bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Onesimos
Authors: Daube David
Published: June 2011

When Paul deems conversion to imply a “new creation,” he is in line with the Jewish tenet—valid to this day—which assigns a convert the position of a “child just born.” One consequence is that a pagan family coming over en bloc is in principle unaffected by incest taboos: they are no longer related. Still, the Rabbis, lest the unthinking might conclude that incest was being taken lightly, impose a restriction, pragmatic and variable—banning such unions as are illicit in the surrounding culture. Along with the maxim, Paul also adopts this proviso: he tells the Corinthians that their pride in their novel state must not lead to marriage with a stepmother, “fornication not found among the gentiles” (1 Cor 5:1). No tenet, he urges, not even one so fundamental, so cherished, as that of re-creation, is to be turned into a fetish. Glory becomes vainglory when the resultant actions are the opposite of beneficial to the individual, the opposite of upbuilding for the church. I am going to suggest that some passages in his Epistle to Philemon may have to be read bearing in mind the same counterpointal interplay: on the one hand, a radical concept of conversion; on the other, moderation from considerateness as an individual as well as from dedication to the church's welfare.
Carpocratians and Curriculum: Irenaeus' Reply
Authors: Grant Robert M.
Published: June 2011

It seems suitable, when honoring a dean who has become a bishop, to write on an episcopal theologian who thought he could answer Gnostics by discussing curriculum. I doubt that in either office Krister Stendahl would ever have taken such a tack. It is odd to see Irenaeus doing so.
A Hermeneutics of Social Embodiment
Authors: Meeks Wayne A.
Published: June 2011

When Krister Stendahl's article “Biblical Theology” appeared in the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible in 1962, it caused no little consternation in some circles. He insisted that the primary intellectual task of the biblical scholar was to make a clear distinction between what the text meant in its original setting and what it means. That ran directly counter to the practical aims of the dominant interpretive schools of the day, which wanted, as Karl Barth had once said, to dissolve “the differences between then and now.” Today the distinction for which Stendahl argued so lucidly is taken for granted in most biblical scholarship, and the question is whether there can be any significant connection between “then” and “now.” New Testament studies threatens to divide into two contrary ways of reading texts. One is a rigorously historical quest, in which all the early Christian documents alike, canonical and extracanonical, are treated as sources for reconstructing the diverse and curious varieties of the early Christian movement. The other way of reading cares not at all where the texts came from or what they originally meant; by purely literary analysis it wishes to help text and reader to confront one another continually anew.
Pauline Baptism and “Secondary Burial”
Authors: Petersen Norman R.
Published: June 2011

It is curious that, despite Paul's representation of baptism as a burial (Rom 6:3–4; cf. Col 2:12), his understanding of baptism has not been considered in terms of funerary rites. Rather, the symbolic and initiatory character of baptismal burial, together with its close association with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, has for about a century produced debate over alleged relationships between Pauline baptism and the initiatory rites of Hellenistic mystery cults. This essay, in honor of Krister Stendahl, is intended to demonstrate that, whatever the associations with mystery cults may be, Paul's understanding of the process of dying in which all believers participate from the moment of their baptismal burial is fundamentally informed by funerary practices and ideas. My thesis is that Pauline baptism is most comprehensively explained in terms of the widely attested, cross-cultural phenomenon of secondary or double burial. I will sketch first some of the distinctive features of Paul's views on the death of believers, then lay out some of the results of research on secondary burial, and then conclude with a few comments on Paul's perspective on the believer's experience.
Justin Martyr's Trypho
Authors: Trakatellis Bishop Demetrios
Published: June 2011

Justin Martyr'sDialogue with Tryphohas been considered one of the basic documents for an understanding of the theological contacts and discussions between Christians and Jews in the second century. Several scholars have studied theDialoguein an attempt to ascertain the main ideas, the fundamental questions, and the principal attitudes involved in such contacts. The inquiry, however, does not appear to have reached definitive conclusions. There has been a diversity of opinion due mainly to the complexity of the problems, to the ambiguity of the pertinent data, and to the theological presuppositions of the researchers. Specific questions like “How well did Justin know and represent his contemporary Judaism?” seem to be more and more, but not completely, settled. Others, however, such as the degree of friendliness or hostility between Jews and Christians displayed in theDialogue, remain in a condition of fluidity.
A Black Pastor Looks at Black Theology
Authors: Williams A. Roger
Published: June 2011

For some decades blacks have been taking a new look at themselves. In the language of black preachers, leaders, and educators, they are discovering what Martin L. King, Jr., calls their “some-bodiness.” This is not to say the phenomenon is entirely new. There have always been brave and hardy spirits who transcended their existential situation. Racism, colonialism, imperialism, and every machination of man's inhumanity to man could not crush their spirit. They dared, they dreamed, they acted.
Luther's Mother Margarethe
Authors: Siggins Ian D. K.
Published: June 2011

What do we know about Luther's mother?

