bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Eclipse of Equality in a World of Extremes
Authors: Hooton Peter
Published: December 2022

Christianity and democracy have in common the idea of equality before God and the law. But how seriously was this notion taken by the Christian architects of modern representative democracy, and how seriously is it taken in today’s deeply unequal democratic societies? Democracy has long embraced the idea of a formal equality of persons but has generally held substantive equality to be incompatible with the secure possession of private property, which is its overriding priority. This article explores the relationships of Christianity and democracy to property and wealth, and the ever-present tension in both between less and more rigorous forms of each. Christianity and democracy are for many people little more than identity markers, but their survival as robust and relevant approaches to social life depends on a vision – which includes Christ’s teachings on renunciation and democracy’s egalitarian ethos – underlying the forms.
Confronting the Monster of Slavery: David Ruggles, Public Theology, and Structural Sin
Authors: Hill Daniel Lee
Published: December 2022

While traditionally predicated of the individual’s will, sin seems to become enmeshed in our social structures and woven within the very fabric of our societies. The analysis of these social structures requires greater precision as does the manner in which the call to Christian charity conditions the response to them. This article seeks to extend the conceptual tool developed by Daniel Daly wherein social structures are evaluated in light of their vicious or virtuous nature with the help of nineteenth century abolitionist David Ruggles. Through this lens it becomes possible to see the vicious nature of a social structure that is concretized in the manner in which it shapes participants and, by extension, the manner in which it perverts the Christian community. Ruggles provides a helpful re-articulation of Christian charity as embodied resistance that seeks the progressive freedom of those in bondage.
The Demon in Potentiality and the Devil in Actuality: Two Principles of Evil according to 4th/10th Century Ismailism
Authors: De Smet Daniel
Published: December 2022

The Kitāb al-Kašf and the Kitāb al-Šaǧara, two 4th/10th century Ismaili works, share a dualistic vision of the world, marked by a continuous struggle between good and evil, light and darkness. Evil is identified with the exoteric religion deprived of its esoteric dimension. It is caused by a satanic pair, typified by Abū Bakr and ʿUmar b. al-Ḫaṭṭāb, the archetypes of the antagonists (aḍdād) opposing the Prophets and their Imams, from Adam to the advent of the Resurrector (al-Qāʾim). Through a personalized reading of selected verses from the Qurʾān, the authors of both works interpret the rejection of ʿAlī’s legacy by the first two caliphs as the paradigm of all opposition against the Imām’s esoteric knowledge leading to salvation. When ʿUmar represents the principle of evil in se, Abū Bakr stands for the weakness of the largest part of mankind, eager to be induced into error. By introducing into this doctrine the Aristotelian distinction between potentiality and actuality, the Kitāb al-Šaǧara develops an encompassing theory about the dynamics of evil.
God Spatially Above and Spatially Extended: The Rationality of Ibn Taymiyya’s Refutation of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Ašʿarī Incorporealism
Authors: Hoover Jon
Published: December 2022

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) wrote his tome Bayān talbīs al-ǧahmiyya to refute Ašʿarī kalām theologian Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) argument in Taʾsīs al-taqdīs that God is not corporeal, located, or spatially extended. Bayān talbīs al-ǧahmiyya is the largest known refutation of kalām incorporealism in the Islamic tradition, and al-Rāzī’s Taʾsīs al-taqdīs was apparently the most sophisticated work of its kind circulating in Ibn Taymiyya’s Mamlūk scholarly milieu. Ibn Taymiyya in Bayān talbīs al-ǧahmiyya deconstructs al-Rāzī’s rational arguments and explicates an alternative theology of God’s relation to space. Translating his understanding of the meaning of the Qurʾān and the Sunna into kalām terminology and drawing on Ibn Rušd’s (d. 595/1198) Aristotelian notion of place as the inner surface of the containing body, Ibn Taymiyya envisions God in Bayān talbīs al-ǧahmiyya as a very large indivisible and spatially extended existent that is above and surrounds the created world in a spatial sense.
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo in Karamanlidika: In the Footsteps of Teodor Kasap
Authors: Şimşek Şehnaz Şişmanoğlu
Published: December 2022

