Material culture of religion Research Papers (original) (raw)

2025, Journal of Contemplative Studies

Buddhist amulets have been a topic of academic research for decades. But scholarly presuppositions that amulets have circulated primarily in popular Buddhist milieus, related only tangentially to the pursuits of elite practitioners, has limited our appreciation of how amulets have inflected philosophical and contemplative concerns. This article aims to challenge this lopsided perspective by showing how Buddhists in Tibet integrated analytic contemplation into the practice of writing down, wearing, and putting into practice short tantric scriptures that claim to liberate through wearing. The discussion argues that carving out a place for analysis in amulet-tantra use can be traced to the revelations of the thirteenth century visionary scholar Guru Chöwang's commentarial glosses on the phrase "liberation-through-wearing." This discussion contextualizes the change of emphasizing analysis in amulet-tantra practice as a transition between the earlier Heart Essence of Vimalamitra revelations and the later Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī revelations in response to ongoing criticisms of the Great Perfection. This article concludes that the Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī's tantra-amulets drew from Guru Chöwang's revelation to harmonize analytic inquiry with the earlier Vimalamitra dispensation in ways that blur the boundaries between embodied tantric practice and discursive philosophical inquiry. This blurring of boundaries has ramifications for how we study Buddhist Tantra and philosophy.

2025

Readings and amending of five Arabic inscriptions from Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, are hereunder reviewed and amended, where some orientalists and Arab researchers had tried and published them with errors and some lapses. These emendations are complementary to their work, which made us understand them more clearly or differently. The study completed and amended the reading of a decree at the wall of the city of Damascus dated between )851-857 A.H. /1447-1453(. It abolished the forced sale of sugar and salt to the people of the locality of Al-Farayen, in addition to another issue; that was not disclosed by the decree and is still ambiguous. But we have suggested that it relates to a dispute among people about sharing the water of the Barada River, depending on the news reported by historian Mohamed Ibn Tulun al-Dimashqi. The study also amended the reading of an inscription at Bāb al-Maqām in Aleppo, dated around )859-863 A.H.(. Its subject is the warning of taking the taxes of the Dishar ‫راشدلا‬ )sheep and livestock(, thus making us understand the text more fully and accurately. The study also emended reading an inscription in The Madrasa al-Sultaniyya in Aleppo, dated )874 A.H. / 1469(. Its subject is a warning against changing the function of the mausoleum of al-Malik al-Ẓahīr Ghāzī, by forbidding the erection of tents cloth in front of it; in which goods are stored, or using the mausoleum itself as a store. This helped us understand the text differently. The study was also successful in completing a reading of a decree in the Hama Mosque issued to legalize what the detainee pays to the jailer in Hama prison. It was issued by Emir Yashbak b. Haidar, the procurator of Hama in )896 A.H. /1490 A.D.(. Finally, the study emended the reading of an early Ottoman inscription dated )926 A.H. / 1519( on the pulpit of al-Nūrī Mosque in Ḥimṣ. Its subject is the abolition of levies on the remains of those who die by drowning, fire, falling from a high place, or being killed under the rubble. This inscription remained of distorted reading but we succeeded in reading and amended it. Although the study's concern is to correct and amend the reading of those inscriptions without taking care to study the Mamlūk titles, -which will not add much to what we know about the Mamlūk era. However, it interpreted the texts and approximated the historical circumstances that called for their inscription, with little attention to the study of writing script, because the study of inscriptions from the perspective of Paleography requires detail and a broader and more comprehensive investigation, and requires many pages that this study cannot provide. Keywords :Arabic inscriptions in Syria, Mamlūk decrees, excises on sheep, the forced sale of goods, levies on dead bodies. This decree was inscribed on the entrance of Bab al-Maqam in Aleppo and was issued to abolish a tax that was unlawfully imposed on shepherds and their livestock. The Mamluk government had sought to regulate and tax grazing animals, but the decree prohibited such practices and sought to protect the livelihoods of herders. The inscription consists of several lines in Thuluth script, and like other decrees of the period, it includes religious and legal justifications for its enforcement.

