bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Defining a novel domain that provides an essential contribution to site-specific interaction of Rep protein with DNA
Authors: Wegrzyn Katarzyna , Zabrocka Elzbieta , Bury Katarzyna , Tomiczek Bartlomiej , Wieczor Milosz , Czub Jacek , Uciechowska Urszula , Moreno-del Alamo María , Walkow Urszula , Grochowina Igor , Dutkiewicz Rafal , Bujnicki Janusz M , Giraldo Rafael , Konieczny Igor
Published: February 2021

An essential feature of replication initiation proteins is their ability to bind to DNA. In this work, we describe a new domain that contributes to a replication initiator sequence-specific interaction with DNA. Applying biochemical assays and structure prediction methods coupled with DNA–protein crosslinking, mass spectrometry, and construction and analysis of mutant proteins, we identified that the replication initiator of the broad host range plasmid RK2, in addition to two winged helix domains, contains a third DNA-binding domain. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the composition of this unique domain is typical within the described TrfA-like protein family. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments involving the constructed TrfA mutant proteins showed that the newly identified domain is essential for the formation of the protein complex with DNA, contributes to the avidity for interaction with DNA, and the replication activity of the initiator. The analysis of mutant proteins, each containing a single substitution, showed that each of the three domains composing TrfA is essential for the formation of the protein complex with DNA. Furthermore, the new domain, along with the winged helix domains, contributes to the sequence specificity of replication initiator interaction within the plasmid replication origin.
Peripheral neuropathy: an important contributor to physical limitation and morbidity in stages 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease
Authors: Arnold Ria , Pianta Timothy J , Issar Tushar , Kirby Adrienne , Scales Caoimhe M K , Kwai Natalie C G , Endre Zoltan , Krishnan Arun V
Published: February 2021

Background

Impaired physical function drives adverse outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Peripheral neuropathy is highly prevalent in CKD, though its contribution to physical function in CKD patients is unknown. This study examined the relationships between peripheral neuropathy, walking speed and quality of life (QoL) in stages 3 and 4 CKD.

Methods

This was a prospective observational study investigating neuropathy in CKD patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 15–60 mL/min/1.73 m2. A total of 109 patients were consecutively recruited. The presence and severity of peripheral neuropathy was determined using the total neuropathy score. Walking speed was assessed at both usual and maximal speed, and QoL was assessed using the Short- Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire.

Results

Peripheral neuropathy was highly prevalent: 40% demonstrated mild neuropathy and 37% had moderate–severe neuropathy. Increasing neuropathy severity was the primary predictor of reduced walking speed (R2 = −0.41, P < 0.001) and remained so after multivariable analysis adjustment for diabetes. This association was evident for both usual and maximal walking speeds. Neuropathy correlated significantly with low scores on multiple domains of SF-36 including physical function (r = −0.570, P < 0.001). Subanalysis according to diabetic status revealed a high prevalence of neuropathy both with and without diabetes; relationships to walking speed remained evident in subgroup analysis. However, those with diabetes demonstrated greater severity of neuropathy, slower walking speed and lower scores in QoL.

Conclusions

Moderate to severe peripheral neuropathy was common in stages 3 and 4 CKD, associated with reduced walking speed independent of diabetes status and was correlated with patient-reported QoL. This suggests that neuropathy is an important contributor to declining physical function in CKD irrespective of diabetes status. Targeted diagnosis and management of peripheral neuropathy during CKD progression may improve functional outcomes and QoL.
Establishing anchor-based minimally important differences for the EORTC QLQ-C30 in glioma patients
Authors: Dirven Linda , Musoro Jammbe Z , Coens Corneel , Reijneveld Jaap C , Taphoorn Martin J B , Boele Florien W , Groenvold Mogens , van den Bent Martin J , Stupp Roger , Velikova Galina , Cocks Kim , Sprangers Mirjam A G , King Madeleine T , Flechtner Hans-Henning , Bottomley Andrew
Published: February 2021

Background

Minimally important differences (MIDs) allow interpretation of the clinical relevance of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) results. This study aimed to estimate MIDs for all European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) scales for interpreting group-level results in brain tumor patients.

Methods

Clinical and HRQOL data from three glioma trials were used. Clinical anchors were selected for each EORTC QLQ-C30 scale, based on correlation (>0.30) and clinical plausibility of association. Changes in both HRQOL and the anchors were calculated, and for each scale and time period, patients were categorized into one of the three clinical change groups: deteriorated by one anchor category, no change, or improved by one anchor category. Mean change method and linear regression were applied to estimate MIDs for interpreting within-group change and between-group differences in change over time, respectively. Distribution-based methods were applied to generate supportive evidence.

Results

A total of 1687 patients were enrolled in the three trials. The retained anchors were performance status and eight Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) scales. MIDs for interpreting within-group change ranged from 4 to 12 points for improvement and −4 to −14 points for deterioration. MIDs for between-group difference in change ranged from 4 to 9 for improvement and −4 to −16 for deterioration. Most anchor-based MIDs were closest to the 0.3 SD distribution-based estimates (range: 3-10).

