Idol

How do images, idols and pictorial representations of the supernatural define our ability to decipher God? How does language communicate what is seen into what is audible or written? This is a humble attempt to look at religion from a different perspective, this piece was inspired by reading the first work of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

The purposes of this study were about cultural diffusion of 48 Group in Thailand and Southeast Asia. 48 Group is a big media company in japan who establish girl groups as AKB48 NMB48 HKT48 and other. This article resulted in the incoming Japanese idol culture fusion to the local culture and the conquest of Korean culture in Southeast Asia. It was found that Southeast Asia is a big media marketplace because of population and economic growth 5 ratings of the world. Then Akimoto Yasushi manager of the 48 groups got the vision to make the base for Japanese idol culture and apply the power of investment by japan heavy industries in Southeast Asia to make the soft power and cultural diffusion against Korea culture is currently popular in this region. But it was not more popular for the sub 48 Group. Except for BNK48 in Thailand, because they used to experience Japanese idol culture before, it makes it easy to open mind.

This powerpoint for educational use, takes a historical perspective to put the worldwide commercial success and intense fan behavior associated with the K-Pop boy band “BTS” into a meaningful context.  It begins by examining and deconstructing the achievements, status and fan base of two British and two American boy bands who achieved a wide international audience in the pre-Internet and pre-social media era. This analysis is then used to assess and explain the popularity of the Korean group BTS, which has recently achieved an unprecedented degree of cross cultural and transnational attention. Particular attention will be paid to the activities and behavior of the largely female online fan communities in countries outside Asia

Idol Worship is on of the most difficult and unclear concepts of Hinduism that is quite often misunderstood and misinterpreted.
Does Hindus worship idols? Why? And how they really see these idols?
This short study aims to answer these questions.

Idol worship has been extensively criticized by people from diverse background. The rationalists and modern day liberals more or less dismiss it as superstition. We saw this in the article by N. Anandan. Max Muller considered Idol worship as a sign that Hindus are still in the state of noble savagery and had proposed that Hindus should be civilized through European and Christian influence. (1) Dr. Ambedkar had questioned the rationale behind the practice of Prana Pratishtapana and in the recent times, Kancha Ilaiah, Dalit rights activist and writer, has linked Idol worship with rigid Caste system and has claimed that Caste divisions will become irrelevant only when idol worship becomes irrelevant. But, the staunchest criticism of Idol worship has come from within the tradition. Swami Dayananda of Arya Samaj who had given the clarion call for returning to Vedas, has also criticized idol worship in the very severest of words. Some of these criticisms are outright racial or castiest or simply biased, but other criticisms are more out of misconception and ignorance than biasness. Let us briefly analyze some of these criticisms against idol worship.

The word "ἀρετή" (virtue, goodness) was translated by the Latin word "virtus" (virtue; strength / courage) when translating the ancient Greek philosophical texts into Latin. Through Plato’s doctrine of the aretê-eidos, the Latin concept of "virtus", and then the concept of "virtual", turned out to be connected with the Platonic senses of the concept of "εἶδος", and therefore with Plato’s doctrine of three types of images: εἶδος, εἰκών, φάντασμα / εἴδωλον. In the context of Plato’s doctrine, the word image can be interpreted in three ways: 1) as an image-eidos, or prototype-sample; 2) as an image-icon, or a true likeness; 3) as an image-idol, or a seeming likeness.
The word "εἶδος" derives from the verb "εἴδω" / "εἶδον" – "to see"; "εἶδος" means not only that which is visible by physical sight, but also that which is visible by mental beholding. However, in the philosophy of Plato, the eidos, staying at the top of the hierarchy of images, is purely speculative, the perfect eternal prototype created by the Divine Mind. At the “foot” of the hierarchy of images is an eidolon, or a seeming likeness of eidos. As distinct from eidos, the true and seeming likenesses of eidos (eikon and eidolon) can be both mentally contemplated objects (for example, imprints in the “wax” of memory, paintings on the “canvas” of the soul), and things observed by physical vision (paintings, sculptures, shadows, and reflections). Thus, through Plato’s doctrine of the three types of images, the concepts of "virtus" and "virtual" turned out to be connected not only with the concept of "εἶδος", but also with the concepts of "φάντασμα", "εἴδωλον".
Since in Plato’s doctrine eidolon is an illusory, imaginary, seeming likeness of eidos, the result of falling away from the Truth (and in this sense, it is a source of lies), under the influence of the senses of the Platonic concept of "εἴδωλον", the sense "imaginary" emerged in the concept of "virtual" (among the meanings of the word "imaginary" there are such as: 1) seeming; 2) false, feigned). Perhaps the Latin verb "videre" (to see; to seem), which is connected with the verb "εἴδω" / "εἶδον" (in the form "οἶδα" it means “I see in the mind’s eye”), is also connected (through one of its meanings "to seem") with the sense "imaginary" in the concept of "virtual".

