Reconfiguring ideology: embodying China's new concepts of heritage in commemorative rituals. Knowledge of China's newly listed and recently revived commemorative rituals is of international significance, and in the era of rising religiosity and civil religion, this study of the state sponsored 'heritage cults' will provide an understanding of the changing terrain of identity, tradition and cultural value in a country that is of crucial importance and increasing significance for Australia.
The Papacy in Late Antiquity. The papacy, one of the oldest and most powerful institutions in the world, has recently been revitalized and gives every sign of retaining its authority in the immediate future. The research aims to explain how, across some three hundred years, it came to enjoy its position. In a world in which religious authority and allegiance is becoming more important, locally and internationally, a sound understanding of the foundations of a key institution will be of great ben ....The Papacy in Late Antiquity. The papacy, one of the oldest and most powerful institutions in the world, has recently been revitalized and gives every sign of retaining its authority in the immediate future. The research aims to explain how, across some three hundred years, it came to enjoy its position. In a world in which religious authority and allegiance is becoming more important, locally and internationally, a sound understanding of the foundations of a key institution will be of great benefit. Read moreRead less
Festival, Spectacle and Plays in Renaissance Florence. Wherever public money and community effort are expended on festive display, religious devotion, or promoting national prestige through performance, questions arise about how such expense can be justified, and how the community measures its success. This project examines those questions in relation to Renaissance Florence which provided many of the models for early modern European festivals. It will analyse some of the ways in which the commu ....Festival, Spectacle and Plays in Renaissance Florence. Wherever public money and community effort are expended on festive display, religious devotion, or promoting national prestige through performance, questions arise about how such expense can be justified, and how the community measures its success. This project examines those questions in relation to Renaissance Florence which provided many of the models for early modern European festivals. It will analyse some of the ways in which the community and its individual members contributed to and reaped the benefit of participation in public performance and devotion. It will also provide cautionary examples of the abuse of such modes of performance by corrupt regimes.Read moreRead less
Transforming the East: Jesuit Translations of the Confucian Classics. The Jesuit translations of the Confucian canon not only provided the first European window into Chinese philosophy but also changed the intellectual and cultural history of Europe. This project examines the rich history of these translations and their dissemination, and interrogates how Confucian ideas influenced the development of Enlightenment philosophy. It will produce the first comprehensive history of these translations ....Transforming the East: Jesuit Translations of the Confucian Classics. The Jesuit translations of the Confucian canon not only provided the first European window into Chinese philosophy but also changed the intellectual and cultural history of Europe. This project examines the rich history of these translations and their dissemination, and interrogates how Confucian ideas influenced the development of Enlightenment philosophy. It will produce the first comprehensive history of these translations and make available to anglophone scholars primary and secondary sources in various European languages and Chinese. The project will advance our understanding of the personal and textual networks through which the first substantial philosophical exchange was conducted between Europe and China.Read moreRead less
Concord in the Renaissance. This project aims to analyse the diffusion and the political and religious use of the concept of concord among humanists, philosophers, theologians, poets and political writers during the fourteenth and the fifteenth century in the Italian peninsula. Starting with a novel approach to the thought of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, this analysis is expected to result in an enriched view of the Italian Renaissance, which will be re-assessed based on its contr ....Concord in the Renaissance. This project aims to analyse the diffusion and the political and religious use of the concept of concord among humanists, philosophers, theologians, poets and political writers during the fourteenth and the fifteenth century in the Italian peninsula. Starting with a novel approach to the thought of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, this analysis is expected to result in an enriched view of the Italian Renaissance, which will be re-assessed based on its contribution to the idea of common good. This project also aims to evaluate the uses and meanings of concord in relation to those of tolerance to show how, on the basis of a historically informed and theoretically sound definition, concord can become a new concept for modern political theory.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101479
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$424,813.00
Summary
