semiotics and religion

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Teaching Your Child Tolerance and Acceptance

Research has shown that parents are the key to teachingracial tolerance, acceptance and cooperative lifestyles intoday's children.

An Evolv ing Democ racy: Th e United States

At no other t ime in the 200-year history of the United States has therebeen a greater opportunity for people to be involved in the evolution ofdemocracy.

Semi Semiosis

Semiotics is the theory of signs but I do not even know what a sign means. Why dothey speak of signs rather than words or pictures. Or thoughts. Or inklings. Signsobfuscate.I think words and urges or inexplicable things.

Viewing 1 of 1 | c 2011 by Stephen C. Rose

Instead of semiotics I would just say things like thinking and knowing for a starter.Thinking leads us to awareness of not knowing which is a penumbra of mystery. We

then can wrestle with what actually seems to be.

Stephen C. Rose, Yahoo! Contributor Network

Apr 8, 2011 "Contribute content like this. Start Here."

I use seems advisedly because even vaunted science never gets it totally right which is why we have

progressive instances of theories upon theories and paradigms on paradigms. Seems is a way of being

humble before flaky perception.

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Investing: What is Your Risk Tolerance

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Binge Drinking: Acute Impaired PsychologicalFunction Not Adjusted for Tolerance

Zero Tolerance Policies in Schools Leave CommonSense Behind

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Values Two Tolerance - Free Verse

Values Two Tolerance. Abba's Way. Random Thought. FreeVerse. Stephen C. Rose. This free verse random thoughtdeals with tolerance. Tolerance has at least three meanings

which a...

Investing 101 - Risk Tolerance

What is risk tolerance and how can it help you build yourinvestment portfolio.

Zero Tolerance - Overused and Misunderstood

Criticism of "zero tolerance" is primarily due to a lack of understanding ofthe term as well as the failure of the public to realize that a policy cannever completely replace the use of sound judgment by school admi...

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Non-idolatry Quatrain

Non-idolatry means do not judge - Quatrain by Stephen C.Rose

Semiosis and Trini tarian Thinking Slideshow

Semiosis is the theory of signs or perhaps more easily the way we actually thinkand act. Trinity is a doctrine of Christianity that happens also to be semiotic andmay achieve new life via the connection.

Viewing 2 of 3 | c 2011 by Stephen C. Rose

Jesus is the second who is related to the first and this is the brute reality within the triadfor Jesus at once interprets and represents the first but bumps up against the harsh

reality of life where the original trust has been shattered by the willing of lesser (dyadic)values.


Mar 2, 2011 "Contribute content like this. Start Here."

Peirce and Lacan are the inspiration for this tiptoe into consideration of the Trinity in semiotic terms.

Lacan reappears after my use of his thought in my 1979 book Jesus and Jim Jones. Peirce is now an

everyday mentor. Captions contain the thoughts.




Positive Affirmation

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Always Right

Abba's Way. Positive Affirmat ion. "The Right Thing IsAlways Abba's Way" Doing the right thing involvesestablishing the proper foundation and that can only happen

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Universalism Rules

Abba's Way. Thought. Why Universalism is The Only WayForward. Universalism is an existing denomination. It is alsoa saving concept, an idea the world needs to embrace, a

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Abba's Way Premises - Abb a

Abba's Way Premises - Abba. Abba is the familiar namedused by Jesus to refer to God -- the One with whom hecommuned in prayer. Abba is explicitly used in the Lord's

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Finally, Abba's Way is only about that -- growing up a bit sowe do not incinerate ourselves.


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About Stephen C. RoseFor a full profile please visit Associated Content and click on My Books above. The following terms embrace themes of over 3000

articles, short form pieces and slideshows at Associated Content. After green, Abba's way, pattern language, tolerance,

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Semiot ics and Semiosi s Slide Shows

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Stephen C. Rose

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Derrida on Peirces Notion of Semiotics and His Own

Captions are drawn fromOf Grammatology John Hopkins University Press., 1974. Chapter Two

Semi Semiosis

I use seems advisedly because even vaunted science never gets it totally right which is why we have progressive

instances of theories upon theories and paradigms on paradigms. Seems is a way of being humble before flaky

perception

+

Semiosis and Trinitarian Thinking Slideshow

Peirce and Lacan are the inspiration for this tiptoe into consideration of the Trinity in semiotic terms. Lacan

reappears after my use of his thought in my 1979 book Jesus and Jim Jones. Peirce is now an everyday mentor.