U tekstu iznosim kritiku simplificirane diferencijacije religija na „autoritarne“ i „humanističke“ koju je ponudio Erich Fromm u svom djelu „Psihoanaliza i religija“, zasnovane na također simplificiranoj podjeli vrsta autoriteta na „racionalni“ i „iracionalni“, koja implicira da je upotreba moći od strane autoriteta nespojiva sa određivanjem i iskustvom istog kao racionalnog (onako kako, kao svojstva autoriteta, Fromm definira „racionalno“ i „iracionalno“). Uz kraći osvrt na Kaufmannovu kritiku ove klasifikacije, ponuđeno je objašnjenje njene nepotpunosti, uz praktični primjer problema njene primjene na islamsku sunitsku teologiju. U tekstu predlažem nadogradnju Frommove originalne kategorizacije dodavanjem treće kategorije, „autoritativne religije“, zasnovane na novom razumijevanju autoriteta kojeg, između ostalog, karakterizira benevolentna upotreba moći.

Ključne riječi: Bog, idol, otuđenje, autoritarna religija, humanistička religija, iracionalni autoritet, racionalni autoritet, teistička religija, neteistička religija, pokornost,  sloboda, sankcije, stilovi roditeljstva

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Rational Authority and the Use of Power – Reconsidering Fromm’s Typology of Religions

In this text, I bring out the critical assessment of an oversimplified differentiation of religions with “authoritarian” and “humanistic” categories offered by Fromm in his work “Psychoanalysis and religion”, which is rooted in an equally oversimplified division of types of authorities into “rational” and “irrational”, which implies that the use of power is antiethical to an authority that is defined and perceived as being rational (the way Fromm understands “rational” and “irrational” as attributes of authority). With brief recursions to Kaufmann’s criticism of this classification, an explanation of its shortcomings is offered, along with a practical example of problems of its application to Sunni Islamic theology. A recomposition of Fromm’s original categorization is proposed by adding a third category, “authoritative religion”, which is based on a new understanding of authority that is, aside from other qualities, characterized by the benevolent use of power.

Key words: God, idol, alienation, authoritarian religion, humanistic religion, irrational
authority, rational authority, theistic religion, non – theistic religion, obedience, freedom, sanctions, parenting style

This article problematizes the widespread assumption that the God of early Christianity is an invisible God. This assumption is found in both popular and academic discourse and often appeals to biblical critiques of divine images to make its case. Yet while Hebrew Bible scholars have recently questioned this axiomatic belief, New Testament scholars have yet to do the same. To address this oversight, this article first looks at divine images and idol polemic in the ancient world and then turns to Luke’s depiction of divine images in the book of Acts as a test case. Here I demonstrate how Acts depicts God as a visible—and even embodied—being, while at the same time critiquing visual representations of the divine. With Acts, we find that not all Christians ‘imaged’ God as invisible.

