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  "canonicalUrl": "https://jcrt.org/archives/02.2/arnold/",
  "path": "/archives/02.2/arnold/",
  "publishedAt": "2001-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:e24okfpxr7ctcbmruijop5gp/site.standard.publication/jcrt",
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  "textContent": "Arnold - Diversity in the History of Religions - JCRT 2.2 \n\nDiversity in the History of Religions\n\nPhilip P. Arnold  \nSyracuse University\n\n_\n\nAn address delivered at the First Annual Alumni and Graduate Student Conference, Department of Religion, Syracuse University, February 18-20, 2000.\n\n_\n\n  \n\nI  want to begin my reflections on diversity with a true story. A few weeks ago I was shoveling out my driveway when a young African American man approached me. I instantly recognized him as an evangelist coming to save me. He first handed me a pamphlet with an idyllic picture drawn of a beautiful Paradisiacal landscape and everyone in the picture was smiling and having a wonderful and wholesome time. There are what looks to be an Asian mother and daughter petting a bear near a berry bush; a Latino family petting an African lion; an African or African American man and woman, as well as a white boy carrying food. This is all set in an idyllic landscape with farmlands and mountains in the background. And, of course it is a splendid fall day. Everyone is smiling.\n\n     > [](http://www.kurtelling.com/)\n     > \n     > [](http://www.real.com/player/index.html?src=topnav)  \n     > RealAudio: 28.8k | ISDN | DSL\n     > \n     > \"Esperanto,\" by Vince Mendoza and Kurt Elling, lyrics inspired by the poems of Pablo Neruda. Reproduced by kind permission of the artist. From the album _Live in Chicago_, '2000 Blue Note / Capitol Records. More information about Kurt Elling may be found at http://www.kurtelling.com/.\n     > \n     > There's a secret that never dies,  \n     > like a dance of hidden meanings that we never apprehend.  \n     > There are questions just as old as time,  \n     > and the answers that come never quite make amends.  \n     > Even so when you look at time you can get a subtle feeling of the way it oughta be.  \n     > Take a good look at your own real life,  \n     > and you will see if you want what you've gotten to be.  \n     > Its a hope, a sign, a measure of quiet rapture,  \n     > of love and what might come after.  \n     > Its letting go and letting no answer be an answer.\n     > \n     > How did smoke learn how to fly?  \n     > Where do birds go off to die?  \n     > Why does coal sleep in darkness?  \n     > Do dreams live in apartness?  \n     > Is a number forever?  \n     > Where's the soul of the water?  \n     > How old is \"Old November\"?  \n     > No one here can remember.  \n     > If I die where does time go?  \n     > Do the bees feel vertigo?  \n     > To get love is there potion?  \n     > Or is love only motion?\n     > \n     > Holy lift, holy reading; holy gift, holy needing.  \n     > Holy sound, holy winding; holy spark animating.  \n     > Holy food, holy breathing; holy light interweaving.  \n     > Holy night, holy handwrite; holy flight, holy insight.  \n     > Holy sun, holy brother; holy moon, holy mother.  \n     > Holy dream, holy vision; holy scheme, holy mission.  \n     > Holding one to another; holy me, holy other.  \n     > Holy lives, holy pending; holy start, holy ending.\n\n  \n\n> Philip P. Arnold (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1992) is Associate Professor of American Religions at Syracuse University and specializes in Native American traditions of the Americas with special emphasis on contact between Europeans and pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations and Iroquois traditions. His work in Nahuatl texts and archaeological materials from central Mexico has focused on connections between indigenous rituals and their material world. His articles have included topics on the ritual symbolism of food, cultural contact in the development of religion in the Americas, and 'book culture' in Native communities. His current work highlights the local history and religious landscape of the Erie Canal and of New York State, utilizing the issues and insights of Haudenosaunee (i.e., Longhouse, or Traditional Iroquois). His books include _Eating Landscape: Aztec and European Occupation of Tlalocan_ (University of Colorado Press, 1999) and _Sacred Landscapes and Cultural Politics: Planting a Tree_ (Ashgate, 2001), which he co-edited with Ann Grodzins Gold.\n\n  \n\n> \n\n  \n\n ' 2001 Philip P. Arnold. All rights reserved.  \nUpdated 07/28/21.   \nhttp://jcrt.org/archives/02.2/arnold/\n\n---",
  "title": "Diversity in the History of Religions"
}