Conclusions

MIDs for the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales generally ranged between 4 and 11 points for both within-group mean change and between-group mean difference in change. These results can be used to interpret QLQ-C30 results from glioma trials.
Response assessment during chemoradiation using a hypercellular/hyperperfused imaging phenotype predicts survival in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma
Authors: Kim Michelle M , Aryal Madhava P , Sun Yilun , Parmar Hemant A , Li Pin , Schipper Matthew , Wahl Daniel R , Lawrence Theodore S , Cao Yue
Published: February 2021

Background

Adversely prognostic hypercellular and hyperperfused regions of glioblastoma (GBM) predict progression-free survival, and are a novel target for dose-intensified chemoradiation (chemoRT) recently implemented in a phase II clinical trial. As a secondary aim, we hypothesized that dose-intensified chemoRT would induce greater mid-treatment response of hypercellular/hyperperfused tumor regions vs standard chemoradiation, and that early response would improve overall survival (OS).

Methods

Forty-nine patients with newly diagnosed GBM underwent prospective, multiparametric high b value diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) and perfusion dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) pre-RT and 3-4 weeks into RT. The hypercellular tumor volume (TVHCV, mean contralateral normal brain + 2SD) and hyperperfused tumor volume (TVCBV, contralateral normal frontal gray matter + 1SD) were generated using automated thresholding. Twenty-six patients were enrolled on a dose-escalation trial targeting TVHCV/TVCBV with 75 Gy in 30 fractions, and 23 non-trial patients comprised the control group. OS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. The effect of TVHCV/TVCBV and Gd-enhanced tumor volume on OS was assessed using multivariable Cox proportional-hazard regression.

Results

Most patients had gross total (47%) or subtotal resection (37%), 25% were MGMT-methylated. Patients treated on the dose-escalation trial had significantly greater reduction in TVHCV/TVCBV (41% reduction, IQR 17%-75%) vs non-trial patients (6% reduction, IQR 6%-22%, P = .002). An increase in TVHCV/TVCBV during chemoRT was associated with worse OS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.2, 95%CI 1.0-1.4, P = .02), while pre-treatment tumor volumes (P > .5) and changes in Gd-enhanced volume (P = .9) were not.

Conclusions

Multiparametric MRI permits identification of therapeutic resistance during chemoRT and supports adaptive strategies in future trials.
Binge-Watching as Case of Escapist Entertainment Use
Authors: Halfmann Annabell , Reinecke Leonard
Published: February 2021

Although the concept of escapism is widely used in entertainment research, it lacks theoretical and empirical differentiation. Based on the transactional model of stress and coping, we extend previous attempts to conceptualize escapism as a form of emotion-focused avoidance coping. In contrast to the primarily negative connotation of escapism found in prior research, we propose that escapist entertainment use may be a functional coping strategy in some situations and may thus have beneficial effects on the well-being of media users. To develop and illustrate our perspective, we turn to binge-watching as a prominent example of escapist entertainment use. We show exemplarily how escapist binge-watching can contribute to recovery from stress and close our chapter with reflections on how to further develop escapism research.
Transcending Eudaimonic Entertainment
Authors: Janicke-Bowles Sophie H. , Bartsch Anne , Oliver Mary Beth , Raney Arthur A.
Published: February 2021

Research thus far has generally conceptualized eudaimonic entertainment as media content that can provide viewers with meaningful, moving, and contemplative experiences. This chapter first outlines the traditional conceptualization of eudaimonic entertainment and the different affective and cognitive processes involved, followed by an expansion on extant definitions. Self-transcendent experiences as another form of eudaimonic entertainment experiences that orient the consumer toward others more so than the self are introduced, followed by an elaboration of the depictions of transcendent portrayals and their effects across different media platforms (film, television, social media and online videos, digital games and virtual reality), theories of self-transcendence, outcomes of eudaimonic entertainment (e.g., altruism, connectedness, wisdom, recovery) and personality differences that impact the selection of and experience with eudaimonic media (e.g., need for affect, empathy). Implications of the expanded conceptualization of eudaimonic entertainment for media scholars and future research directions are discussed.
News as Entertainment Format
Authors: Robinson Melissa J. , Knobloch-Westerwick Silvia
Published: February 2021

The informative value of news has often been the focus of mass communication research, but individuals do tune into the news for entertainment purposes. In addition, news organizations frequently add entertainment elements into news stories to increase audience interest. Considering both of these factors, theorizing about the entertainment processes (e.g., appreciation, enjoyment, and suspense) that occur during news consumption is necessary to understand audience behavior. This chapter investigates factors that influence entertainment processes during news consumption. Two entertainment theories in particular (affective disposition theory and the affective news extended model) are reviewed to understand how affective responses influence enjoyment of news. It organizes existing research on affective responses and entertainment processes into two categories focusing on news event characteristics (i.e., elements that journalists cannot change) and message design principles that journalists create or edit. Areas for future research are provided.
An Extended Dual-Process Model of Entertainment Effects on Political Information Processing and Engagement
Authors: Schneider Frank M. , Bartsch Anne , Leonhard Larissa
Published: February 2021

