Popular culture and mass media

Read more about the article Session: Ecology and Nature in Contemporary Spiritualities
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Geography / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Popular culture and mass media

Session: Ecology and Nature in Contemporary Spiritualities

The relation to nature and the environment in religions is a fascinating subject, and it takes a new and surprising form these days - with the rise of the ecological discourse, and in light of the apocalyptic fears of an imminent ecological disaster. Some of the new religions place a special emphasis on the sanctification of nature (such as neo-shamanism). In the popular spiritual discourse the concept of nature adoration and caring for the environment feature, in the context of spiritual values. In this session, four studies dealing with ecology and nature in contemporary spiritualities are presented.

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May 26, 2024
Read more about the article Lecture: How the Deluge Myth became a Symbol of the Ecological Crisis – A Comparative Cinematic Study
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Critical theory / Disputation or conflict / Feminism gender and sex / Geography / History / Judaism and Kabbalah / Myth / Popular culture and mass media / Science/medicine and technology / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: How the Deluge Myth became a Symbol of the Ecological Crisis – A Comparative Cinematic Study

The deluge myth was used by generations of commentators as a tool for social criticism - it provided them with an opportunity to explain what kind of humanity deserved total annihilation. In recent films, connections are made between the current ecological crisis and the deluge... Are we (yes, we!) this generation that deserves to be destroyed, and why? This lecture presents a comparative study of Hollywood films throughout the last century, all of which have allusions to the biblical flood myth. The focus will be on how the flood becomes a symbol of the worsening ecological crisis nowadays.

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May 26, 2024
Read more about the article A Podcast on Prayer in Contemporary Alternative Spiritualities
Israel / Popular culture and mass media

A Podcast on Prayer in Contemporary Alternative Spiritualities

In the podcast of the Open University and IDF Radio (Galatz), they dealt with "prayer" over a series of meetings. One of the (four) meetings hosted Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro,on the expression and formation of prayer in contemporary alternative spiritualities. The hosts of the podcast "Adraba" are Prof. Tamar Hermann and Prof. Yoram Kalman, and the radio researcher is Lou Kerek.

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December 27, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: The Film “Noah” (2014) as an Intersection Between Alternative Spiritualities and Popular Culture
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Judaism and Kabbalah / Myth / Popular culture and mass media

Lecture: The Film “Noah” (2014) as an Intersection Between Alternative Spiritualities and Popular Culture

The film Noah (2014) is analyzed in this lecture as a cinematic Midrash, that presents three different contemporary worldviews, and promotes eco-feminist values while criticizing materialism and fundamentalism. The lecture presents central theses formulated in a couple of articles published by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro and Dr. Lila Moore as part of this research project.

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December 26, 2023
Read more about the article “The Academy of Human Spirit” Podcasts hosted by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro
Israel / Popular culture and mass media

“The Academy of Human Spirit” Podcasts hosted by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro

This page includes links to podcasts (all of them in Hebrew) prepared and hosted by Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro in her program on "Mahut HaChayim" (The Essence of Life) Radio. The program was called "The Academy of Human Spirit". (In Hebrew "Ruah" means "spirit" and the Humanities are called "sciences of spirit", so the program was titled "The Academy of Ruah"). Each episode of the program, there was a central theme and one main interviewee (and another in addition).

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December 19, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: The Status of Symbols in Virtual Divinasion – Between Iconography and Arbitrariness
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Magic and paganism / Methodology and models / Popular culture and mass media / Science/medicine and technology / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: The Status of Symbols in Virtual Divinasion – Between Iconography and Arbitrariness

Does the statue represent God? Is the flag sacred? What is the status of the sacred symbols, and what happens to them when they move to the cyberspace? In this lecture, computerized icons in religious/spiritual/magical ceremonies and their status were examined and analyzed. The lecture is part of a research project in which an article was published and lectures were presented in other directions.

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November 3, 2023