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas père is among the popular novels translated into many languages and scripts in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. The Karamanlidika (Turkish in Greek script) edition of 1882–83 has not hitherto been studied in a comparative reading with the source text. This article identifies the source text as the Turkish in Arabic script translation of Monte Kristo (1871) by Teodor Kasap, a prominent figure in Ottoman Turkish literature and press. This source text affected the ornate language in the Karamanlidika translation, in sharp contrast to the general tendency towards plainness in the Karamanlidika fiction of the time. Taking “translation” (terceme) as an umbrella term, the article analyses the practices of both Kasap and the unknown Karamanlidika translator in translating the novel. The paper also analyses the conventional paratexts of the Karamanlidika edition, such as the publication house, the dedication page and the subscriber’s list in the back of the book to understand the mechanisms of book production and circulation among the Turcophone Orthodox community. One volume published in an Armeno-Turkish publishing house indicates an intercommunal publishing activity between Christian communities in mid-19th century. The subscriber’s list from various cities of Asia Minor and the dedication to an Anatolian notable is typical in the sense it shows the dominance of the Anatolian readers in the style, language and vocabulary of the texts produced in Karamanlidika.
Coacta voluntas est voluntas: Baptism and Return in Canon Law
Authors: Sherwood Jessie
Published: December 2022

Throughout the early Middle Ages, the border between Christianity and Judaism was comparatively permeable, and baptized Jews, particularly those baptized under duress, frequently returned openly to Judaism. While modern scholars of Jewish-Christian relations often assume that medieval canon law always forbade this, a single norm governing converts’ re-conversion, or reversion, did not begin to emerge until the mid-twelfth century with the Decretum Gratiani. The Decretum established the preeminence of the canon that barred Jewish baptizands’ reversion and acted as a catalyst for discussions about the limits of consent and coercion, baptism and conversion. These debates provided the foundation for the mandates of the early thirteenth century that did establish the legal boundary between Jew and Christian which lasted into modernity: so long as baptizands consented, even if under duress, they were Christians and could not return to Judaism.
William of Tyre, Orientalism and the (De)Construction of Latin Identity in Twelfth-century Jerusalem
Authors: Wolsing Ivo
Published: December 2022

This article examines the representation of Jerusalemite identity in William of Tyre’s Historia Ierosolymitana (c.1184). William laments that his contemporaries in Jerusalem did not live up to the standards of their forefathers anymore: they were not wise, virtuous men, but put their own needs before those of the community. In doing so, William makes use of a narrative strategy that is found in the Roman historians Livy and Sallust as well. In the histories of Livy and Sallust, it was contact with the Near East that prompted societal decline. The riches and dolce far niente of the East had, in their eyes, corrupted Roman morals. In William’s work, by contrast, the Eastern Other often functions as a mirror for the Self. This, in combination with William’s emphasis on former generations as reference point for the current generation allows for a much more dynamic interplay of identities than an orientalist binary East-West division.
Studying Digital Pentecostalism
Authors: Cartledge Mark J.
Published: December 2022

One of the most important developments in recent history has been the invention of the internet and this has led to many academic disciplines developing digital research competence. However, there has been limited practical-theological research completed in the area of digitally mediated Pentecostalism. Therefore, this article addresses this important area, as conceived within the discipline of practical theology using empirical research methods. Even before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Pentecostals had embraced an online delivery of worship and ministry. Nevertheless, the capacity for the digital mediation of beliefs and practices has developed considerably in 2020 and 2021, and these recent developments invite further critical attention. To develop competence in the study of digital Pentecostalism, practical theologians will be required to acquire competence in “virtual ethnography,” sometimes referred to as “netnography,” that is, the academic study of online communities, including online churches. As part of this competence, there is a need to reframe virtual ethnography within an empirical-theological approach as a subset of practical theology, and this includes attending to hermeneutical issues as well as technical competence (that is, methods of gathering and evaluating online data). In this article, I shall explore some of these methodological concerns and suggest ways in which scholars can develop approaches to the research of digital pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.
Latinos Shifting Republican?
Authors: Espinosa Gastón
Published: December 2022

This article utilizes the Latino Religions and Politics National Survey (n = 1,292) to provide a preliminary investigation into Latino religious and political identity and voting results in the 2020 Election. It provides important new data on the Latino vote lean by religion (Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Catholic Charismatic), with special attention to the critical role that religion in general and Evangelicals and Pentecostals/Charismatics in particular may have played in helping to increase Latino Republican support for President Trump across the nation from 28 percent in 2016 to 32 percent in 2020 and increase his levels of support in Florida and Texas. While religion is just one of many important variables and factors that may help explain the recent if subtle Latino shift towards the Republican Party, it is nonetheless important.
Spiritualization of the Causes of Illness
Authors: Musoni Phillip , Chitando Ezra
Published: December 2022

