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Bryan Lowe

@bryandaniellowe.bsky.social

Assoc. Prof. of Religion @Princeton. Historian of Japanese religions (esp. 7th-9th c.) & Buddhism. Author of Ritualized Writing (UH Press, 2017). Unapologetic Boston sports fan.

1,753 Followers  |  883 Following  |  538 Posts  |  Joined: 06.07.2023  |  2.322

Latest posts by bryandaniellowe.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Forms & Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making Highlighting the diversity of global book making traditions using examples from the Princeton University Library, this exhibition focuses on the continuous transmission and exchange of formal aspects ...

Hardly on here anymore, but if anyone is near Princeton and interested in book history, you MUST check out the absolutely amazing new exhibition Forms & Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making curated by Martin Heijdra at Firestone Library through 12/7 ๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ“œ library.princeton.edu/formsandfunc...

10.09.2025 01:16 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 28    ๐Ÿ” 10    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
Details - Assistant Professor of Religious Studies with Specialization in Hindu Studies

Help me find a wonderful new colleague for our department! Specialty in religions of South Asia or Southeast Asia. #religiousStudies #tenuretrackjobs jobs.sandiego.edu/cw/en-us/job...

10.08.2025 21:39 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 10    ๐Ÿ” 11    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

๐Ÿน๐Ÿน๐Ÿน

Slightly late #ManuscriptMonday. Illustrated Tales of Heike, 17th century, Princeton University Library.
dpul.princeton.edu/eastasian/ca...

05.08.2025 06:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

New issue of the Journal of Japanese Studies is out! Highlights include articles on kanpu masatsu, war photography, empire paranoia, Italian-Japanese children's lit, Seidenstickerโ€™s style, and a bonus piece on Black Rain and ritual. Donโ€™t miss it!

04.08.2025 19:14 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 40    ๐Ÿ” 18    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

The tragedy - and true horror - of many witch trials was that the impersonal machinery of the law took them inexorably forward, even if judges and lawyers (and even the public at large) were unconvinced. But the image popular media presents us with is one of mounting hysteria (cf. Millerโ€™s Crucible)

02.08.2025 10:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 60    ๐Ÿ” 7    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

A simple idea: faculty should be represented in the search for UVaโ€™s next president: www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

01.08.2025 21:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Congrats!

01.08.2025 03:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
a man wearing a suit and tie looks at the camera ALT: a man wearing a suit and tie looks at the camera

Academics late?

01.08.2025 03:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
NIRC

The Japanese Journal of Religious Studies @jjrs-nirc.bsky.social โœจ50th anniv issueโœจ abt past, present, & future of ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต religious studies is out!

๐Ÿ™Paul Swanson, Hayashi Makoto, Kawahashi Noriko, Keller Kimbrough, Emi Foulk Bushelle, @orionklautau.bsky.social @jolyonbt.bsky.social @aikerots.bsky.social

30.07.2025 03:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 36    ๐Ÿ” 18    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

Our Department is hiring in early Christianity. It's an assistant professor (tenure-track position). Spread the word! puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...

01.08.2025 00:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Flyer from temple emphasizing syncretism

Flyer from temple emphasizing syncretism

Kindle book image describing obliteration of Buddhism at Usa

Kindle book image describing obliteration of Buddhism at Usa

Kindle book image describing obliteration of Buddhism at Usa

Kindle book image describing obliteration of Buddhism at Usa

Fascinating to see Usa today market itself as the birthplace of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism, a very different view from that in Grapard, who describes an obliteration of syncretism in the wake of Meiji ideologues and their reforms.

30.07.2025 07:11 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Princeton Geniza Project Dataset Since 1986, the Princeton Geniza Lab has been studying and digitizing historical documents from the Cairo Geniza, a cache of roughly 400,000 fragments of paper and parchment preserved in a medieval Eg...

For the first time since the Princeton Geniza Project began in 1986, we have published our metadata collated from over 30,000 Geniza documents and the People, Places, and histories of the Middle East and premodern Jewish communities found therein!

zenodo.org/records/1583...