According to the biographers, very little. We have “only a very shadowy conception,” Heinrich Boehmer says, in spite of Spalatin's remark that Martin was her “spit and image.” Even Erik Erikson, who is quite ready to offer clinical extrapolations from scant evidence, admits that a “big gap exists here, which only conjecture could fill.”
On Theological Models
Authors: McLain F. Michael
Published: June 2011

Among recent proposals to give clarity and precision to theological concepts, none is more considered and provocative than that of Gordon D. Kaufman. Kaufman has correctly discerned that the question put to religious belief by the contemporary mood is one which concerns not only its truth but, even more fundamentally, the very meaning of its language. Abjuring the obscurity of much theological terminology and analysis, Kaufman accepts the challenge to clarify the meaning of crucial religious terms in the context of ordinary experience and discourse, an undertaking as refreshing as it is suggestive. While I am fully prepared to accept Kaufman's claim that he has put his finger on a, if not the, crucial issue for present theological reflection, I find myself unable to accept the results of his inquiry. In stating my disagreement with his conclusions, I hope to develop a brief but coherent response to the issues which Kaufman addresses.
Johann Heinrich Alsted and English Millennialism
Authors: Clouse Robert G.
Published: June 2011

At the twelfth International Congress of the Historical Sciences there were a number of papers read on the subject of religious tolerance and heresies in modern times. Among these there were two which are of particular relevance to anyone interested in the religious thought of the Reformation Era. Professors Martin Schmidt and Gerhard Schilfert, the authors, were especially concerned with English Puritanism and its relations with continental radical ferment. Schmidt analyzed the work of Hermann Weingarten, who believed that England's century of Reformation was the seventeenth rather than the sixteenth and that it was during the struggle against the Stuarts that the history of the English church became a record of new intellectual and religious movements. Hence, the chiliastic Independents of the English Interregnum were analagous to the Anabaptists of continental fame in the early sixteenth century. In fact, during the unrest of the English Puritan Revolution, German influences presumably transmitted from the Netherlands were willingly accepted. Among the writers involved in this process were Jakob Böhme and Ludwig Friedrich Gifftheil. From these sources came the belief in the second coming of Christ which formed the unifying bond for all shades of English revolutionary Christian thought. Cromwell, himself, was deeply affected by chiliastic thought, but when he assumed political responsibility, he had to act in a more rational way. Finally the enthusiasm of the Fifth Monarchists and the Levellers subsided into the quiet mysticism of the Quakers and the natural rights position of the Age of Reason.
HWQYcand Covenantal Institutions in Early Israel
Authors: Polzin Robert
Published: June 2011

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the usage ofhwqycin classical Hebrew with a view to proposing thathwqycis a specialized usage in the context of covenant institutions. We shall first investigate the occurrences ofhwqycin biblical Hebrew, then discuss its etymology, and finally analyze pertinent covenantal institutions that may shed some light on the subject of this investigation.
A New Sensitivity in Judaism and The Christian Message
Authors: Flusser David
Published: June 2011

The Judeo-Christian dialogue — be it conducted in the fashion of ordinary human contact or within the discipline of strict scholarly procedure — suffers often from a disturbing pattern: the two partners not only emphasize the elements and features common to both of them, but find themselves confronted in polarity. This emphasis of polarity may prove convenient for the colloquists. Each can assume a polite vantage ground overlooking the position of the opposite religion, yet feel quite content in the assured knowledge of one's own religion because it now bears none of the qualities which distinguish the polar opposite.
Resurrection as Hope
Authors: Moltmann Jürgen
Published: June 2011

The Resurrection of Christ: Traditional Questions

The “Resurrection of Christ” is controversial. It does not fit into the modern world of things calculable and manipulable. Is it a historical event among other historical events that took place or that are still taking place? Is it a symbol of the language of times past?
Tillich and Heidegger: A Structural Relationship
Authors: O'Meara Thomas F.
Published: June 2011

The evaluation of Tillich's theological system in America and Great Britain (incipient in Germany but almost nonexistent in France) inevitably takes a stand on two questions. It asks whether Tillich is a theologian or a philosopher, and it asks whether he is an existentialist, an idealist, or, perhaps, both. The second question has almost as many opinions as answers. Is Tillich solely or basically a product of the German nineteenth century? Is he an existentialist despite his system, or an idealist despite his demand for existential theology? Or is Tillich merely an existentialist in his general terminology, while the horizon and form of his thought (because of ontology and system) is of the nineteenth century?
Yoga and Viyoga: Simple Religion in Hinduism
Authors: Hawley John Stratton
Published: June 2011

As the comparative study of religion has advanced in recent years, one of its most salutary effects has been the qualification, if not the removal, of old caricatures about other people's religions. It is increasingly recognized that only distance and ignorance make religious traditions seem homogeneous entities, and that the tensions they encompass within themselves are often at least as extreme as the gulfs that separate one tradition from another.
The Tongues of Greek Sacrificial Victims
Authors: Kadletz Edward
Published: June 2011

