Spanish abstract: Una reflexión evolucionista y cognitivista sobre el papel de la imaginación y de la autorrepresentación en la identidad humana, en la creación de verdades, y en la gestión de las crisis—en el seno de una realidad humana, realidad interaccional y comunicativa, que siempre ha tenido mucho de realidad virtual (avant la lettre y avan…[Read more]

Mauritian Muslims have undergone a long process of religious standardization and sectarian segmentation. How have sharp religious boundaries such as those that separate Muslims from Hindus and Christians, as well as those that divide Muslims internally along sectarian lines emerged in a creole society such as Mauritius? This article traces how…[Read more]

This graduate seminar approaches the urban and rural landscapes of peninsular Italy from the Early Iron Age until the Gothic Wars, with the goal being to examine key points of intersection (and departure) between the spheres of ‘town’ and ‘country’. In adopting an holistic approach to these categories that are often juxtaposed, the seminar…[Read more]

Troy has long captured the human imagination. The story of its fall and the tales of both its inhabitants and besiegers have caught the attention of artists and their audiences from antiquity to post-modernity. It seems we are drawn to the struggle that is Troy and the Trojan War, to the paragons of virtue, and the archetypes of other, less noble…[Read more]

Spanish abstract: Para nosotros, humanos, la realidad se confunde con la realidad humana– y no podría ser de otra manera. Hay muchas dimensiones posibles para definir, estudiar o medir la realidad, pero todas sin excepción son relativas a nuestros intereses—algunos muy básicos y ligados a la experiencia humana general, otros especializados y sólo…[Read more]

In Mumbai the sonic dimensions of place‐making and religious life are deeply connected to the right to the city. For Twelver Shi‘i Muslims, who are marginal to both the city and the nation, public religious rituals and processions have long played very important roles in staging claims to the city. Investigating the sonic aspects of urban pla…[Read more]

Spanish abstract: Nos comportamos en sociedad de maneras que potencien nuestra autoestima, eligiendo las estrategias adecuadas para ello. Algo en esta línea había argumentado Mark Twain en su sarcástico ensayo ‘What Is Man?’ —pero ahora los sarcasmos de Twain parece que tienen respaldo científico en la psicología evolucionista. Así comenta…[Read more]

One of the medical manuscripts recovered from Tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui (dated 186 B.C.E.) states that, “When a person is born there are two things that need not to be learned: the first is to breathe and the second is to eat.” Of course it is true that all healthy newborn human beings possess the reflexes to breathe and eat. Yet, the imp…[Read more]

One of the medical manuscripts recovered from Tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui (dated 186 B.C.E.) states that, “When a person is born there are two things that need not to be learned: the first is to breathe and the second is to eat.” Of course it is true that all healthy newborn human beings possess the reflexes to breathe and eat. Yet, the imp…[Read more]

Prompted by Michel Foucault’s observation that “salvation is first of all essentially subsistence,” this essay explores Gregory of Nyssa’s discussion of Christian spiritual formation as a kind of salvific and transformative feeding of infants. This article argues that the prominent role of nourishment—and specifically breast milk—in Gregory’s t…[Read more]

Cyprian’s Epistle 63 represents the earliest extant account of the proper meaning and administration of the eucharistic cup. Against a group of Christians who were taking only water, Cyprian argues that wine is necessary for the ritual to be effective. While there has been much discussion surrounding the biblical references marshaled by Cyprian t…[Read more]

Humankind, for Gregory of Nyssa, was poisoned through a primordial act of eating the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. As a result, the toxin of sin and death has been blended into the body and soul of each person, dispersing itself throughout the component parts of their nature. If eating and drinking initiated the spiritual and physical…[Read more]

Review of Douglas Boin’s Coming Out Christian in the Roman World

A review of the 2015 novel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, by Alexandra Kleeman

Review of Seducing Augustine, by Virginia Burrus, Karmen MacKendrick, and Mark Jordan (2010)

Encyclopedia Entry

English abstract: Psychological processes internal to the individual, as well as those of a symbolic, discursive or cognitive nature, are built on the basis of social interaction, and—given that social interaction exists prior to individuals, exceeds them in complexity, and forms them—the development of consciousness, and of communicative and sym…[Read more]

Putin’s Russia suffered a bitter defeat in the first weeks of the Russian-Ukrainian war. However, the Kremlin will keep on trying to place Ukraine into its orbit, as well as project its influence further into the Western world. Unceasing and dynamic aggrandizement under strong leadership is one of the most functional approaches to statecraft in R…[Read more]

Spanish abstract: En su historia de la complejidad, de la humanidad y de la humanización (´El lugar del hombre en el cosmos´), Fred Spier se adhiere a una interesante teoría que podría explicar en parte la evolución del cerebro humano y algunas de sus peculiaridades cognitivas. A saber, la teoría de la encefalización por neotenia, o humaniz…[Read more]

The little known German card game “Höllfahren” or “Hölle” has a forgotten history that stretches back into the 16th century, when it was called “Untreue”, “untreuer Nachbar”, “in die Hölle (fahren)” and similar names. Several images and textual references indicate the game’s popularity in the 17th century. Unusual for a card game, Höllfahren emp…[Read more]