The Penn State Society for the Study of Religion is hosting a seminar next Thursday, Sept. 22, from 12:15-1:15 pm in 102 Weaver! Prof. Elizabeth B. Smith will present “What Exactly is Dominican about the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence?” All are invited. A light lunch will be served; the zoom link is available upon request (please email tuh14@psu.edu if interested).

Elizabeth Smith received her M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. It was before then, however, during four years at the University of Strasbourg in France, while earning a Licence Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie, that she came to know and love the medieval architecture of France. Subsequent lengthy periods of residence in England, Belgium and Italy strengthened and broadened her interest in medieval architectural design and construction.  The opportunity to teach, over a period of many years, a survey of ancient and medieval architecture for the students of Penn State’s School of Architecture allowed her to deepen her understanding of structural imperatives in the creation of the large-scale vaulted structures of the Middle Ages.  This talk, based on a close study of the design and construction of the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, is derived from her forthcoming book, Building Santa Maria Novella: Materials, Tradition and Invention in Late Medieval Florence.

Please also note these future SSR talks:

October:
Oct. 19, 12:15-1:15 – Vineeta Yadav, “Religious Parties and the Politics of Civil Liberties: Evidence from Muslim-Majority Countries.” Location: 240 Borland

November:
Nov. 10, 12:15-1:15 – Robert Jones, Title TBA.

Join us Tuesday, September 20, 2022, at 5:00 PM at 060 Willard Building for a CAMS/JST lecture! Professor Azzan Yadin-Israel from Rutgers University will be presenting “Temptation Transformed: How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple.” We hope to see you there!

How did the apple, unmentioned by the Bible, become the dominant symbol of temptation, sin, and the Fall? Temptation Transformed pursues this mystery across art and religious history, uncovering where, when, and why the forbidden fruit became an apple. Azzan Yadin-Israel reveals that Eden’s fruit, once thought to be a fig or a grape, first appears as an apple in twelfth-century French art. He then traces this image back to its source in medieval storytelling. Though scholars often blame theologians for the apple, accounts of the Fall written in commonly spoken languages—French, German, and English—influenced a broader audience than cloistered Latin commentators. Azzan Yadin-Israel shows that, over time, the words for “fruit” in these languages narrowed until an apple in the Garden became self-evident. A wide-ranging study of early Christian thought, Renaissance art, and medieval languages, Temptation Transformed offers an eye-opening revisionist history of a central religious icon.

The talk addresses a number of different subjects: the Fall of Man narrative in the Hebrew Bible and ancient translators and commentators (Jewish and Christian); the medieval Latin commentary tradition; the iconography of the forbidden fruit from fourth-century Rome to the Renaissance; and Bible translations in early European vernacular (Old French in particular, but also Middle High German and more).

This talk is generously sponsored by the Penn State Jewish Studies Program.

The Penn State Society for the Study of Religion is hosting its first seminar this Thursday, Sept. 1, from 12:15-1:15 pm in 240 Borland! Professor Madhuri Desai will present “Revivalism and Temple Architecture in South Asia, ca. 1750-1900.” All are invited! Light refreshments will be served; a zoom link is available upon request (email tuh14@psu.edu). Please see the announcement and further description of the presentation below!

In the mid-eighteenth century, the hill-top temple complex at Ramtek in Central India, known popularly as the “gadh mandir,” was renovated by Raghuji Bhonsle I, founder of the Maratha kingdom of Nagpur. Originally stationed in the province of Berar as “sena-sahib subah” for the Maratha federation, Raghuji Bhonsle I acquired Nagpur through alliances with its Gond rulers (formerly Mughal vassals). The principal twelfth-century Yadava-period temples located on the hill were repaired, peripheral structures were refurbished and augmented, and the entire complex was enclosed within fortifications. In addition, the edges of the Ambala tank at the foot of the hill were stabilized and new temples were built along its bank, adding another visual layer to a complex political and religious palimpsest. These new temples were surmounted with archaic shikharas (towers) that were preceded by mandapas (ritual halls) supported on Mughal columns. In their quest to legitimate kingship, Raghuji I and his successors cultivated Ramtek as a pilgrimage destination. Maratha aspirations straddled a pre-Islamic past, while also staking a claim to a Mughal cultural sphere as evidenced by this delicate act of balancing sacred and historical memories at a site already rich in meanings and associations.