This chapter reviews the controversial relationship of entertainment and political communication and presents a theoretical framework to integrate seemingly contradicting concepts and research findings. On the one hand, concerns have been raised about the decay of news quality and political culture due to the growing influence of entertainment media. On the other, researchers have highlighted the potential of entertainment in terms of audience interest, cognitive accessibility, and public outreach. A literature overview shows theoretical and empirical support for both sides of the controversy about the (dys)functionality of entertainment in political communication. Therefore, in an attempt to reconcile the divergent findings, the chapter presents an extended dual-process model of entertainment effects on political information processing and engagement. This framework offers substantial extensions to existing dual-process models of entertainment by conceptualizing the effects of entertainment on different forms of political engagement that have not been incorporated so far.
Theorizing Entertainment-Education
Authors: Wang Hua , Singhal Arvind
Published: February 2021

Entertainment-education (EE) is a theory-based social and behavior change communication strategy. The Sabido methodology of producing commercially successful prosocial telenovelas was instrumental in establishing EE as a social scientific field of research and practice globally. Early experimentations with applying theories in EE productions began in the 1970s, when entertainment theory gained a foothold in media psychology and communication research. The evolution of EE theorizing provides a parallel and complimentary perspective to the development of entertainment theories. This chapter provides a historical account of EE, highlighting its foundational theoretical strains. It also discusses the more contemporary theoretical models in EE, especially the ones that are converging in the area of narrative persuasion. Finally, we explicate on the new phenomenon of transmedia edutainment and how it could benefit and challenge the ongoing developments in entertainment theory.
Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere
Authors: McNiven Ian J.
Published: February 2021

Cultural interactions between Aboriginal peoples of northeastern Australia and Melanesian peoples of southern New Guinea have caught the attention of anthropologists and archaeologists since the nineteenth century. Moving away from older models of one-way diffusion of so-called advanced cultural traits from New Guinea to mainland Australia via Torres Strait, this article elaborates the concept of the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere (CSCIS) as a framework to investigate two-way interactions, gene flow, and object movements across Torres Strait. The CSCIS centres on a series of ethnographically known, canoe-voyaging, and long-distance maritime exchange networks that linked communities over a distance of 2000 km along the south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and the northeast coast of Australia. Archaeological evidence for temporal changes in the geographical spread of pottery and obsidian use indicates that the CSCIS was historically dynamic, with numerous reconfigurations over the past 3000 years. The CSCIS developed as the confluence of major cultural changes and demographic expansions that took place in northeastern Australia and southern mainland Papua New Guinea.
The Future in the Twelve
Authors: Boda Mark J.
Published: February 2021

This essay discusses the topic of the future within the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. It begins with a review of recent streams of research on the future within the Twelve (messianism, Zion/Jerusalem/nations, Day of Yahweh, apocalyptic) and then outlines the major thematic contours of this topic within this prophetic corpus (conditions of the future, human response, prophetic future, and certainty). The essay concludes by focusing on two key passages (Mic 4–5 and Hag 2:10–23), which show the intersection of past, present, and future within prophecy, marking the prophetic as key to the transformation of the lives of the audience.
Postcolonial Approaches to the Minor Prophets
Authors: Cataldo Jeremiah W.
Published: February 2021

This essay explores the state of postcolonial analysis in studies of the Minor Prophets. In understanding what postcolonialism is, what it is becoming, and how it has faltered in studies of the Minor Prophets, scholars may be better able to find ways of incorporating its insights into their own work while preserving its critique of inequalities inherent within the institutions that continue to support the scholars themselves. Those insights must begin with an acceptance of postcolonialism as inherently a challenge to the world that the Minor Prophets perceived and to trends in biblical interpretation. In its exploration of postcolonial analyses, this essay explains the general contours of postcolonialism, identifies elements of its shift into areas of ideological colonialism not confined to historical consciousness, and draws out points of tension between postcolonial inquiry and the Minor Prophets.
God in the Book of the Twelve
Authors: S James D.
Published: February 2021

This essay considers the nature and character of God in the Twelve. To do so requires one to extrapolate assumptions about God on multiple levels: individual units, thematic developments, and modes of speech. When these elements are evaluated within the individual books and across the Book of the Twelve as a curated collection, a portrait of YHWH’s actions and motives develops that highlights YHWH’s covenantal expectations across time (from the eighth century to the Persian period) and for the future (a Day of YHWH still to come). The resulting portrait has a didactic purpose designed both to warn Jerusalem’s cultic elite of their responsibility and to admonish the people of YHWH to avoid the mistakes of the past.
Habakkuk
Authors: Ko Grace
Published: February 2021

