Sightings Articles
Vivid in "Indra and Heavenly Dragon General:" The Korean People's Trust in Buddhist Deities
Buddhism became an everyday religion in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) after thriving as the National Religion supported by royal families and aristocrats during the earlier Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392).However, because Joseon-Dynasty polit...
September 24, 2015
Refugee Crisis
The floods of ocean waters in tsunamis occasioned by earthquakes and the floods of humans as refugees occasioned by deathly regimes, revolutions, and food-and-shelter shortages, dominated recent headlines....
September 21, 2015
ISIS' War Against the Past
The unrelenting, brutal war that ISIS is conducting in the Middle East confronts us daily with new modes of inhuman behavior. We have been horrified by videos of tortures and beheadings of captured Westerners and locals alike. And not long ago ISI...
September 17, 2015
Annulments and Change
“Annulments” turned up in many a recent headline in print and on blogs, referencing a new papal action. To anticipate a united response is to miss the dynamics of contemporary bi-polar Catholicism. One typical headline-and-subheading summarized ...
September 14, 2015
Japanese Religions and the Issue of "Comfort Women"
Last month, Japan marked the 70 years which have passed since its World War II surrender to Allied Powers in 1945. Less known is that twenty-four years have passed since former Japanese military “comfort women” came forward for the first time and sue...
September 10, 2015
Vanishing Clergy
Our editor suggests that we postpone our next Sightings until September, to give a busy staff a breather after the busiest summer-news of news-logging we can remember.Our files and e-files bulge or pulse with folders called “Current.” Before we tuck ...
July 27, 2015
Medieval Art at the Smart: Mary as Vessel-Like Throne for the Christ-Child, Personification of Wisdom
edieval Virgin-and-Child statues like the one owned by the Smart Museum of Art were once the most ubiquitous type of medieval devotional image. ...