In studying Donato Bramante's Ruined Temple (1481), this essay looks beyond the traditional question of its subject matter, considering this engraving as an image about images of all kinds. Taking the inconspicuous cross on the column as its focal point, it shows how the print offers a dialectical disquisition on the value of the Christian sign as measured against the alluring remains of pagan civilization. The vexed nature of this choice registers a profound artistic problem. Caught between the ideals of classical antiquarianism and contemporary devotion, Bramante here claims the ground between artistic fame and obscurity, righteousness and idolatrous ruin.

Vorlage und Beurteilung  bemaltkeramischer Fragmente von menschen- und tiergestaltigen Plastiken  aus Siedlungen der frühen Lengyelkultur bei Eggendorf am Walde und Kamegg im nördlichen Niederösterreich. Die Objekte befinden sich seit mehr als einem halben Jahrhundert in Verwahrung des Höbarthmuseums der Stadt Horn und werden hier erstmals fachlich herangezogen.

Focusing on three works by Jean-Luc Marion that discuss the questions of idolatry (The Idol and Distance, God Without Being, and In Excess), this article examines Marion's distinction between icon and idols and applies it to the question of the role of the poor in liberation theology, with especial reference to the liberation theologian Clodovis Boff.

Anthropomorphic figurines, observed in the world since the Upper Palaeolithic, and their earliest appearance in Anatolia is in the Neolithic. Figurines shaped in different forms and made of various raw materials (baked clay, stone, bone, metal etc.), and idols, which start to be seen from the Early/Middle Chalcolithic, are among the find groups that could provide information about the beliefs, relationship networks, positions within the socioeconomic organisation, and art of the human communities to which they belong. The differences seen among the idols, the types of which varied between geographical areas, stem from regional beliefs and understanding of art. The increase in the settlements excavated in Anatolia after the earlier excavations of Troy has furthermore enabled the recovery of called 'Owl-Faced Idols', in other regions of Anatolia. In Küllüoba, located in the Seyitgazi District of Eskişehir Province, seven owl-faced idols were found as a result of excavations carried out since 1996. As in Troy and Seyitömer, the fact that the number of idols recovered in Küllüoba is larger than in other settlements makes its chrono-typological development more definable. In the light of the Küllüoba examples, evaluated here for the first time, this article aims to determine the origin and development of owl-faced idols in Anatolia.

According to the early Renaissance philosopher Nicholas of Cusa, we are by divine providence destined to develop our own view on the world that we inhabit. Only the free actualisation of a plurality of concordant perspectives can enable us to find our path to the point of unity in which oppositions coincide in a meaningful way. However, we are neither masterly spectators of a unified space, as the Florentine tradition of modern art suggested, nor are we able to anticipate the coincidental point of unity, as linear perspective paintings suggest. Rather, our path to the point where oneness and concordance emerge requires, what Jean-Luc Marion called, a movement of ‘anamorphosis’: Instead of relying on the default-settings of the ‘imaging technics’ we have to change our point of view and feel our way to the turning point of its emergence. Like in Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors, we must shift our gaze in order to find the point where the ‘invisible’ gives itself to our view.
However, the world that we inhabit is not reducible to the theatrical space of Holbein’s age, in which artificial strategies ensured that the relevant ‘effects’ are securely brought about. After all, the creation is an image of God: it is not designed to uncover the memento mori of a skull, but the fullness of life. If anywhere, this life shouts outside in the alleys and squares – its ‘givenness’ is always already inscribed in the inhabited spaces of a temporalized ‘politics of glory’ that reveals the dignity and nobility of places, responsibilities, rules and professions.
This has far reaching implication not only for our understanding of the scientific modelling of ‘complex spaces’ but also for our understanding of the forces that govern the emergence of representative democratic spaces. Cusa’s account of complex spaces undermines not only the absolutist world-picture of Descartes and Newton, but also the totalising basic assumptions of modern liberalism. This essay develops a phenomenological reconstruction of Cusa’s late Gothic concept of complex spaces in conversation with the related, 20th century discussion on the concept of iconicity in Pawel Florensky and Jean-Luc Marion.