28.07.2025 21:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 32    ๐Ÿ” 20    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ˜ˆ
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

28.07.2025 03:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Is there a collective noun for popes? ๐Ÿ˜‰
#ManuscriptMonday
BL Cotton MS Nero D VII; The Benefactors' Book of St Albans Abbey (โ€˜the Golden Book of St Albansโ€™); 1380-c 1540; England (St Albans)

21.07.2025 09:13 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 29    ๐Ÿ” 6    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
A manuscript page with Latin writing at the top and an illustration of a bearded person killing a horse with an axe, a pot suspended over a fire, and five bearded people eating strips of meat underneath. From Topographia Hibernica by Giraldus Cambrensis (British Library Royal MS 13 B. VIII f. 28v; reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0).

A manuscript page with Latin writing at the top and an illustration of a bearded person killing a horse with an axe, a pot suspended over a fire, and five bearded people eating strips of meat underneath. From Topographia Hibernica by Giraldus Cambrensis (British Library Royal MS 13 B. VIII f. 28v; reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0).

A 13th-century-AD depiction of the 'pagan' Irish kingship ceremony, by priest and historian Gerald of Wales. He claimed the king bathed in the blood of a mare before sharing the meat with his courtiers 1/2

#ManuscriptMonday #MedievalMonday #Archaeology ๐Ÿบ

๐Ÿ“ท @britishlibrary.bsky.social / CC0 1.0

21.07.2025 16:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 40    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

Shared for #ManuscriptMonday

21.07.2025 17:28 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Shared for #ManuscriptMonday

21.07.2025 17:28 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
e-Museum - Hell Scroll ๆ–‡ๅŒ–่ฒก้ซ˜็ฒพ็ดฐ็”ปๅƒๅ…ฌ้–‹ใ‚ทใ‚นใƒ†ใƒ (ใ€Œeๅ›ฝๅฎใ€)

Of course, the original is even more amazing and you can see that on eMuseum: emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?langI...

28.07.2025 01:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Picture of Japanese text with women in hell illustrated on either side.

Picture of Japanese text with women in hell illustrated on either side.

Box of hell scroll next to a/c remote

Box of hell scroll next to a/c remote

This week's #ManuscriptMonday is this cool miniature replica of the illustrated hell scrolls that I bought at the Kyoto National Museum last week (next to an air conditioner remote for scale). You can get your own copy here for less than 6,000 yen! www.kyotobenrido.com/view/item/00...

28.07.2025 01:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

If I'm ever missing Shosoin news reports that involve dragons and animal carcasses, I'm either dead already or it's time for me to retire. Either way, probably good to send someone to check on me.

28.07.2025 00:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Bruh, bsky.app/profile/brya...

27.07.2025 04:54 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture ๋™๊ตญ๋Œ€ํ•™๊ต ๋ถˆ๊ตํ•™์ˆ ์› ๋ฐœํ–‰, ๋ถˆ๊ตํ•™ ์˜๋ฌธ ํ•™์ˆ ์ง€, ์—ญ์‚ฌ/๋ฌธํ™”/์‚ฌ์ƒ ๋“ฑ ์—ฐ๊ตฌ ์ž๋ฃŒ ์ˆ˜๋ก,the International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture, IJBTC

New journal issue edited by Sujung Kim focusing on Buddhist talismans: ijbtc.dongguk.edu

25.07.2025 07:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

So, if humanities produce good job outcomes, humanities have a secure ROI that bring in more than they cost, and STEM now has an even lower ROI due to grant cutsโ€ฆ. shouldnโ€™t we invest more in humanities where less $$ goes a longer way? Apparently not. We should ask why not. /9

24.07.2025 22:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 374    ๐Ÿ” 82    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 8
Thumbnails of manuscripts images of the Keio university collection of Medieval Western Manuscripts! Including fragments of Aristotelica and Dutch books of hours.

Thumbnails of manuscripts images of the Keio university collection of Medieval Western Manuscripts! Including fragments of Aristotelica and Dutch books of hours.

Western Medieval Manuscripts (and fragments) @keiouniversity.bsky.social (Japan)! Enjoy a few spare minutes and browse this remarkable collection! Something for everyone's taste and interest!
dcollections.lib.keio.ac.jp/en/western-m...

24.07.2025 18:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 33    ๐Ÿ” 13    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Buddhist statue carrying a monk

Buddhist statue carrying a monk

Exhibition poster

Exhibition poster

Sometimes, when things get tough, you just need a Buddhist statue to come to life and give you a piggyback ride.