2025, in E. Lehn and C. Redard (eds), Des réserves à la lumière. Quelques artéfacts conservés à la BNU de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, pp. 109-125

Maître de conférences d'histoire des religions Image de couverture Manuscrit 1912, folio 33v Ouvrage publié avec le soutien de l'Institut Thématique Interdisciplinaire d'histoire, sociologie, archéologie et anthropologie des religions de... more

2025, Archives of Asian Art

The handscroll Tales of the Eight Eminent Monks 八高僧故事圖卷, attributed to Liang Kai 梁楷 (fl. 1201–4), is a collection of eight alternating pictorial scenes and eight texts. The texts are largely excerpts from Transmission of the Lamp (dated 1004), which emphasizes adepts’ biographies, recorded
sayings, and other nonconventional enlightenment literature. The scenes and text are encounter narratives 禪會 (chanhui) that depict meetings between travelers and masters on the diverse nature of circumstances leading to enlightenment. Disparate in nature—the synoptic narrative paintings include
depictions of patriarchs such as the Bodhidharma, the second and fifth Chan patriarchs, and lesser known figures in Chan history. In the essay, the figures in the scroll are analyzed in comparison with the accepted iconography of Chan (Zen) art. Lingering questions about the calligraphy, date, and the scroll’s attribution (linked to the four extant signatures hidden in the paintings) are also addressed.

2025, Literatura Ludowa. Journal of Folklore and Popular Culture vol. 69 (2025) no. 1–2

Recenzja: Michal Téra, Perun – gromowładny bóg. Wstęp do dawnych wierzeń Słowian, przeł. I. Górewicz, Triglav, Szczecin 2024.

2025, Comics, Culture, and Religion. Faith Imagined

Since the early twenty-first century, the study of comic books, manga and graphic novels has taken off. This systematic collection of essays gives an impetus to this field of research from a sociological perspective and discusses comics’ relations with a large diversity of religions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Japanese religions, and Zoroastrianism, but also the rituals, ethics, and worldviews that pop up in the comics milieu itself. It aims to further our understanding of comics as an important and transformative part of popular culture and of religion as a social phenomenon in all its variety. The volume departs from the notion that in liquid modernity the boundaries between the institutional spheres have become fluid, the religious sphere included. It consists of four parts that answer the following questions. How do religions use and respond to comics? How do comics represent and criticize religion? When does the social role of comics resemble the social role of religion? And finally: what and how do comics teach about religion, culture and society? Comics, religion, and society intersect in various ways. De Groot shows how comics are a way of doing, encountering, and making religion in liquid modernity. In contemporary societies, the articulation of the sacred is no longer governed by religions. Religion is both ‘in there’, and ‘out there’, mediatized also by cartoons, comics, and animated movies. Comics both serve the imaginative dimension of lived religion, contain religious imagery beyond the control of religious authorities, and contribute to the construction of imagined faith

2025, Material Religion 21(2)

In discerning the universal survey museum, Carol Duncan and A. Wallach argue that “the primary function of a museum is ideological as it is meant to impress upon those who use or pass through the society’s most revered beliefs and values” (Duncan and Wallach 1980, 448). They further suggest that museums embody and make the idea of the “state” visible. This aspect is best reflected in national museums, where the variable of what constitutes an “ideal state” is materialized by selecting and arranging the museum’s collection and works of art to best suit the nationalist discourse upheld and propagated by the ruling regime. This strategic disposition of art and knowledge dictates, to a certain extent, the visitor’s experience as a script organizes a performance, almost like a religious ritual in both form and content. By examining the reception history of Buddhism at the National Museum in New Delhi, I aim to demonstrate how museums can serve as spaces that accommodate both hegemonic narratives and counter-narratives while employing the same ritualistic tools and practices.

2025

Review in Ulster Archaeological Society Newsletter (Spring 2025) by Rena Maguire of People, Prehistory and the Past. Essays in honour of John Waddell edited by Michelle Comber and Kieran O’Conor, Dublin 2025. Published by Four Courts... more

2025, Religion and Society

A review by Leah Comeau of the book by Urmila Mohan. Religion and Society: Advances in Research 15 (2024): 259–260 © The Author. This issue is open access.