This study focused on the spiritualization of the causes and treatment of illness within the African Prophetic churches in Zimbabwe (and its diaspora) in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study comes at a time when most prophetic churches seem to maintain a position that sicknesses and diseases are caused by evil spirits. While mainline/missionary churches are of the opinion that most sicknesses and diseases were caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, hence advocating for scientific health delivery systems for treatment, most Zimbabwean prophetic churches are identifying spiritual causes of sickness and advocating for spiritual methods of healing and deliverance. These African prophetic churches seem to have remained steadfast in maintaining their African traditional worldview on the causes and treatment of diseases that predates the advent of Christianity in Africa. Accordingly, this study selected the white garment churches (Vapositori) and their responses to Covid-19 to underscore the argument that spiritualisation of the causes of illness among most African prophetic churches has remained intact. Methodologically, a descriptive phenomenological approach was used for data collection, while an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to interpret data collected. Three main video clips on the church’s theology on the origin of Covid-19 posted on social media by white garment church members were transliterated. Interviews with the white garment church members were also carried out to triangulate data relating to these video clips posted on social media. Using this methodology, the major finding was that white garment churches operate within the African religio-cultural milieu where illness/disease has the cause-effect dichotomy. Unless the cause is diagnosed, holistic healing cannot be realised.
In Search of the Unicorn’s Virtue in a Rhino Horn Cup: Consumption of Rhino Horns and the Production of Knowledge in Early Modern Lisbon
Authors: Martinho Bruno A , Lopes Andrade António Manuel
Published: December 2022

This article focuses on the analysis of a medical consilium about a rhino horn written around 1570 by the Portuguese royal physician Jorge Godines to the Spanish ambassador in Lisbon. It sheds light on the processes of knowledge production concerning rhino and unicorn horns in early modern Lisbon. Through micro-historical analysis, we will demonstrate how demand, supply, and the availability of specimens, experience, information, and intellectual networks contributed to the establishment of a specific geography of scientific knowledge around the city. The analysis hopes to contribute to the disclosure of a more heterogeneous scientific landscape in early modern Europe, where practices of knowledge production depended very much on local contacts and on the agents’ individual trajectories.
Images & Color: The Strasbourg Printer Johann Schott (1477–1548) and His Circle
Authors: Bertoloni Meli Domenico
Published: December 2022

While most Renaissance scholars working on compendia of learning, geography, surgery, legal history, art history, the Reformation, and botany will be familiar with the name of Johann Schott, few have appreciated the range and impact of the Strasbourg printer’s publications. Here I discuss a handful among the over two hundred books and other materials he printed: Gregor Reisch’s Margarita Philosophica; the edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia with Waldseemüller’s maps; Hans von Gersdorff, Feldtbuch der Wundarzney; and – the main focus this essay – Herbarum vivae eicones, with figures by Hans Weiditz and text by Otto Brunfels. Schott can be seen as an architect or active agent of his publications; his innovative use of images and color can be seen as having progressively developed from his early prints to his celebrated herbal.
Making the South Seas a “Chinese” Mission Field: Chinese Evangelical Missionaries to Southeast Asia, 1920s to 1950s
Authors: Sim (沈道偉) Joshua Dao Wei
Published: December 2022

The emergence of Chinese evangelicals as missionaries in the first half of the twentieth century is an understudied topic. This paper thus seeks to foreground their voices by focusing on their Southeast Asian evangelistic work. By drawing on publications related to the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union and Alliance Bible Seminary, it is clear these missionaries were able to show their competency as transnational, inter-cultural workers that could undertake effective missionary work. This is shown in three ways. First, I argue that these evangelicals sought to carve out the South Seas (Nanyang) as a “Chinese” mission field by constructing narratives that emphasized a Chinese-Christian obligation to evangelize the region. Second, these evangelicals added a racial dimension to these narratives by claiming that they were more suited to evangelize the Nanyang peoples. Thirdly, I suggest that they eschewed “top-down” missionary methods and employed a grassroots approach in their engagement with different communities.
Internalized Oppression in Chinese Australian Christians and Its Mission Impact
Authors: Lung (龍歐陽可惠) Grace
Published: December 2022

This paper argues that Chinese Australian Christians have unaddressed wounds of internalized racism and a colonized and colonizing mentality that adversely impacts their evangelistic witness and mission work by elevating Anglo-centric Christianity and subordinating their own ethno-racial status.

Drawing on theoretical analyses, the sources of internalized racism and colonial mentality in Chinese Australians are first outlined within their ancestral countries of Hong Kong and Malaysia, and then their host country of Australia. Second, the essay explains how Anglo-centric Christianity impacts Chinese Australian Christians in the academy and then in missions, perpetuating prejudice towards one’s own ethnic group, complicity in racialized systems, as well as elevating Anglo-centric Christian thought as biblically normative. Third, the paper shows how the rise of Asian Christianity could further privilege Anglo-centric theologies at the expense of indigenous and/or Asian theologies. Consequently, internalized racism and a colonial mentality negatively affect the mission endeavours of Chinese Australians, particularly to new Chinese migrants and other people of colour. Finally, proposed ways to combat internalized oppression will be offered so that Chinese Australian Christians and other diasporic Christians living in the West do not perpetuate systems of racial injustice in the name of Christ locally or overseas through mission.
Travelling Theories
Authors: van den Heever Gerhard
Published: December 2022

