In Ari fróði Þorgilsson’s Íslendingabók, the settlement of Iceland is said to have first begun from Norway in 870, year that “Ívarr, son Ragnarr loðbrók, had St Edmund, king English, killed.” He attributes his knowledge date this martyrdom a mysterious “saga” identity which has long been debated. This note considers various alternatives put forth by previous researchers and concludes most likel...

Saint Dymphna, whose memory is celebrated on the 15th May, is one of the least familiar of all the saints; and yet the scene ?f her martyrdom is known by name to psychiatrists all over the world. On this day in Gheel, a small village in the moorland district called the Kampenland, some 25 miles from Antwerp, there are processions and public festivities; special services are held in the church w...

The recent deaths of two children from parental decisions to rely on faith healing rather than medical treatment raises fundamental questions about the extent and limits of religious liberty in a liberal democratic society. This essay seeks to identify and critically examine three central issues internal to the ethics of religious communities that engage in faith healing regarding children: (1)...

 New research on networks has put individual well connected agents at the centre of the spread of many social phenomena, including religious ideas.  England in the 1550s provides a model of how a society can be radicalized through heavy‐handed public persecution.  Much can be learnt from the spread of the medieval Cathar heresy by relatively few individuals, the ‘perfecti’. The inquisitors s...

"Among the serious complications of leprosy are the lesions caused by leprous neuritis, especially when the process involves the trunk and terminal nerves severely. In that event, in advanced stages, it causes serious disorders such as total anesthesia of extensive areas, muscular atrophies and retraction of fingers and toes, incapability of working, and, finally, deformities and mutilations wh...

ashura tragic event and the martyrdom of imam hussein (as) are considered the greatest events in the history of islam after ghadir event because imam (as) held the great epic in ashura day and sacrificed himself and his family, near kin and his companions for the survival of islam. this human event had influence on poets’ souls as they made an attempt to compose lyrics about imam (as). some of ...