2025, Religion and Society

This article foregrounds transcendence and its definitions to formalize the term's value as a viable analytic for anthropology. It notes the proliferation of transcendences (plural) in anthropological literature and proposes a working typology of transcendence that recognizes the different scales within analysis on which transcendence is being used. Drawing upon this scalar-aware typology, it reviews existing scholarship in the field of anthropology of material religion, characterized by a detailed theoretical treatment of transcendence. Finally, this article redraws attention to the situatedness of transcendence in the history of anthropology and its attendant Christian legacy, in other words the scale of anthropology itself. It concludes that the most promising value of transcendence as an analytic lies in attending to the tensions between different scales in analysis.

2025, Journal of Asian Studies

review by Thomas DuBois, forthcoming in Journal of Asian Studies

2025

Scriptural Text Integration employed in some Catholic educational institutions throughout the world has become the core pedagogy that promises relevant and meaningful education for today’s learner. This study investigated the experiences of the teachers and students in integrating Scriptural texts in English language classes. It utilized a transcendental phenomenological research design. The study involved ten students and ten teachers in both Catholic schools in Southern Philippines and in Bangkok, Thailand. Focus Group Discussion and interviews were employed. Findings reveal that teachers used strategies such as careful choice of Scriptural texts; using Scriptural texts to broaden the topic; connecting Scriptures to life experiences; and use of Scriptural text as a platform for values formation. In terms of challenges, they expressed difficulty in having ample time for meaningful integration; Lack of skill in integrating Scriptural text; passivity of some students; and difficulty ...

2025, Independent

This whitepaper dismantles the widespread misconception that Christianity is a "Western religion." Rooted in Jewish eschatological traditions of the ancient Near East, Christianity originated in a Semitic, Middle Eastern context and was fundamentally shaped by the sociopolitical and theological conditions of Judea under Roman occupation. This work systematically traces the true origins of Christianity, its transformation through imperial appropriation, and the deliberate rebranding of Christianity as a Western identity project. It concludes by calling for the decolonization of religious historiography and restoration of Christianity's Semitic and Eastern identity.

2025, Etruscan and Italic Studies

The authors are indebted to a number of people, not least of all the first-year student excavators of Poggio Civitate's 2024 season. As climate change has made the Tuscan summers increasingly hot, field work of this kind has become especially onerous. In spite of these conditions, our remarkable group persevered through arduous conditions to make this summer's vital contributions on site and in the laboratory. Of special note, the dedication and professionalism of Poggio Civitate 2024's site staff,

2025, Pilgrimage "in-between": religous pilgrims in main Chilean shrines

Drawing on interviews and observation conducted at three shrines across Chile, this article examines the motivations of pilgrims in the context of the persistent vitality of religious pilgrimage in the country. While the literature on religious change in Latin America has focused on the rise of Evangelical pluralism or the increasing religious disaffiliation, this article explores the reasons behind the continuity of popular Catholicism in a changing context. Our findings reveal that, while Chilean pilgrims demonstrate motivations beyond institutionalized religion, their ties to familial community and focus on reaching a destination moderate the journey's centrality, diverging from post-secular pilgrimage. Both the manda (religious vow) and custom integrate pilgrimage within a framework of religious obligation tied closely to familial community, thus challenging its liminoid character based on the description of pilgrimage as a journey, as well as its perceived features of voluntariness and individual autonomy.

2025

Frescă din trecutul (re)desoperit al castelului de la Hunedoara (a doua jumătate a secolului al XV-lea). Le mulţumim doamnei dr. Delia Maria Tatu şi domnului dr. Sorin Tincu, doi oameni deosebiţi. © 2025 Coordonatorii volumului. Toate drepturile rezervate. Reproducerea integrală sau parțială a textului, prin orice mijloace, fără acordul coordonatorilor, este interzisă şi se pedepsește conform legii. Autorii sunt în exclusivitate responsabili pentru conținutul și corectitudinea lucrării transmise.