This introductory essay takes recourse to the work of Edward Said on travelling theories and Michel Foucault on discursive formations, to highlight the historicity of all theorising, and the manufacturedness of all theoretical work. Particular attention is paid to experience as embeddedness, the construction of knowledge formations and disciplines, and the effects on knowledge formation of reappropriations and recontextualisations of theories and concepts. The metaphor of travel and of being in transit has been appropriated across diverse discourses and disciplinary domains to signal adaptions and re-applications of theories and concepts from one context to another, from one conceptual domain or discipline to another, and the embedment of theories and concepts in the concrete historical vicissitudes affecting the life of the theorist. This serves to frame the essays collected in this issue by the constellation of issues highlighted with appeal to discursive formations, retooling disciplines, and hosting travelling theories.
“Manichaeology”
Authors: van Oort Johannes
Published: December 2022

The article provides a survey of the development of Manichaean studies over the past 450 years. Since the last few decades in particular, one may speak of “Manichaeology” as a new and rapidly developing new discipline of the human sciences. This survey and critical assessment aims to introduce into the discipline, at the same time stressing the recurrent discussion about the importance of Iranian and/or (Jewish-)Christian elements as the core of Mani’s message that became a unique Gnostic world religion.
Catholicism or Post-Catholicisms?
Authors: Dekert Tomasz
Published: December 2022

From an anthropological and religious studies point of view, the Catholic liturgical reform in the wake of Vatican II is a highly intriguing event and/or process. The type of change to the ritual represented by this reform raises the question of its impact on Catholicism. This article proposes to look at this problem from the perspective of Roy A. Rappaport’s theory of ritual, primarily in terms of the ritual stabilisation of meaning. The breakdown in terms of the semiotics of immutability that resulted from the reform, and the far-reaching shift towards verbal communication that this brought about in the post-conciliar liturgy, seem to have been the main factors responsible for destabilizing the Catholic universe of meaning as regards its relationship to “truth.” As a result, instead of just one Catholicism, today we can speak of many “post-Catholicisms.”
Attempting to Make Sense of Postcritique, or, I’m Confused
Authors: Martin Craig
Published: December 2022

In this contribution to a review symposium on Robert T. Tally’s book For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists, Craig Martin responds to criticisms of critique made by scholars such as Eve Kosofsky.
Between Imperium and Sacerdotium
Authors: Delport Khegan M.
Published: December 2022

Christianity from its inception has expressed a tension between imperium and sacerdotium; after the Reformation, this tension has only been aggravated. Avowals of religious freedom thereafter have often rightly insisted on the capacity of spiritual communities to invoke limits for the state. This is readily apparent in South Africa, past and present. However, scholarship has shown that “religious liberty” has an ambiguous function, such as its privatisation of belief, based on a liberalised notion of “negative” freedom that allows the state to grant the “right” to “belief,” while simultaneously rendering belief a purely private or “otherworldly” affair. This is traceable to overly-Protestant conceptions of “religion” and “freedom” that are pervasive – including South Africa. From a theological perspective, I argue that this conception of “religious freedom” might sit in tension with aspects of ecclesiology and that the discursive deployment of “religious freedom” should therefore be engaged critically.
‘Binding of a Husband’
Authors: Cherkashina Anna , Kuzin Nikita
Published: December 2022

This article examines a Syriac erotic binding spell, ‘Binding of a Husband’. We provide a text-critical edition of this spell based on three manuscripts and reconsider previous editions and translations. We also try to establish the aim of the text and its place in the Syriac magical tradition. For this purpose, the evidence from modern Syriac magic manuscripts as well as from other pieces of Syriac literature is addressed. In addition, we discuss possible parallels for ‘Binding of a Husband’ beyond Syriac literature.
Perspectives of In-service and Retired Academics on Retirement Planning in Tanzania
Authors: Amani Jaquiline
Published: December 2022

