A recently discovered site may shed new light on historical research into the Nestorian Church, which is believed to be the earliest Christian movement to spread the Gospel in China. A niche in a stone wall with a cross carved above it has now been verified by experts as a repository for the ashes and bones of Christians. The experts also confirmed that this is the earliest Nestorian burial place discovered so far in China. The discovery at the Longmen Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site in central Henan province, was made in 2009. Its verification was announced to the public this week. Precise dating has yet to be carried out, but it would have been created at some time during China’s Ming and Tang dynasties of 316-907 AD. It has yet to be established if it is older than the well known Nestorian Stele, an inscribed limestone tablet found in Xi’an, Shaanxi, which dates back to 781 AD and is currently considered the most ancient Nestorian artefact.Link:Historic Christian site found in China
24 January 2014
Historic Christian site found in China
Posted by J Tan at 8:20 AM 0 comments
Labels: Assyrian, China, Christianity, Church History, Eastern Christianity, Oriental Orthodox
Thousands of years of visual culture made free through Wellcome Images
We are delighted to announce that over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements are now freely available through Wellcome Images. Drawn from our vast historical holdings, the images are being released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means that they can be used for commercial or personal purposes, with an acknowledgement of the original source (Wellcome Library, London). All of the images from our historical collections can be used free of charge.
Posted by J Tan at 7:50 AM 0 comments
Labels: Art, culture, images, online resources, religion
New Rabbi at Manhattan's Central Synagogue 'a Pioneer'
.Growing up as the daughter of a Korean Buddhist immigrant and an American Jew in Tacoma, Wash., Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl said some family members always wondered: Could she ever be fully accepted as a Jew? Any lingering doubts were eliminated last week when the congregation of Midtown's historic Central Synagogue voted her to succeed Rabbi Peter Rubinstein, 71, when he retires later this year. Her appointment will take effect July 1.Rabbi Buchdahl, who is 41, will become one of only a few women—and likely the only Asian-American—leading a major U.S. synagogue. Central Synagogue boasts 100 full-time employees and an endowment that exceeds $30 million.
Posted by J Tan at 6:55 AM 0 comments
Labels: Judaism, ordained ministry, ordination, rabbi, Reform Judaism, USA, women
Free Art Books in PDF format from Getty Museum's Virtual Library
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Download more than 250 free art books in PDF format from Getty Museum's Virtual Library backlist catalogue.
Search Link: Virtual Library
Examples of selected searches:
- Asian Art Books
- Religion Art Books
- Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Illuminated Manuscripts
- The Stammheim Missal
- The Spitz Master: A Parisian Book of Hours
- Armenian Gospels of Gladzor
- Treasures from the Ark: 1700 Years of Armenian Christian Art
Posted by J Tan at 6:38 AM 0 comments
Labels: Art, culture, Medieval Europe, online resources, religion
19 January 2014
World Council of Churches, 10th Assembly (2013, Busan, South Korea): Plenary Sessions
Conversation participants: Rev. Dr Henriettve Hutabarat Lebang is an ordained pastor of the Toraja Church in Indonesia and presently serves as the general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, being the first woman to hold this post in 55 years. Ms YangYa-Chi studied sociology and got her master degree in Modern Society and Global Transformations at the University of Cambridge. Her research focused on Christianity in Asia. She is now working for Amnesty International Taiwan as a campaign coordinator.
Theological reflections: Rev. Connie Semy Mella is an ordained elder from the Philippines Central Conference of The United Methodist Church and a member of the United Nations Advocacy Network of the General Board of Church and Society. ev. Daniel Na is Archpriest of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He was bestowed as Vicar General of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea and presently serves as Dean of St. Paul Orthodox Church in Incheon, Korea. He has served as the Asia region representative for SYNDESMOS, the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth.