In the Greek ritual of animal sacrifice a rather unusual use was reserved for the tongue of the victim. While most of the animal was either burned in offering to the deity or enjoyed as a feast by the participants, the tongue was cut out and laid aside. Why the tongue was treated differently from the rest of the victim and what exactly was done with it are the questions which I propose to deal with in this paper. These problems have been dealwith before, but the evidence has never been fully consideredand all previous discussions have been inconclusive.
Converts and Judaizers in the Early Fourteenth Century
Authors: Shatzmiller Joseph
Published: June 2011

Although Jewish conversions to Christianity in the latter Middle Ages pose many unanswered questions, one can be dispensed with relatively easily: Were those converts who subsequently decided to abandon Christianity and return to Judaism required to undergo a special immersion (tebilâin Hebrew) as part of a special “rejudaization rite”?
The Antagonistic Correspondence of 1801 between Chaplain Sack and his Protégé Schleiermacher
Authors: Blackwell Albert L.
Published: June 2011

In the summer of 1801 a sharp, even bitter exchange of correspondence passed between the Court and Cathedral Preacher in Berlin, Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack, and his ministerial protégé Friedrich Schleiermacher. The points of contention were Schleiermacher's circle of Berlin friends, whom Sack considered inappropriate company for the young minister, and Schleiermacher's book of 1799, OnReligion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers, containing theological views judged by Sack to be irreconcilable with the Christian religion Schleiermacher had been ordained to preach. This candid exchange was Schleiermacher's first official encounter with rising tensions between his theological liberalism and the orthodoxy of his Reformed Church background. Indeed these two letters argue theological issues that plagued Schleiermacher throughout his career and have haunted his theology to our own day, the most central of these being Schleiermacher's refusal to apply terms of personality to God. Yet these seminal letters have received scant attention in German secondary literature, and to the English reader they have remained all but inaccessible.
God and the World: William Paley's Argument from Perfection Tradition—A Continuing Influence
Authors: Baldwin John T.
Published: June 2011

William Paley is best remembered for his formulation of the watch analogy in his classicNatural Theology(1802). What is less widely known is that in the same work, Paley, in response to Erasmus Darwin, anticipates the argument from perfection. The present discussion traces the argument from perfection tradition from its probable inception inNatural Theologythrough important moments in its subsequent history. The discussion will address its contemporary wide-ranging impact upon such thinkers as philosopher of religion Alvin Plantinga, as well as scholars standing outside the tradition, such as geneticist Richard Goldschmidt and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The article concludes with a discussion of the theological significance of this research in terms of its impact upon the issue of the relationship between God and the world.
Marcus Aurelius a Persecutor?
Authors: Keresztes Paul
Published: June 2011

The relative peace enjoyed by the Christians under the rule of the Emperor Antoninus Pius was followed during the next regime by an era of extraordinarily violent and massive anti-Christian movements that probably surpassed in intensity all the persecutions that the Christians endured during the first and second centuries. It is therefore not uncommon to hear the charges that Marcus Aurelius was a persecutor of the Christians; that he deliberately issued anti-Christian edicts; that the persecution under this Emperor was the first that deserved the name of persecution; that the persecutions during his rule had his sanction at least. Subsequent attempts by historians to exculpate the philosopher-emperor for his alleged responsibility — whether direct or indirect — in the persecutions under his rule are only to be expected. In contrast to these latter-day charges the ancient Christian writers, led by Justin, a victim of his rule, Melito, Athenagoras, and other writers of the same period and with hardly any exceptions, put an almost infinite trust in him and simply do not show any belief that he was a persecutor. Tertullian, in fact, roundly declared him to be a protector of the Christians. In spite of their rhetorical tendencies, they must have known better than these later historians. The absence of a clear view and historical interpretation of what happened under this philosopher-ruler is the most regrettable feature of most of the modern commentaries on the Christian problem of this era.
Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles
Authors: Wacholder Ben Zion
Published: June 2011

Chronography became a discipline of its own during the Alexandrian age. Herodotus and Thucydides still reckoned the remote past by generations. But from 300 B.C. onward learned men of Alexandria attempted to assign more or less precise dates for notable events. Homeric scholars dated the fall of Troy 407 years prior to the first Olympic games in 776 B.C., i.e., 1184 B.C. Eratosthenes of Cyrene asserted that this was the first datable event of human history, giving an unmistakable demarcation line between mythology and history. For the Orientals, whose records reputedly went back to the time when gods and semi-gods held sway over man, Eratosthenes' Greek-colored view of ancient history appeared myopic. Perhaps to match the Orientals, Greek writers manufactured genealogical tables which traced the pedigrees of famous Greek cities to remote antiquity with their autochthonous progenitors. To create order among the conflicting claims, during the second century B.C., the universal chronicle made its appearance. In the universal chronicles the Greek and Oriental genealogical lists followed each other, were synchronized, or even tabulated.
The Prophetic Spirit as an Angel According to Philo
Authors: Levison John R.
Published: June 2011