Shakadล Engi, 16th c. Currently on display at the Kyoto National Museum and well worth it!
www.kyohaku.go.jp/jp/exhibitio...

24.07.2025 14:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Book cover. The background in sepia tones Showa man dictating to scribes. A cream box in the center has light brown writing that contains the title (Writing, Enslavement, and Power in the Roman Mediterranean) and the words "Edited by Jeremiah Coogan, Candid R. Moss, and Jospeh A. Howley.

Book cover. The background in sepia tones Showa man dictating to scribes. A cream box in the center has light brown writing that contains the title (Writing, Enslavement, and Power in the Roman Mediterranean) and the words "Edited by Jeremiah Coogan, Candid R. Moss, and Jospeh A. Howley.

Excited to announce that after a lot of editorial work our volume "Writing, Enslavement, and Power in the Roman Mediterranean, 100 BCE - 300 CE" is out now. @jeremiahcoogan.bsky.social @illdottore.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/book/60683

23.07.2025 20:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 319    ๐Ÿ” 79    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 10    ๐Ÿ“Œ 10
Preview
UChicago Arts & Humanities Division to Restructure Amid โ€œHistoric Funding Pressuresโ€ โ€œThe status quo is not an option,โ€ Deborah Nelson, dean of the Division of the Arts & Humanities, wrote to division faculty on June 18.

chicagomaroon.com/48215/news/u...

22.07.2025 14:38 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
5 copies of 'The Illustrated Cairo Genizah', by Nick Posegay and Melonie Schmierer-Lee, stacked on a light brown tabletop. The books' spines are facing the camera. The book is large and the covers are dark red, with the title and authors' names in white. The cover also has a grid of 21 square images each cut out from a different medieval manuscript.

5 copies of 'The Illustrated Cairo Genizah', by Nick Posegay and Melonie Schmierer-Lee, stacked on a light brown tabletop. The books' spines are facing the camera. The book is large and the covers are dark red, with the title and authors' names in white. The cover also has a grid of 21 square images each cut out from a different medieval manuscript.

Good news if you like history, manuscripts, or nice books! 'The Illustrated Cairo Genizah' is now available at *greatly* reduced shipping costs via @theul.bsky.social (UK) and Amazon (worldwide) from this link: linktr.ee/nposegay. There's also a free sample file there with the entire first chapter.

22.07.2025 11:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 79    ๐Ÿ” 34    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
An open manuscript, with miniature and text surrounded by a green border with multiple silver and gold illustrations of pilgrim badges

An open manuscript, with miniature and text surrounded by a green border with multiple silver and gold illustrations of pilgrim badges

Detail of border; there is also a pearl

Detail of border; there is also a pearl

Pastedown of a different manuscript with metal pilgrim badges sewn into the book

Pastedown of a different manuscript with metal pilgrim badges sewn into the book

I feel like I havenโ€™t posted enough Book Stuff on here lately, so hereโ€™s another amazing thing from the Chรขteau de Chantilly: a book of hours manuscript with a trompe l'oeil border of sewn-on metal pilgrim badges next to a book with ACTUAL sewn-on metal pilgrim badges ๐Ÿคฉ

22.07.2025 13:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 111    ๐Ÿ” 19    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Woman throws herself off a cliff into the sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegon_Engi_Emaki#/media/File:Zemmyล_se_jette_ร _la_mer_par_le_peintre_japonais_Enichibล_Jลnin_(XIIIe_siรจcle).jpg

Woman throws herself off a cliff into the sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegon_Engi_Emaki#/media/File:Zemmyล_se_jette_ร _la_mer_par_le_peintre_japonais_Enichibล_Jลnin_(XIIIe_siรจcle).jpg

Dragon with a ship on its back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegon_Engi_Emaki#/media/File:History_of_the_Kegon_Sect.jpg

Dragon with a ship on its back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegon_Engi_Emaki#/media/File:History_of_the_Kegon_Sect.jpg

For Marine Day in Japan, a #ManuscriptMonday of the 13th-century Illustrated Biographies of the Kegon School's Patriarchs ่ฏๅŽณๅฎ—็ฅ–ๅธซ็ตตไผ, which tells the story of a young Chinese woman who falls in love with a Korean monk. She throws herself into the sea and becomes a dragon who protects the returning ship

21.07.2025 05:25 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@bryandaniellowe is following 20 prominent accounts