2025, Insights into Islamic Archaeology and Material Cultura

2025

-for rullende materiel i Danmarks Jernbanemuseum af rené s. Christensen, gitte lundager og henrik harnow

2025, SWEDISH JOURNAL OF ROMANIAN STUDIES

This study analyzes a collection of 245 small holy cards preserved in a private collection in Căpleni (Romania). The primary aim is to explore the origins, functions, and connections of these holy cards with local religious societies. By focusing on the personal inscriptions and messages on these images, the research seeks to uncover how they were used and how they contributed to shaping interpersonal relationships. The methodology involves categorizing the items based on their usage occasions and the nature of their inscriptions, prioritizing qualitative aspects. The study employs theoretical frameworks such as the concepts of social objects and object biographies, to interpret the functions and social significance of the images. The findings reveal that these small religious images served not only devotional purposes but also acted as social catalysts that facilitated the maintenance and reinforcement of relationships within the community. The gifting and exchange of holy cards were embedded in social interactions, often accompanied by personal messages that documented and strengthened social bonds. These practices contributed to the reproduction of social capital by continuously reaffirming mutual recognition and obligations among community members. In conclusion, the study highlights the multifaceted roles of small devotional images as instruments of both personal piety and social connectivity. The analysis underscores the importance of considering the social life of objects to fully appreciate their cultural and anthropological significance within a given community.

2025, Magnification and Miniaturization in Religious Communication in Antiquity and Modernity: Materialities and Meanings

This paper looks afresh at the socio-religious practice of gift-giving to the divine in the critical context of illness. In terms of methodology, this study draws inspiration from Rosa’s sociological theory of resonant self–world relations and its strong emphasis on bodily relationships, as well as on recent studies on embodiment and visual culture, lived religion, and monumentality. It also brings together my earlier research interest in the concept of the ‘lived body’, as well as current research work on bodily fragmentation, fusion, and trans-formation, pursued in the context of the ‘De/Constructing the Body: Ancient and Modern Dynamics’ project.
More specifically, this paper offers a comparative study between modern Greek anatomical tamata (‘dedications’ in Modern Greek) and ancient Greek anathemata (‘dedications’ in ancient Greek) in terms of their magnitude, materiality, and the meanings ascribed to them by their dedicants. The comparison reveals a paradoxical coexistence of processes of miniaturization and magnification in both Antiquity and modernity, which is central to the meaning-making mechanisms of these objects. Despite both types of objects being effectively miniaturized versions of human bodies or body parts (internal and external alike), they exercise monumental power in the eyes of both the dedicants and the deities to whom they are offered. This last premise is fleshed out further by a close comparison between modern and ancient eye-shaped tamata dedicated to St Paraskevi and the analogously shaped ancient Greek anathemata dedicated to Demeter and Kore.

2025, Petridou, G. (2022) ‘Divine Ophthalmology: From St Paraskevi to Demeter and Kore’, in Cl. Prêtre and Ph. Charlier (eds.), VIIIe colloque international de pathographie. «C’est un peu de moi que je vous abandonne...» Maladies, gestes et objets (votifs) de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Editions de Boccar...

« Ophtalmologie divine : de Sainte Paraskevi à Déméter et Korè» : Cet article compare les objets votifs grecs modernes et antiques liés aux maladies ophtalmologiques. il examine le rôle et la typologie des tamata (« objets votifs » en grec moderne) dans le culte de guérison chrétien de sainte Paraskevi en Grèce moderne, et donne un bref aperçu d'autres saintes chrétiennes qui président à la vue et sont en lien étroit avec la lumière. en outre, cette étude examine les offrandes en forme d'oeil (anathemata en grec ancien) trouvées dans les temples dédiés à déméter et à Coré. « Comparer l'incomparable » permet une analyse ad fontes de la perception de la maladie ophtalmologique et de la pluralité régionale des cultes de guérison. en outre, cela autorise une discussion fructueuse sur le contexte culturel propre à la santé et à la maladie ophtalmologique. abstract : this chapter compares modern and ancient Greek votives related to ophthalmological illness. it discusses the role and typology of tamata ('votives' in modern Greek) in the Christian healing cult of st Paraskevi in modern Greece, along with a brief survey of other Christian female saints who preside over eyesight and their close connection to light. Moreover, this study examines ancient Greek eye-shaped votives (anathemata in ancient Greek), which were found in temples dedicated to demeter and Kore. 'Comparing the incomparables' , this paper argues, allows for an ad fontes analysis of the lived experience of ophthalmological illness and of the regional diversity of healing cults. Moreover, it allows for a fruitful discussion of the culture-specific framing of ophthalmological health and illness.

2025, S. Schrenk / U. Verstegen (Hrsg.): Forschungsgeschichte als Aufbruch. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Christlichen Archäologie und Byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte, XXIV. Tagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christliche Archäologie, Bonn, 10.–12. Mai 2018 (Heidelberg 2022) 77–85.

