The Crosby-Schoyen Codex at Christie’s auction house in Paris. The manuscript goes up for auction in London on June 11, 2024.
Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty Images
A collection of manuscripts from ancient Egypt reveals the variety of early Christian scriptures before the consolidation of the Bible.
Stained glass designed by Geoffrey Webb depicts Lewis Carroll’s characters in All Saints Church in Daresbury, Cheshire, England.
Peter I. Vardy/Wikimedia Commons
Tina Chronopoulos, Binghamton University, State University of New York
In ancient Rome, male followers of the goddess Cybele, known as Galli, some of whom surgically removed their testicles, were often considered feminine.
Al-Ghazali’s book ‘Alchemy of Happiness,’ held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Al-Ghazali - Bibliothèque nationale de France via Wikimedia Commons
In religious traditions, patience is more than waiting, or even more than enduring a hardship. But what does patience look like? And when should we not exercise patience?
Tibetan Buddhist nuns offering prayers in Kathmandu.
Prakash/Mathema /AFP via Getty Images
The Therigatha, a collection of poems written in Pāli by Buddhist nuns, reveals that women’s enlightenment may not necessarily require renunciation of domestic life.
The Vesuvius Challenge incentivizes technological development by inviting researchers to figure out how to ‘read’ ancient papyri excavated from volcanic ash of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Columns of Greek text retrieved from a portion of a scroll.
(Vesuvius Challenge)
However exciting the technological developments may be, the task of reading and analyzing the Greek and Latin texts recovered from the papyri will fall to human beings.
This famous scene from the Bhagavad Gita, featuring the god Krishna with his cousin, Prince Arjuna, on a chariot heading into war.
Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A scholar of South Asian religions explains how one lesson from the text, ‘nishkama karma’ – or acting without desire – may be useful for navigating the contemporary workplace.
A bas-relief of Maimonides, sculpted by Brenda Putnam, hangs in the U.S. House of Representatives among statues of historical lawmakers.
Architect of the Capitol/Wikimedia
Randy L. Friedman, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Faith and reason are often treated as opposites. But some philosophers believe they can only strengthen each other, including the Jewish sage Maimonides, who wrote the famous ‘Guide to the Perplexed.’
Daoism, which emphasizes harmony with nature, can inform individuals on their relationship with the environment.
Ma Yuan 'Walking on Path in Spring.' National Palace Museum via Wikimedia Commons
A scholar of Daoist rituals explains how the indigenous tradition of China understands the human body as being part of the larger cosmos.
A Lotus Sutra scroll praising the manifold mercies of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
Universal Gateway chapter of the Lotus Sutra/Calligrapher: Sugawara Mitsushige/The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection
Advanced artificial intelligence is new, but a similar idea has been around for hundreds of years: the power of a just-right sequence of numbers, letters or elements to animate matter.
“Italian Coast Scene with Ruined Tower,” by 19th century American painter Thomas Cole.
National Gallery of Art
The ‘Shepherd of Hermas’ has been accused of being pedantic, even boring. In the first few centuries of Christianity, though, it was a hit.
‘Monkey: Journey To The West,’ a nine-act opera adaptation performed at the Chatelet Theater in France.
Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/French Select via Getty Image
There is a long tradition in China of associating monkeys with the mind – symbolism that has helped the novel’s most memorable character, the Monkey King, find universal resonance.
Jewish law includes acknowledgment that not everyone fits neatly into the categories ‘male’ and ‘female.’
Mishna/Wikimedia Commons
Female characters in Greek mythology lived under strict patriarchal rules, but they spoke truth to power and resisted injustice.
Aristotle (center), wearing a blue robe, seen in a discourse with Plato in a 16th century fresco, ‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael.
Pascal Deloche/Stone via Getty Images
Non-resident Fellow, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies; Visiting Fellow, Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University; PhD Candidate, The Fletcher School, Tufts University