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Examining The Changing Face of Christianity

By Guest PostNovember 28, 2011Cultureafrica, anthropologist, asia, chaplains in guatemala, charismatic christianity, China, christianity, christians, diversity, downtown toronto, Europe, faith, girish daswani, god, ju hui judy han, kevin o neill, korean missionaries, latin america, nigeria, North America, north korea, pamela klassen, pentecostal christianity, pentecostalism, politics of global christianity, rural villages, ruth marshall, simon coleman, social process, spiritual warriors, university of toronto, valentina napolitano

U of T leading centre for study of global Christianity

A century ago, 80 per cent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America; today, nearly 70 per cent live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, making Christianity a predominantly non-Western religion.

A critical mass of scholars who are looking into the implications of this shift has made the University of Toronto a leading centre for the study of global Christianity.

Christianity today has more than 2.2 billion adherents worldwide. The majority are overwhelmingly poor, displaced from rural villages into overcrowded cities in search of work, and adhere strictly to the word of Scripture, which can command their loyalty far more than state or society. (more…)

Former British Prime Minister Discusses Faith and Action

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2011Culture, Politicsanna siu, bahai, british prime minister, christian, davina finn, farhana rahman, global health, globalization, internet, jewish, malaria endemic countries, malaria projects, migration, multi faith centre, muslim, online communities, phantom, st george campus, tony blair, tony blair faith foundation, uganda, university

*Tony Blair visits U of T Multi-faith Centre*

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, applauded the efforts of the foundation’s six Canadian Faiths Act Fellows to help eradicate malaria and address other pressing community issues.

Blair recently took part in a discussion at the Multi-faith Centre on U of T’s St. George Campus where he talked about the impact of faith communities on global health outcomes alongside expert U of T academics, faith leaders and his foundation’s Faiths Act Fellows (See photos of Blair’s visit). Faiths Act is the foundation’s multi-faith social action program comprising 34 fellows across the world taking action together against preventable disease and extreme poverty. (more…)

Art Detective

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2011Cultureamerican identity, annika johnson, art detective, artist, bill magdalene, clara mairs, depression era, detective, digital revolution, enigmatic status, historical fiction, industrial revolution, minneapolis, minnesota artist, minnesota historical society, minnesota state, paintings and prints, st paul, united states, university of minnesota

*A forgotten artist’s work can help us understand ourselves, says U graduate*

“I am a detective of sorts,” Annika Johnson says. “And I find clues in paintings, documents, and letters that tell me about who the artist was that made them and when, where, and why they made them.”

Johnson, who received her art history degree from the U this past May and is now applying to graduate schools across the country, did undergraduate research on Clara Mairs—a little known Minnesota artist from the depression era. Johnson describes Mairs’ work as “playful yet psychological, monumental yet humble” and says she not only helped activate the state’s modern and avant-garde art movements but also was central in the early development of arts education in St. Paul. (more…)

Francis Galton’s Eugenic Novel Kantsaywhere Published Online

By Guest PostNovember 20, 2011Cultureeugenic marriage, eugenic novel, eugenics, father of eugenics, forensic fingerprinting, francis galton, kantsaywhere

Francis Galton’s eugenic novel Kantsaywhere has been published for the first time by UCL. (more…)

‘The History of Angels’

By Guest PostNovember 17, 2011Cultureangels, angels are everywhere, archangels, authorities, Bible, celestial hierarchy, cherubim, christ as an angel, christian ascetic monks, christians, companion angels, diane swanbrow, dominions, early years of christianity, egyptian monks, ellen muehlberger, guardian angel, keepsake ornaments, lapel pins, magnetic dashboard figures, near eastern studies, north american christianity, principalities, pulitzer prize winning play, seraphim, song of the angels, syria, thrones, united states, university of michigan, virtues, virtuous behaviour, widespread modern notions about angels, william adolphe bouguereau, worldly activities

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Angels are everywhere today—on lapel pins, magnetic dashboard figures, keepsake ornaments and in a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. But interest in angels is more than a contemporary fad. According to a University of Michigan historian, angels stirred intense interest in the early years of Christianity as well.

“Just as many people today think of pets as part of their families, many people in the first 500 years of Christianity were convinced that angels were part of their lives,” said Ellen Muehlberger, assistant professor of Near Eastern studies and history at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. (more…)

Women See Naked Men Differently Too

By Guest PostNovember 12, 2011Culture, Scienceability, amount of skin shown, bedroom, benevolent sexism, career advancement, factors, feminist theory, inanimate object, kinds of mind view, kurt gray, men and women, mind, negative effects, northeastern university, people with bare skin, perception, psychologist, revealing attire, self control, sexes, united states, university of maryland, yale

COLLEGE PARK, Md – For both men and women, wearing revealing attire causes them to be seen as more sensitive but less competent, says a new study by University of Maryland psychologist Kurt Gray and colleagues from Yale and Northeastern University. (more…)

From the Man Who Played God, a Vampire and a Statesman: Don’t quit

By Guest PostNovember 10, 2011Culture, Entertainment1968, academy award for best actor, academy award winning actor, actor, brilliant director, broadway debut, bruce almighty, chubb fellow, clint eastwood, driving miss daisy, fast black, film studies program, glory, god, hello dolly, invictus, jackson state university, james bundy, long walk to freedom, los angeles, lucious fox, million dollar baby, mississippi born actor, morgan freeman, ned logan, nelson mandela, new york, nobel peace prize winning statesman, pbs children show, ron gregg, sergeant major john rawlins, south african leader, street smart, the dark knight, the electric company, the shawshank redemption, unforgiven, us air force, vincent the vegetable vampire, woolsey hall, yale

Woolsey Hall was packed with his fans on Nov. 8 when Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman took the stage for an “Actor’s Studio”-styled interview with Ron Gregg, a senior lecturer and programming director in Yale’s Film Studies Program.

Among those who came out to see the 74-year-old-actor — visiting the campus as a Chubb Fellow —was a 95-year old woman who listened as Freeman described his acting career and his history on television, in theater and in film. When given the opportunity to ask a question, she simply gushed, “Morgan Freeman, I love you. I’ve seen every movie you’ve been in.” She then told him, “I don’t want to show you any disrespect” for being so bold. (more…)

Dr. Livingstone’s Lost 1871 ‘Massacre’ Diary Recovered; Discovery Rewrites History

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2011Culture, General1874, account of a massacre, adrian wisnicki, africa, arab slavers, birkbeck, british academy, british government, central africa, congolese village, david livingstone, doug emery, east african slave trade, eastern democratic republic of congo, evening standard, expedition, henry m stanley, horace waller, imperialist in africa, indiana university of pennsylvania, ink from berry seeds, keith knox, livingstone 1871 field diary, london standard, mike toth, national hero, new york herald, nyangwe, original diary, roger l easton jr, slave trade, spectral imaging, the last journals of david livingstone, the unspeakable horror, ucla, united states, university of london, victorian explorer

In Africa 140 years ago, David Livingstone, the Victorian explorer, met Henry M. Stanley of the New York Herald and gave him a harrowing account of a massacre he witnessed, in which slave traders slaughtered 400 innocent people. Stanley’s press reports prompted the British government to close the East African slave trade, secured Livingstone’s place in history and launched Stanley’s own career as an imperialist in Africa.

Today, an international team of scholars and scientists led by Dr. Adrian Wisnicki of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, publishes the results of an 18-month project to recover Livingstone’s original account of the massacre. The story, found in a diary that was illegible until it was restored with advanced digital imaging, offers a unique insight into Livingstone’s mind during the greatest crisis of his last expedition, on which he would die in 1873. (more…)

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