2025, THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

2025, Entre évitement et alliance: formes mineures du divin

Introduction

2025

Rural communities can vary widely in terms of their economic, social, and cultural characteristics. Churches in rural communities including the Methodist Church Ghana have played various essential roles in the growth and development of rural communities over the years. The commitment, faithfulness, resilience, and dedication of Methodist churches in rural communities have also aided in the spread of the Gospel and the expansion of the Methodist Church. Despite the remarkable commitments that the Methodist churches in rural communities have demonstrated to their faith and community, they confront various challenges that impede their growth and development. Awareness of the issues facing Methodism in rural communities has increased over the past few years. This article highlights the state of Methodism in rural churches specifically on the challenges that they are facing and efforts that the church has made so far in addressing these challenges. The author believes these efforts demonstrates a significant potential for the growth and development of Methodist churches in rural area. Information in this paper was gathered from the interview sessions with some rural church leaders, personal observations, and data received from; books, articles, dissertations/theses on the subject. While the issues outlined are general and do not apply to all Methodist rural congregations, the intent is to provide insights into some of the challenges they face in general. The paper further gave strategies and specific recommendations on how the stated challenges of rural Methodist Churches can be addressed.

2025, Revista Brasileira de História das Religiões

O presente trabalho se propõe a considerar a importância da presença de entidades exus mirins no imaginário umbandista. Por se tratar de um estudo pioneiro no campo das ciências sociais da religião, este paper não visa um caráter conclusivo, mas exploratório e instigante, no sentido de levantar algumas questões sobre a inserção destas personagens nesta religião. Torna-se necessário ressaltar que a umbanda acolhe em seu panteão religioso todos aqueles elementos sociais que, postos em estratos inferiores da sociedade ou marginalizados pela mesma, passam à categoria de "deuses" poderosos e atuantes como é o caso de velhos escravos, índios, prostitutas, malandros, delinqüentes, homossexuais, crianças e meninos de rua.

2025

Italy is a country very rich of Shrines in all her regions, destinations of more or less important local pilgrimages. A lot of them have a specific museum deeply connected with the sacred place and its history. The aim of this research is to verify in which way visiting one of those museums brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

2025

The Śilāhārā dynasty was one of the prominent dynasties in the early medieval Deccan. This dynasty was divided into three main branches, the Śilāhārās of North Konkan being one of them. They had control over the present-day districts of Thane and Raigad of Maharashtra, with their capital at Sthānaka i.e., modern-day Thane. Of the 160 epithets used by them, this paper aims to discuss the following four epithets: Mahāsāmantādhipati-Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Tagarapuraparameśvara, Suvarṇṇagaruḍadhvaja and Paścimasudrādhipati, in great detail. The author of this paper intends to highlight the political, social, economic, and cultural scenarios that were prevalent at their times through the analysis of these titles. In the course of this paper, the use of epithets to comprehend the larger historical narratives shall be highlighted.

2025, 中國唐代學會會刊

評趙雅書《中國五代吳越的研究》

2025

This is an attempt to describe the historical and economic outline of the Minoan Protopalatial period through the written evidence, as it is attested in layers with unambiguous dating up to the end of the MM IIB period. The focus of the... more

2025, Sixteenth Century Journal

2025, West 86th, 31:1 (2025) , pp. 145-147

2025, 25th Symposium of the ICTMD Study Group on Musical Instruments

The goavddis is “not just a drum. It is more-than-a-musical-instrument”, Juhán promptly rectifies after being asked about the membranophone featured in his artwork. Conversely to how presented in ethnographic literature, this object is seldom regarded as a musical instrument in Indigenous discourses by virtue of its ancestral usage as an oracular tool. Not attributed to music-making, its ritualistic percussion was criminalized by ecclesiastical forces across Fennoscandia. Concealed from the public sphere, only a few goavddis survived a centuries-long colonial purge. It was not until the 1970s – amidst broader struggles for Sámi self-determination and cultural reawakening – that these objects reclaimed a public life, even taking on protagonist roles in the Indigenous resistance. Within these societal changes, the goavddis underwent an ontological revolution, being re-functionalized from an oracular tool to a musical instrument embraced on stage and in the studio. Based on fieldwork discussions and Sámi written sources, this paper intends to offer a contribution to the historiography on Sámi drums, confronting the critical definition of goavddis within- and beyond-music in light of Indigenous ontologies. Findings underscore how public and private realms provide distinct responses to the pivotal question: when does a goavddis cease to be a drum and when does it assume musical agency instead?