The Sounds of Time. In our age of rapid technological acceleration, understanding how time shapes social life and cultural production is an urgent task. This project aims to write an important new chapter in time’s history from the origins of the mechanical musical clock in fourteenth-century Europe to the spread of European time across the world by missionaries in the sixteenth century. Traversing histories of science, religion, and time, the project expects to be the first sonic history of tim ....The Sounds of Time. In our age of rapid technological acceleration, understanding how time shapes social life and cultural production is an urgent task. This project aims to write an important new chapter in time’s history from the origins of the mechanical musical clock in fourteenth-century Europe to the spread of European time across the world by missionaries in the sixteenth century. Traversing histories of science, religion, and time, the project expects to be the first sonic history of time, and to develop innovative transdisciplinary approaches to the global history of material culture. It aims to benefit Australian culture by providing a richer history of the origins of time measurement, opening up alternative visions of how we might live in time now.Read moreRead less
Religion and Political Transformation: A Transnational Study of South American Independence, 1750-1840. This pathbreaking international research project strongly contributes to the internationalisation of Australian humanities and social science research. It ensures Australia's substantial participation in seminal intellectual debates during the approaching bicentenaries of the birth of modernity in Spain and Latin America. It guarantees that Australia will not become just a consumer of overseas ....Religion and Political Transformation: A Transnational Study of South American Independence, 1750-1840. This pathbreaking international research project strongly contributes to the internationalisation of Australian humanities and social science research. It ensures Australia's substantial participation in seminal intellectual debates during the approaching bicentenaries of the birth of modernity in Spain and Latin America. It guarantees that Australia will not become just a consumer of overseas research in this field. It renews Australia's intellectual and cultural capital in Iberian and Latin American Studies at a crucial moment of generational change. It contributes to an understanding of the generic links between religious radicalism and political violence in an age of fast-moving, global transformation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180101539
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$382,983.00
Summary
Religious belief and Social cohesion. This project aims to investigate the role of religious belief and educational training in the formation of a person's sense of self in society, leading to either social harmony or conflict. It does so by examining a moment of tension in late antique Alexandria to understand the processes that transformed classical antiquity into Byzantine Christendom. This historical analysis will provide Australians with a more multi-faceted understanding of the sources of ....Religious belief and Social cohesion. This project aims to investigate the role of religious belief and educational training in the formation of a person's sense of self in society, leading to either social harmony or conflict. It does so by examining a moment of tension in late antique Alexandria to understand the processes that transformed classical antiquity into Byzantine Christendom. This historical analysis will provide Australians with a more multi-faceted understanding of the sources of Australian culture, so that they can better understand their heritage to promote social cohesion.Read moreRead less
Early modern missions: understanding local responses to global challenges. Christianity became remarkably successful across an incredibly wide range of early modern cultures, languages and early modern colonial contexts - from Caribbean slavery to settler societies like Australia. How did this happen? This project uses the case study of early modern Moravian missions, a global and arguably one of the leading Protestant mission organisations in the early modern world, to reconceptualise the agenc ....Early modern missions: understanding local responses to global challenges. Christianity became remarkably successful across an incredibly wide range of early modern cultures, languages and early modern colonial contexts - from Caribbean slavery to settler societies like Australia. How did this happen? This project uses the case study of early modern Moravian missions, a global and arguably one of the leading Protestant mission organisations in the early modern world, to reconceptualise the agency of indigenous people in shaping global Christianity. The project aims to explore the exceptionally diverse Moravian sources including mission diaries, correspondence, art, mission journals and even letters written by indigenous converts.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101505
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$363,582.00
Summary
The Aristotelian Soul in Late Ming China. This project aims to uncover a seminal moment during the first stage of Sino-Western intellectual encounters when the Jesuit Francesco Sambiasi (1582-1649) collaborated with the mandarin Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) on the Lingyan lishao (1624), a Chinese translation of Aristotle’s On the Soul. Since Ming Chinese lacked direct analogues for the Aristotelian soul, this work provides significant insights into how conceptual translation is conducted between dispa ....The Aristotelian Soul in Late Ming China. This project aims to uncover a seminal moment during the first stage of Sino-Western intellectual encounters when the Jesuit Francesco Sambiasi (1582-1649) collaborated with the mandarin Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) on the Lingyan lishao (1624), a Chinese translation of Aristotle’s On the Soul. Since Ming Chinese lacked direct analogues for the Aristotelian soul, this work provides significant insights into how conceptual translation is conducted between disparate cultures. The intended outcome of this project is to reveal the semantic transformations between the European and Chinese contexts. Benefits include the opening up of pioneering yet understudied texts and insights into why certain ideas fail to resonate in their new target culture.Read moreRead less