Nearly a century ago, Paul Volz, who is known primarily for his research on early Jewish eschatology, wrote a provocative analysis of the divine spirit in Jewish antiquity; one quarter of this study is devoted to “the spirit hypostasis” (Geisthypostase), that is, spirit (πνεῦμα) interpreted as an independent being rather than a natural element, such as wind, or the spiritual element of humankind, such as the soul.1 In the context of this intriguing discussion, Volz observed that “Philo unequivocally describes the spirit as an hypostasis,” for it mediates God's own power (Mittelwesen), accomplishes concrete actions, such as visiting and leading to truth, and possesses particular characteristics, such as invisibility and complete wisdom. According to Volz, however, Philo understood this spirit hypostasis less as a personal being than a cosmic principle:

The personal character of the Philonic pneuma normally retreats into the background, despite its hypostatic character. The reason for this lies probably in Stoic influence, from which Philo took over the panpsychic pneuma, and moreover in the Philonic conception of the Logos, alongside which the pneuma could never fully be developed.
Nature and Scripture: Demise of a Medieval Analogy
Authors: Otten Willemien
Published: June 2011

Throughout the history of Christian thought the theological role of scripture as source of transcendent meaning has exercised considerable influence on the art and manner of biblical interpretation. In the early church the problems revolved mostly around the canon, specifically although not exclusively the New Testament, as defining the confines of scripture. The question arose, therefore, which biblical writings were divinely inspired and which were of doubtful origin. The latter were unacceptable for the Christian communities that had broken away from their ancestral Judaic religion. Even before the canon was fixed, however, the problems shifted from the divinely inspired composition of the Bible to its intrinsic signification; interpreters saw scriptural language itself as infused with theological content. As exegetical positions led to the development of credal statements that solidified into theological dogma, the early church established a link between biblical interpretation and sound doctrine. By enforcing sanctioned interpretations through effective excommunication, an ever more powerful church sealed the dominance of orthodoxy over heresy with the nearly divine force of ecclesiastical authority. In the church-dominated culture of the Middle Ages, the adequacy of scriptural interpretation—its method, its content, the credentials of its practitioners—often depended on its conformity with an expanding theological tradition.
Ancient and High-Medieval Interpretations of Jesus in Gethsemane: Some Reflections on Tradition and Continuity in Christian Thought
Authors: Madigan Kevin
Published: June 2011

Although Jesus' agony in the garden (Matt 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:40–46) may be powerful and even inexpressibly poignant to modern readers, it was a plague and embarrassment to patristic and medieval interpreters. Few narratives in the New Testament were so inimical to received christological assumptions. Ancient and medieval interpreters, at least those ultimately judged to be orthodox, ascribed to the Incarnate Word the qualities of divine consubstantiality, omnipotence, omniscience, obedience, and impassibility. The pericope, at least in its Markan and Matthean versions, however, presents a figure who appears in utterly human form—powerless, ignorant, recalcitrant, and passible.
The Boundaries of Divine Ontology: The Inclusion and Exclusion of Meṭaṭron in the Godhead
Authors: Abrams Daniel
Published: June 2011

One of the central aspects of Jewish theology, and Jewish mysticism in particular, is the conception of the nature of God's being and the appearance of the divine before humanity. No one view has dominated the spectrum of Jewish interpretations, since the biblical text is the only common frame for the wide variety of speculations. At issue is whether the one God depicted in the Hebrew Bible is manifest to humans directly or through the agency of a divine, semidivine, or created power. Even the nature of angelic figures in the Bible remains a matter of debate, both in its original context and through later interpretations. Does the angelic figure physically represent God's form, or is it a literary device that metaphorically describes God's presence? The same is true of divine anthropomorphism in the Bible. Do the descriptions of God's hands or feet imply that God possesses a definite shape similar to that of human bodies, or should these descriptions also be viewed metaphorically, reinforcing a similar view to that expressed about angelic figures: no physical characteristics can be attributed to anything heavenly or divine? Finally, how does this accord with the spatial manifestation of God in the tabernacle through hiskavodor glory?
Revelation, Realia, and Religion: Archaeology in the Interpretation of the Apocalypse
Authors: Friesen Steven J.
Published: June 2011

The use of archaeological materials for interpreting New Testament texts poses many problems. While many archaeologists have interpreted the Hebrew Bible, this early interface of archaeology and the study of the Hebrew scriptures is due in part to the fact that the relation-ship between biblical texts and the realia from Palestine seemed more direct. Since archaeological materials tend to deal with mainstream culture and since the texts from Israel and Judah were connected to institutions that were part of that area's dominant culture, the study of archaeology has contributed much to an understanding of the Hebrew scriptures.
A Hidden Opponent in Spinoza'sTractatus
Authors: Preus J. Samuel
Published: June 2011