This essay first examines critical studies on the book of Habakkuk by surveying redactional and textual discussions, as well as historical-critical issues. Since historical-critical method fails to shed light on the heart of the book, this essay opts for synchronic methodology. Considering the final form of the text, the essay examines literary devices such as genre, structure, content, and plot to uncover the themes of the book—theodicy, the righteous shall live by faithfulness, retribution, and divine sovereignty. Lastly, the essay investigates the positioning of Habakkuk in the Twelve, especially how it fits into House’s U-shaped comic framework as the overall plot of the Book of the Twelve. The essay then concludes that the message of Habakkuk is just as relevant today as it was in the prophet’s time.
Jonah
Authors: Lovelace Vanessa
Published: February 2021

This essay considers the book of Jonah, the paradoxical figure for whom the book is named, its global narrative, themes and motifs, and contested issues. The article makes clear that while many readers believe that they know the story of Jonah, its storybook appearance belies its narrative complexity. Over the history of interpretation, the figure of Jonah son of Amittai has been regarded as both hero and antihero. Jonah is not called a prophet in the book. The book is written mostly in prose rather than poetry, and in contrast to other prophetic literature, it is a story about a prophet more than it is a prophetic text; thus, it could easily fit among the historical narratives or short stories in the Hebrew Bible. It remains a favorite among Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, as well as and nonreligious audiences.
Toward a Utilitarian Theory of Consumer Response to Advertising Music
Authors: Craton Lincoln G.
Published: February 2021

It is surprisingly difficult to know whether a piece of ad music will have its intended effect on consumers. A model developed by the author and a colleague (Craton & Lantos, 2011; Lantos & Craton, 2012) consists of four broad variables (listening situation, musical stimulus, listener characteristics, and listener’s advertising processing strategy) that interact to determine attitude toward the advertising music (Aam), a multidimensional construct that captures the many cognitive and affective elements of a consumer’s experience of ad music. Emerging research on negative emotional response to music, brand avoidance, and “mixed emotions” is consistent with predictions that Aam’s valence can be negative or a mixture of positive and negative (ambivalent). This literature also has implications for how to measure Aam and clarify its structure—specifically, the relationship between overall musical response and Aam’s many subsidiary elements. The present chapter reviews this emerging work, discusses its implications for the model, and suggests how the model can be extended by adding a layer of diverse psychological processes (“mechanisms”) that mediate between its four broad causal variables and Aam. The theory is “utilitarian” in the sense that the proposed mechanisms evolved to perform practical, biologically important tasks not specifically related to music processing.
Designing Identities
Authors: McLeod Ken
Published: February 2021

This chapter examines the ways in which the automotive and appliance industries approach concepts of sound branding to delineate both product and consumer identities. The chapter elucidates how sonic aspects of the car-driver experiences—whether it is the sound of doors closing, distinctive engine sounds, or the variety of interior warning indicators and chimes—are carefully designed to appeal to and identify with various target markets. The growing complexity of built-in or “intentional” sound sources and of the sonic experience of operating cars and appliances also calls into question the relationship between machines and people. Marketers and sound designers attempt to inculcate the “emotional values” they want consumers to associate with a product. As such, people inhabit a world of commodities that are increasingly marketed to them as anthropomorphic, sentient entities that give the appearance of sharing their values and enabling their lifestyle choices.
Fitting Tunes
Authors: Kupfer Peter
Published: February 2021

Given how diverse the identities and musical tastes of consumers are and the power of music to influence the perception of moving images, how do advertisers choose the music for television commercials? Who makes such decisions, how are they made, and who evaluates them, both before airing and after? This chapter addresses these and related questions about the processes of selecting music for television commercials. The analysis is based on interviews with industry professionals as well as on a synthesis of literature from musicology, music sociology, music psychology, screen music, and advertising. In a multi-billion-dollar industry, where deadlines, budgets, and return on investment reign supreme, such decisions cannot be taken lightly, particularly when using certain kinds of music (e.g. copyrighted popular music) can easily inflate or exceed budgets or potentially alienate wide swaths of viewers. Ultimately, the chapter describes how balances are struck between emotional, artistic, communicative, financial, and sociocultural considerations.
Music and Institutional Advertising
Authors: Asai Rika
Published: February 2021

This chapter explores music and advertising in the United States during the golden age of radio using the 1946–1947 season of Echoes of New York as a case study. As a radio-variety program sponsored by New York electric utility Consolidated Edison, Echoes is an example of institutional advertising, a form of advertising designed to shape public perception of the company, rather than to sell specific products. The company entrusted the important task to its long-time advertising agency, McCann-Erickson. Drawing on scripts, scores, memos, and financial documentation, this chapter considers broadcast entertainment’s creation and perpetuation of formulaic construction in program format as well as the gradual streamlining of McCann-Erickson’s musical activities in a typical work week. The chapter highlights the role of Con Edison’s all-male company chorus, the Edisoneers, as a physical and aural representation of the message Echoes sought to impart. In focusing on the work of producing music for institutional advertising, this chapter contributes to studies that have illuminated the foundational position of advertising agencies in driving the form and content of programming during the radio era.
Don Quixote
Authors: Palmer Donald
Published: February 2021

