The study summarizes the work of Maurice Bloch, especially his theory of ritual and religion. Focusing on Bloch’s concepts of rebounding violence, ideology and knowledge, it is argued that the cognitive dualism does not correspond to the fact of the entirety of the human mind, a unique constellation of specific biological, natural environmental, historical, social and cultural circumstances as well as personal and experiential conditions. When dealing with some analogies of Bloch’s thought, the assumptions of Marx, Freud and Rousseau are recalled. The recognition of the eurocentric polarization also demands a mention of the Latin naturalis and supernaturalis dichotomy as well as the Greek sophistic duality of fysei and nomó. On the other hand, Bloch’s precise critique of functionalist and Marxist approaches allows moving towards deeper psychosocial processes within ritual.
This article deals with the manuscript of a little known Baroque sermon called "Rurale Ivaniticum" from the Library of the Prague Crusaders. Its author is the forgotten Carmelite P. Ivanus a S. Ioanne Baptista. The main subject is the usefulness of the manuscript for the study of 18th century popular culture in Bohemia. The sermon by P. Ivanus a S. Ioanne Baptista was aimed almost exclusively at the lower class rural population. Hence the "Rurale ivaniticum" manuscript provides quite frequent examples of didactically intended folk sayings, as well as attacks on folk demonology and oneiromancy. It is from these parts of the manuscript that a merger of scholarly and folk culture clearly emerges.
This article attempts to reconstruct the heathen cults which existed in Jerusalem, after the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE and especially after the foundation of the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of the Jewish city, in the first half or the second century CWE. Based on all the currently available literary and archaeological sources, this area of research reveals that the pantheon of Aelia Capitolina was exclusively Graeco-Roman, as was the case with the city of Sebaste/Samaria. Those two religious centers dissociate themselves from the Palestinian paganism, in the Roman era, which was profoundly characterized by the syncretistic merger of the Greek and Roman religions with ancient Phoenician and Syrian cults.