Story of hope: Dr Deepanna Choudhrie studied and trained as a radiologist at Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. Since 1989 she has been serving in Padhar Hospital, a 200-bed mission hospital in rural central India, among the Gond tribe. She received international media attention for her care of abandoned conjoint twin girls Stuti and Aradhana, who were operated in Padhar Hospital in 2012.:
Posted by J Tan at 12:48 AM 0 comments
Labels: Christianity, Ecumenism, translations, World Council of Churches (WCC)
18 January 2014
Faith on the Move – The Religious Affiliation of International Migrants (Pew Research)
About 3% of the world’s population has migrated across international borders. While that may seem like a small percentage, it represents a lot of people. If the world’s 214 million international migrants were counted as one nation, they would constitute the fifth most populous country on the globe, just behind Indonesia and ahead of Brazil. Faith on the Move, a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, focuses on the religious affiliation of international migrants, examining patterns of migration among seven major groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, adherents of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated.
Posted by J Tan at 3:24 AM 0 comments
Labels: Immigration, Migration, Pew Forum, Pew Research, religion, religious pluralism, religious studies
17 January 2014
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Classic Speeches on YouTube
FINAL SPEECH: "I have been to the mountaintop" (3 April 1968)
"I Have A Dream"
"Why I Am Opposed To The Vietnam War"
RELATED ARTICLES
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Speechs in Puerto Rico, 1962
- The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Obery M. Hendricks (Huffington Post, 20 January 2014)
- Disability Justice and Social Justice: Entwined Histories and Futures, by Alice Wong (BK Nation, 16 January 2014)
- My Debt to Dr. King, by Scott Nakagawa (Colorlines, 20 January 2014)
- Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did (Daily Kos, 29 August 2011)
Posted by J Tan at 1:09 PM 0 comments
Labels: African American, Black Theology, Civil Rights, Martin Luther King Jr., race, racism, USA, war
16 January 2014
World Migration Report 2013
The first three chapters of the World Migration Report 2013 provide an introduction to the theme “Migrant Well-being and Development”, present the current global migration situation across four migration pathways (migration that is South to North; South to South; North to North; or North to South), and review existing research on the emerging field of happiness and subjective well-being. Chapter Four presents original findings on migrant well-being from the Gallup World Poll, examining outcomes on six core dimensions of well-being – Financial, Career, Social, Community, Physical and Subjective - and how they differ across the four migration pathways. The final chapter presents key conclusions and makes recommendations for future initiatives to monitor migrant well-being and the impact of migration on development. The chapter also makes reference to the inclusion of migration in the global post-2015 development framework.
Posted by J Tan at 8:30 AM 0 comments
Labels: Immigration, Migration, online resources, statistics, World Migration Report
14 January 2014
Free Public Access Religion eBooks from the University of California Press
- Daniel Boyarin, A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity (University of California Press, 1994)
- Nicole Constable, Christian Souls and Chinese Spirits: A Hakka Community in Hong Koong (University of California Press, 1994)
- Miguel de la Torre, La Lucha for Cuba: Religion and Politics on the Streets of Miami (University of California Press, 2003)
- Rubie S. Watson and Patricia Buckley Ebrey, eds., Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society (University of California Press, 1991)
- Hue Tam Ho-Tai, ed., The Country of Memory: Remaking the Past in Late Socialist Vietnam (University of California Press, 2001)
Posted by J Tan at 7:13 AM 0 comments
Labels: E-Books, online resources, religion, web resource
11 January 2014
Mao by day, the Madonna at night: Church welcomes Chinese religious artist to Frankfort
nstead of becoming a famous mathematician like his father, a young He Qi was sent away from his home in the city of Nanjing, China, to the cold countryside to labor in the fields. The schools in China were also closed to curtail a rise in bourgeois values. This was during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a sociopolitical movement led by the country’s Communist leader Mao Zedong from 1966 to 1976 to reassert his power and reinforce ideological purity. The movement was violent, with an estimated 1.5 million people killed and others imprisoned, humiliated or tortured, according to history.com. To avoid the hard labor, He learned how to paint. A neighbor and art professor from Nanjing taught him the basics. He started by painting portraits of Mao. “The people worshiped the great leader Mao,” said He, who is now 60 years old. It was at this time that he first saw Raphael’s “Madonna and Child” printed in a magazine he borrowed from his art teacher. “It touched my heart,” he said. “It was so peaceful. In the daytime, I painted Mao and in the evenings I painted Madonna.”Link: Mao by day, the Madonna at night: Church welcomes Chinese religious artist to Frankfort
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Posted by J Tan at 9:18 PM 0 comments
Labels: Aesthetics, Art, China, Chinese Americans, Chinese Christianity, Christianity, culture, Inculturation
10 January 2014
China's Neo-Confucianism
On Jan. 1, scores of children assembled to read aloud, in near perfect synchronicity, a 17th-century Confucian text called Dizigui, which translates to "standards for being a good student and child." The performance, according to local newspaper Beijing Times, was laden with symbolism: It took place at the historic Imperial Academy in central Beijing, which has been a center of Confucian learning for hundreds of years, and the children wore hanfu, a style of traditional clothing said to be similar to those donned more than 2,500 years ago in the days of Confucius. It's part of a changing reception for Confucian classics, which Chinese schools and education authorities had largely abandoned since the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 in favor of more modern curricula like math, science, and colloquial Chinese. But these days, Dizigui's short and simple brand of Confucianism -- a way of thinking that has always included a heavy dose of respect for family and social hierarchy -- has even the ruling Communist Party on its side.