We look forward to seeing you there! Please save the date for these future events:

1. Sept. 22, 12:15-1:15 – Elizabeth Smith, “What Exactly is Dominican about the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence?” Location: Weaver 102
2. Oct. 19, 12:15-1:15 – Vineeta Yadav, “Religious Parties and the Politics of Civil Liberties: Evidence from Muslim-Majority Countries.” Location: 240 Borland

This April, Penn State is honored to be hosting Venerable Soorakkulame Pemaratana, Ph.D., chief abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center.  During his visit to University Park, Dr. Ven. Pemaratana will be offering a public lecture and a morning meditation; faculty, students, and staff are all welcome to attend!  We look forward to seeing you all in person at each of these events (unfortunately, we cannot offer a virtual option).  Check out the information below, and send this post to anyone who might be interested in attending Dr. Ven. Pemaratana’s events!

Please reach out to Dr. Erica Brindley (efb12@psu.edu) with any questions; we can’t wait to see you!

Please note that Dr. Ven. Pemaratana will visit Penn State Abington campus on Thursday April 21, 2022.  For further details, please see the bottom of this post.

Tuesday, April 19, 2022
1:30- 3:00 pm
“Buddhist Responses to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka”
Public Lecture
Location: Worship Hall, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a serious challenge to communities in Sri Lanka to find a way to stay healthy both physically and mentally. In responding this challenge, Buddhists in Sri Lanka turned to traditional rituals, healing chants and indigenous medicine. This talk explores specific ways that Sri Lankan Buddhists handled the pandemic during the past two years.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022
9:30 – 11:00 am
“Meditation with a monk”
Meditation session and Dhamma talk
Location: Eisenhower Chapel, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center

Venerable Soorakkulame Pemaratana, Ph.D., serves as the chief abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center in Allison Park, PA. From 2019-2021, he was the Robert Ho Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of  Pennsylvania. Born in Sri Lanka, he completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and master’s degree in Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. After moving to the US in 2008, he pursued doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh and completed his PhD in Religious Studies in 2017.

Ven. Pemaratana’s current book project is A Refuge for Our Time: Modern Manifestations of the Buddha in Sri Lanka. This work explores who the Buddha has become for Buddhists in contemporary Sri Lanka in the face of modernity and globalization. The current scholarship focuses only on one trend of modernizing the Buddha as a rational thinker who introduced a set of teachings that is compatible with modern western science. This “scientific Buddha” was first constructed by orientalist scholars of the west and later promoted by Asian Buddhist reformers. This limited focus misconstrues the lived religion of contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhists while portraying Buddhist communities in Asia as unreflective and passive receivers of western concepts. This book argues that more prominent modern manifestations of the Buddha in Sri Lanka exemplify not a rational thinker of the past or the transcendent Buddha of pre-modern period but a lively and caring Buddha who is thoroughly involved with the present-day issues of ordinary Buddhists. In recent decades, the Buddha has been brought to private homes, schools, hospitals, prisons, workplaces and public arenas. In these physical spaces, the Buddha is utilized for teaching children Buddhist cultural values, enhancing religious commitment of lay Buddhists and achieving psychological wellbeing. Understanding these novel roles of the Buddha is essential to fully comprehend contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhism in particular, and the modernization of Buddhism in general.

Details for Dr. Ven. Pemaratana’s Penn State Abington visit:

Thursday, April 21, 2022
Abington Campus
12:00 – 1:30pm
“Buddhist Responses to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka”
Public Lecture
222 Sutherland Building