2025, Micrologus XXXIII (2025), Power, Religion, and Wisdom. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in al-Andalus

This article traces the history of the mandal as it first emerged in the science of incantations, by drawing parallels with earlier practices of encirclement, as well as by following later developments and adaptations. In doing so, it also addresses the various manners in which incantations and the rituals surrounding them came to be understood in distinctly Islamic terms, rooted in ancient prophetic techniques for communing with otherworldly powers.

2025, Miradas historiográficas sobre religiosidad popular en México

Las imágenes religiosas no deben simplificarse sólo a expresiones plásticas, debido a que, a lo largo de la historia, fueron y siguen siendo recursos del imaginario cultural de distintas sociedades. La devoción y el culto a las iconografías católicas son piedra de toque en la religiosidad popular en nuestro país, al construir y reconfigurar, día con día, las prácticas visibles de los feligreses. De acuerdo con Hans Belting, existía una distinción entre las representaciones religiosas en los muros de las iglesias y las que protagonizaban las peregrinaciones o procesiones. Las últimas recibían ofrendas y demostraciones de veneración; puesto que, al ser realizadoras de prodigios, hacer revelaciones y ayudar a vencer adquirían una posición distinta a las pinturas del interior de los templos.

2025

Archivio per la storia del movimento sociale cattolico in Italia "Mario Romani" Dipartimento di storia moderna e contemporanea Piccola Opera della Divina Provvidenza Centro studi orionini Con il patrocinio e la collaborazione a cura di Gabriele Archetti Studium Associazione per la storia della Chiesa bresciana Gruppo Studi Orionini don orione e il piccolo cottolengo milanese (1933-2013

2025, Semitica et Classica

Sacrifices in the Ancient Mediterranean usually involved fire, which required burning materials, typically wood. Assuming that sacrificial wood choice and management may have had significance for ancient societies, this article... more

2025, Philippiniana Sacra

2025

European Encounters with Yogis and India’s Religions
consulted and collaborated with Qamar Adamjee, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, December 2013-June 2014.
Some information is duplicated in the slides

2025, Atenea

El presente artículo aborda el estudio de los inventarios de pinturas de cua-tro obispos del Virreinato del Perú: Pedro Ortega Sotomayor, Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo, Juan Queipo de Llano y Luis Francisco Romero. Estos inventarios, realizados de manera previa a la toma de posesión de sus cargos, se distinguen de otro tipo de registros similares en tanto fueron realizados en un momento clave de la vida de estos individuos, a veces luego de un viaje y siempre a punto de emprender uno nuevo hacia sus próximas funciones. El análisis comparativo de los apartados de pinturas permitirá identifi car las particularidades de estos registros, así como las selecciones y estrategias de los obispos en la conformación de una colección de pinturas.

2025, Thoth

Onlangs kwam ik voor slechts drie euro-knaken in het bezit van het boek ‘De Vrijmetselarij ontleed’ door prof.mr. Jakob Zeijlemaker uit 1972. Wat meteen opvalt is dat het boek vijftig jaar na verschijnen nog zeer vlot leesbaar is. En met... more

2025, Roman Identity and Lived Religion. Baptismal Art in Late Antiquity

Roman Identity and Lived Religion Christianity is considered prevalent when it comes to defning the key values of late antique society, whereas 'feeling connected to the Roman past' is commonly regarded as an add-on for cultivated elites. This book demonstrates the signiûcant impact of popular Roman culture on the religious identity of common Christians from the ûfth to the seventh century in the Mediterranean world. Baptism is central to the formation of Christian identity. The decoration of baptisteries reveals that traditional Roman culture persisted as an integral component of Christian identity in various communities. In their baptisteries, Christians visually and spatially evoked their links to Roman and, at times, even pagan traditions. A close examination of visual and material sources in North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and Italy shows that baptisteries served roles beyond mere conduits to Christian orthodoxy.