Studies of Benedict Spinoza's biblical interpretation rarely pay more than cursory attention to the contemporary context of that work. Analyses tend to focus on authors whom Spinoza singled out for attack in hisTractatus Theologico-Politicus, such as Moses Maimonides (died 1204) and a rabbi who later attacked him, Judah ibn Alfakhar (died 1235). After his excommunication in 1656, however, most of Spinoza's intellectual and social circle—those with whom he shared his philosophical ideas and surely his ideas about the Bible—were Christian, or of Christian background, and not Jews. Spinoza'sTreatisewas not conceived in a vacuum or in a segregated Jewish context, nor was it aimed primarily at Jewish readers. Among Christians, the work engaged a national debate, involving church, state, and the universities, about the authority and interpretation of the Bible. Great political as well as intellectual issues were at stake.
Jesus and the Politics of Interpretation
Authors: Fiorenza Elisabeth Schüssler
Published: June 2011

I distinctly recall how excited I was to readTrajectories through Early Christianitysome twenty-five years ago. In 1970 I had just finished doctoral studies and had begun teaching at the University of Notre Dame. One of the first lessons I received from a senior colleague at that time was: “Elisabeth, remember you are not teaching here as a theologian but as a critical exegete and historian. Consequently, never allow your students to ask what is the religious or theological significance of biblical texts and interpretations for today. If you allow this question your scholarship will flounder on the slippery slope of relevance.” I was puzzled and disturbed by such counsel—to say the least—because as a student in Germany I had not encountered such anti-theological positivism but rather had been reared in the hermeneutical-theological tradition. The exciting part of readingTrajectories, therefore, was the realization that epistemological, hermeneutical, and theological questions were also the cutting edge issues of American biblical scholarship. ForTrajectoriesset out to initiate a critical discussion and revision of the categories and conceptualizations not only of biblical-historical interpretation, but also of the criteria for theological evaluation.
τ⋯ δρώμενα κα⋯ τ⋯ λεγόμενα: The Ėucharistic Memory of Jesus' Words in First Corinthians
Authors: Aitken Ellen Bradshaw
Published: June 2011

One manner in which to investigate the life of Jesus' sayings in the early church is to ask how communities preserved and transmitted their memory. I ask here, however, a somewhat different question, namely, what did Christians accomplish by remembering certain words and actions specifically as those of Jesus. In particular, I inquire in this article into the consequences of remembering Jesus' words and actions as authoritative within the cultic context of the Corinthian community. What is the memory of Jesus that informs chapters 10 and 11 of 1 Corinthians? What light, moreover, might an answer to this question shed upon the formation of a narrative about Jesus? To this end, I present a reading of materials in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 that attends to cult, both its ritual and its narrative, and to the function of authoritative speech in cultic context.
The Significance of φιλέω and φίλος in the Tradition of Jesus Sayings and in the Early Christian Communities
Authors: Brock Ann Graham
Published: June 2011

Due in part to the prominence of the word ⋯γαπάω in the New Testament, readers of that book have often believed that the early Christians as a group considered ⋯γαπάω to refer to a superior form of love than that represented by the Greek word φιλέω. One of the primary reasons for this conviction is the way in which the apostle Paul uses ⋯γάπη and ⋯γαπάω to such an extent in his epistles. In fact, Paul's usage of the ⋯γαπάω word family is so consistent that with one exception the word φιλέω is entirely absent from his vocabulary. Likewise, in the Septuagint the occurrences of ⋯γαπάω outnumber those of φιλέω by a ratio of 266 to a mere fifteen.1
“No Rhyme or Reason”: The Hidden Logia of the Gospel of Thomas
Authors: Callahan Allen
Published: June 2011

Professor Helmut Koester has offered this incisive criticism and insightful characterization of research on the sayings traditions of the Gospel of Thomas:

What is most puzzling about the composition of sayings in this wisdom book is the arrangement and order of the sayings. There is seemingly no rhyme or reason for the odd sequence in which the sayings occur in the Gospel of Thomas…. several attempts have been made to find the author's compositional principle, none of them convincing.
Santa Maria Maggiore's Fifth-Century Mosaics: Triumphal Christianity and the Jews
Authors: Miles Margaret R.
Published: June 2011

The fifth-century mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome represent the oldest surviving program of mosaic decoration in a Christian church. Its political context includes the steady drain of political authority and power to the Eastern empire from the early fourth century forward, the proscription of paganism at the end of the fourth century, and the massively disruptive Sack of Rome by Alaric in 410 CE. In the vacuum of political power in the West, the papacy under Sixtus III made a strong claim for a new basis of Roman power—the religious primacy of the city of Peter and Paul under papal leadership. The building and decoration of Santa Maria Maggiore played an important role in the consolidation and public announcement of papal power.
Lyric Autobiography: John Donne's Holy Sonnets
Authors: Ruf Frederick J.
Published: June 2011

In her admirable study of autobiography, Janet Varner Gunn argued that the religious significance of the form “lies not in its literary function but in its anthropology,” that is, in its role in articulating and creating human experience. She also stated that much literary discussion of autobiography serves to conceal its “strangeness” and “unruly behavior.”
Kant's Theological Constructivism
Authors: Davidovich Adina
Published: June 2011