Captions contain the thoughts.

This entry was posted in abba's way and tagged associated content, Charles Sanders Peirce, Johns Hopkins University Press, Of Grammatology, peirce, Semiosis, united states,

yahoo. Bookmark the permalink.

Stephen C. Rosenon-idolatry, tolerance, democracy,

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iotics of Sacrament http://www.oration.com/ mm9n/articles/sac/sacrament6.htm

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Iconography literally means "image writing", or painting, and comes from the Greek (image)

and (to write). Religious images are used to some extent by all major religions, including

Abrahamic and as an outgrowth of that in Indian faiths. As a symbol of faith these are the results of

centuries of accumulated tradition. Indian iconography start only after the third century AD along

with the iconographic portrayals in Rome and Antioch.

Central to the iconography and hagiography are mudra or gestures with specific meanings. Other

features include the aureola and halo pointing to the divine qualities and attributes are represented

by some symbols which describe the character and importance of the icon drawn. In India it is the

ritual tools such as the dharmachakra, vajra, dadar, phurba, swastika which gives the meaning.

Colors are equally important and Christian Iconographers have developed their own color systems

In India however under the influence of tantra even geometric figures and backgrounds provided

the esoteric meanings, accessible only to initiates. Among the Christians the basic themes go

around the Holy Family and Saints.


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Evidently icons were integrated into the Church walls as a means of intensifying the out of thedimension experience. However the church soon came into grips with the reality that, the morematerialistic the symbols and realistic the symbols are, the danger of it being mistaken for realitywas great. When a symbol is taken as the reality we get idol worship. Basically it broke down towhether the veneration of ikons was idolatry or not. Some people were offended by the kissing ofimages and the offering of incense and lighting of candles before them. .As a result for the generalmass of people, icons degenerated into idols. Kissing and worshipping icons as a respect turnedout to be idol worship.

The anthropologist Claude Levy-Bruhl claimed that people in 'primitive' cultures had difficulty in

distinguishing between names and the things to which they referred, regarding such signifiers as as

an intrinsic part of their signifieds. The practice of Voodoo and Magic arise out of such a belief. The

fear of 'graven images' and icons within the Judeo-Christian tradition was because of this

possibility. Hence the biblical injunction "Thou should not make unto thee any graven image, or

any likeness of anything that is in the earth beneath, or that in the water under the earth, thou shalt

not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them" [Exodus 20:4-5].

The reason given for such a mandate was:


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Deu 4:15-19 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that

Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a

graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the

earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the

ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven,

and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and

worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.

ye saw no form; only ye hearda voice. indicates that the essential mode of revelation was through the Word.

Hence until the coming of Jesus uttered word and written word were the basic mode of communication between

man and God. However that changed with the incarnation where The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

God did put on a human face. The Word became fleshGod robed Himself in the garment of

humanity. Jesus Christ became the icon of the invisible God. (Col 115). So now we can depict God

as a human which he revealed through Jesus. Because of this Jesus was portrayed in icons in the ensuing

church period. In order to avoid the idol formation this was essentially restricted to the two dimensional drawing

so the images were not graven images or idols. Evangelist Luke is said to have painted an icon

presenting the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus and an icon of the Archangel Michael in

Alexandria, is said to have been painted by Apostle Luke.


7 2011/06/04 17:42


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However graven forms began to appear soon. As a result in the early 8th century two groups evolved,

one group called ikonoclasts (ikon breakers), and ikonodules (ikon makers). The argument over

ikons had been going on in the church since then. The ikonoclasts claimed that ikons were being

worshiped, while the ikonodules argued that it was only veneration of ikons and a type of 'salute' of

the original depicted in the ikon. The actual Greek word for this veneration is proskynesis, and it the

same veneration that was given to the Emperor. It involved humble reverence and bowing, but it

was not worship. It is the same explanation that the Catholic Church give to the veneration of idolsof Saints and Holy Family. Evidently the mistaken identity of symbols as realities are more prone in

the case of three dimensional representations.