This study explores the perspectives of in-service and retired academics on retirement planning and their perception of the appropriate time for employees to start doing so. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study collected data from two private and two public Universities in Tanzania. Specifically, it employed focused group discussions and semi-structured interviews to collect requisite data subjected to thematic analysis. The findings show that retirement planning unfolds in six main areas: a) Identifying sources of income to meet retirement needs mainly through paid gainful work, b) Opportunities and networking beyond formal work, c) Spending time following changing work roles, d) Housing arrangements, e) Willingness to accept retirement and its associated outcomes, and f) Healthy lifestyle and health insurance costs. However, the study found no fixed time for employees to start preparing for retirement. Varied options and justifications regarding when one might start planning for retirement life emerged. Some participants indicated the best time as immediately after being independent or detached from the family whereas others cited the period immediately following one’s securing of formal employment or ten years prior to one’s retirement age. Based on the findings, there is a need for policy considerations and further research to facilitate smooth retirement planning and adjustment among academics.
A Sankarian Perspective on the IMF Loans to South Africa – ‘Debt as a Cleverly Organised Reconquest of Africa’
Authors: Leshoele Moorosi
Published: December 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic that continues to ravish the world economies and snatch lives of millions of people across the world has without a doubt exacerbated the already fragile over-indebtedness of many countries globally, more especially in Africa. South Africa was used as a case study to better understand the International Financial Institutions and debtor countries nexus through the prisms of Sankarian Thought and philosophy concerning debt and loans. This was because South Africa had not borrowed money from the twin IFIs, IMF and the World Bank, for many years until recently when the pandemic struck the world. It is useful to understand why the multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and others had to be the last resort in the fight against this pandemic by the South African government. The role of these two main predators that have since flag independence of Africa been the engineers and custodians of debt neo-enslavement of African countries is the common thread in this article. As Sankara argued and was eventually assassinated for, in part, lobbying African States to form a united front in repudiating illegitimate debt, the solution to the African development challenge does not lie in acquiring more aid and loans. It lies in harnessing their own resources and optimally using them to uplift the lives of their people ethically, and that is the only way Africa would eventually be able to call its soul its own. Amongst others, the paper found that a strong case can be made by many African countries for repudiation of odious debt, however, the same cannot be argued for South Africa.
Visions of the Empire
Authors: Troilo Simona
Published: December 2022

Since the 1920s, the Fascist regime promoted a significant visual use of Libyan archeological ruins, which were photographed and published by newspapers, periodicals and academic journals in Italy and overseas. The visualisation of antiquities had a clear political purpose: to strengthen the fascist historic imagery while celebrating the myth of romanità and the ideal connection existing between the metropole and the colony. At the same time, it was meant to emphasise the theme of modernity, showing the intimate relation of science and technology with the preservation of the ancient world. Starting from the role that the regime assigned to Libyan antiquities, the present article focuses on such relation and examines the use of a specific means of communication: archeological photography. Divested of its scientific value, archeological photography was not used simply to document the excavation activities, but rather to legitimise the superiority of Italian science, which could bring Rome’s past back to life in territories that had now been reconquered. In this sense, the visualisation of historical evidence further legitimised Italian domination over the colony, providing the fascist colonial archive with new themes.
Analysing Knowledge Diplomacy and Differentiating It from Soft Power and Cultural, Science, Education and Public Diplomacies
Authors: Knight Jane
Published: December 2022

The purpose of this article is to explore the contemporary role of international higher education, research and innovation (IHERI) in international relations (IR). Using an interdisciplinary and conceptual approach, it examines how diplomacy and higher education scholars understand and label the rationales, strategies and contributions of IHERI to IR. The findings indicate that multiple terms are used, resulting in terminology chaos and confusion. The concept of knowledge diplomacy is proposed, defined and analysed as a comprehensive term to frame the role of IHERI in IR. The similarities and differences between knowledge diplomacy and related terms such as cultural, public, science and education diplomacy and soft power are examined. Issues that require further investigation are identified, with special attention given to the differences between using a knowledge diplomacy approach versus a soft power approach to understand the role of IHERI in IR.
The Function of “Spirit” in German Christian Theology and the Volkstestament
Authors: Buesnel Ryan
Published: December 2022

The German Christians (Deutsche Christen) were a factional group within the German Evangelical Church who incorporated völkisch and National Socialist ideology into theology and Church life. Throughout the 1930s until the close of the Second World War, German Christian leaders would express a robust theological agenda in a plethora of monographs, policy statements, and speeches. Much of this theology has a strongly Christological emphasis, especially as this concerned the crafting of Germanic Jesus. Accompanying this was a frequent evocation of the “Spirit” as a way of imbuing the National Socialist revolution with religious significance. The following article traces such uses of Spirit language within German Christian proclamation and explores how this had distinct implications for the Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
Scribal Collaboration and Gender in a Middle Dutch Song Manuscript and a Rapiarium of the Devotio Moderna
Authors: de Morrée Cécile
Published: December 2022