Vorlage eines lengyelzeitlichen Plastikfragmentes aus einer mehrmals belegten neolithischen Siedlungstelle  (Linearbandkeramik, Stichbandkeramik, Lengyel) im Randbereich des Waldviertels zum Weinviertel. Besonders bemerkenswert sind bei dieser Plastik technische Merkmale, die auf der Oberfläche der Figurine sichtbar sind. Auf diese wird im Text besonders hingewiesen.

Erstmalige Zusammenfassung der bekannt gewordenen linearbandkeramischen Plastiken aus Niederösterreich und Überblick über die diesbezüglichen Nachweise der Lengyelkultur des Waldviertels.

Die zweite - durch Neufunde ergänzte - Auflage erschien im Jahre 1998:

Hermann Maurer, Archäologische Zeugnisse religiöser Vorstellungen und Praktiken der frühen und mittleren Jungsteinzeit in Niederösterreich. Katalog IDOLE, Kunst und Kult im Waldviertel vor 7000 Jahren. Horn 1998, S. 23 - 137. Diese Veröffentlichung ist auch hier bei Academia eingestellt.

Cet article présente en résumé nos dernières recherches, sur des pratiques rupestres symboliques
particulières qui composent ce que nous appelons les Anthropomorphes Rupestre Cruciformes
d'Europe, (ARC). Ces pratiques se sont développées au Sud-Ouest de l'Europe dès le néolithique, mais
la période de développement principale correspond aux périodes du Campaniforme au début de
l'âge du Bronze.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT
This study is conducted through the form of a triptych. In the first part, we evoke the unprecedented situation in which the three monotheisms stand before the images, due, among other factors, to the Internet. We also aim to specify the meaning of every term used, in order to avoid simplifications in regard to their respective connections with the images. The second part, that is, the central panel of the triptych, intends to recall how each of the three religions, especially in its beginnings, dealt with images in general, and images of religious inspiration in particular. The third part examines the possible link between the hostility of nascent Islam towards the images and the well-known Controversy in Byzantium, also advocating the creation, within each of the three religions, of competent instances to designate those images that represent them properly.
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RESUMEN ESPAÑOL
Este trabajo está construido en forma de tríptico. En una primera parte, evocamos la situación inédita en la que se encuentran los tres monoteísmos ante las imágenes, debido, entre otras cosas, a Internet. Precisamos asimismo el sentido de los términos empleados, a fin de evitar simplificaciones en lo que se refiere a sus respectivas relaciones con las imágenes. La segunda parte, panel central del tríptico, se propone recordar cómo se condujo cada una de las tres religiones, especialmente en sus inicios, respecto a las imágenes en general, y a las imágenes de inspiración religiosa en particular. La tercera parte examina el posible vínculo entre la hostilidad del islam naciente hacia las imágenes y la famosa Controversia de las imágenes en Bizancio, abogando asimismo por la creación, en el seno de cada una de las tres religiones, de instancias competentes para designar aquellas imágenes que las representan de forma adecuada.

Vorgelegt wurden Funde der jüngeren Linearbandkeramik, darunter zwei anthropomorph gestaltete Gefäßbestandteile sowie ein weiteres nicht näher einzuordnendes Bruchstück ("Gefäßfuß").  Vor allem  die menschlich gestaltete Plastik (Abb. 37) ist wegen der dreieickigen Kopfgestaltung bemerkenswert. In meiner  zusammenfassenden Veröffentlichung "Archäologische Zeugnisse religiöser Vorstellungen und Praktiken der frühen und mittleren Jungsteinzeit in Niederösterreich" (Horn 1998) - hier bei Academia eingestellt - wurde dieses Objekt aus Versehen nicht berücksichtigt! Auch der Gefäßfuß  (Abb. 35) fehlt dort.

