The term “Silk Road” was coined in the nineteenth century by German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen to describe the informal network of roads that connected China to Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Along its corridors between 200 BCE and 1500 CE flowed trade goods, technology, and weapons, as well as social, cultural and religious ideas. Religions like Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoastrianism, Manicheanism, Judaism, Islam, and Nestorian Christianity all traveled the Silk Road at different times and different places. Buddhism followed this route to China from India and Central Asia. The Chinese city of Dunhuang was strategically located along the Silk Road on the western frontier of China at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It became an important place to stop, rest, pick up provisions, and trade. Between the fourth and fourteenth centuries, thousands of Buddhist cave sanctuaries were carved from the sandstone hills about 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang. These caves served the religious and secular purposes of a vibrant Buddhist community. Fortunately hundreds of caves survived intact to the present. Artifacts from the caves include murals, sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, and textiles. After removal of many artifacts to Western countries in the early twentieth century, the Chinese government set up the Dunhuang Research Academy to oversee the study and preservation of the Dunhuang caves. ARTstor provides thousands of high resolution images of the Dunhuang caves and their contents through its Mellon International Dunhuang Archive collection. MIDA “is the product of a major and ongoing multi-institutional, multi-national effort to create high-quality digital reconstructions of the mural paintings and related art and texts associated with the several hundred Buddhist cave shrines in Dunhuang, China”. Images come from the caves themselves, from artifacts found in collections worldwide, and from the Lo Archive at Princeton University. Each image comes with a complete description that allows for easy access. You can browse the Dunhuang Archive by Object Type, Cave Number, or Contributor. The Advanced Search lets you perform complex keyword searches while limiting your search by Collection and Object Classification. I’ve created a few Image Groups below to give you a small taste of what’s in this collection. You will have to disable your popup blockers to view the images. Image Groups Dunhuang Buddha paintings Dunhuang Bodhisattva, Buddha sculptures More Dunhuang Bodhisattva, Buddha sculptures Other Links Historic Maps of China (click on the timeline to see the borders of China during each dynasty) Buddhist Art in China Buddhist Art in Central Asia Buddhist Art in India Silk Road (saved search from Oxford Reference Online) —Fred Rowland

Over the past year many of the popular weekly news magazines, like Newsweek, Time, and US News and World Report, have featured cover stories on religious themes, most involving religion in the public sphere. Below are links to a number of these cover stories, accessed through the database Academic Search Premier. WHERE WE STAND ON FAITH. (Cover story) Newsweek Religious Protection. (Cover story) New Republic In Search of The Spiritual. (Cover story) Newsweek A New Welcoming Spirit in the Mosque. (Cover story) Newsweek DOES GOD WANT YOU TO BE RICH? (Cover story) Time God vs. Science. (Cover Story) Time A Passionate Voice And a Moral Vision. (Cover story) Newsweek A New Social Gospel. (Cover story) Newsweek The Case Against Faith. (Cover story) Newsweek A Shepherd Protects His Own Backyard. (Cover story) Newsweek Debating ‘Da Vinci’ (Cover story) U.S.News & World Report The Kingdom of Christ. (Cover story) U.S.News & World Report THE WAYS OF OPUS DEI. (Cover story) Time —Fred Rowland

Hassan El Menyawi will speak on Monday, November 27, at 2pm in the Women’s Studies Lounge on the 8th Floor of Anderson. Menyawi is currently Assistant Professor at the United Nations University for Peace, teaching courses on international law and human rights. Toward Global Democracy is an article by Manyawi published in the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. —Fred Rowland

Professor Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago will give presentations at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday (11/8, 5:15, Logan 17) and Thursday (11/9, 3:00pm, Penn Humanities Forum, 3619 Locust Walk). “Mythology of Gender in Kama-Sutra” (Wednesday) // “Bisexuality in Classical India: A Workshop” (Thursday) These events are co-sponsored by Fund to Encourage Women (FEW) of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, Department of South Asia Studies, Department of Religious Studies, and Women’s Studies and the Alice Paul Center. Here’s a description of Doniger from the University of Chicago Divinity School web site. Here are some works by Doniger (books) (articles1) (articles2).

There’s a Darwin Exhibit running at the Franklin Institute from October 6 to December 31 that I will try to get to. Darwin is arguably the most influential thinker of the past two centuries and his theories continue to be a rich source of inspiration and controversy. I’m not sure the exhibit will be as “astonishing” as the Franklin Institute self-reports but certainly worth seeing. Museums have become a bit like theme parks so get ready for plenty of rides, games, and make-believe as you enter Chuckie D’s world. Getting back to the real world, the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities is hosting The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online, described as the “largest collection of Darwin’s writings ever published”. Thanks to science librarian Kathy Szigeti for pointing this site out for me. Check it out, it looks very impressive. You might also take a look at some of the books the library has from Richard Dawkins and the late Stephen Jay Gould, two scientists who have done much to make Darwin accessbile to popular audiences. William A. Dembski has written a lot in support of Intelligent Design. Here’s a review in the Skeptic magazine of five different books (including one edited by Dembski) that challenge evolutionary theory. As the name suggests, the Skeptic is all about debunking, in this case Creationism/Intelligent Design. Here John C. Polkinghorne, physicist and theologian, critiques “Darwinian thinking” run amok. Mary Midgley is a philosopher who has written some interesting stuff on the religion in science. Finally, we are often romantically inclined to see Big Ideas as the result of some lone genius working his magic, the paradigmatic cases in science being Newton and Einstein. It’s important to remember in this case that Darwin was not the only one who was thinking about the principles and lines of evidence that would lead to the theory of evolution. Alfred Russell Wallace came up with the mechanism of natural selection about the same time that Darwin did, which just goes to show that Big Ideas are often “in the air”. Also, take a look at my Science and Religion subject guide for more resources on the intersection of science and religion. —Fred Rowland