For the first time in Russian, a complete translation of Cain Adomnain (the Law ofAdomnan), a remarkable specimen of ancient Irish canon and secular law from the seventh century, is published. It was adopted with the aim of protecting women, children, and clergy from military violence - that is, those categories of the population that, in accordance with the norms of modern international humanitarian law, fall under the definition of "non- combatants". The text is provided with an introductory article and comments. The study of this legal source will contribute to the further expansion and deepening of ideas about the chronological framework and features of the genesis of early Irish canonical and secular law, as well as the formation of international law in the Middle Ages.
The article deals with the analysis of animal images in the famous Old Irish Gospel of the 8th century - the Book of Kells. The authors propose to distinguish between the tree types of animal images: canonical images of the evangelists in the form of animals, ornamental and denominated as iconic. Ornamental images of animals have parallels in Germanic animal style. Germanic animal style became widespread in the West and was used in Mediaeval manuscripts. Animals depicted in that style are often distorted, elongated and sometimes unrecognizable. The other type of animal images are the so-called line-fillers. They are considered to be an invention of insular manuscript art. In the Book of Kells such images occur frequently. They may be dogs or cats or fishes or even humans. Those images tend to be kind of realistic ones and can be in a way considered to be precursors of Mediaeval Bestiaries. The authors pay special attention to the images of cats which can also be divided into ornamental and realistic ones. The article analyses pictures treating one and the same subject: a cat is hunting a mouse with a stolen wafer in its mouth. The authors show that such pictures, on the one hand, refer to the real monastic everyday life, yet on the other hand, they may have profound symbolic meaning.
Translation from Old English to Russian of penitential texts from Oxford, Bodleian Junius with historical commentary.
This article focuses on the medieval cults of Welsh saints in their connection with political processes that affected both Wales and the entire island of Britain. The images of saints, the texts associated with them, and religious communities were used by both secular and ecclesiastical authorities to solve problems related to the legitimization of material wealth, legal status, or social position. The Welsh kingdoms could emphasize their connection with the saint, thereby supporting his veneration at the local level if this helped to confirm the right to power or preserve their lives and the potential for further action in a situation of temporary defeat. The clergy used the political potential of cults in a broader perspective: they tried to defend their autonomy from an external force, the power of the archbishops of Canterbury; to protect their material well-being from the raids of the Norman lords of the Anglo-Welsh borderland, as well as in disputes with each other; to obtain recognition of their legal immunities from representatives of the Welsh nobility. The article analyzes the historical context of such cases, the goals, methods, and the overall effectiveness of using a locally revered cult as a political tool.
This article explores Richard Hooker's liturgical theology and his defence of ecclesiastical splendour against the critiques of radical Reformation thinkers. It argues that Hooker regarded sensation - understood as perception and sensibility rather than sentimentality - as a vital dimension of worship, complementing imitation and iteration. For Hooker, the "beauty of holiness" achieved its fullest expression not through iconography but through the spatial and material language of sacred architecture. The study unfolds in four parts. It first analyses the heuristic models underlying late sixteenth-century theories of sacred architecture. It then examines the concepts of hierotopy and hierotopics as frameworks for understanding the creation and experience of holy space. The third section reconciles the methodological approaches of hierotopics and liturgics in the study of Christian ritual practices, demonstrating how spatial design and liturgical performance interact as complementary modes of theological expression. The final section traces the legacy of Hooker's liturgical aesthetics in the reconfiguration of sacred space by later figures such as Lancelot Andrewes, Richard Neile, and William Laud. Methodologically, the article combines historical analysis with insights from the material turn in the humanities, situating Hooker's theology within wider debates on ritual and material culture. It concludes that Hooker's conception of the "beauty of holiness" illuminates the theological aesthetics of the Late Tudor and Early Stuart Church of England and offers a distinctive perspective for contemporary ritual studies. His synthesis of theological reason, sensory experience, and architectural imagination demonstrates how Anglican worship sought to embody divine order through material splendour.
India is the country with the third largest Muslim population in the world, and most of this Muslim population can be called indigenous . However, the uneven distribution of Muslims in India is not only visible at the regional level (which has a historical explanation), but it is also prominent on the local level: in cities and villages with a significant percentage of the Muslim population, one can see separate clusters and districts where various Muslim communities live. In our article, based on the field observations made in Northern India (in Aligarh, Delhi, Agra, Sikri, Fatehpur Sikri, Lucknow, Dewa Sharif) 2023 and 2024, we will examine the settlement and mobility patterns of local communities of Indian Muslims and focus on religiously conditioned strategies for choosing a suitable place to live and the characteristics of religious locations, which, as we suggest, define, along with socio-political reasons, the territorial coun daries of the communities.