This chapter addresses how Cervantes uses humour to treat philosophical issues, or in ways that invite philosophical analysis, in Don Quixote. There are at least five ways in which philosophy appears. First, there is Cervantes’s familiarity with philosophical and his use of them in his writings. Second, the thoughts, statements, and acts of Cervantes’s hero position him in various philosophical stances. Third, the employment by literary critics of more recent philosophical developments as they read Cervantes’s novel. Fourth, we find philosophers of later generations analysing Cervantes’s novel in ways that suggest new philosophical readings of it. Fifth, we discover that certain ideas in Don Quixote anticipate future philosophical developments. This chapter shows that one of the reasons for the apparent modernity of Don Quixote is Cervantes’s comprehension of the philosophical past and his eventual escape from its grasp through his intellectual strategies, which are anticipatory of our own period.
Windmills of Reality, Giants of the Imagination
Authors: Luis-Martínez Zenón
Published: February 2021

With the arrival of a princeps edition of the 1605 Quixote in the same year of its printing, the British public developed an immediate fascination with the novel. Literary references and adaptations to the book appeared as early as 1607, well before the first published translation into English in 1612. From Shakespeare to Fletcher, from Milton to Dickens, and down to the present day, the antics of Don Quixote and Sancho have become assimilated into British culture. This chapter discusses the most significant influences of Cervantes’s writings in British society since their inception into the British Isles.
Don Quixote, Part II (1615)
Authors: Williamson Edwin
Published: February 2021

A critical commentary on the major episodes of Don Quixote Part Two, this chapter shows how the pivotal episode of Dulcinea’s alleged enchantment (DQ II. 10) brings about a transformation in the character of each of the protagonists and in the nature of their relations, as well as providing a new unifying principle for the episodic narrative. Cervantes’s parody of the books of chivalry reaches its climax at the Duke’s palace, where an inversion occurs in the relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza that will lead to the decline and fall of the would-be hero. In this second part, Cervantes’s modulations of comedy and pathos fashion the paradoxical madness of the Knight of La Mancha into an unprecedented literary phenomenon that would come to resonate powerfully with modern readers.
Don Quixote de la Mancha’s Narrative Structure within the Literary Tradition
Authors: Iglesias Yolanda
Published: February 2021

The objective of this study is to present the meaning, complexity, innovation, and relevance of Don Quixote’s narrative structure within the literary tradition. First, this chapter reviews the diverse perspectives and interpretations among scholars when attempting to establish the narrative structure created by Cervantes. It highlights the directions in which scholars have, over time, been arguing about the narrative structure of Don Quixote, to show how some enigmas remain unsolved. Second, this piece re-examines previous literature with the goal of solving some of the unexplained gaps in the narrative and framing the relevance of the structure in Don Quixote, which is one of the main pillars supporting the argument that Cervantes’s masterpiece is the first modern novel.
Sin and Evil
Authors: Barshinger David P.
Published: February 2021

This chapter describes Jonathan Edwards’s doctrine of sin and evil. It emphasizes the role of the Bible as foundational to his theology while also highlighting his desire to defend the reasonableness of traditional Christian doctrine in light of eighteenth-century intellectual challenges. The chapter explores Edwards’s theodicy in response to the problem of evil—how he sought to absolve God of the charge that he is the author of evil. It describes Edwards’s doctrine of original sin and human depravity, which he explained by defending the universality of sin and the transmission of Adam’s sin to his posterity and in which he developed an innovative metaphysic using occasionalism and continuous creationism. As a pastor, Edwards preached on sin to warn people of punishment, call them to repentance, and emphasize redemption in Christ. The chapter recommends giving greater attention to Edwards’s sermons and pastoral ministry in understanding his view of sin and evil.
North America
Authors: Byrd James P.
Published: February 2021

This chapter assesses the main strands of Edwards’s reception in North America from the eighteenth century through the early twentieth century. Most Americans did not know much, if anything, about Edwards until decades after his death, when various—often conflicting—views of Edwards appeared. New Divinity ministers expanded his theological vison while revivalists, including Charles G. Finney, enlisted Edwards’s legacy for their purposes, and thousands of evangelicals embraced Edwards’s Life of David Brainerd. Edwards intrigued (and offended) writers like Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and his condemnation of sin caught the interest of antislavery advocates in the Civil War. His legacy helped to shape the rise of American literature as a discipline, leading to the widespread academic study of Edwards that exploded in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with over 5000 books, dissertations, articles, and theses published on Edwards.
Britain and Europe
Authors: Yeager Jonathan
Published: February 2021