Our generation celebrates its freedom from the constricting yoke of the imperial age of grand systems. It joyfully rebels against abstract thinking and disavows preoccupation with systematicity, which none epitomized better than Immanuel Kant, according to whose daily routine the women of Königsberg allegedly set their clocks. Contemporary liberal theology claims that we can no longer believe in a universal disembodied reason that is free from the constraints of particular circumstances. Our thinking, it alleges, reflects interests and desires. Theories serve our will to power and are to be interpreted not by appeal to an aloof rationality, but through analysis of our needs and inclinations. Freedom, however, produces new trepidations. Confronted with radical implications of their convictions, very few are willing to regard their theologies as relatively valid. Tending to reject the past yet wary of anarchy, contemporary liberal theology seeks a method that is attuned to contingent circumstances and avoids the pitfalls of unbridled relativism. I suggest that in our haste to defy and overthrow past masters, we deprive ourselves of profound insights that could guide a quest for resolution. As a case in point, I propose that if we are willing to look afresh at Kant and explore central elements of his system that have been obscured by an overzealous portrayal of his thought as a rigoristic abstract formalism, we shall find clues for escaping the impossible choice between absolutism and relativism.
John Chrysostom on Almsgiving and the Use of Money
Authors: Leyerle Blake
Published: June 2011

Few themes so dominate the homilies of John Chrysostom (ca. 347–407 CE) as the plight of the poor and the necessity of almsgiving. His picture of the poor, however, is always set against the prosperous marketplace of late antiquity. It seems therefore scarcely surprising that his sermons on almsgiving resound with the language of investment. With such imagery, Chrysostom tried not only to prod wealthy Christians into acts of charity but also, and perhaps more importantly, to dislodge his rich parishioners from their conviction that an uncrossable social gulf separated them from the poor. The rhetorical strategy he used is typical of all his polemical attacks. On the one hand, he denigrated the pursuit of money and social status as fundamentally unattractive; it is both unchristian and unmasculine. On the other hand, he insisted that real wealth and lasting prestige should indeed be pursued, but more effectively through almsgiving. I shall first examine how Chrysostom effected this recalculation of wealth, and then I shall turn to the question of whether there may have been some advantage for him in pleading so eloquently on behalf the poor.
The Early Philosophical Roots of Schleiermacher's Notion ofGefühl, 1788–1794
Authors: Lamm Julia A.
Published: June 2011

No single term has been so misunderstood or so debated in the history of Schleiermacher interpretation asGefühl(“feeling”). The intensity of the controversy surrounding this term is testimony to the critical role it plays in Schleiermacher's entire theological program. Indeed, as evident in his magnum opusThe Christian Faith(1830/1831), whereGefühlattains its final formulation as “the feeling of absolute dependence” (das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl), few other terms play as important a role in his account of religious experience and his doctrine of God. Not only is Schleiermacher's theological system at stake, but also the foundations of modern theology itself. Ludwig Feuerbach's assessment of the consequences of emphasizingGefühlwas unequivocal; most critics of Schleiermacher, Karl Barth foremost among them, have followed Feuerbach's pattern of interpretation:

If, for example, feeling is the essential organ of religion, the nature of God is nothing else than an expression of the nature of feeling.…

But the object of religious feeling is become a matter of indifference, only because when once feeling has been pronounced to be the subjective essence of religion, it in fact is also the objective essence of religion,…feeling is pronounced to be religious, simply because it is feeling.
The Language of Apocalypse
Authors: Callahan Allen Dwight
Published: June 2011

George Bernard Shaw once described the Book of Revelation as “a curious record of the visions of a drug addict,” but then modern literati have had a penchant for unkindness when it comes to the language of the Apocalypse. D. H. Lawrence found what he called its “splendiferous imagery” to be “distasteful,” and hailed it “perhaps the most detestable of all these books of the Bible.” Lawrence hated the book so much that he wrote a commentary on it. In his own monumental commentary on the Apocalypse, writing just a decade earlier than Lawrence, fellow Englishman R. H. Charles understood the book to be a product of linguistic incompetence and redactional ineptitude, egregious travesties that remained until modernity, when Charles corrected them with his own heavy-handed redaction and conjectured emendations.
The Rhetoric of Marginality: Apocalypticism, Gnosticism, and Sayings Gospels
Authors: Arnal William E.
Published: June 2011