This article develops Ch. Taylor's secularization theory. Taylor's framework enables to analyze secularization as a phenomenon that can coexist with high levels of personal religiosity and significance of religion in society. This perspective aligns with Taylor's concept of "secularity-3", which views secularization as a transformation in the conditions of belief and disbelief. He articulates these new conditions through the notion of immanent frame. However, critics of "A Secular Age" have raised concerns regarding the applicability of Taylor's theory to non-Western contexts; its reliability as a sociological framework for understanding secularization in contemporary society; its accuracy as a historical research; the opportunity to interpret Taylor's project as biased by religious apologetics. This article posits that such criticisms stem from ambiguities in the philosophical underpinnings of Taylor's methodology. While he aims to delineate a pre-ontological background, he overlooks the fact that such descriptions cannot be universally applicable, even within localized cultural contexts, as they elevate the pre- reflexive to a reflexive level. To address these issues, the article advocates for a shift from the concept of immanent frame to that of immanent logics, drawing on Wittgenstein's rule-following concept. This approach allows for a more pluralistic understanding of secularity, avoiding claims to provide a universal interpretation of the world and the self in the secular age. The article concludes by discussing the implications of this shift for both the historical study of secularization and current normative reflection.
The historiography of the pre-revolutionary a simplistic dichotomy between pro-Islamic traditionalists and secular national liberals. This binary view fails to capture the nuanced perspectives of Kazakh nationalists on religion and its role in shaping national identity. It is well-known that many early Kazakh intellectuals from both sides participated in the Soviet secular nation-building project, influencing the development of Kazakhness. My paper examines the history of early Kazakh nationalism through the lens of secularism, focusing on the educational and personal backgrounds of the intelligentsia and their reactions to historical changes and arguing that pragmatic considerations largely drove the evolution of their nationalist views. The study involves a historiographic review and a reassessment of critical moments that shaped the intelligentsia's shift toward secularism. It reveals that, despite the controversy, the Alash movement included intellectuals who viewed Islam as an integral component of Kazakh identity. The diversity of their perspectives supports the thesis that the nation's boundaries were negotiated before the Soviet national project.
This study analyzes the stages of formation of conceptual ideas of the outstanding French philosopher Maurice Blondel (1861-1949) concerning the essence of Christian religious mysticism within the Catholic tradition. The content of his original philosophical teaching, which is a philosophy of action, includes the justification of the possibility of a mystical element. The author demonstrates that the justification of this possibility was carried out by the philosopher as an integral part of his program for the reconstruction of the harmony of faith and reason based on the radical criticism of the dualism of the natural and supernatural principles, which declared itself not only in the secular philosophical thinking of that time, but also in theology. The article argues that the systemic philosophical conceptualization of religious mystical experience was carried out by the philosopher in the space of interdisciplinary dialogue, as well as in the context of Catholic modernism. Much attention is paid to the consideration of the peculiarity of M. Blondel's approach to mysticism, which consists in the justification of the rational principle in the fabric of mystical life. This allowed the philosopher to approach the solution of the fundamental problem of the relationship between philosophical reason and mystical experience from a new position. The article shows that, implementing a philosophical approach to mysticism based on the use of the categories "genuine - ingenuine", "universal - particular- individual", M. Blondel saw in mysticism a "window" to the highest wisdom, familiarization with which is the source of philosophical reason and allows philosophy to solve fundamental theoretical and practical issues.
The article examines the concept of "deep India," used by an ethnographer Sergey Arutynov, as a general type designating broad social groups united in different communities (castes and tribes), primarily rural population, largely guided in the organization of their everyday life by traditions, values, norms and established ideas. The author analyzes the experience of the Indian-Soviet anthropological expedition of the 1970s-1980s seeking to create a general anthropological picture of India, and such modes of "deep India" as the village, urban worlds of subalterns and nomads, the concepts of "folk", "ordinary", "interior", as well as the specific concept of "tribal". A conservative, stabilizing social strategy is what shapes the phenomenon of "deep India," while ongoing modernization processes are associated with the creation of new technologies and new social relations. Some essential features of "deep India," according to the author, are the tendency towards endogamy and social segmentation, the construction of a social hierarchy, local and territorial connection, as well as self-reproduction through the socialization of children in the norms and traditions of a given community, with a determined circle of possible marriage partners. "Deep India" can be used both as a designation of certain loci and as a set of conservative social practices, understanding the conventionality of this term and taking into account the changes taking place in Indian society.
