐depth qualitative examinations of the narratives embedded in the texts offers a rare opportunity to explore the texture of conjugal relationships among Christianised spouses in this period. The compelling picture that emerges is one of extreme instability of Christian marriages. We behold here conjugal lives teeming with conflicts and intrigue. Adultery accusations and spousal violence punctuated the conjugal lives of these spouses in unexpected intensity. This study concludes that after over half a century of missionising the BaSotho, evangelical missionaries seemingly had had little impact on the texture of BaSotho conjugal relations. The rampant “adultery” and spousal abuse that seemingly plagued these Christian spouses were expressions of pre‐Christian patterns that were manifestations of gendered conflicts.     

Thomas Hobbes,Christian Thomasius and the seventeenth century debate on the church and state

Along the entire course of that seventeenth century, the great principles of representative government and the rights of conscience were passing through the anguish of conflict and fiery trial (De Quincey).     

Thomas Hobbes,Christian Thomasius and the seventeenth century debate on the church and state

Along the entire course of that seventeenth century, the great principles of representative government and the rights of conscience were passing through the anguish of conflict and fiery trial (De Quincey).     

Jokhang Monastery:Holy Land in Lhasa

Iam-alamawiththeJokhangMonasteryinLhasa.IwasborninComaiTownship,DoilungdeqenCounty.Uponmygraduationfromthecountymiddleschool.IenteredtheTibetBuddhistCollege.Beforelong,IfollowedBomeQambaLhozhub,thecollegepresident.totheJokhangMonasteryandhavestayedhereforeightyears.TheJokhangMonasteryisoneoftheoldestofitskindinTibet.ItwasbuiltduringthereignoftheTibetanKingSongtsanGambo,some1,300yearsago.CONSTRUCTIONOFTHEMONASTERY.Leg-endhasitthatthesiteoftheJokhangMonasterywasalakenamedWo…     

Crossing the rubicon: fact or fiction in Roman re-enactment

Abstract

This paper discusses the role and use of Roman re-enactment as a means of engaging with, visualizing and interpreting Roman material culture, and how this is translated into presentation material for public display. The paper raises several issues on the use of re-enactors to interpret a specific period from the past, and reflects on why people actively participate in re-enactment, with an emphasis on accuracy and authenticity.