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I recall many years ago my aunt told me, “Football in Texas is like religion.” Could football or fans’ devotion to football be considered like a religion in some ways? Could this be seen as cultic devotion similar to cults or other forms of organized religion in the world? It is possible that devotion to…
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Since my blog touches on aspects related to critical thought on culture, I wanted to discuss a show in American culture that everyone should think about watching. This is, of course, the cult classic known as The Venture Bros. The Venture Bros. was an animated series that appeared on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network on…
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Diaspora studies in biblical studies is a fascinating subject. It connects to how readers of the Bible, or any sacred text, interpret the text based on their own backgrounds and experiences. Jeffrey Kah-Jin Kuan is a biblical scholar who views the Book of Esther from the perspective of a Chinese American. His essay, Diasporic Readings…
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Alan Dundes was a prolific writer and a folklorist. I first heard about his work when I completed an anthropology of religion course during my undergraduate years. One of his works that I found both comical and interesting was Sometimes the Dragon Wins: Yet More Urban Folklore from the Paperwork Empire (Dundes & Pagter, 1996).…
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CH: What inspired you to become a video game music composer? Were there any other influences that drew you toward this path? EG: My dad had a rock band, so I grew up with music. As a teenager I did play the guitar and had my band too, mainly doing rock and hard rock. I…
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Memory Studies and Collective Memory Memory studies can tell us many things about what and how people choose to remember certain events. Certain historical events, such as war, environmental disasters, and terror attacks, can create collective meanings that allow groups of people to remember these events in specific ways. On March 11, a magnitude 9…
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Dale Allison’s book Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age is a fascinating book. This relatively short book documents experiences that different individuals have had that could be considered spiritual or religious. In a way, this book builds on some ideas expressed in his book Night Comes. While Allison is primarily a New Testament…
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“Every religion in the world has syncretism,” said my professor of Anthropology of Religion many years ago. Examining religion through the lens of anthropology and historical analysis can reveal the phenomenon of syncretism. The phenomenon of syncretism among religious believers warrants examination. First, I will be using Merriam-Webster’s definition of syncretism as “the combination of…
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Chapter 1 – Of Kurds, Curses and Jam The first chapter begins by describing the loss of Kurdish lives that came from Saddam Hussein and chemical weapons. An expression is stated: “We have jam, but there is no jam. Jam exists, but it does not exist here. The spirit of jam is with us but…
Triggered to Thinking 