COPTIC ICONS

THEIR HISTORY AND SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE

By Dr. Zakaria Wahba

With the spread of icons in the centuries after the Emperor Constantine, Christians began to use

icons in ways that were never intended, becoming more concerned with the art itself rather than as

a tool for prayer or Christian instruction. Icons were never meant to be worshiped or venerated as

something holy in themselves. The reverence shown to an icon must be done with the

understanding that it is not the icon or artwork itself we are respecting, but rather the person or

event it portrays. An icon is meant to be a window into the spiritual world, used to help us

contemplate spiritual matters or to put us into a prayerful frame of mind, as a reminder of events in

the Bible, the life of Christ and the Saints, but never as an object of worship.

Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun, keep clear away from and avoid by fl ight if need be, any

sort of idolatry, of loving or venerating anything more than God .

1 Cor 10:14.

What Is Idolatry?

Here is the technical definition of idolatry: Idolatry is worshiping, serving, pledging allegiance to,

doing acts of obeisance to, paying homage to, forming alliances with, making covenants with,

seeking power from, or in any other way exalting any supernatural being other than God. The

supernatural beings refer to angels, cherubim, seraphim, Satan, principalities, powers, deities,

territorial spirits, goddesses, and demonic beings on any other level. Calling miscellaneous sins

"idolatry" is dangerous because it diverts attention from the real thing.


7 2011/06/04 17:42


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The Emperor Konstantine the Fifth put together a council of his supporters and pushed through an

edict in 730 which banned images. During this conflict the two most prominent theologians who

stood to defend the use of icons in the Church were St. John of Damascus (675-749 A.D.) and St.

Theodore of Studios (759-826 A.D.) at the 7th Ecumenical Council of the Eastern Orthodox Church

in 787 A.D. The fight which became ugly until finaly it ended in 843 AD with the coming back of

icons. This assertion of icons and use of icons was based on the Gospel witness to the

incarnation of God in Jesus Christ as a restoration of all human beings to the divine imageproclaimed in the Genesis account of creation. Thus God indeed made himself present in the

material realm and representation of those forms are necessary for proclamation of truth. As a

means communication icons do play a great role. Even today we use drawings and pictures to

teach our children the truth in Sunday School. Look at any Sunday School curriculum you will be

surprised at the art and craft as part of the process of teaching. The Iconoclast had a point in that

the realism can lead to idol worship even when we emphasize that we should avoid it.

...within Christianity itself there had always existed a 'puritan' outlook, which condemned icons

because it saw in all images a latent idolatry...The final victory of the Holy Images in 843 is known

as 'the Triumph of Orthodoxy'..One of the distinctive features of Orthodoxy is the place which it

assigns to icons. An Orthodox church today is filled with them...An Orthodox prostrates himself

before these icons, he kisses them and burns candles in front of them...Because icons are only

symbols, Orthodox do not worship them, but reverence or venerate them... icons form a part of HolyTradition...The Iconoclasts, by repudiating all representations of God, failed to take to full account

the Incarnation" (Ware T. The Orthodox Church. Penguin Books, London, 1997, pp. 31-33).

All through history this struggle carried on. Even when these visible symbolism of form and shape

was removed, others went to the other extreme of idolization of rituals like Confessing with your

mouth, immersion baptism, baptism reverence to the Bible Book. True, there is no visiblegraven image, or even a picture. But the symbolism has taken over the reality. Quoting the biblical

verses to support these will not really make any difference. These confusions of mistaking symbols

for reality has always been with the church. The written word kills, It is the Spirit that gives life.