Of a total of twelve parables or similitudes appearing in Q, fully half are paralleled in the CopticGospel of Thomas. The two writings share approximately forty separate sayings. The similarity between these collections extends beyond considerable shared content, however, to embrace a common genre, a common predilection for aphoristic and proverbial forms, a common concern with both practical and speculative wisdom, and a surprising lack of interest in the death and resurrection of Jesus. As the similarities between Q and theGospel of Thomasare necessarily of a literary variety, attempts to explain them have naturally tended to favor documentary hypotheses. This is certainly true of the conservative claim that theGospel of Thomasis dependent for its traditions on the synoptic gospels. The trend toward denying any such dependence, however, has hardly diminished the tendency to explain the two writings' common content, formal features, and theological motifs in terms of essentially literary connections. Helmut Koester, who is largely responsible for the status theGospel of Thomasnow enjoys as an early and valuable document, has argued that, if theGospel of Thomasis not actually dependent on an earlier recension of Q, which it very well may be, it at least shares common sources with it.
“Try To Be A Man”: The Rabbinic Construction Of Masculinity
Authors: Satlow Michael L.
Published: June 2011

What does it mean “to be a man”? Whereas in most societies at most times the determination of “maleness” is straightforward (does he have male genitalia? what is his chromosomal make-up?), locating the cultural constructions of “manhood” is far more difficult. Many anthropologists have noted that in contrast to models that postulate a common psychology for all men, everywhere, all the time, constructions of manhood are varied and culturally dependent. For example, the highly aggressive behavior necessary for retention of manhood for a male resident of Andalusian Spain can be contrasted to the sanctioned behavior of males of Tahiti. Unifying these diverse constructions of masculinity, however, is the common idea that manhood is an acquired state that males must fight both to attain and maintain. Because manhood is an achieved state, it can never be taken for granted: a male must be constantly proving that he is a man. “[T]he state of being a ‘real man’ or ‘true man’ [is] uncertain or precarious, a prize to be won or wrested through struggle.” Similar constructions of manhood are evident today throughout the circum-Mediterranean.
Tillich and the Perennial Philosophy
Authors: Thomas Owen C.
Published: June 2011

In an earlier essay I proposed the paradoxical theses that the main religio-philosophical alternative in the West to Judaism and Christianity has always been the perennial philosophy in its various forms, and that Christianity (and less so Judaism) has always been an amalgam or synthesis of the ideal types, biblical religion and the perennial philosophy. An example of the former is the concept delineated by the biblical theology movement of the 1940s and 1950s. By the latter I mean the religio-philosophical world view exemplified by Neoplatonism and Vedanta, and by the philosophical foundation of Gnosticism, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy, and propounded by such authors as René Guénon, Frithjof Schuon, S. H. Nasr, and Huston Smith.
From Mythic Motifs to Sustained Myth: The Revision of Rabbinic Traditions in Medieval Midrashim
Authors: Rubenstein Jeffrey L.
Published: June 2011

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the mythic dimension of rabbinic thought. Much of this work emerged from debates between scholars of Jewish mysticism over the origins of kabbalistic myth. Should these origins be sought in external traditions that influenced medieval Judaism or within the rabbinic tradition? As is well known, Gershom Scholem claimed that the rabbis rejected myth in order to forge a Judaism based on rationality and law. Moshe Idel, on the other hand, argues that mythic conceptions and specifically the mythicization of Torah appear in rabbinic literature. While the medieval kabbalists elaborated and developed these ideas, they inherited a mythic worldview from the rabbis. Scholars are now increasingly likely to characterize many classical rabbinic sources as mythic. Medieval myth need not have been due to external influence, but should be seen as an internal development within Judaism. Despite the appearance of mythic thought in rabbinic literature, however, a tremendous gulf remains between rabbinic and kabbalistic myth. The full-blown theogonic and cosmogonic myths of the kabbalists, the complex divine structure of theSefirot, and the detailed expressions of the theurgic effect of ritual (that is, the effect that specific rituals have upon God or theSefirot) represent a mode of mythic thinking far more comprehensive than that of the rabbis. In rabbinic literature one finds mythic motifs—succinct, independent, and self–contained expressions—not fully developed myths. How exactly did rabbinic myth develop into medieval mystical myth?
On a Newly Published Divorce Bill from the Judaean Desert
Authors: Ilan Tal
Published: June 2011

A wife's right to divorce her husband does not exist in Jewish law, or so claims virtually every textbook on Jewish law. Over the years scholars have, of course, noted exceptions to this absolute assertion. In Jewish marriage contracts from Elephantine, for example, women have a right to divorce equal to that of men. Another example is the Gospel of Mark's logion on divorce, which apparently implies that either a woman or a man can initiate divorce procedures. Josephus, moreover, relates that Salome, King Herod's sister, sent her husband a bill of divorce. Mainstream scholarship has too often brushed aside these pieces of evidence as nonrepresentative actions or misunderstandings on the part of a transmitter. The Elephantine community was thus remote and had lost contact with the center of Jewish life many years earlier, living a pagan existence and following the legal practices of its neighbors. Mark was a non-Jewish author describing the actions of Palestinian Jews in light of more familiar Roman legal practices. Salome's actions contradicted Jewish law and succeeded only because of her Roman citizenship.
Homo Viator: Luther and Late Medieval Theology
Authors: Ozment Steven E.
Published: June 2011