The article attempts to discover elements of the tribal cult of the gourd- ancestor in the regional Hinduism of Odisha. This cult goes back to the anthropogenic myth of the Deluge and escape inside a giant gourd. Both the myth and the cult of its hero are found among many tribes in the southern parts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh and have many parallels in continental SoutheastAsia and southern China. Besides, the name of the hero of the myth in many cultures is derived from the word 'gourd'. Several Shaivite deities have been found in Hinduism of Odisha, whose names literally mean 'gourd god'. A detailed analysis of different versions of temple legends associated with these deities has shown that, although the Hindu narrative was created independently of tribal cults, some of its details still point to the substrate influence of the gourd-ancestor cult.
The article is devoted to the problems arising in the relations between the church and secular judicial bodies in the consideration of related categories of cases in the Russian Empire in the 18th century. The author shows that due to the change in the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts, which was not precisely defined in the legislation, there were numerous cases of disputes about competence between judicial bodies, which had to be resolved directly by the Holy Synod and the Senate. The shortcomings of the legislative regulation were gradually eliminated by practice throughout the eighteenth century. The article demonstrates another side of the relationship between secular and ecclesiastical bodies, which was expressed in mutual assistance in court cases. The article also considers the relations of the church court with the bodies of political investigation, which were mainly reduced to the fulfilment by the clerical bodies of the instructions of the Privy Chancellery and other bodies with similar competence.
The use of own sacred books as an alternative to the Guru Granth - the Sikh scripture - is a rare but a very significant phenomenon among the lower castes (Dalits) of Punjab, which reflects the contemporary conflict in Punjabi-Sikh society. In the 20th-21st centuries, counter-texts were launched by the Adi Dharmi and Ravidasi religious & caste communities, which mainly unite the Chamars (tanners) of the Land of Five Rivers. In 2001, the Sikh mazhabis (sweepers) - followers of Piara Singh Bhaniara in the Rupnagar/Ropar district - also announced the launch of their sacred text which later proved to be highly controversial. All such alternative scriptures aim at glorifying respective religious communities through their historical or contemporary founders and at distancing 'own' religions from mainstream Sikhism. The article discusses aspects of on the semantic, performative and iconic functions of theAdi Prakash Ratnakar scripture ('The Treasury of the Primordial Light') compiled by 1960 and published in the 1980s by the Adi Dharm community. Referring to this text - introduced in the research circulation for the first time - allows us to identify the place ofAdi Dharmis within the religious and caste landscape of the Indian Punjab and assess the potential of this Dalit community in its complicated relationship with the 'true' followers of Sikhism.
The article considers the evolution of the visual policy of the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s in the sphere of "red rites" and (anti)religious propaganda. The materials of the journal "Antireligioznik" and archival antireligious documentary films "Komsomol Christmas" (1923) and "Komsomol Easter" (1925) are introduced into scientific circulation as sources. It is argued that in the 1920s the concept "red rites" - "Komsomol Christmas" and "Komsomol Easter" - was theoretically developed in the works of prominent party figures (N. K. Krupskaya, L. D. Trotsky, E.M. Yaroslavsky, A. V. Lunacharsky, I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov). This concept was based on the inversion of the main Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter) and was considered by propagandists as an effective means of constructing a quasi-religious model of the new Soviet reality. However, the "red rites" did not become a functional equivalent of religious rituals. It is concluded that, in connection with the change in the official party socio-economic course in the 1930s there was a final rejection of the "carnival" in Soviet rituals in favor of expanding the administrative-political discourse. There is a transition to the development of ideological "anti-Christmas" and "anti-Easter" campaigns in the USSR as well as in the anti-religious visual policy of the 1930s representing the class, exploitative essence of religion.
The article takes a clue from the concept of "deep India" proposed by S.A. Arutyunov and tests it on the material of medieval religious poetry in Marathi in praise of the god Vitthal/Vithoba, and the practice of collective vari (pilgrimage) to his temple in Pandharpur. Towards the end of the 19th century, high caste social and religious reformers and nationalist historians took to treat these factors as the basis for evolution of the Marathi ethnicity, identity and ethos. The poets behind this poetry ranging from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries were eventually valorized as the national treasure, elevated to the rank of sainthood (sants) and made use of as tools of nationalist, political and social indoctrination at various stages during the pre- and postcolonial periods, especially during the decade of the struggle for a monolingual state of Maharashtra in 1950s. Through the "positive discrimination" strategy under implementation in India since the 1990s and the promotion of the feminist agenda, the role of low-caste hymn writers has significantly popped up, among whom the maidservant Janabai has emerged as an undisputed leader. Not a single piece of reliable information about her is available, which proved to be an ideal starting point for the formation of multi-vector narratives around her figure through the course of the last century and a half. The narrative created by the educated & eacute;lite - abhijan, that had been dominant throughout the last century is gradually coming into conflict with an alternative discourse by the so called bahujan, those whom the elite tried to marginalize.