Idol (Aidoru) culture now saturates the farthest reaches of the Japanese entertainment industry, but media coverage from outside Japan often gives the impression that Idols are little more than exploited underage sex objects, as well as interchangeable carbon-copy celebrities, lacking in individuality and personality, whose fans’ interest in them is nothing more than a mass expression of a national Lolita complex. This impression is reinforced by the differences between Idols and Western pop stars. The latter, according to Richard Dyer, have “histories which outlive the star’s own lifetime”. By contrast, an Idol’s fame rarely outlives her graduation from the group of which she is a member.

This paper examines these issues with respect to the current pre-eminent Idol group, AKB48, and argues that there exists a much more complex relationship between Idols and their fans than the aforementioned stereotypes suggest. In other celebrity cultures (e.g. Hollywood, K-Pop, American Idol type programs) it is not unusual for fans, media companies, and stars to fight for control of a star’s image, but in AKB48 the distribution of labour differs considerably, and the hierarchy between audience and performer is frequently the reverse of Western expectations. By mapping these relations, this paper aims to give some indication of both the complexity of Idols as a fan object, and to combat some of the pervasive stereotypes that have formed around Idols and their audiences.

Die bandkeramischen Idole, d.h. Tonfiguren von Menschen, Tieren und Mensch/Tier-Mischwesen, werden mit unterschiedlichen Argumenten als Abbilder von Ahnen gedeutet. Ähnlichkeiten zwischen einigen Gräbern und Idolen zeigen, dass Menschen mit der anhand der Idole rekonstruierbaren (Ritual-)Tracht  in den Siedlungen lebten und, im Sinne ethnologischer Vergleiche als Ahnenpriester wohl auch soziale/politische Führungsrollen innehatten. Studenten der Universität Frankfurt am Main stellen bei einer Ausstellung diese Rollen dar.

This study concerns 53 ideotechnic artifacts collected in the prehistoric settlement of Leceia, during a period of 20 years of excavations (1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2001)(2002). They correspond to the most important group of artifacts found until now in Portugal due to their certified stratigraphic location in a vast fortified complex. The statuettes and other artifacts of cult character document the existence of religious practices from the second half of the 4th millennium BC through the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Following the Late Neolithic zoomorphic representations, the Chalcolithic feminine images were related to fecundity, life and regeneration, corresponding to the omnipresent idol common to all agrarian societies of the Mediterranean basin. Images of this idol, represented in various shapes and materials, are found in domestic settlements and necropolises.

Starting on an affective note, it gives an overview of temple idol consecration rituals since the Puranic age, ending with a brief contextualisation of the Nabakalebara ritual in Jagannatha Temple, Puri and the Brahmapadartha 'leaked pictures' controversy, 2015.

Contrairement à l'accent habituel mais futile mis sur un diagnostic de la soi-disant peste philistine, la question de l'identification de relations de modèles parmi les données littéraires données en 1 Sam 5-6 est soulevée dans cette étude en relation avec les "images" צלמים offertes par Philistia à l'arche, en particulier celles des "gonflements" עפלים (6:4-5). ...

While the entertainment value of the shows is high, I argue that the currency of the new generation of post-Idol TV talent searches lies partly in their articulation of aspirational concepts of personhood that are embedded in the broader neoliberal cultural economy. They offer alluring parables of opportunity and mobility through the assured transformation of winning contestants into celebrities. Yet how democratising is a model of lifeimprovement that promises passage to elite status for a few, and where does the implied value system leave the meaning of being ‘ordinary’?