This article discusses two important representatives of the manuscript culture of the Devotio Moderna in the late medieval eastern Low Countries (c. 1500): a vernacular devout song manuscript (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin—Preussischer Kulturbesitz mgo 185) and a Middle Dutch rapiarium or collection of various short religious texts (Zwolle, Historisch Centrum Overijssel, Collectie Emmanuelshuizen 13). Both religious multi-text codices, the material similarities between both types of manuscripts have frequently been pointed out but were never studied in detail. These particular manuscripts, however, offer fertile grounds for such a comparison, since both were in part copied by the same—probably female—scribes. Examining the nature and extent of their efforts and collaborations, this article further develops questions and arguments raised in previous scholarship on the production processes of song manuscripts and rapiaria.
‘The Comfort for the Sick’ as ars moriendi
Authors: de Boer Erik
Published: December 2022

During the Protestant Reformation of the Churches in the Low Countries the sacrament of extreme unction and rituals surrounding burial were eliminated. The ever-present reality of illness and approaching death, however, kept demanding pastoral care and comfort for the dying. In the 1570s a text was published, Den Siecken Troost (Comfort for the Sick), which found its way into the Reformed books of liturgy. This article researches the author’s identity and itinerary, and also the publication history of his booklet. Although no ecclesiastical body seems to have consented to the inclusion in the liturgical book, its lasting presence until the twenty first century begs the question how the ‘Comfort for the Sick’ came to such prominence.
The Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage’s Social and Historical Context
Authors: Lorein Anne E.
Published: December 2022

In this article, the historical and social context of Petrus Dathenus’s Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage at the end of the sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century in the province of Holland is examined, in order to grasp the meaning of this Marriage Form of the Dutch Reformed Church. In order to do so, the Dutch Classical Reformed Form is related to information of primary and secondary sources about matrimony. A discussion of the marriage banns, parental consent, engagement, the wedding location, the views on marriage, husbands and wives’ responsibilities, and divorce, demonstrates that examination of the historical developments and contemporary rules and manners improves our understanding of the Form. Nevertheless, being a liturgical document, the Form did not always represent the social context, but rather interacted with the social context as a normative source.
Preaching before a Manly King
Authors: Roest Bert
Published: December 2022

This article analyses a peculiar misogynist sermon held in 1702 by an unknown, probably Franciscan preacher at the court of Friedrich August, alias August ‘der Starke’, prince-elector of Saxony (r. 1694–1733) and king of Poland (r. 1697–1704/6 & 1709–1733). This sermon, held in the year that Poland faced a Swedish military invasion, laments the many problems of the Polish king and the kingdom of Poland, and puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the king’s mistresses. This article tries to recreate the immediate context in which this sermon can be situated, and provides an analysis of the argument of the preacher, also as a type of typical anti-feminine discourse in early modern Franciscan pastoral care. At the very end is included a transcript and draft translation of the sermon itself, based on its apparently only surviving text witness included in Ms. iurid. 39 of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Kassel.
Global Governance Research
Authors: Roger Charles , Jordana Jacint , Holesch Adam , Schmitt Lewin
Published: December 2022

Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” world politics. Yet we still know little about how publishing has evolved. This article presents the first systematic exploration of these patterns. It uses an original dataset of global governance research to answer three first-order questions: How has publishing varied over time? What issues have scholars focused on? And who has been publishing in the field? The authors found that research has grown and become increasingly diverse—but selectively so. Some marginalized issues feature more prominently than in the rest of international relations, but there are blind spots too. Further, while research is less American and women have been comparatively more active relative to other areas, geographical diversity remains extremely limited. Scholars based in the Global South have been the first authors of less than 14 percent of all publications. To conclude, the article reflects on implications for the field.
Occupational Health and Safety Conditions of Informal Sector Workers in Three Nigerian Cities
Authors: Onyenechere Emmanuella C. , Asikogu Linus O. , Chikwendu Lazarus , Emetumah Faisal C. , Onyegiri Ikechukwu , Ukanwa Obinna E. , Nkwo Jorge C. , Nwokocha Remy K. , Onyeneke Christopher C.
Published: December 2022

Despite its economic relevance, the informal sector in Nigeria is plagued by occupational health and safety (ohs) anomalies. This study assessed ohs conditions among informal sector workers (isw s) operating in three Nigerian cities (Sokoto, Owerri and Port Harcourt). A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a total of 717 isw s. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. Logistic regression was used in predicting good ohs practices, based on gender, education level, occupation, health impairments and common health and safety practices. The findings show that many isw s have inadequate water sources and sanitary facilities and poor occupational health and safety practices. The overall model was statistically significant in predicting the likelihood of having good ohs practices. The study concludes that ohs conditions among isw s are poor as a result of insufficient water and sanitation facilities and poor environmental health practices. Improved water and sanitation provision and ohs awareness and education programmes for isw s, in line with their specific occupations and susceptibility to certain kinds of occupational health impairment, are recommended.
La réforme de la fonction publique : Vecteur de bonne gouvernance et du développement en République Démocratique du Congo
Authors: Muambi Richard Tshienda
Published: December 2022

