Cultural Complexities
Heretics, Spies, or Useful Idiots?: Confessional Mobility in Anglo-Spanish Relations, 1570-90
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Vittoria Feola
Religious historians study 16C Western European religious refugees from Catholic countries who resettled in Protestant lands through the prism of their religious beliefs, and consider them as victims of early modern intolerance. Historians of political thought, on the other hand, focus on the political threat that many of those refugees’ religious ideologies, such as tyrannicide and direct illumination, posed to the established order. Historians of early modern intelligence tend to prefer spies’ practices to their deeper beliefs. My paper presents a case study of a group of Italian and Spanish spies who served both Elizabeth I of England and Philip II of Spain. By an integrated methodological approach I will be able to show that confessional mobility in Anglo-Spanish relations between 1570 and 1590 impacted greatly on the recruitment and modus operandi of both the English and the Spanish intelligence systems. I analyse first, the spaces where religious refugees-turned spies operated; secondly, their movements as resulted from their political services; and, thirdly, the relevance of the particular time when their recruitment occurred, after the Jesuits forced Philip II to start considering England as an enemy. Thanks to manuscript evidence from the Jesuits Archive in Rome which has not been previously studied I show that Italian and English Jesuits forged an unnatural alliance with moderate English Puritans with the aim of weakening Spain against France. Catholic terror plots true and forged are part of the story. Were those people heretics, spies, or just useful idiots?
Was Shenoute of Atripe a Creator of Coptic Nationalism? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Miloš David
Shenoute of Atripe represents one of the most important persons of Coptic Church history. His character remained shrouded in secrecy until the beginning of 20th century when the ground-breaking book about his life and legacy by Johannes Leipoldt was published. The recent archaeological excavation surrounding his former monasteries also can help to give other information about the period when he lived. Shenoute is by some scholars considered a creator of Coptic nationalism because he was the most productive Coptic writer using comprehensive language in his writings. He also wanted to eliminate all Greek elements from Coptic literature. Shenoute tried to suppress pagan cults in Upper Egypt. In fact, Panapolis was the centre of later paganism and the archimandrite of White Monastery tried to overthrow the cult of pagan gods and its worshippers by force and replaced it by Christianity. Was Shenoute really a creator of Coptic nationalism or just a zealous opponent of paganism? Shenoute apparently perceived Hellenistic culture as one of main attributes of pagan polytheism and maybe as a means for its spreading. Because of this persuasion he wished to establish a new purely Coptic spirituality which would not be reliant on Hellenistic culture. Understanding Shenoute and his time is aiding the mapping the formation of Coptic identity and its relation to Hellenistic heritage itself but also contemporary Coptic Christianity.
Al-Haram al-Sharif and al-Aqsa Mosque as a Contested Religious Site
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Moshe Ma'oz
Al Aqsa-Mosque is located in the site of al-Haram al-Sharif (known for Jews as Temple Mount), that has been for centuries a sacred shrine for Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians. In recent years, extremists on both sides have increasingly engaged in a struggle over the control of this contested religious site overshadowing the dialogues between moderate Jews and Muslims. Although cautious to avoid provocation, most Israeli governments have not succeeded in achieving a political settlement to the political-religious question of al-Haram al-Sharif and East-Jerusalem. On the contrary, most Israeli governments have proclaimed that Jerusalem will remain united, reflecting the views of the majority of Israeli-Jews that also consistently support Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and have endeavored to Judaize East-Jerusalem. Jewish neighborhoods have been built, thus extending greater Jerusalem into the West Bank. Since 1967, the Palestinian community in Jerusalem has also been gradually severed from its political and civil institutions. An agreed settlement on East-Jerusalem and Temple Mount would likely enable Israel to improve its relations with the Arab and Muslim world, as well as with the international community. Ahmad Qurie, a senior PLO leader stated in 2010: “Jerusalem is a key to peace; it is also a key to war and perpetual conflict. There cannot be a solution to the problems of the region without first solving the problems of Jerusalem”. However, the tensions regarding Jerusalem and Temple Mount seem to be intensifying, while playing a central role in igniting and perpetuating the escalation of violence.
The Isolation of Religious Art from Community
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Paul Shockley, Raul Prezas
In his classic work, "Art in Experience" (1934) American philosopher John Dewey expressed concerns about the qualitative nature of aesthetic experience and the toll it takes on people when works of art are separated from ordinary, everyday life. When we separate an art product from the life of a community, whereby we build a wall that divides it from origins and use in experience, then class division, aesthetic emptiness, poverty, and other problems find expression. Therefore, after studying these social concerns, we explore how the religious use of the arts and architecture can be used as a remedy.