The goal of the present study was to investigate whether migrant adolescents tend to adopt the host culture's view of parental control or whether they are inclined to reaffirm their heritage culture with regard to the meaning assigned to parental control. The hypotheses regarding the level and meaning of parental control were tested on 296 Turkish-Belgian adolescents, 306 Turks in Turkey, and 304 Belgians in Belgium with median ages of 16, 17, and 16, respectively. Although migrants reported the highest level of parental control, their ratings of parental warmth, satisfaction with the relationships with their parents, and self-esteem did not correlate with parental control as was the case among Belgians. The findings suggest that traditional parenting is accentuated in migrant families, and that there is continuity in the traditional meaning of parental control in migration. Findings are discussed with reference to contextual factors that may reinforce culture maintenance in migration.Le but de cette recherche était d’étudier le sens que des adolescents immigrés assignaient au contrôle parental: adoptent-ils la culture d’accueil ou ont-ils plutôt tendance à réaffirmer leur héritage culturel? Des hypothèses tenant compte du niveau et de la signification du contrôle parental ont été testées auprès de 296 adolescents Turcs-Belges, 306 Turcs de Turquie et 304 Belges de Belgique dont les âges médians étaient respectivement de 16, 17 et 16 ans. Bien que les immigrés présentent un plus haut niveau de contrôle parental, leurs résultats concernant la chaleur parentale, la satisfaction de leurs relations avec leurs parents, et l’estime de soi n’étaient pas corrélés avec le contrôle parental contrairement aux adolescents Belges. Ces résultats montrent que l’éducation traditionnelle est accentuée dans les familles immigrées, et que la signification traditionnelle accordée au contrôle parental persiste dans l’immigration. Ces résultats sont discutés en référence à des facteurs contextuels pouvant renforcer le maintien de la culture d’origine dans l’immigration.

What is your view on Idolatry?
Are Roman catholic churches not practicing idolatry?

10 scriptural facts why you must not bow down to images created in the fashion of God whether things above or beneath (Exodus 20:4-5): #Portraits, #Sculptures, #Images of #Jesus, #Mary, and the #Angels are all Idol Worshipping

✍️1. Idolatry is a heinous crime before God. (Leviticus 19:4; Jonah 2:8)

✍️2. Idolatry attracts generational curses. (Exodus 20:3-6)

✍️3. Idolatry breed jealousy and wrath of God. (Exodus 34:14; Romans 1:18-25)

✍️4. Idolatry brings Eternal punishment. (Deuteronomy 27:15; Leviticus 26:30; 1 Corinthians 6:9)

✍️5. Idolatry makes you an Enemy of God. (James 4:4; 1 John 5:21)

✍️6. Idolatry makes you Hell-bound.
(Hebrews 10:26-27)

✍️7. Idolatry provoke and displeases God. (Psalm 78:58; Psalm 31:6)

✍️8. Idolatry is the making of frames, portraits, images or statues of Jesus, Mary and the angels that does not represent the true God who is a Spirit. (Exodus 32; 1 Corinthians 10:7; Isaiah 44:9-20)

✍️9. Idolatry brings condemnation and instant judgment of God.
(Romans 2:12; Galatians 6:7; Psalm 37:38; Hebrews 9:27)

✍️10. Idolatry contradicts the word of faith. We are enjoined to walk by faith and not by sight (2Cor 5:7). The just shall live by his faith because the just is doomed without faith. The Lord told "the doubting" Thomas that we that would not see Him (Jesus) physically and still believe are blessed (John 20:29).

Search and see if there's any shadow of turning with the undiluted truth of the word of God. #Bewarned!

#WanyanwuTheWriter

The study of popular music has been plagued by a number of orthodoxies, often hindering what genres and artists are and are not studied within the academy. One of the most prevailing orthodoxies -the authenticity of rock music versus the commerciality of pop music -has prevented the inclusion of pop into the canons of popular music study. This paper questions where the 'pop' is in popular music studies. Through an examination of Justin Bieber's popularity in mainstream culture, as mediated through social networking sites such as YouTube and Twitter, the cultural groundedness of pop popularity is demonstrated, as well as the re-negotiation of the barrier between pop artist and fan.