Public sector reform policies have experienced considerable development over the past few decades in most developed countries, but also in those on the African continent. The civil service has thus been at the heart of many administrative reforms: since development has ceased to be considered from a solely economic or technical angle, the scientific community is more unanimous than in the past in its recognition that the effectiveness of economic structures depends largely on the complementarities they encounter in the political, administrative, social and even mental environment. Over the years, the will to reform the civil service has appeared as a constant for the countries in question. Justified by the principle of adaptation of the public service, civil service reform takes the form of projects which aim, on the one hand, to improve the direct relationship between the citizen and the administration and, on the other hand, to establish the terms of its management. In the Democratic Republic of Congo more than elsewhere, the functioning and performance of the public service has posed difficult questions for more than forty years, preventing it from breaking the paradox which characterises it - namely that in such a rich country, the population is one of the poorest on the planet. Thus, this study aims not only to analyse the strategies deployed in the implementation of civil service reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo but to attempt to evaluate the results as well.
Recovery and Substitute Addictions
Authors: Sinclair Deborah Louise , Sussman Steve , Savahl Shazly , Florence Maria , Vanderplasschen Wouter
Published: December 2022

Substitute addictions – addictions that replace terminated substance use disorders (sud s) – involving addictive behaviours such as a new substance, food/eating, gambling, shopping, or sex, have implications for recovery but remain poorly understood. While extant studies suggest a multifaceted aetiology, research is needed to illuminate the nature, dynamics/mechanisms, motives and risk factors of substitute addictions. This multiple-methods study (1) reviewed the available literature on substitute addiction in people with sud s using a scoping review method; (2) explored the experience of substitute addiction from a first-person perspective using a case study; (3) investigated the prevalence of substitute addiction and associated factors among service users during and after residential substance use treatment using a quantitative longitudinal cohort design (n=137, 66% follow-up rate); (4) explored recovery support group members’ (n=23) perceptions and experiences of substitute addictions using in-depth interviews; and (5) explored service providers’ (n=22) perceptions of substitute addiction through focus group discussions. Findings were integrated across datasets to offer recommendations for prevention, practice and research.
Investigating Turkey’s Changing Narratives Regarding Interventions in Libya and Syria
Authors: Erdogan Birsen
Published: December 2022

This article investigates the role of intersubjective and situated meanings and norm contestation for militarised humanitarian interventions from a critical perspective. The International Relations (ir) literature on humanitarian interventions, the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, and emergence of norms is explained and critically evaluated. The case analysed here is Turkey and its foreign policy discourse regarding interventions in Libya and Syria. Based on the case and literature review, the author concludes that critical approaches particularly provide useful tools to understand the role of identity, changing foreign policy narratives, and power constellations in world politics.
Eurasian Regionalism from the Perspective of Scale
Authors: Heller Regina
Published: December 2022

This article argues that the analytical concept of scale can provide researchers with a more holistic, entangled, and decolonised research perspective on Eurasian regionalism. By drawing on the socio-spatial analytical perspective of scale, I show how we can overcome theoretical biases and conceptual divides in and between the entangled fields of ir and Eurasian studies.1 A scalar perspective helps to dissolve these biases and divides by de-essentialising Eurasia as a region and conceptualising it as a contested, constructed and contentious political geography, formed by powerful actors who use the notion of ‘region’ to further their political interests. One virtue of a scalar perspective is that it reveals the multidimensional character of Eurasian regionalism and its connectedness with the global, depending on the imaginaries activated, the vested power interests pursued, and the regional, inter-regional and international networks created in a specific issue area.
Gaps and Peculiarities of Russian Legislation in Reference to International Instruments on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
Authors: Bilous Sofia
Published: December 2022

This chapter deals with controversial Russian legislation on indigenous peoples’ rights and its practical application. First, the issue of defining indigenous peoples is discussed and the main criteria for distinguishing indigenous peoples are given. Second, indigenous peoples’ special rights under international law are presented. Third, the author describes indigenous peoples’ status and rights in the Russian Federation. Collective and individual recognition of indigenous peoples and their land rights are the main focus. Apart from the rights explicitly provided by existing legal acts, the crucial concept of free prior informed consent (FPIC) is explored. The issues under discussion mostly follow from the incoherence of Russian laws and their inconsistency with international specialized legal instruments. The author proposes ways to resolve some major problems that indigenous peoples in Russia face. For the most part the solutions focus on making changes in Russian laws on indigenous peoples’ issues.
Cyber Operations in South America
Authors: Álvarez-Valenzuela Daniel , Vera-Hott Francisco
Published: December 2022

