Fetishes, props, and prostheses-On the ecology of material objects

Keyword(s):  
1970 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-333
Author(s):  
Sarno Hanipudin

This paper is intended to describe how the integration of religion and science is done through the practice of PAI learning. This was done because there is a strong presumption in the wider community who say that religion and science are the two entities that can not be met. Both have their respective territories, separated from each other, in terms of formal-material objects, research methods, criteria of truth, the role played by scientists. There is also a view that science and religion stand at their respective position, because science rely on empirically supported data to ascertain what is real and what is not, contrary religion ready to accept the supernatural and certainly not only be based on tangible variables of faith and the belief that religion and science must coexist independently of each other, because even though there are similarities in their mission, the fundamental difference between the two present a conflict that will resonate on each core. Tulisan ini ditujukan untuk mendeskripsikan bagaimana integrasi agama dan sains dilakukan melalui praktik pembelajaran PAI. Hal itu dilakukan karena ada anggapan yang kuat dalam masyarakat luas yang mengatakan bahwa agama dan ilmu adalah dua entitas yang tidak dapat dipertemukan. Keduanya mempunyai wilayah masing-masing, terpisah antara satu dan lainnya, baik dari segi objek formalmaterial, metode penelitian, kriteria kebenaran, peran yang dimainkan oleh ilmuwan. Ada juga yang memandang bahwa sains dan agama berdiri pada posisinya masingmasing, karena bidang ilmu mengandalkan data yang didukung secara empiris untuk memastikan apa yang nyata dan apa yang tidak, agama sebaliknya siap menerima yang gaib dan tidak pasti hanya didasarkan pada variabel berwujud dari iman dan kepercayaan bahwa agama dan sains harus hidup berdampingan independen satu sama lain, sebab meskipun ada kesamaan dalam misi mereka, perbedaan mendasar antarakeduanya menyajikan sebuah konflik yang akan beresonansi pada inti masingmasing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 253-279
Author(s):  
Jennifer B. Spock

Abstract The study of monasticism in Russia has found new acolytes since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. With the separation of the Soviet republics, religion became, and continues to become, a vibrant subfield of Russian studies. This article examines the problems inherent in attempting to grasp the day-to-day life of monks and monasteries given their individual characteristics, social classes, roles, and the wide variety, yet often limited scope, of various texts and material objects that can be used as sources. The vast source base is an embarrassment of riches in one sense, but problematic in another as prescriptive and normative texts must be understood in context. One important element that has not been directly addressed is the cacophony of sound, the interruptions, and the distractions of the constant activity of expanding cloisters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. How did monks maintain their spiritual path and pious duties when on service expeditions outside the monastery: when engaged in salt-production, fishing, trade, rent-collecting, or other activities outside its walls? How intrusive were building projects, which abounded in the period, or even efforts to adorn the churches? How strict was oversight, or how weak? Such questions still need answers and can only be fully understood by integrating diverse source bases. This article uses Solovki, Holy Trinity, and Kirillov monasteries to exemplify the problems that remain in understanding the daily lives of monastics and their adherents within and without the confines of the cloister.


Author(s):  
Nikolai Karepanov

The author argues that traces include surrounding reality objects (physical objects and fields), altered by phenomena or events that occurred as a result of movement, processes and actions. The identification and investigation of traces of the investigated events is most often carried out at the places of their occurrence, separately studied and analyzed after their seizure in specially adapted and appropriately equipped conditions. The methods of traces detection are very diverse and are being constantly improved, so it is difficult even to classify them. Still, it is possible to distinguish some methodologies proposed in theory and practice. The author considers some methods of identifying traces when searching for living persons and corpses, identifying corpses; identifying and fixing traces of human hands; identifying traces on payment cards; identifying electronic traces, identifying traces of removing embossed images; identifying traces using the latest achievements of science and technology; identifying traces and constructing sign systems in description of material objects. The necessity of introduction of a standard of detecting and investigating the traces of crimes is also discussed, and a system of actions that should be included into this standard is proposed.


Author(s):  
Mikael Pettersson

What is it to see something in a picture? Most accounts of pictorial experience—or, to use Richard Wollheim's term, ‘seeing-in’—seek, in various ways, to explain it in terms of how pictures somehow display the looks of things. However, some ‘things’ that we apparently see in pictures do not display any ‘look’. In particular, most pictures depict empty space, but empty space does not seem to display any ‘look’—at least not in the way material objects do. How do we see it in pictures, if we do? This chapter offers an account of pictorial perception of empty space by elaborating on Wollheim's claim that ‘seeing-in’ is permeable to thought. It ends by pointing to the aesthetic relevance of seeing—or not seeing—empty space in pictures.


Author(s):  
Liubov Vetoshkina ◽  
Yrjö Engeström ◽  
Annalisa Sannino

By skillfully shaping and producing objects human beings externalize and make real their future-oriented imaginaries and visions. Material objects created by skilled performance make human lifeworlds durable. From the point of view of history making, wooden boat building is a particularly rich domain of skilled performance. This chapter is based on two research sites, one in Finland and the other in Russia. The analysis is divided into four layers or threads of history making, namely personal history, the history of the wooden boat community, the political history of the nations and their relations, and the history of the boats themselves as objects of boat-building activity. The chapter ends by discussing our findings and their implications for the understanding of skilled performance and history making in work activities and organizations.


Author(s):  
Robert Wiśniewski

Christians always admired and venerated martyrs who died for their faith, but for a long time thought that the bodies of martyrs should remain undisturbed in their graves. Initially, the Christian attitude toward the bones of the dead, whether a saint’s or not, was that of respectful distance. This book tells how, in the mid-fourth century, this attitude started to change, swiftly and dramatically. The first chapters show the rise of new beliefs. They study how, when, and why Christians began to believe in the power of relics, first, over demons, then over physical diseases and enemies; how they sought to reveal hidden knowledge at the tombs of saints and why they buried the dead close to them. An essential element of this new belief was a strong conviction that the power of relics was transferred in a physical way and so subsequent chapters study relics as material objects. The book seeks to show what the contact with relics looked like and how close it was. Did people touch, kiss, or look at the very bones, or just at reliquaries which contained them? When did the custom of dividing relics appear? Finally, the book deals with discussions and polemics concerning relics and tries to find out how strong was the opposition which this new phenomenon had to face, both within and outside Christianity on the way to relics becoming an essential element of medieval religiosity.


Author(s):  
Ryan P. Bonfiglio

This chapter surveys material objects in the Old Testament associated with worship and ritual activities, including the ark, altars, wash basins, tables, lampstands, and items deemed to be illicit (idols, sacred poles, pillars, and the bronze serpent). Special emphasis is given to the material form of these objects as well as how they function in ritual processes, activate sensory experience, and/or make available the presence and power of the deity. Attention is also given to the theological systems that undergird the material dimensions of Israelite religion, including aniconism, Deuteronomistic cult reforms, and the construction and operation of the tabernacle and temple.


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