Bericht über die Feldforschung des Jahres 1979 im niederösterreichischen Manhartsberggebiet. Es werden Ergebnisse in jungsteinzeitlichen und bronzezeitlichen Siedlungen vorgestellt. Und es wird über einen Altfund betreffend ein frühurnenfelderzeitliches Brandgrab berichtet. Prospektion im niederösterreichischen Waldviertel.
Der hier abgebildete Idolkopf stammt aus Obermixnitz und datiert in die Lengyelkultur.Er wird näher besprochen in Hermann Maurer, Archäologische Zeugnisse religiöser Vorstellungen und Praktiken der frühen und mittleren Jungsteinzeit in Niederösterreich.  In: Idole, Kunst und Kult im Waldviertel vor 7000 Jahren. Horn 1998, S. 66f. (hier bei Academia eingestellt).

The fragmentary steatophyg human representation was collected together with Neolithic, Copper age (mainly Badenian) and Late Avarian artefacts as a stray find in Galgamácsa, northern Hungary. The shape of the idol and the technique of decoration (Furchenstich) with traces of carbonatic incrustation makes possible to place the piece to the end of the Copper Age. The importance of the piece is underlined by the fact that only three similar pieces are published from Hungary and thirteen from Central Europe. In morphological point of view the piece is compared to the artefacts of the group 2 by M. Bondár (2006), together with the idol found at Nagytarcsa, some 30 km from Galgamácsa as the crow flies.

Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Waldviertels. 3. Jahrgang. Mehr nicht erschienen. -
Bericht über eine hausbergartige Anlage - "Motte ?" -  bei Pleissing, Bezirk Hollabrunn (Niederösterreich). Fundberichte und Buchbesprechungen. Überlegungen betreffend Josef Höbarth und dessen Beurteilung aus der zeitlichen Distanz.

Vorlage von Materialien aus einer Großsiedlung der Lengyelkultur auf der westlichen Hochfläche oberhalb des Kamptales. Es liegen zahlreiche Werkzeugfunde aus Stein vor, Gefäßkeramik, ein Spinnwirtel und der Rumpf einer weiblichen Plastik ("Idol"), die nicht den vorherrschenden schematischen Darstellungsarten entspricht sondern weitgehend anatomisch richtig gestaltet wurde.

Crisis in human life begets surprising reactions and ramifications. In crisesreal or imaginedpeople scamper for immediate resolutions. When expected resolutions do not seem to come by, the process of seeking answers is not abandoned; people continue to seek other ways and means. This essay aims to underscore one such episode from the prophetic literature of the Hebrew bible. The idol-taunt in Isaiah 44:9-20 sounds problematic from an image-rich Indian Christian perspective (on idol, see Westermann 2001: 148; on idolatry in the Bible see, Greenspahn 2004). This essay explores other ways of appropriating this difficult text. A Dalit reading can be apt for such a venture. Dalit literature itself stems from crisis-ridden context. Hence, a Dalit reading of idol-taunt can help situate the struggle of a prophet who attempted to construct the identities of a defeated deity, a dispersed community, and a de-centred prophet during a time of crisisthe exile. The Problematic: Double Trouble The First Trouble-Insensitivity to Hindu Religiosity: Of the many characteristic features of India, countless representations of gods and goddesses in the Hindu temples draw much attention of even passing visitors. On the one extreme, "Hinduism is sometimes said to

This article looks at what happens when good theological ideas become so powerful that they run the risk of becoming ideological, and thus prevent the encounter with God. Focusing on the philosophers Emmanuel Lévinas and Jean-Luc Marion, it seeks to construct first a language to address the problem, and then illustrates what has been said with a discussion of liberation theology. The article uses liberation theology's appeal to the centrality of the poor as a test case, and discusses whether liberation theology methodology as detailed by Clodovis Boff can cope with the threat of ideology.