South American countries have been leading on global international peace and disarmament initiatives, but the analysis of cyber operations frameworks across four of the most developed States in the region (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia) shows the need for more transparency in how cyber operations are regulated in these countries, especially around their commitment to existing cyber norms. At the same time, lack of an incremental approach and lack of a better regulatory framework for cyber operations performed by these countries also present a risk. These tasks are currently performed mostly by their intelligence services with few legal safeguards, without proper political authorisation, and blurry boundaries with law enforcement agencies. These elements create a high risk for escalation in case of cyber-attacks, and need to be urgently addressed by those States.
Interrogating African Positions on State Sponsored Cyber Operations: A Review of Regional and National Policies and Legal Responses
Authors: Orji Uchenna Jerome
Published: December 2022

There is potential that cyber capabilities can be deployed by States to achieve objectives that endanger international and regional peace and security. As such, there are growing concerns that State sponsored cyber operations can harm the critical infrastructure and information systems of other States. In Africa, regional organizations and States have established legal measures with a view to promoting norms for cybersecurity governance. However, to a large extent the focus on cybersecurity governance in Africa appears to be mainly directed towards curbing cybercrimes. While there is no doubt that existing African cybersecurity governance measures will help to promote cyber stability, it does not appear that such measures explicitly address State sponsored operations in cyberspace. Nevertheless, there are African regional and national legal instruments and declarations that appear to indicate the emergence of African positions on State sponsored cyber operations. However, an inquiry has not been undertaken to identify emerging African positions on international law and State sponsored cyber operations. Accordingly, this chapter seeks to inquire into emerging African positions on State sponsored cyber operations with a view to providing a picture as to how African States consider such operations within the context of international law. In so doing, the chapter will attempt to consider whether the positions of African States are in harmony with States in Northern America and Europe or Russia and China, or whether the positions of African States are not aligned with global cyber powers. The chapter will further consider challenges in identifying African positions on State sponsored cyber operations.
From International to Regional Health Law: A West African Perspective
Authors: Ojomo Edefe
Published: December 2022

The development of health law in Africa has usually been addressed within the context of human rights law in general and the right to health in particular. This has placed the State at the centre of the subject, as States bear the responsibility of recognising, promoting, and protecting the rights of individuals and communities, and it is from this perspective that the right to health in Africa – and elsewhere – has been developed. Consequently, questions of State capacity arise when considering the ability of States to meet the obligations relating to the right to health adequately. There is, therefore, an inextricable link between a State’s governance capacity and its obligations regarding the right to health – and health law. Therefore, the development of health law is tied to discussions about how governments undertake efforts to protect the health of their citizens, given the challenges and limitations they face. This article moves the discussion up a level, exploring the existence and nature of a West African Health Law. It, first of all, describes the origin and features of regional health law; then, it provides a brief history of the development of regional health governance in West Africa, from colonial times; and finally, it goes on to explore the existence of features of regional health law in the current West African landscape, under the auspices of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) and its specialised institution for health. It identifies the main features of regional health law in West Africa as comprising: a rule-making function; the development of norms and standards of practice among states; and the establishment of a governance framework that promotes compliance and enforcement. In conclusion, the paper claims that the development of regional health law in West Africa has moved along a state-centric course and suggests that this might be responsible for some of the challenges in implementation.
The Co-Existence of Mitigation and International Investment Law
Authors: Dooley Josephine
Published: December 2022

While States are re-casting their contemporary international investment agreements (IIAs) to take into account measures to address climate change vis-à-vis investment protections, a large network of older or less ‘green-friendly’ IIAs exists which contain no reference to the environment or climate change. These less green-friendly IIAs may be interpreted as limiting the extent to which States can implement measures to mitigate the effects of climate change. This article examines the police powers doctrine, the prevention principle and, briefly, the precautionary principle to identify their current treatment in IIAs and investment law jurisprudence, and practical considerations to limit the risk of inconsistency between mitigation measures and obligations under less green-friendly IIAs.
Coordination strategies in Messapic
Authors: Pitts Reuben J.
Published: December 2022

Messapic, like many ancient Indo-European languages, shows evidence for the existence of more than one coordinating conjunction. Alongside an inherited Indo-European clitic =ti, comparable to Lat. =que or Gk. =τε, Messapic has also grammaticalised an additional coordinator anda from a lexical source. Although the two conjunctions are found in some strikingly similar contexts, this paper argues that they also show noteworthy functional differences, which can plausibly be contextualised against a broader cross-linguistic understanding of how novel coordinators grammaticalise. In this way, the typological study of coordination has the potential to contribute further insights into this fascinating—and as yet insufficiently understood—epigraphic language.