Religion

Seated Amitabha Buddha, Ming dynasty China, c.1600. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘Buddhism’ by Donald S. Lopez Jr. review

Buddhism: A Journey Through History by Donald S. Lopez Jr. swiftly soon loses sight of the Buddha himself. Is that a bad thing, and was he ever there?

The young Brahmin is committed to the care of a Shastri Brahmin. From The Lives of the Brahmin, an album of 38 watercolour drawings of ceremonies undertaken during the life of a Brahmin, India, c.1820. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Brahmins: The Origins of India’s Priestly Caste

In the first millennium BC the Brahmin class organised as a community and assumed responsibility for learning the sacred Vedas. What are the origins of India’s priestly caste?

Portrait of Ulrich Zwingli, by Christoph Murer, 1587. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

The Affair of the Sausages

On 9 March 1522 the Swiss Reformation began with an ‘ostentatious eating of sausages.’

Nabateans illustration © Ben Jones/Heart Agency.

The Nabataeans are Coming

Pre-Islamic history was once taboo in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Will the ‘rediscovery’ of an ancient people – the Nabataeans – encourage international tourism?

Left-right: Pius XI, Gregory III, Pius IX,cGregory VII, Clement VII, and Pius VI.. Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images, Rijksmuseum, Fototeca Gilardi/Bridgeman Images, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and Photo Josse/Bridgeman Images.

Curbing the Power of the Popes

The survival of the papacy has always been dependent on a precarious balancing act between the pope’s religious and secular powers.

Bishop Asaiah talks with police and reporters outside the ruins of the headquarters of the Fountain of the World cult following an bomb attack by two former members, 11 December 1958. The Regents of the University of California (CC BY 4.0

How Have Cults Shaped American History?

From a cult’s rogue personalities to its foundational ideologies, how have fringe beliefs guided the direction of the American dream?

Early Christian martyrs in a Roman arena, Jan Luyken, c.1700. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

Diocletian’s Great Persecution

On 23 February 303 Roman emperor Diocletian embarked on his Great Persecution of the empire’s Christians. Why?

A hunter with a beaver biting off its testicles. Miniature from the Physiologus, 14th century. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Public Domain.

Searching for the Soul of the Beaver

Are beavers beasts or fish? For medieval philosophers, this was an important question with implications for the dining table.

Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters, by Hendrick Avercamp, c.1608. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

Who to Blame for Early Modern Climate Change?

The changing climate of the Little Ice Age forced radical thinkers to reconsider humanity’s place in the universe.

Marginal illustration showing the expulsion of Jews, the Rochester Chronicle, 1355. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Edward I’s Destruction of England’s Jews

The first year of Edward I’s reign saw waves of strictures placed on a Jewish community in an already perilous situation. It set the path to their expulsion.