Painting Andean Liminalities at the Church of Andahuaylillas,Cuzco, Peru

The church of Andahuaylillas located near Cuzco, Peru, is frequently hailed for its lush interior decorations and seventeenth-century mural paintings. One mural image in particular has captured the sustained attention of scholars for decades: the entrance wall mural entitled Camino del cielo e infierno depicting a complex allegory of good and bad faith. This article explores the mural's connections to a Flemish print and a Spanish auto sacramental (a one-act play associated with Corpus Christi), demonstrating the hitherto unexamined relationships between mural painting, print culture, and religious theatre in the Andes. It also considers the inclusion of local indigenous and Inca references in the mural that were simultaneously subsumed within discourses of idolatry while at the same time granting visibility and legitimacy to indigenous Andeans. This article brings to light the plurality of meanings invested in Heaven and Hell as both destination and journey among Spanish ecclesiastics and their indigenous constituents.     

Unravelling Church Land: Transformations in the Relations between Church,State and Community in Uganda

Christian churches control substantial areas of land in Africa. While intensifying struggles over their holdings are partly due to the increased pressure on land in general, they also reflect transformations in the relations through which churches’ claims to land are legitimized, the increased association of churches with business, and churches’ unique positioning as both institutions and communities. This article presents the trajectory of relations between church, state and community in Uganda from the missionary acquisition of land in the colonial era to the unravelling of church landholding under Museveni. Drawing on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork, the authors argue that claims to church land in contemporary Uganda draw on: 1) notions of belonging to the land; 2) views about the nature of churches as communities; 3) discontent regarding whether customary land owners gave churches user rights or ownership; and 4) assessment of the churches’ success in ensuring that the land works for the common good. The article develops a novel approach to analysing the changing meaning of the landholdings of religious institutions, thus extending ongoing discussions about land, politics, development and religion in Africa.     

In defence of oblivion: the case of Dunwich,Suffolk

This article examines the way in which the town of Dunwich, Suffolk, once the capital of a Saxon kingdom and the sixth largest town in England, has constructed its identity from its long history of experiencing coastal erosion. Now as a small village, Dunwich has built a cultural heritage industry devoted to presenting absence to its visitors and residents, through many diverse forms: historiography, archaeology and the material culture displayed and commodified in the Dunwich Museum. Local pride in this history of disappearance runs strong, as was demonstrated when a proposed monument to the lost town was rejected by village residents. Connecting this sense of identity both to critical investigations into the nature of loss, transience and disappearance, as well as to the future of local and global environmental processes, this article considers whether a site whose construction of loss-as-identity should be allowed to survive past its natural lifespan – especially one that, given the process of erosion involved, can be measured. If the dominant cultural logic at a site tends towards absence rather than presence, I here ask what justifications exist for forestalling that identity in the name of conservation and preservation.     

The Monuments in the Parish Church,Colyton, Devon

Abstract

This paper provides an edition of a stray duchy of Lancaster building account currently located in the archives of the Spalding Gentleman’s Society and relating to building works at Pontefract castle. The roll contains what are referred to as ‘the parcells’ of account for the year 1406–07. Few such accounts survive for this period. Pontefract was an important centre under Henry IV, having housed the deposed Richard II until his death. The work being done at the castle was part of the rebuilding of the quarters of Robert Waterton, constable of Pontefract. Robert de Gamelston of Nottinghamshire is known from other sources as a quarryman and master mason, but this account extends the period for which he is known to have been active. Details of the quarries and of the work and wages of the masons, carpenters and smiths are provided.     

Church,State and the Rwandan Genocide

Abstract

This article takes a critical look at the experience of the Christian Churches during the time of the Rwandan genocide between 6 April and mid July 1994. It is established that in about 100 days about one million people faced death at the hands of soldiers, militias and ordinary civilians. Most victims were killed in churches and other church premises where they had gathered in hope of protection. The genocide in Rwanda was extensive both in its scale and execution. In this article we attempt to understand why and how the churches were involved in the killings, and the implications of such involvement in contemporary efforts towards reconciliation.     

Church,Community and Democracy

Abstract

The doctrine of church shapes Christian practice around community, producing a Christian worldview that privileges communal life. Authoritarian and/or sectarian conceptions of church will by definition undermine the practice and sustainability of democracy. Democratic practices are needed to avoid authoritarianism within the church and to promote dialogue between the church and the larger community. Resulting, qualified understandings of community may allow for helpful reformation of the doctrine of church and create space for a communitarian corrective to the overly secular and individualistic conceptions of democracy that are currently dominant.