We need to distinguish between symbols and realities. Unless we are able to go beyond the three

dimensional material Kingdom (Malkuth) and even beyond the mental to the higher realms of

understanding icons will remain as idols. These are not materially graven images, but graven in

mind and even in spirit. These attitudes of icon and idol making has produced a large variety of

Christian Communities. Each has a different idol and vouches that it is not an idol and does not

really replace Jesus. When the extreme comes we begin to realize that what started as a

reasonable way of expression in symbolism has now become a heresy and something that leads

us away from the Person of Jesus. But then this is inherent in every symbols and sacrament. But

more it is permanent and object based, there is more chance of it becoming an idol. Any sacrament


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can thus become an idol, even when it is a legitimate icon imparting grace and redemption.

During the middle ages when ritualism led to idolism, there arose the Reformation Movement

(1500s) and later the Holiness Movement. They in general removed the material aspects of

symbols and replaced them with non-material aspects. Later Holiness Movement and even the

Pentecostals, Evangelicals and the Charismatics developed their own semiotic symbols which were

non-material. While the Quaker Movement took up on themselves silence, in most cases

expressions based on music, dance, speaking in tongues, laughing, total immersion water baptism

and even slaying in spirit and total silence became powerful symbols of Christian movement . By

repetition and order these became the ritual and thereby a new form of liturgy.

.


7 2011/06/04 17:42


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MORE: Universalism Denomination Affirmation

Universalism Rules

Abba's Way. Thought. Why Universalism is the Only Way

Forward. Universalism is an Existing Denomination. It is

Also a Saving Concept, an Idea the World Needs to

Embrace, a Doable Personal Affirmation


Sep 7, 2010 "Contribute content like this. Start Here."

Universalism is the name of a denomination which evolved from the theological thinking of James

Relly who passed it on to John Murray who brought it to America. In essence, universalism saw that

because all were mired in evil there could only be a

universal salvation. That simplifies, but not unduly.

Today I think most people see we are a spectrum

and that we contain everything under the sun.

Which means we are all saved by a sort of grace

when we get up in the morning and do no harm.

Many have, including us on some days, no such

protections. But universalism would say that in

each of us there is a higher self or a spark or some

element that is real that impels us to at least think

about the "evil" or wrong we have done. If is from regret over this that Abba can be found within and

the process of growth can begin.

If you think this is claptrap, consider the corporate nature of wrong and evil. We have no idea the

effects we have, more and more. Why? Because of the floating and utterly unpredictable power of

words. I could write something on this page that would ruin the day of someone living in a far off

province halfway around the world. We pay the taxes that kill the civilians. The good we would do, we

don't. The evil we would not, we do.

Everything is tending to the universal. Everything is tending towardAbba's Way.Nothing complex. Assimple as Jesus made it before the theologians took control.

Now don't you think this evokes a terrible reaction, particularly among religionists, who believe with

all their heart and soul that the world is somehow divided into the saved and the damned, that rights

are not equal, that elitism is OK and that, when all else fails, Darwin kicks in and the weak perish?

Besides, good will has done little to lower the UNICEF figures on woman and child mortality year by

year.

So how can universalism be the only way ahead? The ideal we must and will I believe embrace.

Because ultimately we are in control. There is no devil out there. There is no external divinity that willstay the oil spill we create. There is no big hand in the sky to redirect Katrina. If we build weakness,

weakness will not withstand the winds.

I Think of Paul Bemoaning His Demise

Some Argue that the Past Contains the Now

We Are Containers of All Kinds of Time

Accepting Ourselves is Abba's Way

Positive Affirmation

Abba's Way - Positive Affirmation

Play is Abba's Way. Play is Being Playful. That's OK

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Clergy Requirements Are L aughable

Abba's Way - Jesus Film "Markman" 2 David Markman, a

contemporary Jesus figure, is told he is no longer a minister

of the Gospel. . Original script.

Abba's Way - Premises

Abba's Way is both individual and universal.

So What is Abba's Way

Abba's Way. Premises. "Abba's Way, Abba the Singing

Group, Abba The One To Whom Jesus Prayed." Abba

refers to the Aramaic word for daddy, pop, poppa and is

the familiar term Jes...

Imagining Genesis

Abba's Way Genesis. The original text of "Abba's Way" is a

guided imagining of Jesus speaking today. This has fanned

out into the articulation of a way of living based o...

Mark 1:7 Commentary

Mark 1:7 Commentary: "And preached, saying, There

cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose

shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."

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