Abstract This essay examines the theological and phenomenological dimensions of the Norwegian band Antestor, whose early work emerged within the 1990s black metal scene yet expressed a radically different worldview. While the second wave of Norwegian black metal was defined by nihilism, anti-Christian sentiment, and darkness as metaphysical negation, Antestor inverted this aesthetic. Drawing on black metal’s sonic vocabulary—its raw intensity and atmospheric coldness—they reimagined darkness as a space of endurance and faith. Through phenomenological analysis of lyrics such as “Demonic Seduction,” “Message From Hell,” “Human” and “Jesus, Jesus, Ver Du Hjå Meg,” this study situates Antestor within apophatic and existential theological traditions (Tillich, Kierkegaard, Marion). Their music performs a theology of absence, where faith persists amid divine silence. By reframing black metal’s aesthetics through belief, Antestor reveals a paradoxical spirituality—where frost and transcendence coexist, and faith itself becomes an act of extremity.
Abstract This article reconsiders the apparent “disappearance” of the halo in Italian Virgin and Child imagery (c. 867–1606). Focusing on key works from Hagia Sophia to Caravaggio’s painting, it argues that the halo’s decline signals not secularization, but a “progressive incarnational translation”—a shift where divine presence migrates from geometric symbols into depicted flesh and light. Combining iconographic analysis, phenomenology, and period household inventories, the essay proposes a “modernization mechanism of sacred expression.” It traces a continuous trajectory from Byzantine symbolic assertion through Florentine optical refinement to Roman Baroque incarnational presence. By analyzing how medium adaptation and viewing modes reconfigure the sacred, this study challenges teleological narratives of naturalism. It offers a new account of how Italian Catholic visual culture negotiates continuity and change, maintaining theological effectiveness through formal innovation.
Abstract In 1967, Buddhist offering utensils were excavated at the Pŏpch’ŏnsa temple site, which is in Wonju City, Kangwondo Province. The excavated utensils included the hyangwan (incense burner), hyŏnlo (hanging incense burner), kwangmyŏngdae (light stand), and pŏn (candlestick). This article examines what kinds of offering vessels were used, how many Buddhist offering vessels were made, and how these offering utensils were placed in front of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. According to the inscriptions, these offering utensils were made for the Mit’ahoe ( Amitābha Dharma Assembly) in the Muja year at the Pŏpch’ŏnsa temple. Two large bronze kwangmyŏngdaes , one bronze hyangwan , one bronze hyŏnlo , one bronze pŏn , and some bronze dish lamps would have been placed on the Buddhist table in front of Amitābha Buddha. The Buddhist offering utensils made in the Muja years may have been made in 1168, buried underground during the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century.
