Essays

Long-form writing from leading scholars and commentators on history, statecraft, warfare, philosophy and culture.

Glass Buddha alters are lit up in Koukokuji temple on July 7, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Operated by the Koukokuji buddhist temple, The Ruriden columbarium at the Koukoko-ji Temple houses over 2,046 crystal Buddha statues, each illuminated by high-powered LED lights. Behind each Buddha is a drawer storing people's ashes. An IC card allows the owner of the alter to access the building and lights up the corresponding statue. The ashes are stored for 33 years before being buried below the Ruriden, currently 900 alters are in use as of July 2016. (Photo by Richard Atrero de Guzman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Inside the Collective Unconscious

The religious imagination has reinvented itself by finding a new home in cyberspace.

Erik Davis August 8, 2020

Bookshelf with anime comic books and magazine in a shop in Akihibara, Tokyo, Japan.

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How manga shapes Japanese identity

Manga has become something of a global phenomenon, but every iteration and comic-strip has its origins in a particularly Japanese visual culture.

Jaqueline Berndt August 7, 2020

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Tradition meets aesthetics: the meaning of modern rituals

In a secular and individualised world, rites and symbols are popular but only partially understood.

Lynn Åkesson August 7, 2020

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The birth of theosophy

The origins of theosophy, a movement that would have an enormous influence over artists and scientists alike, can be found in late 19th century New York.

Isaac Lubelsky August 6, 2020

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The Nation in Arms: Myth or reality?

In the First World War, many soldiers did not fight in a spirit of patriotism, but the war did prove a crucible for nationhood and nationalism.

Rob Johnson August 6, 2020

Pericles' Funeral Oration (Perikles hält die Leichenrede) by Philipp Foltz (1852)

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Democracy in crisis: Lessons from Ancient Athens

Demagogues thrive if moderate politicians flatter citizens into an unrealistic sense of their own greatness.

Erica Benner August 5, 2020

A man claiming to be an Al-Qaeda member addresses a crowd gathered in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on December 22, 2009. Men claiming to be Al-Qaeda members have vowed to avenge those killed in a Yemeni air strike on one of the group's training camps in southern Yemen, Al-Jazeera television reported. In a short video aired by the pan-Arab satellite channel, a bearded man holding a microphone and flanked by two armed men addressed a crowd gathered in the Abyan province to mourn those killed in the December 17 air raid. AFP PHOTO/STR == BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE == (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

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Why Jihadists write poetry

Al-Qaeda's success in Yemen can in part be explained by the group's adept use of poetry as propaganda.

Elisabeth Kendall August 5, 2020

Alexander Mosaic (detail), House of the Faun, Pompeii.

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Did nationalism exist in the classical world?

Nationalism is often thought of as a modern development - but its traces can be found in antiquity.

Robin Lane Fox August 4, 2020

Krishna's Longing for Radha, from the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, circa 1820-1825. In the lush forests on the banks of India?s Yamuna River, the youthful god Krishna waits to rendezvous with his beloved Radha. The artist has rendered his impatience by showing seven Krishnas, in various attitudes of anxious waiting, as though seeing him over a period of time. Meanwhile Radha, dressed in yellow at top right, confers seemingly endlessly with her confidante, as she tries to decide whether she should meet Krishna for the illicit tryst?she is already married and Krishna is prone to flirting with other girls. This scene is a metaphor for how god waits for us to come to him, while the human devotee frets about the bonds of social norms.

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The gods in love

The Hindu tradition of Radha and Krishna calls us to see passion as the kernel of all religion.

Jessica Frazier August 3, 2020