In Britain and Europe, Jonathan Edwards was first known as a revivalist. Early works such as A Faithful Narrative (1737), The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God (1741), Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New-England (1742), and Religious Affections (1746) brought him international acclaim in the 1740s. Later works such as Freedom of the Will (1754) and Original Sin (1758) extended his reputation in Britain and Europe as a theologian and philosopher. His status as a revivalist and important American thinker depended on the booksellers, printers, and editors who worked behind the scenes to publish his works within his lifetime, and in the decades following his death in 1758. At the end of the eighteenth century, and into the modern era, intellectuals in Britain and Continental Europe began critically analysing Edwards’s thought; some of them celebrated him as an innovative Reformed theologian, with others pronouncing him as an archaic specimen of the past.
Asia
Authors: Han Dongsoo
Published: February 2021

This chapter gives an overview of the scholarship of Asian Edwardseans and the significant publications of primary and secondary sources on Edwards in Asia. There remains today little critical research on Jonathan Edwards’s influence in Asia or Asian Edwardsean scholarship. Thus, the significant contributions of Asian scholars to Edwardsean scholarship have been largely unacknowledged. This chapter begins by assessing the state of Korean Edwardseans, which is the second-largest group of Edwardseans in the world. Korean scholars, publications, and churches together reveal a robust engagement with Jonathan Edwards’s life and thought. Edwards’s influence on the Korean Church has rapidly accelerated in recent decades and is poised for continued growth. In addition to Korea, Japanese, Chinese, and Singaporean Edwardsean scholarship receives attention. Throughout the chapter, comments on the future of Asian Edwardsean scholarship are provided, including pointing out areas where further development remains necessary.
Revelation
Authors: Nichols Stephen R. C.
Published: February 2021

The chapter sketches out the theological and intellectual context of Jonathan Edwards’s doctrine of revelation. It notes first the broad characteristics of the doctrine in Edwards’s immediate heritage and then the peculiar challenges to it posed by the English deist thinkers of his day. The chapter argues that in the face of radical objections Edwards defended a recognizably Reformed version of the doctrine. The chapter then briefly considers his theology proper, noting that for Edwards God was essentially a communicative being and that his teleology was one aimed at God’s glorification through self-communication. While Edwards denied that the book of nature was salvific, his theology proper and teleology coupled with his metaphysical commitments to a form of idealism and to being as relational and communicative, meant that as regards the regenerate he was prepared to grant a far more expansive revelatory role for nature and history than was common to his heritage.
Climate Change, Apocalypse, and the Future of Salvation
Authors: Hall John R. , Baker Zeke
Published: February 2021

In this chapter, an exploratory survey focuses on ‘popular theologies’ in relation to institutional religious formations in the US in order to bring to light affinities and disjunctures between alternative ways that global salvation can be (or fail to be) envisioned and engaged in relation to climate futures. Given climate change, the future of salvation is not simply a matter for individual souls, as religion often has it. The spectre of global warming poses salvation challenges of potentially apocalyptic proportions for the biosphere and peoples of the planet Earth. Religion in its discourses and practices brings issues of salvation into especially sharp resolution. It is also the ambivalent ur-source of the apocalyptic, which, along with other religious theologies and practices, can be mapped in relation to their distinctive social temporalities. Focusing on alternative temporalities—especially apocalyptic orientations towards the Millennium—lays bare the cultural antinomies of climate crisis.
Post-Human Design
Authors: Sandberg Anders
Published: February 2021

This essay considers the notion of the ‘exoself’ as a vision of the extended human in the future. Sandberg reconsiders the advancements in technology which allow us to modify bodies and outsource cognition and examines the profound ways in which they change ways we relate to the world: from exoself components, like watches and smartphones which are now experienced as everyday parts of life, to rarer, more exotic visions of futurity such as prosthetics, spacesuits, and exoskeletons. The chapter considers other mediums of the exoself vision such as art, fiction, and demonstrations. Sandberg maintains that while radically enhanced posthumans are too abstract to visualize, exoselves provide a ready-made image of a transhuman that is concrete.
From Boundless Expansion to Existential Threat
Authors: Taillandier Apolline
Published: February 2021

This essay examines visions of the future of human life in transhumanist imaginaries of the posthuman, ranging from utopian figurations to catastrophist warnings. Focusing on libertarian, liberal, and conservative posthuman imaginaries, it argues that the posthuman condition is defined by changing scientific, moral, and political narratives, including ideas of revolutionary change, progressive evolution through the ethical use of human enhancement technologies, and the mitigation of existential risk for the preservation of intelligence and civilization in the long term. Changing posthuman imaginaries, it shows, reshape spaces of present and future political imagination.
Myths of the Future
Authors: Holmes John
Published: February 2021