Despite the persistence of significant differences over the interpretation ofhumilitasin Luther's early works, an apparent consensus is afoot on both the nature of the problem which drove him to his Reformation theology and the nature of the discovery which forms the heart of this theology. As the picture now comes into focus in the secondary literature, the problem Luther apparently confronted so despairingly might be summarized as theviator-status of Christian life within the traditional medievalordo salutis.
The Last Days of Erastianism—Forms in the American Church-State Nexus
Authors: Rodes Robert E.
Published: June 2011

In 1843, the Reverend Robert Baird, “an esteemed minister of the American Presbyterian Church,” sojourning seven years in Europe “for the prosecution of certain religious and philanthropic objects,” published a book for the benefit of the various Europeans who had addressed to him “innumerable inquiries … respecting his native country, and especially respecting its religious institutions.”
Christians and Heretics in Rabbinic Literature of Late Antiquity
Authors: Kalmin Richard
Published: June 2011

This article argues that early and later rabbinic texts, as well as Babylonian and Palestinian sources, express different attitudes towardminim(“heretics”) and Christians, and that these differing attitudes are useful in reconstructing the histories of diverse rabbinic communities. In evaluating the historicity of the rabbinic sources, it is important to bear in mind that early sources do not necessarily provide reliable information about early periods, nor do Palestinian materials necessarily depict Palestinian reality more accurately than do Babylonian materials. Portrayals ofminimand Christians in talmudic sources may tell us much about relations between Jews and Christians in the Persian and Roman empires of late antiquity, but they perhaps tell us more about the desires and prejudices of rabbinic authors and editors.
Audit of handover in an ENT unit
Authors: Ellul D , Robson A K
Published: June 2011

Objectives:

To analyse the completeness and accuracy of the written handover in our ENT department, in line with Royal College of Surgeons of England guidance, and to improve standards.

Setting:

University Hospital, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, UK.

Methods and results:

We prospectively analysed the written handover over two periods (of 30 and 18 days each). In the first period, the morning handover was present and complete on 77 per cent of days, present but incomplete or illegible on 6 per cent of days, and absent on 17 per cent of days; the evening handover was present and complete on 30 per cent of days, and absent on 67 per cent of days. To improve standards, we emphasised the importance of accurate handover to the ENT team and to junior doctors who cross-covered ENT. A reminder of the Royal College of Surgeons of England guidance was included in the handover book, and junior doctors received regular feedback.

Conclusion:

We demonstrated a substantial improvement in the quality and completeness of written handover, comparing the second and first audit periods.
Gastrostomy tube feeding in adults: the risks, benefits and alternatives
Authors: Cullen Sue
Published: June 2011

Enteral feeding (or ‘tube feeding’) is a very common inpatient intervention to maintain nutritional status where the oral route is inadequate, unsafe or inaccessible. A proportion of patients will need to continue tube feeding in the community after their admission and will require a gastrostomy tube. Although gastrostomy insertion is relatively straightforward, it is not without complications in an often frail and vulnerable group of patients and a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to ensure that the procedure is appropriate. Some patients are better managed with careful assisted hand feeding or nasogastric tubes. Particular care needs to be taken in deciding whether patients with dementia should have a gastrostomy in view of data suggesting that this group of patients have a particularly poor prognosis after the procedure. Decisions regarding the provision of enteral nutrition at the end of life or where patients are not competent to make an informed judgement are particularly challenging and need to be made on a case-by-case basis.
Screening trematodes for novel intervention targets: a proteomic and immunological comparison of Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma bovis and Echinostoma caproni
Authors: HIGÓN MELISSA , COWAN GRAEME , NAUSCH NORMAN , CAVANAGH DAVID , OLEAGA ANA , TOLEDO RAFAEL , STOTHARD J. RUSSELL , ANTÚNEZ ORETO , MARCILLA ANTONIO , BURCHMORE RICHARD , MUTAPI FRANCISCA
Published: June 2011

With the current paucity of vaccine targets for parasitic diseases, particularly those in childhood, the aim of this study was to compare protein expression and immune cross-reactivity between the trematodes Schistosoma haematobium, S. bovis and Echinostoma caproni in the hope of identifying novel intervention targets. Native adult parasite proteins were separated by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified through electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry to produce a reference gel. Proteins from differential gel electrophoresis analyses of the three parasite proteomes were compared and screened against sera from hamsters infected with S. haematobium and E. caproni following 2-dimensional Western blotting. Differential protein expression between the three species was observed with circa 5% of proteins from S. haematobium showing expression up-regulation compared to the other two species. There was 91% similarity between the proteomes of the two Schistosoma species and 81% and 78·6% similarity between S. haematobium and S. bovis versus E. caproni, respectively. Although there were some common cross-species antigens, species-species targets were revealed which, despite evolutionary homology, could be due to phenotypic plasticity arising from different host-parasite relationships. Nevertheless, this approach helps to identify novel intervention targets which could be used as broad-spectrum candidates for future use in human and veterinary vaccines.