Posted by J Tan at 7:55 AM 0 comments
Labels: China, Chinese Religions, Confucianism, ethics, politics, religion
08 January 2014
Anglicans mark 70 years since ordination of first woman priest
A service marking 70 years since the ordination of the Anglican Communion's first woman priest will be held in London, England. The event - at St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, on Saturday 25th January - has been organised by members of a foundation set up to honour Reverend Dr Florence Li Tim-Oi's legacy.
Already appointed as a deacon to serve in the colony of Macau at the Macau Protestant Chapel, Dr Li Tim-Oi was ordained a priest on 25 January, 1944 by Bishop of Victoria Ronald Hall. His decision to do so came in response to a crisis among Anglican Christians in China caused by the Japanese invasion.Since it was to be thirty years before any Anglican church regularised the ordination of women, her ordination was controversial and she resigned her licence (though not her priestly orders) after the end of the war.
- Anglicans mark 70 years since ordination of first woman priest
- Biography of Florence Li Tim-Oi
- Li TIm-Oi Foundation
Posted by J Tan at 10:39 PM 0 comments
Labels: Anglican, China, Chinese Christianity, Christianity, Hong Kong, ordination, priests, women
06 January 2014
Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population
A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
- Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population
- PDF of Full Report (11.7MB, 130 pages)
- Christian Traditions
- Regional Distribution of Christians
- Interactive Maps
Posted by J Tan at 9:49 PM 0 comments
Labels: Christianity, Globalization, Pew Forum, Pew Research, statistics, Transnationalism
A Survey of LGBT Americans: Attitudes, Experiences and Values in Changing Times (Pew Research)
An overwhelming share of America’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults (92%) say society has become more accepting of them in the past decade and an equal number expect it to grow even more accepting in the decade ahead. They attribute the changes to a variety of factors, from people knowing and interacting with someone who is LGBT, to advocacy on their behalf by high-profile public figures, to LGBT adults raising families.
At the same time, however, a new nationally representative survey of 1,197 LGBT adults offers testimony to the many ways they feel they have been stigmatized by society. About four-in-ten (39%) say that at some point in their lives they were rejected by a family member or close friend because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; 30% say they have been physically attacked or threatened; 29% say they have been made to feel unwelcome in a place of worship; and 21% say they have been treated unfairly by an employer. About six-in-ten (58%) say they’ve been the target of slurs or jokes.
- A Survey of LGBT Americans: Attitudes, Experiences and Values in Changing Times
- See: Chapter 6 of Report on Religion
- Complete Report (PDF)
- Topline Questionnaire (PDF)
- As more Americans have contacts with gays and lesbians, social acceptance rises (Pew Research Center, 18 June 2013)
- In Gay Marriage Debate, Both Supporters and Opponents See Legal Recognition as Inevitable (Pew Research, 6 June 2013)
- Same-Sex Marriage, State by State (Pew Research, 6 June 2013)
- LGBT in Changing Times (Pew Research Center)
- Survey offers complex portrait of LGBT Americans (Associated Press, 13 June 2013)
- Survey: Gay and Lesbian Population has Unique Religious Profile (Deseret News, 15 June 2013)
- Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Posted by J Tan at 7:40 PM 0 comments
Labels: cultural diversity, law, LGBT, Marriage, Pew Forum, Pew Research, pluralism, religious pluralism, statistics, USA