Olaf Stapledon has been described as ‘the great classical example’ for science fiction. In Last and First Men (1930), he projected a future for human evolution across two billion years, three planets, and eighteen species. Stapledon denied that his book was either prophecy or future history, however, identifying it rather as ‘an essay in myth creation’. This chapter proposes that, through its genre and scope, Last and First Men makes a distinctive contribution to how we might seek to conceive of the future. Myth offers Stapledon a uniquely apt and versatile way to think through possible futures, free from the demands of verifiability, open to falsehood even, yet with its own authority and claim to truth. These mythic futures are a means to interrogate the present while drawing out latent possibilities within human biology and society which are as yet unrealized.
The Birth of Nuclear Eternity
Authors: Pelopidas Benoît
Published: February 2021

This chapter reconnects modes of futures-making with the requirements of democracy by focusing on the naturalization of nuclear weapons and their removal from the realm of democratic choice at a particular point in time. The chapter revolves around the concept of ‘nuclear eternity’ as a means of reducing public choices about the use of nuclear weapons. It critiques the idea that nuclear weapons have always been perceived as ‘here to stay’ and reassesses the dominant narrative about the 1960s as an emancipatory decade by arguing that the decade actually witnessed a significant shrinking of future political possibilities. Finally, the chapter identifies three shapes of the future which produce ‘nuclear eternity’—an absent post-nuclear future, an inconsistent post-nuclear future, and a disconnected post-nuclear future—and illustrates them with historical examples
Future as a Horizon of Expectations
Authors: Jedlowski Paolo , Pellegrino Vincenza
Published: February 2021

This chapter adopts a sociological approach to conceptualize futurity as a horizon of expectations. It provides a practical application of sociological theory—future present and present future, horizon of expectations, futurization and defuturization—to contemporary discourse. It observes that hegemonic discourses emphasize ‘defuturization’—decreasing the openness of people’s present futures—and explores the problems this poses for the self-expression of younger generations. As well as exploring the impact of futurity/defuturization upon the development of processual research methods, the chapter reflects upon ways in which sociology may intervene in communicative practices and foster the capacity of individuals to work through their own horizons of expectations and open up the present future.
God
Authors: Ottati Douglas F.
Published: February 2021

Interpreters sometimes read Niebuhr as an ethicist whose writings are shaped by an anthropology rather than by theology or a doctrine of God, but this is too simple. Niebuhr’s understanding of God is marked by his turn toward myth and a relational core theology keyed to biblical images of God as Creator, Judge, and Redeemer. Though neither systematic nor as extensively developed as his anthropology, theology remains integral to his thinking. A doctrine of God is present implicitly in Niebuhr’s work even where not articulated explicitly, and it makes a creative contribution to Christian theology. Indeed, it ought to be developed further, especially with respect to aspects of religious experience and a sense of hope.
Sin
Authors: Crouter Richard
Published: February 2021

This chapter traces the evolution of Niebuhr’s theological view of sin from his earliest work in liberal theology in the late 1920s through his major texts, Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), An Interpretation of Christian Ethics (1935), and his magum opus, the first volume of The Nature and Destiny of Man. These works address the traumatic events of the 1930s and 1940s: unjust war reparations from the Second World War, economic collapse, and the rise of European Fascism. The chapter ends with a reflection on the ‘changing perspectives’ Niebuhr brought to bear on his thoughts about sin and his reception by political philosophers in Man’s Nature and His Communities: Essays on the Dynamics and Enigmas of Man’s Personal and Social Existence (1965).
Love
Authors: Simmons Frederick V.
Published: February 2021

Reinhold Niebuhr regarded love as the law of human nature. He interpreted that love as agape, identified it with God’s love, and claimed that Jesus revealed it as universal, self-transcending, forgiving, non-resistant, and sacrificial. According to Niebuhr such love produces harmony yet humans inevitably succumb to something less. This inveterate shortcoming grounded Niebuhr’s Christian Realism and concentrated his social ethics on justice, which he related to love dialectically. It also shaped Niebuhr’s exposition of the Christian Gospel as primarily disclosure of God’s forgiveness, which enables human beings to love self-transcendently and thus fulfil their nature by freeing them from their failure to do so. Niebuhr’s account of love stimulated widespread interest in the topic and extensive criticism of his proposals. Nonetheless, Niebuhr argued that the paradoxical relationship of sacrificial and mutual love in history validated that account and the social ethics and soteriology he connected to it.
Eschatology
Authors: Lyon Jodie L.
Published: February 2021

Reinhold Niebuhr’s eschatology is the culmination of his anthropology. Because humans are finite, history must have an end; because humans are free, history must have a purpose. The biblical prophets anticipated the climax of history in their visions of the messiah, but also exposed the pride inherent in human hearts. Jesus revealed the meaning of history through the cross: suffering love. Since agape will always be at least partially defeated in history, humans currently wait in an interim for the second coming of Christ and the triumph of sacrificial love. Niebuhr explains that Scripture proclaims the eschaton through the symbols of the Parousia, the Last Judgement, and the Resurrection. These symbols must be viewed as meaningful without being literal. Pride often perverts eschatological understanding, causing humans to ignore the limitations of humanity or despair of their finitude. Niebuhr’s eschatological proclamations are circumspect, but their vagueness allows them to avoid the pride of which Niebuhr so frequently warns.
Moral Realism
Authors: Carnahan Kevin
Published: February 2021