The article analyzes socially engaged Buddhism, one of the most important concepts of the neo-Buddhist Amedkarite community of India, followers of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956), the leader and ideologist of the Dalit movement. Ambedkar considered Hinduism to be one of the forces that support the caste system, and saw his task as ensuring that at least representatives of the "low" castes found some other religious basis for themselves, and ceased to be (or be considered?) Hindus, if they ever were. He believed that only religious conversion would allow the Dalits to get rid of the burden of "untouchability". Turning to Buddhism as one of the egalitarian religions that originated in India, Ambedkar created a socio-religious project, which he called Navayana ("new chariot", in relation to the already existing schools of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism). In the modern Dalit-Ambedkarite community, B.R. Ambedkar has become a cult figure: songs are dedicated to him, statues are erected, and his life is a role model. Based on the study of the biography of B.R. Ambedkar, his works on the theory of the caste system and the interpretation of the position of the Pali Canon, the article analyzes the concept of socially engaged Navayana Buddhism, describes the main stages of the formation of the Dalit movement in modern India.
The article explores the "conciliatory discourse" on the compatibility of Islam and socialism in the previously unknown work of the prominent Tatar theologian Musa Bigiev (1873-1949) "The Alphabet book of the Great Truths of Islam" (1923/1924). Discourse analysis of the manuscript, the historical context of its writing and the theologian's practical activities in the 1920s reveal the nature of the "conciliatory" discourse on decolonization, which combined into a consistent concept revolutionary, socialist ideas with religious principles. The author concludes that the Bigiev discourse was based on the anti-colonial, anti-Western pathos of socialist and Marxist ideas, proving the necessity of cooperation between Muslims and Eastern countries and the Bolsheviks. At the same time, in the 1920s, Bigiev did not change his earlier convictions: he continued to rely on a reformist reading of Islam in the name of ideas of liberation and revival of the Muslim world. Temporary rallying around the "Bolshevik flag" seemed a convenient tool for decolonization. Bigiev reconciled in his beliefs and demonstrated that these worldviews were not contradictory. Involved in global anti-colonial networks, the theologian was not a consistent communist and represented a vivid, but not unique for that era, type of theologian and politician who possessed a hybrid identity who possessed a hybrid identity characteristic of some Muslim thinkers, anti-colonial leaders of the Russian Empire, Soviet Russia and the Eastern countries.
The focus of the study is on servants, who constitute a noticeable and stable element of a huge number of Indian households and permeate its socio-cultural landscape. The article examines how this professional community manifested itself in British India. Europeans who arrived on the peninsula were forced to take into account the religious and caste affiliation of servants in the process of establishing everyday life. Adapting to the proposed conditions, the British chose from the local population those who could and agreed to serve their needs and requests. As a result, in the places of stay and residence of the British, a staff of servants was formed, which had not previously been encountered in such a combination. Finding themselves in a situation of double loyalty in the conditions of the imperial household - to their group and to the English patron, servants assumed the role of mediators between the two "cultural castes", acting as agents of their mutual adaptation, which led to the emergence of a hybrid imperial order and the erosion of familiar social configurations. In this article, the study of the problems of caste, religious, racial boundaries and relations actualized through special labor practices in the intimate space of the colonial bungalows is empirical in nature and is based on the analysis of the texts of British householders.
The article is focused on reconstructing political anti-religious practices at the regional level in 1946-1948 on the basis of archival and media sources. The object of the study is the activity of the Molotov Regional Committee of theAll-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The article tests the hypothesis according to which the Russian Orthodox Church was considered in the party authorities as an ideological and political opponent - a breeding ground for hostile ideology, and in the future as a gathering point for anti-Soviet elements. The key task of the regional committee was to discipline party members and suppress 'conciliatory' sentiments towards Orthodox religion and the church. Party documents show the disorientation and confusion of party members from the twists and turns of state-confessional policy and the lack of clear instructions from the centre. During this period, the directive role was transferred to the level of the regional organisation. They were charged with the duty to 'severely punish' communists who performed religious practices, as well as with the deployment of anti-religious propaganda. Close co-operation between the regional party committee and the office of the regional representative of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was found.