Reinhold Niebuhr’s moral realism can be confusing, as he draws upon multiple categories that are often in tension in contemporary discussions of moral reality. This chapter lays out three frameworks Niebuhr used to discuss moral reality: naturalism, moral ideals, and divine nature and command. It argues that these frameworks are mutually supportive in Niebuhr’s thought and locates each in the context of contemporary discussions in moral philosophy. In relation to naturalism, Niebuhr’s thought is compared with the neo-Aristotelian thought of Philippa Foot and Rosalind Hursthouse. Concerning ideals, Niebuhr is put in dialogue with philosophers such as W. D. Ross, Martha Nussbaum, and Isaiah Berlin. Niebuhr’s treatment of divine command and nature is compared with the work of Robert M. Adams.
Human Nature and Moral Norms
Authors: McKenny Gerald
Published: February 2021

According to Reinhold Niebuhr, moral norms are grounded in human nature. This claim places Niebuhr in the mainstream of Christian natural law thought. However, Niebuhr distanced himself from the natural law tradition that was most familiar to him. His criticisms of that tradition may leave the impression that he rejected natural law thought, but a closer look at the relationships of nature and freedom and of justice and love in his thought indicate otherwise. This chapter examines Niebuhr’s grounding of moral norms in human nature and shows how his position is best understood as a version of natural law thought. It ends with a corrected version of Niebuhr’s position that might contribute to natural law thought today.
The 1940s: Global War and Global Responsibility
Authors: Smith Graeme
Published: February 2021

The 1940s were a remarkably active and productive decade for Reinhold Niebuhr. Two of his most important books were published during this period, The Nature and Destiny of Man and The Children of Light and Children of Darkness. He worked with others to establish a new journal, Christianity and Crisis. Alongside this he was instrumental in setting up two campaigning organizations, the Union for Democratic Action and the Americans for Democratic Action. This chapter provides a historical overview of the decade detailing these achievements. It then examines Niebuhr’s contribution to the nascent ecumenical movement, in particular his chapter on social ethics written for the Oxford Conference of 1937, his address to that conference, and then his preparatory chapter and address to the first Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam 1948. Niebuhr argued that the underlying cause of the global crises was secularism, in response to which the Church should preach a message of redemption.
The 1960s: The Struggle for Justice and the ‘View from the Sidelines’
Authors: Dorrien Gary
Published: February 2021

When Reinhold Niebuhr retired from teaching in 1960 at the age of sixty-eight, he was famous for espousing Cold War militarism, blasting liberal theology and the Social Gospel, and urging the Civil Rights Movement to proceed with patient moderation. In his retirement years he substantially changed or refashioned these positions, transmuting his legacy and the meaning of Niebuhrian realism. The Social Gospel tried to moralize the public square, but Niebuhr said that politics is a struggle for power driven by interest and will-to-power. The Social Gospel taught that a cooperative commonwealth is achievable. By the end of his career, Niebuhr said the ideal of a good society must be given up. Social ethicists ever since have struggled with both sides of his legacy.
John Dewey
Authors: Rice Daniel
Published: February 2021

This chapter focuses on the relationship between the American philosopher John Dewey and the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Although a generation apart in age, Dewey and Niebuhr were among the major proponents of the social and economic liberalism of the 1930s in its opposition to the predominant laissez-faire ideology of the day—a form of classical liberalism that Dewey labelled ‘pseudo liberalism’ and Niebuhr identified as American conservatism. While Dewey and Niebuhr collaborated on various political causes, they engaged in a controversy over the meaning of liberalism. In 1932 Niebuhr attacked Dewey in Moral Man and Immoral Society and in subsequent articles and books. Dewey, in return, responded critically to Niebuhr in print. This chapter deals with the personal relationship between Dewey and Niebuhr, their conflicting evaluations of liberalism, and the many ways in which their respective views of liberalism came together in the assault against the conservatism of the age.
The Structure of a Free Speech Right
Authors: Gardbaum Stephen
Published: February 2021

This chapter describes the structural elements or components of a free speech right. The nature and extent of a free speech right depends upon a number of legal components. The first is the legal source of the right (in common law, statute, or a constitution) and the force of the right having regard to how it is enforced, and whether and how it can be superseded. The second component is the ‘subject’ of free speech rights, or who are the rights-holders: citizens, natural or legal persons. The third is the ‘scope’ of a free speech right, while the fourth is the kind of obligation it imposes on others: a negative prohibition or a positive obligation. The fifth component is the ‘object’ of a free speech right: who is bound to respect a right of freedom of expression and against whom the right may be asserted. Finally, there is the ‘limitation’ of a free speech right.